Welcome to Starting Seven, The Pillar’s daily newsletter.
I’m Luke Coppen and I aim to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and comment.
😇 Today’s saint: St. Jerome.
📜 Today’s readings: Memorial of St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church Jb 1:6-22 ▪ Ps 17:1bcd, 2-3, 6-7 ▪ Lk 9:46-50.
🗞 Starting seven
1: The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) has said it’s undergoing an ordinary apostolic visitation for the first time since 2014 (Wikipedia 1 & 2, confraternite.fr, katholisch.de, la-croix.com, lifesitenews.com, tribunechretienne.com, vaticannews.va).
2: Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi said Sept. 29 that the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had “opened a wound in the hearts of the Lebanese” (alarabiya.net, biography, Wikipedia 1 & 2, asianews.it, catholicnewsagency.com, chaldeanpatriarchate.com, chiesacattolica.it, cruxnow.com, katholisch.at, vaticannews.va).
3: Members of a lay organization in the Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly reinstalled a bust of Cardinal Joseph Parecattil at Bishop’s House in Kochi, India, Sept. 29, amid protests over a delay in ordaining eight deacons to the priesthood (video, Wikipedia 1 & 2, background).
4: A relic of Bl. Carlo Acutis went missing Sept. 17 at Ireland’s National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois (Wikipedia 1 & 2).
5: Lavoisier Fernandes, Bishop Marek Forgáč, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Nicholas J. Healy, Jr., Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler, Sandro Magister, Regina Pollack, Robert Royal & George Weigel, Thomas Schwartz, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, Andrea Tornielli, Jan-Heiner Tück, and Michael Sean Winters look ahead to the synod on synodality’s second session (aica.org, catholicbishops.ie, catholicreview.org, cruxnow.com, wucwo.org, Wikipedia).
6: Andrea Gagliarducci says there’s a rumor “that a major donation from a foundation guarantees the salaries of an entire Vatican department” (background, religionunplugged.com).
7: And when Pope Francis was introduced to a German bishop at Luxembourg’s Notre-Dame Cathedral Sept. 27, he jokingly asked: “Are you Catholic?” (video, German report, Wikipedia).
🇻🇦 Today’s Bollettino
Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, secretary of the disciplinary section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with family members (background).
Archbishop Philippe Curbelié, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with family members.
Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, S.J., archbishop emeritus of Huancayo, Peru.
Delegation of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) (ncronline.org).
Participants in the Custodi del Bello (“Guardians of Beauty”) project, promoted by the Italian bishops’ conference (full text, vaticannews.va).
🇧🇾 Resignation accepted of 75-year-old Bishop Aleksander Kaszkiewicz of Grodno, Belarus. He is succeeded by coadjutor Bishop Uladzmir Huliai, 49 (catholic.by 1 & 2).
🇵🇭 Fr. Euginius Cañete, M.J., until now coordinator general of the Missionaries of Jesus, is named Bishop of Gumaca, Philippines (cbcpnews.net).
🇵🇪 Fr. César Augusto Huerta Ramírez, of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Arequipa, is named Bishop of Sicuani, Peru (iglesia.org.pe).
🔄 Weekend round-up
Friday, Sept. 27:
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Papal meeting with university professors at KU Leuven in Belgium (full text, catholicnewsagency.com, domradio.de, ncronline.org).
🇻🇦🇧🇪 The pope met with 17 clerical abuse survivors (day highlights).
🇫🇷 The funeral of Philippine Le Noir de Carlan took place at Versailles Cathedral, France (Frère Paul-Adrien, English background).
Saturday, Sept. 28:
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Papal meeting in the parish of St. Gilles in Belgium (full text).
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Papal meeting with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians, and pastoral workers in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Koekelberg (full text, catholicnewsagency.com).
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Pope Francis prayed at the tomb of Belgium’s King Badouin, who chose to abdicate rather than sign an abortion law.
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Papal meeting with university students in the UCLouvain in Louvain-la-Neuve (full text, press releases, apnews.com, cathobel.be, reuters.com).
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Pope Francis met with Jesuits at St. Michael’s College.
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Pope Francis made a surprise appearance at Hope Happening, an event inspired by World Youth Day, at Brussels Expo (catholbel.be, day highlights).
🇻🇦🇹🇼 Papal letter to Cardinal John Tong Hon, special envoy to the Oct. 5 concluding celebration of the Fifth Eucharistic Congress of Taiwan.
🇻🇦🇰🇪 Resignation accepted of 75-year-old Bishop Anthony Ireri Mukobo, I.M.C., of Isiolo, Kenya. He is succeeded by coadjutor Bishop Peter Munguti Makau, I.M.C., 49.
🇻🇦🇺🇳 Address by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the Sept. 28 general debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York (full text, katholisch.de).
🇻🇦 Vatican doctrine chief Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández presided at the episcopal ordinations of Msgr. John Joseph Kennedy and Msgr. Philippe Curbelié in St. Peter’s Basilica.
🇦🇴 Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, the world’s oldest cardinal, died in Angola aged 99 (angop.ao).
Sunday, Sept. 29:
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Pope Francis presided at Mass at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, beatifying the Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun Ana de Jesús (1545-1621) (full text, photos, video, Andrea Tornielli).
🇻🇦🇧🇪 The pope delivered an Angelus address, in which he announced he would open the beatification cause of Belgium’s King Baudouin (full text, photos, video, vaticannews.va, cathobel.be, lecatho.fr, tribunechretienne.com).
🇻🇦🇧🇪 Pope Francis discussed abortion, clerical abuse, Lebanon, and women in the Church during an in-flight press conference (full video, americamagazine.org, apnews.com 1 & 2, catholicnewsagency.com, ncronline.org, reuters.com 1 & 2).
🇻🇦 The pope stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary Major en route to his Vatican residence.
🇻🇦 Synod on synodality participants arrived in Rome.
🇮🇹 Cardinal Charles Bo and Cardinal Robert McElroy attended the inauguration of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence in Rome (vaticannews.va).
🇮🇹 Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa spoke at the Festival Francescano in Bologna, Italy.
🇩🇪 Archbishop Herwig Gössl of Bamberg, Germany, received the pallium (erzbistum-bamberg.de).
🇪🇪 Apostolic nuncio Archbishop Georg Gänswein formally proclaimed the creation of the Diocese of Tallinn, Estonia, at Tallinn’s St. Peter and St. Paul’s Cathedral (photos).
🇦🇲 Etchmiadzin Cathedral, the mother church of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was ceremonially reopened.
🏛️ Pillar catch-up
🔍 Stories to watch
🇺🇸 Bishop Athanasius Schneider made a public profession of faith rejecting the statement that “all religions are paths to God” Sept. 29, at the Catholic Identity Conference in Pittsburgh (catholic-hierarchy.org, catholicidentityconference.org, background).
🇨🇳 Around 50 priests from the four dioceses of China’s Henan Province reportedly attended a joint retreat in September (Wikipedia, fides.org).
🇲🇿 Police arrested 14 people in Tete, Mozambique, Sept. 24 for desecrating graves at a Catholic mission in search of gold and other valuables (Wikipedia).
🇸🇳 Senegal’s National Laity Council has criticized Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko’s description of Catholic private schools as “foreign schools,” amid a dispute over a policy of prohibiting Muslim students from wearing headscarves (Wikipedia).
🇦🇹 Online scammers are reportedly targeting Catholics formally seeking to leave the Church in Austria, stealing their money and personal data via a fake website (German report, English background).
🇩🇪 Catholic farmers in Bavaria are reportedly “extremely disappointed and angry,” and formally seeking to leave the Church after the German bishops’ conference published a study criticizing agricultural subsidies (German report, press release, full text, Wikipedia).
🇱🇹 Seven men have begun a preparatory course at a seminary in Telšiai, bringing the total number of students in Lithuania’s seminaries to 27 (Lithuanian press release, Wikipedia 1 & 2).
🗓 Today’s anniversaries
St. Honorius died in 653; The future pope Nicholas IV was born in 1227; Melchor Cano died in 1560; St. Francis Borgia died in 1572; José María Morelos was born in 1765; St. Thérèse of Lisieux died in 1897.
📅 Today’s events
Two-day retreat for synod on synodality participants begins (Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., full texts 1 & 2, agensir.it, catholic.org.au); Relic of the blood of St. Francis of Assisi begins Holy Land tour.
📅 Coming soon
Oct. 1 Penitential celebration, jointly organized by the General Secretariat of the Synod and the Diocese of Rome, at St. Peter’s Basilica.
Oct. 2 The synod on synodality’s second session begins with a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, at 9:30 a.m. local time (booklet, live stream).
Oct. 3 Pontifical North American College diaconate ordinations at St. Peter’s Basilica (live stream).
Oct. 5 Cardinal John Tong Hon serves as special envoy at the concluding celebration of the Fifth Eucharistic Congress of Taiwan; 50th youth pilgrimage to Luján, Argentina.
Oct. 6 Installation of Archbishop Pascal Wintzer as Archbishop of Sens, France; Archbishop Josef Nuzík consecrates the Church of the Holy Spirit in Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic; Archbishop Florencio Roselló Avellanas, O. de M., of Pamplona and Tudela receives the pallium at Pamplona Cathedral, Spain.
Oct. 7 Day of prayer, fasting, and penance for Catholics in the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Oct. 8 Plenary assembly of the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) in Lisbon, Portugal.
Oct. 10 Venezuela’s Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo turns 80; U.S. Catholics begin Novena for Mental Health.
Oct. 11 Nobel Peace Prize winner announced; Synod on synodality participants attend an ecumenical prayer service in the Piazza of the Protomartyrs, at 7 p.m. local time.
Oct. 12 Bishop Wallace Ng’ang’a Gachihi is installed as the Ordinary of the Military Ordinariate of Kenya; A celebration of the centennial of the Byzantine Ruthenian Church Exarchate begins in Washington, D.C.
Oct. 15 Annual Eucharistic procession in Manhattan, hosted by the Napa Institute.
Oct. 17 Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, hosted by Jim Gaffigan.
Oct. 18 Archdiocesan assembly begins in Australia’s Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn; The One Million Children Praying the Rosary event, organized by Aid to the Church in Need, takes place worldwide.
Oct. 19 Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki of Poznań, Poland, turns 75; Archbishop Mark O’Toole celebrates Mass at the 2nd Wales LOUDfence event, at St. David’s Priory, Swansea.
Oct. 20 World Mission Sunday; Pope Francis canonizes 14 new saints, including the martyrs of Damascus, at a Mass in St. Peter’s Square; Cardinal James Harvey, Archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, turns 75; Reopening of Germany’s Eichstätt Cathedral after a five-year restoration.
Oct. 23 Bishop James Tamayo of Laredo, Texas, turns 75.
Oct. 24 The Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches begins near Alexandria, Egypt.
Oct. 26 Installation of Archbishop Wiesław Śmigiel as the Archbishop of Szczecin-Kamień, Poland.
Oct. 27 The synod on synodality’s second session ends with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, at 10 a.m. local time; Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, Prelate of Opus Dei, turns 80.
Oct. 28 Episcopal ordination of Bishop-elect Kevin Kenney, new auxiliary of the U.S. Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, at the Cathedral of St. Paul, at 1 p.m. local time.
Oct. 31 Installation of Archbishop-elect Richard Henning as the Archbishop of Boston, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.
Nov. 1 Scheduled U.S. release of the movie “Conclave,” based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel; Traditional Latin Masses cease at the Catholic National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady in Walsingham, England.
Nov. 8 10th anniversary of Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher’s appointment as the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States.
Nov. 9 1,700th anniversary of the dedication of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran; Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck, North Dakota, turns 75; Cardinal Marcello Semeraro presides at the beatification of José Torres Padilla in Spain’s Seville Cathedral; Installation of Bishop Philip Moger as the Bishop of Plymouth, England, at the Cathedral Church of St. Mary and St. Boniface.
Nov. 11 English and Welsh bishops begin fall plenary assembly; Start of the study conference “There is no greater love; Martyrdom and offering of life” at Rome’s Augustinian Patristic Pontifical Institute.
Nov. 12 Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans, Louisiana, turns 75.
Nov. 15 Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan turns 80; Start of the Catholic Church in Italy’s first synodal assembly; Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, receives New Ways Ministry’s Bridge Building Award.
Nov. 16 Episcopal ordination of Fr. Jean Baptiste Valter Manga as Bishop of Ziguinchor, Senegal; Installation of Bishop Wojciech Osial as the Bishop of Łowicz, Poland.
Nov. 17 The 8th World Day of the Poor; Cardinal Kurt Koch presides at the beatification of Max Josef Metzger (1887-1944) at Freiburg Minster, southwest Germany.
Nov. 19 Start of Russian Catholic bishops’ plenary meeting in Kaliningrad.
Nov. 21 Exposition of St. Francis Xavier’s relics begins at Se Cathedral in Old Goa, India; Archbishop Juan Alberto Puiggari of Paraná, Argentina, turns 75.
Nov. 22 Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin presents Irish theologian Cyril O’Regan and Japanese sculptor Etsurō Sotoo with the 2024 Ratzinger Prize.
Nov. 24 The XXXIX World Youth Day is celebrated in dioceses.
Nov. 25 Vatican delegation attends the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit on a Mine-Free World in Cambodia.
Dec. 1 First Sunday of Advent; New Lectionary comes into use in England and Wales.
Dec. 2 Swiss bishops begin plenary assembly in Engelberg.
Dec. 8 Reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, France.
Dec. 12 25th anniversary celebration of the reconsecration of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, Russia.
Dec. 13 Plenary assembly of Germany’s synodal committee begins at Wiesbaden-Naurod.
Dec. 15 Archbishop Andrés Stanovnik, O.F.M. Cap., of Corrientes, Argentina, turns 75.
Dec. 24 Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica due to be opened, launching the 2025 Jubilee Year; Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, India, turns 80.
Dec. 28 Taizé’s European Youth Meeting begins in Tallinn, Estonia.
Dec. 29 Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of Rome’s Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
Have a happy feast of St. Jerome.
-- Luke
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