Northwoods Catholic Churches -- St. Anne, Boulder Junction; St. Mary, Sayner; St. Rita, Presque Isle

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador. / Credit: Presidencia SV

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in El Salvador has asked President Nayib Bukele not to repeal the 2017 law that prohibits the mining of metals, including gold, following the president’s announcement of his intention to lift the measure in order to tap into those resources.

“We hope that our authorities will reconsider and not repeal the law that prohibits mining, protecting the health and life of our people,” San Salvador Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas said in a Dec. 1 video statement.

The statement was issued after learning of Bukele’s intention to repeal the law, which the president announced in a post on X, stating: “We are the ONLY country in the world with a total ban on metal mining, something no other country has in place. Absurd! This wealth, given by God, can be used responsibly to bring unprecedented economic and social development to our people.”

In addition, Bukele said that “God placed a gigantic treasure under our feet: El Salvador potentially has gold deposits with the highest density per km² in the world.”

The Salvadoran president also noted that “studies carried out in only 4% of the potential area identified 50 million ounces of gold, valued today at $131.565 billion. This is equivalent to 380% of El Salvador’s GDP.”

The use of this wealth, Bukele said, “could transform El Salvador: create thousands of quality jobs, finance infrastructure throughout our country, drive the development of local economies. And all this with modern and sustainable mining, caring for our environment.”

‘Caring for our common home and mining’

Before reading his statement, Escobar recalled some excerpts from a message from the Secretariat of the Central American Bishops, published Nov. 29, which emphasizes the commitment of the Catholic Church to caring for creation, expressed by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Sí’.

“We urgently call on governments to adopt responsible and sustainable policies that respect the dignity of peoples and our common home, and that don’t allow exploitation by mining, since it is necessary to prioritize human life and the environment over economic interests that perpetuate social and ecological damage,” the message states.

Returning to his statement, the archbishop of San Salvador warned that El Salvador “couldn’t sustain more pillaging through mining that would increase deforestation, erosion, and loss of fertile soil.”

Escobar warned that “the most serious” harm would be “water and air pollution, causing death and illness in an irreversible manner,” especially among the poorest people.

“Our people, already vulnerable due to the victimization to which they have been subjected by large national and international capital, would now be revictimized and in the worst way, since pollution from cyanide, mercury, and other lethal toxins would worsen health problems and premature death in an irreversible manner,” the archbishop continued.

The Salvadoran prelate also charged that “if a good part of our people are already suffering from kidney failure due to water pollution caused mainly by pesticides, the suffering would be even worse due to the serious damage to other vital organs.”

In conclusion, the archbishop asked for God’s light “to find ways to economic development without harming the life and health of our people, the Salvadoran people.”

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

Close to the Pantheon in the heart of Rome, one of the city’s oldest and most popular ecclesiastical tailor shops — Ditta Annibale Gammarelli — is ready for the Dec. 7, 2024, consistory for the creation of new cardinals. / Credit: Sergio Natoli/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 3, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Close to the Pantheon in the heart of Rome, one of the city’s oldest and most popular ecclesiastical tailors is ready for Saturday’s consistory for the creation of new cardinals.

It wasn’t long after Pope Francis announced that he would be making 21 new cardinals in December that the Gammarelli tailor adjusted its window to feature the traditional dress of cardinals.

“It’s a bit of a historical showcase because not all of these items are still used,” Gammarelli manager Alessia Gammarelli told EWTN News. Gammarelli, with her cousins Lorenzo and Massimiliano, are the sixth generation to run the family business.

Gammarelli explained that while the black cassock with the red piping is still worn by cardinals today, the mantelletta, or knee-length cloak, has fallen out of use.

The red shoes worn by Pope Benedict XVI during his pontificate are also no longer in fashion, but Gammarelli said she likes to include out-of-use clerical wear in the window for historical interest.

Gammarelli tailor shop has made the ecclesiastical garments of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of priests, bishops, and cardinals since it was opened in 1798 by Giovanni Antonio Gammarelli as a tailor for Roman clergy.

The tailor has also sewn the garments of the popes starting with Pope Pius XI in the 1920s.

Today, Gammarelli’s most famous client is Pope Francis, who has chosen to simplify papal garb. The shop receives orders for the pope from his secretaries and the new clothes are completed and delivered to the Vatican in about a week, Gammarelli said.

In a Dec. 7 ceremony at the Vatican, the new cardinals will dress for the first time in the scarlet red cassocks that characterize these special assistants and advisers of the pope.

The red cassock, used for important liturgies and ceremonies, is accompanied by a shoulder cape called a “mozzetta” and by a white linen vestment with lace borders called a “rochet.” A red zucchetto, which is a small, round skull cap, completes the look.

The cardinals will receive their biretta, which is a square, red hat, and a ring from Pope Francis at the consistory.

For more everyday occasions, cardinals wear a black cassock with red trimming and a red sash.

Meanwhile, Gammarelli is working hard to fulfill any garment orders it may have received from the new cardinals, most of whom only found out they would be joining the College of Cardinals two months before the ceremony.

“It is still an artisanal company. We make all these clothes, they are all made here in the workshop by us, as well as all the sacred vestments that we cut and make ourselves,” Gammarelli told EWTN News, explaining that it is not easy to find skilled seamsters and seamstresses today.

“We try to continue this beautiful tradition. It’s not easy, though we try to do what we can,” she said. 

Ditta Annibale Gammarelli, as the shop is formally called, was added to a list of historic shops in Rome in 2000. It is believed it may be the city’s oldest shop to still be managed by direct descendants of its founder.

Another important feature always displayed in the tailor shop’s window is a white papal zucchetto.

Gammarelli said “often people come here because they want to give the Holy Father a new zucchetto, to make an exchange with his [zucchetto]. And so they buy [one] from us, we put it in a nice little box and then they do it, always hoping to make an exchange with the pope when they meet him and get the one he was wearing.”

A 17th-century Japanese depiction of St. Francis Xavier from the Kobe City Museum collection. / Credit: Public Domain

CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who evangelized vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France. His mother was an esteemed heiress and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. There he studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his master’s degree.

In Paris, Francis would discover his destiny with the help of his longtime friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola — who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God’s call; Ignatius’ humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him. But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ’s question to Francis: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced Francis to give up his plans and open his mind to God’s will. In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber, and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order: the Jesuits. During that year, the king of Portugal asked the pope to send missionaries to his newly acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith. Then on his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India’s west coast. There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action. He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians. Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

His missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims. In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts. Many said they were willing to suffer martyrdom rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

Francis Xavier became ill and died on Dec. 3, 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely guarded kingdom of China. In 1622, both St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius Loyola were canonized on the same day.

This story was first published on Nov. 27, 2011, and has been updated.

Missouri’s bishops said citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution of Christopher Collings, who was convicted of the 2007 abduction, rape, torture and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Collings is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections

St. Louis, Mo., Dec 2, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Missouri death row prisoner’s appeal on the eve of his execution date, while lawyers for the condemned man argue that he was a frequent victim of physical and sexual abuse in his youth and suffered judgment-impairing brain injuries as a result.

The prisoner, Christopher Collings, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2007 abduction, rape, torture, and murder of a 9-year-old girl, Rowan Ford.

Police said Collings confessed to killing Ford after raping her in rural Stella, Missouri, in the far southwest corner of the state. Collings allegedly burned the evidence of his crime, including the rope used to strangle the child, and dumped her body in a sinkhole.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Collings’ case in a brief Dec. 2 order. Barring an intervention by the Missouri Supreme Court or Republican Gov. Mike Parson — who has never granted clemency during his governorship — Collings will be executed Tuesday by lethal injection. 

Collings’ clemency petition filed with Parson states that Collings’ brain is “multiply injured” and “structurally abnormal,” which causes him to suffer from “functional deficits in awareness, judgment and deliberation, comportment, appropriate social inhibition, and emotional regulation.” It also relates in detail the frequent and often violent physical and sexual abuse that Collings allegedly experienced as a child.

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, had urged Catholics to contact the governor to express their opposition to Collings’ execution. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).

“The death and other circumstances of Rowan’s murder are tragic and abhorrent, and though her death was a great injustice, it still would also be an injustice if the state carries out a man’s execution in lieu of confining him to life imprisonment,” the Missouri bishops said in a statement last month. 

“The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to the death penalty because it disregards the sanctity and dignity of human life,” they said.

The bishops said that citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had in April announced that his office had requested that the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Collings, claiming “no court has ever found any legal errors” with his conviction.

In contrast to the petition sent to Parson, the petition to the U.S. Supreme Court sent on Collings’ behalf did not mention the alleged abuse Collings endured, nor his brain development, but focused mainly on procedural issues.

Collings’ confession, which became a key piece of evidence at his trial, allegedly took place during an unrecorded conversation with now-deceased Wheaton Police Chief Clinton Clark. David Spears, the stepfather of Ford, the victim, also admitted to playing a primary role in the crime, though he was ultimately only charged with lesser offenses and eventually released from prison in 2015.

According to Venerable English College, during the Catholic persecution in England, students would gather around the “Martyrs’ Picture” in the chapel to sing the Te Deum — a Latin hymn of thanksgiving — whenever news reached Rome of the martyrdom of a former student. This custom continues today on Martyrs’ Day, Dec. 1, when the relics of the martyrs, preserved beneath the altar, are venerated by the students. / Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 2, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

For the English seminary in Rome, Dec. 1 is an important day: the commemoration of the martyrdom of some of the school’s former students — 44 priests who were killed during the English Reformation after returning to England to serve the persecuted Catholics.

During the dark days of the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Venerable English College was founded in Rome to form young English Catholic men discerning the priesthood.

Today, the seminary continues to educate English men studying to be priests. In 2024, the college’s commemoration of “Martyrs’ Day” was moved to Dec. 2 due to the first Sunday of Advent falling on Dec. 1.

In the 16th century, “the situation in England was grave for Catholics,” Father Christopher Warren, vice rector of the Venerable English College, told Bénédicte Cedergren of EWTN News. “The Protestant Reformation, which we think of now very much as a historical fact, was a live one for them. Particularly for those who would celebrate Mass, for priests, and for those who would seek to aid them in their mission, it was a question of life and death.” 

After their ordinations in Rome, the courageous young priests returned to England and Wales, where they served in secret, facing constant dangers of betrayal, arrest, and execution.  

Over the next 100 years, 44 of the college’s students were martyred, most by being tortured and then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The rector of the Venerable English College, Father Stephen Wang, recalled that the most important martyr for the seminary is the first martyr, and one of the first students, St. Ralph Sherwin.

“He was from the north of England. He was very much an ‘establishment figure’ in England,” Wang said. “He was at Eaton School, at Oxford University, but then he converted to Catholicism, and he was full of faith and longed to share that faith with others. He studied for the priesthood, lived here for three years, and then he went back on the first mission that was sent from the seminary with a group of companions to try and share the Catholic faith back in England and Wales.”

According to the college, during the Catholic persecution in England, students would gather around the “Martyrs’ Picture” in the chapel to sing the Te Deum — a Latin hymn of thanksgiving — whenever news reached Rome of the martyrdom of a former student. 

This custom continues today on Martyrs’ Day, when the relics of the martyrs, preserved beneath the altar, are venerated by the students.

They also have morning prayer and Mass, vice rector Warren said. “And then in the evening after evening prayer, we have a public service of veneration during which the Gospel is read, but also an account of the martyrdom of one of the college martyrs. So that’s really a highlight because it sets before us the reality of their sacrifice.” 

While much of the building of the Venerable English College had to be massively restored after being commandeered and ransacked by Napoleon’s troops in 1798, the Martyrs’ Picture by Durante Alberti, dating to 1583, was saved and still hangs in the sanctuary of the college’s church today.

The painting has “an image of the Most Holy Trinity with the blood of Jesus falling onto a globe, setting it on fire,” Wang, the rector, said. “That’s our motto, the words of Jesus: ‘I have come to cast fire on the earth.’”

He explained that in the painting, the seminary’s two patron saints, St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury and St. Edmund, king of East Anglia, are depicted gesturing toward the Flaminian Gate, “which represents the road going north. So it’s the road home.”

“Our two saints are saying to us and to everyone today who’s in the Church: Your destiny, your vocation is not to stay in Rome forever. It’s to remember that you’re here for a purpose. It’s to go home. It’s to be on mission. It’s to take the good news of Jesus and your experience of being here in Rome back home to those who need to hear the Gospel,” the rector added.

Wang noted that while Catholics in England no longer face the likelihood of a physical martyrdom, they still have to confront many challenges, and seminarians returning home often have to navigate shifting modern cultural realities and anti-Christian hostility.

The future priests of the Venerable English College continue to draw inspiration from the courage of the English martyrs, whose legacy drives them to share the Gospel no matter the obstacles.  

“I think our seminarians are very inspired by the history here,” Wang said. “It’s so relevant, too, today as well, because today we need missionary priests, we need priests whose hearts are full of love, but also full of zeal and aware of the difficulties. The cultures are not always welcoming to the Gospel and to the Christian message. So, to be able to share your faith in a loving way but to have the courage and also the creativity you need to share that faith in new and difficult circumstances... The martyrs are such a model for that.” 

Smoke of war rises over a residential area in Aleppo. On Dec. 1, 2024, the Franciscan complex of the Terra Santa College in Aleppo was hit by a strike. No casualties were reported. / Credit: ACI MENA

ACI MENA, Dec 2, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

The Syrian city of Aleppo, whose name has long been associated with war, began the Advent season under a new shadow. Jihadist factions, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, advanced in the city, pushing Aleppo into a new phase, now with different rulers, ideologies, and flags. 

Last week, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a militant faction affiliated with extremist groups, launched its largest operation in nearly nine years against Syrian government forces in the western Aleppo countryside. The offensive claimed several villages and towns, blocking the main international highway between Damascus and Aleppo. The attacks also targeted Aleppo’s university dorms, killing four students and wounding 10 others.

Then on Sunday, Dec. 1, Terra Santa College in Aleppo run by the Franciscans was hit by a strike. No casualties were reported.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is a jihadist faction often described as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Syria. It was formed in 2017 from a merger of five groups, including Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra.

What does this latest outbreak of violence mean for Aleppo’s Christians, and how are their spiritual leaders responding? After years of relative calm, this renewed conflict deepens the burden of an already dire economic crisis. 

Christians await their fate

Christians in Aleppo now anxiously await more information about the future. Most have chosen to stay in their homes, either out of resolve or because leaving is not an option. Blocking the main international highway has left only one alternative route, which remains congested and potentially dangerous.

The Armenians of Syria Facebook page reported that Dr. Arwant Arslanian, a respected local physician, was killed by sniper fire while attempting to leave Aleppo.

Caught between bullets and shelling, a bus carrying young Christians from Syria’s northeastern Jazira region was stranded on the Aleppo Road. After hours of waiting, the youth reached the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese in Aleppo where they were provided with care and refuge.

There is currently limited movement in the city, marked only by residents trying to purchase essential goods. This activity halts by 5 p.m. due to a curfew imposed by the militants and lasting until 5 a.m. Bread shortages have worsened, with bakery production declining and long queues for what is available. Small vans were reportedly seen recently distributing bread and water for free in several neighborhoods, including Christian areas, where drinking water has been entirely cut off.

Churches reassure their communities

After the strike on Terra Santa College in Aleppo, the custos of the Holy Land released a statement reporting that the friars and faithful of the parish “are all well” and inviting everyone “to join us in prayer for peace in Syria, martyred by long years of war and violence.”

The Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Bishop Mor Boutros Kassis, stated that Christian leaders in the city have been in close contact and have decided to stay, continuing prayers and liturgies. 

They have also strengthened communication with their communities through WhatsApp groups and Facebook. 

Addressing his parishioners, Kassis acknowledged the shocking and difficult reality but urged them to face it with awareness, courage, and faith. He added that the dioceses across Syria are prepared to receive refugees.

The Maronite archbishop of Aleppo, Joseph Tobji, encouraged his parishioners to maintain inner peace, which he described as a source of strength for sound decision-making. He emphasized the importance of prayer, reminding them that “God acts, not man, for God is stronger than man.”

The Greek Orthodox archbishop of Aleppo, Ephrem Maalouli, appealed to his parishioners to remain committed to prayer and exercise wisdom by limiting unnecessary outings, staying calm, and being patient. He urged them to reach out to the church for any needs.

Meanwhile, the Latin Church leader in Aleppo, Franciscan Father Bahjat Karakach, expressed his thoughts, saying that there is no reason for panic.

“The Church knows no more than the people do,” he said. “The decision to stay or leave Aleppo is a personal choice, and no one can make it on behalf of another. We friars are staying and waiting to see how things unfold.”

The Middle East Council of Churches issued a statement recently addressing local and global policymakers as well as regional and international religious organizations. The statement urged them to exert pressure to spare civilians from harm in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Expanding territories

The armed factions have extended their control to new areas in Idlib province, west of Aleppo, and have moved southward toward northern Hama’s countryside. While they have captured some territories there, they have yet to enter the Christian towns of Mhardeh and Al-Suqaylabiyah.

Aleppo’s Christians, though spared immediate harm for now, continue to pray and brace themselves for an uncertain tomorrow.

The Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns

CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has suppressed the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, following a long-running controversy that began with a diocesan investigation into allegations that the prioress had broken her vow of chastity. 

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth announced on Monday that he received a decree of suppression last week from the Holy See. The decree follows the dismissal of the former nuns in October by their superior after a series of disagreements with the local bishop. 

The decree, dated Nov. 28, was signed by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and Sister Simona Brambilla, MC, the secretary of the dicastery.

The dicastery found the community “extinct” and decreed the suppression of the monastery. The decree of suppression cited the “notorious defection from the Catholic faith,” which led to the dismissal of the five nuns as well as of the monastery’s only novice, amid the expiration of the vows of the seventh member, “thus, leaving the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity with no members.”

Olson announced the suppression on Dec. 2, emphasizing that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”

He added that “the Holy See has suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”

In the letter, Olson reiterated an earlier announcement that Catholics should not attend Mass celebrated at the former monastery. He noted that any Masses or sacraments celebrated there “are illicit” and that “Catholics do harm to the communion of the Catholic Church by intentionally attending these ceremonies.”

The former nuns had not published a statement in response at the time of publication. Their website continues to identify them as “Discalced Carmelite Nuns.”

The controversy began last year when Olson launched an investigation into the monastery amid allegations that Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach had conducted an affair with a priest.

The women in May 2023 filed a lawsuit against Olson over the investigation, claiming violations of privacy and harming the physical and emotional well-being of the sisters. Olson eventually dismissed Gerlach from religious life.

In April of this year, the Vatican declared that the Association of Christ the King in the United States of America would oversee the “government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges” of the Texas monastery.

The women, however, defied the Vatican order, going so far as to associate with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist group that is not in full communion with the Catholic Church and has a canonically irregular status.

Mother Marie of the Incarnation, the president of the Association of Christ the King, who was appointed to oversee the women, announced in October that they were dismissed from the Order of Discalced Carmelites and “reverted to the lay state.” 

“I wish to repeat that since this sad series of events began to unfold in April 2023 when the former prioress self-reported to me her grave failure against the vow of chastity with a priest, I was obliged to begin the search, in accord with canon law, for both justice and mercy for all involved,” OIson said in his letter. 

Gerlach’s admission of “her grave failure against the vow of chastity with a priest,” Olson noted, “was recorded and entered into the public record at a civil court hearing” after the former prioress brought a civil lawsuit against Olson and the diocese.

During the June 2023 court hearing, Gerlach admitted to breaking her vows of chastity and said that the affair was conducted by phone. Gerlach’s lawyer, Matthew Bobo, said that Gerlach was under the influence of pain medication at the time of the hearing. Gerlach, who was hospitalized for seizures in November 2022, uses a wheelchair and feeding tube. 

In June 2023, the diocese released photographs appearing to show cannabis products at the monastery. Bobo called the allegations of drug use “absolutely ridiculous.” 

The former nuns’ most recent statement from Oct. 30 maintained that “these assertions are egregiously false.” The October statement rejected the dismissal by Mother Marie, citing their recent affiliation with the Society of St. Pius X as of August.  

Olson maintained that the diocese’s “response to their disobedient actions and calumny has consistently been guided by charity, patience, and has been in accord with the instructions of the Holy See.” 

Olson asked for prayers for the former nuns, noting that the event brought “great sadness” to the local Church and himself and “perpetrated a deep wound in the Body of Christ.”

“I ask all of you to join me in praying for healing, reconciliation, and for the conversion of these women who have departed from the vowed religious life and notoriously defected from communion with the Catholic Church by their actions,” Olson said.

“Now, as always, I wish them grace and peace in Our Lord, Jesus Christ,” he added.

In a Nov. 29 letter to Olson, the secretary of the dicastery assured Olson of the dicastery’s gratitude for his “heroic and thankless service to the local Church,” citing the “hardship and unwarranted public attention” toward the local diocese. The dicastery also called on the faithful to pray for the former nuns.

“This dicastery exhorts all the members of the Discalced Carmelite Order, as well as the faithful of the Diocese of Fort Worth, to pray earnestly that the hearts of such as have erred may repent and return to the unity of the truth bestowed on the Church by Our Lord, Jesus Christ,” the decree stated.

Attendees including workers of reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral gather during a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron (center) in the nave of the cathedral in Paris on Nov. 29, 2024. / Credit: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

As the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris prepares to reopen on Dec. 7, U.S. bishops are calling on local American churches to show their solidarity with the Church’s “eldest daughter.” 

Five years ago, a devastating fire broke out across the timber roof and 315-foot-tall oak spire of the beloved 12th-century French cathedral. Restoration to the structure began with a two-year cleaning process followed by a $760 million reconstruction project.

In a social media post, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) wrote that as the cathedral reopens its doors, “local churches in the U.S. are invited to peal their bells in a gesture of unity.” 

“This gesture of uniting our local Churches with the cathedral of Paris would be one more sign of our union to the eldest daughter of the Church whose forefathers contributed so much to the U.S. struggle for independence,” USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio stated in the post. 

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is also encouraging local churches to accept the bishops’ invitation and will ring its bells at 2 p.m. ET on Dec. 7, according to the USCCB. 

Notre Dame Cathedral will open its doors to the public on Dec. 7, beginning with a triduum that will include the official inauguration of the cathedral by the French state, which owns and maintains most of the country’s cathedrals as historic sites. The Notre Dame altar will be consecrated on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, during the first Mass in the restored cathedral.

Photo and video images have been circulating across social media and various news outlets from French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Notre Dame on Friday, giving the world a first glimpse into the cathedral’s interior since a fire broke out across its roof and spire in April 2019. 

Last month, the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris also rang out for the first time since the fire.

The Holy Father's Dec. 2, 2024, letter to Catholics in Nicaragua comes at a critical time for the country. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has written a moving letter to Catholics in Nicaragua to express his closeness, affection, and incessant prayer to the Virgin, imploring her consolation in the midst of the persecution of the faith that the country is suffering under the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

In the context of the novena prior to the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father wrote a Dec. 2 pastoral letter to the “beloved Church in Nicaragua.” 

The pontiff professed the affection he has for the Nicaraguan people, distinguished by their “extraordinary love for God,” whom they affectionately call “Papachú.”

“I am with you,” the Holy Father assured, encouraging the faithful to trust in Providence, “the only sure guide,” especially in the most difficult moments, when humanly “it becomes impossible to understand what God wants of us.” In these circumstances, he reminded, “we are called not to doubt his care and mercy.”

Pope Francis emphasized that trust in God and fidelity to the Church are “two great beacons” that illuminate their lives. “Be assured that faith and hope work miracles,” he said.

He also invited them to turn their gaze to the Immaculate Virgin, referring to the title of his letter: “Who causes so much joy? The Conception of Mary!” This popular expression marks the celebration of “La Gritería,” a Nicaraguan tradition that fills churches every Dec. 7 in honor of the Mother of God.

The pontiff expressed his hope that this celebration will be a source of encouragement “in difficulties, uncertainties, and deprivations” and urged the faithful to abandon themselves into the arms of Jesus with the prayer “God first.”

“I want to really emphasize that the Mother of God unceasingly intercedes for you, and we continually ask Jesus to always hold you by his hand,” the Holy Father added.

He also encouraged the faithful to pray the “powerful prayer” of the rosary, where the mysteries “make their way through the intimacy of our hearts, where the freedom of the daughters and sons of God finds shelter, which no one can take away from us.”

Finally, he entrusted the people of Nicaragua to the protection of the Immaculate Conception and concluded with “that simple cry expressed with profound trust: ‘Mary belongs to Nicaragua, Nicaragua belongs to Mary.’ So be it!”

Persecution of the Church in Nicaragua

The Holy Father’s letter comes at a critical time for Nicaragua, shortly after the National Assembly approved a constitutional reform proposed by the dictatorship by which Ortega and Murillo will henceforth be “co-presidents” and will officially have total control of the government.

Among the most controversial measures is a provision that requires that “religious organizations must remain free of all foreign control.”

For years, the Ortega regime has intensified a systematic persecution against all expressions of faith in the country. Lay faithful, priests, and bishops are constantly monitored, persecuted, abducted, and even imprisoned in deplorable conditions.

Numerous members of the clergy have been deported from the country and stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship, leaving them stateless, as is the case of the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, who was exiled to Rome in January along with another bishop, 15 priests, and two seminarians.

Under the socialist regime, Catholics have been silenced and public expressions of faith, such as prayers for the persecuted or pastoral and spiritual activities, are strictly prohibited.

From 2018 to 2024, 870 attacks against the Catholic Church have been recorded in Nicaragua, according to the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?”, which documents how serious the crisis is.

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

null / Credit: PeopleImages.com/Yuri A/Shutterstock

Madrid, Spain, Dec 2, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Spain has accepted “with filial obedience” the recent doctrinal note by the country’s bishops on practices of “intergenerational healing” that are not in accord with the magisterium and tradition of the Catholic Church.

In a statement published on its website, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Spain said it gratefully welcomes the content of the document approved by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference and “adheres to it with filial obedience, agreeing with its content and the concern that underlies it.”

The movement also stated that it “will continue to ensure that, within the scope of our association, part of the entire stream of grace, its guidelines are followed.”

The charismatic organization added that the bishops’ document, titled “His Mercy Extends from Generation to Generation,” is necessary “to clarify concepts, risks to this practice, as well as the areas of its implementation, in the light of the studies carried out and the notes from the magisterium of the Catholic Church that are enunciated.” 

In addition, the association hopes that what the bishops have set forth will help “identify and correct these practices that deviate from the tradition and the magisterium of the Church and that can cause great moral and spiritual harm to the holy people of God.”

The statement from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Spain was signed by its national coordinator, Víctor Gregorio Arellano, and the national spiritual adviser, Father Francisco Javier Ramírez de Nicolás, a priest of the Diocese of Osma-Soria.

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Spain is a private association of the faithful whose statutes were approved by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference in 2004 and modified in 2011.

The doctrinal note from the Spanish Bishops’ Conference noted that Father Robert DeGrandis of the Society of St. Joseph “has popularized the practice in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal due to his involvement in it.”

De Grandis and other authors teach “the intergenerational transmission of sin and, correlatively, the possibility of intergenerational healing,” the bishops’ note criticizes.

The way to supposedly “cure” physical and mental illnesses consists of “identifying the sin in one’s own family tree” and breaking “the bond of sin” through “intercession, exorcisms, and, especially, the celebration of a Eucharist,” which results in a supposed healing, the doctrinal note explains.

The Spanish bishops point out that “sin is always personal and requires a free decision of the will” and that the same is true of the punishment associated with sin. The prelates noted that “the only sin that is transmitted from generation to generation is original sin” but that this occurs only “in an analogous way.”

Furthermore, they affirm that it’s not possible to “maintain that there is an intergenerational transmission of sin without contradicting Catholic doctrine on baptism,” the sacrament in which “the forgiveness of all sins occurs.”

Regarding the Eucharist, the bishops maintained that offering petitions during Mass for intergenerational healing “seriously distorts the Eucharistic celebration.”

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