Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

The General House of the Society of Jesus in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 19:05 pm (CNA).

The Society of Jesus is offering reparations to about 20 women who say they were sexually, psychologically, and spiritually abused by the disgraced ex-Jesuit artist Father Marko Rupnik.

Rupnik is accused of having committed serious sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse of dozens of religious sisters under his spiritual care over decades. His case is currently under investigation by the Vatican.

Father Johan Verschueren, Rupnik’s former superior and current general counsellor and delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, said he sent a letter to the women who have come forward with accusations against Rupnik, offering an open invitation to reparations, according to The Associated Press.

While the letters were not made public out of respect to the alleged victims, some excerpts were shared by Laura Sgrò, a lawyer for the alleged victims, Religion News Service reported. 

In the letters, Verschueren reportedly lamented that Rupnik had not publicly taken responsibility for his actions nor repented. He told The Associated Press that in the letters he invited alleged victims to share what they needed and how the order can meet that need.  

Verschueren also reportedly offered to start a “process of healing” and shared that the Jesuit order is “uneasy” with the situation and aware that “the various kinds of violence suffered at the time are compounded by the pain caused by the lack of listening and justice for many years.”

Sgrò thanked the Jesuits for the gesture of reparation and called on the Vatican in the statement to follow “the example of the Society of Jesus and bring Marko Rupnik to trial as soon as possible, restoring dignity to the victims.” 

“There really can be no more delay now; justice just has to be done,” she said.

In Sgrò’s statement, the alleged victims thanked Verschueren for “acknowledging the mistakes made thus far” and having “finally welcomed and embraced the victims of Marko Rupnik, offering them the support that had been lacking until now.”

The Jesuits want to protect the privacy of the alleged victims and do not plan to share future information on dialogue with them, Verschueren told RNS. 

“Any eventual journey toward reparation will depend entirely on the person who was invited,” Verschueren told RNS.

“We wrote the letter because we, too, need reparation and healing,” he continued. “We have a lot to learn from them, and to do better in the future, to avoid any type of abuse in the company of Jesus.”

null / Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Several pro-life organizations are praising President Donald Trump’s administration for plans to freeze tens of millions of dollars in federal taxpayer money that was intended in part for the country’s largest abortion supplier, Planned Parenthood.

Officials are mulling an immediate freeze of $27.5 million from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Title X Family Planning Services Program for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that are yet to be named.

Congress allocated more than $286 million for funding of the Title X program for the current fiscal year. The expected freeze would block about $20 million that was expected to support Planned Parenthood affiliates, according to a Tuesday report from the Wall Street Journal.

Federal law prohibits direct federal taxpayer funding for most abortions but allows funds for abortion clinics if the money is spent on other services.

This move would not end all of the federal taxpayer money Planned Parenthood receives. The organization and its affiliates get hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding annually. 

Planned Parenthood received more than $1.75 billion in federal tax money from a variety of sources between 2019 and 2021, according to a 2023 Government Accountability Office report.

Pro-life groups signal support

The news prompted positive feedback from several pro-life organizations.

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life Action, told CNA the move is a “great step forward in defunding Planned Parenthood.

“Rather than helping people with families, Planned Parenthood sells never having one and abuses Title X funds to market their real product — abortion,” Hawkins said. “... The Pro-Life Generation supports every effort that tells Planned Parenthood to go fund themselves.”

Joseph Meaney, a senior fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told CNA that the report is “wonderful news” and said it is “scandalous that Planned Parenthood managed to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding annually for many years.”

“That organization has from its inception trampled on the human dignity of its ‘clients’ and violated the natural moral law regarding sexual morality and the right to life,” Meaney added.

Carol Tobias, the president of National Right to Life, told CNA the group is “extremely grateful” that the administration plans to cut funding for an organization that performs hundreds of thousands of abortions annually. 

“Americans do not want their money being used to end the lives of innocent preborn children,” she said.

“We are also very encouraged that the president has said he will look into Planned Parenthood as an alleged supplier of aborted baby parts,” Tobias said. “Abortion is gruesome and the government should not be using taxpayer funds to prop up a business involved in performing abortions and promoting the deaths of preborn babies.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America published a series of posts on X praising the plan, saying that “abortion is not family planning” and criticizing the standards of care at Planned Parenthood facilities.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America did not respond to a request for comment from CNA. However, the organization’s president, Alexis McGill, told the Journal that this plan is allegedly part of an effort to shut down its abortion clinics.

“The Trump-Vance-Musk administration wants to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers by any means necessary, and they’ll end people’s access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more to do it,” McGill claimed. 

The pro-life movement has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Trump over the course of his political career.

Trump has delivered several wins for the pro-life movement, including the nomination of three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, along with several pardons of pro-life activists who were previously in prison.

However, Trump has opposed new federal restrictions on abortion, he has been reluctant to use executive power to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, and he signed an executive order that begins the process of lowering costs for in vitro fertilization (IVF) — all of which have frustrated many pro-life advocates.

Cuts are part of broader diversity targeting

According to the Wall Street Journal, the administration’s expected funding freeze for family planning grants is part of the president’s efforts to prevent tax money from funding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to halt all federal DEI programs, which he called “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.” The executive order also directs departments and agencies to align its contracts and grant funding with the administration’s position on DEI.

“Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great,” the executive order read.

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, is encouraging prayers and solidarity for the Holy Land as what he called the “devastation of Gaza” continues. 

Zaidan, who leads the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, said in a USCCB statement that the resumed conflict “will have dire implications for any future civil society development in the region and will likely exacerbate existing tensions for another generation.”

On March 18, about two months after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was announced, Israel Defense Forces launched new attacks to pressure Hamas to release more hostages. 

“I am deeply saddened that the ceasefire in Gaza, which had been implemented in January and carried with it the hope that this deadly conflict would end, has broken down and that violence has resumed with horrible consequences,” Zaidan said.

“I am also deeply saddened that there are still Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas,” Zaidan continued.

Zaidan urged the United States and other countries involved in the negotiations “to work for the immediate release of all [the] victims of the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks” and “to restore the ceasefire to prevent further loss of life.”

Zaidan expressed his support for a statement that Pope Francis recently wrote from Gemelli Hospital about the situation. 

The Holy Father said: “While war only devastates communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts, diplomacy and international organizations are in need of new vitality.”

Zaidan asked the U.S., the European Union, and aid organizations “to assist actively in forging the local bonds of human solidarity that will lay the foundation for a lasting peace in the region.”

“I take this opportunity,” Zaidan said, “even in the midst of this disappointing development, to reiterate our long-standing support for Israel and Palestine to live side by side as regional partners, working jointly for the development and prosperity of all peoples living in the lands of Our Lord’s life, death, and glorious resurrection.”

“During this Lenten season, as we strive for an ever-deeper conversion, I invite all people of faith to pray for peace in the Holy Land,” Zaidan concluded.

null / Credit: Zyabich/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is promoting a “Diocesan Day of Unplugging” — intentionally eliminating screen time or time spent consuming digital media — on March 28 as a Lenten fasting discipline to encourage Catholics to spend more time with God as opposed to spending time on their smart devices.

Noting that fasting is a “practice of self-discipline with a penitential focus,” the diocese, which is led by Bishop Michael Burbidge, called “unplugging” from the addicting influence of the internet, phones, and social media a “worthwhile and challenging type of fasting.”

Citing studies suggesting most people spend more than two hours a day on social media, the diocese said such statistics beg the questions: Are we spending more time with our devices than with God? And are we investing more time on social media than on nurturing in-person relationships within our communities?

“When we fast from food or luxuries, we create space for God. Our fast reminds us of our need for God and brings us back into relationship with him. Fasting also invites us to renew our relationships with one another in our communities,” the diocesan announcement says.

As suggestions for alternative activities to engage in rather than screen time on March 28, the diocese suggested numerous prayerful activities including attending daily Mass; making a Holy Hour or even a holy “five minutes”; praying a rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet for a loved one or the souls in purgatory; reading Scripture, the catechism, or a classic spiritual book; walking in nature; journaling; or attending the Stations of the Cross.

Works of charity would also be a good idea, the announcement says, suggesting Catholics take advantage of volunteer opportunities at their parish or local Catholic Charities, spend fellowship time with their community, or offer to grocery shop for an ill, elderly, or pregnant neighbor.

The Catholic day of “unplugging” was inspired by the Global Day of Unplugging promoted March 7–8 by the nonprofit Unplug Collective.

Pope Francis is promoting screen time fasts this year as part of the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope. As part of the special year, by the pope’s decree, Catholics worldwide can obtain an indulgence through various acts of penance. Francis’ decree specifically mentions as an option for obtaining a plenary indulgence “abstaining for at least one day a week from ‘futile distractions,’ such as social media or television.”

Actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson. / Credit: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

Mel Gibson’s sequel to “The Passion of the Christ” — “The Resurrection of the Christ” — is set to begin production in Italy this August, according to Manuela Cacciamani, CEO of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios. 

“I can confirm that the next film directed by Mel Gibson, produced by Icon Productions, ‘The Resurrection of Christ,’ will be shot entirely in Cinecittà starting in August and requires many theaters and stage constructions,” she said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

In an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Gibson said the film is “very ambitious” and the story follows “the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle.”

“I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which means you’re in another place, you’re in another realm. You need to go to hell. You need to go to Sheol,” he added. 

“It’s about finding the way in that’s not cheesy or too obvious. I think I have ideas about how to do that and how to evoke things and emotions in people from the way you depict it and the way you shoot it. So I’ve been thinking about it for a long time,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy, and it’s going to require a lot of planning and I’m not wholly sure I can pull it off; to tell you the truth, it’s super ambitious. But I’ll take a crack at it because that’s what you’ve got to do, right, walk up to the plate, right?” 

Gibson shared that he plans to recast Jim Caviezel as Jesus and will have to use “a few techniques,” such as CGI de-aging, on Caviezel due to the fact that over 20 years have passed since the first movie was released. 

“The Passion of the Christ” was released in 2004 and, despite controversies surrounding the film, it garnered a profit of $370 million domestically with many crediting it as the movie that opened the door to faith-based media in Hollywood. 

Highlands El Encinar School in Madrid. / Credit: Courtesy of Highlands School

Madrid, Spain, Mar 26, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

The principal of the Regnum Christi Highlands El Encinar school in Madrid, Father Jesús María Delgado, LC, has resigned days after five complaints of sexual abuse involving Father Marcelino de Andrés, former secretary of the disgraced founder of the Legion, Marcial Maciel, were reported.

De Andrés, who served as the school’s chaplain, was arrested March 6 by Spain’s National Police and released subject to restrictions. The priest was initially accused of sexually abusing one female student but subsequently four additional complaints were received.

According to the seventh statement issued by the institution since the case broke, Delgado has resigned from his duties.

“Given the situation we are going through at the school where I am principal, which has caused profound pain and distrust in our institution, I believe I must resign as principal,” the letter begins.

Delgado said he shares the pain of “those who feel betrayed, despondent, and dismayed” over the recent revelations. 

He asked forgiveness for “all this pain” and encouraged the school to embark on “a new phase, with the urgent task of undertaking the necessary reforms to continue striving for excellence, heal the pain, and restore lost trust.”

The statement, signed by Father Javier Cereceda, LC, president of the board of directors of Regnum Christi Schools of Spain, announced that Regnum Christi consecrated woman Marilú Álvarez is taking over the position of principal, having undergone “a meticulous vetting process in all areas of her competencies and personal and professional background.”

‘And now what?’

In an eighth statement also published on the school’s website, Cereceda addressed all the Legionaries of Christ and other members of Regnum Christi in Spain, as well as the educational communities of the institution’s schools across the country, stating that “the serious incidents reported once again confront us with the reality of the suffering caused throughout our history, for which we humbly ask forgiveness.”

In the letter he recalled the steps taken since 2019, when a thorough review began starting with the abuses committed by founder Maciel and which led to the refounding of the institution, whose new statutes were definitively approved on Feb. 5.

“Amid the pain we are experiencing, the question arises in many hearts: and now what? We want to tell you that the answer to this question, out of humility and commitment, is that we’re not giving up, we’re not quitting, we’re not abandoning the path of renewal we embarked on then,” the priest assured.

“We know that what we do for a culture of care, prevention, truth, justice, and healing will never be enough and never be too much,” Cereceda acknowledged.

The priest pledged that “we will redouble our efforts sparing nothing to conduct a thorough review of our institutional culture and to continue promoting a culture of zero abuse.”

“It’s our responsibility to reflect on what we have gone through, draw lessons, and learn from each experience. We also ask all members of Regnum Christi, the Church, and all of society to continue helping and supporting us so that we can always be faithful in this commitment that we publicly renew today,” he concluded.

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

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. / Credit: Gabriele Maltinti/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

France’s National Independent Authority for Recognition and Reparation (INIRR) has compensated nearly 850 victims of clergy sex abuse since 2021, according to its latest report released on Wednesday. 

The annual report for 2024 states that since 2021, the organization has resolved 852 cases, with 99% involving financial compensation. 

INIRR President Marie Derain de Vaucresson wrote in a statement accompanying the report that 350 cases are still pending. 

The French conference of Catholic bishops established INIRR in November 2021 after the explosive Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CAISE) report released in October of that year found at the time that hundreds of thousands of children were abused in the Catholic Church in France in the past 70 years. 

The almost 2,500-page report said an estimated 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns from 1950 to 2020.

It added that when abuse by other Church workers was also taken into account, “the estimated number of child victims rises to 330,000 for the whole of the period.”

INIRR works to help provide financial compensation and pathways for legal justice to victims who come forward with credible claims of abuse. The organization can provide a maximum compensation of 60,000 euros (approximately $64,800). 

The organization’s latest report states that as of December 2024, 132 victims have received the maximum amount of compensation, while the average compensation package for 2024 was about $39,350. 

As of this month, a total of 1,580 people purporting to be victims of clergy abuse have contacted INIRR in the past four years, while “1,235 are being [currently] supported” by one of its staff. 

In 2024, the total number of new cases reported was 168. The report states that between the years of 2023 and 2024, “the number of referrals is almost equivalent,” though the organization saw an uptick in February 2024 due to increased media coverage of the issue. 

As the report noted, the average number of cases reported to the organization tripled from the usual 10 or so per month to 31 cases in February of that year amid heightened publicity surrounding two major sex abuse scandals in France involving a Catholic school near Lourdes, Notre Dame de Bétharram, and the late French priest Abbé Pierre. 

According to reports, over 150 individuals have filed complaints of sexual abuse at the Bétharram school, a scandal that sparked national interest not only on account of the scale of reported abuse but also due to widespread accusations that the country’s embattled prime minister, Francois Bayrou, turned a blind eye to the abuse. 

Bayrou’s children attended the school, located in the southwest city of Pau, where he is still mayor, and his wife once worked as a teacher there. 

As for Abbé Pierre, the Capuchin priest and founder of the poverty ministry known as Emmaus, the bishops of France requested in January that prosecutors launch a criminal investigation into the 33 sexual abuse allegations made against him. This came after nine new cases were reported. 

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.

INIRR is set to continue its operations until June 2026, though there are talks among the French bishops of making the coalition a permanent fixture, according to a report from Le Croix. 

Pope Francis waves from a balcony at Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Sunday, March 23, 2025, following weeks of hospitalization for bilateral pneumonia. / Credit: Vatican Media/Screenshot

Vatican City, Mar 26, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday highlighted the transformative power of God’s merciful love for those who encounter him at the crossroads of life.

Since being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Sunday, the Holy Father’s weekly general audiences are suspended for the duration of his at-least-two-month convalescence in his Casa Santa Marta home in the Vatican. 

In his written March 26 catechesis, titled “Jesus Christ Our Hope” and released by the Vatican, the pope said: “Jesus waits for us and lets himself be found precisely when we think that there is no hope left for us.”

Reflecting on the Gospel of St. John, the Holy Father noted that Jesus had the desire to start a conversation with the Samaritan woman “who has had five husbands and is now with a sixth who is not a husband” who came to draw water at Jacob’s well in the town of Sychar.  

“To go to Galilee from Judea, Jesus would have had to choose another road and not pass through Samaria,” the pope said. “It would also have been safer, given the tense relations between the Jews and the Samaritans.” 

“Instead, he wants to pass through there, and stops at that very well, right at that time!” he added. 

According to the pope, the woman’s “complicated and painful” history and questions on what “divided Jews and Samaritans” did not prevent God from wanting to love her and offer her the fullness of salvation. 

“He gives the highest revelation: He speaks to her of the Father, who is to be adored in spirit and truth,” he said. “He tells her: ‘I am he, the one who is speaking with you’ (cf. Jn 4:26).” 

“It is like a declaration of love: The one you are waiting for is me, the one who can finally respond to your desire to be loved,” the pope continued.

After the experience of feeling understood, welcomed, and forgiven by God, the woman runs to her village to tell others about her encounter with Jesus.

“It is an image that should make us reflect on our search for new ways to evangelize,” the Holy Father said. 

“To go and proclaim the Gospel, we first need to set down the burden of our history at the feet of the Lord, to consign to him the weight of our past,” he said. “Only reconciled people can bring the Gospel.”

Encouraging people to not let their past prevent them from “setting out anew” in the journey of faith, the pope concluded his catechesis saying: “God is merciful and awaits us always!”

Maltese priest Fabio Attard was elected rector major of the Salesians for the next six years. / Credit: Courtesy of Salesian Family

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

Maltese priest Fabio Attard was elected as the new rector major of the Salesian congregation during its general chapter in Turin, Italy, becoming the 11th successor of St. John Bosco.

The new superior general of the order founded in 1859 succeeds Spanish Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, who became prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in January.

According to the Salesians, the new rector major did not participate in the Salesian chapter meeting, so he was informed of his election by telephone, at which point he was asked for his required acceptance.

“His words were heard in the hall and, moved to tears, he thanked the brothers for their trust and especially for their trust in God in taking on this new task,” the Salesians said in a statement.

This is the first time that the new rector major is not among the members of the general chapter, “so the profession of faith upon accepting the office and the greeting from the chapter members and the mother general of the Salesians Daughters of Mary Help of Christians will take place throughout the day, when the new rector major can make it to Turin.”

Attard will now have six years to lead the Salesian family, which will begin with the work remaining at the general chapter, which will last until April 12.

The priest’s election came two days after his 66th birthday. Born in Gozo, Malta, he made his profession as a Salesian in September 1980 in Dublin, Ireland, where he completed his novitiate.

Both his diaconal and priestly ordinations took place in Rome in 1986 and 1987, respectively. After leading several Salesian apostolates in Malta, he founded the Institute for Pastoral Formation of the Archdiocese of Malta in 2005.

With a licentiate in moral theology from the Alphonsianum in Rome, Attard participated in the general chapter held in 2008 as delegate for the Irish province and was entrusted with youth ministry until April 2020, when Artime asked him to create a continuing formation project for Salesians in Europe.

Since 2018, he has been a consultant to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life, a position he continues to hold today.

This week, the other members of the general council will be elected: the vicar of the rector major, the four sector councilors (formation, youth ministry, social communications, and missions), the treasurer, and the nine regional councilors for each of the regions into which the congregation is divided.

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

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. / Credit: Edlane De Mattos/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Chicago this week filed a lawsuit alleging a “racketeering enterprise” among a group of individuals who reportedly filed false abuse claims against a former priest to receive compensation from the Church there. 

The archdiocese said in a Monday statement that it had filed a lawsuit in Cook County circuit court “seeking injunctive relief and damages from participants of a wide-ranging racketeering scheme” that reportedly involved “more than a dozen” fraudulent abuse claims against disgraced former priest Daniel McCormack, who spent more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty to abusing young children.

Lawyers for the diocese did not respond to requests for comment and for a copy of the lawsuit on Wednesday morning. The diocese said in its press release that some of the participants in the alleged scheme are “convicted felons and known gang members,” including allegedly one convicted murderer.

The alleged fraudulent claimants are “associated by gang affiliation, friendship, or family,” the archdiocese said, with the conspirators reportedly working together to determine “what to say, how to pursue a false claim, how to embellish purported injuries, and how to reach attorneys.”

Some of the alleged fraudsters reportedly discussed the scams on prison phone calls. One of the defendants reportedly told a fellow conspirator that he did not go to MCormack’s church and “wasn’t even in” any programs involved with him, and yet he he still received compensation. 

The Cook County circuit court has already ruled on two other fraudulent abuse cases, the archdiocese said. The filing “reflects the breadth of the fraud and seeks to expose the conspiracy that has become a criminal enterprise for those involved,” the statement said. 

“False claims make it necessary to investigate all claims more aggressively, which places a greater burden on true survivors,” archdiocesan attorney James Geoly said. 

“Our attention is directed toward survivors, not fraudsters seeking to gain financially from others’ pain and suffering,” he added. 

McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to multiple abuse charges. He served a sentence in prison and was then remanded to a state facility for sex offenders. 

He was released from custody in 2021 and currently lives in Chicago, where he is registered as a sex offender. The Illinois attorney general’s office described him as “one of the most infamous child abusers anywhere in Illinois.”