Pope Francis prays during Mass at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Dec 21, 2024 / 15:34 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Saturday expressed his shock at the deadly attack at a Christmas market in eastern Germany that claimed five lives, including that of a child, and left more than 200 injured.

In a telegram sent to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on behalf of the pontiff, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin conveyed the Holy Father’s “spiritual closeness” to all those affected by the tragedy.

The pope “prays for the deceased and entrusts the people to Christ, our hope, whose light may shine in the darkness,” the cardinal wrote, expressing gratitude to emergency responders helping victims in “this difficult moment.”

According to officials, the attack left 205 victims in total, with four adults and a nine-year-old child dead. Authorities reported 41 people suffered serious or life-threatening injuries.

The suspect, identified as Taleb A., a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who had been granted asylum in Germany in 2016, drove a black rental car into crowds at a Christmas market in the heart of Magdeburg, a city of 240,000 people located about two hours west of Berlin.

While authorities are investigating the incident as an attack, Chief Public Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said it remained unclear whether they deemed it an act of terrorism, local media reported.

The Diocese of Magdeburg announced that St. Sebastian’s Cathedral would be open Saturday for prayer and reflection. A memorial service was scheduled for Saturday evening at Magdeburg Cathedral.

Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg issued a statement immediately after the attack Friday evening: “I think of those affected, their relatives, and the emergency services and include them in my prayers.”

The local bishop added, “especially in these days and before a feast where the message of God’s love, human dignity, and the longing for a healed world particularly move us, such an act is all the more frightening and abysmal.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited the city to meet with local officials and pay their respects at the site of the attack.

The German Bishops’ Conference president, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said the “attack in Magdeburg leaves us speechless. The horror, grief, and sympathy are felt today by many people throughout Germany and worldwide.”

The suspect had previously worked as a psychotherapist and, according to German media reports, had been posting increasingly erratic messages on social media in recent months, including threats of bloodshed and “war” against German authorities. In a 2019 interview, he had described himself as an “ex-Muslim.”

According to a police spokesman, authorities had received a criminal complaint against the suspect a year ago. While a preventative intervention was planned at the time — a measure intended to preemptively combat potential crimes — this apparently never took place.

The attack occurred at a location that was not protected by concrete barriers, which have been installed at Christmas markets across Germany following several Islamist terror attacks at public events, including at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people.

Catholic actor David Henrie and his wife, Maria, with children during their mission trip to Guatemala with Cross Catholic Outreach. / Credit: Benjamin Rusnak

CNA Staff, Dec 21, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Cross Catholic Outreach’s Box of Joy ministry has officially reached its 10th anniversary and marked the occasion with a trip by Catholic actor David Henrie to Guatemala to deliver boxes to children there.

Henrie, who serves as brand ambassador for the nonprofit, flew to Guatemala with his wife, Maria, to hand-deliver the “Boxes of Joy” to children living in extreme poverty.

Founded in 2001, Cross Catholic Outreach is a Vatican-endorsed nonprofit that works to provide aid, such as food, medicine, and shelter, to those suffering from poverty in more than 90 countries. It has also recently been named by Forbes as one of America’s Top 100 charities, ranking at No. 42 on the list.

The organization’s Box of Joy ministry began in 2014. The boxes are given at Christmas to children in need, many of whom have never received a Christmas gift before. The boxes are filled with toys, clothing, school supplies, a rosary, and a booklet in the language of the children telling the story of Jesus.

Two years ago, Henrie — best known for his role as Justin Russo in the Disney series “Wizards of Waverly Place” — teamed up with Cross Catholic Outreach and its Box of Joy ministry. 

“It had been on my heart to try to align with a Catholic charity, but I wanted to be very selective and find something that could appeal to my fanbase, because there’s millions of people who follow me and a lot of them have very diverse backgrounds and not necessarily the same faith, so I wanted to work with a charity whose mission is just universal and broadly appealing and authentically Catholic,” he told CNA in an interview.

He added that it has been a “true honor” working specifically with the Box of Joy ministry and helping bring more awareness to that cause. 

From Nov. 19–22, Henrie and his wife visited the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guatemala, which faces extreme poverty with many struggling to provide the basics of food and clean water to their families. Henrie called the experience a “perspective check,” especially for his wife, who had never visited a developing country. He said the experience taught them lessons they are now implementing in their own home with their children, such as simplicity and humility.

The couple was very impressed with “how much these people do with so little and also with how strong family values are in their community.”

Henrie recalled that when many of the kids received their gift, they would instantly turn to their sibling and give it to them. 

“It’s almost like they didn’t even think of themselves,” he said. “Or if they got a piece of candy or something, they would turn to their sibling and give it to their sibling or they would come right back to me and go, ‘Do you want to split this?’”

“That culture is just very beautiful and giving and charitable and you see it all over the place there.”

While there, the Henries met a mother and her children who had just been given a home by Cross Catholic Outreach. Prior to being given a home, the family only had one bed they slept on and when it rained they would pull a big plastic blanket over their bed to protect themselves from the rain. The family was filled with joy as they took Henrie around their 250-square-foot home made of a concrete floor, cinder blocks, and a tin roof. 

“They took us in their home that was just built and the joy in these people’s faces — they were so grateful and they felt so wealthy,” he shared. “And it was such a reality check for me and for my wife … I think a lot of Americans root their happiness and achievements or success in tangible items. That’s not where happiness really is. This is the happiest family on earth and they’re happy that they just have a floor that rain doesn’t get in.”

Henrie added that the trip left an impact on him personally by making him think about “where happiness is really rooted.”

“I saw it in these people and I saw it in what they had — where is happiness rooted — and it’s not rooted in material things, it’s rooted in ultimately your relationship with God and your character, your virtue ... It really isn’t dependent upon your external circumstances, it’s entirely dependent on your internal circumstances.”

Speaking to the importance of giving back, especially as Catholics, Henrie said: “Well, if you take the Bible seriously, then there’s a lot of mention of helping the poor in the Bible.”

“I think one of the beautiful things about the Catholic faith is it is the most charitable organization on the planet and always has been since its inception,” he added. “So, why is that? I think fundamentally it’s because Catholics recognize human dignity as something sacred and they see the human person as something infinitely valuable.”

He also highlighted the “unicity” of the Catholic Church.

“One, holy, Catholic, apostolic — unicity. We are all one,” he explained. “So all of the members of the Church need to be healthy and we need to help those who aren’t to help the body function in a more powerful way and healthy way.”

Bassem Giacaman in his shop in Bethlehem in December 2024. The artisans in Bethlehem are almost all Christians. They primarily work with olive wood. Most of the businesses in Bethlehem are family businesses. / Credit: Marinella Bandini

Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec 21, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Being an artisan in Bethlehem isn’t just a job. It’s an art, almost a calling, a treasure handed down from father to son, but one that is now at risk of being lost.

Younger generations are choosing other career paths, and after two years of war, fathers don’t see a future in the artisanal crafts for their children. They speak of it under their breath, as if unwilling to admit it. Some know they’re likely the last heirs of a centuries-old tradition.

“I am 54 years old. My biggest mistake was to invest all my money in my family business,” Jack Giacaman, a descendant of one of the most important artisan families in Bethlehem, told CNA. His shop faces Milk Grotto Street, the artisans’ street, just a few steps from the sanctuary of the same name. “I have two daughters. I tried to make them see the world from other perspectives, not to kill their future in this corner of the world.”

“They are not thinking about working in our family business,” Giacaman continued. “And so also my cousin’s children: They moved to the medical field, they’re engineers, but they are not thinking about working in this business or staying in this country.”

Most of the businesses in Bethlehem are family businesses, and all of them are operating at a loss. 

“Families try to cover the losses from their private assets, but it is no longer affordable,” Giacaman explained. “At the end, people are running away, they go abroad, and unfortunately among them there are many Christians.”

One of Giacaman’s brothers moved to the U.S., another went to Dubai. “I grew up in a Catholic school, we were 55 students — six were Muslims, 39 Christians, among which were eight girls. Who stayed in the country? The Muslim guys, two girls, and me. All the others moved abroad; their children don’t have any kind of connection with Bethlehem anymore.”

The only one who has gone the opposite route is his cousin Bassem Giacaman, who came a few years ago from New Zealand to manage the family business, which is next to Giacaman’s. 

In Bassem’s workshop, cobwebs cover two large statues, the wood is eaten by worms, and in the shop, the lights shine on products no one comes to buy. Despite everything, he said he wouldn’t go back.

“I came back to take care of the family business,” he explained. “I don’t want to sell the workshop because here is our history — my father’s, my grandfather’s, and others before me. Here is our history as Christians of Bethlehem.”

“We take it day by day,” he continued. “We try to sell online, and in this way, we get by, but shipping costs keep going up. I’m not looking for donations; I just want to work and provide jobs for my workers.”

The artisans in Bethlehem are almost all Christians. They primarily work with olive wood. The logs stacked in their storage spaces, shaped by their hands and in their workshops, are transformed into crosses, Nativity scenes, Nativity figures, and Christmas decorations.

Today, many of those items are covered in dust on store shelves, workshop machinery sits idle most of the time, the workforce has been halved, and the remaining workers usually only work two or three days a week — there simply isn’t enough work for everyone.

Those who can, try to sell online, surviving thanks to some orders from abroad, but rising taxes, tariffs, and increasingly restrictive laws make everything more complicated.

Next to the Basilica of the Nativity, Roni Tabash continues to run the family business, one of the best-known in the city. Next year it will be 100 years since the store has been selling handmade items crafted by local artisans. “We provide employment for 25 families, over a hundred people,” he told CNA.

At the threshold of the shop’s entrance, Tabash looks at the empty streets around the Church of the Nativity. “Last year, we hoped that after Christmas the war would be over, but it’s still not finished. It’s getting worse; pilgrims no longer come to Bethlehem. People are struggling and not buying. For us artisans, the situation is really difficult,” he shared.

His father, Victor, who is 80 years old, was also in the shop, having just returned home a few days ago after a long hospital stay. “As soon as it was possible, he came to the shop; it’s his life,” Tabash said. “This will be his 61st Christmas at the shop. I sometimes say that we don’t need to stay open every day, but he says we must open, for hope.”

Tabash will celebrate Christmas with his family. “As Christians, we want to celebrate Christmas because, for us, Christmas is a light in the night. This is our faith, which is stronger than anything. But we hope for peace, because our future and that of our children is at risk.”

Under the arcade of Manger Square, the shutters of the souvenir shops are all down.

“I can still work in my workshop,” Robert Giacaman, a relative of Bassem and Jack, told CNA. “We get some requests, but not like before. We try to give work to our employees. Many can no longer support their families or their children’s education... an entire generation is being lost.”

Robert took CNA through his workshop to explain how a Nativity scene is created. “We buy the wood from the Ramallah area because the olive trees there are larger. After selecting the wood, we rough out the trunk with a saw and cut pieces to the size needed for the figure. We use a pantograph for the coarser work and routers for the details. Then there’s the sanding and polishing phase.”

An all-around artist — he is also a painter and sculptor — Robert brings artistic ideas into his craftsmanship. “I always give my workers instructions: how to work, pay attention to the grain of the wood, and how to finish the pieces. I try to make them sensitive to this artistic side.”

He is also active in Christian associations, particularly with the Catholic Scouts of the Holy Land. This is why he experiences the preparation for Christmas with special intensity.

“We want to show Christians around the world that we live Christmas in any situation we find ourselves in,” he said. “These past two years have been quite sad, but in our hearts, there is the joy of Christmas. We want to send a message of peace to the world, because peace must start from the city where Christ was born. I hope that this year, Christmas brings peace to the whole world.”

Pope Francis addresses cardinals and senior Vatican officials during his annual Christmas speech to the Roman Curia, Dec. 21, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Dec 21, 2024 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis delivered two Christmas messages at the Vatican on Saturday, warning against gossip’s “destructive effects” while celebrating the importance of family life and humble service.

“An ecclesial community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony to the extent that its members walk in the way of humility, refusing to think and speak ill of one another,” the pope said in his annual Christmas address to the Roman Curia on Dec. 21.

The pope warned that gossip “damages social bonds, poisons hearts, and leads nowhere,” as he addressed cardinals and senior Vatican officials. He urged them to practice self-accusation rather than accusation of others, drawing on the teachings of early Christian spiritual masters.

The Vatican announced late Saturday that due to inclement weather and cold symptoms that manifested in recent days, Pope Francis will lead the Sunday Angelus prayer from the chapel of Casa Santa Marta rather than the usual Apostolic Palace window, also in view of next week's commitments.

Before beginning his reflection on Dec. 21, the pontiff addressed the ongoing conflict in Gaza, deploring suffering and “cruelty.”

Praying together during Christmas season

In a separate address to Vatican employees and their families, the pope compared Vatican City to “a large beehive” bustling with activity in its streets, courtyards, corridors and offices. He thanked those working and unable to attend the gathering but made it possible.

The pope emphasized the theological virtue of humility, connecting it to the mystery of the Incarnation and particularly the Lord’s birth. He encouraged Vatican workers to see their daily tasks as participating in “the hidden Nazareths of your particular tasks” that help bring humanity to Christ.

Speaking to employees and their families gathered in the Paul VI Hall, Francis stressed the importance of family life, particularly urging attention to grandparents. “Do you visit your grandparents? Are your grandparents living in the family, or do they live in a retirement home without anyone visiting them?” the pope asked.

He encouraged families to pray together during the Christmas season, particularly before the Nativity scene. “Without prayer one does not go forward, not even in the family,” Francis said. “Teach your children to pray.”

The pope described the Roman Curia as a “workshop” where various roles contribute to spreading God’s blessings throughout the world. He emphasized that humble service reflects “the way of God Himself, who in Jesus condescends to share in our human condition.”

Former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro and 35 other people, including a Catholic priest, were charged by the country's Federal Police on Nov. 21, 2024, on suspicion of the crimes of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. / Credit: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/Agência Brasil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brasilia, Brazil, Dec 21, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The Brazilian Commission for Justice and Peace and the National Council of the Laity of Brazil, both organs of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), are spearheading a petition calling on the authorities to “hold all perpetrators of violence against the Democratic State of Law legally, rigorously, and exemplarily accountable, so that coup attempts against the Brazilian people are never articulated again in this country.”

The document rejects “any initiative aimed at the impunity of the coup plotters” who allegedly planned, in 2022, to prevent the inauguration of then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 

The Dec. 15 document bears the signatures of pastoral commissions of several dioceses, grassroots ecclesial communities, religious orders, diocesan justice and peace commissions, lay organizations of environmentalists, feminists, professional associations, Workers’ Party chapters, and the Socialism and Freedom Party (Psol). Altogether, the document has more than 400 signatories. 

The document begins by quoting an excerpt (No. 208) from Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti. “We need to learn how to unmask the various ways that the truth is manipulated, distorted, and concealed in public and private discourse. What we call ‘truth’ is not only the reporting of facts and events, such as we find in the daily papers. It is primarily the search for the solid foundations sustaining our decisions and our laws.”

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and 35 other people were charged by the Federal Police on Nov. 21 on suspicion of the crimes of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état, and criminal organization.

According to the federal police, the goal of the coup plotters was to kill then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The action, called “Green and Yellow Dagger,” would be carried out on Dec. 15, 2022, by military personnel trained in Special Forces.

For the CNBB bodies, “Brazil cannot live passively with successive attempts at a coup against democracy by sectors of the military, business elites, and landowners, bankers, political reactionaries, business media and religious fundamentalists (such as some Catholic priests named in the Federal Police investigation and representatives of evangelical pastors who manipulate religion in association with the far right).”

The only Catholic priest among the 36 indicted by the Federal Police in their investigation is Father José Eduardo de Oliveira e Silva from the Diocese of Osasco. He is accused of participating in a meeting with two of the other accused. The priest has 435,000 followers on Instagram and YouTube videos with more than 7 million views.  

According to the document’s signatories, “the participation of figures from the political, economic and religious elites in association with some of the high-ranking military personnel of the Armed Forces in coups in the past and present makes explicit the authoritarian relationship that sustains the power structures in our country.”

At the end of the note, they call on “sectors of civil society, class entities that defend and fight for the Democratic Rule of Law …, religious entities (such as the CNBB, churches, and traditions that do not align themselves with the far right), unions, social movements, and other living organizations to publicly demonstrate that in Brazil there is not, and will not be, room for those who attack democracy.”

“To those who call themselves Christians it is imperative to remember: True Christian ethics points out that omission and connivance are just as serious as the sin of the intentional act,” the document states.

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

Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg in Germany. / Credit: Magdeburg Diocese

CNA Newsroom, Dec 21, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

The president of the German Bishops’ Conference and the local bishop of Magdeburg have expressed their shock and offered prayers after a car attack at a Christmas market in eastern Germany on Friday left five people dead and more than 200 injured.

The “attack in Magdeburg leaves us speechless. The horror, grief, and sympathy are felt today by many people throughout Germany and worldwide,” Bishop Georg Bätzing said, CNA Deutsch reported.

“Our thoughts and prayers are in Magdeburg during these hours. As churches, we mourn with the relatives of the victims of this terrible attack and pray for the injured and the deceased, as well as for their relatives who now fear for their loved ones.”

Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg issued a statement immediately after the attack on Friday evening local time: “I think of those affected, their relatives, and the emergency services and include them in my prayers.”

The local bishop added: “Especially in these days and before a feast where the message of God’s love, human dignity, and the longing for a healed world particularly move us, such an act is all the more frightening and abysmal.”

Feige also emphasized that the attack presented “a challenge for our society to counter any extremism even more decisively and to work even more for peaceful coexistence.”

In his joint statement with the Lutheran organization EKD, Bätzing expressed gratitude to the “committed emergency services who have been caring for the injured since yesterday and are working under high pressure to clarify what happened, as well as to the emergency chaplains who are standing by the people in this moment and accompanying the traumatized.”

Suspect came from Saudi Arabia

The attack took place shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday when a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia drove a black rental car into crowds at a Christmas market in the heart of Magdeburg, a city of 240,000 people about two hours west of Berlin by car.

The suspect, identified as Taleb A., came to Germany in 2006 and had at one time worked as a psychotherapist, according to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. He had been granted indefinite leave to remain in Germany after applying for asylum, citing threats in his home country.

In a 2019 interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau, the suspect had described himself as an “ex-Muslim.”

German media on Saturday reported that the man had acted increasingly erratically on social media in recent months, threatening bloodshed and “war” on German authorities.

The Diocese of Magdeburg announced that St. Sebastian’s Cathedral would be open for prayer and reflection on Saturday. A memorial service will be held at Magdeburg Cathedral on Saturday at 7 p.m., local broadcaster MDR reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited the city earlier in the day to meet with local officials and pay their respects at the site of the attack.

The Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 21, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The rite of opening the Holy Doors of the main basilicas of Rome to inaugurate the 2025 Jubilee Year is perhaps one of the most solemn events of the Catholic Church, with centuries of tradition.

The pilgrimage to the Holy Doors of the papal basilicas in Rome is a central act of the jubilee. Passing through them during the holy year symbolizes entry into a new life in Christ and the beginning of a journey of conversion.

On Dec. 24 at 7 p.m. local time, Pope Francis will open the first and most important of them, that of St. Peter’s Basilica, beginning the Jubilee of Hope 2025, in which 30 million people are expected to participate. Later that evening he will celebrate Christmas Mass, the Nativity of Our Lord.

With this gesture, the faithful around the world are invited to experience a renewed encounter with the “Lord Jesus, ‘door’ of salvation; with him, whom the Church has the mission to announce always, everywhere, and to everyone as ‘our hope,’” says the bull of convocation of the Jubilee 2025.

On Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door in the Rebibbia prison in Our Father church.

In order to become a “pilgrim of hope,” the pope will go to the Rebibbia prison to fulfill the recommendations contained in the bull Spes Non Confundit (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”) “to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.”

In particular, the bull mentions “prisoners who, deprived of their freedom, daily feel the harshness of detention and its restrictions, lack of affection, and, in more than a few cases, lack of respect for their persons.”

On Sunday, Dec. 29, the Holy Door of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran Basilica, will open, which on Nov. 9 celebrated the 1,700th anniversary of its dedication.

On Jan. 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Pope Francis will also open the Holy Door of St. Mary Major Basilica.

The last door to open will be that of the fourth main basilica of the Eternal City, St. Paul Outside the Walls, on Jan. 5.

These latter will close on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, while the jubilee will officially conclude on Jan. 6, 2026, with the closing of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

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

Exiled Bishop Rolando Álvarez speaks at a Mass in Seville, Spain, on Dec. 19, 2024. / Credit: Padre Erick Díaz

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

In his first public Mass, celebrated in Seville province, Spain, Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who has been living in exile in Rome since January, prayed for his “beloved Nicaragua” and offered his pectoral cross to Our Lady of Sorrows.

“For me it is a pleasure, a joy, and above all a blessing to be celebrating among you this holy Eucharist in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows, in the memory of Our Lady of Hope, Our Expecting Lady, of sweet waiting, and I must also say, on the eve of the 100 years of the canonical foundation of my blessed and beloved Diocese of Matagalpa in Nicaragua,” the prelate said in his homily.

The Diocese of Matagalpa was founded on Dec. 19, 1924, during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI.

“We pray for you in this beautiful town of wonderful people and for our beloved Nicaragua,” added the bishop of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of Estelí, as seen in a video by 100% Noticias Nicaragua.

In Our Lady of the Orchards Parish in the town of Puebla de Los Infantes in Seville province, the Nicaraguan bishop recalled in his homily some passages from Pope Francis’ letter earlier this month to the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which is suffering tenacious persecution by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and “co-president,” Rosario Murillo.

“Don’t forget the loving providence of the Lord that accompanies us and is the only central guide, precisely in the most difficult moments when it becomes humanly impossible to understand what God wants from us, we are called not to forget his care and mercy,” the Holy Father said in the text read by Álvarez.

“Be certain that faith and hope perform miracles. Let us turn our gaze to the Immaculate Virgin: She is the shining witness of this trust; you have always experienced her eternal protection in all your needs and you have shown your gratitude with a very beautiful and spiritually rich religiosity,” the pontiff added in the cited text.

Álvarez also read a passage from the 2020 letter Patris Corde, which Pope Francis wrote for the Year of St. Joseph: “In every situation, Joseph declared his own ‘fiat,’ like those of Mary at the Annunciation and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. … The Gospel tells us that God always manages to save what is important, on the condition that we have the same creative courage as the carpenter of Nazareth, who knew how to transform a problem into an opportunity, always putting his trust in providence first.”

To conclude his homily, the bishop prayed that “Mary, Our Lady of Hope, Our Lady of Sorrows, would keep us expectant for the imminent coming of her son. Amen.”

The pectoral cross for Our Lady of Sorrows

At the end of the Mass, Álvarez offered his pectoral cross, one of the distinctive symbols of the bishops of the Catholic Church, to Our Lady of Sorrows as represented by her image in the church.

“I want to make this gesture of love, leaving the Sorrowful Virgin my pectoral cross, and I would like all my faithful from Matagalpa, from the countryside, and the city to be able to contemplate this, telling them that from La Puebla de los Infantes I am praying for them,” the prelate said.

“And I am making this gesture of love for them, for the Lord, for the Church, for the Most Holy Virgin. I hope that the Brotherhood of Our Lady will keep this pectoral cross in her hands, in a place where you believe it is appropriate, on this date that is memorable for us, very memorable,” he emphasized.

Who is Bishop Rolando Álvarez?

Beginning on Aug. 4, 2022, Álvarez was confined to his residence by Nicaraguan riot police. He was accompanied by several priests, seminarians, and a layman.

Two weeks later, when they had almost run out of food, the police broke into the house and abducted Álvarez, taking him to Managua, the country’s capital.

In the midst of a controversial trial, the dictatorship sentenced him on Feb. 10, 2023, to 26 years and four months in prison, accusing him of being a “traitor to the country.” He was held in La Modelo prison where political prisoners are sent.

One day before being sentenced, Álvarez had refused the chance to board a plane carrying more than 200 political prisoners to be deported to the United States.

The bishop was finally deported to Rome on Jan. 14 through Vatican mediation, along with the bishop of Siuna, Isidoro Mora, other priests, and seminarians.

By decision of Pope Francis, Álvarez was one of the members of the Synod of Synodality held in October in the Vatican.

More detailed information on the life and struggles of the bishop can be found here.

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

Vandalism at a Heartbeat of Miami pregnancy center in Hialeah, Florida, July 3, 2022. / Credit: Heartbeat of Miami

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

A Florida woman was convicted on Thursday for conspiracy targeting pro-life pregnancy resource centers, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday. 

Gabriella Oropesa was convicted “for her role in a conspiracy to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate employees of pro-life pregnancy help centers in the free exercise of the right to provide and seek to provide reproductive health services,” read the Dec. 20 DOJ press release. 

Oropesa was convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which has been used in the past to allegedly target pro-life activists for blocking clinic entrances. The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.” 

Many pro-life activists have been sentenced under the FACE Act in recent years, including several elderly people, a young mother, and a Catholic priest. House Republican lawmakers discussed repealing the FACE Act earlier this week after hearing testimony alleging the law has been weaponized against pro-life protesters.

Oropesa and three co-conspirators had vandalized pregnancy health centers that provided alternatives to abortion with threatening messages. Caleb Freestone, Amber Stewart-Smith, and Annarella Rivera previously pleaded guilty for their involvement.

The four had vandalized a series of pro-life pregnancy help centers in Florida, spray-painting threatening messages such as “If abortions aren’t safe than niether [sic] are you,” “YOUR TIME IS UP!!”, “WE’RE COMING for U,” and “We are everywhere.” 

“The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is clear: No one should have to face threats and intimidation just for doing their job,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. 

“The Justice Department will continue to ensure access to the full spectrum of reproductive health services afforded to the public, whether those services include abortion or counseling on alternatives to abortion,” Clarke continued. 

U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida reiterated that reproductive health clinic access is protected by federal law.  

“Federal law protects providers who render reproductive health care and those who seek their services,” Handberg said in a statement. “Threats of violence against pregnancy resource centers or those exercising their rights to care will not be tolerated.”

A sentence hearing is scheduled for March 19, 2025. Oropesa will face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charge, according to the DOJ. 

The case involved investigation from the FBI’s Tampa field office as well as local police departments.  

At one pregnancy center in Hialeah, Florida, Heartbeat of Miami, the vandalism resulted in thousands of dollars in damages. The Archdiocese of Miami’s Hollywood pregnancy center and the South Broward Pregnancy Help Center, located just north of Miami, were also targeted. At South Broward, the words “Jane’s revenge” and an anarchist symbol were also graffitied on the property.

French artist Claire Tabouret poses following a press conference after winning with The Atelier Simon-Marq, the selection to create new stained-glass windows in six chapels of the south aisle of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in Paris on Dec. 18, 2024. / Credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Designs for six new stained-glass windows at Notre Dame have been revealed for the first time, two weeks after the historic cathedral reopened following a devastating fire in April 2019.

The windows in six chapels on the southern side of the cathedral will be replaced with new windows designed by modern French painter Claire Tabouret. According to a report from RTE, the French state is paying $4 million to install the windows, which will be made by French stained-glass maker Simon-Marq.

The original windows, created in the 19th century by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, had escaped the fire without damage. Several historic preservation groups have protested President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to replace them, including Sites et Monuments and Tribune de l’art, whose site manager launched a petition against the new windows that has garnered 244,833 signatures.

Born in France in 1981, Tabouret graduated from École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2006. Her paintings and sculptures have been featured in museums across the globe in France, Hong Kong, and Venice. She has also collaborated with luxury designers such as Dior. Tabouret currently lives and works in Los Angeles, according to her website. 

Tabouret’s turquoise, pink, yellow, and red windows feature images of people from various cultural backgrounds celebrating Pentecost. 

In response to debates surrounding modernist updates to the historic Catholic cathedral, Tabouret stated during a press conference at the cathedral: “I’ve read about different opinions of people because I want to understand their arguments and also to take an approach that is open and two-way.” 

“I find it a fascinating debate,” she said. “We need to remain in movement, we need to be confident in our era and show confidence in contemporary artists.” 

The doors of the newly restored Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral were officially reopened to the public during a ceremony on Dec. 7, just over five years after a blaze ravaged the iconic structure’s roof, frame, and spire.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai of Antioch were among the 170 bishops from France and around the world who attended the ceremony, which featured a message from Pope Francis, who did not travel for the occasion.

The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Friday blessed the Nativity scene at the historic French landmark church ahead of the first Christmas celebrations since its restoration. 

“You know, for the past 10 days, we’ve been feeling very joyful,” stated Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas during the ceremony. “My greatest joy is to see people happy because they have a cathedral again, not only because they see these stones again but also because it’s a place for prayer that they got back.”

The windows are expected to be installed in 2026.