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Madrid, Spain, Nov 11, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called for overcoming ideological divisions within the Catholic Church in a Spanish-language interview on the “Sacristy of the Vendé” YouTube channel in which he reflects on the “instrumentalization” of abuse cases.

Held last July, the interview was released this week after the coordinator of the priests’ YouTube discussion group, Father Francisco José Delgado, was acquitted of charges of “inciting hatred” against the Holy See, interfering in the Vatican’s investigation into the Sodality of Christian Life, and damaging the “good reputation” of layman José Enrique Escardó, one of the main proponents of the case against that apostolate.

Müller stated that, since its inception, the Catholic Church has experienced divisions “because of these false doctrines, heresies, or pagan ideologies” and thus proposed that “everyone has to be aware that one is following Jesus Christ and not ideologies.”

For the cardinal, within the Catholic Church it is not possible to define oneself as conservative, traditionalist, or progressive: “We must overcome these divisions that stem from the French Revolution, from the Jacobins. In the Parliament of that time, these right-wing and left-wing groups existed, but these are political and ideological concepts, not Christian ones.”

“We form one unity in Jesus Christ, one Christ, the head of the Church, and we are members of one body, one Lord, one God, one baptism, and one Eucharist. The sacraments are valid for everyone, and we are united in love, faith, and hope. This is the definition of the Church, not of an ideology or an NGO [nongovernmental organization].”

The exploitation of abuse cases

The prelate also addressed the issue of canonical processes stemming from accusations of sexual abuse and their exploitation both within and outside the Church. After acknowledging that victims “have every right to demand justice,” he stated that “justice cannot be demanded or achieved at the expense of the innocent.” To convict a person, he argued, “we need the certainty that he is guilty and also had a proper trial.”

“Alongside these real cases, we also have quite a few false accusations,” especially against deceased priests, noting that “some enemies of the Church exploit scandals, or non-scandals, when it comes to innocent people falsely accused, in order to damage the image of the Catholic priest.”

Faced with sweeping investigations into the entire Catholic Church, the cardinal advocated for examining individual cases “not indiscriminately against a group,” since, in his view, “this is also totalitarian thinking.”

In this regard, he added that the crime of abuse “has its cause in the morality or immorality of a person, not in the divine grace” of the sacrament of holy orders, in the case of priests. Otherwise, he pointed out, it would have to be said that “Jesus Christ is responsible for Judas’ betrayal.”

Delgado’s conversation with Müller also turned to the reality of martyrdom in 20th-century Spain and the Valley of the Fallen as a monument of reconciliation that the current Spanish government wants to redefine.

The Valley of the Fallen is a massive complex about 30 miles from Madrid inaugurated in 1959 and dedicated to the memory of those killed on both sides of the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War. Among those buried there are a number of blesseds and servants of God martyred for the faith. During the war, the leftist side martyred thousands of clerics, religious, and laity. Some have been canonized and quite a few have been beatified.

The Valley of the Fallen was intended to be a place of national reconciliation and includes a basilica and monastery. However, as it was built by order of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, whose right-wing Nationalist side won the conflict, the current leftist government led by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party considers it to be in some way a monument to the Franco regime and wants to “resignify” it for other purposes.

For the cardinal, “reconciliation in society, in the Church, in any community is not possible if the events of the past are forgotten,” emphasizing that the martyrs “are the crown, the jewels of the Church.”

“They are martyrs of the Gospel, witnesses to the Resurrection, to the victory of the risen Jesus, and therefore they are the first ones to invite all of us to overcome the ideologies that divide communities and the Church,” he said.

“The state must not decide on the value of the lives of others or the thoughts or beliefs of others. The state must remove itself from the conscience of people. The state is not God in the world,” he added.

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

Edinburgh, Scotland, Nov 11, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Scotland’s Catholic bishops and pro-life groups have raised alarms about the effects a proposed assisted suicide bill may have upon disabled and vulnerable people after a number of key amendments were rejected.

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in Scotland, but if Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill becomes law, terminally ill adults will be given assistance to end their own lives.

After the committee considering the bill on Nov. 4 rejected several amendments to make the bill safer, the president of the Scottish bishops’ conference, Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, told CNA: “Almost [all of the] vulnerable groups in Scotland representing the disabled, elderly, and mentally ill are against the [bill] and continue to point out how it puts them at greater risk.”

One of the rejected amendments would have restricted eligibility to those with six months or less to live. Another proposal would have required people who are seeking an assisted death to be provided with a fully funded palliative care support plan. Both amendments were rejected, raising fears that the most vulnerable will suffer and those with nonterminal conditions will be able to access assisted suicide.

Expressing concerns about the bill, Keenan said: “It will also not exclude a person whose primary motivation for their request is among [the] following nonterminal conditions: eating disorders; intellectual disabilities, including but not limited to [Down] syndrome; mood disorders, including but not limited to depression; anxiety disorders; the receipt of any disability or sickness-related benefits, including but not limited to Adult Disability Payment, or any equivalent welfare payment; loneliness or social isolation; financial hardship or low income; feelings of being a burden to others; poor or unsuitable housing conditions; any other mental health condition or developmental disorder that is not a terminal illness.”

The Catholic Church teaches that assisted suicide is inherently immoral.

“Life is a gift to be protected, especially when threatened by sickness and death,” the Catholic bishops of England, Wales, and Scotland have said. “Palliative care, with expert pain relief and good human, spiritual, and pastoral support, is the right and best way to care for people towards the end of life.”

The definition of terminal illness in McArthur’s bill has been viewed as problematic, with the bill stating that it can be applied to people who have an “advanced and progressive disease, illness, or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death.” 

Paul Atkin, pro-life officer at the Archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, highlighted this danger, telling CNA: “The bill’s definition of ‘terminal illness’ is so vague that it could include people with conditions such as dementia or heart failure, who may live for years. The boundaries keep moving, and what starts as a choice for a few becomes an assumption for many.”

Atkin continued: “We should be honest: This law would put some lives at risk — not from disease, but from despair. True compassion means standing beside those who suffer, not offering to end their lives. Scotland can do better than that.”

Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Jeremy Balfour made a proposal to exclude individuals with nonterminal conditions from accessing assisted suicide. These conditions include intellectual disabilities, eating disorders, and feelings of being a burden. Again, this was rejected.

Speaking to CNA, Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, described the assisted suicide bill in Scotland as “a clear danger to people with disabilities.” 

“Many disabilities can quickly become ‘terminal’ if not managed properly. This remains the case whether done intentionally for people with disabilities who are actively seeking to end their own lives or through lack of access to medical assistance,” Robinson said.

“People with disabilities recognize the risk the McArthur’s bill poses to them, which is why major disability groups in Scotland, such as Inclusion Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance, and Disability Equality Scotland, do not support this bill.”

MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, who is the first permanent wheelchair user in the Scottish Parliament, shared her own concerns about the rejected amendments upon disabled people. 

“The committee rejected placing timescales on prognosis. This means anyone with an illness that could result in their premature death is eligible. That’s me and thousands of disabled people and people with conditions like diabetes across Scotland. I don’t believe that is what Parliament intends. This is dangerous for disabled people and I will fight it all the way,” Duncan-Glancy said. 

McArthur’s bill is separate from the bill currently progressing through Parliament in London, which proposes the legalization of assisted suicide in England and Wales. 

Catholics in Scotland are asked to urge their local MSP to vote against the bill when it comes to the final debate at Stage 3.

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CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Although school vouchers were not on any statewide ballot in recent elections, the legislative push for and implementation of voucher programs is growing throughout the country, particularly in Republican-led states.

While the programs continue to receive pushback from Democrats and teachers unions, traditionally conservative groups like home-schoolers and rural residents have been increasingly voicing their disapproval.

David Tamisiea, executive director for the North Dakota Catholic Conference, said in a recent presentation at the Society for Catholic Social Scientists conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville that he was surprised when he first encountered Catholic parents who opposed educational choice in the form of school vouchers.

He defined educational choice as “the idea that parents should have the freedom to choose the educational setting best suited to their child” and said that “to be truly free, these choices should be supported with public funding.”

Tamisiea said this freedom for parents to choose their children’s education was affirmed in a document issued during the Second Vatican Council known as Gravissimum Educationis, the “Declaration on Christian Education.”

“That’s where you find the most well known of its teachings, the idea that parents are the primary educators of their children,” Tamisiea told CNA. As primary educators, parents have the “fundamental and inalienable right to see to the education of their children, a right so fundamental it cannot be taken away by the state.”

“But it doesn’t mean the state has no role,” he said. 

Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a $1 billion voucher program that will begin in early 2026.

Residents in the 10-county district in rural west Texas represented by state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, opposed the program, however.

“In rural Texas, there’s not a whole lot of private school options, and we want our schools to get every dollar they can. This doesn’t add $1, and it’s not good for rural Texas,” Darby said last year of the voucher program.

The home-schooling community is divided on the idea of vouchers. Home-schooling families can spend thousands of dollars a year on books, sports, music lessons, and other classes, and some families would welcome seeing some of their tax dollars returned to them in the form of vouchers. 

Others, however, are opposed to accepting public funds. In Texas, home schooling is currently unregulated by the state and local governments. Home-schooling families worry that accepting taxpayer money in the form of vouchers will lead to government mandates and overregulation.

“We do have zero oversight, zero accountability, and we want to keep it that way,” Faith Bussey, president of Texans for Homeschool Freedom, told the Texas Tribune in 2023. The organization opposed the voucher program, calling it “a real threat to parental freedom.”

These fears are not unfounded. As the Heritage Foundation documented in 2024, Arizona’s voucher program launched in 2011 with $7,000 per student and zero curriculum mandates for home-schoolers. By year three of the program, the state required standardized testing and later added vendor preapproval and bans on “divisive concepts.”

Tamisiea acknowledged that there are legitimate concerns about state overreach but said those concerns should not mean that Christians should not support publicly funded educational choice programs like school vouchers.

“It’s a matter of both/and,” he told CNA. “Parents should fight for both rights. Fight for your right to receive funding from the state to support your choices as a parent, to teach your children the way you think is best, whether that is in private, charter, or home school, and fight for your right to be the primary educator of your children and not have that be interfered with by the state.”

Tamisiea, an attorney, said the “right of religious liberty is involved here as well. We have a right to exercise our faith and act according to our consciences in matters of education.”  

Regarding the concerns of rural parents, Tamisiea, who said he lives in a rural state, said it is a “harder question.”

“People in the rural areas feel left out because many don’t have the option of sending their kids to a private school because there aren’t any,” he said.

This is why he favors educational savings accounts (ESAs) over school vouchers. In states with ESAs, parents are given funds from the state that they can use for private school but also for tutoring, online classes, summer educational camps, and computer technology. 

Those who live in rural areas could therefore benefit from ESAs, Tamisiea said.

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CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Nov. 11, the Catholic Church honors St. Martin of Tours, who left his post in the Roman army to become a “soldier of Christ.”

Martin was born around the year 316 in modern-day Hungary. His family left that region for Italy when his father, a military official of the Roman Empire, was transferred there. Martin’s parents were pagans, but he felt an attraction to the Catholic faith, which had become legal throughout the empire in 313. He received religious instruction at age 10 and even considered becoming a hermit in the desert.

Circumstances, however, forced Martin to join the Roman army at age 15, when he had not even received baptism. Martin strove to live a humble and upright life in the military, giving away much of his pay to the poor. His generosity led to a life-changing incident, when he encountered a man freezing without warm clothing near a gate at the city of Amiens in Gaul.

As his fellow soldiers passed by the man, Martin stopped and cut his own cloak into two halves with his sword, giving one half to the freezing beggar. That night, the unbaptized soldier saw Christ in a dream, wearing the half-cloak he had given to the poor man. Jesus declared: “Martin, a catechumen, has clothed me with this garment.”

Martin knew that the time for him to join the Church had arrived. After his baptism, he remained in the army for two years but desired to give his life to God more fully than the profession would allow. But when he finally asked for permission to leave the Roman army, during an invasion by the Germans, Martin was accused of cowardice.

He responded by offering to stand before the enemy forces unarmed. “In the name of the Lord Jesus, and protected not by a helmet and buckler but by the sign of the cross, I will thrust myself into the thickest squadrons of the enemy without fear.”

But this display of faith became unnecessary when the Germans sought peace instead, and Martin received his discharge.

After living as a Catholic for some time, Martin traveled to meet Bishop Hilary of Poitiers, a skilled theologian and later canonized saint. Martin’s dedication to the faith impressed the bishop, who asked the former soldier to return to his diocese after he had undertaken a journey back to Hungary to visit his parents. While there, Martin persuaded his mother, though not his father, to join the Church.

In the meantime, however, Hilary had provoked the anger of the Arians, a group that denied Jesus was God. This resulted in the bishop’s banishment, so Martin could not return to his diocese as intended. Instead he spent some time living a life of severe asceticism, which almost resulted in his death. The two met up again in 360, when Hilary’s banishment from Poitiers ended.

After their reunion, Hilary granted Martin a piece of land to build what may have been the first monastery in the region of Gaul. During the resulting decade as a monk, Martin became renowned for raising two people from the dead through his prayers. This evidence of his holiness led to his appointment as the third bishop of Tours in the middle of present-day France.

Martin had not wanted to become a bishop and had actually been tricked into leaving his monastery in the first place by those who wanted him to the lead the local Church. Once appointed, he continued to live as a monk, dressing plainly and owning no personal possessions. In this same spirit of sacrifice, he traveled throughout his diocese, from which he is said to have driven out pagan practices.

Both the Church and the Roman Empire passed through a time of upheaval during Martin’s tenure as bishop. Priscillianism, a heresy involving salvation through a system of secret knowledge, caused such serious problems in Spain and Gaul that civil authorities sentenced the heretics to death. But Martin, along with the pope and St. Ambrose of Milan, opposed this death sentence for the Priscillianists.

Even in old age, Martin continued to live an austere life focused on the care of souls. His disciple and biographer, St. Sulpicius Severus, noted that the bishop helped all people with their moral, intellectual, and spiritual problems. He also helped many discover their calling to the consecrated life.

Martin foresaw his own death and told his disciples of it. But when his last illness came upon him during a pastoral journey, he felt uncertain about leaving his people.

“Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I refuse no labor. Thy holy will be done,” he prayed. He developed a fever but did not sleep, passing his last several nights in the presence of God in prayer.

“Allow me, my brethren, to look rather toward heaven than upon the earth, that my soul may be directed to take its flight to the Lord to whom it is going,” he told his followers, shortly before he died in November 397.

St. Martin of Tours has historically been among the most beloved saints in the history of Europe. In a 2007 Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope “that all Christians may be like St. Martin, generous witnesses of the Gospel of love and tireless builders of jointly responsible sharing.”

This story was first published on Oct. 6, 2011, and has been updated.