Father Anthony Onyemuche Ekpo. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 19, 2025 / 14:53 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appointed Nigerian priest Father Anthony Onyemuche Ekpo as assessor for general affairs of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Ekpo, 44, succeeds Father Roberto Campisi, who was appointed permanent observer of the Holy See to UNESCO in September. In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing the activities of Catholic international organizations connected to the Vatican.

The Nigeria-born priest first began his service with the Holy See in 2016. He worked with the Vatican’s Section for General Affairs for six years between 2016 and 2023.

In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to assist the work of its prefect Cardinal Michael Czerny. 

Epko thanked his colleagues at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development “for their friendship and shared work over these years” and prayed for ​​the grace to carry out his new role with the Secretariat of State with “joy, passion, and dedication,” Vatican News reported on Wednesday.

“My desire is to be able to collaborate with the superiors and employees of the dicastery, to advance the vision of the dicastery and the mission of the Church,” Ekpo told Vatican News.

Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Umuahia, Nigeria, in 2011, Epko continued his theological training abroad. 

In 2013, he obtained a doctorate in systematic theology from the Australian Catholic University as well as a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2021.

He is fluent in English, Italian, French, and the Nigerian language Igbo.

Earlier this month, Pope Leo appointed Nigerian priest Father Edward Daniang Daleng as vice regent of the Papal Household, the second-highest position in the Vatican office that organizes audiences with the pope.

The Vatican did not release any details about what was discussed during the Nov. 19, 2025, meeting Pope Leo XIV held with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Office of Gov. JB Pritzker

CNA Newsroom, Nov 19, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV met with the governor of his native Illinois, JB Pritzker, on Wednesday at the Vatican. The first lady of the U.S. state known as “The Land of Lincoln,” MK Pritzker, accompanied the governor during his visit.

“It was an honor for MK and me to meet with @Pontifex — a son of Illinois — to express the pride and reverence of the people of this great state,” Pritzker, who is Jewish, said following the meeting in a social media post.

A statement from the governor’s office said: “As the first American pope, a native Illinoisan, and an advocate for the poor and less fortunate, Pope Leo XIV serves as a true inspiration to people of all faiths. His message of hope, unity, compassion, and peace resonates in his home state of Illinois and across the globe.”

Invitation to return to hometown

In an interview with NBC Chicago following his audience, Gov. Pritzker said that during the meeting he presented Pope Leo with an invitation to return to his hometown of Chicago. While the pope didn’t express a timetable for the prospective visit, Pritzker said the pope “was optimistic that he would be coming to Chicago.”

“We share a great love of the state and the city,” Pritzker said, adding that the pope “seems like he carries his heart on his sleeve and of course he carries Chicago on his sleeve, too.”

Immigration discussion

During the 40-minute meeting, which Pritzker said was arranged by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, the governor said that he and the pontiff also discussed the immigration enforcement actions that have been taking place in the city, with Pritzker saying that he expressed his gratitude for the pope’s “moral leadership on this issue.”

Pritzker offered the pope several gifts including a framed piece of art made from an incarcerated woman at Logan Correctional Facility, the book “Lincoln: The Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation” by Ian Hunt, the book “A House That Made History: The Illinois Governor’s Mansion, Legacy of an Architectural Treasure” written by Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker, and a pack of Burning Bush Breweries’ “Da Pope” American mild ale. 

The Vatican itself did not release any details about what was discussed during the visit. The Democratic governor currently has before his desk the decision on whether to either sign into law or veto assisted suicide legislation that was recently approved the Illinois Legislature. 

The Illinois Catholic Conference is urging Gov. Pritzker to veto the bill. In an Oct. 31 statement, the conference said that “rather than signing this bill, we ask the governor to expand and improve on palliative care programs.” Such programs, the conference maintains, “represent a compassionate and morally acceptable alternative to assisted suicide.”

This story was updated on Nov. 19, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. ET with additional details of the conversation provided by Gov. Pritzker.

Pope Leo XIV listens to reports from seven representatives around the world about the implementation of synodality on their continents during the jubilee of synodal teams and participatory bodies at the Vatican on Oct. 24, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 19, 2025 / 13:53 pm (CNA).

Reports from the Synod on Synodality published this week reveal that expert groups continue to discuss women’s participation in the Church but not the specific question of a possible female diaconate, which has been turned over to a newly-revived 2020 commission.

The reports also show that a new group on the liturgy, requested by Pope Leo XIV, is not addressing the Vatican’s controversial restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass.

According to a report published Nov. 17, during the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October 2024, Pope Francis “reactivated the work” of a papal commission on the female diaconate first created in 2020.

“All synodal contributions related to this subject have been forwarded to that commission for its consideration,” a one-page report from a study group on Church ministries says.

The interim report on the group’s progress, published ahead of full reports, which are due at the end of the year, was signed by Father Armando Matteo, secretary of the doctrinal section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is overseeing the highly-watched expert panel.

Matteo confirmed to CNA that the synod is no longer examining a possible female diaconate and the question is in the hands of the now-revived 2020 commission, whose members “respond to the Holy Father.”

In April 2020, Pope Francis created a 10-person theological commission to study the question of a female diaconate, the second commission he formed on the topic during his pontificate.

An original member of the 2020 commission, permanent deacon and seminary professor James Keating, told CNA that “the commission still exists ‘until Pope Leo discerns its dissolution.’”

The 12 synod study groups, 10 of which were formed by Pope Francis, were established to examine topics Francis took off the table for discussion at the second session of the Synod on Synodality, held in October 2024.

The committees, made up of cardinals, bishops, priests, and lay experts from both in and outside of the Vatican, have until Dec. 31 to submit the final results of their studies to Pope Leo.

The brief reports published this week give a few insights into what to expect in some of the final reports next year, should they be made public.

While not considering women deacons, the highly-watched study group on Church ministries is drafting a report on “the participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church,” including the personal accounts of women in Church leadership, theological perspectives on men’s and women’s roles, and the contributions of Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis on the topic.

Another group, focused on Church law, is also discussing what roles women, and the laity in general, can hold in particular Church offices, including liturgical functions and in Church tribunals.

An update from an expert panel on “controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues” said its final document will clarify the current paradigm shift in the Church following the Second Vatican Council and the “emerging synodal experience.” It will include “procedural” proposals for the paradigm shift, such as how to conduct conversation in the Spirit, and how to manage cognitive, emotional, and cultural “resistance” to the shift.

The document will also address homosexuality, which the report says it prefers to call an “emerging issue” rather than controversial.

Another potentially fraught topic being examined by the study group on ecumenical practices is intercommunion, also known as Eucharistic hospitality — the idea to allow the reception of holy Communion to people in non-Catholic Christian denominations. The topic is tied to ecumenism, the relationship between Christian churches, and is especially relevant in couples and families with members of both Catholic and non-Catholic Christian faiths.

The study group on ecumenism said its mandate includes “deepening the question of Eucharistic hospitality from theological, canonical, and pastoral perspectives.”

A new group on liturgy in synodal perspective, requested by Pope Leo, gave insight into what it says are the first questions it intends to address, which focus on how to make the liturgy more synodal and the Mass “better configured as the source and summit of the synodal missionary life of the Church.”

Other questions the group intends to study is the increased participation of all baptized Catholics in the liturgy, liturgical formation, “the role of women in the history of salvation,” the reinterpretation of liturgical preaching in a synodal perspective, and a “healthy decentralization of liturgical authority … also with a view to the inculturation of the rites.”

The report said other “relevant issues” may be added later. The study group is overseen by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Victoria Cardiel, Vatican reporter for ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contributed to this report.

Pope Leo XIV answers questions from journalists as he leaves the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. / Credit: Video capture/Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 19, 2025 / 13:23 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV told reporters he would love to travel and that his top destinations are the Marian shrines of Fátima in Portugal and Guadalupe in Mexico. He also said he would “of course” like to return to Peru as well as visit Argentina and Uruguay.

The pope shared his hopes during an impromptu press conference as he left the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday evening, Nov. 18.

When asked when he would return to Peru and Latin America, the Holy Father explained that in 2025, “during the jubilee year, we’re going ahead living each day with activities, and next year we will gradually begin planning.”

“I love to travel,” Leo XIV shared, according to Vatican News. “The problem is scheduling it with all the commitments,” he added.

The Jubilee Year of Hope began on Dec. 24, 2024, and will conclude on Jan. 6, 2026, with the closing of the Holy Door.

The first — and so far only — confirmed trip of Pope Leo XIV is to Turkey and Lebanon, Nov.  27–Dec. 2 of this year.

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

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Nov. 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 19, 2025 / 12:53 pm (CNA).

At his Nov. 19 general audience, Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to “connect faith with reality,” saying that the death and resurrection of Christ form the foundation of an integral ecology and the Christian call to care for creation.

“The death and resurrection of Jesus, therefore, are the foundation of a spirituality of integral ecology, without which the words of faith remain unconnected to reality and the words of science remain outside the heart,” he said.

Continuing his catechesis series on the Resurrection and the challenges of the contemporary world, the pope rooted his reflection in the Gospel of John, which recounts that Mary Magdalene did not immediately recognize the risen Christ at the empty tomb, mistaking him for the gardener. That detail, he said, highlights the continuous “turning” of conversion.

“The fact that Mary turned that Easter morning is a sign of this: Only through conversion upon conversion do we pass from this valley of tears to the new Jerusalem,” he said.

Cultivating and caring for the garden, the pope added, is the original task brought to fulfillment by Jesus. “His last word on the cross — ‘It is finished’ — invites each one to rediscover that same task, our task.” If the human person is not a caretaker of the garden, he warned, “he becomes its destroyer,” citing Laudato Si’ on the need for a contemplative gaze upon creation.

The pope said Christian hope responds to the ecological and social challenges facing humanity, recognizing the Crucified One as the seed “placed in the garden” to rise and bear abundant fruit. Many people today, he observed, including young people, “have heard the cry of the poor and of the earth, allowing their hearts to be touched.”

“These challenges cannot be faced alone,” he said, adding that tears “are a gift of life when they purify our eyes and free our sight. Paradise is not lost, but found.”

Appeal for the ‘survival and continuity’ of contemplative life

During the same audience, Pope Leo issued a strong appeal for concrete Church-wide support for communities of contemplative life, calling their mission “silent, fruitful, and irreplaceable.”

He recalled that on Nov. 21, the memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Italy will celebrate “Pro Orantibus” Day dedicated to those who consecrate their lives to prayer.

He urged Catholics not to let contemplative men and women lack “the concrete solidarity and effective help of the ecclesial community to ensure the survival and continuity of their silent, fruitful, and irreplaceable apostolate.”

Prayers for fishermen and a look ahead to 2026

The pope also noted that World Fisheries Day will be celebrated Friday, entrusting all who work at sea to Mary: “May Mary, Star of the Sea, protect fishermen and their families.”

Looking to the future, he highlighted a Vatican event for children scheduled for Sept. 25–27, 2026, saying he looks forward to “the joy of meeting them.”

As he concluded the audience, the pope greeted young people, the sick, and newlyweds. He reminded the faithful that the Church will celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King this Sunday, urging newly married couples to place Christ “at the center of your matrimonial journey.”

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

null / Credit: Joe Belanger/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2025 / 12:23 pm (CNA).

The Maine State Supreme Court is considering whether to give a mother the right to take her daughter to church amid a dispute between the mother and her daughter’s father. 

Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Florida-based legal group, said in a press release that the Portland District Court ruled it was “psychologically unsafe” for Emily Bickford to take her 12-year-old daughter to a Christian church called Calvary Chapel in the Portland area.

The girl’s father, Matthew Bradeen, had objected to his daughter’s being taken to the institution; in a broad order, the state district court had awarded him “the right to make final decisions regarding [the daughter’s] participation in other churches and religious organizations” as well.  

The ruling “completely stripped” Bickford of the right to make decisions over her daughter’s religious upbringing, Liberty Counsel said in a filing with the state Supreme Court. 

Bradeen is “demonstrably and openly hostile” to his daughter receiving instruction about the Bible, the filing said, and has evinced “wholesale objections to the Old Testament and the New Testament.” 

Precedent elsewhere, the filing said, holds that the “religious beliefs of one parent cannot be the basis for preferring one parent over the other” in custody disputes. 

News Center Maine reported that Bradeen was reportedly moved to seek the custody order when his daughter “started having severe panic attacks and [exhibiting] alarming psychological signs” after she began attending the church, including allegedly “leaving notes around the house that said ‘the rapture is coming.’”

Attorney Michelle King argued that precedent says courts “don’t have to wait for it to be so severe that a child suffers irreparable emotional harm” before issuing a custody order in such disputes.

Liberty Counsel, meanwhile, asked the state Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s order.

The district court decision is “a direct infringement on [Bickford’s] right to direct the religious upbringing of her child,” the group said.

Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said the court order violates the First Amendment.

“The breadth of this court order is breathtaking because it even prohibits contact with the Bible, religious literature, or religious philosophy,” he alleged in the group’s press release. “The custody order cannot prohibit Bickford from taking her daughter to church. The implications of this order pose a serious threat to religious freedom.”

Bickford, meanwhile, told reporters after the state Supreme Court ruling that the dispute “affects not only our family but the families of all Christian children.”

Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Nov 19, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).

Following the reaction to the new Vatican document Mater Populi Fidelis (“Mother of the Faithful People”), Father Maurizio Gronchi, a Christology expert and consultant to the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, warned that considering the Virgin Mary as “Co-Redemptrix” or “Mediatrix” distorts the Christian faith and leads to a superstitious view.

“It is superstition to think that the Virgin Mary has the role of holding back God’s wrath. Whoever thinks this way is not in accordance with the Gospel,” Gronchi told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

The expert spoke about the new document this week alongside Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In the text, the Vatican urges the faithful against using the titles “Co-Redemptrix” and “Mediatrix” to refer to the Virgin Mary.

“To think that Mary has to mediate and convince God to be merciful undermines the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he explained.

The document has raised questions in some sectors of the Church, although it is not the first time the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has ruled out proclaiming this as dogma.

According to the Vatican doctrinal note also signed by Pope Leo XIV, St. John Paul II asked the then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in 1996 to study whether it could be considered a truth of faith that the Virgin Mary is “co-redemptrix” and “mediatrix.”

“He asked Ratzinger for clarification on the matter. He had used this term from a spiritual and devotional perspective,” Gronchi explained.

But as soon as “Ratzinger said it was inappropriate, John Paul II never used it again,” Gronchi added. John Paul II did not use it in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater (“Mother of the Redeemer”), which deals precisely with the Virgin Mary and her role in the life of the Church and in the history of salvation.

Neither Pius XII, St. John XXIII, nor St. Paul VI ever used that expression, nor did the Second Vatican Council, said Gronchi, who noted that currently “it does not seem that new truths [about Mary] ought to be affirmed.”

According to the priest and academic, the Catholic Church has already dedicated all possible attention to the figure of the Virgin and the latest proclaimed dogmas are about her: the dogma of the Divine Motherhood, which affirms that Mary is the Mother of God (Theotokos) in 431; the dogma of the Perpetual Virginity in 649; the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854; and the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in 1950.

Lack of support from Mariologists?

The drafting of the new document had a striking feature, according to Gronchi, who explained that the work of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has historically been “collegial.” For each topic studied, this Vatican department draws on the input of internal consultants and external experts, among other sources.

However, in the case of this doctrinal note on certain Marian titles, “no collaborating Mariologists could be found,” according to Gronchi.

The priest pointed out that neither those who teach at the Marianum Theological Faculty nor the members of the Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI by its Italian acronym) participated in the presentation of the document at the Jesuit Curia (administrative center), which in his opinion can be interpreted as a “silence” that “can be understood as dissent.”

The Christology expert said PAMI has a history of active participation in discussions regarding potential dogmatic definitions. He cited as an example the XII International Mariological Congress in Czestochowa in 1996, which emphasized that it was inappropriate to proceed with defining Mary as “mediatrix,” “co-redemptrix,” or “advocate.”

ACI Prensa reached out to PAMI, but it declined to comment.

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

Pierre Louvrier (center) speaks during the “Schuman Plan 2.0 — Europe’s Role in a Fragmented World” debate at the European Parliament, Nov. 11, 2025. / Credit: Maria Grazia Ricciardi

EWTN News, Nov 19, 2025 / 09:45 am (CNA).

A peace plan inspired by Venerable Robert Schuman was proposed at the European Parliament, envisioning cooperation across the Northern Hemisphere.

Archbishop Thibault Verny. / Credit: Florian Pépellin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Nov 19, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The challenge of addressing abuse within consecrated life — in all its dimensions: sexual, power, conscience, and also economic — was the focus of an international meeting organized by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors held at the Maffei Marescotti Palace in Rome.

Under the theme “Building Communities that Safeguard Dignity,” representatives of religious institutes from some 20 countries are gathering Nov. 17–19 to share experiences, examine structural shortcomings, and work on the preparation of the third annual report, which will involve 40 communities.

The commission’s president, Archbishop Thibault Verny, thanked the nearly 60 participants from various countries for their presence and emphasized that preventing abuse “is not a local task but a universal commitment of the Church.”

The third report on abuse, the archbishop clarified, “is not intended to add a burden” but rather to be “an opportunity” to promote “attention to the most vulnerable members” and strengthen “the quality of formation.” This journey “cannot be traveled alone,” Verny pointed out.

‘I believe you, you are not alone’

One of the most significant moments was the intervention of Sister Véronique Margron, president of the Conference of Religious Men and Women of France, who clearly outlined the initial steps for supporting a consecrated woman who reports abuse. 

Her first recommendation was direct and unequivocal: “The first words must be: I believe you, you are not alone, I will help you and do everything necessary,” she stated, according to Vatican News.

“We must speak honestly; otherwise, it’s impossible to build dialogue and trust,” she added.

For the religious, reparations are a broad process that cannot be reduced to a mere procedure: They demand justice, support, and the genuine involvement of those who suffered violence. She therefore pointed out that the second step is “to work toward all forms of justice,” involving the victims at every stage, without “minimizing” the cases or diminishing responsibilities.

Structures, failures, and silence

The meeting addressed head-on the panorama of abuse within religious life, including its less visible forms. In convents and monasteries, there have been not only cases of a sexual nature but also abuses of power and conscience, practices that can give rise to “conflicts, asymmetries in power, marginalization, and unbalanced relationships,” as Verny noted in his address.

Providing an analysis, Claretian Father Krzysztof Gierat, head of the office of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life, emphasized that “every measure taken for protection comes with a face, with a story that demands listening, truth, and care,” clarifying that “protection cannot be treated as an added technical element; it’s not a protocol appended to consecrated life.”

Gierat listed structural factors that foster abuse even in communities with seemingly exemplary regulations, such as the absence of a “healthy system” of relationships. A community, he noted, may have “impeccable protocols” but then ambiguous authorities, “informal” hierarchies based on geographic origin, aggressivity, unhealthy relationships, missed warning signs, and ignored conflicts emerge. “Even without malicious intent, all of this becomes fertile ground for abuse,” he warned.

“Protection begins with the quality of the environment we breathe,” the priest emphasized.

Impact of the digital world

Gierat also addressed a particularly sensitive topic: the impact of the digital world. Consecrated life, he reminded everyone, can no longer be considered exempt from social media, chat rooms, or online exposure. The risks are numerous: public image, privacy, and digital grooming. “Protection isn’t just a matter of convent corridors but also of virtual spaces,” he pointed out.

And he pointed to a key aspect: the need for “comprehensive, spiritual, and psychological formation” for religious superiors. “A transparent, evangelical, and service-oriented authority is the first line of defense,” he said.

“Many abuses stem from authorities left to themselves and not adequately trained. And all abuse stems from a lack of communal discernment,” he added.

The meeting made it clear that the issue of abuse is not confined to church walls. For Stefano Mattei, policy director of Tutela Minorum (“Protection of Minors”), the goal is also to “drive change” in society: “It’s about putting the weight of the Church at the service of cultural change to protect children and the vulnerable,” he explained.

This commitment, he said, is possible thanks to the Church’s widespread presence, wealth of charisms, and its integration into very diverse contexts.

The discussions were complemented by international experiences. From Germany, Franciscan Andreas Murk, provincial of the order, presented particularly revealing figures: According to a 2019 survey, 1,412 people contacted the Conference of Superiors to declare: “I have been abused.”

Murk also detailed the work of the Independent Commission for Recognition, which manages compensation for victims of clerical abuse, with compensation of up to 20,000 euros ($23,160).

When asked about the risk of false accusations, he responded emphatically: “For decades, victims were ignored; now we must focus on them.”

In his province, he explained, “one or two accusations turned out to be unfounded; 40 others were not, and of those, only five asked for money. Not everyone comes for money; they just want recognition.”

However, he warned, even today “some communities refuse to confront the issue of abuse; they still lack the necessary sensitivity. Our duty is to be active in this area, even if it makes [people] uncomfortable.”

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

A Bible verse that lodged itself in my adolescent mind was Romans 9:13, a passage in which Paul references the book of Malachi: “As it is written, ‘I [God] have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.’ ” Although I was a cradle Catholic, Calvinist ideas such as predestination seeped into my understanding of Christianity. […]

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