St. Callistus Roman Catholic Church

Kiko Argüello and young people from the Neocatechumenal Way at Tor Vergata on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 6, 2025 / 16:16 pm (CNA).

About 120,000 young people from the Neocatechumenal Way participated in a gathering on Aug. 4, the feast day of the Curé of Ars, to consider what their vocation in life might be. 

In attendance were Kiko Argüello, one of the apostolate’s initiators, and two other members of the organization’s international team: Maria Ascensión and Father Mario Pezzi.

The meeting, held at Tor Vergata — the same place where Pope Leo XIV presided over the vigil and celebrated the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Youth with more than a million souls Aug. 3 — was presided over by Italian Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the pope’s vicar for the Diocese of Rome. Also present were five other cardinals and some 30 bishops.

According to the Neocatechumenal Way website, the meeting took place in an atmosphere of celebration and communion, with young people from some 50 countries in Europe, 30 countries in the Americas, 11 countries in Africa, and 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania.

After Reina’s greeting, accompanied by 100 priests from Redemptoris Mater seminaries of the Neocatechumenal Way, an icon of the Virgin Mary was set up on the large stage along with a large crucifix to be the visual focal point of the gathering.

A photo of Carmen Hernández, the Spanish servant of God who was also an initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way, was also placed on the stage. The apostolate is now present in 138 countries around the world.

Ascensión then spoke about St. John Vianney, the Curé of Ars, before moving on to the day’s readings from the Gospel of St. Matthew (Mt 9:35-10:1) in which Jesus says “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Argüello addressed the young people, asking: “What is God’s deepest desire? To give you the gift of the Holy Spirit, of his life, of his happiness. But to give you this gift, God needs your freedom, because as St. Augustine reminds us: ‘God, who created you without you, will not save you without you.’”

Looking at the crucifix, Argüello then said: “I invite you to look at this cross: This is the image of freedom. The cross is the image of freedom. Here is a man who has given himself up for you, who will set you free to give yourself to others and stop offering yourselves only to yourselves. How can you receive the Holy Spirit today? If you accept that your self be crucified with Christ.”

The initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way then reflected on Jesus’ call to Peter, and Peter’s response to the Lord, to his love for the journey toward holiness.

The call to a vocation 

In these types of gatherings, Argüello encourages those who believe they may have a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life to come forward in what the Neocatechumenals call “the call to a vocation.”

“First the boys — 5,000 of them stood up! — and then the girls — 5,000 of them stood up! — and went to the stage to receive the blessing of the cardinals and bishops. For those who responded to this initial call, a process to discern and mature their vocation will then take place at the various vocational centers,” the Neocatechumenal Way website explains.

To conclude the event, which lasted approximately three hours, Reina told the young people present: “After accepting the kerygma, aspire to greater things, to holiness.”

“May this be the response to Pope Leo’s call. The Lord has addressed this invitation to us; the Lord calls all of us to holiness. Always leave room for the Word of God, because God takes nothing away from our happiness,” he added.

Finally, the cardinal emphasized that “for some of you today, a path to happiness is opening up, to a full life, full of God, full of happiness.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley Executive Director Sister Norma Pimentel speaks to reporters on May 8, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas. / Credit: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 6, 2025 / 14:55 pm (CNA).

A state appeals court in Texas this week affirmed that Attorney General Ken Paxton will not be permitted to question the leaders of a Catholic Charities affiliate at the U.S.-Mexico border amid an inquiry into illegal immigration.

The state 15th Court of Appeals said in an Aug. 4 ruling that Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley has cooperated sufficiently with the state’s investigation into the charity. Paxton’s office has been conducting broad inquiries into allegations that nonprofits have facilitated illegal immigration in the state.

Prosecutors were not entitled to a “pre-suit deposition” from charity leaders, including its executive director, Sister Norma Pimentel, the court ruled.

Rather than “an uncooperative or evasive organization,” the Catholic charity has been “responsive to [Paxton’s] requests,” up to and including extensive documentation and a sworn testimony from Pimentel, the appeals court said. 

Those responses “may not have provided all of the information or the narrative responses” sought by the attorney general’s office, the court said. But they “addressed the lion’s share of the issues” the state was investigating and allowed the attorney general’s office to decide whether or not to file an official lawsuit.

The prosecutor’s office was required to prove that “the benefits of forcing a pre-suit deposition outweigh the burdens to Catholic Charities.” But the charity’s high level of cooperation with the government meant Paxton’s office could not justify the deposition.

A representative with Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley did not immediately respond to a query on the ruling on Wednesday morning.

Following the lower court’s ruling last year, Pimentel said in a statement that the charity hoped to “put this behind us and focus our efforts on protecting and upholding the sanctity and dignity of all human lives while following the law.”

Paxton has challenged several Catholic organizations in the state in recent months, including Annunciation House in El Paso, which he attempted to shut down for allegedly facilitating “illegal border crossings.”

Earlier this year that charity, which operates a shelter network for “migrant, refugee, and economically vulnerable peoples,” argued in the state Supreme Court that though it does offer housing to immigrants in the country illegally, it is “not concealing anyone [or] hiding anyone from detection from law enforcement.”

First Liberty Institute, which advocates religious freedom, also filed a brief against a forced closure of Annunciation House, arguing that the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects the charity against “outright closure.”

null / Credit: Lionsgate

CNA Staff, Aug 6, 2025 / 14:17 pm (CNA).

Lionsgate has officially announced the release dates for Mel Gibson’s highly anticipated film “The Resurrection of the Christ.”

In an X post on Aug. 5, the film company announced that the film will be split into two parts and will be released starting Holy Week in 2027.

Part 1 of the film will be released on March 26, 2027, Good Friday, and Part 2 will be released several weeks later on May 6, which will fall on the feast of the Ascension. 

On May 15 it was announced that Lionsgate had been chosen as the studio partnering with Gibson’s Icon Productions on the upcoming film.

“For many, many people across the globe, ‘The Resurrection of the Christ’ is the most anticipated theatrical event in a generation. It is also an awe-inspiring and spectacularly epic theatrical film that is going to leave moviegoers worldwide breathless,” Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a press release announcing the partnership.   

“Lionsgate’s brave, innovative spirit and nimble, can-do attitude have inspired me for a long time, and I couldn’t think of a more perfect distributor for ‘The Resurrection of the Christ,’” Gibson said at the time.

“I’ve enjoyed working with Adam and the team several times over recent years. I know the clever ingenuity, passion, and ambition the entire team commits to their projects and I’m confident they will bring everything they can to the release of this movie.”

This upcoming film, the sequel to “The Passion of the Christ,” will once again feature Jim Caviezel in the role of Jesus. While not much is known about the details of the film, in an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Gibson said the film is “very ambitious” and the story follows “the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle.” 

He also shared that he plans to use “a few techniques,” such as CGI de-aging, on Caviezel due to the fact that over 20 years have passed since the first movie was released.

Released in 2004, “The Passion of the Christ” vividly depicts the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his crucifixion. 

The film has been the subject of debate since its release. The graphic scenes of Christ’s scourging and crucifixion sparked controversy; some critics considered it excessively violent, while others praised it for its historical authenticity and its ability to realistically convey Christ’s suffering.

In January 2004, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, then the director of the Holy See Press Office, noted that Pope John Paul II had seen the film and gave it a positive review, describing it as “the cinematographic recounting of the historical fact of the passion of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel accounts.”

Despite controversies surrounding the film, it garnered a profit of $370 million domestically with many crediting it as having opened the door to faith-based media in Hollywood.

Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly. / Credit: Courtesy of Knights of Columbus/Screenshot

Washington D.C., Aug 6, 2025 / 13:47 pm (CNA).

At the first Knights of Columbus Supreme Convention since Pope Francis’ death, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly offered a tribute to the former pontiff’s legacy and celebrated the growth of the organization and its charitable accomplishments over the past year.

The Knights of Columbus began their 143rd annual convention on Aug. 5 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., where thousands of members of the organization — including Archbishop William Lori, the Knights’ supreme chaplain of 20 years — gathered for the occasion.

Kelly, who has served as supreme knight since 2021, remembered Pope Francis’ dedication to the most vulnerable — a hallmark of the Knights of Columbus’ global charity work — and the late pontiff’s close relationship with the fraternal organization.

“Pope Francis was a powerful witness to charity and when he summoned the Church to the peripheries, he led by example — like a good father,” Kelly said in his delivery of the annual report of the Knights’ charity work.

“His love for the poor and the sick was extraordinary,” he said. “Who can forget the moment, in the early days of his papacy, when he embraced a severely disfigured man in St. Peter’s Square or when he celebrated his 80th birthday by sharing breakfast with the homeless? He did what our world so often refuses to do. And the world watched, with admiration.”

Kelly said Francis was “a great friend of the Knights of Columbus” who “encouraged our charity around the world” and “especially praised our humanitarian work in Ukraine, as well as our efforts to combat human trafficking.” He also credited Francis with inspiring the organization to grow its outreach to the Indigenous people of the United States, Canada, and the Philippines.

Knights of Columbus’ global charity work and growth

During his address, Kelly also reported on the fraternal organization’s ongoing charity work globally and its growth.

The report noted that members of the Knights of Columbus collectively dedicated more than 48 million hours to service. The organization also broke its record for charitable donations, reaching about $197 million over the year.

According to the report, the Knights of Columbus surpassed 2.1 million members after more than 96,000 men joined the organization last year. The Knights of Columbus have also grown on college campuses with now 8,000 knights at 146 college councils.

Kelly noted that the Knights of Columbus is currently responding to the flash flood in Texas, where “hundreds of families lost their loved ones — and one brother knight tragically lost both his parents and his two young daughters.” The Knights also responded to floods in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida along with the wildfires in California.

The report stated that the Knights of Columbus have continued “bringing emergency supplies to refugees” in Ukraine with the organization’s Charity Convoys and serve people in the country through its Mercy Centers.

“We pray for an end to the war in Ukraine, but so long as the war continues, we’ll be there for those who suffer,” Kelly said.

Kelly reported on the growth of the Knights’ Global Wheelchair Mission, which has now donated more than 158,000 wheelchairs, including 19,000 last year. This includes 300 to Nigeria, which was provided to “Christians who have endured violence and persecution for their faith.”

The Knights of Columbus also set a new record for winter jackets delivered to children through its Coats for Kids initiative, which has now surpassed 1.6 million total jackets to children.

According to the report, the Knights’ program Aid and Support After Pregnancy (ASAP) provided pro-life pregnancy centers with $6 million last year and more than $17 million over the last three years. The Knights also surpassed more than 2,000 donated ultrasounds through its Ultrasound Initiative meant to “save lives by showing parents their unborn children.”

The Knights of Columbus also saw growth in its Cor program, which is a “small-group setting [that] gives men a place to embrace the mission for which they were made — the mission that God himself has uniquely given to them,” according to the report. In August 2024, Cor was active at 650 councils but has now expanded to more than 5,000 councils.

“Like every generation that came before us, we will move forward — in charity, unity, and fraternity,” Kelly said.

“We will serve Our Lord by serving others,” he added. “And we will sacrifice for them, like he did for us.”

Irish high cross at the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland. / Credit: Marie-Lise Van Wassenhove via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Dublin, Ireland, Aug 6, 2025 / 13:11 pm (CNA).

This week in Ireland, the Intercession for Priests ministry marks its 50th anniversary with Mass in Knock followed by a weeklong retreat at Maynooth led by Sister Briege McKenna, OSC. McKenna, who ministers to priests and bishops around the world, said the ministry is a gift from God that renews the spiritual life of priests.

The Intercession for Priests was started at All Hallows College in 1976 by the late Father Kevin Scallon, who established it following an encounter with a similar program in the United States. It was a critical time for priests, and many were deciding to leave the priesthood.

Scallon was also significantly affected by the words of an elderly Biafra woman to whom he ministered on the missions when she told him: “For me today, Father, you are Jesus.” This prompted a search for a more profound understanding of his priestly ministry. The ministry he established has, for over 50 years, provided a rock and place of security where many priests from around the world can come and feel at home in their priesthood. 

For McKenna — who was born in Ireland, entered the Sisters of St. Clare at age 15, and experienced an instantaneous healing of a serious health issue at a Mass when she was 24 — the Intercession for Priests is a “gift that God blessed us with 50 years ago to renew the spiritual life of priests, to affirm them, encourage them, and challenge them to holiness.”

She told CNA: “Father Scallon was the spiritual director in All Hallows, where it started on the 16th of July, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. There were about two priests registered, but 12 came. From there, it spread. Every year it got bigger. Then we started getting the missionaries from around the world coming. Father Kevin and I went to Germany. Same with Poland. We went to over 100 countries in the five continents; it has transformed the lives of priests and bishops.”

For McKenna, the Intercession offers priests renewal, focusing directly on the priest himself. 

Speaking at the Mass for the 50th National Day of Intercession for Priests at Knock, Archbishop Eamon Martin told all those gathered: “As I have gotten older, I’ve come to realize how important it is to pray for priests. It’s understandable that people are more used to asking priests to pray for them and might not realize how much we priests are ourselves in great need of prayer.”

McKenna explained that the Intercession for Priests is built around the Divine Office, the Eucharist, the sacraments, and Our Lady. 

“For 50 years, we have never missed the rosary, and we have a consecration to Our Lady. It’s built on priestly spirituality. We have a renewal of ordination. We have a healing service, which means priests stand before the Eucharist. We pray with them for healing; not just physical healing but all kinds of healings. We also have the anointing of the sick for those who are ill or have any kind of sickness,” she explained.

The religious sister returned repeatedly to the ministry: “It’s very focused on the effects of the priestly ministry. And for me, it’s a great encouragement, because I speak to them during the day on healing. I speak often on the celibate call. We pray for the charism. We pray for the things to affirm them and encourage them. I try to impress on them that the priesthood is not something you do 9 to 5. It’s a vocation, and it’s a divine call. And whether you’re preaching, teaching, or having recreation, you’re always carrying the Christ, the priest.”

Father Michael Doody is a parish priest at Our Lady of Kirkstall, Leeds, England, who first encountered the Intercession for Priests in Leeds shortly after his ordination in 2013. He said it was a life-changing experience.

“There has always been a wonderful atmosphere at the retreats and an experience of fraternity with the other priests that is profoundly encouraging,” he said. “Sister Briege and Father Kevin, and now Father Pablo [Escriva], have always spoken to us very simply about the truth of who we are — that Jesus has chosen us and anointed us to bring him to the world, a world in much darkness and hungry for Jesus.”

Father Tom Surlis is the seminary rector of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and he first encountered the Intercession for Priests in 2004 as a recently-ordained priest. Since then, the annual gathering has been a staple in his “spiritual diet.”

Surlis described it as “a regular dose of medicine from the Divine Physician, who gathers his priests to spend time together and with him, and who is tangibly present in our midst to renew, restore, and revivify our identity as ministers of word and sacrament in an atmosphere that is fraternal and deeply spiritual.”

The Intercession for Priests in Ireland is hosted at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Surlis said: “On this 50th anniversary I can only say ‘Ad multos annos’ to the Intercession and thank God for Father Kevin, Sister Briege, the Core Groups in Ireland, England, Germany, and Poland and all who make it possible for this great work to continue as a sign of hope, a vessel of love, and a deepener of faith in our time.”

Surlis pointed to the words of Father Jack Finnegan, SDB, who has been with the Intercession for Priests from the outset. 

“The more the priest encounters Christ, the more he prays and meditates, the more he will come to unity in Christ. The more he grows into union with Christ, the more he will experience the disintegration of his selfish ego and put on the compassionate gentleness and understanding humility of Jesus. Such is the transformative power of the Spirit. Such is the vastness of grace,” he said.

Archbishop Martin told the congregation in Knock: “We priests tend to be caught up in a multitude of demands and distractions. In recent times, like many others, we have become vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, and sometimes to unhealthy or harmful influences that can steal away the joy of our vocation. And we priests are not the best at accepting when we need help and support or finding guides and mentors to accompany us spiritually, pastorally, intellectually, and especially in our personal human development.”

A copy of the Holy Shroud is displayed in the sacristy of the Church of St. Lawrence in Turin, Italy. / Credit: Geobia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Aug 6, 2025 / 11:14 am (CNA).

Few religious artifacts have been studied and debated as extensively as the Shroud of Turin.

Countless Catholics and other Christians across the world believe it is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ, wrapped around his body after his crucifixion and marked by his unmistakable visage and form.

Critics, meanwhile, have for years alleged that it is nothing more than a forgery — a clever work of religious art and an impressive technical feat that carries no more or less religious significance than a painting or statue.

Those claims were made most recently by Cicero Moraes, a Brazilian 3D artist who in the scholarly journal Archaeometry last month claimed that the depiction of Christ’s body on the shroud was likely made by a “low-relief model” such as a statue rather than a human body.

The imagery on the shroud is “more consistent with an artistic low-relief representation than with the direct imprint of a real human body, supporting hypotheses of its origin as a medieval work of art,” the study alleges.

The Brazil study has generated widespread coverage in the media, with mainstream outlets such as the New York Post and the New York Sun reporting on the study’s findings. Internet outlets such as Gizmodo and Live Science also touted the conclusions of the study.

Studies point to first-century shroud of torture victim

Moraes’ study has already been criticized for its methodology. The International Center of Sindonology — the Turin-based organization that leads studies of the shroud and promotes its status as a venerated object of Christian devotion — said the findings of the study were disputed more than 100 years ago.

“There is nothing new in this conclusion of the article,” the center said on Aug. 4. 

The Vatican has never officially pronounced on the shroud’s authenticity, though popes have held it up as an object of veneration. 

Pope Francis in 2015 said the cloth “attracts [us] toward the martyred face and body of Jesus,” while in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI said its depiction of Christ points to the days that the Lord’s body rested in his tomb, a time “infinite in its value and significance.”

Extensive secular studies, meanwhile, have suggested the shroud is authentic at least as a first-century object that came into contact with the body of an executed man. 

In 2024 a study from an Italian researcher that analyzed the blood on the shroud argued that the stains are consistent with the torture and crucifixion of Jesus Christ as described in the Gospels. 

University of Padua mechanical and thermal measurement professor Giulio Fanti said the bloodstains on the side and the front of the shroud show blood flowing in three different directions, indicating the likelihood that the corpse was moved at some point when wrapped in the shroud.

The three distinct colors of blood on the shroud, meanwhile, suggest three “different types of blood,” which are “postmortem blood leakage” from moving the body, “premortem bloodstains” that likely occurred “when Jesus was still nailed to the cross,” and “leaks of blood serum.”

Fanti’s study indicated that the stains appear to show scourge marks consistent with the scourging at the pillar and that the quantity of blood matches the amount of blood that would have resulted from the wounds described in the Gospels.

Nanoparticles in the blood samples on the shroud, meanwhile, were marked with the organic substance known as creatinine, indicating “very heavy torture” suffered by whomever the shroud enveloped. 

Complex shroud image must be accounted for

Cheryl White, a professor of history at Louisiana State University Shreveport and author of the upcoming book “The Shroud in the Third Millennium: Confronting the Limits of Human Knowledge,” disputed Moraes’ historical research and his scientific methodology.

In his study, Moraes indicates that there is no historical evidence for the shroud prior to the 14th century, but White pointed out that some scholars have argued for the shroud’s appearance in the historical record even hundreds of years before that.

“That’s the type of historical reductionism that I don’t think has any place in serious scholarship,” she said. “You can’t selectively choose the historical data you want.”

Beyond that, she argued, while Moraes places “very heavy emphasis” on the technical aspects of the 3D model he used, he “doesn’t really engage with the complexity of the image” on the shroud itself.

“There’s an information transfer that takes place in the image formation that directly embeds a body-image in the top microfibers of that linen,” she said. “It’s a direct distance-to-body spatial mapping that’s in there.”

Moraes’ study “does not account for complexity in that image,” she said. “It’s a 3D relief in that image. If you haven’t explained that, you haven’t explained the image.”

Others have argued that the imagery would have been beyond the capabilities of medieval artists. Father Robert Spitzer, a Jesuit priest and president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith, told CNA last year that a medieval forger would be unlikely to have anticipated the highly technical inquiries to which the shroud would be subject in the 21st century.

A forger “certainly would not have used the hematic serum of a victim who experienced a heavy polytrauma,” he said.

Critics have also argued that scientific tests have proven that the shroud dates from the medieval period. Radiocarbon experiments in 1988 suggested that the cloth dates to Europe sometime after the 12th century rather than the first-century Middle East. 

Yet other studies have pointed to much older dates, including a 2022 X-ray study at the Italian Institute of Crystallography, which suggested the cloth was around 2,000 years old. 

Liberato De Caro of the Italian National Research Council told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, that radiocarbon studies can produce errors in dating. 

“About half the volume of a natural fiber yarn is empty space, interstitial space, filled with air or something else, between the fibers that compose it,” he said. 

“Anything that gets in between the fibers must be carefully removed. If the cleaning procedure of the sample is not thoroughly performed, carbon-14 dating is not reliable.”

De Caro’s team developed “a method to measure the natural aging of flax cellulose using X-rays and then convert it into time elapsed since fabrication,” he said. 

That methodology, he said, “show[s] that the sample of the Shroud of Turin … should be much older than the approximately seven centuries indicated by the radio-dating carried out in 1988.”

Other studies have shown similarly compelling evidence of the shroud’s ancient provenance, including examinations of pollen grains that indicate the cloth came from the Middle East, not Europe.

Still other arguments have turned on the stunning level of detail in the shroud’s depiction, including blood flows and depictions of wounds that would seem to be beyond the abilities of medieval painters.

Disputes about the shroud will surely continue, particularly in light of the Holy See’s continued ambivalence on its true authenticity, even as many reliable sources point toward its first-century origins.

What is also doubtlessly true is that the cloth will continue to serve as an object of devotion and focus for Christians around the world — allowing man, as St. John Paul II said, to “free himself from the superficiality of the selfishness with which he frequently treats love and sin.”

“Echoing the word of God and centuries of Christian consciousness, the shroud whispers: Believe in God’s love, the greatest treasure given to humanity, and flee from sin, the greatest misfortune in history,” he said.

The European Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium. / Credit: Ala z via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

CNA Deutsch, Aug 6, 2025 / 10:44 am (CNA).

A leading Christian human rights organization has rejected accusations of extremism in a controversial report by a European abortion advocacy group.

The European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights released “The Next Wave” in late June, a report linking Christian pro-life organizations to “religious extremism,” reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The document claimed a “new alliance of religious extremists, far-right populists, and oligarchic funders” was infiltrating mainstream politics.

Funding hypocrisy alleged

Felix Böllmann, the director of European advocacy of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, called the report “a thinly veiled attempt to silence ideological opponents under the guise of academic research” in an interview with Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost.

Despite presenting itself as neutral, the forum operates as a “well-funded activist network,” Bölmmann said, adding it received nearly 3 million euros (approximately $3.4 million) annually from donors including the Gates Foundation, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, Merck Sharp & Dohme, UNFPA, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

“It is remarkably hypocritical for such an organization to accuse others of ‘dark money’ when it itself relies on opaque and ideologically driven funding,” Böllmann told Die Tagespost.

‘5D strategy’

The report labeled ADF International as extremist alongside Catholic organizations including Poland’s Ordo Iuris and the Netherlands’ Civitas Christiana.

Even Hungary Helps, a charity supporting persecuted Christians, was classified as an “enemy of sexual rights.”

Böllmann characterized this as a “5D strategy”: “Disrobe, disarm, dislocate, demonetize, and defend — a plan to deprive Christian and conservative voices of legitimacy, financial support, and access to public debate.”

The approach aims at “enforcing a socio-political agenda through the instrumentalization of a misunderstood concept of human rights,” he said.

Böllmann challenged the forum’s undefined use of “religious extremism.” Unlike official EU anti-terrorism documents focusing on violence, the group applies the label to organizations that “invest financially in conservative movements and question constructed codes, such as a ‘right to sexual and reproductive health.’”

“Such a self-definition is clearly based on ideological premises, not on objective, legal standards,” he said.

Lobbying influence

The alliance actively shapes EU political processes despite its NGO (nongovernmental organization) status, influencing European Parliament reports, hearings, and resolutions. It organizes inter-party parliamentary networks and provides lawmakers with expert briefings, “effectively creating a lobbying infrastructure within the EU Parliament.”

The forum group emerged in 2000 as a spinoff of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which traces its origins to Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and eugenics advocate, CNA Deutsch reported.

The group’s 2023 budget totaled $2.38 million, with 45% from public donors, 31% from foundations, and 20% from pharmaceutical companies.

“The more they try to silence us, the clearer it becomes: Our work is having an impact — in our commitment to fundamental freedoms in Europe and beyond,” Böllmann told Die Tagespost.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV speaks to thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday catechesis on the Jubilee theme “Jesus Christ Our Hope” on Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 6, 2025 / 10:14 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV during his Wednesday catechesis on the jubilee theme “Jesus Christ Our Hope” said the gift of the Eucharist prepared by God reveals that his great love “always precedes us.”

Speaking to thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Aug. 6, the Holy Father said St. Mark’s Gospel shows us that Jesus’ love for his disciples “is not the result of chance but of a conscious choice.”

“It is not a simple reaction but a decision that requires preparation,” he said. “Jesus does not face his passion out of fatalism but out of fidelity to a path freely and carefully accepted and followed.”

Just as God made preparations to show his love for people, the pope said, in turn, people are free to choose God and prepare their own hearts to receive his love.

“He has already thought of everything, arranged everything, decided everything,” Leo said. “However, he asks his friends to do their part.”

“This teaches us something essential for our spiritual life: Grace does not eliminate our freedom but rather awakens it,” he explained. “God’s gift does not eliminate our responsibility but makes it fruitful.”

Noting the significance of the Eucharist for Jesus’ followers, the Holy Father said its celebration should not be “only at the altar” but also lived in “daily life” as a continual offering of love and thanksgiving.

“True love, the Gospel reminds us, is given before it is reciprocated,” he said. “It is an anticipatory gift. It is not based on what is received but on what one wishes to offer.”

In order to make space in the heart to receive God’s love, particularly in the Eucharist, the pope asked his listeners to consider: “What does it mean for me today to ‘prepare’?” 

“Perhaps to renounce a demand, to stop waiting for others to change, to take the first step,” he suggested. “Perhaps to listen more, to act less, or to learn how to trust in what has already been prepared.”

Prayers for Japan on 80th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing

Following his catechesis, Pope Leo asked those gathered to pray for the people of Japan who “suffered ... physical, psychological, and social effects” of the atomic bomb dropped during World War II.  

“Despite the passing of the years, those tragic events constitute a universal warning against the devastation caused by wars and, in particular, by nuclear weapons,” he lamented.

“I hope that in the contemporary world, marked by strong tensions and bloody conflicts, the illusory security based on the threat of mutual destruction may give way to the tools of justice, to the practice of dialogue, and to trust in fraternity,” he said.

The jar that was miraculously refilled after the priest had anointed the heads of 500 faithful. / Credit: Courtesy of Monsignor Pasquale Silvestri

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

St. Ferdinand Church, located in the historic heart of Naples, Italy, was the scene of an event that many are already calling miraculous, attributed to the intercession of St. Charbel, a Lebanese hermit, devotion to whom has transcended borders.

On July 24, in the context of his liturgical memorial, Monsignor Pasquale Silvestri, parish priest at the Neapolitan church, celebrated a Mass in honor of the saint attended by more than 500 people, many of them ill.

At the end of the Eucharist, the priest proceeded to anoint the faithful who approached the altar with blessed oil — sent especially for the occasion by the Maronite Curia in Rome. It was then that something unexpected happened.

‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing’

“I didn’t imagine there would be so many people, so there came a time when the jar was almost empty, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to satisfy everyone,” the priest explained in a letter published July 27 and addressed to Father Elias Hamhoury, former postulator of the cause for canonization of St. Charbel.

However, he managed to anoint each sick person until the jar was empty. “When I finished,” he added, “I closed the jar and put it back in its case. But when I put it back in the safe, I realized it was full again. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

When contacted by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Silvestri confirmed the events: “I was very surprised, because the jar was empty. In fact, I was afraid because there wouldn’t be enough to anoint everyone, and I turned the jar upside down several times” to get the last few drops. 

Upon realizing that the vessel was indeed full again and that it “weighed more than before,” the priest approached the altar to tell the faithful what had happened: “Everyone applauded when they saw it.”

“I’m not a miracle worker, absolutely not, but in this case there was a production of matter; this is a very serious thing,” he emphasized. Given what happened, he assured he acted in accordance with canon law: “When one learns of a miracle, it must be communicated to the saint’s postulator.”

The aroma of the cedars of Lebanon

The next day, July 25, a group of Lebanese pilgrims arrived at the church. “They asked me if they could smell the oil, and when they did, they assured me it gave off the aroma of the cedars of Lebanon,” one of the symbols of St. Charbel’s homeland. “The oil is fragrant, something that seems impossible,” the Neapolitan priest pointed out.

St. Charbel, whose original name was Youssef Antoun, was born May 8, 1828, in Beqaa-Kafra, a village near the famous “Cedars of God,” one of the last natural reserves of these 1,000-year-old trees that in ancient times covered much of the Lebanese mountains.

“The bottle is safely stored away and at the disposal of the authorities, in case anyone wants to come and inquire and study the contents,” Silvestri added.

The beginning of a deep devotion

The priest told ACI Prensa that his devotion to the saint began almost by chance. “I didn’t know him; I heard about him recently, and I really liked his story. So I put up a picture in my church out of devotion,” he explained.

Although he assured that he has never “believed in dreams,” he shared — still amazed — a personal anecdote: “When I put up this picture, one night I dreamed that St. Charbel was looking at me and was laughing. This really struck me because the photo of St. Charbel is always that of a very serious man, but he was smiling at me.”

Since that providential episode, he decided to dedicate the Masses on the last Friday of June and July to the Lebanese saint.

Healing from serious illnesses

It was on July 24, a few hours before the “miracle” of the oil, when a young woman from the parish, about 20 years old, approached him. “She told me that that morning she had been cured of a breast tumor thanks to St. Charbel. It was completely clear, and the doctors thought it would be impossible.”

“That happened on the morning of the 24th, and in the afternoon an impressive number of people came to Mass. We weren’t prepared; in fact, we ran out of sacred hosts. And then what happened happened,” he recalled.

Since then, he said, many faithful have shared testimonies of physical or spiritual healing after participating in the Mass. “I’ve received about five or six similar accounts, and I’ve asked them to write them all down.”

The priest emphasized that “miracles are recounted in the Gospel and in the word of God.” For Silvestri, what happened in his church “is a confirmation of what we already know.”

A bridge between East and West

St. Charbel is known for obtaining miracles from God not only for Catholics but also for Muslims and followers of other religions. The Catholic Church has recorded and investigated thousands of miracles attributed to his intercession.

In fact, even during his lifetime, he enjoyed a notable reputation for miraculous healings among those who came to him for help.

The Lebanese saint, a priest and hermit monk of the Maronite rite, has become a spiritual bridge between East and West. He died on Dec. 24, 1898. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI on Dec. 5, 1965, and canonized by the same pontiff on Oct. 9, 1977.

ACI Prensa contacted the Italian Bishops’ Conference to learn its position on the matter but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan. / Credit: Oilstreet via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.5)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 6, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In a message on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Pope Leo XIV is calling on the international community to renew its commitment to lasting peace and an end to nuclear weapons. 

“True peace demands the courageous laying down of weapons — especially those with the power to cause an indescribable catastrophe,” Pope Leo said in a letter addressed to Bishop Alexis M. Shirahama of Hiroshima. “Nuclear arms offend our shared humanity and also betray the dignity of creation, whose harmony we are called to safeguard.”

The apostolic nuncio to Japan, Archbishop Francisco Escalante Molina, read the Holy Father’s message during a Mass in Hiroshima, according to Vatican News.

“Though many years have passed, the two cities [Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bombed on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945] remain living reminders of the profound horrors wrought by nuclear weapons,” the Holy Father reflected. “Their streets, schools, and homes still bear scars — both visible and spiritual — from that fateful August of 1945.”

Referencing the phrase “war is always a defeat for humanity,” coined by his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo further stated that “in our time of mounting global tensions and conflicts,” the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should “urge us to reject the illusion of security founded on mutually assured destruction.” 

“It is thus my prayer that this solemn anniversary will serve as a call to the international community to renew its commitment to pursuing lasting peace for our whole human family,” the Holy Father concluded.

In a similar message for the landmark anniversary, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, called on the international community to renew its commitment to lasting global peace.

“As we mark this doleful anniversary, we recognize the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons and their proliferation,” said Broglio, who is also head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. 

“We must renew our efforts to work for the conversion of heart required for a global commitment to lasting peace, and thus the elimination of nuclear weapons,” he said, adding: “This week, let us prayerfully remember the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and urge the United States and the international community to work diligently for nuclear disarmament around the world.”

Eighty years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, several U.S. Catholic cardinals and archbishops are visiting Japan as part of a pilgrimage coordinated by the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons.

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago; Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C.; Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle; and Archbishop John C. Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, are heading the delegation, which includes staff and students from several U.S. and Japanese universities. 

The five-day visit kicked off Aug. 5 with a panel discussion at the World Peace Memorial Cathedral in Hiroshima. On Aug. 10, the pilgrimage will conclude with an ecumenical dialogue and academic symposium at Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki.