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New York Sees Rising Catholic Conversions Amid Broader National Trends
Posted on 11/19/2025 00:18 AM (The Daily Register)
Nov. 19 Wednesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time, Weekday
Posted on 11/19/2025 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
Archbishop Coakley reflects on role as USCCB president (Our Sunday Visitor)
Posted on 11/18/2025 23:11 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
The American bishops, Archbishop Coakley said, “are far more unified pastorally, fraternally than is often portrayed in a lot of the media and a lot of people’s imaginations. The narrative is out there that the American bishops are divided, we’re polarized, and that’s not been my experience.”
During an interview in which he offered a balanced view on immigration, the archbishop also responded to criticism he has received for supporting Archbishop Vigano in the demand for a thorough investigation of the McCarrick scandal.
Pope backs US bishops on immigration (Vatican News)
Posted on 11/18/2025 23:11 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
While acknowledging a country’s right to control its own borders, the Pope said: “If someone is in the United States illegally, there are ways to address this. There are courts. There is a judicial system.” But he criticized the “extremely disrespectful” treatment of illegal immigrants, especially those who have been leading a “good life” in the US for years.
The Pope made his remarks during an informal exchange in which he also answered questions about conflicts in Ukraine and Nigeria, his future travel plans, and his regular use of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. (See today’s separate CWN headline.)
Pope speaks on several topics in exchange with reporters (Vatican News)
Posted on 11/18/2025 23:11 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
[During the same session the Pontiff also offered his support to the US bishops in their criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. See today’s separate CWN headline.]
Questioned about the prospects for a peace accord in Ukraine, the Pope said: “The problem is that there is no ceasefire.” Regarding terror attacks in Nigeria he observed that “there is indeed a danger for Christians—and for everyone, Christian and Muslim.”
The Pope disclosed that he is considering travel to several places in coming months, listing the Marian shrines at Fatima and Guadalupe, and South American countries including Uruguay, Argentina, and “of course” Peru, where he had served as diocesan bishop.
Answering questions about his regular Tuesday trips to Castel Gandolfo, the Pope said that he uses his “day off” for reading, correspondence, and “a bit of tennis, a bit of swimming.”
Questioned about the case of Bishop Rafael Zornoza of Cadiz and Cueta, Spain, who has been charged with sexual abuse, the Pontiff reminded reporters that the bishop has maintained his innocence, and an investigation is underway. “Depending on the results, there will be consequences,” he said, urging patience with the judicial process.
Resurrection points to 'ecological conversion,' Pope tells audience (Vatican Press Office)
Posted on 11/18/2025 23:11 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
Continuing his series of talks on the Resurrection, the Pope remarked that St. Mary Magdalene encountered the Risen Christ in the garden where He had been buried. He reminded his audience: “Cultivating and keeping the garden is the original task that Jesus brought to fulfillment.”
Quoting from Laudato Si’, the encyclical of Pope Francis, the Pontiff said that the Resurrection is an invitation to “ecological conversion.” He added: “There are also many people who desire, through a more direct relationship with creation, a new harmony that will lead them beyond so many divisions.”
Vatican diplomat: Catholic institutions under 'extreme duress' in Sudan (Holy See Mission)
Posted on 11/18/2025 05:11 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
“Their staff, many of whom are volunteers, face daily threats, and many have been displaced,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. “In order to bring an end to the current levels of violence, Sudan requires both sustained humanitarian aid and immediate diplomatic efforts.”
The Rapid Support Forces, a belligerent in the Sudanese civil war, perpetrated the massacre.
Nuclear menace is 'morally indefensible,' Vatican foreign minister says (Vatican News (Italian))
Posted on 11/18/2025 04:11 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
“The idea of building peace on the threat of total destruction or on the illusion that stability can derive from a mutual possibility of annihilation” is “morally indefensible and strategically unsustainable,” said Archbishop Gallagher.
“A balance based on terror and mutual demonstrations of force,” he said, “can in no way guarantee authentic peace; on the contrary, it contributes to increasing the risk and destructive scope of a potential conflict.”
The prelate also warned of “an accelerated arms race accompanied by renewed, sometimes frenetic, efforts to expand existing arsenals and their destructive capabilities.”
Leading African, Latin American prelates lament world's ecological state (Vatican News (Italian))
Posted on 11/18/2025 04:11 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
“I come from Africa, and Africa is known for being the continent that pollutes the least but suffers the most from the consequences of climate change,” said Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, president of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. “We see the increase in deserts that continues to cause damage, the floods affecting many nations, the voracious exploitation of minerals. We are heading towards catastrophe.”
“Instead of an economy focused on profit and the interests of small groups, we must put the human person, life, at the center,” he added.
“We must put the care of life at the center of our decisions,” added Cardinal Jaime Spengler, of Porto Alegre, Brazil, president of CELAM (the Episcopal Conference of Latin America). “We cannot compromise with what is called the culture of death. We are all called to be seeds of hope, for a new future.”
The Church does not seek to proselytize, Pontiff tells Ghana's ambassador (Daily Graphic)
Posted on 11/18/2025 02:11 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
Pope Leo expressed closeness to the poor and marginalized and joy in the collaboration of Church and state, Ghana’s state-owned newspaper reported. The Pope also “stressed that the Catholic Church did not seek to proselytize but rather to promote the welfare, dignity and integral development of every human person.”
In a 2007 doctrinal note, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that “the term proselytism was often used as a synonym for missionary activity. More recently, however, the term has taken on a negative connotation, to mean the promotion of a religion by using means, and for motives, contrary to the spirit of the Gospel; that is, which do not safeguard the freedom and dignity of the human person.”
Ghana, a nation of 34.6 million (map), is 72% Christian (15% Catholic), 19% Muslim, and 9% ethnic religionist.