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CNA Staff, Jun 18, 2025 / 12:27 pm (CNA).

A priest in California has been arrested and charged with acts of child sex abuse that reportedly occurred through the 1990s. 

Police arrested Father Theodore Gabrielli last week on charges of aggravated sexual assault of a minor, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office said in a post on X on Tuesday. 

Authorities identified three alleged male victims of the priest, the sheriff's office said; all three were members of the same family. 

At the time of the alleged abuse, "the family was living in Mexico" where they allegedly befriended Gabrielli. 

"The priest became close with the family, and he was allowed to take the three boys with him to many places in California including his parents' residence in Los Osos," the sheriff's office said. "It was there, the victims stated, the priest would sexually assault them." 

The alleged assaults "continued over the course of about eight years," reportedly between 1991 and 1999. The victims "decided to come forward last year and report the abuse," the statement added. 

Gabrielli was arrested in Los Osos on June 12.

The 2023 Archdiocese of Los Angeles directory listed Gabrielli as residing at the Dolores Mission. As recently as June 1 he was listed as a member of the Loyola High School Los Angeles board of directors, though his listing had been removed as of June 18. 

His name has also apparently been removed from the staff directory of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Diego. 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gabrielli's arrest.

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Vatican City, Jun 18, 2025 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on June 18 renewed his strong call for peace, urging people to not "get used to war."

Addressing pilgrims at the end of Wednesday's general audience, the pontiff lamented that "the Church is brokenhearted at the cry of pain rising from places devastated by war."

In particular, he focused on the conflicts in Ukraine, Iran, Israel, and Gaza. "We must not get used to war!" he exclaimed from St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

In this context, he emphasized that "the temptation to have recourse to powerful and sophisticated weapons needs to be rejected."

He then cited the Second Vatican Council noting that in modern warfare, "every kind of weapon produced by modern science is used in war, the savagery of war threatens to lead the combatants to barbarities far surpassing those of former ages."

"For this reason, in the name of human dignity and international law, I reiterate to those in positions of responsibility the frequent warning of Pope Francis: 'War is always a defeat!'" the pontiff said, quoting his predecessor.

Finally, he also recalled the words of Pope Pius XII, who reiterated that "nothing is lost in peace. Everything may be lost in war."

Pope Leo XIV's remarks come a day after Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

Authorities have confirmed 23 fatalities, and the Ukrainian Air Force claims to have neutralized 30 of the 58 drones launched in another attack carried out against its territory early Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire has not held in Gaza, and more than 50,000 people have died in the territory since the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas began.

The conflict has spilled onto different fronts, most recently with Israel and Iran trading attacks.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Jun 17, 2025 / 11:16 am (CNA).

A group of Orthodox churches has joined the Catholic bishops of Washington state in suing the government over its requirement that clergy either violate the seal of confession or face jail time.

The Orthodox Church in America, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, and numerous other Orthodox jurisdictions on Monday sued dozens of public officials in the state challenging the constitutionality of its mandatory reporter law.

Signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on May 2, the law goes into effect July 27 and adds clergy to Washington's list of mandatory reporters for child abuse but explicitly denies them the "privileged communication" exemption granted to other professionals, such as nurses and therapists.

Priests who fail to report abuse learned in confession could face up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

In a lawsuit filed last month in federal district court, the Catholic bishops of the state emphasized the Church's commitment to child protection while defending the inviolability of the confessional seal.

The Orthodox leaders in their lawsuit similarly argued that Orthodox priests "have a strict religious duty to maintain the absolute confidentiality of what is disclosed in the sacrament of confession."

"Violating this mandatory religious obligation is a canonical crime and a grave sin, with severe consequences for the offending priest, including removal from the priesthood," the suit says.

The state's law explicitly allows for numerous other exemptions for those otherwise required to report child abuse. Washington "is now the only state whose mandatory reporter law explicitly overrides the religious clergy-penitent privilege" while allowing the other exemptions, the lawsuit says.

The Orthodox leaders said they "do not object to alerting authorities when they have genuine concerns about children that they learn outside of confession." Rather, they are demanding that the state "give the clergy-penitent privilege the constitutional protection it is due as a fundamental religious obligation."

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, claims the state's law violates the First and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. It asks the court to block the law and declare it unconstitutional. 

Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly in a statement last month vowed that clergy would not break the seal of confession, even if it meant jail time.

"I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishops and priests, are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail," Daly said in his message to the faithful. "The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane."

The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the law on May 6, calling it an "anti-Catholic" measure.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon described it as a "legislative attack on the Catholic Church and its sacrament of confession," arguing it singles out clergy by denying them privileges afforded to other professionals.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 17, 2025 / 11:54 am (CNA).

Father Marcello Lanza of the International Association of Exorcists (IAE) recently honored Father Gabriele Amorth on the 100th anniversary of Amorth's birth as "the most famous exorcist of the 20th century."

"Don Amorth was the most famous exorcist of the 20th century because, with his great love for the 'poorest of the poor,' he was not afraid of attracting negative preconceptions by communicating to the entire world the suffering that many believers were experiencing due to extraordinary diabolical phenomena," Lanza wrote in an article published this month on the IAE website.

The Italian priest, who knew the late exorcist, emphasized that "one of his main warnings was to point out the presence of Satan behind the seemingly harmless phenomenon of magic."

Amorth, who was born on May 1, 1925, "exposed the work of Satan behind the illicit activities of magicians, the hidden danger behind spiritualist seances, the spread of Satanism and black masses, but above all, he reestablished the thorny question of evil in theology."

Why was he so outspoken?

Lanza explained that "from analyzing his writings, his interviews, but above all from having met him, it is clear that he was motivated by love for humanity. Furthermore, his writing apostolate, dedicated to demonology and practice of exorcism, was based solely on the profound charity he felt toward Satan's victims, both baptized and unbaptized."

"The psychological aspects of his strong and stable personality helped him not to be afraid to speak about Satan everywhere, from the pulpit to television. But what made him famous was his mystical life, through which he reminded the world that those being exorcised needed the love of the Church."

In Lanza's opinion, "the power of [Amorth's] priestly service was experienced when he helped those exorcised to free themselves from many cursed objects expelled during the liturgical action of the exorcisms, restoring them to peace and serenity."

This is what Amorth did, the exorcist continued, "reminding even more the theologians who denied the existence of Satan and his extraordinary action that this experience belongs to the exorcist liturgical magisterium."

"In Father Amorth's spiritual experience, the mystical life is in authentic conformity to Christ, which involves," as Amorth explained in "The Sign of the Exorcist" (2013), "a choice that entails a great spiritual battle. Because by choosing Christ, the devil is unleashed," Lanza emphasized.

After noting that "the mystical life and the fight against Satan are inseparable," as the late Pope Francis recalled on various occasions throughout his pontificate, Lanza thanked Amorth "for having reminded the Church and theologians that the mystery of redemption is, above all, liberation from Satan, the enemy of God and humanity, constantly acting against man because he is envious of man."

Who was Gabriele Amorth?

Amorth, born May 1, 1925, in Modena, Italy, was an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome.

In 1937, at just 12 years of age, he discovered his vocation to the priesthood thanks to his active participation in parish Catholic Action and the San Vincenzo Association.

In 1942, he traveled to Rome to meet with the Passionist order, which he wished to join because he felt drawn to community life. However, the Passionists did not have a room for him, so he was accommodated by the Society of St. Paul, the congregation in which he would be ordained a priest in 1954.

He worked in the Spiritual Assistance Office of the Vicariate of Rome and as a chaplain in Regina Caeli prison. He was responsible for the formation of young aspirants and religious of the Society of St. Paul.

In 1986, he was appointed chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome by Cardinal Ugo Poletti. In 1990, he founded the International Association of Exorcists and was president until his retirement at the age of 75.

Amorth said he performed tens of thousands of exorcisms. He was known for his practical approach and for reaffirming the existence of the devil and demons. He warned about the consequences of Ouija boards, astrology, and other occult practices.

Amorth was the author of several books, including "An Exorcist Tells His Story," "An Exorcist: More Stories," and "Exorcism and Psychiatry." He also frequently contributed to television and radio programs and was consulted by the Vatican on matters related to exorcism.

Amorth died on Sept. 16, 2016, in Rome at the age of 91. Following the release of the trailer for the film "The Pope's Exorcist," supposedly based on Amorth's life, Father José Antonio Fortea, an expert in demonology, explained that the production is an exaggeration of reality and is a distortion of the power of the devil.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Vatican City, Jun 17, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).

In an unexpected visit, Hollywood actor Al Pacino was received by Pope Leo XIV on June 17 at the Vatican, according to photos shared on Instagram by Italian film producer Andrea Iervolino.

Pacino and Iervolino are currently in Italy filming their next movie, which is dedicated to the origins of the iconic Maserati automobile brand. The film, "The Brothers," which chronicles the vicissitudes of the Maserati brothers, stars the Oscar-winning actor and is produced by Iervolino.

During the private audience with the pontiff, Leo was presented with a miniature model of a Maserati vehicle, a symbol of the Italian design-and-engineering legacy.

The Holy See Press Office has not issued an official statement about the meeting, nor has it confirmed it. Iervolino's social media post, which is accompanied by a photo of the meeting, shows Pacino and Iervolino smiling next to the pope, who is holding the small replica of the car.

In a press release posted on social media, Iervolino stated: "We are honored to announce that this morning His Holiness Pope Leo XIV received in private audience at the Holy See a delegation from the film Maserati."

He also stated that the meeting "was a moment of profound spiritual and cultural inspiration, centered on the shared values ??that are at the heart of both the Catholic Church and the film: family unity, love, compassion, and the importance of contributing to the common good."

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Lima Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 09:42 am (CNA).

Bernardo García, executive director of the Casablanca Declaration, a coalition that calls for the universal abolition of surrogacy, said that in reality the practice amounts to "the exploitation of poor women and the sale of children." The Casablanca Declaration takes its name from a conference on the subject held in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2023.

García spoke to "EWTN Noticias," the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News, during the coalition's third summit, held last week in Lima, Peru, with specialists in bioethics, law, and communications participating.

García emphasized that the Casablanca Declaration "is an NGO [nongovernmental organization] that informs about the risks and dangers of surrogacy worldwide and actively promotes an international treaty at the United Nations level to abolish this practice."

"We believe that the authorities, as well as the public, need to be aware of the reality of this market, because it is often presented as an alternative fertility technique, as an alternative adoption technique, but this is really the exploitation of poor women and the sale of children," he emphasized.

García pointed out the importance of banning surrogacy, a practice in which several Latin American countries have become the center of operations in recent years.

According to García, the Casablanca Declaration brings together specialists from more than 80 countries and was launched in response to the global growth of surrogacy, an industry valued at $22.4 billion in 2024, according to Global Market Insights.

A practice that violates the rights of women and babies

Lorena Bolson, dean of the Institute of Family Sciences at Austral University in Argentina, explained that surrogacy "involves a violation of all kinds of rights, both for the woman who carries the child and, above all, for the child, who ends up being the most forgotten one."

Commissioning parents are the ones who contract for the baby. María Carrillo, a professor at Pan American University in Mexico, noted: "There are homosexual couples who resort to this practice because they naturally cannot have children. There are also heterosexual couples with infertility problems, and even single people... As long as they can afford it, they can access it."

In Mexico, the states of Tabasco and Sinaloa allow surrogacy. Carrillo noted that it also is done in other states, although illegally. The majority of those seeking Mexican women for this purpose are primarily from the United States, Spain, and Asia.

Mexico "is a country with very high poverty rates, and there are women who are truly in desperate, vulnerable situations who seek this practice as a means to support their families," Carrillo indicated.

Argentina and Uruguay

Women who agree to become surrogates often sign contracts imposed by intermediary companies. Verónica Toller, national director of the Fight Against Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Argentina, follows these contracts closely.

"We are talking about human trafficking with contracts that [make the surrogate] absolutely subservient," Toller said. "The Argentine justice system considers women bound by these contracts to have been reduced to servitude where there was economic violence, health-related violence, where the woman is abandoned if she loses the baby, for example, by not being responsible for her subsequent medical care."

Sometimes, she continued, "by order of the commissioning parents, babies are selectively discarded and aborted."

In Uruguay, surrogacy is legal under certain conditions. As Sofía Maruri, a lawyer and human rights consultant, explained: "It is permitted for women who demonstrate that they cannot become pregnant due to fertility issues and can ask a relative, such as their mother or sister, to bear a child in their place, as long as the condition is that no money is involved."

This case is known as "altruistic" surrogacy, in which the commissioning parents must cover the surrogate's medical and food expenses.

Tragedy of surrogacy in Ukraine

One of the countries where surrogacy is legal is Ukraine. According to data from Casablanca, the cost of surrogacy in Ukraine ranges between $60,000 and $80,000, while in the United States it can reach $150,000. Therefore, many commissioning parents seek Ukrainian women, even in the midst of the conflict there.

In poor countries, surrogate mothers typically receive between $10,000 and $20,000. They must be between 25 and 35 years old and have had at least one child previously.

Faced with the pain of couples who want to have children but cannot, specialists at the Casablanca Declaration encourage them to opt for adoption.

In 2024, during the Second Casablanca Conference in Rome, the organizers met with Pope Francis, who encouraged them to continue defending human rights.

In the United States, surrogacy is governed by laws that vary from state to state. 

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Jun 17, 2025 / 10:37 am (CNA).

The New Jersey government will be allowed to assemble a grand jury to investigate allegations of clergy sexual abuse there, the state Supreme Court said Monday.

In a unanimous ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court said a lower court had erred when it held the state could not empanel the jury, with the high court stating that the government "has the right to proceed with its investigation and present evidence before a special grand jury."

The lower court had said in part that any findings from the grand jury could be "fundamentally unfair" because any priests accused in it would lack the ability to adequately challenge the allegations.

But the Supreme Court said it was up to judges to decide if any report complied with prevailing legal standards. Courts "cannot and [do] not decide the ultimate question in advance," the ruling said.

The court's decision comes just over a month after the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, said it would drop its fight against the state's efforts to empanel the grand jury.

Camden Bishop Joseph Williams last month said he intended to "do the right thing" for abuse victims. The Camden Diocese had been embroiled in a yearslong fight with the state over the potential grand jury empanelment.

Williams' abandonment of the fight came just several weeks after he assumed the bishopric there on March 17.

The diocese had previously argued in part that New Jersey "cannot convene a grand jury to return a presentment unless it addresses public affairs or conditions, censures public officials, or calls attention to imminent conditions." Years-old clergy abuse allegations did not meet these standards, the diocese had said.

In a letter in the Catholic Star Herald last month, Williams said he was "new to being a diocesan bishop and new to the complex legal arguments and proceedings involved" in the ongoing case. Prior to his March 17 appointment, he served as coadjutor bishop of the Camden Diocese.

A grand jury was famously empaneled in Pennsylvania from 2016 to 2018 to investigate abuse allegations in multiple dioceses of that state.

That report, released in August 2018, revealed allegations of abuse against more than 300 priests involving more than 1,000 children in the state.

Remarking on that data, the jurists said in their report: "We believe that the real number — of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward — is in the thousands."

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Rome Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 06:47 am (CNA).

The town of Castel Gandolfo has said Pope Leo XIV will again partake in the centuries-long tradition of spending a summer vacation at the lakeside papal residence in the Alban Hills south of Rome.

The Vatican has not responded to a request for confirmation, but a spokeswoman for the small town, Giulia Agostinelli, told CNA Leo will arrive sometime during the first week of July.

Pope Francis in 2013 broke with the papal practice of escaping the Roman heat in Castel Gandolfo, with its extensive gardens, preferring to remain at his Vatican residence, Santa Marta, even during the summer.

Francis opted to turn the papal summer residence into a museum. It opened to the public in 2016.

The gardens of the papal residence, called the Barberini Gardens, were opened to the public in 2014 as a way to increase revenue for the town, which thrived on tourism brought by visitors who came to see the pope during his stay.

For Benedict XVI, the villa was a favorite summer getaway during his pontificate. It was conceded to the Holy See as one of their extraterritorial possessions under the Lateran Pact of 1929.

The villa served as the papal summer residence since the pontificate of Urban VIII during the 17th century. It has a small farm created by Pope Pius XI, which produces eggs, milk, oil, vegetables and honey either for local employees, or for sale in the Vatican supermarket.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:49 pm (CNA).

Children's Hospital Los Angeles will close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development and its transgender surgical program in July, citing federal and state-level funding pressures.

The hospital told families in an email that there was "no viable alternative" to closing the clinic, one of the nation's largest, citing "the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies," including an executive order issued by President Donald Trump earlier in the year.

The center's last day of operation will be July 22, according to the email, which was signed by clinic leaders including Paul Viviano and Kelly Johnson.

Earlier this year several hospitals in the United States suspended their child transgender programs after Trump's order "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," which moved to halt the "maiming and sterilizing [of] a growing number of impressionable children" due to transgender ideology.

The executive order directed that medical institutions that receive federal research or education grants must not participate in the "chemical and surgical mutilation of children."

The clinic leaders in their letter this week further cited directives from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and inquiries from federal authorities regarding quality standards at the children's hospital as well as a May review on medical protocols from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Those factors, along with the FBI's solicitation of tips to report hospitals performing transgender procedures on children, "strongly signal this administration's intent to take swift and decisive action, both criminal and civil, against any entity it views as being in violation of the executive order," the letter states.

The leaders said they would be hosting meetings in the coming days to discuss the looming closure.

According to a CDC study published last year, 3.3% of all U.S. high schoolers "identify as transgender," with a further 2.2% of high schoolers "questioning" their "gender identity."

Numerous U.S. states have moved lately to limit transgender procedures for minors, including surgical procedures and chemical prescriptions such as puberty blockers.

Last December the United Kingdom similarly made permanent its ban on children receiving puberty-blocking drugs meant to facilitate "gender transition."

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CNA Staff, Jun 16, 2025 / 14:19 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the New York Court of Appeals to revisit Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a case challenging a 2017 New York state mandate requiring employers to cover abortions in health insurance plans.

The order follows the court's unanimous ruling on June 5 in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, which upheld First Amendment protections for religious organizations.

A coalition of religious groups, including the Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, the Sisterhood of St. Mary (Anglican/Episcopal nuns), First Bible Baptist Church, and Catholic Charities, sued New York state in 2017, arguing the mandate forces them to violate their belief in the sanctity of life by forcing them to fund abortions.

In 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services mandated that employer health plans cover "medically necessary" abortions. Initially, the state proposed exempting employers with religious objections, but abortion activists pressured the state for a narrower exemption that would apply only to religious groups that primarily teach religion and serve or employ only those of their own faith. 

This excluded many faith-based ministries that serve all people regardless of religious affiliation like the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm who run Teresian Nursing Home for all elderly and dying, and Catholic Charities, which offers adoption and maternity services.

Without relief, the groups face millions in fines or will have to eliminate employee health plans. 

In 2017, represented by religious liberty law group Becket and law firm Jones Day, the coalition challenged New York's mandate. After state courts upheld it, the Supreme Court in 2021 reversed those rulings, citing Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a Becket victory protecting Catholic foster care agencies.

However, New York's Court of Appeals reaffirmed the mandate in May 2024, claiming Fulton was inapplicable and ignoring the Supreme Court's ruling. At the time, Dennis Poust of the New York State Catholic Conference called the mandate "unconstitutional and unjust." Becket and Jones Day appealed again on Sept. 17, 2024.

In the Catholic Charities ruling in early June, the Supreme Court rejected Wisconsin's denial of a tax exemption to Catholic Charities for serving all without proselytizing, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor calling it a "textbook" First Amendment violation of the free exercise and establishment clauses, as it favored certain religious practices over others.

"New York wants to browbeat nuns into paying for abortions for serving all in need," said Eric Baxter, Becket's vice president. "For the second time in four years, the Supreme Court has made clear that bully tactics like these have no place in our nation or our law. We are confident that these religious groups will finally be able to care for the most vulnerable consistent with their beliefs."

Noel J. Francisco of Jones Day added: "Religious groups in the Empire State should not be forced to provide insurance coverage that violates their deeply held religious beliefs."

The case mirrors the Little Sisters of the Poor's fight against a 2011 federal contraceptive mandate, where the Supreme Court ruled three times that religious groups cannot be forced to facilitate practices against their beliefs.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has defended the mandate as essential for women's health care, labeling the plaintiffs "extremists."

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