Catholic Nutshell News: Friday 11/28/25
Topics include: Coercive abortion training; 38 abducted Christians regain freedom; ‘Gender identity’ instruction approved; & Devotion grows for miracles of St. Sharbel
Fridays, "Living that coconut kinda life."
Today's sources: National Catholic Register, Catholic News Agency, Word on Fire, Catholic World Report, ChurchPOP, & Aleteia. (Catholic Nutshell is a FREE subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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Catholic News Agency
Lawmakers’ bill protects against coercive abortion training
By Kate Quiñones, November 27, 2025
U.S. legislators have introduced a bill to protect the conscience rights of medical students and residents who often feel pressured or even coerced into participating in abortions during their training. U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, Senator James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, and others introduced the Conscience Protections for Medical Residents Act. The bill would establish federal protections for students, making abortion training an “opt-in” rather than “opt-out” system as “residents often fear that opting out could affect evaluations, recommendations, or future career opportunities,” according to the press release. “The first rule of medicine is to do no harm, yet for many aspiring doctors, coerced abortion training not only contradicts that oath but also violates their moral and religious beliefs,” Cornyn said in a statement.
aciafrica
Reporting on Nigeria: 38 abducted Christians regain freedom
By Sabrine Amboka, November 27, 2025
According to the CSW report, the 38 CAC members whose abduction on November 18 was caught on video were released on November 23, reportedly following a joint response by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Department of State Security (DSS), the police, and the army. Their release came hours after the kidnappers reportedly reduced their ransom demand from N100 million per person to N20 million (approximately GBP 52,000 per person to GBP 10,500). The state of insecurity in Nigeria is still high, with the recent incidents of continuous abduction cases, including the abduction of more than 250 individuals at St.Mary’s Catholic school. Fifty students are said to have managed to escape between 21 and 22 November, leaving hundreds in captivity.
CatholicVote
Michigan education board approves ‘gender identity’ instruction
By Elise Winland, November 25, 2025
The Michigan State Board of Education approved new health standards last week that embed “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” instruction into schools’ sex-education curriculum, passing the measure 6-2, according to local media reports. Many parents across the state pushed back sharply, arguing the board is inserting ideology into classrooms and sidelining parental rights. By eighth grade, students should be able to “define gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, and explain they are distinct components of every individual’s identity” under the new guidelines. The standard also instructs teachers to teach that “romantic, emotional, and/or sexual attractions can be toward an individual of the same and/or different gender(s), and that attractions can change over time.” More than 1,600 parents signed a petition urging the board to reject the proposal.
National Catholic Register
American devotion grows for miracles of St. Sharbel
By Zelda Caldwell, November 28, 2025
On his first apostolic journey abroad, Pope Leo XIV will travel to Lebanon, where he will visit the tomb of St. Sharbel, the 19th-century Maronite monk and hermit who is revered for his piety and a remarkable number of reported miracles attributed to his intercession. In honoring St. Sharbel, the Pope draws attention to a growing worldwide devotion to the Maronite saint — including in the United States, where organizations dedicated to promoting his devotion report an increased interest in the saint that is not limited to members of the Maronite Church. In 1977, St. Sharbel was canonized by Pope Paul VI, becoming the first Eastern Christian to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Although he lived a solitary life as a hermit, Sharbel’s reputation for holiness has continued to spread, fueled in part by his reputation as a miracle-maker.
The Times of Israel
2/3 of American Jews think Mamdani will make NYC ‘less safe’
By Zev Stub, November 28, 2025
Two-thirds of American Jews believe that New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will make the city’s Jewish community less safe, according to a new survey. The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) Voice of the Jewish People Index, published yesterday, finds that 67% respondents said Mamdani’s victory was likely to make Jews in the city less safe. Some 64% of American Jews say they view Mamdani as both anti-Israel and antisemitic. Mamdani is set to take office in January 2026 in the city of more than a million Jews, the world's largest Jewish population. Some 56% of respondents said they were “concerned” by Mamdani’s victory, the most common emotion cited. Beyond New York, American Jews report broad anxieties about rising antisemitism coming from both sides of the political spectrum. 62% were worried from both political sides (left and right), 20% were mainly worried about the left, and 17% claimed concern about antisemitism from the right.
Catholic World Report
Saints who divorced
By Sandra Miesel, November 25, 2025
Divorced saints? How can that be? Catholics are more likely to hear edifying stories about pious wives like St. Catherine of Genoa or Elizabeth Canori-Mora, who stayed with wicked husbands until they prayed their erring spouses into repentance. They’re unlikely to hear about cases like St. Godeleva’s, where abuse ended in murder. Divortium is the legal term in canon law, from the Middle Ages down to the 1917 Pio-Benedictine Codex Iuris Canonici. Canonists say “decree of nullity” rather than “annulment;” there is no corresponding Latin noun. The medieval dissolutions of marriage—also called divorces—were, in fact, canonical declarations that a marriage never existed. For instance, St. Fabiola (d. 399), a wealthy Roman aristocrat, divorced her husband, who proved so dissolute even by the prevailing double standards for men.
CRUX
Israel received set of human remains from militants in Gaza
By Wafaa Shurafa, AP, November 26, 2025
Israel on Tuesday said it received human remains that Palestinian militants handed over to the Red Cross. Still, it was not immediately clear if they were one of three hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip. The remains were then taken for forensic testing and identification in Tel Aviv. The handover is the latest under last month’s fragile ceasefire, which has held despite accusations of violations by both sides. Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it found the remains earlier this week in Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza. Palestinian militants have returned 25 bodies of hostages under the ceasefire deal that went into effect on Oct. 10. The remaining hostages are two Israelis and a man from Thailand. In return, Israel has released the bodies of 330 Palestinians to Gaza. Most remain unidentified.
Vatican News
The economy should not just be a ‘production machine’
By Edoardo Giribaldi, November 28, 2025
Break down the “wall” of indifference, and transform an economy that has become a mere “production machine.” That’s the invitation Pope Leo XIV extended to participants at the global The Economy of Francesco gathering taking place from the 28th to the 30th of November at the Mariapoli Centre, just outside of Rome. Through the Economy of Francesco, the Pope said, the Church can foster a path that “fertilizes economic thought and initiative,” thus making “even the desert bloom.” “Yes, dear friends,” the Pope wrote, “the Gospel transforms human work and brings about in us changes through which abundant life enters the world.” Restarting the economy, he said, means bringing back systems of life that are more than a mere “production machine,” restoring vitality to people, communities, and our common home.
Big Pulpit, CNA & ChurchPOP for 11/28/25
Big Pulpit
Tito Edwards Catholic site: November 28, 2025
The Big Pulpit website is a news aggregator that gathers quality insights and analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide.
Vatican ends routine use of Latin in sweeping overhaul – Niwa Limbu at The Catholic Herald
Leo Corrects Another Francis Move—Traditionis Custodes Reversal Preview – Fr. A.J. McDonald
Six Books for Advent & Christmas Prep – Carrie Gress, Ph.D., at Theology Of Home Substack
Becoming the Apostle of Christian Architecture: Augustus Pugin’s Early Life – Tradit, Fam, & Prop
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — November 28, 2025
Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, with updates on the words of the Holy Father and the Holy See.
Pro-life, Christian health insurance company launches in Texas - Nov 28, 2025 By Kate Quiñones - Daniel Cruz and Bob Hogan founded the FortressPlan by Presidio Healthcare because they wanted a pro-life, Christian alternative.
Filipino archbishop asks Catholics to attend protests against government corruption - Nov 28, 2025 - By Zoe Romanowsky - Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David invited Filipinos across the country to participate in rallies this weekend in Manila to protest government corruption on the heels of the Trillion Peso March held on Sept. 21, which drew hundreds of thousands.
Pope Leo reminds Turkish Catholic minority of the ‘logic of littleness’ - Nov 28, 2025 - By Elias Turk - Pope Leo XIV encouraged Turkey’s small Catholic community Friday to rediscover what he called the Gospel’s “logic of littleness.”
ChurchPOP Trending
ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - November 28, 2025
The Amazing Story of the Forgotten Catholic Hero of the First Thanksgiving - Most tellings of the Thanksgiving story omit the crucial role of Squanto, the English-speaking Catholic Native American.
The Extraordinary Child Saint Who Could Convert Anyone: Saint Catherine of Alexandria - Eleven centuries after her death, she miraculously appeared to and advised Saint Joan of Arc. Angels supernaturally buried her body.
The Great & Hidden Sacrifices of a Parish Musician - Why We Should Say ‘Thank You’ - “These women don’t even see it as a sacrifice. They see service. And I see the same footsteps Christ took on the Way of the Cross.”
Nutshell reflections for 11/28/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection: AUDIO - November 28, 2025
Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Catholic365
Channels of grace: Understanding the seven sacraments
By The Young Catechist, November 28, 2025
Now that Jesus has saved us, He has given us the Sacraments as a special way to receive His grace. Sacraments are effective signs of God’s grace, instituted by Christ, conveying the spiritual gifts they signify. Jesus Christ didn’t just teach or heal during His earthly life—He established a new covenant through His life, death, and resurrection. He left us the Sacraments as a means to share in His divine life even today. Through the Sacraments, we encounter God’s love and mercy in a personal and powerful way. We experience the redemption won by Christ and are drawn deeper into a relationship with Him. The Sacraments continue God’s merciful work in our lives, helping us grow in holiness and intimacy with Him.
Catholic Culture
Sacraments & prayer sustain our encounter with the living God
By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, November 24, 2025
“You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (Jn 18:37). Meditating on Christ’s kingship draws us into a profound paradox. He exercises no worldly dominance, yet His authority governs both the visible world and the unseen chambers of our soul. To grasp this kingship, we rely on two complementary paths. The first is the top-down guidance of the Church’s authoritative teaching; the second is the bottom-up movement of personal reflection, experience, and our innate hunger for truth. The Catholic faith is handed down through the proclaimed Gospel, through evangelization, catechesis, and formation. Together, the Creed provides the narrative of belief, the Commandments direct the moral life, and the Sacraments and prayer sustain our encounter with the living God.
Aleteia
Leo XIV urges annulment judges not to give in to ‘false mercy’
By I.Media, November 28, 2025
“Human judgment on the nullity of marriage cannot [...] be manipulated by false mercy.” This was the warning issued by Leo XIV when he received participants in a training course of the Roman Rota — the court of appeal for cases of Catholic marriage nullity — on November 21, 2025. During this audience, he recommended that his predecessor’s reform in this area should be carried out in a manner that is “never at the expense of the truth” about the situation of couples. The reform simplified the procedures for those wishing to have their Catholic marriage annulled. In particular, the Argentine pontiff abolished the requirement for a double concordant sentence and introduced the possibility of a brief trial handled by the diocesan bishop in cases of manifest nullity. The Pope himself served as a judge on the regional ecclesiastical court in Trujillo (Peru) from 1989 to 1998, after completing a thesis in canon law.
Word on Fire
Gratitude and the true ‘Miracle at Dunkirk’
By Dr. Tod Worner, November 27, 2025
In the closing scene of Christopher Nolan’s gripping film Dunkirk, two rumpled, bedraggled British soldiers rest fitfully in a train car as the train’s rhythmic thump and rattle mark the time. They carry a mixed burden of shame and relief. They are going home. What they left behind was carnage. Prime Minister Winston Churchill had authorized Operation Dynamo, which recruited a “people’s navy” of schooners and fishing boats, tugboats, and garbage scows to “bring our boys home.” Having little hope of saving even a meager fraction of the stranded soldiers, the endeavor stunningly saved 338,000. Shortly thereafter, Winston Churchill dubbed the rescue “the Miracle at Dunkirk.” Surely, the soldiers feared, we are returning home in shame. What they encountered was not acrimony or recrimination. It was gratitude. Shocking gratitude.
Image of Coconut by Celio Nicoli from Pixabay
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