Pope Leo XIV appoints new archbishop of Krakow, Poland

Cardinal Grzegorz Rys is the new archbishop of Krakow, the archdiocese that Pope St. John Paul II led in Poland. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez / EWTN NewsRome Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 19:30 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has appointed Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, until now the archbishop of Lódz, as the new archbishop of Krakow, the archdiocese in Poland that was formerly led by Pope St. John Paul II.The cardinal succeeds Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski, 76, whose resignation has been accepted by the Holy Father, as reported by the Vatican Press Office on Nov. 26.Rys was born on Feb. 9, 1964, in Krakow and is 61 years old. He will lead the archdiocese where Karol Wojtyla, who would later become Pope St. John Paul II, served as a priest, auxiliary bishop, and archbishop from 1946 to 1978, the year he was elected Successor of St. Peter.Who is the new archbishop of Krakow in Poland?Rys studied at the major seminary in Krakow and was ordained a priest on May 22, 1988. He worked on and received a doctorat...

LIVE UPDATES: Pope Leo XIV's historic first papal trip to Turkey and Lebanon

Pope Leo XIV. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN NewsCNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV is embarking on the first apostolic journey of his papacy to Turkey and Lebanon from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2. Follow here for live updates of his historic trip:

Report details persecution of Turkish Christians ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit

The scene outside a Catholic church in Istanbul, Turkey, where a reported armed attack took place on Jan. 28, 2024. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTNWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).A Christian advocacy group's report details "legal, institutional, and social hostility" toward Turkish Christians as Pope Leo XIV begins his six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon Thursday.The report from The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), titled "The Persecution of Christians in Turkey," explores government interference against clergy and Christian entities, restrictions on foreign Christians who visit the country, and widespread social animosity toward the faithful, which sometimes includes direct violence."Communities that were once integral to the cultural, religious, and historical fabric of Anatolia have been reduced to a fragile remnant," the authors state."Their disappearance is not the product of a single event but the cumulative result of restrictive legi...

Pope Leo praises 'wonderful adventure' of parenthood despite hardships

Pope Leo XIV greets a baby during the general audience in November 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 18:04 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV praised "the wonderful adventure" of becoming parents that many families are choosing to embark on today, even in a time marked by economic and social difficulties.The pontiff dedicated part of Wednesday's general audience to "trusting in the God of life," and promoting humanity "in all its expressions," above all in the "wonderful adventure of motherhood and fatherhood.""In your families, may you never lack the courage to make decisions about motherhood and fatherhood. Do not be afraid to welcome and defend every child conceived. Proclaim and serve the Gospel of life. God is the lover of life. Therefore, always protect it with care and love," he said in his greetings to the Polish-speaking pilgrims present in St. Peter's Square.Pope Leo XIV acknowledged, however, that this vocation is developing today in a challenging context...

Pope Leo centralizes oversight of St. Peter's and St. Mary Major basilicas

The main altar of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. / Credit: Jorge Royan (CC BY-SA 3.0).Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has issued a new decree revising the financial and administrative norms governing the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Mary Major, bringing both institutions under the ordinary oversight of the Vatican's Council for the Economy, in the latest act of fine-tuning of economic reforms undertaken by his predecessor Pope Francis.The pope writes that the Holy See's economic and financial reform requires "periodic reevaluation and redefinition" of the applicable regulatory framework. The letter motu proprio, dated Sept. 29, 2025, was promulgated this month when it was posted in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. It has not previously been reported by the media. The decree abrogates two earlier such decrees concerning the Fabric of St. Peter's and the Chapter of St. Mary Major. Under the updated provisions, bo...

Texas attorney general sues state housing agency for alleged religious discrimination

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Nov. 24, 2025, sued his own state's housing agency for rules that allegedly restrict Christian and other religious organizations from receiving public funds to serve homeless and low-income people. / Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 25, 2025 / 17:31 pm (CNA).Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued his own state's housing agency for rules that allegedly restrict Christian and other religious organizations from receiving public funds to serve homeless and low-income people. The lawsuit alleges that rules established by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) only allow organizations to receive federal and state funds for homeless and low-income housing programs if they agree those programs will be entirely secular and will not include any religious activities.According to the lawsuit, those rules violate religious liberty protections in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and in Arti...

Activist Nicaraguan priest: The Ortega dictatorship 'can't take away our faith'

Father Nils de Jesús Hernández speaks out for Nicaragua from exile in the United States. / Credit: "EWTN Noticias"/ScreenshotACI Prensa Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).Nils de Jesús Hernández, 56, has lived in the United States for 36 years, far from his native Nicaragua. Forced to leave the country in 1988 in the midst of the civil war, he serves a parish in Iowa where he ministers to the Hispanic community and speaks out for the Nicaraguan people.Hernández, known as the "vandal priest" for having led a student strike and supporting the 2018 protests in Nicaragua, is now the parish priest at Queen of Peace Church in Waterloo, Iowa, in the Archdiocese of Dubuque."Vandal priest" was the defamatory, derisive label the dictatorship gave to him for his role in the protests, but the title has now turned into a sort of badge of honor.The pain of leaving NicaraguaAfter being declared a target of the government at the age of 19 when he was a candidate for the priesthood, Hernández...

Pope Leo XIV: Hope does not mean having all the answers but trusting in God

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims from Latvia on Nov. 24, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Nov 24, 2025 / 15:38 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV stated that hope "does not mean having all the answers, but rather it calls us to put our trust in God."The pontiff made his remarks during an audience granted Nov. 24 at the Vatican to faithful from Latvia, who traveled to the Eternal City to commemorate the centenary of the first official Latvian pilgrimage to Rome.After greeting Prime Minister Evika Silina, with whom he had met privately earlier, the Holy Father thanked the pilgrims for keeping the tradition alive and following in the footsteps "of your forebears in the faith."He then recalled that Rome "has always been a home for all Christians, since it is here that the great apostles Peter and Paul gave the supreme witness to the Gospel by becoming martyrs for the faith."The Holy Father also recalled Pope Francis' visit to the country in 2018, on the occasion of the...

3 German bishops oppose school guide on 'diversity of sexual identities'

null / Credit: itakdalee/ShutterstockEWTN News, Nov 24, 2025 / 16:08 pm (CNA).Three German bishops have publicly distanced themselves from the German Bishops' Conference's new document on "diversity of sexual identities" for schools, further escalating the dispute over how Catholic education should address gender identity.At the center of the controversy is the 48-page text "Geschaffen, erlöst und geliebt: Sichtbarkeit und Anerkennung der Vielfalt sexueller Identitäten in der Schule" ("Created, Redeemed, and Loved: Visibility and Recognition of the Diversity of Sexual Identities in the School").Published on Oct. 30 by the bishops' conference's Commission for Education and Schools, the document is intended to serve as an orientation aid for Catholic and other schools in Germany. Due to internal discussions last summer, the orientation text was initially withheld and revised.Based on the premise that "the diversity of sexual identities is a fact," the text urges schools to foster...

Hundreds of Nigerian students remain captive; Cameroon archbishop warns of church closures

Parishioners at a church in Akute Ogun State, Nigeria, in June 11, 2023. / Credit: Ariyo Olasunkanmi/ ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Nov 24, 2025 / 17:41 pm (CNA).The Catholic Church is facing a new wave of violence in Africa: In Nigeria, 265 students from a Catholic school remain captive after being kidnapped last week while an archbishop in Cameroon is threatening to close parishes if a kidnapped priest is not released.In Nigeria, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora told Fides: "The kidnappers are almost certainly criminals seeking illicit gain by demanding a ransom."An official statement from the diocese, published on Nov. 23, reported that 50 minors managed to escape and reunite with their families after fleeing between Friday and Saturday following the attack. These developments were confirmed through visits and phone calls with their relatives, the statement said.However, of the 315 people initially captured, "265 remain in the hands of the kidnappers, of whom 239 are ...