The Church of St. Luke

Holy Name Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Maddy Johnson/Church Properties Initiative

CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 16:31 pm (CNA).

Multiple lawsuits allege that the Archdiocese of Chicago kept two priests in active ministry in spite of years of “mounting complaints” of child sexual abuse leveled against them.

The suits, filed by the Chicago-based law firm Gould, Grieco, & Hensley, allege that archdiocesan officials allowed Father Daniel Holihan and Father John Curran to continue ministry “even after Church officials were aware of their history abusing children.”

The suits were filed on behalf of students from two archdiocesan schools, Quigley Preparatory Seminary and St. Christina Catholic School. Holihan is alleged to have abused a male student at the now-closed preparatory seminary during the 1980s, while Curran allegedly abused two students at St. Christina around the same time.

The law firm claims the archdiocese had been warned about both Holihan and Curran as early as the 1960s. The alleged abuse victims said they were unaware of the archdiocese’s alleged prior knowledge until recently, when “previously concealed internal documents became accessible.”

The law firm alleged that the archdiocese “relied on a pattern of relocating clergy with known problems rather than addressing the underlying misconduct.”

“For decades, the archdiocese relied on secrecy and reassignment instead of transparency and accountability,” attorney Mike Grieco said in a press release. “That structure is what allowed priests like Holihan and Curran to stay in ministry for years, putting children in harm’s way.”

The Chicago Archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuits.

As part of its investigations into clergy abuse, the Illinois attorney general’s office described Holihan as “one of the more notorious abusers in archdiocesan history.”

“The archdiocese knew what Holihan was doing to children years before it removed him from the pastorate — but during that time, it did nothing to stop him, taking him at his word that he could turn over a new leaf of his own accord,” the prosecutor’s office said.

The attorney general’s office also identified Curran as an alleged abuser. Holihan died in 2016, while Curran died in 2000.

Both Curran and Holihan are on the archdiocese’s list of priests with “substantiated” allegations of abuse leveled against them, and both are listed as having served at eight different locations in the archdiocese. Holihan was removed from public ministry in 2002 and laicized in 2010, while Curran was removed from public ministry in 1994.

Pope Leo XIV speaks to reporters after a daylong stay at the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo on Nov. 25, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Nov 25, 2025 / 15:31 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday suggested that people “say thank you to someone” this Thanksgiving and he addressed concerns about violence in Lebanon ahead of his trip there later this week.

Speaking two days before Thanksgiving, the first U.S.-born pope celebrated what he called “this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith.” 

The pope urged all people, not just Americans, to take the occasion “to recognize that we all have received so many gifts, first and foremost, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of unity … and to give thanks to God for the many gifts we’ve been given.” 

Pope Leo answered questions from reporters as he left for Rome after a daylong stay at the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo.

Leo is set to begin his first international trip as pope Nov. 27, a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon. The foreign trip is the fulfillment of a promise made by Pope Francis to visit Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country. Regional instability and internal crises have battered the small country where about a third of the population is Christian.

Reporters asked Leo if violence in Lebanon is a concern.

“It’s always a concern,” the pope said. “Again, I would invite all people to look for ways, to abandon the use of arms as a way of solving problems, and to come together, to respect one another, to sit down together at the table, to dialogue and to work together for solutions for the problems that affect us.”

Regarding a message for Israel, the pope said he likewise encourages all people “to look for peace, to look for justice, because oftentimes violence occurs as a result of injustices. And I think we have to work together, look for greater unity, respect for all people and all religions.”

Pope Leo XIV meets with Bishop Rolando Álvarez on Nov. 13, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The new president of the World Liberty Congress recently analyzed the “silence” of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which is under persecution by President Daniel Ortega.

null / Credit: itakdalee/Shutterstock

EWTN News, Nov 24, 2025 / 16:08 pm (CNA).

Published on Oct. 30, the document is intended to serve as an orientation aid for Catholic and other schools in Germany.

The Chapel of Christ the King at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. / Credit: Courtesy of Christendom College

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 23, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 following his encyclical Quas Primas. Today it is celebrated on the final Sunday before Advent. 

null / Credit: Courtesy of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 22, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

How Marthe de Noaillat championed Christ’s kingship against all odds.

Kevin Duffy'’s analysis of ONS conceptions data over the 10 years to 2022 illustrates that approximately half of women who have not had a child by the age of 30 would not have been childless without abortion in the years before this. Duffy says: “For these women it was a decision upon becoming pregnant, not to continue into motherhood at that time, for a whole myriad of reasons.” / Credit: Courtesy of Kevin Duffy

London, England, Nov 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A report called “Abortion and Childlessness” shows that many women who have abortions in their 20s may be faced with the real risk of remaining childless at 45.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese holds up the decree on Nov. 14, 2025, that Pope Leo XIV sent him granting his request that St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin be designated as the cathedral Church of the archdiocese. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:09 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV formally designated St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin, ending 200 years of the cathedral’s “temporary” status.

The ordination of Jonathan Goodall (former Anglican bishop) to the Catholic priesthood in Westminster Cathedral, London, March 12, 2022. / Credit: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk

London, England, Nov 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The U.K. has seen a significant rise in Anglican clergy, including bishops, converting to Catholicism, according to a new report released Nov. 20.

Alice Kessler and Ellen Kessler attend the Circus Krone Christmas Premiere at Circus Krone on Dec. 25, 2022, in Munich, Germany. The twin sisters ended their lives by assisted suicide at their home in Grünwald, close to Munich, on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. / Credit: Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images

CNA Deutsch, Nov 20, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).

The Federal Association for the Right to Life has criticized the “praise” many have voiced about the recent assisted suicides of the 89-year-old Kessler twins in Germany.