Archdiocese of Detroit announces restructure due to shrinking numbers

Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. / Credit: Nheyob, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 14:05 pm (CNA).The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced a restructuring process that will lead to church closures and parish mergers as a result of declining church attendance, its archbishop said.Archbishop Edward Weisenburger announced in a letter over the weekend that due to a shrinking Catholic population in the archdiocese, a two-year restructuring process will see some parishes close while others will be collected into groupings called "pastorates," led by one pastor and his team.He said the "struggle to care for buildings and parish structures where there are very few people" is preventing the Church there to focus on "areas where the Church is growing." Weisenburger said that currently there are 900,000 Catholics in the archdiocese, and fewer than half of those attend Mass regularly. Many parish buildings were constructed at a time when ther...

Pope Leo XIV holds protection of minors 'deep in his heart'

Pope Leo XIV prays during a Mass at Sant'Anselmo Church, located at a Benedictine monastery on the Aventine Hill in Rome, on Nov. 11, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV sent a message Nov. 17 to participants in the meeting for "Building Communities that Protect Dignity," promoted by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.The Holy Father said that efforts to build communities where the dignity of minors and the most vulnerable is protected and promoted are a matter that he holds "deep in his heart."The pontiff explained that "dignity is a gift from God" and that it is not something obtained through merit or force but rather "a gift that precedes us: It is born from the loving gaze with which God has loved us individually and continues to love us.""In every human face, even when marked by weariness or pain, there is a reflection of the Creator's goodness, a light that no darkness can extinguish," he affirmed.T...

Robert George resigns from Heritage Foundation board over Kevin Roberts video

Professor Robert P. George speaks at Heritage Foundation event commemorating the 100th anniversary of Pierce v. Society of Sisters on May 30, 2025. / Credit: Ronald WaltersWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 17, 2025 / 15:41 pm (CNA).Robert P. George, a Catholic academic focused on philosophy and law, resigned from his board position at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Nov. 17 after the think tank's leader Kevin Roberts posted a video defending Tucker Carlson's interview with Nick Fuentes.In the interview, Carlson and Fuentes bonded over criticism of Israel, and Carlson pushed back on Fuentes for tying his criticisms of Israel to Jewish identity and blaming "organized Jewry" for the American support of Israel. Jewish organizations and some conservative and other political commentators argued that Carlson platformed Fuentes' views and kept a friendly tone without adequately pushing back against antisemitic claims. Carlson allowed Fuentes to speak uninterrupted and challenged g...

St. Elizabeth of Hungary: The married princess who embraced poverty

"The Charity of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary," painted by Edmund Leighton, circa 1895. / Credit: Edmund Leighton, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).On Nov. 17, the Catholic Church celebrates the life and example of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a medieval noblewoman who responded to personal tragedy by embracing St. Francis' ideals of poverty and service. A patron of secular Franciscans, she is especially beloved to Germans as well as the faithful of her native Hungary.As the daughter of the Hungarian King Andrew II, Elizabeth had the responsibilities of royalty thrust upon her almost as soon as her short life began in 1207. While she was still very young, her father arranged for her to be married to a German nobleman, Ludwig of Thuringia.The plan forced Elizabeth to separate from her parents while still a child. Adding to this sorrow was the murder of Elizabeth's mother, Gertrude, in 1213, which history ascribes to a conflict between her ow...

Pope Leo XIV shares lunch with more than 1,300 people in need at the Vatican

Pope Leo XIV shares lunch with people in need at the Vatican on November 16, 2025. / Daniel IbáñezVatican City, Nov 16, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV had lunch on Sunday with more than 1,300 people experiencing poverty and social exclusion, gathering with them in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall for a festive meal marking the World Day of the Poor.The hall was transformed into a vast dining room for the occasion. The event was organized by the Congregation of the Mission on behalf of Vincentian missionaries worldwide, who this year celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of their congregation and of the Daughters of Charity. Volunteers served lasagna, breaded chicken with potatoes, and the traditional Italian dessert babà.As on similar occasions in past years, the Vatican, through the papal almoner Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, invited a group of transgender people from the Roman seaside town of Torvaianica. Father Andrea Conocchia, a parish priest in Torvaianica, to...

Sacred music is good for the brain as well as the soul, neuroscientist says

Neuroscientist Kathlyn Gan says research shows music can help counter the mental decline that accompanies aging. / Credit: Terry O'NeillToronto, Canada, Nov 16, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Sixteen hundred years ago, St. Augustine was credited with saying, "He who sings, prays twice." Today, scientific research shows that he who sings, performs, or listens to music also enriches and strengthens his brain, according to Catholic neuroscientist Kathlyn Gan.Not only that, but sacred music may produce even more beneficial effects.Gan, who leads a research laboratory at the University of Toronto, delivered the uplifting news to about 50 people at an Oct. 30 talk at St. Francis de Sales in Burnaby, Ontario.In her hourlong presentation "The Neuroscience of Sacred Music," Gan, a former choir director and accompanist, described how research showing that music can be part of a healthy lifestyle that helps counter the mental decline that accompanies aging.Music can also help prevent the onset of ...

Pope Leo XIV: Where the world sees threats, the Church sees children

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on November 16, 2025. / Daniel IbáñezVatican City, Nov 16, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Celebrating Mass for the Jubilee of the Poor on the Ninth World Day of the Poor, Pope Leo XIV urged Christians not to retreat into a closed or "religious" world of their own, but to help make human society "a space of fraternity and dignity for all, without exception."Presiding in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday, the pope reflected on the "day of the Lord" and the upheavals of history, saying that Christ's promise remains secure even amid war, violence, and deep social wounds.Quoting the prophet Malachi, he described the "day of the Lord" as the dawn of a new era in which "the hopes of the poor and the humble will receive a final and definitive answer from the Lord," and recalled that Jesus himself is the "sun of righteousness" who comes close to every person. In the Gospel, he said, Christ assures his disciples that "Not a hai...

Pope Leo XIV presents 62 indigenous artifacts to Canadian bishops

Pope Leo XIV greets Vancouver Archbishop Richard Smith at the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).In a Saturday meeting, Pope Leo XIV received Monsignor Pierre Goudreault, Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, at which the Holy Father gifted dozens of artifacts that originated with Indigenous peoples of the North American country. Leo at the meeting donated 62 pieces from the ethnological collections of the Vatican Museums to the Canadian bishops. Bishop Goudreault was accompanied by Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver and Father Jean Vézina, secretary general of the Canadian bishops."It is an act of ecclesial sharing, through which the Successor of Peter entrusts to the Church in Canada these objects, which bear witness to the history of the encounter between the faith and cultures of indigenous peoples," the Vatican said. The 62 donated objects c...

Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood centers have closed this year, according to abortion giant

null / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Here is a roundup of recent pro-life- and abortion-related news:Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood centers have closed nationwide in 2025Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood centers have closed this year due to Medicaid and Title X funding cuts, according to a recent Planned Parenthood report.  Planned Parenthood has closed 20 facilities since federal defunding earlier this year following a round of nearly 50 other closures. President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act prevented federal taxpayer dollars from being used to subsidize abortion providers for one year, meaning abortion providers don't currently qualify for federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.Rather than giving up abortion offerings, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood are closing clinics across the country. Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the def...

Vatican-set thriller based on true story set to begin filming in 2026

St. John Paul II. / Credit: Adrian Tusar/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).A new Vatican-set thriller based on a true story is currently in the works, according to Variety."Santo Subito!" will follow Father Joseph Murolo, an American priest asked by the Vatican to serve as the "devil's advocate" in the investigation of Pope John Paul II's life and his path to sainthood.The film will take place after the pontiff's death and follows Murolo, who "must make sure that nothing undermines the sanctification of Karol Wojtyla, the first non-Italian pope in 450 years," the synopsis reads, as he interviews candidates and witnesses. The description goes on to say that the priest will navigate a "moral labyrinth" that will "put his own faith to the test."Murolo will be played by actor Mark Ruffalo, known for his role as Bruce Banner, or the Hulk, in "The Avengers" movies.Filming is expected to begin on March 9, 2026, on location in Italy and Poland."The film offers a genu...