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Police and ambulances stand next to a Christmas market where a car crashed into a crowd injuring between 60 and 80 people, according to a spokesman for the local rescue service, on Dec. 20, 2024, in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. / Credit: NEWS5/NEWS5/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 15:55 pm (CNA).

A car driven by a Saudi Arabian immigrant rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market Friday evening in the central German city of Magdeburg, killing at least two people, according to media reports.

Police in Magdeburg, a city of 240,000 about two hours west of Berlin by car, have not yet released official details about whether the incident was a terrorist attack. The regional governor, Reiner Haseloff, told the media that the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen who has worked in Germany as a doctor since 2006.

German news sources reported that the driver of the car was taken into custody. AFP News Agency, citing emergency services, said that between 60 to 80 people were injured.

Magdeburg Police said on social media simply that “extensive police operations are currently taking place” at the market and “further reports will be made.”

Magdeburg is known as the city where St. Norbert — whose legacy lives on through the worldwide Norbertine (or Premonstratensian) order — served as archbishop until his death in 1134. 

A German official had in November called for “vigilance” at Christmas markets this year amid a heightened security situation more broadly, though no concrete threats were identified at that time. Germany’s BfV domestic security agency said Christmas markets could be targeted due to their “symbolism” related to “Christian values” and as an “embodiment of Western culture and way of life.”

The incident in Magdeburg took place almost exactly eight years after more than a dozen people were killed when a truck driven by an Islamic extremist rammed into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market. That attacker fled and was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.

In November 2023, two teenagers, aged 15 and 16, were arrested in Germany on suspicion of terrorism. They reportedly sympathized with the Islamic State and were believed to have planned a Christmas market attack using a vehicle, CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, reported earlier this year.

And in April, German authorities reported the arrest of four suspects allegedly planning terror attacks to target Christians attending church services and police stations with knives and Molotov cocktails.

This story was updated Dec. 20, 2024, at 5:35 p.m. ET with information about the driver of the car.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Dec. 20,2024 that he has chosen CatholicVote president, Brian Burch, to be his ambassador to the Holy See. / Credit: Photo courtesy of CRC Advisors

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

President-elect Donald Trump selected CatholicVote president and co-founder Brian Burch to serve as the United States ambassador to the Holy See, he announced on Truth Social Friday afternoon.

“Brian is a devout Catholic, a father of nine, and president of CatholicVote,” Trump wrote in the Dec. 20 post. “He has received numerous awards and demonstrated exceptional leadership, helping build one of the largest Catholic advocacy groups in the country.”

CatholicVote is a political advocacy group that endorsed Trump in January and ran advertisements in support the president-elect during his campaign. According to CatholicVote, the organization spent over $10 million on the 2024 elections.

Some of CatholicVote’s ads, running in key swing states, accused Vice President Kamala Harris of supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for minors.

“[Burch] represented me well during the last election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any presidential candidate in history!” Trump wrote. “Brian loves his Church and the United States — he will make us all proud. Congratulations to Brian, his wife, Sara, and their incredible family!”

According to a Washington Post exit poll, Trump won the Catholic vote by a 15-point margin this year — a 10-point swing in his favor from the previous election. Exit polls also showed Trump winning the majority of Catholic voters in vital swing states.

Burch wrote in a post on X that he is “deeply honored and humbled to have been nominated” for the position.

“The Catholic Church is the largest and most important religious institution in the world, and its relationship to the United States is of vital importance,” he wrote. “I am committed to working with leaders inside the Vatican and the new administration to promote the dignity of all people and the common good.”

Burch wrote that he looks forward to “the opportunity to continue to serve my country and the Church.” He thanked his colleagues and his family, including his father, “who passed to eternal life this past June, who taught me to love the Church and the blessings and responsibilities of being a citizen of the U.S.”

“To God be the glory,” Burch wrote.

Burch, who lives in the Chicago suburbs, is a graduate of the University of Dallas, a private Catholic school. In 2020, he wrote a book called “A New Catholic Moment: Donald Trump and the Politics of the Common Good.” 

According to his biography on CatholicVote, Burch has received the Cardinal O’Connor Defender of the Faith Award from Legatus International and the St. Thomas More Award for Catholic Citizenship by Catholic Citizens of Illinois.

As ambassador, Burch will represent the United States in diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The United States first established formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1984, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

During Trump’s first term, he selected Callista Gingrich — the president of Gingrich Productions, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and a Catholic — to serve as ambassador. She stepped down in 2021. President Joe Biden selected former Sen. Joe Donnelly, who is Catholic, as ambassador to the Holy See during his term. He stepped down earlier this year.

Pope Francis with Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago on Sept. 2, 2015. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 20, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed five new auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Chicago and assigned each bishop-elect a titular see in the Middle East and North Africa region, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced Dec. 20.

Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich expressed his gratitude to the Holy Father on Friday for the appointments of bishops-elect Father Timothy J. O’Malley, Father Lawrence J. Sullivan, Father José Maria Garcia Maldonado, Father Robert Fedek, and Father John S. Siemianowski.

“These fine archdiocesan priests reflect the people of this particular Church and the many talents of our local presbyterate,” Cupich shared in a Dec. 20 news release.

“Each has a solid and notable record of pastoral service rooted in their shared fidelity to the Gospel and their generosity in using their unique gifts for the good of the Church and society,” he added.

While each of the five bishops-elect will “remain in their present assignments for the time being,” according to the Archdiocese of Chicago release, the Vatican’s announcement states Pope Francis has also assigned each a titular see outside of the U.S.

To titular sees in Algeria, the Holy Father appointed O’Malley, parish priest of Most Blessed Trinity in Waukegan, Illinois, to the see of Numida; Sullivan, parish priest of Christ the King in Chicago, to the see of Lambhua; Maldonado, parish priest of San José Sanchez del Rio in Chicago, to the see of Fallaba; and Siemianowski, parish priest of St. Juliana in Chicago, to the see of Gratianopolis.

The Holy Father assigned Fedek, personal secretary to Cupich in the Chicago Archdiocese, the titular see of Dardano in Turkey. The last titular bishop of Dardano was Bishop Nicolas Coëffeteau, OP, who held the seat over 400 years ago from 1617–1621.

All five bishops-elect attended Mundelein Seminary in Illinois before being assigned to parishes in the Chicago Archdiocese. 

The episcopal ordination of the five bishops-elect will take place at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral in early 2025.

Archpriest of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas blesses a Nativity scene in the recently reopened cathedral on Dec. 20, 2024, in Paris. / Credit: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has blessed the Nativity scene at the historic French landmark church ahead of the first Christmas celebrations since its restoration after a devastating 2019 fire.

“You know, for the past 10 days, we’ve been feeling very joyful,” said Notre Dame rector Monsignor Olivier Ribadeau Dumas during the ceremony. “My greatest joy is to see people happy because they have a cathedral again, not only because they see these stones again but also because it’s a place for prayer that they got back.”

During the ceremonial blessing of the 17th-century-style creche, Dumas shook an olive branch soaked in holy water over the Nativity scene, while those of the faithful in attendance prayed and sang hymns. 

“I am the rector of a cathedral that had burnt down,” Dumas said, adding: “and I am now the happy rector of a cathedral that has reopened to welcome all of those who will enter it: pilgrims, visitors, and believers.” 

Notre Dame Cathedral underwent five years of renovation after a fire in April 2019 broke out across its roof and spire, causing significant damage to the beloved cathedral and monument of French culture. 

The archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, celebrated the first Mass at the cathedral on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The altar of the restored cathedral was consecrated during the liturgy, and celebrants wore vibrant chasubles designed by Jean-Charles Castelbajac, a 74-year-old designer who has dressed the likes of Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna, and St. John Paul II. 

At the Mass, which was attended by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, some 170 bishops from the country and around the world concelebrated with Ulrich as well as one priest from each of the 106 parishes of the Archdiocese of Paris and one priest from each of the seven Eastern-rite Catholic churches.

Macron, initially scheduled to speak on the cathedral’s forecourt to respect the law of separation between the church and the state, wound up speaking inside the building due to inclement weather, as previously announced in a press release from the Archdiocese of Paris.

Expressing “the gratitude of the French nation” to the cathedral’s rebuilders during his address, Macron asserted that Notre Dame “tells us how much meaning and transcendence help us to live in this world.”

Pope Francis also sent his regards in a message read by the apostolic nuncio to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.

“May the rebirth of this admirable church be a prophetic sign of the renewal of the Church in France,” the pontiff said. “I invite all the baptized who will joyfully enter this cathedral to feel a legitimate pride and reclaim their faith heritage.”

Christmas lights line a street in Rome, Italy, Dec. 17, 2024. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

Rome during the Christmas season is a feast for the senses. Twinkling lights drape over the city’s cobblestone streets, towering Christmas trees adorn piazzas, and Nativity scenes beckon from churches and storefronts alike.

Against this dazzling backdrop, the first pilgrims for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee, which begins on Christmas Eve, have the unique opportunity to enjoy the Eternal City’s many Christmas traditions. 

Pope Francis will open five jubilee Holy Doors in the Christmas season between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6.

And 38-year-old Immaculate Atieno, a jubilee pilgrim from Nairobi, Kenya, is hoping to witness all of the solemn door openings with the pope.

“It’s worth it,” Atieno told CNA. “This is a once-in-every-25-years thing to do. So why not give it your all?”

Atieno brought with her a long list of prayer intentions from family and friends in Africa in addition to her desire to pray for the needs of the world as she receives her jubilee indulgence.

“We are at a time where the world really needs lots of prayers,” she explained. “That is why we put forth our prayers, also praying for the intentions of the Holy Father in this time and remembering others.”

Jubilee pilgrims spending the Christmas season in Rome will also get to enjoy the Italian capital’s many culinary delights, including the ubiquitous Christmas bread, panettone.

Panettone, the egg-rich, butter-laden Italian bread speckled with candied fruit, is everywhere — stacked in brightly wrapped boxes in grocery stores, showcased in bakery windows, and served in slices at cafes. Some bakeries have taken things up a notch, crafting edible Nativity scenes out of panettone and chocolate.

And while many Italian families will sit down to elaborate seafood feasts on Christmas Eve, pilgrims and locals alike enjoy wandering through the city’s streets, soaking in the holiday atmosphere.

A group of Catholic sisters from Indonesia took in the lights of Via del Corso and snapped photos at the Spanish Steps, where a modern Christmas tree sparkled against the historic landmark.

“Every store, every church has also prepared really wonderful decorations to welcome in Christmas,” Sister Angela of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary told CNA.

“I’m really excited to be welcoming the jubilee here. I’m also feeling so lucky because this year will be the opening of the holy doors.”

Her companion, Sister Tarcisia, shared that she is praying for all of the jubilee pilgrims who will be coming to Rome during the Christmas season as well as for people in the world to experience peace and justice.

This year, large Christmas trees are displayed in Rome’s Piazza di Popolo, the Spanish Steps, and St. Peter’s Square.

Pilgrims strolling through Piazza Navona can browse Rome’s small-scale Christmas market, where vendors sell Nativity figurines, ornaments, and Befana dolls — Italy’s traditional Christmas witch. 

Over in St. Peter’s Square, visitors marvel at the Vatican’s grand Nativity scene, which this year features a replica of the lagoon of Grado, a picturesque Italian town on the Adriatic Sea.

Under Bernini’s colonnade, the Vatican’s “100 Nativity Scenes” exhibit draws visitors with its international collection, including Nativities made from coral, pine cones, papier-mâché, and even pasta.

Nearby the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle also showcases an array of Nativity scenes and the Basilica of Saints Cosma and Damiano features a monumental display of historic Neapolitan figurines.

At the Basilica of St. Mary Major, pilgrims can venerate a relic of Christ’s manger and pray at the site where St. Cajetan had a vision of the Virgin Mary handing him the infant Jesus. 

For those willing to venture beyond Rome, Assisi is illuminated during the Christmas season with light displays of Giotto’s famous frescoes, while the nearby town of Greccio is the site of the first Nativity scene created by St. Francis.

For Atieno, the spiritual aspect of the season is central to her pilgrimage. She said her favorite Christmas tradition is the great homilies that she looks forward to every Advent and Christmas. 

“It’s a time when we have to remember peace, joy, and prepare ourselves to welcome Our Lord,” she said.

Pope Francis, who celebrated his 88th birthday on Dec. 17, has a packed liturgical schedule for the first few weeks of the jubilee. 

On Christmas Eve, he will preside over the opening of the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica at 7 p.m. followed by the Christmas “Mass during the Night.”

Pilgrims unable to secure tickets for the Christmas Eve Mass told CNA that they plan to gather in St. Peter’s Square, hoping to witness the historic opening of the Holy Door from outside.

The following day, Francis will deliver his “urbi et orbi” blessing to the city and the world from the basilica’s central balcony.

The pope’s jubilee itinerary also includes opening the Holy Door at Rome’s Rebibbia prison on  the Dec. 26 feast of St. Stephen; at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on the Dec. 29 feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph; at St. Mary Major on the Jan. 1 solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; and at St. Paul Outside the Walls on Jan. 5.

Pope Francis asked pilgrims to spiritually prepare for Christmas in his last general audience before the start of the jubilee.

“Christmas is now here and I’d like to think that there is a Nativity scene in your homes,” the pope said. “This important element of our spirituality and culture is a wonderful, wonderful way to remember Jesus who came to dwell among us.”

Praying alongside pilgrims crowded inside the Vatican hall, Pope Francis asked the “Prince of Peace” for his grace and peace to fill the world.

Bishop Gregory Kelly. / Credit: Scott Wagner Photo LLC, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop to lead the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, more than a year after the Holy See removed its Bishop Joseph Strickland amid questions over management of the diocese. 

Dallas Auxiliary Bishop J. Gregory Kelly will lead the Tyler Diocese, apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre said on Friday. 

He will take over diocesan leadership from Austin Bishop Joe Vásquez, who has served as apostolic administrator in Tyler since last year. 

Pope Francis relieved Strickland from the Tyler bishopric last November after an apostolic visitation concluded it was “not feasible” for Strickland to remain in that position. Strickland had days earlier refused to submit his resignation voluntarily.

Strickland, 65, had served as bishop of Tyler since 2012. The widely popular though polarizing Texas bishop had faced criticism for his firebrand social media posts, including a tweet last year that suggested Pope Francis was “undermining the deposit of faith.” 

‘I am grateful for this new responsibility’

The Texas Catholic, the newspaper for the Diocese of Dallas, said on Friday that Kelly will be installed in Tyler on Feb. 24, 2025. 

“I am grateful for this new responsibility and will do my best to serve the priests, deacons, religious, and faithful of the Diocese of Tyler,” the paper quoted Kelly as saying. 

The bishop-elect was born on Feb. 15, 1956, in Le Mars, Iowa. He received a degree in philosophy from the University of Dallas while in priestly formation at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas. He later received a master of divinity from the university. 

He was ordained in the Dallas Diocese on May 15, 1982, by Bishop Thomas Tschoepe. He served in numerous roles throughout the diocese, including as pastor at multiple churches and as the chaplain at the University of Dallas. From 2008 to 2016 he served as the vicar of clergy for the Dallas Diocese.

In 2016 he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of the diocese, where he has served since. He also serves as the vicar general and moderator of the curia. 

His other responsibilities have included serving as the diocesan vocations director and as a member of the diocesan review board. He also served as apostolic administrator there from 2016–2017. 

Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said on Friday that the pope “has chosen a loyal and committed bishop to serve in the Diocese of Tyler,“ though he said that “our beloved brother will be missed here in the Diocese of Dallas.”

“We acknowledge that Pope Francis has chosen a man who possesses the heart of the Good Shepherd and will serve the people of God in the Diocese of Tyler well,” Burns said. 

null / Credit: pim pic/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Many women who undergo chemical abortions experience more pain than they were prepared for and more than 40% go through “severe” pain, according to a peer-reviewed study of British women conducted by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS).

The study, published in the BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health online journal, notes that women who seek out chemical abortions are often advised that the pain from chemical abortions will be similar to “period pain,” but the researchers note that the pain experienced can vary widely and be much more severe.

“Many felt unprepared for the level of pain they experienced,” the study notes, adding that in many cases, there is “a lack of detailed, realistic anticipatory pain counseling.”

The survey found that 48.5% of respondents experienced more pain than they expected. About 92% of the women who underwent chemical abortions rated their pain level at least “4” on a scale of 1 to 10, with 41.5% rating their pain as “8” or higher, which designates “severe” pain.

According to the study, some women told researchers that the pain described in consultations or information leaflets was “washed over,” “downplayed,” or “sugarcoated.” 

“The pain was intense and constant, in my lower back,” one of the women explained. “It hurt so much that it made me throw up several times. I felt shaky and faint at points.”

“Pain was so much stronger than period pain,” another woman described. “It was like having contractions in labor. I’ve given birth three times and the pain really wasn’t too much different from that pain, the cramping contraction pain.”

Another woman surveyed told researchers “the pain was really a lot worse than I expected, perhaps because it was compared to bad period pain and my periods have always been fairly pain-free.”

“Pain was so severe, and yet everything I read or heard, and what little there was about the pain on the internet was [that] it was slight cramping, like a bad period … [which] couldn’t be further from the truth,” she continued. 

“… The amount of pain you could go through is completely played down. … I understand they probably don’t want to scare many women, but I’d rather know how bad the pain can get.”

The researchers wrote in the study that “setting realistic expectations” about pain levels is needed for women to support “informed” decisions.

“Benchmarking against period pain has long been used as a way to describe the pain associated with medical abortion, despite the wide variability of period pain experienced,” Hannah McCulloch, the lead author of the study, said in a statement.

“For many respondents, using period pain as a reference point for what to expect was not helpful for managing expectations, or in line with their experiences,” she added.

Nearly 1,600 women who underwent chemical abortions in England and Wales responded to the survey. Chemical abortions are prescribed for British women up to 10 weeks’ gestation, which is the same standard approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

At 10 weeks’ gestation, an unborn child has a fetal heartbeat, early brain activity, and partially developed eyes, lips, and nostrils. The abortion pill mifepristone kills the child by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the supply of oxygen and nutrients. A second pill, misoprostol, expels the child’s body from the mother, essentially inducing labor.

Pro-life pregnancy resource centers often offer abortion pill reversal (APR) medicine, which is meant to reverse the effects of mifepristone by increasing progesterone levels.

Nigerian Christian mother of five Rhoda Jatau was acquitted of blasphemy charges after a two-and-a-half-year legal battle. / Credit: Photo courtesy of ADF International

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 20, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A Nigerian Christian mother of five has been fully acquitted of “blasphemy” charges after a two-and-a-half-year legal battle. 

A judge in the northeast Bauchi state in Nigeria has granted Rhoda Jatau, 47, full acquittal of blasphemy charges, according to a Dec. 19 press release from her legal team at ADF International. Bauchi practices a form of Sharia law, under which blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution. 

“We are thankful to God for Rhoda’s full acquittal and an end to the ordeal she has endured for far too long,” stated Sean Nelson, legal counsel for ADF International, in the release. “No person should be punished for peaceful expression, and we are grateful that Rhoda Jatau has been fully acquitted. But Rhoda should never have been arrested in the first place.”

“We will continue to seek justice for Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria who are unjustly imprisoned and plagued by the draconian blasphemy laws,” he added.  

A Nigerian ADF lawyer who represented Jatau and is remaining anonymous responded to the news, stating: “After a two-and-a-half-year ordeal, including 19 long months in prison, we are happy that Rhoda finally has been acquitted of any wrongdoing. We thank all who have been praying for Rhoda, and we ask for your continued prayers as Nigerians continue to push back against persecution.” 

Jatau was arrested by Nigerian authorities on May 20, 2022, after forwarding a video to her colleagues at work of a Muslim denouncing the mob killing of Nigerian Christian college student Deborah Emmanuel Yakabu. 

According to local news source Light Bearer News, when news of Jatau’s actions reached the public many immediately called for her death. One Muslim group posted her photo online and called her “the one God has cursed.” 

During the riots that ensued, 15 Christians were seriously injured, and several buildings were burned down, according to Light Bearer News. 

The young woman’s killing had taken place eight days before Jatau’s arrest, when a mob of Islamist students dragged Yakabu from a safe room where she had been hiding, stoned her to death, and set her body on fire. She was reportedly accused of committing blasphemy after she posted on social media that Jesus had helped her pass her exams. 

Initially denied bail, Jatau spent 19 months in prison after her colleagues at the Primary Healthcare Board of the town of Warj reported her for the post she had sent them. She was “detained incommunicado” until December 2023. 

During Jatau’s trial, a Bauchi state judge had denied her lawyers’ attempts to have the charges dismissed, citing a lack of evidence to back up the prosecution’s claims. News of the acquittal follows international backlash and appeals from ADF International and other religious freedom activists. United Nations experts had also sent a joint letter to the Nigerian government on Jatau’s behalf, condemning the country’s blasphemy laws. 

Pope Francis meets with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday, June 14, 2024, after a session at the G7 summit, which is being held June 13–15 in the southern Italian region of Puglia. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2024 / 19:45 pm (CNA).

U.S. President Joe Biden accepted an invitation to visit Pope Francis next month and discuss efforts to advance peace, the White House announced on Thursday. 

Biden, the country’s second Catholic president, is set to travel to Rome from Jan. 9–12 at Pope Francis’ invitation. His audience with Pope Francis is set for Jan. 10 and will focus on efforts to advance peace around the world.

The trip announcement came following a Thursday telephone conversation between Pope Francis and Biden, during which the two leaders discussed “efforts to advance peace around the world during the holiday season,” according to a Dec. 19 statement from the White House. 

“The president thanked the pope for his continued advocacy to alleviate global suffering, including his work to advance human rights and protect religious freedoms,” the statement read. “President Biden also graciously accepted His Holiness Pope Francis’ invitation to visit the Vatican next month.”

Biden is also set to meet with Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, and Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni during his visit. The White House noted that Biden will thank Meloni for her leadership of the G7 over the past year. The G7 Summit is an annual meeting of government leaders from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Overseas visits this late in a U.S. presidency are rare. The most recent overseas visit in the last month of a president’s term was more than 30 years ago, when outgoing president George H.W. Bush visited Moscow to sign a nuclear treaty and Paris for talks with the French president about the Bosnian war. 

Biden last met with Pope Francis in June of this year where the two discussed foreign policy in Israel, Gaza, and the Ukraine as well as climate change. During a private audience at the G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy, the two leaders “emphasized the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and a hostage deal” in Gaza and the need to “address the critical humanitarian crisis,” according to the White House. 

At the time, Biden also thanked Pope Francis for the Vatican’s work to address the humanitarian concerns in Ukraine and for his efforts to address climate change.

The two have consistently discussed the Israel-Hamas war since October 2023, when they spoke over the phone about preventing escalation and working toward peace in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in which Hamas killed more than 1,200 men, women, and children. 

Biden previously met with Pope Francis in October 2021 for about 75 minutes to discuss poverty, climate change, and other issues. That was Biden’s first in-person meeting with the pontiff as president, but the two leaders also spoke on the phone shortly after the presidential election. Biden had met Pope Francis three times before becoming president. 

Pope Francis has criticized Biden in the past for his promotion of legal abortion as a Catholic, calling it an “incoherence” in a 2022 interview. Pope Francis said: “Let [Biden] talk to his pastor about that incoherence.” 

The Holy Father also recently called for an end to production and use of anti-personnel explosives in November, just a week after Biden approved Ukraine’s use of American land mines in the Russia-Ukraine war. 

During the past four years of Biden’s administration, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been consistently at odds with the Biden administration over issues related to abortion and gender ideology.

An FBI agent stands outside the Houck residence in Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 23, 2022. Mark Houck was arrested that day and charged with assaulting a Planned Parenthood escort outside an Philadelphia abortion clinic on Oct. 13, 2021. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Houck family

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2024 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

House Republican lawmakers discussed repealing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act on Wednesday after hearing testimony alleging the law has been weaponized against pro-life protesters.

The FACE Act, which has been federal law for 30 years, imposes harsher prison sentences for people who obstruct access to abortion clinics or pro-life pregnancy resource centers. However, under President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), the law has almost exclusively been used to convict pro-life demonstrators.

Rep. Chip Roy introduced legislation to repeal the FACE Act in 2023, but the bill failed to make it out of the Judiciary Committee. If a repeal effort were to pass the House, it would need to overcome the filibuster in the Senate by garnering support from seven Democrats in the upcoming session. The effort has not gotten support from any Democratic lawmakers.

On Wednesday, Dec. 18, lawmakers heard testimony about the alleged targeting of pro-life activists in a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government hearing.

Unequal enforcement against pro-life advocates

Roy, who chairs the subcommittee, noted during the hearing that the Biden DOJ brought 25 FACE Act cases against more than 50 offenders.

Only two of those cases were against pro-abortion activists who vandalized pro-life pregnancy resource centers despite the numerous attacks following the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade. The remainder have been invoked against pro-life demonstrators. 

More than a dozen pro-life activists, several of whom are elderly and in poor health, are either in prison or awaiting sentencing for FACE Act violations. 

Lauren Handy, 31, who was given the longest sentence, is serving four years and nine months in prison. Other activists serving at least two years include 75-year-old Paulette Harlow and 74-year-old Jean Marshall. The oldest activist convicted under Biden’s tenure is 89-year-old Eva Edl, who is a survivor of a communist concentration camp in the former Yugoslavia and is currently awaiting sentencing.  

“Unequal application of the law is not truly law,” Roy said. “It is tyranny imposed on those who didn’t have the power by those who do have it. That’s contrary to everything we believe as Americans.”

Paul Vaughn, who was convicted of violating the FACE Act for his role in a March 2021 protest at an abortion clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, testified at the hearing that he peacefully prayed but never personally blocked anyone from entering the clinic. Others at the demonstration engaged in a nonviolent sit-in in front of the clinic doors and were also convicted. 

“I did nothing that was outside my constitutionally protected free speech and religious freedom,” Vaughn said. “I did nothing that day that I’ve not done many times since [the FACE Act] was passed in 1994. I did not sit in, I broke no laws, federal or local, and I was not arrested the day of the event.” 

Although local police did not arrest him, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided his home in October 2022 to arrest him under FACE Act charges, nearly a year and a half later. 

“My house was assaulted, my wife and children were terrorized, and I was kidnapped at gunpoint by four armed men,” he said. “I had just sent three of my children to the car so I could take them to school when the house began to shake from a loud banging near the front door. I heard men shouting on my porch, ‘Open up, FBI!’”

“I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, staring down the barrels of both a pistol and an automatic weapon pointed at my head,” he added.

Vaughn did not get prison time but was given three years of supervised release. He testified that for him, “all this process is [still] a punishment.” 

“There are those who are in jail today while we are discussing this abuse, some of them for over a year at this point,” Vaughn said. 

Republicans and Democrats disagree

During the hearing, Roy reiterated his call to repeal the FACE Act and urged President-elect Donald Trump to pardon or commute the sentences of pro-life activists convicted under the law — something that Trump has said he intends to do. 

Rep. Dan Bishop, one of the Republican members of the committee, said during the hearing that “it just seems to me troubling.” 

“You got guns drawn and pointed at a man’s head and [you have] his children … stopped at the side,” Bishop said, adding that “we’re in an environment where we’re always talking about [how] police officers should deescalate [situations].” 

Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman said the “abuse of the FACE Act is an attempt to criminalize the free thought and the ability for people to … peacefully protest.”

“It’s a sad day in America when someone who is praying … [to] be arrested years later for that behavior,” she added.

Republican Rep. Tom McClintock added that the FACE Act is “being administered by people with political biases” and questioned whether there was a way to prevent weaponization without repealing the entirety of the law. 

Democrats, however, disagreed that the law has been weaponized and stressed that lawmakers should keep the FACE Act rules in place. 

“[Republicans] are really just giving themselves another opportunity to signal their support to the extremists plotting to criminalize or block access to abortion across the country,” Democratic Rep. Mary Scanlon said.

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler said: “Republicans have found no — zero — credible or direct evidence that supports their specious claims regarding what they alleged is the Department of Justice’s uneven enforcement of the FACE Act.”

“Anti-abortion extremists continue to use violence, threats, and disruption to curb access to abortion,” Nadler said. “So Republicans want to repeal the law that explicitly protects patients, providers, and facilities that provide reproductive health services from these ongoing threats.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland have denied that the FBI or DOJ have been targeting pro-life activists with FACE Act prosecutions.