1+ week, 1+ day ago (527+ words) By'Andy Drozdziak for CNA November 21, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print London, England, Nov 21, 2025 / 06:00 am A new report reveals that significant numbers of Anglican clergy have converted to Catholicism in the United Kingdom since 1992. Speaking to CNA, co-author Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St. Mary's Catholic University, London, said he was "really quite surprised" by the high numbers, "especially the [convert] ordinations as a proportion of all ordinations." "The numbers," Bullivant added, "are much larger than most people would imagine. It was a much bigger phenomenon than a lot of people thought." He called the "steady stream" of former Anglican clergy converting "a very major source of Catholic vocations." Bullivant, who is also director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St. Mary's, identified two "big waves" as major factors in…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (556+ words) By'Amira Abuzeid for CNA November 17, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2025 / 14:05 pm (CNA). The Archdiocese of Detroit has announced a restructuring process that will lead to church closures and parish mergers as a result of declining church attendance, its archbishop said. Archbishop Edward Weisenburger announced in a letter over the weekend that due to a shrinking Catholic population in the archdiocese, a two-year restructuring process will see some parishes close while others will be collected into groupings called "pastorates," led by one pastor and his team. He said the "struggle to care for buildings and parish structures where there are very few people" is preventing the Church there to focus on "areas where the Church is growing." Weisenburger said that currently there are 900,000 Catholics in the archdiocese, and fewer than half of those attend Mass regularly. Many…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (706+ words) By'Amira Abuzeid for CNA November 13, 2025 David Kilby News Briefs 0 Print CNA Staff, Nov 13, 2025 / 07:00 am According to a new survey, engagement among U.S. adults who identify as Catholic is strong, especially among the youngest adults, and there is growing trust in the Church after the fallout of the clergy sexual abuse crisis of the early 2000s. In July, Leadership Roundtable commissioned a polling firm to'conduct a national survey'of Catholics in the U.S. in order to inform Church leaders of problems as well as strengths within the Catholic Church since the sexual abuse crisis came to national attention in 2002 and the'Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People'was composed to address it. Researchers composed a 72-question survey and divided respondents into three groups: the Faithful (1,541 respondents), the Occasional (472 respondents), and the Disengaged (1,020). The Faithful said they attend Mass at least monthly, the Occasional said…...

4+ day, 16+ hour ago (610+ words) November 25, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Nov 25, 2025 / 15:31 pm (CNA). Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday suggested that people "say thank you to someone" this Thanksgiving and he addressed concerns about violence in Lebanon ahead of his trip there later this week. Speaking two days before Thanksgiving, the first U.S.-born pope celebrated what he called "this beautiful feast that we have in the United States, which unites all people, people of different faiths, people who perhaps do not have the gift of faith." The pope urged all people, not just Americans, to take the occasion "to recognize that we all have received so many gifts, first and foremost, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of unity " and to give thanks to God for the many gifts we've been given." Pope Leo answered questions from…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (579+ words) November 14, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print CNA Staff, Nov 14, 2025 / 10:34 am (CNA). In a move to renew a "long-lost tradition," the U.S. bishops confirmed the next National Eucharistic Congress will take place in the summer of 2029. At the plenary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Baltimore on Nov. 12, the bishops voted to confirm the date for the country's second National Eucharistic Congress of the 21st century. Last year's National Eucharistic Congress, the first to take place on American soil since World War II, attracted tens of thousands of people for several massive sessions of Eucharistic adoration in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium. The event also featured numerous talks and workshops related to the Catholic faith and a 60,000-participant Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who chaired the first congress, said it was "a time of great…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (612+ words) November 18, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Nov 18, 2025 / 15:56 pm (CNA). Pope Leo XIV said immigrants must be treated with dignity, and he encouraged all people in the United States to heed the bishops" message on immigration. "No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter," Pope Leo XIV said Nov. 18 outside the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo before returning to Rome after a daylong stay there. "But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least " and there"s been some violence, unfortunately " I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said. I think that I would…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (529+ words) November 20, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 20, 2025 / 11:34 am The National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) meets in Indianapolis for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service for Catholic teenagers. The 2025 theme is "I Am," and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and be empowered for discipleship. NCYC was created by'the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry'(NFCYM), an organization committed to advancing the field of pastoral ministry to young people in the United States. Founded with the support of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organization works to strengthen those who accompany young people as they encounter and follow Jesus Christ. The conference, from Nov. 2022, will feature Catholic speakers, daily Mass and adoration, music and worship, breakout groups and workshops, and interactive exhibits with games, vendors, meetups, and live radio shows....

2+ week, 1+ day ago (637+ words) November 14, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 14, 2025 / 10:04 am (CNA). Pope Leo XIV on Friday urged academics to "think the faith" in order to confront what he called an increasingly pervasive "cultural emptiness." The pope spoke at a ceremony inaugurating the academic year at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University, the ecclesiastical university under the direct control of the Holy See, an event that brought together more than a thousand students and professors. "Today we urgently need to think the faith so that we can express it in contemporary cultural settings and challenges, but also to counter the risk of cultural emptiness, which in our time is becoming increasingly invasive," he said. The pope noted that the faculty of theology is called "to reflect on the deposit of faith and to manifest its beauty and credibility in today's diverse…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (520+ words) November 18, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2025 / 15:35 pm (CNA). A rising number of New Yorkers are reportedly converting to the Catholic Church, with the spike in converts coming as the U.S. bishops say increasing numbers of men and women are coming into the faith in this country. Sign-ups at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral also doubled to about 100, according to the report. Many converts reportedly cited the Sept. 10 assassination of Charlie Kirk as a motivator for their conversions. In addition to his political activism, Kirk, an evangelical Protestant, often spoke about the importance of faith in God. This report follows a trend of rising OCIA numbers throughout the U.S. The National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, reported in April on rising conversions across dioceses. Many new Catholics cited immigration, evangelization, and the National Eucharistic Revival as…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (876+ words) November 19, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print Vatican City, Nov 19, 2025 / 13:53 pm (CNA). Reports from the Synod on Synodality published this week reveal that expert groups continue to discuss women's participation in the Church but not the specific question of a possible female diaconate, which has been turned over to a newly-revived 2020 commission. The reports also show that a new group on the liturgy, requested by Pope Leo XIV, is not addressing the Vatican's controversial restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass. According to a report published Nov. 17, during the second session of the Synod on Synodality in October 2024, Pope Francis "reactivated the work" of a papal commission on the female diaconate first created in 2020. "All synodal contributions related to this subject have been forwarded to that commission for its consideration," a one-page report from a study group on Church ministries says....