Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Alice Kessler and Ellen Kessler attend the Circus Krone Christmas Premiere at Circus Krone on Dec. 25, 2022, in Munich, Germany. The twin sisters ended their lives by assisted suicide at their home in Grünwald, close to Munich, on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. / Credit: Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images

CNA Deutsch, Nov 20, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).

The Federal Association for the Right to Life, an umbrella organization for numerous pro-life organizations, has condemned the “glorification” of the assisted suicide of the 89-year-old Kessler twins.

Alice and Ellen Kessler were German singers and performers who were famous in Europe, especially in Italy, in the 1960s. The twin sisters decided to die together by assisted suicide at their home near Munich on Monday. 

Alexandra Linder, the pro life association’s chairwoman, said: “There is widespread media coverage of this, with many praising the ‘self-determination’ of choosing the time and manner of death oneself rather than waiting for death and perhaps suffering.”

This is “dangerous,” Linder emphasized, because it could cause “people in suicidal situations” to “to kill themselves or have themselves killed. This so-called Werther effect was sadly evident in the suicide of soccer player Robert Enke: After his suicide became known, the number of suicides rose sharply. The media should take much more responsibility when reporting on such incidents.”

On Nov. 17, Tagesschau in Germany reported: “The Kessler twins Alice and Ellen, who became internationally known as singers, actresses, and entertainers, are dead. A spokesperson for the Munich police confirmed an operation in Grünwald near Munich. He did not provide any background information.”

“It was a case of assisted suicide, the German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS) told Bavarian Radio,” the Tagesschau continued. “‘The Kessler twins had been considering assisted suicide for a long time,’ said a DGHS spokeswoman. ‘Alice and Ellen Kessler had been members of the association for some time and had set the date of death themselves as Nov. 17.’”

“A lawyer and a doctor had held preliminary talks with them and came to the sisters’ house in Grünwald on Monday to accompany them as they died,” it said.

The chairwoman of the Federal Association for the Right to Life called for “critical questions about ethics and background” to be asked: “Can a lawyer who does not know the individuals, without appropriate specialist training, assess their mental and physical condition, their history, and their autonomy? Did the two 89-year-old women make this decision without outside influence, without acute pain, without the influence of medication, without fear of loneliness, of the future, of suffering, etc.? Were alternative courses of action sufficiently explained to them, for example, palliative care, attention, therapy options? What role might the people in charge of the euthanasia association have played, given that their interest lies in promoting ‘positive’ examples of death, from joining the organization to deciding to die?”

Linder explained that it is important to know “that the psyche, mood, and will to live can change almost daily, depending on circumstances, the level of pain, and the prospects for recovery. Even who comes to visit on a given day plays a role: a grumpy nurse or a granddaughter with a picture of the sun she painted for her grandmother.”

In Germany, as a wealthy country, “no one has to die alone, in severe pain or suffering, if they do not want to. It is inhumane to abandon people in difficult situations who are contemplating suicide to their fate and to declare their intention to commit suicide as autonomy.”

Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa, president of the German Caritas Association, also expressed concern that “the extensive reporting and romanticization of the sisters‘ assisted suicide reinforces a social pressure that we have been observing for several years: Older women in particular feel a responsibility not to be a burden on anyone and perceive offers of assisted suicide as a necessary option to consider.”

“Instead of promoting the supposedly easy way out, we need to improve suicide prevention and expand hospice places,” Welskop-Deffaa demanded. “We strongly call for the legal anchoring of suicide prevention measures, such as a ban on advertising for organizations that assist in suicide, along with other legal regulations on assisted suicide.”

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

EWTN Spain President José Carlos González-Hurtado. / Credit: Nicolás Cárdenas/ACI Prensa

Madrid, Spain, Nov 20, 2025 / 10:10 am (CNA).

José Carlos González-Hurtado, president of EWTN Spain, has published a new book, “The Scientific Evidence that Jesus Is God,” following the success of his first book on the existence of God, which has already gone through eight editions.

While his first bestseller offered scientific arguments supporting the existence of God, his new work uses scientific arguments to address the five possible options regarding Jesus Christ: myth, manipulated figure, liar, maniac, or Messiah.

In a recent interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, González explained how he became a successful writer talking about science and faith and the providential meaning this has today before going through some aspects of the book.

ACI Prensa: You say in the book that despite considering yourself Catholic and being a practicing Catholic, for a time “faith was not a priority, nor did it serve as a foundation” in your life.

González: I was Catholic, as most Spaniards are, but in the sense that it wasn’t one of the things that defined me. Now, with complete certainty, when I define myself, I say, “I am Catholic.”

What does that mean? That it’s part of your life, that it’s not a jacket or a tie that you put on one day and not the next. That idea of ​​putting on and taking off faith is more Protestant than Catholic. We Catholics believe in the unity of life.

For me, it was a jacket that I put on and took off, and that, at certain times, I didn’t wear.

However, you have reflected and prayed a great deal to be able to distill a wealth of thought and heartfelt reflection on God, his existence, and Christ in two books. What happened?

Living in Israel changed me. I was the CEO of an American company. I was there when the second Palestinian “intifada” [uprising] took place, when the suicide bombings began. My family left, and that’s when I came to the conclusion that we all have to die.

Much later, I began giving lectures on the scientific evidence for the existence of God. One of those lectures became popular online, and then a publisher asked me to [write a book] on it. Neither of us thought it would be a top seller.

Providentially, one of the questions that always came up in the lectures I’ve given about the other book — more than 200 of them — is: “OK, fine, you’ve convinced me that God exists. Now, is Jesus Christ God? Is there evidence that Jesus Christ is God?”

And yes, there is evidence that Jesus Christ is God. Plenty of it. In fact, I often say that the most reasonable thing to believe is that Jesus Christ is God.

Of all those lectures, there seems to have been a special connection with young people. What has that experience been like?

I say what I say. I say it for everyone. Look, whether it gets through more or less, I don’t know. But I don’t have a special message for young people. In fact, I think that’s a mistake, because young or not, we all have a soul and we all have to save it, and each of us is responsible for our own.

What do I think is happening? That people my age, many of us are already entrenched in our ideas. I’m talking, for example, about atheism, about atheists. Atheists don’t just think that God doesn’t exist, but they’ve built their lives around the nonexistence of God. The difference is that I have evidence to support my faith, and they don’t.

Now, for a person that’s 50, 60, 70, or 40 years old, who has built his life around that, it’s very difficult to do a 180: What does that mean for my life? What do I have to change in my life? What will people say about me?

Older people have more inertia to make them not want to change. And young people don’t. So, often, what happens with young people is: “Hey, I’m an atheist, or I’m agnostic, because nobody has told me what you’re telling me.”

The book is proposing in the strongest way that faith is reasonable. That’s audacious, isn’t it?

I’ve noticed that many Catholic scientists are afraid to take the step of acknowledging the evidence that proves their faith. They suffer from learned alienation syndrome, or what’s called learned helplessness. Their heads are spinning with what science has discovered: that they are right, coming from a faith perspective.

These are scientists who lack the boldness to recognize what Nobel laureates have recognized. Max Planck says: “Science imposes God” [leads to the unavoidable conclusion that he exists]. Amfinsen says: “Only an idiot can be an atheist.” Barton says: “Science demonstrates [the existence of] God.”

Science doesn’t disprove God. How could it disprove him if God created science? How could he disprove himself? But that’s not it. It’s a path God has put there for us to reach him.

All I’m doing is presenting the evidence God has given us over the last 50 years. Why now? Because providentially, God has decided: “This is the path for humanity today.”

God has decided: Humanity today can reach him through science. And he provides us with evidence from physics, chemistry, mathematics, cosmology, and biology.

The book begins by demonstrating the historical existence of Jesus. Was that really necessary?

First, methodologically, I want to present all the options. What is Jesus Christ? The options are: He didn’t exist, in which case he’s a myth; he’s a manipulation — he didn’t say what we think he said; he was a liar; he was crazy; or, he’s the Messiah. What I do is present all the historical sources — non-Christian and, moreover, hostile to Christianity — that demonstrate that Jesus Christ exists.

Others say there is only the historical Jesus. In the book, you argue that anyone who says Jesus was “a good man” is taking refuge in “a fraudulent shelter.” In what sense?

Jesus truly challenges you. Once [you know] he exists, you read him or about him. And you say: This guy was special. Then you start looking for alternatives that won’t change your life. The comfortable alternative, like a cozy, dimly lit corner: “Jesus is a guru. He was a good guy.”

Jesus wasn’t a good guy. Jesus wasn’t. Because he didn’t want to be, either. He didn’t want to present himself as “I’m your buddy.”

That’s the fraudulent refuge, I’m sorry, because it’s the one that doesn’t help you take the step. It’s like agnosticism in the first book. Atheism is an affirmation. Agnosticism is the Sargasso Sea, a place where you’re stuck, there are no currents, no breezes. And you can come to the end of your life in that state. And that’s a shame.

Does rejecting him stem primarily from the implication that you’re going to have to change your life?

It depends on the person. I did think about it in the first book: Atheism often stems from pride. Also in the case of rejecting Jesus Christ. Then he’s no more than Socrates or Buddha.

Jesus’ teachings aren’t just about turning the other cheek. Jesus Christ speaks of hell many times. And I know that priests, bishops, and clergy don’t like to talk about it. None of us likes to talk about hell. But it’s true that it’s an integral part of the message of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ comes to save us. And if he comes to save us, it’s because we can be condemned. 

Science has been championed as something contrary to God. In the book, however, it’s shown to be practically God’s best ally, isn’t it?

This isn’t my own saying; I don’t remember who said it: “Science is opposed to religion as my thumb is opposed to my index finger. And, thanks to both of them, I can hold the spoon.” They are the two branches, two of the paths that lead us to God.

Science begins and develops in Christian environments. Virtually all universities have been founded by clergymen. So, to say otherwise, I think, is somewhat ignorant.

Science has evolved considerably since Voltaire, and, moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that the origin of both philosophical and scientific thought lies in the same origin: What we call God.

You argue that miracles are evidence that Jesus is God. But one can counter that a miracle involves a leap of faith. How can we explain miracles as proof?

What is a miracle? It is a prodigious and surprising intervention of God in the causes of nature. What does it take to not believe in miracles? Not to believe in God. When someone tells you, “No, I don’t believe in miracles,” that is a proxy for “I don’t believe in God.”

If God exists, are miracles impossible? No. Are they contradictory? No. So, can they happen? Yes. The person who tells you, “God exists and miracles don’t,” is really saying, “I tell God what he can and can’t do.”

Since, as we have defined it, it is a prodigious intervention of God, only God can perform it. If Jesus Christ performs miracles in his own name, in his own name, “I tell you, get up,” then he is saying, “I am God.”

On the other hand, you propose that understanding faith as a gift can be counterproductive for Christians. In what sense?

This is very interesting. If it’s a gift and you lose faith, it means God has taken that gift away. It’s not just a gift. Faith, says St. Thomas Aquinas, is a movement of the intellect instructed by the will and assisted by grace. 

All three things are necessary. I maintain that God will always give grace to all those who have good understanding and an upright will.

St. Thomas Aquinas also said that unbelievers, normally, are not unbelieving due to a lack of understanding. It’s due to a lack of will; it’s because they don’t want to.

If you sincerely say, “I truly want to,” God will give it to you because he wants everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth and for everyone to be saved. And one of the things God does is not lie. When God says, “Ask and it will be given to you,” he’s not lying.

Yes, faith is not just a gift. It’s very dangerous [to say that it is] because it’s like, well, I didn’t get it. You know, it was the lottery, and I was like, ugh, what bad luck I didn’t win.

What’s in your heart about this book that we can’t pass over without talking about it?

The other day I was also asked, “What evidence convinces you the most?”

One piece of evidence is the prophets, the fact it was prophesied 700, 600, 800 years before Jesus Christ what would happen with Jesus Christ and moreover, only happened with Jesus Christ. And we also have proof that they wrote it down centuries earlier. Because sometimes people say, “Oh, well, but that was done to make it all square.” No.

We have the complete Book of Isaiah. The Book of Isaiah was written in 750 B.C., but we have a complete copy from the fourth century B.C., where it mentions that the Messiah will be crucified.

So that we understand each other, Isaiah didn’t know what crucifixion was, because it didn’t exist in the Jewish world, and yet he has a vision: The Messiah will come and the Messiah will be crucified. And that’s exactly what happens with Jesus Christ.

The second piece are the Eucharistic miracles. This is a further step: It demonstrates the divinity of Jesus Christ. But it also demonstrates transubstantiation.

It has been scientifically proven by independent laboratories that the consecrated host has sometimes transformed into living, cardiac tissue that emanates type AB blood and also contains leukocytes.

Faced with this, the atheist, the agnostic, simply ignores it and says no, I’m sure there’s a trick. But look, it’s external universities, independent laboratories that have certified this.

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

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gniezno, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference (left), and Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, embrace after signing the joint declaration “Courage of Extended Hands” at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wrocław, Poland, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, during commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the historic correspondence between the Polish and German Bishops’ Conferences. / Credit: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Rafael Ledschbor

EWTN News, Nov 20, 2025 / 09:10 am (CNA).

In 1965, Polish bishops sent a letter of reconciliation to their German counterparts. “We grant forgiveness and ask for forgiveness,” they wrote on Nov. 18. The German episcopate responded on Dec. 5, 1965, expressing the hope that “the evil spirit of hatred may never again separate our hands.”

It was a significant two-sided gesture of reconciliation after World War II, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, killing many people and establishing concentration camps on Polish soil. Sixty years later, a commemoration took place in Wrocław on Tuesday, Nov. 18, with delegates of both episcopates including their chairs, German Bishop Georg Bätzing and Polish Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda. Polish Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś and German Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki were also present.

They gathered at the monument to Archbishop Bolesław Kominek — later cardinal — who had been behind the idea of the Polish letter and served as archbishop in Wrocław.

This Polish prelate showed how to “bind a prophetic voice with reality.” Neither was he “naive nor a dreamer,” nor “a highly pragmatic Church leader,” Bätzing acknowledged.

On the contrary, he was a Polish patriot who knew the German language and culture, so he “was predestined to be a bridge-builder.” He did the necessary work to achieve his goal, the president of the German Bishops’ Conference stressed.

“The Polish-German reconciliation was found in the person of Cardinal Kominek,” Bätzing underlined.

Current Metropolitan Archbishop of Wrocław Józef Kupny called the letter of the Polish bishops a “visionary step.” At the commemoration, he mentioned that the letter was attacked by communists who ruled in Poland 60 years ago. “Also today this message may arouse opposition, controversy, or misunderstanding,” he added.

Yet we must proceed with similar acts in “our daily choices, decisions, and attitudes” so as to create a “relay passed on by generations based on truth and real forgiveness,” the Polish prelate emphasized.

“True change does not begin with grand treaties, but with our hearts,” he said.

The participants then moved to the cathedral for a Mass. The commemoration was followed by an exhibition — “Reconciliation for Europe” — ecumenical prayer, and an international conference the day after.

The bishops’ representatives signed a declaration titled “Courage of Extended Hands.” The text affirms that the motto “We Forgive and We Ask for Forgiveness” is not history, as it guides us today and must do so in the future. Germany and Poland are co-responsible for Europe and the world nowadays and recognize the importance of “a European idea, a shared place of rights and peace,” the declaration said.

The churches in Poland and Germany want to “continue to work to break down and overcome enmities in Europe.”

The bishops are convinced that “Europe must stand together against violence,” referring to “the Russian war against Ukraine.” They encourage “countries to do everything to ensure the survival of the Ukrainian people” and to “contribute to the defense of fundamental values.”

“Practical solidarity with those under attack and compassion are needed,” the declaration reads.

Pierre Louvrier (center) speaks during the “Schuman Plan 2.0 — Europe’s Role in a Fragmented World” debate at the European Parliament, Nov. 11, 2025. / Credit: Maria Grazia Ricciardi

EWTN News, Nov 19, 2025 / 09:45 am (CNA).

A Vatican-based foundation has proposed a new peace initiative inspired by Venerable Robert Schuman, one of the European Union’s founding fathers, during a debate at the European Parliament.

The Clementy Schuman Legacy Foundation presented what it calls “Schuman Plan 2.0” — a blueprint for peace through economic cooperation and shared resources — at a Nov. 11 debate hosted by the European People’s Party Group, the largest political group in the European Parliament.

The proposal draws on the French politician and Catholic’s historic declaration of May 9, 1950, which stated: “Europe will be made through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.” That declaration laid the foundation for what would, many years later, become the European Union.

German member of the European Parliament Niels Geuking, a member of the European People’s Party and the Family Party, organized the debate. He told CNA that Europe has reached a point where it needs to “re-strengthen its political and social foundations, just as Robert Schuman did after the Second World War.”

Geuking said he expects serious debate on Europe’s strategic realignment “with a focus on cohesion, shared values, and solidarity among the member states,” as well as concrete initiatives that put family, the common good, and responsible economic order back at the center of EU policy.

Pierre Louvrier, chairman of the foundation’s advisory board, presented the proposal to the European Parliament on behalf of the foundation’s board.

“We believe that the same principles that reconciled former enemies in 1945 can reconcile nations today,” Louvrier said. “When people work together to share energy, technology, and natural resources, war becomes redundant. That was Schuman’s genius — and it is the path Europe must rediscover if it wants to lead toward lasting peace.”

According to a white paper provided to CNA, the proposal outlines a broader “partnership for peace, prosperity, and security” between the United States and Europe as well as Russia and Ukraine. The document proposes extending Schuman’s founding model of shared resources to the entire Northern Hemisphere as a way to restore strength through shared prosperity and rebuild trust after years of geopolitical division.

The proposal states that sharing resources will broaden common responsibility for peace across the Northern Hemisphere. Each nation would retain its sovereignty, following the Catholic principle of subsidiarity, so that cooperation strengthens local freedom and cultural identity.

The foundation has operated from the Vatican, hosting high-level roundtables and dialogues — including one on Oct. 18 that participants said included high-level EU, U.S., Swiss, Russian, and Ukrainian nationals.

The foundation’s leadership includes Monsignor Bernard Ardura, postulator of the beatification cause of Venerable Robert Schuman and former president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences. His presence underscores the initiative’s roots in Schuman’s Christian-democratic heritage and the Church’s understanding of Europe’s vocation.

The board also includes Henri Malosse, former president of the European Economic and Social Committee.

Speaking to CNA, Malosse said Europe’s deepest crisis today is not economic but moral.

“Today’s Europe first of all lacks humanity,” Malosse said. “Egoism is no longer only a personal attitude — it has become the attitude of nations. When one member suffers, others close their eyes and ears.”

Malosse said it is time for the European Union to embrace renewed solidarity. “We need projects that build social harmony — not social dumping — and real support for families, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The EU has become only about money and the economy. What we need is a union of culture, health, and care. Solidarity must once again become the soul of Europe.”

Louvrier told CNA that the Schuman Plan 2.0 aims to respond to that need.

“The Schuman Plan 2.0 is a practical path for Europe to assume its responsibility for peace, unity, and prosperity across the entire Northern Hemisphere,” he said. “What we are doing is simply carrying forward the legacy of Venerable Robert Schuman — a legacy of moral clarity and political courage.”

Robert Schuman, French foreign minister after World War II, was declared venerable by Pope Francis in June 2021, recognizing his heroic virtue. His 1950 proposal to pool French and German coal and steel production led to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the precursor to the European Union.

Blessed Carmelo De Palma. / Credit: Dicastery for the Causes of Saints

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Carmelo De Palma, a priest known as the “hero of the confessional,” was beatified Nov. 15 in Bari, Italy.

Pope Leo XIV recognized the new blessed during the Nov. 16 Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, saying De Palma “was a diocesan priest who died in 1961 after a life generously spent in the ministry of confession and spiritual accompaniment.” 

“May his witness inspire priests to give themselves unreservedly to the service of God’s holy people,” he added.

The beatification Mass in Italy was celebrated by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. In his homily in the Bari cathedral, the prelate emphasized that “spirituality, when authentic, is always combined with charity toward one’s neighbor,” Vatican News reported.

“That our blessed lived out this sacramental fraternity is demonstrated both by the numerous testimonies given by priests during the process for his beatification and canonization, and by the subsequent dedication shown by the diocesan clergy in promoting and supporting this cause,” the cardinal said.

He also noted that many faithful found in De Palma “a spiritual guide to progress in their personal response to that ‘vocation which unites us all as baptized, living members of the one people of God: that is, the vocation to holiness.’”

De Palma, Semeraro added, was “for countless faithful a minister of reconciliation and forgiveness” and “a clear and balanced guide” for those who asked for his help “in discerning God’s will for their own lives.”

Who was Father Carmelo De Palma?

De Palma was a diocesan priest who dedicated his life to the ministry of confessor and spiritual direction of the faithful, priests, seminarians, and especially the Benedictine nuns of St. Scholastica in Bari, Italy.

He was born on Jan. 27, 1876, in Bari. After being orphaned, he entered the seminary in his hometown at the age of 10. He was ordained a priest in Naples in 1898.

On June 17, 1900, he was appointed chaplain of St. Nicholas Basilica in Bari, where he served by celebrating Mass, hearing confessions, and encouraging various pastoral initiatives.

Later, the basilica was entrusted to the Dominican Fathers by order of the Holy See, and De Palma was appointed spiritual director of the Benedictine nuns of St. Scholastica in Bari as well as the Oblates of St. Benedict. 

Over the years, his health deteriorated severely due to chronic colitis, arteriosclerosis of the heart, and progressive vision loss. In February 1961, he celebrated Mass publicly for the last time, and because of his illness, he continued to celebrate the Eucharist in his room, where he also continued to hear confessions.

He died in Bari on Aug. 24, 1961, of heart failure. The miracle that led to his beatification was the inexplicable healing of a Benedictine nun who had a severe spinal cord injury that prevented her from walking.

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

Three women share their stories of experiences with abortion at the pro-life event at the European Parliament in Brussels, Oct. 15, 2025. / Credit: European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ)

EWTN News, Nov 17, 2025 / 10:06 am (CNA).

On Nov. 5, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality voted 26-12 to back the pro-abortion initiative “My Voice, My Choice” — just weeks after pro-life advocates held the largest gathering in the Parliament in more than a decade to challenge the initiative’s push for EU-funded cross-border abortion access.

The Oct. 15 conference, hosted by the European Centre for Law and Justice and co-organized with the One of Us federation, drew 300 participants including eight members of the European Parliament, former EU Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg, and former Slovenian Prime Minister Alojz Peterle.

Six women shared testimonies about their personal experiences with abortion — stories of regret, trauma, and long-term emotional consequences they say are often overlooked in policymaking.

Funding for My Voice, My Choice from pro-abortion foundations

While the committee’s draft resolution on My Voice, My Choice carries no binding legal effect, it nonetheless sets a symbolic precedent that has drawn sharp criticism from pro-life organizations across Europe. A European Citizens Initiative (ECI) allows EU citizens to propose legislation directly to the European Commission if they gather at least 1 million verified signatures from citizens across a minimum of seven member states.

My Voice, My Choice, supported heavily in Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Italy, collected 1,124,513 signatures and raised 923,028 euros from private donors and pro-abortion foundations.

Along with backing the draft resolution, the committee also approved an oral question to the European Commission — a formal parliamentary procedure used to demand an on-the-record explanation. In this case, it asks the commission how it intends to respond to My Voice, My Choice, ensuring the issue moves beyond the committee level and into a public parliamentary debate.

Pro-life organizations draw comparisons with an earlier ECI, One of Us, a pro-life campaign that in 2014 secured even greater public backing, collecting 1,721,626 signatures despite operating on a far smaller budget of 159,219 euros and relying largely on volunteer mobilization. 

Yet, despite surpassing the threshold by a wide margin, the European Commission declined to act on its proposals. The outcome remains a point of contention within pro-life circles, who argue it highlights an institutional double standard and political bias in how such initiatives are ultimately treated.

EU funding for abortions outside of home countries?

The Oct. 15 pro-life event focused on the social and emotional context surrounding abortion decisions — from family pressure and economic hardship to instances where abortion followed sexual violence.

According to organizers, the six women who shared their testimonies also contacted all 40 full members of the committee, offering to share their experiences individually. 

Most members did not agree to meet them.

For Nicolas Bauer of the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), the lack of engagement reinforces a broader concern. He questioned whether some members of the European Parliament are guided more by ideology than by listening to the diversity of women’s experiences.

The committee’s endorsement of My Voice, My Choice, he explained, reflects a belief among left-leaning groups that abortion is “inherently a right and a social good,” leaving little space for accounts of suffering, regret, or moral conflict.

Bauer explained that the proposal envisions a system in which a woman unable to obtain an abortion in her home country could “receive EU funding to have one in a country where it is available.” 

As an example, he noted that a French woman who is 22 weeks pregnant — beyond France’s legal limit — “could travel to the Netherlands for an abortion, financed by the EU.” 

Such a scheme would, in practice, “harmonize abortion law across Europe by aligning it with the most permissive countries,” regardless of national legislation or moral consensus. He attributed the campaign’s public traction not to broad ideological agreement but to “slick marketing backed by substantial financial resources.”

He further claimed that the European Commission “even helped the organizers of My Voice, My Choice to draft their petition in a way that would maximize its chances of being declared admissible,” contrasting this with the experience of One of Us, which, he noted, “gathered more signatures but did not benefit from the same institutional support.”

Examining top-down strategies

Matthieu Bruynseels, advocacy director for EU affairs at the Federation of Catholic Family Associations, stressed the importance of subsidiarity — a principle rooted in both EU treaties and Catholic social doctrine. He noted that issues such as abortion, gestational surrogacy, and euthanasia lie outside the EU’s direct competencies, yet they continue to be debated at the European level for political reasons. In the wake of My Voice, My Choice, Bruynseels said the federation is concerned about the European Parliament’s growing efforts to incorporate abortion rights into its policies.

The ECLJ plans to return to these themes at its upcoming conference on Nov. 26. The event will examine what it describes as increasingly top-down strategies within the My Voice, My Choice campaign as well as recent trends in ECI funding. It will also highlight Article 33 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which calls on the union to support, not redefine, family and motherhood. As with the October gathering, the November conference will again feature women sharing firsthand accounts of their experiences with abortion.

As for My Voice, My Choice, the initiative will enter its formal institutional phase. A public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2 in the European Parliament, during which the organizers will present their case to members of the European Parliament, the commission, and other stakeholders. After this hearing, the European Commission will be required to issue an official response outlining whether it intends to propose legislative action, pursue alternative measures, or decline to proceed and explain its reasoning publicly.

For advocates like Bauer, Bruynseels, and many within Europe’s pro-life movement, these unfolding developments highlight a defining question at the heart of EU politics today: Will abortion policy gradually align across the union, or will it continue to reflect the diverse ethical, legal, and cultural traditions of individual countries?

A roadside wooden crucifix in Bavaria. / Credit: AC Wimmer/EWTN News

EWTN News, Nov 17, 2025 / 09:06 am (CNA).

Church arson attacks across Europe nearly doubled in 2024, part of a broader surge in anti-Christian hate crimes that included 274 personal assaults against Christians and the killing of a 76-year-old Spanish monk, according to a new report released Monday by the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe).

The report documented 2,211 anti-Christian hate crimes across Europe in 2024, with 94 arson attacks on churches — nearly double the number recorded in 2023.

An official launch of the report will take place Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion, Belief, and Conscience. OIDAC Europe compiled the report using official police figures, OSCE/ODIHR statistics, and its own case documentation.

Official numbers do not show the full scale

The spike in arson attacks is particularly prominent: A total of 94 arson incidents targeted churches and other Christian sites — one-third of which occurred in Germany.

France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Austria recorded the highest number of anti-Christian incidents overall. While most attacks were directed at places of worship, OIDAC Europe recorded 274 personal attacks against Christians in 2024, including assaults and threats.

Among the report’s findings are several severe cases, including the killing of a 76-year-old monk in Spain in November 2024 and the near-destruction of a historic church in Saint-Omer, France, by fire in September 2024.

Executive Director Anja Tang emphasized that the figures represent “very concrete acts of church vandalism, arson, and physical assaults that deeply affect local communities,” warning that official statistics still underestimate the scale of the problem.

New surveys from Poland and Spain reveal that nearly half of priests have encountered aggression. However, the vast majority never report these incidents to the police.

“If half of Catholic clergy experience aggression in a Catholic-majority country, hostility towards Christians can no longer be treated as a marginal issue,” Tang said.

Christians under social pressure across Europe

Beyond physical attacks, the report documents the growing legal and social pressure on Christians across Europe between 2024 and 2025.

Examples include the prosecution of individuals for silently praying in so-called “buffer zones” near abortion facilities in the United Kingdom; the ongoing “hate speech” proceedings against Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen for quoting the Bible; and the high-profile employment case of United Kingdom teacher Kristie Higgs. The Court of Appeal in February 2025 ultimately recognized Higgs’ Christian views as legally protected beliefs.

“These patterns highlight the urgent need to strengthen the protection of freedom of religion or belief in Europe — including the right to express and discuss faith-based convictions in the public sphere without fear of reprisal or censorship,” Tang said.

In its recommendations, OIDAC Europe calls for stronger, more coordinated European Union action. This includes appointing a European Union coordinator to combat anti-Christian hatred, similar to existing mandates on antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred.

The organization also urges governments to implement the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) new guide, Understanding Anti-Christian Hate Crimes and Addressing the Security Needs of Christian Communities, and to make systematic and comparable data collection on hate crimes against Christians a key priority.

“The Charity of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary,” painted by Edmund Leighton, circa 1895. / Credit: Edmund Leighton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Nov. 17, the Catholic Church celebrates the life and example of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a medieval noblewoman who responded to personal tragedy by embracing St. Francis’ ideals of poverty and service. A patron of secular Franciscans, she is especially beloved to Germans as well as the faithful of her native Hungary.

As the daughter of the Hungarian King Andrew II, Elizabeth had the responsibilities of royalty thrust upon her almost as soon as her short life began in 1207. While she was still very young, her father arranged for her to be married to a German nobleman, Ludwig of Thuringia.

The plan forced Elizabeth to separate from her parents while still a child. Adding to this sorrow was the murder of Elizabeth’s mother, Gertrude, in 1213, which history ascribes to a conflict between her own German people and the Hungarian nobles. Elizabeth took a solemn view of life and death from that point on and found consolation in prayer. Both tendencies drew some ire from her royal peers.

For a time, beginning in 1221, she was happily married. Ludwig, who had advanced to become one of the rulers of Thuringia, supported Elizabeth’s efforts to live out the principles of the Gospel even within the royal court. She met with friars of the nascent Franciscan order during its founder’s own lifetime, resolving to use her position as queen to advance their mission of charity.

Remarkably, Ludwig agreed with his wife’s resolution, and the politically powerful couple embraced a life of remarkable generosity toward the poor. They had three children, two of whom went on to live as members of the nobility, although one of them — her only son — died relatively young. The third eventually entered religious life and became abbess of a German convent.

In 1226, while Ludwig was attending to political affairs in Italy, Elizabeth took charge of distributing aid to victims of disease and flooding that struck Thuringia. She took charge of caring for the afflicted, even when this required giving up the royal family’s own clothes and goods. Elizabeth arranged for a hospital to be built and is said to have provided for the needs of nearly a thousand desperately poor people on a daily basis.

The next year, however, would put Elizabeth’s faith to the test. Her husband had promised to assist the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sixth Crusade, but he died of illness en route to Jerusalem. Devastated by Ludwig’s death, Elizabeth vowed never to remarry. Her children were sent away, and relatives heavily pressured her to break the vow.

Undeterred, Elizabeth used her remaining money to build another hospital, where she personally attended to the sick almost constantly. Sending away her servants, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, seeking to emulate the example of its founder as closely as her responsibilities would allow. Near the end of her life, she lived in a small hut and spun her own clothes.

Working continually with the severely ill, Elizabeth became sick herself, dying of illness in November 1231. After she died, miraculous healings soon began to occur at her grave near the hospital, and she was declared a saint just four years later.

Pope Benedict XVI praised her as a “model for those in authority,” noting the continuity between her personal love for God and her public work on behalf of the poor and sick. He also wrote in 2007, in honor of the 800th anniversary of her birth, that “[Elizabeth] also serves as an example of virtue radically applied in marriage, the family, and even in widowhood. She has also inspired political figures, who have drawn from her the motivation to work towards reconciliation between peoples.”

This story was first published on Nov. 14, 2010, and has been updated.

Ernest Board (1877-1934), “Albertus Magnus Teaches in the Streets of Paris.” / Credit: Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0

National Catholic Register, Nov 15, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. Albert the Great was considered the “wonder and the miracle of his age” by his contemporaries. He was an assiduous Dominican whose accomplishments and gifts to the Church are difficult to exaggerate.

Born around 1206 and joining the Order of Preachers in 1223, Albert quickly became a master of almost every academic subject. Notwithstanding the standards of his own time, he became a pioneer of the natural sciences — both empirical and philosophical. His teachings on nature and theology were revolutionary, and he captured the attention of a young and taciturn Dominican — St. Thomas Aquinas.

While surpassing all his contemporaries in intellect and cogency, it was his own student who managed to shine brighter than he. If Albert blazed the path, then it was Aquinas who reached and held the summit. Then, tragically, when the quick flash of Aquinas’ life was over, it was Albert who defended him and held him up as a beacon of light for the whole Church. St. Albert the Great was a teacher, a bishop, and a forerunner to some of the greatest theological gifts the Church has received.

After joining the Dominicans, Albert went to Paris in 1245 and successfully received his doctorate. He then began teaching in Paris and then in Cologne, Germany. It was during his time in Cologne that he noticed a young man named Thomas. The quiet student was nicknamed “Dumb Ox” by his peers, because of his weight and the mistaken notion that his silence was due to an obtuse mind. In time, Albert realized the great acumen of the young man, and Albert took him on as a disciple.

God and nature

What drew Aquinas — and the praise and condemnation of others — to Albert was his exhaustive study of nature and God. Though it was over a millennium since the birth of Christ, the Church still struggled to define nature and its role in creation. In essence, different theological camps disagreed on how to communicate a supposedly autonomous nature — with its own laws and movements — and an omnipotent God.

If it snows, is God making it snow or are there self-moving natural causes for the snow? Though a simplistic example, the relationship between God and nature is a deciding point between theology and science or even faith and reason. Oftentimes, certain groups worried that granting nature independent causes would detract from God’s glory or resurrect pagan ideals.

At the center of many related controversies was the pagan philosopher Aristotle. The writings of Aristotle had come originally to Catholicism through Jewish and Islamic scholars, which detrimentally imported a good deal of erroneous commentary. The errors — which ranged from a misunderstanding of Aristotle to thinking Aristotle was infallible — colored the Catholic mind against the Greek philosopher on many counts. 

Albert’s indefatigable spirit strove to show that Aristotle’s account of nature could import a great service to the Church and her theology. Though he wrote an entire chapter titled “The Errors of Aristotle,” Albert showed that the principles articulated in Aristotle’s natural philosophy could be harmoniously placed within the cosmos described by Scripture.

The Church and science

The first major gift Catholicism has inherited from the riches of St. Albert’s pursuit is the idea that the Church and science are not at war with one another. Though nature moves by its own laws, the Author of those laws is the same Author of holy Scripture — this stance is a great affirmation of the belief in a harmony between faith and reason. 

The philosophical foundations for the Church discussing issues like evolution, the age of the earth, psychology, the origins of the universe, etc., all point back to the early erudition of St. Albert the Great. The concept of nature having its own causes, and that those causes could be studied via experiments, was so revolutionary that many could not decipher between scientific experiments and magic; thus, St. Albert was once accused of being a magician.

Scholasticism

The second achievement of St. Albert was Scholasticism and his pupil St. Thomas Aquinas. The Scholastic approach was unique in the sense that it centered itself on a true belief in the harmony of faith and reason, and in a well-ordered cosmos with one Divine Author. It was precisely this holistic gathering of all the sciences under one divine science that earned the scholastic St. Albert the title of “universal doctor.”

It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance Scholasticism still holds within Holy Mother Church. Pope Leo XIII declared that “it is the proper and singular gift of Scholastic theologians to bind together human knowledge and divine knowledge in the very closest bonds.” 

Pope Sixtus V confirmed that Scholasticism “has an apt coherence of facts and causes, connected with one another; an order and arrangement, like soldiers drawn up in battle array … by these the light is divided from darkness, and truth from falsehood. The lies of heretics, wrapped up in many wiles and fallacies, being stripped of their coverings, are bared and laid open.”

And while St. Albert must be remembered in his own right, we must acknowledge the magnificence of his student — St. Thomas Aquinas. 

After Thomas’ sudden death on the way to the Council of Lyons, St. Albert declared that the “light of the Church” had gone out. Later, the Church bestowed upon St. Thomas the title of “angelic doctor.” 

The Church only continued to esteem the scholar and his scholasticism: The “chief and special glory” was having his “Summa Theologiae” laid upon the altar as a source of inspiration at the Council of Trent. He was then declared the patron of all Catholic schools and universities by Pope Leo XIII.

Behind all the appropriate adulation for St. Thomas, his “Summa” and all it represents is the genius and perseverance of St. Albert.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Nov. 15, 2011, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.

French press reports on the jihadist terror attacks the night of Nov. 13, 2015. / Credit: BalkansCat/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 14, 2025 / 11:34 am (CNA).

Ten years ago on Nov. 13, armed jihadists stormed the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and elsewhere in the city, murdering over a hundred innocent people.

Suicide bombers also attacked people near France’s national stadium while other jihadists opened fire on restaurants and cafe terraces packed with people, leaving 130 dead and nearly 400 wounded.

On the 10th anniversary of the attack, the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, recalled the shock people experienced on Nov. 13, 2015, “in the face of the most gratuitous, the most blind violence,” and especially “in the face of the intensity of the evil.”

The French prelate delivered a message filled with hope to the Parisians who witnessed that “long night of anguish.”

“Our faith also leads us not to forget how, in the midst of this darkness, brightly shone that night, glimmers of brotherhood, love, mutual aid, and hope,” he said.

Faced with the abyss into which violence “had resolved to plunge us,” Ulrich continued, “these simple and courageous gestures, gestures of compassion and kindness, were the most solid of bulwarks.”

“We Christians believe that God was truly present that night: in the promptness of the medical personnel, in the selflessness of the police, in the spontaneous outpouring of humanity from so many Parisians,” he affirmed.

The archbishop expressed his closeness and tireless prayers for those who died and their loved ones, as well as for those who survived and are still “wounded, scarred, and bruised” to the point that life itself has become “a very heavy burden to bear.”

Many survivors witnessed harrowing scenes whose consequences they still bear. Two of them took their own lives shortly after the attacks.

Ulrich said in his message that the bells of all the churches in Paris would ring that evening “to invite us to unite, all together, in this same prayer” for the city and for the country.

He invited the faithful to participate in Masses and vigils for those affected and encouraged citizens to light a candle and place it in their windows.

“Having died and risen again, Christ walks through the night for us, walks through the night with us. May he grant us to be ever more faithful witnesses of his hope, his love, and his peace to those who suffer around us, brothers and sisters on the journey,” the archbishop concluded.

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