Church employee Francisco Paredes, 46, was handcuffed by ICE Dec. 4, 2025. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Francisco Paredes

Jan 9, 2026 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents surveilled St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota, on Epiphany after deporting the parish’s beloved maintenance worker to Mexico five weeks earlier.

The Trump administration last year eliminated a federal policy that generally prohibited immigration enforcement in “sensitive locations” such as schools, churches, and hospitals. Attendance at St. Gabriel’s Spanish Mass has dropped by half since the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and parishioners have expressed fear of churchgoing about eight miles from where an ICE agent shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Good on Jan. 7.

Father Paul Haverstock, pastor of St. Gabriel’s, said he had vested for the 1 p.m. Spanish Mass Jan. 4 when a parishioner told him about men wearing ski masks in a car outside the church. He said he was disturbed to receive the report, went to the sacristy to get his cellphone, and placed it next to his chair in the sanctuary.

“If there is an incident of agents coming in, I want to make sure that it’s recorded, and I want a clear recording of me letting the agents know that we’re in the middle of a religious service,” Haverstock said. 

It didn’t come to that, but ICE’s presence outside has impeded parishioners’ free exercise of religion, Haverstock said. ICE agents camped outside the church felt like “a violation,” he said.

“Who wouldn’t feel intimidated by that?” he said.

“It felt like a violation of our constitutional rights, felt like a violation of civilization and good manners. It felt like we were not living in the United States of America but in some third world, violent place, somewhere else,” Haverstock said. “Yeah, it feels like we’re in a war zone here.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Arrest of church employee

Church employee Francisco Paredes, 46, was handcuffed by ICE Dec. 4, 2025. Eight federal vehicles pulled into a large parking lot adjacent to St. Gabriel’s on 13th Avenue South after Paredes picked up coffee on his way to work, Paredes said, and he was driven to a processing facility.

About 2,000 immigration enforcement agents have come to Minnesota, according to government officials. On Jan. 4, “they were definitely out in front of the church, waiting in front of the church,” Hopkins Mayor Patrick Hanlon said in an interview.

Hanlon said he wants ICE to obey the laws of Hopkins, a community of about 19,000 people known for its lively "Mainstreet" and arts scene, and summertime Raspberry Festival.

Hanlon made an Instagram reel following the  shooting of Good urging ICE to obey Hopkins’ traffic rules and other laws.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda  in his statement after Good’s death 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.”

‘Surveilling us’

After observing ICE monitoring the church during Sunday Mass, Haverstock called Hebda and the mayor.

Haverstock told them: “They had out-of-state license plates, and they were just sitting outside our doors for a while.” He added: “They came to our church, and even though they didn’t enter, they were apparently surveilling us.”

Until Paredes’ arrest and before ICE parked outside St. Gabriel’s, more than 400 people had usually attended the Spanish Mass, Haverstock said. Haverstock said he is considering offering a temporary Sunday Mass dispensation in his parish for those who are afraid.

“I think if I don’t give them a dispensation, hardly any of them will be here anyway because of the fear factor. So out of consideration for their circumstances and their souls, I think it’s likely I will give a dispensation for this coming Sunday, but I feel torn because we need God in this situation,” Haverstock said.

‘We’ve united to help our immigrant brothers and sisters’

ICE’s presence has been “a real interference with our parishioners’ right to worship and come to Mass,” Haverstock said.

“They’re also terrorizing anybody of goodwill just by their presence, masks, and idling outside of a church. It’s frightening. I was frightened when I heard that they were there. I was frightened for the safety of the people in the church, including myself, and I was especially frightened for my immigrants,” he said. 

Haverstock said he was “really blessed to see that our parish has not split on political lines in this situation, but we’ve united to help our immigrant brothers and sisters.”

‘Too afraid’

Fear is palpable, Haverstock said, with “people being detained, even after showing IDs, and people being harassed, even if they’re here legally.”

When maintenance employee Paredes was deported, “it really got my attention,” Haverstock said.

Paredes, who sang in the church choir and had lived in the U.S. for 25 years with one conviction for driving under the influence, said he spent about a month incarcerated in the ICE detention system before being sent to Mexico. He said he had asked to make a phone call when he was arrested and was denied for several days so his U.S.-citizen daughter didn’t know his whereabouts. Paredes spent Christmas imprisoned and said he had no access to any religious services.

In the Bloomington, Minnesota, immigration office, Paredes, who lacked legal permission to live in the U.S., said he was in a cell with 40 people. There was only one bathroom for the men to share, and “anyone can see when you go to the bathroom,” Paredes said.

After about seven hours later, Paredes said he was transferred to the Crow Wing County Jail in Brainerd, Minnesota. Paredes said a government-financed plane later took him to Laredo, Texas, where he was imprisoned in the Webb County Detention Center. 

“They treat people like an animal,” Paredes said. “I was there!”

Paredes said no hot meals were provided, only a sandwich, an orange, crackers, and water. In a large warehouse-like building, “we sleep on the floor. No blanket. They treat you like an animal,” Paredes said.

When President Donald Trump talks about deporting “the worst of the worst,” Paredes said, “he doesn’t have any idea. All the people I met in the prison, they are hardworking people.”

Haverstock said he misses Paredes, who was a “wonderful worker and one of those rare, fully bilingual people, so that was a huge help to have him around.”

“We should be firmly resolved to do our part to obtain justice, not just for ourselves but for our brothers and sisters, and not even just those in the Church, but anyone’s who’s being persecuted, who happens to be our neighbor,” Haverstock said. “Families should not be separated except for extremely grave reasons. And I can say from my personal experience, from what I’ve seen, and from what I’ve heard, that these deportations and this massive push by ICE is not just targeting drug cartels and violent criminals and repeat offenders of major crimes, but it’s targeting moms and dads and families who have committed, in some cases, no crime except entering our country illegally, and separating a family because of that is unjust.” 

At the end of Mass, Haverstock invites parishioners to learn how to “help immigrants in the parish who have been negatively impacted by recent events” and join an ad hoc team “to serve our brothers and sisters through works of mercy.” 

Haverstock said the parish has used the same petition in the Prayer of the Faithful for several weeks: “For immigrants living in fear, for families that have been separated, and for wise immigration reform in our land, let us pray to the Lord.”

Credit: Wolfgang Schaller/Shutterstock

Jan 9, 2026 / 10:47 am (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to block the state of California from allowing schools to hide student “gender transitions” from parents amid an ongoing federal lawsuit.

The Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based legal group, asked the high court to intervene in the case Mirabelli v. Bonta while the dispute works its way through a federal appeals court.

The suit was originally brought by two Christian teachers in California. U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez on Dec. 22, 2025, issued a ruling in the class action lawsuit, striking down the secretive school gender policies on First Amendment grounds and holding that parents “have a right” to the “gender information” of their children, while teachers themselves also have the right to provide parents with that information. 

In a Jan. 5 ruling, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit blocked Benitez’s order, holding in part that the “public interest in protecting students and avoiding confusion among schoolteachers and administrators” justified a stay.

In an emergency application to the Supreme Court, lawyers with the Thomas More Society argued that the rights of parents, and the health and safety of children, are “too precious” to wait for the appeal to play out.

The high court should strike down the block by the appeals court, the attorneys said, in part because it “strips parents of their core authority with respect to an issue with significant religious and developmental impact.”

Disputes over hiding a student’s “gender identity” from parents have played out in schools around the country in recent years. LGBT advocates claim that teachers and administrators should be allowed to hide student “transitions” in order to keep children safe from parents who may not “affirm” an LGBT identity.

Critics have countered that parents have a right to know important and health-related decisions of their children, particularly concerning “gender identity” beliefs, which often compel young people to seek out drugs and surgeries.

The debate has reached the highest levels of U.S. government. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in August 2025 directed U.S. states to remove gender ideology material from their curricula or face the loss of federal funding, while in February of that year the Department of Education launched an investigation into several Virginia school districts to determine if they violated federal orders forbidding schools from supporting the so-called “transition” of children.

Thomas More Society attorney Paul Jonna this week said California’s “parental deception scheme” is “keeping families in the dark and causing irreparable harm,” necessitating the intervention of the Supreme Court.

“The state is inserting itself unconstitutionally between parents and children, forcing schools to deceive families, and punishing teachers who tell the truth,” he said, adding that “no parent should learn their child was in crisis because the government ordered schools to keep secrets.”

Pope Leo XIV addresses ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives to the Holy See in the Apostolic Palace on Jan. 9, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 9, 2026 / 10:17 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV condemned the weakening of international multilateralism and the increased use of force in a speech to diplomats at the Vatican on Friday.

He also said states should respect fundamental human rights, such as religious freedom and freedom of speech, and comply with international humanitarian law in the lengthiest speech to date of his pontificate.

“A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies. War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,” he told ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives to the Holy See in the Apostolic Palace on Jan. 9. Currently, 184 states have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

“Peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good in itself,” the pontiff continued. “Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence.”

The Holy Father called for concern for the common good of peoples to take precedence over “the defense of partisan interests” amid escalating tensions, pointing in particular to Venezuela, for which he reiterated an appeal “to respect the will of the Venezuelan people, and to safeguard the human and civil rights of all.”

Leo framed his speech, part of the annual new year greeting to the diplomatic corps, within St. Augustine of Hippo’s work of Christian philosophy “De Civitate Dei” (“City of God”).

“The ‘City of God’ does not propose a political program. Instead, it offers valuable reflections on fundamental issues concerning social and political life, such as the search for a more just and peaceful coexistence among peoples. Augustine also warns of the grave dangers to political life arising from false representations of history, excessive nationalism and the distortion of the ideal of the political leader,” the pope said.

He called “City of God,” written in the fifth century, highly relevant to the present time, marked by widespread migration and the “profound readjustment of geopolitical balances and cultural paradigms.”

Human rights short-circuited

Leo lamented what he called a “short circuit” of human rights around the world today, especially the right to life.

“We firmly reiterate that the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right. A society is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it,” he said.

He also called out the restriction of the right to freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, religious freedom, and the right to life in favor of other “so-called new rights,” so that “the very framework of human rights is losing its vitality and creating space for force and oppression.”

“This occurs when each right becomes self-referential, and especially when it becomes disconnected from reality, nature, and truth,” he added.

Christian persecution

Pope Leo said Christian persecution is one of the most widespread human rights crises today, with over 380 million believers around the world suffering high or extreme levels of discrimination, violence, and oppression.

He recalled the victims of religiously motivated violence in Bangladesh, in the Sahel region, in Nigeria, and those killed or injured in the terrorist attack on the parish of St. Elias in Damascus in June.

The pontiff also decried “a subtle form of religious discrimination against Christians” taking place even in Christian-majority countries in Europe and the Americas.

“There, they are sometimes restricted in their ability to proclaim the truths of the Gospel for political or ideological reasons, especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family,” he said.

Leo also called for respect for the freedom of other religious communities and the rejection of all forms of antisemitism.

The meaning of words

The Holy Father also spoke about debates over the meaning of words and how they are tied to attacks on freedom of expression.

“Rediscovering the meaning of words is perhaps one of the primary challenges of our time. When words lose their connection to reality, and reality itself becomes debatable and ultimately incommunicable,” he said.

“We should also note the paradox that this weakening of language is often invoked in the name of freedom of expression itself. However, on closer inspection, the opposite is true, for freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed precisely by the certainty of language and the fact that every term is anchored in the truth,” he noted.

He called it painful to see the space for genuine freedom of expression rapidly shrink, especially in the West.

“At the same time, a new Orwellian-style language is developing which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it,” he said.

A consequence of this, Leo said, is that the freedom of conscience, another fundamental human right, is increasingly questioned by states.

The freedom of conscience, which “establishes a balance between the collective interest and individual dignity,” protects individuals “to refuse legal or professional obligations that conflict with moral, ethical, or religious principles deeply rooted in their personal lives,” such as military service, abortion, or euthanasia.

“Conscientious objection is not rebellion but an act of fidelity to oneself,” he underlined.

Life and the family

Pope Leo urged states to protect the institution of the family as “the vocation to love and to life” manifested in the “exclusive and indissoluble union between a woman and a man” and implying a “fundamental ethical imperative for enabling families to welcome and fully care for unborn life.”

Noting the increasing priority of raising birth rates, he emphasized life as a gift to be cherished and said “we categorically reject any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development,” including abortion and surrogacy.

He added that the Holy See is also concerned about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility to increase access to abortion and “considers it deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life rather than being invested to support mothers and families.”

For the sick and elderly, “civil society and states also have a responsibility to respond concretely to situations of vulnerability, offering solutions to human suffering, such as palliative care, and promoting policies of authentic solidarity rather than encouraging deceptive forms of compassion such as euthanasia,” he said.

The pontiff underlined the inalienable dignity of every person and that migrants, as people, have “inalienable rights that must be respected in every situation.”

“I renew the Holy See’s hope that the actions taken by states against criminality and human trafficking will not become a pretext for undermining the dignity of migrants and refugees,” he said.

Pride and self-love

Leo recalled that in Augustine’s “City of God,” the saint interprets events and history according to a model of two cities. The city of God is characterized by God’s unconditional love and love for one’s neighbor, especially the poor, while the earthly city “is centered on pride and self-love (‘amor sui’), on the thirst for worldly power and glory that leads to destruction.”

“While St. Augustine highlights the coexistence of the heavenly and earthly cities until the end of time, our era seems somewhat inclined to deny the city of God its ‘right of citizenship,’” the pope noted.

“Yet, as Augustine notes, ‘Great is the folly of pride in those individuals who think that the supreme good can be found in this life and that they can become happy by their own resources,’” Leo said. “Pride obscures both reality itself and our empathy towards others. It is no coincidence that pride is always at the root of every conflict.”

Artist’s sketch of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores at the New York courthouse where they appeared Jan. 5, 2025. Photos and videos are prohibited, hence this illustration, but journalists are allowed to be present. | Credit: CNN

Jan 8, 2026 / 18:10 pm (CNA).

Arturo McFields, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), stated that, following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, “winds of hope are blowing” for Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

“At this moment, it’s impossible not to share the joy of the Venezuelan people, the hope for a new day, although it’s complex because democracy is not easy, but hope has strongly resurged among Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans, the hope that no dictatorship is eternal, and today that hope is more alive than ever,” the exiled former diplomat told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, on Jan. 6.

“We are seeing right now, in real time, how the powerful figures who thought they were gods or demigods are now brought to their knees and dressed in prison uniforms,” McFields said in reference to Maduro’s appearance this week in New York, where he pleaded not guilty.

Maduro has been accused of narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.

After stating that the most important thing for a people is their faith in God, the former ambassador emphasized that “all these earthly gods, these Baals, are transient, and we are seeing this in real time. That is a very important message, a very important message of hope for the people of Nicaragua as well, because we know that one day we will see justice, not only divine justice, but in some way even earthly justice.”

Dictatorships are not eternal

“A very important message to consider is that dictatorships are not eternal: We have the dictatorship of the socialist bloc, which lasted more than 70 years. Then we have Syria, more than 50 years. Then we have the dictatorship of Evo Morales [in Bolivia] and the socialist movement, more than 20 years. And each and every one of them eventually fell, and now we are seeing the collapse in Venezuela of more than 26 years of 21st-century socialism, Chavismo, and Maduroism,” McFields continued.

The former ambassador was referring to the socialist political and economic policies of former presidents Hugo Chávez and his successor Maduro.

Great empires like the Roman one, McFields pointed out, “or great dictatorships, fall, and some are more complex, like the socialist dictatorship or the dictatorship in Syria, or the Roman Empire itself, which fell. So, if all those great regimes fell, how could a simpler and less sophisticated regime like Nicaragua’s not fall?”

International law must change to confront ‘criminal dictatorships’

“Under international law, it’s not legal to invade a country, nor is what Maduro was doing legal,” Nicaraguan researcher Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” told ACI Prensa. Her latest report documented that more than 16,500 religious processions were banned by the dictatorship and nearly 1,000 attacks were carried out against Catholics.

“The domestic law of several countries establishes that when someone needs help because they are in imminent danger, you can enter a house without authorization to save the person who needs help. In international law, it’s not like that,” the author continued, addressing those who criticize the Jan. 3 U.S. military intervention during which Maduro was captured in Caracas.

“I believe that international laws are not suited to the criminal dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua but rather to countries that respect the rule of law. Current international laws must change and adapt to reality to allow this type of intervention against perpetrators of crimes against humanity,” she emphasized.

In her opinion, an intervention in Nicaragua, like the one the United States carried out in Venezuela, would not happen because “we are not a country of interest to the international community.”

Tyrants feign courage but live in fear

“The one who is most afraid is the most powerful. Tyrants feign courage and present themselves as high and mighty and aggressive, but they live constantly threatened by fear and turn others, even those in their own inner circle, into rivals or enemies to be eliminated. And they don’t hesitate to do so when they see their power threatened,” said Silvio Báez, the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua, Nicaragua, in his Sunday, Jan. 4, homily for the Mass for the Epiphany of the Lord.

Speaking about the capture of Maduro, but without mentioning him by name, the bishop emphasized that “this is the world of the powerful and of tyrants. [King] Herod and his court personify the dark world of power, where everything is justified and anything goes: calculation, cynicism, lies, cruelty, contempt for life. However, and you will agree with me, ancient history, let’s think of Herod, and recent history, let’s think about what happened yesterday, teaches us that all tyrants pass away, all of them, and end up condemned by God and by history.”

Regarding the Three Wise Men who came to adore the newborn baby Jesus, the Nicaraguan prelate said this act of adoration “transforms us and gives us strength, because only God is to be worshipped; it gives us the strength never to kneel down or be subservient to any idol or power of this world.”

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

Official image of the “Pray with the Pope” campaign for January 2026. | Credit: World Prayer Network

Jan 8, 2026 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication has launched a new prayer campaign in which Pope Leo XIV invites Catholics to pray with him for the great challenges facing the world.

The “Pray with the Pope” initiative is part of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which, during the pontificate of Pope Francis, launched the project known as “The Pope’s Video,” through which the faithful were invited each month to unite in prayer for a specific intention.

Continuing this mission, the new campaign not only invites people to pray but also offers a specific prayer from Leo XIV, who will present his monthly intention from a renewed perspective, encouraging an intimate and serene experience with Christ.

Transforming life from within

According to Jesuit Father Cristobal Fones, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, who presented the initiative Jan. 7 in Rome alongside Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, the initiative proposes “a shared inner experience that aspires to transform life from within.”

The focus of this new phase, as the Jesuit priest explained, “will be more centered on supporting a spiritual experience, which often becomes difficult amidst our busy and noise-filled daily lives.”

“The pope is very aware of this and wants to help us, inviting us to pray together for others,” he added. The “update” of the initiative, according to Fones, stems “from the profound need we have to slow down in order to achieve greater depth in our decisions and relationships.”

With a simple and accessible format, “Pray with the Pope” aims to allow anyone, wherever they are, to join in the Holy Father’s prayer intention, which this year 2026 begins with the invitation to “learn to pray with the most definitive Word, which is not our own, so full of empty promises, but Jesus Christ.”

In this month’s video, Pope Leo XIV is seen silently reading a passage from the Bible in the presence of the Lord, and then he recites a short prayer:

“Lord Jesus, living word of the Father, in you we find the light that guides our steps.

“We know that the human heart lives restless, hungry for meaning, and only your Gospel can give it peace and fullness.

“Teach us to listen to you each day in the Scriptures, to let ourselves be challenged by your voice, and to discern our decisions from the closeness to your heart.

“May your word be nourishment in weariness, hope in darkness, and strength in our communities.

“Lord, may your word never be absent from our lips or from our hearts — the word that makes us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, disciples and missionaries of your kingdom.

“Make us a Church that prays with the word, that builds upon it and shares it with joy, so that in every person the hope of a new world may be born again.

“May our faith grow in the encounter with you through your word, moving us from the heart to reach out to others, to serve the most vulnerable, to forgive, build bridges, and proclaim life. Amen.”

Countering the globalization of indifference

For Fones, this January’s intention will be the basis for the rest of the year’s intentions, which will include children with incurable diseases, the end of war, priests in crisis, respect for human life, and families experiencing the absence of a mother or father, among others.

The priest explained that the initiative also seeks to “highlight important and crucial issues for everyone, opening our hearts to urgent realities and transforming our environment to counteract the globalization of indifference.”

The campaign can be followed on the pope’s prayer website in several languages, and will also be available in audio format through Vatican Radio and partner platforms such as Pray as You Go, RezandoVoy, and Hallow. The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is currently present in more than 90 countries and reaches over 22 million people.

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

Pope Leo XIV arrives at St. Peter’s Basilica for a Mass with cardinals on Jan. 8, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media

Jan 8, 2026 / 17:04 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on cardinals to experience the extraordinary consistory as a time of spiritual discernment in unity and warned against the temptation to put personal interests ahead of the common good.

“We gather not to promote personal or group ‘agendas’ but to entrust our plans and inspirations to a discernment that transcends us — ‘as the heavens are higher than the earth’ — and which comes only from the Lord,” he said in his homily for the Mass he celebrated Jan. 8 in St. Peter’s Basilica with the cardinals present in Rome for this important two-day ecclesial meeting convened to help him make decisions about the future of the Catholic Church.

Leo XIV urged the cardinals to experience the Eucharist as the place where this discernment is purified and transformed, asking them to place all their “hopes and ideas upon the altar.”

Truly listening to the voice of God

“Only in this way will we truly know how to listen to his voice and to welcome it through the gift that we are to one another — which is the very reason we have gathered,” he added.

The pope linked this vision to the spirituality of communion, recalling that Christian love is “Trinitarian” and “relational,” and quoted St. John Paul II, who defined it as “the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us.”

This extraordinary consistory — different from the ordinary ones, which are more limited and frequent — was planned to take place immediately after the Jubilee of Hope to “offer support and advice to the Holy Father in the exercise of his high and arduous responsibility of governing the Church,” according to a statement from the Holy See.

St. John Paul II convened six extraordinary consistories during his 26-year pontificate, while Pope Benedict XVI chose to hold consultative meetings with the cardinals on the eve of the ordinary consistories. In total, he held three such meetings during his pontificate.

During the 12 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis held only one extraordinary consistory, on Feb. 20, 2014, which focused primarily on the family and marriage, ahead of the Synod on the Family held that same year.

Unlike his predecessor, who preferred to consult with a smaller council, Leo XIV convened the entire College of Cardinals to assist him in governing the universal Church.

Evangelization and synodality

The cardinals are expected to offer the new pontiff their views on two specific topics: the Synod and synodality, and the mission of evangelization and the missionary character of the Church in light of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. Initially, the meeting topics also included discussions on the liturgy and the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, but lack of time has limited the issues that will be addressed.

The pontiff reflected on the very meaning of the consistory, recalling that the word “consistorium” in Latin refers to the idea of ​​“pausing.”

“Indeed, all of us have ‘paused’ in order to be here. We have set aside our activities for a time, and even canceled important commitments, so as to discern together what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people,” he emphasized.

Not a group of experts, but a community of faith

In his homily, the Holy Father reminded those present that this gathering is not about a “mere group of experts” but “a community of faith. Only when the gifts that each person brings are offered to the Lord and returned by him, will they bear the greatest fruit according to his providence.”

The pontiff also recalled the words of St. Leo the Great to emphasize the communal dimension of ecclesial service: “In this way,” he said, “‘the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick visited, and no one seeks his or her own interests, but those of others.’”

Referring to the challenges of today’s world, marked by profound inequalities and a widespread “hunger for goodness and peace,” the pope acknowledged the feeling of inadequacy in the face of the mission but encouraged them to face it together, trusting in providence.

“We will be able to help one another — and in particular, to help the pope — to find the “five loaves and two fish” that providence “never fails to provide,” he affirmed.

Leo XIV concluded his homily by offering the cardinals his “heartfelt thanks” for their service and reminding them that, even if they don’t always manage to find solutions to the problems they face.

‘We may not always find immediate solutions to the problems we face’

“We may not always be able to find immediate solutions to the problems we face. Yet in every place and circumstance, we will be able to help one another — and in particular, to help the pope,” he said, calling for collaboration.

“Beloved brothers,” the pope noted, “what you offer to the Church through your service, at every level, is something profound and very personal, unique to each of you and precious to all.”

According to what the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, reported Jan. 7, of the 245 cardinals who currently make up the College of Cardinals, 170 are in Rome participating in the closed-door meetings that concluded Thursday.

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

Credit: Digital Storm/Shutterstock

Jan 7, 2026 / 15:04 pm (CNA).

A federal appeals court this week upheld a years-old principle of U.S. law that allows religious organizations to hire only like-minded believers as staff members.

Union Gospel Mission of Yakima, Washington, will be permitted to hire only those employees who share the group’s religious beliefs about marriage and sexuality, according to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The court’s Jan. 6 ruling said the state of Washington would be forbidden from enforcing the Washington Law Against Discrimination against the Christian group.

The mission group originally brought suit against the state in 2023, arguing that the nondiscrimination law hindered its ability to hire solely workers who agree with the group’s Christian worldview.

The “ministerial exception” generally allows religious groups to be exempt from U.S. discrimination laws when hiring for ministry roles. But in its lawsuit Union Gospel Mission sought broader relief from the state discrimination law, arguing that it wanted to ensure even “non-ministerial” employees were adhering to the Christian faith.

In its ruling, the 9th Circuit said that the principle of church autonomy, as recognized by U.S. courts, “forbids interference” with “an internal church decision that affects the faith and mission of the church itself.”

“[I]n cases involving the hiring of non-ministerial employees, a religious institution may enjoy [church autonomy] when a challenged hiring decision is rooted in a sincerely held religious belief,” the court said.

Union Gospel’s hiring policy qualifies as an “internal management decision” protected by U.S. law, the court held. Allowing the state to enforce the discrimination policy “could interfere with a religious mission and drive it from the public sphere.”

The decision was hailed by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which has represented the Christian group for nearly three years. Attorney Jeremiah Galus said the court “correctly ruled that the First Amendment protects the mission’s freedom to hire fellow believers who share that calling.”

“Religious organizations shouldn’t be punished for exercising their constitutionally protected freedom to hire employees who are aligned with and live out their shared religious beliefs,” Galus said.

In a phone interview with CNA on Jan. 7, Galus said the decision represents a “pretty significant victory.”

The ministerial exception is a “somewhat unremarkable principle,” he pointed out. Yet the Washington Supreme Court had earlier ruled for a narrower interpretation of that exception, creating uncertainty around the scope of the principle there.

The 9th Circuit ruling is the “first appeals decision of its kind that holds the First Amendment allows religious orgs to operate in this way,” Galus said.

The appeals court ruling upheld a lower court’s block of the state law.

It is unclear if Washington state will appeal the decision. The Supreme Court has previously ruled broadly in favor of ministerial exceptions, including in the 2012 decision of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, in which the high court unanimously ruled that the First Amendment “prevents the government from appointing ministers” and “prevents it from interfering with the freedom of religious groups to select their own.”

The court expanded that principle in the 2020 decision Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru when it held that religious schools are permitted to hire and fire teachers as they please under the ministerial exception.

Galus, meanwhile, pointed out that the appeals ruling extends beyond Washington state to encompass the entirety of the 9th Circuit.

The decision “affirms what we have been saying all along, which is that the First Amendment protects this right regardless of a statutory exemption,” he said.

Confessional. | Credit: Paul Lowry (CC BY 2.0)

Jan 7, 2026 / 14:34 pm (CNA).

A proposed law in Arizona could see priests facing felony charges if they fail to break the seal of confession after learning of child abuse during the sacrament.

The measure, HB 2039, was introduced in December 2025 by state Rep. Anastasia Travers. It is awaiting action in the state House after Travers prefiled it on Dec. 4.

The bill would amend the state code to require priests to report abuse learned during confession if they have “reasonable suspicion to believe that the abuse is ongoing, will continue, or may be a threat to other minors.”

Failure to report a “reportable offense” could lead to class 6 felony charges under the bill. Those charges in Arizona can lead to up to $150,000 in fines and up to two years of imprisonment.

Travers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill and why she proposed it. She previously filed a similar bill in 2023.

Lawmakers in multiple U.S. states in recent years have moved to require priests to violate the seal of confession as part of mandatory reporting laws.

One such law in Washington state suffered a dramatic defeat in July 2025 after a federal court blocked the measure on First Amendment grounds. The rule had drawn rebuke from the U.S. bishops, the White House, Orthodox church leaders, and other advocates. The state backed off the law in October 2025.

Similar measures in Delaware, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Montana have been proposed over the past few years, though none have come to pass. One such law was also proposed in Hungary in October 2025. In 2019, California lawmakers proposed and then backed off of a similar bill.

Priests are bound to never divulge what they hear in confession on pain of excommunication. Multiple priests in Church history have been martyred after they were executed for refusing to break that seal.

Church canon law dictates that it is “absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.”

St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. | Credit: Gastao at English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Jan 7, 2026 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

Scottish bishops have denounced a law establishing so-called “buffer zones” around abortion facilities, saying it “restricts free speech, free expression, and freedom of religion in ways that should concern us all.”

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act 2024 establishes “buffer zones” up to 200 meters (656 feet) around 30 locations across Scotland. The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland said: “Within those zones, any conduct deemed to ‘influence’ a decision about abortion may be criminalized.”

“We oppose this law because it is disproportionate and undemocratic,” the bishops said in a Jan. 6 statement. “The Catholic Church does not condone harassment or intimidation, but that was not the intention of this law.”

The Scottish government lists several activities that might violate the law, including “silent vigils,” “handing out leaflets,” “religious preaching,” and “approaching someone to try and persuade them not to access abortion services.”

It is “unsettling” that this Christmas season “saw the first person in Scotland charged under the … law in Scotland,” the bishops said. A law “the Church believes curtails Scotland’s commitment to freedom of expression and conscience, and restricts critical voices from democratic debate in the public square.”

In December 2025, 74-year-old Rose Docherty was charged under the law, following her original arrest in February 2025 in Glasgow. She was arrested when she was silently standing outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital holding a sign that said: “Coercion is a crime; here to talk, only if you want.”

Risks of the law

The bishops highlighted the “troubling” implications and concerns of the legislation.

The law potentially “criminalizes a person standing alone in a buffer zone without any visible expression of protest but who is deemed by others to be offering a silent pro-life inspired prayer,” the bishops said.

It “extends to private homes within designated zones,” they said. “A pro-life poster displayed in a window, a conversation overheard, a prayer said by a window; all could, in principle, fall within the scope of criminal sanction.”

When asked if praying by a window in your own home could constitute an offense, Gillian Mackay, the Scottish Green Party member of Parliament who spearheaded the legislation, replied: “That depends on who’s passing the window.”

Scotland’s police have also “expressed unease,” the bishops said. Superintendent Gerry Corrigan told Parliament that policing thought is an area they “would stay clear of.” He added: “I do not think we could go down the road of asking people what they are thinking or what their thoughts are.”

The bishops said the law could also affect women experiencing crisis pregnancies who may be denied the opportunity to freely speak to people and organizations that can help them. They said: “A law supposedly designed to protect choice risks doing the opposite — eliminating one side of a conversation and one set of choices altogether.”

Some parliamentarians attempted to mitigate the effects of the law by proposing a “reasonableness defense” or “exemptions for chaplains who might be criminalized for pastoral conversations,” but “all amendments were rejected or withdrawn,” the bishops said.

“We support all those who, motivated by conscience and compassion, stand up for the right to life. It cannot be a crime to give our voice and our prayers to the unborn,” they said.

“As we look to the child in the manger this Christmas and Epiphany, we are reminded that babies do not have a voice of their own. It is a shame that the state has now also curtailed the voices of ordinary citizens who advocate for them within its borders,” they said.

Cartoonist Scott Adams announced his intention to convert to Christianity in January 2026. | Credit: Art of Charm, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jan 6, 2026 / 17:38 pm (CNA).

Scott Adams, the 68-year-old cartoonist who created the decades-long “Dilbert” comic strip, announced he is converting to Christianity amid his deteriorating health caused by terminal cancer.

Adams, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2025, had previously been critical of organized religion and expressed skepticism about traditional faiths in blog posts and two fiction books titled “God’s Debris” and its sequel, “The Religion War.”

On the Jan. 1 episode of his podcast “Real Coffee with Scott Adams,” the cartoonist expressed a change of heart following numerous conversations with Christian friends.

“I’ve not been a believer, but I also have respect for any Christian who goes another way to try to convert me,” Adams said. “Because how would I believe [that] you believe your own religion if you’re not trying to convert me? So I have great respect for people who care enough that they want me to convert and then go out of their way to try to convince me.”

Adams then informed his viewers “it is my plan to convert,” adding: “I still have time, but my understanding is, you’re never too late.”

“And on top of that, any skepticism I have about reality would certainly be instantly answered if I wake up in heaven,” he said.

Speaking to “my Christian friends,” Adams said: “It’s coming, so you don’t need to talk me into it.”

Adams appeared to invoke “ Pascal’s Wager,” which is an argument about the risks and rewards of following Jesus Christ, which was articulated by the 17th-century French Catholic philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal.

The argument was not meant to be a “proof” for God or even an argument about whether God exists. Rather, Pascal argued that accepting God can lead one to eternal life if he exists and it carries little risk even if he did not exist, but rejecting God will lead to eternal consequences if he exists and does not yield significant benefits even if he did not exist.

As Adams summarized his view: “If it turns out that there’’s nothing there, I've lost nothing, but I’ve respected your wishes, and I like doing that. If it turns out there is something there and the Christian model is the closest to it, I win.”

Adams’ cancer has spread through his bones and he is paralyzed below his waist. He is also suffering from heart failure.

Father Thomas Petri, a Dominican theologian, said this announcement is “very good news” and that he will continue to pray for Adams.

Petri said he has seen some Christians online try to suggest the conversion is not genuine because “he seems to be doing it merely as a wager in case God exists.” Yet, Petri said, “I’m fine with that wager.”

“Few people come to God with a perfectly formed faith,” he said. “Yet, because we believe God is love, it’s hard to think that Scott Adams’ gesture would not be received and blessed by him.”

“Naturally, as we approach death we become more focused on ultimate things and questions,” Petri added. “Trusting in God opens us to the possibility that death is not an end but an avenue to something greater. I pray that even the most hardened sinners have some desire for God even in their last moments. I think that’s enough for God to work with.”

Jimmy Akin, a senior apologist at Catholic Answers who debated Adams on assisted suicide in 2015, said he is “very glad that [Adams] has decided to seek out God in this difficult time.”

“God has many ways of drawing people to himself,” Akin said.

“On the human level, we’re built to think about events and challenges that we will soon be facing, so as we see that death is drawing near, it’s only natural for people to begin thinking about what may come after death and to try to make plans for it,” he said. “This can create an openness to the idea of God and to Christianity, even if a person was not religious previously.”

In other cases, Akin said some people “have become hardened by years of living without God” but that “God can still reach out by his grace … and being the person to him.”

“As Jesus taught us, it is never too late in this life for a person to turn to God,” he said. “That’s one of the major points of the parable of the workers in the vineyard.”