Leo draws 2.5 million to Buenos Aires Mass

Leo draws 2.5 million to Buenos Aires Mass, defends the family

At the largest Mass of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV told an estimated 2.5 million people in Buenos Aires, “Do not give in to those who dismiss the Christian family as outdated.” On the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, he called the family “a pillar amid the many insecurities of our time” and urged parents to “speak naturally to your children about Jesus.” America reports the crowd surpassed St. John Paul II’s 1982 Mass there. Earlier, at the Don Orione Little Cottolengo in Claypole, home to more than 400 people with disabilities, he told residents their lives “are not a burden on society” but “a blessing,” adding that “a nation’s progress is also measured by how it welcomes all people with disabilities.” AP noted the center has been hit by President Javier Milei’s austerity cuts. — Homily (Holy See Press Office) · Claypole greeting (Holy See Press Office) · America · Vatican News · AP via NCR · CNN

To workers and social movements, Leo says the economy must serve the person

Addressing workers, business leaders, unions, and popular movements at the Catholic University of Argentina, Leo said “the economy must be at the service of the person, and not the person at the service of the economy.” He called unemployment “a genuine tragedy” that “severely wounds” a person’s dignity, drew applause when he invoked Francis’ “tierra, techo y trabajo” (land, housing, and work), and held up Venerable Enrique Shaw, an Argentine Catholic businessman, as a model. AP reported that Milei’s critics took the speech as a rebuke of his libertarian agenda. — Full text (Holy See Press Office) · AP · Vatican News · AP via Crux

Leo meets privately with Argentine abuse survivors

Pope Leo met for more than an hour Monday with five survivors of abuse by clergy and church institutions in Argentina, presented to him by the local Church. According to the Holy See Press Office, he spoke with each individually, heard their “suggestions for strengthening paths to healing within the Church,” and expressed to them — and through them to “the other victims whom it was not possible to meet” — his desire to strengthen “pathways of protection.” AP reported that other survivors’ groups, including 43 women who allege trafficking and forced labor at Opus Dei centers in Argentina, had asked to meet him and were turned down. — Statement (Holy See Press Office) · Vatican News · AP via Crux · OSV News via NCR

In Francis’ cathedral, Leo honors his predecessor and calls bishops to reconciliation

Leo ended Monday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires, where he laid flowers with children at the plaque honoring Pope Francis, then prayed Vespers with Argentina’s bishops and synodal teams. Pointing to the cathedral’s relief of Joseph forgiving his brothers, he said “reconciliation requires acknowledging wounds, letting go of resentment,” recalled Blesseds Mamerto Esquiú, Enrique Angelelli, and Eduardo Pironio, and asked pastors to accompany the unemployed and “young people forced to emigrate.” Earlier, at the Palacio San Martín, he told Christian, Jewish, and other religious leaders that prayer must be made authentic “through renewed fraternity.” — Vespers homily (Holy See Press Office) · Vatican News (tribute) · Vatican News (Vespers) · Interreligious address (Holy See Press Office) · Vatican News (religious leaders) · Also: Where Peter Is (Claudio Iván Remeseira)

Pope and Holy See

• Today: Mass in Córdoba, a meeting with clergy and pastoral workers, then a youth vigil in Buenos Aires. Leo celebrates Mass on the grounds of Córdoba’s Military Aviation School and meets bishops, priests, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers in the cathedral before returning for tonight’s youth vigil at the Monumento de los Españoles. Córdoba’s archbishop, Cardinal Ángel Rossi, S.J., who lived with the future Pope Francis for eight years, told America he hopes the visit will “brush the ash off a certain weariness” in Argentine faith. — Programme (Holy See Press Office) · America (Cardinal Rossi) · [ES] La Nación (schedule)
• “In every rejected migrant it is Christ himself who knocks at the door,” Leo tells the International Catholic Migration Commission. In a video message released today for the commission’s council meeting in Rome (Nov. 10–12), in its 75th anniversary year, the pope quoted Dilexi Te, noted “a marked decline in funding for international protection and assistance,” urged members to keep strengthening the Church’s services to “welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants, refugees and returnees,” and prayed they would “find new ways to care for displaced children.” — Full text (Holy See Press Office) · Vatican News
• Also from the Holy See Press Office: a new bishop for Žilina, Slovakia, and a World Fisheries Day message. Today the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Tomáš Galis and named Bishop Peter Beňo, 54, an auxiliary of Nitra, to lead the diocese. In Monday’s bulletin, Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A., prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, issued a message for World Fisheries Day (Nov. 21), “Come and have breakfast,” urging care for fishers and their families. — Žilina appointment · World Fisheries Day message

United States

• 83 Catholic theologians urge U.S. bishops to speak out against the Iran war. Ahead of the bishops’ Nov. 16–19 assembly in Baltimore, a letter organized by Kevin Ahern and Eli McCarthy asks them for “still greater clarity, urgency, and unity against further warfare” and a public witness to Gospel nonviolence. — National Catholic Reporter (Camillo Barone) · USCCB (assembly)
• Massachusetts bishops criticize Gov. Healey for fast-tracking abortion law. The state’s four bishops objected after Healey, a Catholic, used emergency powers to put a law permitting late-term abortions into effect immediately, blocking a bid to suspend it until a 2028 repeal referendum. — National Catholic Reporter (Brian Fraga)
• Faith-forward Democrats set priorities as early data show Catholics shifted toward Democrats. RNS talks with newly elected clergy, including the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, about their plans in Congress; initial exit polls found Catholic midterm voters split 50% Democratic to 49% Republican, after backing Trump 55% to 43% in 2024. — Religion News Service (Adelle M. Banks and Jack Jenkins) · OSV News

Around the World

• Kraków’s cardinal: hatred does not have the final word. At a Mass the day after Saturday’s shooting that killed six people, Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś said the final word belongs to love, not hatred. — OSV News
• French bishops tell Catholic health care institutions to prepare to refuse assisted suicide. With France’s “aid in dying” law taking effect in January 2027, the bishops cited a Constitutional Council reading that lets institutions decline if it conflicts with their mission. — Crux (Fionn Shiner)

Liturgy and Church Life

• Memorial of St. Leo the Great. The fifth-century pope and Doctor of the Church, whom Benedict XVI called one of the greatest popes to honor the Roman See, is remembered for his role in calling the Council of Chalcedon and for forestalling Attila the Hun’s invasion of Italy. — Vatican News · USCCB readings
• Opinion: Did Vatican II’s liturgical reform pass Aquinas’s test? Andrew Likoudis answers a perennial classroom question about St. Thomas on changing law, arguing the reformed Missal meets the test through its “very great and very evident benefit,” not because the older rite was unjust. — Where Peter Is

Video and Podcasts

• Third Space Podcast: Marcus Mescher on “Deformed Consciences.” In a Where Peter Is repost of Monday’s episode, WPI co-founder Paul Fahey talks with the Xavier University ethicist about moral injury and Magnifica Humanitas on ecclesial repentance and renewal. — Where Peter Is

Commentary

• Opinion: Leo to Argentina, in Francis’s footsteps. Nathan Turowsky highlights the pope’s Palacio Libertad passage on the peoples who formed Argentina, noting that its mention of indigenous peoples matters in a country where anti-indigenous racism remains a problem. — Where Peter Is
• Opinion: Christ makes the world truer and freer. A Vatican News editorial argues that reading the trip only through politics overlooks “the gestures, the courage, and the power of witness.” — Vatican News
• Opinion: Who’s afraid of uplifted hands? Msgr. Arthur Holquin responds to Portland archdiocesan guidance against the orans posture at the Our Father, arguing the Missal’s silence on the gesture does not forbid it. — Liturgy and Truth
• Opinion: Mission can take many forms while remaining faithful to Christ. Fr. Clarence Devadass writes that “the temptation to universalize one particular pastoral experience must be resisted.” — National Catholic Reporter

Also today

• Pope Leo draws 2.5 million to Argentina Mass, warns against austerity — Richard Connor, DW
• [ES] Amid vigils and record crowds, Argentines welcomed Leo XIV after nearly four decades without a papal visit — Cecilia Domínguez and Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, CNN en Español
• Pope Leo urges Argentinians to proclaim Christ with joy — Vatican News. His goodnight greeting and a recap of day two.
• Treasure of Latin American Church: Saints, Blesseds recalled by Pope in Argentina — Vatican News
• Pope Leo’s trip is a homecoming to Peru – where debate over liberation theology roiled the church during his early years as a priest — Susanna Granieri, Religion News Service
• Music videos, remodeling and backup plans: Chiclayo prepares for Pope Leo’s return — Aleja Hertzler-McCain, Religion News Service
• Q&A with Sr. Lilian Ogbodu, forming the next generation of Catholic sisters in Nigeria — John Chukwu, Global Sisters Report

Stories from Leo XIV’s largest Mass

U.S. Catholic bishops urge world leaders to take decisive climate action at COP31

The 31st annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), is taking place in Antalya, Turkey, Nov. 9–20.

More than 90 members of Congress urge leaders to invite Pope Leo XIV

“The election of Pope Leo XIV serves as a sign of great pride for millions of Americans,” the bipartisan letter said.

Pope Leo XIV calls for religious and social unity in Argentina

On Monday in Buenos Aires, Pope Leo XIV spoke on Catholic social teaching, prayer among religions, and communion in the Church.

Behind the numbers: Stories from Leo XIV’s largest Mass

Families and volunteers who waited overnight in Buenos Aires spoke of handing on the faith, of unity and of a living Church.

God is with us in the desert

At an Indigenous center, the lessons are a way of life BY CHESTON KNAPP A seminary teaches how to be authentically Indigenous and Christian Q&A WITH TERRY LEBLANC

Resistance is a journey of many cycles Q&A WITH KAITLIN B. CURTICE

There must be real repentance for the Doctrine of Discovery Q&A WITH MARK CHARLES

‘Embrace the Tension’

By Tommy Nixon

Our world often presents false dichotomies for complex issues, says an author in a recent book.

Judicatories challenged to address the church property issue at scale

By Rick Reinhard

As faith properties become increasingly underused, leaders can play a role in repurposing them as community assets, writes a former city official.

God is with us in the desert

By Isaac Villegas

Theologically and biologically, water gives life. We see this in the Exodus story and at the southern border of the United States.

When a miracle doesn’t heal everything

By Shaina Ciaccio

Our theology should be spacious enough to hold both a miracle and a funeral, writes a Pentecostal minister.

What the church can offer veterans (It’s not applause)

By Logan M. Isaac

Congregations seeking to welcome veterans need not single them out on Veterans Day, but they can be open to listening and learning from their experience, writes a combat veteran and theologian.

A deconsecrated church building continues to be a space for gathering and community

By Adrienne Johnson Martin

In a small North Carolina town, local residents rallied to preserve a historic site that now welcomes people for drinks, food and reminders of the sacred.

Leadership questions: What can a creative vision of church space mean for its preservation? How does your building help people feel peaceful and safe?

This Is What Happens When Women Read

 

covenantchurchsd 11.08.2026

 

 We call this SoNoGo - South Park-North Park-Golden Hill & Our Mission: to see the baptized who live in SoNoGo worship in SoNoGo

Covenant Presbyterian Church

What is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church?

Covenant Church at 30th & Howard  is a Christian church in the tradition of the Protestant Reformation and allied with the EPC [The Evangelical Presbyterian Church] We believe the Scriptures to be the infallible Word of God and our final authority in faith and practice, and we find the historic creeds of the early church (the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed) to be vital expressions of the most important tenets of the global church universal. When the EPC started in 1981, we determined that we would not disagree on the basic essentials of the Christian faith, but on anything that was not essential—such as the issue of ordaining women as officers or practicing charismatic gifts—we would give each other liberty. Above all, we committed ourselves to loving each other and not engaging in quarrels and strife. The result is that when we get together in our regional and national meetings, we spend most of our time in worship and fellowship and almost none in arguing with each other.

Who’s Afraid of Uplifted Hands?

 

The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon has issued guidance recently saying that the lay faithful should not extend their hands in the orans posture during the Lord’s Prayer. The archdiocese admits that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal does not forbid the gesture, then argues that it should not be done anyway. Of all the things in the liturgy that need our attention right now, this is not one of them. It is another case of the liturgy police at work. It also reflects a narrowly clerical view of the liturgy, one that treats every gesture as something to guard rather than something to pray with.

Some of the argument is correct, so I will start there. The GIRM (General Instruction to the Roman Missal) tells only the priest to pray “with hands extended.” It is also true that the GIRM gives the faithful no gesture of the hands at all during the Our Father. It asks only that they stand (GIRM 43). The Missal’s silence on a gesture does not forbid it. The archdiocese’s argument treats it as though it did: the faithful may not extend their hands because the Missal does not tell them to. But the Missal does not tell the faithful to fold their hands at the Our Father either, nor to bow their heads or close their eyes. If Portland’s principle were sound, every one of these familiar gestures of prayer would also be an unlawful “addition to the liturgy” under Sacrosanctum Concilium 22.3. No one seriously holds that. In fact, SC 22.3 says something quite different. It forbids anyone, “even if he be a priest,” to add to, remove from, or change the rite of the liturgy on his own authority. It does not reach the private gestures of prayer that the Missal itself leaves unregulated. The Church does set the common postures of the assembly: when we stand, sit, and kneel (GIRM 42–43). Within those shared postures, though, the Missal gives the faithful no direction about their hands. Where the Church has wished to regulate the people’s posture, she has done so explicitly; where she has been silent, a diocesan bulletin should not supply what the Missal deliberately left open. It does not police the private prayerful posture of a grandmother in the fourth pew. When the U.S. bishops discussed this in the 1990s, they considered making the orans an option for the people and finally decided to leave hand gestures unmentioned. When the bishops’ conference deliberately leaves a matter open, a diocesan bulletin should not close it.

Aquinas and the Reform of the Roman Rite

Aquinas and the Reform of the Roman Rite
by Andrew Likoudis

A Thomistic objection to the liturgical reform, answered

A question was recently posed to me by a Catholic professor, one that he tells me comes up every year when his students read Aquinas on the change of law. He asked:

The passage in Aquinas is from ST, I-II, q. 97, a. 2: “Whether human law should always be changed, whenever something better occurs?” Aquinas argues that human law is rightly changed insofar as the change is conducive to the common good. But, to a certain extent, he writes, “the mere change of law is itself prejudicial to . . .

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Marcus Mescher - Deformed Consciences

Third Space Podcast: Marcus Mescher - Deformed Consciences
by Paul Fahey

It’s so great to have Marcus Mescher back on the podcast. A couple of months ago, the Sisters of the Little Way published a conversation with Marcus about moral injury. And while Marcus and I have talked about moral injury before, he said some things in that conversation that resonated with some of my personal experiences. So I dove into that more with him. And we discussed some of Pope Leo’s teaching from Magnifica Humanitas  about ecclesial repentance and renewal. It was so good speaking with Marcus again!
You can watch here or listen on your . . .

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Argentina welcomes Pope Leo XIV

 

In Argentina, Leo urges leaders to safeguard democracy

In his first speech in Buenos Aires, Pope Leo XIV told President Javier Milei and Argentina’s leaders that democracy “needs to be safeguarded” and is strengthened by “careful use of words.” Addressing authorities and diplomats at the Palacio Libertad after a 40-minute private meeting with Milei at the Casa Rosada, he said authority “is most authentic when it is exercised as service,” drawing applause that made him repeat a line on acknowledging “the limits of the power entrusted” to leaders. He urged that growth also benefit the disadvantaged, asked why young people must emigrate to realize their dreams, defended the unborn and people with disabilities, and warned against corruption and organized crime. CNN, AP, and the BBC read the speech as a diplomatic critique of Milei’s austerity agenda; Milei defended his policies in his own remarks. — Full text (Holy See Press Office) · CNN · AP · America · BBC · Vatican News

Leo arrives in the homeland Francis never revisited

Pope Leo landed in Buenos Aires Sunday afternoon, welcomed by Milei at the foot of the plane, in the first papal visit to Argentina since St. John Paul II in 1987. In his speech he said he was “in some sense retracing” Francis’ steps; Milei, who once insulted Francis, called him “the most important Argentinian in history.” He paused in silent prayer at the San Martín monument and received the keys to the city from Mayor Jorge Macri. — National Catholic Reporter · Vatican News · America · Official account (Holy See Press Office) · Also: Where Peter Is (Claudio Iván Remeseira)

Leaving Uruguay, Leo reconsecrates the country to Mary

At his farewell Mass before about 50,000 people at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Thirty-Three in Florida, Leo placed a Golden Rose before Uruguay’s patroness and consecrated the nation to her anew. He thanked the mothers, grandmothers, and catechists who passed on the faith, telling those grieving children who no longer pray to “never tire” and remember St. Monica: “There are doors that you cannot open, but God can.” He asked fathers to show that a man can kneel before God, and urged Uruguayans to go out to those who have drifted. — Full text (Holy See Press Office) · Vatican News · Vatican News (farewell)

Pope mourns victims of Kraków shooting

In a telegram signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin to Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened” by Saturday’s shooting in Kraków’s Main Market Square, which killed six people. He invoked Our Lady, Queen of Poland, and urged mourners to “persevere tirelessly in the search for peace and harmony.” Prosecutors are treating the attack as terrorism; the 24-year-old gunman, who officials said held far-right views, died in a hospital early Monday, police said. — Telegram (Holy See Press Office) · Vatican News · AP · BBC

Pope and Holy See

• Today in Argentina: a center for people with disabilities, then Mass in Buenos Aires. Leo visits the Don Orione Little Cottolengo in Claypole, home to more than 400 residents — a stop observers link to the government’s disability-aid cuts — and celebrates an open-air Mass at the Monument of the Spaniards. Córdoba follows Tuesday and Luján Wednesday. — Vatican News · [ES] La Nación (schedule) · AFP
• From the Holy See Press Office, Nov. 8: farewell from Uruguay, a stop on the way to Florida, and a meeting with fellow Augustinians. Leo prayed at Santa Teresita parish and greeted about 2,000 people en route to Florida; at Montevideo he took leave of President Yamandú Orsi and sent him a farewell telegram thanking Uruguay for its “warm reception”; and in Buenos Aires he met privately with members of the Augustinian Order at the nunciature. — Farewell and arrival (Holy See Press Office) · Florida Mass account · Casa Rosada account
• [IT] Leo names Bishop Abel Apigo of Mati archbishop of Davao, Philippines. Today’s bulletin, the only entry so far, reports that the pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop Romulo Valles and transferred Apigo, 58, a longtime rector of Davao’s regional seminary, to lead the archdiocese. — Holy See Press Office
• Tornielli: Leo’s Uruguay vigil asks whether believers themselves make room for Christ. Vatican News editorial director Andrea Tornielli reflects on the pope’s Bethlehem image for secular societies, from Saturday’s stadium vigil. Where Peter Is excerpted the passage (“Is there room for him?”). — Vatican News · Where Peter Is
• Leo voted in the U.S. midterms but not in Peru. What does that say about papal identity? Justin McLellan looks at the debate over the first documented vote by a sitting pope, ahead of Leo’s visit to his adopted country. — National Catholic Reporter

United States

• Democrats with a Christian message helped flip Congress. AP reports on candidates who spoke openly about faith in winning races across the country in last week’s midterms. — AP via Crux
• New York archdiocese joins sisters’ lawsuit against assisted suicide. Global Sisters Report’s Monday roundup also notes that the Sisters of Charity of New York were “troubled” by bishops’ photo-op with President Trump, and a new coordinator for Mexico’s office on women religious’ health. — Global Sisters Report via NCR (Rhina Guidos)

Around the World

• Belarus sentences Catholic priest who opposed the Ukraine war to three years. Fr. Anatoly Parakhnevich, 66, who helped Ukrainian refugees, was convicted of “insulting the authorities” and “extremism” in a closed-door trial; the Viasna rights group calls him a political prisoner. — AP via National Catholic Reporter
• 80 Spanish Civil War martyrs beatified in Santander. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, representing Leo, beatified Francisco González de Córdova and 79 companions, calling holiness “the common vocation of every baptized person.” — Vatican News
• [ES] Sisters and religious march against pollution from El Salvador’s megaprison. Residents near the Cecot prison say their water changed color and smell after its construction. — Global Sisters Report (Rhina Guidos)

Liturgy and Church Life

• Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. The Church worldwide marks the dedication of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome — this year celebrated while the pope is on pilgrimage in Argentina. — USCCB readings

Video and Podcasts

• Colleen Dulle on papal politics and Peru. America’s Vatican correspondent and Inside the Vatican co-host analyzes the trip’s Argentina leg on France 24. — France 24
• Third Space: Marcus Mescher on “deformed consciences.” WPI co-founder Paul Fahey talks with the Xavier University ethicist about moral injury and Magnifica Humanitas on ecclesial repentance and renewal. — Third Space

Commentary

• Opinion: Newly beatified Sheen deserves a closer look by all. David Mihalyfy reflects on the joyful, unpolarized beatification day in St. Louis and on lesser-known sides of Fulton Sheen — his care for ex-Communist Bella Dodd, his Byzantine-rite practice, and his Vatican II plea for poverty. — Where Peter Is
• Opinion: Not from the pulpit. Msgr. Arthur Holquin responds to a widely shared post-election homily by Fr. Chris Alar, arguing it misstated Church teaching and set aside the day’s readings. — Liturgy and Truth
• Opinion: The elected now face the challenge of governing. Fr. Thomas Reese says politics as usual will not serve the country after the midterms. — Religion News Service via NCR

Also today

• Pope wraps up Uruguay visit and heads to most fraught stop of his tour in Milei’s Argentina — Nicole Winfield, Nayara Batschke, and Isabel Debre, AP (via Crux)
• [ES] Pope Leo XIV meets Milei at the Casa Rosada at the start of his Argentina visit — EFE
• Kraków shooting suspect who killed six has died, say police — Angela Giuffrida, The Guardian
• Argentina welcomes Pope Leo XIV — Fr. Paul Samasumo, Vatican News
• Ahead of COP31, climate disruptions in Africa force children out of school — Doreen Ajiambo, Global Sisters Report
• USCCB and CRS call on world leaders to act decisively at COP31 — USCCB
• Podcast: “Jesus doesn’t win by violence, only by nonviolence,” says John Ashworth — John Dear, National Catholic Reporter

How do we prepare for Jesus' return

 

How do we prepare for Jesus' return according to Paul in 1 Thess 5?

How should we interpret the 'times and the seasons' as we look for the return of Jesus? Paul actually gives a very clear answer!   The lectionary reading for the Second Sunday before Advent in Year A is 1 Thess 5.1–11.   It forms a pair with last week’s reading; then, Paul explored the hope of Jesus’ return in relation to those who had died, now he considers its significance for those who remain alive.   Paul draws on the metaphors of being awake or asleep, sober or drunk, being children of the day or children of the night. In doing so, he is drawing extensively on the teaching of Jesus—especially in the image of the thief coming unexpectedly in the night—which the Thessalonians are clearly familiar with.   And all in all, Paul is concerned that our hope of Jesus’ return is not a matter for speculation, but of pastoral encouragement.   Notes on the Greek text are included below.   The gospel reading is closely related, being Matthew 25.14-30, the parable of the talents—in which the master returns at an unexpected time!   Written commentary can be found here, and the video discussion here. https://youtu.be/6RZBfTXmKAo