Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

John Traynor is believed to be the first British Catholic to be cured at Lourdes. / Credit: Courtesy of Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

The healing of a British World War I soldier at the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France has been proclaimed as the 71st miracle attributed to the pilgrimage site.

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool in England declared the miraculous healing of John Traynor, a soldier of the British Royal Navy, on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 81st anniversary of his death.

The Church has not recognized a miraculous event at Lourdes since 2018.

The news comes after the president of the Lourdes Office of Medical Observations, Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis, commissioned a review of Traynor’s case last year, which was undertaken by an English doctor and member of the International Medical Committee at Lourdes, Kieran Moriarty.

Moriarty’s investigations uncovered numerous files in the archives at Lourdes that included the testimonies of the three doctors who examined Traynor before and after his cure, along with other supporting evidence.

McMahon concluded during a canonical commission that based on the evidence assembled by Moriarty, Traynor’s healing was indeed miraculous.

“Given the weight of medical evidence, the testimony to the faith of John Traynor and his devotion to Our Blessed Lady, it is with great joy that I declare that the cure of John Traynor, from multiple serious medical conditions, is to be recognized as a miracle wrought by the power of God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes,” the archbishop stated.

“I hope that in February 2025, during the jubilee year, we will have a fitting celebration at the metropolitan cathedral to mark this significant moment in the history of our archdiocese, helping us all to respond to the jubilee call to be ‘pilgrims of hope,’” McMahon added.

Traynor was born in Liverpool, England, in 1883. Though his Irish mother passed away when he was young, Traynor’s personal testimony featured on the shrine’s website states that “her devotion to Mass and holy Communion and her trust in the Blessed Mother stayed with him as a memory and fruitful example.” Traynor described his mother in the testimony as a “daily Communicant when few people were.”

A member of the Royal Navy Reserve, Traynor was mobilized at the outset of the war in 1914. During the battle at Antwerp, he was hit in the head by shrapnel while attempting to carry an officer off the field. He quickly recovered and returned to service.

On April 25, 1915, Traynor took part in an amphibious landing on the shores of Gallipoli as a part of an unsuccessful attempt by British and French troops to capture the peninsula in the Ottoman-occupied Turkey. Traynor was one of the few soldiers to reach the shore during that first day, having prevailed through the onslaught of machine-gun fire by the Turkish forces who were poised atop the steep banks of the beach.

For over a week, Traynor remained unscathed as he attempted to lead the small coalition that survived the landing up the sandhill.

However, on May 8, Traynor caught a spray of machine gun bullets to the head, chest, and arm during a bayonet charge. The wounds he sustained from the battle left him paralyzed in his right arm and regularly susceptible to epileptic attacks. Doctors attempted numerous surgeries to repair the damaged nerves in his arm and to treat the head wounds believed to have been the source of his epilepsy, but to no avail.

Eight years after the battle that left him “completely and incurably incapacitated,” Traynor was slated to be admitted to a hospital for incurables. Instead he went to Lourdes.

A long journey to Lourdes

Against the pleas of his wife, doctors, and several priests, Traynor insisted upon joining a parish-led pilgrimage to Lourdes from Liverpool from July 22–27, 1923.

Traynor wrote in his testimony that he “succeeded in being bathed nine times in the water from the grotto spring,” despite being desperately ill in the first three days of the trip and facing much resistance from his caretakers.

On the second day of the trip, Traynor recalled suffering a severe epileptic fit while being wheeled to the baths. “Blood flowed from my mouth and the doctors were very much alarmed,” he said. When the doctors attempted to bring him back to his lodgings, Traynor refused, pulling the brakes on his wheelchair with his good hand.

“They took me into the bath and bathed me in the usual way. I never had an epileptic fit after that,” he said in his testimony.

The next day, Traynor went again to the baths — while he was bathing, he recalled his legs becoming “violently agitated” and feeling as though he had regained use of them. Since he was due to return for a Eucharistic procession, Traynor’s caretakers — who believed he was having another fit — rushed him to Rosary Church.

When the archbishop of Rheims passed him by with the Blessed Sacrament, Traynor’s arm too became “violently agitated,” and he broke through his bandages and made the sign of the cross for the first time in eight years.

The next morning, Traynor leapt from his bed and ran to the grotto. 

“My mother had always taught me that when you ask a favor from Our Lady or wish to show her some special veneration you should make a sacrifice,” Traynor recalled. “I had no money to offer, as I had spent my last few shillings on rosaries and medals for my wife and children, but kneeling there before the Blessed Mother, I made the only sacrifice I could think of: I resolved to give up cigarettes.” 

On the morning of July 27, Traynor was examined by three doctors who found he had regained his ability to walk perfectly, as well as full use and function of his right arm and legs. The sores on his body had healed completely and his fits had ceased. Remarkably, an opening in his skull that was created during one of his surgeries had also “diminished considerably.” 

One of the official reports issued by the Medical Bureau at Lourdes on Oct. 2, 1926 — later discovered by Moriarty — states that Traynor’s “extraordinary cure is absolutely beyond and above the powers of nature.” 

Traynor went on to have three children after receiving his cure, one of whom is called Bernadette. He is believed to be the first British Catholic to be cured at Lourdes, according to the shrine’s website.

An aerial view of the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021. / Credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Brittany A. Chase, DOD, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are threatening to oppose the U.S. government’s defense spending bill for the next fiscal year over its inclusion of language that would prevent the Department of Defense (DOD) from providing health care coverage that funds transgender drugs and surgeries for minors. 

Although the current draft was the product of negotiations between Republican and Democratic lawmakers, some Democrats have considered abandoning the final version amid its inclusion of banning gender transitions for children.

“The final text includes a provision prohibiting medical treatment for military dependents under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria,” Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, who serves as the ranking member for the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

“Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong,” Smith continued. “This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills. Speaker [Mike] Johnson is pandering to the most extreme elements of his party to ensure that he retains his speakership. In doing so, he has upended what had been a bipartisan process.”

Republican lawmakers included the language in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2025, which was unveiled this past weekend. The primary function of the NDAA is to fund the nation’s military. 

Republican lawmakers sought to include similar language related to gender transitions in last year’s NDAA but eventually abandoned the effort when they failed to get enough support in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Under the proposal, taxpayer-funded health care programs provided by the DOD for members of the military and their families would prevent any coverage of transgender drugs and surgeries for anyone under the age of 18. It would not affect these services for adults.

Currently, the DOD offers coverage for transgender drugs for all ages, which includes puberty blockers and hormones through its TRICARE program, which serves about 9.5 million service members, military retirees, and dependents. TRICARE does not currently provide coverage for transgender surgeries.

According to a study published by the American Public Health Association in 2023, at least 25,000 children sought treatment for gender dysphoria through TRICARE in 2017 — and about 900 received transgender drugs such as puberty blockers or hormones. It’s unclear whether those numbers have increased in recent years.

A Republican effort to end the DOD’s policy to fund travel for military members and their families to obtain abortions was ultimately removed from the NDAA proposal.

In a statement, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said lawmakers “remain determined to confront increasingly hostile threats from communist China, Russia, and Iran, and this legislation provides our military with the tools they need to deter our enemies.”

“This legislation includes House-passed provisions to restore our focus on military lethality and to end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military by permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors and countering antisemitism,” he added.

Smith’s objection to the NDAA proposal comes as activist groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) are urging Democrats to vote against the legislation. 

“Medical care should stay between families and their doctors but this provision would baselessly and recklessly inject politics into the health care military families receive,” Mike Zamore, the ACLU national director of policy and government affairs, said in a statement. 

“Nobody should have to choose between serving the country and ensuring their child has the health care they need to live and thrive,” he added. “Members of Congress must vote against the defense bill because of the inclusion of this deeply harmful, unconstitutional provision.”

The ACLU is currently representing Tennessee families who are challenging a state law that prohibits doctors from providing children with transgender drugs and surgeries. The United States Supreme Court heard the case’s arguments on Dec. 4.

Transgender issues dividing Congress

Most Democratic lawmakers openly support gender transitions for minors. However, following the 2024 election, the two House Democrats — Rep. Seth Moulton and Rep. Tom Suozzi — have accused their party of going too far to the left on issues related to transgenderism, particularly when it comes to biological boys who identify as girls playing in girls’ sports.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is introducing a bill to prohibit surgical gender transitions of minors nationwide. The legislation is called the Safeguarding the Overall Protection (STOP) of Minors Act.

In a statement posted on X, Marshall, an OB-GYN physician by profession, said that most Americans “want a complete ban on any performance of mutilation, sterilization, and castration procedures on children,” which is what prompted him to introduce the bill. 

As of December, transgender drugs and surgeries for children are prohibited in 24 states and another two states ban only the surgeries. Gender transitions for minors remain legal in the remaining 24 states and several have enacted laws that explicitly protect access to those drugs and surgeries.

President-elect Donald Trump has said he supports a federal law banning the surgical gender transitions of minors. Some scholars have argued that the incoming Trump administration could use regulatory authority to restrict the gender transitions of minors nationally.

The Holy House of Our Lady in the Shrine of Loreto. / Credit: Tatiana Dyuvbanova/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Dec 10, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

What do Galileo, Mozart, Descartes, Cervantes, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux have in common? They all traveled hundreds of miles to step inside the Virgin Mary’s house, which is preserved inside a basilica in the small Italian town of Loreto.

Catholic pilgrims have flocked to the Holy House of Loreto since the 14th century to stand inside the walls where tradition holds the Virgin Mary was born, raised, and greeted by the angel Gabriel.

In other words, if the structure actually comes from the ancient house in Nazareth, the holy house’s walls witnessed when the “Word became flesh” at the Annunciation, a point on which the history of humanity turned.

Pope Francis elevated the feast of Our Lady of Loreto in 2019 by decreeing that it be included in the current Roman calendar as an optional memorial each year on Dec. 10.

Tradition holds that the Holy House arrived in Loreto on Dec. 10, 1294, after a miraculous rescue from the Holy Land as the Crusaders were driven out of Palestine at the end of the 13th century.

There is an often-repeated story that angels carried the Holy House from Palestine to Italy. While modern listeners may doubt the legend’s veracity, historic documents have vindicated the beliefs of pious pilgrims over the centuries — with an ironic twist.

In 1900, the pope’s physician, Joseph Lapponi, discovered documents in the Vatican archive stating that in the 13th century a noble Byzantine family, the Angeli family, rescued “materials” from “Our Lady’s House” from Muslim invaders and then had them transported to Italy for the building of a shrine.

The name Angeli means “angels” in both Greek and Latin.

Further historic diplomatic correspondence, not published until 1985, discusses the “holy stones taken away from the House of Our Lady, Mother of God.” In the fall of 1294, “holy stones” were included in the dowry of Ithamar Angeli for her marriage to Philip II of Anjou, son of King Charles II of Naples.

A coin minted by a member of the Angeli family was also found in the foundation of the house in Loreto. In Italy, coins were often inserted into a building’s foundation to indicate who was responsible for its construction.

Excavations in both Nazareth and Loreto found similar materials at both sites. The stones that make up the lower part of the walls of the Holy House in Loreto appear to have been finished with a technique particular to the Nabataeans, which also was widespread in Palestine. There are inscriptions in syncopated Greek characters with contiguous Hebrew letters that read “O Jesus Christ, Son of God,” written in the same style inscribed in the cave in Nazareth.

Archaeologists also confirmed a tradition of Loreto that third-century Christians had transformed Mary’s house in Nazareth into a place of worship by building a synagogue-style church around the house. A seventh-century bishop who traveled to Nazareth noted a church built at the house where the Annunciation took place.

From St. Francis de Sales to St. Louis de Montfort, many saints visited the Holy House of Loreto over the centuries. St. Charles Borromeo made four pilgrimages in 1566, 1572, 1579, and 1583.

St. John Paul II in 1993 called the Holy House of Loreto the “foremost shrine of international import dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.”

The victory over the Turks at Lepanto was attributed to the Virgin of Loreto by St. Pius V, leading both General Marcantonio Colonna and John of Austria to make pilgrimages to the shrine in 1571 and 1576 respectively.

Christopher Columbus made a vow to the Madonna of Loreto in 1493 when he and his crew were caught in a storm during their return journey from the Americas. He later sent a sailor to Loreto on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving on behalf of the entire crew.

Queen Christina of Sweden offered her royal crown and scepter to the Virgin Mary in Loreto in 1655 after her conversion from the Lutheran faith to Catholicism.

Napoleon plundered the shrine and its treasury on Feb. 13, 1797, taking with him precious jewels and other gifts offered to the Virgin Mary by European aristocracy, including several French monarchs, over the centuries. Yet, the object of real value in the eyes of pilgrims, the Holy House of Mary, was left unharmed.

In a homily in 1995, St. John Paul II called the Holy House of Loreto “the house of all God’s adopted children.”

He continued: “The threads of the history of the whole of humankind are tied anew in that house. It is the Shrine of the House of Nazareth, to which the Church that is in Italy is tied by providence, that the latter rediscovers a quickening reminder of the mystery of the Incarnation, thanks to which each man is called to the dignity of the Son of God.”

This article was first published on Dec. 10, 2022, and has been updated.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich presides at the first Mass in the reopened Cathedral of Notre Dame on Dec. 8, 2024. / Credit: EWTN/Screenshot

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 9, 2024 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

The archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated the first Mass during which the altar of the restored cathedral was consecrated following the fire that ravaged the church in April 2019.

At the Eucharist, which was attended by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, some 170 bishops from the country and from around the world concelebrated with Ulrich as well as one priest from each of the 106 parishes of the Archdiocese of Paris and one priest from each of the seven Eastern-rite Catholic churches.

The clergy wore chasubles designed by Jean-Charles Castelbajac, the 74-year-old Frenchman who was entrusted with the task and who has designed clothing for such celebrities as Madonna, Beyoncé, and Rihanna.

One of the bishops in attendance was the archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who was also present at the Dec. 7 opening ceremony.

In a post on X, Dolan said he was grateful to participate in the first Mass in the cathedral and highlighted the generosity of the many Americans who contributed to the restoration of the emblematic cathedral.

Before proceeding to the consecration of the altar, the relics of five saints — three women and two men — “whose history is linked to the Church of Paris: St. Marie Eugenie Milleret, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, St. Catherine Labouré, St. Charles de Foucauld, and Blessed Vladimir Ghika” were placed in a recess in it, according to the archdiocesan website.

The Parisian prelate then read the prayers for the consecration of the altar and anointed the entire altar with chrism (blessed oil), which he spread with his hands as the ritual requires. Five small containers holding lit coals were set on the corners and center of the altar and the archbishop then placed incense on them, releasing the fragrant smoke heavenward.  

After the containers were removed, deacons wiped off the excess chrism from the altar with towels and placed the altar cloth on the altar. Finally, altar servers placed six candles on the steps to one side of the altar and a priest placed one candle and a plain hammered metal cross on the altar itself.

In his homily, the archbishop of Paris proclaimed: “This morning, the pain of April 15, 2019, is taken away,” adding that “in a certain way, and even if the shock caused by the fire has been lasting, the pain was already overcome when prayer rose from the banks of the [River] Seine and from hundreds of millions of hearts throughout the world.”

After stating that he would soon consecrate the altar so that it may be “the table of Christ’s sacrifice, the place where he gives his life for all,” Ulrich noted that “the material chosen by the artist [for the altar], bronze, enters into a frank dialogue with the stone building.”

“And this altar block,” he continued, “as if taken from the earth for the sacrifice, is prepared as a fraternal table for the Lord’s supper.”

The prelate then encouraged all the faithful present to not be simply “dazzled by the rediscovered beauty of the stones, but let yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to the most beautiful gift that God gives you and gives us of his loving presence, of his closeness to the poorest, of his transforming power in the sacraments.”

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

Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich knocks on the door of Notre-Dame Cathedral during a ceremony to mark the reopening of the landmark cathedral in central Paris on Dec. 7, 2024. / Credit: Christophe Petit Tesson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Dec 7, 2024 / 20:15 pm (CNA).

The doors of the newly restored Notre-Dame of Paris Cathedral were officially reopened to the public during a ceremony Saturday evening just over five years after a blaze ravaged the iconic structure’s roof, frame, and spire.

The celebration, which began at around 7:20 p.m. local time, was attended by some 1,500 people, including about 40 heads of state, including U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai of Antioch were among the 170 bishops from France and around the world who attended the ceremony, which featured a message from Pope Francis, who did not travel for the occasion.

Authorities mobilized a massive security force of some 6,000 police and gendarmes for the event, citing a “very high level of terrorist threat.” Space was provided for up to 40,000 people outside the cathedral.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who was initially scheduled to speak on the cathedral’s forecourt to respect the law of separation between the church and the state, wound up speaking inside the building due to inclement weather, as previously announced in a press release from the Archdiocese of Paris.

Expressing “the gratitude of the French nation” to the cathedral’s rebuilders during his address, Macron asserted that Notre Dame “tells us how much meaning and transcendence help us to live in this world.”

Breaking five years of silence, the bell of Notre-Dame, known as the “bourdon,” rang out across Paris. This was the first step in the reopening office, initiated by three knocks on the cathedral’s central portal, the Portal of the Last Judgment, by the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich. The opening of the doors was set to the music of the polyphonic piece “Totus Tuus,” composed in 1987 by Henryk Gorecki during Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland and sung by the 150 young members of the Maîtrise de Notre Dame.

“May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France,” Pope Francis said in a letter read by the apostolic nuncio of France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, after a tribute to the firefighters who saved the 800-year-old cathedral from the flames and the French president’s speech.

“I invite all the baptized who will joyfully enter this cathedral to feel a legitimate pride and reclaim their faith heritage,” he added.

There followed the awakening and blessing of the great organ, a three-century-old instrument whose pipes had remained clogged with lead dust following the 2019 fire.

“Notre-Dame has known darkness; now it is back in the light. It has known silence, and now it rediscovers the joy of our chants,” said Ulrich, who took possession of the Paris cathedral for the first time, two years after his nomination as head of the Paris Archdiocese, succeeding Archbishop Michel Aupetit.

In his brief homily, Ulrich emphasized that “it is not only princes, chiefs, and notables who have their place in the Church” but that “the door is open to all,” including foreigners and nonbelievers.

After singing the Magnificat and reciting the Our Father, the ceremony concluded with a final blessing and the singing of the Te Deum.

At the end of the religious ceremony, a concert organized and broadcast by France Télévisions and Radio France featured internationally renowned artists including Chinese pianist Lang Lang, South African soprano Pretty Yende, and Franco-Swiss tenor Benjamin Bernheim.

The consecration Mass for the cathedral’s new main altar was scheduled for Sunday at 10:30 a.m. local time, again in the presence of the French president and religious leaders. The cathedral itself was not desecrated by the blaze, as Aupetit celebrated a Mass there two months later.

Celebrations surrounding the reopening of Notre-Dame will continue until Dec. 16, with each day devoted to welcoming different communities and groups, including firefighters and patrons. At the end of this octave, the cathedral will return to its usual schedule. 

The fire, the causes of which have yet to be determined, has sparked a wave of emotion around the world, including in the United States, which has the largest number of foreign contributors to the restoration and reconstruction work, amounting to almost 700 million euros ($740 million).

Michel Picaud, president of the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, said in a recent interview that American donors accounted for 90% of 50,000 euros’ (about $53,000) worth of international donations received by the charitable association. The five years of work involved a total of 250 companies and hundreds of craftsmen.

With almost half of the French population already planning to visit the breathtaking and now-immaculate cathedral, rebuilt in the style of the one designed by 19th-century architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, extended opening hours will be offered until next Pentecost, with a new free online booking system.

At a press conference in Paris on Nov. 13, the cathedral’s rector, Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, announced that some 15 million visitors would now be expected to visit the cathedral each year, compared with about 12 million before the fire.

“Now is the time to return to Notre-Dame!” he declared.

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy. / Credit: Vincenzo Amoruso via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rome Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals at a consistory this Saturday, including Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy, who said he sees the appointment not as a personal honor but as “a call to dream together of a Church that gets its hands dirty, that is not afraid of the peripheries and that allows itself to be guided by the transforming power of the Gospel.”

In an interview with ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, Battaglia described his initial reaction to the news as “a deep inner silence, inhabited by awe but also by fear.”

“At that moment I felt all the weight and grace of a call that I had neither sought nor imagined,” said the 62-year-old archbishop, who is known in his diocese simply as “Don Mimmo.”

Appointed as archbishop of Naples in late 2020, Battaglia spent more than 20 years leading a center for drug rehabilitation in Catanzaro.

Speaking about what it means to become a cardinal in Naples today, Battaglia emphasized that “this is the meaning of the purple: service, not honor.”

“Becoming a cardinal in this time and in this city means embracing the cross of the weakest, making room for their dreams and struggles, sharing the hope of those who, despite a thousand difficulties, continue to believe in a different future,” he told ACI Stampa. “Naples when it loves, loves totally, and I believe that in this, my people, can help me in this totality of giving.”

Battaglia drew inspiration from Bishop Tonino Bello, a venerated Italian prelate known for his work with the poor, quoting his saying: “We do not have the right to sit on the side of the road and watch those who pass by; we must take up the path again with the Gospel in our hands and poverty in our hearts.”

The archbishop acknowledged that the challenges facing Naples are complex. “Naples is a city that changes you before you can even imagine changing it,” he said. “In these years I have seen the beating heart of this land emerge powerfully: the generosity of people, the creativity that flourishes even in the midst of decay, the deep faith of those who rely on God with all their fragility.”

However, he also pointed to ongoing struggles, particularly among young people. “I have also seen the pain that does not cease, the loneliness of so many, the young people struggling to find prospects, the bonds broken by malfeasance, and especially the difficulty of children living in a real educational emergency.”

To address these challenges, Battaglia has initiated an Educational Pact in Naples, bringing together various stakeholders involved in education and youth work. “Naples cannot be changed from above: We need to walk together, listen, get alongside people, build networks of hope,” he explained.

Looking toward his new role as cardinal, Battaglia said he sees it as “an invitation to go even deeper” rather than a culmination. “I will try to continue my journey together with my Church, starting again always and every day from the streets, the alleys, the faces that meet my life every day,” he said.

He emphasized that as a cardinal, he feels “even stronger the call to widen my heart to the entire universal Church, collaborating with Pope Francis and my brother bishops, to proclaim the Gospel and continue to give voice to the least, to denounce injustice, to build alliances for the common good.”

Battaglia, who participated in the recent Synod on Synodality, also reflected on the connection between synodality and hope, particularly in light of the upcoming Jubilee Year of Hope declared by Pope Francis.

“Synodality is walking together, while hope is the force that pushes us to take steps,” he said. 

“The pope invites us to be a Church not closed in on itself but open to dialogue, to listening to each other, to building common paths. This is not only a method but a way of life, a conversion of the heart.”

The consistory for the creation of new cardinals will take place on Saturday, Dec. 7, at St. Peter’s Basilica.

This story was originally published by ACI Stampa, CNA's Italian-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Dec 5, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

In October, Italy became the first country to ban surrogacy for its citizens both within and without its borders — a legal move that could be replicated in other nations, according to experts.

“For us, Italy is an example to follow for other countries,” Bernard Garcia Larrain, a lawyer and international anti-surrogacy advocate, told CNA.

Garcia Larrain is the coordinator of the Casablanca Declaration, an international group calling for the abolition of surrogacy worldwide.

On Oct. 16, Italy’s Senate passed a bill making it possible to prosecute Italian citizens for pursuing surrogacy abroad. The practice was already a crime within Italian borders.

Garcia Larrain told CNA that national regulation of surrogacy is not enough, because surrogacy “is a global market,” which is why the group he coordinates is calling for its universal abolition for the protection of children and women.

In the meantime, however, the lawyer said Italy has taken a good first step that he hopes other countries will follow.

“Italy is a good example, but now countries like Italy have to join our movement to call for an international treaty [banning surrogacy],” he said.

Surrogacy has been illegal in Italy since 2004. The prohibition is contained within the country’s Law 40, which regulates medically assisted procreation.

Under the recently passed law the Italian state will be able to prosecute its citizens who seek surrogacy even in countries where it is legal.

In an Oct. 16 press release, the Casablanca Declaration applauded Italy’s decision, calling it “a major step forward in the universal abolition of surrogacy.”

“Italy is showing the way forward for all the other countries that have not yet dared to take initiatives to protect women and children from surrogate motherhood,” the group said.

Italy’s wider ban on surrogacy has been frequently referred to by media and elsewhere as a “universal crime.”

Giorgio Mazzoli, the director of U.N. Advocacy for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International and an expert in public international law and international human rights law, explained that the term “universal crime” is a legal misnomer, and the Italian law is actually based on a “more narrowly defined form of extraterritorial jurisdiction.”

Mazzoli has done anti-surrogacy advocacy since 2017 and was among the first to speak out against surrogacy and for a universal ban on the practice at the United Nations. He explained more about the legal implications of the ban in a written interview with CNA.

The full interview can be read below:

CNA: What does the extension of Italy’s law banning surrogacy do, practically speaking? What might enforcement look like?

Mazzoli: Before the adoption of the new law, Italian legislation did not impose sanctions on maternal surrogacy arrangements commissioned by Italian citizens outside national borders. This allowed couples to circumvent domestic prohibitions by entering into surrogacy agreements in jurisdictions where the practice is permitted or tolerated, and subsequently requesting the legal recognition of parentage for children born through these arrangements. The new law closes this loophole by extending criminal penalties to surrogacy arrangements carried out abroad by Italian citizens. Italian citizens who commission surrogacy in other countries will now be prosecuted under Italian law.

The primary mode of enforcement is without a doubt deterrence: By establishing that surrogacy will be punished regardless of where it occurs, the law aims to dissuade individuals from engaging in such practices in the first place. In practical terms, enforcement is closely linked to the existing legal requirements for the recognition of parentage for children born through surrogacy, which include the need to ascertain the child’s origins. This framework, combined with increased scrutiny of intermediaries and clinics promoting surrogacy abroad, should empower Italian authorities to identify and investigate cross-border cases effectively.

CNA: What does the term “universal crime” mean?

Mazzoli: The term “universal crime” is a legal misnomer and should not be confused with universal jurisdiction, which allows states to prosecute specific grave offenses regardless of where they occurred or the nationality of those involved. However, Italy’s law banning surrogacy abroad is not based on universal jurisdiction. Instead, it relies on a more narrowly defined form of extraterritorial jurisdiction, which enables Italian authorities to prosecute their citizens for commissioning surrogacy arrangements outside the country.

CNA: What are the legal limits of Italy’s new ban on surrogacy outside its borders, if any?

Mazzoli: While surrogacy has been prohibited domestically in Italy since 2004, the new ban on surrogacy abroad does not cover the conduct of non-Italian citizens due to reasons of jurisdiction.

CNA: Could Italy be an example for other countries on how to totally ban the practice of maternal surrogacy?

Mazzoli: Yes. As the first country in the world to ban surrogacy outside its borders, Italy could serve as a model for countries determined to combat this deeply unethical, inhumane, and exploitative practice, which turns children into commodities and women’s reproductive capacities into tools for others’ desires. However, addressing the full scope of this human rights issue requires a unified global response. That is why I, along with many human rights experts and organizations, have long been advocating for a universal ban on surrogacy in all its forms.

The nave of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral on Nov. 29, 2024. The cathedral is set to reopen with a planned weekend of ceremonies on Dec. 7–8, 2024, five years after the 2019 fire that ravaged the world heritage landmark and toppled its spire. / Credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, five years after the fire that devastated its roof and spires and made it unusable, is “a renaissance,” Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich told CNA.

The Paris cathedral reopens on Dec. 8, but the celebrations for the cathedral’s return to worship will last until Pentecost next year. 

The restorations have produced a cathedral with brighter walls but intact in its original structure. In the rooster at the top of the spire, the relics of the saints of Paris — St. Louis, St. Genevieve, and a piece of Jesus’ crown of thorns — which were miraculously saved from the fire — are displayed. 

On Dec. 8, Notre Dame will not yet be fully accessible. But the reopening is a sign that France is coming to life again. Over the last century, the cathedral has become a symbol of national unity. 

Victor Hugo’s novel “Notre Dame de Paris” brought the cathedral back to center stage in the 19th century. The architect Viollet Le Duc renovated it by inserting the famous gargoyles into the structure. Then, starting with Napoleon — who chose Notre Dame for his coronation — the cathedral has increasingly become a national monument. 

Speaking to CNA, Ulrich stressed that the reopening of Notre Dame is “a renaissance, a rediscovery for the priests and faithful of Paris who have been waiting for this moment for five years.”

“About 40 recently ordained priests have never had the opportunity to celebrate or attend a celebration in our cathedral,” Ulrich explained. “That day will certainly be memorable. It will be a day of profound joy for Paris, France, and the world. Notre Dame is also a reference point for those passing through the Archdiocese of Paris. Everyone knows Notre Dame; even foreigners are very fond of it.”

According to the archbishop, the cathedral has “balanced architecture.” Above all, it is “a symbol of Christian Europe and medieval Europe,” which has “surpassed the centuries” and taken on a national dimension in the last century, especially after the celebration held at Notre Dame to give thanks for the liberation of Paris in 1944 and for the end of the war in May 1945. 

Ulrich noted the differences between the rebirth after World War II and the current reopening of Notre Dame, although “the national sentiment is the same.“ But “in 1944-45, many French were still regular churchgoers, attending Mass regularly. Today, it is no longer the same. For many, going to Notre Dame is a discovery, sometimes spiritual, but above all cultural.“ 

The archbishop said he wishes “that people who come to Notre Dame discover not only a national monument but a place of Christian prayer, and that the tour route — which we have redesigned for this reopening — makes everyone know something about the Christian faith. Not everyone will become a Christian, but everyone has the right to hear about the Christian faith.“ 

For this reason, in the reconstruction process, the identity of Notre Dame has been forcefully defended. There was talk of turning the cathedral into a museum and regulating access through a ticket, but the Church of France strongly opposed this. Although the state is the “concessionaire” of the building, President Emmanuel Macron can only speak outside the cathedral on Dec. 7 when he symbolically hands over the renovated cathedral. On Dec. 8, he will participate in the inauguration Mass, but the focus will be entirely on the Church of Paris and France. 

Upon his entrance, the great organ will be rekindled, and the office of the Maîtrise de Notre Dame will be sung by the choir led by Henry Chalet, culminating with the Magnificat. 

The archbishop will then give a final blessing, and the Te Deum will be sung. In the evening, a cultural program with giant screens and performances outlines a “great mystery of the Middle Ages.” 

The inaugural Mass will be held on Dec. 8 at 10:30 a.m. The new high altar designed by Guillaume Badet will be consecrated. Nearly 170 bishops from France and around the world will participate in the Mass, as will a priest from each of the 106 parishes of the Diocese of Paris and a priest from each of the seven Eastern-rite Catholic Churches. 

The Mass will be full of symbols: Holy water will be sprinkled on the people, then on the altar and the pulpit as a sign of purification of these elements intended for sacred use. 

The rites of consecration of the altar will take place in five phases. The first is the deposition of the relics of the saints on the altar. Five saints are linked to the Church of Paris: St. Marie Eugénie Milleret, St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, St. Catherine Labouré, St. Charles de Foucauld, and Blessed Vladimir Ghika. 

The second phase will be the prayer of dedication of the anointing with oil. Then, incense will be offered, and the altar will be ornamented and lit. 

After the inauguration, there will be a special eight-day period during which each day will be a solemn celebration with a dedicated theme. This will involve, in particular, those who supported Notre Dame during the reconstruction period. 

Jaime Mayor Oreja inaugurates the sixth Transatlantic Summit of the Political Network for Values ​​held in Spain’s Senate. / Credit: Nicolás de Cárdenas/ACI Prensa

Madrid, Spain, Dec 4, 2024 / 17:10 pm (CNA).

“Faith is not imposed, but it doesn’t hide” is how Jaime Mayor Oreja, the driving force behind the pro-life and pro-family summit held Dec. 1–2 in Spain’s Senate chamber, summed up the Christian position in the face of forces in the world that seek to suppress outward expressions of faith. 

The theme for this year’s event was “For Freedom and the Culture of Life.”

Spain’s former minister of the interior and honorary president of the Political Network for Values ​​(PNfV) denounced “the sick obsession against the Christian foundations [of society], the contempt for science and biology, and the perverse manipulation of history” by those who tried to prevent the meeting from being held. Some 300 political and civic leaders from 45 countries on three continents participated in the event.

“They call us fundamentalists because we defend the foundations [of society]. But it’s the opposite, because we defend the regeneration” of the Western world, argued Mayor, who affirmed the group’s conviction of being “at the forefront of the debate over the future,” which will be characterized by being “between those who don’t believe in anything and those who want to believe and have permanent [points of] reference.”

“We don’t have to be afraid at all, even though the prevailing fashion is to be enraged,” Mayor said while proclaiming that “the defense of the right to life is the foundation, the pillar of all our positions within this cultural debate.”

“Let’s not lose our cool, as they are losing theirs with us,” the leader urged, before concluding that “by the solidity of our foundations, not by embracing extremism, let us know how to fulfill our obligation to the truth: to tell the truth, to defend the truth, and also sometimes to suffer for the truth.”

Lola Velarde, the executive director of the PNfV, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that the participants in the summit had come to Spain to “defend the infinite dignity of the human person, from which a culture of life is born and of course the freedom to be able to defend these values.”

José Antonio Kast: ‘They hate us because they fear us’

During the summit’s introductory panel, the leader of the Republican Party of Chile, José Antonio Kast, also spoke.

In the words of Chilean politician Jaime Guzmán, who was murdered by left-wing groups, Kast gave an explanation for the attempts to cancel, persecute, and disqualify this summit: “They hate us because they fear us. And they fear us because they know we can’t be eliminated.”

“They know that we are brave and that we will never give up in the defense of our values,” he added.

Kast recalled that 10 years ago the first international summit of the PNfV was held, a time during which “this network has been strengthened and expanded with parliamentarians from dozens of countries, with opinion leaders, with researchers, advisers, and members of different governments.”

Kast announced that he was stepping down as president of the PNfV to mount another electoral bid for the presidency of Chile. “The time has come for me and my family to face a tremendous challenge, which is to run for president of our country, and we are doing it as a family,” he said.

Kast ran against Gabriel Boric in the 2021 Chilean presidential election and lost.

Before the summit began in the Senate, the apostolic nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, celebrated Mass at the Monastery of the Incarnation, located near the Senate chamber, where a small group of abortion advocates gathered.

Aúza emphasized that human dignity, as set forth in Dignitas Infinita, is the “fundamental principle and basis of our culture,” without whose recognition “it would not be possible to live in society.”

The prelate explained that this dignity exists “beyond all circumstances” and must be defended “in every cultural context” and, after thanking the participants in the summit for their work, encouraged them to “educate the conscience of many to recognize the centrality of human dignity.”

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

Palliative care. / Credit: Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

London, England, Dec 4, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

The case for assisted dying rests on dangerous misconceptions about the reality of death and dying, according to leading palliative care doctors across England and Wales.

Following a Westminster debate on Nov. 29 in which members of England’s Parliament (MPs) voted in favor of legalizing assisted suicide, 15 palliative care specialists voiced their concerns in a letter to The Times, published Dec. 3.

Reflecting on the historic vote, the signatories wrote that “anyone watching the debate would have been forgiven for thinking that most deaths involve great suffering.”  

“While we do not deny ‘bad deaths’ can happen, most reflect failure of care,” the doctors wrote. “As the bill progresses through Parliament we must ensure that this is accompanied by progress in understanding ‘ordinary dying.’”

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was initiated by MP Kim Leadbeater and allows terminally-ill adults aged 18 or over the right to request medically assisted suicide.

The bill passed its Second Reading last Friday, with 330 MPs voting in favor of it and 275 against it.

The Association of Palliative Medicine in the U.K. is opposed to changing the law on assisted suicide in England and Wales.

In their letter to the Times, the palliative medical experts highlighted a number of other misconceptions underpinning the debate before the vote, including the idea that people regularly resort to starving themselves to death and that covert euthanasia is already happening across England and Wales.

“Several MPs suggested that many people resort to starving themselves to death, which we believe misunderstands the expected reduction in oral intake in dying people as the body shuts down,” the doctors wrote. 

“Other misconceptions concerned the use of morphine to treat pain and suffering at the end of life, with the conflicting suggestions that there is both a limit to the amount of morphine that can be safely used and that high doses of morphine are already used as ‘covert’ assisted dying,” they said.

Pro-life campaigners are now redoubling their strategic efforts to ensure the bill falls at the next hurdle.

A statement released by Right to Life UK on Nov. 29 read: “A large number of MPs who voted for the bill indicated that they were only doing so with a view to debating the bill at further stages. As the vote margin was 55 votes, it would only take 28 MPs to move their vote to opposing the bill for it to be voted down at Third Reading. This provides a clear path for those opposing the bill to defeat it at Third Reading.”