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Pope Francis Set to be First Pontiff to Visit Bahrain

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis intends to visit the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain Nov. 3-6.

The trip would make him the first pope to visit the archipelago nation in the Persian Gulf.

“Accepting the invitation of the civil and ecclesial authorities, Pope Francis will make the announced apostolic journey,” visiting the capital of Manama and the city of Awali, said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, in a written statement Sept. 28.

The focus of the visit will be the “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence.” Details of the trip were to be published later.

The new Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral was consecrated in December in Awali, which lies 16 miles south of Manama. It is now the largest cathedral in the Persian Gulf region. Previously, Bahrain only had one church in the capital, Manama, and a chapel in the suburbs to serve the country’s more than 90,000 Catholics.

Bahrain, a tiny, predominantly Muslim, island nation — smaller in area than London — and a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, built the new church in response to the Gulf region’s increasing Catholic population, now estimated at 2.5 million. The cathedral seats 2,300 worshippers and serves the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and formally, Saudi Arabia.

Catholics in Bahrain hail mainly from the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka. South Americans, Europeans and Arabs from the Levant region account for the rest of the island’s Christian population.

Father Saji Thomas, cathedral project leader and parish priest, told reporters in December that the cathedral was “a model of religious harmony, a sign of the tolerance of the kingdom of Bahrain and a great example of peaceful coexistence to the world.” The land was donated by Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa nine years ago.

The king had invited Pope Francis to visit, underlining the importance placed on interfaith dialogue and understanding among different cultures and civilizations. The king also endorsed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, signed in Abu Dhabi Feb. 4, 2019, by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt.

Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall in Florida

The monster storm was packing winds of around 155 miles per hour as it made landfall in Florida on Wednesday – and time is up for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate.

Tonight on Currents News: Protecting the Wildlife

Prospect Park is home to hundreds of species of birds, but those that live in the lake are especially susceptible to the dangers of fishing and litter.

That’s why volunteers like Mary Beth Artz are dedicated to protecting them.

Mary Beth has built a community around caring for these swans, geese, and ducks.

Her two groups, Wild for Prospect Park and Swan Squad, check in on the animals daily and have made more than 31 rescues this year alone.

On Wednesday, September 28 at 7:00pm on NET-TV, Currents News will feature Mary Beth’s story and how her mission to care for God’s creatures has evolved over the years.

Pope Francis Encourages Businesses to be Flexible with Pregnant Women and Working Mothers

By Jessica Easthope

Ileana Tavarez’s day starts with a drive from her home in Williamsburg to East New York. There, she unbuckles three car seats to take her kids all under the age of three to daycare. And after a few kisses goodbye – she’s off to work as the administrative assistant to the Vicar General for the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Ileana is part of the more than 70 percent of mothers with kids under the age of 18 in the country’s workforce.

“I wake up and I tell myself you have to do this for them and once you see their little faces in the morning you’re like yeah it’s worth it,” said Ileana.

Ileana’s a single mom and the main provider for her kids. Her flexible workplace knowing her kids are the priority has made it possible for her to have it all, career and family.

“They expect you to take care of your kid first and everything else comes second, I’m very happy with them here at the Diocese,” she said.

During the pandemic’s “Great Resignation” 4.4 million Americans left the workforce. Among them – mothers who cited the financial burden of childcare, the gender pay gap and lack of breastfeeding accommodation.

“I feel like there are a lot of other jobs who don’t see it that way that women are needed and that mothers specifically are needed in their place of work and they are,” Ileana said.

For Ileana, working for the church has shed light on how much needs to change. For the last 70 years birth rates have decreased worldwide with a total 50 percent decline. Pope Francis said the alarming reality many women face is that their jobs will be in jeopardy or they won’t be able to continue working after they give birth. The holy father said the solution is a more supportive and tolerant environment.

“Not a lot of jobs are flexible and I’m sure there are a lot of women struggling but with Pope Francis encouraging people, it makes me feel like someone is listening to us, to our cries, saying help because we need to work,” she said.

Ileana feels empowered in both of her roles. And wants her example to do just that for others.

“I think I’m being a role model to mothers who think it’s not possible, I hope I am,” she said. “It’s hard but it’s doable.”

When she’s at work she’s able to be laser focused, and every minute is another one closer to when her next job as a mom begins.

Florida Bishop Invites All to Pray for God’s Protection From Hurricane Ian

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CNS) — As the Tampa Bay area on Florida’s west coast prepared for what was expected to be a direct hit from Hurricane Ian, Bishop Gregory L. Parkes of St. Petersburg invited all in the diocese to pray to God “for the protection of life and property as we face this serious threat.”

“As Hurricane Ian approaches our area, as we make our final preparations, and as we begin to feel the effects of the storm, I invite you to pray with me,” he said in a video message released Sept. 27 to the diocese, which includes Tampa.

“Loving God, maker of heaven and earth, protect us in your love and mercy. Send the spirit of Jesus to be with us to still our fears and to give us confidence. In the stormy waters, Jesus reassured his disciples by his presence, calmed the storm and strengthened their faith,” he prayed.

“Guard us from harm during the storm and renew our faith to serve you faithfully. Give us the courage to face all difficulties and the wisdom to see the ways your Spirit binds us together in mutual assistance,” he continued. “With confidence, we make our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”

News reports said Hurricane Ian hit the western side of Cuba early Sept. 27, moving north and growing in strength to a Category 3 storm with 125 mph sustained winds. The National Hurricane Center predicted the storm would grow bigger before making landfall on Florida “likely near Tampa Bay” late Sept. 28 or Sept. 29.

Bishop Parkes is the spiritual leader of 500,000 Catholics who live along Florida’s Suncoast, Tampa Bay and the Nature Coast.

“May God bless you and stay safe,” he said in his message.

The bishop’s prayer was airing on the radio on Tampa’s Spirit FM 90.5 starting Sept. 27. A video was emailed to pastors at the Catholic parishes in the diocese and to 11,000 parishioners.

It also was posted on the diocese’s Facebook page, which has 13,000 fans, and on the diocesan website, https://www.dosp.org, and its YouTube channel.

Golden-Voiced Tenor Macchio Honored to Perform at Emmaus Center

By John Alexander

While Christopher Macchio is a world-renowned tenor who has performed in some of the most esteemed venues around the globe, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theater, and the White House, he holds a special place in his heart for the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Emmaus Center.

The Manhattan School of Music Conservatory graduate has entertained presidents and kings and has helped bring his faith-based music to the masses. Whether he’s performing the great pop standards of legends like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, classical and opera pieces by Mario Lanza and Luciano Pavarotti, or the more contemporary works of artists like Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, and Michael Buble, Macchio has mastered the art of bringing music that matters most to him to a new generation.

Macchio attended Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Holbrook, New York, and first realized that he could sing as a young man but had kept it a secret for most of his childhood.

He said that when he was 15 years old, he had to take a chorus class at Sachem High School in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, to fulfill state school requirements.

“The teacher asked us each to sing solo, and at first, I refused,” Macchio recalled. “I was so deathly afraid of singing in front of people that I wouldn’t do it. But he pulled me aside at the end of class and asked me to sing a song for him.”

After singing “Try to Remember” from The Fantasticks, Macchio said the teacher was impressed by what he heard, telling him he “had a gift from God and an obligation to share that gift.” Macchio took his teacher’s words to heart, and his entire life changed from that moment forward.

Macchio’s diverse song repertoire includes everything from standards like “New York, New York,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “That’s Amore,” and “The Way You Look Tonight,” to traditional Christian hymns like “The Lord’s Prayer” and “Ave Maria.” He is passionate about the music he selects.

“The thing is, we all recognize that music has the power to penetrate the depths of the soul in a way that very few other stimuli have the power to do,” he said. “For example, patients with dementia who don’t even recognize their own children can recognize a song from 60 years ago.”

He also believes that even when he’s singing to an ostensibly secular audience, it’s important to show your faith in a public forum.

“I want people to know that I’m not beating you over the head with religious dogma, but there is something that is so worthwhile and so uplifting in those religious songs,” he added. “I tell people that I’m going to start my program with “The Lord’s Prayer” out of respect for where all of the wonderful bounty that we enjoy ultimately comes from.”

Macchio feels that his God-given talent allows him the opportunity to appeal to people’s emotions.

“That’s really what I’m endeavoring to do, to move people, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually to the best of my abilities,” he added.

Macchio was signed by EMI Records in 2011 and has released his newer albums on his own label, including the EP “Dolci Momenti” (Sweet Moments), the Christmas album “O Holy Night” and “O, America,” his more recent collaboration with the New York Tenors featuring Andy Cooney and Daniel Rodriguez that features the single, “I Won’t Turn My Back On You.” Macchio has also worked with Rod Stewart and acclaimed composer — and Andrea Bocelli record producer — David Foster.

In addition to his sold-out concert performances, Macchio will be featured in two upcoming movies, an untitled film about the life of Mother Cabrini, starring Emmy Award winner John Lithgow, and Don Q, in which he stars alongside another Emmy Award-winning actor Armand Assante.

Macchio said that he feels a special connection with the Emmaus Center because he believes it has a mission to use art and culture to bring people to a place where they can rekindle or explore their faith.

“If I can play a role in crafting and curating a compelling enough series of experiences in that space over time, people will look forward to going there for something more elevated, for something more meaningful, more substantial,” he said, “so that when they do come to the Emmaus Center, the hope is that they will deepen their existing faith.”

The Emmaus Center is a world-class performing arts theater housed in the Historic Williamsburg Opera House, that was built in 1897 and renovated in 2020 and 2021. Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello had a lot to do with the restoration and reemergence of the 800-seat theater, which is situated above Ss. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church and located at 299 Berry Street in Williamsburg.

“I am so inspired by what Msgr. Jamie has accomplished with the center so far, and what he hopes to accomplish in the future,” Macchio said.

“We want to schedule as many events as we can to promote the center and to evangelize,” said Msgr. Gigantiello. “That’s why we want to include religious and cultural as well as community events. So, we put this event in October to really highlight Italian culture during Italian heritage month. And the Emmaus Center was a great place to do it.”

Msgr. Gigantiello said that Macchio has a fantastic voice and a large following.

“We thought this would be a really nice event to host and to promote Italian culture and to also reach out to many of our Italian benefactors and people who really help us out at the center, as well as introducing others to what the center has to offer.”

Additionally, Msgr. Gigantiello explained that Macchio would be the main entertainer at the center’s upcoming Christmas show, which he said would include top-tier pop, rock, and Christian music performers.

“The Emmaus Center is a gem in our diocese,” added Msgr. Gigantiello. “And we really want to see it as a place where people can encounter Jesus through the arts.”

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 09/27/22

Pope Francis is asking businesses to support pregnant women and working mothers, calling it a pro-life issue. We’ll speak with one mom of three to find out how she does it all.

Hurricane Ian continues to intensify as it makes its way toward Florida.

Tunnel to Towers Annual 5k Retraces Steps of Fallen 9/11 Hero

Thousands of runners hit the streets of New York City for the Tunnel to Towers run on Sunday.

The annual 5k retraces the steps of fallen firefighter Stephen Siller, who on 9/11 ran from Brooklyn, through the Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center.

The race honors the 343 FDNY heroes, along with law enforcement members and others killed on September 11th.

This year the organizers also honored some U.S. service members. The money raised helps first responders and wounded veterans.

Analysis: Did Italy’s Elections Identify the Country’s ‘Pope Francis’ Party?

By John L. Allen Jr.

ROME (Crux) — By sheer coincidence, Pope Francis spent last Sunday in southern Italy, in the city of Matera, which has long been a symbol of the poverty and neglect that’s enveloped Italia meridionale, meaning the southern part of the country since the theoretical unification of the nation in 1870.

Sunday was also the day Italians went to the polls to elect a new government, and it’s entirely possible that the pope’s southern hosts that day may just have identified the “Pope Francis” party in national affairs.

At the big-picture level, the main international headline from Sunday’s results has been the sweeping victory for post-fascist politician Giorgia Meloni and her conservative “Brothers of Italy” party, making Italy the latest instance of a broader European trend towards nationalist right-wing populism.

Although Pope Francis and his Vatican team have kept a deliberately low profile, presumably, he isn’t thrilled with the result since the rise of this sort of populism has been a recurrent source of anxiety for the pontiff.

That outcome, however, was widely foreseen. To the extent there was a surprise, it was an unexpected comeback for Italy’s “Five Star Movement,” which was founded in 2009 as an insurgent anti-establishment progressive force but went into government in 2018 and quickly lost much of its cachet. Although the movement lost half of its national vote compared to four years ago, politics is about perception as much as reality.

Heading into Sunday’s vote, the Five Stars, now led by former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, were forecast at around 10% nationally. Instead, they garnered a robust 16%, right on the heels of the 19% claimed by the establishment Democratic Party, making them the third-largest political party in the country.

Most strikingly, the Five Star Movement emerged as the de facto new governing party in the Italian south. They were the top vote-getters in each of the seven southern provinces of Basilicata (where Matera is located), Campania, Calabria, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia, and Sicily.

Those regions were the component parts of the “Kingdom of Two Sicilies” that ruled southern Italy prior to unification with a strongly Catholic monarchy. It was where Pope Pius IX, for example, took refuge in 1848 when he was driven out of Rome by a brief-lived revolution, and to this day, levels of religious practice across the south, including weekly Mass attendance, remain higher than in the more secularized north.

By all accounts, what propelled the Five Star Movement to its southern victory was support for the so-called reddito di cittadinanza, or “citizen’s income,” basically a minimum income law. At the moment, a low-income family with three kids could qualify for up to 10,000 tax-free Euro a year, depending on eligibility requirements.

The reditto di cittadinanza was originally proposed by the Five Star Movement and adopted when it was in power in 2019. Conte made defending the minimum income the party’s signature issue in the elections and given disproportionately high poverty rates in the south, it’s understandable why that position played well.

To the extent a “Pope Francis vote” was revealed in these elections, one can assemble a strong case that the Five Stars are its logical carriers.

To begin with, Pope Francis is a pope of the peripheries, and in Italy, that’s the south. He’s also a strong supporter of progressive popular movements, which is how the Five Stars were born. He supports precisely the sort of state intervention in the economy on behalf of the poor that the reditto di cittadinanza represents.

For bonus points, Conte himself is a practicing Catholic and a devotee of Padre Pio, whose uncle was a Capuchin friar and a former aide to the famed mystic and healer at his shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo — which, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, is located in the Apulia region in southern Italy.

For still additional reinforcement, consider that the Five Star Movement was formally launched by ex-comic Beppe Grillo on Oct. 4, 2009, on the Feast of St. Francis. Grillo himself, seizing upon a standard reference to Francis of Assisi as the “madman of God,” famously declared in 2016 that “Pope Francis is one of us.”

In fact, polls show that practicing Catholics, meaning those who go to Mass at least once a week, constitute somewhere between 16% and 20% of the Five Star Movement, which is fairly high by the standards of Italian political parties.

To be sure, not all is sweetness and light in terms of the relationship between the Five Stars and the Italian Church.

Like any predominantly leftist party, there are stiffly secularist and even anti-clerical elements within the Five Stars. There are also few ethical themes in Italian politics, from euthanasia to same-sex marriage, where the official positions of the party and those of the leadership of the Church aren’t in strong contrast.

Yet one of the major themes of last Sunday’s vote, noted by commentators of all political stripes, was the relative absence of avowedly Catholic voices in the debate; one noted pundit actually referred to the “disappearance” of the Church from political life.

Only time will tell if that obituary was premature or if what the elections actually did was to identify, and actually to reward, the lone plausible repository of something akin to a Pope Francis agenda.

Should the Five Stars take a few steps in that direction, Italy could become a very interesting laboratory experiment indeed.