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Pope Francis speaks to staff and students from St. Paul Theological School in Catania, Italy, during an audience at the Vatican Dec. 6, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Studying theology in Sicily means fighting Mafia, pope says

December 7, 2024
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: News, Vatican, World News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The study of theology must include reference to the context in which its students live and will minister, Pope Francis said, so in Sicily that means it must have something to say about the Mafia.

“The mission of a theological school cannot ignore the territory in which it is located,” the pope said Dec. 6 during a meeting with staff and students from St. Paul Theological School in Catania, an ancient port city on the Italian island of Sicily.

“Your land has wonderful natural and artistic beauty,” the pope told them, but it also is “unfortunately threatened by Mafia speculation and corruption, which hold back development and impoverish resources,” often leading young people to flee the island or to join criminal gangs.

“The Mafia always impoverishes, always,” he said.

“Sicily needs men and women who can look to the future with hope and train the new generations to be free and transparent in caring for the common good, to eradicate old and new poverty,” the pope said, urging the students to work to build “in this world the kingdom of love and justice” promised by Christ.

The theological school, the pope said, must be a place that trains academics and pastoral workers to serve the people of Sicily, especially the poor and the many migrants who land on the island from North Africa.

Sicily “has always been a crossroads of peoples,” he said. “I urge you to be welcoming, to be creative in fraternity.”

“Please,” the pope told them, “let us not extinguish the hope of the poor, of those poor who are migrants.”

Pope Francis also urged the students and staff to value the diversity found at the theology school, recognizing the gifts that each person brings to the school community and to the local church.

“Over the years, there has been an increasing number of female students, who now have tasks of pastoral responsibility or religious or academic teaching in your ecclesial communities,” the pope noted. “This, too, is a sign of the times in an area where women have often been devalued in their social role. But let us not forget that Sicily is the homeland of the martyr saints Agatha and Lucia, who were ‘seeds’ of robust faith, capable of renewal and of generating ever new witnesses” for Christ.

Roberto Leo, a senior firefighter, places a wreath of flowers on a Marian statue

Pope prays Mary will fill believers with hope, inspire them to serve

Cindy Wooden

December 8, 2025

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Celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception as the Jubilee Year was ending, Pope Leo XIV prayed that “Jubilee hope” would “blossom in Rome and in every corner of the earth,” bringing with it reconciliation, nonviolence and peace.

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Continue Reading Pope prays Mary will fill believers with hope, inspire them to serve

Pope Leo XIV waves to visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square

Advent call is to cooperate in building a kingdom of peace, pope says

Cindy Wooden

December 8, 2025

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Preparing the way of the Lord means taking concrete steps to help usher in God’s kingdom of peace, Pope Leo XIV said on his first Advent Sunday back at the Vatican after his trip to Turkey and Lebanon.

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Continue Reading Advent call is to cooperate in building a kingdom of peace, pope says

Vatican's annual Christmas concert with the poor

Come all ye faithful: Christmas carols sing of God’s love, pope says

Cindy Wooden

December 8, 2025

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christmas carols in every language and culture are expressions of how music can convey “feelings and emotions, even the deepest movements of the soul,” Pope Leo XIV said after listening, clapping and singing along at the Vatican Christmas concert with the poor. “As the melodies touched our hearts, we felt the inestimable value of music: not a luxury for the…

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Continue Reading Come all ye faithful: Christmas carols sing of God’s love, pope says

A look at highlights of Vatican II on 60th anniversary of its wrap

Alexander Brüggemann

December 7, 2025

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The Second Vatican Council, which after three years of dialogue and document drafting closed on Dec. 8, 1965, changed the face of the church, and opened it to the modern world.

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Continue Reading A look at highlights of Vatican II on 60th anniversary of its wrap

A Vatican commission recently said ‘no’ to women deacons. Two members of the commission explain why

Gina Christian

December 5, 2025

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A newly released Vatican commission report on the issue of women deacons ultimately shows the profound theological mystery of Christ’s relationship to the church, as well as the rediscovery of the long-dormant diaconate itself, experts told OSV News.

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Continue Reading A Vatican commission recently said ‘no’ to women deacons. Two members of the commission explain why

The story behind young woman who wept while hugging Pope Leo in Beirut

Dale Gavlak

December 5, 2025

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As Pope Leo XIV was wrapping up his first apostolic trip to Turkey and Lebanon recently, the world was moved by the sight of a young Lebanese woman crying and hugging the pontiff as he was meeting with victims of the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion.

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