We Are Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish

Pope Leo XIV appealed for persecuted Christians around the globe on Sunday, making specific mention of Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pope Leo XIV appeals for an end to discrimination and persecution against Christians, and prays that all violence may cease and believers may work together for the common good.

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In his Angelus address during the Jubilee of the Poor, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the persecution Christians will face at the end times and our call to “bear witness to the truth that saves the world; to the justice that redeems peoples from oppression.”

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Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass to mark the Jubilee of the Poor, and urges leaders of nations to listen to the cry of the poorest, saying they remind us that there can be no peace without justice.

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Around 20 people are believed killed in a terrorist attack at a hospital run by religious sisters in the North Kivu village of Byambwe, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with missionaries denouncing the “shameful silence” of the international community.

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On the ninth World Day of the Poor, the European Laudato Si’ Alliance calls on the EU to address the global debt crisis affecting the most vulnerable. Through its “Turn Debt into Hope” campaign, the alliance urges fair, transparent solutions to reduce poverty and promote justice.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV told representatives of the global film industry on Saturday that cinema is far more than entertainment, calling it a vehicle capable of expressing humanity’s deepest spiritual search and its longing for the infinite.

The pope received a group of filmmakers, actors, and producers at the Apostolic Palace on Nov. 15. Among those greeting him were Academy Award-winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett, American actor Chris Pine, Italian actresses Monica Bellucci and Maria Grazia Cucinotta, and Oscar-winning director Spike Lee.

Ahead of the audience, the Vatican released a list of some of the pope’s favorite films, including “The Sound of Music” and “Life Is Beautiful.”

Addressing the artists, the pope said cinema is “still a young, dreamlike, and somewhat restless art form” and that although it began as a “play of light and shadow, designed to amuse and impress,” it soon began to convey “much deeper realities,” eventually becoming “an expression of the desire to contemplate and understand life, to recount its greatness and fragility, and to portray the longing for infinity.”

He told them: “It is wonderful to see that when the magic light of cinema illuminates the darkness, it simultaneously ignites the eyes of the soul. Indeed, cinema combines what appears to be mere entertainment with the narrative of the human person’s spiritual adventure.”

One of cinema’s most valuable contributions, he said, is “helping audiences consider their own lives, look at the complexity of their experiences with new eyes, and examine the world as if for the first time,” thus rediscovering “a portion of the hope that is essential for humanity to live to the fullest.”

He added: “I find comfort in the thought that cinema is not just moving pictures; it sets hope in motion!”

The cinema as the heart of community life

“Entering a cinema is like crossing a threshold,” the pope said. “In the darkness and silence, vision becomes sharper, the heart opens up, and the mind becomes receptive to things not yet imagined.” Through their work, filmmakers “connect with people who are looking for entertainment as well as those who carry within their hearts a sense of restlessness and are looking for meaning, justice, and beauty.”

“We live in an age where digital screens are always on,” he continued. “There is a constant flow of information. However, cinema is much more than just a screen; it is an intersection of desires, memories, and questions. It is a sensory journey in which light pierces the darkness and words meet silence. As the plot unfolds, our mind is educated, our imagination broadens, and even pain can find new meaning.”

He stressed that cultural institutions such as cinemas and theaters are “the beating hearts of our communities because they contribute to making them more human,” adding: “If a city is alive, it is thanks in part to its cultural spaces. We must inhabit these spaces and build relationships within them, day after day.”

Nonetheless, he warned that “cinemas are experiencing a troubling decline, with many being removed from cities and neighborhoods,” and noted that “more than a few people are saying that the art of cinema and the cinematic experience are in danger.” He urged institutions “not to give up but to cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value of this activity.”

Resisting the ‘algorithmic logic’ of the digital age

“The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what ‘works,’ but art opens up what is possible,” he said. “Not everything has to be immediate or predictable. Defend slowness when it serves a purpose, silence when it speaks and difference when evocative. Beauty is not just a means of escape; it is above all an invocation.”

“When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console, but challenges,” he continued. “It articulates the questions that dwell within us and sometimes even provokes tears that we did not know we needed to express.”

In the jubilee year, he told them, the Church invites everyone “to journey towards hope,” saying their presence was “a shining example” of that. He described filmmakers as “pilgrims of the imagination, seekers of meaning, narrators of hope, and heralds of humanity,” whose journey is measured not in distance but in “images, words, emotions, shared memories, and collective desires.”

The Church, he said, “esteems you for your work with light and time, with faces and landscapes, with words and silence.” Quoting Pope Paul VI’s words to artists — “If you are friends of genuine art, you are our friends… this world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair” — he said he wished “to renew this friendship because cinema is a workshop of hope, a place where people can once again find themselves and their purpose.”

He encouraged them to remember the words of film pioneer David W. Griffith: “What the modern movie lacks is beauty, the beauty of the moving wind in the trees,” linking it to the Gospel image of the wind as a sign of the Spirit. “I invite you to make cinema an art of the Spirit,” he said.

“In the present era, there is a need for witnesses of hope, beauty, and truth,” he continued. “You can fulfill this role through your artistic work. Good cinema and those who create and star in it have the power to recover the authenticity of imagery in order to safeguard and promote human dignity. Do not be afraid to confront the world’s wounds.”

Good cinema, he stressed, “does not exploit pain; it recognizes and explores it.” Giving voice to the complex and sometimes dark feelings of the human heart “is an act of love,” he said, and authentic art “must engage with” human frailty.

Filmmaking, he reminded them, “is a communal effort, a collective endeavor in which no one is self-sufficient,” involving the contributions of countless professionals. “Every voice, every gesture, and every skill contributes to a work that can only exist as a whole.”

“In an age of exaggerated and confrontational personalities,” he said, they show that film requires “dedication and talent,” and that everyone’s gifts can “shine in a collaborative and fraternal atmosphere.” He prayed that cinema would “always be a meeting place and a home for those seeking meaning and a language of peace” and that it would “never lose its capacity to amaze and even continue to offer us a glimpse, however small, of the mystery of God.”

“May the Lord bless you, your work and your loved ones,” he concluded. “And may he always accompany you on your creative journey and help you to be artisans of hope.”

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 15, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

In a Saturday meeting, Pope Leo XIV received Bishop Pierre Goudreault of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, at which the Holy Father gifted dozens of artifacts that originated with Indigenous peoples of the North American country.

Leo at the meeting donated 62 pieces from the ethnological collections of the Vatican Museums to the Canadian bishops. Goudreault was accompanied by Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver and Father Jean Vézina, secretary-general of the Canadian bishops.

“It is an act of ecclesial sharing, through which the successor of Peter entrusts to the Church in Canada these objects, which bear witness to the history of the encounter between the faith and cultures of Indigenous peoples,” the Vatican said.

The 62 donated objects come from various Indigenous communities and are part of the collection received during the 1925 Vatican Missionary Exhibition, promoted by Pope Pius XI during the holy year to bear witness to the faith and cultural richness of the peoples.

“The Holy Father Leo XIV wanted this gift to represent a concrete sign of dialogue, respect, and fraternity,” the Holy See said.

“Sent to Rome by Catholic missionaries between 1923 and 1925, these objects became part of the Lateran Missionary Ethnological Museum, which later became the Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum of the Vatican Museums,” the Vatican added.

Pope Leo’s gift is part of the observance of the Jubilee Year 2025. All the pieces are accompanied by information from the Vatican Museums “certifying their provenance and the circumstances of their transfer to Rome for the 1925 Exhibition.”

“They were handed over to the Canadian Episcopal Conference, which, in a spirit of loyal cooperation and dialogue with the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Vatican City State, has committed to ensuring their proper care, promotion, and conservation,” the Vatican said.

During a July 2022 visit to Canada, Pope Francis left a message of reconciliation and emphasized the need to “start afresh” by looking together at Christ crucified.

Throughout his trip, the pope had expressed his shame and regret for the role played by the Catholic Church in the management of many of the government-sponsored residential schools for Indigenous children.

These residential schools, which operated until the late 1990s, aimed to eradicate aspects of Indigenous culture, language, and religious practices. Former students have described mistreatment and even abuse at the residential schools.

According to the Holy See, the meeting on Nov. 15 concludes “the path begun by Pope Francis through his apostolic journey to Canada in 2022, the various audiences with Indigenous communities, and the publication of the Declaration on the Doctrine of Discovery in 2023.”

That year, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development stated that the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery,” which European colonizers allegedly used to justify their actions against Indigenous peoples, is not part of Catholic teaching.

The Vatican agencies then specified that “many Christians have committed acts of evil against Indigenous populations, for which recent popes have asked forgiveness on numerous occasions.”

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

CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Denver and a coalition of Catholic preschools are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow them to access a Colorado universal preschool program.

The petition to the high court comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in September that Colorado may continue to exclude Catholic preschools from its Universal Preschool Program because of their religious beliefs.

Catholic preschools in Denver ask teachers and families to sign a pledge promising to uphold their religious mission, including teachings on sexuality and gender identity. The Colorado preschool program’s nondiscrimination clause, however, requires schools to uphold provisions on sexual orientation and “gender identity.”

Two Catholic parish preschools and the Denver Archdiocese first filed suit in August 2023 against the requirement.

In a Nov. 14 press release, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty — which has represented the schools and the archdiocese in the lawsuit — said the Catholic schools “are asking the Supreme Court to ensure that Colorado makes good on its promise of universal preschool.”

“Colorado is picking winners and losers based on the content of their religious beliefs,” Nick Reaves, a senior lawyer at Becket, said in the release. 

“That sort of religious discrimination flies in the face of our nation’s traditions and decades of Supreme Court rulings,” he said. “We’re asking the court to step in and make sure ‘universal’ preschool really is universal.” 

Scott Elmer, who serves as chief mission officer for the Denver Archdiocese, said the schools are seeking “the ability to offer families who choose a Catholic education the same access to free preschool services that’s available at thousands of other preschools across Colorado.”

Becket in its press release said the Colorado rules have had a “predictable effect” in which “enrollment at Catholic preschools has swiftly declined, while two Catholic preschools have shuttered their doors.”

The law group said the lower court rulings go against recent Supreme Court decisions on religious freedom, including Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which held that the Montana Constitution’s bar on public funding of religious institutions violated the First Amendment.

In May the Supreme Court declined to rule in a contentious case involving what was proposed to be the nation’s first religious charter school, leaving untouched a lower court ruling that forbade the Oklahoma Catholic institution from accessing state funds.

CNA Staff, Nov 15, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system, including the modernization of the current child welfare system, the development of partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs.

The executive order issued Nov. 13 states that the Trump administration is “dedicated to empowering mothers and fathers to raise their children in safe and loving homes.”

The order says current problems with the foster care system include overworked caseworkers, antiquated information systems, and policies that “prohibit qualified families from serving children in need as foster and adoptive parents because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs or adherence to basic biological truths.”

The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has represented Christian families who were barred from serving as foster parents because of their faith, suing on behalf of Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt after the Vermont Department for Children and Families informed the two families that their belief that persons cannot change biological sex and that marriage is only between a man and a woman precluded them from serving as foster parents in the state.

Despite describing the Wuotis and the Gantts as “amazing,” “wonderful,” and “welcoming,” state officials revoked the couples’ foster care licenses after they expressed those beliefs. The state said these beliefs made them “unqualified” to parent any child, regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity. 

ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, who represents the Wuotis, Gantts, and other Christian families who are prohibited from fostering in lawsuits in Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, told CNA that he hopes the executive order will lead to the states “prioritizing the best interests of children rather than ideological agendas.”

In the face of shortages of foster families, he said the states should be “pursuing a big tent, welcoming as many loving families as possible. But they’re doing the opposite while children who need foster care are sleeping in unlicensed  group homes, police stations, and hospitals.” 

Trump’s executive order directs the department of Health and Human Services, the White House Faith Office, and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to “take appropriate action to address state and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.” 

It also directs those agencies to “increase partnerships between agencies and faith-based organizations and houses of worship to serve families” involved with the foster care system. 

Widmalm-Delphonse told CNA it is “difficult to say how the states will respond” to the executive order, indicating that he hopes either the order or the pending lawsuits will lead to changes in their “discriminatory” policies against families of faith.  

“The path the states should take is obvious: It’s a win-win when you open up foster care to people of faith and put the interests of children first,” he said.