Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

More than half a million people to participate in Aid to the Church in Need ‘Red Week’ 

Over 500,000 people will take part in Aid to the Church in Need International’s Red Week 2025, which will see churches and landmarks around the world illuminated in red to raise awareness of religious persecution internationally.

Set to take place Nov. 15–23, the global initiative is expected to see “over 10,000 direct participants for prayers, public events, school gatherings, concerts, and marches,” and to draw in “more than 500,000 participants through media outreach and online platforms,” according to an ACN International press release.

More than 100 events are scheduled around the world, including in Australia, Austria, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and more.

Catholic bishops in Ghana express closeness with stampede victims

Catholic bishops in Ghana have expressed their closeness with victims of a stampede at the El-Wak Stadium in Accra that left six people dead and several others injured during a Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Nov. 13. 

“We unite our hearts with the bereaved families in grief and lift our prayers to Almighty God for the eternal repose of the departed and the swift recovery of all who are injured,” Ghana’s Catholic bishops said in a statement following the Nov. 12 stampede.

Citing figures released by the acting minister of defense, Cassiel Ato Forson, the bishops noted that 34 casualties were recorded. Of these, six were reportedly confirmed dead, five were in critical condition, 12 were in fairly critical condition, and others were under observation.

Oman opens Catholic pastoral center in Muscat

Oman has inaugurated a new Catholic pastoral center in Muscat — an important sign of the country’s long-standing respect for religious diversity, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.

Built on land donated in 1977 by the late Sultan Qaboos, the center provides formation programs, catechesis, and housing for clergy.

Omani Ambassador Mahmoud al-Hassani said the project reflects the nation’s vision of peaceful coexistence and aligns with the Vatican’s mission of dialogue. The center also strengthens ties between Oman and the Holy See, which formally established diplomatic relations in 2023.

International contemplative congregation of sisters celebrates 200 years 

The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (RGS) officially concluded the yearlong celebration of their 200th anniversary on Nov. 11. The contemplative order was founded in 1825 by St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Myanmar.

“I hope it rekindles in all of us a renewed openness to be shaped and made radiant by grace, so that together, as one congregation, and, as one people of God, we allow the fire of God’s love to warm, illumine, and shine through us into the heart of the world,” said Sister Joan Marie Lopez, RGS congregational leader, on her hope for the bicentenary year, according to Vatican News.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, presided over a Mass in Rome for the bicentennial celebration.

Christian families return to al-Ghassaniyah, Syria, after 13 years

After more than a decade of displacement, Christian families have begun returning to the village of al-Ghassaniyah in Idlib, Syria, ACI MENA reported Nov. 13. 

Their return was made possible by a firm government decision to remove foreign extremist groups and by sustained efforts from the Franciscan community. Although many homes are damaged or looted, residents spoke of renewed hope as the Church offered support for the first returning families. The development comes amid wider security shifts in the region and ongoing diplomatic efforts related to extremist fighters.

Typhoons, floods devastate Vietnam; Catholic communities respond 

The Catholic Church is calling for communities to respond after Typhoon Kalmaegi destroyed buildings across the Qui Nhon Diocese, including the house of the bishop and Lang Song Seminary.

“The main house of the Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross in Qui Nhon, the Congregation of the Handmaids of Jesus of Mercy, and many parish churches like Qui Nhon Cathedral and other churches throughout the diocese were severely damaged,” Fides News Agency reported. This comes after severe flooding the week prior, which left 13 dead, 34 injured, and 11 missing.

Maria Vu Thi Hong Anh, head of Da Nang Cathedral Parish Caritas, said in wake of the flooding: “Seeing the images of this historic flood, I feel very sorry for the residents in the rural areas; they are poor and now their life is much more difficult when losing their properties.”

Youth Encounter Triduum in Baghdad encourages holiness

The Catholic Youth Committee in Baghdad held a three-day gathering titled “Think, Discern, Decide,” bringing together young people from several dioceses, according to a Nov. 10 report from ACI MENA.

The event focused on the call to holiness, drawing inspiration from biblical teaching and modern Iraqi witnesses of faith such as Father Ragheed Ganni and other martyrs. Workshops, talks, and prayer times encouraged young participants to live holiness through everyday acts of love and commitment.

Catholic patriarchs and bishops open 58th session in Lebanon

Lebanon’s Catholic leaders gathered in Bkerke, Lebanon, for the opening of the 58th session of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops, ACI MENA reported. 

The meeting focuses on building a synodal Church that listens and acts with spiritual discernment.

Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi highlighted preparations for Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit and called for nationwide prayers and the ringing of church bells upon his arrival. Apostolic Nuncio Paolo Borgia noted that the papal visit will include meetings with all segments of Lebanese society.

At an international conference held in Salamanca, Spain, the themes of communication and artificial intelligence are tied to the mission and challenges faced by Catholic universities. The prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, notes that AI is a gift, but cannot replace human intelligence.

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As the Church marks the Thirty-third (and penultimate) Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr Edmund Power reflects on the "stern, apocalyptic message of the readings", and the loving relationship with God that allows us to face challenges with hope and commitment.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Academic rigor, dialogue and openness to other cultures and disciplines are essential for a Catholic university and even more so for the Pontifical Lateran University, which is often called "the pope's university," Pope Leo XIV said.

The pope officially opened the Rome university's 2025-2026 academic year Nov. 14 and told faculty and students that because they come from all over the world, they represent "a microcosm of the universal church: therefore, be a prophetic sign of communion and fraternity."

The university, founded by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 to train priests for the pope's Diocese of Rome, currently has about 130 professors and just over 1,000 students, mainly studying philosophy, theology, civil law and canon law.

To truly serve the church and the world, Pope Leo said, the university must maintain the highest academic standards. 

"The risk is that we slip into the temptation to simplify complex issues in order to avoid the labor of thought, with the danger that, even in pastoral action and in its forms of expression, we sink into banality, superficiality or rigidity," he said.

"Scientific inquiry and the effort of research are necessary. We need well-prepared and competent laypeople and priests," he said. "Therefore, I urge you not to lower your guard regarding scientific rigor, but to carry forward a passionate search for truth and a robust engagement with other sciences, with reality and with the problems and struggles of society."

Faith must be studied in a way that leads to it being expressed "within current cultural settings and challenges," he said, but those studies also are a way "to counter the risk of the cultural void that, in our age, is becoming increasingly pervasive."

The school's Faculty of Theology, the pope said, must find ways to bring forth the "beauty and credibility" of the Christian faith "so that it can appear as a fully human proposal, capable of transforming the lives of individuals and of society, of sparking prophetic changes in response to the tragedies and poverties of our time, and of encouraging the search for God."

The pope also encouraged the university to look for ways to strengthen its courses in peace studies and in ecology.

"The issues they address are an essential part of the recent magisterium of the church which, established as a sign of the covenant between God and humanity, is called to form workers for peace and justice who build and bear witness to the kingdom of God," the pope said.

Everything a Catholic university does, Pope Leo said, should be done with dialogue, respect and the aim of building up a real community of brothers and sisters. 

That sense of fraternity, he said, is essential for countering "the appeal of individualism as the key to a successful life," which has "disturbing consequences in every sphere: people focus on self-promotion, the primacy of the ego is fueled, cooperation becomes difficult, prejudices and barriers toward others -- especially those who are different -- grow, responsibility in service is mistaken for solitary leadership, and in the end misunderstandings and conflicts multiply."

On a human and religious level, Pope Leo said, a Catholic university is called to promote the common good and prepare students to contribute to the good of their churches and communities.

"The aim of the educational and academic process must be to form people who, guided by the logic of gratuitousness and by a passion for truth and justice, can become builders of a new, fraternal and supportive world," he said. "The university can and must spread this culture, becoming a sign and expression of this new world and of the pursuit of the common good."
 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV does not intend to overturn Pope Francis' limits on celebrating the traditional Latin Mass but will grant two-year dispensations to bishops who ask, a nuncio said.

Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, the apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, told bishops Nov. 13 that Pope Leo told him he would not abrogate "Traditionis Custodes," Pope Francis' 2021 letter greatly restricting the celebration of Masses according to the 1962 Roman Missal, the Latin liturgy in use before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The Vatican press office did not respond to a request for comment.

But the archbishop made headlines by telling members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales that the pope would grant bishops who request it a two-year, renewable exemption.

The exemptions are nothing new, a Vatican official told Catholic News Service Nov. 14.

"This is no more than a restatement of the practice of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments since the motu proprio ('Traditionis Custodes') came into force," said Msgr. Enda Murphy, an official at the dicastery. 

"What the nuncio is clearly referring to is the necessity for a diocesan bishop to request a derogation from art. 3 § 2 of 'Traditionis Custodes' in order that Mass according to the Missale Romanum of 1962 can be celebrated in a parish church," he said.

The subsection referred to by Msgr. Murphy says that a bishop can designate one or more locations where the faithful who had been celebrating the older Mass could continue to do so, "not however in the parochial churches and without the erection of new personal parishes."

In late October, various Catholic news outlets reported that the Diocese of Cleveland, led by Bishop Edward C. Malesic, had received permission for the older Latin Mass to continue at two parish churches in his diocese. In July, Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo, Texas, confirmed that he had made a similar request, which was granted.

Pope Leo also personally granted permission for U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, a former Vatican official, to celebrate the older form of the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in late October.

When Pope Francis issued the restrictions, he declared the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council to be "the unique expression of the 'lex orandi' (law of worship) of the Roman Rite," restored the obligation of priests to have their bishops' permission to celebrate according to the "extraordinary" or pre-Vatican II Mass and ordered bishops not to establish any new groups or parishes in their dioceses devoted to the old liturgy.

At the time, Pope Francis said his decision was meant "to promote the concord and unity of the church."
 

Russia launched a heavy drone and missile attack on Ukraine early Friday, killing at least six people in the capital Kyiv and two more in the south, while injuring at least 35, authorities said.

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From 28 to 30 November, Castel Gandolfo will be host to 'Restarting the Economy', a global meeting promoted by The Economy of Francesco. The international event will be aimed at rethinking the economy in light of the Jubilee, focusing on social justice, care for the Earth, and freedom from debt.

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Addressing the United Nations, Archbishop Caccia reaffirms the Holy See’s support for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and calls for renewed diplomatic efforts for peace and for strengthened backing for UNRWA.

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Pope Leo visits the Pontifical Lateran University for the inauguration of the 2025–2026 academic year, saying that the institution “holds a special place" in his heart.

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Pope Leo visits the newly opened facility under the Colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica, which expands healthcare services for the poor, including a radiology unit to quickly diagnose some of the most common illnesses affecting people who live on the streets.

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