Day: December 10, 2025

The flag of the European Union. / Credit: U. J. Alexander/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has expressed concern about a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which obliges all member states to recognize so-called “homosexual marriages” legally performed in another country.

In a Dec. 9 statement, the president of COMECE, Bishop Mariano Crociata, warned that the ruling could have an impact on the legal sovereignty of each nation, since the recognition of these unions is mandatory even if they are not valid under a country’s own legal system.

The ruling concerns a same-sex Polish couple who “married” in Germany in 2018. Upon returning to Poland, the authorities refused to record their union in the civil registry. The European court has deemed this refusal contrary to EU law, meaning that all member states are now obligated to recognize the rights stemming from this bond.

Union between a man and a woman

On behalf of the Church in Europe, Crociata referred to the Church’s anthropological vision, “founded on natural law,” and reiterated that marriage is a “union between a man and a woman.”

In this context, the Italian prelate pointed out that the ruling restricts the rights of each nation, especially those in which “the definition of marriage is part of their national identity.” In his opinion, the ruling could generate “pressure to amend national family law” and also increase “legal uncertainty.”

Currently, almost half of the European Union countries have not legalized same-sex unions: Poland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Romania.

In this regard, the bishops emphasized the need for “a prudent and cautious approach” to family law with cross-border implications and urges avoiding “undue influence” on national legal systems in Europe.

Surrogacy could be a consequence of the ruling

Crociata also cited Article 9 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which states that “The right to marry and the right to found a family shall be guaranteed in accordance with the national laws governing the exercise of these rights.”

Consequently, the European bishops warned that the approach adopted in this ruling could lead to “negative developments in other sensitive areas,” such as surrogacy.

They therefore expressed their concern about “the current challenging situation in the EU and the polarization present in our societies,” warning that such rulings “can give rise to anti-European [Union] sentiments in member states and can be easily instrumentalized in this sense.”

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

Notre Dame College in Mymensingh district, Bangladesh / Credit: Stephan Uttom Rozario

Dhaka, Bangladesh, Dec 10, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

The president of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Bejoy D’Cruze of Dhaka, has expressed concern after threats against two prominent Catholic colleges posed “a grave concern for the Catholic Church,” particularly ahead of Christmas and elections scheduled for February in a Dec. 3 statement.

On Dec. 2, a letter written in Bengali under the name Tawhidee Muslim Janata (“faithful Muslim people”) was sent to two of Bangladesh’s most prestigious colleges: Notre Dame College, run by the Holy Cross Fathers, and Holy Cross College, run by the Holy Cross Sisters.

The letter thanked the Catholic Church for its role in education but said that the Church is now trying to convert not only indigenous groups and Muslims to Christianity by offering various incentives.

“In a country where 90% of Muslims live, you are trying to convert people by using educational institutions as a tool,” the group stated in the letter.

The letter urged the colleges to ensure that educational and social institutions are not used directly or indirectly for religious conversion. “We are not giving you any advice —rather we order you to be careful. If you do not pay heed to our warning, the Tawhidee Muslims’ will not spare your places of prayer, churches, cathedrals, chapels and missionary institutions,” the letter stated.

After receiving the letter, the Notre Dame College authorities filed a general diary with local police.

In his statement, D’Cruze noted that the majority of students and teachers at both institutions are Muslims. Notre Dame College is for boys and Holy Cross College for girls. The priests and nuns who run these institutions are now living in fear and anxiety, he said.

Although Catholics make up less than 1% of Bangladesh’s 180 million people, this small religious community has made a significant contribution to the country’s education sector, D’Cruze said.

The Church operates at least one university, 18 colleges, 76 high schools, and over 1,000 primary schools across the nation, all of which are open to people of all faiths.

D’Cruze, who also heads the Bangladesh Catholic Education Board Trust, said in his statement: “It is a grave concern for the Catholic Church to give security to our students and faithful who come to church and institutions.”

“I draw your kind attention to stand by us, students, faithful, and institutions,” D’Cruze said. “The Catholic Church is not involved in proselytization; on the contrary, this is what takes place.”

Pattern of attacks

The threats come amid a series of attacks targeting Catholic institutions in Dhaka in recent weeks.

On Nov. 7, two homemade bombs were thrown at the gate of St. Mary’s Cathedral just hours before a national jubilee celebration.

The following day, explosive devices were hurled at St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School and College, also a major Church-run educational institution in Dhaka. On Oct. 8, Holy Rosary Church in the capital, one of the country’s oldest churches, was also attacked.

Pope Leo XIV greets pilgrims in St. Peter's Square during a Jubilee audience on Nov. 22, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.

Vatican City, Dec 10, 2025 / 11:21 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday rejected technological promises to indefinitely prolong human existence — such as those proposed by “transhumanism”— and said the resurrection of Christ “reveals to us that death is not opposed to life.”

Speaking on a cold morning in St. Peter’s Square Dec. 10, the pontiff warned that numerous current anthropological visions “promise immanent immortality [and] theorize the prolongation of earthly life through technology.”

That outlook, he said, is characteristic of “the transhumance scenario,” a phenomenon that “is making its way into the horizon of the challenges of our time.”

In response, Leo urged people to consider two central questions: “Could death really be defeated by science? But then, could science itself guarantee us that a life without death is also a happy life?”

The Holy Father explained that death and life are not opposed, and that in the Christian meaning, death is “a constitutive part of [life], as the passage to eternal life.”

“The Pasch of Jesus gives us a foretaste, in this time still full of suffering and trials, of the fullness of what will happen after death,” he added.

Thailand-Cambodia border clashes

At the end of his audience, Pope Leo spoke out against violent clashes at the border of Thailand and Cambodia, saying he was “deeply saddened by the news of the escalation of the conflict.”

The hostilities have injured more than 100 people and displaced thousands of people in both countries. An estimated 13 people, including civilians, have been killed as the fighting entered the third day on Wednesday.

“I express my closeness in prayer to these beloved populations and I ask the parties to immediately cease fire and resume dialogue,” the pope said.

Death, ‘a great teacher of life’

In his catechesis for the general audience, Leo XIV noted that throughout history, “many ancient peoples developed rites and customs linked to the cult of the dead, to accompany and to recall those who journeyed towards the supreme mystery.” But today, death “seems to be a sort of taboo” and “something to be spoken of in hushed tones, to avoid disturbing our sensibilities and our tranquility.”

The pope lamented that this attitude often leads people to avoid visiting cemeteries.

He also evoked the teachings of St. Alphonsus Liguori, recalling the enduring relevance of the saint’s work, “Preparation for Death.” The pontiff emphasized that, for the saint, death is “a great teacher of life,” capable of guiding the believer toward what is essential.

As the pope explained, St. Alphonsus invited people to “to know that [death] exists, and above all to reflect on it” as a way to discern what is truly important in life.

Leo also recalled that, in Alphonsian spirituality, prayer holds a central place “to understand what is beneficial in view of the kingdom of heaven, and letting go of the superfluous that instead binds us to ephemeral things.”

From this perspective, he asserted that only the resurrection of Christ “is capable of illuminating the mystery of death to its full extent.”

“In this light, and only in this, what our heart desires and hopes  becomes true: that death is not the end, but the passage towards full light, towards a happy eternity,” he said.

The pope explained that the risen Christ “has gone before us in the great trial of death, emerging victorious thanks to the power of divine Love.”

“He has prepared for us the place of eternal rest, the home where we are awaited; he has given us the fullness of life in which there are no longer any shadows and contradictions,” Leo said.

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