Catholic faithful gather on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, in St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin to celebrate two milestones: a decree from Pope Leo XIV formally designating St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin and the cathedral’s bicentenary. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Dec 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Dublin has dispelled concerns about its financial position, pointing to its healthy reserves, strong financial position, and the strict regulatory framework within which it operates as a charity.

Following a report in one of Ireland’s most prominent mainstream media publications, the Irish Times, the Archdiocese of Dublin has moved to clarify questions raised about its financial security over the next 15 years.

The archdiocese explained to CNA the context of its 2024 financial statements, which were the subject of a recent Irish Times report that has raised concern among the faithful in Ireland’s largest diocese. 

In the story titled “Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese Faces Financial Woes as Priests Age and Mass Numbers Decline,” the Dublin-based newspaper stated that the archdiocese’s cash reserves will be exhausted by 2041. It also pointed to a worrying decline in vocations, with actuarial predictions of 70% fewer priests within 20 years. The archdiocese had no ordination in 2024 and just two since 2020.

Both statements reflect what is stated in the report but neglect to include the archdiocese’s contextual notes in its financial statements on the subject of its reserves, including the funds generated by the sale of Clonliffe College in north Dublin. 

Ide Finnegan, the archdiocese finance administrator and head of operations, explained in response to CNA’s questions that its finances are governed by strict legislation relating to its charitable status. 

“In the financial statements, context and measures planned to address these factors are also outlined. For example, every effort is being made to sustain and indeed increase income and manage costs. The diocese is investing in new staff rather than planning staff reductions,” Finnegan said.

The Irish Times article reported the total income from the archdiocese’s 188 parishes, which in 2024 came to 31 million euros ($36.5 million), compared with 31.1 million euros ($36.4 million) the previous year. Total expenditure in 2024 was 34.2 million euros ($40.2 million), the same as in 2023.

The first collections held at weekend Masses, which support priests, totaled 14.1 million euros ($16.6 million) in 2024, a decrease of 200,000 euros ($235,000) from 14.3 million euros ($16.8 million) in 2023. Share collections in support of parishes raised 5.7 million euros ($6.7 million) in 2024, 100,000 euros ($117,500) less than the 5.6 million euros ($6.6 million) in 2023. 

The Irish Times report did not mention the fact noted in the financial statements that international fundraising firm CCS Consulting has been retained to advise and support fundraising strategies for the archdiocese.

Finnegan, referring to CCS, told CNA: “There is hope that the initiative will help with parish reserves. The diocesan balance sheet is very healthy, but it is important that this is protected by generating enough income to meet expenditure. The financial statements reflect all the steps being taken around financial sustainability, and we are currently implementing a strategic plan around this.”

Since COVID-19, there has been a shift in the number of Mass attendees and the amount donated in Sunday collections. It is also clear that the archdiocese is taking proactive steps to manage its financial position. 

Parishes in the Dublin Archdiocese are responsible for their own financial management. Parish employees are directly employed by parishes, and any decisions on staffing levels are made locally.  

Finnegan told CNA: “Parishes are encouraged to generate income, but as the accounts state, there are parishes that are running a financial deficit, and this will need to be monitored into the future. The Share fund provides financial support to disadvantaged parishes where local contributions can be lower.”

The archdiocese has begun implementing a new strategy, titled Building Hope, which includes priorities such as management, ministry, the role of laypersons, and finance. 

The archdiocese is structured into five pastoral areas, within which are 15 deaneries nurturing 53 partnerships of parishes. 

Altogether, the Catholic population recorded in the 2022 census was 996,000 out of a total population of approximately 1.6 million.

In offering reassurance and confidence in the archdiocese’s position, Finnegan highlighted one key section of the financial statements that provides essential context for any concerns about the potential depletion of reserves by 2041.

“While it is unlikely that all the identified risks will materialize simultaneously, the trustees must ensure adequate reserves are available to address potential challenges. The primary risk lies in the charity’s ability to successfully navigate these issues, which vary in severity and impact. The trustees are committed to maintaining a present level of unrestricted and designated preserves, enabling the charity to remain resilient in the face of both anticipated and unforeseen challenges.”

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (at right) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (at left) and then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz (at center). / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 20:05 pm (CNA).

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that he has issued a directive aimed at reforming the military’s Chaplain Corps, beginning with the elimination of the U.S. Army’s current Spiritual Fitness Guide.

In a video post, Hegseth described a “real problem” facing the nation’s military forces: “the weakening of our Chaplain Corps,” which has “been going on for far too long.”

“In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” he said. “Faith and virtue were traded for self help and self care.”

Hegseth said that “chaplains are intended to be the spiritual and moral backbone of our nation’s forces,” recalling that at the outset of the American Revolution, Gen. George Washington, in one of his first acts as commander of the Continental Army, established the Chaplain Corps because he saw the need for “the blessing and protection of heaven … especially in times of public distress and danger.”

“For about 200 years, the Chaplain Corps continued its role as the spiritual leader of our service members, serving our men and women in times of hardship and ministering to their souls,” he said.

In what he described as an “ongoing war on warriors” in recent years, Hegseth said the role of chaplains “has been degraded.”

He cited the current Army Spiritual Fitness Guide, which he said mentions God only once and has “zero” references to virtue, relying instead “on New Age notions, saying that the soldier’s spirit consists of consciousness, creativity, and connection.”

According to the guide, Hegseth said, about “82% of the military are religious, yet, ironically, [the guide] alienates our war fighters of faith by pushing secular humanism. In short, it’s unacceptable and unserious. So we’re tossing it.”

“Our chaplains are chaplains, not emotional support officers,” he said.

According to Hegseth, the reforms will be “a top-down cultural shift, putting spiritual well-being on the same footing as mental and physical health.”

He said initial reforms will result in the removal of training materials that “have no place in the War Department” as well as the streamlining of religious affiliation coding practices, with more changes in the coming weeks and months.

“We’re going to restore the esteemed position of chaplains as moral anchors for our fighting force,” Hegseth said.

Quoting the 1956 army chaplain’s manual, Hegseth said: “‘The chaplain is the pastor and the shepherd of the souls entrusted to his care.’”

“This is a high and sacred calling,” he continued, “but this only works if our shepherds are actually given the freedom to boldly guide and care for their flock.”

This image is preserved in the Church of San Vital, built in 386, in Rome. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

The Church of St. Vitale, built in 386, is the oldest Christian church still standing in the center of Rome. It is the “only place of worship from the fourth century that has remained intact throughout the centuries,” emphasized its parish priest, Father Elio Lops.

This early Christian church, discreet and given little attention on typical tourist routes, safeguards an artistic and devotional treasure that is practically unknown: the first image of Our Lady of Guadalupe painted in the Italian capital.

“It has never been given the importance it deserves,” Lops told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, referring to a representation of the Virgin Mary that immediately brings to mind the image imprinted on St. Juan Diego’s tilma in 1531.

The similarities are striking. “There is no doubt about its identity,” the parish priest pointed out.

Although the position of the hands shows a slight variation and the rays that usually surround the figure are missing, “the gaze is the same,” he explained. The painting also retains “the same belt that symbolizes Our Lady’s maternity and the large crescent moon beneath her feet,” Lops noted, citing the essential iconographic elements of the Guadalupe narrative.

The image was painted “around the year 1550” by the Jesuit Giovanni Battista Fiammeri, an artist active in Rome who, on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1600, decorated the entire church of St. Vitale.

A compelling hypothesis about the painting’s origin

Although there are no documents that conclusively certify it, the parish priest supports a compelling hypothesis: The Jesuit Fiammeri painted the picture based on a sketch of the miracle made by Spanish missionaries upon their return to Rome, after learning about the events that occurred on Tepeyac Hill two decades earlier.

One detail reinforces this interpretation. At the bottom of the painting, “below the Virgin, there is a small caravel depicting the ship on which they traveled to Mexico,” the priest explained. This is an unusual element in later iconography of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but it was commonly used in the context of the first contacts between the New World and the Holy See.

Whatever the precise origin of the model used by Fiammeri, it is certain that this image predates by several decades the other representations of the Virgin of Guadalupe preserved in Rome, which date from the mid-17th century, almost a hundred years after the apparitions, the 500th anniversary of which will be celebrated in 2031.

This fact confers on the painting in St. Vitale a singular value as a testament to the early European reception of a devotion that, over time, would become one of the pillars of the Americas’ religious identity.

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

Disabilities advocates in Buffalo, New York, during a candlelight vigil in opposition to assisted suicide. / Credit: New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign into law an assisted suicide bill that Catholic leaders have ardently opposed, making New York the 13th state to allow the practice. 

Hochul, who called it an “incredibly difficult decision,” said she will sign the bill after lawmakers add some “guardrails.” The bill allows doctors to give terminally ill patients drugs to end their lives. Hochul’s additions to the law include requiring a waiting period, a recorded oral request for death, and a health evaluation. The law will go into effect six months after signing.    

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and other New York bishops have been outspoken against the legislation, issuing several statements opposing it. In a brief meeting with Hochul over the summer, Dolan urged her not to sign the measure. 

Earlier this month, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law similar assisted suicide legislation. Other jurisdictions that permit assisted suicide include: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

Hochul, who is a Catholic University of America alumna, said in a Dec. 17 statement that the bill will enable people “to suffer less — to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.”

“New York has long been a beacon of freedom, and now it is time we extend that freedom to terminally ill New Yorkers who want the right to die comfortably and on their own terms,” Hochul said. 

“My mother died of ALS, and I am all too familiar with the pain of seeing someone you love suffer and being powerless to stop it,” she continued. 

In a joint statement, Dolan and the bishops of New York state said they were “extraordinarily troubled” by Hochul’s announcement. 

The bishops say the law endangers the vulnerable, calling assisted suicide “a grave moral evil” that “is in direct conflict with Catholic teaching on the sacredness and dignity of all human life.” 

“This new law signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable but is encouraged by our elected leaders,” the Dec. 17 statement said. 

The Patients’ Rights Action Fund, a nonpartisan group that opposes assisted suicide on the grounds that it is inherentaly discriminatory, said that “safeguards” in bills like the one Hochul said she would sign “are falling short” where they exist.

“The amendments added that try to address the serious dangers that come with legalizing assisted suicide do nothing to protect people who deserve care and support from the state and their medical teams,” Matt Vallière, who heads the group, said in a Dec. 17 statement shared with CNA. 

Citing the tragic case of Eileen Mihich, a woman struggling with mental illness who died under the assisted suicide law in Washington state, Vallière said that “it is impossible to prevent abuse of the law in which people not on the verge of dying can utilize assisted suicide.”

“There is no true accountability to protect patients from potential harm, abuse, or coercion,” Vallière continued.

The New York bishops also raised concerns about mental health, saying the law “will seriously undermine” anti-suicide and mental health care efforts made by Hochul. 

“How can any society have credibility to tell young people or people with depression that suicide is never the answer, while at the same time telling elderly and sick people that it is a compassionate choice to be celebrated?” the bishops stated. 

The bishops urged the state to instead invest in palliative care, which is medicine focused on relieving suffering and improving quality of life for people with serious illnesses. 

“We call on Catholics and all New Yorkers to reject physician-assisted suicide for themselves, their loved ones, and those in their care,” the bishops said. “And we pray that our state turns away from its promotion of a culture of death and invest instead in life-affirming, compassionate hospice and palliative care, which is seriously underutilized.”

Vallière also called for better access to palliative care. 

“Gov. Hochul’s statements undermine the importance of hospice and palliative care, which provides the compassionate end-of-life experience for which so many are advocating but is drastically underutilized in New York,” Vallière said. “We need more access to this care, not a fast track to death in the absence of it.”

Church of the National Vow in Bogotá, Colombia. / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

The Colombian Senate passed a law on Dec. 15 that recognizes the historical, religious, and cultural value of the Church of the National Vow, a symbol of the country’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The passage of Bill 131-2025, introduced by Sen. Mauricio Giraldo, “is an act of gratitude and spiritual remembrance. Colombia cannot renounce its roots or the symbols that have sustained the nation. Legislating also means caring for the soul of a country,” the senator stated.

In a video posted on social media, Giraldo also recalled that the Church of the National Vow “was the national symbol of reconciliation” in Colombia after the 1899–1902 Thousand Days’ War, which pitted liberals against conservatives. The conflict left more than 100,000 dead and was won by the conservative side.

While many other factors were involved, including the role of the Catholic Church, the war was fought over whether Colombia would be a unitary state with a centralized government (the conservative position) or have a federal system with a central presidency but also local state governments (the liberal position).

“So this bill is a recognition of reconciliation, but above all, of Colombia’s consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We are happy; it has already been approved in its four debates, and now only [the president’s signature] is needed. It’s a done deal, we have a law, because we continue to protect the heart of Colombia,” he said.

Currently, the Church of the National Vow has structural damage that has required the installation of protective netting. With the passage of the law, it is expected that the state will assume responsibility for the restoration of the church.

History of the Church of the National Vow

It is called the Church of the National Vow because it was built to fulfill a vow or promise made on behalf of the nation by the then-archbishop of Bogota, Bernardo Herrera Restrepo, to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to pray for an end to the bloody conflict.

Herrera asked President José Manuel Marroquín Ricaurte to build a church in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Decree 820 of May 18, 1902, stipulated that the state would assist in the construction and emphasized that it was the nation’s duty to do everything possible to achieve reconciliation among Colombians.

On June 11, 1902, Colombia was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the cornerstone of the church was laid. Five months later, the civil war ended with the treaties signed on the Neerlandia plantation on the mainland and the U.S. battleship Wisconsin, as the American government had become involved in the conflict due to its interest in constructing a canal across Panama, which was then part of Colombia.

Construction was completed in 1918, and in 1964 the church was elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI and declared a national monument in 1975.

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

Illinois state capitol in Springfield. / Credit: Paul Brady Photography/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 12:34 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Illinois are backing a coalition of pro-life pregnancy centers and doctors suing the state government over a law that requires them to refer women to abortion providers even if they object to the procedure on religious grounds. 

The lawsuit, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto, challenges a 2016 Illinois rule that requires health care providers who refuse to perform abortions to nevertheless tout the “benefits” of the procedure and refer women to abortion clinics. 

In April the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois partly blocked the law, ruling that it violates freedom of speech in forcing providers to relay the alleged benefits of abortion. The court, however, held that the abortion referral requirement is legal. 

The case is currently at appeal from both sides in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Dec. 16, the Catholic Conference of Illinois and the Illinois Catholic Health Association joined several Orthodox advocates in an amicus brief urging the court to offer the “highest level of protection” to the religious speech of the pro-life plaintiffs. 

“Providing the highest level of First Amendment protection to religious institutions gives them the predictability they need to pursue their religious missions,” the filing said, arguing that forcing health care providers to refer abortions “could lead people to believe that such conduct is morally acceptable.”

First Amendment jurisprudence, the filing argues, leaves “no doubt that the abortion-referral requirement burdens core religious speech without proper justification.”

Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a press statement that “every life deserves protection and care, no matter how fragile or dependent.” 

“The Church in Illinois is standing up for that eternal truth against Illinois’ effort to deny it,” the prelate said. 

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki similarly argued that Catholics “must be free to live according to the 2,000-year-old teachings of our faith without government intrusion.” 

“Illinois’ mandate threatens that freedom by forcing Catholic ministries and health care professionals to promote a practice we believe is gravely wrong,” he said. “We pray the court will put a swift stop to it.”

The amicus brief was filed by the religious liberty law group Becket. 

Lawyers for the pro-life plaintiffs have argued that the abortion referral requirement violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, which was brought by the same organization at the head of the Illinois dispute. 

The Supreme Court held in that decision that a similar California rule appeared to violate the First Amendment by “requiring [pro-life providers] to inform women how they can obtain state-subsidized abortions.”

Army personnel stand guard in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral Church in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Dec. 23, ahead of Christmas 2024. / Credit: Stephan Uttom Rozario

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 17, 2025 / 11:32 am (CNA).

Recent attempts to sabotage Catholic churches, threats to Catholic educational institutions, and the current political context of the country mean the upcoming Christmas will be a time of concern for Catholics in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

“There is a sense of fear among us and from that point, all our parish priests have been warned,” Bishop Sebastian Tudu of the Dinajpur Diocese told CNA.

The prelate said that in recent weeks there have been crude bomb explosions targeting churches and church-run institutions in Dhaka and threats to Catholic educational institutions through letters. It is natural to be concerned, he said.

However, he noted that local law enforcement agencies have been active much earlier than in other years and are investigating various church institutions.

“We have already had a meeting with the law enforcement agencies here about Christmas security and they are working on it. However, we are in a state of panic and have instructed every parish priest not to hold Christmas programs until late at night,” Tudu said.

Christians make up less than 1% of the 180 million people in this Muslim-majority South Asian nation.

On Nov. 7, two crude homemade bombs were thrown at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Dhaka, one of which did not explode. The next day, the jubilee was celebrated at the cathedral, attended by 600 people from all over the country. A few hours later, a bomb exploded at the gate of St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School and College, just a few miles from the cathedral.

Exactly a month before this incident, on Oct. 8, a similar bomb exploded at the gate of Holy Rosary Church in a Christian-dominated area of Dhaka.

On Dec. 2, a letter written in Bengali under the name Tawhidee Muslim Janata (“faithful Muslim people”) was sent to two of Bangladesh’s most prestigious colleges: Notre Dame College, run by the Holy Cross Fathers, and Holy Cross College, run by the Holy Cross Sisters, threatening them over alleged conversions.

Raju Biswas, 37, who works in a factory in Dhaka, goes to his village in the southern Satkhira district every year on Dec. 23 to celebrate Christmas with his family, and he plans to go this year as well.

“Since I have children, a wife, and parents at home, I will go to the village to celebrate Christmas with them. However, this time, there is panic; the political situation in the country is not good, and there was an incident of throwing bombs in front of the church,” Biswas told CNA.

He said the government should strengthen security in every church for at least four days, from two days before Christmas to the day after Christmas.

On Dec. 15, to discuss security measures for the upcoming Christmas, a delegation led by Bangladesh Christian Association President Nirmal Rozario and St. Mary’s Cathedral parish priest Father Albert Thomas Rozario of the Dhaka Archdiocese met the home affairs adviser of the interim government.

“The archbishop and we are not seeing Christmas this year as normal as other times. We are more worried and scared this time and have raised the recent security concerns with the home affairs adviser,” Father Rozario told CNA.

They have taken serious note of our concerns and have said that the government will take measures so that Christians can celebrate Christmas in a peaceful and joyful atmosphere, Father Rozario added.

Strict security measures have already been adopted at the archbishop’s house. There are instructions to install CCTV cameras in every church, archways at the gates, metal detectors, and manual checks.

“There are more meetings with the country’s police administration within a few days, where we will again raise our concerns and appeal to the government for security,” Father Rozario said.

San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano celebrates Mass at St. Augustine’s School on Dec. 5, 2021, to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. / Credit: John Gastaldo/Catholic Diocese of San Diego

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 10:18 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ramón Bejarano, currently auxiliary bishop of San Diego, as the next bishop of Monterey in California. The appointment was publicized on Dec. 17 by the Holy See Press Office at the Vatican and by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bejarano succeeds Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, who led Monterey before being appointed bishop of Austin, Texas, on July 2 and installed there on Sept. 18.

Bejarano was born July 17, 1969, in Laredo, Texas, and completed ecclesiastical studies at the diocesan seminary in Tijuana, Mexico, and at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, the Vatican said. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Stockton on Aug. 15, 1998.

Named titular bishop of Carpi and auxiliary bishop of San Diego on Feb. 27, 2020, he received episcopal consecration on July 14, 2020.

The Diocese of Monterey is comprised of 21,916 square miles in California and has a total population of 1,042,464, of which 368,150 are Catholic, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Bishop Ronald A. Hicks of Joliet, Illinois. / Credit: Diocese of Joliet YouTube video

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:58 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has chosen Bishop Ronald Hicks of the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, to be the next archbishop of New York — the most consequential U.S. episcopal appointment of Leo’s pontificate thus far.

The appointment was confirmed by EWTN News with two independent sources with direct knowledge of the appointment.

Hicks, 58, will succeed Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has led New York, the second-largest U.S. archdiocese by population — with 2.5 million Catholics — since 2009.

The choice of Hicks for one of the most important U.S. archdioceses is likely to be heavily scrutinized for the insight it may give into the direction Pope Leo wishes to take the Church in the U.S.

A native of Illinois, Hicks has led the Joliet Diocese since September 2020. He was an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago from 2018 to 2020, following three years as the archdiocese’s vicar general from 2015 to 2018.

Hicks was born on Aug. 4, 1967, in the town of Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago, and grew up in South Holland, one suburb over from Dolton, where Pope Leo XIV grew up.

“I recognize a lot of similarities between [Pope Leo] and me,” Hicks told WGN in an interview in May. “So we grew up literally in the same radius, in the same neighborhood together. We played in the same parks, went swimming in the same pools, liked the same pizza places to go to.”

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, Hicks’ priestly ministry included time as an associate pastor and pastor, and dean of formation as St. Joseph College Seminary.

In 2005, he began a five-year term as regional director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) in Central America. Based in El Salvador, he oversaw the care of more than 3,400 orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries.

He returned to Chicago in 2010 to serve as dean of formation at Mundelein Seminary before Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago appointed him vicar general of the archdiocese on Jan. 1, 2015.

As bishop, Hicks serves on the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations for the U.S. bishops’ conference, and as the conference liaison to the Association of Ongoing Formation of Priests and the National Association of Diaconate Directors.

The Archdiocese of New York serves Catholics in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and in seven counties to the north.

Father Deusdedit Ssekabira of the Catholic Diocese of Masaka in Uganda is in police custody for alleged “violent subversive activities against state” following his abducted from his office in Katwe, Masaka city, by men wearing Uganda Army uniform on Dec. 3, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Masaka

ACI Africa, Dec 17, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Uganda’s defense authorities have confirmed that a priest serving the Catholic Diocese of Masaka, whose disappearance earlier this month sparked concern and prayers from the bishop, is in the custody of security forces over alleged criminal activities.

In a Dec. 12 statement, the acting director of defense public information, Col. Chris Magezi, said Father Deusdedit Ssekabira was arrested in connection with what the military says is “involvement in violent subversive activities against the state.”

Magezi added that Ssekabira is being held as investigations continue. “Reverend Father Deusdedit Ssekabira is currently in lawful custody to assist with further investigations into the matter,” the Ugandan defense official further said.

According to Magezi, the case will proceed through formal judicial channels. “He will be produced in the courts of law and charged accordingly,” he said in his one-page statement but did not provide further details on the alleged activities or the duration of the investigation. 

The confirmation of the priest’s detainment follows days of uncertainty after Bishop Serverus Jjumba of the Masaka Diocese reported that Ssekabira, who is the assistant pastor of Bumangi Parish and the director of Uplift Primary School, had been taken on Dec. 3 at about 1 p.m. from his office in Katwe, Masaka City.

In response to his disappearance, the bishop directed special prayers, including a rosary triduum (praying the rosary for three consecutive days), calling on the people of God in his diocese to pray for Ssekabira as well as for the Church and the nation.

Jjumba said that efforts to locate the priest had been unsuccessful and he called for intensified prayers and legal efforts following what he called a kidnapping by men wearing “Uganda Army uniform, with a drone.”

In his Dec. 13 statement, Jjumba stated: “All efforts to locate him have so far been fruitless.” He described the incident as “a grievous wound inflicted on Masaka Diocese, the entire Catholic Church, and Father Ssekabira’s family.”

He said his diocese was pursuing every available avenue to secure Ssekabira’s safe return. “Masaka Diocese together with our lawyers are still doing whatever is in our means to get back our priest unharmed,” Jjumba stated. 

The Masaka Diocese is yet to issue a response following the statement on Ssekabira’s arrest by the Ugandan defense official. 

As the case moves toward the courts, attention is expected to focus on due process, the specific charges to be brought against Ssekabira, and the implications of the case for Church-state relations in Uganda.

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