One-third of recent Catholic priests in England are Anglican converts, report shows

The ordination of Jonathan Goodall (former Anglican bishop) to the Catholic priesthood in Westminster Cathedral, London, March 12, 2022. / Credit: Mazur/CBCEW.org.ukLondon, England, Nov 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).A new report reveals that significant numbers of Anglican clergy have converted to Catholicism in the United Kingdom since 1992.The report, "Convert Clergy in the Catholic Church in Britain," released Nov. 20, shows that approximately 700 clergy and religious of the Church of England, Church in Wales, and Scottish Episcopal Church have been received into the Catholic Church since 1992. The number includes 16 former Anglican bishops. This equates to approximately a third of all Catholic priests ordained in England and Wales during this period.Speaking to CNA, co-author Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St. Mary's Catholic University, London, said he was "really quite surprised" by the high numbers, "especially the [convert] ordinat...

'The pope is traveling to a wounded country,' Lebanese priest says

The city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, has been bombed several times by the Israeli armed forces. / Credit: ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Nov 21, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).The upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Lebanon, scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, comes as a new wave of Israeli bombings have shaken several towns near the southern border."We have been experiencing continuous attacks like this for almost two and a half years. But we have never evacuated, we have never left our village," said Maronite parish priest Father Tony Elias from the border village of Rmeich, a Christian village located just a few meters from Israel.Rmeich, he explained, is one of the largest Christian villages in southern Lebanon. "We cannot leave, because if we did, there would be no one to rebuild, no one to protect our village," he said in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.The situation in neighboring villages confirms his fears: "The villages to the right and left are c...

Teens at NCYC 2025 excited for faith, fun, sacraments, friends

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hilderbrand from Columbus, Georgia tour exhibits during the first night of NCYC 2025 on Nov. 20, 2025, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini / CNAIndianapolis, Indiana, Nov 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Teenagers piled into the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday in Indianapolis to start the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). Young Catholics from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to take part in NCYC for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service. The 2025 theme is "I Am," and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and form discipleship. On the evening of Nov. 20 exhibits opened to help students gain a deeper understanding of the sacraments and to encourage them to interact with one another. Teens with themed hats packed into the convention center and began to exchange the caps as a way to meet...

LIVE UPDATES: NCYC 2025 — Pope Leo XIV's historic first digital encounter with young U.S. Catholics

The encounter in Indianapolis will feature opening remarks by Pope Leo XIV, youth representatives, and a live Q&A. / Credit: EWTN NewsCNA Staff, Nov 21, 2025 / 09:10 am (CNA).The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference will feature prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis. Follow CNA's live coverage of the event here.Watch the historic discussion with Pope Leo XIV live from the Vatican now on EWTN YouTube:

What do we know about the presentation of Mary?

Alessandro Allori, "The Presentation of Mary," 1598. / Credit: Public domainNational Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).It's easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke's Gospel tells of the Holy Family's journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified. There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary's heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary's presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the "Protoevangelium of James," which has been dated by historians before the...

Pope Leo XIV prays at tomb of St. Francis of Assisi

Pope Leo XIV visits the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, on Nov. 20, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Nov 20, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV traveled to Assisi on Thursday to meet with Italian bishops and pay homage to St. Francis in a visit marked by silence and prayer, part of the celebrations for the eighth centenary of the death of the "saint of the poor."According to Vatican News, the pontiff traveled from the Vatican by helicopter and arrived in the Italian city shortly after 8 a.m. local time. He landed at the Bastia Umbra stadium and from there traveled by car to the heart of Assisi, where St. Francis was born in 1182.Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio adopted his name upon becoming pope, while it was St. John Paul II who named St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecology in 1979. Despite the rain and cold, a number of people waited for the Holy Father and greeted him with applause and cheers of "Long live the pope!"His first stop was the Basili...

Retired Army general, Notre Dame professor to serve as president of Belmont Abbey College

Mary Help of Christians Basilica on the campus of Belmont Abbey College. / Credit: Rnrivas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).Here's a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:Retired Army general, Notre Dame professor to serve as president of Belmont Abbey CollegeBelmont Abbey College in North Carolina announced that Jeffrey Talley, a retired three-star lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and former tenured professor at the University of Notre Dame, will serve as its new president.In a Nov. 18 press release announcing the appointment, Talley said the school has a "unique opportunity" to "help young men and women get a rigorous academic experience in a faith-filled environment that's strong in its Catholic identity so they can go forth in a world that's become so challenging, so complex, so difficult."Talley will assume the position of the college's 21st president on Jan. 2, 2026. The chair of B...

European Parliament discusses harms of surrogacy after EU condemns the practice

Reem Alsalem (right), the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, opposes surrogacy at an Oct. 9, 2025, U.N. event hosted by the Italian government. / Credit: ADF InternationalWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).The European Parliament and the United Nations have officially condemned the practice of surrogacy following reports of human rights violations against women and babies. Experts gathered on Nov. 19 for a meeting at the European Parliament that included U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International's Carmen Correas, who discussed the harms of surrogacy on women and children, according to an ADF press release.The event, "Surrogacy: An Ethical and Political Challenge for Europe," followed the release of a landmark report by Alsalem that highlighted widespread human rights violations globally as a result of surrogacy. The event also came aft...

China's 'assault on religious freedom' threatens U.S., congressional commission told

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: Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).The Chinese Communist Party's "ongoing assault against religious freedom" has national security implications for the U.S., according to co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).Former Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, who served as ambassador at large for international religious freedom in the first Trump administration, told the commission Nov. 20 that the United States needs to treat China's religious freedom violations as a national security threat. Brownback cited a report listing 10 Catholic bishops detained by the Chinese government. "Ten Catholic bishops," he said with emphasis, adding: "Do people even know they're in prison?" Brownback called for China to be sanctioned by the Trump admin...

Belarus pardons 2 Catholic priests after talks with Vatican

The priests' release was credited in part to Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, pictured here celebrating the seventh Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on May 2, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNACNA Staff, Nov 20, 2025 / 12:12 pm (CNA).Two Catholic priests in Belarus will be released from prison in an act of "goodwill" after national leaders engaged in talks with the Vatican.The state media organ BelTA reported on Nov. 20 that Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko "pardoned two Catholic priests convicted of serious crimes against the state."The pardons of Father Henrykh Akalatovich and Father Andzej Yukhnevich came after "intensification of contacts with the Vatican, as well as the principles of goodwill, mercy, and the jubilee year proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church," the government media organization said. A separate press release from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus expressed "gratitude to all those who ...