Bishop-elect Iyad Twal was appointed by Pope Francis on Dec. 17, 2024, as auxiliary bishop of the patriarchal diocese of Jerusalem of the Latins for Jordan and as titular bishop of Siminia. / Credit: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2024 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Dec. 17 appointed Father Iyad Twal as auxiliary bishop of the patriarchal diocese of Jerusalem of the Latins for Jordan and as titular bishop of Siminia.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, expressed his gratitude to Pope Francis for Twal’s appointments and asked for prayers for the new bishop-elect who will begin “a new mission as patriarchal vicar for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.” 

“After years of priestly ministry, he is now called from the very heart of the Mother Church to be a successor of the apostles with the mandate to teach, govern, and sanctify the people of God,” the Latin patriarch said in a statement released Tuesday.

“I wish the bishop-elect every success, and through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, queen of Palestine, I invoke upon them the blessing of Almighty God,” he added.

Twal succeeds the late American Bishop Robert Patrick Maginnis as titular bishop of Siminia. The titular see was vacant for two years prior to Twal’s appointment.

Born in Jordan’s capital city Amman, Twal, 51, was ordained to the priesthood in July 1998 after studying philosophy and theology at the Latin Patriarchate Seminary.

Between 1998 and 2005, Twal served Catholic communities belonging to the Immaculate Conception Latin Parish Church in the West Bank town of Birzeit. He was appointed parish vicar from 1998–1999, then elevated to parish priest from 2000–2005.

In addition to his pastoral activities with the parish, Twal also held educational offices in Birzeit for two years between 2003–2005. He was made director of the School of the Latin Patriarchate and also taught at the Patriarchal Minor Seminary.  

Moving to the northern West Bank in 2005, Twal was appointed parish priest of Our Lady of the Visitation Church in Zababdeh as well as director of the School of the Latin Patriarchate of the same city.

Continuing his association with the School of the Latin Patriarchate, Twal was later made director-general of its schools in Israel and Palestine from 2016–2017. 

Since 2013, Twal has also held prominent positions at Bethlehem University. 

From 2013–2016, he was professor of philosophy and head of religious studies there. He was also promoted as director of the university’s department of humanities and religious studies for two years from 2019–2020. He is currently the department’s executive vice president.   

The date and place of his episcopal consecration to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has yet to be confirmed. 

A family gathers in a prefabricated house donated by the Philokalia Foundation in Kerala state in India. / Credit: Anto Akkara

Bangalore, India, Dec 17, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Amid a lack of government response to the worst landslide in the history of Kerala state in southern India, Catholic groups have responded with programs to help victims of the catastrophe.

The devastating July 30 landslide that virtually wiped out the bustling townships of Chooralmala and Mundakai in the mountain areas of Wayanad district claimed more than 400 lives and rendered over 1,500 families homeless.

Project Vision, a Catholic action group led by Claretian Father George Kannanthanam that serves the blind, leprosy-affected, and distressed from Bangalore, facilitated the recent distribution of half a dozen prefabricated houses, imported from China, to those rendered homeless by the deluge.

“This is a timely and model initiative for the suffering people. I congratulate those behind it,” T. Siddique, a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly representing the region, said after handing over house keys to Lijo Thekkilakattil, whose house had been washed away along with his parents, Joseph and Leelama.

“The government should have done it to soothe the struggling people. I congratulate the priests behind it,” Siddique told CNA.

“I will certainly ask the government to provide such interim shelters without further delay ahead of building permanent houses for the families,” he added.

Kannanthanam explained to CNA: “Our target is to provide immediate relief to the people with these temporary houses that will last for three years until they get a permanent house the government has promised.”

“We do not want to discriminate and are giving two houses each to Christians, Hindus, and Muslims,” the priest said. The network has been setting up shelters for hundreds of houses for distraught families in India.

“I am very happy that we have a house near our church to attend Sunday Mass now,” Thekkilakattil, who works in a tea factory up the hills, told CNA.

“If we had been at home, we too would have been washed away with our parents and the house. Only the floor is left now,” Thekkilakattil said.

“Our parish with just 40 families suffered a big trauma as eight members besides an engineering student who had come to visit his relatives were washed away,” Father Jibin Vattukulam, the parish priest of Chooralmala’s St. Sebastian Church, told CNA. The priest helped identify the beneficiaries for the house distribution.

After its biannual assembly on Dec. 6, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) urged the Kerala government to finalize the locations to start building 100 houses for the displaced under the leadership of the local Mananthavady Diocese.

Meanwhile, the Philokalia Foundation, headed by Muslim convert to the Catholic Church and evangelist Mario Joseph, has already built and handed over 14 two-bedroom houses to distressed families including four on Dec. 7 at Sita Mount, 40 miles from the disaster spot.

“We are building the houses with donations from good Samaritans at four plots, donated by those who responded to our appeal,” Joseph told CNA on Dec. 12.

Due to government restriction on building houses near the disaster zone, Joseph said, the Philokalia Foundation (meaning “attaining bliss through goodness, holiness, and love”) opted for the distant locations.

“Our priority is to provide comfortable houses for the suffering people, and we hope to complete 25 houses by [the] new year and 100 houses at the earliest,” Joseph said.

Aneesh Rangaswami, a 39-year-old Hindu, is “thrilled” with the two-bedroom house the Philokalia Foundation gave to his family of five on Nov. 12 at Sita Mount near Pulpally.

“Though we are in a far-off place, we are very happy. I have got a job as a tile worker here and our three children have already enrolled in a nearby school,” Rangaswami told CNA.

“When we heard the huge thud of earth breaking [the landslide] on the mountains, all of us including my parents ran off to higher places. That saved our lives,” Rangaswami recounted.

“While we were staying in the relief camp, sisters [nuns] in Mepadi school got us connected with this group, offering houses. We could not have dreamed of a house like this,” he said. 

Sumita, Rangaswami’s wife, was equally elated with the “blessing” of the free house and the foundation’s assurance to get her a job soon in the nearby coffee estates, a job she is familiar with.

“The calamity has brought a blessing to us. We thank God for it,” 75-year-old widowed Rosily, who has been struggling to take care of her specially-abled unmarried daughter Philomina and her two orphaned granddaughters, told CNA from the new house they were given.

The Sisters of Charity running the nearby Catholic school connected the family to the Philokalia Foundation.

“Three of our schools were used as relief camps for over a month. We had seen and listened to their misery. So, we knew the needy people closely and have been recommending them for rehabilitation,” Sister Maria told CNA.

Members of the German Synodal Committee meet for their third session at the Wilhelm-Kempf-Haus in Wiesbaden-Naurod, Dec. 13, 2024. / Credit: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Ewelina Sowa

Rome Newsroom, Dec 17, 2024 / 11:40 am (CNA).

Following a series of meetings at the Vatican this year, the German Synodal Committee took further steps toward establishing a national synodal body after the Vatican rejected a permanent council.

At a meeting Dec. 13–14 in Wiesbaden, delegates discussed drafting the composition, competencies, and decision-making processes of a body that initially was proposed to be a synodal council — while facing renewed internal tensions, including the withdrawal of spiritual advisers, CNA Deutsch reported.

Tailwind from the synod

Pointing to the recent Synod on Synodality in Rome, Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, expressed optimism about the latest developments in Germany.

“We feel tailwind for our proceedings in Germany through the results of the world synod,” he said at the meeting, according to CNA Deutsch.

Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), said that the final document of the synod in Rome required broader outreach in Germany: “It needs mediation to the parishes, to the grassroots,” she said during the committee’s third session.

Confrontations with spiritual advisers

The departure of two spiritual advisers overshadowed the recent developments.

CNA Deutsch reported that Sister Igna Kramp from the Diocese of Fulda and Peter Hundertmark from the Diocese of Speyer stepped down following what sources described as “confrontations between participants” during preparatory meetings.

According to the organizing committee’s statutes, the presidium is meant to appoint “two spiritual companions of different genders who are not members of the synodal committee” to provide spiritual guidance and reflection. Replacements were swiftly appointed.

Meetings in Rome

Warning of a threat of a new schism from Germany, the Vatican intervened as early as July 2022 against plans for a German synodal council.

The interventions were followed by several meetings between German bishops and high-ranking Vatican officials earlier this year.

Most recently, on June 28, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandéz, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; and Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, met with a German delegation. 

Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, joined the cardinals.

Bishops Bätzing, Stephan Ackermann, Bertram Meier, and Franz-Josef Overbeck represented the Synodal Way on the German side.

The talks centered on the proposed synodal council: According to a joint press release, both sides want to “change the name and various aspects of the previous draft” for the controversial body.

Both sides also agreed that the synodal council would not be “above or equal to the bishops’ conference.”

The committee now setting up a “national synodal body” is scheduled to meet again in early 2025.

German dioceses will reportedly be surveyed about the implementation of resolutions in February and March of next year.

Pope Francis is presented with a birthday cake aboard the papal plane on the return from his trip to Corsica on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Dec 17, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis, who celebrates his 88th birthday today, has become one of the oldest-serving popes in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history.

Having instituted the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021, the Holy Father is keeping true to his inaugural message dedicated to older Catholics: “There is no retirement age from the work of proclaiming the Gospel.”  

Just this past Sunday, Dec. 15, he completed his 47th apostolic journey to the French region of Corsica to spend a full day with the Catholic faithful and take part in their cultural and pious traditions.

In the wake of the opening of the Jubilee Year of Hope on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, the pope has not put a pause in his work schedule.

In December alone, Pope Francis has met with country leaders, dicastery prefects, and even smaller delegations of Catholic communities who have come to visit him in the Vatican.   

According to Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the pope makes the effort to call the Holy Family Church in Gaza every evening and has become “the grandfather for the children” of the parish who eagerly await his 7 p.m. call.    

“Think about it: What is our vocation today, at our age?” the pope asked grandparents and elderly in his 2021 message for the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. 

The answer? “To preserve our roots, to pass on the faith to the young, and to care for the little ones. Never forget this.”

Since the early days of his pontificate the Holy Father has often highlighted the need to connect the old and the young through “intergenerational dialogue” in order to advance peace within families, the Church, and wider society.

Just months after his papal election, Pope Francis embarked upon one of his first apostolic journeys to take part in the 2013 World Youth Day festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and asked the millions of young pilgrims to thank their grandparents “for the ongoing witness of their wisdom.”

“How important grandparents are for family life, for passing on the human and religious heritage which is so essential for each and every society!” he said during his Angelus address on the July 26 feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne.

“How important it is to have intergenerational exchanges and dialogue, especially within the context of the family,” he added.

Throughout his pontificate, the Holy Father has never shied away from sharing candid stories and memories from his own childhood in his homilies and public audiences. 

Even his third and latest encyclical Dilexit Nos includes seeds of practical faith and wisdom learned from his grandmother who tells him that lies — just like the carnival pastries whose Spanish name, “mentiras,” means the same thing — “look big but are empty inside.”

While continuing to draw inspiration from his grandparents to guide the world’s approximately 1.4 billion Catholics, Pope Francis also expressed his respect and gratitude for having his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI — whom in 2014 he affectionately called the wise “grandfather of grandfathers” — live at home with him in the Vatican for many years.    

“I have said many times that it gives me great pleasure that he lives here in the Vatican, because it is like having a wise grandfather at home,” he said at the time. “Thank you!"

null / Credit: BAUER Alexandre/Shutterstock

Madrid, Spain, Dec 17, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A ruling by the Supreme Court of Spain states that surrogacy exploits the woman who rents her womb and harms the dignity and rights of the children conceived.

The Dec. 9 decision by the country’s First Chamber of the high court determined that “it is contrary to public order” to recognize a ruling by a foreign court (Bexar County, Texas) that validates a surrogacy contract and attributes the paternity of the children born to the intended [contracting] parents.”

The decision is based on the “fundamental rights and constitutional principles” of the Spanish legal system, which include “the rights to physical and moral well-being of the pregnant woman and the child, and respect for their dignity.”

“Surrogacy violates the moral well-being of the pregnant woman and the child, who are treated as things up for sale, deprived of the dignity proper to the human being,” the Supreme Court stated.

This practice also “deprives the minor of his right to know his biological origin” and threatens “the physical well-being of the mother, who may be subjected to aggressive hormonal treatments to get her pregnant,” the ruling explained.

At the same time, the Supreme Court stated that this practice also means “threatening the physical and moral well-being of the minor, given the lack of control over the suitability of the intended parents.”

According to the judges, “a surrogacy contract such as the one validated by the American court’s ruling entails exploitation of the woman and harms the best interests of the child.”

Consent vitiated by payment

The Spanish Supreme Court also pointed out that “surrogacy is a huge business in which the commissioning parents pay significant amounts of money, part of which goes to the surrogate mother.”

This circumstance means that her consent to hand over the child she is gestating in her womb, “given before birth, has been obtained through payment or compensation of some kind.”

Regarding the determination of the best interests of the child in these cases, the Supreme Court pointed out that “it should not be done in accordance with the interests and criteria of the [contracting] parents.”

Nor should it be done because of “the existence of a surrogacy contract and of filiation in favor of the intended parents provided for by foreign legislation.”

The criteria for determining the best interests of the child must be based on “the severance of all ties between the child and the woman who gestated and gave birth to him, the existence of a biological paternal filiation and a family unit in which the child is integrated into,” according to the court.

Finally, the Supreme Court stated that the fundamental rights of mothers and children “would be seriously violated if the practice of commercial surrogacy were to be promoted.”

In the court’s opinion, this “will facilitate the action of surrogacy intermediation agencies, in the event that they could assure their potential clients the almost automatic recognition in Spain of the filiation resulting from the surrogacy contract,” despite violating the rights of the gestating women and the children “treated as mere merchandise.”

The Supreme Court had also previously ruled, in April 2022, against surrogacy.

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

Martín Menem, pictured here on Dec. 7, 2023, the day he was elected president of Argentina's Chamber of Deputies. / Credit: Chamber of Deputies, Republic of Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec 17, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The president of Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, openly declared himself to be pro-life and anticipates that in 2025 an attempt could be made to repeal the abortion law passed in December 2020 during the administration of former president Alberto Fernández.

In an interview with Alejandro Fantino, the legislative leader, who belongs to the La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances) ruling coalition, considered that “the previous [law] can be modified or a new law can be made that repeals the previous one.”

Asked about the possibility of moving in that direction next year, he acknowledged that “it could be,” but “I don’t think we have the numbers,” that is, the number of legislators necessary to pass it.

“I’m pro-life, literally. Without hesitation. A light blue neckerchief supporter from here to China,” Menem emphasized, referring to the color of the neckerchief adopted by pro-life advocates and often seen at pro-life events defending “both lives” in Argentina.

When the journalist interviewing him warned of the social consequences that a change in the abortion law could bring, Menem was firm: “We have dealt with a lot of other interests and we haven’t hesitated about that.”

Ana Belén Mármora, a lawyer, journalist, and pro-life leader, spoke with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, and considered “a fact to be celebrated that for the first time in many years that we have a president of the chamber who is openly pro-life, something that did not happen during any debate.”

Mármora said that Menem’s opinion makes it clear that “we must fill the Chamber of Deputies, and also the Senate, with legislators who respect life from conception and are willing to prepare for a new debate, so that respect for life can make progress in Argentina.”

Toward this goal, she anticipated “the legislative elections in 2025 will be crucial” and expressed hope: “The possibility of reversing [the abortion law] is in our hands.”

At the same time, Mármora said, “there is no doubt that [President] Javier Milei will set our agenda and future debates.” Milei has spoken out on several occasions against abortion, which he describes as “murder aggravated by the bond” (relationship) between the killer and the victim.

However, the government has not introduced a bill on the matter, and last May Milei said the issue was not on the agenda.

María Guadalupe Correa of the organization Frente Joven (Youth Front) told ACI Prensa that every year they see “how the issue of abortion kills not only children but also the mothers and families that we accompany.”

“Since the passage of Law 27.610, we find ourselves in a society that has accepted abortion as a reality and has stopped talking about the issue,” she lamented.

She therefore considered it essential “that the issue be part of the national agenda again, that our officials speak in favor of life. We want the life of all Argentines to be upheld from conception, that hospitals be places that welcome life, where both physical and mental health are accompanied and cared for,” she said.

In this regard, she appreciated that the current president of the Chamber of Deputies “openly expresses his position, giving rise to a new debate.” This, she said, “brings hope to all those who, through foundations or small actions, seek to serve families, mothers, and children.”

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

Participants are led through a prayer for those wanting to receive healing during a healing service led by Father Mathias Thelen of Encounter Ministries at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brighton, Michigan, on Dec. 6, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Jessica Morehead

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dec 17, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A recent healing service at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Brighton, Michigan, offered a glimpse into part of a Catholic charismatic ministry that also takes place in many other parts of the world, according to a priest and a prominent theologian.

On the evening of Dec. 6, pastor Father Mathias Thelen, co-founder and president of Encounter Ministries, spoke to a near-capacity congregation. His talk was preceded by congregational singing and praise music played with a piano, guitars, and drums. There was also a video presentation of a healing service he conducted earlier this year in Brazil.

Before Thelen spoke, Encounter Ministries Director of Operations Rachel Grech put her hand on his shoulder and prayed audibly for him, as members of the congregation also held up their hands in blessing. Thelen started by saying: “This is all about God’s love, so turn to your neighbor and say, ‘You are loved.’ Why am I doing this? Because this makes no sense without that truth.” 

Thelen said the purpose of the evening service was to bring God’s love to bear on “our bodies, our lives.” Paraphrasing Mark 16:15, he said: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature… In my name they will drive out demons … They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” 

Thelen holds a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He authored “Biblical Foundations for the Role of Healing in Evangelization” and has appeared in the documentaries “Fearless” and “Revive.” He also wrote “The Explosive Growth of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity in the Global South and Its Implications for Catholic Evangelization” in Homiletic and Pastoral Review. 

At the service, Thelen said that evil came into the world when humanity rejected God. “One of these evils is sickness, and it was never part of God’s plan. It makes perfect sense that when God sends his son, Jesus, to reign and heal us of sin that he heals us of sickness.”

He called for prayers in the name of Jesus while naming various parts of the body. When congregation members stood up, their companions placed hands on them and prayed for healing. Thelen asked to “pray resurrection life” into those with brain injuries, for example, and for those with terminal illness.

Father Brian Gross of North Dakota told CNA: “I would have told you that you’re crazy if you had told me six years ago that I would be doing this.” An encounter with Thelen encouraged his priesthood and to offer healing services. Now teaching at St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota as director of pastoral formation, he shares his experience of Encounter Ministries with seminarians.

Informal healings not held on church grounds are also frequent in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, where St. Patrick Parish is located. At least one instance was at a dinner event organized by St. Thomas Parish in Ann Arbor last month. 

In an interview with CNA, Mary Healy, a professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and counselor to Encounter Ministries, noted that anointing of the sick, once popularly known as “last rites,” is one of the two healing sacraments offered by the Church. “It is for healing, but over time the emphasis has been much much more on healing of the soul and the healing of sin and its effects.”

She said that other dimensions of healing by anointing were de-emphasized so that it was seen for centuries as “extreme unction” near death. “People saw a priest with his anointing oils would despair because it meant the hour of death was near,” Healy said, adding that there was a rectification of the practice by the Second Vatican Council. She said she knows priests who have witnessed miraculous healings following anointing.

“Prayer for the sick laity,” she said, “has always been present in the Church. It really initiated with the words of the Lord, who commanded the apostles first but then the wider group of disciples to go heal the sick and proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand.” 

Paraphrasing the Gospel of Mark, Healy noted that Jesus told believers to proclaim the Gospel to all creation and that signs will accompany them. Jesus said in the Gospel: “In my name ‘they will lay their hands on the sick and the sick will recover.’”

“The primary place, not the only place, for the healing through the laying of hands by lay Christians is meant to be evangelization. Healing is particularly for the context of evangelization,” Healy affirmed. “Healing is a sign for those who do not yet believe, those who only partially believe, those who are mixed up in their belief system, and those who do not have a rich and profound relationship with Jesus Christ. Healing is a sign that truly the kingdom is here because the King is here.”

Encounter Ministries came as a result of Thelen’s friendship with co-founder Patrick Reis. Thelen told Faith magazine earlier this year: “We wanted to begin demonstrating what the Holy Spirit can do in the Church but also teaching people how to walk in that power, walk in that goodness that God has for the whole Church.” 

Healy is also a theological adviser to Renewal Ministries, based in Ann Arbor and founded by fellow theologian Ralph Martin. It has spread to Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Martin founded  the charismatic Word of God and Sword of the Spirit Christian communities. The latter has been recommended by Bishop George Bacouni of the Melkite Catholic rite. 

Archbishop José H. Gomez held a press conference on Dec. 16, 2024, to present Father Juan Gutierrez, who experienced a miracle through the intercession of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. / Credit: Screenshot from Archdiocese of Los Angeles video

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

When a seminarian was injured while playing basketball in 2017, he had no idea it would one day contribute to the cause for canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.  

Father Juan Gutierrez, 38, then a seminarian at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, got an MRI and soon learned he had torn his Achilles tendon. Concerned about the long and painful recovery and expenses, Gutierrez headed for the seminary chapel the following day “with a heavy heart.” 

As he prayed, Gutierrez felt inspired to make a novena to Frassati. A few days into the novena, Gutierrez went into the chapel to pray when nobody was there. As he prayed, he recalled feeling an unusual sensation around his injured foot.

“I was praying, and I started to feel a sensation of heat around the area of my injury. And I honestly thought that maybe something was catching on fire, underneath the pews,” Gutierrez recalled at a Monday press conference at St. John the Baptist Parish in Los Angeles County, where he now serves as an associate pastor.

Gutierrez checked for a fire, but saw none, even as he still felt the sensation of heat on his injury. The seminarian remembered from his experiences with the Charismatic Renewal movement that heat can be associated with healing from God. He found himself gazing at the tabernacle, weeping. 

“That event touched me deeply,” Gutierrez said.

He was not only touched spiritually, but he was also healed physically. Incredibly, he was able to walk normally again and no longer needed a brace. When Gutierrez visited the orthopedic surgeon, the surgeon confirmed that he didn’t need surgery. The tear that had once shown up on an MRI scan was gone, something unheard of with this type of injury, the surgeon told him. 

“His healing was a miracle. His doctors could not explain it,” Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez said at the press conference. “Of course, miracle is a word that gets overused in our culture; that is not well understood. But the Scriptures tell us that Jesus worked miracles on earth. … And we believe that Jesus continues to work miracles from heaven.”

“And we believe that Jesus hears not just our prayers but also the prayers that the saints make for us,” Gómez said. “Now we have a new saint who is watching over us from heaven.”

Gutierrez said his healing “reminds us that prayer works.” 

“The saints can help us to pray for our needs and that there is somebody listening to our prayers,” Gutierrez said. “God is always listening to our prayers.”

The surgeon’s confirmation was the beginning of a Vatican investigation into the miracle that ultimately led to Frassati’s canonization.

Monsignor Robert Sarno expressed his awe at “how this all came about,” noting that there were many odd connections that led to it all coming together. After retiring from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Sarno was teaching a class on causes of canonization at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, where he met none other than Gutierrez. The seminarian approached Sarno outside of class once and told him about the healing he had experienced.

“When I heard it, I immediately suspected that there might have been some substance to this case,” Sarno said at the press conference, tuning in remotely from New York.

With the approval of the Vatican and Gómez, Sarno began the canonical investigation into the healing. Only the final step remains — a “final consultation” of cardinals and bishops with the Holy Father to approve or disapprove the canonization. Sarno noted that “in a case like this, it’s really truly a formality.” 

Frassati is an example for young people, Sarno said. 

“What we are called to do is to imitate the holiness of Pier Giorgio and pray for his intercession, especially for young people who are so confused today and so looking for answers, to life and to faith,” Sarno said. 

A friend in heaven  

Gómez called Frassati “a saint for our times.” Frassati was born to a wealthy Italian family but had a heart for the poor and the Eucharist. He was known for his good humor and love of hiking. 

“He was a young man who loved life and enjoyed life to the full,” Gómez said. “He was a good friend to others, a good son, and a good brother. And he was a man of deep prayer who taught us to find Jesus in the holy Eucharist and the face of the poor.” 

Frassati will be canonized a saint next year, 100 years after his death from polio at the age of 24 in 1925. 

“Some of his last words were this: ‘I will wait for them all in heaven,’” Gómez said. “I am confident through these prayers, Our Lord will lead many to follow him there.”

Gutierrez shared that he doesn’t know why he was chosen for this. 

“I will be the first one to recognize that God could have chosen a more charismatic, easygoing, and less trouble-stirring person. Trust me, I know, and my colleagues will be able to tell you how true that is,” Gutierrez said. “But as the Scripture tells us, it wasn’t us who chose the Lord. It was him who chooses us. And he has chosen us to bear fruit.”

Gutierrez described the events following the healing as a “roller coaster” of “excitement, anticipation, trepidation, and even fear.”

“There have been moments that left me thinking, how did I end up here? And what was I thinking when I got on this ride?” he said. “But at the end of the day, I am left with a heart filled with gratitude and with awe at what God does in our lives.”

“And I’m also left humbled by the fact that in Pier Giorgio, God has given me not only an intercessor but also a friend.”

“There’s a lot of similarities between Pier Giorgio Frassati and Juan, whether he knows it or not,” Sarno added. “Both of them were very athletic, very young, and involved in sports. And for this reason, Pier Giorgio Frassati was declared as one of the patrons of World Youth Day.”

Wanda Gawronska, the niece of Frassati, shared at the conference her excitement that her uncle will “finally” be canonized next year. Gawronska recalled the challenges that her mother faced as she advocated for his canonization beginning in the early 1930s.

Gawronska read a line from a letter that Frassati wrote exactly 100 years ago on Dec. 16, 1924, just six months before his death. 

“I hope with the grace of God to continue along the path of Catholic ideas and to be able one day, in whatever state God wills, to defend and propagate these rare and true things,” Frassati wrote. 

When asked by a parish school student attending the conference how it felt to be a part of the canonization process, Gutierrez said: “It’s crazy. But it’s a wonderful blessing.”

“Giorgio wanted to spread the faith in God, and this will allow for more people to hear his message that invites us to take our Catholic Christian faith seriously and to be willing to take it outside of the doors of the Church to influence the life of society — because that’s where the love of God, Jesus, and what he brought us is so desperately needed,” Gutierrez concluded.

The custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, lights the first candle of the Advent wreath at the site of the manger inside the Nativity Grotto on Nov. 30, 2024, during the first vespers of the first Sunday of Advent. / Credit: Marinella Bandini

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 16, 2024 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

Leaders of Christian churches in the Holy Land have released a joint Christmas message declaring the joyful news of the Nativity and calling for an end to hostilities across the region. 

“In the midst of these dark days of continuing conflict and uncertainty in our region, we, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, remain steadfast in proclaiming to our local congregations and the wider world the eternal Christmas message of the True Light shining in the darkness: the birth of Our Lord Jesus in Bethlehem,” the Dec. 13 message reads. 

“For in Christ’s nativity,” they wrote, “the light of God’s salvation first came into the world, enlightening all who would receive him, both then and now, and offering them ‘grace upon grace’ to overcome the dark forces of evil that ceaselessly conspire to bring about the destruction of God’s creation.” 

Invoking the spirit of Christmas, leaders of Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Syriac, Armenian, and other churches gave thanks to God for the recent ceasefire on the Lebanese front of the Israeli conflict.

The message further urged that the same spirit “be expanded into Gaza and many other places, bringing an end to the wars that have plagued our part of the world.”

The leaders also called for the release of all captives, the return of the displaced, treatment of the sick and wounded, the rebuilding of institutions, and the restoration of unjustly seized or threatened properties. 

Currently, the Israel-Gaza front of the Middle East conflict remains locked in as Hamas-run Palestinian health officials claim over 45,000 casualties in Gaza since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Additionally, Christians in neighboring Syria now face heightened uncertainty after jihadist rebel forces rapidly toppled President Bashaar al-Assad’s government earlier this month.

“Enduring many hardships, [early Christians] went on to pass along the holy light of Christ’s resurrection, becoming his witness in Jerusalem, throughout the Holy Land, and to the ends of the earth,” the leaders pointed out. 

In the same way, Jerusalem’s church leaders continued, “this ancient path of redemption leads us full-circle to our time, when wars still rage and untold millions in our region and around the globe continue to suffer grievously.” 

“Outwardly, little seems to have changed,” the letter said. “Yet inwardly, Our Lord Jesus Christ’s holy birth sparked a spiritual revolution that continues to transform countless hearts and minds toward the ways of justice, mercy, and peace.” 

The patriarchs and heads of Jerusalem’s churches appealed to all Christians during the season of Christmas and beyond to pray and work toward peace “both in Christ’s homeland and wherever there is conflict and strife.”

“For by together doing so,” they wrote, “we will indeed be truly honoring the Prince of Peace who was born so humbly in a stable in Bethlehem more than two millennia ago.”

A police officer stands guard in front of Abundant Life Christian School on Dec. 16, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. According to reports, a student and teacher were shot and killed at the school earlier today, and the suspected shooter was found dead at the scene. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Dec 16, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

At least two victims died Monday in a shooting at a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, while an alleged perpetrator who police say was a teenager also died.

At approximately 10:57 a.m. local time, police responded to an active shooter situation at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Police Chief Shon Barnes told the media at a press conference Monday.

When officers arrived, they found and began administering help to multiple victims with gunshot wounds, six of whom were transported to local hospitals. Barnes said numerous area officers responded to the attack, adding that his officers had most recently trained for a school shooting scenario “approximately two weeks ago.”

A “juvenile” suspect believed to have carried out the shooting with a handgun was found deceased in the building, Barnes said. No weapons were fired by police, he said.

Calling it a “sad day for Madison, and for our country,” Barnes later revealed that the alleged shooter was a “teenage student who attended the school,” while withholding the person’s exact age and gender and noting that the shooter’s motive remains unknown.

He also announced that of the two victims who have died, one was a teenager and one was a teacher. Two of the six injured victims who are currently being treated remain in critical condition with life-threatening wounds, he said.

Police are engaged in an ongoing “reunification” process making sure all students are present and accounted for and returned to their loved ones, he continued. A local SSM Health clinic — part of a Catholic health care system — is providing space for family reunification, he said. 

Abundant Life, a nondenominational K–12 school founded in 1978, offers its approximately 390 students “academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment,” according to the school’s website.

Bishop Donald Hying of the Diocese of Madison said in a statement to CNA that he is “deeply saddened by the shooting that occurred at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison and mourn[s] for the victims of this horrible act of violence.”

“We stand united with the Abundant Life family and pray for healing for those who are injured and comfort for the families who are facing the heartbreaking loss of a loved one. In these days leading up to Christmas, may the peace, love, and mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ be an anchor for all those affected,” Hying said.

CNA also reached out to the Wisconsin Catholic Conference for comment.

This story was updated at 5:15 p.m. ET on Dec. 16, 2024, with additional information on the shooter and victims.