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

A view of a marijuana plant on Aug. 11, 2025, in San Anselmo, California. Cannabis company stocks surged by up to 10% on reports that the Trump administration is considering rescheduling marijuana on the federal level, from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. The move would step toward the decriminalization of the drug nationwide. / Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 20, 2025 / 16:58 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump announced he might loosen the federal restrictions on marijuana, but moral and legal scholars who spoke with CNA this week expressed concern about the drug and its impact on American society.

The federal government considers marijuana — also referred to as cannabis, the name of the plant that contains psychoactive compounds called cannabinoids — a Schedule I substance. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), this is reserved for drugs with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Trump said in a news conference Aug. 11 that he is considering rescheduling it to Schedule III, which is a drug “with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence” and has abuse potential “less than Schedule I,” according to the DEA.

“We’re looking at reclassification and we’ll make a determination over the next … few weeks and that determination will hopefully be the right one,” the president said.

Trump called it a “very complicated subject” and said he hears good things about medical cannabis and bad things “with just about everything else.”

Federal law prohibits the sale of marijuana for recreational and medical use, but 40 states have medical cannabis programs and 24 states legalized recreational use. Both violate federal law, but the government has generally allowed states to regulate it as they see fit rather than enforce the prohibition.

Rescheduling marijuana would not lift the ban, but it could reduce criminal penalties, open the door for more medical research, and potentially be a step toward further deregulation.

Charles Nemeth, the director of the Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics at Franciscan University, told CNA that Schedule III is “generally for more minor things” and “the seriousness and the impact is supposed to be reflected in these schedules.”

“The [federal] ban would not exist in the same way [if Trump reschedules marijuana],” Nemeth said. “Right now, the drug is an illicit drug and it can be a felony, depending on how much you have or how much you’re selling.”

“It [would] have an enormous impact on the policymaking of law enforcement, decision-making, [and] what they concentrate on,” he added. “They [would] not look at the drug as much as they used to.”

Concerns about recreational use

The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not directly mention marijuana but broadly teaches “the use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life.” It calls drug use a “grave offense” with the exception of drugs used on “strictly therapeutic grounds,” such as treatment for a condition.

Nemeth said “marijuana’s destructive impact” is clear in studies about mental acuity and brain development, calling it “destructive to intellectual formation.” He also pointed to concerns that it may harm fertility.

On top of this, Nemeth noted the immediate impact of the high, saying: “It shuts your mind down; it makes you less intellectually curious than you normally would be.”

“It’s so contrary to human flourishing,” Nemeth said. “There is nothing that comes from the perpetual smoking of marijuna that has a positive impact on the human person.”

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, also has concerns about rescheduling marijuana, telling CNA that labeling it a Schedule I drug has “sent a much-needed message to Americans and drawn a kind of moral line for many years.”

“Adults who smoke[d] marijuana regularly during adolescence have decreased neural connectivity (abnormal brain development and fewer fibers) in specific brain regions,” he said. “These notable effects of marijuana on brain development may help to explain the association between frequent marijuana use among adolescents and significant declines in IQ, as well as poor academic performance and an increased risk of dropping out of school.”

He said drug users “seek to escape or otherwise suppress their lived conscious experience and instead pursue chemically-altered states of mind, or drug-induced pseudo-experiences.”

“Any time we act in such a manner that we treat something objectively good as if it were an evil by acting directly against it, we act in an immoral and disordered fashion and make a poor and harmful choice,” Pacholczyk said.

Catholic Answers’ senior apologist Jimmy Akin echoed those concerns, noting that “all mind-altering substances — including both marijuana and alcohol — have the potential to be misused in sinful ways.”

“The classic Catholic moral analysis distinguishes imperfect intoxication, which does not rob one of the gift of reason, from perfect intoxication, which does and disposes one to commit grave sins,” he told CNA. “To deliberately engage in perfect intoxication is itself gravely sinful.”

Jared Staudt, a Catholic theologian who serves as director of content for Exodus 90, told CNA “a federal reclassification would only further the damage” of recreational marijuana.

“It’s time to acknowledge that legalization has proven to be a failed experiment,” he said.

What about medical cannabis?

Trump’s primary motivation for the potential rescheduling is his interest in research for medicinal uses of cannabis.

According to Akin, “Catholics may have different opinions on the best legal policy regarding marijuana.” He said learning about medicinal uses could have benefits but that Catholics should make informed decisions.

“Catholics contemplating using medical marijuana should consider whether the science actually supports its use as the best treatment for a condition or whether the science has been ‘cooked’ to make marijuana more available,” he said. “If marijuana really is the best treatment for a condition, it is licit to use it for that purpose. If there is a better treatment, then that should be used instead.”

Nemeth expressed concern about most purported uses of medical cannabis. He said there are almost always alternatives to marijuana, which is a “mind-altering … product.” For mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, he said it may mask symptoms “just because you’re high” but does not provide a cure and could exacerbate issues long-term.

“Most people who need to be high all the time are either anxious people or unhappy people or people in distress,” he said.

Alternatively, some Catholic hospitals have engaged in research about the use of medical cannabis as an alternative to opioids for pain management.

Bishop Giovanni Arana (right), secretary-general of the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference, seated beside Susana Inch, a lawyer and legal adviser to the bishops. / Credit: Bolivian Bishops’ Conference

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

The Bolivian Bishops’ Conference (CEB, by its Spanish acronym) expressed hope after Bolivia’s recent general election, which marked a change in the country’s political direction.

Rodrigo Paz Pereira, the centrist Christian Democratic Party candidate for president who won the Aug. 17 election, will now face former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in a runoff. The unexpected result is viewed as a setback for the far-left Movement Toward Socialism, the party that governed the country for two decades.

Amid food shortages, historic inflation, political confrontations, and a climate of violence in the country, Bolivians voted for change. 

In an Aug. 18 statement, the bishops celebrated voter turnout on Election Day. “This demonstration of democratic commitment, hope, and responsibility on the part of the Bolivian people — who experienced a great historic occasion, marked by respect and the will to decide the country’s course — should characterize the path ahead,” they said.

They also praised the work of the institutions responsible for ensuring the integrity of the electoral process, “so that Election Day would be held within a framework of trust and respect for the will of the Bolivian people.”

“We welcome with hope the election results that open a new chapter in the country’s political history,” the bishops stated, saying the election gave “a voice to all Bolivians who strive and yearn for significant change.”

The CEB congratulated the candidates who qualified for the runoff, scheduled for Oct. 19.

The bishops urged the public to “continue to responsibly inform themselves about each candidate’s proposals in this new electoral phase.”

“We invite all Bolivians to maintain unity, respect, and solidarity in these decisive moments. May God continue to accompany the history of our homeland, and may the Virgin Mary always intercede for better days for all,” they concluded.

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

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful at the gates of Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 19, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Speaking to reporters at Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 19, Pope Leo XIV expressed hope for an end to the war in Ukraine but noted that hard work and prayer are needed so that the peace negotiations may bear fruit. 

According to Vatican News, before returning to the Vatican after his morning visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Mentorella, Mother of Graces, the pontiff spoke with journalists waiting outside the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo about the conflict in the heart of Europe: “There is hope, but we still need to work hard, pray hard, and truly seek the way forward to find peace.” 

Leo XIV made these comments just after 9 p.m. local time after greeting hundreds of pilgrims gathered in the street, some of whom were able to speak briefly with the pontiff.

First 100 days, ‘a blessing from God’

Asked about his first 100 days as bishop of Rome and successor to St. Peter, the pontiff simply said that they have been “a blessing from God.”

“I receive so much, I believe deeply in the Lord’s grace, and I am very grateful for the welcome I have received. I thank you all,” he said before leaving for the Vatican. 

Before that, Pope Leo XIV did not miss the opportunity to express his gratitude for the opportunity to enjoy Castel Gandolfo, where he hopes to return soon: “Being here is a blessing; I am very happy with the welcome I have received from the people.”

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

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 13:26 pm (CNA).

Pro-life activists in New York state were awarded $1 this month after a court found that a county abortion clinic rule violated their constitutional free speech rights. 

The Thomas More Society brought suit in federal district court in 2022 against New York’s Westchester County over its rule forbidding “interference” with abortion access there. 

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found in favor of pro-life sidewalk counselors Oksana Hulinsky and Regina Molinelli, with District Judge Philip Halpern ruling on Aug. 12 that the county ordinance violated the activists’ free speech and due process rights. 

The plaintiffs were only seeking “nominal damages” in the suit, the court noted, leading Halpern to order the $1 award. The county had already repealed the ordinance in question prior to the ruling.

Thomas More Society attorney Christopher Ferrara said in a press release that the ruling sends a “powerful message to municipalities nationwide” that “vague laws targeting pro-life speech will not stand.”

“Westchester County’s pro-life sidewalk counselors seek only to offer compassionate, life-affirming alternatives on public sidewalks — as is their First Amendment right,” he said. 

“Westchester’s arrogant overreach tried to silence their voices, but this decision helps reaffirm their constitutional freedom to share the pro-life message.”

The law firm, however, noted that it would appeal an earlier court ruling that upheld parts of the law that forbid so-called “following-and-harassing” behavior.

Rules regarding conduct outside of abortion clinics have become legal flashpoints in the abortion debate around the U.S. and internationally in recent years. 

The Supreme Court earlier this year refused to hear a case involving a “buffer zone” around abortion clinics in Carbondale, Illinois. That rule criminalizes approaching within eight feet of another person without his or her consent for purposes of protest, education, or counseling within 100 feet of a health care facility.

In 2023 a Washington state county judge ordered a pro-life group to pay nearly $1 million to Planned Parenthood for gathering and praying outside of one of its abortion clinics. 

Earlier this month, a 28-year-old man was found guilty of assaulting two elderly pro-life activists in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in Baltimore, though the perpetrator was sentenced to just one year of home detention. 

Last year, meanwhile, a national “buffer zone” law went into effect across England and Wales barring protests outside abortion facilities. Officials stipulated that silently praying outside of abortion clinics is “not necessarily” a crime under the new rules.

Pope Leo XIV waves during his Wednesday audience Aug. 20, 2025. In a telegram dated the same day, he called moral theologians meeting in Colombia to “find a balanced synthesis” between “the laws of God” and the “dynamics of man’s conscience and freedom” in the spirit of St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 20, 2025 / 12:56 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday invited participants attending the 17th International Congress of Moral Theology in Colombia to reflect on the world’s challenges and conflicts in light of divine revelation revealed through Jesus Christ.

The theme of the two-day congress, held at the San Alfonso University Foundation in the country’s capital, Bogotá, from Aug. 20–21, is “Ethics of the 21st Century: Changes and Conflicts in Society, Gender, AI, and Integral Ecology.”

In an Aug. 20 telegram signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Leo expressed his hope that the international congress will give theologians an opportunity to “find a balanced synthesis” between “the laws of God” and the “dynamics of man’s conscience and freedom” in the spirit of St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori.

According to the Holy Father, the Italian saint and Church doctor was a “visible sign of God’s infinite mercy” who assumed a “charitable, understanding, and patient attitude” toward others. 

At the end of the short telegram, Pope Leo invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Seat of Wisdom,” to protect the men and women from various countries participating in the conference.

The 16th edition of the Redemptorist university’s moral theology congress took place in 2023 and focused on the topic of ethical and bioethical challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Arabian Peninsula. / Credit: NASA Images/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approved the new regional calendar of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, thereby granting new patron saints for the Arabian Peninsula.

The vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church that encompasses the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Sultanate of Oman, and the Republic of Yemen. The vicariate is headed by Italian Bishop Paolo Martinelli with its seat in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

“This liturgical calendar reflects the religious history of the Church in a specific region, incorporating local saints of special significance,” the vicariate stated Aug. 19 on its official website.

Sts. Peter and Paul are the new patrons of the vicariate, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Arabia, is now the patroness of all the Gulf countries. The newly approved calendar also honors other saints directly linked to the region: the sixth-century Yemeni martyrs Arethas and Companions (Oct. 24); the Ethiopian king Caleb (Elesbaan), who contributed to the Christianization of Yemen (May 15); and Blessed Charles Deckers, a missionary priest committed to interfaith dialogue in Yemen, who was martyred in Algeria (May 8).

The calendar also includes saints from the wider region connected with the spread of Christianity in Arabia. Among these are the third-century martyrs Cosmas and Damian (Sept. 26) and the fifth-century ascetic Simeon Stylite, whose witness brought many Arabs of the interior to the faith (July 27).

Every Nov. 5, the vicariate will commemorate all deceased missionaries who served in the region. With a view to fostering ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the calendar includes the commemoration of St. Isaac, “originally venerated within the Assyrian Church of the East and added to the Roman Martyrology by Pope Francis,” every Oct. 9 alongside the patriarch Abraham.

Moses will also be celebrated every Sept. 4 and Job every May 10, but the latter will only be observed in Salalah, Oman. “They are all figures of profound significance both in Eastern Christianity and the other Abrahamic religions,” the vicariate noted.

In addition, the Vatican approved three special days of penance and prayer for the fruits of the earth and priestly vocations, called Ember Days, traditionally celebrated at the beginning of the different seasons.

“According to the calendar, the first Friday of March (during Lent) will be dedicated to praying for the needs of the Church in the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, especially for peace and the increase of vocations,” the statement read.

“The first Fridays of June and November, marking the onset of summer and winter respectively, will be dedicated to thanksgiving for the gifts of creation, the fruits of the earth, petitions for favorable weather, and prayers for the responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources,” the vicariate added.

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

Pope Leo XIV greets a young papal admirer in St. Peter’s Basilica during the general audience on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 20, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday continued his catechesis on “Jesus Christ Our Hope” and invited Catholics around the world to dedicate the Aug. 22 feast of the Queenship of Mary to a day of prayer and fasting for world peace.

After delivering his Aug. 20 catechesis to approximately 6,000 international pilgrims gathered inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall, the Holy Father urged his listeners to ask the Mother of God and “Queen of Peace” to intercede for those suffering due to war and violence.

“As our world continues to be wounded by wars in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, and in other parts of the world, I invite all the faithful to live the day of Aug. 22 as a day of prayer and fasting, imploring the Lord to grant us peace and justice, and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer because of ongoing armed conflicts,” he said.

“May Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede so that peoples may find the path of peace,” he prayed.

‘Forgiveness frees those who give it’

In his Wednesday catechesis, the Holy Father emphasized the power of forgiveness shown through the example of Jesus Christ when faced with the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, one of his 12 disciples.

“Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass ... he loved them to the end,” the pope said, citing Chapter 13 of St. John’s Gospel.

“To love until the end: Here is the key to understanding Christ’s heart,” he said. “A love that does not cease in the face of rejection, disappointment, even ingratitude.”

Speaking about the link between love and freedom, the Holy Father said Jesus was not blindsided by Judas’ decision but chose to reach out to him even though “his love must pass through the most painful wound” of betrayal.

“Instead of withdrawing, accusing, defending himself ... he continues to love: He washes the feet, dips the bread and offers it,” the pope said during the catechesis.

“He knows that true forgiveness does not await repentance but offers itself first, as a free gift, even before it is accepted,” he added.

According to Leo, the gift of forgiveness is not a sign of “weakness” or “forgetfulness” but a manifestation of “the true face of hope” and salvation.

“It is the ability to set the other free, while loving him to the end,” he said. “Jesus’ love does not deny the truth of pain, but it does not allow evil to have the last word.” 

“This is the mystery Jesus accomplishes for us, in which we too, at times, are called to participate,” he said.

Pope Leo spent more than one hour greeting groups of pilgrims who came to the Vatican to see him on Wednesday. 

After the catechesis, the Holy Father imparted his apostolic blessing to those gathered inside the Paul VI Audience Hall, then walked to Piazza del Sant’Uffizio and St. Peter’s Basilica to meet with pilgrims and share a condensed version of his catechesis in Italian, Spanish, and English.

Lebanese Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church, gives a homily during the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 9, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Aug 20, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV could visit Lebanon before the end of the year, the leader of the country’s Maronite Catholics said Tuesday.

In an interview with the Saudi-based television station Al Arabiya, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Raï, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church, said Pope Leo XIV “will come to visit Lebanon sometime between now and December,” adding that he was not sure when the trip would be. 

“The visit will happen after a decision from the Vatican about when it will take place, so until now it’s not yet determined. But preparations for the visit are underway, though the exact timing is still unknown, waiting for the Vatican to announce it,” Raï said. 

The Vatican has not yet announced any official international trips for the new pontiff, but speculation has swirled for months about where his first journeys abroad may take him.

According to veteran Middle East expert and EWTN News contributor Alberto Fernández, the expected visit will likely be connected to a papal trip to Nicaea — located in modern-day İznik in northwestern Turkey — to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council. The most likely date is Nov. 30, St. Andrew’s Day, when a Catholic delegation traditionally visits Turkey. 

Reports have also suggested that Pope Leo XIV could add other stops to a Turkey visit. The National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, reported last month that a papal visit to Algeria — following in the footsteps of St. Augustine, who was bishop of Hippo in what is now Annaba — was among itineraries under consideration. Lebanon has now emerged as another possible destination.

A papal trip to Lebanon was long discussed under Pope Francis, but the country’s political and economic crises complicated planning. Francis publicly expressed his desire to visit Lebanon during an in-flight press conference returning from Iraq in March 2021. A few months later, Vatican officials said a visit would depend on the formation of a government.

In April 2022, then-President Michel Aoun announced that Francis would travel to Lebanon that June, but the trip never materialized. Lebanon was also floated as a potential meeting place between Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill after the start of the Ukraine war, an encounter that never happened.

Lebanon endured a prolonged political vacuum after Aoun’s term ended in October 2022. The country remained without a head of state until Joseph Aoun was elected president on Jan. 9, 2025.

The last papal visit to Lebanon was in September 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI visited Beirut and other parts of the country. Since then, Lebanon has been battered by the Syrian civil war, which brought in more than 1.5 million refugees, a financial collapse that saw the Lebanese pound lose 97% of its value against the U.S. dollar since 2019, and the devastating Beirut port explosion in 2020. Electricity outages left citizens with power for only hours a day during the worst of the crisis.

Tensions also remain high along Lebanon’s southern border. During the Gaza war, Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs in September and October 2024. Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Sept. 27, 2024, heightening fears of a broader conflict with Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s population of nearly 6 million is about 68% Muslim, divided between Sunnis and Shiites, and about 28% Christian, most of whom are Maronite Catholics, according to 2020 statistics from the Pew Research Center.

While the Vatican has not responded to a request for comment on Raï’s remarks, speculation continues about where Pope Leo XIV may travel in coming years. Spanish Catholics have expressed hope that Leo could visit Barcelona, Spain, next year for the completion of the Sagrada Família. Trips to Peru and the United States have also been discussed for 2026 — a year that will mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

ACI MENA correspondent Elias Turk provided the translation from Arabic of the cardinal’s remarks for this article.

The Kiruna Church on the move in northern Sweden, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. / Credit: TorbjørnS/Wikimeda (CC BY 4.0)

CNA Newsroom, Aug 20, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Sweden’s beloved Kiruna Church is concluding a carefully choreographed crawl across the Arctic mining town on Wednesday, completing a two-day, 3-mile journey that successfully saved the 113-year-old Lutheran landmark from destruction.

The mammoth move has seen the wooden structure, weighing over 600 tons, transported on specialized trailers traveling at about 1,600 feet per hour.

Located 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden’s far northern Lapland region, Kiruna is not only the northernmost city in Sweden but also sits atop one of the planet’s richest iron ore deposits, which has been mined continuously since the 1890s.

The relocation is part of Kiruna’s broader urban transformation, required because of subsidence — the gradual sinking of the ground triggered by the nearby iron ore mine.

More recently, Europe’s largest deposit of rare earths was located in the area. 

Sweden’s most beautiful building

Lena Tjärnberg, vicar of the Protestant parish, blessed the beginning of the historic relocation on Monday morning, acknowledging both the necessity and heartbreak of departing the church’s original site after more than a century of ministry.

“The church is leaving from a place where it truly belongs,” Tjärnberg told the BBC, which covered the unprecedented engineering feat.

“Everyone understands that it must be moved: We live in a mining community that depends on the mine.”

The red wooden church — voted Sweden’s most beautiful building constructed before 1950 in a 2001 national poll — was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman between 1909 and 1912 as a gift from LKAB, the state-owned mining company, to the local congregation.

LKAB’s expanding mining operations created the crisis requiring the church’s relocation.

The company announced in 2004 that mining near Kiruna’s city center threatened to damage inhabited areas and infrastructure in the coming decades.

The relocation required extensive engineering preparation spanning eight years and costing an estimated 500 million Swedish kronor ($52 million). Roads along the route were widened to 79 feet, and a viaduct was demolished to accommodate the massive structure measuring 131 feet wide, according to SVT, Sweden’s national broadcaster.

Special attention protected the church’s cultural treasures, particularly the large organ with over 2,000 pipes and Prince Eugen’s art nouveau painting called “The Holy Grove.”

An estimated 10,000 spectators are gathering to witness the historic move in the town of 18,000 residents, according to Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s leading newspapers. 

King Carl XVI Gustaf is expected to attend, visiting the church during its journey and participating in ceremonial events, SVT reported.

‘Slow TV’ coverage of the move

The Swedish broadcaster provides live coverage of the entire relocation as “slow TV,” billing it as “The Great Church Move.”

The broader urban transformation affects approximately 3,000 homes, 1,000 workplaces, two schools, the city hospital, two highways, and national rail infrastructure over a 30-year period. About 6,000 residents — representing one-third of urban Kiruna’s population — must be resettled as LKAB continues mining operations.

The Svenska kyrkan (Church of Sweden) parish announced the church is scheduled to reopen to visitors at the end of 2026, following restoration work at its new location near Kiruna’s cemetery and new city center. 

The bell tower, moved separately from the church, will be reunited with the main structure.

The relocation has generated protest from within Sweden’s Sami community, with some saying traditional reindeer herding territories have been disrupted by the mining expansion, SVT reported.

Young people walk the streets of Camagüey, Cuba. / Credit: Camagüey Youth Ministry

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

During the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, young people from around the world gathered to celebrate a mosaic of universal faith. In the midst of this gathering, an inevitable question arose for young Cubans: How can they live their faith in a country fraught with challenges?

ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, spoke with Fernando Mario Díaz Hernández and Cynthia Izaguirre Roldán, both 19 and university students whose lives bear witness to a Catholic faith that steadfastly perseveres in everyday life despite the precarious conditions.

They live in Camagüey, a province located in the heart of Cuba, between the Atlantic and the Caribbean. According to the website Catholic Hierarchy, the Archdiocese of Camagüey has 15 parishes and 26 priests for approximately 800,000 inhabitants. Nationally, Aid to the Church in Need estimates that there are only 370 priests in the 11 dioceses.

Spiritual challenges

Hernández indicated that the large number of churches in his city is a factor that makes the Catholic faith present in the daily life of society. However, he contrasted this impression, noting that despite this, “being a young Catholic is difficult.”

Izaguirre agreed, adding that “there is a lack of priests” and “consistency in the faith, so that young people live their lives according to their convictions, not otherwise.”

Father Alberto Reyes Pías from St. Joseph Parish in Esmeralda has a vision that is not very different from that of the young people. The priest noted that there is a need to “find a path that leads them to a spiritual experience, to an encounter with a transcendent dimension.”

Reyes emphasized that today they face the challenge of “choosing the values of the spirit in a world where those values are viewed with indifference or even as disadvantages for progressing in life.”

In this regard, he emphasized that it’s a real challenge for young people “to get to the point where life has a meaning beyond the daily demands of survival.” The priest considers that the main task of the new generations is “not to lose hope that a different homeland is possible, in the midst of an environment of survival, precariousness, and lack of horizons.” 

The priest also warned about “an accelerated rise in Afro-Cuban religions,” which offer “an illusion of security and control over life, which in Cuba today is a very complicated issue, because you never know what will happen on a given day, much less in the long term.” He also emphasized that these religions “make no claims on moral behavior, which makes it easy and convenient to ‘get hooked’ on them.”

Other challenges for youth

The challenge is not only spiritual. According to figures from Human Rights Watch (HRW), Cuba’s population decreased by 10% between December 2021 and December 2023, primarily due to migration. Between January and August 2024 alone, the United States Border Patrol apprehended Cubans more than 97,000 times, which may include multiple encounters with the same persons.

Furthermore, the report describes an “economic crisis” that has caused power outages of up to 20 hours a day in some areas, along with “acute shortages of food, medicine, and other essential items.” According to HRW, in February, the government requested assistance from the United Nations World Food Program for the first time to obtain powdered milk for children under 7 years of age.

The same report warns that Cubans who criticize the government “risk criminal prosecution” without being guaranteed due process. In practice, “the courts are subordinate to the executive branch.” Furthermore, the state “controls virtually all media.”

Signs of hope

Amid precarious conditions, faith remains a source of hope. Izaguirre said that “through my faith and that of many others, we can aspire to a better future” and she dreams of “a country free from the shackles that limit us, where we can hold processions and Stations of the Cross with the hope that they won’t tell us ‘you can’t.’”

She noted that one of the things that inspires her is that, despite everything, hope “still persists in those who seek and find purpose in faith, as well as in those who fight daily for change in our country, despite the oppression and what this can mean.”

Far from being discouraged, Izaguirre is committed to “creating spaces for debate and activities that demonstrate that faith is still alive in Cuba. There are still young people willing to fight for change and keep that spark of hope alive in our homes.”

For his part, Hernández confessed that, although at times it’s difficult for him to “maintain hope,” his faith has saved him. “When I feel like I can’t go on, that it’s impossible to continue, I go before the Lord, and he comforts me, fills me with encouragement and strength to endure.”

That’s why he actively participates in youth ministry, so that, together with other young people, he can create “a space where they can receive formation, feel safe, and recover that source of energy that drives their lives, always for the greater glory of God.”

Reyes shared that he has noticed an increase in children who “grow up without fear of openly acknowledging their faith. Many children go to church alone, without their parents taking them,” and it’s the example of many children “that their parents have started attending church.”

The priest noted that, despite the emigration of young people, communities are “being renewed by young people who keep coming and who ask to undergo a process of growing in faith, and the change in their lives is a source of hope, seeing in them that beautiful reality we call ‘conversion.’”

Reyes also noted that in his experience, “couples are increasingly requesting the sacrament of marriage, and more and more people are baptizing their children, even if they don’t attend church.”

Catechumenate groups have also increased, and despite constant emigration, “communities are renewing themselves.”

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