The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 16, 2025 / 17:19 pm (CNA).

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France on Wednesday announced the recognition of the 72nd miracle at the Catholic pilgrimage site, one involving an Italian woman who was cured of a rare neuromuscular condition more than 15 years ago.

Father Michel Daubanes, the rector of the sanctuary, made the announcement on Wednesday following the completion of a rosary at the French shrine, according to a tweet issued by the directors of the holy site.

The pilgrim who received the miracle was identified as Italian woman Antonietta Raco, who “suffered from primary lateral sclerosis” and who was “cured in 2009 during her pilgrimage to Lourdes,” the tweet said.

Bishop Vincenzo Carmine Orofino of Tursi-Lagonegro in Italy, where Raco lives, likewise announced the recognition of the miracle on Wednesday.

After bathing in the waters at Lourdes in 2009, Raco “began to move independently” after which “the effects of the infamous illness immediately and definitively disappeared,” the Italian diocese said on Wednesday. 

“After a long period of accurate investigations, the International Medical Committee of Lourdes, in turn, declared the medically unexplained character of the scientific knowledge of the lady’s recovery,” the diocese said. 

The bishop subsequently “provided for the establishment of a medical-theological commission and the appointment of an episcopal delegate in order to make the necessary ecclesial discernment about the alleged miraculous healing.”

“Thank God, who with this divine sign has once again manifested his presence among his people,” the diocese said. 

The Italian newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reported on Wednesday that Raco’s doctor described the healing as “a scientifically inexplicable phenomenon.”

Raco herself reportedly described experiencing “an unusual feeling of well-being" after bathing in the Lourdes spring in 2009.

Pope Francis on Feb. 11, 2025, named Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, as the new archbishop of Detroit. / Credit: Archdiocese of Detroit

CNA Staff, Apr 16, 2025 / 16:48 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger of Detroit announced Wednesday that parish churches in the archdiocese that offer the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) will be unable to do so after July 1, citing the Vatican’s 2023 clarification that diocesan bishops do not possess the authority to allow the TLM to be celebrated in an existing parish church.

A prominent Detroit shrine will still be able to offer the TLM, however, and Weisenburger said he intends to identify at least four non-parish locations in the archdiocese where the TLM can be celebrated.

In an April 16 announcement, the archdiocese said Weisenburger, who was appointed in February and newly installed as archbishop last month, recently told his priests that he is unable to renew the prior permissions given to parish churches to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, and thus those permissions will expire on July 1.

At issue is Pope Francis’ consequential apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes, issued in July 2021. Among other provisions, the letter directed bishops to designate one or more locations in which priests can celebrate the TLM but specified that those locations could not be within an existing parish church.

Following Traditionis Custodes, bishops in some dioceses that already had thriving Latin Mass communities within parish churches — in places like Denver; Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Springfield, Illinois — granted broad dispensations that allowed parishes to continue offering the Latin Mass as before.

In February 2023, however, the Vatican issued a clarification to Traditionis Custodes to halt this approach, stating that bishops alone cannot dispense these parishes and that such an action is reserved “to the Apostolic See.” Bishops in other dioceses who received Vatican approval to dispense certain parishes from Traditionis Custodes were only granted that permission for a temporary period. 

“The Holy See has reserved for itself the ability to allow the Traditional Latin Mass to be celebrated in parish churches. Local bishops no longer possess the ability to permit this particular liturgy in a parish church,” the announcement from the Detroit Archdiocese reads. 

“With this in mind, the prior permissions to celebrate this liturgy in archdiocesan parish churches — which expire on July 1, 2025 — cannot be renewed.” 

The ministry of St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit, which offers daily Traditional Latin Masses under the care of the canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), will continue, Weisenburger said. ICKSP, an institute whose priests celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass and live according to the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, has been offering the TLM at the St. Joseph Shrine since 2016. 

“In addition to the exception referenced above, the Traditional Latin Mass may be permitted by the local bishop to be celebrated in non-parish settings (typically chapels, shrines, etc.),” the archdiocesan announcement continues. 

“It is the archbishop’s intention to identify a non-parish setting where the Traditional Latin Mass may be celebrated in each of the archdiocese’s four regions. As noted above, and in accordance with recent decisions by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, these locations will not be parish churches. Once these locations are determined, they will be shared with the faithful.”

Former Detroit archbishop Allen Vigneron, who led the archdiocese from 2009 until his resignation at the customary age of 75 in February, issued guidelines following Traditionis Custodes allowing parishes to request permission to continue to offer the TLM within certain limits. Those guidelines came into force on July 1, 2022. 

Detroit is not the first diocese to have announced an end to the TLM in parish churches as a result of the Vatican’s clarification. In 2022, Bishop Stephen Parkes of Savannah, Georgia, announced his diocese’s cessation of Traditional Latin Masses by May 2023, saying the permission he had sought and received from the Vatican to allow two parish churches to continue offering the TLM had expired.  

Other dioceses, such as Albany, New York, in 2023, revoked the permission it had previously given for two parishes to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in order to comply with the Vatican’s February 2023 clarification.

Susan Smith (left) and Marion Calder, co-directors of For Women Scotland, with campaigners celebrate outside the U.K. Supreme Court in London on Wednesday April 16, 2025, after the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act were ruled to refer to a biological woman and biological sex. / Credit: Press Association via AP Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that only biological women are protected under Britain’s Equality Act, contradicting prior guidance by the Scottish government.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the 2025 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. / Credit: EWTN News/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 14:31 pm (CNA).

Vice President JD Vance and his family will travel to Italy at the end of Holy Week and through Easter, where they will meet with a top Vatican official, according to a news release from the White House.

Vance, who is a convert to Catholicism, will meet with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during his time in Rome, according to the release. 

It’s unknown whether Vance will meet with Pope Francis, who is still recovering from an illness that recently required him to stay in the hospital for more than a month.

According to the news release, Vance will also visit India on the trip. In India, the vice president will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will visit New Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra and participate in unspecified “engagements” at cultural sites.

During both stops, Vance intends to discuss shared economic and geopolitical priorities with the leaders of both governments. The full trip is scheduled from April 18 through April 24.

Vance last traveled to Europe in mid-February to address the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where he criticized several European governments over a lack of free speech and religious freedom.

After President Donald Trump was reelected in November, Parolin wished him “great wisdom because this is the main virtue of rulers according to the Bible.”

“I believe that, above all, he has to work to be the president of the whole country and so overcome the polarization that has occurred, which can be very, very clearly felt at the moment,” Parolin said last November.

Parolin also expressed hope that Trump could be a force for peace in the world: “To end wars, a lot of humility is needed, a lot of willingness is needed. It really is necessary to seek the general interests of humanity rather than concentrate on particular interests.”

The Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have both criticized the Trump administration for its plans of mass deportations for immigrants who are in the country illegally as well as for funding cuts to nongovernmental organizations that provide services to migrants in the United States and organizations that provide humanitarian services abroad. Numerous Catholic organizations lost funding due to the administration’s orders.

Vance has defended the administration’s immigration policies by invoking the Christian concept of “ordo amoris,” which means “rightly ordered love.” He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that one’s “compassion” belongs “first to your fellow citizens.”

“There’s this old-school — and I think a very Christian — concept … that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” the vice president said.

Pope Francis subsequently wrote a letter to the U.S. bishops, saying that “the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

“The true ‘ordo amoris’ that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘good Samaritan’ (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception,” the pontiff wrote.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0> via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 13:59 pm (CNA).

As work on budget reconciliation proceeds in Congress, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is urging lawmakers to protect programs that serve those most in need.

“The Church’s closeness to the poor informs our advocacy. We know firsthand that families are struggling,” the bishops said in an April 15 statement. “We implore [Congress] to protect programs such as Medicaid and SNAP and to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to the most vulnerable children.”

“This Lent,” the bishops continued, “we read the call to turn back to the Lord from the Prophet Isaiah: ‘Make justice your aim.’ (Is 1:17). It is for the sake of justice that the Catholic Church is committed to providing comfort, hope, and relief to those who are poor and suffering.”

The nation’s bishops call for the funding of Catholic Charities agencies, Catholic hospitals, and long-term care facilities and clinics so they can continue to help “our most vulnerable neighbors.”

The bishops said these programs and organizations are necessary to “provide food, shelter, counseling, health care, education, training, and other services.”

The country’s bishops specifically advocate for Medicaid, SNAP and the Child Tax Credit, saying these programs “are essential to helping many families meet basic human needs.”

Tax cut considerations

“Tax cuts that largely favor wealthier persons should not be made possible through cuts to health care and food for families struggling to make ends meet,” the bishops said.

The bishops’ latest statement follows a February letter sent to the congressional leadership focused on support for Medicaid. In that letter, the USCCB, Catholic Charities USA, and the Catholic Health Association asked lawmakers to “prioritize those most in need and working families and protect the Medicaid program.”

The organizations further specified that they support “prohibitions on federal funding of abortions” while maintaining support for aid programs that help “human flourishing.”

“The final budget reconciliation package should provide relief to low-income families and should not place additional burdens on those who are struggling. In responding to Isaiah’s call for justice, action is urgently needed: ‘Come now, let us set things right, says the Lord’ (Is 1:18),” the bishops concluded.

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, Ill., mother church of the Archdiocese of Chicago. / Credit: Edlane De Mattos/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 16, 2025 / 13:28 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Chicago has reinstated a priest to full ministry after a monthslong investigation into child sexual abuse allegations against him. 

The archdiocese said in January that it had removed Father Matthew Foley from ministry after claims of abuse dating to around 30 years ago. 

Officials said at the time that civil authorities would investigate the allegations, after which the archdiocese would conduct its own inquiry. Foley “strenuously” denied the allegations at the time. 

On Monday, Cardinal Blase Cupich said in letters to parishioners at multiple parishes that the archdiocesan independent review board had completed its investigation into the allegations. Foley “fully complied” with the investigation, Cupich said. 

“After receiving the results of the thorough investigation, the [review board] today determined that there is no reasonable cause to believe Father Foley sexually abused the person making the accusation,” Cupich said. 

The board “recommended that Father Foley be reinstated to ministry and that the file be closed,” Cupich noted, adding that he “accepted their recommendation effectively immediately.”

In January, at the same time it announced the allegations against Foley, the archdiocese said it was also removing Father Henry Kricek from active ministry due to similar allegations. 

The accusations against Kricek involved alleged abuse that occurred “approximately 40 years ago,” the archdiocese said at the time. 

No decision on Kricek had been announced by the archdiocese as of Wednesday morning. 

Ordained in 1989, Foley is known for having befriended future actor Chris Farley at Marquette University in the early 1980s. He would ultimately preside over Farley’s funeral in 1997. 

The priest was the namesake for one of Farley’s most famous characters, “Matt Foley,” who was featured in several “Saturday Night Live” sketches prior to Farley’s death.

Father Paul Murphy exits the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Thursday, April 10, 2025, after giving a victim impact statement in a sentencing hearing for a boy who stabbed him. / Credit: Press Association via AP Images

Dublin, Ireland, Apr 16, 2025 / 12:26 pm (CNA).

The attack occurred on Aug. 15, 2024, as the priest returned to his barracks in Renvyle in Ireland after an evening swim.

American historian and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts (right) speaks with "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Erik Rosales on April 15, 2025. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"/screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts is calling on Americans to become more open about their faith as a means to “revitalizing” religious belief in the United States. 

“I think it’s important, as we are on the brink of Easter during Holy Week, to encourage people of all faiths, whether they’re Christians like me or Jews or Muslims, to speak about their faith,” said Roberts during a Tuesday appearance on “EWTN News Nightly.”

“This is an opportunity here in the United States, not just for political and policymaking success, but more importantly, for the revitalization of our faith as individuals and also as a country,” he said. 

Earlier this week Roberts penned an op-ed for the Daily Signal in which the former Wyoming Catholic College president highlighted “the distinct importance that America’s Founding Fathers placed on Christianity, particularly Our Lord’s passion and resurrection.” 

Roberts in that op-ed called for the return of religious practice to the public sphere. 

“As Christians around the country reflect on that same story this Easter, we should resolve to transform our gratitude — for the political freedoms that our Founding Fathers fought for and the spiritual freedom that Christ died for — into action,” he wrote. 

On Tuesday, meanwhile, Roberts told EWTN News Capitol Hill Correspondent Erik Rosales that President Donald Trump has “done two things exceptionally well thus far.”

“The first is he’s been unabashed about speaking about America’s religious roots,” he said. “The second thing that he’s done — and it’s both in the State Department and across the administration and other agencies — is end the Obama-Biden-era practice of running roughshod over religious liberty.”

“It’s not that we want to establish one particular religion as the official one,” he said. “It’s that we, just as people of faith, want to be able to do more than just have private religious thoughts. We actually want to live out our faith in the public square.”

Roberts insisted that for America to experience a true “cultural awakening,” it must be willing to practice religion publicly. 

“That awakening is not going to come from politics and policy, it’s going to come from each of us,” he said. “We can make [politicians’] jobs easier as it relates to policymaking if we live out our respective faiths with zeal, with a real passion, with a persuasiveness to bring people to the truth.”

Ultimately, he said, the “golden age of America” will not be ushered in merely by economic policies or by reforming Washington.

“Most importantly, it’s going to be because each of us plays a role in revitalizing the religious institutions in our lives and our communities,” he said.

Credit: iweta0077/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A new initiative is trying to shift the narrative on the Catholic priesthood by shining light on stories of heroic virtue, courage, and selfless acts from modern-day priests and bishops in an effort to strengthen the appeal of the vocation.

The Philadelphia-based nonprofit International Institute for Culture (IIC) launched the first pillar of its “Shepherding Future Shepherds” program, which is the creation of ThankAPriest.com. It showcases positive stories with the hope of inspiring young Catholic men to consider vocations to the priesthood.

“By sharing stories of priestly heroism and compassion, we hope to inspire young men to recognize the priesthood as a profound and fulfilling vocation,” IIC President John M. Haas said in a statement.

“Our goal is to bring to light the countless untold stories of the good and virtuous work priests do every day,” he added. “This effort is critical not only to restoring confidence in the priesthood but also to inspiring future vocations.”

An IIC news release notes that the number of active Catholic priests globally has dropped from about 60,000 to only 35,000 from 1970 to 2020, even though the number of Catholics has risen by 20 million people within that time frame. 

The nonprofit warned that within the next five years, some regions will only have one priest for every 6,000 Catholics.

Matthew Haas, the project director of the initiative and son of the IIC president, told CNA the drop in overall priests is further complicated by the average age of priests increasing.

“In the next 10 years, 20 years, we’re going to see a dramatic dropoff of priests who are able to remain active,” he said.

Our culture “is becoming more secular, just overall,” he noted, but the declining trend in priests is more severe.

“It’s not a 1:1 ratio that would explain the priesthood,” Haas said. He argued there is a negative perception about the priesthood among many young people rooted in Church scandals but that those scandals reflect a “very small group of people — bad actors.”

Haas added that a major part of the initiative is to “start changing perception” because there are “so many good priests doing noble, heroic … things.”

“We’re sharing all kinds of stories, but one of the things we want to make sure we’re doing is there’s going to be a wide representation,” he added.

The heroism of Bishop Christian Carlassare

The first profile on ThankAPriest.com tells the story of Bishop Christian Carlassare, who was the bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek in South Sudan and is now the bishop of the Diocese of Bentiu in the same country.

Carlassare was shot by two unknown assailants when he was bishop-elect of Rumbek.

“Two gunmen broke into his house during the night, burst into his bedroom, and shot him several times,” the profile notes. “There was speculation it was a targeted assault. Bishop Carlassare sustained numerous gunshot wounds to his legs, but miraculously none of the injuries were life threatening.”

The profile shares the message to his diocese that Carlassare recorded while in the hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, in which he tells them: “I want you to be at peace, to know that I’m well here in the hospital.” 

“I’m being taken care [of] and I’m improving,” he said. “It will take some time for my legs to be able again to walk, but I assure you that I will be back and I will be with you. Please let us be united in prayer, let us be united with all our hearts to uphold forgiveness in our community and be able to seek for justice with the same heart of God. It is a merciful heart.”

Carlassare, who is a native of Italy, spent months in his home country to rehabilitate himself before returning to serve his diocese in the East African nation. On his decision to return to the diocese, the bishop said: “I clearly could not turn my back to this call … and abandon the sheep when witnessing Christ becomes demanding.”

The profile notes that Carlassare hoped his return would signal “reconciliation, forgiveness, and new beginnings,” which is “a message that defines his ministry, and one he hopes to share with the divided nation.”

Prior to his appointment as a bishop, Carlassare served the Church as a missionary priest with the Comboni Missionaries religious order. He served South Sudan as a missionary priest for 15 years before his appointment.

Matthew Haas told CNA there are many priests “putting their lives … at risk in some instances to serve God” and it’s important to tell the stories of “these men [who] are holy and serving the Church and trying to do good things,” expressing hope that “people see them as role models” and “aspire to live a life like that.”

The organization is also requesting that people share stories of priests who are living heroic and virtuous lives through their vocation.

Next steps for the initiative

The launching of the website represents the first pillar of the initiative, which intends to “elevate” the priesthood within society. The other three pillars are: educate, engage, and embark.

Matthew Haas told CNA that the second pillar, “educate,” will likely be launched this year and is designed to be “really reaching out, specifically to young men.” This will include efforts to show people the different roles priests can have and the distinctions between priests, deacons, brothers, and monks.

“We believe God has a calling for everyone,” he said. 

The third pillar, “engage,” is also supposed to be launched later this year and is designed to help young men navigate the discernment process and connect them to resources to help in that decision-making process, according to Haas. 

The fourth pillar, “embark,” is scheduled to begin in early 2026. This part is meant to provide the help of spiritual guidance. Haas said most men who enter the seminary “had either a spiritual director or a guide who helped them through the discernment process.”

“The work we’re doing now is laying the foundation for these priests who are going to be available in the next decade,” Matthew Haas added.

He noted that the discernment process and the priest formation process can take up to a decade to complete, which is why it’s “urgent to start now.”

“It will help to reverse the trend of secularism by bringing in new and young priests to help serve our Church,” he said.

The Catholic Church in France will welcome a record number of adults into the faith in 2025, with particularly strong growth in the numbers of young adults and teenagers, according to newly released statistics from the country’s Conference of Bishops (CEF). / Credit: French Bishops’ Conference

Paris, France, Apr 16, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in France will welcome a record number of adults into the faith this weekend with strong growth in the numbers of young adults and teenagers.