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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 5, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

In the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, influential pro-life activist and Live Action President Lila Rose announced her decision to support former president Donald Trump, despite her earlier hesitation about his candidacy.

"I will be voting for Donald Trump," Rose, who is Catholic, said in a Nov. 2 post on X, just three days before the Nov. 5 election.

The last-minute decision to support Trump comes just two months after Rose told Politico that she "would not vote for [Vice President Kamala] Harris or Trump" if the election were held that day. 

However, since that comment, Rose revealed that she "had the opportunity to meet privately with President Trump [and] he was generous with his time, and we spoke for two hours on my disagreements with him on abortion."

"Some progress was made: When enough pro-life allies expressed outrage and threatened to withhold their vote, Trump reversed his position on Amendment 4, which would legalize abortion through all nine months in his home state of Florida, and expressed his opposition to it," Rose wrote.

Rose: Harris running 'most pro-abortion campaign' ever

Rose said in her statement that "Kamala Harris' policies and record on abortion are objectively worse than Trump's," which contributed to her ultimate decision to support the former president.

"Harris' campaign is the most pro-abortion campaign in American history," Rose said. "She not only stands against the rights of preborn children, but she actively works to thwart the rights of pro-life Americans, including conservatives and Christians, to advocate for those children."

Harris has vowed to restore the abortion standards of Roe v. Wade, which would prevent states from adopting pro-life laws. She has refused to disavow late-term abortion in the final months of pregnancy and rejected any religious exemptions in federal abortion laws. 

In addition, as a United States senator in 2019, Harris introduced the Do No Harm Act, which would have ended religious freedom exemptions for health care rules, including on abortion.

"Harris opposes conscience exceptions for health care professionals, meaning she supports forcing health care professionals and hospitals, including those of faith, to commit abortions or lose their ability to practice medicine," Rose wrote.

Rose further noted that when Harris was attorney general of California, "she selectively prosecuted pro-life journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood selling baby body parts, a federal crime."

This comment is in reference to Harris' role in the raid of pro-life activist David Daleiden's home after he conducted an undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood, which showed organization officials discussing costs for fetal tissue and body parts. It is illegal to sell fetal tissue and body parts. Harris alleged that Daleiden broke several laws while obtaining the videos but never investigated Planned Parenthood.

Rose further noted that "Harris also used her power as [attorney general] to attempt to force pro-life pregnancy nonprofits in California to post abortion advertisements in their clinics." 

This is in reference to Harris' support for and enforcement of the the Reproductive FACT Act in California, which forced pro-life pregnancy centers to display notices on where women can obtain abortions. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered California to stop enforcing the law because it compelled speech, in violation of the First Amendment.

"The recurring message in nearly every interview and speech Harris gives centers on her unflinching support for abortion," Rose said. "If fascism is the alignment of all power to the state, Kamala Harris is a model abortion fascist."

Rose backs Trump despite some disagreements

Although Rose is voting for Trump, she still expressed some disagreements with the former president on abortion, such as his plan to keep abortion a state-level issue instead of supporting stronger federal rules. She also criticized Trump's support for taxpayer-funded in vitro fertilization and keeping the abortion pill legal.

"Trump and [JD] Vance may believe these positions are politically more expedient," Rose said. "But there is no middle ground when it comes to life. Every child, no matter how he or she is conceived, has a right to be given a chance at life."

Yet, Rose also credits Trump for his appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which allowed states and the federal government to restrict abortion. In addition, as president, Trump used his executive power to restrict foreign aid funding of abortion, prevent Title X funds from fueling the abortion industry, and protect infants who are born alive after a failed abortion.

Moreover, the former president said in a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition in June that, if elected, he would "rapidly review the cases" of pro-life activists and "every political prisoner" who has been jailed under the Biden-Harris administration and get them "back to their families where they belong."

One pro-life activist who is currently in prison on charges of obstructing access to an abortion clinic, Will Goodman, is also urging pro-life voters to support Trump.

"When I consider the little ones Jesus particularly loved, I realize that I am called to love them too," Goodman, who is Catholic, wrote. "So in the context of this election, I ask: Which party and which candidates have greater contempt for the smallest and littlest babes? The answer is self-evident: the national Democrat Party and the Harris/Walz ticket for president/vice president. Period."

In her statement, Rose acknowledged that Trump's watered-down position on abortion has "discouraged pro-life voters." She said "there will be many voters who choose the less pro-abortion candidate and vote for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, but there will also be voters who have been so discouraged by Trump's positions that they may decide to sit this election out."

"We must continue our fight to secure the respect for human life in both political parties and across our culture," Rose said. "The protection of our children cannot be negotiable — America's future depends on leaders who protect its most vulnerable."

Trump has also been endorsed by other pro-life organizations, including National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Priests for Life, Students for Life of America, and Operation Rescue, among others.

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CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Rita Marker, a longtime advocate against assisted suicide, died Oct. 30 at the age of 83. 

Born in Washington state in 1940, Marker and her family settled in Steubenville, Ohio. After attending an international right-to-die convention in Europe and becoming alarmed by what she heard, she and her husband, Mike, established the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, later renamed the Patients Rights Council, where Rita served as the executive director until earlier this year.

Marker was a devout Catholic, and she and her husband, who were married for six decades, were appointed to the Vatican's Pontifical Council on the Family by St. John Paul II.

The Catholic Church has long supported palliative care in the face of terminal illness and pain, which involves the holistic management of a person's suffering. Assisted suicide and euthanasia — which both involve the intentional taking of life — are never permissible under Catholic teaching, though withholding "extraordinary means" of medical treatment and allowing death to occur naturally is morally permissible.

In her role as head of the Patients Rights Council, Marker wrote the 1995 book "Deadly Compassion: The Death of Ann Humphry and the Truth About Euthanasia" about the high-profile suicide of a euthanasia advocate whom Marker had later embraced as a friend. 

Marker traveled extensively, both domestically and internationally, to speak out against euthanasia and assisted suicide, overcoming personal challenges such as stage fright and a fear of flying. She frequently appeared on radio and news programs, including "EWTN Pro-life Weekly," to raise awareness about the issue. 

Recognizing the importance of legal expertise in advocating against assisted suicide, Marker, who had a master's degree in music, pursued a law degree while working full time at the Patients Rights Council, passing the California bar exam on her first attempt. She used her legal knowledge to analyze legislation and develop strategies to oppose assisted suicide laws.

One of Marker's priorities was protecting the rights of vulnerable patients who might be at risk of coercion or exploitation under assisted suicide laws. Through the Patients Rights Council, she was able to provide information and assistance, encouraging individuals to actively protect themselves by creating advance medical directives. She also established relationships with leaders in the palliative care field to offer resources on pain control and better end-of-life options.

Jason Negri, a Michigan-based lawyer who worked for the Patients Rights Council under Marker, ??offered appreciation to Marker for shaping his career and influencing his work in the field of end-of-life care as well as her tireless efforts on behalf of the vulnerable. 

"In the field of end-of-life issues, Rita was a legend. She pioneered and perfected effective opposition to assisted suicide and deserves credit for many victories on behalf of the medically vulnerable over the past 30 years," Negri told CNA.

"Rita was indefatigable in her efforts, speaking worldwide whenever assisted suicide and euthanasia started threatening people. She recognized that we needed to not just oppose these dangerous trends but provide resources and assistance to those experiencing suffering and desperation."

Negri said he first encountered Marker when she was his college professor, and she readily provided him information and instruction on end-of-life care. Their relationship led to a job offer after Negri graduated law school. 

"Under Rita's tutelage, I learned how to analyze legislation on assisted suicide, speak publicly on end-of-life medial and ethical issues, and train others on the most persuasive ways to address these matters," he noted. 

Marker is survived by seven children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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National Catholic Register, Nov 5, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

The intellectual evolution of emblematic radical feminist Marguerite Stern, spectacular in more ways than one, is a mystery to many commentators. 

In February 2013, she burst, topless, into the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris to celebrate, along with other feminist activists, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and howl her hatred of the Church. 

Less than a decade later, Stern has become a leading figure in the fight against the excesses of the so-called "woke movements," in particular transgender ideology. 

In recent years, this struggle has led her to distance herself from many of her former radical allies and to question, one by one, the progressive dogmas that once served as her moral compass. 

This intellectual journey led her to offer, in a video published on YouTube on Oct. 31, the eve of All Saints' Day, her "sincere apologies" to Catholics hurt by her frequent public provocations when she was a Femen activist between 2012 and 2015, "notably during a campaign in favor of gay marriage."

How to explain such a turnaround? 

For Stern, the awakening began five years ago, when she became convinced that transgenderism, which "does not create but destroys," represented a civilizational threat, which "comes from death drive and self-hatred."

It was a comparable impulse that she felt animated her when she attacked the Catholic religion, which has forged the "history, architecture, and customs" of her native France. 

"Rejecting that, going into Notre-Dame de Paris screaming," she continued, "was a way of damaging a part of France, which is to say a part of myself. At 22, I didn't realize it." 

Brought up in the Catholic faith, this avowed atheist retains an instinctive love for her country's religious heritage. Indeed, she revealed that she has never stopped loving Notre Dame. "I remember that the day after the fire [in 2019], I went to cry in a church. But sometimes we love badly."

'Fight to preserve rites'

Noting that her opposition to transgenderism has made her patriotic, and then socially conservative, because her only deep connection is with her country, Stern said she is convinced that France must remain Catholic. And to this end, its religious rites must continue to be kept alive.

"Rites bring us together. They soothe, sometimes repair, and regulate our emotions; they anchor us in the present by reminding us of what has gone before," she continued.

"And then there's something else: There's what's beyond us. The steeples that tower over us and dress our soundscapes. The majesty of the buildings. The wonder of entering a church. The beauty. And the faith of believers. I'm sorry I trampled on that."

This respect for the country's Catholic traditions is all the more important to her as the ideologies she fights against are all corollaries of transhumanism, where humans, like demiurges, become their own creators. 

"Without believing in God, on certain points I ultimately come to the same conclusions as Catholics," she claimed; hence her conviction that blasphemy, while a protected right in France under the nation's 1905 law on the separation of church and state, is "not always moral."

"It's fashionable these days to denigrate Catholics and make them out to be old-France idiots, insufficiently hip to deserve the status of human beings," Stern concluded. "In the past, I have used this climate to act immorally, while helping to reinforce it. I sincerely apologize for that."

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

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ACI Africa, Nov 5, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, OFM Cap, the local ordinary the Archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), has raised questions about the "hasty beatification" of King Baudouin of Belgium. 

Ambongo, who was speaking at a media briefing in Rome days before the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality, weighed in on Pope Francis' Sept. 29 surprise announcement to thousands of participants during Mass at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels that "on my return to Rome, I will open the process for the beatification of King Baudouin."

Amid cheers and applause from the participants, the Holy Father went on to call the late Catholic who chose to temporarily abdicate his throne rather than sign a law legalizing abortion a man of faith who serves as an example for leaders today. 

Pope Francis also called upon Catholic bishops in Belgium to "commit themselves" to advancing Baudouin's canonization cause.

At the Oct. 22 media briefing in Rome, Ambongo said that while Pope Francis' pronouncements conform to "the wish of the Church in Belgium," the late Catholic king of Belgium has been reportedly linked to the 1961 assassination of the pioneer Congolese prime minister of DRC, Patrice Lumumba.

"There is still this file, which we can call a dark spot," the cardinal said in what has been described as raising "a red flag" about the announcement the pope made during his pastoral visit to Belgium in September.

The cardinal emphasized the need to "search in the past to see what is there" and added that in reference to the late Belgian king, "we do not know the meanders of his life."

Ambongo, however, expressed his openness to King Baudouin's beatification "if his file evolves well."

"For us, he [Baudouin] is a politician who has been brave in the context of Belgium; he was very brave," Ambongo said. "We say he was the one who gave independence to Congo."

"If the case moves in the direction that some people want, in order to present him for beatification, we are open to it," he said.

King Baudouin's more than 40-year reign, from 1951–1993, was marked by intense social, political, and religious upheaval in Belgium and around the world. Despite all of this change, Baudouin is said to have carried out his duties with complete devotion to his country and to his Catholic faith, serving as one of the few unifying factors in Belgium for which he was beloved by his people.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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Madrid, Spain, Nov 5, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

"We're not dead because a neighbor came looking for her mother [and warned us] while we were adoring the Blessed Sacrament," Father Gustavo Riveira, pastor of St. George Martyr Parish in Paiporta in Valencia province, Spain, this week told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. The town of Paiporta is considered to be "ground zero" of the tragedy caused by the recent floods in Spain.

On the afternoon of Oct. 29, between 40 and 50 people had prayed the rosary at 6 p.m. and, a half hour later, the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament had begun when they were warned of imminent flash flooding.

"We are not dead because a neighbor came looking for her mother. If she hadn't, we wouldn't have lived to tell the story," emphasized the Argentine priest, who criticized that citizens were not informed ahead of time: "Nobody warned us of anything."

The parish was flooded but, using buckets, about 60 young people managed to remove the remaining water after the flash flood had receded, according to the parish priest.

Riveira described the Dantesque scene, where the streets and houses are still full of mud, with ruined cars piled up and belongings destroyed by the flowing water.

"We have mountains of mud, reeds. People have taken furniture outside to clean their houses. There is immense devastation, which goes well beyond the mud and the mire," he explained.

A few days after the floods, at least they no longer lack food or water, but parish Caritas hasn't been able to resume its normal activities, he said. "We had to throw away everything we had, because everything was covered with mud. We had nothing left."

They haven't been able to properly store the aid they have received, thanks to the generosity of thousands of Spaniards, because Caritas' facilities haven't yet been able to be cleaned.

Thus, what is functioning is what the priest calls "hand-to-hand solidarity, which is not so structured" but reflects the exceptional work carried out on numerous occasions by parishioners who have also lost everything in the floods.

"They've shown great solidarity, truly exemplary. People have come to the fore that we've never seen before to this extent. This is very beautiful and opens the heart," Riveira commented.

Looking to the future, the priest expressed the need to restore calm: "We must remain calm in order to start over. The law of life is to always be starting over. Woe to us the day we give up on starting over and looking to tomorrow with eyes of hope."

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

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Vatican City, Nov 5, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has added the Italian archbishop of Naples, Domenico Battaglia, to the list of new cardinals he will create at a consistory at the Vatican on Dec. 7.

The Vatican said Monday afternoon that Francis had added the Naples archbishop to the list of 20 other new cardinals. The announcement comes almost two weeks after one of the pope's original picks, announced at the Angelus at the beginning of October, declined the honor of the red hat.

Pope Francis accepted the request of Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, OFM, to not be made a cardinal in order to "continue growing in priestly life and in service to the Church and the people of God," according to an Oct. 22 message from the Holy See Press Office.

With the inclusion of Battaglia, there will again be 21 new members added to the College of Cardinals at the December consistory.

The 61-year-old Battaglia became archbishop of Naples in December 2020. Prior to the appointment, he was bishop of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant'Agata de' Goti, a diocese in Italy's southern Campania region, from 2016-2020.

Before that, Battaglia was a parish priest in another southern Italian archdiocese, Catanzaro-Squillace, where he was called "Don Mimmo" and known as a "street priest" who cared for the marginalized.

During his tenure in Naples, the archbishop has spoken out strongly against the violence of organized crime in the southern Italian city.

As archbishop of Naples, Battaglia also celebrates the twice annual Mass in the Naples cathedral at which an ampoule containing the relic of the blood of the third-century martyr St. Januarius is examined to confirm if the miracle of liquefaction has taken place.

Battaglia will be one of five Italian bishops to be made a cardinal at the next consistory; four of the five Italians are under 80 and can participate as cardinal-electors in a future conclave to choose the next pope.

The ceremony to create the new cardinals will take place in St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 7.

The following day, on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, Francis and the entire College of Cardinals will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving together in the Vatican basilica.

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CNA Staff, Nov 5, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A recent news report out of Kentucky revealed a slim but pointed risk regarding organ donation, one that underscores a key Church teaching about how the process of gifting one's organs must play out. 

Congressional testimony in September revealed a 2021 incident in which a man named TJ Hoover was declared brain dead and a medical team was assembled to harvest his organs. In the operating room, however, Hoover was found to still be alive. Multiple medical officials quit over what they described as a traumatic experience.

"Several of us that were employees needed to go to therapy," one worker told National Public Radio. Government authorities are investigating the incident. 

What does the Catholic Church say about organ donation? 

The Catholic Church states that organ donation is an acceptable and even morally laudable practice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that organ transplants "are in conformity with the moral law," though only "if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good that is sought for the recipient" (No. 2296).

Organ donation after death, meanwhile, "is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity." However, the circumstances around organ donation must be in line with Catholic moral teaching. 

Joe Zalot, the director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), told CNA in an interview that St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all spoken favorably about organ donation. 

Francis has described it as an "expression of universal fraternity that binds all men and women," while John Paul II described organ donation as "a genuine act of love."

Zalot pointed out that there are really two types of organ donations.

"One is with a paired organ, like a kidney," he said. "We have two kidneys. If my brother has kidney failure, and he needs a transplant, and I'm a match, so long as I consent, I can give him my kidney." 

The more prominent issue, he said, is the donation of vital organs, which by definition an individual cannot live without. 

"The Church is okay with vital organ donation," Zalot said. "But you have to have moral certainty that the person [giving the organs] is actually deceased."

"The Church doesn't say how exactly you do that. It's a medical question," Zalot said. "But you have to have moral certainty that the person has died in order to extract his or her vital organs."

Debate over 'brain death'

A prominent debate among both physicians and moral theologians is the classification of "brain death," a medical designation that indicates complete loss of brain function, including the involuntary mechanisms by which the brain sustains life.

Brain death is a "very, very hot issue" among Catholic ethicists, Zalot said. New brain death guidelines issued last year by a major neurological society were criticized by more than 150 Catholic ethicists and theologians over concerns that patients might incorrectly be pronounced "brain dead" and subsequently have their organs removed while still alive.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the NCBC, meanwhile, last year criticized a proposed rewriting of the definition of "brain death" by the Uniform Law Commission, arguing that the revision would "replace the standard of whole brain death with one of partial brain death," thus broadening the criteria for organ harvesting. 

The suggestion that "partial brain death is sufficient for vital organ retrieval" could dissuade individuals from becoming donors themselves, the groups argued. 

The catechism further stipulates that it is "not morally admissible directly to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being" for purposes of organ harvesting, "even in order to delay the death of other persons" (No. 2296).

The Catholic Church has taught for many centuries that the body will ultimately be resurrected in glorified form, mandating the respectful treatment of human remains after the soul has departed.

"When death occurs, you have the separation of soul and body," Zalot said. "The body dies and the soul lives on. But we have a duty to treat the body with respect."

Considerations in light of the resurrection of the body 

One aspect of organ donation rich for theological consideration is how donating one's organs upon death might be considered in light of the Catholic belief of the resurrection of the body.

Father Terrence Ehrman, CSC, a professor of systematic theology at the University of Notre Dame, told CNA the question "points to the great mystery of the Resurrection."

Asked how donating one's organs might be considered in light of the ancient Catholic teaching of bodily resurrection, Ehrman noted that there's "not much in Scripture and tradition about what actually a resurrected body is."

"There's very little we have about what this resurrected existence is like," he admitted. But the Church teaches that "there is this connection with our bodies. They're who we are, they're not just a part of us."

He noted that one's body changes radically over one's lifetime, though one is plainly still inhabiting the same body.

"What makes me the same person today that I was yesterday or 50 years ago?" he said. "I'm the same person. I'm the same identifiable organism. I have the same body in one sense. But it's different in many ways." 

"The matter [making up a body] can be very different," he said. But "the Church is clear that we're going to be raised in the same body."

Catholic theologians and philosophers have long debated questions of bodily integrity and continuity, such as if someone is buried at sea and is consumed by a fish, Ehrman noted.

But the "new reality" implied by bodily resurrection suggests that one's unique, personal body will ultimately be made whole in some way, he said.

"I think the same thing applies to questions about organ donation," he said. "Maybe we don't need to think of it in the way that we get the same exact matter back. We rather get the same body back, one that's identifiable as us."

Zalot, meanwhile, said the Church's proscriptions on organ donation are informed by its comprehensive teachings on the dignity of the human person and respect for the human body.

The faithful are still enjoined to respect the body even after organ donations have been performed, Zalot said.

Organ donation is "a great gift," he said. "But after a person is a vital organ donor — once the heart or other organs are removed — the same rule applies, treating the body with respect."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 5, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

St. Mary's University in Twickenham, London, has announced plans to open Britain's first Catholic medical school in September 2026.

"We are proud to be London's Catholic university and to launch the first school of medicine at a Catholic university in the U.K.," a spokesperson for the university said in a statement provided to CNA. "This is an exciting initiative and a strategic priority for the university." 

"Our Catholic mission is integral to our values, and we will ensure that our students can flourish with the best possible support, as befits a Catholic university," the spokesperson said.

"We will also help our graduates to become ethically discerning in their practice." 

News of the university's plans come as euthanasia and abortion in the United Kingdom continue to grow and as the U.K. faces a critical demand for more doctors and medical professionals. 

"The need for medical professionals in the U.K. is enormous," the spokesperson acknowledged.

The university "look[s] forward to contributing toward the future of health care in Britain by helping to provide the next generations of compassionate, complete doctors who prioritize patient well-being and utilize the latest medical technology, underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of the bioethical debates impacting the medical community." 

In a press release regarding the new medical school, the university said it had received assurance that it is "on track and making good progress toward required standards for medical education." 

The university is currently ranked in the country's top 10 for student experience and top 5 for teaching quality, according to the release.

"The school will not only contribute to the workforce development demands in the U.K. for more doctors and medical professionals, but it will also train global professionals able to work anywhere in the world," St. Mary's vice chancellor, Professor Anthony McClaran, said in the announcement. 

"Our approach to developing the whole person during students' time at SMU will mean medics of the future will leave this university with the technical and personal skills they need to deliver truly holistic, compassionate, patient-centered care," McLaran said.

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Rome Newsroom, Nov 5, 2024 / 10:50 am (CNA).

Pope Francis warned against "Coca-Cola spirituality" at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on Tuesday, where minutes earlier the rector had highlighted the witness of imprisoned-then-exiled Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez as an example of authentic Christian courage.

Speaking at the university's Dies Academicus celebration, the pope told faculty and students to avoid becoming "disciples of Coca-Cola spirituality," using the metaphor to warn against superficial approaches to faith formation.

"Have you asked yourselves where you are going and why you are doing the things you are doing?" the pope challenged his audience on Nov. 4.

"It is necessary to know where one is going without losing sight of the horizon that unites each one's path with the current and ultimate end."

Jesuit Father Mark A. Lewis, rector of the Gregorian University, opened the event by noting that Álvarez, who studied at the university, "preaches the Gospel with courage and remains in solidarity with his priests, his flock, and all those who are deprived of their human rights."

Drawing on the example of St. Francis Xavier, the pope emphasized the need to "be missionaries out of love for our brothers and sisters and to be available to the Lord's call."

He urged the academic community to avoid "pretensions that turn God's project into something bureaucratic, rigid, and without warmth, superimposing agendas and ambitions over the plans of providence."

The pope called for putting "heart" into formation work, warning that without it, education becomes either "arid intellectualism or perverse narcissism."

"When the heart is missing, you can see it," Francis emphasized.

The pope called for a university with "the smell of the people" that promotes imagination and reveals God's love, "who always takes the first step in a world that seems to have lost its heart."

He lamented that the "world is in flames" due to the "madness of war, which covers every hope with the shadow of death."

Francis urged the community to "open the gaze of the heart" and seek unity in diversity through exchanging gifts, calling for greater study of Eastern traditions. He urged avoiding abstract ideas born in offices and promoting "contact with the life of peoples, the symbols of cultures, and the cries of suffering of the poor."

"Touch this flesh, walk in the mud, and get your hands dirty," he emphasized.

The visit marked a significant development in the university's history, coinciding with the recent integration of three institutions — the Collegium Maximum, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and the Pontifical Oriental Institute — under papal directive.

Founded in 1551 as the Roman College by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Gregorian University currently serves 2,952 students from 121 countries studying theology, philosophy, canon law, psychology, and anthropology, among other disciplines.

After leaving the university, the pope privately visited Italian political figure Emma Bonino at her Rome apartment. Bonino, 76, who was recently hospitalized for respiratory and heart issues, is known as a leading voice in Italy's pro-abortion movement. Pope Francis has repeatedly condemned abortion in the strongest terms. The Vatican press office confirmed the visit took place but offered no additional information.

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Vatican City, Nov 5, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has added the Italian archbishop of Naples, Domenico Battaglia, to the list of new cardinals he will create at a consistory at the Vatican on Dec. 7.

The Vatican said Monday afternoon that Francis had added the Naples archbishop to the list of 20 other new cardinals. The announcement comes almost two weeks after one of the pope's original picks, announced at the Angelus at the beginning of October, declined the honor of the red hat.

Pope Francis accepted the request of Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, OFM, to not be made a cardinal in order to "continue growing in priestly life and in service to the Church and the people of God," according to an Oct. 22 message from the Holy See Press Office.

With the inclusion of Battaglia, there will again be 21 new members added to the College of Cardinals at the December consistory.

The 61-year-old Battaglia became archbishop of Naples in December 2020. Prior to the appointment, he was a parish priest in another southern Italian archdiocese, Catanzaro-Squillace, where he was called "Don Mimmo" and known as a "street priest" who cared for the marginalized.

During his tenure in Naples, the archbishop has spoken out strongly against the violence of organized crime in the southern Italian city.

As archbishop of Naples, Battaglia also celebrates the twice annual Mass in the Naples cathedral at which an ampoule containing the relic of the blood of the third-century martyr St. Januarius is examined to confirm if the miracle of liquefaction has taken place.

Battaglia will be one of five Italian bishops to be made a cardinal at the next consistory; four of the five Italians are under 80 and can participate as cardinal-electors in a future conclave to choose the next pope.

The ceremony to create the new cardinals will take place in St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 7.

The following day, on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8, Francis and the entire College of Cardinals will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving together in the Vatican basilica.

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