Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Pope Francis greets medical workers administering the vaccine against COVID-19 April 2, 2021. / Credit: Holy See Press Office

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 10, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

“Everything possible must be done to keep the churches open and operational,” said Dr. José María Simón Castellví, president emeritus of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) in a recent essay for that organization titled “Preparing the Church for the Next Pandemic.”

Castellví began his article explaining that “when I say Church, I mean the Church that is still a pilgrim on this earth” and that by pandemic he means “any event transmissible by air or orally; or an attack with a radioactive component.”

“Until now the preparation of our churches for cases of health catastrophes has been poor,” lamented the veteran health care professional, although he recognized that “that Catholic doctors in some countries, such as those in the United States, develop very detailed contingency plans.”

For the Spanish physician, the Catholic hierarchy “should do more to ensure that the word of God, the sacraments, and our charity reaches the faithful and even evangelize those who do not yet know the good news.”

“The preparation for a good and holy death — the reunion with the Almighty — requires our hard work. Divine providence also counts on it,” he added.

The Catholic doctor then referred to the defunct Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers (for Health Pastoral Care) — of which he himself was a member — which was later integrated into the current Dicastery for Integral Human Development.

“Unfortunately very little has been done for health or health care in this department. The [Pontifical] Council for Health Care Workers has not even been established, as was required according to the statutes signed by Pope Francis. This void, on such an important issue, also spreads to episcopal conferences and other ecclesiastical organizations,” the doctor noted.

In a new pandemic ‘we cannot be caught off guard’

Castellví pointed out that “when another global event happens that forces us to take drastic preventive measures,” as was the case with the COVID-19 pandemic, “we cannot be caught off guard. “Everything must be done to keep the churches open and operational.”

The Catholic doctor conceded that “hesitation during the first days” is understandable “but then you must be clear about the protection measures and you must act in science and in conscience, formed, informed, and refined by grace.”

“COVID has taught us that we can keep churches open if we use good masks, ventilation, distance between people, hand hygiene, and so on. Holy Communion, the use of holy water, or the anointing of the sick can be safely distributed by taking a few steps,” he said.

The health care professional encouraged the hierarchy “to consult organized Catholic doctors and other organizations such as the Royal Academies. National and international civil authorities must be respected. However, they have their own agendas and are generally not particularly concerned with pastoral care.”

Deficiency of information during COVID-19 ‘not acceptable’

After stating that the COVID-19 pandemic “really existed and caused the death of millions of fragile people,” the renowned Catholic doctor warned that this scenario “has served states to carry out a great ‘in vivo’ experiment for social control.”

“There are still many open questions about the disease (origin, vaccine prevention, treatments) in this post-pandemic period. In many countries there has been an excess of mortality that cannot be explained only by the lack of control of certain other pathologies during pandemic confinements,” the president emeritus of FIAMC noted.

Castellví said “the limited amount of information provided to the population was not acceptable while they were vaccinated with new drugs, bought en masse with secret contracts, without the informed consent that is required for almost any action, without applying the precautionary principle in pregnant women or children (the disease affects them very slightly, unlike what happened with the Spanish Flu) and falsely implying that vaccination prevented the transmission of the disease.”

“Good medicine is what is always needed. And the Church must prepare in time for our next vital challenges,” the doctor concluded.

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

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Linz, Austria, is the largest church building in that country. / Credit: Dein Freund der Baum, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Deutsch, Jul 9, 2024 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation — now Dicastery — for the Doctrine of the Faith, condemned a controversial figure displayed in the Linz cathedral in Austria depicting the Virgin Mary giving birth and described it as “advertising for feminist ideology that violates the natural sense of modesty.”

An unidentified person decapitated the figure a few days after it was put on display. The statue bears the title “Crowning,” which can be understood as an allusion to the coronation of the Virgin Mary. However, the term also refers to the moment during birth when the baby’s head can be seen for the first time as it emerges from the birth canal.

The figure in the Linz cathedral explicitly shows exactly this event: the Virgin Mary with her legs spread and the top of the head of the Baby Jesus between them. For reasons of discretion, both television and other media have generally omitted the view between the legs, which was nevertheless exposed for view to all visiting the Linz cathedral.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Linz told the website kath.net that “the sculpture will remain in the Mariendom art hall until the planned end of the exhibition [July 16], but will not be visible. “The doors are closed, the lights are off.”

Müller told kath.net: “A critique of changing Christian art from being a means of piety into an advertisement for feminist ideology in violation of the natural sense of modesty cannot be pseudo-enlightened countered with the accusation of prudishness or pseudo-theologically as an expression of an ultra-conservative attitude.”

“If a pictorial representation of the birth of Jesus offends believers and causes a division in the Church [between self-proclaimed progressives and those who are reviled as conservatives], the aim of Christian and especially sacred art, which is to express the infinite beauty of God in human works, has been missed,” the cardinal explained.

“A pictorial representation of the mystery of revelation of the true birth of God as a human being must have the aim of strengthening viewers in their belief in the incarnation of God and of focusing on Christ and worshipping him as God and Savior,” the prelate pointed out.

Esther Strauß, the artist who made the figure, spoke out after the attack on the statue, saying: “Most images of the Virgin Mary were made by men and have therefore often served patriarchal interests. Theologian Martina Resch put it well: In ‘crowning,’ Mary gets her body back. Whoever removed the head of the sculpture acted very brutally. For me, this violence is an expression of the fact that there are still people who question women’s right to their own bodies. We must oppose this very decisively.”

In 2021, Strauß took part in an event called “Witch Talks.” The description at the time read: “Esther Strauß is represented with three of her works in the exhibition HEXEN. What the performance photographs and sculptures have in common is that they leave the beaten path of the remembrance, mourning, and commemoration rituals practiced in the so-called West. Instead, risky connections are made with the dead. These delicate relationships that they build take the circle of ancestors and family far beyond Western everyday understanding and lead to a community with a larger vision of solidarity.”

On her website, Strauß describes herself as a “performance and language artist.” She also writes: “In 2016, I dug my grandfather’s grave with my hands and slept in his soil for a night.”

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

Smoke billows into the air behind a Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Kyiv, Ukraine, after a missile attack on July 8, 2024. / Credit: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2024 / 12:19 pm (CNA).

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has condemned a “horrifying” alleged Russian attack that struck a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

A Monday press release on the UGCC’s website said that Russian forces had “launched a massive missile attack” that resulted in hits on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital as well as “a private maternity hospital in Kyiv.”

UGCC head Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said in a video accompanying the release that the strike was “a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance.”

“It is horrifying to see that the children who came to save their lives in the artificial kidney center were ruthlessly killed by Russian criminals,” the prelate said in the release. 

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack.

The bishop said that many of the children in the hospital “were on the verge of death” at the time of the strike, according to the news release, with many “undergoing surgery at the time.”

“In the name of God, with all our resolve, we condemn this crime against humanity,” the archbishop said. 

Rescue workers were still clearing the rubble, Sviatoslav said, but “we already know about dozens of dead and around a hundred injured.”

First responders were “standing in a chain and dismantling stones to save more children whose hearts are beating under the rubble,” he said.

The prelate described the strike as “not only a crime against human laws and … international rules of warfare” but also “a sin that cries for vengeance to heaven, according to Christian morality.”

“Today we cry with all the victims, we pray for all the perished, especially the innocent children,” Sviatoslav said. “We want to wrap all the wounded with our Christian love, all those who are hurting the most.”

“Lord, by your power, instill in us hope for the protection of the lives of our children and women. Merciful God, bless our long-suffering Ukrainian land with your just peace!” the archbishop said.

The Russian government, meanwhile, denied responsibility for the attack, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling media on Tuesday that the country’s military does not target civilian structures. 

Peskov alleged that the strike was instead caused by “a falling anti-missile system” used by Ukraine.

Our Lady of Christendom is an annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga (Asturias) that takes place around the feast of St. James the Apostle (July 25), patron saint of Spain. / Credit: Our Lady of Christendom Pilgrimage

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 9, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican has prohibited the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of Covadonga, a rite that customarily takes place at the conclusion of the annual Our Lady of Christendom pilgrimage in Spain.  

The organizers of the fourth edition of the pilgrimage announced the prohibition in a July 6 post on X: “At the Archdiocese of Oviedo they have informed us that they have received instructions from the Dicastery for Divine Worship stating that the Traditional Holy Mass is not to be celebrated in Covadonga.” 

The pilgrimage will take place from July 27–29 starting out from Oviedo. Our Lady of Christendom explains on its website that the pilgrimage “is organized by a group of faithful lay Catholics devoted to the celebration of the Holy Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Roman rite,” otherwise known as the Traditional Latin Mass or the Tridentine Mass.

“The aim of the pilgrimage is the sanctification of the soul through the graces requested from Our Lord, through the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, offering prayers, sacrifices, and mortifications for three days. In these days of pilgrimage we especially commend our homeland and the Holy Father [to the Lord],” the website states.

The organizers note that the pilgrimage of about 60 miles “is independent of any institute, community, or religious organization.”

According to the Archdiocese of Oviedo, this devotion to the Virgin Mary at what is now the shrine in Covadonga dates back to “many years before the battle of Covadonga” in which the Christians led by King Don Pelayo defeated the invading Muslim army in the eighth century A.D. 

“Currently Covadonga receives more than a million visitors throughout the year from the five continents,” the Spanish archdiocese states on its webpage about the shrine.

‘Not a reason to be sad’

Given the prohibition of offering the TLM at the basilica at the conclusion of the pilgrimage, the organizers said in their announcement on X that this year the Mass on the third day will be celebrated in the pilgrims’ camp in the morning before completing the final leg of the pilgrimage. This Mass will be in the extraordinary form.

“This circumstance should not be a reason for sadness but should encourage us to persevere in the love and devotion that we profess for the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar within Holy Mother the Church,” they stated.

Instead of Mass, “upon arriving at Covadonga, the singing of the Te Deum will take place before the Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed and the consecration to the Blessed Virgin will take place to conclude the pilgrimage,” the organizers of Our Lady of Christendom stated.

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

The German Parliament building in Berlin. / Credit: canadastock/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jul 8, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Leading German pro-life advocates are criticizing a new law passed by Germany’s federal Parliament on Friday to establish 100-meter “buffer zones” around abortion facilities, calling it an attack on democracy and an attempt to silence Christians and other pro-lifers.

The proposed Pregnancy Conflict Act (Schwangerschaftskonfliktgesetz) claims to protect pregnant women from what supporters call “sidewalk harassment” by pro-life activists near counseling centers and facilities that perform abortions.

However, the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom has repeatedly warned of legislation to establish German censorship zones.

‘A black day for democracy’

Cornelia Kaminski, federal chairwoman of Action Right to Life for All, issued a scathing rebuke of the law on July 5, calling it “a frontal attack on the foundations of our democracy.”

She warned that praying for women in need within a 100-meter (328-foot) radius of abortion facilities will now be punishable by a fine of 5,000 euros (about $5,400).

In a statement released Friday, Kaminski declared the day “a black day for democracy” and criticized the government’s approach to legislation.

She said the law would unconstitutionally restrict a select group of people’s rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and religion.

The pro-life leader also highlighted the lack of evidence supporting the need for such a law. “Not a single case is on record where an affected woman actually filed a complaint because of this,” Kaminski stated.

In a similar vein, representatives of the German Doctors for Life called the law “a massive encroachment on the rights to freedom of religion, opinion, and assembly, which must be granted to pro-lifers just as much as to environmental and climate protectors.”

The medical doctors Kai Witzel and Julia Kim published a statement on July 5 arguing that courts have consistently found no legal basis for claims of harassment by pro-life activists.

“The claim that people peacefully advocating for the right to life are preventing medical staff in abortion facilities from practicing their profession is far-fetched.”

Alexandra Linder, chair of the Federal Association for the Right to Life, told Catholic newspaper Tagespost the parliamentary debate included “untruths and shock images” about pro-lifers allegedly harassing women. She argued the real motivation behind the law is to establish abortion as “normal health care.”

Previous legal challenges

The new restrictions follow local attempts in German cities.

In Frankfurt this March, pro-life advocates reported being harassed and threatened by abortion activists while praying about 100 feet from an International Planned Parenthood Federation facility. Police were criticized for their slow response and alleged failure to intervene.

In 2019, the city of Pforzheim banned prayer vigils near an abortion center, but that prohibition was overturned in August 2022.

The court ruled that authorities could restrict assemblies only if public safety was endangered.

Following the sentence, Felix Böllmann, senior counsel for ADF International, said at the time: “The silencing of pro-life expression, including prayer, is a recurring issue across Europe. When the government starts prohibiting silent prayer in certain places, we enter the business of policing thought crimes — a frightening proposition for all. It is imperative that we diligently uphold our fundamental freedoms in public spaces, standing against attempts to undermine peaceful assembly and the expression of one’s convictions.”

An image of the annunciation and the incarnation — when God became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary — was placed close to the altar during a Mass Pope Francis celebrated on July 7, 2024, in Trieste, Italy. The pope was in Trieste to attend the last morning of a July 3-7 Catholic conference on the topic of democracy. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jul 7, 2024 / 10:41 am (CNA).

In the face of a sometimes “anesthetized,” consumerist society, we must recall the “scandal” of our Christian faith — that God became man and dwells in each of us, especially the weakest, Pope Francis said in the northern Italian city of Trieste on Sunday.

“We need the scandal of faith,” the pontiff said at a Mass on July 7. “A faith rooted in the God who became man and, therefore, [is] a human faith, a faith of flesh, which enters history, which touches people’s lives, which heals broken hearts, which becomes a leaven of hope and the seed of a new world.”

At the Mass for approximately 8,500 people in Unità d’Italia Square, next to the Port of Trieste, Francis said Catholics need “a faith that awakens consciences from slumber, that puts its finger in the wounds, in the wounds of society ... a restless faith that helps overcome mediocrity and sloth of the heart, [a faith] which becomes a thorn in the flesh of a society often anesthetized and stunned by consumerism.”

Pope Francis celebrated the Mass during a half-day visit to Trieste for the closing of the 50th Social Week of Catholics, an annual event organized by the Catholic Church in Italy dedicated to promoting Catholic social doctrine. The theme of this year’s meeting, which had about 1,200 participants, was democracy.

After addressing attendees of the July 3–7 congress at a nearby conference center, the pope rode a golf cart to a sunny Unità d’Italia for the Mass, which he concelebrated with almost 100 bishops and 260 priests.

Before Mass, he greeted a 111-year-old resident of Trieste named Maria, according to the Holy See Press Office.

Reflecting on God’s humanity in his homily, the pope said: “[God’s] presence is revealed precisely in the faces hollowed out by suffering where degradation seems to triumph. The infinity of God is hidden in human misery, the Lord stirs and makes himself a friendly presence precisely in the wounded flesh of the least, the forgotten, the discarded. There the Lord manifests himself.”

“And we, who are sometimes unnecessarily scandalized by so many small things, would do well instead to ask ourselves: Why, in the face of evil that is rampant, life that is humiliated, the problems of labor, the sufferings of migrants, do we not become scandalized?” he said.

The Social Week of Catholics was held in Trieste, a port city located on a narrow strip of Italian territory in the country’s far northeastern point, nestled between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, with Croatia’s border nearby.

The position of the city has made it a common arrival point for migrants coming to Europe through the Balkan migratory route.

In its annual report, an aid group noted a worrying rise in migrant children arriving in the city.

According to the International Rescue Committee, approximately 3,000 unaccompanied children arrived as migrants in Trieste in 2023, a 112% increase from the previous year.

The group says in 2023, they met and provided aid to a total of 16,052 people who arrived at the Trieste train station through the Balkan migratory route. Roughly 68% of the migrants were from Afghanistan. 

“Continue to commit yourselves to the front lines to spread the Gospel of hope, especially to those coming from the Balkan route and to all those who, in body or spirit, need encouragement and consolation,” Pope Francis said in his homily July 7.

Earlier in the morning, Francis met briefly with a group of about 150 migrants and people with disabilities.

The pope also remembered prisoners in his reflection. Trieste made headlines earlier this year due to dire overcrowding in the city’s main prison.

“Why do we remain apathetic and indifferent to the injustices of the world?” the pontiff asked. “Why do we not take to heart the plight of prisoners, which even from this city of Trieste rises as a cry of anguish? Why do we not contemplate the miseries, the pain, the discard of so many people in the city? We are afraid, we are afraid to find Christ there.”

At the end of Mass, the pope led those present in praying the Angelus, as he does every Sunday. Before reciting the Marian prayer, he referenced Trieste’s welcome of immigrants.

Trieste “is an open door to migrants — and to all those who struggle the most,” he said.

“Trieste is one of those cities that have the vocation of bringing together different people: first of all because it is a port, it is an important port, and then because it is located at the crossroads between Italy, central Europe, and the Balkans,” Francis noted. “In these situations, the challenge for the ecclesial and civil communities is to know how to combine openness and stability, welcome and identity.”

After Mass and the Angelus, Pope Francis boarded a helicopter for the Vatican from the nearby Audace Pier. He arrived at the Vatican just before 2 p.m., according to the Holy See Press Office.

Pope Francis speaks at the 50th annual Social Week of Catholics in Trieste, Italy, on the morning of July 7, 2024. At his arrival in the northern Italian city, he was greeted by Archbishop Luigi Renna, president of the organizing committee (right), and Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops' conference (left). / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jul 7, 2024 / 08:06 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday urged Catholics to share their faith in the public square and to combat political polarization by supporting person-centered democracy.

“Let us not be fooled by easy solutions. Let us instead get passionate about the common good,” he said at a Catholic conference on democracy in the northern Italian city of Trieste on July 7.

Francis participated in the last morning of the 50th Social Week of Catholics, an annual meeting of the Catholic Church in Italy aimed at promoting the social doctrine of the Church. The theme of the July 3–7 congress was “At the Heart of Democracy: Participate between History and the Future.”

In his speech, the pope spoke strongly of the importance of democracy — encouraging participation over partisanship and comparing ideologies to “seductresses.”

“As Catholics, on this horizon, we cannot be satisfied with a marginal or private faith,” the pope said before approximately 1,200 conference participants at the Generali Convention Center. “This means not so much to be heard, but above all to have the courage to make proposals for justice and peace in the public debate.”

“We have something to say, but not to defend privileges. No. We need to be a voice, a voice that denounces and proposes in a society that is often mute and where too many have no voice.”

“This is political love,” Francis underlined, adding that “it is a form of charity that allows politics to live up to its responsibilities and get out of polarizations, these polarizations that impoverish and do not help understand and address the challenges.”

The Social Week of Catholics congress was held in Trieste, a port city located on a narrow strip of Italian territory in the country’s far northeastern point, bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia.

Pope Francis arrived in Trieste by helicopter from the Vatican in the early morning July 7. After addressing congress delegates from across Italy, he met briefly with representatives of other Christian traditions and with a group of immigrants and people with disabilities.

The pope then celebrated Mass for an estimated 8,500 Catholics in Trieste’s Unità d’Italia Square before again boarding a helicopter to return to the Vatican.

In speaking about the Christian vision of democracy, the pontiff quoted a 1988 pastoral note from the Italian bishops, which said democracy is meant “to give meaning to everyone’s commitment to the transformation of society; to give attention to the people who remain outside or on the margins of winning economic processes and mechanisms; to give space to social solidarity in all its forms; to give support to the return of a solicitous ethic of the common good ... to give meaning to the development of the country, understood ... as an overall improvement in the quality of life, collective coexistence, democratic participation, and authentic freedom.”

“This vision, rooted in the social doctrine of the Church,” Pope Francis said, applies “not only to the Italian context but represents a warning for the whole of human society and for the journey of all peoples.”

“In fact, just as the crisis of democracy cuts across different realities and nations, in the same way the attitude of responsibility toward social transformations is a call addressed to all Christians, wherever they find themselves living and working, in every part of the world,” he added.

The pope also emphasized the importance of combating a culture of waste, as exhibited by a self-referential power “incapable of listening and serving people.”

He recalled the importance of the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity and condemned a certain attitude of “welfare-ism” that does not recognize the dignity of people, calling it “social hypocrisy.”

“Everyone must feel part of a community project; no one must feel worthless,” he said.

null / Credit: Khánh Hmoong via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 6, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Spanish family lawyer Enrique Sainz brought attention this week to a ruling handed down by a Church marriage tribunal in his country that decreed the annulment of a marriage in which the wife had an account on the OnlyFans platform. The platform primarily features self-created pornographic content that other subscribers must pay for. 

In a video posted on Instagram on July 1, the lawyer said the account on the referenced platform was created before the marriage, was not disclosed by the wife to the husband, and was continued after they were married.

When the husband discovered that his wife maintained an active channel on that platform with erotic content, he decided to present his case to the Church marriage tribunal in order to have the marriage declared null.

“In order to understand this ruling, you have to know that marriage in the Church obliges the couple to remain faithful, be open to children, and be with the other person for life, such that if at the time of contracting marriage one of them excludes any of these ends, he or she contracts invalidly and therefore the annulment of the marriage can be decreed,” Sainz explained.

The Catholic Church does not allow divorce, so an annulment means that the marriage was invalid from the beginning.

According to the lawyer, in this particular case, the tribunal ruled that the wife had violated Canon 1101 of the Code of Canon Law by excluding her fidelity at the time of the marriage. 

“The novelty of this ruling is that, despite the fact that the wife stated that she was only doing it to make a little money and that they were not sexualized photos at all since she wasn’t naked, the court considered that she had excluded fidelity, since she created the account before getting married and kept it afterward,” Sainz explained.

A priest expert in canon law analyzes the case

Father Luis Gaspar, who worked for more than 15 years as a judge of the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Lima in Peru, further explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the reasons why the marriage in question could have been declared null.

According to the priest, for a Catholic marriage to be valid it must be supported by three fundamental pillars: the absence of impediments, that the celebration of the marriage complies with the liturgical regulations of the Church, and that there is free and voluntary consent.

“When can this act of consent be vitiated? When it is simulated, when it is not free, for example, when you are under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or some medications. When your consent was not fully free, or for example, your consent was simulated,” he explained.

Referring to the case of the wife who hid the OnlyFans account, he agreed with Sainz that the annulment was granted by the tribunal based on Canon 1101: “The internal consent of the mind is presumed to conform to the words or the signs used in the celebration of a marriage. If, however, either or both of the parties should by a positive act of will exclude marriage itself or any essential element of marriage or any essential property, such party contracts invalidly.”

Gaspar explained that this canon deals with simulation, therefore, “it deals with the third pillar for the validity of marriage, which is consent.”

“The consent was vitiated. Why? Because a circumstance was hidden from the other party, a behavior that will later affect married life, community life, and love of the spouses. And in fact, this happened and the annulment was requested,” he said. 

With the act of concealment, according to the priest, who holds a doctorate in canon law, “that total gift has been completely affected, the total gift of self, in one body.”

“Fidelity is directly affected, since there is not a total gift of self. Through platforms like OnlyFans, whose purpose is erotic or pornographic, the ‘one flesh’ bond is morally and sacramentally broken,” he pointed out.

Finally, Gaspar noted that the Church tribunal’s ruling came after an exhaustive study and investigation, which reached “the moral certainty that an essential property of married life, such as fidelity, was lacking.”

The annulment process

The process of declaring the nullity of a marriage is rigorous and well defined. “The first thing the husband, the wife, and then the priest or the spiritual director, or the ecclesiastical tribunal itself, have to do is make every effort for the marriage not to be null,” the priest said. If the marriage cannot be saved, the case is presented to the ecclesiastical court, where it is studied in detail. 

In cases like the OnlyFans account, the husband or wife must provide proof that the hidden conduct existed before the marriage. For example, “it can be a screenshot of that page, which can be verified,” Gaspar said. Witnesses and statements are also part of the process.

With more than 15 years of experience in the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Lima, Gaspar has seen various cases that have led to declarations of nullity.

“For example, on the issue of simulation of consent. The issue of homosexuality [that was hidden] from the other party. Or the issue of taking drugs. [One spouse] hid the drug habit from the other,” he said. These examples illustrate the variety of situations that can vitiate marital consent. 

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

“Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age” is a new documentary film exploring the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis and the lessons he offers young people regarding the challenges of the digital world that will be coming to theaters in the spring of 2025. / Credit: Castletown Media

CNA Staff, Jul 5, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new documentary film exploring the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis and the lessons he offers young people regarding the challenges of the digital world will be coming to theaters in the spring of 2025.

“Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age” was announced by Castletown Media on July 1. 

This comes following the Vatican’s announcement that Acutis will be canonized. On July 1, the College of Cardinals gave a positive vote to the canonization of Acutis after Pope Francis recognized last month a second miracle attributed to the millennial’s intercession. The date for his canonization has not yet been announced.

According to a press release, “‘Roadmap to Reality’ blends live action, animation, and documentary-style interviews with Carlo’s family, friends, scholars, and tech experts. The film tackles urgent contemporary questions, examining how the rise of artificial intelligence and virtual landscape challenge our fundamental understanding of what it means to be human.”

Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis, is also featured in the film. In the press release, she said: “Carlo is a great example to young people today. Today, people feel as if they are in a tragic state if they don’t have access to the internet. However, the real tragedy is that our world is disconnected from God. Holiness is still possible. Carlo shows us that we can be saints in today’s world.”

Castletown Media, in collaboration with Catholic filmmaker Jim Wahlberg, is producing the film, and it will be distributed through Fathom Events. The two recently experienced success with their film project “Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist,” which became Fathom Events’ highest-grossing documentary of 2024 and is currently in first place among all documentaries released in 2024 so far.

Tim Moriarty, director of the new Acutis film and founder of Castletown Media, told CNA in an interview that discussions about making the film started about six months ago. 

“The C3 Foundation in Beaumont, Texas, is a sponsor of Christ Central Camp, which was established for the youth of Diocese of Beaumont in 2023,” he said. “Bishop David Toups, who has a deep devotion to Blessed Carlo Acutis, named the camp’s chapel in his honor. Inspired by Blessed Carlo’s witness and driven by a desire to help young people navigate the modern world’s challenges while striving for holiness, the C3 Foundation approached Jim Wahlberg and Castletown Media to create a feature-length documentary about the first millennial saint.”

The film not only tells the story of Acutis and examines issues in our digital world, but it also “follows a group of high school students from North Dakota as they embark on a pilgrimage to visit Carlo’s tomb. As part of this experience, the students leave their phones at home, emphasizing the importance of disconnecting from technology to fully engage with reality,” Moriarty added.

The director believes that a film about this young soon-to-be saint is needed because “Carlo’s life provides a road map away from the distractions of the virtual world to the real world, especially through his devotion to the Eucharist — his ‘highway to heaven.’”

“He believed that only through deep devotion to the Eucharist and the spiritual nourishment it offers can we find the strength to navigate the present dangers of our world and live a joy-filled life in Christ,” he explained. 

Moriarty called working with Acutis’ mother a “wonderful and inspiring experience.”

“Antonia affectionately refers to Carlo as her ‘little savior’ because he led her back to a strong embrace of her faith. We also had the privilege of speaking with his father, Andrea Acutis, who shared similar sentiments,” he recalled. 

“The Acutis family talks about Carlo with such grace and conviction, providing light and hope for all families striving to raise holy children in today’s world.”

As for what he hopes viewers will take away from the film, Wahlberg told CNA: “Carlo Acutis serves as a relatable and inspiring figure for today’s generation. He shows us that sanctity is still possible in modern times. By highlighting his devotion to the Eucharist and his balanced approach to technology, we aim to inspire viewers to see that holiness is attainable in our modern world.”

Moriarty added: “G.K. Chesterton once said that each generation gets its own saint according to its unique and special needs. We firmly believe that Carlo Acutis is the saint for our age. In a world increasingly dominated by technology and marked by human isolation, Carlo stands as a powerful example of using technology as a tool for evangelization rather than becoming a tool of technology.”

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

CNA Staff, Jul 4, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, born on April 6, 1901, to a prominent and wealthy Italian family, became a popular role model soon after he died on July 4, 1925, at the age of 24. He could be declared a saint during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, according to the head of the Vatican’s office for saints’ causes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This article was first published on July 4, 2021, and has been updated.