The Church of St. Luke

Bishop Chad W. Zielinski of New Ulm, Minnesota. / Credit: Diocese of Fairbanks

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 15:38 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) allocated more than $7.8 million to strengthen American mission dioceses, which are dioceses that cannot sustain themselves without additional funds.

The USCCB Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions announced the grants on Dec. 1, which will provide 69 dioceses and eparchies with funds for the 2025-2026 budget year, according to a news release. The subcommittee reviewed the grant requests in the fall.

Per the news release, the funds were generated through collections from parishioners during the Catholic Home Missions appeal, which is taken up annually throughout the country. Many mission dioceses are in regions with small Catholic populations and in rural areas that are affected by economic hardship, the bishops said in the announcement.

“When parishioners contribute to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, they bring faith, hope, and love where it is most needed, regardless the amount of their gift,” Bishop Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, Minnesota, subcommittee chair, said in a statement.

“Their gifts have a profound, positive impact on Catholics who face poverty or the isolation of being a small, minority faith,” he said.

The recipients include the Diocese of Rapid City’s Standing Rock Reservation Ministry, which serves the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Three Franciscan sisters and one priest lead the team to provide home visitations and faith formation, which cares for 500 Catholics at four parishes and offers social support and accompaniment to 8,000 other residents, according to the bishops.

Recipients include the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, for its Office of Deliverance Ministry, which provides prayers of deliverance for those with spiritual struggles. 

Another recipient is the Syro-Malankara Eparchy of St. Mary Queen of Peace, which has 24 priests that serve 11,000 parishioners but has no paid lay staff. The grant supports a youth summer camp, retreats, family conventions, and vocational discernment.

“These stories reveal the wide range of spiritual and financial needs that the Catholic Home Missions Appeal addresses,” Zielinski said. 

“Parishioners in mission dioceses already give sacrificially from their limited means,” he added. “My prayer is that their example of faith will inspire the rest of us [to] dig deeper to help our neighbors carry out the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us,” Zielinski said. 

The cathedral in Zagreb, Croatia. / Credit: Fogcatcher/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2025 / 13:33 pm (CNA).

Police in Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb suspect that a nun stabbed herself and then falsely reported that she had been attacked, according to a police report.

St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown, Ohio. / Credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2025 / 13:03 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, and one of its Catholic high schools are facing multiple lawsuits over the alleged mishandling of multiple reports of bullying and student-led abuse.

Of the four lawsuits, three were filed in federal district court and the fourth was filed in a county court of common pleas. They allege that Ursuline High School in Youngstown failed to prevent the bullying and harassment of several students.

In the federal lawsuits, attorneys allege that Ursuline ignored multiple instances of harassment and bullying from the school’s football players. Ursuline was aware of the abuse, the suits claim, though administrators allegedly did nothing in order to protect “the glory of [the school’s] football team.”

One suit alleges that a football player engaged in protracted sexual harassment and eventually physical abuse of a young female student, including “asking [her] for sex and nude photos” and eventually allegedly dragging her across the grass to give her “turf burn.”

In another suit, several football players are alleged to have “harassed, bullied, and ridiculed” a student identified in the filing as gay. The alleged victim is alleged to have reported the abuse to school officials, who reportedly “failed to stop or address the misconduct.”

Another suit claims football players participated in “hazing, physical and sexual abuse, kidnapping, production and dissemination of child pornography, and theft,” including an incident in which multiple players allegedly stripped a classmate nude, physically abused him, and recorded the attack to post on social media platform Snapchat.

A fourth lawsuit, filed by the mother of an Ursuline student in Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas, alleges that officials with the school knew ahead of time of a student’s intent to attack her daughter but did not take steps to prevent it, leading to the daughter allegedly being violently assaulted in the school cafeteria.

The three federal suits allege violations of Title IX education rules, while the suit in county court claims violations of Ohio law.

A spokeswoman for the Youngstown Diocese pointed to an earlier statement from Bishop David Bonnar on the suits. The prelate said the diocese was “deeply saddened” by the allegations. He added leaders in the diocese “will do their best and are doing their best to work through this.” 

Ursuline High School, meanwhile, pledged in a statement to “allow the legal process to proceed” regarding the four lawsuits.

“That said, the incidents in question were reviewed in detail at the time, and Ursuline High School is confident that all appropriate actions were taken by faculty and staff members,” the school said.

“In particular, there is no evidence that Ursuline failed or was derelict in any of its child protection duties,” the statement added, arguing that the allegations of dereliction appear to be “baseless and completely without merit.”

Subodh Chandra, whose law firm is representing the plaintiffs in the suits, said in a statement on his firm’s website that the suits indicate “a deep and pervasive culture of protecting Ursuline’s image, particularly its athletic program, above the sacred duty to protect children.”

“Our clients all continue to ask: How do these administrators still have jobs? Why has the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown done nothing to hold Ursuline’s administration accountable?” Chandra said.

The suits are seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages from the defendants.

The faceless Nativity scene in Brussels, Belgium, in November 2025. / Credit: Maxim Van den Bossche

Brussels, Belgium, Dec 2, 2025 / 10:08 am (CNA).

Faceless cloth Nativity figures on Brussels’ Grand Place have sparked international debate over Christian tradition versus inclusive art.

Three Augustinian nuns (pictured on Sept. 16, 2025) fled their nursing home and returned to their convent in Austria. / Credit: Courtesy of Nonnen_Goldenstein

EWTN News, Dec 2, 2025 / 09:14 am (CNA).

Three Austrian nuns have rejected a compromise to remain at Goldenstein Monastery, escalating a yearslong dispute that now goes to Rome.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM LEBANON (CNS) -- At the end of his first foreign trip as pope, a trip focused on dialogue, Pope Leo XIV said the examples of friendship and respect he had seen could be a helpful example for people in North America and Europe, too.

For example, the stories of Christians and Muslims helping each other in Lebanon when their villages were destroyed, he said, offer the lesson that "we should perhaps be a little less fearful and look for ways of promoting authentic dialogue and respect," the pope told reporters Dec. 2 during his flight back to Rome from Lebanon.

Often, fear of Muslims in the West is "generated by people who are against immigration and are trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race," he said. "In that sense, I would say that we all need to work together."

Pope Leo set off from Rome to Turkey Nov. 27 and headed to Lebanon Nov. 30. On the way home, he spent more than 25 minutes responding to reporters' questions.

Topics ranged from his election to future trips and from Venezuela to Ukraine. 

After his repeated appeals throughout the trip for an end to violence in the Middle East, violence that includes attacks on Israel by Hezbollah militants and attacks on Lebanon by Israel targeting the militants, the U.S.-born Pope Leo was asked if he would "use his connections" with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to promote peace in the region.

"I believe sustainable peace is achievable," the pope said. "In fact, I've already, in a very small way, begun a few conversations with some leaders of places you mentioned," he told the reporter.

The Vatican's diplomatic efforts, though, take place mostly "behind the scenes," he said. The important thing is that those involved in armed conflict silence their weapons and sit at the same table to negotiate peace. 

On the question of Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed peace plan, which was drafted without the input of European members of NATO, Pope Leo said he was happy to see that revisions to the plan already were being made to include Europe's concerns.

Asked about the ongoing tensions between Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Pope Leo said the Vatican is in contact with "the bishops and the nuncio" in trying to find ways "to calm the situation," especially because the people suffering most are the simple citizens of Venezuela.

However, Pope Leo also noted that "the voices coming from the United States keep changing," alternating between ultimatums to Maduro and the occasional softening of the rhetoric.

"I don't know more," the pope said, but it is always better to seek the path of dialogue.

Responding to another question about dialogue and friendship, Pope Leo said his episcopal motto, "In Illo Uno Unum," literally "In the One, we are one," is an obvious reference to the unity found with faith in Christ. 

But it also is "an invitation to all of us and to others to say, 'The more we can promote authentic unity and understanding, respect and human relationships -- so friendship and dialogue in the world -- the greater possibility there is that we will put aside the arms of war," the pope said.

When people learn to "leave aside the distrust, the hatred, the animosity that has so often been built up," he said, "we will find ways to come together and be able to promote authentic peace and justice."

As far as the conclave that elected him May 8, the pope said he holds "very strictly" to the secrecy of the election process.

The day before the conclave began, he said, a reporter stopped him on the street and asked what he thought about people saying he was a candidate.

"I simply said, 'Everything is in the hands of God,' and I believe that profoundly," the pope said.

Pope Leo said people who want to understand him should read the book "The Practice of the Presence of God" by an author known only as Brother Lawrence; it has influenced his spirituality for years, he said. The premise is "one simply gives his life to the Lord and allows the Lord to lead."

"In the midst of great challenges, living in Peru during years of terrorism, being called to serve in places where I never thought I'd be called to serve, I trust in God," he said.

"When I saw how things were going" in the conclave, he said, "I took a deep breath. I said, 'Here we go, Lord. You are in charge, and you lead the way.'" 

As for the crowds that gather in Rome and turned out on the trip, Pope Leo said he knows they are coming to see him, "but I say to myself, 'They are here because they want to see Jesus Christ, and they want to see a messenger of peace.'"

The enthusiasm, especially of young people, "is awe-inspiring," he said, "and I just hope I never tire of appreciating" that.

As for future papal trips, he said, there is nothing "certain" yet, but he hopes his next trip will be to Africa, including Algeria where St. Augustine served as bishop and where he still "is very respected as a son of the nation."

"Just to confirm," he said: "Africa. Africa. Africa."

Rumors had been flying that he would head to Peru, where he had served as a missionary and bishop for 20 years, and to Argentina and Uruguay, countries that had been promised a visit by Pope Francis.

"But the plan still has not been finalized," he said.
 

A screenshot from the Vancouver video in which Alissa Golob recorded her conversation with a health care worker at BC Women’s Hospital. / Credit: RightNow YouTube/B.C. Catholic

Vancouver, Canada, Dec 1, 2025 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

Alissa Golob, co-founder of RightNow, posed as an undecided pregnant woman in abortion facilities in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary in 2023.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions convened this fall to review grant requests for the 2025-2026 year. The subcommittee awarded more than $7.8 million in grants for 69 dioceses and eparchies. These grants are made possible through the generosity of the Catholic faithful to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, an annual collection taken in many U.S. dioceses.

Home mission dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies are found across the United States and its territories, many in regions with small Catholic populations in rural areas affected by economic hardship. Grants from the subcommittee help mission dioceses here in the U.S. support parish and diocesan operations, as well as ministries of evangelization, catechesis, and healing that grow and strengthen the Church.

“When parishioners contribute to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal, they bring faith, hope and love where it is most needed, regardless the amount of their gift. Their gifts have a profound, positive impact on Catholics who face poverty or the isolation of being a small, minority faith,” said Bishop Chad Zielinski of New Ulm, chairman of the Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions.

Among the recipients:

• The Diocese of Rapid City’s Standing Rock Reservation Ministry conducts home visitation and parish faith formation activities led by three Franciscan sisters and a priest who serve members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The ministry team cares for about 500 Catholics at four parishes on the 2.3 million acre reservation, while offering accompaniment and social support to 8,000 other residents of all faiths.
• The Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, received a grant for its Office of Deliverance Ministry to provide spiritual and emotional care for those who experience spiritual wounds and oppression by sin. This ministry receives more than 100 visits a month from people seeking spiritual liberation and healing through prayers of deliverance and the sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick.
• The Syro-Malankara Eparchy of St. Mary Queen of Peace traces its roots to the missionary work of St. Thomas the Apostle in India, but its 24 priests serve about 11,000 parishioners across the United States. Although the eparchy (the term for an Eastern Catholic diocese) has no paid lay staff, the grant empowers a wide range of ministry, including a youth summer camp, retreats, family conventions and vocational discernment.

“These stories reveal the wide range of spiritual and financial needs that the Catholic Home Missions Appeal addresses,” Bishop Zielinski said. “Parishioners in mission dioceses already give sacrificially from their limited means. My prayer is that their example of faith will inspire the rest of us dig deeper to help our neighbors carry out the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us.”

For more information on Catholic Home Missions, please see:https://www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-home-missions 

For those who have not yet donated but wish to support this work, #iGiveCatholic accepts funds for the Catholic Home Missions program.

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HARISSA, Lebanon (CNS) -- At a shrine topped by a 28-foot-tall statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV listened to stories of unshakable faith amid war, injustice and suffering.

The pope began Dec. 1 at the tomb of St. Charbel at the Monastery of St. Maron in Annaya, a place known for its atmosphere of silent prayer, especially in difficult moments.

Despite intermittent rain, thousands of people gathered along the road leading to the monastery, tossing rose petals or rice as a sign of welcome.

After entrusting the Catholics of Lebanon and the entire country to St. Charbel's care, Pope Leo went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa and listened, like St. Charbel often did, to the cries of people's hearts. 

Father Youhanna-Fouad Fahed, a married Maronite Catholic priest and pastor of a parish near the Syrian border, spoke first. His village welcomed Syrian refugees from the war that began in 2011 and was repeatedly struck by shelling from the Syrian side of the border. In December 2024, when the Syrian civil war officially ended, more refugees came.

"The collection bag during Sunday Mass revealed to me a first, silent cry: I noticed Syrian currency inside: It was an offering mingled with pain," Father Fahed told the pope.

"Alone, feeling my people's suffering smothered by fear, the misery concealed by the shame of asking for help, I went in search of them," the priest said. Some told him they had fled to protect their daughters from forced marriage, and many arrived in Lebanon hoping to eventually migrate to Europe, even if that meant "entrusting their dreams to migrant smugglers who stole their savings."

All Father Fahed asked of Pope Leo was a word of comfort so the people would not feel forgotten and alone.

Sister Dima Chebib is a member of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and director of a school in Baalbeck, which is considered by many to be a stronghold of the Hezbollah militia and has been struck repeatedly by Israeli shelling in the past year.

While many people fled the town, she said, the priests and religious of the Melkite Catholic diocese "decided to stay and welcome the refugee families -- Christian and Muslim -- who came seeking safety and peace. We shared bread, fear and hope. We lived together, prayed together and supported one another in fraternity and trust."

"In the heart of war," she told the pope, "I discovered the peace of Christ. And I give thanks to God for this grace of remaining, loving and serving to the end."

Loren Capobres, who came to Lebanon from the Philippines as a domestic worker and now works with Jesuit Refugee Service, described the people she helps as "people who had left everything behind -- broken not just by war, but by betrayal and abandonment."

Vincentian Father Charbel Fayad, a prison chaplain, told the pope of the repentance and conversion of prisoners who are amazed anyone cares enough to minister to them.

"Even in the darkness of the cells, the light of Christ never goes out," Father Fayad said.

Pope Leo responded to the testimonies by saying that just as for St. Charbel in the 19th century, so today "it is in being with Mary at the foot of Jesus' cross that our prayer -- that invisible bridge which unites hearts -- gives us the strength to continue to hope and work, even when surrounded by the sound of weapons and when the very necessities of daily life become a challenge."

Father Toni Elias, the Maronite pastor of Rmaych, near the Israeli border, did not speak to the pope, but told reporters, "We have basically been living in war for the past two, two and a half years but never without hope."

The visit of the pope, he said, is confirmation for believers that "what we have lived" -- the fear and the hope combined -- "has not been in vain."

Pope Leo's speech to government and civic leaders Nov. 30 had focused on the Lebanese people and did not mention Israel at all. But Father Elias said that was "beautiful" because peace and harmony among Muslims, Christians and Druze "are our roots, our culture. That is Lebanon."

Meeting the country's bishops, priests, religious and pastoral workers -- a crowd of about 2,000 people -- Pope Leo told them, "If we wish to build peace, we must anchor ourselves to heaven and, firmly set in that direction."

"Let us love without being afraid of losing those things which pass away and let us give without measure," the pope said. "From these roots, strong and deep like those of cedars, love grows and with God's help, concrete and lasting works of solidarity come to life."

Pope Leo was scheduled to end his morning with a private meeting with Catholic patriarchs from throughout the Middle East.
 

The flights for Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey are taking place aboard an ITA Airways Airbus A320neo, one of thousands of Airbus planes affected by a computer issue, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Nov 29, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).

Around 6,000 Airbus planes were grounded this weekend after it was discovered that intense solar radiation could interfere with onboard flight control computers.