Catholic News
- Pope, in World Youth Day message, emphasizes Christ's words: 'Take courage, I have overcome the world' (CWN)
“Take courage: I have overcome the world!” is the theme of Pope Leo XIV’s World Youth Day message, released by the Vatican on November 3. - Curbing infections, not people—Part II (CWN)
An exclusive CWN report by Phil Lawler - Pope, in video, prays for detachment, sharing of money, time, talents (CWN)
In a video message associated with his November prayer intention (for the proper use of wealth), Pope Leo XIV said that “a heart detached from possessions transforms the world: it opens paths of justice, tears down walls of indifference, and sows hope among the poor.” - No changes to schedule of Pope's Latin American journey despite surgery, Vatican officials say (Vatican News)
At a November 3 press conference, Vatican officials presented an overview of Pope Leo’s upcoming apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. Maria Montserrat Alvarado, the new prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, and Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said that no changes have been made to the scheduled itinerary, despite the Pontiff’s recent lung surgery. Alvarado said that Pope Leo asked her to share a message to journalists: He is personally looking forward to this journey and hopes that you will help share his message of peace and encounter with the world, so that others can see what he knows through personal experience: the wonderful way the Church is expressed in Latin America through its diverse peoples and cultures. - Curbing infections, not people—Part I (CWN)
An exclusive CWN report by Phil Lawler - Vatican diplomat calls for protection of civilians, houses of worship in wartime (Holy See Mission)
Addressing a meeting on international humanitarian law (IHL), a Vatican diplomat emphasized the law’s importance in wartime. “International humanitarian law forbids hostilities conducted amidst and against civilian population. It is extremely regrettable that this still frequently occurs, also at the expense of civilian infrastructures that are essential for the survival and well-being of the population, including schools and hospitals,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, said on November 3. The prelate said that the Holy See “reiterates the importance” of “protecting places of worship, which constitute a fundamental part of the cultural and spiritual heritage of peoples and which, alas, are ever more often destroyed, damaged, and misused.” “Since the rapid development and increasing application of artificial intelligence in the military domain is changing the nature of the conduct of hostilities, it is essential to recall that IHL imposes obligations on States, parties to armed conflict, and individuals, not on machines or algorithms,” he added. “Therefore, responsibilities regarding the violations of IHL must not be shifted from human actors.” - Head of German bishops: We want 'full communion' with the Pope (Catholic Herald)
The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference told fellow European bishops that “we want to walk this [synodal] path as the Catholic Church, in full communion with the Holy Father and in fidelity to the Church’s Magisterium.” “We do not want to set out on our own or isolated path,” Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Münster said at a recent meeting of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences. “We do not want a specifically German path that distances us from the universal Church.” In 2023, Pope Francis said that the German Synodal Path threatens Church unity. Prefects of Vatican dicasteries objected to the creation of a German Synodal Conference to govern the Church there, leading to the conference’s indefinite postponement. - USCCB, Catholic colleges call for changes to Trump administration's racial nondiscrimination regulations (USCCB)
The general counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and the general counsel of the Catholic University of America, called for changes to the Trump administration’s proposed regulations on racial nondiscrimination in private schools. The bishops’ general counsel and the other signatories called on the administration to “limit the rule to invidious discrimination and make explicit that sincerely religious curricular and other decisions by religious schools furthering their religious mission do not violate a fundamental public policy.” They also described the regulations as “particularly problematic for Catholic schools since a majority of them admit students based on the co-extensive boundaries of the parish churches they serve.” They explained: If all trait-conscious assistance could be conflated with discrimination, these non-discriminating churches and their schools may be subject to repeated, resource-intensive inquiries to attempt to prove they are not discriminating. Of course, no Catholic schools to our knowledge use race or ethnicity for admissions. But where schools draw from homogenous geographic communities, the proposed rule could subject them to charges of discrimination based on the composition of the student body. More concerning is that the breadth of this new rule makes the line between a religious criterion and an ethnic one the IRS’s to draw and usurps the role of the Church in determining how best to serve its communities. - Pope mourns passing of Peruvian archbishop who was scheduled to host him (Vatican News (Spanish))
Pope Leo XIV mourned the death of Archbishop Richard Daniel Alarcón Urrutia of Cusco, who was scheduled to host him in the Peruvian city during the Pontiff’s upcoming apostolic journey there. In a message to Archbishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera, O.S.A., the coadjutor archbishop, Pope Leo wrote, “Recalling this selfless pastor who, for years and with great fidelity, dedicated his life to the service of God and the Church, I offer prayers for the eternal rest of his soul, that the Lord Jesus may grant him the crown of glory that does not fade.” - Nuns' visit to Buddhist monastery sparks debate in Vietnam (UCANews)
A visit of 100 Vietnamese religious sisters to a Buddhist monastery sparked controversy following the publication of photographs of them offering incense and meditating before a statue of Buddha. “Good subjective intentions are not sufficient to justify an action that is objectively incompatible with the faith,” said Father Peter Nguyen Van Khai, C.Ss.R. - Viriginia voters approve abortion, same-sex marriage constitutional amendments (VPM)
Voters in Virginia approved ballot initiatives enshrining abortion and same-sex marriage as state constitutional rights. 61% of voters approved the abortion amendment; 56% of voters approved the same-sex marriage amendment. The state’s bishops had urged the faithful to reject the initiatives. - Idaho voters reject abortion ballot initiative, preserve protections for unborn (Idaho State Journal)
Over 55% of voters in Idaho rejected a ballot initiative that would have permitted abortion during the first six months of pregnancy—and in doing so, preserved the state’s current law, which protects most unborn children from abortion. The state’s sole bishop had urged the faithful to reject the initiative. - Nevada voters approve abortion constitutional amendment (The Hill)
63% of Nevada voters approved a ballot initiative establishing a state constitutional right to abortion up to viability. The Nevada Catholic Conference had urged a no vote on the initiative. - Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Colorado Catholic preschool case (Supreme Court of the United States)
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on November 3 in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a case involving Colorado’s universal preschool program. The Becket Fund explained that Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood excluded Denver archdiocesan schools from the program “by claiming the Archdiocese’s religious exercise—asking all families who enroll to support and uphold the Catholic Church’s teachings—was inconsistent with the preschool funding program’s requirements” regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the state; the Supreme Court agreed to hear the plaintiffs’ appeal. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops filed a brief in support of the Colorado parish and the other plaintiffs in the case. - Holy See 'deeply concerned' about threats to nuclear facilities (Holy See Mission)
A leading Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See is “deeply concerned” about the “risks posed to nuclear facilities by armed conflict,” particularly the “ongoing precarious situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the damage to the New Safe Confinement Shield at Chernobyl.” Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, told participants in a recent UN General Assembly committee meeting that “any incident resulting in the uncontrolled release of radioactive materials could have devastating consequences for civilian populations and the environment, with effects potentially extending beyond national borders.” “In situations of armed conflict, it is of crucial importance to ensure the safety and security of nuclear facilities, in order to prevent further humanitarian and environmental harm,” he added. - 'Blessed are those who mourn,' Pope preaches on All Souls' Day (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass (video) in Verano Cemetery in Rome late in the afternoon of All Souls’ Day. - Maronite prayer hall vandalized in Israel (Vatican News)
Archbishop Moussa El-Hage, the Maronite archbishop of Haifa, Israel, condemned a November 1 attack on a prayer hall in the city of Nahariya. “This is a grave and unacceptable attack, not only against Church property,” but “above all against the sacred character of a place dedicated to worship and against the right of the faithful to practice their religion freely, safely and with dignity,” the prelate said after statues and other images were broken and vandalized. The unknown vandal left a note that said, “I am so sorry. I don’t know what came over me to make me do that.” - Archbishop Hicks joins lawsuit against assisted suicide mandates (The Good Newsroom)
Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York joined a lawsuit against the State of New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act. “As Catholics, we are guided by the compassion of Jesus to serve those of every background who are in need of healing,” said Archbishop Hicks. “We refuse to allow New York to force us to harm the very ones we’ve been called to care for.” The original plaintiffs in the case were Bishop John Barres of Rockville Centre, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. The plaintiffs have argued that the law created a Suicide Counseling Mandate, Suicide Qualification Mandate, Suicide Drug Prescription and Ingestion Mandate, Suicide Referral Mandate, False Death Certificate Mandate, and Unfaithful Employee Retention Mandate. Following the filing of the lawsuit, the State of New York temporarily agreed not to enforce the mandates against the plaintiffs. - Archbishop of Vienna: 'I would certainly wish for the ordination of women' (AdVaticanum)
The archbishop of Vienna, Austria, said that he supported women’s ordination. “I would certainly wish for the ordination of women, but I see that at present this would be a decision that has to be taken at the level of the universal Church by a council,” Archbishop Josef Grünwidl said in an October 31 radio interview. “At the moment I do not see any realistic prospect of that decision being reached in that sense.” - State-level Catholic conferences prepare the faithful for ballot initiatives (EWTN News)
State-level Catholic conferences have weighed in on ballot initiatives related to abortion (Missouri, Nevada, Virginia), gender and sexuality (Colorado, Nebraska, Virginia, Washington), and other issues (Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota). - More...