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ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 25, 2025 / 10:10 am (CNA).

An armed group in Colombia pledged to hand over for destruction 13.5 tons of weapons to the Colombian government after reaching an agreement facilitated by the Catholic Church.

The agreement, known as Accord No. 12, was signed July 19 following talks between the government and the armed group known as the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army (CNEB, by its Spanish acronym) held in the Inda Zabaleta Indigenous Reserve in the town of Tumaco.

Representatives of President Gustavo Petro’s government and the CNEB, as well as the bishops’ delegate for church-state relations, Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, were present at the meeting.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Henao explained that the Church representatives “are permanent facilitators at the [negotiating] table, along with the United Nations.”

“Our role is to connect the territories,” Henao said. “We have invited both the diocesan administrator of the Diocese of Tumaco and the priest delegate in the Putumayo administrative district to participate.”

During the talks, the Church helped the negotiators convey “the concerns of the communities” suffering from the armed conflict, who want a guaranteed “level of stability” in the region.

“It’s a very complex issue … very difficult to resolve because a high level of trust is always required,” Henao said.

He said that to build trust, the armed group “agreed … to take the first step: the destruction of these 13 tons of ammunition and devices.”

According to the Colombian presidency, the armed group will hand over 9 tons located in the Nariño district bordering Ecuador and 4.5 tons in Putumayo, a district that also borders Ecuador and Peru.

Local communities will be notified about the process so they are aware that controlled detonations will take place.

The National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army, which is made up of approximately 2,000 people, was part of the Second Marquetalia, one of the armed groups known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which rejected the Peace Agreement signed with the Colombian government in 2016.

The Petro administration held peace talks with the Second Marquetalia, but dialogue broke down at the end of 2024. However, two groups chose to disassociate themselves from the organization and continue negotiations under the name of the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army.

State presence is needed

During the ACI Prensa interview, Henao explained that in Colombia, as in other parts of the world, a phenomenon called “the fragmentation of conflicts” is occurring.

“This fragmentation occurs through the emergence of new groups or the division of existing groups” that control territory as well as illicit economies in Colombia. 

The bishops’ representative said that law enforcement must establish itself as a “state presence” in areas where peace agreements have been reached to “fill the space where illegal actors were present.”

Henao said that “one of the backbones of this entire process must be the implementation of the 2016 agreements signed with the FARC, because there was no adequate and efficient state takeover of the territories where the FARC was present, so new groups emerged.”

Therefore, he said, the state must “establish full democratic governance, which also guarantees the exercise of citizens’ rights and freedoms.”

In its 2025 Humanitarian Situation Report published in June, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicated that from January to April of this year, “the impact of the armed conflict remains alarming, with more than 953,300 people affected (7,900 daily and more than 238,000 per month).”

The document warns that “this number is four times higher than that recorded in the same period in 2024.”

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

ACI Africa, Jul 25, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Over 200 young people from Tanzania are traveling to Rome as pilgrims to the Jubilee of Youth, an event that is part of the ongoing 2025 Jubilee Year. It is a huge number, coming from Africa, where denied visa applications have blocked many youth from participating in the global July 28 to Aug. 3 event.

Father Liston Lukoo, head of the Youth Department of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), told ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, that excitement is high among those set to travel to Rome for the event. 

For many, this is the first time they are setting foot outside their native country, he said. But their biggest anticipation is to visit the Vatican, and if fortunate, shake hands with the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV.

Asked to describe the mood of those participating in the Vatican pilgrimage, Lukoo said: “Everyone is extremely excited.”

“This is the first time many of these young people are going outside the country,” Lukoo said. “And as you can imagine, going to the Vatican is another story for them. Their biggest excitement, however, is going to shake the hand of the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV.”

The Tanzanian priest gave credit to the Catholic bishops in the East African nation for their mobilization efforts that saw a huge number of young people express their interest to travel to the Vatican for the Jubilee of Youth.

He said that once the event was announced in the TEC plenary assembly, each bishop returned to his diocese and embarked on mobilizing the youth.

Those linked with TEC alone are 54 pilgrims. But other Tanzanian pilgrims have registered to participate through Church groups, individual dioceses and parishes, and even Catholic institutions of learning.

Lukoo is sure that those traveling could exceed 200 — “perhaps 350,” he told ACI Africa.

“We thank God that this year we have a very big number. These 54 [are] just a group, which has been organized by the TEC as a reference point. But we have also a group of about 30 young people traveling from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam. We have a group of about 27 volunteers traveling,” the head of the TEC’s Youth Department said.

He added: “There is also a group of about 80 youths representing a lay group. I am told that we have a group of about 10 young people from the Archdiocese of Tabora also traveling to Rome and many other people registered in various parts of Tanzania.”

Lukoo also spoke about various institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life in Tanzania who he said are making their own travel arrangements for their member pilgrims.

“We know of one Catholic school here that is sending 22 of its learners to represent the rest,” he said. “All this representation is why I confidently say that there could be over 300 young people traveling from Tanzania for the pilgrimage.”

On how the pilgrimage is funded, Lukoo said: “This has been more of an individual arrangement. But we also have dioceses and parishes that have done fundraising for their participants. The TEC youth office has also fully funded seven people for the pilgrimage.”

At Dar es Salaam-based TEC, preparation for the Jubilee of Youth in Rome has involved virtual meetings to pray for the success of the pilgrimage and to also get everything ready for participation, including travel documents.

Communication with the participants has been the biggest challenge for the TEC youth coordination office, Lukoo told ACI Africa, and explained: “It has been very difficult for us to pass messages owing to the complexities of our vast country.”

“Coordination was extremely difficult and sometimes we had to send messages over and over to get people to know what had to be done,” he recalled, adding that the other challenge had to do with finances. Many young people struggled to pay for the trip.

“Some of the participants could not meet the financial demand until the last minute. This has been a very big problem for us because we couldn’t get things going until the last person had paid for the trip,” he said.

Lukoo went on to thank the Italian embassy in Tanzania for being “extremely supportive” to TEC and for ensuring that every young person who did his or her part went through the visa application successfully.

“We have had no single problem with the Italian embassy. Everyone who met their end of the deal has gotten their visas,” he said. “The only problem was that the embassy was overwhelmed by our large numbers. Over 200 interviews is not a joke. The embassy has organized interviews with our young people to this day [July 23] and we hope that this last lot will get their visas tomorrow.”

The biggest support to the young pilgrims, however, came from TEC, which provided technical and moral support to the participants.

The young pilgrims, Lukoo said, needed help in getting these documents to the relevant Vatican offices, in acquiring invitation letters, and all other visa application requirements.

TEC has also been journeying with the group spiritually. Lukoo said that some of those traveling, especially from the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam, will have Mass on Friday, July 25, ahead of their departure for Rome on the same day.

“A large group from TEC will also accompany us to the airport and wave a hand of farewell and a safe journey to us,” the priest said.

He told ACI Africa that the entire group of 54 pilgrims from TEC will board one plane. “There will also be other groups on this plane,” he said. “It will be exciting to have a plane full of these Tanzanians, more than 100 of them.”

According to the official Jubilee of Youth website, several key activities have been confirmed. On Tuesday, July 29, at 6 p.m. local time, a welcome Mass is to be celebrated in St. Peter’s Square.

In the following days, Rome will host numerous cultural, artistic, and spiritual initiatives that are distributed throughout the capital city of Italy under the title “Dialogues with the City.”

Friday, Aug. 1, has been reserved as a Penitential Day, to be celebrated in the Circus Maximus, where pilgrims are to be able to receive the sacrament of penance.

On Saturday, Aug. 2, pilgrims are to move to Tor Vergata. And finally, on Sunday, Aug. 3, Pope Leo XIV is to preside over Mass at 9:30 a.m. before bidding farewell to the young pilgrims who are to return to their respective countries.

In the July 23 interview, Lukoo told ACI Africa that for young Tanzanians unable to participate in the Jubilee of Youth in Rome in person, the TEC Youth Department he heads has organized a series of congresses that they would benefit from locally.

Between June 7–12, the youth congress brought together 1,289 high school students who gathered in Tanzania’s Diocese of Shinyanga.

The next youth congress, scheduled for Aug. 19–24, is expected to bring together over 3,000 Young Catholic Workers in Tanzania who will gather in the country’s Archdiocese of Mbeya.

Thereafter will be the Dec. 26–31 congress, during which Catholic university students are to come together in Tanzania’s Diocese of Iringa.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA. 

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Budapest, Hungary, Jul 25, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Poland stands out as the undisputed leader in religious vocations in Europe in 2025, with 206 new ordained priests, the highest number on the continent. This recent data from the Polish Catholic Information Agency KAI, reported by the Catholic Herald, shows that while much of Europe grapples with declining ordination figures, Poland’s numbers remain robust, reflecting a deep-rooted commitment to religious life.  

This is particularly evident in the Diocese of Tarnów, which leads the country with 13 new priests scheduled for ordination this year.  

In contrast to much of Europe, where the number of new priests has fallen below replacement levels — leading dioceses to increasingly rely on clergy from Africa and Asia — Poland’s continued leadership in ordinations seems to underscore the resilience of its Catholic identity and religious practices. Such resilience is especially significant given that Poland, like other European nations, faces the pressures of secularization, changing family structures, and a declining birth rate.

The number of diocesan ordinations in Poland has declined slightly, with 141 new diocesan priests in 2025 compared with 153 in 2024, but the picture has remained relatively stable in recent years.

Poland’s strength in fostering vocations can be traced to several key factors that distinguish it from much of Europe.

Foremost among these is the nation’s deeply ingrained Catholic identity, which continues to shape the lives of many Polish citizens. According to the 2021 census, nearly 71.4% of the population identify as Roman Catholic. Though this marks a noticeable decline from the 88% who identified as Catholic a decade earlier, Poland still boasts one of the highest church attendance rates in Europe — 29.5% in 2022 — a vital element in sustaining vocations to the priesthood.

The Diocese of Tarnów, located in southern Poland, remains one of the most religious and traditional areas of the country. The diocese is located in a region that was once the Austrian province of Galicia, Marcin Rzegocki, managing director of the Auxilium Foundation of the Diocese of Tarnów, told CNA.

“Due to various historical factors, this region remains one of Poland’s most religious and traditional areas today. In fact, the religious life in this part of Poland is often characterized as heavily clerical in nature,” he said. This long-standing popular devotion has allowed Tarnów to remain a fertile ground for priestly vocations. 

Throughout the 20th century, the diocese enjoyed an abundance of priestly vocations, so much so that it became a source of vocations not only for Polish dioceses but also for dioceses in Western Europe, the U.S., and mission territories.

“Historically, Galicia was also a major source of economic emigration to Western Europe and the Americas,” Rzegocki said. “Even today, priests and nuns from this region can be found serving around the world.” Despite changes in family structures as well as demographic and societal shifts, Tarnów’s religious culture continues to foster a steady stream of vocations.

A central historical figure in the development of Tarnów’s vocational culture was Archbishop Leon Wałęga, who served as the bishop of Tarnów from 1901 to 1931. Wałęga played a crucial role in fostering priestly vocations, particularly through his devotion to Our Lady of Tuchów, an important Marian sanctuary in the diocese.

Wałęga worked alongside the Redemptorist Fathers from Tuchów to promote devotion to the miraculous image of Our Lady. In 1904, he crowned the image — covered by a silver sheet dress — marking the beginning of a deep connection between the diocese and the intercession of the Virgin Mary for priestly vocations.

The coronation ceremony in October 1904, attended by around 130,000 faithful and 200 priests, became a defining moment for the diocese. Wałęga’s act of entrusting the diocese’s vocations to the care of Our Lady of Tuchów marked a profound spiritual commitment that continued to shape the diocese for years to come.

And this tradition has extended beyond Poland’s borders. For over a century, bishops, priests, seminarians, and laypeople alike have made the pilgrimage from many different countries to seek guidance in their discernment and pray for vocations. 

Reflecting on the future of vocations in Poland in an interview with KAI, Bishop Andrzej Przybylski, delegate of the Polish Episcopal Conference for Vocations and president of the National Council for Vocational Pastoral Care, acknowledged both the opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead.

“In Poland, we are still observing a time when the number of vocations is stable, although still very low compared to the most fruitful years,” he said. “We have had a period of significant vocational growth, and we believe that this should continue. The question is how to welcome those who are now discovering this path and decide to walk it.” 

Przybylski emphasized the importance of creating environments for young people to discern their vocations. “We want to accompany vocations. We believe that God calls people how he wants, who he wants, and according to his plans,” he said. “We, however, want to create a vocational culture, to encourage many young people to discover their vocation.” 

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