Saturday, February 08, 2025

Carmelites open arms to ‘lonely’ and ‘disconnected’ young men

A parish church in the centre of Dublin has been helping an “amazing number of young men” who are struggling with “serious loneliness” and a feeling of disconnection.

While the church regularly welcomes faithful of all ages and ethnicities, there are many young men searching for someone to speak to, according to Fr James Eivers O. Carm, Prior of Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin City Centre.

Fr Eivers told The Irish Catholic in particular the friars meet a lot of university students from nearby colleges such as the Royal College of Surgeons, Trinity College Dublin and DBS.

He said: “It’s amazing the amount of young men coming into the church. You talk to them, and you find there’s serious loneliness out there… there’s a sense of community that’s missing. Sometimes they come here just really struggling and looking for quiet, a lot of them not even knowing why they are here.” Sometimes they come in to light a candle and ending up in the line for Confession, “and they haven’t been to Confession since their Confirmation maybe, and they’re saying ‘I don’t even know how to do this, but I just feel I need to talk to someone about what’s going on in my life’”, according to Fr Eivers,

The fact that there is a community of 10 Carmelites living on-site means there is extra availability, the prior noted. Fr Eivers added that many of the young men in university are “struggling with a lot of the pressures of college, particularly in their first year and their second year, struggling to find their niche, struggling to find where they’re going”.

“And it is the same story, ‘I picked a course, I didn’t know why I picked it and now I don’t know what I’m doing’. Then there are all the pressures that come with that. Increasingly you are seeing that with younger people, coming in and just wanting someone to listen, not even give them answers – just to listen.”

Fr Eivers also drew attention to “serious increase” in the number of people looking for financial support from the parish.

He said: “It’s all over the media in terms of the homelessness crisis but it’s literally on our doorstep every night here – homelessness, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, family issues, all of that. It is being written about, but it is all being played out within this square around the Church, that’s part of it as well. You have a lot of people coming in, really struggling with life: you must be present to them as well.”

Reggae gets religious with British sisters

A group of sisters in England have teamed up with two Christian musicians to produce a ‘reggae-pop’ version of the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025 hymn.

A music video of the cover of the song was posted on YouTube by the two-piece band Ooberfuse on the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, February 2. 

They collaborated with the Community of our Lady of Walsingham.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, appears at the beginning of the video saying said: “I want to introduce you to this beautiful rendition of the Jubilee Year’s anthem. It’s going be heard all over the world, but here it’s presented in a lyrical and lovely way.”

Cardinal Nichols added: “And it tells us the story of being pilgrims in hope, or actually better – pilgrims into hope. There’s one part of this song that I hope you listen to very intently, which describes a person journey from their tears into hope, and it’s Jesus who wipes away our tears.”

USCCB, Catholic Charities accept ‘blood money’ when they facilitate illegal immigration (Opinion)

The first piece of legislation that President Trump signed into law is the Laken Riley Act. 

This law mandates the federal detention of illegal immigrants accused of serious crime. 

The legislation is named after a Georgia nursing student who was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered by a Venezuelan illegal alien who was previously arrested and paroled into the United States during the Biden administration’s “open border” policies.

It is well-documented that illegal immigration is responsible for various forms of human suffering and degradation. 

Murder, gang violence, human trafficking, sex trafficking, narcotics trafficking, theft, terrorism, organized crime, torture, rape, assault, kidnapping, corruption, money laundering, various forms of fraud, and environmental crime all result from illegal immigration.

Statistics are sterile. Like Laken Riley, each victim has a story. Loved ones are devastated. There are countless heinous and barbaric crimes linked to illegal immigration perpetrated against individuals, families, and communities. Some involve horrendous suffering, torture, and the loss of life.

Crimes against children are particularly abhorrent. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released a report that the Biden-Harris administration lost track of approximately 300,000 migrant children. 

Unfortunately, many of these children are undoubtedly trafficked, victims of sexual abuse, and/or are engaged in abusive child labor.

I previously wrote an article for Crisis Magazine discussing illegal immigration and the Catholic Church. I explained that from an investigator’s standpoint the key to solving criminal activity based on greed is to determine who benefits from the crime. 

In other words, follow the money.

During the Biden years, the U.S. Catholic Church accelerated its entanglement in the “illegal immigration complex.” 

Various Catholic charities and organizations facilitate the illegal immigration pipeline by providing food, clothing, shelter, transportation, legal services, counseling, and so on.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the charities and organizations it supports promote facilitating illegal immigration as “acts of mercy.”

Perhaps. 

But there is another way of looking at it. 

Let’s use an analogy.

Similar to the driver who committed a mortal sin by taking the expectant mother to an abortion clinic, the Church’s actions facilitating illegal immigration are committed with “full knowledge and deliberate consent.”

Making the matter even worse, the Church is accepting billions in what could reasonably be labeled blood money.

According to recent numbers obtained from Complicit Clergy, the Biden administration granted Catholic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charities nearly $3 billion in immigration-related funding over the past four years. 

In comparison, Catholic charities received $0.8 billion during the first Trump administration. 

Since 2009, Catholic Charities and related organizations have received over $5.2 billion tax dollars by providing immigration-related services to the federal government.

The total numbers are undoubtedly much higher. The above only includes money that is clearly earmarked for immigration. For organizations that are not subject to meaningful audits and oversight, money can be moved to and from other programs. The total also does not include money received from state and local sources. And the study only focused on entities that had “Catholic” as an identifier.

Is this blood money? Is the Church responsible?

We deserve straightforward answers. 

Unfortunately, there is a lack of transparency. 

We lack specifics about the assistance. This is partially by design. My area of expertise is anti-money laundering. The flow of money to Catholic Charities has many of the elements of the second stage of money laundering which is called “layering” or obfuscating the money trail.

The Biden administration funneling billions of taxpayer money to NGOs to facilitate their open border policies was done for two reasons: 

1.) The federal agencies involved did not have the capacity to provide the logistics necessary for such a massive influx of people. 

2.) Primarily because of issues of venue, jurisdiction, and NGO non-accountability, the federal money flow was not transparent. I believe it was intentional. The taxpayer money was effectively laundered in order to advance the Biden administration’s open border policies.

Apologists for the Church claim that the illegal immigrants have been “vetted”; they claim it is the government’s responsibility to approve who enters into the country. Once the aliens are admitted, the Church assumes that it has a green light to provide assistance.

That argument is fallacious. Some Catholic NGOs and nonprofits have been accused of assisting in the entry of the illegals. Regarding vetting, I have experience tracing and obtaining foreign national record checks. Simply put, it is impossible to effectively vet over 10 million illegal immigrants, many from failed and/or uncooperative states. Simply put, during the Biden administration, government and NGO due diligence did not happen.

Catholic Charities’ and the USCCB’s position is that they would never knowingly help a criminal alien. That position is also spurious for two reasons.

1.) By definition, illegal aliens are illegal. Every single illegal migrant has broken U.S. immigration law. They are all criminals. Similar to being a “cafeteria Catholic” or picking and choosing what Church teaching is valid, the Church cannot pick and choose what federal law is valid or decide who is a criminal and who is not.

2.) Approximately fifteen million illegal immigrants entered the U.S. under the Biden administration’s open border policies. Approximately 700,000 had criminal records before they even entered the country. Some are known murderers and rapists. Additional illegal immigrants were released from mental institutions and sent into the United States. Individuals on the terror watch list were admitted into the homeland. Chinese nationals of military age who are subservient to the CCP and possibly trained in forms of asymmetric warfare have flooded the country. Outside of Latinos, more Chinese have entered the country than any other ethnic group. There are also large numbers of illegals who committed horrendous crimes (human trafficking, smuggling, sexual predation, etc.) during the migration pipeline. Unknown numbers have committed crimes while in the United States. Many are recruited into criminal gangs. In other words, well over a million and probably many more have been involved with serious criminal and anti-American activity in addition to breaking immigration law. Rules of statistics and probability dictate with certainty that many of these criminal aliens were aided and abetted by Catholic Charities.

The Church has to know the above facts. Willful blindness is not a defense. In other words, there has been “full knowledge and deliberate consent.”

Contrary to what some claim, the illegal immigrants are not innocents. They made a freewill choice of bypassing the long legal pathway for a chance at expedited illegal entry. And as much as the media and the Church are going to emphasize the good that migrants do and put forward sob stories that play on our sympathy, from an enforcement perspective when one mixes illicit with licit the whole becomes tainted.

Similarly, the billions received by the U.S. Catholic Church and its NGOs and charities are also tainted. If nothing else, there is the appearance of impropriety. 

For example, is there a correlation between the $3 billion the Catholic Church received during the Biden presidency and the Catholic hierarchy refusing to criticize Biden and his policies that, according to George Weigel, could be “properly described, not simply as ‘un-Catholic’ but as anti-Catholic?”

Or is there any correlation between the $5 billion the Church has received from U.S. taxpayers to assist in illegal immigration and the $5 billion that Catholic dioceses and religious orders in the United States have spent in the past 20 years to settle the financial costs of the sex-abuse scandal?

Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic, looking at the financial record, said:

And so when the USCCB condemned Trump’s executive orders on immigration, did it have a pecuniary interest in doing so? … I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line? We’re going to enforce immigration law. We’re going to protect the American people.

The Church does not need any more scandals. Nor does she need to jeopardize her direct funding from the laity. Many of us refuse to contribute to the USCCB and Catholic Charities because of the above issues. There are many other worthwhile and non-tainted charities that support the good work of the Church.

The USCCB should get ahead of this issue and end its involvement in the illegal immigration complex before President Trump does it for them.

Schismatic Poor Clares open restaurant

The schismatic ex-clares of Belorado are looking for new sources of income: After selling gold bars, a restaurant and a dog breeding business are to boost the finances of the former nuns. 

The women announced in a press release that they have rented a hotel in the Asturian town of Arriondas. 

Three of the remaining eight women are reportedly moving to the city, almost 200 kilometres away, and will live in the hotel rooms on the first floor of the building.

At their new place of work, the former nuns are to take over the kitchen of the restaurant on the ground floor. 

Only the other restaurant staff will have contact with customers, so that the cloistered atmosphere can be maintained. 

In addition to traditional Asturian cuisine, the restaurant will also serve the baked goods and chocolates that the monastic community used to make a living from in the past.

Another attempt at dog breeding

The women have also announced plans to buy land for breeding and caring for dogs and other animals. 

Among other things, they want to train assistance and guide dogs. 

The sisters already caused a stir last year with an unauthorised dog kennel. The competent animal welfare authority therefore initiated proceedings against the business. 

According to media reports, the police had already received complaints from residents in 2023 due to noise nuisance caused by dogs on the grounds of the convent, but found no signs of animal welfare hazards at the time.

The women's lawyer referred to the church newspaper "Vida Nueva" that the economic activities were necessary as the Vatican had deprived the sisters of their livelihood. 

Last year, the responsible religious dicastery appointed the Archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta, as Papal Commissioner for the convent. 

On Iceta's behalf, an administrative commission is looking after the assets of the apparently over-indebted monastery. 

At the beginning of the week, it became known that the former superior sold gold worth 130,000 euros from the monastery's property. property. 

It was also revealed that the convent had been drawing the pension of a deceased co-sister for two and a half years.

Threat of eviction remains

The former nuns are still living in the Belorado convent despite their excommunication and an eviction suit. 

They had attempted to convert the convent into an association under civil law and thus continue to have access to the assets. 

According to the archbishopric, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior has refused to allow the former nuns to convert the convent into an association. 

The eviction of the convent was originally scheduled for 23 January, but has been delayed until today because the eviction notice could not be delivered to all the former nuns concerned.

The conflict surrounding the Poor Clares of Belorado has continued to escalate in recent months. 

In May, the sisters published a manifesto in which they distanced themselves from the Catholic Church and declared that they would not recognise any popes after Pius XII. 

In the course of the conflict, they joined various schismatic alleged bishops and were and were excommunicated because of their schism

All attempts at mediation by the papal commissioner Iceta failed. 

In addition to the schismatic ex-nuns, there are five elderly sisters in need of care in the convent who have not joined the schism.

Schönborn: "What is currently happening in the USA is highly dangerous"

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn sharply criticises the US government under President Donald Trump. 

"What is currently happening in the USA is extremely dangerous," writes the Archbishop Emeritus of Vienna in a column in the Austrian daily newspaper "Heute" (Friday). 

With regard to the initial measures taken by the Trump administration, Schönborn explained: "Trade agreements are being broken unilaterally, existing state rights are being called into question, existing law and its constitutional safeguards are being pushed aside."

Contracts are based on mutual trust and must therefore be scrupulously honoured by both sides, the cardinal continued. This applies to rental contracts, trade, the economy, marriage contracts and intergovernmental agreements. Contracts could also be amended, but would then have to be renegotiated. "The rule of law depends on contracts being valid." The opposite of this is arbitrariness: "The powerful dictate their will, regardless of what is contractually agreed."

Schönborn is concerned about the global political situation as a whole. Dictatorships are on the rise worldwide and with them the arbitrariness of those in power. 

"Loyalty and faith, trust and security, and above all the weaker, poorer and defenceless are falling by the wayside," warns Schönborn and asks: "Is that what we want?"

Cardinal Dolan turns 75 – and joins a growing group of senior US churchmen

Cardinal Timothy Dolan turned 75 on Thursday. 

Amid celebrations, he also submitted his resignation to Pope Francis, though there’s no telling when – or even whether – Francis will accept it.

All Catholic bishops are required to submit a letter of resignation when they reach 75 years of age, but recently Francis has left senior leaders to serve for several months and even several years in some major sees.

“You have to submit your letter of resignation,” Dolan told The Catholic Channel on New York’s Sirius XM channel this week, “and you don’t know exactly,” how long it will be before a resignation is accepted.

“[U]sually,” Dolan said, “the Holy See would ask you to stay until your successor is appointed, and you don’t know when that will be.”

“[R]ecently it seems to be like between six and eight months,” Dolan also said.

Dolan arrived in New York in 2009, making this his sixteenth year in the leadership of the Church in the Big Apple, which is not only a densely populated and extremely diverse city by every metric, but also the financial capital of the world, an engine of culture, and the world’s biggest media market.

Vatican observers and Church watchers across the spectrum of opinion agree that finding a successor to a long-serving archbishop in a see like New York is never an easy proposition.

New York is one of twenty-two Latin sees in the United States with bishops older than 75. That’s more than one in ten of the dioceses in the country, of which there are 196 total. 177 of those are Latin jurisdictions, thirty-three of which are metropolitan sees led by an archbishop with one or more dioceses called suffragan sees at least nominally under his purview.

Eleven more dioceses will see their bishops turn 75 this year.

Also, eight of the thirty-three archdioceses in the United States are currently led by men past retirement age.

Six dioceses are currently without a bishop.

Of those six, one – Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana – saw its bishop, Mario Dorsonville, die in office unexpectedly in January of last year, at the age of 63.

Another – Steubenville, Ohio – is in the middle of an uncertain and occasionally contentious merger exploration with the Diocese of Columbus, OH, and saw its bishop, Jeffrey Monforton, moved to an auxiliary position in the Archdiocese of Michigan (currently led, it happens, by 76-year-old Archbishop Allen Vigneron).

Bishop Michael Cote of Norwich, CT, retired in September 2024 and has not been replaced. There was some chatter about a merger of Norwich with the Archdiocese of Hartford – of which Norwich is suffragan – being in the offing. Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford, currently serving as Apostolic Administrator of Norwich, however, told the clergy of Norwich in a meeting last year that the Diocese of Norwich would not be merged into the Archdiocese of Hartford.

The other three vacant dioceses – Austin, TX, Providence, RI, and San Diego, CA, all lost their bishops to metropolitan sees.

Austin’s Bishop Joe Steve Vásquez is now Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, after Pope Francis asked him to succeed Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

Providence’s Bishop Richard Henning is now Archbishop of Boston, after Francis asked him to succeed Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley OFM Cap – and Henning had only been in Providence for a little over a year when he got the call.

San Diego has been vacant since Pope Francis named its bishop, Cardinal Robert McElroy, to succeed Cardinal Wilton Gregory in the US capital see of Washington, DC, earlier this year.

So, there has been a good bit of shuffling on the US episcopal board, and every indication is there is more to come. When dioceses will be filled – and by whom – is one of the great guessing games and time-wasting exercises of professional and amateur Church watchers, and there is plenty to watch these days.

King Charles and Queen Camilla to visit Pope in April

King Charles III and Queen Camilla of England will make their first official visit to the Vatican in April.

According to a statement from Buckingham Palace, “The King and Queen will undertake State Visits to the Holy See and the Republic of Italy in early April 2025.”

As part of their official state visit, Charles and Camilla will join Pope Francis “in celebrating the 2025 Jubilee Year,” the statement said, noting that the two will have engagements in Rome and Ravenna as part of their trip, “celebrating the strong bilateral relationship between Italy and the United Kingdom.”

Though he has visited the Vatican in the past as Prince of Wales, this will be the first official visit to the Vatican of Charles as king.

Charles was crowned in May 2023, following his mother’s death after a 70-year reign.

The coronation ceremony was hailed as a major step forward in terms of Catholic-Anglican relations for the British monarchy, as it marked the first time in 400 years a Catholic bishop participated in a coronation.

The ceremony was also noted for its interreligious novelty and forward-looking openness. Religious leaders from various communities including Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh traditions were also in attendance.

The presence of other Christian leaders and leaders of other faith communities was broadly hailed as part of the king’s commitment to maintaining the role of religion in British society, the composition of which has changed drastically since his mother took the throne in the 1950s.

Seventy years ago, more than 80 per cent of England was Christian. In the intervening decades, the religious landscape of the country has changed significantly.

According to Fortune Magazine, fewer than half the people in England are Christian, with the latest census figures saying 37 per cent state they have no religion, while 6.5 per cent declare themselves Muslim, and 1.7 per cent Hindu.

London is where this change is felt most acutely, with more than a quarter of citizens adhering to a non-Christian faith.

While still Prince of Wales, Charles famously declared in an interview in the 1990s that he wanted to be referred to as “defender of faith”, marking a small but significant diversion from the British monarch’s historic title as, “defender of the faith,” meaning Christianity and, specifically, the Church of England.

His emphasis on religious diversity has been hailed as especially timely in an increasingly diverse nation where clashes between different faith communities such as Hindus and Muslims are frequent, where antisemitism remains a political issue, and where historic differences between Catholics and Protestants can still be felt in Northern Ireland.

In terms of Catholic-Anglican relations, King Charles’s coronation was seen as a significant symbolic step forward.

Historical strains between Catholics and Anglicans date back to 1534, when Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the Church of England. However, observers have said that rift and the tensions that ensued eventually faded during Queen Elizabeth II’s time on the throne, due to both a changing religious demography and efforts at the state level.

Her 70-year reign spanned seven different pontificates, beginning with Pope Pius XII. She met with Pope Francis in 2014. The last pope to meet her in the United Kingdom was Benedict XVI during his visit in 2010.

When Charles and Camilla were formally crowned in 2023, observers and royal pundits alike took special note of the religious dimension of the ceremony, with the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Chris Trott, at the time saying his government was “keen to see ecumenical relations flourish.”

“To see in this service,” Trott said in a 2023 interview with Crux, “the full range and extent of ecumenical participation and then beyond, with the inclusion of Sikh, and Muslim, and Hindu, and Jewish members of the House of Lords in the formal ceremony, I thought was very powerful.”

“When Christian communities can come together, it is easier for them to then reach out to other faiths,” he said.

Charles visited the Holy See on five separate occasions as Prince of Wales, the first of which was in April 1985, followed by an April 2005 visit for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

He visited again in April 2009 and in April 2017, and finally again in October 2019 for the Canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a famed Anglican convert to Catholicism known for his academic and philosophical contributions to Christianity.

Charles in his visits has met with three popes, including John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. He also met with John Paul II in Canterbury during the first-ever visit of a pope on British soil.

In addition to the time he has spent in the Vatican, Charles has also visited Italy 17 times, with his first visit taking place in 1984, and most recently visiting in October 2021 for the G20 summit in Rome. Camilla has joined him on two occasions, for visits in 2009 and 2017.

Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, also visited Italy and the Vatican during a jubilee year, coming in October 2000 for the Great Jubilee held that year.

French municipality faces legal battle over displaying nativity scene

In December 2024, the town of Beaucaire was ordered to remove its nativity scene from the town hall by an administrative court, claiming its display violated secularism laws. 

Despite the ruling, the mayor refused to comply, resulting in further legal action and the threat of escalating fines.

This marks the latest in a series of legal battles over Christian symbols in Beaucaire, which have been ongoing since 2016.

In December 2024, the commune of Beaucaire put up a nativity scene in the town hall. 

The civil association Ligue des droits de l'Homme (League for Human Rights) sued the municipality and the administrative court of Nîmes ordered scene to be removed by 23 December, with a penalty of 1,000 euros per day of delay. 

The court ruled that the Christian symbols 'cannot be considered to comply with the requirements of secularism and the neutrality of public figures'.

The mayor of the town, Nelson Chaudon, responded to the ruling by refusing to remove the nativity scene. 

The municipality also failed to comply with a second court order. 

The Ligue des Droits de l'Homme (LD) has now asked for a fine of 5,000 euros per day of delay following the two orders. A hearing took place on 5 February at the administrative court of Nîmes.

This is not the first time that the town of Beaucaire has been taken to court over the display of a nativity scene in the town hall. 

The display of this Christmas symbol has been the subject of legal action since 2016. 

In fact, the administrative court's decision refers to similar cases that have occurred in the same town almost every year since 2015. 

In 2016, OIDAC Europe had already reported this case of intolerance towards Christian symbols.

Pope Francis reiterates desire for ‘full unity’ among Christians

Pope Francis reiterated his desire for “full unity” with other Christian confessions when he received in audience young priests and monks of the Oriental Orthodox churches.

Oriental Orthodox churches, as differentiated from the Eastern Orthodox churches, only accept the first three ecumenical councils.

“The proclamation of the common faith requires, first of all, that we love one another,” the Holy Father said. 

As on Feb. 5, during his general audience, the pontiff did not read the speech he had prepared because he is suffering from a “bad cold.”

However, those in attendance received a copy of the text during the meeting that took place in the Casa Santa Marta.

The Holy Father told the group of young priests and monks of the Oriental Orthodox churches, including Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Malankar, and Syriac, that “Christians who remain divided are like fragments that must find unity in the confession of the one faith.”

“We need each other to be able to confess the faith,” he added.

This audience was part of a curriculum for young Oriental Orthodox priests and monks organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. This was the fifth time such a meeting has taken place.

Previously, similar study trips have been made for Catholic priests prepared by the Armenian Patriarchate of Etchmiadzin.

Pope Francis emphasized the “special relevance” of this visit in the year that marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council (A.D. 325) in which the symbol (Greek: symbolon/summary) of faith common to all Christians was professed.

The pontiff expressed his gratitude for the “exchange of gifts” promoted by the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox churches and noted that “it allows the dialogue of charity to go hand in hand with the dialogue of truth.”

The ecumenical dimension of the ‘symbol of faith’

He then reflected on the ecumenical dimension of the term “symbol,” noting that in the theological sense, the concept is understood as “the set of the principal truths of the Christian faith, which complement and harmonize with each other.”

“In this sense, the Nicene Creed, which succinctly sets forth the mystery of our salvation, is undeniable and incomparable,” the pontiff said.

From an ecclesiological point of view, he said the creed also “unites believers.”

“In ancient times, the Greek word ‘symbolon’ indicated one half of a tile split in two to be presented as a sign of recognition [by perfectly fitting with the other half]. The symbol is therefore a sign of recognition and communion between believers,” he said.

For this reason, he pointed out that faith is a “symbol” that only finds “its full unity together with others.”

“Therefore, we need each other to be able to confess the faith, which is why the Nicene Creed, in its original version, uses the plural ‘we believe,’” he said.

Pope Francis referred to a third meaning of the creed on the spiritual level and asked his listeners not to forget that the creed is above all “a prayer of praise that unites us to God: Union with God necessarily passes through unity among us, we Christians, who proclaim the same faith.”

“If the devil divides, the creed unites!” the pope said. He added: “How beautiful it would be if, every time we proclaim the creed, we felt united with Christians of all traditions!” Finally, everyone prayed the Nicene Creed together, each in his own language.

Pope: 'global responses’ against human trafficking

Pope Francis released a message to mark the 11th International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, which is celebrated on the feast day of Saint Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese woman and religious, victim of trafficking as a child who has come to symbolise the Christian commitment against this phenomenon.

"Trafficking is a complex phenomenon,” the pontiff writes, “constantly evolving, fed by wars, conflicts, famines and the consequences of climate change. It therefore requires global responses and a common effort, at all levels, to counter it."

To encourage this path, Francis met this morning at Casa Santa Marta with a delegation of Talitha Kum, a network promoted by women religious all over the world to support victims of trafficking.

In his message, inspired by the Jubilee Year, Francis calls on the faithful to walk as "pilgrims of hope" even in this heartbreaking world. Indeed, “how is it possible,” he wonders, “to continue to nurture hope in front of the millions of people, especially women and children, young people, migrants and refugees, trapped in this modern slavery? Where do we get new impetus to combat the trade in human organs and tissues, the sexual exploitation of children and girls, forced labour, including prostitution, drug and arms trafficking? How do we register all this in the world and not lose hope?

For Francis the answer is: “Only by raising our gaze to Christ, our hope, can we find the strength of a renewed commitment that does not allow itself to be overcome by the breadth of problems and tragedies, but strives in the darkness to light flames of light, which united can illuminate the night until the coming of dawn."

One example is that of “young people who all over the world fight against trafficking: they tell us that we must become ambassadors of hope and act together, with tenacity and love, and that it is necessary to stand alongside the victims and survivors.”

It is a matter of "avoiding becoming accustomed to injustice, removing the temptation to think that certain phenomena cannot be eradicated.”

“The Spirit of the Risen Lord supports us in promoting, with courage and effectiveness, targeted initiatives to weaken and counter the economic and criminal mechanisms that profit from trafficking and exploitation.

“It can teach us above all to listen, with closeness and compassion, to people who have experienced trafficking, to help them get back on their feet and together with them identify the best ways to free others and engage in prevention.”

To this end, the pontiff urges governments to “promote initiatives in defence of human dignity, for the elimination of human trafficking in all its forms and for the promotion of peace in the world.”

Placing our trust in the intercession of Saint Bakhita, the pope goes on to say: “Together, we can make a great effort and create the conditions for trafficking and exploitation to be banned and for respect of fundamental human rights to prevail, in fraternal recognition of our common humanity.”

Pope Francis Praises Midwives, Obstetricians, Gynecologists Who Welcome Babies with "humanity"

Pope Francis on Thursday encouraged midwives and OB-GYNs to carry out their mission not only with professional skill but also with “a great sense of humanity.”

The pope’s words were conveyed in a written speech handed out during an audience with an association of midwives and OB-GYNs from the southern Italian region of Calabria on Feb. 6.

With Francis suffering from bronchitis, the pontiff’s meetings on Thursday were held in halls at his Santa Marta residence rather than at the Apostolic Palace.

The Vatican Press Office said Feb. 6 Francis would continue to hold his meetings at the Casa Santa Marta on Feb. 7 and 8 due to the illness.

“At a crucial moment of existence such as the birth of a son or daughter, one may feel vulnerable, fragile, and therefore most in need of closeness, tenderness, and warmth,” the pope said to the group of midwives and OB-GYNs.

“It does so much good, in such circumstances, to have sensitive and delicate people beside you. I therefore recommend you to cultivate, in addition to professional skill, a great sense of humanity, which confirms ‘in the parents’ souls the desire and joy for the new life, blossomed from their love’ (St. John Paul II, Address to Midwives, Jan. 26, 1980) and contributes to ‘assuring the child a healthy and happy birth.’”

The pope noted the loss of enthusiasm for parenthood in Italy and in other countries, where motherhood and fatherhood are no longer seen as “the opening of a new horizon of creativity and happiness.”

He also urged Christian midwives and doctors to use the “hidden but effective medicine” of prayer in their practices.

Whether it is appropriate to pray directly with patients or to offer a silent prayer in one’s own heart, prayer can “help strengthen that ‘admirable collaboration of parents, nature, and God, from which a new human being in the image and likeness of the Creator comes into being,’” he said, quoting Venerable Pius XII in a 1951 address to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives.

“I encourage you to feel toward the mothers, fathers, and children whom God puts in your path the responsibility to pray for them as well, especially in holy Mass, Eucharistic adoration, and simple, daily prayer,” Pope Francis said.

Bishop of Bristol ever is to retire after an eventful seven years

The Bishop of Bristol has announced she is to retire later this year after seven years in the position. 

The Rt Rev Vivienne Faull was Bristol’s first-ever woman bishop but turns 70 this year so must retire, according to the rules of the Church of England.

Bishop Viv has been granted special permission by the Archbishop of York to stay on in the role after her birthday in May, so she can ordain new deacons and priests over the summer, and she will retire on September 1.

The Bishop of Bristol is the leader of the Church of England in the Diocese of Bristol, which covers a large area around Bristol and over into north Wiltshire and Swindon. 

Bishop Viv was the 56th Bishop of Bristol, and the first woman, when she was enthroned at Bristol Cathedral back in October 2018.

“After 42 years in full-time ministry as deaconess, deacon, priest and bishop, the time has come for a rest,” she said. “I have revelled in each of the places and communities to which God has called me and have been enriched by them all.

“My seven years in Bristol, where my mother — a great campaigner for the ordination of women — was born, baptised and confirmed, has been a beautiful coda, and I will leave this generous, creative, brave and open diocese with deep gratitude for all that, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we have learnt and transformed together. May Christ bless and keep us now and in our pilgrimages ahead,” she added.

Bishop Viv has had an eventful seven years in charge of the Church of England in Bristol, overseeing the church's response to the Covid pandemic, the death of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles, riots and protests in Bristol and more recently at the end of last year, the sudden resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the church's handling of child sex abuse scandals.

Public invited to suggest candidates for next archbishop

The public is being invited to suggest candidates for the next Archbishop of Canterbury following Justin Welby's resignation.

Mr Welby left the Church of England's most senior role in January after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church.

His replacement will be the 106th appointment to the role, the incumbent of which is the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Church.

Historically, candidates already hold senior leadership positions in ministry in the Church or elsewhere in the Anglican Communion. They must be aged at least 30 and are generally younger than 70.

Names can be submitted to the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), the body charged with nominating the new archbishop.

The Church said the consultation, which runs until 28 March, was "an opportunity to gather the views of a wide range of people from across England and the Anglican Communion on the gifts, qualities and skills needed" for the role.

There will be no advert to which anyone can put their name forward to, with possible candidates instead "invited in" to the process.

People can submit their views on the Church of England website.

The 20-member CNC panel that will select the next Archbishop of Canterbury has yet to be formalised. For the first time it will include five members based in the Anglican Church abroad.

It will meet in May, July and September to "pray, reflect and nominate a candidate" and the chosen individual will require the votes of two-thirds of the 17 voting members.

The name will then be given to the prime minster who will take it to the King for approval.

Mr Welby resigned over the Church's handling of a sadistic abuser, John Smyth, who a report said had perpetrated brutal sexual, physical and mental abuse against more than 120 boys and young men since the late 1970s.

The report said Mr Welby had "personal and moral responsibility" and that he "could and should have done more" in the case.

After initially resisting calls to step down, he resigned on 12 November saying he was doing so "in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse".

But in early December, abuse victims reacted with "disgust" at a short farewell speech Mr Welby gave at the House of Lords, in which he made jokes. Mr Welby apologised the following day.

Before leaving the role he did not give a Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral and did not broadcast a New Year's Day message, as he usually would through the BBC.

Nicaragua: regime expropriates convent of Poor Clare nuns, after expelling them and expropriating also a seminary

In a new wave of repression against the Catholic Church, the Nicaraguan government has expelled approximately 30 Clarisas nuns from their convents in Managua and Chinandega, forcing them to leave with only a few belongings. 

This latest move under President Daniel Ortega’s regime deepens an already dire situation for the Church in Nicaragua, which has faced mounting persecution in recent years. 

The expulsion of the nuns comes just days after the government seized the San Luis de Gonzaga Seminary in the Diocese of Matagalpa on January 20. 

Dozens of seminarians were present at the time of the confiscation, with police ordering them to leave immediately and return home. 

The seminary, a vital institution for training future priests, served multiple dioceses, including Matagalpa and Siuna. Its forced closure signals yet another effort to dismantle Catholic institutions in the country. 

This is not an isolated incident. 

Just days before the seminary takeover, the government also seized the Pastoral Center La Cartuja in Matagalpa. 

Witnesses reported that paramilitary forces stormed the facility, forcibly removing dozens of faithful who were attending a spiritual retreat. 

The suppression of Catholic institutions has accelerated dramatically, with priests, religious orders, and even bishops becoming direct targets of Ortega’s government. Since his return to power, the Diocese of Matagalpa alone has lost over 60 percent of its clergy. 

Nationally, Nicaragua has seen a 20 percent reduction in its Catholic clergy due to arrests, expulsions, and forced exile. A Systematic Persecution Under Ortega’s rule, religious freedom has eroded, with the Catholic Church bearing the brunt of government hostility. 

Since 2022, the government has ramped up efforts to silence the Church through a series of restrictive measures, including banning public religious processions, shutting down Catholic charities and schools, and expelling missionaries and religious congregations. Catholic media outlets have also been heavily censored or outright closed. 

Perhaps the most high-profile case of persecution was that of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, who was initially sentenced to 26 years in prison for alleged treason. After serving a year behind bars, he was exiled to Rome in early 2024. 

His appointment as apostolic vicar, Father Frutos Valle, was also arrested, further highlighting the regime’s determination to crush any form of dissent within the Church. 

Meanwhile, Pope Francis has continued to offer words of support to Nicaragua’s embattled Catholic community. In a pastoral letter dated December 2, 2024, he reminded Nicaraguan Catholics: “Do not forget the loving Providence of the Lord, who accompanies us and is our only sure guide.” 

A Broader Climate of Repression The Ortega regime’s crackdown is not limited to religious institutions. 

Political dissidents, journalists, and student activists have also faced severe reprisals. 

In 2023, the government forcibly exiled 222 political prisoners, stripping them of their Nicaraguan citizenship and sending them to the United States. 

Many of them, including opposition leaders and civil society figures, now live in limbo, unable to return to their homeland. Miguel Flores, one of the exiled political prisoners, expressed the deep sense of displacement in an interview with National Catholic Reporter: 

“That was the moment we became stateless, without a country, and in the end, our freedom was not real because true freedom means being able to stay in your own country.” 

As Nicaragua tightens its grip on civil society and religious organizations, the fate of the remaining Catholic clergy and faithful in the country remains uncertain. 

The latest expulsions and property seizures suggest that Ortega’s government is determined to neutralize any institution capable of challenging its authority—no matter how deep its roots in the nation’s history and culture.

Limerick nun celebrated for opening ‘a door to life’ for underprivileged

SR MARY Carmel O’Donoghue was born on O’Connell Avenue in the city but spent time living with her grandmother on their farm where she has memories of welcoming Travellers which would greatly impact her later life.

The Phoenix Creative Psychotherapy Centre (PCPC) hosted a tribute night in the Absolute Hotel to celebrate her life to date and the amazing commitment and dedication she has contributed to the most vulnerable and marginalised in Limerick city, including members of the Traveller community. 

It was attended by Mayor John Moran, friends and family but sadly not the lady herself due to declining health.

Born in 1936, Sr Mary Carmel felt the calling during her teenage years and was greatly attracted to the work done by the Salesian Sisters. She spent her novitiate at Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire before returning to Limerick and attending Mary Immaculate College to become a national school teacher. 

Catherine Walsh, one of the organisers of the tribute night, said Sr Mary Carmel’s special love was teaching  Traveller children. 

“The Salesians had been engaged in this work since the sixties. The sisters felt at that time that it would have been difficult for many of the pupils to fit into the ordinary education system. From 1971-1976, Sr Mary Carmel led the work with the Travellers at Fernbank House in a special classes setting. 

“She trained the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children, adolescents and adults in our Limerick city community. She brought the Travellers, who in that era  were  provided with but a few halting sites by the local council, from their roadside trailers around the city and provided facilities for washing, clothing for the families,  meals and, eventually, education by providing classes at the convent,” said Ms Walsh.

Sr Mary Carmel progressed to training the young people to equip them with the  skills for adult life. She improved the provision of special classes for Traveller children from ages four to 14.

In 1976, Sr Mary Carmel left her Fernbank project in good hands under very able people and the special classes, finally recognised by the Department of Education,  became part of the Salesian Infant School.

A new chapter began in Sr Mary Carmel’s life when she founded St Martin’s Centre in 1976 in Francis Street and with the support of the St Vincent de Paul Society  devised an outline scheme to provide a centre that would help Traveller children and adolescents 

“She identified a need to provide educational and training programmes for teenagers from the economically disadvantaged and the Traveller  communities. Now , with the support of her Salesian Community, volunteers and the generosity of local business people this plan became a reality for her, in an adapted garage in Francis St, Limerick City. This premises was donated by a local businessman. Sr Mary Carmel wanted the project to develop to become ‘a door to life’ to youngsters from deprived families,” said Ms Walsh.

She said Sr Mary Carmel was a person with great vision and each time she felt she had completed her mission, she set out on another. In 1994, she decided to do an Art Psychotherapy degree because she sensed that young people's needs were not being fully met in St Martin's Centre. She sensed that their mental health and wellbeing needed more attention and support. 

On her return to Limerick, she set up the  Self Help Project which eventually became The Blue Box and served 20 Limerick city schools. In 2015, the original team, including Sr Mary Carmel, set up Phoenix Creative Psychotherapy Centre (PCPC) in order to reach people in the community rather than just through the schools. PCPC now has 10 therapists contracted to provide service to resource centres around the city.

Sr Mary Carmel, ever-resourceful, successfully applied to the JP McManus Charity Pro Am and acquired a 10 year lease on three rooms at Tait House in Southill in 2021. After overseeing the refurbishment, now aged well into her 80s, she retired from her long life of work due to declining health. 

Ms Walsh said this is merely an outline of Sr Mary Carmel’s life's mission to help and serve so many young people in our city.  

“As St John Bosco, founder of the Salesian Order, taught us ‘Education is a matter of the heart’ and Sr Mary Carmel gave her heart and soul to this belief throughout her lifetime of dedication and commitment,” concluded Ms Walsh.  

During the tribute night, songs from Compassion, The Life and Work of Sister Mary Carmel O' Donoghue, a charity album which documents the nun's life through song were played for attendees

Church scandal: Man behind cover-up was abuser

Reverend David Fletcher was the son of a peer and friend of John Smyth – the most prolific serial abuser associated with the Church of England.

Last year the Makin review declared Fletcher was “instrumental” in the Church coverup – over four decades – of Smyth’s abuse of more than a hundred boys and young men.

And now, we can reveal – David Fletcher was an abuser himself.

One of his alleged victims told Channel 4 News he needed to be “named and shamed”.

Jeni lives in Australia now, but she grew up in Hertfordshire, and met David Fletcher when she was just 13 years old. She’d been adopted as a child and formed a bond with the Reverend Fletcher and his wife, Sue. But it wasn’t long before his behaviour started to concern her.

He would try to kiss her on her lips when she was 15 or 16, and on about three occasions, she says he tried to put his tongue in her mouth.

David Fletcher’s father was a Labour peer who served in Harold Wilson’s government. His parents’ house was luxurious.

One evening in the autumn of 1980, Jeni was invited over. She says Fletcher pressured her to skinny dip. As she was swimming, she says he “put his arm out and he put his hands between my legs and…digitally penetrated me”. She told us she felt “ashamed” and “defiled”.

Jeni saw little point in reporting the incident to the police as he was a “man of the cloth” and she felt she wouldn’t be believed.

For nearly half a century, Jeni thought she was the only victim – until, when the Makin review was published late last year, two sisters from the UK – who remembered her from childhood – got in touch.

Ali and Caroline also grew up in Hertfordshire. Like Jeni, they had a difficult childhood. Their mum was unwell for years.

And – growing up in the 1970s – they came to see the Fletcher household as a refuge. But they too soon had concerns.

When Ali was 13, she says Fletcher pulled into “tight hugs” and would sit her on his lap and put his hand inside her shirt.

One time Caroline remembers Fletcher came downstairs without underpants on, she says, and declared that he had a “weeping member”.

She also says Fletcher once came to kiss her goodnight when she was eight or nine and “put his tongue into my lips”.

And Ali alleges the abuse even continued at evangelical Christian camps in Dorset, run by the Iwerne Trust, she attended in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Reverend David Fletcher had an almost mythical status there, a more significant figure than John Smyth himself.

Caroline describes him as “the conductor of the orchestra”, in charge of the whole show.

Jeni also attended the Iwerne camps and describes Fletcher there as “a bit like a spider in a web”.

They remember a culture of misogyny – with women designated “lady helpers” and made to clean the urinals and do all the domestic work.

Jeni describes the vibe as like the Stepford Wives or the Handmaid’s Tale.

The Reverend David Fletcher was one of the first to learn about John Smyth’s barbaric beatings of boys and young men – set out in unsparing detail in a secret report by the Reverend Mark Ruston. Fletcher was at the heart of the church decision to conceal the evidence for 35 years until Channel 4 News revealed the abuse eight years ago.

As the Makin review explained: Fletcher was the “one person most responsible” for not acting to stop Smyth.

Extraordinarily Ali has kept her diaries from 1982, recording her recollection of Fletcher’s role in the plan to get Smyth to leave Britain – allowing him to continue his abuse across Africa.

Jeni thinks Fletcher covered up Smyth’s abuse because otherwise his own alleged abuse would have come to light.

The sisters now want the police to investigate. Ali contacted Hampshire Police about both Fletcher and Smyth in April 2018, but says she heard nothing more. Both John Smyth and David Fletcher were alive at that point, so there was a chance for justice to be done.

Hampshire Police told us the information Ali provided was considered as part of the overall investigation into Smyth, which was dropped when he died.

Jeni describes Fletcher as “a wicked man”. But Caroline says that if she saw Fletcher now, nearly half a century on, she’d still be too scared to say anything to him. “He really scares me,” she says.

In a statement, David Fletcher’s widow, Sue, told us she is distraught by the allegations against her late husband and had no knowledge of any abuse or inappropriate behaviour,

Tonight the Church of England said that following the Makin review they had received information of sexual abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour towards women and girls concerning the Reverend David Fletcher and had reported it to the police.

When David Fletcher died three years ago, survivors of Church abuse said the truth about Smyth had died with him. By speaking out, the three women hope the same doesn’t apply to his own alleged crimes.

Church destroyed by fire needs £1m for repairs

A church described as "a pillar of the community" that was destroyed by a fire needs an additional £1m to complete repairs.

The congregation at All Saints in Christchurch, Mudeford, is raising the money to make the new building more accessible.

In July 2022, 70 firefighters were sent to tackle a blaze that was caused by an electrical issue.

Church warden Chris Green said: "It wasn't only services that were held there, during the week we had other events and groups too."

Most of the cost of the rebuild is being covered by the insurer, but the church need just over £1m to pay for the rest of the plans.

At the height of the blaze in 2022 flames could be seen coming from a church window

Nobody was injured in the fire, but as a result the roof was destroyed and the building was gutted by flames.

Reverend Kathy Hicken said she also wanted to make the building more accessible and user friendly.

"The church used to be not very accessible for people with disabilities and for prams and buggies, it was built as a 19th Century fisherman's chapel," she said.

"It's so people with disabilities can get to every part of the building very easily, the toilets are easy to use all that kind of thing.

"We really want to make it a bright and accessible space for the community to use and be welcomed in."

So far £65,000 has been raised through fundraising and donations.

The church warden, Chris Green, said she "can't wait to serve the community again".

She said: "A lot of our other events, and we did so much from the church, have all been farmed out to different places and that was a problem for us to start with because we did so many activities in the church.

"It was a case of finding places that could accommodate all these extra facilities, but they are all over the place here in Mudeford so we can't wait really to get back in to our church where we can be ourselves."

Following the incident in 2022, an outside service was held for the congregation of the All Saints church to come together.

Pope upgrades Amsterdam church to cathedral as a birthday gift

Pope Francis has upgraded the status of the large church opposite Amsterdam’s central station to that of a cathedral – as a gift to the Dutch capital on its 750th anniversary.

The move means the St Nicholas basilica is now the official seat of a bishop – the highest regional official in the Catholic church.

The bishop will be head of the Haarlem-Amsterdam diocese, given Haarlem already has the Sint Bavo cathedral and it will remain the principle seat.

St Nicholas is the patron saint of Amsterdam and work on the church was completed in 1887. 

It underwent major renovations in the 1990s.

In December 2021, the basilica received a relic of St. Nicholas from Egmond Abbey. 

Said to be a fragment of the saint’s rib, the bone has been in the custody of the abbey since 1087.