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Feast date: Mar 18

On March 18, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century bishop and Doctor of the Church whose writings are still regarded as masterful expressions of Christian faith.

St. Cyril is also remembered for his exhaustive Biblical knowledge, and his endurance in the face of misunderstanding and opposition. Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, who likewise celebrate him as a saint on March 18, also remember him on May 7 – the date of a miraculous apparition said to have occurred soon after his consecration as a bishop.

What we know of Cyril's life is gathered from information concerning him from his younger contemporaries, Epiphanius, Jerome, and Rufinus, as well as from the fifth-century historians, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret.

Cyril was most likely born in Jerusalem around the year 315, shortly after the legalization of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.

Although that legalization put a stop to many of the persecutions that threatened the Church for two centuries, it indirectly gave rise to a number of internal controversies – both in regard to theology, and the jurisdiction of bishops – in which Cyril would find himself involved.

Cyril received an excellent education in classical Greek literature as well as the Bible. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem and succeeded him as bishop in 348.

During his early years as a bishop, most likely around 350, he delivered a series of lectures to new initiates of the Catholic Church. Twenty-four of the lectures have survived and are studied today. In a 2007 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI praised the saint for providing an “integral” form of Christian instruction, “involving body, soul, and spirit.” St. Cyril's teaching, the Pope said, “remains emblematic for the catechetical formation of Christians today.

In 351, three years after Cyril became the Bishop of Jerusalem, a large cross-shaped light appeared for several hours in the sky over the city – an event that many interpreted as a sign of the Church's triumph over heresy. It could also, however, be understood as a sign of the suffering the new bishop would undergo in leading his flock.

Unlike many other Eastern bishops and priests of the fourth century, Cyril did not allow his classical learning to lead him away from believing in the full humanity and divinity of Christ.

However, the man who consecrated Cyril as a bishop, Archbishop Acacius of Caesarea, was an ally of the Arians – who claimed that Jesus was a creature and not God. Because of his connection to the archbishop, Cyril himself was unjustly suspected of heresy by many of his brother bishops.

But he also found himself at odds with Archbishop Acacius, who claimed to have jurisdiction over the birthplace of the Church. Altogether, these disputes led to Cyril being exiled from Jerusalem three times in the course of 20 years.  Cyril first took refuge with Silvanus, Bishop of Taraus. He appeared at the Council of Seleucia in 359, in which the semi-Arian party was triumphant. Acacius was deposed and St. Cyril seems to have returned to his see. But the emperor was displeased at the turn of events, and, in 360, Cyril and other moderates were again driven out, and only returned at the accession of Julian in 361. In 367, a decree of Valens banished all the bishops who had been restored by Julian, and Cyril remained in exile until the death of the persecutor in 378. In 380, St. Gregory of Nyssa came to Jerusalem on the recommendation of a council held at Antioch in the preceding year. He found the Faith in accord with the truth and expressed admiration of his pastoral efforst, but the city was a prey to parties and corrupt in morals. 

In 381, St. Cyril participated in the Second Ecumenical Council, which condemned two different forms of Arianism and added statements about the Holy Spirit to the Nicene Creed of 325. St. Cyril of Jerusalem died in 387, and was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1883.

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2025 / 21:00 pm (CNA).

A group of tango enthusiasts, the emblematic dance of Pope Francis’ homeland, gathered in the plaza in front of Gemelli Hospital on Sunday to express their support and closeness to the Holy Father through dance.

The melody of the bandoneon, the leading instrument in tango, resonated all the way to the 10th floor of the hospital, where the pope has been hospitalized for over a month. The initiative, dubbed “prayer tango,“ was a show of solidarity from Italy’s “tango community.“

Argentine dancer Daiana Guspero was responsible for promoting the event. In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Guspero shared the details of the moving gesture, performed March 16 in front of the statue of St. John Paul II, where many faithful have gathered to pray for Pope Francis.

“I am a true believer and I was sure that with our energy, dancing the tango and praying for him, it would reach him in some way. It was the least I could do for him, and I felt the need to do it, especially knowing that he loves tango, that he danced it when he was young, and that he listened to it at the Vatican,” the Argentine dancer explained.

According to the dancer, fans from different parts of Italy, such as Catania and Sicily, came to the gathering. “I danced with Massimiliano Varrese, an Italian actor with whom I’m also studying. He’s also a believer, and he immediately joined in to convey all our love to the pope,” Guspero added.

Although the initial idea was “a silent dance,” Mariano Navone, a dancer and musician who played the bandoneon live, eventually joined in. “Seeing that the pope was feeling better, we thought maybe he could come over to the window when he heard it. But, if I’m not mistaken, he was informed that we were dancing and praying for him,” he said.

Guspero has been promoting tango in Italy for 13 years and currently has three academies, the Zotto Tango Academy, located in Milan, Venice, and Verona.

She fondly remembers when she was able to greet Pope Francis during an audience at the Vatican in 2018. “I had the honor and privilege of dancing for him, and the truth is [I experienced] a beautiful emotion that I will never forget,” she told ACI Prensa.

“I remember coming up to him and saying, ‘Holy Father, how I would like to give you a tango hug!’ To which he replied, ‘And how I would like to dance the tango with you,’” Guspero recalled with a laugh, stating that the brief exchange was “one of the greatest thrills” of her life. 

In addition, back in 2014 nearly 3,000 dancers congratulated Pope Francis on his 78th birthday with a massive tango performance in St. Peter’s Square.

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

Archbishop-designate Weisenburger leads solemn vespers on eve of installation as Detroit prepares to welcome new shepherd

CNA Staff, Mar 17, 2025 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

Police have arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of heavily vandalizing and defacing the interior of a Catholic parish in Wichita, Kansas, over the weekend. 

According to the Wichita Police Department, officers responded to a reported burglary at St. Patrick Parish on the morning of March 15. Once inside, the officers discovered extensive vandalism including damage to statues, candles, and glass, and hate speech graffitied on the walls. In addition, an American flag was burned.

St. Patrick’s, which includes a parish school, is located in north-central Wichita and predominantly serves the Latino community. Authorities said that Wichita Police Department investigators launched a full-scale investigation alongside the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). 

At approximately 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, officers located and arrested the suspected perpetrator, whom they described as being from Saline County, about 100 miles north of Wichita. The man, who has not been publicly identified, has been booked into the Sedgwick County jail on charges of burglary, criminal desecration, and criminal damage to property. 

The Kansas Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, posted photos on social media of the “hate crime scene.” One of the destroyed statues appeared to be an image of the parish’s patron, St. Patrick. 

“After forcing their way inside, statues were destroyed, glass smashed, and other extensive damage exacted upon this sacred space,” the conference wrote. “A Satanic website was scrawled on a wall. This is the face of evil.” 

Despite having to move Masses to the school gym over the weekend, the parish was still able to hold its St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday to honor its namesake saint. 

CNA reached out to the Diocese of Wichita for comment but did not hear back by publication time. 

The St. Patrick’s vandalism comes amid considerable controversy in Kansas over a Satanist-organized “black mass” — a blasphemous mockery of the Catholic Mass — slated to take place March 28 at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka. A Catholic-led petition asking Gov. Laura Kelly to shut down the event has attracted nearly 40,000 signatures.

Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, told CNA on Monday that there is presently no evidence that the vandalism incident in Wichita is in any way connected to the Satanic worship ritual planned for March 28. An address for a Satanic website was left behind at St. Patrick’s, but it does not refer to the same group planning to come to Topeka, he said.

Weber previously told CNA that the organizer of the group planning the “black mass,” Michael Stewart, has been telephoning the Catholic Conference for the purpose of “taunting me and the bishops,” even texting Weber personally to harass him and boast of his intention to “kill Jesus.”

Stewart gave an interview to local news last week in which he described the “mass” as an act of protest against authority and said the group plans to hold its ritual inside the capitol building despite Kelly decreeing they must remain outdoors. He also said the group plans to blasphemously parody the Stations of the Cross.

Lima Newsroom, Mar 17, 2025 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his “co-president” and wife, Rosario Murillo, in Nicaragua continues to persecute the Catholic Church and other Christian communities. The regime is now keeping Catholic priests under surveillance, checking their cellphones, and demanding weekly reports on their activities in addition to restricting their freedom of movement.

The Nicaraguan newspaper Mosaico CSI reported that “for the priests who remain in Nicaragua, homilies must be entirely theological. They cannot speak on topics related to the Church’s social doctrine or social criticism.”

According to the news outlet, priests “receive frequent visits from police officers who check their cellphones to see if they are communicating with bishops and priests outside the country or with journalists.”

222 violations of religious freedom

Earlier this month, the international Christian organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) published a report describing the dictatorship’s measures against religious leaders, including the requirement to submit weekly reports to the police, share details of their planning, and prohibit them from leaving their municipality without government authorization.

The CSW report also denounced the ban on religious processions and marches as well as “overt and covert government surveillance.”

The international organization warned that “preaching about unity or justice or praying for imprisoned religious leaders or even for the general situation in the country, for example, can be considered criticism of the government and classified as a crime.”

The document reports 222 violations of religious freedom during the period of Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2024, in addition to 46 cases of arbitrary detentions of religious leaders, such as Catholic laywomen Carmen María Sáenz Martínez and Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda, who “have been held incommunicado without their families having been provided with any proof that they are alive.”

Evangelical pastor imprisoned

CSW also referred to the case of evangelical pastor Efrén Antonio Vílchez López, who worked with more than 100 Christian churches and was beaten and imprisoned in 2022 for publicly criticizing the dictatorship’s violence.

Now incarcerated, he is not allowed any books, let alone a Bible, and “since August 2024, he has only been provided with a small container of water per day. He has been deprived of natural light and fresh air, as he is rarely allowed out into the prison yard.” Furthermore, he is not given the food and medicine people bring to him at the prison.

Infiltration and informants

The CSW report also noted that Protestants and Catholics “frequently reported infiltration and the use of informants in congregations of all types to monitor and report on the content of sermons, prayers, and other activities, which indicates that the government views religious or faith communities with increasing suspicion and actively and systematically keeps them under surveillance.”

Police have also demanded that some topics — such as political prisoners, Israel, and the general situation in Nicaragua — not be mentioned in public as well as that the blue-and-white color combination of the national flag not be used.

13-year-old girl questioned on the way to church

Mosaico CSI reported in January on the case of “Angélica” — a fictitious name to ensure the 13-year-old’s safety — who was questioned by police on her way to church in northern Nicaragua.

A police officer saw her on the street and asked her several questions, such as why she was going to church “so much.” The girl replied “I’m just going to Mass!” and they let her continue on her way.

“Nothing went any further, and they haven’t bothered her again, but yes, the police continue to monitor all types of activity in the churches, intimidating everyone, even children,” said “Rosa,” a catechist who learned about what happened to Angélica.

CSW calls on dictatorship to reverse course

The CSW report said the Nicaraguan dictatorship needs to uphold human rights by releasing imprisoned religious leaders and political prisoners and restore Nicaraguan citizenship to all those whose citizenship was arbitrarily revoked.

It also calls on the government to restore the legal personhood of the more than 5,000 “civil society organizations that have been arbitrarily outlawed” and to unfreeze the bank accounts of universities, nongovernmental organizations, and religious groups throughout the country.

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