October 30, 2025 // National

News Briefs: November 2, 2025

OSV NEWS

Pope Leo XIV says farewell to Britain’s King Charles III in the San Damaso Courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Vatican at the end of his visit Oct. 23, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Itinerary Released for Pope Leo’s First Foreign Trip

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Commemorating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its Creed, as well as reaffirming hopes for peace in the Middle East, Pope Leo XIV will travel to Turkey and Lebanon from Thursday, November 27, through Tuesday, December 2. Vatican officials released the itinerary for Pope Leo’s first foreign trip on Monday, October 27. The trip to Iznik, Turkey, site of the ancient Nicaea, initially was planned for Pope Francis. But Pope Leo, just days after his election in May, announced his intention to commemorate the anniversary with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. The patriarch announced at a liturgy in Istanbul on Wednesday, October 22, that he had invited the three other patriarchs of the ancient “pentarchy” to join him and the pope for the Nicaea celebration. The heads of churches invited are: Greek Orthodox Patriarchs Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Theodore II of Alexandria, and John X of Antioch.

Pope: A Synodal Church Evangelizes Better, Works Together for Justice

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The pursuit of synodality should strengthen the Catholic Church’s mission of proclaiming the Gospel and help all Catholics learn to collaborate to make the world a better place, Pope Leo XIV said. “As Pope Francis reminded us on numerous occasions,” the pope said, the purpose of synodality “is to help the Church fulfill its primary role in the world, which is to be missionary, to announce the Gospel, to give witness to the person of Jesus Christ in every part of the world.” That witness includes speaking up for justice, caring for the planet and promoting peace, Pope Leo said during a meeting on Friday, October 24, with participants in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies. “The Church has a voice, and we need to be courageous in raising our voice to change the world, to make it a better place,” he told the pilgrims, who included about 150 representatives from the United States, including 15 U.S. bishops.

Annunciation Student Injured in Shooting Discharged from Hospital

MINNEAPOLIS (OSV News) – Sophia Forchas, who was critically injured in an August 27 shooting during an all-school Mass at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, has been discharged from the hospital and was greeted with signs and cheers on Thursday, October 23. Forchas, 12, was in critical condition for two weeks after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. Then, Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis reported on September 11 that she had moved into serious condition – defined as having “a chance for improved prognosis.” On her way home from Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul on October 23, where she was receiving inpatient rehabilitation, Sophia was escorted to Hennepin Healthcare. She was greeted by staff who clapped and cheered. Some staff cried and hugged each other. They held signs that included birthday messages and sang the “Happy Birthday” song to her. Sophia, a seventh grader, turned 13 on October 25. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara was part of the escort. Sophia’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Walt Galicich, credited staff at Hennepin Healthcare for assisting in the girl’s recovery. Sophia’s family, members of St. Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, stated her healing progress was “nothing short of miraculous; an undeniable testament to the mercy and intervention of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Pope Recognizes Martyrdom of Polish Salesian, Czech Priests

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV formally recognized the martyrdom of nine Polish Salesian priests killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz and Dachau and the martyrdom of two Czech priests executed by the communists in the 1950s. The pope signed the decrees of martyrdom on Friday, October 24, clearing the way for the beatification of the 11 priests. The Polish Salesian case is known as the cause of “Jan Swierc and eight companions.” Father Swierc and seven others died in the Auschwitz camp in 1941-42, while Salesian Father Franciszek Miska was interned in the Dachau concentration camp and died through malnourishment and torture on May 30, 1942. The Czech priests recognized as martyrs are Fathers Jan Bula and Václav Drbola, priests of the Diocese of Brno, who were among 11 people executed after a series of show trials in communist Czechoslovakia in 1951-52 after the murder of three communist officials in the town of Babice.

Message of Hope Marks
Beginning of Hispanic
Ministry Conference

NEWARK, New Jersey (OSV News) – With the theme “Walking with Joy, Anchored in Hope,” the annual conference of Hispanic ministry directors kicked off the evening of Tuesday, October 21, bringing together representatives from at least 87 dioceses that are serving the Hispanic community in different regions across the country. From October 21-24, the National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors of Hispanic Ministry, or NCADDHM, is gathering in Newark to participate in Eucharistic celebrations, conferences, training sessions, moments of reflection, and fellowship. The conference of pastoral leaders in Hispanic ministry, members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and members of Catholic organizations will focus on five of the pastoral priorities of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, a 10-year plan that was approved by the U.S. bishops in June of 2023. These five priorities to be discussed are young adults and campus ministry, family life, formation and evangelization, social justice and immigration, and vocations. At the gathering’s opening Mass, Auxiliary Bishop Mario A. Avilés of Brownsville, Texas, stressed the need for hope amid a difficult situation currently facing the migrant community in the United States under the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies.

Bishops Must ‘Sow’ with Patience, Foster Respect, Pope Says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The first lesson every bishop must learn is humility, Pope Leo XIV said. “Not humility in words, but that which dwells in the heart of those who know they are servants, not masters; shepherds, not owners of the flock,” he said in his homily during a Mass for the episcopal ordination of the new nuncio to Iraq. Then-Msgr. Miroslaw Wachowski, an official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, was ordained a bishop by Pope Leo during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, October 26, after appointing the 55-year-old Polish priest to be papal nuncio to Iraq in September. “The bishop is called to sow with patience, to cultivate with respect, to wait with hope,” Pope Leo said in his homily. “He is a guardian, not an owner; a man of prayer, not of possession.” “This is the first lesson for every bishop: humility,” he said.

Gudziak: Russian Attack on Ukrainian Kindergarten Shows ‘Relentless Barbarity’

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) – A U.S. Ukrainian Catholic archbishop is speaking out after Russian forces struck a kindergarten in Ukraine’s second largest city, while killing two children near that nation’s capital. “The moral clarity and the difference between the aggressor and the victim cannot be more clear,” said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia in an October 22 statement to OSV News. At least one person was killed and six wounded when Russian drones targeted a private kindergarten in Kharkiv, with children present in the building. “It should become clear to all that Putin does not want peace. In their quest for conquest the invaders stop at nothing,” said Archbishop Gudziak. He also called on the Russian Christians throughout the world to denounce Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.