Catholic Nutshell News: Tuesday 12/16/25
Topics include: Inspections of Catholic schools in France; Congo’s rebels buck US-backed accord; Antisemitism ‘allowed to fester’ in Australia; & US Catholics have become more pro-abortion
“I’ll pray for thee from my pistachio tree”
Today's sources are the National Catholic Register, CNA, The Imaginative Conservative, CRUX, The Pillar, Big Pulpit, and CatholicVote. (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
Alarm over state inspections of Catholic schools in France
By Solène Tadié, December 16, 2025
A new report published on Dec. 8 by the General Secretariat for Catholic Education (SGEC) in France has sent shockwaves through the country’s educational landscape, reopening the debate over the methods used in state oversight, possible ideological abuses, and their impact on educational freedom. Testimonies from teachers, principals, and staff in Catholic schools under state contract report being subjected to what Catholic education leaders describe as “abusive,” “intrusive” inspections carried out by officials from the Ministry of National Education. After revelations of physical and sexual abuse at Notre Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in southwestern France, inspections at other schools have at times taken the form of what the report calls “disproportionate shows of force.” Some teachers describe inspectors entering classrooms without identifying themselves, leafing through students’ notebooks mid-lesson, and interrogating staff in front of children.
ACI Africa
Pauline Sisters’ groundbreaking Children’s Literary Event in Kenya
By Silas Isenjia, December 15, 2025
Participants in the groundbreaking children’s literary event, organized by the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul (FSP/Pauline Sisters) in Nairobi, commended the initiative for fostering a reading culture among children, particularly at a time when digital media increasingly competes for their attention. An animator of Bosco Boys, a group under the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), said the event “encouraged the children to read, as many young people today lack interest in reading and are more engaged with social media and short videos.” Highlighting one of the day's key moments, John Ndung’u Muthoni pointed to a storytelling session drawn from traditional cultural myths. “I could see the kids concentrate, which is not normal, seeing them in a span of 30–40 minutes listening to a story.” The event, which blended literary learning with visual and performance arts for children aged 6 to 17, drew more than 300 participants, exceeding the organizers’ expectations.
The Pillar
Congo’s rebel gains show limits of US-backed accord
By Luke Coppen, December 15, 2025
In a Dec. 14 homily, the Archbishop of Kinshasa lamented the occupation of the city of Uvira by rebel forces less than a week after the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda ratified a peace agreement in Washington, D.C. Commenting on the Dec. 4 agreement, known as the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, the cardinal said: “How can we fail to see, in this collapse, the very limitations of these Accords and other initiatives, which subtly exclude the Congolese people and seek to normalize the systematic plundering of Congo’s resources?” Ambongo argued that the agreement’s setbacks vindicated a broader plan to secure lasting peace advocated by the Congolese bishops’ conference and the Church of Christ in the Congo, a union of 62 Protestant denominations. The Church leaders’ plan is known as the “Social Pact for Peace and Living Well Together in the DRC and the Great Lakes,” referring to the broader region surrounding the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Times of Israel
Antisemitism ‘allowed to fester’ in Australia
By Reuters and ToI Staff, December 16, 2025
Government authorities have not done enough to stamp out hatred of Jews in Australia, allowing it to fester in the aftermath of October 7, according to the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi Beach terror shooting on Sunday. Victoria Teplitsky, 53, a retired childcare center owner, said that the father and son who went on a 10-minute shooting spree that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah event had been “taught to hate,” which was a bigger factor in the attack than access to guns. “It’s not the fact that those two people had a gun. It’s the fact that hatred has been allowed to fester against the Jewish minority in Australia,” she told Reuters in an interview. “We’ve been ignored. We feel like — are we not Australian enough? Do we not matter to our government?” Antisemitic incidents have been rising in Australia since Hamas launched its October 7 massacre in southern Israel, which sparked the two-year war in Gaza.
CatholicVote
US Catholics are more pro-abortion than in 2020
By Hannah Hiester, December 15, 2025
A recently conducted survey shed light on the current abortion landscape in the U.S., finding that nearly half of Americans are pro-abortion, about three in 10 are pro-life, and four in 10 say that several new proposed initiatives would help reduce the number of abortions. Pain Insights Inc. conducted the survey earlier this year by asking respondents to compare their views on abortion five years ago — before Dobbs — with their current opinions. In 2020, 45% of Americans were pro-abortion, and roughly 32% were pro-life, while the rest of the respondents were neutral. In 2025, the same share of Americans were pro-life, but 48% said they were pro-abortion. Just 25% of respondents — generally Republicans, conservatives, people with social support, religious adults, married adults, parents, and those living in rural areas — said it was somewhat or very important to them to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S. Protestants were very likely to support reducing abortions (65%) — Catholics were less so (44%). Catholics who attended Mass several times a month were more likely to feel that reducing abortions is important (58%).
Aleteia
A mother’s insight helped me explain the Mass
By Father Dave Mercer, December 15, 2025
I was asked at a Bible study: “Father Dave, why do we Catholics re-sacrifice Jesus every Sunday? Didn’t he die on the Cross only once, and it was good for eternity?” I answered “no” to the first question, but “yes” to the second. My niece, a first-time mother, once put a thought in my mind that I then used to explain Catholic teaching about Jesus’ Sacrifice on the Cross. People might be confused by what non-Catholics (including former Catholics) say about Catholic teaching. We inherited a Jewish understanding of a prayer (called zikkaron, זִכָּרוֹן), which is a memorial that makes present a saving event. At Passover, the zikkaron of remembering the Passover places them in Egypt with their ancestors as they escape slavery. To this day, Jews are reminded at Passover: “In every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as if he came out of Egypt.” Jesus gives us this memorial that makes present his once-and-for-all Sacrifice.
CRUX
Spanish government clashes publicly with Church hierarchy
By Fionn Shiner, December 16, 2025
The Spanish government and the Catholic hierarchy have clashed publicly following comments by Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid, president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), calling for an election due to gridlock in parliament. “The situation is even more deadlocked than in July, with a legislature without a budget. So I reiterate what I said in July: a vote of confidence, a motion of no confidence, or giving the people a voice. In other words, what the Constitution provides for,” the archbishop said. The gridlock exists because the summer 2023 elections were inconclusive. The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) finished second to the conservative Popular Party (PP). “The time when bishops interfered in politics ended when democracy began in this country,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated. “Respect the election results, even if you don’t like them.”
National Catholic Register
Can Christian renewal in the West be sustained?
By Solène Tadié, December 15, 2025
Evidence of a Catholic revival in the West, particularly among young people, is no longer anecdotal. Its manifestations are now visible in parishes, communities, and pilgrimage groups across multiple countries. For those who have monitored this trend over the past five years, the deeper question is no longer whether a renewal is underway, but whether the trend has the foundations to sustain it for the long term. Dutch legal philosopher and educator Christiaan Alting von Geusau, founder and president of the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN), said, “With its enormous advances in science and technology, humanity thought it had become God,” he told the Register following the Budapest conference. “Then it discovered its impotence in the face of a small virus.” He said many young people felt they were living through a moment when public life was driven less by consistent principles than by rapidly changing emotions — rules tightening and loosening in ways that felt arbitrary, justified more by fear than by clear reasoning.
From Pulpit & CNA to Fides for 12/16/25
BIG PULPIT
Tito Edwards Catholic blogger site: December 16, 2025
The Big Pulpit website is an intelligent news aggregator offering quality insight & analysis on the Catholic Church worldwide. Here are Chief Editor Tito Edward’s top recommendations for today.
Evangelizing through Art & Architecture – Mary Lawler at Catholic Exchange
The High Price of “Harmless” Fun – Gary Isbell at Tradition, Family, & Property
Little Women, Big Joy: Gaudete Sunday with the March Sisters – Lauren Woodrell at Magis Center
What’s Driving The U.S. Marriage Annulment Crisis In The Catholic Church – The Federalist
Catholic News Agency
CNA’s top headlines — December 16, 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.
Jimmy Lai’s godfather weighs in on ‘phony’ guilty verdict - Dec 16, 2025 - By Tessa Gervasini - Catholic human rights and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was found guilty following his lengthy national security trial.
Chile elects a conservative for president, defeating Communist Party opponent - Dec 15, 2025 - By Julieta Villar, Walter Sánchez Silva - Republican Party candidate José Antonio Kast is now Chile’s president-elect. The runoff election marks a change of political direction for the country, currently led by President Gabriel Boric of the political left.
Little Sisters of the Poor file another appeal over contraception mandate - Dec 15, 2025 - By Tyler Arnold - The legal battle against federal contraceptive mandates will continue. Little Sisters of the Poor are represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, whose lawyers say the appellate court should overturn that decision and bring the legal dispute to an end.
Agenzia Fides
Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies - 12/16/25
Fides News Agency (Fides) was established in 1927, at the direction of the Council Superior General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, as the first Missionary Agency of the Church and among the first agencies in the world.
AMERICA/PERU - The “Bolivarian countries” united by the rosary at the close of the Jubilee Year - Lima (Agenzia Fides) - Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia united by a virtual rosary, now in its second year. At the close of the Jubilee Year, the national directions of the Pontifical Mission Societies organized and promoted the second edition of the online Missionary Rosary, which saw massive participation from people of all ages.
OCEANIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA - The nation gathers around St. Peter To Rot, said Cardinal Ribat: “A gift for the Church and for the world” - Rabaul (Agenzia Fides) – More than two thousand pilgrims participated in the thanksgiving celebrations in honor of Saint Peter To Rot, catechist and martyr canonized on October 19 in St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Leo.
ASIA/THAILAND - Casinos and scam cities: an open issue fueling the war Bangkok (Agenzia Fides) – The conflict on the border between Thailand and Cambodia is not just territorial. Adding to the tensions between the two countries is an unresolved issue concerning the role of the so-called “scam cities,” such as Poipet and Bavet, located on Cambodian territory along the border and operated by criminal organizations with possible institutional complicity.
Nutshell reflections for 12/16/25:
USCCB Daily Reflection AUDIO - December 16, 2025
Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
What We Need Now
God liberated his people from slavery & adopted them as children
By Michel Therrie, December 16, 2025
The significance of salvation history is best grasped by understanding how and for what reason God has acted in history to redeem us from the perverse inversion of values that sin has bequeathed. The history of Israel tells a story different than that of a purely human account of the world. It tells us of the true God who liberated his people from slavery and adopted them as his children. This story, however, was only a prefiguring of the universal liberation from slavery and consequent adoption that the death of Jesus Christ would effect. This form of liberation leads ultimately to the elevation of humanity to the divine life. In his great hymn to Christ, Paul fills out the picture fully in his letter to the Philippians, “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God . . . emptied himself, taking the form of a servant [and] humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (2:5–6, 7–8).
Imaginative Conservative
The mistake by the Church in 19th Century Mexico
By Henri Daniel-Rops, December 13, 2025
In Mexico, the Church suffered an ordeal similar to that of Christianity in Russia. The Land of the Plumed Serpent indeed had enjoyed few respites from religious persecution since its separation from Spain in 1821. That persecution had turned to violence after the coming to power in 1857 of the Indians, Comonfort and Benito Juarez, and again after the collapse of Maximilian’s empire in 1867. The regime of Porfirio Diaz had given the Church a breathing space; but the advent of the dictator Carranza, with underhand support from President Wilson, began a fresh era of persecution. A very large number of priests and religious were expelled, while others were tortured to death. Consecrated hosts were fed to dogs and horses, and crucifixes were used for target practice. Hundreds of nuns were raped. The Church had to lead a clandestine life. “We are paying for the faults of our fathers,” said the Archbishop of Guadalajara to Benedict XV in 1915. “For the cruelty of the Conquistadors?” asked the Pope. “Not so much that,” replied the archbishop, “as the mistake of having barred the natives from the priesthood.”
National Catholic Register
Bishop’s immigration chairman responds to critiques from Catholics
By Jonathan Liedl, December 15, 2025
Bishop Brendan Cahill, the bishop of the Diocese of Victoria in southeast Texas and the new chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) immigration committee, said that improving intra-Catholic conversation on the immigration issue is one of his top goals. “Fortunately, we have begun undertaking dialogue in various forms with this administration, though it might not always be readily apparent to onlookers in the media or the general public. There are challenges and points of disagreement, as is inevitable with any government comprised of different perspectives and the Church, but persistence and goodwill on all sides help us to work through those differences. And of course, there are also many shared concerns, including the potential for vulnerable people to be exploited along migratory routes. Even where the proposed response to certain issues may differ, there is always common ground to be found.”
Catholic Stand
Consider following — like the ordained — a ‘rule of life’
By Dom Cingoranelli, December 16, 2025
I look back on my sacramental confessions, and I see patterns of sin I’ve continually brought for absolution, and yet nothing seems to change. A rule can help with these and other elements of our spiritual life. If you use a simple rule of life, you can begin to make the progress you’ve been hoping for. You will be able, with God’s grace, to grow in sanctification over time. To that end, recall that Our Lord tells us to pursue holiness in Matthew 5:48: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This command is not just for a few ordained or professed people, but for every one of us. Each religious order has its own rules and constitution to guide its members in the pursuit of holiness. A simple rule of life can help keep us on a path toward deeper intimacy with the Lord, developing operative good habits done with ease— that is, virtues. As well, it can help us break down the bad or sinful habits that hinder God’s grace in us.
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