Cardinal Kevin Farrell celebrates Mass for the World Meeting of Families 2022 on June 25, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:03 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed U.S. Cardinal Kevin Farrell to oversee ?new and unavoidable? reform to the Vatican?s pension system as it faces a ?serious prospective imbalance? that means changes can no longer be postponed.

In a Nov. 21 letter to cardinals, dicastery prefects, and managers in the Roman Curia, the pope underlined the gravity of the unsustainability of the Vatican?s pension fund and noted the solution will require difficult decisions, ?special sensitivity, generosity, and willingness to sacrifice on the part of everyone.?

To address the challenges, the pontiff said he had taken an ?essential step? by naming Farrell ?sole administrator? of the fund.

Farrell, 77, is prefect of the Vatican?s Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life as well as camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and president of the Pontifical Commission for Confidential Matters.

The Irish-born cardinal, who was bishop of Dallas for nine years before his transfer to Rome, has also been chair of the Pontifical Committee for Investments since 2022. 

In his roles in the confidential matters commission, Farrell is responsible for authorizing the confidentiality of economic actions of the Roman Curia, if needed ?for the greater good of the Church,? according to the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium.

Farrell also oversees the Roman Curia?s investments, ensuring they are in line with the social doctrine of the Church ? a role he was named to after the Holy See came under scrutiny for certain investments, including the purchase of a luxury building in London, which lost the Vatican hundreds of thousands of euros and ended in a criminal trial.

Pope Francis said in his Nov. 21 letter that the pension fund is one of the central pieces of Vatican financial reform, a key part of the pope?s project since his election in 2013.

?Different studies have been carried out from which it has been derived that the current pension management, taking into account the available assets, generates an important deficit,? the pontiff wrote on Thursday.

?Unfortunately, the figure that now emerges, at the conclusion of the latest in-depth analyses carried out by independent experts, indicates a serious prospective imbalance in the fund, the size of which tends to expand over time in the absence of intervention,? he continued. 

He added that ?in concrete terms,? the Vatican cannot ?guarantee in the medium term the fulfillment of the pension obligation for future generations.?

While the pope thanked those who have tried to address the pension fund?s problems until now, he said it is imperative that the Vatican move into a new phase ?with promptness and unity of vision so that the necessary actions are expeditiously implemented,? and he asked for everyone?s support, cooperation, and prayers.

?In Jesus there is no contradiction between truth and charity,? notes professor Marta Rodríguez Díaz, who teaches in the philosophy department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. / Credit: Courtesy of Marta Rodríguez Díaz

Madrid, Spain, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Marta Rodríguez Díaz, a Catholic expert on gender ideology, said that rather than fighting gender ideology, the mission of the Catholic Church is ?to seek to make light shine in the darkness? and to offer critical dialogue.

Rodríguez also pointed out that ?if the Church is not credible today in terms of gender, it is not for a lack of having much to say but because there is a lack of educators who know how to convey its message in a comprehensive and accurate way.?

Rodríguez was chosen by the Spanish Bishops? Conference to provide formation to diocesan delegates for family and life pastoral care regarding the challenge the gender ideology issue represents for the Catholic Church.

She holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University and is a professor in the philosophy department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. She is also coordinator of the academic area of ??the Institute for Women?s Studies.

Rodríguez is also the academic director of the course on gender, sex, and education at the Francisco de Vitoria University in collaboration with the Regina Apostolorum and was part of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.

She spoke recently with ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner, about gender ideology, Catholic anthropology, and how it relates to the culture today.

ACI Prensa: How should the Church combat gender ideology?

Rodríguez: I don?t know if I like the word ?combat? ... I think that the mission of the Church is to be light and to seek to make light shine in the darkness. To be light means proposing the entire truth about the human being, to educate and also to warn and point out those ideas that contradict the dignity of the person or don?t help attain its fullness.

Personally, I would prefer to see us, as a Church, more dedicated to a dialogue capable of seriously addressing the ideologies of our time than to making total denunciations that only those who already think like us understand.

According to the data you offer, pastoral workers either have a vague understanding of the Catholic teaching on the subject or don?t know or understand it at all. What steps must be taken to reverse this situation?

Formation, formation, formation. It?s necessary to provide formation in Christian anthropology. My experience is that pastoral workers have insufficient knowledge of it and are not capable of proposing it in all its beauty and depth. In addition, it?s necessary to provide formation in moral theology so that they know how to discern the pastoral applications that are appropriate in each case, without in any way blurring the truth about the [human] person. It?s also necessary to provide formation in a pastoral style that knows how to connect with the postmodern world and to propose the perennial beauty of the Gospel in a language that is comprehensible to today?s world.

I think that if the Church is not credible today on gender issues, it?s not because it doesn?t have much to say but because there is a lack of formators who know how to convey its message in a comprehensive and accurate way.

There is a crisis in the family, in which the roles of men and women are confused. Is this a main cause of the confusion among young people on the issue of gender? What other elements push in this direction?

Definitely, the crisis of femininity and masculinity that we are experiencing has a very strong impact on young people. Without attractive role models, it is difficult to carry out the process of identifying with one?s own sex that is necessary in adolescence. In addition, there is the crisis of the family itself: many dysfunctional families, with absent fathers and mothers.

The media, social media, and movies certainly also have an influence, as they insist so clearly on one single message. In short, I think that today?s kids are bombarded by ideas that confuse them, and they have no solid points of reference to guide them.

You say that knowing things have not been done well up to now is ?liberating.? In what sense?

In the sense that it makes us see what depends on us and where we can improve our discourse to be more credible. Personally, I am very concerned when it?s said that the cause of all the confusion among young people is from social media, the news media, laws... because all that is true, but it?s also true that it doesn?t seem that it will change in the next few years.

But if, at the same time that we recognize the impact of all these external elements, we recognize that as a Church we have not always been up to the task; that we have not been able to propose the message with the depth and beauty that our times demanded ? then we have things that depend on us, and that allow us to hope that the landscape can, indeed, improve.

You list some risks in the educational field. What are you referring to by ?medical practices little proven from the scientific point of view??

[I?m referring] to hormonal treatments for children and adolescents. I?m not a doctor, but many doctors and psychologists have raised serious objections to this type of practice. In other countries they are backing off, but in Spain we are still carrying out experiments.

You state that ?it?s not necessary to declare war on the term ?gender?: It?s possible to take it up critically.? What part of that discourse is acceptable according to the magisterium of the Church?

The problem is not the term gender but the anthropology from which it draws. Amoris Laetitia No. 56 states that ?gender and sex can be distinguished, but they cannot be separated.? The same is said in Male and Female He Created Them in Nos. 6 and 11. And Dignitas Infinita again takes up this affirmation. I believe that the consolidated tendency of the magisterium in recent years has been to stop declaring war on the term and to engage in a critical dialogue with what I call ?gender theories.?

Gender is the development or cultural interpretation of sex. It?s fair to distinguish it from sex, but not to separate it from it.

What makes this era different from others in terms of cultural change and the distance between generations that makes dialogue on these issues so difficult?

I think the difficulty lies in what Pope Francis calls ?a change of era.? Culture is always in continuous change, but there are moments in history when a true change of era occurs. It?s a moment of rupture, where time ?changes its skin,? and a deeper adaptation of language, perspective, and vision is needed.

Veritatis Gaudium recognizes that ?we still lack the culture necessary to confront this crisis; we lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths.? It?s about learning to propose the beauty of Christ and of man in a postmodern world. This requires a new prophetic word. 

How can we balance welcoming those wounded by gender ideology as the good Samaritan would, with the proclamation of the anthropological truth of the creation of man and woman as the image of God and what follows from this affirmation?

In Jesus there is no contradiction between truth and charity. The same Jesus who proclaims the Sermon on the Mount and says that adultery begins in the heart raises up the adulterous woman.

Affirming that sex is a constitutive reality of the person and that it permeates body and soul does not contradict the recognition that identity in the psychological sense is bio-psycho-social and that the person has the task of integrating different elements: body, psyche, culture?

We can say that I am born a woman, but at the same time I have to become a woman. This process is not simple, and even less so today. I believe that we have to seriously take into consideration the experience of each person.

Christian anthropology is not a theoretical truth that we have to throw at people? If we believe that we are well made [by God], we know that the truth is within each of us and we can recognize it in the longings of our heart.

Perhaps the task of the Christian companion is to walk with people as Jesus did with the disciples [going to] Emmaus, helping them to enrich the grammar with which they interpret their story. If we believe that ?the truth makes us free,? then perhaps what we need to have is a lot of patience and love to accompany people to be more and more authentically themselves.

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

?We think of these stories of saints that have withstood all this persecution as belonging to the Middle Ages,? said Bill McGurn, godfather of Jimmy Lai. ?It?s going on right now, and we can see it.? / Credit: ?EWTN News Nightly?/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After Catholic media mogul and human rights activist Jimmy Lai took the stand on Wednesday in a yearslong Hong Kong national security trial, Bill McGurn, Wall Street Journal columnist and godfather of Lai, told ?EWTN News Nightly? that Lai is ?a real champion of freedom.?

Lai, 76, was first arrested in August 2020 under China?s newly instituted Hong Kong national security law. Since his arrest, he has faced multiple trials and has been convicted on multiple charges of unlawful assembly and fraud. The allegations are widely condemned as politically motivated. 

McGurn, friend and godfather to Lai, told ?EWTN News Nightly? anchor Tracy Sabol that Lai?s charisma on the stand worries the Hong Kong authorities. Lai has been in solitary confinement since his arrest in 2020.

?Today is the first time we?ve heard from Jimmy. The trial began in January,? McGurn told Sabol. ?This is the first time we?ve heard his voice.?

On Wednesday Lai denied allegations of seditious activism as well as allegations that he had colluded with the then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. 

?Today was a big day because the pressure on Jimmy ? like all the people arrested in Hong Kong for these political crimes ? is to plead guilty,? McGurn explained. ?But Jimmy doesn?t believe he did anything wrong. He?s correct in that. He wants to have his say in court, even if it?s biased against him.?

?The government hates that because Jimmy is obviously sincere. He?s very charismatic,? McGurn added. ?He?s a real champion of freedom, and ordinary Hong Kong people appreciate that.?

Lai?s long-running Apple Daily newspaper was a pro-democratic voice in Hong Kong media. Hong Kong authorities froze the company?s assets, forcing the newspaper to close. 

McGurn said that ?Jimmy Lai is being singled out because he owned a newspaper that tried to tell the truth about what?s going on in Hong Kong.?

?They treat him like he?s this great threat, and he?s a newspaper man. He does what ordinary publishers do. He talks to leaders all the time,? McGurn said.

?The government exposed what a thin case they have,? McGurn continued. ?Now they?re worried because he?s so charismatic: What?s he going to say on the stand? Even without a script, Jimmy is very eloquent and very persuasive when he talks about freedom.?

When asked how the family is doing, McGurn cited the strength of Lai?s wife, Teresa. Lai joined the Catholic Church in 1997 with the support of Teresa, whom he married in 1991.

?His whole family is suffering from this. His wife, Teresa, is a rock ? just a rock of faith,? McGurn said. ?Jimmy draws strength from her because she has her husband in jail and her three kids scattered around the world, and she?s keeping it all together.?

McGurn calls it all ?a real inspiration.?

?We think of these stories of saints that have withstood all this persecution as belonging to the Middle Ages,? he said. ?It?s going on right now, and we can see it.? 

Cardinal Zen stands with him

McGurn noted that Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze?Kiun attended the trial, sitting with Lai?s family. Zen also attended the sentencing of 45 other pro-democracy activists on Tuesday. 

?It must have really lifted [Lai?s] spirits,? McGurn said. ?It?s a tremendous thing.?

In the United States, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, among others, has been outspoken about support for Lai.

?How sad it is how they have mistreated this great man of principle,? Smith said on Capitol Hill. ?He could have left any time he wanted, given his wealth. He wanted to fight for his fellow friends and citizens in Hong Kong. For that ? for speaking truth to power in a dictatorship ? he is being very, very much maligned and unfortunately hurt by the judicial, corrupt system.?

When asked what he thought about Smith?s comment, McGurn said: ?He?s absolutely right.? 

?As Congressman Smith pointed out, he could have run away. He has houses all over the world, but he stood and went to jail for his principles,? McGurn said.

null / Credit: KieferPix/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

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

Wyoming judge blocks state pro-life laws

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court after a county judge blocked two pro-life laws in Wyoming. The judge blocked the Life Is a Human Right Act, which protected unborn children except in cases when the mother?s life was at risk or in cases of rape or incest, as well as a law prohibiting chemical abortions via abortion pills, a law signed by Gordon in March 2023. 

Gordon said on Tuesday that the ruling was ?frustrating? and that he instructed his attorney general to prepare to appeal the decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens ruled on Monday that the two laws violated the state constitution by restricting medical decisions. Owen has blocked Wyoming abortion laws three times since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now that the ruling has been struck down, abortion is legal up until fetal viability in Wyoming.

The plaintiffs included Wyoming abortion clinic Wellspring Health Access, two obstetricians, two other women, and the Wyoming abortion advocacy group Chelsea?s Fund. Following the ruling, Chelsea?s Fund stated on Tuesday that it ?will do everything in our power to uphold this ruling in the Wyoming Supreme Court.?

Montana judge blocks licensing law for abortion clinic 

A Montana District Court temporarily paused the state?s recent health department licensing regulations for abortion clinics amid pending litigation. House Bill 937 required licensure and regulation of abortion clinics and included rules for sanitation standards, emergency equipment, and hotlines for women who are coerced into an abortion or are victims of sex trafficking.

Two abortion providers, All Families Healthcare in Kalispell and Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, and an abortionist sued over the regulations, saying they would have to close if they were implemented. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Chris Abbot ruled in their favor, saying that H.B. 937 was a shift in ?the status quo? that abortion providers ?are not generally considered health care facilities subject to a licensure requirement.? Montana voters approved Initiative 128 on Election Day, enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution and allowing abortion after fetal viability.

Virginia bishops condemn fast-tracked right to abortion proposal

Two Virginia bishops recently opposed a proposed amendment granting a right to abortion, which was fast-tracked by the state House Privileges and Elections Committee. Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond in a Nov. 13 statement called the proposed right to abortion ?a fundamental tragedy.? Virginia law currently allows abortion up to 26 weeks and six days and allows abortion after that in certain cases. Burbidge and Knestout encouraged Virginia to ?work instead for policies that affirm the life and dignity of every mother and every child.?

The bishops also opposed a fast-tracked proposal to remove the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman from the state constitution. The bishops noted that they ?affirm the dignity of every person? and ?affirm too that marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman.? Following the election, the bishops encouraged ?deep engagement in decisions? that are at ?the heart of who we are.?

Alessandro Allori, ?The Presentation of Mary,? 1598. / Credit: Public domain

National Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

It?s easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke?s Gospel tells of the Holy Family?s journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified.

There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary?s heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.

The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary?s presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the ?Protoevangelium of James,? which has been dated by historians before the year A.D. 200.

The ?Protoevangelium of James? was ostensibly written by the apostle of the same name. It gives a detailed account in which Mary?s father, Joachim, tells his wife, Anna, that he wishes to bring their daughter to the Temple and consecrate her to God. Anna responds that they should wait until Mary is 3 years old so that she will not need her parents as much. 

On the agreed day for Mary to be taken to the Temple, Hebrew virgins accompanied the family with burning lamps. The Temple priest received Mary, kissed her, and blessed her. According to James? writing, the priest then proclaimed: ?The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest his redemption to the sons of Israel.? 

After that, Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and danced with joy. All the House of Israel loved Mary, and she was nurtured from then on in the Temple while her parents returned to their Nazareth home, glorifying God.

The celebration of the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew slowly over the years. 

On Nov. 21, 543, Emperor Justinian dedicated a church to Mary in the Temple area of Jerusalem. Many of the early Church Fathers celebrated this feast day, such as St. Germanus and St. John Damascene. In 1373, it was formally celebrated in Avignon, France, and in 1472, Pope Sixtus IV extended it to the universal Church. The Byzantine Church considers Mary?s Presentation one of the 12 great feasts of the liturgical year.

In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about this feast in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, saying: ?Despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern Churches.?

The memorial of the Presentation of Mary has been noted in the Church since its early years and yet is easily forgotten or misunderstood. 

Since it?s classified as a memorial and not a solemnity or holy day of obligation, it doesn?t draw much attention to itself other than a special opening prayer in the Mass. With this memorial, we celebrate the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a unique way. In response, she placed her whole self at his service. By our baptism, God invites us, too, into his service.

But there?s more to celebrating the presentation of Mary. 

This feast gives us cause for great joy since Mary is truly our mother, given to us by Christ as he hung dying on the cross. Because we are part of her Son?s body, she loves us with as much devotion and tenderness as she loves Jesus. When we celebrate Mary?s presentation, we are giving Mary the honor she deserves and witnessing to her perfect purity as the virgin of Nazareth, the mother of God, and our mother.

Sts. Joachim and Anne surrendered their only daughter to God so that she would be completely free to follow his holy will. Although they loved her dearly, they knew that in the Temple Mary would always be near the Holy of Holies, surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness and grace. She would be instructed in Scripture and the history of the Jewish people. She would be under the guardianship and tutelage of the holy women of the Temple who had given their lives to God. One of them, Scripture scholars believe, was Anna ? the woman who prophesied at the presentation of Our Lord. In the Temple, Mary would be completely focused on God and well prepared for becoming the mother of the Savior and mother of the body of Christ.

When we celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we remember the tremendous sacrifice Sts. Joachim and Anne made for our sakes. We give honor and respect to the Virgin, who is an example for all of us in our struggle for holiness. It is a privilege and an opportunity to express our gratitude for the gift of a pure, tender, and always-loving Mother.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, on Nov. 21, 2023, and has been adapted by CNA.

Archbishop Philip Anyolo of the Nairobi Archdiocese in Kenya. / Credit: Nairobi Archdiocese

ACI Africa, Nov 20, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The archbishop of Kenya?s Archdiocese of Nairobi has turned down financial donations that the country?s president offered to a Catholic parish, stating that the Church will not be compromised by offers from politicians who seek to use church fundraising events for self gain.

In a Nov. 18 statement widely circulated on social media platforms, Archbishop Philip Anyolo Subira declined over 5 million Kenyan shillings ($38,500) that President William Samoei Ruto offered to Soweto Catholic Church on Nov. 17. The cash gift was meant for the construction of a new rectory at the parish.

The president further gave the parish choir and the Pontifical Missionary Childhood a 600,000 Kenyan shilling ($4,600) cash reward and promised to donate a bus to the parish, both of which the archbishop has also declined.

In the statement, the archbishop explained that the ?political donations? to the Soweto Catholic Church are in violation of Kenya?s Public Fundraising Appeals Bill 2024, which requires fundraising appeals to have a permit.

?These funds will be refunded to the respective donors,? Anyolo said, adding in reference to the president?s pledge: ?The promised additional 3 million [Kenyan shillings, $23,256] for the construction of the [pastor?s] house, as well as the donation of a parish bus by the president, are hereby declined.?

He said that members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) have consistently maintained a firm stance on the matter of politicians donating money to churches, highlighting the ethical concerns and the need to safeguard the Church from being used for political purposes.

?The Catholic Church strongly discourages the use of church events such as fundraisers and gatherings as platforms for political self-promotion,? Anyolo said. ?Politicians are urged to refrain from turning the pulpit into a stage for political rhetoric, as such actions undermine the sanctity of worship spaces.?

The archbishop said the Church is called to uphold her integrity by refusing contributions that may ?inadvertently? compromise her independence or facilitate ?unjust enrichment.?

Making reference to the letter that KCCB members issued on Nov. 14 calling out the government for ignoring ?pertinent unresolved issues,? Anyolo said ?political leaders are urged to demonstrate ethical leadership by addressing the pressing issues raised by the KCCB.?

He reiterated KCCB members? message saying that politicians should address issues such as political wrangles, corruption, politics of self-interest, violations of human rights, and freedom of speech as well as ?the culture of lies.?

Anyolo also recalled the KCCB?s call to Kenyan politicians to pay attention to issues surrounding the National Health Insurance Fund and what they described as ?unfulfilled promises, misplaced priorities, selfish agendas to extend terms of elected leaders, and over-taxation of Kenyans.?

The archbishop said the Church must remain a neutral entity, free from political influence, to effectively serve as a space for spiritual growth and community guidance. He said that while politicians are welcome to attend church for their spiritual nourishment, they must do so as ordinary Christians, ?without leveraging their positions for political gain.?

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

Jimmy Lai?s wife, Teresa (left), and retired Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun arrive at the West Kowloon Magistrates? Courts to attend Hong Kong activist publisher Lai?s national security trial in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. / Credit: AP Photo/Chan Long Hei

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Catholic human rights activist Jimmy Lai on Wednesday took the stand in his national security trial in Hong Kong, arguing in his own defense as he faces life in prison over allegations of sedition against the communist Chinese government. 

Lai, 76, was first arrested in August 2020 under China?s newly instituted Hong Kong national security law. He has faced multiple trials since his arrest and has been convicted on multiple charges of unlawful assembly and fraud. 

Advocates have argued that the charges are politically motivated. Lai, through several media enterprises including the long-running Apple Daily newspaper, has for years been a vocal pro-democracy voice in Hong Kong media, with Apple Daily itself encouraging citizens to participate in numerous pro-democracy demonstrations over the years. 

Chinese Communist Party officials, meanwhile, allege that Lai has engaged in what they claim is seditious activism, in part by allegedly advocating for Hong Kong?s independence from mainland China. 

At his trial on Wednesday, Lai denied allegations of sedition. ?All I was doing was carrying a torch to the reality,? he told the court of his publishing activities. 

?The more information you have, the more you?re in the know, the more you are free,? he said. 

The publisher also denied that he had ordered the Apple Daily to continue as usual after his arrest. ?I had written to them, asking them not to take risks,? he said. 

The activist further disputed that he had colluded with the U.S. government in 2019 when meeting with then-Vice President Mike Pence. 

?I would not dare to ask the vice president to do anything,? he said. ?I would just relay to him what happened in Hong Kong when he asked me.?

Wednesday?s trial comes after the Tuesday sentencing of 45 other Hong Kong democracy activists, all of whom received stretches of up to 10 years in prison under the national security law.

Lai is a Catholic. He converted to Catholicism in 1997 and was received into the Church by Cardinal Joseph Zen. The cardinal was present at the trial on Wednesday, sitting with Lai?s family members, according to the Associated Press.

His yearslong imprisonment has drawn international rebuke, including from supporters in the United States. Last December the Congressional Executive Commission on China urged the U.S. government to sanction Hong Kong prosecutors and judges if they fail to release Lai.

The trial ?is a political prosecution plain and simple and another sad example of the Hong Kong government?s increasingly repressive policies,? the commission said. 

Father Robert Sirico, a Catholic priest and founder of the Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, told CNA in December 2023 that he ?[doesn?t] have any hope? that the Chinese Communist Party will let Lai walk free.

?I want to be hopeful. I love the man,? Sirico said. ?I have a deep respect for him. I?m inspired by his bravery. But I know what he?s up against.?

More recently, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in a report that the Chinese government should ?release Mr. Lai immediately.? 

The working group said the government should mount a ?full and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Mr. Lai and to take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of his rights.?

Senior fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center Joseph Meaney speaks to ?EWTN News Nightly? anchor Tracy Sabol on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. / Credit: ?EWTN News Nightly?

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Vietnam, a country with one of the highest abortion rates in the world, spearheaded a United Nations initiative this week on the health care needs of infants born prematurely.

While the event in honor of World Prematurity Day aimed to spotlight the need for better care for preterm infants, a bioethicist is pointing to the irony of a country grappling with widespread abortion leading the charge.

?It?s a completely mixed message,? Joseph Meaney, a senior fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told ?EWTN News Nightly? on Tuesday.

Advances in neonatal intensive care have made possible the survival of smaller and younger infants. The world?s most premature surviving baby is Curtis Zy-Keith Means, who was born at 21 weeks and one day in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Vietnam?s laws allow unrestricted abortion procedures up to the 22nd week of pregnancy, but enforcement against later-term abortions remains lax. 

A 2023 report identified the Southeast Asian nation as having the second-highest abortion rate in the world. Hanoi?s Central Obstetrics Hospital reported in 2014 that 40% of all pregnancies in Vietnam were terminated each year.

Meaney pointed out to ?EWTN News Nightly? anchor Tracy Sabol that ?in one part of the hospital, they are delivering babies ? and trying to keep them alive in the neonatal intensive care units, and in other parts of the hospital, they?re killing those same babies at the same age of gestation.?

Meaney noted that studies have found that women who have undergone multiple abortions face a higher risk of premature birth and miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies. 

World Prematurity Day was established in 2008 to raise awareness about the challenges of premature births, which is the leading cause of death for children under 5. It is estimated that 13.4 million babies are born prematurely every year, according to UNICEF, which called for universal access to high-quality care for preterm babies in honor of the day.

?Of course, if they?re concerned about infant mortality, the highest rate of infant mortality is killing babies through abortion,? Meaney said.

Catholics in Vietnam help manage special cemeteries for victims of abortion, including one in the Archdiocese of Hanoi in which 46,000 unborn children are buried and another in Xuan Loc Diocese where more than 53,000 are buried, according to La Croix International. 

A Catholic charity called the Life Protection Group collects the remains of unborn children from state-run hospitals and private clinics, noting that the group used to gather 25-40 aborted fetuses each day to bury.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than 1.6 million abortions were performed in Vietnam between 2015 and 2019.

Asked by Sabol how premature births might be reduced in the U.S. and around the world, Meaney said: ?One thing would be to have fewer abortions.?

As well, ?actually having the hospitals help the mothers to continue their pregnancies? would help, he said.

?When they?re at risk of premature birth, the amount of days involved is very important. Just a few more days can really increase the likelihood the child will survive,? Meaney said.

?To actually have the hospitals willing to admit mothers who are in danger of premature birth? could help lower such incidences, he said.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter?s Square for his Wednesday general audience on Nov. 20, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Nov 20, 2024 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

To mark 1,000 days since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, Pope Francis shared the ?testimony of faith? of a Ukrainian student at his general audience on Wednesday, underscoring the power of faith, love, and hope amid the tragedy of violence.

In a letter to the Holy Father, the student, whose name was not announced, expressed the desire for the pope and all pilgrims at the Wednesday audience to know of the faith ? and not just the sufferings ? of the people of Ukraine.

?I thank God because, through this pain, I am learning greater love. Pain is not only a road to anger and despair; if based on faith, it is a good teacher of love,? the student wrote.

Describing the horrors of war that killed family members and thousands of other men, women, and children, the student said that if one suffers because of pain it ?means that you love.?

?When you speak of our pain, when you remember our thousand days of suffering, speak of our thousand days of love, too, because only love, faith, and hope give a real meaning to our wounds,? the letter to the Holy Father read.

Visibly moved by the letter and the pope?s gesture to share the testimony of faith with hundreds of pilgrims in St. Peter?s Square, Olena Zelenska, wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, met and personally greeted the pope at the conclusion of the audience.

Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati canonizations

During the Wednesday audience, Pope Francis announced that Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, two young Italian Catholics popularly known for their vibrant faith and desire for holiness, will be canonized next year during the Church?s jubilee.  

The long-anticipated announcement was confirmed by Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni that the two blesseds will be canonized on separate dates. Acutis? canonization is scheduled during the Church?s Jubilee of Teenagers from April 25?27, 2025, and Frassati?s canonization will take place during the Jubilee of Youth from July 28?Aug. 3, 2025.    

Pope announces 2025 children?s rights meeting in Vatican 

Choosing World Children?s Day, celebrated annually on Nov. 20, to make an additional surprise announcement, the pope shared that the Vatican will hold an international meeting to promote the dignity and rights of children on Feb. 3, 2025. 

?It will be an occasion on how we can better protect children, especially children who live without rights, who are abused and exploited and live also in situations of war,? he said on Wednesday.  

To celebrate the occasion and special announcement, the Holy Father invited several boys and girls from the Community of Sant?Egidio to come and receive his paternal blessing and take a group photo.

The Vatican has also released details of the new Pontifical Committee for the World Day of Children on Wednesday. Pope Francis has appointed Father Enzo Fortunato, OFM, the president of the newly-established committee tasked with promoting the Catholic Church?s mission to advocate for children?s rights.  

?Family, church, and state exist for children, not the other way around,? the pope said in a Nov. 20 chirograph. ?From birth, every human being is the subject of inalienable, inviolable, and universal rights.?

Catechesis: Charisms are ?jewels? from the Holy Spirit

Speaking about the beauty of different personal and communal charisms found in the Church, Pope Francis stressed that Catholics need to ?immediately dispel? the misunderstanding of identifying these ?jewels? of the Holy Spirit as ?spectacular and extraordinary gifts and capabilities.?

?Instead they are ordinary gifts that assume extraordinary value if inspired by the Holy Spirit and embodied with love in the situations of life,? he told those gathered in St. Peter?s Square.

?Such an interpretation of the charism is important,? the pope said.

Before the wooden coffin is closed, Pope Benedict XVI?s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein and Monsignor Diego Giovanni Ravelli, the Vatican?s lead master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, place a white veil over the late pope?s face. The action on Jan. 4, 2023, is part of the funeral rites for popes. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 20, 2024 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has updated the liturgical book regulating the funeral rite of popes, simplifying some of the rituals at Pope Francis? request.

The second edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis (?Order of Funerals for Roman Pontiffs?) is a revision of the version published in 2000 and used for the funerals of Pope John Paul II in 2005 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2023.

Among the changes in the new edition, according to Vatican News, is the elimination of the use of three coffins of cyprus, lead, and oak, and the possibility for a deceased pope to be buried outside of the Vatican basilica.

Another change is that the public viewing before the funeral will take place with the remains already in a simple, wooden coffin, not on a raised bier, as was previously done. The ascertainment of the pope?s death will also happen in the pope?s chapel, not his room.

Pope Francis ?has stated on several occasions the need to simplify and adapt certain rites so that the celebration of the funeral of the bishop of Rome may better express the faith of the Church in the risen Christ,? the master of papal ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, told Vatican News. 

?The renewed rite,? Ravelli said, ?also needed to emphasize even more that the funeral of the Roman pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ and not of a powerful person of this world.?

The Supreme Court of India. / Credit: Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bangalore, India, Nov 20, 2024 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

Catholic education officials and legal experts are vowing to appeal the Supreme Court of India?s recent ruling that ended a decades-old policy of zero income tax on the salaries of nuns and priests in government-aided Catholic educational institutions.

?This judgment without a detailed hearing of our plea is very disappointing. We have no option but to challenge this verdict,? Father Xavier Arulraj, the legal secretary of the Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops? Council, told CNA on Nov. 15.

The Nov. 7 ruling came after dozens of petitions, including more than 90 pleas by Catholic religious who sought to keep the policy in place in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

?I have been representing 78 congregations, institutions, and dioceses [from Tamil Nadu] before the Supreme Court,? Arulraj said. ?We had hoped for a detailed hearing to explain our position but the court disposed of it without hearing us.?

Since 1944, Arulraj noted, the salaries of Catholic nuns and priests had been exempted from income tax as a recognition of their ?service to the society.? The rule dates to the final years of colonial rule in India; the country gained independence from the British in 1947.

In 2015 in Tamil Nadu the exemption was removed and the salaries of religious were made taxable there.

Following an appeal by the Church, the Tamil Nadu High Court ruled in 2016 that priests and nuns should not be subject to income tax. The court argued that due to vows of poverty, the salaries could not be subject to income tax as the money is not accrued to them but only to the diocese or congregation.

Arulraj noted that in 2019 the high court reversed the order in favor of the government, forcing the Church to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Father Michael Pulickal, the secretary of the ?Jagrata? (Vigilance) Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops? Council, told CNA that the income tax department ?initiated the process first in Kerala in 2014 for tax deduction from the salaries of Catholic nuns and priests.?

?But, on appeal by the Church, the court stay prevailed until 2021 when the Kerala High Court gave a final verdict that income tax could be collected from the Catholic religious. Then, we also moved the Supreme Court, pleading in the case with the Tamil Nadu appeals,? Pulickal said.

?The dismissal of the Catholic appeals without a detailed hearing is disappointing for those involved,? Romy Chacko, a Catholic lawyer at the Supreme Court, told CNA. He also serves as a designated lawyer for the Kerala Forum of Catholic Religious.

?The higher judiciary may not always hear each appeal in detail. Since the Supreme Court has not given any reason for dismissal of the appeals, review petition is an option available before the Church now,? Chacko said.

?This is not a problem for Kerala and Tamil Nadu alone. Since the Supreme Court has given a verdict, taxation could be applied to any state in the country,? Father Teles Fernandes, the secretary of the Gujarat Board of Catholic Educational Institutions, told CNA.

?Everyone needs to be on the alert,? Fernandez said. 

?We have only 57 aided schools in Gujarat with less than 1% Christians among the population of 64 million of the state,? he continued. 

?But the government has already stayed our right to make appointments of staff and principals in the schools,? he added.

Argentine President Javier Milei walks past President-elect Donald Trump as they attend the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 20, 2024 / 11:20 am (CNA).

The incoming administration of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States will have repercussions well beyond the nation?s borders, including in Latin America. How will the new administration in Washington impact issues in the region such as the defense of life, abortion, gender ideology, and migration?

?Enormous? and ?positive? impact on life, family issues

While several countries in the region have increased access to abortion through legislation ? and policies based on gender ideology have also made some concerning advances ? a Trump administration could help reverse the tide, according to analysts consulted by ACI Prensa, CNA?s Spanish-language news partner.

For Neydy Casillas, a jurist and vice president of International Affairs at the Global Center for Human Rights based in Washington, D.C., ?the impact [of Trump?s election] is enormous.?

?Trump, among his first messages, already came out speaking about very important issues such as, for example, that he?s going to prohibit surgeries or so-called gender affirmation therapies ... which are actually the mutilation of children, and even go after doctors who carry out these surgeries,? she emphasized.

Casillas also said Trump could be expected to support policies that restrict abortion funding in other countries.

?In recent years, with the administration of [Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris, we had had tremendous pressure from international organizations and also from countries to promote these policies,? especially from the United States, she noted.

Marcial Padilla, director of the Mexican platform ConParticipación, shared a similar perspective. ?The change of government in the United States is going to be positive for Latin America, and for Africa as well, on issues such as abortion and gender ideology,? he told ACI Prensa.

With the new government, he predicted, ?the suffocating ideological pressure of the Biden-Harris administration to impose both abortion and gender ideology in Latin America and Africa will disappear.?

?If we add to that the fact that the incoming government will most likely have a pro-family foreign policy that is friendly to fundamental values, we could surely have a period of, first, not feeling hostility and pressure; and perhaps we could even find support? to promote pro-family policies, Padilla noted.

Gildardo López, professor at the School of Government and Economics at Pan American University in Mexico City, agreed and highlighted that those who supported the campaign of president-elect Trump ?financially and politically? during his administration could end up supporting pro-life and pro-family initiatives ?in the rest of Latin America.?

?Just as there is an agenda ... of the Sao Paulo Forum ? in reference to the international group that emerged in Brazil and brings together left-leaning politicians in Latin America, there is also a cutting-edge agenda of a conservative political spectrum,? he pointed out.

Although there are several Latin American countries governed by left-leaning politicians, in which issues such as abortion and gender ideology continue to ?advance,? he said, Trump?s election victory can be ?an inspiration? for more politically conservative platforms.

Alfonso Aguilar, director of Hispanic Outreach at the American Principles Project, also expressed confidence that ?the new administration will stop promoting abortion and gender ideology around the world and through multilateral organizations as President Biden has done.?

Emili J. Blasco, director of the Center for Global Affairs and Strategic Studies at the University of Navarra in Spain, told ACI Prensa that ?specifically in relation to abortion during the election campaign, Trump didn?t give it a special emphasis.? He noted that during Trump?s first term, he made appointments to the country?s Supreme Court that led to decisions ?that left the issue to the states.?

?Trump gives the impression that he isn?t going to change anything at the federal level or push anything from the White House,? he said. At the same time, however, Blasco noted that the more conservative wave that brought Trump to power has also turned into a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives that could lead to positive developments.

Trump and migrants

According to statistics from United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), between October 2023 and September 2024, there were more than 2.1 million encounters by authorities with undocumented migrants on the country?s border with Mexico.

More than 1.2 million were adults traveling alone, while 804,456 were people who crossed the border as part of a family group. Nearly 110,000 of those stopped by authorities were unaccompanied minors.

For Casillas, the issue of migration is ?key? and ?very sensitive, because we are talking about people and it?s always a very complex issue for both parties.? 

Although the Democrats, she said, ?have had defending immigrants as their banner,? this is ?a big lie, because at the time with [Barack] Obama, for example, they had the opportunity to pass legislation in which they could regulate the issue of migration and they didn?t do it.?

?We have to understand,? he added, that Americans ?have the right, like any of our countries, to defend their borders and that no country is obliged to receive absolutely everyone, much less when these people have entered illegally.?

What the Trump administration will seek, she said, is for migrants to enter the United States ?legally,? following the regulations, which also covers cases of asylum seekers and refugees.

Marcial Padilla pointed out that Trump?s election also points to ?great discontent? among Americans ?due to the laxity with which the Biden-Harris administration? addressed the immigration problem.

?Most likely, there will be first of all greater order and control in the way in which people not only enter the United States but also join its productive sector,? he said.

However, he emphasized that ?I think that Latin American countries should ask and almost demand from the United States that if they have the dominant economy in the world and don?t like the existence of disorderly migration, they should also contribute to the existence of better international trade conditions that make mass migration to the United States unnecessary.?

Alonso Aguilar predicted that ?the Trump administration?s policy will seek to discourage unregulated mass migration that puts at risk the safety of the migrants themselves who try to come to the United States.?

?Trump will continue with generous legal immigration policies, but he will close the door to illegal entry,? Aguilar said.

Gildardo López believes the region ?must prepare for a more hostile environment toward migrants,? due to Trump?s messaging about possible punitive measures, especially for Mexico, as a transit country for many migrants who come from other countries in Latin America and the world.

Furthermore, mass deportations of undocumented migrants could be ?a breeding ground for a social explosion? in their countries of origin.

In this regard, Blasco said that ?Trump has made great progress in the campaign on measures against immigration, and he is going to implement them. I don?t know how effective they will be, because in his first term he also [promoted] the issue of the wall, in the end [building] the wall didn?t get that far either, although there were clearly policies against immigration.?

The fear among migrants is understandable, Blasco said, including among ?people from Venezuela who continue to want to leave the country; countries like Haiti, who see no other opportunity for life than to leave Haiti, and therefore go to the United States; or in Central America; and no matter what Trump says, or whatever policies there are, they will continue trying to enter the United States illegally.?

?Those people, yes, it?s logical that they are afraid that the door will be closed, or they will not be able to enter, or if they enter, that they will be detained,? Blasco commented.

Possibility of congruence

Casillas believes that the election of Trump, with a trend that seems to be repeated with other presidents in the region, could lead to the emergence of more parties in Latin America with agendas more in line with each other. 

?People want things defined? and for politicians to forget about ?all these agendas that have nothing to do with the main needs that people are facing.?

?It?s been shown, especially with this election of Trump and even with that of [Javier] Milei [in Argentina], that people don?t want this socialist plan where children are taken from their parents, where abortion is imposed without restrictions, where gender ideology is promoted left and right.?

Aguilar?s ??opinion goes in the same direction: ?I think Trump has already inspired many leaders in the region and will continue to do so.?

?Trump will continue to offer public support to conservative leaders in the region, and that support will have even more impact now that he is president,? he emphasized.

Padilla, however, is skeptical that Trump?s election will favor like-minded political parties in the region.

?It cannot be guaranteed or assured that the result in the United States will be replicated in other geographic realities, because ultimately the voters will have different factors for making decisions that must be adapted to their national realities,? he said.

When asked if he thinks Trump?s victory can inspire other politicians with similar profiles in Latin America, Blasco said: ?I think so. Maybe not in a very strong way, but on the one hand, it does encourage people who are against gender ideology, for example, to see that there is someone in another country? who is taking that stand.

Latin America?s pro-Trump politicians 

Politicians who support Trump in the region, such as Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador; Milei; and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro; have already reached out to the president-elect, who will take office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Bukele said on X Nov. 7 that he spoke by phone with Trump and congratulated him ?on his sweeping victory.? The president of El Salvador said they spoke about ?the strong mandate he received from the American people and the significance his election holds for the world.?

According to the Spanish news agency EFE, Bolsonaro ? currently disqualified from holding public office by a court ruling ? celebrated Trump?s election victory, which, added to congratulation from Milei?s and municipal victories of the center-right in Brazil, would mean that, ?the whole world is turning to the right. They are fed up with the ?woke? agenda, they are fed up with the issue of diversity. They are fed up with family values ??being attacked.?

After recalling his ?excellent relationship? with Trump, Bolsonaro expressed his desire to become president again after losing in the 2022 elections to the current president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: ?They know that if I am a candidate, I will win in 2026.?

Manuel Adorni, presidential spokesman for Milei, expressed his government?s congratulations to Trump on Nov. 6, calling him ?an exponent of the free Western and capitalist world.?

?His leadership will find unconditional support from our country to defend life, liberty, and property,? he said.

Trump to Milei: ?You are my favorite president?

On the morning of Nov. 12, Adorni wrote on X: ?The president of the nation, Javier Milei, had a telephone conversation with the President-elect of the United States Donald Trump.? Minutes later, in a new post, he said: ?Donald Trump to President Javier Milei: ?You are my favorite president.??

On Nov. 14, Milei arrived in the United States to meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, becoming the first president in the world to do so.

At dinner that evening, organized by the America First Policy Institute, Milei congratulated Trump ?for the greatest political comeback in history, taking on the entire political establishment, even putting his own life at risk.?

It was ?a true miracle and conclusive proof that the forces of heaven are on our side,? he added.

Trump then thanked Milei for his words and congratulated him for doing ?a fantastic job in a very short period of time? and quipped ?Make Argentina Great Again. You know MAGA. He?s a MAGA person. And you know he?s doing that.? 

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

Memorial tree in Mayfouk, Lebanon, in remembrance of Christians killed in the Lebanese civil war. / Credit: Ambassador Alberto Fernández/EWTN News

Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2024 / 10:35 am (CNA).

Nov. 20 marks Red Wednesday, a growing effort to show solidarity with the suffering Church.  

Started in 2016 by the papal foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), this year more than 300 Red Wednesday events will be held in 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Ireland, Malta, the Philippines, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. 

In 2016, Pope Francis spoke about two types of persecution: ?the explicit kind? ? to which he related to the martyrs killed that Easter in Pakistan ? ?and the sort of persecution that is polite, disguised as culture, modernity, and progress, and which ends up taking away man?s freedom and even the right to conscientious objection.?

Red Wednesday in the Middle East

In the Middle East, there is no need to have a special day, week, or month to remember the persecution of the Church. While Red Wednesday is becoming better known there, it is not a tradition yet. But the issue is palpable on a daily basis, touching Middle Eastern Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants alike. 

The persecution occurs in both countries that are bitter adversaries of the West and in countries allied with the West, states at peace and those experiencing war. 

With the commemoration of Red Wednesday approaching its first decade, here are some key milestones in the Red Wednesdays of the Church in the Middle East over the past 10 years. 

2014

The year marked the destruction of the ancient Christian community of Mosul in Iraq as the entire population was expelled from the city with only the clothes on their backs, while items such as cellphones and baby strollers were seized by Islamic State gunmen. Months later, ISIS overran many of the Christian villages on the nearby Nineveh Plains, destroying, looting, and vandalizing. Three years later ISIS was defeated, but Christian communities today are dispersed and survivors struggle to find safety and a secure future.

2015

On a beach in Sirte, 21 Christians were publicly beheaded by the Islamic State. Among them, 20 were Coptic Christians, and all of them are remembered as the martyrs of Libya. In 2023, Pope Francis added them to the Roman Martyrology, the Church?s formal list of officially recognized saints.

Also in 2015, forces belonging to the Islamic State in Syria overran several Assyrian villages on the Khabur River in that country?s northeast, taking 253 men, women, and children hostage. Most of the remaining Assyrian Christian population fled while ISIS blew up more than a dozen churches. Over the next two years ransom was paid to release most of the hostages alive. The community ? direct descendants of survivors of the Ottoman Genocide of Assyrians in 1915 ? is devastated to this day. Most will never return home.  

2020 (and ongoing)

Christian monuments in Turkey, including Aya Sofya ? for 1,000 years the largest church in the world ? were turned from museums into mosques by the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. Anatolia?s precious Christian architectural and historic heritage is crumbling. 

2023

After enduring a yearlong punishing siege and malnutrition, the entire Armenian Christian population ? more than 100,000 people ? in the Nagorno-Karabakh region inside Azerbaijan is expelled. Today they are stateless and reduced to poverty in neighboring Armenia, which is itself threatened by more powerful neighbors. 

Ongoing in Iran

Christians in Iran, many of them converts worshipping in underground ?house churches,? face persecution and long jail sentences at the hands of Iranian authorities. Hundreds are arrested and detained yearly.

Christians are also targeted as vulnerable, marginalized minorities in situations that affect to a greater or lesser extent their non-Christian neighbors.

Ongoing in Iraq

In Iraq, Christians and other non-Muslims are targeted by criminal networks having murky ties to powerful militias and government authorities. These networks steal Christian property ? houses and land ? and seek to monopolize ostensibly Christian political representation for their own purposes. 

Ongoing in Lebanon

In Lebanon, Christians not only face cycles of targeted intimidation ? both virtual and physical ? at the hands of the powerful Hezbollah militia and its allies, but many have been targeted for assassination over the past 20 years, including Christian politicians, journalists, and activists as well as Elias Hasrouni in 2023 and Pascal Suleiman in 2024. War today touches both Christians and non-Christians in a battered and desperate country. 

Ongoing in Egypt

In Egypt, the largest remaining Christian population in the region not only faces official discrimination by the state at different levels and in a variety of fields, but they are still the subject of extremist violence targeting their churches and their communities. 

Ongoing in the Holy Land

Christians in the Holy Land are affected by the violence and insecurity that affect their Muslim and Jewish neighbors but are often singled out by extremists from both of those communities, caught, as it were, between two fires. 

Despite such calamities, the Christians of the East endure, rooted in their land and faithful to their traditions, praying, as all do, that ?in all things we may be defended by your protecting help.?

null / Credit: Denis Belitsky/Shutterstock

Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The unresolved question of whether life exists on other planets continues to spark curiosity from the public and the interest of scientists ? but one Catholic physicist working on missions to search for potential life also recognizes it as an opportunity to see the glory of God.

Jonathan Lunine, a convert to the Catholic faith and the chief scientist for NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, spoke to roughly 100 Catholic scientists about the subject at an event in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Nov. 15.

The lecture followed a Gold Mass, celebrated for Catholic scientists, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. A Gold Mass is held on the feast of St. Albertus Magnus ? a Dominican friar, medieval scientist, patron saint of scientists, and mentor to St. Thomas Aquinas.

It was sponsored by The Catholic University of America and the local chapter of the Society of Catholic Scientists, which seeks to respond to St. John Paul II?s calling for Catholic scientists to ?integrate the worlds of science and religion in their own intellectual and spiritual lives.?

?I?m not a theologian; I?m a scientist,? Lunine told the crowd as they finished eating brunch at the Beacon Hotel, which is a short walk from the cathedral, about a half-mile north of the White House.

Lunine ? whose work at NASA has involved the search for the possibility of unintelligent microbial life on Jupiter?s moon Europa and Saturn?s moons Enceladus and Titan ? said that as a scientist, ?this has been a wonderful journey, being able to participate in these missions.? 

As a Catholic scientist, he said he sees ?the gift of the mind? as a gift that ?God has given us to ? understand the glory of God?s creation.?

Microbial life on other planets, if it were to be found, he said, would be a ?manifestation of the order that is baked into the universal design that God created when he created the universe? and created so that ?beauty might shine forth from that very order.?

Lunine said those three moons are the most likely locations to have the conditions to sustain life that we have the ability to reach, particularly due to the prevalence of water. The mission to Europa should conclude between 2030 and 2035, the mission to Titan should conclude in the 2030s, and the mission to Enceladus should conclude in the 2040s, he said.

If microbial life were to be discovered on any of those moons, Lunine told CNA, it would show us that there are ?other places beyond the Earth where life began.?

Lunine said more theological questions would be raised if the search for life on other planets develops into a search for intelligent and self-aware life that developed on another planet. This would lead to questions like ?Are they saved?? or ?Are they fallen??, he said.

If intelligent life exists on other planets, he said it would be ?hard to imagine? that none had fallen from God?s grace, noting that it is easy to fall and ?even the angels, some of them have fallen.? He said this would create questions such as ?did Christ come to their world in a separate incarnation? to save them, and how would humanity would ?be the central pivot point of cosmic history.? 

The Catholic Church holds no official position on whether intelligent life exists on other planets, but Pope Francis commented on the subject in 2015, saying: ?Honestly I wouldn?t know how to answer,? adding: ?Until America was discovered we thought it didn?t exist, and instead it existed.?

The pontiff, however, did affirmatively say that everything in the universe has been created through divine intelligence and ?is not the result of chance or chaos.?

The historic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France, was ravaged by arson on the night of Sept. 2, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Sébastien Roussel

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A recently released report from a European watchdog group has found nearly 2,500 documented instances of hate crimes against Christians living in Europe. Approximately 1,000 of these attacks took place in France. 

According to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) report, which drew on both police and civil society data, 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes and acts of discrimination and intolerance occurred across 35 European countries from 2023 to 2024.

Of these, 232 constituted personal attacks of harassment, threats, and physical assaults against Christians.

Most affected countries: France, England, and Germany

Nearly 1,000 of the anti-Christian hate crimes reported in Europe in 2023 took place in France, with 90% of the attacks waged against churches or cemeteries. The report also found there were about 84 personal attacks against individuals. 

Apart from physical assaults, the report cited data from the French Religious Heritage Observatory, which recorded eight confirmed cases of arson against churches in France in 2023 and 14 attacks in the first 10 months of 2024. Several reported cases were on account of ?Molotov cocktails,? a makeshift handheld firebomb.

Religious communities also reported incidents of harassment. Two nuns cited in the report, for example, announced in 2023 that they would be leaving the northwestern city of Nantes on account of ?constant hostility and insecurity.? The nuns reportedly experienced ?beatings, spitting, and insults.?

The United Kingdom followed close behind France, according to the report, with 702 reported anti-Christian hate crimes, a 15% increase since 2023.

The report also included as anti-Christian acts incidents of Christians being prosecuted for praying silently in the country?s so-called ?buffer zones,? such as the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was convicted for praying in front of an abortion clinic.

The report stated that in Germany, the third most affected country, official government statistics reported 277 ?politically motivated hate crimes? against Christians in 2023, a 105% increase from the previous year when there were 103 reported attacks. 

OIDAC Europe independently estimated that ?at least 2,000 cases of property damage to Christian places of worship in 2023? took place. 

Motives and perpetrators of anti-Christian hate crimes

OIDAC Europe found that of the 69 documented cases where the motives and background of perpetrators could be accurately accounted for, 21 of them were provoked by a radical Islamist agenda, 14 were of a generally anti-religious nature, 13 were tied to far-left political motives, and 12 were ?linked to the war in Ukraine.?

The report also noted that numbers in this respect remained unchanged compared with 2022, ?except for cases with an Islamist background, which increased from 11 to 21.?

Pushed to the silent margins

In addition to overt attacks, the OIDAC report highlighted an increased phenomenon of discrimination in the workplace and public life, leading to a rise in self-censorship among those who practice their faith. 

According to a U.K.-based study from June cited in the report, 56% of 1,562 respondents stated they ?had experienced hostility and ridicule when discussing their religious beliefs,? an overall 61% rise among those under 35. In addition, 18% of those who participated in the study reported experiencing discrimination, particularly among those in younger age groups.

More than 280 participants in the same survey stated ?they felt that they had been disadvantaged because of their religion.?

?I was bullied at my workplace, made to feel less than, despite being very successful at my job in other settings, until I left,? one female respondent in her late 40s stated in the survey, while another respondent, a man in his mid- to late-50s, said: ?Any mention of faith in a CV precludes one from an interview. My yearly assessment was lowered because I spoke of Christ.?

The report explained that the majority of discrimination occurs due to the ?expression of religious beliefs about societal issues.? However, in the U.K., these instances have extended to private conversations and posts on private social media accounts, according to the report.

A case involving a mother of two children, Kristie Higgs, was cited in the report. Higgs was fired from her job as a pastoral assistant after sharing, in a private Facebook post, ?concerns about the promotion of transgenderism in sex education lessons at her son?s primary school.?

?I am not alone to be treated this way ? many of the others here to support me today have faced similar consequences,? Higgs stated after her hearing at the Court of Appeals in October.

?This is not just about me,? she added. ?It cannot be right that so many Christians are losing their jobs or facing discipline for sharing biblical truth, our Christian beliefs.?

Government interference with the Catholic Church

Two instances of government interference in Catholic religious autonomy were cited. 

One instance occurred in France, in which a secular civil court ?ruled against the Vatican?s internal canonical procedures? in a case regarding a French nun who was dismissed from her order. The Vatican sent a letter to the French embassy in response to the ruling, which it called ?a serious violation of the fundamental rights of religious freedom and freedom of association of the Catholic faithful.?

In Belgium, the report also noted, two bishops were convicted and ordered to pay financial compensation after they refused to admit a woman to a diaconate training program, despite human rights law, which protects the rights of religious institutions such as the Catholic Church, to decide on matters such as the ordination of clergy without state-level interference.

Recommendations

?As freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is a cornerstone for free and democratic societies, we hope that states will not compromise on the protection of these fundamental rights, and thus ensure an open and peaceful climate in our societies,? the report stated in its conclusion.

OIDAC?s report includes various recommendations to governments of European countries, human rights institutions, the European Union, members of the media, and other ?opinion leaders? as well as to Christian churches and individuals.

The watchdog organization?s recommendations include a call for safeguarding freedom of expression, more robust reporting on intolerance and discrimination against Christians, the abandonment of anti-Christian ?hate speech? in the public sphere, and for people of faith to engage in public-facing discourse as a means of ?dialogue between religion and secular society.?

The book ?Hope Never Disappoints? is based on interviews author Hernán Reyes Alcaide (pictured here) conducted with Pope Francis. / Credit: ?EWTN News Nightly?/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The author of a new book based on interviews with Pope Francis discussed the Holy Father?s views on Christian hope, migration, and the Israel-Hamas conflict in an interview with ?EWTN News Nightly? on Tuesday.

Published ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year, ?Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Toward a Better World? focuses on the pope?s views of contemporary issues ranging from family and new technologies to climate change and peace.

Released on Tuesday in Italy, Spain, and Latin America by Edizioni Piemme Publishers ? and at a later date in other languages ? the book by journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide was written for the occasion of the 2025 Jubilee Year, which is scheduled to begin Christmas Eve.

Pope Francis highlighted the issue of migration in the context of other issues, Reyes told EWTN News on Tuesday.

?For Pope Francis, migration is a central issue approached with a fully integrated perspective,? Reyes said. ?He emphasizes that it is impossible to think about migration without also considering climate change, the current economic system, and its political consequences.?

?He insists that addressing migration cannot be done in isolation because the interconnection between these factors is absolute,? Reyes continued. ?For the pope, migration serves as a lens through which to view the broader realities of what is happening in the world today.? 

In an excerpt from the text, previously published by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Francis emphasizes that it is ?absolutely necessary to address the causes that cause migration in the countries of origin.? He also affirms that no country can ?face this challenge in isolation.?

In the book, Pope Francis also highlights the importance of promoting ?well-managed? migration, which could help resolve ?the serious crisis caused by low birth rates,? especially in Europe, as long as the integral development of migrants is guaranteed.

View of Gaza conflict

Reyes clarified the pope?s perspective on the Israel-Hamas conflict. In a recently released quote from the book, the Holy Father called for a careful investigation into Gaza, as ?according to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.? 

The comment generated swift criticism from Israel?s ambassador to the Holy See, who highlighted Israel?s ?right of self-defense? in response to the ?genocidal massacre? by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which was the most deadly mass massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. 

A 93-year-old Holocaust survivor also criticized the remark on Monday, saying the Holy Father used the term genocide ?too easily.?

But Reyes noted that the pope is advocating for an investigation, not making a set judgment.

?The pope isn?t taking a stance on whether genocide is happening or not,? Reyes said. ?Instead, he?s emphasizing the importance of an investigation. He suggests that if there are claims of genocide, a thorough investigation is required to determine whether the conditions for genocide ? criteria A, B, C, and D ? are met. If these conditions are fulfilled in the current circumstances within that region, it would then require a formal declaration by the international community.? 

The call for an investigation takes place amid several accusations against Israel. South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice last December for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention, while a Nov. 14 report by the United Nations Special Committee claimed that Israel?s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, citing famine in Gaza and civilian casualties. 

Critics of the U.N. have cited the group?s Hamas sympathies, noting that a top U.N. humanitarian aid official claimed that Hamas is not a terrorist group. Hamas is known for its long-standing practice of using civilians as human shields. Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza has employed Hamas members, with nine UNRWA employees allegedly participating in the Oct. 7 attack.

?Something good is coming?

In addition to global issues, Pope Francis is also addressing spiritual issues by inviting people to be ?pilgrims of hope.? As pilgrims, hope is ?the anchor and the sail? that guides us toward a more ?fraternal future.?

?The pope says the key word is hope, which he contrasts not only with despair but also with mere optimism,? Reyes said. ?Optimism, he explains, can be fleeting ? here one moment, gone the next. Hope, especially Christian hope, is different. It?s not just a theological virtue but also a mindset rooted in the certainty that something good is coming. At the same time, this hope requires action; it?s not passive.? 

?We are called to work at building hope each day, to make it a reality through our efforts,? Reyes concluded.

Blessed Carlo Acutis (left) and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati / Credit: Diocese of Assisi/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Rome Newsroom, Nov 20, 2024 / 05:58 am (CNA).

Pope Francis announced Wednesday that Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, two young Catholics beloved for their vibrant faith and witness to holiness, will be canonized during two major jubilee celebrations dedicated to young people.

The surprise announcement came at the conclusion of the pope?s weekly general audience in St. Peter?s Square as Francis celebrated World Children?s Day. 

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later confirmed that Acutis? canonization will occur during the Church?s Jubilee of Teenagers taking place April 25?27, 2025, and Frassati?s canonization will take place during the Jubilee of Youth from July 28?Aug. 3, 2025.

According to the Diocese of Assisi, Acutis? canonization Mass is expected to take place on Sunday, April 27, at 10:30 a.m. local time in St. Peter?s Square.

Both soon-to-be saints are beloved by many Catholic young people for their enthusiastic pursuit of holiness. The two canonizations are expected to bring many young people to the Eternal City in 2025 for the Catholic Church?s Jubilee of Hope.

Carlo Acutis: the first millennial saint

Acutis, an Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006, is known for his great devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Acutis told his mother: ?To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.?

To accomplish this, Acutis sought to attend daily Mass as often as he could at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.

Acutis called the Eucharist ?my highway to heaven,? and he did all in his power to make this presence known. His witness inspired his own parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptized.

Acutis was a tech-savvy kid who loved computers, animals, and video games. His spiritual director has recalled that Acutis was convinced that the evidence of Eucharistic miracles could be persuasive in helping people to realize that Jesus is present at every Mass.

Over the course of two and a half years, Acutis worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II and has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.

Many of Acutis? classmates, friends, and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. Acutis was a very open person and was not shy about speaking with his classmates and anyone he met about the things he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and heaven.

He is remembered for saying: ?People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.?

Acutis died at the age of 15 in 2006, shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Acutis told his mother: ?I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the pope and for the Church in order not to go to purgatory but to go straight to heaven.?

Thousands of people visited Acutis? tomb in Assisi following his beatification in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 10, 2020.

Since his beatification, Catholic schools from the Australian outback to England have been named after Acutis, as well as countless ministries and parish initiatives.

Pope Francis encouraged young people to imitate Acutis in prioritizing ?the great gift of the Eucharist? in his message for the upcoming diocesan World Youth Days.

Pier Giorgio Frassati: ?To the heights? of holiness

Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is also beloved by many today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches ?to the heights.?

The young man from the northern Italian city of Turin was an avid mountaineer and Third Order Dominican known for his charitable outreach.

Born on Holy Saturday, April 6, 1901, Frassati was the son of the founder and director of the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to taking care of the poor, the homeless, and the sick as well as demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.

Frassati was also involved in the Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action. He obtained permission to receive daily Communion.

On a photograph of what would be his last climb, Frassati wrote the phrase ?Verso L?Alto,? which means ?to the heights.? This phrase has become a motto for Catholics inspired by Frassati to strive for the summit of eternal life with Christ.

Frassati died of polio on July 4, 1925. His doctors later speculated that the young man had caught polio while serving the sick.

John Paul II, who beatified Frassati in 1990, called him a ?man of the eight beatitudes,? describing him as ?entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor.?

The Vatican has yet to announce the recognition of the second miracle attributed to Frassati, which made his canonization possible.

The confirmation of the miracle from the Vatican, along with the announcement of the specific date of Frassati?s canonization Mass, are expected in the future.

The Texas Supreme Court will allow the execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of the murder of his infant child, with the ruling coming after a legislative committee attempted in October 2024 to delay the capital sentence by subpoenaing the condemned man. / Credit: Innocence Project

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

The Texas Supreme Court will allow the execution of a man convicted of the murder of his infant child, with the ruling coming after a legislative committee attempted last month to delay the capital sentence by subpoenaing the condemned man.

The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence last month had issued a subpoena for Robert Roberson to appear before the committee to testify regarding the state?s ?junk science? law. Roberson was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his infant daughter, Nikki.

The Texas Supreme Court granted an emergency motion to halt his execution, which had originally been scheduled to take place Oct. 17. The latest state Supreme Court ruling does not concern Roberson?s innocence or guilt but rather the state Legislature?s power to delay executions.

The court ruled that the Legislature cannot delay Roberson?s execution in order to obtain his testimony.

?We conclude that under these circumstances the committee?s authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution,? Justice Evan A. Young wrote in the opinion.

?We do not repudiate legislative investigatory power, but any testimony relevant to a legislative task here could have been obtained long before the death warrant was issued ? or even afterwards, but before the execution.?

The high court pointed out that nothing prevents the Legislature from obtaining his testimony now that his execution is already delayed.

?There remains a substantial period between now and any potential future rescheduling of Roberson?s execution,? the ruling said. ?If the committee still wishes to obtain his testimony ? so long as a subpoena issues in a way that does not inevitably block a scheduled execution, nothing in our holding prevents the committee from pursuing judicial relief in the ordinary way to compel a witness? testimony.?

State Attorney General Ken Paxton?s office in a Nov. 18 statement said the lawmakers who issued the subpoena ?conspired to block the lawful execution of a man convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki.? 

?Ensuring justice for murder victims is one of my most sacred responsibilities as attorney general, and we fought every step of the way for her,? he said.

Roberson was convicted of Nikki?s murder in 2003 after he brought her to a local hospital with severe injuries. Roberson claimed the baby had fallen from her bed, but medical experts argued that her injuries were consistent with child abuse. 

Testimony at his trial included the claim that Nikki?s injuries were consistent with ?shaken baby syndrome,? a formerly common diagnosis that is controversial today among experts.

Since his conviction, Roberson has attempted to establish his innocence by invoking Texas? ?junk science? law, which allows defendants to argue that scientific evidence used in their conviction was flawed. He would be the first person in the U.S. put to death for a conviction linked to ?shaken baby syndrome? if his execution ends up moving forward, CBS News reported.

After he was subpoenaed last month, Roberson was ultimately not permitted to testify to the state Legislature virtually. Lawmakers cited the fact that he has autism and has rarely interacted with modern technology during his 20-year incarceration. The Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee had expressed hope to have Roberson appear to testify in person at another time.

The Catholic Church teaches that the death penalty is ?inadmissible,? even for people who have committed heinous crimes.

In mid-October, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops said in a statement that it was ?grateful? for the decision to halt the execution, and Bishop Joe Vásquez of the local Diocese of Austin said that the bishops of Texas believe that ?he is innocent, and at least his case should be reviewed.? 

Later that month, the Catholic conference noted in a statement that under state law, when a new execution date is requested, a 90-day posting of the date is required, so the earliest the state could execute Roberson would be February 2025. The conference urged continued prayers for Roberson. 

null / Credit: Biz Pic Baby/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, is missing a large batch of donations with parishioners urged to monitor bank accounts amid an investigation into the whereabouts of the funds. 

A letter to diocesan residents from Bishop Kevin Sweeney, obtained by CNA, said the missing funds were part of the Paterson Diocese?s ministries appeal. 

The diocese for 10 years has used a third-party firm that ?specializes in processing and recording donations,? Sweeney said. 

That arrangement is ?used by many dioceses and nonprofits to ensure there is an independent, ?arms-length? distance between the office that conducts a fundraising effort and the funds that come in,? the bishop noted. 

Sweeney said workers on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 dropped appeal responses from ?approximately 1,700 parishioners? into a FedEx drop box. The appeals were addressed to the processing firm.

?Unfortunately, the packages never arrived at their destination, and the tracking number for each package used to monitor the location was never entered, making it impossible to know their current whereabouts,? the bishop said. 

Of the 1,700 responses, Sweeney said, the diocese estimates ?approximately 500 ? may have contained cash, checks, and credit card information.?

The prelate said the diocese has been in ?constant contact with FedEx about this issue? and that officials were ?not ruling out foul play.? Law enforcement has been notified, he said. 

Sweeney said the diocese has changed its processing procedures. ?[We] now bring all packages to a FedEx store where we watch it get scanned and receive a receipt and tracking information,? he said.

The bishop urged parishioners to ?monitor your credit card activity or checking account to make sure there are no irregularities.?

Sweeney acknowledged that it was ?distressing that an action beyond our control may have impacted even a small number of our faithful supporters.? 

?What makes this even more upsetting is a concern that this could impact those who want to give to the Diocesan Ministries Appeal but may now be hesitant,? he noted. ?This has the unintended effect of impacting funding to the important and vital ministries in our diocese, such as Catholic Charities, where the need is so great.? 

?We hope that this does not deter the faithful from supporting our appeal, especially now that a solution is in place to ensure the tracking of every package,? Sweeney added. 

On its website, the diocesan appeal says the funds raised go toward Catholic education, seminarian support, senior priest retirement, and taking care of people with special needs.

null / Credit: natatravel/Shutterstock

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov 19, 2024 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

?With a supreme and definitive decision,? Pope Francis expelled from the clerical state for the crime of schism Fernando María Cornet, an Argentine who served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Sassari, Italy.

Cornet, 57, wrote a book titled ?Habemus Antipapam?? (?Do We Have an Antipope??), published in 2023 by the publishing house Edizioni del Faro, the Argentine newspaper La Nación reported. In his book, Cornet asserts that Pope Benedict XVI?s resignation was invalid and, consequently, so was the election of Pope Francis.

In announcing the decision, the archbishop of Sassari, Gian Franco Saba, urged the community to pray for the unity of the Church.

?The members of Christ must not be in conflict with each other; all those who form his body must each fulfill their own office ... so that there may be no divisions,? he said.

The archdiocese also announced that the vicar of the Historic Urban Center Subzone, Father Antonino Canu, will serve as parish administrator of St. Donatus and St. Sixtus in Sassari. 

He will be assisted in his ministry by the priests of Cottolengo who already work in the Historic Center and other priests present in the pastoral district, the archdiocese added.

The statement, dated Nov. 13, is signed by the chancellor of the archdiocese, Father Antonio Spanu.

According to La Nación, in mid-May, a letter from the Vatican asked Cornet ?to withdraw the book from circulation, to publicly declare that it had errors, to ask for forgiveness, and to recognize Pope Francis as the legitimate pope.?

However, the now former priest said he ?couldn?t do so because that?s not how things are and also because no one from the DDF [Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith] was able to explain to me what the errors in my book are; no one ever gave me an argument.?

Cornet foresaw that he would incur this sentence and stated that for writing his book ?he was going to be persecuted by someone who had illegitimately occupied a place that didn?t belong to him, throwing the Church into crisis with illegitimate decisions and illegitimate appointments of bishops.?

What is the crime of schism?

According to Canon 751 of the Catholic Church?s Code of Canon Law, schism takes place when a baptized person refuses ?submission to the supreme pontiff or communion with the members of the Church subject to him.?

?An apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs a ?latae sententiae? excommunication? (automatic), according to Canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law, and can also be punished with other penalties including, in the case of priests, expulsion from the clerical state.

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

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn. / Credit: Jim.henderson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

A pastor in Brooklyn, New York, has been removed from his city parish after a review found alleged ?severe? financial violations, including a secret transfer of parish funds totaling almost $2 million. 

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said in a statement this week that he had relieved Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello of ?any pastoral oversight or governance role? at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish after an outside review found ?evidence of severe violations of diocesan policies and protocols.? 

Brennan previously disciplined Gigantiello last year after the priest allowed pop star Sabrina Carpenter to shoot a lewd music video in the church. Brennan at that time relieved the pastor of administrative oversight of the parish. 

Gigantiello?s removal from the pastorship this week came after investigations revealed he reportedly ?mishandled substantial church funds and interfered with the administration of the parish after being directed not to do so,? Brennan said in his statement. 

From 2019 to 2021 the priest allegedly transferred $1.9 million of parish funds to bank accounts linked to the attorney Frank Carone, a longtime figure in Brooklyn Democratic politics. Carone served as chief of staff for New York Mayor Eric Adams in 2022. 

It is unclear what Carone or his affiliates may have used the money for. The diocese in its statement indicated that the loans were repaid, one of them at about 9% interest. 

The diocese said there were ?other instances? in which Gigantiello misused parish funds, including using a church credit card for ?substantial personal expenses.? 

In addition to removing Gigantiello, Brennan said he had also placed Deacon Dean Dobbins, the parish?s temporary administrator, on administrative leave. 

The diocese said that earlier in the month it had received evidence from Gigantiello?s attorneys of ?racist and other offensive comments? made by Dobbins ?during private conversations in the parish office.?

The remarks were secretly recorded ?at the direction of [Gigantiello],? the diocese said.

?It was wrong to secretly record Deacon Dobbins, but the use of such language by any church employee is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,? Brennan said in his statement. 

The diocese said that it is ?fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations.? 

In addition to his removal from the leadership of the Brooklyn parish, Gigantiello last year was also removed from his role as the diocesan vicar for development, a position he had held for about 15 years. 

Earlier this year Carpenter had joked about her putative role in helping launch federal investigations into New York City leadership, specifically Adams, who was charged with financial crimes in September.

In a concert at Madison Square Garden days after the mayor was charged, the singer suggested that last year?s controversy over the music video shot at the Brooklyn church may have led to Adams being targeted by federal agents. 

?Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?? she asked her audience at the concert.

Pope Francis attends a Vatican screening of the 2022 documentary ?Freedom on Fire: Ukraine?s Fight for Freedom? on Feb. 24, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

In a letter sent to Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, on Nov. 19, Pope Francis expressed his great sorrow for the suffering of the people of Ukraine, who have now endured 1,000 days of war since the outbreak of the violent conflict there in 2022.

The letter was published in Italian by L'Osservatore Romano on Nov. 19. 

Addressing his representative in ?beloved and tormented Ukraine,? the Holy Father said he wished ?to embrace all its citizens, wherever they may be,? and acknowledged the extreme hardships the Ukrainian people have suffered under ?large-scale military aggression? for the past 1,000 days. 

The pope told the nuncio, whom he addressed as ?brother,? that his words are meant to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to convey ?a heartfelt invocation to God,? who he said is ?the only source of life, hope, and wisdom, so that he may convert hearts and make them capable of starting paths of dialogue, reconciliation, and harmony.?

Francis quoted Psalm 121: ?My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,?  recalling how every day at 9 a.m., Ukrainians observe a ?minute of national silence? for the victims of the conflict.

?I join them, so that the cry that rises to heaven, from which help comes, may be stronger,? the pope wrote.

He went on to pray that the Lord will ?console our hearts and strengthen the hope that, while he collects all the tears shed and will ask for an account of them, he remains beside us even when human efforts seem fruitless and actions not sufficient.?

The pope ended the letter to the archbishop by entrusting the Ukrainian people to God and blessing them, ?beginning with the bishops and priests, with whom you, dear brother, have remained alongside the sons and daughters of this nation throughout these 1,000 days of suffering.?

Vatican News released a short video to mark the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine:

Sarah Richardson, a sidewalk counselor with Coalition Life in Carbondale, Illinois. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Thomas More Society

St. Louis, Mo., Nov 19, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

A St. Louis pro-life group has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a rural Illinois town?s now-defunct ?buffer zone? law, which previously impeded the group?s peaceful protests and counseling outside the town?s abortion clinics. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not it will take up the case on Nov. 22.

The case, Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois, concerns a law restricting protests outside three abortion clinics in Carbondale, a small college town about two hours southeast of St. Louis and three hours north of Memphis, Tennessee, both major cities in states that currently have strong pro-life protections in place. 

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Illinois leaders have leaned in to the state?s status as a destination for women seeking abortions throughout the Midwest. Democratic leaders in the state had been expanding protections for abortion in the state for years before the fall of Roe, removing all criminal penalties for performing abortions and lifting regulations on clinics. 

Notably, in 2019, Planned Parenthood opened an 18,000-square-foot, $7 million ?mega? abortion clinic in southern Illinois just a dozen miles from downtown St. Louis, originally expected to see 11,000 patients a year.

Coalition Life, a St. Louis-based pro-life organization, had been engaging in peaceful sidewalk counseling of women outside Carbondale?s abortion clinics, offering information about free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, STD testing, and recommending ?options coaching? at a pro-life pregnancy center.

The pro-life group was engaged in this work until the town, citing what people associated with the abortion clinic described as ?aggressive and misleading tactics,? amended its ?disorderly conduct? ordinance to criminalize approaching within eight feet of another person without their consent for purposes of protest, education, or counseling within 100 feet of a health care facility.

Such ordinances, which have been enacted in various local municipalities and at least three states at large across the country, are often known as ?buffer zone? or ?bubble zone? laws.

Buffer zone laws

Carbondale?s ordinance was modeled after a Colorado law upheld in the seminal 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case Hill v. Colorado, a precedent that has faced numerous legal challenges from pro-life advocates over the years as pro-lifers argue such laws chill their right to free speech. In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear a similar case, which challenged a ?bubble zone? ordinance in Westchester County, New York.

The Supreme Court has ruled in the past, however, against very large buffer zones, striking down a 35-foot buffer zone ordinance in Massachusetts in McCullen v. Coakley in 2014. In 2020, though, the high court turned away challenges to eight-foot and 20-foot buffer zones in Chicago and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, citing the Hill precedent. 

Coalition Life is asking the Supreme Court to overturn Hill v. Colorado, which it says would allow ordinances and laws nationwide modeled after the Colorado statute to be challenged and potentially struck down, creating a more level playing field for public discourse on abortion, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade returned the issue of abortion policy to the states. 

A federal district court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 7th Circuit have already ruled against Coalition Life in the case, and a similar case challenging a buffer zone law in Englewood, New Jersey, has also faced roadblocks in federal courts.  

Peter Breen, the executive vice president and head of litigation for the Thomas More Society, which is helping to represent Coalition Life, said in a statement that ?Hill v. Colorado was egregiously wrong on the day it was decided, and it remains a black mark in our law to this day.?

??Bubble zones,? like the one in Carbondale, are an unconstitutional and overzealous attempt to show favor to abortion businesses at the expense of the free speech rights of folks who seek to offer information, alternatives, and resources to pregnant women in need,? Breen added. 

?It?s time to end, once and for all, the political gamesmanship places like Carbondale play with our free speech rights.?

According to Capitol News Illinois, this past July the Carbondale City Council quietly and unanimously repealed the buffer zone language from its disorderly conduct code ? which had been in place only 18 months and was never enforced ? only a few days prior to Coalition Life?s petition to the Supreme Court. 

Opportunity to correct ?flawed precedent?

Coalition Life argues in its petition to the Supreme Court that its case presents a clear opportunity to correct a flawed precedent that continues to undermine First Amendment rights, adding that Carbondale?s attempt to moot the case by repealing the ordinance highlights the urgent need for the Supreme Court to act. 

Carbondale and other municipalities will readily reenact similar ordinances if the Supreme Court declines to take up the case, the group argues. 

?It took them four minutes to repeal that, and assuming that we stopped fighting, it will take them four minutes to put the bubble zone back in,? Coalition Life founder Brian Westbrook told Capitol News Illinois.

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla was among the speakers featured at the 2024 Conference on Catholics and Public Life Nov. 15?17, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates)

Madrid, Spain, Nov 19, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, described socialism as an ideology that is an ?enemy of the cross? at the Conference on Catholics and Public Life organized by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates) this past weekend.

During his talk titled ?Thinking and Acting in Times of Uncertainty,? Munilla pointed out that ?we cannot confront this attack and this systematic imposition of a new society only with criticism and new political leadership, but rather a movement of converts is required. We will only get out of this crisis through a renewal of holiness.?

He also maintained that society needs a ?change of worldview in which we go from being enemies of the cross to being the people of the cross? because, he emphasized, ?without the cross there is no glory; it?s a great mistake to make a dichotomy between the cross and happiness; the cross leads us to glory, and glory is complete happiness.?

In this context, he described socialism as an ?ideology that is an enemy of the cross? whose sociological and political currents have become ?the grave of peoples, in which the ?nanny state? solves all the problems,? without appealing to the sacrifice and commitment of individuals.

As a result, an ?anthropological crisis is being created, raising it to the level of law and supreme precept, which seeks to rebel against the natural order, turning wounds into rights instead of accepting emotional wounds, the fruit of the disintegration of the family.?

The bishop added that ?we are trying to compensate for the inner emptiness of man with consumerism and materialism; fleeing from affective commitment and from opening up to the gift of life; and suffering is being treated as something incompatible with human dignity: This world suffers so much for not wanting to suffer, for escaping from the cross of Christ.?

Hadjadj: Facing uncertainty is a life-or-death challenge

For his part, French philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj addressed the general theme of the conference, ?Quo Vadis? Thinking and Acting in Times of Uncertainty,? appealing for each person to get involved: ?Where are you going? Not ?where is the world going,? since with this question one can be a spectator and can be content with complaining.?

Hadjadj pointed out that living in a time of uncertainty ?is not just any challenge? but rather a challenge that is configured as a question ?if not of honor, at least of life or death.? To do so, it is necessary ?to have a healed soul, to accept having a body bruised by martyrdom.?

At the same time, he pointed out that it is inevitable to experience ?the least confessable emotion: fear. Not so much the fear of dying, but the fear of living up to the challenge, the fear of maintaining our reputation for being alive.?

In postmodern Europe, this challenge is embodied in a continent, a society that ?despairs of what is human and tends today to constitutionalize abortion and euthanasia; to revise colonial history, lumping together the conqueror and the missionary.?

These are demands ?that many imagine to be linked to the affirmation of individual freedom and, in reality, they emanate from the death of aspiring. They correspond to the agitation of despair,? the philosopher pointed out.

Ayaan Hirsi: The less Christian presence, the greater the crisis

The conference also featured the participation of human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who stressed that ?the less presence there is of Christianity in society,? the greater the social crisis in the West.

In her presentation, titled ?Free to Seek the Truth,? Hirsi explained that multiculturalism and globalization are ?two sides of the same coin.?

On the one hand, there is a ?retribalization of society, with the growth of identity groups ?who have no national loyalty to the country they call home.? On the other, there is the evaporation of a set of shared values, the fragmentation of society, and the ethnicization and racialization of all political issues.

Hirsi denounced the ?atrocious restrictions on freedom of expression, religion, and the resurgence of a [socially] acceptable and legitimate racism against whites and against Jews in Europe and in America in the name of intersectional social justice.?

She also warned of the proliferation of ?pseudo religions that present themselves as equal or superior to Christianity itself? as well as the appeal of ?ideas that challenge reality? such as ?the existence of multiple genders.?

These trends, in her opinion, create an increasing difficulty in teaching children the difference between good and evil. At the university, the search for truth is replaced ?by the development of narratives,? while ?the search for excellence through merit is branded as an enemy of diversity.?

?If this trend continues, it will mark the beginning of the downfall,? she emphasized.

Recovering a strong and reliable Christianity 

For Hirsi, ?we must recover a strong and reliable Christianity. Churches must stop adopting every new fad and revive the true message and teachings of Christ.?

She also called for ?resisting the ongoing demographic decline? in Europe by making it attractive for young people to marry and have a family. She also called for schools, universities, and the arts to recognize ?their role in promoting the Christian ethos that led to the formation of the institutions that make the West extraordinary.?

?None of these changes can be achieved if we do not organize, participate, and mobilize to achieve a strong majority that participates and acts. Only by recovering a sense of unity based on common values ??and not on differences will we be able to build stronger and more cohesive societies in these uncertain times,? she concluded.

Presence of young people at the conference

The 26th Conference on Catholics and Public Life sought to reach out to young people in particular, offering some specific opportunities, such as a roundtable with digital missionaries.

It was attended by 1,000 young people from different Spanish cities who heard testimonies and encouragement from three evangelizers on social media: Carlos Taracena, Carla Restoy, and Irene Alonso, among others.

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

Coat of arms of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher. / Credit: Mathieu Chaine/CC BY-SA 3.0

National Catholic Register, Nov 19, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Associated Press recently claimed that President-elect Donald Trump?s nominee to be secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, had tattoos supposedly connected with Christian nationalism and even white supremacy. It focused especially on the tattoo of a Jerusalem Cross on Hegseth?s upper chest. 

The reporting ? immediately criticized as anti-Christian by Vice President-elect JD Vance and many others on social media ? begs the question: What does the symbol actually mean?

The Jerusalem Cross is one of the most immediately distinguishable Christian symbols anywhere. It comprises a large central cross, called a cross potent, usually with crossbars at the four ends nesting four smaller Greek crosses. It is a deceptively simple design that has now been used for centuries to represent the Church in Jerusalem and to remind the faithful and the world of the Evangelists, Jerusalem, and the suffering of Christ. It is also the heraldic insignia closely associated with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and especially the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. 

A symbol of pilgrimage

The cross first appeared in the years before Pope Blessed Urban II called for the First Crusade (1096?1099) to set off to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control. Called at times the Crusader?s Cross, it became attached particularly to the coat of arms of the famed Crusader knight Godfrey de Bouillon, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, but it was not in common use until the latter half of the 13th century when it was adopted as the chief banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem that ruled over much of the Holy Land until the final expulsion of the Christian knights from the Holy Land in 1291. Even after the end of the Crusader era, pilgrims carried the image of the Jerusalem Cross, connecting their own faith journeys to the passion of Our Lord and the desire to see the Holy City. 

The cross has been ubiquitous in Christian imagery ever since. It appears in the artistic and architectural ornamentation of churches and Christian buildings, as a design on Bible covers, and very often as a beautiful piece of jewelry worn to declare one?s Christian faith. The country of Georgia has also used versions of the Jerusalem Cross for its national flag off and on since the early 14th century.

Visitors and pilgrims to Jerusalem will also often receive a tattoo of the cross at the completion of their pilgrimage. This is a tradition that dates back more than 700 years. Perhaps the most famous recipient was in 1862 when Albert, the prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, received a Jerusalem Cross tattoo on his arm during a visit to the Holy Land. Twenty years later, his two sons, Prince George, duke of York (the future King George V), and Prince Albert Victor, duke of Clarence, also received Jerusalem Cross tattoos while visiting Jerusalem. 

Today, the Jerusalem Cross is still the main insignia of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem ? the Latin Catholic diocese for the Holy Land ? the Custody of the Holy Land run by the Franciscan Order, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The Order of the Holy Sepulchre is a lay institution and Catholic order of knighthood placed under the protection of the Holy See that has as its main aim to deepen the faith among its members and to support the charitable and social works and institutions of the Church in the Holy Land. The 30,000 worldwide members help build hospitals, schools, clinics, and missions that assist not just Christians but Muslims and Jews and even nonbelievers. In that way, too, the order promotes peace, interreligious harmony, and a future of stability for the Holy Land. Its members are immediately recognized by their cloaks, which are decorated with the red Jerusalem Cross. The official publication of the order?s Rome-based leadership is called The Jerusalem Cross. 

The meanings of the Jerusalem Cross

The five elements of the Jerusalem Cross ? the cross potent and the four Greek crosses ? have been given different spiritual meanings over the centuries, but each reflects the way that the imagery of the cross is focused not on crusades or nationalism but on Christ. 

One interpretation is that the five elements represent Christ?s sacrifice on the cross through his five wounds: The smaller crosses depict the wounds on Christ?s feet and hands, and the main cross represents the piercing of his side by the centurion?s spear. 

Another version proposes that the four smaller crosses represent the four Evangelists ? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ? while the fifth cross is for Christ. Part of that interpretation is that the four crosses show the way that the Evangelists helped spread the Gospel to the four corners of the world and that we are called to proclaim the faith as well with our minds and hearts focused on the empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 

Anyone can wear a medallion of the Jerusalem Cross or tattoo themselves with it. But whether we wear it around our necks or place it upon our bodies, we should have as our only purpose to revere and embrace what it represents. Pope Benedict XVI said it well in 2009 when he visited the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: 

?This holy place, where God?s power was revealed in weakness and human sufferings were transfigured by divine glory, invites us to look once again with the eyes of faith upon the face of the crucified and risen Lord. Contemplating his glorified flesh, completely transfigured by the Spirit, may we come to realize more fully that even now, through baptism, ?we bear in our bodies the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our own mortal flesh? (2 Cor 4:10-11). Even now, the grace of the Resurrection is at work within us! May our contemplation of this mystery spur our efforts, both as individuals and as members of the ecclesial community, to grow in the life of the Spirit through conversion, penance, and prayer. May it help us to overcome, by the power of that same Spirit, every conflict and tension born of the flesh, and to remove every obstacle, both within and without, standing in the way of our common witness to Christ and the reconciling power of his love.? 

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

null / Credit: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 19, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pro-life advocates plan to push federal- and state-level legislative and policy reforms on abortion when the United States Congress and many state legislatures enter into session in January 2025.

Many plans look toward regulating the abortion drug mifepristone, which is used in chemical abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion policy group, chemical abortions accounted for 63% of all abortions in 2023, which is an increase of 10 percentage points from 2020 and more than double what it was in 2014.

Other efforts will include rolling back the abortion policies of President Joe Biden?s administration, supporting conscience protections for doctors and hospitals opposed to abortion, and backing a federal law that restricts abortion by a certain point in pregnancy. There is currently no federal abortion cutoff, and nine states permit elective abortion for any reason through the ninth month of pregnancy, until the moment of birth.

Abortion policy has become a major battle over the past two and a half years after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. With this decision, states and the federal government can restrict abortion. More than 20 states adopted laws to restrict abortion and protect life, but pro-abortion activists pushed back in several states through the referendum process.

President-elect Donald Trump will provide the movement with an executive branch more friendly to their cause. However, he has also changed his position on abortion in recent years ? rejecting a ban on chemical abortion drugs and promising to veto a federal law to ban abortions, instead favoring a state-by-state approach.

Pro-life efforts are further complicated by voters who support Republican candidates but also want abortion to remain legal. For example, in 2024 voters in Montana, Missouri, Arizona, and Nevada voted to elect Trump but also voted in favor of pro-abortion ballot initiatives.

The effort to regulate abortion drugs

Students for Life of America (SFLA) unveiled its ?Make America Pro-Life Again? roadmap, which makes chemical abortion pills the primary focus. The organization sees opportunities to regulate and restrict those drugs, even in the states where voters have enshrined a legal right to abortion in their state constitutions.

SFLA President Kristan Hawkins told CNA ?there?s a lot that you can do? in states that have a constitutional right to abortion, noting that a right to abortion ?doesn?t mean [every] type of abortion should be permitted.?

For instance, Hawkins said states could follow a new law in Louisiana to classify mifepristone and misoprostol ? two drugs used for chemical abortions ? as controlled substances. 

She also pointed to state and federal efforts to pass legislation that regulates the disposal of human remains of the unborn child expelled from the body after taking chemical abortion pills. She said the remains are commonly flushed into American waterways, which pollutes the water supply.

Other state-level measures include bans on the sale, manufacture, and distribution of chemical abortion pills within a state. Such a measure successfully passed in Wyoming but was temporarily blocked by a judge. Another route would be to impose civil and criminal liabilities on abortionists who mail abortion drugs into their state.

At the federal level, Hawkins suggested enforcement of the Comstock Act, which prohibits the delivery of ?obscene? and ?vile? products through the mail, including anything designed to produce an abortion. The law was first adopted in 1873 but was updated as recently as the 1990s. 

During Trump?s campaign, the president-elect said he would not enforce the Comstock Act to prevent the mail delivery of abortion drugs and said chemical abortion is ?going to be available? during his presidency. Hawkins said that if Trump ?wants to be the president of law and order,? he should enforce the law as it is written.

Other federal efforts would focus on issuing regulations through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. 

Reversing Biden?s policies

At the federal level, pro-life advocates hope to work with Trump on reversing some of Biden?s policies.

?We?re very focused on encouraging the Trump administration to undo all of the harm [from] the Biden administration,? Kelsey Pritchard, the director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, also told CNA. 

Biden?s policies include federal funds for abortion overseas, a policy at the U.S. Department of Defense to fund abortion travel costs for service members and their families, and the prosecution of pro-life protesters charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

Hawkins also referenced the ?weaponization of the government against Americans who are pro-life? in reference to recent FACE Act convictions. She criticized the U.S. Department of Justice for its harsh prosecution of peaceful protesters and its failure to prosecute more individuals who have attacked pro-life pregnancy centers. 

Pardoning the ?pro-life prayer warriors,? as Hawkins referred to them, should be a priority on his first day in office, she said. Trump has said if he is elected he would get those protesters ?back to their families.? 

During his campaign, Trump signaled his openness to reversing other elements of Biden?s abortion agenda. He told EWTN News he would look into reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits taxpayer funds for overseas organizations that provide abortion.

?We?re going to be giving that a very good, serious look,? Trump said, without committing to reinstating the Mexico City Policy. The president-elect did reinstate it during his first term.

Hawkins said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must also ensure that Catholic hospitals will have their freedom of faith and conscience respected and tell them they will not be ?threatened and forced to commit abortions as the state of California is currently doing with Catholic hospitals there.?

Abortion restrictions and support from Republicans

Pro-life advocates still aim to eventually secure congressional passage of federal restrictions on abortion, a goal that will be challenging to achieve given the House?s narrow Republican majority and the Senate?s 60-vote threshold for most bills.

?We need some sort of national minimum standard when it comes to abortion because we are one of eight countries in the world that allows abortion at any point,? Pritchard said, adding that many Americans are open to restricting most abortions at the 15-week mark. 

?That?s something that?s not going to be achieved overnight,? she said.

Hawkins called Trump?s position that abortion should remain a state issue a ?shortsighted view? but that she believes ?we can work with him on that.?

Pritchard added that the pro-life movement needs stronger support from Republicans and referenced Gov. Ron DeSantis? campaign against the the Florida abortion referendum, which narrowly failed to reach the 60% threshold needed for adoption.

?We need more Republicans to do that,? Pritchard said. ?Democrats are so far out of step with the American people.? 

Although the amendment failed to reach the 60% threshold, 57% did vote in favor of it. However, the pro-life movement succeeded in referendums in two other states. In Nebraska, voters supported a ballot initiative to restrict abortion at the 12-week mark and in South Dakota, voters rejected an initiative to enshrine a right to abortion in the state?s constitution.

Pritchard pointed out that Democrats spent a lot of their money running advertisements on abortion but still lost the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, which shows ?abortion is not the silver bullet that the Democrats believed it was.?

?We can only win in states where the [Republican Party] is willing to be bold about what these measures actually do,? Pritchard said.

Pope Francis prays during the Synod on Synodality closing Mass on Oct. 27, 2024, in St. Peter?s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis? call for an investigation into claims that a genocide may be happening in Gaza has garnered criticism. 

In a passage of a new book published ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year and released on Sunday, Pope Francis noted that according to some experts, ?what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide? and called for a careful investigation, according to Vatican News.

The book by Hernán Reyes Alcaide is titled ?Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Toward a Better World? and was written for the occasion of the 2025 Jubilee, which is scheduled to begin Christmas Eve. It includes interviews with Pope Francis and will be released Nov. 19 in Italy, Spain, and Latin America by Edizioni Piemme Publishers. It will be published in other languages at a later date.

Pope Francis said in the book that, ?according to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.?

?In the Middle East, where the open doors of nations like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a salvation for millions of people fleeing conflicts in the region: I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory,? Pope Francis continued.

Israel?s ambassador to the Holy See pushed back against the claim.

Yaron Sideman responded to the pope?s comments on X, highlighting the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israeli citizens by Hamas and pointing to Israel?s right to self-defense.

?There was a genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023 of Israeli citizens, and since then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens,? Sideman stated. ?Any attempt to call it by any other name is singling out the Jewish state.? 

In a Nov. 18 press release, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), a global coalition combating antisemitism, also criticized the pope?s remarks, calling them ?an eighth front? of the war against Israel.

?The State of Israel is currently facing a war of intended annihilation on seven fronts, and these remarks look like a possible opening of an eighth front, from of all places, the Vatican, which can also lead to the spilling of Jewish blood around the world,? said Sacha Roytman, CEO of CAM. ?For a pope who appears to prize even-handedness and peace, we see that the Jewish state once again appears to be the exception.? 

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice for alleged violations against the Genocide Convention, according to Reuters. The court has yet to rule on the charges. 

A United Nations Special Committee on Nov. 14 released a report claiming that ?Israel?s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians there.?

?Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life ? food, water, and fuel,? the committee stated. ?These statements along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel?s intent to instrumentalize lifesaving supplies for political and military gains.?

Pope Francis on Nov. 14 met with several hostages recently freed from months of captivity in Gaza. Sixteen people attended the meeting last Thursday. One attendee, a young boy, gave the pope a football jersey with the name ?Tal Shoham,? the name of a family member who was taken hostage along with his wife, children, mother-in-law, and other relatives, Vatican News reported.

On Oct. 7, 2023, 1,200 people died after Islamic terrorists attacked Israel, taking 252 people hostage. According to Reuters, Palestinian health authorities say more than 41,500 people have been killed by Israel in Gaza.

?Sts. Peter and Paul,? Altar of St. Catherine (1465), Schwabach, Germany. Artist unknown. / Credit: Public domain

Vatican City, Nov 18, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Nov. 18 is celebrated in the Catholic Church as the feast day of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul. Here are three things to know about the historical, architectural, and spiritual significance of these two papal basilicas.  

1. Historical significance of the Nov. 18 feast day 

In the fourth century, the world?s first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, commissioned the construction of two separate basilicas over the burial sites of St. Peter and St. Paul to enable the public veneration of the two great apostles, martyrs, and evangelizers of Rome.

After Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire following the Edict of Milan issued by Constantine in 313, construction of the first Basilica of St. Peter began in 319 and was consecrated by Pope Sylvester on Nov. 18 in 326. Historical records indicate that Sylvester consecrated the first basilica built by Constantine dedicated to the apostle St. Paul on Nov. 19 around the year 330.

The masses of pilgrims who came to pray at the tombs of the ?Prince of the Apostles? and the ?Apostle to the Gentiles? required constant repairs, renovations, and expansion of the two basilicas built by Constantine.

In 1506, Pope Julius II ordered the demolition of the original basilica dedicated to St. Peter to construct the second Basilica of St. Peter, which still stands today. Pope Urban VIII solemnly consecrated the magnificent Basilica of St. Peter 120 years later on Nov. 18, 1626.  

Over the centuries the basilica dedicated to St. Paul underwent several renovations and two major reconstructions. The current Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls is the third basilica built above the apostle?s burial site. In 1854 ? after the great fire of 1823 and over 30 years of construction work ? Pius IX consecrated the newly-built basilica and fixed Nov. 18 as its commemoration date.

2. Architectural significance of the two basilicas 

With histories that span nearly two millennia, both the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls bear the marks of changing architectural designs dating back from the Paleo-Christian period to the present day.

The world-famous 16th-century Basilica of St. Peter, visited by millions of tourists and pilgrims yearly, took over 100 years to construct and was heavily influenced by Western artistic styles of the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Designed by the Italian architect and sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the 94-foot-tall bronze canopy, known as the baldacchino, is a Baroque masterpiece that towers above the central altar and stands directly above the tomb of St. Peter. To highlight the primacy of Peter among the apostles, the baldacchino features sculptures of cherubs holding the papal tiara as well as the ?keys to the kingdom of heaven,? which Jesus entrusted to St. Peter and his successors. Bernini also designed the keyhole shape of St. Peter?s Square.

Throughout its history, the Roman basilica dedicated to St. Paul was a testimony to the Catholic Church?s ancient past. Before the 1823 fire, the basilica housed artworks and historical artifacts from the Paleo-Christian, Byzantine, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.

Reconstructed to be identical to the basilica destroyed by fire, the art and architecture of St. Paul Outside the Walls has taken its inspiration from different architectural styles dating back from the 11th century to contemporary designs of the 21st century.

The holy door of this major basilica was designed by Enrico Manfrini in preparation for the 2000 Jubilee Year. Inside this door stands the Byzantine door, created in 1070, depicting scenes of the life of Christ and the first Christians.

3. Spiritual significance of the two basilicas 

The burial sites of the two patron saints of Rome remain significant places of pilgrimage for Christians.

St. Peter?s Basilica and St. Paul Outside the Walls, two of the four papal basilicas of Rome, are visited by millions of tourists for their historical, architectural, and artistic importance. For Christian pilgrims, the two major basilicas hold a greater spiritual significance that links their faith in Jesus and his Church to two of its most faithful apostles who led the way for Christians throughout the ages through their teachings and witness.

On the June 29 solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis invited all of the Catholic faithful to imitate their example and ?open the doors? of the Church during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. 

?The jubilee will be a time of grace, during which we will open the holy door so that everyone may cross the threshold of that ?living sanctuary? who is Jesus,? the Holy Father said in his homily.

The holy door in the Basilica of St. Peter opens on Christmas Eve to usher in the jubilee year. The holy door of St. Paul Outside the Walls will open on Jan. 5, 2025.

Before being named a commissioner, Brendan Carr was a legal adviser for the Federal Communications Commission and then served as its general counsel. / Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend nominated Brendan Carr, currently serving as the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to be the commission?s next chairman. 

The FCC is an independent agency overseen by Congress that governs, among other things, radio stations transmitting on AM or FM frequencies, satellite radio and TV stations, cable networks, and broadcast TV stations. Its top leadership includes five presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed commissioners, by law a mix of Republicans and Democrats, who serve five-year terms.

A graduate of Georgetown University and The Catholic University of America?s Columbus School of Law, Carr has enjoyed bipartisan support during his tenure at the FCC, having been first nominated to sit on the commission during Trump?s first term and renominated twice under current Democratic President Joe Biden. The Senate unanimously confirmed him as a commissioner after each nomination. 

Before being named a commissioner, Carr was a legal adviser for the FCC and then served as its general counsel. He has generally favored the cutting of regulations on smaller broadcasters and increased regulation on Big Tech. The FCC does not currently have regulatory oversight over tech giants such as Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, the New York Times noted. 

As a commissioner, Carr strongly opposed requirements rolled out under the Biden administration that would have mandated that all U.S. radio and television stations publish information about the race and gender of their employees. 

A group of Catholic radio stations, including several affiliated with EWTN, CNA?s parent company, filed suit earlier this year against the requirements, arguing that the new regulations would ?adversely affect them as well as all religious broadcasters generally.?

Carr said in a statement dissenting from the FCC?s February ruling introducing the mandate that he would not have opposed such a requirement if the filings remained confidential. The fact that such filings will be made public, however, means that the FCC will soon ?post a race and gender scorecard for each and every TV and radio broadcast station in the country.?

?This is no benign disclosure regime. The record makes clear that the FCC is choosing to publish these scorecards for one and only one reason: to ensure that individual businesses are targeted and pressured into making decisions based on race and gender,? Carr asserted at the time. 

Carr is a critic of ?net neutrality,? a policy previously endorsed by U.S. Catholic leaders that bars internet service providers like Comcast or AT&T from blocking or slowing down content from particular websites or web-based services, treating the internet more as a public utility than a commodity. Trump?s first administration under FCC commissioner Ajit Pai rolled back net neutrality rules, while Biden?s administration reinstated them earlier this year. 

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), a trade association for Christian communicators, offered its endorsement of Carr for FCC chairman on Nov. 15, saying Carr has ?comprehensively supported policies that allow smaller, independent, and religious broadcasters to conduct their business without burdensome government interference.?

How Carr might lead the FCC

Carr authored a chapter of ?Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise,? also known as Project 2025, expounding on the qualities he says will be crucial in the next FCC commissioner. 

In the chapter, Carr wrote that the FCC ought to address the issue of Big Tech corporations abusing their dominant market positions and attempting to stifle diverse political viewpoints online. 

He also recommended that the FCC demand more transparency from Big Tech, suggesting that the FCC issue an order clarifying Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which has generally been interpreted to protect the operators of websites such as Facebook and Instagram from legal liability for content posted by third parties, unless those sites knowingly promote sex trafficking and prostitution. 

Carr suggested the FCC should clarify the liability protections afforded to online platforms when it comes to censoring users? speech, saying Section 230 has thus far been interpreted to ?confer on some of the world?s largest companies a sweeping immunity that is found nowhere in the text of the statute.? 

The FCC should work to safeguard U.S. communications networks from foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party, Carr urged, expressing skepticism about Chinese telecom operators as well as TikTok. 

Carr has for several years strongly backed the building out of the U.S. network of 5G coverage and suggested that the FCC should work to modernize its infrastructure regulations to encourage the expansion of fiber networks and streamline the permitting process for new infrastructure projects. 

He also wrote that the agency should prioritize transparency and accountability in its operations, proposing that the FCC eliminate unnecessary regulations and ensure its rules are grounded in sound data and analysis.

null / Credit: Noska Photo/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Police in Arizona are investigating an October parish fire as an act of arson, with authorities seeking help identifying a suspect in the blaze amid warnings from federal law enforcement over increased arson activity against houses of worship. 

Fire officials at the time indicated that the incident was not initially considered an act of arson. But Casa Grande police said over the weekend that a suspect was being sought in connection with the fire. 

The Casa Grande Police Department said in a Facebook post on Saturday that the fire at St. Anthony of Padua ?was purposely set? and that investigators need ?help identifying [the] suspect.? 

The police have ?been working closely with the Casa Grande Fire Department and the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives] to complete this investigation,? the post said. 

The police department did not immediately respond to a query about the status of the investigation. 

The investigation comes after the ATF earlier this month urged houses of worship to exercise ?increased vigilance? and adopt new security measures amid a series of recent arson incidents against churches in the Northeast.

The federal agency cited several fires at churches in New England in recent months, including a fire at a Catholic parish in Franklin, Massachusetts, which investigators have determined was an act of arson.

The ATF in its statement suggested churches should employ several methods of enhanced security, including video cameras, restricted facility access, and updated emergency plans. 

The bureau also said houses of worship should ?maintain open communication with local police and ATF, report any suspicious activity immediately, and explore options for regular patrols in the area.?

Last month Tucson, Arizona, Bishop Edward Weisenburger said he was ?deeply grieved by the damage and destruction? to St. Anthony of Padua Parish.

?A characteristic true to Catholicism is that our houses of worship are not simply places where we pray,? the bishop said. 

?Rather, they are imbued with holiness by the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, the waters of baptism, consecrated vessels for worship, and the grace that flows from the celebration of the sacraments,? he said.