Prague, Czech Republic, Nov 5, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Dominik Duka, one of the last cardinals from former Czechoslovakia, passed away at the age of 82 on Nov. 4. He was known for his orthodoxy in the Catholic faith and his resistance against the communist regime that jailed him for religious activity.

With the death of Duka, the only living cardinal from Czechoslovakia is Michael Czerny, who emigrated to Canada.

Duka, born in 1943, was baptized Jaroslav but took the religious name Dominik when he secretly entered the Order of Preachers and was ordained a priest in 1970.

He taught other Dominicans, spread samizdat (the secret copying and distributing of literature banned by the state), and cooperated with people abroad, which was illegal during communist rule in Czechoslovakia. The regime jailed him for more than a year. 

According to a memorial letter by the master of the Order of Preachers, Father Gerard Francisco Timoner III, Duka “spent 15 months in the Plzeň-Bory prison, where he prayed with fellow inmates and strengthened them in their faith.”

In prison, Duka also became friends with Václav Havel, the future president of free Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic after 1989.

After the fall of communism, Duka helped negotiate an agreement on Church property restitutions. The communist regime had seized many Church holdings, and the settlement provided financial compensation from the state to Catholic institutions.

The Dominican was a bishop since 1998, served as a chairman of the Czech Bishops‘ Conference, and was archbishop of Prague from 2010 to 2022. Pope Benedict XVI made him a cardinal in 2012. Duka was also the author of various books.

The prelate was a well-known public figure who often went against the mainstream as he promoted Church teaching in a predominantly atheist and agnostic Czech Republic. Thus, he was necessarily considered both inspiring and provocative.

For example, the family was for him more important than elections or geopolitics. He warned that the breakdown of the family would lead to a mass of individuals who are easier to control by the state.

In one of many interviews for the media, he said that women were not aware they were manipulated by TV, radio, and in advertisements: “When was the last time I saw a movie in which there is a truly normal, harmonious family?” he said. Duka admitted there are problems in families, but “we all remember our family and childhood not because our parents sometimes argued, but because it was our environment. And a woman really plays a fundamental role.“

The Czech prelate opposed gender ideology and political efforts to replace the terms mother and father with designations such as “Parent A” and “Parent B.” 

“No one from Ukraine welcomes Parent B; people welcome mothers with children. Thus, the words ‘mom,’ ‘dad’ are completely natural for those children fleeing from Ukraine,“ he said in an interview in 2022.

Duka appreciated Pope Francis’ call for disarmament but added that “if we accept the vision that humans are intelligent apes,” any respect or tolerance may cease to exist, as “there are slightly different laws in the animal world.”

Some criticized the cardinal for being too close and benevolent to a few politicians — mainly to the ex-president of Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, who had been a communist. Others said Duka may have been too critical of mass immigration from countries other than Ukraine.

The last time he created a stir was in September, when he celebrated a Mass in Prague for the family of murdered U.S. political activist Charlie Kirk.

Duka once spoke about a controversy he was causing. He faced a dilemma about whether to partake in a March for Life, “because I am attracting the counter-demonstrators who use a vocabulary that children [present at the march] should not hear,” the cardinal said.

After his death, a few commentators said they appreciated Duka’s fighting spirit, his courage against communism, and his frankness. One Jewish community acknowledged Duka’s openness to interreligious dialogue and his fight against antisemitism.

His funeral Mass will be celebrated Nov. 15.

Vilnius, Lithuania, Nov 5, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The appointment of Kristina Zamarytė-Sakavičienė, a mother of six and longtime advocate for life, family, and human dignity, as Lithuania’s new vice minister of justice has drawn warm attention from the country’s Catholic community. For many, her rise from civic activism to national leadership embodies what it means to live one’s faith in public life.

Zamarytė-Sakavičienė joins fellow vice minister Barbara Aliaševičienė under Minister of Justice Rūta Tamašunienė, who assumed office in August following a coalition reshuffle that brought the Lithuanian Farmers, Greens, and Christian Families Union into the ruling government.

Recalling the moment she received the offer to serve, Zamarytė-Sakavičienė said she accepted it with “calm joy,” recognizing it as at once “a professional milestone, a personal calling, and a significant responsibility.” While she never sought high office, she said her guiding motivation has always been “to contribute effectively to the common good and the protection of fundamental human rights.”

As vice minister, she will oversee civil, procedural, and administrative law as well as mediation, forensic policy, and the development of Lithuania’s national legal system.

Faith in public life

For Zamarytė-Sakavičienė, public service and faith are not competing loyalties but parallel vocations. A lawyer and ethicist by training, she began her career in 2006 as adviser to the Health Affairs Committee of the Seimas (Parliament), later serving as an inspector of good clinical practice at the State Medicines Control Service. She went on to head the Institute of Biomedical Ethics and Law and for five years was director of the Free Society Institute, an advocacy organization that seeks to foster values in line with Catholic social teaching.

Her approach to law, she said, is rooted in human nature rather than ideology. “Justice is not tied to any one faith; its content and the obligations arising from it do not depend on religious belief,” she explained. “Human rights in their essence are nothing other than demands of justice, that a person be given what is owed to them according to their human nature.”

This conviction, that justice flows from truth and the dignity of the human person, has defined her career. It also places her among a small but visible group of lay Lithuanian Catholics active in influencing national policy after decades of Soviet-era secularism.

Praise from Church and civic leaders

Cardinal Sigitas Tamkevičius, a former political prisoner under Soviet rule, welcomed her appointment, praising her “clear Christian stance on life, family, and sexuality.” He called her “an inspiring example for secular Catholics and all people of goodwill that we need not be passive observers of what is happening in today’s Lithuania but clearly defend eternal values.”

Archbishop Kęstutis Kėvalas of Kaunas also defended her nomination against critics who claim her moral convictions could bias her work. “In a democratic state, no one should be humiliated or declared unfit for public service simply because of their moral or religious position,” he said.

Respect for freedom of conscience, he added, “is the foundation of democracy,” and discrimination against believers “not only violates their rights but also weakens the entire state.”

Audrius Globys, chairman of the Lithuanian Christian Workers’ Trade Union, echoed this sentiment, saying: “Christians must uphold their beliefs not only in private life but also in their professional and social activities.” He warned that retreating from public life weakens believers, citing John 15:5: “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

A ‘child-centric’ vision of society

A consistent voice in Lithuania’s pro-life movement, Zamarytė-Sakavičienė described her ethical outlook as “child-centric.”

“I evaluate decisions made by the state according to the principle that the child’s interest comes first,” she said, particularly in debates surrounding family policy, assisted reproduction, and abortion.

She stressed that life begins at conception and that “children should never be treated as objects of adult desire or convenience.” Reflecting on contemporary bioethical issues, she warned that “people now imagine that the essence of family is not the nurturing of new life but the feelings of adults, their pleasant emotions, their interests.”

Regarding in vitro fertilization (IVF), she expressed concern that “children are expected to adapt to the decisions of adults,” stressing that “manipulation of the human embryo is driven by cultural changes that elevate the convenience, desires, and interests of adults above a conceived child’s right to be born and to live.”

For her, the defense of life and family is not primarily a matter of religious dogma but of justice: “Human embryos should not be treated as an object,” she stated, while urging that governments cherish the natural family, not out of religious mandates but rather out of respect for natural law.

Serving truth in a secular age

Zamarytė-Sakavičienė acknowledged that expressing Christian convictions in politics can be challenging. Yet she said she believes moral truth need not be imposed to be effective. “The truth will defend itself,” she said. “You only need to be its bearers.”

Addressing young Catholics who aspire to serve in public life, she urged them to embrace courage and authenticity. “Do not be afraid to hold to your moral convictions even at the cost of your career,” she said. “Even if it does, new and unexpected paths will open.” Life, she added, “becomes simpler when one does not hide one’s beliefs.”

Asked what European societies most need from their leaders today, she replied that it is not merely competence but approachability and the ability to communicate timeless moral truths in a way that resonates with modern generations. “We must find new language and fresh approaches,” she said, “to speak about fundamental things in ways that people can truly hear.”

Toward a culture of dignity

As she begins her tenure, Zamarytė-Sakavičienė insisted that Lithuania’s moral and legal renewal depends on recognizing that human dignity is not merely granted by the state but discovered through truth. “Building a just society requires constant effort,” she said, “from both the state and its citizens, to ensure everyone receives what is due.”

In a political climate where religious conviction is often seen as a liability, Zamarytė-Sakavičienė offers a quiet reminder that faith, reason, and service to the common good need not be at odds.

“The truth sets us free,” she said simply, referencing John 8:31. “Our task is only to recognize it and to serve it faithfully.”

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics in immigration detention centers have "spiritual rights" that Catholic clergy should be allowed to serve, Pope Leo XIV said.

Speaking briefly with reporters late Nov. 4 outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo was asked about a detention facility in Chicago denying access Nov. 1 to an auxiliary bishop and a delegation of clergy, religious sisters and laity, who wanted to bring Communion to Catholics detained there.

The pope was also asked about the increasing tensions between the United States and Venezuela and about the case of Father Marko Rupnik, an artist accused of multiple cases of abuse.

On the question of the Chicago detention facility, Pope Leo prefaced his remarks by noting how, at his Mass at a Rome cemetery Nov. 1, the Gospel reading was from Matthew 25 with its litany of feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked. The Lord says, "Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." 

"Jesus says very clearly that at the end of the world, we're going to be asked, you know, 'How did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?' And I think that there's a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what's happening" with how immigrants in the United States are being treated today, the pope said.

"Many people who've lived (in the United States) for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what's going on right now," he added.

Pope Leo said he would like to ask "the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people. Many times they've been separated from their families for a good amount of time; no one knows what's happening, but their own spiritual needs should be attended to."

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement to OSVNews that the Broadview facility in Chicago is "a field office, it is not a detention facility."

"Illegal aliens are only briefly held there for processing before being transferred to a detention facility. Religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities," McLaughlin said, but not at field offices where "detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out."

Pope Leo also was asked what he thought about the United States sending warships to the Caribbean, particularly off the coast of Venezuela. President Donald Trump has said the deployment is part of his effort to stop drug traffickers. 

"A country has the right to have a military to defend peace, to build peace," the pope said. "But in this case, it seems a bit different -- tensions are rising. Just five minutes ago, I read some news saying that they're getting closer and closer to the coast of Venezuela."

"I think that with violence, we don't win," the pope said. "The important thing is to seek dialogue, to try in a fair way to find solutions to the problems that may exist in any country."

The last question the pope took before driving back to the Vatican regarded requests by the alleged victims of Father Rupnik to have his mosaics covered up or removed from churches around the world, something the pope noted had been occurring. 

The priest, an artist and former Jesuit, has been accused of sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing more than 20 women -- many of them members of a religious community he co-founded -- over a span of four decades.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith announced in early October that it had appointed judges to form the tribunal for the priest's canonical trial.

"I know it's very difficult for the victims to ask that they be patient, but the church needs to respect the rights of all people," the pope told reporters. "The principle of innocent until proven guilty is also true in the church and hopefully this trial that is just beginning will be able to give some clarity and justice to all those involved."

Earlier in the day, journalists had asked Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, about the status of the trial and when it might conclude.

"They are working," he said. "They are working independently" so he could not provide details about whether they had begun listening to witnesses or how long the trial might take.

The dicastery had said in October that "the panel of judges is composed of women and clerics who are not members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and who hold no office within any of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia."

"This has been done in order to better ensure, as in every judicial proceeding, the autonomy and independence of the aforesaid tribunal," it said. 
 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 / 22:25 pm (CNA).

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who promotes gender ideology and abortion access, won his bid for mayor of New York City on Nov. 4, decisively defeating his two main opponents: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and talk show host Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old member of the New York State Assembly and the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor, took 50.4% of the vote on Tuesday. As of 9:42 p.m. ET, 75% of the vote had been tallied.

Cuomo, who served as governor as a Democrat and ran as an independent for mayor, received 41.3% of the vote. Sliwa, the Republican nominee, finished third with 7.5% of the vote.

Mamdani, set to be sworn in on Jan. 1, 2026, will be the city’s first Muslim mayor. He will succeed Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who suspended his reelection bid in late September.

New York City’s mayoral race gained significant national attention after Mamdani secured an upset victory in the Democratic primary against Cuomo. Mamdani ran an anti-establishment campaign and called himself “the sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city” during the final debate.

Mamdani embraced gender ideology during his campaign, vowing to provide $65 million in tax funding for hormone therapy drugs and surgeries as a response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to strip federal funding from health care providers that provide such drugs and surgeries to children.

He also intends to create “an office of LGBTQIA+ affairs” and declare New York City a sanctuary for “LGBTQIA+” people. As a member of the Legislature, he also supported a bill to prohibit law enforcement from aiding out-of-state investigations into health care professionals who provide hormone therapy drugs and surgeries to minors.

The mayor-elect’s campaign supported abortion access as well. He has promised to double city tax funding for the New York Abortion Access Fund and the city’s Abortion Access Hub. He has also vowed to “protect New Yorkers from” pro-life pregnancy centers, which he accused of spreading “false or deceptive information.”

Pro-life pregnancy centers have fought numerous lawsuits against states they accuse of censoring their speech in recent years.

Mamdani has also pledged to create a “baby basket” for parents with newborns, which will provide resources, such as diapers, baby wipes, nursing pads, postpartum pads, swaddles, and books. He expects this to cost less than $20 million annually.

The mayor-elect has further vowed to end all city cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and will not use any city resources to help enforce immigration laws. His platform calls for $165 million in funding to support legal defenses for people who are at risk of being deported.

Mamdani has promised to freeze rent for New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments and eliminate fares for city buses. He plans to establish city-owned grocery stores that he says will provide lower prices and intends to provide no-cost child care for families. He supports raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030.

To pay for the costs, in part, the mayor-elect has said he will raise the top state corporate tax from 7.5% to 11.5% and add an additional 2% income tax on anyone making more than $1 million annually. He estimates this will generate $9 billion in additional revenue, though critics have questioned those estimations.