César Chávez, noted for his Catholicism, accused of sexually abusing labor rights leader Dolores Huerta

Labor rights leader Dolores Huerta says she was sexually abused by César Chavez amid reported allegations of abuse by others during his tenure as president of The United Farm Workers union.

In a statement released Wednesday, Huerta said she stayed silent for 60 years out of concern that her words would hurt the farmworker movement.

Huerta described two sexual encounters with Chavez, one where she was “manipulated and pressured” and another where she was “forced against my will.”

“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was life’s work. The formation of a union was the only vehicle to accomplish and secure those rights and I wasn’t going to let Cesar or anyone else get in the way.”

Earlier Wednesday, an investigation by the New York Times found that Chavez, who died in 1993 at the age of 66 in California, groomed and sexually abused young girls who worked in the movement, including Huerta.

Huerta said she did not know that Chavez hurt other women and condemned his actions but reminded readers that the farmworker movement is bigger than one person.

“César’s actions do not reflect the values of our community and our movement,” Huerta said in her statement. “The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual. César’s actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever.

Latino civil rights leaders weigh allegations

Latino leaders and community groups are now weighing the impact of his actions on the labor rights movement.

In their reactions to the news, Latino civil rights advocates emphasized that the farmworker movement was not just Chavez but thousands of other individuals who came together to fight for justice.

Voto Latino leaders said in a statement that no matter his legacy or historical framing Chavez’ actions are inexcusable. Similarly, LULAC released a statement condemning any form of sexual violence stating that “no individual, regardless of statue or legacy is above accountability.”

Chavez was a devout Catholic, and many people have tried to open up a cause for his sainthood.

In 2023, PBS aired a story called, “How Catholicism shaped Cesar Chavez’s social justice.”

“I think there are three elements to my faith. It’s God, myself, and my brother. I’m traditional. I’m Catholic traditional. I go to Church regularly and faithfully,” the documentary aired him saying.

“But besides that, I also have what I consider as a renewal religion. I go out and do things. That’s what I think is a real faith, and that’s what I think Christ really taught us: To go do something,” Chavez said.

While the news of these allegations are devastating to the Latino community, Voto Latino said it does not erase the work done by the thousands women and men who built the farmworker movement.

“The women who organized, marched, and sacrificed alongside farmworkers carried this movement on their backs,” Voto Latino said. “Dolores Huerta — a fighter, a giant of the labor movement, and someone who is among the survivors of this abuse — helped build everything this movement stands for.”

U.S. Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, issued a statement Wednesday saying she was heartbroken and deeply disturbed by the stories of women who say they were abused as girls by Chavez and what she described as a painful account of what Huerta endured.

Leger Fernández said the farmworker and civil rights movement was built by countless people, including women and families who sacrificed for a better future.

“Honoring that legacy means facing painful truths and continuing the work for justice with honesty and humanity,” the New Mexico congresswoman said. “A movement rooted in justice must address all injustice.”

Leger Fernández said the women’s caucus will stand with survivors and continue fighting for “a future where all women and girls are safe in their communities, homes, and at work.”

The United Farm Workers union has already distanced itself from annual celebrations of its founder, calling the allegations troubling.

In a statement Tuesday, the union said allegations of “abuse of young women or minors” were concerning enough to urge people around the country to participate in immigration justice events or acts of service instead of the typical events in March to commemorate Chavez’s legacy.

State leaders reconsider celebrations and renamings

Days before the allegations were detailed, several César Chavez celebrations in San Francisco, Texas and Chavez’s home state of Arizona were canceled at the request of the foundation. Organizers of canceled events did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

Both groups said they’d be working to establish ways for anyone who might have been harmed by Chavez to share experiences confidentially.

California became the first state to establish March 31, Chavez’s birthday, as a day commemorating the labor leader. Others followed. In 2014, then-President Barack Obama proclaimed March 31 as national César Chavez Day, urging Americans to honor his legacy.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said he’s still “processing” the news and urged for more reflection. The Democratic governor wouldn’t commit to making any changes to the state holiday at the end of the month.

The farmworker movement “was much bigger than one man,” Newsom said at an unrelated news conference. “It’s about labor. It’s about social justice, economic justice, racial justice,” he said.

Following the news, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has declined to recognize March 31 as César Chávez Day as she has in the two prior years, said spokeswoman Liliana Sota.

“The Governor’s Office is deeply concerned by the troubling allegations against César Chávez. As a social worker who worked with homeless youth and victims of domestic violence, Gov. Hobbs takes allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against women and minors very seriously.”

César Chávez Day isn’t a state holiday in Arizona.

Calls are already happening to rename landmarks that honor Chavez. El Concilio, a coalition of Mexican American neighborhood associations rooted Austin, Texas is proposing the decision to name César Chavez, made a few months after Chavez’s death, be reversed to its original name First Street.

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, issued a statement Wednesday saying abuse of any kind, especially against children, is indefensible and a betrayal of the values that Latino leaders have championed for generations.

“His name should be removed from landmarks, institutions and honors,” Luján said of Chavez. “We cannot celebrate someone who carried out such disturbing harm.”

Born in Yuma, Arizona, Chavez grew up in a Mexican American family that traveled around California picking lettuce, grapes, cotton and other seasonal crops.

Chavez is known nationally for his early organizing in the fields, a hunger strike, a grape boycott and eventual victory in getting growers to negotiate with farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.

In 1962, Chavez and Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers of America.

Patriarch Ilia II to be buried at Sioni Cathedral on March 22

The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, will be laid to rest at the Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi on March 22.

The decision was made by the Holy Synod during its session, announced the representatives of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Bishop Giorgi told journalists that the funeral ceremony will take place on March 22 and will be held in accordance with the Patriarch’s personal wish to be buried at Sioni Cathedral — one of Georgia’s most significant religious and historical landmarks.

Ilia II, who served as the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church for decades, passed away at the age of 93.

Following his death, a period of national mourning has been declared in Georgia, as the country bids farewell to one of the most influential religious figures in its modern history.

Cork's Bessborough ‘not an empty field waiting to be filled', say campaigners

A protest outside Leinster House yesterday was told that the site of the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork is “not an empty field waiting to be filled”.

Campaigners hoping to stop a development on the site gathered at the gates of Leinster House were joined by families, supporters, and politicians for the No Building Over Bessborough rally.

They are fighting to stop the construction of a 140-unit apartment development on the grounds of the former Cork mother and baby home.

In February, developer Estuary View Enterprises 2020 received planning permission from Cork City Council to demolish almost a dozen buildings at Bessborough to make way for the apartments.

Minute's silence

A minute’s silence for 923 babies who died at Bessborough took place during the protest.

Nearly 859 babies who died there remain unaccounted for.

The Commission of Inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes said they are most likely on the vast grounds where they were born.

Some supporters wept throughout the rally, while others held up placards stating: “Stop the development” and “Find the babies”.

One of the speakers was Carmel Cantwell, whose mother, Madeleine Bridget Marvier, was one of the young women in the home. She was 17 when she gave birth to a baby boy, William, who died.

Ms Cantwell said: “I stand here not only as a family member or someone connected to Bessborough, but as a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves, the mothers, the children, and the generations whose lives were shaped and, in many cases, shattered by what happened on these grounds.

“Bessborough is not just land. It is not an empty field waiting to be filled. It is a place of memory, of loss, of unanswered questions.

“It is landscape that holds the stories of thousands of women and children who pass through the gates, many of whom never came home.”

Hundreds of children who died have no known burial place, Ms Cantwell said.

Cobh parish appeals for ‘material support’ of priests

Cobh Parish, Co. Cork has launched an appeal for the parish community to contribute to the parish priests’ income through their annual collections, as they reported a “significant shortfall in the income from these specific collections.”

The appeal, posted to the parish Facebook site on March 14, outlines the current allocation of parish funds, noting that the Sunday collection doesn’t go towards priests’ income, but rather the “essential outgoings required to keep our churches open and functioning” such as maintenance and electricity.

Collections such as the Christmas and Easter dues and the Spring and Autumn Station offerings, on the other hand, are used to support priests.

“As a parish community, we share responsibility for the material support of our priests, who dedicate their lives to serving us through the sacraments and pastoral care,” read the appeal, thanking parishioners for their continued generosity and asking them to consider future contributions to support their priests.

Between the Reaction and the Cover-Up: Two Ways to Manage Abuses in the Same Church

While in Spain the case is known of a numerary of Opus Dei who was immediately removed and subjected to investigation following a complaint of possible abuses, it is worth dwelling not so much on the specific case as on the institutional reaction. 

Not because it guarantees the truth - which is still to be determined - but because it reveals a way of proceeding.

To provisionally remove, open an investigation, avoid parallel trials, and not interfere in the process: this is the minimum required. And yet, it is not the usual practice.

For too long, in not a few places, the ecclesial response to credible complaints of abuses has not been the immediate activation of canonical mechanisms, but rather delay, improper referral to ineffective or directly prescribed civil instances, the absence of formal documentation of testimonies, and, in the most serious cases, the maintenance of the accused in the exercise of ministry. 

Not as an exception, but as a pattern.

The problem is not that abuses exist - that, unfortunately, occurs in any human structure- but what the Church does when they appear. That is where everything is measured.

In contrast to that model, the procedure applied in this case - with all due caution - points in the right direction: early intervention, preventive measures, and opening of an investigation. 

It is not a guarantee of justice, but it is the minimum condition for there to be justice.

What is truly anomalous is not acting this way. What is scandalous is that it still seems exceptional.

Salinas claims his role as interlocutor: "The Pope asked me if I could help him arrange a meeting with Gareth Gore"

The Peruvian journalist Pedro Salinas has assured that the meeting between Pope Leo XIV and the writer Gareth Gore was a direct initiative of the Pontiff and that his intervention occurred at the express request of the Holy Father, as he explained on his program La Verdad a Fondo, broadcast on the digital channel of La República.

In his intervention, Salinas responded directly to the information published by InfoVaticana and stated: “Yes, I answer you InfoVaticana, yes, it was a personal initiative of the Pope. The Pope asked me if I could help him arrange a meeting with Gareth Gore”.

The journalist explained that his role was limited to facilitating that contact, after receiving the Pope’s request, and emphasized that he acted accordingly: “If the Pope asks me for a favor, I’m going to do it. Period”.

Likewise, Salinas denied that the meeting responded to the intervention of third parties or to an initiative external to the Pontiff. 

“Was it suggested by third parties? I don’t think so, at least it didn’t seem that way to me. It seemed to me like an authentic curiosity of Pope Leo XIV”, he noted, insisting on the personal nature of the request.

Cardinal Ouellet Faces Defamation Lawsuit in Canadian Court Over Abuse Allegations

In Montreal this March, Cardinal Marc Ouellet appeared in Quebec Superior Court to defend himself against allegations of sexual misconduct, as part of a broader defamation lawsuit he filed against his accuser. 

The case has reopened attention to a series of claims first publicized in a 2022 class-action lawsuit involving 101 individuals alleging abuse by clergy or staff within the Archdiocese of Quebec. 

Ouellet’s defamation suit seeks 100,000 Canadian dollars from Paméla Groleau, formerly identified in public filings as “F.,” who served as a pastoral assistant. Groleau claims that Ouellet touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions between 2008 and 2010, including an incident in which he allegedly touched her lower back and buttocks after a mass in an empty cathedral. 

She also described repeated unwanted contact, such as forced shoulder massages and persistent attention at church events over more than a year. 

During the proceedings, Ouellet categorically denied all allegations of sexual misconduct, insisting that he has never engaged in criminal behavior and emphasizing that he should not be equated with clergy who have abused minors. 

He explained that his defamation suit is intended to protect his personal and professional honor, and that any award would be donated to support Indigenous survivors of sexual abuse. 

The trial has also featured testimony from other women with contrasting perspectives. 

Three former colleagues defended Ouellet’s character, describing him as affectionate, caring, and fraternal, noting that greetings involving handshakes, hugs, and shoulder touches were customary within the archdiocesan community. 

In contrast, two additional witnesses presented new claims of inappropriate conduct, spanning incidents as far back as 1992 and as recently as 2014. 

One recounted that Ouellet, then rector of a seminary, allegedly touched her buttocks while preparing liturgical books. 

Another testified that he placed a 50-dollar bill inside her sweater during an embrace. These allegations arrive alongside other cases mentioned in the 2022 class-action lawsuit, which include bishops who either faced accusations of sexual abuse or were deceased at the time of litigation. 

Bishop Jean-Pierre Blais of Baie-Comeau, for instance, was accused of sexually abusing a minor but denied the charges and retired in 2025 upon reaching the Church’s customary retirement age of 75. 

The lawsuit also references the late bishops Clément Fecteau of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and auxiliary bishop Jean-Paul Labrie of Quebec. 

A Vatican preliminary investigation, ordered by Pope Francis in 2022, reportedly found insufficient evidence to pursue a formal canonical trial against Ouellet. 

No criminal charges have been filed in Canada. Ouellet continued to serve as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops until his retirement at age 78, maintaining his official duties despite public scrutiny. 

The case is unfolding at a moment of heightened attention to accountability within the Catholic Church in Canada, highlighting the complexities of balancing legal rights, canonical procedures, and the reputational and moral stakes for high-ranking clerics. 

Observers note that the trial’s outcome could have ramifications for how allegations of misconduct are addressed both in civil courts and within Church structures, particularly in cases involving defamation claims intertwined with historical abuse allegations.

Lithuania gives ultimatum over street named after Polish cardinal implicated in sexual abuse

A representative of Lithuania’s government has demanded that Vilnius district municipality, which is located around the country’s capital, change the names of streets that continue to honour Polish Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz despite him being sanctioned by the Vatican following sexual abuse allegations.

However, the local council, which is controlled by representatives of Lithuania’s ethnic Polish community and which has already refused twice to strip Gulbinowicz of his honours, has argued there is no clear evidence of wrongdoing and that the cardinal died before he had an opportunity to defend himself.

Gulbinowicz, who served as Catholic bishop of the Polish city of Wrocław between 1976 and 2004, was in 2019 accused of both covering up cases of child sexual abuse by a priest under his authority and of carrying out abuse himself.

In 2020, the Vatican announced that, following an investigation into the accusations against Gulbinowicz, it was imposing sanctions on him, including banning him from participating in public events and ordering him to make a donation to the Polish church’s fund for counteracting sexual abuse.

While the Vatican did not provide specific reasons for the cardinal being punished, media reports at the time said it was linked to accusations of sexual abuse, “homosexual acts” and past ties to Poland’s communist-era security services. 

The cardinal died days after the sanctions were announced.

The sanctions prompted the Polish cities of Białystok and Wrocław, in both of which Gulbinowicz had spent many years, to strip him of honorary citizenship. 

However, he has remained an honorary citizen of the Vilnius district, where he was born in 1923 (when the area was part of Poland).

In September, the Vilnius district municipality council rejected a proposal to revoke Gulbinowicz’s honorary citizenship, reported Lithuanian news website Delfi at the time. 

In February, it also voted against renaming streets bearing his name, reported public broadcaster LRT.

Councillors from the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania–Christian Families Alliance (LLRA–KŠS), which holds a majority on the council, rejected the accusations against the cardinal and dismissed the allegations as unproven or politically motivated.

“Talk about the cardinal’s guilt is disinformation. No one has seriously accused him, the situation is not unambiguous. Let’s not embarrass ourselves,” said LLRA-KŠS representative Tadeusz Andrzejewski, quoted by LRT. 

However, the council did agree to survey residents of the streets in question on the issue.

In March this year, renewed proposals to change the street names were submitted, reports TVP Wilno, a branch of Poland’s state broadcaster aimed at the Polish minority in Lithuania, which makes up just over 6% of the country’s population.

They have received strong backing from Gedmantė Eimontienė, the representative of the Lithuanian government for the Vilnius district, who demanded that the changes be “implemented within a month, [or] legal action will be taken”.

“If circumstances concerning a given person are revealed that are inconsistent with generally accepted standards of morality and ethics…the local government council is obliged to immediately remove such a street name,” she added, quoted by LRT.

However, TVP Wilno notes that the Lithuanian government’s justice minister, Rita Tamašunienė, who is also a member of the ethnic Polish community, has said that she does not support stripping Gulbinowicz of his honours.

The Catholic church in Poland has in recent years been hit by a series of revelations regarding historical abuse of minors by members of the clergy and allegations that bishops covered cases up.

The Vatican has taken action against a number of Polish bishops over the issue. Most recently, in 2024, it announced the resignation of the bishop of Łowicz, Andrzej Dziuba, due to his “negligence in handling cases of sexual abuse against minors”.

Last month also marked the first time a bishop in Poland has gone to trial over accusations he failed to promptly inform the law enforcement authorities about allegations of child sex abuse committed by priests under his authority.

Poland’s Bishops Move to Rebuild Trust with Independent Abuse Commission

In a move that signals both institutional self-scrutiny and mounting pressure for transparency, Poland’s Catholic bishops have agreed to establish an independent expert commission to examine cases of sexual abuse of minors within the Church. 

The decision, taken during the 404th plenary assembly of the Polish Bishops’ Conference in Warsaw from March 10 to 12, marks one of the most structured attempts yet by the Church in Poland to address a crisis that has reshaped Catholic life across Europe. 

The new body, granted public juridical personality under canon law, is intended to operate with institutional autonomy while remaining anchored in the ecclesial framework. 

Its statutes and internal regulations have already been approved, clearing the legal path for the appointment of its president and the launch of its activities. 

The assembly was presided over by Tadeusz Wojda and attended by senior Vatican and diplomatic figures, including John Joseph Kennedy from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Antonio Guido Filipazzi. 

The commission’s mandate is deliberately defined with precision. It will not function as a prosecutorial authority. 

Instead, it is tasked with reconstructing cases through the analysis of ecclesiastical and state archives, supplemented by interviews with victims and witnesses. 

Should credible indications of criminal conduct emerge, the commission is required to refer such cases to civil prosecutors or the police, while also notifying Church authorities so that canonical procedures can begin and the Holy See be informed. 

This dual-track approach reflects a broader evolution in how the Catholic Church addresses abuse: distinguishing between internal fact-finding and the obligation to cooperate with civil justice systems. 

It also responds to longstanding criticisms that ecclesiastical processes were, in the past, insufficiently transparent or too insulated from external oversight.

For Wiesław Śmigiel, one of the voices shaping the initiative, the commission represents more than a technical reform. He frames it as part of a wider effort to “clarify the situation” within the Church and, crucially, to build an effective prevention system capable of safeguarding minors. 

The emphasis on prevention is not incidental: it signals a shift from reactive crisis management to structural risk mitigation. The Polish context adds further layers of complexity. 

Since 2019, a state-level body—the Commission for the Clarification of Cases of Acts Against Sexual Freedom and Morality of Minors under 15—has been operating in parallel. 

It has received approximately 2,000 reports and is currently examining around 800 cases. Its remit includes evaluating the conduct not only of individuals but also of institutions, including religious organizations. 

Data emerging from that commission challenges common assumptions. In most reported cases, abuse occurs within the victim’s immediate environment, often involving family members or close acquaintances. 

Additionally, about 20 percent of offenses are perpetrated online, pointing to the growing digital dimension of the problem. 

Cases involving clergy fall within the competence of this state body as well, ensuring a degree of external scrutiny over ecclesiastical actors. 

Against this backdrop, the bishops’ initiative appears both complementary and defensive: complementary in that it contributes to the broader ecosystem of accountability, and defensive in its attempt to demonstrate that the Church is not lagging behind other sectors of society. 

Śmigiel himself notes that many professional groups in Poland have yet to establish comparable independent mechanisms. 

The design of the new commission also reflects an acute awareness of legal and ethical tensions. 

Victim care is identified as the primary priority, with explicit references to the need for respect, justice, and compassion—an acknowledgment of the risk of secondary victimization. 

At the same time, the framework insists on safeguarding privacy, protecting personal data, and upholding the presumption of innocence, a principle enshrined in Article 42(3) of the Polish Constitution. 

This balancing act is further reinforced by existing legal obligations. Under Article 240 of Poland’s Penal Code, anyone—not only clergy—who becomes aware of a case of sexual abuse involving minors is required to report it immediately to the authorities. 

Recent legislative developments, often referred to as the “Kamilka law,” have translated these obligations into concrete safeguarding standards across parishes, pastoral centers, and Church institutions.

Training programs, including those organized by the Child Protection Center at the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Kraków, have sought to embed these norms at the grassroots level. 

At the diocesan level, implementation is already visible. 

In the Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień, for example, reporting mechanisms are publicly accessible, and all cases are processed in accordance with both civil and canon law. 

Preventive strategies include a “Catalogue of Good Practices in Pastoral Relations,” which clergy are required to adopt, indicating an effort to codify behavioral standards in everyday ministry. 

Yet the creation of a new commission is not merely an administrative development; it is a test of credibility. 

Its effectiveness will depend on the perceived independence of its members, the transparency of its findings, and its willingness to confront uncomfortable truths. 

The bishops have described it as a “synodal solution,” emphasizing that it carries the collective mandate of the episcopate while drawing on interdisciplinary expertise. 

In a country where Catholicism remains a significant cultural and social force, the stakes are high. 

The commission’s work will likely influence not only how past abuses are understood, but also how the Church positions itself in a society increasingly attentive to accountability and institutional integrity.

Pope Leo announces October gathering for ‘synodal discernment’ on Amoris Laetitia

Pope Leo XIV has invited the presidents of the world’s episcopal conferences to meet in Rome in October 2026 “to proceed, in mutual listening, to a synodal discernment on the steps to be taken in order to proclaim the Gospel to families today.”

He announced the gathering in a March 19 letter commemorating the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, saying the meeting should take place “in light of Amoris Laetitia and taking into account what is currently being done in the local Churches.”

The letter does not specify whether the October meeting will be a Synod of Bishops or instead a special gathering. It mentions only the presidents of bishops’ conferences, so for now it remains unclear whether other participants, such as cardinals, theologians, or lay people, will be included, as happened in several major synodal assemblies and Vatican meetings during Francis’ pontificate.

Amoris laetitia was the result of the two-year Synod on the Family, celebrated between 2014 and 2015. While it deals with a range of issues on spiritual accompaniment and evangelization of families, it sparked significant controversy for its discussion of the possible reception of communion by divorced and civilly remarried individuals or couples in irregular situations.

The apostolic exhortation says in paragraph 305 that “a pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives.”

The paragraph adds that “because of forms of conditioning and mitigating factors, it is possible that in an objective situation of sin – which may not be subjectively culpable, or fully such – a person can be living in God’s grace, can love and can also grow in the life of grace and charity, while receiving the Church’s help to this end.”

A footnote to this paragraph says that such help “can include the help of the sacraments” and adds that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

Later, the bishops of the Buenos Aires region in Argentina published an instruction for their priests in which they called for mutual discernment of a couple in an irregular union on whether they can receive communion and go to confession if “it is acknowledged, in a concrete case, that there are limitations that diminish responsibility and culpability”

“Amoris laetitia opens the door to access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist,” the bishops of Buenos Aires said.

Pope Francis later said that there was no alternative interpretation of the document, and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said in a 2023 response to a dubia sent by Cardinal Dominik Duka OP, that the pope had included the Buenos Aires bishops’ instruction in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis and it therefore was considered “authentic Magisterium.”

But while most of the discussion surrounding Amoris Laetitiae focused on reception of communion by people in irregular unions, Pope Leo’s letter doesn’t mention the subject at all.

The pope called Amoris laetitia “a luminous message of hope regarding conjugal love and family life, which was the fruit of three years of synodal discernment enriched by the Jubilee Year of Mercy,” and said that both Saint John Paul II’s 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio and Amoris laetitia had “strengthened the Church’s doctrinal and pastoral commitment to the service of young people, married couples and families.”

The letter mentions a number of “valuable teachings that we must continue to examine today” in Amoris laetitia:

“The biblical hope of God’s loving and merciful presence, which allows us to live ‘love stories’ even when navigating ‘family crises’ (AL 8); the invitation to adopt ‘the gaze of Jesus’ (AL 60) and tirelessly to encourage ‘the growth, strengthening and deepening of conjugal and family love’ (AL 89); the call to appreciate that love in marriage ‘always gives life’ (AL 165).”

“Pope Francis affirmed the need ‘for new pastoral methods’ (AL 199) and for a better education of children (cf. AL chap. VII), while inviting the Church to accompany, discern and integrate fragility (cf. AL chap. VIII), overcoming a reductive conception of the norm, and to promote ‘the spirituality that unfolds in family life’ (AL 313),” it adds.

The letter also highlights Amoris laetitia’s recognition of human fragility.

“We must learn to evoke the beauty of the vocation to marriage precisely in the recognition of fragility, so as to reawaken ‘trust in God’s grace’ (AL 36) and the Christian desire for holiness.”

Leo’s letter does not explicitly mention the possibility of access to the sacraments by those in irregular unions.

The pope says that pastoral attention to families is even more important now than when Amoris laetitia was written because the current era is one “marked by rapid changes.”

“There are, in fact, places and circumstances in which the Church ‘can become the salt of the earth’ only through the lay faithful and, in particular, through families. For this reason, the Church’s commitment in this area must be renewed and deepened, so that those whom the Lord calls to marriage and family life can, in Christ, fully live out their conjugal love, and that young people may feel attracted, within the Church, to the beauty of the vocation to marriage,” the letter concludes.

Fundraiser launched to restore Clare church ahead of 180th anniversary

A fundraiser has been launched to restore a historic Clare church which is turning 180 years old this summer.

On June 13, the community in Teerleheen, Clouna, will celebrate 180 years since the building of St Columba's Church.

To mark the anniversary, the community has launched a Go Fund Me page with the aim of gathering enough funds to begin restoration works at the historic landmark.

In particular, both the interior and exterior of the church need to be painted, while the stained glass windows need essential repairs.

With a target of €15,000, the Go Fund Me page describes the church as a “focal point” for the community, a place full of memories as well as a “special place of worship”.

The Go Fund Me reads: “The church remains a focal point of the community, with generations fondly remembering baptisms, communions, confirmations and marriages, as well as the dignified end-of-life commemorations of deceased members of our local parish.

“Clouna church was constructed during very challenging times, but, the legacy of the skilled craftspeople, and the local support is still evident today in this special place of worship.

“To ensure the church will continue to serve the community, we need to raise essential funds for both cosmetic and structural repairs. Any funding received will be allocated in its entirety to the church.

“The outside and inside of the church needs to be painted, along with essential repairs to the stunning stained glass windows, which are a focal point of this treasured place of prayer/worship.

“We acknowledge the demands on households in the current climate, so every donation, no matter how small, will be greatly appreciated. We welcome all friends of Clouna church to join us on June 13 to celebrate the special occasion. Go raibh maith agaibh, agus beannacht De oraibh go leir.”

Anyone who would like to donate to the restoration can do so via the “Clouna Church Restoration Fund” page on GoFundMe.ie

Catholic priest sexually assaulted man at his church home after night out

A Roman Catholic priest has been warned he faces jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting a man in the house at his church.

Father Stephen Baillie, who was the parish priest at St Joseph's Church in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, abused his victim after they had been on a night out together.

Baillie, who has been a priest for 36 years, denied the single charge against him.

But he was convicted by a jury at Paisley Sheriff Court and warned he faces jail when sentenced next month. The Diocese of Paisley said Baillie has now been removed as a parish priest.

Baillie was released on bail until sentencing.

The sheriff said he was "duty bound" to obtain background reports because Baillie was a first offender and warned that the normal term for such an offence was a "pretty lengthy" term of imprisonment.

Sheriff McGinty said he would allow Baillie to put his affairs "in order" before passing sentence.

Baillie was also placed on the sex offenders' register, with the exact period he spends on it to be decided when he is sentenced.

'Unable to consent'

The priest has served at churches in Eaglesham, Clarkston, Paisley and Greenock.

The trial heard his victim was physically sick after Baillie attempted to perform a sex act on him after a night out in June 2024.

Baillie assaulted the man while he was "heavily intoxicated and unable to consent".

The attack happened after they shared a bottle of wine over dinner at a restaurant in Clarkston and drank at a bar before going to Baillie's home on Eaglesham Road.

The man told the jury that he had agreed to go to the house to call a taxi and Baillie had offered him more alcohol.

He said Baillie performed a number of sex acts on him while at the house - including when he said he needed to leave to get some air.

At one point the victim vomited and was attacked while trying to clean himself up.

Church action

A statement on behalf of the Diocese of Paisley described Baillie as "a former priest of the diocese".

It said the offence was reported directly to Police Scotland by the complainer, and the diocese was not approached prior to the police investigation.

"As the complainer was not identified as a child or vulnerable adult, the case does not fall within the church's safeguarding procedures as defined under national safeguarding policy," it said.

"The diocese nevertheless recognises that the conduct established in court represents behaviour incompatible with the standards expected of ordained ministry and commends the courage of those who came forward to report the matter and participate in what has been a long and painful process."

It said a "canonical process" was underway to decide what action to take next and Baillie had been removed from his role as a parish priest after his conviction.

"The diocese continues to work to foster a culture of care, through a shared commitment to creating and sustaining safe church environments," the statement said.

Icelandic police inspect priest’s comments on homosexuality

Icelandic police have confirmed that they are examining comments made by a Catholic priest about homosexuality that may violate the country’s laws against conversion therapy.

The Reykjavik police said they would investigate the remarks made by Father Jakob Rolland to Icelandic state broadcaster RÚV in early March, to determine whether criminal proceedings should be opened against the priest who is also the chancellor of the Catholic Church in Iceland.

Rolland, a Frenchman who has been in Iceland for decades and changed his name from Jacques to Jakob to adopt a more Icelandic use of his name, said that members of the LGBTQ community lack help if they wish to “abandon this lifestyle.”

“That is precisely what is lacking in modern society. Those who wish to abandon this lifestyle receive no help,” he said.

In the interview, he said that homosexual people who seek support from the Church “cannot find” psychologists or social workers to help them, and also said that some people have sought out the Church in Iceland in order to “stop” being homosexual.

His comments are being investigated to see whether they violate Iceland’s laws banning conversion therapy related to sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity that were passed in 2023.

Article 227b of the Penal Code criminalizes those who “use tactics such as coercion, deception, or threats to force someone to undergo treatment intended to suppress or alter a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

Rolland was asked whether the Church’s methods of guidance and support met the definition of conversion therapy.

“Sexual orientation is only one factor among many that concern an individual’s tendencies towards some lifestyle that is not good for the individual and not good for society,” Rolland replied.

“And ‘conversion’ – change of heart – this is a key word in the daily life of Catholic people. We are constantly in the position of turning away from what is evil towards what is good,” he added.

“Everyone who comes to church has their problems and sins, struggling to some degree with bad tendencies towards something. Everyone is kneeling, sometimes crying before God, before the statue of the Holy Virgin Mary and asking for help. We are all really in the same position,” he said.

Rolland said the support the Church offers mainly consists in participation in the life of worship, including prayer, the sacraments and conversations.

He also affirmed that “all Christians are called to control their sexual impulses according to the moral teachings of the Church, not just homosexual people.”

When asked whether he would follow the country’s laws, the priest said he would “as long as the laws align with God’s laws.”

He has previously said that “there are no organized suppression therapies” and instead emphasized it is “only people talking to each other.”

Criticism

Helga Vala Helgadóttir, one of the sponsors of the bill against conversion therapy, called for a police investigation of Rolland’s comments, one of several prominent voices who criticized his comments.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, one of the small number of Iceland-born Catholics, distanced herself from Rolland’s comments. “I’m sorry if my church is considering breaking the law,” she said.

“I appeal to my church: Don’t get involved in something like this, don’t go against the law, and don’t go against diversity,” she stated.

Bjarndís Helga Tómasdóttir, chairwoman of Samtökin 78, an Icelandic LGBTQ advocacy organization, said of his comments: “This is a crime and should be investigated as such.”

“It’s important to realize that even though he talks about it being just conversations, it is suppression therapy, no matter how organized it is,” she also said.

Sigmundur Ernir Rúnarsson, of the Social Democratic Alliance, raised the issue in the Alþingi (Parliament).

“What is the message to gay and lesbian people in the country? What is the message to their families? What is the message to their allies? What is the message to all Icelanders who want to live in a free and democratic society that believes in human rights and enacts laws to ensure human rights?” he asked.

In 2022, there were approximately 14,000 Catholics in Iceland, many of them being immigrants from countries such as Poland.

Rolland courted controversy in 2019 when he told a journalist: “If two women came to us and wanted to marry, then I’d say, ‘Unfortunately, that won’t work for us.’ If they wanted to press charges, I’d say, ‘Do it.’ If I go to prison, then I go to prison, but it won’t change my position.”

Church of Ireland First Female Bishop To Retire

The Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare, the Most Revd Patricia Storey will retire from her position on 31 July 2026.

Bishop Pat announced her retirement at a meeting of the Diocesan Council on Wednesday, 18th March. 

She said: ‘I have deeply enjoyed my twelve years of ministry in Meath and Kildare and count it as an immense privilege to have spent this time amongst you. I have decided to retire simply because it feels like the right time. I will find it very difficult to leave, but I entrust the dioceses, which are His anyway, to God. Thank you for the joy of living and working in this beautiful part of the world. I will truly miss you.'

We are grateful to Bishop Pat for the care and enthusiasm she has shown in her ministry in the Dioceses of Meath and Kildare. 

Initiatives spearheaded by Bishop Pat, such as the mental health awareness project, MindMatters, are characteristic of her pastoral warmth and spiritual depth. 

As President of Church of Ireland Youth Department, she demonstrated a commitment to nurturing and celebrating the faith of young people that goes back to the very beginning of her ministry. 

Diocesan Partnerships with international aid agencies such as ‘Good for the Sole’ and ‘Building Hope… Brick by Brick’ have connected local parishes with the wider world - working together in God’s love, transforming lives.

Bishop Pat has served as Bishop of the United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare since November 2013. 

Her consecration as Bishop was a milestone moment for women’s leadership within the Anglican communion.

Spending €25m on 'The Pro' is questionable (Opinion)

In 1825, two hundred years ago, St Mary’s Chapel, Liffey Street in Dublin was constituted as the Pro-Cathedral for Dublin diocese. 

The moniker ‘Pro‘ in the title referred to what in Catholic eyes was its ‘provisional’ status in that there was an historical presumption or expectation or at best a hope that one of two Protestant cathedrals in Dublin, St Patrick’s or Christ Church, would one day revert to its former ‘Catholic’ status.

But first, for historical context, let’s go back a few centuries. In 1539, at the time of what was sometimes called the Protestant Reformation - when England’s King Henry VIII broke with Rome - all Irish monasteries and churches loyal to the pope, including St Patrick’s and Christ Church cathedrals, were handed over by the newly established state to the Church of Ireland.

Three hundred years later when that Catholic presumption/expectation/hope mentioned earlier had not been realised a substitute cathedral, pointedly designated the ‘Pro-cathedral’ was opened on the site of St Mary’s Church and was soon favoured by generations of Dubliners with the affectionate and long-favoured nickname, ‘The Pro’.

Then last year, 2025, after roughly 500 years without an officially designated Catholic cathedral in Dublin, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, announced that Pope Leo had designated ‘The Pro’ as St Mary’s, the official cathedral of the diocese of Dublin. 

And a few weeks ago the archbishop announced that St Mary’s Cathedral is to close after Easter, that’s April 4th, for a two-year refurbishment programme which will cost approximately €25 million. 

To paraphrase a frequent Dublin grievance about waiting for ages for a bus and eventually two buses arriving together - it seemed as if Dublin Catholics had waited half a millennium for an official cathedral and within a few months a second had appeared on the horizon.

Incidentally, St Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedral, despite the historic disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871 and the rivalry between the two cathedrals – though operating at such close quarters with one another – are still in the possession of the Church of Ireland. 

St Patrick’s is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland and Christ Church is currently the seat of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough.

So why did the Church of Ireland not even undertake what seemed like a necessary levelling-up of the ambiguities of our difficult religious history by gifting (or returning) one of the cathedrals to their long-suffering Sister Church?

That said no doubt the Church of Ireland’s instinct would have been to level the playing fields but the difficult truth is that the Catholic Church never seemed anxious to take on the burden (and the cost) of preserving one of our national cathedrals and seemed content to relinquish that responsibility to their ‘separated brethern’.

So how will the €25 million be raised to deliver the dream of a National Catholic Cathedral for Dublin? 

That’s an important question. 

But here’s another: if our Catholic resources can produce such a spectacular sum as if from nothing should we be asking if that’s the best way to spend it? 

Because even €25 million wouldn’t go any way towards achieving a cathedral that could possible reach the status of St Patrick’s or Christ Church.

But here’s the really big question: could spending €25 million on a new cathedral be not just a waste of money but a waste of resources? The example of the present withering diocese of Killala might be instructive. 

In the early years of the nineteenth century, the then Catholic bishop of Killala, Peter Waldron, entrusted to his talented coadjutor bishop, John MacHale, the task of building a cathedral in Killala diocese, then one of the poorest - if not the poorest diocese - in Ireland. 

MacHale was not just equal to the task but ready and willing to take it in his confident stride.

By his own admission, as MacHale on a visit to Rome in 1831-2 confided to the then Pope Gregory XVI that even though there were at the time in Killala diocese few churches, his enthusiasm for building a cathedral was predicated on the belief that his example would inspire the priests of the diocese to build parish churches: the cathedral, MacHale contended, was ‘a model to incite the clergy to undertake the building of like edifices in their respective parishes'. 

Unfortunately, by pressurising the parishes to support the cathedral project whatever resources were available to parishes were mainly expended on the cathedral with predictably negative results for the standard of parish churches.

This poses the question to Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin: if Dublin diocese is awash with impressive churches which are now more or less bereft of weekend worshippers, would it not make more sense to adopt one of them as a cathedral, preferably in inner city Dublin or in any other of the poorest areas of the diocese rather than to needlessly expend €25 million on what seems in the circumstances arguably not unlike a vanity project and, if such a sum was available, to expend it on some effective project on the poor of Dublin. 

(Just asking, Dermot, if you don’t mind!) 

It also poses other questions: who actually decided on this project? 

That too is legitimate to ask as we struggle to get the synodality template off the ground in Dublin as in elsewhere. 

Is it not accepted - as Cardinal Mario Grech, General Secretary of the Synod, the man charged with leading the worldwide effort to embed the synodal way of being church continues to point out – that synodality applies at every level in the Church? 

So what imput had the people, priests and religious of Dublin into the decision to resurrect 'The Pro’?

I’m sure Pope Leo wouldn’t mind if a more creative and convincing use was made of the €25 million, especially one that would honour the memory of his hero and ours, Pope Francis I, who brought the poor to the forefront of our thoughts and of our care. 

Just asking.

Number of religious in Germany continues to decline

The number of religious in Germany continues to decline. 

On 31. December last year, 11,797 religious women and men lived in the Federal Republic, and thus 831 (6.6 percent) less than a year earlier (12,628), according to figures from the German Conference of Superiors (DOK). 

The number of religious women fell from 2024 to 2025 by 7.4 percent to 8,770 (2024: 9,467), the number of religious decreased by 4.2 percent to 3,027 (2024: 3,161).

Number of religious women down by 70 percent since 2002

Thus, the trend of the past years and decades continued unabated. According to the DOC, the number of religious women at the end of 2002 was still at 28,973 and at the end of 2013 still at 18,303. Since the end of 2002, the number of religious women in Germany has fallen by 20,203 (69.7 percent).

According to the figures of the Religious Conference, the 3,027 religious in Germany were divided into 114 independent religious provinces, abbeys and priorities of 67 different religious communities in 345 monastic branches at the end of 2025. 

Among the religious, 2,313 had the priestly ordination, 21 the deacons' ordination and 54 members were in theology studies. Most of the members of the religious in Germany had the Benedictines (467) before the Franciscan Orders (Franciscans, Minorites and Capuchins, 416) and the Jesuits (183). 1,555 (51.4 percent) of religious were younger than 65, 1,472 (48.6 percent) older.

81 percent of religious women older than 65 years

According to the DOK figures, the religious women were divided into 795 monastic branches at the end of 2025 (2024: 883). 

The largest groups were the Benedictine, Franciscan and Vincentian-influenced religious communities. Among religious women, 7,096 (80.9 percent) were over 65 years old, 1,674 (19.1 percent) younger.

The German Conference of the Superiors is the association of the Higher Superiors of the Orders and Congregations in Germany.

Prosecutor: No embezzlement by Goldenstein helper

The Salzburg Public Prosecutor's Office has suspended embezzlement investigations in the vicinity of the three elderly nuns of Goldenstein. 

There were insufficient indications that donations had been used inappropriately, a spokeswoman for the Salzburg prosecutor's office of the Catholic News Agency (KNA) said on Tuesday. 

Previously, witnesses and those involved had been questioned, the spokeswoman continued.

The trigger of the proceedings was a complaint from the environment of the religious women. An acquaintance had accused a helper of irregularities in donations in the amount of around 32,000 euros. 

Specifically, there was a suspicion that funds had not been partially paid into a planned escrow account. 

The accused helper always rejected the accusations. She denied having been in charge of financial affairs and attributed the allegations to internal conflicts in the supporter circle.

Decision not yet final

The prosecutor's decision is not yet final. 

The display maker may request a justification within 14 days and then submit an application for continuation of the proceedings. Only after that does the proceedings be considered definitively completed.

The case of the three squatters from the monastery Goldenstein near Salzburg had attracted international attention in recent months. 

The nuns had returned to their former monastery after a stay in a retirement home against the will of their superior, which now belongs to the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Reichersberg Abbey. 

Whether their whereabouts there is also covered by church law is still open; a decision from the Vatican is expected.

Recently, a legal dispute over previous social media activities and an injunction agreement with the operator of an Instagram channel caused headlines. 

Since a court date in early March, the previously temporarily offline account "nonnen_goldenstein" will now be continued under the new name "church_fluencer".

Over half a million euros: Priest embezzled more than thought

A priest from the diocese of Trier has embezzled significantly more money than previously assumed. 

The church revision of all accounts to which the priest had power of attorney between 2001 and 2012 was completed, confirmed the diocese of Trier at the request of katholisch.de on Tuesday. 

First, the "Südwestrundfunk " (SWR) had reported on it.

The revision showed that the clergyman had illegally embezzled about 247,000 euros during this period. "The victims include the church community and groups within the church community as well as external groupings such as relief agencies," according to the diocese.

Between 2013 and 2015, the priest also embezzled around 45,000 euros. During this time, he worked in two other parish communities. "The sum of the damage is thus around 292,000 euros, of which donations amount to around 217,000 euros." 

The revision for this period had already revealed that the clergyman had embezzled around 287,000 euros. "The total damage is thus around 579,000 euros."

Priest has filed for private bankruptcy

The results of the investigation have been forwarded to the competent public prosecutor's office, according to the information. "This has indicated that the investigation for statute of limitations has ceased again." 

A preliminary investigation under church law was launched in November 2025 but has not yet been completed. According to the court ruling, the clergyman complied with his obligations for repayment. "He continues to be relieved of his priestly duties. He has an administrative task outside the pastoral care," according to the diocese.

Last week, it had already become known that the priest had filed for private bankruptcy. 

"The diocese will now have an external body work through which possible claims exist on which creditor, whether these claims stem from a tort, what is the underlying life reason and how high the individual claim is concrete," a spokeswoman for the diocese told katholisch.de. After the completion of this reappraisal, the diocese and, if necessary, the parishes would take "the corresponding further steps". 

Already, the control mechanisms within the diocese would be reviewed and adapted. 

A position for compliance management was also set up.

In November 2024, the clergyman was sentenced to a 21-month suspended sentence for financial embezzlement. 

The verdict at the time referred to the embezzlement of 130,000 euros. 

The priest had diverted the church funds to his own accounts. In the process, he testified to having used the money for luxury goods, travel and an expensive car. After health problems, he wanted to treat himself to something. 

The priest admitted his wrongdoing and apologized for it.

Bishop of Tarazona alerts to the lack of vocations: “We need priests”

“We need priests”. 

With these words, the bishop of Tarazona, Vicente Rebollo Mozos, describes the situation of his diocese, marked by the scarcity of vocations, the aging of the clergy, and the lack of seminarians.

“We are few priests and many elderly”

In his letter, the prelate describes a situation marked by the lack of generational replacement. “There are many parishes, we are few priests, a few elderly ones who are still active”, he points out.

Currently, the diocese has 14 priests from other dioceses who collaborate in pastoral care, although their presence is temporary.

The situation is aggravated, as he explains, by the lack of vocations: “We have a very large seminary, but we have no seminarians”.

Call on the Day of the Seminary

The bishop frames his reflection in the celebration of the Day of the Seminary, which will take place on March 22 under the motto “Leave your nets… and follow me”.

In this context, he especially invites young people to rethink their lives and open themselves to Christ’s call, in contrast to a culture marked - as he indicates - by intensive use of social networks and individualism.

“The Lord calls”, he affirms, emphasizing the need to propose priestly vocation in families, parishes, catechesis, and educational centers.

Direct request to families

Rebollo Mozos also addresses an explicit message to parents and grandparents, asking them to bring this reality closer to young people.

“Show them this letter, invite them to read it”, he requests, while encouraging the promotion of spaces for vocational discernment and praying for new vocations.

The bishop insists on the importance of combining prayer and action to respond to this need, which he considers a priority for the life of the diocese.

A reality that contrasts with national data

The situation described in Tarazona occurs in a national context in which the number of seminarians shows a slight - very slight, recovery.

According to data from the Spanish Episcopal Conference, there are currently 1,066 seminarians in Spain, 30 more than the previous year. During this course, 201 new candidates for the priesthood have entered.

However, there has also been a decrease in presbyteral ordinations, which went from 85 in 2024 to 58 in 2025.

The challenge of vocations

The data highlight the need to strengthen vocational pastoral care and accompaniment of young people, in line with the objective of the Day of the Seminary campaign.

Although greater stability is observed in training processes - with fewer dropouts in advanced stages, the Church in Spain continues to face the challenge of arousing new vocations in a complex social context.

In this scenario, the warning from the bishop of Tarazona reflects a concern shared in various dioceses: ensuring the presence of priests in the coming years.

Becciu case collapses: the Vatican annuls the trial and forces to start from scratch

The Court of Appeal of the State of Vatican City has ordered the full repetition of the trial against Cardinal Angelo Becciu and other individuals involved in the London building case - the well-known 60 Sloane Avenue - after declaring the entire procedure null due to serious procedural errors.

The decision, previewed by Corriere della Sera, implies the annulment of the convictions handed down in December 2023 and requires restarting the trial from its initial phase, constituting one of the greatest judicial setbacks in the recent history of the Vatican.

Total Nullity of the Process Due to Structural Errors

The court has upheld the appeals from the defenses, which denounced irregularities from the start of the procedure, particularly in the direct summons to trial and in the management of documentation. 

However, the ruling does not limit itself to pointing out specific defects but invalidates the entire chain of actions, including key resolutions adopted since 2022 and the conviction itself.

Among the most relevant aspects, the court points out deficiencies in full access to the evidence and problems in the formation of the file, which would have compromised the right to defense of the accused.

The decision thus renders ineffective the convictions handed down in the first instance, which affected several of the individuals involved, including Cardinal Becciu, convicted of embezzlement, and others accused of crimes such as fraud, extortion, or money laundering.

A Process Marked by Controversy from the Start

The Becciu case, initiated in 2021, examined the controversial real estate operation in London that caused million-dollar losses to the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The 2023 sentence, presented as historic, convicted a cardinal for the first time through a Vatican criminal court.

However, the process was surrounded by controversies from its early stages. As had already been highlighted in the months prior to the appeal, the defenses denounced the existence of exceptional norms and decisions adopted during the investigation that would have altered the balance of the trial.

Among them, the use of unpublished pontifical decrees—the so-called rescripta—that modified procedural rules in the midst of the case’s development, which, according to the defenses, prevented the accused from fully knowing the conditions under which they were being tried.

Francis’s Judicial Reform at the Center of the Debate

The Becciu process developed within the framework of the judicial reform promoted during the pontificate of Francis, which introduced exceptional mechanisms to address corruption cases within the Curia.

These instruments—including the pontifical rescripta—expanded the powers of the prosecution and modified key aspects of the procedure.

The prosecution defended their validity, emphasizing the full legislative authority of the Pope in the State of Vatican City. However, their concrete application began to complicate the development of the ongoing criminal process and was the subject of constant criticism from the defenses.

Although the Court of Appeal’s decision does not directly assess these instruments, by annulling the trial due to structural defects in its development, it highlights the consequences of the applied model.

A New Scenario Under Leo XIV

The decision comes under the pontificate of Leo XIV, who has not intervened in the process but now faces the consequences of an emblematic case inherited.

The repetition of the trial not only reopens the judicial case but also forces addressing the doubts that have arisen about the functioning of the system and the limits between pontifical authority and procedural guarantees.

A Process That Starts Over

With this resolution, the Becciu case returns to its starting point.

What was supposed to be the exemplary process of Vatican judicial reform is invalidated by its own weaknesses. 

More than a mere technical setback, the decision reveals a fundamental problem: a procedure conceived as a model that has not withstood the scrutiny of its own guarantees.

Pope receives the abbot of La Trappe amid uncertainty about the future of the historic abbey

Pope Leo XIV received in audience on the morning of this Wednesday Dom Thomas Georgeon, abbot of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de La Trappe (France), accompanied by his entourage, according to the official bulletin of the Holy See corresponding to March 18, 2026.

The audience takes place at a particularly delicate moment for this emblematic monastic community. 

The Trappist monks of La Trappe - one of the historical references of the Cistercian tradition - are considering abandoning the monastery around 2028 due to the lack of vocations and economic difficulties in sustaining the complex.

Founded in the 12th century in Normandy, the Abbey of La Trappe is the original house of the Trappist reform and one of the most representative centers of contemplative life in the West. 

For centuries, it has been a symbol of a spirituality marked by silence, austerity, and fidelity to the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Currently, the community consists of around twenty monks, who have acknowledged the growing difficulties in ensuring the continuity of their presence in the monastery, in a context of declining vocations in Europe.

Although the religious have emphasized that the abbey is neither closed nor for sale, they have admitted that the possible departure of the community would mean the end of nearly nine centuries of uninterrupted monastic presence, which would place La Trappe before an unprecedented historical change.

Opus Dei numerary and professor in Madrid, sidelined and investigated for alleged abuses against minors

A numerary professor linked to Opus Dei and teacher at the El Prado school in Madrid has been removed from his duties and is being investigated for alleged child abuse, in a case that is already in the hands of the police.

According to the information passed to the families, the facts would have come to light after the testimony of a student who told his parents about episodes that occurred approximately two years ago during a summer camp of the Amura youth club. 

From that initial account, and after contacting other families, at least two other similar cases would have been confirmed, which would place the number of affected minors at three.

Communication to families and protection of the identity of the minors

The information was communicated in a meeting with parents of the Amura youth club, also linked to Opus Dei, in which families were recommended to talk to their children. 

No specific data was provided about the teacher’s identity or the camp in question, citing the need to protect the identity of the involved minors and avoid their identification.

According to the available information, the institutional action has been immediate and forceful: the teacher was removed from his duties as soon as the facts were known and the case was brought to the attention of the competent authorities, currently under police investigation.

The contrast: precedents in the Legionaries of Christ and insufficient practices in other ecclesial spheres

This way of proceeding contrasts with recent actions in other ecclesial environments where the reaction was not equally clear or direct. 

As published by InfoVaticana on March 14, 2025, in the case of the Legionaries of Christ, a priest who had worked in schools in Seville and Valencia was reported in 2023 for abuse. 

Although he was eventually removed and the case was transferred to justice, the case revealed previous management problems, including prior assignments in environments with minors despite controversial backgrounds and decisions that did not prevent his continued contact with minors for years.

This type of practices, consisting of transfers, delays, or insufficient internal responses, have been repeatedly pointed out in various dioceses and ecclesial institutions as one of the main causes of the aggravation of abuse cases.

A different approach: legal and moral priority in the protection of the minor

In contrast to that precedent, the response in the case of the El Prado school and the Amura youth club presents a different approach both legally and morally. 

The immediate action, the separation of the teacher, and the direct communication to families and authorities reflect an intervention aimed at protecting the minor and clarifying responsibilities from the first moment, without prioritizing the containment of media impact.

For the moment, no more details have been made public, while the investigation continues.