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...

Chinese government bans Catholic priests from teaching, evangelizing online

This photo taken on Jan. 15, 2024, shows a Chinese flag fluttering below a cross on a Christian church in Pingtan in China's southeast Fujian province. / Credit: GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).New regulations from the State Administration for Religious Affairs in China have enacted a ban on several major forms of online evangelization for religious clergy of all religions, including Catholic priests.The new Code of Conduct for Religious Clergy on the Internet comprises 18 articles. Among stipulations that religious clergy must "love the motherland" and support Chinese leadership of the Communist Party of China and its socialist system, faith leaders are banned from preaching and performing other religious rituals through live broadcasts, short videos, or online meetings. Priests may only do so on "websites, applications, forums, etc. legally established by religious groups, religious schools, temples, monasteries, an...

Gunmen on motorbikes kill 22 at baptism ceremony in Niger amid rising violence

Gunmen on motorbikes reportedly shot dead at least 22 people at a baptism ceremony in an attack on a village in western Niger. The Sept. 15, 2025, attack happened in the Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso and Mali, where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are active. / Credit: Sabrine Amoka/ShutterstockACI Africa, Sep 18, 2025 / 11:54 am (CNA).Gunmen on motorbikes have reportedly shot dead at least 22 people celebrating a baptism in an attack on a village in western Niger.Multiple media reports indicate that the Sept. 15 attack happened in the Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso and Mali, where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS) are active.In a Sept. 17 BBC News report, a resident told the French news agency AFP that the attackers killed 15 people at the baptism ceremony before moving on and killing seven others."Once more, the Tillabéri region, in the department of Ouallam, village of Takoubatt, has been struck by bar...

Utah seeks death penalty for Tyler Robinson in Charlie Kirk murder

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA and a vocal evangelical Christian who was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025, speaking at an event in Texas in 2018. / Credit: Carrington Tatum/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced he is seeking the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, the man charged with murdering Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk."I am filing a notice of intent to seek the death penalty," Gray said in a Sept. 16 news conference. "I do not take this decision lightly, and it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime."Robinson is charged with seven crimes, the most serious of which is aggravated murder. Utah's criminal code has two forms of intentional homicide: "murder" and the more serious "aggravated murder."The maximum sentence for murder is life in prison, but an aggravated murder charge ...

Pope Leo XIV on Vatican's finances: 'I'm not losing sleep over it'

Pope Leo XIV waves to pilgrims gathered for his weekly general audience on Sept. 17, 2025, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Staff, Sep 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV downplayed concerns of the ongoing financial crisis at the Vatican in a recent interview, arguing that "things are going to be OK" regarding the Holy See's finances even as more work is needed. The Holy Father made the remarks as part of a wide-ranging interview with Crux senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen. The interview appears in Allen's biography on the pontiff, "Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century," published in Spanish on Sept. 18. An English version of the book will be published in early 2026. Allen asked Leo about the financial situation of the Vatican, noting that the pope has previously indicated that the crisis is "not as bad as it's sometimes been made out to be." The Holy See's pension fund has been facing a major shortfall af...