Liechtenstein halts the legalization of abortion: Prince Alois vetoes the reform approved by Parliament

The Crown Prince Alois of Liechtenstein has fulfilled his commitment to prevent the liberalization of abortion in the principality. 

Last Tuesday, October 20, he announced that he would not sanction the reform approved by Parliament on September 2, which sought to allow abortion during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. 

With this decision, the regent maintains the legal protection of the life of the unborn in one of the few European countries where abortion remains generally prohibited.

The Princely House officially confirmed the veto through a statement explaining that Alois had devoted considerable attention to the proposal in recent months, but remained convinced that the reform did not guarantee adequate protection of human life before birth.

“He remains convinced that the proposed reform is not compatible with ensuring adequate protection of unborn life as a fundamental legal value,” the statement reads.

The Crown Prince has thus exercised one of his main constitutional prerogatives, preventing a law that would have introduced abortion on demand during the first trimester of pregnancy from coming into force.

Alois fulfills what he announced in June

The decision ends several months of debate in the principality. Already in June, when the citizens’ initiative Fristenlösung began to be considered, Alois made it clear that he would not give his consent to a reform that would remove the criminal protection of the unborn during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.

Despite his warning, the promoters of the initiative managed to collect 4,970 signatures, nearly a quarter of the electorate, and brought the proposal to Parliament, where it was approved on September 2 by a narrow majority of 13 votes to 12.

The reform also included, in addition to the decriminalization of abortion during the first trimester, the removal of restrictions on the dissemination of information about the practice and its funding through health insurance.

Parliament also rejected a proposal to submit the reform to a referendum, so its entry into force remained pending the Crown Prince’s sanction. Alois has now made effective the warning he had issued even before the collection of signatures began.

The Church of Liechtenstein defended the dignity of the unborn

The Catholic Church also intervened during the processing of the reform. The apostolic administrator of Vaduz, Benno Elbs, issued a statement on August 21 in which he recalled that human dignity does not depend on the stage of development of the person or the circumstances of their conception.

“The unborn possess an intrinsic and inalienable dignity from the beginning and therefore deserve the same protection granted to all human life,” the bishop stated.

Elbs insisted that the defense of the unborn child must be accompanied by concrete measures of support for mothers and families, especially when they face difficult situations.

The apostolic administrator also drew attention to a contradiction in the political debate in the principality: Liechtenstein has for years lacked a hospital maternity unit, so women must travel to neighboring countries to give birth, while the possibility of facilitating abortion within its borders was being discussed.

“I am concerned that, on the one hand, women seek hospital care for maternity in neighboring countries, while, on the other, the possibility of creating the conditions for the termination of pregnancy at the national level is being discussed. It seems to me that something is not working,” he noted.

Elbs called for building a society in which every child is welcomed and in which women and families receive the necessary help to face a pregnancy under difficult circumstances.

Protecting life and supporting pregnant women

Prince Alois has defended a similar position in his October 20 statement. Although he has rejected the legalization of abortion during the first trimester, he has expressed support for improving information, counseling, and support services for women before, during, and after pregnancy.

He has also expressed his willingness to consider lifting the ban on advertising related to abortion, an issue that is part of the legislative debate in the principality.

“I am convinced that many people share the goal of offering the best possible support to women in difficult situations and, at the same time, protecting unborn life,” he stated.

The Prince’s decision thus maintains his opposition to the general decriminalization of abortion, while leaving open the possibility of introducing changes in measures to assist pregnant women.

A Catholic prince who retains the right of veto

Liechtenstein is a constitutional monarchy in which the prince retains significant political powers, including the authority to withhold sanction from laws passed by Parliament.

Alois has exercised the functions of head of state since 2004, when his father, Hans-Adam II, delegated the exercise of his powers to him. Although he had previously announced his willingness to veto abortion reforms, he had not until now used this prerogative to block a law.

The most important precedent dates back to 2011, when another initiative to liberalize abortion was rejected in a referendum by 52.3% of voters. At that time, the prince had also warned that he would not sanction a reform contrary to the protection of life.

A year later, in 2012, citizens were again called to the polls, this time to decide whether the prince’s veto powers should be limited. Approximately 70% voted in favor of maintaining the current constitutional system.

The principality, located between Switzerland and Austria, has about 41,000 inhabitants and retains a marked Catholic identity. Nearly 70% of the population professes this religion, which maintains its constitutional recognition as the religion of the state.

Liechtenstein maintains legal protection of the unborn

Liechtenstein’s legislation continues to criminalize abortion in general, although it provides for exceptions in certain situations, such as a serious danger to the life or health of the mother, pregnancies resulting from sexual crimes, or when the pregnant woman was under 14 years of age at the time of conception.

The regulations also maintain restrictions on the promotion of abortion. Until 2015, women could be penalized for traveling abroad to have an abortion, a prohibition that was later removed.

According to estimates by the Swiss public broadcaster SRF, around 40 women residing in Liechtenstein travel each year to Austria or Switzerland to have an abortion, countries where legislation allows the practice during the first months of pregnancy.

Alois’s decision comes in a European context marked by successive initiatives to expand access to abortion. Recently, Spain and eleven other European countries signed a declaration calling for laws to facilitate the practice and advance its decriminalization.

In contrast to this trend, Liechtenstein maintains its current legislation after the Crown Prince exercised his constitutional authority to prevent the entry into force of a reform he considered incompatible with the protection of the life of the unborn.

Munilla takes advantage of the riots in France to denounce Trump's "hunt for Hispanics"

José Ignacio Munilla dedicated this Friday’s program Sexto Continente on Radio María to interpreting the present moment, which this week consists of half of Europe in flames. 

The bishop of Orihuela-Alicante crafted for the occasion a textbook reflection: Saint Augustine and the two cities, personal conversion as a condition for any social reform, and a warning against ideologies that always place evil in one’s neighbor. Half an hour later, without letting go of the microphone, he had placed his own in Washington.

The opening deserves no reproach. Munilla contrasted the France that two weeks earlier had gathered around the Pope with the one now looting stores, and reproached those who manipulate youth for never finding reason to examine themselves. «There is always a culprit to point to, an enemy to fight,» he summarized. 

He even allowed himself an uncomfortable question for Macron, who condemns today’s violence while continuing to present the Revolution, guillotine included, as an emancipatory myth. Blowing and sucking at the same time, he concluded, cannot be done.

The stumble came with immigration, the fourth of the six causes the bishop listed to explain the riots. Before getting into the data, Munilla paused on Donald Trump, who has indeed turned France into an argument: on Monday he wrote on Truth Social that migrants have taken over the country and that borders must be closed, and before Vatican journalists he predicted that Paris will very soon be a Muslim city. 

For Munilla, the explanation is electoral. Trump has elections in November and the Hispanic vote is turning against him because of what the bishop called «the hunt for Hispanics in irregular situations,» a persecution he described as «so cruel.» He needs the fires in Paris, he concluded, «to whitewash yourself.» The electoral reading is not far-fetched and has also been made by a good part of the American press. What is striking is what came next.

To dismantle what Trump claims about France, Munilla began by admitting that in France no data has been provided on how many of those detained are foreigners. So he went to Italy. There, he said, Giorgia Meloni has come to point out that half of those detained may be foreigners or descendants of foreigners already born in Italy. From that figure he extracted, without transition, that more than half of those who participated in the Italian riots are «Italians from Italy.» The math doesn’t add up. From half one does not deduce more than half, and those detained are not the participants. 

But the underlying problem is another: foreign residents make up around 9% of the Italian population according to Istat, and naturalized descendants do not bring that proportion close to half. If the figure the bishop attributes to Meloni is correct, what it shows is a very notable overrepresentation of the population of immigrant origin among those detained. Munilla used it as proof of the opposite, to refute a claim about the only country for which he acknowledges having no data.

Three minutes later, when he reached polarization, Munilla described the phenomenon with precision: political leaders who take advantage of the riots to proclaim that they prove them right, each side presenting events as confirmation of their theses. It is an accurate description of what he had just done. The fires in Paris confirmed Trump according to Trump, and confirmed to Munilla that Trump manipulates according to Munilla.

The program also included a warning about decontextualized videos and those generated by artificial intelligence that fuel outrage on social media. It is terrain the bishop knows firsthand. 

In December 2025 he had to publicly correct himself and apologize for having spread a video with images of arrests of Hispanic immigrants in the United States generated by artificial intelligence. The issue, then as now, was the hunt for Hispanics.

Munilla closed the analysis by attributing the ultimate root of the riots to the devil, capable of twisting any claim of justice until it becomes indistinguishable from injustice. It is probably his most solid diagnosis of the day. 

What it does not explain is why, in a program dedicated to examining one’s own conscience before seeking culprits outside, the only proper name that deserved the qualifier of cruel was that of an American president who has nothing to do with the looting in Milan or Paris. He reminded Macron that one cannot blow and suck at the same time. The advice admitted a second recipient.

Mons. Mutsaerts warns against an ecumenism that sets aside the real presence of Christ

Auxiliary Bishop of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), Rob Mutsaerts, has warned against a conception of ecumenism that seeks to overcome the differences between Catholics and Protestants without taking into account the doctrine on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. 

In a reflection published on his personal blog, the prelate maintains that unity among Christians cannot be built by setting aside the truths of faith that still separate them and recalls that Eucharistic communion expresses a doctrinal unity that must exist beforehand.

“The solution to the division between Catholics and Protestants does not consist in now inviting each other everywhere and kindly sweeping the differences under the rug. That is not ecumenism. It is theological indifference accompanied by a kind gesture,” Mutsaerts states in his article, titled Bread for the Birds?.

The reflection responds to the complaints of some Protestants about not being able to receive communion in Catholic churches, reported on October 20 by the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad. The bishop considers their discomfort understandable, but warns that it stems from a fundamental misunderstanding: “The question is not who can sit at the table, but what is on the table.”

The Eucharist is not a mere commemoration

Mutsaerts explains that, for many Protestants, the Lord’s Supper is primarily a commemoration of the Last Supper, of Christ’s death, and of the communion among believers. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, teaches that the Eucharist is the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and that in the Holy Mass his sacrifice on the cross is sacramentally made present.

“The Catholic Church does not believe that the Eucharist is a meal in the form of a sacrifice, but that it is a sacrifice in the form of a meal,” the bishop writes. A distinction that may seem subtle, but which, he points out, represents “a world of difference.”

To support this teaching, he recalls Christ’s words during the Last Supper: “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.” Jesus did not present the bread and wine as mere symbols, but affirmed their identity with his Body and his Blood.

The prelate also dwells on the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Saint John, when Christ declares that his flesh is true food and his blood true drink. At these words, several disciples are scandalized and leave Jesus, who neither softens his statement nor presents it as a metaphor.

“An excellent moment, one might think, to clear up the misunderstanding. To say: ‘Friends, of course you must not take it so literally. It is only a figure of speech.’ But Jesus does nothing of the sort,” Mutsaerts observes, recalling that Christ asks the Twelve if they also wish to leave.

A doctrine present from the earliest centuries

The bishop likewise rejects the claim that belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist arose several centuries after the apostles, as the result of later theological elaboration.

To this end, he cites Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who at the beginning of the second century denounced those who abstained from the Eucharist because they did not recognize that it was the flesh of Jesus Christ. He also recalls the testimony of Saint Justin Martyr, who around the middle of the same century explained that Christians did not receive the Eucharistic gifts as ordinary bread and drink, but as the flesh and blood of the incarnate Word.

“Anyone who claims that faith in the real presence did not arise until centuries later must have a particularly selective interest in the early Christians,” he maintains.

Mutsaerts acknowledges that theological formulation developed over time and that the term transubstantiation later acquired its doctrinal precision. Nevertheless, he insists that this development did not involve the emergence of a new belief, but rather the more precise expression of a faith present from the origins of Christianity.

Communion cannot anticipate a unity that does not yet exist

The core of Mutsaerts’ reflection lies in the relationship between the Eucharist and the unity of the Church. The prelate responds to the argument that the Catholic Church lacks an ecumenical spirit because it does not ordinarily allow Protestants to receive communion, whereas certain Protestant communities do admit Catholics to their Lord’s Supper.

In his view, hospitality cannot become an excuse for ignoring fundamental doctrinal differences. Each community acts according to what it believes happens during its celebration.

“When a Protestant invites a Catholic to the Lord’s Supper, he does so from his own conception of what takes place there. When a Catholic does not simply admit a Protestant to communion, he also does so from his faith in what takes place there,” he explains.

He further recalls that, according to Catholic doctrine, the Eucharist is not merely a personal encounter with Christ, but also the sacrament of the Church’s unity. Whoever receives communion expresses adherence not only to Christ, but also to the faith of the Church that celebrates the sacrament.

“It is hardly possible to express sacramentally a unity that does not yet exist in essential points of faith,” he states.

Although he acknowledges that Catholic discipline provides for exceptions in certain circumstances, he insists that communion cannot be used to erase the doctrinal differences that still separate Catholics and Protestants.

“Communion is not the means by which existing differences of faith are simply erased. It is the fullest expression of a unity in faith that must truly be present. It is not a lack of love. It is a matter of truth,” he emphasizes.

“The Mass is Calvary sacramentally present among us”

Mutsaerts also devotes part of his reflection to recalling the sacrificial character of the Holy Mass. Against an interpretation that reduces the Eucharist to a communal commemoration, he explains that in it the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross is sacramentally made present.

“Jesus is not crucified again. His sacrifice is not repeated. It is the same sacrifice, the same High Priest, the same sacrificial Lamb, but made present in an unbloody manner,” he writes.

For this reason, he maintains that the Mass cannot be understood as a religious gathering that concludes with a symbolic gesture of sharing bread and wine.

“The Mass is Calvary sacramentally present among us,” he affirms, and recalls that at the center of a Catholic church stands an altar, not a simple dining table. In this context, he also defends the practice of the priest and the faithful preferably facing the same direction during the liturgical celebration.

The bishop insists that true unity among Christians cannot be achieved through concessions that relativize Eucharistic doctrine. “True unity does not arise from putting the truth in parentheses, but from seeking it together,” he states.

“The tabernacle is not a breadbox”

To illustrate the importance of these differences, Mutsaerts recalls that, in the Catholic Church, consecrated hosts that are not consumed during Mass are reverently reserved in the tabernacle because Christ remains truly present under the sacramental species.

Hence the genuflection before the tabernacle and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, practices that respond directly to faith in the real presence of Christ.

In Protestant communities that interpret the Lord’s Supper in an exclusively symbolic manner, he explains, the bread left over after the celebration remains ordinary bread and may receive different treatment, even being given to feed the birds.

For the bishop, this difference helps to understand why the Catholic Church cannot treat communion as a mere expression of ecumenical courtesy.

“The Catholic Church does not deny communion because it does not wish to share Christ with its Protestant brothers and sisters. On the contrary. It takes Christ so seriously that it cannot pretend that his real presence, his sacrifice, and his Church are secondary matters,” he writes.

Mutsaerts concludes by posing the question that, in his view, determines the entire controversy: “Is it bread that points to Christ? Or is it Christ himself under the appearance of bread?”

“If the former is true, one can speak of a table open to all. But if the latter is true, everything changes. Then we are no longer speaking of hospitality, but of adoration.”

And he concludes: “The tabernacle is not a breadbox. And the consecrated host, certainly, is not food for the birds either.”

Seville Missions delegate resigns after being accused of abusing a minor in Peru

Priest Eduardo Martín Clemens, until now parish priest of Santa Cruz and episcopal delegate for Missions of the Archdiocese of Seville, has resigned from his pastoral responsibilities after a Peruvian man accused him of having sexually abused him in 1998, when he was 14 years old. 

The priest, aged 80, categorically denies the facts and maintains that he is being subjected to financial blackmail by the complainant, whom he acknowledges having given approximately 80,000 euros over the past few years.

The accusation was published by El País, which gathered the complainant’s testimony and examined documentation relating to the money transfers. 

According to his account, the alleged abuses occurred in Trujillo (Peru), where Martín Clemens carried out part of his missionary work. The man filed a complaint with the Archdiocese of Seville last August.

The priest denies the abuses and claims he has been blackmailed

After the accusations became known, Martín Clemens issued a statement rejecting having committed any sexual conduct against the complainant.

«I must clarify that I have not committed any aggression, nor violence, and of course no type of harassment,» the priest stated, who said he received the accusations «with pain and bewilderment.»

The religious acknowledges that he maintained a relationship of financial assistance with the complainant, but denies that the payments were intended to buy his silence. According to his version, the man requested money from him on numerous occasions to meet family needs and he agreed to help him for years.

«The person accusing me has requested large amounts of money from me on many occasions over the last decade, always as family assistance. When I could no longer continue helping, he began blackmail with his threat to inform the religious authorities to obtain financial benefit,» he maintains in the statement.

Martín Clemens states that the Archdiocese of Seville is aware of the situation and expresses his willingness to cooperate in clarifying the facts.

More than 80,000 euros in transfers

The complainant, identified by his initials L. B. and currently 43 years old, maintains that he met the priest when he was a teenager in Peru. According to his testimony, Martín Clemens convinced him to travel from Chimbote to Trujillo, where he claims he suffered the abuses.

The man states that the payments received over the past few years were related to what happened and that the priest intended to prevent him from making the facts public. As support for his account, he has provided receipts for transfers and postal money orders.

The documentation examined by El País includes 56 transactions carried out through Western Union, in addition to other bank transfers. The priest himself acknowledges having given an amount exceeding 80,000 euros, although he insists that it was financial assistance to a person in need.

The versions of both parties therefore differ, both regarding the alleged abuses and the purpose of the transfers.

Resignation as parish priest and delegate for Missions

Martín Clemens has also confirmed that he has left his responsibilities as parish priest of Santa Cruz and episcopal delegate for Missions of Seville, although he disassociates this decision from the accusations.

According to his explanation, he had requested his relief from the archbishop upon reaching the retirement age established for parish priests and due to the deterioration of his health, especially during the last few months.

«Upon turning 75 and, especially, this summer due to the deterioration of my health, I submitted my resignation,» he states in his communiqué.

The priest assures that the resignation has taken effect this week and that he will not make any further statements so as not to hinder the corresponding procedure.

A long missionary career in Peru

Eduardo Martín Clemens was ordained a priest in 1975 and celebrated his fifty years of priestly ministry last December. During his career he has held various responsibilities in the Archdiocese of Seville, including those of parish priest, vice-rector of the seminary, and delegate for Youth Ministry.

In 1992 he moved to Peru, where he developed intense missionary activity and served as rector of the Major Seminary of San Marcelo in Trujillo.

During his stay in the country, he coincided with Robert Francis Prevost, current Pope Leo XIV, who was then carrying out his ministry as an Augustinian religious and missionary in Peru.

After returning to Spain, Martín Clemens assumed new pastoral responsibilities, including the direction of diocesan missionary activity. In 2013 he was appointed canon of Seville Cathedral and subsequently served as parish priest of Santa Cruz.

The priest has announced that he will remain at the disposal of ecclesiastical authorities for the clarification of the accusations, while the complainant demands that the facts he claims to have suffered when he was a minor be investigated.

Tabernacle stolen from a parish in Parla with 30 consecrated hosts

The Diocese of Getafe has reported the theft of a tabernacle containing around 30 consecrated hosts from the chapel of the parish center of Our Lady of the Assumption in Parla (Madrid). 

The incident took place on Wednesday, October 21, during children’s catechesis sessions, without any of the people present noticing the theft.

Inside the tabernacle was a ciborium holding about 30 small hosts and one large host intended for the Nocturnal Adoration celebrated by the parish community on the third Friday of each month. 

The perpetrators took the entire tabernacle, located in a chapel of the parish center, about 150 meters from the main church.

The tabernacle disappeared during catechesis

The theft occurred between the first and second catechesis shifts. Several people were present in the parish facilities, including catechists, mothers of the children, and the parochial vicar, Andrés Klonowski, who was working in his office.

However, no one witnessed the theft. The pastor, Orlando Mateos, discovered the disappearance when the second group of children arrived at the chapel to pray.

“Between the first and second group of children, when the second group arrived for prayer, the tabernacle had already disappeared, but no one saw anything, no one knows anything,” the priest explained in statements released by the diocese.

After confirming what had happened, Mateos searched the surroundings of the parish center in case the perpetrators had abandoned the tabernacle nearby.

“I checked all the trash bins to see if they had left it somewhere, or the empty lots—there are many vacant lots in the old part of Parla—but we found nothing,” he recounted.

The parish has filed a report with the National Police, who are investigating the incident. The disappearance has caused deep shock among the faithful, especially due to the presence of the consecrated hosts inside the tabernacle.

The parish fears possible sacrilegious use

The proximity of Halloween, celebrated on October 31, has led the pastor to suggest the possibility that the theft may be linked to satanic practices.

Mateos acknowledges this is a suspicion rather than a confirmed hypothesis, though he believes the timing “makes one think it could be related to something satanic.”

The main concern of the parish community is the fate of the consecrated hosts, whose theft constitutes a grave offense to Catholics, who recognize the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

The Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience (OLRC) has also expressed concern over the incident. Its president, María García, has called for the case not to be treated as a simple theft and has recalled the religious significance of the tabernacle and the Eucharistic species it contains.

The association has also warned of the risk that the consecrated hosts could be used in sacrilegious acts and has recommended that parishes increase vigilance during this period.

So far, neither the motive for the theft nor the whereabouts of the tabernacle have been confirmed.

Other thefts and desecrations of tabernacles

According to the records of the Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience, the Parla case is the seventh episode of tabernacle desecration recorded in Spain during 2026.

The association has registered four cases in Galicia, two in Madrid, and one in Barcelona, the latter coinciding with the arrival of Pope Leo XIV in the city during his apostolic journey to Spain in June.

Among recent incidents is the desecration of the tabernacle at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Guitiriz, Lugo, which occurred in September, when the consecrated hosts were stolen and scattered across the square near the church.

The Canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law establishes the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae, reserved to the Apostolic See, for anyone who desecrates the consecrated species or steals or retains them for a sacrilegious purpose.

While the police investigation continues, the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption hopes to recover the tabernacle and, especially, the consecrated hosts it contained.

New testimonies about the possible Eucharistic manifestation in Guatemala, three months after the event

The possible Eucharistic manifestation that occurred on July 30 in Cuilapa, Guatemala, has once again sparked interest nearly three months after the events. 

The program Primer Impacto, from the U.S. network Univisión, aired a report on October 21 featuring new testimonies from the priests and faithful who were familiar with the case of a consecrated host that, after being placed in water, did not dissolve and showed reddish stains. 

The pastor of the El Niño Dios Cathedral has explained that the Host must undergo scientific studies to determine the nature of the substance.

The report includes statements from Father José Alejandro García, who confirmed that the case is pending the corresponding analyses. “Here I believe we are focusing our attention on the host, which has a reddish substance, and science will take care of it, because now a process of study is coming,” the priest stated, explaining that the tests could last several months.

The television report also notes that the reddish coloration remained visible more than a month after its appearance, a circumstance that has drawn the attention of numerous faithful. So far, no scientific results have been released that would identify the substance or establish its origin.

A host that did not dissolve and showed reddish stains

The events date back to July 30, during the Missionary Eucharistic Week organized by the El Niño Dios Cathedral parish, belonging to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima.

During a Mass celebrated at a private school in Cuilapa, a teenager received Holy Communion, but the priest noticed that he was trying to remove the Host from his mouth. The celebrant quickly approached and managed to prevent him from throwing it to the ground.

Following the procedures established for such cases, the priest placed the consecrated host in a glass container with water in the chapel of the parish house so that it would dissolve.

A week later, on August 6, a collaborator cleaning the chapel observed that the Host had not dissolved and showed reddish stains that, according to the parish statement, “could be blood.”

The collaborator immediately notified a deacon and a priest, who were also able to confirm the presence of those stains. Subsequently, the pastor recorded their testimony and documented what had happened.

In the following days, a deacon, a priest, and three laypeople personally observed the Host. On August 15, the pastor showed photographs to the Bishop of Santa Rosa de Lima, Monsignor José Cayetano Parra Novo, to inform him of the event.

“Now a process of study is coming”

In a report aired by Primer Impacto, the parish priests explain how they learned of the discovery and the actions taken after the reddish stains appeared.

Father José Alejandro García stated that scientific analyses will be necessary to clarify the nature of the substance. According to him, the studies must determine, among other things, whether it is human blood.

“A series of tests will be conducted. It will take time. Although science is quite advanced, it could take months,” he indicated.

The investigation must provide elements for the ecclesiastical discernment of what occurred, without any pronouncement so far recognizing the supernatural character of the phenomenon.

The report also includes the testimony of the parish collaborator who discovered the stains and that of several faithful who have closely followed the case.

One of the testimonies expresses the emotion the discovery has caused among Catholics in Cuilapa: “It’s something that makes you want to cry. It makes you want to tell people: ‘It’s Jesus, it’s Jesus.’”

Those interviewed also noted that the event has sparked greater interest in prayer and the sacramental life of the parish.

The parish keeps the Host under custody

On August 22, the El Niño Dios parish released an official statement titled “Possible Eucharistic Manifestation,” in which it explained the events and asked the faithful to act with prudence while discernment takes place.

“It is necessary to remember that the Church asks that the event be judged with prudence and moderation,” the document stated.

The parish leaders recalled that throughout its history the Church has known testimonies of extraordinary phenomena related to the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, but that these events require careful examination.

“These cases have not been at all common or easy to discern, so they cannot be called miracles until an entire investigation that must be carried out is concluded and will take time,” the statement added.

The parish then reported that the Host had been reserved in a special place and would not be publicly exposed. It also specified that it would be up to the diocesan bishop to give the necessary instructions for its study.

In the new statements broadcast by Univisión, it is indicated that the Host will remain in the custody of the parish until the scientific investigation begins.

“Jesus is alive in the Eucharist; it is not something, it is Someone”

Since the events became known, the leaders of Cuilapa Cathedral have insisted that the occurrence should above all be an occasion to renew faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

In its August statement, the parish recalled that the greatest Eucharistic miracle occurs at every Mass, when the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ.

“This event should motivate Catholics to renew our faith and devotion in the greatest miracle: the real presence of Jesus Christ in every celebration of the Holy Mass,” the text stated.

The priests also invited the faithful to make reparation for offenses against the Blessed Sacrament, to participate more devoutly in the Eucharistic celebration, and to frequent the sacrament of Confession.

“May today be the moment to make reparation for all the offenses Jesus receives in this Sacrament of Love, an invitation to live the Holy Mass attentively and devoutly, and an offering to frequent Confession. Let us not forget that Jesus is alive in the Eucharist; it is not something, it is Someone,” the parish statement concluded.

From Dick Durbin to Michael Sacks: Cupich will recognize an abortion-funding donor at a gala for future priests

Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, will participate on October 29 in a gala at which the archdiocese will present the Nostra Aetate award to businessman Michael J. Sacks, president and chief executive officer of GCM Grosvenor, who has donated $600,000 to fund initiatives aimed at facilitating access to abortion in Illinois.

The recognition will take place during the annual Seminary Salutes Rerum Novarum gala, organized by Mundelein Seminary, part of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, with the goal of raising funds for the formation of future priests. 

According to the official program of the event, Cupich and the seminary rector, John Kartje, will lead the ceremony, which will be held at the facilities of the IBEW Local 134 union in Chicago.

A businessman who funds access to abortion

Michael J. Sacks is an American billionaire with a distinguished career in the financial sector and close ties to the Democratic Party. In addition to leading GCM Grosvenor, he has participated in numerous business, political, and philanthropic initiatives in Chicago.

On September 29, Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Sacks had contributed $600,000 to an initiative aimed at strengthening the infrastructure for access to abortion in Illinois and offsetting federal cuts to funding for so-called reproductive health services.

Among the organizations benefiting from these initiatives are Planned Parenthood of Illinois and Chicago Abortion Fund, entities dedicated to facilitating access to abortion. The Prairie State Access Fund, launched with the participation of the Michael Reese Health Trust, announced in March of this year the distribution of its first million dollars in grants.

Despite these antecedents, Sacks is among the honorees of the Nostra Aetate award from the Archdiocese of Chicago, a distinction that will be presented during an evening dedicated precisely to supporting the formation of the diocese’s future priests.

The guidelines of the U.S. bishops

The archdiocese’s decision once again raises the guidelines approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2004 regarding awards granted by Catholic institutions.

In the document Catholics in Political Life, the bishops established that “the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who take actions that contradict our fundamental moral principles,” nor grant them awards or distinctions that could be interpreted as an endorsement of their actions.

The Church’s teaching on abortion is unequivocal. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in number 2271, recalls that “since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion” and that this teaching “has not changed and remains unchangeable.”

The precedent of Dick Durbin

The awarding of the prize to Sacks comes a little over a year after another controversy involving Cardinal Cupich, when the Archdiocese of Chicago announced its intention to honor Democratic Senator Dick Durbin for his work on behalf of immigrants, despite his long-standing record of support for abortion.

The decision sparked a wave of criticism among U.S. bishops. Thomas Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield, in whose diocese Durbin was barred from receiving Communion, publicly questioned the recognition. His criticisms were joined by Archbishops and Bishops Salvatore Cordileone, James Conley, and David Ricken, who urged Cupich to reconsider his decision.

The Archbishop of Chicago, however, defended the tribute to the senator and maintained that his record should also be valued for his work on behalf of immigrants. The controversy once again highlighted the close relationship between Cupich and Durbin, maintained for years in the political and institutional sphere of Illinois.

Ultimately, Durbin declined the award amid the controversy. The episode also reached the Vatican, where Leo XIV was asked by the press about the recognition. The Pontiff noted that the entirety of a politician’s record should be considered and recalled that the defense of life also encompasses other issues, such as the death penalty and the treatment of immigrants.

Now, a year after this controversy, the archdiocese is once again granting recognition to a figure linked to the promotion of abortion, this time during a gala intended to finance the formation of future priests.

Michael Sacks’s political ties

Sacks also maintains a long-standing relationship with prominent figures in the U.S. Democratic Party. He is part of former President Barack Obama’s political circle and has been linked to the Obama Foundation since its inception.

In 2012, together with his wife, he participated in raising more than $200,000 for Obama’s re-election campaign. He also chaired the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago in 2024 and served on the economic council of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel from 2011 to 2019.

His relationship with Cardinal Cupich’s circle dates back at least to 2016, when he traveled to Rome as part of a Chicago delegation that attended the ceremony in which Pope Francis elevated Cupich to the cardinalate.

Ten years after that meeting, Sacks will receive recognition from the Archdiocese of Chicago during a gala dedicated to financing priestly formation, despite his financial contribution to initiatives that facilitate abortion.

Armenia closes the civil case against Karekin II and revokes the measures

The Court of First Instance of Armavir, in Armenia, dismissed on October 21 the civil case concerning the removal of Arman (Gevorg) Saroyan, former bishop of Masyatsotn, and revoked the precautionary measures issued on January 16, whose alleged non-compliance gave rise to the criminal proceedings against Catholicos Karekin II, primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and six other prelates, according to Korazym.

Saroyan had sued the Church following the decree of January 10, 2026, by which Karekin II removed him from his position. He requested the annulment of the decision and his reinstatement, alleging lack of reasoning and procedural guarantees. 

For its part, the Holy See of Etchmiadzin maintained that the civil courts lacked jurisdiction to resolve the dispute, since the appointment and removal of diocesan officials are governed by the Church’s internal canon law.

According to Korazym, Judge Edgar Hovhannisyan concluded that no employment relationship between Saroyan and the Church had been proven. Neither the payment records nor the documentation submitted demonstrated the existence of an employment contract.

Therefore, the court considered that the matter fell outside civil jurisdiction and dismissed the case without ruling on whether the removal was justified. The decision may be appealed before the Civil Court of Appeal within one month of its publication.

The precautionary measures that gave rise to the criminal case

The precautionary measures issued on January 16 ordered the ecclesiastical hierarchy not to obstruct Saroyan’s exercise of his functions, including the management of diocesan finances, while the dispute was resolved.

The alleged non-compliance with that court order constitutes the basis of the criminal case opened against Karekin II and six members of the Supreme Spiritual Council: Archbishops Nathan Hovhannisyan and Haigazun Najarian, and Bishops Moushegh Babayan, Hovnan Hakobyan, Makar Hakobyan, and Vahan Hovhanessian.

All seven are accused of obstructing the enforcement of a judicial decision by using the prerogatives of their ecclesiastical offices.

Following the recusal of Judge Hakob Manukyan, the criminal proceedings were transferred from Armavir to Yerevan, where they were assigned to Judge Vahagn Melikyan.

The defense has requested the dismissal of the case, arguing that the facts do not constitute a crime and that decisions regarding the appointment and removal of bishops fall under ecclesiastical authority.

The Armavir ruling provides a new element for that request, although the dismissal of the civil case does not automatically extinguish the criminal proceedings.

The next hearing is scheduled for October 30, when the court will examine the preliminary issues raised by the defense in light of the new judicial decision.

Etchmiadzin’s lawyer, Ara Zohrabyan, stated, according to Korazym, that the ruling confirms the ecclesiastical nature of the conflict and the lack of jurisdiction of civil courts to intervene in this type of decisions.

The confrontation between the Government and the Church

The case against Karekin II is unfolding amid the growing confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Government and the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In February, the Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against the Catholicos and prohibited him from leaving the country. In August, Karekin II appeared before the courts alongside the six accused prelates, in proceedings that carry possible penalties of up to two years in prison.

That same month, the Executive included in its program for the 2026-2031 period the removal of Karekin II, the appointment of an interim ecclesiastical authority, and the subsequent election of a new Catholicos.

According to Korazym, on October 9 the Constitutional Court declined to rule on the merits of an appeal filed by the opposition against those provisions, considering them political statements without legal effects of their own.

The National Assembly also established an investigative commission on the Armenian Apostolic Church, without the participation of the opposition, which has questioned the legitimacy of this initiative.

Young Spanish women are once again wearing medals of the Virgin and rosaries

The medals of the Virgin and rosaries are sparking interest among young Spanish women, even among daughters of families far removed from religion. This is how journalist Nuria Labari describes it in an article published in El País under the title “Mom, I’m a rebel: buy me a virgin,” in which she portrays the surprise of some agnostic and atheist parents at their daughters’ interest in symbols of the Catholic tradition.

Labari links this phenomenon to the so-called catholic-core, an aesthetic trend that has incorporated Marian medals, crucifixes, and rosaries as fashion accessories. As the journalist points out, “you don’t have to be Catholic to wear a virgin.”

The article describes the bewilderment of mothers and fathers who discover how their daughters are drawn to religious symbols that they themselves had left behind. The situation reverses the traditional idea of youthful rebellion: if for decades rebelling against parents could mean abandoning religion, now, in certain circles, it may consist precisely in approaching it.

Labari even raises the concern that could arise in these families over the possibility that interest in the Virgin Mary might eventually lead their daughters to embrace values such as chastity or purity, traditionally associated with Catholic morality.

Increase in Catholic identification among young Spaniards

The journalist cites data from the report Young Spaniards 2026 by the SM Foundation, which shows a 13.4 percentage point increase in Catholic identification among young Spaniards between 2020 and 2025.

According to the study, the percentage of young people aged 15 to 29 who consider themselves Catholic, including non-practicing ones, rose from 31.6% in 2020 to 45% in 2025. In addition, 38.4% believe that religion has quite a lot or a great deal of importance in their lives, the highest percentage recorded in the report’s historical series.

These figures add to other studies that have detected a rebound in religious practice among young Spanish Catholics. One of them indicated that 34.6% of Catholics aged 18 to 24 consider themselves practicing, a proportion higher than that recorded in several adult generations, although young people continue to be the group with the highest presence of non-religious individuals.

The SM Foundation report also shows that the increase in Catholic identification coexists with beliefs from different spiritual traditions, so it cannot be directly equated with an increase in religious practice or adherence to Church doctrine.

Fashion or the beginning of a spiritual search?

Gaudium Press has echoed Labari’s article and raises the question of whether interest in Marian medals and rosaries is solely a fashion trend or could mark the beginning of a spiritual search.

The publication notes that wearing these symbols does not by itself demonstrate a religious conversion, but neither does it rule out the possibility that some young women may find in them a first approach to the Catholic faith.

Regarding the concern Labari attributes to certain parents about values such as chastity or purity, the Christian tradition presents the Virgin Mary as a woman who freely responds to God’s call. It also emphasizes that chastity is not a virtue reserved for women, but a moral requirement that the Church proposes to both men and women.

Beyond the aesthetic component, Labari links interest in these symbols to the need of new generations to find spaces for personal search. The journalist wonders what is left for young women when role models and places to develop that intimate longing fail.

Her response, with which the article concludes, summarizes the paradox of this new form of rebellion: “Perhaps the Virgin. Or the revolution.”

The patriarchs of Jerusalem denounce the "impunity" of the settlers after the attack on Taybeh

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem have condemned the attack that a group of masked Israeli settlers launched on Saturday, October 17, against Taybeh, the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank, during the olive harvest. 

Among those affected were local residents gathering their harvest and a European delegation that had traveled there as a sign of solidarity, including diplomats from France, Belgium, and Poland, as well as local French authorities.

In their statement, released on Monday, October 19, the Christian leaders described the incident as an «atrocious attack» and warned that it is not an isolated event, but rather a situation of «large-scale terror» carried out by settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

Among those assaulted was the mayor of the French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries, Bernard Baudoux, who told the Reuters agency that he was violently attacked and knocked to the ground. «I am in a state of shock; they beat me up,» he told France 3.

According to reports on the incident, the 78-year-old mayor was struck with metal bars while the attackers pursued the group on quad bikes. 

During the assault, a window of the Belgian consul general’s vehicle was also broken. Among the delegation members was the Archbishop of Cambrai, Vincent Dollmann, who also reportedly received threats.

The patriarchs reject a religious ruling on Palestinian lands

The statement from the Churches of Jerusalem also refers to a ruling by Israeli rabbi Dov Lior, one of the best-known figures in religious Zionism, who on October 16 issued a ruling allowing Jews to harvest olives from Palestinian properties.

According to statements reported by OSV News, the rabbi justified this practice as a way of publicly asserting Jewish ownership of the land.

The patriarchs rejected this position, describing it as unfounded, troubling, dangerous, and «absolutely unacceptable.» They also expressed gratitude for the criticism voiced by other rabbis and Jewish representatives against the ruling.

According to The Times of Israel, Israeli police are investigating a complaint filed against Lior by the organization Rabbis for Human Rights.

Christian leaders denounce the impunity of the attackers

Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the attacks the same Saturday in a message posted on social media platform X, describing the violence as scandalous and shocking. Herzog specifically mentioned the events in Taybeh and called for an investigation to bring those responsible to justice.

Following the incidents, Israeli police carried out several arrests related to the attacks on the European delegation and the American photojournalist. Reports indicate that ten settlers were detained.

The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem thanked the Israeli president’s condemnation but insisted on the need for authorities to take effective measures to prevent further attacks.

«These attacks continue due to the impunity enjoyed by those who commit them,» they stated in their declaration, calling for serious and consistent enforcement of the law.

They also urged the international community to intensify its efforts to protect the residents of Taybeh and other communities in the West Bank, as well as those who visit to express solidarity.

The Christian leaders reiterated their support for the local parishes and their commitment to preserving the Christian presence in this region of the Holy Land.

Taybeh, a Christian community subjected to recurrent attacks

This is not the first time Taybeh, located northeast of Ramallah, has suffered episodes of violence carried out by Israeli settlers.

In July 2025, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem denounced fires set near the village cemetery and the Church of St. George, whose ruins date back to the 5th century.

A month earlier, in June, attacks were reported against several homes, along with the placement of a sign bearing the message: «You have no future here.»

The recurrence of these incidents has heightened concerns about the continued presence of Christian families in the village. At the end of September, the Latin parish priest of Taybeh, Father Bashar Fawadleh, warned about the exodus of its inhabitants and the difficulties faced by those who wish to remain in the village.

The patriarchs, who had already visited Taybeh in 2025 to demand protection for its residents, have once again expressed their concern about the situation of the community. On this occasion, the violence also reached the European representatives who had come to the village to accompany families during the harvest.

Pope reminds canonists that their mission is to safeguard the communion of the Church

Pope Leo XIV recalled this Friday that Canon Law must be at the service of the supernatural good of the faithful and of the communion of the Church, and he insisted that ecclesial justice cannot be separated from truth and mercy. 

The Pontiff spoke these words during an audience in the Vatican Apostolic Palace with the participants in the International Congress organized on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

In his address, Leo XIV stressed that the study of Canon Law must not be limited to knowledge of the norms that regulate ecclesial life, but must form persons capable of understanding justice in the light of the legal tradition and the theological principles of the Church.

The Pope recalled the words of Saint John Paul II in the apostolic constitution Sacrae disciplinae leges, with which he promulgated the 1983 Code of Canon Law, to remind that the legal order of the Church has an essential function in safeguarding ecclesial communion. 

Likewise, he underlined that the teaching of this discipline must remain faithful to the Magisterium and at the service of the mission of the successor of Peter.

 

Audience with the participants in the International Congress on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical Gregorian University

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you.

Eminences, Excellencies, brothers and sisters:

I am very pleased to extend my greeting to all of you, Magnificent Rector, Father Dean, professors and lecturers, students and friends, who are taking part in the International Congress on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Faculty of Canon Law of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

On 16 August 1876, at the behest of Blessed Pius IX, the Congregation of Studies ordered the creation of your Faculty. It was the culmination of a long tradition of study and teaching of Canon Law that had accompanied the history of the Roman College and of the Society of Jesus. The date on which we celebrate the 150th anniversary represents, in fact, a fundamental stage in a history that began centuries ago, thanks to which the teaching of Canon Law had already developed its own scientific tradition, through the contribution of numerous figures of teachers who have brought prestige to the Faculty and have contributed significantly to the development of canonical science. They constitute a kind of unbroken thread that unites the generations and that still today transmits a valuable scientific and ecclesial heritage.

This Faculty, like the University of which it is a part, is an apostolic work of the Society of Jesus. It therefore shares in the spirituality that has its source in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and which, among its characteristic features, includes what is summarized in the expression: Non multa, sed multum. That is to say, what matters is not to know many things, but to penetrate deeply into reality, to understand it and to interiorize it. Thus Saint Ignatius writes: “It is not much knowledge that fills and satisfies the soul, but the feeling and tasting of things inwardly” (cf. Spiritual Exercises, Annotations, 2, 4).

It is not surprising, therefore, that this spiritual approach finds correspondence in the way your Faculty conceives the teaching of the Law of the Church. The purpose, in fact, is, in addition to knowing the norms suitable for regulating ecclesial life, to form persons who have the ecclesial sense of what is iustum, acquired through careful study of the sources, of the canonical tradition and of the theological principles that illuminate the norm. This is possible when the study of Canon Law is carried out in the light of the mystery of the Church, as the Second Vatican Council set forth in the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium.

If it is true, as Saint John Paul II wrote in the apostolic constitution Sacrae disciplinae leges (25 January 1983), with which he promulgated the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church, that “it is impossible to translate perfectly into ‘canonical’ language the image of the Church,” nevertheless, Canon Law must reflect it. It performs an essential service in safeguarding ecclesial communion and, therefore, is “extremely necessary for the Church” and has as its purpose “to create such an order in the ecclesial society that, assigning primacy to love, grace and charism, may make […] its organic development easier.” Indeed, the good of the person and that of the ecclesial community cannot exist independently of each other.

For this reason, in the Programme of Studies of your Faculty it is stated: “The Law of the Church must always tend to the supernatural good of each of the faithful and to the building up of ecclesial communion.” I exhort you to act faithfully in accordance with this purpose, that is, for the supernatural good of persons, which is realized by seeking true justice, never separated in the Church from truth and mercy. Saint Augustine expresses it with a formula dear to the Christian tradition: “Ordinata dilectio est iustitia” (“Justice is ordered love”).

I would also like to emphasize a characteristic of your identity that is also found in the Statutes: the Faculty “recognizes its special role in the service of the Petrine mission. Therefore, in its teaching it is faithful to the Magisterium of the Church and gives priority to the service that its professors render to the Apostolic See.” I therefore invite you to offer your students a living experience of the universal Church, which finds in the Bishop of Rome the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity (cf. Lumen gentium, 23).

The students — clerics, consecrated persons and laity — who come from so many parts of the world to pursue their studies in Rome must be able to experience, also through university life, that the Church is a universal communion; and, once they return to their particular Churches, to carry with them this experience as a richness to be shared, placing it at the service of their communities.

Dear friends, after 150 years, your Faculty can look to the future trusting in God and also in the great heritage received. Thus, following in the footsteps of those who have preceded you, you will be able to continue to bear those fruits of doctrine, of science and of holiness of life that the Lord and the Church expect of you.

May the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Speculum iustitiae (Mirror of Justice), and my apostolic blessing accompany you on this journey.

Pope Leo XIV - Health Update

Holy See signs agreement with Honduras

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, and the President of Honduras, Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah, signed the Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Honduras, on Thursday, October 22, in the Treaty Hall of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

The agreement, made up of 25 articles, “consolidates the existing good bilateral relations, safeguards the legal personality of the Church, and promotes fruitful cooperation between the Church and the State in advancing the common good and the spiritual, human, and cultural values of the Honduran people,” a statement released by the Holy See Press Office explained.

Contents of the Agreement 

The agreement also seeks to further guarantee religious freedom – in line with the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 Declaration on this topic Dignitatis Humanae – including freedom of worship and the freedom of the Church to carry out its mission.

“The bilateral Agreement reaffirms the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, in accordance with international human rights instruments,” the statement emphasizes.

“The State recognizes the Church’s right to operate according to its own rules, to govern itself, and to freely appoint its ministers of religion. It also guarantees the right to conscientious objection and safeguards the inviolability of the sacramental seal, without conditions or limitations, as well as the confidentiality of pastoral workers, equivalent to that afforded to information disclosed in confession,” it continues.

“Furthermore, the Church’s right to establish educational and charitable institutions is recognized, as is its right to provide spiritual assistance and pastoral care to people residing in social care, educational, healthcare, and penitentiary institutions, whether public or private. Finally, pastoral care for members of the armed forces and police will be facilitated.”

The agreement will enter into force on the day the instruments of ratification are exchanged and is subject to the ratification procedures envisioned by both legal systems.

Signing ceremony in Apostolic Palace

Following the signing ceremony, those present held a meeting in which they discussed the Church’s positive contribution to the human, social, and cultural development of the country, as well as several matters of mutual interest at the regional and international levels.

Other attendees at the ceremony included, from the Holy See, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations; Monsignor Javier Domingo Fernández González, Chief of Protocol of the Secretariat of State; Monsignor Carlos Díaz Paniagua, Official of the Section for Relations with States and International Organizations; and Monsignor Francisco Javier Díaz Tenza, Official of the Section for Relations with States and International Organizations.

The Honduran delegation included Mireya Agüero de Corrales, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Juan Carlos García Medina, Minister of the Presidency; Gilliam Noemí Gómez Guifarro, Ambassador of the Republic of Honduras to the Holy See.

Fr Willie Doyle a model of ‘healthy masculinity’ for young men, says bishop

Fr Willie Doyle SJ offers young men a model of “healthy forms of masculinity”, Bishop Tom Deenihan has said, as the World War I chaplain’s cause for canonisation heads to Rome.

The Bishop of Meath said Fr Doyle’s sacrifice and daily fidelity to the faith were resonating with young Catholics.

“I think we’re seeing something new in the Church at the moment with Gen Z. I think the relationship between Gen Z and religion is fascinating,” he said, pointing to the age profile of those attending. “I also think there’s a need for healthy forms of masculinity in society, in the Church and I think Doyle certainly is one of those.”

“I think Doyle has something powerful to offer so many young people of today’s age,” he added.

Fr Doyle, a Jesuit from Dalkey, was killed while ministering to wounded soldiers at Passchendaele in 1917.

Ahead of the ceremony, the postulator for the cause, Fr John Hogansaid that young men were drawn to Fr Doyle’s courage. “A lot of young guys, when they hear about Willie, they’re very attracted to him because he is this model, this heroic model,” he said. “They want good, wholesome heroes who inspire them.”

Fr Hogan stressed that this heroism was formed through years of prayer and small sacrifices. “Every day requires heroism”, he said.

Fr Luke DeMasi, who plays Fr Doyle in an upcoming film by the Home of the Mother, said young people today faced “a different kind of battle”.

“They’re bombarded with dark thoughts, with a lack of meaning in their life,” he said, adding that Fr Doyle’s example could encourage priests to seek out those in spiritual danger.

Bishop Deenihan expressed his confidence in the cause: “I believe in the cause of Willie Doyle. I believe he is a saint. And I think he has something to offer our time.”

The inquiry, opened in 2022, has gathered testimony and historical and theological assessments, expected to be brought to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints next month.