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

St. Thomas Mission service at Mar Qardakh International School. / Credit: Alex McKenna

ACI MENA, Sep 28, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Every day people from around the world visit Iraq — some to explore an ancient civilization, others as tourists drawn to its natural beauty, and still others seeking work opportunities. But for one group of young Americans, experiencing Iraq has been especially unique, “filled with lessons, encounters, and blessings.”

After joining St. Thomas Mission, an initiative run in partnership with the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Alex McKenna, along with fellow students from Ohio’s Franciscan University of Steubenville, arrived in Iraq to teach in the archdiocese’s schools and experience life and faith there.

At Mar Qardakh International School, the young adult missionaries engage in a wide variety of activities: teaching subjects like history and science, assisting in administration, and leading classes in English and religion.

“I didn’t know much about the Christians of Iraq or their lives beyond what the media reported about their suffering — especially during the ISIS invasion, when so many were forced from their homes to preserve their faith,” McKenna told ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.

“In this mission, we work hard to strengthen Catholic education in a land that first received the Gospel in the first century, where Christians are still striving to hold on to their faith and identity despite many challenges. We pray that the light of Christ continues to shine in this holy land,” he said.

The St. Thomas Mission’s service emphasizes strengthening students’ faith first. Through their personal witness as committed Catholics, the missionaries hope their lives become a model of faith for the young people of Iraq.

“Some of my peers found the early days of teaching very difficult; it was a completely new experience for them, as it was for me. But over the years, I’ve learned from the children, from the teachers, and from the priests and bishop of the archdiocese how to draw closer to God,” McKenna said.

The missionaries’ service extends also to the Catholic University in Erbil, which McKenna called “a beacon of hope,” an institution fostering coexistence among religions and ethnicities in an environment of pluralism and dialogue, deeply rooted in Catholic values.

Living in Iraq has also brought unexpected joys. “We spent our holidays in what I would call educational trips more than tourism, where we experienced the generosity and hospitality of the Iraqi people,” McKenna said.

In Ankawa, the Christian neighborhood of Erbil, “the ringing of church bells calling people to prayer and Mass fills us with joy. Here, you truly sense the love, faith, and deep attachment to the Church.”

Although the Chaldean Church is in full communion with Rome, its liturgy is distinct from the Latin rite. For McKenna, attending Chaldean liturgies has been an unforgettable experience. 

“It was extraordinary to pray in the very language spoken by Christ and to witness a liturgy that traces back to the earliest centuries of Christianity,” he explained.

Now in its fourth year, the St. Thomas Mission continues to serve the schools of the Erbil Archdiocese. For McKenna, the past three years of service have been a treasure, an experience he now carries with him as he begins graduate studies in law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He said he hopes to return to Iraq one day. 

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

St. John Henry Newman near the end of his life, in 1887. / Credit: Babouba, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Sep 28, 2025 / 06:25 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV announced on Sunday that he will proclaim St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church on Nov. 1, the Solemnity of All Saints.

“I will confer the title of doctor of the Church on St. John Henry Newman, who gave a decisive contribution to the renewal of theology and to understanding Christian doctrine in its development, in the context of the Jubilee of the world of education,” the pope said after celebrating Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists in St. Peter's Square.

With the proclamation, Newman will become the 38th doctor of the Church, joining a select group of saints recognized for their enduring contribution to Catholic theology and spirituality. He is especially noted for his insights on the development of doctrine and the role of conscience.

A 19th-century English theologian, Newman was first a renowned Anglican priest before entering the Catholic Church in 1845 under the guidance of Blessed Dominic Barberi. Ordained a Catholic priest two years later, he founded the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England and was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.

“Now people need not go as far away as Spain to see this beautiful thing,” said Christendom College President Emeritus Timothy O’Donnell of the school chapel’s monumental thurible. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Christendom College

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sep 28, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A tradition dating from the 11th century has been brought to Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, extending an enduring symbol of faith and pilgrimage. A jumbo-sized thurible, commissioned by the college and made in Spain, now embellishes the college’s Christ the King chapel.

The connections between Christendom College and the Catholic culture of Spain date back to even before the college’s founding in 1977. Its first president and co-founder, Warren Carroll, took students to Spain on several visits to learn Spain’s history and experience life at El Escorial monastery near Madrid.

Among other works, Carroll, a historian, authored “Isabel of Spain: The Catholic Queen” and “The Last Crusade: Spain 1936” with an interest in defending Catholic faith and culture, said Timothy O’Donnell, the college’s president emeritus, in an interview with CNA.

Believed to be one of the largest thuribles or censers in the world, the famed Botafumeiro is a giant thurible used at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in northern Spain, which has been a pilgrimage destination for centuries, rivaled only by Rome and Jerusalem.

According to tradition, it is the burial place of St. James the Greater, who evangelized the Iberian Peninsula. In a centuries-old tradition, the massive censer, which weighs hundreds of pounds, is swung from ropes when pulled by a team of eight men at the transept of the historic church on feast days. It weighs more than 176 pounds and is over 6 feet tall.

O’Donnell recalled that St. John Paul II said in a homily in 1982, as the first pilgrim pope to Santiago: “This place, so dear to Galicians and Spaniards alike, has in the past been a point of attraction and convergence for Europe and all of Christendom.”

According to O’Donnell: “I was so moved by that because that is the name of our college. So, on certain anniversaries, we would take pilgrimages to Santiago.”

Seeing the giant thurible there ultimately gave him the idea to reproduce such a symbol of faith. “I thought it would be awesome to have something like this in the new chapel.” He turned to Heritage Liturgical, which designed and realized the project.

“Now people need not go as far away as Spain to see this beautiful thing and incense going up to heaven like the prayers of the faithful and angels going to God on high,” he said. In a tradition dating back to the Old Testament, costly incense was a sacrifice; after the coming of Christ, it joins our prayers with his perfect prayer and sacrifice.

Instead of producing an exact reproduction of the Botafumeiro in Spain, Heritage Liturgical executed a censer that echoes the design of the chapel. Enzo Selvaggi, principal and creative director of Heritage Liturgical, told CNA that Christendom’s monumental thurible was “designed in a cogent and well-defined Gothic Revival mode to fit the architecture of the college’s Chapel of Christ the King.”

Emilio León, a silversmith of Córdoba, Spain, was selected for the project and helped restore the original Botafumeiro. Starting in 2021, León sculpted and chiseled for a year and a half to complete the work, which is silver-plated brass.

In an email to CNA, León wrote: “I incorporated my spiritual and religious values, just as I do in all my work, giving my best effort, knowing that it is for the glory of God.” León belongs to a royal fraternity that preserves Catholic traditions such as Holy Week processions and the dignity of sacred spaces.

León is also working on other projects for Heritage Liturgical to be installed in the U.S. For Catholics in Spain, he continued, the Botafumeiro represents “the grandeur of Christ the King and the apostle James.”

Christendom’s thurible is normally displayed near the image of the Virgin Mary in the chapel. On feast days of the Church, it is brought near the central altar where it is hoisted on chains and swung by senior students, much in the tradition of Spain. The next feast day for swinging the grand censer will be the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, on Nov. 23.

Selvaggi told CNA that in works produced by Heritage Liturgical, the Catholic principle of sacramentality applies at their conception so that designers and artists use matter, as do theologians, to “make a spiritual reality encounterable in the world.”

Both Selvaggi and León are working on other projects destined for the U.S., including helping to restore churches in Nebraska and Georgia, and designing mosaics for churches in Wisconsin. The message from the company affirmed that the new thurible at Christendom College is “captivating not only because of its size and beauty, but more importantly, because it reveals something that already exists: the love of God that causes us to send our prayers rising up to God.”

null / Credit: Sora Shimazaki/Pexels

CNA Staff, Sep 27, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

The New York Supreme Court has tossed out a lawsuit against the Diocese of Buffalo challenging a diocesan plan requiring payments to help settle the diocese’s abuse settlement.

Parishioners suing the diocese had won a reprieve in July when the state Supreme Court instituted a temporary halt on the payments.

The parishioners had argued that the diocese should await the Vatican’s ruling on a diocesan merger plan before requiring the parishes to pay the highest-level payment rate into the settlement.

But Judge John Delmonte, who had issued the injunction in July, said in his Sept. 26 ruling that the issue turned on whether the Supreme Court “has any measure of jurisdiction” to adjudicate the dispute.

“It has been repeatedly and consistently stated that the courts of this state ‘adhere to the long-recognized and sensible prohibition against court involvement in the governance and administration of a hierarchal church,’” he wrote.

The Buffalo Diocese told media in a statement that it was “pleased” with Delmonte’s ruling that the diocese “maintains the authority for decisions that clearly involve matters specific to the operations of parishes” in the diocese itself.

The advocacy group Save Our Buffalo Churches said in a statement that the plaintiffs in the suit “will be meeting with their attorneys” in the wake of the ruling.

The group said the lawsuit could move to an appellate court.

The Diocese of Buffalo, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020 amid a large number of abuse claims, announced earlier this year that its parishes would be required to pay up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” to help fund the settlement for abuse victims.

Closing or merging parishes are required to pay the top-tier 80% rate, the diocese said. Bishop Michael Fisher called the required contributions “necessary to bring to a close this painful chapter of our diocese and achieve a level of restitution that is owed” to victims of sexual abuse.

Father Marco Billeri with Pope Leo XIV. / Diocese of San Miniato.

Vatican City, Sep 27, 2025 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Bishop Giovanni Paccosi of San Miniato announced Sept. 27 that Pope Leo XIV has named Father Marco Billeri, a priest of the Italian diocese, as his second personal secretary.

Father Billeri, ordained in 2016, continued his studies in Rome where he earned a doctorate in canon law. He has served as a judge at the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Tuscany, defender of the bond at the diocesan tribunals of San Miniato and Volterra, episcopal master of ceremonies, and secretary of the presbyteral council. Until now he has been associate pastor of the parish of Saints Stephen and Martin in San Miniato Basso.

In a statement, Bishop Paccosi called the appointment “a great gift” for the diocese. He recalled receiving a personal phone call from the pope the previous week asking his consent to release Father Billeri for this new mission. “I felt both joy and a sense of vertigo, thinking that Father Marco will now be at the heart of the Church of Christ,” the bishop said. He invited the faithful to pray for Billeri and for the diocese, noting that closer ties with the pope and the universal Church should strengthen awareness of their own mission.

Father Billeri will work alongside the pope’s first personal secretary, Peruvian Father Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga.

Pope Leo XIV greets an audience at the Jubilee of Catechists at the Vatican, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Sep 27, 2025 / 09:50 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has chosen as the theme for World Day of the Sick 2026: “The Compassion of the Samaritan: Loving by Bearing the Pain of Others.”

The theme focuses on the Gospel figure of the Good Samaritan, “who shows love by taking care of the wounded and abandoned man on the road,” according to a press release issued by the Holy See. 

The Vatican said the theme is meant to emphasize an essential aspect of love of neighbor, one requiring concrete gestures of closeness while being capable of assuming the fragility and suffering of others, particularly those who experience illness accompanied by poverty, isolation, or loneliness.

The Holy See also recalled that today, Christ, the “Good Samaritan,” continues to draw close to wounded humanity and, through the sacraments of the Church, pours out “the oil of consolation and the wine of hope.” 

In this way, he “[inspires] actions and gestures of help and closeness for those who live in conditions of fragility due to illness,” the Holy See said. 

The upcoming World Day of the Sick will take place on Feb. 11, 2026. 

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

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 27, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).

A looming U.S. government shutdown could affect Roman Catholic churches and Catholic institutions that depend on government funding.

The closure, which will come about if lawmakers cannot agree on a spending package to fund the federal government, could pause military members’ ability to attend Mass, interrupt subsidized meals for preschoolers in Catholic schools, and limit assistance with church security. Congress so far lacks agreement on funding federal agencies when the budget year begins on Oct. 1.

A shutdown would mean housing, health, and food programs for people in need could experience cascading delays, according to a Sept. 26 statement by Catholic Charities USA.

“A government shutdown would result in more people falling into poverty, and the recovery from such a setback could take several months or even years,” the statement said. 

“One thing we can all agree on is that the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable in society should not suffer because lawmakers cannot come to an agreement.”

Besides Church-related programs, a shutdown would affect a range of other services, including education for at-risk preschoolers, scientific research, and grants to charitable organizations. 

Many Catholic entities rely on federal funding from Head Start, an early childhood education program that offers health screenings and meals to families below the federal poverty level. 

Military Masses, church security

Military worship services could be affected in a lengthy shutdown. In an extended shutdown in 2013, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said it would lack a Catholic priest to celebrate Sunday Mass at chapels at some U.S. military installations where non-active-duty priests serve as government contractors.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Federal efforts to “maintain safe and secure houses of worship” also could be degraded at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency in a government shutdown. Two children died in August in a mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis. 

The federal agency provides resources that assist houses of worship in securing physical and digital infrastructure. The department said in anticipation of a narrowly avoided government shutdown in 2023 that it “would also be forced to suspend both physical and cybersecurity assessments for government and industry partners.”

Federal agencies have not yet issued contingency plans for a potential shutdown, and the security agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sept. 27, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Sep 27, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV marked the Jubilee of Catechists on Saturday, urging practitioners of the Church’s lay teaching ministry to hand on the faith in a way that helps others encounter Christ personally, rooted in humility and hope.

In his general catechesis, the pope spoke to all the faithful: “God reveals himself to those who are simple and humble of heart because they are open to receiving him,” he said.

Leo recalled the election of St. Ambrose as bishop of Milan, chosen by popular acclaim while still preparing for baptism. “It was also docility that led Ambrose to respond to that call, trusting in the grace of God,” he said.

Christians today, he added, are likewise invited “to become childlike. Whether we are parents, students, or catechists; businesspeople, priests, or religious, we are all called to live our Christian faith authentically by humbly following the Lord’s inspirations.”

The Jubilee of Catechists is one of a series of themed celebrations during the Holy Year 2025, which centers on the theme of hope. Each gathering highlights how different vocations and ministries can bear witness to the renewal of the Church and the world. This weekend, more than 20,000 pilgrims from 115 countries have come to Rome for the celebration dedicated to catechists.

The jubilee opened Friday evening with a prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica following a day of pilgrimages to the Holy Door. It will conclude Sunday morning with a Mass in St. Peter’s Square at 10 a.m., during which the pope will confer the lay ministry of catechist on 39 men and women. Among them is Catherine Miles-Flynn, an American mother of eight serving in the Arabian Peninsula, profiled here.

At the end of the Saturday audience, the pope offered a special word to catechists: “As you instruct others in the faith, keep in mind the importance of teaching them to cultivate a relationship with Jesus. May his love revive in all of us the hope that does not disappoint.”

The longtime pro-life advocate Anna Záborská served in both the Slovak and European Parliaments during her political career. / Credit: The Collegium of Anton Neuwirth

Rome, Italy, Sep 27, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A pro-life politician who earned respect across party lines for her unwavering advocacy and integrity has left a lasting legacy in Slovakia and European politics following her death on Aug. 20.

Anna Záborská, 77, built a distinguished career spanning both Slovak and European Parliaments while consistently championing traditional family values, religious freedom, and the rights of the unborn — positions that sparked controversy yet garnered admiration even from political opponents.

Early life and family background

Born in Switzerland in 1948, Záborská was the daughter of Anton Neuwirth, who worked alongside Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Karrer. After the family returned to Czechoslovakia, her father became a political prisoner under the communist regime. Following the fall of communism, Neuwirth made history as the first ambassador of the newly independent Slovak Republic to the Holy See.

Political career

Following her father’s path in both medicine and public service, Záborská built an impressive political career. She served multiple terms in the Slovak Parliament in Bratislava before being elected to the European Parliament in Brussels, where she notably chaired the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

She later returned to Slovak politics while also serving as plenipotentiary of the government of the Slovak Republic for the protection of freedom of religion or belief.

The position was created in September 2021 by Slovakia’s government, which recognized “the growing seriousness of the problem of violations of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion in the world.” Záborská was appointed to this role just days before Pope Francis visited Slovakia.

The position was eliminated in November 2023.

Advocacy and beliefs

Záborská was a steadfast advocate for pro-life causes, traditional family values, and religious freedom. She consistently spoke out for the rights of the unborn, pregnant women, and what she termed the “natural family.” Her advocacy extended internationally, including support for women’s rights in Iran.

She often drew parallels between communist oppression and modern secular challenges to religious freedom. Recalling how communists labeled her father “a Vatican spy,” she noted that some European Parliament colleagues used similar accusations against her, suggesting they “unconsciously conform their opinions to those who once helped build a monstrous communist regime.”

A vision for a continent in crisis

Twenty years ago, at a Rome conference, Záborská expressed concern about Europe’s direction, identifying “an ever more profound crisis of European civilization” that she believed was “strictly connected to the crisis of the faith in God and weakening of family.” Despite these concerns, she maintained hope that Europe could overcome its challenges through “untiring teaching of the Church among peoples sustained by patient diplomacy of the Holy See.”

While Záborská’s positions generated controversy and criticism from extreme leftists, radical feminists, and abortion advocates, she earned respect across party lines for her integrity and consistency.

A progressive Slovak daily acknowledged that “she was admired, even beyond her supporters, for her integrity and consistency. Few Slovak politicians of her generation maintained such a steady ideological course over decades.”

Some within her own conservative circle occasionally viewed her kindness as a political weakness. However, Archbishop Bernard Bober, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Slovakia, praised her character: “She was a woman with an open heart who could bring people together with kindness, tenderness, and peace.” He emphasized that her faith was not merely rhetorical but “a lifestyle, which she showed in service and work.”

Philanthropic work

Beyond her political activities, Záborská demonstrated her commitment to her values through personal sacrifice, donating a significant portion of her parliamentary salary to charitable causes that support women and the education of young Catholic intellectuals.

Bober summarized her life’s message as: “Loyalty, humility, and service have the power to change the world for the better.”

St. Vincent de Paul. / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, Sep 27, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Sept. 27 the Catholic Church remembers St. Vincent de Paul, the 17th-century French priest known as the patron of Catholic charities for his apostolic work among the poor and marginalized.

During a September 2010 Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI noted that St. Vincent “keenly perceived the strong contrast between the richest and the poorest of people” and was “encouraged by the love of Christ” to “organize permanent forms of service” to provide for those in need.

The exact year of Vincent’s birth is not definitively known, but it has been placed between 1576 and 1581. Born to a poor family in the southwest of France, he showed his intellectual gifts from a young age, studying theology from around age 15. He received ordination as a priest in the year 1600 and worked as a tutor to students in Toulouse.

During a sea voyage in 1605, Vincent was seized by Turkish pirates and sold into slavery. His ordeal of captivity lasted until 1607, during which time the priest converted his owner to the Christian faith and escaped with him from Tunisia. Afterward, he spent time studying in Rome, and — in a striking reversal of fortune — served as an educator and spiritual guide to members of an upper-class French family.

Although Vincent had initially begun his priesthood with the intention of securing a life of leisure for himself, he underwent a change of heart after hearing the confession of a dying peasant. Moved with compassion for the poor, he began undertaking missions and founding institutions to help them both materially and spiritually. The onetime slave also ministered to convicts forced to serve in squalid conditions as rowers aboard galley ships.

Vincent established the Congregation of Priests of the Mission in 1625 as part of an effort to evangelize rural populations and foster vocations to remedy a priest shortage. Not long after this, he worked with the future St. Louise de Marillac to organize the Daughters of Charity, the first congregation of women religious whose consecrated life involved an extensive apostolate among the poor, the sick, and prisoners.

Under Louise’s direction, the order collected donations, which Vincent distributed widely among those in need. These contributions went toward homes for abandoned children, a hospice for the elderly, and an immense complex where 40,000 poor people were given lodging and work. Vincent was involved in various ways with all of these works as well as with efforts to help refugees and to free those sold into slavery in foreign lands.

Though admired for these accomplishments during his lifetime, the priest maintained great personal humility, using his reputation and connections to help the poor and strengthen the Church. Doctrinally, Vincent was a strong opponent of Jansenism, a theological heresy that denied the universality of God’s love and discouraged reception of the Eucharist. He was also involved in the reform of several religious orders within France.

St. Vincent de Paul died on Sept. 27, 1660, only months after the death of St. Louise de Marillac in March of the same year. Pope Clement XII canonized him in 1737. In 1835, the French scholar Blessed Frederic Ozanam took him as the inspiration and namesake for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a lay Catholic organization working for the relief of the poor.

This story was first published on Sept. 23, 2012, and has been updated.