Hello friends,
Here are a few items from the news this past week for our collective prayer, study, and action this #SolidaritySaturday from Pax Christi PA:
War with Iran
- America Magazine reports on remarks made by Cardinal Cupich (Chicago) and Cardinal McElroy (D.C.) condemning the military strikes against Iran as unjust.
- Associated Press (AP) reports on Pope Leo XIV’s Sunday Angelus remarks on March 15th. The Holy Father called for an immediate ceasefire to the war with Iran. He went on to challenge those responsible for the conflict: “One might well ask: do those Christians who bear grave responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage to make a serious examination of conscience and to go to confession?”
- Commonweal Magazine’s editors call out the illicit nature of the war with Iran and how changes in U.S. policy (i.e., lifting sanctions on Russia) benefits Russia in their ongoing war of aggression in Ukraine.
- Our Sunday Vistor (OSV) reports Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin rite patriarch of Jerusalem, says that “using God’s name to justify war is the gravest sin.” He went on to say there are “no new crusades” and that God is present with those suffering and being killed.
- Pax Christi USA opposes automatic registration of US men into the Selective Service System (SSS) using aggregated data from other federal agencies and databases.
Immigration
- PBS WHYY Philadelphia reports on local municipalities cooperating (or not) with ICE.
- Spotlight PA reports on the lack of transparency with DHS purchases of warehouses designated for conversion to detention facilities, including writing the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) to allow DHS “to award contracts without the normal bidding process” among other troubling signs.
- The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that immigrants taken by ICE in the Philadelphia area, with family roots in Philadelphia, are often detained at locations far away from their support networks.
Gun Violence Prevention
- CeasefirePA asks Pennsylvanians to contact their representatives in Harrisburg to support and sponsor legislation to ban “ghost guns” in the Commonwealth
Pax Christi PA #SolidaritySaturday 3.21.2026