Catholic News

• Papal interview touches on homosexuality, Gaza, TLM, China, and more (CWN)
  On September 18, the Crux news agency released five excerpts from the July interviews between senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen and Pope Leo XIV. The interviews provided the material for her book, Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, which was published in Spanish this week, with an English-language edition due early next year.
• Cardinal Müller speaks bluntly on Charlie Kirk, LGBT pilgrimage, migration, woke ideology (CWN)
  “As a dogmatic theologian I don’t want to be diplomatic,” Cardinal Gerhard Müller told journalist Diane Montagna. “The Catholic Church must proclaim the truth but also contradict lies.”
• At least 64 dead in Islamist attack on Catholic parish in DR Congo (Aid to the Church in Need)
  Members of an Islamist rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces, attacked a parish in North Kivu, a province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (map). At least 64 people were killed, many of them by beheading. “The victims were caught off guard at a mourning ceremony in the village of Ntoyo at around 9:00 PM, and most of them were killed with machetes,” a local official said. “The attackers used firearms and hammers, and some homes were selectively set on fire,” Aid to the Church in Need reported. “To all the families affected by this umpteenth and horrible carnage,” said Bishop Melchisédech Sikuli Paluko of Butembo-Beni, “and to all the faithful of the parish, we express our spiritual closeness. May God, the Master of Life, strengthen us through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consoler of the afflicted, and lead us beyond the desert of present-day suffering to lasting peace.” In July, at least 34 people were killed in an Islamist terrorist massacre at a parish in the adjacent Ituri province.
• Armenian Patriarch meets with Pope Leo, invites him to visit nation (Vatican News)
  A delegation from the Armenian Apostolic Church, led by Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, met with Pope Leo XIV and officials of the Roman Curia. An official of the Armenian Apostolic Church told Vatican News that the September 16 papal audience took place in “a fraternal and cordial atmosphere, during which various ecclesial issues were discussed, and the Armenian Patriarch emphasized the fate of the Armenians of Artsakh,” an Armenian enclave in largely Muslim Azerbaijan. Patriarch Karekin also invited Pope Leo to visit Armenia. The Armenian Apostolic Church (CNEWA profile) is among the Oriental Orthodox churches that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451). Karekin II, now 74, has led the church since 1999.
• Vatican diplomat pushes back against UN document linking women's development, abortion (Holy See Mission)
  Commenting on a new UN Human Rights Council report, a Vatican diplomat pushed back against a section that linked women’s social development to legalized abortion (n. 44). “This implies that social development is linked to the denial of the right to life to the child in the womb,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. The prelate added: It is true that women in many parts of the world face difficult, or even tragic, situations involving suffering, violence, loneliness, a total lack of economic prospects, and depression and anxiety about the future. We should be honest and admit that it is by addressing these dramatic human situations that we can reach social development and the good of the world’s women and not by proposing false solutions, such as denying another person’s inviolable right to life, which is always a failure of law, of justice and ultimately of the entire society. Archbishop Balestrero called for “a serious commitment to creating equal conditions, including providing [women] with access to education, quality healthcare, decent work, participation in every sphere of life, measures to alleviate poverty, and freedom from violence and discrimination.”
• USCCB publishes guide to Islamophobia (USCCB)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs has published “Islamophobia: A Guide for U.S. Catholics on Anti-Muslim Bigotry,” a 15-page text by Jordan Denari Duffner. The co-chairmen of the National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue—Auxiliary Bishop Elias Lorenzo, OSB, of Newark and Imam Kareem Irfan—commended the guide “to all Catholics, Muslims, and people of good will so they may understand and address the disturbing phenomenon of anti-Muslim sentiment in our times.” The guide states that “In the United States today, Muslims often face prejudice and discrimination—not unlike what Catholics faced in earlier generations of American history. Anti-Muslim bigotry is both a religious freedom concern and a social justice issue. Fortunately, our Catholic faith inspires and equips us to identify and address bigotry, no matter whom it targets, and to build up a world defined by fraternity and hospitality.”
• FBI director reports firings over anti-Catholic memo (CNA)
  The director of the FBI has told a Senate hearing that his agency saw some “terminations” and “resignations” of employees who were involved in a notorious 2023 memo, circulated by the FBI office in Richmond, Virginia, suggesting surveillance of traditionalist Catholic communities. Director Kash Patel said that the FBI under his leadership had undertaken a thorough investigation of the memo, while the agency’s leadership had downplayed its significance during the Biden administration. “Just to put it in perspective, we provided 700 documents on the Richmond Catholic memo” to the Senate committee, he reported, “whereas my predecessor provided 19 pages.”
• Congo's Cardinal Ambongo: Fiducia Supplicans 'caused a lot of harm' (Our Sunday Visitor)
  Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa said that the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, allowing for blessings of same-sex couples, “caused a lot of harm to the Catholic faithful, and even beyond,” in an interview with OSV News. The cardinal spoke to OSV while in Poland, where he was speaking about an initiative to promote negotiations that might end the bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said that the initiative, backed by the Church, was gaining wide support, although the country’s government is “not very enthusiastic.” Questioned about Pope Leo XIV, the cardinal said that the new Pope “is a man who speaks very little but listens a lot.” He added that he believed Pope Leo will “listen widely before making a decision, to avoid what we had with Fiducia.”
• Disabled Iraqi Christian killed in France while speaking about his faith online (CNA)
  Ashur Sarnaya, a disabled Iraqi Christian who emigrated to France a decade ago to escape the advance of the Islamic State, was stabbed to death in Lyon as he spoke about his faith on TikTok. “He did live videos on TikTok to spread the word of God,” his sister said. The president of the Assyro-Chaldean Association of Lyon described the victim as “a very kind, discreet person, deeply believing, who liked to speak about the Christian faith.” CNA reported that Sarnaya previously complained that his “content was frequently blocked or suspended due to reports from Muslim users. In March, he claimed to have been physically attacked by Muslims.”
• Oakland diocese seeks to pull plug on bankruptcy (San Jose Mercury-News)
  The Diocese of Oakland sought to withdraw from bankruptcy proceedings it initiated after its $165-million offer to settle 350 abuse suits was not accepted. Stating that creditors have “bled [the diocese] dry,” an attorney for the diocese said that “the cost is too high, and the survivors in this Chapter 11 Case—and the 500,000+ faithful Catholics in the Diocese of Oakland—deserve better,”
• Nepal's Catholic leader welcomes new government (Fides)
  Father Silas Bogati, the apostolic administrator of the Vicariate Apostolic of Nepal, welcomed the appointment of interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki amid Gen Z protests. Father Bogati expressed “confidence in Sushila Karki, who, among other things, in the past, when she was still a lawyer, defended one of our priests and some religious sisters who had been wrongly accused in several court cases.” “The position of the Catholic Church in Nepal is clear,” the priest added. “We say ‘no’ to any form of violence and work for a peaceful development of the situation, hoping for a good government that can effectively combat one of the scourges afflicting the country: corruption.” There are 8,000 Catholics in Nepal. The South Asian nation of 31.1 million (map) is 64% Hindu, 13% ethnic religionist, 12% Buddhist, 6% Christian, and 4% Muslim.
• Federal court permits PA parochial school students to compete in interscholastic athletics (Aleteia)
  A federal district court ruled that the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association must permit parochial school students to compete in interscholastic sports. The association had barred parochial school students from participating on teams in their home school districts, even though it had permitted charter school students and homeschooled students to participate. “This is a huge relief for parents and students across Pennsylvania who have been unnecessary excluded from participation simply because of their desire to pursue a faith-based education,” an attorney for the Thomas More Society said.
• Pope speaks on Ukraine, synodality, leadership in interview (Crux)
  Pope Leo XIV speaks on a variety of topics including the war in Ukraine, the concept of synodality, economic inequality, and his own leadership, in excerpts from an interview that will soon be published in book form. The Pope’s lengthy discussion with Elise Ann Allen of Crux is appearing in Spanish this week; it will be published in the US—under the title Leo XIV: Citizen of the World early next year. In the excerpts that appear on the Crux site, the Pontiff: suggests that the Vatican will continue to advocate for peace in Ukraine, but that proposals for Vatican mediation are “not as realistic.” acknowledges that the concept of “synodality” is not well understood, and offers the explanation that “synodality is a way of describing how we can come together and be a community and seek communion as a Church.” questions extreme inequalities of income in the world economy, noting that chief executives now earn “600 times more than what average workers are earning.” notes that “it seems to be generally recognized that the United Nations, at least at this moment in time, has lost its ability to bring people together on multilateral issues.” discloses that the most novel aspect of his new role has been “being thrown into the level of world leader.” says that in World Cup soccer competition, he will probably be cheering for Peru, but “I’m also a big fan of Italy”—and goes on to discuss his rooting interests in baseball.
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