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President Donald Trump says he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about imprisoned pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai in October 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of the Bradley FoundationWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2025 / 17:10 pm (CNA).Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed.White House official: Trump spoke with Xi Jinping about Jimmy Lai's releaseA White House official told EWTN News White House Correspondent Owen Jensen that U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about imprisoned pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai. According to Jensen, the official stated: "As President Trump said, Jimmy Lai should be released and he wants to see that happen." Prior to leaving for Asia, Trump had told Jensen that he would appeal to the Chinese leader for Lai's release amid concerns for his health while in solitary confinement. Lai is a Catholic entrepreneur and founder of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy tabl...
An African nun prays the rosary. On Jan. 7, 2025, two religious sisters were kidnapped in the Archdiocese of Onitsha in Nigeria. / Credit: Diego Cervo/Shutterstock.Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).President Donald Trump said he is designating Nigeria a "country of particular concern."In a social media post Oct. 31, Trump said, "Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a 'COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN'".Under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, the U.S president must designate countries that engage in or tolerate "particularly severe violations of religious freedom" as CPCs. Violations include torture, prolonged detention without charges, and forced disappearence, according to the State Department. The last CPC designations were made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in December 2023, w...
Tourists take photos as they visit the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, on August 2, 2025. / Credit: Manaure QUINTERO/AFP.ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 17:57 pm (CNA).The Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) minor basilica in Barcelona is now the tallest church in the world, standing at 535 ft., surpassing Ulm Germany's main church, whose construction began in the 14th century.According to the Sagrada Familia Expiatory Church Construction Board Foundation, as reported Oct. 30 by the Archdiocese of Barcelona, ??"the first element that forms part of the cross on the tower of Jesus Christ" was installed, marking the beginning of the final phase of construction of the church's central tower.Working at a height of more than 150 metres, the crane operators also make it possible for the Sagrada Família to keep growing and rising up towards the Barcelona sky. ?? This video takes a behind-the-scenes look at a day in the life of the Basilica's crane operators. Don't miss… pic.twitter.c...
St. Thomas Aquinas/St. John Henry Newman. / Credit: Public domainACI Prensa Staff, Oct 31, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV declared St. John Henry Newman, along with St. Thomas Aquinas, as a patron saint of the Catholic Church's educational mission in his recent apostolic letter on education, "Drawing New Maps of Hope."In the letter, the pontiff draws a connection between the two saints, separated by six centuries but united by the same mission: teaching within the Catholic Church.Paul Gordon, professor of Catholic social doctrine and contemporary history and literature at the Ángel Ayala Institute of Humanities, reflected on the Holy Father's letter in a recent conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.Union between faith and reasonAs the Scottish professor noted, both Newman and Aquinas were theologians who promoted dialogue between the sciences, especially between faith and reason, positioning the gift of faith as a guide in the search for truth.&n...
Shrine of the Queen Mother in Atibaia, Brazil. / Credit: Schoenstatt Apostolic MovementACI Prensa Staff, Oct 30, 2025 / 16:50 pm (CNA).On the occasion of the centenary of the Secular Institute of the Sisters of Mary of Schoenstatt, Germany, Pope Leo XIV has granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who visits the original Schoenstatt shrine or any shrine, church, or chapel under the care of this community.The indulgence can be obtained throughout the community's jubilee, which began on Oct. 1 and will conclude on Nov. 4, 2026."For our community, this gift of indulgence in our jubilee year is an invitation from God, through the Church, for a deeper purification of our hearts," the Schoenstatt Movement said on its website, adding: "We trust that God's grace will sustain us in a more perceptible way at the beginning of a new era for our family."The decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See states that the indulgence is granted "to members of the institute and to all the ...
Mercedes Schlapp, Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) senior fellow (left), and conservative political commentator and practicing Catholic Jack Posobiec (right) discuss Christian persecution at the Summit on Ending Christian Persecution on Oct. 30, 2025, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. / Credit: CPACWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 30, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) launched an initiative to combat Christian persecution domestically and abroad, a subject at the heart of its latest summit in Washington, D.C. CPAC hosted a Summit on Ending Christian Persecution at the Kennedy Center on Oct. 30 as a part of its wider effort to collaborate with its coalition partners to raise awareness and identify policy solutions to religious targeting of Christians."As Catholics, we are all called to help those most in need, those who are facing persecution here and across the globe," Mercedes Schlapp, CPAC senior fellow, told C...
"Use technology wisely, but don't let technology use you," Pope Leo XIV said during his address to hundreds of university students gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall on Oct. 30, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Oct 30, 2025 / 16:20 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Thursday urged young people to cultivate their "interior life" and to listen to their restlessness without "fleeing from it" or "filling it" with things that don't satisfy, lest they fall into existential emptiness."Having a great deal of knowledge is not enough if we do not know who we are or what the meaning of life is," the pope told the hundreds of university students he received Oct. 30 in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican for an event held as part of the Jubilee of the World of Education.In his message, he invited the students to rediscover the inner dimension of life and pointed out that "without silence, without listening, without prayer, even the light of the stars goes out.""We can know a great ...
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin meets with the head of government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, on Oct. 22, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of government of AndorraACI Prensa Staff, Oct 30, 2025 / 10:09 am (CNA).A delegation from the Andorran government met on Oct. 22 with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to continue discussions on the decriminalization of abortion in Andorra, a country whose co-heads of state are the bishop of the Diocese of Urgell in Spain, Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat, and French President Emmanuel Macron.The boundaries of the diocese also encompass Andorra, which is a small principality situated in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, roughly halfway between Toulouse and Barcelona.The prime minister of Andorra who heads the executive branch, Xavier Espot, and the minister of institutional relations, Ladislau Baró, traveled to the Vatican, accompanied by the country's ambassador to the Holy See, Carlos Álvarez.The ...
Kao Chih Hao, a recent Taiwanese convert to Catholicism, at Holy Rosary Parish in Taipei, Taiwan, in October 2025. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNATaipei, Taiwan, Oct 30, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).St. John Henry Newman has inspired many "Newman converts" to follow his path of conversion from Protestantism to Catholicism, including a 24-year-old Taiwanese man who is an ardent devotee of the 19th-century English saint.When Kao Chih Hao, a recent convert to Catholicism living in Taipei, heard the news that Pope Leo XIV had decided to name Newman a doctor of the Church, he said the announcement moved him deeply."After hearing this news, I almost cried," Kao said. "It's the happiest news for me in this year since I admire him so much."Kao, who works in sales for a computer hardware manufacturer and goes by the English name "Newman" after his favorite saint, spoke recently after Sunday Mass at Holy Rosary Parish in Taipei about how St. John Henry Newman helped inspire his conversion.A l...
About 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose those benefits Nov. 1. 2025, without enactment of a spending bill. / Credit: Jeff Bukowski/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 29, 2025 / 12:27 pm (CNA).Catholic charitable groups that provide food to needy families are voicing concern about the expected stoppage of federal food assistance programs as the government shutdown continues.The shutdown reached Day 29 on Oct. 29, and unless lawmakers come to an agreement by the end of the week or the executive branch finds a solution, 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose those benefits.Congress can solve the problem by either passing a stand-alone bill to fund SNAP or by passing a bill that funds the entire government. Without any action, those who would normally receive food stamps on the first of the month will not receive any ...
