Top Islamist leader promises Christians no Sharia ahead of Bangladesh election

Shafiqur Rahman, leader of the largest Islamist politicial party in Bangladesh. | Credit: Delwar Hossain/Wikimedia (CC0)Jan 22, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).As Bangladesh heads toward a crucial general election on Feb. 12, the country's largest Islamist party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, has offered an unusual assurance to religious minorities, pledging that it would not impose Islamic Sharia law if it comes to power.Shafiqur Rahman, the leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, made the promise during a meeting on Jan. 14 with Christian leaders in Dhaka, according to participants in the discussion. The statement has sparked debate across the country, where Jamaat's Islamist ideology and past positions appear to stand in tension with the pledge."He promised that they will not run the country under Sharia law," said Martha Das, general secretary of the National Christian Fellowship of Bangladesh, who was part of a 20-member Christian delegation that met Rahman. She told EWTN News that Chri...

First meeting with Pope Leo XIV marks new chapter for Church in Africa

The SECAM delegation, (left to right) Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza, Archbishop José Manuel Imbamba, and Father Rafael Simbine, meets with Pope Leo XIV on Jan. 17, 2026, at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican MediaJan 22, 2026 / 08:00 am (CNA).The president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) has described the first official audience between Pope Leo XIV and the leadership of the Church in Africa as a "very important meeting" that marks a new phase in relations between the African continent and the Holy See.In an interview with Vatican News following the Jan. 17 audience, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo explained that although Pope Leo XIV has previously encountered individual African bishops, the audience represented the first formal engagement with the SECAM leadership under the new pontificate. The meeting, initially scheduled for Dec. 18, 2025, was postponed due to the pope's apostolic trip to Turkey.The SECAM deleg...

Fact check: Are there more Gen Z Catholics than Protestants?

Catholic students attend SEEK in January 2026. | Credit: FOCUSJan 22, 2026 / 09:00 am (CNA).Multiple news reports have said the number of Generation Z Catholics is surging in the United States. ZENIT, an international Catholic news service, and Magisterium AI, a Catholic artificial intelligence agency, cited data from the 2023 Cooperative Election Study (CES) finding there are more Gen Z adults who identify as Catholic than those who identify as Protestant.Claim: Among Gen Z, those born roughly between 1997 and 2012, Catholics outnumber Protestants for the first time in the United States.The CES report found that in 2023 the group was made up of 21% Catholics, compared with 19% Protestants. But other researchers dispute the data based on its sampling methods. A spokesperson for CES could not immediately be reached.EWTN News finds: There are likely still more Protestant young adults than Catholics, although available quantitative and anecdotal data on the question is ...

Nigerian government urged to secure release of 167 worshippers abducted from churches

Rev. Daniel Bagama was among four people abducted from Ungwan Danladi village in Kajuru LGA by assailants who spoke the Fulani language and who are demanding ransoms of 20 million Naira ($14,000), according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). | Credit: Photo courtesy of Kaduna Political AffairsJan 21, 2026 / 16:26 pm (CNA). Christin Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a U.K.-based human rights organization, has called on Nigerian authorities to "secure the release" of 167 worshippers reportedly abducted during coordinated attacks on three churches in Kurmin Wali community, Kajuru local government area (LGA) of Kaduna state.In a Tuesday, Jan. 20, report shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, CSW leadership condemned the mass abduction that reportedly took place on Jan. 18 while worshippers were attending Sunday church services.According to the report, attempts by CSW Nigeria staff to access the community to verify the incident were blocked by the ...

Health spending bill would keep ban on tax-funded abortion

An unborn baby at 20 weeks. | Credit: Steve via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)Jan 21, 2026 / 15:49 pm (CNA).A federal health spending bill would impose a long-enforced ban on using taxpayer funds for elective abortion, known as the Hyde Amendment.The U.S. House is set to consider the bill this week, which would fund the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. Lawmakers would need to pass spending bills in both chambers and send them to the White House by Jan. 30 or the government could face another partial shutdown.Republican President Donald Trump had asked his party to be "flexible" in its approach to the provision in a separate funding bill. According to a Jan. 19 news release from the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill includes the provision "protecting the lives of unborn children" known as the Hyde Amendment.The Hyde Amendment, which is not permanent law, was first included as a rider in federal spending...

Thousands gather at Bangladesh Marian shrine where villagers were saved during 1971 war

Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur celebrates Mass at the Shrine of Mary the Protector on Jan. 16, 2026. | Credit: Stephan Uttom RozarioJan 21, 2026 / 12:00 pm (CNA).Thousands of pilgrims gathered at a Marian shrine in northern Bangladesh on Jan. 16 to express gratitude to Mary for protecting villagers during the country's 1971 War of Independence.The annual pilgrimage at Nabai Battala village in the Rajshahi Diocese concluded a nine-day novena with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur. The pilgrimage commemorates an incident during Bangladesh's war for independence from Pakistan when Pakistani soldiers surrounded the village church but left without harming anyone inside."It is not like this that Mother Mary does not listen to anyone's prayers," Tudu said in his homily. "The people of Nabai Battala have already received the grace of Mother Mary. During the War of Independence in 1971, they trusted Mother Mary to save their lives. And Mother Mary has indeed prot...

Catholics remain the largest religious group across Latin America, Pew says

The traditional procession of Holy Week takes place annually in Ayacucho, Peru. | Credit: Milton Rodriguez/ShutterstockJan 21, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).A Pew Research Center report found Catholics remain the largest religious group across Latin America despite increases in other religious identities.The report, "Catholicism Has Declined in Latin America Over the Past Decade," draws on a nationally representative face-to-face survey of 6,234 adults conducted from Jan. 22 to April 27, 2024, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. The analysis was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world.The research released Jan. 21 found that Latin American adults are more religious than adults in many other countries Pew has also surveyed in recent years, especially in Europe where many adults have left Christianity since childhood.Pew analyzed the...

Pope Leo XIV meets FSSP leaders amid visitation, 'Traditionis Custodes' fallout

Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter Superior General Father John Berg (right) is accompanied to a Jan. 19, 2026, audience with Pope Leo XIV by Father Josef Bisig (center), a co-founder of the FSSP and its first superior general. | Credit: Vatican MediaJan 20, 2026 / 16:37 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV and leaders of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), a community dedicated to the traditional Roman rite, held a "cordial half-hour meeting" on Monday, Jan. 19, at the apostolic palace.The priestly fraternity said in a Jan. 20 statement that the Holy Father received in private audience its superior general, Minneapolis-born Father John Berg. Also present was Father Josef Bisig, a co-founder of the FSSP and its first superior general, who now serves as rector of the FSSP's Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Texas.The FSSP is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right founded in 1988 by priests who broke with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the Society of ...

Catholic Church provides pastoral care to victims of tragic train accident in Spain

The Catholic Church in the Córdoba province of Spain is helping victims and their families after a high-speed train accident on Jan. 18, 2026, left at least 42 people dead and dozens injured. | Credit: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty ImagesJan 20, 2026 / 17:07 pm (CNA).Following a tragic train accident that occurred on Sunday evening, Jan. 18, in the Spanish town of Adamuz in the Córdoba province, the Catholic Church is providing pastoral care for those affected.In addition to the help offered immediately after the accident by the local parish priest and the provision of diocesan resources by Bishop Jesús Fernández of Córdoba after he visited the scene of the accident on Monday morning, the diocese has assigned a team of three priests to the area.The priests, Leopoldo Rivero, Francisco J. Granados, and Manuel Sánchez, will remain at the Poniente Sur Civic Center in Córdoba, the support center for the families of the victims, for as long as needed.In a statement, the diocese emph...

OneLife LA 2026 to gather thousands for life, family, and faith in Los Angeles

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will present its 12th annual OneLife LA event on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. In 2025 there was no walk, only a aathedral event indoors, because of heavy smoke in the air from the L.A. wildfires. | Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Los AngelesJan 20, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will present its 12th annual OneLife LA event on Saturday, Jan. 24, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. The day will highlight a variety of life and family issues, including advocating for the protection of the unborn. The event includes a roster of speakers and performers beginning at 2 p.m. followed by a Walk for Life at 3 p.m. and a Requiem Mass for the unborn celebrated by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez at 5 p.m.In addition to Gómez, each of the auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese's five pastoral regions typically attend, as well as bishops in neighboring dioceses.In ...