St. Columba Catholic Church

Teens Mia Smothers, Ezequiel Ponce, Micah Alcisto, Elise Wing, and Chris Pantelakis, and moderator Katie McGrady, right, take a “selfie” with Pope Leo XIV during a live digital encounter at Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Katie McGrady

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 21, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV answered questions from five teenagers at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis during a live digital encounter Friday morning. 

Mia Smothers, Micah Alcisto, Ezequiel Ponce, Christopher Pantelakis, and Elise Wing asked Pope Leo questions and held a conversation with him on Nov. 21 as thousands of teens gathered in Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Holy Father discussed matters close to the teens’ hearts including recovering from mistakes, giving worries to Jesus, distractions, technology, and the future of the Church. 

Mia Smothers

Mia Smothers, a freshman from Joppa, Maryland, started the conversation with the pope by asking the first question.  

“At first I was very nervous, but when I saw the Holy Father on the screen, I was like, ‘It’s all going to be OK.’ Because I saw the emotion and how happy he was to be able to talk to us. So it just took the nervousness away,” Smothers told CNA. 

Smothers asked the pope about how people can recover from mistakes and accept God’s mercy. He responded by reminding teens that “all of us struggle” and “none of us [are] perfect.” 

His answer was “very surprising,” because “it showed that he also struggles, and it was another person’s perspective on how they dealt with their problems,” Smothers said.

The pope’s discussion on technology really stood out to Smothers, she said, especially when he said “electronics cannot take away real connections.” Smothers, who has nine siblings, said she hopes they apply the messages from Pope Leo to their lives. 

“I want them to make connections and be more involved in the Church,” she said. “Because as the pope says, we are the present and we’re also the future. So I need them to understand and see if you put yourself out in the Church, great things will happen.”

Pope Leo asked the students to ponder how they can build peace in the world, and to answer his call Smothers said she can “tell more people about God and tell them to bring more peace to people’s hearts.”

Micah Alcisto

Micah Alcisto from Honolulu told CNA “being a part of the history of the pope, and the first interaction of the pope in America, is truly surreal to me.” 

“Everything that he says is very heartwarming and touching.” Alcisto highlighted that the pope even “cracked a little bit of jokes.” He added: “I think it really broke the tension in the room. It grabbed everyone’s attention.”

“I never thought someone could speak so well and politely like him. And I think that’s what makes a difference in people’s lives is how you talk to others. … Everything about how he spoke to us, the lessons he gave, and how he related it all back to the Scripture and the Bible is definitely a one-of-a-kind experience,” Alcisto said.

The pope told the students that he is praying for them, which Alcisto said gave him goosebumps. “Just to hear him acknowledge us … means so much. I’ve never really felt that way from someone, especially coming from Pope Leo. Never would I have thought he would have said that to me personally,” he said.

Alcisto said he appreciated that the pope recognizes there is “a lot of authenticity in teens” like himself. Specifically, “our flame, our passion for religion and once you see a group of kids expressing their faith loudly, it makes everyone else want to do it,” he said.

“I think that’s what is special about us teens — we have the excitement, the flame with us to spread the word and the Gospel … It’s really a blessing that he got to actually acknowledge it to us. I think it will give us more excitement to spread the Gospel and the faith,” Alcisto said.

Ezequiel Ponce

Ezequiel Ponce, a high school senior from Downey, California, said he was surprisingly “super calm” when he was speaking with the pope. “I was taking in the information like if it was a personal mentor, like if he was right in front of me. I was listening. … I was really involved and engaged.”

“Something that definitely stood out to me was when he said to find someone that you can truly trust and be honest with, especially … finding a friend or family member that will help you grow your faith with God,” Ponce said.

“I was very excited to hear that he has us in our prayers, because I know that we’ve had him in our prayers,” Ponce said. “So it felt like we already built a connection. He already established himself. Honestly, that just strengthened my faith.”

As the group listened to the Holy Father, they “were all truly in it 100%,” Ponce said. “My main takeaway was that what I’m doing right now is good, because he talked about being involved in the Church. That’s how you can grow your faith. And that’s honestly what I’ve been doing.”

Christopher Pantelakis

“I was just out of breath. It was breathtaking,” said Christopher Pantelakis, a high school junior from Nevada. He said he “couldn’t really process” the experience as he was talking to Pope Leo.

While Pantelakis said he was incredibly nervous to speak to the Holy Father, he prayed beforehand to be at ease. “I was sitting there right before it was going to happen, and I was just like, ‘God, please help me. Please guide me through this.’’

As the conversations started, “I looked over at the people sitting next to me and all my friends that also talked, and it was so amazing to have this wonderful guy right here, the Holy Father, referring to us by our names and calling us his friends,” Pantelakis said. 

The pope “referred to us as his friends and he wasn’t just stating something for an interview or something. He was directly talking back to us. He was answering our questions, and he was engaged in our conversation. You could tell he cared.”

Pantelakis said he was thinking, “‘this is a genuine guy right here.’ It was just such an amazing thing to see.”

Pantelakis asked the Holy Father about technology and said he appreciated when the pope said “that no digital experience could replace a hug or can replace the feeling of a human being.” 

Elise Wing

Elise Wing, a high school senior from Waterloo, Iowa, highlighted how the pope understands the youth. “Even before I asked him: ‘How can young people be involved in that?’ He had already answered,” in the previous questions, she said. 

Pope Leo “said that preparing for the future is in the sacraments right now. We have to have a relationship with Jesus, and that’s through the sacraments and through communication with him to be able to come together as a full Church and tackle the future together,” she said.

“There’s so much that we need to prepare for in our hearts — spiritually and when we’re facing struggles with connection. We talked about AI and technology and mental health. Those struggles are something that are continuing. They’re going to be present in the future of the Church as well,” Wing said.

The conversation was “so personal,” Wing said. “Pope Leo said, ‘We’re looking for youth. We’re looking for you, not anybody else. You.’ The Holy Spirit was working because there was a very clear message.”

“There’s so much hope in the future. I think that Pope Leo really gives that message of hope in the way he responds to people and in how active he has been in sharing his perspectives,” she said.

Pope Leo discussed how “the Church doesn’t choose a political side,” Wing said. “We are divided by politics in America. It’s present. And even in high school, it’s something that you can’t ignore.” She said the topic is “very appreciated by the younger generations.” 

“The Church is above that,” Wing said. “It’s about Jesus, not about which side you’re on. I think that that unity and that peace of mind that he brings to a younger generation is something that is so profound.

“I was really struck by the way that everything the pope said reflected back to Jesus. It was not about him at all. He didn’t dwell on the struggles, but he pointed it all back to the Lord and how the Lord is working in each of us here, now, and in the future,” Wing said.

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Nigerian Diocese of Makurdi in Benue state at a breakfast at Capitol Hill organized by Aid to the Church in Need, Jan. 30, 2024. / Credit: Peter Pinedo/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 21, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

A Nigerian Catholic bishop said U.S. military intervention is warranted at a Nov. 20 hearing of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa.

The hearing took place just days after an attack on a Catholic boarding school in western Nigeria in which children were abducted from the school’s hostel.

“Nigeria is ground zero” for religious persecution, said the subcommittee’s chair, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, at the hearing. “Make no mistake, these ongoing attacks are based on religion, and diverting attention from it denies what we have seen with our own eyes.”

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Diocese of Makurdi, Benue, Nigeria, told the panel via Zoom that the United States must follow Nigeria’s addition on the watch list with concrete action.

“Without quick intervention, Christianity risks elimination in parts of northern and Middle Belt Nigeria within a very short time,” the bishop said, noting that while designation as a country of particular concern (CPC) has “brought immense joy, hope, and spiritual resilience to communities under siege in Nigeria,” the Church cannot stop persecution alone. 

“​​It requires coordinated political, military, and humanitarian intervention,” the bishop said. “Mr. Chairman and members, the blood of Nigerian Christians cries out to you. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”

The hearing highlighted ongoing religious persecution of Christians in Nigeria by groups including Boko Haram and the Muslim extremist Fulani herdsmen, and examined how the U.S. State Department could apply pressure on the Nigerian government to tamp down religious persecution. 

President Donald Trump announced on Oct. 31 he would place Nigeria on the U.S. religious freedom violation watch list and designate it as a CPC.

Under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, the U.S president must designate countries that engage in or tolerate “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as CPCs. Violations include torture, prolonged detention without charges, and forced disappearence, according to the State Department. 

The bishop recounted ongoing attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt states by Fulani militia as well as in his own village of Aondona in Gwer West LGA, which resulted in the deaths of several of his relatives on May 22. 

Agnabe urged the U.S. to use all of the tools at its disposal to aid Nigeria and to “enact concrete actions,” including the use of targeted sanctions under the Magnitsky Act and the expansion of humanitarian aid for internal displacement camps. 

“We all know that inaction emboldens the extremists even more,” he said. 

Smith called for the U.S. government to place conditions on foreign aid and to provide humanitarian assistance to faith-based groups working to help displaced people in the Middle Belt region. He further called for the Trump administration to impose targeted sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, including visa bans and asset freezes on individuals and entities “responsible for these gross human rights abuses.” 

Smith cited statistics from Open Doors, which found that Nigeria has persecuted and slaughtered more Christians than anywhere in the world. Smith also said about 52,000 Christians have been targeted and killed, in addition to 34,000 moderate Muslims, since 2009. 

Rep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, whom Trump charged with reporting to him about Nigeria, at the hearing called for the disarmament of Fulani militants in Nigeria.

Democratic House members said at the hearing that persecution in Nigeria is not limited to Christians and agreed that the Nigerian government has failed to halt attacks. 

Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-California, said she opposed Trump’s pledge to employ military action in Nigeria and cautioned against viewing ongoing violence in Nigeria as “merely religious.” She encouraged State Department officials to “use the [diplomatic] tools in our toolbox” before resorting to controlled strikes in the region. 

Ambassador Jonathan Pratt, the senior official leading the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, condemned the Nigerian’s government’s “failure to intervene” on behalf of persecuted Christians and said the Trump administration is working to “develop a plan to incentivize” action.  

Peter Flew, a lawyer and writer, says at a congressional briefing Nov. 20, 2025, that he collected evidence and witness statements regarding government persecution of the Apostolic Church in Armenia. / Credit: Photo courtesy of George Goss/Image Herder

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 21, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

Human rights advocates told members of Congress that the Armenian government’s crackdown on Christians has included the unlawful detentions of clergy, ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections in June 2026.

Tensions have escalated between Nikol Pashinyan, the sitting prime minister of Armenia, and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, reflecting the struggle over Armenia’s national identity and future direction. Government targeting of Christians has sparked concern for the loss of the country’s heritage as the oldest Christian nation in the world.

Peter Flew, a lawyer and writer, said at a congressional briefing Nov. 20 that he collected evidence and witness statements regarding government persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Flew cited Pashinyan’s remarks in a recent press conference in which he said the Armenian Apostolic Church “has no Catholicos,” a supreme patriarch and head of the church, saying Karekin II is illegitimate. 

“The attacks on this front must end,” he said, calling for the release of political prisoners. 

“I have hope that if we bring this issue to greater prominence,” Flew told CNA, “there will be engagement to say that we support Armenia, we support Armenia’s future and its peace.” 

Flew said: “The situation on the ground is such that anyone countering it is ending up in jail. Churches are not represented here [at the event] because they’ve been scared, and that’s the challenge.” 

“I think with the international communities, civil society, international at home, if we can come together and allow people to feel that there’s a critical mass raising their voices, that might do something,” Flew said. “But at the moment, you’re not going to see the church do much because it’s under siege.” 

Joel Veldkamp, speaking for Christian Solidarity International’s mission of campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, echoed similar concerns for members of the church in Armenia.

“The way I see it, the fact that there are parliamentary elections coming up means that the repression is going to increase,” Veldkamp said. “The assault on the church has to be seen as part of this effort to cut off dissenting voices before the election comes.”

Veldkamp said the U.S. State Department has been largely silent on Pashinyan’s crackdown on the Armenian Apostolic Church with the exception of Asif Mahmood, vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. 

“Prime Minister Pashinyan visions a future Armenia where the church has no social or political influence independent of the state,” Veldkamp said. “An Armenia with a severely weakened international identity is not an Armenia that’s going to be helpful to the U.S. for very long. If the president wants to avoid this outcome, it’s time for the U.S. government to break the silence.” 

Bishop Bulus Yohana Dauwa of Nigeria’s Diocese of Kontagora. In an interview with ACI Africa on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, Dauwa described the recent kidnapping of 25 schoolgirls is a tragic reminder that the country is no longer “safe for its children.” / Credit: ACI Africa/Catholic Diocese of Kontagora

ACI Africa, Nov 21, 2025 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

Bishop Bulus Yohana Dauwa of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Kontagora has raised concern about the safety of children in the West African country following the Nov. 17 abduction of 25 schoolgirls from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi state.

In an interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, on Tuesday, Dauwa described the incident as a tragic reminder that the country is no longer “safe for its children.”

The bishop told ACI Africa that he had gathered eyewitness accounts of the attack from victims who endured horrific scenes for nearly five hours, from 1 a.m. until 6 a.m., on the day of the attack.

An eyewitness told Dauwa that trouble began on Sunday, Nov. 16, when a suspicious group of men believed to be soldiers entered the school premises. They entered the school at around 4 p.m. — about 15 of them — on motorcycles and a van, wielding guns.

The soldiers ransacked the place without telling anyone what was happening. Staff reportedly retired to their quarters after the soldiers left.

In the early hours of Monday morning, armed bandits stormed the school and began shooting into the air. The attackers proceeded to the residence of a staff member, Mallam Hassan Yakubu, whom they found praying. They shot him dead on the spot. After his wife refused to show them where the students were sleeping, the gunmen seized one of her daughters and forced her to lead them to the hostel.

The gunmen fired repeatedly for nearly five hours, from 1 a.m. until 6 a.m., and left before soldiers returned to the scene. 

It was only after the gunmen had fled that security personnel instructed teachers to conduct a roll call, during which the missing girls were discovered.

The school, a home to around 300 students and normally guarded by a combined team of soldiers and police, has been shut down indefinitely. It remains unclear whether the security personnel normally stationed there were present during the attack.

Dauwa described the abduction as part of an escalating wave of violence sweeping across Kebbi and parts of Niger state.

“It has never been this bad. People sleep in the bush because they have nowhere else to run,” he said.

He encouraged the parents of the abducted girls to remain prayerful and hopeful. 

“We are praying that God will guide and protect these girls wherever they are. The government must do everything possible to bring them back. All of them will come back alive,” he said.

Beyond the kidnappings, the 54-year-old bishop highlighted decades-long challenges Christian communities face in the region, including what he called “silent discrimination and persecution.” 

He said efforts by the Church to buy land, build parishes, or open schools are frequently resisted.

“Christians have been enduring what I call silent persecution. They stopped us from building our school and churches. They claimed our land was too close to their mosque, and every planting season, they would break the boundary,” Bulus said.

He revealed that in some instances, communities deliberately built mosques directly in front of donated church sites to frustrate Christian worship. 

“We suffered for more than 10 years trying to open one parish,” Dauwa told ACI Africa.

According to the bishop, a breakthrough eventually came after intense prayers to St. Padre Pio. The local emir, bedridden abroad, unexpectedly called and ordered that all withheld land documents be released to the Church. 

“It was a miracle,” Dauwa said, recalling the emir’s move, and added: “That very day, they gave us every paper they had denied us.”

The bishop described the security situation in his diocese as “terrible,” citing attacks across Kebbi, Magama, Mariga, and several communities along the River Niger.

“They entered one of our outstation churches, and everybody ran into the bush. There was no time to do anything,” he said.

Dauwa faulted government officials for focusing on political debates rather than taking decisive action to protect citizens. 

“If the government had done enough, we would not be where we are today. Instead of facing reality, they are debating whether Muslims or Christians are being killed. That is not the main issue,” the bishop said.

He warned that politicians appear more concerned about the 2027 elections than the ongoing violence. 

“They are more interested in 2027. Security is not their problem, but how to win the elections,” he said.

The bishop disclosed that he had recently met with the Niger state governor and urged him to tell the president that security must come before politics. 

“Let him do something about the insecurity. That is the best way he can campaign now,” Dauwa said.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV meets with the leadership and staff of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s global charitable network operating in more than 200 countries, on Nov. 21, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2025 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday met with the leadership and staff of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s global charitable network operating in more than 200 countries, asking them to be “pilgrims of hope” and “artisans of peace” in the world.

During the morning meeting held at the Vatican, the Holy Father thanked Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi and approximately 70 Caritas workers for their “steadfast service” within the Church and to people throughout the world.

“Caritas Internationalis has long been a luminous sign of the Church’s maternal love,” he said to the multinational delegation on Nov. 21. 

“The love we receive from Christ is never a private treasure but always a mission entrusted to our hands,” he added. “Love sends us forth; love makes us servants; love opens our eyes to the wounds of others.”

Repeating his papal predecessor’s desire that Caritas uphold Christ’s “preference for the poor, the least, the abandoned, and discarded,” Leo emphasized their mission, together with the “successor of Peter,” is to serve every person with dignity.

3 pillars that sustain the Church’s work in the world

“Your mission echoes the vision I shared in my first address to the diplomatic corps, where I spoke of the three pillars that sustain the Church’s work in the world: peace, justice, and truth,” he said. “These pillars are not abstract ideals.”

Besides asking Caritas to continue accompanying local churches and their various initiatives to support the poor, the pope also insisted they also work toward “strengthening the formation of lay leaders” and “safeguarding unity within your diverse organization.”

“The Church’s mission unfolds only when we walk together as companions along the way, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape our works of mercy,” he said during the private audience.

In 2022, Caritas Internationalis’ leadership was placed under temporary administration following a decree issued by Pope Francis to revise its statutes and regulations to “improve” its mission of charity and justice.

Before individually greeting each member of the delegation at the end of the meeting, Pope Leo entrusted Caritas’ work to “Mary, Mother of the Poor” and asked God to bless them with the “gifts of courage, perseverance, and joy.”  

“Quite sincerely, I thank you, each and every one of you, and the many people that you represent, those who work with you,” he said.

Before meeting with Pope Leo XIV on Friday, Kikuchi told EWTN News that the 162-member organization is more than a professional “goodwill” agency.

“We are the charitable arm of the Catholic Church,” he said in the Nov. 20 interview. “Why are we being charitable? Because we want to spread the Gospel message — the love of God.”

During the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, Kikuchi said Caritas’ “Turn Debt Into Hope” campaign is a response to Pope Francis’ call for the cancellation of developing nations’ international debt, outlined in the papal bull Spes Non Confundit.

“There are many countries who owe money to developed countries,” the cardinal said. “We want to turn debt into hope [and] to cancel that debt so people really have the hope to survive.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, meets Pope Leo XIV, along with a delegation of Ukrainian mothers, wives, and teenagers, at the Vatican on Nov. 21, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, joined a delegation of Ukrainian mothers, wives, and teenagers forcibly taken to Russia during the war with Ukraine who met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Friday. The audience highlighted ongoing humanitarian and diplomatic efforts to secure the return of abducted civilians.

In a statement from her Senate office, Klobuchar said: “Pope Leo is a true moral force for peace and justice and a champion for children around the world. It was an honor to meet him as part of our mission to bring home the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and chart a path towards peace and healing for Ukraine.”

The senator added: “We cannot accept a world where children are abducted during wartime and used as hostages for negotiations. The United States must remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom, and we should all heed Pope Leo’s example of serving those in need, pursuing the common good, and calling for peace.”

According to the official Vatican News outlet, the meeting took place in the Apostolic Palace around midday and lasted about half an hour. Participants included young people who had been forcibly transferred to Russia and recently returned to Ukraine, along with their family members. The Vatican has put a priority on diplomatic efforts to return the children, starting under Pope Francis.

Klobuchar’s office noted that more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been confirmed as unlawfully deported or transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese holds up the decree on Nov. 14, 2025, that Pope Leo XIV sent him granting his request that St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin be designated as the cathedral Church of the archdiocese. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:09 pm (CNA).

There was immense joy among Catholics in Dublin following a decree from Pope Leo XIV formally designating St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin, ending 200 years of the cathedral’s “temporary” status and giving the capital its first official Catholic cathedral since the Reformation.

Speaking at Mass in the cathedral to mark the bicentenary on Friday, Nov. 14, Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese told the faithful of Dublin: “I am pleased to announce that the Holy Father, Pope Leo, has consented to my request and has approved by decree that St. Mary’s be designated as the cathedral church of our archdiocese.”

Farrell added that the timing could not have been better as it coincided with the cathedral’s bicentenary celebrations.

“It is appropriate that this announcement should be made in the context of our celebration of the exemplary service which St. Mary’s has given to our diocese over 200 years, but also at a time when we are renewing our focus on our mission as a diocesan family, ‘Building Hope and Proclaiming Good News,’ affirming the faith of our people and reaching out to the city and beyond,” the archbishop said.

The following Sunday, Auxiliary Bishop Paul Dempsey of Dublin warmly welcomed the news and told the faithful gathered in St. Mary’s: “In the Catholic tradition, over the centuries, many beautiful places of worship have been built. It is important to return to why they were built. They are not built as tourist attractions or museums; they are places where the Church community gathers to worship the Lord. The beauty and aesthetics are there to help raise our minds and hearts to God and to draw us into the mystery that is God’s love,” he said.

St. Mary’s opened on Nov. 14, 1825. From around that time onward and following Catholic Emancipation, the Irish Church entered a period of strong growth. Many of the churches, parochial houses, and religious houses in Ireland were built in the middle of the 19th century symbolizing the strong presence of the Catholic Church in Irish society. 

“It continued for about 150 years or so. Then we saw the beginnings of change, something that has escalated over the last two to three decades. We find ourselves in a very different place today,” he said.

“There can be a temptation to look to the past with rose-tinted glasses when the churches were full, but as we know not all was well and serious issues needed to be faced. This process has been disconcerting for some who have a nostalgia for the past and want to go back to the way it was. However, nostalgia could be described as a looking into the past with the pain taken away.”

He continued: “So today, as we reflect upon 200 years of St. Mary’s we are left with a choice: Do we lament the past and wish for its return or seek ways of looking forward with hope-filled hearts, responding to the new questions we face in a complex and changing culture? When I reflect upon the life of Jesus in the Gospels, I see someone who was always looking forward! As his disciples we need to do the same, while always learning from the past.”

As the penal laws persecuting Catholics were relaxed in the later 18th century, the Pro Cathedral site was bought in 1803. The completed building was dedicated 200 years ago on Nov. 14, 1825, the feast day of St. Laurence O’Toole, who was canonized 800 years ago and who is the Dublin Archdiocese’s patron.

The Pro Cathedral was always a “provisional” cathedral; the intention was to build a “proper” one when time and money allowed. In the past, both the Church of Ireland and Catholic archbishops extended claims of ownership over St. Patrick’s and Christ Church — the city’s two other cathedrals that, since the Reformation, have not been Catholic places of worship. 

Pope Leo XIV laughs during his dialogue with young people on Nov. 21, 2025, at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/National Catholic Register

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2025 / 09:10 am (CNA).

The 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference will feature prayer, community, evangelization, and service among Catholic teenagers from Nov. 20–22 in Indianapolis. Follow CNA’s live coverage of the event below.

Watch Day 2 of NCYC on EWTN YouTube:

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hilderbrand from Columbus, Georgia tour exhibits during the first night of NCYC 2025 on Nov. 20, 2025, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. / Credit: Tessa Gervasini / CNA

Indianapolis, Indiana, Nov 21, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Teenagers piled into the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday in Indianapolis to start the 2025 National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). 

Young Catholics from across the country have traveled to Indianapolis to take part in NCYC for three days of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, and service. The 2025 theme is “I Am,” and the conference mission is for participants to encounter Christ and form discipleship. 

On the evening of Nov. 20 exhibits opened to help students gain a deeper understanding of the sacraments and to encourage them to interact with one another. Teens with themed hats packed into the convention center and began to exchange the caps as a way to meet new people at the start of the weekend.

Exhibits open

The interactive exhibits opened Thursday night with themes based on the seven sacraments. Aaron Frazita, the director of the interactive exhibits for NCYC, shared with CNA how they wanted to help the teens “think in a new way, and in a very practical way.”

“About a year and a half out from every NCYC, we have a small group of folks that have gotten together for the better part of 20 years. And we brainstormed some ideas with themes, and this year we really wanted to connect what was going on in the interactive exhibit with the whole of what was going on with the main stage,” he said.

“This year we decided to really focus on the sacraments,” Frazita said. “So we added a few of our own sacraments, like being joyful with games and things like that.”

“The whole idea with all the interactive places we put together is to create crafts and games and conversation and catecheses, really trying to help young people engage with them and meet them where they are,” he continued.

“We have so many young people who maybe just started faith journeys, who are really deep in their experience,” he said. The team created games, service projects, and exhibits on ideas including discernment and vocations to “really engage” the students. 

Teens anticipate NCYC activities

As teens began to play the games with one another, look at exhibits, and meet with students from other cities, they shared with CNA what they are looking forward to most during the NCYC experience. 

Miriam Stebel, Catherine Downer, and Addi Kandel from the Diocese of Cincinnati told CNA they are looking forward to growing in their faith. Stebel said she hopes to “get a better understanding of the Church and the Catholic faith.” 

She added: “I also think it’s pretty cool that the pope is deciding to connect with the youth more and I think it’s a good opportunity to get everyone engaged.”

“I am hoping to meet new people and just be able to talk to other young people,” Downer said. “I’m excited to learn more about Catholicism and to understand it on a deeper level.”

She said she is also looking forward to the daily breakout sessions. “There’s a few about missions and learning your faith plan,” Downer said. “So I’m excited to go and learn more about what I’m being called to do.”

Kandel, meanwhile, said she hopes to learn what she can work on in her own life.

"One big thing I also want to do is learn more about Scripture and how to interpret it and understand it, and just how I can deepen my relationship with the Lord," she said.

Lucy Snipes, Anne Young, and Presley Hildenbrand are all high school students from Columbus, Georgia. Snipes told CNA she came to NCYC to “meet new people and see how Catholicism has changed and inspired people.” 

She is looking forward to “seeing everyone all together, doing concerts, and praising together.”

“Adoration here is also always the best thing ever,” said Snipes, who is returning for her second time to NCYC. “It’s always so nice to be around a lot of other people that are feeling the same things as you.”

Young added she’s looking forward to the daily Masses for the same reason.

Hildenbrand said she is looking forward to being around other teens while they get to hear Pope Leo XIV speak. “I think it’s really cool to hear from the pope, especially since he’s the first American pope and he’ll talk in English.”

Amelia Horner and Maeve Wendiger showed up in their Indianapolis 500 race car hats to represent the famed racing city.

“It is really nice just being with so many young Catholics that are here,” Wendiger said. “And it has been really nice to reconnect with a lot of people from my middle school.”

Horner has never been to NCYC but said she’s “heard a lot of talk about it, and people who have so much in common can come together and just be who they are.” She said she is very excited to lean into the 2025 theme of “I Am.” 

The girls said they were “shocked” the event was going to be in their own backyard. While sometimes they feel big events don’t come to their hometown, they said: “Indiana is special.”

The city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, has been bombed several times by the Israeli armed forces. / Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 21, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV to Lebanon, scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, comes as a new wave of Israeli bombings have shaken several towns near the southern border.

“We have been experiencing continuous attacks like this for almost two and a half years. But we have never evacuated, we have never left our village,” said Maronite parish priest Father Tony Elias from the border village of Rmeich, a Christian village located just a few meters from Israel.

Rmeich, he explained, is one of the largest Christian villages in southern Lebanon. “We cannot leave, because if we did, there would be no one to rebuild, no one to protect our village,” he said in an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

The situation in neighboring villages confirms his fears: “The villages to the right and left are completely destroyed. Missiles were launched from there, and they were razed in retaliation.”

Rmeich, on the other hand, only suffered some structural damage during the recent attacks: “Some houses have been hit, projectiles have fallen on cars and roofs… but thank God we managed to protect our village,” he said.

The Lebanese still retain in their collective memory the devastation of the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. That conflict, which lasted six weeks, left 1,300 Lebanese and 165 Israelis dead and destroyed entire villages and several neighborhoods of Beirut.

In October of last year, another Israeli siege in Lebanon resulted in hundreds of people crushed under the rubble.

In this climate of uncertainty, Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Lebanon — scheduled before this upturn in violence — will be like a balm for the Christian community and for the entire country, Elias said.

‘This first apostolic journey of the pope will be a sign of peace’

“I am convinced that this first apostolic journey of the pope will be a sign of peace for the whole world, giving a voice back to Christians and the Lebanese people, whose reality is often blurred or manipulated by politics,” he said.

Although the priest said the tension is constant, he insisted that the community is trying to maintain a certain degree of normalcy: “The roads to Beirut are open; we can get in and out. We’re not like in 2006, when they were completely blocked for weeks.” 

Several chartered buses will take Catholics from the south to the events the pope has scheduled during his apostolic visit to the country, such as the meeting with young people in the square in front of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerké or the Mass at the Beirut Waterfront.

“Every parish has organized buses to attend the Mass and to greet the pope along the way. The schools are also mobilized,” confirmed Father Raffaele Zgheib, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Lebanon.

Zgheib, who lives in the port city of Jounieh, 11 miles north of Beirut, and is part of the team organizing the papal visit, does not deny that there is “fear that the violence could ruin the pope’s visit.” 

“We hope that the visit will be a call for dialogue instead of escalation, but I don’t deny that there is a real fear of a new war in southern Lebanon,” he said.

Last-minute preparations

Despite the limited time available, all Christian communities in the country have thrown themselves into the preparations. “All components of the local Lebanese Church, along with all the Eastern Churches in the country, are preparing to welcome the Holy Father,” Zgheib said.

This visit to Lebanon is “very important because Pope Leo XIV is coming in continuity with Pope Francis, who always wished to travel to Lebanon, although his health problems prevented him from doing so,” he continued.

The trip confirms, Zgheib pointed out, the value that the Holy See attributes to the country as a link between East and West, and as a place — currently fragile — of religious coexistence. Furthermore, the Holy Father will arrive in a country going through a difficult period with a rampant economic crisis.

“The pope is traveling to a wounded country. The last six years have been terrible. We lost all our savings in the banks, then came the pandemic, then the Beirut port explosion, and now there is also the war in southern Lebanon,” Zgheib explained.

“The pope is coming to a country that has been greatly weakened by all these crises,” he noted, but said the pontiff’s visit has awakened much hope: “All Lebanese people want it to be the beginning of a lasting and just peace in the Middle East.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.