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Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Square on September 28, 2025. / Vatican Media screenshotCNA Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has responded to a letter from a grieving father with the encouragement that "death never has the last word."In the October issue of Piazza San Pietro magazine, the pontiff penned a letter to Francesco, a father of four, who wrote to the Holy Father about the death of his 12-year-old son, Domenico Maria, from a sudden illness 18 years ago.Despite the time that has passed, the father said he still felt like his son's premature death happened only yesterday. "Holiness, this letter of mine is intended only as a thought, as well as a remembrance for our son, so that God, in his infinite goodness and mercy as a Father, may welcome him into the kingdom of heaven…" Francesco wrote.In his response, Leo reminded the father that "the important thing is to always remain connected to the Lord, going through the greatest pain ...
Churches in Jerusalem. / Credit: Amizor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:Jerusalem church leaders welcome Gaza ceasefireThe Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem has hailed the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange, describing it as a "first real step toward ending the war," CNA's Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported Oct. 16. The statement thanked the international community, particularly mediators at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, for helping secure the deal and called for rapid humanitarian access to food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.The church leaders also voiced alarm over growing violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, insisting that peace talks must lead to an independent Palestinian state living in safety beside Israel. They praised Christians in Gaza for their steadfa...
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn (left) shakes hands with now Archbishop-elect of Vienna Josef Grünwidl at the time of his appointment as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Vienna on Jan. 22, 2025, and on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Archdiocese of Vienna / Stephan SchönlaubRome Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:02 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Friday appointed Father Josef Grünwidl to succeed Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP, as head of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria's most populous archdiocese.Grünwidl has overseen the Vienna archdiocese on an interim basis since January, when the 80-year-old Schönborn concluded three decades at its helm following the acceptance of his resignation by Pope Francis.The 62-year-old Grünwidl, born in lower Austria, was chairman of the Vienna Priests' Council and episcopal vicar of the Vienna archdiocese's southern vicariate before being named apostolic administrator.A former concert organist, the archbishop-elect has served in numerous roles in the a...
The president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI), Franciscan friar Stefano Cecchin, OFM. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN NewsVatican City, Oct 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Father Stefano Cecchin, OFM, president of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, (PAMI by its Italian acronym), which reports directly to the Roman Curia, said in a recent interview that the Church faces persistent challenges regarding truths about the Virgin Mary. Cecchin told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, that PAMI encounters challenges every day from Protestants as well as certain groups within the Catholic Church, both openly and indirectly, who deny the dogma of the virginity of Mary established at the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 and the Lateran Council of 649."There are theologians and biblical scholars who are saying that the virginity of Mary is a myth, and this is very dangerous because the … Fathers of the Church, and even the Quran, defend the virgin...
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. / Credit: Office of Senator Josh Hawley, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 18:12 pm (CNA).Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.Senator introduces bill to ban Obamacare-funded abortionsU.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, on Oct. 15 introduced a bill to protect unborn children from abortion and minors from so-called gender transition.The bill would prevent taxpayer dollars from going toward abortions or transgender procedures for minors via Obamacare. While the Hyde Amendment already prohibits federal funding of abortion, Hawley's bill would "write Hyde language directly into the federal coverage terms of health plans," according to a press release from Hawley's office.Jamie Dangers, director of federal affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, expressed gratitude "to Sen. Hawley for recognizing that Obamacare funds abortion and must be fixed.""This bill would do what should have been done...
Nigerian security officers during a military operation ahead of the gubernatorial elections in Benin City, Edo, Nigeria, on Sept. 17, 2020. / Credit: Oluwafemi Dawodu/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).Christian leaders delivered a letter to President Donald Trump on Oct. 15 urging him to redesignate Nigeria as a country of particular concern on the U.S. government's international religious freedom watch list. "We fervently urge you to redesignate Nigeria as a 'country of particular concern' (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom [IRF] Act, as you did in your first term," the letter states. "The last several years have seen a burgeoning of violent attacks specifically targeting rural Christians in the country's Middle Belt, while the government in Abuja barely lifts a finger to protect them." The letter's signatories included San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone; Nina Shea, Hudson Institute senior fellow and director...
The number of young Americans who are self-identifying as transgender or nonheterosexual declined in 2024 and 2025, according to an Oct. 10, 2025, report. / Credit: Andrii Yalanskyi/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).The number of young Americans who self-identify as transgender or nonheterosexual declined in 2024 and 2025, according to a report from the Centre for Heterodox Social Science (CHSS), which compiled data from undergraduate student surveys and broader surveys of young people.The Oct. 10 report, titled "The Decline of Trans and Queer Identity Among Young Americans," found an overall decline in people who identify with the broader "LGBTQ+" community, with a bulk of the decline in those who identify as bisexual, transgender, and queer.Eric Kaufmann, director of CHSS and a politics professor at the University of Buckingham, led the study.The report noted a surge in young people identifying with those segments in the 2010s and the 2020s,...
The Legislative Palace of Uruguay. / Credit: Coquimbo58, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 14:41 pm (CNA).On Wednesday, Oct. 15, Uruguay's Senate passed the Death with Dignity bill, which opens the door to euthanasia in the country.Following a favorable vote by 20 senators (out of 31 present), the bill, which had previously been approved in August by Uruguay's lower house, will go to the office of President Yamandú Orsi, a member of the Broad Front, the political coalition that promoted the legislative initiative.Orsi can sign the bill into law or veto it, either entirely or partially. The measure approved by the Senate would allow any person over the age of 18 in Uruguay who "suffers from one or more chronic, incurable, and irreversible pathologies or health conditions that seriously impair their quality of life, causing unbearable suffering" to have access to euthanasia.With this outcome, Uruguay would become the first country in South America to...
Pope Leo XIV is shown here at the Holy Mass for the opening of the general chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine on Sept. 1, 2025 . / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 06:03 am (CNA).The Order of St. Augustine and the Vatican Publishing House announced the publication of a new book by Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost O.S.A., titled "Free Under Grace: Writings and Meditations 2001-2013." The book will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, which opened Wednesday.The tome will include, for the first time, the writings of the current pontiff during his term as prior general of the Augustinian Order, offering readers a "closer look at his spirituality," according to a statement from the Vatican Publishing House. It will include reflections, meditations, homilies, and addresses, all imbued with the characteristic Augustinian spirituality of the reigning pontiff.The book will be published in Italian in the Spring of 2026. Spanish and English ver...
Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at an Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) press conference in Rome, Italy, on Sept 28, 2017. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.Vatican City, Oct 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).International Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will release its global religious freedom report in Rome next week with an Oct. 21 conference featuring the Vatican's secretary of state and victims of religious persecution.Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will introduce the "Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025" with a speech at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum conference center near the Vatican. The report, released every two years since 1999, is a global study of religious freedom and persecution across all countries and faith groups."Since the first edition of the RFR, the situation has steadily worsened, and unfortunately, this negative trend is expected to continue," Marta Petrosillo, the report's editor-in-chief, said in a press re...
