Our Lady of Czestochowa

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke during the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, June 29, 2019. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Jul 9, 2025 / 13:33 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has written a warm and detailed letter to Cardinal Raymond Burke, thanking the American cardinal for 50 years of priestly ministry, in a gesture that marks a shift in tone following years of tension between Burke and Pope Francis.

The cardinal was one of the most prominent critics in the hierarchy of the late pope, under whom he fell conspicuously out of favor.

Leo’s letter, written in Latin and signed by the pope on June 17, was posted Tuesday by Burke on his official X account. In it, the pope praised Burke “for the prompt service he has zealously carried out and the earnest care he has demonstrated most especially for the law, which has also been of good service to the dicasteries of the Apostolic See.”

The pope went on to commend Burke’s pastoral witness, writing: “He has preached the precepts of the Gospel according to the heart of Christ and has recounted His treasures, diligently offering his devoted service to the Church universal.”

In his post accompanying the papal letter, Burke wrote that he was “very humbled” by it and appealed to his followers to pray for the pope. “May God bless Pope Leo and grant him many years. Viva il Papa!” Burke wrote.

The exchange represents a striking departure from the contentious relationship between Burke and Pope Francis, under whose pontificate Burke was increasingly sidelined.

Francis removed Burke in 2013 from the Vatican Congregation for Bishops — the curial body that recommends episcopal candidates — and reassigned him the following year from the Church’s supreme court to a largely ceremonial position with the Order of Malta, later taking away many of those responsibilities and eventually removing him altogether.

A vocal critic of Pope Francis’ approach to pastoral theology, Burke twice joined other cardinals in submitting “dubia” — formal requests for clarification — regarding the pope’s teachings on Communion for divorced-and-remarried Catholics and blessings for same-sex couples.  

He has also been a staunch proponent of the Traditional Latin Mass, which Francis severely restricted in 2021 through his motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. Last month, Burke made an open appeal to Pope Leo to lift the restrictions on the Latin Mass.

Late in his pontificate, Pope Francis told a meeting of Vatican officials in late 2023 that he was taking away Burke’s stipend and rent-free apartment in Rome. In response to an inquiry from CNA on Wednesday about his current situation in regard to the stipend and the apartment, Burke declined through his secretary to comment.

Burke, 77, was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1975, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome while studying at the Pontifical North American College.

He celebrated his golden jubilee with a Novus Ordo Mass of thanksgiving on Saturday at his titular church in Rome, Sant’Agata dei Goti. Among the concelebrants were Cardinals Dominique Mamberti and James Harvey, the latter of whom delivered the homily.

The cardinal’s decades-long service includes posts as bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin (1995–2004), archbishop of St. Louis (2004–2008), and prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura (2008–2014). He was created a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and served as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2014 to 2023.

Burke participated in the May conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Cardinal Burke's age. It is 77, not 76. Also, this story was updated at 3:08 p.m. ET with the cardinal’s response to CNA’s request for comment. (Published July 9, 2025)

Rows of bunk beds line the interior of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility in the Florida Everglades, a repurposed training center now designated for holding immigrants. President Donald Trump appears in the background during a July 1, 2025, visit to the site, which has drawn criticism from Bishop Frank Dewane and other Catholic leaders. / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Jul 9, 2025 / 12:06 pm (CNA).

A Florida bishop is criticizing recent statements from public officials supporting a new detention facility for illegal immigrants in the Everglades as “obviously intentionally provocative” and degrading to the dignity of people who will be held there. 

“Decency requires that we remember individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives,” Venice, Florida, Bishop Frank Dewane said in a written statement last week. 

The Diocese of Venice in southwestern Florida includes the cities of Fort Myers and Sarasota. It also includes an underused training facility and airport that state and federal officials are turning into a detention facility for up to 1,000 people in the country illegally, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” 

Without naming him, Dewane criticized Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican who served as chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis until DeSantis appointed him attorney general in February to fill a vacancy.

Uthmeier posted a video to social media last month touting the virtues of using the training facility, which is in the middle of the Everglades, to house immigrants here illegally.

“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there’s not much waiting for ‘em other than pythons and alligators. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” Uthmeier said in the video, posted June 19.

Dewane expressed concern about the potential living conditions at the site and about the ability of Catholic clerics to provide spiritual services to inmates and staff there. 

He also chided Uthmeier for what he suggested was disrespect to people who may be held there. 

“It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of ‘alligators and pythons’ at the Collier-Dade facility,” Dewane said in the statement, released July 3. “I do not speak so glibly in regard to convicted felons in Florida Department of Corrections facilities.” 

He also criticized the way President Donald Trump’s administration has gone about removing illegal immigrants from the United States, describing it as overreach. 

“It is alarming to see enforcement strategies, which treat all unauthorized immigrants as dangerous criminals. Masked, heavily armed agents who fail to identify themselves in enforcement activities are surprising. So is an apparent lack of due process in deportation proceedings in recent months,” Dewane said.

The bishop did endorse one major goal of Trump concerning immigration enforcement.

“In describing immigration enforcement initiatives, the Trump administration has stated its focus is on removing criminal aliens who endanger public safety. This concern is widely shared. There is no argument with this,” Dewane said.

“However,” he added, “the need for just immigration enforcement and the government’s obligation to carry it out must be undertaken in a way that is targeted, humane, and proportional.”

Dewane noted that Trump has said in recent weeks that his administration plans to offer passes to foreign farmworkers who don’t have legal residency in the United States. American farmers have said they are suffering from a work shortage and that recent immigration raids have further decreased their supply of labor.

“We’re going to sort of put the farmers in charge,” Trump said during a July 3 rally. 

“We don’t want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they’re doing right now,” the president said. 

Dewane said the president’s recent remarks on farmworkers reflect what the bishop called “a growing recognition that many, indeed most immigrants, even those who are not lawfully present, are not dangerous but peaceful, law-abiding, and hardworking contributors to our communities and to our economy.” 

The prelate called for “serious reforms” of the country’s immigration system that “preserve safety and the integrity of our borders, as well as to accommodate needs for labor, family stability, and the ability of those at risk of grave harm to migrate with due process,” without mentioning specific policies. 

Dewane’s statement includes a link to a January statement on immigration from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that says, in part, that “enforcement measures should focus on those who present genuine risks and dangers to society, particularly efforts to reduce gang activity, stem the flow of drugs, and end human trafficking.” 

The bishops’ conference’s statement also calls for providing “legal processes for longtime residents and other undocumented immigrants to regularize their status.”

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

Oslo Coadjutor Bishop Fredrik Hansen speaks to “EWTN News Nightly” on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 9, 2025 / 11:07 am (CNA).

In celebration of the Catholic Church’s jubilee year, hundreds of pilgrims have traveled by boat to the Norwegian island of Selja to honor the feast day of St. Sunniva, Norway’s only recognized female saint.

On July 8, the feast day of St. Sunniva, Catholics from multiple countries arrived at Selja, an island just off the west coast of Norway. The faithful gathered to recognize the ninth-century Irish princess whose martyrdom inspired Norway’s first Benedictine monastery and eventually its first diocese.

Oslo Coadjutor Bishop Fredrik Hansen told “EWTN News Nightly” that the island was “where the cross of Christ first arrived in our nation and in our country. So to be here is to celebrate our history, the development of Christianity, the coming of Catholicism to our country.”

“We use it now as part of our buildup to the anniversary in 2030, 1,000 years of evangelization,” Hansen said.

The island was home to the Selja Abbey before it was abandoned in 1537 amid the Protestant Reformation. The island is now a shrine to St. Sunniva that attracts pilgrims from across the globe.

Selja is one of many Catholic pilgrimage sites welcoming the faithful during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.

“It felt logical, I think, for all the Catholic bishops in Norway to designate this as a site of pilgrimage, a jubilee site for people to come and to refresh their faith,” Hansen said. 

The celebration on the island began with prayer as the pilgrims walked the trail from the harbor to the ruins of the monastery, where they celebrated Mass. The faithful also learned more about St. Sunniva’s life and legacy.

According to legend, Sunniva was born in Ireland but left after her father’s death. She had rejected a pagan suitor who in turn threatened to destroy her land and oppress her people. The future saint left with a number of other refugees and traveled on a boat that had no sail; the legend claims that they let the current and wind take them where God intended, eventually making it to Selja.

Newly ordained Oslo priest Father Mathias Ledum, a frequent pilgrim to Selja, told “EWTN News Nightly” how Sunniva’s story was an inspiration to him when he was discerning his vocation.

“I came here on the pilgrimage, and I just felt the intercession of Sunniva very strongly for my vocation, and given her story, going from Ireland and setting out in a boat without any oars, without any sails, and just letting God take control,” Ledum said.

Once Sunniva arrived on the island, she and the others took shelter in a cave to escape abuse from enemies they encountered. Ledum said the refugees “prayed to God to be spared from this. And then the cave fell down on top of them. So they died.”

Many years later, according to tradition, a light was witnessed in the same cave Sunnivia once hid and died in. It is said to have spread over the whole island. Many said the cave and the relics within it had an inexplicable but pleasant fragrance.

“There were signs that … these were holy people,” Ledum said. “And then this place became the seat of the first diocese in Norway. Her relics were here. The seed was planted, and you could see … the living faith of Norwegians today.”

“It’s such a great pleasure to be here and to seek their intercession … and to continue to pray for the conversion of Norway,” the priest said.

The Catholic Cathedral of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. / Credit: Mylius via Wikimedia (GFDL 1.2)

CNA Newsroom, Jul 9, 2025 / 09:50 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Germany is facing a cascading financial crisis as declining revenues force dioceses nationwide to implement drastic spending cuts, with one diocese projecting a staggering deficit of over 100 million euros (about $117 million) by 2035.

The Diocese of Limburg — led by the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing — recorded its first annual deficit of 810,000 euros (about $937,000) in 2024.

The deficit signals the beginning of what some describe as an inevitable financial reckoning, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The diocese attributes the shortfall to “rising personnel and pension costs, a continuing decline in church tax revenues, and the financial consequences of societal megatrends such as demographic change, declining church affiliation, and increasing secularization.”

The financial pressures extend beyond individual dioceses to the national level, reports CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The Association of German Dioceses, which serves as a legal entity for the German Bishops’ Conference, has announced “ambitious austerity measures” that require cuts of approximately 8 million euros ($9.4 million) from its 129-million-euro ($151.2 million) budget. The association’s full assembly mandated that a balanced budget be presented for fiscal year 2027.

Only recently, however, the German Church was awash with cash. Church tax revenue peaked at 6.76 billion euros (about $7.92 billion) in 2019, up by more than 100 million euros on the previous year, despite a record exodus of 272,771 Catholics that same year. 

The windfall reflected Germany’s robust pre-pandemic economy, which temporarily masked structural weaknesses now coming sharply into view.

The financial crisis increasingly reflects the reality in the pews, namely, a precipitous decline in German Catholic membership and practice.

For the first time, the number of Catholics in Germany has dropped below 20 million, with a total of 19,769,237 recorded in 2024 — a decrease of more than 576,000 from the previous year. Catholics now represent less than a quarter of Germany’s population of 83.6 million.

Even more striking is the collapse in active faith practice. Only 6.6% of German Catholics — just over 1.3 million people — regularly attend Sunday Mass, meaning less than 2% of the entire German population participates in weekly Catholic worship.

The Church in Germany recorded more than 321,000 formal resignations in 2024, compared with approximately 6,600 new members and readmissions.

Vicar General Father Wolfgang Pax emphasized that Limburg’s approach would avoid indiscriminate cuts. The prelate said: “Our goal is not to cut with a lawnmower. We want to align budgetary policy decisions with our ecclesiastical mission and strategic goals — with a clear compass in stormy times.”

The financial constraints come as questions persist about the Church’s spending on Germany’s controversial Synodal Way, a multiyear initiative that has drawn worldwide criticism and warnings of potential schism.

Reports raised the question of whether the organizers spent more than 5.7 million euros (about $6.7 million) on the project between 2019 and 2022, although Church officials have declined to confirm such calculations.

The spending has proven particularly contentious, given that the Catholic Church in Germany is funded by both state payments and a mandatory church tax — 8% to 9% of income tax for registered Catholics — making it one of the world’s richest Catholic institutions.

Beate Gilles, general secretary of the German Bishops’ Conference, acknowledged the severity of the situation: “The austerity process, which is already running parallel in many dioceses, is unavoidable. There will be hard cuts that are inevitable.”

She warned that the Church would be forced to withdraw support from important projects due to resource limitations.

Archbishop Guy de Kerimel of Toulouse, France. / Credit: Paralacre, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Newsroom, Jul 9, 2025 / 09:20 am (CNA).

The archbishop of Toulouse, France, has drawn fierce criticism for appointing a priest previously convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy to serve as diocesan chancellor, sparking outrage from victims’ advocates and the local Catholic community.

Archbishop Guy de Kerimel named Father Dominique Spina as chancellor and episcopal delegate for marriages, effective Sept. 1, according to a decree published June 2 on the archdiocese’s website. The appointment became public knowledge on July 7, when the regional newspaper La Dépêche du Midi broke the story.

Spina was convicted in 2006 by the Tarbes Court of Appeals for raping a 16-year-old student in 1993 while serving as the boy’s spiritual director at Notre-Dame de Bétharram school. The court sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment, with four years to be served and one year suspended.

Archbishop defends ‘mercy‘ decision

De Kerimel defended his controversial choice in a statement to Agence France-Presse, saying he had “taken the side of mercy” in promoting Spina, who had worked in diocesan archives for five years.

“It is true that Father Spina served a five-year prison sentence, including one year suspended, for very serious acts that took place nearly 30 years ago,” the archbishop said, according to Le Monde.

He justified the appointment by arguing that Church officials “have nothing to reproach this priest for in the last 30 years.”

The archbishop added that Spina “no longer exercises pastoral responsibility, other than celebrating the Eucharist, alone or exceptionally for the faithful.”

The appointment has generated widespread condemnation within Catholic circles.

“What is offensive is that this is a priest who was convicted of rape of a minor. It’s unacceptable,” one Toulouse Catholic told La Dépêche du Midi after learning of the news on the diocesan website.

Catholic news portal Tribune Chrétienne described the decision as causing “astonishment” and raising “serious questions” about the coherence of the Church’s commitment to fighting abuse following the 2021 CIASE report.

The controversial appointment also raises canonical questions. Church law requires diocesan chancellors to be “of unimpaired reputation and above all suspicion.”

null / Credit: Pormezz/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 9, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

An agreement between the Virginia attorney general’s office and two Christian counselors will limit that state’s enforcement of a so-called “conversion therapy” ban for minors, a law that restricts the way counselors can interact with patients on issues related to transgenderism and sexual orientation.

Under the agreement, the state will allow a patient under the age of 18 with gender dysphoria to receive “talk therapy” that helps the patient conform his or her self-perceived “gender identity” to his or her biological sex. It will also allow a minor to receive “talk therapy” intended to align his or her sexual orientation toward attraction to the opposite sex.

Counselors who provide this type of therapy based on religious beliefs will not face disciplinary action for providing the therapy sessions to patients who request it, according to the agreement.

“This court action fixes a constitutional problem with the existing law by allowing talk therapy between willing counselors and willing patients, including those struggling with gender dysphoria,” Shaun Kenney, a spokesperson for the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, said in a statement provided to CNA.

“Talk therapy with voluntary participants was punishable before this judgment was entered,” Kenney added. “This result — which merely permits talk therapy within the standards of care while preserving the remainder of the law — respects the religious liberty and free speech rights of both counselors and patients.”

The agreement effectively limits enforcement of the statewide ban. Under a 2020 law signed by former Gov. Ralph Northam, counselors could have faced disciplinary action from regulatory boards if they provided the prohibited therapy, even if the patient had expressly requested it.

State law defines “conversion therapy” as any “practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” This includes “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.”

The agreement, approved in the Henrico County Circuit Court, notes that the two counselors who challenged the ban in court — John and Janet Raymond — provide Christian counseling that integrates their religious beliefs in therapy sessions. The agreement states this includes “voluntary conversations, prayer, and written materials such as Scripture.”

Because their Christian faith includes a belief that “a person’s behaviors or gender expressions should be consistent with that person’s biological sex” and a belief that “sexual or romantic attractions or feelings should not be directed toward persons of the same sex,” the agreement affirms that the therapy is protected under the state’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

The Founding Freedoms Law Center, which represented the two Christian counselors in court, called the agreement a “major victory” and stated that the ban is “effectively dead” in Virginia.

“With this court order, every counselor in Virginia will now be able to speak freely, truthfully, and candidly with clients who are seeking to have those critical conversations about their identity and to hear faith-based insights from trusted professionals,” the law center’s statement read.

“This is a major victory for free speech, religious freedom, and parental rights in Virginia,” the statement added.

Jennifer Morse, the president of the pro-family Ruth Institute, told CNA she believes this legal victory is essentially about free speech, and added that the bans exist because “activists would prefer that no one try to change, because if enough people try, sooner or later, at least some of them will succeed.”

“The strategic purpose of these bans is to protect the fiction that people are ‘born gay’ and can never change and that ‘sexual orientation’ is an innate immutable trait, comparable to race or eye color or left-handedness,” she said.

“If people start saying ‘I don’t want to be gay. I’m not convinced I was born this way, can I find someone who will talk to me about that?’ enough of them would change enough to disprove these crucial assumptions that underlie the ideology of the committed LGBT activists,” Morse added.

In March, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” for minors. That lawsuit, which could set nationwide precedent, focuses on similar arguments about religious freedom and free speech.

Anton Krecic, founder of Seven Weeks Coffee. / Credit: Screen capture “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly”/Seven Weeks Coffee

CNA Staff, Jul 9, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Seven Weeks Coffee, an American, pro-life coffee brand, announced July 7 that it has now donated $1 million to pro-life organizations.

Founded in 2021 by Anton Krecic, the coffee company has combined direct-trade specialty coffee with pro-life values. Ten percent of the profit of each coffee bag sold is donated to pro-life organizations, specifically pregnancy resource centers.

“When my wife and I founded Seven Weeks Coffee, the skeptics doubted Americans would support a values-based company. They were wrong,” Krecic said in a press release. “We are so blessed to have gone on this journey with our customers, raising money for pro-life causes.”

During its time in business, Seven Weeks Coffee has donated to over 1,000 pregnancy resource centers in all 50 states, paid for ultrasounds for pregnant mothers in unwanted pregnancies, and estimates that it has helped save over 9,000 lives.

Women from across the country have written to the pro-life coffee company thanking it for its support.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what to do. I was scared, alone, and abortion felt like the only option. But the pregnancy center offered me a free ultrasound — and I saw my baby’s heartbeat. That changed everything,” one mother wrote to Seven Weeks Coffee after the company paid for her ultrasound.

In an interview with “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” in 2023, Krecic discussed how he originally wanted to work in politics but ended up running a coffee company instead. He explained that he moved to Washington, D.C., “with a passion just to get involved in the political process” but that he also has always had “a very big heart for the pro-life movement.”

After visiting a pregnancy care center several years ago, the experience made a lasting impact on him, which led to his idea to start a pro-life coffee company.

“There really was no pro-life coffee company around that I really saw making a kind of a national impact … I was like, ‘There’s a mission here and there’s an impact that we can have,’” he recalled.

While trying to come up with a name for the business, Krecic’s wife asked him when a baby in utero was the size of a coffee bean. After doing some research, Krecic found that a baby in utero is the size of a coffee bean at seven weeks. Additionally, this is also when a baby’s heartbeat is clearly detectable during an ultrasound.

“So I was like, ‘That is the name. That’s what we’re going to call the company,’” he recalled.

In its first year alone, 2022 — which was also the year Roe v. Wade was overturned — Seven Weeks Coffee donated over $50,000 to more than 250 pregnancy resource centers.

“God has blessed us more than we could have ever imagined,” Krecic said.

Camp Mystic alumnae sing songs after a memorial service on July 7, 2025, for the young campers who perished in floods last week. / Credit: Amira Abuzeid/CNA

Houston, Texas, Jul 8, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).

The faith communities of the Texas Hill Country flood victims are rallying in support of the families with Masses, rosaries, and memorial services. 

The Fourth of July flood disaster near the central Texas town of Kerrville, where the Guadalupe River rose 35 feet in the early morning hours, has claimed over 100 lives so far, including more than 30 young children, with many more still unaccounted for.

Especially affected was Camp Mystic, the 100-year-old Christian girls’ camp in Hunt, Texas. At least 27 campers there perished, with several more, including a counselor, not yet recovered.

Over the last few days, schools and churches in Houston, where many current and former Camp Mystic families reside, have held prayer services and Masses for the victims and their families.

In an email, Father Sean Horrigan, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, asked the community for prayers for the family of Anna Margaret Bellows, 8, a parishioner who was one of the 27 girls who died in the flood.

He said funeral details were forthcoming.

St. John Vianney Church held a memorial Mass on Monday, July 7, for Molly DeWitt, another of the young girls who passed away.

A filled-to-overflowing memorial service for Camp Mystic families took place on July 7 at the Church of St. John the Divine, an Episcopal church with deep ties to the camp. Buried there is Anne Eastland Spears, former Camp Mystic chairman of the board and mother of camp director Dick Eastland, who lost his life while rescuing campers from the flood.

The ministers spoke of Jesus’ love for his children, especially when they suffer. St. John’s rector, Rev. Leigh Spruill, encouraged those in mourning to “have hope. Keep talking to God … He may seem absent now, but he hears everything and he is present.”

Youth ministry director Rev. Sutton Lowe referred to the Gospel story of Jairus and his little girl, who died and whom Jesus raised from the dead. 

“When we die, Jesus is there to touch us and say ‘arise,’ and there is new life beyond our imagining,” he said.

Rev. Libby Garfield told mourners that “there is a path forward that is lined with the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.”

After the service, Camp Mystic alumnae of all ages gathered on the lawn north of the church, forming a large circle in the grass and singing camp songs, many of which were Christian hymns. 

Ashley Emshoff, an alumna who spoke to CNA after the memorial, told CNA that the camp forges bonds between campers that are lifelong and are “as strong as family.” 

Mystic alumna and St. John parishioner Alafair Hotze told CNA the Eastland family, who run the camp, became like family to generations of campers.

Emshoff and Hotze said that many Camp Mystic alumnae are so eager for their daughters to become part of the Mystic community that they write to the camp as soon as they find out they are pregnant with girls. The Eastlands respond with a Camp Mystic infant onesie for their newborn and a letter of congratulations (along with a place on the waitlist). 

Hotze said that Dick Eastland’s death, while tragic, aligned perfectly with the man he was: “He taught us to be selfless and love as Christ loves,” Hotze said.

“He died as he had lived,” Hotze said: “Giving his life for those he loved.”

The tragedy points to the urgent need to provide support and accompaniment to priests, who often bear great responsibilities and challenges, usually alone. / Credit: Africa Studio/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 8, 2025 / 16:18 pm (CNA).

The Catholic Church — especially in Italy — was profoundly shocked by the news of the death of Father Matteo Balzano, a 35-year-old priest who took his own life on Saturday, July 5.

Alarm was initially raised when he failed to celebrate Sunday Mass. Shortly after, his colleagues found the young priest dead in his parish residence in the town of Cannobio in the Italian region of Piedmont, part of the Diocese of Novara.

In a moving message, Father Franco Giudice, episcopal vicar for clergy and consecrated life in the Diocese of Novara, recalled that “only the Lord, he who scrutinizes and knows each one of us, knows how to understand the most impenetrable mysteries of the human soul.”

“We lift up to the God of mercy a prayer for Don Matteo, our brother in the priesthood, expressing our human closeness, in this dramatic moment, to his family and to the entire parish community of Cannobio,” Giudice wrote.

Balzano was born Jan. 3, 1990, in Borgomanero, Piedmont. He was a member of the parish in Grignasco and was ordained a priest on June 10, 2017, by Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla of Novara. He served as parochial vicar in the community of Castelletto sopra Ticino from 2017 to early 2023. After a period of time at the Marian shrine in Re, a village in northern Italy, he enthusiastically resumed his mission among the young people of the oratory of the parish of Cannobio, also serving in the Cannobina Valley, according to the Diocese of Novara.

‘No one knows the hell one has inside’

One of Balzano’s parishioners, Maria Grazia, told the newspaper Il Secolo d’Italia that before taking his own life that he had commented to her regarding the death of another person who was close to the parish that “no one knows the hell one has inside to commit such an extreme act.”

On the afternoon of Monday, July 7, a prayer vigil was held at St. Victor Church in Cannobio. On Tuesday, July 8, at 10:30 a.m. local time, Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla offered the funeral Mass.

After the service, burial took place in the cemetery church of Grignasco, about 55 miles southwest of Cannobio.

The human heart of priests

The tragic event points to the urgent need to provide support and accompaniment to priests, who often bear great responsibilities and challenges, usually alone.

Father Omar Buenaventura, a Peruvian priest widely recognized for his work in solidarity with those most in need, reflected on this vulnerability — inseparable from the human condition.

“Like any man, I feel, I suffer, I laugh, I cry, I get anxious, I get sad, and many, many times I feel that the weight on my shoulders is too great and is going to crush me,” he wrote on Facebook.

Buenaventura noted that “inside every priest there is a human heart, with feelings, joys, wounds, traumas, and histories that few people know. And when this happens, I can’t help but stop and ask myself about my own life.”

“It’s true, God is our strength, but we are made of flesh and blood. And in the face of a situation as painful as this, there are no words. Only faith,” he added.

After emphasizing that God is his strength, he acknowledged that he too needs “to be embraced, listened to, supported, loved, forgiven, and cared for. We need to be treated like men, not like machines. Seriously, sometimes the weight is enormous, and without God, I would be crushed too.”

‘We are not the functionaries of the rite’

Along these lines, Father Francisco Javier Bronchalo, a priest of the Diocese of Getafe in Spain, emphasized that priests “are not superheroes” and that the vocation does not alleviate suffering.

He explained that “the loneliness of priests is not so much physical but emotional” and emphasized the need for support.

Bronchalo also stated that “indifference kills more than hatred” and lamented that many priests live “in a climate of indifference, judgment, and excessive demands. If we make a mistake, they point it out. If we do something right, no one usually says anything.”

In this context, the Spanish priest noted that the suicide “is not an isolated case” but rather a symptom that brings to light “communities that demand much but offer little support. Who receive but don’t give [support]. A symptom of priests who silence their pain out of fear or shame and then fall ill and go through an ordeal.” 

Bronchalo therefore insisted on the need to “rediscover the humanity of the priest”: “We are not the functionaries of the rite. We are poor men with fragile souls who have left everything and have been ordained full of hope. We don’t need pity but truth, prayer, affection, community. God sustains us, but none of us are immune from such a tragedy,” he added.

Not an isolated case

A study published in 2020 revealed that at least seven priests died by suicide in France over a four-year period.

In the case of Ireland, according to the Association of Catholic Priests, at least eight priests have taken their own lives in the last 10 years. Another worrying example is Brazil, where 40 priests died by suicide between 2016 and 2023.

These incidents are often associated with overwork and too many responsibilities, poor mental health including anxiety and depression, as well as a culture of being over-demanding of oneself and clericalism.

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

The Brompton Oratory in London, with which the London Oratory School is associated. / Credit: James Grey via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Dublin, Ireland, Jul 8, 2025 / 15:38 pm (CNA).

At Sunday Mass at the Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge, London, Provost Father Julian Large pleaded with members of Parliament (MPs) who voted in favor of abortion up until birth or assisted suicide not to present themselves for Communion.

During his July 6 homily at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Large referred to the recent and widely reported situation in which Chris Coghlan, a Catholic MP, voted in favor of assisted suicide and then publicly criticized his parish priest for refusing him Communion.

Ahead of the vote on the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, the Liberal Democratic MP had been told by his parish priest Father Ian Vane that if he voted for assisted suicide, he would be an obstinate public sinner and be denied Communion.

Subsequently, at Mass the weekend following the Westminster vote, Vane publicly announced that Coghlan had broken canon law and was being denied Communion.

Coghlan subsequently took to social media and complained to the press that his parish priest had tried to coerce him when all he was doing was representing the views of his constituents.

An Oratory Mass-goer told the Catholic Herald that Large commended Vane for his courage and charity in calling the MP to repentance. And, while the provost acknowledged that he did not recognize any of the names of the Catholic MPs who voted in favor of either of the bills, and therefore would not be in any position to refuse them Communion, he pleaded that if any were present at Mass, they first repent of their sins and receive absolution in the sacrament of penance before presenting themselves at the altar rail.

Large also encouraged Catholics more broadly to reflect on whether they were receiving Communion worthily and to approach Communion as though it were their first and their last. 

Indeed, in his June 30 parish newsletter, Large lamented the lack of piety and seriousness among the parents of young Catholics receiving their first holy Communion in the oratory.

“Judging by the comportment of many of the adults in church at the first holy Communion Masses, however, it seems that in many cases it will be down to the children to set a good example to the grown-ups. The roar of chatter, and the marching backwards and forwards in front of the high altar before and after the Mass without any sign of acknowledgment for the King of Kings who is present in the tabernacle give the impression that many of the adults (including those once educated at expensive Catholic schools) treat the event more like a summer cocktail party.”

Coghlan wrote on X: “I thought an MP could keep their religion private but there’s been some discussion about mine. If there isn’t space in the Catholic Church for those who don’t subscribe to all of it, that’s a shame.”

The Brompton Oratory in London is a community of 10 priests who are part of the Congregation of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. It has emerged as a significant focus and location of renewal of Catholicism in the United Kingdom. Thousands attend Mass there each weekend, including many young people. This trend reflects a growing interest in traditional practices within the Church.