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WASHINGTON - On the weekend of January 24-25 many Catholic dioceses in the United States will take the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America, which supports ministries among the poor in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

“This annual collection exemplifies the spiritual journey of Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago but spent most of his ministry serving the poor in Peru,” said Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, SDV, of the Diocese of Fall River, and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America, which oversees this annual collection and the grants it funds.

During the decade that then-Bishop Robert Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, his diocese received several grants from the Collection for the Church in Latin America. With this support, the diocese improved youth ministry in impoverished parishes, promoted care for the environment and educated thousands of parents, teachers and catechists in the prevention of child abuse.

“The Second Vatican Council, which ended a dozen years before Robert Prevost entered the Augustinian order, encouraged Catholics to reach out in love across all national borders, especially those between the wealthy global north and the developing global south,” said Bishop da Cunha, a Brazilian whose diocese includes Portuguese and Spanish-speaking Catholics. “Pope Leo XIV’s faith journey embodies the spirit of why the bishops of the United States created the Church in Latin America program six decades ago to make an impact in Latin America.”

The online giving platform iGiveCatholic also accepts funds to support this work.

In 2024, gifts to the Collection for the Church in Latin America provided more than $8 million for 344 projects. Some sample projects are:

• Evangelization, faith formation and pastoral care of teenagers in the Archdiocese of Caracas, Venezuela, whose parents have migrated to work in other countries.
• Prison ministry in the notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with 10,000 severely overcrowded inmates and frequent lethal violence.
• Forming hundreds of Haitian lay leaders in marriage ministry so they can promote strong families in a society that is disintegrating from poverty and gang violence.
• A conference for 1,500 Colombians to seek peace in a six-decade civil war through evangelization that emphasizes Jesus’s command to love our enemies.
• Preparing lay leaders in the Archdiocese of Havana, Cuba, to become evangelists in their communities, despite communist repression of the Catholic faith.
• An international gathering of 130 faith leaders in Mexico City to explore the continuing importance of the Vatican II document on Scripture, Dei Verbum.

“All of these projects represent the types of initiatives that inspired Father Prevost to go to Peru as a missionary,” Bishop da Cunha said. “In supporting the Collection for the Church in Latin America, we are able to honor Pope Leo XIV and, above all, serve the Lord who calls us to love our neighbors.”

More information is at www.usccb.org/latin-america.

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The pastor of Greenland’s sole Catholic parish said that “most Greenlanders” do not wish to become part of the United States.

“People are worried, but they are also very clear: this is our land, our culture, our home,” Father Tomaž Majcen, OFM Conv, said in response to American interest in acquiring the island. The priest told OSV News that “we must stand for human dignity, for the rights of the Inuit people, and for dialogue instead of threats.”

Father Majcen invited the faithful to “pray for peace and respect for sovereignty, and to join us in caring for creation, especially our fragile Arctic environment, which is one of God’s most breathtaking but vulnerable masterpieces.”

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Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, sent a message in Pope Leo’s name to the chairman of the Three Kings Parade Foundation, which organizes Epiphany parades in Poland.

The Holy Father, said the prelate, has been “informed about the idea of the Three Kings Parade organized since 2009 on the Solemnity of the Epiphany in Poland and in many countries worldwide.” The Pope has united himself “spiritually with all those who, together with the Three Kings, bear witness to Christ on the streets of cities and villages.”

The Vatican yesterday released a video associated with the January papal prayer intention, prayer with the Word of God.

“Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures, to let ourselves be challenged by your voice, and to discern our decisions from the closeness to your Heart,” Pope Leo prayed in the video. “May your Word be nourishment in weariness, hope in darkness, and strength in our communities.”

“Lord, may your Word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts—the Word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, disciples and missionaries of your Kingdom,” the Pope added.

The video was the first in the new “Pray with the Pope” campaign and is longer (four minutes) and more meditative than the videos previously associated with the monthly prayer intentions. In this video, the Pope is filmed praying in the Church of San Pellegrino in Vaticano.

A prelate in Cameroon emphasized that bishops “are not politicians,” but “speak as shepherds and prophets.”

“No bishop will tell you who to vote for,” said Bishop Agapitus Nfon of Kumba. “During election periods, we provide criteria and guidance to help people choose the right leader.”

“We call attention to consciences so that citizens can make the right choice,” he added. “Therefore, we cannot afford to be partisan, because as shepherds, we have faithful who belong to different political parties. We are here to guide them all.”

The central African nation of 32 million (map) is 58% Christian (28% Catholic), 22% Muslim, and 19% ethnic religionist. The nation’s president, Paul Biya, is 92 and the oldest head of state in the world.