A 17th-century Japanese depiction of St. Francis Xavier from the Kobe City Museum collection. / Credit: Public Domain

CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 3, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. Francis Xavier, one of the first Jesuits who evangelized vast portions of Asia.

Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in the Kingdom of Navarre, a region now divided between Spain and France. His mother was an esteemed heiress and his father an adviser to King John III. While his brothers entered the military, Francis followed an intellectual path to a college in Paris. There he studied philosophy and later taught it after earning his master’s degree.

In Paris, Francis would discover his destiny with the help of his longtime friend Peter Faber and an older student named Ignatius Loyola — who came to Paris in 1528 to finish a degree and brought together a group of men looking to glorify God with their lives.

At first, personal ambition kept Francis from heeding God’s call; Ignatius’ humble and austere lifestyle did not appeal to him. But the older student, who had undergone a dramatic conversion, often posed Christ’s question to Francis: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?”

Gradually, Ignatius convinced Francis to give up his plans and open his mind to God’s will. In 1534, Francis Xavier, Peter Faber, and four other men joined Ignatius in making a vow of poverty, chastity, and dedication to the spread of the Gospel through personal obedience to the pope.

Francis became a priest in 1537. Three years later, Pope Paul III confirmed Ignatius and his companions as a religious order: the Jesuits. During that year, the king of Portugal asked the pope to send missionaries to his newly acquired territories in India.

Together with another Jesuit, Simon Rodriguez, Francis first spent time in Portugal caring for the sick and giving instruction in the faith. Then on his 35th birthday, he set sail for Goa on India’s west coast. There, however, he found the Portuguese colonists causing disgrace to the Church through their bad behavior.

This situation spurred the Jesuit to action. He spent his days visiting prisoners and the sick, gathering groups of children together to teach them about God, and preaching to both Portuguese and Indians. Adopting the lifestyle of the common people, he lived on rice and water in a hut with a dirt floor.

His missionary efforts among them often succeeded, though he had more difficulty converting the upper classes and encountered opposition from both Hindus and Muslims. In 1545, he extended his efforts to Malaysia before moving on to Japan in 1549.

Becoming fluent in Japanese, Francis instructed the first generation of Japanese Catholic converts. Many said they were willing to suffer martyrdom rather than renounce the faith brought by the far-flung Jesuit.

Francis Xavier became ill and died on Dec. 3, 1552, while seeking a way to enter the closely guarded kingdom of China. In 1622, both St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius Loyola were canonized on the same day.

This story was first published on Nov. 27, 2011, and has been updated.

According to Venerable English College, during the Catholic persecution in England, students would gather around the “Martyrs’ Picture” in the chapel to sing the Te Deum — a Latin hymn of thanksgiving — whenever news reached Rome of the martyrdom of a former student. This custom continues today on Martyrs’ Day, Dec. 1, when the relics of the martyrs, preserved beneath the altar, are venerated by the students. / Credit: Bénédicte Cedergren/EWTN News

Rome Newsroom, Dec 2, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

For the English seminary in Rome, Dec. 1 is an important day: the commemoration of the martyrdom of some of the school’s former students — 44 priests who were killed during the English Reformation after returning to England to serve the persecuted Catholics.

During the dark days of the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Venerable English College was founded in Rome to form young English Catholic men discerning the priesthood.

Today, the seminary continues to educate English men studying to be priests. In 2024, the college’s commemoration of “Martyrs’ Day” was moved to Dec. 2 due to the first Sunday of Advent falling on Dec. 1.

In the 16th century, “the situation in England was grave for Catholics,” Father Christopher Warren, vice rector of the Venerable English College, told Bénédicte Cedergren of EWTN News on Nov. 27. “The Protestant Reformation, which we think of now very much as a historical fact, was a live one for them. Particularly for those who would celebrate Mass, for priests, and for those who would seek to aid them in their mission, it was a question of life and death.” 

After their ordinations in Rome, the courageous young priests returned to England and Wales, where they served in secret, facing constant dangers of betrayal, arrest, and execution.  

Over the next 100 years, 44 of the college’s students were martyred, most by being tortured and then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The rector of the Venerable English College, Father Stephen Wang, recalled that the most important martyr for the seminary is the first martyr, and one of the first students, St. Ralph Sherwin.

“He was from the north of England. He was very much an ‘establishment figure’ in England,” Wang told EWTN News on Nov. 28. “He was at Eaton School, at Oxford University, but then he converted to Catholicism, and he was full of faith and longed to share that faith with others. He studied for the priesthood, lived here for three years, and then he went back on the first mission that was sent from the seminary with a group of companions to try and share the Catholic faith back in England and Wales.”

According to the college, during the Catholic persecution in England, students would gather around the “Martyrs’ Picture” in the chapel to sing the Te Deum — a Latin hymn of thanksgiving — whenever news reached Rome of the martyrdom of a former student. 

This custom continues today on Martyrs’ Day, when the relics of the martyrs, preserved beneath the altar, are venerated by the students.

They also have morning prayer and Mass, vice rector Warren said. “And then in the evening after evening prayer, we have a public service of veneration during which the Gospel is read, but also an account of the martyrdom of one of the college martyrs. So that’s really a highlight because it sets before us the reality of their sacrifice.” 

While much of the building of the Venerable English College had to be massively restored after being commandeered and ransacked by Napoleon’s troops in 1798, the Martyrs’ Picture by Durante Alberti, dating to 1583, was saved and still hangs in the sanctuary of the college’s church today.

The painting has “an image of the Most Holy Trinity with the blood of Jesus falling onto a globe, setting it on fire,” Wang, the rector, said. “That’s our motto, the words of Jesus: ‘I have come to cast fire on the earth.’”

He explained that in the painting, the seminary’s two patron saints, St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury and St. Edmund, king of East Anglia, are depicted gesturing toward the Flaminian Gate, “which represents the road going north. So it’s the road home.”

“Our two saints are saying to us and to everyone today who’s in the Church: Your destiny, your vocation is not to stay in Rome forever. It’s to remember that you’re here for a purpose. It’s to go home. It’s to be on mission. It’s to take the good news of Jesus and your experience of being here in Rome back home to those who need to hear the Gospel,” the rector added.

Wang noted that while Catholics in England no longer face the likelihood of a physical martyrdom, they still have to confront many challenges, and seminarians returning home often have to navigate shifting modern cultural realities and anti-Christian hostility.

The future priests of the Venerable English College continue to draw inspiration from the courage of the English martyrs, whose legacy drives them to share the Gospel no matter the obstacles.  

“I think our seminarians are very inspired by the history here,” Wang said. “It’s so relevant, too, today as well, because today we need missionary priests, we need priests whose hearts are full of love, but also full of zeal and aware of the difficulties. The cultures are not always welcoming to the Gospel and to the Christian message. So, to be able to share your faith in a loving way but to have the courage and also the creativity you need to share that faith in new and difficult circumstances... The martyrs are such a model for that.” 

The Holy Father's Dec. 2, 2024, letter to Catholics in Nicaragua comes at a critical time for the country. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has written a moving letter to Catholics in Nicaragua to express his closeness, affection, and incessant prayer to the Virgin, imploring her consolation in the midst of the persecution of the faith that the country is suffering under the regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.

In the context of the novena prior to the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father wrote a Dec. 2 pastoral letter to the “beloved Church in Nicaragua.” 

The pontiff professed the affection he has for the Nicaraguan people, distinguished by their “extraordinary love for God,” whom they affectionately call “Papachú.”

“I am with you,” the Holy Father assured, encouraging the faithful to trust in Providence, “the only sure guide,” especially in the most difficult moments, when humanly “it becomes impossible to understand what God wants of us.” In these circumstances, he reminded, “we are called not to doubt his care and mercy.”

Pope Francis emphasized that trust in God and fidelity to the Church are “two great beacons” that illuminate their lives. “Be assured that faith and hope work miracles,” he said.

He also invited them to turn their gaze to the Immaculate Virgin, referring to the title of his letter: “Who causes so much joy? The Conception of Mary!” This popular expression marks the celebration of “La Gritería,” a Nicaraguan tradition that fills churches every Dec. 7 in honor of the Mother of God.

The pontiff expressed his hope that this celebration will be a source of encouragement “in difficulties, uncertainties, and deprivations” and urged the faithful to abandon themselves into the arms of Jesus with the prayer “God first.”

“I want to really emphasize that the Mother of God unceasingly intercedes for you, and we continually ask Jesus to always hold you by his hand,” the Holy Father added.

He also encouraged the faithful to pray the “powerful prayer” of the rosary, where the mysteries “make their way through the intimacy of our hearts, where the freedom of the daughters and sons of God finds shelter, which no one can take away from us.”

Finally, he entrusted the people of Nicaragua to the protection of the Immaculate Conception and concluded with “that simple cry expressed with profound trust: ‘Mary belongs to Nicaragua, Nicaragua belongs to Mary.’ So be it!”

Persecution of the Church in Nicaragua

The Holy Father’s letter comes at a critical time for Nicaragua, shortly after the National Assembly approved a constitutional reform proposed by the dictatorship by which Ortega and Murillo will henceforth be “co-presidents” and will officially have total control of the government.

Among the most controversial measures is a provision that requires that “religious organizations must remain free of all foreign control.”

For years, the Ortega regime has intensified a systematic persecution against all expressions of faith in the country. Lay faithful, priests, and bishops are constantly monitored, persecuted, abducted, and even imprisoned in deplorable conditions.

Numerous members of the clergy have been deported from the country and stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship, leaving them stateless, as is the case of the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez, who was exiled to Rome in January along with another bishop, 15 priests, and two seminarians.

Under the socialist regime, Catholics have been silenced and public expressions of faith, such as prayers for the persecuted or pastoral and spiritual activities, are strictly prohibited.

From 2018 to 2024, 870 attacks against the Catholic Church have been recorded in Nicaragua, according to the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church?”, which documents how serious the crisis is.

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

Pope Francis creates 21 new cardinals from across the world at a consistory in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 30, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 1, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Five Italians have been chosen by Pope Francis to become cardinals at the Dec. 7 consistory, four of whom are under 80 years old and therefore have voting rights to elect a new pope at the next conclave. 

In total, 21 cardinals — representing the Catholic Church’s geographical diversity — will be created at the upcoming consistory.

Metropolitan Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, who edited the series “The Theology of Pope Francis,” is a theologian and former president of the Italian Theological Association educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. The 57-year-old prelate actively participated in both plenary sessions of the global Synod on Synodality that took place in the Vatican in 2023 and 2024. Repole also participated in the 2024 theological-pastoral forums, created by the Synod of Bishops, to deepen study and reflection on the missionary action of the Church. 

Archbishop Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, is the youngest of the Italian prelates to be elevated to the cardinalate on Dec. 7. In 2024 alone — in addition to being chosen for the College of Cardinals — the 54-year-old prelate was appointed by Pope Francis as vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, titular bishop of Acque di Mauritania, apostolic administrator of Ostia, and grand chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University.  

Father Fabio Baggio, CS, is the only one of the five Italian cardinals-elect who belongs to a religious congregation. He will become titular archbishop of Arusi. Baggio, a priest of the Missionaries of St. Charles (also known as the Scalabrinians), has worked in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development since 2017. With the appointment of Canadian Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny as the dicastery’s prefect in 2022, Baggio was subsequently promoted to be the dicastery’s undersecretary. From 2017–2022, Baggio was head of the dicastery’s Migrants and Refugees section.

Metropolitan Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, known for his love for the poor, led a drug rehabilitation center in Catanzaro, Calabria, for over 20 years during his priestly ministry. Appointed by Pope Francis as archbishop of Naples in 2022, Battaglia — also known as “Don Mimmo” — had previously served as bishop of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant’Agata de’ Goti in Italy’s southwestern region of Campania from 2016–2020.

At 99 years old, Archbishop Angelo Acerbi will become the oldest member of the College of Cardinals at the upcoming consistory. Having served as a bishop in the Catholic Church for 50 years, Acerbi also has 40 years of experience working as part of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps. Between 1974 and 2001, he served as nuncio to New Zealand, Colombia, Hungary, Moldova, and the Netherlands. From 2001–2015, Acerbi was prelate of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Due to being over the age of 80, he will not have voting rights at the next papal conclave.

Following the Dec. 7 consistory there will be a total of 253 members of the College of Cardinals. Among the 52 Italians, only 17 will have voting rights at the next papal conclave. 

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday Angelus address on the first Sunday of Advent, Dec. 1, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Dec 1, 2024 / 08:25 am (CNA).

Pope Francis welcomed the recent Lebanon-Israel ceasefire while urging the faithful to “stand erect and raise your heads” amid global turmoil during his Sunday Angelus address.

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the first Sunday of Advent, the pontiff expressed hope that the diplomatic breakthrough between Lebanon and Israel could spark similar ceasefires elsewhere, particularly in Gaza, while delivering a powerful message about maintaining spiritual vigilance in times of tribulation.

“Jesus’ invitation is this: Raise your head high and keep your heart light and awake,” the Holy Father said, addressing a world grappling with what he called “cosmic upheavals and anxiety and fear in humanity.”

The pope noted that many people today, like Jesus’ contemporaries, faced with “catastrophic events they saw happening around them — persecutions, conflicts, natural disasters — are gripped by anxiety and think that the end of the world is coming.”

“Their hearts are weighed down with fear,” Francis observed. “Jesus, however, wants to free them from present anxieties and false convictions, showing them how to stay awake in their hearts, how to read events from the plan of God, who works salvation even within the most dramatic events of history.”

Diplomatic breakthrough offers ‘glimmer of peace’

“I welcome the ceasefire that has been reached in recent days in Lebanon, and I hope that it may be respected by all parties, thus enabling the population of the regions involved in the conflict — both Lebanese and Israeli — to return home soon and safely, also with the valuable help of the Lebanese army and the United Nations peacekeeping forces,” the pope said.

The pontiff also expressed concern about Syria, “where unfortunately war has flared up again, claiming many victims,” and added: “I am very close to the Church in Syria. Let us pray!”

Addressing the situation in Ukraine, Francis noted that “for almost three years we have witnessed a terrible sequence of deaths, injuries, violence, and destruction... Children, women, the elderly, and the weak are the first victims. War is a horror, war is an affront to God and to humanity, war spares no one, war is always a defeat, a defeat for the whole of humanity.”

A light heart in Advent season

Looking toward Christmas, the pope connected the season’s message of hope with contemporary challenges: “All of us, in many moments of life, ask ourselves: What can I do to have a light heart, a wakeful heart, a free heart? A heart that does not let itself be crushed by sadness?”

The pontiff concluded with a stark warning about indifference to conflict, stating that “the quest for peace is the responsibility not of a few, but of all. If habituation and indifference to the horrors of war prevail, the whole, entire human family is defeated.”

Pope Francis meets with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at the Vatican on Oct. 4, 2021. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Nov 30, 2024 / 08:10 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has proposed celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea together with Orthodox leaders in a personal letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

The letter, published by the Vatican on Saturday, was delivered by Cardinal Kurt Koch — who heads the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity — during a visit to Istanbul for the patronal feast of the Orthodox Church.

“The now imminent 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea will be another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Francis wrote in his message dated Nov. 30.

Reflecting on six decades of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue while looking ahead to future possibilities for unity, the pope acknowledged the progress made since Vatican II’s Unitatis Redintegratio decree marked the Catholic Church’s official entry into the ecumenical movement 60 years ago.

Speaking to EWTN News about this anniversary on Nov. 21, Koch emphasized that unity efforts must focus on “the innermost center of self-revelation in Jesus Christ.”

The Swiss cardinal also highlighted what he called an “ecumenism of blood,” noting that “Christians are not persecuted because they are Catholic, Lutheran, or Anglican but because they are Christians.”

Building peace in a time of war

While celebrating the “renewed fraternity” achieved since Vatican II, Pope Francis noted in his message that full communion, particularly sharing “the one Eucharistic chalice,” remains an unfulfilled goal.

In a pointed observation about contemporary global tensions, the pontiff connected ecumenical efforts to peace-building.

“The fraternity lived and the witness given by Christians will also be a message for our world plagued by war and violence,” he wrote, specifically mentioning Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon.

The pope also highlighted the recent participation of Orthodox representatives in October’s Synod on Synodality.

The traditional exchange of delegations between Rome and Constantinople occurs twice yearly, with Catholic representatives traveling to Istanbul for St. Andrew’s feast on Nov. 30 and Orthodox delegates visiting Rome for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 29.

Koch led this year’s Vatican delegation. He was accompanied by Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the dicastery; Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, undersecretary; and Archbishop Marek Solczyński, apostolic nuncio to Turkey.

The delegation participated in the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St. George, Phanar, and held discussions with the synodal commission charged with relations with the Catholic Church.

The moon is visible over St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, on the morning of Oct. 12, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Nov 29, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The Vatican’s chief prosecutor confirmed at a public event on Wednesday that despite prior denials, the Vatican does possess a confidential file on the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi — the so-called “Vatican girl” who went missing over 40 years ago.

The Vatican “found” the file, it does “exist,” the Vatican’s promoter of justice, Alessandro Diddi, said at a book presentation in Rome on Nov. 27, according to Italian media.

Orlandi’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, has maintained for years that the Vatican had information on his missing sister that it was withholding from the Italian authorities.

Diddi said Wednesday the content of the dossier is confidential, but the Vatican continues to collaborate with Italy in its new investigation into how the 15-year-old Emanuela disappeared in 1983.

Orlandi was the daughter of an envoy of the prefecture of the pontifical house and a citizen of Vatican City State. Her disappearance at age 15 in June 1983 has been one of Italy’s biggest unsolved mysteries and, since it occurred, the subject of international intrigue, including speculation about the Vatican’s role.

Public interest in the case was also rekindled in 2022 after the release of the true-crime documentary “Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi” on Netflix.

At the request of Orlandi’s family, the Vatican conducted a new investigation into the case at the beginning of 2023, sharing its findings with Rome prosecutors that summer.

In November 2023, the Italian Senate voted to begin a new parliamentary inquiry into Orlandi and another girl who went missing in Rome around the same time.

The four-year parliamentary commission has “full investigative powers” and a budget of 50,000 euros (about $52,500) per year to shed light on the 1983 disappearance of the two girls. 

Chiara Porro, Australia's ambassador to the Holy See, presents her credentials to Pope Francis Aug. 27, 2020. / Vatican Media/EWTN.

Vatican City, Nov 28, 2024 / 08:04 am (CNA).

Heading home after serving four and a half years in the Vatican as Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, Chiara Porro says she has seen a rise in the participation and promotion of women’s leadership in the Catholic Church under Pope Francis.  

Officially completing her term at the Vatican post on Nov.29, Porro says the pope has made significant changes to ensure both religious sisters and laywomen have a “seat at the table” alongside men in the Vatican.  

“When I arrived it was a time when the pope started to put women into leadership positions,” Porro told CNA. “What I’ve noticed over these years is that the momentum has really increased.” 

Within the Vatican, Pope Francis has appointed a number of women in high-ranking positions since his 2013 election, including economist Sister Alessandra Smirelli as secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2022; Sister Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops in 2021; and art historian Barbara Jatta as Vatican Museums director in 2016.   

“The process of synodality that the pope has started has given women — but not only women — the opportunity to be heard,” Porro said. “The synod [in October] has been really important to just show the diversity of views among women and the importance of listening to them all and having that dialogue.”

As one of 51 women ambassadors out of a total of 130 country ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Porro shared with CNA that ambassadors regularly meet and collaborate with several women associated with the Vatican and other Catholic organizations. 

“Together we’ve tried to give support to women working in the Catholic Church, or religious women, or other groups — working in collaboration with men — to try and advance women and ensure everyone has a seat at the table,” she said.

Speaking on human rights issues — including human trafficking, protection of minors, and religious freedom — the Australian ambassador said both the state and the Church have important roles to play to promote peace and social cohesion in society. 

“As institutions we can work together to address some of these issues,” Porro said. “There are lots of areas that we’ve worked with the Vatican and I think that there’s much more that can be done — lots of partnerships.” 

The Vatican’s influence is something that I think is very critical and that states recognize,” she added.  

Having collaborated with various Vatican bodies including the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Porro has also worked closely with the Holy See’s charitable arm Caritas Internationalis “to raise the voices of the most vulnerable.”

Stephanie MacGillivray, Caritas Internationalis Senior Officer for Identity and Mission, Women's Empowerment and Inclusion, told CNA both political and faith leaders have “significant influence on social, political and cultural norms.”    

“By working with state and faith leaders, we can ensure that women’s experiences, needs and expertise are brought to the tables where decisions are made that will affect their lives,” she said.

Although “women’s leadership, protection and respect for the human rights of women within religion is sometimes contested,” MacGillivray told CNA the collaborative work of Church leaders, faith-based organisations, and government actors is key in effectively addressing and overcoming issues that undermine the rights and dignity of women and girls in different parts of the world.

Reflecting on her work in the Vatican since first presenting her credential letters to Pope Francis in 2020, Porro expressed her “hope that the work that we’ve done over these years continues to progress.”  

“It’s really been an immense privilege and honor to serve here as Australia’s ambassador and I hope I’ve grown the relationship and been able to identify areas where we have been able to work more together and influence change for the betterment of the world and society as a whole,” she said.  

Pope Francis speaks to members of the International Theological Commission at the Vatican on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. / Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Nov 28, 2024 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis told a group of theologians on Thursday he plans to visit Turkey for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025.

Bartholomew I, the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, anticipated that Francis would be making the trip in comments to reporters in May. In September, he confirmed that the joint trip is expected to happen at the end of May 2025.

The Council of Nicaea took place in the ancient city of Nicaea in 325 A.D. in the former Roman Empire, which is now the present-day city of İznik, in northwestern Turkey, about 70 miles from Istanbul.

“I plan to go there,” Pope Francis told members of the International Theological Commission on Nov. 28.

The Council of Nicaea, he said, “constitutes a milestone in the journey of the Church and also of all humanity, because faith in Jesus, the Son of God made flesh for us and for our salvation, was formulated and professed as a light that illuminates the meaning of reality and the destiny of all history.”

Pope Francis met with the International Theological Commission during their plenary gathering at the Vatican. He noted it is important that the commission’s meeting includes drafting a document about “the current meaning of the faith professed at Nicaea.”

“Such a document may be valuable, in the course of the Jubilee year, to nourish and deepen the faith of believers and, starting from the figure of Jesus, also offer insights and reflections useful for a new cultural and social paradigm, inspired precisely by the humanity of Christ,” the pope said.

The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council in the Church. It is accepted by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, and other Christian communities that accept the validity of early church councils.

It predates the Chalcedonian Schism — which separated the Oriental Orthodox communion from Rome — by more than 100 years and predates the Great Schism — which separated the Eastern Orthodox Church from Rome — by more than 700 years.

During the council, the bishops condemned the heresy of Arianism, which asserted that the Son was created by the Father. Arius, a priest who faced excommunication for propagating the heresy, did not accept that the Son was coeternal with the Father.

Pope Francis said during a meeting with a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in June that he wished “wholeheartedly” to make the journey to Nicaea to mark the important anniversary with Bartholomew I.

If he travels to Turkey, a trip that has yet to be confirmed by the Vatican, it will take place amid a busy Jubilee Year for the pontiff.

“The Council of Nicaea, in affirming that the Son is of the same substance as the Father, highlights something essential: in Jesus we can know the face of God and, at the same time, also the face of man, discovering ourselves sons in the Son and brothers among ourselves,” Francis said on Thursday. “A fraternity, one rooted in Christ, that becomes a fundamental ethical task for us.”

“Today, in fact, in a complex and often polarized world, tragically marked by conflict and violence, the love of God that is revealed in Christ and given to us in the Spirit becomes an appeal to everyone to learn to walk in fraternity and to be builders of justice and peace,” he added.

In his speech to the theologians of the international commission, the pope also emphasized the importance of synodality.

“I would say that the time has come to take a courageous step: to develop a theology of synodality, a theological reflection that helps, encourages, and accompanies the synodal process, for a new, more creative and bold missionary stage that is inspired by the kerygma and involves all components of the Church,” he said.

Dr. Todd Ovokaitys speaks at the World Changers Ethical & Innovation Summit at the Pontifical Lateran University in Vatican City, Nov. 26, 2024 / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Vatican City, Nov 27, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

Against the dramatic backdrop of a massive mosaic of Christ enthroned, entrepreneurs, researchers, and civil society leaders spoke at the Vatican’s Pontifical Lateran University this week about their big ideas for ethical innovation.

Dubbed the “World Changers Ethical & Innovation Summit,” the Nov. 25-26 event showcased groundbreaking ideas spanning artificial intelligence, regenerative medicine, ethical technology, and environmental sustainability.

Among the featured speakers was Dr. Todd Ovokaitys, a Johns Hopkins-trained medical doctor and researcher, who presented his pioneering work in regenerative medicine. 

Ovokaitys highlighted the potential of Very Small Embryonic-Like stem cells (VSELs) — which are not the ethically fraught embryonic stem cells — to reverse spinal cord injuries and other degenerative conditions. 

“We focus on issues in the nervous system, which are often irrevocable, irreversible and permanent for life, but no longer,” he said.

The doctor shared the story of a chief of police in Mexico who was shot four times, resulting in a complete mid-thoracic spinal cord injury that left him without any feeling or movement from the chest down. After being treated with VSELs using state-of-the-art Strachan-Ovokaitys Node Generator (SONG) Laser Technology and physical therapy, the police chief was able to recover the full ability to walk.

Another speaker, Karl Nagy, CEO of Kabena Group, unveiled his vision for an ambitious biorefinery project on Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, that is designed to provide clean water, organic fertilizer, and electricity to over a million households

The summit also featured Tim Johnson, CEO of Health In Tech, who shared how he started his own insurance and medical management company to help Americans have access to all of their medical records in one place. 

Dr. Christina Rahm, a mother of four, scientist, and cancer survivor, presented some of her patented technology to create toxin-free seed patents aimed at rethinking the global food supply.

“As a scientist, I wanted to do a lot of things in my life. As … a mother of four, it became very clear to me once I had cancer, and once I lost a child, that I needed to do even more,” said Rahm, the CEO of DRC Ventures and chief science formulator at The Root Brands.

“So we launched some of the formulations that I had developed that got rid of nuclear waste and got rid of microplastics and mycotoxins that were in our seeds and in our soil,” she said.

Another innovative project was the OCEANIX initiative, presented by Manuel Rocamora. Set in Busan, South Korea, OCEANIX is developing a prototype for a sustainable floating city that could serve as a model for densely populated coastal areas.

The World Changers Summit is the brainchild of Professor Gabriele Pao-Pei Andreoli, the honorary president of the Institute for Advanced Studies and Cooperation. Since its inaugural event in 2023 at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, four World Changers summits have been hosted by the Vatican.

The November 2024 summit’s theme, Social Responsibility: Cultivating Practices for Enhanced Welfare and Justice, underscored the need for innovation grounded in human dignity.

A future World Changers summit is scheduled to take place November 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.