Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“Our parish priest narrowly escaped abduction when the terrorists visited our mission house three days ago,” said a spokesman for the Diocese of Kontagora. “They destroyed some religious items, carted away two motorcycles and cash of over N200,000 [$139]. They were looking for the priest, but he escaped. Some villagers, including children, were abducted.”

According to the report, among the abducted villagers were some of the 315 persons abducted on November 21 from a Catholic school in Papiri, all of whom eventually escaped or were released.

The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission granted the Church of the Holy Cross an emergency historic designation in 2024 to prevent its demolition. The church had previously become part of St. Philip Neri Parish, which filed the suit.

“The continued maintenance of the unusable Subject Property forces St. Philip Neri to incur substantial costs, which is a significant portion of the parish’s operating budget for the entire year,” the parish argued in its lawsuit.

“The idea was presented to St. Paul VI by Cardinal Döpfner, bishop of Munich and subsequently president of the German Episcopal Conference, supported by the founder of the Institute of Canon Law in Munich, Klaus Mörsdorf,” Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, wrote in a lengthy article in the January 3 edition of the Vatican newspaper. “Subsequently, the work to update the Latin Code and that for the new Fundamental Law progressed in parallel for years, followed shortly afterwards, at a later stage, by the work for the Eastern codification.”

Nine drafts were considered until December 1981, when St. John Paul, according to Bishop Arrieta, “decided to postpone the eventual publication of the Fundamental Law, fearing possible risks in the ecumenical field and wanting to avoid the ambiguous signal that the Church intended to adapt itself in this way to the constitutionalism of secular societies.” Nonetheless, the drafts influenced the eventual Code of Canon Law (1983) and Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (1990).

The church was closed in 1978 and deconsecrated amid concerns about structural instability. It later became an event venue.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Bishop Earl Fernandes said recently that “the diocese has 43 seminarians this year, up from 17 in 2022,” and that “he expects as many as 50 young men to be in formation for the priesthood this next year,” according to the diocesan newspaper.

The prelate, now 53, was installed as diocesan bishop in 2022.

Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” said his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric.

Israel made its decision after the organizations “refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials,” Agence France-Presse reported.

A consultor to the Dicastery for the Clergy said that because the priest is “a man among men, it is necessary to cultivate and rethink the psycho-affective formation of priests.”

“We implore the Lord God to end the war in Ukraine,” Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk continued. “We wish that, with God’s help, this year will finally bring us the long-awaited, just, and lasting peace, and that it will be a year of rebuilding Ukraine, which should become better than it was before the war.”

The Major Archbishop also said that 2025 was a year of hope, and that “thanks to this power of hope, we were able to resist the plans of the Russian aggressor.” The year 2025, he added, was “a year of resilience for us, which is the secret of our victory.”

“In the face of the events that our country is experiencing today, let us ask God to grant all Venezuelans serenity, wisdom, and strength,” the bishops said. “We stand in solidarity with those who were injured and the families of those who died. Let us persevere in prayer for the unity of our people.”

“We call on the People of God to live more intensely in hope and fervent prayer for peace in our hearts and in society, and we reject any type of violence,” they continued. “May our hands be open for encounter and mutual help, and may the decisions that are made always be for the good of our people.”

Pope Leo said yesterday that he was following developments in Venezuela “with a heart full of concern” and that “the good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail above every other consideration.”