Catholic News

Lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to offer government exceptions for international adoption visas so that children can be united with their adoptive families and "welcomed into safe and stable homes."

U.S. Sens. Kevin Cramer and Amy Klobuchar, along with U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt and Danny Davis, asked the Department of State to restore a "categorical exemption for adoption visas," one that was suspended in December 2025 amid government travel restrictions on certain countries.

The suspension of the visas "has introduced uncertainty for children and American parents who have waited years for their adoptions to be completed and were preparing to bring their children home," the lawmakers said.

The letter cited Department of State guidance from 2025 that acknowledged that adoption "involves children in need — some in urgent need — of a loving, permanent home and family."

In that guidance the State Department acknowledged the need to "vigorously engage at both the policy and case levels to protect the interests of all parties involved."

"We strongly urge you to advocate for the restoration of the categorical exemption for adoption visas," the lawmakers said, calling on the department to "move expeditiously to address this situation to ensure these children are united with their adoptive parents."

Difficulty of international adoption changes with governments

Katie Dillon, a spokeswoman for Commonwealth Catholic Charities in Virginia, said international adoptions "typically follow clear, predictable steps," though she said the process is "lengthy."

Like many Catholic charity groups, Commonwealth Catholic Charities offers adoptive families a variety of resources and services to facilitate in both domestic and international adoptions. Dillon said the Virginia group "acts as the home study provider and post-placement agency" for families seeking to adopt from other countries.

Such adoptions "can be a difficult process that ebbs and flows with global policy shifts," she said. "It can be a challenging process for families to navigate."

"Families interested in international adoption work with an in-state agency like Commonwealth Catholic Charities to complete their home study and an international agency to help with the placement of the child," she said.

Child placement agencies must be accredited by the Hague Adoption Convention of 1993, an international accord that established protections for children in international adoptions. Such agencies "have programs in certain countries to legally assist a family in the adoption of a child from that country," Dillon said.

Though there are numerous resources that prospective adoptive families can utilize to help them in their journey, Dillon said international adoption "is often a long process that can take upwards of three or four years." Some countries can require parents to reside in the country in question for anywhere from several months to a year, she said.

Amid the uncertainty at the federal level, Dillon stressed that the difficult process is at times upended by elections in which government rules can shift without warning.

"Parents who are considering international adoption should be aware that adoption policies can change abruptly with changes in government leadership," she said. "There are no guarantees."

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Pope Leo XIV on Monday warned that modern conflicts and widening social disparities are eroding respect for human life and equal access to health care, telling members of the Pontifical Academy for Life that "all lives are not equally respected and health is neither protected nor promoted in the same way for everyone."

Addressing participants in the academy's plenary assembly in the Apostolic Palace, the pope praised the meeting's theme — "Health Care for All: Sustainability and Equity" — and lamented that "in a world scarred by conflicts, which consume enormous economic, technological, and organizational resources in the production of arms and other types of military equipment, it has never been more important to dedicate time, people, and expertise to safeguarding life and health."

He cited Pope Francis' insistence that health care cannot be treated as a luxury, noting that it "is not a consumer good but a universal right, which means that access to health care services cannot be a privilege."

Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Leo said it "has become clear how much reciprocity and interdependence underpin our health and our very lives," adding that this reality demands collaboration across disciplines, including "medicine, politics, ethics, management, and others."

Turning to global disparities, the pope said that when we examine "life expectancy and the quality of health in different countries and social groups, we discover enormous inequalities" tied to factors such as income, education, and the neighborhoods where people live. He also deplored wars that strike civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, calling them "the most grave attacks that human hands can make against life and public health."

"It is often said that life and health are equally fundamental values for all," he said, "but this statement is hypocritical if, at the same time, we ignore the structural causes and policies that determine inequalities."

Leo also highlighted the "One health" approach, encouraging an integrated vision that recognizes the links between human health, environmental conditions, and other forms of life — an outlook he said aligns with the academy's work in global bioethics.

The pope urged renewed commitment to the common good, warning it can become "an abstract and irrelevant notion" unless it is rooted in strong social bonds. "We need to rediscover the fundamental attitude of care as support and closeness to others," he said, arguing that this is key to building sustainable health systems and restoring trust in medicine amid "misinformation or skepticism regarding science."

Concluding, Leo renewed his call for stronger international and multilateral cooperation, saying such relationships are essential for preventing conflicts and resisting "the mindset of force, whether verbal, physical or military."

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

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Pope Leo XIV told the prelate of Opus Dei on Feb. 16 that "the process of updating Opus Dei's statutes continues in its study phase and that no publication date can yet be foreseen," according to a statement from the prelature.

The pope received Opus Dei's prelate, Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, in audience at the Vatican on Monday. Ocáriz was accompanied by his auxiliary vicar, Monsignor Mariano Fazio.

The Holy See Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Vatican meeting came as the personal prelature's proposed statutes — submitted to the Holy See on June 11, 2025 — remain under review. Opus Dei's draft is being examined by the Dicastery for the Clergy following the reforms to the governance of personal prelatures introduced under Pope Francis.

Opus Dei said that "several topics were addressed in an atmosphere of great trust," including "the perspectives and challenges of the work of evangelization that Opus Dei carries out throughout the world, as it approaches its first centenary."

The prelature added that it presented to the pope "the institutional perspective on some specific controversies in Argentina" and that the audience also included discussion of vocations in the Church, "particularly, the contrast between the situation in Africa and in Europe."

According to the statement, Ocáriz presented the pope with two books: "The Church in the Street: The Reception of Gaudium et Spes in Six Holy Pastors," by Augustinian Father Ramón Sala González, and "Yauyos, an Adventure in the Andes," an account by Samuel Valero about Opus Dei priests' evangelizing work in two provinces of Peru.

Opus Dei is currently the only personal prelature in the Catholic Church and reports about 94,450 members worldwide.

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

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Pope Leo XIV has appointed a Harvard University epidemiology professor and director of the Human Flourishing Program to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Tyler J. VanderWeele, a Catholic, is also co-director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard University and a contributor to the Institute for Family Studies, which promotes traditional marriage and family structures.

VanderWeele joins 35 other ordinary members — academics and professionals in the fields of law, political science, economics, and sociology — at the Vatican academy.

VanderWeele told EWTN News he is grateful "for the opportunity to participate and contribute" to the work of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

"Catholic social teaching has powerfully shaped the way I think about my own work and about the pursuit of societal flourishing," he said.

The academic, who entered the Catholic Church in 2012, said: "The principles of the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity provide a powerful roadmap for our life together. We certainly need to retain what is distinctive about the Catholic faith, but we also need to find common ground with others, and these principles of Catholic social teaching can help us to do so."

VanderWeele holds degrees in mathematics, philosophy, theology, finance, and biostatistics from Harvard, the University of Oxford, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The Catholic University of America awarded VanderWeele an honorary doctorate in 2020.

VanderWeele described his work at the Human Flourishing Program as aiming "to create a 'positive epidemiology,' wherein we study the distribution and determinants of well-being, and to expand the purview of public health to include the promotion of individual and societal flourishing," according to the website of the social sciences academy.

In 2015, the professor joined a group of scholars in filing an amicus brief in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, arguing that there is no constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

VanderWeele has also written on the topic of preventing and healing child sexual abuse in religious communities.

He spoke about Christianity's contribution to the notion of human flourishing at a talk for the Veritas Forum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023.

Established by Pope John Paul II in 1994, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences brings together academicians from a wide range of religious and nonreligious backgrounds. Current ordinary members include Catholic theologian Tracey Rowland and economist Jeffrey Sachs.

The academy is led by Sister Helen Alford, OP, president, and Cardinal Peter Turkson, chancellor.

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Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father John Berinyuy Tatah, who was among six Catholic priests abducted in Cameroon's Bamenda Archdiocese on Nov. 15, 2025, and later released, as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese.

The appointment of Berinyuy, rector of the Catholic University of Cameroon in Bamenda, to assist Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya in shepherding the archdiocese was made public on Feb. 13 by the Holy See Press Office.

Born on Dec. 18, 1975, in Mbuluf-Shisong in the Diocese of Kumbo, the bishop-elect studied philosophy and theology at St. Thomas Aquinas Interdiocesan Major Seminary in Bambui, Bamenda. He was ordained a priest for the Kumbo Diocese on March 30, 2005.

The priest pursued further studies in spirituality at the Dominican monastery of Bambui and was awarded a doctorate in theology, specializing in Christian anthropology, at the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum in Rome.

Following his priestly ordination, Berinyuy served as parish vicar of St. Joseph in Bafut (2005–2006) and parish priest of St. Patrick in Babanki-Tungo (2006–2010).

Before being appointed to his current position, he served as spiritual director and lecturer at St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui and chaplain of the diocesan charismatic movement.

The bishop-elect was the last of the six priests to regain freedom on Dec. 2, 2025, after being held captive for over two weeks.

In a video circulated on Facebook shortly after his release, the Cameroonian priest recounted how he and his brother priests were abducted and appealed for peace in Cameroon's troubled Anglophone regions.

"I was arrested with my brothers because the forces of La Republic accompanied us to Ndop for the opening of the university. During the Mass, the nuncio came to inaugurate the university in the war zone, and we say that we are very sorry that that happened, and that it will not happen again," Berinyuy said.

He added: "We are praying that there should be dialogue to see to the solution of the southern Cameroonian, and that there should be justice and peace, so that a lasting solution should be brought to these problems that we are facing."

Following the incident, Pope Leo XIV expressed sorrow over the kidnappings of priests, Christians, and students in Nigeria and Cameroon, urging authorities to act swiftly to secure their freedom.

Once consecrated bishop, Berinyuy will assist 60-year-old Nkea in shepherding 615,015 Catholics out of the total population of 1,460,253, representing 42.1% of the population, according to 2022 statistics.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News English.

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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, must accommodate Catholic clergy who wish to provide detainees with ashes and Communion on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, according to a federal court ruling.

Judge Robert W. Gettleman issued the Feb. 12 order in favor of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), a nonprofit that helps facilitate Catholic services at ICE facilities among other initiatives. Its mission is rooted in liberation theology and focused on economic, environmental, racial, and social justice.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which operates ICE, denied repeated requests to administer the sacraments at the Broadview facility, including when clergy sought to bring Communion and pastoral care to immigration detainees on Christmas.

"The whole world has seen the injustices of our federal immigration system," Father Leandro Fossá, CS, a member of the CSPL Clergy Council, said in a statement.

"We are eager to see how the federal government responds to the injunction and restores the fundamental religious rights of people in detention to receive pastoral visits, rights that had been honored previously," he said.

The order states that the government has substantially burdened the religious exercise of the clergy and that there is no compelling government interest to justify that burden. The judge cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

"Allowing plaintiffs to provide pastoral care to migrants and detainees will improve the condition of those detained at Broadview," the judge's order states.

The judge ordered the government to permit ashes and Communion for Ash Wednesday and to coordinate with CSPL to establish an appropriate safety and security protocol. The order directs them to also meet and confer about future religious ministry at the facility.

Father Dan Hartnett, SJ, a member of the CSPL Clergy Council, expressed hope that this ruling will set a trend.

"The collective voices and faithful witness of Catholics and Christians in Chicago and across the country are making an impact," he said. "As Lent begins, we pray this ruling restores religious freedom for those detained and moves our country closer to justice in honoring the dignity of all migrants."

Pope Leo XIV said in November 2025 the spiritual rights of migrants in detention must be considered.

According to an CSPL statement, the nonprofit is awaiting a response from ICE about coordinating the Ash Wednesday services. Both priests and religious sisters are expected to visit the Broadview facility.

Neither ICE nor DHS immediately responded to a request for comment.

The Broadview facility is an ICE field office used to process detainees before being transferred to a detention center. Although detainees are only meant to be held there for a few hours, with the maximum being 72 hours, some alleged last year that they were held there for several days and even up to one week.

A large outdoor Mass with Scalabrinian Missionaries is set for Ash Wednesday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Melrose Park, led by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago. It will be followed by a procession through the Melrose Park community as participants say the rosary and sing as a sign of the Church's presence and solidarity with immigrant families.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Feb. 12 strongly condemning Turkey's expulsion of Christian missionaries under what lawmakers described as opaque "national security" pretexts. The resolution urges the capital city of Ankara to respect freedom of religion and allow those affected to return.

The European Parliament, the EU's directly elected legislature, represents over 450 million citizens across 27 member states.

The resolution passed with 502 votes in favor, two against, and 59 abstentions, following a late-evening parliamentary debate on Wednesday, reflecting broad cross-party concern over the treatment of foreign Christian religious workers.

Missionaries targeted as 'threat to national security'

During the debate, Dutch Member of the European Parliament Bert-Jan Ruissen described the situation facing missionaries in Turkey in stark terms.

"You bring the good news of the Gospel, the message of peace and reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Then you are considered a threat to national security and are no longer allowed to enter the country. That is the harsh reality of missionaries working in Turkey," Ruissen said.

He urged Turkish authorities to "take freedom of religion seriously," adding that as the EU strengthens engagement with Ankara, it must speak clearly about fundamental rights.

"Turkey must stop targeting churches, guarantee freedom of religion or belief, and allow Christians to share their faith freely," he said.

At least 160 foreign Christian workers expelled or denied reentry

According to ADF International, at least 160 foreign Christian workers, along with their families, have been expelled from Turkey or denied reentry in recent years, often after living and serving in the country for decades.

Many of those affected were issued so-called "N-82" administrative codes, a national security classification used to bar individuals from returning. ADF International reports that these bans are often applied without public explanation or effective legal remedy, leaving missionaries unable to challenge their exclusion.

Approximately 20 related cases are currently before the European Court of Human Rights, where applicants are challenging the legality of the expulsions and reentry restrictions, according to ADF International.

The adopted resolution calls on Turkish authorities to ensure that national security measures are not applied arbitrarily and urges Turkey to respect international human rights obligations, including protections for freedom of religion or belief.

Turkey's foreign ministry reportedly rejected the resolution on Feb. 13, saying claims regarding freedom of expression and religion "contradict the facts" and that "no foreign institution, including the European Parliament, can interfere in judicial proceedings conducted in our country."

Resolution puts EU-Turkey relations further on the line

The resolution comes amid long-standing tensions between the EU and Turkey over human rights and rule of law concerns. Despite holding official EU candidate status since 1999, Turkey's long-stalled bid to join the bloc has effectively frozen.

The European Parliament has repeatedly raised concerns regarding the treatment of journalists, civil society actors, and religious minorities in the country. Thursday's vote adds the expulsion of Christian missionaries to the list of issues under parliamentary scrutiny.

Although European Parliament resolutions are not legally binding, the adopted resolution carries political weight, signaling the EU's stance on freedom of religion and prompting the European Commission and the European External Action Service, the EU's diplomatic service, to raise the issue with Turkish authorities.

Croatian Member of the European Parliament Tomislav Sokol, speaking during the debate, framed Turkey's expulsions within a broader global challenge to religious freedom. He highlighted the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria, including widespread killings and the destruction of churches. He warned that Turkey's expulsions represent a different but equally serious form of persecution — including administrative bans, deportations, church closures, and denial of legal protection. He added: "Our credibility is measured by our willingness to defend freedom of religion everywhere and without double standards."

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DHAKA, Bangladesh — The Catholic Church in Bangladesh has congratulated the country's newly elected government after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a commanding two-thirds majority in the Feb. 12 parliamentary election — the first since a student-led uprising toppled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

Bishop Gervas Rozario of Rajshahi, vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB), told EWTN News the election appeared to be a fair contest and urged the incoming government to prioritize human rights.

"We only want the new government to respect and promote human rights of all citizens, including minority people of other faiths and cultures, and promote justice and peace for all," said Rozario, who also chairs the CBCB's justice and peace commission.

BNP wins landslide; Islamist party becomes opposition

The BNP and its allies won 212 of 299 contested parliamentary seats, while the Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its alliance secured 77 seats, according to official results published by the Bangladesh Election Commission. The National Citizens Party, a youth-led group that emerged from the 2024 uprising, won six seats.

Jamaat-e-Islami will serve as the main opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad, the national parliament.

Rozario said he hoped the Islamist party would play a constructive role. "We hope Jamaat-e-Islami will be able to play the role of a strong opposition in the house," he said. "The people of Bangladesh want this party to apologize for their role in 1971."

During Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, Jamaat-e-Islami was accused of collaborating with Pakistani forces. The previous Awami League government tried and executed several of the party's senior leaders on war crimes charges.

First election since 2024 uprising

The 2024 student-led mass uprising forced the ouster of Hasina, whose Bangladesh Awami League had governed the country for 15 years amid allegations of increasing authoritarianism. Hasina fled to neighboring India, where she remains.

An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus subsequently took power. The interim government held the election within approximately 18 months, though the Awami League was barred from participating after its activities were banned under public pressure.

BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, who is expected to become prime minister, told a press conference on Feb. 14 that the new government faces significant challenges. Rahman cited the need to repair the economy, restore law and order, and ensure good governance across institutions that he said had been politicized by the previous government.

Constitutional referendum held alongside election

A constitutional referendum on the "July Charter" — a reform blueprint drafted under the interim government — was held simultaneously with the parliamentary election. According to official Election Commission results, approximately 62% of voters approved the charter, which proposes sweeping governance changes including the creation of a bicameral parliament and term limits for the prime minister.

Catholics make up less than half a percent of Bangladesh's population of approximately 175 million. The country has eight dioceses, including two archdioceses.

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Pope Leo XIV will preside over the traditional Ash Wednesday procession and Mass on Rome's Aventine Hill, an important place of Christian veneration and pilgrimage for more than 1,500 years.

For the Dominican and Benedictine religious orders, whose communities have had a significant historical presence on the Aventine, the Holy Father's Feb. 18 visit will be a special occasion to begin the Church's liturgical season dedicated to prayer and fasting before Easter.

On the first day of the 40-day Lenten "Stations Churches" pilgrimage — formally instituted in the sixth century by Pope Gregory the Great and restored by Pope John XXIII in 1959 — the pope leads a penitential procession from the Benedictine church of Sant'Anselmo to the nearby Dominican Basilica of Santa Sabina.

"To walk with Pope Leo on this pilgrimage from the nearby Sant'Anselmo church will be a sign, a symbol, for all of us of the spiritual work that's taking place in our hearts in Lent," Santa Sabina resident Father Patrick Briscoe, OP, told EWTN News. "We'll all be on pilgrimage together."

This year, Pope Leo will preside over a short afternoon prayer service at the Benedictine monastery and then celebrate the Ash Wednesday Mass at Santa Sabina, a fourth-century basilica that was gifted to St. Dominic and the Order of Preachers in 1219 by Pope Honorius III.

"The pope himself imposes ashes on [the cardinals] during the Mass," Briscoe added. "The cardinals stand in for the whole Church and they're a sign of all of us joining and following the pope's lead."

As part of the Lenten tradition, the pope leads the procession through the main doors of Santa Sabina, which contains the oldest known artistic portrayal of Jesus Christ crucified.

"On the door we have a very important Christian symbol… It allows us to think of the meaning of Lent and to embrace the suffering of Christ," Briscoe said.

"When we consider it from the historical perspective and the evolution of Christian understanding, we really didn't know how to handle the cross," he explained. "It took us a hundred years to depict it."

"This says something to each of us entering into Lent — to discover anew what our sufferings mean and how to have them transformed by Christ's own sacrifice," he said.

Father Eusebius Martis, OSB, a sacramental theology professor who teaches at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant'Anselmo, told EWTN News the Aventine is an ideal place for prayer and pilgrimage.

"It's really an ideal spot because it's quiet and it's a little bit separated but not too far [from the city center]," he said.

According to Martis, nature on the Aventine has inspired artists and pilgrims alike throughout the centuries to contemplate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"The acanthus leaf is growing all across our property here at [Sant'Anselmo]," Martis said. "It dies and it lays against the ground … completely dead until the spring [when] it comes back to life."

"In a couple of weeks, it will start putting up flowers, which represent a bloom around Easter time," he said.

Pointing out the reliefs of the acanthus leaf found on the Corinthian columns inside the Basilica of Sant'Anselmo, Martis said several churches across Rome purposefully depict the leaf to symbolize the Church's belief in Jesus' victory over sin and death.

"The architects wanted us to remember that, every time we're at the altar, we are at Easter," the Benedictine father said.

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Among the recent appointments of Pope Leo XIV, one in particular has been made with remarkable frequency: that of "chaplain of His Holiness." What does this honorary title mean?

In November 2025, the Holy Father bestowed this title upon his secretary, Peruvian priest Father Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga, officially incorporating him into the papal household, in accordance with the provisions of the 1968 motu proprio Pontificalis Domus ("Pontifical House").

Among those who have received this distinction in recent days is Father Fermín González Melado, a diocesan priest born in Badajoz, Spain, who has resided in Rome since 2019.

With degrees in biology and the theology of marriage and family, González is an adviser to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a member of the clinical ethics committee at the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital. He has also served as vice rector of the Spanish National Church of St. James and Montserrat in Rome since 2021.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, he explained that the title of "chaplain of His Holiness" is a recognition "granted by the dicasteries, since it is the prefects who suggest to the secretariat of state the recognition of individuals who have been working at the Holy See."

He clarified that this "does not imply a change of job or employment status, but rather a kind of medal that recognizes meritorious work. It is an honorary title that entails a change of cassock colors and little else," he explained.

With this appointment as chaplain, the pope also bestowed upon him the honorary title of monsignor. From now on, as a member of the papal household, the priest may wear the cassock with purple buttons and trim, along with the sash of the same color, according to protocol.

González said this title is not reserved just for the Holy See to give "but can also be granted by bishops in their dioceses after requesting it from the Vatican."

He pointed out that there is no precise figure for the number of chaplains of His Holiness worldwide. "Some dioceses grant this honor to priests upon reaching the age of 80, in recognition of their service," he added.

Although he has not yet been able to express his gratitude to Pope Leo XIV in person, he recalled his recent meeting with him, along with other members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, during its plenary assembly.

The priest told ACI Prensa that every time he meets with the Holy Father, he likes to give him "some small gift." On the last occasion, he gave him a book and a documentary film about the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows of Chandavila, in La Codosera, Spain, which is in his diocese.

"It's the first shrine and the first devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows approved in Spain under the new regulations of the dicastery on alleged supernatural phenomena," he explained.

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

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