With financing the major focus at the United Nations climate change conference, Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered directly to world leaders Pope Francis’ appeal that weal-thy nations use the upcoming 2025 Jubilee Year to forgive debts “as a matter of justice.”
Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, made the comments on behalf of the pope Nov. 13 during the second and final day of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit at the COP29 climate conference. Head of the nine-person Holy See delegation, Parolin emphasized that increasing financial assistance for developing nations to combat the effects of climate change is a crucial priority for the pope.
A central focus at COP29 is establishing a new target for climate financing from deve-loped nations to developing ones to replace the $100 billion annual goal set 15 years ago and reached in 2022. As much as $500 billion to $1 trillion annually could be required to fully fund climate actions at scale, according to a review by the World Resources Institute. Developing nations alongside climate activists have called for financing to come in the form of grants, rather than loans that further deepen debts.
“Efforts should be made, in particular, to find solutions that do not further undermine the development and adaptive capacity of many countries that are already burdened with crippling economic debt,” Parolin said. “Indeed, ecological debt and foreign debt are two sides of the same coin, mortgaging the future.”
Parolin then repeated a request Francis made in May ahead of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year “directed to the more affluent nations …that they 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. More than a question of generosity, this is a matter of justice.”

Christians are suffering increased vio-lence, discrimination and other human rights abuses around the world, according to a report unveiled Tuesday, 22nd October. Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) launched ”Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2022-24″ at an event in the UK Parlia-ment, revealing that Christian persecution has significantly worsened in most countries surveyed. “Persecuted and Forgotten?” provides global and regional analysis, exa-mining the situation for Christians in 18 countries of key concern – from Nicaragua in Latin America to Burma (Myanmar) in the Far East – between summer 2022 and summer 2024. Countries where Christian persecution and oppression has increased include world powers such as China and India, as well as Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. For the first time in the report’s 18-year history, Nicaragua is featured in res-ponse to extreme oppressive measures targeting Chri-stians, notably the mass de-tention and expulsion of clergy. The report features first-hand testimonies from survivors of anti-Christian attacks, in addition to details of incidents based on information obtained from ACN’s local contacts. Recu-rring themes in the report include the displacement of Christian communities following attacks by extremist groups and the forced marriage and con-version of Christian women and girls, as well as the kidnapping and intimidation of priests and the publication of derogatory content about Christianity in school textbooks.
Anti-Christian persecu-tion has been perpetrated by both state and non-state actors, such as terrorist organisations, other groups of religious extremists and criminal gangs.
The report states that militant Islam was responsible for the increased persecution in all six African countries reviewed, indicating that “the epicentre of militant Islamist violence has shifted from the Middle East to Africa”. It goes on to explain: “Mass migration of Christian communities, triggered by militant Islamist attacks, has destabilised and disenfranchised them, raising questions about the long-term survival of the Church in key regions.”

Pope Francis has decided to cut the salaries of the cardinals working at the Vatican again, a measure that will take effect Nov. 1. According to the Italian ANSA news agency, layman Maximino Caballero Ledo, the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, informed the cardinals of the Holy Father’s decision in a letter dated Oct. 18, almost a month after another letter from Pope Francis on the subject.
Specifically, the cut in salaries or stipends will be in two areas: the “secretarial bonus” and the “office compen-sation,” two methods that were part of the monthly allowances and that will no longer be paid.
Although the Vatican does not specify how much a cardinal working in the Vatican receives, ANSA indicated that it is approximately 5,500 euros a month (about $65,000 a year). With the current cut, that amount would decrease by about 500 euros ($540).

Father Marcelo Pérez, a priest of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas, died on Oct. 20, killed by two men who shot him after he had celebrated Mass. His diocese now remembers him as a “tireless apostle of peace.”
According to information provided by the diocese through a statement shared on Oct. 21, Pérez was born on Jan. 17, 1974, in San Andrés Larráinzar in Chiapas state. From a young age he felt the call to the priesthood and entered the Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in 1990 in the Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutierrez. He was ordained a priest on April 6, 2002.
During his ministry, Pérez worked in various parishes. In his last two years, he served as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Cristóbal de las Casas.
According to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas: “His life was spent in search of justice and peace, especially in Simojovel, Pante-lho, and San Cristóbal de las Casas.”
The diocesan statement noted that this commitment earned him consequences. “All this service he performed led him to suffer a long period of threats, persecu-tion, harassment, slander, defa-mation, even an unfounded arrest warrant, which put his personal safety at risk, to the point of his life being taken.”
In its statement following his murder, the Diocese of San Cri-stóbal de las Casas said that “even knowing that his life was in danger, he lived a profound faith in God and a great love for the people that took him to the ultimate consequences, sealing today, with his blood, his commitment to give his life.”

A prominent Italian theolo-gian and archbishop has called Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the Sacred Heart “the key to his entire pontificate” and “the inspiring motive of [his] whole ministry and magisterium.”
Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto presented Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”) at a press conference at the Vatican on Oct. 24. A prolific spiritual writer, Forte, who became a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in June, called the encyclical “extremely timely” for its attention to “the centrality of God’s love in Jesus Christ” and to the “dramatic challenges of the present time.”
Pope Francis released Dilexit Nos on Thursday, calling for a renewed understanding of devotion to the Sacred Heart in the modern era and its many pressing challenges.
Forte said Pope Francis’ magisterium is “far from being … restricted to social issues, as it has sometimes been clumsily understood,” and his message “to the entire human family stems from a single spring, presented here in a more explicit, clear way: Christ the Lord, his love for humanity.”

Pope Francis released a new encycli-cal Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”) on 24 October, calling for a renewed understanding of devotion to the Sacred Heart in the modern era and its many pressing challenges.
In the document, the pope argues that the spirituality of the Sacred Heart offers a vital response to what he calls a “liquid society” dominated by technology and consumerism. Pope Francis writes: “Living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart.”
Subtitled “Letter on the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,” the document is the first papal encyclical dedicated entirely to the Sacred Heart since Pope Pius XII’s Haurietis Aquas in 1956. Throughout the document, Francis weaves together traditional elements of Sacred Heart devotion with contemporary concerns, presenting Christ’s heart as the principle unifying reality in a fragmented world.
The approximately 30,000-word encyclical draws extensively from Scripture and tradition, featuring insights from St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Charles de Foucauld. Released as the Synod on Synodality is concluding its monthlong deliberations in Rome, the document emphasizes both personal spirituality and communal missionary commitment.
Francis develops his vision across five chapters, beginning with a philosophical and theological exploration of “the importance of the heart” before moving through reflections on Christ’s actions and words of love, the theological meaning of Sacred Heart devotion, its spiritual dynamics and social implications.

An unpublished document of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, titled “The Christian Image of Man,” reveals a profound reflection on the moral and social problems that contemporary humanity is facing. This text, written between Christmas and Epiphany of 2019-2020, addresses with special attention the crisis of identity, the family and human love, subjects that for the Pope Emeritus are essential in the quest for a more coherent future with the dignity of the human being. The publication was carried out by the “Veritas Amoris Project,” founded in 2019, with the objective of continuing the work of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. Benedict XVI’s text appears in the third volume of the Italian Review of the project, a space that seeks to trace ways to the truth of love amid a world in constant transformation. One of the most salient points of the writing is the Pope Emeritus’ criticism of today’s ideological currents, such as gender ideology and the manipulation of life in laboratories.

Addressing the Synod Asse-mbly on October 21, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, ex-plained that his absence at a meeting of Synod delegates last week on the topic of female diaconate was due to a medical procedure undergone by a co-lleague responsible for coordi-nating the group. His absence had raised questions in some of the press that suggested it showed a lack of interest in the topic. The Cardinal addressed the issue as part of a broader communica-tion and apologized for what he called a “misunderstanding.”
According to Cardinal Fer-nandez, Pope Francis has expre-ssed that “at this moment the question of the female diaconate is not ripe”. “The commission studying the topic has reached partial conclusions, which will be made public at the appropriate time he explained, adding that the commission, chaired by Card-inal Giuseppe Petrocchi, will continue its work and those who wish to submit proposals or re-flections on the topic are en-couraged to do so.
While the question of female deacons remains unresolved, Cardinal Fernandez stressed that the Pope is deeply concerned about enhancing the role of women in the Church.
The Holy Father, he said, has asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to explore ways to elevate women’s leader-ship within the Church without focusing exclusively on the Sacrament of Ordination.
Cardinal Fernandez argued that focusing solely on the female diaconate would not address the broader issue affecting millions of women in the Church. He pointed out that several steps toward increasing women’s roles could already be implemented, and the Church has not fully embraced them.

Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, the Peruvian Dominican priest considered the “father” of liberation theology, died Oct. 22 at the age of 96.
The Dominican Province of St. John the Baptist of Peru announced the death of Gutiérrez, noting he was the author of the influential 1971 book “A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation.”
The theology of liberation is a school of thought that explored dimensions of liberation from the standpoint of Catholic social teaching. In some of its radical expressions, in particular in Latin America, liberation theology embraced many elements of Marxist theory and advocated for social change through various forms of revolution. At times, it also cast Christ as a form of revolutionary figure. Its more orthodox expressions emphasized a closeness with the poor and the suffering and called for authentic liberation in Christ.
Born on June 8, 1928, Gutiérrez was ordained a priest in 1959 and joined the Dominican order in 2001. He studied medicine and literature at the National University of San Marcos while participating in Catholic Action. He later studied theology at the University of Louvain in Belgium and the Institut Catholique of Lyon in France. Gutiérrez served as the John Cardinal O’Hara Endowed professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. His books have been translated into multiple languages.
One of Gutiérrez’s last international appearances was in Rome in October 2019 at a congress held at the Jesuit General Curia. There, at the invitation of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL), he delivered a lecture on “The Preferential Option for the Poor.”

In a surprising move at the conclusion of the Synod on Syno-dality on Saturday evening, Pope Francis ratified the final report, approved its immediate publica-tion, and said he will not publish a separate postsynodal document.
The Pope is permitted in canon law to ratify the final document of a Synod of Bishops, giving more power to the assem-bly’s “guidelines” something that has never been done before.
“I want, in this way, to re-cognize the value of the comple-ted synodal journey, which throu-gh this document I hand over to the holy faithful people of God,” the Pope said in a livestreamed address to synod participants in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Oct. 26. “That is why I do not intend to publish an apostolic exhortation; what we have appr-oved is enough,” he said. “There are already very concrete indi-cations in the document that can be a guide for the mission of the Churches, on the different conti-nents, in the different contexts: that is why I am making it immediately available to every-one, that is why I said it should be published.”
In 2018, Pope Francis decre-ed in the apostolic constitution Episcopalis Communiothat re-formed the Synod of Bishops that the pope has the authority to approve and promulgate the final document, at which time it parti-cipates “in the ordinary magiste-rium.” The authority is also stipulated in Canon 343 of the Code of Canon Law. ”
What Pope Francis said after approving the document is in compliance with what is provided by Episcopalis Communio,” Fr Riccardo Battocchio, the synod’s special secretary, affirmed at a press conference presenting the final document Oct. 26.