Middle Eastern Catholics in Brooklyn are praying for peace in Lebanon as violence escalates overseas.
Investigators are treating an attempted bomb attack outside Gracie Mansion as an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism.
The Diocese of Brooklyn’s Lenten Pilgrimage continued at St. Columba Church with Bishop Robert Brennan celebrating Mass and leading prayer.
By Currents News
Mourners gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pay tribute to salsa legend Willie Colón, a Bronx-born musician who helped define the sound of urban salsa and left an enduring mark on New York City and beyond.
Colón produced more than 40 albums and sold millions of records worldwide.
A proud New Yorker, his music and legacy continued to resonate deeply with fans and the broader community.
The service marked a final farewell to the artist, remembered by Currents News and The Tablet as a friend whose contributions shaped generations of listeners.
By Katie Vasquez
Parishioners at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights gathered in prayer as they reflected on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, a crisis many say feels deeply personal.
“My town came on the list to evacuate. Some people hesitate, some people they wanted to remain,” said Bassem Diab, a parishioner at the cathedral.
Bassem and fellow parishioner Phillip Diab say they are closely watching developments as Israel continues launching strikes on Lebanon and Iran. From Brooklyn, both remain in constant contact with relatives overseas, checking in frequently to make sure their loved ones are safe.
“They kind of had like a little meeting, that we want to remain in our land. We are peaceful people,” Bassem told Currents News. “:We mean no harm to anyone, you know. And that’s one of the reasons they decided to stay,”
Phillip Diab said distance has not lessened the emotional weight of the situation.
“They’re far from us, but they’re with us every minute,” he said. “We check the news, we check social media. What’s up. We speak with people who decided to stay in the village — and our hearts, our prayers are with them.”
Bassem Diab has lived in New York since 1994, but said his bond with his hometown of Ain Ebel remains strong.
“It kind of hit me in the heart,” he said. “Because when you see your town or the neighboring town — that’s Lebanon. That’s the mother we had.”
President Donald Trump has said he will decide along with Israel when the war will end. On Friday, the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon issued a statement calling for peace.
Bishop Gregory Mansour of the Maronite Catholic Eparchy said the leaders are urging the international community to work toward an end to the violence.
“They don’t take one side or another, but they say the world is really, really longing for a day in which people can live in peace,” Mansour said. “And they’re calling upon everybody to do what they can to bring a swift end to this horrible situation.”
It is a call for peace that Middle Eastern Catholics like Bassem and Phillip Diab say they share.
“All I can do is pray and try to let my voice be heard,” Bassem Diab said.
“We’re always looking for peace,” Phillip Diab added. “You know, we have no bad intention. We love our neighbors. We want to stay in peace with everybody.”
By Currents News and Courtney Mares
ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has named Archbishop Gabriele Caccia as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, selecting a seasoned diplomat to serve as a crucial liaison between Rome and the pope’s home country.
The Vatican announced the appointment of the new apostolic nuncio March 7, naming Archbishop Caccia, 68, to succeed Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who turned 80 in January and had served in the post since 2016.
A nuncio is a Vatican diplomatic representative with the rank of ambassador. He acts as both the Holy See’s ambassador to the government and its representative to the Catholic Church in the host country, maintaining ties between local bishops and Rome.
Archbishop Caccia, a native of Milan, already has significant experience in the United States, having served as the permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York since 2020.
As papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Caccia will play a key role in the selection process for U.S. bishop appointments and will serve as a point of contact between the bishops and clergy in the United States and the pope, in addition to carrying out the diplomatic tasks of a foreign ambassador serving in the United States.
Like his predecessor, Archbishop Caccia will serve as the pope’s key contact with President Donald Trump’s administration at a time when the administration’s immigration policies have been increasingly met by resistance by the U.S. bishops.
Archbishop Caccia in a March 7 statement said he was “honored and deeply humbled by the decision of the Holy Father to appoint me as Apostolic Nuncio to the Country and the Church where he himself was born and raised.”
“I receive this mission with both joy and a sense of trepidation, conscious of the great trust placed in me and of my own limitations, yet confident in His Holiness’s prayerful support and guidance,” the archbishop said.
During his years of service at the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Caccia said, he has experienced “warmth and openness” from the local Church, the government and the people of the United States. “I trust that their generosity and collaboration will assist me in carrying out this new mission at the service of communion and peace.”
Archbishop Caccia invoked “the blessings of Almighty God” on all, “especially in this year that marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America.”
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, welcomed the appointment on behalf of his brother bishops.
“I wish to extend our warmest welcome and our prayerful support to him as he carries out his responsibilities across the United States, and we look forward to working with him,” the archbishop said in a statement.
Archbishop Coakley also expressed his “sincere and prayerful appreciation” to Cardinal Pierre, noting his “many opportunities to work with Cardinal Pierre over the years, particularly over the last four months through the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” since the Oklahoma prelate’s election in November as USCCB president.
“Thank you, Your Eminence, for your tireless service to the Church in the United States, and on behalf of my brother bishops, I offer our heartfelt prayers and best wishes in your retirement,” Archbishop Coakley said.
Archbishop Caccia is a career Vatican diplomat trained at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He holds a doctorate in sacred theology and a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
His previous diplomatic posts include serving as apostolic nuncio to the Philippines and Lebanon, and earlier as an attaché in Tanzania. He also worked as assessor for general affairs in the Secretariat of State under St. John Paul II in Rome.
Cardinal Pierre, who spent nearly five decades in Vatican diplomatic service, earned widespread respect among U.S. bishops for identifying episcopal candidates who embodied Pope Francis‘ priorities while avoiding polarization. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2023 and is expected to divide his retirement between his native France and Rome.
The United States and the Holy See have maintained formal diplomatic relations since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan and St. John Paul II established full ties. However, the relationship dates back to the U.S. founding, when Benjamin Franklin conveyed a message from George Washington to Pope Pius VI in 1788, affirming that the new republic’s commitment to religious liberty meant no government role in appointing bishops.
The U.S. maintained consular relations with the Papal States from 1797 and diplomatic relations from 1848 to 1867, though not at the ambassadorial level. Congress banned funding for Vatican relations in 1867, a move partly driven by anti-Catholic sentiment. For more than a century afterward, contact relied on personal envoys, including during World War II, until Reagan and John Paul II restored formal ties.
The current Rome-based U.S. ambassador to the Holy See is Ambassador Brian Burch, who presented his credentials to Pope Leo XIV in September.
By Currents News and Michael Rizzo
QUEENS VILLAGE — The NYPD Brooklyn and Queens Holy Name Society’s 104th Communion Breakfast took on an ecumenical air as the society honored Rabbi Alvin Kass, the late chief chaplain of the NYPD.
Rabbi Kass, who died last October, was posthumously honored at the March 8 breakfast with the society’s Paul Hargrove Award for “cop of the year.” Rabbi Kass was appointed to the NYPD in 1966 and held the post until his death, making him the most tenured chaplain in the department’s history.
In presenting the award, the society’s president, Officer Thomas Dugan, said Rabbi Kass was a “spiritual leader, counselor, and steadfast source of strength” to the NYPD.
Accepting the award were the rabbi’s three children, Sarah, Daniel, and Lewis.
“Dad used to say that he held the record for the most Masses that a rabbi has ever attended,” Lewis said. “So, this is just in keeping with what he always believed in.
“He never saw differences in human beings.”
“I think he considered his job ecumenical,” added Daniel, recounting the story of his father attending the wake of a police officer’s mother and praying the Jewish prayer for the dead even though the officer’s family was not Jewish.
“I think that symbolized everything that he believed this job could be, which was a job where everyone stood by each other with a common mission to care for the people of the city of New York,” he said.
RELATED: NYPD Names Cardinal Dolan Co-Chief of Chaplains
Msgr. Robert Romano, spiritual director of the Brooklyn and Queens Holy Name Society and an NYPD assistant chief chaplain, said Rabbi Kass’ attendance at so many of the annual breakfasts reflected his thinking of every NYPD member as family.
“We’re different religions, we’re different nationalities, different colors. But when it comes to something important, we’re all one family,” said Msgr. Romano, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Bensonhurst. “When we get a signal 10-13, which means a police officer needs help, they don’t stop to ask, ‘who is it,’ and ‘what nationality’ … they go. And that’s what it is, family.”
Frank Seddio, who sponsors one of the society’s $1,000 scholarship awards, said Rabbi Kass was “totally dedicated to his job.”
“All of us gained from him being with us,” he said.
Police Officer Michael Sloan and Lieutenant David Cuce, both NYPD, received posthumous awards at the breakfast, as well. New York City Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry, who grew up in the Parish of Incarnation-St. Gerard Majella in Queens Village, as Person of the Year.
Hendry said it was an honor to be recognized alongside Rabbi Kass at the same event.
“When I became the president of the PBA, he always was saying that I’m here for you. I’m here for the organization,” Hendry told The Tablet. “He was there for all police officers.”
In his remarks to attendees, Hendry emphasized how his upbringing in an Irish-Catholic family affected his life and his work as a police officer.
“Hard work, faith, and being a good person were the values instilled in me by my parents, and I live by those same values every day,” he said. “The values we share as police officers are the same as those shared by the society, and they are stronger than those trying to tear us down.”
Before the breakfast, Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Queens Village, which nearly 400 people attended. Officers wore their uniforms to Mass and then marched to nearby Antun’s banquet hall, led by the NYPD Emerald Society Pipes and Drums.
Dugan, who was baptized in Our Lady Help of Christians in Midwood, became the society’s current president in January after agreeing to put off retirement from the NYPD. He got emotional before the event when he spoke about accepting the role because of his love for the society and what it stands for.
“We’ve all come together because we’re Catholic, and being Catholic is important to all of us,” he said. “It’s important to celebrate the Catholic faith.”
By Katie Vasquez and Bill Miller
PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Michael La Civita recalled his first visit to the Grotto of the Nativity in 1991, joining other pilgrims crowding the spot to savor where Jesus entered the world, not to condemn, but to save it.
La Civita, of Brooklyn, is director of communications and marketing for Manhattan-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA). He said his 1991 visit to Bethlehem came just before the Middle East peace efforts of the Madrid Conference in late October and early November of 1991, and the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995.
“It was a different world then,” he recalled. “It looked to be an encouraging sign of peace between Palestinians and Israelis.”
La Civita said there were “huge numbers of pilgrims” in 1991, waiting in line to enter the grotto.
The opposite was true last September when La Civita visited Bethlehem with a contingent representing CNEWA and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“There were no pilgrims,” he lamented.
La Civita is also a lieutenant for the USA Eastern Lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. He blamed the ongoing conflict in Gaza for discouraging trips to the Holy Land.
Yet in this time of violence and displaced humanity, the caretakers of the grotto began its first renovations in some 600 years.
The repair work was announced in a joint statement on Jan. 24 by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land, a ministry of Franciscan friars that helps preserve sacred places like the Grotto of the Nativity and the complex church above it — the Church of the Nativity.
According to the joint statement, “This project embodies a unified Christian commitment to preserve the spiritual, historical, and cultural patrimony of the Holy Grotto for future generations, and to uphold the dignity of a site where the Christian proclamation took visible form.”
RELATED: Pope Marks 800th Anniversary of Nativity Scene, Asks Prayers for Holy Land
Humble Beginnings
The grotto’s significance to Christianity is noted in the Bible.
In John 3:17 — a single verse that is one of the most-quoted scriptures of all time — John explains that God didn’t send his son to condemn the world, but to save it.
This transpired through the “Incarnation” — God’s fusing of his spirit with human flesh, which resulted in the “Nativity” of the Christ.
The stage was set for Jesus’ ministry, the sacrifice of his blood, and the resurrection, all to fulfill the proclamation that whoever “believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3:16).”
Therefore, the grotto — a cave turned into a humble stable for livestock in Bethlehem — became so revered that Christians built the Basilica of the Nativity over it. For centuries, it has been among the Holy Land’s top tourist destinations.
Children of Abraham
La Civita explained that Muslims also cherish the grotto because Jesus is considered a prophet in Islam. The point was reinforced for him during his 1991 visit.
“There were huge numbers of pilgrims,” he said, “not only pilgrims from overseas, but local pilgrims — Christian and Muslim — who waited in line in the basilica to enter the grotto.
“I make that point because many Muslim families, young families in particular, visit the grotto to pray for similar reasons as so many of our people.”
He said many people of diverse faiths are tolerant of each other’s customs and holy sites, despite ongoing violence in the region.
“They know,” La Civita said, “because we are of the same children, sons and daughters, of Abraham — Christians, Jews and Muslims.”
Still, the ongoing violence has devastated Israel’s tourism industry, La Civita said, even though there are no government bans on travel.
“But,” he added, “there are plenty of things in place that prevent one from making a pilgrimage. One of the most significant ones, of course, is the fear of being caught in the crosshairs.”
Goosebumps
Peter Bahou has a unique understanding of the ongoing violence. He is president and owner of Peter’s Way Tours in Melville, Long Island, and has been organizing pilgrimages for 40 years.
Bahou, a Catholic, is also a native of Israel who, as a boy, frequently visited the grotto.
He said the renovations are important to keep people returning to the grotto and experiencing its spiritual power.
He said many people are moved by the stories of saints associated with the site, such as St. Jerome, who translated scripture into Latin while living there.
Bahou recalled one of his early pilgrimages, when a woman collapsed, weeping profusely. He rushed to help her, but an accompanying priest told him she was OK — just overwhelmed by the site’s sacred atmosphere.
“A lot of people go there just as a site to visit while in Bethlehem,” Bahou said. “But the faithful — when I see these pilgrims, it feels like goosebumps coming to me.”
By Katie Vasquez
As airstrikes continue across Iran and violence reaches Lebanon, members of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral are watching with heavy hearts — praying for peace and for the safety of loved ones still in the Middle East.
By Currents News
New York’s Catholic station, NET TV, is premiering a special, “Meet Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez of Palm Beach” on Friday, March 6, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez is the new leader of the Florida Catholic community. He brings with him the same apostolic zeal that supported parishioners in Brooklyn and Queens.
Take a look at his journey from Queens pastor to Palm Beach shepherd.
This newscast features:
By Katie Vasquez
Students at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Academy in Queens marked Black History Month with a vibrant Caribbean-inspired celebration featuring soca music, carnival dancers, and traditional foods. The event highlighted cultural pride, diversity, and the shared heritage of many families in the school community.