Democratic Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media during a press conference after voting on Nov. 4, 2025. / Credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 / 22:25 pm (CNA).

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who promotes gender ideology and abortion access, won his bid for mayor of New York City on Nov. 4, decisively defeating his two main opponents: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and talk show host Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old member of the New York State Assembly and the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor, took 50.4% of the vote on Tuesday. As of 9:42 p.m. ET, 75% of the vote had been tallied.

Cuomo, who served as governor as a Democrat and ran as an independent for mayor, received 41.3% of the vote. Sliwa, the Republican nominee, finished third with 7.5% of the vote.

Mamdani, set to be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2026, will be the city’s first Muslim mayor. He will succeed Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who suspended his reelection bid in late September.

New York City’s mayoral race gained significant national attention after Mamdani secured an upset victory in the Democratic primary against Cuomo. Mamdani ran an anti-establishment campaign and called himself “the sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city” during the final debate.

Mamdani embraced gender ideology during his campaign, vowing to provide $65 million in tax funding for hormone therapy drugs and surgeries as a response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to strip federal funding from health care providers that provide such drugs and surgeries to children.

He also intends to create “an office of LGBTQIA+ affairs” and declare New York City a sanctuary for “LGBTQIA+” people. As a member of the Legislature, he also supported a bill to prohibit law enforcement from aiding out-of-state investigations into health care professionals who provide hormone therapy drugs and surgeries to minors.

The mayor-elect’s campaign supported abortion access as well. He has promised to double city tax funding for the New York Abortion Access Fund and the city’s Abortion Access Hub. He has also vowed to “protect New Yorkers from” pro-life pregnancy centers, which he accused of spreading “false or deceptive information.”

Pro-life pregnancy centers have fought numerous lawsuits against states they accuse of censoring their speech in recent years.

Mamdani has also pledged to create a “baby basket” for parents with newborns, which will provide resources, such as diapers, baby wipes, nursing pads, postpartum pads, swaddles, and books. He expects this to cost less than $20 million annually.

The mayor-elect has further vowed to end all city cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and will not use any city resources to help enforce immigration laws. His platform calls for $165 million in funding to support legal defenses for people who are at risk of being deported.

Mamdani has promised to freeze rent for New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments and eliminate fares for city buses. He plans to establish city-owned grocery stores that he says will provide lower prices and intends to provide no-cost child care for families. He supports raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030.

To pay for the costs, in part, the mayor-elect has said he will raise the top state corporate tax from 7.5% to 11.5% and add an additional 2% income tax on anyone making more than $1 million annually. He estimates this will generate $9 billion in additional revenue, though critics have questioned those estimations.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger delivers remarks during her election night rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Virginia. / Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Nov 4, 2025 / 22:17 pm (CNA).

Off-year elections for state leadership roles in Virginia and New Jersey saw Democrats win key races in what pundits had predicted would be a referendum against Republican President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House.

Former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia, won the gubernatorial race in that state against current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become the commonwealth’s first woman governor, according to the Associated Press, while state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi won the race for lieutenant governor there. Democrat Jay Jones also won the state’s attorney general race, beating incumbent Jason Miyares.

In New Jersey, meanwhile, Democrat Mikie Sherrill beat Republican Jack Ciattarelli, with Sherrill keeping the governor’s chair in Democratic control and becoming the second woman to lead the state government.

The results will likely be hailed as a rebuke against Trump’s second term in office, which over the course of 2025 has been marked by aggressive policy on immigration, LGBT issues, and other hot-button political topics.

Virginia race marked by abortion, conscience rights, violent rhetoric 

In Virginia, the race between Spanberger and Earle-Sears was overshadowed in its last month by resurfaced text messages from Jones, dating from 2022, in which he suggested that then-state Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert, a Republican, should be shot in the head. Jones at the time also indicated a wish for Gilbert’s children to die. 

The explosive texts, which were published at National Review in October, led Spanberger and Hashmi to condemn Jones, though neither they nor any major Democrats called for Jones to drop out of the race. Jones himself apologized for the remarks. 

Earle-Sears repeatedly called for Jones to back out of the contest. At the election’s only gubernatorial debate on Oct. 9, she pressed Spanberger on Jones’ texts, demanding that the Democrat call for Jones’ withdrawal from the race.

Spanberger, meanwhile, made abortion access a central part of her campaign, calling on voters to elect her in order to protect Virginia’s permissive abortion laws. The Democrat has voiced support for a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion, something to which Earle-Sears has publicly voiced her opposition.

The state’s Catholic bishops had warned in October that the results of the state’s elections could lead to that amendment’s being advanced and codified into law, with this year’s winners poised to “decide whether the proposed amendments are advanced or stopped.”

In August, meanwhile, a resurfaced video from 2018 showed Spanberger apparently endorsing the policy of forcing religious hospitals to opt out of performing procedures such as abortion and euthanasia. 

“I oppose the ability of religious institutions to put their religious-based ideas on individuals and their health care choices and options,” she said at the time. 

Earle-Sears has expressed support for conscience rights, meanwhile, and during the October debate she indicated support for allowing employers to fire employees over their sexuality. “That’s not discrimination,” she said. 

Abortion safe in New Jersey; candidates differ on LGBT issues

In New Jersey, the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor offered a notable agreement on abortion, with both Sherrill and Ciattarelli stating their desire to keep the procedure legal.

The two differed on specific policy: Ciattarelli had advocated restricting abortion after 20 weeks, while Sherrill said she favored the state’s current laws, which allow for abortion up until birth. 

But their broader agreement on the legality of abortion underscored the state’s high levels of pro-abortion support among voters and indicated that the issue remains a lightning rod for Republicans even more than three years after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade. 

Elsewhere, the candidates differed on LGBT issues. Ciattarelli had called for men who believe they are women to be barred from women’s sports, while Sherrill voted against federal legislation that would have barred men from competing in girls’ sporting leagues. 

The Republican had also advocated rolling back pro-LGBT curriculums in public schools. Sherrill, in contrast, had voted against a federal bill that would have required schools to inform parents if their children began identifying as the opposite sex at school. 

Ciattarelli had also called for a state school voucher program modeled after Florida’s successful voucher initiative. Such a measure would “allow parents real choices in the schools their children attend,” he said ahead of the election. 

In October, the state’s bishops affirmed the Church’s teaching on the electoral process by telling the faithful that it is “not the Church’s place to tell them how to vote.” 

“Each of us has the right — and the responsibility — to follow our conscience, shaped by Scripture and the Church’s wisdom,” the bishops said.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 / 22:10 pm (CNA).

Pennsylvania voters elected to retain three Democratic justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court following a campaign with outside groups casting the vote as a referendum on abortion access, election integrity, and the future balance of the court.

The outcome means Democrats will maintain their 5-2 majority on the court.

With more than 54% of the vote tallied, 62.3% voted to retain Christine Donohue, 62.5% voted to retain Kevin Dougherty, and 62.4% voted to retain David Wecht. None of the other justices were on the ballot for 2025.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee celebrated the victory on X. 

“Thanks to tonight’s victories, the court’s Democratic majority will continue to protect fair maps, voting rights, and reproductive freedom for Pennsylvanians for years to come,” the post read.

In Pennsylvania, state Supreme Court justices are chosen through partisan elections to 10-year terms. When a judge’s term expires, voters choose whether to retain them for another 10 years with a “yes” or “no” vote. Only one justice has ever lost a retention vote: Russell Nigro in 2005.

While the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race had over $100 million in total donations and spending, setting a new national record for a state judicial election, the Pennsylvania race totaled a fraction of that, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. An estimated $15 million poured into the race. Donors included Planned Parenthood and labor unions, among others, plus Jeff Yass, a businessman who is a billionaire and the commonwealth’s richest man.

The 2025 campaign for Democratic justices focused heavily on abortion access. 

One campaign advertisement in favor of retaining the three justices detailed the pro-life laws in several other states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It called the Democratic justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court “our last line of defense” against restrictions on abortion.

Last year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court revived a 2019 lawsuit filed against the state’s Abortion Control Act. The existing law, which the state Supreme Court upheld in 1985, prohibits the use of state funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk.

In the decision, the majority ruled that banning public funds for most abortions “discriminates against those women who choose to exercise their fundamental right to terminate a pregnancy” and asserted the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection “includes a right to decide whether to have an abortion or to carry a pregnancy to term.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court sent the case back down to the appellate court, which could set the stage for a major abortion ruling in the state that could open the door to taxpayer-funded elective abortions.

In Pennsylvania, elective abortion is legal through the 23rd week of pregnancy. 

Reproductive Freedom For All also celebrated the wins on X. The organization wrote Donohue’s win would protect abortion access “and will help to fight anti-abortion restrictions.” It called Wecht’s win “a key success for abortion rights in the state.” The account wrote Dougherty would “continue to protect abortion access in the Keystone State.”

All three justices were endorsed by Planned Parenthood PA PAC and Reproductive Freedom for All.

Other issues that came up during the campaign included redistricting fights and mail-in voting.

Donohue reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2027. Both Dougherty and Wecht are 63 years old, which means they will not face another retention vote until 2035.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 / 17:47 pm (CNA).

U.S. bishops and other Catholic leaders are offering “prayers of support and solidarity” for world leaders who will discuss climate change and other environmental matters at an upcoming conference.

The 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) is scheduled for Nov. 10–21 in Belém, Brazil. World leaders, scientists, and representatives from civil society will discuss ways to implement solutions to combat climate change and form new national action plans. 

Archbishop Borys Gudziak, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace; and Sean Callahan, CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), are calling for “urgent, courageous action to protect God’s creation and people.” 

“This year’s COP30 convenes while the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of Hope,” the leaders said in a Nov. 4 statement. It is “a sacred opportunity to restore relationships and renew creation at a time when the gift of life is under grave threat.”

“Pope Leo XIV called for the participants of COP30 to ‘listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, families, Indigenous peoples, involuntary migrants and believers throughout the world,’” the leaders said.

“Climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation are devastating communities already burdened by poverty and exclusion. Farming and fishing families confront threats to their livelihoods; Indigenous peoples face destruction of their ancestral lands; children’s health, safety, and futures are at risk,” the statement said.

“A decade ago, in Laudato Si’, Pope Francis reminded us that the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all, and that intergenerational solidarity is not optional,” the statement said. “Failing to steward God’s creation ignores our responsibility as one human family.”

The leaders are calling on world leaders to act “urgently” to implement the Paris Agreement, a 2015 international treaty to limit global warming that “protects God’s creation and people.”

The leaders asked that countries and civil society organizations recommit to implementation that fosters economic opportunities, commits to efforts that reduce climate warming emissions, and pledges loss and damage financing that guarantees priority and direct access to vulnerable communities. 

They also asked that they ensure a just transition to a sustainable economy centered on workers, communities, and creation and make financing for climate solutions timely and transparent while also upholding human dignity.

“As all of us are impacted, so must we all be responsible for addressing this global challenge,” the leaders said. “Together, these actions can work towards integral ecology and ‘give priority to the poor and marginalized in the process.’”

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CNA Staff, Nov 4, 2025 / 16:32 pm (CNA).

Claim: Primary care operations are closing because President Donald Trump defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

CNA finds: Abortion providers prioritize abortion over primary care, causing closures. Community health clinics across the country continue to offer care without providing abortions.

Breakdown: When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, taxpayer dollars were no longer allowed to be used to subsidize abortion providers for one year. Because of this, abortion providers don’t currently qualify for federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

Rather than giving up abortion offerings, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning are closing their doors to primary care patients.

Maine Family Planning provides abortions up to 14 weeks as well as birth control and “gender-affirming” health care. Across 18 clinics, Maine Family Planning provided about 600 patients with primary care in 2024. Meanwhile, the group provided more than 600 abortions in the same year, according to its own numbers.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of its funding comes from Medicaid. In total, it receives nearly $2 million in Medicaid reimbursements each year, according to the Maine Morning Star.

Maine Family Planning sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year, but a federal district court in August rejected its request for taxpayer dollars. On Oct. 31, the Associated Press reported that Maine Family Planning would close its primary care operations.

The organization is not the only abortion provider to shut down primary care rather than opt out of offering abortion. Planned Parenthood locations in California, for instance, are closing primary care facilities while continuing to offer abortions.

“Why do these organizations close clinics — but not abortion programs?” asked the director of Maine Right to Life, Michael McClellan.

“It’s important to note that when organizations such as Maine Family Planning choose to close primary care offices, that decision rests with them,” McClellan said. “Federal funding changes simply ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used — directly or indirectly — to promote or perform abortions.”

McClellan noted that “many other providers across Maine continue to serve patients under these same guidelines.”

Kelsey Pritchard, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America spokeswoman, said that abortion providers don’t prioritize primary care services.

For both Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood, Pritchard said that “primary care services clearly aren’t the priority and it’s no surprise they are on the chopping block.”

“Policymakers shouldn’t negotiate with entities that play these cruel games — dropping patients’ real health care needs to double down on ending babies’ lives,” Pritchard said.

Maine Family Planning did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

What options exist for women? 

Community health centers vastly outnumbered Planned Parenthood locations in the U.S., according to a report by Charlotte Lozier Institute.

There are “more than 8,800 community health centers that provide comprehensive care to vulnerable populations and offer women’s health services, in comparison to just 579 Planned Parenthood centers as of spring 2025,” the Charlotte Lozier Institute report read.

Maine has about 70 community health centers offering women’s health — many of which are located in rural areas. More broadly, in Maine there are 131 Federally Qualified Health Centers — clinics that qualify for reimbursement under Medicare and Medicaid.

“Maine residents continue to have access to a wide range of health services through community health centers, federally qualified health clinics, and hospital-based practices that provide comprehensive, life-affirming care for women and families,” McClellan said.

“These clinics offer prenatal and postnatal care, cancer screenings, immunizations, and preventive health services — without performing or referring for abortions,” he continued.

Many “better options” are available, Pritchard said.

“The pro-life movement is happy to help patients locate the care they need and deserve,” Pritchard said.

“The pro-life movement in Maine is deeply committed to supporting both women and their children — before, during, and after birth,” McClellan added. “Through a network of pregnancy resource centers, faith communities, and local service agencies, women can access free pregnancy testing, prenatal support, parenting classes, material assistance, housing help, and referrals for ongoing health care.”

The verdict: Some clinics are closing because they choose to continue providing abortion. Many other clinics continue to provide care for patients in Maine and across the U.S.

Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament. / Credit: Comunidade Javé Nissi via Pexels

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 / 15:04 pm (CNA).

The number of people who believe their faith does not depend on attending Mass has increased as more Catholics are cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus, according to a recent survey of U.S. Catholic beliefs.

ACS Technologies, a church management software and data analysis company, investigated the trends in “American Beliefs Study: Religious Preferences and Practices.” The study researched the religious preferences, practices, beliefs, and media habits of Americans. 

Initially conducted in 2012-2013 and repeated in 2016-2017, 2020-2021, and 2024-2025, the study reflects the responses of roughly 60,000 participants over time. The most recent version of the study surveyed more than 15,000 Americans on Christian preferences, affiliations, values, and beliefs.

ACST Catholic, a business of ACS Technologies, specifically examined the feedback from 3,100 self-identified Catholic participants in the most recent survey. The updated findings were published in a recent guide: “The Evolving Landscape of Catholic Beliefs in 2025.”

The research revealed the percentage of Catholics who say they have a personal relationship with Jesus jumped from 61% in 2021 to 68% in 2025. There was also an increase in respondents who said belief in Jesus does not require participation in Mass, increasing from 68% to 71%.

Nearly half of Catholic respondents reported irregular Mass attendance. They gave reasons that have been consistent in each wave of the study. The most common reasons people reported were that religion is too focused on money, they have fallen out of the habit since COVID-19, religious people are too judgmental, and they do not trust religious leaders or organized religion. 

“The encouraging news from our latest survey is that core Catholic beliefs — such as the Resurrection and the divinity and humanity of Jesus — have grown,” said Terry Poplava, general manager of ACST Catholic and author of the study. 

The data found an increase in Catholics who expressed agreement that Jesus rose from the dead. In 2021, 44% of Catholics strongly agreed Jesus rose from the dead, (67% somewhat and strongly agreed). In 2025, 49% strongly agree (72% somewhat and strongly agree). Regarding the belief that Jesus was both divine and human, agreement increased from 74% to 78%.

What Catholics seek in a parish

As the study found a number of Catholics are questioning parish life, it also examined what people are seeking in a parish.

“Authentic community and meaningful relationships are even more important to people than quality sermons or sacramental celebrations,” Poplava said. “Our parishes have an opportunity to respond to this need and foster the real connections people are longing for.”

The 2021 research found Catholics often seek “warm and friendly encounters” when looking for a new parish. The 2025 response found three things Catholics seek: warm and friendly encounters (63%), quality sermons (56%), and celebration of sacraments (53%). 

Catholics who strongly agree that they seek warm and friendly encounters in a parish grew from 32% to 36%. However, the importance of the celebration of sacraments decreased from 37% to 33% and the quality of sermons slightly decreased from 31% to 30%.

More than half of Catholics reported they prefer a traditional worship experience (53%) to contemporary (30%). Poplava said: “Existing churches are being renovated to appear more traditional, including icons, candles, and windows. All of this is intended to instill a sense of reverence, awe, and respect for the sacred space.”

Despite the data finding that parish life faces “persistent challenges,” it also found that “personal faith is deepening” within the Catholic landscape.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. / Credit: Thomas Bresson from Belfort, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 4, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

On Oct. 21, Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former French president to walk through a prison gate to begin serving a sentence behind bars.

null / Credit: RasyidArt, Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 4, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Catholic schools are faring much better in dioceses in which state-funded voucher programs are available for parents to use to pay school tuition, one researcher has found, though enrollment is still declining in most places.

John F. Quinn, a historian at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island, examined six Catholic dioceses over the last 16 years — three in states with voucher programs and three in states without them — and found that parochial schools are benefiting from vouchers.

He presented his research at the Society of Catholic Social Scientists’ annual conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, in October.

Quinn found that since 2009, the dioceses of Providence, Rhode Island; Fall River, Massachusetts; and Rockford, Illinois — none of which are located in states with voucher programs — have seen school closures and drops, some very large, in their parochial school enrollment.

Providence schools have seen a two-thirds drop, from 16,000 students in 2009 to about 10,000 in 2025, according to the historian. 

The Diocese of Fall River, meanwhile, saw a 36% drop in enrollment, going from 7,800 students in 2009 to 5,000 in 2025. Rockford’s diocese saw a precipitous 52% drop, with 15,500 students in 2009 and 7,400 today. All three dioceses also saw multiple parochial school closures.

The numbers are very different in the dioceses in states that have voucher programs.

According to Quinn, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis only saw its enrollment numbers drop 3% since 2009. Nearly 23,000 were enrolled in its parochial schools in 2009, and the number stands at 22,300 today. The overall population of the archdiocese has also dropped 5% over the same time period, he noted.  

Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program was launched in 2011 and expanded to nearly all residents in 2025.

Two other dioceses, Orlando and Venice, are both in Florida, a state that approved its voucher program in 1999 and expanded it significantly in 2023.

The Diocese of Orlando has seen a 13% drop, going from 14,500 students in 2009 to 12,750 in 2025.

The Diocese of Venice, a relatively new one established in 1984, has seen a 52% increase in parish school enrollment since 2009 and growth in its number of parochial schools. In 2009, 4,400 students attended three high schools and 10 elementary schools, and today there are four high schools and 12 elementary schools with an enrollment of 6,800.

Quinn acknowledged that Florida has a growing population but said even taking that into account, the voucher programs have indisputably aided the Catholic schools there.

“We are full up with nearly every school at capacity,” Father John Belmonte, SJ, Diocese of Venice Superintendent of Catholic Education, said in September.

History of parochial schooling

“America’s Catholic leaders have long seen parochial schools as critical to the well-being of the Church in America,” Quinn noted. 

He recalled the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884, at which the bishops “called for every parish to have a school and for all Catholic parents to send their children” to them.

Quinn noted that pastors would sometimes build a parish school first before completing the church building.

In 1965, the high point of parochial school enrollment, 52% of American Catholic children, or 5.2 million students, were enrolled at 13,000 Catholic grammar and high schools. 

Quinn cited the National Catholic Educational Association’s annual report, released in the spring, that showed just under 1.7 million students are currently enrolled in the nation’s current 8,500 parochial schools.

In 1965, nearly 70% of all parochial school teachers, or 115,607, were religious sisters, priests, or brothers, according to the Cardinal Newman Society. 

By 1990, only 2.5% of parochial school faculty were priests or religious, and that number remains the same today.

Quinn said costs started rising as more lay teachers replaced religious and priests in the classroom.

November 4, 2025

WASHINGTON - Since 2016, the Catholic Church has observed the World Day of the Poor on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time as way for Catholics to reflect more deeply on our call to love the poor as our brothers and sisters. On November 15-16, parishes in many Catholic dioceses throughout the United States are able to observe this year’s World Day of the Poor by taking a collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

“Jesus reminds us that faith, even as small as a mustard seed, holds within it the power to transform the world. From something seemingly insignificant can grow a tree that offers shelter, hope, and new life. In many ways, that is the story of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, founded by the bishops of the United States in 1969. Through CCHD, the Church lives out the Gospel call to solidarity, fostering the capacity of people experiencing poverty to work together to confront the roots of injustice and build stronger, more just communities,” said Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg, chairman of the bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. “This same spirit of faith takes root in our own communities, where twenty-five percent of every CCHD collection stays within the diocese. These funds support local efforts that uplift our neighbors, strengthen families, and help build a future of hope.” 

CCHD provides crucial support to both growing and longstanding organizations that promote justice, neighborhood improvement, and job creation for marginalized groups in both urban and rural communities across the United States. 

Bishop Senior cited four organizations as examples that illustrate the wholistic efforts of CCHD to help communities improve nutrition, reduce violence, prepare for natural disasters, and combat environmental pollution. One counters violence and pollution on Chicago’s South Side, two support small farmers and ranchers in contrasting climates, and one saves lives in hurricane zones:

• Together New Orleans was able to partner with local government officials and improve hurricane response with a CCHD grant that allowed installation of commercial-grade solar arrays on strategically-located churches and other community buildings that serve as emergency shelters. The pilot project of 15 “Community Lighthouses” is now so successful that Louisiana has allocated $200 million to build 345 statewide.
• In Minnesota’s Twin Cities, the Sustainable Farming Association offers workshops and mentoring to help small farmers and ranchers build thriving, environmentally-sound businesses. A CCHD grant has increased events that address issues such as soil improvement, financial management, and mental health.
• In New Mexico, La Cosecha Community-Supported Agriculture -- a cooperative farming network – used a CCHD grant to help run a food coop for the poor, market locally-grown organic vegetables to institutional buyers, and provide food education to local students.
• On Chicago’s South Side, a CCHD grant underwrote the Alliance of the Southeast as it trained teenagers in community leadership. Those teens have had key roles successfully opposing plans for a nearby toxic waste dump, launching violence-prevention initiatives in schools, and instigating the renovation of moldy, rat-infested public housing.

While CCHD grant recipients include nonsectarian, ecumenical, and interreligious organizations, all must abide by Catholic moral teaching, including respect for human life from conception until natural death and prioritizing the concerns of the poor. 

In 2024, the bishops awarded $2.24 million in grants.

“World Day of the Poor is an invitation for us to pray and to act, to build a world that truly recognizes the God-given dignity of our brothers and sisters who are most vulnerable,” Bishop Senior said. “One concrete way to respond to this call is by participating in the collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. I invite you to remember the Lord’s words about the mustard seed: even the smallest act of faith can, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, grow into something that transforms lives and renews communities, both across our nation and within your own diocese.”

Some dioceses take the collection on a date other than November 15-16. If you are unable to give to the collection at your parish but wish to support CCHD’s national antipoverty efforts, the online giving platform iGiveCatholic accepts funds for CCHD.

More information is at www.usccb.org/cchd. 

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While praising devotion to Mary, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly rejected moves to formally proclaim Mary as "co-redemptrix" or "co-mediatrix."

In a lengthy doctrinal note titled "Mater Populi Fidelis" ("Mother of the Faithful People of God"), the dicastery said the title co-redemptrix or co-redeemer "carries the risk of eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ" in salvation.

And, regarding the title co-mediatrix or co-mediator, it said that Mary, "the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received."

However, it said, the title may be used when it does not cast doubt on "the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man." 

Pope Leo XIV approved the text Oct. 7 and ordered its publication, said the note, which was released Nov. 4. 

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, presented the document during a conference at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and said its teaching becomes part of the church's "ordinary magisterium" and must be considered authoritative.

For more than 30 years, some Catholics, including some bishops, have asked for formal dogmatic declarations of Mary as co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix, the document's introduction said. But Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary of the dicastery's doctrinal section, told the conference that the Vatican's first study of the doctrinal implications of the titles goes all the way back to 1926. 

Cardinal Fernández said that one time, when St. Peter's Basilica was closed, he spent a long time in front of Michelangelo's Pietà. The sorrow on Mary's face because of the death of her son and, at the same time, her obvious strength, he said, "was so beautiful it was understandable why people would want to say everything and more about Mary."

The new document said that titles used for Mary should speak of her motherly care for all people and her place as the first and perfect disciple of Jesus but must not create any doubt that Catholics believe Jesus is the redeemer of the world and the bestower of grace.

"Any gaze directed at her that distracts us from Christ or that places her on the same level as the Son of God would fall outside the dynamic proper to an authentically Marian faith," it said, because Mary always points to her son.

The titles co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix have been used in reference to Mary by theologians and even popes in the past millennium, the doctrinal dicastery said, but without elaborating on the precise meaning and the extent to which those titles could describe Mary's role in salvation history. 

St. John Paul II "referred to Mary as 'Co-redemptrix' on at least seven occasions," the note said, but after consultation with the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and its prefect, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in 1996, he did not issue a dogmatic declaration and stopped using the title.

Citing Scripture and tradition, the future Pope Benedict XVI said, "The precise meaning of these titles (co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix) is not clear, and the doctrine contained in them is not mature."

"Everything comes from Him -- Christ -- as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that she is through Him. The word 'Co-redemptrix' would obscure this origin," Pope Benedict said.

Pope Francis, at a general audience in 2020, said that Jesus entrusted Mary to humanity as a mother, "not as a goddess, not as co-redemptrix," adding that love motivated some people to call her co-redemptrix, but love often leads people to "exaggerate."

"Given the necessity of explaining Mary's subordinate role to Christ in the work of Redemption, it would not be appropriate to use the title 'Co-redemptrix' to define Mary's cooperation," the doctrinal note said.

The title, it said, "risks obscuring Christ's unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith, for 'there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'"

"When an expression requires many repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful," the dicastery concluded. 

The use of the title "co-mediatrix" is more complicated, the doctrinal note said, because the word "mediation" often is "understood simply as cooperation, assistance or intercession" and easily could apply to Mary without calling into question "the unique mediation of Jesus Christ, true God and true man."

Mary's role in salvation history is unique, the document said. She willingly accepted to become the mother of Jesus the savior, she raised him, traveled with him and stood at the foot of his cross.

While Christ, fully human and fully divine, is the one mediator between God and humanity, it said, "he enables various forms of participation in his salvific plan because, in communion with him, we can all become, in some way, cooperators with God and 'mediators' for one another."

"If this holds true for every believer -- whose cooperation with Christ becomes increasingly fruitful to the extent that one allows oneself to be transformed by grace -- how much more must it be affirmed of Mary in a unique and supreme way," the doctrinal note said.

The church believes that those in heaven can pray and intercede for people still on earth and, "among those chosen and glorified with Christ, first and foremost is his Mother," the note said. "Therefore, we can affirm that Mary has a unique collaboration in the saving work that Christ carries out in his Church. With this intercession, Mary can become for us a motherly sign of the Lord's mercy."