Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, seeks to form active missionary disciples. / Credit: Iskali

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Fifteen years ago, Vicente Del Real felt called to create a way to reach out to young Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. and provide them with a space to encounter God and use their gifts and talents for the Church. He went on to found Iskali, a nonprofit based in Chicago that promotes the leadership and holistic development of Latino youth, helping them flourish spiritually, personally, academically, and socially. 

Inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role in the Americas as “the star of the new evangelization,” Iskali works to form, empower, and equip young Latinos to become transformative leaders and to invigorate the Catholic Church.

The name “Iskali” comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, language symbolizing growth, resurgence, and new beginnings. This was also the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke when she appeared to Juan Diego. Despite Juan Diego being from the Chichimeca people, and not an Aztec, the two groups of people shared the same language. 

Del Real told CNA in an interview that he felt the need to “respond to the urgent need to walk with young Hispanics as they navigate the questions of life, the struggles of life, and to be able to provide to them what the Church has to say and has to offer.”

He added that “at the heart of Iskali is the work of evangelization.” This is done through providing young Latinos with an “adequate formation so they can understand the faith,” which will hopefully lead them to have a “personal encounter with God.”

Iskali is founded on four pillars: faith and community, mentorship and scholarship, sports and wellness, and service to the poor. 

The pillar of faith and community involves members coming together each week for fellowship. Anywhere from five to 600 young adults gather to spend time getting to know one another and learning more about God and the Catholic faith. 

Through Iskali’s mentorship program, individuals are matched with a Latino professional who serves as a mentor and helps them with professional development. Iskali also provides scholarships for young people to attend colleges and trade schools, and works with parishes to set up a variety of sports leagues to help young people build relationships, provide another form of faith formation, and stay active. 

Additionally, once a month, Iskali communities serve those most in need — the homeless, people in hospitals, nursing homes, and immigrant families who have been affected by detentions or deportations.

Several recent studies show that the Latino population is the fastest-growing demographic in the Catholic Church. Del Real said he believes this is because “Latino young people are very attentive to the faith.”

“They have seen their faith lived in their families, our home, with their grandmas, with their mothers. Faith is kind of embedded in our culture,” he added.

In response to this growth being seen among Latinos in parishes, Iskali is launching a missionary program where a full-time missionary will be assigned to a parish that has a Hispanic population of over 50% to work in Hispanic ministry.

“We are very, very excited … this is the first missionary program that helps to serve the Latino Church in the U.S., and we hope that this missionary program will bear the fruits of vocations to marriage, vocation to priesthood in the Hispanic community,” Del Real shared.

Del Real said he also hopes that those who are a part of Iskali leave the formation knowing that they “are beloved, know that God is seeking intimacy with you, and know that he wants you to flourish as a person.”

“We always say that we hope the people flourish,” he said. “God is a God of love and he wants to see us flourish. If we are a flower in his garden, he wants us to bloom.”

Children greet the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, during his visit to Gaza’s Holy Family Parish on Dec. 19, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 18:35 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in Gaza City on Dec. 19 for a pastoral visit to Holy Family Parish, the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, just days before Christmas.

Accompanied by Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, the Latin patriarchal vicar, and a small delegation, the cardinal’s visit comes as a sign of solidarity with the small Catholic community that has endured over two years of conflict and severe hardship, including what Israel Defense Forces said was an accidental deadly attack on the parish compound last June.

Upon his arrival at the parish, Pizzaballa was greeted by children, some wearing Santa hats, amid festive decorations including twinkling lights, Christmas trees, and Nativity scenes. 

The parish has sheltered hundreds of displaced people — both Christians and Muslims alike — since the war began in October 2023.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem informed that as part of the patriarch’s three-day visit, he will seek to assess the parish’s current situation, including humanitarian aid efforts, ongoing relief work, and plans for the future. He is scheduled to meet with local clergy, led by parish pastor Father Gabriel Romanelli, as well as parishioners to hear directly about community needs and support initiatives.

On Sunday, Dec. 21, Pizzaballa is scheduled to celebrate an early Christmas Mass at the parish, marking the start of celebrations in a community still facing many challenges, including continued restrictions on humanitarian efforts despite recent improvements under the fragile ceasefire.

“Every time I come here also during the war, there is one baptism to do,” he remarked. “So there is no Christmas without baptism. It is wonderful, the best way to say that we believe in life and Jesus.”

His visit “reaffirms the enduring bond of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza with the wider diocese of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and expresses the patriarchate’s commitment to accompany its faithful in hope, solidarity, and prayer,” a statement from the patriarchate said. 

During the visit, Pizzaballa said he felt “a little bit of relief” for the first time since the war started more than two years ago and praised the Holy Family parishioners, who stayed “strong in faith during this terrible period.”

During his greetings, the cardinal said he brought good wishes “from all over the world … you cannot imagine how many churches, how many groups, associations, people from all over the world — are united with you at this moment.”

“We will rebuild. We will rebuild our schools … our houses … our life,” the cardinal said. “We are rooted here and we remain here. We want to be here.”

A new Vatican labor regulations decree was issued after an audience granted to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, pictured here with Pope Leo XIV. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2025 / 16:22 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV approved new labor regulations at the Office of Labor of the Apostolic See (ULSA, by its Italian acronym), the Holy See’s body responsible for managing labor relations for personnel working in the Roman Curia, the Governorate of Vatican City State, and other entities directly administered by the Apostolic See.

The reform, established through a pontifical rescript signed on Nov. 25, introduces significant changes that strengthen institutional representation, improve internal coordination, and underscore the pontiff’s care for employees and the application of the Church’s social doctrine.

The document that has been released — corresponding to the ULSA’s new statute — details, in precise legal language, how labor disputes should be handled in the Vatican, reinforcing protections, procedures, and deadlines for both current and former employees of the Holy See.

Specifically, the text regulates the chapter dedicated to labor disputes, clearly establishing who can appeal, to which authorities, and within what time frames.

The document indicates that anyone who believes they have been harmed by an administrative act in labor matters — unless it has been expressly approved by the pope — may file a complaint with ULSA or take it to the Vatican judicial authority.

However, it is emphasized that attempting conciliation with the ULSA director is a mandatory condition, an indispensable requirement before pursuing any other course of action.

The text also specifies that, when required by the internal regulations of each administration, the employee must first exhaust all internal remedies, failing which his or her claim will be deemed inadmissible. Only after completing this process can the procedure before ULSA or the courts of Vatican City State be initiated.

Solutions through dialogue before resorting to legal action

Labor disputes — whether individual or collective — will be resolved preferably through conciliation mechanisms, and only in case of failure will they be referred to the ULSA Conciliation and Arbitration Board or the Vatican court. In this way, the system prioritizes solutions through dialogue before resorting to legal action.

The document also establishes a five-year statute of limitations for rights arising from the employment relationship, although it clarifies that filing a request for conciliation interrupts this period until official notification of the document that concludes this phase.

Matters falling under the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Commissions established in the general regulations of the various Vatican administrations are expressly excluded from this procedure.

Regarding deadlines, the statute stipulates that the appeal must be filed within 30 days of notification — or actual knowledge — of the contested act. The same deadline applies after a negative decision on an internal appeal or in the case of administrative silence, if the administration fails to respond within the prescribed time.

Finally, the text details the formal requirements of the claim, which must include the claimant’s personal data, the identification of the administration involved,and the act being challenged, as well as the necessary elements to allow for the proper processing of the case.

The decree was issued after an audience granted to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and coincides with the approval of the new general regulations of the Roman Curia.

Overall, the document reflects an effort to provide greater legal certainty, transparency, and procedural order to labor relations within the Vatican, in line with the recent reform initiated by Pope Leo XIV to strengthen the protection of workers and promote a culture of conciliation before resorting to legal conflict.

A more representative council

Another major innovation of the new statute is the expansion of the ULSA Council, the advisory body responsible for developing regulatory proposals. For the first time, it will include a representative from the Secretariat of State as well as from the Vicariate of Rome, the Pension Fund, and the Healthcare Fund (FAS) used by employees of the Vatican and the Holy See. This addition brings the number of newly represented entities to four and aims to strengthen the technical expertise and effective protection of workers.

The council — whose members serve a five-year term — already included representatives from various Vatican dicasteries and bodies, such as the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Secretariat for the Economy, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, and the Governorate of Vatican City State.

A more ‘synodal’ working style

The new statute also introduces a more participatory way of working. From now on, each council member will be able to propose topics for the agenda directly, a power that previously required the support of at least four members. According to Vatican sources, this measure emphasizes a more “synodal” working style and promotes the creative involvement of the various departments and staff representatives.

Leo XIV has confirmed the historical responsibilities of ULSA, an organization established by St. John Paul II in 1988 and operational since 1989, and which was further updated during the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis.

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

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during an end-of-year press conference in the State Department Press Briefing Room in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. / Credit: Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there will be a plan “early next month” for religious worker visas that would avoid giving preference to one denomination over another.

Rubio said at a Dec. 19 press conference in Washington, D.C., that the administration has “worked closely with a lot of the religious authorities” to reach a plan. 

In July, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a report alleging widespread fraud in its permanent residence program for unaccompanied minors and said it caused a backlog in issuance of visas to migrant priests and religious.

Visas for religious workers allow foreign nationals to work for a U.S. religious organization, through the temporary R-1 visa or a Green Card EB-4 visa, which requires at least two years of membership in the same denomination and a job offer from a qualifying nonprofit religious  group. 

Rubio previously said the administration was working to create a “standalone process” for religious workers, separate from other competing applicants — such as from the juvenile program — to the employment-based fourth preference (EB-4) category of visas. 

Rubio said Friday the plan has factored in multiple aspects, including where the religious workers are coming from and their specific denominations. 

“We’re not discriminating in favor of one versus another,” he said. “Some denominations are more professionalized in terms of what they’re able to provide us with and information versus others.”

“We have country-specific requirements depending on the country they’re coming from. But I think we have a good plan in place to put that into effect,” Rubio said.

“I think we’re going to get to a good place,” Rubio said. “We don’t have it ready yet. All this takes time to put together, but we’re moving quickly. I think we’ll have something positive about that at some point next month, hopefully in the early part of next month.”

The department has worked “with a number of denominations in that process,” Rubio said. “One of the big users of that system is the Catholic Church. We worked with the conference of bishops.”

Priests and other Church leaders have expressed fear of having to leave their ministries and return to their home countries, then endure lengthy wait times before coming back. Church officials have warned that a continuing backlog could lead to significant priest shortages in the United States.

“We are grateful for the administration’s attention to this important issue for the Church and value the opportunity for ongoing dialogue to address these challenges so the faithful can have access to the sacraments and other essential ministries,” a spokesperson for the USCCB told CNA. 

Since the issue of the backlogged visas started, multiple U.S. dioceses have called for a solution. Priests in the Archdiocese of Boston who are in the U.S. on visas were urged to avoid international travel amid the Trump administration’s immigration policies and deportations. 

Last month, a Catholic diocese in New Jersey dropped its lawsuit against the U.S. government, in anticipation of an administrative fix to the religious worker visa issue.

Immigration vetting process 

Rubio was asked if the administration would expand the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in the coming year, particularly for religious minorities facing persecution in places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran.

“In the last four years, we had a flood of people,” Rubio said. “So that’s what we confronted. We have to stop that. And we did. We’ve been successful.”

Rubio further spoke on the topic of immigration and the importance of the “vetting” process, in which he answered questions both in Spanish and English.

The nation can see the border is secure and “the number of illegal entries has completely collapsed,” Rubio said. “Now we’re facing the second challenge, and that is we’ve admitted a lot of people into the United States, and perhaps the overwhelming majority of them are not bad people and so forth. This is all true.”

“There are people in this country who got in through some form of vetting that was wholly insufficient,” Rubio said.

“We’ve seen tragic evidence of that very recently, including people that we claim to have vetted. Why does that happen? Because there are some places where you can’t vet people,” he said.

“You can only vet people on the basis of information you have about them,” Rubio said. But that information is based on if the department or “some local authority that actually has any information about them.”

“That is the challenge we’re facing, which is why the president put a stop to all of these things until these systems for admitting people into our country can be improved,” he said.

Rubio criticized the immigration policies of the Biden administration, calling the policies reckless and incompetent, and said there’s a desire to fix immigration processes and know who’s in the country.

In terms of legal immigration, the United States “remains the most generous country in the world,” Rubio said. 

“This year alone, close to a million people will enter this country legally,” he said. “But we do have a right, like every sovereign country does, to know who you are, why you’re coming, what you’ve done in the past, and what we think you might or might not do in the future.”

“Most of the countries in the world have far more restrictive immigration policies than the United States has ever had,” Rubio said. 

The Trump administration expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year, and the Department of Homeland Security said 1.6 million people self-deported since Jan. 20.

U.S. bishops issued a special message in November opposing the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants who lack legal status and urged the government to uphold the dignity of migrants.

Bishop of San Diego Michael Pham dedicates “Angels Unawares,” a new sculpture on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD), on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of University of San Diego

San Diego, California, Dec 19, 2025 / 15:22 pm (CNA).

Bishop of San Diego Michael Pham dedicated “Angels Unawares,” a new sculpture on the campus of the University of San Diego (USD), on Thursday. The 8-foot-tall bronze sculpture by artist Timothy Schmalz is a scaled version of one in St. Peter’s Square in Rome commissioned by Pope Francis in 2019 and depicts 140 migrants of varying backgrounds on board a boat with a pair of angel wings in their midst.

According to USD President Jim Harris, the sculpture is intended to remind the viewer “of how biblical teachings encourage us to care for our most poor and vulnerable communities, including those who flee their countries in search of a better life.”

Located in front of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies on the western edge of campus, the new sculpture is situated in the perfect position, said Michael Lovette-Colyer, USD vice president of mission integration.

“It will be the first thing visitors see when they enter our campus,” he explained. “It overlooks the Pacific Ocean, with the boat pointing towards the heart of our campus. It calls to mind that our campus is a welcoming place.”

Lovette-Colyer also noted that the campus was located near a United States international border with Mexico, “so our geographic location calls for all people to respect human dignity.”

Victor Carmona, USD associate professor of theology and religious studies for the past eight years, also said he believes the installation reflects “a desire for USD to continue being a welcoming place.” He said he is “excited” about the sculpture’s installation, believing “it connects USD to the global Church in terms of priorities and mission.”

The work of artist Timothy Schmalz

The sculpture is the creation of Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz, who attended the event and has created images in bronze for historical churches in Rome as well as worldwide.

Schmalz is also known for his “Homeless Jesus” sculpture depicting Jesus as a homeless man sleeping on a park bench and his “When I Was in Prison,” depicting Jesus behind bars.

The original “Homeless Jesus” sculpture was installed at Regis College in Toronto; the statue has been copied and installed at more than 90 other locations worldwide since. “When I Was in Prison” can be found at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

The “Angels Unawares” piece, Schmalz said, was inspired by the Scripture passage “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels [or “angels unawares” in other translations]” (Heb 13:2). Schmalz got the idea for the piece after a conversation with Jesuit Father (now Cardinal) Michael Czerny, former undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees section of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.  

In 2017, Schmalz recalled, Czerny “suggested that I start thinking about creating a sculpture on migrants and refugees, not just because it is a crisis today but as always important throughout human history.”

He explained that the work “depicts a group of migrants and refugees from different cultural and racial backgrounds and from diverse historic periods of time. They stand together, shoulder to shoulder, huddled on a raft.”

The angel wings emerge from their midst, “suggesting the presence of the sacred among them.”

Replicas of the work have since gone on tour for viewing by the faithful throughout the U.S.; replicas have been installed at both The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and St. Joseph’s Oratory in Canada. USD president Harris wanted a replica installed on his campus after viewing “Angels Unawares” in Rome, as “it aligned with USD’s Catholic mission and values,” he said. The sculpture was funded by an anonymous donor.

“I hope this sculpture can provide our Torero community with feelings of compassion that transcend all borders and politics,” Harris said.

Schmalz said the purpose of “Angels Unawares” as well as all his art “is to evangelize and preach the Gospel.” Nearly all of the 140 migrants featured on the boat are of actual people he researched; some are based on the faces of live models who came to his Toronto-area studio. Many of his ideas came from photographs of migrants who passed through New York Harbor’s Ellis Island. And two of the figures are based on the parents of Czerny, who were once migrants from Hungary fleeing communism.

The artist said he believes “Angels Unawares” is in the same category as the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, “but with faces and a spiritual centering.” He added that art was an effective tool that the Catholic Church can use to convey the “Christian message” and described himself as “an artist soldier for the Vatican.”

International Migrants Day

The blessing of the sculpture by Pham coincided with the United Nations’ International Migrants Day. Pham was invited not only because he is the bishop of San Diego and a member of the college’s board of trustees but also because he, too, was a migrant, having fled Vietnam in 1980.

Thursday’s blessing began with 12:15 p.m. Mass, with Pham as presider, followed by the unveiling of the sculpture. Harris offered remarks; participants included members of the USD faculty, staff, and student body.

Lovette-Colyer acknowledged that the sculpture installation coincided with a time of contentious debate over immigration in the United States and other countries, with Catholics passionately advocating on both sides of the issue.

Referencing recent statements and a video by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops promoting a more generous immigration policy, he said: “We’re on the side of Pope Francis and Pope Leo, our local Bishop Pham and his predecessor [Cardinal Robert] McElroy on the issue. We acknowledge there are political dimensions, but we don’t want to be partisan. As Pope Francis emphasized, we want to be humane and respect the dignity of all human persons.”

He continued: “Immigration is a topic that evokes strong feelings. It is an important issue for our students to learn about and consider. The sculpture can be a conversation starter in the classroom, where our students can discuss it critically and carefully.”

Pope Leo XIV addresses employment consultants on Dec. 18, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV advocated for a labor system that serves individuals and families so that the dignity of each employee is recognized and his or her real needs are met.

During a Dec. 18 audience at the Vatican with members of the Order of Employment Consultants, the Holy Father highlighted three aspects that he considers particularly important in the business world: the dignity of the person, mediation, and the promotion of safety.

At the beginning of his address in the Apostolic Palace, the pontiff emphasized that at the heart of any work dynamic “should neither be capital, nor the laws of the market, nor profit, but the person, the family, and their well-being, to which everything else is secondary.”

Consequently, he stated that workers must “be recognized in their dignity” and receive concrete responses to their real needs, such as the needs of young families, of parents with small children, “as well as the importance of helping those who, even while working, must care for elderly and sick family members.”

“These are needs,” he pointed out, “that no truly civilized society can afford to forget or neglect.” This is especially true today, when artificial intelligence and technology “increasingly manage and influence our activities.” Therefore, he emphasized the urgent need to ensure that companies are characterized “as humane and fraternal communities.”

He also urged the establishment of fair mediation between managers and employees, avoiding “excessive bureaucratization of relationships” and “distance and detachment and distance from reality.”

Thus, he invited employment consultants to pay close attention “to the people in front of you, especially those who are in difficulty and have fewer opportunities to express their needs and assert their interests.” 

Finally, he emphasized the importance of promoting workplace safety and lamented the numerous accidents that occur at work. “Prevention is better than remediating,” he remarked.

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

A group set fire to the office of the country’s top Bangla newspaper, Prothom Alo, late on Dec. 19, 2025, to protest the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, a front-line leader of a 2024 uprising in Bangladesh. / Credit: Dipu Malaker

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 19, 2025 / 13:24 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Bangladesh have condemned arson attacks on the offices of two of the country’s top newspapers and the homes of ousted Awami League leaders in protests of the killing of a frontline leader in a 2024 uprising.

Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was shot in broad daylight on Dec. 12 and died in Singapore on Dec. 18.

“We condemn this attack and we are very concerned about the upcoming elections,” said Father Liton Hubert Gomes, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Bangladesh.

The announcement of Hadi’s death prompted thousands of people, especially young, to take to the streets of Dhaka to protest and demand justice for Hadi’s killers. Some protesters claim that the accused in Hadi’s shooting have fled to India and say the protests will continue until the Indian government returns them.

A number of protesters attacked the offices and residences of the Indian High Commission in Khulna and Chittagong, vandalized and set fire to the Dhaka headquarters of Prothom Alo, a leading Bangle newspaper, and the Daily Star, a top English newspaper. Protestors also vandalized and set fire to the offices of the cultural organization Chhayanat, the Indira Gandhi Cultural Center, and several other establishments.

Gomes, a Holy Cross priest, said the government has the responsibility to protect these establishments but has failed, so he wonders how this government will protect the people’s right to vote.

“There must be freedom for any newspaper and without that, no pillar of the nation will be good. Therefore, we have to stop this mob justice,” he told CNA.

In July 2024, the student-led uprising in Bangladesh led to the eventual overthrow of dictator Sheikh Hasina and her subsequent exile in India. Sharif Osman Hadi was the front-runner in the uprising. He later announced that he would contest the upcoming elections from Dhaka.

Hadi had always questioned and criticized Indian hegemony to Bangladesh and was a staunch critic of Hasina. Since August 2024, Bangladesh has been run by an interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

The government is calling on all citizens of Bangladesh to remain firmly vigilant against all forms of violence perpetrated by a few isolated extremist groups. 

A statement by the government said: “We strongly and unequivocally condemn all acts of violence, intimidation, arson, and destruction of life and property. The nation has witnessed your courage and tolerance even in the face of terrorism. Attacks on journalists are attacks on the truth. We assure you of full justice.”

null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA).

Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group. 

Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”

The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster. 

Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. 

Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.

The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change. 

Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said. 

With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code. 

The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs. 

Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.

The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”

Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.

In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.

In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.

In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. 

The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Bishop Edward Scarfenberger. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Albany

National Catholic Register, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:24 pm (CNA).

A retired New York bishop has filed for personal bankruptcy protection in federal court after a state jury verdict found him, along with other officials, personally liable for the collapse of a Catholic hospital pension fund that left about 1,100 retirees without the lifetime monthly payments they were expecting.

It’s not clear whether a Catholic bishop in the United States has ever previously filed for personal bankruptcy protection.

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, 77, who served as bishop of Albany from April 2014 until his retirement in October, is seeking protection from creditors for his assets valued at between $100,001 and $500,000, according to a filing Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York.

The seven-page filing does not list the bishop’s assets but states that he has between 100 and 199 creditors and debts totaling between $1,000,001 and $10 million.

Last week, a jury found Scharfenberger 10% liable in a $54.2 million judgment in a civil lawsuit over the failed pension plan once provided by St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady, a Catholic hospital that operated from 1949 until 2008, according to The Evangelist, the diocese’s newspaper.

The verdict and judgment, issued Dec. 12, cover compensatory damages — the amount a court finds is owed to plaintiffs for harm they have suffered — but not punitive damages, which may be added in cases of recklessness, malice, or fraud. The bankruptcy filings by the bishop and another defendant in the state lawsuit over the pension plan failure forced a pause in a punitive damages hearing earlier this week, according to WNYT Channel 13 in Albany.

The National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, was unable to reach Scharfenberger before the publication of this story. A lawyer representing the bishop acknowledged a request for comment Dec. 17 but did not immediately provide one.

A rare personal bankruptcy

In recent decades, bankruptcies have occurred regularly in the Catholic Church in the United States. Between 2004 and November 2025, 39 of the country’s dioceses have filed for bankruptcy, almost all to protect assets from clergy sex-abuse lawsuits, as the Register reported last month. One of those is the Diocese of Albany, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2023. 

But those diocesan cases were filed under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which allows a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship to reorganize and continue operating while developing a court-approved plan to repay creditors.

Scharfenberger filed under Chapter 13, which allows an individual with regular income who cannot pay debts to keep certain assets while working out a repayment plan. 

“The rules in Chapter 13 permit a debtor to keep property and confirm a plan with payments to creditors based on the debtor’s ‘disposable income,’” said Marie Reilly, a bankruptcy expert and law professor at Penn State Dickinson Law, in an email. “If the debtor commits his disposable income to paying creditors for the term of a three- to five-year plan, he gets a discharge (forgiveness) of the unpaid balance.”

Reilly, who has researched several dozen diocesan bankruptcies for The Catholic Project, a lay initiative of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., told the Register that the bankruptcy filing does not necessarily solve all of the bishop’s money problems.

“There are exceptions — some debts don’t get discharged. Creditors can object to the plan if it does not meet the statutory requirements,” Reilly said. “And, it is possible that the pension fund creditor may move to dismiss the bishop’s Chapter 13 case as having been filed ‘in bad faith.’”

$50 million shortfall 

St. Clare’s Hospital was originally run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. The Diocese of Albany maintains that it never owned the hospital and that the bishop of Albany merely provided “canonical oversight” to make sure the hospital met “its mission to serve all in accord with Catholic moral standards,” according to an August 2025 statement from the diocese.

Last week, the jury found that the Diocese of Albany has no liability for the pension failure, instead holding the hospital corporation and certain officers and board members accountable. 

In addition to Scharfenberger, the jury found two deceased employees of the diocese liable, according to The Evangelist: Former Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard (1938–2023), who led the diocese from 1977 to 2014, was found 20% liable; and Father David LeFort, a former vicar general of the diocese who died in August 2023, was found 5% liable. 

Also found liable were St. Clare’s Corporation (20%), St. Clare’s president Joseph Pofit (25%), and former St. Clare’s president Robert Perry (20%), according to The Evangelist.

The judgments stem from a pension plan that operated for about 60 years. 

In 1959, the hospital began offering employees a defined-benefit plan that provided a lifetime monthly pension after retirement.

Church plan exempt from ERISA

Like most plans operated by Catholic institutions, the pension plan had a religious exemption from the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (known as ERISA), which sets minimum funding requirements for most nonreligious pension plans and also enables the federal government to step in and make payments to retirees of failed plans, using a fund financed by covered pension plans.

When the hospital closed in 2008, the officers of St. Clare’s “determined that the corporation would continue to exist for purposes of administering the pension plan,” according to a complaint filed in state court in Schenectady County by the New York attorney general’s office in May 2022. 

“They also chose to continue treating the pension plan as a ‘Church plan’ — which it could do only if the corporation’s former employees and pensioners were designated as employees of the Church. This was all in order to avoid the contribution and insurance requirements of ERISA, and the duties imposed by ERISA upon corporation directors and trustees as fiduciaries,” the complaint states.

The bishop of Albany was automatically a member of the hospital’s board and served as its honorary chairman, and had authority to appoint most of the directors on the board, according to the state attorney general’s complaint.

The attorney general’s office alleged that St. Clare’s Corporation failed to make contributions to the pension fund “for all but three years from 2001 to 2019” and concealed from retirees “the insolvency of the pension plan.”

In 2018, the St. Clare’s board terminated the pension plan effective Feb. 1, 2019, because of an approximately $50 million shortfall. More than 1,100 employees lost retirement benefits, including about 650 who lost all pension payments and about 450 who received a lump-sum payment “equal to 70% of the value of their vested pension,” the complaint states. The retired employees include “nurses, lab technicians, social workers, EMTs, orderlies, housekeepers, and other essential workers” who worked at the hospital “between 10 and 50 years,” the complaint states.

Testimony and reaction

On Dec. 9 during the civil trial, Scharfenberger testified that during his tenure no boards he sat on ever discussed the hospital’s pension plan, according to The Times-Union of Albany. 

In a written statement issued in August, when Scharfenberger still led the Diocese of Albany, the diocese said the bishop “has actively sought ways to help the pensioners” while denying that the diocese ever “exercised any control over St. Clare’s Hospital operations or its pension.” 

“He hosted a listening session with pensioners at Siena College to identify issues and consider ways to help those in need. He also reached out to the Mother Cabrini Foundation to try to secure funding for the pensioners, but that effort was unable to move forward once the pensioners filed the lawsuit,” the statement said. 

“The diocese is eager to see the case move forward and promptly resolved,” the August statement continued. “Our prayers continue for all who are struggling in any way, and as we stated previously, our offer to connect those in need with services that can help, stands. No one should walk alone.”

His successor, Bishop Mark O’Connell, who was installed as bishop of Albany on Dec. 5, told reporters shortly before the verdict was announced last week: “I care deeply about their hurt [and] not having their pensions,” according to The Evangelist.

During the Dec. 12 press conference, when a reporter asked O’Connell what the diocese would do if the jury found the diocese liable for the pension fund collapse, the bishop noted that the diocese is already in the midst of a bankruptcy process.

“If we are liable, then we’ll do what we can to make amends, given that they are one creditor as a group among many people accusing the Diocese of Albany,” O’Connell said, according to WAMC Northeast Public Radio. “And that’s what bankruptcy process is. We obviously cannot pay a billion dollars. Right? So that’s what Chapter 11 is all about, to figure out what’s fair. And since you have a bankruptcy judge and mediators, it’s not up to us.”

Later that day, the jury found the diocese not liable in the pension fund collapse lawsuit. The diocese issued a written statement, according to The Evangelist, that said: “As grateful as we are for the jury’s informed decision, we are still very much aware of the hurt felt by the St. Clare’s pensioners who cared for the sick and the poor throughout the long history of St. Clare’s Hospital. This does not mean that we will turn our backs to the pensioners, for as Bishop O’Connell has noted, they are a part of our flock; they are still in need of healing.”

That same day, lead plaintiff Mary Hartshorne, who worked in the hospital’s radiology department for about 28 years, told WNYT Channel 13 in Albany that she and other hospital retirees were pleased with the jury’s verdict but did not feel they would be made whole.

“We’ve been playing this game for seven and a half years, and I think my question I ask everybody is: How do you get that back? You don’t,” she said.

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

Colorado state capitol in Denver. / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 11:52 am (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a coalition of Catholic families, and numerous other advocates are petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of Catholic schools seeking to be included in Colorado’s universal preschool funding program. 

The religious liberty law group Becket said in a Dec. 18 release that the Catholic schools’ advocates — including numerous religious groups, legal organizations, and public policy groups — are urging the high court to rule against Colorado’s “discriminatory exclusion” of the faith-based schools. 

The Archdiocese of Denver and a group of Catholic preschools asked the Supreme Court in November to allow them to access the Colorado program after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in September that the state may continue to exclude the preschools from the education fund. 

The state has barred those schools from the funding pool because they require teachers and families to sign a pledge promising to uphold their religious mission, including teachings on sexuality and gender identity.

In an amicus filing this week, the U.S. bishops said the Colorado rule “denies Catholic preschools access to a state-run tuition assistance program solely because those schools adhere to Catholic doctrine about human sexuality.”

Allowing the rule to stand will offer a “roadmap” for other governments to violate the First Amendment rights of religious Americans around the country, the bishops argued. 

Permitting the schools’ exclusion “will impair the ability of Catholic organizations and other faith-based service providers to partner with state and local governments to serve the public,” the prelates said, arguing that the “resulting harm to the nation’s social support infrastructure would be immense.”

In another filing, a coalition of Catholic families said it regards Catholic schools as “essential partners” in their mission to impart the Catholic faith to their children. The Colorado rule, however, would force the Catholic schools to operate in a manner “inconsistent with their religious beliefs and mission.” 

Multiple families in the filing — all of whom have four or more children — testified to the formative role that Catholic preschools have played for them. The families said they “want their children to embrace the Catholic Church’s teachings on the nature of the human person” and that the state rule impedes their ability to do so through Catholic schools. 

Numerous other amicus filers include the Thomas More Society, the Center for American Liberty, and Concerned Women for America as well as religious groups representing Lutherans, Evangelicals, Jews, and Muslims.

Archdiocese of Denver School Superintendent Scott Elmer said via Becket that the archdiocese is “humbled” by the showing of support. 

“Our preschools aren’t asking for special treatment, just equal treatment,” he said, expressing hope that the Supreme Court “takes this case and upholds the promise of universal preschool for every family in Colorado.” 

The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether it will hear the case. Becket said the high court will likely decide whether or not to hear it “in early 2026.”