Catholic News

• Hope gives purpose to life, Pope tells audience (Vatican News)
  At his weekly public audience on November 26, Pope Leo XIV warned that “there is a widespread sickness in the world: the lack of confidence in life.” Continuing his series of talks on hope, the Pope said: “To hope in life means to have a foretaste of the goal.” He continued: Hope acts as the deep-seated drive that keeps us walking in difficulty, that prevents us from giving up in the fatigue of the journey, that makes us certain that the pilgrimage of existence will lead us home. Hope also encourages believers to share their lives with others, the Pope said, adding that this sharing reaches a “marvellous crescendo” in marital love.
• Vatican publishes new regulations for the Roman Curia (Vatican News)
  The Vatican has published two new documents on the Roman Curia. The documents, currently available only in Italian and signed by Pope Leo, are entitled “General Regulations of the Roman Curia” and “Regulations for the Staff of the Roman Curia.” The new regulations: Downgrade the use of Latin as the language of the Curia. The former regulations stated that curial acts should be drafted “as a rule in Latin”; the new regulations state that “Curial Institutions shall draft their acts as a rule in Latin or in another language.” Require offices of the Roman Curia to “examine and, if necessary, adjudicate on matters that the faithful, exercising their right, directly refer to the Holy See”—ensuring that the laity receive responses to pleas. Mandate a six-day work week, with regular hours, and puts tighter controls on absences due to illness. Stipulate that religious superiors and diocesan bishops must be consulted on matters involving their communities. The Italian blog Silere Non Possum has published an English-language summary of the new regulations, which replace those issued by St. John Paul II in 1999.
• Pope Leo: Christian identity is at the heart of Catholic education (Dicastery for Communication (Spanish))
  In a video message to participants in a conference at an Augustinian school in Madrid, Pope Leo XIV said that Christian identity is at the heart of Catholic education. “As happens to sailors, if you lose sight of the North Star, it is not uncommon for the ship to drift,” Pope Leo said. “For Christian education, the compass is Christ. Without its light, the educational mission itself is emptied of meaning.” Christian identity “is the foundation that articulates the educational mission, defines its horizon of meaning and guides its daily practices,” the Pope continued. “When identity does not inform pedagogical decisions, it runs the risk of becoming a superficial ornament that fails to sustain educational work in the face of the many cultural, ethical and social tensions that characterize our times of polarization and violence.”
• Vatican document praises (monogamous) marriage [News Analysis] (CWN)
  Una Caro, the document released on November 25 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), was advertised as a Vatican statement on polygamy. But actually the DDF document is a paean to marriage, with only infrequent references to polygamy.
• Pope, at jubilee audience, pays tribute to Dorothy Day (CWN)
  In the ninth special jubilee audience of 2025, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the Servant of God Dorothy Day (1897-1980).
• Imprisoned Belarusian priests released weeks after cardinal's visit (The Tablet)
  Following a visit to Belarus by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, the prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, civil authorities released two priests from prison. Fathers Henryk Okotolowicz and Andrzej Juchniewicz, who were political prisoners, are now at the Vatican. Natalia Eismont, press secretary to the nation’s president, said that the prisoners received pardons “at the request of Pope Leo XIV, with the participation of Metropolitan Joseph Stanevsky [Archbishop Iosif Staneuski], as a gesture of goodwill, guided by principles of mercy and humanism, taking into account the health of the convicts, and also with the aim of developing relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Holy See.”
• Pray for voyage to Turkey and Lebanon, Pope asks (Vatican News)
  At his public audience on November 26, Pope Leo XIV asked the faithful to pray for the success of his apostolic voyage to Turkey and Lebanon, which begins on Thursday. The trip—the first foreign travel of this pontificate—will be highlighted by an ecumenical celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. Pope Leo will also attend the celebration of the Divine Liturgy with Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I on November 30, the feast of St. Andrew, the patron of the Constantinople archdiocese. From Turkey the Pope will fly to Lebanon, where he will pray at the site of the 2020 Beirut port explosion. He will visit several Catholic shrines, as well as the seat of the Maronite Catholic patriarchate, before returning to Rome on December 2.
• Pope issues new rules for administration of Roman basilicas (CNA)
  Pope Leo XIV has issued a motu proprio regulating that administration of the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Mary Major. The new rules—which were promulgated in September, but only now made public—place the administrative affairs of both basilicas under the supervision of the Council for the Economy, in line with the regularization of financial affairs in the Roman Curia.
• Papal spiritual advice to American youth (Pillar)
  In a digital meeting with participants in the National Catholic Youth Conference (video), Pope Leo advised young people to build a “real relationship” with Jesus. “That is why daily moments of silence are so important, whether through adoration, reading Scripture, talking to him, looking for those little spaces of time where we can be with him little by little, we learn to hear his voice, to feel his presence, both within and through the people that he sends to us,” the Pope said. The Pope also said that technology, while helpful, should not take the place of human relationships, and that “the Church doesn’t belong to any political party. Rather, she helps form your conscience.”
• Spanish bishop under Vatican investigation retires (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cádiz y Ceuta, Spain. The 76-year-old prelate, accused of abusing a seminarian over a period of several years in the 1990s, is under Vatican investigation. Bishop Zornoza denies the allegation.
• Fraternity, service, and Marian spirituality: Leo XIV's recommendations to Servites (Dicastery for Communication)
  Pope Leo XIV received participants in the 215th general chapter of the Order of the Servants of Mary (Servites), founded in 1233, and encouraged them to return to the Gospel, to the order’s Rule and Constitutions, and “to listening to the cry of the poor.” “In order for you to live this threefold return in the best way, not only in these days but always, I would like to recommend three means, typical of your tradition: fraternity, service and Marian spirituality,” Pope Leo said. “Dear friends, may Mary, present at the Cross, strong, faithful, show you how to stand beside the countless crosses where Christ still suffers in his brethren, to bring them comfort, communion, help and the valuable bread of affection,” the Pope added.
• Conductor Riccardo Muti to receive Ratzinger Prize (Fondazione Vaticana Joseph Ratzinge)
  The Joseph Ratzinger—Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation has announced that conductor Riccardo Muti will receive the 2025 Ratzinger Prize. The prize, according to the Foundation, is awarded to “eminent personalities in the field of culture and Christian-inspired art.” “The very high value of Maestro Muti’s art is universally recognized, and Benedict XVI also considered himself a sincere admirer of it,” the Foundation stated. “For his part, the Maestro reciprocated this esteem with repeated personal manifestations of attention and affection, even when Pope Benedict, after his resignation, was in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.” “I have always followed and deeply admired Pope Benedict XVI, whose thoughts, reflections and meditations have been and will be a nourishment for men and women of good will,” said Muti. “The last private meeting with Benedict will remain for me and my wife a memory full of faith and hope.”
• Ukrainians released from captivity meet with Pontiff (EWTN Vatican)
  Pope Leo XIV met recently for 30 minutes with Ukrainian civilians who were taken to Russia and then released from captivity. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who was recent at the meeting, said that “Pope Leo is a true moral force for peace and justice and a champion for children around the world. It was an honor to meet him as part of our mission to bring home the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and chart a path towards peace and healing for Ukraine.”
• Pope Leo, in apostolic letter, emphasizes importance of Nicene Creed (Dicastery for Communication)
  Pope Leo XIV yesterday issued In Unitate Fidei, an apostolic letter on the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Pope Leo recalled the Council’s historical context, emphasized the Nicene Creed’s profession of the divinity of Christ, and reflected on its ecumenical implications today. He also spoke about the relation between the Incarnation of the Son of God and His presence in the poor today. The Pope also discussed the continuation of the Council of Nicaea’s work at the ecumenical councils of Constantinople (381) and Chalcedon (451). He rejected the charge that the word used in the Creed to describe the divinity of Christ—homooúsios, or consubstantial—represents a hellenization of the Christian faith.
• Official prayer of 2027 World Youth Day released (Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life)
  The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life has released the official prayer of the 2027 World Youth Day, which will be held in Seoul, South Korea. The prayer includes a petition to “kindle the flame of the Korean martyrs’ faith in our hearts, making us into disciples who live out the gospel of peace, love, and truth.”
• Israeli settlers again attack Palestinian Christian town (The Times of Israel)
  Israeli settlers attacked the predominantly Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank on the night of November 19. The settlers were “filmed slashing the tires of vehicles and hurling stones through shop windows,” The Times of Israel reported. In July, Church leaders protested an earlier attack, describing it as a “direct and intentional threat to our local community first and foremost, but also to the historic and religious heritage of our ancestors and holy sites.”
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