The Church of St. Luke

Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate, president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference | Credit: Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference

, Jan 9, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Following the U.S. attack Jan. 3 on Venezuela and the capture of its president and his wife, the country is experiencing a “tense calm,” Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV and members of his College of Cardinals have begun what is a kind of synodal journey together to grow in communion and discern together "what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people."

After convening the international group of cardinals in Rome for an extraordinary consistory Jan. 7-8, the pope decided to make the gathering an annual event, however, with an additional meeting later this year.

It marked an approach that vastly expanded on what Pope Francis established after his election in 2013. Wishing for a more decentralized and listening Church, the late pope created a nine-member Council of Cardinals to help and advise him on several critical matters facing the Church, particularly the reform of the Roman Curia, by meeting at least quarterly in Rome.

Pope Leo decided he would be inviting all the world's cardinals to Rome every year for a few days, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters at a news conference after the consistory ended Jan. 8. 

College members will meet with the pope again for at least three days sometime in June, possibly around the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, and then the gathering will be held over three to four days once a year in the following years.

The College of Cardinals is made up of 245 cardinals from all over the world. About 170 of them -- about 69% -- made it to Rome after the pope's invitation Dec. 12 that they come together again for the first time since the conclave that elected him May 8.

Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, a Dominican theologian, offered a reflection Jan. 7 to help the cardinals understand their role not just as advisers to the pope, but as much-needed companions along life's way.

He recalled St. Mark's account of Jesus making his disciples go out ahead of him by boat, which encountered a "great storm."

Jesus does not want Peter or any of the disciples to go into the storm alone, he said. "This is our first obedience, to be in the barque of Peter, with his successor, as he faces the storms of our times."

Some of the storms shaking the Church, he said, include "sexual abuse and ideological division. The Lord commands us to sail out into these storms and face them truthfully, not timidly waiting on the beach. If we do so in this consistory, we shall see him coming to us. If we hide on the beach, we shall not encounter him."

However, Cardinal Radcliffe said, "If the boat of Peter is filled with disciples who quarrel, we shall be of no use to the Holy Father. If we are at peace with each other in love, even when we disagree, God will indeed be present even when he seems to be absent." 

Pope Leo emphasized the essential element of love in his opening remarks to the cardinals in the Vatican's Synod Hall Jan. 7.

"To the extent that we love one another as Christ has loved us, we belong to him, we are his community, and he can continue to draw others to himself through us. In fact, only love is credible; only love is trustworthy," he said.

"Therefore, in order to be a truly missionary Church, one that is capable of witnessing to the attractive power of Christ's love, we must first of all put into practice his commandment … 'Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,'" the pope said. Jesus underlined that it will be by a Christian's love that the world will know "that you are my disciples."

The "collegial journey" that they have begun with their first consistory, he said, would be an opportunity to reflect together on two themes of their choice out of the following four themes: the mission of the Church in today's world, especially as presented in Pope Francis' "Evangelii Gaudium"; the synod and synodality as an instrument and a style of cooperation; the service of the Holy See, especially to the local Churches; and the liturgy, the source and summit of the Christian life. The cardinals voted with "a large majority" to discuss the first two themes -- mission and synodality, Bruni told reporters. 

Following a synodal structure, the cardinals were broken into 21 groups, but nine of those groups, made up of cardinals under 80 years old, who were not resident in Rome, were asked to submit reports based on their small group discussions, which followed the Synod on Synodality's "conversation in the Spirit" method.

"I am here to listen," Pope Leo told the cardinals before they began their two days of reflection and dialogue.

"We must not arrive at a text, but continue a conversation that will help me in serving the mission of the entire Church," he said. Specifically, he wanted the groups to look at the next one or two years and consider what "priorities could guide the action of the Holy Father and of the Curia regarding each theme?"

The pope further encouraged the cardinals the next day in his homily during an early morning Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Their task, he said, was to discern what "the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people," not "to promote personal or group 'agendas.'"

Through prayer, silence, listening and sharing, he said, "we become a voice for all those whom the Lord has entrusted to our pastoral care in many different parts of the world." 

Speaking to reporters at a news conference after the consistory, Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio, archbishop of Bogotá, Colombia, said the experience "strengthened us" individually and as a group as they got to know each other better.

The pope underlined how important hope was in the life and mission of the church, he said. When Christ is at the center of one's life, proclaiming his word "fills us and the world with hope."

Cardinal Stephen Brislin, archbishop of Johannesburg, South Africa, told reporters the vast differences between cardinals -- with their different perspectives and needs -- proved to be "very enriching" and interesting, and not a source of contention. 

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of Kalookan, Philippines, told reporters the synodal format and style of the consistory "was familiar" to those who had taken part in the synodal assemblies in Rome in 2023 and 2024.

When asked if it seemed the pope was going to use their sessions to inform or contribute to any kind of papal document, Cardinal David said, "I don't know," but the pope was "taking notes very seriously so he must be up to something."

Cardinal Brislin said there is no indication that a document was the aim of the gathering, and it was more a concrete response to the cardinals' request that they meet.

Cardinal Aparicio said by listening to all the world's cardinals, the pope "listens to the different parts of the world."
 

Pope Leo to cardinals: “I am here to listen”

Pope Leo XIV told an extraordinary gathering of the College of Cardinals that he wanted to listen to their concerns and suggestions for the church during the meeting at the Vatican Jan. 7-8, 2026. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV warned diplomats of rising global volatility, fractured communication and a growing disregard for human life in his annual speech to representatives to the Holy See.

Speaking to representatives of the 184 countries that have full diplomatic relations with the Vatican, the pope expressed concern over a "weak" global approach and action among countries on certain issues, saying that "war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading."

Peace is being sought through weapons, threatening the rule of law and therefore the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence, he said in the Jan. 9 speech at the Hall of Benedictions at the Vatican.

He expressed concern about religious freedom being curtailed around the world. Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic aid organization, released its "Religious Freedom in the World Report" last year, concluding that 64.7% of the world's population lives in countries with "serious or very serious violations of religious freedom." 

He cited deadly attacks on Christian communities in Africa and the Middle East, while also warning of less visible discrimination in Europe and the Americas.

He briefly spoke about the importance of treating migrants with human dignity, an issue he has been vocal about for months, before focusing his final thoughts on the value of family and the unborn.

The pope said the Church strongly rejects "any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development."

The pope reiterated the Church's stance on abortion, including a deep concern about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called "right to safe abortion."

"It also considers it deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families," he said.

He also spoke out against surrogacy.

"By transforming gestation into a negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a 'product,' and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family," he said.

In this speech and throughout the year, the pope has spoken out on ongoing international strife, including the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza conflict and the U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

When looking at today's conflicts, he said, "we cannot ignore that the destruction of hospitals, energy infrastructure, homes and places essential to daily life constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law."

He pointed to the United Nations as a counterbalance to this trend, saying that it is the center of international cooperation that defends humanitarian rights and mediates conflict.

But, he said, one of the greatest current challenges to dialogue as a way to address conflicts is the loss of a shared understanding of language.

"Today, the meaning of words is ever more fluid and the concepts they represent are increasingly ambiguous," he said. "Language is no longer the preferred means by which human beings come to know and encounter one another."

He said that the "contortions of semantic ambiguity" are becoming "more and more a weapon with which to deceive or to strike and offend opponents." He suggested clearer, more direct language be used throughout the home, politics and the media to address these misunderstandings and to avoid conflict on a greater scale.

He went on to say that efforts to loosen or blur the meaning of words are often defended as protecting free expression, but in fact undermine it.  

"It is painful to see how, especially in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is rapidly shrinking," he said. "At the same time, a new Orwellian-style language is developing which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it."

When moral or linguistic boundaries are weakened, he said, it doesn't stop at speech, but rather it spills over into limits on basic human rights and an individual's ability to act according to their moral and religious beliefs.

"This may be the refusal of military service in the name of non-violence or the refusal on the part of doctors and health care professionals to engage in practices such as abortion or euthanasia," he said.

The pope said if a society forces moral uniformity, it risks sliding toward authoritarianism.

Pope Leo closed by saying that despite conflict found around the world, there is no shortage of signs for courage and pointed to St. Francis of Assisi.

"His life shines brightly, for it was inspired by the courage to live in truth," he said, "and the knowledge that a peaceful world is built starting with humble hearts turned toward the heavenly city."

Pope Leo decries decline of free speech

Speaking to diplomats accredited to the Holy See Jan. 9, 2026, Pope Leo XIV said that language has become increasingly ambiguous and weaponized, undermining clear realities, authentic dialogue, and diplomacy’s role in preventing conflict. (CNS video...

Artist’s sketch of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores at the New York courthouse where they appeared Jan. 5, 2025. Photos and videos are prohibited, hence this illustration, but journalists are allowed to be present. | Credit: CNN

, Jan 8, 2026 / 18:10 pm (CNA).

With Maduro’s capture, people of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua have reason to hope for change, according to the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Participants gather for worship at the MEHR conference in Augsburg, Germany, Jan. 3–6, 2026. | Credit: Andreas Thonhauser/EWTN

, Jan 8, 2026 / 15:06 pm (CNA).

The four-day MEHR conference drew participants from across the European continent to hear from international speakers, including American presenters.

Vienna Skyline with St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Austria. | Credit: mrgb/shutterstock

, Jan 8, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Austria has launched a new program for late vocations that allows the priest to also maintain his current career.

An architectural rendering shows the planned Church of the Holy Trinity in Neratovice, Czech Republic. The Noah’s Ark-inspired design by architect Zdeněk Fránek features a green roof and may become the world’s largest 3D-printed church. | Credit: The Neratovice Community Center Foundation

, Jan 8, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The church tower will be constructed using 3D printing technology, but whether the entire church will be printed is to be decided soon.

WASHINGTON - On the weekend of January 24-25 many Catholic dioceses in the United States will take the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America, which supports ministries among the poor in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

“This annual collection exemplifies the spiritual journey of Pope Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago but spent most of his ministry serving the poor in Peru,” said Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, SDV, of the Diocese of Fall River, and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America, which oversees this annual collection and the grants it funds.

During the decade that then-Bishop Robert Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, his diocese received several grants from the Collection for the Church in Latin America. With this support, the diocese improved youth ministry in impoverished parishes, promoted care for the environment and educated thousands of parents, teachers and catechists in the prevention of child abuse.

“The Second Vatican Council, which ended a dozen years before Robert Prevost entered the Augustinian order, encouraged Catholics to reach out in love across all national borders, especially those between the wealthy global north and the developing global south,” said Bishop da Cunha, a Brazilian whose diocese includes Portuguese and Spanish-speaking Catholics. “Pope Leo XIV’s faith journey embodies the spirit of why the bishops of the United States created the Church in Latin America program six decades ago to make an impact in Latin America.”

The online giving platform iGiveCatholic also accepts funds to support this work.

In 2024, gifts to the Collection for the Church in Latin America provided more than $8 million for 344 projects. Some sample projects are:

• Evangelization, faith formation and pastoral care of teenagers in the Archdiocese of Caracas, Venezuela, whose parents have migrated to work in other countries.
• Prison ministry in the notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with 10,000 severely overcrowded inmates and frequent lethal violence.
• Forming hundreds of Haitian lay leaders in marriage ministry so they can promote strong families in a society that is disintegrating from poverty and gang violence.
• A conference for 1,500 Colombians to seek peace in a six-decade civil war through evangelization that emphasizes Jesus’s command to love our enemies.
• Preparing lay leaders in the Archdiocese of Havana, Cuba, to become evangelists in their communities, despite communist repression of the Catholic faith.
• An international gathering of 130 faith leaders in Mexico City to explore the continuing importance of the Vatican II document on Scripture, Dei Verbum.

“All of these projects represent the types of initiatives that inspired Father Prevost to go to Peru as a missionary,” Bishop da Cunha said. “In supporting the Collection for the Church in Latin America, we are able to honor Pope Leo XIV and, above all, serve the Lord who calls us to love our neighbors.”

More information is at www.usccb.org/latin-america.

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Credit: Digital Storm/Shutterstock

Jan 7, 2026 / 15:04 pm (CNA).

A federal appeals court this week upheld a years-old principle of U.S. law that allows religious organizations to hire only like-minded believers as staff members.

Union Gospel Mission of Yakima, Washington, will be permitted to hire only those employees who share the group’s religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality, according to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The court’s Jan. 6 ruling said the state of Washington would be forbidden from enforcing the Washington Law Against Discrimination against the Christian group.

The mission group originally brought suit against the state in 2023, arguing that the nondiscrimination law hindered its ability to hire solely workers who agree with the group’s Christian worldview.

The “ministerial exception” generally allows religious groups to be exempt from U.S. discrimination laws when hiring for ministry roles. But in its lawsuit Union Gospel Mission sought broader relief from the state discrimination law, arguing that it wanted to ensure even “non-ministerial” employees were adhering to the Christian faith.

In its ruling, the 9th Circuit said that the principle of church autonomy, as recognized by U.S. courts, “forbids interference” with “an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself.”

“[I]n cases involving the hiring of non-ministerial employees, a religious institution may enjoy [church autonomy] when a challenged hiring decision is rooted in a sincerely held religious belief,” the court said.

Union Gospel’s hiring policy qualifies as an “internal management decision” protected by U.S. law, the court held. Allowing the state to enforce the discrimination policy “could interfere with a religious mission and drive it from the public sphere.”

The decision was hailed by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which has represented the Christian group for nearly three years. Attorney Jeremiah Galus said the court “correctly ruled that the First Amendment protects the mission’s freedom to hire fellow believers who share that calling.”

“Religious organizations shouldn’t be punished for exercising their constitutionally protected freedom to hire employees who are aligned with and live out their shared religious beliefs,” Galus said.

In a phone interview with CNA on Jan. 7, Galus said the decision represents a “pretty significant victory.”

The ministerial exception is a “somewhat unremarkable principle,” he pointed out. Yet the Washington Supreme Court had earlier ruled for a narrower interpretation of that exception, creating uncertainty around the scope of the principle there.

The 9th Circuit ruling is the “first appeals decision of its kind that holds the First Amendment allows religious orgs to operate in this way,” Galus said.

The appeals court ruling upheld a lower court’s block of the state law.

It is unclear if Washington state will appeal the decision. The Supreme Court has previously ruled broadly in favor of ministerial exceptions, including in the 2012 decision of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, in which the high court unanimously ruled that the First Amendment “prevents the government from appointing ministers” and “prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own.”

The court expanded that principle in the 2020 decision Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru when it held that religious schools are permitted to hire and fire teachers as they please under the ministerial exception.

Galus, meanwhile, pointed out that the appeals ruling extends beyond Washington state to encompass the entirety of the 9th Circuit.

The decision “affirms what we have been saying all along, which is that the First Amendment protects this right regardless of a statutory exemption,” he said.

Confessional. | Credit: Paul Lowry (CC BY 2.0)

Jan 7, 2026 / 14:34 pm (CNA).

A proposed law in Arizona could see priests facing felony charges if they fail to break the seal of confession after learning of child abuse during the sacrament.

The measure, HB 2039, was introduced in December 2025 by state Rep. Anastasia Travers. It is awaiting action in the state House after Travers prefiled it on Dec. 4.

The bill would amend the state code to require priests to report abuse learned during confession if they have “reasonable suspicion to believe that the abuse is ongoing, will continue, or may be a threat to other minors.”

Failure to report a “reportable offense” could lead to class 6 felony charges under the bill. Those charges in Arizona can lead to up to $150,000 in fines and up to two years of imprisonment.

Travers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill and why she proposed it. She previously filed a similar bill in 2023.

Lawmakers in multiple U.S. states in recent years have moved to require priests to violate the seal of confession as part of mandatory reporting laws.

One such law in Washington state suffered a dramatic defeat in July 2025 after a federal court blocked the measure on First Amendment grounds. The rule had drawn rebuke from the U.S. bishops, the White House, Orthodox church leaders, and other advocates. The state backed off the law in October 2025.

Similar measures in Delaware, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Montana have been proposed over the past few years, though none have come to pass. One such law was also proposed in Hungary in October 2025. In 2019, California lawmakers proposed and then backed off of a similar bill.

Priests are bound to never divulge what they hear in confession on pain of excommunication. Multiple priests in Church history have been martyred after they were executed for refusing to break that seal.

Church canon law dictates that it is “absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.”