ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, SLATERSVILLE RI

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on July 15, 2025. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jul 17, 2025 / 15:58 pm (CNA).

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) delivered a speech on the Senate floor on July 16 denouncing cuts to federal funding of faith-based organizations that play critical roles in refugee resettlement and international humanitarian aid. 

The Rescissions Act of 2025, pushed by both President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, proposes $9.4 billion in cuts to previously appropriated federal funding, $800 million of which supports faith-based organizations like Catholic Relief Services (CRS) as well as World Vision, an evangelical organization, the two largest faith-based organizations that help resettle legal immigrants.

The rescissions bill, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives 214-212 on June 12 and passed in an amended form in the Senate on July 17, threatens to dismantle funding for faith-based groups, including the U.S. bishop-supported CRS, which oversees one of the largest refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. 

Kaine, a Catholic and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who opposes the cuts, on Wednesday called them an “attack on the religious organizations so that they cannot do the work that their faith in their Creator compels them to do.”

During the Senate’s consideration of the measure on July 16, Kaine unsuccessfully introduced a motion to recommit the bill to the Senate Committee on Appropriations with instructions to preserve funding for faith-based organizations involved in refugee resettlement and international assistance. The motion was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 48-51.

Kaine, the former governor of Virginia, had urged the Senate to preserve funding for the faith-based groups, many of which have already laid off employees.

According to Kaine, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society have fired staff, and the Episcopal Church has closed its resettlement program completely.

World Relief has warned that the cuts undermine protections for persecuted Christians, Kaine said.

While he said he was “not surprised” that Trump had supported the funding cuts, Kaine expressed dismay at the cuts’ support among Republicans, many of whom “go to churches just like me and hear sermons preached about the Good Samaritan, just like I do every Sunday.”

The senator said seven of the ten organizations resettling refugees in the U.S. are faith-based, with the CRS leading efforts to integrate legal immigrants, such as Afghan allies and Congolese families, into American communities. 

In his speech Wednesday, Kaine spoke about his home parish, St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Richmond, Virginia, which was founded by Italian and German immigrants after World War I.

He said those immigrants chose to honor St. Elizabeth because she took bread to the poor, a symbol of serving those in need.

Kaine’s parish, which he said he has attended for 40 years, now has a large community of Congolese refugees settled by CRS.

“My church looks … different in some ways than when it was founded 100 years ago,” Kaine said, “but in other ways it’s exactly the same—a haven for … legal immigrants” who have “come to a place where they feel loved and cared for and safe and welcome.”

He highlighted the impact of the proposed funding cuts on his parish, where Congolese families fear for relatives still in refugee camps. 

“These families come to me after Mass, frightened about what these cuts mean,” he said.

The Senate passed a version of the measure on July 17 incorporating an amendment that preserved $400 million to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The amendment also protected some country-specific grants.

Because it was amended, the bill was sent back to the House. If Congress fails to pass the Rescissions Act by midnight on July 18, the White House must release the $9 billion in funds, including $7.9 billion in foreign aid cuts affecting faith-based organizations, to be spent as originally appropriated.

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia. / Credit: Holy See Mission to the United Nations

Vatican City, Jul 17, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

The permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, participated in this week’s ‘High-Level Political Forum’ with two speeches at UN headquarters in New York.

The July 13-15 event focused on the UN’s sustainable development goals, according to Vatican News. In particular, Caccia addressed Goal 3, which seeks to guarantee access to healthcare, and Goal 5, on "gender equality and empowering women."

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an action plan approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. It is structured around 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets to be achieved within a 15-year period.

Among these goals are "No poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, affordable and clean energy, gender equality, and reduced inequalities." While many of these goals enjoy broad Catholic support, some also engender controversy in aspects which conflict with the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Access to basic medical care

In his first address, Caccia denounced inequalities in access to medical services and highlighted the need to raise awareness about mental health, the source of many problems that are often hidden.

"These inequalities are evident in the millions of people who still lack access to basic medical care, in the stagnant maternal mortality rates, and in the silent suffering of those suffering from untreated mental illness," he stated.

He also stressed that health should not be understood solely as "the absence of illness" and reiterated the right to health for all people, proposing the implementation of "integrated policies" that recognize the link between health and other dimensions such as poverty and education.

In this regard, he urged the protection of the most vulnerable, especially children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and victims of war.

The importance of the family

During his second address, the permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN referred to the Dignitas Infinita declaration and recalled that true equality between men and women requires conditions that promote "the integral development of women," such as healthcare, decent work, and quality education.

Caccia also rejected ideological agendas and denounced that "too often, the development efforts of the international community treat gender equality primarily as a matter of individual autonomy, divorced from relationships and responsibilities."

He advocated for a change in perspective that values "the complementarity between men and women," emphasizing the importance of families as a "space for relationships."

"In tandem with promoting equality between women and men, measures must be taken to support and protect families, motherhood, and fatherhood," he emphasized.

The Vatican official also denounced the ecological debt that is suffocating a large portion of the least developed African countries; and highlighted that "the persistent and widespread reality of poverty continues to afflict millions of people, denying them material well-being and undermining their God-given dignity, while stifling their integral human development."

Therefore, he emphasized that poverty must remain "the central and urgent priority of the international community."

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

Father Gabriel Romanelli with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, celebrating Christmas Mass at Holy Family Parish in Gaza, in December 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Vatican City, Jul 17, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Holy Family Church in Gaza was hit Thursday amid a new wave of Israeli bombings, leaving several people dead and injured, including the church’s pastor, Gabriel Romanelli, a native of Argentina.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed the incident in an official statement. The attack left three dead, according to Caritas Jerusalem.

One of the victims was Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh, 60, the parish's maintenance manager who was in the courtyard at the time of the explosion. The other two fatalities were Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, an 84-year-old woman, and Najwa Abu Daoud, 70, who were receiving psychological care at the time inside the tent of Caritas' psycho-social support project.

According to Avvenire, the Italian Bishops’ Conference newspaper, Romanelli suffered injuries to his leg and was hospitalized, although his condition is not reported as critical. In addition to the Argentine priest from the Institute of the Incarnate Word, eight other people were injured and rushed to Al Mamadami Hospital, just one kilometer (.62 miles) from the church.

The parish building, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, was converted at the beginning of the war into a makeshift shelter where more than 500 people now live. The majority are Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Catholics, but it also serves as a refuge for more than 50 Muslim children with disabilities and their families.

For weeks, the 541 people sheltering in the parish complex have endured the daily roar of bombs falling in the surrounding area, especially in the residential neighborhood of al-Zaytun in Gaza City.

Despite the insecurity, the priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) has remained in Gaza accompanying the local Catholic community in the midst of the conflict. In 2023 (when the Israel-Hamas war started) he was evacuated to Jerusalem, but decided to return in a gesture that demonstrates his pastoral commitment and spiritual resilience.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the incident. “The Israeli attacks on Gaza also hit the Holy Family church,” she wrote on X. “The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such deportment,” she added. 

This is not the first time that Holy Family parish, which has been a location for humanitarian assistance since the start of the war in October 2023, has been attacked. In December of that same year, two women were killed by an Israeli sniper inside the compound.

In addition, seven people were injured during the shooting that hit several Gazans. On that occasion, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the "cold-blooded" attack on the perimeter of the parish, where there were "no combatants."

This latest attack on a place of worship raises new concerns about the situation of civilians and religious communities trapped in the conflict. The Catholic Church in the Holy Land has repeatedly called for respect for sacred sites and the protection of the civilian population, regardless of faith.

A United Nations delegation made a surprise visit to the parish on July 1, the only Latin-rite Catholic church in Gaza, which houses hundreds of people displaced by the war.

According to Servizio Informazione Religiosa (SIR), the news agency of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, representatives of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) visited the church to assess the current situation there.

The Catholic enclave had previously received special attention from the late Pope Francis, who called Father Romanelli every day. His last call to the parish was two days before his death, on April 21.

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

Bishop Joseph Mary Kizito, the Liaison Bishop for the SACBC Migrants and Refugees Office. / Credit: SACBC

ACI Africa, Jul 17, 2025 / 14:28 pm (CNA).

Bishop Joseph Mary Kizito of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) said on July 15 that South Africa’s health sector has been brought to its knees not by foreign nationals, but by the recent suspension of most U.S. foreign aid.

In an interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, the bishop said that many locals protesting against migrants “do not understand world politics” and are unaware of the effects of directives from the U.S. government. That is the reason they have turned against migrants and refugees, he said.

Kizito, the liaison for the SACBC's Migrants and Refugees Department, denounced ongoing xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in some parts of the country, noting that they are not to blame for the shortage of medication in the country’s health facilities.

“It is true that there is a lack of medication in the hospitals. But it's not because the foreigners have caused that; it is the economic situation we have found ourselves in. That is why we do not have a lot of money in the clinics,” Kizito said.

He added: “I think this situation has also been caused by the current international withdrawal of funding by President Trump of America. It has affected many economic changes in the departments, especially health and education.”

“I have seen HIV and TB projects here closing down. A lot of Trump money for HIV and TB is no longer there,” he said. “People are going to get a shortage of medication. And now, they are turning on foreigners, saying that it is they who are taking all their medications; but they don't know the causes of the shortage. They don't know the politics of the world.”

The Ugandan bishop, who leads South Africa’s Diocese of Aliwal, said he finds it hard to believe that foreigners are causing a strain on the country’s health system: “It is not true that all over the country, foreigners are more than the local people. That's not true.”

Recent protests, notably in Johannesburg’s Rosettenville suburb, have seen locals establish barricades demanding that undocumented migrants seek private medical care.

For weeks, residents of Rosettenville have also been reportedly calling for the deportation of illegal immigrants in South Africa, saying that they want South Africans to be prioritized for state services. 

SACBC members have denounced the attacks, describing the move to exclude foreign nationals in South Africa from health care as “a morally reprehensible” behavior that they say risks undermining the country’s attempts to strengthen social cohesion.

Kizito told ACI Africa that “the situation in Zimbabwe is not improving, DRC is not improving. Same with Lesotho and many other countries whose nationals are here in South Africa. We do not see the issue of migrants and refugees stopping. They are only going to increase.”

“We are still addressing this issue because the systems are very difficult to penetrate. There is a lot of miscommunication between the government and the agents on the ground,” he said.

Kizito challenged authorities in South Africa to start probing the reasons that there are so many undocumented migrants in the country. He highlighted poor border management as one of the biggest contributors to the increase, faulting law enforcement for failing to control the country’s borders.

“Our borders are either too big or the resources are not enough. And so, a lot of people come into the country illegally,” he explained, adding that corrupt officials at the borders do not help the situation.

He bemoaned the growing woes of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and those labelled “stateless” in South Africa, noting that delays in documentation are forcing foreign priests to leave the country.

He said that he had interacted with priests who were forced to go back to their home countries after attempts to renew their visas are delayed.

“Many priests have left the country because they have failed to secure their documents that show that they are not living here illegally,” the bishop said.

“These are clergy, men of God who want to renew their visas but they have failed. I know about three who have left. One left this week. They say that they cannot be here illegally. They have tried everything possible to complete their applications but nothing is working.”

Kizito said that the growing trend of priests leaving South Africa is not good for the country, which already has a shortage of priests.

He pleaded with South Africa’s department of Home Affairs and other authorities “to get their systems working” to reduce delays in documentation processes.

“The system is stuck. They always say they have a huge backlog. But for how long?" he asked, adding, “We appeal to the government. We appeal to the department of Home Affairs to make the system work. People genuinely want to renew their papers. But the office bureaucracies turn them down. People don't want to be in this country illegally.”

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

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday met with a U.S. ecumenical group, led by Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, encouraging them to “return to the roots of our faith” in their pilgrimage to Italy and Turkey. July 17, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Jul 17, 2025 / 12:31 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday met with a U.S. ecumenical group, led by Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, encouraging them to “return to the roots of our faith” in their pilgrimage to Italy and Turkey.    

Welcoming the group from his “native country” to his papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, located 15 miles southeast of Rome, the Holy Father said their visits to various holy sites in both countries are a “concrete way” of renewing their faith in the “Gospel handed down to us by the apostles.”

He said: “Your pilgrimage is one of the abundant fruits of the ecumenical movement aimed at restoring full unity among all Christ’s disciples in accordance with the Lord’s prayer at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, ‘that they may all be one.’”

Leo reiterated the importance of Christian unity — a key theme of his pontificate — during the meeting, saying Rome, Constantinople, and other episcopal sees “are not called to vie for primacy” but to pursue a path of “fraternal charity” through the Holy Spirit.

“It is significant that your pilgrimage is taking place this year, in which we celebrate one thousand seven hundred years of the Council of Nicaea,” he said. 

“The symbol of faith adopted by the assembled Fathers remains – together with the additions made at the Council of Constantinople in 381 – the common patrimony of all Christians, for many of whom the creed is an integral part of their liturgical celebrations,” he continued.

Pope Leo specially thanked Elpidophoros for leading the ecumenical group alongside Tobin, saying such “signs of sharing and fellowship” among Catholics and Orthodox should not be taken for granted.

“On December 7th, 1965, on the eve of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, my predecessor Saint Paul VI and the Patriarch, Athenagoras signed a Joint Declaration removing from memory and the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication that followed the events of the year 1054,” he said.

“Before then, a pilgrimage like your own would probably not even have been possible,” he added. 

The pope asked both religious leaders to bring his greetings and “an embrace of peace” to Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who attended his May 18 inauguration Mass, when in Turkey to continue their pilgrimage. 

While encouraging the U.S. delegation to be “witnesses and bearers of hope” during the 2025 Jubilee Year, Leo asked pilgrims to look forward to 2033, when Christians will commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of “the redemption won by the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

“Spiritually, all of us need to return to Jerusalem, the City of Peace, where Peter, Andrew and all the Apostles, after the days of the Lord’s passion and resurrection, received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and from there bore witness to Christ to the ends of the earth,” he said.

Before concluding the audience, the Holy Father expressed his hope to meet the group again “in a few months” for an “ecumenical commemoration” to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. 

He did not specify if he would or would not undertake an apostolic journey to Turkey this year to celebrate the occasion in İznik, modern day Nicaea, during the meeting.

A view of the damage to the Holy Family church in Gaza City following an Israeli strike on the church, in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on July 17, 2025. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church killed two and injured several people on July 17, including the parish priest, as well as causing damage to the building. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 17, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).

Following an airstrike against the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church in Gaza, which left at least two dead on Thursday, Pope Leo XIV issued an urgent call for an immediate ceasefire.

In a telegram signed on the pope’s behalf by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the pontiff expressed his “deep sadness” over the military attack and offered his prayers for “the consolation of those who are mourning and for the healing of the wounded.”

“Pope Leo renews his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation, and lasting peace in the region,” the message stated.

Finally, the Holy Father entrusted the souls of the deceased “to the loving mercy of Almighty God” and assured his “spiritual closeness” to all those affected.

The pope also posted a message on social media platform X, where he said "Only dialogue and reconciliation can ensure enduring peace!"

According to humanitarian aid organization Caritas Jerusalem, the two victims were outside the parish building — converted into a shelter for more than 500 people since the war began in October 2023 — at the time of the projectile strike.

Saad Salameh, 60, the parish caretaker, was in the courtyard and Fumayya Ayyad, 84, was sitting inside a Caritas psychosocial support tent when the explosion sent shrapnel flying and caused debris to fall in the area.

Both were rushed to Al-Mamadani Hospital, just over half a mile from the church, but died shortly afterward due to a "severe shortage of medical resources and blood units in Gaza," the statement said.

Caritas Jerusalem denounced these deaths, saying they represent “a painful reminder of the impossible conditions faced by civilians and medical personnel under siege.”

The humanitarian aid organization's teams in Gaza are “in a state of shock and mourning,” having witnessed “another senseless loss of innocent lives,” the group said.

In response to the tragedy, Caritas Jerusalem issued a new appeal to the international community: “Once again, we urgently call for swift action to protect civilians, places of worship, and humanitarian spaces, and to ensure that people in Gaza have access to the most basic right: the opportunity to survive.”

“May Saad and Fumayya rest in peace. We carry their memory with us,” the message concludes.

For his part, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, expressed doubt that the attack was not deliberate.

“They say it was a mistake by an Israeli tank, but we don't know; it hit the church … directly,” Pizzaballa told Vatican News. In addition to the two deaths, the explosion caused five injuries, including to the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, who suffered a minor leg injury.

Pizzaballa acknowledged that it is still too early to fully assess the consequences of the attack, but he insisted on the need to clarify what happened and protect the local community.

“Now is too early to talk about all this; we need to understand what happened, what must be done, above all, to protect our people, naturally trying to ensure that these things don't happen again, and then we will see how to continue,” he said.

The patriarch reaffirmed the Catholic Church's closeness and commitment to the Christians of the Gaza Strip: "We always try to reach Gaza in every possible way, directly and indirectly."

Following the attack, Israeli Foreign Minister Oren Marmorstein in a message posted on the social media platform X expressed the Israeli government's "deep sorrow for the damage to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and for any civilian casualties."

The Israeli foreign minister indicated that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are examining the incident, the details of which "are still unclear."

"The results of the investigation will be published with complete transparency," he said.

In his statement, the minister stressed that "Israel never targets churches or religious sites" and regretted "any damage to a religious site or to uninvolved civilians."

This article was originally published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish language news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

A view of the damage to the Holy Family church in Gaza City following an Israeli strike on the church, in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on July 17, 2025. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

ACI MENA, Jul 17, 2025 / 09:12 am (CNA).

The Holy Family Church in Gaza was struck by an Israeli attack on Thursday, with the strike resulting in casualties and injuries among civilians present at the historic church. The pastor of the parish, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was also injured.

The direct strike killed three people — Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad, confirmed by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem a few hours after the attack. A third person, Najwa Abu Daoud, succombed to her injuries a few hours later.

The patriarchate stressed that it was praying for the repose of the souls of the dead and for an end to what it called this “barbaric war.” 

According to press reports, several other civilians sustained moderate to severe injuries, while the parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, was wounded by shrapnel in his leg.  

His condition was described as mild, and he later returned to check on the wounded. According to church sources in Gaza, 14 people were injured in the attack.

In its initial statement earlier in the day, the patriarchate said: “The church was attacked this morning, causing injuries among those inside, including the parish priest.” 

In Rome, the Vatican issued a statement signed by Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin expressing Pope Leo XIV’s profound sorrow upon learning that lives were lost and others injured.  

The Holy Father conveyed his spiritual closeness to Romanelli and the parish community, renewing his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and expressing his desire for dialogue, reconciliation, and lasting peace in the region. 

While the Israel Defense Forces said they were investigating the incident, the spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Oren Marmorstein, expressed his country’s “deep regret over the damage to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and over any civilian casualties.”  

He added that the circumstances of the incident remain unclear and that the results of the investigation would be published transparently. 

The Holy Family Church is considered the last Christian refuge in Gaza, where dozens of families have been sheltering since the outbreak of the war in October 2023. The church also suffered partial damage in July 2024, when its surroundings were shelled, an incident that at the time drew condemnation from church leaders in the Holy Land. 

This story was updated at 2:20 p.m. July 17 to reflect the latest reports of deaths from the attack.

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

Library in Starfield Shopping Mall, Suwon, South Korea. / Credit: Jpbarrass, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 17, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

“I believe that artificial intelligence will become an essential technology for preaching or pastoral care of the faithful,” said Fr. Ignazio Son Chang-hyun, one of the priests who participated in a recent innovative training organized by the Diocese of Suwon, South Korea.

According to Asia News, earlier this month the South Korean diocese brought together priests from the cities of Suwon, Daegu, and Masan to learn about the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in parish life.

Unlike other meetings focused on ethics, this training sought to explore the practical opportunities that AI offers for evangelization and care of the faithful.

“Since it is a hot topic at the moment and its areas of application are expanding, we have prepared training for priests to learn skills that can be used in the pastoral field,” explained Father Lee Cheol-gu, director of the Office of Social Communications of the Diocese of Suwon, the event's sponsor.

During the event, held in collaboration with a company specializing in AI literacy, priests learned how to use tools such as ChatGPT and other generative platforms to create images, presentations, videos, and even background music for their parish activities. They also experimented with a chatbot that can automatically take meeting minutes.

For Father Son Chang-hyun, this technology can not only assist with administrative tasks, but could go further in its application. “I think that if we could better understand the trends and moods of the faithful, which change from place to place, through data analysis, we could get closer to them in pastoral terms,” he said.

Father Bartolomeo Choi Jae-yong, another participant, emphasized the importance of integrating faith and science: “I believe that religion and science must be well harmonized in order for God's new work to be accomplished.”

Speaking with Asia News, he added that religion "must actively learn and understand science and technology in order to prevent abuses related to their use.”

Another goal of this initiative is to build bridges between the Church and technology companies, in order to improve the content of tools that use AI.

“I have noticed that Catholic and Protestant terminology are often confused and that there is a lot of misinformation about the saints. I therefore thought it necessary for the Church to collaborate with companies to improve these aspects,” said Father Leone Lee Jae-geun, deputy director of the Office of Social Communications.

In a country like South Korea, a world leader in technology, the local Church has taken this significant step to evangelize in the digital world as well. According to the participating priests, this experience could become a model for other dioceses around the world seeking to integrate technological innovation in the service of the Gospel.

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

Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin, chairman of the Irish bishops’ Council for Life (far left), and Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, primate of all Ireland (second from left), stand with young pro-life activists at the 2024 Ireland March for Life in Dublin on May 6, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of Pro Life Campaign

Dublin, Ireland, Jul 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

One in 6 unborn children’s lives now end in abortion in the Republic of Ireland, according to the Irish Department of Health statistics, which reports 10,852 abortions in 2024 — the highest number on record since the law changed in 2019 following the 2018 referendum.

Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy speaking to CNA said: “That’s a truly horrifying figure, and it’s the opposite of what senior politicians promised the public would happen if they voted for repeal in 2018,” she added.

During the 2018 referendum, pro-life voices warned that abortion numbers would increase dramatically if access to abortion were widened. Mulroy pointed out that 10,852 abortions in 2024 represent a 280% increase from the 2,879 Irish abortions that happened in 2018, the year before the law changed.

Mulroy said the Pro Life Campaign and other groups have asked for a meeting with the minister for health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to discuss the shocking new figures.

“I personally know politicians, TDs [a Teachta Dálaa is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish Parliament, the Oireachtas], and senators who would have been people who campaigned back in 2018 for a yes vote, who would have been encouraging other people to vote yes at that time for different reasons, who now feel it’s gone too far and are appalled at the figures,” Mulroy said.

During the lead-up to the 2018 referendum vote to widen access to abortion, pro-life campaigners pointed out that in Britain at that time, 1 in 5 pregnancies ended in abortion. 

“Members of the media in Ireland were accusing the pro-life side of scaremongering, and were trying to disprove those figures, and saying that that was never going to happen in Ireland,” Mulroy said. 

“We have nearly caught up with that figure — we’re now at 1 in 6 babies’ lives ending in abortion,” she said. “And Britain, just this last week, released its latest figures, and they’re nearly at 1 in 3 pregnancies ending in abortion. So once you introduce abortion, once you change the law, over time, abortion rates grow, and if there was any doubt about that, there’s no doubt anymore.”

She added: “Even if one accepts at face value the highly debatable claim by abortion advocates that an additional 1,000 illegal abortion pills were purchased annually before the law was repealed, the post-2018 surge in abortions is still staggering. Over 98% of all abortions in Ireland in 2024 were during early pregnancy up to 12 weeks.” 

Speaking to CNA, David Quinn of the Iona Institute highlighted the messaging used by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Irish government at the time of the 2018 referendum. In announcing the referendum, Varadkar had said he was speaking “as Taoiseach, as a medical doctor, and as a former minister for health.”

“Leo Varadkar, when he announced the referendum in early 2018, said abortion would be ‘safe, legal, and rare,’ which clearly is not the case,” Quinn said. “... So would Leo Varadkar consider 11,000 rare? They were spinning a line about it being rare that was convenient to them, and it was convenient to those who voted yes to believe it as well.”

At the time of the 2018 abortion referendum in Ireland, Quinn said many people were led to believe that the subsequent legislation introduced would limit access to abortion. He wondered if the electorate realized the implications of voting yes.

“If they had looked into a crystal ball and seen that it would go above 11,000 or 1 in 6 pregnancies ending this way, would that have given them pause? Would they have realized the law is not half as restrictive as we were led to believe?”

He added: “It was sold to the voters on the hard cases — like the baby is going to die soon after birth. And there was very little focus on the fact that the vast majority of babies aborted will be the healthy children of healthy women. That was barely spoken about. I mean, our pro-life side tried to raise it, but the pro-choice circles and the government very successfully kept the conversation about the hard cases and weren’t telling people that 90% of abortions would take place before 12 weeks.”

Mulroy is pressing for intervention by the minister for health and shared concerns about what people’s expectations were in 2018. 

“We spend a lot of time talking to politicians — even [those] who might not necessarily be coming from a pro-life perspective, but who might share common ground on some of the issues associated with the abortion question. For example the need for more positive alternatives for women in unplanned pregnancy.”

Mulroy said that it is politicians who have “responsibility in the area of public policy.” 

“We’re talking about human lives here,” she said. “It’s not just like any other area of health care, where we’re trying to reduce waiting lists or other things. This is not health care. This is the ending of human lives, and that’s why we are really pushing for a meeting with the minister for health to discuss these figures and really allow us to discuss what’s happened under the abortion law, rather than this polarized situation where the pro-life voice is not allowed at all be at the decision-making table, which has happened in the Irish government in recent years.”

Mulroy does see some small signs of hope in the current Irish government.

“I would see a lot of positives there — the makeup of the current government. This government is supported by a number of independents, and some of those independents are very pro-life.”

She said she thinks Ireland will “hopefully see in the lifetime of this government” some incremental changes, “even if the only focus is to ensure that women in unplanned pregnancy have all of the information they need to parent.”

“Right now, when you ring the government-funded helpline to say that you are in an unplanned pregnancy, you really are only getting one piece of information, and that’s about where the nearest abortion-performing doctor is,” she said.

She added: “No matter what side of the fence you’re on… everyone should be united in and agree that women who are in unplanned pregnancy should get all of that information, and I think that would have an impact on the abortion numbers.”

Quinn is concerned that the issue of abortion numbers is simply not getting enough attention in the mainstream media. 

“It’s not getting enough publicity; it’s not being discussed. Actually, very few people know about it outside pro-life circles. Nobody … on air has been asked, ‘Well, do you think 11,000 is rare? You said it would be rare. So what’s going on?’ Mainly, there’s a conspiracy of silence. It is quite hard to break through the conspiracy of silence. But we’ve just got to keep trying.”

Heads of churches in Jerusalem visited the town of Taybeh in Ramallah on July 14, 2025. / Credit: Sand Sahiliya

ACI MENA, Jul 16, 2025 / 18:01 pm (CNA).

Church leaders in Jerusalem say they hold Israeli authorities responsible for “facilitating and enabling” settler attacks, warning that police silence in the face of emergency calls constitutes a form of complicity.

On Monday, the heads of churches visited the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah. The delegation was led by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, joined by diplomats representing more than 20 countries. U.S. representatives canceled their participation at the last minute without explanation.

The visit carried a serious warning about the escalating threat to one of the oldest Christian communities in the Holy Land. Both church leaders and diplomats called for accountability for Israeli settlers and an end to the threats targeting a deeply rooted Christian community in the region.

Speaking on behalf of the church leaders, Theophilos III said: “We appeal to the conscience of the entire world, imploring its prayers, attention, and action, especially from our fellow Christians around the globe. The Church has maintained its faithful presence in this land for nearly 2,000 years, and we categorically reject these exclusionary messages.”

For his part, Cardinal Pizzaballa remarked: “Sadly, the temptation to emigrate remains because of the current situation.” He described the West Bank as an area “outside the rule of law,” adding: “The only law that applies here is the law of force,  the law of whoever holds power, not true law. We must work to restore the presence of law to this part of the country, so that everyone can rely on it to guarantee and enforce their rights.”

The churches demanded a transparent investigation, accountability for the perpetrators, and the dismantling of settlement outposts threatening local lands. They also called for international action to ensure Christians can remain on their land.

Among other incidents, on July 7, settlers set fire near the historic St. George (al-Khader) cemetery. Locals managed to contain the blaze before it reached the church, but the message was clear: “You have no future here” was written on a sign later placed near the site.  

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