Forgiveness is fundamental to justice, Pope Leo XIV tells legal professionals at Jubilee

Pope Leo XIV addresses thousands of Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment during the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 20, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.Vatican City, Sep 20, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).Forgiveness is fundamental to the virtue of justice, Pope Leo XIV said to thousands of legal professionals gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice on Saturday."It is the power of forgiveness, which is proper to the commandment of love, that emerges as a constitutive element of a justice capable of combining the supernatural with the human," the pope said in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 20.Leo, who has a doctorate in Church law, explained that the evangelical virtue of justice is not a distraction from human justice, but "questions and redesigns it: It provokes it to go even further, because it pushes it towards the search for reconciliation.""Evil, in fact, mus...

Clinician says Minnesota law harms kids struggling with sexual orientation, gender identity

null / Credit: Pormezz/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).In 2023, Minnesota passed a law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz, that prohibits clinical mental health counselors from practicing "conversion therapy" with minors, effectively barring them from offering any guidance that does not affirm a child's struggles with sexual orientation or gender identity. This ban, enacted under House File 16 and effective Aug. 1, 2023, complicates access to tailored mental health resources for minors struggling with these issues, especially when a minor seeks to change his or her identity. David Kirby, a clinical mental health counselor in Minnesota, told CNA that the law created a new minority: young people with same-sex attraction (SSA) who do not want it."There are people who find their gay attraction ego dystonic," Kirby said. "They don't want it. Maybe some were born with a propensity to SSA, but they know it's not how they were created to be."The American Psychologi...

Documentary brings Father Marko Rupnik abuse allegations to big screen

"Nuns vs. The Vatican" includes the detailed stories of Gloria Branciani (left) and Mirjam Kovac, two of three former members of the Loyola Community in Slovenia in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Father Marko Rupnik, a co-founder of the community, is accused of having committed sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against dozens of women religious. / Credit: Filippo Piscopo/Film2 ProductionsCNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).A documentary on Father Marko Rupnik's alleged abuse of consecrated women, the personal fallout for two of his alleged victims, and what happened when the claims became public decades later premiered at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month."Nuns vs. The Vatican" includes the detailed stories of Gloria Branciani, Mirjam Kovac, and Klara (identified only by her first name), three former members of the Loyola Community in Slovenia in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Rupnik, a co-founder of the community, is accused of having committed ...

Massive mural honoring New York City migrants unveiled at St. Patrick's Cathedral

A new mural painted by artist Adam Cvijanovic, the south and west panels seen here, was unveiled at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in New York. The mural, which is the largest permanent artwork commissioned for the cathedral in its 146-year history, celebrates the 1879 Apparition at Knock, Ireland, the faith of generations of immigrants to New York, and the service of New York City's first responders. / Credit: Diane Bondareff/AP Content Services for the Archdiocese of New YorkWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 18:20 pm (CNA).St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan has unveiled a 25-foot-tall mural honoring migrants to New York City. Housed in the entryway of the iconic New York church, the mural, "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding," portrays the apparition of Mary, Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist to the Irish village of Knock as well as immigrants from all over the world, including well-known figures such as Dorothy Day, P...

Blood of St. Januarius liquifies, offering 'a voice that still preaches'

St. Januarius and the miracle of the liquefaction of his blood contained in a relic. / Credit: Louis Finson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Photo2023, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsACI Stampa, Sep 19, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius was announced in Naples on Sept. 19, with the centuries-old relic once again offering what Abbot Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio called an "invitation to stake everything" on trust in God."We are delighted to announce that the relic has been found completely liquid," said De Gregorio, the abbot of the Treasury Chapel of the Naples Cathedral.As is tradition, the announcement was accompanied by the waving of a white handkerchief by one of the members of the Treasury of St. Januarius Deputation.Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, the archbishop of Naples, presided over the morning Mass, then displayed the vial containing the patron saint's blood before all present during the celebration. From th...

Report: Charlie Kirk was 'this close' to becoming Catholic just prior to his death

Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 12:02 pm (CNA).Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was reportedly strongly considering becoming Catholic just prior to his assassination, according to a bishop who spoke to him shortly before his killing. Robert Brennan, a Los Angeles-based writer and the brother of Fresno, California, Bishop Joseph Brennan, said in a Sept. 18 column in the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper Angelus that Kirk had a "personal exchange" with the California prelate about a week before Kirk's murder at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. The writer Brennan, who said Bishop Brennan gave him permission to share the story, wrote that Kirk had spoken to the prelate at a prayer breakfast in Visalia. The conservative activist "told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them."&n...

Anti-assisted-suicide group says suicide laws expanding throughout U.S. in 2025

null / Credit: nito/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 14:31 pm (CNA).This week the Patients Rights Action Fund, which works to "end the dangerous and discriminatory public policy of assisted suicide," provided an update on current assisted suicide legislation in the United States, revealing the deadly practice's ongoing expansion throughout the country.In a Sept. 18 webinar, group coalitions director Jessica Rodgers explained that most states that allow assisted suicide follow the "Oregon model," based on Oregan's assisted suicide criteria. The model requires "the patient to be 18 years of age or older, have a terminal illness with six months or less to live, make two or more separate requests with a 15-day waiting period in between, and have two witnesses, which can include heirs to the estate or friends of heirs," Rodgers said. "The drugs must be self-administered and all states do require the falsification of the death certificate," Rodgers said...

Pope Leo XIV highlights the value of the vow of obedience 

Pope Leo XIV receives members of various religious congregations on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 15:31 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Thursday highlighted the value of the vow of obedience in institutes of religious life as "a school of freedom in love" that lays the foundations of fidelity beyond "the 'feelings' of the moment."During a Sept. 18 meeting with participants in the general chapters and assemblies of various congregations and institutes, the pontiff reflected on "some unifying characteristics" of the legacy of the founders of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Society of Mary (Marists), the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception, and the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate.First, he emphasized the importance of community life "as a place of sanctification and a source of inspiration, witness, and strength in your apostolate."In this regard, Leo XIV explained to those present that "it is no...

Vatican expects 15,000 attendees for Jubilee of Justice  

As part of the Jubilee of Justice, an evening event will be held at the Chancellery Palace in Rome featuring a colloquium with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, pictured here delivering the 2024 commencement address at Franciscan University of Steubenville. / Credit: Franciscan University of SteubenvilleACI Prensa Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).The Jubilee of Justice, to be celebrated Saturday, Sept. 20, will bring together some 15,000 pilgrims from around the world, necessitating the relocation of the events to St. Peter's Square.This is the first time in the history of jubilees that a single event is dedicated to those who, performing various functions, are involved "in the world of secular, canonical, ecclesiastical justice, the Vatican City State, and the Roman Curia, as judges, prosecutors, magistrates, lawyers, legal practitioners, and administrative staff," along with their families, according to the Holy See Press Office.Registered participants will come fr...

Gaza churches provide shelter and hope amid escalating conflict

Eucharistic edoration at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, led by the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, in December 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gabriel RomanelliACI MENA, Sep 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The city of Gaza continues to reel as Israeli airstrikes pound multiple neighborhoods and the conflict there escalates. Days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the launch of a ground operation urging civilians to evacuate designated combat zones, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz has maintained that Gaza faces the risk of massive destruction unless Hamas releases Israeli hostages and surrenders its weapons.Amid this turmoil, the Holy Family Catholic Church in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood of southern Gaza has become both a spiritual center and a refuge, sheltering about 600 people from both Christian and Muslim families. The church provides a measure of calm as shells continue to fall nearby.In the same neighborhood stands the histo...