Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Thousands of people walk prayerfully together through the streets during a Eucharistic procession in Derry, Ireland, on the feast of St. Brigid, Feb. 1, 2025. / Credit: EWTN Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland, Feb 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On the recent feast day of St. Brigid in Ireland, thousands of people walked the streets together in a joyful celebration of prayer that has attracted global interest. The Come Follow Me Procession on the feast of one of Ireland’s patron saints was organized by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR) and a group of lay Catholics.

“We want to bring Our Lord Jesus to people who no longer go to church, those who are lost or those who have no hope. There is a lot of darkness here, and when we lift Jesus high, we know that hearts are changed,” said Father Antonio Maria Diez de Medina, CFR, who has encouraged an active interest in Eucharistic processions in Ireland. 

Holding the procession on the feast of St. Brigid was no accident, Diez de Medina explained to CNA. “There is a tendency to make her into a New Age saint or a goddess and part of it was to correct that,” he said.

“We need to carry Our Lord Jesus in our hearts, and I really believe there is a new fire, a new hope, and a new song,” he said.

Roisin Doherty, another organizer, said: “We are looking today to see Jesus come alive on the streets in public witness so that people will come to know Jesus Christ the King and his Eucharistic heart beating on the streets. This today is a breakthrough; Jesus is here, and Ireland is coming back to God.”

Worshippers of all ages took part in the Eucharistic procession, singing and bearing religious statues, banners, and flags with images of Jesus, St. Brigid, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Derry’s own Sister Clare Crockett.

The procession halted for adoration in Guildhall Square, a moving and powerful setting that was the scene of many past Catholic civil rights protests.

Prayer intentions included an end to abortion, euthanasia, and war; the healing of families from sin, division, addictions, and suicide; and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

“There can be a fear of expressing your faith, of hiding your Catholic identity, so we bring him to those who are lost, those who have given up on the Church, those who no longer go to church,” Diez de Medina said. “Really, we become his hands and feet when we bring him out onto the streets and venerate him.”

The Eucharistic procession was featured in a segment on “EWTN News Nightly,” which can be viewed below.

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on Dec. 4, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Feb 11, 2025 / 21:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis made a surprise appearance via video message at Italy’s premier musical event on Tuesday, telling participants at the 75th Sanremo Music Festival that music represents a message of peace capable of uniting diverse peoples.

Speaking from his residence at Casa Santa Marta in an unscheduled appearance, the pontiff praised music’s unique ability to transcend barriers.

“Music is beauty, music is an instrument of peace. It is a language that all peoples speak in different ways, reaching everyone’s heart,” the pope said in his message broadcast at the Teatro Ariston.

The Holy Father specifically addressed the plight of children affected by global conflicts.

“Many children cannot sing life — they weep and suffer because of the many injustices in the world, because of many wars, because of conflict situations,” Francis said. “Wars destroy children. Let us never forget that war is always a defeat.”

Francis concluded his message by meditating on music’s power to promote harmony among peoples.

“Music can help people live together, opening hearts to harmony and the joy of being together, with a common language of understanding that commits us to building a more just and fraternal world,” the pope said.

The Sanremo Music Festival, Italy’s most prominent song competition, has been held annually in the Ligurian coastal city since 1951. This year’s edition marks its 75th anniversary.

The festival traditionally serves as Italy’s selection platform for the Eurovision Song Contest and has launched the careers of numerous Italian music stars.

Father Zvonimir Pavicic, OFM, is pastor of the parish church at the Marian shrine of Medjugorje. / Credit: Nicolás de Cárdenas/ACI Prensa

Madrid, Spain, Feb 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Father Zvonimir Pavicic, OFM, the pastor of the parish church at the Marian shrine of Medjugorje, welcomed the recent Vatican recognition of the spiritual phenomenon there as a call to make this recognition more widely known. To skeptics, he says: “We never argue about Medjugorje, but I tell everyone: Come and see.”

The Franciscan was in Spain last week for the 15th Ibero-American Congress on the Queen of Peace organized by the Medjugorje Center Foundation with the theme “Pilgrims of Hope Guided by the Queen of Peace.” 

During a brief break from the event’s busy schedule, the priest took some time to speak to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

ACI Prensa: What does it mean to be a priest and pastor of Medjugorje and what is the particular grace that you have found there?

Pavicic: Being a parish priest at Medjugorje is very demanding, because you are at the same time the pastor, the rector, and the guardian. Because the three duties are not yet separated and the pastor is the one who does everything.

As a pastor, I take care of the parishioners and everything that parish life entails. But the pastor is also responsible for all the pilgrims who come. Although it is a very difficult and demanding task, at the same time it is very beautiful, because you meet people who come to encounter God and who want to live with Mary, and that makes your work easier. And I have to emphasize that I am not alone there, but the Franciscan brothers are there and they make all my work easier.

The grace that I discovered in Medjugorje is precisely the grace of the priestly vocation. What the priest means to the Church, how much people need priests, how much they seek him and, in reality through him, they seek the grace of God. And I discover this more and more in Medjugorje every day.

What has Rome’s recognition of Medjugorje as a place of extraordinary grace meant and what does it bring to the Church?

Before the recognition of the “nihil obstat” (“nothing stands in the way”), Medjugorje brought a lot to the Church. It brought people to conversion, the faithful to conversion. And these people, in turn, prayed for others, converted others, moved people to prayer in their cities. So Medjugorje is a gift to the Church. And the Church has recognized this.

And the “nihil obstat” has opened the doors to Medjugorje and also to all those who want to go to Medjugorje. It has recognized the spirituality of Medjugorje as sound and that it can help the Church in today’s world. And that is why the declaration states that this spirituality must be proclaimed in the Church, so that the greatest number of people will hear about this spirituality and that, by the grace of God, the greatest possible number of people will be converted. And I would conclude that Medjugorje was, is, and will be a gift for the Church.

You are a Franciscan. St. Francis was commissioned by the Lord to restore the Church in Porziuncola. What fruits has Medjugorje been bearing in these 44 years for the restoration and edification of the Church?

It’s the same task. How did St. Francis renew the Church? With a holy life. With prayer. Living in the Church. Not criticizing the pope, the bishops, or the priests. And at that time he had reason to criticize them!

But he loved the Church and lived in it. And that is the true reform of the Church. And that is what Medjugorje does today. We have always been within the Church and for the Church. We have been waiting for the “nihil obstat” and we continue to serve the Church humbly, because we have not created ourselves. We say that God has granted us this grace and we only collaborate with it: for the Church and in the Church.

Many priests experience a profound renewal of their ministry when they go to Medjugorje. What do you think the experience brings to priests?

It’s the grace of God. It can’t be described simply. It can’t be described, because it would not be divine if it could be described. But God acts in Medjugorje. And this is very visible in every priest and in every member of the faithful who goes to Medjugorje. I think it’s not necessary to describe it but to live it.

And not only in Medjugorje but in any other parish. Medjugorje is only an image and a model of what any other parish should be like. Any parish should offer God to men. And the opportunity to go to confession, to pray the rosary, the Eucharist, adoration, and many other devotions. Everything is very simple and God acts in all of this. And this is what priests discover in Medjugorje. In reality, they discover that God is hidden in simplicity.

What do you say to those who are hesitant, who even look with suspicion at the phenomenon of Medjugorje, who do not feel called to that place?

I wouldn’t say anything to them. I never argue with people about Medjugorje. Those who believe, should continue to believe. Those who do not believe, should live with it. God reaches out to each person in different ways. He has touched millions through Medjugorje through the Blessed Virgin Mary. Others have been touched through something else.

The Spirit blows where he wants and how he wants. We never argue about Medjugorje. But I tell everyone: Come and see. Only those who come to Medjugorje and participate in the evening program in the parish will reach a conclusion and make a judgment about Medjugorje.

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

Our Lady of Lourdes grotto, Lourdes, France. / Credit: Elise Harris/CNA

CNA Staff, Feb 11, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Feb. 11, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. In Lourdes, France, in 1858, 13-year-old Bernadette Soubirous was collecting pieces of wood as part of her daily chores when she noticed a startling wind and rustling sound. The noise came from a nearby grotto. When Bernadette looked toward it, she saw it filled with a golden light and a beautiful lady.

It was at this grotto that the Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette 18 times and where millions of Catholic pilgrims visit the healing waters at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Records have been kept from the exchanges between Bernadette and our Blessed Mother. Here are five of the most fascinating facts about the apparitions that took place at the grotto:

1. Paralysis 

When Bernadette first saw the beautiful lady in the grotto during the first apparition, on Feb. 11, 1858, it is said that she immediately smiled at Bernadette and signaled to her to come closer, in the same way a mother motions to her child. Bernadette took out her rosary and knelt before the Lady, who also had a rosary on her right arm. When Bernadette tried to begin saying the rosary by making the sign of the cross, her arm was paralyzed. It was only after the Lady made the sign of the cross herself that Bernadette was able to do the same. The Lady remained silent as Bernadette prayed the rosary, but the beads of her rosary passed between her fingers. 

2. The secret prayer

During the fifth apparition, which took place on Feb. 20, 1858, the Lady taught Bernadette a prayer, which she recited every day for the rest of her life. She never revealed the prayer to anyone, but she did say she was told to always bring a blessed candle with her. This is why candles perpetually burn at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. 

3. The Lady shares her name

At the 16th apparition, on March 25, 1858, the feast of the Annunciation, the Lady revealed her identity to Bernadette, calling herself the “Immaculate Conception.”

4. The burn of fire

Bernadette never forgot to bring a lighted candle to the grotto since she was told to do so by the Lady. During the 17th apparition, on April 7, 1858, Bernadette unconsciously placed one of her hands over the burning flame. Witnesses saw the flame burning through her fingers, and yet she was able to pray for 15 minutes with the flame burning her hand. As she emerged from her prayer, she was unscathed and didn’t even notice cries of horror from the people in the crowd. Dr. Pierre Romaine Dozous, a well-known physician from Lourdes, took another lit candle and, without warning, placed the flame to her hand. Bernadette immediately cried out in pain.

5. The miracle of Bernadette’s body

After the apparitions ended, Bernadette went on to become a Sister of Charity. She died at age 34 on April 16, 1879. She was buried on the convent grounds in Nevers, France. Thirty years later, on Sept. 22, 1909, her body was exhumed and found completely intact. A second exhumation took place on April 3, 1919. The body was found in the exact same state as it had been 10 years earlier. Bernadette was canonized a saint on Dec. 8, 1933, by Pope Pius XI.

This story was first published on Feb. 11, 2022, and has been updated.

Cardinal Kurt Koch speaks to journalists at the Synod on Synodality press briefing held at the Vatican’s Holy See Press Office on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Madrid, Spain, Feb 9, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In his acceptance speech for the honorary doctorate awarded him by the Catholic University of Valencia, Cardinal Kurt Koch rejected the extreme positions of progressives and traditionalists regarding the Second Vatican Council.

The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity reflected in his address on the tension between the two essential parts of the Second Vatican Council: fidelity to the sources and fidelity to the signs of the times.

For the cardinal, “the relationship between these two dimensions has always characterized the Church, but the tension has become more acute in a new way after Vatican II.”

Faced with this dichotomy, Koch argued that “beyond secularist conformism and separatist fundamentalism, it is necessary to seek a third path in the Catholic faith, which has already been shown to us by the council.”

According to the prefect, both the so-called progressives and the traditionalists “conceive of Vatican II as a rupture, although in opposite ways.” For the former, the rupture occurred after the council, while the latter understand that it occurred during it.

In light of this, the cardinal considered that “the two extreme positions are so close, precisely because they do not interpret Vatican II within the general tradition of the Church.”

In his address, Koch recalled, with regard to the traditionalist view that focuses solely on the sources, that Pope Benedict XVI stated that “the magisterial authority of the Church cannot be frozen in 1962.”

The risk of worldliness in the Church

On the other hand, “if the emphasis is placed solely on ‘aggiornamento’ [updating], there is a danger that the opening of the Church to the world, desired and achieved by the council, will become a hasty adaptation of the foundations of faith to the spirit of the modern age,” the cardinal noted.

“Many currents in the postconciliar period were so oriented toward the world that they did not notice the tentacles of the modern spirit or underestimated its impact,” the cardinal observed, “so that the so-called conversion to the world did not cause the leaven of the Gospel to permeate modern society more but rather led to a broad conformism of the Church with the world.”

Koch’s proposal in the face of both positions, which he considers equally disruptive, is “the restoration of a healthy balance in the relationship between the faith and the Church on the one hand and the world on the other.”

In his view, if the Church cannot be confused with the world, “the original identity of faith and the Church must not be defined in such a way that it separates itself from the world in a fundamentalist way.”

In this sense, he added that the dialogue between the Church and the contemporary world “must not make faith and the Church adapt to the world in a secularist way, dangerously renouncing her identity.”

What does the reform of the Church mean?

For the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the reform of the Church cannot imply “a change of essence” but consists in “the elimination of what is inauthentic” through a process of purification of the Church “based on its origins,” so that “the form of the one Church willed by Christ can become visible again.”

“For the council, fidelity to its origins and conformity to the times were not opposed to each other. Rather, the council wanted to proclaim the Catholic faith in a way that was both faithful to its origins and appropriate to the times, in order to be able to transmit the truth and beauty of the faith to the people of today, so that they can understand it and accept it as an aid to their lives,” he emphasized.

For the cardinal, “the council did not create a new Church in rupture with tradition, nor did it conceive a different faith, but rather it aimed at a renewal of faith and a Church renewed on the basis of the spirit of the Christian message that has been revealed once and for all and transmitted in the living tradition of the Church.”

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

The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that, despite serious allegations of abuse, it will not investigate Abbé Pierre, known as a poor priest, because he is no longer alive. / Credit: Studio Harcourt Paris/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

CNA Deutsch, Feb 7, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

The Paris public prosecutor’s office has announced that, despite serious allegations of abuse, it will not investigate Abbé Pierre because he is no longer alive. No investigations are possible against other people who may have covered up abuse due to the statute of limitations.

“The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that the priest could no longer be investigated even after his death in 2007,” ORF reported. “The crime of ‘failure to report’ is time-barred, so no investigations are possible here either.”

Previously, the French bishops formally requested that prosecutors open a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Abbé Pierre.

The move followed nine new allegations in a new report released Jan. 13. Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, the head of the French bishops’ conference, announced the formal request in a radio interview on Jan. 17, stressing the need to uncover more victims.

Abbé Pierre founded the Emmaus Movement in Paris in 1949. Before the allegations that he sexually abused a number of people, he was considered one of the most popular and well-known figures in the Catholic Church of France. He was best known for advocating for the homeless in France and for introducing the Trève Hivernale (Winter Rest) law in the 1950s, which still protects tenants from evictions during the winter months.

The allegations against the priest first came to light in 2023, when Emmaus France received the testimony of a woman who accused Abbé Pierre of sexual abuse. Further testimony was published in an independent report commissioned by Emmaus in July 2024. The documented allegations span several decades, from the 1950s to the 2000s, and the victims include Emmaus employees, volunteers, and young women close to Abbé Pierre.

The French bishops released the files on Abbé Pierre in September 2023. These documents would normally have remained sealed in the National Archives Center of the Church of France until 2082. But it is now acknowledged that from a legal point of view, the French state cannot do anything about the matter.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

St. Marie’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Sheffield, England, was open for prayer on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, after a student at All Saints Catholic High School there was stabbed to death on Monday, Feb. 3. / Credit: alvarobueno/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Feb 5, 2025 / 14:55 pm (CNA).

A teenager has been arrested and charged with murder after police say he stabbed a fellow student to death at a Catholic high school in England on Monday. 

The alleged attacker, whom police have not named because of his age, reportedly stabbed 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose to death Feb. 3 at All Saints Catholic High School in the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield. The school has about 1,300 pupils, aged between 11 and 18, the Guardian reported. 

The local Diocese of Hallam, which encompasses all of Sheffield, released a statement Feb. 4 paying tribute to “our much-loved student, Harvey Willgoose.”

Bishop Ralph Heskett of Hallam said he will be asking all priests of the diocese to offer Mass for Willgoose. In addition, the bishop said, St. Marie’s Cathedral is open for those wanting a place for private prayer.

A Mass at St. Joseph’s Parish in Handsworth at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, will be celebrated for Willgoose’s intention, he continued. Willgoose was a former pupil at the elementary school there. 

“Our prayers, and those of every parish and school, are with Harvey, his parents, family, and friends for a young life lost and all those affected by this tragedy,” the bishop said. 

“My thoughts are also with the students, staff, and community of All Saints Catholic High School at this time. In God’s peace, and in God’s presence, we must come together as a community of faith to comfort each other.”

Steve Davies, the CEO of the trust that runs the school, expressed his “heartfelt condolences.”

“Harvey was an invaluable part of our school community. An immensely popular young man with his fellow students and teachers alike, he had a smile that would light up the room. Harvey was young. He was precious. He was loved,” Davies said. 

“A tragic and shocking incident such as this shakes us to our core and is the opposite of the ethos of what All Saints stands for — a loving, caring school community.”

“We are assisting the police in their ongoing investigation and echo their call to refrain from engaging in speculation and misinformation whilst they establish the facts behind this tragic incident,” he concluded. 

Members of the community continue to contribute to a makeshift shrine honoring Willgoose with flowers, balloons, and tributes at a spot outside the gates of the school. 

Prior to the Feb. 3 incident, the school went into lockdown Jan. 29 after staff and students were informed of “threats of violence” between a “small number of students,” the Yorkshire Post reported. Local police have not announced if the two incidents are linked. 

France’s Prime Minister Francois Bayrou attends a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, in Paris on Feb. 4, 2025. / Credit: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images

Paris, France, Feb 5, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

French Prime Minister François Bayrou’s decision to split the controversial “end of life” bill in two — to separate the issue of “active assistance in dying” from that of palliative, which was announced Jan. 21 — has earned him the wrath of his own party officials, who have suggested his judgment has been clouded by his Catholic convictions.

Opponents of the original bill, whose debates were interrupted by the dissolution of the National Assembly last June, saw it, on the contrary, as a courageous choice that endeavors to respect the plurality of parliamentary opinions on these two centrally important social issues.

For President Emmanuel Macron, this bill was intended to be one of the flagship societal measures of his second term in office — along with the inclusion of the right to abortion in the French Constitution, formalized in March 2024 — to satisfy his progressive electoral base, largely in favor of euthanasia. 

The bill on “accompanying the sick and the end of life,” initially presented to the Council of Ministers on April 10, 2024, and then to the National Assembly on May 27, encompassed two aspects: palliative care and support for the sick, and active assistance in dying — i.e., euthanasia and assisted suicide — for incurable illnesses and/or pain that cannot be relieved. 

In particular, the text provided for the authorization of the provision to “a person who so requests a lethal substance, for self-administration or, if unable to do so, to be administered by a doctor, a nurse, a relative, or a voluntary person of his or her choice.” 

“The bill debated before the dissolution would have made France one of the most extreme legislations in the world, by providing for the lethal act to be carried out by a close relative, exerting strong coercion on medical staff and providing for a procedure conducive to abuses and drifts,” Laurent Frémont, lecturer at Sciences Po Paris and co-founder of the Démocratie, éthique et solidarités association, told CNA. 

Indeed, while the bill provided for a conscience clause for health care professionals, it did not apply to pharmacists, nor did it include any collective dimension for a health care service or establishment.  

While the governmental instability that followed the June 9 European elections and the dissolution of the National Assembly bought time for opponents of active aid in dying, its promoters are seeking to make up for lost time by making it a political priority. Thus, since early November 2024, National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet has been urging the government to resume discussions on the bill no later than early February. 

In taking up this request, Bayrou, prime minister since Dec. 13, 2024, nevertheless surprised his own political allies by announcing, at the end of January, that the original end-of-life text would finally be split into two. Parliamentary debates will therefore revolve around two separate bills, the first on palliative care, the second on active assistance in dying.  

“We need to be able to vote on each of these two texts in a different way,” the centrist leader explained at the time of his announcement, highlighting that he had no intention of delaying the examination of the bill in Parliament.  

This decision was welcomed by critics of the initial project, who saw a blatant antinomy between the two parts of the bill.

“Since the beginning of debates on the subject, Emmanuel Macron has attempted a particularly audacious ‘en même temps’ [‘at the same time’ — an expression often used by the French president] by announcing the advent of a ‘French end-of-life model’ based on both palliative care and induced death,” Frémont said.

“There can be no continuum between these two radically opposed practices. Induced death cannot be care, because it interrupts care by eliminating the person being cared for. Despite strong opposition from caregivers, this confusion was maintained during the debates that took place before the dissolution.”

The announcement also triggered an outcry among proponents of active aid in dying, who saw it as an attempt to postpone the debate indefinitely. They also pointed to the religious convictions of Bayrou, who has never made a secret of his Catholic faith.

“The prime minister is in the midst of a mystical enlightenment,” wrote the French Association for the Right to Die with Dignity in a press release, comparing him to “the preacher of a religious congregation” and inviting him to “set aside his religious beliefs and finally take an interest in the general interest of the French people.” 

More nuanced, political figures in the presidential camp nonetheless considered that the politician’s judgment was clouded by his personal convictions, despite the fact that both he and his entourage insisted to the contrary. 

For columnist Guillaume Tabard, Bayrou has above all shown political astuteness by evading pressure from the president of the National Assembly and by aiming “to de-mine a heated subject without burying it.”  

“By promising to separate the two subjects,” Frémont said, “François Bayrou is showing that he has grasped what is at stake in this debate. This will ensure that palliative care is not used as an excuse to legalize administered death in France.” 

Bishop Santiago Gómez Sierra visits St. Paul Parish in the Diocese of Huelva, Spain, in 2022. / Credit: Diocese of Huelva, Spain

Madrid, Spain, Feb 5, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Huelva in Spain has “prohibited and disavowed” a planned preparation course for the “blessing of same-sex couples or couples in an irregular situation” that was to be held at one of its parishes. The diocese said it learned about the course through the media.

In a brief statement, the diocese explained that “this way of accompanying Christian faithful who are in such situations does not correspond with the teaching of Pope Francis nor with the pastoral practice of the Church.”

The text concludes by stating that “the Diocese of Huelva provides pastoral accompaniment for all people, offering opportunities for listening, formation, and growth in faith and always in accordance with the teachings of the Church.”

St. Paul Parish, the planned venue for the course, has canceled the event. On its website, the original information was replaced with a message stating: “For reasons beyond our control, we have to cancel this accompaniment.”

The message is illustrated with a drawing of a lamb with the rainbow colors of the LGBT flag next to a shepherd and the message: “I was not lost, they told me I was not welcome.”

A local newspaper, Huelva24, shared a promotional poster for the course that inaccurately quotes the December 2023 Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans. The poster features a line that is not in the declaration itself, stating that “the blessing of couples in irregular situations and of same-sex couples is possible ... so that human relationships can mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel message.”

The sentence “it is possible to bless couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples” does not appear in the text of Fiducia Supplicans published by the Vatican. It does appear, however, with this formulation: “Within the horizon outlined here appears the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex.”

Regarding the second part, the original Vatican document states that the blessings are for such couples “that they may be freed from their imperfections and frailties, and that they may express themselves in the ever-increasing dimension of the divine love.” 

The declaration Fiducia Supplicans sparked controversy in the Catholic Church by allowing pastoral blessings for couples in irregular situations, including same-sex couples, without altering the doctrine on sacramental marriage.

The controversy arose from divergent interpretations: While some sectors of the Church saw it as a gesture of mercy to address complex realities, other bishops and faithful warned of the risk of doctrinal confusion, fearing that it would be perceived as an implicit validation of unions contrary to traditional teaching.

In May 2024, the bishop of Plasencia in Spain, Ernesto Jesús Brotons, admonished a priest for blessing a homosexual couple in such a way that it caused “scandal” and “confusion.” He had situated the pair in front of the altar similar to a bride and groom and was wearing an alb and red stole.

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

This painting of St. Peter visiting St. Agatha was created by Federico Zuccari between 1597 and 1599 for the altar of Sant’Agata in the Milan Cathedral. It was directly commissioned by Milan native Federico Borromeo, a cousin of St. Charles Borromeo. / Credit: Rachel Thomas

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 5, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Every Feb. 5, the Church remembers St. Agatha of Catania, a young woman who consecrated her virginity to God and died a martyr’s death during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius in the third century.

Agatha was born in Catania, Sicily, in southern Italy, around the year 230. Like many women of her time, she decided to consecrate her life to Jesus Christ by remaining a virgin.

In the days of the persecution of Decius, the proconsul Quintianus, the governor of Sicily, fell in love with Agatha and sought her in marriage. However, the young woman rejected each of his proposals. 

The constant refusals greatly annoyed the proconsul, who ordered her to be taken to a brothel as punishment. Contrary to what Quintianus expected, in that sad place, Agatha managed to avoid any occasion that could jeopardize the promise she had made to the Lord. And, as if this were not enough, many women subjected to that world that treated them as merchandise converted to Christ. 

Quintianus then ordered Agatha to be subjected to a series of taunts and insults, and then ordered her to be tortured. Her executioners, in a fit of insanity, cut off her breasts. A certain hagiography preserves her words in the face of such wickedness: “Cruel tyrant, are you not ashamed to torture in a woman the same breast which fed you as a child?”

Tradition has it that Agatha miraculously survived the horrors and cruelties committed against her, and during the night while she was bleeding to death, St. Peter the Apostle appeared to her to heal her wounds and encourage her to remain steadfast.

At dawn, when the guards realized that the woman had recovered, the executioners resumed the tortures and Agatha gave up her life. It was the fifth day of the second month of the year 251.

One year after the martyrdom of St. Agatha, the volcano Etna erupted. The lava that spread along the slopes of the volcano threatened to destroy Catania. Then, some of its inhabitants who remembered the young martyr asked for her intercession to stop the fury of nature. 

Miraculously, the sea of burning rock and ash that began to move never reached the city. In gratitude, Catania and other surrounding towns chose Agatha as their patron saint.

Today, devotees of St. Agatha ask her to intercede for women who have complicated childbirths or problems with lactation. She is also invoked by those who suffer from breast ailments. She is considered the protector of women and patron saint of nurses.

In traditional iconography, St. Agatha is usually shown with the palm of martyrdom, the palm of victory, in her hand; or she is holding the tray on which her breasts were placed.

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