Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

German police cars (file image) / Mike Baumeister via Unsplah (CC0)

CNA Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

German authorities have reported the arrest of four suspects allegedly planning terror attacks in Germany. According to Bild newspaper, the group intended to target Christians attending church services and police stations with knives and Molotov cocktails.

The Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office revealed that the suspects, who are between 15 and 16 years old, were apprehended over the Easter weekend.

“The suspects are strongly suspected of having planned an Islamist-motivated terrorist attack and of having agreed to commit it,” authorities stated, as reported by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The arrests were conducted following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor General’s Office and the anti-terror unit, ZenTer NRW. North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, detailed the case at a press conference in Düsseldorf on Thursday, noting that the suspected terror plans were “quickly and purposefully thwarted.”

Reul mentioned that it took only five days from the initial findings by German security authorities to the arrest. “We succeeded in preventing worse things from happening,” he stated, as quoted by FAZ newspaper.

These arrests are not isolated incidents. In November 2023, two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, were arrested on suspicion of terrorism. They reportedly sympathized with the Islamic State and were believed to have planned a Christmas market attack using a vehicle, CNA Deutsch reported.

In December and early January, several of Europe’s most renowned cathedrals, including those in Cologne and Vienna, were on high alert due to concerns about a planned attack for New Year’s Eve. Authorities detained but later released three suspects; the men were reportedly members of the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), the same group linked to the March 25 Moscow concert hall attack.

In July 2023, German police arrested seven members of an alleged Islamist terror cell in the same region. According to public broadcaster ZDF, similar arrests were made simultaneously in the Netherlands. The men of Tajik and Turkmen origin reportedly traveled to Western Europe via Ukraine.

Pope Francis meets with a group of 200 children studying catechism and in a relaxed manner answered some of their questions on April 11, 2024, at St. John Mary Vianney Parish in Borghesiana, Italy. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 12, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis made a special “getaway” from the Vatican yesterday afternoon and met with a group of 200 children at a parish in metro Rome.

A brief statement released by the Holy See’s Press Office said that the Holy Father went to St. John Mary Vianney Parish in Borghesiana, east of the Italian capital.

There Pope Francis met with a group of 200 children studying catechism and in a relaxed manner answered some of their questions.

Pictures from the meeting posted on social media show the Holy Father happily greeting the children and even giving them playful “high fives.” 

According to the Dicastery for Evangelization, for approximately one hour, the “pope catechized with the children.”

Responding to their questions, he offered a brief catechesis on the topic of the prayer of thanksgiving, emphasizing that it is one of the most important in the Christian life.

“It’s important to give thanks for everything. For example, if you enter a person’s house and don’t say thank you, or don’t say hello, is that good? The first word is ‘thank you,’ so the second is ‘permission,’” he told the children at the parish in suburban Borghesiana, located in the eastern part of the diocese.

“The third word is ‘forgiveness,’” the pope continued. “Is a person who never asks for forgiveness good? It’s difficult to ask for forgiveness, sometimes shame and pride go with it. But it’s important when you say I’m sorry a lot. Three words: thank you, permission, sorry.”

Next, Pope Francis asked the children: “But do you pray? How do you pray? What can you say to the Lord?” One of the children said that he and his family pray before eating.

“He said something important. But do you know that there are so many children who don’t have food? Do I thank the Lord for giving me food? Do I thank you for giving me a family?” he asked.

The last question touched on the topic of faith. “But are you Christians?” Pope Francis asked. “Do you have faith? Let’s say it together. Thank you, Lord, for giving me faith.”

During the exchange, one of the children’s most emotional questions was from a 10-year-old named Alice: “How can I thank the Lord in my illness?”

“Even in dark moments, we have to thank the Lord, because he gives us the patience to tolerate difficulties. Let’s say it together: Thank you, Lord, for giving us the strength to tolerate pain,” the pontiff said. The children also asked him why there was death and loneliness.

“We must always thank him, at all times. I give you some advice,” Pope Francis said. “Before going to sleep, think: ‘What can I thank the Lord for today?’ Give thanks,” he encouraged the children.

At the end of the meeting, the children together with the Holy Father recited a “Prayer of Thanksgiving” composed for the occasion, which will serve as a reminder of an extraordinary moment in their lives.

Before leaving, Pope Francis, greeting and joking with them, gave each of the children a chocolate egg.

To the priests and the 20 catechists present he gave the first six volumes published in the series “Notes on Prayer.”

What is the School of Prayer?

This is the pontiff’s first meeting for the so-called “School of Prayer,” an initiative promoted by the Vatican as part of this Year of Prayer in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025.

As part of the project, Pope Francis will hold different meetings “with some different categories of people to pray together, including some forms of prayer.”

As Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, these prayer meetings “will depend on the commitments of Pope Francis and will possibly include people and families from the Diocese of Rome.”

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

Archbishop Georg Gänswein and Pope Francis on St. Peter’s Square, May 21, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).

Not for the first time, it has been reported that Pope Francis is considering a diplomatic role for Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former private secretary to the late Pope Benedict XVI.

According to Argentinian newspaper La Nación, Gänswein may be appointed to nuncio, or papal ambassador, though the country for this posting has not been disclosed. 

The future role of the late Benedict’s secretary has been the subject of rumor and gossip across Rome and the Church in Germany for many months. 

Previous speculations — as early as March 2023 — included the claim that Gänswein would serve as papal ambassador in Costa Rica. The eloquent prelate is fluent in several languages, including German and Italian.

Gänswein currently resides in his home region of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, southern Germany. He has been without any official role in the Church following instructions from Pope Francis that he should not live in Rome.

While speculation is again running rife on social media about Gänswein possibly being sent to an exotic posting, neither the German prelate nor the Vatican have confirmed an appointment. 

Though sidelined officially, the 67-year-old has been warmly received by ordinary Catholics in Bavaria and elsewhere and holds the title of an honorary canon in Freiburg Cathedral.

The archbishop traveled to Rome on Dec. 31, 2023, to mark the first anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s death, where he celebrated Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.

The relationship between Gänswein and the current pope has been notably strained. In a recent Spanish-language interview book, “El Sucesor,” Pope Francis went so far as to say Benedict was “being used” by Gänswein in the context of the publication of a “tell-all” book. 

Before his July 2023 departure from Rome, Gänswein spent many years in the Eternal City: He served as Benedict XVI’s personal secretary from 2003 until the Bavarian pope’s death on Dec. 31, 2022. Benedict also appointed him to serve as the prefect of the papal household in 2012, a role he carried into the pontificate of Pope Francis.

Hailing from the Black Forest region of Germany, the son of a blacksmith was ordained a priest in 1984 by Archbishop Oskar Saier in Freiburg and holds a doctorate in canon law from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.

On April 11, 2024, Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho Leiria-Fátima, Portugal, said that a “fundamental team” would be convened in order to determine the total amounts of compensation awarded to abuse victims.  / Credit: Santuário de Fátima

CNA Staff, Apr 11, 2024 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

The Portuguese Episcopal Conference announced on Thursday the creation of a “financial compensation” fund for victims of Church abuse in that country.

The Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa (CEP) said on its website that the bishops at their plenary assembly “unanimously approved the allocation of financial compensation, on a supplementary basis, to victims of sexual abuse against vulnerable children and adults in the context of the Catholic Church in Portugal.”

The assembly had convened in Fátima on Monday of this week. The fund “will count on the solidarity contribution of all dioceses” in the country, the announcement said. 

An independent commission authorized by the Portuguese bishops found last year that thousands of children had been sexually abused by priests and others within the Church in that country since the 1950s.

The commission, which began its work in January 2022, received a total of 564 testimonies, of which it validated 512. Many of the victims who testified said they knew of other children who also had been abused. 

Officials ultimately estimated “a minimum number of 4,815 children” abused by Church officials there. 

On Thursday, Leiria-Fátima Bishop José Ornelas Carvalho said that a “fundamental team” would be convened in order to determine the total amounts of compensation awarded to abuse victims. 

Carvalho, who serves as president of the CEP, noted that “no amounts or contingents have been fixed for each diocese” and that “if a diocese has more difficulties of means, it will not be alone in this situation.”

The conference will “take until the end of this year to collect the applications” for the fund, the prelate said. 

The conference in its announcement expressed “communion with the suffering of the victims,” adding that the Portuguese bishops “reaffirm the total commitment to do everything for their reparation.”

Last year, announcing steps to end sexual abuse in the Portuguese Church including all-lay diocesan commissions and a memorial to victims, the bishops expressed “deep gratitude to all the victims who have given their testimony” to the investigation. 

Father Manuel Barbosa, a spokesman for the conference, said at the time that the bishops also offered “a word of courage to all the victims who still harbor the pain in the depths of their hearts.”

The consecration of Father Martin Chambers as the new bishop of Dunkeld, Scotland had been scheduled for April 27. / Credit: Diocese of Dunkeld/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 11, 2024 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Dunkeld, Scotland, announced Wednesday that Bishop-elect Martin Chambers, who was scheduled to be consecrated as its new bishop on April 27, passed away at the age of 59.

“It is with deep regret and sadness that I have to inform you that our bishop-elect, Martin Chambers, died in his sleep last night,” diocesan administrator Father Kevin Golden posted on the diocese’s X account April 10. “May he rest in peace and may his family and loved ones find comfort in the risen Lord and in the love of family and friends.”

The diocese did not give a cause of death. However, the bishop-elect had believed to be in good health, according to The Tablet in the U.K.

The diocesan administrator invited the faithful to join in prayer for the bishop-elect at a Mass this Friday at 1 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

Chambers’ sudden death was also mourned by neighboring dioceses.

“Father Chambers was due to be ordained bishop of Dunkeld on April 27. Last week he traveled to Lourdes to pray for his new diocese,” the Archdiocese of Glasgow observed on its X account.

Chambers was born on June 8, 1964, and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Galloway on Aug. 25, 1989.

Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Dunkeld on Feb. 2, and his episcopal consecration was scheduled for April 27.

Upon learning of his appointment this past February, Chambers said: “As I undertake this new mission as bishop of Dunkeld, I promise to sit in prayer as a disciple at the feet of Jesus, listening to his voice calling me forward in faith.”

“Together, with the strength and inspiration of Christ, we can all continue to build the kingdom in the Diocese of Dunkeld,” he said.

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

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson / Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Apr 11, 2024 / 06:45 am (CNA).

At a hearing for a criminal trial in France, a priest of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) who spent six years in the U.S. has admitted to sexual misconduct with French minors over a period of 15 years, local media reported Sunday. 

Speaking at the criminal court in the city of Gap in southeastern France, Father Arnaud Rostand on April 4 admitted to the accusations, according to La Provence newspaper, saying: “I ask for forgiveness from the victims and deeply regret everything I have done.”

The 58-year-old is charged with misconduct against seven boys, often during church-related activities like scout camps in France, Spain, and Switzerland, the paper said, noting the abuse allegedly took place over a 15-year period between 2002 and 2018.

During that time, the priest held several roles, including that of a school principal in France, but also served as U.S. district superior from 2008 to 2014. In a “farewell letter” published in July 2014 but no longer linked on the current website, he announced his departure from that role, writing he had been assigned to manage communications for the society from its general house in Menzingen, Switzerland.

In a statement published April 5 on its website, the SSPX expressed deep regret over the abuse.

“The Society of St. Pius X cannot find strong enough words to condemn these acts, which have irreparable consequences. It wishes to express its profound compassion for the victims, whom it intends to support as much as possible.”

The accused priest, according to the SSPX, had “been the subject of appropriate disciplinary supervision within the fraternity.” 

Furthermore, the statement said, “when, in 2019, the fraternity’s superiors learned of the existence of facts relevant to the tribunal, they reported them to the judicial authorities and strengthened the disciplinary framework.”

In a critical response to the statement, the victim advocacy platform SSPX Victims Collective noted that Rostand held senior roles and positions of authority, and that at least two other priests had been accused.

“For the third time in nine months, a priest of the fraternity [of St. Pius X] finds himself before a French court for sexual assault or rape. Not to mention multiple proceedings abroad,” the group said in a statement.

The sentence in the Rostand case is expected to be passed in early June.

The SSPX is a traditionalist group founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970 that has an irregular canonical status. The group is not overseen by the Catholic Church or any diocese within the Catholic Church.

In 2020, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation launched a multiyear investigation for alleged sex abuse by clergy, including SSPX members and four Catholic dioceses. The report, released in 2023, identified 188 suspects but did not result in charges.

null / Credit: Pixabay

CNA Staff, Apr 10, 2024 / 10:50 am (CNA).

An Italian Catholic watchdog group says a blasphemous ad featuring a priest consecrating potato chips in place of Eucharistic hosts has been ordered pulled from the airwaves.

The Italian Association of Radio and Television Listeners (Associazione Italiana Ascoltatori Radio e Televisione, AIART) on Monday had called for the immediate suspension of an advertisement by the Italian company Amica Chips, one that the group said “offends the religious sensitivity of millions of practicing Catholics.” AIART says on its website that its mission is “inspired by Catholic principles.”

In the advertisement, an abbess fills a ciborium with potato chips instead of Eucharistic hosts prior to Mass, after which a priest distributes one of the potato chips to a nun during holy Communion. 

As the communicants are visibly surprised to discover the chips in place of hosts, the abbess looks on unconcernedly as she eats from the bag of crisps. 

The commercial evinced a “lack of respect and creativity,” AIART said this week, arguing that the ad was a “telltale sign of disrespect for users, their cultural and moral identity, and their dignity as persons.”

On Tuesday AIART said on its website that the Institute of Advertising Self-Discipline, Italy’s private advertising standards authority, had “upheld our appeal for the immediate suspension of the commercial.”

The Institute’s Control Committee “has enjoined the parties involved to desist from the broadcast of such a campaign,” AIART reported, with the committee citing regulations that commercials “must not offend moral, civil, and religious convictions.”

Giovanni Baggio, the president of AIART, said in the Tuesday release that the group “​​urge[s] creatives to be more respectful of cultural and religious identities and to work for commercials that are inclusive and that appeal to all users in a way that is careful not to create discomfort and disapproval.”

“Let us work together for a civilization that needs to grow in respect for cultural and religious identities," Baggio said.

Amica Chips did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNA on Wednesday morning.

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Saint Pio Foundation in the United States on April 29, 2024, will release 10 never-before-seen photographs of Padre Pio. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Saleto’s studio. / Credit: Courtesy of the St. Pio Foundation

CNA Staff, Apr 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

To mark its 10th anniversary, the Saint Pio Foundation in the United States is releasing 10 never-before-seen photographs of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, on April 29. 

The candid images show the Italian priest celebrating Mass and deep in prayer but also in lighter moments of laughter, rarely captured of the friar. The foundation’s director, Luciano Lamonarca, discovered the photos when visiting photographer Elia Stelluto’s studio.

EWTN News Vatican correspondent Colm Flynn sat down with Lamonarca in a recent interview for “EWTN News Nightly” to discuss the images. One of the most surprising photos was of Padre Pio smiling. 

“One is nice because [it shows everybody] hey, Padre Pio is smiling. Yes, he was smiling because he was a man. So we always think that Padre Pio was a serious man. We know that faith is also about laughing … sometimes,” Lamonarca said.

The professional opera singer grew up in Italy aware of the giant figure that Padre Pio was in the Catholic Church but didn’t have a particular devotion to the saint until he and his wife faced the great suffering of having a stillborn baby and receiving the news that they would probably not be able to have more children. 

It was then that the couple turned to St. Pio’s intercession and, in the process, began to learn more about his life. 

Lamonarca said he learned about St. Pio’s “simplicity and humility.” 

“He was the grandfather I never had,” he told Flynn.

Lamonarca said he felt such a connection to the saintly friar that he wanted to help bring his story and message to as many people as possible — especially in the United States — so he founded the Saint Pio Foundation.

Today Lamonarca and his wife live in the United States with their son, Sebastian, who was born the year after Lamonarca founded the foundation. As an Italian living in the U.S., he is passionate about strengthening the ties between the two countries in the name of St. Pio.

In addition to the release of all the photos to celebrate its 10th anniversary, the foundation has also produced a documentary drama about Padre Pio, which will air on EWTN later this year.

The full interview with Lamonarca on “EWTN News Nightly” can be viewed below.

Editor's note: This story has been updated.

A plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. / Credit: MichalPL via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Catholic bishops in the European Union on Tuesday reiterated that a right to abortion can never be a “fundamental” right ahead of a Thursday vote related to the insertion of a “right to abortion” in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. 

A draft resolution set to be voted on April 11 would amend the EU’s charter, which first came into force in 2009, to include the assertion that “everyone has the right to bodily autonomy, to free, informed, full, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to all related health care services without discrimination, including access to safe and legal abortion.”

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), based in Brussels and made up of bishops delegated by the bishops’ conferences of the more than two dozen member states of the European Union, speaks frequently in support of Catholic values in Europe, particularly against abortion and for the protection of persecuted Christians in other countries.

“The promotion of women and their rights is not related to the promotion of abortion,” COMECE said in an April 9 statement.

“We work for a Europe where women can live their maternity freely and as a gift for them and for society and where being a mother is in no way a limitation for personal, social, and professional life. Promoting and facilitating abortion goes in the opposite direction to the real promotion of women and their rights.”

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights cannot include rights that are not recognized by all and are “divisive,” the bishops noted. 

“The right to life is the fundamental pillar of all other human rights, especially the right to life of the most vulnerable, fragile, and defenseless, like the unborn child in the womb of the mother, the migrant, the old, the person with disabilities, and the sick. The Church has always taught this,” the bishops continued. 

The European Parliament is a directly-elected body made up of over 700 legislators from EU member states and tasked with adopting EU legislation. Changing the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to include abortion would require unanimous agreement from all member states, the body says. 

The enshrining of abortion rights in the EU’s rights charter has long been debated. Abortion activists have for years pushed for the modification to union law, with initiatives such as the Simone Veil Pact calling for broad abortion rights throughout the continent. 

In contrast to the highly permissive legal framework found in many U.S. states before and after Roe v. Wade, many European countries restrict abortion after 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy; some European Union member countries also impose waiting periods and other regulations. 

In January 2022, French President Emmanual Macron called upon the European Union to enshrine abortion in law, which Macron said would “give new life to our set of rights” there. In a statement at the time, COMECE expressed “deep concern and opposition” to the idea. COMECE noted at the time that that there is no “right” to abortion enshrined in European or international law.

Earlier this year, France became the first country in Europe to enshrine a “right to abortion” in its constitution.

Luis Argüello, archbishop of Valladolid and general secretary of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. / Credit: CEE

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference and archbishop of Valladolid, Luis Argüello, is encouraging reflection on the issue of migration in view of the upcoming debate in the country’s Congress of Deputies (lower house) on a citizen initiative to grant legal residency to an estimated 390,00 to 470,000 illegal immigrants with residence in Spain prior to November 2021.

In a post on X, the prelate shared the issues that in his view are on the table as lawmakers take into consideration a People’s Legislative Initiative (ILP, by its Spanish acronym) on the migration issue, which has garnered more than 700,000 signatures.

Promoted since 2021 by institutions inside and outside the Catholic Church, the ILP was admitted for possible consideration by the Congress of Deputies last December. Now the legislators must decide whether to actually consider the proposal in order for parliamentary debate on the issue to begin.

In an April 5 joint statement, the Spanish Conference of Religious, Spanish Caritas, the Migration Department of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, and the Network of Entities for Solidarity Development expressed their fear that the majority of political parties represented in the lower house will refuse to address the citizen initiative.

The consideration of the ILP is scheduled to be debated Tuesday.

Four issues to debate

The prelate believes that, first of all, accepting this ILP for debate would mean support for the “regeneration of our democracy,” even more so since it is an “ethical issue based on the sacred dignity of all human life.”

The archbishop of Valladolid emphasized that the acceptance of this type of citizen initiative is “essential so that the state is not reduced to a ‘gang of thieves.’”

Secondly, Argüello believes that “regularizing” the situation of nearly half a million people who “are already living, hardly living, working, and participating in our society” is about “normalizing in the state what is already normal, although with the limitations of illegal status in our society.”

Address the immigration issue as a whole

In his third point, the president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference elaborated on several key issues to address regarding migration as part of a global phenomenon.

The archbishop pointed out the need for analyzing the political and economic causes of migration as well as the role of organized crime in facilitating illegal immigration. He emphasized that “it must be denounced and fought and, from there, question the involuntary collaboration of many of the ‘compassionate’ organizations, including the Church’s, with their criminal objectives.”

Argüello also pointed to the need to regulate the flow of migrants since “a society cannot take in, accompany, promote, and integrate all those who arrive.” However, he noted that each society “must in fact promote an international response for all.”

The archbishop noted in light of the demographic crisis in the Old World how, with “contempt for human dignity,” Europe “rejects immigrants and approves abortion” in such a way that “our demographic winter is fueled while people complain about migrants and reject them.”

The prelate also encouraged “questioning the cultural and political currents that dominate today’s globalism that uses the influx of migrants and reproductive health policies at the service of a moralistic and uniform capitalism that plays with population replacement as a savage form of biopolitics.”

As a fourth and final point of analysis, Argüello said that “it’s time to overcome polarization caused by political interests and jointly address core issues for the common good.”

This task, he explained, must be carried out “by listening to everyone, dialogue, and a pact that ensures respect for human dignity and that works toward the national and global common good.”

What the catechism says about migration

The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies in No. 2241 the guidelines to be taken into account on the issue of migration.

The first guideline is that ”the more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of a livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin.” In addition, “public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.”

The obligation to take in migrants must be met by the civil authorities who, “for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants’ duties toward their country of adoption.”

The Catholic Church teaches that “immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws, and to assist in carrying civic burdens.”

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