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The book “Hope Never Disappoints” is based on interviews author Hernán Reyes Alcaide (pictured here) conducted with Pope Francis. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Nov 20, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The author of a new book based on interviews with Pope Francis discussed the Holy Father’s views on Christian hope, migration, and the Israel-Hamas conflict in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” on Tuesday.

Published ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year, “Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Toward a Better World” focuses on the pope’s views of contemporary issues ranging from family and new technologies to climate change and peace.

Released on Tuesday in Italy, Spain, and Latin America by Edizioni Piemme Publishers — and at a later date in other languages — the book by journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide was written for the occasion of the 2025 Jubilee Year, which is scheduled to begin Christmas Eve.

Pope Francis highlighted the issue of migration in the context of other issues, Reyes told EWTN News on Tuesday.

“For Pope Francis, migration is a central issue approached with a fully integrated perspective,” Reyes said. “He emphasizes that it is impossible to think about migration without also considering climate change, the current economic system, and its political consequences.”

“He insists that addressing migration cannot be done in isolation because the interconnection between these factors is absolute,” Reyes continued. “For the pope, migration serves as a lens through which to view the broader realities of what is happening in the world today.” 

In an excerpt from the text, previously published by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Francis emphasizes that it is “absolutely necessary to address the causes that cause migration in the countries of origin.” He also affirms that no country can “face this challenge in isolation.”

In the book, Pope Francis also highlights the importance of promoting “well-managed” migration, which could help resolve “the serious crisis caused by low birth rates,” especially in Europe, as long as the integral development of migrants is guaranteed.

View of Gaza conflict

Reyes clarified the pope’s perspective on the Israel-Hamas conflict. In a recently released quote from the book, the Holy Father called for a careful investigation into Gaza, as “according to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.” 

The comment generated swift criticism from Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, who highlighted Israel’s “right of self-defense” in response to the “genocidal massacre” by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which was the most deadly mass massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. 

A 93-year-old Holocaust survivor also criticized the remark on Monday, saying the Holy Father used the term genocide “too easily.”

But Reyes noted that the pope is advocating for an investigation, not making a set judgment.

“The pope isn’t taking a stance on whether genocide is happening or not,” Reyes said. “Instead, he’s emphasizing the importance of an investigation. He suggests that if there are claims of genocide, a thorough investigation is required to determine whether the conditions for genocide — criteria A, B, C, and D — are met. If these conditions are fulfilled in the current circumstances within that region, it would then require a formal declaration by the international community.” 

The call for an investigation takes place amid several accusations against Israel. South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice last December for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention, while a Nov. 14 report by the United Nations Special Committee claimed that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, citing famine in Gaza and civilian casualties. 

Critics of the U.N. have cited the group’s Hamas sympathies, noting that a top U.N. humanitarian aid official claimed that Hamas is not a terrorist group. Hamas is known for its long-standing practice of using civilians as human shields. Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza has employed Hamas members, with nine UNRWA employees allegedly participating in the Oct. 7 attack.

‘Something good is coming’

In addition to global issues, Pope Francis is also addressing spiritual issues by inviting people to be “pilgrims of hope.” As pilgrims, hope is “the anchor and the sail” that guides us toward a more “fraternal future.”

“The pope says the key word is hope, which he contrasts not only with despair but also with mere optimism,” Reyes said. “Optimism, he explains, can be fleeting — here one moment, gone the next. Hope, especially Christian hope, is different. It’s not just a theological virtue but also a mindset rooted in the certainty that something good is coming. At the same time, this hope requires action; it’s not passive.” 

“We are called to work at building hope each day, to make it a reality through our efforts,” Reyes concluded.

Blessed Carlo Acutis (left) and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati / Credit: Diocese of Assisi/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Rome Newsroom, Nov 20, 2024 / 05:58 am (CNA).

Pope Francis announced Wednesday that Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, two young Catholics beloved for their vibrant faith and witness to holiness, will be canonized during two major jubilee celebrations dedicated to young people.

The surprise announcement came at the conclusion of the pope’s weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square as Francis celebrated World Children’s Day. 

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni later confirmed that Acutis’ canonization will occur during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers taking place April 25–27, 2025, and Frassati’s canonization will take place during the Jubilee of Youth from July 28–Aug. 3, 2025.

According to the Diocese of Assisi, Acutis’ canonization Mass is expected to take place on Sunday, April 27, at 10:30 a.m. local time in St. Peter’s Square.

Both soon-to-be saints are beloved by many Catholic young people for their enthusiastic pursuit of holiness. The two canonizations are expected to bring many young people to the Eternal City in 2025 for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Hope.

Carlo Acutis: the first millennial saint

Acutis, an Italian computer-coding teenager who died of cancer in 2006, is known for his great devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Born in 1991, Acutis is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church. Shortly after his first Communion at the age of 7, Acutis told his mother: “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.”

To accomplish this, Acutis sought to attend daily Mass as often as he could at the parish church across the street from his elementary school in Milan.

Acutis called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” and he did all in his power to make this presence known. His witness inspired his own parents to return to practicing the Catholic faith and his Hindu au pair to convert and be baptized.

Acutis was a tech-savvy kid who loved computers, animals, and video games. His spiritual director has recalled that Acutis was convinced that the evidence of Eucharistic miracles could be persuasive in helping people to realize that Jesus is present at every Mass.

Over the course of two and a half years, Acutis worked with his family to put together an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist proclaimed by Pope John Paul II and has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.

Many of Acutis’ classmates, friends, and family members have testified how he brought them closer to God. Acutis was a very open person and was not shy about speaking with his classmates and anyone he met about the things he loved: the Mass, the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and heaven.

He is remembered for saying: “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”

Acutis died at the age of 15 in 2006, shortly after being diagnosed with leukemia. Before he died, Acutis told his mother: “I offer all of my suffering to the Lord for the pope and for the Church in order not to go to purgatory but to go straight to heaven.”

Thousands of people visited Acutis’ tomb in Assisi following his beatification in the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 10, 2020.

Since his beatification, Catholic schools from the Australian outback to England have been named after Acutis, as well as countless ministries and parish initiatives.

Pope Francis encouraged young people to imitate Acutis in prioritizing “the great gift of the Eucharist” in his message for the upcoming diocesan World Youth Days.

Pier Giorgio Frassati: ‘To the heights’ of holiness

Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is also beloved by many today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.”

The young man from the northern Italian city of Turin was an avid mountaineer and Third Order Dominican known for his charitable outreach.

Born on Holy Saturday, April 6, 1901, Frassati was the son of the founder and director of the Italian newspaper La Stampa.

At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to taking care of the poor, the homeless, and the sick as well as demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.

Frassati was also involved in the Apostleship of Prayer and Catholic Action. He obtained permission to receive daily Communion.

On a photograph of what would be his last climb, Frassati wrote the phrase “Verso L’Alto,” which means “to the heights.” This phrase has become a motto for Catholics inspired by Frassati to strive for the summit of eternal life with Christ.

Frassati died of polio on July 4, 1925. His doctors later speculated that the young man had caught polio while serving the sick.

John Paul II, who beatified Frassati in 1990, called him a “man of the eight beatitudes,” describing him as “entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor.”

The Vatican has yet to announce the recognition of the second miracle attributed to Frassati, which made his canonization possible.

The confirmation of the miracle from the Vatican, along with the announcement of the specific date of Frassati’s canonization Mass, are expected in the future.

The Texas Supreme Court will allow the execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of the murder of his infant child, with the ruling coming after a legislative committee attempted in October 2024 to delay the capital sentence by subpoenaing the condemned man. / Credit: Innocence Project

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

The Texas Supreme Court will allow the execution of a man convicted of the murder of his infant child, with the ruling coming after a legislative committee attempted last month to delay the capital sentence by subpoenaing the condemned man.

The Texas House of Representatives Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence last month had issued a subpoena for Robert Roberson to appear before the committee to testify regarding the state’s “junk science” law. Roberson was convicted in 2003 of the murder of his infant daughter, Nikki.

The Texas Supreme Court granted an emergency motion to halt his execution, which had originally been scheduled to take place Oct. 17. The latest state Supreme Court ruling does not concern Roberson’s innocence or guilt but rather the state Legislature’s power to delay executions.

The court ruled that the Legislature cannot delay Roberson’s execution in order to obtain his testimony.

“We conclude that under these circumstances the committee’s authority to compel testimony does not include the power to override the scheduled legal process leading to an execution,” Justice Evan A. Young wrote in the opinion.

“We do not repudiate legislative investigatory power, but any testimony relevant to a legislative task here could have been obtained long before the death warrant was issued — or even afterwards, but before the execution.”

The high court pointed out that nothing prevents the Legislature from obtaining his testimony now that his execution is already delayed.

“There remains a substantial period between now and any potential future rescheduling of Roberson’s execution,” the ruling said. “If the committee still wishes to obtain his testimony … so long as a subpoena issues in a way that does not inevitably block a scheduled execution, nothing in our holding prevents the committee from pursuing judicial relief in the ordinary way to compel a witness’ testimony.”

State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office in a Nov. 18 statement said the lawmakers who issued the subpoena “conspired to block the lawful execution of a man convicted of murdering his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki.” 

“Ensuring justice for murder victims is one of my most sacred responsibilities as attorney general, and we fought every step of the way for her,” he said.

Roberson was convicted of Nikki’s murder in 2003 after he brought her to a local hospital with severe injuries. Roberson claimed the baby had fallen from her bed, but medical experts argued that her injuries were consistent with child abuse. 

Testimony at his trial included the claim that Nikki’s injuries were consistent with “shaken baby syndrome,” a formerly common diagnosis that is controversial today among experts.

Since his conviction, Roberson has attempted to establish his innocence by invoking Texas’ “junk science” law, which allows defendants to argue that scientific evidence used in their conviction was flawed. He would be the first person in the U.S. put to death for a conviction linked to “shaken baby syndrome” if his execution ends up moving forward, CBS News reported.

After he was subpoenaed last month, Roberson was ultimately not permitted to testify to the state Legislature virtually. Lawmakers cited the fact that he has autism and has rarely interacted with modern technology during his 20-year incarceration. The Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee had expressed hope to have Roberson appear to testify in person at another time.

The Catholic Church teaches that the death penalty is “inadmissible,” even for people who have committed heinous crimes.

In mid-October, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops said in a statement that it was “grateful” for the decision to halt the execution, and Bishop Joe Vásquez of the local Diocese of Austin said that the bishops of Texas believe that “he is innocent, and at least his case should be reviewed.” 

Later that month, the Catholic conference noted in a statement that under state law, when a new execution date is requested, a 90-day posting of the date is required, so the earliest the state could execute Roberson would be February 2025. The conference urged continued prayers for Roberson. 

null / Credit: Biz Pic Baby/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, is missing a large batch of donations with parishioners urged to monitor bank accounts amid an investigation into the whereabouts of the funds. 

A letter to diocesan residents from Bishop Kevin Sweeney, obtained by CNA, said the missing funds were part of the Paterson Diocese’s ministries appeal. 

The diocese for 10 years has used a third-party firm that “specializes in processing and recording donations,” Sweeney said. 

That arrangement is “used by many dioceses and nonprofits to ensure there is an independent, ‘arms-length’ distance between the office that conducts a fundraising effort and the funds that come in,” the bishop noted. 

Sweeney said workers on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 dropped appeal responses from “approximately 1,700 parishioners” into a FedEx drop box. The appeals were addressed to the processing firm.

“Unfortunately, the packages never arrived at their destination, and the tracking number for each package used to monitor the location was never entered, making it impossible to know their current whereabouts,” the bishop said. 

Of the 1,700 responses, Sweeney said, the diocese estimates “approximately 500 … may have contained cash, checks, and credit card information.”

The prelate said the diocese has been in “constant contact with FedEx about this issue” and that officials were “not ruling out foul play.” Law enforcement has been notified, he said. 

Sweeney said the diocese has changed its processing procedures. “[We] now bring all packages to a FedEx store where we watch it get scanned and receive a receipt and tracking information,” he said.

The bishop urged parishioners to “monitor your credit card activity or checking account to make sure there are no irregularities.”

Sweeney acknowledged that it was “distressing that an action beyond our control may have impacted even a small number of our faithful supporters.” 

“What makes this even more upsetting is a concern that this could impact those who want to give to the Diocesan Ministries Appeal but may now be hesitant,” he noted. “This has the unintended effect of impacting funding to the important and vital ministries in our diocese, such as Catholic Charities, where the need is so great.” 

“We hope that this does not deter the faithful from supporting our appeal, especially now that a solution is in place to ensure the tracking of every package,” Sweeney added. 

On its website, the diocesan appeal says the funds raised go toward Catholic education, seminarian support, senior priest retirement, and taking care of people with special needs.

null / Credit: natatravel/Shutterstock

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov 19, 2024 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

“With a supreme and definitive decision,” Pope Francis expelled from the clerical state for the crime of schism Fernando María Cornet, an Argentine who served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Sassari, Italy.

Cornet, 57, wrote a book titled “Habemus Antipapam?” (“Do We Have an Antipope?”), published in 2023 by the publishing house Edizioni del Faro, the Argentine newspaper La Nación reported. In his book, Cornet asserts that Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was invalid and, consequently, so was the election of Pope Francis.

In announcing the decision, the archbishop of Sassari, Gian Franco Saba, urged the community to pray for the unity of the Church.

“The members of Christ must not be in conflict with each other; all those who form his body must each fulfill their own office ... so that there may be no divisions,” he said.

The archdiocese also announced that the vicar of the Historic Urban Center Subzone, Father Antonino Canu, will serve as parish administrator of St. Donatus and St. Sixtus in Sassari. 

He will be assisted in his ministry by the priests of Cottolengo who already work in the Historic Center and other priests present in the pastoral district, the archdiocese added.

The statement, dated Nov. 13, is signed by the chancellor of the archdiocese, Father Antonio Spanu.

According to La Nación, in mid-May, a letter from the Vatican asked Cornet “to withdraw the book from circulation, to publicly declare that it had errors, to ask for forgiveness, and to recognize Pope Francis as the legitimate pope.”

However, the now former priest said he “couldn’t do so because that’s not how things are and also because no one from the DDF [Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith] was able to explain to me what the errors in my book are; no one ever gave me an argument.”

Cornet foresaw that he would incur this sentence and stated that for writing his book “he was going to be persecuted by someone who had illegitimately occupied a place that didn’t belong to him, throwing the Church into crisis with illegitimate decisions and illegitimate appointments of bishops.”

What is the crime of schism?

According to Canon 751 of the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, schism takes place when a baptized person refuses “submission to the supreme pontiff or communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”

“An apostate from the faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs a ‘latae sententiae’ excommunication” (automatic), according to Canon 1364 of the Code of Canon Law, and can also be punished with other penalties including, in the case of priests, expulsion from the clerical state.

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

Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn. / Credit: Jim.henderson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

A pastor in Brooklyn, New York, has been removed from his city parish after a review found alleged “severe” financial violations, including a secret transfer of parish funds totaling almost $2 million. 

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said in a statement this week that he had relieved Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello of “any pastoral oversight or governance role” at Our Lady of Mount Carmel-Annunciation Parish after an outside review found “evidence of severe violations of diocesan policies and protocols.” 

Brennan previously disciplined Gigantiello last year after the priest allowed pop star Sabrina Carpenter to shoot a lewd music video in the church. Brennan at that time relieved the pastor of administrative oversight of the parish. 

Gigantiello’s removal from the pastorship this week came after investigations revealed he reportedly “mishandled substantial church funds and interfered with the administration of the parish after being directed not to do so,” Brennan said in his statement. 

From 2019 to 2021 the priest allegedly transferred $1.9 million of parish funds to bank accounts linked to the attorney Frank Carone, a longtime figure in Brooklyn Democratic politics. Carone served as chief of staff for New York Mayor Eric Adams in 2022. 

It is unclear what Carone or his affiliates may have used the money for. The diocese in its statement indicated that the loans were repaid, one of them at about 9% interest. 

The diocese said there were “other instances” in which Gigantiello misused parish funds, including using a church credit card for “substantial personal expenses.” 

In addition to removing Gigantiello, Brennan said he had also placed Deacon Dean Dobbins, the parish’s temporary administrator, on administrative leave. 

The diocese said that earlier in the month it had received evidence from Gigantiello’s attorneys of “racist and other offensive comments” made by Dobbins “during private conversations in the parish office.”

The remarks were secretly recorded “at the direction of [Gigantiello],” the diocese said.

“It was wrong to secretly record Deacon Dobbins, but the use of such language by any church employee is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Brennan said in his statement. 

The diocese said that it is “fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement in all investigations.” 

In addition to his removal from the leadership of the Brooklyn parish, Gigantiello last year was also removed from his role as the diocesan vicar for development, a position he had held for about 15 years. 

Earlier this year Carpenter had joked about her putative role in helping launch federal investigations into New York City leadership, specifically Adams, who was charged with financial crimes in September.

In a concert at Madison Square Garden days after the mayor was charged, the singer suggested that last year’s controversy over the music video shot at the Brooklyn church may have led to Adams being targeted by federal agents. 

“Should we talk about how I got the mayor indicted?” she asked her audience at the concert.

Pope Francis attends a Vatican screening of the 2022 documentary “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” on Feb. 24, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

In a letter sent to Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, apostolic nuncio to Ukraine, on Nov. 19, Pope Francis expressed his great sorrow for the suffering of the people of Ukraine, who have now endured 1,000 days of war since the outbreak of the violent conflict there in 2022.

The letter was published in Italian by L'Osservatore Romano on Nov. 19. 

Addressing his representative in “beloved and tormented Ukraine,” the Holy Father said he wished “to embrace all its citizens, wherever they may be,” and acknowledged the extreme hardships the Ukrainian people have suffered under “large-scale military aggression” for the past 1,000 days. 

The pope told the nuncio, whom he addressed as “brother,” that his words are meant to express solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to convey “a heartfelt invocation to God,” who he said is “the only source of life, hope, and wisdom, so that he may convert hearts and make them capable of starting paths of dialogue, reconciliation, and harmony.”

Francis quoted Psalm 121: “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth,”  recalling how every day at 9 a.m., Ukrainians observe a “minute of national silence” for the victims of the conflict.

“I join them, so that the cry that rises to heaven, from which help comes, may be stronger,” the pope wrote.

He went on to pray that the Lord will “console our hearts and strengthen the hope that, while he collects all the tears shed and will ask for an account of them, he remains beside us even when human efforts seem fruitless and actions not sufficient.”

The pope ended the letter to the archbishop by entrusting the Ukrainian people to God and blessing them, “beginning with the bishops and priests, with whom you, dear brother, have remained alongside the sons and daughters of this nation throughout these 1,000 days of suffering.”

Vatican News released a short video to mark the 1,000th day of war in Ukraine:

Sarah Richardson, a sidewalk counselor with Coalition Life in Carbondale, Illinois. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Thomas More Society

St. Louis, Mo., Nov 19, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

A St. Louis pro-life group has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a rural Illinois town’s now-defunct “buffer zone” law, which previously impeded the group’s peaceful protests and counseling outside the town’s abortion clinics. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not it will take up the case on Nov. 22.

The case, Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois, concerns a law restricting protests outside three abortion clinics in Carbondale, a small college town about two hours southeast of St. Louis and three hours north of Memphis, Tennessee, both major cities in states that currently have strong pro-life protections in place. 

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Illinois leaders have leaned in to the state’s status as a destination for women seeking abortions throughout the Midwest. Democratic leaders in the state had been expanding protections for abortion in the state for years before the fall of Roe, removing all criminal penalties for performing abortions and lifting regulations on clinics. 

Notably, in 2019, Planned Parenthood opened an 18,000-square-foot, $7 million “mega” abortion clinic in southern Illinois just a dozen miles from downtown St. Louis, originally expected to see 11,000 patients a year.

Coalition Life, a St. Louis-based pro-life organization, had been engaging in peaceful sidewalk counseling of women outside Carbondale’s abortion clinics, offering information about free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, STD testing, and recommending “options coaching” at a pro-life pregnancy center.

The pro-life group was engaged in this work until the town, citing what people associated with the abortion clinic described as “aggressive and misleading tactics,” amended its “disorderly conduct” ordinance to criminalize approaching within eight feet of another person without their consent for purposes of protest, education, or counseling within 100 feet of a health care facility.

Such ordinances, which have been enacted in various local municipalities and at least three states at large across the country, are often known as “buffer zone” or “bubble zone” laws.

Buffer zone laws

Carbondale’s ordinance was modeled after a Colorado law upheld in the seminal 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case Hill v. Colorado, a precedent that has faced numerous legal challenges from pro-life advocates over the years as pro-lifers argue such laws chill their right to free speech. In 2023, the Supreme Court declined to hear a similar case, which challenged a “bubble zone” ordinance in Westchester County, New York.

The Supreme Court has ruled in the past, however, against very large buffer zones, striking down a 35-foot buffer zone ordinance in Massachusetts in McCullen v. Coakley in 2014. In 2020, though, the high court turned away challenges to eight-foot and 20-foot buffer zones in Chicago and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, citing the Hill precedent. 

Coalition Life is asking the Supreme Court to overturn Hill v. Colorado, which it says would allow ordinances and laws nationwide modeled after the Colorado statute to be challenged and potentially struck down, creating a more level playing field for public discourse on abortion, especially after the overturning of Roe v. Wade returned the issue of abortion policy to the states. 

A federal district court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 7th Circuit have already ruled against Coalition Life in the case, and a similar case challenging a buffer zone law in Englewood, New Jersey, has also faced roadblocks in federal courts.  

Peter Breen, the executive vice president and head of litigation for the Thomas More Society, which is helping to represent Coalition Life, said in a statement that “Hill v. Colorado was egregiously wrong on the day it was decided, and it remains a black mark in our law to this day.”

“‘Bubble zones,’ like the one in Carbondale, are an unconstitutional and overzealous attempt to show favor to abortion businesses at the expense of the free speech rights of folks who seek to offer information, alternatives, and resources to pregnant women in need,” Breen added. 

“It’s time to end, once and for all, the political gamesmanship places like Carbondale play with our free speech rights.”

According to Capitol News Illinois, this past July the Carbondale City Council quietly and unanimously repealed the buffer zone language from its disorderly conduct code — which had been in place only 18 months and was never enforced — only a few days prior to Coalition Life’s petition to the Supreme Court. 

Opportunity to correct ‘flawed precedent’

Coalition Life argues in its petition to the Supreme Court that its case presents a clear opportunity to correct a flawed precedent that continues to undermine First Amendment rights, adding that Carbondale’s attempt to moot the case by repealing the ordinance highlights the urgent need for the Supreme Court to act. 

Carbondale and other municipalities will readily reenact similar ordinances if the Supreme Court declines to take up the case, the group argues. 

“It took them four minutes to repeal that, and assuming that we stopped fighting, it will take them four minutes to put the bubble zone back in,” Coalition Life founder Brian Westbrook told Capitol News Illinois.

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla was among the speakers featured at the 2024 Conference on Catholics and Public Life Nov. 15–17, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates)

Madrid, Spain, Nov 19, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, described socialism as an ideology that is an “enemy of the cross” at the Conference on Catholics and Public Life organized by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates) this past weekend.

During his talk titled “Thinking and Acting in Times of Uncertainty,” Munilla pointed out that “we cannot confront this attack and this systematic imposition of a new society only with criticism and new political leadership, but rather a movement of converts is required. We will only get out of this crisis through a renewal of holiness.”

He also maintained that society needs a “change of worldview in which we go from being enemies of the cross to being the people of the cross” because, he emphasized, “without the cross there is no glory; it’s a great mistake to make a dichotomy between the cross and happiness; the cross leads us to glory, and glory is complete happiness.”

In this context, he described socialism as an “ideology that is an enemy of the cross” whose sociological and political currents have become “the grave of peoples, in which the ‘nanny state’ solves all the problems,” without appealing to the sacrifice and commitment of individuals.

As a result, an “anthropological crisis is being created, raising it to the level of law and supreme precept, which seeks to rebel against the natural order, turning wounds into rights instead of accepting emotional wounds, the fruit of the disintegration of the family.”

The bishop added that “we are trying to compensate for the inner emptiness of man with consumerism and materialism; fleeing from affective commitment and from opening up to the gift of life; and suffering is being treated as something incompatible with human dignity: This world suffers so much for not wanting to suffer, for escaping from the cross of Christ.”

Hadjadj: Facing uncertainty is a life-or-death challenge

For his part, French philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj addressed the general theme of the conference, “Quo Vadis? Thinking and Acting in Times of Uncertainty,” appealing for each person to get involved: “Where are you going? Not ‘where is the world going,’ since with this question one can be a spectator and can be content with complaining.”

Hadjadj pointed out that living in a time of uncertainty “is not just any challenge” but rather a challenge that is configured as a question “if not of honor, at least of life or death.” To do so, it is necessary “to have a healed soul, to accept having a body bruised by martyrdom.”

At the same time, he pointed out that it is inevitable to experience “the least confessable emotion: fear. Not so much the fear of dying, but the fear of living up to the challenge, the fear of maintaining our reputation for being alive.”

In postmodern Europe, this challenge is embodied in a continent, a society that “despairs of what is human and tends today to constitutionalize abortion and euthanasia; to revise colonial history, lumping together the conqueror and the missionary.”

These are demands “that many imagine to be linked to the affirmation of individual freedom and, in reality, they emanate from the death of aspiring. They correspond to the agitation of despair,” the philosopher pointed out.

Ayaan Hirsi: The less Christian presence, the greater the crisis

The conference also featured the participation of human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who stressed that “the less presence there is of Christianity in society,” the greater the social crisis in the West.

In her presentation, titled “Free to Seek the Truth,” Hirsi explained that multiculturalism and globalization are “two sides of the same coin.”

On the one hand, there is a “retribalization of society, with the growth of identity groups “who have no national loyalty to the country they call home.” On the other, there is the evaporation of a set of shared values, the fragmentation of society, and the ethnicization and racialization of all political issues.

Hirsi denounced the “atrocious restrictions on freedom of expression, religion, and the resurgence of a [socially] acceptable and legitimate racism against whites and against Jews in Europe and in America in the name of intersectional social justice.”

She also warned of the proliferation of “pseudo religions that present themselves as equal or superior to Christianity itself” as well as the appeal of “ideas that challenge reality” such as “the existence of multiple genders.”

These trends, in her opinion, create an increasing difficulty in teaching children the difference between good and evil. At the university, the search for truth is replaced “by the development of narratives,” while “the search for excellence through merit is branded as an enemy of diversity.”

“If this trend continues, it will mark the beginning of the downfall,” she emphasized.

Recovering a strong and reliable Christianity 

For Hirsi, “we must recover a strong and reliable Christianity. Churches must stop adopting every new fad and revive the true message and teachings of Christ.”

She also called for “resisting the ongoing demographic decline” in Europe by making it attractive for young people to marry and have a family. She also called for schools, universities, and the arts to recognize “their role in promoting the Christian ethos that led to the formation of the institutions that make the West extraordinary.”

“None of these changes can be achieved if we do not organize, participate, and mobilize to achieve a strong majority that participates and acts. Only by recovering a sense of unity based on common values ​​and not on differences will we be able to build stronger and more cohesive societies in these uncertain times,” she concluded.

Presence of young people at the conference

The 26th Conference on Catholics and Public Life sought to reach out to young people in particular, offering some specific opportunities, such as a roundtable with digital missionaries.

It was attended by 1,000 young people from different Spanish cities who heard testimonies and encouragement from three evangelizers on social media: Carlos Taracena, Carla Restoy, and Irene Alonso, among others.

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

Coat of arms of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher. / Credit: Mathieu Chaine/CC BY-SA 3.0

National Catholic Register, Nov 19, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Associated Press recently claimed that President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, had tattoos supposedly connected with Christian nationalism and even white supremacy. It focused especially on the tattoo of a Jerusalem Cross on Hegseth’s upper chest. 

The reporting — immediately criticized as anti-Christian by Vice President-elect JD Vance and many others on social media — begs the question: What does the symbol actually mean?

The Jerusalem Cross is one of the most immediately distinguishable Christian symbols anywhere. It comprises a large central cross, called a cross potent, usually with crossbars at the four ends nesting four smaller Greek crosses. It is a deceptively simple design that has now been used for centuries to represent the Church in Jerusalem and to remind the faithful and the world of the Evangelists, Jerusalem, and the suffering of Christ. It is also the heraldic insignia closely associated with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and especially the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. 

A symbol of pilgrimage

The cross first appeared in the years before Pope Blessed Urban II called for the First Crusade (1096–1099) to set off to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim control. Called at times the Crusader’s Cross, it became attached particularly to the coat of arms of the famed Crusader knight Godfrey de Bouillon, one of the leaders of the First Crusade, but it was not in common use until the latter half of the 13th century when it was adopted as the chief banner of the Kingdom of Jerusalem that ruled over much of the Holy Land until the final expulsion of the Christian knights from the Holy Land in 1291. Even after the end of the Crusader era, pilgrims carried the image of the Jerusalem Cross, connecting their own faith journeys to the passion of Our Lord and the desire to see the Holy City. 

The cross has been ubiquitous in Christian imagery ever since. It appears in the artistic and architectural ornamentation of churches and Christian buildings, as a design on Bible covers, and very often as a beautiful piece of jewelry worn to declare one’s Christian faith. The country of Georgia has also used versions of the Jerusalem Cross for its national flag off and on since the early 14th century.

Visitors and pilgrims to Jerusalem will also often receive a tattoo of the cross at the completion of their pilgrimage. This is a tradition that dates back more than 700 years. Perhaps the most famous recipient was in 1862 when Albert, the prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, received a Jerusalem Cross tattoo on his arm during a visit to the Holy Land. Twenty years later, his two sons, Prince George, duke of York (the future King George V), and Prince Albert Victor, duke of Clarence, also received Jerusalem Cross tattoos while visiting Jerusalem. 

Today, the Jerusalem Cross is still the main insignia of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem — the Latin Catholic diocese for the Holy Land — the Custody of the Holy Land run by the Franciscan Order, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

The Order of the Holy Sepulchre is a lay institution and Catholic order of knighthood placed under the protection of the Holy See that has as its main aim to deepen the faith among its members and to support the charitable and social works and institutions of the Church in the Holy Land. The 30,000 worldwide members help build hospitals, schools, clinics, and missions that assist not just Christians but Muslims and Jews and even nonbelievers. In that way, too, the order promotes peace, interreligious harmony, and a future of stability for the Holy Land. Its members are immediately recognized by their cloaks, which are decorated with the red Jerusalem Cross. The official publication of the order’s Rome-based leadership is called The Jerusalem Cross. 

The meanings of the Jerusalem Cross

The five elements of the Jerusalem Cross — the cross potent and the four Greek crosses — have been given different spiritual meanings over the centuries, but each reflects the way that the imagery of the cross is focused not on crusades or nationalism but on Christ. 

One interpretation is that the five elements represent Christ’s sacrifice on the cross through his five wounds: The smaller crosses depict the wounds on Christ’s feet and hands, and the main cross represents the piercing of his side by the centurion’s spear. 

Another version proposes that the four smaller crosses represent the four Evangelists — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — while the fifth cross is for Christ. Part of that interpretation is that the four crosses show the way that the Evangelists helped spread the Gospel to the four corners of the world and that we are called to proclaim the faith as well with our minds and hearts focused on the empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 

Anyone can wear a medallion of the Jerusalem Cross or tattoo themselves with it. But whether we wear it around our necks or place it upon our bodies, we should have as our only purpose to revere and embrace what it represents. Pope Benedict XVI said it well in 2009 when he visited the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: 

“This holy place, where God’s power was revealed in weakness and human sufferings were transfigured by divine glory, invites us to look once again with the eyes of faith upon the face of the crucified and risen Lord. Contemplating his glorified flesh, completely transfigured by the Spirit, may we come to realize more fully that even now, through baptism, ‘we bear in our bodies the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our own mortal flesh’ (2 Cor 4:10-11). Even now, the grace of the Resurrection is at work within us! May our contemplation of this mystery spur our efforts, both as individuals and as members of the ecclesial community, to grow in the life of the Spirit through conversion, penance, and prayer. May it help us to overcome, by the power of that same Spirit, every conflict and tension born of the flesh, and to remove every obstacle, both within and without, standing in the way of our common witness to Christ and the reconciling power of his love.” 

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