Monday, December 29, 2025
Cardinal Cupich incenses the altar during Mass on June 4, 2025, at Rate Field to celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic) Local news
January
Archbishop Jeffrey Grob, former auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago, is installed in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Jan. 14. Cardinal Cupich led archdiocesan Catholics on a Jan. 14-20 pilgrimage to Mexico City and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The pilgrimage was an opportunity to build the bond of friendship between the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Archdiocese of Mexico City, formalized in an agreement of cooperation signed in 1999.
February
In the weeks following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, leaders of immigrant-to-immigrant ministries in Chicago-area parishes worked to accompany families pastorally in an environment of increased fear of deportation among immigrants.
“In the Pastoral Migratoria, we’ve been hearing a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, a lot of uncertainty,” said Sarah Rosland, senior coordinator for local immigration in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity. “There’s so much disinformation out there.” With funding for programs supported by the U.S. Agency for international development suspended and eventually completely cut off, leaders in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s efforts to be in solidarity with and serve poor and marginalized people implored local Catholics to give generously to Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten Rice Bowl collection.
“It’s especially important this year for us to step up and support CRS where we can to try to fill in the gap to make sure we care for people, because other areas of funding are not available right now to help global communities,” said Jenna Rummelhart, operations director for the archdiocese’s Department of Parish Vitality and Mission. Ukrainian Catholics gathered in Holy Name Cathedral on Feb. 24 to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to pray for the dead from the ongoing war.
Cardinal Cupich joined Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago, along with priests and laypeople and interreligious leaders, for a “panakhida,” a Ukrainian memorial prayer in which the dead are prayed for and are commended to God. Cardinal Cupich ordained Bishops Timothy J. O’Malley, Lawrence J. Sullivan, José María Garcia-Maldonado, Robert M. Fedek and John S. Siemianowski in front of a standing-room-only congregation at Holy Name Cathedral Feb. 26.
The 2½-hour liturgy combined solemnity with hope and joy as the as the Archdiocese of Chicago welcomed its newest auxiliary bishops during the Jubilee Year of Hope.
March
Nine bishops and archbishops from across the United States led prayers and reflections during a March 14-22 national novena for migrants and immigrants hosted by the Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, including Cardinal Cupich on the final day.
The novena, at noon Central Daylight Time most days, was convened over Zoom and was free. The Archdiocese of Chicago filed a countersuit March 24 against two people who claimed they were sexually abused by former priest Daniel McCormack as well as five other people, alleging that the individuals were part of a yearslong conspiracy to fraudulently obtain financial settlements from the archdiocese.
April
May
On May 6, two days before Pope Leo XIV, a native Chicagoan who is a member of the Augustinian religious community, was elected the 267th pope by the College of Cardinals, students at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy elected their own native Chicagoan in a mock conclave, and the student elected took the name “Augustine” when he accepted his election.
The event was covered by Chicago Catholic and local news media, and it went viral starting in the two days before Pope Leo was elected.
The students traveled to Rome and met Pope Leo in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 8. Archbishop Michael McGovern was installed as the Archbishop of Omaha on May 7. Archbishop McGovern, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, had been bishop of Belleville. Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago were surprised and bursting with pride with the May 8 election of Pope Leo XIV, born in Chicago and raised in suburban Dolton.
Less than two hours after the announcement, Auxiliary Bishop Larry Sullivan, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Chicago, said Pope Leo will never forget his Chicago roots, but he is “first and foremost” a child of God who will work to lead the worldwide church and to draw attention to those on the margins of society, who otherwise might be forgotten.
Bishop Sullivan spoke to reporters at Holy Name Cathedral May 8, shortly after the announcement that Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, an Augustinian, had been elected the 267th pope. Ten years after Pope Francis released “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” the message of the encyclical has taken root in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The archdiocese celebrated the anniversary with a May 24 Mass celebrated by Bishop Sullivan at St. Moses the Black Parish, 331 E. 71st St., followed by a reception for people who are active in the archdiocesan Care of Creation ministry.
June
The choir at Leo High School is famous around Chicago, but the nation got a glimpse into what makes it special when the young men took the stage of “America’s Got Talent” on June 8.
They captured the hearts of the judges, who were effusive in their praise, and moved on to the second round of the competition. They competed live on Aug. 26 on NBC.
The choir eventually made the finals and finished fourth. Their journey catapulted them to wide popularity and raised the profile of the predominantly African American boys high school.
In October, choir members learned that they would receive a total of $200,000 in college scholarships from the Archdiocese of Chicago and from an anonymous donor. Thousands of Catholics from across the Chicago area and beyond gathered June 14 at Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, to celebrate Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born, Dolton-raised Augustinian and White Sox fan who was elected the 266th Successor of Peter on May 8.
July
In the days after Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Mass for the care of creation at Borgo Laudato Si’ on July 9, a discussion erupted among priests on Facebook.
“Is that a Hansen?” they asked. “It looks like a Hansen.”
The item under discussion was the pope’s deep green chasuble, accented with a gold orphrey (a vertical band down the center) and circular yoke.
Someone finally chimed in and said, “It’s a Hansen,” according to Gerard Arens, who owns the House of Hansen, Inc., a 117-year-old liturgical vestment retailer, with his wife, Ellen. Catholics and other people of faith can work for the prevention of nuclear war by adding their voices to those calling for measures to reduce the risk of nuclear war, creating moral and political pressure on leaders, according to a group of Nobel laureates and others who gathered at the University of Chicago July 14-16.
Among the participants was Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi, 84, a retired Vatican diplomat, who is an advisor to Pope Leo XIV on nuclear issues.
“The religious aspect of this event may offer some ideas on the complexity of the problems, the difficulty in communicating to everybody the disastrous consequences that eventual use of even one atomic bomb can create,” Cardinal Tomasi said at a July 16 press conference at the end of the assembly. “There are some specific ways emerging from the assembly in which religious communities can contribute to the global architecture of disarmament and restraint.”
August
Cardinal Cupich celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood at a Mass Aug. 16. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines welcomed a new sculpture of the Pilgrim Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, with a Mass that drew thousands of people Aug. 27.
The statue and associated exhibit stayed at the shrine until the end of September, before moving to St. Gall Parish, 5511 S. Sawyer Ave., and Mother of the Americas Parish, 2226 S. Whipple St.
September
Archdiocesan parishes and schools celebrated the canonizations of their young patron saints Sept. 7.
On a glorious Sunday morning under a bright blue sky, the people of St. Carlo Acutis Parish welcomed the news of their patron’s canonization with streamers, bubbles and a procession of children, many clad in soccer jerseys.
“This is a moment of prayer and moment of celebration,” said Resurrectionist Father Ed Howe, St. Carlo Acutis Parish’s pastor. “And it’s a Chicago pope canonizing the patron of a Chicago parish. So that’s pretty cool.”
St. Carlo Acutis, who has been called the first millennial saint and “God’s influencer,” was canonized in St. Peter’s Square alongside St. Pier Georgio Frassati.
October
Father Gary Graf took a walk. A very long walk.
On the morning of Oct. 6, Graf took his first steps, leaving from Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in Dolton. His destination: the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
Graf, pastor of Our Lady of the Heights in Chicago Heights, is walking for immigrant children as part of his “Step Up Speak Out” pilgrimage.
He arrived at the Statue of Liberty on Dec. 2, 57 days after setting out. Cardinal Cupich released the following statement on Oct. 21:
My dear brothers and sisters, today I speak to you as your shepherd, but also as a fellow pilgrim who shares the pain of many of our immigrant communities. Families are being torn apart. Children are left in fear, and communities are shaken by immigration raids and detentions. These actions wound the soul of our city. Let me be clear. The church stands with migrants. About 1,000 people followed the Eucharist from St. Eulalia Church in Maywood to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Broadview on Oct. 11, singing and praying the rosary in English and Spanish.
The center had become the site of prayers and protests as immigration enforcement ramped up and detainees were crowded into the center, sometimes for many days. The center was intended to hold people only a few hours, and lacked adequate facilities.
The procession set off from the church with Father Larry Dowling, a retired pastor and a member of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Life’s clergy council, carrying the monstrance, followed by priests carrying ciboria full of consecrated hosts contributed by parishes from across the area.
When they arrived, they were denied the opportunity to bring Communion to those detained inside. In the early hours of Oct. 31, the Illinois state legislature passed SB 1950, known as the “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act,” which could make it legal for residents to end their life with the aid of a physician. The bill was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Dec. 12.
November
Immigration enforcement continued to dominate the news, at parishes with large Latino populations reported a decrease in Mass attendance because of the increased presence of agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout the Chicago area.
About 2,000 people who gathered for All Saints’ Day Mass Nov. 1 near the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility were there to show their solidarity with and love for the people detained inside, according to Auxiliary Bishop José María Garcia-Maldonado, the main celebrant of the Mass.
“They are part of us,” Bishop Garcia-Maldonado said of people detained inside the facility. “They are part of our family.”
Attempts to bring Communion to detainees inside the center were once again denied. Local food pantries saw a spike in demand in the fall, as factors ranging from the suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during the federal government shutdown to immigrants’ fears of being suddenly taken from the street by federal agents have thrown more local families into food insecurity, program directors say.
The leaders are calling on parishioners and other neighbors to donate to and volunteer at their local food pantries and advocate with public officials for policies to reduce hunger. Pope Leo XIV connected authentically with American young people during a nearly hour-long Nov. 21 livestream dialogue with participants in the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, according to Chicago-area teens who helped plan the encounter.
During the livestreamed conversation, five young people from across the country asked Pope Leo questions about forgiveness, mental health, technology use and artificial intelligence and the future of the church.
December
Pope Leo XIV named Bishop Ronald Hicks, a priest and former auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, to be the next archbishop of New York on Dec. 18.
Archbishop-elect Hicks has always looked for ways to say “yes” to God, he told Chicago Catholic in 2018, and it’s no surprise that he would continue along that path.
Archbishop-elect Hicks introduced himself to the people of the Archdiocese of New York at a news conference alongside Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has been archbishop of New York for the past 16 years. Vatican
January
February
Pope Francis’ health took a turn for the worse. After undergoing a CT scan Feb. 18, Pope Francis was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, the Vatican said.
“The follow-up chest CT scan which the Holy Father underwent this afternoon,” the Vatican bulletin said, “demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy.”
“Laboratory tests, chest X-rays and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture,” the evening bulletin said.
March
Pope Francis has approved the next phase of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, launching a three-year implementation process that will culminate in an ecclesial assembly at the Vatican in October 2028.
In a letter published March 15, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, announced that the synod’s new phase will focus on applying its conclusions at all levels of the church, with dioceses, bishops conferences and religious communities working to integrate synodality into daily church life before the meeting at the Vatican in 2028.
April
The world mourned Pope Francis, who died April 21, Easter Monday. Pope Francis, who died April 21 at the age of at age 88, gave new energy to millions of Catholics — and caused concern for some — as he transformed the image of the papacy into a pastoral ministry based on personal encounters and strong convictions about poverty, mission and dialogue.
U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, announced that Pope Francis had died at 7:35 a.m.
“His whole life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his church,” Cardinal Farrell said in a video announcement broadcast from the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis lived.
May
Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, the Chicago-born prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, was elected the 267th pope May 8 and took the name Pope Leo XIV.
He is the first North American to be elected pope and, before the conclave, was the U.S. cardinal most mentioned as a potential successor of St. Peter.
The white smoke poured from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel at 6:07 p.m. Rome time and a few minutes later the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began to ring.
July
After more than a decade without its most famous vacationer, the quiet town of Castel Gandolfo once again counts the pope among its summer residents.
Pope Leo XIV became the 16th pope to reside in the papal summer residence when he moved there July 6, following the recitation of the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square.
“This afternoon, I will travel to Castel Gandolfo, where I intend to have a short period of rest,” the pope told pilgrims gathered in the square. “I hope that everyone will be able to enjoy some vacation time in order to restore both body and spirit.” Catholic priests will now be able to celebrate Mass “for the care of creation” after the Vatican announced that a new formulary of prayers and biblical readings for the Mass will be added to the Roman Missal — the liturgical book that contains the texts for celebrating Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo XIV used the new formulary for a private Mass July 9 with the staff of Borgo Laudato Si’ ecology project — a space for education and training in integral ecology hosted in the gardens of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo, the traditional summer residence for the popes.
October
Many Christians “need to go back and re-read the Gospel” because they have forgotten that faith and love for the poor go hand in hand, Pope Leo XIV said in his first major papal document.
“Love for the poor — whatever the form their poverty may take — is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God,” the pope wrote in “Dilexi Te” (“I Have Loved You”), an apostolic exhortation “to all Christians on love for the poor.”
Pope Leo signed the document Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Vatican released the text Oct. 9.
November
Celebrating Mass Nov. 1, the feast of All Saints, Pope Leo XIV concluded the Jubilee of the World of Education and proclaimed St. John Henry Newman the 38th doctor of the church, including him among the men and women of the Christian East and West who have made decisive contributions to theology and spirituality
The lives of St. John Henry Newman and of all the saints teach Christians that “it is possible to live passionately amidst the complexity of the present without neglecting the apostolic mandate to ‘shine like stars in the world,’” Pope Leo said. Insisting that the dignity of all people, including immigrants, must be respected, Pope Leo XIV asked U.S. Catholics and “people of goodwill” to read and listen to the U.S. bishops’ recent pastoral message on the topic.
“When people are living good lives — and many of them (in the United States) for 10, 15, 20 years — to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least,” is not acceptable, the pope said Nov. 18. Although the ancient city of Nicaea lies in ruins and the geographic center of Christianity has shifted West, Pope Leo XIV and Christian leaders gathered at an archaeological site in Turkey to celebrate the enduring faith set out in the Nicene Creed.
Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople hosted the ecumenical prayer service and the common recitation of the Creed Nov. 28 at Iznik, site of the ancient Nicaea, about 80 miles southeast of Istanbul.
He spoke during a papal visit to Turkey and Lebanon.
December
Condemning the attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney, Pope Leo XIV said, “Enough with these forms of antisemitic violence! We must eradicate hatred from our hearts.”
The pope prayed for “the victims of the terrorist massacre carried out” Dec. 14 when at least 15 people were killed and dozens were injured after two gunmen opened fire on the Jewish celebration near Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach. In memoriam Auxiliary Bishop John Gorman, 99, died June 2. Friends and colleagues recalled him as a visionary, creative leader who was devoted to the Archdiocese of Chicago and its people. Family, friends and supporters of Misericordia Heart of Mercy turned out at Holy Name Cathedral the morning of June 24 to say goodbye to Mercy Sister Rosemary Connelly, longtime president of Misericordia and champion of people with disabilities. Sister Rosemary died on June 19 at age 94. Mercy Sister Patricia M. Murphy, 96, died July 21 in the company of her Mercy Sisters, family members and colleagues who joined her in her ceaseless efforts to promote justice and human dignity, especially for immigrants and refugees.
Sister Pat was a Sister of Mercy for 77 years. With her longtime partner in ministry, Mercy Sister JoAnn Persch, she was among the driving forces behind weekly prayers outside the Broadview Detention Center, an effort that led to the creation of an interfaith coalition to minister to the needs of immigrants and refugees. Jan Slattery, the first director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for the Protection of Children and Youth, died Aug. 16. She was 82.
Slattery was a leader in the effort to protect children in the Catholic Church and in other environments, lending her experience and expertise to people from other dioceses as well as other faith traditions, according to colleagues who have known her since the office began. Sun streamed through the windows of Madonna Della Strada Chapel on the Lake Shore Campus of Loyola University Chicago the morning of Oct. 16 as family, friends, staff and students gathered for a funeral Mass to celebrate the life of BVM Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt.
Sister Jean, a legend in the Loyola University and wider Chicago communities, died Oct. 9 at 106. Mercy Sister JoAnn Persch, 91, died unexpectedly on Nov. 14. She had been a Sister of Mercy for 73 years.
Sister JoAnn was well known for her tireless advocacy for migrants and refugees, working for decades with her partner in ministry, Sister Pat Murphy, who died July 21. Adrian Dominican Sister Jamie T. (Martin Thomas) Phelps, 84, died Nov. 22 in Adrian, Michigan. She was a respected theologian, an advocate for social and racial justice and a pioneer in the field of Black Catholic studies.