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Catholic News Agency

ACI Prensa's latest initiative is the Catholic News Agency (CNA), aimed at serving the English-speaking Catholic audience. ACI Prensa (www.aciprensa.com) is currently the largest provider of Catholic news in Spanish and Portuguese.

Pope Leo XIV: The person and families must be at center of labor system
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 14:30:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV advocated for a labor system that serves individuals and families so that the dignity of each employee is recognized and his or her real needs are met.

During a Dec. 18 audience at the Vatican with members of the Order of Employment Consultants, the Holy Father highlighted three aspects that he considers particularly important in the business world: the dignity of the person, mediation, and the promotion of safety.

At the beginning of his address in the Apostolic Palace, the pontiff emphasized that at the heart of any work dynamic “should neither be capital, nor the laws of the market, nor profit, but the person, the family, and their well-being, to which everything else is secondary.”

Consequently, he stated that workers must “be recognized in their dignity” and receive concrete responses to their real needs, such as the needs of young families, of parents with small children, “as well as the importance of helping those who, even while working, must care for elderly and sick family members.”

“These are needs,” he pointed out, “that no truly civilized society can afford to forget or neglect.” This is especially true today, when artificial intelligence and technology “increasingly manage and influence our activities.” Therefore, he emphasized the urgent need to ensure that companies are characterized “as humane and fraternal communities.”

He also urged the establishment of fair mediation between managers and employees, avoiding “excessive bureaucratization of relationships” and “distance and detachment and distance from reality.”

Thus, he invited employment consultants to pay close attention “to the people in front of you, especially those who are in difficulty and have fewer opportunities to express their needs and assert their interests.”

Finally, he emphasized the importance of promoting workplace safety and lamented the numerous accidents that occur at work. “Prevention is better than remediating,” he remarked.

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

Church leaders condemn arson attack on top Bangladesh newspaper offices
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:24:00 -0500

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 19, 2025 / 13:24 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Bangladesh have condemned arson attacks on the offices of two of the country’s top newspapers and the homes of ousted Awami League leaders in protests of the killing of a frontline leader in a 2024 uprising.

Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was shot in broad daylight on Dec. 12 and died in Singapore on Dec. 18.

“We condemn this attack and we are very concerned about the upcoming elections,” said Father Liton Hubert Gomes, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Bangladesh.

The announcement of Hadi’s death prompted thousands of people, especially young, to take to the streets of Dhaka to protest and demand justice for Hadi’s killers. Some protesters claim that the accused in Hadi’s shooting have fled to India and say the protests will continue until the Indian government returns them.

A number of protesters attacked the offices and residences of the Indian High Commission in Khulna and Chittagong, vandalized and set fire to the Dhaka headquarters of Prothom Alo, a leading Bangle newspaper, and the Daily Star, a top English newspaper. Protestors also vandalized and set fire to the offices of the cultural organization Chhayanat, the Indira Gandhi Cultural Center, and several other establishments.

Gomes, a Holy Cross priest, said the government has the responsibility to protect these establishments but has failed, so he wonders how this government will protect the people’s right to vote.

“There must be freedom for any newspaper and without that, no pillar of the nation will be good. Therefore, we have to stop this mob justice,” he told CNA.

In July 2024, the student-led uprising in Bangladesh led to the eventual overthrow of dictator Sheikh Hasina and her subsequent exile in India. Sharif Osman Hadi was the front-runner in the uprising. He later announced that he would contest the upcoming elections from Dhaka.

Hadi had always questioned and criticized Indian hegemony to Bangladesh and was a staunch critic of Hasina. Since August 2024, Bangladesh has been run by an interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

The government is calling on all citizens of Bangladesh to remain firmly vigilant against all forms of violence perpetrated by a few isolated extremist groups.

A statement by the government said: “We strongly and unequivocally condemn all acts of violence, intimidation, arson, and destruction of life and property. The nation has witnessed your courage and tolerance even in the face of terrorism. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. We assure you of full justice.”

Massachusetts removes LGBT ideology requirements for foster care parents
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 12:54:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA).

Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group.

Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”

The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster.

Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes.

Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.

The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change.

Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said.

With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code.

The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs.

Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.

The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”

Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.

In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.

In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.

In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs.

The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Albany’s retired bishop files for personal bankruptcy
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 12:24:00 -0500

National Catholic Register, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:24 pm (CNA).

A retired New York bishop has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in federal court after a state jury verdict found him, along with other officials, personally liable for the collapse of a Catholic hospital pension fund that left about 1,100 retirees without the lifetime monthly payments they were expecting.

It’s not clear whether a Catholic bishop in the United States has ever previously filed for personal bankruptcy protection.

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, 77, who served as bishop of Albany from April 2014 until his retirement in October, is seeking protection from creditors for his assets valued at between $100,001 and $500,000, according to a filing Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York.

The seven-page filing does not list the bishop’s assets but states that he has between 100 and 199 creditors and debts totaling between $1,000,001 and $10 million.

Last week, a jury found Scharfenberger 10% liable in a $54.2 million judgment in a civil lawsuit over the failed pension plan once provided by St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady, a Catholic hospital that operated from 1949 until 2008, according to The Evangelist, the diocese’s newspaper.

The verdict and judgment, issued Dec. 12, cover compensatory damages — the amount a court finds is owed to plaintiffs for harm they have suffered — but not punitive damages, which may be added in cases of recklessness, malice, or fraud. The bankruptcy filings by the bishop and another defendant in the state lawsuit over the pension plan failure forced a pause in a punitive damages hearing earlier this week, according to WNYT Channel 13 in Albany.

The National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, was unable to reach Scharfenberger before the publication of this story. A lawyer representing the bishop acknowledged a request for comment Dec. 17 but did not immediately provide one.

A rare personal bankruptcy

In recent decades, bankruptcies have occurred regularly in the Catholic Church in the United States. Between 2004 and November 2025, 39 of the country’s dioceses have filed for bankruptcy, almost all to protect assets from clergy sex-abuse lawsuits, as the Register reported last month. One of those is the Diocese of Albany, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2023.

But those diocesan cases were filed under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which allows a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship to reorganize and continue operating while developing a court-approved plan to repay creditors.

Scharfenberger filed under Chapter 13, which allows an individual with regular income who cannot pay debts to keep certain assets while working out a repayment plan.

“The rules in Chapter 13 permit a debtor to keep property and confirm a plan with payments to creditors based on the debtor’s ‘disposable income,’” said Marie Reilly, a bankruptcy expert and law professor at Penn State Dickinson Law, in an email. “If the debtor commits his disposable income to paying creditors for the term of a three- to five-year plan, he gets a discharge (forgiveness) of the unpaid balance.”

Reilly, who has researched several dozen diocesan bankruptcies for The Catholic Project, a lay initiative of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., told the Register that the bankruptcy filing does not necessarily solve all of the bishop’s money problems.

“There are exceptions — some debts don’t get discharged. Creditors can object to the plan if it does not meet the statutory requirements,” Reilly said. “And, it is possible that the pension fund creditor may move to dismiss the bishop’s Chapter 13 case as having been filed ‘in bad faith.’”

$50 million shortfall

St. Clare’s Hospital was originally run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. The Diocese of Albany maintains that it never owned the hospital and that the bishop of Albany merely provided “canonical oversight” to make sure the hospital met “its mission to serve all in accord with Catholic moral standards,” according to an August 2025 statement from the diocese.

Last week, the jury found that the Diocese of Albany has no liability for the pension failure, instead holding the hospital corporation and certain officers and board members accountable.

In addition to Scharfenberger, the jury found two deceased employees of the diocese liable, according to The Evangelist: Former Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard (1938–2023), who led the diocese from 1977 to 2014, was found 20% liable; and Father David LeFort, a former vicar general of the diocese who died in August 2023, was found 5% liable.

Also found liable were St. Clare’s Corporation (20%), St. Clare’s president Joseph Pofit (25%), and former St. Clare’s president Robert Perry (20%), according to The Evangelist.

The judgments stem from a pension plan that operated for about 60 years.

In 1959, the hospital began offering employees a defined-benefit plan that provided a lifetime monthly pension after retirement.

Church plan exempt from ERISA

Like most plans operated by Catholic institutions, the pension plan had a religious exemption from the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (known as ERISA), which sets minimum funding requirements for most nonreligious pension plans and also enables the federal government to step in and make payments to retirees of failed plans, using a fund financed by covered pension plans.

When the hospital closed in 2008, the officers of St. Clare’s “determined that the corporation would continue to exist for purposes of administering the pension plan,” according to a complaint filed in state court in Schenectady County by the New York attorney general’s office in May 2022.

“They also chose to continue treating the pension plan as a ‘Church plan’ — which it could do only if the corporation’s former employees and pensioners were designated as employees of the Church. This was all in order to avoid the contribution and insurance requirements of ERISA, and the duties imposed by ERISA upon corporation directors and trustees as fiduciaries,” the complaint states.

The bishop of Albany was automatically a member of the hospital’s board and served as its honorary chairman, and had authority to appoint most of the directors on the board, according to the state attorney general’s complaint.

The attorney general’s office alleged that St. Clare’s Corporation failed to make contributions to the pension fund “for all but three years from 2001 to 2019” and concealed from retirees “the insolvency of the pension plan.”

In 2018, the St. Clare’s board terminated the pension plan effective Feb. 1, 2019, because of an approximately $50 million shortfall. More than 1,100 employees lost retirement benefits, including about 650 who lost all pension payments and about 450 who received a lump-sum payment “equal to 70% of the value of their vested pension,” the complaint states. The retired employees include “nurses, lab technicians, social workers, EMTs, orderlies, housekeepers, and other essential workers” who worked at the hospital “between 10 and 50 years,” the complaint states.

Testimony and reaction

On Dec. 9 during the civil trial, Scharfenberger testified that during his tenure no boards he sat on ever discussed the hospital’s pension plan, according to The Times-Union of Albany.

In a written statement issued in August, when Scharfenberger still led the Diocese of Albany, the diocese said the bishop “has actively sought ways to help the pensioners” while denying that the diocese ever “exercised any control over St. Clare’s Hospital operations or its pension.”

“He hosted a listening session with pensioners at Siena College to identify issues and consider ways to help those in need. He also reached out to the Mother Cabrini Foundation to try to secure funding for the pensioners, but that effort was unable to move forward once the pensioners filed the lawsuit,” the statement said.

“The diocese is eager to see the case move forward and promptly resolved,” the August statement continued. “Our prayers continue for all who are struggling in any way, and as we stated previously, our offer to connect those in need with services that can help, stands. No one should walk alone.”

His successor, Bishop Mark O’Connell, who was installed as bishop of Albany on Dec. 5, told reporters shortly before the verdict was announced last week: “I care deeply about their hurt [and] not having their pensions,” according to The Evangelist.

During the Dec. 12 press conference, when a reporter asked O’Connell what the diocese would do if the jury found the diocese liable for the pension fund collapse, the bishop noted that the diocese is already in the midst of a bankruptcy process.

“If we are liable, then we’ll do what we can to make amends, given that they are one creditor as a group among many people accusing the Diocese of Albany,” O’Connell said, according to WAMC Northeast Public Radio. “And that’s what bankruptcy process is. We obviously cannot pay a billion dollars. Right? So that’s what Chapter 11 is all about, to figure out what’s fair. And since you have a bankruptcy judge and mediators, it’s not up to us.”

Later that day, the jury found the diocese not liable in the pension fund collapse lawsuit. The diocese issued a written statement, according to The Evangelist, that said: “As grateful as we are for the jury’s informed decision, we are still very much aware of the hurt felt by the St. Clare’s pensioners who cared for the sick and the poor throughout the long history of St. Clare’s Hospital. This does not mean that we will turn our backs to the pensioners, for as Bishop O’Connell has noted, they are a part of our flock; they are still in need of healing.”

That same day, lead plaintiff Mary Hartshorne, who worked in the hospital’s radiology department for about 28 years, told WNYT Channel 13 in Albany that she and other hospital retirees were pleased with the jury’s verdict but did not feel they would be made whole.

“We’ve been playing this game for seven and a half years, and I think my question I ask everybody is: How do you get that back? You don’t,” she said.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Catholic bishops, families ask Supreme Court to rule for Catholic schools in Colorado suit
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:52:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 11:52 am (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a coalition of Catholic families, and numerous other advocates are petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of Catholic schools seeking to be included in Colorado’s universal preschool funding program.

The religious liberty law group Becket said in a Dec. 18 release that the Catholic schools’ advocates — including numerous religious groups, legal organizations, and public policy groups — are urging the high court to rule against Colorado’s “discriminatory exclusion” of the faith-based schools.

The Archdiocese of Denver and a group of Catholic preschools asked the Supreme Court in November to allow them to access the Colorado program after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in September that the state may continue to exclude the preschools from the education fund.

The state has barred those schools from the funding pool because they require teachers and families to sign a pledge promising to uphold their religious mission, including teachings on sexuality and gender identity.

In an amicus filing this week, the U.S. bishops said the Colorado rule “denies Catholic preschools access to a state-run tuition assistance program solely because those schools adhere to Catholic doctrine about human sexuality.”

Allowing the rule to stand will offer a “roadmap” for other governments to violate the First Amendment rights of religious Americans around the country, the bishops argued.

Permitting the schools’ exclusion “will impair the ability of Catholic organizations and other faith-based service providers to partner with state and local governments to serve the public,” the prelates said, arguing that the “resulting harm to the nation’s social support infrastructure would be immense.”

In another filing, a coalition of Catholic families said it regards Catholic schools as “essential partners” in their mission to impart the Catholic faith to their children. The Colorado rule, however, would force the Catholic schools to operate in a manner “inconsistent with their religious beliefs and mission.”

Multiple families in the filing — all of whom have four or more children — testified to the formative role that Catholic preschools have played for them. The families said they “want their children to embrace the Catholic Church’s teachings on the nature of the human person” and that the state rule impedes their ability to do so through Catholic schools.

Numerous other amicus filers include the Thomas More Society, the Center for American Liberty, and Concerned Women for America as well as religious groups representing Lutherans, Evangelicals, Jews, and Muslims.

Archdiocese of Denver School Superintendent Scott Elmer said via Becket that the archdiocese is “humbled” by the showing of support.

“Our preschools aren’t asking for special treatment, just equal treatment,” he said, expressing hope that the Supreme Court “takes this case and upholds the promise of universal preschool for every family in Colorado.”

The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether it will hear the case. Becket said the high court will likely decide whether or not to hear it “in early 2026.”

Pope Leo XIV writes preface to book that shaped his spiritual life
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:05:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2025 / 11:05 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has written the preface to a new Vatican edition of the book “The Practice of the Presence of God,” a spiritual work he says is “one of the texts that has most shaped my spiritual life.”

“The Practice of the Presence of God” is a 17th-century spiritual classic written by the Carmelite friar Lawrence of the Resurrection.

The pontiff shared the personal importance of this work during the return flight to Rome at the end of his first international trip to Turkey and Lebanon earlier this month.

“It’s a very simple book, by someone who doesn’t even give his last name — Brother Lawrence — written many years ago,” he said at the time.

“But it describes, if you will, a type of prayer and spirituality where one simply gives his life to the Lord and allows the Lord to lead.”

The book that has ‘shaped my spiritual life’

In a preface to “The Practice of the Presence of God,” published by the Vatican Publishing House (LEV) in Italian, the pope goes deeper into this personal experience and places the work within his own journey of faith.

“As I have had occasion to say, together with the writings of St. Augustine and other books, this is one of the texts that has most shaped my spiritual life and has formed me in what the path for knowing and loving the Lord can be,” he writes.

Leo emphasizes that the small book by Brother Lawrence places at the center not merely the experience but a true “practice” of the presence of God, lived in everyday life.

It is, he explains, a path that is “simple and arduous at the same time. Simple, because it requires nothing other than “constantly calling God to mind, with small, continual acts of praise, prayer, supplication, adoration, in every action and in every thought, with him alone as our horizon, source, and end.”

It is demanding because it requires “a journey of purification, of ascetic discipline, of renunciation and conversion of the most intimate part of ourselves — of our mind and our thoughts, even more than of our actions,” he explains.

In this context, the pontiff cites St. Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians: “Have in you the same sentiments as Christ Jesus” — to underscore that “it is not only our attitudes and behaviors that must be conformed to God, but our very sentiments, our very way of feeling.”

Making daily tasks ‘easy and light’

In the preface, Leo underscores that this spiritual path, in which the presence of God becomes “familiar and occupies our inner space,” is where “graces and spiritual riches blossom, and even daily tasks become easy and light.”

The pope situates Brother Lawrence’s message in the context of today’s world. The writings of this Carmelite, who lived with luminous faith through a century marked by conflicts and violence — “certainly no less violent than our own” — can, he affirms, “also be an inspiration and a help for the lives of us men and women of the third millennium.”

Beyond ‘moralism’

The writing of Brother Lawrence shows us “that there is no circumstance that can separate us from God, that each of our actions, each of our occupations, and even each of our mistakes acquires infinite value if lived in the presence of God, continually offered to him,” the Holy Father says.

The pope adds that the whole of Christian ethics “can truly be summed up in this continual calling to mind of the fact that God is present: He is here.”

“This remembrance, which is more than a simple memory because it involves our feelings and affections, overcomes all moralism and every reduction of the Gospel to a mere set of rules, and shows us that truly, as Jesus promised us, the experience of entrusting ourselves to God the Father already gives us a hundredfold here on earth,” he explains.

“Entrusting ourselves to the presence of God means tasting a foretaste of paradise,” Leo writes.

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

A new blessed for Argentina: Pope Leo XIV approves miracle attributed to Enrique Shaw
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 10:35:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Enrique Shaw, an Argentine layman, husband, father, and businessman who died in 1962 at the age of 41.

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, made the announcement Dec. 18 when he promulgated the decree, which came two days after the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints gave its “favorable opinion” on the canonization process.

The miracle

The miracle attributed to Shaw’s intercession is the inexplicable healing of a 5-year-old boy who, in June 2015, suffered a very serious head injury from being kicked by a horse. His family, who had ties to the Christian Association of Business Leaders — co-founded by Shaw — began to ask for prayers, trusting in his intercession. As the days went by, the prayer chain united thousands of people in different countries, according to the news outlet Infobae’s account of the testimony of Fernán de Elizalde, administrator of the cause.

Following five surgeries and 45 days in critical condition, doctors decided to implant a permanent drainage valve in the boy’s brain. However, just before the surgery, the surgeon discovered something unexpected: The fluid was draining spontaneously, and the intracranial pressure had normalized, making the valve implantation unnecessary.

The boy’s recovery was rapid: Within a few days he was extubated and showed neurological improvement. Fifteen days later, he was already in rehabilitation. “He recovered completely, without neurological sequelae, without cognitive damage, and without visible deformities. Today, as a teenager, he leads a normal life. No one would imagine what he went through, except for those who know his story,” De Elizalde told Infobae.

‘Great joy for the Argentine Church’

Upon learning of the decree approving the miracle, Bishop Santiago Olivera, military ordinary of Argentina and vice postulator of the cause, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that “today is a day of great joy for the Argentine Church.”

Regarding the news, the bishop said: “We expected it, but we were surprised by how quickly it happened, and we are certainly grateful to God, and to all those who have worked for so many years and made this possible.”

“We must always be very grateful to those who prayed, to those who started [the process], to the first postulator, to Cardinal [Jorge María] Mejía, and to all those who continue to work on the cause today,” he added.

Mejía was one of the initiators of the cause and the one who created the Enrique Shaw Commission.

Fruits of causes are God’s answers to prayer

Olivera especially thanked those who pray, “because the fruits of these causes, which serve as models and examples, are also God’s answers to the praying people who confidently ask for this grace.”

Finally, he thanked the family of the healed child, “because we also owe this grace to their faith, and we not only have to thank God for the life of the child (now an adolescent) but also because the family’s faith made it possible for the entire Church, and Argentina in particular, to rejoice in this news today.”

Upon learning of the approval of the miracle through Shaw’s intercession, the Christian Association of Business Leaders, petitioner for the case, and Catholic Action of Argentina, a co-petitioner in the beatification and canonization process, issued a joint statement expressing “immense joy” and celebrating this “decisive step” on the path to sainthood.

They recalled that Shaw was “a businessman who understood that industry was not only a productive mechanism or a means of accumulating capital but also a true community of people called to grow together.”

In the same statement, the president of the Christian Association of Business Leaders, Silvia Bulla, said that “the beatification of Enrique Shaw will give the world the first businessman recognized as an example of holiness” while also serving as “an urgent invitation to humanize the economy, work for the common good and the dignity of labor.”

Who was Enrique Shaw?

Shaw was born on Feb. 26, 1921, and at the age of 4, his mother died. Fulfilling his wife’s request, his father entrusted his son’s education to a priest.

In 1943, he married Cecilia Bunge, and they had nine children. After retiring from the Navy in 1945, he chose to pursue a career in business, a path that would yield great fruits.

He was the managing director of Rigolleau Glassware and one of the founders and the first president of the Christian Association of Business Leaders, which promotes a humane approach to work.

A businessman with the heart of a worker

When he fell ill with cancer and needed blood transfusions, his own workers volunteered to donate blood for him. He died on Aug. 27, 1962, at the age of 41.

In April 2021, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of the businessman, faithful layman, and father.

After the miracle attributed to his intercession passed the medical review in January of this year, the Commission of Theologians also unanimously approved it on June 17.

The next step is his beatification, the date of which has not yet been announced.

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

New animated film ‘David’ tells story of Israel’s famous king for the whole family
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

A new animated film called “David” tells the story of King David, from his humble beginnings as a shepherd boy to his battle against Goliath. Created by Sunrise Animation Studios, the film aims to bring the story of David to life for both children and adults.

Released in theaters Dec. 19, the film features popular Christian singers including Phil Wickham and Lauren Daigle.

Brent Dawes, the writer and director of the film, told CNA in an interview that the inspiration for the film came 30 years ago when the founders of Sunrise Animation Studios first created the studio.

“The studio was started by a guy and his wife, Phil and Jacqui Cunningham, and one of the reasons they started a studio was because Phil had a desire to make a movie on David over 30 years ago,” said Dawes, who has been working with the Cunninghams for 25 years. “So it’s been a vision for more than 30 years for him.”

Originally planned to be a live-action film, Cunningham approached Dawes 11 years ago about making the film animated instead.

He said he thought making the film this way would “open the audience up hugely because families can watch it, kids can watch it, and it just allows so many more people to access it.”

“David, as you might know, is not the most PG-friendly story in the Bible. So if you’re going to do a live-action version it’s going to be pretty R-rated and pretty much for adults,” Dawes explained. “So, making it an animation allowed us to sort of turn it back a little bit, still tell the story authentically, but tell it in a sort of gentler way so it meant it could just reach a much wider audience, which is wonderful.”

Dawes pointed out that faith-based media, such as films like this one, are important to make, especially for children, because “Hollywood doesn’t tell stories from the heart anymore, and it tells it from a board room. Also, so many movies are told with an agenda, whether it’s political, whether it’s belief, all sorts of things.”

He added: “So telling a story like this, obviously we’re coming from a Christian point of view, but it was important for us that we tell this movie for a world audience. We also don’t want to alienate people who don’t believe. We believe this is a truly accessible story, whether you believe or not.”

“We’re not telling the audience, ‘You have to believe what our character believes,’ but our story is based 3,000 years ago, and this is what he believed, and this is how he lived his life. So, let us tell you that story. And however you want to engage with that, that’s up to you.”

Dawes shared that during all the time working with the story of David, he has learned several things from the famous king, specifically that “when a challenge comes up, it’s something to be faced with confidence, not with nervousness or fear — like David when he faced Goliath … He had a faith and a confidence and a childlike faith at that.”

Dawes said he hopes viewers will not only be entertained but also left inspired. He hopes the film “speaks to each individual where they are in their life.”

Bishop Richard Moth to succeed Cardinal Nichols as archbishop of Westminster
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:26:00 -0500

London, England, Dec 19, 2025 / 09:26 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Richard Moth, a former bishop of Britain’s military ordinariate, as the 12th archbishop of Westminster, succeeding Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who is retiring at the age of 80.

A canon lawyer, Moth, 67, has served as bishop of Arundel and Brighton in southern England for the past decade. He is best known for his work on prisons, criminal justice, and life issues, and is regarded by those who know him as sound on doctrine.

As archbishop of Westminster, the leading Catholic see of England and Wales, he is expected to be elected president of the bishops’ conference and be elevated to cardinal as were all his predecessors since the see was established in 1850.

Until Moth’s installation at Westminster Cathedral on Feb. 14, Nichols will serve as apostolic administrator of the metropolitan archdiocese, a Dec. 19 diocesan statement said.

On hearing of his appointment, Moth said he was “moved greatly by the trust that Pope Leo has placed in me.”

He expressed his gratitude to Nichols for his support and service to the diocese, and said the cardinal “will be missed greatly.” He also thanked the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, which he said had given him the “wonderful opportunity” to share the Church’s mission with lay faithful and clergy.

Moth said his first task would be “to get to know the priests and people of Westminster, and I look forward, now, to serving them.”

He added: “With them, and building on the firm foundations that have been laid by so many down the years, I look forward to continuing the great adventure that is the life of the Church and witness to the Gospel.”

Nichols said he was “delighted at this news,” adding that the archbishop-designate “will bring to our diocese many gifts and considerable episcopal experience” to the position.

Born in 1958 in Chingola, Zambia, and raised as an only child in Edenbridge, southeast England, Moth felt called to the priesthood at age 11 or 12 and entered St. John’s Seminary, Wonersh, at age 18. Moth was ordained for the Archdiocese of Southwark in 1982.

As a priest he served at St. Bede’s Parish in Clapham Park, London, before pursuing studies in canon law at St. Paul’s University, Ottawa. He returned to London in 1987 to serve as assistant priest at St. Saviour’s in Lewisham, during which time he was also a Territorial Army chaplain.

After serving nine years as judicial vicar in the Archdiocese of Southwark and as private secretary to then-Archbishop Michael Bown, in 2001 he was appointed vicar general and chancellor of the diocese. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of the armed forces before Pope Francis nominated him bishop of Arundel and Brighton in 2015.

Within the bishops’ conference, he has served as lead bishop for prisons, overseeing and promoting chaplaincy and pastoral care in the criminal justice system. In that role he has consistently stressed that prisons must be places of reform and growth, rather than simply punishment, and has stressed the importance of prisoners having access to worship.

He has also been involved in pro-life work, contributing to episcopal statements on assisted suicide, abortion, and the protection of the vulnerable. In 2023 he was one of three bishops to speak at the annual March for Life in London.

Moth chairs The Plater Trust, an organization dedicated to the support of projects across England and Wales that put into practice the principles of Catholic social teaching. 

Friends and associates describe Moth as a “good fellow,” genial, friendly, a hard worker and a “safe pair of hands.” He is not regarded as an academic but a loyal and faithful priest, and faithful to the Holy See. Those who knew him from seminary days regarded him as a “model student” and a popular young priest who liked the outdoors, making him a good fit to be bishop of the armed forces. He is a keen horse-rider and likes hiking.

Moth has been a frequent retreatant over the years to the Carthusian monastery at Parkminster in Sussex and for several decades has been a Benedictine oblate of Pluscarden Abbey — considered to be a traditional abbey without being “traditionalist.”

The archbishop-designate is not regarded as a proponent of the traditional Roman rite, but he allowed Masses in the “vetus ordo” to continue in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in the years since Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes that restricted the Traditional Latin Mass. He also allowed and took part in a traditional requiem Mass celebrated earlier this year for Father Raymond Blake, a popular priest in his diocese.

“He is sound on doctrine and has been sympathetic to those who want to have the traditional Mass, and not an enemy of it at all,” a parishioner of the diocese told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.

In his statement, Nichols said he was “very much looking forward” to Moth’s installation, noting it will take place on St. Valentine’s Day as well as the feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, co-patrons of Europe.

He also recalled being present — also in Westminster Cathedral — at Moth’s episcopal ordination as bishop of the armed forces in 2009: “So today I can say: ‘Welcome back, dear Bishop Richard,” Nichols said. “You are most welcome indeed.’”

Jerusalem churches advocate for Gazan children to have cancer treatment in Israel
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Jerusalem churches advocate for Gazan children to have cancer treatment in Israel

Church leaders in Jerusalem have called on the Israeli government to allow children in Gaza with leukemia to be allowed into Israel to receive treatment at Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives.

The Dec. 17 statement was addressed to “the responsible authorities” in Israel and signed by the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, who said they were appealing on “humanitarian grounds” to be allowed to facilitate swift treatment of the disease.

“The treatment for this disease is not available in Gaza, and it has the potential to transform the lives of those afflicted with it,” the statement said. “There will be no burden on the government for any cost, since it will all be borne by the hospital.”

Thousands of Christians gather for India’s largest Christmas music festival

More than 25,000 Christians and people across other faith backgrounds descended upon India’s capital city of Mumbai for the country’s largest Christmas music festival, UCA News reported.

“Jesus is not just the Prince of Peace; he is peace himself,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop emeritus of Bombay, at the 60th edition of the ecumenical celebration on Dec. 14 at a beachfront called Girgaon Chowpatty in South Mumbai. Since its conception, Gracias said, “the event has become a beacon of unity and joy, bringing together people from all walks of life.”

The event’s theme this year was “Peace and Hope to All in a World in Turmoil” and included a wide-ranging musical celebration that featured hymns in several different Indian languages, according to the report.

Award-winning investigation spotlights ‘forgotten’ churches in Sudan

An award-winning investigative report is drawing fresh attention to the damage sustained by churches in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, more than two and a half years after fighting erupted in April 2023, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported.

The investigation, produced in partnership between Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) and the Mountain Media network, documents harm to 23 churches and one monastery across Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant communities, amid what it describes as limited regional and international coverage.

Reported violations range from shelling and arson to looting and the misuse of religious properties. The investigation cites eyewitness testimony, explosive engineering expertise, satellite imagery, and analysis linked to Yale University to support its claims, and argues that actions by both major warring sides contributed to the destruction, raising the possibility that some incidents could meet thresholds associated with war crimes or crimes against humanity under international legal frameworks.

Melbourne church to host archdiocesan synod

The Archdiocese of Melbourne has launched preparations for an archdiocesan synod in 2026, Archbishop Peter Comensoli announced in a letter addressed to the faithful on Dec. 14.

The synodal process will operate under three key themes: young discipleship, missionary leadership, and formation and participation. “These three themes have not arisen in isolation,” Comensoli said. “They have emerged consistently and clearly through all the listening, discernment, and consultation undertaken in recent years across the archdiocese, including the plenary council process, the global synod, and our local pastoral initiatives.”

South American countries continue missionary rosary tradition

Catholics in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia are celebrating their second year of being united in prayer through the Pontifical Mission Societies’ online missionary rosary. The prayer initiative was shared on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, patron saint of missions, and broadcast live on Facebook by the Pontifical Mission Societies in all the countries, according to Fides News Agency.

Brother Giancarlo Chirinos Barrera, national secretary of the Peruvian Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, said during the event, which drew hundreds of participants of all ages from each country: “We are all called to be missionaries, and it is truly beautiful to do so accompanied by the Virgin Mary.”

Calls to curb hate speech after vandalism at a Christian cemetery in Iraq

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the vandalism of a recently established Christian cemetery in Shaqlawa, where crosses and grave markers were damaged, has renewed concerns about recurring attacks on Christian sites as Christmas and the new year approach. The cemetery reportedly contains 33 graves, and the incident follows other recent cases involving a Christian cemetery in Armota and a church in Duhok province.

Local officials said the suspect was identified and arrested with the help of surveillance cameras and an investigation is underway to determine motives and any links to similar acts in the area. The episode has prompted renewed appeals for stronger deterrence against hate speech, with community representatives warning that repeated incidents, even if carried out by individuals, can signal deeper societal problems and fuel fear among minority communities.

Pakistan hosts its first government-sponsored Christmas rally

The first-ever government-sponsored Christmas rally in Pakistan drew thousands of participants this week in the country’s Punjab province, according to a UCA News report.

The rally, sponsored by Punjab’s minister for minority affairs, Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, took place on Dec. 15 and processed from Sacred Heart Cathedral for a little over four miles to a roundabout in downtown Lahore. Catholic and Protestant clergy joined the minister in leading the procession, during which participants sang Christmas carols and rode on buses and trucks decorated with festive balloons. Arora said the procession was aimed at countering “forces engaged in negative propaganda against Pakistan.”

Pope Leo XIV appoints new bishop for Palm Beach, auxiliary bishop for Phoenix
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:30:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

The Holy See said on Dec. 19 that Pope Leo XIV had made two new episcopal appointments in the United States, with the Vatican announcing a new bishop for the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, as well as an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Phoenix.

Father Manuel de Jesus Rodriguez will lead the Palm Beach Diocese after the resignation of Bishop Gerald Barbarito, the Vatican said. At 75, Barbarito has reached the customary age at which bishops retire.

Bishop-designate Rodriguez is currently a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn, where he serves at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Queens.

Born Jan. 15, 1974, in the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez studied at the Pontifical University Madre y Maestra in that country, receiving philosophy and law degrees there before obtaining several other degrees and certificates, including a doctorate in legal studies from the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome and a licentiate in canon law from The Catholic University of America.

Admitted to the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1993, he made his final profession to that religious order in 2002 and was ordained on July 3, 2004. He was incardinated in the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2012.

Rodriguez became a U.S. citizen in 2018. He has served multiple roles in Brooklyn, including as pastor and administrator of several churches as well as defender of the bond at the diocesan tribunal. The bishop-designate speaks English, Spanish, Italian, and French.

Outgoing Palm Beach Bishop Barbarito said in a Dec. 19 statement that the diocese will be ”greatly blessed” by Rodriguez’s ministry and that he has “shown himself to be a deeply spiritual and exceptional priest.”

Vicar for clergy appointed auxiliary bishop in Phoenix

The Holy See also announced on Dec. 19 that Pope Leo XIV has appointed Monsignor Peter Dai Bui as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix.

Bishop-designate Bui is currently the diocesan vicar for clergy for the Phoenix Diocese. A native of Vietnam, he entered the Legion of Christ novitiate in 1989 and made his first profession in 1991. He attended the Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome, where he earned degrees in philosophy and theology and a licentiate in philosophy.

He was ultimately ordained for the Legionaries of Christ on Dec. 24, 2003.

Bui served for several years as the chaplain of a private Catholic school in Venezuela, where he organized international mission trips. Incardinated in the Phoenix Diocese in 2009, he has served as pastor at multiple parishes and since 2022 as the vicar for clergy.

The bishop-designate speaks English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Italian, and German.

Bui said in a Dec. 19 statement that he was “honestly in shock” when Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre called him with the news.

“I even forgot he couldn’t see me nodding through the phone!” he joked. He expressed a “profound gratitude to God” for the appointment.

“I just want to be a good priest, now called to serve in a new way,” he said.

Phoenix Bishop John Dolan, meanwhile, said he was “deeply grateful” to the pope for the appointment.

“As one of the largest and most rapidly growing dioceses in the nation, Phoenix faces increasing pastoral and administrative complexity, and Bishop-elect Bui’s experience in governance, his deep care for priests, and his commitment to accompaniment will be invaluable,” the bishop said.

Cardinal Dolan says of retirement: ‘I’ll always keep working’
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Now that the Vatican has announced that Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York, what comes next for the cardinal?

“I’ll always keep working,” Dolan told Father Dave Dwyer, a Paulist priest, executive director of Busted Halo Ministries, and cohost of “Conversation with Cardinal Dolan,” during a discussion of his retirement plans earlier this year.

“For a priest, your life is your work,” he said, indicating that he hopes to continue preaching retreats, which he said he loves, and teaching.

“But I won’t have an appointment. I won’t have administrative duties. Yippee!” Dolan quipped.

The cardinal said he is looking forward to having “more choices, instead of waking up in the morning and being handed a schedule.”

“Should I read? Should I take a longer walk than usual? Should I spend a longer time in my prayer?” he mused.

Dolan said his brother bishops told him years ago to “make sure you have hobbies you can engage in on a day off,” and that advice has helped and will continue to help him in retirement.

The cardinal told Dwyer whatever he does, he will have to ask the permission of his successor. “I’ll be one of his priests,” Dolan said, laughing. “I will ask him: ‘Your Excellency, would it be OK if I…?”

In addition, in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business this week Dolan revealed that he has received requests to teach at universities, to write a book, and to help with a documentary on the Catholic Church in the United States.

“I’m going to appreciate the chance to set my own schedule,” said Dolan, who has led the Archdiocese of New York since 2009.

Top 2025 religious freedom developments included mix of persecution, protection
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is an overview of some of the religious freedom developments and news in the United States and abroad in 2025:

White House started the Religious Liberty Commission

President Donald Trump established the White House Religious Liberty Commission in May to report on threats to religious freedom in the U.S. and seek to advance legal protections.

The commission and advisory boards include members of various religions. Catholic members on the commission include Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron. Catholic advisory board members include Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, and Father Thomas Ferguson.

Lawmakers condemned persecution of Christians

Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, introduced a joint resolution condemning the persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority countries across the world.

The measure called on the Trump administration to leverage trade, security negotiations, and other diplomatic tools to advocate for religious freedom.

Court blocked law that would require priests to violate the seal of confession

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a state law in May that would require priests to report child abuse to authorities even if they hear about it during the sacrament of confession. Catholic bishops brought a lawsuit against the measure. A federal judge blocked the controversial law.

Trump announced federal guidelines to protect prayer at public schools

President Donald Trump announced the U.S. Department of Education will issue federal guidelines to protect prayer at public schools during a Sept. 8 Religious Liberty Commission hearing. He said the guidelines will “protect the right to prayer in our public schools and [provide for] its total protection.”

The president said he sought the guidelines after hearing about instances of public school students and staff being censored and facing disciplinary action for engaging in prayer, reading the Bible, and publicly expressing their faith.

Report found most states fail to safeguard religious liberty

About three-fourths of states scored less than 50% on Napa Legal Institute’s religious freedom index, which measures how well states safeguard religious liberty for faith-based organizations. The October report was part of Napa’s Faith & Freedom Index that showed Alabama scored the highest and Michigan scored the lowest.

Lawmakers urged federal court to allow Ten Commandments display

First Liberty Institute and Heather Gebelin Hacker of Hacker Stephens LLP filed an amicus brief in December on behalf of 46 United States lawmakers urging the federal court to allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana; Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas; and Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, R-Texas, were among the lawmakers who supported the cause after federal judges blocked Texas and Louisiana laws requiring the display of the commandments.

Supreme Court ruled on religious freedom cases

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of Maryland parents who sued a school district over its refusal to allow families to opt their children out of reading LGBT-themed books.

In a 6-3 decision on July 27 in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled the Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim parents “are likely to succeed on their claim that the board’s policies unconstitutionally burden their religious exercise.”

In July, the Supreme Court ordered the New York Court of Appeals to revisit Diocese of Albany v. Harris, which challenged a 2017 New York state mandate requiring employers to cover abortions in health insurance plans.

In October, a Native American group working to stop the destruction of a centuries-old religious ritual site in Arizona lost its appeal to the Supreme Court.

Religious liberty abroad: Religious freedom diminished in Afghanistan

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in a report that “religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan continue to decline dramatically under Taliban rule.”

The USCIRF wrote in an Aug. 15 report examining the Taliban’s Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice one year after its enactment: The morality law “impacts all Afghans” but “disproportionately affects religious minorities and women, eradicating their participation in public life and systematically eliminating their right to [freedom of religious belief].”

Chinese government banned Catholic priests from evangelizing online

In September, the State Administration for Religious Affairs in China banned several forms of online evangelization for religious clergy of all religions, including Catholic priests.

The Code of Conduct for Religious Clergy was made up of 18 articles including one that said faith leaders are banned from performing religious rituals through live broadcasts, short videos, or online meetings.

U.S. commission said China should be designated as a country of particular concern

The USCIRF reported China tries to exert total control over religion and said the U.S. Department of State should redesignate China as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) regarding religious freedom.

USCIRF said in September that China uses surveillance, fines, retribution against family members, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture, and other forms of abuse to control the Catholic Church and other religious communities in the nation.

In its annual report, USCIRF also recommended Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam be designated as CPCs.

Pope Leo XIV warns against destructive spiral of autonomous weapons and escalation
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:28:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 18, 2025 / 18:28 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV warned against the destructive spiral fueled by the arms race and the development of autonomous weapons, and called for an “unarmed and disarming” peace — one that springs from the resurrection of Christ — as the only answer to the world’s challenges.

“The peace of the risen Jesus is unarmed, because his was an unarmed struggle in the midst of concrete historical, political, and social circumstances,” the pontiff wrote in his message for the 59th World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on Jan. 1, 2026. Its text was released Dec. 18 by the Holy See Press Office.

The four-page document is titled “Peace Be with You All: Towards an Unarmed and Disarming Peace,” an expression that directly echoes the first words spoken by Leo XIV after his election as the successor of Peter on May 8, when he appeared on the balcony of the Apostolic Palace to greet the faithful for the first time.

In the text, the pope lamented that, in the face of global challenges, the predominant response is an “enormous economic investment in rearmament.” In this regard, he noted that in 2024, global military spending increased by 9.4% compared with the previous year, confirming “the trend of the last 10 years.” According to the data cited, total spending reached $2.718 trillion, equivalent to 2.5% of the world’s gross domestic product.

Beyond the statistics, the pope warned of the cultural and educational consequences of this logic. He criticized the fact that schools and universities are not adequately preserving “a culture of memory” that remembers the “millions of victims” of wars ​​and lamented that, instead, educational programs are being promoted that are based on the “perception of threats,” promoting “only an armed notion of defense and security.”

The Holy Father also emphasized how technological advancements and the incorporation of artificial intelligence in the military sphere have “worsened the tragedy” of armed conflicts. He therefore warned of the risk of a growing tendency to “shirk responsibility” by political and military leaders such that “decisions about life and death are increasingly “‘delegated’ to machines.”

In his view, this is an “unprecedented destructive betrayal” of the “legal and philosophical principles of humanism” upon which any civilization is based and safeguarded.

The pontiff did not shy away from denouncing “the enormous concentrations of private economic and financial interests” that are driving states in this direction, but emphasized that just criticizing this would not be enough “unless we also awakened conscience and critical thought” throughout society.

In his reflection, Leo XIV included an explicit warning against the religious instrumentalization of violence. The pope observed that it is part of the contemporary landscape to “to drag the language of faith into political battles, to bless nationalism, and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion.” In response, he urged believers to “actively refute this, above all by the witness of their lives,” because “these forms of blasphemy profane the holy name of God.”

Therefore, he emphasized that, alongside concrete actions for peace, it is increasingly necessary to cultivate “prayer, spirituality, and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue” as authentic paths to peace and as languages ​​of encounter between traditions and cultures.

The Holy Father also warned of the risk of treating peace as a “distant ideal” and “disconnected from the concrete experience of people and the political life of nations.”

When peace is presented as something unattainable, the pope noted in the text, “we cease to be scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name.”

According to the pontiff, there is a real risk that this logic will end up seeping into both private and public life, fueling the perception that it is almost “a fault” not to be sufficiently prepared for war, “not to react to attacks,” even going “far beyond the principle of legitimate defense.”

“It is no coincidence that repeated calls to increase military spending, and the choices that follow, are presented by many government leaders as a justified response to external threats,” Leo XIV lamented.

Indeed, he continued, “the deterrent power of military might, especially nuclear deterrence, is based on the irrationality of relations between nations, built not on law, justice, and trust but on fear and domination by force.”

Faced with this scenario, the pope proposed a different understanding of peace that “wants to dwell within us” and has the “gentle power to enlighten and expand our understanding; it resists and overcomes violence.”

‘Peace is a breath of the eternal’

“Peace is a breath of the eternal: while to evil we cry out ‘Enough,’ to peace we whisper ‘Forever,’” the pope emphasized.

The reflection included a cultural critique of the modern world, which he called “realistic” in its narratives but “devoid of hope, blind to the beauty of others,” and that forgets that “God’s grace is always at work in human hearts, even those wounded by sin.”

In this regard, the pope recalled that the path proposed by Jesus was already perplexing even for his own disciples: “The Gospels do not hide the fact that what troubled the disciples was his nonviolent response,” a path that everyone, starting with Peter, opposed, “yet the Master asked them to follow this path to the end. The way of Jesus continues to cause unease and fear.”

The Holy Father acknowledged the discouragement experienced by people of goodwill who “have hearts ready for peace” and are overwhelmed by a feeling of “powerlessness” in the face of the increasingly uncertain course of events.

The World Day of Peace was instituted by St. Paul VI, who proposed it on Dec. 8, 1967, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It was celebrated for the first time on Jan. 1, 1968, coinciding with the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and since then it has become an annual occasion for the Church to reflect on the great challenges of human coexistence.

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

Pope Leo makes surprise visit to children’s Christmas concert at Castel Gandolfo school
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:08:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 18, 2025 / 18:08 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV enjoyed a special Christmas concert this week dedicated to him by students of the Paul VI Pontifical School in Castel Gandolfo.

During his surprise visit to the school, which has about 300 students, the Holy Father listened attentively to the children and applauded enthusiastically at the end of their concert.

The pontiff delivered an impromptu greeting to the children, who sang Christmas carols in several languages for him. “It was wonderful to hear the Christmas carols in Italian, Latin, English, and Spanish,” he said at the end of the concert, as reported by Vatican News.

“Hearing these children sing like this in all these languages ​​helps us understand how Christmas awakens in the hearts of all of us a joy, a peace, a truly important message,” he said.

The performance took place in the school gymnasium and was also attended by parents and teachers, as well as the bishop of Albano, Vincenzo Viva, and the president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, Archbishop Giordano Piccinotti.

The pope thanked the school for the invitation and said the children “have brought love to everyone tonight with this beautiful music.”

As is his custom, he referred to St. Augustine, noting that the saint from Hippo said that “‘he who loves, sings,’ because his heart truly knows what is important.”

“And God has wanted to communicate to all of us the gift of love: This is Christmas, God who wanted to draw near to us, especially to the little ones. May this spirit that we are already celebrating tonight, and in the coming days and at Christmas, and perhaps throughout the entire year, allow us to feel and live this love of Christmas,” said the Holy Father, who concluded his brief address on Dec. 16 with an invitation to “proclaim peace, love, and unity in the world.”

Pope Leo XIV, who wore an enormous smile on his face, took a few moments to greet the children and their families. They gave him a tennis racket because he plays tennis, a sport he loves and has been playing for years.

Before returning to the Vatican after his weekly visit to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, the pope toured the grounds of the Catholic elementary school, which was founded in 1968 by St. Paul VI and houses a relic of the saint.

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

Sacramental encounters will help people stay in Church, fulfill spiritual needs, apologist says
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:48:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2025 / 17:48 pm (CNA).

Encouraging participation in Mass and making the sacraments more accessible can deepen fulfillment among Catholics and therefore help to keep Catholics in the faith, experts say.

A recent Pew Research Center report, “Why Do Some Americans Leave Their Religion While Others Stay?”, examined the religious switching of U.S. adults. It looked into the reasons why people stay or leave their childhood faith.

The report revealed many U.S. adults (35%) have left the religion they grew up in, but the majority of Americans (56%) still identify with their childhood religion. The survey reported that Catholics specifically continue to identify with the faith because “their religion fulfills their spiritual needs” (54%) and “they believe in the religion’s teachings” (53%).

To better understand why Catholicism fulfills spiritual needs and which teachings are most important in that process, “it’s crucial that we pay attention to what’s working,” Tom Nash, a contributing apologist for Catholic Answers, told CNA.

He highlighted a June Pew study that found practicing Catholics believe “having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ” (90%) and “receiving the Eucharist” (83%) are the most essential aspects of their faith.

The study “tracks with the Church’s teaching that the sacrifice of the Mass is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324), and provides insight regarding how the Church best fulfills someone’s spiritual needs and, relatedly, which teachings are most important,” Nash said.

“Through his one paschal sacrifice of Calvary — which encompasses his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven — Jesus has redeemed the world. In addition, Jesus enables us to offer anew sacramentally and partake of his one sacrifice in the Mass, which is the New Covenant Passover Communion sacrifice,” Nash said.

Receiving the sacraments

Since the majority of Catholics say the faith fulfills their spiritual needs and they believe in the religion’s teachings, it’s “best” to highlight what meets those aspects, Nash said. Specifically, he suggested making the sacraments accessible to Catholics.

“When we make sacramental encounters more available with Our Lord Jesus Christ, an increase in Sunday Mass participation will follow accordingly,” Nash said.

Not only is receiving the Eucharist at Mass “fundamental,” but so is “communing with our Eucharist Lord Jesus spiritually through Eucharistic adoration,” Nash said. This allows Catholics to have “a deep relationship with Our Lord; and they thus form the bedrock of Catholic belief, because they enable us to have increasing divine intimacy with Jesus, and through him with the Father and the Holy Spirit.”

“For practicing Catholics, those who are not participating in weekly Mass, and people in general to whom Christ’s Great Commission is also addressed, we need to ‘Open the doors wide to Christ. To his saving power,’” as St. John Paul II said in his inauguration Mass.

The best and most convenient way to “open the doors” is “to give Catholics and non-Catholics alike the opportunity to draw near to our Eucharistic Lord Jesus in Eucharistic adoration,” Nash said. “With the help of parish deacons and laymen, every parish in the country can open its doors for adoration several nights a week for two to three hours.”

This will allow people to “draw near to the Lord in intimate spiritual communion, whether with our Eucharistic Lord exposed in a monstrance or reposed in the tabernacle. And also open the doors on a morning or two to accommodate those who work evenings.”

“A lot of people — inactive Catholics and non-Catholics alike — are not likely to come to Mass. But if you give them an opportunity to quietly spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament when it’s more convenient for them, they will draw near,” he said.

The sacrament of confession is also necessary. Nash suggests making confession “available five to 10 hours every week at every parish.”

“It’s not by accident that two of the most demonically oppressed priests in the last two centuries are renowned priest confessors: St. John Vianney and St. Padre Pio,” Nash said. “The devil knows the power of this great sacrament and acts accordingly in opposing it. In this way, we can ironically take a lesson from Lucifer, who despite his being ‘the father of lies’ (Jn 8:44) can’t help but tell the true in expressing his unvarnished hatred of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church.”

Catholics must be ‘equipped’ and ‘formed’

Among all former Catholics whom the new study looked at, it found “the most commonly cited reasons for leaving include no longer believing in the religion’s teachings, scandals involving clergy or religious leaders, or being unhappy about the religion’s teachings about social and political issues,” said Becka Alper, senior researcher at Pew Research Center, in a Dec. 17 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”

The study reported most former Catholics are now Protestants. They reported they switched because they stopped believing in the Church’s teachings (46%), “assuming they understand them well to begin with, and because they now believe in the distinctive teachings of Protestantism of one type or another,” Nash said.

If Catholics are equipped “to explain the faith well in a joyful manner, we can stanch the hemorrhaging from the Church,” Nash said. This will also help “remove stumbling blocks for former Catholics and never-Catholic Christians regarding the nature of the Mass, Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist, and that he also provides us to encounter him in his merciful love through the sacrament of confession.”

Trump eases marijuana regulations amid industry backing, Catholic concerns
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:18:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2025 / 17:18 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to ease federal marijuana regulations amid support from the cannabis industry but opposition from some Catholic and conservative groups.

Trump’s Dec. 18 executive order directs the attorney general to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug as quickly as federal law allows. This process began under President Joe Biden’s administration and is being continued under Trump.

Schedule I, which includes marijuana, is reserved for drugs that have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Schedule III is a lower classification, which is for drugs “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” and less abuse potential than Schedule I.

Rescheduling marijuana does not end a federal ban on both recreational and medical use, which would still be in place. However, it would reduce criminal penalties, open the door for medical research, and potentially be a step toward further deregulation and normalization.

Right now, 40 states have medical marijuana programs and 24 legalize recreational use, in contrast to the federal law.

In a news conference, Trump said rescheduling marijuana will help patients who seek the drug for medical use “live a far better life.” He said the executive order “in no way sanctions its use as a recreational drug.”

“Young Americans are especially at risk, so unless a drug is recommended by a doctor for medical reasons, just don’t do it,” the president said.

“At the same time, the facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications when carefully administered,” he said. “In some cases, this may include the use as a substitute for addictive and potentially lethal opioid painkillers.”

Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of CatholicVote, criticized the decision. The group had launched a campaign to discourage the president from rescheduling the product.

“Every argument pushed by the cannabis lobby has now been exposed as false by real-world data and medical science,” Reinhardt said in a statement.

“We were told marijuana was safe, nonaddictive, and would reduce crime — none of that turned out to be true in my home state of Colorado or in other states that are now working to repeal,” she said. “Instead, we’re seeing higher addiction rates, emergency-room spikes, impaired driving, heart risks, mental-health damage, and lasting harm to young people,” Reinhardt said.

Reinhardt called the executive order “disappointing” and said it “repeats the same reckless mistakes we made with Big Tobacco and puts ideology ahead of public health.” She said CatholicVote will work with federal agencies to “minimize the damage” and urged Congress to take action to reverse the executive order.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not directly mention marijuana but teaches “the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life.” It calls drug use a “grave offense” with the exception of drugs used on “strictly therapeutic grounds,” such as medical treatment.

In spite of concerns from some Catholics, some Catholic hospitals have done research into medical marijuana. Some of that research has looked into medical marijuana as potentially a less risky and less addictive alternative to opioids for pain management.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has not taken a position on the matter. Pope Francis said he opposed the partial legalization of so-called “soft drugs,” stating in 2014 that “the problem of drug use is not solved with drugs.” In June, Pope Leo XIV referred to drugs as “an invisible prison” and encouraged law enforcement to focus on drug traffickers instead of addicts.

Advocates push EPA to include abortion drugs on list of drinking water contaminants
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:48:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2025 / 16:48 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Advocates push for EPA to include chemicals from abortion drugs on list of drinking water contaminants

Students for Life of America (SFLA) is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to add the abortion drug mifepristone to a list of drinking water contaminants tracked by public utilities. “It’s a problem only the EPA can fully investigate,” SFLA reported.

In two letters over the last several sessions of Congress, legislators have called on the EPA to find out the extent of the damage of abortion drug water pollution. Multiple pro-life and pro-family organizations joined together to ask the EPA to look into the chemicals.

“The EPA has the regulatory authority and humane responsibility to determine the extent of abortion water pollution, caused by the reckless and negligent policies pushed by past administrations through the FDA [Food and Drug Administration],” said Kristan Hawkins, president of SFLA.

“Take the word ‘abortion’ out of it and ask, should chemically tainted blood and placenta tissue, along with human remains, be flushed by the tons into America’s waterways? And since the federal government set that up, shouldn’t we know what’s in our water?” she said.

Ireland votes not to restore bill that would remove three-day waiting period for abortions

The Dáil, the lower house and main chamber of the Irish Parliament, has voted against restoring an abortion bill that would have decriminalized abortion up until birth and removed the three-day waiting period for an abortion. The legislation previously passed the second stage in the Dáil, but Parliament members decided in a 73 to 71 vote to reject it.

The legislation would have allowed abortion on request before “viability” and on grounds of a fatal fetal abnormality that would likely lead to the death of the baby before birth or within a year of birth.

Missouri senator launches new pro-life initiative

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and his wife, Erin Hawley, announced they are launching a new effort to advocate for families and the unborn called the Love Life Initiative. The effort is intended to “remind Americans that life is sacred, life is good, and life is worth protecting.”

The Love Life Initiative was “born out of the recognition that pro-life victories in the courtroom is not enough,” according to the initiative’s website.

At the time of the Dobbs ruling, 49% of Americans identified as pro-choice and 46% as pro-life, Love Life reported. Today, 53% identify as pro-choice and only 39% identify as pro-life. The initiative plans to work to reverse this trend through “thoughtful, far-reaching advertising campaigns that promote the sanctity of life, advance referendums that protect life, and identify and defeat harmful proposals in statehouses across the nation.”

European Parliament backs abortion fund resolution amid Catholic criticism
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:04:00 -0500

Vilnius, Lithuania, Dec 18, 2025 / 14:04 pm (CNA).

The European Parliament voted Dec. 17 in favor of a resolution supporting the creation of a new European Union fund intended to expand access to abortion services across member states, a move that exposed deep divisions among lawmakers and renewed debate over national sovereignty and abortion legislation in EU policymaking.

Members of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg voted 358 in favor, 202 against, with 79 abstentions. The proposal would establish a voluntary, opt-in financial mechanism to assist women who are unable to procure abortions in their home countries and who choose to travel to states with more permissive laws.

The initiative was brought forward under the EU’s European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) framework by the campaign group My Voice, My Choice, which claims to represent a broad grassroots mobilization of European citizens.

Because the Dec. 17 vote concerned a nonbinding resolution rather than a legislative act, it carries no immediate legal effect. Nevertheless, supporters described the outcome as symbolically significant.

A nonbinding vote with an uncertain path forward

Despite parliamentary backing, the resolution does not compel the European Commission to act. Under ECI procedures, the commission is required to formally respond to the initiative within six months of its submission, by March 2026, outlining whether it intends to propose legislative or policy measures.

Even if the commission signals support, past experience suggests that endorsement does not always translate into concrete policy outcomes. Several previous citizen initiatives that met procedural thresholds ultimately stalled or were declined by the commission.

Opposition to the proposal was particularly strong among members from Hungary, where a majority of European Parliament members voted against the resolution. Polish representatives were nearly evenly split, with 23 voting in favor, 24 opposed, and one abstention. Delegations from Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and Lithuania also showed closely divided voting patterns, reflecting the ongoing cultural and political disagreement across Europe on abortion policy.

Critics of the pro-abortion proposal, including family advocacy groups, religious organizations, and lawmakers, argued that health care and medical practice remains a matter of national competence under EU treaties. They warned that creating a centralized funding mechanism for abortion risks circumventing national laws and democratic processes.

The vote came after the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union urged voters in the Parliament to pursue “prudent policies that genuinely protect and support women, while also safeguarding unborn human life.”

“A medical intervention [abortion] of such gravity and with such important ethical implications cannot and must not be normalized,” the bishops said.

Beyond the vote itself, My Voice, My Choice has drawn criticism for its public advocacy methods. Following a Nov. 13 European Parliament vote to include the campaign within the Gender Equality Strategy 2025, the group used social media to publish images of European Parliament members who voted against the inclusion.

The posts grouped lawmakers by country, displayed their social media handles, and encouraged members of the public to tag and convince them to support the initiative.

Some observers described the tactic as coercive or distasteful, while others, including some pro-life advocates, argued it inadvertently clarified to the public which politicians value the dignity of human life as they oppose abortion expansionism.

On Nov. 26, the European Centre for Law and Justice convened a conference in Brussels attended by pro-life members of the European Parliament, civil society leaders, and representatives of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe. Women shared personal testimonies related to abortion, and speakers addressed what they described as increasingly top-down advocacy strategies behind My Voice, My Choice.

During the conference, organizers presented a funding analysis examining the organizations supporting the campaign. According to the report, among the more than 250 organizations listed as supporters, a significant number receive funding from EU institutions and large American philanthropic foundations.

The report identified funding streams from organizations such as the Open Society Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, as well as direct EU funding. Several prominent pro-abortion organizations across Europe were shown to have long-standing financial ties to these donors.

My Voice, My Choice’s principal organizer, Nika Kovač, a Slovenian anthropologist who heads the 8th of March Institute, is linked in the report as having her organization receive funding from the Open Society Foundation and support from the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Additionally, according to the report, IPPF’s European branch has received millions of euros in funding over the past two decades from the European Union and major U.S.-based foundations.

The report does not allege illegality but rather examines the democratic character of the initiative, specifically, whether the ECI mechanism in this case reflects organic citizen mobilization or functions primarily as a vehicle through which well-funded advocacy networks advance preexisting policy goals under the banner of popular participation.

HHS announces actions to restrict ‘sex-rejecting procedures’ on minors
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:31:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2025 / 13:31 pm (CNA).

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulations today that would seek to end “sex-rejecting procedures” on anyone younger than 18 years old, which includes restrictions on hospitals and retailers.

Under one proposal, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would withhold all funding through Medicare and Medicaid to any hospital that offers surgeries or drugs to minors as a means to make them resemble the opposite sex. The proposed rules would prohibit federal Medicaid funding for “sex-rejecting procedures” on anyone under 18 and prohibit federal Children’s Health Insurance program (CHIP) funding for the procedures on anyone under 19.

This includes surgical operations, such as the removal of healthy genitals to replace them with artificial genitals that resemble the opposite sex and chest procedures that remove the healthy breasts on girls or implant prosthetic breasts on boys.

It also includes hormone treatments that attempt to masculinize girls with testosterone and feminize boys with estrogen and puberty blockers, which delay a child’s natural developments during puberty.

HHS also announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing warning letters to 12 manufacturers and retailers that they accuse of illegally marketing “breast binders” to girls under the age of 18 as a treatment for gender dysphoria. Breast binders compress breasts as a means to flatten them under their clothing.

The news release said breast binders are Class 1 medical devices meant to help recover from cancer-related mastectomies, and the warning letters will “formally notify the companies of their significant regulatory violations and how they should take prompt corrective action.”

Additionally, HHS is working to clarify the definition of a “disability” in civil rights regulations to exclude “gender dysphoria” that does not result from physical impairments. This ensures that discrimination laws are not interpreted in a way that would require “sex-rejecting procedures,” the statement said.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a news conference that “sex-rejecting procedures” on minors are “endangering the very lives that [doctors] are sworn to safeguard.”

“So-called gender-affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people,” he said. “This is not medicine — it is malpractice.”

The proposals would conform HHS regulations to President Donald Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order to prohibit the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children. The order instructed HHS to propose regulations to prevent these procedures on minors.

In a news release, HHS repeatedly referred to the medical interventions as “sex-rejecting procedures” and warned they “cause irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other irreversible physiological effects.”

HHS cited its own report from May, which found “deep uncertainty about the purported benefits of these interventions” for treating a minor with gender dysphoria. The report found that “these interventions carry risk of significant harms,” which can include infertility, sexual dysfunction, underdeveloped bone mass, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, and adverse cognitive impacts, among other complications.

Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm, a medical advocacy group, said in a statement that the proposed regulation on hospitals is “another critical step to protect children from harmful gender ideology” and said he supports rules that ensure “American taxpayer dollars do not fund sex-change operations on minors.”

“Many so-called gender clinics have already begun to close as the truth about the risks and long-term harms about these drugs and surgeries on minors have been exposed,” he said. “Now, hospitals that receive taxpayer funds from these federal programs must follow suit.”

Mary Rice Hasson, director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), said she sees the proposed restriction on hospitals as “excellent.”

“This proposed rule sends a powerful message to states and health care providers: It’s time to stop these unethical and dangerous procedures,” Hasson said. “Puberty is not a disease to be medicated away. All children have the right to grow and develop normally.”

“Sex-rejecting procedures promise the impossible: that a child can escape the reality of being male or female,” she added. “In reality, these sex-rejecting procedures provide only the illusion of ‘changing sex’ by disabling healthy functions and altering the child’s healthy body through drugs and surgery that will cause lifelong harm.”

In January, Bishop Robert Barron, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, welcomed Trump’s executive action on these procedures, warning that they are “based on a false understanding of human nature, attempt to change a child’s sex.”

“So many young people who have been victims of this ideological crusade have profound regrets over its life-altering consequences, such as infertility and lifelong dependence on costly hormone therapies that have significant side effects,” Barron said. “It is unacceptable that our children are encouraged to undergo destructive medical interventions instead of receiving access to authentic and bodily-unitive care.”

Federal court allows Michigan therapists to counsel children claiming to be opposite sex
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:36:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 18, 2025 / 12:36 pm (CNA).

Counselors and therapists in Michigan will be allowed to treat children who believe themselves to be the opposite sex, striking down a Michigan law that outlawed such counseling by claiming it constitutes “conversion therapy.”

The Dec. 17 ruling at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit blocked the Michigan law by stating that it “discriminates based on viewpoint” by forbidding therapists from counseling children that they are their own biological sex rather than the opposite sex.

The court noted that the law “expressly” allows therapists to help children commit to a so-called “transition” to the opposite sex. The rule is a “near-certain violation” of the First Amendment, the order said.

The Michigan law was passed on the grounds that steering children away from a transgender identity constitutes “conversion” similar to counseling that seeks to mitigate same-sex attraction. LGBT advocates claim that such “conversion therapy” has been discredited and constitutes a danger to therapy patients.

The lawsuit was first brought to court in July 2024 after the law passed in February of that year. A lower court had earlier ruled against the therapists’ claims that their counseling constitutes protected First Amendment speech.

The appeals court held in its ruling that the Michigan law is discriminatory insofar as it “permits speech on a particular topic only if the speech expresses a viewpoint that the government itself approves.”

“The default … is that the First Amendment protects all speech,” the court held. The Michigan government “[did] not even attempt to identify” that the government has regularly controlled the speech of therapists as the law moves to do.

The plaintiffs in the case — which include a Catholic Charities group and a Catholic therapist — have been represented by the religious liberty law firm Becket. Lead attorney Luke Goodrich said in a Dec. 17 press release that the decision represented “a victory for children nationwide.”

“Michigan’s law was pushing children toward irreversible medical procedures that cause lasting harms,” he said.

“This ruling ensures that children who want it can receive compassionate, evidence-based counseling that alleviates their distress and helps them embrace their bodies without resorting to irreversible, life-altering medical interventions.”

The Michigan government may appeal the decision.

LGBT advocates have argued in recent years that children who claim to be the opposite sex should be facilitated in “transitioning” to a facsimile of the opposite sex, including through cross-sex hormones and procedures such as castrations and irreversible mastectomies.

The Trump administration since January has moved to aggressively limit the ability of doctors and institutions to carry out such procedures, including an executive order restricting so-called transgender surgeries and drugs for youth.

Multiple hospitals around the country have ended child transgender surgeries and programs under pressure from the White House, including the prominent Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

President Donald Trump in August also directed states to remove gender ideology materials from their curriculums or else face the loss of federal funding.

Countdown to the closing of the jubilee: When, who will close the Holy Doors in Rome?
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Just a few weeks remain until the closing of the holy year, which was inaugurated by Pope Francis on Dec. 24, 2024. On Jan. 6, 2026, Pope Leo XIV will be the one to close the enormous bronze door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, through which nearly 30 million pilgrims have passed during the last 12 months seeking a plenary indulgence.

This Holy Door is slated to be reopened in 2033, when the Church celebrates the Extraordinary Holy Year of the Redemption.

The schedule for closing rites of the Holy Doors of the main papal basilicas in Rome is as follows:

The first Holy Door to be closed — and which will remain walled up until the next jubilee — is that of St. Mary Major Basilica. The rite will take place on Dec. 25, as reported by the Holy See Press Office. The ceremony will be begin at 6 p.m. local time, followed by Mass celebrated by the cardinal archpriest of the basilica, Rolandas Makrickas.

Two days later, on Dec. 27 at 11 a.m. local time, the closing ceremony at St. John Lateran Basilica will be presided over by the cardinal vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, who will celebrate the Eucharist, and will feature the participation of the diocesan choir, directed by Monsignor Marco Frisina.

On Dec. 28 at 10 a.m. local time, the Holy Door of St. Paul Outside the Walls Basilica will be closed. The solemn event will be presided over by Cardinal Archpriest James Michael Harvey.

Finally, on Jan. 6, 2026, the solemnity of the Epiphany, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica before celebrating the Mass that will mark the concluding act of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. On that occasion, the pontiff will invite pilgrims to return to Rome in 2033 for the Extraordinary Holy Year of Redemption.

The Holy Doors, as is tradition, have been solely those of the four papal basilicas of Rome: St. Peter’s in the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls. However, on Dec. 26, two days after officially inaugurating the holy year, Pope Francis made an exception by traveling to the Rebibbia prison in Rome to repeat this gesture at another door as a symbol of hope.

The late pope wanted to extend this gesture of grace to prisoners by opening the door of this correctional facility in the Italian capital.

The date on which the closing ceremony for this fifth Holy Door will take place has yet to be announced.

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

UPDATE: New York’s new archbishop-designate vows to ‘serve faithfully’ while remaining a Cubs fan
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The newly announced leader of the Catholic Church in New York expressed “heartfelt gratitude” on Dec. 18 for having been appointed to the post by Pope Leo XIV.

Archbishop-designate Ronald Hicks, who will head the Archdiocese of New York after leading the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, said at a Thursday press conference that he accepted the Holy Father’s appointment “with great humility” and “an open heart.”

Hicks addressed media at St. Patrick’s Cathedral alongside outgoing Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who turned 75 earlier this year, the customary age at which a prelate submits his resignation to the Holy See.

The new archbishop-designate reflected on his formation under past Church leaders in his hometown of Chicago, including Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal Francis George, and Chicago’s current archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich. “For all of them, I’m deeply grateful,” he said.

Makes first ‘controversial statement’

At the press conference Hicks jokingly announced what he anticipated would be his “first controversial statement” by admitting his unending devotion to his hometown Chicago Cubs baseball team and his love of the Windy City’s iconic deep dish pizza.

“I want you to know that I am going to remain a loyal Cubs fan,” he said. “However, I am going to start rooting for the New York sports teams. And I already love your pizza. I love it a lot.”

The prelate admitted he would miss the Joliet Diocese, at which he has served for the last five years. “I have felt happy, grateful, and blessed to be their bishop,” he said. “Together, we have worked with some missionary zeal to catechize, to evangelize, and to put our faith into action as disciples who make disciples.”

Describing New York City as “rich in energy, languages, cultures, and people,” he said he was excited to get to know the city, though he acknowledged that the archdiocese is facing “complex and challenging days” including issues of life, faith, and “healing.”

Hicks specifically said he was committed to learning about the archdiocese’s efforts to compensate survivors of sexual abuse. The archdiocese is currently pursuing a settlement for victims that is expected to top $300 million.

“As a Church, we can never rest in our efforts to prevent abuse, to protect children, and to care for survivors,” he said.

The prelate said he looks forward to “working closely and collaboratively with the priests, the deacons, the religious, the lay leaders of [the] archdiocese” as well as working with the “great variety and diversity of faith leaders and civic leaders” that populate New York City.

Addressing the archdiocese’s Spanish-speaking faithful, the archbishop-designate spoke in Spanish of his past ministry in Mexico and Central America, including five years in El Salvador.

Saying he has “an enormous heart for Latino culture and Hispanic people,” he mentioned he has two Colombian nephews, Puerto Rican godparents, many Dominican friends, and that he intends “to walk with all of you, together, as brothers and sisters.”

Responding to speculation in the media and on the internet as to who he is as a bishop, Hicks said: “If you want to know the core of who I am and what I stand for, you should know this: I love Jesus with my mind, heart, and soul, and I strive to love my neighbor as myself.”

“My desire is to be obedient to the Holy Spirit and to do the will of God, serving with a shepherd’s heart,” he emphasized.

This story was updated at 11:57 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2025.

Dublin Archdiocese dispels doubts, concerns about its financial position
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Dublin has dispelled concerns about its financial position, pointing to its healthy reserves, strong financial position, and the strict regulatory framework within which it operates as a charity.

Following a report in one of Ireland’s most prominent mainstream media publications, the Irish Times, the Archdiocese of Dublin has moved to clarify questions raised about its financial security over the next 15 years.

The archdiocese explained to CNA the context of its 2024 financial statements, which were the subject of a recent Irish Times report that has raised concern among the faithful in Ireland’s largest diocese.

In the story titled “Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese Faces Financial Woes as Priests Age and Mass Numbers Decline,” the Dublin-based newspaper stated that the archdiocese’s cash reserves will be exhausted by 2041. It also pointed to a worrying decline in vocations, with actuarial predictions of 70% fewer priests within 20 years. The archdiocese had no ordination in 2024 and just two since 2020.

Both statements reflect what is stated in the report but neglect to include the archdiocese’s contextual notes in its financial statements on the subject of its reserves, including the funds generated by the sale of Clonliffe College in north Dublin.

Ide Finnegan, the archdiocese finance administrator and head of operations, explained in response to CNA’s questions that its finances are governed by strict legislation relating to its charitable status.

“In the financial statements, context and measures planned to address these factors are also outlined. For example, every effort is being made to sustain and indeed increase income and manage costs. The diocese is investing in new staff rather than planning staff reductions,” Finnegan said.

The Irish Times article reported the total income from the archdiocese’s 188 parishes, which in 2024 came to 31 million euros ($36.5 million), compared with 31.1 million euros ($36.4 million) the previous year. Total expenditure in 2024 was 34.2 million euros ($40.2 million), the same as in 2023.

The first collections held at weekend Masses, which support priests, totaled 14.1 million euros ($16.6 million) in 2024, a decrease of 200,000 euros ($235,000) from 14.3 million euros ($16.8 million) in 2023. Share collections in support of parishes raised 5.7 million euros ($6.7 million) in 2024, 100,000 euros ($117,500) less than the 5.6 million euros ($6.6 million) in 2023.

The Irish Times report did not mention the fact noted in the financial statements that international fundraising firm CCS Consulting has been retained to advise and support fundraising strategies for the archdiocese.

Finnegan, referring to CCS, told CNA: “There is hope that the initiative will help with parish reserves. The diocesan balance sheet is very healthy, but it is important that this is protected by generating enough income to meet expenditure. The financial statements reflect all the steps being taken around financial sustainability, and we are currently implementing a strategic plan around this.”

Since COVID-19, there has been a shift in the number of Mass attendees and the amount donated in Sunday collections. It is also clear that the archdiocese is taking proactive steps to manage its financial position.

Parishes in the Dublin Archdiocese are responsible for their own financial management. Parish employees are directly employed by parishes, and any decisions on staffing levels are made locally.

Finnegan told CNA: “Parishes are encouraged to generate income, but as the accounts state, there are parishes that are running a financial deficit, and this will need to be monitored into the future. The Share fund provides financial support to disadvantaged parishes where local contributions can be lower.”

The archdiocese has begun implementing a new strategy, titled Building Hope, which includes priorities such as management, ministry, the role of laypersons, and finance.

The archdiocese is structured into five pastoral areas, within which are 15 deaneries nurturing 53 partnerships of parishes.

Altogether, the Catholic population recorded in the 2022 census was 996,000 out of a total population of approximately 1.6 million.

In offering reassurance and confidence in the archdiocese’s position, Finnegan highlighted one key section of the financial statements that provides essential context for any concerns about the potential depletion of reserves by 2041.

“While it is unlikely that all the identified risks will materialize simultaneously, the trustees must ensure adequate reserves are available to address potential challenges. The primary risk lies in the charity’s ability to successfully navigate these issues, which vary in severity and impact. The trustees are committed to maintaining a present level of unrestricted and designated preserves, enabling the charity to remain resilient in the face of both anticipated and unforeseen challenges.”

Pentagon chief announces reforms to U.S. military’s Chaplain Corps
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 20:05:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 20:05 pm (CNA).

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that he has issued a directive aimed at reforming the military’s Chaplain Corps, beginning with the elimination of the U.S. Army’s current Spiritual Fitness Guide.

In a video post, Hegseth described a “real problem” facing the nation’s military forces: “the weakening of our Chaplain Corps,” which has “been going on for far too long.”

“In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” he said. “Faith and virtue were traded for self help and self care.”

Hegseth said that “chaplains are intended to be the spiritual and moral backbone of our nation’s forces,” recalling that at the outset of the American Revolution, Gen. George Washington, in one of his first acts as commander of the Continental Army, established the Chaplain Corps because he saw the need for “the blessing and protection of heaven … especially in times of public distress and danger.”

“For about 200 years, the Chaplain Corps continued its role as the spiritual leader of our service members, serving our men and women in times of hardship and ministering to their souls,” he said.

In what he described as an “ongoing war on warriors” in recent years, Hegseth said the role of chaplains “has been degraded.”

He cited the current Army Spiritual Fitness Guide, which he said mentions God only once and has “zero” references to virtue, relying instead “on New Age notions, saying that the soldier’s spirit consists of consciousness, creativity, and connection.”

According to the guide, Hegseth said, about “82% of the military are religious, yet, ironically, [the guide] alienates our war fighters of faith by pushing secular humanism. In short, it’s unacceptable and unserious. So we’re tossing it.”

“Our chaplains are chaplains, not emotional support officers,” he said.

According to Hegseth, the reforms will be “a top-down cultural shift, putting spiritual well-being on the same footing as mental and physical health.”

He said initial reforms will result in the removal of training materials that “have no place in the War Department” as well as the streamlining of religious affiliation coding practices, with more changes in the coming weeks and months.

“We’re going to restore the esteemed position of chaplains as moral anchors for our fighting force,” Hegseth said.

Quoting the 1956 army chaplain’s manual, Hegseth said: “‘The chaplain is the pastor and the shepherd of the souls entrusted to his care.’”

“This is a high and sacred calling,” he continued, “but this only works if our shepherds are actually given the freedom to boldly guide and care for their flock.”

First painting in Rome of Our Lady of Guadalupe preserved in fourth-century church
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:30:00 -0500

Rome Newsroom, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The Church of St. Vitale, built in 386, is the oldest Christian church still standing in the center of Rome. It is the “only place of worship from the fourth century that has remained intact throughout the centuries,” emphasized its parish priest, Father Elio Lops.

This early Christian church, discreet and given little attention on typical tourist routes, safeguards an artistic and devotional treasure that is practically unknown: the first image of Our Lady of Guadalupe painted in the Italian capital.

“It has never been given the importance it deserves,” Lops told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, referring to a representation of the Virgin Mary that immediately brings to mind the image imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s tilma in 1531.

The similarities are striking. “There is no doubt about its identity,” the parish priest pointed out.

Although the position of the hands shows a slight variation and the rays that usually surround the figure are missing, “the gaze is the same,” he explained. The painting also retains “the same belt that symbolizes Our Lady’s maternity and the large crescent moon beneath her feet,” Lops noted, citing the essential iconographic elements of the Guadalupe narrative.

The image was painted “around the year 1550” by the Jesuit Giovanni Battista Fiammeri, an artist active in Rome who, on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1600, decorated the entire church of St. Vitale.

A compelling hypothesis about the painting’s origin

Although there are no documents that conclusively certify it, the parish priest supports a compelling hypothesis: The Jesuit Fiammeri painted the picture based on a sketch of the miracle made by Spanish missionaries upon their return to Rome, after learning about the events that occurred on Tepeyac Hill two decades earlier.

One detail reinforces this interpretation. At the bottom of the painting, “below the Virgin, there is a small caravel depicting the ship on which they traveled to Mexico,” the priest explained. This is an unusual element in later iconography of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but it was commonly used in the context of the first contacts between the New World and the Holy See.

Whatever the precise origin of the model used by Fiammeri, it is certain that this image predates by several decades the other representations of the Virgin of Guadalupe preserved in Rome, which date from the mid-17th century, almost a hundred years after the apparitions, the 500th anniversary of which will be celebrated in 2031.

This fact confers on the painting in St. Vitale a singular value as a testament to the early European reception of a devotion that, over time, would become one of the pillars of the Americas’ religious identity.

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

Catholic bishops speak out as New York governor pledges to sign into law assisted suicide
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:00:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign into law an assisted suicide bill that Catholic leaders have ardently opposed, making New York the 13th state to allow the practice.

Hochul, who called it an “incredibly difficult decision,” said she will sign the bill after lawmakers add some “guardrails.” The bill allows doctors to give terminally ill patients drugs to end their lives. Hochul’s additions to the law include requiring a waiting period, a recorded oral request for death, and a health evaluation. The law will go into effect six months after signing.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and other New York bishops have been outspoken against the legislation, issuing several statements opposing it. In a brief meeting with Hochul over the summer, Dolan urged her not to sign the measure.

Earlier this month, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law similar assisted suicide legislation. Other jurisdictions that permit assisted suicide include: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

Hochul, who is a Catholic University of America alumna, said in a Dec. 17 statement that the bill will enable people “to suffer less — to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.”

“New York has long been a beacon of freedom, and now it is time we extend that freedom to terminally ill New Yorkers who want the right to die comfortably and on their own terms,” Hochul said.

“My mother died of ALS, and I am all too familiar with the pain of seeing someone you love suffer and being powerless to stop it,” she continued.

In a joint statement, Dolan and the bishops of New York state said they were “extraordinarily troubled” by Hochul’s announcement.

The bishops say the law endangers the vulnerable, calling assisted suicide “a grave moral evil” that “is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life.”

“This new law signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable but is encouraged by our elected leaders,” the Dec. 17 statement said.

The Patients’ Rights Action Fund, a nonpartisan group that opposes assisted suicide on the grounds that it is inherentaly discriminatory, said that “safeguards” in bills like the one Hochul said she would sign “are falling short” where they exist.

“The amendments added that try to address the serious dangers that come with legalizing assisted suicide do nothing to protect people who deserve care and support from the state and their medical teams,” Matt Vallière, who heads the group, said in a Dec. 17 statement shared with CNA.

Citing the tragic case of Eileen Mihich, a woman struggling with mental illness who died under the assisted suicide law in Washington state, Vallière said that “it is impossible to prevent abuse of the law in which people not on the verge of dying can utilize assisted suicide.”

“There is no true accountability to protect patients from potential harm, abuse, or coercion,” Vallière continued.

The New York bishops also raised concerns about mental health, saying the law “will seriously undermine” anti-suicide and mental health care efforts made by Hochul.

“How can any society have credibility to tell young people or people with depression that suicide is never the answer, while at the same time telling elderly and sick people that it is a compassionate choice to be celebrated?” the bishops stated.

The bishops urged the state to instead invest in palliative care, which is medicine focused on relieving suffering and improving quality of life for people with serious illnesses.

“We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care,” the bishops said. “And we pray that our state turns away from its promotion of a culture of death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”

Vallière also called for better access to palliative care.

“Gov. Hochul’s statements undermine the importance of hospice and palliative care, which provides the compassionate end-of-life experience for which so many are advocating but is drastically underutilized in New York,” Vallière said. “We need more access to this care, not a fast track to death in the absence of it.”

Colombian law recognizes historical importance of church dedicated to Sacred Heart of Jesus
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:15:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

The Colombian Senate passed a law on Dec. 15 that recognizes the historical, religious, and cultural value of the Church of the National Vow, a symbol of the country’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The passage of Bill 131-2025, introduced by Sen. Mauricio Giraldo, “is an act of gratitude and spiritual remembrance. Colombia cannot renounce its roots or the symbols that have sustained the nation. Legislating also means caring for the soul of a country,” the senator stated.

In a video posted on social media, Giraldo also recalled that the Church of the National Vow “was the national symbol of reconciliation” in Colombia after the 1899–1902 Thousand Days’ War, which pitted liberals against conservatives. The conflict left more than 100,000 dead and was won by the conservative side.

While many other factors were involved, including the role of the Catholic Church, the war was fought over whether Colombia would be a unitary state with a centralized government (the conservative position) or have a federal system with a central presidency but also local state governments (the liberal position).

“So this bill is a recognition of reconciliation, but above all, of Colombia’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We are happy; it has already been approved in its four debates, and now only [the president’s signature] is needed. It’s a done deal, we have a law, because we continue to protect the heart of Colombia,” he said.

Currently, the Church of the National Vow has structural damage that has required the installation of protective netting. With the passage of the law, it is expected that the state will assume responsibility for the restoration of the church.

History of the Church of the National Vow

It is called the Church of the National Vow because it was built to fulfill a vow or promise made on behalf of the nation by the then-archbishop of Bogota, Bernardo Herrera Restrepo, to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to pray for an end to the bloody conflict.

Herrera asked President José Manuel Marroquín Ricaurte to build a church in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Decree 820 of May 18, 1902, stipulated that the state would assist in the construction and emphasized that it was the nation’s duty to do everything possible to achieve reconciliation among Colombians.

On June 11, 1902, Colombia was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the cornerstone of the church was laid. Five months later, the civil war ended with the treaties signed on the Neerlandia plantation on the mainland and the U.S. battleship Wisconsin, as the American government had become involved in the conflict due to its interest in constructing a canal across Panama, which was then part of Colombia.

Construction was completed in 1918, and in 1964 the church was elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI and declared a national monument in 1975.

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

Catholic leaders back pregnancy centers, doctors in federal suit over abortion referrals
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:34:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 12:34 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Illinois are backing a coalition of pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors suing the state government over a law that requires them to refer women to abortion providers even if they object to the procedure on religious grounds.

The lawsuit, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto, challenges a 2016 Illinois rule that requires health care providers who refuse to perform abortions to nevertheless tout the “benefits” of the procedure and refer women to abortion clinics.

In April the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois partly blocked the law, ruling that it violates freedom of speech in forcing providers to relay the alleged benefits of abortion. The court, however, held that the abortion referral requirement is legal.

The case is currently at appeal from both sides in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Dec. 16, the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Illinois Catholic Health Association joined several Orthodox advocates in an amicus brief urging the court to offer the “highest level of protection” to the religious speech of the pro-life plaintiffs.

“Providing the highest level of First Amendment protection to religious institutions gives them the predictability they need to pursue their religious missions,” the filing said, arguing that forcing health care providers to refer abortions “could lead people to believe that such conduct is morally acceptable.”

First Amendment jurisprudence, the filing argues, leaves “no doubt that the abortion-referral requirement burdens core religious speech without proper justification.”

Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a press statement that “every life deserves protection and care, no matter how fragile or dependent.”

“The Church in Illinois is standing up for that eternal truth against Illinois’ effort to deny it,” the prelate said.

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki similarly argued that Catholics “must be free to live according to the 2,000-year-old teachings of our faith without government intrusion.”

“Illinois’ mandate threatens that freedom by forcing Catholic ministries and health care professionals to promote a practice we believe is gravely wrong,” he said. “We pray the court will put a swift stop to it.”

The amicus brief was filed by the religious liberty law group Becket.

Lawyers for the pro-life plaintiffs have argued that the abortion referral requirement violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, which was brought by the same organization at the head of the Illinois dispute.

The Supreme Court held in that decision that a similar California rule appeared to violate the First Amendment by “requiring [pro-life providers] to inform women how they can obtain state-subsidized abortions.”

Bangladesh Catholics face Christmas under military guard after church attacks
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:32:00 -0500

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 17, 2025 / 11:32 am (CNA).

Recent attempts to sabotage Catholic churches, threats to Catholic educational institutions, and the current political context of the country mean the upcoming Christmas will be a time of concern for Catholics in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

“There is a sense of fear among us and from that point, all our parish priests have been warned,” Bishop Sebastian Tudu of the Dinajpur Diocese told CNA.

The prelate said that in recent weeks there have been crude bomb explosions targeting churches and church-run institutions in Dhaka and threats to Catholic educational institutions through letters. It is natural to be concerned, he said.

However, he noted that local law enforcement agencies have been active much earlier than in other years and are investigating various church institutions.

“We have already had a meeting with the law enforcement agencies here about Christmas security and they are working on it. However, we are in a state of panic and have instructed every parish priest not to hold Christmas programs until late at night,” Tudu said.

Christians make up less than 1% of the 180 million people in this Muslim-majority South Asian nation.

On Nov. 7, two crude homemade bombs were thrown at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Dhaka, one of which did not explode. The next day, the jubilee was celebrated at the cathedral, attended by 600 people from all over the country. A few hours later, a bomb exploded at the gate of St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School and College, just a few miles from the cathedral.

Exactly a month before this incident, on Oct. 8, a similar bomb exploded at the gate of Holy Rosary Church in a Christian-dominated area of Dhaka.

On Dec. 2, a letter written in Bengali under the name Tawhidee Muslim Janata (“faithful Muslim people”) was sent to two of Bangladesh’s most prestigious colleges: Notre Dame College, run by the Holy Cross Fathers, and Holy Cross College, run by the Holy Cross Sisters, threatening them over alleged conversions.

Raju Biswas, 37, who works in a factory in Dhaka, goes to his village in the southern Satkhira district every year on Dec. 23 to celebrate Christmas with his family, and he plans to go this year as well.

“Since I have children, a wife, and parents at home, I will go to the village to celebrate Christmas with them. However, this time, there is panic; the political situation in the country is not good, and there was an incident of throwing bombs in front of the church,” Biswas told CNA.

He said the government should strengthen security in every church for at least four days, from two days before Christmas to the day after Christmas.

On Dec. 15, to discuss security measures for the upcoming Christmas, a delegation led by Bangladesh Christian Association President Nirmal Rozario and St. Mary’s Cathedral parish priest Father Albert Thomas Rozario of the Dhaka Archdiocese met the home affairs adviser of the interim government.

“The archbishop and we are not seeing Christmas this year as normal as other times. We are more worried and scared this time and have raised the recent security concerns with the home affairs adviser,” Father Rozario told CNA.

They have taken serious note of our concerns and have said that the government will take measures so that Christians can celebrate Christmas in a peaceful and joyful atmosphere, Father Rozario added.

Strict security measures have already been adopted at the archbishop’s house. There are instructions to install CCTV cameras in every church, archways at the gates, metal detectors, and manual checks.

“There are more meetings with the country’s police administration within a few days, where we will again raise our concerns and appeal to the government for security,” Father Rozario said.

Pope Leo XIV appoints Bishop Ramón Bejarano to lead Monterey Diocese
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 10:18:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 10:18 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ramón Bejarano, currently auxiliary bishop of San Diego, as the next bishop of Monterey in California. The appointment was publicized on Dec. 17 by the Holy See Press Office at the Vatican and by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bejarano succeeds Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, who led Monterey before being appointed bishop of Austin, Texas, on July 2 and installed there on Sept. 18.

Bejarano was born July 17, 1969, in Laredo, Texas, and completed ecclesiastical studies at the diocesan seminary in Tijuana, Mexico, and at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, the Vatican said. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Stockton on Aug. 15, 1998.

Named titular bishop of Carpi and auxiliary bishop of San Diego on Feb. 27, 2020, he received episcopal consecration on July 14, 2020.

The Diocese of Monterey is comprised of 21,916 square miles in California and has a total population of 1,042,464, of which 368,150 are Catholic, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope Leo XIV to appoint next archbishop of New York
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 09:58:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:58 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has chosen Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, to be the next archbishop of New York — the most consequential U.S. episcopal appointment of Leo’s pontificate thus far.

The appointment was confirmed by EWTN News with two independent sources with direct knowledge of the appointment.

Hicks, 58, will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has led New York, the second-largest U.S. archdiocese by population — with 2.5 million Catholics — since 2009.

The choice of Hicks for one of the most important U.S. archdioceses is likely to be heavily scrutinized for the insight it may give into the direction Pope Leo wishes to take the Church in the U.S.

A native of Illinois, Hicks has led the Joliet Diocese since September 2020. He was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago from 2018 to 2020, following three years as the archdiocese’s vicar general from 2015 to 2018.

Hicks was born on Aug. 4, 1967, in the town of Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago, and grew up in South Holland, one suburb over from Dolton, where Pope Leo XIV grew up.

“I recognize a lot of similarities between [Pope Leo] and me,” Hicks told WGN in an interview in May. “So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places to go to.”

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, Hicks’ priestly ministry included time as an associate pastor and pastor, and dean of formation as St. Joseph College Seminary.

In 2005, he began a five-year term as regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) in Central America. Based in El Salvador, he oversaw the care of more than 3,400 orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.

He returned to Chicago in 2010 to serve as dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary before Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago appointed him vicar general of the archdiocese on Jan. 1, 2015.

As bishop, Hicks serves on the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations for the U.S. bishops’ conference, and as the conference liaison to the Association of Ongoing Formation of Priests and the National Association of Diaconate Directors.

The Archdiocese of New York serves Catholics in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and in seven counties to the north.

Uganda army confirms arrest of priest over alleged state security threats
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 09:00:00 -0500

ACI Africa, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Uganda’s defense authorities have confirmed that a priest serving the Catholic Diocese of Masaka, whose disappearance earlier this month sparked concern and prayers from the bishop, is in the custody of security forces over alleged criminal activities.

In a Dec. 12 statement, the acting director of defense public information, Col. Chris Magezi, said Father Deusdedit Ssekabira was arrested in connection with what the military says is “involvement in violent subversive activities against the state.”

Magezi added that Ssekabira is being held as investigations continue. “Reverend Father Deusdedit Ssekabira is currently in lawful custody to assist with further investigations into the matter,” the Ugandan defense official further said.

According to Magezi, the case will proceed through formal judicial channels. “He will be produced in the courts of law and charged accordingly,” he said in his one-page statement but did not provide further details on the alleged activities or the duration of the investigation.

The confirmation of the priest’s detainment follows days of uncertainty after Bishop Serverus Jjumba of the Masaka Diocese reported that Ssekabira, who is the assistant pastor of Bumangi Parish and the director of Uplift Primary School, had been taken on Dec. 3 at about 1 p.m. from his office in Katwe, Masaka City.

In response to his disappearance, the bishop directed special prayers, including a rosary triduum (praying the rosary for three consecutive days), calling on the people of God in his diocese to pray for Ssekabira as well as for the Church and the nation.

Jjumba said that efforts to locate the priest had been unsuccessful and he called for intensified prayers and legal efforts following what he called a kidnapping by men wearing “Uganda Army uniform, with a drone.”

In his Dec. 13 statement, Jjumba stated: “All efforts to locate him have so far been fruitless.” He described the incident as “a grievous wound inflicted on Masaka Diocese, the entire Catholic Church, and Father Ssekabira’s family.”

He said his diocese was pursuing every available avenue to secure Ssekabira’s safe return. “Masaka Diocese together with our lawyers are still doing whatever is in our means to get back our priest unharmed,” Jjumba stated.

The Masaka Diocese is yet to issue a response following the statement on Ssekabira’s arrest by the Ugandan defense official.

As the case moves toward the courts, attention is expected to focus on due process, the specific charges to be brought against Ssekabira, and the implications of the case for Church-state relations in Uganda.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

At abortion facilities across the nation, carolers bring tidings of life
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

When a pregnant woman at an abortion facility heard distant carolers singing “Silent Night,” she got up and left.

The mother, back in 2003, decided to keep her baby after a pro-life group’s first Christmas caroling event outside a Chicago abortion clinic struck her heart.

“The memories of Christmases past stirred in her and she decided she couldn’t go through with the abortion and kept her child,” said Matthew Yonke, a spokesman for the Pro-Life Action League, the group that coordinates these events.

She would be the first of many women who chose life after hearing carols. Now, the tradition extends across the nation — and babies continue to be saved.

As Christmas Day approaches, nearly 100 caroling groups across the U.S. are gathering at various abortion facilities to sing.

Through the nationwide “Peace in the Womb” caroling effort, the group hopes “to bring the Christmas message of peace and joy to the darkness of abortion clinics,” according to a press release shared with CNA.

It’s a “simple call for an end to the violence of abortion,” according to Yonke.

“At the time of Christmas, the whole world tries to put aside differences and pursue peace, so we’re asking folks to make a connection to the womb, which should be a place of peace, but which is turned into a place of violent unrest in every abortion,” Yonke continued.

Saving lives

The carolers had already packed up after singing their final song outside an abortion site when a couple approached the remaining pro-lifers in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Dec. 13.

The couple, Yonke said, “told the sidewalk counselors still there that they had decided to keep their baby after hearing our carols.”

“Stories like this go all the way back to the first year,” Yonke said. “We’re thrilled when God can use these beloved songs that touch the hearts of even non-Christians to do his work in the world.”

This was one of two rescue stories so far this December that the league heard about, according to Yonke.

“Please don’t kill your baby at Christmas,” one caroler called out to a young woman in the back seat of a car that was driving into an abortion clinic.

It was a Saturday in Milwaukee, and a group of carolers had gathered to sing outside the abortion clinic on St. Paul Avenue.

The car drove into the abortion center parking lot. But minutes later, the car turned around with the young woman still in the back seat — she never even entered the abortion clinic.

Salvation came through an unplanned pregnancy

Pro-Life Action League invites local pro-lifers to work with them to organize their own caroling groups.

On Sunday, Dec. 14, one such caroling group sang outside an abortion facility in Renton, Washington.

“This was a fantastic event and I think every Catholic church should do this in their community,” said local pro-life activist Richard Bray, who organized the caroling with the Respect Life Ministry at a local Catholic parish, St. Stephen the Martyr.

While every event organized with the league has a “Peace in the Womb” banner, Renton’s organizer would have something special — a handmade manger.

An 88-year-old parishioner at St. Stephen’s built an empty manger that the carolers brought to the event, according to Bray.

The empty manger not only symbolizes that Christ is coming at Christmas — but it also represents how a crib is empty after an abortion, according to Bray.

“It’s particularly sad to think of someone getting an abortion during the Christmas season,” Bray told CNA. “So we gather to sing carols and remind abortion-bound mothers and our community that the salvation of the world came through an unplanned pregnancy.”

Pope Leo XIV: True treasure is found in the heart, not ‘too much doing’
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 07:30:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday true satisfaction is found not in the accumulation of money or things, or by “too much doing,” but by returning to Jesus Christ, the source of hope, love, and joy.

“We are absorbed by many activities that do not always leave us satisfied … We have to assume responsibility for many commitments, solve problems, face difficulties,” the pope said at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 17.

“Yet,” he added, “we often perceive how too much doing, instead of giving us fulfillment, becomes a vortex that overwhelms us, takes away our serenity, and prevents us from living to the fullest what is truly important in our lives.”

In his catechesis, the pontiff stressed that the true value of life is not measured by “days full of activities” or economic success.

“It is therefore in the heart that true treasure is kept, not in earthly safes, not in large financial investments, which today more than ever before are out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation,” he said.

Leo warned that this logic of accumulation ends up emptying life of meaning even for those who, from the outside, seem to have achieved success: “It is important to reflect on these aspects, because in the numerous commitments we continually face, there is an increasing risk of dispersion, sometimes of despair, of meaninglessness.”

“Human life is characterized by a constant movement that that drives us to do, to act,” he acknowledged, adding that Jesus’ resurrection can give us insight into this human experience.

“When we participate in [Christ’s] victory over death, will we rest? Faith tells us: Yes, we will rest,” the pope said. “We will not be inactive, but we will enter into God’s repose, which is peace and joy. So, should we just wait, or can this change us right now?”

The true destiny of the heart

Leo noted that many people, despite having so much, feel empty at the end of the day.

The answer, according to the pontiff, is “because we are not machines, we have a ‘heart’; indeed, we can say that we are a heart.”

He turned to the Gospel of St. Matthew to underscore the centrality of the heart, citing the words of Jesus: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mt 6:21).

He also cited the beginning of St. Augustine’s “Confessions,” where the bishop of Hippo wrote: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

St. Augustine, with the adjective restless, “helps us understand the human being’s yearning for fulfillment.”

“The authentic approach of the heart,” he continued, “does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving what can fill it completely; namely, the love of God, or rather, God who is Love.”

The Holy Father explained that this treasure is found only by “loving the neighbor we meet along the way: brothers and sisters in flesh and blood, whose presence stirs and questions our heart, calling it to open up and give itself.”

But in order to love one’s neighbor, Leo pointed out that it is necessary to “slow down” one’s pace, to “look them in the eye, sometimes to change our plans, perhaps even to change direction.”

“Here is the secret of the movement of the human heart: returning to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints. No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes away,” he concluded.

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

Vogue magazine includes Pope Leo XIV on its list of best dressed of 2025
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Although “papal fashion,” meticulously crafted down to the smallest detail, has evolved over time, the popes’ attire still holds profound symbolism that continues to capture the attention of many.

Proof of this is the recent naming of Pope Leo XIV as one of the 55 best-dressed people of 2025 by Vogue magazine, one of the most prestigious and recognized fashion and beauty publications in the world.

Pope Leo XIV shares this distinction with athletes, actors, singers, politicians, and models, including Rosalía, Rihanna, Bad Bunny, actress Jennifer Lawrence, and tennis player Venus Williams.

The American magazine, founded in 1892, highlights in its annual ranking that Leo XIV has broken “with the humble tastes of his predecessor,” Pope Francis, preserving “the papal legacy of impeccably crafted liturgical vestments.”

As the “best outfit of 2025,” the magazine cites his first appearance as pope on May 8 in the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, wearing a red satin mozzetta and a wine-colored stole, embroidered in gold and with a pectoral cross held by a golden silk cord.

The mozzetta is an elbow-length cape that falls over the shoulders and is worn over the rochet as a sign of authority, while the chasuble is the outer liturgical vestment worn over the alb and stole, and its color changes according to the liturgical season. Historically, the liturgical garment represents the “yoke of Christ” and is a symbol of charity.

Pope Francis chose not to wear these garments after his election in 2013, a gesture of simplicity that marked his pontificate and was recognized at the time by Esquire magazine, which also included him on its list of “best-dressed men,” highlighting his understated style.

The Italian Filippo Sorcinelli has established himself as one of the leading designers for recent popes, starting with Benedict XVI. Furthermore, the tailoring of the papal liturgical vestments is entrusted to the historic Gammarelli tailor shop, located near the Pantheon in the heart of the Eternal City.

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

Christian religious education in Northern Ireland ruled unlawful; bishops respond
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A U.K. Supreme Court ruling has found that Christian religious education taught in schools in Northern Ireland is unlawful.

In its judgment, the court found that the current approach lacks an “objective, critical, and pluralistic” framework and leans more toward indoctrination than fostering a diverse understanding of beliefs.

Responding to the ruling, which does not apply to Catholic schools, Bishop Alan McGuckian, SJ, of the Down and Connor Diocese firmly challenged the idea that Christianity should be given no priority in all schools, stating that anyone seeking to do so is “cutting off their nose to spite their face.”

The landmark ruling follows a case brought by an unnamed father and his daughter who attended a non-Catholic state-controlled primary school in Belfast. The girl received nondenominational Christian religious education and took part in Christian worship.

The Supreme Court ruling upheld the earlier 2022 high court judgment that “the teaching of religious education under the core syllabus and the arrangements for collective worship in the primary school attended by the child breached her and her father’s rights under European human rights legislation.”

One of the issues referenced in the ruling was the child saying grace before meals at home. This, she told her nonreligious parents, was what they did at school.

The ruling raises critical questions about how religious teachings are delivered in schools and the implications for students’ broader educational experiences.

In the Northern Ireland system, Catholic schools are governed differently from state schools. The Supreme Court judgment clearly states that denominational religious education and collective worship are not prohibited in Catholic-maintained schools.

McGuckian pointed out that the legislative significance of the ruling will in due course have implications for the development of the religious education core syllabus and wider engagement with religious practice and ethos within all of Northern Ireland’s schools.

While noting the Catholic exemption, McGuckian said: “Many people have asked me, while it is explicitly noted in the judgment that this ruling applies to a controlled grant-aided primary school and does not apply to Catholic schools, what difference is this Supreme Court ruling going to make to the provision of religious education across NI schools more widely? Is religion being driven out of schools? More specifically, some are asking, ‘Is Christianity being driven out of schools?’”

McGuckian noted: “I want to challenge the principle that people of a secular mindset assert, namely that Christianity should be given no priority in all schools. That principle is simply ungrounded, unreasonable, and illogical.”

“Christianity and the Judeo-Christian worldview provides the value-based foundation for all that is good in Western society and is deeply embedded within human rights legislation. The idea of the rights of the individual to be free from coercion, all the freedoms contained in the various charters of human rights, are based on and stem from the biblical teaching that every single person is created in the image and likeness of God.”

He continued: “Enlightenment thinkers of a more secular viewpoint have built on that ‘fundamentum,’ and, in many ways, they have served us well, but they grounded and built their insights on underlying Christian values that protect the dignity of every human person.”

“Those who seek to have Christianity sidelined in our shared society are cutting off their noses to spite their face,” he said.

McGuckian added that world religions should also be respected, and they also have a contribution to make in an increasingly diverse multicultural and multi-faith society. He continued: “However, it should be recognized that Christianity, centrally and uniquely, has provided the framework of values that underpin Western society.”

“In schools across the Western world, Christianity should, indeed, be given priority in our educational systems and everybody, including those of other faiths and none, should recognize and welcome this because of its foundational importance.”

While the ruling does not apply to worship and prayer in Catholic schools, it will impact and influence the religious education curriculum taught in schools, which is determined by school education authorities. The current curriculum has been in place since 2007, and its content was determined by the four main churches in Northern Ireland, which include Catholicism.

Speaking to the BBC, the Catholic bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, said he is positive about the need for a new religious education core curriculum and is quite open to where this goes.

“I’m looking forward to the next stage of the journey, I don’t see it as a negative thing,” he said. “There are many points to be clarified — this is an opportunity for all of us to be involved in renewing the [religious education] curriculum to enable us to create a healthy, forward-looking society.”

Why religion matters at the EU-Balkans summit today
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 04:00:00 -0500

EWTN News, Dec 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

In a strongly secular European Union, the Balkans’ complex religious reality plays an important role as officials and diplomats gather on Wednesday to discuss the membership plans for six nations.

The EU-Western Balkans summit on Dec. 17 brings together European Union representatives and their counterparts from six Western Balkan nations: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

As officials discuss EU enlargement and current challenges, religious leaders and analysts underscore that the churches — deeply woven into the region’s national identities, geopolitics, and social fabric — will be crucial to the success of both European integration and regional stability.

The EU considers itself the main trading partner, investor, and donor for the Western Balkans and provides substantial assistance and financial support to the region. However, the religious landscape — marked by Orthodox majorities, significant Muslim populations, and Catholic minorities — reflects complex historical, ethnic, and political tensions that shape the region’s future.

“We hope that the trend of the enlargement is still serious and that it will be confirmed,” Serbia’s ambassador to the Holy See, Sima Avramović, told CNA.

Currently, there is a concern about “Russian influence, especially in Serbia, so the EU will try to discuss how to stabilize this area,” Lucio Caracciolo, founder and director of the Italian geopolitical magazine Limes, said in a conversation with CNA. At the same time, he warned of “the lack of the political will and funds to support” these countries before they are accepted to the 27-member EU.

Religious landscape

There are many ethnic groups and three main religious communities in the Western Balkans: Orthodox, Muslim, and Catholic. Albania and Kosovo are mostly Muslim, with the latter at more than 90%. Half of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Muslim. Almost three-quarters of the population in Montenegro belong to the Orthodox Church.

On the contrary, around half of the population in North Macedonia is Orthodox, followed by Muslims and other Christians. The biggest country in terms of inhabitants and area is Serbia, with more than 80% Orthodox believers, followed by other minorities.

The “Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025” by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) appreciated positive prospects for religious freedom in Albania and North Macedonia. It sees mostly difficulties in others; for instance, “the promotion and protection of religious freedom in Kosovo is fragile,” whereas in Montenegro, “persistent ethno-religious tensions typical of the Balkans are felt,” but ACN recognized efforts made to overcome them.

While Albania was an isolationist communist nation, the other Balkan states were part of the more liberal communist country of Yugoslavia. After the federation’s collapse in 1991, Slovenia and Croatia proceeded toward European integration, becoming EU and NATO members.

Relations among the churches and religions

The Orthodox churches are important in the countries where they represent a majority religion also for their role “in the nation-building process and in the consolidation of the local nation-states,” expert on Orthodox Christianity Daniela Kalkandjieva from the Sofia University of St. Kliment Ohridski in Bulgaria told CNA.

At times, they are unable “to exert significant influence on their local society.”

Recently, the Orthodox churches have diverged in opinions “to such political and socio-economic challenges as the refugee crisis, the anti-COVID vaccination, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” she explained.

The spread of the “Russian World” concept and “holy war” are “new challenges to the very ethos of Eastern Orthodoxy as a Christian denomination and provoked tensions and disunity among the adherents of this religious tradition.”

On this note, Caracciolo said that some of these churches are “certainly connected to some powers in Russia and also in the Balkans, which are often in conflict with each other.”

However, the secretary of the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church — Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO), Bishop Kliment, said that they “cultivate sisterly relations” with the churches of “closest neighboring peoples.”

In a statement sent to CNA, the bishop emphasized that we “build bridges of trust among us, prioritizing solidarity and unity in faith” through Eucharistic communion, mutual visits and joint services, cooperation in education, and the like.

Catholic-Orthodox relations are also complex. Though “there is always a room for more cooperation,” with Catholics, there are “good relations, mutual support, and understanding.” He mentioned the traditional annual meeting held for more than half a century in Rome in honor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and Pope Francis’ visit to North Macedonia in 2019.

Whereas some Orthodox churches collaborate and pray with Catholic representatives, “others find such interactions incompatible with the Orthodox doctrine and maintain mostly diplomatic relations with the Holy See,” explained Kalkandjieva, who also lectures at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

Along the same line, Avramović underscored that the religious leaders in Serbia “meet on different occasions and discuss important social, religious, and other significant issues.”

There are seven traditional churches and religious communities in his homeland, including the Slovak Evangelical Church, the Jewish community, and the Muslim community.

View of the EU

When it comes to the EU, the local Orthodox churches perceive the Union “as an important factor in the lives of their believers” and some have representation offices in Brussels, where many EU institutions are based. Nonetheless, this official dialogue and collaboration are little known in their home countries, Kalkandjieva stressed.

The MOC-AO, which represents the largest religious institution and community in North Macedonia, respects the will of the majority of its citizens and its faithful, who support European integration, Kliment underscored. We “attentively follow the complex internal challenges of the EU,” he added. The Orthodox bishop underlined that it should be “a platform for political and economic stability, fully respecting religious freedoms and the rule of law.”

A few months ago, Croatian Member of the European Parliament Tonino Picula caused a controversy as he posted an old picture of himself on X, posing with a gun commemorating Operation Storm. It occurred in 1995 as Croatia took control of what it considered the occupied territories in the south, which was a self-proclaimed republic. As the Croatian army came, thousands of Serbs fled to Serbia.

The social media post sparked backlash not only from Serbia but also from European politicians who called Picula’s statement disturbing and highly politically dangerous.

With special permission, prisoners travel to Rome for the jubilee
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:11:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 15:11 pm (CNA).

The last major event of the Jubilee of Hope was dedicated to prisoners around the world, some of whom during the past weekend were able to experience freedom and fulfill a dream: to go see Pope Leo XIV.

Víctor Aguado, director of prison ministry in Valencia, Spain, accompanied a group of prisoners to the Eternal City, many of whom had spent more than 12 years behind bars. Thanks to special permission, they were able to travel and become living witnesses that “hope breaks down walls and that dignity cannot be taken away.”

In a conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Aguado recounted the details of the “intense, emotional, and spiritual” trip that will forever mark the lives of the men and women who have been incarcerated.

The group was composed of a total of 13 people from Valencia, including prisoners, volunteers, and the chaplain. Six of them were inmates in the second and third degree of the prison system — regimens that combine incarceration with controlled outings — so they had to obtain a series of permits from the Treatment Board, the General Secretariat, and the Oversight Institutions. “It was a long bureaucratic process, but we didn’t have any problems,” Aguado explained.

He explained that they selected the prisoners they have known for a long time. Those in the third degree of the prison system enjoy a semi-release regimen and live in halfway houses, while those in the second degree usually go to workshops and cooperate with everything the prison ministry proposes. “They are people of faith who attend Mass, and we knew that, given their situation and attitude, they needed this and wouldn’t turn it down,” he commented.

“They wanted to be very well prepared, free of burdens, and participate in Sunday Mass completely cleansed and at peace with themselves,” said Aguado, who also highlighted their passing through the Holy Door as one of the most emotional moments of the jubilee. “With the pilgrimage, the prisoners assumed a new responsibility and a new path, a new life, and the feeling that now they have to do things right.”

He also highlighted their excitement at seeing the pope, since for them “he is the representation of the Lord on earth.” The Sunday Mass with the Holy Father, Aguado explained, was “very simple, and although it was in Italian, it was perfectly understandable.”

“Hope goes beyond, it breaks down walls wherever it may be, and the dignity of people cannot be taken away, and that is what they conveyed during the three days we were in Rome. These were very intensely personal experiences, and we could feel their joy; everyone had a look of peace,” he noted.

For Aguado — who has been working with prisoners for 14 years — the fact that this event closed the Jubilee of Hope is no mere coincidence. “The world of prisons is not visible, and in some way we must begin to consider that people who have been judged eventually get out and have to reintegrate into normal life, and that depends on society.”

“We know that the Lord forgives everything, so who are we to not forgive these people and keep on stigmatizing them? They are called ex-convicts, but they are nothing more than persons, with all their dignity and freedom,” he affirmed.

Although he assured that the Lord “is always with them and walks with them,” he emphasized the urgency of recognizing the prisoners as living members of the Church and appealed to the responsibility of every Christian: “Sometimes we take the works of mercy for granted, but we don’t always put them into practice. The Lord challenges us: ‘I was in prison,’ and the question remains the same: ‘Did you come to see me?’”

There are many lives that need to be rescued

The Italian priest Father Raffaele Grimaldi, who left his chaplaincy at the Secondigliano prison in Naples — where he served the inmates for 23 years — to coordinate the 230 priests who minister to the nearly 62,000 detainees throughout Italy, also participated in this historic jubilee.

Speaking to ACI Prensa, he noted that the event “is a strong reminder that the Church wants to bring God’s love and mercy to prisons, who goes in search of those who are lost.”

According to Grimaldi, this jubilee “has brought to light the most difficult situations we are experiencing in our prisons and the plight of the prisoners” including overcrowding, lack of resources, suicides, neglect, and “above all, the lack of acceptance from society.”

The priest brought some prisoners from different Italian prisons before Pope Leo XIV, especially young people and one man sentenced to life in prison. “It was a moment of great joy for them,” he commented.

“Every prisoner needs to constantly hear a word of mercy: from people who do not judge, who do not point fingers, who do not condemn, but who embrace,” he stated.

He also emphasized that this jubilee has not been an isolated event, since throughout the year there has been spiritual preparation in the correctional facilities, where “proclaiming hope is a powerful message that resonates deeply in the hearts of all.”

Grimaldi admitted that these individuals have “made mistakes” and are serving a sentence for them; however, he urged people to “reach out to them so that they can take up their lives again and change,” with justice accompanied by mercy, “so that justice itself does not become vengeance.”

During his years of service in the prisons, he said he has encountered many people who have traveled on a beautiful spiritual journey, “like a young Albanian man who received the sacrament of baptism on Dec. 12.”

“This makes us understand that in our prisons there are many lives that need to be rescued and helped, because if these opportunities don’t exist, the prisoner dies inside, and we also kill the hope that is in their heart.”

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

Wisconsin loses second bid to block tax exemption in spat with Catholic charity
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:00:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The Wisconsin state government lost decisively a second time in what has become a convoluted effort to block a Catholic charity from receiving a long-running state tax exemption.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Dec. 15 blocked state Attorney General Josh Kaul’s attempt to fully eliminate an unemployment tax exemption after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Diocese of Superior’s Catholic Charities Bureau was entitled to the tax break.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June had ruled that Wisconsin violated the First Amendment when it denied the tax exemption to the Catholic group on the grounds that the group’s charitable undertakings were not “primarily” religious.

The state responded in October by moving to eliminate the exemption entirely, arguing that the tax break is “discriminatory” and that ending the policy would “avoid collateral damage to Wisconsin workers.”

In a brief order on Dec. 15, the state’s high court affirmed that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows the Catholic charity to access the tax break. The court directed the state Labor and Industry Review Commission to declare the charity eligible for the exemption.

The religious liberty law group Becket, which has represented the Catholic charity in the legal fight, said in a press release that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had ended the state government’s “crusade” against the Catholic charity.

“You’d think Wisconsin would take a 9-0 Supreme Court loss as a hint to stop digging,” Becket Vice President Eric Rassbach said. “But apparently Attorney General Kaul and his staff are gluttons for punishment.”

“Thankfully, the Wisconsin Supreme Court put an end to the state’s tomfoolery and confirmed that Catholic Charities is entitled to the exemption it already won,” Rassbach said.

The ruling “protects not just Catholic Charities, but every faith-based organization that relies on this exemption to serve the public,” he added.

In its June ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said the First Amendment “mandates government neutrality between religions” and that Wisconsin had failed to adhere to this principle in refusing to issue the tax exemption to Catholic Charities.

“It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the decision. “There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, said that governments “may not use [entities such as a Catholic charity] as a means of regulating the internal governance of religious institutions.”

Following the ruling this week, David Earleywine — the associate director for education and religious liberty at the Wisconsin Catholic Conference — said the Catholic charity has been fighting for the exemption for “decades.”

“[T]rue Catholic charity is inherently religious and cannot be reduced to another secular social service,” he said.

Miracle of the liquefaction of blood of St. Januarius is repeated in Naples, Italy
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:58:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 12:58 pm (CNA).

The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, patron saint of the Italian city of Naples, occurred again on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

According to the Archdiocese of Naples, the miracle took place after Mass in the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius on the feast of the patronage of St. Januarius.

“At 9:13 a.m. local time, the blood already appeared semi-liquid. At 10:05 a.m., the complete liquefaction was announced,” the archdiocese reported.

“Dec. 16 is the third of three annual celebrations in honor of the martyred saint. This date commemorates the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1631, when the Neapolitans requested and obtained the miraculous intervention of St. Januarius to prevent the lava from engulfing the city,” he explained.

The announcement of the miracle was made by Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius. The phial, once the miracle had occurred, was carried in procession to the chapel so that all those present could see it.

The miracle usually occurs on two other days of the year: every Sept. 19 (the anniversary of St. Januarius’ martyrdom) and the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (in remembrance of the transfer of his remains to Naples).

When the blood does not liquefy, as happened on Dec. 16, 2020, the inhabitants of Naples usually take it as a bad omen. However, in the face of this possibility, the Church encourages the faithful not to lose sight of what is essential.

On Sept. 19, 2024 — despite the miracle having occurred that day — the archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, urged the faithful not to place their hope in physical manifestations but in Jesus, who calls us to care for the most vulnerable.

“I implore you, we should not worry about whether the blood of this relic liquefies or not, but rather we should worry about whether the blood of the dispossessed, the marginalized, the least fortunate, and the innocent is flowing in our streets and in our world,” the cardinal said.

“The blood of Bishop Januarius, let us never forget, always points to the blood of Christ, both the blood of Christ himself and the blood of the poor and the least fortunate in whom Christ lives,” he added.

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

Michigan’s fifth diocesan abuse report details dozens of allegations against priests
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:15:00 -0500

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Michigan government this week released its fifth report on diocesan abuse in the state, detailing dozens of allegations against more than 50 priests in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.

The report from the attorney general’s office, released on Dec. 15, comes after four other reports detailing abuse allegations in the dioceses of Lansing, Kalamazoo, Gaylord, and Marquette.

As with the other reports, the allegations detailed in the Grand Rapids investigation go back decades. The Dec. 15 report encompasses abuse allegations against “priests or deacons who are current or former clergy for the Diocese of Grand Rapids, that occurred in the diocese from Jan. 1, 1950, to the present,” the review says.

The alleged abuse reports were pulled from a variety of sources, including a government tip line, police investigations, and abuse reports disclosed by the diocese itself.

The majority of the priests identified in the report — 37 out of 51 — are “known or presumed to be dead,” the report says, while none of the remaining 14 are in active ministry in the Grand Rapids Diocese.

Nearly all of the potential criminal violations in the report occurred “before 2002,” it says.

Most of the alleged abuse was reported to have occurred against “either boys or girls under the age of 16,” though the state said some alleged abuse occurred against adults.

In a video message after the release of the report, Grand Rapids Bishop David Walkowiak offered his “deepest and most sincere apologies” to the victims of clergy abuse there.

The prelate commended “the courage that victim-survivors have to tell their stories,” calling it a “testament to their strength and resilience.”

“Priests are ordained to serve in the person of Christ himself, which makes the sexual abuse of minors incomprehensible and particularly harmful,” he acknowledged.

The bishop said the report partly inflates the number of victims by detailing “consensual relationships between priests and adults,” which he pointed out are “immoral [but] not in violation of Michigan law.”

Walkowiak said the diocese has “cooperated fully” with the attorney general’s office during the investigation. He noted that the diocese has implemented “numerous safeguards” to protect children — including zero-tolerance protocols — and has “diligently upheld these practices for more than 20 years.”

State Attorney General Dana Nessel, meanwhile, said in a press statement on Dec. 15 that abuse survivors “deserve to be heard.”

“[B]y releasing these reports, we hope to honor the courage of victims and ensure their experiences are no longer hidden,” she said.

Reports on the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Diocese of Saginaw are still forthcoming from the state and are expected to be released at a later date.

EU funding freeze causes financial problems for Catholic family association
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:30:00 -0500

EWTN News, Dec 16, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

A drastic cut in EU funding has plunged the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) into financial crisis, according to the association, sparking accusations of “ideological discrimination” against the Brussels-based group.

FAFCE announced that the European Commission excluded all six of its recent project applications from funding, reportedly penalizing the Catholic group’s proposals for lacking sufficient “gender diversity” and “safeguards against discrimination,” according to documents reviewed by CNA.

Responding on social media, Hungarian Member of the European Parliament Kinga Gál, vice president of the Patriots for Europe group, condemned the European Commission’s decision as “the highest form of discrimination.”

She argued that the move targets the Catholic association “simply for defending family as the fundamental unit of society. In Brussels, that is now treated as unacceptable.”

“Strong families make strong communities. Strong communities make strong nations. We cannot allow Brussels to erase this core value in the name of gender ideology,” the European Member of Parliament wrote.

‘European values’

Founded in 1997 and based in Brussels, FAFCE is considered to be the only family nongovernmental organization (NGO) at the EU level that explicitly includes “Catholic” in its official name.

FAFCE represents 33 member organizations from 21 countries and bases its work on Catholic social teaching.

The cut in funding falls under two major EU programs: Erasmus+ and CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values), which support civil society, education, and organizations that promote EU values.

The commission’s evaluation feedback cited “limited information on gender inequalities” in FAFCE’s proposals, claiming this deficit “may limit the depth of gender analysis.”

The evaluation also stated that “the approach may contravene EU equality provisions” and noted “limited safeguards against discrimination or victimization,” though the commission did not provide specific evidence for these assertions.

The rejected projects focused on child protection and youth welfare, including initiatives to prevent children’s access to pornography and combat loneliness among young people.

Two members of the European Parliament have tabled written questions to the European Commission regarding the funding decisions: Paolo Borchia and Gál, seeking assurance of equal treatment for all NGOs applying for EU grants.

CNA reached out to the European Commission for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Financial impact

The funding freeze has created severe financial strain for FAFCE. In a fundraising newsletter, FAFCE President Vincenzo Bassi stated that the organization needs 150,000 euros (approximately $157,000) to continue its current projects. Without this funding, FAFCE will be forced to dismiss employees and reduce its presence at the European Union level in 2026.

“I consider this as ideological discrimination,” Bassi wrote. “How can a federation of associations whose primary mission is the promotion of the family be excluded from EU-funded projects such as CERV or Erasmus+?”

Bassi emphasized that FAFCE has “consistently promoted dialogue and upheld the dignity of each person” and argued that “the richness of European civil society is its pluralism, a principle enshrined in art. 2 of the Treaty on the European Union.”

“No organization should ever be penalized for defending a legitimate position in the public square,” he stated.

‘Seeking Beauty’ travel show with David Henrie premieres at Vatican
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 10:45:00 -0500

Vatican City, Dec 16, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).

The first episode of a new travel show, hosted by Catholic actor and director David Henrie, premiered at the Vatican’s movie theater on Monday evening.

“Seeking Beauty,” which will debut on EWTN’s free streaming platform EWTN+ on Jan. 19, 2026, is a series documenting Henrie’s exploration of the beauty of art and culture in six Italian cities.

Henrie and executive producer Edmundo Reyes, with other crew members, were present for the airing of Episode 1 inside Vatican City on Dec. 15. The premiere was followed by a Q-and-A with Henrie, Reyes, and Peter Gagnon, president of EWTN Studios, moderated by Andreas Thonhauser, chief global officer of EWTN.

“It’s a blessing to be able to play the show at the Vatican, which is where we [filmed] our first episode,” Henrie told EWTN News. “You can’t help but feel grateful, and feel like [it’s] a full-circle moment.”

In the first episode, Henrie speaks to a range of experts — including art historian Elizabeth Lev and artist Kelly Medford — to learn more about the Vatican Gardens, the Swiss Guard, St. Peter’s Basilica, and St. Peter’s Square.

Reyes called it “such a special moment” to show the first episode of “Seeking Beauty” at the Vatican.

“We can’t wait for people to see it,” he told EWTN News at the event. “I think it’s going to be a great, great evangelization tool.”

Reyes, who had the original idea for the show, recalled visiting Spain with his family four years ago and how it was there he realized how many stories about art and faith have not been shared with a wider audience.

“God put in my heart this desire … Let’s create a travel show that will be more than a travel show, that would help people encounter God through beauty,” he said.

“What David has done is very special, because it’s not about going to places but retraining us or inviting us to contemplate and to look at beauty differently,” Reyes said during the Q-and-A. It’s about “God speaking to us through beauty, and not so much about, ‘Hey, here’s a cool place to visit and to put on your bucket list.’”

The series is produced by EWTN Studios in partnership with Digital Continent and in association with Novo Inspire and Sacred Arthouse.

“Each episode is very unique … There’s so much there that can touch people in different ways,” Gagnon said.

In Season 1, Henrie will also visit Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, and Subiaco, a place connected to St. Benedict. Season 2 of “Seeking Beauty” recently wrapped filming in Spain.

“I’m not an expert. You’re just seeing it through my eyes,” Henrie told EWTN News.

“The thing that will make this accessible is that you’re not sitting down for a history lesson; it’s a travel show,” he said. “When my wife and I watch travel shows, we have a glass of wine, we hang out, we relax, we watch something. It’s easy consumption, but there’s some medicine under all the sugar.”

Paola Flynn, Vatican correspondent for EWTN Noticias, contributed to this report.

50 young French martyrs murdered by Nazis beatified in Notre Dame Cathedral
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 10:00:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, archbishop of Luxembourg, celebrated in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Dec. 13 the Mass of beatification for 50 young martyrs who were murdered by the Nazis out of hatred for the Catholic faith during World War II.

In an apostolic letter he sent to the French capital, Pope Leo XIV established that the feast day of the 50 new blessed martyrs, belonging to about 30 French dioceses, will be May 5, 2026.

“Raymond Cayré, priest; Gérard-Martin Cendrier, of the Order of Friars Minor; Roger Vallé, seminarian; Jean Mestre, layman; and 46 companions were beatified in Paris. They were killed in hatred of the faith in 1944-45 during the Nazi occupation,” Pope Leo XIV said after the Angelus on the third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday).

“Let us praise the Lord for these martyrs, courageous witnesses to the Gospel, persecuted and killed for remaining close to their people and faithful to the Church!” the Holy Father said, recalling that on Dec. 13, 124 martyrs were also beatified in Spain.

Light in the midst of the ‘dark century of terrible carnage’

“The first half of the 20th century will go down in European history as the dark century of terrible carnage. To the victims of the two world wars, the soldiers, are added the victims of the Nazi dictatorship. But in this darkness, there are points of light, and even now we can identify names and faces associated with some of these points of light,” Hollerich said in his homily, as reported by the Archdiocese of Paris.

“They had an immense love for God, for Christ. This love compelled them to serve their brothers and sisters who had been sent to forced labor in Germany. Indeed, there can be no love of God without love of one’s neighbor,” the Jesuit cardinal continued, referring to the more than 1 million French people sent to Nazi factories and labor camps.

The new blesseds, the archbishop continued, were “these young Catholics — priests, religious, seminarians, Catholic Action activists, and Scouts — all answered the call of Cardinal [Emmanuel Célestin] Suhard [then-archbishop of Paris] and Father Jean Rodhain.”

“Most of them were between 20 and 35 years old, and, along with so many other anonymous apostles, they understood the spiritual and moral distress of 1.5 million young French workers deported to Germany, now without any religious guidance, since German priests were forbidden to minister to them,” Hollerich noted.

“They were truly ‘Martyrs of the Apostolate.’ Their lives and their work in the service of their brothers and sisters were a trial crowned by the sacrifice of martyrdom,” he emphasized.

With their service of love and mercy, the cardinal continued, these martyrs “in the hell of the concentration camps, succeeded in creating oases of paradise, where love managed to restore courage, heal the wounds of the heart, overcome indifference, and convey serenity and peace.”

One of them, the young Scout Joël Anglès d’Auriac, who was beheaded at the age of 22 on Dec. 6, 1944, after going to confession, receiving Communion, and praying the rosary, told the prison chaplain: “I am completely at peace ... for I am going to Jesus Christ.”

Another young man, Jean Mestre, decided against requesting an exemption from the Nazi’s Compulsory Labor Service for the war effort in Germany and told his mother of his decision in this way: “I love you with all my heart, but I love Jesus Christ even more than you, and I feel that he is calling me to be his witness to my fellow workers who are going through difficult times. Forgive me if I am hurting you.”

A message for young people today

Hollerich said that all these martyrs remind us that “whatever our vocation, our profession, or our responsibilities, we are committed, as disciples of Christ, to serving our brothers and sisters wherever God, in his providence, has placed us.”

“The Nazis, on the other hand, despised religious freedom. While forced to respect it in Germany, they revealed their true nature in the occupied territories. The love of our martyrs for Christ and for the people they helped made them martyrs for religious freedom,” he continued.

“Perhaps this point will be an important testimony for us regarding the future of the Church in Europe. Faith is never a private matter; it must find expression in concrete service to our sisters and brothers,” the Jesuit cardinal emphasized.

“Following in the footsteps of our martyrs, let us strive to be faithful disciples of Christ, the Prince of Peace, and let us ask those whom we celebrate today to obtain for us the grace to live our faith,” he said.

Prayer for the canonization of the new blesseds

At the conclusion of the Mass, those present were given a prayer card with a prayer approved by the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, to ask the Lord for the intercession of the new blesseds and for their canonization:

Lord our God,

You granted to the blessed martyrs of the Catholic apostolate

To be inspired by the ardent desire to accompany and serve their brothers

who were conscripted for Compulsory Labor Service in Germany.

Rather than saving their lives, they answered your call

and chose to imitate Christ, who became a servant,

even to the point of following him in the sacrifice of the Cross.

Deign, O Lord, to glorify our blessed martyrs

and grant me, through their intercession,

the grace [state the grace requested] that I implore with confidence,

through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Note: People who receive graces through the intercession of the blessed martyrs are invited to write to the postulator of their cause, Father Bernard Ardura, at Viale Giotto, 27, 00153 Rome – Italy.

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

Tourism operators celebrate religious dimension of work at jubilee pilgrimage in Rome
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:00:00 -0500

Rome, Italy, Dec 16, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

About 400 people participated in a Jubilee of Tourism pilgrimage in Rome on Monday evening, celebrating the unique role the industry plays in supporting the faith and religious experience of millions of pilgrims and tourists.

Isabella Ruggiero, president of the Associazioni Guide Turistiche Abilitate (Associations of Qualified Tourist Guides), who helped organize the jubilee dedicated to tourism workers, said the Dec. 15 pilgrimage was a way to bring together the professional community that daily supports visitors to Italy and the Vatican.

“This special jubilee is dedicated not only to tourist guides but to all those who work in the world of tourism: guides, tour leaders, travel agencies, tour operators, hotels, accommodation providers,” Ruggiero told CNA.

“Every pilgrimage and every single trip is the result of the work of dozens of people who help organize and carry out the trip and the pilgrimage at every stage, and who generally remain ‘behind the scenes’: from booking transportation, to cleaning the accommodation where people stay, from conceptual work, to the humblest tasks — all are necessary,” she said.

Italian Bishop Antonio Staglianò, president of the Pontifical Academy of Theology and rector of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto, opened the pilgrimage with a Mass celebration at San Salvatore in Lauro, one of Rome’s 13 Jubilee of Hope churches located near the popular tourist destination Piazza Navona.

The pilgrimage also included a candlelit procession over the Bridge of the Angels, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in front of Castel Sant’Angelo, and crossing the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on the evening the Vatican unveiled its Nativity display in the square.

Roman tour guide Elizabeth Lev said the evening pilgrimage was a “great moment of reconciliation” and a chance to renew her own joy and hope of guiding pilgrims in the Eternal City, especially as the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope draws closer to its conclusion.

“The Jubilee of Tourism was an opportunity for us to become pilgrims, to pass through the Holy Door [at St. Peter’s Basilica] for prayer, instead of profession, and to give thanks for the many gifts of the year,” she told CNA.

“We have spent so much time arranging other people’s events that we only realized, ‘in extremis,’ that we didn’t have one for ourselves,” she said. “As luck would have it, the Vatican Christmas tree was lit as we entered the square so the last steps were accompanied by the joyful lights and sounds of Christmas hymns.”

“It was one of the most moving days of my life,” she added.

According to Ruggiero, more than 3,000 licensed tour guides of different nationalities currently operate in Rome.

“The role of the guide is to bring people of every social background and culture closer to beauty, art, and history, and to teach respect for our shared heritage,” the tourism association president said. “In the case of pilgrims, [it is] to highlight the spiritual and religious dimensions above all others.”

While religious tourism in Rome has “consistently remained high” with approximately 10 million pilgrims and visitors each year, Ruggiero said these numbers significantly increase during the Church’s jubilee years.

“In the Holy Year 2000, Rome welcomed approximately 25 million pilgrims,” she said. “Estimates for the current jubilee indicate that around 30 million pilgrims are expected to have visited the city by the end of the year.”

The 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope will conclude with the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on the Jan. 6 solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.

Jimmy Lai’s godfather weighs in on ‘phony’ guilty verdict
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Catholic human rights and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was found guilty following his lengthy national security trial. Lai, 78, will be sentenced at a later date but faces up to life in prison.

The Dec. 15 verdict “is important, and it’s not important,” Bill McGurn, Wall Street Journal columnist and godfather of Lai, told “EWTN News Nightly.”

“It’s important because it’s part of the Hong Kong process, and everyone knew he would always be convicted. So it’s important because we have to get it out of the way,” McGurn said. “Jimmy cannot be released until he was convicted, and that’s why we had to wait all these years for the trial and then his conviction.”

“On the other hand, it was always this charade … the world sees it for what it is. And so in Jimmy Lai’s world, it’s not really a big milestone because it’s phony. Everything about it is phony,” McGurn said.

‘The real work begins now’

While the verdict was guilty, it is still “a step forward because we finally can get to the deal-making now,” McGurn said. “Jimmy’s future will be determined by three men: Xi Jinping of China, President Trump of the United States, and Keir Starmer of Britain.”

Trump “is essential to the deal,” McGurn said. “The problem is, Jimmy is a British citizen, and the British aren’t really pushing his release. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, he needs a little prod to get it done.”

Trump “has pushed for Jimmy’s release. He’s brought it up. His people are working on it now, but he needs help,” McGurn said.

In August, Trump vowed to do “everything” he can to “save” Lai, promising to “see what we can do” to help him. A White House official told EWTN News in October that Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about his imprisonment.

Following the announcement of the verdict, Trump told reporters he feels “so badly” about it. He added: “I spoke to President Xi about it and I asked to consider his release. He’s not well. He’s an older man and he’s not well, so I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.”

Ultimately the verdict is “a milestone, but it’s a phony one,” McGurn said. “The real work begins now where the U.S. gets ready to pressure the Chinese. President Trump is visiting there next year in April, and Prime Minister Starmer is visiting in January. You would think he’d want to let it be known it’s not open season on British citizens … but so far, they seem pretty reluctant to do that.”

Lai’s ‘faith-filled family’

McGurn said he has been cut off from Lai for the past three years.

“They don’t let my letters go through anymore. But I used to hear from him pretty regularly and am still in touch with some of the family,” McGurn said.

Lai’s family has also called on the U.S. to help aid his release. “We stand by his innocence and condemn this miscarriage of justice,” Lai’s daughter Claire said. She asked the U.S. “continue to exert pressure for my father to be returned to our family so that he can recover in peace.”

“They are an extraordinary family,” McGurn said in the interview. Lai’s wife, Teresa Lai, “is a rock. If Jimmy didn’t have Teresa to lean on, he knows it, he wouldn’t be strong. I mean, he has his faith, but she strengthens it. That’s what they have in common,” McGurn said.

“The children have all been very eloquent in making appeals for their father’s freedom and so forth. So this is an extraordinary faith-filled family.”

Owen Jensen contributed to this story.

New report raises alarm over state inspections of Catholic schools in France
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

EWTN News, Dec 16, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new report published by the General Secretariat for Catholic Education (SGEC) in France has sent shockwaves through the country’s educational landscape, reopening the debate over the methods used in state oversight, possible ideological abuses, and their impact on educational freedom. 

Published on Dec. 8, the 14-page document widely cited in the French press compiles testimonies from teachers, principals, and staff in Catholic schools under state contract who report having been subjected to what Catholic education leaders describe as “abusive,” “intrusive” inspections carried out by officials from the Ministry of National Education. The report highlights that it does not challenge the principle of state oversight itself but denounces the methods employed — methods that, according to Catholic leaders, risk undermining both the dignity of educators and the very identity of Catholic schools.

The controversy erupted just a few months after the publication of a parliamentary report calling for increased oversight of Catholic institutions in the name of child protection. Catholic school officials are now issuing a strong warning against the climate of suspicion and political exploitation that they have seen develop in recent months.

In July, revelations of physical and sexual abuse at Notre Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in southwestern France, triggered a nationwide debate on how abuse in schools is identified, reported, and addressed, alongside similar cases at other institutions. A parliamentary inquiry subsequently examined these cases, highlighting serious institutional failures while also prompting questions about how oversight is carried out at faith-based schools operating under state contract.

According to the testimonies gathered, inspections have at times taken the form of what the report calls “disproportionate shows of force.” Inspectors reportedly arrived unannounced in groups of 10 to 16, dispersing throughout school buildings without accompaniment, interrupting classes, photographing classrooms, questioning students, and even searching pupils’ backpacks. Some teachers describe inspectors entering classrooms without identifying themselves, leafing through students’ notebooks mid-lesson, and interrogating staff in front of children.

Catholic educators say the nature of some of the questions asked has been particularly troubling. Teachers reported being questioned about their personal religious practices, including whether they attend Sunday Mass. Inspectors allegedly examined and took pictures of students’ personal spiritual journals — documents explicitly intended to remain private. Principals recount being pressured to remove Christian references from school projects or to take down religious symbols, demands that directly contradict the legal recognition of Catholic schools’ distinctive character under French law.

A chilling effect on educators

Beyond individual incidents, the report paints a picture of a widespread sense of demoralization. Educators describe a climate of fear and anxiety, with trust in institutional partners badly eroded. Some inspectors reportedly dismissed positive academic results by suggesting students were already strong before enrollment. Others sent critical notices to local elected officials containing contested or potentially defamatory claims, leaving school leaders feeling publicly discredited before any dialogue could take place.

Guillaume Prévost, who became secretary-general of Catholic education in September, expressed his dismay in an interview with weekly magazine Famille Chrétienne.

“We could not continue letting our teachers be humiliated,” he said to explain why Catholic education leadership decided to make the report public.

Prévost also insisted that Catholic education does not categorically oppose inspections. In his introduction to the report, he recalled that “there can be no freedom without control” and described inspections as an essential component of the system. According to him, many inspections ultimately lead to constructive exchanges, with inspectors highlighting strengths such as schools’ relationships with families, their support for students with disabilities, and the overall coherence of their educational projects. He nonetheless emphasized that inspections must be conducted within a clear legal framework and with due professionalism, restraint, and discernment.

The deeper danger, in his view, lies not only in individual abuses but also in a systemic drift. If inspections become a tool to neutralize Catholic identity, impose administrative guardianship, or align Catholic schools entirely with the public model, he warned, France risks destroying one of its greatest educational strengths in the name of uniformity.

Such tensions are not new and reflect a long history of strained relations between the French state and Catholic institutions. The 1959 Debré Law was intended to find a balance and improve church–state relations by allowing private schools to operate under state contract while preserving their distinctive identity. Recent debates around inspections have revived questions about how that balance should be interpreted in practice.

In recent years, French President Emmanuel Macron’s government has sought to tighten oversight in several areas of education, including proposals to restrict home schooling and increase scrutiny of certain Catholic schools, including high-profile cases such as Paris’ Stanislas School, although inspections did not establish systemic violations there.

The government’s response

In a statement following the publication of the SGEC report, the Ministry of National Education has sought to lower tensions, reaffirming that inspections are governed by a strict legal framework and explicitly acknowledging that questions aimed at identifying a student’s religious affiliation are prohibited. “Firm instructions,” the ministry said, would be sent to all rectors to clarify both the substance and the conduct of inspections. “If there have been failings, all consequences will be drawn.”

Minister of Education Édouard Geffray has emphasized that oversight remains necessary in light of past abuses, noting that more than 850 inspections have already been conducted this year, with 1,000 expected by year’s end.

Catholic education in France currently serves more than 2 million students from a wide range of social backgrounds. Its representatives emphasize that the manner in which inspections are carried out has concrete implications not only for schools themselves but also for the families who place their trust in them.

Chile elects conservative for president, defeating Communist Party opponent
Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:31:00 -0500

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 15, 2025 / 18:31 pm (CNA).

After being edged out by 2.9% in the Nov. 16 general election by his Communist Party opponent Jeannette Jara, Republican Party candidate José Antonio Kast reversed the result in the Dec. 14 runoff vote to become the new president-elect of Chile.

With 58% of the vote, and in line with the polls that predicted him as the winner with more than 55%, Kast prevailed over Jara, who obtained 42%.

With 99.97% of the ballots counted, showing a difference of more than 2 million valid votes, the runoff election marks a change of political direction for the country, currently led by President Gabriel Boric of the political left.

Kast is slated to take office as president of Chile on March 11, 2026. On the same day, the legislators elected in November will also take office.

“Democracy has spoken loud and clear. I have just spoken with president-elect Kast to wish him success for the good of Chile,” Jara wrote on X, acknowledging her defeat.

“To those who supported us and were mobilized by our campaign, rest assured that we will continue working to advance toward a better life in our country. Together and standing strong, as we have always done,” she added.

Kast’s victory speech

“It’s a special day. It’s a day that stays with us, a day that stands out among the different days when things happen. And this is a day of joy,” Kast said to thousands of his supporters in Santiago, referring to Gaudate (Rejoice) Sunday, which coincided with election day.

The president-elect thanked his wife, María Pía, “who will be a tremendous first lady,” and commented that what he does in politics is not a sacrifice but a privilege that he experiences “with a joy, a passion, that you can’t even imagine, and that we want to take together to La Moneda [the presidential palace] and bring about that very important change.”

“But nothing would be possible if we didn’t have God. And that’s something we can’t fail to acknowledge,” he continued, and prayed that the Lord would give him “wisdom, temperance, and strength, to always be up to this challenge.”

“Here, a person didn’t win, a political party didn’t win; Chile won. The hope of living without fear won. That fear that causes so much anguish to families. The Chile that works, the Chile that gets up early, the Chile that raises its families and its children with great sacrifice — that Chile won.”

After stating that he wants the government to regain a sense of responsibility for others, Kast announced that “we will restore respect for the law in all regions, without exceptions and without privileges” of any kind.

The president-elect also thanked other candidates who publicly expressed their support for him, such as Johannes Kaiser, and referred to the Communist Party candidate: “A government has supporters and it has opponents. And that’s normal. And it’s legitimate. And clearly, we have profound differences with Janeth Jara,” he said, and encouraged respect in order to overcome division.

“And we have to burn that into our minds. Someone may have a different ideology, but he or she is a person just like us,” he emphasized.

Comments from the bishops of Chile

The bishops of the standing committee of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference congratulated the president-elect and noted that, upon his election, the country “entrusts him with the task of leading the nation in times that demand clarity, generosity, and a profound commitment to the common good.”

After noting some of the challenging situations in Chile, the bishops emphasized that “the presidential election renews the hope of moving toward a more just, fraternal, and supportive country, where the power of reason always prevails over the rationale of force.”

The prelates encouraged Kast to “promote an environment of dialogue, encounter, and respect, which is essential for rebuilding social trust. As pastors of the Catholic Church on pilgrimage in Chile, we reaffirm our vocation to contribute to the common good through the mission that the Gospel entrusts to us.”

After expressing their concern about “the growing denigration of migrants and vulnerable people,” the Chilean bishops expressed their willingness to collaborate with their prayers and efforts for the common good of the country, and then entrusted Kast to the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of Chile.

Who is José Antonio Kast?

Born in Santiago in 1966, Kast is a lawyer and a seasoned politician. The leader of the Republican Party served as a city councilor, a member of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) for four consecutive terms, and ran for president three times.

Kast is a practicing Catholic and belongs to the Schönstatt Apostolic Movement. He has been married since 1991 to María Pía Adriasola Barroilhet, with whom he has nine children.

Kast defines himself as “simply on the right” of the political spectrum. Historically, he was a member of the Independent Democratic Union, but he ran for president in 2017 as an independent candidate. After his defeat, he led the Republican Action movement. The current Republican Party was founded by him in 2019, and in 2021 he ran for president as the representative of that party.

New government’s approach to abortion, migration crisis

The president-elect has expressed his support for “life from conception to natural death.” However, although the Boric government threatened to introduce legislation to eliminate the three grounds under which abortion is permitted in the country, making it legal for any reason up to 14 weeks, Kast’s campaign set aside the “values ​​agenda” to focus on the crime and violence crisis and the large influx of unauthorized immigrants that the country is experiencing.

In his latest campaign, Kast hardened his stance against migrants residing illegally in the country. His proposal is that the 336,000 migrants who lack legal status in Chile return voluntarily to their countries of origin and contribute to the cost of their return ticket.

If they do not leave voluntarily before his term begins, the president-elect has warned that he will impose penalties: “If someone doesn’t leave voluntarily and we have to find them and deport them, they will never be allowed to enter Chilean territory again,” he stated, according to the Spanish news outlet El País.

His “countdown” to expel illegal unauthorized immigrants was criticized by the archbishop of Concepción, Sergio Pérez de Arce, who considered that “the response to migrants in an irregular situation (not legally present) in the country cannot be simply ‘you leave now, voluntarily, or we will expel you with nothing but the clothes on your back’ in 100 days.”

“I share your concern,” Kast said in the last debate, moderating the tone that had characterized his campaign, and regretted that the migration situation in Chile had been aggravated by the actions of criminal gangs. “Children have been abused, people have been exploited and forced to pay others to bring them into Chile,” he stated.

He also indicated that while the Church plays a role of “welcoming, solidarity, and charity,” the state “must enforce the law,” and he insisted on his promise that those who violate immigration laws will face penalties: “If someone is going to break the law, they must be apprehended if they have committed a crime.”

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

Little Sisters of the Poor file another appeal over contraception mandate
Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:06:00 -0500

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 15, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).

The 14-year legal battle against federal contraceptive mandates will continue, with Little Sisters of the Poor and the federal government seeking to reinstate moral and religious exemptions that were established in 2017.

Little Sisters of the Poor have already won religious freedom cases on this subject twice at the Supreme Court level. The high court ruled in 2016 that the federal government must protect religious freedoms for those who oppose the contraceptives and in 2020 ruled that the federal government had the legal authority to adopt the broad exemptions established in 2017.

Those exemptions fully covered employers that had religious or moral objections to providing the contraceptives, some of which can be abortifacient. Under the rules, those employers were not required to include any contraceptive coverage in their insurance plans for employees.

In spite of the prior Supreme Court wins, a federal court in August 2025 struck down the 2017 exemptions on grounds that the Supreme Court had not yet ruled on.

Because the Supreme Court left some questions open, the attorneys general in two states that disapprove of the exemptions — Pennsylvania and New Jersey — continued their legal battle on different grounds. Those legal arguments allege that the adoption of the rules did not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which the Supreme Court had not ruled on.

In the August ruling, Judge Wendy Beetlestone found that the rules did not comply with the APA, ruling instead that the rules are arbitrary and capricious.

“The agencies’ actions in promulgating the rule were arbitrary and capricious — in that they failed to ‘articulate a satisfactory explanation for [their] action[s] including a ‘rational connection between the facts found and the choices made,’” Beetlestone wrote in her opinion.

Little Sisters of the Poor are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, whose lawyers say the appellate court should overturn that decision and bring the legal dispute to an end.

“The 14-year legal crusade against the Little Sisters has been needless, grotesque, and un-American,” Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the sisters, said in a statement.

“The states have no business trying to take away the Little Sisters’ federal civil rights. The 3rd Circuit should toss the states’ lawsuit into the dustbin of history and uphold the protection the Little Sisters already won at the Supreme Court … twice,” he said.

In the appeal, the lawyers cite the legal precedent from the 2016 and 2020 cases that required religious exemptions and upheld the rules. They warn that the August 2025 ruling could create a “constitutional conflict” because the original mandate cannot legally be reimposed.

“The appellee states maintain that state governments somehow have an interest in forcing the federal government to force religious objectors to comply with the federal contraceptive mandate — even though the federal government need not have any contraceptive mandate at all, and even though the states themselves have chosen not to have such mandates of their own,” the lawsuit notes.