The Church of St. Luke

Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. speaks at the University of Notre Dame Forum event on ‘Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life’ on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Michael Caterina / University of Notre Dame

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 18:29 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., expressed concerns about increasing political polarization in the United States and urged Americans to remember “that which binds us together as a people.”

McElroy made the comments at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 17. He spoke with University President Rev. Robert Dowd in a conversation titled “Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life.” The event was part of the university’s 2025-26 Forum on the theme “Cultivating Hope.” McElroy holds doctorates in sacred theology and political science.

“The conflict between the two parties has done, I think, terrible damage to us,” McElroy said, and noted that a “notion of warfare, of tribalism has seeped into us” when discussing political disagreements.

A person’s political beliefs, the cardinal explained, “has become shorthand now for worldview in the views of many, many people,” which he warned “is a very damaging development in our society” because it moves Americans away from focusing on a “shared purpose and meaning” when crafting political solutions. 

The United States, McElroy said, is not bound by blood or ethnicity, but rather “bound together by the aspirations of our founders.”

‘What binds us’

“What binds us is the aspirations of freedom, human dignity, care for all, the rights of all, the empowerment of all, democratic rights,” he said. “...We’re proud to be Americans because of what our country aspires to be and to do.”

McElroy said “much of this needs to take place at the parish level” to facilitate dialogue among those who disagree with each other, and argued that the founders “believed on a very deep level [that the country] could only succeed if religion flourished.”

“They believed that only religion could genuinely bring from the human heart a sense of the willingness to look past self-interest or group interest to a wider sense of what the common good is,” McElroy said.

“So for that reason, they thought religion was essential, not as a direct force in politics, certainly, or governance, but rather in contributing in the human heart and in the understanding of the issues that come forth,” he added.

Although McElroy said the Church does not have a specific political role, he said it does have “a moral role within the political and public order," which “needs to be rooted in the moral understanding.” If a political question has a moral component, the cardinal said “the Church contributes to the public debate.”

“It speaks not in terms of the politics — or it should not speak in terms of the politics — but rather solely the moral questions involved,” McElroy said.

McElroy was appointed in January of this year by Pope Francis to serve as the archbishop of the nation’s capital and assumed the position on March 11. He succeeded Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who retired.

In his installation Mass, McElroy emphasized the importance of respecting the human dignity of all people, particularly the unborn, migrants, and the poor.

A protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement features a sign that reads "Chicago Stands With Immigrant Families." The Department of Homeland Security denies ICE targeted a Chicago parish on Oct. 12, 2025. / Credit: Antwon McMullen / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 16:24 pm (CNA).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pushing back against reports of immigration enforcement officers being present outside a Chicago parish during a Spanish Mass Oct. 12. 

Videos circulated on social media of the parish priest at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Chicago warning his congregation to leave the 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass with caution. 

The priest may be heard in the video saying in Spanish, “[ICE] is in the parking lot… they are looking for people here, as well as in the north part.” The priest continued: “There is a group in front of the church that could take you away: those with babies can leave with them—you will be accompanied to your houses because I think it will be dangerous for you to drive your cars from the parking lot if you don’t have documents." 

A local Chicago NBC affiliate reported that “several neighbors showed up and formed a human chain outside the church to guide parishioners home.” 

“This protection is for all who need accompaniment,” the priest added. 

In a statement shared with CNA on Friday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: “Border Patrol did not ‘target’ this church nor were enforcement actions taken at the church.” When asked to elaborate on whether there were ICE agents present at or around the church, DHS declined to comment further. 

President Donald Trump expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year.

Recently Pope Leo XIV received letters from U.S. migrants fearing deportation. The pope encouraged U.S. bishops to firmly address the treatment of immigrants under the Trump administration’s policies.

In July, Bishop Alberto Rojas of the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, granted a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those fearing deportation.

In comments at the Union League Club on Oct. 13, Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Chicago archdiocese spoke on “the moral and ethical issues related to the mass deportation of undocumented persons happening in our country.” 

“What is in question, however, is the obligation we all have as human beings, and as a society comprised of human beings, to respect and protect the dignity of others,” Cupich said. “Keeping the nation safe and respecting human dignity are not mutually exclusive. In fact, one cannot exist without the other. It is up to citizens and communities such as  the church to raise their voices to ensure the safety of a nation does not come at the expense of violations of human dignity.”

Spokespersons for St. Jerome Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Chicago did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, NY. / Drew Proto via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 15:09 pm (CNA).

A New York man has received an $8 million settlement from the Diocese of Albany over claims that he was abused for years by a priest when he was a child. 

The Albany-based law firm LaFave, Wein, Frament & Karic said in an Oct. 16 press release that the Albany diocese agreed to pay the seven-figure sum to Michael Harmon ahead of a planned Oct. 20 jury trial. 

The law firm said Harmon had been abused repeatedly for years, starting when he was 11 years old, by Father Edward Charles Pratt. During that period, Pratt served as vice chancellor of the Albany diocese. 

Pratt is listed on the diocese’s list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. He was removed from ministry in 2002, the diocese says. 

The law firm said the diocese had “received reports about Father Pratt’s sexual abuse of children before Michael was ever abused.” The priest allegedly lived in the diocesan chancery in the same residence as then-Bishop Howard Hubbard. 

In 2021, Hubbard, who died in 2023, admitted to mishandling clergy abuse allegations based on the advice of psychiatric professionals. He was also accused of committing sexual abuse himself, and shortly before his death announced that he had entered into a civil marriage with a woman.

In the Oct. 16 release, attorney Cynthia LaFave said the “substantial” settlement from the Albany diocese nevertheless “does not erase the trauma that Michael Harmon endured.” 

“Michael will live with this for all of his life,” she said. “But Michael does know that this settlement brings out to the public this horrible abuse and the people who allowed it.”

Harmon had filed his case under the New York Child Victims Act. That law, passed in 2019, suspended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and gave abuse victims a window to file claims for decades-old crimes. 

Harmon’s lawyers said he had originally tried to settle his claim in March 2025 but that the diocese’s insurance companies “refused to respond to his offer.”

The Albany diocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Oct. 17. 

The Diocese of Albany filed for bankruptcy in 2023, arguing like many dioceses in the U.S. that financial reorganization would help provide some compensation for hundreds of sex abuse victims who filed lawsuits against it. 

In July hundreds of clergy abuse victims agreed to a massive $246 million settlement from the Diocese of Rochester, New York after years of wrangling in U.S. bankruptcy court.

In August, meanwhile, a federal bankruptcy court accepted the Diocese of Syracuse, New York’s $176 million abuse settlement plan.

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 14:38 pm (CNA).

On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump announced new efforts to expand access to IVF, which includes a deal with EMD Serono, a subsidiary of the Germany-based pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA, to slash the cost of some fertility drugs, as well as issuing guidance to employers to offer fertility benefits directly to employees similar to vision or dental coverage, though not mandating any employers to participate.

While the Catholic Church encourages certain fertility treatments for couples struggling to conceive children, the use of IVF is contrary to Catholic teaching. Here’s why:

What is IVF? 

IVF is a medical procedure that fuses sperm and egg typically in a laboratory environment in order to conceive a child outside of the sexual act. The live embryo is then later implanted into a uterus to continue developing until birth. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, IVF is typically used as a “treatment for infertility” that “also can be used to prevent passing on genetic problems to a child.” 

Is the Catholic Church against IVF? 

Yes. While the Church encourages certain fertility treatments for couples struggling to conceive, the Church makes distinctions among these treatments and teaches that the use of IVF is not morally acceptable.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2377) states that IVF is “morally unacceptable” because it separates the marriage act from procreation and establishes “the domination of technology” over human life. 

According to Joseph Meaney, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the 1987 Vatican document Donum Vitae established the moral framework for Catholics with regard to IVF.

Donum Vitae said that “the gift of human life must be actualized in marriage through the specific and exclusive acts of husband and wife, in accordance with the laws inscribed in their persons and in their union.” 

This teaching, Meaney told CNA, laid out a “fundamental distinction” between treatments meant to assist the marital act in conceiving a child versus treatments that replace the marital act. 

Donum Vitae compares IVF to abortion, saying that “through these procedures, with apparently contrary purposes, life and death are subjected to the decision of man, who thus sets himself up as the giver of life and death by decree.”

Meaney explained that in IVF “there’s an objectification of the child because essentially they’re producing children almost on an industrial scale.” 

“It’s treating the human person not as a gift but rather as an object to be created and that can be subjected to quality control and discarded.” 

How does IVF separate sex from procreation? 

An IVF pregnancy is achieved through the removal of some of a woman’s eggs, collected by inducing what is called “superovulation,” where a drug is administered so the woman releases multiple eggs in one cycle. The eggs are combined with a man’s sperm retrieved through masturbation. 

Ultimately, IVF involves the use of artificial means to achieve pregnancy outside of the marriage act. The Church holds that this disassociation is contrary to the dignity of parents and children. 

Donum Vitae says that because conception through IVF is “brought about outside the bodies of the couple through actions of third parties,” such fertilization “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person.” 

“Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the human person,” Donum Vitae teaches. 

Are children harmed through IVF? 

During the IVF process, multiple human embryos are made and then evaluated in a “grading” process that determines their cellular “quality.” There are multiple grading methods that IVF providers use to examine embryos with an eye for which may be the most suitable for implantation into the uterus.

Almost half of the human embryos created through IVF are “discarded” during the process, according to the Center for Genetics and Society. This has led to millions of human embryos being discarded, something that in the Church’s eyes amounts to the killing of millions of innocent lives.

Additionally, the use of IVF has resulted in a surplus of an estimated 1 million human embryos being kept frozen in laboratories across the country where they are often stored indefinitely or destroyed in embryonic scientific research. 

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on February 2024 that frozen human embryos are human children under state statute. The 8-1 ruling said that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation” and “regardless of their location.” This ruling was not part of a federal case and only affected the law within Alabama..

Isn't 'more children' good? 

The Church supports a married couple’s desire for children, and calls chilren a gift from God and "the supreme gift of marriage" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No.1652). The problem arises when that desire leads couples to seek children by any means.  

John Di Camillo, an ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, explained to CNA that “we cannot do evil that good may come.”

“The Church teaches that children have a right to be conceived, gestated, born, and raised within marriage,” he said. “Each human person is in the image and likeness of God, made by God — a body-soul unity of infinite value to be welcomed, loved, and cherished rather than forcibly produced.”

What alternatives to IVF are there for Catholics? 

The Catechism teaches that “research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged” (No. 2375).

According to Donum Vitae, fertility treatments meant to replace the marriage act are morally wrong while those meant to assist it in conceiving life may be permitted. 

Methods such as natural procreative technology (NaPro Technology), which focus on treating the underlying bodily or hormonal issues causing infertility rather than attempting to skirt around them, are considered morally licit by the Church.

According to Veritas Fertility & Surgery, NaPro Technology treatments often involve medications to improve ovulation and hormone levels for a woman as well as “improve sperm count or quality” for men. NaPro Technology can also involve surgical interventions aimed at restoring the natural procreative functions of the body.

The Church also encourages couples to use natural family planning (NFP), which tracks the fertile and infertile cycles of a woman’s body to either achieve or postpone pregnancy. There are multiple NFP tracking methods such as the Creighton Model Fertility Care System and Billings Ovulation Method that are considered licit by the Church.

“The Church supports married couples struggling with the cross of infertility by encouraging medical interventions to heal the couple, restoring their health and fertility so they are more likely to receive the gift of a child through sexual intercourse,” Di Camillo explained.  

This article was first published on Feb. 28, 2025 and has been updated.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks at the USCCB fall plenary assembly Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: USCCB video

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 14:08 pm (CNA).

Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio expressed concern about the U.S. Army canceling certain chapel contracts, which he warned “disproportionately harms Catholics.” 

In a pastoral letter also sent to all members of Congress, Broglio wrote that many in the Army who attend Mass and participate in faith formation may have noticed “contract services and contractor offices were dark and music was absent during Mass” beginning on Oct. 5, 2025.

He said this was not a result of the ongoing 16-day government shutdown, but was instead caused by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command’s decision to cancel all chapel contracts for Coordinators of Religious Education (CRE), Catholic Pastoral Life Coordinators (CPLC), and musician contracts in the Army. 

Broglio wrote that these contracts for musicians, administrators, and religious educators “served the faith communities at military chapels” and have been essential to assist Catholic priest chaplains in their duties. 

The archdiocese, he wrote, “has been especially dependent upon the professional skills and theological training of CREs, who under the guidance of the priest, oversee the daily needs of religious education, coordinate catechist certification training for the thousands of men and women who volunteer as catechists, and ensure that proper materials are prepared and procured.”

“In canceling these contracts, the Army over-burdens Catholic chaplains, harms chapel communities, and impedes the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of religion especially for Catholics,” Broglio wrote.

“The cancellation of chapel contracts may appear to be a neutral elimination of chapel support which itself affects the free exercise of religion for all soldiers,” he said. “However, this action disproportionately harms Catholics, first, because Catholic chaplains are already so low density and in such high demand, and second because the Catholic faith requires continuing religious education and sacramental preparation that can only be accomplished through competent support.”

Broglio cited a RAND report saying, “There are approximately six Protestant chaplains for every 1,000 Protestant soldiers, and approximately one Catholic chaplain for every 1,000 Catholic soldiers.” 

A U.S. Army spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter's Square on September 28, 2025. / Vatican Media screenshot

CNA Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has responded to a letter from a grieving father with the encouragement that “death never has the last word.”

null / Credit: NMKStudio@Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).

A federal judge in California will allow a class action lawsuit to proceed for potentially millions of parents and teachers regarding school district rules that hide child “gender transitions” from parents. 

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled Oct. 15 that the lawsuit Mirabelli v. Olson will proceed as a class action, becoming what the Thomas More Society said is potentially “one of the largest civil rights class actions” in California history. 

Peter Breen, the head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm, said in the group’s Oct. 16 press release that parents have a “fundamental right” to direct their children’s education and moral upbringing, and that California school officials “cannot override that right by keeping parents in the dark about major issues and developments in their child’s life.” 

In his ruling, Benitez said the lawsuit satisfies the criteria for class action status. School districts in California, he said, “are ultimately state agents under state control,” and thus the issue of settling “statewide policy” means the class action structure is “superior to numerous individual actions by individual parents and teachers.”

The class action ruling comes ahead of a Nov. 17 hearing in the same court, one that the Thomas More Society says may “potentially deliver a final ruling” on the dispute, including whether secretive school transgender policies violate parents’ constitutional rights. 

“Parents should never be treated as strangers in their own children’s lives,” Breen said. 

The legal group said the suit will now represent “all California parents and teachers affected by school district policies that conceal children’s gender transitions from their families.” 

Those policies have been at the center of ongoing debate over transgenderism and gender ideology in recent years. LGBT advocates and school leaders around the country have argued that teachers and school administrators should be permitted to exclude parents from knowing if their children begin “identifying” as the opposite sex. 

Activists have also argued that school officials should be allowed to facilitate child “gender transitions” without informing parents. 

Rules allowing teachers to hide such sensitive information from parents have come under fire from advocates in recent years, including the Trump administration. 

In February the White House launched an investigation into five school districts in northern Virginia to determine whether their transgender policies violated executive orders forbidding schools from facilitating “gender transitions.”

In 2023, meanwhile, Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued directives affirming that parents in the state would enjoy broad oversight of their children while they are enrolled in public schools, reversing earlier rules that allowed teachers to keep children’s transgender “identities” secret from parents.

U.S. Catholic bishops urged Congress to end the federal government shutdown, but only if lawmakers ensure that tax credits are not used for abortions. / Credit: Traci L. Clever/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C., Oct 17, 2025 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

America’s Catholic bishops are urging Congress to end the nearly three-week federal government shutdown by extending taxpayer subsidies that lower health insurance costs under the Affordable Care Act — but only if lawmakers ensure that the so-called Obamacare tax credits are not used for abortions or other procedures that violate Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life.

"The premium tax credits established by the ACA are an important tool for ensuring affordable access to health care for millions of Americans by lowering their premiums on the ACA marketplaces; but they also fund health insurance plans that cover elective abortion," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote in an Oct. 10 letter to members of Congress. The enhanced premium tax credits "should be extended but must not continue to fund plans that cover the destruction of human life, which is antithetical to authentic health care."  

The letter marked the strongest indication yet that while the bishops’ conference largely agrees with congressional Democrats that Obamacare subsidies should be extended beyond their year-end expiration, it will oppose any deal that allows the premium tax credits to fund insurance plans that pay for abortions.

The bishops said U.S. health care policy should ensure that “all vulnerable people — born and preborn” — have access to affordable, comprehensive, and high-quality health care. Church leaders said such a policy would both extend the enhanced premium tax credits sought by Democrats and “apply full Hyde Amendment protections.”

The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1977, prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.

With its letter, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops entered the nearly three-week-long political battle between Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans over how to resolve the standoff over reopening the federal government, which has been shuttered since Oct. 1. 

The critical divide between Democrats and Republicans centers on enhanced premium tax credits that, Democrats argue, help Americans pay their premiums purchased through the Obamacare insurance marketplaces. Democrats say that without a deal to extend the premium subsidies, Americans will see their insurance costs skyrocket over the next several weeks.

The Affordable Care Act, since it was enacted in 2010, has provided premium subsidies for people below certain income levels. In 2021, however, during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden and a Democratic-controlled Congress said they were temporarily expanding ACA premium subsidies to increase the amount of government assistance to cover more people during the coronavirus emergency. Later, in August 2022, Biden and congressional Democrats again extended the enhanced subsidies for a period of three years, with the heightened tax benefits expiring at the end of 2025. Congressional Democrats now say they want again to extend enhanced health care premiums before open enrollment for Obamacare insurance plans starts on Nov. 1. 

Republicans counter, however, saying the enhanced premium credits were intended only to be a temporary emergency measure during the pandemic. They say more debate and discussion of details is needed to negotiate a long-term solution to the question of how best to enact enhanced ACA premium subsidies.

Republican leaders say Democrats are not interested in a bipartisan agreement. Instead, GOP leaders suggest Democrats are exploiting the issue to justify continuing the government shutdown to hurt President Donald Trump’s approval ratings ahead of the 2026 congressional midterm elections.

Republicans instead are calling on Democrats to help GOP lawmakers pass a “clean" continuing resolution that would immediately fund and reopen the government until at least Nov. 21. Only then, Republicans say they will sit down with congressional Democrats to negotiate proposals to improve and extend the enhanced federal premiums.

Democrats, however, have repeatedly rejected that approach, providing little hope the stalemate will end soon. On Thursday, Senate Democrats for the10th time since the onset of the shutdown used the so-called 60-vote rule — which allows a minority of senators to block legislation through a filibuster — to refuse to back a continuing resolution passed largely along party lines by the GOP-led House on Sept. 19. The vote to reopen the government with a short-term, GOP-backed stopgap measure was 51-45, well short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill. 

Three non-Republican senators — Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, along with Sen. Angus S. King Jr. of Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats — voted to end the shutdown. One Republican – Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky – voted with Democrats in rejecting the GOP-backed funding bill to reopen the government. Four senators did not vote.

With both sides seemingly unwilling to budge, some Catholic health ministries and neighborhood relief organizations say the true victims of the impasse are vulnerable communities across the country.

Catholic Health Association also applying pressure

“The shutdown and standoff are just causing pain across the country, and both sides need to come together and do their jobs to fund and run the government,” said Lisa A. Smith, vice president for advocacy and public policy for the Catholic Health Association of the United States. “The longer this drags on, the more difficult it is for our Catholic facilities to care for everyone.” She said it is “critical” that Congress act to extend the ACA premium tax credits before open enrollment begins on Nov. 1.

In a break with the U.S. bishops’ stance, Smith said there are already “adequate protections in the current law to ensure taxpayers are not paying for abortions.” She said the laws already on the books prohibit the use of federal funds, “including premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions, to pay for abortion services except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment—as defined by the Hyde Amendment.”

Pope Francis with Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery of Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, at the consistory in St. Peter's Basilica, Aug. 27, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Cardinal Arthur Roche, who leads the Vatican’s administrative body on the liturgy, encouraged American parishes to better familiarize themselves with Pope Francis’ guidelines on the Mass and ensure the former pontiff’s writings inform the liturgical formation of clergy and parishioners.

Roche, who has served as prefect for the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments since 2021, offered the recommendations at a three-day meeting of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions (FDLC).

“Pope Francis did not set out to give a systematic treatment of liturgical formation,” Roche told the more-than 230 participants in the meeting, according to an Oct. 15 FDLC news release.

“What he was wishing to do was to take the Church by the hand and lead her toward the center of the mystery we celebrate, towards the heart of Christ which burns with his ardent desire that we should draw nigh, take his Body and drink his Blood, to worship the Father with hearts and minds made new through having been washed in the blood of the Lamb,” he said.

Roche said the celebration of the Mass must be “grounded in the Paschal Mystery of Christ” and he reaffirmed Francis’ 2017 comments that “the liturgical reform [of the Second Vatican Council] is irreversible.” He quoted Francis’s 2017 apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi and said the document should be “more widely available to parishes” and there should be more help to “organize guided readings of it.”

In that document, the Holy Father wrote that “every aspect of the celebration must be carefully tended to,” including the space, time, gestures, words, objects, vestments, song, and music. He wrote: “Such attention would be enough to prevent robbing from the assembly what is owed to it; namely, the paschal mystery celebrated according to the ritual that the Church sets down.”

Roche said: “The depth and breadth of his liturgical vision offers us countless opportunities to pause for reflection in order to appreciate the great gift that has been handed onto us in the liturgical books.”

“I do not hesitate to encourage you to be bold, but always charitable in promoting the unique lex orandi [law of prayer] of the Roman Rite,” he said. “Discourses on the liturgy that lack a spirit of charity come from a spirit other than that of Christ.”

The FDLC was established by the American bishops in 1969 to assist in implementing liturgical reforms that stemmed from the Second Vatican Council and continues to train clergy and laity. The 56th annual national meeting was held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in Baltimore, Maryland.

FDLC Executive Director Rita Thiron told CNA the document is a “beautiful, beautiful text” and that the FDLC offers a study guide for parishes that offers discussion questions and reflections on the document. She noted that the document explains how modern man has lost the ability to associate with symbols and that it “encouraged us to use symbols more ritually,” such as more abundant water at baptisms.

She pointed out that the liturgy offers spiritual formation for all those gathered, and that when clergy celebrates Mass properly, “people will be in tune better to the rich text and rich theology contained in the liturgy.”

Father Anthony Ruff, a theology professor at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary who focuses on liturgical music, told CNA that Roche “has made an excellent suggestion” and called Desiderio Desideravi “a beautifully written and inspirational document.” 

“It helps all of us understand the Church’s vision of liturgy based on the Second Vatican Council — especially how the reformed liturgy can be the living source for our entire prayer life and our Christian discipleship,” he said. 

Traditional Latin Mass not discussed at length

Roche did not discuss Francis’ restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass at length, but he did promote the documents that speak to those restrictions.

Francis penned Desiderio Desideravi a year after issuing the 2016 motu proprio Traditionis custodes, which restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Ruff said the second letter “follows naturally upon” those restrictions “for those who still struggle to accept the Church’s official liturgy as it was reformed after Vatican II.”

In Desiderio Desideravi, Francis said non-acceptance of the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms “distracts us from the obligation of finding responses to the question that I come back to repeating: how can we grow in our capacity to live in full the liturgical action? How do we continue to let ourselves be amazed at what happens in the celebration under our very eyes?”

Francis wrote that it would be “trivial” to see the tensions about the Traditional Latin Mass “as a simple divergence between different tastes concerning a particular ritual form.” He wrote that he does not understand how one can recognize the validity of the council “and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform.”

When asked whether Roche commented about whether Pope Leo XIV will follow Francis in the restrictions or make any adjustments, Thiron said: “He did not speak to that at all.”

Thiron said Roche alluded to “the role of the council that would not be reversed” and that Roche “noted that Desiderio Desideravi was a follow-up to Traditionis custodes to encourage people to better understand the liturgy better as it is and as the council intended it to be.”

Churches in Jerusalem. / Credit: Amizor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Jerusalem church leaders welcome Gaza ceasefire

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem has hailed the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange, describing it as a “first real step toward ending the war,” CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported Oct. 16. 

The statement thanked the international community, particularly mediators at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, for helping secure the deal and called for rapid humanitarian access to food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.

The church leaders also voiced alarm over growing violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, insisting that peace talks must lead to an independent Palestinian state living in safety beside Israel. They praised Christians in Gaza for their steadfast faith, calling the communities of St. Porphyrius Orthodox and Holy Family Catholic churches “a living witness of hope amid suffering.”

Tokyo archbishop calls for end to death penalty

Cardinal Isao Kikuchi, archbishop of Tokyo, is calling on Japan to abolish the death penalty and grant clemency to two men charged with murder, according to a report by Crux. 

“The Catholic Church in Japan opposes capital punishment, calling for the protection of all life as a gift from the Creator. The Church urges the government to abolish the death penalty and reform the Japanese criminal justice system,” the cardinal said, adding: “I fundamentally believe that if we uphold the value of human life and dignity, we must not employ the same method as the criminals by taking a life away.” 

Protests in Cameroon overshadow presidential election despite bishops’ call for peace

Despite repeated appeals by Catholic bishops for peace and transparency ahead of Cameroon’s presidential elections, protests reportedly erupted in some cities in the country, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Oct. 16.

In the country’s capital of Douala, angry demonstrators accused authorities of electoral fraud in the Oct. 12 vote. This comes after members of the Cameroon bishops’ conference called on authorities to address any electoral insecurities they said could possibly mar the country’s presidential elections. 

“Every human life is sacred and must be protected. It is everyone’s duty to ensure that the sanctity of human life is preserved before, during, and after the upcoming elections,” they said, adding: “We call on the competent authorities of the Republic to use their powers to prevent electoral insecurity and ensure a favorable environment, free from fear and intimidation.” 

Results for the election are expected by Oct. 26. 

Pope Leo XIV meets Jordan’s King Abdullah II: a renewed friendship

Pope Leo XIV welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Rania to the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City this week, their first meeting since the pope’s election earlier this year, ACI MENA reported Oct. 14. 

The encounter reaffirmed the long-standing friendship between the Holy See and the Hashemite Kingdom, centered on interfaith dialogue and shared concern for peace in the Middle East. The visit comes as King Abdullah tours Europe, including Italy, Hungary, and Slovenia, for talks on regional stability. 

Observers note that the strong personal rapport once shared between Pope Francis and the Jordanian monarch is likely to continue under Pope Leo, whose pontificate has already signaled continuity in humanitarian outreach and mutual respect.

Korean Catholics call on government to protect workers under new law

Catholic officials are welcoming a change to Korea’s labor laws that will help protect workers by strengthening unions and adding protections for workers in Korea’s segmented labor market, according to an Oct. 15 report from UCA News. 

“Nothing is more important than the happiness, well-being, and protection of the lives of workers and their families, so it is natural for the Church to stand on the side of workers,” said Father Alexander Lee Young-hoon, the Bishops’ Conference of Korea’s secretary of labor.

“When the Church speaks out on labor and social issues, many believers perceive it as a political stance,” said John Park Young-ki, attorney and member of the Seoul Archdiocese Labor Ministry Committee. “The path of a Church that stands with the poor and the vulnerable, as Pope Francis has said, is not to follow secular logic but to show concern for the vulnerable.”

Germany names its head of foreign intelligence service as ambassador to Holy See

Pope Leo XIV received Bruno Kahl, Germany’s new ambassador to the Holy See, on Oct. 11, according to a Vatican press bulletin. 

Kahl presented Leo with his credential letters during the meeting, marking the official start of his post. The new ambassador has been in Rome for several weeks, according to reports, and previously met with Leo during a private audience with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. During his stint as head of German intelligence, Kahl was in Ukraine when Russia invaded at the start of the war and had to be evacuated by special forces from the country via car, according to several reports.