NOVEMBER 2025 —BEATS ACROSS CATHOLIC WORLD
Port Harcourt, Nigeria|Dec. 1, 2025|Fr. Dr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos
November closed as an intense, consequential month for Catholics worldwide and for the Church in Nigeria. It combined high-level ecumenical encounters, juridical and pastoral clarifications from the Holy See, gestures of cultural restitution, and a string of solemn local events: funerals of prelates, anniversaries, book launches and heated public debate about the Church’s response to violence in parts of Africa.
Pope Leo XIV travelled to Turkey (28–30 November) to join Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and other Christian leaders at Iznik (ancient Nicaea) for commemorations marking the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. At a prayer service on 28 November the Pope joined the patriarch in calling for renewed Christian unity and for rejection of violence committed in the name of religion. The visit included a joint declaration signed at the Patriarchate condemning use of religion to justify violence and urging cooperation between East and West Churches.
On 23 November the Pope issued an apostolic letter addressed to the Christian world, inviting renewed reflection on the Creed and on the theological foundations of unity; this document framed the Iznik events as part of a broader ecumenical outreach. The apostolic letter was presented publicly in the days before the Iznik liturgies.
The Holy See clarified elements of Church governance and pastoral teaching in two separate acts during the month. By motu proprio published 21 November, Pope Leo amended the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State to remove an anomaly that had limited the presidency of the Pontifical Commission to cardinals; the text now permits appointment of laypersons or religious sisters to that office, regularizing the situation of Sister Raffaella Petrini and aligning Vatican civil law with recent practice.
On 25 November the Vatican issued a decree reaffirming monogamy “one spouse for life” as the normative model for Catholic marriage. The text explicitly rejected polygamy and polyamory, underlined the equal dignity of spouses, and emphasized lifelong exclusivity as integral to the Church’s teaching on marriage; it left pastoral recourse (including annulments and protections for those in abusive unions) in place. The decree generated discussion in regions where polygamous practice has cultural roots.
On 15 November Pope Leo completed the repatriation of a group of Indigenous artefacts to Canadian Catholic authorities. The Vatican described the transfer of 62 items as part of an ongoing process of dialogue and restitution begun under the previous pontificate; Canadian bishops and some Indigenous leaders received the items as a tangible act of reconciliation.
The month also saw sustained public debate about how the universal Church is responding to violence against Christians in parts of Africa. Rights groups and advocacy organisations in Nigeria publicly criticised the Vatican Secretariat of State and Cardinal Pietro Parolin for what they called “doublespeak” over whether the scale of violence in some Nigerian regions amounts to targeted persecution or genocide; calls for stronger Vatican language and action surfaced repeatedly in late November. The controversy remained active in Nigerian media and civil-society commentary through the end of the month.
Local Nigerian developments filled the calendar in November as well. Two respected bishops emeriti were mourned and interred: Most Rev. Michael Olatunji Fagun, foremost Bishop Emeritus of Ekiti (died 13 October 2025; funeral and memorial liturgies reported in late October and remembered through November), and Most Rev. Julius Babatunde Adelakun, Bishop Emeritus of Oyo (died 24 October 2025; solemn funeral rites and interment took place in Oyo diocese in the final days of November, with a vigil on 27 November and funeral Mass on 28 November). Both funerals drew bishops, priests and lay faithful from across the provinces and were presided over by the Archbishop of Ibadan.
In Auchi Diocese, Rev. Fr. Stephen Onoshiorena Iyelumi Atsoboudu marked his tenth priestly anniversary on 29 November with liturgical celebrations and public events that included the launch of two volumes. The First “Catholic Devotionary” and the Second “Broken Home: Mending and Healing the Edges”. The anniversary drew clergy and laity from the diocese and beyond. In days to come, review of the books will be made public.
With the Feast of St. Andrew occuring once more on a Sunday, the Universal Church began a new Liturgical Year on November 30, thus, marking the first Sunday of Advent, the foremost season of the Church’s liturgical calendar.
Thanks for reading
Fr. Okhueleigbe Osemhantie Ãmos is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Uromi and a Lecturer at CIWA, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
