Father Mike Schmitz before his show in Vail, Colorado, as part of his Parables Tour. | Credit: Daniel Milchev

Jan 2, 2026 / 20:17 pm (CNA).

The existence of hell as an option for human beings at the end of life is proof of God’s goodness, according to Father Mike Schmitz.

“At the end of our lives, he simply gives us what we’ve actually chosen,” Schmitz said during his talk, titled “...And at the Hour of Our Death,” at the SEEK 2026 conference in Columbus, Ohio. “I think this is incredible to realize, that if I want not God, I get not God.”

“At some point, if with my choices, I’ve said, ‘God, I want not you,’ he lets me have not him — which is another way to say, hell,” he continued. “That’s what hell is. Hell is existence apart from God. If that’s what I want, God, in his goodness, in God’s justice, he’ll give that to me.”

Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Denver, and Fort Worth, Texas, for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by FOCUS.

Schmitz addressed various ways Christians think about death, noting that what we believe tells us a lot about how we see life and the degree to which we trust God. He then highlighted a theory that posits that God reveals himself at the hour of our death in his full glory, so that it becomes impossible not to choose him and, therefore, for anyone to go to hell.

This theory, Schmitz said, “is B as in S.”

“That is, bologna sandwich,” he clarified.

“Not only is it false, but it makes God a tyrant,” he said. “God tolerates our evil choices to preserve our free will. God doesn’t want any of us to sin. He tolerates that. God allows us to do that to preserve our freedom. Why? Because God’s saying, ‘You matter, your choices matter.’”

Schmitz pointed out that if at the end of life, “after allowing us to go through an entire life, lifetimes, where our choices hurt people around us,” God were to overwhelm human capacity to choose God, it would be “slavery.”

“If God, at the moment of our death, is going to force us to choose him because of his love, he’s a bad God,” he said. “Why? Because if God has known this whole time that the last, greatest, most important choice of our life, he was going to strip away from us, rendering our entire previous life meaningless, why did he keep us in this world of suffering?”

“The fact that God preserves our freedom even if we don’t want him demonstrates to us that he is still good,” Schmitz said. “The existence of hell, the reality of hell, the fact that our choices matter are the only thing that preserves God’s goodness.”

Ultimately, Schmitz told conference participants, “all of this starts right now.” Referencing “The Grinch,” he pointed out that while purgatory serves as a sort of “plan B,” life “is meant to be the place where God grows your heart two sizes two big.”

“You guys, purgatory has already started,” he said in conclusion. “Which means heaven has already started every day.”

Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, speaks to CNA during the SEEK 2026 conference on Jan. 2, 2026. | Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Jan 2, 2026 / 20:00 pm (CNA).

Bishop Michael Olson, whose diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, is hosting the SEEK 2026 conference, said he is praying for unity in Christ.

Olson said he has observed that young people attending the conference have “a real openness to God’s call. They very much want to make a difference for Christ” with their lives.

“There’s a sense of communion that the Church has that postmodern reality undercuts. Young people, however, want to be disciples of the Lord. They want to belong, but they want to belong in the way he calls them to belong.”

Regarding what is moving him spiritually right now, he said in an interview that “the heart of my prayer is the prayer of Jesus: That all may be one, as he and the father are one.”

He said he is praying that “we all find communion and unity in Christ, as his Church, which is his intention.”

“With all differences that we’re tempted to be divided over, especially in the sacraments and the liturgy,” he said he prays to help foster a sense of communion among people within the Church.

Immigration

About immigration, a prominent issue in Texas, Olson said that along with the majority of the U.S. bishops, he affirms the rule of law and the integrity of borders, “because without that, there is no sense of peace; there’s chaos and lawlessness and the most vulnerable suffer.”

He said we all have to stop “defining ourselves by partisan ideologies, which feels like the dominant ‘religion’ in the U.S., for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.”

“We have a responsibility to lend comfort [to immigrants] and to provide security. As an international issue and as a nation, we must help other nations to ensure their borders,” he continued.

“Some of the challenges for the leadership of other nations are gangs. The most vulnerable are paying the price, terrified by the tyranny of the gangs,” he said.

“We have to look at ourselves and say, how have we promoted [those challenges] in areas of foreign policy? We’re reaping what we’ve sown,” Olson said.

“What we faced before with abortion and the death penalty, we now face with immigration: The dignity of the human person must be focused on, as well as the primacy of family life as the basis of society,” he said.

Parish and school security

Asked about how security at parishes and Catholic schools is handled in his diocese following recent violence at Catholic schools, he said for the past seven years, the diocese has employed the Guardian ministry, which involves fully vetted, trained, and armed parishioners in partnership with the police.

Those in the ministry are “proactive in cultivating a spirit and practice of deescalation, in the spirit of discipleship with Christ, in order to protect the vulnerable and weak.”

Olson said at the rest of the SEEK conference he plans to spend time with the young people, giving a talk to the seminarians on prayer and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Dozens of priests help distribute Communion to the 4,500 attendees at Mass on opening night of SEEK 2026 on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1, 2026, in Forth Worth, Texas. | Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Jan 2, 2026 / 19:25 pm (CNA).

A raucous rock concert by a priest, a special video message from Pope Leo XIV, and prayers for the repose of the soul of the 5-year-old son of a Catholic social media influencer were all part of the opening night of SEEK 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Fort Worth for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by FOCUS.

More than 4,500 conference attendees participated in the opening Mass in Fort Worth on the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, concelebrated by Bishop Michael Sis of the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas, along with three of his brother bishops, including Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

Dozens of priests also attended the Mass and helped distribute Communion to the thousands of attendees.

In his homily, in which he encouraged the thousands of young people to go away from the conference praising God for what they “have heard and seen here, like the shepherds of Bethlehem,” Sis told his listeners: “You’re not useless. You’re not insignificant. You are a beautiful child of God. As a child of God, you can influence your surroundings. You can connect with your generation in ways that others cannot. You are just getting started as a missionary disciple.”

An intention during the Prayers of the Faithful was for the repose of the soul of young Micah Kim, the son of Catholic social media influencer Paul Kim. The boy passed away on Dec. 31, 2025, after more than a week on life support following a rare medical emergency brought on by a severe case of the flu.

After the Mass, which was also attended by dozens of priests from all over the country and projected on several enormous screens throughout the Texas ballroom at the Gaylord Convention Center, attendees were treated to a special video message from Pope Leo, who asked: “Dear young people, what do you seek? Why are you here at this conference? Perhaps your hearts are also restless, searching for meaning and fulfillment and direction for your lives.”

The answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ, Leo said.

The evening’s first speaker was Father David Michael Moses, who entered college at age 14, was ordained a priest in 2019 at age 25, and has more than 2 million followers across his various social media platforms.

He walked on stage with a guitar and sang a song he wrote about funny, true stories that happened to him as a priest. Each time he crooned the refrain “Take it from me, I had to learn, if you become a priest, you’re gonna get burned,” the crowd erupted in laughter.

In his talk, Moses echoed Pope Leo’s words, asking attendees: “What are you searching for?”

He continued: “The purpose that you’re searching for is in the things that you are avoiding. What are you avoiding? So many of our unhealthy habits are the avoidance of something, not being willing to face something.”

At the end of his talk, he encouraged attendees to run up to and gather in front of the stage as he belted out a rock song about living a Christian life. He took a selfie from the stage with the young people cheering behind him and ended his performance by doing “the worm” dance on the stage as the crowd went wild.

Sister Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, of the podcast “Abiding Together,” gave the second keynote address. In a soft voice, she began by telling attendees she had been “carrying you in my heart for a while.”

She said: “We don’t just need forgiveness from God. We need union with God. The word ‘union’ expands our hearts and makes our hearts ache because we know that’s what we are made for.”

Pope Leo XIV. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 2, 2026 / 18:07 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV expressed his closeness and compassion to the families of the victims of a fire that broke out in the early hours of Jan. 1 at a bar in the ski resort of Crans-Montana in Switzerland.

Nearly 300 people were celebrating New Year’s Eve at the Le Constellation bar when the fire spread rapidly from the basement to the upper part of the establishment, causing a subsequent explosion that left at least 40 people dead and 115 injured.

The causes of the tragic incident are still unknown, although authorities believe it was an accident.

In a telegram expressing condolences addressed to Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey of Sion and signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy Father joined in mourning with the grieving families and all of Switzerland.

The pontiff also prayed to the Lord to “welcome the deceased into his dwelling place of peace and light, and to sustain the courage of those who are suffering in their hearts or bodies.”

“May the Mother of God, in her tenderness, bring the consolation of faith to all those affected by this tragedy and keep them in hope,” the telegram states.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Dr. John Bergsma, a former Calvinist pastor, tells SEEK 2026 attendees about his path to the Catholic Church. | Credit: Gigi Duncan/EWTN News

Jan 2, 2026 / 18:05 pm (CNA).

John Bergsma grew up convinced that the Catholic Mass was not merely mistaken but “abominable idolatry.”

Speaking Jan. 2 to thousands of college students and young adults at SEEK 2026 in Columbus, Ohio, the former Calvinist pastor described how that belief slowly unraveled, leading him into the Catholic Church. Some 26,000 attendees have gathered through Jan. 5 in Columbus, Denver, and Fort Worth, Texas, for the SEEK 2026 conference organized by  FOCUS.

Bergsma, a senior biblical scholar at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, titled his talk “Mass Conversion: How I Discovered the Eucharist and the Catholic Church.” His story, he said, begins in a Dutch Calvinist upbringing that was “ethnically Dutch, theologically Protestant,” rooted in the teachings of John Calvin.

“In our doctrinal documents, there was a section on what we rejected,” Bergsma said. “And in particular, we rejected the Catholic Mass.”

He explained that he was taught Catholics committed idolatry by worshipping bread and wine as God. “If you worship the creature as the Creator,” he said, “that is idolatry.”

Following in the footsteps of his father, a U.S. Navy chaplain, Bergsma became a Protestant pastor in western Michigan in his early 20s. But it was there, he told the SEEK audience, that cracks began to form in the theological framework he had always defended — especially the Reformation principle of sola fide, or salvation by faith alone. 

While participating in door-to-door evangelization with an older pastor, Bergsma used a popular method known as “the Roman Road,” a series of biblical verses meant to present salvation through faith alone. 

One afternoon, the men visited a woman who welcomed them into her apartment and responded to their message positively. They prayed with her, and Bergsma recalled feeling a “real sense of peace and the presence of the Holy Spirit.”

Then, he said, the conversation took an unexpected turn.

“My mentor asked her, ‘If you go out tomorrow, rob a bank, and skip town, will you still go to heaven?” Bergsma recounted.

When the woman hesitated and answered no, the pastor corrected her. According to the logic of salvation by faith alone, he insisted, she would still be saved — “once saved, always saved.”

“At that moment, I agreed with the woman,” Bergsma said.

Scripture immediately came to mind, he explained, including Christ’s warning that “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” and Jesus’ call to take up the cross daily. “It didn’t fit,” he said.

The encounter forced Bergsma to confront what he actually meant by “faith alone.” After four years of study — examining Scripture, Protestant confessions, and the Catholic catechism — he concluded that either sola fide was incorrect, or it required so many qualifications that it ultimately converged with the Catholic understanding of salvation.

Bergsma’s doubts deepened as he wrestled with sola scriptura, the belief that Scripture alone serves as the ultimate authority for Christians. While ministering in a single neighborhood, he observed at least six struggling Protestant congregations, all professing the same principle but disagreeing on core teachings ranging from baptism and the Eucharist to marriage and morality.

A decisive shift came when a Catholic graduate student encouraged him to read the writings of the early Church Fathers. Bergsma began with St. Ignatius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostle John, whose letters spoke unmistakably of episcopal authority and the Eucharist as “the flesh of our savior Jesus Christ.”

“There was no symbolic way around that,” Bergsma said.

After months of resistance, he entered the Catholic Church in February 2001. Now a Catholic theologian addressing SEEK, Bergsma said his journey ultimately hinged on the Eucharist — the doctrine he had once condemned. His testimony resonated with the conference’s young adult audience, many of whom are navigating questions of faith, authority, and conversion.

“There’s a lot of young people who are on the back end of a cultural disaster and growing up in cultural chaos,” Bergsma said after his keynote address. “They’re looking for something solid and lasting that can give them hope for the future.”

Referencing the number of young converts in various dioceses across the country, he added: “They’re coming back to the Catholic Church specifically because the Church has remained steady during that whole time, and that’s a real testament that we’re on the right track.”

“We’re getting a revival of interest in tradition and in something stable amid the instability and chaos of the modern world,” Bergsma said. “Young people are saying, ‘I want to get married. I want to have a family. I want to have a future. So, what am I going to build on?’”

The answer to that question, Bergsma emphasized in reflecting on his own journey of conversion, is the Catholic Church.

The tabernacle of Holy Thorn Monastery church in Valladolid, Spain, was forced open and the Blessed Sacrament was stolen. | Credit: Creative Commons/Nicolás Pérez

Jan 2, 2026 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The tabernacle of Holy Thorn Monastery church in Valladolid, Spain, was forced open and the Blessed Sacrament was stolen.

The Cistercian monastery, which was founded in 1147, preserves a relic of Christ’s crown of thorns.

The monastery’s parish priest, Father Francisco Casas, filed a complaint with the Civil Guard on Dec. 28, 2025, after informing the archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Luis Argüello, of what had happened earlier that day.

In March 2025, this same act of desecration was committed in Our Lady of the Meadow church in the town Arroyo de la Encomienda on the outskirts of Valladolid.

According to the Holy Thorn Monastery’s website, the perpetrators did not touch anything else, so “their target was the Lord.”

Act of reparation

In response to this “offense of exceptional gravity,” Argüello will perform an act of reparation at 6 p.m. local time on Jan. 3 at the monastery.

The act of reparation will be carried out “for the harm caused to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus Christ in the bread and wine, transformed into his body and blood after the consecration,” the Archdiocese of Valladolid stated on its website.

After lamenting that this is the second desecration in an area church in just nine months, the archdiocese urged the faithful “to pray in reparation for this sacrilegious act, as well as to safeguard the celebration of the Eucharist and the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle.”

The monastery is asking Catholics “not to remain indifferent” to such a grave offense and to join in the act of reparation — either at the monastery or individually — to spend this time with the outraged Lord and give public witness to their faith.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

In his New Year's Day homily at Newtownpark Avenue Church in Dublin, Archbishop Dermot Farrell called upon Ireland’s politicians to show leadership in promoting peace and in how they communicate and articulate it. Credit: John McElroy

Jan 2, 2026 / 12:58 pm (CNA).

In his New Year’s Day homily at Newtownpark Avenue Church in Dublin, Archbishop Dermot Farrell called upon Ireland’s politicians to show leadership in promoting peace and in how they communicate and articulate it.

The archbishop was speaking at a Mass for the World Day of Peace where apostolic nuncio Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor and Archbishop Emeritus Diarmuid Martin were among the concelebrants.

His appeal comes at a time when Ireland’s traditional neutrality has come under scrutiny and as the country prepares to take over the EU presidency in the second half of 2026, where defense will be high on the agenda. The presidency of the Council of the European Union is a role that rotates among the EU member states every six months. Fifty European leaders are due to visit Ireland during its presidency.

“Yes, leaders are important; indeed, good leadership is vital. However, we need to take to heart that good leaders bring people with them,” Farrell said.

Speaking before a congregation that included government ministers and representatives of the Irish Defence Forces, Farrell quoted the late Nobel Prize winner John Hume.

“Many here this morning will remember the conviction and witness of the late John Hume. For John Hume, ‘political leadership [was] like being a teacher. It’s about changing the language of others,’ he said. ‘I say it and go on saying it until I hear the man in the pub saying my words back to me.’”

The archbishop continued: “Ireland has a proud record in international work for peace. Now, in our days, there is a need and opportunity for the Irish state to articulate how this tradition and the values which underpin it will be continued in a rapidly changing international situation.”

Farrell said there is a need as well as an opportunity for Ireland to articulate how this peace tradition and the values that underpin it can continue today.

“It is not enough to invest in defense capacity or to point to how the circumstances of our traditional military neutrality have changed,” he said. “Ireland’s commitment to promoting a sustainable peace needs a new articulation. We are not in an either-or situation. It is not them or us. When we invest in peace everybody wins.”

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris have made repeated statements on Ireland’s neutrality, but that has not prevented them from making the state’s views known on international conflicts.

On Ukraine and Gaza, for example, Ireland has taken a decisive political stance, which has aroused the ire of the Russian and Israeli governments.

Writing in the London’s Daily Telegraph, Barry O’Halloran voiced an opinion shared by some in the U.K. and Europe that Ireland needs to invest to defend itself irrespective of its neutrality: “Irish neutrality is a legacy of Éamon de Valera’s considerable antipathy to all things British and has been the lodestar of Irish foreign policy since the state was founded.”

The Irish state relies on the British Royal Navy to protect Irish coastal waters, and the country’s geographical position at the periphery of Europe makes it strategically of interest to Russia.

Russian submarines have been mapping the transatlantic cables in Irish waters, which carry about 75% of the data traveling between Europe and the United States.

“After decades of underfunding, the Irish Defence Forces have no idea what is going on in the seas around Ireland. The navy doesn’t have the ships, the personnel, or even the electronic equipment to monitor hostile activity in our waters,” Stephen Collins wrote in the Irish Times.

Martin has acknowledged concerns about economic security in terms of gas connectors and subsea cables and dismissed a statement by Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the European Union and Ukraine were attempting to interfere with Ireland’s neutral status.

In his homily on New Year’s Day, Farrell was unequivocal that governments clearly have a critical role to play in shaping the course of international events and the onerous responsibility of pursuing the path of peace even in the face of provocation.

“Enduring peace is born of compassion and respect; it is born of patience, of attention to the other, of the conviction that the one who presents themselves as different, as other, is actually like oneself, is a true sister or brother of mine. This is what our faith means when we say that peace is born of hope.”

A fire tears through the Vondelkerk church tower in Amsterdam on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2026. | Credit: Remko DE WAAL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images/Netherlands OUT

Jan 2, 2026 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

A Jan. 1 fire destroyed a historic Dutch former Catholic church building in Amsterdam, reducing the famed 150-year-old building mostly to ash in a matter of hours.

Firefighters reportedly responded to a fire at the Vondelkerk, or Vondel Church, around 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day, with the blaze ultimately consuming nearly all of the building and mostly leaving burned walls behind.

The historic church was built in 1880 by Pierre Cuypers, a famed Dutch architect known for designing dozens of churches in the Netherlands. Formerly of the Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam, the building was sold in 1979 and deconsecrated, a formal act by the Church to remove the sacred character of the church so it is no longer considered a dedicated sacred space for divine worship. After a century of use as a sacred space, the building was eventually renovated for use as an event venue.

The property owner Stadsherstel Amsterdam (“Urban Restoration Amsterdam”) said in a statement that the fire caused the church’s tower to fall into the nave. Photos show the building completely gutted as of Jan. 2.

“The loss of this beautiful church touches us all,” the restoration group said. “Our thoughts go out to the local residents, the regular tenants of the church who have lost their workplace, and to the people who had booked the Vondelkerk for their wedding, company party, concert, or other special moments.”

“We are doing everything we can to see what we can do for them in the coming days,” the group said. The organization added it was launching a crowdfunding campaign to help restore the building.

It was not immediately clear what started the fire. No deaths or injuries were reported.

The news comes shortly after a deadly fire in Switzerland killed dozens at a ski resort in Crans-Montana.

Pope Leo XIV expressed mourning over the Swiss fire in a telegram to Sion Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey, offering prayers “to the Lord to welcome the deceased into his dwelling of peace and light, and to support the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

Crowds gather at SEEK 2026 beneath a photo of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. | Credit: Gigi Duncan/EWTN News

Jan 2, 2026 / 11:21 am (CNA).

In Columbus, Ohio, college students are gathering this week for SEEK 2026, the annual conference hosted by the Catholic student ministry FOCUS. The conference is being held simultaneously in three cities — Columbus; Fort Worth, Texas; and Denver — with more than 26,000 students attending across all locations.

The unifying theme across all three sites is “To the Heights!” drawn from the life of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, the young Italian layman canonized this past September alongside St. Carlo Acutis by Pope Leo XIV.

Frassati, who cared deeply for the poor, received the Eucharist daily, and loved the outdoors, frequently used the phrase “Verso l’alto” and wrote it on photographs taken during mountain climbs as a sign of his lifelong pursuit of heaven.

Acutis, who died from acute promyelocytic leukemia at the age of 15 in 2006, became known for his devotion to the Eucharist and for using technology to share Eucharistic miracles online. Both saints show young Catholics today that holiness is possible in ordinary life.

The limitless love of God

On the conference’s opening night on Jan. 1, speakers began unpacking what the pursuit of “the heights” means in Christian life. Sister Josephine Garrett of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, one of the keynote speakers, framed the theme not as an abstract ideal but as a personal encounter with God.

“The heights that this conference speaks of is only one thing,” Sister Josephine told the Columbus crowd. “It’s the love of God — the love that he has for me, and the love he has for you.”

That love, she suggested, is the force that draws believers upward; not away from the world but rather deeper into it, transformed by God’s presence.

For Father Vincent Bernhard, OP, associate director of the Catholic Center at New York University, Frassati’s witness feels especially relevant for young Catholics today.

A Dominican friar for eight years, Bernhard has attended SEEK three times and recently led 15 young men in a pilgrimage following Frassati’s footsteps through Turin and up to the Rocca di Polona, ending in Rome to pray before his tomb on display for the Jubilee of Youth.

“People are looking for direction,” Bernhard told CNA. “When they come to the Church wanting to live the faith vibrantly, they’re often misunderstood. That was Frassati’s experience too.”

Bernhard described Frassati’s faith as “radical, complete, and holy,” noting that his total gift of self to God often set him apart from others — even within his own family. Yet it was that constant striving for “higher and better things,” he said, that gave Frassati his joy.

“At the end of his life,” Bernhard said, recalling Frassati’s death from polio at age 24, “he understood that his lifelong desire to go ‘to the heights’ meant he was heading toward the height of heights: heaven.”

‘We can be saints, too’

For many students at SEEK, Frassati’s canonization — alongside Acutis’ — has made sainthood feel newly attainable.

“’To the Heights!’ means striving for heaven every day,” said Gabrielle Nofal, 22, a student attending SEEK with others from the University of South Carolina. “Young people are often told we’re not good enough, but seeing saints canonized around our age shows us that we can be saints, too.”

She noted that witnessing their lives inspires her own faith: “It made me want to replicate their authentic joy; especially the way Frassati just loved people with his whole heart. Carlo, too, even evangelized his nanny and teachers at school. They really just radiated the light of the Lord.”

Sisters Carlie, 21, and Cassidy Foos, 20, who traveled from rural northwest Ohio with different campus groups, said the theme helps them reorient their focus toward eternity.

“This world isn’t it,” Cassidy said. “There’s something higher. It’s about connecting and focusing on eternity, not just what’s in front of us.”

Carlie added: “When I think of saints, I usually think of people from long ago. Seeing ones from our time or around our age, like Frassati and Carlo, is so encouraging. They show that holiness is possible now, and that we can live faithfully and joyfully with heaven in mind, no matter what we’re experiencing.”

Jumping to ‘the heights’

The theme is highlighted in playful ways at Columbus’ “Mission Way,” a bustling area of vendors, stands, and activities. Students can try “Jump to the Heights,” sprinting and leaping to hit targets placed high above — an embodiment of the conference’s message of striving upward.

Students from Missouri University of Science and Technology described the theme using Frassati’s own imagery. “It’s like finding that mountain of faith and using SEEK as a stepping stone to grow,” said Blake Schreckenberg, 19.

His classmate Lane Jennings, 19, said SEEK has helped him move beyond a surface-level understanding of Catholicism. “I knew a lot about the faith before, but SEEK goes deeper and ‘to the heights.’ It’s not just answers; it’s understanding how to live faithfully.”

University of Louisville students, including David Deneve, 19, connected the playful activity and theme to a spiritual reflection. “To me, ‘to the heights’ means that God is above us, and we need to keep our eyes focused on him in everything that we do. His will is the best possible path.”

Thomas Davis, 23, added: “Although God meets us at our lowest points, through his love and through the Church, he raises us to something higher. Just like Frassati and Acutis.”

As the conference continues through the week, students will encounter the theme in Mass, confession, Eucharistic adoration, and speaker sessions. Shortly before the opening night Mass in Columbus, Father Kevin Dyer, SJ, offered only a brief glimpse of the excitement that lies ahead.

“We’re going to learn that phrase means together this week,” he said. “To the Heights!”

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in Piazza della Libertà in August 2025. | Credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock

Jan 2, 2026 / 10:40 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV surprised attendees at SEEK 2026 with a videotaped message encouraging young people to seek after fulfillment they are looking for through personal encounter with Christ.

“‘What do you seek?’ Jesus asked the disciples this question because he knows their hearts,” the Holy Father said, reflecting on the Gospel of John.

Jesus knew the disciples were restless for God and longing for meaning, he said.

“Today, Jesus directs the same question to each one of you. Dear young people, what do you seek? Why are you here at this conference? Perhaps your hearts are also restless, searching for meaning and fulfillment and direction for your lives.”

“The answer,” Leo continued, “is found in a person.”

The pope’s video message was played at the end of opening Mass for the some 26,000 SEEK26 attendees gathered across Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Fort Worth, Texas. The SEEK conference, Jan. 1 through Jan. 5, is organized by FOCUS.

“The Lord Jesus alone brings us true peace and joy and fulfills every one of our deepest desires,” the pope said, noting that just like the disciples, each SEEK participant has “the opportunity to spend time with the Lord,” whether for the first time or in a moment of deepening relationship with him.

“Be open to what the Lord has in store for you,” he said. “The two disciples were initially with Jesus only for a few hours, but that encounter changed their lives forever.”

Pope Leo further noted the Gospel showcases what it means to be a missionary, pointing out that “Andrew could not help but share with his brother what he had found” after meeting Jesus. “I pray that as you leave this conference, all of you will be moved by this same missionary zeal to share with those around you the joy that you have received from a genuine encounter with the Lord,’ he said.

The pope called on participants not to be afraid of the Lord’s calling, emphasizing that “he alone knows the deepest, perhaps hidden longings of your heart, the path that will lead you to true fulfillment.”

‘How many messages did you send?’

In Columbus, Bishop Earl Fernandes introduced Leo’s message after Mass on opening night with a joke about his various attempts to request the presence of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the U.S, to deliver a message on behalf of the Holy Father.

After numerous emails, written letters, and visits to the Vatican, Fernandes said he did not receive an answer till just before Christmas. “People say, ‘Well how many messages did you send?’ and I answered, ‘I don’t know, six or seven,” he joked, and was met with a burst of laughter.

“I did get a response, which we will show you now,” he said, and Pope Leo’s message appeared, to many cheers, across the screens in the auditorium.

The night also included keynote speeches by popular Catholic apologist Matt Fradd and Sister Josephine Garrett, CSFN.