Jan 8, 2026 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication has launched a new prayer campaign in which Pope Leo XIV invites Catholics to pray with him for the great challenges facing the world.

The “Pray with the Pope” initiative is part of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which, during the pontificate of Pope Francis, launched the project known as “The Pope’s Video,” through which the faithful were invited each month to unite in prayer for a specific intention.

Continuing this mission, the new campaign not only invites people to pray but also offers a specific prayer from Leo XIV, who will present his monthly intention from a renewed perspective, encouraging an intimate and serene experience with Christ.

Transforming life from within

According to Jesuit Father Cristobal Fones, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, who presented the initiative Jan. 7 in Rome alongside Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, the initiative proposes “a shared inner experience that aspires to transform life from within.”

The focus of this new phase, as the Jesuit priest explained, “will be more centered on supporting a spiritual experience, which often becomes difficult amidst our busy and noise-filled daily lives.”

“The pope is very aware of this and wants to help us, inviting us to pray together for others,” he added. The “update” of the initiative, according to Fones, stems “from the profound need we have to slow down in order to achieve greater depth in our decisions and relationships.”

With a simple and accessible format, “Pray with the Pope” aims to allow anyone, wherever they are, to join in the Holy Father’s prayer intention, which this year 2026 begins with the invitation to “learn to pray with the most definitive Word, which is not our own, so full of empty promises, but Jesus Christ.”

In this month’s video, Pope Leo XIV is seen silently reading a passage from the Bible in the presence of the Lord, and then he recites a short prayer:

“Lord Jesus, living word of the Father, in you we find the light that guides our steps.

“We know that the human heart lives restless, hungry for meaning, and only your Gospel can give it peace and fullness.

“Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures, to let ourselves be challenged by your voice, and to discern our decisions from the closeness to your heart.

“May your word be nourishment in weariness, hope in darkness, and strength in our communities.

“Lord, may your word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts — the word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, disciples and missionaries of your kingdom.

“Make us a Church that prays with the word, that builds upon it and shares it with joy, so that in every person the hope of a new world may be born again.

“May our faith grow in the encounter with you through your word, moving us from the heart to reach out to others, to serve the most vulnerable, to forgive, build bridges, and proclaim life. Amen.”

Countering the globalization of indifference

For Fones, this January’s intention will be the basis for the rest of the year’s intentions, which will include children with incurable diseases, the end of war, priests in crisis, respect for human life, and families experiencing the absence of a mother or father, among others.

The priest explained that the initiative also seeks to “highlight important and crucial issues for everyone, opening our hearts to urgent realities and transforming our environment to counteract the globalization of indifference.”

The campaign can be followed on the pope’s prayer website in several languages, and will also be available in audio format through Vatican Radio and partner platforms such as Pray as You Go, RezandoVoy, and Hallow. The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is currently present in more than 90 countries and reaches over 22 million people.

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

Jan 8, 2026 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on cardinals to experience the extraordinary consistory as a time of spiritual discernment in unity and warned against the temptation to put personal interests ahead of the common good.

“We gather not to promote personal or group ‘agendas’ but to entrust our plans and inspirations to a discernment that transcends us — ‘as the heavens are higher than the earth’ — and which comes only from the Lord,” he said in his homily for the Mass he celebrated Jan. 8 in St. Peter’s Basilica with the cardinals present in Rome for this important two-day ecclesial meeting convened to help him make decisions about the future of the Catholic Church.

Leo XIV urged the cardinals to experience the Eucharist as the place where this discernment is purified and transformed, asking them to place all their “hopes and ideas upon the altar.”

Truly listening to the voice of God

“Only in this way will we truly know how to listen to his voice and to welcome it through the gift that we are to one another — which is the very reason we have gathered,” he added.

The pope linked this vision to the spirituality of communion, recalling that Christian love is “Trinitarian” and “relational,” and quoted St. John Paul II, who defined it as “the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us.”

This extraordinary consistory — different from the ordinary ones, which are more limited and frequent — was planned to take place immediately after the Jubilee of Hope to “offer support and advice to the Holy Father in the exercise of his high and arduous responsibility of governing the Church,” according to a statement from the Holy See.

St. John Paul II convened six extraordinary consistories during his 26-year pontificate, while Pope Benedict XVI chose to hold consultative meetings with the cardinals on the eve of the ordinary consistories. In total, he held three such meetings during his pontificate.

During the 12 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis held only one extraordinary consistory, on Feb. 20, 2014, which focused primarily on the family and marriage, ahead of the Synod on the Family held that same year.

Unlike his predecessor, who preferred to consult with a smaller council, Leo XIV convened the entire College of Cardinals to assist him in governing the universal Church.

Evangelization and synodality

The cardinals are expected to offer the new pontiff their views on two specific topics: the Synod and synodality, and the mission of evangelization and the missionary character of the Church in light of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. Initially, the meeting topics also included discussions on the liturgy and the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, but lack of time has limited the issues that will be addressed.

The pontiff reflected on the very meaning of the consistory, recalling that the word “consistorium” in Latin refers to the idea of ​​“pausing.”

“Indeed, all of us have ‘paused’ in order to be here. We have set aside our activities for a time, and even canceled important commitments, so as to discern together what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people,” he emphasized.

Not a group of experts, but a community of faith

In his homily, the Holy Father reminded those present that this gathering is not about a “mere group of experts” but “a community of faith. Only when the gifts that each person brings are offered to the Lord and returned by him, will they bear the greatest fruit according to his providence.”

The pontiff also recalled the words of St. Leo the Great to emphasize the communal dimension of ecclesial service: “In this way,” he said, “‘the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick visited, and no one seeks his or her own interests, but those of others.’”

Referring to the challenges of today’s world, marked by profound inequalities and a widespread “hunger for goodness and peace,” the pope acknowledged the feeling of inadequacy in the face of the mission but encouraged them to face it together, trusting in providence.

“We will be able to help one another — and in particular, to help the pope — to find the “five loaves and two fish” that providence “never fails to provide,” he affirmed.

Leo XIV concluded his homily by offering the cardinals his “heartfelt thanks” for their service and reminding them that, even if they don’t always manage to find solutions to the problems they face.

‘We may not always find immediate solutions to the problems we face’

“We may not always be able to find immediate solutions to the problems we face. Yet in every place and circumstance, we will be able to help one another — and in particular, to help the pope,” he said, calling for collaboration.

“Beloved brothers,” the pope noted, “what you offer to the Church through your service, at every level, is something profound and very personal, unique to each of you and precious to all.”

According to what the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, reported Jan. 7, of the 245 cardinals who currently make up the College of Cardinals, 170 are in Rome participating in the closed-door meetings that concluded Thursday.

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

Jan 8, 2026 / 15:06 pm (CNA).

More than 11,000 Christians gathered in the Bavarian city of Augsburg this week for one of Europe’s largest ecumenical faith events — the MEHR conference — which its founder says aims to “make room for God” in an increasingly secular region.

The four-day MEHR conference (German for “more”), held Jan. 3–6 at the Augsburg Trade Fair grounds, drew participants from across the continent to hear from international speakers — including American author John Eldredge — and to engage in prayer and worship.

Led by Catholic theologian Johannes Hartl and the Augsburg Gebetshaus (“House of Prayer”), the 14th annual gathering brought together Catholics, Lutherans, and evangelicals under the theme “The Sound of Joy,” defying trends of declining church attendance in German-speaking Europe.

While most attendees came from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, organizers on opening night welcomed visitors from as far away as Costa Rica, Italy, and Norway.

Ecumenical celebration

The conference opened with prayer and praise. Designed as an interdenominational gathering, MEHR unites diverse Christian traditions and incorporates varied styles of worship.

Auxiliary Bishop Florian Wörner celebrated a Catholic Mass on Sunday, while Augsburg Bishop Bertram Meier presided at Mass for the solemnity of the Epiphany on Jan. 6. Most worship bands came from evangelical communities, while Lutheran Bishop Tobias Pilz led a Protestant service on Monday.

Prayer is the centerpiece of the conference, transcending denominational lines, Hartl explained in an interview with CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and EWTN News.

“When we pray, sing, and speak about him — when we direct the attention of 10,000 people toward him — something comes back: his presence, his joy, his peace,” he said.

Finding spiritual resonance

This year’s theme, “The Sound of Joy,” focused on helping participants tune in to that spiritual resonance.

“Participants often tell us that when they enter our main hall, their eyes are opened; they receive new hope, new perspectives, and life’s questions find answers,” Hartl said. “We aren’t doing that — we can’t. Only God can. But we can make room for God.”

Katharina Achammer, who traveled from Salzburg, experienced this joy firsthand. Having attended three times before, she said she remains impressed by how people from different Christian traditions can focus together on Jesus. “When young people pray together, that simply radiates joy for me,” Achammer said.

Hartl defended the scale of the event by emphasizing the unique dynamic of mass gatherings.

“Some things you can only see on a large scale,” he said, comparing the conference to the World Cup: While it doesn’t replace the weekly practice of local church life, “sometimes you need these special experiences.”

The Bible, Hartl noted, is full of large festivals — and the Church marks major events such as World Youth Day and holy years. “We celebrate a big festival because God is worth celebrating in a generous, beautiful way,” he said.

While shared experiences are vital, Hartl emphasized that MEHR is not only about emotional experiences. Each year, he includes a theological track to engage scholars on contemporary questions.

“Ideas have long-term consequences,” he said. “What a society holds to be true changes everything in the long run.” His goal, he explained, is to shape ideas, not just spread feelings.

Dealing with secular media

The House of Prayer’s influence has drawn negative attention in Germany’s secular media, as CNA Deutsch reported.

A recent documentary by public service Bavarian Broadcasting scrutinized Catholic renewal movements, portraying Hartl and his team as “ hip missionaries” who, it claimed, stand “with Jesus against freedom.”

Asked about the critical reporting, Hartl said: “Over the years, we’ve received plenty of positive coverage. Recently, there was a somewhat critical report — but if you come here, talk to the people, and soak up the atmosphere, you can decide for yourself whether this is a dogmatic, fear-obsessed, hostile culture — or a life-affirming, joyful one.”

Speakers and future generations

Chris from Cologne attended the conference specifically to hear author John Eldredge, who spoke on resilience and living in God’s presence. He also enjoyed the Sunday evening concert by the Christian band O’Bros.

“Those two sessions alone made the trip worthwhile,” he said.

A separate “MEHRkids” program offered games and age-appropriate catechesis for younger visitors. Eight-year-old Tobias, visiting from Italy with his parents, said his favorite part was the trampolines.

“We also talked about how we can encounter God,” Tobias said. While the workshops didn’t interest him as much, he still had fun — and hopes to return next time.

Creating space for 11,000 people to encounter God is no small task. But true to its theme, the “sound of joy” echoed through the packed halls of the Augsburg fairgrounds as thousands made room for God at the start of the new year.

This article was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Jan 8, 2026 / 14:17 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of January is for the faithful to pray with the word of God.

In a video released Jan. 7 on X, the Holy Father said that he is praying “that we may learn, practice, and love praying with the word of God.”

“The gift of Scripture is God’s love letter to humankind,” he said. “Let’s pray that we all draw from this gift and get to know Our Lord.”

‘Pray with the Pope’ initiative

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and the Dicastery for Communication announced Jan. 7 the “Pray with the Pope” project. According to a press release, this is a new initiative in which the pope will share his monthly prayer intentions through both video and audio, “inviting the universal Church and all people of goodwill to unite spiritually, using the same prayer that will now be led by the pope himself.”

“This initiative aims to increase the visibility of the pope’s prayer intentions, using a language suitable for prayer, in new formats, so as to better reach the faithful throughout the world, especially in today’s world of digital communication,” the press release stated.

In the full video shared on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention.

Here is the pope’s full prayer:

Lord Jesus, living Word of the Father,

in you we find the light that guides our steps.

We know that the human heart lives restless, hungry for meaning,

and only your Gospel can give it peace and fullness.

Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures,

to let ourselves be challenged by your voice,

and to discern our decisions

from the closeness to your heart.

May your word be nourishment in weariness,

hope in darkness,

and strength in our communities.

Lord, may your word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts —

the word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters,

disciples and missionaries of your kingdom.

Make us a Church that prays with the word,

that is built upon it and shares it with joy,

so that in every person the hope of a new world may be born again.

May our faith grow in the encounter with you through your word,

moving us from the heart

to reach out to others,

to serve the most vulnerable,

to forgive, build bridges, and proclaim life.

Amen.

“Pray with the Pope” is accessible on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website and its digital platforms.

Jan 8, 2026 / 13:47 pm (CNA).

Next month Catholics from across the globe will gather for the 18th annual New York Encounter dedicated to education, dialogue, and friendship.

The cultural conference is organized annually by members of Communion and Liberation, an ecclesiastical movement founded by the Italian priest Father Luigi Giussani. The event will take place Feb. 13–15 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. Several of the presentations will be livestreamed, but for those who wish to attend in person, the event is free and open to all.

The 2026 theme is “Where Everything Is Waiting for You” to address “the reemerging human desire for authentic belonging amid global isolation, emphasizing how freedom, truth, forgiveness, and dignity foster certainty and openness in true community,” Communion and Liberation reported.

The event is set to feature a number of exhibits, panels, and discussion from a wide range of speakers. Dialogue and reflection will focus on urgent questions shaping common life, the event’s website reported. The Encounter plans to bring together leading voices from culture, academia, faith, and the arts to explore how human flourishing is possible in today’s world.

Speakers and events

The Encounter will host events on “pressing social issues” to encourage “reflection that goes beyond superficial or popular judgments,” Communion and Liberation reported. Among the topics, speakers will discuss the crisis of globalization, trade wars, and immigration.

The 2026 conference will welcome dozens of well-known Catholic leaders. The event will kick off the evening of Feb. 13 with a talk by author Colum McCann followed by a reflection led by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

Feb. 14 will feature a number of panels including a discussion, “A Home in the Storm,” by Bishop Pavlo Honcharuk of Kharkiv and Father Wojciech Stasiewicz, the director of Caritas-Spes in Kharkiv. The conversation will address the faith that sustains the Church in Ukraine and be moderated by Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio.

Another panel will tackle artificial intelligence (AI). Louis Kim, former vice president of personal systems and AI at Hewlett Packard, and Paul Scherz, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, will discuss how Catholic social doctrine is addressing the challenges of the technology.

Attendees can also start to check out the exhibits including “You Can’t Die for a Dollar” about the Catholic founder of Bank of America, Peter Giannini, or “The Matter of Time” about the meaning of time in science, history, and life.

Feb. 15 will begin in prayer with a Mass honoring the 21st anniversary of Giussani’s death, which will be celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop emeritus of New York. Following Mass, discussions and exhibits will resume.

Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., will speak alongside legal expert Ashley Feasley and executive director at the Center for Migration Studies Mario Russell to offer a Catholic view on the status of immigration in the country.

In light of the 250th anniversary of America, the Encounter will hold a panel addressing the relevance and future prospects of America’s founding ideals with Mary Ann Glendon, professor of law at Harvard, and Meir Soloveichik, an Orthodox rabbi and author.

The weekend will feature a number of other speakers and exhibits to address cultural matters and to continue to tackle the 2026 theme of “Where Everything Is Waiting for You.”

Jan 8, 2026 / 11:22 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in India has launched a systematic campaign to address growing mental illness in groups including families and religious communities.

“We decided to take up mental health as a major concern and set up the structure in response to increased family conflicts, death by suicide among young adults, and even among religious,” said Archbishop Thomas Tharayil, the chairman of the Mental Health Ministry of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.

“Mental health issues are on the increase both in personal lives and in families and service fields. The Church has to reach out to those in trouble at different levels from diocese to parishes,” Tharayil told CNA from Changanacherry in southern Kerala state.

After informal consultations and discussions, the ministry emerged at the national convention jointly organized by the India chapter of the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and the Indian bishops’ health care commission in April 2024 in Bangalore.

The two-day conference, which was attended by half a dozen bishops besides more than 250 religious, clergy, experts, and professionals, examined “the role of the Church as a healing community and the difference between mental health and spiritual well-being.”

The conference called for “spiritually accompanying individuals suffering from mental illness at the grassroots level — the diocese, parish, and community level.”

“The setting up of the Mental Health Ministry is the fruit of this conference,” Medical Mission Sister Joan Chunkapura told CNA.

“Depression and anxiety and other personality disorders are also on the increase due to stress and uncertainty and work pressure. Increasing numbers of suicides challenge us to set up more systems to serve those in mental crisis,” said the nun, who serves as the ministry secretary and who has done psychological counseling for four decades.

Dozens of priests and nuns have died by suicide in the past two decades due to depression, other mental health issues, or sexual exploitation, she said.

Conferences and seminars are being held in different parts of the country, Chunkapura said.

“We have been looking at setting up a national framework to address mental health effectively amid increasing challenges,” Carmelite Father Shinto Thomas told CNA. The priest, based in Bangalore, has been appointed president of the mental health ministry.

Thomas has worked with the U.S.-based Deacon Ed Shoener in setting up the ministry. The deacon had addressed the national conference in 2024.

Shoener, who was ordained a permanent deacon in 2004 at St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is the founding president of the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. He was drawn to that mission following the death by suicide of his daughter Kathleen in 2016.

“The Indian Bishops’ Conference is setting an example to inspire other countries,” Shoener told CNA.

“Though our Mental Health network is associated and working in 75 countries, India is one of the countries where [the bishops have] taken it up seriously and set up a program for it,” the deacon said.

“I have met representatives from the CBCI in my trips to India in 2024 and then again in 2025. They have embraced mental health ministry and have taken important steps to develop the ministry for the Indian context,” he added.

“Mental health remains a serious problem in families, among the youth ,and at work place and religious life with nuns and priests facing mental problems and depression,” Father Santhosh Dias, the secretary of the Indian bishops’ health care commission, told CNA.

“Unless the Church is fully involved in this mission, there will be apprehension about the work of such centers. So the health care commission is fully with the mental health ministry and we are preparing guidelines for the whole Church in India,” he said.

Dias said the final guidelines for the mental health ministry will be presented at the Indian bishops’ national assembly in February.

Jan 8, 2026 / 10:52 am (CNA).

ROME — Some cardinals and faithful who have a devotion to the traditional Roman rite have expressed concern that the liturgy appears to be sidelined in the extraordinary consistory currently underway at the Vatican after the cardinals voted to give priority to other issues on the agenda.

In his opening address to the consistory yesterday, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed to the cardinal participants that they will have the opportunity to “engage in a communal reflection” on four themes already preannounced to be on the meeting’s agenda.

Those topics, he said, were Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, “that is, the mission of the Church in today’s world”; Praedicate Evangelium, the late pope’s apostolic constitution reforming the Roman Curia; the Synod and synodality “as both an instrument and a style of cooperation”; and the liturgy, “the source and summit of the Christian life.”

But Leo added that “due to time constraints, and in order to encourage a genuinely in-depth analysis, only two of them will be discussed specifically.”

The cardinals were then asked to make clear which two of the four they would want to be specifically debated and, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, “a large majority” decided the topics would be “evangelization and the Church’s missionary activity drawn from rereading Evangelii Gaudium,” and “the Synod and synodality.”

Bruni told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday evening that the 170 cardinals taking part were divided into 20 groups, which were then divided into two blocks. Eleven groups consisted of cardinals in Rome including curial cardinals and those who have concluded their service and are no longer electors. The remaining nine groups were cardinal electors of local Churches (archbishops and bishops of dioceses), cardinal electors who are nuncios and cardinal electors who have concluded their service but remain electors due to being under the age of 80.

Bruni said that “for reasons of time,” the cardinal secretaries of the second block had the job of reporting back the decision of the cardinals. “They had three minutes to explain the work done within the groups and the reasons that led to the choice of the two themes.”

The Holy Father had made clear in his opening address that it was his preference to hear back from the second block as he does not usually receive advice from those cardinals. “It is naturally easier for me to seek counsel from those who work in the Curia and live in Rome,” he said.

But the decision not to make the liturgy a key theme was disappointing to some cardinals and traditional faithful.

The liturgy has long been a particularly sensitive issue, and especially to traditional-minded Catholics following recent sweeping restrictions on the older form of the Latin rite during Pope Francis’ pontificate. These faithful experienced the restrictions not as a mere disciplinary change but as a judgment on their fidelity, spirituality, and ecclesial belonging, which many have described as deeply wounding and divisive.

The popular Italian traditional website “Messa in Latino“  wrote Jan. 7 that it had contacted some anonymous but important cardinals who all said they were “discouraged and disappointed” about the relegation of the liturgy as a discussion topic.

In comments to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Jan. 8, the website’s editor Luigi Casalini asked: “To whom did the pope delegate this choice, and according to what criteria were these cardinals of the nine local Churches selected in order to remove — in effect — two topics?” He also wondered “why cardinals sensitive to the issue” appear to have “made no attempt to lobby” for the liturgy to be included as a core topic of discussion, “even before the consistory.”

The consistory, he added, “appears to be in perfect continuity with the synods and the thought of Francis” — a reference to how recent synods were silent on the traditional liturgy.

Speaking to journalists Wednesday, Bruni tried to offer some reassurance. “The other two themes will still be addressed in some way, because mission does not exclude the liturgy,” he said. “On the contrary, in many ways it does not mean exclusion. It means that they will still be addressed within the others or in some other way.”

He added: “As the pope said and as he noted in both his opening and closing speeches [on Wednesday], the themes cannot be separated from each other, because in mission and evangelization there is liturgy.”

Casalini said he was looking ahead to the two free discussions today to see “whether the topic of the liturgy will be taken up again.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

At the end of the second day of the Extraordinary Consistory, Pope Leo XIV expressed his desire to continue along this path, “in continuity” with what was requested in the pre-Conclave general congregations, and confirmed the Ecclesial Assembly of October 2028. Cardinal Brislin of South Africa, Cardinal David of the Philippines, and Cardinal Rueda Aparicio of Colombia describe the morning and afternoon proceedings, noting there was a sense of unity, even if not uniformity.

Read all

 

Jan 8, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Austria has launched a new formation program to promote late vocations, aimed at men between 45 and 60 years old who are currently employed and can complete the process without having to leave their jobs.

The initiative, promoted by the Conference of Rectors of Austrian Seminaries, breaks with the traditional model of formation and preparation for priestly ordination and opts for a more flexible model as a response to the shortage of vocations.

Under the name “ Zweiten Weg für Spätberufene” (“Second Path for Late Vocations”), the program is specifically aimed at men with professional experience and offers the possibility of pursuing theological studies remotely, without requiring community life in the seminary or exclusively in-person formation, adapting to the professional demands of each candidate.

This new program also allows them to continue practicing their profession after being ordained priests — with the exception of political positions — albeit in a limited capacity, with the express authorization of their diocese and provided that their profession is compatible with the priestly ethos.

With this new proposal, the Church in Austria is committed to integrating the path to the priesthood with the daily lives of the candidates, who must be single or widowed and commit to a life of celibacy.

The fundamental pillar of the initiative is the document Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, from the Dicastery for the Clergy, on the gift of the priestly vocation and the importance of formation.

According to the latest data provided by the Austrian Bishops’ Conference for the year 2024, there are currently 3,269 priests in the country, a number that has experienced a slight but steady decline in recent years.

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

Jan 8, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Communists in former Czechoslovakia wanted to turn Neratovice into the first church-free city. Now, in democratic Czech Republic, which banned the promotion of communism starting this January 2026, the city may become home to the world’s largest 3D-printed church.

The tower will be constructed using 3D printing technology, but whether the entire church will be printed is to be decided soon based on calculations and estimation of the building’s vault.

“The decision to 3D-print the entire above-the-ground part of the building should be made in the near future, that is at the beginning of 2026,” Marek Matocha, member of the board of directors of the Neratovice Community Center Foundation, confirmed to CNA. The foundation, which facilitates the construction, was created by the Archdiocese of Prague since Neratovice is in its territory.

Architectural innovation

In December, the Czech version of Forbes hailed the future “exceptional church, which has an ambition to change the foundations of construction.” It can “put Czechia back on the architectural map of the world after a long time,” the business magazine wrote.

The founding stone of the Church of the Holy Trinity and of Cardinal Josef Beran Community Centre was blessed by Archbishop of Prague Jan Graubner in 2024. The future church is modeled on Noah’s Ark by award-winning architect Zdeněk Fránek, who has constructed religious buildings previously.

Both buildings will be energy efficient, covered by green roofs irrigated by means of rainwater retention tanks. A park with a pond and a children’s playground nearby are planned, too.

Financial considerations

Local parish administrator Father Peter Kováč said that 3D printing could bring savings and a unique solution — possibly the largest 3D-printed church in the world.

“It is important that the project is sustainable and meaningful financially,” he told a local Catholic weekly. Various donors have already contributed several millions and the whole project is estimated to cost 204 million Czech crowns (more than $8 million).

For the time being, the parishioners go to Mass in a chapel.

The church design consists of an ark-like structure made up of 520 3D-printed blocks, assembled like a puzzle. These blocks are generatively designed and are characterized by a wavelike structure that has an acoustic function.

Historical significance

Among the patrons of the project is Member of the European Parliament Tomáš Zdechovský. The Czech Christian Democrat sees the construction as “absolutely great news” because the church “will be a unique building that will be visited by people from all over the country.”

The town of Neratovice, an industrial community with a population of about 16,000, was founded by the communist regime in 1957 and has never had a church. The creation of the 3D-printed structure is thus significant for local Roman Catholics, who have been trying to have a church built for decades.

Cardinal Josef Beran (1888–1969) was an archbishop of Prague who suffered in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau before World War II. When the communists took over Czechoslovakia, he refused to pledge loyalty to the atheist regime. He was interned for 14 years in several locations, including complete isolation from the outside world.

When he was created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1965, he was allowed to travel to Rome but was unable to return. The prelate spent the rest of his life in exile, visiting compatriots in Europe and the U.S. His beatification process is currently underway.