An aerial view shows rescue teams working at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on April 9, 2025, a day after the collapse of its roof. / Credit: ALFRED DAVIES/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Apr 10, 2025 / 11:12 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday offered prayers for the victims of a deadly nightclub collapse in the Dominican Republic that killed at least 200 people.

As of Thursday morning, a reported 218 people have been killed and more than 200 others injured after the ceiling of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo collapsed early Tuesday morning local time during a merengue concert, media reported.

The Holy Father said he was “deeply saddened” by the tragic events in the Dominican Republic’s capital city and offered his “prayers for the eternal repose of the deceased” in an April 10 telegram addressed to Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta of Santo Domingo.

“His Holiness also extends his heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the deceased, together with his expressions of consolation, his heartfelt concern and his wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured,” the telegram signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read.

While blessing the efforts of hospital and emergency crews caring for the injured and recovering the bodies of the dead from the rubble, the pope also invoked the help of the Mother of God for those mourning the loss of loved ones. 

The pope granted “through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consoler of the afflicted, the comforting apostolic blessing as a sign of hope in the risen Lord.”

On Wednesday, the archbishop of Santo Domingo called for solidarity with the families affected by the tragedy in a video message: “We pledge our prayers for those who have died and we also want to join in with all the collaboration of many brothers and sisters, especially by assisting, donating blood, and trying to remedy this situation for the injured,” the prelate said.

Dominican Republic authorities stated Wednesday evening that it is too early to determine the cause for the iconic nightclub’s roof collapse and they will launch an investigation once the recovery of bodies has concluded, the Associated Press reported.

Emergency Missions volunteers at the Dos de Mayo National Hospital in Lima, Peru. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Fabrizio Caciano

Lima Newsroom, Apr 10, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In one of the most poverty-stricken areas of Lima, Peru, where hunger and hopelessness have long prevailed, a man who once rejected the Church now leads a quiet revolution of solidarity.

After 24 years away from the faith, Fabrizio Caciano transformed his own conversion into “Emergency Missions,” a Catholic nongovernmental organization (NGO) that not only feeds people in hospitals and on the hills but also builds a future by bringing education to those forgotten by society.

His story is a living testimony of how faith in action can transform lives in a country where more than 17 million Peruvians face food insecurity.

Emergency Missions, formed by volunteers from the Santa María Reina (Holy Mary Queen) Parish in the Miraflores district of Lima, has been recognized three times with the Metropolitan Volunteer Award in the religious organizations category.

Caciano, the leader of the initiative, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that the foundation of the mission is deeply Catholic. “We transmit the faith we carry within us, and that also transforms those we serve,” he said.

He also noted that he follows this maxim in life: “What is from God is from God. Trust, let go, wait. Let the Lord surprise you,” remembering that true transformation begins with surrender and faith in divine providence.

A path of conversion and service

Caciano, 55, began leading the initiative in 2016 after a long process of personal transformation. Raised in a practicing Catholic family, he attended Mass regularly until the age of 18. However, the sudden death of his mother and the loss of his best friend in 1989 led him to distance himself from the faith and reject the Church for 24 years.

While studying business administration and specializing in marketing, he accidentally discovered his calling to serve. Through his passion for candlemaking, he began working with the NGO Mundo Libre (“A Free World”), teaching homeless children. His commitment led him to become the director of the Street Educators program, working with child drug users in the worst-off areas of Lima.

‘What kind of Church do you want to be?’ 

His return to the faith was unexpected and occurred in 2013 after a conversation with Marianist priest Víctor Müller. During that conversation, Caciano tried to challenge the priest with controversial topics about the Church.

However, Müller’s response disconcerted him: “You may be right, but you cannot deny that, at this moment, in the mountains of Peru, at 4,000 meters [13,125 feet] above sea level, there is someone carrying a message of solidarity, faith, and hope to those who need it most.”

The priest then asked him a question that would deeply mark him: “What kind of Church do you want to be?” These words were engraved in his heart and began his evangelizing mission.

Caciano admitted that, from that moment on, he began attending Mass and, shortly after, became involved in perpetual Eucharistic adoration. He chose a difficult schedule because, for him, sacrifice is a fundamental part of growth. “Calm waters have never made good sailors,” he told ACI Prensa.

Emergency Doors: First humanitarian aid project

Since 2016, every week, a group of young people and adults has met in the evenings in the halls of Santa María Reina Parish to bring love and food to patients and families in seven hospitals in Lima, alleviating their needs with solidarity and closeness.

“The idea is to provide them with a snack and, above all, company, emotional support, and help. These are people who face uncertainty, often without having eaten or without money to return home. We want to be there for those who wait, anguished,” Caciano said.

This is how the Emergency Doors project, which has delivered more than 400,000 snacks to hospitals to date and currently distributes 1,100 loaves of bread weekly, was born.

“It’s not just about giving bread but about looking into the eyes of those who are suffering, accompanying them in their pain,” Caciano said.

In addition to this project, the Emergency Streets initiative was started during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are going to prepare food to take to people in need, to those who live on the streets, sleep on the streets, and spend their nights outdoors during the winter,” he commented.

Some families from Santa María Reina Parish are participating in the project, which began cooking food to distribute in downtown Lima. Currently, approximately 1,500 meals are provided monthly.

The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization’s 2024 report indicates that 51.7% of Peruvians, approximately 17.6 million people, face moderate or severe food insecurity. This makes Peru the country with the highest rate of food insecurity in South America.

Emergency Pots: Fighting hunger

Faced with this reality, initiatives like Emergency Soup Kitchens have been key to bringing aid to those most in need. During the pandemic, Caciano and his team went to the town of Villa María del Triunfo and, seeing dozens of families organizing communal soup kitchens due to a lack of food, decided to take action, supplying them with essential products.

“For a year and a half, we gave them breakfast supplies,” Caciano said. “We saw children who hadn’t eaten all day, desperate mothers looking for something for their children. We couldn’t just stand idly by.”

This charitable initiative grew rapidly and continues to support hundreds of vulnerable families today.

Currently, thanks to an agreement with the Plaza Vea supermarket chain and in partnership with the prison ministry at the Lurigancho Penitentiary, they manage to collect 3 tons of food per month to share with the soup kitchens in the San Juan de Lurigancho district, one of the poorest areas of Lima.

Emergency Classrooms: Education for the neediest

Over time, Emergency Missions identified another urgent problem: the lack of access to education. During the pandemic, many children didn’t have internet access or the tools to continue studying.

The solution emerged unexpectedly when a friend of Caciano’s offered him a device that provided internet access for 10 people. Thus, the Emergency Classrooms project was born.

“We’ve seen mothers crying with joy because their children can study now. One mom told us, ‘My son wants to be an engineer, but he didn’t have the means to study. Now he has the opportunity to do so,’” Caciano related.

In partnership with Loyalty Bonus, the project has equipped 25 meeting places in South Lima, each with free internet access for one year, tablets, and printers.

In addition, they have set up prefabricated modules in the hilltops of southern Lima, allowing teachers to hold in-person classes with official status. Thanks to this initiative, in 2022 they were able to integrate 100 mothers from the soup kitchens into the school system within their own communities.

The impact has continued to grow. In 2024, 200 mothers returned to and completed their studies, and last year, 60 women graduated from high school with an official state certification. Currently, Emergency Classrooms has seven outlying centers where people can sign up for classes in different areas of Lima, facilitating access to education for those most in need.

Message of hope and faith

Regarding spreading their work, Caciano noted that the projects tend to be discreet in publicizing their work due to their Catholic identity, although he acknowledged the importance of making themselves known.

“We do much more than we show the world, while many publicize more than they actually do. We are present, quietly working. Humility is part of the work, but it is also necessary to make yourself known, because if people don’t know about you, they can’t help,” he said.

For this reason, he invited those who wish to support the outreach to experience it in person. “When someone here says, ‘How can I support you?’ I say, ‘Come. Come, join me on the street. Come, join us at the hospital.’ And along the way, I’ll tell you what’s going on, because it’s a lot,” he commented.

Finally, reflecting on the journey, he reaffirmed that this work has been a calling from God that has grown into a life mission for many. “We have changed lives, not only with what we give but with what we share: hope, companionship, and faith. And that transforms hearts,” he concluded.

To learn more about Emergency Missions, visit this link: misionesdeemergencia.org.

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

Pope Francis with members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in 2019. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 18:11 pm (CNA).

As part of the Jubilee of Hope, a World Meeting of Prayer Groups of the Charismatic Renewal has concluded in Rome. The movement seeks to renew Christian life through a living experience of the Holy Spirit.

From April 4–6, organizers provided formation on “prophetic intercession” and a global meeting of prayer groups was held, attended by people from 70 countries.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Cathy Brenti, executive secretary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS), explained the origin and mission of the service.

In 2017 Pope Francis expressed his desire to create a single service for the ecclesial movement. Two years later, this desire became a reality with the birth of CHARIS, which currently is under the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life.

Unlike other ecclesial bodies, CHARIS is not a public association of the faithful but an entity established by the Holy See.

CHARIS was officially launched on Pentecost 2019 in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican in a ceremony attended by Pope Francis where he also spoke to participants.

Brenti recalled the “triple mission” the Holy Father entrusted to CHARIS on that occasion: to share the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the entire Church; to serve the unity of the body of Christ, the Church, without forgetting the diversity that comprises it; and to serve the poor and those most in need, physically or spiritually.

The executive secretary of CHARIS emphasized that its fundamental mission is “to encourage the entire charismatic renewal to fully live this triple dimension: evangelization, unity, and service to the poorest, as a stream of grace in the heart of the Church.”

‘A stream of grace’

For Brenti, the charismatic renewal is “a stream of grace” where people “experience the Holy Spirit as a person, knowing that, often, people ‘forget’ him and prefer to pray to the Father or the Son.”

“It is also a spiritual inbreathing that allows everyone to have a personal encounter with Christ, even if they are not Catholic or even if they have already been baptized,” she added.

Brenti emphasized that the Holy Spirit “is truly essential and central to our mission. He is the one who guides us and takes us to places we might never have imagined.”

On the occasion of the meeting held in Rome, Pope Francis addressed CHARIS, in which he urged the members of this service “to be witnesses and artisans of peace and unity and to always seek communion, beginning with their own groups and communities.” He also asked that their relationship with their leaders never be “a source of conflict.”

These words from the Holy Father were for Brenti “a precious gift, along with the hospitality” they received at the Vatican: “It is probably the first time in centuries that a group like ours was able to gather in the Courtyard of San Damaso, pray, sing, freely, and have a meeting,” she emphasized.

She said they were also able to pass through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and attend Mass at the Altar of Confession, “which was more than full of people from the charismatic renewal, as there were about a thousand of us. We were allowed to praise the Lord and sing as we are accustomed to.”

“At CHARIS, we are all at the service of everyone, with the aim of fostering communion and peace among all the entities in the charismatic renewal, bishops, and parish priests,” she concluded.

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

The Colorado Capitol in Denver. / Credit: robert cicchetti/Shutterstock

Denver, Colo., Apr 9, 2025 / 17:41 pm (CNA).

The Colorado Catholic bishops are urging state Gov. Jared Polis to veto a bill that would put at least $1.5 million of public funding annually toward Medicaid-covered abortions.

The Tuesday open letter — co-signed by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver, Bishop James Golka of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo — urged the governor “to consider the millions of Coloradans who do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used in the destruction of human life.”

The legislation would require the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to cover abortions for Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus participants. The bill passed the state House earlier this week and the state Senate in March.

In the letter, the Colorado bishops expressed their “deep disappointment and grave concern” over the bill, saying it “violates the dignity of human life,” “disregards the safety of women,” and neglects “the conscience rights of millions of Coloradans who do not want to pay for abortion.”

“Every human life, from conception to natural death, is a sacred gift from God,” the bishops continued. “No act of law can change this truth, nor can it erase our moral obligation to defend the most vulnerable among us.”

The bishops called the bill “a tragedy for Colorado.”

Rather than supporting “life-affirming alternatives,” the bill “prioritizes public funding of abortion at the expense of the lives of preborn children, the health of their mothers, and the conscience rights” of pro-life Coloradans, the bishops noted.

The legislation follows the passage of Amendment 79 in November 2024, which enshrined a right to abortion in the Colorado Constitution.

The bishops cited the financial impact of the bill, noting that “the electorate was informed by the legislative blue book and media that Amendment 79 would not cost the state money.”

A “fiscal note” of the bill argued that the government would save money due to the number of “averted births,” a claim the bishops decried as “abhorrent.”

“Such a statement is an egregious reflection of the inhumane mentality behind the bill,” the bishops wrote.

The bishops maintained that the so-called “averted births” wouldn’t save money.

“The fiscal note drastically underestimates the cost of abortion,” they wrote, noting that legislators used the average cost for first-trimester abortions — and not the more expensive late-term abortion costs — in its calculations.

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, called the arguments for the bill “bad economics and even worse ethics.”

“[T]he federal government subsidizes other health services covered by Colorado’s Medicaid program. Colorado taxpayers pay for only a fraction of the cost of Medicaid births,” New wrote at National Review earlier this month.

“Indeed, contrary to the assertion of Colorado Democrats, covering elective abortion would cost Colorado taxpayers money.”

In his analysis of the bill for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, New found that when state Medicaid programs cover abortions, the number of abortions increases in the state.

In his estimate, if passed, the bill would increase the number of abortions in Colorado by more than 1,800 annually.

Nineteen states allow Medicaid programs to use state taxpayer dollars to cover elective abortions.

The Missionaries of Charity convent located on the compound of Holy Family Parish, the only Catholic church in Gaza, was damaged by rocket fire on Dec. 16, 2023. / Credit: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 17:11 pm (CNA).

The pastor of the only Catholic parish in Gaza is urging world leaders to seek peace, saying that Gaza has “become a cage” amid the ongoing war there.

Father Gabriel Romanelli is the pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza, which has become a refuge for the Christian minority in war-torn Gaza.

The parish complex was converted into an improvised shelter at the beginning of the war between the terrorist group Hamas and Israel, which began nearly a year and a half ago when Hamas launched an invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children and taking 251 hostages. 

Fifty-nine of the hostages are still in captivity, 35 of whom Israel believes are dead. 

Pope Francis has made frequent calls to the Catholic parish in Gaza since Oct. 9, 2023, even maintaining the calls while in critical condition in the hospital. 

Romanelli said the parish was doing “well” but urged world leaders to seek peace in a Wednesday interview with Vatican News.

Romanelli thanked the pope for his most recent call, saying the people “were very happy to hear he was calling.” 

The pope “called, greeted us, asked how we were doing, how the people were,” Romanelli told Vatican News. 

The parish is a makeshift home to 500 people, mostly Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic Christians but also some Muslim children and their families. The pastor said those in the shelter are “OK for now” but that supplies are thin. 

He thanked the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, for his “constant help.” 

“Together with our 500 refugees and our Muslim neighbors from the Zeitoun neighborhood, we are OK for now,” he said. 

But he noted that “everything is starting to run out.”

“Gaza is a prison — it’s become a cage, a giant cage,” Romanelli said. 

“We help everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike,” Romanelli said. “We try to truly be instruments of peace for all.”

Romanelli highlighted the importance of peace, saying that it is essential to “convince everyone, all world leaders, that peace is possible.”

“As long as this armed conflict continues no problem will truly be resolved,” Romanelli said. 

He added that it was important to “persuade in such a way that this war ends with conditions that matter to the people,” for “both Palestinians and Israelis.”

Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. / Credit: Courtesy of Archdiocese of Santo Domingo

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 16:41 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Francisco Ozoria Acosta of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, expressed his profound sorrow and solidarity in response to the tragedy that occurred early Tuesday morning, April 8, at the Jet Set nightclub there. The collapse of the roof left at least 124 dead, according to the latest reports from local authorities.

“With profound sorrow and grief for this tragedy that has occurred in our city, in our country, we join with all the families of those who have died and those who are suffering and injured,” the prelate stated in a message.

“The Catholic Church prays for this situation. We join in solidarity with all those affected. We pledge our prayers for those who have died and we also want to join in with all the collaboration of many brothers and sisters, especially by assisting, donating blood, and trying to remedy this situation for the injured,” the archbishop continued.

After entrusting all those affected “to the Lord and to the Virgin, Our Lady of High Grace,” protectress of the Dominican people, the prelate said that a service will be held later for all those affected.

The secretary-general of the Dominican Bishops’ Conference (CED, by its Spanish acronym), Bishop Faustino Burgos of Bani, offered a Mass yesterday, attended by CED personnel, to pray for all those affected by the tragedy.

U.S. offers assistance 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday, April 9, on X that he and his wife, Jeanette, are “united in prayer as the people of the Dominican Republic grieve the recent tragedy that took place at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo.”

Rubio noted that among the dead are “at least one U.S. citizen and U.S. legal permanent residents, while rescue efforts remain ongoing.”

In conclusion, the secretary of state expressed his solidarity with those affected and their families and emphasized that “the U.S. stands ready to support our Dominican allies amid this difficult time.”

Death toll rises to 124

According to the BBC and the Emergency Operations Center, the tragedy’s death toll has risen from 27 to 124.

Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the collapse of the nightclub’s roof, which occurred while renowned merengue singer Rubby Pérez, 69, was performing. He is among the dead.

Nelsy Milagros Cruz Martínez, governor of Monte Cristi province, died while being treated at the hospital, according to Dominican President Luis Abinader.

Others who died in the tragedy were former baseball players Octavio Dotel, who had an extensive career in professional baseball in the United States, and Tony Blanco Cabrera, 43.

Fashion designer Martín Polanco, known for his Dominican shirt designs and for designing clothing for such notables as Daddy Yankee and President Abinader, also lost his life.

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

Pope Francis greets England’s King Charles and Queen Camilla on April 9, 2025, at the pope’s private residence in the Vatican.  / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 16:11 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis greeted England’s King Charles and Queen Camilla on Wednesday in a brief meeting in which the dignitaries wished each other well at the pope’s private residence. 

The Holy See Press Office said in a Wednesday statement that the pope “met privately with Their Majesties, King Charles and Queen Camilla, this afternoon.” 

“During the meeting, the pope had the opportunity to address a wish to Their Majesties on the occasion of the anniversary of their marriage,” the statement said.

The pope also “reciprocated to His Majesty the wish for a speedy recovery of his health.”

That detail in the statement was a reference to the health concerns the two heads of state have faced in recent months — Charles with a cancer diagnosis and the pope with a monthlong stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital recovering from a lung infection and other health issues. 

Vatican News noted on Wednesday that the date was “particularly significant” for the English Royal Family, being Charles and Camilla’s 20th wedding anniversary and “the four-year anniversary of the death of the king’s father, Philip of Edinburgh.”

The meeting took place at the pope’s Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican. 

Buckingham Palace announced in February that the two English royals would meet with Pope Francis during a trip to Rome. Last month, however, the monarchs postponed their visit to the Vatican at the advice of the pope’s doctors after his extended stay in the hospital.

Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, met a total of five popes over the course of her historic reign. Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022, after which Charles ascended to the throne.

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, New York. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Albany

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2025 / 15:37 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Albany, New York, will undertake a planning initiative in response to a diocesan “financial and maintenance crisis” that the bishop says could result in the closure of “perhaps one-third” of the diocese’s 126 parish churches. 

Bishop Edward Scharfenberger in an April 7 letter informed the faithful that “clergy health and well-being, quality sacramental ministry, consistent attendance, participation and volunteerism, well-maintained properties and assets have been heading in the wrong direction” in the upstate New York diocese.

The bishop said the planning initiative is focused on evangelization and better stewardship of the Church’s assets. 

“If we are to have a solid, long-term future, we cannot NOT act. We are now launching a process in an effort to implement a newly envisioned future for long-term growth and the formation of mission-focused disciples,” Scharfenberger wrote. 

“It is a challenge and an opportunity to rechannel our efforts and resources toward a healthier Church focused on service, growth in our relationship with Jesus Christ, personally and communally, and sustainable for the needs we have inside and outside our walls. Through a prayerful, comprehensive and participatory evaluation process, we can ensure that the mission of the Church is carried forward, not left to decline.”

Scharfenberger said the main objective of the process is that every parish in the diocese will take part in a transparent and honest decision-making process over several months of discernment, taking care to listen especially to the voices of youth and young adults, about “the mission and resources of each parish toward a realistic vision for its future.” The bishop described it as “a process to focus each parish on its mission as the Church, making best use of its personal and material resources.”

Reconfiguration or merging of parishes and the repurposing, closing, or sale of some churches, rectories, and schools “must surely be anticipated” as part of the outcome, he noted, saying they may ultimately need to “realign or relinquish perhaps one-third of 126 parish churches and other buildings, even some of our remaining parish schools.”

“Every resource or asset — buildings, personnel, services, holdings, and expenses — must point to fulfilling the mission Christ entrusts to us,” Scharfenberger continued. 

“The faith and trust of so many have been shaken. We need to focus now on re-evangelization, reeducation, and becoming the mission Church we long for and know we can be. My prayers for you now are for a fruitful and richly blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter season.”

The details of the process in Albany will be “unfolded in weeks to come and launched on Pentecost Sunday,” which is June 8, the prelate concluded. 

Albany is the latest U.S. diocese to announce such a pastoral planning process, joining numerous major dioceses that have announced and completed the processes in recent years including Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 

The Diocese of Albany previously launched and completed a pastoral planning process beginning in 2006 and concluding in 2011 dubbed “Called to Be Church,” which resulted in the diocese implementing nearly a dozen parish mergers in response to changing demographics and a shortage of priests. 

Scharfenberger had previously announced in 2023 his decision that the Albany Diocese would declare bankruptcy, in part due to a flood of more than 400 lawsuits filed during a two-year period under New York’s Child Victims Act of 2019. Nearly all of New York’s dioceses filed for bankruptcy following the passage of the act, which opened up a “look back” window during which alleged abuse victims could file lawsuits long after the statute of limitations had expired. 

Further difficulties arose when Albany’s longtime former bishop, Howard Hubbard, who led the diocese from 1977 to 2014, made headlines three years ago when he admitted under oath that he did not report several instances of alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests, instead choosing to keep the allegations quiet and to refer the priests for treatment. 

Later on, in 2023, not long after an accusation of abuse against Hubbard himself came to light, Hubbard announced he had contracted a civil marriage with a woman. He later died in August 2023 at age 84.

King Charles III and Charles Edward Stuart (better known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”). / Credit: Adam Schultz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Allan Ramsay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vatican City, Apr 9, 2025 / 15:07 pm (CNA).

King Charles III is in Rome this week, but due to the cancellation of his state visit to the Vatican due to Pope Francis’ health, he missed a rather surreal opportunity to cross paths with another “Charles III” (at least according to the Jacobites), who is buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

“Bonnie Prince Charlie” — the ill-fated Catholic Stuart claimant to the British throne — is entombed in marble splendor within the basilica, just a few steps from the front door.

The often-overlooked marble monument in the Vatican is marked by two sorrowful angels and a Latin inscription declaring the final resting place of “the last of the Royal House of Stuart.” Within it are entombed James Francis Edward Stuart and his sons, Charles Edward Stuart (better known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”) and Henry Benedict Stuart. 

James II of England, a devout Catholic, was overthrown by the so-called “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, making way for Protestant rule. His son, James Francis Edward Stuart (James III and VIII), dubbed the “King over the Water” by the Jacobites and the “Old Pretender” by the Whigs, spent his life in exile in France and Italy asserting claims to a throne that remained elusive.

The Catholic Church provided refuge and support to the Stuarts during their exile. Pope Clement XI offered James III the Palazzo Muti in the Piazza of Santi Apostoli in Rome as his residence, where he set up a Jacobite court and lived with his two sons in Rome with his wife, Maria Clementina Sobieska, the granddaughter of the Polish King Jan III Sobieski.

Their eldest son, the much-romanticized “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” led the disastrous Jacobite uprising of 1745 in Scotland, which ended in a rather unceremonious retreat. The younger brother, Henry Benedict Stuart, found his vocation in the Church, eventually becoming a cardinal. 

Maria Clementina was known for being particularly devoted to prayer, asceticism, and charity in her last years. When she died at the age of 33, the pope had her interred in St. Peter’s Basilica in 1735 with full royal honors, including a procession from the Basilica of the Holy Twelve Apostles to the Vatican. 

Maria Clementina’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica can be identified by her colorful oval portrait held up by marble sculptures of a cherub and a woman, an allegorical figure of charity, who holds up in her other hand a flaming heart.

After James III’s death and royal funeral in Rome in 1766, Pope Clement XIII refused to recognize his son as Charles III and instead recognized the Hanoverians as kings of Great Britain in an attempt to engage with the Protestants. The womanizing Charles had had a daughter out of wedlock with his Scottish mistress. He later married but separated without having any more children. The Stuart line died with his brother Henry, the cardinal duke of York, in 1807.

Recognizing their royal lineage, Pope Pius VII commissioned the renowned sculptor Antonio Canova to craft a monument in their honor erected in 1819. It is located near the basilica’s Baptistery Chapel and directly across from the monument to Maria Clementyna Sobieska.

Two centuries later, King Charles III’s state visit to the Eternal City this week has included waving crowds at the Colosseum, a historic speech to Italy’s Parliament, and a photoshoot in front of the ancient Temple of Venus with Queen Camilla to mark their 20th wedding anniversary. 

While the king’s April visit to Vatican City was officially “postponed” at the request of Pope Francis’ doctors, the pope met privately with the royal couple on April 9, the Holy See Press Office announced, exchaninging good wishes on the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary and for the continued recovery of the pope’s health.

It could prove a helpful meeting for the British monarch given the recent statistics that young Catholics have surpassed Britain’s churchgoing Anglican population by more than 2 to 1 among Generation Z and younger millennial churchgoers, leading The Times to speculate whether the Catholic population could soon overtake Anglicanism in the U.K. for the first time since the Reformation.

Participants march at a rally for immigrants and refugees at the Diocese of El Paso on Monday, March 24, 2025. / Credit: Father Miguel Briseño, OFM Conv

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2025 / 14:37 pm (CNA).

The debate over immigration, border control, and refugee resettlement remains a hot-button topic among the general population, including U.S. Catholics, who have a wide range of stances on the issue. An array of policymakers, theologians, and representatives for Catholic aid organizations have shared their takes on the topic with CNA.

In the wake of the Trump administration’s funding cuts, Catholic aid organizations such as Catholic Charities and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) USA have been outspoken in their advocacy for the restoration of aid to their programs, which benefit migrants and refugees. As part of the 90-day funding freeze, over $18 million in federal federal funding to JRS USA was frozen, though aid to select programs has since been reauthorized. Catholic Charities across the country have shuttered refugee services and other programs due to the freeze.

At a JRS USA-sponsored conference late last month, Kevin Appleby, former director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and current senior director of international migration policy for the Center for Migration Studies, weighed in on the divide between the U.S. bishops and the administration.

“I always believe that dialogue is important,” he told CNA. “I don’t think the Church should wait for four years. We have to try to engage the administration as much as possible because by doing that, you can help refugees.” Appleby indicated there are areas where the Church and administration might find common ground, such as in combatting human trafficking.

At that same conference, Washington, D.C.’s Cardinal Robert McElroy emphasized that “we’ve got to remember the call of Jesus is constant, to always be attentive to the needs and the suffering that lie around us, to perceive it, and then to act,” he said, comparing the plight of migrants to the robbers’ victim in the parable of the good Samaritan.

The cardinal archbishop criticized the Trump administration’s foreign aid suspension, describing it as “unconscionable through any prism of Catholic thought” and “moral theft from the poorest and the most desperate men, women, and children in our world today.” While acknowledging the need for border control, McElroy condemned mass deportation efforts and called for legislation that supports “generous asylum and refugee policy.”

Thomistic perspective 

Both St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas have also become subjects of media attention on the topic due to Vice President JD Vance’s recent invocation of the concept of “ordo amoris” in the context of the immigration debate, which then garnered a response from Pope Francis himself. 

In discussing the principle, Vance, a Catholic, said “ordo amoris” teaches that one’s “compassion belongs first” to one’s family and fellow citizens “and then after that” to the rest of the world. “[Y]ou love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” Vance said.

Pope Francis promptly issued a letter to the U.S. bishops in which he stated that “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.”

Offering additional insights on the subject of welcoming the stranger, the president of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, Father Thomas Petri, OP, noted that “obviously, Aquinas did not have the same concerns about immigration since his day was not marked by the globalism of today.”

Petri said the Angelic Doctor’s most explicit treatment of the issue comes out in his analysis of the judicial precepts found in Mosaic law. Essentially, Petri said, Aquinas “argued that foreigners who are just visiting or staying for a short period should be received without problem, [citing] Exodus 22:19 (‘Thou shalt not molest a stranger’).”

However, Petri explained, for foreigners who wanted to be admitted to citizenship, Aquinas pointed out that in those days “foreigners would not be admitted to citizenship for two or three generations.”  Petri added: “The reason this was the case is instructive for us.”

According to Petri, Aquinas believed that “those who want to be citizens need to come to understand and hold the common good of the society ‘firmly at heart’ lest they attempt to do something (even unintentionally) that might harm the society.“

Backlash against refugee resettlement 

As the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Mark Krikorian, sees it, the refugee system has been “so abusive of taxpayers, such a misdirection of resources” that “it may require a blunt instrument, at least at first, to address it.”

Known for its close relationship with the Trump administration, CIS bills itself as a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” think tank. Krikorian himself is a deacon in the Orthodox Armenian Apostolic Church. 

According to Krikorian, the moral debate surrounding refugee resettlement is not just over the amount of money being spent or what services people should be eligible for, but the purpose of resettlement itself.

“This public image of resettlement is that we’re saving lives, when the reality is nothing of the kind,” he said, adding: “If anything, more people die because of the money we spend on refugee resettlement than would if we spent that money on refugee protection abroad.” 

“We did a deep dive into the costs of resettling a refugee here versus the cost of taking care of a refugee in the country they took their first asylum,” Krikorian continued. “The five-year cost of resettling a refugee was 12 times greater than the cost of taking care of a refugee in the country they had taken their initial refuge.”

“The analogy here is that there’s 12 people floundering in the water, and instead of throwing each one of them a life preserver, which isn’t great, but at least you won’t drown, we’re sending a yacht to pick up one of them and leaving the rest to their fate,” he added. “There’s simply no excuse for it.”

While he acknowledged concerns for human dignity advanced by the U.S. bishops advocating for the restoration of the resettlement program, Krikorian also noted that “there is no infinite source of funding for refugee protection.” As such, he argued, the best use of taxpayer dollars for this purpose would be toward helping refugees abroad, “where you get much more bang for the humanitarian buck.” 

A ‘longer view’ 

“I would advise Catholics to take a longer view of Catholic teaching, which does not support open borders or illegal migration,” Chad Pecknold, an associate professor of systematic theology at The Catholic University of America, told CNA. 

“As well, I would remind faithful Catholics that the USCCB is not ‘the Catholic Church’ but a national conference which has outsourced much of the Church’s charitable work with immigrants to NGO [nongovernmetnal organization]-type organizations, many of which work on the liberal principles which have been operative in global humanitarian aid for decades,” he added. This, he said, “is at the heart of the so-called ‘debate’ between the USCCB and the administration.”

Pecknold recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s teachings in Deus Caritas Est, which stated that the Church’s charitable work “must avoid any semblance of becoming an NGO.” Benedict’s teachings were not meant to exclude the Church from becoming allied with federal programs, he said, but rather to discourage it from becoming dependent on government aid.

Notably, in the past week, the USCCB announced its decision to end its cooperative agreements with the federal government for resettling refugees and unaccompanied minors.

Multiple U.S. bishops continue to call on the Trump administration to make a radical about-face on mass deportation efforts, citing Catholic social teaching on human dignity. At a recent vigil march in solidarity with migrants in El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz described the administration’s actions in this regard as “a fundamental attack on human community. On the body. On Jesus’ vision of a fully reconciled humanity.”

Pecknold noted that the Church has been opposed to mass deportations since the end of World War II. Yet then, as now, the Church’s position against the practice has been “under the prudential caveat that nations have the right to decide such questions.” 

“It was never framed as ‘a fundamental attack’ on any of the emotive points the bishops insist upon,” he continued. “I think it’s good that the Church advocates always for the migrant family, for keeping the family together and safe, and when necessary and possible, for returning migrant families to the countries where they are from. But I think Bishop Seitz’s condemnations go too far.” 

The CUA professor also referenced Pope Pius XII’s Excul Familia Nazarethana, the only papal encyclical on the question of migration, in which Pecknold said “the overwhelming concern was to protect the family unit.” 

“Pope Pius XII's encyclical on protecting migrants did not make human dignity hinge upon the absolute rights of individuals who want to cross any border they want, regardless of laws,” he explained. “Human dignity for Pius XII was bound up with the family, and the plight of migrants was keyed to both mercy and justice: Mercy for the migrant family must be balanced with the just laws of nations.” 

For 2,000 years, he reflected, the Catholic Church has served as “a light” to nations on these crucial societal questions, not by acting as social activists “but by encouraging rulers to make ‘justice and mercy kiss’ as far as that is possible in their prudential decisions of civic governance.”