Day: January 13, 2026

Jan 13, 2026 / 13:11 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis described a pervasive “heaviness” in the community over federal agents’ deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen.

In his pastoral reflection on Jan. 12, the archbishop said he was on retreat with regional bishops last week when the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official occurred.

“I find myself Googling ‘Minneapolis’ every few hours to learn of the latest developments in a situation that truly tears at the heart,” he wrote, noting that some parishes with large Latino populations are seeing fewer than 50% of usual congregants at recent Masses.

“I hope that you might think about contacting any of our parishes serving immigrant communities to see how you might support them in their ministry,” Hebda wrote.

During the retreat, he said he prayed for consolation for the Good family, wisdom for political leaders, prudence and safety for law enforcement, temperance among protesters, healing for those wounded by political divisions (especially young people), and courage for immigrants living in fear of deportation.

Hebda said he also prayed for parish priests, deacons, educators, and others who are navigating these tensions while striving to “bring the light of the Gospel and the balm of Jesus’ love into these difficult situations.”

After the shooting last week, Hebda in a statement pleaded for “all people of goodwill to join me in prayer for the person who was killed, for their loved ones, and for our community.”

“We continue to be at a time in this country when we need to lower the temperature of rhetoric, stop fear-filled speculation, and start seeing all people as created in the image and likeness of God,” he said.

Good was behind the wheel of an SUV after dropping off her 6-year-old at school when she was killed. Dueling narratives emerged, with the president and Homeland Security secretary saying the ICE officer’s actions were justified against an “act of domestic terrorism,” while Democratic officials said the administration is lying and urged the public to review videos of the shooting themselves.

In his Jan. 12 letter, the prelate noted the “providential” timing of the Church’s psalm response at this past Sunday’s Mass: “The Lord will bless his people with peace” (Psalm 29), adding: “I am confident that the Lord keeps his promises, but I am hoping that he won’t keep us waiting too long. Maybe I should be praying for patience.”

To address the ongoing wounds, the archdiocese hosted Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston on Monday evening for a public presentation titled “A Wounded Church: Finding Peace and Healing,” originally intended to address the shooting that occurred during the all-school Mass at Annunciation Church in August 2025. The event began with a Mass and concluded with Eucharistic adoration.

“How providential that the evening event, planned months ago, would have been scheduled to coincide with this challenging time,” Hebda remarked in his letter. Cozzens also led a morning of recollection for archdiocesan staff on Jan. 13 on the same theme.

The archbishop urged the faithful to support immigrant parishes facing sharp declines in attendance since early December.

“A number of parishioners expressed to me their concerns about how the parishes will be able to continue their excellent ministry and outreach to the needy if Mass attendance (and offertory) remains low,” he wrote. “I am confident that it would be a shot in the arm for them if you could join them some weekend.”

Hebda also requested continued prayers for Father Greg Schaffer, an archdiocesan priest serving at a mission parish in Venezuela. Amid heightened dangers following the Trump administration’s military operation that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, the U.S. State Department has warned of risks for Americans, prompting the archbishop to ask for prayers for Schaffer.

Daniel Payne contributed to this story.

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Jan 13, 2026 / 12:41 pm (CNA).

Angola is one of the countries Pope Leo XIV plans to visit in what will be his first pastoral trip to the continent of Africa as pontiff, the apostolic nuncio in the southern African nation has announced.

Addressing journalists during a press conference on Tuesday, Archbishop Kryspin Witold Dubiel confirmed that the Holy Father had accepted invitations from both the Catholic bishops of Angola and the country’s President João Lourenço, adding that the timelines and itinerary of the visit and program are still being finalized.

“At this moment, we are preparing the plan and program for Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Africa. We do not yet have details on the exact date or program, but these will be communicated as soon as they are defined,” Dubiel said.

The native of Poland’s Diocese of Przemyśl invited all Angolan citizens to prepare for this significant event.

“I hope that the Holy Father’s visit will be an opportunity to rediscover the values that have shaped the Angolan people and to share these values with the diverse communities that live and work around the world,” said the Vatican diplomat in Angola, who also represents the Holy Father in São Tomé and Príncipe.

Also speaking at the press conference was the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, who called upon Angolans to participate in the committees that will be established to prepare for the papal visit.

“Each of these committees should give their best in the preparation, promotion, and realization of all tasks assigned,” Archbishop José Manuel Imbamba of Angola’s Saurimo Archdiocese said.

Imbamba thanked Pope Leo XIV for accepting the invitation to visit Angola.

Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola’s Archdiocese of Luanda described the planned papal trip as a “moment of great human and spiritual comfort,” occurring during a special period in the history of Christianity and in the year marking the “grand jubilee of Luanda — 450 years as a city, 450 years celebrating the faith.”

Dias emphasized that the visit places Angola on the path of evangelization and universality.

He went on to thank the Angolan government for “opening the doors” and for accepting to collaborate with faith-based leaders to facilitate the papal visit.

In December 2025, Pope Leo XIV reportedly indicated that he would visit Africa in 2026, naming Algeria as a possible initial destination. Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon were also mentioned as potential stops.

Pope Leo is the first pontiff in modern history with firsthand knowledge of Africa. Unlike his predecessors, he has already been to eastern, western, southern, northern, and central Africa in person.

As he began his papacy following his May 2025 election, the American-born member of the Order of St. Augustine had already visited Kenya at least half a dozen times, the regional vicar of the order in the east African nation told ACI Africa — the last visit to the country having taken place in December 2024.

In a May 12, 2025, interview, Father Robert Karanja Ireri, superior of the Order of St. Augustine in Kenya, recalled that Pope Leo XIV had visited the neighboring Tanzania, confirming the country’s Daily News report that he had visited the East African nation multiple times.

Karanja also confirmed that Pope Leo XIV visited Algeria in North Africa.

Some members of the Augustinian Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus in South Africa recalled their interaction with Pope Leo XIV, then Father Robert Francis Prevost, when he visited the southern African nation.

According to the Nigeria Catholic Network’s May 10 report, Pope Leo would not be “a stranger to Nigeria, as records show that he has visited the country on at least nine occasions between 2001 and 2016.”

In his capacity as Augustinian prior general, Prevost presided over the inauguration of the Augustinian University in the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, in 2009.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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Jan 13, 2026 / 12:11 pm (CNA).

Eighty years after the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia, a Czech bishop has declared a local Year of Reconciliation to address wounds that remain from World War II and its aftermath.

Bishop Stanislav Přibyl of Litoměřice announced the initiative in a pastoral letter dated Dec. 31, 2025, following the end of the Jubilee of Hope on Jan. 6. The year marks two anniversaries on Jan. 13: the 1866 healing of Magdalena Kade and the 1946 founding of Ackermann-Gemeinde, a Catholic reconciliation group established by expelled Germans.

“The end of World War II brought not just joy and relief but also reckoning with people and the past,” Přibyl wrote in his letter. The war’s aftermath caused displacement and resettlement of populations across Central Europe, leaving lasting scars on the region.

After Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the majority-German region became part of the Reich. Following Germany’s defeat, Czechoslovakia expelled approximately 3 million ethnic Germans between 1945 and 1946, primarily from the Sudetenland region that now forms part of the Diocese of Litoměřice.

The bishop acknowledged that the question of whether the expulsions were justified remains a matter for historical debate. However, the displacement remains visible in demolished houses without owners and in churches that are abandoned or slowly being rebuilt.

Confronting collective guilt

The bishop emphasized that collective guilt, anger, and desire for revenge accompanied the displacement, along with “the sudden acquisition of property without work and closer ties to the place.” Some departing Germans were robbed, raped, or humiliated, a few committed suicide, and there were several massacres, Přibyl wrote.

Following a meeting of the diocese’s priests’ council in November, Přibyl declared the local jubilee of forgiveness and reconciliation. Monthly gatherings will take place in locations where the deportation was particularly cruel, including Terezín (Theresienstadt), which hosted a Nazi transit camp during World War II.

The events will include Christian-Jewish prayer services and Masses of reconciliation. The bishop hopes for “an ecumenical and interfaith spirit” at these gatherings, welcoming Christians, Jews, and Heimatsleute — Germans with deep historical ties to the region.

The press office of the Diocese of Litoměřice told CNA that the jubilee is local and invitations were not sent out broadly. “This is not politics or a revision of history, although historians partake in the preparation,” the press office said.

Heinrich Rüdiger, military attaché from the German embassy to the Czech Republic, joined the first event at Filipov on Jan. 13 marking the anniversary of the healing miracle.

Ackermann-Gemeinde’s reconciliation work

The Ackermann-Gemeinde was founded in Munich on Jan. 13, 1946 — the feast day of the Marian apparition at Filipov — by expelled Sudeten German Catholics who sought reconciliation with the Czech people despite their own suffering. The organization took its name from “Der Ackermann aus Böhmen” (“The Plowman from Bohemia”), a medieval German literary work from Bohemia symbolizing the deep cultural roots of Germans in the region.

The organization has worked for decades on cross-border partnerships, supporting the restoration of damaged churches and cemeteries in the Czech Republic and advocating for human rights. Since 1991, Ackermann-Gemeinde has maintained an office in Prague.

Filipov shrine

Filipov, a Marian sanctuary in northern Bohemia near the German border, is sometimes called “the Czech Lourdes.” On Jan. 13, 1866, Magdalena Kade, bedridden with severe illnesses, received a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who told her: “My daughter, now you are healed.”

Kade immediately recovered, and Bishop Augustin Pavel Wahala of Litoměřice initiated a commission that recognized the healing and its supernatural character. Between 1870 and 1885, a neo-Romanesque church was built at the site, which Pope Leo XIII elevated to a minor basilica and dedicated to Mary, Help of Christians.

The Redemptorist order took custody of the shrine in 1884 and continues to care for pilgrims. Přibyl is himself a Redemptorist.

Opening old wounds to heal

“You might think that we should stop this reconciliation, as it has been 80 years, it is like taking corpses out of graves,” the bishop wrote in his letter. However, he argued that old wounds must be opened to be healed.

The reconciliation effort “may not be definitive, but an important step towards the healing process that our region still needs so much,” the bishop said. He noted that in some places, reconciliation is only beginning.

“Although we did not do wrong to our neighbors 80 years ago, we still live from the life-giving movement of forgiveness, as we pray in the prayer that Our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us: ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,’” Přibyl wrote.

The bishop concluded: “Prejudices survive and the reluctance to talk about them or to admit that we have all sinned is still here.”

The reconciliation initiative follows recent Czech-Polish-German efforts to address the war’s legacy. In November 2025, Polish and German bishops signed a new declaration in Wrocław marking the 60th anniversary of historic 1965 reconciliation letters.

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