Catholic Nutshell News: Saturday 11/1/25
Topics include: Please, no babies from skin cells; Trump did ask Xi for Lai’s release; Small tea farmers in Kenya underpaid; & We’re part of the Communion of Saints
“We see through new tender verdant pecan leaves”
Today's news sources are Aleteia, CRUX, Catholic News Agency, National Catholic Register, Bishop Barron, First Things, & The Catholic Thing. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise their Catholic News Muscle)
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National Catholic Register
Babies from skin cells? Catholics decry research breakthrough
By Jonah McKeown, October 31, 2025
What if mothers could be removed from conception? It’s a thought experiment that points to an idea so preposterous and unnatural that it seems almost incoherent. But researchers at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland published a paper Sept. 30 chronicling a process that could lead to human eggs created from other human cells, such as skin cells, rather than produced naturally by a woman’s body. The first proof-of-concept of a method for manipulating skin and other human cells to mimic oocytes — eggs — follows what researchers term mitomeiosis, a variant of the long-heralded process called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG). Because of the Church’s teaching that life begins at conception, the Church has stridently warned against technologies that “manufacture” embryos and treat them not as irreplaceable human persons, but rather as biological material to be experimented on, scrutinized, and judged with a eugenic mentality, and ultimately discarded.
Catholic News Agency
Reportedly, Trump did ask Xi for Lai’s release from prison
By Madalaine Elhabbal, October 31, 2025
A White House official told EWTN News White House Correspondent Owen Jensen that Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about imprisoned pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai. According to Jensen: “As President Trump said, Jimmy Lai should be released, and he wants to see that happen.” Prior to leaving for Asia, Trump told Jensen he would appeal to the Chinese leader for Lai’s release amid concerns for his health while in solitary confinement. Lai is a Catholic entrepreneur and founder of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy tabloid paper known for its critical reporting on China and the Hong Kong government. He was arrested in December 2020 for charges including unauthorized assemblies, protesting, fraud, and participating in the 2020 Tiananmen Square vigil, a service commemorating those who died in the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
Agenzia Fides
‘Pay small tea farmers more,’ pleads Kenya’s Father Ambrose
By Agenzia Fides, October 31, 2025
Stop the exploitation of small tea farmers in Kenya, whose wealth ends up in the hands of corrupt officials. This is the appeal launched by Father Ambrose Kimutai, parish priest of the church in Ndaraweta, Bomet County, in the western Rift Valley. “I speak on behalf of the small tea producers of Bomet, Kericho, and Nandi counties,” the priest said after Sunday Mass on October 26. “Small farmers produce large quantities of tea, and Kenya reaps enormous profits from its export, which allows it to pay the salaries of civil servants, teachers, and other employees.” Father Ambrose is referring to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), a state agency established in 1964 to assist local farmers in improving their production, and which purchases a significant portion of the tea grown in the Rift Valley region. The priest described as “shameful” the price of 13 Kenyan shillings per kilo (0.09 euros) that KTDA pays farmers in his area, an amount he considers completely insufficient to cover the high production costs.
Aleteia
We’re part of the Communion of Saints even before Heaven
By Joanne McPortland, October 30, 2025
Our invitation to the party known as the Communion of Saints was paid for in blood. We, the holy catholic Church, are less a communion of individual saints (in the holy card way we think of saints) than a community steeped in sanctity, sharing equally and utterly undeservedly in the goods of salvation won for us by Christ Jesus. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it: “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others … We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head … Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments.” We don’t, and can’t, make ourselves holy, make ourselves saints. We can cooperate (and the saints in heaven have cooperated) with the gift of sanctifying grace that is ours by Baptism.
CBCPNEWS
Reject secular distortions and return to prayerful observance
By CBCP News, October 29, 2025
A Catholic bishop has called on Filipinos to rediscover the true Christian meaning of “Undas” and “Halloween,” urging them to reject secular distortions and return to prayerful observance. Bishop Renato Mayugba, who chairs the CBCP Office for the Postulation of the Causes of Saints, said the occasion should be rooted in the Church’s faith in the communion of saints. He stressed that All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days are not about fear or fantasy but about holiness, remembrance, and unity with those who have gone before us. “It is imperative that we recover the origin of the Vespers of All Saints Day – an evening, not of ghosts and devils, but an evening of prayer and remembrance of all saints,” Mayugba said. The Laoag bishop lamented that modern society has turned Halloween into a celebration of darkness, losing sight of its original intent as the “holy evening” or the vigil for All Saints’ Day.
CRUX
Trump declares Nigeria a killing field of Christians
By Ngala Killian Chimtom, November 1, 2025
Donald Trump announced Friday that he is putting the West African nation of Nigeria on the “Countries of Particular Concern” list. This significant step comes in the wake of dire warnings from international observer organizations and human rights advocates about the violent persecution of Christians in the country, which is Africa’s most populous. “Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform. “Thousands of Christians are being killed,” he also wrote, “[r]adical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter.” Maintained by the US State Department, the “Countries of Particular Concern” list includes nations that the US has determined are engaging in various kinds of religious freedom violations to varying degrees. The list consists of China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, and Pakistan, among others.
The PILLAR
A ‘tired’ Lebanon expects papal visit to offer ‘glimmer of hope’
By Edgar Beltrán, October 31, 2025
Pope Leo will make his first apostolic trip to Turkey and Lebanon by December 2, the Vatican announced. Pope Francis had planned the trip to Turkey to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. But the addition of Lebanon, announced unexpectedly, is widely thought to have been a personal decision by Pope Leo. Lebanon is home to one of the largest Christian minorities in the Middle East. But many fled due to violence and instability in recent years. The country has been shaken by months of Israeli bombing in its southern region, parts of which are controlled by the political and militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah started launching rockets from Lebanon into Israeli territory on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas forces killed more than 1,000 Israelis. “The Church in Lebanon is used to facing hardships and challenges, but today it is exhausted and in urgent need of a critical re-reading of the past hundred years,” said Fr. Dany Dargham of the Archdiocese of Beirut.
CatholicVote
Illinois to be latest state to legalize physician-assisted suicide?
By Mary Stroka, October 31, 2025
All Illinois requires to become the 12th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide for people who are terminally ill is Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature on a bill the state’s senators passed early Oct. 31 “under a cloud of darkness.” If Pritzker signs Senate Bill 1950, which passed the Senate 30-27, it will become effective in nine months. Yet, Pritzker launched a public education campaign in 2022 to help prevent suicide among the Illinois military community, joining a national campaign, according to an Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) press release; signed the Illinois First Responders Suicide Prevention Act into law in 2019, as the Peoria Journal Star reported; and, in May of this year, both signed a bill implementing mental health screenings at Illinois public schools, according to a press release from his office, and declared May Mental Health Awareness Month in Illinois, according to the IDHS.
CNA, The LOOP, & Pillar Posts for 11/1/25
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — November 1, 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 activities of the Holy See, available to anyone with internet access.
How the recent presidential election reflects a shift from Ireland’s Catholic founding fathers - Nov 1, 2025 - By Patrick J. Passmore - The election of left-wing Catherine Connolly reflects the current secular makeup of the Republic of Ireland, a sharp contrast to the devout sacramental Catholicism practiced by the founding fathers of modern Ireland.
10,000 pro-lifers join LIFE Runners annual relay in shape of the cross - Nov 1, 2025 - By Kate Quiñones - A pro-life relay with more than 10,000 participants concluded in Kansas last Saturday after runners made the shape of a cross as they ran across the U.S..
Cuba’s national Marian shrine damaged by Hurricane Melissa - Oct 31, 2025 - By Diego López Colín - The passage of Hurricane Melissa left a trail of destruction in Cuba, significantly damaging the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the country’s patroness.
CatholicVote: Daily LOOP
Daily news and political impact stories at the LOOP
Elections and politics matter. The LOOP gives you daily gems on the news, which seek “to renew our country and culture.” CatholicVote’s advertised mission is “To inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of our faith in public life.” Today’s Monday topics from the LOOP include:
NEW AMERICAN SAINT? - A New Jersey diocesan commission has opened a canonization inquiry for a Catholic University of America student who was killed by a gunman in 2020. 20-year-old Daniel Anderl and his father, Mark Anderl, were at their home in New Jersey when a gunman came to the door and opened fire, intending to attack Anderl’s mother, Esther Salas, who was a federal judge.
THE STORY BEHIND THE KNIGHTS’ COAT DRIVE - The Knights of Columbus in Canada is working to help keep kids warm through the nation’s cold winter by aiming to distribute 40,000 coats to children! It’s a tradition that began in 2008 in Canada. The Knights in the U.S. followed suit in 2009 and have repeated the coat drive every year since.
PRO-LIFE VICTORY IN CALIFORNIA - In an ongoing lawsuit filed by the state of California’s attorney general against two pro-life organizations for promoting abortion pill reversal, an Illinois judge this week ordered the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to release its communications with state personnel regarding the pill.
The Pillar
Ed Condon’s Pillar Post for Friday, 11/1/25
The Pillar offers a daily news summary —its capsule take on Catholic News. Here’s Ed Condon’s analysis of the news from yesterday’s Pillar Post:
Nigeria’s Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah has stirred controversy with comments on the campaign of killings in the country’s northern region. Kukah, a leading critic of the Nigerian government’s failure to protect the country’s Christians from relentless massacres and kidnappings, was billed to speak in Rome at the launch of Aid to the Church in Need’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025
Pope Leo’s apostolic letter on education, Disegnare nuove mappe di speranza, was released this week and has, I think, probably got an official English translation by now. I’ve come to believe Vatican English translations these days are done by an AI bot programmed to talk like it’s in a faculty meeting in 1988.
Many in Rome are still waiting on a slate of major decisions and appointments, some of them holdovers from his predecessor’s time, and some of them anticipated from any new occupant of the see of Peter. One of the quietly less appreciated but perhaps more significant decisions facing Pope Leo will be when and how to replace the 78-year-old Cardinal Kevin Farrell.
Nutshell reflections for 11/1/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection - AUDIO - November 1, 2025
Solemnity of All Saints
First Things
A hero is a faithful servant to the end
By R. R. Reno, October 30, 2025
The heroic dimension of faith and discipleship was prominent in the early church. In his Life of Anthony, Athanasius drew upon many classical images of heroism. Indomitable as Achilles, St. Anthony is triumphant on the spiritual battlefield, defeating Satan’s assaults. Like Aeneas, the hero in Virgil’s epic, St. Anthony founds a city—a veritable metropolis of monks in the Egyptian desert. He defeats pagan philosophers in debate, too, echoing Socrates in his dialectical skill. Yet the notion of Christian heroism seems suspect in our time. According to Nietzsche, Judaism and Christianity destroyed the possibility of heroism. Biblical religion sponsored a “slave revolt” in morality, he asserted, an elevation of the meek and mediocre. Heroic action and devoted obedience are not at cross-purposes. Rather, heroism, Christian or otherwise, arises from the spirit of love and devotion. Contrary to the impression given by Nietzsche, strength and mastery are not self-generating qualities. Nobility of soul does not emerge from innate potential. A hero is a faithful servant to the end.
The Catholic Thing
16th-century Catholic College at Douay, a martyr’s grove
By Stephen P. White, October 30, 2025
In June of 1577, an Englishman by the name of Cuthbert Mayne was taken under arrest by the High Sheriff of Cornwall and imprisoned in Launceston Castle to await trial for high treason. The English College at Douai (or Douay as named in the translation of the Bible) was established in 1568 by William Allen. Originally intended to be a place of study for Catholic exiles from English schools, it soon became a seminary for training priests who, Allen hoped, would lead the reconversion of England and Wales. From the crown's perspective, the English College served as a training ground for traitors and foreign agents intent on overthrowing Queen Elizabeth at the behest of the Pope. The treatment of Cuthbert Mayne showed clearly just how unwelcome they were. Mayne was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. When he heard his sentence read out, he replied, simply, “Deo gratias.” Mayne was the first of the graduates of the English College at Douai to be executed for treason. He would not be the last.
Bishop Barron
Two of the Beatitudes are the very heart of the spiritual program
By Bishop Robert Barron, November 1, 2025
Friends, our Gospel for today is one of the most beautiful and important in the New Testament: the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the eight Beatitudes. Why is it so important? Because it is the Son of God telling us how to be happy. It is the one who can’t be wrong telling us how to achieve that which each of us most basically wants. What could be more compelling? At the heart of Jesus’s program are these Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful” and “Blessed are the peacemakers.” These name the very heart of the spiritual program, for they name the ways that we participate most directly in the divine life. One of the most important words to describe God in the Old Testament is chesed (tender mercy). The New Testament version of this is found in the First Letter of John: God is agape (love).
National Catholic Register
Debate on Newman’s development of Christian doctrine
By Jonathan Liedl, October 30, 2025
Today, November 1, St. John Henry Newman is declared a Doctor of the Church. Given by the Catholic Church to only 37 holy geniuses before him, it will enshrine the 19th-century English convert as one of the leading Catholic intellects of all time. Newman’s thought on the development of doctrine, or how the Church’s teaching can and cannot change over time, continues to be hotly contested among scholars. Different camps portray him as a springboard for innovation while others present him as a bulwark against error. What’s at stake in the Newman debates isn’t just bragging rights, but the way the faithful — from bishops with magisterial authority to seminarians — understand the nature of Church teaching itself. Newman did not originate the concept of developmental doctrine, but he did crystallize it into a systematic framework and, in many ways, set the parameters for today’s debates.
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