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Catholic News Agency

ACI Prensa's latest initiative is the Catholic News Agency (CNA), aimed at serving the English-speaking Catholic audience. ACI Prensa (www.aciprensa.com) is currently the largest provider of Catholic news in Spanish and Portuguese.

World Mission Day: Leo XIV calls for supporting those who bring Christ to ends of earth
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:12:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 13, 2025 / 14:12 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV called on Catholics to support missionaries on World Mission Day, which will be celebrated on Oct. 19.

In a video message released Oct. 13, the Holy Father — who served as a missionary bishop in the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo — stated that this day is an opportunity for the entire Catholic Church to unite in prayer for missionaries “and for the fruitfulness of their apostolic labors.”

He shared his experience as a missionary in Peru, where he saw firsthand “how the faith, the prayer, and the generosity shown on World Mission Sunday can transform entire communities.”

The pope invited every Catholic parish in the world to participate in World Mission Sunday, emphasizing that their prayers and support help proclaim the Gospel, “provide for pastoral and catechetical programs, help to build new churches, and care for the health and educational needs of our brothers and sisters in mission territories.”

The pontiff also urged the faithful to reflect on their baptismal call “to be missionaries of hope among the peoples” and to renew their commitment “to the sweet and joyful task of bringing Christ Jesus our hope to the ends of the earth.”

Pope Leo concluded his message by thanking the faithful for their support for Catholic missionaries around the world.

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

Vatican appoints judges to decide Rupnik sexual abuse case
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:23:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 13, 2025 / 12:23 pm (CNA).

The Vatican’s doctrine office announced Monday that a panel of five judges has been nominated to decide the disciplinary case against Father Marko Rupnik, accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of consecrated women under his spiritual care.

The judges, appointed Oct. 9, do not hold any position in the Roman Curia — the Vatican’s governing body — to ensure their autonomy and independence in the penal judicial procedure, according to an Oct. 13 press release from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the head of the DDF, told journalists in July that the judges for the Rupnik case had been selected. The panel of judges includes both women and clerics.

Fernández had said in an interview at the end of January that the dicastery had finished gathering information in the disciplinary case, had conducted a first review, and was working to put together an independent tribunal for the penal judicial procedure.

Rupnik — a well-known artist with mosaics and paintings in hundreds of Catholic shrines and churches around the world — is accused of having committed sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against dozens of women religious in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In May 2019, the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith launched a criminal administrative process against Rupnik after the Society of Jesus reported credible complaints of abuse by the priest to the Vatican.

One year later, the Vatican declared Rupnik to be in a state of “latae sententiae” excommunication for absolving an accomplice in a sin against the Sixth Commandment. His excommunication was lifted by Pope Francis after two weeks.

The Society of Jesus subsequently expelled Rupnik from the religious congregation in June 2023 for his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience.”

The DDF began to investigate the abuse accusations against Rupnik in October 2023, after Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations.

At U.S. ‘supermax’ prison, foreign-born Muslim with no arms files religious liberty suit
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 13, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A foreign-born Muslim inmate currently incarcerated in the U.S.’s most severely restrictive prison complex is asking the government to require the prison to accommodate his religious practices under a key federal statute, highlighting the far-reaching and comprehensive nature of religious freedom rules in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer in a Sept. 25 ruling agreed that Mostafa Kamel Mostafa had demonstrated that prison officials at the maximum facility had “substantially burdened the exercise of his religion” by failing to install a special cleaner in one of his cells.

The prison, a “supermax” facility in Colorado commonly known as ADX Florence and colloquially as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” is famous for its near-total state of lockdown.

Housing some of the most dangerous inmates in the U.S. penitentiary system, it features poured concrete cells in which prisoners are confined for most of the day as well as high-level security protocols that include motion detectors, pressure pads, and pits used for exercise.

Mostafa was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for his role in a deadly hostage-taking scheme in 1998 and other terrorist activities. He is incarcerated in the “H-unit” of ADX Florence, its most secure wing.

Formerly an imam at a U.K. mosque, Mostafa follows Islamic rules regarding prayer, including a mandate to “make himself clean and presentable before praying.” With both his arms amputated above the elbow, he requires some accommodations to that end, including a bidet in his cell toilet.

Mostafa has had two cells adapted for his disabilities; the prison has installed a bidet in one but not the other. Brimmer in his ruling found that “until [the prison] install[s] a bidet in both of Mr. Mostafa’s cells,” the prisoner has a claim to a burden on his religious exercise.

‘Everybody has access to the fundamentals’

Though the dispute has made its way to U.S. district court, it may be moot before it goes any further, as prison officials have explicitly stated that they are “in the process” of installing a bidet in Mostafa’s second cell.

Yet the case underscores just how extensively the principles of religious liberty have been applied in the United States, up to and including accommodating modifications to the prison cell toilet of a foreign-born terrorist.

Robert Destro, a professor of law at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and the former federal assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, said in an interview that religious liberty cases arise regularly within prison populations.

Mostafa brought the case in part under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a Clinton-era law that restricts how and under what conditions the U.S. government can impose burdens upon U.S. religious liberty.

Destro said RFRA is similar in some ways to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a 1990 federal law that requires “reasonable accommodations” in hiring and business practices for disabled people.

“In a way, RFRA is a little like the ADA,” he said. “It wants to make sure that everybody has access to the fundamentals. Just because you’ve been sentenced to prison because you did something bad, or stupid, or both, doesn’t mean that you lose your First Amendment rights.”

The dispute in prison cases, Destro said, is usually “how much the prison should defer to the warden and to prison policies” and to what extent it’s obligated to accommodate a religious belief.

In Mostafa’s case, “it seems like a fairly simple answer,” he said.

“The guy has a disability,” he pointed out. “There’s no question about his faith. [And] there’s no way that somebody with no arms and access to a stream of water is going to, you know, burn down the prison. There’s no tangible security threat.”

The federal government explicitly states that neither the national nor state governments may “impose a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person residing in or confined to an institution,” barring concerns of a “compelling governmental interest” carried out in the “least restrictive means” possible.

That language is virtually identical to the text of RFRA. Destro said the principle is “a lot less cosmic than it looks.”

“The design of RFRA … was to shift the burden over to the government to say, why is this a big burden for you?” he said. The government only gets a “free pass,” he said, if it can show that an abrogation of religious liberty “has to do with health, safety, or some other very limited security issues.”

Further religious liberty expansions for prisoners could be on the horizon. The Supreme Court earlier this year said it would decide whether prisoners can sue individual prison workers — rather than merely the government itself — over violations of federal religious freedom law.

Destro acknowledged that Mostafa’s fight at ADX Florence would likely be rendered moot by the government’s simply modifying his prison cell as requested. Still, he said, it often makes more sense for a government to quickly acquiesce to a prisoner’s reasonable request rather than fight it.

“If you know you’re going to get sued on RFRA — just like getting sued under the ADA — why don’t you just make the accommodations and save the money on the lawsuit?” he said. “For the amount of money it’s going to cost you to put in a bidet, it’s cheaper than having a lawyer go to court.”

“For the money you’ve spent defending the suit, you could’ve put the thing in and been done with it!” he said with a laugh. “That’s not always the right answer. Sometimes there is a question of principle involved. But I don’t see one here.”

Columbus Day highlights explorer’s ‘legacy of faith,’ Trump says
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 13, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump renewed the focus of Columbus Day to be celebrated on the second Monday of October, reclaiming the explorer’s “extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue,” according to the president’s proclamation.

Since 1971, the second Monday in October has been federally recognized as Columbus Day to commemorate Columbus’ discovery of the Americas in 1492, celebrate Italian-American heritage, and acknowledge the 1891 lynchings of 11 Italian Americans. In 2021, former President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day to be observed on the same day, following backlash toward Columbus.

The “current hostility to him is ill informed,” Felipe Fernández-Armesto, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame and author of “Columbus on Himself,” told CNA. “He was understandably conflicted about the people he encountered on this side of the ocean, but, by the standards of his contemporaries, his most characteristic judgments about them were highly positive.”

“Columbus Day is commendable — instituted in expiation of the worst lynching in U.S. history ... Columbus suited a project of national reconciliation because he was, for most of the history of the U.S., a unifying figure.” Fernández-Armesto added: “He should remain so today.”

“He was not guilty of most of the excesses of cruelty that interested enemies at the time and ignorant critics today ascribe to him. His history was uniquely significant: He was genuinely the discoverer of viable routes to and fro across the Atlantic — reconnecting, for good and ill, formerly sundered cultures and enabling the world-transforming exchange of ideas and people, commerce and life-forms,” he said.

“It’s hard to think of anyone whose impact on the hemisphere has been greater,” Fernández-Armesto said.

Presidential proclamation

In an Oct. 9 proclamation, Trump wrote the previous years have been a “campaign to erase our history … and attack our heritage.” To combat this, Trump formally declared the day will be recognized as Columbus Day in honor of “the great Christopher Columbus and all who have contributed to building our nation.”

As a “titan of the Age of Exploration,” Columbus was “guided by a noble mission: to discover a new trade route to Asia, bring glory to Spain, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to distant lands,” the proclamation said.

Upon Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, “he planted a majestic cross in a mighty act of devotion, dedicating the land to God and setting in motion America’s proud birthright of faith.”

The president noted that Columbus was guided by “steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve” and his journey “carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas.”

“As we celebrate his legacy, we also acknowledge the contributions of the countless Italian-Americans who, like him, have endlessly contributed to our culture and our way of life,” the presidential proclamation said. “To this day, the United States and Italy share a special bond rooted in the timeless values of faith, family, and freedom. My administration looks forward to strengthening our long and storied friendship in the years to come.”

Under the administration, “our nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination.”

The president called on the American people to observe the day “with appropriate ceremonies and activities” and directed that U.S. flags be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day.

How the ‘Miracle of the Sun’ in Fátima helped to end an atheist regime
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 04:00:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 13, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Oct. 13, 1917, marked the last Marian apparition in Fátima and the day on which thousands of people bore witness to the miracle of the dancing sun — a miracle that shattered the prevalent belief at the time that God was no longer relevant.

Marco Daniel Duarte, a theologian and director of the Fátima Shrine museums, shared with CNA the impact that the miracle of the sun made during those days in Portugal.

If one were to open philosophy books during that period, he or she would likely read something akin to the concept conceived by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who boldly asserted in the late 1800s that “God is dead.”

Also, in 1917 Portugal, the majority of the world was embroiled in war. As World War I raged throughout Europe, Portugal found itself unable to maintain its initial neutrality and joined forces with the Allies. More than 220,000 Portuguese civilians died during the war, thousands due to food shortages and thousands more from the Spanish flu.

A few years before, a revolution had led to the establishment of the First Portuguese Republic in 1910 and a new liberal constitution was drafted under the influence of Freemasonry, which sought to suppress the faith from public life. Catholic churches and schools were seized by the government, and the wearing of clerics in public, the ringing of church bells, and the celebration of public religious festivals were banned. Between 1911 and 1916, nearly 2,000 priests, monks, and nuns were killed by anti-Christian groups.

This was the backdrop against which, in 1917, a lady believed to be the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children — Lucia dos Santos, 10, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, 9 and 7 — in a field in Fátima, Portugal, bringing with her requests for the recitation of the rosary, for sacrifices on behalf of sinners, and a secret regarding the fate of the world.

To prove that the apparitions were true, the lady promised the children that during the last of her six appearances, she would provide a sign so people would believe in the apparitions and in her message. What happened on that day — Oct. 13, 1917 — has come to be known as the “Miracle of the Sun,” or “the day the sun danced.”

According to various accounts, a crowd of some 70,000 people — believers and skeptics alike —gathered to see the miracle that was promised: The rainy sky cleared up, the clouds dispersed, and the ground, which had been wet and muddy from the rain, dried up. A transparent veil came over the sun, making it easy to look at, and multicolored lights were strewn across the landscape. The sun then began to spin, twirling in the sky, and at one point appeared to veer toward the earth before jumping back to its place in the sky.

The stunning event was a direct and very convincing contradiction to the atheistic regimes at the time, which is evidenced by the fact that the first newspaper to report on the miracle on a full front page was an anti-Catholic, Masonic newspaper in Lisbon called O Seculo.

The miracle of the sun was understood by the people to be “the seal, the guarantee, that in fact those three children were telling the truth,” Duarte said.

Even today, “Fátima makes people change their perception of God,” since “one of the most important messages of the apparitions is that even if someone has separated from God, God is present in human history and doesn’t abandon humanity.”

This story was first published on CNA on Oct. 12, 2017, and has been updated.

Pope Leo XIV: Authentic Marian spirituality brings God’s tenderness into the Church
Sun, 12 Oct 2025 10:30:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 12, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square was attended by 30,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spiritualities and thousands more people who gathered in neighboring streets outside the Vatican for the liturgical celebration.

During the Mass, the Holy Father expressed his great appreciation and gratitude to the members of movements, confraternities, prayer groups, and shrines — dedicated to the Blessed Virgin — for coming to Rome to participate in the Church’s holy year dedicated to hope.

Leo said their spirituality, anchored in sacred Scripture and Church tradition, reveals the profound beauty of God’s personal love for each person.

“Mary’s path follows that of Jesus, which leads us to encounter every human being, especially the poor, the wounded, and sinners,” he said in his Oct. 12 homily. “Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God’s tenderness, his way of ‘being a mother,’ to light in the Church.”

According to the pontiff, devotion to the Mother of God has “changed the face of the earth forever” and should be revived through “popular devotion,” particularly in a world seeking peace and justice.

“Let us use [Marian devotions] as a driving force for renewal and transformation,” he said on Sunday. “Indeed, the jubilee we are celebrating calls for a time of conversion and restitution, of reflection and liberation.”

Since becoming pope in May, Leo XIV has frequently spoken about the significance of the Canticle of Mary in the life of the Church throughout its 2,000-year history.

“Some forms of worship do not foster communion with others and can numb our hearts … We fail to contribute, as Mary did, to changing the world, and to share in the joy of the Magnificat,” he said.

“Let us take care to avoid any exploitation of the faith that could lead to labeling those who are different — often the poor — as enemies, ‘lepers’ to be avoided and rejected,” he added.

Through the example of Mary, the Holy Father said the Church can see the “revolutionary nature of love and tenderness” and its impact on the events of history as well as the everyday lives of each individual.

“In her, we see that humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but of the strong who need not treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves,” the pope said.

“Contemplating Mary, we realize that she who praised God for ‘bringing down the mighty from their thrones’ and ‘sending the rich away empty’ is also the one who brings a homely warmth to our pursuit of justice,” he continued.

After delivering his homily, Leo XIV stood before the original statue of Our Lady of Fátima brought to St. Peter’s Square from Portugal and dedicated the Church and the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He prayed particularly for those “tormented by the scourges of war.”

“Obtain for us the gift of peace that we earnestly implore,” he prayed. “Mother of the Church, welcome us kindly so that under your mantle we may find refuge and be helped by your maternal aid in the trials of life.”

‘With the entire Church, I am close to your immense pain’

Before leading the congregation in the Angelus prayer before the conclusion of Mass, the Holy Father delivered a brief Sunday address and asked the Church to especially pray for people in Israel and Palestine.

“In recent days, the agreement to begin the peace process has given a spark of hope in the Holy Land,” he said, referring to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal brokered Friday.

“I encourage the parties involved to continue courageously on the path they have chosen, towards a just and lasting peace that respects the legitimate aspirations of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,” he said.

The Holy Father concluded his short address with petitions for prayer for the people of Ukraine, following recent fatal attacks in Kyiv; the people of Peru, who are undergoing a time of “political transition”; and for victims of workplace accidents in Italy.

Altar wine for Mass in Kenya now required to bear Catholic bishops’ ‘coat of arms’
Sun, 12 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0400

ACI Africa, Oct 12, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Wine for Mass in Kenya must now bear the “coat of arms” of the country’s bishops, the chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) announced Oct. 4.

Speaking at the 2025 National Prayer Day at the Subukia National Marian Shrine in Kenya’s Nakuru Diocese on the feast of St. Francis, KCCB chairman Archbishop Maurice Muhatia Makumba announced that bottles containing the altar wine must bear the coat of arms of the bishops, as well as an official signature, to certify their authenticity.

The Catholic faithful have welcomed the news as many believe the wine previously used “had lost its sanctity due to its widespread use outside the Church,” according to a BBC report.

The wine formerly used is reportedly widely sold in liquor stores, bars, and supermarkets.

After exploring options, the bishops in Kenya chose a South African vintage for the newly approved Mass wine.

“Vigilance on the quality and standards of the wine and hosts used in the Mass is given to the Catholic bishops of the country. This is reviewed from time to time,” the archbishop added.

The new wine was officially introduced to worshippers during the National Prayer Day.

Muhatia has directed that local Catholic communities and Catholic institutions abide by the directives and sourcing for the new altar wine.

“It is important that you acquaint yourself with your diocese and know what has been established as the outlets for this wine because different dioceses have different ways of distributing this wine,” he said at the National Prayer Day.

“Some dioceses allow only specific persons to buy this wine for Mass; others allow everybody. Depending on your diocese, please be aware of the regulations.”

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

Father Konteh’s mission: Healing Sierra Leone’s wounds through faith and Caritas
Sun, 12 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Sierra Leone is a small, west African country located along the Atlantic Ocean known for its rich cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, and complex history. Despite enduring a brutal civil war from 1991 to 2002, Sierra Leone has made strides in rebuilding and development — in which the Catholic Church is also playing a major role.

Agnes Aineah, the author of a new book titled “Sent to Heal a Wounded Nation: The Story of Father Peter Konteh,” shares the powerful testimony of Konteh, a Catholic priest ordained at the height of the civil war in Sierra Leone who faced death several times on the front lines.

Aineah, a Kenyan journalist who writes for ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, told CNA in an interview that the inspiration for the book came from a trip she took to the country in 2022. While there, she witnessed firsthand the work of Caritas Freetown under the leadership of Konteh, who Aineah said is now a major figure in the Church there.

In addition to serving as the executive director of Caritas Freetown, Konteh is the second vice president of the Regional Union of Diocesan Priests of West Africa and the president of Catholic priests in Sierra Leone.

“When I finally got to sit down with Father Konteh, I decided to write this book because his story was so amazing,” she said.

On the day of his ordination in 1996, the archbishop sent him to serve among the IDPs — internally displaced persons — who, unlike refugees, remained within the borders of Sierra Leone but were forced to flee their homes to escape violence and human rights abuses.

Konteh co-founded the Inter-Religious Council, playing a crucial role in the peace talks between the Sierra Leonean government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the civil war.

Aineah told CNA she wrote the book because “there are so many people who are doing a lot of good things in the Catholic Church here in Africa — bringing healing to the wounded Church — and I feel that it is important that we tell their stories for the future generations.”

“I was just so amazed by the kind of work the Catholic Church is doing in Sierra Leone through Caritas Freetown,” she recalled. “I went to the slums around Freetown, where Caritas works, and they are like a household name there and everyone appreciates the work they do.”

Aineah also sees Sierra Leone as an example to other African countries of how people of various religions can peacefully coexist. While Sierra Leone is primarily a Muslim country, Christians and Muslims live together peacefully there. The level of Christian persecution is low, unlike that seen in other African countries such as Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

Aineah said that according to Konteh, “the Catholic Church is very respected” in Sierra Leone, in part because the schools are run by Catholics. Also, there is a high level of intermarriage between Muslims and Catholics.

“He [Konteh] told me that it is very difficult to find a family in Sierra Leone that is just strictly Muslim or strictly Catholic,” she said.

Among the Catholic priests in the country, 40% were Muslims who converted to Catholicism. One example is the bishop of the Diocese of Bo, Charles A.M. Campbell, whose parents are both Muslims.

Another aspect Aineah highlights in her book is that despite the country’s natural beauty, the country’s tragic history of war and disease, specifically ebola, has taken center stage. In addition, there are now growing concerns over environmental degradation, an issue Konteh and Caritas Freetown are working to address.

Aineah called her work as a journalist in Africa “gratifying,” especially because she is “able to amplify the voices within the Catholic Church” on the continent.

“Despite all these wounds that Africans bear, there is resilience and there is resourcefulness in terms of people who are trying to heal,” she said, adding that she hopes to continue to communicate “the resilience of African countries.”

Man desecrates altar of St. Peter’s Basilica
Sat, 11 Oct 2025 16:28:29 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2025 / 16:28 pm (CNA).

A man urinated on the Altar of Confession of St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday before being taken away by security officers in the famous basilica, according to news reports.

The man climbed the altar and “urinated under the stunned gaze of hundreds of tourists,” according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera’s Rome edition. Video of the desecration was widely shared on social media.

Il Tempo reported that the man “was promptly reached by plainclothes police officers present in the basilica” and was escorted out of the church.

The latter newspaper claimed Pope Leo XIV was “shocked to learn of the news,” though the Holy See Press Office had not released a statement about the incident as of Oct. 11.

This is not the first time this year that a vandal has attacked the altar from which the pope says Mass.

In February, a man desecrated the altar by climbing on top of it and throwing six candelabras that were on the altar to the ground.

In June 2023, meanwhile, a Polish man approached the high altar as the basilica was about to close, undressed, and climbed onto the altar. Photos posted online showed the words “Save children of Ukraine” written in marker on his back. The Vatican performed a penitential rite after that act of desecration.

Thousands of pilgrims join Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for peace
Sat, 11 Oct 2025 15:00:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Tens of thousands of people joined Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to pray for peace in the world.

Before the statue of Our Lady of Fátima, which was brought to Rome from Portugal for the Oct. 11–12 Jubilee of Marian Spiritualities, the pope entrusted believers to the Mother of God to guide the Church in its “pilgrimage of hope.”

During the special prayer vigil, which included a contemplative recitation of the rosary and time for Eucharistic adoration, the Holy Father delivered a short address and encouraged those present to ask the Mother of God for the gift of a “listening heart.”

“Our hope is guided by the gentle and persistent light of Mary’s words as recounted in the Gospel,” the pope said.

“Her last words at the wedding feast in Cana [‘Do whatever he tells you’] are particularly precious,” he said. “These words, which almost seem to be a testament, must be treasured by her children, as any mother’s testament would be.”

Sharing reflections on the life of Christ, which are included in the rosary prayer, Leo said peace in the world is not achieved through “power and money” but through prayer, listening, and living the Gospel message.

“Disarm your hands and, even more importantly, your hearts. As I have said before, peace is unarmed and disarming,” he said.

“It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue,” he continued. “Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness.”

Addressing the “powerful of the world,” the pope said it is necessary to “lay down your sword” and have the “courage to disarm” to achieve peace.

“At the same time, it is an invitation to each one of us to recognize that no idea, faith, or policy justifies killing,” he added.

Encouraging those who desire peace and the end of conflict and violence, the Holy Father said “take courage” and “never give up.”

“Blessed are you: God gives joy to those who spread love in the world and to those who choose to make peace with their enemies rather than defeat them,” he said.

“Peace is a journey, and God walks with you,” he continued. “The Lord creates and spreads peace through his friends who are at peace in their hearts, and they in turn become peacemakers and instruments of his peace.”

Toward the end of the prayer vigil, the Holy Father turned to Mary, the “Queen of Peace” to whom the Church can turn in time of need.

“Teach us to live and bear witness to Christian love by welcoming everyone as brothers and sisters; to renounce the darkness of selfishness in order to follow Christ, the true light of humanity,” he said.

“Virgin of peace, Gate of Sure Hope, accept the prayers of your children!” he prayed.

Israelis, Gazan Christians, Catholics in U.S. weigh in on historic peace deal
Sat, 11 Oct 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 11, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Former Israeli government officials, representatives for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and Catholic advocates for Israel in the U.S. spoke with EWTN News this week following the historic peace deal brokered by the Trump administration between Israel and Hamas.

News of the peace agreement came as “a joy for the entire population of Gaza, for the families of the hostages, and for our parish, our little parish there in Gaza,” according to Farid Jabran, the public and government affairs adviser for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

In an Oct. 10 interview with “EWTN News Nightly,” Jabran noted there is still an air of “expectation” as the region waits to “see what happens.”

Jabran revealed that Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa had spoken to the pastor of Gaza’s only Catholic Church, Father Gabriel Romanelli.

“They are all very happy that they are not hearing more bombings,” Jabran said of the Gazan parish community. “They expect a better future, but still they wait to see what is going to happen … They’re all waiting to see what happens after the release of the hostages.”

“The Catholic Church, as the patriarch, as the pope, as many said, will give anything in its power to to offer assistance, to offer good services when it’s asked to do so,” said Jabran, noting that the Latin Patriarchate has “big plans for Gaza,” including the construction of a new hospital in the southern region of the enclave.

“We’ll have more details on that that will be supported by the Italian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Latin Patriarchate,” he revealed, adding: “We are planning to create field hospitals in several places and to work on schools and education for the children, not only for the Christian community [but] for everyone.”

Breaking down the peace deal

In an Oct. 10 appearance on “EWTN News Nightly,” Daniel Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and former foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, shared how the historic peace deal brokered by the Trump administration will play out in the coming days.

Though both Israel and Hamas signed on to the first phase of the peace plan set out by the Trump administration on Wednesday, reports of ongoing bombardment from the IDF in northern Gaza was reported on Friday morning. Avalon explained that “there was a threat that the IDF depicted, and they had to take care of it.”

“We have enough experience with Hamas that even though they agree on a ceasefire, they continue their aggression,” he told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo. “But we adhere, or Israel adheres to the agreement and to the ceasefire terms … We started right on time, and we are now back off the former position, and hopefully we will see our hostages within the next 72 hours.”

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Wednesday that both parties had agreed to the first phase of his 20-point peace plan for the Middle East, in which he noted: “ALL of the hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their troops to an agreed-upon line as the first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace.”

“I think that we should all acknowledge the leadership and the negotiation capabilities of President Trump and his team,” Ayalon said. “I believe that they found the right moment to really bring together an assembly of protagonists in the region that could really be instrumental, namely, Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt, that put a lot of pressure on Hamas that was not there before.”

Given that the first phase goes according to plan, Ayalon said, Israel will release its Palestinian prisoners, and IDF troops will continue to withdraw, allowing Gazans to return to their homes. After which, he said, comes the precarious task of disarming Hamas, which will include dismantling its vast network of tunnels. This task, he predicted, could take several months.

“I think the people of Gaza deserve this,” Ayalon reflected. “After these two horrendous years … they were actually held hostage by Hamas, which used them as cannon fodder or as human shields.” The former ambassador further expressed hope that Gazans ensure “no more terror organizations will grow there to a monstrous dimension, as we did with Hamas.”

Looking ahead, Ayalon expressed hope for a broader normalization of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia and others, as well as other major Islamic countries such as Indonesia or Pakistan, to take place alongside reconstruction. He also floated the start of “a political process with the Palestinians,” noting Hamas will no longer govern the enclave. “It probably will be the Palestinian Authority,” he said, noting that under the agreement the governing body is mandated to promote peaceful coexistence and to “do away with terror” and indoctrination in its schools.

“Then we can talk about real peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which may be a cornerstone of a much broader peace with the region,” he said, adding: “And we all deserve it — the world deserves it, and I think it will be to the benefit and the prosperity of all here.”

Remembering Oct. 7

On the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, Philos Catholic Director Simone Rizkallah told CNA: “This is not a day to discuss U.S. foreign policy or to analyze political dynamics.”

Even with the Trump administration’s efforts in the background to make a peace deal between the Hamas terrorist group and Israel, Rizkallah emphasized, “Oct. 7 is a day to live out the beatitude ‘Blessed are they who mourn.’”

Philos Catholic is an arm of the U.S-based nonprofit organization, the Philos Project, which works to foster Catholic-Jewish relations.

Over 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans were confirmed killed, and thousands more wounded in the wake of Hamas’ large-scale surprise attack on Israel. An additional 251 were taken hostage into the Gaza Strip.

“We mourn with the Jewish people and with Israel as if we are mourning for our own selves — because, in truth, we are,” she said. “To stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters today is not a political act, and it is certainly not a partisan one. The Church is not a political entity. This is about faith and the culture that faith gives birth to.”

According to Rizkhallah: “To speak up and stand with our Jewish friends is not sentimental — it is an act of spiritual realism and solidarity with our own people in the faith.” To do so, she continued, is not a partisan act but a “part of orthodox Catholic theology, rooted in the heart of the Church’s self-understanding.”

Catholics, she urged, should “incarnate this love by showing up in the flesh” for their Jewish friends and neighbors. “Call your Jewish friends,” she said. “Reach out to your local synagogue or Jewish community center. Drop off white roses in the wake of antisemitic attacks — a symbol of Christian resistance to hatred, inspired by the White Rose movement that opposed Nazi Germany.”

Philos Catholic will host an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate this year at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., which will be available to attend both in person and virtually.

The Rosary Team: Bringing hope to seniors in their final years
Sat, 11 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0400

Denver, Colorado, Oct 11, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After finishing the rosary with her fellow residents and volunteers from The Rosary Team, Martha “Marty” Todd smiled with peaceful joy. Over her lifetime, she has witnessed miracles through prayer — healings in her family, conversions of loved ones, and graces that could only have come from God.

Now, in her later years, she treasures the weekly visits from The Rosary Team, whose volunteers gather to pray with elderly residents in care facilities across the archdiocese. Their presence brings comfort, companionship, and a reminder that no one is ever forgotten in God’s love.

“We all love our mother,” Todd said, her eyes brightening as she spoke of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Sometimes, when I get uptight about things or worried, praying the rosary brings comfort and kind of eases my whirling mind.”

A life marked by grace

Todd’s journey to her nursing facility began unexpectedly after a seizure during a family Christmas visit made her realize that she “wasn’t infallible.” What could have been a frightening transition became a blessing, bringing her closer to her children, grandchildren, and extended family.

Her voice caught with emotion as she recalled a miracle that transformed her entire family. One of her closest relatives was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

“We just prayed our heads off,” Todd said.

After surgery and biopsy, the surgeon returned with impossible news: There was no cancer.

“We just know she had a healing,” she continued.

That miracle rippled through her family, drawing more relatives into the Catholic Church as they recognized “the value of Catholic prayer.” Her grandson Andrew, once a quiet and thoughtful boy, began attending daily Mass in high school. Today, he is Brother Francis, serving as assistant to the abbot at Conception Abbey.

“He was always kind of a quiet, pondering kid,” Todd reflected. “We realized he had a call.”

A husband’s final grace

Perhaps the most unexpected conversion came from Todd’s husband, Richard, who was not Catholic. During a visit to their son Rob in Missouri, Richard was diagnosed with cancer. Their son gently asked him: “Don’t you think it’s time you were baptized?” Richard simply replied: “I guess so.”

A priest baptized him in the hospital, giving him what Marty Todd calls “a direct line to heaven” before he passed away four months later.

These profound experiences of grace and conversion have shaped Todd’s deep appreciation for the spiritual care she now receives at Morningstar, her nursing facility. Having witnessed how powerfully God works in the final moments of life, she knows the vital importance of bringing faith to those approaching their final years.

The Rosary Team’s presence

When volunteers from The Rosary Team arrive, something special happens. Their visits bring “more connection with people,” Todd explained. “They are doing something nice for us.”

The presence of volunteers transforms the experience from routine prayer into relationship. They become bridges to the wider community, especially for those in assisted living or memory care who have limited mobility.

“It’s quite a wake-up call when you move into a facility like this,” Todd said.

Since arriving, she has seen about 20 to 25 people pass away in a single year — some who “seemed really vital and just didn’t wake up one morning.”

That reality shapes how residents think about faith.

“We all realize we’re getting closer to the end of life,” she noted. “I think we ponder a little more about what it will be.”

Among her neighbors are “fallen-away Catholics” she prays for.

“It’s never too late as long as you’re still breathing,” she said.

A legacy of faith

The Rosary Team’s ministry is more than weekly visits. It is a lifeline that shows seniors they are cared for and remembered. Volunteers bring statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, lead familiar prayers and embody Christ’s love for those society too often forgets.

Todd sees the fruit of such faith passed down through her family. Her granddaughter, Alex Martinez, daughter of Rich and Joanie Todd, recently graduated as a pediatric nurse practitioner. Todd attended her graduation in Nashville — a joy she credits to being closer to family since moving to Morningstar.

In Alex’s healing work, like Brother Francis’ monastic vocation, Todd sees how prayer echoes through generations, bearing fruit in both religious and professional service.

Expanding a vital mission

Todd’s story highlights why The Rosary Team’s mission is so crucial. Across the country, nursing facilities house thousands of elderly residents, many of whom suffer spiritual isolation. While activities may include exercise and entertainment, few offer the kind of deep spiritual care needed as residents face mortality.

Requests for The Rosary Team’s presence continue to grow nationwide. The ministry runs entirely on the generosity of donors who believe in supporting the spiritual welfare of the elderly — fulfilling both corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Their gifts make possible the training, coordination, and expansion of this mission of prayer.

To learn more about supporting The Rosary Team, visit www.therosaryteam.org.

This story was first published by the Denver Catholic and has been reprinted on CNA with permission.

Catholic ultra-endurance runner inspires men to strive for holiness
Sat, 11 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Five years ago, Jonathan Kuplack was speaking with a friend about the need for men to have communities where they can be open with one another, challenge each other, and be inspired to become the men God intended them to be.

The conversation led Kuplack to launch a Catholic nonprofit called “Sebaste” — which comes from the story of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste — that challenges men to become saints through intensive summer programs, adventure, brotherhood, physical challenge, and prayer.

Kuplack lives this mission by example. From Sept. 26–28, the 37-year-old participated in “The Mammoth” — a 214-mile race through the Eastern Sierras in California — with the hope to inspire other men across the country.

As an avid endurance runner, Kuplack told CNA that he receives a “deep joy and peace” from training for races and “there’s a unity with the divine that happens — it’s very hard to explain — when I’m running through mountains and it’s silent.”

Earlier this year, Kuplack ran across the United States — 3,500 miles in 100 days — stopping to speak at churches, schools, and on podcasts.

He said he was inspired to take part in “The Mammoth” because he believes everyone needs to get out of their comfort zone in order for growth to happen.

“We need to grow and there’s only growth on the other side of our fear and the other side of our comfort zone,” he said. “And as long as we stay in the places where we’re comfortable, we will never grow.”

Kuplack also wanted to motivate other men to “go to the other side of the fear and get uncomfortable and pay the price so that we can live in the fullness of joy and abundance that Christ came to give us.”

Kuplack went into “The Mammoth” hoping to finish the race within 48 hours. However, things did not go as planned and he finished the race after 71 and a half hours.

For the first 70 miles Kuplack was at the front of the pack, but after a 28-and-a-half-mile stretch without an aid station — a stop along the course that provides runners with nutrition and hydration — his body was left depleted and he spent 45 minutes at the next aid station in a borderline hypothermic state.

“That experience took me down and for the next 80 miles I was crawling. I was going so slow,” he recalled. “Every step was very painful and I didn’t even know if I was going to finish at that point.”

Thanks to an hour nap and refueling his body with more food, he was able to finish the last 50 miles.

There were several takeaways from his experience of that race, including “the need to let go of our ego in order for God’s plan to play out in our lives and the need for transcendent experiences.”

“Going into this race, I’m giving this race to the Lord, I’m running for God. I’m saying to God, ‘If you grant me the victory, help me to just reflect that back onto you so everyone can see you.’ But as the race unfolded, I realized it was still about me. It’s so difficult to get out of the ego,” he said.

He said the experience helped him realize that it’s “only when we find our part in God’s grand play, in his big movie, in his theodrama, do we become fully alive and fully actualized and become the great saints we’re made to be.”

Kuplack also highlighted the importance of “transcendent experiences in our lives.”

“We need to have experiences that get us outside of ourselves so that we can look down and see our life from altitude. Look down from 30,000 feet and see the big picture. And these transcendent experiences draw us out of ourselves,” he said.

“It’s like when the small group of apostles was up on the mountain and at the Transfiguration. They were drawn into something so much bigger and beautiful, but it gave a whole new perspective to their life when they went back down the mountain,” he explained. “And in these races, you’re running through incredible natural beauty, climbing mountains, descending. I saw the sun go down three times and rise three times in these incredible places where most people never get to go and I just got to be living and moving through that for 71 hours.”

“As painful as it was, it was such a gift. So it just sucks you out of yourself and you realize, wow God you are truly magnificent and great.”

Kuplack is hoping to inspire men to join in Sebaste’s “Choose the Cross” initiative, which invites men to commit to eliminating one habit or vice that may be hurting their relationship with God, engage in one physical activity daily, and do one spiritual act daily.

He said he hopes more men will feel called to making a “full commitment to holiness and being a great saint.”

Pro-life influencer’s assault case dropped; Thomas More Society fights for justice
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:39:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 10, 2025 / 17:39 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Pro-life influencer’s assault case dropped; Thomas More Society fights for justice

After New York City dropped the case against a woman who assaulted a pro-life influencer, the legal nonprofit Thomas More Society is advocating for justice.

The pro-life influencer, Savannah Craven Antao, was punched in the face by a woman she was interviewing as part of her pro-life advocacy. The video went viral, but the city dropped the case.

Thomas More Society, on behalf of Craven Antao, asked the Manhattan district attorney to reconsider and to press felony and hate crime charges.

“The defendant made disparaging remarks about Ms. Craven Antao’s Christian beliefs and practices before brutally assaulting her,” the letter read.

Craven Antao, a friend of the late Charlie Kirk, who was violently murdered during a debate, said she takes inspiration from Kirk in her activism.

The district attorney’s office previously released an apology for dropping the case and said it is looking into it internally.

Judge approves Missouri pro-life ballot proposal

A Cole County Circuit judge approved a Missouri ballot amendment that, if passed, would repeal the 2024 amendment that created a right to abortion in the state.

The proposed ballot measure would protect unborn children throughout pregnancy, with some exceptions in cases of medical emergency, fetal anomalies, or rape and incest.

The 2026 measure would amend the Missouri Constitution to require parental consent for minors seeking abortions and to “ensure women’s safety during abortion.” The measure would also prohibit transgender medical procedures for children.

The amendment also contains language to “guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages.”

Missouri’s current constitution, following the 2024 amendment, allows almost unfettered access to abortion as it says that “the right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, interfered with, delayed, or otherwise restricted” by the government.

Texas arrests 8 members of illegal abortion operation

Texas arrested eight people in connection with an alleged illegal abortion operation in the Houston area.

Yaimara Hernandez Alvarez, Alina Valeron Leon, Dalia Coromoto Yanez, Yhonder Lebrun Acosta, Liunet Grandales Estrada, Gerardo Otero Aguero, Sabiel Bosch Gongora, and Jose Manuel Cendan Ley were arrested for allegedly providing illegal abortions and practicing medicine without proper licensing, according to an Oct. 8 press release from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.

The Houston area medical clinics allegedly performing the abortions are owned by Maria Rojas, who was previously arrested for posing as a physician and operating the clinics.

Louisiana sues FDA over abortion pill mailing

Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent other states from mailing illegal abortion drugs into Louisiana.

Filed last week, Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration challenges the loosening of safeguards around chemical abortion drugs by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 era.

Under President Joe Biden, the FDA approved abortion pills to be prescribed remotely, without any in-person interaction with a doctor or clinic.

Policy Director for Louisiana Right to Life Erica Inzina celebrated the lawsuit, saying the FDA “abandoned its duty to protect public health by allowing abortion pills to be distributed through the mail without proper medical supervision.”

Sister Jean Dolores, beloved nun and Loyola University basketball chaplain, dies at 106
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:07:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 10, 2025 / 17:07 pm (CNA).

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the beloved Catholic nun who became known across the country at the age of 98 as the chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team, died Oct. 9 at the age of 106.

“In many roles at Loyola over the course of more than 60 years, Sister Jean was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace for generations of students, faculty, and staff,” said Mark C. Reed, Loyola president, in a statement.

“While we feel grief and a sense of loss, there is great joy in her legacy. Her presence was a profound blessing for our entire community and her spirit abides in thousands of lives. In her honor, we can aspire to share with others the love and compassion Sister Jean shared with us,” he added.

Sister Jean, as she was more commonly known, was born Dolores Bertha Schmidt on Aug. 21, 1919, to Joseph and Bertha Schmidt. She was raised in a devout Catholic home in San Francisco’s Castro District.

Since the age of 8, Sister Jean had a calling to religious life. In her memoir, published in 2023, she recalled meeting a kind and joyful teacher who belonged to the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM). Admiring this teacher, she would pray every day: “Dear God, help me understand what I should do, but please tell me I should become a BVM sister.”

In 1937, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and took the name Sister Jean Dolores. In 1991, she joined the staff at Loyola Chicago and three years later became part of the basketball team, first as an academic adviser before transitioning to chaplain.

Sister Jean burst onto the scene when her beloved Ramblers upset the University of Miami in the first round of the 2018 March Madness tournament with a down-to-the-wire three-point basket.

Following this win, Twitter (now X) featured Sister Jean in a Twitter moment, and she received shoutouts from high-profile accounts including ESPN and former President Barack Obama. The New York Times also ran a profile on her.

Sister Jean lead the team in prayer before each game — praying for her players to be safe, for the referees to be fair, and for God’s assistance during the game. She also admitted to praying for the opposing team, but “not as hard.”

In her memoir, she recalled her pregame prayers with the players where she would also get on the microphone at Gentile Arena and offer a prayer for all in attendance.

“Does God really care who wins a basketball game? Maybe he cares more than we think?” she wrote in her memoir.

“If nothing else, I imagine God must laugh sometimes when someone prays to win a game. God sees a lot of horrible stuff going on. Sometimes he needs a good laugh. I’d like to think I give him a chuckle every time I say into that microphone, ‘Amen and go Ramblers!’”

When she turned 100, Loyola Chicago announced a scholarship fund in her honor to support students, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proclaimed Aug. 21, 2019, “Sister Jean Day” across the state. At 103, the Chicago train station plaza at the Loyola campus was renamed in her honor, with a large sign that read “Home of the World Famous Sister Jean!”

She is survived by her sister-in-law, Jeanne Tidwell, and her niece, Jan Schmidt. Visitation and funeral arrangements will be announced soon by Loyola University.

Pregnancy centers fight California ‘censorship’ of abortion pill reversal drug
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:37:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 10, 2025 / 16:37 pm (CNA).

Pro-life pregnancy centers urged an appellate court to block California’s alleged “censorship” of their speech about medication designed to thwart the effects of the abortion drug mifepristone during oral arguments on Oct. 9.

Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) is recommended or dispensed by pro-life pregnancy centers to prevent the completion of an abortion shortly after a woman takes mifepristone to achieve a chemical abortion.

Mifepristone works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the unborn child’s supply of oxygen and nutrients, according to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute. APR operates as a progesterone supplement that is meant to compete with mifepristone by restoring the hormone in hopes that the woman can carry her pregnancy through to birth, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Although California has not tried to prohibit use of APR or prevent medical professionals from supplying it to women, Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2023 sued five pro-life pregnancy centers for promoting the medicine, accusing them of making false and misleading claims.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) does not recommend the use of APR, citing insufficient evidence. Alternatively, the American Association of Pro-life OBGYNs (AAPLOG) states the literature “clearly shows that the blockade is reversible with natural progesterone.”

Several pro-life pregnancy centers sued by California responded with lawsuits accusing Bonta of infringing on their First Amendment rights. Two cases were heard by a three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 9.

“Abortion pill reversal is a lawful and life-saving treatment,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Caleb Dalton, who is representing the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), told the judges.

“It occurs only after a conversation and informed consent from a licensed medical professional,” he said, and accused the attorney general of “trying to censor information about that so the conversation never happens.”

Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president, who is representing Culture of Life Family Services (COLFS), told the judges the attorney general is motivated by “animus” toward the pro-life movement following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“There’s no evidence on the record that anyone’s been harmed, and we’re almost 20 years into this, over 10 years at COLFS, and 400 babies born,” Breen told the judges.

“There’s no consumer protection here,” he continued. “There is no consumer to be protected. Women have been choosing this. The problem is: Are they going to know that they even have the option?”

Judges question California’s ‘state interest’

The California attorney general’s office was represented in court by Deputy Attorney General Erica Connolly, who argued that the studies backing the safety and effectiveness of APR are insufficient.

Connolly referenced an oft-cited study by George Delgado, which found that certain forms of progesterone supplements have a 64% to 68% success rate when used as an abortion pill reversal.

She accused pro-life pregnancy centers of misrepresenting the study and asserted the research is “not sufficient” in supporting its conclusions because it’s a “retrospective analysis” and “not a randomized controlled study.”

Judge Anthony Johnstone responded, asking: “As a matter of First Amendment doctrine, why does that matter if they’re reporting that a study says what the study says?” Johnstone also noted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved drugs with lower effectiveness rates.

Connolly alternatively argued that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has restricted advertisements when studies are “insufficient.”

Johnstone followed up, noting that California has not regulated the procedure itself but only the speech surrounding it and asked: “Why would it require lower evidence to regulate speech about that process?”

Connolly responded by saying advertisements affect the “informed consent process.” She said one cannot advertise “a treatment is safe and effective and that it does something that the scientific evidence does not establish that it does.”

Both Johnstone and Judge Eric Miller also expressed concern that the attorney general’s office did not adequately demonstrate the state’s interest in regulating the speech surrounding APR. In response Connolly said the interest is in “protecting individuals from misleading commercial speech about medical treatments.”

Ongoing scientific debate

Judge Johnnie Rawlinson raised the point that some medical associations have declined to sign off on APR as effective, but Dalton argued that disagreements within the medical community are “exactly what the First Amendment protects.”

Dalton argued Californians should be free to discuss scientific studies “without fear that the attorney general is going to silence them.” He said the First Amendment provides for “open discussion — not censorship.”

Venezuelan opposition leader receives 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:07:00 -0400

Caracas, Venezuela, Oct 10, 2025 / 16:07 pm (CNA).

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of “her tireless work in promoting the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” according to the Nobel Committee.

This year’s prize is awarded to a “courageous and committed advocate for peace,” a woman who has kept “the flame of democracy burning amid growing darkness,” according to the announcement posted on the Nobel Prize website.

With a political career spanning more than 20 years, Machado is the founder and national coordinator of the Vente Venezuela political party. Since October 2023, she has been the undisputed leader of the opposition after obtaining an overwhelming majority of votes in primary elections.

Machado toured the country during the campaign for the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, and was welcomed by thousands of people at her rallies.

President Nicolás Maduro’s government disqualified her from holding public office, so the opposition coalition ended up registering Edmundo González Urrutia as a candidate to challenge Chavismo in the electoral contest.

Maduro claimed a much-disputed victory that allowed him to begin a new six-year presidential term.

Meanwhile, the opposition to Maduro, led by Machado, called for a series of protests and activities across the country to confront the alleged fraud. These protests resulted in dozens of deaths by government security agencies, hundreds of arrests — according to the organization Foro Penal — and Machado herself remaining in hiding to this day.

A unifying figure

“Ms. Machado has been a key and unifying figure in a once deeply divided political opposition, an opposition that found common ground in demanding free elections and representative government,” the Nobel Committee explained in its press release.

According to the committee, the “violent machinery” of the Venezuelan state “is directed against its own citizens,” and the opposition “has been systematically suppressed through electoral fraud, legal prosecution, and imprisonment.”

Amid this reality, Machado “has never wavered in her resistance to the militarization of Venezuelan society. She has remained steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy,” the committee stated.

“María Corina Machado has demonstrated that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope for a different future, one in which citizens’ fundamental rights are protected and their voices are heard. In that future, people will finally be free to live in peace,” it added.

‘I’m just part of a great movement’

In an interview with the Nobel Institute, Machado reacted emotionally to being awarded the prize. “I’m just part of a great movement. I feel honored, grateful, and privileged, not only for this recognition but also to be part of what’s happening in Venezuela today,” she stated.

The opposition leader also explained what she hopes to achieve with the Nobel Peace Prize, noting that her work within the country “has been a long road and at a very high cost to Venezuelan society.”

“I believe we are very close to finally achieving freedom for our country and peace for the region. I believe that although we face the most brutal violence, our society has persisted, resisted, and fought through civil and peaceful means. I believe the world will now understand how urgent it is to finally succeed, given the implications not only for Venezuela and Latin America, but also because this will have an enormous impact on the hemisphere and the world,” she stated.

Who is María Corina Machado?

María Corina Machado Parisca is a 58-year-old political leader from Caracas. She earned her undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from the Andrés Bello Catholic University, followed by a postgraduate degree in finance from the Institute of Higher Studies in Administration (IESA, by its Spanish acronym).

She also graduated from Yale University’s Global Leaders in Public Policy Program.

She was elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly in September 2010 with the highest number and margin of votes of any representative in that electoral contest.

In 2012, she founded Vente Venezuela, a political organization in which she serves as National Coordinator.

In March 2014, the opposition leader was removed from her position as a representative after being accused of “treason.”

She has received various international recognitions and awards for her work in support of freedom and democracy in Venezuela.

The Nobel prize winner has three children and has affirmed her Catholic faith on numerous occasions, although on several issues she holds positions that are contrary to Church teaching.

For example, she has stated that she supports euthanasia in specific cases, along with the recognition of same-sex unions. On abortion, she has stated that, although she has her own religious convictions, she would never impose them on society.

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

Brooklyn usher murdered in subway remembered as ‘tremendous man of faith’
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:37:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 10, 2025 / 15:37 pm (CNA).

A Catholic man who served as an usher at his Brooklyn parish before he was killed in a brutal attack in a city subway is being remembered as a “good soul” with a “tremendous” faith in Christ.

Sixty-four-year-old Nicola Tanzi was killed on Oct. 7, when police say 25-year-old David Mazariegos beat him to death in the Jay Street-MetroTech station in Brooklyn.

He later died at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the attack as “horrific.” Police were able to apprehend the suspect using photos and a physical description transmitted through their phones, Tisch said.

Mazariegos has reportedly been arrested multiple times before. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that state Gov. Kathy Hochul “has blood on her hands” over the death.

“Nicola Tanzi’s life was taken by another repeat offender roaming New York’s streets freely,” Duffy wrote. ”New York needs leaders who will back the blue and make America’s transit system safe again.”

Victim mourned as a ‘simple, good person’

Those who knew Tanzi have mourned his death in the days following his murder.

Deacon Anthony Mammoliti told CNA in an interview on Oct. 10 that Tanzi was “probably the most Christ-like parishioner I’ve encountered.”

Mammoliti serves at St. Dominic’s Parish in Bensonhurst where Tanzi attended. Tanzi served as an usher there at the Italian Mass for at least 10 years, the deacon said.

“He was a man who would give of himself,” Mammoliti said. “In his civilian job, he would often, without hesitation, switch shifts to allow married colleagues to have family time. When I engaged with him in the parish, it was always with a congenial smile.”

Tanzi would regularly greet elderly parishioners with a “Buon Giorni!” and “Come Stai!” while holding the door for them, Mammoliti said.

The deacon said the parish is in shock over the news.

“We’re all in a state of disbelief. The old expression, ‘Bad things happen to good people,’ that’s the first thought that came to mind,” he said.

Deacon John Heyer of Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Catholic Church in the city’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood told CBS News that Tanzi was “definitely a good person. Like, a simple, good person.”

“[He was the] type of guy who went to work and came home and was part of different community organizations,” Heyer said. “Especially those related to his family’s heritage and roots in Mola di Bari, Italy.”

Mazariegos, the suspect in the killing, reportedly has multiple criminal cases open against him throughout the city. He allegedly admitted to the killing afterward.

Mammoliti said Tanzi, a “tremendous man of faith” with a “good soul,” had he survived the assault, would have forgiven his assailant. “He would have done what he normally did, which was to be a good Christian,” he said.

“Your first initial reaction [upon hearing the news] is, you know, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” the deacon admitted. “But we’re called to be people of faith. We’re called to emulate the teachings of the Gospel.”

“We would honor Mr. Tanzi if we would live up to what Jesus teaches us, which is to forgive our enemies.”

Relic that appeared to move on its own ‘not of supernatural origin,’ diocese says
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:07:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 10, 2025 / 15:07 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, has determined that a moving relic was “not of supernatural origin” after video of the apparent phenomenon spread across social media.

The viral video depicted a first-class relic of St. Gemma Galgani appearing to move of its own accord behind a display case.

Visitors reportedly came to the Newman Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to see the apparently moving relic.

But a diocesan investigation found that the source of the movement was a bent hook.

Father Caleb La Rue, the chancellor for the Diocese of Lincoln, investigated whether the moving relic could be of supernatural origin with the help of another priest.

He told CNA that the Church has to look at such things with a “healthy skepticism” to see if there are any “natural” causes of the occurrences.

“Not that these things can’t happen — of course, they absolutely can,” he said. “God can work in any myriad of ways.”

La Rue found that the hook was bent, causing a similar relic to move in the same way when hung on the same hook. When St. Gemma’s relic was removed from the hook, it ceased moving on its own. La Rue said because of the bend in the hook, the weight of the reliquary was likely “not evenly distributed.”

But La Rue also noted that miracles do happen and encouraged people to look for the ordinary ways God shows his presence in our lives.

“Even if it’s not supernatural, I think there’s something that God wants all of us to take away from this experience because he either willed or permitted it to happen,” La Rue said.

What qualifies as a miracle?

Church authorities investigate alleged miracles when they receive reports of them. Apparently miraculous phenomena often have to do with the Eucharist, Marian apparitions, and miracles of healing, among others.

Michael O’Neill, a miracle expert who developed a miracle-tracking website and hosts the EWTN show “Miracle Hunter,” told CNA that the Church “would not in modern times investigate a moving relic.”

“Traditionally, only a few types of miracles are ever investigated, specifically healing miracles, Marian apparitions, Eucharistic miracles, weeping statues or icons, and incorrupt saints,” O’Neill said. “And each has their own investigative process.”

La Rue, however, noted that it’s not impossible for a relic to be moving miraculously in this way.

“It’s, of course, possible. There’s far more miraculous things that happen every day,” La Rue said. “You don’t want to prematurely begin dampening the fervor. But at the same time, the Church is cautious for a reason because she wants our attention to be on truly miraculous things.”

Do miracles still occur?

The Church has documented many miracles related to healing, the Eucharist, and Marian apparitions.

Healing miracles are especially important in the investigation of potential saints. Would-be-saints need several miraculous healings to be attributed to their intercession before the Church will canonize them.

These healing miracles undergo a scrutinous investigation in line with what is called “the Lambertini Criteria,” according to O’Neill. A miracle can be confirmed only if there is no possible scientific explanation for the healing.

The Diocese of Lincoln noted in a statement that miracles still do occur, especially the miracle of the Eucharist, where the consecrated bread and wine become Jesus’ body, blood, soul, and divinity.

“God surrounds us with miracles every day, with the Lord’s real presence in the Blessed Sacrament being preeminent of all,” the diocese said in a statement shared with CNA on Thursday.

La Rue noted that the Newman Center has all-day Eucharistic adoration, where students and staff come to pray in the presence of Jesus Christ.

“The entire time this was happening, there was Eucharistic exposition going on,” La Rue said.

He noted that the Eucharist “is the ultimate sign of God’s abiding presence with his people and his desire to be a part of our life.”

“Even if this wasn’t what some people were hoping it would be, it doesn’t mean that God isn’t still very active in our lives,” La Rue said. “Sometimes we maybe just don’t pay attention to the little ways in which he is.”

O’Neill noted that the official norms for addressing miracles were adjusted last year, meaning that the Church doesn’t explicitly declare occurrences to be supernatural, but rather uses the designation “nihil obstat,” meaning “nothing obstructs.”

This means that the miracle has “signs” of the Holy Spirit and nothing “critical or risky” has been detected.

While nihil obstat is the highest designation a proposed miracle can receive in modern times, the Vatican, according to the recent norms, can also denounce alleged miracles if the Church finds them to be concerning, not of supernatural origin, or even fraudulent.

La Rue encouraged those who had hoped for a miracle to “be mindful of the ordinary ways in which God communicates his love and his grace to us throughout the day.”

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be something spectacular, but there’s lots of little ways that God is constantly showing us his care for us,” La Rue said.

A thriving faith community

La Rue, who is in residence at the Newman Center, noted that the vibrant community is growing.

“It’s a place where young people are really encountering Our Lord and encountering each other and building strong friendships and lasting friendships founded on shared love of God and wanting to live a full life, a joyful life,” La Rue said.

About 70 people entered the Church through the center’s OCIA program last year.

“The number of people who came to join the church last year who just literally just showed up — nobody went and found them,” La Rue said. “We certainly have those people, but a lot of them just came on their own.”

Sunday Mass, he said, is “standing room only.”

“I’ve been able to see just the reality of young people recognizing that the world doesn’t have the answers — that the things of the world aren’t satisfying,” he said. “And they come here to find actual peace and love and freedom in Our Lord.”

Washington state drops effort to make priests violate seal of confession in reporting law
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:37:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 10, 2025 / 14:37 pm (CNA).

Officials in Washington state have agreed to back off a controversial effort to force priests there to violate the seal of confession as part of a mandatory abuse reporting law.

A motion filed in federal district court on Oct. 10 affirmed that state and local governments would stop attempting to require priests to report child abuse learned during the sacrament of reconciliation.

The state attorney general’s office on Oct. 10 said in a press release that clergy would remain mandatory reporters under state law, but prosecutors would agree “not to enforce reporting requirements for information clergy learn solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths.”

The agreement brings an end to a high-profile and controversial effort by Washington government leaders to violate one of the Catholic Church’s most sacred and inviolable directives, one that requires priests to maintain absolute secrecy over what they learn during confession or else face excommunication.

Washington’s revised mandatory reporting law, passed by the state Legislature earlier this year and signed by Gov. Robert Ferguson, added clergy to the list of mandatory abuse reporters in the state. But it didn’t include an exemption for information learned in the confessional, explicitly leaving priests out of a “privileged communication” exception afforded to other professionals.

The state’s bishops successfully blocked the law in federal court in July, though the threat of the statute still loomed if the state government was successful at appeal.

In the July ruling, District Judge David Estudillo said there was “no question” that the law burdened the free exercise of religion.

“In situations where [priests] hear confessions related to child abuse or neglect, [the rule] places them in the position of either complying with the requirements of their faith or violating the law,” the judge wrote.

The state’s reversal on Oct. 10 brought cheers from religious liberty advocates, including the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented state bishops in their suit against the state government.

“Washington was wise to walk away from this draconian law and allow Catholic clergy to continue ministering to the faithful,” Becket CEO and President Mark Rienzi said.

“This is a victory for religious freedom and for common sense. Priests should never be forced to make the impossible choice of betraying their sacred vows or going to jail.”

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel John Bursch on Friday said the legal advocacy group was “pleased the state agreed to swiftly restore the constitutionally protected freedom of churches and priests.” The legal group had represented Orthodox churches and a priest in their own suit.

“Washington was targeting priests by compelling them to break the sacred confidentiality of confession while protecting other confidential communications, like those between attorneys and their clients. That’s rank religious discrimination,” Bursch said.

On X, the Washington State Catholic Conference said that Church leaders in the state “consistently supported the law’s broader goal of strengthening protections for minors.”

Church leaders “asked only for a narrow exemption to protect the sacrament of confession,” the conference said.

“In every other setting other than the confessional, the Church has long supported — and continues to support — mandatory reporting,” the conference added. “We’re grateful Washington ultimately recognized it can prevent abuse without forcing priests to violate their sacred vows.”

The legal fight had drawn the backing of a wide variety of supporters and backers, including the Trump administration, Bishop Robert Barron, and a global priests’ group, among numerous others.

Well ahead of the law’s passage, Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly had promised Catholics in the state that priests would face prison time rather than violate the seal of confession. “I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishop and priests, are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” Daly told the faithful in April 2023.

The Washington bishops, meanwhile, noted on Oct. 10 that the Catholic Church has upheld the sanctity of confession “for centuries.”

“Priests have been imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for upholding the seal of confession,” the state Catholic conference said. “Penitents today need the same assurance that their participation in a holy sacrament will remain free from government interference.”

Pope Leo XIV: Right to religious freedom is not optional but essential
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 13:21:00 -0400

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

Pope Leo XIV on Friday received at the Vatican members of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a pontifical foundation that supports the Catholic Church in its evangelizing work in the world’s most needy, discriminated-against, and persecuted communities.

In his initial greeting, the Holy Father emphasized the importance of their work, especially in a world that continues to “witness growing hostility and violence against those who hold different beliefs, including many Christians.”

According to the pope, ACN’s mission — which funds more than 5,000 pastoral and humanitarian emergency projects in 137 countries — proclaims that, as one family in Christ, “we do not abandon our persecuted brothers and sisters.”

Pope Leo XIV emphasized that “the suffering of any member of the body of Christ is shared by the entire Church.” ACN was founded in 1947, the Holy Father recalled, to defend religious freedom and as a response to the “immense suffering left behind by the war,” with the aim of promoting forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Holy Father firmly stated that “the right to religious freedom is not optional but essential,” referring to it as “a cornerstone of every just society, as it safeguards the moral space in which conscience can be formed and exercised.”

In this regard, he indicated that religious freedom “is not merely a legal right or a privilege granted by governments” but “a fundamental condition that makes authentic reconciliation possible.”

Consequently, he clarified that when this freedom is denied, “the human person is deprived of the capacity to respond freely to the call of truth.” He warned: “What follows is a slow disintegration of the ethical and spiritual bonds that sustain communities; trust gives way to fear, suspicion replaces dialogue, and oppression breeds violence.”

He then thanked the members of this foundation for their reports on Religious Freedom in the World, “a powerful tool for raising awareness.”

“Wherever Aid to the Church in Need rebuilds a chapel, supports a religious sister, or provides a radio station or a vehicle, they strengthen the life of the Church, as well as the spiritual and moral fabric of society,” he continued.

He also highlighted that their assistance helps “small and vulnerable minorities” such as those in the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique.

Concluding his remarks, he thanked each of them for this work of charity, as their service “bears fruit in countless lives and gives glory to our heavenly Father.”

“Do not tire of doing good,” he concluded.

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

Pope Leo XIV to consecrated men and women: ‘The Church needs you’
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:33:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2025 / 09:33 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV met with participants in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life in the Vatican on Friday, thanking them for their fidelity to Christ and their witness of faith in the “most remote corners of the earth.”

During the audience, the Holy Father said the Church and the world need men and women consecrated to Jesus to reveal God’s presence and his “great plan of peace and salvation” for humanity.

“Recalling what Pope Francis has already said to you, I too wish to declare that the Church needs you and all the diversity and richness of the forms of consecration and ministry that you represent,” he said Oct. 10 in the Paul VI Hall.

“With your vitality and the witness of a life where Christ is the center and the Lord, you can contribute to ‘awakening the world,” he added, quoting his predecessor.

Expressing gratitude for the numerous good works and ministries carried out by consecrated men and women in different countries, Leo XIV stressed their need to “return to the heart” to “rediscover the spark” of the beginnings of their vocation journey.

“It is in fact in the heart that the ‘paradoxical connection between self-esteem and openness to others, between the most personal encounter with oneself and the gift of oneself to others’ is produced,” the pope said, citing Pope Francis’ last encyclical letter Dilexit Nos.

During the private gathering, the Holy Father stressed the importance of consecrated men and women cultivating their interior lives. According to Leo, the “best fruits of goodness take root” as a result of “prayer and communion with God.”

With the conclusion of the two-day Jubilee of Consecrated Life in Rome, the Holy Father said it is necessary for men and women returning to their missions and daily duties abroad to reflect deeper on synodality, which he described as an “important theme for the Church of our time.”

“St. Paul VI spoke of it in beautiful terms,” Leo told those present at the Friday audience. “[St. Paul VI] wrote: ‘How much we would like to enjoy this domestic dialogue in the fullness of faith, charity, and works.”

Emphasizing the need for “domestic dialogue” within the Church, the Holy Father said consecrated men and women belonging to different institutes are in a privileged position to be “experts in synodality” and live values such as “mutual listening, participation, sharing of opinions and abilities, and the common search for paths according to the voice of the Spirit” on a daily basis.

“Today, the Church asks you to be special witnesses to all of this in the various dimensions of your lives, first and foremost by walking in communion with the whole great family of God,” he said.

Toward the end of the audience, Pope Leo expressed his gratitude for their “fidelity and for the great good you do in the Church and in the world.”

“I promise you a special remembrance in my prayers and I bless you from my heart!” he said.

Miami archbishop, president of Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA delve into Dilexi te
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0400

Miami, Florida, Oct 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

“There’s somebody here who wants to talk to you,” the receptionist said to John Berry.

Now the president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA (SVdp USA), Berry was serving the Georgia branch when a woman arrived at the office with a check. The stranger wanted to support the organization’s goals of helping people overcome poverty. Her donation was large, but her reason for donating was even more astounding.

“A number of years ago, I was down on my luck, and you all helped me,” she said. “I’m in a position now where I can help you.”

Berry recalled the encounter while pondering Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, published Oct. 9, centering on compassion for the poor. The exhortation’s introductory phrase — from which the title is derived — is “I have loved you,” from Revelation 3:9.

Indeed, the first American pope’s message is about the necessary exchange of love between the poor and those who serve, as mirrored by Berry and the donor.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami recognized the major papal milestone by holding a press conference Thursday to unpack Pope Leo’s words. He summarized the pope’s message: “We are to love the poor, not to blame them for their poverty but to assist them so they can discover and own their … dignity as human beings.”

During the press conference at the Archdiocese of Miami pastoral center, the archbishop spoke about one of the key ideas in Dilexi te, “accompaniment,” which informs the SVdP donor’s story.

“Accompaniment would be treating them as a brother or sister and not lording it over [them],” Wenski said. Otherwise, “they themselves feel offended in their dignity, and then what we’re doing is not so much trying to help them but [instead] trying to make us feel good.”

On the contrary, accompaniment can be far from the feel good.

“Accompaniment means that we roll up our sleeves and work with them, and oftentimes when doing so we’re not going to feel good because it’s going to require a lot of sweat and tears,” the archbishop added.

Indeed, SVdP USA strives to embody the Catholic mindset of accompaniment, as volunteers dialogue with impoverished families and individuals to tailor the method of aid to their specific situations. Some of SVdP USA’s offerings include monetary aid, food pantries, free pharmacy programs, shelters, clinics, and education centers.

“We’re not the kind of agency where somebody who’s in need walks in the door, fills out a form, slips it under a hole in a glass wall, and then next thing you know, somebody says, ‘OK, we’ll pay your bill’ or hands over a box of food,” Berry explained. “Ours is a sit-down conversation, a personal encounter, where we talk with people and create a solution together. We find out from them what are their needs, what are the things that are challenging them.”

In the Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic Legal Services represents immigrants in need, and people struggling with the English language can attend parish-based ESL (English as a second language) classes.

As Wenski put it: “The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me.’”

“It is significant because these first apostolic exhortations tend to be the putting forth of a strategic plan for the priorities of the pope for his pontificate,” he added.

Both the archbishop and Berry pointed out that Pope Leo’s missionary outreach in Peru likely informs his perspective on the poor within the exhortation as someone who walked the walk.

“This is his heart,” Berry said.

Ancient traces of St. Mark reveal Christianity’s deep roots in Libya
Fri, 10 Oct 2025 06:00:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 10, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Ancient traces of St. Mark reveal Christianity’s deep roots in Libya

In the eastern Libyan city of Derna, archaeological remains linked to St. Mark the Evangelist continue to bear witness to the country’s early Christian heritage, ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, reported Oct. 8. Though not explicitly named in the Gospels, Mark, believed to have been among the 72 disciples sent out by Christ, became one of the four Evangelists and the first patriarch of Alexandria.

Researchers note that Mark may have been born in Cyrene — present-day eastern Libya — before carrying the Christian message across the region’s “Pentapolis” cities. The scenic Mark Valley in the Green Mountain area, with its waterfalls and caves, is thought to have sheltered him and his followers during Roman persecutions. Nearby, “Gospel Valley” is believed to be where he began writing his Gospel. The enduring local veneration of “Mark of Cyrene” underscores how deeply the Libyan landscape is intertwined with the faith’s earliest chapters.

Church schools in northeast Syria face closure after 7 decades

In northeast Syria, Christian churches are warning that more than 70 years of faith-based education may soon come to an end, according to ACI MENA. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria has ordered the closure of 22 church-run schools in cities such as Qamishli, Hasakah, and Malikiya for refusing to adopt its new curriculum, insisting instead on teaching Syria’s national syllabus.

Local educators describe the move as a direct blow to the Church’s historic role in education. Negotiations have failed despite appeals to international organizations, leaving families torn between relocating their children or losing access to recognized exams. The dispute, which has already driven emigration among Christian communities, highlights the precarious status of minorities in postwar Syria and the growing tension between Church autonomy and regional political agendas.

Crude bombs detonated in front of Bangladesh’s oldest Catholic church

An investigation is underway in Bangladesh after four assailants on motorbikes reportedly threw makeshift bombs at the gate in front of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Tejgaon, central Dhaka, before fleeing the scene, according to a report from UCA News.

A security guard who witnessed the attack on Oct. 8 said he saw white smoke go up around the gate in wake of the explosion that “shook the surrounding area.” A bomb disposal team deployed to the site managed to diffuse two unexploded bombs.

Holy Rosary Church was founded by Portuguese missionaries in 1677 and is nestled among several buildings, including a convent, two schools, a college, and a hospital. It is home to approximately 10,000 Catholics, according to the report.

American citizen, 2 Indian nationals arrested on ‘conversion’ charges in India

Police in India have arrested an American citizen and two Indian nationals for violating the country’s stringent anti-conversion laws by allegedly attempting to convert Hindu villagers to Christianity at a prayer meeting, according to UCA News.

After an Oct. 3 incident in the western state of Maharashtra, American James Watson, 58, and Indian nationals Ganpati Sarpe, 42, and Manoj Govind Kolha, 35 have been charged with “attempting to hurt religious sentiments and violating provisions of Maharashtra’s anti-black magic law by allegedly promising miracle cures and prosperity through conversion.” The three were arrested after a local Hindu villager, Ravinath Bhurkut, told police that the group had said during the meeting that “Hinduism was based on superstition and that conversion to Christianity would bring happiness and success,” UCA reported.

Bishop condemns corruption scandal at South African hospital

South African Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa has condemned a corruption scandal at Tembisa Hospital, where more than $109 million was looted from the institution in what he has said is a grave injustice and direct assault on the poor’s right to health care, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Oct. 8.

“This scandal constitutes not only a grave betrayal of public trust but also a direct attack on the dignity and rights of the poor who depend on public health care,” he said in a statement welcoming an investigative report on the matter. Dating back to 2021, the scandal saw a whistleblower assassinated outside her home in southern Johannesburg after exposing suspicious and irregular payments at the hospital.

Salesians of Don Bosco in Kenya prepare to launch 5-year Integral Ecology Plan

Members of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Kenya are preparing to launch a five-year Integral Ecology Plan (2026–2030) aimed at ending the long-standing “piecemeal” approach to projects across their institutions in the east African nation, ACI Africa reported Oct. 8.

“The Integral Ecology is inspired by Pope Francis, and it is a response to his call,” the executive director of Don Bosco Development Outreach Network told ACI Africa in an interview on Oct. 7. “Often what happens is that our Don Bosco institutions have been doing things piecemeal, one by one,” he explained. “What we wanted to do is to have a comprehensive plan for all the Don Bosco institutions in Kenya.”

German diocese complains of rising number of burglary and vandalism cases

The Diocese of Passau in Germany has reported 15 cases of burglaries and vandalism in churches for the month of September, CNA’s German-language news partner, CNA Deutsch, reported Oct. 9.

“We usually have about 15 to 20 burglaries in a whole year, and now we currently have 15 cases that have been reported to us in the month of September alone. That’s very worrying,” the financial director of the diocese, Josef Sonnleitner, said.

According to the diocese, incidents have included damage to doors and windows, sacrificial candlesticks broken, and a holy water vessel and stars from a Madonna statue stolen.

51 senators ask FDA to rescind approval of new ‘generic’ abortion pill
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 18:11:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 9, 2025 / 18:11 pm (CNA).

Nearly every Republican senator signed a letter Thursday urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reverse its decision to approve a “generic” version of the abortion pill mifepristone, which may come onto the market by January if no action is taken.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, joined by 50 of his colleagues, wrote that “we are deeply concerned” with the FDA’s decision. The FDA approved the generic mifepristone in late September without a public announcement.

In the letter, the senators wrote that the approval “appears inconsistent” with recent comments from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who confirmed in early September that HHS is reviewing the safety of the abortion pill and said President Joe Biden’s administration “twisted the data” to downplay health concerns about the drug.

“Out of respect for this important review, and with full confidence in your dedication to protecting women’s health, states’ rights, and unborn life, we urge you to take decisive action to reevaluate whether this generic version of mifepristone is suitable to enter the market,” the senators wrote.

The letter urged the administration to “suspend the approval of any new generic versions of mifepristone” while the drug’s review is ongoing and “commit to ensuring that all generic versions of mifepristone are included in the ongoing reevaluation.”

The Republican senators also urged the FDA to reinstate safeguards that regulate the abortion pill, which includes an in-person dispensing requirement. The requirement was lifted under the Biden administration in 2021. Reinstating the requirement would prevent the drugs from being delivered through the mail.

“These policies have enabled abortion pills to be obtained by abusers, traffickers, and even minors,” the senators argued.

“The aftermath has not only been deadly for preborn babies but lethal to their mothers,” the senators continued. “Contrary to the narrative peddled by the media that taking abortion pills is ‘safer than taking Tylenol,’ evidence shows that the risk of serious medical complications after taking mifepristone is at least 22 times higher than reported on the drug label. In fact, more than 1 in 10 women who take mifepristone will experience a serious adverse event.”

“We are committed to continuing to work together to give a voice to the voiceless and protect women from the dangerous effects of unregulated access to chemical abortion drugs,” they wrote. “The life, safety, freedom, and health of millions of Americans, born and unborn, depend on it.”

Report to UN calls for global ban on surrogacy
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:41:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 9, 2025 / 17:41 pm (CNA).

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls with ADF International voiced opposition to the practice of surrogacy at an Oct. 9 U.N. event hosted by the Italian government.

Surrogacy is responsible for inflicting large-scale violence, abuse, and exploitation on women and children, said Reem Alsalem at the event, according to an ADF International press release. Alsalem is set to present her report on surrogacy before the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 10.

“Surrogacy should not be prohibited only domestically, but it should also be addressed internationally,” said Eugenia Rocella, Italian minister for Family, Natality, and Equal Opportunities, adding: “The Italian government is convinced that … existing international treaties on the protection of women and children’s rights should be updated to explicitly include surrogacy as a practice of undermining dignity and entailing exploitation.”

Italy recently became the first country to ban surrogacy both within and outside its borders, ADF noted in its release, adding that Slovakia also adopted a constitutional amendment banning the practice last month.

“Surrogacy rests on a system of violence that dehumanizes women and children alike. States need to develop a coordinated international response to end the grave human rights violations inherent in this practice,” said Giorgio Mazzoli, director of U.N. Advocacy at ADF International, at the event. “We commend the special rapporteur for exposing the harms of this exploitative industry and urge governments around the world to unite in ending surrogacy in all its forms at all levels, including through the adoption of a U.N. treaty banning the practice globally.”

The report was based on about 120 submissions in addition to video consultations with 78 people including commissioning parents, surrogacy agencies, and surrogate mothers. Alsalem called for member states to establish a universal ban on surrogacy, criminalizing the practice in all its forms.

Through her consultative process, the U.N. expert found surrogate mothers, who are most often from low-income and vulnerable backgrounds, and their children increasingly endure physical, emotional, and financial exploitation as well as violence and human trafficking.

Though the global surrogacy market reached $14.96 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $99.75 billion in 2033, the report said, surrogate mothers frequently receive “only a small fraction of the overall compensation, with the majority of the payment going to intermediaries.”

“Globally, most surrogate mothers come from lower-income backgrounds and have less social status compared with the commissioning parents,” the report said, noting that “migrant women are either specifically targeted for surrogacy or transferred to other countries for the purpose of impregnation and childbirth, often to circumvent legal frameworks.”

Alternatively, commissioning mothers often come from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, the report said, but often experience heightened anxiety surrounding the arrangement, especially in cross-border arrangements, where they are likely to experience fraud through surrogacy agencies, resulting in major financial losses.

The report further highlighted the experience of surrogate mothers being pressured into abortions by commissioning parents, including beyond 12 weeks of gestation, “through coercive tactics such as financial incentives, threats of legal action, or the withdrawal of support to both the mother and baby.” This often occurs when the child is found to have a disability, the report said. In cases where the surrogate becomes pregnant with multiple children at once, commissioning parents may “also enforce a selective reduction.”

“ADF International remains committed to protecting the dignity of human life and safeguarding women and children from exploitation,” the organization said, describing the practice as “the commodification of human life.”

Priest reported missing in Mexico is found dead
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:53:00 -0400

Puebla, Mexico, Oct 9, 2025 / 16:53 pm (CNA).

The body of Father Bertoldo Pantaleón Estrada was found on Oct. 6. The Mexican priest had been reported missing on Saturday, Oct. 4, in the state of Guerrero.

The Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) and the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa confirmed that, according to authorities, the priest’s remains were found around 2 p.m. local time. Pantaleón Estrada was the parish priest in the town of Mezcala, located in the southeast of the country.

So far, there are no details regarding the cause of death. The Guerrero state attorney general’s office reported that it has launched an investigation to “clarify what happened.”

In a statement, the bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, José de Jesús González Hernández, asked the authorities to “help us determine the responsibility of those involved in this unfortunate event.”

At the same time, he stated that “as bishop, and on behalf of the entire diocesan community, I forgive those directly involved for these acts, leaving the administration of justice to God.”

González Hernández also called for “the conversion of our hearts” and asked God that the entire population may continue “walking the path of peace and in favor of life.”

Violence against the Catholic Church in Mexico

In their statement, the Mexican bishops thanked God “for the priestly ministry of Father Bertoldo, for his generous dedication to the service of the Gospel and the Church, especially among the communities entrusted to him.”

They also lamented that the acts of violence have once again plunged the Catholic community into mourning.

This incident occurs almost a year after the death of Father Marcelo Pérez of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, who was murdered after celebrating Mass.

According to the Catholic Multimedia Center, which tracks attacks against the clergy, one cardinal and approximately 60 priests have been murdered since 1990. Since 2018 alone, the organization reports 12 murders of priests; 14 attacks on priests and bishops; a weekly average of 26 churches attacked, desecrated, or assaulted; and nearly 900 cases of extortion and death threats against members of the Catholic Church.

In view of this situation, the CEM demanded that state and federal authorities conduct “a prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation that will allow for the clarification of this crime and the just punishment of those responsible.”

“As shepherds of the people of God, we raise our voices to remind everyone that no form of violence can have a place in a society that honors life and seeks goodness, truth, and peace for all its citizens,” the country’s bishops stated.

Finally, Mexico’s bishops concluded their message by imploring Christ the Good Shepherd to “receive our brother into his kingdom and grant him a share in the eternal joy promised to his faithful servants.”

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

Pope Leo XIV urges consecrated persons to be ‘hungry for holiness’
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:01:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 15:01 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Square on the occasion of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life.

Since Wednesday, religious men and women, monks and contemplatives, members of secular institutes, consecrated virgins, hermits, and members of various institutes throughout the world have participated in the jubilee event, which concluded Thursday afternoon.

‘Abandon yourself like children in the Father’s arms’

After greeting all the jubilee participants, the Holy Father began his homily by reflecting on the phrase from the Gospel of St. Luke: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you” (Lk 11:9). With these words, he explained, “Jesus invites us to turn with confidence to the Father in all our needs.”

Addressing consecrated persons in particular, the pontiff reminded them that “living one’s vows means abandoning oneself like children in the Father’s arms.”

In this regard, he emphasized that “to ask” is to recognize, in poverty, “that everything is a gift from the Lord and to give thanks for everything”; “to seek” is to open oneself, “in obedience, to discover each day the path we must follow to attain holiness, according to God’s designs”; and “to call” is to ask and offer to the brothers “the gifts received with a pure heart, striving to love everyone with respect and gratuity.”

Pope Leo XIV then exhorted them to remember the gratuitousness of their vocation, “beginning from the origins of the congregations to which they belong to the present moment, from the first steps of their personal journey to this moment.”

Thus, he reminded them that God “has willed and chosen us from the beginning” and that it is essential “to look back on one’s own life, bringing to mind and heart all that the Lord has done over the years to multiply talents, to increase and purify faith, to make charity more generous and free.”

He clarified that although this has sometimes happened in joyful circumstances, other times through paths more difficult to understand, “and even through the mysterious crucible of suffering,” it has always been “in the embrace of that paternal goodness that characterizes his action in us and through us, for the good of the Church.”

‘The Lord is everything’

In this context, he affirmed that God is the fullness and meaning of our lives: “The Lord is everything. He is everything in different ways, whether as creator and source of existence, as love that calls and challenges, as a force that impels and encourages self-giving.”

“Without him, nothing exists, nothing has meaning, nothing is worthwhile, and your ‘asking,’ ‘seeking,’ and ‘knocking,’ both in prayer and in life, refer to this truth,” he noted.

As is customary in his homilies, Pope Leo XIV evoked St. Augustine to remind consecrated persons “of the need for the infinite that dwells in the heart of every man and woman in this world.”

Precisely for this reason, he insisted that the Church entrusts them with the task of being, by stripping themselves of everything, “living witnesses to the primacy of God in their lives, also helping as much as they can the other brothers and sisters they will meet to cultivate their friendship with him.”

He also affirmed that “history teaches us that generous impulses of charity always spring from an experience of God,” as has happened in the lives of its founders.

In response to the current trend of those who claim that it is “useless to serve God,” the pope explained that it is “a way of thinking that leads to a true paralysis of the soul, whereby one is content with a life made up of fleeting moments, superficial and intermittent relationships, passing fads — all of which leave the heart empty.”

“To be truly happy, man does not need these things, but rather consistent, lasting, and solid experiences of love,” he affirmed.

Finally, the Holy Father reflected on the eschatological dimension of Christian life, “which wants us to be committed to the world but at the same time constantly oriented toward eternity.”

Consecrated as witnesses of ‘future good things’

In this regard, he cited the Second Vatican Council, which states that “consecrated persons are called in a particular way to be witnesses of ‘future good things.’”

The pope noted that the Lord, to whom they have given everything, “has responded to them with such beauty and richness,” and he urged them to treasure and cultivate this, recalling the words of Paul VI: “Preserve the simplicity of the least of the Gospel.”

“Know how to find it in the most intimate and cordial relationship with Christ or in direct contact with your brothers and sisters. You will then know ‘the overflowing of joy through the action of the Holy Spirit’ that belongs to those who are introduced to the secrets of the kingdom,” he said.

Finally, he invited them to be “truly poor, meek, hungry for holiness, merciful, pure of heart; be those through whom the world will know the peace of God.”

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

Catholic media organizations to publish second edition of Liturgy of the Hours
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:28:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 9, 2025 / 14:28 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has chosen Catholic media companies Ascension and Word on Fire to publish the Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition.

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is a set of daily prayers that priests and religious are obliged to pray and that many lay Catholics also partake in. The prayers are set according to the Church calendar and are composed of psalms, hymns, and readings from Scripture.

In November 2012, the U.S. bishops voted to revise the translation, following English translations of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, and the 2001 Vatican document Liturgiam Authenticam. The approval process was completed in November 2024 and on May 29 of this year, the USCCB sent the completed manuscript to the Holy See for confirmation.

Ascension and Word on Fire, both known for their print, online, and video works, announced Oct. 7 that they will each publish the new version of the Liturgy of the Hours. A release date for the daily prayer will be shared upon final approval from the Vatican.

The current edition was translated and designed in the 1970s, making the new version the first updated English translation of the prayer in more than 50 years. It has been developed over the past decade by the USCCB in collaboration with the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).

“Our goal is to create a reverent and beautiful edition that embodies the dignity of the Church’s common prayer. This new translation marks an extraordinary moment for Catholics everywhere,” said Jonathan Strate, president and CEO of Ascension, in an announcement. Strate said Ascension is “honored to serve the Church” by being one of the publishers.

Ascension, known for its popular podcast “The Bible in a Year with Mike Schmitz,” reported publishing the prayers “furthers its mission in creating resources to help Catholics deepen their prayer life, joining the universal Church in encountering the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith.”

“When you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you are uniting your prayer to the entire Church,” Schmitz said in a recent video explaining the Liturgy of the Hours. He added: “It gives us the opportunity to create holy time… by stopping at various moments throughout the day and calling upon the Lord, renewing our mind with his word.”

“This is more than a publishing project — it is a spiritual mission,” Word on Fire founder Bishop Robert Barron said in a press release. “We want to help thousands of priests, religious, and laypeople pray more deeply and more beautifully each day.” The new version, he said, is “a profound service to the Church and to the world.”

Word on Fire has “spent the past three years introducing tens of thousands of Catholics to this rhythm of daily prayer through our monthly booklets,” said Brandon Vogt, senior publishing director at Word on Fire. “This four-volume series is the next step … that will draw countless more into the Church’s ancient prayer, day by day, hour by hour.”

The Liturgy of the Hours is “the Church’s highest prayer outside the Mass and sacraments,” Vogt said. “Our aim is simple — to create the most beautiful, most prayerful, most accessible edition of the Liturgy of the Hours ever produced.”

Immigration is a ‘Gospel issue’ before a ‘political issue,’ U.S. bishop says
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 13:25:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, said immigration is a “Gospel issue” before it is a “political issue” in the United States.

In an exclusive interview with EWTN News reporter Valentina Di Donato, Seitz said the Church has a responsibility to reaffirm Catholic social teaching regarding the preferential option for the poor.

“It’s always the role of the bishop to speak the Gospel, to reflect on that Gospel and its implications for our daily lives,” the prelate told EWTN News.

“We have a task to form people based on that teaching of love and mercy and compassion that applies not just in exceptional cases, not just to certain people, but in a special way to the poor and the vulnerable, and that includes immigrants,” he said.

Speaking about the “inalienable rights” every person is endowed with by God, the bishop said the rights of immigrants should not only be a concern of the Church but should also be “respected in law.”

“While we are not politicians — it’s not our task to develop rules and laws — we are responsible to help form consciences and bring people back to the basic underlying principles, which, by the way, are principles upon which our country was built,” he said.

According to the bishop, U.S. asylum law is not being respected “right now,” as several migrant families living in the El Paso Diocese, located near the U.S.-Mexico border, no longer feel protected and fear deportation.

“We should practice that [respect for] human dignity when we are dealing with a person who simply fled here because they had no other option,” he told EWTN News.

Having ministered to families who have felt threatened by criminal drug gangs, Seitz said it is unjust to deny asylum or security for those seeking protection outside of their countries of origin, especially when the gangs’ activities are “supported by our drug addiction in the United States.”

Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV met with Seitz, El Paso Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino, and Dylan Corbett of Hope Border Institute in a private Oct. 8 meeting at the Vatican.

During the meeting, the bishop shared a four-minute video and handwritten letters from migrant families expressing their faith as well as their fears about the future.

“I said, ‘Holy Father, we’re so happy to stand with you,’” Seitz said, recalling the encounter. “Later on in the meeting [the pope] came back to that and he said, ‘In matters of injustice, the Church has to speak and, in that, I stand with you.’”

Faith-based ministries discuss how to further pro-life mission
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:55:00 -0400

Washington, D.C., Oct 9, 2025 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

Pro-life leaders from across the country gathered this week to discuss how faith-based ministries are helping to cultivate a society that promotes human dignity and how others can advance the cause.

The Leading with Love Conference at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., was sponsored by the Human Life Foundation and the Center for Law and the Human Person at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. It was aimed at “empowering Christians to cultivate a culture of life within their local communities.”

Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, spoke to attendees Oct. 8 about the power of faith-based ministries, including The Guadalupe Project. Lichter founded the initiative in 2022 to provide resources and encouragement to parents within the CUA community.

To cultivate this encouragement, we must figure out how we can “create more of a revolution of love,” Lichter said. “Christ started this revolution of love, but it’s now up to each one of us in our particular time and place.”

“Caring for unborn babies and their mothers is one of the most urgent challenges of our time, Lichter said. “Six out of 10 women who have chosen abortion would have preferred to choose life if they had the emotional and financial support they felt necessary.”

The Guadalupe Project’s goal was to combat this by “[making] sure every woman on campus knows that resources exist and knows exactly how to find them,” Lichter said. “It’s meant to support all parents on campus, not just students, and not just mothers in unexpected or challenging circumstances.”

“We wanted to foster a culture on campus where each life is celebrated, knowing that a positive, vibrant, and joyful culture of life is truly life-giving in so many ways,” Lichter said.

The initiative “revamped all of the university’s pregnancy resource materials for students” and created “a poster campaign, including one designed specifically for the men’s dorms,” Lichter said.

It also promoted the placement of stickers in every women’s restroom stall on campus with a QR code leading to these pregnancy materials. The campus started allotting more maternity and paternity leave, designating maternity parking spots on campus, providing free diapers and wipes at the campus food pantry, holding maternity clothing drives, and “affirming the goodness of family life and that new babies are a moment to celebrate,” Lichter said.

The 2026 theme for the March for Life is “Life Is a Gift,” Lichter said. The initiative helps carry that out, because “life is something to be celebrated.”

She added: “[Life] is not a burden for which someone needs support, or not solely that. It is really a cause for celebration.”

Faith-based communities can use The Guadalupe Project as “prototype,” Lichter suggested. She shared that other universities have reached out to talk about the initiative as they were inspired to consider doing something similar.

“We need to make sure that pregnant women never reach the point of despair that drives them into the arms of the abortion clinics,” Lichter said. “We need to meet that moment of loneliness, fear, or emptiness with encouragement and empowerment.”

Hopes and suggestions for faith-based ministries

Other leaders from prominent pro-life ministries discussed what gives them hope for the future of the pro-life movement, including Kat Talalas of Walking with Moms in Need, Amy Ford of Embrace Grace, Christopher Bell of Good Counsel Homes, and Sister Maria Frassati of the Sisters of Life.

Talalas, who is the assistant director of pro-life communications for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Walking with Moms in Need started five years ago but has already reached countless communities.

The parish-based initiative is “to the point where we don’t even know a lot of the time what new diocese or parish is starting a Walking with Moms in Need, what new lives are being saved, [and] what new women are being accompanied,” Talalas said. “It’s taken on a life of its own. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit convicting hearts.”

“God guides us, we have each other, and we’re not alone. Just as we tell [mothers] that they’re not alone, we’re not alone in this movement. So what’s giving me hope is seeing the Holy Spirit catch fire and individual people saying: ‘I want to start talking with moms in need,’ and women saying: ‘I can do this,’” Talalas said.

Talalas said the work all begins with prayer. “It’s sitting in the presence of the love of God, letting him love you, and seeing how the Holy Spirit convicts you … It begins with that individual conviction. If we’re not following God’s law, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing.”

Ford, who leads Embrace Grace, which provides mothers support through local churches, said she has “noticed there’s a lot of people that seem like they have more of an open heart about Christianity, about spirituality … especially with the younger generation.”

She added: “I think that’s something we can all have hope about.”

To get involved, Ford said people need to carry out “the good works that God’s called us to do.” She posed the question: “What strengths and gifts did God put inside each of you that you can do?”

While Bell’s ministry, Good Counsel, provides services including housing for homeless mothers and children and post-abortion healing services, he said every person can help by simply praying. He specifically called on people to pray in front of an abortion center.

“If you have done it, do it again. If you’ve never done it, just go ... You don’t have to say anything. You didn’t have to look up. You don’t have to open your eyes. But your presence will mean the world,” Bell said. “The babies who will die there that day will know that you loved them … That’s the most important thing to do.”

Sister Maria Frassati shared that “we could really grow in having more faith in what [God] is doing.”

“The truth is that God is actually really working in so many ways,” she said. “God is faithful, and that really gives me a lot of hope that nothing that you give is ever wasted. Even if you walk with a woman who’s not receptive, there’s really no gift that has been offered to him that he has not kept sacred and precious in his heart.”

Pope Leo XIV addresses immigration policies in meeting with Chicago labor leaders
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:25:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV addressed immigration policies and respect for vulnerable migrants in a meeting with Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and labor leaders at the Vatican on Thursday.

“Please know of my appreciation for your welcome of immigrants and refugees, especially your support of food pantries and shelters. While recognizing that appropriate policies are necessary to keep communities safe, I encourage you to continue to advocate for society to respect the human dignity of the most vulnerable,” the pontiff said.

In his meeting with Chicago union leaders, the pope also praised their important work to “enhance the common good and help to create a society where all can flourish.”

By respecting the dignity of the weak, Leo noted, “you are putting into practice the call of my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, who urged every union to be reborn each day at the peripheries.”

The group traveled to Rome for the Jubilee of Hope. “In addition to passing through the Holy Doors and participating in other spiritual exercises, you are also spending time studying important issues related to the rights and obligations of workers,” Leo said. “I pray that this time may be fruitful for both your minds and hearts.”

The pope’s remarks came amid an ongoing debate in the U.S. regarding immigration and deportation, with the Trump administration aggressively pursuing severe immigration enforcement nationwide in its first months.

Chicago has in recent days become the center of protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has lately carried out enhanced enforcement measures in that city against immigrants in the country illegally. The Trump administration has dubbed the undertaking “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The federal agency has reportedly detained approximately 1,000 immigrants there, using helicopters and aggressive door-to-door enforcement to arrest those allegedly in the U.S. illegally. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has claimed the agents are “making [the city] a war zone.”

Tensions heightened on Oct. 6 when Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an order that prohibited immigration officials from “using any city-owned property in their ongoing operations in Chicago.” The Trump administration has since deployed National Guard troops to the city to protect federal property.

ICE officials have engaged in several high-profile conflicts with residents, meanwhile, including the firing of nonlethal rounds at a Presbyterian minister, who is currently suing the Trump administration over the incident.

Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem welcomes Gaza agreement as step toward ending war
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 11:55:00 -0400

ACI MENA, Oct 9, 2025 / 11:55 am (CNA).

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has welcomed the announcement of an agreement to halt attacks in the Gaza Strip and to ensure the immediate release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners — describing it as a first step “that may pave the way to the end of this tragic war.”

In a statement released today, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa welcomed the news “with joy” and called for the full and sincere implementation of the agreement, stressing “the urgent need to deliver humanitarian aid without conditions to the people of Gaza, who are enduring catastrophic living conditions.”

Pizzaballa said the announcement represents “a first step and an initial stage.” He emphasized that the road ahead remains long, “but for now, we must rejoice in this important step, which can restore some confidence in the future and offer renewed hope, especially for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.”

He added: “We hope this will be just the beginning of a new phase in which we start thinking, little by little, not about war but about how to rebuild.”

The agreement follows American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediation efforts. President Donald Trump announced early Thursday via his Truth Social platform that a temporary ceasefire had been reached, including the mutual release of hostages and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The patriarchate, in the statement, called upon everyone to join in the Day of Prayer for Peace declared by Pope Leo XIV, which will take place Oct. 11.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

New Jersey jury awards man $5 million for clergy sexual assault in 1976
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 11:14:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 11:14 am (CNA).

A jury in New Jersey has awarded a man $5 million in damages for a sexual assault that occurred at a Catholic school there nearly 50 years ago.

The Morris County jury ruled unanimously that the plaintiff, a man in his 60s identified as “T.M.,” was entitled to the damages. It held that Father Richard Lott, who at trial last month denied the allegations, was 35% liable for the assault, while the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey was found 65% liable.

The $5 million represents compensatory damages in the case. The jury will decide on Oct. 14 whether or not the Benedictine order will pay punitive damages, according to local news reports.

In a statement on Oct. 8, Headmaster Father Michael Tidd, OSB, of the Delbarton School, which is run by the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, said the institution was “extremely disappointed in the verdict.” The statement was cosigned by Administrator Abbot Jonathan Licari of St. Mary’s Abbey, which is also run by the Benedictine monks.

“While the communities of St. Mary’s Abbey and Delbarton School have genuine compassion for any victim of abuse, we do not believe that the damages awarded in this case are either fair or reasonable, and our legal representatives are considering all legal options,” the statement said.

“The alleged incident in question in this trial occurred 50 years ago, when modern safeguards did not exist at secular or religious schools or other youth-serving institutions,” the leaders said. “That fact cannot be an excuse for abuse of any kind, but it is a truth that must be reflected in the verdict.”

The historic ruling comes several years after hundreds of sex abuse lawsuits were filed against New Jersey Catholic priests and leaders.

The flood of suits came during a two-year period New Jersey provided under the 2019 Child Victims Act to allow victims who otherwise would have been barred by the state’s statute of limitation to file lawsuits.

Thirty-six lawsuits were filed against the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, which faced the highest number of lawsuits among the state’s religious orders.

Disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was named in 10 lawsuits. McCarrick died in April.

Earlier this year the New Jersey Supreme Court said the state government would be allowed to assemble a grand jury to investigate allegations of clergy sexual abuse.

The Camden Diocese had been embroiled in a yearslong fight with the state over the potential grand jury empanelment, arguing that the state lacked the authority to convene an investigatory panel.

Shortly after being installed on March 17, however, Camden Bishop Joseph Williams indicated that the diocese would back away from challenging the state, vowing to “do the right thing” by abuse survivors.

Delbarton School traces its roots to the early 20th century; it officially opened in 1939.

Pope Leo XIV: News agencies have ‘crucial role’ in forming consciences, sharing the truth
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 10:44:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 10:44 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday said news agencies have the responsibility to uphold principles that protect a person’s right to access “accurate and balanced” information while avoiding “degrading” practices such as manipulation and “clickbait.”

In a private meeting at the Vatican with participants of the Oct. 9–10 MINDS Conference in Rome, the Holy Father expressed his desire for greater collaboration between producers and consumers of news content to create a “virtuous circle” that benefits society as a whole.

“Information is a public good that we should all protect,” Leo said. “For this reason, what is truly productive is a partnership between citizens and journalists in the service of ethical and civic responsibility.”

“Communication must be freed from the misguided thinking that corrupts it, from unfair competition, and from the degrading practice of so-called clickbait,” he added.

While encouraging people to “value and support professionals and agencies that demonstrate seriousness and true freedom in their work,” the Holy Father said media professionals should uphold the values of transparency, accountability, quality, and objectivity, to earn the trust of citizens.

During the meeting, the Holy Father also spoke of his high regard for countless journalists, particularly front-line reporters in conflict zones, who work to ensure information is not “manipulated for ends that are contrary to truth and human dignity.”

“In times such as ours, marked by widespread and violent conflicts, many have died while carrying out their duties,” he said. “They are victims of war and of the ideology of war, which seeks to prevent journalists from being there at all.”

“We must not forget them! If today we know what is happening in Gaza, Ukraine, and every other land bloodied by bombs, we largely owe it to them,” he continued.

Addressing concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on communications media, the Holy Father said people are not destined to live in a world where “truth is no longer distinguishable from fiction” and called for vigilance to guarantee technology and algorithms do not “replace human beings” or remain “in the hands of a few.”

“The world needs free, rigorous, and objective information,” he insisted.

“In this context, it is worth remembering Hannah Arendt’s warning that ‘the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist,’” he said, citing the German American philosopher’s book “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”

Urging news journalists to “never sell out your authority,” Leo XIV told those present at the morning audience that their “patient and rigorous work” can be a pillar to bring “civility” back into society.

“You can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing,” he said.

“The communications sector cannot and must not separate its work from the sharing of truth,” he added.

Pope Leo XIV commends Catholic Charities USA’s ministry to migrants, refugees
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 09:12:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 09:12 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV sent a letter this week commending Catholic Charities USA for being “agents of hope” to vulnerable people, especially migrants and refugees.

As migrants and refugees “are not able to rely on their own resources and have to depend on God and the goodness of others, in many ways your ministry makes the Lord’s providence concrete for them,” the pontiff wrote, addressing the 115th annual meeting of the Catholic Charities USA Network, taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Oct. 6–9.

“Through providing food, shelter, medical care, legal assistance, and many other gestures of kindness, Catholic Charities affiliates across the United States show what Pope Francis often referred to as God’s ‘style’ of closeness, compassion, and tenderness,” he added.

Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), founded in 1910, is a network of 168 independent Catholic Charities agencies across all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories.

CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson said the network is “profoundly grateful to Pope Leo XIV for the apostolic blessing he has imparted upon the Catholic Charities network, and we are inspired and invigorated by the solidarity and encouragement he offered in his letter.”

In his letter, the pontiff said while those affected by poverty and forced migration face many challenges, “they can also be witnesses to hope not only through their trust in divine assistance but also by their resilience in often having to overcome many obstacles on their journeys.”

He also pointed out the positive influence many Catholic migrants and refugees have had on different nations, including the U.S., through their vibrant faith and popular devotions.

“It might be said that through assisting displaced persons to find their new homes in your country, you also act as bridge builders between nations, cultures, and peoples,” Leo wrote. “I encourage you, then, to continue helping the communities who receive these newly arrived brothers and sisters to be living witnesses of hope, recognizing that they have an intrinsic human dignity and are invited to participate fully in community life.”

Christians warn of marginalization in Lebanon’s expat voting debate
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 08:12:00 -0400

ACI MENA, Oct 9, 2025 / 08:12 am (CNA).

Lebanon’s diaspora has long been celebrated as the country’s greatest strength, yet when it comes to voting rights their role remains a source of division and unease.

The most recent cabinet sessions have brought the matter back into sharp focus, underscoring both the fragility of political consensus and the mistrust that continues to paralyze reform. For many Christians, the matter carries a particular weight. Behind the technical arguments lies a deeper fear: that limiting the diaspora’s voice is less about electoral procedure and more about gradually eroding their influence in Lebanon’s fragile balance of power.

Flying home, voting overseas

The right for Lebanese to vote abroad in national elections was first introduced in the 2017 electoral law. Before then, anyone living outside Lebanon had to fly home if they wanted to cast a ballot.

The new law allowed expats to vote from abroad through embassies and consulates. It also created a plan to set aside six seats in Parliament specifically for expat voters: one for each of Lebanon’s major religious communities (Maronite, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Sunni, Shiite, and Druze).

Under that plan, expats would not vote for all 128 members of Parliament (MPs) like residents do but only for six deputies chosen in newly created overseas districts divided by continent.

However, no such constituency was established. The law itself left the mechanism vague, with no clear way to implement it.

As a result, in both the 2018 and 2022 elections, Lebanese abroad voted for the full 128 members of Parliament, just like citizens inside the country. Their votes counted in their original home districts, not in a separate “expat-only” bloc.

Hezbollah pushes to limit diaspora vote

With the next elections set for 2026, there is growing pressure — led mainly by Hezbollah and its allies — to finally activate the six-seat plan and confine diaspora voters to it.

On the other side, 68 members of Parliament (MPs), representing more than half the chamber — from parties including the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), independents, and others — are pushing to amend the law and make the district-based system permanent.

Yet Speaker Nabih Berri has so far refused to put their proposal on Parliament’s agenda, leaving the issue unresolved.

Two recent sessions highlighted the deadlock. On Monday, Berri refused to put the amendment on the agenda, prompting Lebanese Forces and Kataeb MPs — the country’s two main Christian parties — to walk out and break quorum. The next day’s session collapsed for the same reason, as boycotts continued.

Hezbollah and its allies have the most to lose from an empowered diaspora, and the numbers from 2022 explain why. Nearly 130,000 Lebanese abroad turned out to vote, triple the figure from 2018, and many of their ballots went to independents and reformists openly critical of Hezbollah’s role in the country.

Amal-Hezbollah’s share of the expatriate vote slid from 20% to 13%, while the Free Patriotic Movement — Hezbollah’s main Christian partner — sank from 16% to 7%.

What unsettles the establishment even more is that these voters are not detached migrants but recent emigrants who fled the financial collapse in 2019 and the Beirut port blast in 2020 — a younger electorate with little patience for the old order. With projections that up to 300,000 expats could register in 2026, Hezbollah sees the diaspora not as a distant constituency but as a looming electoral threat, one it hopes to contain through the six-seat plan.

Logistical excuses or political pretexts?

Hezbollah, for its part, does not openly admit that the push for six seats is about limiting the diaspora’s influence. Instead, its leaders frame the issue around “logistical difficulties,” challenges in monitoring voting abroad, and the risk that expatriates could face pressure.

But in an interview with ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, MP Pierre Bou Assi rejected those claims outright. “These arguments are entirely unfounded,” he said. “It is impossible to exert pressure on voters casting their ballots in privacy behind the curtain. From a logistical perspective, the process of voting for 128 MPs has already proven successful, while the feasibility of voting for only six MPs abroad is untested.”

He added that the diaspora itself has been vocal in demanding the right to vote for the full 128 seats and that support for this demand cuts across Lebanon’s political and sectarian lines.

“Undoubtedly, restricting the Christian vote to six MPs is a deliberate marginalization of Christian voices and a reduction of their political impact,” he said. “It is a weakening of true representation and a reduction of Christian participation in real political partnership and in national decision-making.”

According to the Interior Ministry’s latest voter rolls published in 2022, Christians make up about one-third of Lebanon’s electorate overall, similar to their share among residents inside the country. But among registered expatriates, Christians form a clear majority: 53.2%, compared with 20% Sunni, 20% Shiite, and 6.4% Druze.

Assi, who previously headed the Foreign Relations Department of the Lebanese Forces, stressed to ACI MENA that Lebanese abroad are not detached from their homeland. On the contrary, he said, they remain deeply attached to Lebanon and aspire to return or invest in it.

“The Lebanese abroad possess enormous resources — scientific, intellectual, financial — and their expertise spans many fields. What they ask for above all is stability. This is why, as the Lebanese Forces, we place stability as our highest priority, and the only path to that is by strengthening the state and ensuring that the monopoly over arms and the decision of war and peace rests solely in its hands.”

Assi underlined that the Christian presence and role in Lebanon is the community’s “very reason for being.” Once stability is secured, he argued, the diaspora will play a decisive role in Lebanon’s prosperity.

Young Christians abroad voice frustration

Lebanese abroad, especially Christians, are increasingly angry at the prospect of losing their full voting rights. Charbel Abi Younes, a 27-year-old political scientist who left for Australia in 2022, said he feels “excluded from the politics of my own country.” If the law confines diaspora voters to six seats, he added, he will not cast a ballot: “It would feel like my own country telling me that I am not a part of it.”

Younes described the push for restrictions as “an attempt by specific sides at consolidating power because they are aware that the immigrant vote would topple them.”

Reflecting on the wider role of the diaspora for Lebanon’s Christians, he noted: “The Christians of Lebanon have had to rely heavily on the diaspora over the past few years, be it economically through money from overseas or politically through lobbying. I hope one day the Christian community in Lebanon will be strong enough to not need anyone’s help but its own.”

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

New Catholic app hopes to ‘relight the hope of Catholic dating’
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 07:10:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).

When Emily Wilson-Hussem began sharing “matchmaking” posts on Instagram, inviting Catholic singles to share their names and locations to connect with others, she wasn’t expecting that her lighthearted experiment would lead to 12 marriages, 20 engagements, hundreds of dating couples, and even a baby.

The Catholic speaker and digital content creator realized that young Catholics are in search of holy marriages but need help finding one another. This led her and her husband, Daniël Hussem, to create a new Catholic dating app — SacredSpark.

The new matchmaking app blends technology and tradition to foster meaningful online connections with the goal of creating lasting offline relationships.

“Over these years I have seen the difficulty singles [have] to connect with one another, especially of the same age, and a lot of the young single Catholics I met were having a really hard time, and so I felt like a nudge from the Lord,” Wilson-Hussem told CNA.

After seeing the immense response from young people on her matchmaking posts, yet realizing the downfalls of trying to help connect people on Instagram, the Hussems decided to create an app that was intentional and focused on the fact that each user was made in the image and likeness of God.

One of the main features of SacredSpark is its commitment to more meaningful connections between people. To foster that, all profile pictures are blurred. Photos become unblurred once both individuals match with one another. So instead of simply swiping through images of a person, users can record audio messages introducing themselves and other users can listen and determine if they believe there could be a connection.

Hussem explained that this feature was created “because we want to start meaningful connections beyond just the appearance.”

The couple also pointed out that unlike other dating apps that allow users to place filters on things like physical traits, including eye color, hair color, or even height, SacredSpark does not allow for any filters to be placed on physical qualities.

“For us, we want it to be extremely intentional about the person as a whole, not just their physical appearance,” Hussem shared. “If you’re looking at the general scope of a sacramental marriage, are those things — someone’s color of their eyes or the color of their hair or their height — I think those are more superficial things that people can get sidetracked by versus just these intentional things.”

“Our focus is on the image and likeness of God in each person you will connect with on the app. That’s a huge part of the core of what we’re doing,” Wilson-Hussem added.

The app also includes a matchmaking feature, which allows the user to invite a friend or family member to act as a matchmaker on their behalf on the app. Wilson-Hussem explained that this feature was added into the app because of the great success matchmakers had on her Instagram posts.

“A huge part of the success was a girl saying, ‘I have a brother, Jeff. He’s 31 and he lives in Wisconsin. If there are any great gals out there, I would love to connect you,’” she shared. “I would say at least half of the marriages have been from one person who put one person out there and was linking two other people and we thought, ‘Wow. A, that’s amazing because a lot of people know single Catholics, they have fun with it, but B, our singles need support. They need to feel like people are in their corner.’”

She added: “You can hire a matchmaker for thousands of dollars — a person who has to get to know you, a person who has to look at who you are on paper. The people who have known you your whole life know you best. They know what you’re looking for. So, why don’t we find a way to activate those people and support our singles?”

SacredSpark will be launched and open to the public in mid-October, but interested singles can already sign up to join the waitlist.

The Hussems said they hope the new app will “relight the hope of Catholic dating.”

“The overall mission is actually to help build up the Church one relationship at a time,” Daniël Hussem said.

“I think a big part of the cultural breakdown is the breakdown of the family, and we want SacredSpark to really be a place, down the road, where we can connect people who will build up the Church because they’ve entered into a sacramental marriage and will build up the family,” Wilson-Hussem added. “The restoration of the family is going to be a huge part of the next many years and we think SacredSpark, hopefully, will play a part in that.”

Pope Leo XIV, in his first major document, says the poor evangelize us
Thu, 09 Oct 2025 06:01:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 06:01 am (CNA).

In the first major document of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV writes that the poor are not only objects of charity but also evangelists who can prompt us to conversion through their example of weakness and reliance on God.

“The poor can act as silent teachers for us, making us conscious of our presumption and instilling within us a rightful spirit of humility,” Leo writes in Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”), released by the Vatican on Thursday. “The elderly, for example, by their physical frailty, remind us of our own fragility, even as we attempt to conceal it behind our apparent prosperity and outward appearance. The poor ... remind us how uncertain and empty our seemingly safe and secure lives may be.”

The pontiff quotes his predecessor throughout the document, which was first drafted during the previous pontificate and draws heavily on Pope Francis’ first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, on the joy of the Gospel. An apostolic exhortation is one of the most authoritative genres of papal teaching, typically focused on the pastoral application of doctrine.

Christ’s whole life is an example of poverty, Leo writes, and the Church, if it wants to belong to Christ, must give the poor a privileged place.

“For Christians, the poor are not a sociological category but the very ‘flesh’ of Christ,” he writes. “The Lord took on a flesh that hungers and thirsts, and experiences infirmity and imprisonment.”

Inherited from Pope Francis

Leo signed the exhortation on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, who is traditionally known as “Il Poverello” (“the Little Poor Man”).

The pontiff explains at the beginning of the document that he received it as an inheritance from Pope Francis, who was working on it during the final months of his life.

“How much of this [document] is Francis, and how much of this is Leo? It’s both,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, head of the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development, said at an Oct. 9 presentation of the document, emphasizing that the document is now part of papal magisterium.

Czerny pushed back on repeated attempts by reporters to draw political connections between the document and the United States and elsewhere.

The world is “in big trouble and part of the troubles are referred to in [Dilexi Te],” he continued. “That doesn’t mean that I can go to so-and-so and say that ‘Dilexi Te went after you.’”

The document traces the Church’s perennial teaching on the poor, drawing on the Old and New Testaments, the practice of the early Christian community, the writings of Church Fathers and doctors, the lives of the saints, the documents of the Second Vatican Council, and the magisterium of the popes since St. John XXIII.

Leo also commends the example of contemplative and active religious orders throughout history that have helped the poor with health care, food, shelter, and education.

“Every movement of renewal within the Church has always been a preferential concern for the poor. In this sense, her work with the poor differs in its inspiration and method from the work carried out by any other humanitarian organization,” he writes.

Technological progress has not eradicated poverty, which only continues to appear in diverse forms, the pope writes. He defines the poor to include the incarcerated, victims of sexual exploitation, those affected by the degradation of the environment, and immigrants.

“The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges,” he says. “And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”

Lack of material and spiritual care

Leo denounces prejudices that he says can lead Christians to neglect their duty to the poor.

“There are those who say: ‘Our task is to pray and teach sound doctrine’ [and argue] that it is the government’s job to care for [the poor], or that it would be better not to lift them out of their poverty but simply to teach them to work,” he writes.

Sometimes “pseudo-scientific data are invoked to support the claim that a free-market economy will automatically solve the problem of poverty” or that the rich can enact more effective solutions, the pope writes.

Leo condemns such views as worldly and superficial, and “devoid of any supernatural light.”

Dilexi Te also emphasizes the spiritual needs of the poor, arguing that those are more important than the material, yet often ignored by the Church.

It is not a question of “providing for welfare assistance and working to ensure social justice. Christians should also be aware of another form of inconsistency in the way they treat the poor. In reality, “the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care,’” the pope writes, quoting Pope Francis.

Leo ends his exhortation by emphasizing the duty of almsgiving, which he claims has fallen out of fashion, even among believers.

“Almsgiving, however modest, brings a touch of ‘pietas’ [‘piety’] into a society otherwise marked by the frenetic pursuit of personal gain,” he says, adding that, though it will not be the solution to poverty in the world, it will touch our hearts.

“Our love and our deepest convictions need to be continually cultivated, and we do so through our concrete actions,” he continues. “Remaining in the realm of ideas and theories, while failing to give them expression through frequent and practical acts of charity, will eventually cause even our most cherished hopes and aspirations to weaken and fade away. For this very reason, we Christians must not abandon almsgiving. It can be done in different ways, and surely more effectively, but it must continue to be done. It is always better at least to do something rather than nothing.”

This story was updated at 9:44 a.m. ET.

Pope Leo XIV to supporters of migrants in U.S.: ‘You stand with me, and I stand with you’ 
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 17:13:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV became “visibly emotional” upon receiving messages on Oct. 8 from immigrants fearing deportation in the United States, a member of a U.S. delegation said.

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino, and Dylan Corbett of Hope Border Institute gave the pope a collection of handwritten letters from migrant families expressing fear and faith. They showed the pope a video with immigrants’ voices saying mass deportations in the United States are breaking family bonds and stripping children of safety.

“We live in a state of constant anxiety, never knowing if tomorrow will bring separation,” an immigrant says in the video.

Corbett posted on X that Leo told the delegation, which included immigrants: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.”

One letter writer expressed fear of leaving the house, even to see a doctor, and asked for prayers for President Donald Trump that his heart may be filled with love, compassion, and empathy. The Trump administration is undertaking a massive expansion of enforcement, detention, and border control efforts.

‘You could see tears in his eyes’

Corbett, founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, described the 25-minute encounter with Pope Leo to CNA.

“Bishop Seitz spoke about the Church in the United States’ commitment to walking alongside immigrants and refugees in our country,” Corbett recalled, noting Seitz’s remarks had been unscripted. “And the Holy Father quickly said he wanted the Church in the United States to be more united and forceful on this issue, and that what’s happening right now is an injustice.”

“We were then able to share from our perspective some of what we’re seeing across the United States right now in terms of the campaign of mass deportations,” he continued, adding: “The Holy Father grew visibly emotional about that.”

The group presented Leo with “over 100 letters from immigrants across the country who are at risk of deportation or who are in mixed families.” The delegation also presented the Holy Father with a video featuring “voices drawn from those letters that tell the story of the anxieties and fears, and also the hopes, right now of the immigrant community.”

At this point, Corbett said Leo “became emotional and you could see tears in his eyes.”

“He was very supportive and encouraging,” Corbett said, noting several representatives from the immigrant community were also present for the meeting and offered their testimonies.

Fernie Ceniceros, a spokesperson for the El Paso Diocese, told CNA: “The Diocese of El Paso is thrilled to know that the Holy Father was able to meet with Bishop Mark Seitz and our Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino and a small delegation of local immigration advocates that included clergy from with the diocese.”

“We are blessed to know that the Holy Father expressed his support of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border along with migrants all over the world,” he added.

Ceniceros shared several images of the letters given to Leo, including one in English and one in Spanish.

One of the letters sent by an El Paso priest on loan from the Srikakulam Diocese in Andhra Pradesh, India, described “feeling a sort of insecurity … due to the immigration situation” and noted that many are “scared to move comfortably even with legal documentation.”

The letter further appealed to the Holy Father for papal support in being “a voice for the voiceless” while also “uphold[ing] the right of nations to regulate borders and the right of people to seek a better life.”

Another letter from an anonymous immigrant lacking legal status in California told Leo: “These days we are living with a lot of fear, confusion, and sadness.” The letter appealed to the Holy Father to “continue petitioning our God and to continue listening to the voice of the needy immigrant community, raising his voice alongside our brothers and sisters from separated families.”

“Thank you for listening to us,” it concluded.

Messages from migrants

One letter said:

“Dear Pope Leo, there are two members of my family without documents. I feel afraid to go out to work and that I could be separated from my family. I think that there should be demand for the immigration agents not to be allowed to get close to parishes, and the raids should stop, because they only create pain and fear. I think the pope should be openly against the raids, and the unjust treatment that’s affecting the community. Speaking clearly and concisely about the situation that we are in and condemning the way in which so-called Christians in power are acting.”

Another letter said:

“We are a mixed family. I am very sad, with a lot of pain and fear. I have not gone out for two weeks and when I do go out, I’m afraid, even when I have to go to the doctor. I think that the Church could help us in getting immigration lawyers to support us and all of those who have been detained. The Church could also give protection to families that remain here. Pope Leo, you know the whole situation that the world is living in, that there is a lot of pain and that we don’t have peace. We ask for your prayers and that you would speak to those who you should speak to. I also ask for prayers for Donald Trump for his heart to be filled with love, compassion, and empathy.”

Catholic bishops call on EU to appoint special envoy for religious freedom
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 16:43:00 -0400

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 8, 2025 / 16:43 pm (CNA).

The representatives of the Catholic bishops to the European Union reiterated their call for the bloc to act firmly against anti-Christian persecution around the world by reinstating the position of the special envoy for religious freedom.

At the conclusion of its autumn assembly, the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE, by its acronym) noted that “freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is an inalienable human right enshrined in Article 10 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights” that continues to be “seriously threatened in many regions of the world.”

In a statement, the bishops expressed their “growing dismay” at “the discrimination and persecution suffered by individuals, religious minorities, and faith communities — mostly Christian — who are “targeted for their beliefs.”

At the same time, COMECE recognized that the EU “has consistently affirmed its commitment to human rights as a central pillar of its external action.” However, it noted that “existing mechanisms are in themselves very valuable but lack the authority and visibility necessary to address this crisis with the necessary vigor and coherence.”

“The gravity of the situation demands a more firm, dedicated, and institutionalized response,” the bishops continued, maintaining that the EU “has a particular responsibility to defend these values ​​beyond its borders.”

In this regard, they emphasized that “the position of EU special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU was created in 2016 and has been instrumental in promoting this cause on the world stage.” They also emphasized that “having someone in this position improves the EU’s ability to monitor, report on, and respond effectively to violations of religious freedom around the world.”

Therefore, they warn: “We are deeply concerned that this important position has remained vacant for a prolonged period, which sends a worrying signal to persecuted communities around the world and to those who violate religious freedom with impunity.”

The prelates representing the Catholic Church in the countries of the European Union denounced that keeping the position vacant “suggests a diminishing priority of this fundamental right within EU foreign policy precisely at a time when its defense has become more urgent than ever.”

Consequently, the COMECE bishops urged the European Commission “to appoint a new EU special envoy without further delay, strengthening their mandate and allocating adequate human and financial resources to fulfill their mission.”

This is not the first time the position has become vacant since its creation in 2016. The first to fill the post was Slovakian Ján Figel, who served until 2019.

The position remained vacant for a year and a half until May 2021, when Cypriot Christos Stylianides was appointed. However, Stylianides left the post just six months later. Italian Mario Mauro was then proposed but did not receive sufficient support.

It wasn’t until December 2022 that the European Commission appointed Belgian Frans van Daele, whose term has now expired without the European Commission having proposed a replacement to date.

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

Would-be attacker of DC Red Mass targeted Catholics, police say
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:45:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Police said the man arrested outside of a Washington, D.C., cathedral Oct. 5 had hundreds of explosives and papers suggesting he planned to target Catholics and Supreme Court justices.

Louis Geri was arrested outside of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle before the annual “Red Mass” that welcomes Supreme Court justices and lawmakers. Police reported Geri had potential explosives on his person and in his tent set up near the church’s entrance.

When police approached him in the tent, he told police: “You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives/bombs,” court documents show.

Police officers and the bomb squad conducted a further search and said they found Geri had paperwork that “revealed his significant animosity towards the Catholic Church, members of the Jewish faith, members of SCOTUS, and ICE/ICE facilities.” The search also “revealed a large cache of handmade destructive devices recovered from [his] tent,” police said.

Geri also threatened to throw an explosive into the street and said he had “a hundred plus of them,” police said.

Papers found in Geri’s tent were titled: “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives,” police said. The suspect confirmed to police they were his papers.

A business manager for St. Matthew’s provided police with paperwork showing the Metropolitan Police Department barred him from the location and that Geri had earlier been at the cathedral Sept. 26 when he had set up his tent on the steps and refused to leave.

Police said Geri told them: “Several of your people are gonna die from one of these,” referring to the explosives.

Geri was charged with unlawful entry; manufacture, transfer, use, possession, or transportation of molotov cocktails or other explosives for unlawful purposes; threats to kidnap or injure a person; assault on police officer; possession of destructive device; manufacture or possession of weapon of mass destruction (hate crime); and resisting arrest. He is being held in jail without bond.

Pope Leo XIV: Joy does not have to be ‘free from suffering’
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:00:00 -0400

Vatican City, Oct 8, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday warned against the claim that true joy “must be without wounds” or “trials,” saying pain is not the denial of God’s promise of love for his people.

During his Oct. 8 general audience at the Vatican, the Holy Father said “there is an obstacle that often prevents us from recognizing Christ’s presence in our daily lives: the assumption that joy must be free from suffering.”

Continuing his catechesis on the resurrection of Christ, the pope emphasized that God does not “impose himself loudly” but “waits patiently for the moment when our eyes will open to see his friendly face” in order to “transform disappointment into confident expectation.”

Before hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, he asked for the grace to be able to notice the “humble and discreet presence” of Christ and to discover that “very pain, if inhabited by love, can become a place of communion.”

The Holy Father began his catechesis on the Resurrection with the image of the disciples of Emmaus, who walked “sadly because they hoped for a different ending” and “for a Messiah who did not know the cross.”

Despite having heard that the tomb is empty, the pope said the two disciples were “unable to smile” because they were unable to recognize God’s close presence.

“But Jesus walks alongside them and patiently helps them understand that pain is not the denial of the promise, but the way through which God has manifested the measure of his love,” Leo said in his Wednesday catechesis.

“Brothers and sisters, Christ’s resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope,” he added. “No fall is definitive, no night is eternal, no wound is destined to remain open forever.”

“However distant, lost, or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God’s love,” he continued.

In times of disappointment, Leo XIV invited people to not give into despair but “to discover that beneath the ashes of disenchantment and weariness there is always a living ember, waiting only to be rekindled.”

“Instead, the Risen One is close to us precisely in the darkest places: in our failures, in our frayed relationships, in the daily struggles that weigh on our shoulders, in the doubts that discourage us. Nothing that we are, no fragment of our existence, is foreign to him,” he said.

“Today, the risen Lord walks alongside each of us as we travel our paths — those of work and commitment, but also those of suffering and loneliness — and with infinite delicacy asks us to let him warm our hearts,” he added.

Toward the conclusion of his address, the Holy Father asked people to pray for the grace to recognize Christ “as our companion on the road” in daily life.

“And so, like the disciples of Emmaus, we too return to our homes with hearts burning with joy. A simple joy that does not erase wounds but illuminates them,” he said. “A joy that comes from the certainty that the Lord is alive, walks with us, and gives us the possibility to start again at every moment.”

Irish Loreto sister receives honorary doctorate for work with girls in South Sudan crisis
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:00:00 -0400

ACI Africa, Oct 8, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

St. Patrick’s Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland, has conferred an honorary doctorate to Sister Orla Treacy, whose work spanning 19 years in South Sudan has transformed the lives of hundreds of girls in the war-torn east African nation.

In attendance at the Sept. 27 ceremony was Archbishop Eamon Martin of the Archdiocese of Armagh; Archbishop Séamus Patrick Horgan, the pioneer resident apostolic nuncio to South Sudan; and representatives of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), popularly known as Loreto Sisters, where Treacy is a member.

Conferring the doctorate was director of education programs at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University, Father John-Paul Sheridan, who lauded Treacy’s dedication at the Loreto boarding school in South Sudan’s Diocese of Rumbek, where girls are provided with a nurturing environment to learn, away from the dangers of the country’s decades of war and famine.

“It is a profound joy to stand before you today as we recognize and honor a person whose life, vocation, and work embodies the highest ideals of Catholic education and the tireless pursuit of human rights and the advancement of the students under her charge,” Sheridan told guests at the event, which included Treacy’s family members and friends.

He added: “In conferring upon Sister Orla Treacy the degree of doctor of theology, honoris causa, this university affirms not only the remarkable achievements of an individual but also the enduring values of faith, justice, and human dignity to which our university and the wider Church aspire.”

Sheridan observed that Catholic education, at its heart, “is not merely about the transmission of knowledge” but is about the formation of persons who can think critically, act compassionately, and “live with a conscience attuned to the voice of God.”

‘She has never buried her talents’

He observed that Treacy has embodied the vision of the founder of her institute, Mary Ward, who once said: “Do not bury your talents lent to you by God to be expended in service.”

“Sister Orla has lived in South Sudan for 17 years embodying this sacred vision of education and has never buried her talents,” he said, adding that Treacy’s work has been a beacon of hope to countless students, teachers, and communities, “illuminating a path of justice, mercy, and intellectual rigor.”

“It is a well-known and often-quoted fact that the Catholic Church is the largest provider of education for women in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Sister Orla has been a tireless campaigner for girls in the pursuit of education,” the priest said.

Sheridan noted that Treacy’s vision for the school and her pupils does not stop at the boundaries of education. For Treacy, he said, the classroom is always connected to the wider world, “a world too often scarred by poverty, exclusion, and oppression.”

“With courage and conviction, Sister Orla extends her advocacy to the arena of human rights,” he said, adding that through her work the Loreto sister upholds the great Catholic witnesses to justice like Dorothy Day, who proclaimed that “our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.”

Sheridan described Treacy, who serves as director of the Loreto mission, as an inspiration, especially to the Irish university’s community. “Sister Orla … you are the best of us. You are an inspiration to our students, an encouragement to our graduates, and an affirmation to the university of its mission in the Church and the world,” he said.

It is the first honorary doctorate for Treacy, who was also one of 10 recipients of the 2019 U.S. Department of State’s International Women of Courage Award — an annual honor recognizing women who have “demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.”

In announcing the awards, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Treacy’s work had become “a beacon of hope for girls who might otherwise be denied education and forced to enter early marriages.”

Treacy first traveled to South Sudan at the invitation of the late Bishop Caesar Mazzolari, who asked her to begin a girls’ boarding school. She has made the war-torn country her home ever since.

In his address at the Sept. 27 event, Archbishop Martin lauded Treacy’s commitment to bring faith, hope, and love into a world that “too often appears faithless, hopeless, and love-less.”

He noted that in the midst of “so much violence, destruction, suspicion, and recrimination,” Treacy and those who work with her seek to highlight the dignity and the vocation of every person, especially that of girls and women, “in the midst of a culture that often thinks differently.”

Describing the Loreto Sisters’ school in the Rumbek Diocese as “a beacon of hope,” the archbishop told Treacy: “You go where others have been reluctant to go before, and you are leaving a path behind for others to follow. To that end, Sister Orla, your work is prophetic. You plant seeds of hope that one day will flourish.”

He also lauded Treacy’s resilience, saying: “Despite being surrounded by suffering, you inspire your students to believe in themselves, to dream, to heal divisions, and to give back to their communities knowing that ‘Cruci dum spiro fido’— ‘In the cross, while I breathe, I trust.’”

Martin acknowledged the contribution of the Loreto Sisters to the lives and hopes of many girls and women in Ireland and beyond, especially in the work of education, social justice, and inspiring faith, hope, and love.

Following ‘a great visionary, missionary, and courageous leader’

In her remarks, Treacy joked about the honor conferred upon her, saying: “I was never a great student in school, so thanks for this doctorate.” She said that her award ceremony was an opportunity to celebrate the “legacy of Loreto education.”

Treacy spoke at length about the legacy of her institute, describing its founders, Mary Ward and Teresa Ball, as “women of exceptional faith” who “trusted all to God.”

She recalled that Ball opened 37 communities in seven countries. She was, Treacy said, “a great visionary, missionary, and courageous leader” who, though never having traveled beyond Ireland and England, followed the dream of Mary Ward that “women in time to come would do much.”

Treacy recalled her arrival in 2006 into a region that had just come out of 20 years of civil war. “People were hungry, sick, traumatized from the war, and there were few services for the people.”

“And here we were coming to open a girls’ boarding secondary school in a region where boys and girls weren’t even going to primary school. And where girls are forced to marry as young as 15, for their cow value,” she said.

She said her first years in South Sudan were challenging. “Over the years our mission has experienced insecurity, aggression, financial problems, health issues, but still we continue to trust, to endure, and to accompany our young women in South Sudan.”

Treacy said South Sudan is currently “on the verge of another civil war,” adding: “This doesn’t stop our young women dreaming of a better world, a more just society where women can be educated.”

The Loreto Sisters’ initiative in South Sudan had grown “from strength to strength,” she said, explaining that “our secondary school gave way to a primary school for boys and girls, a health clinic followed to support the local community, and then looking to the future and sustainability we added an education center, internship program, and university scholarship program.”

The Loreto Sisters’ dedication to education in Rumbek has molded young people who are determined to restore peace in their country, Treacy said.

“Our youth are religious and spiritual, they love the Church, and over the past few years we have facilitated youth retreats and nine-day walking pilgrimages throughout our diocese, reaching hard-to-reach places, bringing a message of unity and hope,” she said.

There are now over 600 young women “working, studying, marrying, becoming mothers,” Treacy said.

“All over the country, they are influencing change in their culture,” she said of the graduates, who have invited Loreto Sisters to establish a new mission in the town of Awei, located in the north of the country.

Awei has a population of 1 million people — over 90% of whom are Catholic, with no religious or missionary presence. “These graduates have called us to come and offer quality, Catholic education to the next generation,” she said.

In her address, Treacy also highlighted the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, saying that young people all over the world are “beacons of hope, those who challenge us to step forward.”

“This is our Jubilee Year of Hope,” she said. “In the midst of the negativity that we hear it can be hard to hold on to hope. We do face diminishment in our Churches in Europe, but the message of Jesus continues to touch our young people, who call us to keep the vision, mission, and courage of our early foundress and to trust,” she said.

Treacy implored: “We pray for our fragile world that we can continue to discern new paths, keep the passion alive, and share the light of Christ in darkened places.”

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

Native American group loses religious freedom appeal at Supreme Court
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 8, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

A Native American group working to stop the destruction of a centuries-old religious ritual site has lost a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the transfer and obliteration of the Arizona parcel.

The Supreme Court in an unsigned order on Oct. 6 said Apache Stronghold’s petition for a rehearing had been denied. The court did not give a reason for the denial.

Justice Neil Gorsuch would have granted the request, the order noted. Justice Samuel Alito, meanwhile, “took no part in the consideration or decision” of the order.

The denial likely deals a death blow to the Apache group’s attempts to halt the destruction of Oak Flat, which has been viewed as a sacred site by Apaches and other Native American groups for hundreds of years and has been used extensively for religious rituals.

The federal government is selling the land to the multinational Resolution Copper company, which plans to destroy the site as part of a copper mining operation.

The coalition had brought the lawsuit to the Supreme Court earlier this year under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, arguing that the sale of the site would violate the decades-old federal statute restricting the government’s ability to encroach on religious liberty.

The high court in May refused to hear the case. Gorsuch dissented from that decision as well, arguing that the court “should at least have troubled itself to hear [the] case” before “allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site.”

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the May ruling as well, though he did not add his dissent to the Oct. 6 denial of the appeal.

In a statement, Apache Stronghold said that while the decision was "deeply disappointing, the fight to protect Oak Flat is far from over."

The group vowed to "continue pressing our cases in the lower courts."

"Oak Flat deserves the same respect and protection this country has long given to other places of worship," the group said.

The coalition has garnered support from major Catholic backers in its religious liberty bid. Last year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops joined an amicus brief arguing that lower court decisions allowing the sale of Oak Flat represent “a grave misunderstanding” of religious freedom law.

The Knights of Columbus similarly filed a brief in support of the Apaches, arguing that the decision to allow the property to be mined applies an “atextual constraint” to the federal religious freedom law with “no grounding in the statute itself.”

Though Apache Stronghold appears to have exhausted its legal options, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said on Aug. 18 that the Oak Flat site would not be transferred to Resolution Copper amid emergency petitions from the San Carlos Apache Tribe as well as the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition. That dispute is still playing out at federal court.

Brooklyn Diocese consolidates Latin Mass to 2 sites amid priest shortage
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:00:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan has announced changes to the locations and celebrants of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in the diocese, prompted by a clergy shortage exacerbated by the recent deaths of several priests.

“Bishop Brennan very much wants to meet the needs of the people and has developed an approach that will be more sustainable,” diocesan spokesman John Quaglione told CNA.

At the end of September, TLM attendees at St. Cecilia Church in Brooklyn were informed the Mass will no longer be offered there after Oct. 12 but will continue to be offered about five miles away at Our Lady Queen of Peace in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn and St. Josaphat’s in the Bayside area of Queens.

Quaglione told CNA that the weekly attendance at the Mass at St. Cecilia’s was averaging between 25 and 35 people and was being served by a rotation of priests that can no longer continue because of the declining numbers of parish priests in the diocese.

In order to address the priest shortage, Brennan is employing a “site model.” The official site in Brooklyn will be Our Lady Queen of Peace, which has celebrated the TLM for more than 25 years, and the official site in Queens will be at St. Josaphat’s, which has also celebrated the TLM for years and which will now be run by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

Priests will still rotate to say the Latin Mass at the Brooklyn site.

Quaglione told CNA that with the recent deaths of several priests in the Brooklyn Diocese, where priests already minister to two or three parishes each and where Masses have had to be cut as a result, “the bishop is taking the initiative here and seeing the writing on the wall. He does want to provide the TLM for the people.”

“By cutting the Mass at the St. Cecilia site, we’re actually bettering our ability to provide the TLM with this model, which addresses staffing concerns and gives the assurance of the continuation of the Mass,” he said.

Average weekly Mass attendance at St. Josaphat’s is around 240 people, and at Our Lady Queen of Peace, it averages about 65 attendees, according to Quaglione.

Neither the revised official Mass schedule nor the exact date of the Christ the King Institute takeover of St. Josaphat’s has been finalized, according to the Brooklyn Diocese.

The Christ the King Institute priests will establish an oratory at St. Josaphat Parish, which other orders in the diocese have already done, according to the press secretary.

According to its website, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest “celebrates the classical Roman Liturgy, the ‘Latin Mass,’ in its traditional form according to the liturgical books promulgated in 1962 by Pope St. John XXIII.”

“During his pontificate, Pope St. John Paul II exhorted bishops to be generous in allowing its use. It was with his blessing that the Institute began to celebrate the Traditional Mass.”

The institute, based out of Chicago, did not respond to a request for comment.

High Court weighs free speech in Colorado’s law banning counseling on gender identity
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 10:00:00 -0400

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments on Oct. 7 scrutinized Colorado’s law banning counseling on gender identity with some justices voicing concern about possible viewpoint discrimination and free speech restrictions embedded in the statute.

Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson defended the law, which prohibits licensed psychologists and therapists from engaging in any efforts that it considers “conversion therapy” when treating minors. It does not apply to parents, members of the clergy, or others.

Nearly half of U.S. states have a similar ban. The Supreme Court ruling on this matter could set nationwide precedent on the legality of such laws.

The Colorado law defines “conversion therapy” as treatments designed to change a person’s “sexual orientation or gender identity,” including changes to “behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex” even if the minor and his or her family has requested that care.

Under the law, permitted therapy includes “acceptance, support, and understanding” of a minor’s self-asserted transgender identity or same-sex attraction.

The law is being challenged by Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor who provides faith-based counseling to clients with gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction.

Free speech and viewpoint discrimination

Stevenson argued that Colorado’s law is not a speech restriction but instead a regulation on a specific type of “treatment,” saying that regulations cannot cease to apply “just because they are using words.”

“That treatment does not work and carries great risk of harm,” Stevenson said, referring to the practices the state considers to be “conversion therapy.”

She argued that health care has been “heavily regulated since the beginning of our country” and compared “conversion therapy” to doctors providing improper advice on how to treat a condition. She claimed this therapy falsely asserts “you can change this innate thing about yourself.”

“The client and the patient [are] expecting accurate information,” Stevenson said.

Justice Samuel Alito told Stevenson the law sounds like “blatant viewpoint discrimination,” noting that a minor can receive talk therapy welcoming homosexual inclinations but cannot access therapy to reduce those urges. He said it is a restriction “based on the viewpoint expressed.”

Alito said the state’s position is “a minor should not be able to obtain talk therapy to overcome same-sex attraction [even] if that’s what he wants.”

Stevenson argued Colorado is not engaged in viewpoint discrimination and said: “Counseling is an evidence-based practice.” She said it would be wrong to suggest lawmakers “reach[ed] this conclusion based on anything other than protection of minors.”

“There is no other motive going on to suppress viewpoint or expression,” Stevenson said.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Neil Gorsuch asked questions about how to handle issues where medical disagreement exists.

Gorsuch noted, for example, that homosexuality was historically viewed as a mental disorder and asked Stevenson whether it would have been legal for states to ban therapy that affirmed a person’s homosexuality at that time. Stevenson argued that at that time, it would have been legal.

Banning ‘voluntary conversations’

Alliance Defending Freedom Chief Counsel Jim Campbell argued on behalf of Chiles and her counseling services, telling the justices his client offers “voluntary speech between a licensed professional and a minor,” and the law bans “voluntary conversations.”

Campbell noted that if one of her minor clients says, “I would like help realigning my identity with my sex,” then the law requires that Chiles “has to deny them.”

“Kids and families that want this kind of help … are being left without any kind of support,” he added, warning that Chiles, her clients, and potential clients are suffering irreparable harm if access to this treatment continues to be denied.

Campbell argued that “many people have experienced life-changing benefits from this kind of counseling,” many of whom are seeking to “align their life with their religion” and improve their “relationship with God.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor contested whether the issue was about free speech, noting Colorado pointed to studies that such therapy efforts “harm the child … emotionally and physically.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson similarly objected to the claim, questioning whether a counselor acting in her professional capacity “is really expressing … a message for a First Amendment purposes.” She said treatment is different than writing an article about conversion therapy or giving a speech about it.

Campbell disagreed, arguing: “This involves a conversation,” and “a one-on-one conversation is a form of speech.” He said Chiles is “discussing concepts of identity and behaviors and attraction” and simply helping her clients “achieve their goals.”

U.S. bishops: FDA approval of generic abortion drug is a ‘shocking inconsistency’
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 09:00:00 -0400

CNA Staff, Oct 8, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The U.S. Catholic bishops sharply criticized the Trump administration’s recent approval of the generic abortion drug mifepristone, saying that women and children deserve better care.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug even as the administration is currently investigating the abortion drug for safety concerns.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously acknowledged concerns over the safety of the drug and said in a hearing last month that the investigation is ongoing. Even so, the FDA’s approval of the generic version will make the drug even more accessible.

“Mothers in need and their preborn children deserve better,” said Bishop Daniel Thomas, who heads the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee, in response to the FDA’s decision.

In a statement, Thomas called the decision “jarring” and “contradictory.”

“At the same time that the Food and Drug Administration is conducting a much-needed review of the supposed safety of the abortion pill for women, it is nonetheless approving a new generic for this deadly drug,” Thomas said.

“The FDA took shortcuts in originally approving and loosening protocols for mifepristone, which enabled the killing of more children and placed the health of more women in danger,” he continued.

More than 1 in 10 women who take the abortion pill mifepristone to complete a chemical abortion will suffer a serious health complication within 45 days of taking the drug, a study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center found.

The study also found that the rate of serious adverse side effects occurs at 22 times the rate that the FDA-approved drug label currently indicates.

“Even if it eventually had to be approved as a generic version of the same drug, to do so now and make it more available before a recently-announced safety study can be completed and potentially save lives, is a shocking inconsistency,” Thomas said.

Dangers of drug

Dr. Susan Bane, vice chair of the board of directors of American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, called the FDA’s decision “a serious misjudgment that will have deadly consequences.”

Mifepristone poses a danger “not only to preborn babies but to unsuspecting pregnant women as well,” Bane, an OB-GYN with more than 25 years of experience in women’s health care, told CNA.

“When the side effects of this drug are already misreported and under-investigated, expanding access to it is the wrong course of action,” she said.

Jennie Bradley Lichter, March for Life president, said she is “devastated” by the decision.

“I’m devastated that this dangerous drug, which has serious adverse effects for 11% of women who take it, is getting a stronger and stronger foothold,” she said in a statement shared with CNA.

Noting that the agency “has limited discretion under the law to decline approval for a generic that matches an approved name-brand drug,” Lichter expressed concerns for women and children.

“Every day that mifepristone remains on the market, with very few safeguards in place around it, heaps danger upon danger for American women and results in more and more babies being killed,” Lichter said.

Evita Solutions, LLC, the pro-abortion company producing the generic drug, has said it seeks to “normalize abortion.”

But Thomas highlighted the importance of support and care for women and children.

Mothers and children “deserve the fullest, most authentic care that we can offer in all respects,” the bishop said.

Thomas looked ahead to the FDA investigation of the abortion drug mifepristone.

“I pray that the forthcoming review of mifepristone will undo many of these tragic developments and that we may, instead, meet women with hope and meaningful support,” he said.

Remains of St. Francis of Assisi to be publicly displayed for first time
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Rome Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

For the first time, the body of St. Francis of Assisi will be visible to all, from Feb. 22 to March 22, 2026. This religious and historical event was announced on the memorial of the saint of Assisi (Oct. 4) and will coincide with the eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis in 1226.

The announcement was made from the Loggia delle Benedizioni by Fray Giulio Cesareo, director of the press office of the Sacred Convent, following Mass celebrated in the Upper Basilica of the Umbrian city, presided over by Monsignor Camillo Cibotti, president of the Episcopal Conference of Abruzzo and Molise, along with Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, papal legate for the papal basilicas of Assisi, the bishop of Assisi, and the general and provincial ministries of the Franciscan families.

In his homily, Cibotti emphasized the “newness of life” that Francis presents to the world. “A new way of feeling, of thinking, of living Christ,” Cibotti noted. The mayor of L’Aquila, Pierluigi Biondi, lit the votive lamp of the Municipalities of Italy, representing the Italian people during the celebration.

The first part of the celebration for the feast of St. Francis, patron saint of Italy, concluded with speeches from the authorities from the loggia of the sacred convent. Reference was also made to the reinstatement of Oct. 4 as a national holiday in that country.

“In recent days, Parliament approved the law making Oct. 4 a national holiday,” declared the custos of the Sacred Convent, Friar Marco Moroni, OFMConv, at the beginning of the celebration in the basilica. “This is not just a tribute to the patron saint of Italy, but a recognition of values ​​that speak to everyone. For this celebration to be truly fruitful, everyone must draw concrete consequences from it: our communities with their daily lives; local governments with their choices for justice and inclusion; Parliament and the government with laws and policies consistent with what is proclaimed today; each of us with sober and fraternal lifestyle choices.”

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, also present at the celebration, addressed Italy from the loggia of the Sacred Convent: “The devotion of Italians to St. Francis is strong, authentic, and visceral, which can be seen in the faces of the pilgrims present here. Today the Italian people turn their gaze here, to Assisi, because St. Francis is one of the founding figures of the Italian identity. Francis of Assisi was a man of action, extreme but not extremist. Today we celebrate Francis not because he needs us, but because we need him.”

At the celebration the exposition of the remains of St. Francis in 2026 was also announced. The press release from the Sacred Convent of Assisi stated: “This exposition, rooted in the evangelical theme of the seed that dies to bear fruit in love and brotherhood, invites us to consider the life of the saint, who continues to bear fruit after 800 years and to inspire all humanity on the path of peace, brotherhood, service to the least, joy and care for creation.”

“The eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis, in 2026, is a time of remembrance and renewal. We do not celebrate death, but, recognizing it as a ‘sister’ to St. Francis, we celebrate the life that blossoms from the gift and offering of self,” the statement continued.

“It is in this spirit that, thanks to the approval granted by the Holy Father Leo XIV through the Vatican Secretariat of State, the public display of his mortal remains will take place,” the statement said.

The body of St. Francis will be moved from his tomb, located in the crypt, and placed at the foot of the papal altar in the lower church of the Basilica of St. Francis. The tomb’s history itself holds significant historical and religious significance: after the death of the Poverello saint, “the body was made inaccessible,” the press office of the Sacred Convent explained, “beneath the basilica’s high altar to prevent any possible theft. It remained hidden for centuries, until, after a long and arduous search, it was finally discovered on the night between Dec. 12 and 13, 1818.”

The first official recognition took place in 1819, confirming the identity of the remains of the saint of Assisi. There are also other recognitions, such as the one in 1978, in preparation for the 750th anniversary of his death, and the most recent one in 2015.

For more information: www.sanfrancescovive.org

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

Virginia bishops warn of ‘extreme’ pro-abortion amendment ahead of gubernatorial election
Wed, 08 Oct 2025 07:00:00 -0400

Richmond, Virginia, Oct 8, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Virginia’s two Catholic bishops are urging voters to “form [their] consciences and vote” in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election that could also see the state poised to pass a far-reaching pro-abortion constitutional amendment.

The Virginia Catholic Conference at its “Election 2025 Resource Hub” tells voters that every seat in the state House of Delegates is up for vote, while the state’s top-ranking executive positions of governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general are also in play.

“While every year in Virginia is an election year, this November’s elections are poised to have an outsized impact on our Commonwealth,” the bishops said.

They pointed to the state government’s ongoing consideration of an “extreme constitutional amendment” that would establish a so-called “right” to abortion.

A letter from Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge and Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout said the amendment would “allow virtually unlimited abortion at any stage of pregnancy.”

The text of the proposal would establish a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” and would only allow regulating abortion in the final three months of pregnancy.

The state, however, would be forbidden from restricting an abortion if a doctor determined it would negatively affect the “physical and mental health” of the mother, a provision that pro-life advocates have argued essentially preempts any regulation of abortion whatsoever.

In a voting guide the state Catholic conference noted that the “extreme, radical, and deadly” amendment includes no age restrictions or safety standards and also “jeopardizes” the state’s parental consent laws and conscience protections for health care workers.

Other proposed amendments include one that would remove a “one man and one woman” definition of marriage from the state constitution as well as a proposal backed by the state bishops that would restore voting rights to criminals who have completed their prison sentences.

“The legislators we elect this November will decide whether the proposed amendments are advanced or stopped,” the state conference said.

Democratic candidate supports abortion, assisted suicide, opposes conscience protections

Competing in the state gubernatorial race this year are current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Virginia.

In a candidate comparison handout, the state bishops noted that Spanberger has voiced support for assisted suicide, while Earle-Sears has argued against it, stating: “We don’t want to be in the business of death.”

Earle-Sears, meanwhile, has expressed support for legal conscience protections for health care professionals and other religious objectors, while Spanberger has explicitly said she opposes allowing religious institutions to opt out of medical procedures with which they disagree.

The bishops further highlighted the state races for lieutenant governor and attorney general. Former State Del. Jay Jones, a Democrat who is running for attorney general, has voiced support for abortion and for now-repealed state rules that allowed teachers to hide a child’s chosen “gender identity” from his or her parents. Current Attorney General Jason Miyares has spoken out against such rules.

In a separate handout, the state Catholic conference emphasized the “four principles of Catholic social teaching” articulated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, including “the dignity of the human person” and “the common good.”

Protecting human dignity, the bishops said, includes opposing abortion, euthanasia, and human cloning as well as “overcoming poverty, ending use of the death penalty, and opposing racism, torture, unjust war,” and other injustices.

“With so much at stake, we must prepare to engage in this year’s critical voting decisions — through conscience formation, prayer, and fasting,” Burbidge and Knestout wrote.

“United in the Eucharist, let us pray for one another and join together as active participants in promoting the common good.”