Tag: mass

L.A. archbishop holds ‘Mass for Peace’ as students protest Trump immigration policies

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Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez celebrated what he called a “Mass for Peace” at Our Lady of the Angels on Wednesday, stopping just short of a direct appeal to the Trump administration to draw down its aggressive immigration enforcement efforts as protesters gathered blocks away.

“We are united with everybody in our country praying for peace, and specifically praying for immigrants in our country,” Gomez said during an address from the pulpit Wednesday afternoon.

“Today, we especially pray for our government leaders, for the law enforcement officers and for those protesting and defending the immigrant families in this struggle here in Los Angeles.”

As police helicopters buzzed overhead monitoring the demonstration nearby, the archbishop called on God to “awaken again the conscience of Americans.”

Parishioners fill the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for a Mass led by Archbishop José H. Gomez.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

His remarks coincided with a student walkout, with teen protesters converging on the Metropolitan Detention Center about a mile away.

More than 500 students carrying signs and draped in flags gathered at the intersection of Aliso and Los Angeles streets and marched to the jail, where a swarm of police stood behind yellow caution tape.

Kiro Perez, a freshman from Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, held a sign above her faded green hair that read, “My parents work more than the President.”

“I’m fighting for my father, my mom, my siblings and everyone else,” Kiro said.

After working for more than a decade, her father had his application for a green card approved less than two years ago, Kiro said. She said that for months, he has obsessively checked ICE activity and has lived in fear.

“I don’t want him to feel scared anymore,” she said.

Los Angeles is the largest archdiocese in the United States, home to 3.8 million Catholics. A plurality of the faithful are immigrants and the overwhelming majority are Latino. Born in Mexico, Gomez is the first Latino person to serve as archbishop of Los Angeles, and the highest-ranking Latino bishop in the United States, according to the church.

Faith leaders have increasingly been at odds with the president, despite longtime strategic alignment between the administration and the ascendant conservative wing of American Catholicism.

Archbishop José H. Gomez leads Mass on Wednesday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times )

“I don’t know if anyone’s OK with what’s happening right now,” said Isaac Cuevas, the archdiocese senior director of life, justice and peace. “We shouldn’t be these kinds of people.”

The region’s Catholic institutions responded to last year’s aggressive raids with an outpouring of charity, reorganizing many food pantries around grocery delivery and ministering directly to communities many described as under siege.

But the political response was more muted. Some clergy members joined protests, but the church largely shied from similar action at the highest levels.

A nun makes her way through the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Wednesday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“It breaks my heart, because I’m an immigrant,” said Lupita Sanchez, a Franciscan nun who joined the Mass on Wednesday. “The only way that we can help the world is by praying.”

Prayer was at the heart of Gomez’s message Wednesday as well. But other Catholics were more critical.

“The clergy who are the boots on the ground were out there from Day One, not only doing charity but working for justice,” said Catholic activist Rosa Manriquez. “We now have quite a few bishops and cardinals coming out and being present, which is very important. As far as our archdiocese is concerned — not so much.”

Gomez is a longtime member of Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic movement with deep ties to the Trump administration.

Vice President JD Vance underwent a 2019 conversion steeped in some of the group’s most prominent thinkers. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was a member, and five of the nine sitting justices are conservative Catholics with ties to the group.

Members of the Catholic Church fill the cathedral.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Trump’s newest 9th Circuit appointee, Eric Tung, also converted under the movement’s influence.

“During the time of the rise of this regime, our archbishop was the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” Manriquez said. “Their silence enabled this. You can’t argue with the statistics of how many Catholics voted for this regime.”

In the 2024 election, 1 in 5 Trump voters identified as Catholic, a Pew Research Center study found.

Pope Leo XIV, shown leading a Mass in December, has forcefully condemned the Trump administration’s aggressive tactics.

(Chris McGrath / Getty Images)

Pope Leo XIV, who became bishop of Rome after Pope Francis’ death last spring, has forcefully condemned the administration’s aggressive tactics, calling them “extremely disrespectful.” Last fall, the powerful U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly in support of a “special message” decrying militarized immigration enforcement and pleading for reform.

“To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering,” they wrote. “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

Times staff writer Christopher Buchanan contributed to this report.

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February 4, 2026
Celebrate Mass with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

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December 28, 2025
Pope Leo XIV urges faithful on Christmas to shed indifference in the face of suffering

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We’re holding *** few activities for the children to help with their mental health. We just want to relieve the children from the shock that they have experienced in the last two years of war and the conditions that completely swallowed them. They couldn’t control it, but those were our conditions. They have suffered *** lot, so we’re trying *** different touch this holiday season, different activities, so that they can feel some amount of joy. It is true that we always have hoped that it will get better and Gaza will become better, that we go back to our homes, celebrate, go back to the same way we were before the war, go to pray and celebrate, that we would reunited again as *** family around the table tomorrow or at dinner on Christmas Day, and we would talk, relax, and laugh. Every time I remember those moments, I feel sad of what our lives have become.

During his first Christmas Day message Thursday, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, like in Gaza, those who are in impoverished, like in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.Related video above: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to revive holiday spirit during ceasefireThe first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages that was abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.Leo surveys the world’s distressDuring the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.“If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political stability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.“In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.Peace through dialogueEarlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.“There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to capture images of the opening procession.This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.___Barry reported from Milan.

VATICAN CITY —

During his first Christmas Day message Thursday, Pope Leo XIV urged the faithful to shed indifference in the face of those who have lost everything, like in Gaza, those who are in impoverished, like in Yemen, and the many migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea and the American continent for a better future.

Related video above: Gaza’s tiny Christian community tries to revive holiday spirit during ceasefire

The first U.S. pontiff addressed some 26,000 people from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square for the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” address, Latin for “To the City and to the World,” which serves as a summary of the woes facing the world.

While the crowd gathered under a steady downpour during the papal Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain had subsided by the time Leo took a brief tour of the square in the popemobile, then spoke to the crowd from the loggia.

Leo revived the tradition of offering Christmas greetings in multiple languages that was abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis. He received especially warm cheers when he made his greetings in his native English and Spanish, the language of his adopted country of Peru, where he served first as a missionary and then as archbishop.

Someone in the crowd shouted out, “Viva il papa!” or “Long live the pope!” before he retreated into the basilica. Leo took off his glasses for a final wave.

Leo surveys the world’s distress

During the traditional address, the pope emphasized that everyone can contribute to peace by acting with humility and responsibility.

“If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change,” the pope said.

Leo called for “justice, peace and stability” in Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prayers for “the tormented people of Ukraine,” and “peace and consolation” for victims of wars, injustice, political stability, religious persecution and terrorism, citing Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Congo.

The pope also urged dialogue to address “numerous challenges” in Latin America, reconciliation in Myanmar, the restoration of “the ancient friendship between Thailand and Cambodia,” and assistance for the suffering of those hit by natural disasters in South Asia and Oceania.

“In becoming man, Jesus took upon himself our fragility, identifying with each one of us: with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent,” the pontiff said.

He also remembered those who have lost their jobs or are seeking work, especially young people, underpaid workers and those in prison.

Peace through dialogue

Earlier, Leo led the Christmas Day Mass from the central altar beneath the balustrade of St. Peter’s Basilica, adorned with floral garlands and clusters of red poinsettias. White flowers were set at the feet of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated on Christmas Day.

In his homily, Leo underlined that peace can emerge only through dialogue.

“There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other,” he said.

He remembered the people of Gaza, “exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold” and the fragility of “defenseless populations, tried by so many wars,’’ and of “young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them, and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.’’

Thousands of people packed the basilica for the pope’s first Christmas Day Mass, holding their smartphones aloft to capture images of the opening procession.

This Christmas season marks the winding down of the Holy Year celebrations, which will close on Jan. 6, the Catholic Epiphany holiday marking the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

___

Barry reported from Milan.

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December 25, 2025
Pope Leo XIV declares 15-year-old computer whiz, known as ‘God’s influencer,’ a saint

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Pope Leo XIV declared a 15-year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint Sunday, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith and earn the nickname “God’s influencer.”Leo canonized Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006, during an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square that was attended by tens of thousands of people, many of them millennials and couples with young children. During the first saint-making Mass of his pontificate, Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati.The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops and hundreds of priests had signed up to celebrate the Mass along with Leo in a sign of the saints’ enormous appeal to the hierarchy and ordinary faithful alike.Both ceremonies had been scheduled for earlier this year, but were postponed following Pope Francis’ death in April. Francis had fervently pushed the sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age.An hour before the Mass, St. Peter’s Square was already full with pilgrims, many of them young millennial Italians who had found in Acutis a relatable role model.“I learned from different people what his professors, his teachers, said about his joy and the light he carried around him,” said Leopoldo Antimi, a 27-year-old Roman who got to the square early to secure a spot. “So for me personally as an Italian, even on social networks that are used so much, it is important to have him as an influencer.”Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London to a wealthy but not particularly observant Catholic family. They moved back to Milan soon after he was born, and he enjoyed a typical, happy childhood, albeit marked by increasingly intense religious devotion.Acutis was particularly interested in computer science and devoured college-level books on programming even as a youngster. He earned the nickname “God’s Influencer,” thanks to his main tech legacy: a multilingual website documenting so-called Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church, a project he completed at a time when the development of such sites was the domain of professionals.Acutis was known to spend hours in prayer before the Eucharist each day. The Catholic hierarchy has been trying to promote the practice of Eucharistic adoration because, according to polls, most Catholics don’t believe Christ is physically present in the Eucharistic hosts.In October 2006, at age 15, Acutis fell ill with what was quickly diagnosed as acute leukemia. Within days, he was dead. He was entombed in Assisi, which is known for its association with another popular saint, St. Francis.In the years since his death, young Catholics have flocked by the millions to Assisi, where they can see the young Acutis through a glass-sided tomb, dressed in jeans, Nike sneakers and a sweatshirt.Acutis has been on the fast track for sainthood, as the hierarchy has seen that he has proven enormously popular with young Catholics, who see in him a relatable, modern-day role model.“It’s like I can maybe not be as great as Carlo may be, but I can be looking after him and be like, ‘What would Carlo do?’” said Leo Kowalsky, an 8th grader at a Chicago school attached to the Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish.Kowalsky said he was particularly excited that his own namesake — Pope Leo — would be canonizing the patron of his school. “It’s kind of all mashed up into one thing, so it is a joy to be a part of,” Kowalsky said in an interview last week.Frassati, the other saint being canonized Sunday, lived from 1901-1925, when he died at age 24 of polio. He was born into a prominent Turin family but is known for his devotion to serving the poor and carrying out acts of charity while spreading his faith to his friends. AP visual journalist Jessie Wardarski contributed from Chicago.

VATICAN CITY —

Pope Leo XIV declared a 15-year-old computer whiz the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint Sunday, giving the next generation of Catholics a relatable role model who used technology to spread the faith and earn the nickname “God’s influencer.”

Leo canonized Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006, during an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square that was attended by tens of thousands of people, many of them millennials and couples with young children. During the first saint-making Mass of his pontificate, Leo also canonized another popular Italian figure who died young, Pier Giorgio Frassati.

The Vatican said 36 cardinals, 270 bishops and hundreds of priests had signed up to celebrate the Mass along with Leo in a sign of the saints’ enormous appeal to the hierarchy and ordinary faithful alike.

Both ceremonies had been scheduled for earlier this year, but were postponed following Pope Francis’ death in April. Francis had fervently pushed the sainthood case forward, convinced that the church needed someone like him to attract young Catholics to the faith while addressing the promises and perils of the digital age.

An hour before the Mass, St. Peter’s Square was already full with pilgrims, many of them young millennial Italians who had found in Acutis a relatable role model.

“I learned from different people what his professors, his teachers, said about his joy and the light he carried around him,” said Leopoldo Antimi, a 27-year-old Roman who got to the square early to secure a spot. “So for me personally as an Italian, even on social networks that are used so much, it is important to have him as an influencer.”

Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London to a wealthy but not particularly observant Catholic family. They moved back to Milan soon after he was born, and he enjoyed a typical, happy childhood, albeit marked by increasingly intense religious devotion.

Acutis was particularly interested in computer science and devoured college-level books on programming even as a youngster. He earned the nickname “God’s Influencer,” thanks to his main tech legacy: a multilingual website documenting so-called Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church, a project he completed at a time when the development of such sites was the domain of professionals.

Acutis was known to spend hours in prayer before the Eucharist each day. The Catholic hierarchy has been trying to promote the practice of Eucharistic adoration because, according to polls, most Catholics don’t believe Christ is physically present in the Eucharistic hosts.

In October 2006, at age 15, Acutis fell ill with what was quickly diagnosed as acute leukemia. Within days, he was dead. He was entombed in Assisi, which is known for its association with another popular saint, St. Francis.

In the years since his death, young Catholics have flocked by the millions to Assisi, where they can see the young Acutis through a glass-sided tomb, dressed in jeans, Nike sneakers and a sweatshirt.

Acutis has been on the fast track for sainthood, as the hierarchy has seen that he has proven enormously popular with young Catholics, who see in him a relatable, modern-day role model.

“It’s like I can maybe not be as great as Carlo may be, but I can be looking after him and be like, ‘What would Carlo do?’” said Leo Kowalsky, an 8th grader at a Chicago school attached to the Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish.

Kowalsky said he was particularly excited that his own namesake — Pope Leo — would be canonizing the patron of his school. “It’s kind of all mashed up into one thing, so it is a joy to be a part of,” Kowalsky said in an interview last week.

Frassati, the other saint being canonized Sunday, lived from 1901-1925, when he died at age 24 of polio. He was born into a prominent Turin family but is known for his devotion to serving the poor and carrying out acts of charity while spreading his faith to his friends.

AP visual journalist Jessie Wardarski contributed from Chicago.

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September 7, 2025
Celebrate Mass with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

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Sunday Mass from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and 6abc

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July 7, 2024
A 1-liter stein of beer at Munich’s famed Oktoberfest will cost nearly $15 this year

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When merry revelers from around the world lift their beer steins to mark the start of Oktoberfest in the Bavarian capital Munich, they might want to sip slowly, given they will now be paying €13.75 ($14.67) per liter.

That’s based on an analysis from a team at Berenberg, who provided this chart showing the soaring cost of beer at the Munich Oktoberfest compared with other consumer and food inflation measures:

The globally famed festival is due to kick off this Saturday. And while the cost keeps rising, the celebratory large glass of Bavarian beer —- served in a stoneware mug known as a Maß, or stein — often doesn’t seem to reach the required 1-liter mark once the foam has settled, notes Holger Schmieding, chief economist, who led the report.

“Do not even try to compare the price per liter to the cheap beer cans available at the discount retailers nearby. The difference might make some crave a stiffer drink to drown the financial pain,” he and his team said.

Citing data from German price statistics dating back to 1991, Berenberg’s economists said the price of an Oktoberfest beer has soared at an annual average rate of 3.9%, well above the annual 2% rise in inflation and the 1.8% rise paid for beer sold by retailers.

However, more recently the pain may have eased some. Schmieding said the price of that beer rise versus 2022 is just 4.2%, which is below the average food price rise of 9%. And German wages rose 6.6% on an annual basis in the second quarter of this year, meaning some might this year find those steins slightly little more affordable, once they get past the sticker shock.

The country has felt the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy and food prices, which propelled inflation to a postwar high of 7.9% in 2022. Wage earners are currently recouping some of lost purchasing power, but Schmieding and his team warn this won’t last.

“In a lagged response to lower headline inflation and the modest rise in unemployment that we project for the next two quarters, German wage gains will likely slow down to 4% yoy by the time of the next Oktoberfest in September
2024, and the less volatile rise in beer prices at the party will likely outpace inflation and wages again,” they wrote.

The European Commission recently forecast that Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy, will be the only major one to see growth contract this year, with a forecast for gross domestic product to fall 0.4% in 2023. Weak industrial output has been a major factor in sluggish growth. Inflation for the EU bloc is expected to fall to 2.9% next year, slightly under the 2.8% previously forecast.

The European Central Bank on Thursday hiked its deposit rate by 25 basis points to an all-time high of 4% as it battles inflation for the region which it expects will average 5.6% this year, well above its 2% target.

Schmieding and the team say Germany, however, does not deserve the “sick man of Europe” title, which it last held in the 1990s, that some have slapped on it.

The country is, though, “nursing a collective hangover” after celebrating its “golden decade” between the global financial crisis and the pandemic onset too hard, with early retirement plans, expanded welfare benefits and too much dependence on Russian energy, they say.

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September 15, 2023