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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 14, 2025 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Here are some of the major stories about the Church around the world that you may have missed this week:

3 Christian converts sentenced to over 40 years in prison by Islamic Republic of Iran

Three Christian converts in Iran have been sentenced to over 40 years in prison collectively, Article18, a London-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting and promoting religious freedom in the Islamic country, has reported.

The Iranian Revolutionary Court collectively sentenced Abbas Soori, Mehran Shamloui, and Narges Nasri, a 37-year-old woman who is pregnant with her first child, to more than 40 years in prison for charges described as “propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law.” 

Catholic nonprofits speak out against climate credit scheme targeting Indigenous Tanzanian community 

The International Cooperation for Development Solidarity (CIDSE) is speaking out on behalf of the Tanzanian Maasi community after a recently published study found the native community had been coerced into allowing carbon credit projects on their land, threatening their livelihoods. 

The CIDSE told ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, that the Maasi communities were pressured into signing unfair contracts that forced them out of their traditional grazing lands. The CIDSE condemned the dubious contracts, which it said “undermine Indigenous rights.” 

Diocese of Guinea-Bissau celebrates appointment of new bishop

The Catholic community in Guinea-Bissau is celebrating this week after the appointment of Monsignor Victor Luís Quematcha as local ordinary of the Bissau-Guinea Episcopal See on March 8, ACI Africa reported. The appointment comes almost exactly four years after the passing of Bishop Pedro Carlos Zilli in March 2021. 

Holy pilgrimage honors 10th anniversary of Coptic Martyrs in Egypt

Marking the 10th anniversary of the martyrdom of 20 Egyptian Copts and a young Ghanaian in Libya, the Apostolic Vicariate of the Latins in Egypt organized a holy pilgrimage with over 300 people to the Egyptian city of Samalut. 

Coinciding with the Jubilee of Hope, the pilgrimage took place under the patronage and participation of Bishop Claudio Lurati of Alexandria and his vicar, Monsignor Antoine Tawfik, ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, reported. 

Nigerian bishops’ conference: Unemployed youth are ‘ticking time bomb’

The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria issued a warning this week about increased rates of joblessness among the country’s youth as violence and criminal activity continues to surge across Africa’s largest nation-state.

Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji called the crisis a “ticking time bomb” for Nigeria’s youth and called for federal and state governments to take action to address unemployment among young people or risk “losing the battle against insecurity and violent crime.”

Religious freedom win: Pakistani Christian girl free from forced marriage, conversion

Pakistani courts have granted an annulment to Shahidi Bibi, allowing her to return to her father’s house and her faith, according to her legal team at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International. Bibi was forced by her mother to marry her stepfather’s brother, a Muslim man, when she was just 11 years old. During the marriage, she gave birth to two children and was falsely legally registered as “Muslim” on her identification documents. 

Cases of violence against Christians in India on the rise, report finds

According to a March 10 report from The Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC), 640 incidents of violent attacks against Christians occurred in 2024, an increase of 39 cases compared with 2023, and 147 cases recorded in 2014. 

“Attacks on Christians take various forms, including physical assaults, disruptions of prayer meetings, church vandalism, social boycotts, denial of community resources, and targeted arrests under anti-conversion laws,” the report states, adding: “Reports indicate that on average, four to five churches and pastors face attacks daily, with incidents nearly doubling every Sunday.”

Entrance to the Izaguirre ranch. / Credit: Courtesy of the Office of the Prosecutor of the State of Jalisco

Puebla, Mexico, Mar 14, 2025 / 17:10 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Mexico expressed its “profound indignation and grief” following the discovery of an organized crime training and extermination camp on a ranch in Jalisco state where clandestine crematoriums were found.

The site was located on the Izaguirre ranch in the Teuchitlán administrative district, about 40 miles from Guadalajara, the state capital, by the Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco group (Searching Warriors of Jalisco), an organization of families of disappeared persons searching for clandestine graves in the hope of finding the remains of their loved ones.

In Latin America, “disappeared” is often used as an adjective and a verb. “He was disappeared” means the person was abducted and is most likely dead. 

According to the Jalisco state attorney general’s office, so far “six lots of bones have been discovered  in four locations on the property” that would correspond to more than 200 victims.

The site was already known to authorities since the National Guard carried out an operation on Sept. 18, 2024, during which 10 people were arrested, according to the attorney general’s office.

At the site, they found a tactical training area and a physical conditioning area as well as clothing and gear that would have been worn by both the criminals and their victims.

One of the ‘cruelest expressions of evil’

In its March 12 statement, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) described the discovery as “one of the cruelest expressions of evil and human wretchedness that we have witnessed in our country.”

The Mexican bishops noted that these acts “directly attack the sacred dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God.”

The prelates also criticized the official figures provided by Mexican authorities regarding violence. “We express our surprise that first-degree murders are supposedly down 15%, but they are trying to hide the fact that disappearances are up 40%. Unfortunately, the majority of these victims are our young people,” the CEM pointed out.

According to the website of Mexico’s Ministry of the Interior, whose data covers the period from Dec. 31, 1952, to March 14 of this year, there are 124,179 missing and unaccounted-for persons in the country, with Jalisco being the state with the highest number of cases.

The bishops called on authorities to implement effective policies to prevent “these atrocious crimes and ensure their non-repetition” while demanding that they stop “evading their responsibility or trying to hide this reality” of violence in the country.

A day after the CEM statement, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum referred to the bishops’ claim at a March 13 press conference and said their information was erroneous.

“We will keep you informed. But the episcopate does not have the correct information, and we are happy to ask the Ministry of the Interior to contact them to explain that this is not the case,” she said.

Remembering the disappeared during Lent

The Mexican bishops also called on Catholics to take advantage of this Lenten season to “pray earnestly for the disappeared, accompany the victims, and contribute to the reconstruction of the social fabric.”

They also pledged to “be a voice for those without a voice and to collaborate tirelessly in building a country where justice, truth, and unrestricted respect for human dignity prevail.”

In response to the gruesome discovery, several events will be held to pray and express solidarity with the victims and their families:

• Mass for the disappeared: The auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Francisco Javier Acero, will offer a Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City at 3 p.m. local time on March 15 in honor of the disappeared persons and in support of their families.

• Vigil and national mourning: The same day at 5 p.m. local time the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico (CIRM) will hold a vigil on the esplanade of Mexico City’s Zócalo (large central square) in front of the cathedral. “With 400 shoes and 400 candles, let us remember those who have been victims of violence and forced disappearance. Let us join in raising our voices and showing our solidarity as a Church and as a society,” CIRM said in its appeal to the community.

• Day of prayer and consolation: On March 16 in the town of Teuchitlán in Jalisco state, a pilgrimage and Mass will be held for the victims of violence and their families.

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

Cubans in Havana protest and cry for freedom on July 11, 2021. / Credit: Domitille P/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 14, 2025 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

Earlier this week, Cuba completed the release of 553 prisoners despite the collapse of a deal with the United States, Vatican News reported. 

In January, under the Catholic Church’s mediation, former U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to remove Cuba from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for the early release of hundreds of prisoners. 

The deal was made following years of pressure from the U.S., the European Union, the Catholic Church, and human rights organizations urging Cuba to free anti-government protesters jailed after a 2021 demonstration. 

The Biden administration had initially called Cuba to release “political prisoners,” but Cuba less specifically agreed to gradually release “553 people sanctioned for diverse crimes.” 

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said: “As part of the close and fluid relations with the Vatican State, I informed Pope Francis of [the decision to free the prisoners] in the spirit of the 2025 Jubilee.” 

Just days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration overturned the deal. Despite the administration’s reversal, Cuba continued to free prisoners intermittently.

In February, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, called the continued release of the Cuban prisoners “a sign of great hope” at the start of the holy year and said he hoped for more “gestures of clemency.”

The vice president of Cuba‘s top court, Maricela Soza Ravelo, announced on state television on March 10 that the full release was completed, according to Vatican News. 

Cuba has not reported how many of the 553 releases were linked to the 2021 protests or disclosed a full list of the freed prisoners.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin during a meeting at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2025 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has provided the Vatican with a list of names of Ukrainians detained by the Russian military, requesting diplomatic mediation to secure their release.

“The Holy See has received a list of Ukrainians being held in Russian prisons and camps. We are counting on the support for their release,” Zelenskyy said in a message shared on social media.

The Ukrainian president indicated that he had a telephone conversation with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s secretary of state, in which he also wished Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized for a month in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, “a speedy recovery.”

“I thanked him for his prayers and moral support for our people, as well as for his efforts in facilitating the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported and displaced by Russia,” Zelenskyy said, expressing his gratitude for the prayers for Ukraine and for peace.

The Holy See’s mediation for the release of Ukrainians detained in Russia is nothing new. Ukrainian Redemptorist priests Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta were detained in Berdyansk by Russian occupation troops in November 2022 and released almost two years later following Vatican mediation.

“The voice of the Holy See is very important on the path to peace. I am grateful for the readiness to make efforts toward our shared goal,” the Ukrainian president noted.

Zelenskyy also referred to his government’s decision to approve the United States’ proposal for a 30-day temporary ceasefire. This compromise was reached two days ago after a meeting lasting more than eight hours between the two countries’ delegations in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

“The exchange of prisoners and an unconditional 30-day full interim ceasefire are the first quick steps that could significantly bring us closer to a just and lasting peace. Ukraine is ready to take these steps because the Ukrainian people want peace more than anyone,” Zelenskyy said in his post on X.

However, despite the progress in the negotiations, Ukraine launched its largest attack on Russia since the start of the war before the agreement was reached. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over several regions in that attack.

Zelenskyy commented that “meanwhile, the world sees how Russia is deliberately setting conditions that only complicate and drag out the process, as Russia is the only party that wants the war to continue and diplomacy to break down.”

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

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (right) welcomies Sovereign Order of Malta Grand Chancellor Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo and the delegation at Baabda's presidential palace on March 14, 2025. / Credit: The Sovereign Order of Malta

ACI MENA, Mar 14, 2025 / 15:40 pm (CNA).

Faithful to its ongoing commitment to supporting Lebanon, a high-level delegation from the Sovereign Order of Malta is currently touring the country. 

The official visit, led by the order’s grand chancellor, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, spans three days and will conclude Saturday. 

The delegation’s agenda includes multiple stops aimed at exploring ways to help Lebanon overcome its ongoing crises and support its path toward recovery and reconstruction, relying on the country’s new leadership.

The delegation’s first stop was the presidential palace in Baabda, where Montecupo met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. He was accompanied by the order’s ambassador to Lebanon, Maria Cortese, Lebanon’s Order of Malta President Marwan Sahnaoui, and advisers François Abi Saab, Eleonore Habsburg, and Martina D’Onofrio.

During the meeting, Montecupo conveyed congratulations from the order’s grand master, John Dunlap, who expressed his eagerness to welcome Aoun to the order’s headquarters in Rome at the earliest opportunity. He reaffirmed the order’s strong commitment to Lebanon, emphasizing its dedication to the country’s stability and progress. He also mentioned that the order currently runs 60 pastoral, educational, and cultural projects across Lebanon and has signed several agreements to support its humanitarian mission.

Additionally, Montecupo highlighted a conference on Lebanon that was held last February and announced plans for another gathering in Rome on April 10.

Montecupo stressed that maintaining stability is paramount for Lebanon’s economic recovery and affirmed the order’s readiness to provide assistance, emphasizing its long-standing neutrality and independence. “We will spare no effort to support the Lebanese people,” he said.

For his part, Aoun acknowledged the challenges ahead but insisted that rebuilding Lebanon is possible with genuine political will. He underscored the importance of international support, both economically and politically. 

Aoun also referenced previous agreements between the order and Lebanese institutions, including the military, and highlighted the need for continued collaboration, particularly in the wake of destruction caused by the latest Israeli offensive. He commended the order for implementing projects nationwide, “free from political, sectarian, or religious considerations.”

Meetings with Speaker Berri and Prime Minister Salam

The delegation also met with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at his Ain el-Tineh residence and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam at the Grand Serail. Both meetings addressed Lebanon’s political and economic landscape as well as the order’s ongoing projects.

The Sovereign Order of Malta has been active in Lebanon for over 70 years, focusing on health care, social integration, and agricultural development. This visit serves as a reaffirmation of the order’s unwavering support for the Lebanese people during the ongoing reconstruction phase. In addition to official meetings, the delegation visited several development and humanitarian project sites, including the St. John the Baptist Center in Ain el-Remmaneh and mobile medical units in the western Bekaa region.

The delegation will also inaugurate a new humanitarian agricultural project and meet with Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi in Bkerke.

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

Archbishop Jean-Abdo Arbach. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 14, 2025 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

The Greek-Catholic archbishop of Homs, Jean-Abdo Arbach, condemned the massacres of civilians that occurred in Syria last weekend — which left at least 1,000 dead — and urged Christians to maintain hope for an end to the violence and a return to unity and reconciliation.

Arbach emphasized the importance of the Christian community for the country’s future, telling the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that “without Christians, there can be no future for Syria” and urged the faithful to remain steadfast despite the trying circumstances.

“Christians are the roots of Syria and Syria is the cradle of Christianity. In Damascus we can still find the places where St. Paul converted to Christianity in the first century. We still have first-century churches and monasteries, and we have kept Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, alive,” the prelate emphasized.

Furthermore, the archbishop urged those responsible to stop the hostilities: “We do not want more bloodshed. We call for unity and reconciliation. After 14 years of war, we do not need another conflict.” 

The attacks, which claimed more than 1,000 lives, have been attributed to militants from the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham group, a coalition of Sunni Islamist insurgent groups that have seized power in the Middle Eastern country by overthrowing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“This is very painful. I ask for justice, because murdering women and children is not a good thing for Syria,” the archbishop said.

He also explained that, with the change of regime, Syria has entered a time of “great uncertainty,” with a lack of work and a shortage of food and medicine. “Many people are asking when this will end; they can’t see a future and they want to leave,” he explained.

Arbach told ACN that the situation is so desperate in Homs that he has seen many people wandering the streets in “loneliness, fear, and sadness.” The archbishop also called for an end to the international economic sanctions on Syria, which is severely impacting the country’s already deteriorating situation.

Despite the difficulties, the Catholic Church is redoubling its efforts to address the needs: “We are supporting our faithful in every sense of the word: paying rent; providing medication, food, and clothing; and also sustaining them spiritually so that they feel close to God, to encourage them to remain in their land, in their country, and to preserve Syria’s roots, which are the Christians,” the Greek Catholic prelate noted.

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

Mailman on the job in Salt Lake City. / Credit: Bobjgalindo, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Mar 14, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

Democrats worried about what the Trump administration might do to curtail chemical abortions have filed a bill in Congress that would prevent the federal government from stopping the mailing of abortion pills.

The “Stop the Comstock Act” bill, filed Wednesday, would remove language in federal law that prohibits sending items that cause abortion through the mail. It is a re-file of a bill introduced in June 2024, which the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, reported on at the time.

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota, one of the bill’s sponsors, said she expects the Trump administration to use the Comstock Act to stop access to abortion.

“With Donald Trump in the White House, the threat to women’s reproductive health and freedom is more urgent than ever,” Smith said in a written statement.

Republicans control both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, and it seems unlikely the leadership will schedule a vote on it.

“The bill won’t go anywhere,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee.

“Democrats are hoping this bill will energize a demoralized base, but they are doing so at the cost of women. Mailing abortion pills without an in-person doctor’s appointment can lead to complications such as severe hemorrhaging and, sadly, the possibility that a woman could lose her life,” Tobias told the Register. “Democrats want to make abortion available anywhere, under any circumstances, and at any time in pregnancy, but it’s women and their unborn babies who will suffer.”

Most abortions in the United States now occur not by surgery but through pills. In 2023 about 63% of abortions in the country took place through abortion pills, according to a survey published in March 2024 by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion and tracks it.

Most chemical abortions in the United States use a two-pill regimen. The first, mifepristone, blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. The second is misoprostol, which the National Institutes of Health says “may be employed to induce labor following intrauterine fetal demise.”

Congress passed the Comstock Act in 1873. The federal statute, which is still on the books, prohibits “sending or receiving by mail … means for procuring abortion.” A related 1909 federal statute prohibits sending “any drug … designed … or intended for … producing abortion” by “common carrier.” 

Neither was enforced after 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared a federal right to abortion in Roe v. Wade.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began allowing abortion pills to be sent through the mail on a temporary basis in April 2021, not long after President Joe Biden took office. In December 2021, the agency made the approval permanent.

But in June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal right to abortion when it issued its Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

That led postal officials to ask the U.S. Department of Justice if abortion pills could still be sent through the mail.

The Biden Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said in December 2022 that mailing abortion pills does not violate federal law “where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully.”

Trump administration officials have not yet announced whether they intend to apply the Comstock Act to stop the mailing of abortion pills. They also haven’t announced how they plan to regulate abortion pills, which supporters say are safe for women who take them but opponents argue are dangerous.

Critics of abortion pills have criticized the FDA for loosening restrictions on them during the last several years and for not tracking certain types of adverse reactions unless they are deemed serious enough.

That question came up during the confirmation hearing of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“I think it’s immoral to have a policy where patients are not allowed to report adverse events, or doctors are discouraged from doing that,” Kennedy said during a Jan. 29 U.S. Senate confirmation hearing. “President Trump has asked me to study the safety of mifepristone. He has not yet taken a stand on how to regulate it. Whatever he does, I will implement those policies. I will work with this committee to make those policies make sense.”

Last week, Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, declined to take a position on how the agency would deal with the primary abortion drug, mifepristone.

“I have no preconceived plans on mifepristone policy except to take a solid, hard look at the data and to meet with the professional career scientists who have reviewed the data at the FDA and to build an expert coalition to review the ongoing data, which is required to be collected as a part of the REMS program, the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy,” Makary said March 6 during a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). “It is pursuant to the REMS, and so if we’re gonna collect data, I believe we should look at it.”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, later in the hearing said that what she called “medication abortion” has “been approved by the FDA for many, many decades based on mountains of high-quality evidence and expert scientific judgment,” and she tried to get Makary to make a commitment in favor of it.

He didn’t.

Makary, whose nomination was moved forward by the Senate’s HELP Committee on Thursday, said: “You have my commitment to come to follow the independent scientific review process at the FDA, which is a tried-and-true process and that has been around, and so that is my commitment to you, Senator.”

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

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, processes out of the Church of Our Lady of Providence after Mass during a Rise Up Encounter of World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, on Aug. 4, 2023. / Credit: Giulio Capece/EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 14, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample condemned what he described as a “celebration of death” after Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a proclamation to make March 10 an “appreciation day” for abortionists.

“There are moments when words fail,” Sample wrote in a March 13 letter that also offered a pastoral teaching about the sanctity of human life.

Kotek’s creation of an “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day” is “one of those moments,” the archbishop wrote.

At such times, he said, “the mind stares into the abyss and finds no bottom. When all that’s left is a kind of stunned silence — the kind you feel when you realize just how far a culture can drift from reality.”

“Not just the act of abortion itself, but the celebration of it,” he added. “The idea that those who make a living ending innocent, unborn life should be publicly honored. Thanked. Applauded.” 

“This isn’t just moral confusion. It’s something deeper. A kind of spiritual blindness so thick that what should be self-evident — the sheer wonder and worth of a human life — is obscured entirely.”

Sample’s harsh rebuke came two days after Kotek, a Democrat, signed a proclamation on March 10 establishing the new honor.

The governor said she “appreciated” the work of abortionists. She cited the rising number of abortions in Oregon performed on women from other states. In a statement she told abortionists and women seeking abortion: “I continue to have your back.”

The increased number of out-of-state abortions in Oregon comes as some states, including neighboring Idaho, pass laws to adopt pro-life protections for unborn children that restrict abortions.

‘Deep down, we know’

Sample wrote that pro-abortionist ideology constantly relies on “euphemism.” 

Instead of saying “killing,” he wrote that advocates hail “choice.” Rather than acknowledging that abortionists are “ending a life,” they invoke the phrase “reproductive freedom.” The archbishop said the language is “carefully chosen … not to tell the truth, but to make the truth more palatable.”

“Because deep down, we know,” the archbishop stated. “We know what abortion is. We know what it does. And we know that no amount of slogans or legal jargon can make a wrong thing right. And yet, modern culture insists on turning tragedy into triumph. It demands not just tolerance for abortion, not just legal protection, but celebration. It must be honored, enshrined.”

Within this ideological framework, Sample said human life is treated as “an obstacle, a burden, a problem to be solved,” rather than “a gift.”

“This is what happens when a culture loses its sense of the sacred,” the archbishop warned. “When it stops seeing existence as a miracle, as something given, something to be received with gratitude. Instead, life is reduced to a transaction. A commodity to be managed. And, when necessary, discarded.”

The promotion and celebration of abortion, according to Sample, is “a spiritual issue” and “is not just about politics or law or even ethics.” Rather, the debate around abortion, he said, “is about how we see reality itself” and whether life is “a gift” or “an accident” and whether “a baby is something to be received with awe” or “something to be discarded at will.”

“Is love the foundation of the universe? Or is it simply power?” the archbishop wrote. “Modernity has chosen the latter. It has built an entire system — legal, medical, ideological — on the premise that some lives matter more than others. That some are expendable. That the strong can dictate the terms of existence.”

In spite of the persistence of abortion proponents, Sample said “something feels off” and that “the need to frame it as a social good, as a moral necessity, reveals the guilt just beneath the surface.” 

On a more hopeful note, the archbishop reminded the faithful that darkness “doesn’t get the final word” and that the Gospel “is not about condemnation” but is rather an invitation “even for those who have celebrated abortion [and] even for those who have profited from it.” 

The prelate said that “grace is still available” and “forgiveness is still possible” for all people.

“The truth lingers,” Sample said. “It cannot be fully erased. The unborn child is not just tissue. Not just an inconvenience. But a presence. A reality. A life.”

Activists display a long list of atrocities against minorities on the first 300 days of the Narendra Modi government on March 19, 2015. / Credit: Anto Akkara

Bangalore, India, Mar 14, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Activists in India are decrying remarks from the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in which the politician threatened to prescribe the death penalty for religious conversions in Madhya Pradesh state. 

“A provision for capital punishment will be made in the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act for religious conversion,” declared Mohan Yadav, BJP chief minister of the state, at an International Women’s Day program on March 8.

Yadav said the state government “wouldn’t spare those behind illegal conversions.”

“Proposing the death penalty for religious conversion of girls is not only bizarre but deserves to be condemned by all who cherish the rights and freedoms enshrined and guaranteed in the constitution,” outspoken Jesuit peace activist Father Cedric Prakash told CNA on March 13.

Asserting that Article 25 of Indian Constitution “unequivocally states that every citizen has the right to freely preach, practice, and propagate one’s religion,” Prakash said the chief minister’s remarks were “demeaning a citizen’s fundamental right,” which he said “speaks volumes of the abysmal depth to which fascism has taken the country.”

The United Christian Forum (UCF) has listed 834 crimes against Christians in India in 2024, shooting up from 127 in 2014 when the Hindu nationalist BJP captured power at the national level.

The majority of the incidents have been assaults and arrests of Christians on conversion charges that critics have deemed fraudulent.

There is “a very clear political agenda behind the conversion rhetoric,” Prakash said. 

“It polarizes the people — we against them; majority vs. minority,” he said. “It helps create fear among the majority [Hindus] that the minorities of the country — namely Muslims and Christians — will take over the reins of power in the country.”

While Hindus account for nearly 80% of India’s 1.44 billion people, Muslims account for 14% and Christians 2.3%. 

Other minorities like Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists account for the remaining population.

John Dayal, a Catholic columnist and social activist, told CNA that the call for the death penalty for conversions “exposes the cavalier, and cynical, manner in which [Hindu nationalists] have crafted this political strategy to criminalize Christian presence and community growth in the state.”

Madhya Pradesh state has reported several incidents of harassment of Christian institutions and arrest of clergy, pastors, and lay Christians. Christians are below one-half of 1% of the state’s 89 million people.

“The Christian community, and civil society too, must challenge anti-conversion laws in India as a travesty to human rights and a fraud on the constitution of democratic India,” Dayal said.

A.C. Michael, the Catholic coordinator of UCF, told CNA the threat to introduce the death penalty for conversions is “mere propaganda to boost Hindu nationalist forces.”

“As a matter of fact, the very anti-conversion law being framed under the garb of ‘freedom of religion’ is itself an anti-constitution law. We are hopeful it will not stand scrutiny in court of law when challenged,” Michael said.

He noted that the Supreme Court of India itself last year said the law may run afoul of the national constitution.

Though a dozen of India’s 28 states have enacted anti-conversion laws, Michael pointed out: “There has been hardly any conviction for forceful conversions despite hundreds being arrested regularly on conversion charges, mostly in BJP-ruled states.”

Church officials did not respond to requests for comment on the chief minister’s remarks.

Participants gather at a previous Rome Marathon. / Credit: Olivier florid, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Mar 14, 2025 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Over 30,000 runners will hold 42 seconds of silence for Pope Francis before the start of the Rome Marathon on Sunday morning.

The silence — 42 seconds for the 42 kilometers in a marathon — is a sign of closeness toward the ailing, 88-year-old pope, who has been receiving medical treatment at Gemelli Hospital for a month.

“The greatest moment of recollection and silence in history at a shared sporting event will be dedicated to the Holy Father, a great fan of sports and the Rome Marathon,” the race’s press office said. More than 30,000 people from 126 countries have registered for the March 16 race.

The Rome Marathon, in its 30th year, will start close to the Colosseum and the Imperial Forums and will later cross with many of Rome’s most-visited sites, including Piazza Navona and Castel Sant’Angelo. At around the 10th mile of the 26-mile race, runners will go down Via della Conciliazione, the main thoroughfare to St. Peter’s Basilica, and around Bernini’s colonnade outside St. Peter’s Square.

The marathon’s press office described the gesture as a “huge, collective hug” for Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized for bronchitis and double pneumonia since Feb. 14.

“It will be 42 beautiful seconds, one second for each kilometer of the race, where each participant can dedicate a personal, private, and silent thought and greeting,” a press release said.

In past years, Pope Francis has greeted Rome marathon runners during his Sunday Angelus addresses, praising the race’s commitment to helping others through its simultaneous fun run marathon, which raises money for charities in Rome.

The Rome Marathon is one of the official events of the 2025 Jubilee Year.