Catholic Nutshell News: Monday 9/22/25
Topics include: 1 million children to pray the rosary; Lima mayor embarrassed at papal audience; Could J.R.R. Tolkien be canonized?; & Military Chaplains are scarce
“Worth your weight in walnuts”
Today's sources are Catholic News Agency, Graphs about Religion, OSV, Aleteia, Fides, UCA, CWN, National Catholic Register, & Word on Fire. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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Catholic News Agency
1 million children to pray the rosary for world peace
By Andrés Henríquez, September 22, 2025
The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) announced the 20th edition of its One Million Children Praying the Rosary campaign, whose purpose this year is to pray “for peace and unity in a world wounded by division, conflict, and suffering.” On Oct. 18, 2005, a group of laypeople organized children and young people to pray the rosary in the city squares of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. With the support of ACN, the campaign has since spread worldwide. Father Anton Lässer, ecclesiastical assistant for the pontifical foundation, called on the faithful around the world to join in prayer during the first week of October, especially on Tuesday, Oct. 7, the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary. Lässer called for unleashing “a tide of prayer throughout the world, springing from the hearts of children and praying with childlike trust.”
CRUX
Lima mayor ousted from front-row seat at papal audience
By Elise Ann Allen, September 22, 2025
News of Aliaga’s visit to Rome and his front-row tickets caused widespread backlash among victims of clerical abuse due to his association with a Peru-based lay group suppressed by Pope Francis, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), as well as the presence of Cardinal Cipriani’s brother, who Pope Francis punished over allegations that he sexually abused a minor in confession. Victims wrote to several Vatican officials, as well as the pope, to voice their concerns. In the wake of the backlash, the status of Aliaga’s tickets was changed at the last minute. Instead of getting the baciamano tickets (front-row tickets plus a papal photo and handshake), when he picked up his envelope, he had been given reparto speciale, which is still on the main platform, but not in the front row, and therefore meant he would not be meeting the pope. Aliaga ultimately did not attend the audience.
Aleteia
Could J.R.R. Tolkien ever be canonized a saint?
By Philip Kosloski, September 18, 2025
Many Catholics around the world believe the author J.R.R. Tolkien, best known for his fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, could someday be regarded as a saint. The Catholic Church recognizes as saints individuals who lead a life of heroic virtue and whose lives are worthy of imitation. Tolkien led a very devout life. Tolkien made it a habit to attend daily Mass and had a sincere devotion to the Eucharist. When his son Michael was experiencing personal struggles, Tolkien encouraged him to turn to the Eucharist, explaining how the Eucharist had sustained his faith during dark times. In 2018, a "Canonization Conference" was promoted for September 1-2, 2018, in Oxford with the hopes that it could jumpstart interest in Tolkien’s cause. In 2024, a Catholic Tolkien group in Peru sent a letter to the Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, who responded positively. The cause, though, has not been opened.
Vatican News
Harassment of Christians continues unabated in India
By UCA News reporters, September 22, 2025
The violence and harassment against Christians persist unabated in India, with at least two cases of harassment and police arrests over the weekend. A Catholic nun and a group of girls were detained in Jharkhand on suspicion of conversion on Sept. 19, while police in Uttar Pradesh arrested 14 Christians for allegedly violating the state’s strict anti-conversion law and the national criminal code. In the Jharkhand incident, a Catholic nun, two staff members of a non-government organization, and 19 girls were detained at a railway station in Jamshedpur, eastern India. The police checked the girls’ documents, including consent papers from their parents and national identity cards, but seven of them did not have these papers, and some Hindu activists began to make noise. Police detained them from Friday (Sept. 19) morning to Saturday (Sept. 20) morning before a priest could convince the authorities and secure their release.
The Pillar
‘Why cry about a crisis?’ Pope Leo is changing the finance message
By Ed. Condon, September 18, 2025
Pope Leo XIV has played down the Holy See’s financial problems in his first papal interview, suggesting that “things are going to be ok.” But while the pope has insisted he is not “losing sleep” over the curial budget deficit and pension blackhole, he has also undertaken a crowded series of meetings which indicate a more serious engagement with the issues than his publicly relaxed stance would suggest. Leo said it was important to “change the message” around curial finances, pushing ahead with reforms begun under Pope Francis and striking a more optimistic tone. “Why are we crying about a crisis?” the pope said, pointing to positive returns in the past year by APSA. “I’m not saying we can relax and say the crisis is over,” the pope said. If we want people to support the work of the Holy See, Leo seemed to say, there has to be a more positive tone to encourage them to do so.
Our Sunday Visitor
Soldiers and their families need priests: Chaplains are scarce
By Cecilia Hadley, September 20, 2025
Commissioned as an officer after graduation from ROTC, Army Capt. Jeffrey Paveglio was designated a “chaplain candidate” throughout his seminary studies for the Diocese of Manchester. Once ordained, he served as a chaplain in the National Guard for six years before his bishop gave him permission to transition to active duty in 2020. Now his job, as the Army’s Catholic chaplain recruiter, is to find more men who feel that call and help them answer it. Nowhere is it easy to be a priest. But many of the challenges facing parishes apply as much, if not more, to military chaplains, particularly the shortage of priests. There are only 80 active-duty Catholic Army chaplains to serve approximately 300,000 Catholic soldiers and family members around the world. Joyful witness to Catholics and non-Catholics alike is the core of military chaplaincy. A chaplain is working in a mission field, Father Paveglio emphasized, and “having a missionary heart, a missionary spirit, is huge.”
Graphs about Religion
Religious people are happier than non-religious people
By Ryan Burge, September 22, 2025
I’m just going to say the one true thing that shows up over and over again in the literature: religious people self-identify as happier than non-religious people. There’s just no mistaking that conclusion. There are ways to try to explain it away. You could say happier people tend to be more religious. But the upshot is still the same: religious nones are less happy than folks who identify with a faith tradition. For those who report never attending religious services in person, 19% indicate that they are “not too happy” compared to 22% who are “very happy.” But for nearly every step up in religious attendance, there’s a noticeable increase in overall happiness. The most religiously active are easily the happiest. Attending a house of worship in person on a regular basis has a demonstrably positive impact on personal happiness. Attending online does seem to increase happiness as well, but the effect is much more muted.
National Catholic Register
‘To completely reconcile mercy with justice is probably impossible’
By Hannah Brockhaus/CNA, September 21, 2025
United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., spoke about the role that mercy can play in the legal system during an event at the Vatican on Saturday. “Justice is what everyone has a right to, it is what they are due … Mercy is something that we don’t necessarily merit,” Alito said. “The complete reconciliation of those two things, I think, is a mystery that we can only dimly, perhaps, perceive in this world.” The 75-year-old Alito, who has served on the Supreme Court since 2006, said, “Mercy should be built into the laws … the authority to make the laws rests with Congress and Congress should build in mercy when it enacts laws.” He added, “A legal system, of course, is supposed to promote justice, and in human terms, completely reconciling mercy with justice is probably impossible. I think probably only God can do that,” he said.
CatholicVote
Cardinal Cupich urged to drop award for pro-abortion Sen. Durbin
By CV News Feed, September 21, 2025
Two prominent U.S. bishops — Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield (Durbin’s home diocese) and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco — are publicly urging Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to rescind plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” citing the senator’s decades-long record of supporting abortion. “I stand in solidarity with Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Senator Durbin a Lifetime Achievement Award through the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity given his long record of supporting legal abortion,” Archbishop Cordileone wrote. “Senator Durbin, who has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois since 2004 for his public support of abortion, should not be celebrated by the Church,” wrote Paprocki.
CNA, UCA, and CNW News for 9/22/25
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — September 22, 2025
The Catholic News Agency provides reliable, free, and up-to-the-minute news affecting the Universal Church, emphasizing the words of the Holy Father and the happenings of the Holy See to anyone with internet access.
Study: ‘Traditional liturgical experiences predict stronger belief in the Real Presence’ - Sep 22, 2025 - By Tessa Gervasini - A recent study found that traditional liturgical experiences, including receiving the Eucharist by tongue, indicate a stronger belief among Catholics in the doctrine of Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.
Vatican urges faithful to revive efforts for sainthood cause of Cardinal Van Thuan - Sep 21, 2025 - By Hannah Brockhaus - The beatification cause of Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan is being revived 50 years after he was imprisoned by the communist government of Vietnam.
Documentary brings Father Marko Rupnik abuse allegations to big screen - Sep 20, 2025 - By Francesca Pollio Fenton, Hannah Brockhaus - The documentary “Nuns vs. The Vatican” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month.
UCA News
The Union of Catholic Asian World News - 9/22/25
UCA News (UCAN) is the leading independent Catholic media service from Asia, with a convergent media approach that couples traditional journalistic practices with multimedia and social media
Rape-convicted Indian priest gets bail after spending ten years in jail - September 22, 2025 - The Kottapuram diocese suspended the priest's faculties soon after the police filed charges in the case
Thailand in death penalty threat to Khmers on disputed border - September 22, 2025 - Cambodia protests as Thai military commanders vote to shut frontier indefinitely
Thousands evacuated in Philippines, Taiwan as storm nears - September 22, 2025 - Super Typhoon Ragasa has raised fears of floods and landslides in the two nations
Catholic World News
CatholicCulture.org from Trinity Communications
Catholic World News (CWN) is an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate global news from a distinctly Catholic perspective.
Cardinal Müller speaks bluntly on Charlie Kirk, LGBT pilgrimage, migration, woke ideology - Cardinal Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in his exclusive interview with Montagna, spoke bluntly on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the leadership of Pope Leo, Muslim migration in Europe, “woke” ideology, and the LGBTQ Jubilee pilgrimage.
Terrorists kill 22 after baptism in Niger - Gunmen shot and killed 22 people who had been attending a Baptism in a village in western Niger on September 19, the BBC reports. Details of the attack are unclear. The terrorists arrived on motorcycles, at a village in the Tillaberi region of Niger, which borders Mali and Burkina Faso.
Leo XIV highlights community life, obedience, ‘signs of the times’ in address to religious institutes - “Talking about obedience is not very fashionable today because it is considered a renunciation of freedom,” said the Pope. “But that is not the case. Obedience, in its deepest meaning of active and generous listening to others, is a great act of love.”
Nutshell reflections for 9/22/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection AUDIO - September 22, 2025
Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Word on Fire
Christians gradually divided in the fight over legality of abortion
By Leah Libresco Sargeant, September 22, 2025
When I first read his Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade, it gave me a glimpse of a lost inheritance. Before the polarization of Roe, pro-lifers had a range of political views, and many of them were progressives. In his most recent book, Abortion and America’s Churches: A Religious History of Roe v. Wade, Williams explores how America’s Christian denominations gradually divided in the fight over the legality of abortion. The claim that a child in the womb has no association with fellow humans could only come from a man. For a woman who is pregnant, it is obvious that her child is intimately bound up with her. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in 1970, claimed that the mother had a stronger claim to live in relationship with other human beings. The throwaway culture treats each human life as possibly valuable, but it requires proof of that value.
National Catholic Register
If we ask, God sends angels for inspiration
By Theresa Civantos Barber, September 22, 2025
St. Basil wrote, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” When we stop to think about our guardian angels, it's natural to feel a sense of wonder and awe. God has given each of us an invisible and powerful spirit to protect us… What a gift! These angels watch over the whole Church and each of us individually. The Catechism tells us: The whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels… From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. In St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa, he says that if a work of art is to glorify God and advance the Kingdom, he will send an angel of inspiration to help with the creation of the work. But we must ask God for this. He will force nothing upon us.
George Weigel
Hero: ‘He doesn’t realize just how good a man he is’
By George Weigel, September 17, 2025
America needs the example of a real hero: a dedicated hero who enhances natural talents by hard work and takes pride in a craft; an unselfish hero who places team above self; a modest hero who shares the credit for wins and accepts the blame, sometimes unnecessarily, for losses; a sportsmanlike hero who wants his opponents to be at their best so that victory means something; a stoic hero who overcomes pain and frustration because making a good effort is what counts; a well-mannered hero who treats both admirers and detractors courteously. I give you Calvin Edwin Ripken, Jr. Cal had reinvented the position of shortstop and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. And the most remarkable thing about him, an acquaintance of his once told me, is that “he doesn’t realize just how good a man he is.” The real heroes don’t. America has had such heroes in the past. America badly needs such men and women of character today. Thank you, Cal.
The Christian Post
Franklin Graham says Charlie Kirk assassination 'backfired'
By Jon Brown, September 20, 2025
Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, said the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk indicates the Left wants to silence their opponents, but urged Christians to follow Kirk’s example by remaining unafraid. "I think what the assassin was wanting to do, no question, has backfired," Graham told The Christian Post in a phone interview. "And what the Left is wanting to do is to shut the mouths of anyone who's willing to speak out." He said, "I hope this is going to raise up an army of young people who will take a stand for Jesus Christ, who are not afraid to speak out and not afraid that they're going to be attacked or accused. We have to take a stand and be open to the truth and not be afraid to speak the truth."
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