Pope Francis: Secular world needs teachers with 'a big heart' and high ideals

Pope Francis meets with participants of Italy's Educational Commitment Movement of Catholic Action (MIEAC) national congress on Oct. 31, 2024, at a private audience held in the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Oct 31, 2024 / 10:55 am (CNA).Pope Francis encouraged members of Italy's Educational Commitment Movement of Catholic Action (MIEAC) on Thursday to not be afraid to propose high Christian ideals to young people in a secularized society."Christian education crosses unexplored terrain, marked by anthropological and cultural changes, on which we are still seeking answers in the light of the Word of God," the Holy Father said to participants of MIEAC's national congress at a private audience held in the Vatican.MIEAC is an educational project connected to Italy's Catholic Action that was established in 1990 with the aim of fostering the integral development of young people in all its dimensions: existential, spiritual, affective, cultural, social, and political.Du...

New Boston archbishop challenges flock to develop 'deeply personal' relationship with God

New Boston Archbishop Richard Henning and outgoing archbishop Cardinal Cardinal Seán O'Malley during a packed two-hour-plus installation Mass at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Oct. 31, 2024. / Credit: Andrzej SkoniecznyBoston, Mass., Oct 31, 2024 / 19:00 pm (CNA).Newly installed Boston Archbishop Richard Henning challenged people of the archdiocese Thursday to commit to a relationship with God even when it hurts, saying that's what God does for them."He gives us the precious gift, the gift of his own heart: his Son," Henning said Oct. 31 during a packed two-hour-plus installation Mass at Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross.Henning, 60, originally from Long Island, New York, and most recently bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, replaced Cardinal Seán O'Malley, who had led the Archdiocese of Boston since 2003.As the 10th bishop and sixth archbishop of Boston, he is the first head of the diocese to come from New York, which he noted often leads to a question.Ever since h...

Kentucky attorney general backs Catholic church in lawsuit against shrine construction

Our Lady of Lourdes grotto, Lourdes, France. / Credit: Elise Harris/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 31, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman threw his support behind a Park Hills Catholic church that is embroiled in a legal battle over the proposed construction of a shrine within its property."It's not up to the courts to decide how we exercise our religion in this country," Coleman said in a statement."For centuries, Americans have bravely fought and died for the right to practice their faith without substantial burden from the government," the attorney general added. "We proudly continue that fight today. Our office stands with the men and women of faith who simply want to exercise their rights."Coleman signed an amicus brief, also known as a "friend of the court" brief, in defense of the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, which operates the Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel in the northern Kentucky city just south of Cincinna...

Canadian bishops call for greater focus on palliative care in health care, medical training

The 2023 Plenary Assembly of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) meets Sept. 25-28, 2023, outside of Toronto. / Credit: CCCB/CECCToronto, Canada, Oct 30, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).With euthanasia rates soaring across the country, Canada's Catholic bishops are appealing for greater emphasis on palliative care, including better end-of-life training for doctors and a call for policymakers to prioritize palliative services in health care.On Oct. 24, a working group following up on the International Interfaith Symposium on Palliative Care held in Toronto in May issued six targeted recommendations to improve palliative care services:Enhanced education by training health care professionals in palliative care to address patients' physical, emotional, and spiritual needsPrioritizing palliative care in health care policy with more funding, clear standards, and ensuring that palliative care is widely available and properly supported across CanadaCommunity involvement through lo...

Pope Francis: Confirmation is the 'sacrament of witness,' not the 'sacrament of goodbye'

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims as he enters St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for his Wednesday general audience on Oct. 30, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Oct 30, 2024 / 10:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis addressed thousands of international pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, urging them not to turn the sacrament of confirmation into their "last rites" as Catholics but to use it as "the beginning of an active participation in the Church."Continuing his catechetical series on the Holy Spirit and the Church, the Holy Father during his Wednesday general audience said confirmation is a "gift of God" and a "milestone" that should not mark a departure from the Church for Catholics.Pope Francis greets pilgrims as he enters St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for his Wednesday general audience on Oct. 30, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA"People say that it is the 'sacrament of goodbye' because once young people have done it they leave," he said. "They come back for wed...

Here's what Pope Francis is doing for All Saints' and All Souls' Days 2024

Pope Francis says Mass for All Souls' Day at the Laurentino Cemetery outside Rome, Nov. 2, 2018. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNAVatican City, Oct 30, 2024 / 10:10 am (CNA).After an October full of activity due to the Synod on Synodality, in November Pope Francis will once again mark the beginning of the month of the dead with special prayers and Masses for All Saints' and All Souls' Days. On the solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1, Pope Francis will lead the Angelus, a traditional Marian prayer, from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square at noon Rome time, as he does on every holy day of obligation.Before the Angelus, the pope will deliver a short reflection; often it is based on the day's Gospel or feast. Afterward, he may greet some of the groups present in St. Peter's Square and draw attention to current social issues affecting the world, especially war.For All Souls' Day on Nov. 2, Francis will continue his custom of holding a Mass in a local cemetery to pray for the ...

Trump makes case to Puerto Rican voters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, after joke backlash

"It is easy to get distracted or misled by propaganda, emotional manipulation, and distortion of the truth," U.S. Shadow Sen. Zoraida Buxó, R-Puerto Rico, told the Trump campaign rally crowd in heavily Hispanic Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 29, 2024. "Watch out and stay focused on what is truly important when you go to cast your vote," she urged. / Credit: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 30, 2024 / 09:40 am (CNA).Former president Donald Trump expressed his admiration for Puerto Rico and urged Puerto Ricans and other Latino Americans to support his candidacy at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, after facing backlash for jokes made by a comedian at a previous rally."I will deliver the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans," Trump said at the Tuesday night rally. "[Vice President] Kamala [Harris] will deliver you poverty and crime.""I'm so proud that we're getting support from Latinos like never before," he said. "We...

Costumes of demons, witches, and the dead open the door to the devil, priest says

"When you play with spirits, with elements of esotericism or occultism you are opening doors to the Evil One," warned Father Javier Ortega, a priest of the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares in Spain. / Credit: ShutterstockMadrid, Spain, Oct 30, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).Father Javier Ortega, a priest of the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares in Spain, said that costumes of demons, witches, and the dead that are usually worn for Halloween are not recommended because "you are in some way tempting the devil."In a recent interview published by the diocese on its website, Ortega asked parents to not allow their children to participate in these celebrations and, if they do, "to dress up as saints or in costumes of beautiful and lovely things."Don't let them "dress up as demons, dress up as witches, or dress up as dead people," he said, "because in some way you are opening doors, you are in some way tempting the devil… In other words, it's not something neutral."The priest also pointed out...

Church in Spain mobilizes as severe flooding leaves more than 60 dead

Spain has suffered what is considered the third worst natural disaster in the country's recent history. / Credit: Courtesy of Caritas SpainMadrid, Spain, Oct 30, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).Torrential rains have inundated southern and eastern Spain, leaving at least 66 people dead. In response, the Catholic Church has expressed its pain and condolences over the tragedy and Caritas has launched a special campaign.The flash flooding is considered the third largest natural disaster in Spain's contemporary history, which has primarily hit the territories of the Archdiocese of Valencia and the Dioceses of Cuenca and Albacete.Only the 1996 flood in the town of Biescas in the Pyrenees, with 89 deaths, and the 1957 flooding of the Turia River, in which between an estimated 80 and 100 lives were lost, exceed the death toll confirmed to date.The archbishop of Valencia, Enrique Benavent, celebrated a Eucharist on Wednesday morning in the Basilica of the Our Lady of the Abandoned, the city'...

Seminary rector kidnapped during evening prayers at Nigerian minor seminary

Father Thomas Oyode, the rector of the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary of Nigeria's Diocese of Auchi, was abducted on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, when gunmen attacked the seminary located in Edo State in the country's embattled central southern region. / Credit: Nigerian CatholicsACI Africa, Oct 29, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).The rector of the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary of Nigeria's Diocese of Auchi was abducted on Sunday, Oct. 27, when gunmen attacked the seminary located in Edo state in the country's embattled central southern region.A statement given by the diocese's director of communications, Father Peter Egielewa, reported that Father Thomas Oyode was kidnapped around 7 p.m. during evening prayers and Benediction at the seminary.Egielewa said that following the abduction, Oyode was "led into the bush."In the Oct. 28 statement, Egielewa clarified that the seminary's vice rector and all the seminarians were safe following the attack.He added that the seminarians, along...