St. Michael the Archangel

An exemption to the restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass has been granted to a parish in the Archdiocese of San Angelo, Texas. / Credit: James Bradley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 2, 2025 / 14:51 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has granted a parish in Texas an exemption from restrictions to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) imposed by Pope Francis’ encyclical Traditionis Custodes. 

The exemption, requested by Bishop Michael Sis on Feb. 6, was granted to St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in the Diocese of San Angelo, Texas.

No other such exemption by Pope Leo XIV has been reported since the start of his pontificate. 

“The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments informed me in a decree of May 28, 2025, that my request has been granted for a further two years for a dispensation from article 3§2 of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, so that Mass according to the ‘Missale Romanum’ of 1962 may be celebrated in the parish church of St. Margaret of Scotland in San Angelo,” Sis, who previously served as a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, said in a statement he shared with CNA. 

“Just as before,” he added, “the granting of this dispensation is based upon an ongoing effort to promote the full appreciation and acceptance of the liturgical books renewed by decree of the Second Vatican Council and promulgated by popes St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II.”

Sis noted further that when he submitted his request for the extension to the Vatican, he did so “with a spirit of total openness to whatever is the will of God.” 

He continued: “I trust the judgment of our Holy Father Pope Leo and those who assist him in his ministry of unity through the various dicasteries of the Holy See.”

The exemption was originally announced in a June 27 social media post by the diocese’s director of vocations, Father Ryan Rojo.

“I’m grateful to @Pontifex and to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments for allowing the TLM to continue to exist in our parish church, extending permission for another two years,” Rojo wrote in the June 27 post. 

St. Margaret’s pastor, Father Freddy Perez, told CNA: “Now that we have the permission, the attitude is one of relief; I saw a lot of relief this past weekend.” Although the Vatican’s approval was dated May 28, Perez said he did not receive notification of the approval from his bishop until last week. 

Perez revealed that the letter from the Vatican praised St. Margaret’s for the steps it took to follow the Holy Father’s motu proprio. The Vatican “commended our efforts and our ‘pastoral concern to instill a clear appreciation for the Church as unique, lex orandi,’” Perez told CNA, adding: “That’s a direct quote from the letter we were sent.” 

Though the pastor noted some negativity from parishioners about having to ask permission to celebrate the TLM, his approach is to explain that “this is where the Church is right now, and is where we have to be obedient.” 

Beyond the two-year extension, Perez said, “my hopes are just to continue to bring a positive experience of the liturgy to all of my people, to try to bring them into the Gospel, into the teachings of the Church, as we’re taught, and to try to teach them that the Mass gets us ready for heaven.” 

Though the parish experienced uncertainty over whether it would be allowed to continue celebrating the TLM, Perez said the advice of Auxiliary Bishop Mario Avilés helped guide him. “The advice he gave me was very simple,” the pastor recalled. “He said: ‘Just be obedient, son.” 

“And I think just putting my eyes on the Lord has satisfied everything that I wouldn’t be able to do through my own spirit of protest or my spirit of just being angry about not getting my way, by conforming my will to the will of Our Lord,” Perez reflected. “We’re in this world temporarily, and at the end of the day, we are asked to be faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy mother Church.” 

According to Perez, St. Margaret’s has been offering the TLM for just over five years, currently on Sunday afternoons and Thursday mornings. 

The TLM community, he said, consists mostly of young families as well as curious people who are interested in experiencing the liturgy. The small parish consists of about 200 families, he said, noting that attendance at the TLM is usually on the larger side for the parish, with about 140 to 200 people each week.

News of St. Margaret’s exemption comes after the Archdiocese of Detroit announced earlier this month that non-parish churches in the archdiocese will be allowed to continue celebrating the TLM despite an earlier statement saying that most of the TLM celebrated in the area would be suspended.

The archdiocese reported that permissions given to parish church priests to carry out the TLM would expire and they could not be renewed, but Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said he would recognize at least four non-parish locations in the archdiocese where the TLM could still be celebrated.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a champion of the traditional liturgy, has said he asked Pope Leo to remove measures restricting the celebration of TLM, stating at a conference in London recently: “It is my hope that he will, as soon as is reasonably possible, take up the study of this question.”

Bishop Daniel E. Garcia. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Austin

Vatican City, Jul 2, 2025 / 13:49 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Daniel Garcia of Monterey, California, as the sixth bishop of Austin, Texas.

After leading the Diocese of Monterey for more than six years since 2018, Garcia, 64, has returned to his home state of Texas to serve the Austin Diocese as its leader.

At a July 2 press conference held by the Diocese of Austin, Garcia gave thanks to God for the local Church, which he described as “diverse in ethnicity, race, language, and way of life.”

“I was ordained a priest for this local Church in May of 1988,” he said on Wednesday. “It is filled with people of so many great gifts and talents and it is my hope to reacquaint myself with all of you whom I have known and get to know you whom I have not yet met.”

During his address given in English and in Spanish, the bishop emphasized that the Church and civil society cannot forget the “poor, the weak, and those who live on the margins” in its policies and practices.

The bishop, who is also a board member of Catholic Relief Services, quoted St. Vincent de Paul during his speech, saying: “It will be the poor who will be our entrance into heaven.”

Garcia, who celebrated the 10th anniversary of his episcopal consecration in January, was previously made auxiliary bishop of Austin and titular bishop of Capso by Pope Francis in 2015 before heading to Monterey.

Before becoming an auxiliary bishop for Austin, Garcia was parish vicar of St. Catherine of Siena there from 1988 to 1990, Cristo Rey from 1990 to 1991, St. Louis from 1991 to 1992, and St. Mary Magdalene from 1992 to 1995. Between 1995 and 2014, he was a parish priest at St. Vincent de Paul.

He is currently part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ subcommittee on divine worship in Spanish.

While attending St. Mary’s Seminary in the 1980s, Garcia obtained a liberal arts degree and a master’s degree in divinity from the University of St. Thomas in Houston. He was awarded a master’s degree in liturgy from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, in 2007.

The Vatican Gardens at Castel Gandolfo in Italy. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Vatican City, Jul 2, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV declared that nature should not be a “bargaining chip” in his message announcing the theme “Seeds of Peace and Hope” for the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, set for Sept. 1.

Drawing inspiration from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, released 10 years ago, the Holy Father said the “Bible provides no justification for us to exercise ‘tyranny over creation’” and should therefore not be exploited.

“Nature itself is reduced at times to a bargaining chip, a commodity to be bartered for economic or political gain,” Leo said. “As a result, God’s creation turns into a battleground for the control of vital resources.”

The pope said poor nations, marginalized societies, and Indigenous communities are destabilized and penalized as a result of conflicts over water and natural resources as well as the destruction of forests and agricultural areas.

“These various wounds are the effect of sin,” he added. “This is surely not what God had in mind when he entrusted the earth to the men and women whom he created in his image.”

In his July 2 message, the pope said three things are necessary for genuine environmental justice: prayer, determination, and concrete actions.

Leo invited Catholics to prayerfully consider the significance of seeds as a metaphor of coming of the kingdom of God in Scripture, saying: “Jesus often used the image of the seed.”

“In Christ, we too are seeds, and indeed, ‘seeds of peace and hope,’” he said. “The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Spirit of God can make an arid and parched desert into a garden, a place of rest and serenity.”

Insisting that environmental justice is not an “abstract concept” or a “distant goal,” the Holy Father said “now is the time to follow words with deeds” in his message dedicated to the care of creation.

“By working with love and perseverance, we can sow many seeds of justice and thus contribute to the growth of peace and the renewal of hope,” he said.  

This year, Pope Leo has twice visited sites linked to the Holy See’s integral ecology projects outside of Rome. In addition to visiting the Borgo Laudato Si’ project at Castel Gandolfo in May, he toured the proposed Vatican solar energy project site in Santa Maria di Galeria in June.

The Holy Father praised these initiatives, which serve as examples of “how people can live, work, and build community by applying the principles of the encyclical Laudato Si’.”

“I pray that Almighty God will send us in abundance his ‘Spirit from on high,’ so that these seeds, and others like them, may bring forth an abundant harvest of peace and hope,” the pope said.

null / Credit: Minerva Studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 2, 2025 / 11:17 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Fresno in California filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1, seeking to address more than 150 abuse claims filed there in what Bishop Joseph Brennan said was part of a “journey of conversion through contrition.”

Brennan announced the filing via a video message on Tuesday. The bishop’s message comes more than a year after he announced, in May 2024, that the diocese would seek the bankruptcy filing.

The prelate said the filing was “the only path that will allow us to handle claims of sexual abuse with compassion that is fair and equitable while simultaneously ensuring the continuation of ministry within our diocese.”

As with other dioceses in California and the U.S., the Fresno Diocese is facing a large number of allegations of clergy abuse. Brennan said last year that plaintiffs had lodged 154 sex abuse complaints against the Church there.

Those filings were made under a California law that temporarily relaxed the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims, allowing alleged victims a three-year window from 2019 to 2022 to file the complaints.

Brennan said the Fresno bankruptcy process will include allocating diocesan assets to “satisfy the claims against the diocese.” He added that a fund will also be established to pay abuse claims.

“Our Church must address the suffering that victims of clergy sexual abuse have endured,” he said.

“We know the sin. It will always be before us,” he continued. “Now that we have entered a journey of conversion through contrition and acknowledgement of the victims’ suffering, we must enter a path of reconciliation, which includes resolving the victims’ claims.”

The bishop urged the faithful to pray for abuse victims during the bankruptcy process.

In the bankruptcy petition, filed in U.S. bankruptcy court for the eastern district of California, Brennan authorized diocesan Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Martin and Vicar General Father Salvador Gonzalez to represent the diocese in the proceedings.

The bishop listed the diocese’s assets as between $50 million and $100 million, with between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors.

Newlyweds Anna and Cole Stevens meet Pope Leo XIV at the general audience in Rome on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Anna and Cole Stevens

Vatican City, Jul 2, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV recently offered marriage advice to a young American couple days after their wedding, sharing how he was blessed by the example of his own parents who prayed the rosary together every day.

Newlyweds Cole and Anna Stevens received Pope Leo’s personal blessing for their marriage during one of the pope’s first general audiences under the hot Roman summer sun on June 11, just four days after their wedding at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham, Alabama.

The moment, captured on video, became an unexpectedly intimate exchange with the American pope, who responded warmly to their question of how best to pray together as a married couple.

“First of all, it is very important to go slowly and to find the style of prayer that works for you and your spirituality,” Pope Leo replied in English.

“My parents prayed the rosary together their whole lives every day,” the pope said. “I found that I was always blessed by their love for one another and their faith in God … It’s a wonderful thing.” 

The Stevenses, who now live in Pensacola, Florida, approached the crowded general audience in their wedding attire unsure if they would even get the chance to meet the pope. They were one of about 65 newlywed couples in St. Peter’s Square that day to receive the pope’s “‘sposi novelli’ blessing,” an opportunity that the Vatican offers each week to Catholics within six months of their wedding.

“We prayed a rosary while we were waiting for the audience [to begin] because we were in the square at 8 a.m.,” Cole said. “And the question that really came to my heart while we were praying the rosary [was] how can we deepen our faith, our prayer life inside of our marriage?” 

Anna recalled how Pope Leo responded to Cole’s question as if there was no one else in the crowd at that moment.

“There was no rush in his voice. There was no looking around… He was solely focused on the question that Cole asked and then how could he answer it to the best of his abilities,” she said.

After the exchange, the couple gave the pope a prayer card from their wedding. “Then we asked for his personal blessing, which he gave to us … laying hands on us and blessing us.”

“He just entrusted us to the Holy Family,” Anna added, “and prayed over us that the Holy Family would watch over us, protect us, guide us, and lead us.”

Unbeknownst to Pope Leo, Cole had been holding a relic of the Holy Family — cloth that had touched St. Joseph’s staff, Our Lady’s veil, and Jesus’ manger — when he blessed them.

A match made in heaven

Cole, 24, originally from Colorado, and Anna, 25, a schoolteacher from Birmingham, Alabama, met on a blind date when Cole was pursuing his master’s degree at the University of Alabama. 

“My good high school friend had met Cole and was asking Cole what kind of girl he was interested in,” Anna said. “And Cole threw out there ‘a Catholic volleyball player’ and she said, ‘Well, I have one girl for you.’ And that was me.”

“I played volleyball in college and I was her one Catholic friend. And so that was how we started off.”

Their relationship grew through long-distance calls and visits between cities in Alabama. “He took me to the [adoration] chapel on our third date,” Anna remembered. “And that’s where he ended up proposing two years later.”

They prayed novenas together for 90 days leading up to their wedding — to St. Joseph, Our Lady of Lourdes, and the Holy Family.

Their honeymoon, originally planned for the Amalfi coast, took a surprising turn when they realized the Vatican offered special blessings for newlyweds. “We were looking at Sorrento and we’re like two hours away,” Anna said. “Why would we skip out on the jubilee year and the Holy Doors? And then when we heard about the ‘sposi novelli,’ we were like, we have to go.”

It was Cole’s first time out of the country. “There’s no other experience in my life that I can look back on and say it was truly life-changing and just awe-striking at the same,” he said on meeting Pope Leo.

Romantic rosary walks to remember

Back in Pensacola, Florida, Pope Leo’s advice has already shaped the young couple’s routine. “It’s funny,” Anna said. “At the end of the night we’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, we haven’t said the rosary. We have to say the rosary; Pope Leo told us to pray the rosary.’ And so we’ve built it in.” 

Their solution? Rosary walks after dinner. 

“Our new goal now is after dinner we go on rosary walks every night and that has been one of our favorite parts of the night,” Anna said. “It has been so peaceful. It is usually right around sunset.” 

“We use it as a chance to pray for individual intentions throughout the week,” Cole added. 

Anna, reflecting on the papal advice, said it’s important to work at “finding, like Pope Leo said, a way that works for you. So for us right now with our stage of life, it’s been rosary walks. And every couple will have a different stage and life and how they can pray the rosary together.” 

What struck Cole most about the pope’s advice was its applicability. “I was surprised at how real it was… It was very practical in the sense of, here’s what my parents did, and find out what works for you. … I can actually use this advice.”

Palace of the Senate of the Russian Empire in Moscow. / Credit: Angel Miklashevsky, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 2, 2025 / 09:29 am (CNA).

Russia continues to perpetuate “particularly severe” religious liberty violations against minority groups within its own country and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, according to a new report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

The June 30 report, which detailed religious liberty violations throughout 2024 and the beginning of 2025, found continued “intense persecution” of Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians.

Within Russia’s borders, the report also found numerous religious liberty violations against human rights activists, independent media, anti-war protesters, and others who belong to minority religious groups.

“Russian authorities abuse vague and problematic laws to target religious communities that do not conform to state authority,” USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler told CNA in a statement.

“They target Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Falun Gong Practitioners, Protestants, Ukrainian Christians, Crimean [Tatar] Muslims, and many others that Moscow thinks undermine its dictatorial control,” the former six-term Missouri congresswoman added. “... There is no religious freedom in Russia or [the] territories it occupies.”

About 72% of Russians are Orthodox, 7% are Muslim, 5% are atheist, and 13% do not have a religious affiliation. About 3% of Russians belong to a variety of other religious groups.

Persecution against Ukrainian Christians

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has led to the most egregious religious liberty violations by the Russian state.

According to the report, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have reported the killing of at least 47 religious leaders since the February 2022 invasion. It adds that 640 houses of worship and religious sites have either been damaged or destroyed in that time frame.

The report notes that “Russian de facto authorities have banned” several churches, such as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and several Protestant groups, including Baptists, Pentecostals, and Seventh-day Adventists.

According to the report, authorities have sought to pressure Orthodox Christian communities and leaders to submit to the Russian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate.

In some examples over the past year and a half, the report notes that “Russian forces allegedly abducted and tortured to death [Orthodox Church of Ukraine] priest Stepan Podolchak.” It also notes that Russian authorities are accused of demolishing the last Orthodox Church of Ukraine church in Crimea in July 2024.

The report also referenced a United Nations human rights report that detailed the “torture and ill treatment of Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta” while they were detained from November 2022 through June 2024.

“One of the priests had accused Russian forces of subjecting him to regular beatings, prolonged stress positions, and long-distance crawls on asphalt,” the report notes.

Persecution within Russia

The report notes that Russia has employed laws against “so-called illegal missionary activities” to persecute religious minorities on the basis of faith. It states that Russian courts heard 431 cases regarding these laws in 2024, which resulted in fines totaling nearly $60,000. 

In one case, Russia deported an 85-year-old Polish Catholic priest “who had reportedly served in Russia for almost 30 years” after he lost his documentation that permitted him to preach. The courts have also shut down churches with these laws.

The report also details Russia’s persecution of “anti-war protesters and religious leaders for expressing opposition to the war in religious terms.”

Some examples include Pentecostal Pastor Nikolay Romanyuk, who was “reportedly physically assaulted and arrested” by Russian police for giving a sermon against the war. Another example listed was Apostolic Orthodox Church Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko receiving a fine of $369 for posting “an anti-war video in which he discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine using a biblical story.”

In relation to the ongoing war, the report notes that Christians are frequently denied the ability to perform “alternative civilian service” when they have religious objections to military service.

The report lists numerous religious freedom violations against Russian Muslims. According to the report, Muslims who belong to the Hizb ut-Tahrir (or are accused of belonging to it) have been charged with terrorism “despite no evidence or even allegations that defendants called for or committed violence.” 

The report notes that at least 352 people were prosecuted for alleged affiliation with Hizb ut-Tahrir, which includes Crimean Tatar Muslims. It states that out of 280 convicted, 119 were sentenced to 15 years or more and 131 were sentenced to between 10 and 14 years in prison.

According to the report, Russia has also prosecuted leaders and members of the Church of Scientology, which is labeled “extremist.” They have also targeted leaders and members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, adherents of Falun Gong, and members of the Allya Ayat spiritual movement for similar reasons.

Canadian member of Parliament from Cloverdale-Langley City in British Columbia, Tamara Jansen, has introduced a private member’s bill to stop the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) for mental illness alone. / Credit: ParlVu screen image

Vancouver, Canada, Jul 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Canadian member of Parliament (MP) from Cloverdale-Langley City in British Columbia, Tamara Jansen, has introduced a private member’s bill to stop the expansion of medical assistance in dying (MAID) for mental illness alone.

Jansen’s Bill C-218 would amend the criminal code to prevent mental disorders from being considered a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” for the purposes of MAID.

The bill was read a first time in the House of Commons on June 20 and is scheduled for second reading at the next sitting of the House.

Speaking in the House, Jansen said: “Imagine your son or daughter battling depression for some time, after losing a job or maybe a broken relationship. Imagine they feel the loss so deep that they’re convinced the world would be better off without them.”

Starting March 27, 2027, such Canadians “could walk into a doctor’s office and ask them to end their life,” she said.

“That’s not a future scenario, that’s the law right now waiting to take effect.”

The Justin Trudeau government delayed expansion until 2024 and again until March 17, 2027, over concerns from medical and legal experts.

“Clinical experts have warned that there’s no evidence-based way to determine if someone with a mental illness would get better, and most do,” Jansen said. “But still the government is moving forward.”

Jansen said the proposed law sends a message to “struggling Canadians, trauma survivors, those battling depression, schizophrenia, PTSD” that “death is a solution we’re now willing to offer” in response to suffering.

“That’s not health care. That’s not compassion. It’s abandonment.”

She told MPs: “Mental illness is treatable. Recovery is possible, but only if we show up and help.”

Jansen’s bill is similar to 2023 legislation that was narrowly defeated in Parliament but delayed implementation of the federal law.

Conservative MP Ed Fast of Abbotsford, British Columbia, introduced Bill C-314, which would have stopped the expansion of Canada’s euthanasia regime. It was defeated at second reading on Oct. 18, 2023, by a 167-150 vote.

Fast gathered cross-party support for his legislation, with all 24 New Democratic Party (NDP) members voting in favor of his bill and eight members of the Liberal Party breaking ranks from their colleagues. The Bloc Québécois held the balance of power on the vote, as each of its members voted against the Abbotsford, British Columbia, representative’s endeavor.

During the oral question period preceding the vote, Fast condemned reports “of Canadians crying out for help and being offered assisted suicide instead.”

He attacked “the sorry state of our mental health system,” saying: “Millions of Canadians oppose the government’s fascination with assisted death.”

A Christian political advocacy group praised Jansen’s bill and called on MPs to support it regardless of party.

“Canada can never be ready to offer MAID for mental illness,” said Daniel Zekveld, a policy analyst with the Association for Reformed Political Action Canada. “Doing so would undermine suicide prevention efforts and mental health care. Canada cannot promote suicide prevention while at the same time offering suicide assistance as a solution for mental illness.”

Zekveld said: “Since Parliament’s last delay of the mental illness expansion, we’ve seen more stories of people who are suffering and unable to access necessary supports and care being offered MAID.”

Offering euthanasia to people for mental illness implies “there is no hope of recovery and normalizes suicide as a solution for suffering,” Zekveld said. “But psychiatrists tell us they cannot reliably diagnose mental illness as irremediable. Canadians with mental illness need hope and support, not euthanasia or assisted suicide.”

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition said if Bill C-218 is to pass, politicians need to hear from Canadians. He is asking people to send their mental health stories and share what would have happened had MAID been available at the time. Stories can be sent to info@epcc.ca.

This story was first published by The B. C. Catholic and is reprinted here with permission.

Father Héctor Alejandro Pérez. / Credit: St. Francis of Assisi Parish, South Gaviotas

Puebla, Mexico, Jul 1, 2025 / 17:19 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Tabasco in Mexico reported June 30 that one of its priests was wounded by gunfire while on his way to visit a sick parishioner. The attack was apparently a case of mistaken identity.

The bishop of the diocese, Gerardo de Jesús Rojas López, shared a statement explaining that at approximately 5:45 a.m. local time, Father Héctor Alejandro Pérez, a parish priest at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco state, was shot.

The assailant apparently mistook the priest “for someone else. Father Héctor was leaving the rectory to visit a sick person at home,” Rojas stated.

Following the attack, the priest underwent surgery. According to the bishop, Pérez is reported to be in critical condition, “with a guarded prognosis due to blood loss and the complexity of his internal injuries.”

Rojas also made an urgent appeal to the community to donate blood for the priest, who is being treated at the Dr. Gustavo A. Rovirosa Pérez Regional Highly Specialized Hospital in Villahermosa.

The bishop also expressed the Catholic Church in Tabasco’s “total repudiation” of “this barbaric act” and asked God to “move the hearts of the unjust aggressors to conversion and repentance, and that all the faithful and people of goodwill unite in the search for peace for our beloved Tabasco.”

The state governor, Javier May Rodríguez, in a press conference deplored what happened to the priest and expressed his solidarity with the Catholic Church, assuring them that “we are already at work; the attack will not go unpunished, and we will find those responsible.”

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference condemned the attack in a message posted on X, expressing its solidarity “in the face of the cowardly armed attack perpetrated against Father Héctor Pérez.”

The country’s bishops offered their prayers “to the Lord of Life for Father Héctor’s speedy recovery, entrusting him to the protection of the Virgin Mary.” They also pledged their support to the Diocese of Tabasco and the parish community of St. Francis of Assisi as well as his family and friends.

“May Christ, prince of peace, inspire and sustain our efforts to build a society where justice, reconciliation, and respect for life prevail,” the bishops stated.

Mexico has repeatedly been considered one of the most dangerous countries for priestly ministry and for preaching the faith. According to the Catholic Multimedia Center, an organization that records attacks against the Catholic Church in the country, 80 priests, religious, and laypeople have been murdered since 1990. 

During the last six years alone, between 2018 and 2024, 10 priests and one seminarian were murdered. Additionally, according to a study by the center, during the same period six bishops and seven priests were victims of varying degrees of violence — including being stopped at a checkpoint, robbed, or shot by organized crime.

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

A 20-foot, 800-pound cross that has traveled to almost 50 European capitals, known as the “Cross of Gratitude,” has recently been welcomed by a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the first parish of the Greek Catholic rite in America. / Courtesy: St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 1, 2025 / 16:17 pm (CNA).

A 20-foot, 800-pound cross that has traveled to almost 50 European capitals, known as the “Cross of Gratitude,” has recently been welcomed by a Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the first parish of the Greek Catholic rite in America.

“It is a great honor and a blessing for the Parish of St. Michael the Archangel to host the Cross of Gratitude, a sacred symbol of Christ’s boundless love and sacrifice,” St. Michael’s parish priest Father Bohdan Vasyliv told CNA.

“We warmly invite all to visit, pray, and reflect before this holy cross, giving thanks for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and uniting in wholehearted devotion.”

Two decades ago the Cross of Gratitude was built for an evangelization mission to unite “the nations of the world.” The goal is for the cross to visit every capital city of the world by 2033 in preparation of the 2,000th anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. 

The pilgrimage of the cross “began with a powerful call to action, inspired by the words heard by Vitaliy Sobolivskyy on the day of the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in 2003,” Vasyliv said. 

Sobolivskyy, a Ukrainian architect who designed the cross, reported he was called by the words: “Take my cross and carry it to all the capitals of the world as a sign of gratitude to Almighty God for our salvation, which we receive from Jesus Christ.” 

The 20-foot cross has already journeyed to 46 European capitals. The pilgrimage schedule plans for visits to North and South America, Asia, Africa, Indonesia, and Australia before it completes in 2033. 

The Cross of Gratitude has been celebrated at each place of rest during holy Mass, Eucharistic adoration, prayer vigils, the Way of the Cross, and Eucharistic processions. The cross visited the U.S. Capitol in 2021 when it was displayed at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in downtown Washington, D.C.

“This sacred journey seeks to remind everyone that Jesus Christ offers the gift of eternal life,” Vasyliv said.

Pope John Paul II blessed the Cross of Gratitude in 2004 along with the initiators of the mission in Vatican City. The cross, sometimes also referred to as the Cross of Thanksgiving, was then blessed by Pope Benedict XVI during his pilgrimage in Krakow, Poland. In 2016, Pope Francis blessed the cross and those carrying out the evangelization campaign. 

Since 2003, the cross has visited Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran churches, and has even been present at Buddhist gatherings.

The Cross of Gratitude is currently on display at St. Michael’s and will remain there through July 20. St. Michael’s will hold Akathist, a Greek Orthodox hymn and prayer service, on Mondays at 4 p.m. for those who wish to see the cross and reflect and pray while it is present. Divine Liturgies will also be celebrated on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the month.

A delegation of Peruvian bishops greets Pope Leo XIV, inviting him to visit Peru, during an audience on June 30, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Peruvian Episcopal Conference

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 1, 2025 / 15:47 pm (CNA).

The Peruvian bishops have officially invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Peru, assuring him that “his presence will renew the hope of our people.”

According to a statement from the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference (CEP, by its Spanish acronym), a delegation of bishops, including the conference president, Bishop Carlos García Camader of Lurín, met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on June 30.

During the audience, “the bishops extended an official invitation to him to make a pastoral visit to Peru,” the CEP stated.

Leo XIV, born in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost in 1955, lived in Peru for nearly 20 years, serving at different times in various capacities from parochial vicar of Chulucanas in the Piura region to bishop of Chiclayo. He became a Peruvian citizen in 2015.

Greeting the crowd in St. Peter’s Square after he was elected on May 8, Pope Leo XIV addressed a few words to his beloved Diocese of Chiclayo, “where a faithful people accompanied their bishop, shared their faith, and gave so, so much, to continue being the faithful Church of Jesus Christ.”

His missionary work in Peru was featured in the documentary recently released by the Vatican titled “León de Perú.”

According to the CEP, García Camader delivered a letter to the pope on June 30, expressing “on behalf of all the bishops and the Peruvian people, our profound affection for and closeness to the Holy Father” while thanking him for holding a special place in his heart for Peru.

The Peruvian delegation consisted of Bishop Luis Alberto Barrera, Bishop Antonio Santarsiero, Cardinal Pedro Barreto, Archbishop Alfredo Vizcarra, Bishop Pedro Bustamante, Bishop Marco Cortez, Bishop César Huerta, Bishop Ricardo García, Bishop Lizardo Estrada, Bishop Raúl Chau, Bishop Juan Asqui, and Father Guillermo Inca.

In an excerpt from the letter, the president of the CEP assured Leo XIV that “your presence will renew the hope of our people, strengthen the faith of our communities, and be a beautiful sign of communion with the universal Church.”

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