News Briefing: Church in the World

A new mural featuring images of immigrants to the United States and famous Catholics was unveiled in the vestibule of St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.  

Painted by local artist Adam Cvijanovic, part of the mural honours Our Lady of Knock and the Irish immigrants who built the church in the mid-nineteenth century. Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, and St Kateri Tetakwitha, the first indigenous saint in the US, also appear.

The 25-foot high mural was commissioned by New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan long before immigration became a fraught political topic with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency in 2024.

“We want anyone that comes in to feel loved and welcomed,” said Fr Erique Salvo, rector of the cathedral, which receives over six million visitors per year. The vestibule was “very drab,” said Dolan, “So, we thought at least we need to spark it up and get some illumination.”

The Archdiocese of Marseille denied that Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline failed to respond to adequately to abuse allegations.  It issued a prompt response to claims in Paris-Match, saying the report confused old cases and unfounded charges.

“The fight against sexual abuse and violence is too important to risk such confusion,” said the archdiocese’s statement.  Paris-Match seemed to “equate proven and already treated facts with unfounded insinuations,” it said.

The magazine had said that Cardinal Aveline, who has led the archdiocese since 2019 and was elected head of the French bishops’ conference this summer, reacted to four abuse allegations in Marseilles “erratically, even complacently”. The archdiocese responded to the four allegations in detail, saying they were treated in the past, with differing results depending on the case.

The Paris-Match article appeared one day after a Marseille group appealed to the Vatican to recall Cardinal Aveline over his decision to sell two of their local churches. It was published on the day Cardinal Aveline was due to meet Pope Leo XIV in Rome. 

One complaint was a complicated accusation against the archdiocese’s current vicar general Fr Xavier Manzano, who has been criticised for being too close to a family that eventually divorced.

However, “there was never any question … of sexual violence or even of equivocal or ambiguous gestures of a sexual nature”, the archdiocese’s statement said. It described the contrary insinuations as “unfair and unacceptable”, adding that the children involved, now adults, are said to have “testified in writing that they have absolutely nothing to reproach Fr Manzano for”.

The towers of Notre-Dame de Paris reopened to visitors last weekend, revealing a new wooden double spiral staircase that replaces the narrow stone stairs from the Middle Ages. 

The route reveals the wooden structure inside of the stone towers, exposing the wooden beams that help the outside stone walls hold the weight of the massive bells that ring out over the capital, and crosses a walkway featuring a small window onto the famous wooden frame between the vault and the main roof of the cathedral. 

Visits to Notre-Dame are free, but admission to the towers costs €16. Around 30,000 people enter for free every day, but only 400,000 visitors will be allowed to climb the towers each year.

Pope Leo XIV received an invitation to preside at a Mass on 10 June 2026 to mark the centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudi, architect of La Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona.

The liturgy, planned by the Sagrada Familia construction committee, will also mark the anticipated completion of the cathedral’s Jesus tower. Now measuring 155 metres, the tower is awaiting the arrival of a translucent cross, due to be placed on the summit. Made piece by piece in Germany, the cross will raise the tower’s height to 172 metres.  

The invitation to the Pope came shortly after the appointment of a new apostolic nuncio to Spain and the Principality of Andorra. Archbishop Piero Pioppo, who was born in Savona, northern Italy in 1960, formerly served as apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as well as to Cameroon and to Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony.  

In 2006, he was appointed prelate of the Institute for the Works of Religion. He speaks English, French and Spanish as well as Italian, and has also served in Korea, Chile, and the Secretariat of State of the Holy See.

Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, the president of the German bishops’ conference, warned pro-life activists not to tie their cause to other political agenda, insisting on “protecting life for its own sake” because it is a gift from God. 

“The concern for the protection of human life must therefore not be exploited, neither for purely personal interests nor for political, demographic, nationalistic or even ethnic interests, nor any other interests that are alien to life,” he said in a message to participants in the March for Life in Cologne last weekend. 

The organisers of the initiative have faced allegations of far-right associations, but Bishop Bätzing said the Church was “grateful to those who, by fair means and without hostility or bitterness, work to protect human life”.

The Austrian Church report a “significant” increase in Mass attendance in 2024, while fewer people left the Church than in any of the three previous years. There were at least 30,000 more people at Mass on the counting Sundays last year compared to 2023, with the increase concentrated in the Diocese of St Pölten and the Archdiocese of Vienna. 

There were 71,531 official departures from the Church as registered through the church tax system, compared to more than 85,000 in 2023 and nearly 91,000 in 2022. There were 5,154 people who joined or returned to the Church, an increase on all of the previous four years.

A 381-year-old Capuchin monastery in Corfu closed permanently due to a lack of vocations with a final Mass on 31 August. The Catholic Archbishop of Corfu, Zante and Kefalonia Georgios Altouvas presided at the liturgy, saying: “The Capuchin monks dedicated themselves to the weak. They turned the monastery into a shelter for anyone in need.”  

His predecessor Archbishop Ioannis Spiteris OFM Cap described the occasion as a “a sad day”, saying he had wept at the closure like many of those present. Spiteris shared memories of playing in the monastery courtyard after the Second World War, and the friars offering him cool water from the well. In that courtyard, he said, he decided to become a Capuchin.  

The order is now due to leave the monastery, which was originally built in 1642 to cater to the spiritual needs of Catholic soldiers posted to Corfu. Later, the Capuchins supported refugees to Corfu from Malta. In 2022, there were roughly 3,480 Catholics living across the islands of Corfu, Zante and Kefalonia.

A South African cardinal raised concerns over the lack of access to water for people living in the country’s commercial capital Johannesburg, one of the richest cities in the continent but has wide gaps between the rich and the poor. Residents have expressed their frustration through protests that turned violent as the city struggles with poor service delivery. 

“The extraordinary burden placed on people in terms of poor service delivery, growing poverty and the lack of one of the most basic human rights – water – has led to growing discontent and anger,” said the Archbishop of Johannesburg Cardinal Stephen Brislin in a statement. 

“Their plight has largely gone unaddressed and their needs ignored. Some communities have been without water supply for an unconscionable extended time,” he added, warning there could be “more confrontations” if these issues remain unresolved.

The government of Angola must address the lingering issues that led to deadly clashes in July, local bishops said, calling for the provision of economic opportunities for young people affected by mass unemployment. 

“Our poverty is not only material. It is, above all, social, political, civic, cultural, and spiritual,” said Archbishop José Manuel Imbamba of Saurímo during a meeting of the bishops’ conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, appealing for accountability after senior government officials were accused of corruption. 

More than thirty people died in protests in July triggered by what demonstrators said was a steep increase in the price of fuel, despite Angola’s oil wealth. “Dialogue between leaders and citizens must be more frequent, fairer, and more fruitful,” Archbishop Imbamba said.

Young voters in Cameroon will be key to its presidential election on 12 October, according to a prominent priest.

In a letter published on 10 September, Fr Wilfred Emeh – a social justice advocate based in the US – said people under 25, who make up more than 60 per cent of the population, should critically assess the 11 presidential candidates based on their vision for the country’s future, their competence, and their commitment to addressing longstanding issues such as institutional corruption, declining infrastructure, educational standards and healthcare access. 

Emeh also challenged the political establishment, questioning President Paul Biya’s fitness for office at the age of 92 after 43 years in power. In July, the electoral commission barred his main challenger Maurice Kamto from standing.

Church leaders joined the opposition and civil society groups in Chad in condemning a draft pastoral code as a threat to the country’s fragile peace and national unity. 

In a statement on 10 September, members of the Union of Christian Executives of Chad (UCCT) described the legislation designating zones for farming and nomadic communities as a “dangerous plan” that reflects the authorities’ “manifest and persistent determination to promote initiatives that foster division among citizens, instead of fulfilling their fundamental mission of ensuring security, cohesion, and the well-being of the population”. 

The zoning “institutionalises the geographical and identity separation between farmers and herders, seriously threatening peaceful coexistence in our provinces”. In August bishops in the south of Chad protested at “peasanticide” in the new code, implying that it could harm the agricultural activity that supports 80 per cent of the population.

Gunmen on motorcycles shot dead 22 Christian villagers in western Niger on 15 September, close to the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali where jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS) are active. 

A resident said they killed 15 people at a baptism ceremony in Takoubatt village, in the Tillaberi region, and “then went to the outskirts of Takoubatt, where they killed seven other people”. Writing on social media, human rights campaigner Maikoul Zodi said the region “has been struck by barbarism, plunging innocent families into mourning and despair”.  

Niger’s military leaders, who seized power two years, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence there. Around 20 soldiers were also reportedly killed in the region in the previous week. 

Human Rights Watch urged Niger authorities to “do more to protect” civilians against deadly attacks. It estimated that IS militants “summarily executed” more than 127 villagers and Muslim worshippers in Tillaberi in five attacks since March this year. 

The conflict monitor ACLED said around 1,800 people have been killed in the fighting since October 2024, three-quarters of them in Tillaberi. Niger, like Burkina Faso and Mali, has expelled French and US troops involved in operations against jihadist groups in the name of a “sovereignist” policy.

Pope Leo appointed Archbishop Mirosław Stanisław Wachowski apostolic nuncio to Iraq, succeeding Archbishop Mitja Leskova who left the post in April 2024. 

Archbishop Wachowski was born in Poland in 1970 and joined the Vatican’s diplomatic service in 2004. He was undersecretary for relations with states until his appointment to Baghdad on 18 September. 

The Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon Cardinal Louis Rapahaël I Sako, who heads the Eastern Catholic Church to which most Iraqi Christians belong, said their survival was “a top priority” for Church leaders.

“Christians are an integral part of Iraq’s historical, social and cultural fabric,” he said at the opening of a church in Baghdad on 20 September.

Delegates at the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions met in Astana as “messengers of peace, united under the banner of humanism, working together to guide humanity toward noble goals”, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said. 

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilus III and the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue Cardinal George Koovakad were among the 100 delegates who attended the congress. There was also an Anglican delegation and other religious leaders from the UK, while Pope Leo sent of message urging the delegates to “strive for harmony, fostering a synergy of peace” as an example to others. 

“When religious leaders stand together to protect the most vulnerable, plant trees to care for our common home, or raise a united voice in defence of human dignity, they affirm a powerful truth: faith unites more than it divides,” he said.

The Diocese of Malabar in the Church of South India (CSI) ordained two women as deacons for the first time. Bishop Royce Manoj Victor ordained Saju Mary Abraham and Nimshi David as deaconesses along with A.P. Vibin Joseph on 18 September at the Mananchira Cathedral in Kerala’s Kozhikode district. 

Dr Abraham, who hails from Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, has postgraduate degrees in physics, sociology, and theology, besides a doctorate in New Testament studies. She is fluent in Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit and other languages. Married to the Rev’d Reji George Varghese, a CSI priest, the 52-year old has two children. 

The Nimshi David, 25, is a gold medallist in Philosophy and the daughter of the Rev’d David Stephen, the vicar of St Paul’s CSI Church, Nedumkarana, in Wayanad district in the state where she too was raised. 

These are the diocese’s first ordinations for women, but the CSI – a united Protestant church which is a member of the Anglican Communion – has ordained women since 1976 and in 2013 ordained Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha as Bishop of Telangana, South Asia’s first woman bishop.

The Vatican confirmed St Lazarus Devasahayam as the patron of the laity in India. The Archbishop of Goa and Daman Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), said the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued the relevant decree 16 July in response to a request.  

The solemn proclamation will take place on 15 October at St Mary’s Cathedral, Varanasi, in northern Uttar Pradesh state during a Mass coinciding with the annual national meeting of the CCBI Commission for Laity. 

Cardinal Ferrão asked all the dioceses and parishes nationwide to mark the historic moment “with fitting celebrations, to commemorate with due reverence the patronage of St Lazarus Devasahayam over the laity in India”. Pope Francis canonised Devasahayam Pillai, an eighteenth-century Hindu convert, on 15 May 2022, making him the first Indian layman to be canonised.

The Vatican launched a new website to promote the Cause of the Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, a cardinal imprisoned by Vietnam’s communist regime for 13 years.  

The former coadjutor archbishop of then-Saigon spent nine years in solitary confinement. The spiritual messages he wrote while incarcerated were smuggled outside the prison and later published in the book The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison.  

Expelled from Vietnam after his release, Van Thuan spent his last years in Rome, serving the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.  In 2001, Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal. He died in September 2002, after suffering stomach cancer.  

Elizabeth Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, the youngest and sole survivor of Van Thuan’s nine siblings, said he had been “more than a brother” to her. “He was a mini-Dad,” said Thi Thu Hong, who was a baby when her brother was ordained a priest.  

The co-author of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan: Man of Joy and Hope, published in April and written with Fr Stefaan Lclair, she said her brother’s message was “really to forgive and hope in God through God’s love”.

A priest is building a church by hand in an impoverished village in the north Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo, where Pope Leo was formerly a bishop.  

Fr Javier Cajusol Villegas has previously built a parish house. He said he was inspired by history lessons in seminary given by an American priest “who explained that when the Spanish came to America, priests who were also architects and engineers came with them and built the churches themselves”. 

Fr Cajusol said a construction worker had taught him the necessary skills, when he was dispatched to a parish lacking a parish house. His bishop had approved the building work.

“I began to get a taste for construction. I organised myself and helped people and spent my days off doing this. I did ask a few questions of my brother who is an architect,” said Cajusol. “It was hard at first. But I caught the hang of how to mix the cement … and how to lay the bricks,” he added, saying that the future Pope Leo had helped him access money to complete the house from a charity in north America.  

He added that “unless Pope Leo comes to lend me a hand”. his current task, building a fourth chapel for a parish serving 45,000 local Catholics, would take four or five years, working five full days a week.

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