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Vatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Renowned Korean War military chaplain and Kansas native Emil Joseph Kapaun was declared "venerable" by Pope Francis on Tuesday.

The Holy Father on Monday met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute for general affairs of the Secretariat of State, at Gemelli Hospital where the pope is currently undergoing medical treatment to approve decrees from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for six men and one woman currently on the path to sainthood.

Kapaun is one of five servants of God who will be proclaimed venerable by the Catholic Church. The others are Italian layman Salvo D'Acquisto; Miquel Maura i Montaner, a 19th-century Spanish priest; Italian priest Didaco Bessi; and Kunegunda Siwiec, a Polish laywoman who died in 1955.

The Holy Father approved Kapaun and D'Acquisto based on their "offering of life." In 2017, the pope introduced the "offering of life" category to the causes of the saints, which recognizes those who have persevered to closely follow the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and serve others "voluntarily and freely" until death.

Kapaun was born in Pilson, Kansas, on April 20, 1916, and ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita on June 9, 1940, after completing theological studies at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis.

After serving as a pastor for his home parish and as an auxiliary chaplain at the Army airbase in Herington, Kansas, Kapaun discerned a call to minister to military personnel. In 1944, he was granted permission by Bishop Christian Winkelmann to become a U.S. Army chaplain.

Outside of the U.S., Kapaun was assigned to posts in Burma and India in the final years of World War II and in Korea following the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. There he brought the sacraments to troops, tended to the injured, and prayed with soldiers in the foxholes. At times he celebrated Mass on the battlefield using the hood of a jeep as a makeshift altar.

During the Battle of Unsan, Kapaun was captured along with other soldiers and taken to a Chinese-run prison camp in Pyoktong, North Korea. While there, he regularly stole food for his fellow prisoners and tended to their spiritual needs despite a prohibition on prayer.

After being taken to what prisoners called the "death house," Kapaun died on May 23, 1951, after months of malnutrition and pneumonia. Before his death, Kapaun was recognized for both his holiness and bravery while in active service.

In March 2021, after 70 years, the skeletal remains of Kapaun were identified among 866 other unknown Korean soldiers buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. These remains were handed to American forces in 1954 by North Korea. Kapaun's funeral Mass was held on Sept. 29, 2021, at Wichita's Hartman Arena, where more than 5,000 people came together to remember him.

Pope Francis on Tuesday also approved the canonizations of two laymen: Venezuela's Blessed José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros and Italy's Blessed Bartolo Longo. The Holy Father has called for a consistory to prepare for the upcoming canonizations.

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Vatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has named two secretaries-general to serve under Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, in the Governorate of the Vatican City State, giving the Vatican's first woman president "the power to dispose and confer... specific competencies or particular tasks" on the appointees.

The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Francis had appointed Archbishop Emilio Nappa and layman Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi to serve as joint secretaries-general of the governing body of the Vatican City State.

The nomination follows the pope's appointment of Franciscan Sister Petrini as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State on Feb. 15, after she served as secretary-general of the governorate for just over three years.

Petrini, who will assume her new roles on March 1, is the first woman and non-cardinal to hold the positions — making her one of the highest-ranking women ever in the Vatican.

In Tuesday's announcement, the Vatican said Pope Francis had also granted Petrini "the power to dispose and confer, appropriately, on the aforementioned secretaries-general, specific competencies or particular tasks," appearing to give her a carte blanche to choose the responsibilities of her now two righthand men.

According to Vatican law, the secretary-general assists the president in her functions and acts as her substitute in the case of absence or impediment. It is a five-year term. During a sede vacante, the period following the death or resignation of a pope until the election of a successor, the secretary-general "shall take care of the ordinary government of the office, and, following the provisions in force for the sede vacante, shall take care of its current affairs."

The Vatican has said Pope Francis continues to carry out some light work duties while under hospital treatment for multiple respiratory infections, including double pneumonia. Though visits are extremely limited, the Vatican said on Tuesday that the pontiff had received Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and his No. 2, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, in his hospital room on Feb. 24, his 11th day of hospitalization.

The first of the two new secretaries-general, Nappa has been president of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 2022 as well as adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

The 52-year-old from Naples, Italy, has a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and worked for a time in the general affairs section of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The second appointment, Puglisi-Alibrandi, has over a decade of experience in the governorate, most recently serving as vice secretary-general since 2021. The 58-year-old lawyer was previously head of the juridical office of the governorate.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 25, 2025 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance will speak at the 20th National Catholic Prayer Breakfast (NCPB) held on Friday, Feb. 28, in Washington, D.C., the organization has announced.

"I am honored to be able to address the 20th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and represent the Trump administration's support for people of faith across the United States," Vance said in a statement.

Vance spoke about returning to the NCPB as vice president. "Last year, I was moved to witness the joyful devotion of over a thousand Catholics praying for the future and success of our country," he said.

"Thanks to their faithful prayers, President Trump's leadership has restored the hopes and dreams of the American people and our great nation is on the path to peace and prosperity once more," Vance said.

NCPB Chairman Mark Randall stated: "We are thrilled to welcome fellow Catholic JD Vance back, now as vice president, for our 20th annual gathering of fellowship and prayer. His presence is a sign of hope and openness to Catholic values and all the good that they bring to our entire nation."  

This year's keynote speaker is Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. Among the other political figures who will attend the event is New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, who will be honored with the NCPB's Christifideles Laici Award. 

The award is given out yearly by the NCPB to a layperson who demonstrates service and "good works" to the Church, according to the organization. It was created to acknowledge those following St. John Paul II's call to "spread the Gospel in ways that are new in ardor, methods, and expression." 

Smith, who is a devout Catholic dedicating his time on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to advocate for those suffering religious persecution and human trafficking, will be the sixth recipient of the award.

The NCPB events will begin Thursday evening and guest speakers will give remarks on Friday, Feb. 28, starting at 7 a.m. ET. EWTN will cover the event live and report on its presenters. 

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CNA Staff, Feb 25, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that condemned Oklahoma death row prisoner Richard Glossip be given a new trial amid concerns that he may have been wrongfully convicted of arranging an assassination nearly three decades ago.

In a 5-3 decision, the nation's highest court said prosecutors had "violated [their] constitutional obligation to correct false testimony" in the trial that led to Glossip's murder conviction in 1998. 

Glossip was convicted that year for allegedly ordering Justin Sneed to murder the owner of a hotel Glossip himself managed. The owner was found bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. Sneed, who worked as a handyman at the hotel, confessed to killing the man and alleged that Glossip had ordered the hit; Sneed himself is currently serving a life sentence. 

Sneed's testimony was the decisive factor in convicting Glossip. But prosecutors failed to disclose at trial that Sneed suffered from a psychiatric disorder and was prescribed lithium; they also allowed Sneed to falsely testify at trial that he had never seen a psychiatrist. 

"Because Sneed's testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossip's guilt, the jury's assessment of Sneed's credibility was material and necessarily determinative," the Supreme Court said this week. 

"Correcting Sneed's lie would have undermined his credibility and revealed his willingness to lie under oath," the court noted.

A "new trial is the appropriate remedy" for the violation, the ruling directed. 

The state of Oklahoma had backed Glossip in his efforts to secure a new trial. Oklahoma Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond has admitted that the state had erred in sentencing Glossip to death. 

The state asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn Glossip's conviction and grant him a new trial. That court in April 2023 refused to do so, however, and ordered Glossip's execution to proceed. Drummond at the time called that decision "remarkable and remarkably flawed."

On Tuesday, Drummond's office said in a statement that "a great injustice has been swept away."

"Our justice system is greatly diminished when an individual is convicted without a fair trial," Drummond said.

"I am pleased the high court has validated my grave concerns with how this prosecution was handled, and I am thankful we now have a fresh opportunity to see that justice is done."

Glossip has also received support from prominent Catholics. Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City last year told CNA that the Supreme Court's agreement to review Glossip's case "offers hope in furthering the cause toward one day abolishing the death penalty."

On Tuesday Coakley said via a media release that "prayers for an end to capital punishment received a boost" with the court's ruling.

The ruling "[cast] new light on [Glossip's] case from 2004 and hopefully on this inhumane method of punishment," the archbishop said. 

There is "reason for optimism that this case could shift momentum toward abolishing capital punishment in our state, which holds the highest execution rate per capita in the U.S.," the prelate added.

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, similarly said in 2023 that Glossip "should not be put to death … not ever."

"No state should have the power to take the lives of its citizens," she said at the time. "As we see in Mr. Glossip's case, the system is too broken, too cruel, too disrespecting of human dignity."

In a statement on Tuesday, Murphy said the decision was "a welcome and celebratory moment in Mr. Glossip's case."

The case "has captured the nation's attention because it shines a spotlight on so much of the brokenness in our death penalty system," she argued.

"It is my prayer that Mr. Glossip's opportunity for a new trial will enable the state of Oklahoma to prioritize a vision of justice that is rooted in healing, wholeness, and repair — rather than vengeance and retribution," she said.

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Vatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 10:55 am (CNA).

In his message for Lent 2025, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of living one's life as a constant journey of conversion, choosing to walk in peace and hope aside one's fellow humans.

"May the hope that does not disappoint, the central message of the jubilee, be the focus of our Lenten journey toward the victory of Easter," the pope said in the message, released Tuesday. 

He also quoted St. Paul's exclamation in the first letter to the Corinthians: "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 

Though Francis is in Gemelli Hospital to receive treatment for multiple respiratory infections, his Lenten message is dated Feb. 6, well ahead of his hospitalization on Feb. 14. 

The season of Lent will begin on Ash Wednesday, March 5. The Vatican said the pope continues to carry out some work duties with the help of his secretaries while in the hospital.

In his message, the pontiff wrote that this Lent is an opportunity to consider three areas where one may be in greater need of conversion: journeying with others, being synodal, and having hope.

"A first call to conversion," he said, "comes from the realization that all of us are pilgrims in this life; each of us is invited to stop and ask how our lives reflect this fact. Am I really on a journey, or am I standing still, not moving, either immobilized by fear and hopelessness or reluctant to move out of my comfort zone? Am I seeking ways to leave behind the occasions of sin and situations that degrade my dignity?"

On the virtue of hope, Pope Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which calls hope the "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul." 

"Thanks to God's love in Jesus Christ, we are sustained in the hope that does not disappoint," the pope said, adding that hope "moves the Church to pray for 'everyone to be saved' (1 Tm 2:4) and to look forward to her being united with Christ, her bridegroom, in the glory of heaven."

He recalled a prayer of St. Teresa of Ávila, to "hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one."

Francis said a good Lenten exercise and examination of conscience would be to compare one's life to a migrant or foreigner, "to learn how to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance on our journey to the house of the Father."

He also encouraged Catholics to be more synodal by journeying with others while avoiding self-absorption, exclusion, oppressing and excluding others, or being envious and hypocritical.

"Let us all walk in the same direction, tending toward the same goal, attentive to one another in love and patience," he urged.

Pope Francis said the call to hope and trust in God and in eternal life is also an important aspect of Lenten conversion. Some questions to ponder include: "Am I convinced that the Lord forgives my sins? Or do I act as if I can save myself? Do I long for salvation and call upon God's help to attain it? Do I concretely experience the hope that enables me to interpret the events of history and inspires in me a commitment to justice and fraternity, to care for our common home and in such a way that no one feels excluded?"

"This Lent, God is asking us to examine whether in our lives, in our families, in the places where we work and spend our time, we are capable of walking together with others, listening to them, resisting the temptation to become self-absorbed and to think only of our own needs," he said.

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Vatican City, Feb 24, 2025 / 07:34 am (CNA).

Pope Francis' condition remains serious but has shown "slight improvement" as he continues treatment on his 11th day in Rome's Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican said Feb. 24. The pope was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis.

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Vatican City, Feb 24, 2025 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

Monday, Feb. 24, marked three years of Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion. According to U.N. data, more than 12,600 civilians have died in the conflict, including more than 2,400 children. In addition, more than 10% of the country's housing stock has been damaged or destroyed, causing more than 2 million families to be displaced.

In this context, the apostolic nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, emphasized that, despite the pain and devastation, hope remains the only refuge for those suffering from the war.

"Pope Francis has proclaimed the Jubilee Year of Hope, and in such a horrible war, there is nothing left but hope. Military chaplains tell us that soldiers are grateful for any message of hope, because it is the only thing they have left," Kulbokas said in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.

Speaking at the apostolic nunciature in Kyiv, the representative of the Holy See in Ukraine described a country marked by suffering. "This weekend, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the war, we have many visits and events. For us, however, it's not a special date, because every day is a day of war," he said.

The normalization of the conflict has led Ukrainians to adapt psychologically to the violence. "I remember the first weeks of 2022, when the bishops spoke dramatically, not knowing whether they would live to see the next day. Now we have more psychological peace to live with, although the war is more intense and dramatic than at the beginning," he explained.

However, everyday life remains shocking. "I no longer remember the last night without a drone attack. Missile strikes are more sporadic, but drone attacks occur daily," he lamented.

One of the aspects that most worries the apostolic nuncio is the situation of the prisoners of war and civilian detainees held by Russia. "Thousands of prisoners are suffering under inhumane conditions," he decried.

The nuncio recalled, for example, the testimony of Ludmila, a 60-year-old woman who spent almost three years in a Russian prison. "For weeks she was tortured without being allowed to sleep, to the point of not being able to distinguish truth from lies. She ended up signing documents without knowing what she was doing," he related.

The lack of mechanisms for releasing civilians held in prison further aggravates the crisis. "For the military there is a system of exchange, but for civilians there is not. Their situation is much more desperate," he noted.

Vatican diplomacy has played a fundamental role in the humanitarian field. For example, in tandem with the international initiative "Bring Kids Back UA," the Holy See has managed, in a discreet way, to bring back several dozen children deported by the Russian occupation forces.

In these three years of war, Kulbokas said, Pope Francis has managed to establish a kind of mechanism to negotiate the return to Ukraine of many children deported to Russia by the occupation forces.

The president of the Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis' envoy working for peace in Ukraine, has played a fundamental role in this mission, the nuncio told ACI Prensa.

Zuppi "maintains contact with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities to address the issue of deported children and prisoners. The process is slow, since it sometimes takes months to obtain information about the minors," Kulbokas explained.

However, with the detained civilians, efforts come up against a fundamental obstacle: "Russia considers many of them Russian citizens, which makes it difficult to apply international structures for their release. The only way is persuasion, dialogue with the Russian authorities to demonstrate that these people are civilians and must be released."

The role of the international community and the future of the war

Kulbokas unequivocally criticized the ineffectiveness of the international community in finding a solution to the conflict. "There are no international structures capable of resolving the war. At the beginning, Europe may have thought that this conflict was not its problem, but when wars are not taken seriously, the conflict grows. If wars are not stopped at the outset, it's too late later on."

Despite the bitterness of the conflict, the apostolic nuncio maintains hope for a diplomatic solution. "In order for the conditions to be met that would put serious negotiations on the table, it's necessary that there not be not just one or two global actors to decide. Peace in Ukraine must be a matter for the entire international community," he indicated.

Meanwhile, Ukraine faces growing uncertainty about the support of the United States, the country that has supported it the most in recent years. The Trump administration recently ramped up its rhetoric against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

However, the Vatican diplomat avoided entering into polemics over statements by Trump. "The Catholic faithful in Ukraine feel that they cannot trust politicians, because they say one thing one day and another the next. What they expect from the Church is a clear moral position: That aggression is not justified and that life is defended," he affirmed.

Kulbokas emphasized that the mission of the Church is another: "The important thing is to proclaim the Gospel, which is life, peace, respect, and justice."

Despite the uncertainty and pain, the Vatican diplomat reiterated that international mediation is the only solution. "If we leave it to the great powers alone to decide, the solution will not be just. The only hope is for the international community to unite to put an end to this and other wars," he concluded.

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, Feb 24, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. government will not be permitted to conduct unrestricted arrests of suspected unauthorized immigrants at some religious sites while a lawsuit over the policy plays out in federal court. 

In an injunction on Monday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from carrying out "potential or actual immigration actions" at houses of worship belonging to several groups, including the Quakers and a Sikh temple in Sacramento. 

DHS under President Donald Trump last month rescinded Biden-era guidelines that previously required ICE agents to seek their superior's approval before arresting people at or near "sensitive locations" such as churches, hospitals, or schools.

The religious groups filed suit against the federal government shortly after, arguing in part that the policy's enforcement would infringe on constitutional religious rights.

The policy creates "the threat of federal officers surveilling and arresting meeting attendees, rendering [the religious groups] unable to encourage anyone who feels called to join to do so," the suit said. 

In his order on Monday, Chuang directed the federal government to re-implement the Biden administration's guidelines regarding arrests at "sensitive locations."

Chuang's ruling only bars the government from carrying out broad "immigration enforcement." The judge in his directive said the government can still perform arrests at places of worship "when authorized by an administrative or judicial warrant."

The government will be blocked from immigration enforcement at the plaintiff institutions while the lawsuit plays out in federal courts. 

In an opinion filed with the order, Chuang said he "does not question that law enforcement, when necessary, must have the ability to conduct operations in or near places of worship."

But the broad nature of the government's policy, he said, warrants the injunction "until the exact contours of what is necessary to avoid unlawful infringement on religious exercise are determined later in this case."

The ruling comes nearly two weeks after the filing of a similar lawsuit in federal court by a coalition of more than two dozen religious groups.

Those groups, which included the Mennonite Church, the Episcopal Church, the Friends General Conference, and several Jewish groups including the New York-based Rabbinical Assembly, argued that the enforcement of immigration arrests in churches was "substantially burdening the religious exercise" of the plaintiffs' congregations and members.

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Vatican City, Feb 24, 2025 / 07:34 am (CNA).

Pope Francis' condition remains serious but has shown "slight improvement" as he continues treatment on his 11th day in Rome's Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican said Feb. 24. The pope was admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Friday, Feb. 14, to undergo testing and treatment for bronchitis.

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St. Louis, Mo., Feb 24, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case challenging what are known as abortion "buffer zone" or "bubble zone" laws, which numerous municipalities have enacted to restrict pro-life ministries outside abortion clinics. 

Coalition Life, a St. Louis pro-life group, had last summer petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the buffer law enacted by Carbondale, Illinois. A federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit had earlier ruled against Coalition Life in the case. 

Coalition Life had been engaging in peaceful sidewalk counseling of women outside Carbondale's abortion clinics, offering information about free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, STD testing, and recommending "options coaching" at a pro-life pregnancy center. 

Citing what people associated with the abortion clinic described as "aggressive and misleading tactics," Carbondale had amended its "disorderly conduct" ordinance to criminalize approaching within eight feet of another person without his or her consent for purposes of protest, education, or counseling within 100 feet of a health care facility.

Coalition Life argued in its petition to the Supreme Court that its case presented an opportunity to correct a flawed precedent that undermines First Amendment rights, adding that Carbondale's attempt to moot the case by quietly repealing the ordinance highlighted the urgent need for the Supreme Court to act.

Carbondale's ordinance was modeled after a Colorado law upheld in the Supreme Court's 2000 Hill v. Colorado decision, a precedent that has faced numerous legal challenges from pro-life advocates over the years over claims that the rule chills the First Amendment right to free speech.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the Feb. 24 decision, contending that the 25-year-old Hill ruling is "defunct" and an "aberration" in First Amendment jurisprudence that has been effectively dismantled by subsequent Supreme Court rulings.

Thomas in his dissent quoted from a previous dissent from the late Justice Antonin Scalia in arguing that buffer zone laws are "obviously and undeniably content-based" and thus should be subjected to "strict scrutiny" to ensure they do not violate the Constitution.

Hill v. Colorado altered the Supreme Court's First Amendment jurisprudence "precisely to disfavor 'opponents of abortion' and their 'right to persuade women contemplating abortion that what they are doing is wrong," Thomas argued. He noted that since 2000, lower courts have felt compelled to uphold Hill-like buffer zones around abortion clinics across the country.

The Supreme Court is responsible for resolving that confusion, "and we should have done so here," he wrote.

"This court has received a number of invitations to make clear that Hill lacks continuing force … I would have taken this opportunity to explicitly overrule Hill. For now, we leave lower courts to sort out what, if anything, is left of Hill's reasoning, all while constitutional rights hang in the balance," Thomas wrote. 

Brian Westbrook, founder and executive director of Coalition Life, said in a statement Monday that the court's decision not to hear the case will make it harder for pro-life people across the country to communicate to women that they have options other than abortion. 

"As we expand our operations to serve more women across the United States, we will continue to go wherever we are called. Our appeal may have been denied but across this nation, at hundreds of abortion facilities, a different sort of tragic 'denial' continues," Westbrook said. 

"Cities and states across America are denying sidewalk counselors and law-abiding citizens their rights to inform women about their options ... Women are being denied true choice as they are bullied into the only option that is offered by the abortion advocates."

In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear a similar case, which challenged a "bubble zone" ordinance in Westchester County, New York. The Supreme Court has ruled in the past, however, against very large buffer zones, striking down a 35-foot buffer zone ordinance in Massachusetts in McCullen v. Coakley in 2014. 

In 2020, however, the high court turned away challenges to eight-foot and 20-foot buffer zones in Chicago and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, citing the Hill precedent.

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