Nigeria, Iran, China top priority countries for new religious freedom commission chair

Burned vehicles after Good Friday raid on April 7, 2023, in Ngban, Benue state, Nigeria. / Courtesy of Justice, Development, and Peace CommissionWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Nigeria is the deadliest country in the world for Christians, according to the new chair of the U.S. Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF).Vicky Hartzler, a Republican who represented Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years, became chair of the commission in June. In an interview with CNA, she said of her new mission: "We want to make a difference. We want to save lives."United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Vicky Hartzler. Credit: U.S. Commission on International Religious FreedomHartzler's top priority is Nigeria. Citing statistics from Open Doors, an international organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians, Hartzler said 69% of Christians killed worldwide in 2023 died in Nigeria, with more than 50,000 killed si...

Frank Caprio, famed judge known for showing mercy, dies at 88

Judge Frank Caprio served for decades as chief municipal judge in Providence, Rhode Island. / Credit: StephanieRPereira, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 19:14 pm (CNA).Frank Caprio, who served as a Providence, Rhode Island, municipal court judge for nearly 40 years and came to be known as "America's nicest judge," passed away on Aug. 20 from pancreatic cancer."Beloved for his compassion, humility, and unwavering belief in the goodness of people, Judge Caprio touched the lives of millions through his work in the courtroom and beyond. His warmth, humor, and kindness left an indelible mark on all who knew him," read a statement posted on his official Facebook page.Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee ordered flags in the state to be flown at half staff at all state agencies and buildings until the day of Caprio's internment, and he also asked Rhode Island residents to lower their flags out of respect.Caprio gained worldwide fame for a lenient judicial style tha...

Federal court awards pro-lifers $1 over unconstitutional abortion clinic rule

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 13:26 pm (CNA).Pro-life activists in New York state were awarded $1 this month after a court found that a county abortion clinic rule violated their constitutional free speech rights. The Thomas More Society brought suit in federal district court in 2022 against New York's Westchester County over its rule forbidding "interference" with abortion access there. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found in favor of pro-life sidewalk counselors Oksana Hulinsky and Regina Molinelli, with District Judge Philip Halpern ruling on Aug. 12 that the county ordinance violated the activists' free speech and due process rights. The plaintiffs were only seeking "nominal damages" in the suit, the court noted, leading Halpern to order the $1 award. The county had already repealed the ordinance in question prior to the ruling.Thomas More Society attorney Christopher Ferrara said in a pres...

'Being a young Catholic is difficult': The challenges facing young Cubans today

Young people walk the streets of Camagüey, Cuba. / Credit: Camagüey Youth MinistryACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).During the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, young people from around the world gathered to celebrate a mosaic of universal faith. In the midst of this gathering, an inevitable question arose for young Cubans: How can they live their faith in a country fraught with challenges?ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, spoke with Fernando Mario Díaz Hernández and Cynthia Izaguirre Roldán, both 19 and university students whose lives bear witness to a Catholic faith that steadfastly perseveres in everyday life despite the precarious conditions.They live in Camagüey, a province located in the heart of Cuba, between the Atlantic and the Caribbean. According to the website Catholic Hierarchy, the Archdiocese of Camagüey has 15 parishes and 26 priests for approximately 800,000 inhabitants. Nationally, Aid to the Church in Need estimates that there are only 37...

Pope Leo XIV visits favorite Marian shrine of John Paul II outside Rome

Pope Leo XIV prays at the Marian shrine at Mentorella on Aug. 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaNational Catholic Register, Aug 19, 2025 / 18:43 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV made a private visit Tuesday to the Shrine of Our Lady of Mentorella, Mother of Graces, near Rome, underscoring his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.A favorite pilgrimage site of St. John Paul II and close to the picturesque mountain town of Capranica Prenestina, it is the fourth Marian shrine the Holy Father has visited since his election on May 8.The Vatican said in a short statement that after visiting and praying at the shrine, Leo XIV spent some time with members of the Polish Resurrectionist congregation who run the shrine before returning to Castel Gandolfo.Perched on the top of a small mountain overlooking a vast valley below with breathtaking views, the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace at Mentorella is said to have been founded in the fourth century by Constantine, who wanted to commemorate the site of St. E...

Court says California school district must allow Christian club access to facilities

A federal district court in California ordered the Oakland Unified School district to grant equal access of school facilities to a Christian club. / Credit: zimmytws/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Aug 19, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).A federal district court has ordered that a California school district must grant a Christian children's club equal access to school facilities, arguing that the denial of that access violates the club's free speech rights.The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) will be required to provide "equal access to available spaces and benefits" to the group Child Evangelism Fellowship of NorCal, District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. said in an Aug. 15 ruling.The court order found that the school district apparently engaged in "viewpoint discrimination" in violation of the U.S. Constitution when it barred the group from after-school use of campus facilities.The district had argued that the Christian group did not meet the administrative requirements to be allowed access t...

English priest presents Our Lady of Persecuted Christians icon to Iraqi bishop

Bishop Benedictus Hanno receives the Our Lady of Persecuted Christians icon in Qaraqosh, Iraq, on Aug. 6, 2025, from Father Benedict Kiely of Nasarean.org. / Credit: Father Benedict KielyACI MENA, Aug 19, 2025 / 14:03 pm (CNA).Marking the 11th anniversary of forced displacement of Christians in Iraq, Father Benedict Kiely presented an icon of Our Lady of Persecuted Christians to Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno, Syriac Catholic archbishop of Mosul and its dependencies, on Aug. 6 in Qaraqosh, Iraq.The bishop announced that the icon will be placed in St. Ephrem Church in Qaraqosh, which is currently under construction and expected to open in November.Father Benedict Kiely (left), a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, England, who has spent the last decade supporting persecuted Christians, presents the icon of Our Lady of Persecuted Christians to Bishop Benedictus Younan Hanno, Syriac Catholic archbishop of Mosul and its dependencies, Aug. 6, 2025, in Qar...

Pope Leo XIV to Amazon bishops: Nature is not to be worshipped but exists to praise God

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Basilica on Aug. 13, 2025, at the Vatican. Due to the heat, the pope gave his address in Paul VI Audience Hall but also greeted pilgrims in other locations. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Aug 19, 2025 / 14:33 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram to the bishops of the Amazon region participating in a meeting in Bogotá, Colombia, this week, reminding them of the importance of caring for nature without becoming slaves or worshippers of it.In his message, addressed to Cardinal Pedro Barreto Jimeno, president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon, the Holy Father thanked the prelates for their "efforts made to promote the greater good of the Church in favor of the faithful of the beloved Amazonian territory."Recalling what was learned during the Synod on the Amazon in 2019, the pontiff urged the bishops to seek, based on the unity and collegiality proper to an "episcopal body," ways to hel...

14 things we learn about Pope Leo XIV from his brother's latest interview

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square from the popemobile during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNANational Catholic Register, Aug 19, 2025 / 11:51 am (CNA).Ever since his brother was named pope, John Prevost hasn't been shy about talking to the press. Pope Leo XIV's first phone call with his brother went viral after a reporter captured it on video ("Why don't you answer the phone," the newly elected pontiff had snapped at his brother in a highly relatable sibling interaction captured for posterity). Now, in a wide-ranging, half-hour interview with NBC's Chicago affiliate that aired over the weekend, the 70-year-old retired high school principal opened up again. Here are some highlights from their talk:Prevost still speaks with his brother every day.Yes, they still talk on the phone each day, and they still play "Wordle" and "Words With Friends" together, Prevost told NBC's Mary Ann Ahern."I usually no...

Pope names new bishop for Jefferson City, Missouri

Father Ralph O'Donnell, bishop-elect of Jefferson City, Missouri. / Diocese of Jefferson City website.Vatican City, Aug 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV named Father Ralph O'Donnell of the Archdiocese of Omaha as the new bishop of Jefferson City, Missouri. He will succeed Archbishop Shawn McKnight, who in May was installed as archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas.Bishop-elect O'Donnell has most recently served as pastor of Saint Margaret Mary Parish in Omaha.Born on August 31, 1969, in Omaha, he earned a bachelor's degree in religious studies from Conception Seminary College and a Master of Divinity from the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He later obtained a master's degree in spirituality from Creighton University.Ordained a priest in 1997, O'Donnell has served in various pastoral and administrative roles, including vocations director, seminary vice rector, and executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life an...