St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and Divine Infant of Prague Mission

Pope Leo XIV addresses the crowd at the Angelus on July 13, 2025, at the papal estate of Castel Gandolfo. / Credit: Stefano Costantino/EWTN News

Vatican City, Jul 25, 2025 / 16:23 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV in a message released Friday pointed out that Catholic migrants and refugees “can become missionaries of hope today in the countries that welcome them.”

“With their spiritual enthusiasm and vitality, they can help revitalize ecclesial communities that have become rigid and weighed down, where spiritual desertification is advancing at an alarming rate,” the pope noted July 25 in his message for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which will be celebrated Oct. 4–5, coinciding with the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions.

The pontiff focused his reflection on the link between Christian hope and migration and praised the faith with which immigrants “defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”

“Many migrants, refugees, and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development,” the pope noted in the statement.

He emphasized that their presence “should be recognized and appreciated as a true divine blessing, an opportunity to open oneself to the grace of God, who gives new energy and hope to his Church.”

The Holy Father pointed out that “in a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”

“Migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying toward her final homeland, sustained by a hope that is a theological virtue,” he added.

Thus, the pope called for hope for “a future of peace and of respect for the dignity of all” despite the “frightening scenarios” of “wars, violence, injustice, and extreme weather events.” 

Arms trade and current climate crisis

“The prospect of a renewed arms race and the development of new armaments, including nuclear weapons, the lack of consideration for the harmful effects of the ongoing climate crisis, and the impact of profound economic inequalities make the challenges of the present and the future increasingly demanding,” the pontiff noted in the message.

Pope Leo warned the Catholic Church against the temptation of “sedentarization” and, therefore, of ceasing to be a “civitas peregrine,” since as St. Augustine points out in “The City of God,” the people of God are “journeying toward the heavenly homeland,” because otherwise she ceases to be “in the world” and becomes “of the world.”

“This temptation was already present in the early Christian communities, so much so that the Apostle Paul had to remind the Church of Philippi that ‘our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself’ (Phil 3:20-21),” Leo XIV emphasized.

He also called for a move beyond individualism, which he defined as a “serious threat” to the “sharing of responsibilities, multilateral cooperation,” and “the pursuit of the common good.”

In this regard, he criticized the “widespread tendency to look after the interests of limited communities” and pointed out that there is “a clear analogy” between immigrants and “the experience of the people of Israel wandering in the desert, who faced every danger while trusting in the Lord’s protection.”

Finally, Pope Leo expressed his desire to entrust every migrant, and those who accompany them with generosity and compassion, “to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, comfort of migrants.”

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

Oregon resident Jessica Bates, who the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit says is likely being discriminated against by the state for refusing to accept gender ideology as an adoptive mother. / Courtesy: Alliance Defending Freedom

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 15:53 pm (CNA).

A federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ordered that the Oregon Department of Human Services must allow the mother, Jessica Bates, to begin the process of adopting two children without first making her comply with the gender ideology affirmation.

Bates, who is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, challenged the department rule in 2023. The rule requires that, to obtain certification to become an adoptive or foster parent, the applicant must agree to “respect, accept, and support the … sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression … of a child or young adult” who is placed in the home.

According to the lawsuit, Bates told the certification officer that she would love and treat any child as her own. Yet, she was denied certification because she said she would not provide transgender drugs to the child if he or she requested them and would not use a child’s preferred pronouns if he or she began to identify as transgender.

Bates was seeking to adopt two children under the age of 9. The gender ideology affirmation rule applies to any person seeking to foster or adopt, regardless of how old the children are and regardless of whether any of the children suffer from gender dysphoria or other gender identity issues.

Bates is a devout Christian who objected to promoting values to her adoptive children that conflict with her religious beliefs, according to the lawsuit. The court agreed with her objections, saying that adoption is “not a constitutional law dead zone” and that state’s interests do not “create a force field against the valid operation of other constitutional rights.”

“We deal here with two vital such rights: the First Amendment’s protections for free speech and the free exercise of religion,” the ruling stated. 

The court opinion states the rule “restricts and requires speech based on content and viewpoint in the areas of sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression.” It also found that although the state is not likely acting on a “hostility or animus toward religion” with its enforcement of the rule, it is still not a “policy neutral toward religion” because certain religious beliefs are implicated.

In the opinion, the court’s majority found that Bates is likely to succeed on the merits of her challenge against the Oregon rule. The case is still ongoing and does not settle the constitutionality of the rule, which will likely be decided at a later date.

Jonathan Scruggs, senior counsel and president of litigation strategy for Alliance Defending Freedom, argued on behalf of Bates in court. He said in a statement after the ruling that she is already a “caring mom of five [children]” who can now adopt.

“Oregon officials excluded her because of her commonsense belief that a girl cannot become a boy or vice versa,” Scruggs said.

“Because caregivers like Jessica cannot promote Oregon’s dangerous gender ideology to young kids and take them to events like pride parades, the state considers them to be unfit parents,” he added. “That is false and incredibly dangerous, needlessly depriving kids of opportunities to find a loving home. The 9th Circuit was right to remind Oregon that the foster and adoption system is supposed to serve the best interests of children, not the state’s ideological crusade.”

Conscience Project Director Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, who filed an amicus brief with the court in support of Bates, told CNA that the court’s decision “is an important rebuke against the attacks of gender ideologues on people of faith.”

“There is a foster care crisis in America where there aren’t enough qualified homes to meet the needs of vulnerable children,” she said. “There is no reason to exclude loving parents with traditional Christian beliefs on human sexuality from responding to these needs of children.”

A few other states, such as Vermont, have adopted similar rules for people seeking to adopt or foster children that force them to embrace gender ideology. A handful of states, such as Kansas and Arkansas, have gone in the opposite direction, passing laws that ensure religious freedom rights for adoptive and foster parents.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is hosting a gun buyback program for the third year in a row. / Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 25, 2025 / 15:23 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Baltimore will host a gun buyback event for the third year in a row, urging citizens to surrender their guns for cash as the city continues to see declining gun crime rates.

The archdiocese hosted successful gun buyback events in 2023 and 2024. The program raised tens of thousands of dollars each year to help finance the purchasing of guns.

The archdiocese says on its website that the event will take place Aug. 9 in the southwestern part of the city. The Baltimore City Police Department, St. Joseph’s Monastery Parish, and the Health by Southwest coalition will join the archdiocese in supporting the buyback.

The 2023 program netted nearly 160 handguns as well as shotguns and rifles. Handguns and long guns were purchased for $200 apiece, while assault weapons were bought for $300. All of the purchased firearms were destroyed. Last year’s event, meanwhile, collected nearly 300 guns.

Father Mike Murphy, the pastor of St. Joseph Monastery as well as of Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus, told CNA this week that organizers have raised roughly $60,000 so far this year, about the same as last year. The first year the effort raised about $40,000.

“We have cultivated a group of wonderful supporters over the years,” he said. “I anticipate a bit more leading up to the day of the buyback.”

The latest buyback comes as crime has been dropping rapidly in Baltimore, including gun crime.

The city has long struggled with a violent crime rate significantly higher than the national average. From 2015–2022 the city recorded more than 300 homicides annually, including 348 in 2019, which nearly equaled the record of 353 set in 1993.

Earlier this year in the city the Sisters of Bon Secours launched a citywide campaign against gun violence, one featuring ads inside and outside of city buses and in subway transit stations urging residents to “put the guns down” and “let peace begin with us.”

In a press release earlier this month, meanwhile, the Baltimore Police Department said it has recorded “double-digit reductions in gun violence” in the city throughout 2025.

That decline includes a 22% decrease in homicides and a 19% reduction in nonfatal shootings. By this time last year, the police department said, there were 88 gun killings, compared with 68 so far this year.

“Baltimore is a safer city today, and I’m proud of the dedication shown by our officers, community members, and all of our partners in working together towards that goal,” Police Commissioner Richard Worley said in the release.

Murphy, meanwhile, told CNA he thinks the drop in homicides is “due to a few factors, of which I hope we played some part in.”

The priest said the effort to bring down crime has been citywide.

“Mayor [Brandon] Scott has worked hard on this issue [as have] others in the city,” he said. “It is, I think, all of us doing our part that helps real change to come about.”

“And we cannot stop these efforts,” he added. “The city, groups, churches, and neighborhoods [all] have to work together to stop the senseless loss and disrespect of life.”

Pope Leo XIV on July 25, 2025, addresses priests belonging to the Society of St. Xavier and participants of a monthlong seminary formators course at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jul 25, 2025 / 14:53 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV offered three brief suggestions to two groups of priests he met at the Vatican on Friday morning, saying a “solid and integral formation” is essential for all Catholic faithful but especially for those who give Christian formation.

In his July 25 address to priests belonging to the Society of St. Xavier and participants of a monthlong seminary formators course at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, the Holy Father said the main purpose of formation is to have “the same mind” as Jesus Christ and “reflect the Gospel.”

“Indeed, it is necessary that the ‘house’ of our life and vocational journey, whether priestly or lay, be founded on ‘rock,’” the pope said Friday.

The formation of priests, laypeople, and consecrated men and women, Leo said, is not “limited to specialized knowledge” but involves “a continuous journey of conversion.” 

The Holy Father’s first suggestion to build a rock-solid formation was to cultivate a “friendship with Jesus.”

“This is the foundation of the house, which must lie at the heart of every vocation and apostolic mission,” he said. “We need personally to experience the closeness of the Master; to know that we have been seen, loved, and chosen by the Lord by pure grace and without merit on our part.”

The Augustinian pope’s second suggestion for Catholic formators was to live an “effective and affective fraternity” with others.

“It is necessary to learn to live as brothers within the presbyterate as well as in religious communities and with our bishops and superiors,” he said.

“We must work hard on ourselves in order to overcome individualism and the desire to overtake others, which makes us competitors, so that we learn gradually to build human and spiritual relationships that are both healthy and fraternal,” he continued.

Before concluding his Friday meeting with the group of priests, the Holy Father gave his third and final suggestion: “to share the mission with all the baptized.”     

The pope said priests should not view themselves as “lone leaders” or live their ordained ministry with a “sense of superiority” but to be pastors who are “immersed in the reality of the people of God.”

“During the first centuries of the Church, it was usual for all the faithful to be like missionary disciples and to commit themselves personally to evangelization,” Leo explained. “The ordained ministry was at the service of this mission shared by all.” 

“Today, we feel strongly that we must return to this participation of all the baptized in witnessing to and proclaiming the Gospel,” he said.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.” / Credit: Public domain

Vatican City, Jul 25, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).

Update: The Vatican's jubilee office on Tuesday, July 8, removed posts on its website and social media pages referring to plans to expose Frassati's relics as described below. However, the Diocese of Rome confirmed on July 22 that Frassati's incorrupt body will be in Rome for veneration.

The coffin holding the incorrupt body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will be in Rome for veneration during the Jubilee of Youth July 26 through Aug. 4.

According to the Diocese of Rome, the coffin will be transferred from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, in the Italian region of Piedmont, to the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.

The official opening of the veneration will take place on July 26 with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Vicar Baldo Reina, who will also impart a blessing to the volunteers working during the Jubilee.

Frassati, originally scheduled to be canonized on Aug. 3 during the Jubilee of Youth, will now be declared a saint by Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, Sept. 7, together with Blessed Carlo Acutis.

Frassati’s remains will be displayed in the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome until Aug. 4 so that they can be venerated by young people attending jubilee events July 28 through Aug. 3, when Pope Leo will celebrate the youth jubilee’s closing Mass at the Tor Vergata University campus on the southeastern outskirts of Rome.

The relic will return to Turin after a Mass celebrated by Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher on Aug. 4 at 11 a.m. concludes.

The young blessed’s relics were also present at World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, in 2008, at the request of Cardinal George Pell.

Frassati was born to a prominent family in Turin in 1901. He balanced a deep life of faith with active engagement in politics and service to the poor. He joined the Dominican Third Order, climbed Alpine peaks, and distributed food and medicine to the needy in the poorest parts of Turin.

This weekend, towns in northern Italy marked 100 years since Pier Giorgio Frassati’s death on July 4, 1925, from polio.

When Frassati’s coffin was opened during his beatification process in 1981, his body was found to be incorrupt, or preserved from the natural process of decay after death. According to Catholic tradition, incorruptible saints give witness to the truth of the resurrection of the body and the life that is to come.

Ralph Martin appears on a December 2020 episode of “EWTN Live.” / Credit: EWTN

National Catholic Register, Jul 25, 2025 / 13:53 pm (CNA).

Prominent Catholic theologian Ralph Martin says Detroit’s new archbishop told him he fired him from the archdiocese’s seminary faculty over undefined “concerns about my theological perspectives.”

Martin, 82, who had taught at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit since 2002, said Archbishop Edward Weisenburger told him Wednesday he “was terminating my position at the seminary effective immediately.”

“When I asked him for an explanation, he said he didn’t think it would be helpful to give any specifics but mentioned something about having concerns about my theological perspectives,” Martin said in a written statement Thursday afternoon.

“This news came as a shock,” Martin said. “I have contributed much to the seminary over more than 23 years. I even helped introduce and lead, up until yesterday, our flagship pontifical degree program, the Licentiate of Sacred Theology Degree in the New Evangelization.”

Martin did not offer comment about the archbishop, who was installed March 18.

“I want what I say about this situation to be truthful, but I also do not want to unnecessarily contribute to current polarization in the Church,” Martin said.

A spokesman for the archbishop declined comment on Thursday.

Martin and another theologian, Eduardo Echeverria, 74, were fired on Wednesday. Echeverria, who taught philosophy and systematic theology, confirmed his firing Thursday when asked by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, but declined further comment, citing a nondisclosure agreement.

Both men have criticized Pope Francis in the past for what they described as his theologically ambiguous or even misleading public statements.

In January 2024, Martin wrote a column for the Register arguing that an oral statement by Pope Francis during an interview expressing hope that hell is empty “plays into a widespread sympathy towards a heresy called ‘universalism,’ which teaches that perhaps — or certainly — everyone will eventually end up in heaven.”

Martin is the host of “The Choices We Face” on EWTN, which owns the Register and CNA, and has appeared on or hosted other EWTN programs.

He is also the founder and president of Renewal Ministries, which sponsors international missions and holds evangelizing events in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Toronto each year.

In his written statement Thursday, Martin described a busy summer schedule that continues despite his firing from the seminary.

“As I write this, I have just returned from a national deacons’ conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Tomorrow, I will leave for a conference in Birmingham, Alabama. Then, Bishop Scott McCaig and I will leave on Monday for a priests’ retreat supporting hundreds of priests in Cameroon,” Martin said.

When Pope Francis died April 21, Weisenberger called a press conference, during which he praised the late pontiff for his statements on climate change and immigration, among other things, and called Francis “the perfect man at the right time” and suggested he was “a saint.”

The archbishop also praised Pope Francis for his informal speaking style.

“No one could be that transparent and not be authentic,” Weisenburger said. “So many people in the world today, especially on the international stage, measure every word. He didn’t measure anything.”

“He spoke from the heart,” Weisenburger continued. “He spoke what was on his mind. And in that way, I think he kind of just reflected something of the great prophets of Scripture, who would allow the Holy Spirit to well up within them, speak the words, and let it fall on whatever ears would listen.”

A reporter asked the archbishop about how he deals with Catholic conservatives and traditionalists who thought Pope Francis was too liberal.

“Whenever anyone speaks prophetically, they’re always going to rub some people the wrong way,” Weisenburger said.

He said that when he ran into Catholics who didn’t like Pope Francis, they nevertheless accepted him as pope and prayed for him.

“Even the Holy Father himself would say the arms of the Church are broad and wide, and there’s a place for almost everybody. And so I think he was OK with people who ask questions,” Weiseburger said. “And I’m kind of OK with them, too.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Palestinian children shove to receive a meal at a charity kitchen in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2025. The head of Gaza’s largest hospital said 21 children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days, amid a devastating assault by Israeli forces. / Credit: AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 25, 2025 / 13:23 pm (CNA).

The humanitarian organization United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reported that “1 in every 5 children is malnourished in Gaza City” and cases continue to “increase every day.”

In a post to the social media platform X, Commissioner General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini wrote that “when child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold.”

As “more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger,” UNRWA is urging “humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”

Lazzarini said the people in Gaza are “neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.” He added that the children are “emaciated, weak, and at high risk of dying if they don’t get the treatment they urgently need.”

“Parents are too hungry to care for their children” and “families are no longer coping, they are breaking down, unable to survive,” he said. Lazzarini detailed that “those who reach UNRWA clinics don’t have the energy, food, or means to follow medical advice.”

“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave,” Lazzarini wrote. Frontline health workers “are surviving on one small meal a day … if at all. Since they “cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing.” 

In an interview with EWTN on July 24, Gaza parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli also warned of the famine. He said: “There is dire need, particularly for food and medicine.”

Romanelli, who was recently injured in the strike on Holy Family Church, said despite the bombings and lack of resources, “almost no aid has entered northern Gaza.” 

“We implore and beg that large-scale humanitarian assistance be allowed in,” the priest said. “Even though some trucks are looted at times, that cannot justify stopping all humanitarian assistance. The more aid comes in, the less likely theft becomes.”

While families mostly “fend for themselves,” Romanelli shared that the parish cooks for everyone twice per week. But the parish relies mainly on solar panels, and the need for purified water continues.

Amid the devastating war, Pope Leo XIV has called multiple times “for an immediate halt to the barbarism” and “for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

“I renew my appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and to respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of the population,” the pope said.

Cathedral of Bogotá, Colombia. / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/ACI Prensa

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 25, 2025 / 10:10 am (CNA).

An armed group in Colombia pledged to hand over for destruction 13.5 tons of weapons to the Colombian government after reaching an agreement facilitated by the Catholic Church.

The agreement, known as Accord No. 12, was signed July 19 following talks between the government and the armed group known as the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army (CNEB, by its Spanish acronym) held in the Inda Zabaleta Indigenous Reserve in the town of Tumaco.

Representatives of President Gustavo Petro’s government and the CNEB, as well as the bishops’ delegate for church-state relations, Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, were present at the meeting.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Henao explained that the Church representatives “are permanent facilitators at the [negotiating] table, along with the United Nations.”

“Our role is to connect the territories,” Henao said. “We have invited both the diocesan administrator of the Diocese of Tumaco and the priest delegate in the Putumayo administrative district to participate.”

During the talks, the Church helped the negotiators convey “the concerns of the communities” suffering from the armed conflict, who want a guaranteed “level of stability” in the region.

“It’s a very complex issue … very difficult to resolve because a high level of trust is always required,” Henao said.

He said that to build trust, the armed group “agreed … to take the first step: the destruction of these 13 tons of ammunition and devices.”

According to the Colombian presidency, the armed group will hand over 9 tons located in the Nariño district bordering Ecuador and 4.5 tons in Putumayo, a district that also borders Ecuador and Peru.

Local communities will be notified about the process so they are aware that controlled detonations will take place.

The National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army, which is made up of approximately 2,000 people, was part of the Second Marquetalia, one of the armed groups known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which rejected the Peace Agreement signed with the Colombian government in 2016.

The Petro administration held peace talks with the Second Marquetalia, but dialogue broke down at the end of 2024. However, two groups chose to disassociate themselves from the organization and continue negotiations under the name of the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army.

State presence is needed

During the ACI Prensa interview, Henao explained that in Colombia, as in other parts of the world, a phenomenon called “the fragmentation of conflicts” is occurring.

“This fragmentation occurs through the emergence of new groups or the division of existing groups” that control territory as well as illicit economies in Colombia. 

The bishops’ representative said that law enforcement must establish itself as a “state presence” in areas where peace agreements have been reached to “fill the space where illegal actors were present.”

Henao said that “one of the backbones of this entire process must be the implementation of the 2016 agreements signed with the FARC, because there was no adequate and efficient state takeover of the territories where the FARC was present, so new groups emerged.”

Therefore, he said, the state must “establish full democratic governance, which also guarantees the exercise of citizens’ rights and freedoms.”

In its 2025 Humanitarian Situation Report published in June, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicated that from January to April of this year, “the impact of the armed conflict remains alarming, with more than 953,300 people affected (7,900 daily and more than 238,000 per month).”

The document warns that “this number is four times higher than that recorded in the same period in 2024.”

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

Over 200 young people from Tanzania are traveling to Rome as pilgrims to the Jubilee of Youth, an event that is part of the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year. / Credit: AMECEA/Vatican Media

ACI Africa, Jul 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Over 200 young people from Tanzania are traveling to Rome as pilgrims to the Jubilee of Youth, an event that is part of the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year. It is a huge number, coming from Africa, where denied visa applications have blocked many youth from participating in the global July 28 to Aug. 3 event.

Father Liston Lukoo, head of the Youth Department of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), told ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, that excitement is high among those set to travel to Rome for the event. 

For many, this is the first time they are setting foot outside their native country, he said. But their biggest anticipation is to visit the Vatican, and if fortunate, shake hands with the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV.

Asked to describe the mood of those participating in the Vatican pilgrimage, Lukoo said: “Everyone is extremely excited.”

“This is the first time many of these young people are going outside the country,” Lukoo said. “And as you can imagine, going to the Vatican is another story for them. Their biggest excitement, however, is going to shake the hand of the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV.”

The Tanzanian priest gave credit to the Catholic bishops in the East African nation for their mobilization efforts that saw a huge number of young people express their interest to travel to the Vatican for the Jubilee of Youth.

He said that once the event was announced in the TEC plenary assembly, each bishop returned to his diocese and embarked on mobilizing the youth.

Those linked with TEC alone are 54 pilgrims. But other Tanzanian pilgrims have registered to participate through Church groups, individual dioceses and parishes, and even Catholic institutions of learning.

Lukoo is sure that those traveling could exceed 200 — “perhaps 350,” he told ACI Africa.

“We thank God that this year we have a very big number. These 54 [are] just a group, which has been organized by the TEC as a reference point. But we have also a group of about 30 young people traveling from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam. We have a group of about 27 volunteers traveling,” the head of the TEC’s Youth Department said.

He added: “There is also a group of about 80 youths representing a lay group. I am told that we have a group of about 10 young people from the Archdiocese of Tabora also traveling to Rome and many other people registered in various parts of Tanzania.”

Lukoo also spoke about various institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life in Tanzania who he said are making their own travel arrangements for their member pilgrims.

“We know of one Catholic school here that is sending 22 of its learners to represent the rest,” he said. “All this representation is why I confidently say that there could be over 300 young people traveling from Tanzania for the pilgrimage.”

On how the pilgrimage is funded, Lukoo said: “This has been more of an individual arrangement. But we also have dioceses and parishes that have done fundraising for their participants. The TEC youth office has also fully funded seven people for the pilgrimage.”

At Dar es Salaam-based TEC, preparation for the Jubilee of Youth in Rome has involved virtual meetings to pray for the success of the pilgrimage and to also get everything ready for participation, including travel documents.

Communication with the participants has been the biggest challenge for the TEC youth coordination office, Lukoo told ACI Africa, and explained: “It has been very difficult for us to pass messages owing to the complexities of our vast country.”

“Coordination was extremely difficult and sometimes we had to send messages over and over to get people to know what had to be done,” he recalled, adding that the other challenge had to do with finances. Many young people struggled to pay for the trip.

“Some of the participants could not meet the financial demand until the last minute. This has been a very big problem for us because we couldn’t get things going until the last person had paid for the trip,” he said.

Lukoo went on to thank the Italian embassy in Tanzania for being “extremely supportive” to TEC and for ensuring that every young person who did his or her part went through the visa application successfully.

“We have had no single problem with the Italian embassy. Everyone who met their end of the deal has gotten their visas,” he said. “The only problem was that the embassy was overwhelmed by our large numbers. Over 200 interviews is not a joke. The embassy has organized interviews with our young people to this day [July 23] and we hope that this last lot will get their visas tomorrow.”

The biggest support to the young pilgrims, however, came from TEC, which provided technical and moral support to the participants.

The young pilgrims, Lukoo said, needed help in getting these documents to the relevant Vatican offices, in acquiring invitation letters, and all other visa application requirements.

TEC has also been journeying with the group spiritually. Lukoo said that some of those traveling, especially from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam, will have Mass on Friday, July 25, ahead of their departure for Rome on the same day.

“A large group from TEC will also accompany us to the airport and wave a hand of farewell and a safe journey to us,” the priest said.

He told ACI Africa that the entire group of 54 pilgrims from TEC will board one plane. “There will also be other groups on this plane,” he said. “It will be exciting to have a plane full of these Tanzanians, more than 100 of them.”

According to the official Jubilee of Youth website, several key activities have been confirmed. On Tuesday, July 29, at 6 p.m. local time, a welcome Mass is to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Square.

In the following days, Rome will host numerous cultural, artistic, and spiritual initiatives that are distributed throughout the capital city of Italy under the title “Dialogues with the City.”

Friday, Aug. 1, has been reserved as a Penitential Day, to be celebrated in the Circus Maximus, where pilgrims are to be able to receive the sacrament of penance.

On Saturday, Aug. 2, pilgrims are to move to Tor Vergata. And finally, on Sunday, Aug. 3, Pope Leo XIV is to preside over Mass at 9:30 a.m. before bidding farewell to the young pilgrims who are to return to their respective countries.

In the July 23 interview, Lukoo told ACI Africa that for young Tanzanians unable to participate in the Jubilee of Youth in Rome in person, the TEC Youth Department he heads has organized a series of congresses that they would benefit from locally.

Between June 7–12, the youth congress brought together 1,289 high school students who gathered in Tanzania’s Diocese of Shinyanga.

The next youth congress, scheduled for Aug. 19–24, is expected to bring together over 3,000 Young Catholic Workers in Tanzania who will gather in the country’s Archdiocese of Mbeya.

Thereafter will be the Dec. 26–31 congress, during which Catholic university students are to come together in Tanzania’s Diocese of Iringa.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA. 

Priests participate in Holy Thursday Mass in Wrocław Cathedral in Wrocław, Poland, on March 28, 2024. / Credit: FotoDax/Shutterstock

Budapest, Hungary, Jul 25, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Poland stands out as the undisputed leader in religious vocations in Europe in 2025, with 206 new ordained priests, the highest number on the continent. This recent data from the Polish Catholic Information Agency KAI, reported by the Catholic Herald, shows that while much of Europe grapples with declining ordination figures, Poland’s numbers remain robust, reflecting a deep-rooted commitment to religious life.  

This is particularly evident in the Diocese of Tarnów, which leads the country with 13 new priests scheduled for ordination this year.  

In contrast to much of Europe, where the number of new priests has fallen below replacement levels — leading dioceses to increasingly rely on clergy from Africa and Asia — Poland’s continued leadership in ordinations seems to underscore the resilience of its Catholic identity and religious practices. Such resilience is especially significant given that Poland, like other European nations, faces the pressures of secularization, changing family structures, and a declining birth rate.

The number of diocesan ordinations in Poland has declined slightly, with 141 new diocesan priests in 2025 compared with 153 in 2024, but the picture has remained relatively stable in recent years.

Poland’s strength in fostering vocations can be traced to several key factors that distinguish it from much of Europe.

Foremost among these is the nation’s deeply ingrained Catholic identity, which continues to shape the lives of many Polish citizens. According to the 2021 census, nearly 71.4% of the population identify as Roman Catholic. Though this marks a noticeable decline from the 88% who identified as Catholic a decade earlier, Poland still boasts one of the highest church attendance rates in Europe — 29.5% in 2022 — a vital element in sustaining vocations to the priesthood.

The Diocese of Tarnów, located in southern Poland, remains one of the most religious and traditional areas of the country. The diocese is located in a region that was once the Austrian province of Galicia, Marcin Rzegocki, managing director of the Auxilium Foundation of the Diocese of Tarnów, told CNA.

“Due to various historical factors, this region remains one of Poland’s most religious and traditional areas today. In fact, the religious life in this part of Poland is often characterized as heavily clerical in nature,” he said. This long-standing popular devotion has allowed Tarnów to remain a fertile ground for priestly vocations. 

Throughout the 20th century, the diocese enjoyed an abundance of priestly vocations, so much so that it became a source of vocations not only for Polish dioceses but also for dioceses in Western Europe, the U.S., and mission territories.

“Historically, Galicia was also a major source of economic emigration to Western Europe and the Americas,” Rzegocki said. “Even today, priests and nuns from this region can be found serving around the world.” Despite changes in family structures as well as demographic and societal shifts, Tarnów’s religious culture continues to foster a steady stream of vocations.

A central historical figure in the development of Tarnów’s vocational culture was Archbishop Leon Wałęga, who served as the bishop of Tarnów from 1901 to 1931. Wałęga played a crucial role in fostering priestly vocations, particularly through his devotion to Our Lady of Tuchów, an important Marian sanctuary in the diocese.

Wałęga worked alongside the Redemptorist Fathers from Tuchów to promote devotion to the miraculous image of Our Lady. In 1904, he crowned the image — covered by a silver sheet dress — marking the beginning of a deep connection between the diocese and the intercession of the Virgin Mary for priestly vocations.

The coronation ceremony in October 1904, attended by around 130,000 faithful and 200 priests, became a defining moment for the diocese. Wałęga’s act of entrusting the diocese’s vocations to the care of Our Lady of Tuchów marked a profound spiritual commitment that continued to shape the diocese for years to come.

And this tradition has extended beyond Poland’s borders. For over a century, bishops, priests, seminarians, and laypeople alike have made the pilgrimage from many different countries to seek guidance in their discernment and pray for vocations. 

Reflecting on the future of vocations in Poland in an interview with KAI, Bishop Andrzej Przybylski, delegate of the Polish Episcopal Conference for Vocations and president of the National Council for Vocational Pastoral Care, acknowledged both the opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead.

“In Poland, we are still observing a time when the number of vocations is stable, although still very low compared to the most fruitful years,” he said. “We have had a period of significant vocational growth, and we believe that this should continue. The question is how to welcome those who are now discovering this path and decide to walk it.” 

Przybylski emphasized the importance of creating environments for young people to discern their vocations. “We want to accompany vocations. We believe that God calls people how he wants, who he wants, and according to his plans,” he said. “We, however, want to create a vocational culture, to encourage many young people to discover their vocation.”