Pope Leo XIV speaks to participants in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies on Oct. 24, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 27, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV drew laughter and applause on Oct. 24 when he recalled asking his mother in the 1970s whether she wanted equality with men. “No,” she replied, “because we’re already better.”

The pope shared the memory during a discussion on the role of women in the Church at the opening of the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, a three-day gathering for representatives involved in implementing the global synodal process.

The story, he explained, came from a time when debates about equality between men and women were just beginning to take hold in his native United States. His mother’s response, he said, was not a joke but an affirmation of women’s distinctive gifts. “There are many gifts that women have,” he added, recalling their vital roles in family and parish life.

Pope Leo then described a community of sisters in Peru whose charism is to serve where there are no priests. “They baptize, assist at marriages, and carry out a wonderful missionary work that is a testimony even for many priests,” he said.

But the pope warned that in many parts of the world, cultural barriers still prevent women from exercising their rightful roles.

“Not all bishops or priests want to allow women to exercise what could very well be their role,” he said. “There are cultures where women still suffer as if they were second-class citizens.”

The task of the Church, he added, is to help transform those cultures “according to the values of the Gospel,” so that discrimination can be eliminated and “the gifts and charisms of every person are respected and valued.”

Turning to the wider synodal process, the pope insisted that synodality “is not a campaign, it is a way of being and a way of being for the Church.” He said the goal is not to impose a “uniform model” but to foster a spirit of conversion and communion through listening and mission.

Responding to questions from representatives of the Church in Africa, Oceania, and North America, Pope Leo emphasized the importance of patience and formation.

“Not all things move at the same rhythm or speed,” he said. “Oftentimes, the resistances come out of fear and lack of knowledge.” Without proper formation, he warned, “there are going to be resistances and a lack of understanding.”

On the environment, he called for courage in responding to the “cry of the earth,” urging Catholics not to remain passive but to “raise our voice to change the world and make it a better place.”

Pope Leo XIV celebrates a Mass of episcopal consecration at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 26, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 26, 2025 / 18:24 pm (CNA).

Bishops should be humble servants and men of prayer — not possession, Pope Leo XIV said at a Mass to consecrate a new bishop on Sunday.

“This is the first lesson for every bishop: humility. Not humility in words but that which dwells in the heart of those who know they are servants, not masters; shepherds, not owners of the flock,” the pontiff said Oct. 26.

The pontiff personally consecrated Monsignor Mirosław Stanisław Wachowski a bishop during a Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Wachowski was appointed apostolic nuncio — the pope’s diplomatic representative — to Iraq in September. Nuncios are usually also archbishops.

The 55-year-old Wachowski, originally from Poland, has been in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 2004. He has also served in the Secretariat of State in the section for relations with states and was appointed undersecretary for relations with states — similar to a deputy foreign minister — in October 2019.

Reflecting on Wachowski’s background growing up in a farming family in the Polish countryside, the pope said: “From your contact with the earth, you have learned that fruitfulness comes from waiting and fidelity: two words that also define the episcopal ministry.”

“The bishop is called to sow with patience, to cultivate with respect, to wait with hope,” Leo continued. “He is a guardian, not an owner; a man of prayer, not of possession. The Lord entrusts you with a mission so that you may care for it with the same dedication with which the farmer cares for his field: every day, with constancy, with faith.”

The pontiff also reflected on the role of a nuncio, who, as the papal representative is “a sign of the concern of the successor of Peter for all the Churches.”

“He is sent to strengthen the bonds of communion, to promote dialogue with civil authorities, to safeguard the freedom of the Church, and to foster the good of the people,” he underlined.

“The apostolic nuncio is not just any diplomat: He is the face of a Church that accompanies, consoles, and builds bridges,” he added. “His task is not to defend partisan interests but to serve communion.”

The pope said Wachowski is being asked to be a father, a shepherd, and a witness of hope in Iraq, “a land marked by pain and the desire for rebirth.”

“You are called to fight the good fight of faith, not against others but against the temptation to tire, to close yourself off, to measure results, relying on the fidelity that is your hallmark: the fidelity of one who does not seek himself but serves with professionalism, with respect, with a competence that enlightens and does not flaunt itself.”

He remarked on the long-standing presence of Christianity in Mesopotamia, which, according to tradition, can trace its roots to St. Thomas the Apostle and his disciples Addai and Mari.

“In that region, people pray in the language that Jesus spoke: Aramaic. This apostolic root is a sign of continuity that the violence, which has manifested itself with ferocity in recent decades, has not been able to extinguish,” the pope said.

“Indeed, the voice of those who have been brutally deprived of their lives in those lands does not fail,” he added. “Today they pray for you, for Iraq, for peace in the world.”

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies on the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 26, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 26, 2025 / 08:10 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV said at a Mass on Sunday that no one in the Church “should impose his or her own ideas” and asked that tensions between tradition and novelty not become “ideological contrapositions and harmful polarizations.”

“The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to dominate; all are called to serve,” Leo said in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 26.

“No one should impose his or her own ideas; we must all listen to one another,” he continued. “No one is excluded; we are all called to participate. No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and seek it together.”

The pontiff celebrated Mass on the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time for the closing of the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, part of the Church’s wider Jubilee of Hope in 2025. 

In a call for communion, Pope Leo addressed all the participants in the synodality meeting and asked for their help to expand “the ecclesial space” and make it “collegial and welcoming.”

Leo also spoke about synodality with the jubilee pilgrims during an Oct. 24 event at the Vatican.

The Holy Spirit transforms ‘harmful polarizations’

“Being a synodal Church means recognizing that truth is not possessed but sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with Love,” he emphasized.

The pontiff called on Christians to live “with confidence and a new spirit amid the tensions that run through the life of the Church: between unity and diversity, tradition and novelty, authority and participation. We must allow the Spirit to transform them, so that they do not become ideological contrapositions and harmful polarizations.” 

It is not a question of resolving these tensions “by reducing one to the other, but of allowing them to be purified by the Spirit, so that they may be harmonized and oriented toward a common discernment,” he said.

He also made it clear that, “prior to any difference, we are called in the Church to walk together in the pursuit of God, clothing ourselves with the sentiments of Christ.”

Resolving tensions in the Church

In his homily on the day’s Gospel passage, the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector, the pope warned of the danger of spiritual pride displayed by the pharisee: “The pharisee is obsessed with his own ego, and in this way, ends up focused on himself without having a relationship with either God or others.”

Leo pointed out that this can also occur in the Christian community.

For example, “when the ego prevails over the collective, causing an individualism that prevents authentic and fraternal relationships,” he said.

He also criticized “the claim to be better than others, as the pharisee does with the tax collector, [because it] creates division and turns the community into a judgmental and exclusionary place; and when one leverages one’s role to exert power rather than to serve.”

The pope highlighted the tax collector’s humility as an example for the entire Christian community: “We too must recognize within the Church that we are all in need of God and of one another, which leads us to practice reciprocal love, listen to each other, and enjoy walking together.”

Leo urged Catholics to dream of and build a more humble Church, capable of reflecting the Gospel in its way of living and relating.

“A Church that does not stand upright like the pharisee, triumphant and inflated with pride, but bends down to wash the feet of humanity; a Church that does not judge like the pharisee does the tax collector but becomes a welcoming place for all,” he said.

He also invited the entire ecclesial community to commit itself to building a Church that is “entirely synodal, ministerial, and attracted to Christ,” dedicated to serving the world and open to listening to God and to all the men and women of our time.

Angelus

After the Mass on Oct. 26, Pope Leo led the Angelus prayer in Latin from a window of the Apostolic Palace, which overlooks St. Peter’s Square.

In his message following the Marian prayer, he expressed his closeness to the people of eastern Mexico, who were hit earlier this month by devastating floods and landslides, leaving 72 dead and dozens still missing.

“I pray for the families and for all those who are suffering as a result of this calamity, and I entrust the souls of the deceased to the Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin,” the pope said.

Leo also renewed his call to “unceasingly” pray for peace, especially through the communal recitation of the rosary. 

“Contemplating the mysteries of Christ together with the Virgin Mary, we make our own the suffering and hope of children, mothers, fathers, and elderly people who are victims of war,” he said. 

“And from this intercession of the heart arise many gestures of evangelical charity, of concrete closeness, of solidarity. To all those who, every day, with confident perseverance carry on this commitment, I repeat: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers!’”

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

Pilgrims participate in a pontifical Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke at the Papal Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 25, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Raymond Burke celebrated a special Traditional Latin Mass for hundreds of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 25 — a return to a prior custom, suspended since 2022, of an annual pilgrimage of Catholics devoted to the ancient liturgy.

Burke celebrated the solemn pontifical Mass, a high Latin Mass said by a bishop, at the Altar of the Chair on the second day of the Oct. 24–26 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage. The cardinal also celebrated a Latin Mass at the Altar of the Chair for the pilgrimage in 2014.

The Mass was preceded by a half-mile procession from the Basilica of Sts. Celso and Giuliano to St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage, in its 14th year, brings people “ad Petri Sedem” (“to the See of Peter”) to give “testimony of the attachment that binds numerous faithful throughout the whole world to the traditional liturgy,” according to the pilgrimage website.

The pilgrimage began on the evening of Oct. 24 with vespers in Rome’s Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, presided over by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna. A solemn closing Mass of Christ the King will be celebrated at the Church of Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini on the final day of the pilgrimage, Oct. 26.

In 2023 and 2024, the pilgrimage was not able to receive authorization to celebrate the Latin Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica from the basilica’s liturgy office, according to organizer Christian Marquant. 

The Office of Liturgical Ceremonies of St. Peter’s Basilica and the director of the Holy See Press Office did not respond to CNA’s request in September for comment on this assertion.

Burke — a champion of the Traditional Latin Mass and one of the most prominent critics in the hierarchy of the late Pope Francis, under whom he fell conspicuously out of favor — met Pope Leo in a private audience on Aug. 22.

Leo sent a letter of congratulations for Burke’s 50th anniversary of priestly ministry in July.

Rorate Caeli, a prominent website for devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass, called the celebration of a solemn pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica again an “important sign” of increased tolerance for the traditional liturgy. Pope Francis severely restricted the use of the Latin Mass in 2021 and with subsequent legislation.

Pope Leo XIV claps with pilgrims during an audience for the Jubilee of Hope in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 25, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 25, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday said the key to living in a difficult time, when the Church’s teachings are often challenged, is to embrace the hope that is “not knowing.” 

“As pilgrims of hope, we must view our troubled times in the light of the Resurrection,” the pope said in an audience with jubilee pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 25.

Leo brought attention to Nicholas of Cusa — a Catholic cardinal and theologian from Germany who lived in the 15th century — as a model for how to live one’s faith “during a turbulent era that involved serious spiritual divisions.”

The pope described Nicholas of Cusa as “a great thinker and servant of unity” who “can teach us that hoping is also ‘not knowing.’”

“As St. Paul writes, ‘How can one hope for what one already sees?’” Leo said. “Nicholas of Cusa could not see the unity of the Church, shaken by opposing currents and divided between East and West. He could not see peace in the world and among religions, at a time when Christianity felt threatened from outside.”

But instead of living in fear like many of his contemporaries, Nicholas chose to associate with those who had hope, the pontiff explained.

Nicholas, Leo said, “understood that there are opposites to be held together, that God is a mystery in which what is in tension finds unity. Nicholas knew that he did not know, and so he understood reality better and better. What a great gift for the Church! What a call to renewal of the heart! Here are his teachings: Make space, hold opposites together, hope for what is not yet seen.”

Pope Leo said the Church is experiencing the same thing today: questions challenging the Church’s teaching from young people, from the poor, from women, from those without a voice or who are different from the majority.

“We are in a blessed time: so many questions!” he said. “The Church becomes an expert in humanity if it walks with humanity and has the echo of its questions in its heart.”

“To hope is not to know,” Leo underlined. “We do not already have the answers to all the questions. But we have Jesus. We follow Jesus. And so we hope for what we do not yet see.”

Pope Leo XIV sits next to Cardinal Mario Grech, general secretary of the Vatican’s synod office, during the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Oct. 24, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 25, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

There is no single model for what synodality should look like in all countries and cultures, Pope Leo XIV said in a discussion with synod leaders from around the globe held at the Vatican on Friday.

“We have to be very clear: We’re not looking for a uniform model. And synodality will not come with a template where everybody and every country will say this is how you do it,” the pope said in the Paul VI Hall on Oct. 24.

“It is, rather, a conversion to a spirit of being Church, and being missionary, and building up, in that sense, the family of God.”

Leo spoke about synodality in unscripted remarks in English, Spanish, and Italian during the opening session of a meeting for the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, taking place in Rome Oct. 24–26, part of the Church’s wider 2025 Jubilee of Hope.

Around 2,000 people are attending the synod-focused jubilee, which includes a two-day meeting “aimed at translating the orientations of the [Synod on Synodality’s] Final Document into pastoral and structural choices consistent with the synodal nature of the Church,” according to the Vatican’s synod office.

The pope joined part of the program on Friday evening to listen to representatives from different regions give reports on the implementation of synodality in their parts of the world and to answer their questions about the synodal process. 

Synodality, Leo said, “is to help the Church fulfill its primary role in the world, which is to be missionary, to announce the Gospel.”

He added that synodality “is not a campaign. It’s a way of being and a way of being Church. It’s a way of promoting an attitude, which begins with learning to listen to one another.”

The pope recalled the value of listening, “beginning with listening to the Word of God, listening to one another, listening to the wisdom we find in men and in women, in members of the Church, and those who are searching who might not yet be members of the Church.”

He also addressed resistance to the synodal process, such as worry by some that it is an attempt to weaken the authority of the bishop.

“I would like to invite all of you … to reflect upon what synodality is about and to invite the priests particularly, even more than the bishops, to somehow open their hearts and take part in these processes,” Leo said. “Often the resistance comes out of fear and lack of knowledge.”

He emphasized the need to prioritize formation and preparation at every educational level.

“Sometimes ready answers are given without the proper, necessary preparation to arrive at the conclusion that maybe some of us have already drawn but others are not ready for or capable to understand,” he said.

“We have to understand that we do not all run at the same speed. And sometimes we have to be patient with one another,” Leo said. “And rather than a few people running ahead and leaving a lot behind, which could cause even a break in an ecclesial experience, we need to look for ways, very concrete ways at times, of understanding what’s happening in each place, where the resistances are or where they come from, and what we can do to encourage more and more the experience of communion in this Church, which is synodal.”

Asked if groupings of Churches, such as regional bishops’ conferences, will continue to grow in the life of the Church, Leo said: “The brief answer is yes, I do expect that, and I hope that the different groupings of Churches can continue to grow as expressions of communion in the Church using the gifts we are all receiving through this exercise, if you will, this life, this expression of synodality.”

The pontiff also weighed in on the topic of women and their participation in the Church, though he set aside the most controversial questions, which he said are being examined in a separate study group.

“So leaving aside the most difficult themes,” he said, “there are cultural obstacles, there are opportunities, but there are cultural obstacles. And this has to be recognized, because women could play a key role in the Church, but in some cultures women are considered second-class citizens and in some realities they do not enjoy the same rights as men.”

“In these cases, there is a challenge for the Church, for all of us, because we need to understand how we can promote the respect for the rights of everyone, men and women,” he encouraged.

The Church can promote a culture in which there is co-participation of every member of society, each according to his or her vocation, Leo continued. “We have to understand how the Church can be a strength to transform cultures according to the values of the Gospel.”

Pope Leo XIV greets a baby during an audience with the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family at the Vatican on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 24, 2025 / 13:44 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV during a Friday audience at the Vatican reminded teachers and students from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family of their mission to both speak and live the “common witness to the truth.”

“Your specific mission concerns the search for and common witness to the truth: in carrying out this task, theology is called to engage with the various disciplines that study marriage and the family, without being content merely to speak the truth about them but living it in the grace of the Holy Spirit and following the example of Christ, who revealed the Father to us through his actions and words,” he said in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 24.

In Leo’s audience with the institute — controversially re-founded by Pope Francis in 2017 to include the study of social sciences in addition to moral theology — he said the faithful “cannot ignore the tendency in many parts of the world to disregard or even reject marriage.”

“Even when young people make choices that do not correspond to the ways proposed by the Church according to the teaching of Jesus, the Lord continues to knock at the door of their hearts, preparing them to receive a new interior call,” the pontiff said. “If your theological and pastoral research is rooted in prayerful dialogue with the Lord, you will find the courage to invent new words that can deeply touch the consciences of young people.”

He added that our time is marked not just by tension and confusing ideologies but also by “a growing search for spirituality, truth, and justice, especially among young people.”

“Welcoming and caring for this desire is one of the most beautiful and urgent tasks for all of us,” Leo said.

In May, Pope Leo made one of his first personnel appointments as pope when he named Cardinal Baldassare Reina grand chancellor of the John Paul II Institute, replacing Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who turned 80 on April 20.

Reina, 54, has been vicar general of the Diocese of Rome since 2024. As part of that role, he is also grand chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University, the home of the John Paul II Institute.

Pope Leo’s appointment of Reina as grand chancellor appeared to be a return to the former practice of linking the leadership of the institute to the vicar general of Rome. This practice had been changed under Pope Francis, who named Paglia to the role in 2016.

In his address to students and teachers on Friday, Leo pointed out the institute’s commitment to deepening the link between the family and the social doctrine of the Church and urged them to let their studies of family experiences and dynamics enrich their understanding of the Church’s social teaching.

“This focus would allow us to develop the insight, recalled by the Second Vatican Council and repeatedly reaffirmed by my predecessors, of seeing the family as the first cell of society, as the original and fundamental school of humanity,” he said.

He also recalled Pope Francis’ encouragement to women expecting a child in his 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. 

“[Francis’] words contain a simple and profound truth: Human life is a gift and must always be welcomed with respect, care, and gratitude,” Leo said.

Recalling that many women face pregnancy in situations of loneliness or marginalization, the pontiff called on the civil and Church communities to “constantly strive to restore full dignity to motherhood” through concrete actions, including “policies that guarantee adequate living and working conditions; educational and cultural initiatives that recognize the beauty of creating life together; a pastoral approach that accompanies women and men with closeness and listening.”

“Motherhood and fatherhood, thus safeguarded, are not burdens on society but rather a hope that strengthens and renews it,” he said.

The sun rises over the main gate with the renowned sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work makes you free”) of the Museum of Auschwitz/Birkenau German Nazi concentration and extermination camp on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. / Credit: Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Vatican City, Oct 24, 2025 / 09:44 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday authorized decrees recognizing 11 new martyrs as well as four new venerables to be honored by the Church.

With this declaration, the pope has cleared the way for them to be declared “blessed,” but a date has not been set for their beatification.

During his Oct. 24 audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Holy Father approved the designation of 20th-century European martyrs killed “in hatred of the faith” under Nazi and communist regimes.

Polish Servants of God Jan Świerc, Ignacy Antonowicz, Ignacy Dobiasz, Karol Golda, Franciszek Harazim, Ludwik Mroczek, Włodzmierz Szembek, Kazimierz Wojciechowski, and Franciszek Miśka were killed in concentration camps in Auschwitz, Poland, and Dachau, Germany, between 1941 and 1942.

Victims of the Nazi regime following the 1939 German occupation of Poland, the nine religious priests — who belonged to the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco — were tortured and executed for being Catholic clergy.

Other martyrs approved by Pope Leo are Servants of God Jan Bula and Václav Drbola, diocesan priests from former Czechoslovakia who were executed between 1951 and 1952 following the communist takeover of the country in 1948.

On Friday, the Holy Father also approved decrees for four servants of God to be declared “venerable” by the Church in recognition of their “heroic virtues.” Among the new venerables, three are professed religious from Europe. 

Spanish Servant of God José Merino Andrés, OP, born 1905 in Madrid, was known for his missionary and pastoral zeal and faithfulness to the Dominican charism, and trained approximately 700 priests in Palencia, Spain, as a novice master for the Order of Preachers before his death on Dec. 6, 1968.

Before joining the Discalced Carmelites, Servant of God Gioacchino della Regina della Pace, OCD, was a custodian of the Sanctuary of the Queen of Peace in Liguria, Italy. He was a third-order Carmelite for 10 years before making his solemn profession in the order in 1967. He died at the age of 95 on Aug. 25, 1985.

Servant of God Maria Evangelista Quintero Malfaz, OCist, joined the Cistercian order as a religious sister in Spain in the early 17th century with a reputation for being a mystic. Through monastic life and intense prayer, she offered her life for the conversion of sinners and was revered by her religious sisters who sought her counsel. She died in Spain in 1648. 

Founder of the Missionary Institute of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Servant of God Angelo Angioni is the only diocesan priest among the four venerables approved by Pope Leo on Friday. 

Born in Italy on Jan. 14, 1915, Angioni was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ozieri in 1938. He spent several years supporting parishioners, seminarians, and other priests of the diocese before being sent as a “fidei donum priest” to serve the Diocese of São José do Rio Preto, Brazil, in 1951. 

Known for his love for the poor and the Gospel, Angioni’s reputation for his humble and serene holiness spread in Brazil and Italy before his death on Sept. 15, 2008.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the martyrs as “martyr saints.” They should just be referred to as martyrs. (Published Oct. 24, 2025) 

José Luis Bazán, legal adviser to the Commission of Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) in Brussels. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

Vatican City, Oct 24, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The rise in violence and attacks against places of worship and believers, traditionally associated with regions of conflict, has seen a worrying upturn in recent years in Europe, South America, and North America.

According to the latest report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), in 2023, France recorded nearly 1,000 attacks on churches, and more than 600 acts of vandalism were documented in Greece.

Similar increases were observed in Spain, Italy, and the United States, where attacks not only target church property but also include disruptions of worship services and attacks on clergy.

“These attacks reflect a climate of ideological hostility toward religion,” said José Luis Bazán, one of the report’s authors, in a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

For Bazán, the incidents are no longer just isolated episodes: “Attacks or acts of vandalism against places of worship are pandemic.”

Bazán focused on a phenomenon that crosses continents: “I’m talking basically about Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world — Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia — and, by extension, also Latin America, particularly the Southern Cone: Chile and Argentina.”

In Chile, he explained, approximately 300 attacks of vandalism against churches have been recorded, some linked to far-left groups and associated with times of social tension, with examples such as fires being set and attacks in the country’s south.

“We have fragmentary elements here and there, but if you put them all together, you realize the upward trend,” he said.

Bazán also mentioned coordinated episodes of vandalism on occasions such as International Women’s Day on March 8 in various Latin American and European countries. He noted that in Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, “there are radical feminist attacks against churches.”

“Sometimes what they do is vandalize them with slogans, as in Spain as well, like ‘Get your rosaries off our ovaries,’ or an even harsher one, which said something like ‘You will drink the blood of our abortions.’ They put this in front of the Logroño co-cathedral,” he lamented.

Bazán also mentioned the case of artist Abel Azcona, who “stole from churches, attended more than 200 Masses, and stole the consecrated hosts,” writing the word “pedophilia” on the ground with them. 

“The case reached the European Court of Human Rights, which unfortunately doesn’t fully understand the meaning of consecrated hosts to Christians and thought it was simply an object like any other,” he explained.

The expert emphasized the seriousness of the fact that this judicial interpretation has given “room for desecration, and from now on, anyone can steal consecrated hosts.”

Most attacks go unpunished

Bazán, who is a legal adviser on religious freedom for COMECE (Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union), also decried the fact that most attacks go unpunished.

He noted that in the case of vandalism, “it is sometimes difficult to know who is doing it.”

“These are attacks that occur at night, in remote churches, without cameras,” pointing out just how vulnerable religious heritage is.

“We’re talking about tens of thousands of churches in Europe, many of them vulnerable and in areas with difficult access,” he explained, after noting that the large number of farflung churches, small shrines, and chapels in rural areas makes prevention and investigation difficult.

‘Soft persecution’

The ACN report also warns of growing pressure on freedom of conscience in Europe. To explain this, the expert echoed the definition given by Pope Francis: “He denounced this [soft] persecution. Basically, what’s happening is an attempt to hijack people’s consciences,” Bazán pointed out.

As he explained, this form of harassment “goes unnoticed, because in general, in the West, people can go to church, practice rituals, sacraments, and so on.” However, “the question is what also happens in social life.”

Freedom of conscience under pressure

The jurist offered concrete examples of these restrictions: “What happens, for example, in universities when there is a professor who defends a position in accordance with religious principles, or a doctor or nurse who decides not to perform an abortion and does not want to be, let’s say, subject to any victimization or sanction?” he explained, citing the example of Spain, where an attempt is being made to create a list of doctors who object to abortion, which would have practical consequences for their careers.

“They probably won’t be able to serve on the hospital’s ethics committee, they probably won’t ever be considered to head a department [of] for example gynecology. In other words, there are many consequences,” he explained, extending this to any professional field.

Self-censorship: The most sophisticated form

Another worrying area in the West is “indirect censorship or self-censorship” in which the person, on his or her own and without the intervention of censors, “understands that it’s better not to [speak out] because otherwise there will be consequences.”

Bazán identified these new forms of indirect censorship, which he characterized as the most sophisticated form of classic censorship, “through proxies, for example, or through online platforms that are forced to establish a content moderation policy that introduces prohibitive elements imposed by the state.” In these cases, “it’s not the state that censors, it’s the platform.”

The result, he explained, is that “the censored person will simply see that the message no longer appears because it has disappeared from the platform. And he may even receive a message stating that he will not be able to post anything on social media for x amount of time.”

In many cases, he added, “fact-checkers, who are often ideologically biased NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], simply try to censor certain types of messages that go against a particular way of understanding society.”

‘An invisible wall’ and restrictive European rules

Bazán pointed out that “dissent is avoided” and that Christians “can see how they find themselves up against a kind of invisible wall, which no one denounces. In many cases, the wall isn’t even established by the state but is rather a combination of state and non-state elements in which it is very difficult to determine who is ultimately creating this situation.”

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

Pope Leo XIV addresses the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre at the Vatican on Oct. 23, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 23, 2025 / 17:34 pm (CNA).

In an audience with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Pope Leo XIV thanked them for their humble service to the communities of the Holy Land, where they are called to bear witness “that life conquers death.”

At the beginning of his address, the pope recalled the mission with which the order was established in 1098: to protect the Holy Sepulchre, care for pilgrims, and sustain the Church of Jerusalem.

The Holy Father thanked the members of the order present for continuing the work they do “with the humility, dedication, and spirit of sacrifice that characterize chivalric orders,” especially for their witness and solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land.

In particular, the pontiff emphasized that even today they help the communities of the Holy Land “without any fanfare or seeking publicity” and support the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in its various activities, such as charitable works and humanitarian projects.

“You show that protecting the sepulchre of Christ does not simply mean preserving a historical, archaeological, or artistic heritage — no matter how important that may be — but rather sustaining a Church made of living stones, which was born around it and still lives today as an authentic sign of Easter hope,” he noted.

Leo XIV then reflected on the order’s mission and affirmed that remaining at the sepulchre of the Lord “means renewing one’s faith in the God who keeps his promises, whose power no human force can overcome.”

“In a world where arrogance and violence seem to prevail over charity,” he continued, “you are called to bear witness that life conquers death, that love conquers hatred, that forgiveness conquers revenge, and that mercy and grace conquer sin.”

He also exhorted the members of the order to preside over the holy places with faith, thus helping the faithful “to pause with their hearts at Christ’s tomb, where pain finds its answer in trust.”

To achieve this, he advised them to have an “intense sacramental life” as well as to listen to and meditate on the word of God through personal and liturgical prayer and spiritual formation.

The pope also reflected on the hope embodied in the women who went to the tomb to seek Jesus, which he described as “the face of service,” reiterating his gratitude to the order “for the great good you do, following the ancient tradition of assistance that characterizes you.” 

“How often, thanks to your work, a ray of light opens for individuals, families, and entire communities who risk being overwhelmed by terrible tragedies, at every level, especially in the places where Jesus lived,” he noted.

He also noted that the image of St. Peter and St. John rushing to the sepulcher and finding Jesus’ tomb empty represents “the gesture of pilgrimage, a symbol of the search for the ultimate meaning of life.”

Pope Leo thus invited them to experience their pilgrimage to Rome “as a stage from which to resume the journey toward the only true and definitive goal: full and eternal communion with God in paradise.”

The pontiff asked them to bear witness and to invite the faithful “to experience the things of this world with the freedom and joy of those who know they are on their way toward the infinite horizon of eternity.”

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