Church and World•Local Church•Religious Freedom

European bishops call for EU Special Envoy for Religious Freedom

For the bishops, such an appointment is essential considering today’s context, marked by rising religious discrimination and persecution faced by individuals, religious minorities, and faith communities – the majority of whom are Christians – in many countries around the world.

Oct 08, 2025 11:18

ZENIT Staff

Persecuted Christians•Rome

Rome to host official launch of Religious Freedom Report 2025

The programme will include the participation of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, who will deliver the inaugural address. Victims of religious persecution will also give first-hand testimonies, including two women who spent years on death row for their faith.

Oct 08, 2025 11:11

ZENIT Staff

Pope Leo XIV•Vatican Diplomacy

Nicolás Maduro asks the Pope for diplomatic mediation in conflict with Trump and the United States

Maduro Appeals to the Vatican as U.S. Naval Operations Heighten Tensions in the Caribbean

Oct 08, 2025 10:41

ZENIT Staff

Religious Freedom

Spanish Catholic priest found guilty of hate speech for telling the truth about Islam

At the center of the controversy is a 2016 essay titled “The Impossible Dialogue with Islam,” in which Ballester argued that genuine dialogue between Christianity and Islam remains unattainable under current conditions

Oct 07, 2025 10:16

ZENIT Staff

Local Church

U.S. Bishops to Vote for Chairmen-elect of Six Standing Committees at Plenary Assembly in November

Elections for USCCB president and vice president are also taking place at this meeting; should any of the candidates for committee chairmanship be elected to fill to a higher office, the bishops’ Committee on Priorities and Plans will convene to nominate a new candidate for that committee

Oct 07, 2025 10:11

ZENIT Staff

Local Church•Pro Life

USA: FDA Approval of Generic Abortion Drug “Jarring and Contradictory,” Says Bishop Thomas

Responding to reports last week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved an additional generic for the abortion drug, mifepristone

Oct 07, 2025 10:07

ZENIT Staff

Pope Leo XIV

What did the Pope say to the Knights of Columbus? Leo XIV receives them in audience

Words of the Pope during the meeting at the Vatican with the Knights of Columbus

Oct 06, 2025 17:13

ZENIT Staff

Persecuted Christians

Tehran: Confessions, torture and prison. New sentences for Christian converts

A court has upheld decades of prison sentences for five defendants. Their ‘crime’ was participating in house church services, taking online courses on faith and attending training courses abroad (Turkey). On 7 October, another trial for blasphemy. In August, state television broadcast a propaganda documentary featuring forced confessions by converts.

Oct 06, 2025 11:23

ZENIT Staff

Local Church

The Carmelite Order held its General Chapter: these are its new leaders

This was the first General Chapter of the Order held outside Europe in the Order’s 800-year history. Programmed into the schedule were several opportunities for members to experience the rich Indonesian culture.

Oct 06, 2025 11:21

ZENIT Staff

Interview•Justice and Peace•Vatican Diplomacy

Two years after October 7: interview with the Vatican Secretary of State on Hamas terrorism and the massacre in Gaza

The Holy See Secretary of State speaks to Vatican Media on the second anniversary of Hamas’s “inhuman” attack on Israel, which unleashed the destruction of the Gaza Strip. He says that what is happening in Gaza is “inhuman”, and that he’s struck by the turnout at peace marches. He adds that antisemitism is a cancer that must be eradicated.

Oct 06, 2025 11:14

ZENIT Staff

Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV speaks out against anti-Semitism

Speaking before the recitation of the Angelus, the Pope lamented the recent wave of antisemitic violence

Oct 06, 2025 10:11

ZENIT Staff

Jubilee 2025•Pope Leo XIV

“Called to renew in ourselves the fire of the missionary vocation”: Leo XIV’s homily introducing the Church to a new missionary age

Homily of Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Missionary World and the Jubilee of Migrants

Oct 05, 2025 23:11

ZENIT Staff