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Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered for his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 5, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Apr 9, 2025 / 09:44 am (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday highlighted the need to overcome the "logic of merit" to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ and to trust more in God's gratuitous love.Continuing his jubilee catechesis series "Jesus Christ Our Hope" on the life of Jesus, the pope wrote a reflection on Chapter 10 of St. Mark's Gospel when Christ encounters a rich young man with a "fine resume" of good deeds."He is a man who has observed the commandments ever since his youth but who, despite this, has not yet found the meaning of his life," the Holy Father wrote in his April 9 catechesis."Perhaps he is one who has not yet truly made up his mind, despite his appearance as a committed person," he continued.Commenting that "eternal life" is not "obtained by right" or "through meticulous observance of ...
The Kerygma Center for the New Evangelization offers a program that brings nonbelievers closer to God, especially baptized persons who had been living far from their faith. / Credit: Courtesy of Kerygma CenterACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 10:53 am (CNA).The Kerygma Center for the New Evangelization offers a program that, since its founding in 2013, has brought closer to God thousands of nonbelievers, especially baptized persons who had been living far from their faith.Founded in response to the call of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis, the center proposes a "re-evangelization" aimed particularly at those who, despite having faith, have not experienced "a living and personal encounter with Jesus Christ," Kerygma president Carlos Macías de Lara explained to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.Originally from Mexico, Macías is a full-time evangelist living in Italy and has more than 30 years of experience spreading the good news.Despite having gr...
Mass celebrated by Bishop José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra on his 100th birthday. / Credit: Diocesan Sisters of Our Lady of the AngelsPuebla, Mexico, Apr 9, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).At 103 years of age, Mexican Bishop José de Jesús Sahagún de la Parra is a living witness to the history of the Catholic Church. He is the world's oldest bishop, still celebrates the Eucharist, and is one of only four surviving bishops who participated in the Second Vatican Council.He was born in Cotija, a small and humble town in the state of Michoacán, in 1922 and ordained a priest on May 26, 1946. Fifteen years after his priestly ordination, Pope John XXIII appointed him the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Tula in the state of Hidalgo.For 24 years, he was a pillar of the diocese, until in 1985 when Pope John Paul II called him to a new challenge: to be the first bishop of the Diocese of Lázaro Cárdenas.With the same dedication with which he had served in Hidalgo, he returned to his hom...
CatholicVote president Brian Burch speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination for to be ambassador to the Holy See on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. / Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinWashington D.C., Apr 8, 2025 / 15:39 pm (CNA).The U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for CatholicVote president Brian Burch to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See took place Tuesday morning, with Burch facing questions on how he plans to represent the Trump administration's foreign aid cuts to the Vatican as well as his position on the Holy See's relationship with China."I am deeply honored and humbled to be nominated by President [Donald] Trump to serve as the United States ambassador to the Holy See," Burch told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "This is a role of great significance, and I am grateful for the trust President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio have placed in me."Burch described the U.S.-Holy See r...
Kansas Capitol. / Credit: Gino Santa Maria/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2025 / 16:12 pm (CNA).Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday vetoed legislation that would have protected the religious liberty of adoptive parents and faith-based adoption centers on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation.The bill, which passed the state Senate 31-9 and the House 84-38, would have prohibited the Kansas Department for Children and Families from enacting policies that require a prospective adoptive parent or foster parent to first affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.The vetoed bill would have ensured a person could not be denied a license to adopt or foster children and could not be refused selection for adopting or fostering children because he or she holds "sincerely held religious or moral beliefs" that conflict with the state government's ideology on those subjects.The bill would have still...
The British Parliament building in London. / Credit: Marinesea/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2025 / 16:42 pm (CNA).The U.K. Catholic Medical Association (CMA) is warning against a bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide, arguing the measure will cause patients to "fear for their safety" in the medical system.In an April 7 statement, the CMA indicated that it is "committed to upholding the moral teachings of the Catholic Church as applied to the field of health care" and is "therefore fundamentally opposed to the legislation proposed in [member of U.K. Parliament] Kim Leadbeater's Assisted Dying Bill."The group argued that it is "always wrong to make a direct attack on innocent human life."Leadbeater is sponsoring the controversial Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their own lives with the help of a doctor. The bill is currently facing a delay in its implementation that could la...
Father Arul Carasala served as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas for over 20 years. / Credit: Courtesy of Archdiocese of Kansas CityCNA Staff, Apr 8, 2025 / 17:12 pm (CNA).The accused killer of a Kansas Catholic priest shot the clergyman last week "intentionally" and with "premeditation," a prosecutor has said. Gary Hermesch was taken into custody last week at the Nemaha County Jail and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Father Arul Carasala, the Nemaha County Sheriff's Office said. Carasala was shot at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca on April 3. The priest later died from his injuries at Nemaha Valley Community Hospital.Nemaha County Attorney Brad Lippert's office said in a press release that the murder was planned beforehand. Hermesch is being held on a $1 million bond at the county jail. The exact motive of the shooting remains unclear, though local news outlet KSNT reported that Hermesch had previously written l...
National Institutes of Health building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Mark Van Scyoc/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 7, 2025 / 16:22 pm (CNA).The Trump administration has directed the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to begin a research initiative to study "regret" among individuals who undergo so-called gender transition treatments.In March, the White House canceled multiple NIH grants involving gender identity along with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Now, the administration is ordering the NIH to resume some transgender research but with the goal of examining the potential negative consequences the hormonal and surgical treatments can have.Theresa Farnan, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, discussed with CNA why this research is needed to help individuals who experience regret after transitioning treatments.Farnan said many people who report negative consequences after medical gender transitions were already struggling with a mental health ...
Loyola High School alumni, students, and school benefactors gather in the new St. Peter Claver Chapel on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The chapel features sacred items donated from various churches in the Archdiocese of Detroit. / Credit: Valaurian Waller/Detroit CatholicCNA Staff, Apr 7, 2025 / 16:47 pm (CNA).A shooting in northwest Detroit on Monday morning resulted in a stray bullet breaching the newly dedicated Catholic chapel at Loyola High School, reportedly while about 40 students were inside.Police said the bullet entered St. Peter Claver Chapel at around 7:50 a.m. on April 7. There were no reported injuries, and police are canvassing the neighborhood seeking information on what led to the shooting and who was involved.CNA reached out to the Detroit Police Department for further information, inquiring as to whether there are any suspects in the shooting, but did not receive a response by publication time.The Catholic boys high school in Detroit, which is under the care of t...
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks at the USCCB fall plenary assembly Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: USCCB videoWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 7, 2025 / 17:29 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has made what it is calling the "difficult decision" to not renew cooperative agreements with the federal government amid policy changes from President Donald Trump's administration to cut funding from refugee programs."While this marks a painful end to a life-sustaining partnership with our government that has spanned decades across administrations of both political parties, it offers every Catholic an opportunity to search our hearts for new ways to assist," USCCB President Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio said in an April 7 statement.The archbishop wrote that the funding cut "forces us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution."F...
