Today I experienced my first Puerto Rican Day Parade as Archbishop of New York. The joy, faith, and pride of the Puerto Rican community were inspiring. As the parade passed St. Patrick’s Cathedral, I saw the face of Christ reflected in the people celebrating their rich heritage.
Pope Leo: “I want to address a clear word to those who take advantage of migrants' desperation; to those who organize paths of death, traffic in human beings, withhold documents, exploit workers, threaten women, deceive families, and turn others' suffering into a business. Stop! Convert!”
We recently celebrated the launch of the Primary Stroke Center at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, a milestone for our North Fork community, representing life-saving care close to home. Thank you to our donors, board members, & the community for their ongoing support!
🎥 Robert Ellsberg interviews James Finley, author of Thomas Merton: Turning to the Mystics.
Drawing on his years as Merton's student at Gethsemani, Finley explores Merton's enduring wisdom and contemplative legacy.
Watch: https://t.co/Ifs4PZzWFY
📖 https://t.co/THU73HM9wI
Exciting news! Three of Stony Brook University Hospital’s intensive care units, Medical, Surgical & Cardiovascular, have been designated Centers of Excellence by @SCCM, one of only three institutions in the entire country to earn this distinction. https://t.co/ZQE4deZejg
In what will certainly become one of the most fundamental speeches of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV told the Spanish Parliament, before receiving a 7-minute standing ovation: "The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization."
"If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?" he said, speaking to a gathering of politicians, many supporting abortion and euthanasia.
"Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?"
"Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person."
"For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile," he said, repeating what John Paul II emphasized decades ago.
Starting his speech he commented that Church's is the "message offered in the spirit of service to the human person."
"When the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate," Pope Leo said, emphasizing "the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good."
He hailed Spain as country that "has known how to view the human being as more than just a cog in the social, economic or political order. It has recognized the human being as a creature open to truth, endowed with freedom, and driven by a thirst for eternity that no temporal reality can quench -- in a word, as someone whose dignity takes precedence over all utility and to whose service legislative action is subject."
He said it was Catholic orders that "helped to shape a legal and moral consciousness capable of remembering that authority always entails responsibility and that every human being must be recognized as a subject of rights and duties."
"That aspiration continues to resonate today: that dignity, justice and the common good should be the measure of social relations, both at the national and international levels."
Referring multiple times to his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical, he said: "When the common good ceases to be a shared horizon, public action runs the risk of fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all."
"In this context, the family — the primary human reality and the natural foundation of the community — takes on particular importance," Pope Leo said.
"The family will always be the first school of humanity, where one learns, before anywhere else, the basic grammar of living together: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging."
"Human life can never be treated as a commodity," the pope said.
"A law does not attain its true greatness merely by having been formally enacted; it attains it when, in addition to being valid in form, it can stand before the dignity of the person and pass that test without shame."
"I invite you, then, to lift your gaze to the world around you, not to turn away from reality, but to remember that every decision by public authorities affects real people, especially those who have less power to make their voices heard."
"The expanse of one’s vision consists precisely in looking more deeply at what is at stake in every public decision. This is why, alongside technical solutions and legal reforms, a moral renewal is also needed."
Video: Vatican Media
(fragment of speech follows)
Stony Brook University Hospital has been named one of the Top 25 Hospitals in the nation for environmental excellence by @pracgreenhealth, reflecting the incredible work of our teams to advance sustainability while supporting exceptional patient care. https://t.co/vMK30CIFqi
There is a beauty that only time can cultivate. 🌾
In The Years of Ripening, we are invited to see aging as a sacred season — one of depth, wisdom, and becoming.
Step into a hopeful vision of growing older with grace.
Find the book here: https://t.co/Y1khP8zBtX
#JoyceRupp
The Pope’s Prayer intention for the month of June is to pray “for the values of sports”, that all sport may promote peace, fraternity and communion.
“Lord of life, we thank you for the gift of sport, for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies, for the friendships born on the field and the joy of playing as a team.
You teach us that in life, as in the game, no one is saved alone. We need others to grow, to learn respect, to overcome our limits, and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.”