April 5, 2026 // National

News Briefs: April 5, 2026

OSV NEWS

OSV News photo/Jose Cabezas, Reuters
Worshippers hold palm fronds during the Palm Sunday procession outside El Calvario Chapel in Nahuizalco, El Salvador, on Sunday, March 29. In his first Palm Sunday homily, Pope Leo XIV delivered a strong message of peace, presenting Jesus as the “King of Peace” who rejects violence and stands with all who suffer. “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the pope said, adding, “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’ (Is 1:15).” Preaching in St. Peter’s Square, the pope described Christ as a victim of unjust violence who never took up arms and who embraces all human suffering on the cross. “Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters,” Pope Leo said.

Archbishop Sheen to Be Beatified September 24 in St. Louis

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on September 24, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints announced on Wednesday, March 25. The beatification will take place in St. Louis, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect for the Dicastery for Evangelization, presiding. In a statement, Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, said the beatification will take place at 2 p.m. CT at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. On February 9, the Diocese of Peoria had announced that the Vatican had given the green light for the beatification of Archbishop Sheen to move forward. “With anticipation of a great number of people wanting to participate, we chose this location because of availability, being indoors, and the close proximity to the Diocese of Peoria,” Bishop Tylka said. He added that a “number of events in Peoria” will be held “to celebrate this wonderful occasion.” “This is a moment of immense grace for the Church, especially for us in the Diocese of Peoria, where Archbishop Sheen was born, ordained, and first served as a priest,” the bishop said. Msgr. Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies USA, received the news of the beatification date with “indescribable joy.” Archbishop Sheen led the Pontifical Mission Societies USA from 1950 to 1966.

Holy Week Liturgies Allowed at Holy Sites After Leaders Barred on Palm Sunday

JERUSALEM (OSV News) – The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an agreement with Israeli authorities will allow Holy Week and Easter liturgies at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, after Catholic leaders were initially barred on Palm Sunday. In a March 30 statement, Church officials said access is now secured for clergy, though wartime limits on public gatherings remain, with celebrations livestreamed worldwide. The dispute followed a March 29 incident in which Israeli police blocked Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Father Francesco Ielpo, drawing global backlash. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, expressed regret, citing security concerns tied to missile threats. World leaders, including Emmanuel Macron and Pedro Sánchez, condemned the move as a violation of religious freedom. Israeli officials later reversed course, while Pizzaballa described the episode as a misunderstanding, urging respect for both safety and the right to worship. Cardinal Pizzaballa sought to ease tensions in the aftermath of the incident. In an interview with TV2000, the television network owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, the Latin patriarch said the incident was the result of a “misunderstanding.” “There were no clashes; everything was done very politely. I don’t want to force things; we want to use this situation to better clarify in the coming days what to do, respecting everyone’s safety but also respecting the right to prayer,” he said.

Pope Leo Urges Monaco to Defend Life, Serve Poor

MONACO (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV used his first visit to Monaco on Saturday, March 28, to challenge the wealthy principality to center its life on the poor and the protection of human life, warning that the Last Judgment “places the poor at its center.” He added, “Within your community, many people hold positions of considerable influence in the economic and financial spheres,” the pope said from the Prince’s Palace, adding that the Kingdom of God “shakes up the unjust configurations of power.” Hosted by Monaco’s Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, the pope became the first in modern history to visit Monaco, arriving by helicopter for a quick 13-hour trip to the microstate – his first international journey of 2026. Entrusting the nation with “protecting every human life,” he urged Catholics to defend life “from conception until natural death” and resist secularism rooted in wealth and individualism. At the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Monaco-Ville, he called the faithful to “proclaim the Gospel of life, hope, and love.”

Cardinal Roche Says Liturgy Meant to Promote Unity

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Cardinal Arthur Roche is urging Catholics to see liturgical debates through the lens of unity, not personal preference. In a March 17 interview with OSV News at the Vatican, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship said the Mass is a communal act rooted in tradition, not something shaped by individual taste. His remarks follow renewed discussion over a document he shared with cardinals defending post–Vatican II reforms. Cardinal Roche emphasized that the Eucharist is “received” not reinvented, echoing St. Paul’s teachings. Liturgical abuses are not unique to the post–Second Vatican Council Mass but have existed throughout the Church’s history, going back to the time of “St. Paul in Corinth,” the cardinal said, adding that they are “always caused by lack of formation or a deep misunderstanding.” He acknowledged the appeal of the Latin Mass, citing its silence and reverence, but said those qualities should also mark the modern liturgy. Ultimately, Cardinal Roche warned that treating the liturgy as something to control risks losing sight of God and undermining Church unity.

Bishops Protest Mass Deportations in El Paso

EL PASO, Texas (OSV News) – On Tuesday, March 24, to commemorate the feast day of the martyr St. Oscar Romero, hundreds of people joined in a march and vigil calling for an end to mass deportations and mass detention led by El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz and other Catholic bishops, clergy, and organizations in El Paso. The region is home to Camp East Montana, one of the largest mass detention centers in the U.S. Bishop Seitz, who in March released a pastoral letter on mass deportations and detentions, led the march along with a number of fellow bishops, including Bishop Brendan J. Cahill of Victoria, Texas, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. “We are coming together to pray and to show our community’s concern. We hope it moves our leaders to think, maybe we’ve gone too far,” Bishop Seitz said in remarks reported by The Rio Grande Catholic, the El Paso Diocese’s news outlet. As a part of the commemoration of the feast of St. Oscar Romero, a first-class relic of a piece of a blood stained cloth from the martyr’s assassination day was on display during the march.

Vatican Affirms Anglican Heritage in Church

ROME (OSV News) – The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has released a document describing the “Anglican heritage” of the Catholic Church’s personal ordinariates as a permanent reality that makes a “distinctive contribution” to the Church’s evangelizing mission. Published on the dicastery’s website on Thursday, March 26, the document stressed that the Anglican patrimony of the ordinariates founded under Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is “a living reality” that “looks to the future in the transmission of the faith to future generations.” The document followed a March 1-3 meeting between the bishops leading the Catholic Church’s personal ordinariates and the head of the dicastery, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández. Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, who attended the meeting, told OSV News the Vatican document “affirms that there is a distinctive way that the faith was lived and celebrated and articulated in an English context, and that distinctive way is still valid and, in fact, fruitful for the evangelizing mission of the Church today.”