Over 1 million young people from all over the world came to Rome to celebrate their faith with Pope Leo XIV – including parishioners from the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Bishop Robert Brennan was right alongside the young people of Brooklyn and Queens in their journey. Now he’s sharing what it was like to be there with them.
A Catholic teen from Long Island also got the chance to see the Holy Father, and came home with a blessing he won’t soon forget.
Catholics in Haiti are calling for an end to bloodshed – for years, the country has been plagued by gang violence and political unrest.
In Argentina, a relic of the soon-to-be first millennial saint Blessed Carlo Actus was stolen from a Catholic church. The pastor is now pleading for the criminals to return it.
Pro-life Catholics in New York are condemning Planned Parenthood for asking for $35 million in state funds to offset Congress cutting Medicaid funding.
By Currents News and Paula Katinas
ALBANY — Calling it a “money grab,” the New York State Catholic Conference is responding to reports that Planned Parenthood is requesting $35 million in funding from New York State to help offset Medicaid funding cuts by the federal government.
“New York State taxpayers should not be forced to prop up a clearly failing organization, especially one whose main business is terminating unborn lives,” Kristen Curran, director of government relations for the Catholic conference, said in a statement.
Curran accused Planned Parenthood of being “a bottomless pit of spending to the detriment of the communities that truly need support,” noting that those communities include working families, hungry children, people with disabilities, and those with mental health issues.
“Enough is enough!” Curran said.
RELATED: Federal Judge Blocks Planned Parenthood Defunding Indefinitely
Planned Parenthood did not return The Tablet’s request for a comment. In statements to media outlets after the report came out, Planned Parenthood did not deny the $35 million request, but did say that “they are working with the state to make sure that 1.5 million New Yorkers don’t lose access to reproductive and sexual health care,” according to Spectrum News report.
The organization’s leaders, however, have previously expressed outrage when Congress passed a bill that included cutting the organization’s Medicaid funding. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in July.
Wendy Stark, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, called the bill “a targeted attack on Planned Parenthood health centers and patients who cannot afford health care.”
The funding cut notwithstanding, Stark vowed that the organization would “continue to show up for communities who rely on our health centers.”
Planned Parenthood has had a tumultuous year in New York. In March, the organization announced that it would close its last remaining health center in Manhattan at 26 Bleecker Street in NoHo.
RELATED: Pro-Life Vigil Celebrates Planned Parenthood Clinic Closure
At the time, Planned Parenthood claimed that the gap between the funds it spends to treat patients and the money the organization receives in Medicaid reimbursements is widening, which made difficult choices necessary.
“This is an emotional decision for us,” Stark said in a statement.
As of Aug. 11, the Bleecker Street location was still open, although Bernadette Patel, a pro-life advocate who led a prayer vigil outside the health center in April, said it was operating with reduced hours.
According to the New York State Catholic Conference, Planned Parenthood doesn’t deserve additional state funding because it already gets plenty of the taxpayers’ money.
“The abortion industry in New York is looking increasingly like an irresponsible and spoiled adolescent, spending its generous allowance too fast,” Curran said.
By Currents News
Flags of Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Croatia filled Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday, August 10.
As people do every week, thousands were gathered beneath the balcony of the Apostolic Palace to hear what Pope Leo XIV had to say.
After the Angelus prayer, the pope took a moment to comment on current international affairs.
The days prior had marked the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – the pontiff used the moment to call for peace.
“May those who make decisions always keep in mind their responsibility for the consequences of those decisions on populations,” he said. “May they not ignore the needs of the most vulnerable, nor the universal yearning for peace.”
Pope Leo also urged the international community to take action towards the end of conflict and violence in Haiti.
“The situation of the Haitian people is increasingly desperate. News of murders, all types of violence, human trafficking, forced exiles, and kidnappings is constant,” he said. “I make an urgent appeal to all responsible parties to immediately release the hostages, and I call on the international community for concrete support to create the social and institutional conditions that would allow Haitians to live in peace.”
On Sunday Pope Leo XIV also congratulated the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, who signed a peace agreement at the White House after years of conflict.
A Long Island scientist is sharing his lifelong research into the cloth he believes wrapped Jesus on the day of His crucifixion.
The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office has identified three more victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks through DNA testing.
Nearly 200 Catholic leaders and parishioners are meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah to talk about ways to make churches more accessible to people with disabilities.
St. Joseph’s Church in Maplewood, New Jersey, has created a sensory room inside its sanctuary, giving neurodivergent parishioners a calming space so they can fully participate in Mass.
Dorothy Day’s legacy of service is living on through the Catholic Worker Movement, a community that is meeting a growing need in New York City by feeding newly arrived migrants.
Catholic officials in Florida have been given the green light to offer pastoral care to the detainees in Alligator Alcatraz, the temporary detention center in the Everglades.
Nine people were taken from an orphanage in Haiti, including a three-year-old child. The search for them is ongoing.
An 11-year-old who is battling cancer got to live out his Red Sox baseball dream this week by throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park.
80 years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Catholic leaders are honoring victims and survivors with prayer and calling for nuclear disarmament.
The Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome is continuing a centuries-old tradition, marking the Marian miracle behind the feast of Our Lady of the Snows.
Pope Leo XIV is thanking the Knights of Columbus for their legacy of service and urging them to be signs of hope during their 143rd Supreme Convention.
After her newborn daughter was diagnosed with a rare illness called Powassan virus, a mother is raising awareness about the disease.
By Katie Vasquez
Pilgrims from across the Diocese of Brooklyn spent nine days in the Eternal City, joining together in prayer and fellowship with more than 1 million other young people.
“It was very uplifting to see the praise and the worship throughout the streets of Rome, and it’s my first time seeing this magnitude,” Luis Sanchez, a pilgrim from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Queens told Currents News.
For fellow Queens pilgrim Amy Vu, walking through the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s Basilica was an experience she will never forget.
“It felt like spiritually nurturing, but it’s also like I sometimes felt emotional from it,” said Vu.
JP Marasigan said his life-changing moment came before the Body of Christ, when thousands upon thousands of other Jubilee pilgrims went silent.
“It’s a testament to everyone that says that young people aren’t falling in love with Catholicism. To show them that yes, we are,” said Marasigan, a pilgrim from St. Mary Gate of Heaven Church in Queens.
Being so close to the first American Holy Father was a highlight for many.
“I couldn’t believe that I was looking at the pope, that was like 50 feet away from me,” Felicity Morel, a young pilgrim from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, told Currents News. “It was honestly amazing.”
“We were like, front row to see the pope. And then we celebrated Mass with the pope,” said Vu. “And that was like maybe a once or twice in a lifetime opportunity. So I’m really grateful to have experienced that.”
Morel said she was influenced by her time with Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan.
“Knowing that he was there, interacting with not only the other priests, but also all the young people. It was very comforting,” she said.
Now these young people hope to share what they have learned with other faithful.
“I think going to Mass every day and going to adoration that was led by the pope at the vigil was amazing,” added Morel. “And I really did feel like I did strengthen my love for the Eucharist.”
“One of the things that I don’t want to dwindle or lose is my faith. So I want to try to really, give back to the community and college and work on my faith,” said Vu.
Youth from the Diocese of Brooklyn are back from Rome, where they joined hundreds of thousands of other young Catholics for the Jubilee of Youth. Now, they’re reflecting on the spiritual impact of their pilgrimage.
Pope Leo XIV made a surprise visit to a young Spanish pilgrim who is in intensive care at the Vatican’s children’s hospital. He fell ill just before the Jubilee celebrations.
While in the Eternal City for the Jubilee of Youth, Bishop Robert Brennan recorded a special episode of his podcast “Big City Catholics,” offering a behind-the-scenes look at the pilgrimage.
For 35 years, 95-year-old Alice Tritle has brought music and healing to Mercy Medical Center in Iowa as a volunteer pianist — and although she’s retiring, she’s ending on a high note.
By Currents News
We’re sharing some of the best moments from the Jubilee of Youth.
Young people from the Diocese of Brooklyn united with fellow pilgrims in prayer and fellowship, walked through St. Peter’s Basilica’s Holy Doors, shared moments of silence before the Eucharist, and attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV.