Cardinal Joseph Zen arrives at a court for his trial in Hong Kong on Sept. 26, 2022. / Credit: PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

A new report sheds light on the repression faced by 10 Catholic bishops in China who have resisted the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to exert control over religious matters since the 2018 China-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops. 

The report, authored by Nina Shea for the Hudson Institute, documents the harrowing experiences of Vatican-approved bishops who have suffered detention without due process, surveillance, police investigations, and banishments from their dioceses for refusal to submit to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), a state-managed group controlled by the CCP’s United Front Work Department. 

“This report shows that religious repression of the Catholic Church in China has intensified since the 2018 China-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops,” Shea said.

“Beijing targeted these 10 bishops after they opposed the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which requires its members to pledge independence from the Holy See,” she added.

The Hudson Institute published the report days before the expected Vatican announcement of whether the Holy See will renew its provisional agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops. 

The provisional agreement was first signed in 2018 and then renewed in 2020 and 2022. The most recent two-year renewal signed in 2022 expires this week on Oct. 22. 

News that a new coadjutor bishop of Beijing is expected to be installed on Oct. 25 in agreement with the Holy See suggests that the Sino-Vatican agreement is likely to be renewed.

The report also outlines steps that U.S. policymakers can take to advocate for the release of detained Catholic bishops in China.

Here is a look at the 10 Chinese Catholic bishops featured in the report: 

Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin

Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin, 66, of the Mindong Diocese in Fujian province has faced multiple detentions over 30 years, including one in 2019, during which he was placed under surveillance of two guards and subjected to coercive “tactics of persuasion.” After the signing of the Sino-Vatican agreement in 2018, he was asked to step down as the principal bishop of Mindong to allow the government-appointed Bishop Zhan Silu to take his place. Although Guo agreed to serve as an auxiliary bishop, he continued to face relentless pressure to register with the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, including by cutting off electricity and water to his residence and then evicting him in January 2020. He resigned in October 2020 at the age of 62.

Bishop Augustine Cui Tai

Bishop Augustine Cui Tai, 74, of the Xuanhua Diocese in the province of Hebei has been subjected to repeated detention, house arrest, and forced labor over the past 31 years. He has been detained four times since the 2018 China-Vatican agreement and has not been seen since he was taken into police custody in April 2021. His diocese has repeatedly called for his release from detention but to no avail.

Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo

Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo, 90, of the Zhengding Diocese in Hebei has a long history of persecution, having been detained multiple times since 1963. His most recent detention began in August 2020 as the China-Vatican agreement was on the verge of renewal for the first time. His “crime” was having allowed in his church the singing of hymns without government permission, according to the report. Jia remains in detention since his 2020 arrest and the Chinese government has acknowledged that he suffers from illness largely developed from his times in detention. Police also dismantled the bishop’s orphanage for disabled children that he operated with the help of Catholic nuns for over 30 years.

Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin

After publicly declaring his refusal to cooperate with the CPCA at his episcopal ordination in 2012, Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin, 56, of the Diocese of Shanghai was detained and isolated at a seminary and has remained under house arrest ever since under constant surveillance, restrictions, and detention. The China-Vatican agreement did not improve his situation.

Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin

Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, 61, of the Wenzhou Diocese in Zhejiang has been arrested at least six times since the 2018 agreement. His most recent detention occurred in January without due process, and he remains imprisoned today. Authorities have repeatedly pressured him to join the CPCA, but he has consistently refused.

Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen

At 95 years old, Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen, 95, of the Tianjin Diocese has been under house arrest for over 15 years. He is confined to his parish church compound and occasionally allowed out to perform religious duties. In 2024, the Vatican reported that China officially recognized him as a bishop, though his age and ongoing restrictions now make it difficult for him to fulfill his ministry.

Bishop James Su Zhimin

Bishop James Su Zhimin, 92, of the Diocese of Baoding in Hebei has been in continuous secret detention for over 27 years, having been arrested in 1997 while leading a religious procession to a Marian shrine. His location remains undisclosed, and he is one of the longest-detained Catholic leaders in China. The bishop’s nephew told UCA News in 2020 “it is feared that Bishop Su is no longer alive.”

Bishop Joseph Xing Wenzhi

Bishop Joseph Xing Wenzhi, 61, of the Shanghai Diocese disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 2011. The CCP claimed he had resigned from his post, but no further information has been provided. The Vatican has expressed hope for a resolution to his case, but his fate remains unclear.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun

A vocal critic of the CCP, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, 92, of Hong Kong has faced ongoing pressure since China’s imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong. He was arrested in 2022 on charges of “colluding with foreign forces” and was released on bail hours later. Zen was convicted for failing to register a fund that helped pay for the legal fees and medical treatments of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters and forced to pay a fine.

Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu

Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu, 66, of the Xinxiang Diocese in Henan was long prevented from entering his diocese and then was arrested in May 2021, while recovering from a cancer surgery, and continues to be held without trial. Authorities also raided and shut down his seminary, labeling it illegal. In March 2023, Asia News confirmed that the bishop remained detained by the local police.

“Rushing to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not today the most important response to promote women,” Cardinal Víctor Fernández, the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said Oct. 21, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Víctor Fernández on Monday reaffirmed Pope Francis’ position against women’s access to the diaconate, an issue that will continue to be evaluated by a specialized commission while the Synod on Synodality continues to reflect on the role of women in the Church outside of ordained ministry.

During his speech at the general congregation on Oct. 21, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith recalled that for the Holy Father the question of the female diaconate “is not ripe,” and for this reason he specifically asked the members of the synod not to get sidetracked on this possibility now.

However, the cardinal indicated that those who “are convinced that it is necessary to go deeper” into this question can send their considerations to the commission established by the Holy Father in 2020 to further study the subject. The commission is chaired by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi.

In a similar way to what he said at the beginning of the synod, Fernández emphasized that “rushing to ask for the ordination of deaconesses is not today the most important response to promote women.”

However, he underscored that the pontiff “is very concerned” about the role of women in the Church and therefore called for further reflection “without concentrating on holy orders.”

Other forms of women’s participation in the Church

Fernández referred once again to the reflections led by group 5, charged during the synod with exploring, among other things, “the question of the necessary participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church.”

He pointed out that this group has analyzed different forms such as the lay ministry of catechists in communities without priests, an option that emerged after Querida Amazonia and was not widely accepted.

The prelate recalled that Pope Francis has pointed out that priestly power, linked to the sacraments, “is not necessarily expressed as power or authority, and that there are forms of authority that do not require holy orders.”

Continuing his reflection, he renewed his invitation to send to the dicastery “testimonies of women who are truly community leaders or who perform important functions of authority.”

“I ask especially the women members of this synod to help collect, explain, and send to the dicastery various proposals, which we can hear in their context, on possible paths for the participation of women in the leadership of the Church,” he added.

Likewise, after the “misunderstanding” that was caused by his absence from a meeting of synod delegates in which they interacted with the Vatican study group on this issue, the cardinal confirmed that there will be a new meeting on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 4:30 p.m. local time where he will listen to ideas and proposals.

He also expressed his hope that concrete steps can be taken to understand that “there is nothing in the nature of women that prevents them from occupying very important positions in the guidance of the Churches. What truly comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped.”

Draft of final document already in hands of synod members

Paolo Ruffini, secretary-general of the General Secretariat of the Synod, reported during today’s press conference that the draft of the final document was delivered this morning to the members of the synod.

The document, which will be presented to Pope Francis, is being prepared by a commission made up of a president, three secretaries, seven members representing each continent, and three members appointed by the pope.

Present at the briefing at the Holy See Press Office, cardinal-designate Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, urged against seeking “headlines” in this document, as he “this would be a mistake.” He also noted that “the synod is a profound renewal of the Church” and a “new way” of imagining it.

For her part, Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, stated that the synod also represents a “new way of articulating the primacy” of the Petrine ministry.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

An aerial view of flood damage wrought by Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on Oct. 3, 2024, in Asheville, North Carolina. / Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Oct 21, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Weeks after deadly Hurricane Helene dumped record rainfall on western North Carolina, the Diocese of Charlotte is encouraging parishes to band together to create “sister” partnerships for mutual material aid and spiritual support over the next six months.

Bishop Michael Martin noted in an Oct. 10 email to the diocese’s 160 priests that parishes need to be ready to help each other and the community even if they themselves did not suffer serious damage.

“While some of the immediate needs have been cared for, our longer-term walking with the people affected … remains an important ministry of our local Church,” the bishop said as reported by the local Catholic News Herald.

Parishes that are partnered with a “sister” can hold second collections to help offset lost operating revenue in their sister parish, offer monthly Holy Hours to pray for their sister parish, and check in with the parish regularly about the need for pastoral help or volunteers, the bishop noted.

Parishes can sign up for the program and the diocesan chancery will pair up parishes based on their resources and level of need.

Helene made landfall in late September in Florida’s sparsely populated Big Bend region, bringing a nine-foot storm surge to some areas and knocking out power for millions.

Weakening into a tropical storm over land, it wrought deadly flooding and damaging winds inland in Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas.

The city of Asheville, North Carolina, a gateway to the Smoky Mountains about 125 miles west of Charlotte, was especially hard-hit along with hundreds of smaller communities. Nearly 100 people have died in North Carolina as a result of the storm.

Martin told CNA earlier this month that he and diocesan staff took a trip to several of the harder-hit areas in the Charlotte Diocese to survey the destruction and offer aid to stricken residents, including in the towns of Hendersonville and Swannanoa. 

The diocese has been heavily involved in relief efforts, with the diocese’s first truckload of supplies from Charlotte arriving in Hendersonville 48 hours after the storm. 

The diocese has since, as of Oct. 17, delivered 48 box trucks and 16 pickups and trailer loads of supplies to the communities of Asheville, Boone, Brevard, Hendersonville, Linville, Swannanoa, and Waynesville.

Monsignor Patrick Winslow, vicar general and chancellor of the Charlotte Diocese, recently consulted with pastors who lived through Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana to get advice on how to transition from addressing immediate to long-term needs. 

Donors from “all 50 states and six countries” have donated some $3.8 million as of Oct. 17 to response-and-recovery efforts led by the diocese’s parishes, schools, central administration, and its Catholic Charities agency, the diocese said. 

People can learn how to pray for North Carolina’s recovery and donate financially by visiting this page.

Operators work on Lilith, the “guardian of darkness,” built for the Hellfest metal festival in Toulouse, southwestern France, on Oct. 15, 2024. “Lilith” is one of the characters in the urban opera of the French company La Machine titled “The Guardian of the Temple Opus II: The Portal of Darkness,” which will be presented on Oct. 25–27, 2024, in Toulouse. / Credit: LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 21, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The archbishop of Toulouse has consecrated the southwest French city to the Sacred Heart of Jesus ahead of a controversial street performance featuring “satanic” imagery that is set to take place next weekend. 

“If we want to conquer with Christ,” Archbishop Guy de Kerimel reflected during his homily for the Oct. 16 consecration Mass, “if we want the heart of Jesus to reign over the city and the [arch]diocese of Toulouse, we must fight the roots of evil and sin in our own heart, seek, with the grace of God, humility, flee indifference, renounce violence, work for justice, be artisans of peace, seek purity of heart, be servants of mercy, accept to suffer contradiction.”

The archbishop’s decision to consecrate the city and archdiocese comes ahead of the operatic city-funded production “La porte des Ténèbres,” translated as “The Gate of Darkness,” which is the second installment of a similar performance that took place in 2018. 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus, he emphasized to those gathered for the consecration, “is the most eloquent revelation of the victory of the divine love manifested by Jesus, son of God and son of man, dead for our sins and risen from the dead for our salvation.”

Because of Christ’s passion, the archbishop said, “love is not dead,” and Christians can have “hearts open to testify to hope” amid darkness. 

“The consecration of the city and the [arch]diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is therefore for us an invitation to conversion to show, in our wounded world, something of the new world, born of the pierced heart of Jesus,” he stated. “How are Christian communities, with all people of goodwill, witnesses and actors of the victory of love in the world today?” 

Produced by François Delarozière, a French artist and director of the street theater company La Machine, this year’s performance sparked controversy when it was revealed that the immersive citywide opera would include “satanic” imagery. A towering mechanical depiction of Lilith, a demonic figure in Judaism, will be on display, along with Satan’s cross, Lucifer’s sigil, and the sign of the beast — which are set to represent the “three prodigious signs” that Lilith will gather during the performance to open the gates of hell. 

For the past several months, advertisements for the performance — on social media and plastered to the windows of trams throughout the city — have featured the statue of Lilith along with images of burning churches, a demonic red figure with a calf’s head, and numerous walking skeletons. 

The towering mechanical likeness of the demonic half-woman was originally constructed for an international metal music festival called “Hellfest” in Brittany this past summer. 

Delarozière in an interview with AFP news denied assertions that the performance contains satanic elements, stating that the story is really “about love, death, life, and the afterlife, with the great myths that have spanned the centuries.” 

“We all have the right to say what we want and what we think,” he added, “but we don’t have the right to censor or forbid.”

Our Lady of Pompei Chapel, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. / Credit: John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images

National Catholic Register, Oct 21, 2024 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

Beginning on Sunday, Oct. 27, the Eternal World Television Network (EWTN) will launch a nine-day novena in anticipation of the U.S. election on Nov. 5. Catholics and all people of goodwill are invited to join in the “Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation” to pray for the country and all government officials. (Editor’s note: EWTN is the parent company of CNA.)

“As Catholics, we turn instinctively to our Blessed Mother in times of need,” said EWTN Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Michael Warsaw.

“In this present moment, when there is so much division and unrest in our country, and when many of the values that formed our nation seem to be at risk, we again need to turn to our Blessed Mother,” Warsaw said. “We need to pray for her intercession, that leaders and all who seek public office will follow the path of truth, guarantee religious liberty, and ensure that all human life is valued and protected, most especially the unborn.”

The Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation concentrates on some central truths and Mary’s unique role in salvation. Each day turns to different times and roles in the Gospel and rosary — days dedicated to themes such as “The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God Day,” “The Divine Motherhood of Mary,” “The Wedding Feast of Cana Day,” “Mary at Calvary Day,” “The Mystery of Easter Day,” and the “Assumption Into Heaven.”

Even in the earliest times of Christianity, the faithful turned to Mary for her intercession in their times of persecution and great need, as did the Catholics who lived in the new republic of the United States.

In 1792, Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore, the nation’s first Catholic bishop, chose the Blessed Mother as “patroness of the United States,” and he entrusted the new United States of America to her maternal care. On May 13, 1846, 54 years later — on the same month and day she would appear years later at Fátima — the nation’s bishops named Mary under the title of “The Immaculate Conception” as the patroness of the United States.

Once again, the bishops solemnly entrusted the U.S. to the Blessed Mother in 1959, when the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was dedicated in Washington, D.C. 

America’s first president, George Washington, strongly reminded citizens of the need for heavenly help. In his farewell address, he told the nation: “[T]he propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained.”

Many victories throughout history have been credited to the prayers of the Blessed Mother, such as the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Victory of Muret in 1213, the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the defeat of Soviet Communism in Austria in 1955, the defeat of dictatorship in the Philippines in 1986, and more. 

From those earliest of times of Roman persecutions, Christians would pray the simple yet very powerful “Sub Tuum Praesidium”: “We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our prayers in our necessities, but ever deliver us from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”

The Mother of God for the Nation novena’s introduction reminds the faithful that “in times of crisis, Catholics turn instinctively to the Mother of God to heal our wounds. Now we can all do our part in this national effort by praying the Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation. In this powerful supplication, our voices speak as one asking Mary’s intercession to unite us as one nation under God.” 

Each day of the Mother of God for the Nation novena there is a short Scripture reading related to the day’s theme, a reflection, and a prayer. The novena will be broadcast on EWTN in the morning and evening (see the times listed below). To follow along, and for those who cannot watch at those times, EWTN has a free novena eBook and will send each day’s prayers of the novena directly by email. Requesting it is simple and quick. (See below.) 

If possible, during the novena people are also encouraged to do as many of the following five acts as they can (fully explained in the free novena booklet): 1) Attend Mass and receive holy Communion each day of the novena. 2) Go to confession; receive the sacrament of penance. 3) Read Scripture and pray the rosary each day. 4) Make a donation or do something practical to help the poor. 5) Encourage as many people as possible to make the novena. 

The novena booklet reminds those who join the novena that prayer testifies to the Church’s faith that “Jesus Christ is God and Mary is the mother of God and the mother of Christ’s disciples (John 19:25–27). Her maternal relationship to Christ and to all the members of his body is the foundation of Christians’ confidence in her ability to help her children on earth who face any danger.” 

“Here is a wonderful secret of prayer: Christ wants us to go humbly to his mother in search of his help,” the introduction in the novena booklet states. “This is precisely what we are doing in ‘Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation.’”

Join in prayer

If you would like to receive the Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation, please click here. 

The free eBook is available in English and in Spanish. The printed booklet is only available to ship to homes in the U.S., one per household. For a digital version for everyone who prefers one and those outside the U.S., please click “Send me an eBook.”

Make sure to watch the “Novena to the Mother of God for the Nation” on EWTN TV beginning Oct. 27. Check the broadcast times below. Join us and unite with others in prayer to the Blessed Mother.

Schedule on EWTN: 

(Times shown are Eastern time; adjust for other time zones.) 

• Sunday, Oct. 27, at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. 

• Monday through Thursday, Oct. 28–Oct. 31, at 9 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. 

• Friday, Nov. 1, at 9:15 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. 

• Saturday, Nov. 2, at 9 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. 

• Sunday, Nov. 3, at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. 

• Monday, Nov. 4, at 9 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register on Oct. 21, 2024, and has been adapted by CNA.

The apostolic vicar for Southern Arabia, Bishop Paolo Martinelli. / Credit: ACI Mena

ACI MENA, Oct 21, 2024 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

A bishop in Yemen, along with two groups of sisters from St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity, are working to build interfaith connections through charitable service.

Bishop Paolo Martinelli, OFM Cap, who serves as the apostolic vicar for Southern Arabia, emphasized the special importance of interfaith dialogue in Yemen.

Speaking to ACI Mena, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, about his office’s work on interfaith and ecumenical dialogue, Martinelli discussed his jurisdiction, which covers the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. He explained that religious workers in Yemen help anyone in need, regardless of their faith. He shared that these dedicated individuals demonstrate how love can open hearts and bring different religions together.

Martinelli described Yemeni people as kind and reserved. He said he believes his office will help support religious freedom for all faiths there. He pointed out that after 10 years of civil war, the Christian population has dropped significantly — from thousands to just a few hundred Catholics.

Creating an office for dialogue

Martinelli explained that the “dialogue office” is now based at the apostolic vicariate headquarters in Abu Dhabi. After arriving in the United Arab Emirates in 2022, he met with priests and community members and proposed creating an office for interfaith and ecumenical dialogue. He made this decision because the Emirates has long supported conversations between different cultures and religions, and his predecessor had worked hard on this effort.

Martinelli said he sees Pope Francis’ teachings and actions on interfaith dialogue as deeply spiritual. He drew parallels between the pope’s landmark 2019 trip to the Emirates — where he signed the “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” document with Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb — and St. Francis of Assisi’s meeting with the Sultan in 1219. He believes this document marks an important new phase in interfaith dialogue. Martinelli also noted that the office’s work follows the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.

The future mission 

Martinelli wants to help Christian communities better understand why dialogue matters. He stressed that these efforts aren’t just for scholars but for all believers, especially since people in his jurisdiction live alongside Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and others. The office plans to improve Christian education in parishes, particularly for Sunday school teachers, so they can teach future generations that interfaith dialogue is part of their faith.

Looking outward, Martinelli aims to expand the office’s connections with other religious groups and individuals who can help build meaningful dialogue with different faiths.

This article was first published by ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

The headquarters of the Satanic Temple, a political activist group known for protesting religious symbolism in public spaces and mocking Christianity, is located in Salem, Massachusetts. / Credit: Crisco 1492/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

CNA Staff, Oct 21, 2024 / 13:20 pm (CNA).

Catholics in Atlanta plan to fervently pray and make reparation ahead of and during an upcoming “black mass,” a sacrilegious event planned for Oct. 25 by the so-called Satanic Temple. 

Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer of Atlanta in an Oct. 8 memo urged all Catholics to counter the Satanic Temple’s “attack on the faith” through prayers of reparation and penance, calling the planned Friday event “a blasphemous and obscene inversion of the Catholic Mass.”

The Satanic Temple, which, according to its website, denies the existence of God and Satan, is a political activist group known for protesting religious symbolism in public spaces and mocking Christianity by offering “unbaptism” and hosting “black masses.”

In 2014, a planned “black mass” at Harvard University sparked considerable outcry from Catholics, as did another one later that year in Oklahoma City. 

A direct mockery of the Catholic Mass, a so-called “black mass” sometimes entails the desecration of the Eucharist, stolen from a Catholic church. The Satanic Temple website briefly describes the “black mass” as “a celebration of blasphemy, which can be an expression of personal liberty and freedom.”

The Atlanta Satanic Temple is selling tickets to the “mass,” which is set to be held at a performance venue northeast of downtown.

Hartmayer reiterated that Catholics should respond to “this attack to our faith through prayer, penance, and prayers of reparation.” He said he has asked each Atlanta parish to conduct a Eucharistic Holy Hour with Benediction to honor the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, ideally on or before Friday, Oct. 25, at 9 p.m. ET.

“Using a consecrated host they claim they obtained illicitly from a Catholic church and desecrating it in the vilest ways imaginable, the practitioners offer it in sacrifice to Satan,” the archbishop said. 

“This terrible sacrilege is a deliberate attack on the Catholic Mass as well as the foundational beliefs of all Christians. It mocks Our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we Catholics believe is truly present under the form of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist when it has been consecrated by a validly ordained priest.”

“We commend our efforts to the Lord through the loving intercession of Mary, the mother of God,” he concluded.

In recent years, the Satanic Temple has engaged in pro-abortion advocacy, losing the various lawsuits it filed against state pro-life laws in Missouri and Indiana. It also announced last year the creation of an “After School Satan Club” at a Connecticut elementary school.

Critics have long suspected that the group is a hoax or simply exists to “troll” religious people, though the group strongly denies this. 

null / Credit: Image Point Fr/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 21, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Biden administration announced on Monday that it will require insurance companies to cover over-the-counter contraception in what the White House called the “most significant expansion ... in more than a decade” of access to birth control under federal law.

The new rule requires insurance companies to remove the prescription requirement for coverage of contraception. The administration seeks to expand contraception in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, according to a White House press conference.

“The Biden-Harris administration is advancing the most significant expansion of contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act in more than a decade,” said Jennifer Klein, assistant to the president and director of the White House’s gender policy council, in the White House press briefing.

“For the first time ever, women would be able to obtain over-the-counter (OTC) contraception without a prescription at no additional cost, and health plans would have to cover even more prescribed contraceptives without cost sharing,” Klein said.

The new rule requires insurers to provide OTC contraception to women at no cost without requiring a prescription. The rule also increases the required coverage for prescriptive contraception drugs, requiring one drug per category of contraceptive, such as oral contraceptions or implants.

Following a comment period, the new rule is set to require insurance companies to expand coverage of contraceptives by fully covering multiple methods of birth control including oral contraception, condoms, and “emergency contraception.”

Catholic Church has long condemned artificial contraception

The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls contraception a “morally unacceptable” form of birth regulation, stating that “every action” that “proposes … to render procreation impossible” is “intrinsically evil” (No. 2370).

In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI called “the transmission of human life” a “most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator,” writing that it is “a source of great joy” though it “sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.”

In the document Paul VI wrote that marriage is designed by God for a husband and wife to develop a union through the “mutual gift of themselves.”

The pontiff condemned “any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse is specifically intended to prevent procreation — whether as an end or as a means.” 

“We must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of man over his own body and its natural functions,” the document read.

The only means of “spacing births” that the Church supports is “tak[ing] advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system” through natural family planning (NFP).

Paul VI acknowledged that there are sometimes serious reasons for couples to “decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time,” depending on “physical, economic, psychological, and social conditions.”

However, “every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life,” Paul VI wrote. Union and procreation are “both inherent to the marriage act,” Paul VI continued, making contraceptives “unlawful.” 

Over-the-counter contraceptives could also have negative medical consequences for women, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) noted. 

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who heads the USCCB’s laity, marriage, family life, and youth committee, condemned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of OTC contraception in 2023. 

Barron noted that giving OTC hormonal contraceptives “without the supervision of a doctor and contrary to the mounting evidence of many harmful side effects — violates the Hippocratic oath by putting the health of women at grave risk.”

Contraception mandates have also led to legal challenges in the past for religious organizations, including the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

The religious sisters spent nine years embroiled in a legal struggle as they appealed for a religious exemption from the Affordable Care Act birth control rule. That rule required employers to provide for contraceptive coverage for employees through their health care plans.

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the Little Sisters in 2020.

Pope Francis prays during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 9, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2024 / 07:49 am (CNA).

Pope Francis will publish the fourth encyclical of his pontificate on Thursday on “the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ.”

The encyclical, titled Dilexit Nos, meaning “he has loved us,” will be published Oct. 24.

The pope had announced in June that he was preparing a document on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, noting that meditating on the Lord’s love can “illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal and say something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart.”

Pope Francis then described the document as something that “brings together the precious reflections of previous magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the sacred Scriptures in order to re-propose today to the whole Church this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty.”

“I believe it will do us great good to meditate on various aspects of the Lord’s love, which can illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal and say something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart,” Francis said at the end of his general audience on June 5. 

The encyclical is being published amid the celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, which began on Dec. 27, 2023, and will conclude on June 27, 2025.

The Vatican will hold a livestreamed press conference on Thursday, Oct. 24, on the encyclical: “Dilexit Nos: Encyclical Letter on the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” 

Archbishop Bruno Forte, an Italian theologian and a new member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will present the encyclical to the press together with Sister Antonella Fraaccaro, the head of the Italian religious order Discepole del Vangelo (“Disciples of the Gospel”).

Dilexit Nos will be Pope Francis’ fourth encyclical after Fratelli Tutti, published in 2020, Laudato Si’ published in 2015, and Lumen Fidei, published in 2013.

“The Dark Charm of Halloween” is the title of a new book launched by the International Association of Exorcists (AIE, by its Italian acronym) and written by its vice president, Father Francesco Bamonte, along with Alberto Castaldini, spokesman for the institution. / Credit: Courtesy of the International Association of Exorcists

Lima Newsroom, Oct 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

“The Dark Charm of Halloween” is the title of a new book launched by the International Association of Exorcists (AIE, by its Italian acronym) and written by its vice president, Father Francesco Bamonte, along with Alberto Castaldini, spokesman for the institution.

In the online presentation of the book, which is written in question-and-answer format and now available in Italian only, Bamonte pointed out that Halloween is not “a playful and innocent celebration or a secular occasion” but that “in reality, it is the representation of a pagan religious celebration: the Samhain festival originating in the Celtic world.”

At this pagan festival, “in the evenings between late October and early November, in addition to numerous magical rites, animal sacrifices were performed and, in all likelihood, even human sacrifices.”

“During the process of Christianization of the British Isles,” Bamonte said, “the solemnity of All Saints’ Day prevailed and the community celebration retained only some of the old customs, turning toward a new perspective, from a salvific perspective.” 

The priest explained that the consumerist reinterpretation of the Celtic festival in the United States emptied it of its content of faith and allowed it to once again “become rooted in magic, horror, and death, unlike Christianity,” in addition to being “closely linked today to dark realities such as witchcraft and satanism.”

The exorcist also highlighted that it marks, for satanists, the beginning of the Satanic Year, which makes it more dangerous. Although most of those who celebrate it “have no intention of celebrating witchcraft and the devil,” they put themselves “in communion with this maleficent spiritual current” and become “more vulnerable to the ordinary and extraordinary actions” of the devil.

The priest warned that some children’s websites offer links to satanism pages and noted that on Halloween there is a proliferation of “acts of blasphemy and sacrilege against the Christian faith and symbols,” in addition to tragedies such as what happened in Seoul, South Korea, in 2022, when 158 people died while celebrating Halloween.

What can a Catholic do about Halloween?

The vice president of the AIE encouraged rediscovering the power of the solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1, encouraging people to dress up as saints, promote their lives, take part in processions and involve children, including with vigils of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

“It’s important to explain to children and adults — on the Sundays before Oct. 31 and, in particular, during the homily of the Mass on Oct. 31 in the evening and on Nov. 1 — the communion that unites us to all the saints and to our deceased, helping them to distinguish what is harmless from what is not,” the Italian exorcist explained.

It’s also important to remind everyone “how important it is for us Catholics to celebrate our brothers and sisters the saints, whose intercession can obtain for us so many graces, and to commemorate our beloved deceased, who await our prayers and with whom we hope to be united one day for eternity.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.