News Briefing: Church in the World

Members of the Peruvian hierarchy and members of a Vatican delegation knelt before indigenous farmers during a Mass of reparation for the abuses of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV). 

The Mass on 23 May at the parish of San Juan Battista in Catacoas, in the north-western Piura region, commemorated persecution, land seizures and rights violations perpetrated against the Tallán people by companies and groups linked to the lay movement. Pope Francis dissolved the SCV in 2025. 

Mgr Jordi Bertomeo, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, conducted the dissolution process and held two weeks of meetings with victims at the nuciature. He concelebrated the Mass with Peruvian bishops including the Archbishop of Lima Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio, who said Church leaders “want to overcome this dishonour”.

The Colombian bishops’ conference asked clergy to “act impartially, prudently, wisely and with authentic pastoral care, avoiding partisan positions or statements that could deepen divisions” ahead of presidential elections on 31 May. 

Polling suggested there would be a close contest between the candidate Iván Cepeda of the leftist government, the conservative Paloma Valencia and the far-right Abelardo de la Espriella, leading to fears of polarisation and unrest. 

The bishops said the election was “a decisive moment for democracy and the future of the country”, urging priests to maintain “a profound moral, spiritual and patriotic awareness, always striving for the common good, justice, truth and fraternal coexistence”.

Catholic clergy in reached an agreement with the United States government in mid-May to provide daily ministry and pastoral support to detainees held in a Chicago-area immigration processing centre. 

The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership had filed a lawsuit about six months earlier accusing federal immigration authorities of unlawfully barring them from ministering to detained migrants at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois. 

Catholic religious sisters and clergy had been visiting the facility every Friday morning for more than 10 years to offer prayer services prior to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that began in January 2025. Blocking that access, the group argued, infringed on their First Amendment rights and violated two federal laws. 

“Spiritual care, pastoral care and accompaniment is critical, especially in the first few hours a person is detained. Those can be the most painful and frightening,” Michael Nicolas Okinczyc-Cruz, the coalition’s executive director, told The New York Times.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore proposed establishing a $168.9 million Survivor Compensation Trust as part of its proposed plan for reorganisation in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The archdiocese and its insurers would provide funding with additional sums from parishes, schools and other Catholic entities. 

“At its core, the proposed plan seeks to provide equitable compensation to survivors while sustaining the Church’s mission and ministries. It reflects a commitment to transparency and a realistic assessment of available resources,” the archdiocese said in a statement on 15 May. 

Meanwhile in Vermont, where the Diocese of Burlington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the fall of 2024, a bankruptcy judge expressed concern that it lacks a reorganisation plan. Judge Heather Cooper met all parties on 19 May to discuss the way forward, including ways to preserve money for creditors, which include more than 100 individuals who allege sexual abuse by clergy. 

The Diocese of Ogdensburg, New York agreed on 19 May to pay $45 million to resolve 125 claims from individuals who say they were sexually abused by priests and other church leaders, following its own bankruptcy filing in July 2023.

The Church-backed Filipino group Dapat Isa Lang (“One Is Enough”) rejected a proposed law against political dynasties in the Philippines, arguing that it is a “watered-down bill”.  

The House of Representatives approved the anti-dynasty House Bill No. 8389 on second reading on 20 May. In a series of statements, Dapat Isa Lang called it insufficient because it bans only relatives up to the second degree from occupying public office simultaneously. The group said the ban should cover relatives up to the fourth degree. 

“Under a narrow second-degree prohibition, politics can remain a family business,” the group’s co-convenor Alex Lacson said in a statement on 22 May. 

Dapat Isa Lang said lawmakers, most of whom belong to political dynasties, will never craft a law against their interests. The group is pushing to pass an anti-dynasty law through a “people’s initiative” signature campaign recognised by the constitution.

A lay group in South Korea expressed “profound dismay” at reports that a priest accused of sexual abuse had returned to pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Seoul after “time for repentance”. 

Catholics for Women in Christ (CWC) said the case reported by a television channel earlier this month “raises serious questions about whether the Church’s personnel measures sufficiently considered the victim’s suffering and healing”. More than 700 people signed its petition calling for a review of safeguarding protocols in the diocese and across the Korean Church. 

“Since allegations of clerical sexual violence were made public in 2018, the leadership of the Catholic Church in Korea has issued apologies and pledged to prevent recurrence,” CWC said. “It must now give a responsible account of how far those pledges have been implemented in actual systems and procedures.”

Pope Leo marked the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China after the Regina Caeli on Sunday, and remembered the victims of a mining accident in Shanxi province two days earlier that killed more than 80 people. 

“Let us join our prayers with those of Chinese Catholics as a sign of our closeness to them and their communion with the universal Church and with the Successor of Peter,” he said, reflecting on the devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians and the Sheshan Shrine in Shanghai. 

“May the intercession of the Queen of Heaven obtain for the community of believers in China the grace of unity and grant them the strength to bear witness to the Gospel in their daily struggles, so that they may be seeds of hope and peace.” 

Last month the Shanghai Association of Catholic Intelligentsia marked its fortieth anniversary with a conference on “promoting the sinicisation of religion in our country”.

An Italian priest remembered for decades of service in northeast India was declared Venerable. Fr Costantino Vendrame SDB served in Assam, in the capital of Meghalaya state Shillong, and also in southern Tamil Nadu state.

After serving in the First World War, Vendrame was ordained on 15 March 1924 in Milan and on 5 October that year received the missionary crucifix in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin. Two months later he set off for India to serve as a missionary. 

He regularly travelled by foot to far-flung remote places in the difficult terrain, winning admiration from communities of all faiths. He died in Dibrugarh in Assam in 1951. 

Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, described Vendrame as a “missionary of hope among the people”.

Bishops in Cameroon appealed for an end to separatist violence and an end to political and ethnic divisions that threaten the country. 

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé expressed hope that “the socio-political life of the nation could be a source of hope for all” in a message for Cameroon National Day on 20 May. In their own messages, Bishop Joseph-Marie Ndi Okalla of Mbalmayo said “it is good for brothers to live together” while Bishop Jean Bosco Ntep of Edea observed that “we [Cameroonians] are one”. 

The National Day commemorates the country’s transition from a federal to unitary state. Political observers fear that widening fissures between would-be successors to President Paul Biya – the 93-year-old who has been in power for 44 years – could lead to turmoil were he no longer able to lead the country.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) challenged Nigerians to ensure that the 2027 general elections are devoid of rancour. The bishops also urged journalists to uphold integrity while reporting the conduct of the elections. 

Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of Katsina, chairman of the CBCN Commission on Social Communications, made the call during the formal celebration of World Communications Day in Abuja on 17 May. He said Nigerians place great expectations on the 2027 elections and must not be disappointed. 

During a diocesan synod of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) last week, its primate Archbishop Henry Ndukuba called for moral and national rebirth at the election expressing concern at rising hardship, unemployment, insecurity, corruption, drug abuse and cultism. 

The former president Goodluck Jonathan also spoke at the Synod, urging Nigerians to pray for their leaders and work collectively for peace, justice and national development.

Armed men abducted 39 pupils and seven teachers in an attack targeting a Baptist school and two other schools in Nigeria’s southwestern Oyo State. 

The attack took place on 22 May in Ahoro Esinle community in Oriire Local Government Area. One abducted teacher was reportedly beheaded as the bandits moved their victims into the bush. In what police called a “coordinated attack”, armed men simultaneously raided the Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota and two other schools in Esinle, seizing pupils and teachers. 

President Bola Tinubu condemned the attack as “barbaric” and promised that the federal government was working with the Oyo State Government to rescue all the victims. Governor Seyi Makinde said one abducted teacher was killed on Sunday, citing a video received by authorities, while six suspects, including alleged informants and logistics suppliers to the kidnappers, had been arrested. 

The Christian Association of Nigeria called the incident a “national disgrace”, warning that organised criminal violence is spreading dangerously into the south west.

Lay Catholics in Chad issued a scathing critique of the nation’s deteriorating security and political landscape. 

In a statement on 12 May, the Union of Christian Executives of Chad (UCCT) condemned a recent Boko Haram attack on Barka Tolorom that killed 23 soldiers, including two generals, offering condolences to the military but also accusing the government of drifting toward “pure and hard dictatorship”.

It said Chad was beset not only by terrorism but by a shrinking civic space. The UCCT joined the country’s bishops in condemning the arbitrary arrest of opposition figures, citing the recent sentencing of eight opposition figures to eight years in prison. 

The statement warned that such repression has created a “climate of fear” among the population. It also addressed the humanitarian strain of hosting 1.3 million Sudanese refugees while humanitarian funding falls short. 

The UCCT called on authorities to prioritise dialogue, justice and human rights over fear and repression.

Bishop Eduardo Kussala of Tombura-Yambio decried continuing violence in South Sudan and called for the escalation of peace and reconciliation work. Efforts to bring peace in unstable parts of the country have been derailed by militias, while humanitarian agencies report that millions require assistance. 

“Violence, political instability, economic hardship, mistrust and division have wounded our social fabric,” said Bishop Kussala last week, appealing for government, faith leaders and civil society to come together to find ways to end the fighting. 

“To political leaders, leadership is service, not division,” he said. “One careless statement can destroy relationships built over generations. Words are powerful. They can heal or destroy, unite or divide.”

Lebanon faces “severe trials” but “has shown the whole world that it is possible for people of diverse cultures to live in peace”, Pope Leo said during an audience with the head of the Armenian Catholicostate of Cilicia. 

Catholicos Aram I, who resides in the Lebanese town of Antelia, visited the Vatican on 18 May. Pope Leo praised his “tireless ecumenical zeal” and said that amid threats to the country “our churches are called to strengthen the fraternal bonds that unite not only Christians amongst themselves but also with their brothers and sisters from other communities in their shared homeland”. 

After the Regina Caeli on Sunday, Pope Leo prayed for “the Christian communities of the Holy Land, Lebanon and the entire Middle East, who are suffering due to the ongoing conflicts”.

The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced it would return to theological dialogue with the Catholic Church. The Coptic Church suspended dialogue in March 2024 following the publication of Fiducia Supplicans, the document permitting Catholic priests to conduct non-liturgical blessings for couples in “irregular” situations, including those of the same sex. 

A statement following the Coptic Synod’s meeting at the Monastery of Saint Bishoy in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt on 22 May said it decided to resume dialogue “following the assurances received regarding the non-blessing of same-sex couples which were expressed during the telephone conversation” between Pope Leo and the Coptic Pope Tawadros II a week earlier.

Metropolitan Shio (Mujiri) was enthroned as Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta near Tbilisi. Shio III is the 142th primate of the Georgian Orthodox Church and the tenth patriarch since the restoration of Georgian autocephaly in 1917. 

He succeeds the popular Patriarch Ilia II who died on 17 March after leading the church for nearly 50 years. Mujiri was elected by 39 members of the Holy Synod in Holy Trinity Church in Tbilisi, receiving 22 votes and the required majority in one round of voting.

Elizbar Teimuraz Mujiri, 57, was born and grew up in Tbilisi. He entered Shiomghvime Monastery in 1993, was ordained priest in 1996, and studied theology in Georgia and at the Moscow Theological Academy and Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox University. In 2003 he was consecrated bishop of Senaki and Chkhorotsku in western Georgia. In 2017, Ilia II appointed him as his locum tenens. 

Critics fear that due to Mujiri’s education in Russia and his links with the Moscow-friendly businessman Levan Vasadze, he may pursue a more pro-Russian course. Bishop Zenon Iarajauli suggested that Shio “was not Russia’s candidate, but Russia supports him”. 

Before his election, Shio stated that, with the Lord’s help, “the Georgian Orthodox Church – which has always been a unifying force for the nation, a defender of the true faith, of the Georgian language, of traditions, and of historical memory – will continue along this path”.

The ecumenical website Christian Vision reported that the Belarusian authorities expelled five Polish priests and one monk from the country, leaving other uncertain whether they would extend or revoke their six-month residence permits. 

“The authorities have denied five Catholic priests and one monk of the Minsk-Mogilev archdiocese, who have Polish citizenship, permission to continue serving in Belarus,” the website reported on 21 May.

All of the priests had served in the country for many years. One of them, Fr Lech Bakhanek, came to the St Alexis parish in Ivyanyets in 2000 and founded numerous pastoral projects, and was reportedly subject to a previous expulsion order in 2016 which the authorities were forced to revoke. 

The Instagram account of the Soligorsk parish called on individuals “’to ring all the bells and send appeals to government agencies”, including the Presidential Administration, the Minsk Regional Executive Committee and the apostolic nunciature to oppose the latest expulsions.

A coalition of more than 140 European Christian organisations appealed to the European Union to stop “dismantling” its climate laws and to recommit to immediate, responsible action to accelerate the green transition and tax fossil fuel companies. The EU approved deregulation legislation that significantly weakens corporate accountability laws, stripping them of essential human rights and environmental protections, late last year.

On 20 May, leading Christian organisations, including the Laudato Si’ Movement, Caritas Europa, the Jesuit European Social Centre, Christian Aid Ireland and the Quaker Council for European Affairs expressed “deep concern” that the EU is “turning its back on its role as a global climate leader”. They said this legislation involves “delaying climate commitments, increasing fossil fuel dependence, weakening due diligence and cutting social and environmental safeguards”.

The 104th Katholikentag, the biennial festival of German Catholic lay people and organisations, took place in Würzburg on 20-24 May. Around 74,000 visitors gathered for the event under the motto “Have courage, stand up”. Bishops and politicians warned about extremism, radicalisation and growing polarisation in society and asked for more attention to the other. 

Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Münster, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, spoke of politicians’ high regard for the Church, and Bishop Franz Jung of Würzburg and the Green Party’s Ricarda Lang asked that politicians should speak more with people rather than about them, especially in the case of people with disabilities or children and young people. They said the Church was an important ally in making that a reality.  

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, was the most senior Vatican prelate at the event. He delivered Pope Leo’s greetings and advocated for a “symphony of communion” within the Church. Synodality should not be a power struggle or merely a matter of majority decisions but rather a shared listening to the Holy Spirit, he said.  

Bishop Wilmer emphasised the importance of representatives from Rome coming to experience the life of the local Church at first hand. “I think it would be great if we had more encounters of this kind,” he said, looking forward to the next Katholikentag in Paderborn in 2028.

A Paris court rejected a lawsuit seeking to suspend installation of six modern stained-glass windows in Notre Dame cathedral, paving the way for the most controversial “modern touch” preferred by France’s President Emmanuel Macron to go ahead. 

Two heritage groups had opposed the bright depictions of Pentecost by artist Claire Tabouret, arguing the plain geometric designs by legendary nineteenth-century restorer Eugène Viollet-le-Duc must stay because they survived the cathedral’s 2019 fire. 

Macron wanted to put this age’s stamp on the medieval masterpiece, but most ideas were unacceptable. They included a swimming pool on the roof and revolving Biblical quotations projected onto interior walls. But the modern stained glass, due to be installed on its southern side later this year, had already been approved by the Archdiocese of Paris and the French government last year. 

The appeal argued the sober old windows were classified heritage like the cathedral. The court ruled they would be exhibited in a museum, and the luminous new ones could be taken down if necessary with no damage to the medieval window frames. “The authorised work was not irreversible and, consequently … the condition of urgency was not met,” a court statement said.

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