Pope Leo XIV receives the latest edition of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” by Martha Patricia Molina, on Oct. 2, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Muriel Saenz

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 4, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV this week received a report that details attacks against and suppression of the Catholic Church by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship in Nicaragua.

A 13th-century fresco of St. Francis of Assisi by the Florentine painter Cimabue, one of the earliest depictions of the saint, is located in the lower church of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy.  / Credit: Jacob Stein/Crux Stationalis

CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis of Assisi every year on Oct. 4.

Father Custodio Ballester. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Hazteoir.org

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct 3, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).

Father Custodio Ballester faces a possible 3-year prison sentence and fines after a trial this week found him guilty of making allegedly “Islamophobic” statements.

Britain’s new archbishop of Canterbury-designate, Sarah Mullally, speaks at Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England following the announcement of her posting on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. / Credit: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Oct 3, 2025 / 11:53 am (CNA).

Anglican Bishop of London Sarah Mullally will become the first woman archbishop of Canterbury after her nomination was approved by King Charles III. 

Candle lights in Fourvière Basilica, in Lyon, France, on Dec. 8, 2022. / Ccredit: Diocèse de Lyon

ACI MENA, Oct 3, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

In 2023 alone there were 2,444 incidents of violence against Christians across 35 European countries, including 1,000 cases in France.

Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi (left), the secretary-general of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, meets with Latin patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa in the Holy Land during a Sept. 27–30, 2025, trip to the region. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Italian Bishops’ Conference

Rome Newsroom, Oct 2, 2025 / 14:46 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Giuseppe Baturi announced a major joint project between Italy’s bishops and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem: the opening of a hospital in Gaza.

An armed police officer talks to a member of the local community outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, England, on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. / Credit: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

EWTN News, Oct 2, 2025 / 10:40 am (CNA).

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales released Bishop John Arnold’s statement following the assault at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.

A 13th-century fresco of St. Francis of Assisi by the Florentine painter Cimabue, one of the earliest depictions of the saint, is located in the lower church of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy.  / Credit: Jacob Stein/Crux Stationalis

Rome Newsroom, Oct 2, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Oct. 4 will therefore be a public holiday in Italy starting in 2026, after having been a public holiday until 1977.

null / Credit: Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

London, England, Oct 1, 2025 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

A bioethicist in the United Kingdom said legalizing assisted dying there could threaten hospices’ survival.

Monsignor Melchor Sánchez de Toca, relator of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. / Credit: Diocese of Vitoria

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The relator for the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Monsignor Melchor Sánchez de Toca, said the lives of the saints “pierce our conscience.”