Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Carlo Acutis. / Credit: carloacutis.com

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 6, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Domenico Sorrentino, the bishop of Assisi, Italy, where the remains of Blessed Carlo Acutis rest, sent a message of encouragement to young people just prior to Pope Leo XIV’s declaring Acutis a saint of the Catholic Church along with another young Italian, Pier Giorgio Frassati.

“Dear faithful and most beloved young people, let yourselves be guided by Carlo, follow his example, follow in his footsteps, walk his path, because it is the right path, the one that leads to Jesus and, therefore, to love and joy,” the Italian prelate said in a message published Sept. 5.

The bishop of Assisi sent his message just two days before the canonization of Acutis, who will be declared a saint alongside Frassati on Sunday, Sept. 7, at a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican at 10 a.m. local time.

Sorrentino also said that “today more than ever we need positive examples, exemplary life stories that will help our children not to be carried away by uncomfortable images, violent examples, and passing fads that leave nothing to be desired.”

“Carlo, on the other hand, teaches us to live a normal life, putting Jesus at the center. You, parents, also help your children discover Carlo’s holiness so that they can live a life full of joy, full of Jesus,” he emphasized.

Born on May 3, 1991, Acutis was a young Italian who from a very early age experienced a profound love for God, with a special devotion to Eucharistic miracles, which he compiled in a digital exhibition that he shared online.

Suffering from leukemia, Carlo died on Oct. 12, 2006, at the age of 15. He was beatified on Oct. 10, 2020.

The Diocese of Assisi also reported that some 800 pilgrims will arrive in Rome from Assisi on a special train arranged by the diocese. Twelve volunteers will be on board to distribute backpacks, scarves, and hats, and several priests and religious, led by the rector of the Shrine of the Spogliazione (Dispossession), Father Marco Gaballo, will be in charge of the group.

The Shrine of Spogliazione is the place where Carlo Acutis wanted to be buried, so Assisi welcomes both him and St. Francis.

Relics of the soon-to-be-canonized St. Carlo Acutis at the canonization

The Diocese of Assisi also announced that the relic of the heart of the young man who will become the first millennial saint will be brought to St. Peter’s Square in Rome. It was also announced that another relic of Carlo Acutis will be brought as a gift to Pope Leo XIV.

On Monday, Sept. 8, the day after the canonization, a Mass of thanksgiving will be celebrated in Assisi at St. Mary Major Church by Sorrentino. Carlo Acutis’ parents; Valeria, the young Costa Rican woman who received the miracle leading to Acutis’ canonization; and several civil authorities will be present.

The Diocese of Assisi also reported that, so far this year, some 630,000 pilgrims have come to the Shrine of the Spogliazione to venerate Acutis, with an average of up to 4,000 per day. In 2024, there were almost 1 million visitors.

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

Timothée Croux, a young seminarian from the French Diocese of Meaux, has written a book about Pier Giorgio Frassati. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 6, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Timothée Croux, a young seminarian from the French Diocese of Meaux in the Île-de-France region of the country, says the example of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati played a decisive role in his vocational discernment.

Croux said he discovered Frassati, who was from Turin, Italy, and who died in 1925, through scouting and shares many personal affinities with the soon-to-be saint. 

“I delved deeper into Frassati’s personality during my preparatory year, before entering the seminary,” he said. “I discovered that there were many things in his biography that resembled mine. For example, we both have a passion for the mountains.”

“We both sought an authentic vocation, although in the end he decided not to become a priest in order to serve the poor in the mines, studying engineering to better help the miners,” Croux told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

An adventurer with a true appetite for life

Croux noted that this young man from Turin, set to be canonized Sept. 7 alongside Blessed Carlo Acutis, is highly regarded among French scouts “because he was an adventurer with a true appetite for life.”

Croux, 23, is preparing for the priesthood through his ecclesiastical studies at the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome. In collaboration with Belgian priest Emmanuel de Ruyver, he has published in France and Italy the book “An Adventurer in Paradise,” a spiritual biography of Pier Giorgio Frassati designed especially for young people and students.

“It has a biographical section with many stories about Frassati. At the end of each chapter, there is a meditation on a beatitude, reflection questions, a Gospel excerpt, and a short prayer,” Croux explained.

“By knowing him better, we can give young people the desire for holiness. Being a saint was a daily pursuit for him. Frassati was not a priest and did not die a martyr. But from his most tender years as a child, he strove to live the Gospel consistently and with a disconcerting freedom,” the seminarian emphasized.

Croux also maintains close contact with Frassati’s family, particularly with Wanda Gawronska, the blessed’s niece, who wrote the book’s preface and is scheduled to be present during Sunday’s canonization.

He died young like Acutis

The young man from Turin died at age 24, one week after contracting fulminant poliomyelitis while visiting the poor in their homes. His premature death is a characteristic he shares with Acutis, who died of leukemia at the age of 15.

“Young people may think that you have to die young to be a saint, but that’s not true. The important thing is to live faithfulness, charity, and hope throughout your life,” the French seminarian emphasized.

The poor and most vulnerable always held a special place in Frassati’s heart. When he was just a child, after a poor mother and her barefoot son knocked at his family’s door, he gave them his shoes, asking them to leave quickly before his family found out. Until shortly before his death, he worked to get money or medicine to those in need.

“He said he saw through them a light that we don’t have: the light of Christ. And he understood it deeply, as in Matthew 25: ‘If you visit the poor, the prisoners, the naked, it is I you visit.’ He had understood it. That’s why he calls us not to be afraid to go to the peripheries and visit the poorest,” Croux said.

The Frassati family was very wealthy. His father, Alfredo Frassati, was a senator, ambassador, and director of the Italian newspaper La Stampa. The future saint grew up in the Catholic upper-class environment of Turin. But “it was perfunctory Catholicism, and it wasn’t his parents who encouraged him to serve the poor. They only discovered the scope of his action after his death, when thousands of people wanted to pay tribute to him,” Croux explained.

Love for the poor, rooted in the Gospel

His passion for the poor was rooted above all in his love for the Eucharist, another characteristic he shares with Acutis. At the age of 13, he obtained permission from his mother to go to Mass every day.

“He used to say: ‘Jesus visits me every day in Communion, and I humbly return that visit by going to see the poor.’ He had understood that the Eucharist was the sacrament of charity,” Croux explained.

Frassati’s daily life, marked by faith, service, and evangelical consistency, made him — as St. John Paul II said, when he was still a cardinal in Krakow in 1977 — “the man of the eight beatitudes.”

“He saw in him a model of complete holiness, living every beatitude in his short life,” Croux noted.

Frassati received a strict education. He was not a great student, and his father was very severe with him, expecting him to take over as director of La Stampa. However, the young Frassati directed his life toward the study of engineering so he could be closer to the people working in terrible conditions underground in the mines.

Peace and social commitment

Another essential feature of Frassati’s life was his moral firmness in the face of the totalitarian threat.

Frassati was associated with the Italian Popular Party, inspired by a priest and based on principles of Christian democracy. But he left it when the movement made a pact with the Fascists in 1922. He also resigned from a Catholic student group, Cesare Balbo, after discovering that it had honored Mussolini during his visit to Turin.

“For Pier Giorgio, politics was a service, especially to the poorest, and he could not accept a movement that exalted force,” Croux explained.

His brief but intense life explains why today, 100 years later, Frassati continues to speak to thousands of young people. According to Croux, Frassati’s message to the youth of the 21st century can be summed up in three points: prayer and charity, friendship, and the pursuit of peace.

“He made a connection between the daily Eucharist and charity toward the poorest. Every morning he went to Mass and then visited needy families, offering food, clothing, and a smile,” the young seminarian noted.

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

Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, speaks to “EWTN News In Depth” anchor Catherine Hadro on the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. “Almost everyone ... in our Catholic community has a connection to Annunciation,” he said. / Credit: “EWTN News In Depth.”/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Sep 6, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

A leading Catholic advocate in Minnesota is calling for an “all-of-the-above” approach to school safety and security in the wake of the Aug. 27 mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis that claimed the lives of two children and injured more than 20 children and adults.

Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told “EWTN News In Depth” anchor Catherine Hadro on Friday that “nonpublic school students” should have access to the same levels of security as those in public schools.

“We’ve been consistent advocates for [security] policies that include, and are nondiscriminatory against, nonpublic school students,” he said.

“We think that when the state makes a commitment to protecting students and to promote public safety, [that it’s] a basic public safety issue that should be available to all students, irrespective of where they go to school,” he argued further.

Adkins noted that Minnesota Catholic leaders in the past have implored state lawmakers to provide security funding for local nonpublic schools, though those calls went unheeded prior to the Aug. 27 shooting. “People have noticed that,” he said.

“Looking at school safety programs, nonprofit security grants, all these things — we have to take an all-of-the-above approach to looking at public policy solutions that limit gun violence in our communities,” he said.

Focusing just on guns will ‘fall short’

The Annunciation shooting once again touched off what is a regular debate in U.S. politics regarding school safety and gun crime. Some advocates have called for broad new gun control laws, while others have argued for arming teachers in classrooms.

In a statement this week amid a special session of the Minnesota Legislature, Adkins acknowledged that “continued discussion is warranted about access to certain weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

“At the same time, a special session that focuses only on gun regulations will fall short, as the issue runs deeper than firearm access,” he argued, calling for a focus on school security measures “that ensure the safety of all students.”

Adkins told Hadro, meanwhile, that policymakers and leaders “have to have honest conversations and take a look at every facet of this problem and explore creative solutions.”

In addressing the problem, meanwhile, he said those seeking solutions “have to see with the eyes of Christ.”

“Ultimately, there’s no political solution to what’s a theological and spiritual problem,” he said. “The answer to all these problems and challenges is ultimately the call to holiness.”

The duke and duchess of Kent stand on a balcony at Buckingham Palace during the annual Trooping the Colour Ceremony on June 15, 2013, in London. / Credit: Carfax2/CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Sep 6, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Her royal highness the duchess of Kent, who became the first senior British royal to be received into the Catholic Church since the 17th century, has died at the age of 92.

In a statement, Buckingham Palace said the duchess died peacefully on Thursday evening at her Kensington Palace home surrounded by her family.

“The king and queen and all members of the royal family join the duke of Kent, his children and grandchildren in mourning their loss and remembering fondly the duchess’ lifelong devotion to all the organizations with which she was associated, her passion for music, and her empathy for young people,” the statement read.

Renowned for her natural charm, compassion for the sick and downtrodden, and commitment to serving others, the duchess was a much-loved and hardworking British royal whose popularity was enhanced by her own personal suffering and self-effacing nature.

Born into a notable aristocratic and landowning family, Katharine Lucy Mary Worsley was raised an Anglican and, in 1961, married Prince Edward, duke of Kent, a grandson of King George V and a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

The first woman without a peerage or princess title at birth to marry a royal duke in over a century, Katharine devoted herself to a life of service and often, together with the duke, represented the queen at charity and state events at home and abroad.

Her journey to the Catholic faith was historically significant and born out of considerable personal loss and suffering.

While pregnant with her fourth child in 1975, the duchess contracted measles and, following her doctors’ advice, terminated the pregnancy for medical reasons. In 1977, when happily pregnant again, she gave an address to the British Congress of Obstetrics in which she declared human life was a gift from God and uniquely valuable as every birth is a miracle. She also paid tribute to those who fight to protect life and the family.

But some weeks later, the duchess lost the baby at 36 weeks; she described the experience as “devastating” and viewed the miscarriage as punishment for the abortion two years earlier.

The duchess went on to express deep empathy for others who had suffered similar tragedy and turned to her faith, making the first of several regular visits to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham with the then-Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

But some years later, seeing the uncertainties and internal struggles of the Church of England, which was then grappling with whether to accept women clergy, she was drawn to Catholicism.

Her journey culminated with being received into the Catholic Church in January 1994 by Cardinal Basil Hume, then-archbishop of Westminster. Up until then, no senior royal had publicly been received into the Church since 1685. The Act of Settlement of 1701 also barred royals who became or married Catholics from the line of succession.

She described her conversion as a “long-pondered personal decision” and that she was attracted by the solace and clarity of the Catholic faith. “I do love guidelines and the Catholic Church offers you guidelines,” she once told the BBC. “I have always wanted that in my life. I like to know what’s expected of me.”

As a Catholic, she made regular visits to Lourdes with her local parish and often attended Mass at the Brompton Oratory in London, close to her Kensington Palace home.

In 2001, the third-eldest of her four children, Lord Nicholas Windsor, followed her into the Catholic Church, becoming the first male blood member of the British royal family to become a Catholic since King Charles II’s probable deathbed conversion in 1685.

The duchess of Kent gave her time and energy to various good causes, including becoming patron of the Samaritans, a charity that tries to deter people from committing suicide, and co-founding a charity called Future Talent, which supports young musicians from poor backgrounds.

After retiring from public service, she taught music to children at a primary school in the 2000s for over a decade in complete anonymity. Known simply as “Mrs. Kent” at the school, she said in a 2022 interview that “only the head knew who I was. The parents didn’t know, and the pupils didn’t know. No one ever noticed. There was no publicity about it at all — it just seemed to work.”

Many of the children at the school in Hull, northern England, came from single-parent families and very deprived areas. “It was very, very rewarding,” the duchess said. “The music did such wonderful things. It really did.”

Many in Britain remember seeing the duchess’ compassion visibly shown when, as the presenter of trophies at Wimbledon, she broke with protocol to comfort Jana Novotná, a Czech tennis player who cried on her shoulder after narrowly losing the Wimbledon women’s singles final.

In a statement, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster recalled “with fondness her presence in our community, especially her participation in the pilgrimage to Lourdes, as well as her lifetime of public service.”

The prince and princess of Wales said the duchess worked “tirelessly to help others” and would be a “much missed member of the family.”

Writing on X, British Catholic broadcaster Colin Brazier wrote that “in a world of bombast, self-promotion, and vanity, Katharine Worsley was that rarest of things: a public figure of genuine humility, even holiness.”

The late duchess of Kent’s funeral — the first Catholic funeral for a member of the royal family in modern British history — will take place at Westminster Cathedral in the coming weeks.

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

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.” / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, Sep 6, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Soon-to-be saint Pier Giorgio Frassati, born on April 6, 1901, to a prominent and wealthy Italian family, became a popular role model soon after he died on July 4, 1925, at the age of 24. He will be declared a saint on Sept. 7 in Rome by Pope Leo XIV alongside the Church’s first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis.

According to the website dedicated to Frassati by the U.S. Catholic bishops, for years Frassati has been “a significant global patron for youth and young adults — and has a special place in the hearts of young people across the United States as well. St. John Paul II declared him a patron for World Youth Days and deemed him ‘the man of the beatitudes’ as he exemplified those blessings in his everyday life.”

Here are 12 amazing facts about his short but very intense life:

1. His childhood was full of acts of charity.

Despite being raised by agnostic parents, Frassati’s inclinations to help others manifested in his childhood. Once, as a child, he answered the door to find a mother begging with her son who was shoeless. He took off his own shoes and gave them to the child.

2. His devotion to the Eucharist started early.

At an early age, he joined the Marian Sodality and the Apostleship of Prayer and obtained permission to receive daily Communion, which was rare at the time.

3. He had a very playful side.

At the same time, Frassati was known among his friends as “Il Terrore” (“The Terror”) due to his fondness for practical jokes.

4. He served the poor through the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

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

5. He spoke out against Mussolini and fascism.

In 1919, Frassati joined the Catholic Student Foundation and the Popular Party, whose principles were based in the social doctrine of the Church. He strongly opposed the rise of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and was jailed in Rome after joining the protest of the Catholic Workers’ Association.

6. He was known for his radical generosity and love for the poor.

Pier Giorgio became known for giving literally everything he had to the poor. He would even use his bus fare for charity and then run home to be on time for meals.

7. He loved the mountains.

An avid and accomplished mountain climber, he saw many parallels between Catholic life and his favorite pastime. He would regularly organize trips into the mountains with occasions for prayers and conversations about faith on the way up or down from the summit.

8. A simple note he wrote became a famous motto.

After what would become his final climb, he wrote a simple note on a photograph: “Verso L’Alto” (“To the heights”) — a phrase that has become a popular Catholic motto.

9. He died of polio.

At 24, Frassati became very ill with polio. Some of his friends believed that he contracted the disease from the people in the slums of Turin. In his last days, he whispered the names of people who still needed assistance to his family and friends who gathered at his bedside. He died on July 4, 1925.

10. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Pier Giorgio Frassati was declared “blessed” in 1990 by Pope John Paul II, who called him a “man of the beatitudes” and a “joyful apostle of Christ.” A year before, after visiting his tomb, John Paul II revealed that he also had felt in his own youth “the beneficial influence of his example.”

“He left the world rather young,” he said, “but he made a mark upon our entire century.”

11. His sister wrote a tribute to him.

In her biography of her brother, Frassati’s sister, Luciana, wrote that “he represented the finest in Christian youth: pure, happy, enthusiastic about everything that is good and beautiful.”

12. He is a patron of youth and students around the world.

Pier Giorgio Frassati’s popularity is big among young people, especially in America. Many apostolates have been created with his name, and he is regarded as the patron of students (mainly because he wasn’t good at school), young Catholics, mountaineers, youth groups, Catholic Action, Dominican tertiaries (he became one), and World Youth Day.

This story was first published on July 4, 2021, and was updated on Sept. 5, 2025.

A view of damaged houses in the Annalee Street area of North Belfast, Northern Ireland. A spokesman for the Diocese of Down and Connor strongly condemned intimidation and attacks on Catholic families there that have led all families but one to flee their homes. The families were living in a housing development bordering a predominantly loyalist district in the north of the city. / Credit: Colum Lenehan/The Irish News

Belfast, Northern Ireland, Sep 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A spokesman for the Diocese of Down and Connor, Father Eddie McGee, has strongly condemned intimidation and attacks on Catholic families in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that have led all families but one to flee their homes. 

The families were living in a housing development bordering a predominantly loyalist district in the north of the city.

“The continued attacks and intimidation experienced by local residents of Annalee and Alloa Street in Belfast are cowardly and threatening faceless acts of sectarian discrimination,” McGee told CNA. “It is abhorrent that families in Northern Ireland today continue to have to leave the security of their homes in a society that is strongly committed to the pathway of peace and reconciliation.”

The sectarian attacks in this area of north Belfast began in May when a number of Catholic family homes were targeted by masked men, with windows broken and vehicles vandalized. It is estimated that, following renewed attacks in the last few days, only one Catholic family remains in what was intended to be a mixed development.

Protestant residents were unwilling to speak to local media for fear of reprisal by loyalist paramilitary groups. 

The Sunday World newspaper reported that the attacks were coordinated by individuals linked to drug dealing and loyalist paramilitaries who vowed to continue their harassment and intimidation.

“The Diocese of Down and Connor joins alongside the many other church and public representatives in calling for those who perpetrate these attacks to end this campaign of intimidation and to calmly engage with their local representatives to address the underlying tensions that give rise to such conflict,” McGee said.

“The ongoing intimidation of vulnerable families to leave their homes is a reminder that it is incumbent upon all of us not to become complacent in achieving communities where everyone is respected and protected, without exception. We need to continue to engage across the wider community to pursue pathways of dialogue rather than building walls of sectarian and racial discrimination fueled by fear and aggression.”

At a meeting on Sept. 4, the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said while Ulster Defence Association (UDA) elements have been responsible for events that have seen Catholic families targeted in the Oldpark area of the city, he said there was no intelligence to suggest the leadership of the loyalist paramilitary organization had sanctioned them. The UDA is an illegal loyalist paramilitary organization with a long history of sectarian attacks.

Irish News in Belfast reported that one resident who has been living in the area since December 2024 is now taking legal action against the Clanmil Housing Association, which is responsible for the properties, claiming that it has “failed to take reasonable steps to protect” her and her children. The woman alleges she was later threatened and assaulted by a man and called a “Fenian bastard” — a standard term of abuse for Catholics by loyalists. She said the same individual threatened her two children, ages 10 and 5, in a local park. 

Jack Murphy of McIvor Farrell Solicitors, the legal representative for the resident targeted in the latest attack, said in a statement: “We have now issued pre-action correspondence against Clanmill Housing Association and are considering further legal action against relevant state bodies who, in our view, have neglected their duty to safeguard our client, her children, and other Catholic families in the area from paramilitary violence.”

McGee expressed the support of the entire Down and Connor Catholic community, saying: “We stand in solidarity with the families who have had to leave their homes. Such actions leave a scar of unresolved hurt and pain not only upon those victims experiencing the masked threats and attacks directly but also upon the wider community in which this intimidation occurs. These families have a right to live in peace in a society that is committed to a pathway of dialogue and reconciliation.”

A spokeswoman for Clanmil Housing Association said: “Everyone should be allowed to live in peace and feel safe in their home, free from intimidation or threat.”

As the situation deteriorated it emerged that victims campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son was killed during the Troubles (known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict) had emailed the first and deputy first ministers of Northern Ireland in June urging them to visit vulnerable householders in north Belfast, but his appeal remained unanswered.

From left to right: Actor Marcin Kwaśny as Maximilian Kolbe and Christopher Sherwood as Karl Fritzsch in “Triumph of the Heart.” / Credit: Triumph of the Heart movie/Sherwood Fellows

CNA Staff, Sep 6, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Anthony D’Ambrosio grew up Catholic and always viewed his faith as one of the most important aspects of his life — even entering seminary for a brief period of time. However, he felt called to leave seminary and go into youth ministry. He fell in love and was about to get engaged when he was diagnosed with a life-altering medical condition — a chronic mold infection with a major symptom being severe and even life-threatening insomnia.

D’Ambrosio’s relationship ended, he couldn’t maintain a job, and his faith unraveled. It was during the sleepless nights that he began to discover the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, which led to creating a movie about the saint — “Triumph of the Heart.” It will be released in theaters on Sept. 12.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar, priest, and martyr who volunteered to die in place of another man in the German death camp of Auschwitz. Kolbe spent the last 14 days of his life in a starvation bunker alongside nine other men. “Triumph of the Heart” focuses on Kolbe’s last days on earth spent in the starvation bunker.

While writing the film, D’Ambrosio began to see his own battle with insomnia as “being a bit of a stand-in for starvation,” he told CNA in an interview. The fact that Kolbe was also able to accompany three other men “to that miracle of staying alive for 14 days without food or water with him” was also meaningful for D’Ambrosio because “I knew that if Kolbe could have helped men in that situation to find a reason to live, that he could help me to find a reason to live.”

As D’Ambrosio spent more and more time with Kolbe’s story, he began to “see what true sanctity looked like, what love looked like.”

“This idea that he had volunteered to take on the suffering of these men in order to be with them — that really began to melt my own heart and to open me back up to God’s presence,” he added.

It was then that D’Ambrosio began his journey to create the film. He began to write the script, pilgrimaged several times to Poland to learn more about Kolbe, lived with the Franciscan friars in Poland, studied his story with the librarian who handles his archives, and ultimately worked with an American crew and partnered with Poles to tell the martyr’s story.

Despite facing numerous challenges while making the film, D’Ambrosio said the most beautiful aspect was seeing “how generous the Catholic world has been.”

“Triumph of the Heart” was an entirely crowdfunded movie — meaning all production costs were covered thanks to donations from individuals.

D’Ambrosio shared that not only did everyday Catholics generously donate financially, but they also donated airline miles for the crew to be able to travel and many volunteered to go to Poland on their own dime to help with the production while the team was there for three months filming.

“I mean the whole movie is just a compilation of the stories of people who have sacrificed immensely in order to tell the story,” D’Ambrosio said.

When reflecting on the life and story of Kolbe, D’Ambrosio said it serves as a great reminder to Catholics that “when everything is hopeless, really, truly, love has the power to overcome darkness and to change the world.”

“The choice to have to maintain love and hope and faith in the face of darkness is the most powerful expression of God’s love and presence that any person can offer the world,” he added.

Despite having his life’s work destroyed by the Nazis and witness his country of Poland be conquered and destroyed by the Germans, Kolbe maintained his faith, and for D’Ambrosio “that has been the part of his life that has resounded the most throughout history and throughout time.”

“I think for anybody that is struggling in any way in their lives right now, they can look at his suffering and look at the fruit of it and make sense in many ways — maybe not make sense but they can like find a balm and find a compass for their own action the way that I did,” he said.

D’Ambrosio emphasized that the movie is primarily about hope and said he finds it “very apropos that this year was declared to be a Jubilee of Hope and that somehow Kolbe’s movie and his story is coming out in the jubilee year.”

The filmmaker said he hopes viewers “will come away with this catharsis — with this feeling of all of that was worth it if that’s what heaven is like.”

“I think that the way that the movie leaves people is like a little promise of ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK. The place we’re going is better and all of the suffering and trials and tribulations that you go through here now and all the crosses that you bear, they will be fully redeemed and you will be completely filled up and made new.’”

null / Credit: maxuser/Shutterstock

London, England, Sep 5, 2025 / 16:36 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church’s voice is vital in the global dialogue concerning the future of artificial intelligence (AI), experts highlighted during a symposium Sept. 2–3 at the Gillis Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Entrepreneurs, academics, and clergy came together in Scotland’s capital to tackle the ethics of emerging AI technologies in the context of Catholic social teaching, arguing that responsible regulation of emerging technologies depends on the wisdom, involvement, and action of the Church.

The conference was organized by St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, and attendees heard from a variety of speakers including Lucas Ernesto Wall, professor at Catholic University of America and founder and CEO of Almma, the first AI marketplace; Father Michael Baggot, professor aggregato of bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome; and Matthew Sanders, CEO of Longbeard and architect of Magisterium AI, Vulgate AI, and Christendom apps.

“The Catholic Church has been contemplating the question of what does it mean to be human for millennia,” Wall told CNA on Sept. 4. “We may be the best organization to help AI be dignified.”

In his conference presentation, which focused on “AI democratization,” Wall called for a deeper dialogue between the Church, academia, and the technology sector to ensure that “the algorhythmic age” focuses on human flourishing, especially for those who are marginalized.

Wall told CNA that he believes Pope Leo will make this a central aspect of his papacy and credited the Church for already taking great initiative under Pope Francis, illuminated through the promulgation of Antiqua et Nova.

“AI is impacting every aspect of life,” Wall explained, “and we have just begun to discover some of them. We need daily calls to action at the parish level; daily calls to action from everyone who is a Catholic in the world to engage in challenges around AI. This could prove to be the most powerful mobilization of the Church in generations. We do have a choice. We always have a choice. We must continue the conversation on this subject across religious and denominational lines. This affects all humans — not just Catholics.”

Sanders joined Wall in his optimistm about the potential for dialogue between AI labs and the Catholic Church.

“It is quite surprising how many heads of the AI labs are philosophically minded,” Sanders told CNA. “For example, Demis Hassabis is the CEO of Google’s DeepMind and a member of the Pontifical Council of Sciences and has spoken very publicly about the need for regulation, as has Dario Amodei, who is head of Anthropic. Overall, I think that AI labs do not want to be too prescriptive about what an AI world should look like, and they welcome the wisdom of the Church.”

CNA also spoke with Stephen Dolan, a lecturer in theology at St. Mary’s Twickenham.

“We had between 30-40 individuals join across both days in person and online,” he explained. “We had speakers travel in from North America or call in from India and the Philippines. Interest came from all across the globe, including from Ghana, India, and America. It is clear this topic is on the lips of many and came at the right time to bring such a variety of interested parties together.”

When asked what the overall conclusion of the conference was regarding the future of AI, Dolan said: “For me, the main takeaway is the uncertainty of what AI may mature to become. There was optimism and skepticism in the room with a healthy discussion about how AI will transform what the world needs.”

“It is clear that this uncertainty is an opportunity for the Church to be a global leader in reminding society that AI, like all technology, must serve a higher good, and when implemented with this vision it can be a force for good,” Dolan said.

“However, the Church is required to be the voice of the lonely, marginalized, and the future disenfranchised if unrelenting AI development fails to respect the intrinsic dignity of the human person.”

Dolan shared with CNA that “the [conference] room was alive with debate; optimism and skepticism coexisted because there was the hope and belief that the Church’s social teachings could ultimately hold all together and point society towards the greatest good.”

Pope Francis with the king and queen of Belgium during his visit to the country in 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 5, 2025 / 15:36 pm (CNA).

Sept. 26 marks one year since Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Belgium to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Leuven-la-Neuve, an event that involved a significant financial and logistical effort.

In a recent statement, the Belgian bishops announced a new collection to raise the remaining 800,000 euros ($940,000) to cover the debts owed for the historic event. The Argentinian pope’s visit — lasting two and a half days — cost more than 3 million euros ($3.5 million). Patrick du Bois, who was responsible for logistics during the papal visit, confirmed the figure to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Ensuring the necessary security for the bishop of Rome, preparing the city for the pope’s visit, and preparing large spaces for heavily attended Masses entailed a considerable investment, according to Du Bois.

“The organizational efforts are enormous, on the one hand because large crowds gather around the Holy Father, and on the other because his security requires very strict measures,” said Du Bois, who led the organization and logistics of the papal visit at the request of Archbishop Luc Terlinden, president of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference.

Du Bois said the state was responsible for security on public roads, “while everything that happens inside a venue — stadium or basilica — is the responsibility of the local Church.”

He confirmed that the bishops’ conference had to cover all expenses, “including lodging, meals, and even laundry services for all members of the Vatican accompanying the Holy Father.” A total of 65 Vatican personnel traveled for the visit to Belgium, some for 15 days.

“The Vatican requires that all public acts of the Holy Father be filmed and that the images be made available at no charge to all media outlets worldwide. If local television refuses to produce these images, the bishops’ conference must hire private companies and assume the cost,” Du Bois explained.

He also noted that “all travel expenses, including those of numerous journalists, are also the responsibility of the bishops’ conference.”

Funded by the generosity of the faithful

In their message, the Belgian prelates recalled that 40,000 people participated in the Mass celebrated at King Baudouin Stadium and more than 5,000 young people attended the “Hope Happening” festival, which the pope attended, held on the Heysel esplanade.

The bishops explained that the pastoral component was funded primarily through donations from the laity, raising nearly 2 million euros ($2.35 million). This sum was used, among other things, to rent the King Baudouin Stadium and provide security for the faithful who attended free of charge.

To raise the remaining funds, the Belgian Bishops’ Conference has asked for the support of the country’s faithful, announcing that funds raised during Masses on Sept. 20-21 will be used for this purpose.

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

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, speaks on Aug. 29, 2025, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. / Credit: Holy See Mission to the United Nations

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 5, 2025 / 15:06 pm (CNA).

The Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, highlighted the Vatican’s concern about significant increases in military spending and nuclear arms development worldwide on the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.

In a speech during the high-level plenary session of the general assembly on Aug. 29, Caccia emphasized that the pursuit of “a world free of nuclear weapons” is not only a matter of strategic and vital necessity but also a profound moral responsibility.

“Instead of moving toward disarmament and a culture of peace, we are witnessing a resurgence of aggressive nuclear rhetoric, the development of increasingly destructive weapons, and a significant increase in military spending, often to the detriment of investments in integral human development and the promotion of the common good,” Caccia said.

According to Vatican News, the Holy See’s representative noted that since the first nuclear test, conducted on July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have been carried out on land, in the atmosphere, underground, and in the oceans.

“These actions have affected everyone, particularly Indigenous populations, women, children, and the unborn. The health and dignity of many continue to be compromised in silence and, too often, without any kind of compensation,” he said.

“It is particularly worrying that, in the face of this important shared responsibility, the global response seems to be going in the opposite direction,” the prelate warned.

He quoted Pope Leo XIV when he emphasized in his speech the need to “reject the lure of powerful and sophisticated weapons as a temptation.”

Caccia said what is required is “a renewed effort toward multilateral dialogue and the resolute implementation of disarmament treaties as well as concrete support for communities that continue to suffer the long-term consequences of nuclear testing and weapons.”

The archbishop reiterated the importance of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the full implementation of the International Monitoring System and its verification mechanisms.

The Holy See, he stated, reaffirms its “unconditional support” for this international commitment, calling for a “strengthening of the global norm against explosive nuclear tests as an essential step toward authentic and lasting peace.”

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