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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A new initiative is trying to shift the narrative on the Catholic priesthood by shining light on stories of heroic virtue, courage, and selfless acts from modern-day priests and bishops in an effort to strengthen the appeal of the vocation.

The Philadelphia-based nonprofit International Institute for Culture (IIC) launched the first pillar of its "Shepherding Future Shepherds" program, which is the creation of ThankAPriest.com. It showcases positive stories with the hope of inspiring young Catholic men to consider vocations to the priesthood.

"By sharing stories of priestly heroism and compassion, we hope to inspire young men to recognize the priesthood as a profound and fulfilling vocation," IIC President John M. Haas said in a statement.

"Our goal is to bring to light the countless untold stories of the good and virtuous work priests do every day," he added. "This effort is critical not only to restoring confidence in the priesthood but also to inspiring future vocations."

An IIC news release notes that the number of active Catholic priests globally has dropped from about 60,000 to only 35,000 from 1970 to 2020, even though the number of Catholics has risen by 20 million people within that time frame. 

The nonprofit warned that within the next five years, some regions will only have one priest for every 6,000 Catholics.

Matthew Haas, the project director of the initiative and son of the IIC president, told CNA the drop in overall priests is further complicated by the average age of priests increasing.

"In the next 10 years, 20 years, we're going to see a dramatic dropoff of priests who are able to remain active," he said.

Our culture "is becoming more secular, just overall," he noted, but the declining trend in priests is more severe.

"It's not a 1:1 ratio that would explain the priesthood," Haas said. He argued there is a negative perception about the priesthood among many young people rooted in Church scandals but that those scandals reflect a "very small group of people — bad actors."

Haas added that a major part of the initiative is to "start changing perception" because there are "so many good priests doing noble, heroic … things."

"We're sharing all kinds of stories, but one of the things we want to make sure we're doing is there's going to be a wide representation," he added.

The heroism of Bishop Christian Carlassare

The first profile on ThankAPriest.com tells the story of Bishop Christian Carlassare, who was the bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek in South Sudan and is now the bishop of the Diocese of Bentiu in the same country.

Carlassare was shot by two unknown assailants when he was bishop-elect of Rumbek.

"Two gunmen broke into his house during the night, burst into his bedroom, and shot him several times," the profile notes. "There was speculation it was a targeted assault. Bishop Carlassare sustained numerous gunshot wounds to his legs, but miraculously none of the injuries were life threatening."

The profile shares the message to his diocese that Carlassare recorded while in the hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, in which he tells them: "I want you to be at peace, to know that I'm well here in the hospital." 

"I'm being taken care [of] and I'm improving," he said. "It will take some time for my legs to be able again to walk, but I assure you that I will be back and I will be with you. Please let us be united in prayer, let us be united with all our hearts to uphold forgiveness in our community and be able to seek for justice with the same heart of God. It is a merciful heart."

Carlassare, who is a native of Italy, spent months in his home country to rehabilitate himself before returning to serve his diocese in the East African nation. On his decision to return to the diocese, the bishop said: "I clearly could not turn my back to this call … and abandon the sheep when witnessing Christ becomes demanding."

The profile notes that Carlassare hoped his return would signal "reconciliation, forgiveness, and new beginnings," which is "a message that defines his ministry, and one he hopes to share with the divided nation."

Prior to his appointment as a bishop, Carlassare served the Church as a missionary priest with the Comboni Missionaries religious order. He served South Sudan as a missionary priest for 15 years before his appointment.

Matthew Haas told CNA there are many priests "putting their lives … at risk in some instances to serve God" and it's important to tell the stories of "these men [who] are holy and serving the Church and trying to do good things," expressing hope that "people see them as role models" and "aspire to live a life like that."

The organization is also requesting that people share stories of priests who are living heroic and virtuous lives through their vocation.

Next steps for the initiative

The launching of the website represents the first pillar of the initiative, which intends to "elevate" the priesthood within society. The other three pillars are: educate, engage, and embark.

Matthew Haas told CNA that the second pillar, "educate," will likely be launched this year and is designed to be "really reaching out, specifically to young men." This will include efforts to show people the different roles priests can have and the distinctions between priests, deacons, brothers, and monks.

"We believe God has a calling for everyone," he said. 

The third pillar, "engage," is also supposed to be launched later this year and is designed to help young men navigate the discernment process and connect them to resources to help in that decision-making process, according to Haas. 

The fourth pillar, "embark," is scheduled to begin in early 2026. This part is meant to provide the help of spiritual guidance. Haas said most men who enter the seminary "had either a spiritual director or a guide who helped them through the discernment process."

"The work we're doing now is laying the foundation for these priests who are going to be available in the next decade," Matthew Haas added.

He noted that the discernment process and the priest formation process can take up to a decade to complete, which is why it's "urgent to start now."

"It will help to reverse the trend of secularism by bringing in new and young priests to help serve our Church," he said.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 15, 2025 / 15:28 pm (CNA).

The dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his "co-president" and wife, Rosario Murillo, in Nicaragua has banned, for the third consecutive year, street processions in the country, where the Catholic Church has suffered fierce persecution from the regime for several years.

"Before, we used to go out into the streets and go around the communities, but now we don't. We have to do it inside the church, and that somewhat diminishes popular religiosity, because people liked the procession. Now, we just pray and read the Stations [of the Cross]," a parishioner named Marcos, who serves at a church in Managua, told the newspaper Confidencial.

Aurelio (first name), 35, pointed out in turn: "We already know who the plainclothes police are. There was a fair recently and we saw them there. They take photos, see who's there and what's being done. The priest must provide information."

According to Confidencial, the dictatorship is supposedly deploying 14,000 police officers to prevent processions during Holy Week in Nicaragua.

At the end of March, Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan researcher and lawyer in exile, explained that there is a "Summer 2025 Plan" for the police, which "includes police harassment and intimidation of priests" to remind them of two orders they must follow to avoid jail: "no authorization to hold processions" and "not to mention anything against the 'government' in their homilies and religious activities."

Molina is the author of the report "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church," which in its latest edition in December 2024 reported nearly 1,000 attacks by the dictatorship against the Catholic Church in the country from 2018 to 2024.

The newspaper Mosaico CSI reported in January that the police are monitoring priests, checking their cellphones, and demanding weekly reports on their activities in addition to restricting their freedom of movement. They even interrogated a schoolgirl on her way to church.

In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, Molina said: "Some parishes have obtained permission, but only to hold the procession in front of them. That is, they come out, are on the street in front of the parish for a short while, and then go in procession toward the main altar. It's not that they're going to walk through all the streets, as was customary in previous years when religious freedom was respected in Nicaragua."

"Judeas [theatrical representations of the passion and death of Christ] are also being banned. In fact, the Sandinista police recently went to intimidate minors so they wouldn't participate in these activities, which are more common in the country's interior. They threatened them, telling them not to go out, that it was prohibited," Molina reported.

"The police no longer have any qualms; they enter churches armed to monitor people, to take photos and videos, and the Church continues to suffer from this siege and persecution by the dictatorship," she said.

Dictatorship powerless against the risen Christ

On Palm Sunday, Silvio Báez, a Nicaraguan bishop in exile, wrote on X that "the dictatorship of #Nicaragua has banned street processions. What they will not be able to prevent is the Crucified One from revealing his victory in every struggle for truth and justice, in every effort to defend people's dignity, and in every act of solidarity for the victims."

On April 13, Father Nils Hernández, an exiled Nicaraguan priest who works at Queen of Peace Parish in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, stated that "Jesus is going to overthrow those dictators who have stolen Nicaragua as if it were their own country estate. God sees the suffering of his people, and God does not abandon Nicaragua, even though the co-dictators [Ortega and Murillo] think they will continue to triumph."

"Despite the religious persecution launched by the Ortega regime against the Church in #Nicaragua, Catholics are attending the country's parishes en masse at the beginning of #SemanaSanta 2025 [Holy Week]," said Nicaraguan journalist Israel Espinoza, who is exiled in Spain.

"The faith of Nicaraguan Christians is worthy of admiration and solidarity," he added.

Father Edwing Román, another exiled priest, wrote on X that "in Nicaragua, nothing is normal. I know of some parishes where police remain inside the church, recording homilies, and they ask to take a picture with the priest to commit them to projecting an image, according to la Chayo [Murillo's nickname], who talks of 'love and peace.'"

New report details regime's human rights violations

On April 3, the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua published a report titled "Institutions and Individuals Responsible for the Main Patterns of Human Rights Violations and Abuses and Crimes Committed in Nicaragua Since April 2018," a 234-page document that provides information on 54 officials it holds responsible.

Félix Maradiaga, a former presidential candidate, political prisoner, and director of the Fundación Libertad, (Freedom Foundation) noted on April 10 in an interview with "EWTN Noticias," the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News, that the report details the "bloody role" of these officials, "not only in the 2018 protests but in the subsequent crackdown," and he called on the international community to support Nicaragua so that "it can at some point have a special court to prosecute these crimes."

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, Apr 15, 2025 / 10:38 am (CNA).

For Holy Week, Pope Francis has delegated three cardinals to celebrate the Vatican's Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies as the state of the pontiff's health continues to steadily improve, the director of the Holy See Press Office said Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pope, who is recovering from a prolonged case of double pneumonia, has delegated Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno to celebrate the chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on the morning of Holy Thursday.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, will lead the Passion service in the Vatican basilica on the afternoon of Good Friday, and the same evening, the vicar general of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, will preside over the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum with meditations written by Francis.

It has not yet been decided who will celebrate the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday evening and the Easter Sunday Mass, Holy See spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Tuesday.

How much Pope Francis will participate in Holy Week and Easter liturgies at the Vatican is also unclear after the 88-year-old pontiff made a surprise appearance in St. Peter's Square during Palm Sunday Mass on April 13.

For the first time since his 39-day hospitalization earlier this year, the pope was not wearing nasal tubes for breathing help during his brief appearance at the end of the public Mass.

According to Bruni, Francis is now able to go for longer periods without supplemental oxygen, except as needed at night. The pontiff's mobility and voice are also improving, and he is holding short work meetings to discuss important Church business with the heads of Vatican dicasteries.

Pope Francis has no public schedule while convalescing from multiple respiratory infections that landed him in the hospital in February, but he has made several unexpected appearances in the last week, including a visit to pray before his favorite Marian icon, "Salus Populi Romani," at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on April 12.

The pope also surprised tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter's Basilica on April 10 when he was wheeled into the Vatican basilica wearing a white undershirt and black pants while draped in a blanket instead of being dressed in his usual white cassock and zucchetto.

Now just over three weeks since his release from hospital, the appearances mark the pope's gradual resumption of public life during a convalescence expected to last several more weeks.

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ACI Africa, Apr 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Cameroon's Diocese of Kumbo, which is part of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, located in the country's conflict-affected northwest region has issued an "urgent alert" on a surge of human trafficking in the diocese.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, on April 8, the coordinator of the Commission for Justice and Peace in the Cameroonian diocese said that traffickers, who are now capitalizing on the region's crises, "keep changing their strategies."

"The Justice and Peace Commission of Kumbo Diocese has been sensitizing us on issues of trafficking over the years," said Sister Minkoue Falie, a member of the Congregation de Notre-Dame.

In a statement titled "An Urgent Alert on the Situation of Human Trafficking in the Diocese of Kumbo," Falie wrote: "The ongoing crises in the two Anglophone regions have increased vulnerability, unemployment, and hardship in our communities. Traffickers are taking advantage of this, and the rate of human trafficking has drastically increased in the past years."

"We write once again to call your attention to the growing phenomenon of human trafficking taking roots in our diocese," Falie said, encouraging families whose members have fallen victim to human trafficking to report the matter "as a matter of urgency."

She continued: "Many of our sons and daughters, friends, and relatives were promised jobs in big companies and are now stranded in Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, etc., always demanding more money for one thing or another as we write."

"As a matter of urgency, we call on any family whose child or children have fallen victim to get in touch with the diocesan Justice and Peace Office as soon as possible with useful information to enable the office to respond to this worrying issue." 

Cameroon's English-speaking regions plunged into conflict in 2016 after a protest by lawyers and teachers turned violent. An armed movement of separatists claiming independence for the so-called "Republic of Ambazonia" emerged following the government's crackdown on protesters. 

School boycotts have become common in the Cameroonian region as have enforced moratoriums on public life known as "ghost towns."

According to a March report, Cameroon's crisis "has caused over 900,000 people to flee internally and 60,000 people to flee abroad."

The report indicates that "as of February 2025, more than 500,000 internally displaced people were in Anglophone-majority regions."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that the Central African nation plays host to over 400,000 refugees primarily coming from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Chad, and Niger; more than 17,000 asylum seekers; and over 1 million internally displaced persons "with an additional 658,544 returnees."

More than 3.3 million people stand in need of humanitarian aid in Cameroon.

In recent years, however, there have been reported instances of former separatist fighters laying down arms, transitioning into professional careers, and advocating for peace.

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

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CNA Staff, Apr 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Catholic advocates in Australia are warning lawmakers there of the risk that pornography exposure poses to children, including the threat of normalizing forms of violent sexual behavior among young people.

The Parliament of New South Wales recently began public hearings for its inquiry into the "impacts of harmful pornography on mental, emotional, and physical health."

The Parliament's Standing Committee on Social Issues says the inquiry will particularly focus on "age of first exposure to pornography and impacts of early exposure to pornography" as well as porn's "impacts on body image" and "the impact of exposure to violent and/or misogynistic pornography on children, teenagers, and young adults."

Advocates have been warning for years of the detrimental effects of pornography, including the harm it does to young people who consume it. Ubiquitous internet access and universal smartphone access has allowed porn to proliferate over the past several decades and has given children significant access to it.

Among the New South Wales Parliament's aims is assessing the "psychological and physiological impacts" of so-called "harmful porn" use on "at-risk groups such as children and young people" as well as possible restrictions on porn use.

'All forms of pornography are harmful'

Several Catholic groups and advocates have weighed in on the parliamentary inquiry. Among them are Deirdre Little, the national bioethics convener of the Catholic Women's League Australia.

Little spoke at last month's public hearing on the inquiry. During the event she challenged the inquiry's classification of "harmful porn." 

"As Catholic women, we regard all forms of pornography as harmful and that so-called standard nonviolent pornography is not harmless," she told the committee. 

An evidentiary submission from the Catholic Women's League cited data showing that children exposed to pornography prior to 12 years old "are statistically more likely to sexually assault their peers" as well as a correlation "between sexually abusive children and their access to the internet."

The porn crisis goes beyond its directly harmful effects on children, Little told the panel.

"Children are more likely to experience a broken home and parental disharmony in a home where there is repeated adult exposure to even nonviolent standard pornography," she said.

Porn consumption "is associated with reduced valuation of marriage, regarding extramarital affairs as normal, associated with a mounting use to addiction, associated with escalation to more deviant pornography, the trivialisation of rape and behavioral aggression," she continued.

A majority of divorce lawyers, she said, say that internet porn "plays a role in divorce."

Also speaking at the hearing was Catherine Garrett-Jones, the executive director of the Council of Catholic School Parents.

In its own submission, the council cited a recent survey of Australian teachers in which they "expressed despair with the rapid rise of sexualized behaviors which they attributed to early exposure to pornography."

Parents have reportedly expressed concern to teachers about "the ease with which pornography can be accessed, the lack of parental engagement in managing access to social media as well as the inability of many parents to use technology to block unwanted content being accessed."

At last month's hearing Garrett-Jones told the committee that parents have expressed "support for further government regulation around access" to porn.

"I think the request for that comes from parents' own feelings of inadequacy around how to manage social media," she said. "It's growing at a pace faster than they can understand.

"Parents and carers feel helpless, in many ways, to actually do the regulating themselves," she continued. "They're unsure of how their kids are accessing some of this material and need support."

The parents council in its filing further cited links between porn usage and poor body image as well as the "relationship between pornography and violence against women." 

The parents council called for education campaigns to help "provide users of technology or anyone supervising children who use technology with an understanding of how to mitigate the risks" associated with internet usage. 

The Catholic Women's League, meanwhile, said parents should "accept responsibility for the purity and protection of children," including strict monitoring of technology and a familiarity with sexual content blocks and filters. 

Technology platforms, meanwhile, "should be answerable for their role in exposure of children to pornography and for internet grooming of children."

At the recent hearing Deirdre Little compared the current understanding of pornography to that of cigarette smoking in decades past. 

"We already saw … with cigarette smoking, how it went on for over a generation, two generations, before there was a warning, 'Well, hang on. This could actually be injurious to your health,'" she noted. 

"At the moment, because there is this acceptance that standard nonviolent pornography is harmless — that there's harmful pornography and there's good pornography — [that] tends to normalize it," she pointed out. 

And "we know that normalizing pornography leads to an escalation in use, and that also leads to an escalation towards other deviancy and violent forms," she added. 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 14, 2025 / 19:57 pm (CNA).

Nalin Haley, the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday.

"As parents, Michael and I always prayed that our children would have a faith and relationship with God," Nikki Haley posted on social media Sunday.

"Today we were so proud to support Nalin in his faith journey as he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, completed RCIA, and received his first holy Communion," she said of her son.

Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, was born and raised in the Sikh faith but converted to Christianity after marrying her husband, Michael Haley, in 1996. 

In a 2012 interview, Haley said she and her husband "chose Christianity because of the way we wanted to live our life and raise our children." She was reportedly baptized in a Methodist church but has attended Baptist churches as well. 

Nalin Haley, 23, is a 2024 graduate of Villanova University, a Catholic institution. In 2023 and 2024 he distinguished himself for his steadfast presence on the campaign trail and support for his mother. He is the younger of two Haley children. His sister, Rena, 26, is a pediatric nurse. 

Nalin was received into the Catholic Church by Father Jeffrey Kirby at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Indian Land, South Carolina.

Kirby also posted on social media to celebrate Nalin Haley's entrance into the Church, writing: "Congratulations to Wiliam Nalin Peter, who was received into the fullness of the Christian faith today! Welcome home, Nalin!"

In addition to serving as pastor at Our Lady of Grace, Kirby is the host of the YouTube channel "Daily Discipleship with Father Kirby" and is a regular contributor to the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 14, 2025 / 17:42 pm (CNA).

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, announced that he is introducing new legislation to make Easter a federal holiday so families are able to spend "the holiest day in Christianity" together.

In a thread of posts on X, Schmitt explained why the day should be federally recognized, starting with the fact that "81% of Americans celebrate Easter."

"But," he continued, "our current holiday schedule makes it way too difficult for families to celebrate together."

The new bill is in the earliest stage of the legislation process but states its intent is "to designate Easter Monday as a legal public holiday," which Schmitt said "isn't a radical idea."

"It's a federal recognition of a tradition that is central to Western civilization — a tradition that's already recognized as a public holiday in nations across (and beyond!) the West, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe," Schmitt said.

"It isn't even novel in America," Schmitt continued. "We already have a 'National Day of Prayer,' signed into law by Missouri's own President [Harry] Truman. A federal Easter Monday holiday allows Americans to celebrate the most extraordinary day in world history, Easter — the day of Christ's resurrection."

Schmitt said that Easter is not a "micro-holiday" but rather a day that "unites more than three-quarters of Americans."

"For generations, many American school calendars gave students the day off for Good Friday and Easter Monday," he continued.

Schmitt explained that aside from religious elements, the day off would also create a break when "workers and families need it most."

"Easter is a floating holiday, it can fall from March 22 to April 25. The only two-month gap in our federal holiday calendar is April-May. An Easter Monday holiday fills the gap."

Schmitt said federal recognition of the holiday is "Pro-worker. Pro-family. Pro-faith."

"There are plenty of practical arguments for it, too," Schmitt said. "Easter weekend already generates around $15 billion for our economy. Making it a three-day weekend could boost that by an estimated 10%-15%, adding up to $2 billion in economic activity while strengthening American families."

"Our holidays and traditions are part of the story we tell about ourselves. This is not partisan. It's not a 'Republican' or 'Democrat' holiday. It's an American holiday, allowing a fuller celebration of the defining moment of the faith that shaped our nation and civilization," Schmitt said.

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Rome Newsroom, Apr 13, 2025 / 10:50 am (CNA).

Marking another in a series of recent surprise public appearances, Pope Francis on Sunday briefly greeted thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square to celebrate Palm Sunday.

"Happy Palm Sunday and beginning of Holy Week!" the Holy Father said with some difficulty to the cheers of the large crowd that filled the square and spilled out along the Via della Conciliazione.

Unable to participate in the Palm Sunday Mass, the 88-year-old pontiff, still convalescing after a serious bout of double pneumonia that kept him hospitalized for 39 days, arrived in a wheelchair toward the end of the outdoor liturgy, smiling and without nasal tubes as he passed by clergy, religious men and women, and lay people standing near the altar.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the Mass as the pope's delegate and read the Holy Father's written homily to crowds of people waving palms and olive branches under overcast skies. 

In his prepared homily, the pope exhorted Christians to "experience the great miracle of mercy" by accompanying Jesus in his journey to the cross.

"Let us decide how we are meant to carry our own cross during this Holy Week: if not on our shoulders, in our hearts," the pope shared. "And not only our cross, but also the cross of those who suffer all around us."

Pope Francis' homily focused on Simon of Cyrene who, in St. Luke's gospel, "unexpectedly found himself caught up in a drama" of Christ's crucifixion.

"As we make our own way towards Calvary, let us reflect for a moment on Simon's actions, try to look into his heart, and follow in his footsteps at the side of Jesus," the pope observed.

Though the man from Cyrene did not take up Jesus' cross and follow him out of "conviction" but, rather, of "coercion," the Holy Father praised him for being present to help the suffering Jesus and, in an "unexpected and astonishing way," becomes "part of the history of salvation."

"Between him and Jesus, there is no dialogue; not a single word is spoken. Between him and Jesus, there is only the wood of the cross," the pope wrote.

"When we think of what Simon did for Jesus, we should also think of what Jesus did for Simon — what he did for me, for you, for each of us: he redeemed the world," he added.

Placing emphasis on Christ's infinite love which, "in obedience to the Father," bore the sins of all humanity, the pope highlighted that Christians believe in a God who "suffered with us and for us."

"Let us remember that God has made this road a place of redemption, for he walked it himself, giving his life for us," the pope urged.

Pope' Angelus message

In his Palm Sunday Angelus address released by the Vatican, the Holy Father asked Christians to continue to pray for those who are suffering in the world because of war, poverty, and disasters.

"The 15th of April will mark the second sad anniversary of the beginning of the conflict in Sudan, in which thousands have been killed and millions of families have been forced to flee their homes," he said in his message.

"The suffering of children, women and vulnerable people cries out to heaven and begs us to act," he added.

On Friday, Sudanese paramilitaries killed the entire nine-member staff of the last medical clinic in a refugee camp in the western region of Darfur, Sudan, according to a report in the New York Times, citing aid groups and the United Nations. In all, at least 100 people were killed in an assault on the camp, which is populated by a half-million people displaced by the country's civil war, the report said.

Noting other ongoing civil wars affecting populations in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, the pope asked people to pray for peace in Congo, South Sudan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Myanmar.

In his address, the Holy Father also asked people to remember the victims and families of the Santo Domingo disaster, in the Dominican Republic, which killed more than 200 people after a nightclub roof collapsed on April 8.

"May Mary, Mother of Sorrows, obtain this grace for us and help us to live this Holy Week with faith," Pope Francis said.

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ACI Africa, Apr 13, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have expressed their "spiritual closeness and solidarity" with victims of the recent floods and landslides that struck the capital city of Kinshasa and surrounding areas, leaving scores dead and causing widespread destruction.

At least 33 people were reported dead and thousands displaced following the April 5-6 flooding that cut access to over half of the capital. The floods reportedly occurred when the N'Djili River, which runs through the city of an estimated population of 17.8 million, burst its banks and submerged major roads.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, on April 9, members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) conveyed their compassion and assured their prayers for those affected by the devastating natural disaster, which followed torrential rains during the night of April 4-5.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic events caused by the torrential rains … resulting in the loss of human lives and significant material damage," CENCO members said in their statement.

They expressed their "spiritual closeness and solidarity" with Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa, and Bishop Jean-Crispin Kimbeni of Kisantu. "With them, we share in the suffering of all those in the heavily affected areas," they said.

"As shepherds of the people, we welcome the measures taken by the Congolese government and the arrangements put in place to assist and shelter those living in the flooded zones," the statement said.

They also appealed to "humanitarian organizations and to the solidarity of all people of goodwill to support the victims of these disasters."

"To our brothers and sisters in the areas affected by the floods and landslides, be assured of our compassion and our prayers," the Church leaders said.

"Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Congo, may the risen Lord heal the wounds of the injured and restore courage and hope to all who have lost their belongings," they continued. "May he console the bereaved families and grant eternal rest to the victims."

Residents of Kinshasa are still counting their losses following the floods, describing the disaster as having torn the city "into two," according to a local priest. Father Patrick Lonkoy Bolengu, a member of the Mill Hill Missionaries in the DRC, shared his firsthand account of the tragedy in an interview with ACI Africa. 

"As a Catholic priest, I have stood at the bedside of the sick, prayed beside the dying, and walked with the poor. But nothing prepared me for the sorrow I now witness in my beloved city, Kinshasa," Bolengu said in an April 9 interview with ACI Africa.

"?On the morning of Saturday, April 5, heavy rains poured down from the heavens not as a blessing but as floods that swallowed homes, claimed lives, and left a trail of anguish across our capital," he recalled.

"For two days, Kinshasa was torn in two, its people stranded, helpless, grieving," he explained. "Today, 33 of our brothers and sisters have died, 46 are hospitalized, and 2,956 have been forced into temporary shelters."

"The cries of children echo through flooded streets. Mothers search for what little remains of their homes. The elderly sit in silence, waiting, some in despair, others in prayer," he said.

On April 9, Ambongo paid a solidarity visit to the flood victims, particularly in Ndanu, one of the most severely affected neighborhoods.

The cardinal, accompanied by members of the Catholic community and numerous volunteers, began his visit at a local parish that had suffered extensive damage.

"We are here to share in the pain of our brothers and sisters, to offer them solidarity and hope in these difficult times," Ambongo said during his tour.

As he moved through the damaged streets of Ndanu, he stopped to speak with families who had lost their homes, many partially or completely destroyed by the flooding. Survivors shared their grief and stories of loss but also expressed gratitude and a sense of renewed hope brought by the cardinal's presence.

"It's a gesture from the heart. He came to share in our suffering, to comfort us. We hope his involvement will inspire political leaders to take concrete action to prevent such tragedies in the future," one resident said.

In 2024, Congo faced its worst flooding in six decades, according to UNICEF and other United Nations agencies. More than 300 people died, and 280,000 households were displaced. In 2023, more than 400 people died in floods; in 2022, rains and floods killed more than 160.

The devasting floods come as the DRC battles with a growing humanitarian crisis due to the incursion of the March 23 Movement rebels, who have made inroads into the Central African nation, with significant gains already made in the mineral-rich eastern region.

Researchers at Denis Hurley Peace Institute of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference have warned that should the Rwanda-backed invasion continue, DRC risks a "complete breakdown."

Amid the challenges, including the seemingly never-ending armed conflicts in the poverty-stricken Plateaux de Bateke, Bolengu expressed his commitment to be a voice for the voiceless.

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

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Vatican City, Apr 12, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has announced the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 2025 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, held annually on Sept. 1: "Seeds of Peace and Hope."

The day is part of the Season of Creation, an ecumenical initiative that takes place Sept. 1 to Oct. 4. This 2025 edition takes on a special character as it coincides with the Jubilee Year of Hope and the 10th anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si', the Holy Father's magisterial text on the care of our common home.

According to a Vatican statement, this year's theme reflects the urgency of working "to create the conditions for peace, a lasting peace built together that inspires hope."

"The metaphor of the seed indicates the need for long-term commitment," the fruit of concrete actions and a profound ecological conversion, according to the statement.

The biblical reference text chosen for this edition is Isaiah 32:14-18, which directly links justice, peace, and harmony with creation: "Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. … My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."

The statement also emphasizes that, as Pope Francis and his predecessors have emphasized, "there is a close link between peace and care for creation."

In fact, it quotes the messages for the World Day of Peace in 1990 and 2010, from St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, respectively, which warned of the destructive consequences of war on nature.

"The connection between war and violence, on the one hand, and the degradation of the common home and the waste of resources (destruction and armaments), on the other, is very close," the press release reads.

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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