Washington D.C., Dec 12, 2024 / 17:30 pm
Catholic members of Congress and staff gathered inside the U.S. Capitol this morning for a rare event — the celebration of a Mass in honor of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, celebrated the liturgy.
“It’s been a desire for a long time to have Mass at the Capitol for the Catholics who are here,” Broglio told CNA. “And of course, celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe was particularly significant, I think, because she’s the patroness of the whole continent.”
The archbishop called it “an opportunity to really pray as one and to pray also for the work that happens here.”
The Thomas More Society organized a Mass at the Capitol in Statuary Hall on Easter Sunday 2023. In January of this year, a Latin Mass was celebrated inside the Capitol on the anniversary of an FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics. The Washington Archdiocese later told CNA that the organizers of the event had failed to gain permission to celebrate the old Mass as required by its liturgical guidelines and Traditione Custodes, an apostolic letter issued by Pope Francis in 2021.
About 30 members of Congress and congressional staff attended the Mass Thursday, including New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, who told CNA that “to have [Broglio] celebrate Mass was a true blessing for all of us who were here, and for this place as well.”
Smith told CNA he has a life-sized replica of the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging in his office. “I’m amazed at how many people I meet — because I meet with diplomats all the time because of my human rights work and my committee assignments — they always take note of [the tilma].”
“I find there’s such devotion, particularly with the Latin Americans who come in — they look at [the tilma] and it’s instant,” he said. “And so this is, of course, a celebration of her, [and] the whole story of Juan Diego, and the whole story of, you know, 8-9 million people converting from human sacrifice and worshipping gods is such an amazing story of conversion and repair of souls.”
“And so,” Smith said, his office “places all of our pro-life and human rights work under her mantle.”
“I do a lot on the human rights issue,” he said, “and every bit of it, we turn to her and pray, you know, and ask her for guidance.” Smith and his wife also share a personal devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
After the Mass had ended, a representative from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, Jacob Trauberman, approached Broglio to inform the archbishop that Pelosi was coming to “say hello” and that she had also wished to “receive Communion.”
Broglio agreed to meet with Pelosi but did not give her Communion.
Michelle Gress, executive director at the office of government relations at the USCCB, told CNA that Broglio declined Pelosi’s request as the Mass had already ended and they “didn’t consecrate extra Hosts.”
When Pelosi did arrive, she greeted Broglio warmly, saying: “I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you.” The two shared a friendly conversation that touched on the recent 200th anniversary of Marquis de Lafayette’s address to Congress and the upcoming 80th anniversary of the World War II Battle of the Bulge.
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At one point in the conversation, Pelosi told Broglio: “We need to pray for peace.”
Pelosi recently criticized Pope Francis for the Vatican’s deal with China regarding bishop appointments during an interview with the National Catholic Reporter published on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
In her interview with the Reporter, Pelosi also spoke about a wide variety of other issues, which included the decline of Catholic support for the Democratic Party in the 2024 elections and her feuds with Catholic bishops over her adamant support of abortion.
Although her bishop, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, prohibited her from receiving Communion within the archdiocese because of her support for abortion, Pelosi told the Reporter that she “received Communion anyway” and said: “That’s his problem, not mine.”
