Worldwide Catholic population up, vocations down

Pope Leo XIV is seen here at the Jubilee of Youth on August 3, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 11:48 am (CNA).On the occasion of the 99th World Mission Day, to be celebrated on Sunday, Oct. 19, with the theme "Missionaries of Hope among all Peoples," the Vatican news agency Fides presented some statistics that offer a general overview of the Catholic Church worldwide.The study is based on numbers from 2023, in which the world population rose to 7,914,582,000, with a positive trend on all continents, including Europe. The increase in Catholics was 15,881,000 over the previous year.The most notable growth in Catholics is in Africa, with an increase of 8,309,000; and the Americas with 5,668,000; followed by Asia with 954,000; Europe with 740,000; and Oceania with 210,000.The percentage of Catholics in the world's population increased by 0.1% compared to the previous year, reaching 17.8%.The total number of bishops worldwide increased by 77 compared to...

Catholic music debate: Should certain hymns be banned?

Scene from the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. / Credit: EWTN News in Depth/ScreenshotWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 18, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).Several hymns were temporarily banned last year in the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri after being found "to be insufficient in sound doctrine," with the action raising questions about what music is allowed at the Holy Mass.In a special report for the Oct. 17, 2025 edition of "EWTN News In Depth," correspondent Mark Irons explored the subject. Archbishop Shawn McKnight, who implemented the brief ban, told Irons: "I would hope everybody else learns from my mistake."McKnight, who was the bishop of Jefferson City at the time, now serves as the archbishop of Kansas City. The controversial ban in question encompassed 12 songs in total, including the popular hymns "I am the Bread of Life" and "All Are Welcome." McKnight said the decree was implemented too quickly and without enough discussion among Catholics in...

Pope Leo XIV hails Roma, Sinti, and Travelers' faith amid marginalization

Pope Leo XIV hugs a man during the Jubilee of Roma, Sinti, and Travelers on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Oct 18, 2025 / 13:10 pm (CNA).At the Vatican's Jubilee of Roma, Sinti, and Travelers, Pope Leo XIV praised pilgrims for their deep trust in God despite centuries of exclusion, telling thousands of participants that their witness renews the Church's own faith."Today we all feel renewed by the gift you bring to the pope: your strong faith, your unshakeable hope in God alone, your solid trust that does not yield to the hardships of a life often lived on the margins of society," Pope Leo said during the jubilee audience in the Paul VI Hall on Saturday.About 4,000 pilgrims from more than 70 countries in Europe and beyond took part in the event, according to the Vatican. Musicians and dancers from Italy, Romania, France, Spain, and Slovenia filled the Vatican hall with lively music during the vibrant Jubilee celebration. Pope Leo urged participants...

New Jersey says parish finance director stole more than $500,000 in church funds

null / Credit: vmargineanu/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).Officials in New Jersey have charged a former parish financial director with the theft of more than half a million dollars in church funds. Joseph Manzi has been charged with second-degree theft by unlawful taking after he allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Leo the Great Parish in Lincroft. Manzi was the subject of an August lawsuit by the parish in which he was alleged to have "systematically, secretly, and dishonestly utilized parish funds for his own personal benefit." The civil suit claimed he had stolen upwards of $1.5 million. In an Oct. 17 press release, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin's office said Manzi had been officially criminally charged with the theft. Platkin in the release said Manzi used the funds "not to feed his family or for some kind of emergency, but to live a more lavish lifestyle."Manzi stopped working at the Lincroft parish in June of this ...

St. Luke: The cultured physician who chronicled the life of Jesus

The painting St. Luke the Evangelist in the church Iglesia El Buen Pastor by Miguel Vaguer (1959). / Credit: Renata Sedmakova/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).On Oct. 18, Catholics and other Christians around the world celebrate the feast of St. Luke, the physician and companion of St. Paul whose Gospel preserved the most extensive biography of Jesus Christ.St. Luke, who is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles, wrote a greater volume of the New Testament than any other single author in the earliest history of the Church. Ancient traditions also acknowledge Luke as the founder of Christian iconography, making him a patron of artists as well as doctors and other medical caregivers.Luke came from the large metropolitan city of Antioch, a part of modern-day Turkey. In his lifetime, the city emerged as an important center of early Christianity. During the future saint's early years, Antioch's port had already become a cultural center, renowned for arts and...

Cardinal McElroy of Washington, D.C. urges shift away from political polarization

Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. speaks at the University of Notre Dame Forum event on 'Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life' on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Michael Caterina / University of Notre DameWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 18:29 pm (CNA).Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., expressed concerns about increasing political polarization in the United States and urged Americans to remember "that which binds us together as a people."McElroy made the comments at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 17. He spoke with University President Rev. Robert Dowd in a conversation titled "Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life." The event was part of the university's 2025-26 Forum on the theme "Cultivating Hope." McElroy holds doctorates in sacred theology and political science."The conflict between the two parties has done, I think, terrible damage to us," McElroy said, and noted t...

Pope Leo XIV asks Catholics in Russia to be an example of love, brotherhood, and respect

Pope Leo XIV greets Catholic pilgrims from Russia during an audience in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 12:42 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Friday asked a group of Catholic pilgrims from Russia, in Rome on a Jubilee pilgrimage, to be an example of love and brotherhood upon their return home.In his Oct. 17 address at the Vatican, the Holy Father emphasized that the presence of the Russian pilgrims "is part of the journey of so many generations" who have traveled to Rome. For the Holy Father, "this city can be a symbol of human existence, in which the 'ruins' of past experiences, anguish, uncertainty, and anxiety are intertwined with the faith that grows every day and becomes active in charity.""And with the hope that does not disappoint and encourages us, because even on the ruins, despite sin and enmity, the Lord can build a new world and renewed life," he added.Bishop Joseph Werth of the Diocese of ...

'Watershed moment': Judge allows class action suit over school's gender policies

null / Credit: NMKStudio@ShutterstockCNA Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).A federal judge in California will allow a class action lawsuit to proceed for potentially millions of parents and teachers regarding school district rules that hide child "gender transitions" from parents. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled Oct. 15 that the lawsuit Mirabelli v. Olson will proceed as a class action, becoming what the Thomas More Society said is potentially "one of the largest civil rights class actions" in California history. Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm, said in the group's Oct. 16 press release that parents have a "fundamental right" to direct their children's education and moral upbringing, and that California school officials "cannot override that right by keeping parents in the dark about major issues and developments in their child's life." In his ruling, Benitez said the lawsuit satisfies the crit...

Pope Leo to grieving father: 'Death never has the last word'

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Square on September 28, 2025. / Vatican Media screenshotCNA Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has responded to a letter from a grieving father with the encouragement that "death never has the last word."In the October issue of Piazza San Pietro magazine, the pontiff penned a letter to Francesco, a father of four, who wrote to the Holy Father about the death of his 12-year-old son, Domenico Maria, from a sudden illness 18 years ago.Despite the time that has passed, the father said he still felt like his son's premature death happened only yesterday. "Holiness, this letter of mine is intended only as a thought, as well as a remembrance for our son, so that God, in his infinite goodness and mercy as a Father, may welcome him into the kingdom of heaven…" Francesco wrote.In his response, Leo reminded the father that "the important thing is to always remain connected to the Lord, going through the greatest pain ...

Jerusalem Church leaders welcome Gaza ceasefire

Churches in Jerusalem. / Credit: Amizor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:Jerusalem church leaders welcome Gaza ceasefireThe Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem has hailed the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange, describing it as a "first real step toward ending the war," CNA's Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported Oct. 16. The statement thanked the international community, particularly mediators at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, for helping secure the deal and called for rapid humanitarian access to food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.The church leaders also voiced alarm over growing violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, insisting that peace talks must lead to an independent Palestinian state living in safety beside Israel. They praised Christians in Gaza for their steadfa...