St. Andrew Catholic Church

U.S. Small Business Administration, Washington, D.C. / Jer123/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is opening a “Center for Faith” and eliminating a regulation that banned faith-based groups from receiving disaster loans. 

The SBA, a branch of the federal government established to bolster the economy by supporting small businesses, announced they would remove the longstanding regulation as part of the agency’s efforts to end faith-based discrimination by the government. 

The SBA previously prohibited any group “principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion” from applying for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), a regulation which the SBA is now nixing under the Trump administration. 

The SBA argues that the regulation is unconstitutional, citing the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. 

In the ruling, the court found that a Missouri state agency violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution when it refused to let a church participate in a state-funded program because of its religious affiliation. 

“We're rooting out religious discrimination — and embracing religious freedom,”  SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a post on X.

In addition to cutting the restriction against faith-based groups, the SBA is launching the Center for Faith under the agency’s Office of Economic Development. 

Set to be headed by Director of Faith Outreach Janna Bowman, the center will “focus on building partnerships with faith-driven organizations to increase awareness and access to capital, business counseling, contracting opportunities, and disaster recovery,” according to a SBA press release. 

The agency, Loeffler said, “is committed to ending the era of weaponized government that has systematically discriminated against Americans of faith – even denying them access to vital disaster relief in times of tragedy.”  

The new faith center was announced in the wake of President Donald Trump’s Feb. 7 executive order establishing the White House Faith Office, according to the SBA. 

Other federal agencies have also launched centers for faith, including the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and others. 

SBA’s first-ever faith center is designed to “improve access to agency resources for the faith community, ensuring that all SBA programs are accessible to eligible Americans regardless of their religious affiliation,” Loeffler said. 

“We are proud to uphold the principles of religious freedom that our nation was founded on — and look forward to forging lasting relationships that bring new small businesses into the SBA ecosystem,” she added.

View of the mass grave at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in the town of Tuam, County Galway. / Credit: AugusteBlanqui, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rome Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

A team of 18 archaeologists, anthropologists, and forensic scientists have begun excavating an old septic tank this week at the former St. Mary's Mother and Baby Home run by the Bon Secours Sisters in Tuam, County Galway, western Ireland, now the site of a housing development.

Over the next two years, according to The Irish Times, an excavating machine will go through the site in search of remains for 796 children allegedly buried, in the words of the Bon Secours Sisters “in a disrespectful and unacceptable way” between 1925 and 1960.

The Bon Secours Sisters have released a statement apologizing for the treatment of the deceased babies, and their mothers during that time.

The goal of the excavation is to find, analyze, identify, and provide a decent burial for the children's remains — many of them newborns.

To identify them, DNA samples have been collected from more than 80 relatives who were invited to a symbolic event on July 8 to commemorate the start of the work.

The excavations — carried out with the help of experts from Colombia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States — are underway, some 11 years after local historian Catherine Corless revealed that 796 children had died at the institution between 1925 and 1961. Only two of the deceased children were buried in local graveyards.

In 2014, Corless published the investigation that, three years later, led to the discovery of the mass grave. In 2017, a preliminary excavation in the area found human remains, giving support to the suspicion of a mass burial site in "inhumane conditions."

"These babies are in a sewage system. They have to be taken out of there," Corless said Monday, after the site was enclosed with an 8-foot fence, according to The Irish Times.

‘Alarming’ infant mortality levels at these facilities

In January 2021, a national commission of inquiry revealed in a comprehensive report the “alarming” levels of infant mortality in these institutions for unmarried mothers in Ireland.

The 3,000-page document details what happened between 1922 and 1998 in 14 homes for unmarried mothers and a sample of four other county centers, where abandoned children and sick or disabled adults also lived.

In total, some 9,000 children died in these facilities, representing 15% of the 57,000 children who, along with their mothers, passed through the 18 homes investigated during the period under study.

One of the most shocking episodes occurred in 1943 in the Irish town of Bessborough, where three out of four children died in the care of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. According to the commission, more than 900 children died in that institution between 1922 and 1998, and to this day no documented burial site has been identified.

Widespread indifference toward the children

Most of the deaths, according to the documentation, occurred from respiratory illnesses or gastroenteritis. The report attributed these to appalling sanitary conditions, with limited access to hot, running water or a lack of sanitation, coupled with overcrowding and a lack of healthcare training for staff.

The report emphasized that the high mortality rate was known to local authorities, who failed to act for years due to “widespread indifference” toward these children.

When the report was made public, the Sisters of Bon Secours offered an official apology and pledged to contribute €12.97 million (over $15 million) to the government's victim compensation fund.

The order's then-regional superior, Sister Eileen O'Connor, acknowledged that “the babies and children who died were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way” and that the congregation “was part of the system in which they suffered hardship, loneliness, and terrible hurt.”

The former archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, stated: “We can no longer run away from the extremely painful truths about how, collectively and individually, we failed in our duty of care to vulnerable women and their children.”

The Irish government also publicly apologized, as several of the centers investigated were public, although in practice they were run by nuns.

The former president of the Irish Bishops' Conference, Eamon Martin, asked that “anyone who can help, to do so” so that the babies can have a decent burial where their families can remember them.

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

Mosaic of Mary, Virgin Immaculate, in the Chapel of the Choir in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. / Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

A new study has found that “reciting the rosary privately” is the most popular Marian devotion among those discerning a religious vocation.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University published its June 2025 report: “Impact of Mary, Mother of the Church, on Ecclesial Vocations,” which includes results from six surveys with 1,091 respondents, 65% of whom were diocesan personnel in the U.S. — including bishops (9%), diocesan priests (40%), permanent deacons (10%), and deacon directors (7%). 

U.S. religious men and women accounted for the other 35% of respondents including religious priests (6%), major superiors of men (8%), and major superiors of women (21%). The majority of respondents are Latin Rite Catholic (95%), and 5% are Eastern Rite Catholic.

The surveys were conducted by CARA in collaboration with the Diocese of Saginaw from March to May 2025.

Marian devotions impact on vocational discernment

The study found that 59% of respondents reported that their devotion to Mary has had either “a meaningful impact” or “a great impact” on their “original sense of a vocation to serve Christ and the Church.” Religious priests (71%) were most likely to report so, while responding deacon directors (49%) were least likely.

The survey found that the most popular Marian devotion when discerning a vocation was “reciting the rosary privately.” Seven in 10 respondents reported that it “positively impacted them during their discernment period,” specifically among bishops, with 80% reporting that it did. 

When discerning a vocation to a particular religious community or diocese, 35% of respondents reported that a Marian dimension of that community was “significant" or "very significant.” 

Responding priests were found to be the most likely to report that the Marian dimension held some form of significance (47%) and deacon directors were the least likely (30%).

Of all survey respondents, 44% reported that they visited at least one apparition site before deciding on their current ecclesial vocation. Nearly three in 10 made pilgrimages to Guadalupe (29%) and Lourdes (28%), which were the two most common sites mentioned. 

Marian devotions related to Fátima, Lourdes, and Guadalupe were the most likely to have impacted a respondent’s “original sense of ecclesial vocation.” Of respondents, 44% reported Marian devotions related to Fatima had “a meaningful impact” or “a great impact” on their original sense of an ecclesial vocation, 43% to Lourdes, and 31% to Guadalupe. 

Influence of Marian devotions on those living out ecclesial vocations

When asked about their current devotion to Mary in a religious order, nearly all respondents (89%) reported they have a "strong devotion” (58%) or “some devotion” (31%).

An average of 75% of respondents reported that their devotion to Mary has either “strengthened” (34%) or “very much strengthened” (41%) them while living out their ecclesial vocation. A combined 80% reported that they turn to Mary for spiritual assistance “often” (36%) or “very often” (44%).

The study found that 80% of respondents indicated that their devotion to Mary has had either a “meaningful impact” (58%) or a “great impact” (22%) on their devotion to the Eucharist. 

Reciting the rosary alone (72%) was the most frequent Marian devotion that respondents reported doing “weekly” or “daily,” specifically among responding bishops with 87% answering that they do. Other popular Marian devotions included meditative or contemplative prayer with Our Lady (46%), reciting the rosary with others (37%), and reading spiritual writings on Mary (28%). 

Of respondents, 77% said at least one Marian site and its related devotions have strengthened them while living out their ecclesial vocation. Guadalupe (63%), Lourdes (59%), and Fátima (53%) were the most frequently mentioned. Responding bishops were most likely to report that Guadalupe (77%) and Lourdes (72%) have strengthened them.  

Role of Mary in religious men and women’s lives

Out of 710 respondents who specified how they view Mary in their lives, 167 expressed experiencing Mary’s presence in their life as a “companion, friend, guide and comforter.”  One respondent said: “Mary stands by me each day as I celebrate holy Mass, just as she stood by Christ at the foot of the Cross,” while another said Mary "is my comfort whenever I am afraid.”

A total of 129 respondents expressed that Mary plays the role of “intercessor” in their lives. One specified: “I wouldn't be who I am today, or where I am today, if it were not for Mary's intercessory role in my life.”

A total of 121 respondents answered that Mary plays the role of a “mother” in their ecclesial vocation. A respondent wrote that Mary as a mother “has always been there and continues to be there. I love her even more as I grow in my awareness of her love for me.”

The majority of respondents (74%) said the Catholic Church places the “right amount of emphasis” on devotion to Mary. Among the others, 5% reported that there is “too much emphasis” and 21% said there is “not enough emphasis.” 

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is urging lawmakers to prohibit surrogacy in all cases in a letter submitted on July 9, 2025. / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jul 16, 2025 / 12:05 pm (CNA).

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has urged the Australian Law Reform Commission to ban all forms of surrogacy, including “altruistic” arrangements, in a nine-page letter highlighting the “profound harms” of the practice. 

“The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference calls on the Law Reform Commission to recommend the prohibition of all forms of surrogacy in Australia,” the bishops write in the letter, which was shared with CNA. 

“A woman is not a machine for reproduction,” the bishops argue in the letter, “she is a person made in the image of God, called to bear life with love, freedom, and dignity.”

“Surrogacy reduces this sacred role [of motherhood] to a service contract—an arrangement that denies the women’s full humanity,” the letter says. “Surrogacy attempts to divide a woman's body from her identity, as though she could be a vessel without being a mother.” 

Submitted to the commission on July 9 by Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Tony Percy — the conference’s delegate for life issues — the letter asserts that current laws fail to protect women and children from exploitation and trauma, emphasizing that children "have no voice" in surrogacy arrangements and deserve to be "received in love, not produced as part of a contractual arrangement."

“While the pain of infertility is real and deserving of compassion, not all responses to suffering are just. Surrogacy introduces new and profound harms,” the bishops say in the letter, noting the practice places both women and children at heightened risk for medical and emotional trauma. 

“For children,” the letter continues, “it breaches core human rights, including identity, parentage, and protection from commodification, which are rights affirmed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.” 

Commercial surrogacy, where surrogate mothers are paid to carry the child, is illegal in Australia. Only “altruistic” surrogacy, where the mother’s pregnancy expenses are covered but she makes no profit, is considered lawful. 

Because commercial surrogacy is illegal, Australian state and territory courts will generally not recognize those who engage in a commercial surrogacy arrangement as the legal parents of the child born through it. 

Some states, however, including New South Wales, have passed laws that allow the granting of legal parentage in certain circumstances after a commercial arrangement. The pathways, however, “often require admitting criminal conduct to the court,” according to the Review of Surrogacy Laws being considered by the law commission. 

“It is concerning that although commercial surrogacy is banned in Australia, including overseas arrangements in several jurisdictions, these laws are rarely enforced,” the bishops point out in their letter. 

“As a result, Australians are continuing to commission children through international commercial surrogacy with little scrutiny or consequence, undermining the intent of the legal prohibitions which are to protect children.”

The bishops’ letter includes testimony from former surrogate mothers who experienced “deep emotional, physical, and spiritual harm” when participating in the practice. 

One mother, identified as Cathy, stated: "The pain never goes away. I am still an emotional basket case and struggle every day with this… When I signed the paper, I thought I could do it. I did not realize it would break my heart. The pain and emptiness I feel have been unbearable.”

Another woman, called Sherrie, said: “I can’t describe the depth of sadness I felt when I came home without the child I loved, carried within me, and gave birth to. It was as if I had a child die.” 

She continued: “I just couldn’t help but love this child like my own, because it was my own… As I watched their car driving away that day on the gravel road, I felt like the dust left behind to scatter in the corn fields.” 

Ultimately, the bishops in the letter express deep concern for the terms of the review conducted by the commission, which they say “appear[s] to prioritize easier access to surrogacy,” rather than promoting the “fundamental rights and dignity of women and children.” 

“We reject the idea that expanding surrogacy serves the best interests of children or respects human dignity,” they write. “Any legal reform must begin with a clear commitment to protect children from commodification, women from exploitation, and society from the normalization of contract-based human reproduction.”

Leonardo Donno and Moreno il Biondo in action during the Charity Soccer Match "Partita del Cuore" on July 15, 2025 in L'Aquila, Italy. / Credit: Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Vatican City, Jul 16, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged encounter and unity in a message to the players and spectators of a soccer game to support sick and injured children from war zones.

“It is still possible — it is always possible — to encounter one another, even in a time of divisions, bombs, and wars,” the pope said in a video played at the July 15 match in L’Aquila, a city in the Italian region of Abruzzo.

A team of music artists beat out a bipartisan group of Italian politicians 8-6 in the friendly “Partita del Cuore” (“Game of the Heart”).

The 34th edition of the event raised funds for significantly ill or injured children from poor and war-torn countries to receive free treatment at one of Europe’s top children’s hospitals, the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù. The project is also supported by the Catholic charity Caritas Italia.

In his message, played before a sold-out Gran Sasso d’Italia Stadium and two million television viewers, Leo underlined the importance of challenging divisions by coming together to contribute to a good cause.

“Sport — when experienced well by those who practice it and those who cheer them on — has this great thing about it, that it transforms confrontation into encounter, division into inclusion, loneliness into community,” he said.

Tiziano Onesti, the president of the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, told CNA the hospital is “always on the front lines” of supporting children in need.

“We take in many children who come from all over the world,” he said, especially those with complex illnesses, like leukemia, or serious injuries and mutilation from bombings.

While the children — some of whom come from Ukraine and Gaza — are hospitalized, their families “are welcomed in these reception centers where they don’t spend a penny, they don’t pay anything. The hospital covers all the expenses,” Onesti explained.

In his message, Pope Leo said the charity match recalled for him another famous soccer game, played during the Christmas truce of December 1914 between French, British, and German soldiers, near Ypres, Belgium.

The pontiff also pointed to the politicians participating in the game, saying it shows that “politics can unite rather than divide, if it does not settle for propaganda that feeds on the creation of enemies, but engages in the difficult and necessary art of dialogue, which seeks the common good.”

“In this case, match means encounter. An encounter where even opponents find a cause that unites them,” the pope said.

Players on the winning “singers” team included some of Italy’s most popular artists across the genres of rap, hip-hop, pop, and rock. 

Matteo Renzi, a senator and former prime minister of Italy, played on the politicians team alongside other national politicians. Three members of the government also took part: the Italian ministers of economy and finance, of agriculture, and of culture.

“The atmosphere was obviously first and foremost festive, fun, a moment of encounter between opponents, politicians and singers,” Onesti said. “But also within the political sphere, there were people from all sides; it was very bipartisan, both right and left.”

The Bambino Gesù, founded by a wealthy family in Rome in 1869, was Italy’s first pediatric hospital. It became the property of the Holy See in 1924. Today, the “pope’s hospital” is a world-renowned research center and hospital specializing in pediatric medicine.

Photos of Pier Giorgio Frassati climbing in the Alps. The right photo shows him rappelling Rocca Sella on March 30, 1925. / Credit: Associazione Pier Giorgio Frassati Torino

Turin, Italy, Jul 16, 2025 / 08:45 am (CNA).

When alpine climber Edoardo Ricci clips into a harness or prepares for a steep ascent in the Alps, he says a silent prayer to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. 

“I think that I was saved by him,” Ricci said, recalling the moment an avalanche struck during a ski tour. “I was the victim of an avalanche … and I survived without any injury.” 

Ricci and others who love to hike, climb and ski in the mountains will soon have a patron saint for their high-altitude pursuits.  

As the Catholic Church prepares to canonize Frassati — a 24-year-old Italian from Turin who died of polio in 1925 — a new generation is rediscovering his passion for the peaks and his profound spirituality, captured in his now-famous phrase, “Verso l’alto” — to the heights. 

“Mountain alpinism is a way to, you know, touch the untouchable,” Ricci said. “When you are alone or just with a couple of friends, you can see and you can feel the silence. You can feel … very close to God.” 

Ricci is currently mapping Frassati’s alpine itineraries, many of which are difficult climbs requiring advanced skill. 

“He was for sure a really good climber at that period,” Ricci said, noting that Frassati was a member of the Italian Alpine Club.  

While popes have encouraged young people to follow Frassati toward the summit of sanctity, Ricci advises modern climbers to consult a certified alpine guide before literally attempting to follow in his footsteps. 

The peaks Frassati loved 

Among the most challenging climbs Frassati completed was Mount Grivola, a 13,000-foot peak in the Alps in Gran Paradiso National Park. 

“It is a difficult [ascent] — not because of the technique, but because the rock is not so solid,” Ricci explained. 

After his successful two-day climb, Frassati triumphantly wrote “Grivola victa est” — Grivola has been conquered — in Latin on a photograph taken from the summit. 

“Every day I fall in love with the mountains more and more, and if my studies would allow me to do it, I would spend entire days on the mountains contemplating in that pure air the Greatness of the Creator,” Frassati wrote in a 1923 letter to a friend. 

Another demanding climb was Grand Tournalin, an 11,086-foot peak in Italy’s Aosta Valley. Frassati made the two-day ascent with a guide, pausing at mountain shelters along the way to rest before reaching the summit, which offers sweeping views of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa. 

“It was a quite complex ascent, but the panorama was wonderful,” Ricci said. 

Though Frassati dreamed of climbing the Matterhorn, his father forbade it, considering it too dangerous. “He also asked his father … to climb the Monte Bianco, the highest peak in Europe, but his father never granted permission,” Ricci said. 

Frassati did manage to climb Château des Dames, which stands at 11,443 feet in the Valtournenche region. “There are some parts of the itinerary that are quite difficult to ascend,” Ricci said, adding that Frassati earned praise from his alpine guide for completing the climb. 

Closer to home, Frassati often climbed Mount Mucrone, which was visible from his bedroom window in Pollone, the town where his grandparents lived. 

“Mountains, mountains, mountains, I love you,” he once scribbled on a note taped to his bedroom door. 

In 1920, Frassati recounted in a letter how he attended Mass atop Mount Mucrone at the end of one of his climbs.  

Frassati was also an avid skier. He frequented the Susa Valley, now home to ski resorts such as Sestriere and Cesana. 

“Typically at the time there were no roadways … so the idea was to go up with the skis … and then go down the slopes,” Ricci said. “His passion was the mountain in every shape.” 

Just weeks before his death, Frassati climbed again in the Valli di Lanzo, a challenging route he completed with friends. A photograph taken during that climb shows him mid-ascent. On the back, he wrote his enduring motto: “Verso l’alto.” 

Pilgrimage in the peaks 

Not all of Frassati’s mountain outings involved ropes and ice axes. Some were pilgrimages. Each time he visited his grandparents’ home in Pollone, he made the steep six-mile hike to the Sanctuary of Oropa, home of the Black Madonna of Oropa — a darkened wooden statue of the Virgin Mary venerated for centuries. 

“Tomorrow, as is my custom every time I leave Pollone, I’ll go up to Oropa to pray in the Holy Shrine. I’ll remember you at the feet of the brown Madonna,” Frassati wrote in a 1925 letter. 

Christine Wohar, president of Frassati USA, a Nashville-based nonprofit apostolate dedicated to spreading awareness of his life, shared one of the future saint’s more creative routines for making the early morning hike.  

“He had to get up and out of the house very early, so he devised his own ‘alarm clock’ — a rope tied to his wrist or his nightstand and dangled from the window so that the gardener could come and tug on it and be sure he was awake without disturbing the rest of the house,” she said. 

Hiking to and around the Oropa shrine is one of the most popular trails for pilgrims seeking to hike the “Frassati trails” today. Those looking for a more strenuous challenge can continue on to the peak of Mount Mucrone, which towers above the sanctuary. 

Before Frassati’s beatification, St. John Paul II visited Oropa in 1989 and encouraged young people to follow Frassati’s example. 

“Crossing the mountains, pilgrims have come here for centuries to venerate the Virgin and to seek in this sanctuary a place of peace and meditation,” the pope said. “Dear young people listening to me, may you also discover, like Pier Giorgio, the way to the shrine, embarking on a spiritual journey that, under the guidance of Mary, will bring you ever closer to Christ.” 

Climbing life’s mountains 

Yet summiting peaks was not the only challenge Frassati faced. 

Father Luca Bertarelli, the parish priest of Pollone, said Frassati’s path to heaven included many crosses. 

The first, Bertarelli said, was with his family, who did not understand Frassati's piety and simple lifestyle.

“He was very different from them,” Bertarelli said. “Pier Giorgio felt this misunderstanding, and it was a great difficulty.” 

Frassati also faced challenges in his academic pursuits as he studied for a degree in mining engineering at the Royal Polytechnic University of Turin. 

“He was very intelligent, but he chose a faculty in the university that was very difficult for him,” Bertarelli said. 

Even prayer was hard-won. “He was a man of great prayer, but in some letters he wrote that prayer was very difficult for him,” Bertarelli said. “And this is the sign of great interiority, the spiritual [battle].” 

For Bertarelli, Frassati’s motto “Verso l’alto” means striving not only for mountain summits but for the heights of holiness.  

“God is the heights that you want to reach,” he said. 

The port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. / Credit: Tahir mq, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In Saudi Arabia, a theocratic monarchy where Islam is the official and only permitted religion, religious freedom does not exist. However, according to data maintained by the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, a considerable number of Catholics live in its vast territory — which covers more than 772,200 square miles, slightly larger than Mexico.

“The vast majority of non-Muslims have no religious freedom. Among them, there are more than 1 million Catholics,” explained Bishop Aldo Berardi, who has headed this ecclesiastical jurisdiction since 2023, which also includes Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. The entire apostolic territory is home to nearly 35 million people, of whom more than 2 million are Catholics.

Unlike other countries in the region that have shown small signs of religious openness — such as Qatar, where the construction of a church complex was permitted in 2008 — when it comes to religious freedom Saudi Arabia remains one of the most restrictive states in the world, as reported by organizations such as Open Doors and Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

In the country, ruled with an iron fist by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, conversion to another religion is considered apostasy and is punishable by death, as is any blasphemy against Islam.

‘Lives are at stake’

“I can’t tell you everything because lives are at stake. But what I can say is that they are not abandoned. We communicate, we organize ourselves, we enter [the country] when we can, and if not, we are present online. There is a living Church, discreet, but deeply connected to the universal Church and the bishop,” Berardi cautiously emphasized.

He explained, without going into detail, that the faithful gather clandestinely “according to language, rite, spirituality.”

“There are charismatics, Marians, Trinitarians. The families who arrive there look for Christian groups to share with, and news spreads among them,” he stated.

The Catholics residing in Saudi Arabia are, above all, foreign workers who have to live their faith in complete secrecy.

As the bishop explained in a press conference organized by Institutional Communications (ISCOM, by its Italian acronym), these faithful — mostly Filipinos and Indians — live scattered throughout Saudi Arabia, unable to meet officially and under constant surveillance.

Catholic families “follow Mass online,” he explained. However, “they don’t do so with the sacraments as we know them, but rather they develop groups for prayer, formation, and catechesis.”

Amid the repression, the internet has become a formidable tool: “Now everything is a little easier with the internet. It offers us certain possibilities, such as those for formation, courses we can teach, retreats… Everything is done with absolute discretion, because everything is prohibited,” he emphasized.

Furthermore, when there is a possibility to preside over “a celebration, there is one, but always with protection.”

A dispersed Church in the hands of the laity

However, the apostolic vicar noted that the majority “have no access to anything,” as many live in rural areas or small towns. “There are Catholics all over the country, because they hire nurses or technicians for hospitals and teachers for schools everywhere. There is a complete dispersion of Catholics,” he explained.

Berardi, a member of the Trinitarians, whose charism entails helping persecuted Christians, also explained that, despite the restrictions, the Catholic Church has managed to sustain believers thanks to a network of lay-led communities.

“It’s a beautiful experience to see the laypeople responsible for communities, for education, for prayer, and for worship. They, the families, [teach] the catechism. Everything is in their hands,” he stated.

Wave of repression after the 1979 Iranian revolution

The repression intensified, as the vicar explained, after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. The Sunni Kingdom of Saudi Arabia further tightened its internal religious control in an attempt to consolidate its legitimacy in the face of the Shia ideological challenge from Tehran. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini harshly criticized the Saudi regime for “allowing missionaries, priests, and pastors to enter,” he explained.

As a consequence, “they expelled them and totally prohibited non-Muslim worship. Since then, nothing has been authorized,” he lamented.

The apostolic vicar stressed that having the presence of the clergy in the country could be beneficial even for the Saudi authorities.

“Our form of organization is hierarchical, well identified. It’s not like in other communities where it’s not known who’s in charge, who speaks in the name of who. For Catholics, everything is more systematic. If we are allowed to be present with a clergy and an organization, it would be even safer for all,” he said.

This proposal, presented as a factor of stability for the regime, has not been fruitless: “Sometimes they invite someone from Rome to their conferences on Islamic dialogue. But nothing concrete for the moment. We are subject to politics, to the vagaries of the region.”

Fleeting contacts with the Holy See

Furthermore, although Saudi Arabia does not maintain diplomatic relations with the Holy See — unlike other countries in the region such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the Emirates — Berardi confirmed that informal contacts have taken place on specific occasions.

“Sometimes it has happened that a letter that has passed through the hands of diplomats, between embassies, or a letter from the Saudi Embassy in Rome reaches the Holy See. It seems there is a desire for dialogue, but Islamic tradition blocks it. For them, Saudi Arabia is a great mosque. Steps are taken little by little,” he noted.

Despite these circumstances, the vitality of the Catholic communities in the gulf has not disappeared. Berardi confirmed that some people will participate in the Jubilee of Youth from July 28 to Aug. 3: “We always send someone, even if it’s just one person. For the Jubilee of Priests, we sent 10. Now, about 40 young people from the four countries will attend.”

“Between the visa, the cost, and getting time off from work, it’s not easy, but we’re taking care of it,” he added.

In any case, he made it clear that at this time they are not demanding full religious freedom from the Saudi regime, “understood as being able to have a religion, change religion, or have none at all,” but rather to be guaranteed freedom of worship.

“We ask that those who are not of their religion be allowed to conduct their worship. We want to care for the millions of Catholics there,” he stated.

Saudi Arabia’s youth want change

Asked about the future prospects, Berardi was cautious but hopeful: “Social openness in the country has taken hold very quickly, although the older generation is still alive and there can be tensions. However, 60%-70% of the country is under 30 years old, and this younger generation wants change because they see what’s happening in the world and don’t understand why their country can’t be open.”

Therefore, his hope is for progress in the short term: “They will allow it one day. Not complete religious freedom, but freedom of worship. That’s what we’re asking for.”

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

Keizersberg Abbey in Leuven, Belgium. / Credit: Johan Bakker, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Leuven, Belgium, Jul 16, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Benedictine community at Keizersberg Abbey in Leuven, Belgium, has been temporarily dissolved following allegations of abusive behavior among adults, according to an official declaration released by the head of the Sublacense-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation.

Abbot President Ignasi M. Fossas, OSB, announced sweeping disciplinary measures affecting multiple monasteries in the Flemish-Dutch province, including the suspension of community life at Keizersberg Abbey and the temporary prohibition of public ministry for several monks. 

“The archdiocese is not publishing any statement on Keizersberg,” the press office said in response to a request from CNA, referring to the abbey’s comprehensive statement.

In his declaration, Fossas announced an extraordinary canonical visitation of all monasteries in the Flemish-Dutch province, including Dendermonde, Affligem, Steenbrugge, and Doetinchem/Slangenburg. The comprehensive review aims to verify the situation of each community and ensure effective governance structures.

“The work of the visitation may continue for several months,” Fossas stated in the official document released from Rome.

The extraordinary measures follow a canonical visitation that began in 2022 and was completed in January as well as a commission of inquiry into abuse allegations established in November 2024.

Community life suspended, multiple disciplinary actions taken

The four remaining monks at Keizersberg Abbey have been required to relocate to other abbeys since November 2024, when Fossas first suspended the community’s common life. Each monk maintains a residence imposed by the abbot president, and the situation will be reviewed during the ongoing extraordinary visitation.

According to Belgian media reports, complaints were filed with the Church’s reporting center for sexual abuse, which forwarded the case to federal prosecutors. The Leuven prosecutor’s office confirmed receiving the case for detailed review.

The investigation has resulted in several disciplinary measures across the province.

At Keizersberg Abbey:

— A monk has been temporarily suspended from diaconal ministry due to “defects of form in his ordination to the diaconate.”

— The same individual is prohibited from any public activity as a Benedictine monk as a precautionary measure.

— His case will be presented to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for final determination.

At Doetinchem/Slangenburg:

— The abbot has been suspended from his office as a precautionary measure.

— He is prohibited from public exercise of priestly ministry.

— His dossier will also be forwarded to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for decision.

Fossas emphasized that the allegations do not involve sexual abuse of minors but rather “transgressive behavior between adults.” He described the situation as revealing “personal and structural fragility” affecting the monasteries in various ways.

“The canonical measures decided are precautionary and not punitive,” Fossas explained. “They are temporary measures that suspend the exercise of a ministry, but do not suppress it, until the corresponding legislative body gives a conclusion.”

Keizersberg Abbey, located above the Vaartkom in Leuven, has been operating with only four monks in a separate wing. The remainder of the large complex continues to house entrepreneurs, creative professionals, artists, and student housing.

The Abbey of Affligem, also part of the investigation, was found to have “no concrete evidence of abusive behavior that constitutes criminal offenses,” though the small number of monks poses “canonical and structural difficulties” that the congregation will address.

Apology and commitment to justice

In his declaration, Fossas expressed “sadness, shame, and pain for the harm caused to the victims” and offered sincere apologies while making himself available to assist within his possibilities.

He emphasized his determination to continue the reform process begun at the start of his service and expressed “full availability of the Benedictines to collaborate with the judicial authority.”

The abbot president also acknowledged the complexity of the situation, noting that while the process highlights failings in some individuals and governance structures, “we must take note of the fidelity, goodness, and self-denial of many other monks in living their vocation to serve the Church and society.”

The extraordinary canonical visitation is expected to continue for several months as Church authorities work to address the structural and personal issues identified in the investigation.

“The canonical visitation continues, but it will take a long time because it involves several monasteries,” a press spokesperson for the abbot told CNA in a statement Monday.

Fossas concluded his statement by acknowledging the gravity of his decisions and the pain they may cause but maintained they are “necessary to be able to offer light, truth, justice, reparation, and hope to all those involved.”

The case represents one of the most significant disciplinary actions taken against a Benedictine province in recent years, as the Catholic Church continues to address allegations of abuse and implement reforms to prevent future incidents.

null / Credit: NS Natural Queen/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 16, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

When speaking of the brown scapular, Pope Pius XII once said: “The devotion to the Carmelite scapular has brought down on the world a copious rain of spiritual and temporal graces.”

On the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, here are 12 keys to explaining the brown scapular and its use:

1. It is not an amulet.

The scapular is not a charm or an automatic guarantee of salvation, nor is it a dispensation from living the demands of the Christian life. St. Claude de la Colombière once said: “You ask, what if I would want to die with my sins? I answer you, then you will die in sin, but you will not die with your scapular.”

2. It was an article of clothing.

The word “scapular” comes from the Latin “scapulae,” which means “shoulders” and was originally an overlapping article of clothing worn over the shoulders by monks at work. The Carmelites adopted it as a sign of special dedication to Our Lady, seeking to imitate her dedication to Christ and neighbor.

3. It is a gift from the Virgin Mary.

According to tradition, the scapular, as it is now known, was given by the Virgin Mary herself to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251. Mary told him: “It must be a sign and a privilege for you and for all Carmelites: Whoever dies wearing the scapular will not suffer eternal fire.” Later, the Church extended the use of the scapular to the laity.

4. It is a mini habit.

The scapular is like a miniature Carmelite habit that all devotees can wear as a sign of their consecration to the Virgin Mary. It consists of a string that is worn around the neck with two small pieces of brown cloth attached. One is placed on the chest and the other on the back, and it is usually worn underneath clothing.

5. It is a service uniform.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, a doctor of the Church, said: “Just as men are proud that others wear their uniform, so Our Lady, Mother Mary, is pleased when her servants wear their scapular as proof that they have dedicated themselves to her service, and they are members of the family of the Mother of God.”

6. It has three meanings.

The scapular stands for the maternal love and protection of Mary, for belonging to Mary, and for the gentle yoke of Christ that she helps us to bear.

7. It is a sacramental.

The brown scapular is recognized by the Church as a sacramental — that is, a sign that helps us to live a holy life and to increase our devotion. The scapular does not impart grace as the sacraments do, but it disposes the person wearing it to the love of the Lord and to repentance if it is received with devotion.

8. It can be given to a non-Catholic.

A dying man was reportedly brought to St. Simon Stock Hospital in New York City. A nurse noticed he was wearing the brown scapular and called a priest. As prayers were said over him, the man regained consciousness and told the priest that he wasn’t Catholic but wore the scapular as a promise to his friends. The priest asked the man if he wanted to become Catholic, and before he died the man received baptism and anointing of the sick.

9. It was seen in one of the Fátima apparitions.

Lucia, the visionary of Our Lady of Fátima, reported that in her last apparition (October 1917), Mary appeared with the Carmelite habit, the scapular in her hand, and said that her true children wear it with reverence. Mary also asked that those who consecrate themselves to her wear it as a sign of that consecration.

10. The scapular has been discovered undamaged after burial.

Blessed Pope Gregory X was buried with his scapular and, 600 years later when his tomb was opened, the object was intact. Something similar happened with St. Alphonsus Liguori. St. John Bosco and St. John Paul II also wore the scapular, and St. Peter Claver vested the scapular with those he converted.

11. There’s a preferred way to receive the scapular.

The imposition of the scapular should preferably be done in community, and in the ceremony the spiritual meaning and commitment to the Blessed Virgin should be clearly expressed. The first scapular must be blessed by a priest and placed on the devotee while reciting the following prayer:

“Receive this blessed scapular and ask the Most Holy Virgin Mary, on her merits, that you may wear it without any stain of sin and that she guard you from all adversity and bring you unto everlasting life.”

12. Only the first scapular you receive needs to be blessed.

When the first scapular one receives is blessed, the devotee does not need to ask subsequent scapulars to be blessed. Those that are worn out, if they were blessed, should not be thrown away but should be burned or buried, as is suitable for sacramentals.

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

Pope Leo XIV visits the Poor Clares of Albano on July 15, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 15, 2025 / 19:07 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV made his first “getaway” from Castel Gandolfo to visit the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of the Poor Clares of Albano, located within the Papal Villas.

After celebrating Mass on Tuesday morning in the chapel of the Carabinieri station in Castel Gandolfo, where he is staying during his vacation, Pope Leo headed to the nearby monastery, where he was warmly welcomed by the nuns.

The pontiff paused in prayer in the monastery chapel, sharing a moment of silence and contemplation with the sisters, whom he later greeted one by one, emphasizing that “it is beautiful that the Church knows your life, because it is a valuable testimony.”

The encounter generated various images of tenderness, reflected in the joyful and grateful faces of the Sisters of St. Clare, whose mission is to pray for the pope, for the Church, and for all of Vatican City.

The Monastery of the Poor Clares of Albano, founded in 1631 during the pontificate of Urban VIII, has maintained a special bond with the Holy See since its origins.

According to the official website of the Vatican City State, its foundation was due to the generosity of Princess Caterina Savelli and the prince and princess of Albano, who donated the monastery to Sister Francesca Farnese, founder of the Farnese Monastery in Viterbo and promoter of a reform of strict Poor Clare observance.

Throughout the centuries, the nuns have lived in this monastery a life of silence, prayer, and contemplation, faithful to the charism of St. Clare of Assisi. They have also received visits from pontiffs, especially during the summer months.

Pope Francis visited the community for the first time in July 2013, where he emphasized the “incalculable value” the sisters attribute to prayer.

“I came here because I know you pray for me! I am so grateful for all you do for the Church: prayer, penance, caring for one another... Your vocation to the contemplative life is beautiful,” Francis said.

During a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the monastery in 2007, the pontiff emphasized that “the spiritual bond that exists between you and the successor of Peter is very close.”

St. John Paul II, during a meeting with them in August 1979, affirmed that, of all the people “the pope loves dearly, you are certainly the most precious.”

“The vicar of Christ has an extreme need for your spiritual help and counts above all on you, who, by divine vocation, have chosen the better part, which is silence, prayer, contemplation, the exclusive love of God.”

Aware of this tradition, Pope Leo XIV chose to visit them as well. Before saying goodbye, he signed the monastery’s book of honor and prayed the Lord’s Prayer with the sisters.

As a sign of gratitude, Pope Leo gave the community a chalice and paten for the celebration of Mass, and the sisters, in turn, presented him with an icon of the face of Jesus.