Pope Leo?XIV urges 'full respect for humanitarian law' in Gaza

Pope Leo?XIV urges "full respect for humanitarian law" amid a food crisis in Gaza? in his address following the Angelus prayer on July 27, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media screenshotVatican City, Jul 27, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).Pope Leo?XIV called for peace negotiations and respect for humanitarian law in Gaza, 10 days after an Israeli strike caused the death of three people at the only Catholic church in the enclave."I renew my heartfelt appeal for a ceasefire, for the release of hostages, and for the full respect for humanitarian law," the pope said, speaking of the nearly two-year-old war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Speaking as is customary at midday on Sunday from a window of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Leo emphasized "the very grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the civilian population is crushed by hunger and remains exposed to violence and death."Leo called on the parties in all conflicts around the world to recognize th...

Pope Leo XIV tells U.S. Pax Christi group: Spread peace in neighborhoods, parishes

Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus address on July 13, 2025 from Liberty Square in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where he is spending a two-week summer break. / Vatican MediaCNA Newsroom, Jul 26, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has urged the U.S. chapter of the international Pax Christi movement to move in "the peripheries" of society to spread peace and forgiveness there. The pope issued the message to the national Pax Christi USA assembly taking place in Detroit. The group says the July 25-27 gathering is an opportunity for participants to renew their "commitment to peacemaking and care for the Earth and all its inhabitants." Writing to the gathering, Pope Leo said: "In the midst of the many challenges facing our world at this time, including widespread armed conflict, division among peoples, and the challenges of forced migration, efforts to promote nonviolence are all the more necessary."Leo noted that, following the "violence of the Crucifixion," the risen Christ greeted his a...

Nagasaki church replaces cathedral bell 80 years after it was destroyed in atomic blast

The replacement bell at Urukami Cathedral waits to be installed in Nagasaki, Japan, Thursday, July 17, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of James NolanCNA Staff, Jul 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Catholics in Nagasaki, Japan, have replaced a bell in a cathedral bell tower there almost exactly 80 years to the day after it was destroyed by the atomic blast that leveled most of the city at the end of World War II.An international effort to fund the construction and installation of the bell at Urakami Cathedral raised $125,000 in just over a year, with the funds coming from over 600 individual donors, according to Williams College Professor James Nolan.Nagasaki was one of the two Japanese cities, along with Hiroshima, largely destroyed by the U.S. atomic bombings at the close of World War II. The city was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, marking the second and last time an atomic bomb was used as an act of war.Nolan told CNA last year that parishioners at Urakami Cathedral managed to dig up one of...

Over 2 dozen Planned Parenthood facilities shut down amid federal funding losses

In recent months, more than two dozen Planned Parenthood locations have announced they will close. / Credit: Jonathan Weiss/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 17:25 pm (CNA).More than two dozen Planned Parenthood facilities across the country in recent months have announced plans to shut down amid funding concerns caused by new federal rules that prevent the abortion giant from receiving Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.As of Friday, July 25, the growing number of Planned Parenthood facility closures has reached at least 25, which span across 10 states. The most recent announcement came yesterday, July 24, with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte indicating its plan to shut down five facilities in northern California.On July 4, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which put a one-year freeze on Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements for Planned Parenthood. The provision is being challenged in court, but a federal judge this week allowed th...

Escalating child famine in Gaza: UN, Church leaders plead for urgent aid access

Palestinian children shove to receive a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2025. The head of Gaza's largest hospital said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, amid a devastating assault by Israeli forces. / Credit: AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 13:23 pm (CNA).The humanitarian organization United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reported that "1 in every 5 children is malnourished in Gaza City" and cases continue to "increase every day."In a post to the social media platform X, Commissioner General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini wrote that "when child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold."As "more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger," UNRWA is urging "humanitarian partners to bring u...

Firing was 'a shock' for theologian Ralph Martin

Ralph Martin appears on a December 2020 episode of "EWTN Live." / Credit: EWTNNational Catholic Register, Jul 25, 2025 / 13:53 pm (CNA).Prominent Catholic theologian Ralph Martin says Detroit's new archbishop told him he fired him from the archdiocese's seminary faculty over undefined "concerns about my theological perspectives."Martin, 82, who had taught at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit since 2002, said Archbishop Edward Weisenburger told him Wednesday he "was terminating my position at the seminary effective immediately.""When I asked him for an explanation, he said he didn't think it would be helpful to give any specifics but mentioned something about having concerns about my theological perspectives," Martin said in a written statement Thursday afternoon."This news came as a shock," Martin said. "I have contributed much to the seminary over more than 23 years. I even helped introduce and lead, up until yesterday, our flagship pontifical degree program, the Licentia...

UPDATE: Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati's incorrupt body to be in Rome for Jubilee of Youth

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches "to the heights." / Credit: Public domainVatican City, Jul 25, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).Update: The Vatican's jubilee office on Tuesday, July 8, removed posts on its website and social media pages referring to plans to expose Frassati's relics as described below. However, the Diocese of Rome confirmed on July 22 that Frassati's incorrupt body will be in Rome for veneration. The coffin holding the incorrupt body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will be in Rome for veneration during the Jubilee of Youth July 26 through Aug. 4.According to the Diocese of Rome, the coffin will be transferred from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, in the Italian region of Piedmont, to the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.The official opening of the veneration will take place on July 26 with a Mass celebrated by ...

Pope Leo XIV gives priests 3 tips to build a solid Catholic formation on 'rock'

Pope Leo XIV on July 25, 2025, addresses priests belonging to the Society of St. Xavier and participants of a monthlong seminary formators course at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Jul 25, 2025 / 14:53 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV offered three brief suggestions to two groups of priests he met at the Vatican on Friday morning, saying a "solid and integral formation" is essential for all Catholic faithful but especially for those who give Christian formation.In his July 25 address to priests belonging to the Society of St. Xavier and participants of a monthlong seminary formators course at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, the Holy Father said the main purpose of formation is to have "the same mind" as Jesus Christ and "reflect the Gospel.""Indeed, it is necessary that the 'house' of our life and vocational journey, whether priestly or lay, be founded on 'rock,'" the pope said Friday.The formation of priests, l...

Baltimore Archdiocese holds third annual gun buyback program amid declining gun crime

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is hosting a gun buyback program for the third year in a row. / Credit: Sean Pavone/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jul 25, 2025 / 15:23 pm (CNA).The Archdiocese of Baltimore will host a gun buyback event for the third year in a row, urging citizens to surrender their guns for cash as the city continues to see declining gun crime rates.The archdiocese hosted successful gun buyback events in 2023 and 2024. The program raised tens of thousands of dollars each year to help finance the purchasing of guns.The archdiocese says on its website that the event will take place Aug. 9 in the southwestern part of the city. The Baltimore City Police Department, St. Joseph's Monastery Parish, and the Health by Southwest coalition will join the archdiocese in supporting the buyback.The 2023 program netted nearly 160 handguns as well as shotguns and rifles. Handguns and long guns were purchased for $200 apiece, while assault weapons were bought for $300. All of the purchased...

With Church as facilitator, Colombian armed group to hand over 13 tons of weapons

Cathedral of Bogotá, Colombia. / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/ACI PrensaACI Prensa Staff, Jul 25, 2025 / 10:10 am (CNA).An armed group in Colombia pledged to hand over for destruction 13.5 tons of weapons to the Colombian government after reaching an agreement facilitated by the Catholic Church.The agreement, known as Accord No. 12, was signed July 19 following talks between the government and the armed group known as the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army (CNEB, by its Spanish acronym) held in the Inda Zabaleta Indigenous Reserve in the town of Tumaco.Representatives of President Gustavo Petro's government and the CNEB, as well as the bishops' delegate for church-state relations, Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, were present at the meeting.In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, Henao explained that the Church representatives "are permanent facilitators at the [negotiating] table, along with the United Nations.""Our role is to connect the territo...