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Advent: What is it and how should it be celebrated? #Catholic Advent candles. / Credit: Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). Advent begins this year on Sunday, Nov. 30. Most Catholics — even those who don’t often go to Mass — know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here’s an explainer of what Advent is really about.What is Advent?The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had promised.Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply in our lives and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating trees and gift giving, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church — all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”What does the word ‘Advent’ mean?Advent comes from the Latin “ad + venire,” which means, essentially, “to come to” or “to come toward.” “Ad + venire” is the root of the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival.”So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.So, it’s four weeks long?Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four weeks. Does Advent mark a ‘new year’?The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it’s a new liturgical year when Advent starts. But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.What is the significance of the Advent wreath? The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages. Lighting candles as we prepare for Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.It is definitely true that Germanic people were lighting up candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.One candle is pink on the wreath — why?There are four candles on the Advent wreath. Three are purple and lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as “rose.”Gaudete is a word that means “rejoice,” and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. Some people have the custom of throwing Gaudete parties, and this is also a day on which Christmas carolers may begin caroling door to door.The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?No, but there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come Divine Messiah,” “Come Thou Fount,” and “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”When should the tree go up?When to put up the tree is a decision that families decide on their own. Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent to make a big transformation in their home and get them into “preparing for Christmas” mode. Some put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas. Some put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudate and Christmas. When the tree goes up and gets decorated is up to the individual and family, but having a Christmas tree is a big part of many people’s Advent traditions. This story was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.
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Advent: What is it and how should it be celebrated? #Catholic Advent candles. / Credit: Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA). Advent begins this year on Sunday, Nov. 30. Most Catholics — even those who don’t often go to Mass — know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here’s an explainer of what Advent is really about.What is Advent?The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had promised.Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply in our lives and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating trees and gift giving, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church — all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”What does the word ‘Advent’ mean?Advent comes from the Latin “ad + venire,” which means, essentially, “to come to” or “to come toward.” “Ad + venire” is the root of the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival.”So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.So, it’s four weeks long?Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four weeks. Does Advent mark a ‘new year’?The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it’s a new liturgical year when Advent starts. But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.What is the significance of the Advent wreath? The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages. Lighting candles as we prepare for Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.It is definitely true that Germanic people were lighting up candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.One candle is pink on the wreath — why?There are four candles on the Advent wreath. Three are purple and lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as “rose.”Gaudete is a word that means “rejoice,” and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. Some people have the custom of throwing Gaudete parties, and this is also a day on which Christmas carolers may begin caroling door to door.The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?No, but there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come Divine Messiah,” “Come Thou Fount,” and “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”When should the tree go up?When to put up the tree is a decision that families decide on their own. Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent to make a big transformation in their home and get them into “preparing for Christmas” mode. Some put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas. Some put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudate and Christmas. When the tree goes up and gets decorated is up to the individual and family, but having a Christmas tree is a big part of many people’s Advent traditions. This story was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.

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Advent candles. / Credit: Romolo Tavini/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 30, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Advent begins this year on Sunday, Nov. 30. Most Catholics — even those who don’t often go to Mass — know that Advent involves a wreath with candles, possibly a “calendar” of hidden chocolates, and untangling strings of Christmas lights. But Advent is much more than that. Here’s an explainer of what Advent is really about.

What is Advent?

The people of Israel waited for generations for the promised Messiah to arrive. Their poetry, their songs and stories, and their religious worship focused on an awaited savior who would come to them to set them free from captivity and to lead them to the fulfillment of all that God had promised.

Israel longed for a Messiah, and John the Baptist, who came before Jesus, promised that the Messiah was coming and could be found in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

Advent is a season in the Church’s life intended to renew the experience of waiting and longing for the Messiah. Though Christ has already come into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord more deeply in our lives and to renew our desire for Christ’s triumphant second coming into the world.

Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus Christ being born into the world. Preparations are practical, like decorating trees and gift giving, but they’re also intended to be spiritual.

During Advent, we’re invited to enter more frequently into silence, into prayer and reflection, into Scripture, and into the sacramental life of the Church — all to prepare for celebrating Christmas.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our families the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”

What does the word ‘Advent’ mean?

Advent comes from the Latin “ad + venire,” which means, essentially, “to come to” or “to come toward.” “Ad + venire” is the root of the Latin “adventus,” which means “arrival.”

So Advent is the season of arrival: the arrival of Christ in our hearts, in the world, and into God’s extraordinary plan for our salvation.

So, it’s four weeks long?

Advent is a slightly different length each year. It starts four Sundays before Christmas. But because Christmas is on a fixed date and could fall on different days of the week, Advent can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four weeks.

Does Advent mark a ‘new year’?

The Church’s feasts and celebrations run on a yearlong cycle, which we call the “liturgical year.” The “liturgical year” starts on the first Sunday of Advent. So it’s a new liturgical year when Advent starts. But the Church also uses the ordinary calendar, so it would probably be a bit weird to have a “New Year’s Eve” party the night before Advent starts.

What is the significance of the Advent wreath?

The Catholic Church has been using Advent wreaths since the Middle Ages. Lighting candles as we prepare for Christmas reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. And the evergreen boughs remind us of new and eternal life in Christ, the eternal son of the Father.

It is definitely true that Germanic people were lighting up candle wreaths in wintertime long before the Gospel arrived in their homeland. They did so because candle wreaths in winter are beautiful and warm. That a Christian symbol emerged from that tradition is an indication that the Gospel can be expressed through the language, customs, and symbols of cultures that come to believe that Christ Jesus is Lord.

One candle is pink on the wreath — why?

There are four candles on the Advent wreath. Three are purple and lit on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete Sunday. On that Sunday, in addition to the pink candle, the priest wears a pink vestment, which he might refer to as “rose.”

Gaudete is a word that means “rejoice,” and we rejoice on Gaudete Sunday because we are halfway through Advent. Some people have the custom of throwing Gaudete parties, and this is also a day on which Christmas carolers may begin caroling door to door.

The three purple candles are sometimes said to represent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three spiritual disciplines that are key to a fruitful Advent.

Is it wrong to sing Christmas songs during Advent?

No, but there are a lot of great Advent hymns and songs, such as “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “O Come Divine Messiah,” “Come Thou Fount,” and “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding.”

When should the tree go up?

When to put up the tree is a decision that families decide on their own. Some people put up their tree and decorate it on the first Sunday of Advent to make a big transformation in their home and get them into “preparing for Christmas” mode.

Some put up the tree on the first Sunday of Advent, put on lights the next Sunday, ornaments the next, and decorate it more and more as they get closer to Christmas.

Some put up the tree on Gaudete Sunday, as a kind of rejoicing, and decorate it in the weeks between Gaudate and Christmas.

When the tree goes up and gets decorated is up to the individual and family, but having a Christmas tree is a big part of many people’s Advent traditions.

This story was first published in November 2019 and has been updated.

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Report details persecution of Turkish Christians ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit #Catholic The scene outside a Catholic church in Istanbul, Turkey, where a reported armed attack took place on Jan. 28, 2024. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA). A Christian advocacy group’s report details “legal, institutional, and social hostility” toward Turkish Christians as Pope Leo XIV begins his six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon Thursday.The report from The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), titled “The Persecution of Christians in Turkey,” explores government interference against clergy and Christian entities, restrictions on foreign Christians who visit the country, and widespread social animosity toward the faithful, which sometimes includes direct violence.“Communities that were once integral to the cultural, religious, and historical fabric of Anatolia have been reduced to a fragile remnant,” the authors state.“Their disappearance is not the product of a single event but the cumulative result of restrictive legislation, administrative obstruction, property confiscations, denial of legal personality, and — more recently — arbitrary expulsions of clergy, missionaries, and converts,” they add.Modern-day Turkey, which was governed by Christians prior to the Ottoman Empire invasions in late Middle Ages, is still home to about 257,000 Christians. In 1915, Christians still accounted for about 20% of the Turkish population, but the number has dwindled over the past century and they now account for less than 0.3% of the population.Persecution of ChristiansThe report says hostility toward Christians is kept alive through environmental factors, such as Turkey’s refusal to recognize its past by continuing to deny the genocide of Armenians and other Christians during World War I. At that time, about 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 other Christians were forcibly deported or massacred, and Turkey’s criminalization of “insulting the Turkish nation” and “insulting Turkishness” is often enforced to quell speech about the historical events, according to the report.It notes that politicians and state-run media frequently scapegoat Christians for societal issues and depict them as an external and internal threat, with one example being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referring to survivors of the genocide as “terrorists escaped from the sword” and another being the state-run Yeni Akit allegedly editing Wikipedia to smear Christians, Jews, and other groups.In some cases, this hostility yields violence, including a 2024 terrorist attack on a Catholic church that killed one person, and other acts of violence and vandalism.The report notes that Turkey signed the Treaty of Lausanne after the Armenian genocide, which granted people who believe some non-majority faiths full legal recognition and property rights.Yet, a narrow interpretation of the treaty ensures “a national narrative that presents Sunni Islam as the primary marker of Turkish identity,” the report says. The treaty also fails to recognize all Christians, only giving a specific reference to Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic Christians, and Jews, but not Catholics or Protestants, according to the report.It states that Sunni Islam is often tied to Turkish identity in public education and the process to be exempt from compulsory Islamic education is burdensome for Christians not covered under the treaty.No church holds legal personality as a religious institution, which means patriarchates, dioceses, and churches cannot “own property in their own name, initiate legal proceedings, employ staff, open bank accounts, or formally interact with public authorities,” the report states.The government also interferes with religious leadership, prohibiting non-Turkish citizens from being elected as Ecumenical Patriarch, sitting on the Holy Synod, or participating in patriarchal elections in the Greek Orthodox Church. The government also regulates elections for leadership in the Armenian Apostolic Church.Turkey shut down the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in 1971 and — despite promises to let it reopen — keeps it shut down, according to the report.The report also says Turkey imposes legal constraints and administrative obstruction on Christian “community foundations,” which operate churches, schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions.This includes blocking board elections and failing to enforce court orders. One of the more egregious violations is imposing “mazbut” trusteeship, which ends Christian institutions’ legal recognition and grants control to the government, which essentially confiscates property, the report said.“These practices reveal a structural system designed to undermine the autonomy, continuity, and survival of Christian communities in Turkey,” the report states.According to the report, foreign Protestant pastors are often expelled from seminaries. More broadly, it states that foreign missionaries and converts are often targeted as “national security” threats and frequently expelled from Turkey. The authors encouraged Turkey to grant full legal recognition to all churches, halt interference in Christian organizations, protect places of worship, end arbitrary expulsions, and return property that has been confiscated.
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Report details persecution of Turkish Christians ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit #Catholic The scene outside a Catholic church in Istanbul, Turkey, where a reported armed attack took place on Jan. 28, 2024. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA). A Christian advocacy group’s report details “legal, institutional, and social hostility” toward Turkish Christians as Pope Leo XIV begins his six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon Thursday.The report from The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), titled “The Persecution of Christians in Turkey,” explores government interference against clergy and Christian entities, restrictions on foreign Christians who visit the country, and widespread social animosity toward the faithful, which sometimes includes direct violence.“Communities that were once integral to the cultural, religious, and historical fabric of Anatolia have been reduced to a fragile remnant,” the authors state.“Their disappearance is not the product of a single event but the cumulative result of restrictive legislation, administrative obstruction, property confiscations, denial of legal personality, and — more recently — arbitrary expulsions of clergy, missionaries, and converts,” they add.Modern-day Turkey, which was governed by Christians prior to the Ottoman Empire invasions in late Middle Ages, is still home to about 257,000 Christians. In 1915, Christians still accounted for about 20% of the Turkish population, but the number has dwindled over the past century and they now account for less than 0.3% of the population.Persecution of ChristiansThe report says hostility toward Christians is kept alive through environmental factors, such as Turkey’s refusal to recognize its past by continuing to deny the genocide of Armenians and other Christians during World War I. At that time, about 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 other Christians were forcibly deported or massacred, and Turkey’s criminalization of “insulting the Turkish nation” and “insulting Turkishness” is often enforced to quell speech about the historical events, according to the report.It notes that politicians and state-run media frequently scapegoat Christians for societal issues and depict them as an external and internal threat, with one example being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referring to survivors of the genocide as “terrorists escaped from the sword” and another being the state-run Yeni Akit allegedly editing Wikipedia to smear Christians, Jews, and other groups.In some cases, this hostility yields violence, including a 2024 terrorist attack on a Catholic church that killed one person, and other acts of violence and vandalism.The report notes that Turkey signed the Treaty of Lausanne after the Armenian genocide, which granted people who believe some non-majority faiths full legal recognition and property rights.Yet, a narrow interpretation of the treaty ensures “a national narrative that presents Sunni Islam as the primary marker of Turkish identity,” the report says. The treaty also fails to recognize all Christians, only giving a specific reference to Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic Christians, and Jews, but not Catholics or Protestants, according to the report.It states that Sunni Islam is often tied to Turkish identity in public education and the process to be exempt from compulsory Islamic education is burdensome for Christians not covered under the treaty.No church holds legal personality as a religious institution, which means patriarchates, dioceses, and churches cannot “own property in their own name, initiate legal proceedings, employ staff, open bank accounts, or formally interact with public authorities,” the report states.The government also interferes with religious leadership, prohibiting non-Turkish citizens from being elected as Ecumenical Patriarch, sitting on the Holy Synod, or participating in patriarchal elections in the Greek Orthodox Church. The government also regulates elections for leadership in the Armenian Apostolic Church.Turkey shut down the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in 1971 and — despite promises to let it reopen — keeps it shut down, according to the report.The report also says Turkey imposes legal constraints and administrative obstruction on Christian “community foundations,” which operate churches, schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions.This includes blocking board elections and failing to enforce court orders. One of the more egregious violations is imposing “mazbut” trusteeship, which ends Christian institutions’ legal recognition and grants control to the government, which essentially confiscates property, the report said.“These practices reveal a structural system designed to undermine the autonomy, continuity, and survival of Christian communities in Turkey,” the report states.According to the report, foreign Protestant pastors are often expelled from seminaries. More broadly, it states that foreign missionaries and converts are often targeted as “national security” threats and frequently expelled from Turkey. The authors encouraged Turkey to grant full legal recognition to all churches, halt interference in Christian organizations, protect places of worship, end arbitrary expulsions, and return property that has been confiscated.

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The scene outside a Catholic church in Istanbul, Turkey, where a reported armed attack took place on Jan. 28, 2024. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

A Christian advocacy group’s report details “legal, institutional, and social hostility” toward Turkish Christians as Pope Leo XIV begins his six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon Thursday.

The report from The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), titled “The Persecution of Christians in Turkey,” explores government interference against clergy and Christian entities, restrictions on foreign Christians who visit the country, and widespread social animosity toward the faithful, which sometimes includes direct violence.

“Communities that were once integral to the cultural, religious, and historical fabric of Anatolia have been reduced to a fragile remnant,” the authors state.

“Their disappearance is not the product of a single event but the cumulative result of restrictive legislation, administrative obstruction, property confiscations, denial of legal personality, and — more recently — arbitrary expulsions of clergy, missionaries, and converts,” they add.

Modern-day Turkey, which was governed by Christians prior to the Ottoman Empire invasions in late Middle Ages, is still home to about 257,000 Christians. In 1915, Christians still accounted for about 20% of the Turkish population, but the number has dwindled over the past century and they now account for less than 0.3% of the population.

Persecution of Christians

The report says hostility toward Christians is kept alive through environmental factors, such as Turkey’s refusal to recognize its past by continuing to deny the genocide of Armenians and other Christians during World War I. 

At that time, about 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 other Christians were forcibly deported or massacred, and Turkey’s criminalization of “insulting the Turkish nation” and “insulting Turkishness” is often enforced to quell speech about the historical events, according to the report.

It notes that politicians and state-run media frequently scapegoat Christians for societal issues and depict them as an external and internal threat, with one example being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referring to survivors of the genocide as “terrorists escaped from the sword” and another being the state-run Yeni Akit allegedly editing Wikipedia to smear Christians, Jews, and other groups.

In some cases, this hostility yields violence, including a 2024 terrorist attack on a Catholic church that killed one person, and other acts of violence and vandalism.

The report notes that Turkey signed the Treaty of Lausanne after the Armenian genocide, which granted people who believe some non-majority faiths full legal recognition and property rights.

Yet, a narrow interpretation of the treaty ensures “a national narrative that presents Sunni Islam as the primary marker of Turkish identity,” the report says. The treaty also fails to recognize all Christians, only giving a specific reference to Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic Christians, and Jews, but not Catholics or Protestants, according to the report.

It states that Sunni Islam is often tied to Turkish identity in public education and the process to be exempt from compulsory Islamic education is burdensome for Christians not covered under the treaty.

No church holds legal personality as a religious institution, which means patriarchates, dioceses, and churches cannot “own property in their own name, initiate legal proceedings, employ staff, open bank accounts, or formally interact with public authorities,” the report states.

The government also interferes with religious leadership, prohibiting non-Turkish citizens from being elected as Ecumenical Patriarch, sitting on the Holy Synod, or participating in patriarchal elections in the Greek Orthodox Church. The government also regulates elections for leadership in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Turkey shut down the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in 1971 and — despite promises to let it reopen — keeps it shut down, according to the report.

The report also says Turkey imposes legal constraints and administrative obstruction on Christian “community foundations,” which operate churches, schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions.

This includes blocking board elections and failing to enforce court orders. One of the more egregious violations is imposing “mazbut” trusteeship, which ends Christian institutions’ legal recognition and grants control to the government, which essentially confiscates property, the report said.

“These practices reveal a structural system designed to undermine the autonomy, continuity, and survival of Christian communities in Turkey,” the report states.

According to the report, foreign Protestant pastors are often expelled from seminaries. More broadly, it states that foreign missionaries and converts are often targeted as “national security” threats and frequently expelled from Turkey. 

The authors encouraged Turkey to grant full legal recognition to all churches, halt interference in Christian organizations, protect places of worship, end arbitrary expulsions, and return property that has been confiscated.

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Trump signs executive order prioritizing faith-based participation in foster care #Catholic President Donald Trump signs an executive order related to foster care and foster parents on Nov. 13, 2025. / Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA). U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system, including the modernization of the current child welfare system, the development of partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs.The executive order issued Nov. 13 states that the Trump administration is “dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes.”The order says current problems with the foster care system include overworked caseworkers, antiquated information systems, and policies that “prohibit qualified families from serving children in need as foster and adoptive parents because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or adherence to basic biological truths.”The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has represented Christian families who were barred from serving as foster parents because of their faith, suing on behalf of Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt after the Vermont Department for Children and Families informed the two families that their belief that persons cannot change biological sex and that marriage is only between a man and a woman precluded them from serving as foster parents in the state.Despite describing the Wuotis and the Gantts as “amazing,” “wonderful,” and “welcoming,” state officials revoked the couples’ foster care licenses after they expressed those beliefs. The state said these beliefs made them “unqualified” to parent any child, regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity. ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who represents the Wuotis, Gantts, and other Christian families who are prohibited from fostering in lawsuits in Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, told CNA that he hopes the executive order will lead to the states “prioritizing the best interests of children rather than ideological agendas.”In the face of shortages of foster families, he said the states should be “pursuing a big tent, welcoming as many loving families as possible. But they’re doing the opposite while children who need foster care are sleeping in unlicensed  group homes, police stations, and hospitals.” Trump’s executive order directs the department of Health and Human Services, the White House Faith Office, and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to “take appropriate action to address state and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.” It also directs those agencies to “increase partnerships between agencies and faith-based organizations and houses of worship to serve families” involved with the foster care system. Widmalm-Delphonse told CNA it is “difficult to say how the states will respond” to the executive order, indicating that he hopes either the order or the pending lawsuits will lead to changes in their “discriminatory” policies against families of faith.  “The path the states should take is obvious: It’s a win-win when you open up foster care to people of faith and put the interests of children first,” he said.
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Trump signs executive order prioritizing faith-based participation in foster care #Catholic President Donald Trump signs an executive order related to foster care and foster parents on Nov. 13, 2025. / Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA). U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system, including the modernization of the current child welfare system, the development of partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs.The executive order issued Nov. 13 states that the Trump administration is “dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes.”The order says current problems with the foster care system include overworked caseworkers, antiquated information systems, and policies that “prohibit qualified families from serving children in need as foster and adoptive parents because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or adherence to basic biological truths.”The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has represented Christian families who were barred from serving as foster parents because of their faith, suing on behalf of Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt after the Vermont Department for Children and Families informed the two families that their belief that persons cannot change biological sex and that marriage is only between a man and a woman precluded them from serving as foster parents in the state.Despite describing the Wuotis and the Gantts as “amazing,” “wonderful,” and “welcoming,” state officials revoked the couples’ foster care licenses after they expressed those beliefs. The state said these beliefs made them “unqualified” to parent any child, regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity. ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who represents the Wuotis, Gantts, and other Christian families who are prohibited from fostering in lawsuits in Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, told CNA that he hopes the executive order will lead to the states “prioritizing the best interests of children rather than ideological agendas.”In the face of shortages of foster families, he said the states should be “pursuing a big tent, welcoming as many loving families as possible. But they’re doing the opposite while children who need foster care are sleeping in unlicensed  group homes, police stations, and hospitals.” Trump’s executive order directs the department of Health and Human Services, the White House Faith Office, and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to “take appropriate action to address state and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.” It also directs those agencies to “increase partnerships between agencies and faith-based organizations and houses of worship to serve families” involved with the foster care system. Widmalm-Delphonse told CNA it is “difficult to say how the states will respond” to the executive order, indicating that he hopes either the order or the pending lawsuits will lead to changes in their “discriminatory” policies against families of faith.  “The path the states should take is obvious: It’s a win-win when you open up foster care to people of faith and put the interests of children first,” he said.

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order related to foster care and foster parents on Nov. 13, 2025. / Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom

CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system, including the modernization of the current child welfare system, the development of partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs.

The executive order issued Nov. 13 states that the Trump administration is “dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes.”

The order says current problems with the foster care system include overworked caseworkers, antiquated information systems, and policies that “prohibit qualified families from serving children in need as foster and adoptive parents because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or adherence to basic biological truths.”

The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has represented Christian families who were barred from serving as foster parents because of their faith, suing on behalf of Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt after the Vermont Department for Children and Families informed the two families that their belief that persons cannot change biological sex and that marriage is only between a man and a woman precluded them from serving as foster parents in the state.

Despite describing the Wuotis and the Gantts as “amazing,” “wonderful,” and “welcoming,” state officials revoked the couples’ foster care licenses after they expressed those beliefs. The state said these beliefs made them “unqualified” to parent any child, regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity. 

ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who represents the Wuotis, Gantts, and other Christian families who are prohibited from fostering in lawsuits in Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, told CNA that he hopes the executive order will lead to the states “prioritizing the best interests of children rather than ideological agendas.”

In the face of shortages of foster families, he said the states should be “pursuing a big tent, welcoming as many loving families as possible. But they’re doing the opposite while children who need foster care are sleeping in unlicensed  group homes, police stations, and hospitals.” 

Trump’s executive order directs the department of Health and Human Services, the White House Faith Office, and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to “take appropriate action to address state and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.” 

It also directs those agencies to “increase partnerships between agencies and faith-based organizations and houses of worship to serve families” involved with the foster care system. 

Widmalm-Delphonse told CNA it is “difficult to say how the states will respond” to the executive order, indicating that he hopes either the order or the pending lawsuits will lead to changes in their “discriminatory” policies against families of faith.  

“The path the states should take is obvious: It’s a win-win when you open up foster care to people of faith and put the interests of children first,” he said.

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Arizona man sentenced to prison after hoax bomb threats at Christian churches #Catholic null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA). An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said. 
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Arizona man sentenced to prison after hoax bomb threats at Christian churches #Catholic null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA). An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said. 

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null / Credit: Chodyra Mike 1/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 11:40 am (CNA).

An Arizona man will serve more than half a decade in prison after he carried out multiple hoax bomb threats at churches in the western U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release that 46-year-old Phoenix resident Zimnako Salah would spend six years in prison after his 2025 conviction in the terror plot.

From September to November 2023 Salah “traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado” with black backpacks, according to the Department of Justice. At two churches he was turned away by security, while at two others he “planted” the backpacks, causing congregants to believe they contained bombs, the Justice Department said.

Though the planted backpacks were in fact hoaxes, Salah reportedly had “been building a bomb capable of fitting in a backpack,” the department said. FBI investigators said they seized “component parts of an improvised explosive device” from a storage unit being rented by Salah.

Salah also had been actively searching for “extremist propaganda online,” the government said, including searches for videos such as “infidels dying.”

The jury that convicted Salah in 2025 found that he “targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.”

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins levied a $10,000 fine against Salah, telling him he “failed to take responsibility for [his] actions.”

U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said Salah’s ultimate goal appeared to be “many deaths and injuries.”

“Thanks to the action of church security, local law enforcement, and the FBI, this defendant was stopped before he had a chance to carry out the crimes he sought to commit,” he said.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, meanwhile, said in the press release that criminals “who target people because of their faith will face the full force of federal law.”

“The Department of Justice will continue to protect the rights of all people of faith to worship and live free from fear, and we will hold accountable anyone who threatens or harms them,” she said. 

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Picture of the day Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning ‘place of Ganga’ in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning ‘place of Ganga’ in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning ‘place of Ganga’ in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva.
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