Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

The case containing the body of St.Teresa of Ávila after an extraordinary public exposition in 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Discalced Carmelites Iberian Province

Madrid, Spain, May 28, 2025 / 18:11 pm (CNA).

Approximately 93,000 faithful venerated the body of St. Teresa of Jesus (Ávila), which was publicly exhibited May 11–25 for the third time in four centuries in the small town of Alba de Tormes, Spain.

The saint’s remains were returned to the silver case placed at the center of the altarpiece of the Basilica of the Annunciation in the Castilian city where the Carmelite reformer died.

Eight Discalced Carmelite friars from different convents carried the case, preceded by others holding the 10 keys required to open it, to the accompaniment of the municipal band.

Pilgrims of different nationalities streamed in for this rare occasion to venerate the saint following Pope Francis’ canonical recognition of the body, which took place in its first phase in August 2024.

In February, the body was transferred to a temporary case until it was transferred to the one that contained the saint’s body during the public exposition, which had only previously taken place in 1760, for seven hours, and in 1914, for one day.

The Discalced Carmelites order explained from the outset that the intention behind this extraordinary occasion was “to bring pilgrims closer to Jesus Christ and the Church, to evangelize all visitors, and [to foster] greater knowledge of St. Teresa of Jesus.”

The canonical recognition of the saint’s remains made possible a reconstruction of her face based on anthropomorphic and forensic study, historical testimonies, and descriptions of her from the time in which she lived.

The scientific team that studied the body of St. Teresa of Jesus noted in a report that it is in an “extraordinary state of preservation” despite the passage of time. They also observed that the nun may have suffered from osteoporosis, bilateral osteoarthritis of the knee, and a bone condition below both heels associated with pain.

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

The Catholic bishops backed 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 argued 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, May 28, 2025 / 17:41 pm (CNA).

A Native American group whose attempt to halt the transfer of a sacred land site received backing from the U.S. bishops was dealt a blow to that effort when the U.S. Supreme Court this week refused to stop the sale from taking place. 

The high court denied the request from the coalition group Apache Stronghold to consider halting the sale of the Oak Flat site to a copper mining corporation. The religious liberty law group Becket represented the group in the case.

The federal government several years ago moved to transfer Oak Flat to Resolution Copper — a British-Australian multinational company — after having protected the site for decades for the use of the Apaches. 

The proposed mining operations would largely obliterate the site, which 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.

Apache Stronghold argued that the transfer would violate both the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and an 1852 treaty protecting Apache territory. A U.S. district court ruled earlier this month to halt the sale of the site while the Supreme Court considered the question. 

On Tuesday the court declined to take up the case. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision, with Gorsuch arguing that the Supreme Court “should at least have troubled itself to hear [the] case” before “allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site.”

A lower court had decided that though RFRA generally prohibits the government’s “substantial burdening” of religion, that guidance does not apply in cases of “disposition of government real property.” That decision, Gorsuch said, was “far from obviously correct.” 

He noted that the novel interpretation of RFRA law could have much wider implications than the Apache case. The justice pointed to a legal dispute involving the Knights of Columbus, who in 2023 were denied permission to celebrate a long-held Mass in a Virginia federal cemetery, with the government citing the new RFRA standard. 

The government eventually relented and allowed the Knights to hold the Mass, but, Gorsuch argued, “seemingly nothing would prevent it from trying its hand again” so long as the newly revised law is allowed to stand. 

After the court’s decision on Tuesday, Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said it was “hard to imagine a more brazen attack on faith than blasting the birthplace of Apache religion into a gaping crater.” 

“The court’s refusal to halt the destruction is a tragic departure from its strong record of defending religious freedom,” he said. “We will do everything in our power to ensure that the Apaches can continue worshipping at Oak Flat as they have for generations.”

Last year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joined an amicus brief with the Christian Legal Society and the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, arguing that the lower court decisions allowing the sale represent “a grave misunderstanding of RFRA that fails to apply its protections in evaluating that destruction.”

The transfer of the land “jeopardizes Native American religious practice and religious liberty more broadly,” the groups argued.

The Knights of Columbus similarly filed a brief in support of the Apaches, arguing that the decision to allow the property to be mined “reads into RFRA an atextual constraint with no grounding in the statute itself.”

The decision is devastating not just to the Apaches but to “the myriad religious adherents of all faiths and backgrounds who use federal lands every day for their religious exercise,” they said.

Pope Leo XIV smiles during his general audience on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Staff, May 28, 2025 / 17:11 pm (CNA).

Those attending the June 14 celebration honoring Pope Leo XIV at Rate Field in Chicago will hear directly from the new pontiff.

The Archdiocese of Chicago announced that recently installed Pope Leo will deliver a “special video message” to the world’s youth at the event at the Chicago White Sox’s home stadium.

The celebration will also include a Mass, music, a film, and in-person testimonials about Pope Leo XIV, a South Side native and lifelong White Sox fan. 

The public is invited to attend the upcoming “celebration of the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first pope born and raised in the Chicago area.”

The event is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on June 14 with Mass at 4 p.m. Gates open at 12:30 p.m., according to the archdiocese. Ticket details are forthcoming. 

Last week, the White Sox unveiled a graphic installation honoring Pope Leo on the lower-level concourse near the seat from which he watched Game 1 of the 2005 World Series against the Houston Astros. The White Sox internal design services team designed the mural, which is not a painting. 

Brooks Boyer, the White Sox executive vice president and chief revenue and marketing officer, told MLB.com last week that the pope “has an open invite to throw out a first pitch” at any White Sox game.

Downtown Wilmington, Delaware. / Credit: Real Window Creative/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 28, 2025 / 16:41 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Wilmington’s Catholic Business Network launches next month, connecting Delaware’s Catholic business leaders for networking and collaboration.

The Catholic Business Network (CBN) “will unite professionals who are not only driven in their industries but also guided by their faith, offering a space where success is measured not just by profit but by impact, service, and witness to the Gospel in the workplace,” Sheila McGirl, CBN founder and development director for the diocese’s newspaper, The Dialog, told CNA. 

McGirl and Joseph P. Owens, The Dialog’s editor and general manager, are spearheading the effort. McGirl previously launched a similar campaign in New Jersey when she worked for the Diocese of Camden.

“After founding the Catholic Business Network in South Jersey, I witnessed firsthand the power of connecting faith and enterprise, where relationships rooted in shared values led to collaboration, mentorship, and a deeper sense of purpose. It is our hope to bring that same vision to Wilmington,” McGirl said. 

“We have so many Catholics who do great work in their businesses in the diocese and we believe they can help each other grow while engaging with other Catholics in business,” she said.

Owens and McGirl intend to help attendees promote their businesses by providing them with print and digital advertising packages to grow their networks. They have invited interested businesses to apply online for the upcoming event. 

The initiative will kick off June 4 with a breakfast at the parish center at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Church in Greenville, Delaware, with keynote speaker Bishop William E. Koenig of Wilmington, who will speak on “The Vocation of the Business Leader.”

After the first event, McGirl plans to hold future meetings around Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland to include other business centers in the diocese. 

Similar efforts are taking place across the United States.

Earlier this year, the Diocese of Toledo held a breakfast event with a talk titled “Bringing Your Christian Faith into Your Business” with the intent “to engage and empower northwest Ohio business leaders and professionals to promote Catholic values in the workplace.”

On June 18, the Catholic Business Network of Northern Virginia will hold an evening event to help individuals network and create “fellowship with like-minded Catholic business professionals and owners.”

In addition, Baltimore businesses will also have the chance to participate with other Catholics at a “leadership breakfast” hosted by the Catholic Business Network of Baltimore. The gathering is set to take place at the end of June.

Portland Archbishop Emeritus John Vlazny. / Credit: Courtesy of Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon

CNA Staff, May 28, 2025 / 16:11 pm (CNA).

Portland, Oregon, Archbishop Emeritus John Vlazny, who led the northeastern U.S. archdiocese from 1997 to 2013, died this month at his home near the city. He was 88 years old. 

The archdiocese announced the prelate’s passing on Sunday. The retired archbishop passed away at his home in Beaverton, just a few miles from St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Portland. A funeral is scheduled for Friday, June 6. 

In a statement, Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample described Vlazny as a “great spiritual father” who led the archdiocese “through some of its most challenging days.”

“He was a man who always fully exhibited the joy of the Gospel,” Sample said. “He was truly one of the kindest and most thoughtful men I have ever known.”

Ordained in Chicago on Dec. 20, 1961, he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of that city on Oct. 18, 1983. He then served as bishop of Winona, Minnesota, before being appointed the archbishop of Portland, where he was installed on Dec. 19, 1997, and served for just over 15 years. 

Vlazny was archbishop of the Portland Archdiocese when it declared bankruptcy in July 2004 as a result of sex abuse cases, becoming the first U.S. diocese of any size to do so. 

“This is not an effort to avoid responsibility,” the prelate said at the time. “It is in fact the only way I can assure that other claimants can be offered fair compensation.”

Vlazny was adjacent to another U.S. first when Oregon in 1998 allowed the first-ever physician-assisted suicide to take place, that of a woman with breast cancer. 

The archbishop said at the time that he was “deeply saddened” by the death.

“The suicide of this elderly woman can only bring anguish to those who have resisted the public policy initiatives that changed the law in Oregon,” he said. 

Sample said that Vlazny “has left a lasting and remarkable legacy in this local Church in western Oregon.” 

“He will be missed very deeply by all of us,” the archbishop said. “We now commend him to the mercy of the Lord, whom he served so well.”

Pope Leo XIV prays with pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for his general audience on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, May 28, 2025 / 15:41 pm (CNA).

At the end of Wednesday’s general audience, Pope Leo XIV turned his attention to the people suffering the devastating consequences of war, especially in Ukraine and Gaza.

During his greeting to the Italian-speaking faithful, the Holy Father lamented that the Ukrainian people are being hit by “serious new attacks” against civilians and infrastructure.

He also assured them of his closeness and prayers for all the victims, particularly the children and families of that nation, which has lived under the constant threat of bombs since the Russian army invaded in February 2022.

“I strongly reiterate my appeal to stop the war and to support every initiative of dialogue and peace,” he continued.

He also urged the faithful to join “in prayer for peace in Ukraine and wherever there is suffering because of war.”

Pope Leo XIV also referred to the Gaza Strip, where “the cry of mothers, of fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of children … rises ever more intensely to heaven.” 

He also lamented those “who are continually forced to move in search of a little food and safer shelter from bombing.”

“I renew my appeal to the leaders: [implement a] ceasefire, release all hostages, fully respect humanitarian law. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us!” the Holy Father exclaimed.

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

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for his general audience on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Vatican City, May 28, 2025 / 15:21 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV held the second general audience of his pontificate today in which he reflected on the parable of the good Samaritan.

At the beginning of his catechesis, addressed to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father recalled that the parables of the Gospel offer an opportunity “to change perspective and open ourselves up to hope.”

The lack of hope, the pontiff explained, is sometimes due “to the fact that we fixate on a certain rigid and closed way of seeing things,” and the parables “help us to look at them from another point of view.”

He then recalled that Jesus proposes this parable to “a doctor of the law,” who asks him: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 10:25-37), and then Jesus invites him to love his neighbor.

‘The practice of worship does not automatically lead to compassion’

The scene of the parable of the good Samaritan is a road “as difficult and harsh as life itself,” the pope said. In fact, the man who crosses it “is attacked, beaten, robbed, and left half dead.”

“It is the experience that happens when situations, people, sometimes even those we have trusted, take everything from us and leave us in the middle of the road,” the pontiff emphasized.

Leo XIV then added that “life is made up of encounters, and in these encounters, we emerge for what we are. We find ourselves in front of others, faced with their fragility and weakness, and we can decide what to do: to take care of them or pretend nothing is wrong.”

He recalled that the priest and the Levite went down that same road and didn’t stop to help him. “The practice of worship does not automatically lead to being compassionate. Indeed, before being a religious matter, compassion is a question of humanity! Before being believers, we are called to be human,” he emphasized.

Haste as an obstacle to compassion

The pope pointed out that “haste, so present in our lives, very often impedes us from feeling compassion. One who thinks his or her journey must be the priority is not willing to stop for another.”

However, the Samaritan, who belonged to a despised people, decided to stop to help the man. Thus, Leo XIV emphasized that “religiosity does not enter into this. This Samaritan simply stops because he is a man faced with another man in need of help.”

He also affirmed that compassion “is expressed through practical gestures,” recalling that the Samaritan “approaches, because if you want to help someone, you cannot think of keeping your distance; you have to get involved, get dirty yourself, perhaps be contaminated.”

“One truly helps if one is willing to feel the weight of the other’s pain,” Pope Leo XIV noted.

“When will we, too, be capable of interrupting our journey and having compassion? When we understand that the wounded man in the street represents each one of us. And then the memory of all the times that Jesus stopped to take care of us will make us more capable of compassion,” he said.

Finally, Pope Leo invited the faithful to pray to “grow in humanity, so that our relationships may be truer and richer in compassion.”

“Let us ask the heart of Jesus for the grace to increasingly have the same feelings he does,” he concluded.

After greeting the pilgrims from different countries, the Holy Father intoned the Our Father in Latin and imparted his blessing to the faithful present, who listened attentively despite the high temperatures and intense Roman spring sun.

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

Pope Leo XIV meets employees of the Holy See and their families in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Saturday, May 24, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, May 28, 2025 / 14:51 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has reinstated the “conclave bonus” given to Vatican employees for their service during the sede vacante period. 

Approximately 5,000 staff working for the Roman Curia and state institutions — such as the Vatican Museums, the Vatican Pharmacy, the Vatican Library, and Vatican Media — will receive an extra 500 euros (about $566) in their June paychecks.

The custom of distributing conclave bonuses by newly-elected popes is seen as a gesture of gratitude toward Vatican employees who had worked, often overtime, in the weeks following the death of a pope until the election of a new one. 

Though Pope Leo did not speak about the monetary gift in his audience with several Holy See and state workers earlier this month, he expressed his high regard for the men and women who form the different “working communities” of the Vatican.

“To work in the Roman Curia means to contribute to keeping the memory of the Apostolic See alive,” he said at the May 24 meeting. “And, by analogy, this can also be said of the services of Vatican City State.”

“Each one of you gives your contribution, carrying out your daily work with commitment and also with faith, because faith and prayer are like salt for food; they impart flavor,” he added.  

Among the thousands of workers who will benefit from Pope Leo’s monetary gift include men and women who work in the Vatican’s bookstore, clothing stores, gas stations, and post office, along with the Holy See’s other lay and religious staff.

In 2013, the “conclave bonus” tradition was temporarily suspended when Pope Francis was elected. Instead, he chose to redirect the monetary gift to papal charities and welfare institutions as a sign of the Church’s concern for people in need.

Aware of the discontent felt by several Vatican employees to withhold the handout, former Vatican spokesperson Father Federico Lombardi justified scrapping the bonus because, amid the “difficult general economic situation” of the church-state, a pope had not died.

“It did not seem possible or appropriate to burden the budgets of Vatican entities with a considerable extraordinary expense that was not foreseen,” Lombardi said in 2013. 

Though employees missed out on the expected conclave bonus when Francis became pope 12 years ago, several employees with three or more children are benefitting from a monthly 300-euro (about $339) bonus approved by the late pontiff in January 2025.

Under Pope Benedict XIV, Vatican employees were granted a 1,000-euro conclave bonus for the additional work carried out during the sede vacante period after the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier speaks to EWTN News in Rome on Monday, May 26, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, May 28, 2025 / 13:21 pm (CNA).

South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier this week said the Catholic Church can lead in helping overcome decades of apartheid and racial divide that continue to dominate life in his country. 

Speaking to EWTN News’ Colm Flynn in Rome on Monday, the prelate acknowledged the lingering effects of apartheid, which for decades imposed a rigid racial segregation in South Africa in favor of the nation’s white minority.

Although the racial segregation system was largely abolished by the early 1990s, “the structures of apartheid that were put into place cannot be reversed,” Napier said. 

The ongoing effects of the racist policies, Napier said, are manifested in the reality of “township churches, township parishes, and [then] your more middle-class and sometimes upper-class parishes” in the country. 

“That’s the reality the Church has to work in,” he said, pointing out that the “very deprived areas” mostly consist of Black citizens, while wealthier areas are more mixed. 

The Church can help “overcome” these historically unjust circumstances, he said, by “ensuring that when we have diocesan meetings [and] diocesan structures, we draw from all those backgrounds and bring the people together.”

Napier reflected on participating in protests years ago and being afraid that police might open fire on him and his fellow demonstrators. 

“It was as serious as that sometimes,” he said. “Because we decided as a Church [that] we cannot sit in the background and simply pray in our churches. We have to go out onto the streets.”

South Africa was recently in the news when President Donald Trump, while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, played footage at a South African rally in which participants chanted “Kill the Boer.” 

Asked about such chants and slogans at South African political events calling for violence and “revolution,” Napier said the “Kill the Boer” slogan was a “protest song.”

“The basis of it was, the government has taken our land,” he said. “They’ve given this land to these Boers, these Afrikaners, [and] they won’t give it back to us... We’ll take it back.” 

Admitting that progress in the often crime-plagued nation has stalled in recent years, the prelate said the Church in South Africa “dropped the ball” in ceding much of the work of reconciliation to politicians. 

Asked by Flynn about the overall state of the Church in South Africa today, Napier said the Catholic Church, if it wants to have “an impact on society,” must start with “good, strong parishes.” 

“If it’s going to have good, strong parishes, it needs good, strong families,” he said. “If it’s going to get new good, strong families, it needs good, strong marriages. To get that, it must have good marriage preparation.” 

“I think that would be my starting point in saying that if we’re going to make an impact on society, we have to look at where society actually gets its strength from, and that is from the family, the community of the family,” he said. 

Flynn’s full interview with Napier can be viewed below.

Doug Burton of Truth Nigeria speaks to “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Erik Rosales on May 27, 2025, about the brutal massacre in Nigeria that occurred May 25. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly” screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 28, 2025 / 10:37 am (CNA).

A brutal attack by extremist Muslim herdsmen in Nigeria on Sunday left dozens dead and resulted in the kidnapping of a Catholic priest and several nuns.

Hundreds of Jihadist Fulani herdsmen gunned down nearly 40 people, more than half of them Christians, across several villages on Sunday, according to a report by Truth Nigeria, a humanitarian-aid nonprofit that seeks to document Nigeria’s struggles with corruption and crime.

The attack occurred three days after the shooting of Father Solomon Atongo, a priest of St. John Quasi Parish in Jimba, and the kidnapping of two of his companions. Atongo is currently receiving treatment for his wounds.

Some of Sunday’s attacks took place in Aondona, the hometown of Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, and appear to be retaliatory after Anagbe, who is a Claretian missionary, testified in a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in March that the Nigerian government is doing nothing to stop the systemic persecution and elimination of Christians.

Violence in the region has increased since Anagbe’s testimony in the U.S. capital, according to Douglas Burton, director of Truth Nigeria, who appeared on “EWTN News Nightly” on Tuesday to discuss ongoing violence and kidnappings occurring across the West African country.

“It’s a tragic situation, and the story is in play,” Burton told anchor Erik Rosales regarding Sunday’s attacks in the central Benue state. “And what happened is that Fulani terrorists attacked [Anagbe’s] home village.”

As reported by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, Anagbe testified on March 12 before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa that “the experience of the Nigerian Christians today can be summed up as that of a Church under Islamist extermination. It is frightening to live there.”

Later that day Anagbe told “EWTN News Nightly” that “the persecution of Christians generally and Catholics in Nigeria is the work of an Islamic agenda to conquer the territory and make it become an Islamic state in West Africa.”

Burton estimated the number of deaths to be “up to 36” in this Sunday’s massacre in Anagbe’s village, though Reuters has reported the death toll to be “at least 42 people” overall in the attacks in the Ahume, Tyolaha, and Tse-Ubiam villages that day. 

A former State Department official, Burton said he was unaware of the Nigerian government making any arrests in connection with the Sunday attacks. “There’s been no evidence that these attacks will be halted,” he said. 

This is not a surprise to Burton, who further explained on “EWTN News Nightly” that the Nigerian army “is really overstretched,” with over half of the country’s military concentrated in the northeast region of the 36-state country, where there is currently a “deadly insurgency.” 

He also noted unrest in the far-west region in addition to the Middle Belt states, where Sunday’s attacks occurred. “The Nigerian military really needs more people and the police need more recruitment,” Burton said. “That has been the position that we have taken at Truth Nigeria.”

Nigeria is the largest country on the African continent and the sixth-largest country in the world, with a population of approximately 236 million.