November 30, 2025 // World News

News Briefs: November 30, 2025

OSV NEWS

Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr. blesses the cemetery at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bowie, Maryland, on Saturday, November 15. Recent archaeological research using ground penetrating radar found hundreds of unmarked and unidentified graves and burial sites throughout the church’s 33-acre property that possibly contain the remains of men, women, and children enslaved by Maryland Jesuits in the 1700s and 1800s. The blessing and a Mass were part of an archdiocesan Pilgrimage of Remembrance to celebrate Black Catholic History Month and launch an archdiocesan initiative to honor those who were enslaved. (OSV News photo/Nicole Olea, Catholic Standard)

Pope Urges ‘Immediate Return’ of More than 300 Children Kidnapped in Nigeria

During the November 23 Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV appealed for the release of more than 300 children and teachers abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria. “I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release,’ Pope Leo said. The number of children abducted from a Nigerian Catholic school on Friday, November 21, has been updated to 303 schoolchildren, officials with the Christian Association of Nigeria said on Saturday, November 22. Twelve teachers also have been taken by gunmen. Earlier reports indicated that 215 schoolchildren had been abducted. The abducted students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18. A Catholic diocese in central Nigeria is appealing for prayer and calm after gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School in Papiri, Niger State. The Diocese of Kontagora said the attack happened between 1 and 3 a.m. local time, leaving security personnel seriously wounded. Bishop Bulus Yohanna said the Church is working closely with security agencies and community leaders as rescue operations continue.

Pope Leo Says Treatment of Migrants in U.S. Is ‘Extremely Disrespectful’

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Insisting that the dignity of all people, including immigrants, must be respected, Pope Leo XIV asked U.S. Catholics and “people of goodwill” to read and listen to the U.S. bishops’ recent pastoral message on the topic. “When people are living good lives – and many of them (in the United States) for 10, 15, 20 years – to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least,” is not acceptable, the pope said on November 18. Meeting reporters outside his villa in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo was asked what he thought of the “special pastoral message on immigration” approved overwhelmingly by members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during their fall assembly on November 12. The pastoral message is “a very important statement. I would invite especially all Catholics, but people of goodwill, to listen carefully to what they said,” he said. In enforcing immigration policy “we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”

U.S. Bishops Name Head of Racial Justice Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The U.S. bishops have named Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, as the first chairman of their now-permanent Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation. The news was announced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a November 20 news release. Bishop Garcia was appointed by Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. That committee – the scope of which includes Catholic social teaching on issues such as poverty, housing, criminal justice, and the environment – oversees the subcommittee, since such challenges typically have a disproportionate effect on communities of color. In an interview with OSV News, Bishop Garcia explained how he saw segregation at work in his small town, which even extended to the Church, said Bishop Garcia, who recalled an African American friend being discouraged from attending a Catholic school by its pastor, while also seeing Mass attendees withhold the kiss of peace during the liturgy from families of color. Rather than being innate, “racism is taught,” said Bishop Garcia – and it can be unlearned. “I think it’s when we get to know people that we break down those kinds of injustices and realize how much alike we are,” he said.

Vatican OKs Cause for Massachusetts Pro-Life Activist, Wife, Mother

WORCESTER, Massachusetts (OSV News) – This fall, the Vatican paved the way for the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, to begin the cause for the potential canonization of local Catholic Ruth V. K. Pakaluk. Pakaluk, a wife and mother from the diocese’s St. Paul Cathedral, was known as an energetic, effective pro-life activist. She died at age 41 in 1998 after a long battle with cancer. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, sent a letter in Latin to Bishop Robert J. McManus, dated September 29, stating that nothing stands in the way of the Worcester diocese moving forward on the cause. Ruth can now be called a Servant of God, a title given to a sainthood candidate when a cause is formally established. Michael Pakaluk, currently a professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, married Ruth when they were college students, and they had seven children. He said he had prayed for the cause for her canonization to open, adding, “I’ve always been happy to cooperate” with anyone pursuing it. He said he views it in relationship to the Second Vatican Council, which set forth a pattern of holiness for laypeople. Ruth corresponded to that as a wife, mother, friend, and citizen, he said.

Detroit Archdiocese Announces Two-Year Restructuring Process

DETROIT (OSV News) – The Archdiocese of Detroit is embarking upon a two-year process of restructuring that will involve every Catholic parish in southeast Michigan, aligning parishes, clergy, and communities to flourish for generations to come, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger said in a message read during Masses the weekend of November 15-16. Like many dioceses around the country, the Archdiocese of Detroit has seen declines in the number of Mass-attending Catholics, ordained priests, and participation in the sacraments in recent decades. Many of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s more than 200 parishes were established “during a time of tremendous growth,” the archbishop said, but today, “we have been struggling to maintain buildings, ministries, and structures that were designed for a much larger Church.” Once home to 1.5 million Catholics, the archdiocese today has closer to 900,000, with fewer than half of baptized Catholics attending Mass on a regular basis, the archbishop said.

Mass Attendance Plumets During Border Patrol Activity in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (OSV News) – At Charlotte’s largest Hispanic parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Sunday Mass usually means packed pews and standing room only. But on Sunday, November 16, attendance dropped by more than half – a visible sign of rising fear following a wave of immigration-related arrests across the city. Between November 15 and 17, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested more than 200 people in a federal operation called “Charlotte’s Web.” Officials say they were targeting unauthorized migrants with criminal records. But many Hispanic Catholics said they fear being caught up in the sweep regardless of their status. Regarding the Border Patrol’s activity in Charlotte, Bishop Michael T. Martin said, “I see through the lens of Jesus. … How would Jesus be calling me to value the human dignity of the person that’s in front of me, regardless of their citizenship status?”