Catholic Nutshell News: Thursday 1/15/26
Topics include: 388 million Christians persecuted; Venezuela’s Virgin Mary procession; China's advance of ‘Sinicization’; & Trump’s face-to-face meeting with Archbishop
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Today's sources include Aleteia, CNA, National Catholic Register, The Pillar, CatholicVote, John Eldredge, and ChurchPOP. (Catholic Nutshell is a subscription service for faithful, hopeful, & curious Catholics willing to exercise the Catholic News Muscle)
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OSV News
388 million Christians worldwide face ‘high levels’ of persecution
By Gina Christian, January 14, 2026
More than 388 million Christians — or 1 in 7 believers worldwide — face “high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith,” according to a new report. Open Doors International, a global advocacy organization for persecuted Christians, released the figure as part of its “World Watch List 2026” report, an annual overview that measures the severity of Christian persecution in some 50 countries. For the 24th consecutive year, North Korea remains the harshest country in which to practice the Christian faith, due to a national policy that bans worship of any other entity beside the ruling Kim regime, said the report. If found to be one of the 400,000 estimated Christians in North Korea, “you and your family could be immediately executed or sent to a terrible labor camp — forever,” said Open Doors, pointing to that nation’s 2020 “anti-reactionary thought law,” which has “made it even clearer that being a Christian and owning a Bible is a serious crime.”
Related: Report: Christians have never been as persecuted as in 2025, Aleteia, Hortense Leger - published on 01/15/26
Crux
Venezuela’s Virgin Mary procession draws thousands
By AP, January 15, 2026
Thousands of Venezuelans prayed for their country on Wednesday. They gathered in a major Catholic procession in Barquisimeto, about 170 miles west of Caracas, to honor Divina Pastora, a title for the Virgin Mary. The longing for peace, prosperity and good health comes during a time of political uncertainty following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3. After a military operation that took Maduro to the United States, President Donald Trump said that he would run Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations. Trump has endorsed Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s acting president. Mostly dressed in white, pilgrims depart from the Santa Rosa sanctuary and stop at 12 stations along the way before reaching Barquisimeto’s cathedral. The procession is a cornerstone of Catholic identity in Barquisimeto, drawing generations of families into an annual public expression of faith.
UCA News
In China, advance of ‘Sinicization’ campaign have accelerated
By Benedict Rogers, January 14, 2026
Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on unregistered Christians across China intensified as this year began, with a new wave of arrests and repression. Last week, Li Yingqiang, the leader of one of China’s most prominent unregistered Protestant churches, the Early Rain Covenant Church in Sichuan province, was taken from his home in Deyang by police, along with his wife and five other church leaders. They remain in detention without any public charges. The US Congress’ Select Committee on China said they were arrested because they refused to “bow” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, which has imposed new restrictions that effectively criminalize unauthorized online Christian worship. In Hong Kong, although freedom of worship is less curtailed than in mainland China, efforts to advance the “Sinicization” campaign have accelerated, with several conferences between Protestant and Catholic groups in Hong Kong being held to discuss the topic.
Zenit
Trump’s face-to-face meeting with leader of the Catholic bishops
By Tim Daniels, January 13, 2025
For the first time in nearly a decade, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops sat down with a sitting U.S. president inside the White House. On Monday, January 12, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City met with President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and senior administration officials in a closed-door conversation that both sides described as an opening for sustained dialogue on issues of shared concern. Coakley’s election appears to have reopened the door. As archbishop of Oklahoma City and as ecclesiastical adviser to the Napa Institute, he is well known within conservative Catholic circles. Coakley, elected president of the USCCB in November 2025, has inherited a conference navigating one of the most complex moments in its relationship with Washington in recent memory. Immigration enforcement, cultural policy, and the future of Church–state cooperation were all widely understood to be hovering over the meeting, even though no detailed agenda was made public.
CatholicVote
Mayor of Bethlehem invites return of pilgrims to the city
By Elise Winland, January 15, 2026
The mayor of Bethlehem says the survival of Christianity in the city where Our Lord was born depends not only on protecting holy sites, but on preserving the local Christian community itself, which he describes as the city’s “living stones.” In a wide-ranging interview published Jan. 13 with Jason Jones, president and founder of the Vulnerable People Project, Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati described his role as mayor as both civic and spiritual: He is charged with sustaining Bethlehem’s economy, safeguarding its Christian presence, and advocating internationally for justice and peace in a time of war and instability. “The message of peace, the message of Christ, the message of Christmas would not be the same if this community is diminished,” Canawati told Jones. “And I’m inviting everybody to come and walk in Bethlehem, walk the history of Bethlehem, make the Bible alive in their visit.”
National Catholic Register
A historical analysis of the failed attempts to combat feminism
By Carrie Gress, January 15, 2026
[Editor’s Note: Carrie Gress wrote Something Wicked: Why Feminism Can't Be Fused with Christianity (Sophia Institute Press)] There remains a general belief that feminism is simply malleable enough to fit in with even the most ardent adherents of the Christian faith. This belief, however, is proving to be incredibly misleading to millions of faithful, unsuspecting Christians. The fruits have not been pretty. There is little difference between Christian women and their secular peers when it comes to occult practices or seeking out abortion. Catholic women use birth control at a rate nearly identical to the general population, despite the Church’s never-wavering teaching against it. Meanwhile, marriage rates are the lowest in history, birth rates are plummeting, and it isn’t uncommon to hear Christians, right along with secular women, state that they are just too selfish to have children. The feminist ideology has managed to sweep all of us into its orbit in one way or another.
Aleteia
Nicaragua frees dozens of prisoners after U.S. pressure
By Daniel Esparza, January 14, 2026
On January 10, 2026, the Nicaraguan government of President Daniel Ortega announced the release of dozens of detainees from the national penitentiary system, including a number of individuals identified by civil society and opposition groups as political prisoners. The move came under sustained pressure from the United States and coincided with the 19th anniversary of Ortega’s return to power. Nicaragua is the site of the America’s worst persecution of Christians. Since 2018, when widespread protests against Ortega’s regime erupted, the government has broadly restricted the Catholic Church, viewing it as a source of dissent. The regime has expelled various religious congregations, including the Jesuits, Franciscans, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, and the Trappist nuns. Already last year, more than 250 clergy and religious had been forced into exile, including four bishops and nearly one-fifth of Nicaragua’s priests.
Catholic News Agency
Homeland Security finally addresses religious worker visa backlog
By Madalaine Elhabbal, January 14, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it is addressing a religious worker visa backlog with rules that will reduce wait times and disruptions in ministry for faith-based communities. “Under the leadership of Secretary [Kristi] Noem, DHS is committed to protecting and preserving freedom and expression of religion. We are taking the necessary steps to ensure religious organizations can continue delivering the services that Americans depend on,” a DHS spokesperson said in a press release Wednesday. “Pastors, priests, nuns, and rabbis are essential to the social and moral fabric of this country. We remain committed to finding ways to support and empower these organizations in their critical work.” Under the rule expected to be issued Jan. 16, religious workers in the country on R-1 visas would no longer be required to reside outside of the U.S. for a full year if they reach their statutory five-year maximum period of stay before completing their green card applications.
Related: US bishops praise DHS policy change on wait times for religious worker visas, January 15, 2026, World News
Catholic Daily, CNA & ChurchPOP for 1/15/26
Catholic Daily
Messages of faith and hope throughout the world - January 15, 2026
CatholicDaily.com is an online news website that features faith-based news and Catholic inspiration from around the world. Catholic Daily is operated by Queen of Peace Productions, with support from CatholicShop.com.
FletcherFest celebrates young legacy of student killed in shooting at all-school Mass - January 15, 2026 - On the stage of Annunciation Catholic School’s auditorium in Minneapolis, Jesse and Mollie Merkel walked to the podium to express their gratitude for the community that filled the space in in front of them. Josh McGovern, National Catholic Reporter
Ohio Government Seeks to Shut Down Catholic-Run Nursing Home Amid ‘Widespread Care Failures’ - January 15, 2026 - Digital StormGavel. The attorney general’s office said it is trying to get the facility shut down and ‘relocate residents to safer facilities.’ Daniel Payne CNA
AFRICA/DR CONGO – At least five dead in attack on a village in North Kivu - January 15, 2026 - Kinshasa – In a new attack attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces jihadists in North Kivu province, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, at least five people have been killed. Agenzi Fides
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — January 15, 2026
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.
Cardinal Pizzaballa: There is a longing for justice and human dignity in Iran - Jan 14, 2026 - By Eduardo Berdejo - The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, called for finding peaceful solutions to the events unfolding in Iran, where he sees the population’s yearning to live in “peace, justice, and dignity.”
Multistate lawsuit challenges ‘gender conditions’ tied to HHS funding - Jan 14, 2026 - By Amira Abuzeid - Twelve states are suing the Department of Health and Human Services to block “gender conditions” on federal grants, claiming unlawful “gender conditions" imposed on billions of dollars in federal health, education, and research grants.
House Republican budget plan would permanently defund Planned Parenthood - Jan 14, 2026 - By Tyler Arnold - House Republican lawmakers unveiled a framework that outlines their budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes permanently defunding large abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.
ChurchPOP Trending
ChurchPOP provides fun, informative, and authentically Catholic news and culture - January 15, 2026
“We publish inspiring daily stories, fun and shareable faith-centered infographics, prayers, Church history, and more.”
‘People Lost Their Minds’: How Viral TikTok Priest Father Matt Lowry Became a Social Media Sensation - ChurchPOP caught up with the young, energetic priest from Northern Arizona University at SEEK 2026 in Denver, Colorado.
When the Infant Jesus of Prague Spoke to a Priest: The History & Promises of the Miraculous Devotion - “Have mercy on Me, and I will have mercy on you. Give Me hands, and I will give you peace. The more you honor Me, the more I will bless you.”
7 Powerful Spiritual Defenses Against the Antichrist, According to Venerable Fulton Sheen - “Catholics ought to stir up their faith, hang a crucifix in their homes to remind them that they have a cross to carry.”
Nutshell reflections for 1/15/26:
USCCB Daily Reflection - VIDEO - January 15, 2026
Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Church Life Journal
Baptist missionary John Birch worked as a spy before CIA existed
By Tia Noelle Pratt, November 26, 2025
In the early years of World War II, the U.S. State Department asked all American personnel living near enemy lines in China to return home. Baptist missionary John Birch refused to leave. God, he believed, wanted him in Asia. For years, Birch had worked with local Chinese communities. He knew their language, their customs, and the layout of their land. He soon put this knowledge to work—not just for God but for Uncle Sam. In 1942, his life took a dramatic turn when a squadron of bombers led by Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle crashed in the Chinese countryside. The American airmen had taken off from a carrier in the Pacific, dropped bombs on Tokyo, and then flown toward safety in China, where they parachuted from their planes as their fuel supplies ran out. When Birch received word of the raid and subsequent crash, he rendezvoused with the soldiers and helped them navigate through enemy lines, and to freedom.
The Pillar
Thursday’s saint: St. Ita of Kileedy
By JD Flynn, January 6, 2026
St. Ita of Kileedy was born in the late 400s in Ireland and baptized as Deidre. She was the daughter of a somewhat noble Irish chieftain who had converted to Christianity. Given her lineage, her parents expected her to marry a man from another noble family. But Deidra wanted a monastic life. So she fasted for three full days and nights — and then her father had a dream that pointed to her entering religious life, and he gave her his blessing. She joined a small community, and her father arranged for noble landowners to offer them large tracts of land on which to settle. The monastery became a center of catechesis and culture, and people came from across Ireland for spiritual counsel from Ita and other nuns. The community founded a kind of boarding school for boys, especially those whose parents could not take care of them. Some were orphans. Among them was St. Brendan, who became a monk and one of the greatest Irish saints.
LifeSite
Italian bishops’ newspaper & gender ‘transitions’ for minors
By Gaetano Masciullo, January 14, 2026
The Italian bishops’ newspaper has published a new article which appears to support transgender identification in minors, following a recent court ruling on a self-identifying “transgender” teenager. On January 11, Avvenire, the newspaper owned by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), published an article by Luciano Moia examining how parents respond when a child does not identify with his or her biological sex, using two family stories to discuss gender affirmation and “desistance” in the context of adolescent transgender identification and recent legal developments in Italy. “Local Churches, overcoming the discriminatory attitude sometimes found in ecclesial settings and in society, should commit themselves to promoting the recognition and accompaniment of same‑sex-attracted and transgender persons,” the article states, quoting the final document of the Italian Church’s recent synodal assembly.
Wild at Heart
Nurtured through the obedience of disciplined faith
By John Eldredge, January 15, 2026
God and Satan each have a design, a battle plan, to capture our hearts’ devotion. The intimacy, beauty, and adventure of the Sacred Romance are placed and nurtured in the deepest longings of our hearts by God himself. God’s grand strategy, birthed in his grace toward us in Christ, and nurtured through the obedience of disciplined faith, is to release us into the redeemed life of our hearts, knowing it will lead us back to him even as the North Star guides a ship across the vast unknown surface of the ocean. The Enemy knows this as well, and his strategy to capture us is simply the opposite: to disconnect us from our heart and the heart of God toward us by any means possible. It is what he no doubt had to do to his own heart to bear the loss of heaven. In Luke 10:26-28, we find ourselves loving God with all of our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus said further, "You will know the truth [me], and the truth will set you free."
Image of peanuts by Nicole Köhler, from Pixabay
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