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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 18:53 pm (CNA).

In an op-ed criticizing the current U.S. administration's mass deportation efforts and immigration raids, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez urged the federal government instead to take a case-by-case approach on how it handles immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Gómez, who is himself an immigrant from Mexico and a naturalized citizen of the United States, penned the op-ed in the archdiocese-run Angelus News, in which he argued that the country needs "a new national conversation about immigration."

According to Gómez, the conversation should be one that is "realistic and makes necessary moral and practical distinctions about those in our country illegally."

The archbishop wrote that he is "deeply disturbed by the reports of federal agents detaining people in public places, apparently without showing warrants or evidence that those they are taking into custody are in the country illegally," which he argued is "causing panic in our parishes and communities."

"People are staying home from Mass and work, parks and stores are empty, the streets in many neighborhoods are silent," Gómez indicated. "Families are staying behind locked doors, out of fear."

Although the archbishop said "we may agree" that the previous administration in Washington "went too far in not securing our borders" and allowed "far too many people to enter our country without vetting," he contended that the Trump administration "has offered no immigration policy beyond the stated goal of deporting thousands of people each day."

"A great nation can take the time and care to make distinctions and judge each case on its merits," the archbishop wrote.

Gómez stated that deportations for "known terrorists and violent criminals" are proper and that "we can tighten border security" and work to help employers ensure "the legal status of their employees."

The archbishop went on to call for reforming the legal immigration system "to ensure that our nation has the skilled workers it needs" and maintains a "commitment to uniting families." He further argued the government "should restore our moral commitments to providing asylum and protective status to genuine refugees and endangered populations."

In addition, Gómez wrote that the solution should include a way for people "who have been in our country for many years" to obtain legal status. He noted that two-thirds of immigrants who are in the country illegally have been here for more than a decade and some were brought here as small children.

"The vast majority of 'illegal aliens' are good neighbors, hardworking men and women, people of faith," the archbishop wrote. "They are making important contributions to vital sectors of the American economy: agriculture, construction, hospitality, health care, and more. They are parents and grandparents, active in our communities, charities, and churches."

Gómez, who has been critical of the Trump administration's mass deportation plans since the president took office, published the June 17 op-ed amid ongoing protests against immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles, the country's second most populous city. 

The protests started on June 6 after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested more than 40 immigrants in Los Angeles who were in the country illegally.

In an interview with CNA, Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge who is now resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), disputed some of the archbishop's characterizations of the Trump administration's deportation efforts. CIS, which refers to itself as a "low-immigration, pro-immigrant" think tank, has been closely aligned with many of the Trump administration's immigration initiatives.

Arthur, who is Catholic, noted that ICE arrested fewer than 50 people in Los Angeles on June 6 in a city where there are more than 900,000 immigrants who are in the country illegally. He noted that the arrests represented .004% of that population.

As Arthur sees it, the ICE raids in Los Angeles were focused on "businesses that are exploiting workers" and "individuals who have criminal histories."

"Respectfully, I think that the bishop is working off of a misinformed belief of what's happening," Arthur said.

"Many of these reports are overblown," he said. "Some of them are erroneous and some of them are just downright lies."

Arthur argued that "statements like this feed the very panic that he's attempting to address," asserting that "I haven't seen that there have been massive sweeps of individuals in the United States." 

Since President Donald Trump assumed office five months ago, ICE has deported more than 100,000 immigrants who were in the country illegally, according to the White House. The administration has also sought to encourage those in the country illegally to self-deport as well. CIS estimates that there are nearly 15 million immigrants in the country illegally.

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CNA Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 12:53 pm (CNA).

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday voted to extend protection status to a historic Catholic parish in the city, handing a win to advocates who for years have urged the local government to protect the more-than-century-old structure.

City leaders voted at their June 18 meeting to designate St. Adalbert's Parish in the Pilsen neighborhood as a Designated Chicago Landmark. The city government says that designated landmarks are subject to stricter development rules, including approval from the government regarding if, and how, they may be altered or changed.

Preservationists hailed the designation on Wednesday. "BRAVO!!" Preservation Chicago wrote in an X post on Wednesday afternoon.

The preservation group has been at the helm of efforts to preserve the church from demolition and development. They noted on Wednesday that the building has appeared on the group's "most endangered" historic property list multiple times over the years.

Ward Miller, the executive director of Preservation Chicago, told CNA that the vote demonstrates that churches like St. Adalbert's are "really fabulous monuments in our city."

"Particularly in Chicago, we had really wonderful architects that did some amazing work here," he said. "It's a great stride forward."

Miller praised the Archdiocese of Chicago for backing the recent landmark designation.

"It's wonderful to have the Archdiocese of Chicago working with us toward preservation of these great monuments," he said.

Buildings and structures like St. Adalbert's "were built by people with pennies, nickels, and dimes," he said.

"It's not just people of the Catholic faith — we all should be working toward this," he said. "I think preservation needs to be a perpetual idea."

Historic parishes struggle to stay open around U.S.

The yearslong preservation effort in Chicago underscores regular ongoing conflicts in cities around the United States where Catholics have fought to preserve historic parishes facing threats of closure and destruction.

Yearslong declines in attendance, financial troubles, and physical deterioration have rendered many once-vibrant parishes emptier and without support, oftentimes becoming liabilities for dioceses who themselves are cash-strapped.

In some cases parishioners have resorted to novel efforts to save their churches. A group of parishioners in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, last year acquired a historic church from the diocese, preserving it as a chapel and place of worship.

Earlier this year the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation announced a U.S.-based initiative to provide tens of millions of dollars to Catholic parishes and organizations across the country to "restore and endow" Catholic communities around the country "for generations to come."

Other parishes have struggled to stay afloat, such as St. Casimir in Buffalo, New York, which has mounted efforts in recent years to pay its considerable bills and remain open as a house of worship and historic site.

St. Adalbert's has seen similar efforts at preservation. The parish community dates to 1874 and has served Polish immigrants and their descendants as well as the Mexican-American community more recently.

The present soaring Gothic cathedral-style structure — designed by noted Chicago architect Henry Schlacks — was completed in 1914.

Parishioners have been fighting to preserve the structure and its surrounding buildings for years. In 2016 the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that due to "the dangerous state of repair and prohibitive costs of repair and maintenance," the parish would be "reduced to uses other than divine worship."

Among the necessary repairs was a $3 million structural restoration of the parish's two towers, the archdiocese said.

In 2019 the archdiocese announced that the building was "relegated to profane but not sordid use," meaning the parish would "no longer be a sacred space and may not be used for worship."

Advocates told CNA last year that the archdiocese had previously offered them the parish for free before withdrawing the deal, though the archdiocese sharply disputed that claim, stating that supporters of the parish "were never able to come up with a realistic plan or viable funding source for the property's acquisition, upkeep, or redevelopment."

Though it has been afforded some protection from development, St. Adalbert's may still be sold for non-Catholic use; a nondenominational church is reportedly seeking to buy the property.

The landmark protection, meanwhile, does not cover the parish's entire campus, which includes a rectory, school, and convent.

Still, Miller said, advocates are "very pleased that there appears to be a path forward."

"These are not just faith centers," he said. "They're humanitarian centers that provide things from counseling to schools to family dinners. We should all be working together to come to a common ground in preserving them.

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Dublin, Ireland, Jun 19, 2025 / 13:32 pm (CNA).

Two prominent archbishops in England have said that if the End of Life Bill set for a final vote in Parliament on Friday passes, Catholic hospices and care homes may have no choice but to shut down.

In a statement about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill about to face its Third Reading on Friday in British Parliament, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, and Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, who oversees life issues, said: "We call attention to the fact that the future of many care homes and hospices will be put in grave doubt if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill becomes law."

Nichols and Sherrington also addressed the protection amendments to the bill that have been rejected.

"Our Parliament has now rejected amendments that would have allowed such institutions not to be involved in assisted suicide," they said. "Minister Stephen Kinnock, MP [member of Parliament]; Kim Leadbeater, MP; as well as other MPs indicated that the rights that this bill will give to individuals to seek assisted suicide, and to employees to participate in an assisted suicide, are likely to trump the mission and values of institutions such as hospices and care homes."

They continued: "In other words, a right to assisted suicide given to individuals is highly likely to become a duty on care homes and hospices to facilitate it. We fear that this bill will thereby seriously affect the provision of social care and palliative care across the country."

"The insufficient protections provided by the bill, along with the tone of the discussion surrounding the amendment and comments from its sponsors, indicate a strong possibility that Catholic hospices and care homes may be compelled to participate in assisted suicide if the bill is approved."

Nichols, who has been an outspoken opponent of the Assisted Suicide Bill, and Sherrington said in their statement: "Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, but to withdraw from the provision of such care." 

The statement also addressed the damage this bill may do to the relationship that Catholic care facilities have with their local communities.  "The widespread support which hospices attract from local communities will also be undermined by these demands which, in many cases, will require these institutions to act contrary to their traditional and principled foundations," they said.

The archbishops urged the defeat of the bill. "This tragedy can only be avoided by the defeat of this bill on Friday," they said.

Representatives of Catholic care facilities have voiced their concerns in evidence provided to Parliament legislators.

St. Gemma's is a hospice in Leeds, England, and during the committee stage of the bill told MPs: "If compliance with assisted dying provision becomes a condition for NHS [National Health Service] funding, institutions like St. Gemma's may have no alternative but to cease operations entirely."

In October 2024, St. Joseph's Hospice in Hackney, East London, warned that "as a Catholic hospice, our position is that assisted dying plays no part in our specialist palliative care practice and is not consistent with our ethos or values."

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CNA Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 14:02 pm (CNA).

The man with the highest reported IQ in the world has gained attention worldwide after publicly proclaiming his Christianity on social media.

On June 17, South Korean scientist YoungHoon Kim, who claims he has an IQ of 276, the highest IQ ever recorded, posted on X: "As the world's highest IQ record holder, I believe that Jesus Christ is God, the way and the truth and the life."

His post has received 14 million views and a quarter-million likes as of Thursday, June 19.

Kim's claim to being the world's highest IQ record holder has been verified by organizations such as the Giga Society, Mensa, World Memory Championships, World Memory Sports Council (in partnership with Guinness World Records), and Official World Record.

Kim, responding to the tremendous popularity of his original post, said in another X post on June 19 that he "will use this opportunity to lead many souls to God."

"Amen. Christ is my logic," Kim, 36, said in another response to a commenter on X.

The Catholic Church teaches that God's existence can be known through reason alone, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 36): "God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason." 

This doctrine, rooted in Vatican Council I's Dei Filius, emphasizes that human reason, by observing creation's order, can ascertain God's existence, affirming that "God… can be known with certitude by the natural light of human reason from created things." 

Kim stated in February on X: "God exists. 100%," and recently suggested: "Our consciousness is not just brain activity. It may be quantum information — something that continues after death."

Kim is founder and CEO of NeuroStory, an organization dedicated to finding "AI-powered brain health solutions" and backed by the South Korean government.

He also founded the United Sigma Intelligence Association and is on the board of Lifeboat Foundation, which promotes scientific advancements while mitigating human risks from technologies like AI.

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Vatican City, Jun 19, 2025 / 15:33 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV visited the Vatican's radio transmitter station in Santa Maria di Galeria, Italy, on Thursday and thanked staff for their dedicated work in communicating the Church's mission around the world.

During the June 19 site visit, the Holy Father blessed staff working in the central radio center on the Vatican's Corpus Christi holiday and reaffirmed the "missionary value" of their work in communication.

Leo told staff he was grateful for Vatican news reports while in Africa and in Latin America as a missionary, the Holy See Press Office indicated in a telegram post on Thursday.

The last pope to visit the Santa Maria di Galeria central radio center was John Paul II in 1991. Pope Pius XII inaugurated the site in 1957, more than two decades after Pope Pius XI pioneered Vatican Radio with Italian engineer and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi in 1931.

The Holy Father also shared light refreshments with staff present Thursday morning to celebrate with them the 43rd anniversary of his June 19 priestly ordination. 

As part of his visit to Santa Maria di Galeria, a Vatican extra territory outside of Rome, Leo had the opportunity to examine the project site being studied for an "agrivoltaic system" for farming and solar energy production.

Nearly one year has passed since Pope Francis revealed his plan for the Vatican state to transition to solar energy as its main power source, as outlined in the 2024 motu proprio Fratello Sole, or "Brother Sun."

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Rome Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Advocates for sexual abuse victims say that religious art by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik should be taken down or covered up to spare victims further suffering. But Church authorities in charge of the works, which decorate prominent Catholic churches around the world, have responded to those calls in different ways. 

Rupnik has been accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of dozens of women under his spiritual care in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was briefly excommunicated by the Catholic Church in 2020 and expelled from the Jesuit order in 2023, but he remains a priest. The Vatican is still in the process of making a final judgment in his case.

Responding to calls that Rupnik's works be covered or destroyed and for reproductions to be removed from websites and publications, shrines in Europe and the U.S. have covered up their now controversial mosaics. But other institutions have taken a more tolerant approach. Some authorities, including the Diocese of Rome, are waiting to see what the Vatican does before they decide what to do with his art.

Earlier this month, the official Vatican News outlet removed images of the priest's distinctive works, inspired by artistic traditions from Eastern Christianity, from its website, after years of criticism for its use of them to illustrate pages dedicated to saints and feast days.

The Vatican's communications dicastery did not respond to a request for comment on the recent change and whether it reflected a new policy under Pope Leo XIV. Last year, the department's top official, Paolo Ruffini, defended leaving the images online, saying that to remove them would not be "the Christian response" and that he didn't want to "throw stones" at the disgraced artist.

According to the Rome-based Centro Aletti, the art and theology school founded in 1993 and previously directed by Rupnik, the workshop has 232 completed mosaic and other art projects around the world — with the vast majority concentrated in Europe, especially Italy, where there are approximately 115 installations across the country.

Centro Aletti last year called the pressure to remove works of art by the studio part of "cancel culture" and the "criminalization of art." Neither Rupnik nor the workshop responded to requests for comment for this article. 

Some calling for the art's removal or concealment say that seeing the works in places of worship can have a traumatic effect on abuse victims, particularly since Rupnik's accusers say he sexually abused them as they assisted him in the process of making his art.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors sent a letter to top Vatican officials last year urging them not to display artwork, like Rupnik's, "that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense" of those accused of abuse. 

The secretary of the commission, Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, told EWTN News in April in response to a question about the Rupnik case that "art can be a powerful tool for healing, but the content of an artwork — and especially the identity of its creator — can be re-traumatizing for someone who has experienced these horrific crimes [of abuse]."

Francesco Zanardi, an Italian abuse survivor and founder of Rete L'Abuso, told CNA that "in this case, [Rupnik's work] is not art, it is a symbol," which "creates problems for the victim, above all because it maintains a link between the Church and Rupnik … an inappropriate link."

"That it should be removed seems obvious to me," Zanardi added. He called it "almost offensive" how much attention is on Rupnik's artwork instead of on the harm done to the priest's alleged victims.

Others, instead, believe that Rupnik's art should be understood as separate from the man and his alleged crimes. Father Dino Battison, chaplain of the Shrine of Our Lady of Health of the Sick in the northern Italian region of Veneto, told CNA that the shrine will be leaving its Rupnik mosaics in place and visible.

"Beauty and the message are one thing… Mercy is another thing not to be forgotten," he said. "How many artists have behaved badly from a moral point of view... and how many works of art should we remove or destroy."

Rome waits on Vatican

In Rome, Rupnik's mosaics can be found in nearly four dozen locations, including a large number of parish churches as well as hospital chapels and the chapels of religious congregations and international seminaries.

The Diocese of Rome has Rupnik art in its major seminary and at the headquarters of the diocesan branch of the international charity Caritas. A diocesan spokesperson told CNA that any decision by the diocese will need to be made in conjunction with the Holy See.

The Vatican has at least three original mosaics by the artist, including in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, in the chapel of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and in the San Calisto Building in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood.

Pope Francis also had at least one image by Rupnik hanging in his apartment at the Vatican guesthouse.

CNA received no response from the Vatican Press Office or the Dicastery for Communication about what the Holy See or the pope will do about the works of art.

The Jesuit order has works by its former member in five locations in Rome: in two chapels at its general curia, in the chapel of the international seminary, and in the chapels of two residences.

Rupnik's former superior, Father Johan Verschueren, told CNA's Spanish-language news partner, ACI Prensa, that the order is not planning to remove Rupnik mosaics from Jesuit communities for the time being, treating it as an "internal problem" because they are in private chapels closed to the public.

Verschueren said opinions about the art differ by generation, and "so far, only some younger Jesuits in formation are not happy with these mosaics. For trained Jesuits it is different."

For some Jesuit priests, Verscheuren said, the mosaics "now function more as a mirror of our fallen human reality: We are all capable of great and terrible things at the same time. It humbles us and helps us realize that we are all sinners in need of salvation and mercy."

International shrines act — or don't

Rupnik's art can be found in some of the most prominent Catholic shrines around the world, including the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The second-largest cathedral in the world, the Aparecida shrine is decorated with more than 65,600 square feet of Rupnik mosaics on its exterior depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

ACI Prensa received no response from the shrine to an inquiry about the fate of the Rupnik mosaics.

At the end of March, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most popular shrines in the world, announced it would cover mosaics by Rupnik on the entrances to the shrine's main church between late March and early June. 

"A new symbolic step had to be taken to make the entrance to the basilica easier for all those who today cannot cross the threshold," Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas said at the time.

Eight months prior, the Knights of Columbus covered the priest's mosaics in the two chapels of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., and in the chapel at the Knights' headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut, a dramatic move that represented at the time the strongest public stand by a major Catholic organization regarding the former Jesuit's art.

"The No. 1 factor [in the decision] was compassion for victims," Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, told EWTN News in 2024. "We needed to prioritize victims over anything, any material thing."

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, said earlier this year it is taking a mixed approach: It has stopped using images of Rupnik's art in any online or published materials, but it will not take down the mosaics that cover the entire back wall of the shrine's largest and most modern worship space, the Basilica of the Holy Trinity.

In the southern Mediterranean island country of Malta, the Diocese of Gozo has said it is sticking to its decision not to remove a series of Rupnik mosaics from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta' Pinu, including one above the main door. 

Other prominent sites of Rupnik art

One of the most popular shrines in Italy, the shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, also features floor-to-ceiling Rupnik mosaics in its lower church, where Catholics pray at the tomb of the Capuchin saint commonly known as Padre Pio. The mosaics along the access ramp and in the crypt were completed between 2009 and 2013.

The Capuchin Franciscan friars who run the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo did not respond to CNA's question about whether they would do anything about the mosaics.

An aide to the bishop of Caltagirone in Sicily, whose cathedral church features Rupnik mosaic installations from 2015 on the back wall of the sanctuary and on the front of the altar, and whose seminary chapel features a Rupnik workshop painting dating to 2023, said there was no assessment in progress about their possible removal.

After Italy, Spain is the European country with the highest concentration of works by the priest, with at least 12 separate sites featuring his art. Among them, highlights include the Madrid Cathedral (with mosaics in the sacristy, chapter house, and chapel of the Blessed Sacrament) and the Cave Sanctuary of St. Ignatius in Manresa.

The Loyola Center in Bilbao, a religious center associated with the Society of Jesus, has several mosaics designed by Rupnik as well as a Jesuit church in Seville.

In statements to ACI Prensa, José Luis García Íñiguez, coordinator of the communications office of the Jesuits in Spain, said the order's headquarters in Rome has offered to initiate a process of reparation in an unspecified form to 20 of Rupnik's victims, but "for now, there is no firm decision on what to do and how to do it with the mosaics."

Montse Alvarado and Paola Arriaza contributed to this report.

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Vatican City, Jun 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

On June 23, there will be an exclusive presentation at the Vatican of the fourth episode of the fifth season of "The Chosen," the successful series based on the life of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

According to the Holy See Press Office, next Monday at 11:30 a.m. local time in the Marconi Hall, the cast and producers of "The Chosen" will hold a press conference to discuss the innovative and impactful series.

Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus, will be in attendance for the presentation of the fifth season, titled "The Last Supper." Also present will be Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of the series; Elizabeth Tabish, who portrays Mary Magdalene in the series; George Xanthis, who plays St. John; and Vanessa Benavente, who plays the Virgin Mary.

They will also discuss the release of two feature films by "The Chosen" about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The crucifixion episode is currently being filmed in Matera, Italy.

At the press conference, details will be shared about the production and the reasons why the series has achieved international popularity on five continents, even being watched by more than 30% of nonbelievers worldwide.

That same day, at 5 p.m. local time, the Vatican premiere of the fourth episode of the fifth season will take place at the historic Vatican Film Library.

The episode is titled "The Same Coin" and features one of the most powerful scenes in the series' history: The women's last supper with the "dayenu," a beloved song sung during the Jewish holiday of Passover. 

Additionally, the Vatican announced that Roumie will present a gift from "The Chosen" to Pope Leo XIV during the June 25 general audience. Roumie met with Pope Francis twice during his pontificate.

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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ACI Africa, Jun 18, 2025 / 11:57 am (CNA).

Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi, a Congolese martyr beatified in Rome on Sunday, June 15, provides a powerful testament to the invaluable witness of the laity and youth, Pope Leo XIV said.

In his Monday, June 16, audience with pilgrims from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who traveled to participate in the beatification of Bwana Chui at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Holy Father said: "This Congolese layman highlights the precious witness of the laity and young people."

"This African martyr, in a continent rich in youths, shows how young people can be leaven for peace — peace that is unarmed and disarming," Pope Leo said about Bwana Chui, who had turned 26 in June 2007 and was murdered the following month.

The pope added: "May the long-awaited peace in Kivu, in Congo, and across all of Africa come soon — through the intercession of the Virgin Mary and Blessed Floribert."

On Nov. 15, 2024, the late Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of Bwana Chui and authorized the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to publish the decree announcing his beatification. 

Born on June 13, 1981, in the city of Goma, Floribert Bwana Chui was abducted and martyred in the same Congolese city on July 8, 2007, for standing up against corruption. 

Bwana Chui hailed from a wealthy family and studied law and economics. As a student, he joined the Community of Sant'Egidio, the Rome-based lay Catholic association dedicated to the provision of social services and arbitrating conflicts. He volunteered to reach out to street children.

He started his professional life in DRC's capital city, Kinshasa, as a claims officer at the customs and goods control agency, the Congolese Control Office. His duty was to evaluate products crossing the DRC eastern border.

In this capacity, Bwana Chui had to wrestle with a moral dilemma, that of allowing contaminated food imported from neighboring Rwanda and without proper documentation and authorization for sale entry into DRC. He chose to speak up.

In his June 16 address to the Congolese pilgrims at the Vatican, Pope Leo lauded Blessed Bwana Chui's unwavering stance against corruption, emphasizing that such moral courage is rooted in a life grounded in prayer.

"Where did such a young man find the strength to resist corruption, so deeply rooted in the current mentality and capable of unleashing violence?" the pope asked.

Blessed Bwana Chui's "decision to keep his hands clean — as a customs officer — was shaped by a conscience formed through prayer, listening to the word of God, and communion with his brothers and sisters," the pontiff said.

"He lived the spirituality of the Community of Sant'Egidio, which Pope Francis summarized with three 'Ps': prayer, the poor, and peace," Pope Leo said and went on to remember the Congolese martyr for his dedication to the poor, saying: "The poor were central in his life. Blessed Floribert had a committed relationship with street children, driven to Goma by war, disdained and orphaned."

"He loved them with the charity of Christ; he cared for them and was concerned about their human and Christian formation," the Holy Father said. "Floribert's strength grew from his faithfulness to prayer and to the poor." 

Blessed Bwana Chui was a man of peace, the Holy Father further said, and explained: "In a region as afflicted as Kivu, torn by violence, he waged his battle for peace with gentleness — serving the poor, fostering friendship and encounter in a fractured society."

"This young man, not resigned to evil, had a dream — nourished by the words of the Gospel and closeness to the Lord," the pope said. "Many young people felt abandoned and hopeless, but Floribert listened to Jesus' words: 'I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you' (Jn 14:18)."

Testimonies about Bwana Chui have indicated that he "preferred to die rather than allow through food that could harm many people."

People who knew him say he refused to be bribed and reportedly went on to destroy the expired rice. For his honesty and moral integrity, he was abducted and then murdered, according to witnesses, who recalled that he was fond of saying: "Money will disappear quickly. And what about those who would have consumed these products?"

The remains of Bwana Chui will be transferred from the Kanyamuhanga cemetery to a place where pilgrims can access them with ease. "This step will be followed by a procession and then Mass at Goma Cathedral Parish," Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele said during a June 9 press conference. 

The June 15 beatification of Bwana Chui made him the fourth blessed in the DRC after Sister Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta from the Diocese of Wamba, layman Isidore Bakanja from the Mbandaka-Bikoro Archdiocese, and Father Albert Joubert from the Diocese of Uvira, who was beatified in August 2024 alongside three Xaverian missionaries in eastern DRC.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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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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