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Jesuits extend reparations offer to victims of alleged Rupnik abuse

The General House of the Society of Jesus in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 19:05 pm (CNA).

The Society of Jesus is offering reparations to about 20 women who say they were sexually, psychologically, and spiritually abused by the disgraced ex-Jesuit artist Father Marko Rupnik.

Rupnik is accused of having committed serious sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse of dozens of religious sisters under his spiritual care over decades. His case is currently under investigation by the Vatican.

Father Johan Versuchen, Rupnik’s former superior and current general counsellor and delegate for the Interprovincial Houses and Works of the Society of Jesus in Rome, said he sent a letter to the women who have come forward with accusations against Rupnik, offering an open invitation to reparations, according to The Associated Press.

While the letters were not made public out of respect to…

Pro-life groups praise Trump plan to cut taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood

null / Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Several pro-life organizations are praising President Donald Trump’s administration for plans to freeze tens of millions of dollars in federal taxpayer money that was intended in part for the country’s largest abortion supplier, Planned Parenthood.

Officials are mulling an immediate freeze of $27.5 million from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Title X Family Planning Services Program for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that are yet to be named.

Congress allocated more than $286 million for funding of the Title X program for the current fiscal year. The expected freeze would block about $20 million that was expected to support Planned Parenthood affiliates, according to a Tuesday report from the Wall Street Journal.

Federal law prohibits direct federal taxpayer funding for most abortions but allows funds for abortion clinics if the money is…

Bishop Zaidan calls for ‘lasting peace’ in Holy Land following resumed attacks in Gaza

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, is encouraging prayers and solidarity for the Holy Land as what he called the “devastation of Gaza” continues. 

Zaidan, who leads the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, said in a USCCB statement that the resumed conflict “will have dire implications for any future civil society development in the region and will likely exacerbate existing tensions for another generation.”

On March 18, about two months after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was announced, Israel Defense Forces launched new attacks to pressure Hamas to release more…

Diocese promotes day of ‘unplugging’ from screens, devices for Lent

Credit: Zyabich/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is promoting a “Diocesan Day of Unplugging” — intentionally eliminating screen time or time spent consuming digital media — on March 28 as a Lenten fasting discipline to encourage Catholics to spend more time with God as opposed to spending time on their smart devices.

Noting that fasting is a “practice of self-discipline with a penitential focus,” the diocese, which is led by Bishop Michael Burbidge, called “unplugging” from the addicting influence of the internet, phones, and social media a “worthwhile and challenging type of fasting.”

Citing studies suggesting most people spend more than two hours a day on social media, the diocese said such statistics beg the questions: Are we spending more time with our devices than with God? And are we investing more time on social media than on nurturing in-person relationships…

Mel Gibson’s ‘The Resurrection of the Christ’ to begin shooting in Italy this August

Actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson. / Credit: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

Mel Gibson’s sequel to “The Passion of the Christ” — “The Resurrection of the Christ” — is set to begin production in Italy this August, according to Manuela Cacciamani, CEO of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios. 

“I can confirm that the next film directed by Mel Gibson, produced by Icon Productions, ‘The Resurrection of Christ,’ will be shot entirely in Cinecittà starting in August and requires many theaters and stage constructions,” she said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

In an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Gibson said the film is “very ambitious” and the story follows “the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle.”

“I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really…

Regnum Christi: Principal resigns following arrest of school chaplain on sex abuse charges

Highlands El Encinar School in Madrid. / Credit: Courtesy of Highlands School

Madrid, Spain, Mar 26, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

The principal of the Regnum Christi Highlands El Encinar school in Madrid, Father Jesús María Delgado, LC, has resigned days after five complaints of sexual abuse involving Father Marcelino de Andrés, former secretary of the disgraced founder of the Legion, Marcial Maciel, were reported.

De Andrés, who served as the school’s chaplain, was arrested March 6 by Spain’s National Police and released subject to restrictions. The priest was initially accused of sexually abusing one female student but subsequently four additional complaints were received.

According to the seventh statement issued by the institution since the case broke, Delgado has resigned from his duties.

“Given the situation we are going through at the school where I am principal, which has caused profound pain and distrust in our institution, I believe I…

French independent abuse authority has compensated nearly 850 victims since 2021

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. / Credit: Gabriele Maltinti/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 26, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

France’s National Independent Authority for Recognition and Reparation (INIRR) has compensated nearly 850 victims of clergy sex abuse since 2021, according to its latest report released on Wednesday. 

The annual report for 2024 states that since 2021, the organization has resolved 852 cases, with 99% involving financial compensation. 

INIRR President Marie Derain de Vaucresson wrote in a statement accompanying the report that 350 cases are still pending. 

The French conference of Catholic bishops established INIRR in November 2021 after the explosive Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CAISE) report released in October of that year found at the time that hundreds of thousands of children were abused in the Catholic Church in France in the past 70 years. 

The almost 2,500-page report said an estimated 216,000 children were abused by…

Pope Francis: God desires to offer his love and mercy to those at the ‘crossroads’ of life

Pope Francis waves from a balcony at Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Sunday, March 23, 2025, following weeks of hospitalization for bilateral pneumonia. / Credit: Vatican Media/Screenshot

Vatican City, Mar 26, 2025 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday highlighted the transformative power of God’s merciful love for those who encounter him at the crossroads of life.

Since being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Sunday, the Holy Father’s weekly general audiences are suspended for the duration of his at-least-two-month convalescence in his Casa Santa Marta home in the Vatican. 

In his written March 26 catechesis, titled “Jesus Christ Our Hope” and released by the Vatican, the pope said: “Jesus waits for us and lets himself be found precisely when we think that there is no hope left for us.”

Reflecting on the Gospel of St. John, the Holy Father noted that Jesus had the desire to start…

Salesians elect Maltese priest Fabio Attard as Don Bosco’s 11th successor

Maltese priest Fabio Attard was elected rector major of the Salesians for the next six years. / Credit: Courtesy of Salesian Family

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

Maltese priest Fabio Attard was elected as the new rector major of the Salesian congregation during its general chapter in Turin, Italy, becoming the 11th successor of St. John Bosco.

The new superior general of the order founded in 1859 succeeds Spanish Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, who became prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in January.

According to the Salesians, the new rector major did not participate in the Salesian chapter meeting, so he was informed of his election by telephone, at which point he was asked for his required acceptance.

“His words were heard in the hall and, moved to tears, he thanked the brothers for their trust and…

Chicago Archdiocese sues over ‘racketeering scheme’ involving false sex abuse claims

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. / Credit: Edlane De Mattos/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 26, 2025 / 11:20 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Chicago this week filed a lawsuit alleging a “racketeering enterprise” among a group of individuals who reportedly filed false abuse claims against a former priest to receive compensation from the Church there. 

The archdiocese said in a Monday statement that it had filed a lawsuit in Cook County circuit court “seeking injunctive relief and damages from participants of a wide-ranging racketeering scheme” that reportedly involved “more than a dozen” fraudulent abuse claims against disgraced former priest Daniel McCormack, who spent more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty to abusing young children.

Lawyers for the diocese did not respond to requests for comment and for a copy of the lawsuit on Wednesday morning. The diocese said in its press release that some of the participants in the…