The Archdiocese of Paris rejected proposals by France’s Culture Minister Rachida Dati to charge tourists visiting the restored Notre Dame de Paris to fund protection of religious heritage.
With a €5 fee, Notre Dame could raise €75 million annually that “would save all the churches of Paris and France. It would be a magnificent symbol,” she said last week.
However, a statement from the archdiocese said: “Pilgrims and visitors have never been distinguished: services are celebrated during visits and visits continue during services.”
Charging tourists would “deprive pilgrims and visitors of the communion among all that is the very essence of the place”, it said, adding there was little space for facilities to “distinguish between visitors, pilgrims and the faithful”.
The Belgian Church’s annual report recorded almost 10 times as many requests for “debaptism” and five times as many sexual abuse claims than average last year, after a television mini-series revisited its abuse scandals.
The figures did not include the 524 debaptism requests that followed Pope Francis’ controversial remarks during his visit to Belgium in late September.
The bishops’ conference report on 23 October said debaptisms – where people ask for their names to be removed from baptismal records – jumped to 14,251 in the 2023-2024 recording year after an average of 1,500 cases over recent years. Debaptism is an increasingly popular protest in Belgium, though it is practically impossible for data protection reasons. Parishes usually add a line in baptismal registers saying the person requested to leave the Church.
Claims of sexual abuse in the Church increased from 47 cases in 2022-2023 to 218 in 2023-2024. Around three-quarters of them came from Flemish-speaking areas, where more priests worked in schools and youth groups, the report said. In September 2023 Flemish television screened the shocking mini-series Godvergeten (Forgotten by God), which the report said was the main reason for both trends.
Pope Francis met a delegation of Belgian bishops in Rome on 25 October, where they discussed his visit and the abuse scandal in a “fraternal conversation”, according to Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels.
The Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin signed a treaty formalising relations between Prague and the Holy See. The agreement followed 22 years of negotiations, after Czech lawmakers rejected a treaty with the Vatican in 2003 for undermining religious equality.
The new treaty acknowledged the Church’s right to function according to its own rules, to be self-governed and to choose its own ministers freely. It further guaranteed the right to conscientious objection regarding military service and healthcare, and provided protection for the sacramental seal of confession. It granted marriages conducted in the Catholic Church the legal equivalence of civil marriages and Catholics in Czech prisons, hospitals or the army will be able to access religious services.
The Czech government and the Vatican also undertook to work together to preserve and maintain cultural heritage and guarantee freedom of thought, conscience, and religious belief. The Vatican has agreed to make historical Catholic sites accessible for research – a moved described as essential by Fiala. The treaty was subject to ratification by the Czech parliament.
The Vatican announced cuts to the salaries of curial cardinals of approximately 10 per cent, equivalent to €500 per month. From 1 November, no cardinal with a leadership role in a dicastery will receive two monthly allowances. The cut, requested by Pope Francis, is the second after the 10 per cent reduction in cardinals’ wages made in April 2021.
“In terms of reduction of costs, we should give a concrete example so that our service is fulfilled with a spirit of sticking to what is essential, avoiding superfluity and choosing our priorities well,” said a note announcing the change signed by Pope Francis and published by Maximino Caballero Ledo, the layman who is prefect of the Holy See’s Secretariat for the Economy.
Italian reports claimed the 20 or so cardinals concerned receive a monthly stipend of around €5,000, typically used to defray the cost of hiring personal secretaries.
A Vatican diplomat warned of the dangers of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine caused by fighting around its power plants.
The Holy See was “alarmed by the significant risk of an uncontrolled release of ionising radiation, particularly with regard to the ongoing conflict around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and in the vicinity of the Kursk nuclear power plant”, said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.
Russian troops seized Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in 2022, and there has been fighting in the vicinity of the Kursk Nuclear Plant since Ukraine’s incursion into the region in August.
Addressing a UN committee meeting on the effects of atomic radiation on 21 October, Archbishop Caccia called on governments to “implement policies that consider the potential negative health and environmental consequences” of nuclear radiation. He said that attacks on these strategic sites could have severe consequences for public health and the environment over a huge area, and called for action to reduce risks associated with nuclear facilities in conflict zones.
The archbishop reiterated the Holy See’s appeal for nations to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, which he called “essential tools” for protecting against dangers of radiation.
The Hellenic Anti-Money Laundering Authority (Hamla) opened investigations of two Catholic priests in Greece for allegedly embezzling €3 million from Church funds to invest in nightclubs. Last week, Hamla froze five bank accounts linked to nightclubs in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece.
According to the Kathimerini daily, Hamla’s inquiry began eight years ago after a routine audit found millions missing from Church revenues, and banks flagged transfers of large sums of money. The sums are alleged to have been moved by the priests to the bank accounts of five nightclub owners, one of whom has a criminal record. All their assets and bank accounts have now been frozen.
The Vatican has been informed of the investigation but the Holy Synod of the Catholic Church of Greece said it had not yet received official notification regarding the case.
Archaeologists in Armenia discovered the remains of one of the oldest churches in the world, dating from the mid-fourth century. A joint German-Armenian team discovered the site in Artaxata, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Armenia – considered the first to embrace Christianity – whose ruins stand in the Ararat province of modern-day southern Armenia, on a hilltop near the border with Turkey and on the left bank of the Araks River. The church was an octagonal building with cruciform extensions, around 30 metres in diameter with a simple mortar floor and terracotta tiles. It was also decorated with marble imported from the Mediterranean.
Nigerian Church leaders condemned proposals to expand legal access to abortion. Fr Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, general secretary to the Nigerian bishops’ conference, said that government plans reported during a recent “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” summit in Abuja were “a potential assault on our extant values, beliefs, and cultural norms regarding shared values as a people”.
The Church had “consistently advocated for the protection of human life through its communiqués, teachings, and ecclesiastical documents”, he said, urging the government to turn from “expanding access to safe termination of pregnancy” to “educating the population on the dignity of human life”. The federal government was alleged to be reviewing existing legislation which only permits an abortion to save the life of a mother.
The bishops of Mozambique said there was “gross fraud” in elections for president, parliament and local government on 9 October.
Daniel Chapo, from the party of the outgoing President Filipe Nyusi, was declared the winner on 25 October, but in a statement three days earlier the bishops alleged “ballot box stuffing, forging of electoral results and other forms of hiding the truth”.
They condemned violence following the elections in which two opposition politicians were killed, and called for all parties to form a government of national unity.
Archbishop Bejoy Nicephorus D’Cruze of Dhaka said that Bangladesh’s interim government “is doing its best, working against corruption and for transparency”.
He said that the executive led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus “is made up of people who seem sincerely committed to the good of society”, and hoped it would “lead the country into a new historic phase of stability, justice and prosperity”.
Yunus formed an interim government after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped down on 5 August. She had ruled for three terms and faced accusations of political corruption. Her government’s harsh response to political opposition and restrictions on freedom of opinion, conscience and speech led to protests and unrest during which she fled the country.
“I met Yunus and he assured me that he is committed to respecting the rights of all, including those of religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians,” said Archbishop D’Cruze last week.
A Catholic was appointed to the 11-member Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, the government-appointed body which monitors human rights in the country.
Joseph Kung Za Hmung – an educator and founder of a Catholic university in Yangon – said it was urgent to introduce dialogue and mediation in Myanmar’s civil conflict, “to stop the violence against the civilian population, and to enable the nation to resume a social life with education, health and development”.
The President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, the Archbishop of Yangon Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, recently called for “a dialogue table for peace” to end the fighting which has displaced 2.7 million people since the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was toppled in 2021 by a military coup.
Pope Francis granted a request by Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur of Bogor not to be made a cardinal at the consistory on 7 December (previously announced for 8 December).
Syukur, a former provincial of the Franciscans in Indonesia, said he wanted “to grow further n priestly life, in his service to the Church and the people of God” without becoming a cardinal, according to a Vatican statement.
Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunyamin of Bandung, the president of the Indonesian bishops’ conference, said Syukur “knows what is best for him, for his diocese and for the church in general”.
Caritas Philippines launched a nationwide appeal for the victims of Storm Trami, the deadliest of the 11 tropical storms to have struck the islands this year. Floods and landslides killed more than 100 people and displaced half a million others. Pope Francis prayed for more the victims at the Sunday Angelus.
“We are coordinating closely with our local Caritas offices to assess the immediate needs of affected communities and prepare appropriate responses,” said Bishop Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, president of Caritas Philippines.
The Archdiocese of Caceres in Naga City opened 25 parishes and church buildings, including the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Peñafrancia and the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Naga University, as evacuation centres.
In the Diocese of Legazpi, Polangui Parish Church took in 300 people. Vulnerable evacuees, including breastfeeding mothers with their babies, were moved to higher ground on the altar sanctuary and the priest’s residence.
A Republican organisation investigating alleged voter fraud in the United States presidential election identified a Benedictine monastery as a supposedly suspect address, with 53 registered voters but no residents.
“Our attorney’s [sic] are reviewing this right now. We will not let the Dems count on illegal votes,” said Cliff Maloney, founder of Pennsylvania Chase, claiming a member had found that nobody lived at the Mount Saint Benedict Monastery.
“We want to call Cliff Maloney to account for his blatantly false post that accuses our sisters of fraud,” said its prioress, Sr Stephanie Schmidt, in a statement. “We do live at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery and a simple web search would alert him to our active presence in a number of ministries in Erie.”
She warned social media users “to be vigilant and seek additional information before accepting these posts as truth”.
The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations said debt relief was vital in safeguarding the well-being of the world’s poorest countries.
At a meeting of the General Assembly’s Economic and Financial Committee in New York on 21 October, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia called on the international community to implement decisive poverty eradication efforts and highlighted debt relief measures.
The session Archbishop Caccia spoke at centred on “accelerated implementation” of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He quoted Pope Francis that “it is not right to demand or expect payment when a country’s people cannot even access basic necessities”.
When proclaiming the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis appealed to the world’s wealthiest nations to “acknowledge the gravity of so many of their past decisions and determine to forgive the debts of countries that will never be able to repay them”.
The theologian Emilce Cuda delivered a message from Pope Francis to the UN biodiversity conference COP16 in Colombia.
Cuda, the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, reported that the Pope’s call for efforts to preserve the planet in collaboration with marginalised populations had a good reception from governments, businesses, and financial institutions, adding that “the Church can be proud of this”.
The apostolic nuncio to Colombia Archbishop Paolo Rudelli led a Vatican delegation at the conference, while members of the “Faiths for Biodiversity” coalition met the executive secretary for the Convention on Biological Diversity, Astrid Schomaker.
Amy Echeverria, the US-based Columban International Coordinator for Justice, Peace, and Ecology, said the coalition was “monitoring how countries are updating their National Biodiversity Action Plans to be in line with the framework”.
She told The Tablet: “Midway through the negotiations, the voices of indigenous peoples, local communities, women, youth and faith are strong and clear. Our faith contingent is bigger than ever and our synergies with the other civil society constituencies are deeper than ever.”
The government of Brazil has signed a $30 billion compensation agreement with mining companies nine years after a dam collapse which killed 19 people, destroyed entire communities and polluted hundreds of miles of river.
President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva said: “I hope the mining companies have learned their lesson. We’re fixing a disaster which could have been avoided but wasn’t.”
He accused the companies of pursuing profit over safety – a sentiment echoed by Bishop Vicente de Paula Ferreira of Livramento de Nossa Senhora, who said lives had been “devastated by greed”. He had been part of a long Church campaign to bring the mining companies to account.
The collapse of the Mariana Dam in the southwestern State of Minas Gerais in 2015 spilled mine waste into the wider environment. The iron ore mine was owned by Samarco in a joint venture with Vale and the Anglo-Australian mining multinational BHP. Brazilian communities have pursued a separate civil case against BHP at the High Court in London, involving 620,000 claimants.
Cardinal-elect Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio, the Archbishop of Lima, presided at the funeral of the theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez OP on 24 October, at the Dominican church in the Peruvian capital. “Gustavo’s word was the word of the Lord,” said Castillo, who was a friend of the pioneer of liberation theology.
“Gustavo from his earliest years was in touch with people who had very different outlooks and was always able to dialogue with them, become friends with them, and recognise in them the presence of the divine. Gustavo has left us a legacy, to fill the world with gratuitousness, which will surely cost us the Lord’s cross as it cost him.”
In a video message broadcast at the funeral, Pope Francis said: “Today I am thinking of Gustavo, a great man, a man of the Church, who knew how to keep silent when he had to be silent, who was able to suffer when he had to suffer, who was able to develop such apostolic fruit and such rich theology.”
Fr Daniel Groody CSC, vice president of Notre Dame University in Indiana, where Gutiérrez lectured, said: “The heart of A Theology of Liberation is God’s love, God’s life and God’s creation. What was most important for Gustavo was not liberation theology, but the liberation of people. He combined a profound sense of the unmerited gift of God’s love with the urgency of solidarity with those society considers the least important.”
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