A new study shows that the percentage of Catholics in the United States has fallen from nearly one-in-four to one-in-five, with the added news that Hispanics in America are no longer majority-Catholic.

The Pew Research Centre survey released Oct. 17 noted that in general, religious practice in the country has declined at a “rapid pace.”

Based on telephone surveys conducted in 2018-2019, Pew found that 65% of Americans now call themselves Christian, down 12% points from a decade ago; in addition, those having no religion – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – are now 26% of the population, up from 17% a decade ago.

Self-described Protestants went from 77 to 65% in that time period; Catholics went from 23% to 20%. Although Catholic leaders might feel some comfort knowing they aren’t experiencing the same sort of decline as Protestants, they must be worried by the large number of Hispanic Catholics leaving the Church.

In 2009, 57% of Hispanics called themselves Catholic; it was only 47% in 2019. Only a small percentage of that can be attributed to joining other churches or religions – the number of Hispanics identifying as Protestant only rose from 23 in 2009 to 26% in 2017 (although the 2019 data showed 24% the earlier survey is probably more thorough); and the number describing themselves as belonging to non-Christian religions rose from 1 percent to 3%. However, those describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” increased from 16 to 23%.

The Patriarchate of Alexandria has become the latest to recognise Ukraine’s new independent Orthodox Church, prompting angry reactions from Russian leaders who bitterly opposed its establishment by the Ecumenical Patriarchate a year ago.

In a brief statement during a Cairo service, Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All-Africa said the recognition had been conferred after “many prayers and consultations” among his senior clergy. Meanwhile, in a second message to his bishops, published by Greece’s Orthodox Romfea news agency, Theodore confirmed the move, adding that it had followed “mature reflection” and many personal talks, and been taken out of “concern for peace and the Orthodox Churches’ unity and wellbeing.”

However, the act of recognition was deplored as “deeply saddening” by Russia’s Moscow Patriarchate, which said its leader, Kirill I, had now deleted Theodore’s name from his church’s official prayer list. Mean-while, a foreign relations spokesman for Ukraine’s Moscow-linked Orthodox denomination also condemned the development, noting that Patriarch Theodore had previously called on his followers not to recognise the new church.

“Theodore II is well informed about everything currently happening in Ukraine – the excuse that he did not know the situation is not valid,” said Archpriest Nikolai Danilevych in a weekend statement. “Unfortunately, what has happened can only be explained by weakness leading to betrayal. This patriarch has obviously not been able to withstand pressure from the Constantinople Patriarchate, and from Greek and US policies.”

Russian Orthodox leaders cut all ties with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew of Constantinople, after he issued a “tomos of autocephaly” formally establishing the new Ukrainian Church last January under its primate, Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kiev and All-Ukraine, and are campaigning against its acceptance by other Orthodox Churches.

However, the church was also formally recognised in late October by the Orthodox Church of Greece, despite opposition from several senior metropolitans. Preaching in Istanbul, Patriarch Bartholomew said he expected further pledges of recognition, adding that he had a “calm conscience,” despite the ensuing conflict, about helping establish the new church, which was “connected more with Western democracy than any eastern repressive regime.”

The bishops of France approved plans to offer financial compensation to victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

According to the Associated Press, any person recognized by their bishop as a victim will be eligible to receive money, and the Church in France will appeal for donations to cover the costs.

The French bishops also voted to allocate 5 million euros, or $5.5 million, to an independent commission examining Church sex abuse in France and to support prevention efforts, the AP reported.

The bishops made the decision at their biannual assembly in Lourdes. They plan to consider additional details of the plan, including compensation amounts for victims, at their next meeting in April 2020.

The AP reports that an independent commission examining sexual abuse in France announced at the assembly that 2,800 people have responded since June to a call for testimonies.

France last year extended the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against minors from 20 years to 30.

The continued revelations of sexual abuse and subsequent cover-up by some Church officials in France come alongside similar revelations in countries such as the United States, Ireland, Australia, Chile, Poland, Argentina and Germany.

This coming December 13, Pope Francis will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his Ordination to the priesthood. Made the occasion, on Monday, November 4, 2019, the Vatican’s Philatelic and Numismatic Office issued two stamps, which reproduce two paintings made by Spanish paint-er Raul Berzosa. The first of the stamps, with the value of 1.10 euros, reproduces a portrait of “Young Jorge Bergoglio,” reported the Diocese of Malaga, Spain. “The joy of that December 13, 1969, eve of the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday or Sunday of Joy), when he was ordained priest,” explains the painter, commenting on the portrait.

Painted on the left side of the portrait is the Basilica of Saint Joseph of Flores, because Bergoglio, walking on a spring day, passed by the Church of the neighbourhood of Flores and went it to go to Confession. “It was there that he felt God was calling him” and “he left with the conviction to embrace the priesthood,” said the Malaga artist.

On the right, is one of Bergoglio’s “great devotions, which has accompanied him up to today, the ‘Virgin Undoer of Knots.’ He took <the image> to Buenos Aires after learning her title during one of his trips to Ger-many. Bluish colors predominate on the canvas in reference to Argentina,” explained Berzosa. The second stamp, with the value of 1.15 euros, has a printed image of “Pope Francis, representing him as Pontiff. Raul Berzosa pointed out that the painting “is dedicated to Mercy.”

One of Brazil’s most traditional samba schools – the popular associations that organize annual Carnival parades in the country – announced that the theme of its 2020 performance would be the story of Jesus taken to a Rio de Janeiro slum.

Estacao Primeira de Mangueira also announced its performance song, which alludes to the increasing police brutality and to the violence suffered by minorities in Brazil.

Written by the composers Manu da Cuica and Luiz Carlos Maximo, the song talks about a boy in a favela, or slum. He has a “black face, indigenous blood and the body of a woman” and is the son of an “unemployed carpenter” and of “Mary of Sorrows Brazil.”

The narrator of the song said the boy, who ages as the song progresses, struggles against oppression and can be met “where love finds no barriers.” In another part, the song says “Favela, get the vision/ There’s no future without sharing/ And no Messiah with a gun in his hand,” a possible allusion to President Jair Bolsonaro’s promises of loosening gun control legislation and of reducing punishment for police who kill suspected criminals. Bolsonaro’s middle name is Messias.

Another possible reference to Bolsonaro is the title of Mangueira’s parade theme, “The truth will set you free,” which was – with a slight difference in the Portuguese wording – one of Bolsonaro’s campaign slogans in 2018. Bolsonaro, a self-described Catholic, was elected with a strong support of evangelical Christians, and his wife – he’s in his third marriage – is a member of an evangelical denomination.

Father Antonio Manzatto, a theology professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, said Mangueira’s parade is somehow inspired by the tradition of Latin American liberation theology, a movement particularly influential in Brazil during the 1970s and 1980s; it emphasizes the church’s preferential option for the poor.

“Now that we have a far-right government with signs of obscurantism and persecution of dissidents, Mangueira is bringing us a parade that is somehow related to the period when liberation theology emerged,” he said.

Gunmen  shot dead an Armenian Catholic priest and his father as they were traveling in a car in northeastern Syria.  The attack was claimed by the so-called Islamic State group. Father Hovsep Bedoyan, the head of the Armenian Catholic community in the the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli near the border with Turkey, and his father, Abraham Bedoyan, were heading to the province of Deir Al-Zor when they came under attack on Monday, November 11.