Catholic sisters’ visit to Buddhist temple stirs controversy in Vietnam
Vietnamese Catholics are debating the limits of interreligious dialogue following a visit of some 100 Catholic sisters to a Buddhist temple in Ho Chi Minh City.
The sisters of the Theological Institute of the Inter-Congregations of Lovers of the Holy Cross learned basic principles of Buddhist prayers and “practiced seated meditations” at the visit to Minh Dang Quang Buddhist Monastery on Oct. 26, according to a UCA News report. Controversy followed after photos circulated online of the visit, the report said.
Redemptorist Father Peter Nguyen Van Khai said the visit, which included offering incense and praying in front of a Buddhist statue, was inconsistent with Catholic teaching. “Good subjective intentions are not sufficient to justify an action that is objectively incompatible with the faith,” he said.
Number of bishops in Ireland to drop by a third following merger
The number of Catholic bishops in Ireland could decrease from 26 to 17 after a merger that was decided by Vatican consultations in which Pope Leo XIV participated prior to his election as pope.
The merger was planned during a meeting in February 2025 with Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin, Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly of Cashel and Emly, and Archbishop Francis Duffy of Tuam, according to an Oct. 27 report from the Irish Times.
“Since the meeting in Rome held in February 2025, between the four archbishops of Ireland with Cardinal Robert Prevost ... the subject of reconfiguration of dioceses within the province of Munster has been on the agenda of the regular meetings of the seven Munster bishops,” a spokesperson for the bishops said in the report, noting a consultative process is underway that could take “a number of years.”
At UN, Holy See calls for ‘peaceful uses of outer space’
The apostolic nuncio to the United Nations, Archbishop Christophe El-Kassis, spoke out against the expansion of space activity at the expense of environmental damage at the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.
“Outer space is a common good entrusted to the responsibility of the entire human family. Its exploration and use hold extraordinary promise for scientific advancement and integral human development,” El-Kassis said in his Oct. 28 statement. “However, it is essential that such progress benefits all peoples, without creating new inequalities or exclusions.”
The nuncio further called for “greater international cooperation,” especially so that developing countries may benefit from any possible advances. “The Holy See therefore encourages States to pursue their common efforts to preserve outer space as a realm of peace, stability, and cooperation, for the benefit of present and future generations,” he said.
Displaced Christians in southern Lebanon appeal for protection, return home
Families from Qouzah, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, are appealing to the Vatican and the United States for help returning to their homes after months of displacement.
Residents have called for their village to be protected from further conflict, while Father Antonios Hanna, the parish priest, reported extensive damage to homes and the 120-year-old St. Joseph Church, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported on Oct. 27.
Before the latest displacement, approximately 54 families lived in the village. Many now face unemployment, rent payments, and difficulties meeting basic needs. Hanna emphasized that residents want neither conflict nor confrontation but lasting peace that will allow them to return to their homes, churches, and farmland.
Syrian curriculum changes spark controversy over religion, women
Changes to Syrian school textbooks have sparked criticism over the removal or alteration of material concerning women, the arts, civic education, and national history.
According to documented comparisons of older and revised textbooks, images of women and girls were removed or digitally altered to include Islamic coverings, ACI MENA reported Oct. 26. References to traditional dances, famous artworks, and historical figures were also deleted. Some lessons on citizenship, democracy, and respect for the law were replaced or removed, while changes to historical and geographical references raised further concerns.
Critics argue that the revisions promote a narrower religious and cultural perspective at the expense of Syriaʼs diverse heritage. The controversy has renewed debate over the role of education in preserving historical accuracy, encouraging critical thinking, and respecting the countryʼs social and religious diversity.
African Church leaders urge quality formation as priestly vocations grow
Catholic leaders and formation personnel in Africa are calling for careful discernment of candidates, qualified formators, and continuing formation for clergy and laypeople as the continent records growth in priestly vocations.
In responses shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, they said the increase in major seminarians calls for attention to candidates’ motivations, human and spiritual maturity, pastoral preparation, and safeguarding.
“Rigorous discernment at the entry level should be the norm,” Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja, Nigeria, said. “Careful vetting matters more than recruitment drives.” The archbishop further urged psychological and human screening, and for willingness to turn away candidates who are deemed unfit for the priesthood.
Bishop reflects on 20 years of faith and service in Arabian Peninsula
After nearly two decades of service in the Arabian Peninsula, Swiss Capuchin Bishop Paul Hinder is preparing to return home, carrying with him memories of a diverse and deeply faithful Church.
Appointed apostolic vicar of Arabia in 2005 and of Southern Arabia in 2011, he served communities across six countries, visiting Christians in Yemen and witnessing the devotion of migrant Catholics in Saudi Arabia, ACI MENA reported Oct. 23.
Hinder helped build more than seven churches, supported the growth of the clergy, and encouraged lay participation, vocations, and Catholic education. He said his most lasting contribution was helping form people, whom he called the “living stones” of the Church. As he departs, he urged the faithful to remain united, resist hatred, and become peacemakers.
Pro-life advocates say they have enough signatures to suspend Massachusetts abortion law
Pro-life advocates in Massachusetts say they have collected enough signatures to both suspend a far-reaching abortion law there and put the question before voters in the next presidential election cycle.
The state earlier this year became the latest in the U.S. to officially remove all limits on abortion. Lawmakers passed a law that permits abortion at any point in pregnancy for any reason; Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed the bill on Aug. 10.
Opponents of abortion subsequently launched an effort to suspend and potentially repeal the law, seeking enough signatures to enact a “veto referendum” that would put the law up for a statewide vote in 2028.
The advocates needed to collect about 37,000 signatures to place the measure on the ballot; collecting just under 50,000 signatures, meanwhile, would suspend the law prior to that election.
Myrna Maloney Flynn, the president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, told EWTN News on Oct. 30 that the initiative had collected more than 100,000 signatures toward the effort.
The pro-life coalition will deliver the signatures to the Massachusetts secretary of state, she said. “Then we’ll wait for his office to formally confirm the results.”
“We do not know how long his office will take to verify,” she said.
She said the governor could enact an “emergency preamble” that would nullify the presumptive suspension of the law, though Healey “has not indicated her intentions” in that regard. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the initiative.
Upon its passage, the state abortion measure drew rebuke from the state’s Catholic bishops, who described it as “a radical measure which is gravely immoral.”
The advocacy group CatholicVote, meanwhile, called for Healey — who identifies as Catholic — to be excommunicated.
“Healey is a Catholic in a state of grave sin. She has publicly and now legislatively cooperated in the destruction of innocent human life,” CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt said at the time.
Muslim U.S. Senate candidate grilled again for comparing canon law with sharia law
ANN ARBOR, Michigan — In the closing days of a hotly contested U.S. Senate race, Michigan Democratic candidate Abdulrahman “Abdul” El-Sayed released an ad on “Prayer” in which he says that as a Muslim he prays every day.
Commenting on the ad, Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of the advocacy organization CatholicVote, said: “I take him at his word that he is a man of prayer and he, as an American Muslim, deserves the same religious liberty we Catholics have fought to protect for two centuries.”
“What I question is something else,” Reinhardt continued. “El-Sayed has repeatedly answered fair questions with false equivalences, and he has put Catholics and our Church at the center of them.”
Reinhardt was referring to El-Sayed’s repeated equation of Catholic canon law with sharia. Addressing concerns about his Islamic faith and fears over the imposition of sharia, in a video shared on social media El-Sayed emphasized that if elected to the Senate, “I’m going to swear an oath to that U.S. Constitution.”
In the video, El-Sayed told a town hall questioner in Michigan, who identified himself as a Christian, that “because of the U.S. Constitution you have the right to live according to canon law and also because of the U.S. Constitution you don’t get to enforce canon law on anyone else.”
Reinhardt squarely accuses El-Sayed of drawing a “false equivalence” between the two systems. “The Code of Canon Law is the internal legal order of the Catholic Church. It governs how the Church administers sacraments, organizes dioceses, and disciplines its own clergy. It makes no claim over the criminal code of any nation,” she explained.
”Classical sharia is a different kind of thing. Many American Muslims understand it as a matter of personal devotion, and that is their right,” she continued. “In its historic jurisprudence, though, sharia is a comprehensive legal order. It reaches into family law, criminal punishment, and the governance of the state. That is why it is written into the constitutions of several nations, and canon law is written into none,” Reinhardt pointed out.
“One can respect both traditions and still see that they are not the same. A Senate candidate should know the difference,” she said.
The issue first came to the forefront during an Aug. 24 interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, when El-Sayed asked, “Do you know what canon law is, Jesse? ... canon law is the name for Christian law … Nobody is trying to push sharia law on anyone else. Just like I hope nobody is trying to push canon law on anybody else, because we live in an America where you should have the freedom of your religion.”
Following that exchange, Catholic Answers’ Todd Aglialoro also pointed out the problematic comparison and why the issue is a relevant one.
"Sharia is a broad term for codes of Muslim conduct,” Aglialoro explained. “In many countries that are predominantly Muslim, Sharia is deeply embedded into civil and criminal law, with its prescriptions, judgments, and punishments serving a governing function.”
In the West, Aglialoro continued, sharia has become a flashpoint of controversy in places “where Muslim-dense locales experience conflict between local law enforcement, based on liberal Western values, and neighborhood Muslim councils dispensing gray-market Sharia judgments that often contradict those values.”
“The majority of these hot spots are in Europe, but as Islam grows in certain regions of the United States, there has been talk of measures to prevent that kind of ‘parallel justice’ from taking root here," he noted.
Gabriel Said Reynolds, who serves on the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue with Muslims and is a professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, told EWTN News that for Muslims, “God’s will for humanity is sharia.”
Sharia includes explicit implications for non-Muslims. For example, Islamic law allows for a head tax known as “jizya” on Jews and Christians. At different times Christians in the Islamic world have suffered from abduction, enslavement, subjugation, and forced conversion.
In contrast, the Code of Canon Law is neither “Christian law” nor a civil code for all Christians, but orders the life of the Catholic Church. Unlike sharia, as Aglialoro points out, “Catholic canon law is not about superimposing a full spectrum of doctrinal and moral teaching onto the everyday life of religious adherents. It is more like a thick binder of organizational bylaws."
Professor David Long, who teaches canon law at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News that comparing canon law and sharia may help illustrate believers’ “freedom to observe religious obligations” but “does not establish that canon law and sharia share the same sources of authority or jurisdiction.”
Long said of El-Sayed’s comparison: “As an appeal to the religious freedom protected by the Constitution, the analogy makes a useful point: Catholics and Muslims alike may seek freedom to observe their religious obligations without thereby claiming authority to impose those obligations on their fellow citizens. That constitutional argument does not depend on the two legal traditions being equivalent.”
“Islamic jurisprudence also provides rules for civil government, including those affecting non-Muslims. The distinction is substantial, but it must be stated without reducing canon law to administrative rules or treating every Muslim’s religious observance as a proposal for state enforcement,” Long added.
For Christians, Long contends, the central issue concerning sharia is the distinction between religious freedom and coercive state authority.
At the time of publication, El-Sayed’s campaign staff had not responded to an EWTN News request for the candidate to clarify his position on the matter.
Santiago Schnell resigns as Dartmouth provost over AI use
Santiago Schnell, a Catholic scholar and emerging leader in the push to reform U.S. higher education, has resigned as provost of Dartmouth College following an investigation into his use of artificial intelligence (AI) in published articles.
In an email to students that was reported on by the student-led publication at the college, The Dartmouth, on Wednesday, university president Sian Leah Beilock said Schnell had resigned and was “leaving the university” after an independent, faculty-led committee determined that Schnell may have violated university policies when he used AI in select academic works and popular articles without proper disclosure to the publications he was writing for. Dartmouth will have an interim provost through 2028, Beilock said.
Several fellow Catholic scholars, including some who have criticized Schnell’s apparent use of AI in writing, expressed surprise at the news, which underscores the thorny questions surrounding the rapidly growing adoption of AI tools in professional writing, particularly in higher education.
“Obviously, I am against AI writing. And yet I feel whiplash here,” said Jennifer Frey, a Catholic philosopher at the University of Virginia, on social media. “Who can hang a man in the wild, wild west, which is an accurate description of AI in higher ed right now? Especially at Dartmouth, which has so strongly encouraged [AI] use in the name of ‘not being left behind’!”
A native of Venezuela, Schnell, a mathematical biologist, was named chief academic officer of the vaunted Ivy League school at the start of the 2025-26 academic year. His appointment generated positive attention among some Catholics in higher education, who expressed appreciation for Schnell’s push for a more classical vision of university life centered on formation in beauty, truth, and friendship.
“His promotion was such a ray of hope in higher education, especially at elite universities,” said Jeremy Tate, the founder and CEO of the Classical Learning Test (CLT), an alternative to the SAT and ACT designed around classical education.
Beyond the secular higher education world, Schnell, who formerly served as a dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, was also a leading voice of reform at Catholic universities.
In June, Schnell addressed members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at the the group’s plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, telling the bishops that they “could be more vocal” and “more pushy” when it comes to making sure that Catholic universities are faithful to their unique mission of forming saints.
Controversial AI usage
But controversy began to swirl following a September article by The Dartmouth, which reported that several of Schnell’s public writings since 2022, including academic papers and op-eds for various newspapers, had been flagged by Pangram, a leading AI-detection tool, as overwhelmingly “AI-written.”
The Dartmouth’s report was prompted by a prior investigative piece by the publication Semafor, which in a broader investigation of AI-generated writing in major newspapers had flagged one of Schnell’s op-eds — a piece for The Washington Post about combating AI-facilitated cheating in schools — as being “100%” AI-generated.
In response to The Dartmouth’s September investigative report, Schnell said in an emailed statement that he uses AI for “language refinement, copyediting, improving clarity and organization and making writing processes more efficient,” but “review[s] the final text and take[s] responsibility for its content.”
“I develop ideas and arguments, conduct the research, evaluate the evidence and sources, determine the structure, prepare drafts and decide what appears in the final text,” Schnell wrote to The Dartmouth. “I regard these technologies as assistive tools. They do not identify the problem, design the research project, guarantee the validity of research results, interpretations, citations, conclusions or substitute for my research, intellectual judgment or authorship.”
He also added that AI detectors are “known to be unreliable.”
“There’s evidence that they’re biased against nonnative English speakers, such as myself,” Schnell wrote.
Schnell wrote three op-eds for the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, this year, two of which were on the theme of AI use and its effects on education. All three were flagged in The Dartmouth story on the provost’s AI usage. Schnell did not comment when asked Thursday if he used AI tools in drafting his commentaries for the Register. He referred questions about the Dartmouth College investigation and his resignation to his lawyers, who did not respond to an inquiry before publication.
In his public writings and in interviews, including with the Register, Schnell often addressed the current and future effects of AI on education, saying that he sees the rise of AI as an opportunity for classrooms to return to more low-tech, personalized modes of learning.
At the same time, Schnell has also written that he believes educators can make positive usage of large language model (LLM) AI tools.
“Used with discipline, [LLMs] can be genuinely useful,” he wrote, in part, for the Register in one of his op-eds. “A professor may use them to prepare discussion questions. A researcher may use them to survey literature more quickly. An administrator may use them to accelerate routine writing. It would be foolish to deny their utility.”
Catholic reaction
In the full investigative report into Schnell’s use of AI, published by Dartmouth, fellow faculty determined that Schnell had used AI to “meaningfully alter his writing in violation of at least one publication’s AI use and/or disclosure requirement, failed to disclose his use of AI in clear violation of a national newspaper’s stated policy, was not forthcoming about his AI use, and fell short of the standards set forth by” various academic codes of conduct.
Some higher-ed reform advocates, however, have questioned whether the outspoken Catholic scholar was treated fairly in the process.
“Was he treated with extra scrutiny because of his disposition?” asked Tate, who suggested that AI usage is widespread among university administrators. “I think there’s a conversation to be had.”
“I’m not saying he didn’t make a mistake, but this is a huge loss,” Tate added. “I think everybody loses here.”
Frey told the Register that she found Dartmouth’s decision shocking, in part because the university appears to have “suddenly drawn very clear and sharp lines with the provost’s own use of AI” when the acceptable norms of AI use in higher education remain largely undefined.
Additionally, she noted that Dartmouth itself has actively promoted the use of LLMs to “augment” traditional methods of education. According to The New York Times, the Ivy League school even entered into an agreement last year with Anthropic and Amazon Web Services to provide its faculty and students access to AI tech.
“Perhaps a better outcome, for Dartmouth and for us all, would have been to use the revelation of Schnell’s AI use to start a serious and transparent conversation on our campuses about what we think the lines [about AI use] are and why people and institutions draw them where they do,” she said.
“I am inclined to the view that there is a lot more for us to figure out before we begin to discipline and punish,” she added.
Tate said that he hopes Schnell has additional opportunities to “have a big impact somewhere in higher ed,” noting that “he’s got a lot he can give.”
He also said that others must work to carry forward the vision of higher-education reform that Schnell helped reintroduce into the national discourse, including conversations about the fundamental purpose of a university education.
“He was entering into that in a way that was really beautiful, with really timeless wisdom,” Tate said. “So let’s hold on to this mission. It may be the only mission that can save higher ed right now.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Tanzania bishop urges truth, forgiveness to prevent further election violence
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — The chairman of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) has urged Tanzanians to uphold the truth and examine the country’s electoral framework to prevent further election-related violence.
In his homily during Mass on Oct. 29, Bishop Wolfgang Pisa of the Lindi Diocese appealed for forgiveness for those held in connection with the October 2025 election violence, adding that acknowledging difficult realities should guide the country’s response to the violence that followed the disputed elections.
He was speaking at St. Andrew Kaggwa Cathedral in his Diocese of Lindi on the day TEC dedicated national prayers for victims a year after the Oct. 29, 2025, polls.
“If we say that the current electoral law and the present constitution cannot deliver elections that are fair, truthful, peaceful, and secure, then that is the truth that should guide us,” Pisa said.
He added: “We must defend the truth, not protect wrongdoing. Let us do what is good and seek it at all times, so that we may avoid evil and abandon it completely.”
Drawing on the account of John the Baptist in Mark 6:17–29, the TEC chairman called on Tanzanians to acknowledge and defend the truth, even at personal cost.
“John the Baptist acknowledged the truth, even though doing so came at a great personal sacrifice. He was prepared to acknowledge and defend the truth,” he said.
Pisa urged the people of God to allow themselves to “be possessed by the truth and guided by it.”
“Let us not attempt to distort the truth, because it will remain what it is,” the member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap) said.
Turning to the responsibility of those in positions of influence, Pisa recalled how Queen Esther intervened when Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish people. He urged Tanzanians serving in public institutions and other sectors of society to use their positions to prevent further violence.
“The first form of influence is the influence of prayer: fasting and praying. The second is to make use of people who have the ability to influence decisions. They must exercise genuine influence to ensure that such events do not happen again,” he said.
“In all this, we must always seek what is good. But this is not the time merely to complain. It is time to call upon other people like Esther in every institution to do their part: to exercise influence and wisdom.”
The TEC chairman also called for repentance, inviting Tanzanians to examine both acts of wrongdoing and failures to act when others were in danger.
“Through my failure to act, my failure to speak, or my failure to give direction, perhaps killings occurred, people were injured, people went missing, or people were unable to bury their relatives,” he said.
Invoking the biblical account of Cain and Abel, Pisa urged Tanzanians to reflect on their responsibility toward those who suffered during the violence.
“Like Cain, we continue to be asked: ‘Where is your brother Abel?’” the bishop said.
He also appealed for forgiveness for people held, tortured, or arrested for political reasons and in connection with the previous year’s elections.
“If there are others who might also have made mistakes and are being held, tortured, or have been arrested for political reasons and in connection with the previous election, fundamentally, they should not be killed,” he said.
The bishop warned that killing them would not resolve the problem.
“That will not solve the problem; it will bring more hatred and greater division,” he said. “Therefore, just as we ask God to forgive our sins, they too should be granted forgiveness.”
Pisa concluded by calling on the faithful to continue praying for Tanzania and its leaders.
“Let us continue to ask for Godʼs mercy and pray for our nation. Let us pray for all government leaders, asking God, Our Lord, to guide their minds and hearts according to his will, so that all people may enjoy peace, justice, freedom, and truth,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Pope Leo XIV: AI can never be a person; its future depends on our choices
Pope Leo XIV emphasized that artificial intelligence (AI) can never replace the human person and that AI regulation must continue.
“Machines are tools, not persons,” Leo said in his address.
The pontiff held a private audience on Friday with participants in a meeting on “The Future of AI: A Dialogue Between the Vatican and the Scientific World on the Development and Applications of Intelligent Technologies” at the Vatican. The Pontifical Academy for Life and the Future of Life Institute organized the one-day conference.
AI cannot be given human rights or personhood
During the meeting, members of the Vatican Commission on Artificial Intelligence and scholars discussed ongoing concerns as AI continues to develop.
Noting this concern in his address, the pope warned against efforts to grant AI technologies rights and legal status comparable to those of human beings.
“Today, some propose granting these systems rights, or even legal personhood,” Leo said. “Such an approach risks obscuring human responsibility and leaving those who suffer harm to confront a faceless entity.”
Drawing on his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Leo explained that the future of AI technologies depends on the choices made today, choices he hopes will promote the dignity of the human person.
“As a technology developed by human beings, its future depends on the choices we make,” Leo said.
“A reliable system that serves the human person is of greater value than one that is exceptionally powerful but whose consequences cannot be adequately foreseen or controlled.”
Earlier in October, Leo explained the difference between classical art and AI-made art, saying there is an “ontological difference” that exists “even before an aesthetic one.”
Vatican AI leadership and calls to stop super-development
Several conference participants, according to an Oct. 30 press release, expressed hope in the Vatican’s leadership on AI ethical issues. One of those was Max Tegmark, a physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“With strong moral leadership, the Vatican can help steer AI development onto a better pro-human path,” Tegmark said.
Others called for an end to the super-development of AI amid fears that AI is making humans obsolete.
“We must turn aside from this trajectory before it is too late and pursue other trajectories,” said Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, adding that if AI developers succeed in super-development, “there’s a good chance that every human being will die.”
Pope modifies disciplinary sanctions for employees of the Roman Curia
Pope Leo XIV has approved a reform of the disciplinary rules governing personnel of the Roman Curia, introducing new safeguards for employees facing proceedings for serious misconduct, including the possibility of legal representation and a longer period in which to submit their defense.
The changes were approved by the pontiff on Oct. 19 through a “Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi,” a Latin expression referring to a decision or provision approved by the pope following an audience granted to a curial official or ecclesiastical authority.
The document is signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, and amends Articles 62 §3, 68 §2, and 68 §4 of the Regulations for Personnel of the Roman Curia.
Changes to the role of the disciplinary commission
The reform introduces a clarification to article 62 §3 to define more precisely the responsibilities of the Roman Curia’s Disciplinary Commission.
The new wording states that the commission shall act in determining certain disciplinary sanctions, “with the exception of suspension for a period of up to 30 days.” As a result, shorter suspensions will no longer require the commission’s involvement, while more serious sanctions will continue to be examined by the body.
The change means that, when an employee commits an offense, the head of a dicastery may now impose a sanction directly, including suspension from work for up to 30 days. Beyond that threshold, the Disciplinary Commission must be involved to assess the appropriateness of the sanction.
Previously, even suspensions of less than 30 days required review by the Disciplinary Commission. Under the new rules, such review is necessary only for suspensions exceeding 30 days.
Another significant change concerns proceedings that could result in a lengthy suspension or dismissal.
Until now, the regulations provided employees with 10 days to submit their explanations after receiving notice of the alleged violations.
The new rule maintains that deadline for ordinary cases but introduces an additional safeguard for more serious situations. Specifically, when the alleged conduct is considered by the head of the department to be “liable to result in a suspension exceeding 30 days or dismissal,” the employee will be granted “15 days to present his or her defense.”
Right to legal assistance
The reform also explicitly incorporates the employee’s right to legal assistance in the most serious disciplinary proceedings.
The new text states that the employee may present a defense “making use, if appropriate, of a lawyer chosen from among the members of the Corps of Lawyers of the Holy See or the Register of Lawyers of the Roman Curia.”
This is a significant innovation within the Curia’s internal regulations, as it expressly provides for legal representation when the potential sanction could involve a lengthy suspension or termination of employment.
Obligation to inform the employee
The amendment to article 68 §4 also establishes new notification requirements for heads of Vatican departments and institutions.
When the head of an entity considers that a “suspension exceeding 30 days or dismissal” is warranted, he or she must forward the case file to the Roman Curia’s Disciplinary Commission and inform the employee “of the measure adopted and of the possibility of making use of his or her own lawyer” from among those authorized under the regulations.
This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV appoints 2 new undersecretaries to Synod office
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Italian Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa and Salesian Sister Elena Massimi, a professor of liturgy and sacramental theology at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, as the new undersecretaries of the General Secretariat of the Synod.
The appointments mark a leadership change at the body responsible for overseeing the Catholic Churchʼs synodal process. They follow the departure of Sister Nathalie Becquart, who had served as undersecretary since February 2021.
In recent years, Becquart became one of the most prominent figures in the synodal process initiated by Pope Francis and continued by Leo XIV. She was also the first woman to have voting rights at an assembly of the Synod of Bishops, a milestone in the Churchʼs recent history.
A Jesuit deeply involved in the synodal process
Costa, the new undersecretary, was born in Genoa in 1967 and entered the Society of Jesus in 1992. Trained as a sociologist, he earned a diploma of advanced studies in political and moral sociology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
Costa is well known in Italian Church circles. From 2010 to 2021, he served as editor of the journal Aggiornamenti Sociali, and from 2007 to 2025, he chaired the San Fedele Cultural Foundation in Milan.
He has been closely involved in the synodal process, serving as special secretary for both the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to young people in 2018, and the 16th Ordinary General Assembly on synodality, held from 2021 to 2024.
Until now, he had served as a consultor to the General Secretariat of the Synod.
A liturgy expert
Alongside Costa, the pope appointed Sister Elena Massimi, a member of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also known as the Salesian Sisters, as undersecretary.
Born in Rome in 1975, Massimi made her perpetual profession in 2009 and earned a doctorate in theology, specializing in pastoral liturgy, from the Santa Giustina Institute of Pastoral Liturgy in Padua, Italy, which is affiliated with the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm.
She currently teaches liturgy and sacramental theology at the Pontifical Salesian University, serves as president of the Italian Association of Professors and Scholars of Liturgy, and oversees music for the liturgy at the National Liturgical Office of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
Her appointment strengthens womenʼs representation in one of the Roman Curiaʼs most important bodies and brings recognized academic and pastoral expertise in liturgy to the synodal leadership team.
This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Polish court convicts bishop of failing to promptly report abuse
A Polish bishop has been convicted of failing to promptly notify law enforcement about the sexual abuse of minors by two priests of his diocese.
A district court in Tarnów, southern Poland, on Oct. 29 found Bishop Andrzej Jeż of Tarnów guilty and sentenced him to two years' “restriction of liberty,” a noncustodial penalty. Instead of prison, 1,000 zlotys (about $254) of his monthly salary will go to a childrenʼs charity.
The court also ordered him to pay 10,000 zlotys (about $2,538) on each count into a state victims' fund. Prosecutor Marcin Stępień had sought a suspended sentence and a fine of 20,000 zlotys (about $5,075).
The verdict is the outcome of the first criminal trial of a Polish bishop on that charge. The diocese has announced it will appeal.
The courtʼs reasoning
“The court believes that the defendantʼs task was merely, and yet as much as, to file the appropriate notifications, not to assess individual cases,” Judge Małgorzata Adamczyk said.
She found the bishopʼs testimony not credible.
The curia said it “does not agree with the courtʼs decision” and stressed that, in both cases, the curia made formal notifications to law enforcement authorities. It expressed “deep regret for the harm and suffering of all persons harmed by sexual crimes.”
At the trialʼs opening in February, Jeż, who has led the diocese since 2012, pleaded not guilty and apologized to those harmed.
Since July 2017, Polish law has required that authorities be immediately informed of credible knowledge of the sexual abuse of a child under 15.
The first case concerns former priest Stanisław P., who prosecutors found had harmed at least 95 children in Poland and Ukraine. Prosecutors closed the case in 2022 as time-barred.
The curia said the bishop had concrete information only in 2019 and notified prosecutors in 2020. Stępień countered that a Church tribunal had found the priest guilty in a 2013 decree issued by Jeż and that this earlier finding meant the delay left the abuse of 23 boys time-barred.
The second case concerns a priest, Tomasz K., accused of abusing minors between 2008 and 2010. The curia said the bishop learned only in late 2021 that a victim may have been under 15 and reported it that December, while prosecutors said the curia knew in 2017. The priestʼs case is pending in Nowy Sącz.
Other Polish bishops, including Bishop Jan Tyrawa and Archbishop Andrzej Dzięga, have resigned after Vatican inquiries into their handling of abuse claims. None faced criminal charges.
Pope Leo XIV becomes first pope to vote in an American election
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in Catholic Church history to cast a ballot in a U.S. election, the Vatican confirmed on Oct. 30.
Leo, who has mostly lived outside of the U.S. since the 1980s, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the Holy See said in a statement provided to EWTN News.
The Vatican confirmed that “in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, [Leo] has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago” ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
Leo confirmed through the Vatican’s statement that “during his years of residence in Peru he exercised his right to vote whenever he was eligible to do so.”
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” the statement added.
Leo’s absentee ballot marks the first time a Catholic pope has voted in a U.S. election in Church history. The United States was established in 1776, about 18 centuries after the founding of the Catholic Church.
The Holy Father, the first pope from the United States, is still a U.S. citizen and also holds Peruvian citizenship, though his election to the papacy raised esoteric questions about those national statuses, such as whether or not he would still pay taxes in the U.S. while serving as head of the Catholic Church.
A 2025 bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives moved to “protect the citizenship of, and provide tax-exempt status to, any American elected as the supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church,” a clear reference to Leo’s then-new papacy. The bill ultimately stalled in committee.
Unique among world leaders, the pope serves simultaneously as the universal spiritual head of the Catholic Church and as the head of the Holy See, a distinct sovereign entity under international law that serves as the central government of the Catholic Church.
Following the news of the pope’s vote, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a statement that Catholic Americans “are blessed to be able to participate in our nation’s political and public life.”
“With the midterm elections approaching in the United States, the Conference has been encouraging Catholics to exercise their right to vote and to do so in a way that places our faith before our politics,” the bishops said. “In voting, our Holy Father sets the example that encourages each citizen to exercise their civic responsibility.”
Voting history obtained by EWTN News from the Illinois government shows that, prior to being elected pope, Leo voted in multiple U.S. elections while living outside the country, including primary and general elections in 2012, 2016 and 2024.
It is not clear what type of ballot Leo received for the 2026 election. The U.S. government says that overseas citizens whose “intent to return [to the U.S.] is uncertain” are only eligible to receive a “federal-only” ballot, meaning Leo may not have voted in state or local elections on the ballot he cast this year.
This story was updated at 12:40 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, with information on Pope Leo XIV’s voting history and information on overseas ballot rules, and at 1:20 p.m. ET with a statement from the U.S. bishops.