March 4, 2025 // National

News Briefs: March 9, 2025

OSV NEWS

Trump Administration Ends U.S. Bishops’ Refugee Resettlement Contract

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The Trump administration “immediately terminated” its contract with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for refugee resettlement, effective as of Thursday, February 27. The bishops were notified of the contract’s termination in two February 26 letters sent by officials with the U.S. Department of State. The contract had been suspended by the administration on January 24, just four days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program. The program was established by Congress in 1980 to formalize the process by which refugees vetted and approved by the U.S. government are legally resettled in the U.S. through partnerships with federal agencies, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations such as the Catholic Church. The USCCB filed a lawsuit against the administration on Tuesday, February 18, arguing the suspension was “unlawful and harmful to newly arrived refugees,” including more than 6,700 refugees assigned to USCCB by the government who are still within the 90-day transition period.

U.S. Army Chaplain Father Emil Kapaun Now ‘Venerable’

WICHITA, Kansas (OSV News) – A Kansas military chaplain who served during two wars is a step further along the path to possible sainthood, thanks to a declaration made by Pope Francis. On Monday, February 24, the pope authorized the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree naming Father Emil J. Kapaun as “venerable” due to his voluntary sacrifice of his life in the face of certain, untimely death, accompanied by the exercise of Christian virtues, during the Korean War. Ordained in 1940 as a priest of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, Father Kapaun served as a U.S. Army chaplain in World War II and in the Korean War with the rank of captain. The priest’s tireless ministry, marked by constant danger to his life, culminated in a prisoner of war camp at Pyoktong, North Korea, where he blessed his communist captors before dying of pneumonia and a blood clot in 1951 at the age of 35. Prior to his forcible move to the camp’s hospital, where patients were left to die, he stilled the protests of his fellow POWs, saying: “Don’t worry about me. I’m going where I always wanted to go, and when I get there, I’ll say a prayer for all of you.”

Fatima Statue to Visit Rome for Jubilee of Marian Spirituality

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will make a rare journey from its shrine in Portugal to Rome in October of this year for a Jubilee celebration of Marian spirituality. The statue will be present in St. Peter’s Square on October 12 for the closing Mass of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, Vatican officials announced on Thursday, February 27. The statue has embedded in its crown one of the bullets from the attempted assassination of St. John Paul II in 1981, when a Turkish gunman shot the pope on May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and the Polish pope credited her with saving his life. He traveled to Fatima the next year to offer his thanks in person. The Marian jubilee will offer pilgrims the chance to cross the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica and partake in a prayer vigil at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome – considered the oldest Marian shrine in the West. The Jubilee will be only the fourth time the statue has left the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima for Rome. The first occasion was in 1984 when St. John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It returned during the Holy Year 2000 and again in 2013 for the Year of Faith, which marked 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Establishes Commission to Boost Donations to the Holy See

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “To support the service of the Apostolic See and considering the current economic situation,” Pope Francis established a permanent Vatican commission dedicated to boosting donations to the Holy See through targeted campaigns. The newly created Commission of Donations for the Holy See will “encourage donations by means of special campaigns among the faithful, episcopal conferences, and other potential benefactors, emphasizing their importance for the mission and the charitable works of the apostolic see,” read a decree instituting the commission. Signed by the pope and dated Tuesday, February 11, three days before Pope Francis was hospitalized, the decree was released by Vatican officials on Wednesday, February 26. The commission also will “find funding from willing donors for specific projects presented by the institutions of the Roman Curia and the Governorate of Vatican City State,” the decree said. Additionally, the commission will coordinate other existing avenues of fundraising for the Holy See, such as the financial assistance offered by bishops as stipulated in canon 1271, as well as Peter’s Pence – a collection taken up in parishes each year that supports the work of the Roman Curia and funds the charitable activity of the pope.

Vatican: Names of Alleged Abusers Cannot Be Published Without Proof

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican Dicastery for Legislative Texts strongly cautioned against publishing “news” that would harm the reputation of an individual, especially someone who is deceased, when it comes to priests accused of abuse and not found guilty in civil or canonical procedures. The right to defend oneself and the principles of presumed innocence until proven guilty must be protected and guaranteed, said a letter signed by Archbishop Filippo Iannone, prefect of the dicastery, and Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, dicastery secretary. They also said the Church must uphold the principle of the non-retroactivity of crime – that is, that no person can be criminally responsible under a law or statute for conduct before that law enters into force. Another “undeniable legal foundation” for forbidding this practice, they wrote, is Pope Francis, who wrote, “It is necessary to prevent the lists of the accused being published, even by dioceses, before the preliminary investigation and the definitive condemnation.” Therefore, the archbishop and bishop wrote, “the answer can only be negative with respect to divulging confidential news concerning anyone, especially in the case concerning deceased persons.” The letter, written in Italian, was dated September 5, 2024, but was posted recently on the dicastery’s website.

Worshippers attend a prayer service for Pope Francis near the Christ the Protector statue in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state Feb. 27, 2025, while the pope continues his hospitalization. The Vatican said Feb. 28 that the 88-year-old pontiff has continued to improve but that he will not lead his traditional Ash Wednesday services in Rome March 5. (OSV News photo/Diego Vara, Reuters)