At a Catholic symposium on disability ministry, attendees gather for a talk by Dr. Miguel Romero as part of a theological engagement on disability. The symposium, “Recognizing the Body of Christ: A Theological Engagement on Disability” was held at The Catholic University of America on Nov. 9, 2019. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the NCPD

CNA Staff, Aug 7, 2025 / 16:19 pm (CNA).

There’s a category of Catholics in the United States who are often underserved, and one Catholic ministry is trying to remedy that.

Catholics with disabilities experience unique and varied needs that go beyond wheelchair ramps or braille signs. A Catholic with autism might need sensory-friendly liturgies; a Catholic with a developmental disability might need special guidance for catechesis.

But many parishes might not know how to meet their needs or what those needs even are.

By offering a variety of resources — including a conference this weekend — the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) is teaching parishes how to fully integrate people with disabilities into parish life.

“From the rise in mental health concerns to the growing number of families navigating autism, parishes across the country are searching for guidance, training, and connection,” NCPD Executive Director Charleen Katra told CNA.

Ignorance can be damaging. Katra said she frequently receives calls from Catholics with disabilities who are denied sacraments — a move that goes against the Church’s teaching.

The U.S. Catholic bishops in recent years have reaffirmed the Church’s teaching that “all forms of the liturgy be completely accessible to persons with disabilities.” The bishops explained that accessibility extends far beyond “physical alterations to parish buildings.”

“Persons with disabilities have the same baptismal rights to be educated in the faith, to celebrate sacraments, and to respond to God’s call,” Katra explained.

The good news: Catholics from across the United States want to get better at serving people with disabilities. Almost 200 Catholic ministers, leaders, and laypeople are gathering in Salt Lake City for the National Catholic Disability Ministry Conference from Aug. 7–9.

Designed to help parishes and ministries fully integrate people with disabilities into  parish life, the conference centers on the 2025 Jubilee theme, “Pilgrims of Hope.”

The goal? Every parish should feel like home.

Inclusion and belonging are “crucial,” but they are just the beginning, Katra explained.

“They open the door for something greater and more important — advancing the full participation of persons with disabilities and striving toward communion — a kinship we experience because we are loved by God and saved by his son, Jesus Christ,” she explained. 

A highlight of the conference will be a panel of people with disabilities who will discuss what Katra called a “powerful message” by the late Pope Francis. 

In 2021, on the U.N.’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Pope Francis told people with disabilities: “The Church is truly your home.”

“Persons with disabilities are not simply on the outskirts of the Church seeking to be invited in,” Katra said. “Rather, the Church is already their home, and their presence and participation are integral to the Church community.”

Designed to “equip Catholics to value the gifts and respond to the needs of persons with disabilities,” conference sessions will address “mental health, autism, sacramental preparation, inclusive Catholic education, sensory-friendly liturgies, public policy, and more,” Katra said. On the last day of the conference, participants will gather for a sensory-friendly Mass.

Keynote speakers include Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas; Mary O’Meara, executive director of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Office of Deaf and Disabilities Ministry; and National Eucharistic Congress President Jason Shanks, who will share a personal testimony of raising a child with a rare genetic condition.

From clergy to catechists to people with disabilities, 180 attendees are gathering for the conference at Hilton Salt Lake City Center. This year, those who can’t attend in person may attend virtually in English or Spanish.

The ministry is not an annual event, but Katra has high hopes for the future.

“This is not currently a recurring event, but we hope it will become one,” she said.

Katra said she hopes the conference will give people a network, fresh perspectives, and “a deeper understanding of disability from a Catholic perspective,” as well as the latest resources and best practices for disability ministry.

“We are all pilgrims of hope — called to walk together in faith and love,” Katra said. “This includes persons with disabilities, whose presence and participation enrich the life of the Church.”

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in San Salvador, El Salvador. / Credit: Bobbycharks, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 7, 2025 / 15:36 pm (CNA).

On Aug. 6, the day El Salvador celebrates the solemnity of the Divine Savior (Salvador) of the World and this year the 500th anniversary of the founding of the city of San Salvador, the Catholic Church strongly criticized a recent constitutional reform that allows current President Nayib Bukele and his successors unlimited presidential terms.

The archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas, celebrated Mass in the cathedral of the country’s capital. The bishops of the Salvadoran Bishops’ Conference concelebrated, with priests, nuns, and laypeople from all of El Salvador’s dioceses in attendance.

In his homily, Escobar addressed a message directly to the Salvadoran legislators, urging them to “reconsider the constitutional reforms recently approved by this legislative plenary session without consultation.”

“For a constitutional reform to be legitimate, the people must be consulted,” he declared. The prelate said his appeal is made “with no interest other than the good of our people.”

On July 31, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved and ratified a series of changes to five articles of the constitution. These amendments will now allow for unlimited presidential reelection, extend the presidential term from five to six years, eliminate the runoff election, and shorten the current term of Bukele so that all elections for public office nationwide take place on the same date. 

The legislative body is composed of 60 representatives, 54 of whom belong to the ruling Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party. Two seats are held by the National Concertation Party and one by the Christian Democratic Party, both allies of the current government. The remaining three seats belong to opposition parties.

Advocates for environment, migrants

In front of thousands of people, Escobar also demanded that legislators “fulfill the debt they owe to this people” and reinstate “the law they repealed, the one that protects the environment, the life and health of people, animals, and plants,” referring to the ban on metal mining, recently revoked by the Legislative Assembly.

The archbishop also called on U.S. authorities to stop going after unauthorized Salvadoran migrants while demanding respect for their human rights.

The prelate called for “not criminalizing their status simply because they are undocumented. They are noble, good, hardworking people who have done much for that country and who deserve decent treatment.”

Finally, Escobar denounced “the scourge of poverty” that drives thousands of Salvadorans to emigrate, stating that it is the product of “economic policies that, to date, have not resolved the most urgent needs of the vast majority of impoverished people.”

He concluded his homily with a call to the faithful to ask the Divine Savior of the World to be able to “transfigure us and transfigure El Salvador, so that we may all live according to his sacred will, as true children of God.”

Massive procession for the Divine Savior of the World

The celebrations for the solemnity of the Divine Savior of the World began on Aug. 5 with thousands of faithful participating in the solemn procession with the image of the Divine Savior of the World in San Salvador. The procession departed from Sacred Heart of Jesus Basilica and passed through the main streets of the capital until reaching the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador.

In the plaza in front of the cathedral, a moving reenactment of the Transfiguration of the Lord was presented in which the image of Christ, dressed as a Nazarene, was elevated and symbolically transformed into the glorious Christ amid music and fireworks.

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

Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia. / Credit: Archdiocese of Baltimore

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 7, 2025 / 14:33 pm (CNA).

As officials carry out mass deportations across the United States, Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, is criticizing the Trump administration’s policy of deporting “as many immigrants as possible” without “distinguishing between true criminals and law-abiding persons.”

In a recent statement addressing Catholics in his diocese, Brennan said “some of you have told me that you were happy to support a presidential candidate who would install order at the southern border and keep out drug traffickers, terrorists, and violent criminals but that you didn’t expect this wholesale assault on the majority of immigrants, who work hard, are raising their families, and live peacefully in our communities.”

The bishop urged the government to prioritize deporting violent criminals rather than upstanding people, highlighting that entering the U.S. “without official government permission is a misdemeanor, a crime but a lesser one, on the level with loitering, public intoxication, and shoplifting.”

Brennan’s critique of mass deportations aligns with a number of other Catholic leaders including Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez, who recently said: “A great nation can take the time and care to make distinctions and judge each case on its merits.”

“On our journey to eternity, the Lord expects us to help one another,” Brennan said. “Why else would he command us: Love your neighbor as yourself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”

“In the light of these Christian principles, we the people must act,” Brennan declared. For example, Catholics can call for “less cruel” enforcement and can speak up “when we hear grossly inaccurate talk about undocumented immigrants being uniformly criminal, when only a few commit violent crimes.”

“As people of faith, we should pray intensely for God to touch the minds and hearts of our political leaders and move them to be more reasonable and humane in their policies; and for those who implement those policies to do so with respect for their fellow human beings.”

Brennan encouraged those enforcing immigration policies “to consider whether a specific action is morally justified,” because ultimately, “the final judge of our actions is God.”

Speaking of law enforcement officers, he said: “I recognize that they have sworn to uphold the law. Yet the manner in which a law is enforced matters. Those acting on the government’s behalf cannot escape personal responsibility for an unjust action with the excuse that it was ordered by their superiors.”

“That defense was not allowed during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals at the end of World War II,” Brennan explained. “The judges held that a soldier, guard, or official who authorized or engaged in gross violations of human rights was personally responsible for his acts.”

With that said, Brennan clarified: “What has been reported about excesses in immigration enforcement does not approach the horror of Nazi treatment of prisoners, but the principle of personal responsibility for one’s actions remains the same.”

“Our Church would have no martyrs if the highest good was to preserve one’s life. Some things are worth taking a principled stand for,” Brennan said. In tandem with bishops across the nation, Brennan called on Catholics “to affirm the humanity of all immigrants, regardless of legal status.”

Newlyweds Anna and Cole Stevens meet Pope Leo XIV at the general audience in Rome on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Anna and Cole Stevens

Vatican City, Aug 7, 2025 / 13:54 pm (CNA).

In a video message to the participants of the third congress of the Pan-African Catholic Network for Theology and Pastoral Care, Pope Leo XIV recalled the fundamental role of the family, “the first place where we receive the love and support we need.”

The event, titled “Walking Together in Hope as the Church-Family of God in Africa,” is taking place Aug. 5–10 at the Catholic University of West Africa in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

The main objective of the meeting is to promote communication within the global south by bringing together theologians, pastoral, lay, and religious leaders to reflect, share experiences, and develop pastoral ministry from an African perspective.

At the beginning of his message, released Aug. 6, the Holy Father particularly expressed his gratitude for the work of the meeting’s organizers and assured them of his prayers for the participants, who during these days are reflecting on the future of the Church in Africa.

In the context of the Jubilee of Hope, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the vital role that hope plays in our earthly pilgrimage. “Faith and theology provide the basis for knowing God, while charity is the life of love we enjoy with him,” he noted.

However, he explained that “it is by the virtue of hope that we desire to attain the fullness of this happiness in heaven. Thus, it inspires and sustains us to grow closer to God even when confronted by the hardships of life,” he added.

The Holy Father urged the Church to be “a beacon of hope for the nations” facing various difficulties in Africa, while calling for fraternity and appealing to the responsibility to “look after each other.”

“A family is usually the first place where we receive the love and support we need to move forward and overcome the trials we face in life,” he pointed out.

In this context, he encouraged the continued building of “the family of the local Churches” in African countries “so that there are networks of support available to all our brothers and sisters in Christ, and also to the wider society, especially those on the peripheries.”

At the end of his message, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of “recognizing the unity between theology and pastoral work.”

He pointed out that “we have to live what we believe. Christ told us that he came not simply to give us life but to give it to the full. Hence, it is your task to work together to implement pastoral programs that demonstrate how the teachings of the Church help to open people’s hearts and minds to the truth and love of God.”

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

Assets sold to help pay an abuse settlement include the Diocese of Buffalo’s former headquarters, pictured, here, in downtown Buffalo, New York. / Credit: Warren LeMay/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

CNA Staff, Aug 7, 2025 / 11:51 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Buffalo is reportedly dismissing a substantial number of workers at its headquarters as it continues to move through a nine-figure sex abuse bankruptcy payout. 

A leaked email from Bishop Michael Fisher, reported on by local media, said the diocese’s ongoing settlement “require[s] us to make further sacrifices” at the diocesan Catholic Center, located in downtown Buffalo.

The diocese said earlier this year that it would pay a $150 million settlement “to survivors of sexual abuse for acts perpetrated against them by clergy, religious, lay employees, and volunteers.” 

Fisher in the leaked email said the settlement means the diocese needs to “significantly reduce costs” at the Catholic Center. 

“This entails the painful reality of having to [reduce] the number of positions in order to create a leaner, more cost-effective central administration,” the prelate said. 

An Aug. 6 press release from the diocese said 22% of its 75 employees at the Catholic Center will lose their jobs, totaling around 15 or 16 workers.

The diocese will also transition to a four-day workweek beginning in September, while paid holidays will be reduced for full-time staff and eliminated for part-time employees working less than 25 hours per week.

Workers will also relocate from the Catholic Center to other offices nearby. The diocese announced the sale of the Catholic Center property last year.

Diocesan Chief Operating Officer Rick Suchan in the press release said the diocese “cannot adequately express our gratitude to the members of the Catholic Center staff who have worked tirelessly to deal with the difficult challenges of recent years.”

“We are committed to doing everything possible to ease the departure of those staff members affected by these cost reductions, which in no way reflect their performance or lasting contributions,” he said.

In the leaked email, Fisher said the “extreme sacrifices” are required to fulfill “our primary obligations to victim-survivors” of clergy abuse.

“We will have to find new ways of working, new ways of responding to the needs and opportunities of our diocese, and, importantly, new ways of supporting the ministries which are so essential to serving the countless needs of our local Church,” the bishop said.

Earlier this year the New York law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which has represented abuse victims in the Buffalo suit, told CNA the diocese’s $150 million payout was “the second-largest contribution by a bankrupt Roman Catholic institution and its affiliates in any Roman Catholic bankruptcy case to date.”

The largest diocesan-level bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history thus far was in the Diocese of Rockville Centre — also in New York — which agreed to pay $323 million to abuse victims in 2024.

The largest Church abuse payout total in U.S. history has been at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which last year agreed to pay out nearly $1 billion to abuse victims.

null / Credit: ElenaR/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 7, 2025 / 11:21 am (CNA).

Prosecutors say a Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has confessed to falsifying the results of a high-level raffle at his parish.

Father Ross Miceli allegedly “admitted to publicly falsifying the results of the grand prize winner” of a raffle at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Erie.

The confession was reportedly detailed in warrants from the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, according to an Aug. 7 report in the Erie Times-News.

The Catholic parish had hosted the “Winavette” raffle in 2024, allowing buyers to purchase $50 tickets for the chance to win a Stingray 1LT Corvette. The grand-prize winner of the event could take either the car or $50,000 in cash. The raffle was open to players nationwide.

On Dec. 25, 2024, the church announced that “Martin Anderson” of Detroit had won the grand prize. The reported winner “chose the cash option,” the church said.

Yet an employee of the parish allegedly “raised concerns” about the raffle to Bishop Lawrence Persico, according to the warrants, leading the diocese to investigate the contest and eventually contact the county prosecutor’s office.

The priest reportedly “admitted [to the employee] that he fabricated the grand-prize winner’s name,” the Times-News reported, citing the documents. The priest allegedly committed the falsification after “a problem with the raffle system” left the grand prize without a winner.

The priest said the prize money was “still in an account” after the fabrication. Miceli allegedly told the employee that he “needed to keep this secret,” according to prosecutors. Miceli also allegedly fabricated several other winners in the raffle.

Detectives seized Miceli’s iPad and iPhone as well as financial records for both the parish and the raffle, the Erie paper reported.

The priest announced his resignation from the parish on the weekend of July 20, though he did not give a reason at the time. The Erie Diocese said last month that Miceli would be heading to St. Timothy Parish in Curwensville starting on Aug. 12, where he would be a “sacramental assistant.”

Law enforcement handling the case did not immediately respond to a query from CNA on Aug. 7. The Diocese of Erie also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the diocese told the Times-News that it was aware of the investigation and was “cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities.”

On Facebook the church posted that 2024 was the “last year” the raffle would be held, though they noted that Father John Detisch was operating a similar raffle at Dubois Central Catholic School in Dubois.

Left to right: Negative photo of the frontal image of the man of the shroud. A side view of the sculpture, “The Sign,” which depicts the man of the shroud. / Credit: Copyright 1978, Vernon Miller/Copyright Collection of Gilbert Lavoie

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 7, 2025 / 10:51 am (CNA).

The Shroud of Turin is one of the most studied and controversial religious artifacts in the world. Housed in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, the linen cloth bears the image of a man who appears to have suffered physical trauma consistent with crucifixion. Many Christians believe it to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

While the Catholic Church has never formally declared the shroud to be authentic, it has encouraged its veneration as a powerful aid to faith and reflection. Pope Francis called the shroud an “icon of the Lord Jesus crucified, dead, and risen,” and St. John Paul II called it “a mirror of the Gospel.”

Here’s what we know about the Shroud of Turin, based on recent studies and commentary from experts, scientists, and Catholic thinkers.

Evidence suggesting authenticity 

The shroud depicts the front and back of a man’s body, showing wounds that match the Gospel accounts of Christ’s passion: scourge marks, punctures in the wrists and feet, and a wound in the side.

Italian engineer Giulio Fanti, who has conducted detailed forensic studies of the shroud, reports that the bloodstains correspond with those of a person subjected to severe physical torture and crucifixion. His analysis points to real human blood containing high levels of creatinine and ferritin — markers consistent with intense trauma.

Fanti also observes that the direction and shape of the blood flows suggest multiple body positions, as would be expected if the man had been moved post-mortem, wrapped in cloth, and buried according to ancient Jewish customs.

A debate over the dating 

In 1988, three independent laboratories dated a sample from the shroud using carbon-14 testing and concluded that the cloth originated between A.D. 1260 and 1390. However, many scientists have questioned these results due to the location of the tested material. The sample was taken from a corner of the cloth that was likely part of a medieval repair following fire damage.

Nuclear engineer Robert Rucker has proposed that a burst of neutron radiation — possibly at the moment of Christ’s resurrection — could have altered the carbon isotopes in the linen, leading to a false medieval date. His research, while not universally accepted, supports the theory that the cloth could be much older than the 1988 tests suggest.

Further testing of uncontaminated samples has been called for by several researchers, but new carbon dating has not yet been authorized.

The shroud in popular media 

The shroud has lately been the subject of renewed public interest thanks to the 2023 documentary “The Shroud: Face to Face” by filmmaker Robert Orlando.

Once skeptical, Orlando now presents the cloth as a compelling mystery that bridges history, science, and faith. The film explores the shroud alongside other images traditionally associated with Christ, including the Veil of Veronica and the Manoppello Image.

The documentary features commentary from Jesuit priest and physicist Father Robert Spitzer, who views the shroud as a “supernatural” object bearing witness to Christ’s death and resurrection.

Popes have upheld shroud as holy object

Multiple popes over the years have held up the Shroud of Turin as an objection worthy of Christian devotion and reflection.

Pope Francis in 2015 said the cloth pushes Christians “toward the face of every suffering and unjustly persecuted person” and “in the same direction as the gift of Jesus’ love,” while in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI said its depiction of Christ points to the days that the Lord’s body rested in his tomb, a time “infinite in its value and significance.”

St. John Paul II, meanwhile, in 1998 described the cloth as a “mirror of the Gospel,” a “reason for deep reflection,” and “a truly unique sign that points to Jesus.” And Pope Paul VI described it simply as "the most important relic in the history of Christianity."

Pope Leo XIV has not yet spoken publicly about the shroud, but in April and May, just prior to the start of his pontificate, the shroud's custodians hosted an event in Turin billed as "the first digital and immersive Shroud experience," the offerings of which included a life-sized digital reproduction of the shroud.

Earlier in the year Papal Custodian Cardinal Roberto Repole described the Shroud as an “invitation to live a new life” and as the "imprint of the Resurrection."

Other cloths venerated as images of Christ 

The Shroud of Turin is not the only cloth believed to bear the image of Jesus. 

Others include the Veil of Veronica. According to tradition, a woman named Veronica wiped the face of Jesus on his way to Calvary, leaving a miraculous image. Several relics claim to be this veil, but none have undergone scientific analysis comparable to the shroud. 

Also venerated is the Manoppello Image. Preserved in a church in Manoppello, Italy, this cloth bears a faint image of a man’s face and is sometimes associated with the Veil of Veronica.  

Both images appear in “The Shroud: Face to Face,” where they are presented as part of the broader mystery of what Christ may have looked like. 

A mystery that endures 

While the Church does not require belief in the shroud’s authenticity, it recognizes its value in drawing the faithful into deeper contemplation of Christ’s suffering and love. As Pope Francis said in 2015, the shroud “draws people to the face and the martyred body of Jesus.” 

Whether it is a miraculous relic or a centuries-old artwork, the Shroud of Turin continues to invite scientific inquiry, spiritual reflection, and personal conversion.

Correction: This report has corrected quotes in the second paragraph about the Shroud of Turin attributed to Pope Francis and St. John Paul II. (Published Aug. 7, 2025)

null / Credit: H4stings, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Newsroom, Aug 7, 2025 / 09:53 am (CNA).

Marine Rosset, the newly appointed president of France’s largest Catholic-inspired scouting organization, resigned less than two months after her election amid intense criticism over her support for abortion rights and her homosexual relationship.

After announcing her resignation on Aug. 6, the 39-year-old Socialist Party member explained her decision in an interview with the Catholic daily La Croix, saying the “situation had become untenable” and expressing her desire to “protect the movement.”

Rosset was elected president of the Scouts et Guides de France (SGDF) on June 14 by a decisive vote of 22 to 2, with one abstention.

The SGDF is France’s largest scouting association with over 100,000 members. The association was formed in 2004 through the merger of two historically Catholic organizations.

Today, the group maintains Catholic chaplains and describes itself as both “a Catholic youth and popular education movement” and as “open to all, without distinction of nationality, culture, social origin, or belief.”

Controversial positions spark criticism

The controversy centered on Rosset’s public positions that directly conflict with Catholic teaching. A Paris city councilor and former schoolteacher of history and geography, Rosset is in a same-sex civil union and has a child through artificial reproduction. 

The Socialist Party member has also publicly advocated for abortion rights, positions that drew sharp criticism from Catholic media and clergy.

“After my election, there were people outside of scouting — political forces, communications networks, even financial ones — who instrumentalized positions I had taken,” Rosset told La Croix. “This created a false image of the Scouts and Guides de France, because a number of my positions became associated with those of the movement.”

According to Le Monde, some chaplains within the scouting movement had expressed opposition to her appointment, citing concerns about both her political activism and personal life that contradict Church teaching on sexuality and life issues.

Catholic website Tribune Chrétienne called her resignation “the end of an organized misunderstanding,” arguing that one cannot lead a Catholic youth movement while “openly contradicting what the Church teaches as nonnegotiable.”

Political complications compound controversy

Political factors also contributed to Rosset’s decision. With a by-election scheduled in her Paris constituency this fall, she had planned to campaign for her party’s candidate. This move would have further politicized the scouting group and potentially alienated Catholic families, according to Le Monde.

“Any statement I made would have been scrutinized,” Rosset explained to La Croix. “It was really important to me that the movement not be reduced to my person alone — it is bigger than me.”

The official SGDF statement claimed “violent, discriminatory, and dehumanizing remarks” had been directed at Rosset and that she had filed legal complaints over online threats.

Pierre Monéger, the organization’s former vice president, has assumed leadership through a collective governance structure that includes two new vice presidents, Julie Lefort and Charles Le Gac.

St. Hedwig Cathedral in Berlin, Germany. / Credit: Cedric BLN via Wikimedia (Public domain)

CNA Newsroom, Aug 7, 2025 / 09:23 am (CNA).

German bishops are divided sharply over implementing blessing guidelines for same-sex couples, with a comprehensive survey by katholisch.de revealing stark divisions across the country’s 27 dioceses, three months after the publication of the controversial pastoral handout.

Five dioceses — Cologne, Augsburg, Eichstätt, Passau, and Regensburg — have explicitly refused to implement the handout, all referencing the Vatican’s Fiducia Supplicans as their standard.

Eleven German dioceses have either officially endorsed or at least maintain pastoral practices aligned with the nonbinding guidelines titled “Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft” (“Blessings Give Strength to Love”), which were issued by the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).

The remaining 11 dioceses have adopted various middle positions, with some expressing caution about the handout’s implementation or deferring to individual pastoral discretion.

Augsburg outlines objections

The Bavarian Diocese of Augsburg provided a substantive critique of the German handout, with Bishop Bertram Meier identifying several points where the guidance conflicts with Vatican teaching.

He noted that while Fiducia Supplicans emphasizes that such blessings should not be promoted or have a prescribed ritual, the German handout explicitly speaks of “blessing celebrations” and intends to evaluate experiences with such blessings.

The diocese also expressed concern that the handout suggests “planned and aesthetically appealing design of a liturgical blessing celebration” with music and singing, which contradicts the Vatican’s guidance for brief, spontaneous blessings.

The Catholic initiative Neuer Anfang — “New Beginnings” — has sharply criticized the German guidelines, arguing they promote “the opposite of the stated intentions” of Pope Francis and contradict the original purpose of Fiducia Supplicans, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

New Beginnings contends that many German bishops are failing to uphold Catholic sexual ethics in their implementation approaches, warning that the handout encourages practices that go well beyond what the Vatican document envisioned.

Cardinal Müller strongly condemns the ‘fraud’

Former Vatican doctrine chief Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller has delivered a scathing critique of the German implementation in a guest contribution for Die Tagespost.

Müller compared the current situation to medieval indulgence trading, which “endangered the eternal salvation of deceivers and deceived and brought us the continuing division of Christianity to this day.”

The cardinal and professor of theology argued on July 18 that according to biblical understanding, marriage exists only between a man and a woman, making ecclesiastical blessing rites for irregular life situations both “ineffective before God” and constituting “pious fraud” toward participants, CNA Deutsch reported.

In previous writings, Müller warned that Fiducia Supplicans — which has received a mixed reaction across the globe — was “confusing” and contradictory to previous doctrinal documents. 

Some dioceses proceed with implementation

Despite these serious concerns and criticisms, the northern German dioceses of Limburg, Osnabrück, and Trier have published the guidance in their official bulletins.

The Diocese of Würzburg is going so far as to promote “blessing services” for same-sex couples at wedding exhibitions, katholisch.de reported.

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, who also serves as president of the German Bishops’ Conference, claimed that implementing the guidance aims to strengthen people in partnerships “who live together in love and responsibility.”

In Mainz, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf recommended his staff “proceed according to the handout in your practice.” At the same time, the Diocese of Fulda expressed support, describing the controversial document as “an important step toward a Church that is oriented to people’s life realities and respects love in all its expressions.”

Members of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO). / Credit: CENCO

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 7, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reported that the bishops of the Democratic Republic of Congo are demanding justice following the massacre perpetrated by a group linked to the Islamic State on July 26-27 at a Catholic church in which more than 40 people were killed or injured.

That weekend, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked Blessed Anuarite Parish in the Diocese of Bunia, killing 37 young people and wounding six others who were participating in a vigil marking the 25th anniversary of the Eucharistic Crusades movement, according to ACN.

The bishop of Bunia, Dieudonné Uringi, told ACN that after the massacre, “many people were traumatized. When the adults found out, they came immediately to see what had happened.”

So far, no one has been arrested, and the prelate lamented that law enforcement did not react appropriately: “The police and military were not far away, but they didn’t act in time. They should have intervened more quickly to protect the population.”

Despite the prevailing insecurity, due to various groups fighting over the region bordering Uganda, the bishop continues his work: “This very afternoon, I must travel more than 60 kilometers [37 miles] to a mining area in the middle of the jungle, as I did in June and July. I do travel every month to administer the sacrament of confirmation,” he stated.

The Congolese prelate also asked ACN for support for young priests displaced by the violence. “Many had to leave their parishes and seek refuge in Bunia. We welcome them, but we have no means to sustain them. It would be a great relief to receive help, as we have before from your foundation, to accompany us at this time,” he said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the 10th country in the world that receives the most aid from ACN, according to the pontifical foundation.

The outcry for justice

ACN also reported that the National Bishops’ Conference of Congo (CENCO, by its French acronym) in an official statement on July 28 expressed its dismay at the “hateful massacre” of innocent faithful.

“This umpteenth massacre has occurred in one of the provinces that has been under a state of siege for several years ... In these provinces, we are witnessing murders and kidnappings,” the bishops pointed out.

The outrage, they continued, is greater because “no credible explanation has been offered to reassure the population.”

The bishops wondered why, despite so many massacres, the authorities have failed to clearly identify those responsible.

“Is anyone talking about the ADF Islamists, the [other] terrorists? Do these serial killers have any purpose? Who benefits from these crimes perpetrated for years against peaceful citizens?” the prelates asked.

The CENCO bishops finally demanded “a thorough and satisfactory investigation into the tragedy” so that justice can be done.

According to the statement, the massacre occurred a week after the desecration of the parish church of Lopa in the same Diocese of Bunia.

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