Catholic News

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate a Mass on Nov. 2 for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed — also known as All Souls' Day — at the Monumental Cemetery of Verano, the oldest and largest cemetery in Rome.

According to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, which announced the event on Oct. 27, the Eucharistic celebration will begin at 4 p.m. local time in this historic Roman cemetery, which preserves evidence of a necropolis dating back to the first centuries of Christianity and includes the Catacombs of St. Cyriaca.

The celebration will form part of the traditional commemorations the Church dedicates to the faithful departed during the first days of November. At the conclusion of the Mass, the Holy Father will offer prayers for the deceased and impart the apostolic blessing over the graves.

It will not be the first time a pope has presided over this celebration at Verano Cemetery. Pope Francis celebrated All Souls' Day Mass there in 2013, 2014, and 2015. In subsequent years, he chose other significant locations, including the Pontifical Teutonic College of Santa Maria in Campo Santo within the Vatican in 2022 and Rome's Laurentino Cemetery in 2025.

The commemoration at Verano Cemetery will open the pope's public liturgical schedule for the months of November and December. Among the events already announced are a Mass for the repose of the souls of the cardinals and bishops who have died during the past year, scheduled for Nov. 5 at 9 a.m. in St. Peter's Basilica.

He will also celebrate nine Masses and preside over a number of prayer services during the apostolic journey he will make to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from Nov. 6–17.

Back in Rome, on Nov. 18, Leo XIV will celebrate a 5 p.m. Mass marking the 400th anniversary of the dedication of St. Peter's Basilica. On Dec. 8, at approximately 4 p.m., he will lead the traditional act of veneration of the Immaculate Conception in Rome's Piazza di Spagna.

Pastoral visits to Rome parishes

In November and December, Pope Leo will also visit five parishes in the Diocese of Rome, something he also did earlier this year during the season of Lent.

As bishop of Rome, during each of the afternoon visits, the pontiff will meet with parishioners, learn about the ministries in the parish, and celebrate Mass. Each church is from one of the five geographic divisions of the diocese.

On Friday, Nov. 27, he will visit Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in the city's historic center. On Nov. 29, the first Sunday of Advent, the pope will travel to San Carlo da Sezze, which is west of Rome, in the direction of the coast.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, he will go to Sant'Eligio, in the east part of Rome; on Sunday, Dec. 13, the feast of St. Lucy, he will visit a parish named for the Italian saint in the western part of Rome; and on the Sunday before Christmas, Dec. 20, he will go to San Roberto Bellarmino in the north.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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A priest in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has pleaded guilty to a six-figure theft from a local parish, archdiocesan officials said this week.

Father Richard Storey, who was accused in May of stealing $160,000 from Curé of Ars Catholic Church in Leawood near Kansas City, Kansas, pleaded guilty to the theft on Oct. 27.

The Kansas City Archdiocese said in a statement that Storey had already repaid just under $160,000 to the parish as restitution. The priest will be sentenced in January.

The archdiocese said it would initiate a canonical investigation following the guilty plea. In addition to the theft, the diocese said it would investigate an "allegation involving an adult victim."

The archdiocesan finance council's audit committee will review the results of the investigation, the statement said, after which the committee would present its own analysis to the archdiocesan promoter of justice, who will suggest potential canonical actions to Archbishop Shawn McKnight.

The archbishop "will share the findings of the investigation with the Curé of Ars Parish and communicate its conclusion to the faithful," the archdiocese said.

Storey allegedly utilized the stolen funds in part on cruises, including at least one apparent withdrawal from within a casino.

Tens of thousands of dollars, meanwhile, were reportedly spent on international travel. The archdiocesan statement said that Storey's guilty plea fell under "severity level 7," or a "non-person, non-drug felony."

The Kansas City Star reported that the plea agreement recommended the priest receive probation including "substance abuse evaluation."

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Mercedes-Benz, the German luxury automaker, celebrated nearly 100 years of producing the popemobile — the pope's personal vehicle.

To mark the occasion, Pope Leo XIV held a private audience with Mercedes-Benz executives on Wednesday. That same day, the exhibit "A Century of the Popemobile" opened at the Vatican Museums, featuring the first popemobile, gifted to Pope Pius XI in 1930, and the one in which St. John Paul II was shot on May 13, 1981.

Evolving transportation for the successors of Peter

In his address to Mercedes-Benz, the pope praised the company for its enduring partnership with the Vatican and reflected on how papal transportation — from St. Peter to the present — has evolved.

"Over the decades, the Popemobile has evolved from a means of transportation into an instrument of encounter, enabling the pontiff to draw closer to the faithful during pastoral visits and public celebrations," Leo said.

"In this way, your work has helped facilitate the Church's mission of reaching out to people and bringing a message of faith, of hope, and of charity to the world."

The pope also encouraged them to direct their innovations toward a more sustainable world, placing their "technological innovation at the service of human dignity, care for creation, and the common good."

Carriages, the 'sedia gestatoria,' and modern transport

Papal transportation has evolved since the late Roman Empire, when popes were carried on the "sedia gestatoria" — ornate, ceremonial thrones carried by 12 footmen during processions and major liturgical celebrations.

From the late 19th century onward, popes increasingly chose modern forms of transportation, with Blessed Pius IX using the first papal train in 1859. The Nürburg 460 Pullman, made by Mercedes-Benz and given to Pope Pius XI in 1930, was the first official automobile used to transport the pope.

The word "popemobile" was first used to describe a custom-made Lincoln Continental for St. Paul VI's 1965 visit to the United States. Popes since St. John Paul II have used the popemobile, with Mercedes-Benz adapting future models for security since his 1981 shooting.

A duty to ensure the pope's safety

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the exhibit "A Century of the Popemobile," the Mercedes-Benz executives spoke with EWTN News, reflecting on the near-century-long partnership with the Vatican.

Marc Langenbrinck, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Italy, described the partnership as a privilege, especially as a Catholic.

"[This day] is just simply the most beautiful day of my career because I am Catholic and I believe, and for me it is something which is a project of a lifetime," Langenbrinck told EWTN News.

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Marcus Breitschwerdt, executive vice president of Mercedes-Benz, explained the security and accessibility measures implemented in the popemobile.

"Well, first of all, a vehicle has to move safely, comfortably, but also safely in terms of traffic and accident risks," Breitschwerdt said to EWTN News. "It has to be safely conceived and executed in terms of the current modern risks you face if you are in big crowds."

"So we have armored versions; we have the secured glass Popemobiles, which are very, very sophisticated," Breitschwerdt added.

Breitschwerdt, in a speech for the exhibit launch, also said that no Mercedes-Benz employee is ever allowed to sit on the pope's seat in the Popemobile.

"There is a strict rule that no one — not even the mechanics who maintain the vehicles or our CEO — is allowed to sit in the pope's seat," Breitschwerdt said.

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Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states and international organizations, acknowledged the challenges of the Vatican-China deal on Tuesday.

Speaking at an event with journalists in Rome, the British diplomat responded to questions regarding the agreement, Pope Leo XIV's health, and calls for a ceasefire in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.

The full text of the 2018 agreement between China and the Holy See has never been made public. Under the publicly understood terms of the agreement, the pope retains final authority over episcopal appointments in China and may reject candidates proposed by Beijing. The Holy See, for its part, agreed not to appoint bishops without the Chinese government's prior approval.

As reported by Reuters, Gallagher said that, regarding the agreement, its imperfections were visible.

"It's not easy, the dialogue is not easy," Gallagher said. "The imperfections of the agreement are ?evident, but ?there is a commitment to persevere in dialogue ... and that is what will ?continue to happen."

He also answered questions regarding a potential visit from Leo to the U.S., saying that it could happen "in the not too distant future."

Regarding the pope's Oct. 13 surgery and subsequent recovery, Gallagher described it as a "bit of a game changer" and a revelation of the pope's mortality, as with every human being.

"[The pope] is a poor mortal like the rest of ?us," Gallagher said.

In August, Gallagher traveled to Russia to discuss the country's ongoing war with Ukraine with senior officials. He told journalists that he did not believe the Vatican was involved in discussions of the ceasefire between the two nations.

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After less than three weeks in detention, six Coptic young men — one a minor — were released, bringing to a close a case that had raised fears of sectarian tensions in the countryside of Egypt's Minya province.

The case followed the young men's posting of a video in which they reenacted a scene from an Egyptian film.

In an interview with ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Nader Shukry, a citizenship researcher and writer specializing in Coptic affairs, described the case and its broader implications. He highlighted challenges around understanding Egyptian law and using social media.

Shukry said the young men, who live in Ezbet Tanious in the village of Taha al-Amda, in the Samalut district of Minya, reenacted a scene from the 2018 film "Khalawis." The scene does not mock religion, he said; it depicts prisoners known for bullying and violence trying to pray without knowing how.

Dozens of Egyptian Muslims also reenacted and posted the scene without provoking similar reactions, Shukry said. But when the Coptic young men posted it, one village resident objected and accused them of insulting Islam.

The young men deleted the video shortly after posting it because they did not realize some viewers might find it offensive, Shukry said. But incitement continued, prompting security forces to detain them in an effort to contain anger and prevent possible attacks on Christians and their property. He said extremist currents in Minya seek to inflame religious sentiment and create disorder.

Shukry said the young men were not held for long once it became clear they had not intended to insult religion. A de-escalation meeting was also held in the village, with the church taking part. He distinguished this meeting from customary reconciliation sessions, saying it aimed to counter incitement on social media and ease tensions among residents.

Shukry stressed the danger of attributing an individual's actions, whether the person is guilty or innocent, to an entire religious community. A citizen should be held accountable for what that person did, he said; Christians as a whole, or an entire village, should not bear responsibility for one person's actions.

He also pointed to pages that publish content insulting Christians without facing legal consequences comparable to those a Christian might face for discussing Islam.

The case involving the six young men remains open until the prosecutor general issues a decision to close it, Shukry said, although it has largely concluded in practice. He cited the short length of their detention compared with other cases involving alleged contempt of religion.

Shukry urged young people to exercise caution when dealing with religious matters and to avoid discussions that others might exploit or present as insults to religion. He distinguished such discussions from interreligious dialogue conducted by specialists.

Egyptian society faces a challenge of awareness, he said, noting that many Christians have previously become involved in cases involving alleged contempt of religion because they were unfamiliar with Egyptian law and how to use social media.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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A Pew Research report is pushing back on headlines of religious revival in the U.S. with data showing "mixed signals" among young adults.

The Oct. 28 report from Pew Research Center found that while religious practice in the U.S. has "remained stable" since 2020, a survey of young adults about religious practice uncovered "mixed signals." The report is based on data from Pew's probability-based, nationally representative 2026 National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) and the center's 2025 Cross-Sectional Engagement Survey.

Based on a June 2026 survey, Pew found that 34% of adults said they attended a religious service in the past month, while 45% said they either attended or watched a religious service online in the past month. "Both numbers are at their highest levels since the Center started asking these questions in July 2020," the report said.

However, the report said that while young adults born from 2004 to 2008 are reporting "relatively high rates of attendance at religious services," young adults born from 2000 to 2003 "are the least religious age group when it comes to how often they pray, how important religion is in their lives and how many of them identify with religion." In addition, the share of the older demographic that say they attend religious services regularly "is among the lowest of any age group."

The report noted that the youngest Republicans attend religious services at higher rates than older Republicans, but that "they are not solely responsible for the high levels of religious attendance among young adults," and that younger Democrats also reported higher levels of attendance than older ones.

The youngest men reported higher levels of religious observance than the youngest women, the report said, noting that "this is something we have not seen before in our surveys." However, the youngest women did report "relatively high rates" of attendance at religious observance compared with older women.

"Moreover, this is not the first time in recent decades that surveys have shown the youngest Americans entering adulthood with relatively high rates of religiousness," the report said. "When this has happened in the past, the religiousness of the youngest adults has tended to fade with time, leaving them less religious than people in the preceding birth cohort. We have no way of knowing whether today's youngest adults will follow that pattern or break it."

The report highlighted how findings from other organizations contrast with their own. While Gallup polls showed an increase in young men who identified religion as important to them and who attend religious services, more so than young women, the report noted that "by contrast, an aggregation of Pew Research Center surveys from 2025 and 2026 finds that among people ages 18 to 29, more young men than women attend services regularly, while roughly equal shares of young men and women say religion is very important to them."

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The Spanish Bishops' Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) and numerous bishops and dioceses have expressed their condolences and dismay at another railway tragedy following the collision of two high-speed trains, which resulted in dozens of deaths on the morning of Oct. 28.

The accident occurred in Urda, Toledo province, at around 9 a.m. local time when a Renfe AVE train reportedly rear-ended another train operated by the Iryo company, causing at least two passenger cars of the second train to derail.

Authorities have reported a death toll of more than 60, surpassing the number of fatalities in the accident that occurred in Adamuz in January, which claimed the lives of 45 people.

Father Fernando Fernández de Bobadilla, the parish priest of Los Yébenes, a town near the site of the accident, spoke to COPE (a radio station owned by the Spanish Bishops' Conference) from the disaster scene while attending to the victims.

"Right now, I'm holding an IV bag in one hand and another bag in the other. It's horrific," he said. "They've already begun removing the deceased. They place a black wristband on those who have died, a red one on those in critical condition, and a yellow one on those who can be treated. The two people I'm with right now have red wristbands, and I'm waiting for them to be taken away."

In its message, the CEE expressed its "condolences to the families of the victims and prays for the eternal rest of the deceased and for the recovery of the injured," while also joining "in the grief of those affected."

The bishops called for prayers for all the victims during the religious services of the Christian community, so that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, comforter of the afflicted and queen of peace, the Lord may grant the gift of life to the victims, and hope to their families and all those affected.

The CEE also commended to God "all those involved in emergency response efforts, those caring for the injured, and those providing support to the families of the victims."

Many prelates have likewise assured their prayers and closeness in the wake of the event.

The archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain, Francisco Cerro, expressed on behalf of his entire diocesan Church his "profound concern" and closeness to all those affected, assuring that they are offering prayers "for those who have been injured and for all those going through moments of distress and uncertainty as a result of this accident."

The primatial archbishop further stated that nearby parishes, the local vicariate, and the diocesan Caritas "make themselves available to all those affected and their families, to offer them the help, accompaniment, and support they may need during these difficult times."

"The diocesan Church of Toledo, like a house with open doors, joins in the pain and worry that this event is causing, and invites the faithful to lift up their prayers for those affected, their families, and the first responders," he added.

The archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo, and the archbishop of Seville, José Ángel Saiz Meneses, have also shared expressions of consternation and prayers via social media. Saiz stated quite directly: "prayer, closeness, and support for the victims and their families."

Meanwhile, the archbishop of Granada, José María Gil Tamayo, also offered his condolences, while the bishop of Getafe, Ginés García Beltrán, prayed "that the Lord may sustain and bring comfort to those affected."

Messages in a similar vein have also been posted by the bishop of León, Luis Ángel de las Heras, who offered "our condolences and our prayers to the God of life" as well as by the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, José Ignacio Munilla; the bishop of Málaga, José Antonio Satué; and the bishop of Vitoria, Juan Carlos Elizalde, who remarked: "May the Lord be their comfort, and may we, as brothers and sisters, accompany the injured and the families who have lost loved ones during these moments of sorrow."

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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VATICAN CITY — Continuing his catechetical series on the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV called on the faithful not to live their faith with a spirit of "opposition" or "hostility towards the world," while underscoring that a mature and responsible synthesis between faith and culture constitutes "a necessary condition for persevering in the Christian vocation."

"The constitution Gaudium et Spes reminds us not to live the faith in a spirit of opposition or hostility towards the world, culture, and its human expressions," the pontiff said during the general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Oct. 28.

He then cited a passage from the document that exhorts believers to "live in very close union with the other men of their time and [to] strive to understand perfectly their way of thinking and judging, as expressed in their culture."

Before arriving at the platform set up in St. Peter's Square, the pope spent about 15 minutes riding through the area in the popemobile. During the ride, he blessed around a dozen children who were brought to him from among the crowd.

A more credible witness

Leo XIV also stressed in his catechesis that a mature synthesis between faith and culture is "an essential requirement for bearing witness to the faith before the world and communicating it to others in a credible manner."

The second chapter of the second part of Gaudium et Spes is devoted precisely to culture and its relationship with the Christian faith. In this context, the pope recalled that the Catholic Church "has always been concerned with accompanying the preaching of the Gospel with the establishment of schools of every kind, aimed at advancing the human, cultural, and spiritual formation of men and women across the five continents."

The conciliar text, the pontiff noted, upholds the need "to direct teaching towards a certain unity of knowledge," while recognizing that changing living conditions may make this more difficult.

According to Leo XIV, Christians are the first who "must strive to bring about this unity of wisdom, first and foremost within themselves."

"Although they have received from revelation the answers to the great questions of existence, they are not thereby exempt from patient intellectual and cultural formation," he warned.

On the contrary, he added, human and scientific knowledge must "go hand in hand with the substance of their faith, which must be continually deepened with age and in accordance with their level of study."

The pope emphasized that the various manifestations of culture contribute to opening minds to the perennial questions on the meaning of the world and of human existence, "thus preparing people to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

He also explained that "the relationship between faith and culture finds its primary foundation in the Incarnation." For this reason, he said, faith is "an incarnate reality, interwoven with the culture in which it is immersed."

In this sense, he noted that faith is also required "to become culture," that is, "to reach the person in their living environment, made up of human words, traditions, religious meaning, art and poetry, thought and science."

To illustrate this idea, the Holy Father quoted St. John Paul II: "A faith that does not become culture is a faith not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived."

The Christian faith and a particular culture

Leo XIV also insisted that faith can be embodied in any culture because "it does not identify itself with any of them in a specific way." In this way, he explained, the Church draws from the various cultures "all that is good, beautiful, and true" in order to embody and transmit the message of the Gospel.

Finally, he recalled that Gaudium et Spes urges the international community to ensure that everyone has access to fundamental cultural goods "by overcoming illiteracy and the lack of education."

He also stressed that "it will belong to all to acknowledge and favor the proper and necessary participation of women in the cultural life."

In his greetings to Italian-speaking pilgrims, the pope noted that only a few days remain before the solemnity of All Saints, which the Catholic Church celebrates on Nov. 1. He invited the faithful to contemplate "this immense multitude of men and women" who have attained holiness and who stand before the Church as a "prophetic sign of the life to come."

The Holy Father emphasized that eternal life "already begins in the commitment and Christian witness of earthly life," encouraging believers to live the Gospel faithfully in their daily lives and to allow themselves to be inspired by the example of the saints.

On Nov. 2, the pontiff is scheduled to celebrate a Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed at the Monumental Cemetery of Verano, the oldest and largest cemetery in Rome. The Eucharistic celebration will begin at 4 p.m. local time in this historic Roman cemetery, which preserves evidence of a necropolis dating back to the first centuries of Christianity and includes the Catacombs of St. Cyriaca.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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When Pope Pius XI ordained six Chinese priests as bishops in St. Peter's Basilica on Oct. 28, 1926, he had picked each of them himself from lists sent from China.

A century later, bishops in mainland China are appointed under a controversial agreement the Holy See made with Beijing in 2018. Its text has never been published.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, defended the deal in a 2022 interview. New bishops, he said, were being ordained under a procedure "that leaves the pope the final and decisive say." He called the results "small achievements" but "important steps toward the progressive healing of the wounds inflicted on ecclesial communion by the events of the past."

Human Rights Watch said in 2025 the Vatican had never exercised its veto. Critics who spoke to EWTN News say the Chinese Communist Party now has a role in choosing bishops.

'Spiritual colonies'

On the seventh anniversary of his own episcopal ordination in 1919, Pope Pius XI spoke of his joy at seeing the first "bishops of the native Chinese clergy" consecrated in Rome.

"Unlike the situation in China today, the 1926 consecrations of Chinese bishops were intended to give China native bishops, not to separate those bishops from the Holy See," Anthony E. Clark, a professor of Chinese history at Whitworth University and a lay Dominican, told EWTN News.

Missions in China operated under a French protectorate at that time. Father Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe, a Vincentian who arrived in China after the Boxer Rebellion, said the missions had created "spiritual colonies" instead of living Churches. He was an early advocate for indigenizing the Chinese Church.

The concern was shared in Rome: Benedict XV, who issued the 1919 apostolic letter Maximum Illud, "wanted to remove European nationalism from the Chinese Church and empower China's Catholics to cooperate with the pope in governing their own local community," Clark told EWTN News.

Seven years later, Pope Pius XI put building up a native clergy "before everything else" in Rerum Ecclesiae.

Fenggang Yang, a Purdue University sociologist who directs its Center on Religion and the Global East, said the 1926 consecrations came "in a time of rising Chinese nationalism that targeted Christianity as a foreign religion under the protection of imperialist European countries."

"Chinese leadership strengthened the Church's claim to belong within Chinese society. However, the Catholic Church made the adjustment too little and too slow," Yang told EWTN News.

By 1948, Fides figures show, only 14 of China's 139 bishops were Chinese, but 2,690 of its 5,780 priests were.

From 1949 to 2018

After the communist victory of 1949, Pius XII rejected a "national" Church in Ad Sinarum Gentem and in 1958 condemned the first ordinations of bishops without a papal mandate in Ad Apostolorum Principis. Catholics were divided into registered and unregistered, or "underground," communities, which Benedict XVI famously called to reconciliation in his 2007 letter.

Under Benedict's successor, Pope Francis, the Holy See and Beijing signed a "provisional agreement" on appointing bishops on Sept. 22, 2018. The deal was renewed three times, in 2020, 2022, and, for four years to October 2028, in 2024.

The Holy See's case

The deal sought "only to attain the Church's specific spiritual and pastoral aims," including "to reestablish and preserve the full and visible unity of the Catholic community in China," Pope Francis wrote in 2018.

In a Fides essay, Father Paul Han, a mainland Chinese priest, wrote that the agreement "established a workable framework" and "avoided the long-standing divisions" between "public" and "underground" communities.

The process has not always run smoothly. In April 2023, Chinese authorities transferred Bishop Joseph Shen Bin from Haimen to Shanghai, informing the Holy See but without involving it in the decision as the agreement provides, Vatican News reported.

Pope Francis appointed Shen three months later, having "decided nevertheless to rectify the canonical irregularity" for the "greater good of the diocese," Parolin said. Such a way of proceeding, the cardinal added, "seems to disregard the spirit of dialogue and collaboration" between the two sides.

During the 2025 sede vacante, official assemblies "elected" two candidates; the successor to Pope Francis, Leo XIV, approved both that August.

More recently, on Oct. 15, Father Ignatius Ding Zuyao was consecrated bishop of Haimen, the see Bishop Simon Zhu Kaimin led from 1926, after Leo approved his candidacy under the agreement. He is the 19th bishop selected under the deal.

'Nominate' and 'choose'

Father Gianni Criveller, a PIME missionary and editorial director of AsiaNews who opened a centenary conference in Taipei this month, said "the situation of 1926 and today are quite different."

In 1926, he said, the issue was "to overcome the resistance by many quarters, including foreign missionaries in China, to allow local clergy to govern their churches." Archbishop Celso Costantini, the Holy See's first apostolic delegate to China, and Pius XI also "were able to overcome the French interference."

"I am afraid now the interference comes from China authorities: In spite of the agreement in 2018 between the Vatican and China, the freedom for the Catholic Church is quite limited in China," Criveller said. "The pope can nominate the bishops, but he can hardly choose them. And the nomination by the pope is not acknowledged during the ceremony of consecration of the bishops."

"I am not in position to offer advice to the pope," the missionary added. "I respect any pope's decision, and I understand that the Holy See seek dialogue and agreements. My point is that the agreement does not bring the benefits that we all hoped for. The freedom for Catholics in China is less than before."

The critics' case

Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute said Beijing's "Sinicization" policy means "Catholic teaching and evangelization must conform to Chinese Communist Party doctrine."

"Pope Leo should support the Catholic underground in China, as the Church has done in other regions," Shea said.

She warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping "seeks control over all civil society, including the Catholic Church."

"Things have changed in China under communist rule," Yang said. "The secret agreement since 2018 has pressed underground Catholics to go above ground, so that no new underground bishops have been consecrated."

Some underground bishops who came above ground were then stripped of their episcopal functions, and some died without replacement, he said. "Therefore, the underground Catholic communities are in disarray."

Meanwhile, Yang said, the China Catholic Patriotic Association "has strengthened its power over all Catholics in China" while implementing the party's Sinicization policy.

People ask how Chinese the country's Catholics are, he noted. "Another question people also ask is: How Chinese is the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]? Is the CCP primarily Chinese or primarily communist?"

"Over the next two years, Pope Leo XIV should set out the criteria and conditions for the renewal of the Sino-Vatican Agreement," said Benedict Rogers, senior director at Fortify Rights.

"These criteria should include the release of all imprisoned or detained Catholic bishops, priests, and laity, including the release of Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist, 78-year-old Catholic and British citizen Jimmy Lai, currently serving a 20-year sentence," Rogers told EWTN News on Oct. 27.

"The agreement should not be renewed if these criteria are not met."

Toward 2028

Replying on behalf of Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong, the diocese's communications office told EWTN News on Oct. 28 that he "is happy to see it moving forward," citing this year's "steadily increasing number" of episcopal ordinations, "all approved by the Holy Father."

"In the short term, I will continue the policy that the Holy See has followed for some years now," Leo XIV said in a 2025 interview.

"In the long term, I don't pretend to say this is what I will and will not do," he added.

Pius XI told the six new bishops: "Please come to Rome more often, as traveling is getting easier," Criveller recalled. "The pope said that in 1926! After 100 years, Chinese bishops cannot freely travel to Rome."

Clark agreed. "China's faithful wish they could return to 1926, when Chinese bishops were free to travel to Rome, meet the Holy Father, and be more integrated in the universal Church that they espouse," he told EWTN News.

This month, two mainland bishops attended a Vatican meeting convened by Leo XIV.

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The Catholic bishops of the Nordic countries have called for the careful integration of migrants, saying each country must assess how many newcomers it can receive and that migrants are obliged to obey the laws of their new homelands.

In a joint pastoral letter on migration, published Oct. 24, the bishops also warned that restrictive policies are making it nearly impossible for refugees to enter their countries and defended well-integrated migrants against expulsion.

"Migrants must be carefully integrated into their new countries; otherwise, serious problems arise," the bishops wrote.

The letter, titled "The Earth Is Our Common Home," is signed by the six members of the Nordic Bishops' Conference, which covers Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. They are its president, Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway; its vice president, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki; Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Stockholm; Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen; Bishop David Tencer of Reykjavik, Iceland; and Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo, Norway. The conference prepared it for Oct. 25, the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

At least 4.6 million people living in the five countries, about 1 in 6 residents, were born abroad, according to national statistics offices. In Sweden, 20.8% of residents were born abroad and in Finland 10.9%. Immigrants make up 19.6% of Iceland's population, 17.5% of Norway's, and 13% of Denmark's.

Duties and limits

"Each country naturally needs to assess how many migrants it is able to receive," the bishops wrote. "When this does not happen, and when more people are received than can be integrated well, social problems result."

Quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, they said migrants are "obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens." This "must not be seen to exclude their legitimate right to preserve their own heritage," they added.

"There is a risk that migrants isolate themselves and fail even to attempt to adapt to their new circumstances," the letter says. "Over time, this tendency generates unease and conflict." Migrants "are to be encouraged to integrate but not subjected to forced assimilation."

Refugees and the well integrated

The bishops said social problems arising from poor integration lead to "new strictures in policy, so that it becomes near impossible to enter within our borders even for refugees and asylum seekers, who stand under the protection of international norms to which our countries are obliged."

"In some cases, this development has reached the point where it is considered good to send away as many people as possible, including those who are well integrated and who make significant contributions to our societies," they wrote. "The Church must raise her voice in defense of those who are in danger of being subjected to unjust treatment without due cause."

The bishops recalled that "the Catholic Church was rebuilt, after the centuries of persecution, in our Nordic countries by migrants who brought their Catholic faith to us." Parishes, they wrote, "often function as integration workshop."

"To foster love of one's nation, to value its traditions and heritage, is a good thing," the letter says. "Narrow-minded nationalism, however, must be abhorrent to Catholics and to all people of good will."

Citing Pope Leo XIV's visits to the Canary Islands and Lampedusa and his call to "disarm our language," the bishops said public coverage of and discourse about immigration "tend to become harsher, less nuanced, and more aggressive."

"Europe is searching for a new balance in this area," they wrote. "We must be realistic about our limitations, human and material. Still, we must be ready never to reject a suffering brother or sister who calls on us for help."

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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