Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino. / Credit: Diocese of San Bernardino/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Jun 25, 2025 / 13:24 pm (CNA).

Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, California, on Tuesday urged authorities to cease their aggressive arrests of immigrants in the state, with the prelate calling for immigration enforcement that “respects human rights and human dignity.”

The plea comes as the federal government under President Donald Trump continues its broad effort to arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants in California and throughout the rest of the country.

California has been at the epicenter of much of that enforcement. Pew Research Center estimated last year that the state is home to 1.8 million “unauthorized immigrants,” the highest number of any state in the country.

The federal government, meanwhile, has been boasting of its immigration raids in the state, describing in press releases its arrests of the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in Los Angeles and slamming what it called “sanctuary politicians” in states like California who “work to thwart” the work of immigration officers. 

Last month Trump aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly pushed ICE agents to arrest 3,000 people per day. According to Forbes, “the Trump administration internally has set a goal of deporting 1 million people during Trump’s first year.”

‘It is not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ’

In his Tuesday message, Rojas noted the “change [and] increase in immigration enforcement in our region and specifically in our diocese.” San Bernardino is located about 90 minutes east of Los Angeles.

“Authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God,” the bishop wrote of the immigration raids. 

Speaking to immigrant communities bearing the “trauma and injustice of these tactics,” Rojas wrote that the Church “walks with you and supports you. We join you in carrying this very difficult cross.”

Rojas wrote that Catholics “respect and appreciate the right of law enforcement to keep our communities safe from violent criminals.” But the recent enforcement has gone beyond that, he argued.

“[W]e are now seeing agents detain people as they leave their homes, in their places of work and other randomly chosen public settings,” the bishop wrote. “We have experienced at least one case of ICE agents entering a parish property and seizing several people.”

The aggressive enforcement “is creating a tremendous amount of fear, confusion, and anxiety for many,” he wrote.

Describing those extreme methods as “not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the bishop asked political leaders to “reconsider and cease these tactics immediately, in favor of an approach that respects human rights and human dignity and builds toward a more lasting, comprehensive reform of our immigration system.”

It “is painful to see such division amongst God’s people at this moment,” the bishop admitted. 

“This is not what he wants for us. Let us instead remember what we all share — our creation in his image and likeness. Let us look for God in one another.”

Religious leaders have spoken out against the Trump administration’s immigration policy in the months since the Republican leader took office in January.

In February more than two dozen religious groups sued the White House over its policy allowing immigration officers to arrest suspected illegal immigrants in houses of worship and other “sensitive locations.”

The groups said the policy had the effect of “substantially burdening” religious worship, since many immigrant parishioners were avoiding worship altogether.

In a similar case filed around the same time, a federal judge ruled in February that the government would not be permitted to conduct unrestricted arrests of suspected unauthorized immigrants at some religious sites while the lawsuit plays out in court.

Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino. / Credit: Diocese of San Bernardino/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Jun 25, 2025 / 13:24 pm (CNA).

Bishop Alberto Rojas of San Bernardino, California, on Tuesday urged authorities to cease their aggressive arrests of immigrants in the state, with the prelate calling for immigration enforcement that “respects human rights and human dignity.”

The plea comes as the federal government under President Donald Trump continues its broad effort to arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants in California and throughout the rest of the country.

California has been at the epicenter of much of that enforcement. Pew Research Center estimated last year that the state is home to 1.8 million “unauthorized immigrants,” the highest number of any state in the country.

The federal government, meanwhile, has been boasting of its immigration raids in the state, describing in press releases its arrests of the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in Los Angeles and slamming what it called “sanctuary politicians” in states like California who “work to thwart” the work of immigration officers. 

Last month Trump aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly pushed ICE agents to arrest 3,000 people per day. According to Forbes, “the Trump administration internally has set a goal of deporting 1 million people during Trump’s first year.”

‘It is not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ’

In his Tuesday message, Rojas noted the “change [and] increase in immigration enforcement in our region and specifically in our diocese.” San Bernardino is located about 90 minutes east of Los Angeles.

“Authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately, without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God,” the bishop wrote of the immigration raids. 

Speaking to immigrant communities bearing the “trauma and injustice of these tactics,” Rojas wrote that the Church “walks with you and supports you. We join you in carrying this very difficult cross.”

Rojas wrote that Catholics “respect and appreciate the right of law enforcement to keep our communities safe from violent criminals.” But the recent enforcement has gone beyond that, he argued.

“[W]e are now seeing agents detain people as they leave their homes, in their places of work and other randomly chosen public settings,” the bishop wrote. “We have experienced at least one case of ICE agents entering a parish property and seizing several people.”

The aggressive enforcement “is creating a tremendous amount of fear, confusion, and anxiety for many,” he wrote.

Describing those extreme methods as “not of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the bishop asked political leaders to “reconsider and cease these tactics immediately, in favor of an approach that respects human rights and human dignity and builds toward a more lasting, comprehensive reform of our immigration system.”

It “is painful to see such division amongst God’s people at this moment,” the bishop admitted. 

“This is not what he wants for us. Let us instead remember what we all share — our creation in his image and likeness. Let us look for God in one another.”

Religious leaders have spoken out against the Trump administration’s immigration policy in the months since the Republican leader took office in January.

In February more than two dozen religious groups sued the White House over its policy allowing immigration officers to arrest suspected illegal immigrants in houses of worship and other “sensitive locations.”

The groups said the policy had the effect of “substantially burdening” religious worship, since many immigrant parishioners were avoiding worship altogether.

In a similar case filed around the same time, a federal judge ruled in February that the government would not be permitted to conduct unrestricted arrests of suspected unauthorized immigrants at some religious sites while the lawsuit plays out in court.

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-Taick delivers his homily at the Mass for a Day of prayer for National Reconciliation and Unity at Myeongdong Cathedral on June 22, 2025, in anticipation of the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25. / Credit: Archdiocese of Seoul

Rome Newsroom, Jun 25, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA).

Korean Catholics marked the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War with a novena of prayers and Masses offered for peace and reconciliation on the divided peninsula — where the war never formally ended. 

More than 1,000 Catholics gathered for a special Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on the Sunday before the June 25 anniversary. The liturgy was led by Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick, the archbishop of Seoul and apostolic administrator of Pyongyang.

“Living in a state of division, the North and South have nurtured hatred and animosity amid constant tension and confrontation,” Chung said in his homily. 

“Every single member of our Church must remember and pray for our brothers and sisters in North Korea and stop turning blind eyes to efforts for reconciliation and unity in God by reinventing our sense of solidarity based on brotherhood,” he added during a keynote address at a symposium later that day.

The Korean War claimed the lives of an estimated 3 million people, or 10% of the population, in Korea between 1950 and 1953. The United States suffered more than 33,000 battle deaths and nearly 3,000 non-battle deaths. An armistice signed in 1953 ended active fighting but did not result in a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.

Catholics in South Korea prayed a novena leading up to the June 25 anniversary, which has been marked by the local Church for decades as an annual “Day of Prayer for the Reconciliation and Unity of the Korean People.” Weekly Masses for Korean reconciliation are also offered at Seoul’s cathedral every Tuesday night throughout the year with the 1,468th Mass celebrated this week.

A divided peninsula 

The division of the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel after World War II created two vastly different nations. The north, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is ruled by a repressive regime that has been accused by the United Nations of committing crimes against humanity, including executions, torture, forced abortions, and mass starvation.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2024 that North Korea has intensified restrictions since 2020, using COVID-19 as a pretext to seal its borders, halt trade and humanitarian aid, and block defectors from escaping. Today, North Korea remains one of the poorest and most isolated nations in the world.

South Korea, meanwhile, has experienced rapid development, transforming into a major global economy. The so-called “miracle on the Han River” saw the south’s economy grow by nearly 9% annually for three decades following the war.

The Catholic Church in South Korea has also grown significantly, from fewer than 500,000 members in the 1960s to nearly 6 million today, according to data released by the Korean Bishops’ Conference earlier this year.

Bishop Simon Kim Joo-young of Chuncheon serves as president of the Korean bishops’ conference’s Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People.

“After 80 years of division on the Korean Peninsula, we must overcome conflicts with faith in the resurrection of Christ,” Kim said, according to Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

North Korea’s Christian past 

Before the Korean War, Pyongyang was known as the “Jerusalem of the East,” with a vibrant minority Christian population. In 1945, approximately 50,000 Catholics and more than twice as many Protestants were registered in parishes and churches in what is now North Korea, according to the Korean bishops.

Most Catholic clergy in the north were arrested, killed, or disappeared around the time the war broke out in 1950. The Church has opened a beatification cause for 40 monks and nuns from Tokwon Benedictine Abbey who were martyred by communist forces.

In 1988, the communist government established the “Korean Catholic Association,” which is not recognized by the Vatican and operates under strict state oversight. It reportedly had 800 members at its founding. No Catholic clergy currently reside in North Korea.

Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, now prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Clergy, visited Pyongyang in 2005 during a humanitarian mission for Caritas Korea.

Despite the lack of religious freedom, some defectors from the north have discovered the Catholic faith after resettling in South Korea.

Fragile inter-Korean relations 

Inter-Korean relations have deteriorated significantly in recent years. 

In January 2024, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared an end to the regime’s long-standing policy of peaceful reunification and began removing related language from monuments and official rhetoric, labeling South Korea as a “principal enemy.” 

Later that year, Pyongyang sent balloons filled with trash across the border in retaliation for leaflet campaigns by South Korean activists. Bishop Kim described the deepening division as “a crisis.” 

“This situation is the result of ideological conflicts accumulated over a long period of division, which could be described as an emotional civil war,” Kim said.

Yet Archbishop Chung pointed out that “a small but meaningful change has begun in inter-Korean relations” this month.

President Lee Jae-myung, who took office in June, suspended propaganda broadcasts along the Demilitarized Zone and called on activists to cease sending balloons into the north.

“As soon as our government stopped loudspeaker messages to North Korea, North Korea immediately ceased to broadcast its loudspeaker messages,” Chung said. “The tension that had been unrelenting between the two nations suddenly eased, creating a small but remarkable change that allowed us to seek a new relationship.”

Father Chung Soo-yang, vice chair of the bishops’ reconciliation committee, expressed hope that the younger generation will take the lead in promoting peace, especially ahead of World Youth Day 2027, which will be hosted in Seoul.

“Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Iran wars, it is globally important for the Korean Peninsula that has stood divided for more than a half-century to lay the foundation for peace,” he said.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska. / Credit: Diocese of Lincoln

CNA Staff, Jun 25, 2025 / 12:24 pm (CNA).

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, this week slammed a so-called “drag Mass” performance put on by a University of Nebraska student, calling it an “offensive” display marked by “lies, evil, and ugliness.” 

The higher education news website the College Fix first reported on the performance on May 30. The LGBT-centric demonstration was hosted by a local Lutheran church; its creator, music doctoral student Joseph Willette, said the event was meant to “bridge the gap between queerness and spirituality.”

Explicitly describing the performance as an “appropriation of the traditional Mass,” Willette said the display “blurs the lines between the sacred and the profane.” The College Fix said the incident “imitated various parts of the Mass, including the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.” It reportedly featured a chamber orchestra and singing along with drag performances.

In a June 24 statement, Conley called the event a “blatant public display of faith-based discrimination,” one that led to Willette himself earning a doctorate. 

The profane performance “reflects poorly on the University of Nebraska, its faculty, and our community,” Conley said.

“There is no redeeming value in such a display of ignorance,” the prelate wrote. “Such discrimination would not be tolerated if directed at other religions, so why is it tolerated if the target is the Catholic faith?”

“It’s offensive and should be condemned by the university, not applauded or rewarded,” he said. “Education should strive for the true, the good, and the beautiful — not lies, evil, and ugliness.”

The mockery of the Mass generated significant pushback and criticism, including from the Catholic League, which the College Fix reported sent a letter to the University of Nebraska demanding the school “[hold] accountable” the professors who sanctioned the display.

In a video response posted to Instagram, Willette said he felt “no need to defend myself or my work.”

Stating that he would not be “bullied” into “submission,” Willette vowed that he would “continue to make unabashedly queer music.”

Conley, meanwhile, called on the university “to do more than ignore such a vile display of hatred.” 

“Have the courage to stand up and declare your institution will not tolerate or reward such inappropriate behavior and take action against the faculty who encouraged it,” he said.

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska. / Credit: Diocese of Lincoln

CNA Staff, Jun 25, 2025 / 12:24 pm (CNA).

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, this week slammed a so-called “drag Mass” performance put on by a University of Nebraska student, calling it an “offensive” display marked by “lies, evil, and ugliness.” 

The higher education news website the College Fix first reported on the performance on May 30. The LGBT-centric demonstration was hosted by a local Lutheran church; its creator, music doctoral student Joseph Willette, said the event was meant to “bridge the gap between queerness and spirituality.”

Explicitly describing the performance as an “appropriation of the traditional Mass,” Willette said the display “blurs the lines between the sacred and the profane.” The College Fix said the incident “imitated various parts of the Mass, including the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.” It reportedly featured a chamber orchestra and singing along with drag performances.

In a June 24 statement, Conley called the event a “blatant public display of faith-based discrimination,” one that led to Willette himself earning a doctorate. 

The profane performance “reflects poorly on the University of Nebraska, its faculty, and our community,” Conley said.

“There is no redeeming value in such a display of ignorance,” the prelate wrote. “Such discrimination would not be tolerated if directed at other religions, so why is it tolerated if the target is the Catholic faith?”

“It’s offensive and should be condemned by the university, not applauded or rewarded,” he said. “Education should strive for the true, the good, and the beautiful — not lies, evil, and ugliness.”

The mockery of the Mass generated significant pushback and criticism, including from the Catholic League, which the College Fix reported sent a letter to the University of Nebraska demanding the school “[hold] accountable” the professors who sanctioned the display.

In a video response posted to Instagram, Willette said he felt “no need to defend myself or my work.”

Stating that he would not be “bullied” into “submission,” Willette vowed that he would “continue to make unabashedly queer music.”

Conley, meanwhile, called on the university “to do more than ignore such a vile display of hatred.” 

“Have the courage to stand up and declare your institution will not tolerate or reward such inappropriate behavior and take action against the faculty who encouraged it,” he said.

Father Francesco Ielpo, a Franciscan friar, on June 24, 2025, was appointed the new custos of the Holy Land and guardian of Mount Zion. Previously, since 2022, he was president of the Holy Land Foundation in addition to holding other organizational roles across Italian Franciscan provinces. / Credit: Custodia Terræ Sanctæ

ACI MENA, Jun 25, 2025 / 11:54 am (CNA).

In a decision carrying both spiritual and humanitarian significance, Pope Leo XIV on June 24 approved the election of Father Francesco Ielpo, a member of the Order of Friars Minor, as the new custos of the Holy Land and guardian of Mount Zion, succeeding Father Francesco Patton, who concluded nine years of service in this sensitive role.

The appointment followed an election conducted by the minister general of the Franciscan order and his council, in line with a long-standing tradition that reflects the historical continuity of the Franciscans’ mission in the land where Jesus Christ walked.

Born in Lauria, Italy, in 1970, Ielpo made his solemn profession in 1998 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2000. His service has spanned education, administration, and pastoral care. He taught religion, served as the head of the “Franciscanum Luzzago” Institute in Brescia, and held ecclesial responsibilities as the commissary for the Holy Land in Lombardy and later in northern Italy. Since 2022, he has been president of the Holy Land Foundation in addition to holding other organizational roles across Italian Franciscan provinces.

Ielpo assumes his new role at an extremely complex moment, both regionally and spiritually. The Holy Land is enduring growing political and military tensions, a sharp decline in pilgrimage, a shrinking local Christian population, and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.

In this context, the responsibility of the new custos goes far beyond protecting sacred sites; it encompasses pastoral presence, humanitarian support, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and the safeguarding of Christianity’s roots in its birthplace. The late Pope Francis had once stressed that “serving the Holy Land is a mission of peace amid conflict, a space for humility and spiritual courage.”

Ielpo succeeds Patton, who served from 2016 to 2025. During his tenure, Patton faced significant challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the near-total halt of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Despite these trials, he sustained major restoration projects, took part in humanitarian efforts such as support for children in Gaza, and documented his experience in a spiritual memoir titled “Like a Pilgrimage: My Days in the Holy Land.”

The Franciscan Custody, which began more than 800 years ago with St. Francis of Assisi’s arrival in the Holy Land, is not merely a religious duty. It is a living witness to the Catholic Church’s enduring commitment to the holy sites, to the people who dwell around them, and to the pilgrims who yearn to visit.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV speaks to bishops gathered for the Jubilee of Bishops on June 25, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 25, 2025 / 11:24 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called bishops to be firm and decisive in dealing with scandal and sexual abuse, linking vigilance against abuse to living a chaste life.

Speaking to over 400 bishops from 38 countries in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope also emphasized the importance of pastoral prudence, poverty, and synodality in the ministry of a bishop.

“Together with material poverty, the life of the bishop is also marked by that specific form of poverty, which is celibacy and virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven,” he said during the June 25 meeting, the last part of a morning of spiritual activities for the Jubilee of Bishops.

Leo said celibacy is more than living as a celibate but includes “chastity of heart and conduct, and in this way, living a life of Christian discipleship and presenting to all the authentic image of the Church, holy and chaste in her members as in her head.”

Following his reference to their personal chastity, the pope asked the bishops, when dealing with abuse, especially abuse of minors, to fully respect the Church’s current regulations.

Pope Leo, before his election, spent two years as head of the Dicastery for Bishops, the Vatican department responsible for assisting the pope in the appointment of new bishops around the world, providing formation for new bishops, and intervening when necessary in problems of governance within a diocese.

Evangelical poverty, as lived by the bishop, “is a simple, sober, and generous lifestyle, dignified and at the same time suited to the conditions of the majority of his people,” the pontiff said.

“The poor,” he continued, “must find in him a father and a brother, and never feel uncomfortable in meeting him or entering his home. In his personal life, he must be detached from the pursuit of wealth and from forms of favoritism based on money or power.”

On pastoral prudence, Leo underlined the need for synodality — “dialogue as a style and method” — in the bishop’s particular Church.

He encouraged bishops to be men of the theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. And he cited the Second Vatican Council decree on priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, which mentions the human virtues of “fairness, sincerity, magnanimity, openness of mind and heart, the ability to rejoice with those who rejoice and to suffer with those who suffer, as well as self-control, delicacy, patience, discretion, great openness to listening and engaging in dialogue, and willingness to serve.”

“These virtues,” the pontiff said, “can and must be cultivated in conformity to the Lord Jesus, with the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

For the Jubilee of Bishops, members of the Roman Curia and bishops on pilgrimage to Rome began the morning by passing through the Holy Door. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, celebrated Mass for them at the Altar of the Chair before the approximately half-hour meeting with Leo.

After the pope delivered his spiritual message, which the bishops applauded, he led them in singing the Creed, the profession of the faith, in Latin. 

“At the very place where Peter gave witness to Christ, together with me, his successor, you renew your loyalty to the prince of pastors,” the pope said as he introduced the Creed.

Pope Leo, in his catechesis, also cited St. Augustine’s description of the priestly ministry as the “amoris officium,” or the “office of love” in English.

Here the theological life of the bishop, he said, “is expressed and shines forth in the highest degree. Whether preaching, visiting communities, listening to priests and deacons, or making administrative decisions, all that he does is inspired and motivated by the charity of Christ the Shepherd.”

Pope Leo XIV speaks to bishops gathered for the Jubilee of Bishops on June 25, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 25, 2025 / 11:24 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called bishops to be firm and decisive in dealing with scandal and sexual abuse, linking vigilance against abuse to living a chaste life.

Speaking to over 400 bishops from 38 countries in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope also emphasized the importance of pastoral prudence, poverty, and synodality in the ministry of a bishop.

“Together with material poverty, the life of the bishop is also marked by that specific form of poverty, which is celibacy and virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven,” he said during the June 25 meeting, the last part of a morning of spiritual activities for the Jubilee of Bishops.

Leo said celibacy is more than living as a celibate but includes “chastity of heart and conduct, and in this way, living a life of Christian discipleship and presenting to all the authentic image of the Church, holy and chaste in her members as in her head.”

Following his reference to their personal chastity, the pope asked the bishops, when dealing with abuse, especially abuse of minors, to fully respect the Church’s current regulations.

Pope Leo, before his election, spent two years as head of the Dicastery for Bishops, the Vatican department responsible for assisting the pope in the appointment of new bishops around the world, providing formation for new bishops, and intervening when necessary in problems of governance within a diocese.

Evangelical poverty, as lived by the bishop, “is a simple, sober, and generous lifestyle, dignified and at the same time suited to the conditions of the majority of his people,” the pontiff said.

“The poor,” he continued, “must find in him a father and a brother, and never feel uncomfortable in meeting him or entering his home. In his personal life, he must be detached from the pursuit of wealth and from forms of favoritism based on money or power.”

On pastoral prudence, Leo underlined the need for synodality — “dialogue as a style and method” — in the bishop’s particular Church.

He encouraged bishops to be men of the theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. And he cited the Second Vatican Council decree on priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, which mentions the human virtues of “fairness, sincerity, magnanimity, openness of mind and heart, the ability to rejoice with those who rejoice and to suffer with those who suffer, as well as self-control, delicacy, patience, discretion, great openness to listening and engaging in dialogue, and willingness to serve.”

“These virtues,” the pontiff said, “can and must be cultivated in conformity to the Lord Jesus, with the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

For the Jubilee of Bishops, members of the Roman Curia and bishops on pilgrimage to Rome began the morning by passing through the Holy Door. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, celebrated Mass for them at the Altar of the Chair before the approximately half-hour meeting with Leo.

After the pope delivered his spiritual message, which the bishops applauded, he led them in singing the Creed, the profession of the faith, in Latin. 

“At the very place where Peter gave witness to Christ, together with me, his successor, you renew your loyalty to the prince of pastors,” the pope said as he introduced the Creed.

Pope Leo, in his catechesis, also cited St. Augustine’s description of the priestly ministry as the “amoris officium,” or the “office of love” in English.

Here the theological life of the bishop, he said, “is expressed and shines forth in the highest degree. Whether preaching, visiting communities, listening to priests and deacons, or making administrative decisions, all that he does is inspired and motivated by the charity of Christ the Shepherd.”

The original face of Our Lady of Hope of Macarena. / Credit: Emilio Sáenz/Macarena Brotherhood

Madrid, Spain, Jun 25, 2025 / 10:54 am (CNA).

The recent changes made to the expression on the face of the iconic image of Our Lady of Hope of Macarena, a popular Spanish devotion, has sparked a wave of reactions among those who consider her an essential part of their faith.

The main focus of discontent has centered on the Virgin’s expression, as the addition of false eyelashes and other changes during recent conservation work visibly altered her expression, causing a negative reaction from numerous devotees who said they no longer recognized “their Virgin.”

“That is not my Virgin, it’s not the image we have venerated for generations,” is how many of the faithful have expressed their bewilderment in recent days at Our Lady of Hope of Macarena Basilica in Seville Spain, where the image known as the “Virgin of Macarena” is kept.

The statue was removed from public veneration for five days to undergo the conservation work and was returned to public view on June 21. The first change to the eyes was followed by another touch-up that same afternoon, and a third that evening, when the eyelashes were reduced, the eyebrows were retouched, and the complexion was darkened.

These modifications to one of the most emblematic images of Holy Week in Seville has led to a torrent of reactions, many of them expressing criticism and surprise — some with tears — flooding social media, and there have even been protests at the basilica.

“The Virgin remains sad; she seems tired, her eyes speak for themselves,” said one post on X. Something has happened, and her expression has changed. Sad to see what has happened. Her children and Seville are demanding an explanation. It will come.”

Another post compared photos of the image from 2016, 2022, and on June 23:

Confusion and outrage among devotees

The restoration of the image has sparked a heated controversy among the Andalusian faithful and devotees.

“A very noticeable change for the worse in the characteristic expression of Our Lady of Hope,” another social media post stated. “I hope I’m mistaken, but knowing the repercussions of making changes to the image of the Macarena, it falls far short of what one would expect.” 

Another poster compared the Virgin of Hope Macarena of Seville image from one day to the next, asking: “Did the confraternity need this?”

Hundreds of faithful gathered the afternoon of June 23 around the basilica, which gives its name to the Macarena neighborhood, to protest the changes made to the statue.

The archbishop of Seville, José Ángel Saiz Meneses, spoke out regarding the incident. Early on the morning of June 24, he stated on X that “to err is human, to forgive is divine, to rectify is wise.”

“Our Lady of Hope Macarena wants us to be united, as brothers and sisters, as her children, looking to the future, walking in truth and goodness,” the prelate said.

Apology for ‘moral and devotional damage’

The controversy has led two top officials of the governing board of the Brotherhood of the Macarena to resign. In Spain, brotherhoods, also known as confraternities, are organizations that care for as well as carry in procession sacred images during Holy Week.

Following an emergency meeting, the Brotherhood of the Macarena issued an official statement on June 24 in which it apologized to “all members of the brotherhood and devotees for any moral and devotional damage that may have been caused by the decisions taken following the conservation and maintenance work carried out” on the Virgin of Macarena.

The organization noted that the conservation work was entrusted to Francisco Arquillo Torres, who has been doing this work since 1978. They also explained that the eyelashes were applied “moments before dressing her,” so “it’s possible that they shifted, closing part of her eyes because the adhesive was not completely dry.”

Given the confusion of the devotees and “the persistence of this unwanted aesthetic effect,” the statement said that Arquillo himself came to the basilica on June 21 with other experts to “analyze a possible solution,” making changes again that same afternoon and later that evening.

In order to restore the aesthetic appearance of the Virgin of Hope, the brotherhood has announced its decision to consult with other “renowned” specialists to analyze the situation and “act accordingly.”

The governing board has also approved the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage to carry out the technical supervision of the revision.

Once the entire process is completed, an extraordinary general council will be convened to determine any measures to be adopted based on the results.

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

The original face of Our Lady of Hope of Macarena. / Credit: Emilio Sáenz/Macarena Brotherhood

Madrid, Spain, Jun 25, 2025 / 10:54 am (CNA).

The recent changes made to the expression on the face of the iconic image of Our Lady of Hope of Macarena in Spain has sparked a wave of reactions.