Posted on 11/26/2025 20:15 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Image of St. John XXIII above the entrance of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Istanbul. / Credit: Souhail Lawand / ACI MENA
Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon holds both spiritual and historical significance for the Catholic Church and its relations with the Orthodox Church as well as with Islam.
From Nov. 27 — Dec. 2, Pope Leo will visit these historic sites in the first international apostolic journey of his pontificate:
The Roman Catholic cathedral was built and officially opened in 1846 and is the seat of the apsotolic vicar of Istanbul. Also known as the St. Esprit Cathedral, this minor basilica contains several relics of saints, including those of the first two popes St. Peter and St. Linus.
In 1884, Pope Leo XIV donated a relic of St. John Chrysostom, the patron saint of the Apostolic Vicariate of Constantinople, to the cathedral. Since 1967, four popes have visited the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, including St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis.
A statue of Pope Benedict XV was erected inside the cathedral’s courtyard in 1919 in recognition of his dedication to Turkish WWI victims and Armenian Christians killed in the former Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1916.
This ancient basilica, located around 81 miles southeast of Istanbul, is believed to have been built in 380 atop the site of the first Christian ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine I in 325. The council reaffirmed the Church’s belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and led to the formulation of the Nicene Creed.
The ancient church was built on the site where 16-year-old martyr St. Neophytus was killed for his faith and his refusal to offer sacrifices to pagan gods. Recent site excavations have uncovered graves of people believed to be early Christian martyrs.
One of Istanbul's most important mosques which was built between 1609–1617 on part of the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople, the imperial residence of Christian Emperor Constantine I and the eastern Roman emperors until 1204.
Two popes have visited the mosque, also known as the “Blue Mosque,” during official apostolic journeys to the country. Benedict XIV visited the mosque in 2006 and Pope Francis visited the religious site in 2012.
The Eastern Orthodox church was built in 1720 and houses the relics of some of the most venerated saints of ancient Constantinople, including St. Euphemia of Chalcedon.
Since 2004, the patriarchal church has housed the relics of St. Andrew the Apostle, who is venerated for bringing the Christian faith to Byzantium, modern-day Istanbul. The relics of St Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom can also be found at the church.
This Orthodox church, also known as the Patriarchal Church of the Holy Mother of God, is the oldest cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Turkey.
The Armenian church was originally built in 1391, shortly before the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Mehmed II, conquered Constantinople in 1453. It was named after Greek Christian St. Gregory the Illuminator, who is revered as the founder of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Pope Leo will be the first pope to visit the church which has served as a site of religious worship for generations of Armenian families who have lived in Istanbul for more than 600 years.
Converted from a convent into a church at the beginning of the 17th century, the Greek Orthodox basilica has been rebuilt and reconstructed several times throughout its 425-year history.
The church is the seat and principal cathedral of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the head of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and spiritual leader of the world’s approximately 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The Lebanese Maronite monastery built in 1828 and became a site of pilgrimage for Christian faithful seeking the spiritual counsel of St. Charbel Makhlouf, who lived in the Annaya monastery and the nearby Sts. Peter and Paul hermitage from 1853 until his death in 1898.
After the 1965 beatification of Charbel Makhlouf, the Lebanese Maronite Order built a new church near the monastery and consecrated it in 1974 in honor of the holy monk and priest canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977. It has since been visited by Christian and non-Christian pilgrims inspired by St. Charbel’s holy life.
Built in 1904 to mark the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX, the shrine was inaugurated on the first Sunday of May in 1908, which has since become the annual feast of Our Lady of Lebanon.
Thousands of Christian and Muslim pilgrims come annually to pray at the shrine, which features an 8.5-meter tall bronze statue of Mary standing on a 21-meter high stone pedestal tower with a spiral staircase, entrusted to the care of the Congregation of Lebanese Missionaries.
In 1993, a new basilica was built next to the shrine. John Paul II was the first pope to visit Our Lady of Lebanon in 1997, followed by Benedict XVI in 2012.
The head of the Maronite Patriarchate has resided in Bkerké since 1830. Between the 15th–19th centuries, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church resided in the Qannubin Monastery in Lebanon’s Qadisha Valley.
The Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké was built on the site of a monastery constructed in 1703 by an influential member of the noble Khattar al-Khazen family. By 1779, the monastery was used by the Maronite Church and eventually used as the winter residence of the Maronite Patriarch in 1830.
The Maronite Church — named after the ascetic St. Maroun who lived in Antioch and died in 410 — has always been in full communion with the Apostolic See. The current Maronite patriarch is Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, O.M.M.
Posted on 11/26/2025 17:30 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
Catholic Charities D.C. provides Thanksgiving meals to guests on Nov. 25, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Ralph Alswang for Catholic Charities D.C.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).
Catholic Charities D.C. in the Archdiocese of Washington teamed up with a metropolitan utility company this week to offer a Thanksgiving meal and winter supplies to low-income families and people experiencing homelessness.
The Nov. 25 dinner, held at Pepco Co.’s Edison Place Gallery, was provided through the St. Maria’s Meal Program. Numerous Catholic Charities affiliates in other parts of the country — including New York, Boston, and Cleveland — held similar events to provide food or resources to the needy during the Thanksgiving season.
More than 300 guests came to the Washington, D.C. dinner, which included turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, collard greens, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and sweet potato pie. Guests were also offered winter coats, hats, socks, and toiletry kits.
“Lord, please remind all of us here that we are all children of God and all have unique value, potential to soar, and immeasurable worth and dignity in your eyes — the only eyes that matter,” Jim Malloy, president and CEO of Catholic Charities D.C., said in a prayer before the dinner.
“Help us to live out your Gospel, and as you told us in John 9, to do the works of your Father while it is day,” he prayed.
The annual Thanksgiving dinner has been held for about 12 years. According to the most recent numbers from the federal government, the homelessness rate in the country is at an all-time high.
Marie Maroun, a spokesperson for Catholic Charities D.C. and one of the 60 volunteers at the dinner, told CNA the event ensures a Thanksgiving meal for those experiencing homelessness or food insecurity, and “provides them with the dignity and respect that they definitely deserve.”
Catholic Charities D.C. also provides food through food pantries and offers hot meals to those in need on Wednesdays.
Eugene Brown, one of the guests, told CNA the meal was “excellent,” and said the regular meals are “helping in keeping our heads above water.”
“God will bless the needy and not the greedy,” said Brown, who is Catholic.
Malloy told CNA that providing hot meals helps “remind ourselves what’s important and who’s important.” He thanked the volunteers, including many of the high school students, who he said “find something very fundamental about their faith here.”
“This is faith in action for them,” he said.
Malloy said that when some in society treat those in need as though they are “expendable,” events like this “refute that.”
“They’re created in the image of God,” he said. “They count.”
The most recent homelessness report from the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) was published in December 2024 and the next annual report is expected in December 2025.
In the 2024 report, HUD estimated that nearly 772,000 people were experiencing homelessness at the beginning of that year. The rate of homelessness increased by about 18% — representing 118,376 more people — in January 2024 when compared to January 2023.
The 2024 report showed the highest number of people experiencing homelessness since HUD began collecting the data in 2007.
Although more recent national numbers are not available, a report from the Washington D.C. Department of Human Services found a 9% decrease in the city’s homelessness from January 2024 to January 2025. However, it found there was only a 1% decrease in the city’s broader metropolitan area, with some nearby Virginia and Maryland counties seeing an uptick.
President Donald Trump ordered removal of homeless encampments in Washington, D.C. in August 2025 and deployed National Guard troops to clear public spaces.
Posted on 11/26/2025 16:15 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. / Credit: "EWTN Noticias"/Screenshot
Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 11:15 am (CNA).
The Vatican, the smallest state in the world, possesses a unique and complex legal, administrative, and spiritual structure designed to guarantee the independence of the pope and allow the Church to act freely throughout the world.
Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, in an interview with the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News, detailed how this tiny nation is governed, how its institutions operate, and what role the Holy See plays in the world.
Arrieta explained that the Dicastery for Legislative Texts — where he has served for 18 years — is one of the departments that collaborates directly with the pope in the governance of the Church.
“The dicasteries are the ministries of the Holy See; they are like the departments that serve the pope … and this one is dedicated to the preparation of laws, to the oversight of the laws of the entire Church,” he said.
Unlike traditional states, these norms govern worldwide. “They apply to all five continents. They are not like the laws of Spain, Argentina, or Mexico. These are laws that must be created for the entire Church, with its different cultures,” he noted.
This legislation covers everything from the administration of parishes to issues such as canon law offenses and declarations of a marriage annulment: “The Church functions like a society… and that society has its specific laws.”
Although many confuse the Holy See with Vatican City State, Arrieta clarified that they are distinct entities. The Holy See is the spiritual and governing authority of the universal Church; the Vatican City State, on the other hand, exists to protect its independence. “It is a tiny state — only half a square kilometer (.19 sq. mi.) — that was created to protect the pope's independence from all temporal power,” he explained.
That territory was created after the Lateran Treaties of 1929, by which the Kingdom of Italy recognized the independence, sovereignty, and borders of what would become Vatican City. Arrieta noted that Italy “also ceded to the Holy See certain places, buildings, and palaces in Rome that are the property of the Holy See and are extraterritorial,” such as the St. Mary Major Basilica and the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
A surprising fact: “The only actual citizen is the pope,” he explained, while the rest have temporary residence or work permits.
Even though it is small, the Vatican functions like any other state, with courts and prisons. Arrieta gave a common example: “What happens if someone goes to the supermarket inside the Vatican, takes a bottle of cognac, puts it in his pocket, and walks out?... It's a civil crime in the Vatican... the gendarmes catch the person and take him to court.”
Criminal proceedings can take place in Vatican territory or in the country of origin, according to international agreements. The secretary of the dicastery noted that even with the assassination attempt on St. John Paul II, which occurred in Vatican territory, “the Vatican asked Italy to prosecute [the accused].”
Daily life within the Vatican has peculiarities that surprise visitors.
Regarding the network of services, Arrieta explained about the Vatican Bank: “It's not properly speaking a bank ... it helps the Holy See to be able to move money and assist the missions.”
On Vatican Radio, he said: “It broadcasts in very many languages ... even on shortwave to reach very distant places.”
The pope receives thousands of letters that are processed through the Vatican’s postal service. “If you send a letter to the pope, it’s possible that someone will read it … and respond kindly on the pope’s behalf.”
There is a supermarket and a shopping center in the Vatican that are mainly open for employees and residents.
There is also the famous Vatican train and train station that was initially built to receive foreign dignitaries. Today, part of its facilities function as a shop and in the summer, a tourist train runs from Vatican Station to Castel Gandolfo.
The origin of the corps that protects the Holy Father dates back to the year 1506. They famously defended the papacy during the Sack of Rome in 1527, when "over a hundred [Swiss soldiers] died defending the pontiff. Since then, the Swiss Guard has maintained this tradition of loyalty.
Arrieta said that the most striking thing about the Vatican is not its power or history, but its transcendent spiritual life: “The most impressive thing here is how one experiences the universality of the Church. How one appreciates that in people of very different origins, of very different cultural backgrounds, we live the same faith and believe in the same things.”
This constant contact with a diverse group of people in the Vatican “is experiencing the universality of the Church. We are all trying to love Jesus, the Lord, more, and to live the same things and to spread the same faith,” he added.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Posted on 11/26/2025 15:38 PM (U.S. Catholic)
Unless you happened to grow up speaking Ancient Greek and Hebrew (with a smattering of Aramaic for good measure), the words you are familiar with from scripture, whether read aloud at Mass or silently at home, are not the same words divinely inspired millennia ago. They are the product of the work of countless translators […]
The post Does the liturgy need a new translation? appeared first on U.S. Catholic.
Posted on 11/26/2025 15:15 PM (Catholic News Agency)
Interior of the Church of Jesus and Mary in Rome, Italy / Credit: Mentnafunangann / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Rome, Italy, Nov 26, 2025 / 10:15 am (CNA).
At a Mass marking 25 years since the Holy See signed a foundational agreement with Slovakia, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch praised the “rich history” of Catholic peoples in Central Europe.
Posted on 11/26/2025 14:00 PM (CNA Daily News - US)
A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Amid the sounds of Arkansas’ waterfalls, women who have had abortions will someday be able to find healing at a “living wall” memorial covered in flora and fauna, where the names of unborn children will be inscribed on the hexagonal stone floor thanks to local artist Lakey Goff, who submitted the living wall design, which was selected for Arkansas’ monument for the unborn.
The memorial will be on state property, but funding must come from the people. Now Goff and other Arkansians are fundraising for the living wall.
On Saturday morning, participants gathered at sunrise at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock to kick off the first annual Living Wall 5K — a race to fundraise for the memorial.
Several groups, both local and national — including LIFE Runners, Caring Hearts Pregnancy Center, and Arkansas Right to Life — showed up to kick off the first annual 5K.
Fundraising began in May 2024 and has reached nearly $30,000; but the living wall’s proposed budget, as of 2025, is estimated to be $1 million.
November has been set aside as a month to remember the unborn in a proclamation signed by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Goff shared with CNA that her inspiration for the wall comes from her faith in Jesus. She hopes it will be a place of healing for women who have had abortions.
CNA: What inspired the design and the Bible message accompanying it? Why a living wall?
Lakey Goff: The monument itself is alive with plants, photosynthesis, and oxygen: There’ll be birds that live in it; there are the sound of seven different waterfalls that I’ve recorded from around Arkansas coming off the top of this wall in an audio loop. That is the sound of Jesus’ voice — the sound of many waters.
Then, underneath, you’ll see on there are pavers where women have begun to name their babies that were aborted, to put dates when they were aborted and even Scriptures. It’s a way to be healed and set free and say this happened, where they’re no longer locked up in guilt and shame; and so the babies’ names will be underneath our feet in these hexagonal pavers.
I believe this monument is from the heart of God, the heart of the Father, as he wants to heal our land from the bloodshed in our nation, starting in the state of Arkansas to lead the way.
Why is this monument important?
We don’t want to forget what happened during the 50 years of bloodshed, of innocent babies’ bloodshed in our state. It is an act of repentance, and it is saying, “This will not happen again.” We’re saying, “I’m sorry, God, and we want to honor you and honor life.”
This is the very first living wall monument to the unborn in our nation — and so that’s why it’s taking a little while, because it’s never been done before.
What inspired you to send in a design after the 2023 bill passed?
I’ve always been an artist, but I was not in any way involved, at least in my adult years, with the pro-life movement or in the political realm.
I said, “Lord, is there anything that you want to do for this monument?” And I immediately received a blueprint from the Holy Spirit of the details about this living wall.
I received clearly that the Lord wanted to heal women and families who had abortions and who were held captive by guilt and shame. And he gave me Isaiah 61: He wants to give us double honor for shame; he wants to set the captives free.
What do you hope people will take away from experiencing it?
It will be an actual place for women, children, families to come and be healed. It’s a place for repentance. It’s a place of life, vitality. There’s nothing dead about Jesus — he’s the risen King.
Even in the process, women, children, families have already started to be healed. I believe what they will take away from it is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his healing: He came for the lost, not the righteous.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Posted on 11/26/2025 14:00 PM (U.S. Catholic)
Pope Francis, in Amoris Laetitia (On Love in the Family), spoke of marriage as an encounter, a union, and a sacrament in which Christ himself meets the couple, giving them the “strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one […]
The post Love of science led me to encounter both human and divine love appeared first on U.S. Catholic.
Posted on 11/26/2025 13:00 PM (CNA Daily News - Vatican)
The main altar of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. / Credit: Jorge Royan (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Vatican City, Nov 26, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV has issued a new decree revising the financial and administrative norms governing the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Mary Major, bringing both institutions under the ordinary oversight of the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, in the latest act of fine-tuning of economic reforms undertaken by his predecessor Pope Francis.
The pope writes that the Holy See’s economic and financial reform requires “periodic reevaluation and redefinition” of the applicable regulatory framework.
The letter motu proprio, dated Sept. 29, 2025, was promulgated this month when it was posted in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. It has not previously been reported by the media.
The decree abrogates two earlier such decrees concerning the Fabric of St. Peter’s and the Chapter of St. Mary Major. Under the updated provisions, both the Fabbrica — which oversees the care, maintenance, and artistic patrimony of St. Peter’s Basilica — and the Chapter of St. Mary Major are now subject to the same forms of oversight established for other entities listed under the statutes of the Council for the Economy and in Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution that reorganized the Roman Curia.
To ensure what Pope Leo calls an “immediate and structured transition,” the Secretariat for the Economy will coordinate implementation along with a consultative group to help resolve questions or issues that might arise. The law will eventually be published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official gazette of the Holy See.
In October, Pope Leo XIV issued the decree Coniuncta Cura, a major financial reform that ended the Vatican Bank’s exclusive role in managing Holy See investments and allowed APSA and other accredited intermediaries to handle funds when advantageous. The change, which reverses a 2022 centralization under Pope Francis, aims to diversify management, improve returns, and strengthen the Holy See’s long-term financial sustainability amid rising operational costs.
Posted on 11/26/2025 11:00 AM (Catholic News Agency)
Pope Leo XIV meets with Ukrainian children who were welcomed by Caritas Italy during the summer on July 3, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
At the forefront of the work of repatriation and recovery of Ukrainian children swept up in the country’s war with Russia is Caritas Ukraine.
Posted on 11/26/2025 10:00 AM (Catholic News Agency)
null / Credit: Patrick Thomas/Shutterstock
EWTN News, Nov 26, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).
Slovenia rejected euthanasia legislation in a Nov. 23 referendum, with 53% voting against the law backed by Catholic bishops and civil groups.