VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a world marked by wars and where people are disconnected and numb with indifference, Pope Leo XIV prayed that the Holy Spirit would "open borders, break down walls" and dissolve hatred so everyone can live as children of one human family.

"The Spirit breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred" because he teaches and encourages "the commandment of love that the Lord has made the center and summit of everything," he said.

"Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for 'security' zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms," Pope Leo said in his homily for Pentecost Mass in St. Peter's Square June 8. 

The pope also spoke out against "an unhealthy desire for domination" and violence in relationships as well as the "numerous recent cases of femicide" in Italy.

As of June 7, three women had been killed in 48 hours by a husband or partner. At least 22 women have been killed since the start of the year, 10 of whom were killed by a partner or ex-partner, the newspaper La Stampa reported June 6. An average of 100 women were killed between 2022 and 2024 in cases of voluntary manslaughter involving family members, according to the Italian government, and an average of 62 women were killed by their partner or ex-partner each year during the same timeframe.

"The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, brings to maturity within us the fruits that enable us to cultivate good and healthy relationships," Pope Leo said.

In his homily, the pope reflected on the Holy Spirit's gift of opening borders, building on an image of Pentecost described by Pope Benedict XVI in his homily on the feast day in 2005.

"The Spirit opens borders, first of all, in our hearts," then in one's relationships with others and, finally, between peoples, Pope Leo said.

"He is the gift that opens our lives to love" by breaking down "our hardness of heart, our narrowness of mind, our selfishness, the fears that enchain us and the narcissism that makes us think only of ourselves," the pope said.

"The Holy Spirit comes to challenge us, to make us confront the possibility that our lives are shriveling up, trapped in the vortex of individualism," he said. "Sadly, oddly enough, in a world of burgeoning 'social' media, we risk being ever more alone. Constantly connected, yet incapable of 'networking."' 

The Spirit "put us in touch with our inmost self, beneath all the masks we wear. He leads us to an encounter with the Lord by teaching us to experience the joy that is his gift" and to have one's life become a place "of welcome and refreshment."

The Holy Spirit also "broadens the borders of our relationships and opens us to the joy of fraternity," which is "also a critical yardstick for the church," he said.

To truly be a church of the Lord, he said, there must be "no borders or divisions among us." The faithful must be able to "dialogue and accept one another in the church and to reconcile our diversities," becoming "a welcoming and hospitable place for all."

The Holy Spirit "also opens borders between peoples," the pope said, by uniting people's hearts and making "us view others as our brothers and sisters." This is how "differences no longer become an occasion for division and conflict but rather a shared patrimony from which we can all draw."

Recalling Pope Francis' homily on Pentecost in 2023, Pope Leo lamented the continued discord and division in the world.

"The wars plaguing our world are a tragic sign of this. Let us invoke the Spirit of love and peace, that he may open borders, break down walls, dispel hatred and help us to live as children of our one Father who is in heaven," he said.

The pope also prayed for the gift of peace to dwell in people's hearts, before reciting the Regina Caeli after the Mass.

"For only a peaceful heart can spread peace in the family, society and international relations," he said. "May the Spirit of the risen Christ open paths of reconciliation wherever there is war; may he enlighten those who govern and give them the courage to make gestures of de-escalation and dialogue." 

The Mass marked the conclusion of the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations and New Communities. The Jubilee included an evening prayer vigil in the square June 7 led by Pope Leo with an estimated 70,000 people.

Before praying the Regina Caeli June 8, the pope thanked all the representatives of Catholic lay associations, movements and communities who took part in the Jubilee, encouraging them to "set out renewed" with the strength of the Holy Spirit. "Go and bring the hope of the Lord Jesus to everyone!"

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- On the eve of Pentecost, Pope Leo XIV prayed that the Holy Spirit would help Catholic lay associations, movements and communities live the Gospel before trying to preach it and would be a force for unity in the church and in the world.

"In a divided and troubled world, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk together in unity," the pope said as he joined an estimated 70,000 people for an evening prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square June 7.

"Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not our attempt to conquer the world, but the infinite grace that radiates from lives transformed by the Kingdom of God," he said. Evangelization requires walking together on "the way of the Beatitudes," being people who are "hungering and thirsting for justice, poor in spirit, merciful, meek, pure of heart, men and women of peace."

"Jesus himself chose this path," Pope Leo insisted. "To follow it, we have no need of powerful patrons, worldly compromises, or emotional strategies." 

The vigil was part of the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations and New Communities. The program began about 90 minutes before Pope Leo arrived in the popemobile. The Focolare movement's international Gen Verde choir and band performed; and members of the Sant'Egidio Community, the Neocatechumenal Way, Nuovi Orizzonti and Communion and Liberation gave testimonies about how the groups helped them grow closer to Jesus and motivated them to help others.

The program was punctuated with video clips of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XIV and Pope Francis addressing similar Pentecost vigils with the groups.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to build up the unity of the church and inspire its efforts to help others, was the common theme of the clips.

In his address, Pope Leo said "synodality" is "a word that aptly expresses how the Spirit shapes the Church." 

At Pentecost, Mary and the disciples "received a Spirit of unity, which forever grounded in the one Lord Jesus Christ all their diversity," he said. "Theirs were not multiple missions, but a single mission. They were no longer introverted and quarrelling with one another, but outgoing and radiant with joy."

"Dear friends, God created the world so that we might all live as one. 'Synodality' is the ecclesial name for this," the pope said. "It demands that we each recognize our own poverty and our riches, that we feel part of a greater whole, apart from which everything withers, even the most original and unique of charisms."

"Think about it," he told the crowd. "All creation exists solely in the form of coexistence, sometimes dangerous, yet always interconnected."

"The opposite is lethal, but sadly, we are witnessing this daily," the pope said. "May your meetings and your communities, then, be training grounds of fraternity and sharing, not merely meeting places, but centers of spirituality." 

The Holy Spirit can change the world because it can change human hearts, he said. "The Spirit inspires the contemplative dimension of life that rejects self-assertion, complaining, rivalry and the temptation to control consciences and resources."

Celebrating Pentecost during a Jubilee Year, he said, is a special time to recognize the importance of walking together and showing the world the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

"The earth will rest, justice will prevail, the poor will rejoice, and peace will return, once we no longer act as predators but as pilgrims," the pope said. "No longer each of us for ourselves, but walking alongside one another. Not greedily exploiting this world, but cultivating it and protecting it, as the Encyclical Laudato Si' has taught us."

If the groups are united among themselves and with their local parishes and dioceses, he said, "all of us will then work together harmoniously as one. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future will be less dark, and discernment will be less complicated -- if together we obey the Holy Spirit!"
 

Pope Leo's vision of evangelization

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Vigil of Pentecost with the Jubilee of Movements, Associations, and New Communities on June 7 in St. Peter’s Square. In his homily, the pope outlined his vision for the church’s mission of evangelization, emphasizing that it...

WASHINGTON – “We welcome the government’s decision to restore clarity to the federal law that ensures that all people, including both pregnant mothers and their preborn children, can receive necessary emergency care at hospitals,” said Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in response to Tuesday’s announcement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had rescinded guidance from 2022, which had attempted to require abortions in certain circumstances under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

Bishop Thomas continued, “The guidance that was imposed three years ago introduced unnecessary confusion into health care settings in the form of an abortion mandate. It is important to recognize that, when necessary, there are morally and legally permissible procedures to save the life of a mother in a health crisis, even when they may result in the terrible loss of her child. The government’s attempt to force doctors to perform direct abortions, however, defied the purpose of the long-standing EMTALA law, which is to help save the lives of vulnerable women who arrive at emergency rooms and, if they are pregnant, the lives of their babies as well. We are grateful for Tuesday’s rescission announcement and will continue to encourage policies that ensure high-quality and accessible health care to all people in need.” 

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection has released the 2024 Annual Report – Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The report is based on the audit findings of StoneBridge Business Partners, a consulting firm which provides forensic, internal, and compliance audit services. A survey regarding allegations of abuse of minors and costs that is annually conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University is also included as a part of the report. 

This is the twenty-second such report since 2002 when the U.S. bishops established and adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a comprehensive framework of procedures to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and establish protocols to protect children and young people.

The 2024 report covers July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024. During that period, 902 allegations were reported by 855 victims-survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy throughout 195 Catholic dioceses and eparchies that reported information. This is a decrease of 406 allegations reported in the previous audit year. Out of the 902 allegations, a total of 548, or 61%, were brought to the attention of the diocesan/eparchial representatives through an attorney, making this the principal reporting method during the 2024 audit period. Allegations made by spouses, relatives, or other representatives such as other dioceses/eparchies, religious orders, clergy members, or law enforcement officials on behalf of the victim-survivor were additional methods of reporting, totaling 118 allegations. The remaining 236 allegations were made by self-disclosure.

During the current audit period, dioceses and eparchies provided outreach and support services to 146 victim-survivors and their families who reported during this audit period. Continued support was provided to 1,434 victim-survivors and their families who reported abuse in prior audit periods. The report notes the ongoing work of the Catholic Church in continuing the call to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults. In 2024, the Church conducted 2,237,906 background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers. In addition, in 2024, over 2.2 million adults and over 2.8 million children and youth were trained in how to identify the warning signs of abuse and how to report those signs.

For the 2024 audit year, 195 of 196 dioceses/eparchies fully participated in the 2024 data collection process and one diocese did not participate. StoneBridge physically visited 48 dioceses/eparchies and utilized remote technologies to perform 22 additional remote visits to dioceses and eparchies, for a total of 70 on-site audit visits and collected data from an additional 125 others. Of the 70 dioceses/eparchies that participated in the on-site audits that took place between February and December 2024, there were four findings of non-compliance with certain aspects of the Charter involving two locations. Compliance with the Charter was determined based on implementation efforts from the date of the last audit visit through 2024. 

CARA completed their data collection for the 2024 annual survey in January 2025. All but two of the 196 dioceses and eparchies of the USCCB completed the survey, for a response rate of 99%. The findings indicate that among 97 alleged perpetrators that were classified, more than four-fifths of the alleged offenders identified between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, are deceased, already removed from ministry, already laicized, or missing (84%). Another 11 priests or deacons identified during fiscal year 2024 were permanently removed from ministry during that time (11%). Four alleged offenders were temporarily removed from ministry pending investigation of the allegations (4%). One alleged offender remained in active ministry during that fiscal year pending the investigation (1%).

For the 2024 audit period, there are four findings of non-compliance with certain articles of the Charter involving one eparchy and one diocese. The Diocese of Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Church in the USA was found to be non-compliant with Article 12 of the Charter due to the absence of a safe environment training program for minors, in addition to, failure to provide safe environment training to the majority of their volunteers. They were also found non-compliant with Article 13 of the Charter for not completing background checks for the majority of their volunteers. The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown was found non-compliant with Article 2 of the Charter due to not having a functioning Review Board throughout their audit period. The Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands did not participate in either the on-site audit or data collection process, thus no information on this location could be included in this report.

The USCCB’s Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People and the National Review Board continue to emphasize that the audit and continued application of zero-tolerance policies are two important tools in the Catholic Church’s broader commitment to create a culture of protection and healing that exceeds the requirements of the Charter. 

This most recent annual report, and all previously published annual reports, may be found on the USCCB website: https://www.usccb.org/offices/child-and-youth-protection/audits. Additional information on diocesan requirements for the protection of children and young people may be found here. 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors hopes to deliver a "Universal Guidelines Framework for Safeguarding" to Pope Leo XIV later this year, the commission said.

The guidelines "seek to inspire a true conversion of heart in every leader and pastoral agent in the church, ensuring that safeguarding becomes not merely a requirement, but a reflection of the Gospel's call to protect the least among us," the commission said in a press release June 5 after its first meeting with Pope Leo XIV.

Also, "a new 'vademecum' on reparations, informed by the lived experiences of victims and survivors, is in development to guide local churches in responding with justice and compassion," it added.

The commission updated the pope about its work and "reiterated its commitment to the unity and collegiality of its members," the press release said. 

Some 23 members, including Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, commission president and retired archbishop of Boston, attended the hour-long audience at the Vatican. Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, the commission's secretary, and Teresa Kettelkamp, adjunct secretary of the commission, were also present.

"A letter signed by all members following the March 2025 plenary assembly underscored the need for continuity in our mandate, governance and working methods -- affirming the commission's independence and its role as a trusted advisor to the Holy Father," the commission press release said. Pope Francis established the commission in 2014 to advise the pope "in the development and promotion of universal safeguarding standards, and to accompany the church in building a culture of accountability, justice and compassion."

Members also informed Pope Leo about the commission's annual report, "a cornerstone of its mandate" that is "designed to evaluate the safeguarding capacity of local churches, offering practical recommendations grounded in the lived realities of each region," it said.

This year's annual report will explore "conversional justice through the lens of reparations. This includes a comprehensive pastoral-theological study and the collection of data on current reparations practices across the universal church," it said. 

The report expanded the input from its victim/survivor focus group "with direct contributions from survivors across all four commission regions. Country-level church data is also drawn from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's review process -- answering the growing call for greater transparency through external data," it added.

The new report will look at the church's safeguarding efforts in 22 countries and two religious congregations, and it will include "an institutional review of the Dicastery for Evangelization" as well as initial findings from a review of the Focolare Movement, it said.

"Our hope is to present the finalized universal guidelines framework to the Holy Father later this year," it said. The guidelines were developed over the past two years in close collaboration with "church leaders, safeguarding professionals, survivors of abuse and pastoral workers from across the globe," it added.

The draft framework, it said, "has been tested and refined through pilot programs in Tonga, Poland, Zimbabwe and Costa Rica," providing "invaluable insights into the practical, cultural, and theological dimensions of safeguarding."

The commission expressed its gratitude to the dicasteries of the Roman Curia "for their increasing collaboration, and we invite continued partnership in this vital ministry."

"We reaffirm our commitment to listening, walking with victims and survivors, and supporting every church community in their efforts to safeguard all of God's people with compassion," it said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With their specific forms of prayer, outreach or emphasis both the long-established groups of Catholic laypeople as well as the newer movements and communities are called to contribute to the unity and mission of the church, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Unity and mission are two essential aspects of the church's life and two priorities of the Petrine ministry," the pope said. "For this reason, I ask all ecclesial associations and movements to cooperate faithfully and generously with the pope, above all in these two areas."

The pope met June 6 with about 250 leaders of 115 international associations of the faithful, ecclesial movements and new communities recognized and supported by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life. The groups included, for example, the Legion of Mary, the Neocatechumenal Way, Communion and Liberation, a variety of charismatic communities and various Catholic scouting groups. 

"Some were founded to carry out a common apostolic, charitable or liturgical project, or to support Christian witness in specific social settings," Pope Leo noted. "Others, however, originated with a charismatic inspiration, an initial charism that gave rise to a movement, a new form of spirituality and of evangelization."

All the groups, though, aim to help their members live the Christian life more deeply in service to God, to the church and to their brothers and sisters, he said.

"The desire to work together for a common purpose reflects an essential reality: no one is Christian alone," the pope told the leaders. "We are part of a people, a body established by the Lord." 

"The Christian life is not lived in isolation, as a kind of intellectual or sentimental experience, confined to the mind and the heart," he said. "It is lived with others, in a group and in community, because the risen Christ is present wherever disciples gather in his name."

But within the church, the pope said, those groups cannot live in isolation either.

"Seek to spread everywhere this unity that you yourselves experience in your groups and communities, always in communion with the church's pastors and in solidarity with other ecclesial realities," Pope Leo said.

"Draw close to all those whom you meet, so that your charisms may ever be at the service of the unity of the church, and be 'a leaven of unity, communion and fraternity' in our world, so torn by discord and violence," he said, quoting from his homily May 18 at the Mass inaugurating his papacy. 

The outward focus of the groups is also essential, he said, since the church is called to be missionary, sharing the love of God with the world.

"The church's mission has been an important part of my own pastoral experience and has shaped my spiritual life," said the pope, who spent decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru.

"You too have experienced this spiritual journey," he said. "Your encounter with the Lord and the new life that filled your hearts gave rise to your desire to make him known to others."

"Place your talents at the service of the church's mission, whether in places of first evangelization or in your parishes and local ecclesial communities, in order to reach those who, albeit distant, are often waiting, without being aware of it, to hear God's word of life," Pope Leo told the groups.
 

WASHINGTON - “The Wisconsin Supreme Court badly erred when it concluded that Catholic Charities is essentially secular because it does not engage in activities such as proselytism. I am grateful for the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, following the Court’s unanimous decision in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission. 

He offered the following statement: 

“Catholic Charities carries out ministries of the Catholic Church, the body of Christ, in the world today. Through Catholic Charities, the Church feeds the hungry and clothes the naked. The Church engages in these activities in obedience to Jesus, informed by millennia of tradition from the Apostles.

“The Catholic Charities agency of the Diocese of Superior applied for a religious exemption from the state’s unemployment tax program so that it could participate instead in a church-run program that offers the same level of benefits. Catholic Charities was denied the exemption, because according to the state, it is not religious. This was a ludicrous claim, and the Court has rightly reversed. The Court has unanimously affirmed that the government cannot discriminate against our ministries simply because they do not conform to the government’s narrow idea of religion. I am grateful the Court has recognized that basic principle here.”

The USCCB filed an amicus brief in support of Catholic Charities, which can be found at https://www.usccb.org/resources/25-0203_CCB_v_WILaborIndustry.pdf 

Bishop Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty.

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ROME (CNS) -- The Council of Nicaea 1,700 years ago recognized that Christian unity had to be based on a common faith and should be demonstrated by a common celebration of Easter, the most sacred feast of the Christian year, said speakers at a Rome conference.

Yet as Christians mark the anniversary of the council, held in 325, they celebrate their common profession of the basics of faith in the Creed adopted at Nicaea while also continuing to experience division, said Paul L. Gavrilyuk, president of the International Orthodox Theological Association.

The association and the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of Rome's Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas organized the June 4-7 conference with the support of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. 

Gavrilyuk, who holds the Aquinas Chair in Theology and Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the other speakers noted the coincidence of the anniversary year and the election of Pope Leo XIV whose episcopal motto is "In Illo uno unum," an expression of St. Augustine meaning "In the One (Christ), we are one."

"Nicaea was a landmark exercise in collective truth seeking and discernment with an enduring and universally significant dogmatic outcome enshrined in its famous creed," Gavrilyuk said.

The fact that Christians today continue to use the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, not just liturgically but as a statement of orthodox Christian belief, means it is a continuing source of Christian unity, speakers said.

"The restoration of the unity of the church requires agreement on the essential content of the Christian faith, not only among the churches and ecclesial communities of today, but also in continuity with the church of tradition, and above all, with its apostolic origins," said Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Creed is "the strongest ecumenical bond of the Christian faith," the cardinal said. "The Council of Nicaea took place at a time when Christianity had not yet been divided by so many subsequent schisms; its creed is therefore shared by all Christian churches and ecclesial communities, uniting them in a common confession to this day. Its ecumenical importance cannot be underestimated." 

Orthodox Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, a theologian and Orthodox co-chair of the Catholic-Orthodox theological dialogue, said the Council of Nicaea could serve as a model of Christian unity today because it determined the essential points of Christian faith while allowing differences on other matters.

"The Nicene Creed does not represent a confession of faith at a particular moment in the history of the church but rather manifests the confession of faith that transcends the limits of time and space," he said. It was introduced into the liturgy at the turn of the sixth century, "which shows how much this text became a universal confession of the faith confessed by the one church, received from Christ through the apostles and handed down by the holy fathers."

Cardinal Koch said the celebration of the Nicaea anniversary also is an occasion to make a renewed commitment to synodality -- shared listening, reflection and discernment -- and for members of different churches to learn from the synodal structures of each other's churches.

"The creed of the Council of Nicaea is not merely the result of theological reflection, but the expression of a joint, more precisely, synodal struggle of bishops for an orthodox and doxologically appropriate formulation of the Christian faith," Cardinal Koch said. At the time of Nicaea, there were about 1,800 Christian bishops, and most experts believe about 318 of them participated in the council.

The Council of Nicaea also is known for setting the formula for determining the date of Easter at a time when Christian communities were celebrating Jesus' resurrection on different dates. A common celebration of Easter held until Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar in 1582. 

Cardinal Koch reminded his audience that since the 1960s, the Catholic Church has repeatedly said it would accept an ecumenical proposal for returning to a common date for Easter "on the condition that all Christian churches reach an agreement."

"The endeavor to find a common date for Easter is an important pastoral concern, particularly for families of different denominations, and in light of the increasing mobility of people today," the cardinal said. "Above all, a shared celebration of Easter would bear more credible witness to the profound conviction of the Christian faith that Easter is not only the oldest but also the central and most important feast of Christianity."

At Nicaea, Metropolitan Job said, the bishops determined that the church would celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox -- a formula based on "observable astronomical phenomena" and not on any specific calendar.

"All Christians today, without exception, determine the date of Easter according to the Nicene rule," he said, but with Western Christians using the more accurate Gregorian calendar and Eastern Christians using the Julian calendar, the celebrations only occasionally coincide.

A decision on a proposal for the Orthodox churches "to use the most accurate scientific data to determine the date of Easter, using as a reference the meridian of Jerusalem, place of death and resurrection of Christ," has been postponed multiple times, he said. 

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, looked specifically at how celebrating the Nicaean anniversary is a call to deeper faith and to greater unity.

To profess the Creed is to profess belief in the Trinity, a community of life that gives life to the church, the body of Christ, the archbishop said.

"The unity of the church is neither a goal toward which human negotiators struggle, nor a timelessly given identity untouched by history," he said. Rather, "it is a constantly realized and constantly frustrated or denied movement between subjects, bringing one another alive in the one life of the eternal Son."

"The faith articulated at Nicaea and later in Constantinople cannot, I would say, be understood just as a set of claims about the life of God in abstraction from the call of God into the life of the new creation," he said. 
 

WASHINGTON – Pope Leo XIV has appointed Reverend Simon Peter Engurait, a priest of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and current diocesan administrator, as the Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.

The appointment was publicized in Washington, D.C. on June 5, 2025, by Monsignor Većeslav Tumir, chargé d’ affaires, a.i., of the Apostolic Nunciature, in the temporary absence of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The following biographical information for Bishop-elect Engurait was drawn from preliminary materials provided to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Father Engurait was born on August 28, 1971, in Ngora, Uganda. He attended St. Peter’s College in Tororo, Uganda, and studied at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received a bachelor’s degree at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda (1995), a master of divinity from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana (2013) and a master of business administration at Maastricht School of Management in The Netherlands (1999). He was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 2013.

Father Engurait’s assignments after ordination include: parochial vicar at the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales in Houma (2013-2015), Saint Genevieve parish in Thibodaux (2015-2016), and Christ the Redeemer parish in Thibodaux (2016-2017). He has served as pastor of Saint Bridget parish in Schriever since 2017. 

Bishop-elect Engurait has also served as the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s vicar general (2017-2024), and as moderator of the curia since 2016. He has served as the Diocesan Administrator since 2024. He speaks English, Ateso, Kishwahili, and Spanish.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux is comprised of 3,500 square miles in the State of Louisiana, and has a total population of 257,548, of which 75,761, are Catholic. 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God loves every person and wants to help everyone discover their inherent value and dignity, especially those who feel unworthy or unappreciated, Pope Leo XIV said.

"God wants to give his kingdom, that is, full, eternal and happy life, to everyone," the pope said June 4 as he held his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"And this is what Jesus does with us: he does not establish rankings, he gives all of himself to those who open their hearts to him," the pope said. 

Pope Leo continued a series of talks focusing on Gospel parables that give hope, focusing on "The Workers in the Vineyard" in the Gospel of St. Matthew (20:1-16), which reveals the equality of all the disciples in inheriting eternal life.

Pope Leo said it is "a story that fosters our hope," because "at times we have the impression that we cannot find meaning for our lives: we feel useless, inadequate, just like the laborers who wait in the marketplace, waiting for someone to hire them to work."

"The metaphor of the marketplace is very appropriate for our times, too, because the market is the place of business, where unfortunately even affection and dignity are bought and sold, in the attempt to earn something," he said. "And when we do not feel appreciated, acknowledged, we risk selling ourselves to the first bidder."

"Instead, the Lord reminds us that our life is worthy, and his wish is to help us discover this," he said.

The Lord, represented by the owner of the vineyard in the parable, wants to establish a personal relationship with everyone he meets, and he repeatedly goes out looking for "those who are waiting to give meaning to their lives," Pope Leo said. 

"This tireless master, who wants at all costs to give value to the life of every one of us," even goes out toward the end of the workday to take on those who are still waiting, he said. This shows that "even when it seems we are able to do little in life, it is always worthwhile. There is always the possibility to find meaning because God loves our life."

The landowner pays each worker the same, even those who arrived late in the day and worked fewer hours in the field, because God believes "it is just that each person has what he needs to live" because he knows their dignity, the pope said.

"The story says that the laborers from the first hour are disappointed," Pope Leo said. "They cannot see the beauty of the gesture of the landowner, who was not unjust, but simply generous, who looked not only at merit but also at need."

The "payment" God wants to give is his kingdom, and he offers the same reward of a full, eternal and happy life to everyone without "rankings," he said. The Lord gives everything to everyone who opens their hearts to him. 

But, he said, "in the light of this parable, today's Christian might be tempted to think, 'Why start work immediately? If the pay is the same, why work more?'"

Pope Leo said St. Augustine responded to that question in a sermon asking why would someone delay when God is calling with a promise that they know is a sure thing. The saint warned that people do not know when their time will come, and they should be careful because a delay might mean they miss out on what God wants to give.

"I would like to say, especially to the young, do not wait, but respond enthusiastically to the Lord who calls us to work in his vineyard," the pope said. "Do not delay, roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and you will not be disappointed!"

It is by "working in his vineyard" that people find the meaning of their life, he said.

Do not be discouraged "even in the dark moments of life" when answers seem to be lacking, the pope told his listeners. "The Lord is generous, and he will come soon!" 

Before the general audience, Pope Leo met with members of the board of directors of the National Italian American Foundation, which educates young people about Italian culture and history, as well as provides scholarships and other charitable assistance in both countries. 

"A hallmark of many who immigrated to the United States from Italy was their Catholic faith, with its rich traditions of popular piety and devotions that they continued to practice in their new nation," he said. "This faith sustained them in difficult moments, even as they arrived with a sense of hope for a prosperous future in their new country."

"In an age beset by many challenges," Pope Leo prayed that their visit to Rome would "renew your sense of hope and trust in the future."

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