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YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – A leading Nigerian prelate says faith-based organizations in the Sahel region have become soft targets for extremists.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of the Abuja Archdiocese was speaking in an exclusive interview following a regional meeting of West African bishops that took place in Dakar in Senegal designed to tackle extremism.

“The number of churches, mosques, Christians, Muslims, priests, pastors, and imams being kidnapped and maimed by these radical extremists is alarming,” Kaigama said.

Organizations including Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP), and others have been wreaking havoc across the Sahel, constituted of portions of at least 11 countries — Burkina Faso, Chad, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan.

A report by International Christian Concern indicates that “terrorist groups in the Sahel are increasingly taking the place of failed governments,” and thus are creating a semblance of legitimacy.

Kaigama explains that terrorism in the region is driven by a broad range of factors, including extreme poverty and a system of exclusion.

“Violent extremism is the product of historical, political, economic and social circumstances, including the impact of regional and global power politics,” the archbishop said.

“Growing horizontal inequalities are one of the consistently cited drivers of violent extremism. Critically, unemployment or poverty alone is not the only factor inciting violence and extremism: Perceptions of injustice, human-rights violations, social-political exclusion, widespread corruption or sustained mistreatment of certain groups, are also considered important factors. When all these inequalities come together for a particular group, radical movements and violence are more likely to erupt,” he said.

Kaigama said religious extremism has had devastating consequences for faith communities. It has disrupted traditional leadership, endangered national security, and inflicted severe economic losses.

“The greatest impact of religious extremism is the transformation of a tolerant, accommodative and pluralistic society into an intolerant and exclusionist one. The intolerance of ordinary citizens matters because it impacts the socio-political sphere of the society.  Due to prevalent religious, ethnic and sectarian intolerance, people have less heterogeneous peer groups, they are more critical of others’ behavior and faith, and they do not feel free to express themselves because of the fear of negative consequences,” he told Crux.

The archbishop said the violence has also exacerbated existing religious tensions and as a result given rise to deep suspicion and distrust between Muslim and Christian communities.

Moreover, Kaigama explained further extremism has led to the displacement of communities, further exacerbating societal instability.

“Education suffers as millions of children are deprived of learning opportunities, putting an entire generation at risk of unemployment and social exclusion,” he said.

He said the psychological toll is equally devastating, as individuals live under constant threat and internalized trauma, leading to anxiety, loss of confidence, and even psychological deterioration.

The economic repercussions, the prelate continued, are severe, with businesses shutting down, poverty and unemployment increasing, and crime rates rising.

“Extremism also has a devastating impact on women’s mobility, social protection and services. Many women are left as heads of households and a significant number as widows. Displacement has rendered many women homeless and more vulnerable to exploitation. The loss of loved ones also has a psychological and social impact on these women,” Kaigama said.

We will never abandon our faith

The Nigerian prelate said that the attacks on Christianity will not taint the resolve of Christians to stay true to their faith.

“All we can do is to continue to pray that the extremists come to see the light, repent, and turn a new leaf,” he said.

“We will never abandon our faith as a consequence of this mayhem,’ he added and explained that the attacks could actually be “the supreme price” Christians must pay for “embracing the faith and at this point we believe that only God can save us from the vitriolic attacks by these radical terrorists.”

As the attacks get worse, Kaigama challenged religious leaders and indeed all Christians to see peace as “a Gospel imperative.”

“Peacebuilding and nation-building are never completed tasks. Every generation has to establish national cohesion and peace. Peace advances development, growth and progress. Fostering peace in the society, for the Christian, is a gospel imperative and not an aspect of our faith that is just an optional extra. The very basis of peace, namely goodwill, justice, and fair play are unfortunately grossly lacking in our society,” he said.

He admitted that religious communities play a multifaceted role in contributing to peacebuilding, both positively and sometimes negatively, depending on the specific context and the actors involved.

“They can be powerful agents of peace by promoting dialogue, fostering reconciliation, and empowering individuals to act peacefully. However, religious rhetoric and actions can also be used to justify violence and conflict,” Kaigama explained.

SÃO PAULO – Thirty-eight years after the brutal killing of Spanish-born Jesuit missionary Vicente Cañas in the Amazonian State of Mato Grosso, the Brazilian judiciary finally issued an arrest warrant against one of the murderers.

Ronaldo Osmar, a local police deputy, was found guilty of killing Cañas in 2017. Only this month the deadline for any kind of legal appeal was finally over, which means that now Osmar should begin the fulfillment of his sentence. Given that he’s old and has been hospitalized, his imprisonment still depends on his health conditions.

“Such indefiniteness doesn’t bother me. The important thing is that he was convicted and nothing can change that,” Sebastião Carlos Moreira, a pastoral agent of the Bishops’ Conference’s Indigenous Missionary Council (known as CIMI), told Crux.

Born in Albacete, Spain, in 1939, Cañas joined the Society of Jesus and came to Brazil as a missionary in 1966. In 1969, he began working with Indigenous groups in Mato Grosso.

“We first met in 1978. At that point, he had already established contact with the Enawenê-Nawê a few years before,” Moreira recalled.

Until then, the Enawenê-Nawê didn’t have real contact with the surrounding society. Their traditional lands hadn’t been recognized by the government and ranchers and loggers invaded their territory.

Cañas lived with them for 10 years, learning their language and habits. He became part of the work group that would present to the government the parameters for the definition of their territory.

“Of course, ranchers were very interested in their lands. Seeing Cañas’s work for their protection, they quickly began targeting him and threats became common,” Moreira recalled.

At a certain point, Cañas himself would warn his friends that his life was in danger. Indeed, in April of 1987 he ended up being killed in his hut, 37 miles away from the Enawenê-Nawê village. He was there alone in quarantine, waiting to join them once again. His body was found only 30 days after the murder.

With his death, a long wait for Justice would begin. The problem is that the police inquiry into his murder was headed by deputy Ronaldo Osmar, who was a major suspect. He would do everything he could to cause delays and impede the investigation to go on.

A bizarre chapter of the inquiry happened in 1989. Cañas’s body had already been examined by forensic experts in Mato Grosso state, but for some reason his skull was sent to further analysis in Minas Gerais State. There, it was declared missing. The skull would be found on the street later, inside of a small box, by a shoeshine boy.

“While the process was being conducted by the local justice, it didn’t move. That’s why we fought for its federalization,” said Moreira.

One of the reasons for its transfer to federal justice was the fact that Cañas was representing the Brazilian government as a member of the Enawenê-Nawê land grant work group. The new suit started in 2015 and resulted in Osmar’s conviction two years later.

According to CIMI, one of the key elements in the jury was the participation as witnesses of members of the Rikbaktsa Indigenous group. The Enawenê-Nawê people have a cultural interdiction that impedes them to mention dead people, so they weren’t able to talk about Cañas in court. The Rikbaktsa agreed to do so and provided new evidence.

If the legal process took so much to be concluded, for the Amazonian Church Cañas would quickly become a major martyr, side by side with other missionaries who lost their lives in land disputes in the region, like the U.S.-born Sister Dorothy Stang (1931-2005) and Father Josimo Tavares (1953-1986). During the Synod for the Pan-Amazon region (2019), he was recalled by many of his friends on several occasions.

“He was a very humane person. He would never conform to any kind of injustice. He had the utopia that we would build a fraternal world and died for it,” Sebastião Moreira said. “For me, he was a model in the way he conducted his life and his faith.”

Among the Enawenê-Nawê, Cañas has never been forgotten. Tragically, part of his struggle was for the demarcation of their lands in the region of Preto River, an ancestral territory where the spirits of three of the group’s clans are thought to inhabit. Such an area is now occupied by farms.

“And part of the lands officially granted to them [in 1996] are now invaded by ranchers and illegal loggers,” Moreira said.

Some of Cañas’s Jesuit colleagues said Justice will only be served in his case when invasions like that cease to happen in Brazil. Unfortunately, that seems to be an even more distant scenario.

ROME – After meeting Pope Leo XIV on Friday, several European bishops said one primary joint concern was the exclusion of the European Union from key international negotiations by the United States, such as peace talks regarding the war in Ukraine.

Asked whether he believed a U.S.-born pope would be more effective in engaging in dialogue with U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration, Bishop Mariano Crociata told Crux, “We simply expect it.”

“We did not speak about it, but to me personally it seems like something that will come naturally, and I think there are already the right hints. The signs are already there, they have already been there,” he said.

Bishop of the Italian diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, Crociata also serves as president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and was present alongside the body’s permanent leadership council for a May 24 meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.

The meeting had already been scheduled as part of Pope Francis’s agenda, however, after the pontiff’s death, Leo opted to keep the appointment, using the occasion primarily to listen to the European bishops’ concerns.

Spanish Father Manuel Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of COMECE, told journalists after the May 23 meeting that, “the pope wanted to listen today. He didn’t have a lot of responses but wanted to listen” as they each shared their perspectives and concerns.

A variety of issues were discussed, such as war, migration, artificial intelligence and matters related to politics, including the rise of rightwing nationalist populism, U.S. tariffs, and the weakening of the European Union on the global stage.

It is no secret that there has been an anti-European tone coming from the new United States administration, with several prominent politicians and top presidential aides making dismissive and derogatory comments about Europe.

Notoriously, in a Signal group chat created to organize military strikes in Yemen, which a journalist was added to by accident in an incident now known as “Signalgate,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance at one point in the exchange said, “I just hate bailing Europe out again.”

A few lines later, in an apparent allusion to Europe’s economic benefit drawn from reliance on the U.S.’s naval capacities, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”

Crociata told Crux that the issue of anti-European sentiment within the Trump administration did not come up specifically, but rather, they addressed the fact that Europe has been “cut off or in any case put a bit aside in relations and confrontations such as that of the war in Ukraine, in which the European Union is implicated and directly at stake.”

“This is a difficulty for the European Union, which evidently needs to recover its own legitimate protagonism,” he said, saying the bishops of Europe want to help the continent regain its voice.

Specifically, he said, they want Europe to “express its own initiatives, its own global possibilities in a way that is adequate to its economic, technical and political stature.”

Crociata also responded to questions from journalist on peace negotiations in Ukraine and whether a potential Vatican mediation was discussed.

Vatican mediation was not specifically discussed, he said, saying the conversation focused instead on “the desire to achieve a just and lasting peace as soon as possible.”

He said the issue of rearmament of Ukraine was discussed, with the emphasis being on the fact that any fresh investment in weapons would impact “the weakest sectors of society.”

“The concern is that rearmament will lead to a reduction in investment and social commitment,” especially for the poor, children, and elderly, he said.

In addition to Crociata, other participants in Friday’s meeting were Archbishop Antoine Hérouard Dijon, France, COMECE vice president; Bishop Rimantas Norvila of Vilkaviškis, Lithuania, vice president; Bishop Nuno Brás da Silva Martins of Funchal, Portugal, vice president; Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen, Denmark; and Archbishop Bernardo Auza, Vatican envoy to the European Union.

The European Union’s roots as a “project of peace” was discussed, esecially in the context of the current war in Ukraine, as was the fact that many European countries in public opinion are promoting “a populist movement, a counter-movement” to EU cohesion.

Norvila said he voiced the concerns of Eastern European countries most directly impacted by the war in Ukraine, and Russia’s potential military expansion in the region, saying the influence of the EU in being able to stop the war “is unknown,” but they “hope for peace.”

Europe’s so-called “demographic winter” caused by an increasingly low-birth rate was also mentioned, with Brás da Silva Martins underlining that “Europe needs migrants” to make up for the lack children amid an aging workforce.

Migration is also a question “of European roots that must be respected. So, the human person should be welcomed even if they are not a European citizen,” he said.

Also touched on was the need to accompany young people, and efforts by some countries, particularly in Scandinavia, facing threats to religious freedom such as efforts to cancel baptismal records, which Kozon said is of particular concern in the Netherlands and is a “violation of the freedom of religion” born out of a fear of Islam.

“It also touches Christian churches,” he said, saying parents now fear the push to cancel baptismal records by some will eventually mean they lose their right to freely educate their children in the faith.

Crociata in his remarks said there were many topics that were not addressed, such as gender, but they still covered a lot of ground with the new pope, and found him keen to listen, and to act.

“We found a person who wanted to begin with a great commitment and dedication, which he wants to live with his entire person,” he said, saying Pope Leo wants to be in close contact, and wanted “to listen and to gather everything that is useful for his service.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen

ACI Prensa Staff, May 24, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Cristian Meriggi, an exorcist priest of the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy, shared the five spiritual weapons he uses and recommends to combat the devil and his influence.

Meriggi, an exorcist for almost 20 years and a priest for 27, shared his recommendations on the website of the International Association of Exorcists (IAE), to which he has belonged since 2006.

In his text, the priest thanked his mentor, Father Mario Boretti; Father Francesco Bamonte, vice president of the IAE; and Father Gabriele Amorth, a famous exorcist of the Diocese of Rome and co-founder of the IAE. Amorth, who died in 2016, performed tens of thousands of exorcisms during his lifetime.

“I remember the advice Don Gabriele gave me before we said goodbye: ‘Remember, Don Cristian, that we are good for nothing!’” the Italian priest recounted.

Meriggi also thanked Cardinal Ernest Simoni, 96, who “practiced the ministry of exorcist even before the atheist communist regime of Albania arrested him on Christmas Eve 1963. Today he also exercises his beautiful ministry in Tuscany.”

1. Adoration and Communion

Meriggi, whose guide and teacher in exorcisms was Boretti, recalled something the late priest told him: “Without Communion, one cannot be healed.”

Thus, the 55-year-old priest emphasized that “an intense sacramental life, a love for the Eucharistic Christ is crucial because the Eucharist is the true path to healing and liberation. Adoration and Communion!”

2. Confession

The exorcist also emphasized that it is very important to “live with steadfastness the sacrament of confession. Through it, we find God’s mercy, which not only confirms the forgiveness of our sins but also, with his grace, penetrates deeply into the darkest areas of the soul where our sins have their roots.”

3. An intense life of charity

Another important spiritual weapon in the fight against the devil is “to live, as St. Paul says, as far as it depends on us, at peace with all. An intense life of charity where we think not only of our own needs but also of those of others, praying and working for their good, seeking and giving forgiveness.”

“Live everything, every moment of our life, as a gift, aware that everything works for the good of those who love God, even the most difficult moments,” the exorcist exhorted.

4. Devotion to the Virgin Mary and the rosary

Meriggi also emphasized that it is essential “to nurture a faithful and loving devotion to the Virgin Mary. Let us make the prayer of the Church our own: in addition to holy Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, also the holy rosary. And then there is devotion to the saints and the blessed souls in purgatory.”

5. Use of sacramentals

“In addition to the sacramental life, the use of sacramentals is of great benefit. They are like medicines that, together with the sacraments, help us bring God’s grace into every area of ​​our lives,” the Italian priest noted.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sacramentals “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church.” 

Sacramentals can include crucifixes, holy water, medals, and blessed salt, among others.

Finally, Meriggi emphasized that “the entire life of the Church is medicinal; it is a path of liberation, healing, and consolation, leading to resurrection in Christ, to living our days in love and peace, to ward off or expel from our lives the enemy and his influence.”

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

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 24, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was named the Becket Fund’s 2025 Canterbury Medalist, an award that honors his career-long commitment to religious liberty.

“His Eminence has been a towering figure in the fight for religious liberty, not just for Catholics, but for people of all faiths,” Becket President Mark Rienzi said in a statement. “Cardinal Dolan’s leadership in the public square has shaped the national conscience on religious freedom and strengthened the resolve of those who defend it.”

Becket, a nonprofit law firm that represents clients who are defending their religious liberty in court, awarded Dolan the medal during its annual gala in New York. According to Becket, the honor recognizes individuals who demonstrate courage and commitment to defending religious liberty in the United States and globally.

Dolan said in an acceptance speech, which was provided to CNA by Becket, that he is “grateful” to receive the award. 

“I hardly deserve this high award,” Dolan added. “Yet, I readily admit that you are absolutely [spot on] to claim I am intensely devoted to the protection of our ‘first and most cherished liberty,’ religious freedom.”

In his speech, Dolan said he is in “good company” in defending religious freedom, along with the legal team at Becket and the founders of the United States. 

“They and their parents had come here precisely because they were frustrated in countries where religion was imposed or proscribed, nations where battles were waged to coerce religious conviction, where they were hounded and harassed for their beliefs,” he said. 

“Not here, they insisted!” Dolan said. “This was not the way they, or, most importantly, God intended it. Nothing is more free than creedal assent; nothing merited more protection than religious freedom; nothing deserved more top billing in our Constitution.” 

Dolan said religious liberty is “part of our very nature that cannot be erased” and necessary for the respect of “the dignity of the human person.” 

“Our passion for this primary liberty is not just because we happen to be a believer or a patriotic citizen, but because we are a person endowed with certain ingrained rights,” he said.

Dolan was recently appointed to serve on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, which will create a report on threats to religious freedom and strategies to enhance legal protections to preserve those rights. It will also outline the foundations of religious liberty in the United States.

Previously, Dolan has served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and has led the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty. According to Becket, the cardinal has also staunchly defended religious freedom through testimony before Congress and when engaging with the media.

“Religious freedom isn’t just about protecting what happens in church on Sundays — it’s about defending the right of every person to live their faith openly, every day of the week,” Dolan said. “It’s a gift from God — not from government — and it must be protected for people of all faiths.”

Other members of the Catholic clergy who have won this award from Becket include University of Mary President Monsignor James Shea and former Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.

Past medalists also include Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel; Orthodox rabbi of the oldest Jewish congregation in the U.S. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik; and First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Dallin H. Oaks.

ROME – As with any papal transition, when Pope Leo XIV was elected questions arose about what his priorities would be, and whether he would continue to advance the priorities and reforms of his predecessor.

One of the most consistent questions up to now, as the world is getting to know Pope Leo, has been what his approach to women will be, and whether he will continue Pope Francis’s trailblazing efforts to create more meaningful spaces for them in governance and authority, including within the Roman Curia.

What Leo will do on issues such as women’s priestly ordination and the women’s diaconate remain to be seen, however, he was a participant in Francis’s Synod on Synodality, which led to the formation of several study groups focusing on specific issues, including one on ministries and the possibility of the women’s diaconate.

At the start of the 2024 Synod on Synodality, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), who is in charge of the study group exploring the women’s diaconate, said it was premature to make any sort of decision on the issue, and that it would continue to be studied.

It is unlikely the new pope will make any dramatic moves on this or women’s ordination right at the beginning of his pontificate, but he’ll probably wait to see what the study groups say, as they are expected to complete their first mandate and summarize findings by June of this year.

Even then, it is unlikely he will deviate from the line taken by his predecessor on issues such as women’s priestly ordination, which Francis repeatedly said was a solidly closed door.

In the meantime, Pope Leo has already sent some initial signals that he will maintain the status quo for the women Francis already placed in leadership and expand their presence in the Roman Curia.

Without overinterpreting, within the first few days after his election Pope Leo XIV had a private meeting with Italian Sister Simona Brambilla, whom Francis in January had named prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Religious.

The appointment, marking the first time a woman had been named to lead a Vatican department, caused a stir among canonical rigorists, who took issue with the fact that she was not ordained, as some of her work as prefect involves making binding decisions on members of Holy Orders.

In a nutshell, the argument is that dicastery prefects share in the authority of the pope, governing in his name and as an extension of papal power as rooted in Holy Orders and apostolic succession, which is not open to women.

Francis sought to change this during the later years of his papacy, seeking with his curial reforms to separate Holy Orders from governance by placing more competent laypeople in positions of authority.

Many observers wondered whether Brambilla and Italian Sister Raffaella Petrini, head of the Vatican City Governorate, would be kept in their positions by Pope Leo given the debate over canonical nuances, and it seems that for the time being, Leo is not only intent to do so, but he is doubling down on the inclusion of women in top curial positions.

He decided at the beginning that he would leave all dicastery prefects and heads of Vatican departments in their current roles while he gets to know them and receives summaries of their work.

Not only did Pope Leo meet almost immediately with Brambilla, but during his first public general audience May 21, nearly all of the lectors who did the Gospel reading and summaries of his catechesis in different languages were women, with the exception of the Arabic-language lector.

Until recently, the readers were all men, usually clergy, however, Pope Francis began a shift in this regard and allowed lay people generally, including women, to do the readings during the general audiences.

On Thursday, May 22, Leo made his first significant curial appointment, notably naming Italian Sister Tiziana Merletti, former superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, as secretary of the Dicastery for Religious, meaning the top two positions in that department are now occupied by women.

Sandwiched in between the two is Spanish Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, appointed by Pope Francis as pro-prefect alongside Brambilla as prefect, a move interpreted by many observers as a clear signal that Brambilla was in charge, but that Artime’s signature would eliminate debate over the validity of her decisions.

Merletti, a canon lawyer, is now the third woman to occupy the post of secretary of a Vatican dicastery, after Brambilla’s initial appointment as secretary of the Dicastery for Religious before her promotion to prefect, and that of Sister Alessandra Smerilli as secretary of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development.

Pope Francis in his apostolic constitution reforming the Roman Curia Predicate Evangelium, authorized laypeople, including women, to lead Vatican departments, whereas the positions had previously been open only to men.

Born in Pineto in central Italy in 1959, Merletti made her first religious profession with the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1986.

She earned a law degree in 1984, and in 1992 obtained a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Antonianum University in Rome. She currently works as a canon lawyer with the International Union of Superiors General, an umbrella organization for women religious worldwide.

During Pope Francis’s papacy, the ratio of women working in the Holy See and Vatican City rose from 19.2 percent to 23.4 percent, with many in positions of authority.

If his early moves are any indication, it seems that Pope Leo XIV, in addition to carrying forward an emphasis on the Church’s social agenda, is also intent on securing women’s places and voices at the apex of the Catholic Church’s global governing bureaucracy.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen

Lima Newsroom, May 23, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, and the minister of foreign trade and tourism, Desilú León, have officially launched a new tourism route in the country.

The route, known as “Paths of Pope Leo XIV,” seeks to highlight the places where the Holy Father — formerly known as Bishop Robert Prevost — exercised his fruitful pastoral ministry in the Andean nation.

The route covers four of the country’s regions: Lambayeque, Piura, La Libertad, and Callao, key locations in the ministry of the man who is now Pope Leo XIV, the first Peruvian citizen to become pope.

“The Paths of Pope Leo XIV route will not only include Lambayeque — which we have established as the first destination, since the current pope was bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo — but also the other places in Peru where he served,” the minister explained.

León added that on May 16 the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism established a technical committee to coordinate with mayors and regional authorities the necessary short-, medium-, and long-term actions.

“We need to work together here,” she stated, noting that the goal is to offer visitors not only a cultural experience but also a religious one.

The destinations that will be part of the route include: 

• In Chiclayo: St. Mary’s Cathedral; the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace; St. Peter of Monsefú Parish, where the image of Jesus of Nazareth Captive is venerated; St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Eten City, which houses the image of the Divine Child of the Miracle; and the Cross of Motupe

• In Piura: the Diocese of Chulucanas and the Augustinian Seminary

• In La Libertad: the Augustinian Convent of St. Thomas of Villanova and Our Lady of Monserrat Parish

• In Callao: the diocese where then-Bishop Prevost gave his blessing before being called to the Vatican

The minister said that in addition to churches and religious sites, the route will include other cultural attractions such as museums, beaches, and nature reserves. 

At the end of the presentation, a brief promotional video was shown summarizing the importance of the route and the spiritual legacy of Leo XIV in Peru.

“The route of Pope Leo XIV preserves the memory and the path of the Holy Father: towns, churches, and the faithful touched by his affection, his kindness, and his blessing,” the Spanish-language video explains.

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

‘We stand in unwavering solidarity with the Jewish community; on our campus, in our city, and around the world.’

St. Louis, Mo., May 23, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The people of northern St. Louis continue to pick up the pieces — assisted by Catholic Charities — after a massive tornado hit the city last week, with a full recovery likely taking multiple years. 

The mile-wide EF-3 tornado tore through the northern part of St. Louis on May 16, causing over $1.6 billion in damage and leaving at least five people dead, including a woman who was killed when the steeple of a Christian church collapsed on her. Much of the destruction affected some of the poorest parts of the city.

Father Scott Scheiderer, who pastors a group of parishes located in one of St. Louis’ hardest-hit areas — “right near ground zero” — said many of the residents there are impoverished and lack insurance, making ongoing assistance critical.

“I started driving through these neighborhoods, and my goodness; the devastation. I mean, words cannot describe. It is just horrific,” Scheiderer told CNA. 

“We [at the parish] took on some damage … But I mean, this is total devastation. Words cannot describe some of these neighborhoods. I mean, they’re just totally gone … People have lost their houses. I talked with them. They have no way to rebuild.”

“The call to help, to be the love of Christ in this time, is just so great right now. So we’re just trying to respond as best we can,” he continued.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis will hold a special collection at Masses May 24-25 or May 31-June 1 to benefit those most affected by the storm, with the funds going to Catholic Charities, the St. Louis Review reported. The St. Augustine Wellston Center, a Catholic food bank, is also taking material and financial donations. 

The twister damaged at least 5,000 structures, and Mayor Cara Spencer said Thursday that FEMA operatives have been on the ground in St. Louis doing assessments. The tornado outbreak on May 16 also spawned tornadoes in Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana killing at least 28 people total and injuring dozens. 

Among the confirmed dead in St. Louis after the storm is Patricia Penelton, a longtime volunteer at St. Louis’ Centennial Christian Church who was reportedly at the church bagging lunches to distribute after the storm. She was killed when the bell tower and roof of the 121-year-old church collapsed in the tornado. 

None of the Catholic church buildings in the area suffered catastrophic damage. St. Peter Claver Parish, which has a predominantly African American congregation, lost the roof from its school gym, but crews were able to fix it quickly. Numerous large trees were downed all along the tornado’s path, including all around St. Matthew the Apostle, which is part of the St. Peter Claver Parish grouping. 

Father Scott Jones, episcopal vicar for the archdiocese’ northern vicariate, told CNA that by far the greatest need in the area right now is “immediate assistance to those without homes who are living in cars, makeshift shelters, and other locations. Many areas are still without power.” 

The area where the devastation was greatest is North City, which was already economically disadvantaged, Jones told CNA in written comments. Despite the widespread devastation there, “there is a strong commitment to working together with other denominations and agencies in getting assistance to those with the greatest need,” Jones said. 

“Having served there in the past, I can attest that the faith of the people is very strong. I’ve been in contact with the pastors and parishioners and they are holding up well,” he said. 

“People are volunteering in droves, which is heartening. The greatest need right now is money, however … People are stepping up and hopefully will continue to do so once the initial reporting concludes. We are also reallocating archdiocesan resources. For example, my vicariate received a $50,000 grant for formation and my staff and I reworked our budget to donate half to Catholic Charities.”

Jones said they will gladly accept sanitizing supplies, food, and water for the many volunteers who are pitching in to clean up debris, clear blocked streets, and assist residents in securing their homes — along with all the prayer they can get. 

Jared Bryson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis (CCSTL), told CNA in an interview that the people of north St. Louis he has met with are already referring to the tornado as a “Katrina-level” event, harkening back to the disastrous 2005 hurricane that crippled New Orleans for years. 

He said CCSTL’s director of disaster services has been working with emergency managers, the other voluntary organizations that are part of disaster services and recovery, and other nonprofits at an emergency incident command center.

CCSTL is currently accepting donations to help more than 1,500 individuals and families who have reached out through the Catholic Charities website seeking support. Bryson reiterated that many of the people who lost homes in the tornado have no insurance and little money to rebuild. 

Numerous neighbors have stepped up to help in the wake of the storm, but going forward some of the biggest needs “are really financial,” and if aid is not carefully organized and coordinated, “it really causes more problems than it helps,” Bryson continued. 

Highlighting the long-term nature of the recovery effort, Bryson noted that CCSTL only just wrapped up its efforts helping community members recover from a local flooding event that occurred two years ago. Recovery from this tornado will likely take even longer. 

“We’re the organization that works in the communities to get resources until we can actually get other resources around. Sometimes we’re waiting for the FEMA declaration to help with some of that process. But we still need community resources to really build back the lives of these folks,” he said, with those resources including mental health counseling, given the trauma many people experienced. 

He told the story of one woman he encountered after the storm who had lived in her historic, red-brick North City home for almost 80 years and had no insurance despite owning the house outright. Her house, sadly, is “just gone,” Bryson said. 

“After we get past this initial shock and awe moment, people will lose interest in this story,” he said, noting that especially during the ongoing Jubilee Year of Hope, Catholics should continue to point to their ultimate hope in Jesus to help restore the spirit of a community affected by such profound material loss.

“This is a multiyear recovery, [and] we are there not only in the incidents when it happens, we are there several years later when we’re still trying to recover the community … You’re not going to rebuild neighborhoods and houses overnight.”

‘The boldness to step forward’

Scheiderer was able to celebrate weekend Masses in the church last weekend at St. Matthew the Apostle — part of the St. Peter Claver Parish grouping he pastors — despite the electricity still being out. He said about 10-20 people still showed up. 

“It was a very beautiful Mass … thinking back to Jesus’ words, ‘I’ve earnestly desired to celebrate this’… there was such an earnest desire in my heart to celebrate the Mass because in doing that, I want to make him present,” Scheiderer said. 

“Once we’ve received that saving sacrifice and it’s filled us, now we need to go out and be the love of Christ for others.”

While many of the parish’s members live outside the parish boundaries, those who have lost homes have few prospects without sustained help, Scheiderer said. He said they are planning to set up a restricted fund for community relief efforts that people of goodwill will be able to donate to by mailing a check to the parish. 

In the meantime, the church is accepting supplies like nonperishable food, water, clothing of all sorts especially socks and underwear, as well as basic personal hygiene items, household items like toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies.

“We’re going to have little stations here where people can come and get the necessary items they need. So we’re just trying to do everything we can to help, because it’s bad,” Scheiderer said. 

Scheiderer asked for prayers for his parish community and the whole of St. Louis; his parish community has started praying a rosary before every Mass. 

“We’re praying for all those who have tragically died and all their loved ones mourning their loss. We’re praying for all those who have been injured or hurt in any way. We’re praying for all those who have lost property, personal belongings, especially those of our parish. We’re praying for all those who have just been so generous in responding; first responders, medical professionals, service workers, city officials, state officials, all those who are just working around the clock. We’re really pouring out for them,” the priest said. 

“Then just a prayer for us, as a parish family, that we can really listen attentively to the Holy Spirit and how he’s calling us to help in this time, and that we have the courage and the boldness to step forward and follow God’s will wherever he’s leading us.”

Puebla, Mexico, May 23, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Amid a wave of violence that has shaken Mexico, including the murder this week of two high-ranking officials in the capital, the Catholic Church is redoubling its efforts to restore peace.

Through the National Dialogue for Peace and more than 300 initiatives across the country, bishops, priests, and laypeople are working to train mediators, provide mental health care, and support victims, taking risks and embracing hope, even though, as Church leaders themselves warn, “you can’t dialogue with organized crime.”

The bishops of Mexico, along with various organizations, launched the National Peace Dialogue initiative following the 2022 murders of Jesuit priests Javier Campos and Joaquín Mora. While various initiatives promoted by the Catholic Church already existed in the country, this proposal sought to strengthen all those efforts.

According to the National Peace Dialogue website, over a year and a half, input was gathered in a series of forums from thousands of people and institutions across the country. From this process, the National Peace Agenda was developed, which resulted in concrete commitments. Currently, the organization is working to implement action steps at the local, state, and national levels “to project a viable and shared future.”

Catholic Church peace efforts

At a press conference in Mexico City, Father Jorge Atilano González, SJ, executive director of the National Dialogue for Peace, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that about 300 initiatives are being carried out to reduce violence in the country.

He said, for example, that in the Sierra Tarahumara, in the north of the country, “the issue of mental health among Indigenous youth and families is being addressed.”

In Oaxaca, he continued, “work is being done to train conflict mediators”; while in Monterrey, Nuevo León, work is being done on “evaluating the mental health situation among high school students, to develop proposals on how to address this situation,” among other initiatives.

“Here in Mexico City, we are in conversations with the mayor’s offices to promote processes that include rebuilding the social fabric, addressing addictions, and reintegrating people released from prison. These are examples of what the Church is doing,” the Jesuit priest said.

All the proposals can be found on the National Dialogue for Peace website, which details that these 300 actions are divided into 14 local and seven national initiatives across the country.

During the conference, Atilano emphasized that, despite the danger this represents for members of the Catholic Church who are implementing these projects, “we take the risk of being close to the communities, of accompanying them, and of working to build community and family, so that we have the foundations that will allow us to restore peace to the country.”

‘You can’t dialogue with organized crime’

At the same conference, Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Javier Acero of the Archdiocese of Mexico City made an urgent call to all of society to “work with community, closeness, listening, and concrete actions from the heart of the Gospel” to promote peace.

This exhortation comes in the context that from January through March alone, at least 1,321 “crimes of extreme violence that can be classified as atrocities” were committed in the country, according to the study titled “Gallery of Horror: Atrocities and High-Impact Events Reported in the Media,” conducted by the organization Common Cause.

Faced with this reality, Acero urged parishes and communities to “create spaces for encounter, listening, training in nonviolence, support for victims, and prevention programs.”

Asked whether bishops or priests in Mexico City are seeking to meet with organized crime groups as a way to reduce crime rates, Acero stated that “you can’t dialogue with organized crime. When there’s blood involved, there will be no dialogue.”

However, he clarified: “We mediate. To stop them from killing, I, and the bishops, will get down on our knees. But from here we tell them: ‘Enough is enough. Stop killing, leave the people in peace.’”

“We will mediate for the people of God, but we’re not going to give in at gunpoint. We want echoes of peace and love, not the sound of gunfire,” the prelate added.

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