Holy Trinity Catholic Church

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 Erdoğan. 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.