Mother Frances Cabrini: The unsinkable saint who missed the Titanic

A photo of St. Frances Cabrini from 1880, the year she founded her order, is seen against a 1913 painting by Harry J. Jansen, "The Steamship Titanic." / Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, public domain via Wikimedia CommonsNational Catholic Register, Nov 13, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).In April 1912, Mother Frances Cabrini was in Italy with her sisters. Her plans were to visit her foundations in France, Spain, and England before sailing back to the United States in mid-April to continue work in New York City. Her sisters in England were eagerly awaiting this visit from their 62-year-old founder and superior. To help make her journey back to the U.S. more comfortable, they bought her a ticket and booked passage on a new ocean liner, the RMS Titanic.Although an intrepid traveler who would eventually make 24 transatlantic crossings to establish her foundation, hospitals, and orphanages, Mother Cabrini was not a fan of ocean voyages since she had almost drowned as a ch...

Catholic schools in Bangladesh close amid political unrest

Catholic religious sisters conduct classes at a school they run outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Nov. 2, 2023. / Credit: Stephan Uttom RozarioDhaka, Bangladesh, Nov 12, 2025 / 18:31 pm (CNA).Several Catholic schools in Dhaka will close on Thursday amid fears of political violence as Bangladesh's International Crime Tribunal prepares to announce a verdict date for ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.On Nov. 13, the International Crime Tribunal will announce the date of the first verdict in the ongoing case of crimes against humanity against Hasina, who was ousted in August 2024. The political climate has become unstable, as the ousted Awami League called for a Dhaka blockade on social media Thursday.In July 2024, a student-led uprising toppled Hasina's government, and on Aug. 5, 2024, she fled to India. An interim government was subsequently formed under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. According to a United Nations report, around 1,400 people died during the July p...

Vatican declares alleged apparitions of Jesus in France 'not supernatural'

St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. / Credit: Xosema (CC BY-SA 4.0)ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 14:54 pm (CNA).The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has declared that the alleged apparitions of Jesus in Dozulé, France, do not have an authentic divine origin and are therefore "not supernatural."The prefect of the dicastery, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, confirmed the declaration based on the Norms for Discerning Alleged Supernatural Phenomena in a document released Nov. 12 and addressed to the bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, Jacques Habert.In 1972, Madeleine Aumont claimed that Jesus had appeared to her, asking the Church to build a giant "glorious cross" in Dozulé, next to a "shrine of reconciliation." Furthermore, the alleged visionary claimed that Jesus had announced his "imminent" return.In the document, the Vatican authority notes that the alleged apparitions in the Normandy town "have elicited spiritual interest" but also "not a few controversies and diffic...

Bishops approve beatification cause of priest who ministered in U.S.-Mexico border region

Father Richard Thomas, SJ, ministered in the U.S.-Mexico border region. / Credit: Courtesy of Our Lady's Youth CenterBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 15:24 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted in favor of advancing the beatification and canonization cause of the late Jesuit Father Richard Thomas. Bishop Peter Baldacchino, who has served as bishop of Las Cruces in New Mexico since 2019, initiated the request for the Jesuit priest's beatification. Baldacchino spoke about Thomas and his ministry to the poor at the bishops' Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore."Jesus said, 'When you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, rather … invite the poor. Blessed indeed will you be, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous,'" Baldacchino said during his Nov. 11 presentation. Thomas "gave witness to those words of the Lord through a life dedicated to serve persons i...

Sister Mary Michael, last of Mother Angelica's founding nuns, dies at 94

Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died Nov. 10, 2025, after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life. She was 94. / Credit: Poor Clares of Perpetual AdorationCNA Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 15:54 pm (CNA).Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died on Nov. 10 after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life. She was 94.Sister Mary Michael was the last of the original five nuns who, along with EWTN foundress Mother Angelica, began the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama. (The monastery is now located in Hanceville; EWTN, the parent company of CNA, remains in Irondale.)Born Evelyn Shinosky on Feb. 25, 1931, to Joseph and Helen Shinosky, she entered Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 15, 1951, and received the habit and her new name the following May.Sister Mary Michael made her first profession on May 1, 1954, and her solemn profession exactly six years later in 1960. Shortly after h...

Pope Leo XIV proposes 19th-century Indian religious as a model of women's emancipation

The beatification ceremony for Mother Elisva Vakha'i was held in the square in front of the Basilica-Shrine of Our Lady of Ransom in Vallarpadam, Kochi, Kerala, India, Nov. 8, 2025. / Credit: Congregation of the Teresian Discalced Carmelite Sisters; Daniel Ibañez/EWTN NewsVatican City, Nov 12, 2025 / 16:24 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV spoke of the beatification this week of Mother Elisva Vakha'i, a 19th-century Indian religious and founder of the Third Order of the Teresian Discalced Carmelites, highlighting her "courageous commitment to the emancipation of the poorest girls.""The witness of Mother Elisva Vakha'i," the pope affirmed during his greetings in Italian at the end of his general audience on Nov. 12, "is a source of inspiration for all who work in the Church and in society for the dignity of women."The beatification ceremony on Nov. 8 was held in the square in front of the Basilica-Shrine of Our Lady of Ransom in Vallarpadam, Kochi, in the Indian state of Kerala, and was pre...

America's bishops express opposition to indiscriminate mass deportations

Maura Moser (far left), director of the Catholic Communications Campaign, moderates a discussion on immigration with (left to right) Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, chair of the USCCB's religious liberty committee, and Bishop Mark Seitz, chairman of the USCCB's migration committee, on Nov. 11, 2025, during a press conference at the conference's fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/National Catholic RegisterBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) overwhelmingly voted to adopt a statement that opposes the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.The bishops approved their special message on immigration at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12. The motion passed with support from more than 95% of the A...

Bishop Rhoades elected USCCB secretary, 6 committee leaders elected

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' religious liberty committee, speaks on the issue of immigration during a press conference on Nov. 11, 2025, at the USCCB's fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. / Credit: Hakim Shammo/EWTN NewsBaltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, was elected to serve as secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at the Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12.The bishops held elections for the secretary position and the leadership of six committees on Wednesday. On Tuesday, they elected Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City as president and Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, as vice president of the conference. Rhoades, who previously chaired the Committee on Religious Liberty, has criticized government policies that impose mandates for aborti...

Growth of Catholic-Jewish interfaith vision encouraged at Catholic Univeristy of America event

Carmelite Father Craig Morrison speaks on a panel about Jewish-Catholic relations at The Catholic University of America on Nov. 11, 2025. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNAWashington, D.C., Nov 12, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).Nostra Aetate, the Church's declaration on building relationships with non-Christian religions,  "planted a seed" that must continue to be nourished, according to panelists reflecting on the document's legacy at The Catholic University of America on Nov. 11.At the event, titled "The Church and the Jewish Community in Our Age," Bishop Étienne Vetö, ICN, auxiliary bishop of Reims, France, and Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, discussed the state of Catholic-Jewish relations as well as shared practices and difference. "Even though Nostra Aetate is one of the shortest, if not the shortest document of Vatican II, it has had a powerful impact," Vetö said. "A Jew or a Christian from the first half [of] the ...

'Catholic American Bible' gets green light from U.S. bishops

null / Credit: joshimerbin/ShutterstockWashington, D.C., Nov 12, 2025 / 13:15 pm (CNA).The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a new translation of the Bible, which will be used for personal Bibles, the lectionary at Mass, and the text in the Liturgy of the Hours.Bishop Steven Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced the translation will be called the "Catholic American Bible." The translation for personal Bibles and the Liturgy of the Hours will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2027.The bishops have not announced when the revised lectionaries will be available.The USCCB also approved a Spanish-language translation of the New Testament, the Biblia de la Iglesia en América, which will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2026.Lopes made the announcement during the USCCB's Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11.According to Ascension Press, one of the publishers of the translation, the Catholic American Bible has a modified translati...