Rome Newsroom, Nov 17, 2025 / 11:26 am (CNA).

Members of the Lebanese Catholic diaspora are anticipating Pope Leo XIV’s three-day visit to Lebanon, taking place from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, with great hopes the new pontiff will continue his papal predecessors’ solidarity with the Middle East’s most Christian country.

While Lebanon’s current population currently stands at 5.8 million people, an estimated 14 million to 18 million people of Lebanese origin live in other countries, according to a 2024 Australian National University Migration Hub report.

Since the mid-1970s, millions of Lebanese have left the country after witnessing decades of instability and destruction brought about by the 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War, military invasions by neighboring Israel and Syria, and, more recently, the country’s 2020 economic collapse.

Though many fled their homeland in search of peace and security abroad, many Lebanese held on to their Eastern Catholic identities and passed on their religion to their children, including the parents of U.S. vocations director for the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, Father Charbel Boustany, FFI.

Born in Sydney two years after his family left Lebanon to escape the civil war, Boustany told CNA his parents passed down their Maronite Catholic identity to their children, whom they raised in Australia.

Eastern Catholic Churches follow the pope but celebrate liturgies similar to those of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Leo’s visit will be the third formal papal journey to Lebanon. The priest told CNA he believes the visit from the bishop of Rome will be “a beautiful expression of the full communion that unites the Maronite and Roman Catholic Churches.”

“The fact that Pope Leo has chosen Lebanon for his first apostolic journey speaks volumes about the importance of this small yet deeply symbolic country — not only to the Church but to the world,” he said.

Though the majority of Lebanese Catholics belong to the Maronite rite, Melkite Catholic Elie Bassila told CNA Leo’s visit is significant for all Christians — Catholic and Orthodox — who belong to “the family of the Oriental Churches” in Lebanon.

“For us Melkites in particular, who cherish our Byzantine heritage and our long-standing commitment to communion with Rome, the pope’s visit reaffirms the value of our identity and our mission within the wider Church,” he said.

At a time when the future feels uncertain due to regional conflicts as well as sectarian divisions eroding national unity, Bassila said he believes Christians need to see and feel the support of the Holy Father. 

“This visit comes at a historically decisive moment for Lebanon,” he said. “It is more than a gesture of solidarity — it is a visit of hope.”

“We need the head of the Church to stand with our families, with our brothers and sisters of every community, and to reaffirm the importance of fraternity and dialogue among all who call Lebanon home,” he added.

Both Bassila and Boustany are praying Pope Leo’s visit will help Lebanese — living in Lebanon or abroad — to rediscover or renew their sense of faith, hope, and love in God, especially when daily life can feel like a struggle for mere survival. 

“Lebanon is a country that has endured immense suffering but continues to bear witness to faith and resilience,” Boustany said.

John Paul II’s solidarity with Lebanon throughout civil war

Recalling earlier pontificates, Boustany — who was named after the Maronite mystic St. Charbel — said St. John Paul II’s solidarity with Lebanese people has had a profound impact on generations of families living in and outside of Lebanon.

“One of his most memorable statements, made in 1989, still resonates deeply: ‘Lebanon is more than a country; it is a message of freedom and an example of pluralism for East and West,” Boustany told CNA, quoting the Polish pope’s message of peace in Lebanon.

“That vision still inspires many Lebanese today,” he said.

For Bassila, that phrase “became part of our national identity” and “remains one of the most powerful messages ever spoken to the people of Lebanon.”

Having left Lebanon as a young adult to work as an international humanitarian aid worker, Bassila has vivid childhood memories of the Polish pope’s visit to his homeland seven years after the civil war ended.        

“I was 10 years old when Pope John Paul II visited Lebanon on May 10–11, 1997, and that date is engraved in the Lebanese collective memory,” Bassila told CNA.  

“His visit — essentially the first full papal visit to Lebanon — came just after the end of the civil war, at a time when people and families were still wounded, struggling, and trying to rebuild their lives,” he continued.

Throughout the duration of the civil war approximately 150,000 people were killed, 17,000 went missing, and hundreds of thousands more people were left displaced, according to an Associated Press report.

Describing the highly-televised visit as a “true national event,” Bassila recalled how “the highway from the airport to the Melkite Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa was completely filled with crowds” waiting to greet the leader of Catholics worldwide.

“It was festive in a way Lebanon hadn’t experienced in years,” he shared with CNA. 

“I still recall our Orthodox neighbor buying a huge Vatican flag and heading out to greet the pope — something that, for me, symbolized unity and a rare moment of joy shared across communities,” he continued.

Benedict XVI’s call for unity, dialogue in the Middle East

The second papal visit to Lebanon was made by Pope Benedict XVI about a year after the Syrian civil war broke out on March 15, 2011.

During the 2012 visit, Benedict promoted interreligious dialogue and promulgated his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente in Beirut on the Sept. 14 feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross.

Boustany, who had already entered religious life in Australia by the time of Benedict’s visit to Lebanon, closely followed the three-day papal visit through Catholic media.

“I also recall how Patriarch [Bechara Boutros] Raï spoke about the Holy Father’s amazement at being welcomed with such joy not only by Christians but also by Lebanese of other faiths,” he said, reflecting on comments made by the head of the Maronite Church.

“It was a remarkable testimony to Lebanon’s spirit of coexistence,” he added.

Vatican City, Nov 17, 2025 / 10:39 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV lamented that there are cultural spaces where the Gospel is “distorted by particular interests” during a meeting with the Catholic Biblical Federation at the Vatican on Monday.

“New generations inhabit new digital environments where the word of God is easily overshadowed. New communities often find themselves in cultural spaces where the Gospel is unfamiliar or distorted by particular interests,” the pope said Nov. 17.

The Catholic Biblical Federation is an international organization — led by Cardinal Luis Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization — whose main goal is to promote the knowledge, dissemination, study, and pastoral ministry of sacred Scripture around the world.

The pontiff made clear that the group’s mission and vision “should always be inspired by the conviction that the Church draws life not from herself but from the Gospel.”

He added that “ensuring easy access to sacred Scripture for all the faithful is essential so that everyone may encounter the God who speaks, shares his love, and draws us into the fullness of life” and said translations of Scripture “remain indispensable.”

Leo invited the group to reflect on what “easy access” to sacred Scripture means in our time and “how can we facilitate this encounter for those who have never heard the word of God or whose cultures remain untouched by the Gospel?”

The pope expressed the hope that these questions will inspire “new forms of biblical outreach, capable of opening pathways to the Scriptures, so that God’s word may take root in people’s hearts and lead all to live in his grace.”

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

EWTN News, Nov 17, 2025 / 10:06 am (CNA).

On Nov. 5, the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality voted 26-12 to back the pro-abortion initiative “My Voice, My Choice” — just weeks after pro-life advocates held the largest gathering in the Parliament in more than a decade to challenge the initiative’s push for EU-funded cross-border abortion access.

The Oct. 15 conference, hosted by the European Centre for Law and Justice and co-organized with the One of Us federation, drew 300 participants including eight members of the European Parliament, former EU Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg, and former Slovenian Prime Minister Alojz Peterle.

Six women shared testimonies about their personal experiences with abortion — stories of regret, trauma, and long-term emotional consequences they say are often overlooked in policymaking.

Funding for My Voice, My Choice from pro-abortion foundations

While the committee’s draft resolution on My Voice, My Choice carries no binding legal effect, it nonetheless sets a symbolic precedent that has drawn sharp criticism from pro-life organizations across Europe. A European Citizens Initiative (ECI) allows EU citizens to propose legislation directly to the European Commission if they gather at least 1 million verified signatures from citizens across a minimum of seven member states.

My Voice, My Choice, supported heavily in Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Italy, collected 1,124,513 signatures and raised 923,028 euros from private donors and pro-abortion foundations.

Along with backing the draft resolution, the committee also approved an oral question to the European Commission — a formal parliamentary procedure used to demand an on-the-record explanation. In this case, it asks the commission how it intends to respond to My Voice, My Choice, ensuring the issue moves beyond the committee level and into a public parliamentary debate.

Pro-life organizations draw comparisons with an earlier ECI, One of Us, a pro-life campaign that in 2014 secured even greater public backing, collecting 1,721,626 signatures despite operating on a far smaller budget of 159,219 euros and relying largely on volunteer mobilization. 

Yet, despite surpassing the threshold by a wide margin, the European Commission declined to act on its proposals. The outcome remains a point of contention within pro-life circles, who argue it highlights an institutional double standard and political bias in how such initiatives are ultimately treated.

EU funding for abortions outside of home countries?

The Oct. 15 pro-life event focused on the social and emotional context surrounding abortion decisions — from family pressure and economic hardship to instances where abortion followed sexual violence.

According to organizers, the six women who shared their testimonies also contacted all 40 full members of the committee, offering to share their experiences individually. 

Most members did not agree to meet them.

For Nicolas Bauer of the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), the lack of engagement reinforces a broader concern. He questioned whether some members of the European Parliament are guided more by ideology than by listening to the diversity of women’s experiences.

The committee’s endorsement of My Voice, My Choice, he explained, reflects a belief among left-leaning groups that abortion is “inherently a right and a social good,” leaving little space for accounts of suffering, regret, or moral conflict.

Bauer explained that the proposal envisions a system in which a woman unable to obtain an abortion in her home country could “receive EU funding to have one in a country where it is available.” 

As an example, he noted that a French woman who is 22 weeks pregnant — beyond France’s legal limit — “could travel to the Netherlands for an abortion, financed by the EU.” 

Such a scheme would, in practice, “harmonize abortion law across Europe by aligning it with the most permissive countries,” regardless of national legislation or moral consensus. He attributed the campaign’s public traction not to broad ideological agreement but to “slick marketing backed by substantial financial resources.”

He further claimed that the European Commission “even helped the organizers of My Voice, My Choice to draft their petition in a way that would maximize its chances of being declared admissible,” contrasting this with the experience of One of Us, which, he noted, “gathered more signatures but did not benefit from the same institutional support.”

Examining top-down strategies

Matthieu Bruynseels, advocacy director for EU affairs at the Federation of Catholic Family Associations, stressed the importance of subsidiarity — a principle rooted in both EU treaties and Catholic social doctrine. He noted that issues such as abortion, gestational surrogacy, and euthanasia lie outside the EU’s direct competencies, yet they continue to be debated at the European level for political reasons. In the wake of My Voice, My Choice, Bruynseels said the federation is concerned about the European Parliament’s growing efforts to incorporate abortion rights into its policies.

The ECLJ plans to return to these themes at its upcoming conference on Nov. 26. The event will examine what it describes as increasingly top-down strategies within the My Voice, My Choice campaign as well as recent trends in ECI funding. It will also highlight Article 33 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which calls on the union to support, not redefine, family and motherhood. As with the October gathering, the November conference will again feature women sharing firsthand accounts of their experiences with abortion.

As for My Voice, My Choice, the initiative will enter its formal institutional phase. A public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 2 in the European Parliament, during which the organizers will present their case to members of the European Parliament, the commission, and other stakeholders. After this hearing, the European Commission will be required to issue an official response outlining whether it intends to propose legislative action, pursue alternative measures, or decline to proceed and explain its reasoning publicly.

For advocates like Bauer, Bruynseels, and many within Europe’s pro-life movement, these unfolding developments highlight a defining question at the heart of EU politics today: Will abortion policy gradually align across the union, or will it continue to reflect the diverse ethical, legal, and cultural traditions of individual countries?

EWTN News, Nov 17, 2025 / 09:06 am (CNA).

Church arson attacks across Europe nearly doubled in 2024, part of a broader surge in anti-Christian hate crimes that included 274 personal assaults against Christians and the killing of a 76-year-old Spanish monk, according to a new report released Monday by the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe).

The report documented 2,211 anti-Christian hate crimes across Europe in 2024, with 94 arson attacks on churches — nearly double the number recorded in 2023.

An official launch of the report will take place Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion, Belief, and Conscience. OIDAC Europe compiled the report using official police figures, OSCE/ODIHR statistics, and its own case documentation.

Official numbers do not show the full scale

The spike in arson attacks is particularly prominent: A total of 94 arson incidents targeted churches and other Christian sites — one-third of which occurred in Germany.

France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, and Austria recorded the highest number of anti-Christian incidents overall. While most attacks were directed at places of worship, OIDAC Europe recorded 274 personal attacks against Christians in 2024, including assaults and threats.

Among the report’s findings are several severe cases, including the killing of a 76-year-old monk in Spain in November 2024 and the near-destruction of a historic church in Saint-Omer, France, by fire in September 2024.

Executive Director Anja Tang emphasized that the figures represent “very concrete acts of church vandalism, arson, and physical assaults that deeply affect local communities,” warning that official statistics still underestimate the scale of the problem.

New surveys from Poland and Spain reveal that nearly half of priests have encountered aggression. However, the vast majority never report these incidents to the police.

“If half of Catholic clergy experience aggression in a Catholic-majority country, hostility towards Christians can no longer be treated as a marginal issue,” Tang said.

Christians under social pressure across Europe

Beyond physical attacks, the report documents the growing legal and social pressure on Christians across Europe between 2024 and 2025.

Examples include the prosecution of individuals for silently praying in so-called “buffer zones” near abortion facilities in the United Kingdom; the ongoing “hate speech” proceedings against Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen for quoting the Bible; and the high-profile employment case of United Kingdom teacher Kristie Higgs. The Court of Appeal in February 2025 ultimately recognized Higgs’ Christian views as legally protected beliefs.

“These patterns highlight the urgent need to strengthen the protection of freedom of religion or belief in Europe — including the right to express and discuss faith-based convictions in the public sphere without fear of reprisal or censorship,” Tang said.

In its recommendations, OIDAC Europe calls for stronger, more coordinated European Union action. This includes appointing a European Union coordinator to combat anti-Christian hatred, similar to existing mandates on antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred.

The organization also urges governments to implement the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) new guide, Understanding Anti-Christian Hate Crimes and Addressing the Security Needs of Christian Communities, and to make systematic and comparable data collection on hate crimes against Christians a key priority.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At a time when young people spend so much time in "digital environments," members of the Catholic Biblical Federation need to ask how they are fulfilling the Second Vatican Council's mandate to give everyone access to the Bible, Pope Leo XIV said.

"What does 'easy access to Sacred Scripture' mean in our time? How can we facilitate this encounter for those who have never heard the Word of God or whose cultures remain untouched by the Gospel?" the pope asked members of the federation's steering committee and its regional representatives.

Pope Leo welcomed the group to the Apostolic Palace Nov. 17, expressing particular concern for people who "find themselves in cultural spaces where the Gospel is unfamiliar or distorted by particular interests."

At the end of the audience, Mary Sperry, associate director of the U.S. bishops' Office for the Biblical Apostolate, presented Pope Leo with two large white binders. They contained a preview copy of The Catholic American Bible, slated for publication in 2027. 

Meeting on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, "Dei Verbum," Pope Leo asked members of the group to reflect on how they individually and as a federation respond to the call "to hear the Word of God with reverence and to proclaim it with faith."

"The church draws life not from herself but from the Gospel," he said. "From the Gospel she continually rediscovers the direction for her journey, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who teaches all things and reminds us of everything the Son has said."

A key part of that, he said, is helping everyone have access to a Bible so they can "encounter the God who speaks, shares his love and draws us into the fullness of life."

Translations of the Bible, which the federation promotes, are essential for that, he said, but so are initiatives like encouraging "lectio divina," a prayerful reading of Scripture.

"Ultimately," Pope Leo told federation members, "your mission is to become 'living letters … written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God,' bearing witness to the primacy of God's Word over the many voices that fill our world."
 

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