Jimmy Lai’s family, advocates press for his release before Xi-Trump meeting
Family members and advocates of imprisoned Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai offered urgent pleas for his release ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump.
In anticipation of Xiʼs visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.
“Jimmy Lai is not being imprisoned because he committed any act of violence whatsoever,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said.
“His son has emphasized that his father has never, never advocated violence. Rather, Jimmy Lai used his voice, his newspaper, and his public platform to support freedom and democracy,” he said.
Smith said he introduced legislation Sept. 16 that would require the State Department to quickly assess any death in custody of a Hong Kong political prisoner and impose sanctions on officials found responsible. He titled the bill the “Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026.”
At the hearing, Sebastien Lai offered testimony along with Steve Yates, a research fellow on China and national security policy, and Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.
“I want to thank America, President Trump, who has been a true champion of my fatherʼs, his administration, and the senators and members of both parties whose support has never wavered and only gotten stronger. That is moral courage, and my family does not take it for granted,” Sebastien Lai said.
“By the end of this year my father will have spent six years in a maximum-security prison in solitary. At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong. With a 20-year sentence looming over him, if he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison,” he said.
“My sister Claire was to testify beside me today. A few weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cancer,” he said.
“I was with her in London last week as she began chemotherapy. My father learned of his own daughterʼs diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,“ he said.
“We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough,” he said.
“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,“ he said.
The appeal to Xi “is simple," Sebastien Lai said. “My father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice; his death in prison would be a disgrace. Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment.”
America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late.”
Sebastien LaiSon of imprisoned Hong Kong media publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai
Clifford, of the Washington‑based advocacy group promoting human rights in Hong Kong, spoke on behalf of his friend Jimmy Lai and to remind “people that Jimmy is just one of hundreds of political prisoners being held in often appalling conditions.”
“Iʼd like to emphasize the release of Jimmy Lai would be something President Trump, Republicans and Democrats, indeed, freedom-loving people around the world would applaud,” Clifford said. “It would be a unifying event at the time when the world really needs it.”
Yates said Jimmy Lai’s case is “a test of character, of Xi Jinping’s leadership, of the president’s relationship with his counterpart, and of whether there remains any credible basis for the assumptions on which American policy toward Hong Kong was long constructed.”
The case is “a litmus test of whether there remains any reason to believe there is a future in Xi Jinping’s China for the kind of man Jimmy Lai is: a child of God, a lover of the real China, and, it may fairly be said, one of China’s greatest entrepreneurs,” Yates said.
Lai’s health ‘is going to get worse’
At a subsequent event, Sebastien Lai spoke at a press conference at Georgetown University about his father.
Trump has previously met with Xi about Jimmy Lai’s case, which did not end with his release, but Sebastian Lai said he does not believe “it is a lost cause.” He said he hopes Trump raises his father’s case “again and again.”
Sebastian Lai detailed his father’s health, which “hasnʼt gotten any better” while in solitary confinement.
“He now has heart issues. His nails fall off. His teeth are rotting. During the summer, he bleeds all over his body because [of] his rashes,” he said.
His health was especially worrisome recently because “Hong Kong just had a record summer,” Sebastien Lai said. “The heat traps in there and essentially bakes in itself. So weʼre very, very worried.”
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, human rights lawyer and leader of the international legal team representing Jimmy Lai, further laid out the urgency of the case.
“It’s very clear that if someone is detained in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, there is a direct ramification for their mortality,” she said.
“The risk to prisoners detained in solitary confinement is particularly heightened if they’re elderly or diabetic, and Jimmy Lai is both. So this couldn’t be a more urgent and timely discussion,” she said.
Gallagher also noted the broader human rights issues and lack of democracy in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong “has become a place where you can be thrown in prison for singing the wrong song, or not singing the right song, or wearing the wrong T-shirt, printing the wrong newspaper. And I think Jimmy Laiʼs case is hugely important in itself because of who he is,” Gallagher said.
“Heʼs probably the worldʼs most famous political prisoner at the moment. His case is hugely important, but we think part of why theyʼve gone for Jimmy Lai is because by getting the biggest fish of all, it sends the message to the small fry across Hong Kong,” Gallagher said.
"It makes very clear that their message is keep silent or youʼll be next,” Gallagher said.
Xi’s visit to the U.S. offers “a particular opportunity to shine a light on this issue,” she said.
Venezuela: Talks with opposition, oil deal, Delcy Rodríguez in New York, and the Church’s stance
Sept. 15 marked the start of the second round of negotiations between a Venezuelan opposition delegation and the country’s ruling socialist regime, a process promoted and driven by the U.S. government with an eye toward potential presidential elections in the South American nation.
Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, arrived in Venezuela on Sept. 13 and before national and international media explained that once this weekʼs discussions conclude, the country could expect an announcement regarding the agreements reached.
Meanwhile, Jorge Millán, who is also part of the opposition delegation, stated that they would continue “pursuing a Supreme Court of Justice with honorable, independent, and impartial judges capable of providing Venezuela with an upstanding judicial system after so many years. At the end of the cycle [of talks], we will present clear and verifiable objectives.”
He also stated that this round of negotiations would also address the status of political parties, political guarantees, and “the dismantling of the repressive apparatus” established by Chavismo (the socialist government established by President Hugo Chávez and continued by President Nicolás Maduro) for over two decades. The state of freedom of expression in Venezuela will also be one of the items on the agenda.
“The foundation for achieving a full democracy requires creating the conditions for elections to be held in Venezuela as soon as possible, as quickly as possible. We are laying the groundwork to reach those important areas that will enable all Venezuelans to elect our leaders very soon, with the speed we desire but also allowing for the time this will take,” Millán added.
Concerns and proposals from the Catholic Church
Last week, Cardinals Baltazar Porras and Diego Padrón, together with Bishop Emeritus Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales, once again spoke out regarding the political and social situation in Venezuela. The prelates had previously raised their voices at the start of negotiations, offering to serve as guarantors of the process.
On this occasion, they addressed the state of “indeterminacy, confusion, and uncertainty” prevailing in the country, offering “certain opinions, judgments, and proposals” that seek to “open the way” to help overcome the current crisis and achieve solid institutional stability and the national common good.
Following the capture and extradition of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces on Jan. 3, the prelates noted that “changes have occurred, yet neither the desired and expected change nor a shift toward the structuring and functioning of the country in line with the preamble and fundamental principles of the 1999 Constitution is perceptible.”
The cardinals and the bishop cite as examples of this lack of change that there are still political prisoners and a climate of repression as well as a state monopoly on the media and the continued centralization of power. Although these issues have been placed on the negotiating tableʼs agenda, the prelates maintain that these talks “operate within a framework of limited scope and authority.”
In this regard, they pointed out that the state is operating on “shaky and legally undefined ground,” while the executive branch is “illegitimate regarding both its origins and its exercise of power.” Consequently, they emphasized the urgent need to call for elections soon.
Oil deals with few details
A few weeks ago, the Trump administration and the Chavista regime signed a massive energy deal granting the United States effective control over approximately one-third of Venezuelan oil, some 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Beyond the economic aspects, the agreement has sparked particular controversy by including Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López as an intermediary. He has been the subject of several investigations regarding alleged corruption, inflated prices in electricity contracts, and money laundering linked to the oil sector.
Within Venezuela, Betancourt is singled out as one of the key figures responsible for the serious deterioration of the electrical grid, which has led to daily, hourslong blackouts across the country for years, severely impacting the populationʼs daily lives and even resulting in loss of life due to various causes.
While acknowledging they are not experts in the field, Porras, Padrón, and Pérez Morales call for greater transparency in the negotiations and recommend “prudence and a gradual approach regarding commitments.” This, they state, reflects the prevailing sentiment among the Venezuelan people, who are concerned about the fate and use of the “vast sums of money” the state is set to receive.
Greater emphasis on the need to call elections
In light of the foregoing, the cardinals and the bishop underscored the priority of allowing the sovereign people of Venezuela to have a “a defined and clear mandate” regarding the nation’s future, a step that would also offer a sure path toward “encounter, social reconciliation, and peace.”
“God has given us this country as a setting in which to build a ‘new society,’ the ideal of the civilization of love. We Venezuelans, through our own efforts and by invoking divine assistance, must keep hope alive and continue working on this compelling task, striving to reap its fruits of peace, freedom, justice, and fraternity,” the prelates stated.
Delcy Rodríguez in New York?
According to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report, Venezuelaʼs interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is considering a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place next week.
If the trip goes ahead, Rodríguez would be in the same city where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody. When asked about a possible meeting with the Chavista leader, President Donald Trump simply replied: “Maybe, maybe.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that an in-person meeting “probably will happen” if the presence of the interim regimeʼs president is confirmed.
Rodríguezʼs presence on U.S. soil would mark a milestone in relations between Washington and Caracas, following more than two decades of tension and discord.
Within Venezuela, the growing rapprochement between the U.S. government and the remnants of Chavismo is fueling concern and uncertainty regarding the possibility of real political change.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Bishop Robert Barron named to serve on U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Bishop Robert Barron this week was named to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the commission announced on Sept. 16.
Barron, who already serves as a member of the domestically focused Religious Liberty Commission, was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump. The Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, bishop was selected for the post alongside former U.S. Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan and former missionary Andrew Brunson.
In a statement to EWTN News on Sept. 16, Barron said he was “honored” to accept Trump’s invitation to serve on the commission.
The bishop noted that the commission itself is “strictly bi-partisan” with its members “chosen by leaders of both major political parties.”
He highlighted the numerous Catholics who have served on the commission over the years, including Princeton Professor Robert George, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and Bishop William Murphy.
“I feel privileged to join their company,” Barron said.
An independent agency in the legislative branch, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom monitors global religious liberty issues and recommends policy to the U.S. government to advance religious liberty around the world.
It regularly publishes briefs on countries it identifies as consistent violators of religious liberty. It also advocates for those suffering from religious persecution, such as this week when it urged Trump to push for the release of religious prisoners in China and for the end of religious persecution by the Chinese government.
The appointments on Sept. 16 came shortly after Trump asked Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, to serve as the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
U.S. bishops launch task force to promote human dignity amid rise of artificial intelligence
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a task force to ensure human dignity is protected as artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly develops, and more than a dozen bishops went to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to adopt meaningful safety guardrails for the technology.
The bishops said in a Sept. 16 announcement that the conference’s administrative committee also met with “representatives from a variety of tech firms and specialists” who work with AI.
Bishops’ spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the meeting “focused on ways to keep any system of Artificial Intelligence at the service of humanity” as well as “the urgent need to address the real and present dangers such technology presents.”
The meeting came amid warnings from numerous AI leaders of the risks posed by AI systems, which are undergoing rapid advancement and which critics say could one day threaten humanity with extinction if they become advanced enough.
In an apparent reference to those warnings, Noguchi in the press release referred to “recent events” she said “have only emphasized the great need for action by everyone involved.”
The bishops aimed to use the conversations to “help to identify ways the Church can contribute to the moral foundation of AI models and steps the companies can take to protect against misuse of their inventions and to guarantee human oversight of the technology.”
Following the meetings, the bishops’ administrative committee launched a task force aimed at “preserving human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.” San Jose, California, Bishop Oscar Cantù will serve as task force chair, the bishops said.
“Over a dozen” bishops traveled to Capitol Hill after the meetings to press Congress for strong safety standards on artificial intelligence and to “support legislation to protect children online.”
Noguchi said the bishops and AI leaders also discussed “how the Church and industry can work together toward the goal of ensuring that technology is used in ways that keep it human-centered” while respecting human dignity and benefiting both the rich and the poor.
Church leaders have repeatedly called for meaningful AI oversight as the technology has progressed from a computer-based novelty to an embedded part of the global economy and of modern life.
Pope Leo XIV in May published his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the Holy Father warned that AI “tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise, and access to data.”
“In practice … technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise it, finance it, regulate it, and use it,” the pope wrote.
In August, meanwhile, the pope warned that decisions affecting human life are increasingly being entrusted to machines and called for safeguards governing artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.
Earlier this month the U.S. bishops acknowledged the “widespread concern” that AI will lead to “higher unemployment and to fewer jobs that can support a family.” The technology must be “carefully developed” to serve the common good, they said.
Also earlier this month Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, noted the “perception that we need a moral voice” on the topic of AI.
“Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice,” the archbishop said.
Renowned exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth’s 7 lessons on actions of the devil
Father Gabriele Amorth, a renowned Italian exorcist who passed away 10 years ago on Sept. 16, 2016, left behind a valuable legacy of lessons about the devil, drawn from Amorth’s many years of ministry.
Here are seven lessons he shared throughout his life:
1. “Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning.”
In a June 2004 interview with Italian Vatican expert Sandro Magister, Amorth discussed the state of Satanism and the devil’s influence on contemporary culture.
“In general terms, Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning. He does everything he can to make man sin, and whenever evil is committed, he is behind it — though it remains clear that man freely chooses his own actions. But there is also an extraordinary form of action by the evil one: diabolical possession,” he said at the time.
2. “The world is under the power of the devil.”
In the book “The Last Exorcist,” co-authored with Vatican expert Paolo Rodari, Amorth stated that “the world is under the power of the devil. And alongside Satan are many of his prophets — people whom the Bible calls false prophets. False because they lead to lies rather than the truth.”
“These people exist both outside and within the Church. They are easily recognizable: They claim to speak on behalf of the Church, yet they speak on behalf of the world. They demand that the Church assume the roles of the world, and in doing so, they confuse the faithful and steer the Church into waters that are not its own. They are the waters of the evil one,” he added.
3. “Satan attacks the pope above all.”
In his book “The Last Exorcist,” Amorth also noted that “Satan attacks the pope above all. His hatred for the successor of Peter is fierce. I have experienced this in my exorcisms.”
“After the pope, Satan attacks cardinals, bishops, and all priests and religious. It is only natural for this to be the case. No one should be scandalized by it. Priests and religious are called to a fierce spiritual battle.”
4. Invoking St. John Paul II is effective against the devil.
In May 2011, Amorth told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that St. John Paul II had become, in recent years, “a powerful intercessor in the fight against the devil.”
“I have asked the devil more than once: ‘Why are you so afraid of John Paul II?’ And I received two different answers, both interesting. The first was: ‘Because he dismantled my plans.’ And I believe that refers to the fall of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe — the collapse of communism.”
“Another answer the devil gave me was: ‘Because he snatched many young people from my hands.’ There are many young people who converted thanks to John Paul II. Perhaps some were already Christians but not practicing, and then, through John Paul II, they returned to the practice of the faith,” he explained.
5. The devil “wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints.”
Amorth addressed the smear campaign against then-Pope Benedict XVI, whom some accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, when in reality it was he who established the zero-tolerance policy. The exorcist denounced at the time that the devil “uses” priests to cast blame on the entire Church.
“The devil has it in for the Church; he wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints. He fights the Church through men of the Church, but he cannot prevail against the Church itself,” he noted.
The experienced exorcist also stated that “the devil tempts men of the Church, so it should not surprise us if even priests — who possess every divine aid, such as prayer and the sacraments — fall into temptation. They, too, live in the world and can fall just like men of the world.”
6. The most effective intercessor of all is the Virgin Mary.
In May 2002, when asked about the most effective intercessor of all, Amorth told ACI Prensa that “of course, the Virgin is the most effective. And especially when you invoke her as Mary!”
“I once asked Satan: ‘But why are you more afraid when I invoke Our Lady than when I invoke Jesus Christ?’ He answered: ‘Because it humiliates me more to be defeated by a human creature than to be defeated by him.’”
7. The devil is in “everything that denies God.”
Speaking to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, Amorth recounted an occasion when a cardinal told him: “Be honest, the devil doesn’t exist.” The priest replied: “You ought to read a book that will be very useful to you: the Gospel.”
Furthermore, the exorcist described the devil as being present in “everything that denies God,” such as “abortion, divorce, homosexuality, satanic rock music, or programs featuring violence and sex on television.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Vatican calls for ‘new ethic of dialogue’ 60 years after Nostra Aetate
VATICAN CITY — Sixty years after the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate, the Vatican is calling for a renewed approach to interreligious dialogue aimed at fostering peaceful coexistence without erasing religious differences.
“Today, in the face of those who foment divisions and stir up conflicts, believers of different traditions — and above all their leaders — while remaining aware of their irreducible differences, are called to seek, with clarity and hope, the conditions necessary for peaceful coexistence,” states a new joint note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
The document, titled “A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate,” was published Sept. 16. Pope Leo XIV approved the note at an audience with the prefects and secretaries of the three dicasteries on June 22 and ordered its publication.
The text reviews the teaching of successive popes on interreligious relations, looks back at the path traveled since Nostra Aetate was promulgated in 1965, and turns to the challenges facing dialogue today.
“In stark contrast to those rigid attitudes that seek to resolve conflicts by force, it is time to promote a new ethic of dialogue: a culture of complexity, flexibility, and friendship,” the document states. “It is no longer a matter of fearing or keeping one’s distance from the ‘other believer’ — another civilization, another way of thinking — but of daring the encounter.”
One of the document’s proposals is to give greater recognition to concrete initiatives undertaken by local Churches.
“At the same time, greater appreciation must be given to the concrete initiatives undertaken by the local Churches, which are on the front lines,” the note states. “It is they who, at the local level, develop the most creative and courageous forms of encounter: dialogue commissions, joint projects, educational or humanitarian initiatives, and shared celebrations.”
By gathering and sharing those experiences, the document says, “the universal Church can enrich her life while also identifying and guiding new pastoral paths.”
At the same time, the Vatican note stresses that dialogue does not mean abandoning claims to religious truth.
“It is not, therefore, a matter of renouncing the truth but of proclaiming it in a manner befitting the Gospel: with esteem, listening, and charity,” the document states.
The note says achieving genuine dialogue requires “a genuine shift in mindset,” defined as “abandoning the logic of defensiveness, hostility, or conquest in order to adopt an attitude that is open, benevolent, and courageous.”
It also calls for a renewed pedagogy of dialogue, beginning with formation in seminaries, theological institutes, and pastoral programs.
“It is no longer sufficient to proclaim the importance of dialogue; it must now be lived, providing the faithful with the tools to participate in it in an informed, critical, and serene manner,” the document states.
The note points to knowledge of religions, the history of interreligious relations, guidelines for dialogue, religious literacy, and an understanding of contemporary cultural and geopolitical issues as important elements of such formation.
In its conclusion, the document underscores the importance it assigns to interreligious fraternity amid contemporary conflicts and social challenges.
“Fraternity among believers of different religious traditions is not merely an ideal, but a moral, spiritual, and social imperative,” it states.
“Faced with contemporary challenges — religious extremism, global migration, secularization, and ecological and social crises — religions are called to transform the world and society so that they may become fraternal expressions of God’s will.”
“This commitment necessarily involves a renewed education in dialogue, especially among younger generations, to overcome fears and prejudices and to foster a genuine culture of encounter,” the note concludes.
A version of this story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Gaza’s only Catholic school reopens after 3-year closure
A Catholic school in the war-torn Gaza Strip reopened its doors this week after being closed for nearly three years.
Holy Family School, attached to Gaza’s only Catholic church, Holy Family Parish, welcomed approximately 1,000 students back to school on Sept. 15, according to the Catholic aid group Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Holy Family’s parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, told a visiting delegation from ACN that he hopes the reopening of the school “will bring some sense of normality” to the students and their families, “even though nothing is normal in Gaza.”
“There is almost nowhere in Gaza that has not been destroyed, destruction is all around,” Romanelli said, “but we have worked hard to make the school a clean environment, where the children — who have been through so much — can feel safe.”
The ACN delegation was in Gaza to assess local needs during the ongoing war with Israel, according to the aid group.
The majority of the 1,000 students at the school are Muslim, according to George Akroush, director of the project development office of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Christian students make up about 13% of the student population.
“For the first time, all Christian students in Gaza will be studying together in one Christian school,” Akroush told ACN. “This creates a strong sense of community and shows that the Church remains close to them, accompanying them in the midst of all they are going through.”
Previously, five Christian schools served Gaza: three Catholic, one evangelical Protestant, and one Orthodox.
Romanelli said he hopes the reopened school will be “like a light in the darkness for the local community that has experienced so much suffering.”
“Everyone in Gaza is carrying so much trauma,” he said, telling ACN the school is incorporating a psychosocial support program “that will be an important part of what we do with the children” as well as the teachers, many of whom “are so traumatized, and it is almost as if they are not the same people who we knew before the start of the war.”
He said he hopes that when Gazans, who have begun returning to the devastated region, see the “students coming in their uniforms to the school, it shows them that there is a future,” he added.
The priest said he takes families to the beach on Sundays after Mass, “even though the water in the beach is filled with rubble — everywhere in Gaza is filled with rubble,” because “we want to have some time of recreation for the families.”
“The needs in Gaza are enormous,” he continued, saying the students have asked him to keep the school open for after-school activities because “we have nothing to do and nowhere to go.”
German bishop backs married priests ahead of bishops’ assembly
A German auxiliary bishop has said the Catholic Church “could afford” to ordain married men as priests while firmly rejecting demands for the ordination of women to the priesthood ahead of a crucial gathering of German bishops later this month.
Auxiliary Bishop Josef Graf of Regensburg told the Catholic Sunday newspaper of the Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen in an interview published Sept. 15 that he personally believes the Church could open the door to so-called “viri probati” — men of proven faith who are married.
“I personally believe the Church could afford ‘viri probati.’ It could grant ordination to ‘proven men’ with a marriage and a family,” Graf said.
The German prelate pointed out that the Diocese of Regensburg had several married priests — former Protestant pastors who converted to Catholicism and were ordained with Romeʼs permission while continuing to live in marriage and family.
“We also recognize the priestly ordination of the Orthodox churches and of the Eastern Catholic churches of the Byzantine rite. These have married priests alongside the monastic state,” Graf said. “I could well imagine the Church taking the path of ‘viri probati.’ But the priest shortage would probably not be eliminated by it.”
Celibacy ‘not indispensable’
Graf, 69, who served as seminary spiritual director for 26 years before his episcopal appointment in 2015, affirmed the value of priestly celibacy but said it is not a prerequisite for ordination.
“I still believe that the celibacy of the priest has not only a great tradition in the Catholic Church but is also a charism that is helpful in the exercise of priestly ministry,” he said.
Celibacy, when lived honestly, Graf added, will always involve renunciation of sexual intimacy, and “the lifelong partnership of marriage, of having oneʼs own children.”
“Celibacy, as an expression of following Christ, will always also involve the way of the cross. However, the unmarried state of the priest would not be a ‘conditio sine qua non’ — an indispensable prerequisite — for receiving priestly ordination,” he said.
The celibacy lived by ordained men and women in the Latin Church is rooted in the example of Christ, who lived unmarried. It enables the priest to serve his community with undivided attention and functions as an eschatological sign pointing to the fullness of communion with God, in which “they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Mt 22:30). Pope Paul VI described celibacy in Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (1967) as the object and outward sign of a complete and generous self-giving to the mystery of Christ.
Womenʼs ordination rejected
Graf firmly rejected calls for the ordination of women, a demand raised by Germanyʼs Synodal Way process.
“I believe that is not possible. Already because we have a different tradition,” he said. “If a pope were to break with this tradition, it would at present lead to a split in the Church.”
Asked whether tradition was the only argument against it, Graf replied: “Not at all. In my view there are still very weighty theological reasons for the sacrament of ordination being reserved to men. Listing them here would require too much space.”
The Catholic Church holds that only men can be validly ordained to the priesthood, a teaching declared as definitive by St. John Paul II in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. The teaching applies analogously to the diaconate and the episcopate.
Ordination numbers and ‘crisis of faith’
Germany ordained 30 men to the priesthood in 2026, up from 25 the previous year. Eleven of the countryʼs 27 dioceses and archdioceses had no new priest this year. Regensburg had one. In 1966, there were 447 ordinations across Germany.
Graf attributed the decline primarily to secularization and anti-Church sentiment rather than celibacy.
“When I entered the seminary in 1977, it was practically an honor for a village and even more for my parents. Today it is unfortunately different. The priestly vocation is a contested profession — the abuse scandal being the key word,” he said.
He also pointed to the experience of Germanyʼs Protestant churches as evidence that abolishing celibacy does not solve the underlying problem.
“All our Catholic hot-button issues like celibacy and womenʼs ordination have long been settled by the Protestant church in Germany. Yet it now also suffers from personnel shortages and ongoing membership losses,” Graf said.
“I say that with no ‘schadenfreude,’ certainly not. But one can see that the root of the problems lies elsewhere. It is the decline of faith.”
Fulda plenary ahead
Grafʼs public remarks were made less than two weeks before Germanyʼs bishops convene for their autumn plenary in Fulda from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. The agenda under new conference president Bishop Heiner Wilmer includes surrogacy, assisted suicide, organ donation, artificial intelligence, and sexual abuse.
Wilmer, the bishop of Münster and a member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, was elected president of the German Bishops' Conference in February. In an interview with Vatican News published Sept. 16, he called for renewal.
“We need not be afraid of renewal,” Wilmer said. “Nor need we be afraid of the spirit of the times, which shows us how to proclaim the Gospel well today.”
Wilmer argued that a synodal Church is essential for Europe. “Europe urgently needs a synodal Church, because Europe is becoming ever more complex, ever more fragmented. The danger is that Europe falls apart, descends into petty statism, and there are skirmishes,” he said.
The statutes for Germanyʼs planned Synodal Conference — a controversial, permanent body that would give laypeople a formal advisory role alongside bishops — remain pending approval from the Holy See. Wilmer submitted the text to the Vatican on March 31. The conferenceʼs inaugural meeting, originally planned for November in Stuttgart, has been postponed until Romeʼs response is finalized.
This story was first published in two parts by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
As AI reshapes the workplace, labor and Church leaders demand a worker voice
VATICAN CITY — As artificial intelligence reshapes workplaces and corporate decision-making, labor leaders and Catholic bishops are calling for workers to have a direct voice in how the technology is introduced and used.
Their argument is not that technological innovation should be resisted but that decisions affecting jobs, wages, and working conditions should not be left solely to corporate executives or automated systems. Instead, they point to collective bargaining, social dialogue, and human oversight as safeguards for workers’ dignity and rights.
Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), said protecting workers requires confronting a model in which executives make far-reaching technological decisions without worker input.
“Right now, we have CEOs who want to play God to make decisions that affect hundreds of millions of working people without our input and consent,” Shuler said.
Shuler made the remarks at a Sept. 11 Vatican press conference held in connection with the Fourth Fratelli Tutti Synodal Meeting, a Sept. 10–12 gathering in Rome focused on dialogue between the Global North and South on social and environmental issues. The press conference brought together labor and Church leaders to discuss, among other questions, the impact of artificial intelligence on workers and the need for social dialogue. Other speakers included Bishop Daniel Flores, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Jaime Spengler; and labor leader Gerardo Martínez.
For Shuler, social dialogue is essential to ensuring that AI is developed and deployed with human dignity in mind. She compared the current technological transition to the introduction of electricity during the second industrial revolution.
“Electricity was a new technology that was raw and revolutionary and dangerous, and companies were racing to make profits and people were suffering,” she said.
Shuler linked that history to Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the relationship between labor and capital. It was “workers organizing together in a union who stood up to demand safety from the government, from power companies, and negotiated to make sure electricity was installed and used responsibly to benefit everyone,” she said.
She also pointed to the partnership between the AFL-CIO and Microsoft as an example of how organized labor can seek a formal role in the development and introduction of AI.
Shuler said the agreement “guarantees workers a voice in the development of AI” and “puts into writing our workers’ right to form a union.”
Martínez similarly argued that worker protections need not come at the expense of technological innovation. He summarized the labor movement’s approach in three principles: “Not resisting innovation, not accepting exclusion, and negotiating transition.”
Under that approach, unions do not reject technological advances but insist that automated systems should not independently determine fundamental working conditions.
“We cannot accept that an algorithm decides by itself about employment, salary, and rights that correspond to a worker,” Martínez said.
He said the objective should be integration rather than a confrontation between workers and technology: “The challenge is not technology against work. The challenge is technology with worthy work, productivity, distribution, and development with social justice.”
Flores connected the issue of worker participation to Catholic social teaching, particularly the principle of subsidiarity and the importance of allowing communities affected by technological change to express their concerns.
“From the Catholic point of view, history is not always a matter of what the powerful decide, that there are other things that move history,” Flores said. “One of them is social friendship, and a sense of justice, and a sense of what is right.”
Those themes also figure prominently in Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses the protection of human dignity amid the development of artificial intelligence.
Spengler cited the encyclical’s call to each generation to shape technological and social change in accordance with human dignity: “Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted, and fraternity is made possible.”
Taken together, the speakers presented worker participation as a central question in the development of AI. Their proposed safeguards include collective bargaining, negotiated technological transitions, human oversight, and cooperation among unions, employers, international organizations, and faith communities — with the aim of ensuring that innovation serves workers rather than leaving consequential employment decisions to algorithms alone.
Pope Leo XIV: Martyrs are among the Church’s greatest evangelizers
A Vatican conference on modern Christian martyrs concluded with a speech by Pope Leo XIV, who praised their witness and the evangelizing power of their simple, daily holiness.
The pontiff held a private audience at the Vatican on Sept. 16 with participants in the conference “The 21st Century: A New Time of Martyrs?” held at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome from Sept. 15–16.
The conference, organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, discussed the ecumenical initiative “Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith” established by Pope Francis in 2023 to document the deaths of Christians of all denominations who have been killed for their faith since 2000.
Among the cases discussed was that of Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who was killed in Brazil in 2005 while serving the local population in the Amazon.
Christian witnesses propose a faith lived out daily, not an ideology
In his address, Pope Leo praised the dicastery’s work cataloging the lives of Christians killed for their faith and explained that their example can teach believers today to present the faith not as an ideology but as a way of life.
“The evangelizing strength of the new witnesses to the faith represents one of the Church’s greatest resources for proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world,” Leo said. “The witnesses to the faith do not propose an ideology but show a faith lived out in everyday life.”
He also explained the significance of those Christians to Catholics, saying they “are brothers and sisters who, in different geographical, historical, and political contexts, have given their life for the Gospel.”
The pope also said that daily holiness — the holiness next door — can help Christians explain and defend their faith in arguments.
“In indifferent cultural contexts, “holiness next door” and quiet heroism become powerful arguments, capable of speaking to everyone, even the most skeptical.”
Muslims in West Bank are tired of violence against Christians
Speakers at the conference included Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.
Pizzaballa, who delivered a speech on the suffering of Christians amid ongoing wars in the Holy Land, recounted his experience of explaining that suffering to Muslim students in Palestine.
“I agreed to meet with young people from the local university [in Palestine] who insisted I come,” Pizzaballa recounted. “I had never experienced that before and was afraid. About 600 students were there, all Muslims. During the discussion, I expected political questions about the war. Instead, all the questions were about life, faith, and Christianity.”
“When I said that Christianity rejects violence …, they stood up and applauded, saying they, too, are tired of living in a system of violence.”
The blood of the martyrs comes before theological disagreements among Christians
Semeraro, in his address, discussed the progress of the “Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith” initiative and emphasized the need to prioritize the sacrifice of Christians for the faith over theological debates.
“The blood of the martyrs comes before our theological dialogues,” Semeraro said. “Where our Christian confessions still have wounds that need to be healed, the martyrs tell us that what is essential is already shared: the confession of Christ, even unto the gift of oneʼs life. This is called the ‘ecumenism of blood.’"
Sister Dorothy Stang and the impact of 9/11 on Christian persecution
Among the Christians mentioned at the conference was Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who was murdered in Brazil in 2005 for defending the land rights of the Indigenous peoples. In 2025, she became the first U.S. woman to be included in a permanent memorial in Rome for modern Christian martyrs.
Sister Nicoletta Spezzati, a consultor for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, described Stang as a “woman of contemplative prayer” who understood that “the predatory devastation of the planet is not simply a moral offense but humanityʼs rebellion against the Creator.”
Marcia Goodman, a niece of Stang, added that her life was rooted in the belief in a sustainable environment for all people.
“It’s especially powerful that Dorothy, a woman, is being recognized as a modern martyr,” Goodman told EWTN News. “She led her life in the belief that all people matter and therefore deserve a place to call home.”
Besides Stang, the impact of the U.S. terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, on Christian persecution in Europe was also noted. Father Roberto Regoli, president of the Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, described those attacks as a precursor to a new scale of Christian persecution internationally.
“Twenty-five years ago, on Sept. 11, we remember the attacks on the Twin Towers. We remember the airplane that struck the Pentagon in Washington. From those years onward, there was an escalation of conflicts at the international level,” Regoli said.
“In the face of secularism, social difficulties, psychological difficulties, and religious tensions, there are men and women — religious and laypeople — who remain where they are. And perhaps this is itself a form of testimony: to remain in oneʼs place,” Regoli added.
Elias Turk contributed to this report.