News Briefing: Church in the World

The Brazilian bishops’ conference and the Conference of Religious of Brazil signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) during the bishops’ general assembly in Aparecida on 15-24 April. The memorandum “is aimed at promoting a culture of prevention and care”, according to a statement from the PCPM. 

Its president Archbishop Thibault Verny of Chambéry attended the assembly and told the bishops that “it is precisely when the Church carries out the work of truth, accompanying victims, when it cares for the most fragile, that it announces the Good News”. He continued: “We want to walk with you, shoulder to shoulder, to listen and to engage in a fraternal dialogue.”

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’, said there is “no room for violence of any kind in our society” after a shooting during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. 

One federal agent was hospitalised while detaining a lone gunman who attacked the dinner on 25 April, later naming Cole Tomas Allen as the suspect. 

“We are grateful the lives of the president, those who protect him, and everyone in attendance last night were spared from serious harm,” said Archbishop Coakley. “Let us all pray for our elected leaders and public officials that they may receive God’s blessings.” 

Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio said in a statement that “the issue of gun violence must be addressed” and urging all people to “look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down”.

The bishops of New York state released a revised and updated edition of their teaching booklet on the end of life ahead of the legalisation of physician-assisted suicide in the state this summer.

Titled “Now and at the Hour of Our Death: A Catholic Guide to End-of-Life Decision-Making”, the first half of the eight-page booklet summarises Church teaching on various end-of-life issues, including assisted suicide and euthanasia, ordinary versus extraordinary treatment, and what is required regarding artificial nutrition and hydration. The second half outlines legal options for advance planning available in New York State. 

“The original edition of the booklet has been extremely popular for more than 15 years,” said Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference. “Our hope is that many thousands more Catholics in the years to come will find ‘Now and at the Hour of Our Death’ to be a useful guide in what is by nature a very stressful time.” He urged Catholics to familiarise themselves with Catholic teaching and the options available in New York.

Around 700,000 people visited the seventeenth-century Marian shrine of Manaoag, in the Philippines’ northern province of Pangasinan, to celebrate the centenary of the canonical coronation of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos joined the anniversary rites at the Manaoag Basilica on 22 April.

The apostolic nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown led the re-enactment of the 1926 coronation of the Marian image under the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. Marcos stood as witness while Brown placed a golden crown on the head of Our Lady of Manaoag, which devotees believe to be miraculous.  

The Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Jose Advincula, who delivered the homily, challenged Filipinos to translate their devotion into social justice. 

“Let our love for Mary lead us to be more just, holy and loving. In a world torn by war, poverty and indifference, let our Marian devotion bear fruit in Marian action: a concrete care for the poor, a tender attentiveness to the vulnerable and a steadfast commitment to justice and peace,” Advincula said. 

“Let us crown Mary, our mother and queen, not only with precious gold and jewels but with lives shaped by hers in generous self-giving love.”

A Filipino bishop opposed a gold mining project in a coastal town in Camarines Norte, around 200 miles from Manila.

In a pastoral statement dated 24 April, the Bishop of Daet Hernan Abcede warned against the proposed Paracale Gold Project of Golden River Mining Corporation, which will entail open-pit mining.

The bishop said open-pit mining, although it translates into “seven years of profit”, can turn mountains into barren lands and also poison rivers and creeks. This places the community’s health and welfare at risk, he warned. Abcede said mining inflicts three types of wounds: on the environment, on human beings, and on the community’s soul.  

“As the shepherd of the Diocese of Daet, my position is clear: being neutral is not enough when lives are being put at risk. In the face of serious threats to our water, nature, health and future, we cannot agree to this type of mining until it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is safe, just and truly beneficial for all,” Abcede said. 

“If gold comes at the cost of our water, nature, health, and future, it is not a blessing. It is a temptation that must be rejected. Let us choose life. Let us choose the future.”

Organisers of the 2027 World Youth Day in Seoul announced the selection of its patron saints: Andrew Kim Taegon and companions, martyrs of the early Church in Korea, Francis Xavier Cabrini, Josephine Bakhita, Carlo Acutis and John Paul II. 

The local organising committee said WYD Seoul had entered its “implementation phase” in March with a meeting of more than 240 youth ministry leaders, while municipal authorities formed a body to ensure the readiness of city infrastructure. 

Among many prayer initiatives ahead of the event on 3-8 May, Korean Catholics plan to pray one billion decades of the Rosary for its success.

The Congregation of the Mission held a meeting in Batu in Indonesia for its leaders from across Asia and the Pacific to conduct “a comprehensive administrative and pastoral review of the region’s challenges and opportunities” ahead of its 2028 general assembly. 

The superior general Fr Tomaž Mavrič CM affirmed the priorities from the 2022 assembly, including emphasis on Vincentian vocation and formation, during discussions on 20-25 April. “Amid a diversity of cultures and experiences, a living communion has emerged that serves as a powerful evangelising force,” said a statement from the congregation.

A human rights group in Pakistan accused nine Muslim men of attempted murder following an attack on Christians in a cemetery. 

According to The Voice Society, based in Lahore, attackers desecrated the cemetery in Asif, beat and stripped young Christian women, and stabbed a young man, Pervez Masih, leaving him seriously wounded. 

The group attacked him after he intervened to defend the young women from harassment as they visited the graves of their relatives. The group also vandalised a number of graves and crosses in the cemetery, where Pervez Masih’s father is the caretaker. 

Aneeqa Maria Anthony, a lawyer and CEO of The Voice Society, told Agenzia Fides that the group was providing legal and medical assistance to the injured, while a formal complaint was filed against the nine men for attempted murder and vandalism of a place of worship.  

The attack, she said, “constitutes a desecration of a sacred place, a religiously motivated hate crime that demands the full application of the law”. 

Christians make up about two per cent of Pakistan’s population. They are vulnerable to discrimination at social and state level, according to the Pakistan Christian Post.

Bishops called on the government of Mozambique to act urgently against threats of insecurity and instability in some parts of the country. They condemned violence in Cabo Delgado Province that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people and displaced thousands, while warning that the high cost of living was worsening poverty across the country. 

Their appeal followed a plenary meeting where they addressed some of the most pressing issues affecting the country including a lack of adequate public infrastructure, poor roads and inadequate access to health care. Despite its vast natural resources, Mozambique continues to face economic challenges marked by natural disasters and lack of jobs for young people, the bishops said. 

The Church cannot “remain aloof”, they continued, calling for dialogue to address the humanitarian crisis. Catholic agencies working in Cabo Delgado include Religious sisters are providing counselling for victims of violence. Earlier this year, the Church also joined efforts to assist victims of floods that hit parts of southern Africa as government struggled to gather resources.

Around 200 households in south-west Nigeria took part in a Church training programme to improve their agricultural productivity. 

Caritas Nigeria provided start-up kits for the beneficiaries in Ekiti State after training them in skills including rice processing, fish processing, tomato and pepper processing, cassava processing and fish production. 

The Bishop of Ekiti Felix Ajakaiye, who spoke during the trainees’ graduation ceremony and the distribution of start-up kits, said Caritas was fulfilling its purpose of ensuring people live meaningful lives.

“The purpose of Caritas is to attend to the poor people in the society, irrespective of your gender, your tribe, wherever you have come from, or your religion,” said Bishop Ajakaiye. “The benefits are so much. Number one is to alleviate poverty. With these, people will work to have sustainable livelihoods, and they will employ some people.”

Fr Babangida Aliyu, executive secretary of Caritas Nigeria, said the initiative “is not just merely about giving tools, it is about restoring dreams, strengthening families and reducing poverty”.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) urged Nigerians to intensify prayers invoking the name of Bl Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, seeking a further miracle attributed to his intercession required for his canonisation. 

In a statement, the bishops said they joined fellow Catholics in prayer that Tansi be declared a saint. The CBCN declared him patron of Nigerian priests at a Mass in Onitsha in June 2010. 

Born in 1903 in Aguleri, Anambra State, Tansi became a parish priest and was remembered as a model of holiness, pastoral dedication and indigenous faith. In 1950 he joined the Trappist Monastery of Mount St Bernard in Leicestershire, and died on 20 January 1964 – the date when he is commemorated every year. 

John Paul II beatified him in 1998, during a Mass in Oba, in south-east Nigeria, describing Tansi as an example of matured faith in Africa. His were reinterred at the Cathedral Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity in Onitsha.

Bishop Christian Carlassare of Bentiu received Italy’s Giorgio La Pira Prize in recognition of his work for peace in South Sudan “under difficult conditions”. The prize is an international honour that recognises individuals on the forefront of promoting peace and social justice. 

“I accept this recognition with great gratitude and equal humility,” Bishop Carlassare said in a statement. “I ask everyone for prayers and renewed solidarity with the people of South Sudan and with the many nations of the world still wounded by war, violence, and injustice.” 

The award is named after Giorgio La Pira, who worked with the poor and called for international aid in the aftermath of the Second World War in Italy. Pope Francis declared him venerable in 2018.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem filed a complaint over Israeli settler encroachments and damage to its lands and property in the West Bank. 

The patriarchate said in a statement that it had warned during a meeting with Israeli officials that protecting its property “is a red line”. It denounced the “clear violation of Church properties” by Israeli settlers at Tayasir and Hamam Il-Maleh in the Tubas Governorate of the Palestinian Authority. 

The patriarchate’s representatives provided evidence of attacks on local residents to the officials, who pledged to pursue those responsible and seize machinery used to damage the sites. Last week, a settler shot dead a 28-year-old Palestinian man during an attack on Tayasir. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. 

The patriarchate called for the immediate removal of all settler machinery and the prevention of future intrusions in these areas, as well as legal protection for its lands. 

The statement from the Endowment Department of the Patriarchate said it would continue to take all legal and administrative steps needed to protect its properties while also supporting local people “during these difficult circumstances”.

Italian peacekeepers serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon replaced a large crucifix desecrated by soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). 

The apostolic nuncio to Lebanon Archbishop Paolo Borgia attended the unveiling of the replacement last week, which Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said offered “a powerful message of hope, dialogue and peace”. A replacement offered by the IDF was placed inside the church in the village of Debel. 

Israeli authorities confirmed that two soldiers were in detention after images circulated on social media of one attacking the statue of Jesus with a hammer, prompting international condemnation and a protest from the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land.

Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, the papal almoner and prefect of the Dicastery for Service to Charity through which the Pope provides aid, reported that it had “sent a lorry to Ukraine containing medicines, foodstuffs, hygiene products and clothes” and “also sent to the Lebanon 15,000 much needed medical supplies”. 

He continued: “The Church is not just theory or doctrine. It is also practical: it is living out the Gospel.” 

The van for Ukraine set off on 25 April from the Greek Catholic Basilica of St Sophia in Rome. “This is the one hundred and fiftieth van to leave this basilica,” said its rector Fr Marco Semehen.  

Supplies in the van included pallets of medication, mainly antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicines which will go to hospitals and be distributed among communities via local volunteer networks.  

“We have collected whatever may be useful, bearing in mind the needs of the most fragile, of the sick and children,” Fr Semehen told Vatican News. “The continuous sending of aid from the Vatican means a great deal to Ukraine.”

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church commemorated “the bravery of the decontaminators” after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, ahead of its fortieth anniversary of Sunday. 

“Their sacrifice stopped the spread of deadly radiation and became a living shield for all of Europe and the world,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, comparing them with Ukrainian soldiers fighting the Russian invasion. 

Pope Leo marked the anniversary in his Regina Caeli address on Sunday, saying the disaster “left a lasting mark on the conscience of humanity” a praying for its victims. 

“It serves as a warning regarding the inherent risks of using increasingly powerful technologies,” he said. “I hope that discernment and responsibility will always prevail at every level of decision-making so that all use of atomic energy may be placed at the service of life and peace.”

Comece, the commission of bishops’ conferences in the European Union, called on member states to address organised crime, societal polarisation and extremism. 

At its spring assembly in Nicosia, hosted by the Maronite Archeparchy of Cyprus, the Comece bishops said strengthening internal security required a comprehensive approach which should combine education, media literacy, responsible use of technology and community-based initiatives to reinforce social cohesion. 

They also called for the protection of places of worship, recognising their importance for freedom of religion and for the social fabric of European societies. Their statement offered 13 policy recommendations from their discussions including an appeal for diplomatic efforts towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace for Ukraine, grounded in international law. 

“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues to inflict immense human suffering and to destabilise European and global security,” they said, backing the EU presidency’s commitment to sustain political, humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine and its people. 

Comece delegates also heard an address from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, on the condition of Christians in the Holy Land and the Middle East. Another recommendation called for the development of a coherent EU approach to water resilience, prioritising access to safe drinking water, sustainability and solidarity.

The German Bishops’ Conference issued an “interjection on Europe” entitled “Europe, show yourself confident” on 24 April, “Europe Day”, responding to the changing self-understanding of Europe in the world order.  

It said Europe needs to be guided by its values in its actions internally and externally, insisting that without these a united Europe would be unthinkable as “a project of peace, freedom and democracy”. 

Christianity must make a positive values-based contribution to democracy and European integration, the interjection said. It was addressed to those with political responsibility within the EU and its member states, criticising the political weaponisation of “the Christian West”.  

It emphasised that European unity introduced an order of peace lasting more than 80 years, and now needs a narrative of hope: “From hope grows the incentive to go forth and to take initiative again.”

Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels unveiled a plaque in his cathedral in the Belgian capital apologising for medieval stained-glass windows that show Jews being executed for supposedly desecrating consecrated hosts.

Brussels Grand Rabbi Albert Guigui, who embraced Terlinden after the ceremony on 22 April, called the gesture “an important, almost foundational moment … it’s a sign that memory can become a place of encounter rather than a place of division.”

The windows in the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula depict the supposed desecration in 1370 by Brussels Jews, who were then executed. The hosts were said to have bled when stabbed, leading to local veneration the “Eucharistic miracle”.

The plaque, in four languages including Hebrew, notes that “these calumnies … led to unjustifiable persecutions, massacres and expulsions”, and says: “We acknowledge that in several regions of Europe, at the end of the Middle Ages, unfounded accusations of host desecration were made against Jewish communities.”

A Belgian priest admitted he almost fell for an appeal for funds sent to him showing Pope Leo in a hospital bed before realising it was a scam using an AI-generated photograph. 

Fr Wim Simons from Zonhoven, in the northeast corner of Belgium, said the scammer first sent a picture of a smiling Leo with a text in English. Then came the hospital picture with a message in Flemish asking him for money for orphans. “I found that suspicious,” he told VRT television, and his urge to respond to the Holy Father disappeared. 

“I fear that in the future we will see increasingly more victim-tailored cybercrime,” said federal police cyber expert Christophe Van Bortel. “You no longer need to be a technological genius to work with such tools or to build them yourself.”

Pope Leo is expected to meet survivors of clerical abuse during his visit to Spain on 6-12 June, according to the website Religión Digital. The private meeting will be held at the apostolic nunciature in Spain either on 7 or 8 June.  

“A meeting with victims would be good but the Pope makes the agenda not us,” said Bishop César García Magán, the secretary general of the Spanish bishops’ conference, in response to a question about the meeting.

Meanwhile, nearly 16,000 volunteers have signed up to help during the Pope’s visit to Madrid, almost 6,000 more than required. They come from 525 parishes, 150 religious congregations, 70 schools and 208 movements, associations, university chaplaincies and other groups.  

Whole families have also registered as volunteers, according to the diocesan weekly Alfa y Omega. The largest group of volunteers are aged 18-35, making up 46.4 per cent of the total. An additional 5,823 volunteers have offered to help pilgrims visiting Madrid for the visit.

The Vatican Postal and Philately Service issued a 38mm postmark depicting the face of Pope Francis to mark the first anniversary of his death on 21 April. The line drawing is surrounded by the words “Primo anniversario del Dies Natalis di Papa Francesco (2013-2025)”, and “Poste Vaticane – 21.04.2026”. Philatelic items to be postmarked, duly stamped by the sender, must be received by the Cancellation Sector of the Postal and Philatelic Service by 30 May.

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