Rights group hails release of 100 children abducted from Nigerian Catholic school
Empty beds in a student dormitory at St Mary's Catholic School in the Kontagora Diocese.on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna
ACI Africa, Dec 10, 2025 / 19:10 pm (CNA).
Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a UK-based human rights organization, has welcomed the release of 100 schoolchildren, who were among 303 children abducted on Nov. 21 from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri community in Nigeria’s Niger State served by the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora.
In a press release shared with ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, on Dec. 9, officials with the Christian group called on the Nigerian government to ensure that the children receive help after their trauma.
Nigerian authorities reportedly secured the release of the children on Dec. 7, although details of how this was achieved remain unclear.
Confirming the release to Catholic pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of the Kontagora Diocese said: “It is true. So far, 100 children have been released. We thank God for everything.”
In the press release emailed to ACI Africa on Dec. 9, Christian Solidarity Worldwide CEO Scot Bower expressed solidarity with the freed children and those close to them, saying: “We wish these students and their families a swift and full recovery from this traumatic ordeal, and urge the Nigerian authorities to do all they can to assist with this.”
He added, “Nigerian citizens have been terrorized by multiple armed non-state actors for far too long and require urgent, effective protection.”
Bower challenged the Nigerian government to “spare no effort” in securing the release of every citizen who is currently in captivity, including the remaining students and staff members from the Catholic schools.
He also appealed to authorities in Nigeria to address the country’s unprecedented security crisis decisively, sourcing international assistance “wherever possible and whenever necessary.”
A total of 153 students and 12 staff members remained in captivity as of Dec. 7.
Armed gunmen attacked St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Niger State, abducting 239 nursery and primary school children, 14 secondary school children, and 12 staff members from the private boarding school.
The subsequent deaths of two parents — Anthony Musa, the father of three young abductees, and a mother of other children known only as Esther — have been attributed to trauma caused by the abductions.
In a post on X, U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, who has introduced a resolution addressing the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and recently visited the nation, commended the Dec. 7 rescue, which he described as "a positive demonstration of the government’s increasing response to the security situation."
Moore added that he had discussed “concrete steps and actions” which he said “if fully executed … will enhance security across the country for all Nigerians, disrupt and destroy terrorist organizations in the North-East and stop the killing of Christians … particularly in the Middle Belt of the country.”
Nigeria is in the midst of an unprecedented and multifaceted security crisis, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported, adding that while the violence occurring in central areas — including Benue, southern Kaduna, Kwara, Niger, Plateau and Taraba — bears a distinct religious nature, in northwestern areas such as Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara and the northern part of Kaduna State, the violence generally unfolds along ethnic lines.
This article was originally published by ACI Africa, CNA's African news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.
Top health officials delayed abortion pill safety review, report claims
Pro-life advocates are calling for action as top federal health officials deny reports that they are delaying a promised safety review of the abortion pill. / Credit: Yta23/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 18:30 pm (CNA).
Pro-life advocates are calling for action as top federal health officials deny reports that they are delaying a promised safety review of the abortion pill.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “has delayed a promised review of safety data” until after midterm elections at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request, a Tuesday report by Bloomberg Law claimed, citing unnamed sources.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has denied the claim, saying it is “baseless.”
“Assertions that the FDA is slow walking this review for political purposes are baseless,” an HHS spokesperson told CNA.
“FDA takes the time necessary to conduct comprehensive scientific reviews, and that is what Dr. Makary is ensuring as part of the Department's commitment to gold-standard science and evidence-based reviews,” the statement continued.
In response, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri — an outspoken advocate for reviewing abortion pill safety regulations — called the FDA’s actions "unacceptable."
In a letter addressed to Makary, Hawley urged the FDA to conduct a safety review and reinstate safety regulations that were removed during the pandemic under the Biden administration.
“It is unclear whether you are conducting an independent safety review at all,” Hawley said in the Dec. 10 letter. “I cannot emphasize enough the danger of playing politics with women's health.”
In June of this year, Makary told Hawley that he would conduct a review of the abortion drug. In May, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also said the FDA would do a review of the drug.
Since then, the FDA has not completed a safety review, but has approved a generic version of the abortion drug mifepristone.
“There are more abortions in America now than when Roe was still law,” Hawley said in the letter.
Pro-life advocates are demanding action from the FDA, saying the issue is urgent because of the lives that are at risk given the danger of mail-order prescriptions of the drug.
Two recent, peer-reviewed studies found that one in 10 women experience serious adverse reactions after having a chemical abortion.
FDA regulations allow abortion pills to be shipped to patients without a telehealth visit. Multiple cases have been reported where the father of the unborn child has allegedly coerced or poisoned the mother with the abortion drug.
“The FDA must act NOW to protect children and their mothers,” said Lila Rose, founder of Live Action.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser has called for Makary to be fired, saying he is “undermining President Trump and Vice President Vance’s pro-life credentials and their position that states should have the right to enact and enforce pro-life protections.”
“The FDA is doing nothing while every single day abortion drugs take the lives of children, put women and girls at serious risk, empower abusers and trample state pro-life laws,” Dannenfelser said in a Dec. 9 statement shared with CNA.
Dr. Christina Francis, head of the American Association of Pro Life OBGYNs (AAPLOG) called on the FDA to review the drug immediately and to reinstate safeguards around the drug.
“We are tired of empty promises,” Francis said in a statement. “Women’s health matters more than political elections.”
U.S. House passes defense bill stripped of IVF provision
null / Credit: Rohane Hamilton/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
The House passed a defense authorization bill Dec. 10 without a provision to allow health care coverage of in vitro fertilization for active-duty military.
Pro-life groups cheered the provision’s removal from the bill. The original bill would have required Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “ensure that fertility-related care for a member of the uniformed services on active duty (or a dependent of such a member) shall be covered under TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Select.” Tricare does not cover IVF.
The House passed the bill (S. 1071) by a vote of 312-112, and Senate consideration is next.
Like last year, the IVF provision was eliminated from the defense authorization bill shortly before its consideration. President Donald Trump had made a campaign promise to make IVF free.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNA in a statement that “President Trump and Congressional Republicans have been working to lower costs and expand access to IVF.”
“The Speaker has clearly and repeatedly stated he is supportive of access to IVF when sufficient pro-life protections are in place, and he will continue to be supportive when it is done responsibly and ethically,” the spokesperson said.
Live Action President Lila Rose praised Johnson for “ensuring TRICARE was not used to subsidize this destruction of life.”
“Students for Life has opposed IVF as practiced, as it's a business model that by design, destroys far more lives than are allowed to live and thrive,” Students for Life Vice President Kristy Hamrick told CNA in a statement responding to Speaker Mike Johnson’s move to strip the bill of IVF provisions. “The move to pull the funding for IVF will free up resources to seek better answers,” she said.
“Unquestioning financial support props up an industry known to prey on people's hopes for a child while ending many lives. We need to seek better answers for the question of how to help people have families than to assume that IVF is the solution,” she said. “We can do better.”
The Advancing American Freedom Foundation, which is led by former Vice President Mike Pence, posted a memo on X stating “many pro-life Americans are opposed to IVF because the standard process destroys human embryos.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council reacted to news that IVF would be cut from the bill by praising Johnson, and said in a post on X: “The Speaker is right to put the pause on IVF funding in the Defense spending bill.”
“The IVF industry operates with little, if any, oversight, which has led to the creation and destruction of tens of thousands of so-called ‘excess’ embryos,” he said. “There are other pro-life options. Taxpayers' dollars should fund fertility methods that respect human dignity, treat the underlying causes of infertility, AND are successful—like Restorative Reproductive Medicine.”
Venezuelan authorities prevent Cardinal Porras from traveling, cancel passport
Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Caracas, Venezuela, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
On Dec. 10 Venezuelan immigration police confiscated and invalidated the passport of Cardinal Baltazar Porras, the archbishop emeritus of Caracas, as he was preparing to travel to Bogotá, Colombia, from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía.
According to the Grand Priory of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem in Venezuela, on Wednesday morning the cardinal "was subjected to humiliating treatment" by airport authorities under the government of Nicolas Maduro.
From Bogotá, Porras was scheduled to take a flight to Madrid and then travel to Toledo, where he was going to participate in the solemn ceremony that would invest him as Spiritual Protector of the Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela. Accompanying the cardinal were Grand Prior José Antonio Rodríguez and his wife, who were allowed to board the plane.
“Immigration police officers unjustly detained His Eminence Cardinal Porras [along with] the Grand Prior with his wife. The cardinal's Venezuelan passport was confiscated and invalidated, preventing him from boarding his scheduled flight to Bogotá, with a connection to Madrid,” the order explained in a statement.
“Even though His Eminence presented his Vatican City State passport, issued by virtue of his dignity as a cardinal and with the diplomatic prerogatives that correspond to him as a prince of the Catholic Church, he was denied boarding. The cardinal was subjected to humiliating treatment, including a search of his personal belongings and clothing, with the use of drug-sniffing dogs, while his luggage was removed from the plane,” the statement added.
The Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela emphasized that what happened constituted a “flagrant violation” of international law, especially the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Consequently, “with feelings of profound indignation and in defense of the dignity of our order, its authorities, and the Holy Church,” a complaint has been filed with the Vatican Secretariat of State, requesting that it convey a “formal protest to the Venezuelan authorities for the violation of the diplomatic prerogatives of His Eminence Cardinal Baltazar Porras.”
The Order of St. Lazarus in Venezuela also requested that the Holy See demand “the immediate return of the confiscated documents and a guarantee of unimpeded international travel for His Eminence, in accordance with current international norms.”
‘Strength lies in the weakness of the manger’
In a statement addressed to the bishops of Venezuela, Cardinal Porras recounted what happened at Simón Bolívar Airport, noting that “the most common experience in this last quarter of a century is to suffer almost constantly, with few exceptions.”
Upon reviewing his passport, immigration police told him that he appeared as deceased in the identification system. The cardinal also reported that he was followed even into the restroom by the soldiers who prevented him from traveling.
“We are in the Christmas season. Strength lies in the weakness of the manger, in the fragility of the truth that is built in peace, without violence and without abuse. Hope comes through continuous work for the good of all, especially the excluded,” the archbishop emeritus of Caracas stated.
In recent weeks, Porras has been the target of numerous attacks and abuses from prominent figures in the socialist government, mainly by President Nicolás Maduro and Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Peace Diosdado Cabello.
In the days leading up to and following the canonization of Venezuela's first saints on Oct. 19, the cardinal denounced the precarious situation in the country from Rome, specifically calling for an end to political persecution and the release of the thousands of people detained for ideological reasons.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
100 years ago today Our Lady appeared to Fatima visionary Sister Lucia in Pontevedra, Spain
Sister Lucia, visionary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. / Credit: Fatima Shrine
ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:22 pm (CNA).
Today, Dec. 10, marks the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Sister Lucia of Fatima in Pontevedra province in Spain, where the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month was revealed.
After the apparitions of the Angel of Portugal in 1916, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children — Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia — occurred in Fatima the following year.
After the deaths of her two cousins in 1919 and 1920, Lucia was placed under the protection of the bishop of Leiria, who sent her incognito to study at a school run by the Dorothean Sisters in Porto, Portugal, under the pseudonym of Dolores.
When she turned 18, she expressed the desire to enter the Discalced Carmelite order, but the Dorothean Sisters persuaded her to go to their novitiate located in Tuy, a town in Spain's Galicia region north of Portugal.
Since her identity could not be revealed, the sisters were unable to certify the studies required for her to enter the novitiate, so they sent her to Pontevedra to perform manual labor at the Dorothean Sisters' house there.
The Virgin Mary asks her to reveal the devotion of the First Saturdays
Feeling discouraged by the situation, and thinking that becoming a Carmelite nun was increasingly a distant possibility, on Dec. 10, 1925, Lucia’s cell was illuminated with a supernatural light.
"Our Lady, as if wanting to instill courage in me, gently placed her motherly hand on my right shoulder, showing me at the same time Her Immaculate Heart, which she held in her other hand, surrounded by thorns," the visionary later wrote.
At that moment, the Child Jesus, who was also present, addressed her, saying, "Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them."
The Virgin Mary then asked Lucia to reveal the devotion of the Five First Saturdays, about which she had already spoken to her, along with Jacinta and Francisco, eight years earlier in Fatima:
“I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
‘And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?’
Five days later, on Dec. 15, 1925, according to the testimony of Lucia, who eventually became a Carmelite in 1949, while performing her assigned duties, she encountered a boy to whom she wanted to teach the Hail Mary and urged him to go to a chapel to recite a short prayer.
Several weeks passed and in February 1926, Sister Lucia said she met the boy again and asked him if he had prayed to the Virgin Mary as she had suggested. The boy turned to her and said, "And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?”
At that moment, the boy transformed "into a resplendent child," with whom Sister Lucia continued to speak. The little boy insisted that she spread devotion to the First Saturdays because "many souls begin, but few persevere to the very end, and those who persevere do it to receive the graces promised.”
“The souls who make the five First Saturdays with fervor and to make reparation to the Heart of your Heavenly Mother, please me more than those who make fifteen, but are lukewarm and indifferent,” said the child, who confirmed that confession did not have to be immediate, provided that Communion was received in a state of grace and with the intention of making reparation.
All these events were recounted by Sister Lucia in 1927, after she went to the tabernacle on Dec. 17 to ask how to reveal this devotion if it was part of the secret communicated at Fatima.
Sister Lucia said that Jesus told her unequivocally: "My daughter, write what they ask of you; and everything that the Blessed Virgin revealed in the apparition in which she spoke of this devotion, write that down as well. As for the rest of the secret, continue to keep silent."
Sister Lucia’s time in Spain
Sister Lucia resided in Spain from 1925 to 1946. During her stay in the country, she wrote her memoirs. When the Second Republic was proclaimed in 1931, and given its anti-religious character, dressed in civilian clothes she took refuge in Rianxo, a port town also in Galicia, at the home of the sister of the superior of the Dorothean Sisters in Tuy.
She also spent a month on the island of La Toja, located off the coast, where she was advised to go because she was ill. In 1945, she traveled to Santiago de Compostela for the Holy Year.
Popular devotion
The Virgin Mary's apparitions to Sister Lucia in Pontevedra have not received official recognition from the Vatican. However, like other phenomena of the same nature, they sparked popular devotion from their very beginnings.
In the 1930s, but especially in the 1940s, after the Spanish Civil War, devotional acts and pilgrimages to the site of the apparitions multiplied, and in the following decades, associations and parish projects were established.
In the last third of the 20th century, the place became known as the Shrine of the Apparitions, yet at the beginning of the 21st century it was in danger of ruin, to the point that the Spanish Bishops’ Conference acquired the site in 2021 from the World Apostolate of Fatima association in Spain and began restoration work.
Holy Year in Pontevedra
To mark this centenary, the Holy See has granted the celebration of a jubilee year with the theme "Mary kept all these things in her heart," taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke.
The Apostolic Penitentiary has granted the apostolic blessing and a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, to pilgrims who visit the Shrine of the Apparitions in Pontevedra until Dec. 10, 2026.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Federal government cuts off aid to Texas Catholic Charities
Sister Norma Pimentel spoke with the Holy Father at the Oct. 2, 2025 meeting. / Credit: Vatican Media
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has suspended Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley from receiving federal funding, according to the charity group.
The Catholic Charities group is the charitable branch of the Diocese of Brownsville and is part of Catholic Charities USA and Caritas Internationalis.
The charity is located in South Texas and operates the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen. The migrant shelter is run by Sister Norma Pimentel, known popularly as “the immigrants’ nun.” Pimentel and the center offer immigrants awaiting court hearings shelter and food before they travel to meet relatives in other cities and states.
The nonprofit reported in a statement that the organization learned that the government "temporarily suspended” its "eligibility for federal funding pending a further determination."
“Those on the front lines of our humanitarian outreach know the work we do truly helps to restore human dignity,” Pimentel said in the statement. “I take very seriously every single dollar entrusted to us.”
The organization did not specify exactly what led to the suspension, and reported it is “committed to compliance with federal grant requirements and will work expeditiously with DHS to resolve this matter.”
“All funding provided by DHS was used to care for individuals who were brought to CCRGV by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP),” the organization said. “These are individuals who were released by CBP with a document that gave them permission to travel to their points of destination with instructions on where to follow up with their immigration proceedings.”
“CCRGV exists for one purpose – to help those in need,” the statement said. “Ours is a humanitarian response aimed at restoring human dignity to the thousands of immigrants who have been offered care, and we are proud of our work feeding the hungry and providing care for those here in our country.”
The suspension applies only to the Catholic charity, but not to Catholic Charities USA or any other branches nationwide.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from CNA.
Trump to create sanctions plan for Nigeria, congressman says
Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, speaks about a sanctions plan to increase pressure on the Nigerian government amid ongoing Christian persecution on Dec. 9, 2025. / Credit: Madalaine Elhabbal/CNA
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
U.S. President Donald Trump is crafting a sanctions plan to increase pressure on the Nigerian government amid ongoing Christian persecution, according to a leading member of Congress.
President Trump “ “is in the process of crafting a comprehensive action plan including sanctions to pursue reform,” according to Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, who described Nigeria as “ground zero,” and the “focal point of the most brutal and murderous anti-Christian persecution in the world today.”
Smith, a Catholic who chairs the house Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, mentioned the plan during his Dec. 9 speech at “The Emergency Summit on Crimes Against Christians,” organized by For the Martyrs, a nonprofit that aids persecuted Christians. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Rep. Marlin Stuzman, R-Indiana, also spoke at the event.
The veteran New Jersey congressman praised Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and affirmed that “Religious freedom will now be at the forefront of the U.S.-Nigeria bilateral relationship.”
The president can choose from a menu of sanctions for a CPC-designated country under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), ranging from diplomatic measures to economic sanctions. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
During his remarks, Senator Josh Hawley said Nigeria “has recently drawn global attention and has drawn the attention of our own president.”
“I applaud President Trump for standing up for persecuted Christians. I applaud the president for putting Nigeria back on the watch list where it belongs,” Hawley said. The Missouri senator quoted the Book of Revelation while praising Christians persecuted around the world, saying: “They love not their lives, even unto death.”
“We see here in the Lord's own word, his testament to the power of the persecuted church,” Hawley said. “That he says it is those who are persecuted, who are willing to lay down their lives for the Gospel…it is those believers whose blood bears witness to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Stutzman, whose district includes Fort Wayne, Indiana, also condemned the persecution of Christians in Nigeria during his remarks, and praised Trump for being “the strongest president on [religious freedom] since probably Ronald Reagan.”
“We have a president who's willing to call out those bad guys around the world,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think this is why it's so important for us as Americans, especially for us as Christians. We are the party of life. We believe life is a gift from God. And so therefore, we should protect it. And we should be asking those folks, What is the threat? What is the threat of Christians in Nigeria to the government, to the leaders in that nation? What is the threat of Christians there?”
Trump has charged Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, with leading an investigation into persecution in Nigeria.
China
Congressman Smith went on to highlight religious persecution in China, saying “Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s accelerated and brutal crackdown on believers in China must be exposed and stopped as well.” He highlighted the October raids on home churches by Chinese security agents, saying, “in Xi Jinping’s China, devotion that isn’t Communist Party-approved is treated as a political problem to be solved by police brutality.”
“We must act with sanctions, especially those prescribed by the International Religious Freedom Act,” Smith said.
Hawley also drew attention to persecution in China, where he said “the totalitarian, secularist, anti-Christian government carried out raids on home church after home church.”
New Orleans Diocese issues Mass dispensation for migrants due to arrest fears
The St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square are seen at sunset near the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans on April 10, 2010. / Credit: Graythen/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 10, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced a Sunday Mass dispensation for migrants fearing deportation amid heightened presence of immigration enforcement officials in the state.
“As I write to you, our immigrant sisters and brothers are facing real fear and anxiety in the wake of an increase in immigration enforcement actions,” Aymond wrote in a Dec. 8 letter.
Aymond is the fifth U.S. bishop to announce dispensations for Catholic immigrants from Sunday Mass. Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge granted the same dispensation in his diocese earlier this week. Bishops in the dioceses of San Bernardino, California; Nashville, Tennessee; and Charlotte, North Carolina, also granted a dispensation this year.
Aymond’s move comes amid the deployment of 250 Border Patrol agents to the region with plans to arrest 5,000 individuals across Louisiana and Mississippi as a part of the Trump administration’s “Operation Catahoula Crunch.”
“I have been made aware that many of our faithful families have chosen not to leave their homes out of fear of encountering immigration enforcement actions,” Aymond said. “In light of these circumstances, I am granting a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass for those Catholics rightfully afraid to participate in Mass because of their fear.”
The dispensation, he said, would remain valid until the Catholic individual feels safe to return, or until it is revoked or amended.
“I encourage those who choose to stay home to gather as a family to spend time in prayer and to perhaps participate virtually in the Celebration of the Eucharist either online or on television,” he continued. “Please continue to pray for our community and for peace as we look ahead with hope to you rejoining us in church and full participation in the Sacraments.”
Aymond emphasized his “prayerful support” of migrants “in the face of these challenging times,” calling on people of faith to join him in prayer for families in the immigrant community, “that we work for real justice and a system that protects and preserves the dignity of the human person and families regardless of where they live or from where they come. “
Catholic bishops in Europe express concern over EU ruling mandating recognition of same-sex unions
The flag of the European Union. / Credit: U. J. Alexander/Shutterstock
ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has expressed concern about a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which obliges all member states to recognize so-called "homosexual marriages" legally performed in another country.
In a Dec. 9 statement, the president of COMECE, Bishop Mariano Crociata, warned that the ruling could have an impact on the legal sovereignty of each nation, since the recognition of these unions is mandatory even if they are not valid under a country’s own legal system.
The ruling concerns a same-sex Polish couple who “married” in Germany in 2018. Upon returning to Poland, the authorities refused to record their union in the civil registry. The European court has deemed this refusal contrary to EU law, meaning that all member states are now obligated to recognize the rights stemming from this bond.
Union between a man and a woman
On behalf of the Church in Europe, Crociata referred to the Church's anthropological vision, "founded on natural law," and reiterated that marriage is a "union between a man and a woman."
In this context, the Italian prelate pointed out that the ruling restricts the rights of each nation, especially those in which "the definition of marriage is part of their national identity." In his opinion, the ruling could generate "pressure to amend national family law" and also increase "legal uncertainty."
Currently, almost half of the European Union countries have not legalized same-sex unions: Poland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Romania.
In this regard, the bishops emphasized the need for "a prudent and cautious approach" to family law with cross-border implications and urges avoiding "undue influence" on national legal systems in Europe.
Surrogacy could be a consequence of the ruling
Crociata also cited Article 9 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states that "The right to marry and the right to found a family shall be guaranteed in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of these rights."
Consequently, the European bishops warned that the approach adopted in this ruling could lead to “negative developments in other sensitive areas,” such as surrogacy.
They therefore expressed their concern about “the current challenging situation in the EU and the polarization present in our societies,” warning that such rulings “can give rise to anti-European [Union] sentiments in member states and can be easily instrumentalized in this sense.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Catholic colleges in Bangladesh threatened over conversion claims
Notre Dame College in Mymensingh district, Bangladesh / Credit: Stephan Uttom Rozario
Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
The president of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Bejoy D'Cruze of Dhaka, has expressed concern after threats against two prominent Catholic colleges posed "a grave concern for the Catholic Church," particularly ahead of Christmas and elections scheduled for February in a Dec. 3 statement.
On Dec. 2, a letter written in Bengali under the name Tawhidee Muslim Janata ("faithful Muslim people") was sent to two of Bangladesh's most prestigious colleges: Notre Dame College, run by the Holy Cross Fathers, and Holy Cross College, run by the Holy Cross Sisters.
The letter thanked the Catholic Church for its role in education but said that the Church is now trying to convert not only indigenous groups and Muslims to Christianity by offering various incentives.
"In a country where 90% of Muslims live, you are trying to convert people by using educational institutions as a tool," the group stated in the letter.
The letter urged the colleges to ensure that educational and social institutions are not used directly or indirectly for religious conversion. "We are not giving you any advice —rather we order you to be careful. If you do not pay heed to our warning, the Tawhidee Muslims' will not spare your places of prayer, churches, cathedrals, chapels and missionary institutions," the letter stated.
After receiving the letter, the Notre Dame College authorities filed a general diary with local police.
In his statement, D'Cruze noted that the majority of students and teachers at both institutions are Muslims. Notre Dame College is for boys and Holy Cross College for girls. The priests and nuns who run these institutions are now living in fear and anxiety, he said.
Although Catholics make up less than 1% of Bangladesh's 180 million people, this small religious community has made a significant contribution to the country's education sector, D'Cruze said.
The Church operates at least one university, 18 colleges, 76 high schools, and over 1,000 primary schools across the nation, all of which are open to people of all faiths.
D'Cruze, who also heads the Bangladesh Catholic Education Board Trust, said in his statement: "It is a grave concern for the Catholic Church to give security to our students and faithful who come to church and institutions."
"I draw your kind attention to stand by us, students, faithful, and institutions," D'Cruze said. "The Catholic Church is not involved in proselytization; on the contrary, this is what takes place."
Pattern of attacks
The threats come amid a series of attacks targeting Catholic institutions in Dhaka in recent weeks.
On Nov. 7, two homemade bombs were thrown at the gate of St. Mary's Cathedral just hours before a national jubilee celebration.
The following day, explosive devices were hurled at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School and College, also a major Church-run educational institution in Dhaka. On Oct. 8, Holy Rosary Church in the capital, one of the country's oldest churches, was also attacked.