CatholicVote report examines moral implications of immigration enforcement
A person detained is taken to a parking lot on the far north side of the city before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chicago on Oct. 31, 2025. / Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 13, 2025 / 18:26 pm (CNA).
The Catholic advocacy organization CatholicVote has released a report examining the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, concluding Christians must balance charity toward the immigrant with the common good of the receiving state.
The report, titled “Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscience,” comes on the heels of the special message on immigration released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at its fall plenary meeting this past week.
“A faithful Catholic approach to immigration begins not with politics but with people. Compassion, hospitality, and solidarity with the poor are not optional virtues,” CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt said in a press release accompanying the report.
“They are at the center of the Gospel,” she added. “Yet, mercy and justice travel together. One without the other distorts both.”
The report by author Benjamin Mann labels the Biden administration’s border policies as “reckless” and credits them for resulting in human trafficking, sexual exploitation of immigrants without legal status, and rampant drug cartels.
“Catholics who advocate strong but humane immigration enforcement are sometimes accused of disobeying their bishops or the pope, and even violating Church teaching,” the report states. “Properly speaking, there is no such thing as an official ‘Catholic position’ on the practical details of immigration policy.”
The report says that “despite what some Church leaders in America have indicated, a faithful Catholic can support strong and humane immigration law enforcement — by means such as physical barriers, detention, and deportation — without violating the teaching of the Church.”
The report asserts that Catholic teaching on immigration has been distorted by “an ideological immigration lobby” within the Church that “has sought to present amnesty, minimal law enforcement, and more legal immigration as the only acceptable position for Catholics.”
“This is not an act of disobedience or disrespect toward the Church hierarchy but a legitimate difference of opinion according to magisterial teaching,” the report says.
“The truth is that faithful Catholics can certainly disagree with the anti-enforcement position — even if some bishops happen to share the policy preferences of these activists. Such disagreement is not a dissent from Church teaching,” the document continues, citing “recent popes” as having said the Catholic Church “has no ‘official position’ on the practical details of issues like immigration policy.”
“Rather, our faith teaches a set of broad moral principles about immigration, and their application in public life is a matter of practical judgment for laypersons,” the report said.
The CatholicVote document further argues that “it is actually immoral in the eyes of the Church for a country to accept immigrants to the detriment of its own citizens,” citing paragraph 1903 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states: “Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, ‘authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse.’”
Pope Leo XIV receives exiled Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez
Pope Leo XIV and Bishop Rolando Álvarez, bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí, Nicaragua. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News
ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 13, 2025 / 18:06 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 13 received Rolando Álvarez, the exiled bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí in Nicaragua. Álvarez is in forced exile after being deported by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, in January 2024.
“The Holy Father received in audience this morning His Excellency Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, bishop of Matagalpa (Nicaragua),” the Vatican Press Office reported, without providing further details.
From Chicago, Father Erick Díaz, an exiled Nicaraguan priest, said that Pope Leo XIV’s meeting with Álvarez is “an audience of hope and ecclesial communion” as well as “a significant moment for our Nicaraguan Church, marked by challenges, fidelity to the Gospel, and hope in the Lord.”
After offering his prayers “that this event may be fruitful and filled with the Spirit,” the priest wrote on Facebook: “‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation’ (Mark 16:15). May the Lord continue walking with us!”
“The pope is well aware of the reality of the Church in Nicaragua and the situation of its people. It is undoubtedly a meeting filled with joy,” Father Edwing Roman, parochial vicar of St. Agatha’s parish in Miami, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
‘A lion of faith’
Arturo McFields, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), told ACI Prensa: “I believe there is a clear interest in listening to the voice of the persecuted, but not silenced, Church. I believe the Vatican is interested in learning more about Nicaragua and in restoring that prophetic voice to Nicaragua and beyond, because what is happening in Nicaragua is iconic; it not only deserves attention but also clear follow-up.”
He added: “I think there has been a significant change in recent months, because many bishops who didn’t preach frequently are now doing so, and many priests are speaking about what is happening in Nicaragua.”
“Pope Leo is truly a lion of faith and is interested in the people of Nicaragua, in their faith, which has been strengthened despite the persecution. These audiences and meetings demonstrate this interest and this desire to respond to the prayers of the Nicaraguan people,” the former ambassador emphasized.
“We must be attentive because better times are coming for the Church: The faith of the people is there, and their fervent prayers are being heard and, most importantly, answered,” he noted.
Pope Leo XIV and Nicaragua
Thursday’s audience between Pope Leo XIV and Álvarez comes after the Holy Father received three other exiled Nicaraguan bishops in August: Bishop Silvio Báez, auxiliary bishop of Managua; Isidoro Mora, bishop of Siuna; and Carlos Enrique Herrera, bishop of Jinotega and president of the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference.
Báez said at the time that he, his brother bishops, and Pope Leo XIV “spoke at length about Nicaragua and the situation of the Church in particular.”
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua has been suffering fierce persecution at the hands of the dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo, which intensified in 2018 with the repression of popular protests.
On Oct. 2, Pope Leo XIV received a copy of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church” by researcher Martha Patricia Molina, published in August, which decries the prohibition of more than 16,500 processions and acts of piety as well as more than 1,000 attacks by the dictatorship against the Catholic Church.
When the report was presented, Molina told the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News, “EWTN Noticias,” that the number of reported attacks could be much higher, but this is not the case because “the laity are terrified” by the dictatorship’s threats and Catholic priests “are forbidden from making any complaints.”
Who is Bishop Rolando Álvarez?
Álvarez is a Nicaraguan bishop and critic of the Ortega-Murillo regime who was confined by police to his episcopal residence starting in August 2022, along with priests, seminarians, and a layperson.
Two weeks later, when they had almost run out of food, the police stormed the house and abducted Álvarez, taking him to Managua, the country’s capital.
In a controversial trial, the dictatorship sentenced him in February 2023 to 26 years and four months in prison, accusing him of being a “traitor to the homeland.” The bishop was sent to La Modelo prison, where political prisoners are incarcerated.
After refusing in conscience to leave his flock to board a plane on which the dictatorship deported more than 200 political prisoners to the United States, Álvarez was finally deported to Rome in January 2024, following Vatican mediation, along with the bishop of Siuna, Isidoro Mora, other priests, and seminarians.
By decision of Pope Francis, Álvarez participated in the Synod on Synodality held in October 2024 at the Vatican.
In February of this year, the prelate gave an interview to “EWTN Noticias” in which he highlighted, among other things, that when he was imprisoned he was sustained by prayer and that Pope Francis confirmed him in his position as bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí, despite being “in the diaspora.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Pope Leo calls for ‘prudent’ evaluation of supernatural phenomena to avoid superstition
Pope Leo XIV gives his apostolic blessing at the end of the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Nov. 12, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Nov 13, 2025 / 15:54 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV during an address at the Vatican on Thursday called for the “prudent” evaluation of supernatural phenomena to avoid falling into superstition.
“To avoid falling into superstitious illusion, it is necessary to evaluate such events prudently, through humble discernment and in accordance with the teachings of the Church,” the Holy Father said to participants in a Nov. 13 meeting organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints that reflected on the relationship between mystical phenomena and holiness of life.
The conference focused on the theme “Mysticism, Mystical Phenomena, and Holiness.” Upon receiving the participants at the Vatican, the pope noted that, through constant commitment, the magisterium, theology, and spiritual writers have provided “criteria for distinguishing authentic spiritual phenomena, which can occur in an atmosphere of prayer and a sincere search for God, from manifestations that may be deceptive.”
For the pope, mysticism and spiritual phenomena are “one of the most beautiful dimensions of the experience of faith,” and he expressed his gratitude for the participants’ collaboration in shedding light on certain aspects that require discernment.
The mystical life: Intimate union with God
“Through theological reflection as well as preaching and catechesis, the Church has recognized for centuries that at the heart of the mystical life lies the awareness of the intimate union of love with God,” the pope noted.
The pontiff explained that mysticism is therefore characterized “as an experience that transcends mere rational knowledge, not through the merit of the one who experiences it, but through a spiritual gift, which can manifest itself in diverse ways, even with opposing phenomena, such as luminous visions or dense darkness, afflictions, or ecstasies.” However, he continued, these exceptional events “are secondary and not essential with respect to mysticism and holiness itself.”
The Holy Father said they can be “signs” of holiness insofar as they are “unique charisms,” although the true goal is and always remains “communion with God.”
“Extraordinary phenomena that may connote mystical experience are not indispensable conditions for recognizing the holiness of a member of the faithful,” he emphasized.
Leo pointed out that, if they are present, “they strengthen their virtues not as individual privileges, but insofar as they are ordered to the edification of the whole Church, the mystical body of Christ.”
Maintaining ‘balance’
“What matters most and what must be emphasized in the examination of candidates for sainthood is their full and constant conformity with the will of God, revealed in Scripture and in the living apostolic tradition,” he said. For this reason, he urged the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to maintain “balance.”
He added: “Just as causes for canonization should not be promoted solely in the presence of exceptional phenomena, neither should those same phenomena [be looked upon negatively] if they characterize the lives of the servants of God.”
“At the heart of discernment regarding a member of the faithful is listening to their reputation for holiness and examining their perfect virtue, as expressions of ecclesial communion and intimate union with God,” the pope noted.
At another meeting held this week at the Pontifical Urban University, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, gave a presentation on the dicastery’s norms on the discernment of supernatural phenomena, which were approved last year. The prelate addressed the complexity and challenges the Church faces in recognizing these types of manifestations.
The cardinal noted that, despite approximately 3,500 cases of beatification and canonization in the last 50 years, only three or four declarations of phenomena of supernatural origin have been issued, underscoring the difficulty of obtaining official recognition of this kind.
“It is difficult to recognize them,” he stated, according to Vatican News.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
U.S. bishops receive briefing on artificial intelligence
Paul Scherz briefs bishops about artificial intelligence at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 12, 2025. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini/CNA
Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 13, 2025 / 13:50 pm (CNA).
The U.S. bishops received a briefing on the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) from Paul Scherz at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.
Scherz, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, has studied the ethics of AI. At the Nov. 12 meeting, Scherz highlighted some of his findings and shared how the bishops should approach the technology within their dioceses.
AI technologies “have great potential to contribute to human flourishing and the common good,” Scherz said. “But note that it would be a mistake to describe these programs as intelligent in the same way that humans are.”
“They lack consciousness and any kind of subjective relationship to the world. So as Pope Leo says, ‘The person is not a system of algorithms. He or she is a creature, relationship, mystery.’ Thus, despite their power and utility, they shouldn’t be called persons or truly intelligent,” he said.
“We’re made for a relationship as created in the image of the triune God. We don’t find our good alone,” Scherz said. “Instead, our individual flourishing is enmeshed with the flourishing of those around us. Together, we see the common good in our common life.”
AI in Catholic ministries
In his discussion, Scherz highlighted three Catholic ministries that can implement AI while also detailing the potential threats.
The “largest Catholic ministry” AI can be implemented in is health care. Since “17% of U.S. patients receive care at a Catholic institution, it’s almost certainly the ministry in which the most non-Catholics interact with the Church,” Scherz said.
“Through these health care institutions, the Church realizes Jesus’ call to heal the sick,” Scherz said. “Health care is also a sector of the economy that has seen a rapid adoption of AI technologies.”
“For the past decade, health care technology companies have sought to put the vast scores of data embedded in their electronic medical records to use and train AI,” Scherz said. “Insurance companies are using AI to help fix and complete claims that lack incorrect information.”
The issue is the “bias from lack of diversity in training data, such as early genomics studies largely containing research subjects who were middle-class and European descent,” he said.
While AI is used to improve diagnostics and enact greater efficiency, we must be wary of the “significant dangers,” Scherz said. “Anything that restricts basic access in a biased manner would be an offense against the equal human dignity emerging from our shared participation in the image of God.”
Also, “the algorithm cannot substitute a gesture of closeness or a word of consolation,” Scherz said. “Much of what practitioners do is not a pure analytic process. They negotiate with patients to accept care, maintain the spirits of people suffering from a chronic disease, and tinker with therapy so that they better fit the complicated lives of patients.”
“A second ministry heavily affected by AI are Catholic schools,” Scherz said. Education and technology entrepreneurs “are promising a future in which AI enables personalized education for every student.”
“In this vision, AI would be a personal tutor for each child, or at least develop learning plans tailored to the individual,” but AI cannot replace teachers, because they “do more than convey knowledge,” Scherz said.
Teachers “model essential human qualities and inspire the joy of discovery. This relationship of encounter is at the heart of true education. The teacher fosters virtues and serves as an exemplar,” he said.
He also highlighted the clear threat that students will abuse AI and use it to complete writing assignments. Scherz said: “This is a crisis for schools, especially those of the liberal arts curriculum like Catholic schools, because writing is not just about producing content. Writing essays forces a student to think, to organize ideas, to argue coherently.”
Lastly, Scherz addressed AI in the pastoral field. He said: “There is increasing evidence that people are turning to chatbots for religious resources” and AI “is becoming a standard for religious authorities.”
“People are prompting AI, or developing AI applications, that frame their responses and act in the persona of God or a religious figure,” Scherz said. “People are using AI to develop spiritual inventories or to provide spiritual direction.”
“Catholic sites are using AI to provide laypeople with access to Church teaching,” Scherz said. He explained that pastors and parishioners using AI as a research tool to find interpretations of Scripture, catechism information, or doctrine could be beneficial.
For these Catholic AI systems to work, people must actually examine the source material provided. Scherz said: “Unfortunately, people tend to rely on the AI summary, and what starts as a research tool can frequently become more than that.”
AI companions “are incredibly dangerous, especially due to AI’s tendencies toward hallucination and psychosis,” Scherz said. Also “engagement with chatbots can prevent actual encounter with pastors, as people may feel their needs are meant by AI.”
AI “also raises concerns on the side of pastors,” Scherz said. “There are increasing reports of pastors using it for the spiritual aspect of their work, like writing homilies or preparing religious education materials.”
“The problem is that, as with writing in general, homilies are in part formative — shaping the pastor as he engages with Scripture,” Scherz said. “Totally abnegating this role to AI would undermine the authenticity of the pastor’s witness.”
“Technologies provide great opportunities, but also great dangers. They can lead to injustice, alienation, and deformation of character,” Scherz said. “At the same time, AI offers greater efficiency and new capacities for serving the common good.”
Scherz said: “The emergence of AI provides the Church with an evangelical opportunity … People are asking basic questions of what it means to be human for the first time in a long time” and “the Church can provide those answers.”
U.S. bishops pass directive forbidding transgender surgeries at Catholic hospitals
Mercy Health Perrysburg Hospital in Perrysburg, Ohio. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2025 / 13:20 pm (CNA).
Catholic hospitals in the United States are explicitly forbidden from carrying out transgender-related surgeries on individuals who believe themselves to be the opposite sex, the U.S. bishops said this week.
The prelates, gathered at the plenary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore, voted on Nov. 12 to direct hospitals to “preserve the integrity of the human body” when treating individuals with gender dysphoria.
Such individuals often seek surgery to make their bodies conform to that of the opposite sex. But in updated guidance, the bishops said that while Catholic health care providers must employ “all appropriate resources” to mitigate the suffering of such patients, they can use “only those means that respect the fundamental order of the human body.”
The new rule makes into explicit USCCB policy what the bishops expressed in a doctrinal note in 2023 when they said Catholic providers must not take part in procedures that “aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex.”
The revised directives were hailed by the Catholic Health Association, which in a Nov. 12 statement said that the rules “reaffirm the Church’s teaching on the dignity of all persons and their right to life from conception to natural death.”
The revisions “clarify and affirm current clinical practices” and “are consistent with Catholic health care practice that does not allow for medical interventions that alter sexual characteristics absent an underlying condition,” the group said.
The organization said Catholic health care providers would continue to treat those who identify as transgender “with dignity and respect.”
In their guidelines the bishops noted that it can be “morally permissible” to “remove or to suppress the function of one part of the body for the sake of the body as a whole,” though only in very limited circumstances, such as when a body part is diseased.
In forbidding medical practices that “aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex,” the bishops cited the Vatican’s 2024 document Dignitas Infinita, which in part disallows “all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman.”
The USCCB’s guidance comes several months after the Trump administration moved to prohibit transgender procedures performed on children at U.S. hospitals.
Multiple U.S. hospitals earlier this year ended their child transgender programs under pressure from the Trump administration. One watchdog group determined that doctors in the U.S. performed around 14,000 “gender transitions” on underage children between 2019 and 2023.
In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to prohibit hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements from performing transgender operations or providing transgender drugs to anyone under the age of 19.
An EWTN News analysis in 2024, meanwhile, showed that nearly 150 Catholic hospitals across the United States provided children with transgender drugs or performed gender-transition surgeries on them between 2019 and 2023.
Vatican bank reinstates couple fired for violating prohibition on married employees
The Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank. / Credit: Andrea Gagliarducci/CNA
Vatican City, Nov 13, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).
The Vatican bank has rehired a married couple fired last year for breaking the financial institution’s internal regulations forbidding workplace marriages.
The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) — which manages financial assets entrusted to it by the Holy See, the Vatican City State, and Catholic institutions globally — rehired the couple in a negotiated settlement following the couple’s filing of a wrongful termination lawsuit in January, a union for Vatican lay employees announced Wednesday.
Silvia Carlucci and Domenico Fabiani married on Aug. 31, 2024. The IOR fired the couple a month later, on Oct. 2, citing a rule introduced by the financial institution in September 2024 that explicitly forbids the employment of spouses or other close family members.
The Association of Lay Employees of the Vatican (ADLV) celebrated the outcome of the case — the couple was dubbed by the Italian media as the “Romeo and Juliet of the Vatican” for defying a rule they considered unjust and outdated — as a victory for justice and good sense.
“In the end, justice prevailed, guided by reason: Silvia and Domenico, dismissed from the IOR after marrying, will be reinstated in the Vatican,” the ADLV stated in a press release.
According to the Associated Press, before firing the couple, the Vatican bank had suggested one of the two quit, but the couple said they were not in a financial position to do so due to obligations to former spouses, children, and a new mortgage.
The lay employees’ union expressed its gratitude to those who helped reach the settlement: “We thank all those who made this agreement possible … It has been a victory for common sense, discernment, and the wise will to protect a family.”
The group also stressed that the case highlights the need for “stronger foundations for the application of labor law in the Vatican” and raised questions about the current IOR regulations, which “would clearly be unconstitutional in Italy.”
“In the Vatican there are no social safety nets,” the statement added, calling it “problematic when facing crises of various kinds.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Pope Leo XIV highlights example of Argentine businessman Enrique Shaw
Servant of God Enrique Shaw. / Credit: Acdeano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Vatican City, Nov 13, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV honored the late Argentine businessman Enrique Shaw as one whose life demonstrates that “one can be both an entrepreneur and a saint” and that “economic efficiency and fidelity to the Gospel are not mutually exclusive.”
In a message to participants of the 31st Industrial Conference of Argentina, taking place Thursday in Buenos Aires, Leo emphasized the harmony between Shaw’s Christian faith and his business practices, which he said showed that Catholic social teaching “is not an abstract theory or an unworkable utopia but a possible path that transforms the lives of individuals and institutions by placing Christ at the center of all human activity.”
Support for just wages, worker formation
Shaw was born in 1921 at the Ritz Hotel in Paris into an elite Argentine family. Despite the comfort his upbringing could have afforded him, he chose a path of generosity, service, and deep humanity. He died at age 41 and was declared venerable by Pope Francis in 2021. His cause for beatification is now at an advanced stage in the Vatican.
During his short life, Shaw promoted fair wages, expanded formation programs, cared for workers’ health, and supported their families in concrete ways.
The pope noted that Shaw “did not conceive profitability as an absolute but as an important aspect to sustain a human, just, and solidarity-based company.”
Recalling that Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum was the “foundational act” of modern Catholic social teaching, he said it is evident that Shaw’s writings and decisions were shaped by that text. In Rerum Novarum, he explained, the Church denounced unjust labor conditions and affirmed strongly that “neither justice nor humanity can tolerate the requirement of such labor that the spirit is dulled by excessive work and the body overwhelmed by fatigue.”
‘The dignity of the worker continues to be violated’
The pope stressed that the encyclical’s insights — born in a time of major industrial transformation — retain “striking relevance in the globalized world we inhabit, where the dignity of the worker continues all too often to be violated.”
He also recalled that Shaw “knew the misunderstanding and persecution foretold by Christ for those who work for justice,” noting that he was imprisoned under the government of Juan Domingo Perón in May 1955.
“Later he faced illness, but he never stopped working or encouraging those around him. He offered his suffering to God as an act of love and, even amid pain, remained close to his workers,” the pope said.
For this reason, he proposed Shaw as a “model for our time” for all who work in the economic and labor sectors, insisting that holiness “must flourish precisely where decisions are made that affect the lives of thousands of families.”
“The world urgently needs entrepreneurs and leaders who, out of love for God and neighbor, work for an economy at the service of the common good,” he concluded.
A pioneer of Catholic social teaching in business
Shaw was a pioneer in applying Catholic social teaching in the corporate world, anticipating what is now known as corporate social responsibility. He held leadership positions in major companies, but his greatest legacy was the founding in 1952 of the Christian Association of Business Leaders (ACDE), which sought to promote an ethical business culture rooted in Christian values.
He maintained a respectful and close relationship with his employees, whom he regarded not as resources but as collaborators.
In 1957, Shaw was diagnosed with an aggressive and incurable cancer. He faced the illness with unshakable faith and serenity, continuing his work and apostolic commitments until his death on Aug. 27, 1962.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Vatican, German bishops continue dialogue on synodal body
Representatives of the Roman Curia and the German bishops’ conference meet to discuss the proposed Synodal Conference statute at the Vatican on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. / Credit: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Kopp
EWTN News, Nov 13, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Representatives of the Roman Curia and the German bishops’ conference met on Wednesday to continue discussions on the proposed statute of a “synodal conference” for the Church in Germany, marking the fourth such dialogue since talks began in 2022.
The meeting, held in Rome on Nov. 12, took place in what a joint press statement described as an “honest, open, and constructive atmosphere,” with both sides discussing various aspects of the planned synodal body’s character, composition, and competencies.
No further details of the encounter were shared.
The proposed conference concept represents the latest iteration of plans to establish a permanent body in Germany in the wake of the controversial Synodal Way, following repeated interventions by Pope Francis and the Vatican.
The now-proposed German “synodal conference” was previously touted as a permanent synodal council, but both the name and statutes were changed last year following discussions in Rome that led to assurances both sides wanted to “change the name and various aspects of the previous draft” for the body.
Both sides also announced last year that the synodal council would not be “above or equal to the bishops’ conference.”
The meeting on Wednesday continued the series of encounters that previously took place in July 2023, March 2024, and June 2024.
Bavarian bishop as ‘guest’
Vatican representatives on Wednesday included Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state; Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; and Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The German delegation was led by Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, president of the German bishops’ conference, along with Bishop Helmut Dieser of Aachen, Auxiliary Bishop Ansgar Puff of Cologne, and Bishop Stefan Oster of Passau, who participated as a guest.
Oster’s presence as “guest” is particularly noteworthy, as the Bavarian prelate has been an outspoken critic of the German Synodal Way and has distanced himself from the controversial plans.
Numbers down but engagement up among youngest U.S. Catholic adults, survey finds
null / Credit: Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
According to a new survey, engagement among U.S. adults who identify as Catholic is strong, especially among the youngest adults, and there is growing trust in the Church after the fallout of the clergy sexual abuse crisis of the early 2000s.
In July, Leadership Roundtable commissioned a polling firm to conduct a national survey of Catholics in the U.S. in order to inform Church leaders of problems as well as strengths within the Catholic Church since the sexual abuse crisis came to national attention in 2002 and the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People was composed to address it.
Researchers composed a 72-question survey and divided respondents into three groups: the Faithful (1,541 respondents), the Occasional (472 respondents), and the Disengaged (1,020). The Faithful said they attend Mass at least monthly, the Occasional said they go a few times a year, and the Disengaged said they go “seldom” or “never.”
Although the Catholic Church in the U.S. has shrunk from 65 million to 50 million people in the more than two decades since the sexual abuse crisis and engagement is “at an all-time low,” the survey’s findings are cause for hope, the authors say.
In a reversal from the organization’s 2003 survey, adults between the ages of 18–29 are now the most likely group (84%) to attend Mass regularly and to be active in their parishes in addition to Mass (attending Eucharistic adoration, social events, and confession), the survey found.
The group’s 2003 survey of 1,004 Catholics found that Mass attendance increased with age. The 2025 survey found the opposite to be true: Two-thirds of young adults (65%) said they attend Mass at least monthly now, compared with 43% of adults aged 45–64 and 42% of those over 65 years old. In 2003, 83% of adults 45–64 and 85% of those over 65 attended monthly.
Trust in the Church
The survey found that Catholics trust their pastor and other parish staff more than they trust the Church as an institution.
Nearly 80% of respondents said they trust parish staff and volunteers to protect children, and 77% said they trust their pastor and other clergy.
“Building a transparent and accountable leadership culture” was one of the highest priorities across all age groups, according to the survey. For 77% of respondents, it was among their top two priorities, with 45% giving it the highest possible rating of “extremely important.”
In 2003, 70% of respondents said they had high confidence in their bishops as doctrinal authorities but low confidence in them (44%) as listeners of the opinions of laity or parish priests.
That low confidence has not changed much in two decades. In the recent survey, just 49% said they think their bishops involve the laity in solving Church issues. Fewer, 47%, believe bishops “lead with financial transparency,” and 45% worry that their donations will go to paying legal fees and abuse settlements.
Catholics who donate regularly to their parishes (61%) say they would give more if they thought the Church was more transparent about financial matters. Nearly three-quarters of them (72%) said they would give less if there was a scandal in their parish or diocese.
Of Catholics who go to Mass sometimes, 58% donate financially to their parish at least once a year. Of the 42% who never give, 39% cited a lack of financial transparency as their reason.
Regarding education, of U.S. Catholics whose parishes have a parish school, only 53% said they think the school is thriving. This was the lowest rating of all youth formation activities surveyed.
According to its website, Leadership Roundtable, founded in 2003 in the aftermath of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, is a nonprofit organization composed of clergy, laity, and religious “working together to promote best practices and accountability in the management, finances, communications, and human resource development of the Catholic Church in the U.S., including greater incorporation of the expertise of the laity.”
Pope Leo XIV to open academic year at Lateran University: ‘This is his home,’ rector says
Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, where the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences is located. / Credit: calu777/flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Vatican City, Nov 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
The Pontifical Lateran University, the historic institution founded in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV, will inaugurate the academic year on Nov. 14.
The ceremony — the traditional “Dies Academicus” (“Academic Day”) in university parlance — is held every autumn as the official opening of university activities, but this year it will have a very special guest: Pope Leo XIV.
The rector of the Lateran University, Archbishop Alfonso Amarante — the only rector of all the pontifical universities directly appointed by the pope — emphasized that the Holy Father’s visit not only evokes the long tradition of the bond between the popes and the university but also highlights his “pastoral care for the formation of the future of the Church and society.”
“The pope is very clear that formation is the future of the Church. His visit will be a very important moment for the entire university community and also a sign of the pontiff’s commitment to education as a path to peace and hope,” Amarante told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.
The rector said Pope Leo’s presence at the Pontifical Lateran University, which boasts over two and a half centuries of intellectual work, “is as if he were visiting all the pontifical universities.”
“Certainly, he will also visit others in the future, but starting from here means recalling this special bond with his university and, at the same time, sending a message of hope to the world of education, as he did during the Jubilee of the World of Education,” the rector noted.
‘This is his home’
“This is his home, according to the statutes,” the Italian archbishop pointed out, noting that the Pontifical Lateran University is the only university with a special title indicating that it is the pope’s university.
It was founded after the closure of the historic Roman College, where priests were initially formed. “The aim was to ensure continuity to the formation of the Roman clergy,” he explained. “At first, it was spread out across various parts of Rome, but since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been located here.”
The bond between this pontifical university and the Apostolic See of the Vatican was strengthened above all by Pope Pius XI. On Nov. 3, 1937, he inaugurated the new headquarters for the Athenaeum, which had been built under his papacy. Furthermore, “he wanted this to be the first university to implement the new norms for the reform of Catholic universities,” he noted.
“With John XXIII, this relationship intensified even further,” he pointed out. The rector also recalled that before being elected successor of Peter, Pope Paul VI taught here. “It has always been the place of formation for the Petrine magisterium,” he emphasized.
A living papal tradition
The rector remarked that all the popes of the modern era have visited the Lateran University, but Leo XIV’s presence at the opening of the academic year is a first.
“All the popes I can recall have come to the university. But the pontiff’s presence at the opening of the academic year is a gesture full of meaning. It makes us understand how important the formation is to him, not only for future priests but also for the laity. Because this university has a dual soul: Here philosophy, theology, and canon law are studied but also civil law and a new discipline called peace studies, a kind of degree in politics with a focus on the subject of peace,” he explained.
Enthusiasm and hope in the academic community
In the days leading up to the pope’s visit, anticipation and joy fill the Lateran University. “There is a great deal of enthusiasm here,” Amarante noted.
“There is joy and hope. We trust that we will hear his words at the beginning of the academic year, not only to be encouraged in our work but also to receive guidance on where he wants us to make progress, on what we should focus on more,” he emphasized.
Currently, the Pontifical Lateran University has around 1,100 students, of whom more than 40% are laypeople, according to the rector. This diversity, he noted, reflects the current mission of the pontifical university: a place for formation at the service of the universal Church and society.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.