Posted on 06/20/2025 18:41 PM (CNA Daily News)
The childhood home of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, in Dolton, Illinois. / Credit: Michael Howie, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Jun 20, 2025 / 14:41 pm (CNA).
The auction for the childhood home of Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, has been extended by a month and will now close on July 17, according to the auction house selling the home.
The extension comes as the village of Dolton, Illinois, continues its efforts to acquire the 1,050-square-foot home located at 212 E. 141st Place in Dolton.
Dolton village attorney Burt Odelson told CNA on June 19 that the auction has been extended because the city has not finalized negotiations with the home’s owner, Pawel Radzik, to purchase the home but expects to close the deal “very soon.”
Odelson told CNA that on the chance the deal falls through, however, the village of Dolton is still prepared to seek ownership of the house through eminent domain.
Steve Budzik, the house’s listing agent, told the Chicago Tribune this week neither the owner nor the auction house would publicly disclose the number of bids received thus far.
Meanwhile, a federal judge declined to block the village of Dolton from purchasing the house after a former Dolton city employee filed a lawsuit on Sunday.
Lavell Redmond, a former employee who is involved in a wrongful termination suit against the city, asked the judge for a temporary order to prevent the city’s purchase of the pope’s childhood home, calling the city’s actions an “endeavor with substantial cost to taxpayers with no compelling governmental necessity.”
U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland denied Redmond’s request this week, citing lack of standing.
Odelson called the suit “absurd,” saying Redmond had no right to tell the village what it can and cannot do.
Odelson acknowledged that Dolton is an “economically deprived” community, however, and said once the house has been purchased, the village will set up a nonprofit charity to help fundraise for the preservation of the house and the revitalization of the neighborhood.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve what many people believe is a sacred” place, Odelson told CNA about the pope’s former home. “We need to do it right and we don’t have the funds to do it right. We have to lean on others.”
People from “all over the U.S. have already offered to help preserve the house,” Odelson said, “and the charity will enable them to do so.”
While the Archdiocese of Chicago did not respond to CNA’s requests for comment, Odelson told CNA he has been in touch with someone “high up” there who has expressed an interest in helping guide the village of Dolton in the house’s preservation.
Ward Miller of the group Preservation Chicago, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to preserving historic sites in Chicago and encouraging landmark designations in the city, told CNA on June 20 that even though the house is outside Chicago city limits, he hopes to assist the village once it acquires the property.
Odelson said Dolton, just like the city of Chicago, has the power to declare the house a village historic site and plans to do so.
A few blocks from the house, but within Chicago city limits, is St. Mary of the Assumption, the church and school that Pope Leo attended as a child, which has been vacant since 2011 and is now privately owned.
The property’s current owner, Joel Hall, said in May he is open to a landmark designation by the city, and Preservation Chicago presented its case to make it so at a meeting in May of the Commission of Chicago Landmarks.
While the commission has not yet come to a decision, Miller said he is confident it will do so.
He told CNA that after 11 years of advocacy led by Preservation Chicago and supported by the Archdiocese of Chicago, he was thrilled that the Chicago City Council voted to preserve another historic church, St. Adalbert’s Parish, this week.
“One can’t help but feel that the new American pope may have influenced the idea that everyone should work together to preserve these historic treasures,” Miller said.
Posted on 06/20/2025 18:41 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
The childhood home of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, in Dolton, Illinois. / Credit: Michael Howie, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Jun 20, 2025 / 14:41 pm (CNA).
The auction for the childhood home of Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, has been extended by a month and will now close on July 17, according to the auction house selling the home.
The extension comes as the village of Dolton, Illinois, continues its efforts to acquire the 1,050-square-foot home located at 212 E. 141st Place in Dolton.
Dolton village attorney Burt Odelson told CNA on June 19 that the auction has been extended because the city has not finalized negotiations with the home’s owner, Pawel Radzik, to purchase the home but expects to close the deal “very soon.”
Odelson told CNA that on the chance the deal falls through, however, the village of Dolton is still prepared to seek ownership of the house through eminent domain.
Steve Budzik, the house’s listing agent, told the Chicago Tribune this week neither the owner nor the auction house would publicly disclose the number of bids received thus far.
Meanwhile, a federal judge declined to block the village of Dolton from purchasing the house after a former Dolton city employee filed a lawsuit on Sunday.
Lavell Redmond, a former employee who is involved in a wrongful termination suit against the city, asked the judge for a temporary order to prevent the city’s purchase of the pope’s childhood home, calling the city’s actions an “endeavor with substantial cost to taxpayers with no compelling governmental necessity.”
U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland denied Redmond’s request this week, citing lack of standing.
Odelson called the suit “absurd,” saying Redmond had no right to tell the village what it can and cannot do.
Odelson acknowledged that Dolton is an “economically deprived” community, however, and said once the house has been purchased, the village will set up a nonprofit charity to help fundraise for the preservation of the house and the revitalization of the neighborhood.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to preserve what many people believe is a sacred” place, Odelson told CNA about the pope’s former home. “We need to do it right and we don’t have the funds to do it right. We have to lean on others.”
People from “all over the U.S. have already offered to help preserve the house,” Odelson said, “and the charity will enable them to do so.”
While the Archdiocese of Chicago did not respond to CNA’s requests for comment, Odelson told CNA he has been in touch with someone “high up” there who has expressed an interest in helping guide the village of Dolton in the house’s preservation.
Ward Miller of the group Preservation Chicago, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to preserving historic sites in Chicago and encouraging landmark designations in the city, told CNA on June 20 that even though the house is outside Chicago city limits, he hopes to assist the village once it acquires the property.
Odelson said Dolton, just like the city of Chicago, has the power to declare the house a village historic site and plans to do so.
A few blocks from the house, but within Chicago city limits, is St. Mary of the Assumption, the church and school that Pope Leo attended as a child, which has been vacant since 2011 and is now privately owned.
The property’s current owner, Joel Hall, said in May he is open to a landmark designation by the city, and Preservation Chicago presented its case to make it so at a meeting in May of the Commission of Chicago Landmarks.
While the commission has not yet come to a decision, Miller said he is confident it will do so.
He told CNA that after 11 years of advocacy led by Preservation Chicago and supported by the Archdiocese of Chicago, he was thrilled that the Chicago City Council voted to preserve another historic church, St. Adalbert’s Parish, this week.
“One can’t help but feel that the new American pope may have influenced the idea that everyone should work together to preserve these historic treasures,” Miller said.
Posted on 06/20/2025 18:11 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, chair of the United States’ recently created Religious Liberty Commission, talks with Raymond Arroyo on “The World Over” on June 19, 2025. / Credit: “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo”/Screenshot
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 20, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).
As the work of the presidential Religious Liberty Commission gets underway, the commission’s chairman, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, said he sees two major sets of domestic threats to religious liberty in the United States.
The first set of threats, he said, has its origins in several mid-20th-century court decisions, while the second set of threats is due to apathy by people of faith, “because if you don’t fight for it, you can lose it.”
Patrick made these observations during a June 19 interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” following the commission’s opening June 16 hearing in Washington, D.C.
Patrick said the commission’s inaugural convocation addressed a range of topics including the intent of the country’s founders, “what the establishment clause was about … and how we lost it in this country through court decisions.”
He explained that the courts, “particularly the Warren court and Hugo Black,” took religious liberty away, “and now we’re fighting to bring it back. Because if you lose religious liberty … all the other liberties fall by the wayside quickly.”
Patrick said he and his 13 fellow commissioners, which include Bishop Robert Barron and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, received expert legal input on a number of religious liberty cases and the feedback included that “the Supreme Court needs to take up more cases, and they need to quit kicking them back down to the lower courts.”
“We have to get the courts at every level to take more cases on these big decisions,” Patrick said. During the commission’s initial hearing, the U.S. Department of Justice, under which the commission operates, was also called upon to take a more proactive role in religious liberty cases.
Patrick indicated that the commission plans to hold another seven or eight hearings over the next year and then will deliver to President Donald Trump “a report on what he can do in executive orders or maybe legislation he’ll recommend to Congress to take up,” Patrick said.
Discussing the origins of the commission, Patrick said that “when I talked to the president about this last November, and he had already talked about religious liberty in his first four years, I said, ‘I think the timing is right now.’ And he just loved the idea.”
Patrick said that “we have to be very smart about how we walk down this path with the president” and expressed his confidence that “we have a president who believes in God, who believes in Jesus Christ, and who has said, ‘I want my government to reflect the values of where I know most of the country is.’”
The full “World Over with Raymond Arroyo” interview with Patrick can be viewed below.
Posted on 06/20/2025 18:11 PM (CNA Daily News)
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, chair of the United States’ recently created Religious Liberty Commission, talks with Raymond Arroyo on “The World Over” on June 19, 2025. / Credit: “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo”/Screenshot
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 20, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).
As the work of the presidential Religious Liberty Commission gets underway, the commission’s chairman, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, said he sees two major sets of domestic threats to religious liberty in the United States.
The first set of threats, he said, has its origins in several mid-20th-century court decisions, while the second set of threats is due to apathy by people of faith, “because if you don’t fight for it, you can lose it.”
Patrick made these observations during a June 19 interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” following the commission’s opening June 16 hearing in Washington, D.C.
Patrick said the commission’s inaugural convocation addressed a range of topics including the intent of the country’s founders, “what the establishment clause was about … and how we lost it in this country through court decisions.”
He explained that the courts, “particularly the Warren court and Hugo Black,” took religious liberty away, “and now we’re fighting to bring it back. Because if you lose religious liberty … all the other liberties fall by the wayside quickly.”
Patrick said he and his 13 fellow commissioners, which include Bishop Robert Barron and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, received expert legal input on a number of religious liberty cases and the feedback included that “the Supreme Court needs to take up more cases, and they need to quit kicking them back down to the lower courts.”
“We have to get the courts at every level to take more cases on these big decisions,” Patrick said. During the commission’s initial hearing, the U.S. Department of Justice, under which the commission operates, was also called upon to take a more proactive role in religious liberty cases.
Patrick indicated that the commission plans to hold another seven or eight hearings over the next year and then will deliver to President Donald Trump “a report on what he can do in executive orders or maybe legislation he’ll recommend to Congress to take up,” Patrick said.
Discussing the origins of the commission, Patrick said that “when I talked to the president about this last November, and he had already talked about religious liberty in his first four years, I said, ‘I think the timing is right now.’ And he just loved the idea.”
Patrick said that “we have to be very smart about how we walk down this path with the president” and expressed his confidence that “we have a president who believes in God, who believes in Jesus Christ, and who has said, ‘I want my government to reflect the values of where I know most of the country is.’”
The full “World Over with Raymond Arroyo” interview with Patrick can be viewed below.
Posted on 06/20/2025 17:41 PM (CNA Daily News)
The Catholic bishops in Nigeria’s Onitsha ecclesiastical province have condemned recent attacks in Benue state that reportedly resulted in the death of some 200 people and called for fasting and prayer in honor of the victims. / Credit: Nigeria Catholic Network
ACI Africa, Jun 20, 2025 / 13:41 pm (CNA).
The Catholic bishops in Nigeria’s Onitsha ecclesiastical province have condemned recent attacks in Benue state, which reportedly resulted in the death of some 200 people, and called for fasting and prayer in honor of the victims.
In a statement issued June 18, the bishops denounced the “almost daily bloodshed” in the West African nation, including the recent gruesome killing of civilians by suspected herdsmen on June 13 and similar attacks on June 15.
“We are deeply anguished and shocked by this relentless shedding of innocent blood in different parts of our beloved country, Nigeria. We describe these acts as inhuman, barbaric, and a gross violation of the sanctity and dignity of human life,” the bishops said.
They called on the Nigerian government to fulfill its duty of protecting citizens and demand that the state take urgent action.
“We call on the Nigerian government to immediately put an end to the almost daily bloodshed … and restore security, justice, and peace in Nigeria,” they said.
The bishops of the Onitsha Archdiocese and the Dioceses of Abakaliki, Awgu, Awka, Ekwulobia, Enugu, Nnewi, and Nsukka said that as spiritual leaders, they want the people of God under their pastoral care to seek divine intervention amid the violence and killings.
“God is our hope and our hope cannot disappoint us,” they said, alluding to the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year, which the late Pope Francis officially launched on Christmas Eve 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
In their statement, the bishops declared June 20 as a special day of prayer and fasting, particularly for peace in the Benue and Enugu states, and other regions in the West African nation suffering from violence.
“We invite all priests and religious in our province to observe the day of fasting … and dedicate their holy Masses, rosaries, and Divine Office for this noble intention,” the bishops said.
On June 13, Islamist Fulani militants attacked the town of Yelewata in Benue state, killing at least 200 people in what international aid organizations have termed the “worst killing spree” in the Nigerian region.
In the widely condemned attacks, with Pope Leo XIV extending his spiritual closeness to victims of the massacre, the attackers reportedly targeted Christians living as internally displaced people (IDPs), setting fire to buildings where families were taking shelter and assaulting with machetes anyone who attempted to flee.
Meanwhile, bishops in Nigeria’s Abuja ecclesiastical province have conveyed condolences to Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi and the people of Benue state following the killings.
“We have been deeply saddened… and express our condolences to the bereaved families. These kinds of attacks… will only intensify fear, hatred, and polarization in society. The attacks against innocent people are a sin against God, who offers life as a divine gift,” the bishops said in a statement issued June 18.
The bishops, who include the ordinaries of the Abuja Archdiocese and its counterparts of Gboko, Idah, Katsina-Ala, Lafia, Lokoja, Makurdi, and Otukpo, call on the “relevant authorities to ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to justice.”
The bishop of the Lagos Archdiocese declared Sunday, June 22, a day of prayer for peace and protest against the killings, particularly those in Benue and Enugu states.
In a letter to institutions in his metropolitan see issued June 18, Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins directed all priests in Lagos to celebrate Mass on June 22 for this intention.
Additionally, he said, rosary processions are to beheld in church compounds in the evening, led by Marian devotional groups, to invoke the intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace.
The bishop of the Lagos Archdiocese emphasizes that the day of prayer and protest is a peaceful expression of outrage and a cry for government accountability.
“The earth is tired of drinking innocent blood,” he said in his June 18 statement, adding: “The conviction of being deliberately targeted is thick in the air. People need to be reassured that they are safe and secure, irrespective of where they live within the borders of our country.”
He joined his voice to that of Pope Leo XIV, who, during his Sunday, June 15, Angelus, condemned the killings and prayed for the victims.
“We thank our Holy Father … for calling the attention of the world to the Benue massacre … Let us all, with one voice, call on the security agencies and governments … not to look away from the suffering of the people of Benue,” Adewale said.
Amid the bloodshed and public frustration, Benue state Gov. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, the priest whom Bishop William Amove Avenya of the Gboko Diocese suspended in May 2022, has rejected growing calls for citizens to arm themselves in self defense.
Speaking in an interview on AIT News on June 17, Alia acknowledged that the temptation to take up arms might appear logical.
“Each time I speak about this, I get very passionate about it. But I’m cautiously guiding citizens,” he said. “It is not just advisable for you to say we’ll pick out knives, machetes, and sticks and get out there to fight. That’s not good.”
He continued: “Where you have people who decide to just wake up because of sentiments, emotions attached to what is happening to us and within us, I think we will be rendering ourselves more vulnerable. So, I wouldn’t advocate self-defense,” he said.
Instead, he urged citizens to focus on community policing, which he described as the “only way” to address local security threats effectively.
The governor emphasized: “I would encourage us to keep calling for community policing. There are conversations around community policing. I’m one of the governors who accepted it. If it is community policing, the full power resides with those who understand the terrain where we are attacked, who know the length and breadth of our borders.”
This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
Posted on 06/20/2025 17:11 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Pope Leo greets pilgrims during the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly on Sunday, June 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2025 / 13:11 pm (CNA).
Members of Italy’s local and national governments will be the main participants in events for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Government Leaders on June 21–22, part of the wider Jubilee of Hope.
According to the Vatican, the weekend’s events mix government and Church initiatives, including a pilgrimage through the Holy Door on June 21 followed by a meeting on “ecological debt” hosted by Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri at city hall. The event will include a keynote by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The Vatican has not yet confirmed if Leo will hold a jubilee audience with participants on Saturday morning, as he did last weekend, and as Pope Francis did twice before his hospitalization in mid-February.
In addition to members of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Italian mayors and regional counsellors are expected to participate in one or more events. Ambassadors to the Holy See and representatives from other countries will also attend.
The area just outside St. Peter’s Square will transform into an open-air concert venue on the evening of June 21. The “Harmonies of Hope” concert will feature musicians from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Switzerland, Italy, and Japan.
The U.S. musician taking part is Brad Mehldau, a 54-year-old jazz pianist and composer from Jacksonville, Florida.
On Sunday, June 22, jubilee participants will be able to attend Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus from a reserved area. Attendees are also invited to join the pope’s Mass for the solemnity of Corpus Christi to be celebrated at the Basilica of St. John Lateran and which will be followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
During the Jubilee of Government Leaders, one of the largest groups to participate in the Holy Door pilgrimage will be employees of Italy’s national welfare agency, INPS (Istituto Nazionale Della Previdenza Sociale).
The paragovernmental entity, which employs approximately 25,000 people throughout Italy, is participating in the Catholic Church’s jubilee year with a pilgrimage through the Holy Door and Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 21 as an event to bring employees together.
Diego De Felice, the institute’s director of communications, told CNA around 4,000 INPS employees and their family members will participate.
According to De Felice, the welfare agency “espouses a positive vision of the intervention of the state for the purposes of social justice,” and this approach, even though secular, is “close to what the social doctrine of the Church professes.”
This week, in anticipation of the jubilee, the Italian Parliament hosted a conference on interreligious dialogue with the participation of religious and civil society leaders, and delegations from 60 countries. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, spoke at the opening of the conference on June 19.
Posted on 06/20/2025 17:11 PM (CNA Daily News)
Pope Leo greets pilgrims during the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly on Sunday, June 1, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2025 / 13:11 pm (CNA).
Members of Italy’s local and national governments will be the main participants in events for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Government Leaders on June 21–22, part of the wider Jubilee of Hope.
According to the Vatican, the weekend’s events mix government and Church initiatives, including a pilgrimage through the Holy Door on June 21 followed by a meeting on “ecological debt” hosted by Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri at city hall. The event will include a keynote by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The Vatican has not yet confirmed if Leo will hold a jubilee audience with participants on Saturday morning, as he did last weekend, and as Pope Francis did twice before his hospitalization in mid-February.
In addition to members of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Italian mayors and regional counsellors are expected to participate in one or more events. Ambassadors to the Holy See and representatives from other countries will also attend.
The area just outside St. Peter’s Square will transform into an open-air concert venue on the evening of June 21. The “Harmonies of Hope” concert will feature musicians from the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Switzerland, Italy, and Japan.
The U.S. musician taking part is Brad Mehldau, a 54-year-old jazz pianist and composer from Jacksonville, Florida.
On Sunday, June 22, jubilee participants will be able to attend Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus from a reserved area. Attendees are also invited to join the pope’s Mass for the solemnity of Corpus Christi to be celebrated at the Basilica of St. John Lateran and which will be followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
During the Jubilee of Government Leaders, one of the largest groups to participate in the Holy Door pilgrimage will be employees of Italy’s national welfare agency, INPS (Istituto Nazionale Della Previdenza Sociale).
The paragovernmental entity, which employs approximately 25,000 people throughout Italy, is participating in the Catholic Church’s jubilee year with a pilgrimage through the Holy Door and Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 21 as an event to bring employees together.
Diego De Felice, the institute’s director of communications, told CNA around 4,000 INPS employees and their family members will participate.
According to De Felice, the welfare agency “espouses a positive vision of the intervention of the state for the purposes of social justice,” and this approach, even though secular, is “close to what the social doctrine of the Church professes.”
This week, in anticipation of the jubilee, the Italian Parliament hosted a conference on interreligious dialogue with the participation of religious and civil society leaders, and delegations from 60 countries. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, spoke at the opening of the conference on June 19.
Posted on 06/20/2025 16:41 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Pope Leo XIV delivers his homily during the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and the Jubilee of Sport on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2025 / 12:41 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Friday declared 174 new martyrs, including 50 French Catholics who died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and more than 100 Spanish priests killed during the Spanish Civil War.
In a decree signed on June 20, the pope also recognized a medical miracle that occurred in 2007 in a Rhode Island hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit through the heavenly intercession of a 19th-century Spanish priest, Father Salvador Valera Parra, making possible his future beatification.
The French martyrs declared Friday died between 1944 and 1945, many after being arrested by the Nazi regime for their ministry and resistance efforts under German occupation.
Among them were Father Raimond Cayré, a 28-year-old diocesan priest who died of typhus in Buchenwald in October 1944; Father Gerard Martin Cendrier, a 24-year-old Franciscan who perished in the same camp in January 1945; Roger Vallée, a 23-year-old seminarian who died in Mauthausen in October 1944; and Jean Mestre, a 19-year-old lay member of the Young Christian Workers, who was killed in Gestapo custody in May 1944.
They were part of a broader network of clergy, religious, and Catholic laity (particularly laity affiliated with Catholic Action movements) who clandestinely accompanied French forced laborers into Germany after the Vichy regime’s Service du Travail Obligatoire was enacted in 1943. Some were tortured and killed by the Nazis because of their apostolate in Germany, while others died “ex aerumis caceris,” or because of their suffering in prison.
Most of the 50 martyrs died in camps like Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Dachau, and Zöschen, often succumbing to typhus, tuberculosis, or brutal execution. They included four Franciscans, nine diocesan priests, three seminarians, 14 Catholic Scouts, 19 members of the Young Christian Workers, and one Jesuit.
The majority of these French martyrs (more than 80%) were under the age of 30 when they died. The youngest of the Catholics Scouts, aged 21 and 22, were both executed — one by gunfire at Buchenwald and the other by beheading in Dresden in 1944.
According to the Vatican, their persecution was rooted in “odium fidei,” or hatred of the faith. The martyrs’ “apostolic action” and their willingness to die rather than abandon their spiritual duties were seen as a direct affront to the totalitarian and anti-Christian ideology of the Nazi regime.
The pope also declared 124 martyrs from the Spanish Civil War, all from the Diocese of Jaén, killed between 1936 and 1938. They included 109 diocesan priests, one religious sister, and 14 lay Catholics.
The Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints divided them into two martyr groups for their records: Father Manuel Izquierdo Izquierdo and 58 companions and Father Antonio Montañés Chiquero and 64 companions.
Their martyrdom occurred in the context of widespread anticlerical violence during Spain’s civil war, when many revolutionaries, fueled by atheist propaganda, desecrated churches and executed religious leaders. According to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, their deaths, marked by “anti-religious and anti-Christian sentiments” of the guerrillas, fit the Church’s criteria for martyrdom in “odium fidei.”
In response to the news, Bishop Sebastián Chico Martínez of Jaén said: “These lands have been blessed and watered throughout the centuries of Christianity by the blood and witness of martyrs … their sowing has been fruitful in new Christians and will continue to be so.”
The martyrs from the Diocese of Jaén are the latest of a total of more than 2,000 martyrs from the Spanish Civil War already recognized by the Church and beatified under the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.
The new Spanish martyrs’ beatification ceremony will take place in Jaén on a date to be determined.
The pope also approved a miraculous healing attributed to the intercession of Father Salvador Valera Parra, a 19th-century Spanish priest known for his charity during epidemics and natural disasters in Almería. He can now be beatified, thanks to an inexplicable healing that occurred in Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 2007.
Born in 1816, Valera Parra had a childhood marked by profound faith. When his father died, 13-year-old Salvador was seen kneeling before the body reciting the Divine Office alone. The Spanish diocesan priest is remembered for many works of charity, including founding, along with St. Teresa Jornet, a home for the elderly.
The miracle involved a premature infant named Tyquan who was delivered by emergency cesarean section after complications during labor in 2007. Born without signs of life and suffering from severe oxygen deprivation, the baby showed no improvement after an hour. The attending Spanish physician, a devotee of Servant of God Salvador Valera Parra, prayed for his intercession. Moments later, the child’s heart began to beat.
Despite doctors’ expectations of lifelong neurological damage, Tyquan developed normally, growing into a healthy, active child.
In the audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV also recognized the heroic virtue of four individuals, declaring them venerable. They are:
— João Luiz Pozzobon (1904–1985), a Brazilian deacon and father of seven known for his Marian devotion and founding the Schoenstatt Movement’s Pilgrim Mother Rosary Campaign, which is now present in more than 100 countries
— Anna Fulgida Bartolacelli (1923–1993), an Italian laywoman who suffered from dwarfism and rickets and was a consecrated member of the Silent Workers of the Cross, living a life of hidden sanctity and service to the sick
— Raffaele Mennella (1877–1898), a young Italian cleric of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 21
— Teresa Tambelli (1884–1964), a Daughter of Charity known for her long ministry to the poor in Cagliari, Italy
Posted on 06/20/2025 16:41 PM (CNA Daily News)
Pope Leo XIV delivers his homily during the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and the Jubilee of Sport on June 15, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, Jun 20, 2025 / 12:41 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Friday declared 174 new martyrs, including 50 French Catholics who died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and more than 100 Spanish priests killed during the Spanish Civil War.
In a decree signed on June 20, the pope also recognized a medical miracle that occurred in 2007 in a Rhode Island hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit through the heavenly intercession of a 19th-century Spanish priest, Father Salvador Valera Parra, making possible his future beatification.
The French martyrs declared Friday died between 1944 and 1945, many after being arrested by the Nazi regime for their ministry and resistance efforts under German occupation.
Among them were Father Raimond Cayré, a 28-year-old diocesan priest who died of typhus in Buchenwald in October 1944; Father Gerard Martin Cendrier, a 24-year-old Franciscan who perished in the same camp in January 1945; Roger Vallée, a 23-year-old seminarian who died in Mauthausen in October 1944; and Jean Mestre, a 19-year-old lay member of the Young Christian Workers, who was killed in Gestapo custody in May 1944.
They were part of a broader network of clergy, religious, and Catholic laity (particularly laity affiliated with Catholic Action movements) who clandestinely accompanied French forced laborers into Germany after the Vichy regime’s Service du Travail Obligatoire was enacted in 1943. Some were tortured and killed by the Nazis because of their apostolate in Germany, while others died “ex aerumis caceris,” or because of their suffering in prison.
Most of the 50 martyrs died in camps like Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Dachau, and Zöschen, often succumbing to typhus, tuberculosis, or brutal execution. They included four Franciscans, nine diocesan priests, three seminarians, 14 Catholic Scouts, 19 members of the Young Christian Workers, and one Jesuit.
The majority of these French martyrs (more than 80%) were under the age of 30 when they died. The youngest of the Catholics Scouts, aged 21 and 22, were both executed — one by gunfire at Buchenwald and the other by beheading in Dresden in 1944.
According to the Vatican, their persecution was rooted in “odium fidei,” or hatred of the faith. The martyrs’ “apostolic action” and their willingness to die rather than abandon their spiritual duties were seen as a direct affront to the totalitarian and anti-Christian ideology of the Nazi regime.
The pope also declared 124 martyrs from the Spanish Civil War, all from the Diocese of Jaén, killed between 1936 and 1938. They included 109 diocesan priests, one religious sister, and 14 lay Catholics.
The Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints divided them into two martyr groups for their records: Father Manuel Izquierdo Izquierdo and 58 companions and Father Antonio Montañés Chiquero and 64 companions.
Their martyrdom occurred in the context of widespread anticlerical violence during Spain’s civil war, when many revolutionaries, fueled by atheist propaganda, desecrated churches and executed religious leaders. According to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, their deaths, marked by “anti-religious and anti-Christian sentiments” of the guerrillas, fit the Church’s criteria for martyrdom in “odium fidei.”
In response to the news, Bishop Sebastián Chico Martínez of Jaén said: “These lands have been blessed and watered throughout the centuries of Christianity by the blood and witness of martyrs … their sowing has been fruitful in new Christians and will continue to be so.”
The martyrs from the Diocese of Jaén are the latest of a total of more than 2,000 martyrs from the Spanish Civil War already recognized by the Church and beatified under the pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis.
The new Spanish martyrs’ beatification ceremony will take place in Jaén on a date to be determined.
The pope also approved a miraculous healing attributed to the intercession of Father Salvador Valera Parra, a 19th-century Spanish priest known for his charity during epidemics and natural disasters in Almería. He can now be beatified, thanks to an inexplicable healing that occurred in Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 2007.
Born in 1816, Valera Parra had a childhood marked by profound faith. When his father died, 13-year-old Salvador was seen kneeling before the body reciting the Divine Office alone. The Spanish diocesan priest is remembered for many works of charity, including founding, along with St. Teresa Jornet, a home for the elderly.
The miracle involved a premature infant named Tyquan who was delivered by emergency cesarean section after complications during labor in 2007. Born without signs of life and suffering from severe oxygen deprivation, the baby showed no improvement after an hour. The attending Spanish physician, a devotee of Servant of God Salvador Valera Parra, prayed for his intercession. Moments later, the child’s heart began to beat.
Despite doctors’ expectations of lifelong neurological damage, Tyquan developed normally, growing into a healthy, active child.
In the audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Leo XIV also recognized the heroic virtue of four individuals, declaring them venerable. They are:
— João Luiz Pozzobon (1904–1985), a Brazilian deacon and father of seven known for his Marian devotion and founding the Schoenstatt Movement’s Pilgrim Mother Rosary Campaign, which is now present in more than 100 countries
— Anna Fulgida Bartolacelli (1923–1993), an Italian laywoman who suffered from dwarfism and rickets and was a consecrated member of the Silent Workers of the Cross, living a life of hidden sanctity and service to the sick
— Raffaele Mennella (1877–1898), a young Italian cleric of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 21
— Teresa Tambelli (1884–1964), a Daughter of Charity known for her long ministry to the poor in Cagliari, Italy
Posted on 06/20/2025 14:29 PM (Catholic News Agency)
Sister Maria Zhang made her perpetual vows as an Augustinian Recollect on May 13, 2025. / Credit: Diocese of Salamanca
Madrid, Spain, Jun 20, 2025 / 10:29 am (CNA).
Sister Maria Zhang Yue Chun made her perpetual vows on May 13 at the convent of the Augustinian Recollects in Vitigudino, Salamanca province, Spain.