News Briefing: Church in the World

The Holy See published the programme for Pope Leo’s apostolic journey to four African countries on 13-23 April. 

Besides meetings with civil authorities and local bishops, in Algeria the Pope will visit Augustinian communities and the Great Mosque in Algiers, hold a “Meeting for Peace” in the capital of Cameroon’s crisis-ridden North West region Bamenda, pray the Rosary at the Mama Muxima Shrine in eastern Angola and visit the memorial to victims of explosions on 7 March 2021 which killed more than 100 people the city of Bata, Equatorial Guinea. 

He will also celebrate Masses and visit hospitals, schools and other Church-run institutions, including the Leo XIV Campus of Equatorial Guinea’s National University.

In Angola, Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of Caxito warned leaders against politicising the Pope’s visit. 

“Let us not think only of political gain from his presence, but rather seek, above all, spiritual, moral, and social benefit from his teachings,” he said, warning that previous popes “called for peace, reconciliation and justice, but Angolans, especially politicians, let the messages enter one ear and leave through the other”. 

“We cannot repeat the same errors with Leo XIV. We need the courage to listen and to obey,” he said.

A guild of southern African Catholic women called for governments to respond to gender-based violence as the region struggles with high cases of femicide. The St Anne’s Sodality, which represents more than 18,000 women from 26 dioceses, said greater participation of women in the leadership of the Church would help address issues affecting them. 

“Many women who suffer violence cannot afford counselling,” said Lindiwe Zondi, national president of St Anne’s Sodality, during commemorations in South Africa last week for International Women’s Day. 

The St Anne’s Sodality is an affiliate of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, and Zondi said that “through the sodality they find a space where they can speak, be listened to, and receive support from other women”. She insisted that “every woman and girl, regardless of background or ability, must live with dignity and freedom”. 

“If women are more involved in leadership, it will help them to be recognised and contribute more visibly in the Church,” she said.

Catholic bishops across East Africa offered condolences after floods killed 100 people in Ethiopia, nearly 70 in Kenya and an unknown number in Uganda. Rescue teams were still searching for missing persons early this week while thousands of people remained displaced. 

The Ethiopian government announced a three-day mourning period, following the devastating landslides and floods hit that Gamo Zone in the south of the country on 11 March.

“We grieve as well for the many families who have been displaced and now face great suffering in the aftermath of this disaster,” said a statement from the Ethiopian Catholic bishops’ conference. The Church supported relief efforts but also urged citizens to collaborate for immediate humanitarian assistance. 

In Kenya, churches opened their doors to accommodate people left homeless by floods on 6 March that turned roads in Nairobi into small rivers, sweeping away cars and people and submerging homes and businesses.

At least 300 catechists are to receive training in Ethiopia to serve some of the country’s most remote areas, amid a shortage of priests and surging religious violence in parts of the country.  

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) announced its funding for the initiative last week. The catechists will receive theology and teaching training to help the Church grow and respond to crises affecting the country. The catechists are “the primary focus of a new training initiative in the apostolic vicariate of Hawassa, a vast region”, ACN reported. 

“Given that this area is roughly one-third the size of Germany and features many inaccessible villages, these lay leaders are indispensable for the transmission of the Catholic faith,” it said.

The Catholic bishops of the Benin Republic appealed for calm ahead of elections in April. In a statement issued at the end of its four-day plenary assembly, the Episcopal Conference of Benin said that diversity in opinions should be a “source of strength” for the country’s democracy and called for unity amid “diverse interests and political differences in the country”. 

President Patrice Talon, currently serving his second and final constitutional term, has reportedly denied any intention to amend the constitution to seek re-election. He faced an attempted coup earlier in the year, but received support from the Nigerian military to suppress it.

A group of 35 Nigerian bishops visited the Pope on 14 March, following a visit by another group of 37 on 6 March, completing their ad limina visit to the Holy See – their first since Pope Leo’s election. The meeting reportedly included discussions of Nigeria’s security crisis and widespread killings and abductions, which campaigners say target Christians.

One in seven Christians worldwide suffers the effects of persecution or violence, according to Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in Geneva.   

“Almost 400 million Christians worldwide face persecution or violence, making them the most persecuted religious community in the world,” he said. Speaking on 3 March at the event “Standing with Persecuted Christians: Defending the Faith and Christian Values”, Archbishop Balestrero added: “Almost 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2025, which equates to an average of 13 per day.” 

He said that according to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, in 2024 there were 2,211 incidents affecting Christians in Europe.  

“These include prosecutions for silent prayer near abortion facilities or for quoting a Bible verse on social issues,” he said. Balestrero said these were “not superficial acts” but “serious violations of the rights of Christians, perpetrated by the very authorities who are charged with the duty of respecting, protecting and promoting the human rights of all”. He observed: “Attacks on Christians are attacks on the Cross itself.”

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti warned that despite efforts to find peace in the Holy Land, “arms continue to fire, people continue to die, lands remain contested, and Christians continue to emigrate in order to survive”.  

In a report on the Good Friday Collection for the Holy Places, Cardinal Gugerotti said its support is “vital” to “help our brothers and sisters who live in extreme danger, so that they may endure one more day, rediscover hope and begin again”. He urged Christians to give, lest they “risk remaining inert before a world in flames – and thus complicit in its destruction”.  

He continued: “The faithful who remain in the Holy Places know that through your support – and sometimes only through it – even if security cannot yet be guaranteed, schools can reopen, new homes can be built and care can be provided where destruction has been total.”  

On Monday, Pope Leo spoke to Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, about “the alarming developments in the conflict in the Middle East and the living conditions of the Palestinian people”. The Holy See said that during the telephone call, the Pope reaffirmed its commitment to achieving peace.

A 22-year-old Catholic farm labourer was found hanged in a farm outbuilding outside the city of Sargodha in Punjab. According to reports, Marqas Masih’s body showed possible signs of torture.  

Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, and Naeem Yousaf Gill, executive secretary of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, issued a statement urging the “authorities to conduct a full investigation into the incident, bring the facts to light and ensure that justice is delivered to this vulnerable community”.  

Gill told Aid to the Church in Need: “The authorities should not leave Christians to be treated as second class citizens. We should be treated as equal citizens. We demand a fully transparent investigation.” Police arrested Muhammad Bashrat, the farm landlord, who reported the death to Masih’s family, and another man, Mohammad Moshan.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM) designated 26 March as a day of prayer for peace, particularly in Myanmar and the Middle East. In a letter addressed to “the children of God”, the CBCM president Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon asked for prayers “that God gives his peace to the world and to Myanmar and that there will be mutual understanding and progress in unity”.

The Archbishop of Tokyo Cardinal Isao Kikuchi apologised for the failings of the Church in a statement for the Day of Prayer and Penance for Victims of Sexual Abuse, which the Church in Japan marked on 6 March. 

“We sincerely apologise for the Church’s sin of committing violence against life, a gift from God, and of disregarding human dignity,” he said. While noting efforts to reform his diocese’s safeguarding, Cardinal Kikuchi said “institutional limitations based on the Church’s internal history have not yet been overcome”. 

The statement, published in February, said the Japanese bishops’ conference was working with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to improve its safeguarding mechanisms. The conference said it introduced the 6 March commemoration “in line with the wishes of Pope Francis”.

Peru needs “authorities characterised by honesty, transparency and consistency between their words and actions”, the country’s bishops said in a pre-election message. 

The statement published on 15 March by the permanent council of the Peruvian bishops’ conference was intended to “help bring about change in the situation we are experiencing as a nation”, the bishops said, expressing concern as “deep social fragmentation” ahead of elections on 12 April. 

Peru has had eight presidents since 2018 amid chronic political and economic instability, with polling last week suggesting scattered support for election candidates and widespread disillusionment. 

The bishops’ continued: “The persistence of deep social, economic, and territorial inequalities, where many people continue to live in conditions of poverty, exclusion and lack of opportunity, is difficult to understand in a country blessed with natural and cultural wealth, multiethnic diversity and the generosity and solidarity of its people. This challenges our national conscience.” 

They said the election should be a moment of “ethical discernment” to allow the country “to strengthen its democratic institutions”.

The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince appealed for the release of Fr Jean Robert Louis, who was kidnapped on 5 February. A statement published a month after his abduction asked for his freedom “so he can resume his pastoral mission” caring for prisoners in the Haitian capital. It said abducting people for ransom was “a direct offence to their fundamental dignity and a grave sin against human brotherhood”. 

Powerful gangs control much of Port-au-Prince and fighting between them and against the government has subjected Haiti to social and economic crisis since 2020. Elections are scheduled for this year but last month Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of Anse-à-Veau warned the violence would “make it impossible to organise transparent, honest, democratic and inclusive elections”.

The Holy See’s undercover dialogue with the Cuban government emerged briefly into the daylight on 28 February, when Pope Leo received in audience the Cuban foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. Later on social media, the minister expressed his “deep gratitude for the honour” of the audience.

Earlier in the month the Pope had expressed his “deep concern” for the worsening relations between the United States and Cuba and called for a “sincere and effective” dialogue to resolved the situation.  

On 12 March the Cuban government announced its decision to release 51 prisoners, which it said was taken “in the spirit of good will, and close and easy relations between the Cuban state and the Vatican, with which there has historically been communication about the processes of review and release of people deprived of freedom”. It also mentioned “the proximity of the religious celebrations of Holy Week”. 

Shortly after this statement President Miguel Diaz-Canel, announced that there had been “conversations” between Cuban officials and US representatives. 

Diaz-Canel also mentioned “international factors that had facilitated this exchange”, which is interpreted as a reference to Church mediation, particularly as the US chargé d’affaires in Havana visited the Vatican in mid-February and met Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states.

The United States’ government’s mass detention and mass deportation policies are a “grave moral evil”, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas said in a pastoral letter published on 15 March. 

In the letter titled “A Pastoral Message on Mass Detention and Mass Deportations in El Paso”, Seitz calls on those who work in federal immigration enforcement to follow the Gospel instead of the orders of the Trump administration. 

“No one has to obey an immoral order. I implore all involved to carefully discern the moral requirements of the Gospel at this moment with integrity and honesty. When we take off our masks and encounter each other as neighbours, we can reclaim our common dignity,” Seitz said. 

A spokesperson for the diocese said the bishop’s message is the first of its kind since the Trump administration began its mass deportation campaign in 2025. The pastoral letter is addressed to those who work in immigration enforcement and to members of the immigrant community in the border region. 

“In recent months, I have heard your fears, sufferings and worries about deportation,” Seitz said. “I have heard the stories about families being separated and of members being taken away from our community.”

The Archdiocese of Detroit announced several new initiatives aimed at preventing sexual abuse. In a pastoral letter dated 11 March, Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said all priests and employees will be required to be fingerprinted.  

Weisenburger also said the archdiocese plans to hire a supervisor who will “monitor priests or deacons who have been removed from ministry” and coordinate with local and US federal authorities. 

“When I was installed as your archbishop one year ago, I accepted not only many joyful responsibilities, but also a most solemn one. Among the more serious obligations entrusted to me is addressing the wounds caused by clergy sexual abuse, along with strengthening the Church’s commitment to accountability and protection,” Weisenburger wrote in his letter, titled “Rebuilding Trust: A Pastoral Message on Abuse, Reform and Hope”.  

While saying that the Church has made important strides on preventing sexual abuse, the archbishop added that “we must commit ourselves to ongoing accountability, transparency and the unwavering protection of those entrusted to our care – especially God’s beloved little ones”. 

Weisenburger said the archdiocese has been reviewing all abuse cases dating back to the 1920s. “Each case was carefully examined in order to clearly identify those that involved credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults, ensuring that no allegation was overlooked and no victim deprived of justice or an opportunity for care,” the archbishop said.

The body of a 56-year-old French priest missing since he was informed of a possible sexual abuse inquiry against him two years ago was found in a river in Brittany. 

The empty car and telephone of Fr Christophe Guégan, parish priest in Ploërmel, were found in January 2024 near a remote canoeing spot about 30km north of Lorient, known as the Devil’s Rocks. He was staying at a convent near the canoeing spot and was to celebrate Mass in morning. When he did not appear, the nuns informed the police. 

Fr Guégan’s body was found along the Ellé River five kilometres further downstream. Prior to his disappearance, he had recently been informed of the inquiry into “possible acts of sexual touching” after a complaint filed in Lyon. 

Bishop Raymond Centènet of Vannes announced his death on 12 March, expressing “profound emotion”. His funeral was to take place on 18 March in the Basilica of Saint Anne in Auray. Bishop Centènet said the priest died “under still-unexplained circumstances”. Police in Lorient suspect suicide. 

Shocked parishioners described Fr Guégan as “dynamic, calm and level-headed”. They said he had inspired several vocations and had “lots of plans” for the future.

Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris denounced vandalism of churches in the French capital after relics of St Vincent de Paul and St Thérèse of Lisieux were stolen and the altar of the Church of St Roch profaned. 

A piece of cloth worn by St Vincent de Paul was taken on 7 March from a church in northern Paris dedicated to him, as was an unspecified relic of St Thérèse of Lisieux. The reliquaries were left at the scene. 

At the baroque St Roch church in central Paris, vandals tried but failed to steal a heavy tabernacle on 8 March. The next day, heavy stones from the crumbling facade tumbled down to the pavement. Nobody was injured. 

In a statement, Archbishop Ulrich offered “his prayers and closeness” to the two parishes. He said he was confident that police were investigating the cases “to preserve the lives of the communities who pray there, as well as the works of art and religious artifacts that these churches contain”.

An excommunicated group of former Poor Clares left their monastery in Belorado in northern Spain last week, shortly before the implementation of a judicial order for their eviction. 

The Archbishop of Burgos Mario Iceta published videos after they had left, appearing to show they had left the 3,000 sq ft convent dirty. It showed mice scuttling down alleys and behind furniture and pots of leftover food. 

In a statement, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Burgos said: “The fourteenth-century parchments which contain the bull of foundation of the monastery used to be kept in a wardrobe. When we entered, we found [the ex-nuns] had taken the wardrobe and placed the parchments below some blankets.”

He continued: “They took the whole kitchen. It was pulled out. They also took china and a portable electric light generator.” The spokesman alleged that items were missing from the convent church, saying: “Not a single liturgical ornament was left. They took a made-to-measure oak cupboard and none of the statues were left in the display cabinet.” 

The schismatic community published a video of the convent after that issued by Iceta, showing corridors inside the building with gleaming wooden floors.

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