World

No Picture
News Briefs

Breaking: Explosions rock Caracas and other cities in Venezuela

January 2, 2026 Catholic News Agency 2
Breaking News – CNA

Jan 3, 2026 / 02:50 am (CNA).

Multiple explosions rocked Caracas and several other Venezuelan cities early Saturday, Jan. 3, accompanied by the sound of apparent military aircraft flyovers.

Residents reported shaking windows and columns of smoke rising from strategic locations, including military bases.

“The explosions were so strong they made the windows of my house shake. When we looked outside, numerous plumes of smoke were rising over Caracas,” said Andrés Henríquez, a correspondent for ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

“There were many, countless. Then, videos and reports began to emerge of explosions in other cities.”

Regime calls on citizens to mobilize

In a furious response issued Saturday, the Maduro regime denounced the blasts as “extremely grave military aggression” by the United States, alleging an attempt to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources.

Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto announced that President Nicolás Maduro has signed a decree declaring a “State of External Commotion” — a constitutional emergency measure granting the regime sweeping wartime powers to mobilize the military and suspend civil guarantees.

Citing Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, the government vowed to “exercise self-defense” and called on citizens to mobilize against what it termed an “imperialist attack” intended to force regime change.

Shortly after the regime reaction, U.S. officials reportedly confirmed to CBS News that President Donald Trump had ordered the strikes.

The developments follow recent escalations, including the U.S. designation of Maduro as alleged leader of the “Cartel of the Suns” narco-terrorism ring.

Church warns of persecution

The violence validates grim warnings from the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference (CEV). In their recent Christmas message, the bishops cautioned that the “joyful experience” of the season was “overshadowed” by the country’s “turbulent national reality” and “generalized impoverishment.”

Tensions between the Church and the regime have spiked since the disputed July 2024 elections. The episcopate has repeatedly demanded the release of political prisoners — including minors — while Maduro recently accused Cardinal Baltazar Porras of conspiracy during the October 2025 canonization of Venezuela’s first saints.

Analysts told CNA recently that the Church likely faces “more persecution” in 2026 as the regime becomes increasingly isolated.

This is a developing story. Latest update on Jan. 3 at 3:42 am ET with the first official reactions and statements from Venezuela and the U.S.

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Sudanese bishop delivers Christmas message in midst of war

December 26, 2025 Catholic News Agency 0
Bishop Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku of Sudan’s El Obeid Diocese. Credit: CRN

ACI Africa, Dec 26, 2025 / 15:37 pm (CNA).

In a country battered by violence, displacement, and fear, the 2025 Christmas message of Bishop Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku Andali of Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of El-Obeid addressed the people of God in the midst of their suffering and the fragile hope still carried by the celebration of Christmas.

For Trille, the Christmas proclamation is rooted in God’s fidelity, since “the birth of Christ is the manifestation of the glory of our God,” revealing his promise of salvation and peace for the whole of creation.

Through Christ’s birth, he explained, “the gate of heaven is opened for us” and reconciliation becomes possible because “the birth of Christ opens the way for our reconciliation with our Creator.”

He drew a parallel between the manger and Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, saying: “Seeing the baby Jesus in the manger describes the situation of all those of us in our country who remain without shelter and in fear.”

“Our diocese in Kordofan has become the battleground after Darfur,” he said, adding that a ”number of its parishes are deserted and desecrated.” The impact on pastoral life is severe, he lamented, noting: “There are no priests to celebrate sacred sacraments for the faithful.”

Sudan’s civil war broke out on April 15, 2023. The violent conflict is between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary force under Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and army units of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) that are loyal to the head of Sudan’s transitional governing Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

It started in Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum, before becoming a full-fledged civil war in the entire northeastern African nation. It has reportedly resulted in the death of “as many as 150,000 people”; well over 14 million people have been displaced, including to unstable countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, where they have reportedly overrun refugee camps.

With some 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid in Sudan, reportedly more than half of country’s population, Sudan quite possibly has the highest number of people in need ever recorded and the highest number of internally displaced globally, more than 12 million having fled violence in the country in the last two years.

Sudan also has the highest number of people in emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, “with over 600,000 people living in famine and 8 million others on the cliff edge,” according to an April report.

As Sudan approaches the 70th anniversary of independence in 2026, Trille made a pastoral appeal rooted in compassion and faith. He called the people of God to see themselves as “brothers and sisters in solidarity, weeping with parents and relatives of those who mourn the killed,” and to remember the words of Jesus: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Gathering testimony, prayer, and hope together, he exhorted, “let us make our hearts the manger where the baby Jesus can live to help us renew our lives and live peace.”

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

[…]