Catholic News

• Papal interview touches on homosexuality, Gaza, TLM, China, and more (CWN)
  On September 18, the Crux news agency released five excerpts from the July interviews between senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen and Pope Leo XIV. The interviews provided the material for her book, Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, which was published in Spanish this week, with an English-language edition due early next year.
• Cardinal Müller speaks bluntly on Charlie Kirk, LGBT pilgrimage, migration, woke ideology (CWN)
  “As a dogmatic theologian I don’t want to be diplomatic,” Cardinal Gerhard Müller told journalist Diane Montagna. “The Catholic Church must proclaim the truth but also contradict lies.”
• At least 64 dead in Islamist attack on Catholic parish in DR Congo (Aid to the Church in Need)
  Members of an Islamist rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces, attacked a parish in North Kivu, a province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (map). At least 64 people were killed, many of them by beheading. “The victims were caught off guard at a mourning ceremony in the village of Ntoyo at around 9:00 PM, and most of them were killed with machetes,” a local official said. “The attackers used firearms and hammers, and some homes were selectively set on fire,” Aid to the Church in Need reported. “To all the families affected by this umpteenth and horrible carnage,” said Bishop Melchisédech Sikuli Paluko of Butembo-Beni, “and to all the faithful of the parish, we express our spiritual closeness. May God, the Master of Life, strengthen us through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consoler of the afflicted, and lead us beyond the desert of present-day suffering to lasting peace.” In July, at least 34 people were killed in an Islamist terrorist massacre at a parish in the adjacent Ituri province.
• Armenian Patriarch meets with Pope Leo, invites him to visit nation (Vatican News)
  A delegation from the Armenian Apostolic Church, led by Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, met with Pope Leo XIV and officials of the Roman Curia. An official of the Armenian Apostolic Church told Vatican News that the September 16 papal audience took place in “a fraternal and cordial atmosphere, during which various ecclesial issues were discussed, and the Armenian Patriarch emphasized the fate of the Armenians of Artsakh,” an Armenian enclave in largely Muslim Azerbaijan. Patriarch Karekin also invited Pope Leo to visit Armenia. The Armenian Apostolic Church (CNEWA profile) is among the Oriental Orthodox churches that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451). Karekin II, now 74, has led the church since 1999.
• Vatican diplomat pushes back against UN document linking women's development, abortion (Holy See Mission)
  Commenting on a new UN Human Rights Council report, a Vatican diplomat pushed back against a section that linked women’s social development to legalized abortion (n. 44). “This implies that social development is linked to the denial of the right to life to the child in the womb,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. The prelate added: It is true that women in many parts of the world face difficult, or even tragic, situations involving suffering, violence, loneliness, a total lack of economic prospects, and depression and anxiety about the future. We should be honest and admit that it is by addressing these dramatic human situations that we can reach social development and the good of the world’s women and not by proposing false solutions, such as denying another person’s inviolable right to life, which is always a failure of law, of justice and ultimately of the entire society. Archbishop Balestrero called for “a serious commitment to creating equal conditions, including providing [women] with access to education, quality healthcare, decent work, participation in every sphere of life, measures to alleviate poverty, and freedom from violence and discrimination.”
• USCCB publishes guide to Islamophobia (USCCB)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs has published “Islamophobia: A Guide for U.S. Catholics on Anti-Muslim Bigotry,” a 15-page text by Jordan Denari Duffner. The co-chairmen of the National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue—Auxiliary Bishop Elias Lorenzo, OSB, of Newark and Imam Kareem Irfan—commended the guide “to all Catholics, Muslims, and people of good will so they may understand and address the disturbing phenomenon of anti-Muslim sentiment in our times.” The guide states that “In the United States today, Muslims often face prejudice and discrimination—not unlike what Catholics faced in earlier generations of American history. Anti-Muslim bigotry is both a religious freedom concern and a social justice issue. Fortunately, our Catholic faith inspires and equips us to identify and address bigotry, no matter whom it targets, and to build up a world defined by fraternity and hospitality.”
• FBI director reports firings over anti-Catholic memo (CNA)
  The director of the FBI has told a Senate hearing that his agency saw some “terminations” and “resignations” of employees who were involved in a notorious 2023 memo, circulated by the FBI office in Richmond, Virginia, suggesting surveillance of traditionalist Catholic communities. Director Kash Patel said that the FBI under his leadership had undertaken a thorough investigation of the memo, while the agency’s leadership had downplayed its significance during the Biden administration. “Just to put it in perspective, we provided 700 documents on the Richmond Catholic memo” to the Senate committee, he reported, “whereas my predecessor provided 19 pages.”
• Congo's Cardinal Ambongo: Fiducia Supplicans 'caused a lot of harm' (Our Sunday Visitor)
  Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa said that the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, allowing for blessings of same-sex couples, “caused a lot of harm to the Catholic faithful, and even beyond,” in an interview with OSV News. The cardinal spoke to OSV while in Poland, where he was speaking about an initiative to promote negotiations that might end the bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said that the initiative, backed by the Church, was gaining wide support, although the country’s government is “not very enthusiastic.” Questioned about Pope Leo XIV, the cardinal said that the new Pope “is a man who speaks very little but listens a lot.” He added that he believed Pope Leo will “listen widely before making a decision, to avoid what we had with Fiducia.”
• Disabled Iraqi Christian killed in France while speaking about his faith online (CNA)
  Ashur Sarnaya, a disabled Iraqi Christian who emigrated to France a decade ago to escape the advance of the Islamic State, was stabbed to death in Lyon as he spoke about his faith on TikTok. “He did live videos on TikTok to spread the word of God,” his sister said. The president of the Assyro-Chaldean Association of Lyon described the victim as “a very kind, discreet person, deeply believing, who liked to speak about the Christian faith.” CNA reported that Sarnaya previously complained that his “content was frequently blocked or suspended due to reports from Muslim users. In March, he claimed to have been physically attacked by Muslims.”
• Oakland diocese seeks to pull plug on bankruptcy (San Jose Mercury-News)
  The Diocese of Oakland sought to withdraw from bankruptcy proceedings it initiated after its $165-million offer to settle 350 abuse suits was not accepted. Stating that creditors have “bled [the diocese] dry,” an attorney for the diocese said that “the cost is too high, and the survivors in this Chapter 11 Case—and the 500,000+ faithful Catholics in the Diocese of Oakland—deserve better,”
• Nepal's Catholic leader welcomes new government (Fides)
  Father Silas Bogati, the apostolic administrator of the Vicariate Apostolic of Nepal, welcomed the appointment of interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki amid Gen Z protests. Father Bogati expressed “confidence in Sushila Karki, who, among other things, in the past, when she was still a lawyer, defended one of our priests and some religious sisters who had been wrongly accused in several court cases.” “The position of the Catholic Church in Nepal is clear,” the priest added. “We say ‘no’ to any form of violence and work for a peaceful development of the situation, hoping for a good government that can effectively combat one of the scourges afflicting the country: corruption.” There are 8,000 Catholics in Nepal. The South Asian nation of 31.1 million (map) is 64% Hindu, 13% ethnic religionist, 12% Buddhist, 6% Christian, and 4% Muslim.
• Federal court permits PA parochial school students to compete in interscholastic athletics (Aleteia)
  A federal district court ruled that the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association must permit parochial school students to compete in interscholastic sports. The association had barred parochial school students from participating on teams in their home school districts, even though it had permitted charter school students and homeschooled students to participate. “This is a huge relief for parents and students across Pennsylvania who have been unnecessary excluded from participation simply because of their desire to pursue a faith-based education,” an attorney for the Thomas More Society said.
• Papal reflections on Holy Saturday at weekly audience (Vatican Press Office)
  At his regular weekly public audience on September 17, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the silence of Holy Saturday. “In the tomb, Jesus—the living Word of the Father—is silent,” the Pope observed. “But it is precisely in that silence that the new life begins to ferment.” “Every suspended time can become a time of grace, if we offer it to God,” Pope Leo continued. “We rush to produce, to prove ourselves, to keep up. But the Gospel teaches us that knowing how to stop is an act of trust that we must learn to perform.”
• Pope sees 'religious synergy' in inter-faith cooperation (Vatican Press Office)
  In a message to the 8th Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, Pope Leo XIV said that the controversial Statement on Human Fraternity, signed by Pope Francis and the Egyptian Imam Al-Tayyeb, “offered a clear blueprint of how religious synergy can advance global peace and coexistence.” The Pope said that “every authentic religious impulse fosters dialogue and cooperation, grounded in our innate awareness of the interdependence that binds individuals and nations. From this perspective, working together in harmony is not merely a pragmatic choice, but a reflection of the deeper order of reality.” In his message the Pontiff paid special tribute to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan, who is hosting this year’s meeting.
• China tightly restricts online religious activities (Pillar)
  The Chinese government has issued new regulations that tightly restrict online religious activities. The rules, formally issued on September 15, ban online fundraising, religious education for children, streaming of liturgical celebrations, and “collusion with overseas forces.”
• Pope calls Gaza parish as Israel launches major ground offensive (CWN)
  As Israel launched a major offensive in Gaza City, Pope Leo XIV spoke by phone with Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Gaza’s sole Catholic parish, from Castel Gandolfo on September 16 to assure him of his prayers and closeness.
• In suffering, 'build a bridge towards heaven,' Pope says at Jubilee of Consolation (Dicastery for Communication)
  Pope Leo XIV presided at a prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, the final event in the one-day Jubilee of Consolation (video). “Sacred Scripture guides us on the journey from questioning to faith,” Pope Leo said, as he advised those suffering today, like the Psalmist, to “turn our questions into pleas, lamentations and supplications for the justice and peace promised us by God. In this way, we build a bridge towards heaven, even when it seems we get no response.” The Pope also referred to the abuse scandal, saying, “The Church, some of whose members have unfortunately hurt you, kneels with you today before our Mother ... May we receive from Our Lady of Sorrows the strength to recognize that life is not defined only by the evil we suffer, but by the love of God, who never abandons us and guides the whole Church.” Two women offered testimonies during the prayer vigil. Lucia Di Mauro spoke of forgiving an accomplice in the murder of her son. Diane Foley, whose journalist son was beheaded by ISIS, said that “Jesus and Mary became my constant companions” in her suffering, “along with countless earthly angels whose compassion lifted me up.”
• Cardinal Grech pushes for acceptance of synodality (Vatican News)
  Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, urged “every effort to ensure that the third phase of the synodal process constitutes a further step forward in the experience of synodality,” in a statement marking the 60th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops. Cardinal Grech argued that the understanding of the Synod’s purpose has undergone “a significant evolution” over the years. He pointed particularly to the vision of Pope Francis, who “wanted to transform the Synod from an event reserved for an assembly of bishops into a process in stages, in which the whole Church participates.”
• House of Lords leaning against assisted-suicide in UK (National Catholic Register)
  Legislation to allow assisted suicide in England and Wales has encountered heavy opposition in the House of Lords, and appears likely headed for defeat. The bill has won approval in the House of Commons, but in the House of Lords, in lengthy debate, two-thirds of the peers who have spoken have opposed the legislation.
• Pope renews peace plea as Israel moves into Gaza City (Vatican News)
  As Israel forces began a ground offensive on Gaza City, Pope Francis issued a new call for a ceasefire during this regular public audience on September 17. “I express my deepest sympathy to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, forces—once again—from their lands,” the Pope said, in reference to the Israeli plan to relocate the population of Gaza. The Pope repeated his plea for “a ceasefire, for the release of the hostages, for a negotiated diplomatic solution, and for full respect for international humanitarian law.”
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