We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 15:24 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted in favor of advancing the beatification and canonization cause of the late Jesuit Father Richard Thomas. 

Bishop Peter Baldacchino, who has served as bishop of Las Cruces in New Mexico since 2019, initiated the request for the Jesuit priest’s beatification. Baldacchino spoke about Thomas and his ministry to the poor at the bishops’ Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

“Jesus said, ‘When you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, rather … invite the poor. Blessed indeed will you be, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous,’” Baldacchino said during his Nov. 11 presentation. 

Thomas “gave witness to those words of the Lord through a life dedicated to serve persons in need, primarily in the Diocese of El Paso but also in the Diocese of Las Cruces and along the southern border of the United States,” Baldacchino said. 

Thomas was born in Seffner, Florida, in 1928 and entered the Jesuit order in 1945 after attending Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida. He was ordained to the priesthood in San Francisco in 1958.

From 1964 until his death, Thomas served as the executive director of Our Lady’s Youth Center in El Paso, Texas. The center grew to include ministries to the poor around Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, including food banks, medical and dental clinics, prison and mental hospital ministries, and schools. 

In 1975 Thomas started The Lord’s Ranch east of Vado, New Mexico. The ranch has provided recreation and rehabilitation to youth in need and created multiple food banks. 

The priest “lived a very simple, austere lifestyle because he wanted to live in solidarity with the poor,” Baldacchino said. “He slept in a small room with very few furnishings that included a desk, a chair, and an army bed. There was no carpeting, no air conditioning, and no heating.”

“Father Thomas had a foundational vision based on the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel in which Jesus said, ‘When you minister to the poor, you minister to me.’ Father Thomas believed that in serving the poor, we encounter the presence of Jesus in a special way, and we are enriched by the experience.”

The priest “recognized that each human being is made in the image of God,” Baldacchino said. This includes the unborn and the immigrant.”

Thomas was “a pioneer in the pro-life movement” and “recognized the need to be supportive of women who are in difficult circumstances because of pregnancy,” Baldacchino said. “There is currently a very vibrant pro-life community in the El Paso-Las Cruces area, and many of its leaders are people who have been mentored by Father Thomas.”

Thomas died on May 8, 2006, at The Lord’s Ranch at age 78.

A ‘miraculous meal’

Baldacchino told a story of a potential miracle by Thomas at a garbage dump in Juárez, Mexico, on Christmas Day in 1972. Thomas and some lay Catholics came across the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus tells his followers to invite the poor.

“Father Thomas and his companions decided to obey the words of Jesus, and they organized a Christmas Day meal for people who were scavengers at the garbage dump in Juárez,” Baldacchino said. 

The priest and the group prepared enough food for about 150 people, but when they arrived at the dump nearly twice the number of guests were present.

“Nevertheless, they decided to share what they had,” Baldacchino said. “Much to their surprise, everyone had more than enough to eat, and in fact, when the meal was over, they donated leftovers to two orphanages.”

“Now, 53 years later, the ministries that began with that Christmas Day meal are continuing. There is a food bank, a medical clinic, a Montessori school, and four different sites, [and] catechism is taught to children using the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd method,” Baldacchino said. 

Agreement among bishops 

Following Baldacchino’s address, a number of bishops spoke up to share their agreement with his testimony.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, said he has personal friends who spent time at the ranch and said they “testify to having witnessed both his generosity, heroic life, but also the miracle of the multiplication of food.”

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, also said he is in favor of the cause. He said: “I think all of us in our work, we [have] moments where we heard of something or experienced something [and] we said: ‘That was a miracle.’ But someone like Father Thomas — it was miracles almost every day. His trust in God was so incredible.”

Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith of Portland, Oregon, also detailed Thomas’ involvement in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and added that he was “a wonderful presence.”

“As was mentioned, miracles were regular in his ministry,” Smith said. Thomas “was always very joyful. Faith just radiated from him. You could just feel the presence of Christ in him.”

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 14:54 pm (CNA).

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has declared that the alleged apparitions of Jesus in Dozulé, France, do not have an authentic divine origin and are therefore “not supernatural.”

The prefect of the dicastery, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, confirmed the declaration based on the Norms for Discerning Alleged Supernatural Phenomena in a document released Nov. 12 and addressed to the bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, Jacques Habert.

In 1972, Madeleine Aumont claimed that Jesus had appeared to her, asking the Church to build a giant “glorious cross” in Dozulé, next to a “shrine of reconciliation.” Furthermore, the alleged visionary claimed that Jesus had announced his “imminent” return.

In the document, the Vatican authority notes that the alleged apparitions in the Normandy town “have elicited spiritual interest” but also “not a few controversies and difficulties of a doctrinal and pastoral nature” that require clarification.

Only the cross of Jerusalem is the universal sign of the Redemption

First, the DDF clarifies that it is erroneous to compare the “glorious cross” with the “cross of Jerusalem,” as Aumont did after the fifth alleged apparition. The Vatican says that “that wood, raised upon Calvary, has become the real sign of Christ’s sacrifice, which is unique and unrepeatable” and that any other “sign” of the cross “cannot be considered on the same plane.”

“To compare the cross requested at Dozulé with the cross of Jerusalem risks confusing the sign with the mystery and risks giving the impression that what Christ has accomplished once and for all could be ‘reproduced’ or ‘renewed’ in a physical sense,” the letter explains.

In this context, the declaration clarifies that the power of the cross “does not need to be replicated, for it is already present in every Eucharist, in every church, in every believer who lives united to the sacrifice of Christ.” Thus, it warns against the risk of fostering a “material sacrality” that does not belong to the heart of Christianity.

Fernández also cautioned against the risk of this cross becoming “a symbol of an autonomous message” and pointed out that “no cross, no relic, and no private apparition can replace the means of grace established by Christ” nor be considered a “universal obligation.”

The cardinal emphasized that the cross is not merely a religious ornament: It is a sign that speaks to the heart. “Those who wear the cross around their neck or keep it in their home proclaim, even without words, that the crucified Christ is the center of their life and that every joy and sorrow finds its meaning in him.”

Forgiveness comes from Christ

The letter emphasizes what it considers one of the most troubling claims: the reference to the “remission of sins” through contemplation of the Dozulé cross.

Aumont went so far as to claim: “All those who will have come to repent at the foot of ‘the glorious cross’ [of Dozulé] will be saved.”

The Vatican points out the theological error of these statements, which are “incompatible with the Catholic doctrine on salvation, grace, and the sacraments.” Fernández clarified that “no material object can replace sacramental grace” and that forgiveness comes from Christ through the sacrament of penance.

Regarding the ‘imminent return of Christ’

Regarding the warnings that Jesus allegedly revealed about his “imminent” return as the Risen One, Fernández pointed out that, although the return of Christ is a truth of faith, “no one can know or predict the precise date or its signs.”

Consequently, the declaration states that the Church “remains alert against millenarian or chronological interpretations, which risk setting the time or determining the modalities for the final judgment.”

“The danger of reducing Christian hope to an expectation of an imminent return with extraordinary events must be firmly avoided,” the text emphasizes.

With these clarifications, the DDF concludes that the phenomenon of the alleged apparitions in Dozulé “is to be regarded, definitively, as not supernatural in origin, with all the consequences that flow from this determination.”

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

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 12, 2025 / 14:24 pm (CNA).

A group of teens will speak with the Holy Father during a digital encounter at the upcoming National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Indianapolis.

Pope Leo XIV will hold a 45-minute digital encounter with young people from across the United States during the Nov. 20–22 NCYC, hosted by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM). The pope will speak at 10:15 a.m. ET on Nov. 21 and enter into dialogue with a group of high school students. 

This marks the first time that a pope will directly engage with U.S. youth in a live digital encounter at NCYC. More than 40 teens have participated in the dialogue planning processs, and five of them will get the chance to speak directly with the Holy Father, organizers said.

Mia Smothers, Elise Wing, Christopher Pantelakis, Micah Alcisto, and Ezequiel Ponce will ask Pope Leo questions next week as thousands of teens gather in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Mia Smothers 

Mia Smothers, a high school freshman from Joppa, Maryland, is the youngest teen selected to speak with the pontiff. Growing up in a large family has taught her patience and teamwork, she said. Her parents have encouraged her to stay grounded in faith and to serve others.

Smothers is the second of 10 children and said she hopes her faith and NCYC experience will set a good example for her younger siblings. She wants to show them how wonderful it is to know and love God.

As a parishioner at St. Francis De Sales, Smothers serves as an altar server and helps with Vacation Bible School and youth group. She also participates in cheer, choir, and Helping Hands Club at her school and enjoys reading, dancing, singing, and doodling. 

Elise Wing

Elise Wing is a high school senior from Waterloo, Iowa, who says she enjoys nature and coffee. 

Wing is usually busy with speech, theater, competitive swimming, and serving her parish community at St. Edward’s. She said she loves to have bonfires and game nights with friends and go on road trips with her family. 

Her Catholic faith is the lens through which she sees the world, she said. She said she is inspired daily by St. Thérèse of Lisieux — her confirmation saint. Wing said she is looking forward to going on a pilgrimage to Rome, Florence, and Assisi in Italy this spring and is excited to represent faithful teens at NCYC next week.

Christopher Pantelakis

Christopher Pantelakis, or Chris, is a high school junior who was born and raised in Mesquite, Nevada. Pantelakis said he gets his inspiration from young people who go out in the world to make it a better place.

For fun, Chris said he loves watching sports and participating in any athletic activity. Recently his soccer team at Virgin Valley High School qualified for state. His favorite soccer team is Chelsea in England, which he hopes to watch play in person someday.

Micah Alcisto

Born and raised in Honolulu, Micah Alciso said he enjoys playing baseball, working out, fishing, and going to the beach. The high school senior is a leader in his community serving as a member of Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, LIFE team, and Catholic Honors Society.

Seeing how God continues to work in his life and in the lives of others inspires Alciso, he said. Even in hard times, he said experiences with God remind him he is not alone.

Keeping his faith strong and at the center of his life is important to Chris as he said he believes it will guide his career, relationships, education, and family.

Ezequiel Ponce

Ezequiel Ponce is a high school senior from Downey, California. He has a brother and sister who introduced him to St. Dominic Savio Parish, where he serves as a summer camp counselor and helps lead youth group.

Ponce said he sees his parish as his home and loves participating in the community and growing in his faith. He shares the same birthday as his favorite saint — St. John Bosco on Aug. 16.

Doing community work with kids led him to find a passion for teaching, he said. Ponce teaches at a middle school for one period of his school schedule every day. 

Ponce, who will ask the pope a question, said in an Nov.11 interview with NFCYM that it is “an honor and a great privilege to … talk to the Holy Father.” He added: “It makes me feel like my voice is heard and … that the youth of America’s voice is heard.”

“It is very reassuring that the Holy Father wants to indulge in dialogue with the youth,” Ponce said.

Katie McGrady, Catholic author, speaker, and radio host who will serve as the NCYC event moderator, said: “As we’ve prepared these teens to ask a question of the Holy Father, I’ve been struck by how excited they are to get to represent their peers in this moment. Their openness to dialogue, with each other and with adults who have helped prepare this moment, has inspired me to remember that the young Church is the Church of now, not tomorrow.”

Baltimore, Maryland, Nov 12, 2025 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a new translation of the Bible, which will be used for personal Bibles, the lectionary at Mass, and the text in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Bishop Steven Lopes, chair of the Committee on Divine Worship, announced the translation will be called the “Catholic American Bible.” The translation for personal Bibles and the Liturgy of the Hours will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2027.

The bishops have not announced when the revised lectionaries will be available.

The USCCB also approved a Spanish-language translation of the New Testament, the Biblia de la Iglesia en América, which will be available on Ash Wednesday in 2026.

Lopes made the announcement during the USCCB’s Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 11.

According to Ascension Press, one of the publishers of the translation, the Catholic American Bible has a modified translation of the Old Testament from the New American Bible Revised Edition. It will replace the current translation of the Book of Psalms with The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, which was translated by monks at Conception Abbey in Missouri.

The new translation will also include a revised New Testament.

U.S. bishops also approved a new edition of the Roman Pontifical, which is the liturgical book for pontifical Masses, which can only be celebrated by bishops. It is expected to be ready in 2027. The bishops are still awaiting Vatican approval for two of the five pontifical rites, but approval is anticipated in December. 

Washington, D.C., Nov 12, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Nostra Aetate, the Church’s declaration on building relationships with non-Christian religions,  “planted a seed” that must continue to be nourished, according to panelists reflecting on the document’s legacy at The Catholic University of America on Nov. 11.

At the event, titled “The Church and the Jewish Community in Our Age,” Bishop Étienne Vetö, ICN, auxiliary bishop of Reims, France, and Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, discussed the state of Catholic-Jewish relations as well as shared practices and difference. 

“Even though Nostra Aetate is one of the shortest, if not the shortest document of Vatican II, it has had a powerful impact,” Vetö said. “A Jew or a Christian from the first half [of] the 20th century who traveled in time to 2025 would find unbelievable the quality of dialogue, understanding, and trust that is now growing between the two communities.”

Rebecca Cohen, program and research specialist for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, agreed, saying Nostra Aetate produced a “seismic shift in Christian understanding” of Judaism that was revolutionary for its time in 1965. 

Nostra Aetate contains a paragraph on Judaism that centers on the biblical roots and shared history with Christianity rather than the Judaism of today. It sowed the beginnings of something that needs nurturing, Cohen said. 

Carmelite Father Craig Morrison, director of the Center for Carmelite Studies and professor of biblical studies, said Nostra Aetate “launched new possibilities for a relationship between Catholics and Jews.”

“No longer was this relationship to be triumphal, Catholics telling Jews who they are, what they believe, and how they kill God, Jesus,” he said, adding: “Western Christianity kept the Jews mostly silent for centuries.”

Today, he continued, “our present task on the Catholic side is not so much as dialogue but rather to listen to the Jews for the first time in our shared history.”

“Our Gospels are a part of Jewish documents and cannot be properly understood apart from the Judaism of the late Second Temple period,” he said.

Ultimately, Craig said, “we know that a better understanding of the concerns of first-century Jews will illuminate the Gospels and significantly reduce the risk of anti-Jewish preaching. Then we will hear Jesus speaking within the first-century Jewish world in which he was incarnated.” 

Marans reflected on the legacy of Nostra Aetate for Jewish people, saying that prior to the document’s publication, the Jewish people viewed Christianity “as a threat.” Conversely, he said, Nostra Aetate was a “gift for Christians” because it meant “Christianity no longer needed to self-define in opposition to the other.” 

At the end of the day, Marans said, “Nostra Aetate was not perfect, but it was good [and] has been perfected over time.” 

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

The Czech Republic, known for its historical heritage, fairytale castles, and medieval architecture, is considered the most atheist country in Europe.

Evangelization in this land — which still bears the scars of a past marked by communism and division — is a constant challenge but not an impossible goal. Czech missionaries say they perceive “miraculous touches of God’s presence” in a society increasingly thirsting for love and truth. 

Approximately 80% of the Czech Republic’s more than 10.5 million inhabitants claim to have no religious affiliation. Although about a third of the population say they believe in God — in many cases without being linked to a specific denomination — only 9.4% identify as Catholic.

Nearly a quarter of Czechs declare themselves atheist, according to the 2017 Pew Survey on European Values, making the country one of the most secularized on the continent. Comparing census results since 1991 reveals a clear decline in church membership and an increase in personal belief in God without institutional affiliation.

‘Miraculous touches of God’s presence’

Brother Šimon Růžička, OFM, who is in charge of the Franciscan urban missions in the country, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that the missionaries experience “miraculous touches of God’s presence,” reflected in a “deep thirst for love and, therefore, for God.”

“We also perceive how God touches people’s hearts, sometimes even long before they meet one of our missionaries,” he added.

For Father Daniel Vícha, vicar for pastoral care of the Diocese of Ostrava-Opava, evangelizing those who “know nothing about the faith” is not “so difficult” since, he noted, matters of faith “are usually a surprise” to them.

“The majority of the population declares themselves atheist, but at the same time, 70% say they believe in ‘something,’ and that is precisely where we must begin,” he said.

The priest told ACI Prensa that he encounters greater difficulties evangelizing those who have some notion of Christianity, for example, “because of history classes or reports about abuse” and that they “are usually more unreceptive.” 

Růžička agreed with this statement and emphasized that it is more difficult “to be a prophet in your own home” and in the daily mission, in parishes, and among friends or family.

Atheism, a consequence of deep historical roots

The low number of Catholics in the country is due to several reasons. At the beginning of the 15th century, Protestant reformer Jan Hus — and the subsequent repression of his followers, the Hussites, by the Austro-Hungarian Empire — the Catholic Church has been associated in the collective memory with foreign power and imposition. 

Furthermore, the aftermath of 40 years of communist persecution following World War II left “deep wounds in the local Church” that have not yet fully healed, according to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

After the fall of communism, there was a brief religious resurgence, though more as a political reaction than a genuine conversion. Since then, religious affiliation has continued to decline, and faith in the Czech Republic today is characterized by individual spirituality without strong institutional ties.

Vícha explained that communism has played a significant role but “simply completed something” that was already deeply ingrained in Czech society. 

“Four centuries of the nation being part of the Catholic Austrian monarchy fostered a negative predisposition toward faith,” he said.

Because of its strong sense of national identity, the priest explained, the Czech nation distanced itself from Catholicism, which was represented by the Austrian government.

“With such a varied history, it’s not surprising that Catholics make up less than 10% of the population. However, I see it as a miracle that the Church of Christ is a truly living organism, independent of worldly powers and human errors and failures, often including our own,” Růžička added.

The faith of the Czech people

Vicha emphasized that Czechs “are skeptical by nature” and that “before accepting something as their own, they need to reflect for themselves.” 

This, according to the priest, is due to their location in central Europe, where “various schools of thought have alternated and the nation has had to think for itself about what is truly right. If a Czech person accepts a faith, it very often needs to be rationally justified,” he said.

The vicar for pastoral care underscored that believers “are no longer burdened by fear, as was the case during the communist era. If their faith is authentic, they are not ashamed of it and can talk about it with their peers.” 

Conversely, if it is merely “a dead tradition” — as often happens in more religious areas — they prefer to abandon their faith “because it offers them nothing. They are very sensitive to any form of clericalism, superiority, or dogmatism,” Vícha said.

Růžička pointed out that young people receive the faith from their elders “with openness and new creativity,” and although they are sometimes “immersed in a sea of ​​confusion and uncertainty,” he assured that “they are not satisfied with mere words, but seek and yearn for a true relationship with God.”

Challenges in the face of atheism

Vícha noted that although the Catholic Church is a minority in the country, it represents the strongest community in the religious sphere. “Due to historical experience, people do not seek faith within Christianity. For this reason, it is necessary for the Church to strive, above all, to be credible.”

For his part, Růžička identified the Church’s image in the world, which sometimes shows “a divided Church, worn down by material concerns,” as one of the main challenges.

Consequently, he said that a “living and spiritual Church” is necessary, one that loves the sinner but does not tolerate sin. A Church that does not judge but encourages and shows the way through its life and works. “That Church exists in our country, and I eagerly hope that it will grow and bear fruit.”

Increase in baptisms

Some 300,000 people regularly attend Sunday Mass, which is equivalent to a third of those who identify as Catholic. Last year, nearly 15,000 baptisms were administered (more than 12% of births), and adult baptisms reached 7%, the highest percentage since 1993.

Vícha confirmed that the Church is witnessing “an increase in the number of adults requesting baptism. But more and more believers are also dying due to old age. Therefore, the total number continues to decline, even though the number of catechumens is growing.”

Růžička noted with hope that in recent years “the number of people for whom this world without God has lost its meaning and who yearn for God has indeed increased. It depends on us if we know how to respond to that desire.” 

For this reason, he “sincerely believes that in the future it will not be a matter of quantity but of quality.”

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

Vatican City, Nov 12, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV reflected Wednesday on the world’s need for fraternity — a gift from Christ that frees us from selfishness and division.

Fraternity “is without doubt one of the great challenges for contemporary humanity, as Pope Francis saw clearly,” the pope said during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Nov. 12.

“The fraternity given by Christ, who died and rose again, frees us from the negative logic of selfishness, division, and arrogance,” he added.

Continuing his meditations on Christ’s death and resurrection, Leo said “to believe in the death and resurrection of Christ and to live paschal spirituality imbues life with hope and encourages us to invest in goodness.”

He observed that fraternity “cannot be taken for granted, it is not immediate. Many conflicts, many wars all over the world, social tensions and feelings of hatred would seem to prove the opposite.”

Fraternity “is not a beautiful but impossible dream; it is not the desire of a deluded few,” he emphasized, inviting the faithful “to go to the source, and above all to draw light and strength from him who alone frees us from the poison of enmity.”

The importance of relationships

The pope reflected that “fraternity stems from something deeply human. We are capable of relationship and, if we want, we are able to build authentic bonds between us. Without relationships, which support and enrich us from the very beginning of our life, we would not be able to survive, grow, or learn. They are manifold, varied in form and depth. But it is certain that our humanity is best fulfilled when we exist and live together, when we succeed in experiencing authentic, not formal, bonds with the people around us.”

He warned that “if we turn in on ourselves, we risk falling ill with loneliness, and even a narcissism that is concerned with others only out of self-interest. The other is then reduced to someone from whom we can take, without ever being truly willing to give, to offer ourselves.”

Recalling that “disagreement, division, and sometimes hatred can devastate even relationships between relatives, not only between strangers,” the pope cited St. Francis of Assisi’s greeting of “omnes fratres,” (“all brothers”) — “the inclusive way in which the saint placed all human beings on the same level, precisely because he recognized them in their common destiny of dignity, dialogue, welcome, and salvation.”

Leo noted that Pope Francis had reproposed this approach in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, emphasizing that the word “tutti” — Italian for “everyone” — “expresses an essential feature of Christianity, which ever since the beginning has been the proclamation of the good news destined for the salvation of all, never in an exclusive or private form.”

He explained that “this fraternity is based on Jesus’ commandment, which is new insofar as he accomplished it himself, the superabundant fulfillment of the will of the Father: Thanks to him, who loved us and gave himself for us, we can in turn love one another and give our lives for others, as children of the one Father and true brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.”

They weep and rejoice together

“Brothers and sisters support each other in hardship, they do not turn their back on those who are in need, and they weep and rejoice together in the active pursuit of unity, trust, and mutual reliance,” the pope said. “The dynamic is that which Jesus himself gives to us: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (cf. John 15:12).”

He concluded his general audience by reminding the faithful that “the fraternity given by Christ, who died and rose again, frees us from the negative logic of selfishness, division, and arrogance, and restores to us our original vocation, in the name of a love and a hope that are renewed every day. The Risen One has shown us the way to journey with him, to feel and to be ‘brothers and sisters all.’”

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

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday celebrated Mass at a Benedictine monastery in Rome, where he urged the monks to confront modern challenges with prayer, study, and personal holiness.

Sant’Anselmo Church, located on the Aventine Hill, was consecrated on Nov. 11, 1900. It is part of a residential college and offices of the Benedictine Confederation, the governing body of the Order of St. Benedict. St. Anselm was a Benedictine monk and doctor of the Church.

Upon his arrival at Sant’Anselmo Church, Leo was welcomed by the abbot primate of the Benedictines, Jeremias Schröder, who symbolically handed over the keys of the church to the pope.

The Holy Father recalled that the church was erected at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when Pope Leo XIII “was convinced that your ancient order could be of great help to the good of all God’s people at a time full of challenges.”

“The monastery,” he continued, “has increasingly come to be seen as a place of growth, peace, hospitality, and unity, even during the darkest periods of history.”

Turning to the present day, Leo reflected on the challenges of the modern world, which “provoke and question us, raising issues never before encountered.”

He addressed the Benedictine monks directly, inviting them to respond to the demands of their vocation by “placing Christ at the center of our existence and our mission — beginning from that act of faith that leads us to recognize in him the Savior, and translating it into prayer, study, and the commitment of a holy life.”

He urged the monks of the Aventine to become “a beating heart within the great body of the Benedictine world — with the church at its center, according to the teachings of St. Benedict.”

“In the industrious hive of Sant’Anselmo,” he added, “may this be the place from which everything begins and to which everything returns to be verified, confirmed, and deepened before God.”

The pope also reflected on the deeper meaning of the anniversary, saying that “the dedication marks the solemn moment in the history of a sacred building when it is consecrated to be a place of encounter between space and time, between the finite and the infinite, between man and God: an open door toward eternity, where the soul finds an answer to ‘the tension between the circumstances of the moment and the light of time, of the larger horizon … which opens us to the future as a final cause that attracts.’”

He went on to recall the teaching of the Second Vatican Council in Sacrosanctum Concilium, a constitution on the sacred liturgy, which “describes all this in one of its most beautiful pages, when it defines the Church as ‘human and divine, visible yet endowed with invisible realities, zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation, present in the world and yet a pilgrim; … in such a way, however, that what is human in her is ordered and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, the present reality to the future city toward which we are journeying.’”

“This,” the pope said, “is the experience of our lives and of the lives of all men and women of this world — searching for that ultimate and fundamental answer that ‘neither flesh nor blood’ can reveal, but only the Father who is in heaven; ultimately, a need for Jesus, ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”

At the end of his homily, the Holy Father recalled that Jesus “is the one we are called to seek, and to him we are called to bring all those we meet — grateful for the gifts he has bestowed upon us, and above all for the love with which he has gone before us.”

“Then this temple,” Leo XIV concluded, “will increasingly become a place of joy, where we experience the beauty of sharing with others what we have freely received.”

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

“AI and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity" was the title of a conference bringing together medical professionals, philosophers and theologians in Rome this week.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Ana Lazcano, director of the University Institute of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Francisco de Vitoria University in Spain, warned that AI is not an all-powerful deity and it is necessary to “lay the foundations of critical thinking” about the technology.

In a conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Lazcano explained that the recently created institute she directs seeks to provide a unified vision of AI: “It is a discipline that has arrived like a tsunami, an interdisciplinary science that is sweeping us all away in every area, and we need a unified approach; we need to build strength together.”

For Lazcano, who also directs the university’s master’s programs in business analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and generative AI for business, this unified vision is “very necessary, because many ethical questions are also involved. How are we using AI? What is the objective? To replace us, to complement us? The more aligned the vision is with the university’s mission, the greater the benefit we will be able to obtain.”

The new University Institute of Artificial Intelligence is integrated into the university both organizationally and through the multidisciplinary nature of its collaborators: philosophers, anthropologists, educators, engineers, psychologists, and others.

“There are representatives from all faculties and departments of the university, allowing each to have their perspective from their field, share it, and find those common points,” Lazcano explained.

The proposed approach to AI from a specifically Catholic perspective, she affirmed, is the one of Pope Leo XIV: “Not to be afraid of it, to understand it, to approach it with great caution.”

This caution refers to the fact that “we cannot attribute qualities and properties to it that it does not possess: Artificial intelligence is not all-powerful. If we put this technology in its proper place — and what we are doing is prioritizing human knowledge, human wisdom, and above all, what makes us different from it — that is when we can make the most of it.”

“The moment we treat artificial intelligence as a deity, we are mistaken; it is far from that, it is a complement,” she emphasized.

Contribution to the common good

The new institute aims to base its activities on four pillars: training, research, technology transfer and application, and dissemination in order to contribute to the common good.

Lazcano shared that the institute hopes to provide society with “well-trained and prepared students,” not only in technical aspects, but above all, “for the ethical challenges posed by” AI as well as the knowledge generated through research and its practical application.

Regarding dissemination, Lazcano pointed out that “it is necessary to lay the foundations for critical thinking. There is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, and unfortunately, because there are a lot of voices, there is a lot of noise. We want what we generate to truly contribute; to be quality content that is useful to people.”

Impact on the university world

Artificial intelligence has also impacted the university sphere, Lazcano said, posing a significant challenge to “how we teach, learn, and assess.” 

She said the university should provide technology training and services to professors, students, and researchers because “when you know the tools at your disposal, you are able to apply them more effectively.”

However, “there is resistance to change,” she acknowledged, so the school hopes to implement “a technological support model in which we explain that this is a small but significant revolution; that we have to ride the wave and, above all, take advantage of its capabilities, rather than fearing it or having a negative view.”

One of the biggest challenges is that AI “is opening a spectacular technological gap between teachers and students” in which students are more advanced. “Written work no longer makes much sense. I can no longer tell if a student has done a piece of work or not,” pointed out the expert, who, nevertheless, has a hopeful outlook on the matter.

“I like to think that this is bringing us back to an original concept of university, to debate, to conversation; to putting the student at the center and supporting him in that learning process,” she said. “It’s going to completely change the rules of education, but I think for the better. Once we’ve stabilized a bit, we’ll be able to return to those fundamental subjects and make critical thinking fashionable again, rather than artificial intelligence.”

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