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José Antonio Kast | Credit: Photo courtesy of Goya Productions

Dec 27, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

In an exclusive 2024 interview with Goya Producciones for the documentary “ Valientes” (Brave Ones), the now president-elect of Chile, José Antonio Kast, addressed topics such as defending life, his family history, and the problem of leftist ideological imposition on society.

Discussing both his personal background and political career, Kast asserted that young people “have the power to bring about change” and put an end to individualistic societies that lead to loneliness.

The decision that allowed him to be born

A staunch defender of life from conception, Kast — the youngest of 10 siblings — shared a “very important” personal story that shaped his family’s future: “When my mother had her second child, she suffered from eclampsia [a serious pregnancy complication], and they raised the possibility that she wouldn’t be able to have any more children,” he recounted.

His father believed that wasn’t right, and despite the risk to his wife’s life, he told her: “I believe God doesn’t want that for us.” That determination allowed them to have eight more children, including Kast. Without that decision, “I wouldn’t have been born,” he noted.

“My parents are German immigrants, and we have an extended family of almost 200 people. My mother’s first two children passed away. Therefore, none of this would have been possible, and that leaves a lasting impression on you from a young age,” he emphasized.

“Thanks to that decision, I’m here; thanks to that decision, I met my wife. Thanks to that decision, we were able to have nine children. Thanks to that, today we are expecting our third grandchild,” he commented.

“It’s amazing how one decision can affect the lives of so many,” he reflected.

With his wife, María Pía Adriasola, he has nine children, born from the conviction of “being open to life.”

“God accompanied us in that decision, and today we are happy parents of nine children,” he said, “and we couldn’t imagine life without any of them.”

Political trajectory

In his early days in politics, he recalled, he wasn’t “a great communicator,” but through hard work he became a congressman, a party leader, and a presidential candidate, “always being very clear about things, never deceiving people, never falsifying my position,” and with the purpose of “winning people’s hearts, whatever the result may be.”

His continued involvement in politics was a family decision that he discussed with his wife and children, based on the premise that “he who has a mission must fulfill it.”

Analyzing Chile’s sociopolitical landscape at the time (prior to the 2025 elections) Kast pointed out that “leftist ideology has been gaining increasing influence in governments, promoting laws that go against life and against the family as constituted by a man and a woman.”

He warned about the imposition of an agenda that, in the case of Chile, legalized abortion on three grounds and “seeks to change the constitution” by decriminalizing abortion up to the ninth month, based on a misinterpretation of the concept of a woman’s autonomy over her own body. “She is not the owner of the body of another being that is inside her,” Kast explained.

“Generally, I don’t use religious arguments to defend the pro-life stance, because there is ample evidence from the nature of human beings, from science, and from the fact that life begins at conception,” he stated, expressing hope that “the future depends on us” because “the nature of human beings is on our side.”

In this context, Kast has faced violence, intolerance, and the cancellation by those who think differently. “As a politician in my early years, it was mostly verbal violence from those who thought differently,” he recalled.

“Some people mixed things up because they would say, ‘No, you’re speaking from a religious perspective.’ And I would tell them, ‘I’m not speaking from a religious perspective; I’m speaking from a scientific perspective, from the nature of the human being, because the moment you were conceived, at that very moment, the characteristics you exhibit to society today were already present.’” That, he recalled, “was met with verbal violence in Parliament.”

“Later, they began influencing other environments. And on some occasions, I have experienced severe physical violence,” he recounted, detailing situations in which he suffered fractures and needed police protection. “You always feel fear, but I have never had the intention of backing down.”

Kast lamented that the young people who commit these acts of aggression “are instruments in the hands of an ideologue.” Therefore, he said, “I don’t feel resentment, I don’t feel hatred; I sometimes feel frustration at not being able to be with these people individually to explain to them the joy one feels when giving of oneself to save another, and they would feel the same way if they had the opportunity to experience the richness that exists in human nature.“

Recognizing the struggle between good and evil

Kast then proceeded to speak out against “a kind of empire that is beginning to dominate the actions of society,” coordinated with vast financial resources, so that “violence is being used to create a new kind of human being.”

Although he has seen “an ideological totalitarianism” that aims at canceling the individual, Kast noted that ideology “will never be able to overcome the nature of the human being, which seeks freedom, transcendence, the preservation of life, and love between people.”

“We don’t have the resources, but we do have a voice, we do have heart ... and that strength is more powerful than money,” he emphasized, really wishing that people would wake up and “realize that we must occupy all the spaces we have to act in, that with the power of the Spirit one can defeat the spirit of evil, because ultimately this is a struggle between good and evil.”

Evidence much stronger than ideology

“There is no good value that seeks the death of another. There is no good value that seeks the disintegration of the family, which is the fundamental nucleus of society,” Kast emphasized. “Two women can love each other. Two women can live together. Two women can work together. But two women by themselves cannot procreate. The same is true for two men,” he explained.

“What I always propose and try to promote is that people consider the evidence. And that evidence is much stronger than ideology,” he indicated.

Left has been ‘very clever’ at appropriating causes

Kast acknowledged that the left has been “very clever” because it has appropriated causes such as the environment, women’s rights, and health, and used them to its advantage. However, he asked: “Who cares more about the environment? The leftist ideology or those of us who believe in life? We do.”

“Who defends people with disabilities more? Who truly cares about them? Those of us who believe in life. The others use their suffering to say, ‘They are discriminated against,’” he stated.

“The Indigenous cause is used by the ideological left to claim that they have been oppressed and repressed, which may have been true 100, 200, or 300 years ago, but today we are all part of the same nation. We have equal value. Today, there are more slaves in the world than when slavery was legal. Who is fighting against this slavery of children whose rights are violated? Who is fighting against the slavery of women who are victims of human trafficking? We are, because we believe in life and in freedom.”

‘Don’t wait for someone else to do what you can do’

To those who from the comfort of their homes declare “Someone has to do something,” the Chilean leader responded: “Don’t wait for someone else to do what you can do. What are you doing with your children? Do you dedicate time to them, or are you always busy? Because the root of this problem lies in the family,” he pointed out, urging people to set aside time exclusively for their spouses and children.

In this context, he highlighted a Chilean tradition called “dating Tuesdays,” which he himself practices with his wife every week, and which consists of “two hours a week of direct, face-to-face conversation, looking each other in the eyes, with no one else around.”

In this way, “a solid foundation is built for what is the core of the family, the union of the couple. If the couple is doing well, it’s more likely that the children and their environment will also be doing well,” he summarized. “And then it’s easier to go out and motivate others, because I can’t give what I don’t have,” he added.

‘Abortion is murdering an innocent person’

“You can see in Chile that what I was saying 20 years ago was the same as today,” Kast said. “I still say the same thing. And that’s why I'm closer to convincing people today.”

“In the coming years, how many people will realize that abortion is murdering an innocent person? How many people in 20 years will say, ‘What did we do to these children, giving them up for adoption to same-sex couples?’ Those children have the right to know their identity.”

“Just as the radical left, through its ideology, often captures the hearts and minds of young people, we, without trying to control them, but appealing to their freedom, are certain that they will be the force for change. Because these individualistic societies lead to loneliness. And man is a social being who seeks connection, who seeks joy,” Kast pointed out.

“It is young people who are the first to rebel against state totalitarianism. It is young people who are the first to realize that modern welfare systems, those governments that are gradually seizing complete power, turn their citizens into slaves of the welfare state,” he maintained. Therefore, he expressed his hope “that it will be young people who reverse the situation we are experiencing today.”

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

A child holds a phone with the Replika app open and an image of an AI companion. Apps that promise to help recreate digital versions of deceased family members using AI pose a “spiritual danger” to Catholics and others who may use the technology in place of healthy grief, experts say. / Credit: Generated by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system on Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 27, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Apps that promise to help re-create digital versions of deceased family members using AI pose a “spiritual danger” to Catholics and others who may use the technology in place of healthy grief, experts say.

The AI company 2wai ignited a controversy on social media in November after it revealed its eponymous app, which will allow users to fabricate digital versions of their loved ones using video and audio footage.

App co-founder Calum Worthy said in a viral X post that the tech could permit “loved ones we’ve lost [to] be part of our future.” The accompanying video shows a family continuously interacting with the digital projection of a deceased mother and grandmother even years after she died.

The reveal of the app brought praise from some tech commentators, though there was also considerable negative reaction. Many critics denounced it as “vile,” “demonic,” and “terrifying,” with others predicting that the app would be used to ghoulish ends such as using dead relatives to promote internet advertisements. 

Tech ‘could disrupt the grieving process’

2wai did not respond to requests for comment on the controversy, though company CEO Mason Geyser told the Independent that the ad was deliberately meant to be “controversial” in order to “spark this kind of online debate.” 

Geyser himself said he views the app as a tool to be used with his children to help preserve the memories of earlier generations rather than as a means to having a relationship with an AI avatar. “I see it … as a way to just kind of pass on some of those really good memories that I had with my grandparents,” he said. 

Whether or not such an app is compatible with the Catholic understanding of death — and of more diffuse, esoteric topics like grief — is unclear. Father Michael Baggot, LC, an associate professor of bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, acknowledged that AI avatars “could potentially remind us of certain aspects of our loved ones and help us learn from their examples.”

But such digital replicas “cannot capture the full richness of the embodied human being,” he said, and they risk “distorting the dead’s legacy” by fabricating conversations and interactions beyond the dead’s control. 

Catholic leaders have regularly remarked on both the heavy burden of grief and its redemptive power. Pope Francis in 2020 acknowledged that grief is ”a bitter path,” but it can “serve to open our eyes to life and the sacred and irreplaceable value of each person,” while helping one realize “how short time is.”

In October, meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV told a grieving father that those mourning the death of a loved one must “remain connected to the Lord, going through the greatest pain with the help of his grace.” 

The Resurrection, he said, “knows no discouragement or pain that imprisons us in the extreme difficulty of not finding meaning in our existence.”

Brett Robinson, the associate director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, warned that there is “spiritual danger” in technology that outwardly appears to bring loved ones back from the dead. 

Technology is not a neutral product, he said, but one that “has a profound ability to shape our perception of reality, regardless of the content being displayed.”

“In the case of re-presenting dead loved ones we meet one such case where prior conceptions about identity, vitality, and presence are being reshaped along technological lines,” he said.  

“If someone who no longer exists in human form, body and soul, can be ‘resurrected’ from an archive of the digital traces of their life, who or what are we actually engaging with?” he said. 

Robinson argued that present modes of technology have echoes of earlier centuries “when the cosmos was filled with presence — the presence of God, of angels, of demons, and of magic.” 

The problem at hand, he said, is that the “new magic” of modern technology “is divorced from the hierarchical, ordered cosmos of creation and the spiritual realm.”

Donna MacLeod has worked in grief ministry for decades. She first became involved in Catholic grief counseling after the death of her youngest daughter in 1988. The funeral ministry evolved into Seasons of Hope, a grief support program for Catholics that “focuses on the spiritual side of grieving the death of a loved one.”

MacLeod said the program is one of “hospitality and spirituality” that arises in an intensive community of individuals suffering from grief. 

“It builds parish communities,” she said. “People discover they’re not alone. That’s a big deal to grieving people — a lot of people feel very alone in their loss.” 

“And society expects everybody to move on,” she continued. “But grief has its own timetable. Those who are grieving start to understand that the Lord is with them and that he really cares about them. There’s hope and healing at the end of it.” 

“It’s doing what Christ asks us to do — walking with each other in hard times,” she said. 

Regarding the AI avatar technology, MacLeod acknowledged that those who have lost a loved one make it a “very high priority” to “seek connection” with the deceased. 

“People will say, ‘I’m not taking my loved one’s voice off of my answering machine,’” she said. “Or we have people taking out videos of family gatherings so they can see their loved ones again.”

“Everyone seeks to still be connected with their loved ones,” she said. “It’s related to our Catholic faith and the communion of saints — people feel this spiritual connection with their loved ones.”

MacLeod described herself as “on the fence” about how people could be affected by AI avatar apps. There could be “emotional and psychological risks interacting with AI versions of loved ones,” she admitted, though she said that many users “might look at it, but not get hung up on it,” unless they have underlying mental health issues. 

But “where the difficulty arises is that some people get stuck in the denial stage,” she said. Those suffering from grief can get desperate in such circumstances, she said, and sometimes resort to means such as mediums or psychics, which MacLeod pointed out the Church explicitly forbids. 

Whether or not AI avatars fall under that forbidden category is unclear. The Catechism of the Catholic Church expressly outlaws any efforts at “conjuring up the dead.” The use of mediums or clairvoyants “all conceal[s] a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings,” the Church says. 

Baggot said apps like 2wai’s “assemble data about the deceased without preserving the person.” 

He further argued that AI avatars “could also disrupt the grieving process by sending ambiguous signals about the survival of the departed person.”

Robinson, meanwhile, acknowledged that it is “good to want to connect to deceased loved ones,” which he pointed out we do “liturgically through prayer and memorials that honor those souls that are dear to us.” 

He warned, however, against “technocratic creators of complex computational machines that are becoming indistinguishable from magic.”

Such technology, he said, alters “the spiritual order” in ways “that are disordered and disembodied from the ritual forms that sustain religion and our belief that our eternal destiny rests with God in heaven and not in a database.”

Sister Carla Venditti of the Sacred Heart of Jesus helps women and girls who are victims of human trafficking. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Giulio Gargiullo

CNA Staff, Dec 27, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Some women, forced into prostitution by violence, desperation, or false promises, line the streets of Rome and Abruzzo at night — until they see a nun, dressed in a habit, offering them a way out.

“Ten years ago, I felt a calling within a calling,” Sister Carla Venditti told CNA. “I felt that God was calling me to something beautiful. I had to go out onto the streets because he was waiting for me there in the faces of the least among us.”

Venditti, of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, lives in Avezzano, Italy, and is known as the “anti-trafficking nun.” She goes out into the streets, ministering to women and girls who are being trafficked. Along with her fellow sisters and other volunteers, Venditti helps victims rebuild their lives. 

Starting anew with love 

“I look forward to Friday evenings so I can enter the world of nightlife,” said Sister Lucia Soccio, another Italian nun from the same order who has worked with Venditti on the streets for about 10 years.

“Bringing light, love, and hope to places where it is difficult to talk about these things is a very profound mission that changes you from within,” Soccio said.

Together, along with other nuns and volunteers, Venditti and Soccio offer a home for women in need. 

Wearing a habit helps, they said, but it takes time to build trust — and escaping human trafficking is difficult as exploiters manipulate, threaten, blackmail, and harm victims, even taking away their passports and documents.

The women who are ready to accept support are brought to a shelter in Abruzzo, the “Oasi Madre Clelia,” or the Oasis of Mother Clelia.

“The invitation to change one’s life comes only after many encounters where friendship and trust are formed,” Soccio said. 

The sisters commit to taking care of victims throughout their day-to-day lives as they heal and rehabilitate. 

“We have chosen to be a family to the people who come to us, and so everything is more demanding,” Venditti said. “Let’s start anew with love — this is the driving force behind our mission.” 

We give our simple lives 

“What drives me to do everything is the awareness that human beings need to feel God’s mercy in their lives through our humanity and sensitivity and, above all, the need to not be judged,” Venditti said. 

By night Venditti reaches out to trafficked women; by day, she helps those in the oasis readjust. Somehow, she still finds the time to sell handmade items at marketplaces to help fund their work. 

“We have formed an association: Friends of the Oasis of Mother Clelia. We have a bank account where we receive donations,” Venditti said. “We entrust ourselves to providence and, with our work — markets, linens, and calendars — we strive to make a living out of it.”

Venditti has even written a book — “The Rebellious Narcissus” (“Il narciso ribelle” in Italian) — for young people.

“What gives meaning to our mission is knowing that we do it for God,” Venditti said. “Every day we give our simple lives to give strength to those who do not have it.”

Since her calling 10 years ago, Venditti’s work has grown. The sisters have expanded their reach, working with many different kinds of people in need. 

“Ten years have passed, and today we welcome anyone who wants to be welcomed and accompanied: from abused young women to trans people to the poor,” Venditti said. 

“On the street we have met several people who are transgender and have become friends with them,” Soccio added.

The sisters help people in a variety of ways. 

“Often they have asked me for practical help, such as taking them to the hospital, the police station, etc., because they have no one else to help them,” Soccio said. 

“We help them in whatever way we can, but above all we have formed a relationship of friendship and trust that brings us joy and inspiration every time we meet,” Soccio continued. 

God does not forsake his children

The violence, humiliation, and suffering that the people they work with have experienced “breaks my heart,” Soccio said.

“It is very painful to hear about these experiences and realize how we human beings can become evil and malicious if we have not experienced God’s mercy,” Soccio said. 

To women who are suffering, Venditti says: “God does not forsake his children.” 

“We must have the strength and courage to trust and to know that the sky is not always cloudy, but that there is sunshine for everyone,” Venditti said. “Life is wonderful, and we must embrace the new possibilities that God gives us.”

“There are many stories that accompany our mission, but what strikes me most about these girls is the transformation of their faces, of their lives: from despair to serenity,” Venditti continued. 

Working with the women has helped strengthen Venditti’s faith. 

“My faith has grown stronger ever since I have been close to them,” Venditti said. “They help me to live it because, after all, how can we live the Gospel if we do not confront ourselves with others — with the weaknesses and fragility of our brothers and sisters?”

Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757–1825), “St. John the Evangelist,” ca. 1804-1809. / Credit: Public domain

National Catholic Register, Dec 27, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. John, both an apostle and an evangelist, played a very prominent role in many of the New Testament narratives. He was part of an inner-circle trio with his brother James (the Greater) and Peter, partaking in privileged incidents with Jesus: the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the Transfiguration, and the agony at Gethsemane.

John and his brother James were nicknamed “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus. Exactly why they were given this title is not explained. However, the two brothers did exhibit at least two instances of audacious behavior: wanting to bring fire from heaven down upon some Samaritans who refused to listen to the message of Christ and asking Jesus for special places of honor in heaven.

Within the Gospel of John, there are five different references to “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20). Over the centuries, the vast majority of biblical scholars have deemed this beloved disciple to be John himself. These mysterious references actually point to a less thunderous personality; for example, the beloved disciple resting his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper and Jesus requesting the beloved disciple to take care of his mother, Mary.

Tradition places John in Ephesus (in modern Turkey) after Pentecost, where he cared for Mary and perhaps wrote the fourth Gospel. John’s Gospel stands out from the other three, offering a unique portrayal of Christ and his message. This Gospel is symbolized with an eagle; its opening words urge the thoughts of readers to soar upward — sort of like an eagle — toward God (John 1:1).

It is probable that either John himself or a disciple of his wrote the three Epistles of John. Many claim that he also wrote the Book of Revelation, a work chock full of mystical imagery, during an exile on the island of Patmos (Greece).

John is believed to have lived to an old age and died of natural causes. A basilica in Ephesus reportedly held his remains for a time, but that church is now in ruins.

The feast of St. John the Evangelist is Dec. 27. He is the patron of many things including writers, booksellers, and friendships. 

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas closes the Holy Door at St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome on Dec. 25, 2025. | Credit: Vatican Media

Dec 26, 2025 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

With the closing of the Holy Door of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, the Vatican began on Dec. 25 the gradual conclusion of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope convened by the Church.

The rite was presided over by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, archpriest of the Marian basilica, who emphasized that “it is not divine grace that is being closed but a special time for the Church, and what remains open forever is the merciful heart of God.”

St. Mary Major is the first of the four papal basilicas in Rome to close its Holy Door. This Saturday, Dec. 27, the Holy Door of St. John Lateran will be closed by Cardinal Baldassare Reina; on Sunday, Dec. 28, that of St. Paul Outside the Walls by Cardinal James Michael Harvey; and finally, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, the solemnity of the Epiphany, Pope Leo XIV will close the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, officially concluding the jubilee.

During his homily, Makrickas noted that the 2025 Jubilee has been a unique event in the recent history of the Church, having unfolded under two pontificates.

“It has been a true testament to the life of the Church, which is never interrupted. The Lord does not abandon his Church, and today he firmly guides her through Pope Leo XIV,” he said.

Referring to the liturgy of the day, the cardinal explained that the readings proclaimed are “three great doors that always remain open”: the call of the prophet Isaiah to be messengers of peace, the invitation from the Letter to the Hebrews to listen to the Son, and the testimony of the Gospel of St. John about the light that shines in the midst of the darkness.

‘The door that truly matters is the door of the heart’

“Today we have seen the Holy Door close, but the door that truly matters is the door of the heart,” Makrickas pointed out, encouraging the faithful to open it by listening to the word of God, welcoming their neighbor, and offering forgiveness.

“Having crossed the Holy Door was a gift; now becoming doors open to others is our mission,” he added.

In the final part of his message, the archpriest of St. Mary Major recalled a central teaching of Pope Leo XIV during this holy year: that Christian hope “is not evasion but decision,” a hope that translates into concrete love, even in the midst of difficulties, and that inspires believers to give their lives for others.

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

Bishop Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku of Sudan's El Obeid Diocese. Credit: CRN

ACI Africa, Dec 26, 2025 / 15:37 pm (CNA).

In a country battered by violence, displacement, and fear, the 2025 Christmas message of Bishop Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku Andali of Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of El-Obeid addressed the people of God in the midst of their suffering and the fragile hope still carried by the celebration of Christmas.

For Trille, the Christmas proclamation is rooted in God’s fidelity, since “the birth of Christ is the manifestation of the glory of our God,” revealing his promise of salvation and peace for the whole of creation.

Through Christ’s birth, he explained, “the gate of heaven is opened for us” and reconciliation becomes possible because “the birth of Christ opens the way for our reconciliation with our Creator.”

He drew a parallel between the manger and Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, saying: “Seeing the baby Jesus in the manger describes the situation of all those of us in our country who remain without shelter and in fear.”

“Our diocese in Kordofan has become the battleground after Darfur,” he said, adding that a ”number of its parishes are deserted and desecrated.” The impact on pastoral life is severe, he lamented, noting: “There are no priests to celebrate sacred sacraments for the faithful.”

Sudan’s civil war broke out on April 15, 2023. The violent conflict is between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary force under Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and army units of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) that are loyal to the head of Sudan’s transitional governing Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

It started in Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum, before becoming a full-fledged civil war in the entire northeastern African nation. It has reportedly resulted in the death of “as many as 150,000 people”; well over 14 million people have been displaced, including to unstable countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, where they have reportedly overrun refugee camps.

With some 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid in Sudan, reportedly more than half of country’s population, Sudan quite possibly has the highest number of people in need ever recorded and the highest number of internally displaced globally, more than 12 million having fled violence in the country in the last two years.

Sudan also has the highest number of people in emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, “with over 600,000 people living in famine and 8 million others on the cliff edge,” according to an April report.

As Sudan approaches the 70th anniversary of independence in 2026, Trille made a pastoral appeal rooted in compassion and faith. He called the people of God to see themselves as “brothers and sisters in solidarity, weeping with parents and relatives of those who mourn the killed,” and to remember the words of Jesus: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Gathering testimony, prayer, and hope together, he exhorted, “let us make our hearts the manger where the baby Jesus can live to help us renew our lives and live peace.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Flag of Nigeria on soldiers arm. - Bumble Dee/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 26, 2025 / 13:22 pm (CNA).

After launching an attack on ISIS militants in Nigeria, President Donald Trump vowed that the United States would wage more military strikes if the ongoing persecution of Christians persists in the country.

The U.S. military coordinated with the Nigerian government in the joint operation, which targeted camps in the Sokoto state, where military officials said ISIS militants were based. The state is a predominantly Sunni Muslim region in the northwestern corner of Nigeria, bordering Niger.

Gen. Dagvin Anderson of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a statement that U.S. forces are “working with Nigerian and regional partners to increase counterterrorism cooperation efforts related to ongoing violence and threats against innocent lives.”

“Our goal is to protect Americans and to disrupt violent extremist organizations wherever they are,” he said.

The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Nigerian authorities cooperated with U.S. military, adding: “Terrorist violence in any form whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security.”

Trump began to publicly express concern about the persecution of Nigerian Christians in October and redesignated the country as a country of particular concern, which is reserved for countries with “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” The president threatened military action in November.

Following the Dec. 25 strike, Trump said in a statement that he “warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”

“May God bless our military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” the president said.

Nigeria is the most dangerous country in the world to be Christian, according to International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law reporting that more than 7,000 Christians were killed and another 7,800 were abducted for their religious faith in the first seven months of 2025 alone.

The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa reported that from October 2019 to September 2023, nearly 56,000 people died from broader ethnic and religious violence, with the violence disproportionately affecting Christians.

AFRICOM reported that, based on its initial assessment, “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed in the attack. However, local Nigerian officials, according to the Nigeria-based Vanguard News, did not find any evidence of injuries or deaths caused by the attack.

Douglas Burton, managing editor of Truth Nigeria, expressed doubt there were any casualties, based on the local reporting, and told CNA the military should “show us the photographs [and] show us the bodies” if anyone was injured or killed.

He said the attack may be “a warning shot” to demonstrate the ability of the United States to launch attacks inside Nigeria “if the Nigerian military establishment doesn’t start protecting … Christians.”

He noted the Nigerian government faces several Islamic insurgencies, which include affiliates of al-Qaeda and ISIS that desire to “usurp or replace the existing elected government with caliphates.” However, he accused the Nigerian military of turning a blind eye to Fulani militias — a separate force in Nigeria — which he said is responsible for “two-thirds of all the Christians that get killed every year.”

“The U.S. government — if it is serious about ending the genocidal attacks — it must target the Fulani ethnic militia that are concentrated in the north-central states,” Burton said.

He said the Fulani attacks are primarily in three states: Plateau, Benue, and Taraba, and said the militias are “wiping out Christian villages and forcing tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people into [internally displaced persons] camps.”

According to the 2024 report from the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, about 81% of civilians killed in Nigeria’s ethnic and religious violence died in land-based community attacks. At least 42% of those attacks were carried out by Fulani herdsmen, but another 41% of those attacks fell into the “other terrorist groups” category, which mostly comprise Fulani bandits.

Nina Shea, the director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, told CNA that Fulani militias “pose the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians” but that “they are no doubt influenced, emboldened, and maybe armed in their jihad by their Muslim brothers who’ve joined Islamic State, JNIM, Boko Haram, and other Islamist terrorists operating in Nigeria’s north.”

“This Islamist ideology is the biggest root cause for their murderous acts, not climate change as we’ve long been told,” she added. “Hopefully, the Nigerian government is feeling the pressure and will be spurred to do the necessary police work to curb the anti-Christian violence. It must disarm and prosecute the Fulani jihadis.”

Judge Amy Coney Barrett. - Rachel Malehorn/wikimedia CC BY SA 3.0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 26, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett says her Catholic faith “grounds her” and gives her “perspective.”

During an interview with Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Barrett tackled a number of topics including free speech, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and her law career. The U.S. Supreme Court justice also opened up about her Catholic faith, including how she prays and her relationship with the saints.

A ‘love for the saints’

When asked which spiritual figures have influenced her, Barrett shared about her relationships with the saints, specifically her love for St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

“My favorite was Thérèse of Lisieux. We have a daughter named Thérèse,” Barrett said. “I was captivated when I was young by how young she was when she just completely gave her life over to the Lord.”

“Her Little Way is so accessible to so many,” she said. “I minored in French and I studied in France. It was actually Lisieux, where I was … that’s where I decided to go that summer. So I spent a lot of time in the gardens of the Martin home. I think those examples of faith were important to me.”

“One thing that we’ve tried to do with our children is really cultivate in them a love for the saints, because I do think they are great examples that can inspire our love of the faith.”

Barrett said she has “prayed in different ways at different phases” of her life. As a law professor, she often prayed a “ lectio divina.” Now as a judge, she said she tends “to do more reading reflections” and will “read the daily ‘ Magnificat.’”

A “personal struggle in these last couple of years has been an ability to quiet my mind so that I can pray in a very deep and focused way,” she said. Listening to reflections “helps me, if my mind is wandering, to be able to focus on reading something and the task at hand.”

The Constitution and the common good

Despite her faith, Barrett also discussed how it is not what can influence her decisions as a judge. “The Constitution distributes authority in a particular way,” she said. “The authority that I have is circumscribed.”

“I believe in natural law, and I certainly believe in the common good,” Barrett said. “I think legislators have the duty to pursue the common good within the confines of the Constitution and respect for religious freedom.”

“You have to imagine, ‘What if I didn’t like the composition of the court I was in front of, the court that was making these decisions, and they view the common good quite differently than I do?’ That’s the reason why we have a document like the Constitution, because it’s a point of consensus and common ground.”

“And if we start veering away from that and reading into it our own individual ideas of the common good, it’s going to go nowhere good fast.”

Roe v. Wade

Barrett said both people who agreed with the Dobbs decision and those who did not “may well assume” she cast her vote based on her “faith” and “personal views about abortion.”

“But especially given the framework with which I view the Constitution, there are plenty of people who support abortion rights but who recognize that Roe was ill-reasoned and inconsistent with the Constitution itself,” she said.

Barrett further discussed “the trouble with Roe.”

“There’s nothing in the Constitution … that speaks to abortion, that speaks to medical procedures,” she said. “The best defense of Roe, the commonly thought defense of Roe, was that it was grounded in the word ‘liberty’ and the due process clause, that we protect life, liberty, and property and it can’t be taken away without due process of law.”

The “word ‘liberty’ can’t be an open vessel or an empty vessel in which judges can just read into it whatever rights they want, because otherwise, we lose the democracy in our democratic society,” Barrett said.

The problem with Roe “is that it was a free-floating, free-wheeling decision that read into the Constitution.”

The reason why it’s difficult to amend the Constitution is because “it reflects a super-majority consensus,” she said. “The rights that are protected in the Constitution, as well as the structural guarantees that are made in that Constitution, are not of my making. They are ones that Americans have agreed to.”

“Roe told Americans what they should agree to rather than what they have already agreed to in the Constitution.”

Free speech and freedom of religion

“I think the First Amendment protects, guarantees, forces us to respect one another and to respect disagreement,” Barrett said. “There’s a tolerance of different faiths, a tolerance of different ideas … we can see what would happen if you didn’t have the guarantee to hold that in place.”

“Think about what’s happening with respect to free speech rights in the U.K.,” Barrett said. “Contrary opinions or opinions that are not in the mainstream are not being tolerated, and they’re even being criminalized. Because of the First Amendment, that can’t happen here.”

If the United States were to have “an established religion, then it would be very difficult to simultaneously guarantee freedom of religion because there would be one voice with which the government was speaking,” Barrett explained.

An established religion would “sacrifice the religious liberty,” she said. “But by the same token, the religious liberty, it would become self-defeating if the logical end to it was to force everyone to see things your way.”

Discernment

At the end of the conversation, Barron asked Barrett what advice she would give young Catholics who want to be involved in public life, law, or the government.

“Discern first,” Barrett said. Ask: “What are you called to do?”

“If you do feel like this is a vocation and something you’re called to do, I think it can never be the most important thing,” Barrett said. “I think being grounded in your faith and who you are and being right in the Lord, so that you’re not tossed like a ship everywhere because there are enormous pressures.”

Faith “grounds me as a person,” Barrett said. “Not because my faith informs the substance of the decisions that I make, it emphatically does not, but I think it grounds me as a person. It’s who I am as a person.”

“So it’s what enables me to keep my job in public life in perspective and remain the person who I am and continue to try to be the person I hope to be despite the pressures of public life,” she said.

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the recitation of the Angelus on Dec. 26, 2025. | Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 26, 2025 / 02:17 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday urged Christians to resist the temptation to treat others as enemies, saying the mystery of Christmas calls believers to recognize the God-given dignity of every person, even in their adversaries.

“Christians, however, have no enemies, but brothers and sisters, who remain so even when they do not understand each other,” the pope said Dec. 26 during his Angelus address from the Apostolic Palace on the feast of St. Stephen, the Church’s first martyr.

Leo acknowledged that “those who believe in peace and have chosen the unarmed path of Jesus and the martyrs are often ridiculed, excluded from public discourse,” and sometimes even “accused of favoring adversaries and enemies.” Yet, he said Christian joy is sustained by “the tenacity of those who already live in fraternity.”

Reflecting on St. Stephen’s martyrdom, the pope noted that early Christians spoke of the saint’s “birthday,” convinced “that we are not born just once” and that “martyrdom is a birth into heaven.”

Citing the Acts of the Apostles, Leo recalled that those who witnessed Stephen’s trial and death “saw that his face was like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15), calling it “the face of one who does not leave history indifferently but responds to it with love.”

The pope linked Stephen’s witness to the meaning of Christmas, saying “the birth of the Son of God among us calls us to live as children of God,” drawing believers through the humility of Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds of Bethlehem.

At the same time, he said, the beauty of Christ and of those who imitate him can be rejected because it exposes injustice and threatens those “who struggle for power.”

“To this day, however, no power can prevail over the work of God,” Leo said, pointing to people around the world who choose justice “even at great cost,” who “put peace before their fears,” and who serve the poor.

“In the current conditions of uncertainty and suffering in the world, joy might seem impossible,” he added, but insisted hope still “sprouts” and “it makes sense to celebrate despite everything.”

The pope said Stephen’s final act of forgiveness mirrors Jesus’ own, flowing from “a force more real than that of weapons,” a “gratuitous force” rekindled when people learn to look at their neighbor with “attention and recognition.”

“Yes, this is what it means to be reborn, to come once more into the light, this is our ‘Christmas!’” he said.

After the Angelus, Leo renewed his Christmas wishes “for peace and serenity,” greeted pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, and asked St. Stephen’s intercession for persecuted Christians and communities suffering for their faith. He also encouraged those working amid conflict to pursue “dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.”

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

Credit: FotoDax/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 26, 2025 / 01:00 am (CNA).

Amid heavy immigration enforcement by the Trump administration, several bishops in the U.S. have recently issued broad dispensations to Catholics in their dioceses, allowing them to refrain from attending Mass on Sundays if they fear arrest or deportation from federal officials.

Bishops in North Carolina, California, and elsewhere have issued such dispensations, stating that those with legitimate concerns of being detained by immigration agents are free from the usual Sunday obligation.

The Church’s canon law dictates that Sunday is considered the “primordial holy day of obligation,” one on which all Catholics are “obliged to participate in the Mass.” Several other holy days of obligation exist throughout the liturgical year, though Sunday (or the Saturday evening prior) is always considered obligatory for Mass attendance.

The numerous dispensations issued recently in dioceses around the country have underscored, however, that bishops have some discretion in allowing Catholics to stay home from Mass for legitimate reasons.

Dispensation must be ‘just,’ ‘reasonable’

David Long, an assistant professor in the school of canon law at The Catholic University of America as well as the director of the school’s Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies, told CNA that bishops have the authority to dispense the faithful in their diocese with, as the Code of Canon Law puts it, a “just and reasonable cause.”

“This generally applies when a holy day of obligation falls on a Saturday or Monday, during severe weather events (snowstorms, hurricanes, floods, etc.), when there is no reasonable access to Mass, or during public emergencies such as pandemics or plagues,” he said. Once such circumstances end, he noted, the dispensation itself would cease.

By virtue of their office, diocesan administrators, vicars general, and episcopal vicars also have the power to issue dispensations, Long said.

Priests, however, normally do not have that authority “unless expressly granted by a higher authority, such as their diocesan bishop,” he said.

Canon law, he said, dictates that a dispensation can only be granted when a bishop “judges that it contributes to [the] spiritual good” of his flock, for a just cause, and “after taking into account the circumstances of the case and the gravity of the law from which dispensation is given.”

The lay faithful themselves can determine, in some cases, when they can refrain from going to Mass, though Long stressed that such instances do not constitute “dispensation,” as the laity “does not have the power to dispense at any time” that authority being tied to “executive power in the Church” via ordination.

Canon law dictates, however, that Catholics are not bound to attend Mass when “participation in the Eucharistic celebration becomes impossible.”

Long said such scenarios include “when [the faithful] are sick, contagious, or housebound, when they are the primary caregiver for someone else and cannot arrange coverage for that person, when traveling to Mass is dangerous, when there is no realistic access to Mass, or for some other grave cause.”

“This is not a dispensation,” he said, “but instead is a legal recognition of moral and physical impossibility at times.”

The recent immigration-related controversy isn’t the only large-scale dispensation in recent memory. Virtually every Catholic in the world was dispensed from Mass in the earliest days of the COVID-19 crisis, when government authorities sharply limited public gatherings, including religious gatherings, all over the world.

In 2024, on the other hand, the Vatican said that Catholics in the United States must still attend Mass on holy days of obligation even when they are transferred to Mondays or Saturdays, correcting a long-standing practice in the U.S. Church and ending a dispensation with which many Catholics were familiar.

‘The most incredible privilege we could possibly imagine’

Though the obligation to attend Mass is a major aspect of Church canon law, Father Daniel Brandenburg, LC, cautioned against interpreting it uncharitably.

“This ‘obligation’ is sort of like the obligation of eating,” he said. “If you don’t eat, you’ll die. Similarly, the Church simply recognizes that if we don’t nourish our soul, it withers away and dies. The bare minimum to survive is Mass once a week on Sundays.”

“Most people find the ‘obligation’ of eating to be quite pleasurable,” he continued, “and I think anyone with a modicum of spiritual awareness finds deep joy in attending Mass and receiving the Creator of the universe into their soul. At least I do.”

Like Long, Brandenburg stressed that the lay faithful lack the authority to “dispense” themselves from Mass. Instead, they are directed to follow their consciences when determining if they are incapable of attending Mass, particularly by applying the principle of moral theology “ad impossibilia, nemo tenetur” “(no one is obliged to do what is impossible”).

Being too sick, facing dangerous inclement weather, or lacking the ability to transport themselves are among the reasons the faithful might determine they are unable to attend Mass, he said.

“Here, beware the lax conscience which gives easy excuses,” Brandenburg warned, “and remember that the saints became holy not through excuses, but through heroic love.”