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Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks with Rep. Nancy Pelosi after a Mass held at the U.S. Capitol on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, 2024. / Credit: Migi Fabara/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 1, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the papal encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a clear exhortation to the faithful, saying: "I beg you to see Christ in every person, even those whose politics you oppose."Pope Francis' 2020 encyclical letter on fraternity and social friendship was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi's call for "love that transcends the barriers of geography and distance." On the anniversary of the letter, as terrifying acts of violence continue to occur in the U.S., Broglio encouraged Americans to reflect on the value of every human life.Broglio's pastoral invitation comes in the wake of "shocking acts of political violence" across the natio...
Catholic organizations are urging lawmakers in Congress to come to a swift resolution to end the government shutdown. / Credit: Traci L. Clever/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 1, 2025 / 17:20 pm (CNA).After the U.S. government shut down on Oct. 1 because Congress failed to reach an agreement on the federal spending budget, Catholic organizations called for a swift resolution to mitigate the potential harm to government-funded programs serving the poor and vulnerable, such as food assistance, housing support, and refugee services.The government shutdown and the "crippling partisanship will be felt far beyond the halls of Washington," Kerry Alys Robinson, president of Catholic Charities USA, said in a statement.Catholic Charities USA, which supports a network of agencies across the country, reported the shutdown will "take a particular toll on the most vulnerable among us, from hungry children and parents living paycheck to paycheck to seniors struggling to afford medi...
Colorado State Capitol in Denver. / Credit: RebeccaDLev/ShutterstockDenver, Colorado, Oct 1, 2025 / 18:07 pm (CNA).After years of court battles over the Colorado government's exclusion of two Catholic preschools from its Universal Preschool Program, a U.S. appeals court ruled against the parishes on Tuesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals of the 10th Circuit, in a 54-page decision, ruled that Colorado may continue to exclude the Catholic preschools because of their religious beliefs. The decision comes after a series of court cases involving the state of Colorado's attempts to exclude the schools from the inception of the program. Becket, a law firm that defends religious freedom, first filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Catholic parish preschools of the Archdiocese of Denver in August 2023. A federal court in June 2024 ruled that Colorado state discriminated against the Catholic preschools, but ultimately the courts upheld the state's exclusion of them. The presc...
Portrait of Russell M. Nelson, 17th president of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. / Credit: Deseret News, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 1, 2025 / 18:37 pm (CNA).A small Catholic church in Heber City, Utah, will offer a Mass for the repose of the soul of Russell M. Nelson, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), who died on Sept. 27 at the age of 101.St. Lawrence Catholic Church, a mission church of St. Mary's in Park City, will celebrate the Mass at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2. The community will pray a rosary for the repose of his soul at 8:45 a.m. before the weekday Mass begins.Catholics offer prayers for the dead to ask God to grant graces to the recently deceased for the purification of their souls, which may not be complete at the moment of the person's death.The church extended an "open invitation" to everyone in the Heber Valley community to attend the Mass in a message posted to Fac...
Monsignor Melchor Sánchez de Toca, relator of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. / Credit: Diocese of VitoriaACI Prensa Staff, Oct 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Speaking at the School of Theology of Northern Spain in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the relator for the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Monsignor Melchor Sánchez de Toca, noted that the lives of the canonized saints "raise incisive questions that pierce our conscience.""Our hope lies in the beauty of a life lived to the fullest and its power to attract. The saints appear before us with the radiance of a life that attracts and invites," he emphasized at an academic event on Sept. 26 marking the beginning of the school year.During his inaugural lecture, Sánchez de Toca also stated that "the saints, along with Christian art, are the Church's true apologetics. They are the credibility of the Gospel, incarnated not in ideas but in people of flesh and blood, because they reflect Christ.""There are lives of servants of God ...
Pope Leo XIV gives a blessing to all those present at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 1, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNAVatican City, Oct 1, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday expressed his concern over the recent violent clashes between law enforcement and young protesters in Madagascar, which have left several dead and around 100 injured. Following the catechesis at the general audience on Oct. 1, the pontiff said: "Let us pray to the Lord that all forms of violence may always be avoided and that the constant pursuit of social harmony may be fostered through the promotion of justice and the common good."Madagascar is experiencing a serious social and political crisis following a series of mass protests that have left at least 22 dead and more than 100 injured. The demonstrations, led mostly by young people, erupted in the capital, Antananarivo, due to prolonged power and water outages that have affected the population for weeks. T...
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu (right) waits prior to the start of a consistory during which 20 new cardinals are to be created by Pope Francis on Aug. 27, 2022, in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. / Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty ImagesVatican City, Oct 1, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV said he will not interfere in the court case of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the former deputy Vatican secretary of state convicted of embezzlement, aggravated fraud, and abuse of office.In response to a journalist who asked the pontiff about the "Becciu trial" on Tuesday evening outside Castel Gandolfo, Leo said "the trial must go forward" and that "he has no intention of interfering" in the legal proceedings underway. The pope's comments were made about one week after the commencement of Becciu's hearing before the Vatican Court of Appeal on Sept. 22, nearly two years after his conviction by the Vatican City State criminal court.In December 2023, after a two-and-...
Nigerian security officers during a military operation ahead of the gubernatorial elections in Benin City, Edo, Nigeria, on Sept. 17, 2020. / Credit: Oluwafemi Dawodu/ShutterstockACI Africa, Oct 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Testimonies of Nigerians kidnapped by jihadist Fulani herdsmen have revealed that hundreds of Christians are still being held by the Islamist group in the infamous Rijana Forest in the southern part of Nigeria's Kaduna state.In a statement shared with ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, on Sept. 28, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) decried the persecution of Christians allegedly being held near a military post and said the victims must be freed.Intersociety researchers quoted a report by TruthNigeria earlier this month called "Inside Rijana: Nigeria's Forest of Hostage" that gathered testimonies from victims of jihadist attacks who reported being marched to the infamous Rijana enclave, a sprawling settlement hidd...
A student workshop at the College of St. Joseph the Worker in Ohio, which will now receive a $5 million grant to expand to West Virginia. / Credit: College of St. Joseph the WorkerCNA Staff, Sep 30, 2025 / 12:56 pm (CNA).A West Virginia circuit court judge has tossed out a lawsuit aiming to block a state government agency from providing a $5 million grant to an Ohio Catholic trade school.Judge Richard Lindsay said in the Sept. 25 ruling that the seven-figure grant from the West Virginia Water Development Authority was constitutional, nixing the effort by the American Humanist Association to block the funds for the College of St. Joseph the Worker in Steubenville, which is looking to expand into West Virginia.Lindsay had blocked the grant in July after the secular humanist group argued in its lawsuit that the state government's grant would violate Article III of the West Virginia Constitution.That section forbids the government from using tax funds "for the erection or repair of...
Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Sept. 11, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Sep 30, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV responded with a father's heart to a 21-year-old Roman medical student who asked him "What does the future hold for us?" and "What can young people do to aspire to a better world, when there is so much injustice, tragedy, and war today?"Veronica, whose dream is to be a doctor, wrote a letter to Leo XIV asking him these and other questions. She pointed out to him that all the current problems make it seem "impossible to live in peace," according to the September issue of Piazza San Pietro magazine.After encouraging Veronica to fulfill her dream of serving "the weakest and most unfortunate," the Holy Father noted that her "questions are those on the hearts of many of your contemporaries. It is true that we live in difficult times: Evil seems to overwhelm our lives, wars claim more innocent victims.""But all this must not make us lose hope for a better...
