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CNA Newsroom, Mar 15, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic bishops of Florida are urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to commute the death sentence of Edward James, who is scheduled to be executed by the state next week for a 1993 double homicide. 

James pleaded guilty in 1995 to the killings of Betty Dick and her eight-year-old granddaughter Toni Neuner in Casselberry, Florida. He had strangled and raped Toni prior to her death before stabbing Betty Dick. He was ultimately apprehended in California. 

In a Friday press release, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB) said it had "implored Gov. Ron DeSantis to stay the execution of Edward James and commute his sentence to life without parole."

FCCB Executive Director Michael Sheedy in a letter to DeSantis noted that the murders were "heinous" and "tragic." 

"It is indeed a duty of the state to protect the lives and safety of its citizens and to impose appropriate punishment for crimes, and we recognize your responsibility in ensuring this duty is carried out," Sheedy said. 

But, he wrote, the "intrinsic dignity and unalienable rights of every human being are not annihilated by even gravely evil acts." 

"It is better for the people of Florida to punish severely without themselves acting to kill a human being," Sheedy wrote, arguing that a life sentence without the possibility of parole "is still a severe punishment which also serves to protect society from further danger." 

The Church "teaches that all human life is sacred," the FCCB said on Friday, writing: "Even people who have committed terrible acts and caused great harm possess a human dignity instilled by God, our Creator."

The modern penal system has rendered executions "unnecessary," the bishops said. 

James is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. The Florida Supreme Court this week refused to block his execution, as did a federal appeals court. 

The bishops' conference said next week that prior to James's execution Floridians "will gather across the state to pray for him and his victims, for DeSantis as he considers the request to stay the execution, and for an end to the death penalty and the cycle of violence in society."

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CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Five years ago this week, public health orders issued amid the uncertainty of the novel coronavirus turned Mass schedules across the country and the world upside down. 

In those early days following the WHO's March 11, 2020, declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the bishops of every U.S. diocese issued some form of dispensation, suspending the obligation that Catholics must attend Sunday Mass in person. 

Thousands of parishes and ministries scrambled to develop plans to offer livestreamed Masses, deliver the sacraments in a "socially distanced" manner, and live out the Church's life as best they could under extraordinary circumstances. Public Masses at most parishes were suspended entirely for a time, and those that were able to reopen were subject, in many areas, to distancing requirements and numerical or percentage-based attendance caps.

As Catholics nationwide adapted to the changes — not knowing how long this new reality might last — observers feared that many Catholics, barred from their parishes for so long and now accustomed to attending from the comfort of home, might not return after the parish doors reopened. 

A study from the Pew Research Center found that most Catholics continued participating in Mass throughout the pandemic — but many were only able to do so virtually. In November 2022, when the survey was done, only about 4 in 10 U.S. Catholics said they attended Mass in person as often as they did before the pandemic.

Indeed, from the start of the COVID pandemic lockdowns in the U.S. to the declared end of the pandemic in May 2023, in-person Mass attendance averaged just 15% — a dismal figure, but not markedly lower than the 24% it was before. (The Catholic Church teaches that Catholics are obligated to attend Mass in person every Sunday, except for a serious reason such as illness or if they've been dispensed from their obligation by their pastor or bishop.)

Some bishops lifted the dispensations they had issued as early as late 2020, while a few held out until 2022. In lifting the dispensations they issued amid the lockdowns, many U.S. bishops implored Catholics to return to Mass in person. 

While Mass attendance today among Catholics in the U.S. remains much lower than among Catholics in other countries, recent data has suggested that U.S. in-person Mass attendance levels have quietly returned to where they were in 2019 after years of uncertainty over whether they would ever rebound. 

For some thriving parishes in the U.S., the lockdowns — while challenging — presented an opportunity to continue sharing the faith in a creative manner and come out even stronger than they were before. 

Father John Mosimann, pastor at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fredericksburg, Virginia, told CNA that the parish has seen its numbers grow since the pandemic. 

On a typical weekend, Mosimann and his four parochial vicars celebrate 11 total Masses in English, plus another in Spanish at a different parish where they are kick-starting a Spanish Mass ministry. 

All told, roughly 3,800 people attended St. Mary's weekend Masses on a typical week in 2019. According to headcounts, the parish had already exceeded its pre-pandemic levels by 2023, with around 4,300 attendees on average. The parish, which is about 55 miles south of Washington, D.C., has 6,700 registered families and nearly 100 active ministries. 

During the pandemic, St. Mary's added extra Masses — since for a time, Masses were limited to a smaller-than-usual number of attendees — and continued hosting adoration. Like so many other parishes, the parish had to quickly adapt to a livestreaming paradigm in order to stay connected with the community.

"I was in the office and I was looking at Facebook and I said, 'What if I hit this button and go live, what would happen?'" Mosimann remembers thinking as the lockdowns began.

"And so I started streaming on Facebook Live and everybody started jumping in … 'What's going on, Father? What's going to happen?' And I didn't have answers, because I wasn't that great a prophet. But we did immediately start streaming."

He said parishioners were grateful for the effort the priests made to stay in touch, despite the occasional technical challenge — a problem far from unique to St. Mary's. 

"If you want perfect sound and you want a studio, go to EWTN. They've got professional equipment. If you want to see your priests, come talk to us," Mosimann said he told his parishioners. 

"We're not going to be anxious over having studio quality, because what's important is for us to be connected to you. People responded to that. People were very grateful for that. It was very frequently cited by parishioners, how grateful they were for our staying in touch with them during that difficult moment."

The last of Virginia's capacity-restricting public health orders on venues was lifted in late May 2021, and Bishop Michael Burbidge of the local Diocese of Arlington in the following month lifted the dispensation he had issued, inviting Catholics to return to Mass throughout the diocese. So far, as in most U.S. dioceses, Mass attendance overall in Arlington has risen significantly but has not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

Since the pandemic's end, Mosimann said his focus has been on encouraging parishioners to use their time and talents generously to help rebuild and grow the parish community. 

For Mosimann, the pandemic experience was proof that by remaining faithful even through troubling and difficult times, God can and does bring good out of bad situations through his grace. 

"[We] did everything we could to provide the sacraments to God's people and to make it available as much as possible with all the restrictions. That should be the goal of every parish, every day, whether there's a pandemic or not," Mosimann said. 

'We are proud to be who we are'

Father Michael Hurley, OP, pastor of St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, said his parish, which offers what he believes is the largest young adult presence in the entire archdiocese, regularly sees attendance numbers today that are similar to pre-pandemic levels. 

The parish was able to safely provide the sacraments to those in need during the pandemic and had, providentially, already set up livestreaming for Masses shortly before the start of the pandemic. To this day the parish maintains a healthy online base of Dominican laypeople who tune in for Masses and prayer. 

Hurley said he personally never worried during lockdown about people not returning to Mass, instead trusting that Catholics would return when they could. He said his main concern was keeping the church building open safely during the pandemic — in a state with some of the strictest lockdown measures in the country — to maintain sacramental support. 

California finally lifted all capacity restrictions on religious gatherings in April 2021 after previously implementing a near-total ban on indoor services that was contested all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Though the demographics of St. Dominic Parish has changed somewhat, in-person worshippers, many of whom work in the Bay Area's high-tech sector, have returned in large numbers. 

"The Lord is always searching for the strays, right? ... All you have to do is open the doors and do what you're doing, and people will come," Hurley told CNA. 

That said, Hurley said he believes St. Dominic's beautiful church building, welcoming atmosphere, and a strong sense of identity — as a Dominican-led parish that aims to "radiate the joy of the Gospel in the heart of the city" — helps to make it an attractive place for Catholics, especially young adults. They also keep the church building open for personal prayer throughout the day, a rarity in a city that occasionally struggles with crime. 

"We are proud to be who we are as Catholics, and for us as clergy, as Dominicans. And that makes a huge difference," Hurley said.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Evelio Menjivar came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant in 1990. Today he serves as an auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C., and is the first Salvadoran U.S. bishop in an archdiocese that is home to over 200,000 of his former countrymen.

In an interview with "EWTN News in Depth," Menjivar shared his conviction that immigrants "make the United States a great nation" and "make society better." 

After years of "blue-collar jobs," upon his arrival to the U.S., Menjivar felt a calling to the priesthood and was ordained in 2004. He served as a parish priest in Washington for almost two decades until Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop in 2022.

"I came here when I was 20 with a great desire to work hard, to go to school, to contribute to the well-being of this great nation that became my home country," Menjivar told Montse Alvarado, EWTN News president and COO.

Menjivar said he attempted to enter the country three times before making it to Los Angeles. He explained: "I don't feel proud that I crossed the border without documents."

"But it is a testimony that many people cross the border with good intentions," he said.

"Most immigrants come here because they do not find any other option in their countries and they put their own lives at risk. But once we enter here, we contribute with our own talents, with our own energy," he told Alvarado.

He described the violence and chaos that led him to flee El Salvador for the United States.

"I was growing up during the civil war that started in … 1977," Menjivar said. "We were forced to abandon our village in 1982. We relocated to another town in the same area, but the whole area was abandoned, left with nobody."

"So the war was there," he said. "That was the situation that I grew up in, and then in 1990 is when I left El Salvador, and the war continued for two more years."

"Religious sisters, even American sisters, were killed. Many priests were killed. Catechists were killed. It was a situation of war that pushed me and pushed so many immigrants to leave their countries," the bishop explained.

Menjivar said immigration is a "journey marked by a lot of uncertainty, fear, but also with hope." 

During Menjivar's episcopal ordination Cardinal Wilton Gregory, then-archbishop of Washington, commended Menjivar's dedication to those who work unfair wages to make a day's living. 

"Cardinal Gregory said very beautifully in the homily that I should never forget my roots," Menjivar said. "And that way people, immigrants, anybody, will be able to be more open to share their own stories, knowing that I'm going to understand them."

"As most immigrants do, I did janitorial work, I did construction, painting, youth ministry, you name it, all kinds of blue-collar jobs. And so that helped me to understand labor, hard labor, to learn to work hard."

He said he is "very proud" of the work he did when he arrived in the U.S. and believes it is a "gift to be able to understand the hardships that people go through."

EWTN's Alvarado and Menjivar discussed a letter he and his brother bishops received from Pope Francis asking them to always remember human dignity when addressing immigration in the political climate today.

"The pope emphasizes the importance, the need, to defend the dignity of human beings, of immigrants," Menjivar said. "His message is a message of concern … for the well-being of everybody."

When asked about the lack of Hispanic bishops in the U.S. Church in light of how many Hispanic Catholics there are in the country, Menjivar said he is seeing progress in that direction, adding that he believes it's very important that "shepherds understand their flock."

"Yes, there are not many Hispanic bishops, but the number [is] increasing. There are more and more, especially during the last years with Pope Francis."

"One of the things that we need to do as a Church is to promote more vocations to the priesthood. We need more Hispanic priests, that's for sure. We need more deacons, we need more religious sisters and brothers to serve the Church." 

Asked to comment on how he responds to people in his community who fear deportation during this uncertain time, Menjivar said that while many "are expressing fear and anxiety" they are turning to the Church and to their faith for consolation. 

"Thanks be to God, we have people that are very hopeful," he said. "And they know that this is the moment when they need the Church the most. That they need to come as a community to pray."

"People don't know what is going to happen to them. But one of the beautiful things that we are seeing here is that people, they continue going to church and celebrating their faith."

Menjivar said he never lost faith on his journey to the U.S. and has been able to continue on that path that led him to become a bishop because he knows "there [are] always people praying for us. There is always a light that is lit."

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ACI MENA, Mar 14, 2025 / 15:40 pm (CNA).

Faithful to its ongoing commitment to supporting Lebanon, a high-level delegation from the Sovereign Order of Malta is currently touring the country. 

The official visit, led by the order's grand chancellor, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, spans three days and will conclude Saturday. 

The delegation's agenda includes multiple stops aimed at exploring ways to help Lebanon overcome its ongoing crises and support its path toward recovery and reconstruction, relying on the country's new leadership.

The delegation's first stop was the presidential palace in Baabda, where Montecupo met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. He was accompanied by the order's ambassador to Lebanon, Maria Cortese, Lebanon's Order of Malta President Marwan Sahnaoui, and advisers François Abi Saab, Eleonore Habsburg, and Martina D'Onofrio.

During the meeting, Montecupo conveyed congratulations from the order's grand master, John Dunlap, who expressed his eagerness to welcome Aoun to the order's headquarters in Rome at the earliest opportunity. He reaffirmed the order's strong commitment to Lebanon, emphasizing its dedication to the country's stability and progress. He also mentioned that the order currently runs 60 pastoral, educational, and cultural projects across Lebanon and has signed several agreements to support its humanitarian mission.

Additionally, Montecupo highlighted a conference on Lebanon that was held last February and announced plans for another gathering in Rome on April 10.

Montecupo stressed that maintaining stability is paramount for Lebanon's economic recovery and affirmed the order's readiness to provide assistance, emphasizing its long-standing neutrality and independence. "We will spare no effort to support the Lebanese people," he said.

For his part, Aoun acknowledged the challenges ahead but insisted that rebuilding Lebanon is possible with genuine political will. He underscored the importance of international support, both economically and politically. 

Aoun also referenced previous agreements between the order and Lebanese institutions, including the military, and highlighted the need for continued collaboration, particularly in the wake of destruction caused by the latest Israeli offensive. He commended the order for implementing projects nationwide, "free from political, sectarian, or religious considerations."

Meetings with Speaker Berri and Prime Minister Salam

The delegation also met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at his Ain el-Tineh residence and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Grand Serail. Both meetings addressed Lebanon's political and economic landscape as well as the order's ongoing projects.

The Sovereign Order of Malta has been active in Lebanon for over 70 years, focusing on health care, social integration, and agricultural development. This visit serves as a reaffirmation of the order's unwavering support for the Lebanese people during the ongoing reconstruction phase. In addition to official meetings, the delegation visited several development and humanitarian project sites, including the St. John the Baptist Center in Ain el-Remmaneh and mobile medical units in the western Bekaa region.

The delegation will also inaugurate a new humanitarian agricultural project and meet with Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi in Bkerke.

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

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Vatican City, Mar 14, 2025 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has provided the Vatican with a list of names of Ukrainians detained by the Russian military, requesting diplomatic mediation to secure their release.

"The Holy See has received a list of Ukrainians being held in Russian prisons and camps. We are counting on the support for their release," Zelenskyy said in a message shared on social media.

The Ukrainian president indicated that he had a telephone conversation with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's secretary of state, in which he also wished Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized for a month in Rome's Gemelli Hospital, "a speedy recovery."

"I thanked him for his prayers and moral support for our people, as well as for his efforts in facilitating the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported and displaced by Russia," Zelenskyy said, expressing his gratitude for the prayers for Ukraine and for peace.

The Holy See's mediation for the release of Ukrainians detained in Russia is nothing new. Ukrainian Redemptorist priests Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta were detained in Berdyansk by Russian occupation troops in November 2022 and released almost two years later following Vatican mediation.

"The voice of the Holy See is very important on the path to peace. I am grateful for the readiness to make efforts toward our shared goal," the Ukrainian president noted.

Zelenskyy also referred to his government's decision to approve the United States' proposal for a 30-day temporary ceasefire. This compromise was reached two days ago after a meeting lasting more than eight hours between the two countries' delegations in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

"The exchange of prisoners and an unconditional 30-day full interim ceasefire are the first quick steps that could significantly bring us closer to a just and lasting peace. Ukraine is ready to take these steps because the Ukrainian people want peace more than anyone," Zelenskyy said in his post on X.

However, despite the progress in the negotiations, Ukraine launched its largest attack on Russia since the start of the war before the agreement was reached. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over several regions in that attack.

Zelenskyy commented that "meanwhile, the world sees how Russia is deliberately setting conditions that only complicate and drag out the process, as Russia is the only party that wants the war to continue and diplomacy to break down."

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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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 14, 2025 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Earlier this week, Cuba completed the release of 553 prisoners despite the collapse of a deal with the United States, Vatican News reported. 

In January, under the Catholic Church's mediation, former U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to remove Cuba from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for the early release of hundreds of prisoners. 

The deal was made following years of pressure from the U.S., the European Union, the Catholic Church, and human rights organizations urging Cuba to free anti-government protesters jailed after a 2021 demonstration. 

The Biden administration had initially called Cuba to release "political prisoners," but Cuba less specifically agreed to gradually release "553 people sanctioned for diverse crimes." 

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said: "As part of the close and fluid relations with the Vatican State, I informed Pope Francis of [the decision to free the prisoners] in the spirit of the 2025 Jubilee." 

Just days after President Donald Trump's inauguration, the new administration overturned the deal. Despite the administration's reversal, Cuba continued to free prisoners intermittently.

In February, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, called the continued release of the Cuban prisoners "a sign of great hope" at the start of the holy year and said he hoped for more "gestures of clemency."

The vice president of Cuba's top court, Maricela Soza Ravelo, announced on state television on March 10 that the full release was completed, according to Vatican News. 

Cuba has not reported how many of the 553 releases were linked to the 2021 protests or disclosed a full list of the freed prisoners.

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Puebla, Mexico, Mar 14, 2025 / 17:10 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Mexico expressed its "profound indignation and grief" following the discovery of an organized crime training and extermination camp on a ranch in Jalisco state where clandestine crematoriums were found.

The site was located on the Izaguirre ranch in the Teuchitlán administrative district, about 40 miles from Guadalajara, the state capital, by the Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco group (Searching Warriors of Jalisco), an organization of families of disappeared persons searching for clandestine graves in the hope of finding the remains of their loved ones.

In Latin America, "disappeared" is often used as an adjective and a verb. "He was disappeared" means the person was abducted and is most likely dead. 

According to the Jalisco state attorney general's office, so far "six lots of bones have been discovered  in four locations on the property" that would correspond to more than 200 victims.

The site was already known to authorities since the National Guard carried out an operation on Sept. 18, 2024, during which 10 people were arrested, according to the attorney general's office.

At the site, they found a tactical training area and a physical conditioning area as well as clothing and gear that would have been worn by both the criminals and their victims.

One of the 'cruelest expressions of evil'

In its March 12 statement, the Mexican Bishops' Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) described the discovery as "one of the cruelest expressions of evil and human wretchedness that we have witnessed in our country."

The Mexican bishops noted that these acts "directly attack the sacred dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God."

The prelates also criticized the official figures provided by Mexican authorities regarding violence. "We express our surprise that first-degree murders are supposedly down 15%, but they are trying to hide the fact that disappearances are up 40%. Unfortunately, the majority of these victims are our young people," the CEM pointed out.

According to the website of Mexico's Ministry of the Interior, whose data covers the period from Dec. 31, 1952, to March 14 of this year, there are 124,179 missing and unaccounted-for persons in the country, with Jalisco being the state with the highest number of cases.

The bishops called on authorities to implement effective policies to prevent "these atrocious crimes and ensure their non-repetition" while demanding that they stop "evading their responsibility or trying to hide this reality" of violence in the country.

A day after the CEM statement, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum referred to the bishops' claim at a March 13 press conference and said their information was erroneous.

"We will keep you informed. But the episcopate does not have the correct information, and we are happy to ask the Ministry of the Interior to contact them to explain that this is not the case," she said.

Remembering the disappeared during Lent

The Mexican bishops also called on Catholics to take advantage of this Lenten season to "pray earnestly for the disappeared, accompany the victims, and contribute to the reconstruction of the social fabric."

They also pledged to "be a voice for those without a voice and to collaborate tirelessly in building a country where justice, truth, and unrestricted respect for human dignity prevail."

In response to the gruesome discovery, several events will be held to pray and express solidarity with the victims and their families:

• Mass for the disappeared: The auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Francisco Javier Acero, will offer a Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City at 3 p.m. local time on March 15 in honor of the disappeared persons and in support of their families.

• Vigil and national mourning: The same day at 5 p.m. local time the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico (CIRM) will hold a vigil on the esplanade of Mexico City's Zócalo (large central square) in front of the cathedral. "With 400 shoes and 400 candles, let us remember those who have been victims of violence and forced disappearance. Let us join in raising our voices and showing our solidarity as a Church and as a society," CIRM said in its appeal to the community.

• Day of prayer and consolation: On March 16 in the town of Teuchitlán in Jalisco state, a pilgrimage and Mass will be held for the victims of violence and their families.

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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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 14, 2025 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Here are some of the major stories about the Church around the world that you may have missed this week:

3 Christian converts sentenced to over 40 years in prison by Islamic Republic of Iran

Three Christian converts in Iran have been sentenced to over 40 years in prison collectively, Article18, a London-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting and promoting religious freedom in the Islamic country, has reported.

The Iranian Revolutionary Court collectively sentenced Abbas Soori, Mehran Shamloui, and Narges Nasri, a 37-year-old woman who is pregnant with her first child, to more than 40 years in prison for charges described as "propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law." 

Catholic nonprofits speak out against climate credit scheme targeting Indigenous Tanzanian community 

The International Cooperation for Development Solidarity (CIDSE) is speaking out on behalf of the Tanzanian Maasi community after a recently published study found the native community had been coerced into allowing carbon credit projects on their land, threatening their livelihoods. 

The CIDSE told ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, that the Maasi communities were pressured into signing unfair contracts that forced them out of their traditional grazing lands. The CIDSE condemned the dubious contracts, which it said "undermine Indigenous rights." 

Diocese of Guinea-Bissau celebrates appointment of new bishop

The Catholic community in Guinea-Bissau is celebrating this week after the appointment of Monsignor Victor Luís Quematcha as local ordinary of the Bissau-Guinea Episcopal See on March 8, ACI Africa reported. The appointment comes almost exactly four years after the passing of Bishop Pedro Carlos Zilli in March 2021. 

Holy pilgrimage honors 10th anniversary of Coptic Martyrs in Egypt

Marking the 10th anniversary of the martyrdom of 20 Egyptian Copts and a young Ghanaian in Libya, the Apostolic Vicariate of the Latins in Egypt organized a holy pilgrimage with over 300 people to the Egyptian city of Samalut. 

Coinciding with the Jubilee of Hope, the pilgrimage took place under the patronage and participation of Bishop Claudio Lurati of Alexandria and his vicar, Monsignor Antoine Tawfik, ACI MENA, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, reported. 

Nigerian bishops' conference: Unemployed youth are 'ticking time bomb'

The president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria issued a warning this week about increased rates of joblessness among the country's youth as violence and criminal activity continues to surge across Africa's largest nation-state.

Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji called the crisis a "ticking time bomb" for Nigeria's youth and called for federal and state governments to take action to address unemployment among young people or risk "losing the battle against insecurity and violent crime."

Religious freedom win: Pakistani Christian girl free from forced marriage, conversion

Pakistani courts have granted an annulment to Shahidi Bibi, allowing her to return to her father's house and her faith, according to her legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International. Bibi was forced by her mother to marry her stepfather's brother, a Muslim man, when she was just 11 years old. During the marriage, she gave birth to two children and was falsely legally registered as "Muslim" on her identification documents. 

Cases of violence against Christians in India on the rise, report finds

According to a March 10 report from The Evangelical Fellowship of India's Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC), 640 incidents of violent attacks against Christians occurred in 2024, an increase of 39 cases compared with 2023, and 147 cases recorded in 2014. 

"Attacks on Christians take various forms, including physical assaults, disruptions of prayer meetings, church vandalism, social boycotts, denial of community resources, and targeted arrests under anti-conversion laws," the report states, adding: "Reports indicate that on average, four to five churches and pastors face attacks daily, with incidents nearly doubling every Sunday."

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CNA Staff, Mar 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The contribution of nearly 700 Catholic religious sisters to a "groundbreaking" decades-long study on Alzheimer's and dementia continues to offer important information for maintaining "cognitive health" across the lifespan, researchers say.

Launched in 1986 by neurologist David Snowdon, the "Nun Study" produced "seminal findings" on "cognitive impairment and related neuropathologies," researchers said in a historical review published at Alzheimer's & Dementia journal last month.

Kyra Clarke, a doctorate student at UT Health San Antonio and one of the authors of the February review, said Snowdon opted to use Catholic sisters for the monumental study after he "realized that studying nuns came with many advantages for dementia research." 

"Normally, it's hard to pinpoint what causes some people to develop dementia while others remain healthy because people can have very different lifestyles, environments, and biology — some smoke, some don't; some have better access to health care than others; some may be more genetically disposed to disease," she said.

"But Catholic sisters from the same order share the same environment for most of their adult lives: similar marital histories, housing, nutrition, health care, income, and social networks," she pointed out. 

"It is difficult to find a community of people with such consistent and comparable lifestyles. This makes it easier to figure out what factors truly increase or decrease the risk of dementia."

Snowdon launched the pilot study of the program in 1986 in cooperation with the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), with a pool of 678 sisters eventually being drawn out of 1,000 candidates from what were then seven main convents across the country, including in Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas, and elsewhere. 

The age of the sisters at the outset of the study ranged from 75 to 102. All had similar life histories, while the vast majority were at least college graduates, with nearly 90% having been teachers at some point.

Researchers used a variety of methods to gauge progression of cognitive function of the sisters later in their lives, including autobiographies the nuns wrote prior to taking their vows, medical records, academic transcripts, and questionnaires.

The sisters "consented to participate in neuropsychological assessments and permitted researchers access to personal records kept by the convents," researchers said; they were further required to agree to brain donation upon their deaths for the scientists to study. 

Clarke said the sisters exhibited "extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm" for the study, particularly as evidenced by the high numbers of them who agreed to participate. 

"A 66% participation rate is a truly impressive amount for a longitudinal study requiring participants to undertake extensive cognitive testing every year for the rest of their lives and agree to brain donation as well," she noted.

The inclusion of healthy as well as cognitively impaired sisters was a critical factor in the study, the researchers said, as it "allowed for the longitudinal tracking of cognitive changes through annual assessments."

The high brain donation rate likewise "provided the opportunity to compare neuropathology findings from the autopsied brains of impaired individuals with healthy control brains, which had been historically difficult."

The findings of the study have "significantly advanced" understanding of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. One key discovery, Clarke said, was that "higher early-life cognitive ability seems to be protective against dementia."

"Researchers found that sisters with higher educational attainment and academic performance (based on school transcripts stored in convent archival records) had higher scores on cognitive tests in late life and lower risk of dementia," she said. Religious sisters with better written language skills earlier in life were also at a lower risk for dementia. 

"The Nun Study really emphasized that maintaining cognitive health is a lifelong task and emphasized the importance of education and cognitive stimulation in reducing the risk of dementia," Clarke said.

All of the sisters in the study have since passed away. In some cases the research has taken on personal significance: multiple family members of Margaret Flanagan, the director of the ongoing Nun Study at UT Health, attended Chicago's Academy of Our Lady run by SSND sisters. 

Researchers, meanwhile, continue to meet with representatives of the SSND to provide updates on the ongoing data. 

The scientists are "deeply appreciative of their dedication to education and helping the lives of others," Clarke said. 

"Their kindness and generosity made the Nun Study an iconic and groundbreaking contribution to dementia research and continuously inspires us to keep pushing towards understanding and treating this debilitating disease," she said.

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http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=283008&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Lima Newsroom, Mar 14, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The bishop of Cajamarca, Peru, has denounced a "direct attack" on the Catholic Church's freedom of speech by the LGBTQ+ community, which accuses the Church of the "alleged crime of discrimination" for a talk warning of the consequences of "Comprehensive Sexual Education" (CSE) in Peru.

In a statement signed by Bishop Isaac Martínez Chuquizana of Cajamarca, the diocese referred to the complaint filed in December 2024 by Reyna Consuelo Solís Rivera, "who claims to be part of the LGBTQ+ community," with the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights and Interculturality of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Cajamarca.

Solís' complaint targets "representatives of the Diocese of Cajamarca and Human Life International," who gave the talk titled "Comprehensive Sexual Education and Its Consequences" on Aug. 26, 2024, at the Cajamarca Book Fair.

The talk was led by Father Javier Hoyos Huamán, head of the Life and Family Committee of the Diocese of Cajamarca, and Roxaida Carolina López de Ojeda from Human Life International, who holds a master's degree in bioethics. The participants warned about the harmful consequences of CSE in Peru and other countries in the region.

"They didn't like the fact that we told them that condoms don't protect against all sexually transmitted diseases," López told the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News a month later in September 2024.

Likewise, the expert continued, "when you tell a girl, 'take it, here's your contraceptive.' What are you telling her? What's the underlying message? That you can have sexual relations whenever you want, as long as you 'take care of yourself.'" And if either the contraceptive or the condom fails, they are offered abortion, she warned.

Hoyos told EWTN News that "God will hold us accountable for all the lives we are allowing to be murdered in the world," emphasizing that "the IUD or the morning-after pill are means that cause abortion."

The statement from the Diocese of Cajamarca also noted that "since the ad about [the talk] was published, feminist and LGBTQ+ groups, both local and national, have labeled the event on social media as a 'serious offense, misinformation, shameful, anti-rights, etc.'"

On the day of the talk, the text continues, "a group of members of the aforementioned groups attended who were agitated and violent during the talk, and with a ruthless and cruel attitude, shouted, mocked, and constantly interrupted. Thanks to the intervention of security provided by the [book fair] organization, nothing further escalated."

Regarding the complaint filed by Solís, the diocese called "on those who administer justice to carefully evaluate the criteria of the complaint, which are not consistent with the aforementioned values, nor with the freedom of religion and speech that governs our people."

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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