Catholics with disabilities reflect ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Pope Leo XIV greets sick and disabled people, including a young child in a wheelchair, in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall after the Wednesday general audience on Sept. 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Catholic adults with disabilities talked about how faith guides their lives and how dioceses and individuals can better accommodate and understand them in a panel ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on Dec. 3.Every year since 1992, those with disabilities and their supporters have observed the IDPD to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. In honor of this year's IDPD, the National Catholic Partnership on Disability hosted a panel of adults who reflected on how disability and faith intersect in their lives. The panel, "Where Faith and Disability Meet," featured talks from Sue Do and Kathleen Davis, who are both Catholic adults with disabilities.Do is in the pastoral mini...

European Union imposes recognition of 'homosexual marriage' on all member states

null / Credit: Reshetnikov_art/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Dec 3, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that all member states are obliged to recognize so-called "homosexual marriages" legally contracted in another country, even when this type of union is not valid under their own legal system.Although the CJEU clarified that the regulation of these types of unions remains the responsibility of each state, it requires all European Union countries to recognize the "fundamental rights" entailed by these unions, such as the right to private and family life and freedom of residence.The ruling, issued Nov. 25, concerns the case of a Polish same-sex couple who "married" in Germany in 2018. Upon returning to Poland, the authorities refused to record the union in the civil registry. The European Court of Justice has deemed this refusal contrary to EU law, meaning that all member states are now obligated to recognize the rights stemming from...

Mary is the servant of her son, but not co-redemptrix, Brazilian archbishop says

Archbishop Juárez Marqués shepherds the Archdiocese of Teresina, Brazil. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Archbishop Juárez MarquésBrasilia, Brazil, Dec 3, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA)."We don't need to say that Mary is co-redemptrix, that Jesus needs Mary to save humanity. Mary herself is prepared, saved by God; she is a creature of God. She makes herself the servant of her own son, but she is not co-redemptrix; she is now our intercessor," Archbishop Juárez Marqués of Teresina, Brazil, declared on Nov. 27.In an interview with a local television station, the archbishop referred to the publication of the document Mater Populi Fidelis ("Mother of the Faithful People of God"), issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Nov. 3. The document discourages the use of the "co-redemptrix" title for Mary, considering that "some titles, such as that of Mediatrix of all graces, have limitations that do not facilitate a correct understanding of Mary's unique place."Marqués emphasized...

Nigerian foundation defends Catholic bishop after remarks about Christian genocide

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto is the founder of The Kukah Centre, a Nigeria-based public policy institute. / Credit: The Kukah CentreACI Africa, Dec 3, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).The Kukah Centre (TKC), a Nigeria-based public policy institute, has responded to what it describes as a "mischaracterization" of the remarks of its founder, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, about the alleged genocide of Christians in the West African nation.In a press release on Tuesday, the executive director of TKC, Father Atta Barkindo, blamed the media for its inadequate reporting of Kukah's remarks, which he made during the launch of the 2025 World Report on Religious Freedom at the Vatican on Oct. 21, and in his subsequent address to the 46th Supreme Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) in Kaduna on Friday, Nov. 28.Barkindo said what the media are reporting reflect neither Kukah's remarks nor the context of his work spanning half a century."TKC has followed with ...

Canadian government set to remove religious exemptions from hate-speech laws

Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa. / Credit: Robert Linsdell via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2025 / 18:04 pm (CNA).Legislators in Canada are reportedly poised to strip religious protections from the country's hate-speech laws as part of an effort to crack down on hateful symbols throughout the country. Lawmakers with the Liberal Party of Canada have reportedly struck a deal with the Bloc Québécois party to remove the religious exemptions from the national code.Canadian law forbids people from "incit[ing] hatred against any identifiable group," though it provides exemptions for individuals whose opinions are grounded in religion or a religious text. The National Post reported on Dec. 1 that the exemptions are expected to be removed in an upcoming amendment to the country's hate-speech laws. The paper cited a "senior government source" who was granted anonymity to discuss the proceedings."The bill is in a place now … everyone is happy," the source told the Post.Re...

Colorado school to pay $10 million for ordering Catholic doctor, others to get COVID shot

null / Credit: Karina Lopatina/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Dec 2, 2025 / 12:33 pm (CNA).The University of Colorado's medical school will pay out a massive eight-figure settlement after it required multiple staffers, including a Catholic doctor, to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination. The Thomas More Society said the university's Anschutz School of Medicine "agreed to pay more than $10.3 million in damages, tuition, and attorney's fees" to 18 plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The legal group said in a Dec. 1 release that the plaintiffs had been "denied religious accommodations to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations." The suit has been active for nearly five years. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit had ruled in 2024 that the university had violated the plaintiffs' "clearly established" First Amendment rights in refusing to issue religious exemptions to the COVID vaccine. Religious objectors have cited numerous concerns with the vaccines, including that they were developed...

Ohio Catholic high school and diocese hit with 4 lawsuits over alleged student-led abuse

St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown, Ohio. / Credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Dec 2, 2025 / 13:03 pm (CNA).The Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, and one of its Catholic high schools are facing multiple lawsuits over the alleged mishandling of multiple reports of bullying and student-led abuse.Of the four lawsuits, three were filed in federal district court and the fourth was filed in a county court of common pleas. They allege that Ursuline High School in Youngstown failed to prevent the bullying and harassment of several students.In the federal lawsuits, attorneys allege that Ursuline ignored multiple instances of harassment and bullying from the school's football players. Ursuline was aware of the abuse, the suits claim, though administrators allegedly did nothing in order to protect "the glory of [the school's] football team."One suit alleges that a football player engaged in protracted sexual harassment and eventually physical abuse of a...

Police suspect Croatian nun stabbed herself, falsely reported attack

The cathedral in Zagreb, Croatia. / Credit: Fogcatcher/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 13:33 pm (CNA).Police in Croatia's capital city of Zagreb suspect that a nun stabbed herself and then falsely reported that she had been attacked, according to a report published by the Zagreb Police Department.The department is filing a criminal complaint against the 35-year-old nun, Sister Marija Tatjana Zrno, after a four-day investigation into the allegations. The initial incident made national headlines, with many people first speculating it was a religiously motivated attack.According to the report, Zrno told police that an unknown perpetrator approached her with a knife and stabbed her, after which she was treated at the Sisters of Charity Hospital in Zagreb for minor injuries.However, police allege their investigation confirmed that Zrno purchased the weapon herself at a store in the Zagreb area. The police allege that their investigation determined that she infli...

U.S. Catholic bishops award over $7.8 million for mission dioceses 

Bishop Chad W. Zielinski of New Ulm, Minnesota. / Credit: Diocese of FairbanksWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 15:38 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) allocated more than $7.8 million to strengthen American mission dioceses, which are dioceses that cannot sustain themselves without additional funds.The USCCB Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions announced the grants on Dec. 1, which will provide 69 dioceses and eparchies with funds for the 2025-2026 budget year, according to a news release. The subcommittee reviewed the grant requests in the fall.Per the news release, the funds were generated through collections from parishioners during the Catholic Home Missions appeal, which is taken up annually throughout the country. Many mission dioceses are in regions with small Catholic populations and in rural areas that are affected by economic hardship, the bishops said in the announcement."When parishioners contribute to the Catholic Home Miss...

Bishops in Puerto Rico warn of 'possible escalations' in a US-Venezuela war

Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral in Ponce, Puerto Rico. / Credit: Alex Lipov/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Dec 2, 2025 / 16:08 pm (CNA).The Puerto Rican Bishops' Conference has expressed its opposition to the militarization being carried out by the United States on the island, an unincorporated U.S. territory, and in the Caribbean Sea region and warned of the "possible escalations" of a war with Venezuela.The Puerto Rican bishops noted various calls for peace from popes Leo XIV, Francis, and St. John XXIII, and denounced the "adverse effects" of militarization, such as "the restriction of airspace and maritime routes and military maneuvers in different towns in Puerto Rico, with their collateral consequences on fishing activity."In recent weeks, the Trump administration has sent some 15,000 troops to the Caribbean Sea region, 5,000 of whom are in Puerto Rico. According to CNN, a dozen ships have also arrived in the area, and U.S. forces have sunk several vessels allegedly loaded...