St. Mary's Church

El Tribunal Supremo de la India admitió la impugnación presentada por los obispos católicos contra la ley de anticonversión del estado de Rajastán, señalando que viola la Constitución del país que garantiza la libertad religiosa. 

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy has declared that several parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo, New York can remain open after Bishop Michael Fisher ordered their closure amid a diocesan-wide renewal plan. 

Save Our Buffalo Churches, which has advocated against church closure proposals in the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan, said in a Dec. 8 Facebook post that the Vatican has revoked the closures of three parishes since November, with a fourth parish receiving a temporary reprieve from the diocese itself. 

The closures and mergers of Our Lady of Peace Parish and Holy Apostles Parish have been revoked by the dicastery, the group said. 

As well, the Vatican said it will also examine the “asset appropriation” levied by the diocese against those parishes. The group confirmed to CNA on Dec. 9 that those appropriations, if collected, are meant to help fund the diocese’s ongoing bankruptcy settlement for clergy abuse victims.  

The bishop also revoked the merger of Our Lady of Bistrica Parish with other parishes. The diocese had discovered a “procedural error” in the merger decree that invalidated the directive, leading the bishop to revoke the merger directly.  The diocese has reportedly “promised to issue a new merger decree” as a result, with the parish “ready for that challenge.” 

The favorable rulings come from the Vatican after more than a year of effort from parish advocates to halt the closures and mergers. The dispute reached the New York Supreme Court earlier this year, which in July issued a halt on the parish payments into the diocese’s abuse settlement fund amid parishioner objections. 

The high court in September ultimately allowed the payments to proceed, pointing to a long-standing prohibition against “court involvement in the governance and administration of a hierarchical church.”

The Vatican’s orders follow a similar order from the Holy See in November which allowed Saint Bernadette Church in Orchard Park to remain open. The diocese had planned to merge that parish with Saints Peter & Paul Church in Hamburg. 

The announcement follows Fisher’s decision in November to revoke a 2024 decree forbidding parishioners from using parishes as planning spaces to work against the proposed mergers. 

Fisher said he was ending that policy after meetings with Vatican officials in October. “Based on our conversation, it is clear to me now that this policy is too restrictive of the rights of the faithful,” the bishop said of those talks at the Holy See. 

In November, Save Our Buffalo Parishes joined several other groups to petition the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation to donate financial resources to their preservation efforts. 

Group leader Mary Pruski told CNA that the effort would “bring much peace and healing across [New York state].”

Advocates in dioceses around the country have petitioned, sometimes successfully, against church closures in recent years, including in Maryland, Missouri and Wisconsin. 

Bishops have instituted such closures amid sharply declining parish attendance and skyrocketing maintenance costs at aging buildings. 

El próximo miércoles 17 de diciembre se cumplen 89 años del nacimiento del Papa Francisco y la Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Merced, en Buenos Aires, será escenario de un concierto de música sacra dedicado al pontífice argentino. 

La obra de referencia que recoge la organización completa de la Iglesia católica estará disponible por primera vez también a través del ordenador o del teléfono móvil. 

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2025 / 11:45 am (CNA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent who oversaw the Virginia office responsible for a highly controversial investigation into local Catholics will lead the state’s safety office under its new Democratic governor. 

Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger nominated Stanley Meador as the next Virginia secretary for public safety and homeland security, according to a December announcement.

Meador has served in several roles in the FBI, including in field offices in Seattle and Las Vegas, as well as at the bureau headquarters in Washington. 

In 2021 he became special agent in charge at the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia field office, where he served until June 2025. In 2023 that office issued a memo to agents launching an investigation into “radical traditionalist” Catholics and their possible ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.” 

That memo touched off a years-long controversy over the FBI’s investigation into Catholics, including reports that at least one federal agent allegedly went undercover to investigate traditional Catholic communities. 

Multiple state attorneys general called for an investigation into the FBI over the memo, while Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout described the investigation as a “threat to religious liberty.” White nationalism directly conflicts with Catholic principles of human dignity, solidarity, justice, and the common good. 

Spanberger in announcing the nomination said Meador possesses the “expertise necessary to protect our citizens” and claimed he will “make sure Virginia is a place where every Virginian can safely thrive.”

CatholicVote National Political Director Logan Church, meanwhile, described Spanberger’s nomination of Meador as an “endorsement” of the FBI’s controversial investigation. 

“It tells every Catholic in America that violating our civil liberties isn’t a problem, it’s a pathway to advancement,” Church said in a statement, describing the investigation itself as a “disgraceful operation.” 

The FBI retracted the memo in 2023 after it became public knowledge, though years of investigations have followed the revelation. 

In September 2025 FBI Director Kash Patel said in a U.S. Senate hearing that there had been “terminations” and “resignations” of employees related to the investigation. 

The House Judiciary Committee in July, meanwhile, revealed that the Richmond FBI office spied on a priest because he refused to discuss private conversations he had with a parishioner who was converting to Catholicism.

In 2024 the Department of Justice concluded that the bureau “failed to adhere to FBI standards” when launching the investigation but allegedly showed no evidence of “malicious intent” in doing so.

La Federación Europea One Of Us, compuesta por 50 ONG provida que protegen la dignidad humana en las políticas europeas, advierte del riesgo de que exista un “turismo del aborto” financiado por la Unión Europea.

La campaña de Navidad de Ayuda a la Iglesia Necesitada en España se pone como objetivo financiar 1.000 proyectos de apoyo a catequistas en todo el mundo. 

Boston, Massachusetts, Dec 9, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

The pastor of a Catholic parish near Boston says an anti-immigration-enforcement display in its Nativity scene will stay up at least for the time being, and he is asking for a meeting with the archbishop.

The announcement Monday night — more than three days after the Archdiocese of Boston said the display should be removed — leaves the parish and Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston at an impasse.

“We are waiting for an opportunity of dialogue and clarity with [Arch]bishop Henning before reaching any final decisions,” Father Stephen Josoma said, according to a video of a press conference published by MassLive.com.

The display, put up Nov. 29 outside St. Susanna Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, includes a large sign saying “ICE Was Here” and another sign explaining that the absent figures of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are safe inside the church building. The display also includes a telephone number to report the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs agents to an organization that monitors them.

A spokesman for Archbishop Henning on Friday described the display as inappropriate and said it should be removed.

“The people of God have the right to expect that, when they come to church, they will encounter genuine opportunities for prayer and Catholic worship — not divisive political messaging. The Church’s norms prohibit the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people. This includes images of the Christ Child in the manger, which are to be used solely to foster faith and devotion,” said Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, by email.

“Regarding the recent incident, St. Susanna Parish neither requested nor received permission from the Archdiocese to depart from this canonical norm or to place a politically divisive display outside the church. The display should be removed, and the manger restored to its proper sacred purpose,” Donilon said Friday.

Father Josoma’s stance

Father Josoma said Monday he disagrees with the archdiocese’s characterization of the anti-ICE Nativity display.

“That some do not agree with our message does not render our display sacrilegious, or is the cause of any scandal to the faithful,” Father Josoma said during a press conference Monday night outside St. Susanna’s. “Any divisiveness is a reflection of our polarized society, much of which originates with the changing, unjust policies and laws of the current United States administration, not emanating from a Nativity display outside of a church in Dedham.”

Dedham is a town of 25,000 about 10 miles southwest of Boston.

Father Josoma did not respond to a request for comment from the Register. But he told his congregation at the end of Mass on Sunday morning that the archbishop had asked him to remove the anti-ICE display.

“It’s been a very unusual week to say the least. We did get a letter from the archbishop asking us to take the Nativity set down, or at least the signs down. Our parish council and Pax Christi group will be meeting after Mass today to discuss that, to pray about that, to discern our response to that,” Father Josoma said.

Later on Sunday, WCVB Channel 5 reported that Father Josoma said the parish council would meet Monday afternoon instead.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the previous archbishop of Boston, ignored politically charged messages in the St. Susanna’s Nativity scenes in previous years, including those highlighting gun violence (2017), immigration detention centers (2018), and climate change (2019).

The negative reaction to the anti-ICE display from Archbishop Henning, who took over as head of the Archdiocese of Boston in October 2024, was not expected, Father Josoma said.

“It kind of came as a surprise to us,” Father Josoma said.

Father Josoma said he sees the anti-ICE Nativity display at St. Susanna’s as in line with a special message on immigration enforcement that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued Nov. 12, in which the bishops said they are “disturbed” by what they called “a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” that they “are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants,” and that they “lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status.”

“The bishops’ message[s] on their own are totally in line with what we have done over the past week, this past Advent season. We’re a bit surprised at that,” Father Josoma said, referring to the archdiocese’s reaction.

Canon law perspective

A canon law expert contacted Monday said that while a pastor has ordinary authority over his parish, in certain circumstances a bishop can step in and issue orders.

“[In] this situation, the Archbishop of Boston is well within his obligation to prevent scandal in his diocese (canon 1311 §2) by demanding that the Nativity scene be altered or removed. The scene, in the archbishop’s opinion, is divisive and overtly political and falls under the prohibition against ‘the use of sacred objects for any purpose other than the devotion of God’s people’,” said David Long, an assistant professor of canon law and dean of the School of Professional Studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

“In his private letter, the archbishop warned the pastor of a possible canonical offense (canon 1339 §1) in displaying the Nativity scene in this manner. The pastor publicly acknowledged the letter and the warning. Therefore, if the pastor persists in the behavior or refuses to comply with the bishop’s directive, the archbishop may proceed to apply a number of penal remedies,” Long said.

As to the role of parish entities such as the parish council, Long said they don’t have authority in this situation.

“The pastor’s deferral to a parish council or a parish peace and justice commission to decide whether to change the Nativity scene is not appropriate. The pastor has been given a directive by the archbishop, and deferring to the parish council would grant the council authority it does not have, since a parish council (canon 536 §2) only has a consultative voice,” Long said.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Estaba dirigida a los niños más pequeños de Polonia que participan en las tradicionales misas de Rorate, propias del Adviento.

La COMECE ha expresado su preocupación por la sentencia del Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea, que obliga a todos los Estados miembros a reconocer los llamados “matrimonios homosexuales” celebrados legalmente en otro país.