People hold up signs during a pro-abortion rally on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade in West Palm Beach, Florida, on June 24, 2024. / Credit: MARCO BELLO/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 11, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of abortion-related developments that took place across the country this week.

New poll suggests Florida abortion amendment will fail

A new survey published this week by The New York Times and Siena College found that only 46% of Florida voters support a ballot measure amendment that would legalize full-term abortion. This is well below the 60% threshold required for the amendment to pass.

If the Florida amendment — which is set to appear on the ballot this Election Day — fails, it will become the first pro-abortion amendment to be defeated at the polls.  

Titled the “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” or simply “Amendment 4,” the measure would invalidate both Florida’s six-week and 15-week pro-life protections for the unborn.

The amendment would also allow abortion past the point of viability through all nine months of pregnancy if determined by a health care provider to be necessary for the health of the mother.

Though the poll found that only 38% of voters oppose the amendment, the measure will still fail by 14 points if the New York Times/Siena poll is accurate. According to the poll, 16% of Florida voters are still undecided.

The amendment is supported by 68% of registered Democrats and 46% of independents. Meanwhile, 58% of registered Republicans oppose the measure.

A poll taken in August by Mainstreet Research and Florida Atlantic University found that 56% of Floridians supported the amendment, 21% were opposed, and 23% were undecided.

This comes after a slate of broad abortion amendments in California, Ohio, Michigan, and Vermont passed by wide margins. There are nine other states with abortion amendments on the ballot this November.

Several pro-life leaders have told CNA that defeating the Florida abortion amendment could help to reverse the momentum in the national abortion fight.

Congressional health plans illegally fund abortion

More than two dozen Republican members of the House and Senate are raising the alarm that most congressional health plans are illegally subsidizing abortion.

Four senators and 22 House members sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Wednesday warning the agency that it must stop illegally funding abortion.

According to the letter, OPM, which oversees health plans for members of Congress and their staff, is violating the Smith Amendment, which for decades has prohibited any congressional health plans from either directly or indirectly funding abortion.

Further, the letter said that with the planned withdrawal of an Aetna health plan in 2025, there are only two remaining health plans not subsidizing abortion that “may” be available to members of Congress and staffers.

The letter said that “the situation has now deteriorated to the point that members of Congress and their designated staff have only two plans available to them in 2025.”

“The law is specific,” the letter stated. “Under the Smith Amendment, OPM is prohibited from engaging in administrative activity in connection with any plan that subsidizes elective abortion, let alone almost all of them.”

The members of Congress are demanding that OPM cease administering health plans that illegally fund abortion and instead direct the D.C. Health Link, the health insurance marketplace that covers the District of Columbia, to provide Smith-compliant health plans for Congress.

“The severity of OPM’s specious implementation of — or perhaps malicious disregard for — the law must be finally and permanently remedied and brought into compliance with congressional intent,” the members of Congress said.

The Smith Amendment was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and has been consecutively renewed by Congress over the last several decades.

Montana Supreme Court upholds temporary block on pro-life laws

The Montana Supreme Court issued two rulings on Wednesday to uphold temporary blocks on several measures protecting unborn life. The measures prohibited dilation-and-evacuation surgical abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, telehealth chemical abortions, and restricted the use of tax-dollar Medicaid funds for abortion.

The rulings center on several pro-life laws passed by the state Legislature and signed by the governor in 2023. This means the laws will remain blocked as the cases against them progress through the courts.

The state has been blocked from enforcing the laws since a May 2023 ruling by the Lewis and Clark County District Court that enjoined them shortly after passage.

In both rulings, the majority of the five-person state Supreme Court said the laws likely violate the right to privacy. Both rulings said the lower court was correct to enjoin the laws because the abortion providers suing the laws are “likely to succeed on the merits, would be irreparably harmed absent an injunction … and the injunction is in the public interest.”

Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte issued a response Wednesday in which he said he is “deeply disappointed” in the court’s ruling against the law banning taxpayer funding for abortion.

“I believe all life is precious and must be protected,” Gianforte said. “This extreme ruling means Montana taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for elective abortions.”

Poll finds abortion is top issue for women under 30

A new poll by the left-leaning health news source KFF found that abortion has surpassed inflation as the top issue for women voters under 30.

According to the poll, inflation continues to be the top issue for women. However, there was a slight increase from the summer — 10% to 13% — in the level of women of all ages who said abortion is their top issue.

Meanwhile, the most recent poll found that among women under 30, 4 out of 10 — 39% — say that abortion is their top concern. This well surpasses the percentage of women under 30 (28%) who say inflation is their top concern.  

The poll also registered an increase in the percentage of women who say they are motivated to vote. According to KFF, 64% of women said they are more motivated to vote than usual compared with 45% when the question was asked in June when President Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate.

Young people lead a procession in Protomartyrs Square at the Vatican for an ecumenical prayer service on Oct. 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and Synod on Synodality participants, including non-Catholic delegates, prayed together Friday evening at the site of the first Christian martyrdoms in Rome.

The ecumenical prayer vigil Oct. 11 was held in Roman Protomartyrs Square inside Vatican City. The square is believed to be at the site where St. Peter and other first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed under the order of Emperor Nero. A plaque in the pavement marks the spot where St. Peter was crucified.

During the 45-minute ecumenical service, which included sung chants, prayers, and litanies, attendees held candles with drip protectors imprinted with an image of the 15th-century painting “Mater Ecclesiae” (“Mother of the Church”). 

Music at the prayer vigil was led by a small choir accompanied by several instruments, including a guitar, flute, and clarinet. The hymns came from the ecumenical Taizé Community and included “Laudate Omnes Gentes” and “Bless the Lord, My Soul.”

Pope Francis led those present in praying the Our Father at the conclusion of the service. He did not give a meditation on Christian unity as originally planned, but the prepared text was afterward published on the Vatican website.

In the reflection, the pope quoted John 17:22, which says: “The glory that you have given me I have given them.”

“These words from Jesus’ prayer before his passion can be applied above all to the martyrs, who received glory for the witness they bore to Christ,” he wrote.

“In this place, we remember the first martyrs of the Church of Rome. This basilica was built on the site where their blood was shed; the Church was built upon their blood. May these martyrs strengthen our certainty that, in drawing closer to Christ, we draw closer to one another, sustained by the prayers of all the saints of our churches, now perfectly one by their sharing in the paschal mystery,” he prayed.

Francis also said Christian unity and synodality are connected: “In both processes, it is not so much a matter of creating something as it is of welcoming and making fruitful the gift we have already received.”

“And what does the gift of unity look like?” he said. “The synod experience is helping us to discover some aspects of this gift.”

Calling division among Christians a “scandal,” Pope Francis added that the synod is an opportunity “to overcome the walls that still exist between us.”

“Let us focus,” he continued, “on the common ground of our shared baptism, which prompts us to become missionary disciples of Christ, with a common mission. The world needs our common witness; the world needs us to be faithful to our common mission.”

There are 16 fraternal delegates, representatives of non-Catholic Christian faiths, participating in the synod meeting this month — four more than in 2023.

The 2024 additions are representatives of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all of Africa, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Mennonite Conference.

Other fraternal delegates include Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, the Eastern Orthodox co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church; and Anglican Bishop Martin Warner of Chichester, co-chair of the English-Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee.

Fraternal delegates participate but do not vote in the synodal assembly.

A Dominican friar blesses the faithful with the Eucharist during Benediction at the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on Sept. 28, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

The U.S. bishops have approved a new translation of texts used during Eucharistic adoration and Communion outside of Mass.

The texts from the ritual book “The Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery Outside Mass” serve as a liturgical resource for Eucharistic worship. 

The Vatican approved the new translation on March 7, 2023, more than a year after the U.S. bishops approved it in November 2021. 

Though the translation received Vatican approval earlier this year, parishes were granted the option to use the new translation on Sept. 14. The translation will be required beginning Dec. 1.

The ritual book includes prayers and guidelines to be used when the Eucharist is distributed outside of Mass, which can happen in certain circumstances such as when a Catholic is ill or nearing death. These rituals are known as the Order of Distributing Holy Communion Outside Mass and the giving of Communion and Viaticum to the sick by an extraordinary minister. 

A person may receive the Eucharist as viaticum when nearing death, in addition to the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. Receiving the sacrament as viaticum is considered “the last sacrament of the Christian,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Nos. 1524–1525).

The new translation of the ritual book also affects any other distribution of Communion outside of Mass, which may take place when there are pastoral needs, such as when someone is unable to attend Mass for health reasons. A Eucharistic minister may carry the Eucharist in a pyx, a small round container for the Eucharist, and carry it in a small burse, a cloth or leather bag around the minister’s neck to bring Communion directly to the person in need.

The ritual book also includes instructions on Communion services not offered by a priest in which a deacon may offer Communion when no priest is available. If no deacon is present, an acolyte — a lay Catholic authorized to give Communion as a special minister — may do so in certain circumstances.  

The new translation of the ritual book also affects prayers sung or said at Benediction, such as the hymns “O Salutaris Hostia” and “Tantum Ergo.” The translation of “O Salutaris Hostia” is the first to become standardized in English, while in past years translations have had slight variances. The hymns may still be sung in Latin if desired.  

The previous translation of the ritual book from the Latin text was approved by the U.S. bishops in 1976.

Bishops and cardinals concelebrate Mass with Pope Francis to open the second assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 2, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Synod on Synodality events open to the public gave a glimpse Wednesday evening into the private debates happening among delegates and theological experts on the issues of a bishop’s authority and his relationship to the laity in light of synodality.

At the Oct. 9 forum on “The Role and Authority of the Bishop in a Synodal Church,” hosted in a conference hall near the Vatican, four theologians and a canon lawyer gave presentations on finding and following the correct interpretation of the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on episcopal authority, with frequent citations of the council’s dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium.

Speakers claimed an important part of synodality is implementing the proper understanding of a bishop’s authority in his diocese, which demands cooperation with laypeople.

Italian canonist Father Matteo Visioli pointed out that “What power of governance can be entrusted to laymen and women?” is one of the questions being asked by the synod that, he said, still needs further theological exploration.

“The problem is, which offices require the sacred orders and which don’t?” he asked in response to a question about changes Pope Francis has made to permit laypeople to hold positions formerly reserved to priests or bishops.

The canonist noted that while Pope Francis has drawn practical lines in the sand in some instances, including in the newest constitution governing the Roman Curia, Praedicate Evangelium, “if he entered into the theoretical line, he would have gotten stuck.”

In his remarks, Italian theologian Roberto Repole, archbishop of Turin and bishop of Susa, cited paragraphs 38-39 of the 2024 Instrumentum Laboris, which says that a bishop’s powers and ministry do “not imply his separation from the portion of the people of God entrusted to him” and “is not the justification for an episcopal ministry that is ‘monarchical …’”

In light of what is written in the Instrumentum Laboris, Repole, who will be made a cardinal in December, said there are different ways to interpret Lumen Gentium’s teaching that bishops have the fullness of the sacrament of holy orders.

He argued that a “synodal” interpretation of the bishop’s ministry — one in which he serves in full cooperation with priests and laypeople — could “dissolve” some of the isolation and stress faced by bishops around the world and prevent a “monarchical”-style rule.

A prominent theologian from Argentina, Father Carlos María Galli, argued in his lecture that the bishop is the servant of the Lord, not a “lord” of the Church, and said a “novelty” of Vatican II was viewing the people of God as equal in dignity to the Church’s hierarchy.

The second chapter of Lumen Gentium, on the people of God, was a “big revolution” in Church ecclesiology, he said. “These theological foundations should move us to a change of mentality, of mindset.”

In his contribution, Father Gilles Routhier, a French Canadian and theological consultant to the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, described the bishop’s relationship to the laity using imagery from the Mass.

Just as the celebration of the Mass includes the organic participation of all the parts (priest and laity), so, too, the bishop should view his communion and cooperation in running a diocese, he said.

Routhier also criticized the Church’s use of the prepositions “of,” “for,” or “at” to describe a bishop instead of the words “in” and “within.” As written in Lumen Gentium, the priest and bishops, he said, are part of and within the same assembly of the people of God.

“We can’t speak of the autonomy of the pastor from the rest of the assembly,” the theologian and Vatican II expert claimed.

Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, ODN, addressed bishops directly in her contribution to the forum, exhorting them to be servant leaders and to combat abuse.

During a question-and-answer session, Cistercian abbot general Father Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori responded to the religious sister’s speech, saying that if he were a bishop it would have left him feeling “depressed.” Lepori stressed that bishops cannot be “supermen” and added that lay Catholics should help their bishops help others.

The theological conference, held at the Pontifical Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” and moderated by U.K.-based theologian Anna Rowlands, was well attended by cardinals, bishops, and priests, with a small number of laypeople also present. Most of the attendees appeared to be Synod on Synodality participants.

While not synod delegates, Routhier, Galli, and Repole are three of the seven members of a study group formed to provide a deeper theological perspective on “the synodal missionary face of the local Church.”

Sister Franco was the only presenter who is also a synod delegate; Galli is one of the synod’s theological “experts”; and Visioli, a canonist, is a member of the study group on “the synodal method.”

At the evening’s other event, a forum hosted by the Jesuit Curia on “The People of God as Subject of Mission,” theological experts shared insights on Church governance and synodality.

Thomas Söding, vice president of the lay organization promoting the German Synodal Way, argued that bishops shouldn’t control or dictate discipleship but should encourage diverse expressions of faith. Australian theologian Father Ormond Rush warned against reducing synodal reform to majority-rule voting or mere consultation, stressing the need to balance the Church’s divine and human aspects.

Italian canonist Donata Horak criticized the Roman Catholic Church’s current structure as “monarchical” and out of step with democratic sensibilities. She suggested that the Latin Church adopt deliberative synods, as seen in Eastern Catholic churches, although she did not note that these do not allow lay voting.

During questions and answers following the panelists’ presentation, an attendee raised concerns that the people of God image can be overtly sociological, while a teacher from Germany suggested that the reason the faith is struggling in her home country isn’t because of a lack of participatory structures but because Church leaders are ashamed of being Catholic.

Bishop Lúcio Muandula of Xai Xai, Mozambique, also gave a presentation at the conference, which was moderated by the Austria-based theologian Klara Csiszar. 

On Oct. 16 there will be an additional two forums, running simultaneously, on the topics “The Mutual Relationship Local Church-Universal Church” and “The Exercise of the Primacy and the Synod of Bishops.”

Jonathan Liedl contributed to this report.

Father Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara. / Credit: Ventura County Sheriff’s Office

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2024 / 13:55 pm (CNA).

A priest in California has pleaded no contest to charges of possessing hundreds of images of child sexual abuse material, with his conviction coming just over a year after his arrest. 

The Ventura County district attorney’s office said in a press release on Thursday that Father Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara “pled no contest to one felony count of possession of child sexual abuse material.” He had been associated with several churches, including Our Lady of Guadalupe in Oxnard, California. 

As part of that plea, the 39-year-old priest also admitted that he possessed “over 600 images of child sexual abuse material, including images and videos of prepubescent minors under the age of 12.”

Martinez-Guevara was arrested in September 2023. In announcing the priest’s plea this week, District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said Martinez-Guevara “betrayed the law and the trust placed in him as a religious leader.”

“Child sexual abuse material preys on the most vulnerable members of our society, and we will continue to ensure that anyone who engages in such heinous crimes is held accountable, no matter their position or title,” the prosecutor said.

The priest is a member of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit. The religious congregation said in a statement following Martinez-Guevara’s plea that his crimes “[do] not reflect the values of our congregation, and we are deeply saddened by his actions.”

“Our hearts go out to all the victims who were hurt and whose lives were harmed in this horrendous way,” the institute said.

Martinez-Guevara’s “canonical process of loss of clerical state will move forward” following the guilty plea, the group said. 

Investigations into Martinez-Guevara were initiated in April 2023 after reports were made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A task force of multiple law enforcement agencies participated in the investigation. 

The priest is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9 in Ventura County. 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles told media last year that Martinez-Guevara was “not a priest of [the archdiocese]” but had possessed “faculties to minister” there. After his arrest he was “removed from ministry by the archdiocese and his order,” the statement said.

“The archdiocese stands against any sexual misconduct and is resolute in our support for victim-survivors of any misconduct,” the statement added.

The Missionaries of the Holy Spirit currently have members in several dozen communities in multiple countries, though the majority are in Mexico. Priests with the group are also located in Italy, Colombia, and Spain. 

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia. / Credit: Kate Veik/CNA

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2024 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, recently urged Catholics to treat gambling with caution, reminding the faithful that the Church opposes any gambling that puts a person’s financial stability at risk. 

The impetus for Burbidge’s remarks, made on the Arlington Diocese’s “Walk Humbly” podcast, is an effort by some lawmakers to allow residents of Northern Virginia to vote to create a new casino in Fairfax County near Washington, D.C. 

The plan has proved contentious — in part because of fears of decreased property values and increased crime around the casino — and a vote is not expected to happen until 2025 if at all. 

“Addiction is a threat to our freedom … I don’t see the need for casinos in Northern Virginia. But that’s up to the community and elected officials to decide,” Burbidge said on the Oct. 7 podcast. 

“We all like good fun, and we like to enjoy ourselves, and things like that. That’s fine,” the bishop acknowledged. 

“But never when we’re using the resources God has given us, our hard-earned money, [in] places that could put ourselves and family in great need. So just be vigilant, everyone. Just be prayerful.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “games of chance,” such as card games and wagers, are not “in themselves contrary to justice” (No. 2413).

Gambling becomes morally unacceptable, however, when it deprives a person of “what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others.” 

“The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement,” the catechism notes, adding that cheating at games and making unfair wagers constitute “grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.” 

Burbidge advised Virginia lawmakers to carefully consider whether a new casio will “cultivate virtue” in the commonwealth. 

“Lawmakers, please don’t forget this — all legislation should make liberty the priority, understood as the freedom of all persons to pursue what is good and virtuous,” the bishop said. 

“So let’s pray on this. Let’s think about it and how we might always work towards progress in virtue and improving our communities.”

The Virginia controversy over the casino comes amid a push in recent years to expand gambling options, particularly sports betting, in numerous states. Made easy and accessible online and on smartphone apps, sports betting has exploded in popularity since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door to states legalizing it. 

Americans spent nearly $120 billion on sports betting in 2023, up 27.5% from 2022 and a new record, according to the American Gaming Association’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker. The sports-betting industry has been widely criticized for its deleterious effects on those who take part, especially the young.

Notably, Missouri is poised to become the 39th state to legalize sports betting if its citizens approve the practice in the November general election.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols celebrates a Pontifical Votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane, London, Sept. 11, 2021. / Credit: Mazur/cbcew.org.uk

London, England, Oct 11, 2024 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

Clergy and parishioners of dioceses across the United Kingdom are hearing from their bishops in advance of a vote next month to legalize assisted suicide. 

A pastoral letter authored by Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury will be delivered across the diocese, making him the latest prelate to express alarm at the prospect of assisted suicide becoming available in England and Wales.

Although the threat of such legislation has always been present in Westminster, specific parliamentary time has now been allocated to the latest bill, which is expected to be debated and voted upon by members of Parliament on Nov. 29. If the bill is ratified, it is anticipated that it will be given enough parliamentary time to become law.

The “Choice at the End of Life Bill” is sponsored by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour member of Parliament for Spen Valley, West Yorkshire, and will receive a nominal first reading in the House of Commons on Oct. 16 before its second reading on Nov. 29.

The new Labour prime minister, Keir Starmer, has expressed his support for a change in the law, but Davies warned in his letter that the current age is an “especially dangerous” one in which to legalize assisted suicide.

“As we see populations aging across Western countries with a diminished number of younger people to support them, this is an especially dangerous moment for politicians to open the door to euthanasia: the medical killing of the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. We already hear of a social duty to end our lives when we become a burden to others. This is not the kind of society in which we would wish to grow old or become vulnerable,” Davies wrote.

He continued: “If medical professionals, now sworn to protect the lives of patients, become those who assist in killing and suicide, how will our relationship change to those we look to for help and care? This is, indeed, a dark and sinister path on which we could be embarking before Christmas 2024.”

The bishop’s letter ends with a plea to Catholics to contact their representatives and ask them to reject proposals to change the current law, which currently prohibits assisted suicide and makes it punishable for up to 14 years in jail.

The leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, archbishop of Westminster, has made his own intervention regarding the controversial legislation.

In a pastoral letter dated for this weekend, Nichols writes: “As this debate unfolds, then, I ask you to play your part in it. Write to your MP. Have discussions with family, friends, and colleagues. And pray. Please remember: Be careful what you wish for; the right to die can become a duty to die; being forgetful of God belittles our humanity.”

Back in September, Bishop John Sherrington, who represents the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales on life issues, warned that the debate on assisted suicide would likely be renewed and urged Catholics to unite in prayer.

In a statement released on Sept. 6, Sherrington said: “The Catholic Church accompanies those suffering and nearing the end of their lives with hope and affection but also reminds them that their life is precious until the very last breath.”

“This is the work that hospices and other health care institutions and hundreds of thousands of individual carers undertake every day, helping the terminally ill and dying to leave this world whilst preserving their dignity. They truly provide assistance to those who are dying.”

When members of Parliament vote on Nov. 29, it will be the first time they have voted on similar legislation since 2015, when assisted suicide was defeated by 330 votes to 118.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).

Pope Francis met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a private audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Friday morning, assuring the political leader of his and the universal Church’s continuous prayers for the people of Ukraine.

The pope gifted Zelenskyy a bronze relief of a small bird beside a flower with the engraved message “La Pace E’ Un Fiore Fragile” (“Peace is a fragile flower”), as well as a copy of his “Message for Peace.”

Zelenskyy also received two books from the Holy Father including the 2020 “Statio Orbis“ and “Persecuted for the Truth: Ukrainian Greek Catholics Behind the Iron Curtain.“ 

In turn, Zelenskyy gifted the Holy Father an oil painting depicting the scene of a massacre that took place in the Ukrainian city of Bucha from the perspective of a young girl named Marichka. More than 630 civilians were killed in the Russian attack.

The Oct. 11 meeting is the fourth meeting the Ukrainian president has had with the Holy Father since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. The last meeting between the two leaders took place in June when Zelenskyy was in Italy for the G7 Summit.

Since February 2022, Pope Francis has regularly used his general audiences and Angelus addresses to express his concern for the victims of the ongoing conflict in the region, calling for an end to the violence, access to humanitarian aid, and the release of prisoners.

The Ukrainian leader also met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states and international organizations, to discuss the “state of the war,” humanitarian issues, and pathways that could lead to “just and stable peace” in Ukraine.

Last month, Parolin met with Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova via a Sept. 16 video conference to discuss the need to safeguard international human rights conventions, with the prelate thanking her for her role in securing the release of two Redemptorist priests. 

During his special June 29 Angelus address for the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis expressed gratitude for the release of the two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests: “I give thanks to God for the freeing of the two Greek Catholic priests. May all the prisoners of this war soon return home.”

Pope meets with head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church  

On Thursday, the Holy Father also met with the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who is participating in this year’s session of the Synod on Synodality as a representative of Eastern-rite Churches.  

Shevchuk has asked all people to support the suffering people of Ukraine with their solidarity, prayers, and humanitarian aid.

“Nearly 6 million Ukrainians will face a food crisis this winter. We need to feed the hungry,” he said in a Vatican News report.

Catholics join in prayer for the 2019 International Week of Prayer and Fasting at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. / Credit: IWOPF

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 11, 2024 / 09:25 am (CNA).

Catholics around the world are gathering for the commencement of the 32nd annual International Week of Prayer and Fasting (IWOPF) under the theme “Conquering the Darkness: Triumph of Mercy, Hope, and Healing.”

This year’s event will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 12, with an in-person conference at St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax, Virginia, followed by a three-day virtual speaker series. Relics of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) and Blessed Carlo Acutis will also be available for veneration on Saturday. 

IWOPF is a grassroots movement joined by various pro-life groups and the Legion of Mary that invites Catholics and Christians around the world to pray and fast for peace, the conversion of all peoples, the sanctity of marriage, building a culture of life, and for all priests and vocations. 

It has received two apostolic blessings from St. John Paul II and one from Pope Francis, along with support from St. Teresa of Calcutta as well as from EWTN foundress Mother Angelica.

This is the first year that International Week of Prayer and Fasting events are not taking place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Flynn told CNA that the basilica was only available in early November and many of the participants did not want to be in D.C. so close to the presidential election on Nov. 5. 

“I didn’t want to change it,” IWOPF co-founder Maureen Flynn said. “But sometimes things happen — things happen for a reason.” 

“So we’re just trusting the Lord, and we’re just encouraging everybody [for] nine days, from Oct. 12–20, [to] really to pray for our country in a big way, pray for the elections, pray for our leaders, our families, and for peace in the world,” she said. “Because as you know, we just read the news, and we really need prayer.” 

Flynn co-founded the movement with her husband, Ted, and friend John Downs in 1989 after Flynn had been struck by an article in the Washington Post that featured two grandmothers who she said had been “bragging about being pro-abortion.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, how can these grandmothers be pro-abortion, be for the killing of the innocent?’” Flynn told CNA. The incident inspired her to organize a day of prayer. However, Downs encouraged her to organize a week of prayer instead, insisting that one day “is not enough.” 

Although the movement started with the sole intention of praying for the unborn, Flynn recalled that “as the time went on, there were all these other issues that kept coming up: We began to pray for our families, our children, our leaders. It expanded. Now we have five goals over 32 years.” 

The movement particularly emphasizes the power of the rosary, Flynn told CNA, “to stop wars, for healing in families, and for healing of addictions.” 

“Our Lady has told us we need to use weapons of prayer and fasting because we’re dealing with diabolical forces, and things are ratcheting up in that way as far as evil,” Flynn continued.

“And so we need to use the treasures of the Church, what Our Lord and Our Lady has told us, of the good weapons today.”

While the in-person event will be held in Fairfax, anyone can sign up to view the talks online for free. The talks will be available for up to a year if viewers purchase an all-access pass. Speakers for the event include film producer Jim Wahlberg and Bishop Emeritus Robert J. Baker of Birmingham, Alabama.

Flynn encouraged families to think of ways they can participate in a week of prayer and fasting independently.

“The key is to participate somehow,” she said, recalling that when her kids were younger, their family would have smaller meals, such as soup, during the week, offering it up for the unborn or for families that are struggling.

“They remember that,” she said of her children. “It was a way that we could participate.”

The Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates) has launched a new billboard campaign with the aim of “dismantling the stereotypes of the black legend against Hispanic heritage” and extolling those who “at the risk of losing their lives, embarked on the adventure of reaching the New World with one main objective: to spread Christianity.” / Credit: Courtesy of The Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates)

Madrid, Spain, Oct 11, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates) (ACdP) in Spain has launched a campaign on the discovery and evangelization of America titled “1492: Neither Genocidal Nor Slave Owners — They Were Heroes and Saints.”

With more than 200 posters distributed on marquees and billboards in more than 60 Spanish cities, the campaign was created with the aim of “dismantling the stereotypes of the black legend against Hispanic heritage.”

The campaign extols the accomplishments of those who “at the risk of losing their lives, embarked on the adventure of reaching the New World with one main objective: to spread Christianity,” a statement from the organization explained.

The ACdP emphasized that with this initiative it “pays tribute to those who brought the promotion of human dignity — which has its origin in the Catholic faith — to Indigenous peoples, subjected to the oppression of bloodthirsty empires.”

The association seeks to “combat the so-called ‘black legend’ spread for centuries against the remarkable Spanish accomplishment.”

The posters and billboards show a QR code that links to a video that, in a humorous tone, simulates a television contest in which a promoter of the “black legend” and a citizen of a Latin American country participate.

The simulated TV contest dismantles one by one the main stereotypes about the arrival of the Spanish in the Americas and the spread of the Christian faith by the Catholic monarchs Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragón.

Among other points, the episode points out that Spain never had “colonies” but “viceroyalties” and that on the cultural level, 100 of the 140 United Nations World Heritage sites in Latin America are of Spanish origin. It also points out that by 1538 more than 30 universities had already been founded and that by 1574 the Bible had been translated into more than 12 native languages.

The fact that Spaniards freely intermarried with the Indigenous, resulting in mixed-race societies, was contrasted with the widespread expulsion and extermination of Indigenous peoples by other European powers in North America. The episode also pointed to the enormous economic cost that Spain incurred to maintain its presence in America, much more than what was obtained from the natural resources of the new continent.

Last year, on the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Day, the ACdP also publicized a video that summarizes the history of Spain in two minutes, from the appearance of the Virgin Mary to the apostle St. James in Zaragoza to modern times.

These and other campaigns are part of a strategy developed by the ACdP in recent years to highlight the positive impact of Catholic values ​​in society.

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