ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, SLATERSVILLE RI

Bishop Ronald A. Hicks of Joliet, Illinois. / Credit: Diocese of Joliet YouTube video

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:58 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has chosen Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, to be the next archbishop of New York — the most consequential U.S. episcopal appointment of Leo’s pontificate thus far.

The appointment was confirmed by EWTN News with two independent sources with direct knowledge of the appointment.

Hicks, 58, will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has led New York, the second-largest U.S. archdiocese by population — with 2.5 million Catholics — since 2009.

The choice of Hicks for one of the most important U.S. archdioceses is likely to be heavily scrutinized for the insight it may give into the direction Pope Leo wishes to take the Church in the U.S.

A native of Illinois, Hicks has led the Joliet Diocese since September 2020. He was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago from 2018 to 2020, following three years as the archdiocese’s vicar general from 2015 to 2018.

Hicks was born on Aug. 4, 1967, in the town of Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago, and grew up in South Holland, one suburb over from Dolton, where Pope Leo XIV grew up.

“I recognize a lot of similarities between [Pope Leo] and me,” Hicks told WGN in an interview in May. “So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places to go to.”

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, Hicks’ priestly ministry included time as an associate pastor and pastor, and dean of formation as St. Joseph College Seminary.

In 2005, he began a five-year term as regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) in Central America. Based in El Salvador, he oversaw the care of more than 3,400 orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.

He returned to Chicago in 2010 to serve as dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary before Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago appointed him vicar general of the archdiocese on Jan. 1, 2015.

As bishop, Hicks serves on the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations for the U.S. bishops’ conference, and as the conference liaison to the Association of Ongoing Formation of Priests and the National Association of Diaconate Directors.

The Archdiocese of New York serves Catholics in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and in seven counties to the north.

Father Deusdedit Ssekabira of the Catholic Diocese of Masaka in Uganda is in police custody for alleged “violent subversive activities against state” following his abducted from his office in Katwe, Masaka city, by men wearing Uganda Army uniform on Dec. 3, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Masaka

ACI Africa, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Uganda’s defense authorities have confirmed that a priest serving the Catholic Diocese of Masaka, whose disappearance earlier this month sparked concern and prayers from the bishop, is in the custody of security forces over alleged criminal activities.

In a Dec. 12 statement, the acting director of defense public information, Col. Chris Magezi, said Father Deusdedit Ssekabira was arrested in connection with what the military says is “involvement in violent subversive activities against the state.”

Magezi added that Ssekabira is being held as investigations continue. “Reverend Father Deusdedit Ssekabira is currently in lawful custody to assist with further investigations into the matter,” the Ugandan defense official further said.

According to Magezi, the case will proceed through formal judicial channels. “He will be produced in the courts of law and charged accordingly,” he said in his one-page statement but did not provide further details on the alleged activities or the duration of the investigation. 

The confirmation of the priest’s detainment follows days of uncertainty after Bishop Serverus Jjumba of the Masaka Diocese reported that Ssekabira, who is the assistant pastor of Bumangi Parish and the director of Uplift Primary School, had been taken on Dec. 3 at about 1 p.m. from his office in Katwe, Masaka City.

In response to his disappearance, the bishop directed special prayers, including a rosary triduum (praying the rosary for three consecutive days), calling on the people of God in his diocese to pray for Ssekabira as well as for the Church and the nation.

Jjumba said that efforts to locate the priest had been unsuccessful and he called for intensified prayers and legal efforts following what he called a kidnapping by men wearing “Uganda Army uniform, with a drone.”

In his Dec. 13 statement, Jjumba stated: “All efforts to locate him have so far been fruitless.” He described the incident as “a grievous wound inflicted on Masaka Diocese, the entire Catholic Church, and Father Ssekabira’s family.”

He said his diocese was pursuing every available avenue to secure Ssekabira’s safe return. “Masaka Diocese together with our lawyers are still doing whatever is in our means to get back our priest unharmed,” Jjumba stated. 

The Masaka Diocese is yet to issue a response following the statement on Ssekabira’s arrest by the Ugandan defense official. 

As the case moves toward the courts, attention is expected to focus on due process, the specific charges to be brought against Ssekabira, and the implications of the case for Church-state relations in Uganda.

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

Carolers outside Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois, on Dec. 13, 2025. / Credit: John Jansen/Courtesy of the Pro-Life Action League

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

When a pregnant woman at an abortion facility heard distant carolers singing “Silent Night,” she got up and left.

The mother, back in 2003, decided to keep her baby after a pro-life group’s first Christmas caroling event outside a Chicago abortion clinic struck her heart.

“The memories of Christmases past stirred in her and she decided she couldn’t go through with the abortion and kept her child,” said Matthew Yonke, a spokesman for the Pro-Life Action League, the group that coordinates these events. 

She would be the first of many women who chose life after hearing carols. Now, the tradition extends across the nation — and babies continue to be saved. 

As Christmas Day approaches, nearly 100 caroling groups across the U.S. are gathering at various abortion facilities to sing. 

Through the nationwide “Peace in the Womb” caroling effort, the group hopes “to bring the Christmas message of peace and joy to the darkness of abortion clinics,” according to a press release shared with CNA. 

It’s a “simple call for an end to the violence of abortion,” according to Yonke.

“At the time of Christmas, the whole world tries to put aside differences and pursue peace, so we’re asking folks to make a connection to the womb, which should be a place of peace, but which is turned into a place of violent unrest in every abortion,” Yonke continued.

Saving lives 

The carolers had already packed up after singing their final song outside an abortion site when a couple approached the remaining pro-lifers in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Dec. 13. 

The couple, Yonke said, “told the sidewalk counselors still there that they had decided to keep their baby after hearing our carols.” 

“Stories like this go all the way back to the first year,” Yonke said. “We’re thrilled when God can use these beloved songs that touch the hearts of even non-Christians to do his work in the world.”

This was one of two rescue stories so far this December that the league heard about, according to Yonke. 

“Please don’t kill your baby at Christmas,” one caroler called out to a young woman in the back seat of a car that was driving into an abortion clinic.

It was a Saturday in Milwaukee, and a group of carolers had gathered to sing outside the abortion clinic on St. Paul Avenue. 

The car drove into the abortion center parking lot. But minutes later, the car turned around with the young woman still in the back seat — she never even entered the abortion clinic.  

Salvation came through an unplanned pregnancy

Pro-Life Action League invites local pro-lifers to work with them to organize their own caroling groups. 

On Sunday, Dec. 14, one such caroling group sang outside an abortion facility in Renton, Washington. 

“This was a fantastic event and I think every Catholic church should do this in their community,” said local pro-life activist Richard Bray, who organized the caroling with the Respect Life Ministry at a local Catholic parish, St. Stephen the Martyr.

While every event organized with the league has a “Peace in the Womb” banner, Renton’s organizer would have something special — a handmade manger.  

An 88-year-old parishioner at St. Stephen’s built an empty manger that the carolers brought to the event, according to Bray. 

The empty manger not only symbolizes that Christ is coming at Christmas — but it also represents how a crib is empty after an abortion, according to Bray.

“It’s particularly sad to think of someone getting an abortion during the Christmas season,” Bray told CNA. “So we gather to sing carols and remind abortion-bound mothers and our community that the salvation of the world came through an unplanned pregnancy.”

Pope Leo XIV spoke about the solution for restless hearts in his catechesis at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 17. 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday true satisfaction is found not in the accumulation of money or things, or by “too much doing,” but by returning to Jesus Christ, the source of hope, love, and joy.

“We are absorbed by many activities that do not always leave us satisfied … We have to assume responsibility for many commitments, solve problems, face difficulties,” the pope said at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 17. 

“Yet,” he added, “we often perceive how too much doing, instead of giving us fulfillment, becomes a vortex that overwhelms us, takes away our serenity, and prevents us from living to the fullest what is truly important in our lives.”

In his catechesis, the pontiff stressed that the true value of life is not measured by “days full of activities” or economic success.

“It is therefore in the heart that true treasure is kept, not in earthly safes, not in large financial investments, which today more than ever before are out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation,” he said.

Leo warned that this logic of accumulation ends up emptying life of meaning even for those who, from the outside, seem to have achieved success: “It is important to reflect on these aspects, because in the numerous commitments we continually face, there is an increasing risk of dispersion, sometimes of despair, of meaninglessness.”

“Human life is characterized by a constant movement that that drives us to do, to act,” he acknowledged, adding that Jesus’ resurrection can give us insight into this human experience.

“When we participate in [Christ’s] victory over death, will we rest? Faith tells us: Yes, we will rest,” the pope said. “We will not be inactive, but we will enter into God’s repose, which is peace and joy. So, should we just wait, or can this change us right now?”

The true destiny of the heart

Leo noted that many people, despite having so much, feel empty at the end of the day.

The answer, according to the pontiff, is “because we are not machines, we have a ‘heart’; indeed, we can say that we are a heart.”

He turned to the Gospel of St. Matthew to underscore the centrality of the heart, citing the words of Jesus: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mt 6:21).

He also cited the beginning of St. Augustine’s “Confessions,” where the bishop of Hippo wrote: “Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

St. Augustine, with the adjective restless, “helps us understand the human being’s yearning for fulfillment.”

“The authentic approach of the heart,” he continued, “does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving what can fill it completely; namely, the love of God, or rather, God who is Love.”

The Holy Father explained that this treasure is found only by “loving the neighbor we meet along the way: brothers and sisters in flesh and blood, whose presence stirs and questions our heart, calling it to open up and give itself.”

But in order to love one’s neighbor, Leo pointed out that it is necessary to “slow down” one’s pace, to “look them in the eye, sometimes to change our plans, perhaps even to change direction.”

“Here is the secret of the movement of the human heart: returning to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints. No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes away,” he concluded.

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

Pope Leo XIV looks out from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election on May 8, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Although “papal fashion,” meticulously crafted down to the smallest detail, has evolved over time, the popes’ attire still holds profound symbolism that continues to capture the attention of many.

Proof of this is the recent naming of Pope Leo XIV as one of the 55 best-dressed people of 2025 by Vogue magazine, one of the most prestigious and recognized fashion and beauty publications in the world.

Pope Leo XIV shares this distinction with athletes, actors, singers, politicians, and models, including Rosalía, Rihanna, Bad Bunny, actress Jennifer Lawrence, and tennis player Venus Williams.

The American magazine, founded in 1892, highlights in its annual ranking that Leo XIV has broken “with the humble tastes of his predecessor,” Pope Francis, preserving “the papal legacy of impeccably crafted liturgical vestments.”

As the “best outfit of 2025,” the magazine cites his first appearance as pope on May 8 in the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, wearing a red satin mozzetta and a wine-colored stole, embroidered in gold and with a pectoral cross held by a golden silk cord.

The mozzetta is an elbow-length cape that falls over the shoulders and is worn over the rochet as a sign of authority, while the chasuble is the outer liturgical vestment worn over the alb and stole, and its color changes according to the liturgical season. Historically, the liturgical garment represents the “yoke of Christ” and is a symbol of charity.

Pope Francis chose not to wear these garments after his election in 2013, a gesture of simplicity that marked his pontificate and was recognized at the time by Esquire magazine, which also included him on its list of “best-dressed men,” highlighting his understated style.

The Italian Filippo Sorcinelli has established himself as one of the leading designers for recent popes, starting with Benedict XVI. Furthermore, the tailoring of the papal liturgical vestments is entrusted to the historic Gammarelli tailor shop, located near the Pantheon in the heart of the Eternal City.

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

Schoolchildren attend a ceremonial welcome and tree planting at Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the president of Ireland, during a state visit by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and his fiancee, Charlene Wittstock, on April 4, 2011, in Dublin. / Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

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

A U.K. Supreme Court ruling has found that Christian religious education taught in schools in Northern Ireland is unlawful. 

In its judgment, the court found that the current approach lacks an “objective, critical, and pluralistic” framework and leans more toward indoctrination than fostering a diverse understanding of beliefs.

Responding to the ruling, which does not apply to Catholic schools, Bishop Alan McGuckian, SJ, of the Down and Connor Diocese firmly challenged the idea that Christianity should be given no priority in all schools, stating that anyone seeking to do so is “cutting off their nose to spite their face.”

The landmark ruling follows a case brought by an unnamed father and his daughter who attended a non-Catholic state-controlled primary school in Belfast. The girl received nondenominational Christian religious education and took part in Christian worship. 

The Supreme Court ruling upheld the earlier 2022 high court judgment that “the teaching of religious education under the core syllabus and the arrangements for collective worship in the primary school attended by the child breached her and her father’s rights under European human rights legislation.”

One of the issues referenced in the ruling was the child saying grace before meals at home. This, she told her nonreligious parents, was what they did at school. 

The ruling raises critical questions about how religious teachings are delivered in schools and the implications for students’ broader educational experiences.

In the Northern Ireland system, Catholic schools are governed differently from state schools. The Supreme Court judgment clearly states that denominational religious education and collective worship are not prohibited in Catholic-maintained schools.

McGuckian pointed out that the legislative significance of the ruling will in due course have implications for the development of the religious education core syllabus and wider engagement with religious practice and ethos within all of Northern Ireland’s schools.

While noting the Catholic exemption, McGuckian said: “Many people have asked me, while it is explicitly noted in the judgment that this ruling applies to a controlled grant-aided primary school and does not apply to Catholic schools, what difference is this Supreme Court ruling going to make to the provision of religious education across NI schools more widely? Is religion being driven out of schools? More specifically, some are asking, ‘Is Christianity being driven out of schools?’”

McGuckian noted: “I want to challenge the principle that people of a secular mindset assert, namely that Christianity should be given no priority in all schools. That principle is simply ungrounded, unreasonable, and illogical.”

“Christianity and the Judeo-Christian worldview provides the value-based foundation for all that is good in Western society and is deeply embedded within human rights legislation. The idea of the rights of the individual to be free from coercion, all the freedoms contained in the various charters of human rights, are based on and stem from the biblical teaching that every single person is created in the image and likeness of God.”

He continued: “Enlightenment thinkers of a more secular viewpoint have built on that ‘fundamentum,’ and, in many ways, they have served us well, but they grounded and built their insights on underlying Christian values that protect the dignity of every human person.”

“Those who seek to have Christianity sidelined in our shared society are cutting off their noses to spite their face,” he said.

McGuckian added that world religions should also be respected, and they also have a contribution to make in an increasingly diverse multicultural and multi-faith society. He continued: “However, it should be recognized that Christianity, centrally and uniquely, has provided the framework of values that underpin Western society.”

“In schools across the Western world, Christianity should, indeed, be given priority in our educational systems and everybody, including those of other faiths and none, should recognize and welcome this because of its foundational importance.”

While the ruling does not apply to worship and prayer in Catholic schools, it will impact and influence the religious education curriculum taught in schools, which is determined by school education authorities. The current curriculum has been in place since 2007, and its content was determined by the four main churches in Northern Ireland, which include Catholicism. 

Speaking to the BBC, the Catholic bishop of Derry, Donal McKeown, said he is positive about the need for a new religious education core curriculum and is quite open to where this goes.

“I’m looking forward to the next stage of the journey, I don’t see it as a negative thing,” he said. “There are many points to be clarified — this is an opportunity for all of us to be involved in renewing the [religious education] curriculum to enable us to create a healthy, forward-looking society.”

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

EWTN News, Dec 17, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

In a strongly secular European Union, the Balkans’ complex religious reality plays an important role as officials and diplomats gather on Wednesday to discuss the membership plans for six nations.

The EU-Western Balkans summit on Dec. 17 brings together European Union representatives and their counterparts from six Western Balkan nations: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

As officials discuss EU enlargement and current challenges, religious leaders and analysts underscore that the churches — deeply woven into the region’s national identities, geopolitics, and social fabric — will be crucial to the success of both European integration and regional stability.

The EU considers itself the main trading partner, investor, and donor for the Western Balkans and provides substantial assistance and financial support to the region. However, the religious landscape — marked by Orthodox majorities, significant Muslim populations, and Catholic minorities — reflects complex historical, ethnic, and political tensions that shape the region’s future.

“We hope that the trend of the enlargement is still serious and that it will be confirmed,” Serbia’s ambassador to the Holy See, Sima Avramović, told CNA.

Currently, there is a concern about “Russian influence, especially in Serbia, so the EU will try to discuss how to stabilize this area,” Lucio Caracciolo, founder and director of the Italian geopolitical magazine Limes, said in a conversation with CNA. At the same time, he warned of “the lack of the political will and funds to support” these countries before they are accepted to the 27-member EU.

Religious landscape

There are many ethnic groups and three main religious communities in the Western Balkans: Orthodox, Muslim, and Catholic. Albania and Kosovo are mostly Muslim, with the latter at more than 90%. Half of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Muslim. Almost three-quarters of the population in Montenegro belong to the Orthodox Church.

On the contrary, around half of the population in North Macedonia is Orthodox, followed by Muslims and other Christians. The biggest country in terms of inhabitants and area is Serbia, with more than 80% Orthodox believers, followed by other minorities.

The “Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025” by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) appreciated positive prospects for religious freedom in Albania and North Macedonia. It sees mostly difficulties in others; for instance, “the promotion and protection of religious freedom in Kosovo is fragile,” whereas in Montenegro, “persistent ethno-religious tensions typical of the Balkans are felt,” but ACN recognized efforts made to overcome them.

While Albania was an isolationist communist nation, the other Balkan states were part of the more liberal communist country of Yugoslavia. After the federation’s collapse in 1991, Slovenia and Croatia proceeded toward European integration, becoming EU and NATO members.

Relations among the churches and religions

The Orthodox churches are important in the countries where they represent a majority religion also for their role “in the nation-building process and in the consolidation of the local nation-states,” expert on Orthodox Christianity Daniela Kalkandjieva from the Sofia University of St. Kliment Ohridski in Bulgaria told CNA.

At times, they are unable “to exert significant influence on their local society.”

Recently, the Orthodox churches have diverged in opinions “to such political and socio-economic challenges as the refugee crisis, the anti-COVID vaccination, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” she explained.

The spread of the “Russian World” concept and “holy war” are “new challenges to the very ethos of Eastern Orthodoxy as a Christian denomination and provoked tensions and disunity among the adherents of this religious tradition.”

On this note, Caracciolo said that some of these churches are “certainly connected to some powers in Russia and also in the Balkans, which are often in conflict with each other.”

However, the secretary of the Holy Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church — Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO), Bishop Kliment, said that they “cultivate sisterly relations” with the churches of “closest neighboring peoples.”

In a statement sent to CNA, the bishop emphasized that we “build bridges of trust among us, prioritizing solidarity and unity in faith” through Eucharistic communion, mutual visits and joint services, cooperation in education, and the like.

Catholic-Orthodox relations are also complex. Though “there is always a room for more cooperation,” with Catholics, there are “good relations, mutual support, and understanding.” He mentioned the traditional annual meeting held for more than half a century in Rome in honor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and Pope Francis’ visit to North Macedonia in 2019.

Whereas some Orthodox churches collaborate and pray with Catholic representatives, “others find such interactions incompatible with the Orthodox doctrine and maintain mostly diplomatic relations with the Holy See,” explained Kalkandjieva, who also lectures at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

Along the same line, Avramović underscored that the religious leaders in Serbia “meet on different occasions and discuss important social, religious, and other significant issues.”

There are seven traditional churches and religious communities in his homeland, including the Slovak Evangelical Church, the Jewish community, and the Muslim community.

View of the EU

When it comes to the EU, the local Orthodox churches perceive the Union “as an important factor in the lives of their believers” and some have representation offices in Brussels, where many EU institutions are based. Nonetheless, this official dialogue and collaboration are little known in their home countries, Kalkandjieva stressed.

The MOC-AO, which represents the largest religious institution and community in North Macedonia, respects the will of the majority of its citizens and its faithful, who support European integration, Kliment underscored. We “attentively follow the complex internal challenges of the EU,” he added. The Orthodox bishop underlined that it should be “a platform for political and economic stability, fully respecting religious freedoms and the rule of law.”

A few months ago, Croatian Member of the European Parliament Tonino Picula caused a controversy as he posted an old picture of himself on X, posing with a gun commemorating Operation Storm. It occurred in 1995 as Croatia took control of what it considered the occupied territories in the south, which was a self-proclaimed republic. As the Croatian army came, thousands of Serbs fled to Serbia.

The social media post sparked backlash not only from Serbia but also from European politicians who called Picula’s statement disturbing and highly politically dangerous.

Pope Leo XIV presides at the jubilee Mass for prisoners on Dec. 14, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 15:11 pm (CNA).

The last major event of the Jubilee of Hope was dedicated to prisoners around the world, some of whom during the past weekend were able to experience freedom and fulfill a dream: to go see Pope Leo XIV.

Víctor Aguado, director of prison ministry in Valencia, Spain, accompanied a group of prisoners to the Eternal City, many of whom had spent more than 12 years behind bars. Thanks to special permission, they were able to travel and become living witnesses that “hope breaks down walls and that dignity cannot be taken away.”

In a conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Aguado recounted the details of the “intense, emotional, and spiritual” trip that will forever mark the lives of the men and women who have been incarcerated. 

The group was composed of a total of 13 people from Valencia, including prisoners, volunteers, and the chaplain. Six of them were inmates in the second and third degree of the prison system — regimens that combine incarceration with controlled outings — so they had to obtain a series of permits from the Treatment Board, the General Secretariat, and the Oversight Institutions. “It was a long bureaucratic process, but we didn’t have any problems,” Aguado explained.

He explained that they selected the prisoners they have known for a long time. Those in the third degree of the prison system enjoy a semi-release regimen and live in halfway houses, while those in the second degree usually go to workshops and cooperate with everything the prison ministry proposes. “They are people of faith who attend Mass, and we knew that, given their situation and attitude, they needed this and wouldn’t turn it down,” he commented.

“They wanted to be very well prepared, free of burdens, and participate in Sunday Mass completely cleansed and at peace with themselves,” said Aguado, who also highlighted their passing through the Holy Door as one of the most emotional moments of the jubilee. “With the pilgrimage, the prisoners assumed a new responsibility and a new path, a new life, and the feeling that now they have to do things right.”

He also highlighted their excitement at seeing the pope, since for them “he is the representation of the Lord on earth.” The Sunday Mass with the Holy Father, Aguado explained, was “very simple, and although it was in Italian, it was perfectly understandable.”

“Hope goes beyond, it breaks down walls wherever it may be, and the dignity of people cannot be taken away, and that is what they conveyed during the three days we were in Rome. These were very intensely personal experiences, and we could feel their joy; everyone had a look of peace,” he noted.

For Aguado — who has been working with prisoners for 14 years — the fact that this event closed the Jubilee of Hope is no mere coincidence. “The world of prisons is not visible, and in some way we must begin to consider that people who have been judged eventually get out and have to reintegrate into normal life, and that depends on society.”

“We know that the Lord forgives everything, so who are we to not forgive these people and keep on stigmatizing them? They are called ex-convicts, but they are nothing more than persons, with all their dignity and freedom,” he affirmed.

Although he assured that the Lord “is always with them and walks with them,” he emphasized the urgency of recognizing the prisoners as living members of the Church and appealed to the responsibility of every Christian: “Sometimes we take the works of mercy for granted, but we don’t always put them into practice. The Lord challenges us: ‘I was in prison,’ and the question remains the same: ‘Did you come to see me?’”

There are many lives that need to be rescued

The Italian priest Father Raffaele Grimaldi, who left his chaplaincy at the Secondigliano prison in Naples — where he served the inmates for 23 years — to coordinate the 230 priests who minister to the nearly 62,000 detainees throughout Italy, also participated in this historic jubilee.

Speaking to ACI Prensa, he noted that the event “is a strong reminder that the Church wants to bring God’s love and mercy to prisons, who goes in search of those who are lost.”

According to Grimaldi, this jubilee “has brought to light the most difficult situations we are experiencing in our prisons and the plight of the prisoners” including overcrowding, lack of resources, suicides, neglect, and “above all, the lack of acceptance from society.”

The priest brought some prisoners from different Italian prisons before Pope Leo XIV, especially young people and one man sentenced to life in prison. “It was a moment of great joy for them,” he commented.

“Every prisoner needs to constantly hear a word of mercy: from people who do not judge, who do not point fingers, who do not condemn, but who embrace,” he stated.

He also emphasized that this jubilee has not been an isolated event, since throughout the year there has been spiritual preparation in the correctional facilities, where “proclaiming hope is a powerful message that resonates deeply in the hearts of all.”

Grimaldi admitted that these individuals have “made mistakes” and are serving a sentence for them; however, he urged people to “reach out to them so that they can take up their lives again and change,” with justice accompanied by mercy, “so that justice itself does not become vengeance.”

During his years of service in the prisons, he said he has encountered many people who have traveled on a beautiful spiritual journey, “like a young Albanian man who received the sacrament of baptism on Dec. 12.”

“This makes us understand that in our prisons there are many lives that need to be rescued and helped, because if these opportunities don’t exist, the prisoner dies inside, and we also kill the hope that is in their heart.”

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

The Wisconsin Supreme Court building in Madison, Wisconsin. / Credit: Richard Hurd/Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The Wisconsin state government lost decisively a second time in what has become a convoluted effort to block a Catholic charity from receiving a long-running state tax exemption.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Dec. 15 blocked state Attorney General Josh Kaul’s attempt to fully eliminate an unemployment tax exemption after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Diocese of Superior’s Catholic Charities Bureau was entitled to the tax break.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June had ruled that Wisconsin violated the First Amendment when it denied the tax exemption to the Catholic group on the grounds that the group’s charitable undertakings were not “primarily” religious.

The state responded in October by moving to eliminate the exemption entirely, arguing that the tax break is “discriminatory” and that ending the policy would “avoid collateral damage to Wisconsin workers.”

In a brief order on Dec. 15, the state’s high court affirmed that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows the Catholic charity to access the tax break. The court directed the state Labor and Industry Review Commission to declare the charity eligible for the exemption. 

The religious liberty law group Becket, which has represented the Catholic charity in the legal fight, said in a press release that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had ended the state government’s “crusade” against the Catholic charity. 

“You’d think Wisconsin would take a 9-0 Supreme Court loss as a hint to stop digging,” Becket Vice President Eric Rassbach said. “But apparently Attorney General Kaul and his staff are gluttons for punishment.” 

“Thankfully, the Wisconsin Supreme Court put an end to the state’s tomfoolery and confirmed that Catholic Charities is entitled to the exemption it already won,” Rassbach said. 

The ruling “protects not just Catholic Charities, but every faith-based organization that relies on this exemption to serve the public,” he added. 

In its June ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said the First Amendment “mandates government neutrality between religions” and that Wisconsin had failed to adhere to this principle in refusing to issue the tax exemption to Catholic Charities. 

“It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the decision. “There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, meanwhile, said that governments “may not use [entities such as a Catholic charity] as a means of regulating the internal governance of religious institutions.”

Following the ruling this week, David Earleywine — the associate director for education and religious liberty at the Wisconsin Catholic Conference — said the Catholic charity has been fighting for the exemption for “decades.”

“[T]rue Catholic charity is inherently religious and cannot be reduced to another secular social service,” he said.

St. Januarius (left) and the relic of the blood of St. Januarius. / Credit: Chapel of St. Januarius

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 12:58 pm (CNA).

The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, patron saint of the Italian city of Naples, occurred again on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

According to the Archdiocese of Naples, the miracle took place after Mass in the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius on the feast of the patronage of St. Januarius.

“At 9:13 a.m. local time, the blood already appeared semi-liquid. At 10:05 a.m., the complete liquefaction was announced,” the archdiocese reported.

“Dec. 16 is the third of three annual celebrations in honor of the martyred saint. This date commemorates the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1631, when the Neapolitans requested and obtained the miraculous intervention of St. Januarius to prevent the lava from engulfing the city,” he explained.

The announcement of the miracle was made by Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius. The phial, once the miracle had occurred, was carried in procession to the chapel so that all those present could see it.

The miracle usually occurs on two other days of the year: every Sept. 19 (the anniversary of St. Januarius’ martyrdom) and the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (in remembrance of the transfer of his remains to Naples).

When the blood does not liquefy, as happened on Dec. 16, 2020, the inhabitants of Naples usually take it as a bad omen. However, in the face of this possibility, the Church encourages the faithful not to lose sight of what is essential.

On Sept. 19, 2024 — despite the miracle having occurred that day — the archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, urged the faithful not to place their hope in physical manifestations but in Jesus, who calls us to care for the most vulnerable.

“I implore you, we should not worry about whether the blood of this relic liquefies or not, but rather we should worry about whether the blood of the dispossessed, the marginalized, the least fortunate, and the innocent is flowing in our streets and in our world,” the cardinal said.

“The blood of Bishop Januarius, let us never forget, always points to the blood of Christ, both the blood of Christ himself and the blood of the poor and the least fortunate in whom Christ lives,” he added.

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