Beloved Disciple Parish

Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square from the popemobile during his Wednesday general audience on Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

National Catholic Register, Aug 19, 2025 / 11:51 am (CNA).

Ever since his brother was named pope, John Prevost hasn’t been shy about talking to the press. Pope Leo XIV’s first phone call with his brother went viral after a reporter captured it on video (“Why don’t you answer the phone,” the newly elected pontiff had snapped at his brother in a highly relatable sibling interaction captured for posterity). 

Now, in a wide-ranging, half-hour interview with NBC’s Chicago affiliate that aired over the weekend, the 70-year-old retired high school principal opened up again. 

Here are some highlights from their talk:

Prevost still speaks with his brother every day.

Yes, they still talk on the phone each day, and they still play “Wordle” and “Words With Friends” together, Prevost told NBC’s Mary Ann Ahern.

“I usually now ask him, ‘Who did you meet famous?’ to see who came to see him because he’s always with audiences,” Prevost said.

The two haven’t lost their taste for gentle sibling ribbing. 

When asked if he says, “Hey, Bob” or “Hi, Pope,” when they get on the phone, Prevost said they often joke about that. 

Sometimes, Prevost said, he will ask: “Is this [His] Holiness?” to which the pope responds: “Yes, my child, how may I help you.”

Pope Leo enjoys going to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence near Rome.

The Holy Father resumed the tradition of going to Castel Gandolfo, which had been on pause during Francis’ papacy. 

“He’s going to make it a permanent thing. He’s spent two weeks there and now he has been back already one more time and they’re going to try to do it more often because it just is relaxing and away from the crowd — away from the grind, so to speak,” Prevost said.

“There really is an opportunity to relax, and he doesn’t have to be dressed in his papal outfit all the time.”

The pope is apparently taking advantage of the swimming pool and tennis courts at Castel Gandolfo.

Prevost didn’t explicitly say his brother is working on his backhand and swimming laps, but he did say that he is “making use” of the facilities there.

Pope Leo misses driving.

The pope, he said, is not particular about where he likes to go on vacation if he can get behind the wheel.

“I think he likes anything. I think he likes the mountains. I think he likes the shore, so long as he has an opportunity to drive. Driving to him is totally relaxing,” Prevost said.

In the past, when they would get together, Prevost always let his younger brother drive.

“Otherwise, then he would criticize my driving,” he said.

Not being able to drive anymore “bothers him,” his brother said. 

Pope Leo really did eat that pizza.

When the pope stepped off his popemobile to receive a gift of a pizza from Aurelio’s, one of his favorite Chicago pizzerias, he ate the whole thing. And it was sausage.

“He did take it. His bodyguards took it from him to make sure it was safe. He did reheat it. He did eat every bit of it,” his brother told NBC.

His favorite kind of pizza? Pepperoni.

As children, the Prevost brothers did “everything any child would do.”

“It was in the days when you just went out and played,” he said. “Everyone met on the street. Do whatever you’re going to do. Go ride your bikes, go play baseball, four-square. We just did that with all the neighborhood kids.”

The boys, however, were not allowed to go out trick-or-treating on Halloween as children.

“My mom thought it was begging,” Prevost said.

His brother was “very close” to Pope Francis.

“He was close with Francis. Very close. They were very good friends,” he said.

The pope promised he would return to Chicago for one reason.

When asked whether the pope was planning to return to his hometown, Prevost said “anything’s likely” since he is, of course, the pope.

“The only thing we know for sure is he’s going to be here for my funeral,” he said.

Prevost said he asked his younger brother if he would return under those circumstances, and he reportedly responded: “They may have to keep the body on ice for a while, but I’ll get there.”

The pope’s favorite candy is not what you’d expect.

When asked what he plans to bring his brother when he travels to Rome in October (along with several members of his extended family), Prevost said: “Peeps.”

“That’s his favorite candy on Earth.”

The pope was the handy one in the family.

His brother told NBC that the family would save certain household chores for their younger brother.

“I used to have to say, ‘Well, I’ll save this for when Rob’s here because he’ll take care of it.’

“Anything on a ladder, I don’t do, but he will,” he said.

Pope Leo likes upbeat movies.

When asked which kind of movies his brother likes, Prevost said: “I think things that are generally entertaining that have a positive outcome.”

Before he was pope, Leo might have enjoyed a John Grisham novel.

“He liked legal thrillers,” his brother said.

Pope Leo warned his brother to be careful about what he says in interviews.

Prevost was accompanied by Augustinian Father Ray Flores during his interview with the NBC station.

When asked if his brother, the pope, asks him to “be careful,” Prevost said that he does.

“Yes, absolutely,” he said. “That’s why this gentleman is here.”

The pope is praying for us.

Prevost said: “I think what people don’t know is he’s taking this very seriously. It may not look that way when you see him enjoying himself, but this is quite a burden on his shoulders and he’s praying for the world.”

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

Pope Leo XIV encouraged a mother to rely on the Virgin Mary as she raises her daughters in the faith. / Credit: Kara Gebhardt/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Aug 19, 2025 / 11:04 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV shared advice with a devout wife and mother in a letter published in the Italian monthly magazine Piazza San Pietro, saying Mary is a guide for all families in times of doubt and uncertainty. 

The Italian magazine — an editorial project initiated by Pope Francis — features a column of letters exchanged between Catholic faithful and the Holy Father. Pope Leo’s letter and a letter from a woman named Laura were published in the magazine’s August edition.

In her letter, Laura shared with the Holy Father that she is blessed with a loving husband but, at times, faces difficulties as a Catholic mother trying to raise children in the faith.  

“I am the mother of three wonderful daughters whom I try to nourish with prayer and the word of the Gospel every day, words that, at times, I fail to translate into action,” she wrote in her letter to the pope.

“The chaotic life and the hectic pace don’t help me appreciate the grace I have around me,” she continued. “I pray every day that the Lord will enlighten me so that I may be a guide for my daughters, and I wonder how the Virgin Mary raised the Lord.”

Describing her faith as “stronger than ever,” Laura said she feared “temptations are taking control” and shared doubts her faith is solid enough to overcome problems affecting her family.

In response, Pope Leo praised the Italian mother’s “enthusiasm for the faith” and “sincerity of heart,” saying that they are a blessing for her and her family.

“Take care of this spiritual treasure, which will always be guarded by the love of God,” he wrote in his letter. “If your point of reference, dear Laura, is Mary, you will be able to face any uncertainty.” 

“When you turn to her, the Virgin leads you to Christ,” he continued. “Mary’s strength is always new and surprising, because she entrusts herself completely to the Son, the Word incarnate through love.”

“And in him, with Mary, we are all one,” he said.

Emphasizing that she is not alone in her struggles to raise a Catholic family, the Holy Father encouraged Laura to share her experiences with others in the Church.

“It can be very important for your journey to share your family’s faith and mission with other families, especially in the parish community, in diocesan settings, with movements or associations,” he said.

“Sharing projects of Christian love,” he continued, “is fundamental to spiritual progress and collaborating with God’s grace and will.

“I bless you and your family; thank you for your kind words,” he wrote at the end of his letter.

The Catholic bishops are backing a suit by a coalition of Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Native Americans and their supporters, in their lawsuit against the federal government. The lawsuit argues that their freedom of religion was violated when the federal government announced its intention to sell formerly protected land in Arizona to a mining company. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Becket

CNA Staff, Aug 19, 2025 / 10:34 am (CNA).

A federally protected Arizona site that has been the location of Native American religious rituals for centuries is temporarily blocked from sale to a copper mining company as legal disputes over the transfer continue to play out in federal court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said in a brief ruling on Aug. 18 that the Oak Flat site in Pinal County would not be transferred to Resolution Copper, a British-Australian multinational company, while emergency petitions against the sale are considered by federal judges. The transfer was set to take place Tuesday.

The three-judge panel said it took “no position on the merits of the motions” to halt the sale but that it was expediting the court schedule of the appeals. Briefs in the case will be due starting Sept. 8, the ruling said.

The 11th-hour block comes as what could be the last reprieve for a coalition of Native Americans and other advocates who have worked to halt the Oak Flat site’s transfer to the multinational mining company.

The nearly 7-square-mile Oak Flat parcel in the Tonto National Forest has been viewed as a sacred site by Apaches and other Native American groups for hundreds of years and has been used extensively for religious rituals.

The yearslong effort to stop the sale, led by the coalition group Apache Stronghold, has received backing from a broad swath of religious liberty advocates, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus, who have argued that federal religious freedom law prohibits the sale of the site to the mining company. 

For decades the federal government protected it from development, but the Obama administration in 2014 began the process of transferring the land to Resolution Copper, whose mining activities will largely obliterate the site.

In May of this year the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Apache Stronghold regarding the transfer. Justice Neil Gorsuch at the time argued that the high court “should at least have troubled itself to hear [the] case” before “allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site.”

Maria Dadgar, the executive director of the Inter Tribal Association of Arizona, told the Arizona Republic after the Aug. 18 ruling that Native American groups “have been on these lands now called Arizona since time immemorial.”

“We are hopeful with the news from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and welcome the opportunity to make our case for the continued protection of Oak Flat,” she said.

Apache Stronghold founder Wendsler Nosie said in a statement to CNA on Tuesday that the group was “deeply grateful” for the appeals court’s block.

“This decision is a vital step in protecting our spiritual lifeblood and religious traditions from destruction,” he said. “While the fight is far from over, this ruling gives us hope and time to continue our battle in the courts and to persuade the Trump administration to protect Oak Flat as a sacred place for future generations.”

Young people on the esplanade of Tor Vergata during the vigil with Pope Leo XIV. / Credit: Courtesy of Claudia Arrieta

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Two weeks ago, 1 million young people returned to their countries after participating in the Jubilee of Youth, an experience that undoubtedly left a profound mark on their lives of faith. Now, beyond what they experienced in Rome, they have a mission: to take that message and testimony home.

In the days leading up to the long-awaited event, Pope Leo XIV exhorted a group of young Peruvian pilgrims to “keep everything you live in these days in your heart, but not to conserve it only for yourselves. This is very important: Let what you will experience here be not only for yourselves. We must learn how to share.”

Being an example of the love of Jesus Christ

Marta Zambrano, a 25-year-old Spaniard who participated as a volunteer in the jubilee, reflected on this calling. Speaking to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, she noted that those of us “who have been fortunate enough to experience the jubilee have a very important mission.”

The young woman from Cádiz is clear about that mission: “To be witnesses of the faith and pass on the teachings of everything we have learned from the testimonies, catechesis, homilies of the Holy Father... even from our own experience or encounter with Jesus Christ.”

For the young Spaniard, the best way to share everything she experienced is “by setting an example with our attitude and reflecting the love that Jesus Christ poured out on us.”

In particular, she emphasized the need for others “to see in us that joy and that we know we are loved by Christ, which makes us different from the rest of the people in this world” that tries to pull people in the wrong direction. 

Zambrano said she hopes that by exuding that light and joy, the people around her can say: “I want that in my life too.”

She explained that people will thus be able to “bring the world closer to the path of truth and life, of fulfillment and true happiness and peace of heart, which is Jesus Christ.”

A clearer and more hopeful outlook

Claudia Arrieta, 29, from Madrid, said the best way to bear witness is by example: “changing our way of thinking, speaking, interacting, working, and relating to others in our daily lives. That those around us see a change in us, that they ask themselves why we have this way of being with others.”

“The best way to tell the world about what we experienced in Rome this summer is for each of the pilgrims who attended the gathering with the pope to return to our lives with a clearer and more hopeful outlook,” she added.

She also told ACI Prensa her hope that the words Pope Leo XIV addressed to young people inviting them to seek holiness would be “a message that comes directly from God for mankind.” 

“The pope,” the young Spaniard added, “is an instrument that God uses to tell us all to be holy in our relationships.”

She said one of the gifts given in the pilgrim's “kit” was a rosary and that “since I returned, I see people with the jubilee rosary on the street, in a restaurant, at the supermarket, at Mass,” she said.

Prayer and discernment to take in what they experienced

María Fernanda de Luna Martínez, a 34-year-old Mexican, traveled to Rome with 48 young people from different parts of her country. For her, sharing what she experienced in Rome “is a very great responsibility and duty.”

De Luna, who works in the social communications department of the Salesians in Mexico, said she believes an experience like this generates “many emotions and feelings that take time to settle in.”

When young people return home, she noted, they sometimes “arrive all revved up and eager to take on the world.” She therefore advised “discernment, prayer, accompaniment, and community” so that they don’t quickly forget what they’ve experienced and avoid becoming discouraged.

In this context, she specified that it’s important to ask three questions: “What moved me during the jubilee? What impacted me the most? What does God want from me with this?”

The answers, she said, “can shed light on where to begin,” and it should begin at home, with friends and the community. “Let our commitment be to bring someone else to an upcoming event, like World Youth Day in Seoul in 2027, so that that person may also bear witness that the Church is alive and that there are indeed young people in it, in love with Jesus.”

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

Father Ralph O’Donnell, bishop-elect of Jefferson City, Missouri. / Credit: Diocese of Jefferson City website

Vatican City, Aug 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has named Father Ralph O’Donnell of the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, as the new bishop of Jefferson City, Missouri. He will succeed Archbishop Shawn McKnight, who in May was installed as archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas.

Bishop-elect O’Donnell has most recently served as pastor of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Omaha.

Born on Aug. 31, 1969, in Omaha, he earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Conception Seminary College and a master of divinity degree from the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary. He later obtained a master’s degree in spirituality from Creighton University.

Ordained a priest in 1997, O’Donnell has served in various pastoral and administrative roles, including vocations director, seminary vice rector, and executive director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations (2015–2019).

null / Credit: UVgreen/Shutterstock

Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Aurora Pomales still remembers the feelings after her grandmother died.

The grief was real and disorienting. After all, it was her grandmother who had taught her how to pray, how to love the Mass, and how to be Catholic, even after she herself had pulled away from the Church.

“I remember waking up and thinking, OK,” Pomales said. “I need to go to confession today. I need to start praying my rosary. I need to start going to Mass.”

That quiet decision marked the beginning of her return to the Catholic faith — a process that would eventually lead her to create a ministry aimed at serving an often-overlooked population: single Catholic women.

Blessed Emilina, the ministry Pomales founded, is named after a little-known 12th-century French saint, Emilina of Boulancourt, who is the patroness of single Catholic laywomen. The ministry was created specifically for women who are single, not married or engaged, not in religious life, but who are nonetheless striving to live fully for Christ.

Pomales’ inspiration came from her lived experience. As a single woman trying to return to the Church, she began looking for community — but everything she found seemed to be for wives, moms, or women preparing for marriage.

“I felt like I didn’t see myself anywhere,” she said. “I was trying to grow closer to God, but it was lonely.”

This was reinforced when she joined an online Catholic group and suggested creating content for single women. The group’s founder replied: “Well, what would content for single women even look like?”

“That’s when it clicked for me,” Pomales said. “I wasn’t just feeling lonely — I felt like no one even wanted to make space for us.”

Rather than walk away, she stepped forward on a mission based on her lived experience.

From heartbreak to healing

Pomales’ return to the Church wasn’t immediate or easy. At the time of her grandmother’s death in 2020, she was in a serious romantic relationship — one that didn’t align with her deepening desire for Christ.

“I thought that was going to be my forever relationship,” she said. “But I felt pulled in two directions: Stay in this relationship that’s pulling me away from the Lord, or leave it and walk with Jesus.”

She chose Christ. But the cost was real.

“While I was happy to be back in the Church, it was very lonely,” Pomales said.

It was the foundation from her grandmother, though, that made it possible to embark on this new path, she said. That foundation and the questions it stirred led her to begin dreaming of something more — something that could serve women like her.

“I knew other women were out there who might not have had that foundation, and if they didn’t feel welcome, they might just walk away,” she said.

The turning point came when the parochial vicar at her parish, St. Helena in Philadelphia, encouraged her to attend the Given Forum, a national leadership conference for young Catholic women.

Soon after, she began developing the blueprint for Blessed Emilina. The saintly woman had once been rejected by a religious order but continued to live a holy, single life of deep prayer and penance. Emilina walked barefoot in the snow, offered her suffering for the Church, and became known for her gift of prophecy.

“I’m obsessed with her now,” Pomales said with a laugh. “She’s kind of everything I want to be. She made the most of her singleness — not as a backup plan, but as a calling.”

The Blessed Emilina group offers retreats, monthly gatherings, local pilgrimages, and simple events like “paint and sip” nights. The ministry is open to single Catholic women of all ages and walks of life.

“Too often, we’re alone, so the idea of Blessed Emilina is to help women realize that your singlehood can be your path to sainthood,” Pomales said.

A quiet witness, a growing movement

Pomales’ sister Jeannine Days said she has watched her younger sibling grow from a quiet, imaginative child into a confident woman unafraid to lead.

“She was always very shy, very smart. And now she’s just blossomed,” Days said. “She’s nurturing, gentle, honest — and passionate. She really loves the Lord, and she wants to bring others to him.”

Days, who has children of her own, said Pomales brings hope not only to the women in her ministry but also to their family as well.

“My daughters look up to her, and the women in Blessed Emilina — you can see the spark that happens between them,” Days said. “That moment when they realize, ‘I’m not alone.’ That’s the Holy Spirit.”

A future for the Church — and for hope

Pomales dreams of taking Blessed Emilina nationwide and even international.

“I think the future of the Church lies in the capable hands of single Catholic women,” she said. “We have time. We have energy. We can serve.”

But more than that, she wants women to know that being single is a not consolation prize.

“There’s so much rhetoric around what a Catholic woman should be — married with lots of children, or in a convent,” she said. “But there are women who don’t fit that, and we need to stop making them feel like they’re failing.”

She remembers one moment early in her journey, scrolling through a Catholic women’s forum, when she saw a post from a single woman in her 30s.

“She wrote, ‘I just need someone to tell me I’m not failing as a Catholic woman.’ And I thought, this is why I’m doing this. That shouldn’t feel like failure.”

Through Blessed Emilina, she wants women to know that their singleness isn’t just valid, it’s sacred — and an opportunity. “This is the time when we can be closest to the Lord, and you have that time to give to your community,” she said.

Pomales also hopes her story of starting a new organization will inspire others to take risks and find their way.

“This experience has taught me that in those moments where you feel like you don’t belong, that’s actually the Lord calling you to make that space for people like you,” she said.

For more information, contact Aurora Pomales at blessedemilina@gmail.com or on Facebook.

This story was first published by Catholic Philly and has been reprinted by CNA with permission. It is part of “Faces of Hope,” a series of stories and videos from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia “highlighting the work of those who make the Catholic Church in Philadelphia the greatest force for good in the region.” 

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa tours the war-torn area surrounding Holy Family Church with the parish’s pastor in Gaza, Father Gabriel Romanelli. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 18, 2025 / 16:56 pm (CNA).

The ongoing violence in the Holy Land, especially now with the war in Gaza, was addressed by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, in his homily during the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.

The prelate’s diocese includes not only Israel but also those living in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. This has allowed him to experience firsthand the consequences of violence, especially that which has ravaged the Gaza Strip in the last two years and which requires true words of peace, not “sugarcoated and abstract” speeches, he said.

From the Benedictine Monastery of Abu Gosh in Israel, the cardinal stated that while everyone wants an end to the conflict, its end will not mark “the end of hostilities and the pain they will cause,” as the desire for revenge will persist, and “we will have to struggle with the consequences of this war on people’s lives for a long time to come.”

In this regard, the cardinal recalled in his homily the importance of the Holy Land for Christians and for humanity, as the region where Mary said yes to God’s will and where Christ was born. It is also the place where the Lord defeated sin with his resurrection.

“It really does seem that our Holy Land, which preserves the highest revelation and manifestation of God, is also the place of the highest manifestation of Satan’s power. And perhaps precisely because it is the place where the heart of salvation history is located, it is also the place where ‘the Ancient Adversary’ tries to assert himself more than anywhere else,” he noted.

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem was reflecting on the passage from the Book of Revelation that depicts the enormous dragon with seven heads and 10 diadems, which “is a very clear representation of the power of evil in the world, of Satan.”

“It strikes me that it is clear from this passage that the dragon, Satan, will never cease to assert himself and rage in the world, especially ‘against those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus,’” he noted.

This, he explained, leads Christians to be aware that “the power of evil will continue to be present in the life of the world and in our own lives,” but this does not mean resignation, since the solemnity of the Assumption “also tells us that there is someone before whom evil is powerless.”

“The power of the dragon cannot prevail in the face of a birth, a mother who gives birth, who generates life. The dragon cannot triumph over the seed of life, the fruit of love,” he pointed out.

In this regard, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem noted that the Church is called to plant a seed of life in the world. “Evil will continue to express itself, but we will be the place, the presence that the dragon cannot overcome: a seed of life,” he affirmed.

Pizzaballa noted that while “we know that sooner or later the dragon will be defeated,” Christians today are called to persevere, “because we know that the dragon will continue to rage through history.”

However, he said that “the blood caused by all this evil” throughout the world “flows under the altar, mingled with the blood of the Lamb, united to the work of redemption to which we all are part of.”

“The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which we celebrate, her complete participation, with body and soul, in the victory of Christ, is also a foretaste of our destiny as children of God, as baptized and redeemed by the blood of Christ,” he affirmed.

Finally, the patriarch encouraged: “So as we rise from the Eucharistic table, today, we carry with us the certainty of Christ’s victory over death, the conviction that our life, however much it may be turned upside down by the dramatic events of today, is nevertheless the place where the dragon will not prevail, for it is a life bathed in the blood of the Lamb, in God’s infinite love.”

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

A mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2024. / Credit: eyetravelphotos/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 18, 2025 / 16:04 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report examining the religious liberty implications for women and minorities in Afghanistan four years after the Taliban’s takeover. 

“Religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan continue to decline dramatically under Taliban rule,” the USCIRF wrote in an Aug. 15 report examining the Taliban’s Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice one year after its enactment. “The new morality law reinforces a systematic and overt erasure of religious freedom in Afghanistan and facilitates the ongoing repression of religious minorities.”

According to the USCIRF, the morality law “impacts all Afghans” but “disproportionately affects religious minorities and women, eradicating their participation in public life and systematically eliminating their right to [freedom of religious belief].”

The August 2024 law contains 35 articles and centers on mandating the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam and sharia law. Authorities are granted “broad powers to arrest, detain, and monitor Afghans who are perceived to have violated its provisions,” the USCIRF noted.

Among the 35 articles is the criminalization of adherence to any religion apart from Sunni Islam. According to the USCIRF: “Non-Muslims are forced to practice in secret or risk arrest and torture.”

The report quoted the Taliban’s minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, Khalid Hanafi, as saying Hindus, Jews, Christians, and Sikhs are “worse than four-legged animals” for holding “beliefs that go against sharia and the Quran.”

All Afghan women — Muslim or otherwise — under the morality law are mandated to cover their entire body and face. They are also barred from leaving their homes without a male guardian. The law “characterizes women’s voices as intimate and therefore something to be concealed.” As such, Afghan women are barred in public from speaking, singing, or reciting the Quran. 

“While the morality law impacts all Afghans, it disproportionately affects Afghan women and girls. As of 2025, Afghan women and girls are still barred from attending school beyond age 12. The education ban, coupled with the morality law, makes it impossible for Afghan women and girls to participate in public life, including religious expression,” the report stated. 

“The requirement of a male guardian, reinforced under the morality law, has created significant barriers for Afghan women,” the report continued, noting that Afghan widows who may not have any male relatives are especially impacted.  

The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which was reestablished for societal reform shortly after the Taliban took over in 2021, oversees all enforcement of the Taliban’s morality law.

According to USCIRF, there are approximately 3,330 male enforcers employed in 28 of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan.

Heightened surveillance, arbitrary arrests and detention, forced conversions, physical assault, death threats, and torture are used as tactics by enforcers across the country, the USCIRF stated, citing a U.N. report that as many as 50 Ismaili Muslims were forced to convert to Sunni Islam and that one Ismaili man was killed in the Badakhshan Province.

The man “was severely tortured prior to his death,” the USCIRF said, further noting that “while in Taliban custody, individuals’ ethnic or religious identity influenced the severity of torture inflicted, including for Christians and Hazaras.”

Archbishop Guy de Kirimel of Toulouse, France. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of Toulouse

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 18, 2025 / 15:34 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Guy de Kirimel of Toulouse, France, has reversed his decision to appoint a priest convicted of rape as chancellor of the archdiocese and asked forgiveness of the victims of abuse, whom he had no intention of offending, according to a statement released Aug. 16.

“In order not to cause division among bishops, and not to remain at a standoff between those for and against, I decided to reverse my decision; this has now been done, with the appointment of a new chancellor,” the archbishop said.

The reversal of the appointment of Father Dominique Spina, a priest sentenced in 2006 to five years in prison for raping a 16-year-old boy in 1993, came after the French Bishops’ Conference asked the archbishop on Aug. 11 to “reconsider the decision.”

The French prelates stated at the time that “an appointment of such importance, both canonically and symbolically, can only reopen wounds, arouse suspicions, and disconcert the people of God.”

Speaking about sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church in France, the bishops noted that “we have learned to look at these events first from the point of view of the people who were their victims and who suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.”

“This shift in perspective,” the bishops continued, has initiated “a long and demanding work of conversion, which we are determined to continue.”

Accepting the request of the French bishops, De Kirimel appointed Father Léopold Biyoki as the new chancellor of the Archdiocese of Toulouse, effective Sept. 1.

Asking for forgiveness

“My decision was interpreted by many as a snub to victims of sexual abuse; I ask forgiveness of the victims. That was obviously not my intention,” the archbishop wrote in the Aug. 16 statement.

“Others in the end saw it as a sign of hope for abusers who had served their time and are experiencing the great trial of being totally shunned by society. For that I must ask forgiveness from the one I named and in whom I have confidence, for not having known how to find the right place to which he is entitled,” the archbishop further explained.

In his statement, De Kirimel asked: “How can we find the right attitude that does not force us to take one side to the detriment of the other? How can we keep the primary focus on the victims without forever rejecting the guilty?”

After pointing out that in abuse there is always irreparable damage and recalling that Jesus in the Gospel forgives the sins of Paul, who persecuted Christians, or of Mary Magdalene, who was once a prostitute, the archbishop noted: “We believe that justice is not opposed to mercy, mercy is not opposed to justice” and urged continued “reflection on this issue.”

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

Worshippers attend a Sunday morning Mass led by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City on July 20, 2025. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 18, 2025 / 15:04 pm (CNA).

Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of the only Catholic church in Gaza, Holy Family Parish, said Monday that an evacuation order was issued by Israeli forces for the al-Zaytun neighborhood surrounding the parish in Gaza City.

The Aug. 18 order was part of a broader Israeli plan to relocate Palestinians from northern Gaza, where the parish is located, to designated zones in the south. Earlier this month, Israel revealed its plan to occupy Gaza.

Romanelli expressed concern about the feasibility of relocating Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants, however, asking: “Where can they find the space for all the inhabitants?” He said Israel was distributing tents to facilitate the evacuation.

The Israeli military said the relocation plan is necessary to protect civilians amid the ongoing two-year war, which has led to a humanitarian crisis due to severe shortages of food, water, and medical supplies, with Caritas Jerusalem reporting that “people are dying of hunger” and “all the children are suffering from malnutrition.”

Despite the evacuation order, Romanelli noted “contradictory signs,” saying an aid group continued to distribute vegetables to civilians.

The Holy Family Parish compound, which contains a school, convent, a multipurpose center, and a Missionaries of Charity building, has been a critical shelter since the war began in October 2023. It has been housing over 600 people, the majority of whom are Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Catholics, as well as at least 50 Muslim children with disabilities and their families.

Holy Family Parish ‘accidentally’ attacked in July

Romanelli and eight others were injured and three civilians were killed after Israeli munitions hit the church in July.

In response to the attack, Pope Leo XIV said “it is time to stop this slaughter” and renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, expressing his desire for dialogue, reconciliation, and lasting peace in the region.

On social media platform X the day of the attack, the account of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated: “Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful.”

“We are grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort. Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites,” the prime minister’s account continued.

Israel Defense Forces said it regretted the attack and maintained after the investigation that the attack was accidental, calling it a “deviation of munitions.”

On July 18, Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa visited Holy Family Parish alongside Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III to offer support following the attack.

Israelis protest Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza 

In Tel Aviv, hundreds of thousands of people protested against the Israeli government over the weekend, demanding an end to the war and arguing that Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza could endanger the approximately 20 hostages still held by Hamas.

Regarding its occupation, Israel has a five-step plan that includes disarming Hamas, releasing all remaining living and deceased hostages, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, establishing temporary Israeli control over the enclave, and eventually replacing Hamas with a friendly Arab civil administration.

Netanyahu said of Sunday’s protests, which led to dozens of arrests: “Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’ position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated,” referring to the Hamas attack in 2023 that left 1,200 dead and started the war.

During yesterday’s Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church, an explosion damaged a nearby water tank, though no injuries were reported from the incident.

“Another Sunday of war,” Romanelli said.