Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan said Mr Duterte’s arrest is a crucial move toward justice for the thousands killed in his deadly drug war. “True justice … is about accountability, transparency, and the protection of human dignity,” said Bishop Bagaforo, who is also president of Caritas Philippines. “For years, former president Duterte has claimed that he is ready to face the consequences of his actions. Now is the time for him to prove it,” he said. Mr Duterte is in police custody after Interpol served him with an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity upon his arrival at Manila’s international airport. The ICC has been investigating the brutal anti-drugs crackdown that Mr Duterte oversaw while he was in office. According to UCA News, human rights groups and Church organisations estimate that between 12,000 to 30,000 people, mostly poor drug suspects from squalid ghettos and underbellies of the Catholic-majority nation, were killed during Mr Duterte’s regime.
Mr Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019, but an appeals judge ruled that prosecutors still had jurisdiction over the alleged crimes because they occurred when the country was still a member. Most cases investigated by the ICC took place between 2016 and 2019. The probe also covers alleged crimes committed when Mr Duterte was mayor of Davao.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos emphasised the need for justice, stating that the victims and their families deserve truth and reparations. “These killings were not random; they were part of a policy that violated the fundamental right to life,” said Bishop Alminaza, who is also vice president of the national Caritas. “The families of the victims deserve truth, reparations, and justice. As a nation, we must ensure that such crimes never happen again,” he said.
‘No future for Syria without Christians’: Archbishop calls for justice for massacre victims
The Greek-Catholic archbishop of Homs, Jean-Abdo Arbach, condemned the massacres of civilians that occurred in Syria last weekend – which left at least 1,000 dead – and urged Christians to maintain hope for an end to the violence and a return to unity and reconciliation.
Arbach emphasized the importance of the Christian community for the country’s future, telling the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that “without Christians, there can be no future for Syria” and urged the faithful to remain steadfast despite the trying circumstances.
“Christians are the roots of Syria and Syria is the cradle of Christianity. In Damascus we can still find the places where St. Paul converted to Christianity in the first century. We still have first-century churches and monasteries, and we have kept Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, alive,” the prelate emphasized. Furthermore, the archbishop urged those responsible to stop the hostilities: “We do not want more bloodshed. We call for unity and reconciliation. After 14 years of war, we do not need another conflict.” The attacks, which claimed more than 1,000 lives, have been attributed to militants from the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham group, a coalition of Sunni Islamist insurgent groups that have seized power in the Middle Eastern country by overthrowing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Catholic pastoral centre bombed in Myanmar
Myanmar’s military has bombed a Catholic pastoral centre in the northern Kachin State. According to the Vatican’s Fides news agency, the St. Mi-chael’s Catholic Church pastoral centre in the rural area of Nan Hlaing in the Diocese of Banmaw was struck and destroyed on 3 March by a bombing carried out by the Burmese army. The church has over one hundred years of history.
Jesuit Fr. Wilbert Mireh, who assists the parish priest, told Fides that five shells and two air bombs were fired at their church complex, hitting and causing damage to the structure, but without any casualties. The local Catholic community in Kachin State is enduring a fierce conflict that continues between the regular army and the ethnic Kachin forces, which have taken over positions near the city of Banmaw. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which fights for self-determination in the state, is one of the best-organized ethnic militias, active for decades, and has joined the resistance against the ruling military junta.
The war has intensified, and in the past two years, it has affected nine out of the thirteen parishes in the Diocese of Banmaw, increasing the number of refugees. Fr. Mireh explained that to report the incident, he had to travel to a distant location to find a place with electricity and an internet connection. “Electricity, phone service, and utilities,” he explained, “have been completely cut off in our area since July 2024.”
Massive increase in malnutrition for children in Rohingya refugee camps
Severe acute malnutrition in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh is soaring, the United Nations Children’s Fund has warned, stating it has surged by 27% in February 2025 compared to the same period last year. Recent figures, UNICEF pointed out, show the crisis is worsening. In January 2025, cases of severe acute malnutrition rose by 25% compared to the same month last year, and February saw the even sharper increase at 27%, causing concerns for a dangerous upward trend.
Multiple compounding factors, the organization explained, are contributing to the disturbing escalation. In 2024, there were prolonged monsoon rains that worsened sanitation and triggered spikes in severe diarrhea and outbreaks of cholera and dengue. Also worsening conditions were the impact of intermittent food ration cuts over the previous two years, leading to poor quality diets deteriorating further, as well as a growing number of families fleeing violence and seeking shelter in the camps in recent months.
Moreover, families are facing emergency levels of nutrition in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, home to more than a million Rohingya refugees, including more than 500,000 children. In the camps, more than 15 percent of children are now severely malnourished, marking the highest levels recorded since the mass displacement of Rohingya refugees in 2017.
A sign of hope: Ramadan and Lent
This year the month of Ramadan overlaps with the Christian season of Lent. The significance of this coincidence between these two great periods of fasting has not been lost on His Beatitude Louis Raphael Sako, Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, who has just announced in an official message to the Muslim and Christian faithful in Iraq that “it is a sign of hope”.
“On this special occasion”, he said, “I extend my warmest congratulations and best wishes to all Muslims in the Holy Month of Ramadan and to all Christians at the beginning of the Great Lent, with hope that God Almighty will include them all in His merciful and loving care, and grant peace and security to our beloved country and to our neighbours in the wider region”.
The patriarch said that both Ramadan and Lent are “times of fasting, prayer, repentance and forgiveness, purification from vices, almsgiving and charity, and a time of quenching one’s thirst at the fountain of divine values, in the spirit of love and tolerance”.
His Beatitude did not refrain from lamenting that today, not only have so many people turned away from God, the God of love and mercy, but that “people have turned away from each other, from tolerance and forgiveness, and from charity and doing good”. He recalled that, during this season of fasting, “all believers need the light of God to illumine their hearts and minds so that they can transform God’s will into an honest and righteous lifestyle.”
In his message, Cardinal Sako extends his gaze to his beloved homeland, saying that, for the sake of lasting stability and security in Iraq, there is no other solution than “to submit to the logic of the State and to cooperate with it, so that Iraq can establish justice, the rule of law, national unity, equal citizenship and avoid sectarianism”. “We will only achieve this by embracing a culture of learning and education that respects all faiths and all peoples in a pluralistic society.”
Vatican Dissolves Miles Christi Religious Institute Amid Ongoing Scandals
The Vatican has officially decreed the dissolution of the religious institute “Miles Christi”, marking the end of its existence as a clerical institute of diocesan right. The decision, formally approved by Pope Francis on February 6, 2025, was announced by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Bishop Mauricio Landra, Auxiliary Bishop of Mercedes-Luján, has been appointed as the pontifical delegate responsible for overseeing the institute’s closure. His appointment brings an end to the tenure of Archbishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva, who had served as the Vatican’s commissioner for “Miles Christi” since late 2022. A Troubled History Leading to Dissolution Founded in 1994 in the Archdiocese of La Plata, Argentina, “Miles Christi” was once regarded as a promising religious institute. However, in recent years, its reputation suffered due to serious allegations against its founder and members. In February 2020, the institute’s founder, Roberto Juan Yannuzzi, was expelled from the clerical state after being found guilty of offenses including sexual misconduct with adults, abuse of authority, and violating the secrecy of confession to absolve a complicit party. This marked the beginning of increased scrutiny of “Miles Christi” and its internal governance.
By December 2022, under the leadership of Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Archdiocese of La Plata terminated the institute’s management of San Luis Gonzaga Parish and San Francisco de Asís School, institutions it had overseen for 16 years. These responsibilities were transferred to the archdiocese. Shortly thereafter, additional concerns emerged. A formal complaint of sexual abuse involving a “Miles Christi” priest had reportedly been filed with the religious institute’s leadership in early 2022.
The case was later escalated to the archdiocese, then expanded, and ultimately submitted to civil authorities. By early 2023, Archbishop García Cuerva, in his role as Pontifical Commissioner, announced the closure of «Miles Christi’s San Ignacio Centre in La Plata, further signaling the Vatican’s growing intervention in the institute’s affairs. On March 6, 2025, Bishop Landra issued a statement confirming that Miles Christi had been formally notified of the Vatican’s decision. Acknowledging the complexity of the situation, he expressed hopes that the closure would be carried out with “justice and charity” and entrusted the process to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church.
Cuba completes release of prisoners following Vatican-mediated deal
In one of his final official acts, and in the wake of a Vatican-mediated deal with the Cuban government, Joe Biden on January 14 removed Cuba from a US terrorism blacklist in exchange for an agreement by the Cuban government to free 553 prisoners.
The United States, the European Union, the Catholic Church and rights groups have long pushed the island nation to release hundreds of protesters jailed following anti-government protests in July 2021, the largest since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
In a statement after the deal, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said, “As part of the close and fluid relations with the Vatican State, I informed Pope Francis of [the decision to free the prisoners] in the spirit of the 2025 Jubilee.”
The deal was overturned by the new US presidency just six days after Donald Trump was sworn in, but prisoners have continued to be sporadically released. In February, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, called the gradual release of the Cuban prisoners “a sign of great hope” at the start of the Holy Year, and he expressed hope for more “gestures of clemency” from governments in the spirit of the Jubilee.
Pope’s appeal for debt relief gains momentum
In more than 160 countries, Pope Francis’ call for debt relief is becoming manifest, says Eric LeCompte, the Executive Dire-ctor of Jubilee USA Network, a development coalition of more than 750 religious groups and organizations around the world, in an interview with Vatican News.
The coalition, which includes Pope Saint John Paul II among its founders, frequently advises the Catholic Church and Bishops’ Conferences around the world on implementing the Church’s vision for the Church on Jubilee, a vision of debt relief, debt cancellation, and building an economy that provides for everyone.
For more than 25 years, LeCompte has led religious groups to win policies that alleviate poverty, address global conflict, and promote human rights. He has also addressed the United Nations General Assembly on needed economic and climate policies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Amongst other roles and responsibilities, LeCompte, who serves on boards of faith-based development and financial transparency organizations and recently received an honorary doctorate from Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, has advised a UN General Assembly process on global sovereign bankruptcy structures to alleviate poverty and is a member of expert UN working groups.
Churches in Ireland and Poland express solidarity with abuse victims and survivors
In 2016, the Vatican’s Ponti-fical Commission for the Prote-ction of Minors established a Universal Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Sexual Abuse. In the press release anno-uncing its creation, the Commi-ssion explained that a “survivor of clerical child sexual abuse made the proposal of a Day of Prayer.” In response, Pope Fran-cis requested Bishops’ Confe-rences around the world to choose an appropriate day to mark this prayer initiative. Dioceses in Poland and Ireland mark the Day of Prayer for Survivors and Victims of Abuse on the first Friday of Lent, which this year falls on March 7.
Since 2017, the dioceses in Ireland have commemorated this day of prayer. This year, parishes across the country will light blessed candles as a reminder of the importance of “atonement, repentance, and the light of hope amidst darkness.” These “Candles of Atonement” will be placed in cathedrals and churches throughout Ireland.
The tradition of the Candles of Atonement stems from Pope Francis’ visit to Dublin in 2018 during the 9th World Meeting of Families. During the closing Mass, he entreated God’s mercy for the crimes of abuse and asked for forgiveness on behalf of the Church. The candles are meant to “reflect the commitment to spiritual healing, reconciliation, and peace.”
Churches in Poland become meeting places of hope. In Poland, a line from the Gospel of St. Matthew serves as the motto for the Day of Prayer. The Delegate of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for the Protection of Children and Youth, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, invited everyone to use this day to express their solidarity with victims and survivors.
He explained that there are designated churches where people are encouraged to come together to pray with those affected.
Patriarch Pizzaballa: Lenten forgiveness is stronger than violent words of hatred
As the season of Lent began, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has urged Christians to look to the Cross of Christ, which represents the heart of Easter and the hope of the world, especially in times of war, selfishness, and violence.
In his Lenten message sent to the faithful of the Holy Land, the Cardinal Patriarch said every believer in Christ must realize that “violent words of rancor and hatred, the presumptuous speeches of conflict and recrimination cannot prevent God from speaking the word of reconciliation in Christ: Ave Crux, spes unica!”
Lent, he said, represents an ever-renewed opportunity to receive the gift of grace and forgiveness, as we experience the desert alongside Jesus. “We need this new word, the word of the Cross, which may seem like foolishness to the powerful and wise of this world and of our time,” said Patriarch Pizzaballa. “It is the only word that can reopen paths of hope and peace, by overturning worldly criteria. The Way of the Cross, along which we learn with difficulty, but with joy, the new logic of gift and forgiveness, calls for men and women, young and old, families and children, who are ready to walk it, by renewing their way of thinking and their attitude. Only in this way can we hope for a future in peace.”
The Cardinal invited Christian commu-nities in the Holy Land to make time to read the Passion narratives and visit the places marked by the Lord’s passage to Calvary and the Sepulcher. He recalled that reconciliation can only become effective by becoming ministry in service toward our brothers and sisters. “The gift is not magical, but must be received, witnessed, lived and shared,” he said. “So, let us all, pastors and lay people, religious men and women, get involved and feel jointly responsible for carrying the word and ministry of reconciliation into the world.”
“When reconciled with God, Christians must deeply feel the call to reconcile among themselves and then extend that reconciliation to all humanity,” said Patriarch Pizzaballa. “Let us not waste this time given to us by the mercy of God,” he concluded. “It is not just another Lent: if we want it to be, it can become a different, a new Lent!