Catholic News
- Dig deep foundations to reach the rock of Christ, Pope preaches at Lateran Basilica (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran yesterday as the Church throughout the world celebrated the feast of the anniversary of its dedication. - Pope, at Jubilee audience, pays tribute to Blessed Isidore Bakanja, Congolese martyr (CWN)
In the eighth special jubilee audience of 2025, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Blessed Isidore Bakanja (c. 1887-1909), a Congolese martyr. - 'If you want to cultivate peace, care for creation,': papal message to UN climate change conference (Dicastery for Communication)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, delivered a message from Pope Leo XIV to participants in COP30, the 30th annual UN climate change conference. “If you want to cultivate peace, care for creation,” Cardinal Parolin said. “While on the one hand, in these difficult times, the attention and concern of the international community seems to be mostly focused on conflicts among nations, on the other hand, there is also an ever growing awareness that peace is also threatened by a lack of due respect for creation, by the plundering of natural resources and by a progressive decline in the quality of life because of climate change.” “May all the participants in this COP30 commit themselves to protecting and caring for the creation entrusted to us by God in order to build a peaceful world,” Cardinal Parolin concluded. “I assure you of the prayers of the Holy Father as you make important decisions at this COP30 for the common good and for the future of humankind.” Separately, Cardinal Parolin said in an interview that the world is running out of time to address the climate-change crisis. - Gains against extreme poverty are fragile, Vatican diplomat warns (Holy See Mission)
The head of the Holy See’s delegation to the Second World Summit for Social Development welcomed gains in fighting poverty since the first summit, held in 1995, but warned that the gains are tenuous. “Significant progress has been made in eradicating poverty since the Copenhagen Summit, with one and a half billion people no longer living in extreme poverty,” said Archbishop Eugene Nugent. “However, these gains are fragile, and inequalities are deepening. Far too many people still experience poor health, inadequate shelter, and lack of opportunity, often linked to poverty.” - Pioneer Indian nun beatified (Matters India)
Mother Eliswa Vakayil (1831-1913), the first member of an indigenous Carmelite community in India, was beatified on November 8. The beatification Mass (video) took place at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Ransom in Vallarpadam. - Cameroon's leading prelate assesses election protests, ongoing violence (Vatican News)
Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, the president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, discussed post-election protests in the central African nation, as well as the Anglophone crisis, an ongoing armed conflict. “My call to all Cameroonians is that they should hold their peace, hold their anger, and manifest [their views] in different ways, in legal ways,” the prelate said of the election. Referring to the Anglophone crisis, he said that “a lot of calm has returned—but that doesn’t mean the crisis is over.” - Vietnamese diocese ravaged by storm (Fides)
The central Vietnames Diocese of Qui Nhơn was ravaged by Typhoon Kalmaegi. The seminary and the bishop’s house collapsed; the cathedral, along with many other churches and houses of religious communities, suffered severe damage. - Papal prayer for typhoon victims, gratitude for builders of peace (Dicastery for Communication)
At the conclusion of his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV expressed his “closeness to the people of the Philippines who have been hit by a violent typhoon: I pray for the deceased and their families, as well as for the injured and displaced.” Pope Leo also joined the Italian bishops “in encouraging responsible care for the land, combating food waste, and adopting sustainable agricultural practices. Let us thank God for ‘our sister Mother Earth’ and for those who cultivate and protect her!” Finally, the Pope praised those “committed to building peace in the various regions affected by war. In these last few days, we have prayed for the dead and among these, unfortunately, are many who were killed in combat and bombings, even though they were civilians, children, elderly, or sick people. If we truly want to honor their memory, we must stop the wars and put all of our efforts into negotiations.” - USCCB reports on 10 years of pastoral visits to migrant workers (USCCB)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has published a 31-page report, “Ten Years of Pastoral Visits: Hope for Migrant Workers.” “Amidst new legislation, increased enforcement, and the suspension of the refugee resettlement program and many parole programs, the immigration landscape has changed dramatically since our last retrospective report in 2015,” said Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas, chairman of the Subcommittee on Pastoral Care of Migrants, Refugees and Travelers. “The change is especially felt by USCCB, which is withdrawing from the federal refugee resettlement program after nearly 50 years of participation.” - Vatican newspaper columnist critiques African democracy (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In his weekly column for the Vatican newspaper, Father Giulio Albanese, who writes on African affairs, critiqued African democracy. In “La grammatica del potere” [The grammar of power], Father Albanese analyzed recent elections in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania and discussed “electoral authoritarianism,” in which “established leaders are regularly reconfirmed with overwhelming percentages, while a divided or marginalized opposition struggles to present itself as a real alternative.” - Use AI 'at the service of evangelization,' Pope urges (Vatican News)
In a message to a forum on artificial intelligence (AI) at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Pope Leo XIV called for “research, entrepreneurship, and pastoral vision” in those who use AI to serve the mission of the Church. AI, the Pope said, “like all human invention, springs from the creative capacity that God has entrusted to us,” and properly used, “can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation.” The Pontiff encouraged participants in the November 7 conference to use AI technology “at the service of evangelization and the integral development of every person.” He observed: The question is not merely what AI can do, but who we are becoming through the technologies we build. - Communication means helping people evaluate things critically, Pope says (Vatican News)
Speaking on November 7 to board members of the RCS Academy, an institution that trains people for careers in the field of communications, Pope Leo XIV said: “The world needs honest and courageous entrepreneurs and communicators, who care for the common good.” The Pope told the group that work in communications “consists in informing responsibly,” and professionals in that field should be “enabling their recipients to evaluate everything critically, in order to distinguish facts from opinions, true news from false.” - Cardinal Parolin: 'time is short' on climate change (Vatican News)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the world is running out of time to address the climate-change crisis, in a November 7 interview with Vatican News. Speaking from Brazil, where he is participating in the UN’s Climate Summit next week, the Vatican’s Secretary of State cited the words of St. Paul (1 Cor. 7:29) that “time is short.” The cardinal added: “He said it about life, but it applies here too—the sense of urgency must be real.” Cardinal Parolin made the striking claim that “there are now more displaced persons because of climate change than because of wars.” - Italian bishops, Jewish organization publish introduction to Judaism for use in schools (CEI (Italian))
The Italian Episcopal Conference and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities have jointly published 16 chapters on Judaism for use in schools—and have taken the additional step of making the chapters available in English as well, as part of a larger work, An Introduction to Judaism in 16 Chapters. “The chapters are the result of years of common work and were born from the need to ensure quality texts in Italian schools, promoting knowledge as a true antidote to all forms of anti-Semitism,” the bishops’ conference said in a statement. A cursory glance at the chapters raises questions about apparent inconsistencies between their content and Catholic teaching. The treatment of the Second Coming in the 12th chapter is difficult to reconcile with the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 674). Likewise, the categorical statement in the 13th chapter that “Paul is not a convert” is difficult to reconcile with the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (January 25), as well as Pope Benedict’s general audience on his conversion. - Leaven of the Gospel transformed Mexican culture, Pope says (Vatican Press Office)
In a message to the 17th National Missionary Congress of Mexico, Pope Leo XIV likened the work of evangelization to the kneading of dough to activate leaven. Citing the words of Jesus—“The kingdom of heave is like leaven...” (Mt 13:33)—the Pope said that the leaven of the Gospel which came to Mexico through a few missionaries has been kneaded into “the new flour of a continent that did not yet know Christ’s name,” transforming the culture with the faith “until the Gospel took root in the people’s hearts and blossomed into works of unique holiness and beauty.” - Pope welcomes revised European Ecumenical Charter (Dicastery for Communication )
Pope Leo XIV welcomed the revised Charta Oecumenica (Ecumenical Charter), signed on November 5 by the presidents of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC). Addressing members of a joint committee of the two organizations, as well as other European Christian leaders, Pope Leo said yesterday that “one of the notable achievements of the process of revising the Charta has been the ability to take a shared view on contemporary challenges and draw up priorities for the future of the continent, while maintaining a firm belief in the unending relevance of the Gospel. In some ways, this can be described as a ‘synodal’ effort of walking together.” The CCEE represents European Catholic bishops’ conferences; the CEC is a fellowship of over 100 Orthodox and Protestant communities. The original Charta Oecumenica was signed in 2001. - 'Only pacified hearts can dare to make peace,' Jerusalem cardinal preaches (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
In a homily preached in Rome, in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem preached on the conditions necessary for peace. “Only pacified hearts can pacify; only pacified hearts can dare to make peace,” said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM. Peace begins in recognizing “the truth and dignity of every human being. It is knowing how to see the face of God in others. When the face of the other disappears, the face of God also vanishes—and with it, the possibility of authentic peace.” Cardinal Pizzaballa preached the homily on October 26; the Latin Patriarchate released significant excerpts yesterday. - Pray and be attentive to the needy, Pope tells women religious (Dicastery for Communication)
Pope Leo XIV encouraged members of two women’s religious institutes to pray and be attentive to the needy as they take part in their institutes’ general chapters. “What matures in the meeting rooms of the Chapter needs to be sown and sifted before the Tabernacle and in listening to the word,” the Pontiff said yesterday to participants in the general chapters of the Religious of Jesus and Mary and of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians). “For it is only by listening to the Lord that we learn to truly listen to one another.” Pope Leo recalled that St. Claudine Thévenet founded the Religious of Jesus and Mary to assist “young women in difficult circumstances,” and that St. Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Bl. Assunta Marchetti, and Ven. Giuseppe Marchetti founded the Scalabrinians to assist migrants. - Philippine cardinal calls for truth commission on drug-war killings (CBCP News)
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines called upon the nation’s president to form a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission that would investigate extrajudicial killings in the Philippine drug war. “Truth-telling is not an act of reopening wounds—it is the only path by which wounds can finally heal,” said Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan. “It would reaffirm a principle that lies at the heart of our democracy and our shared faith traditions: that every human life has dignity and worth.” - USCCB opposes EPA deregulation of greenhouse gas emission reporting (USCCB)
In a 13-page letter to the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), four attorneys for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the EPA to reconsider its proposed deregulation of greenhouse gas emission reporting requirements. The current regulations “can serve to protect our ‘common home’ for current and future generations and allow the EPA to carry forth its mission to ensure Americans (especially the most vulnerable) have clean air, land, and water, and to protect human health and the environment,” the attorneys stated. “Our concerns with [the proposal] are founded on the Catholic Church’s commitment to care for creation and the ‘least of these’ among us, as these tenets are integral components of Catholic faith.” - More...