Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Deacon Ronnie Lastovica, right, and Bishop Joe Vasquez of the Diocese of Austin celebrate Mass in the Mountain View Unit prison in Gatesville, Texas, which houses the state's female death row, on Dec. 1, 2023. / Credit: Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition/TDCJ Communications

Vatican City, Jan 20, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

In an important move for the Catholic Church in Texas on Monday, Pope Francis named Austin Bishop Joe Vásquez to replace 75-year-old Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as head of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

DiNardo, who was made a cardinal in 2007 and who led the U.S. bishops’ conference as president from 2016-2019, turned 75 — the standard retirement age for Catholic bishops — in May of 2024.

The 67-year-old Vásquez is returning to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, where he served as an auxiliary bishop from 2002-2010. The bishop is coming back to the archdiocese almost exactly 15 years after moving 160 miles to the northwest to lead the Diocese of Austin.

The Mexican-American bishop also served as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Tyler from November of 2023 to December of 2024, after Pope Francis removed Bishop Joseph Strickland. 

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston serves 1.7 million Catholics in 146 parishes across 10 counties in southeastern Texas. Houston is the fourth-largest city in the U.S.

According to the archdiocese, the local Church is multicultural, with members coming from every continent. Liturgies are held in 14 different languages.

Vásquez, whose seminary education included five years in Rome studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of San Angelo in 1984.

He grew up the oldest of six children in the small town of Stamford, in west-central Texas.

Vásquez has served as a consultant to the U.S. bishops’ conference committee on pro-life activities and as lead bishop for Region X for the V National Encounter for Hispanic/Latino Ministry (V Encuentro).

Former U.S. President Donald Trump walks on stage to deliver the keynote address at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. / Credit: Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Jan 20, 2025 / 06:29 am (CNA).

Pope Francis sent a message to Donald Trump on the occasion of his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, offering prayers for “wisdom, strength and protection” in the exercise of his duties and invoking blessings upon the “beloved American people”.

In the message, released by the Holy See Press Office on Jan. 20, the pontiff expressed hope that under Trump’s leadership, the American people would “prosper and always strive to build a more just society.”

“Inspired by your nation’s ideals of being a land of opportunity and welcome for all, it is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion,” Francis wrote.

The pope acknowledged the “numerous challenges” facing the human family, including “the scourge of war,” and asked God to guide Trump’s efforts in “promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples.”

The message concluded with the Holy Father invoking “an abundance of divine blessings” upon President Trump, his family, and “the beloved American people.”

One day earlier — on Sunday — Pope Francis criticized potential plans for mass deportations in the United States during a wide-ranging Italian television interview.

“If this is true it is a disgrace because it makes the poor unfortunate who have nothing pay the price of imbalance. This is not how things are solved,” the pope said on Italian broadcaster Nove’s “Che tempo che fa” program on Jan. 19, speaking about plans to deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.

We March with Selma event. / Credit: Via Flickr CC BY NC 2.0

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Sister Mary Antona Ebo was the only Black Catholic nun who marched with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

“I’m here because I’m a Negro, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness,” Ebo said to fellow demonstrators at a March 10, 1965, protest attended by King.

The protest took place three days after the “Bloody Sunday” clash, where police attacked several hundred voting rights demonstrators with clubs and tear gas, causing severe injuries among the nonviolent marchers. 

Sister Mary Antona Ebo died Nov. 11, 2017, in Bridgeton, Missouri, at the age of 93, the St. Louis Review reported at the time.

After the “Bloody Sunday” attacks, King had called on church leaders from around the country to go to Selma. Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter of St. Louis asked his archdiocese’s human rights commission to send representatives, Ebo recounted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2015.

Ebo’s supervisor, also a religious sister, asked her whether she would join a 50-member delegation of laymen, Protestant ministers, rabbis, priests, and five white nuns.

Just before she left for Alabama, she heard that a white minister who had traveled to Selma, James Reeb, had been severely attacked after he left a restaurant and later died from his injuries.

At the time, Ebo said, she wondered: “If they would beat a white minister to death on the streets of Selma, what are they going to do when I show up?”

In Selma on March 10, Ebo went to Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, joining local leaders and the demonstrators who had been injured in the clash.

“They had bandages on their heads, teeth were knocked out, crutches, casts on their arms. You could tell that they were freshly injured,” she told the Post-Dispatch. “They had already been through the battleground, and they were still wanting to go back and finish the job.”

Many of the injured were treated at Good Samaritan Hospital, run by Edmundite priests and the Sisters of St. Joseph, the only Selma hospital that served Blacks. Since their arrival in 1937, the Edmundites had faced intimidation and threats from local officials, other whites, and even the Ku Klux Klan, CNN reported.

The injured demonstrators and their supporters left the Selma church, with Ebo in front. They marched toward the courthouse, then were blocked by state troopers in riot gear. She and other demonstrators knelt to pray the Our Father before they agreed to turn around.

Despite the violent interruption, the 57-mile march drew 25,000 participants. It concluded on the steps of the state capitol in Montgomery with King’s famous March 25 speech against racial prejudice.

“How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” King said.

King would be dead within three years. On a fateful April 4, 1968, he was shot by an assassin at a Memphis hotel.

He had asked to be taken to a Catholic hospital should anything happen to him, and he was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis. At the time, it was a nursing school combined with a 400-bed hospital.

There, too, Catholic religious sisters played a role.

Sister Jane Marie Klein and Sister Anna Marie Hofmeyer recounted their story to The Paper of Montgomery County Online in January 2017.

The Franciscan nuns were walking around the hospital grounds when they heard the sirens of an ambulance. One of the sisters was paged three times, and they discovered that King had been shot and taken to their hospital.

The National Guard and local police locked down the hospital for security reasons as doctors tried to save King.

“We were obviously not allowed to go in when they were working with him because they were feverishly working with him,” Klein said. “But after they pronounced him dead we did go back into the ER. There was a gentleman as big as the door guarding the door and he looked at us and said, ‘You want in?’ We said yes, we’d like to go pray with him. So he let the three of us in, closed the door behind us, and gave us our time.”

Hofmeyer recounted the scene in the hospital room. “He had no chance,” she said.

Klein said authorities delayed the announcement of King’s death to prepare for riots they knew would result.

Three decades later, Klein met with King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, at a meeting of the Catholic Health Association Board in Atlanta where King was a keynote speaker. The Franciscan sister and the widow of the civil rights leader told each other how they had spent that night.

Klein said being present that night in 1968 was “indescribable.”

“You do what you got to do,” she said. “What’s the right thing to do? Hindsight? It was a privilege to be able to take care of him that night and to pray with him. Who would have ever thought that we would be that privileged?”

She said King’s life shows “to some extent one person can make a difference.” She wondered “how anybody could listen to Dr. King and not be moved to work toward breaking down these barriers.”

Klein would serve as chairperson of the Franciscan Alliance Board of Trustees, overseeing support for health care. Hofmeyer would work in the alliance’s archives. In 2021, both were living at the Provinciate at St. Francis Convent in Mishawaka, Indiana.

For her part, after Selma, Ebo would go on to serve as a hospital administrator and a chaplain.

In 1968 she helped found the National Black Sisters’ Conference. The woman who had been rejected from several Catholic nursing schools because of her race would serve in her congregation’s leadership as it reunited with another Franciscan order, and she served as a director of social concerns for the Missouri Catholic Conference.

She frequently spoke on civil rights topics. When controversy erupted over a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer’s killing of Michael Brown, a Black man, she led a prayer vigil. She thought the Ferguson protests were comparable to those of Selma.

“I mean, after all, if Mike Brown really did swipe the box of cigars, it’s not the policeman’s place to shoot him dead,” she said.

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis presided at her requiem Mass in November 2021, saying in a statement: “We will miss her living example of working for justice in the context of our Catholic faith.”

A previous version of this article was originally published on CNA on Jan. 17, 2022.

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered for Mass on the solemnity of the Epiphany on Jan. 6, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Jan 19, 2025 / 22:26 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis criticized potential plans for mass deportations in the United States under President-elect Donald Trump during a wide-ranging Italian television interview on Sunday.

“If this is true it is a disgrace because it makes the poor unfortunate who have nothing pay the price of imbalance. This is not how things are solved,” the pope said on Italian broadcaster Nove’s “Che tempo che fa” program on Jan. 19, speaking about plans to deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.  

The U.S. bishops said in November they would speak out forcefully if President Trump does advance the proposal in a way that undermines human dignity. 

There are an estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., according to July 2023 statistics from the Center for Migration Studies.

Pope announces female president for Vatican City

Francis also announced that Sister Raffaella Petrini will become the first female president of the Vatican City State governorate this March, elevating her from her current position as Secretary General.

“The work of women in the Curia has progressed slowly but effectively. Now, we have many,” Pope Francis said during the televised conversation.

The appointment of Sister Petrini will take effect following the retirement of Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga from his current position as President of the Governorate.

“Women manage better than we do,” he asserted, reported ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian language partner agency.

The appointment follows that of Sister Simona Brambilla as Prefect of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life.

Call for peace and Jubilee hope

The Holy Father also addressed ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel during the interview. “War is always a defeat,” the pontiff proclaimed, emphasizing the vital importance of negotiations and peace-building efforts.

Reflecting on the current Jubilee Year, Pope Francis stressed that pilgrimages to Rome’s Holy Door must be undertaken with genuine religious intent: “If you come to Rome and visit the Holy Door as a tourist, without a religious purpose, it serves no purpose.”

The interview marked the pope’s third appearance on the program.

During his Angelus address on Jan. 19, 2025, at the Vatican, Pope Francis thanked those who mediated the latest ceasefire in Gaza and expressed his hope that all hostages “may finally return home and embrace their loved ones” and for the opening of humanitarian corridors into Gaza. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jan 19, 2025 / 10:35 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday thanked the mediators who brokered the latest ceasefire deal in Gaza, which came into effect on Jan. 19. 

After praying the Angelus with thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father said the ceasefire is an “important result” for the city, which has endured more than one year of fighting since Israel declared war on Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. 

“In recent days it was announced that the ceasefire in Gaza will come into effect today. I express my gratitude to all the mediators. It is a good job to mediate so that peace is made. Thank you to the mediators!” the pope exclaimed on Sunday.

“I hope that what has been agreed will be respected immediately by the parties,” he added.

During his Angelus address, the Holy Father also expressed his hope that all hostages “may finally return home and embrace their loved ones” and for the opening of humanitarian corridors into Gaza.    

“I pray a lot for them and for their families,” he told his listeners on Sunday. “I also hope that humanitarian aid will reach the people of Gaza, who so urgently need it, even faster and in large quantities.”

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Francis has consistently called for the release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages and urged leaders to advance “dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.”  

“Both the Israelis and the Palestinians need clear signs of hope: I trust that the political authorities of both of them, with the help of the international community, may reach the right solution for the two states,” he said. 

In addition to those suffering in Palestine and Israel because of war, the Holy Father also reminded people to “pray always” for those in Ukraine, Myanmar, and other countries ravaged by conflict and violence. 

Speaking on the significance of the Jubilee Year of Hope and the recent release of more than 550 Cuban prisoners, the Holy Father also reiterated the need for “gestures of great hope” to extend to those in jail.

“I hope that in the coming months, we will continue to undertake initiatives of this type, which instill confidence in the journey of people and populations,” he said on Sunday.

To mark the octave of Christian unity — which began on Jan. 18 and concludes on the Jan. 25 feast of the conversion of St. Paul — the Holy Father prayed: “Let us not cease to invoke from God the precious gift of full communion between all the Lord’s disciples.”

On Feb. 3, 2025, at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Father John Yongli Chen will celebrate an evening Mass in Mandarin, his native language, in recognition of the Chinese New Year. Chen is pastor of St. Ann Parish in Ortonville, Michigan. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Fr. John Yongli Chen

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jan 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

This year, Jan. 29 marks the Lunar New Year, a 15-day annual celebration in China and Asian communities that begins with the new moon and falls somewhere between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20 on Western calendars. Many Chinese Catholics celebrate by attending Mass to thank God for blessings received and a parish in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is preparing to do just that.

On Feb. 3 at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Father John Yongli Chen will celebrate an evening Mass in Mandarin, his native language, to welcome in the Chinese New Year. A dinner and live traditional Chinese music will follow at the parish, which is in the Diocese of Lansing.

Chen is pastor of St. Ann Parish in Ortonville, Michigan, and was invited by Father William Ashbaugh, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle, to celebrate the New Year Mass with the Chinese community there.

The symbols of the Lunar New Year, including the animals of the Chinese zodiac, are incorporated into Masses. Dance, gifts, and prayers for the dead also characterize the celebration.

Chen was ordained in China in 2011 and became pastor of St. Ann in 2023. He began his seminary studies in Xinjiang and completed them at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He holds a doctorate in theology from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, and taught theology and philosophy at the National Seminary in China.

In an interview with CNA, Chen said life for Catholics and other Christians in China can be difficult. Describing the process known as sinicization, or government control of Church functions, he said this means “everything is under the guidance of communist ideology. My family must apply for a permit to go to church. Officials register them and decide whether to allow them permission.”

Chen recalled that in China, he and other students and faculty were forced to participate in a Mass celebrated by an illicitly ordained bishop of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which is controlled by China’s communist government but not recognized by the Catholic Church. When Chen refused to comply with communist mandates, his teaching career at the National Seminary in Beijing was terminated by the rector, who forced him to leave.

Recognizing the difficulties believers face in Xinjiang, his home province, and elsewhere in China, Chen lamented he cannot serve his countrymen. “I came from the other side of the world where the government persecutes religion. But don’t feel sorry for me. Be thankful as we suffer with Christ and celebrate our faith and Church that we share,” he said.

Chen said his parents and grandparents were faithful Catholics even though churches were scarce in Xinjiang. “We saw churches only in pictures while I was growing up,” he said, adding: “We prayed as a family and celebrated Mass in our ‘house church’ at home about six times a year. There were no parish churches, but we would sometimes go to other homes for worship.”

“That is what made us what we are today, and I want to share my experiences and the understanding of my faith with others,” he said.

Dr. L. Gregory Bloomquist of St. Paul University, who directed Chen’s thesis at St. Paul University, lauded his former student, writing that because of the priest’s persecution, he came to embody St. Paul, “becoming a child, as Jesus taught, in order to become like Christ and thus, in Father John’s case, a true father.”

Ann Arbor has a significant Chinese community, largely because of the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which attracts students and professionals from around the world. 

St. Thomas Parish sponsored an Alpha course for Chinese inquirers in the fall of 2024, which Chen attended in November. This will be followed by a course in Scripture and then confirmation of catechumens at Easter. 

St. Thomas parishioner Monica Cai, whose husband, Dr. Peter Cai, practices medicine in Ann Arbor, said she and her husband have celebrated the Lunar New Year with his Christian parents ever since they married 15 years ago. “It’s a lot like Thanksgiving,” Cai said.

An American cradle Catholic and home-schooling mother, Cai said they always start the celebration and family reunion with prayer.

“Last year was the first time we celebrated a new year Mass with a large group of Chinese Catholics. Before the Alpha course, we didn’t know many Chinese people. We learned that there is a Chinese Catholic community that we didn’t know about. So we are really grateful to Alpha because it is a treasure trove of relationships that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Chinese and Vietnamese expatriates, as well as other communities, celebrate the Lunar New Year. In Chinese neighborhoods in the U.S., including San Francisco, the day is marked by parades, feasting, and family reunions. Originally, what is also known as the Spring Festival was intended to honor ancestors and Chinese deities. This year will be the Year of the Snake.

Catholics attend Mass via the Apostleship of the Sea Ministry in Honolulu, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. / Credit: Deacon Marlowe Sabater

CNA Staff, Jan 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A recently launched ministry in Hawaii is bringing the Church to fishermen and other seafarers whose long hours and remote work renders them an “invisible part of the body of Christ.”

Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva launched the Hawaii Apostleship of the Sea Ministry out of the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa late last year. He put Deacon Marlowe Sabater, ordained in January of last year, in charge of the new program.

In an interview with CNA, Sabater said the initiative was created specifically to minister to seafarers, who make up a considerable portion of the Hawaiian economy. Seafarers “include foreign fishermen working for the Hawaii longline fishery and crew from cruise and cargo ships,” the deacon said. 

Sabater pointed to St. Paul’s words in 1 Cor 12:12 in which the evangelist wrote: “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.”

“The seafarer is an invisible body part that is out of sight [and] out of mind,” he said. The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development “calls for us to minister and advocate for their rights and dignity.”

The ministry is currently in its infancy, the deacon noted, and is working to spread the program to various parishes. At present the ministry offers evangelization and fellowship to fishermen at the Port of Honolulu via the services of two priests and two deacons. 

“The ministries also provide the material needs of seafarers, such as clothing and food for their work and daily consumption,” he said. The Catholic apostleship partners with a similar ministry at Waipio Community Baptist Church, he noted.

This is not the only Catholic ministry that brings the sacraments to those who work long hours on the water. The Archdiocese of Seattle partners with several other Christian churches in that city to care for maritime workers from around the world.

As in Hawaii, Catholic seafarers in Seattle are able to access the sacraments, including the Eucharist, through the ministry. It also offers practical services such as SIM cards for cellphones and transportation to shopping near the shore. 

Sabater said the Hawaii program is currently focused on longline fishermen in Honolulu itself. “In the future, we will expand to ministering to crew members onboard cruise and cargo ships,” he said. 

The ministry plans to partner with the Apostleship of the Sea, a professional association of Catholic maritime ministers.

Seafarers “play a significant role in providing food for our table, transporting our goods, and catering to our enjoyment at sea,” the deacon said.

But “their pastoral needs are hampered by the nature of their work and the conditions of their labor,” he added.

“We are called to serve every member of the human family,” Sabater said, “including those who spend a significant amount of time out at sea risking their lives to serve, fish, entertain, deliver, and make life easier for us.”

The newly ordained Bishop Frederik Hansen is presented to the congregation at St. Olav’s Cathedral in Oslo, Norway, on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2024. / Credit: Diocese of Oslo/Katolsk.no/EWTN

Oslo, Norway, Jan 18, 2025 / 09:45 am (CNA).

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, ordained a Norwegian prelate as the new bishop of Oslo at St. Olav’s Cathedral on Saturday.

Frederik Hansen, who selected “Lex tua veritas” — “Your law is truth” — as his episcopal motto, succeeds Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, CRSA, in leading the increasingly diverse Catholic community within predominantly Lutheran Norway. The 45-year-old served in the Vatican’s diplomatic service under Parolin until 2022.

‘The first duty of a bishop’

In his sermon on Jan. 18, Parolin thanked Eidsvig, who had led the diocese for almost 20 years with his “generous service.”

The cardinal emphasized that “unceasing prayer and invocation of the Holy Spirit” constitute “the first duty of a bishop.”

“We cannot fully comprehend the enormity of his transforming power, but we can experience it in some measure if, like the apostles, we remain open and docile to his action,” Parolin said.

Prelates from across northern Europe attended the ordination, including bishops from all Nordic countries, Germany, and the United Kingdom. EWTN streamed the ordination in several languages, including German and Polish.

From diplomat to diocesan leader

Born to Lutheran parents in Drammen, Norway, in 1979, Hansen converted to Catholicism at age 20 and was ordained a priest almost eight years later by Eidsvig.

The prelate’s path to the priesthood led him through studies in Rome and work in the diplomatic service of the Holy See before joining the Sulpician order in 2022.

Pope Francis appointed him as coadjutor and eventual successor to Eidsvig last year.

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, in November 2024, Hansen said: “The international reality of the Catholic Church is mirrored in the Catholic Church in Scandinavia, which is very multicultural and multilingual. Our cathedral parish in Oslo, for example, has Sunday Masses in 11 languages.”

“We are the world Church on a local level,” he explained, referencing the large groups of Polish, Lithuanian, Filipino, Vietnamese, African, and Latin American Catholics in the Nordic dioceses.

A multicultural Church

Speaking about the Church in Norway, Parolin emphasized how Catholics from more than 150 countries have enriched the local Church community.

“This diversity is both a challenge and a gift from God,” he said, noting how different cultural traditions contribute to creating “a unique and singular Church.”

The cardinal praised the Church in Scandinavia‘s commitment to charitable works and evangelization, particularly highlighting their welcome of refugees and immigrants. He also commended the “fraternal love” demonstrated in ecumenical cooperation with Lutheran Christians.

Before the ordination, Parolin met with Norway’s King Harald V and Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

“These were very cordial meetings,” the cardinal told EWTN News, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. Parolin emphasized the importance of strengthening relationships with civil authorities.

Pilgrims of hope

Looking toward the future, Parolin highlighted the significance of the 2025 Jubilee Year, calling it an opportunity for “returning to the heart of Jesus.”

He encouraged the faithful to become “pilgrims of hope,” praying especially for regions affected by conflict, mentioning Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, and Sudan.

This story is an edited adaption of translations of two stories published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

Pope Francis greets new Swiss Guards as they prepare to be sworn in on May 6, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Jan 18, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

As millions of pilgrims are expected for the jubilee year in Rome, Pope Francis praised the patient service of the Swiss Guard and support for their families on Saturday.

Speaking at an audience marking the 25th anniversary of the Pontifical Swiss Guard Foundation, the pope emphasized how the guards’ patient service has become increasingly vital for managing pilgrim visits.

“Over time, the work of the Swiss Guard has changed considerably, but its aim remains always that of protecting the pope,” Francis said.

“This also involves contributing to the welcome of the many pilgrims from all over the world who wish to meet him. And this takes patience, and the guards have it!”

The foundation, established during the Great Jubilee of 2000, provides crucial support for guard families, particularly in education and professional development.

“I like the fact that the guards get married; I like the fact they have children, they have a family,” the pope said, noting the growing number of married guards with children. “This is very important, very important.”

Beyond family support, the foundation helps ensure the guards’ operational readiness through training programs and equipment updates. It also maintains contact with former guards who have returned home after Vatican service.

“I am in contact with some of those who remain very, very close to the Vatican, to the Church,” Francis said. “Sometimes they call on the phone, send something; when they pass through Rome, they visit me. It is a beautiful connection that I cherish.”

The pope pointed to the foundation’s work as exemplary of necessary collaboration within the Church. “No reality can proceed alone,” he said. “It is important to collaborate. We must all help each other and support each other.”

Concluding the audience, Francis expressed “heartfelt gratitude” for the foundation’s 25 years of support and requested prayers while assuring the members of his own prayerful remembrance.

The Pontifical Swiss Guard, founded in 1506 by Pope Julius II, is among the oldest active military units in continuous operation. The first significant event of the 2025 Jubilee Year will be the World Communications Day gathering, scheduled for Jan. 24–26, expected to draw thousands of media professionals to Rome.

Abbé Pierre, born Henri Marie Joseph Grouès in 1912, was a prominent French Catholic priest. He died in 2007. Allegations of sexual abuse were first publicly reported in 2024. / Credit: Studio Harcourt Paris/Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)

CNA Newsroom, Jan 18, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The bishops of France on Friday formally requested prosecutors launch a criminal investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Abbé Pierre, a prominent priest who founded the poverty ministry Emmaus.

The move follows nine new accusations in a new report released on Jan. 13 against the French priest, who died in 2007 at age 94.

Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF), announced the formal request on Jan. 17 during a radio interview, emphasizing the need to uncover any additional victims.

While the late Abbé Pierre can no longer be prosecuted, the Paris prosecutor’s office could still investigate potential accomplices or failures to report abuse and assault at the time.

Latest developments

Earlier this week, Emmaus International, Emmaus France, and the Abbé Pierre Foundation released their third and final collection of testimonies documenting nine new accounts of alleged sexual abuse. According to the organization, this brings the total number of testimonies to 33.

Allegations against the priest were first reported in 2023 when Emmaus France received a statement from a woman accusing Pierre of sexual assault. Further testimonies were released in July 2024 in an independent report commissioned by Emmaus. The documented allegations span multiple decades, from the 1950s through the 2000s, with victims including Emmaus employees, volunteers, and young women in Pierre’s social circle.

The French bishops opened files on Abbé Pierre in September 2023. These documents would normally have remained sealed at the National Center of Archives of the Church of France until 2082.

Background

Abbé Pierre founded the Emmaus Movement in Paris in 1949. Before these recent allegations, he was widely regarded as one of the Church of France’s most beloved and iconic figures. He was mainly known for assisting the homeless population in France and establishing the “Trève Hivernale,” or “Winter Truce” law in the 1950s, which still protects tenants from eviction during winter months.

The investigation into Pierre represents another significant chapter in the French Catholic Church’s broader reckoning with clerical abuse. In 2021, a landmark report by an independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church reported that an estimated 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by clergy or Church-affiliated individuals.