It’s being called a successful negotiation between the Holy See and the regime of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. The government in the Central American nation this past January 14 announced that it had released Bishop Rolando Alvarez from prison and exiled him to Rome. It also freed another bishop, 15 priests, and two seminarians and sent them to the Italian capital, as well.
Bishop Alvarez, a prominent figure in the Nicaraguan Church and one of last voices opposition to the Ortega dictatorship that was still in the country, had been under house arrest since August 2022. After refusing to board a plane bound for the United States with 222 political prisoners he was sentenced to twenty-six years in prison in February 2023. The following July, the defiant bishop again declined the possibility of negotiated exile with the Vatican, and in October, he was not among the twelve priests expelled to Rome after an “agreement” between the Holy See and Mana-gua. But on January 14, nearly a year after his sentencing.

A group of 60 “slum priests” in Pope Francis’s native country released a January 19 statement denouncing what they described as deteriorating living conditions for millions of impoverished Argentines, driven by rising food prices and decreasing earnings.
Though he’s only been in office for a little over a month, new Argentine President Javier Milei nervetheless came in for criticism by the “slum priests,” who asse-rted that his minimalist concept-ion of the role of the government in society is contributing to the crisis.
“We declare in the letter that the current situation hasn’t begun with this administration. Drugs, poverty, hunger, and unemploy-ment are not something new in the poor neighborhoods,” Father Pablo Viola, who works in a poor parish of Córdoba, told.
“What’s new is that we believe that such issues can become even more complicated if the current administration really reduces the presence of the state in the slums,” Viola said.
Viola said the new admini-stration’s libertarian ideology prevents it from seeing “the complexity of the interests of different social segments and the hardships faced by the middle-class and the poor.”
He also claimed that Milei’s program is at odds with Catholic teaching, not to mention Pope Francis’s own vision.

The shooting happened at the Church of Santa Maria during Sunday mass at around 11:40 local time (08:40 GMT). Turkey’s interior minister later said on X, formerly Twitter: “The two mur-der suspects have been captured,” without giving further details on the motive of the attack.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a post on Telegram the group said two of its fighters had carried out the attack and then fled to safety.
CCTV released by Turkish media shows the moment of the attack. Worshippers were on their feet, facing the altar, when two gunmen came into the back of the church.
They appeared to be following a man who had just come in. After he was shot and fatally wounded, the gunmen calmly left.
The 19th Century church sits behind high walls, close to a small fish market, by the Bosphorus on the European side of Istanbul. The streets around it have been closed off by police.
Inside the church, investiga-tors took statements from those who were there when the attackers struck.
The Turkish Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, who visited the scene said that an individual identified only as CT had died in the attack.
Speaking to reporters outside the church, Istanbul governor Davut Gul said the victim was a Turkish national and that no one else was hurt. He said the atta-ckers only fired at one person.
It was not immediately clear what the motive for the attack was or why the victim was targeted.

In a notification on Jan. 22, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training in Paki-stan approved a new curriculum, which makes studying Islam non-compulsory for Christian, Bahai, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Zo-roastrian students in the Islamic nation.
The Religious Education Cu-rriculum 2023 for Grades 1 to Grade 12 will be introduced from the next academic year in 2024-2025.
The Catholic Church has been urging the government to make provision for non-Muslim students to receive religious education in their faith instead of Islamiat, which comprises courses on Isla-mic beliefs and practices.
Naeem Yousaf Gill, director of the National Commission of Justice and Peace, the rights body of the Pakistani bishops’ council, welcomed the development.
“We appreciate the govern-ment for involving Catholic bi-shops in developing the syllabus of Christianity. However, its mo-nitoring and implementation is another challenge. Policies for minorities often flop in our coun-try,” he told.
Pakistan has one of the lowest budgetary allocations for educa-tion in South Asia. The nation allotted 1.7 percent of its GDP for education in the fiscal year 2022-23 against 1.4 percent earlier.
“The long-term process will require training of teachers and a salary structure,” Gill observed.
In 2020, the provincial Punjab government made it compulsory for Muslim students to study the Quran, and non-Muslim students were asked to study ethics in lieu of Islamiat from Grade 3.

In the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum in Innsbruck, Austria, featuring regional art of the Tyrol, there is a collection of magnificently, and intricately, carved nativity scenes. One of them shows the manger set amidst the mountainous Alps, with medieval towers looking down on the scene. That carving may not be historically accurate, but it is not heresy either. Its lack of historical precision does not undermine the doctrine of the incarnation. On the contrary, the Tyrolean manger exemplifies the doctrine. We Catholics believe that, just as the Son of God took on human flesh, the Christian faith can and must inculturate itself, adapting to the goodness inherent in all human cultures even while purifying any elements that are inherently contrary to the Gospel.
I thought of that manger scene when reading the response of the African bishops to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s decree Fiducia supplicans. The Vatican document said that while not changing the church’s perennial doctrine about marriage, it wanted to commend the practice of giving non-liturgical, spontaneous blessings to couples who are in an irregular union, whether because they are divorced or remarried or because they are in a same-sex relationship.
“We, the African bishops, do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities,” the statement read. Signed by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, or SECAM, the statement represented the united voice of the African bishops.
How is that different, then, from the decision by the German Synodal Way in March 2023 to affirm the practice of blessing same-sex couples? The article about the German decision noted, “German bishops face pressure from frustrated grassroots Catholics in a country where Christians are roughly equally divided between Protestants and Catholics.” In Germany, unlike Africa, it seems scandalous to many Catholics that the Catholic Church does not bless same-sex couples.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Va-tican secretary of state, said the debate surrounding the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration on the possibility of blessing gay couples shows that deeper reflection is still needed.
At the same time, he said, the reaction is a normal and healthy part of the Catholic Church learning how to take Gospel values and apply them to new situations.
Speaking to reporters who were attending his speech on the Holy See and peacemaking Jan. 12 at Rome’s Academy of the Lincei, the cardinal was asked if the turmoil surrounding the document on blessings was good or bad.
“It is always good,” the cardinal replied, according to Vatican News. “The important thing is that we always proceed according to what is called ‘progress in continuity.’”
“In the Church there has always been change,” he said. “The Church of today is not the Church of 2,000 years ago. The Church is open to the signs of the times; it is attentive to needs that arise, but it also must be faithful to the Gospel, it must be faithful to tradition, faithful to its heritage.”
“But if this upheaval helps us walk according to the Gospel in responding, then it is welcome,” he said.

On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Card-inal Peter Turkson reflects on the importance of entrepreneurs wor-king to change business practices and goals in order to promote the economic integration of people enduring poverty.
Global leaders need to adopt a transformative approach to economics so that people facing economic hardship may be lifted out of poverty.
As he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Card-inal Peter Turkson, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sci-ence, emphasised this aspect of Pope Francis’ message to global leaders.
Speaking to Vatican News’ Mario Galgano, Cardinal Turkson highlighted the importance of changing the goals of leadership within companies, as well as the imperative for businesses to con-tribute to society beyond their own profit maximization.
The Cardinal stressed that although companies traditionally exist to make profits, they should also align their business objectives with values that benefit society and the common good.
For this reason, the Cardinal proposed a shift from maximizing profit and returns to optimising them, urging businesses to con-sider the broader impact they have on society and human life.
“We want to leverage the obje-ctives of busines–not only profit and monetary gain–but also the transformational value that it bri-ngs to society–making life better, worth living, equitable, and inclu-sive,” said Cardinal Turkson.