St. Callistus Roman Catholic Church

Pope Francis greets His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Wales at the canonization of St. John Henry Newman at the Vatican on Oct. 13, 2019. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Mar 18, 2025 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom will make a state visit to the Holy See next month, with plans to hold an audience with Pope Francis on April 8.

The English royalty will be in Italy from April 7–10, with the first part of the visit being focused on the Vatican and participation in the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, according to a program released by Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.

The Vatican has not commented on a potential meeting between King Charles and Pope Francis, whose schedule has been suspended while he is recovering from double pneumonia in Gemelli Hospital. Medical staff have declined to give any estimates on a date for the pontiff’s potential discharge, with his stay now having extended over one month.

In addition to their expected meeting with Pope Francis, the king and queen will attend an ecumenical service on the theme of “Care for Creation” in the Sistine Chapel, Buckingham Palace said March 18.

For the first time, the king will also visit the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which, the palace said, had a particular link to English kings before the Reformation.

Members of the Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and the Choir of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, will perform at the basilica and during the service in the Sistine Chapel.

King Charles III will also attend a reception with seminarians from Britain and across the commonwealth, while Queen Camilla will meet with Catholic religious women from the International Union of Superiors General (IUSG) who work to prevent human trafficking and sexual violence against women.

On April 9, the monarchs will make a state visit to Italy, with the program including several ceremonial engagements in addition to meetings with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

King Charles III will be the first British monarch to address a joint session of the Italian Parliament. He and the queen will also attend a state banquet and lay a wreath at the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” a war memorial located at the Altar of the Fatherland.

The Italian Air Force’s aerobatic team, “Frecce Tricolori,” and the Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the “Red Arrows,” will also do a joint flyover over the city of Rome to mark the two countries’ common defense interests as NATO allies.

The last day of the trip will be devoted to a visit to Ravenna, a city in the northeastern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, where a festival on April 10 will celebrate the area’s traditional produce and cuisine.

While in Ravenna, the king and queen will attend a reception to mark the 80th anniversary of the province’s liberation from Nazi occupation by Allied Forces on April 10, 1945.

null / Credit: Vinokurov Kirill/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 18, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Though Congress extended the visa program used by religious sisters ahead of its deadline last Friday evening, they and other “non-minister religious workers” still face unprecedented challenges in immigrating or remaining in the U.S. to serve their communities.

Concern for the future of the visa program used by nuns and religious workers to immigrate to the U.S. grew earlier this month, as extension of the program hinged on whether a deeply divided Congress would pass its appropriations bill.

Since Congress passed the bill late last Friday, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown, the “sunset date” assigned to the non-minister visa program has been extended another year, thereby allowing workers in this category to begin or continue the process of immigrating to the U.S.

However, as Miguel Naranjo, director of religious immigration services at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), explained to CNA, the employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) visa category, which contains the Religious Worker Residence Program, is experiencing an unprecedented “backlog.”

“The process to obtain permanent residence status, to get the permanent residency, which a couple of years ago could probably be done somewhere between 12 to 24 months, now is going to take significantly longer,” he told CNA in an interview. 

The EB-4 “special immigrant” category can distribute up to 7.1% of all available immigration visas, the second-lowest of any category, and contains not only programs for religious workers but also individuals such as former employees of the U.S. government overseas, broadcasters, and unaccompanied minors. 

“There’s a huge demand in the EB-4 category,” Naranjo continued. “The irony of this is that the group that’s really in the queue really applying is unaccompanied minors, so juvenile immigrants.” 

Naranjo said religious workers had not been previously affected by the surge in unaccompanied minors until the past year and a half, after the State Department designated the whole category as “subject to backlog” due to the sheer rise in demand across the category. 

Furthermore, the State Department announced late last month that it has distributed all available visas in the EB-4 category for the fiscal year and will not issue any more until Oct. 1. 

Essentially, according to Naranjo, the “good news” is that religious sisters and others in this category can “certainly start the process” of applying for permanent residence. The issue is that the process could exceed the five years they have on their Religious Worker (R1) temporary visa through which they are able to enter the U.S.

“Several years ago, a religious worker could usually, while they’re here in R1 status, be able to get their permanent residency during that period, right before their five years ran out,” Naranjo said. “But now, because of this backlog, what’s happening is five years is not enough, and religious workers don’t have many good options to remain in the United States beyond their five-year stay, so many religious workers are having to leave.” 

Religious sisters and other non-minister religious workers who are unable to obtain their visas within five years have to leave the U.S. for at least one year before they are able to return — though they are able to continue their permanent residence application process in the meantime.

“It can be very disruptive to the communities they serve,” Naranjo reflected. “Religious workers are involved in all kinds of different ministries, social ministries, working with the elderly, working with those in need, working with children.” Ultimately, he said, churches will be increasingly forced to find replacements for religious workers. 

The only way for this problem to get fixed, according to Naranjo, is if Congress votes to increase the percentage of visas in the EB-4 category.

Volunteers at a Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center help Central American refugees prepare to take a bus to go stay with U.S. family on Aug. 17, 2017, in McAllen, Texas. / Credit: Vic Hinterlang/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 18, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).

The Trump administration has paid out $47 million in grants to a Texas Catholic Charities group amid ongoing lawsuits over frozen federal funds.

Catholic Charities Fort Worth earlier this month sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over the freezing of tens of millions of dollars in federal grants for refugee services in the state.

The federal government had said last week that it was conducting a “program integrity review” of Catholic Charities Fort Worth. On Friday the government said the review had been completed.

In a Monday “joint status report,” both the charity group and the federal government said Catholic Charities Fort Worth had filed $47,426,180.17 in “advance payment requests.” The government authorized the payments on Monday, the filing said.

Catholic Charities Fort Worth confirmed in the filing that the deposit had been posted in its account. On Monday the charity group requested nearly $270,000 more in funds, the filing said.

A further joint status report will be filed on Wednesday, according to the document.

On its website, Catholic Charities Fort Worth says it offers legal defense for immigrants facing removal from the U.S. as well as application assistance and consultations.

The Catholic charity group’s blocked funds were among the billions of dollars frozen by broad executive orders issued by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office in January.

The funding freeze touched off a series of lawsuits from nonprofits and aid groups that say the White House engaged in an overreach of its executive power in ending large amounts of federal payouts.

The funding freezes have affected numerous Catholic groups. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sued the Trump administration in February over what the bishops said was an unlawful suspension of funding for refugee programs in the United States.

The State Department earlier this month canceled two multimillion-dollar refugee resettlement contracts with the USCCB, directing the bishops to “stop all work on the program[s] and not incur any new costs” and “cancel as many outstanding obligations as possible.”

The bishops have continued to contest the matter in federal court.

Multiple Catholic charity groups, meanwhile, have announced layoffs related to the funding freezes.

Bishop-elect Joseph A. Williams. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 18, 2025 / 11:35 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Dennis Sullivan from the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, appointing Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Williams as his successor. 

Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre made the announcement on March 17 in Washington, D.C., according to a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Diocese of Camden spans 62 parishes and serves roughly 305,000 Catholics. 

Formerly the auxiliary bishop of New York, Sullivan was appointed to lead the Diocese of Camden as its eighth bishop in 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI. At the time, Cardinal Timothy Dolan praised Sullivan as “one of the finest bishops I know,” describing him as “an invaluable help” and “my right hand.” 

The Diocese of Camden said Sullivan had submitted his letter of resignation to the pope on his 75th birthday on March 17, 2020. Pope Francis notified the bishop then that his resignation was accepted on Monday, Sullivan’s 80th birthday.

Williams was born in Minneapolis on May 2, 1974, as the third of nine children. He studied at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, where he discerned a vocation to the priesthood.

He began his priestly training at the Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota in 1998, earning a master’s of divinity there.

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis at the age of 28 on May 28, 2002, by Archbishop Harry Flynn. His brother, Father Peter Williams, was also ordained a priest in the archdiocese in 2004. 

Williams took on an active role in ministry to Latino and Spanish-speaking Catholics while serving at the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Divine Mercy Parish in Faribault. He then went on to serve the parishes of St. Mathias in Hampton and St. Mary in New Trier.

He was appointed pastor of St. Stephen in 2008, taking on responsibility for Holy Rosary Parish in 2020. He was named episcopal vicar for Hispanic ministry in 2018. 

Williams was ordained a bishop on Jan. 25, 2022, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. He chose “Misericordiam Volo” as his episcopal motto, meaning “I desire mercy” (Mt 9:13). 

He previously served as auxiliary bishop in Saint Paul and Minneapolis until 2022, after which he was named as Sullivan’s coadjutor on May 21, 2024.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, during an interview at the Vatican on Dec. 11, 2024. / Credit: EWTN News

Vatican City, Mar 18, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, asked bishops to avoid promoting fundraising events that would duplicate the Pontifical Collection for the Holy Land taken up on Good Friday. 

“Please, avoid our churches promoting similar collections for this same purpose, so that the meaning and effectiveness of your charity, which responds to the universal initiative of the successor of Peter, the bishop of Rome, are not undercut,” the cardinal stated in a letter released Monday.

“Everything you have collected can be sent directly to this dicastery by the commissariats of the Holy Land in your country,” he added in the letter, which was also signed by the secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, Archbishop Michel Jalakh.

The goal of the annual collection is to raise funds to sustain the holy sites and the charitable works carried out there. Ultimately, it aims to alleviate the suffering and needs of those Christians who, despite the difficulties, remain in the Holy Land.

“I feel a great responsibility to address the Catholic bishops, in the name of the Holy Father, to convey to you the call of the Church in response to the cry of those who are suffering terribly,” wrote Gugerotti, who also said he is “encouraged” by the recent truce between Israel and Hamas.

The prelate noted that with the truce there are no new explosions and unconsolable anguish is not being perpetuated. 

The cardinal said the ceasefire, which has allowed the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the West Bank, is “fragile” and “will not suffice to resolve the problems” and “extinguish hatred.”

This year’s collection is indispensable

Gugerotti pointed out that this year the collection has become an “essential resource,” especially after the pandemic, which caused the “almost complete interruption of pilgrimages” and led to many Christians leaving the Holy Land.

“If we want to strengthen the Holy Land and ensure living contact with the holy places, it is necessary to sustain the Christian communities that, in their diversity, offer perennial praise to God-with-us, also in our name. But for this to be realized, we absolutely need the generous gift of your communities,” he urged.

The prelate reiterated that those living in the Holy Land, “beginning with the children, have the right to live in peace” and to once again “have homes and schools, to play together, without the fear of seeing the satanic smile of death again.”

“For us Christians, the holy places have a particular value: They are the incarnation of the Incarnation. They have been protected since the beginning by Christian communities, in the variety of their diverse traditions, and for centuries the Friars Minor of the Custody have cared for them with admirable fidelity,” he pointed out.

After more than a year of conflict, Gugerotti lamented “we have seen tears, despair, and destruction everywhere.”

The prelate said his hope is that “the triumph of inflicted death will not become an eternal victory” but that “the hope will return to us of seeing the Risen One, Jesus Christ Our Lord, who, precisely on that land, showed, alive, the wounds of his passion.”

The cardinal also cited the letter Pope Francis addressed to the Catholics of the Middle East on Oct. 7, 2024, encouraging them not to “let yourselves be engulfed by the darkness that surrounds you. Planted in your sacred lands, become sprouts of hope, because the light of faith leads you to testify to love amid words of hatred, to encounter amid growing confrontation, to unity amid increasing hostility.”

For Gugerotti, helping them is a duty of all Catholics. “Immediately comes to mind our duty — and I use this term with trembling, but decisively — to hasten, as soon as possible in a concrete way, to help life be reborn.” 

“The Holy Land, the holy places, the holy people of God are your family, because they are the heritage of all of us. I ask you to consider the collection as one of your pastoral priorities: The survival of this precious presence of ours, which dates back directly to the time of Jesus, is at stake here,” he explained.

The cardinal praised the work of the Friars Minor of the Custody, who “care with admirable fidelity” for these holy places, and once again emphasized the need to financially support the Christian communities.

“I would like you, brother bishops, remembering the images of destruction and death that have constantly passed before your eyes in these times of a new Calvary, to become persuasive apostles of this commitment,” he said.

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

Andrew Peter (left), a seminarian, and Father Philip Ekweli (right) were abducted March 3, 2025, from a parish rectory in Nigeria’s Docese of Auchi. Andrew Peter was murdred, though Ekweli was released and is receiving medical attention. / Credit: Catholic Diocese of Auchi

ACI Africa, Mar 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A seminarian abducted on March 3 from a parish rectory in the Nigerian Diocese of Auchi was murdered by his abductors, an official of the diocese has confirmed. The priest he was abducted with has been released. 

In a statement shared with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, on March 15, the director of communication of the Auchi Diocese, Father Peter Egielewa, confirmed the safe release of Father Philip Ekweli at about 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, ending 10 days of captivity in the hands of his abductors.

“He is now receiving appropriate medical attention,” Egielewa said.

“Unfortunately, however, the 21-year-old major seminarian, Andrew Peter, who was kidnapped along with Father Ekweli, was gruesomely murdered by the abductors,” Egielewa’s statement continued. He expressed the Nigerian episcopal see’s “sincere condolences to the family members of Andrew Peter, praying God to grant them consolation and strength in this difficult time. May his soul rest in peace.”

Ekweli and Andrew Peter were kidnapped from the rectory of St. Peter Catholic Church Iviukhua-Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo state when gunmen attacked both the rectory and church, destroyed doors and windows, and led them into the surrounding forest.

In the March 14 statement, Egielewa said the local ordinary, Bishop Gabriel Ghiakhomo Dunia, expressed “gratitude to all for the prayers and moral support received while Father Ekweli and the seminarian were held in captivity.”

Ghiakhomo called on the Nigerian state and federal government as well as the country’s security agencies to “stop the deteriorating security situation in Edo north in particular and other parts of Edo state, which has now become a safe haven for kidnappers, operating at will while the people feel helpless and abandoned.”  

The bishop further urged the government to “take proactive steps to deplore the necessary resources to Edo north to secure lives and property of the people. Life has been hell for our people in recent times.”

“People are not safe on the roads, in their farms, and even in their homes,” he said. “This is unacceptable when there are elected officials whose duty it is to protect the people.” 

Ghiakhomo expressed gratitude to the Edo state government for its “sincere efforts in seeing the victims rescued” but expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the police in particular in the rescue efforts, urging them to put in place better measures to rescue kidnapped victims rather than leave the entire rescue efforts solely in the hands of family, friends, and acquaintances of kidnapped victims.

In the March 14 statement, Egielewa lamented that “in the last 10 years, Auchi Diocese has had six of her priests kidnapped, tortured, and released, three attacked but escaped, and one (Father Christopher Odia) brutally murdered in 2022 and now seminarian Andrew Peter also murdered.”

“May the souls of seminarian Andrew Peter, Father Christopher Odia, and all those killed by kidnappers in Nigeria, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen,” he implored.

Insecurity is rife in Nigeria, where kidnappings, murder, and other forms of persecution against Christians remain rampant in many parts of the West African country, especially in the north.

On March 5, Father Sylvester Okechukwu of the Diocese of Kafanchan was murdered a day after his abduction on March 4.

The latest abduction of Ekweli and the murder of Andrew Peter follows a series of other kidnappings that have targeted Catholic priests in Africa’s most populous nation.

On Feb. 6, Father Cornelius Manzak Damulak, a member of the clergy of the Diocese of Shendam and a student at Veritas University Abuja in Nigeria, was abducted and later escaped from captivity. 

Later, on Feb. 19, Father Moses Gyang Jah of St. Mary Maijuju Parish of Shendam Diocese was abducted alongside his niece and the parish council chairman, Nyam Ajiji. Ajiji was reportedly killed; Jah and his niece are yet to be freed.

On Feb. 22, Father Matthew David Dutsemi and Father Abraham Saummam were abducted from the Diocese of Yola. They were later released.

Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009, when Boko Haram insurgency began with the aim of turning the country into an Islamic state.

Catholic bishops in the country, Africa’s most populous nation, have continually challenged the government to prioritize the security of its citizens.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem. / Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Mar 18, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On March 18, the Catholic Church honors St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century bishop and doctor of the Church whose writings are still regarded as masterful expressions of the Christian faith.

St. Cyril is also remembered for his exhaustive biblical knowledge and his endurance in the face of misunderstanding and opposition. Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, who likewise celebrate him as a saint on March 18, also remember him on May 7 — the date of a miraculous apparition said to have occurred soon after his consecration as a bishop.

Cyril was most likely born in Jerusalem around the year 315, shortly after the legalization of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.

Although that legalization put a stop to many of the persecutions that threatened the Church for two centuries, it indirectly gave rise to a number of internal controversies — both in regard to theology and to the jurisdiction of bishops — in which Cyril would find himself involved.

Cyril received an excellent education in classical Greek literature as well as in the Bible. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem and succeeded him as bishop in 348.

During his early years as a bishop, most likely around 350, he delivered a series of lectures to new initiates of the Catholic Church. Twenty-four of the lectures have survived and are studied today.

In a 2007 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI praised the saint for providing an “integral” form of Christian instruction “involving body, soul, and spirit.” St. Cyril’s teaching, the pope said, “remains emblematic for the catechetical formation of Christians today.”

In 351, three years after Cyril became the bishop of Jerusalem, a large cross-shaped light appeared for several hours in the sky over the city — an event that many interpreted as a sign of the Church’s triumph over heresy. It could also, however, be understood as a sign of the suffering the new bishop would undergo in leading his flock.

Unlike many other Eastern bishops and priests of the fourth century, Cyril did not allow his classical learning to lead him away from believing in the full humanity and divinity of Christ.

However, the man who consecrated Cyril as a bishop, Archbishop Acacius of Caesarea, was an ally of the Arians, who claimed that Jesus was a creature and not God. Because of his connection to the archbishop, Cyril himself was unjustly suspected of heresy by many of his brother bishops.

But he also found himself at odds with Acacius, who claimed to have jurisdiction over the birthplace of the Church. Altogether, these disputes led to Cyril being exiled from Jerusalem three times in the course of 20 years, with his longest exile lasting more than a decade.

Eventually, however, the Eastern bishops came to acknowledge Cyril’s orthodoxy and legitimacy as a bishop — both of which they confirmed in a letter to the pope in Rome, in which they also expressed their admiration of his pastoral efforts.

In 381, St. Cyril participated in the Second Ecumenical Council, which condemned two different forms of Arianism and added statements about the Holy Spirit to the Nicene Creed of 325.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem died in 387 and was named a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1883.

This story was first published in March 2011 and has been updated.

Daiana Guspero and Massimiliano Varrese dance tango in the plaza outside Gemelli Hospital on March 16, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Daiana Guspero

Rome Newsroom, Mar 17, 2025 / 21:00 pm (CNA).

A group of tango enthusiasts, the emblematic dance of Pope Francis’ homeland, gathered in the plaza in front of Gemelli Hospital on Sunday to express their support and closeness to the Holy Father through dance.

The melody of the bandoneon, the leading instrument in tango, resonated all the way to the 10th floor of the hospital, where the pope has been hospitalized for over a month. The initiative, dubbed “prayer tango,“ was a show of solidarity from Italy’s “tango community.“

Argentine dancer Daiana Guspero was responsible for promoting the event. In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Guspero shared the details of the moving gesture, performed March 16 in front of the statue of St. John Paul II, where many faithful have gathered to pray for Pope Francis.

“I am a true believer and I was sure that with our energy, dancing the tango and praying for him, it would reach him in some way. It was the least I could do for him, and I felt the need to do it, especially knowing that he loves tango, that he danced it when he was young, and that he listened to it at the Vatican,” the Argentine dancer explained.

According to the dancer, fans from different parts of Italy, such as Catania and Sicily, came to the gathering. “I danced with Massimiliano Varrese, an Italian actor with whom I’m also studying. He’s also a believer, and he immediately joined in to convey all our love to the pope,” Guspero added.

Although the initial idea was “a silent dance,” Mariano Navone, a dancer and musician who played the bandoneon live, eventually joined in. “Seeing that the pope was feeling better, we thought maybe he could come over to the window when he heard it. But, if I’m not mistaken, he was informed that we were dancing and praying for him,” he said.

Guspero has been promoting tango in Italy for 13 years and currently has three academies, the Zotto Tango Academy, located in Milan, Venice, and Verona.

She fondly remembers when she was able to greet Pope Francis during an audience at the Vatican in 2018. “I had the honor and privilege of dancing for him, and the truth is [I experienced] a beautiful emotion that I will never forget,” she told ACI Prensa.

“I remember coming up to him and saying, ‘Holy Father, how I would like to give you a tango hug!’ To which he replied, ‘And how I would like to dance the tango with you,’” Guspero recalled with a laugh, stating that the brief exchange was “one of the greatest thrills” of her life. 

In addition, back in 2014 nearly 3,000 dancers congratulated Pope Francis on his 78th birthday with a massive tango performance in St. Peter’s Square.

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

null / Credit: Gil C/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 17, 2025 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Police have arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of heavily vandalizing and defacing the interior of a Catholic parish in Wichita, Kansas, over the weekend. 

According to the Wichita Police Department, officers responded to a reported burglary at St. Patrick Parish on the morning of March 15. Once inside, the officers discovered extensive vandalism including damage to statues, candles, and glass, and hate speech graffitied on the walls. In addition, an American flag was burned.

St. Patrick’s, which includes a parish school, is located in north-central Wichita and predominantly serves the Latino community. Authorities said that Wichita Police Department investigators launched a full-scale investigation alongside the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). 

At approximately 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, officers located and arrested the suspected perpetrator, whom they described as being from Saline County, about 100 miles north of Wichita. The man, who has not been publicly identified, has been booked into the Sedgwick County jail on charges of burglary, criminal desecration, and criminal damage to property. 

The Kansas Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, posted photos on social media of the “hate crime scene.” One of the destroyed statues appeared to be an image of the parish’s patron, St. Patrick. 

“After forcing their way inside, statues were destroyed, glass smashed, and other extensive damage exacted upon this sacred space,” the conference wrote. “A Satanic website was scrawled on a wall. This is the face of evil.” 

Despite having to move Masses to the school gym over the weekend, the parish was still able to hold its St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday to honor its namesake saint. 

Wichita Bishop Carl Kemme told CNA in an emailed statement that he “received the news of the extensive vandalism of St. Patrick’s Church in Wichita with great sadness and distress.”

“It is always distressing when villains target houses of worship for their evil acts. Even though the vandalism was severe, I was relieved to learn that the Blessed Sacrament was not stolen and that the altar was not desecrated,” the bishop said.

Kemme invited everyone to keep the parish’s priests and parishioners in their prayers as they work to return the church “to good order for Mass and the sacraments.”

The St. Patrick’s vandalism comes amid considerable controversy in Kansas over a Satanist-organized “black mass” — a blasphemous mockery of the Catholic Mass — slated to take place March 28 at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. A Catholic-led petition asking Gov. Laura Kelly to shut down the event has attracted nearly 40,000 signatures.

Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, told CNA on Monday that there is presently no evidence that the vandalism incident in Wichita is in any way connected to the Satanic worship ritual planned for March 28. An address for a Satanic website was left behind at St. Patrick’s, but it does not refer to the same group planning to come to Topeka, he said.

Weber previously told CNA that the organizer of the group planning the “black mass,” Michael Stewart, has been telephoning the Catholic Conference for the purpose of “taunting me and the bishops,” even texting Weber personally to harass him and boast of his intention to “kill Jesus.”

Stewart gave an interview to local news last week in which he described the “mass” as an act of protest against authority and said the group plans to hold its ritual inside the capitol building despite Kelly decreeing they must remain outdoors. He also said the group plans to blasphemously parody the Stations of the Cross.

On Monday, “EWTN News Nightly” White House correspondent Owen Jensen asked President Donald Trump about the Wichita vandalism during a visit to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Jensen asked: “A Catholic church in Wichita, Kansas, over the weekend was vandalized, statues destroyed, glass smashed, graffiti all over the place. Church officials in Kansas call it a hate crime. I know you signed an [executive order] eradicating anti-Christian bias, but sir, what more can the White House do to protect places of worship like St Patrick’s Church in Wichita, Kansas?”

Trump responded: “Well, we’re going to take a look. I love Wichita. You know, I got big votes there. We won that state by a lot. We’ll take a look at that. When did this happen?”

“This happened over the weekend, sir. Again, statues destroyed...” Jensen said.

“Terrible. I think it’s a terrible thing. And this was a Catholic church?” Trump responded.

Jensen continued: “Yes, St. Patrick’s ...”

Trump replied: “OK, I’m going to take a look at it.”

This story was updated on Tuesday, March 18, at 2:23 p.m. with the statement from Wichita Bishop Carl Kemme and President Donald Trump's comments.

Cathedral of Managua, Nicaragua. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Lima Newsroom, Mar 17, 2025 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his “co-president” and wife, Rosario Murillo, in Nicaragua continues to persecute the Catholic Church and other Christian communities. The regime is now keeping Catholic priests under surveillance, checking their cellphones, and demanding weekly reports on their activities in addition to restricting their freedom of movement.

The Nicaraguan newspaper Mosaico CSI reported that “for the priests who remain in Nicaragua, homilies must be entirely theological. They cannot speak on topics related to the Church’s social doctrine or social criticism.”

According to the news outlet, priests “receive frequent visits from police officers who check their cellphones to see if they are communicating with bishops and priests outside the country or with journalists.”

222 violations of religious freedom

Earlier this month, the international Christian organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) published a report describing the dictatorship’s measures against religious leaders, including the requirement to submit weekly reports to the police, share details of their planning, and prohibit them from leaving their municipality without government authorization.

The CSW report also denounced the ban on religious processions and marches as well as “overt and covert government surveillance.”

The international organization warned that “preaching about unity or justice or praying for imprisoned religious leaders or even for the general situation in the country, for example, can be considered criticism of the government and classified as a crime.”

The document reports 222 violations of religious freedom during the period of Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2024, in addition to 46 cases of arbitrary detentions of religious leaders, such as Catholic laywomen Carmen María Sáenz Martínez and Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda, who “have been held incommunicado without their families having been provided with any proof that they are alive.”

Evangelical pastor imprisoned

CSW also referred to the case of evangelical pastor Efrén Antonio Vílchez López, who worked with more than 100 Christian churches and was beaten and imprisoned in 2022 for publicly criticizing the dictatorship’s violence.

Now incarcerated, he is not allowed any books, let alone a Bible, and “since August 2024, he has only been provided with a small container of water per day. He has been deprived of natural light and fresh air, as he is rarely allowed out into the prison yard.” Furthermore, he is not given the food and medicine people bring to him at the prison.

Infiltration and informants

The CSW report also noted that Protestants and Catholics “frequently reported infiltration and the use of informants in congregations of all types to monitor and report on the content of sermons, prayers, and other activities, which indicates that the government views religious or faith communities with increasing suspicion and actively and systematically keeps them under surveillance.”

Police have also demanded that some topics — such as political prisoners, Israel, and the general situation in Nicaragua — not be mentioned in public as well as that the blue-and-white color combination of the national flag not be used.

13-year-old girl questioned on the way to church

Mosaico CSI reported in January on the case of “Angélica” — a fictitious name to ensure the 13-year-old’s safety — who was questioned by police on her way to church in northern Nicaragua.

A police officer saw her on the street and asked her several questions, such as why she was going to church “so much.” The girl replied “I’m just going to Mass!” and they let her continue on her way.

“Nothing went any further, and they haven’t bothered her again, but yes, the police continue to monitor all types of activity in the churches, intimidating everyone, even children,” said “Rosa,” a catechist who learned about what happened to Angélica.

CSW calls on dictatorship to reverse course

The CSW report said the Nicaraguan dictatorship needs to uphold human rights by releasing imprisoned religious leaders and political prisoners and restore Nicaraguan citizenship to all those whose citizenship was arbitrarily revoked.

It also calls on the government to restore the legal personhood of the more than 5,000 “civil society organizations that have been arbitrarily outlawed” and to unfreeze the bank accounts of universities, nongovernmental organizations, and religious groups throughout the country.

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