Since January 2025 and up until now, Overton has worked as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy. Before that, she spent more than three years at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a conservative think tank.

On Aug. 19, Trump appointed her to head the FDA, though she will need to be confirmed by the Senate first, which is likely given the Republican majority.

She has a doctorate in clinical investigation from Johnson Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as well as a medical degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Overton has been outspoken about the dangers of chemical abortion for women and babies, according to a 2023 AFPI brief she authored where she criticized federal policy that made abortion pills available via telehealth.

“Abortion is corrosive to children, women, and society broadly because it devalues and extinguishes innocent human life,” Overton wrote in 2023. “Unfortunately, federal policymakers have recently expanded access to abortion pills, also called chemical abortions, which are far more dangerous to women, enabling rapid access to abortion.”

About two-thirds of abortions in the United States are chemical, meaning they happen via mifepristone and misoprostol pills. These pills are available via mail in any state, even states where these drugs are illegal. Abortion by mail is highly unregulated, creating danger for female patients.

The abortion pill has continued to be left largely unregulated by Trump’s Food and Drug Administration, in spite of the documented danger to women, including coercion, poisonings, and physical harm.

Advocates for unborn children highlight the importance of opposing chemical abortions and protecting unborn children across state lines, as chemical abortion pills make state pro-life laws moot.

Hope for limitations on chemical abortions

Leading voices for life agree that the FDA should regulate mail-order chemical abortions. After being deeply disappointed so far by Trump’s FDA, they hope Overton is the woman for the task.

The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), an organization of medical doctors who believe in protecting unborn children and their mothers, “applauds the nomination,” said CEO Dr. Christina Francis.

“Dr. Overton has a track record of recognizing the dignity of all of our patients (including our fetal patients) and recognizing the value of life-affirming healthcare,” Francis told EWTN News.

“We are hopeful that Dr. Overton will reinstate vital safeguards around the dangerous abortion drug mifepristone,” Francis said. “Too many tragic incidents continue to pile up in which women have been left to handle the consequences of these potentially fatal drugs on their own.”

“As physicians, we demand the FDA do its job and reinstate essential safeguards for our patients,” Francis said.

Live Action, a group seeking to shift the culture and law on abortion, also viewed the nomination positively.

“Live Action is encouraged by President Trump’s nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration,” said Live Action spokesman Noah Brandt.

“During Dr. Overton’s time at the America First Policy Institute, she helped lead important work exposing the dangers of chemical abortion and the serious risks posed by the abortion pill,” Brandt told EWTN News.

“We pray that if Dr. Overton is confirmed that she brings that same courage and leadership to the FDA, which has an enormous responsibility to protect the health and safety of America’s women and children,” Brandt said.

Brandt called on Overton to put a halt to chemical abortion pills entirely, beginning with mail-order abortions.

“If confirmed, Dr. Overton should pull the deadly abortion pill from the market completely by first ending mail-order abortions, which are killing babies across the country,” he said.

Kristi Hamrick, spokeswoman for Students for Life Action, called for Overton to take serious action against mifepristone.

“It’s a good thing to have a nominee who has been skeptical of the kinds of policies the FDA has been pushing, but we are not looking for words; we are looking for deeds,” Hamrick told EWTN News. “The reckless rubber-stamping of chemical abortion pills has implications for babies in the womb, their mothers, and even the environment.”

“We are looking for a first-ever review of chemical abortion pills, the abusers' dream drug, that is now being mailed illegally into many states with pro-life laws in place,” Hamrick said.

Hamrick also urged Overton to investigate the environmental impact of chemical abortion drugs in the nation’s drinking water supplies.

“The FDA has never looked into the environmental risks of allowing abortion water pollution nationwide, and you donʼt have to be pro-life to want clean drinking water,” Hamrick said.

“We would ask Dr. Overton to do the work never done before — really evaluate mifepristone, its distribution, and risks to babies, women, and all life, endangered species included,” Hamrick said.

Levine was elected by a vote of CBA members at the organization’s annual general meeting in August for a one-year term. She has been a CBA member since 1988. She had served as the vice president in the previous term and earlier served as a consultor for the executive board and held editorial positions for CBA’s scholarly journal, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly.

Although the association is open to scholars of any religious faith, the president is typically a Catholic. Levine told EWTN News she was stunned to be elected to the role but expressed gratitude for the position.

“When I received notice from the chair of the nominating committee, I emailed another member to ask if this were a joke,” she said. “I was more than surprised, I was stunned. I was also, and remain, honored and grateful.”

Levine has served on several CBA task forces and continuing seminars, participated on panels, and presided over sessions. Much of her scholarly work has focused on the Gospels. She is also the first Jewish person to teach a New Testament course at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

“My primary role is to contribute to the work of the association: to work with my colleagues to make good work even better through discussion,” she said.

CBA’s constitution states that its work conforms to the teachings of the magisterium. Although the group is not operated by the Catholic Church, it offers consultation to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), including on translations of the Bible and faith formation and catechesis.

As its president, Levine said she wants to see certain suggestions in CBA’s strategic plan implemented, such as “strengthening international participation and expanding bilingual and global programming, producing resources for clergy and religious educators, and supporting professional development for biblical scholars.”

She said a particular interest of hers is partnering with local churches to offer public programs and working with the bishops “on providing up-to-date biblical guidelines for lectionary preaching and catechesis.”

Views on Scripture

Although Levine is not Catholic, she told EWTN News: “I am not interested in challenging doctrine.”

“I am interested in readings that promote abundant life, that are well grounded in history, and that also speak to communities today,” she said.

Levine does not believe “everything attributed to Jesus in the New Testament comes directly from Jesus,” she said. She noted that Christ spoke in Aramaic and the original New Testament text is Greek. She said “this view is entirely compatible with Catholic teaching.”

“However, I also believe that the proclamation of the Church is based on the words as received and not on an anterior scholarly reconstruction,” she said.

Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, teaches that everything in the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, which means “the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings.”

Levine has also written on abortion and sexuality. She co-authored an article published in the Huffington Post in 2011 in which she discussed gender roles, no-fault divorce, same-sex civil marriages, birth control, abortion, and “private sexual expression.”

In the article, she stated: “People who read the Bible often find themselves on the opposite sides of many of these issues,” but “this does not mean that they are necessarily reading their texts incorrectly.” It asserted: “The Bible is open to multiple interpretations: we need to determine what is metaphor and what is to be taken literally, what is case specific and what is timeless, what is a matter of personal choice and what should be legislated.”

Levine told EWTN News: “Biblical texts on abortion are few” and there are “different views in Jewish and Catholic interpretation.” She said “people on various sides of this debate have used Scripture, and some uses are better grounded in history, language study, manuscript tradition, etc. than others.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches “human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.” It calls abortion and infanticide “abominable crimes.”

Levine also told EWTN News: “In matters of gender and sexuality, we need to consider not only what the Bible says, but also what the continuing teachings of religious traditions say as well as what science and even personal experience teaches.”

On matters related to gender identity, Levine similarly said: “There are better and less good readings, and these can be found in both opposition and promotion arguments.” She said: “In interpreting Scripture, we need to consider not only the historical context; we also need to consider what science, sociology, philosophy, etc. can teach us.”

The catechism’s teaching on same-sex sexual acts reads: “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’”

It also teaches that God created people either male or female, and “everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.”

Levine said: “My major concern is that Scripture not be weaponized to make people feel that they are not loved and that they are not recognized as in the divine image.”

Catholic-Jewish relations

Though she was raised and remains an Orthodox Jew, Levine grew up in a neighborhood that was mostly Portuguese and Catholic. She said she developed an interest in the Catholic Church at a young age but also faced antisemitism, which motivated her to work toward better Catholic and Jewish relations.

“My parents explained to me that we Jews and our Catholic neighbors read the same books, like Genesis and Isaiah; said the same prayers, such as the Psalms; etc.,” Levine said.

“Then when I was 7, a girl said to me, ‘You killed our Lord,’ I could not fathom how a tradition that seemed so beautiful could say something so hateful,” she said. “I started asking questions then, and I continue to work to ensure that a Gospel of love not become a weapon of hate. At the same time, working in New Testament studies helps me recover part of Jewish history that the Synagogue did not preserve.”

She’s authored several books related to Christian and Jewish relations, including “The Bible With and Without Jesus,” which she co-authored with Bible scholar Marc Zvi Brettler. This book, she said, is meant “to show the logic of each tradition’s reception history and thus encourage mutual respect between Jews and Christians who share texts but who interpret them differently.”

Levine also co-edited “The Jewish Annotated New Testament,” which has Jewish commentary on Scriptures, and authored “Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi,” which analyzes Christ’s parables from a Jewish perspective.

“For the New Testament, my work has focused on the Gospels and in trying to understand how Jesus’ words, especially the parables, and actions, especially the healing narratives, would have been understood by his Jewish contemporaries,” Levine said. “In working with Scripture — the authoritative texts of a community — I think it essential to proceed with respect both for the texts and for those who hold those texts sacred.”

As president of the CBA, she said she also hopes to interact with the USCCB’s Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, “especially given the recent uptick in antisemitism.”

“Most of the antisemitism I have heard in church contexts comes from a combination of historical ignorance and tone-deafness,” she said. “It also often comes from making Judaism the negative foil in order to make Jesus look good. Nor should we think of Jesus as outside of rather than embedded within his Jewish tradition.”

Levine noted Christ’s “great commandment” — to love God and love your neighbor — comes from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. She said “misunderstanding of Jewish practice and belief leads to misunderstanding of Jesus.”

She acknowledged: “I do not worship Jesus as lord or savior, since my heart is completely fulfilled in my own Jewish practice and belief” and “I have never felt the call.”

“At the same time, I find that Jesus, reflecting Jewish tradition, has important things to say about ethics, especially in the parables … and his discussion of how to extend Torah practice, from murder to anger, from adultery to lust, and in teaching his followers how to live as if they already have one foot in the kingdom of heaven,” Levine said.

According to a statement by the archbishop, Foster, who was incardinated into the Archdiocese of San Antonio in 2009, has publicly referred to Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV as “usurpers.” He published messages allegedly received from God, Jesus, and the Blessed Mother by a member of the Mission of Divine Mercy, which he led, and which he said claimed that Pope Leo XIV is “not a true pope.”

Despite the archbishop’s multiple requests that Foster repent and stop his “schismatic actions and teachings,” the priest continued to celebrate Mass while omitting the names of both the late Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV from the Eucharistic Prayer.

In response to Foster’s disobedience, a tribunal of independent canon lawyers authorized by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith conducted a judicial process that began April 10, 2025. The tribunal spent over a year reviewing evidence consisting of Foster’s statements, actions, homilies, and teachings. It also heard testimony from witnesses.

On April 20, 2026, the tribunal declared Foster guilty of the crime of schism for his refusal of submission to the Roman pontiff. It imposed “latae sententiae” excommunication and removed him from the clerical state.

Foster did not exercise his right of appeal.

“To be Catholic is to be in communion with the pope, the bishop of Rome and the successor of Saint Peter, and with the college of bishops in communion with him,” García-Siller wrote.

“Throughout the history of the Church, those who sever ties from this sacred communion often profess to remain in communion with the true Church, even as they deny the successors to Peter and the Apostles, with whom they disagree,” the archbishop continued. “History has shown that these schisms, often initiated by charismatic leaders and based in politics, heresy, or poorly executed attempts at reform, always result in splintered communities who find themselves no longer in communion with the Catholic Church.”

“Sadly, this is the case with John Mary Foster and any who choose to follow him out of the Catholic Church,” he said. “Mr. Foster has chosen the path of disobedience.”

As a result of the sentence, Foster no longer possesses faculties to celebrate the sacraments except in the limited circumstances provided by canon law.

García-Siller said that though he has prohibited Foster from publicly celebrating Mass, “he continues to do so.”

The archbishop has prohibited all Catholics from attending any Mass, liturgical activity, or event sponsored by Foster or the Mission of Divine Mercy in Canyon Lake, telling EWTN News that “they continue to sew disunity.” He has also urged the faithful to cease all financial support to Foster and the Mission of Divine Mercy.

García-Siller said “the recent actions taken against him and the mission are painful but warranted” because “the archdiocese has sought repentance from John Mary Foster and the Mission of Divine Mercy” for many years.

He encouraged Catholics to pray for Foster’s repentance and reconciliation with the Church.

The council adopted the resolution, “Convocation of a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to Consider the Situation in Nicaragua,” on Aug. 19 in a 29-1 vote among member states, with only Brazil voting against the measure and Mexico abstaining. Haiti and Venezuela were absent.

Argentina, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the United States advanced the measure after presenting it at an Aug. 5 special session of the OAS Permanent Council. The U.S. is calling for the meeting to take place before Sept. 1, when the Ortega regime is set to codify its latest policy reforms, including the suspension of future elections. 

The move invokes one of the OAS’ highest‑level diplomatic tools, signaling that member states view Nicaragua’s political rupture as a regional concern with direct human rights implications. It comes after Ortega’s announcement and other constitutional changes aimed at blocking opposition figures from power.

In October 2023, the Permanent Council unanimously approved the resolution “Rejection of the Repressive Measures of the Government of Nicaragua Against Educational Institutions and the Catholic Church in Nicaragua.” Nicaragua withdrew from the OAS in November 2023.

Commissioner Rosa María Payá, rapporteur for Nicaragua at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, expressed concern at the Aug. 5 OAS Permanent Council meeting over ongoing human rights abuses against Nicaraguans, including arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances.

Payá, a Cuban human right and democracy activist, told EWTN News: “We are very concerned about the situation of the persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua and the persecution of the faith in general, and the practice and the exercise of the faith.”

“Iʼm Catholic myself and I also come from a society that has suffered the violation of human rights,” she said. “So I deeply understand what it is to to be afraid to speak your mind, what it is to be afraid of practicing and voicing your faith, which is a very primary human exercise.”

Payá is the daughter of the late Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, a Catholic opponent of Cuba’s totalitarian regime who in 1988 founded the Christian Liberation Movement, a peaceful democratic movement inspired by Catholic social teaching.

The bishops are calling for sustained and dedicated prayer from Aug. 18 to Oct. 31, with the campaign launching ahead of Respect Month Life in October.

USCCB President Archbishop Paul Coakley and Bishop Daniel Thomas, who heads the bishops’ committee on pro-life activities, urged Catholics to “join a focused effort of prayer and action to stop the spread of abortion pills.”

Activists have criticized the mailing of abortion pills as a largely unregulated and dangerous practice. Pro-life advocates were dealt a blow in May when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily allowed for the continued mailing of abortion pills throughout the U.S. amid a legal dispute over the practice.

“Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother,” the two bishops wrote in an Aug. 18 letter. “Now with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks.”

“The Food and Drug Administration has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed in telehealth appointments and sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb,” the bishops wrote.

They said the federal government’s lack of regulation makes women “vulnerable to suffering an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision” and “sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers.”

The bishops urged Catholics to visit the USCCB’s Respect Life campaign website, where visitors can “learn about the danger of abortion pills [and] send messages to pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies that are involved.”

The plaintiffs, including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Sikh Temple Sacramento, and several Quaker organizations, sought the injunction after DHS ended the policy that treated churches as “sensitive locations” in January 2025.

DHS previously restricted immigration enforcement from conducting arrests at churches and other sensitive locations unless there is approval from a supervisor or there is an urgent need to take enforcement action.

Instead, the Trump administration’s policy requires officials to use “discretion” and “common sense” when deciding where to conduct immigration enforcement.

The plaintiffs filed suit against DHS in the District of Maryland on Jan. 27, 2025, alleging that the policy violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

The district court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering DHS to follow its prior guidelines, most recently issued in 2021. On May 6, 2025, DHS appealed the preliminary injunction to the 4th Circuit.

The case is not the first lawsuit of its kind. Dozens of other religious groups have brought similar lawsuits against DHS following the policy shift.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said in February he and Rev. Franklin Graham teamed up to oppose immigration enforcement in churches, warning that ICE’s presence at Sunday Mass was driving people away. He called the practice a violation of religious freedom, saying the federal government cannot harass people who come to worship.

Religious Freedom Restoration Act invoked

In the Aug. 18 decision, the senior circuit judge, Barbara Milano Keenan, wrote the judges “hold that the plaintiffs have standing to pursue their claims.” She said they agree with the lower court that DHS policy likely violates the plaintiffs’ rights under the RFRA.

“RFRA proscribes not only outright governmental prohibition of the free exercise of religion but also forbids indirect coercion, substantial pressure, or penalties being placed on such free exercise,” she said. “Governmental action meeting this test creates a substantial burden on free exercise, rendering that action subject to strict scrutiny.”

The decision was met with positive reactions from the plaintiffs, who said it “reaffirms a fundamental promise of religious liberty: every person should be able to gather, worship, pray, and serve their community without fear that immigration enforcement will unlawfully disrupt sacred spaces.”

“We are grateful that the court has preserved these protections while this case moves forward, and we will continue fighting to ensure that religious freedom remains meaningful for every congregation and every person who walks through our doors,” the coalition of plaintiffs said in a statement.

TPS is an immigration status granted to eligible foreign nationals from designated countries that are deemed unsafe to return to due to ongoing conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.

Multiple nations will lose their designations in coming months. TPS for El Salvadoran nationals will expire Sept. 9. Designations for Sudan and Ukraine are set to expire Oct. 19, while Lebanon’s will end Nov. 27. TPS for Haiti ended July 27.

Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Migration, said bishops are focused on Haitian nationals “because thatʼs the community most affected right now, and now lives in a fear because they could be deported any time.”

The situation there “is pretty dire,” he told EWTN News. “The government is ending the temporary protected status and wants to return people to Haiti,” but “in our judgment it’s not safe, and thereʼs a moral question of returning people to Haiti right now.”

“The bishops themselves from Haiti have … said ‘itʼs just not safe,’” he said.

In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation, H.R. 1689, that would extend TPS for Haitians for three more years. No legislative efforts have gained traction in the Senate.

“Weʼre hoping, politically right now, for the Senate to agree to a resolution the House has already passed,” Cahill said.

In January, Cahill called on the administration to extend TPS for Haitians. In June, Cahill followed up after the Supreme Court allowed TPS designations for Haiti and Syria to end, calling for other options including “deferred enforced departure.”

“If we have, in good faith, offered temporary protected status, we should not return people until we deemed it safe to go back,” Cahill said in an interview. “And whatʼs the criteria? And thatʼs the question for politicians to work out: ‘Whatʼs the criteria for determining when it is safe that a person can return to their country?’”

“Justice is about human dignity and how we treat other human beings,” Cahill said. It’s an “injustice” to somebody who has been here legally, “to all of a sudden say, ‘Weʼre going to take it away and send you back,’” he said.

“Itʼs about justice and right reason,” he added.

Temporary protected status across U.S.

As of March 31, 2025, the U.S. provided TPS protections to about 1.3 million individuals from 17 countries including Venezuela, Haiti, El Salvador, Ukraine, Honduras, Afghanistan, Nepal, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Syria, Burma, Nicaragua, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Lebanon.

Since the program’s inception, nearly 30 countries have received TPS designations, some more than once. TPS designations can be, and usually have been, extended.

TPS holders reside all over the United States. As of 2025, the largest populations of TPS holders live in Florida (403,965), Texas (147,080), New York (98,250), California (79,320), and Georgia (50,110), according to the National Immigration Forum.

The Trump administration has ended, or moved to end, TPS for 13 of the 17 nations. The programs for Venezuela, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Nepal, Honduras, and Nicaragua ended throughout 2025.

In 2026, TPS for South Sudan, Burma, Haiti, Somalia, Yemen, Haiti, and Syria were terminated or expired. In February, a district court blocked the terminations for Haitian and Syrian nationals, but in June the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration to officially terminate the designations.

Self-deportation

Once TPS protection ends, a TPS holder will revert back to his or her previous immigration status, and those who no longer hold status in the U.S. will potentially be subject to removal proceedings.

While the TPS designations end, DHS is encouraging people without status to self-deport rather than be deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Once non-criminal illegal aliens submit their intent to depart through the CBP Home Mobile App and pass vetting, they will be temporarily deprioritized by ICE for detention or enforcement action before their scheduled departure,” DHS reported on its website.

Those who do self-deport will receive “cost-free travel, a $2,600 exit bonus, and forgiveness of any failure to depart fines,” according to DHS.

According to the department, those who self-deport can potentially return to the United States legally. It is unclear what would allow or block potential reentry, and returning is not guaranteed. Those who are deported by ICE are unable to return with legal status.

“Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary,” DHS said in a statement shared with EWTN News. “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.”

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will receive the funding through the State Department’s Faith and Community Initiative (FCI) announced Aug. 6, alongside other international aid groups, including World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse.

“CRS is so proud to be among the recipients of the new Faith and Community Initiative! We received $50 million in first-year funding to lead programming in Cameroon, Liberia, and Nigeria, working as part of a group of faith-based organizations,” CRS spokesperson Brittany Wichtendahl said in a statement to EWTN News.

“The funding will help improve hospitals, clinics, and the health networks in rural parts of the countries — where a lot of families have limited access to quality healthcare,” she said. “This investment reflects a core strength of CRS’ approach: working alongside trusted local Church, Caritas, and faith-based partners that are deeply rooted in the communities they serve.”

CRS’ financial statements show that U.S. government grants routinely constituted 40% to 50% of total revenue in fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025, and the 2026 federal grants to the U.S.-based international humanitarian nonprofit organization are only a fraction of the government funding CRS previously received. CRS’ fiscal 2023 budget totaled $1.3 billion, rising to $1.4 billion in fiscal 2024 before dipping to $1.2 billion in fiscal 2025.

The aid CRS is set to receive is part of $850 million the State Department earmarked for distribution among faith-based groups over the course of five years.

The State Department also said an additional $570 million will be provided directly to faith-based hospitals and clinics under memorandums of understanding with country governments.

The State Department said leveraging faith-based and community-run hospitals and clinics ensures that “at least 80% of resources go toward frontline health services that reach patients and clients while streamlining overhead and management costs, a significant increase from the 35% to 40% of resources that went to frontline health services in historical awards from the State Department.”

The latest aid package comes after CRS received $235 million in food aid from the State Department for programs in Sudan and Ethiopia in July.

The case Kian v. Florida, which the Supreme Court agreed to hear in June, was brought after Florida chiropractor Hamed Kian was convicted of five felony counts for practicing without a license.

Kian was found guilty by a six-person jury; the state of Florida only requires 12-person juries in capital cases. Several other states have similar rules.

Kian sued the state arguing that the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to a 12-person jury. He lost his appeal at the Fourth District Court of Appeal of Florida and subsequently appealed directly to the Supreme Court, which will hold arguments in the case in its upcoming term.

In their amicus filing, the U.S. bishops argued that the term “jury” in the U.S. has historically referenced a body of 12 jurors; the bishops pointed to “Founding-era dictionaries” as well as “common-law history.”

The bishops said they have a “strong interest” in the case, insofar as the Catholic Church over the centuries has played a “central role in shaping the legal culture from which the common-law jury emerged.”

Among the historical examples of 12-person juries the bishops cited include the General Fundamentals of Plymouth, “the earliest codified legal system by English colonists in North America,” which guaranteed that “all trials” would be “tried by a jury of twelve good and lawful men.”

The prelates disputed the Supreme Court’s 1970 ruling in the case Williams v. Florida, which held that the Sixth Amendment does not require 12 jurors in court cases.

That ruling in part “discard[ed] the robust common-law history of the jury right,” while the high court in that decision “set far too high a bar for historical relevance,” they said.

The bishops further cited the biblical commandment to “love your neighbor justly.” They pointed to the Catholic catechism’s mandate for public authorities to “dispense justice humanely by respecting the rights of everyone.”

They urged the Supreme Court to “return to its previously long-held understanding that the Constitution entitles criminal defendants to a jury of twelve of their peers.”

Numerous advocacy groups have also filed amicus briefs advocating the 12-juror standard, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Innocence Project, several dozen current and former prosecutors, and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

The relics will depart Lourdes, France, and travel to the U.S. in September. The opening celebration will be held Sept. 18–20 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

Following the opening, the relics will continue on a yearlong pilgrimage. Housed in a 132-pound reliquary, the relics will visit about 140 locations and stop at cathedrals, basilicas, shrines, seminaries, Catholic universities, hospitals, and parishes.

“The message of Lourdes remains as relevant today as it was in 1858,” said Father Jim Phalan, the English-speaking chaplain for the sanctuary.

“Saint Bernadetteʼs humility, faith, and trust in God continue to inspire people throughout the world. We are honored to bring her relics once again to the United States and invite countless individuals to experience the grace, healing, and hope associated with Lourdes,” he said in a press release.

The original acts of St. Bernadette, official Latin‑language canonical records documenting the extraction and authentication of her relics preserved in the archives of Nevers, indicate that taken for the relics were fragments of two ribs, kneecaps, a sample of muscle from the external part of the right femur, hair, and various fragments that came from muscles and skin.

The tour builds upon the positive response to the first U.S. pilgrimage of the relics in 2022, which welcomed hundreds of thousands of faithful at churches and shrines across the country.

Tour participants will have opportunities for veneration of the relics, Eucharistic celebrations, Marian devotions, catechetical presentations, and prayers for the sick.

According to the sanctuary, the long-term goal of the tour is to deepen the relationship between American Catholics and the sanctuary while encouraging future pilgrimages to Lourdes.

The tour’s detailed schedule, participating dioceses, pilgrimage resources, and other opportunities to support the tour will be announced in the coming months.

St. Bernadette

Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844 in Lourdes, France, into a poor family. In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared 18 times to Bernadette in Lourdes, France. Since then, Lourdes has become one of the worldʼs most popular pilgrimage destinations.

The apparitions led to the discovery of a water spring, which is associated with physical and spiritual healing. The spring welcomes millions of pilgrims to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes to drink and bathe in the water.

Bernadette spent the rest of her life in prayer and service to others. She joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers and lived a humble life despite becoming famous for the apparitions. She suffered from poor health for much of her life and died in 1879 at the age of 35.

On June 14, 1925, Pope Pius XI proclaimed Bernadette “blessed.” Her body was then transferred to the shrine in Nevers, France, on July 18, 1925. On Dec. 8, 1933, Pope Pius XI canonized St. Bernadette, and her feast day is celebrated on April 16 in the U.S.

In previous years — specifically from 2010 to 2025 — this percentage ranged between 8% to 16%.

In 1976, Franciscan University of Steubenville held its first youth conference on its campus in Steubenville, Ohio. Celebrating 50 years this summer, the youth conferences have helped over 1 million young people encounter Jesus Christ through dynamic talks, the Mass, Eucharistic adoration, confession, prayer, and fellowship.

So, what is it about the Steubenville Youth Conference that is having such an impact on young people and specifically vocations?

EWTN News spoke to a priest and a transitional deacon — both of whom credit their experience at a Steubenville Youth Conference with impacting their vocations — about their journeys to the priesthood and why they believe this conference is igniting a fire for the faith in the hearts of young people.

Seeing joyful priests changed everything

Father Rufino Corona is a Third Order Regular Franciscan in Steubenville who was ordained in 2020. Originally from Puebla, Mexico, Corona came to the United States with his parents at the age of 8 and grew up in San Diego.

As a teenager he was active in his youth group, and it was his youth minister who frequently told Corona that he could see him becoming a priest.

“It was something that he would say to me and I would kind of write it off,” Corona recalled. “Itʼs one of those things that as I look back now, I think part of the reason why was — for one thing, I was a teenager and really in that world, but also another thing, I feel like I had priests around me who were not bad priests but Iʼd seen people very passionate for the Gospel, be very passionate for evangelization, but that was not something that Iʼd ever really seen in a priest.”

He continued: “So all of a sudden I go to these youth conferences and, it wasnʼt necessarily one in particular, but it was these men were so on fire for the Lord, so on fire for the youth hearing the Gospel. That was really my first time seeing a priest just be passionate about the Lord, and be passionate about their faith, and be passionate for souls.”

Another impactful moment for Corona was the vocations call that takes place at the end of the weekend. On the last day of the conference, anyone who may be considering religious life is asked to stand up so they can receive a blessing.

“I joke about it now that that used to be my least favorite part of the weekend, because, especially, I went to four conferences, and especially in my third and fourth conference, I started to feel the Lord moving that way but I never got up,” he shared.

However, those moments also served as a “powerful witness” for him because Corona saw so many other men his age stand up and say that they were considering it, which was “part of what really started to open up my heart to it.”

A couple of years went by and Corona was put into a leadership position where he was ministering more to his peers and felt a great desire toward the sacrament of reconciliation as he was working with these individuals. Eventually he spoke to his spiritual director — a layman who worked at Franciscan University — who told him he could continue to pray about it or he could take a step. Corona decided to take a step.

He emailed the vocations director in San Diego but never heard back. However, after speaking more with his spiritual director he was encouraged to look into becoming a friar.

“He just knew how big brotherhood was for me and literally 24 hours into the Come and See [with the Franciscan friars], I knew thatʼs where I was supposed to be,” he recalled.

From the back bleachers to the altar

Deacon Arthur Bodenschatz is a transitional deacon in the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, who was ordained on June 6. He grew up in a very devout Catholic household. His parents met as NET missionaries — a youth ministry program — and instilled a love for evangelization in their four children.

In the second grade, Bodenschatz began to dress in all black to attend Mass — pretending that he was the priest. However, it wasn’t until he was 14 when he had a powerful encounter with God at a Steubenville Youth Conference that he knew he was meant to be a priest.

“The moment was during Saturday night adoration … and I was sitting on the back bleachers, in one of the uncomfortable spots, when the Eucharistic procession was going by and I just had a moment of locking eyes with the Lord in the Eucharist and just had a moment of realization, of grace, where I just knew that that was Jesus in the Eucharist. I knew that he loved me. I knew that I loved him. And I knew I was going to be a priest. And it was just a joyful moment filled with a lot of joyful tears,” he recalled.

After that experience, Bodenschatz went back home and became very involved with his youth group, began to attend daily Mass, and found a spiritual director.

After he graduated from high school, Bodenschatz went straight into Borromeo Seminary in Cleveland and will be ordained a priest in 2027.

“Iʼm looking forward to the completion of a nine-year journey. So much preparation leading up to it,” he shared. “And just the idea of celebrating that first Mass — it brings a smile to my face. Knowing that what I feel God has been calling me to for so long, that he wants to use me to turn bread and wine to his body and blood for the people of God … I just canʼt wait to be his instrument.”

The power of encountering a joyful Church

So, what is it about the Steubenville Youth Conferences that is inspiring so many vocations in young people?

For Bodenschatz, it was hearing the Gospel “in such a way that was personal to me.”

“Hearing the insistence and the repeated message that Jesus loves me and that the Holy Spirit is alive in me and wants to work in me was something that maybe Iʼd heard before but I was actually starting to experience it there,” he recalled. “So I think that was just a really powerful message that is embodied by the people who are up there speaking and embodied by the people up there leading worship and the whole community, the whole environment. Itʼs just so joyful.”

He added: “Whereas in my normal experience of parish life, I didnʼt see as much joy and I didnʼt see as many people my age or as many priests and sisters running around who were just so happy to be there. So I think something about that unique experience of just the universal Church so full of life really opened me up to what the Holy Spirit was doing in me.”

Corona echoed a similar sentiment in that it is powerful for young people to see the joy their peers are also carrying for the Lord and their faith.

“There is something about coming to a conference and seeing a thousand other kids there for the same reason,” he said. “It makes your faith seem like ‘OK, this is more than just my high school. OK, this is more than just my area. This is something real. This is something that Iʼm seeing other teens honoring God and so maybe thereʼs something here.’”

“I think that there is so much to the witness of the other groups that I think goes just a really, really long way because all of a sudden the faith becomes something so much more than my familyʼs thing or something so much more than, ‘Well I go to this youth group because thatʼs where my friends go.’”

Corona added: “Itʼs like, ‘Oh my gosh, I am surrounded by anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 to 4,500 teens who all believe that this is real’ or at least who are trying to and are wanting to see this as something real.”

The dispute began with what Wenski described as Uthmeierʼs “veiled threat” in a July 31 letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. In it, the attorney general urged the bishops to bring Catholic schools into compliance with Florida law requiring religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates, on pain of the loss of state funding through its school choice scholarship program.

Florida has one of the most expansive school choice programs in the United States, whereby families can use state-funded scholarship money for a variety of education-related expenses, including private school tuition.

Uthmeier argued in his letter that “at least one diocese” in Florida appears to have adopted a policy based on what he characterized as the bishops' erroneous interpretation of guidance given to Wenski in 2011 by the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

The bioethics center’s then-president, John Haas, said Catholic institutions could not grant exemptions to vaccines on religious grounds because the Church has determined that utilizing vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines was “not intrinsically evil” because of the remoteness of the original, evil act of abortion.

At the same time, Haas made a distinction between religious and conscience objections, stating Catholic institutions should grant the latter “as liberally as possible for the sake of the delicate consciences” of Catholic parents. He also noted that the consciences of those making school policies must be respected.

Wenski told “EWTN News in Depth” host Catherine Hadro in an Aug. 14 interview: “If a Catholic has conscience objections to the vaccines you canʼt say that your objections come from your understanding of the Catholic faith because the vaccinations available and developed are not contrary to Church teachings.”

Religious exemptions or conscience exemptions?

The distinction between the two types of exemptions is important, making the Florida case complicated, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney and the founder of The Conscience Project, told EWTN News.

While most states offer some combination of medical, religious, and conscience exemptions to vaccine mandates, Florida law does not explicitly protect conscience objections, only medical and religious ones.

Uthmeier argues that conscience objections fall under the protection of religious liberty, particularly for Catholics, for whom the formation of conscience is a central aspect of the faith.

“The teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely held religious objections of their parents,” Uthmeier wrote.

The attorney general also noted that some Catholic families object to certain vaccines not only because of their connection to aborted fetal cell lines, but also because of concerns about the safety of vaccine ingredients and methods of production, including the use of mRNA technology, which he said brings a “heightened risk of health defects, including miscarriages.”

The National Catholic Bioethics Center declined to comment to EWTN News. However, the organization maintains resources on its website stating the Church’s position that although vaccines developed through morally problematic means may be used for grave reasons, vaccination is not a moral obligation for Catholics and, in order to protect human dignity and the free exercise of conscience, should be voluntary.

The organization also states that “public health measures and policies should be built upon sound science and ethical principles.”

Uthmeier: Parents' rights are being violated

Uthmeier told EWTN News he is concerned about the "religious freedoms and rights of parents.” He pointed out that many Catholic families have come to him noting the irony that their conscience rights are protected in public schools in Florida but not in Catholic ones.

Uthmeier also said families are confused because Catholic schools in several dioceses across the country do grant vaccine conscience and religious exemptions.

Because Catholic schools receive state scholarship funds, he argued, the state has an interest in ensuring that religious freedoms are protected.

“Where First Amendment rights [and] the religious beliefs of parents are being violated, we as a state have a duty to investigate and see what legal tools we may have to protect our parents in Florida,” he said.

While acknowledging that the state cannot dictate religious beliefs, he said he remains unconvinced that the bishops have identified an authentically religious reason for denying exemptions.

A Catholic himself, Uthmeier further pointed to what he said were long-standing Catholic teachings regarding parental authority and conscience rights.

“Respecting the right of conscience is deeply embedded in our catechism,” he said. “How these rights can be violated, and how Catholic Church officials can disagree on citing religious teaching across the country, perplexes me.”

Wenski: Catholic schools must protect the common good

Wenski likewise framed the controversy as a religious freedom issue, from the perspective of the Churchʼs right to determine and apply its own teachings.

He described Uthmeierʼs position as “an unfair and ill-advised interpretation of separation of Church and state” and argued that lawmakers never intended school-choice scholarships to impose a religious test on participating schools.

“The Church has a right to determine our own teachings,” he said.

Wenski told EWTN News that the bishops “certainly respect the rights of conscience of every person.” At the same time, he said Catholic social teaching also obligates schools to promote the common good and protect children through immunization.

“Weʼve witnessed in recent months an upsurge of cases of measles, and we know that that presents certain dangers for pregnant women,” Wenski said.

The archbishop noted that Catholic schools already grant medical exemptions when a physician certifies that a child should not be vaccinated.

But he maintained that parents who object to vaccination are free to choose another school.

"Nobody is forced to go to a Catholic school,” he said.

The bishops sent Uthmeier a formal response, Wenski said, outlining what they view as the religious freedom issues implicated by the attorney generalʼs intervention.

Wenski said the bishops are “prepared to protect our students, to defend our rights, and to preserve religious freedom” while remaining open to continued dialogue with the state.

Critics of Florida bishops’ policy disagree

While Wenski suggested the issue is largely settled within Catholic teaching, critics of the Florida bishops' policy disagree.

Yvonne Bontkowski, director of Children of God for Life, said the controversy reflects a deeper disagreement over how Catholics should respond to vaccines connected to abortion-derived cell lines.

“This is the first time I have ever seen where the state isnʼt asking the Church to violate its teaching, itʼs asking the Church to honor it,” she told EWTN News.

The organization argues that although the Church has determined it can be morally permissible to receive such vaccines under certain circumstances, Church teaching says Catholics still have a moral duty to advocate for ethical alternatives and resist what it sees as the continued exploitation of aborted fetal tissue in biomedical research.

Bontkowski cited a 2005 document from the Pontifical Academy for Life, which established the moral permissibility of the use of vaccines developed from aborted fetal cell lines in order to protect health but also affirmed that Catholics may exercise conscientious objection regarding such vaccines.

“Our conscience is directed to what is morally good,” she said. “The Vatican never said these vaccines are morally good. It said weʼre not sinning if we take them for grave reasons and on a temporary basis while we demand ethical alternatives.”

She argued that families exercising that duty should not be excluded from Catholic education, which, unlike immunization, is a moral obligation.

Canon law states that parents have both a right and a “most grave obligation” to provide a Catholic education for their children, while Canon 217 affirms that the faithful have the right to a Christian education “by which they are to be instructed properly to strive for the maturity of the human person and at the same time to know and live the mystery of salvation.”

Other critics contend that the debate ultimately turns on differing understandings of public health and the common good.

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and director of the National Vaccine Information Center, told EWTN News that Catholic school officials generally formulate vaccine and other public health policies based on the judgments of public health authorities.

But, she argued, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed public distrust in scientific and governmental institutions, especially regarding data about who is at greatest biological risk for vaccines “that could hurt or even kill people.”

“Unfortunately the entire notion of the common good rests upon the science,” Fisher said. “If the scientists and the government havenʼt done due diligence in doing the best science, or havenʼt told the full truth, that is a moral dilemma the Church is going to have to eventually grapple with.”

“This has been a long time coming,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City told EWTN News on the red carpet July 28.

Born in Okarche, Oklahoma, Rother was a farmer before he attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained a priest in 1963. After serving as an associate pastor at a parish in Oklahoma for five years, Rother received permission to join the staff at the Oklahoma diocese’s mission in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.

He served the Tz’utujil people, who are descendants of the Mayans, in Guatemala, learning their native Tz’utujil language as well as Spanish. As their pastor, Rother celebrated Mass and helped translate the New Testament into the Tz’utujil language. He quickly gained the trust and love of the local people, ministering to them in their homes, sharing meals, helping them in the fields, and visiting the sick.

While Rother was in Guatemala, a civil war broke out and the Catholic Church was caught in its crosshairs. The priest’s name was placed on a death list. On July 28, 1981, three men entered the rectory at night and killed the beloved priest.

Rother’s cause for canonization opened in 2007 by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and in 2016 Pope Francis recognized Rother as a martyr for the faith. He became the first American-born priest to be recognized as a martyr by the Catholic Church.

“We’ve been very intentionally promoting the cause of Blessed Stanley Rother for many years,” Coakley said. “He’s been beatified and now we’re working toward his canonization, and in order for that ever to happen we need more and more people seeking the intercession of Blessed Stanley Rother and seeking his divine favor so that miracles may be performed through his intercession. So that’s why we undertook this production, to introduce him to more and more people.”

The archbishop added that the film is “a beautiful depiction of the life of an ordinary Catholic who responded generously and faithfully to Godʼs grace and mercy and allowed the Lord to transform him and form him into the saint ultimately that we hope he will finally be named.”

Michael Scaperlanda, chancellor at the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said: “This is an exciting moment for the archdiocese to have a nationwide release … of this wonderful documentary narrated by Martin Sheen.”

He highlighted the importance of sharing Rother’s story to a wider audience because it serves as a reminder that “even ordinary people can become saints.”

For Felipe Coche Pablo, the documentary is particularly personal. Pablo is a native of Santiago Atitlan and was baptized by Rother when he was 6 months old. He was 2 years old when Rother was killed.

When Rother’s cause was opened, Pablo was appointed to serve as the official church notary for Rother’s parish in Santiago Atitlán. It was then that he learned about the potential saint’s life and legacy.

Pablo said learning about Rother deeply impacted his life and taught him “to keep fighting in life. There are always stumbles, but you have to pick yourself back up, like he [Rother] did.”

Today, Pablo is the administrator at Colegio Católico Padre Aplaʼs — also known as the Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic School — in Santiago Atitlán. This school is part of the parish in which Rother served, Santiago Apóstol, or St. James the Apostle Church.

“We have 435 students and the education is trilingual — Tz’utujil, Spanish, and English,” he explained. “Our first language is the Mayan language, Tz’utujil. And he [Rother] was a priest that was very loved by the people because he learned the Mayan language Tz’utujil, like us, like what I speak.”

Pablo said he hopes viewers of the film will be inspired by Rother’s “service to others” and to “carry peace, love, evangelize, and what is most needed in life — look for God.”

Coakley added that he hopes viewers will leave the theater reminded that “all of us are called to holiness.”

“Stanley Rother would not have been the one in high school in the yearbook that said most likely to become a saint … And yet all of us are called, it’s our vocation if you’re baptized, you’re called to be a saint. All of us are called to be saints. And Stanley Rother gives us a hope that for each one of us that is a possibility that is real.”

“American Martyr” can be seen in theaters across the U.S. on Aug. 25 and 26 in English and in Spanish on Aug. 27.

Yet though Christ in the Eucharist occupies a place of centrality in the Church, many Catholics may not ever stop to reflect on the bread that in the Mass becomes Christ — namely, how is this unique substance produced before it is brought to the altar?

The question is not merely academic; in rare instances the local Church can run out of Communion hosts, as occurred in Cuba in June. All of Cuba’s hosts are produced by Discalced Carmelites at the Monastery of Santa Teresa and San José, but the lack of a reliable power supply there hindered production over the summer.

Sister Ruth Starman, the head of altar bread production for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Missouri, told EWTN News that the requirements for Catholic altar bread are dictated by the Code of Canon Law of the Church, specifically canon 924.

The sisters’ abbey in Missouri has been producing altar bread for years and was the first U.S. producer of altar breads approved by the Vatican to make low-gluten hosts.

Standard hosts, she said, “can be made of wheat and water only.”

“Yeast is not allowed because that would make it leavened bread and Jesus used unleavened bread at the Last Supper,” she said. "Any other additives such as salt, honey, etc. would be forbidden.”

In addition to the strict water-and-wheat requirements, Church law dictates that the bread must be “recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling.”

Manufacturers, meanwhile, use special machines on which to bake the bread to ensure it is produced in the familiar uniform and thin style.

“The baking machines have plates that may have designs on them or not,” Starman said. “The plates will produce a thin wafer sheet that will then need to be moistened in a dampener before being cut into the round hosts.” Breads that are not moistened “will shatter when cut,” she said.

Special cutters, meanwhile, allow bakers to divide the bread into differently sized hosts including the smaller rounds intended for lay communicants and the larger portions for priests and bishops.

As to why the bread is so thin and flat, Starman told EWTN News: “I donʼt have the answer for that but just conjecture. Because it is unleavened, the bread will be ‘flat’ anyway. However, I suppose with the invention of specialized baking equipment, where two baker plates close upon the batter, that probably started the more wafer-thin hosts."

Starman said there have been “no major changes” to the process in recent years.

“The Vatican does periodically have to remind priests and the Church at large that anything other than a wheat bread cannot be used,” she said. “Hosts made from rice, corn, or potato starch, for example, are considered invalid matter.”

The low-gluten hosts at the abbey, she said, are made from two different wheat starches that have had most of the gluten removed. “The Church does not say how much wheat percentage a host must have, but only that it needs to have some amount to make it valid matter,” she said.

Elsewhere the Church has stressed the need for hosts to be treated with reverence at every stage of the process. The instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, promulgated in March 2004 by what was then the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, states that the bread “should obviously be made by those who are not only distinguished by their integrity, but also skilled in making them and furnished with suitable tools.”

In response to the shortage of Communion hosts in Cuba earlier this year,  Church leaders in Panama sent 35,000 hosts to the island nation, while another 300,000 were sent from Puerto Rico.

Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama said at the time that the emergency shipment arose “in response to the difficulties several Cuban dioceses are facing in ensuring a supply of hosts.”

The prelate called the hosts “an essential element for the celebration of the sacrament that constitutes the source and summit of the Christian life.”

Father John Eckert’s response: “Yes.”

Eckert, the vocations director for the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, chuckled a little when describing the myriad paths that a young man may take when finding his way to holy orders. But, he said, “it’s always the Holy Spirit at work. It’s always cooperating with the grace of God.”

The Charlotte Diocese is among those in the U.S. seeing high numbers of seminarians and priestly ordinations. The diocese in western North Carolina saw a record 10 young men ordained to the priesthood earlier in 2026; that followed six ordinations in 2025 and seven in 2024.

“We’re blessed in the Diocese of Charlotte,” Eckert said. “It’s a beautiful moment.”

The priest just wrapped up his first full year as vocations director there. He said one of the strengths of the diocese is in its vibrant faith life, which he attributed partly to the “evangelical Bible-belt roots” of the region.

“This is Billy Graham territory,” he joked.

The diocese itself bears out that witness, he said. “The Church is growing like crazy down here,” he said. “We have wonderful families. We have faithful, hardworking priests. We’ve had five bishops who keep on striving to bear the Gospel message and bring that to every corner of the diocese.”

The growing ranks of the priesthood is proof of that high spirit, though Eckert said it can be tricky to tease out just what contributes to years of high ordinations. One of the diocese’s strengths, he said, is its own “in-house college seminary.”

“It’s so wonderful that if we have a young man interested in the priesthood, we can actually just bring him to this place and show him where the initial years of formation will take place,” he said.

The school offers prospective seminarians a chance to see “a group of men living this out, being very intentional about their prayer life, striving to grow in love of Our Lord.”

Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, told EWTN News that when seeing such high levels of devotion to the priesthood, “we often have to just marvel at God’s work.”

Priests in the diocese, he said, excel at offering candidates to the priesthood “the opportunity to see a healthy, holy, good person that they can see themselves becoming.”

Families, meanwhile, have become “far more open” to communicating to their sons that they would be “honored to see [them] consider the priesthood.”

“That dynamic has come about because the presbyterate gives a good example,” the bishop said. “It makes families, and parents in particular, more willing to be able to create that environment in their own families.”

Both Martin and Eckert said that at a certain point Church leaders simply have to acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit. “To fully try to understand it is important,” Martin said, “but in some ways it’s best just to appreciate and enjoy it and be grateful for it.”

Eckert, meanwhile, cited as an example 1 Corinthians 3:6, in which Paul tells the Church at Corinth about its faith: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

The priest spoke joyfully about his work in the diocesan vocations office, though he downplayed his own role in bringing men to holy orders. He recounted with a laugh what a speaker told a group of vocations directors at a recent conference: “Gentlemen, get over yourselves. Nobody ever entered seminary because of their vocations director.”

Priestly vocation ‘seen as a natural, fulfilling life’

Father Garett Burns, the director of vocations promotion in the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, admitted that the Midwestern diocese is “blessed with a strong culture of vocations.”

“For example, this past May six men were ordained to the priesthood,” he said. “We’ve been blessed to generally have a steady number of ordinations each year. There have been 22 priestly ordinations since 2020 and 44 priestly ordinations in the last 10 years. We will begin this academic year with 50 seminarians in formation.”

He said that it is “difficult to capture succinctly” why a diocese might have such abundant vocations, describing every Catholic’s vocation as a “mystery of grace.” But he said promoting vocations throughout every aspect of Church life — including in families, schools, and parishes — has borne steady fruit.

The diocese has an abundance of Eucharistic adoration, he said, including perpetual adoration. Such chapels present opportunities for young people to spend time in silence before Christ, he said, and “these moments are where vocations grow and flourish.”

Priests and bishops in the diocese, meanwhile, are “deeply committed to the Lord.”

“When priests love their priesthood and enjoy each other, that is attractive to young men,” he said. A local seminary program has also borne fruit, he said, allowing young men to form a close, core connection with the Church “at home.”

The priest said he hesitates to offer advice to other dioceses, admitting that there is “no universal solution” given the unique histories, gifts, and challenges of each diocese. But expanding opportunities for Eucharistic adoration, he said, offers “one viable option that promises to deepen the culture of vocations.”

Father Noah Morey, the vocations director in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, echoed the assessment of his fellow vocations directors: “It’s not just one thing, it’s everything,” he told EWTN News.

The Arlington Diocese saw seven new priests ordained in 2026; it recorded 12 ordinations in 2025. Morey noted that when it comes to ordinations, “it’s not about numbers, it’s about quality.” But he said the Arlington Diocese has a “strong culture of vocations” that has helped produce exemplary priests over the years.

The diocese has promoted vocations since its founding in 1974. Its first leader, Bishop Thomas Welsh, “really fostered that culture” in part by bringing a Poor Clares monastery to the diocese.

“Our bishops have all taken a hands-on approach of fostering vocations in young men from a young age,” Morey said. Bishops in Arlington regularly attend seminary events and meet personally with aspiring priests, he said.

Eucharistic adoration is prolific throughout the diocese, meanwhile; several years ago, Morey said, current Bishop Michael Burbidge asked every pastor in the diocese to institute 40 hours of Eucharistic adoration annually.

The diocese also holds St. Andrew dinners several times a year, which allows young men to speak to both the bishop and diocesan priests about their potential discernment.

“I tell the young men, it’s a very low-commitment event — you’re not signing your life away!” he said. “You just show up for a free dinner with the bishop.”

A yearly “Quo Vadis?” summer camp offers another opportunity for young men to have face-to-face discernment with Church leaders.

An active, vibrant priesthood in the diocese also helps foster vocational discernment, he said. “If a young man sees a priest who’s in love with the Lord, that’s really attractive to the priesthood,” he said.

And faith-filled and encouraging families are equally to credit for fostering vocations in young men, Morey continued.

He offered a baseball analogy to describe the process by which young men find their way to the priesthood. “The families are the starting pitchers,” he said. “The priests are the middle relievers. And the vocations director is the closer.”

Globally the Church has continued to see lower vocations; the most recent data shows a continued drop in priests, with significant declines in Europe and the Americas, though Africa and Asia saw notable increases.

In the first 15 months of his pontificate Pope Leo XIV has continued to emphasize the importance of vocations. In June 2025 he told vocations ministers at the Vatican that their job consisted of “forming men capable of loving, listening, praying, and serving as a community.”

The pope said God “continues to call and remains faithful to his promises.” He urged leaders to help bring about the creation of appropriate conditions “to hear [God’s] voice.”

In Charlotte, Bishop Martin said the best response to an increase in vocations is to be both joyful for the gift and determined to help it flourish.

“There’s something in God’s design that’s beyond even what I can say,” he said. “I can provide some insights, but at the end of the day, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Eckert, meanwhile, said an increase in vocations is a blessing no matter where it develops.

“The job that I think we all have is being intentional in our discipleship of Jesus Christ,” he said. “I pray for myself and all my brother vocations directors out there. Whether it happens in Peoria or it happens in Charlotte, it’s good for all of us.”

With $200 and 12 nuns with no television experience, Mother Angelica turned the monastery garage into a television studio. EWTN received its Federal Communications Commission license on Jan. 27, 1981, making it the first Catholic satellite television station in the United States.

Just a few months later, on Aug. 15, 1981, EWTN began broadcasting four hours a day to 60,000 homes.

The anniversary, Aug. 15, also marks the feast of the Assumption, a solemnity commemorating the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life and her assumption, body and soul, into heaven.

As EWTN commemorates 45 years of spreading the Eternal Word, here’s a look back at the work and progress of the organization that all started with the mission of one cloistered nun.

EWTN starts growing rapidly

In 1983, the network launched its flagship talk show, “Mother Angelica Live.” Despite innumerable challenges and millions in debt, the network grew, supported only by viewer contributions.

Around the same time, cable channels began to pick up EWTN. Within a short period, the network went from tens of thousands of homes to hundreds of thousands.

It quickly expanded from the original four hours of broadcasting to all-day content. In 1987, programming expanded to a 24-hour daily schedule, reaching 10 million American subscribers.

EWTN branched out of television by launching a worldwide shortwave radio service in 1992. Its worldwide AM/FM radio services began just four years later.

Soon the network started establishing a global presence. In 1995, EWTN launched its first international television service for Latin America. That same year, the network provided live coverage of Pope John Paul II’s visit to the U.S., in both English and Spanish, on television and radio.

By 1996 EWTN programming was also reaching Europe and the Pacific Rim, including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, and the Philippines. A big year for the network, 1996 also marked when EWTN.com went live.

In 1998, EWTN launched satellite television service to Africa. By 2009, the network was reaching the extraordinary number of 150 million television homes.

The vast expansion marked an important transition from an American Catholic television network to an international Catholic media network, which would continue to grow in the years to come.

Expansion to print and digital media

Mother Angelicaʼs early series of small pamphlets and books eventually grew into electronic and print news services. In 2011, the network acquired The National Catholic Register, one of the countryʼs oldest Catholic newspapers.

The acquisition was part of a broader effort to expand EWTNʼs presence in Catholic journalism.

EWTN continued this effort when it launched “EWTN News Nightly” in 2013, a daily television news program from Washington, D.C. This was significant because it moved EWTN further into daily news production rather than religious programming and coverage of Church events.

In 2014, EWTN acquired Catholic News Agency as well as its Spanish-language sister agency, ACI Prensa. Today, EWTN News includes agencies covering global Catholic news in Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, French, English, and Arabic.

In 2026, EWTN News announced a rebrand and is currently in the process of bringing most of its news entities — print, digital, and broadcast — under the global brand of EWTN News.

EWTN moves forward

Forty-five years later, EWTN is now reaching more than 435 million television households across more than 160 countries and territories. The recently established EWTN Studios continues the EWTN legacy of developing the most impactful content in the Catholic space, and EWTN Digital is building the platforms to distribute EWTN Studios content to new generations.

EWTN Radio reaches a global audience through more than 500 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates, satellite radio, and digital streaming platforms.

EWTN Publishing publishes books in both print and electronic form to a worldwide audience and has now released around 100 books by renowned Catholic authors who have profoundly influenced the faithful.

Through live coverage, documentaries, and more, EWTN has covered four pontificates and numerous historic Church events and has shared the lives and faith of Catholics across the globe. It also reaches millions of online users through its social media including its presence on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

EWTN’s story began with a television network and continues to be guided by Mother Angelicaʼs vision of using modern technology to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and truths of the Catholic faith with millions around the world.

State Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill into law on Aug. 10 making Massachusetts the 11th state to impose no limits on abortion. The law removes all of the state’s restrictions on abortion, leaving the decision to perform a late-term abortion up to the “judgment of the physician” carrying it out.

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the decision “shocking” and “horrendous.”

“Itʼs an affront against the dignity of life,” he said in an interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” on Aug. 13.

“I hope it will not stand, but weʼll see,” the archbishop added, describing the decision as “a shocking blow to the pro-life movement and to everyone whoʼs concerned about the dignity and sanctity of human life.”

Meanwhile, the political advocacy group CatholicVote is calling for the excommunication of Healey, who is Catholic.

CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt said in a letter that CatholicVote believes that Healey is an “accomplice” to the procurement of abortions by signing the law. Reinhardt added that the signing caused “scandal” and “was not a private sin.”

“The logic of medicinal punishment is ancient and coherent and teaches that you do not withhold medicine from a sick person to protect their feelings,” Reinhardt wrote. “You administer it because you love them and because you take their illness seriously. Governor Healey is a Catholic in a state of grave sin. She has publicly and now legislatively cooperated in the destruction of innocent human life.”

“Governor Healey did not sign this legislation reluctantly or with any expression of the gravity of what she was authorizing,” Reinhardt said. “She signed it at a celebratory public event. She was met with applause. The ceremony was festive.”

When asked about calls for Healey’s excommunication, Coakley said that the law constitutes a “scandal” but that the matter is between the governor and her bishop.

“Itʼs an affront against the teaching of the Church,” Coakley said of the law. “But truly, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or any episcopal conference really does not have that kind of authority” to excommunicate Healey.

“This is really a matter that will have to be addressed between the governor and her bishop and the bishops of Massachusetts,” Coakley continued.

The Massachusetts Catholic bishops decried the bill before it was signed, saying that the “elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion is, in our judgment, a radical measure which is gravely immoral.”

Pro-lifers praise attorney general for pledging to review mail-order abortion

Pro-life advocates are praising then-Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche for his promise to review the legality of sending abortion pills through the U.S. mail.

During his confirmation hearing on July 15, Blanche pledged to review the Comstock Act, a law already on the books that prohibits the mailing of abortion-related materials. If enforced, the law would halt mail-order abortions.

An Aug. 7 letter signed by 35 pro-life leaders commended Blanche for his promise to “carefully evaluate” the law and whether or not it is being properly enforced.

Lawsuit against Virginia abortion amendment rises to appeals court

A lawsuit against a Virginia state constitutional amendment to establish an unlimited right to abortion is currently before a state appeals court.

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit Christian legal group, said on Aug. 13 that it had appealed to the Court of Appeals of Virginia about a court order dismissing a legal challenge to the ballot measure.

The lawsuit argues that the Virginia government neglected proper legal processes for proposed amendments, rendering the abortion amendment itself  ineligible for inclusion on the ballot.

Mary Pruski, the leader of the advocacy group Save Our Buffalo Churches, told EWTN News on Aug. 14 that the parishes of St. Josaphat and Our Lady of the Rosary both won appeals at the Holy See over closures that were mandated by the diocese’s “Road to Renewal” plan.

That plan was announced in May 2024, with Bishop Michael Fisher revealing that the diocese would merge about a third of its parishes amid declines in attendance and financial struggles.

The Save Our Buffalo Churches group has advocated against multiple closures in the diocese since the announcement. In December 2025 the Vatican said multiple parishes in the diocese that had petitioned the Vatican would not have to close.

Pruski told EWTN News on Aug. 14, meanwhile, that the St. Josaphat Parish “won their appeal to not merge and close,” while Our Lady of the Rosary “won their appeal against being reduced to common use and sold.”

She said a few parishes represented by the group “continue to await their appeal decision from the Dicastery for the Clergy,” while several other parishes have raised their appeals to the Apostolic Signatura.

“These cases may take up to another year for a final decision,” she said.

Diocesan spokesman Gregory Tucker confirmed to EWTN News on Aug. 14 that per the Vatican’s decision the parishes would not be forced to close.

Fisher “respects the decision of the dicastery and will not appeal these decisions,” Tucker said. “That said, these parishes will be closely monitored to ensure that they can remain viable and self-sustaining going forward.”

The Buffalo parish group’s fight against the closure plan made it all the way to the New York Supreme Court in 2025. The court in July of that year ordered a brief halt to some diocesan-mandated parish payments into the diocese’s abuse settlement fund. The New York Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the case, saying it did not have jurisdiction over internal Church matters.

In April, however, the Vatican issued a revocation of multiple “assessment allocation decrees” against parishes in the diocese, citing canon law violations regarding parish fund procurement “as well as the amounts and methods undertaken to procure those monies.”

Elsewhere in New York state, parishioners in the Diocese of Rochester are petitioning the Vatican to let them save a 160-year-old parish that has been locally recognized for its historic significance.

Advocates hope to preserve Holy Family Parish in Auburn in part to preserve the memory and legacy of Bishop Patrick Byrne, an apostolic delegate to Korea who was martyred in 1950 during a four-month-long forced march while in the captivity of communist forces in North Korea. Byrne was confirmed at the parish in 1900.

In 1950, Pope Pius XII confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary when he defined it formally — “ex cathedra” — as a dogma of the Catholic faith. In his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, it states “that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

So, is this solemnity a holy day of obligation? It depends on what day it falls on.

In the United States, Latin-rite Catholics are bound by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) canon law norms, which require Mass attendance on Sundays and six specific holy days of obligation. However, regional exceptions and calendar-based rule adjustments can apply depending on the day of the week a feast lands.

The six holy days of obligations are: Jan. 1, solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; Thursday of the sixth week of Easter, solemnity of the Ascension; Aug. 15, solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Nov. 1, solemnity of All Saints; Dec. 8, solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; and Dec. 25, Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, when Jan. 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; Aug. 15, the solemnity of the Assumption; or Nov. 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the obligation to attend Mass is lifted.

According to Canon 1246, paragraph 2, of the Code of Canon Law, “the conference of bishops can abolish certain holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday with prior approval of the Apostolic See.”

Since the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls on a Saturday this year, 2026, Catholics are not required to attend Mass in addition to the regular Sunday obligation.

In 2024, the USCCB received more than $180 million in funding for government contracts, most of which supported services for migrants and refugee resettlement. When Trump took office, the president ended most of those contracts.

In an interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” the archbishop said “we are no longer receiving those dollars, and we have, as a result, discontinued our resettlement services.”

“I donʼt think it has affected … our ability to continue our core mission, thatʼs for sure,” Coakley said. “But weʼll have to adjust our budgets and act accordingly.”

Coakley also addressed Trump’s immigration policy, saying nations have a right to control their borders but they should also be welcoming to immigrants.

“Every nation has a right to protect its sovereign borders, and we bishops have emphasized that again and again,” he said. “... People have a right to live in security in their own land.”

However, he also pointed to a USCCB special message on immigration, which the U.S. bishops approved in a 216-5 vote, which expressed opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

“[The message] called upon the bishops to continue to accompany and support migrants and assured migrants of our continued support and accompaniment,” Coakley said. “And thatʼs happening around the country in different places and certainly along the border in different ways.”

“Itʼs obviously a challenging situation, both for the people who are concerned about their safety and security within the borders of the United States, but also those who are seeking peace and security and safety by striving to become a part of our people and our culture, our nation,” he said.

“Weʼve always been a nation welcoming of immigrants,” the archbishop said.

“Weʼre all — all but a few of us — are from migrant immigrant families,” Coakley said. “So we have a sensitivity as Americans to the plight of immigrants on both sides of the border.”

The child, called Gabriel by his surrogate mother, McKenna West, was born in Dallas on Aug. 12. He was born amid an ongoing legal dispute after his biological parents, identified in court documents as Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, allegedly demanded West undergo an abortion.

At about 20 weeks, Gabriel was diagnosed in utero with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) — a serious congenital heart condition. Treatment for HLHS typically involves three surgeries, beginning with one procedure shortly after birth.

“Itʼs horrific to think that so-called intended parents, when they found out that their baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome, told the surrogate mother that they wanted her to abort that child,” Amy O’Donnell, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”

“Thatʼs horrific at any stage to want to abort a child simply because of a disability or a diagnosis, but late term after 20 weeks is even more so,” she said.

West traveled to Texas from Alaska to ensure that Gabriel could be near doctors experienced in treating his condition. She allegedly offered to take full responsibility of the baby, but the baby’s biological parents reportedly refused.

Gabriel was born “just 24 hours after Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated legal action,” O’Donnell said.

Paxton filed an intervention in the case on Aug. 11 asking the Texas district court to enter orders directing the child’s care upon birth, prohibiting his removal from the state, and setting an expedited hearing on any refusal of treatment.

“According to the district court, because McKenna [West] so bravely fled to Texas from Alaska to ensure that baby Gabriel had lifesaving care, baby Gabriel, now born in Texas, is a Texas resident,” O’Donnell said.

The order stated that UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas were legally obligated to care for Gabriel.

Gabriel has “received the lifesaving treatment available” at Dallas Children’s, O’Donnell said. He is “in great hands and he has either had a heart surgery or itʼs pending.”

“Due to HIPAA, we probably wonʼt get information on the unfolding care, but we are certain that nobody can deny treatment, can demand transfer, and nobody can request that he receive anything less than the best that Texas has to offer.”

“Our laws protect every child born in Texas and guarantee their right to life. The Department of Family and Protective Services [DFPS] holds authority under Texas law to protect children from medical neglect,” Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Texas Gov. Gregory Abbott, said in a statement.

“DFPS will be closely monitoring this case and will take any action necessary to safeguard those rights,” he said.

Pope Leo says surrogacy reduces a child to a ‘product’

While acknowledging infertility is an immense cross to bear, the Catholic Church has a clear stance against surrogacy. The practice requires conceiving a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) or artificial insemination and then transferring the embryo to the uterus of the surrogate.

Pope Leo XIV has affirmed that, by transforming gestation into a negotiable service, one “violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family.”

“Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states.

“These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the childʼs right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by marriage. They betray the spouses' ‘right to become a father and a mother only through each other’” (CCC, 2376).

“There are a lot of concerns with surrogacy, and the more we look into it, the more concerns we have,” O’Donnell said.

“We believe that no contract should be able to require death of a child due to a disability or an imperfection. And so we believe that there should be … nationwide protections there,” she said.

“We need to protect the dignity of mothers who are involved in surrogacy as well, as long as it is legal in our nation and in our state,” she said.

By the time the photo was taken, Kolbe had already been arrested by the Nazis once but was clearly resolved to continue his nationwide evangelization efforts. The monastery he had established at Niepokalanów, 25 miles west of Warsaw, had become a major Catholic publishing center.

The beard with which Kolbe is often pictured is notable for several reasons, one of which was the fact that not many of his Franciscan counterparts in Poland sported them. He shaved his signature beard in order to blend in with his fellow Franciscans and with society at large.

The second reason is that Kolbe’s beard is the only first-class relic that exists of him. The rest of his body was incinerated in the ovens of Auschwitz after he was murdered by the Nazis in 1941.

Father James McCurry, a Conventual Franciscan and minister provincial of the Our Lady of the Angels Province, gave a homily in 2016 commemorating the 75th anniversary of Kolbe’s martyrdom in which he mentioned the saint’s beard.

McCurry, author of the book “Maximilian Kolbe: Martyr of Charity,” said Kolbe chose to keep the beard upon his return from six years of missionary work in Japan. In those days, it was customary for missionaries to grow long beards, and Kolbe wanted to keep it as a reminder of his missionary days and as a reminder to always be a “missionary” of the Gospel.

McCurry said Kolbe’s beard made him unusual among his Conventual Franciscan counterparts, who generally did not wear them. Kolbe’s fame was spreading in Poland thanks to his publishing work, and his unique beard helped him to stand out all the more.

It was for this reason that Kolbe eventually, after the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, made the decision to shave it, McCurry said, so as not to stand out. Kolbe’s founding of the Militia Immaculata (MI), an evangelization movement identifying with Mary, put him high on Nazi watchlists.

One book on his life offers this quote from the saint: “Beards provoke the enemy who rapidly is approaching our friary. Our Franciscan habits also will provoke him. I can part with my beard. I can’t sacrifice my habit.”

After a fellow brother cut off Kolbe’s beard for him, the brother at first tried to save the beard, but Kolbe objected and told him to throw it in the stove. So, obediently, the brother threw it into the stove, but the fire was not lit, so the brother later retrieved it and stored it in a pickle jar.

Today, Kolbe’s beard is his only surviving first-class relic.

McCurry was also a friend of Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man for whom Kolbe laid down his life at Auschwitz in late July 1941, following his arrest on Feb. 17.

Gajowniczek was one of the 10 men selected to be executed in reprisal for one prisoner’s escape from the barracks. He cried out: “What will happen to my wife and children?” And in response, Kolbe stepped forward and offered to take his place. The 10 were placed, naked, in a starvation chamber.

All 10 of those condemned that day died eventually; six starved, and the deaths of the rest, including Kolbe, were hastened by an injection of carbolic acid.

This story was first published in August 2021 and has been updated.

The research showed that support for the death penalty among U.S. adults is 6 percentage points higher than it was in April 2021, and it is about equal to where it was in August 2020 (65%).

It found that about two-thirds of all Americans (66%) favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder.

Pew surveyed 3,554 U.S. adults from July 6–12. Participants were all members of Pew’s American Trends Panel, which is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults. The margin of sampling error for the sample of respondents was plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.

The report, “Most Americans Favor the Death Penalty for Those Convicted of Murder,” found that 32% of Americans oppose the death penalty for people convicted of murder, 13% of whom reported they "strongly oppose” it.

While most Catholics favor it, 34% said they oppose it, with 15% who "strongly oppose” it.

When asked in the context of morality, 68% of all respondents said they see the death penalty as morally justified for those who have committed murder, while 28% believe it is morally wrong.

Of Catholics, 64% believe the death penalty is morally justified when someone commits murder, and 32% said it is morally wrong.

A 59% majority of all Americans said the death penalty is not a crime deterrent, while 39% said that it is. A majority of Americans (73%) also said there is some risk that an innocent person could be put to death, but a quarter said that there are safeguards in place to prevent this.

Since the start of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly spoken out in strong opposition of the death penalty.

“I condemn capital punishment. I believe that human life is to be respected and that all people — from conception to natural [death] — their lives should be respected and protected,” the pope said in April.

His remarks against the death penalty echo a relatively new magisterial teaching in the Catholic Church, which was promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018. The Church teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2267).

Views differ by political party, age, and education

The poll showed partisan divides on the death penalty persist among U.S. adults.

Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party overwhelmingly support the death penalty with 84% in favor, including 47% who “strongly favor” it. Democrats and Democratic leaners were about split between support (51%) and opposition (48%).

Most Republicans (85%) also said the death penalty is morally justified for a crime like murder, while Democrats are more split on the issue with 55% who believe it is morally justified and 42% who do not.

Republicans and Democrats were most divided over whether the death penalty is fairly applied to different races.

Most Republicans (77%), said white and Black people are equally likely to be sentenced to the death penalty for similar crimes, and only 23% of Democrats reported the same.

The report also noted that younger adults are slightly less supportive of the death penalty than older adults. Of adults ages 18 to 29, 58% said it is morally wrong, compared with 47% of those 65 and older.

Adults with a college degree, especially those with a postgraduate degree, are also slightly less likely than those with a high school degree or only some college education to favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder.

The report, published by the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), found that many migrants fall victim to human traffickers and scams along the journey. A majority of the increase in deaths, however, were caused by drownings in the Mediterranean Sea.

“Attention tends to settle on a handful of routes, but nearly half of the world’s 304 million international migrants live within their own region, moving for work, family, education and safety,” IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels said in a statement.

“Good data is not a substitute for solutions, but there are no solutions without it,” she said. “... When everyone is working from the same clear picture, better decisions follow.”

The two routes with a sharp increase in migrant deaths were the Central Mediterranean Route and the Eastern Mediterranean Route. The central route mostly reflects migrants arriving in Italy from northern Africa and the eastern route mostly reflects routes from western Asia into Greece, Cyprus, and Bulgaria.

According to the report, the number of migrants who died or went missing along the Central Mediterranean Route was at least 821, which is 111% higher than the same time last year. It found that the primary cause of death was drowning. About 430 migrants died or went missing in January, primarily due to Cyclone Harry.

The number went up by 259% on the Eastern Mediterranean Route, reaching at least 244. The report found the primary cause to be drowning. This was caused by “a series of fatal incidents” near Crete — a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea.

“This data highlights the risks faced by migrants along these routes, even as the estimates presented in this report are likely much lower than the real number of casualties,” the report states.

In July, Pope Leo XIV visited the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, saying migrants who died in the sea are “victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made.”

“Indifference to the common good and corruption in their countries of origin; a global economic system that generates poverty and exclusion; fear that fuels prejudice and contempt; the belief that such problems do not concern us; the criminal calculations of those who profit from the suffering of others; the slow and difficult transition from mere emergency management to the development of comprehensive and shared policies — all are present-day echoes of the haste to ‘pass by’ in the Gospel narrative,” the Holy Father said.

The June 1 letter cited attacks against Christian women and girls in northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt region, including killings, forced conversion, and sexual violence. The letter was signed by Reem Alsalem, U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Gabriella Citroni, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Morris Tidball-Binz, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions; Nicolas Levrat, U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues; and Alice Jill Edwards, U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

“With respect to the situation of religious or belief minorities, we wish to raise serious concern regarding patterns of religiously motivated violence and persecution or otherwise disproportionately targeting persons belonging to religious minority communities within affected federated states or local areas, especially Christians, including women and girls,” the letter said.

The U.N. experts attributed the rising violence to armed extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Fulani herder militias operating across the north and Middle Belt region and pointed to “acquiescence” and “negligence” on the part of Nigerian officials to counter them.

The letter cited the abduction and sexual assault of two women by armed militants, the forced conversion and marriage of a 13-year-old girl, and the abduction of a pastor’s two daughters along with several members of a church by Boko Haram, as well as a 16-year-old girl whose hand was cut off after her family refused a marriage proposal by armed militants.

“While we do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations reported to us, we would like to especially express our grave concern regarding the alleged abduction and sexual assault of girls, the intimidation by armed groups and subsequent abduction and acts tantamount to enforced disappearance of the church members in Shikarkir,” the U.N. experts said.

“We are also disturbed by reports of the inaction and complicity of government officials in the face of these abuses, the slowness of investigations and search actions aimed at determining the fate and whereabouts of abducted girls,” they said.

The letter further called on Nigerian officials to respond to the allegations and to provide status updates on investigations and measures taken to combat violence against women and girls. They also asked for status updates on “any laws that affect the exercise of freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression, including so-called ‘blasphemy’ laws.”

The letter asked the Nigerian government to provide information on measures taken to protect the rights of religious minorities, particularly in northern states, and urged authorities to take immediate steps to halt violence against women and girls.

The experts concluded by calling for interim measures to protect abductees, victims of sexual violence, and victims of forced conversion and forced marriage, particularly minors and those who have not been reunited with their families. The experts also urged Nigerian officials to prevent further violations and hold accountable those responsible if the allegations are substantiated.

The state on Aug. 13 put to death Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, who was convicted of killing Olimpia Fisher in Oklahoma City in 2003. The execution was carried out at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary shortly after 10 a.m. CT.

Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines, who was convicted of killing Catherine Jenkins in 1985, on Aug. 13, and later that day Alabama planned to execute Jeremy Tremaine Williams for the rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in 2021.

The last time three U.S. states carried out executions on the same day was in 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas put inmates to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In a press release also posted to X, Coakley — who serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — expressed “sadness” over the execution and said he was “disheartened” as Oklahoma “continues along an ominous path.”

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The archbishop said the state was “carrying out executions with a frequency and regularity that places it among the nation’s leaders” in capital punishment.

Coakley has regularly urged authorities to end the death penalty. In 2022, after a federal court dismissed a challenge to the state’s capital punishment regime, Coakley called on lawmakers to end executions there. He argued that an execution devalues human life and “does not ultimately bring closure and peace to those who have lost a loved one.”

The archbishop has also repeatedly lamented specific executions in the state, including that of Kendrick Simpson, who was put to death in February.

On Aug. 13, he noted that the execution of Cuesta-Rodriguez constituted the 132nd time Oklahoma has killed someone since 1990.

“Capital punishment does not provide justice,” he said. “Our modern prisons are secure. Life imprisonment offers assurance that citizens are not at risk. And it allows for a conversion of hearts.”

He asked readers to “join me in praying for the victim of this crime, Olimpia Fisher, and her family, as well as Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez and his family.”

Coakley is among the numerous U.S. bishops that regularly advocate against the death penalty. The Death Penalty Information Center says that among the 50 U.S. states since 1976 Oklahoma has had far and away the most executions relative to its population, though Texas has executed nearly five times as many people overall as Oklahoma.

The new branch of HCCP will be led by associate publisher Kristi McDonald, who has over 15 years of experience in Catholic publishing, spending 14 years at Ave Maria Press.

McDonald told EWTN News in an interview that Harper Catholic comes at a time where the company recognizes “the unique spiritual needs of Catholics and the tremendous opportunity to serve a Church that is growing and changing in the United States and around the world.”

“We’re seeing new converts coming into the Church, Catholics rediscovering their faith, and readers at every stage looking for resources that can help them go deeper,” she said. “That inspires us to publish books that feed that spiritual hunger, answer meaningful questions, and accompany people in the ordinary realities of Catholic life.”

The creation of Harper Catholic also comes after the success seen in Catholic Bible Press, which is HCCP’s first Catholic imprint and publishes editions of the Bible such as the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition and the New American Bible, Revised Edition.

“Harper Catholic is also a natural next step in the work HarperCollins Christian Publishing has already been doing in the Catholic market. Catholic Bible Press has experienced rapid growth and success over the past six years, demonstrating both the need for excellent Catholic resources and the opportunity for HCCP to serve this audience with care and purpose,” McDonald explained.

She added: “Harper Catholic builds on that strong foundation by expanding our Catholic publishing program beyond Bibles and represents our continued investment in serving Catholic readers, authors, parishes, booksellers, and institutions.”

Harper Catholic aims to expand HCCP’s Catholic publishing beyond Bibles and into spiritual classics, theology, devotionals, memoirs, cultural engagement, and books from leading voices in the Church today.

“We plan to publish a broad range of accessible, faithful, relevant, and intellectually substantial books for Catholics across generations and stages of spiritual life,” McDonald shared.

“The goal is to reflect something of the richness and breadth of Catholicism itself while remaining attentive to the real questions and spiritual longings people are bringing to their faith today.”

McDonald said the publication’s primary goal “is to share the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith with the world through powerful writing and authentic, trustworthy voices.”

“We want Harper Catholic to become a publishing home where established and emerging Catholic authors can bring faithful, compelling ideas to readers, and where Catholics know they can find books that help them grow closer to God, live the sacramental life more fully, and encounter Christ in the ordinary rhythms of their days,” she said.

In terms of HCCP’s perspective, McDonald said, “this is a long-term commitment.”

“The success of Catholic Bible Press has given us a strong foundation and shown us what is possible when we serve Catholic readers with excellence and intentionality,” she said. “Harper Catholic allows us to build on that success, broaden the ways we serve the Church, and continue investing in Catholic publishing for years to come.”

The imprint is actively accepting proposals from authors and agents and will announce its first acquisitions and publishing plans in the coming months.

To pull off the unique promotion respectfully, the White Sox marketing team collaborated early on with Chicago priest Father Tom Hurley. “We didnʼt want to do anything sacrilegious or offend people,” said Mike Downey, senior director of marketing and promotions for the White Sox, on “EWTN News Nightly.” “We wanted to do something fun and tasteful that celebrates the fact that Pope Leo is a White Sox fan.”

The collaboration paid off in a memorable ballpark moment when thousands of fans joined together for an impromptu “sign of peace.” Wearing their White Sox-branded novelty miters, fans turned to neighbors in nearby seats, exchanging handshakes, high-fives, and blessings across the concourses.

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Hurley, who joined the crowd in the stands, reflected on what the pontiff would have wanted to come of such a night.

“A few more home runs,” Hurley joked, motioning to his own branded miter. “But hereʼs what he really would love to see. The pope is a guy who promotes peace. In the Catholic tradition, we offer a sign of peace during Mass because we want to bring peace to the world. I think the pope would love seeing everyone stand, find a new friend, and offer that same peace — whether theyʼre Catholic or not."

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The idea for the tribute took root shortly after May 8, 2025, when Pope Leo XIV — formerly Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost — was elevated to the papacy. Known for wearing a White Sox cap at the Vatican and having attended Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, the pontiff’s lifelong allegiance inspired the team to act once news of his fandom broke.

Originally planned as a targeted promotion for a designated section of 10,000 fans, overwhelming demand after its announcement prompted the organization to expand the giveaway to all 40,000 attendees.

The spiritual energy in the stands mirrored the action on the field. The first-place White Sox kept the momentum going against the Cincinnati Reds, starting off with a first-pitch leadoff home run by Brenton Doyle.

“It seems like there’s a little magic happening on the South Side right now,” Downey added. “Fans like to comment that we’ve got the pope on our side. My message for him is just to keep an eye out for the South Siders and say a prayer for us in October.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

“This grant connects Notre Dame’s world-class Department of Theology with leading partners where the Catholic Church is growing and in need of well-formed, dynamic Church leaders,” Father Kevin Grove, CSC, an associate professor of theology at Notre Dame, said in a July 27 press release. “Together, we will work to recruit, form, educate, support and place these future ministers. We are exceptionally grateful to the Lilly Endowment for providing us the chance to reimagine how lay church leaders are raised up, formed and placed.”

The grant will serve the university’s New Horizons program, which provides full tuition support for M.A. students and stipends for M.Div. students as well as postgraduate job placement assistance. 

California Catholic school replaces pride flags with rainbow symbol

Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California, has opted to take down its pride and progress flags for the upcoming school year, replacing them with a custom rainbow “Inclusive O” symbol.

“Many of you know that over the last few years, questions about Pride and Progress flags have become part of a much larger conversation taking place throughout the Catholic Church in the United States. Across the country, Catholic schools have been working to navigate these tensions while remaining united as communities, caring for students, and living their Catholic values,” Bishop O’Dowd President Kim Walsh said in a statement posted to the school’s website.

Bishop O’Dowd High School is a diocesan school that operates under the Diocese of Oakland and superintendent of Catholic schools.

Local news outlet KQED reported that the new symbol came after the diocese asked the school to take down its pride flag after someone informed Bishop Michael Barber about it. Barber spoke out about sex and gender issues in a joint letter with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco in 2023, calling on Catholics to respond to gender ideology with “truth and charity.”

Walsh said this conversation “became a lightning rod within our own community,” which prompted the school to develop the new symbol, a rainbow-colored O in the style of the school’s branding. “Our Inclusive O now appears in lieu of the Pride and Progress flags that had previously been displayed in some classrooms, and is now displayed campus-wide,” she said.

Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, house of formation to become seminary

The Diocese of Wichita in Kansas has announced that its St. Joseph House of Formation will be transformed into St. Philip Neri Seminary.

“The Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme will formally establish a new seminary for priestly formation on Aug. 26, 2026, marking an historic milestone in the life of the diocese, and fulfilling a vision first explored more than two decades ago,” the diocese said in an Aug. 6 announcement.

“Effective August 26, the institution will be known as St. Philip Neri Seminary, honoring the 16th-century saint renowned for his joyful spirit, deep holiness, and dedication to forming priests and evangelizing through authentic friendship,” Kemme said.

“For the last nine years, we have been able to form our men during their college years here with such success that we now think it’s important to officially recognize the house of formation as a true canonical seminary,” he said in a Q&A posted on the diocese’s website.

“It was a seminary, but it was called the St. Joseph House of Formation,” he continued. “Now it is going to be established officially as a seminary, a place of formation for the priests of our diocese.”

Milwaukee debuts first new Catholic school buildings in 60 years

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee celebrated the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 11 for the first newly constructed Catholic school buildings in nearly 60 years.

The ceremony comes two years after Seton Catholic Schools announced the two buildings would be constructed by early 2026. St. Rafael the Archangel and Prince of Peace School will officially open at the start of the school year on Aug. 24.

“St. Rafael and Prince of Peace have been integral to Milwaukee’s educational landscape for years,” Seton said in the press release. “These new buildings will offer modern, student-centered environments designed to foster learning, creativity, and spiritual growth. These will be more than just schools — they will be vibrant hubs for student engagement, community gatherings and faith development.”

“As one of the first new Catholic school buildings in Milwaukee in nearly 60 years, this investment reflects our deep commitment to our students, families, and the future of our community,” a statement posted on both of the schools’ websites reads. 

Raleigh, North Carolina, Catholic school students top national, state benchmarks

Students in Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, Catholic schools surpassed national and state benchmarks in both math and reading.

“The data reveals that 47% of Diocese students are performing at or above grade level in math, compared to 32% nationally and 32% across North Carolina,” the diocese revealed in an Aug. 10 statement. “The gap is even more pronounced in reading, where 59% of Diocese students are scoring at or above grade level, well ahead of the 38% national norm and 35% state average.”

The data comes from spring 2026 i-Ready diagnostic results, the diocese said.

“These results reflect what happens when dedicated teachers, engaged families, and a strong academic foundation come together,” Michael Mastrocinque, director of instruction for diocesan Catholic schools in Raleigh, said. “Our students arenʼt just meeting expectations — theyʼre exceeding them at a level that puts them well ahead of their peers across the state and the country. This is a direct result of the hard work happening in our classrooms every single day, and it reaffirms our commitment to academic excellence rooted in the Catholic tradition.”

The USCCB — along with the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Charities USA — sent a joint letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 31 to highlight their shared concerns about the final rule before it is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2027.

The bishops warned the Medicaid work‑requirement rule could strip coverage from medically frail patients, add burdensome documentation standards, and create an unrealistic timeline that states and providers cannot meet.

Although the rule has already been adopted, the USCCB is urging CMS delay implementation and make changes that broaden the medical frailty and short-term hardship exceptions, ease verification requirements for patients, and better educate patients on rules to prevent any losses in coverage for eligible people.

“We are profoundly concerned that [the] requirements … will result in coverage loss for eligible individuals who rely on Medicaid to address their health care needs and to achieve their highest possible degree of self-sufficiency,” the joint letter states.

The rule requires at least 80 hours of work per month for nonexempt people or another type of community engagement, such as volunteering, job training, or education. Recipients can combine different forms of work and community engagement to reach the 80-hour requirement.

Proposed delay and changes

States must implement the work requirements by Jan. 1, 2027, and the joint letter urges a delay because the rule forces states to “implement significant new operational processes,” which the letter warns could lead to mistakes “within a compressed implementation timeframe.”

“Launching these requirements before states are fully prepared increases the risk that eligible patients will lose Medicaid coverage because of administrative barriers rather than because they are no longer eligible,” the letter states.

The three organizations are also concerned that the medical frailty exclusion — which exempts people with certain disabilities and health conditions from work requirements — is “too narrow.”

To qualify for the exclusion, a person must verify that he or she has the condition and that the condition “significantly impairs their ability to comply with the work and community engagement requirements,” the letter notes. The three Catholic organizations encouraged CMS to exempt people based on the condition alone rather than requiring they demonstrate that the impairment prevents them from work.

The letter also expressed concerns about the language that enforces the short-term hardship exception, warning that a person would need to demonstrate that hardship in the month before the exception can be applied.

“We recommend … [ensuring] that a short-term hardship exception may satisfy an individual’s work and community engagement requirement obligation for the month of the hardship event, including where that month is the month of application or renewal, without requiring a separate showing of compliance during a prior review period,” the letter adds.

They also caution that the verification and documentation requirements shift too much of the burden to patients and providers.

“Experience from prior work and community engagement requirement demonstrations in several states shows that administrative friction, rather than ineligibility, causes many otherwise eligible individuals to lose coverage,” the letter states.

“Each additional document request, third-party verification requirement, or delay in obtaining records increases the risk that eligible individuals will lose Medicaid coverage for procedural reasons,” it adds.

The letter also encourages CMS to ensure states “have adequate time to develop, test, and validate” their communications with patients, ensuring they understand the new rules before implementation.

“States should not disenroll beneficiaries until they have demonstrated that notices are effective in helping eligible individuals understand and successfully navigate the new requirements,” the letter adds.

In the letter, the three organizations said they are “committed to supporting the implementation of work and community engagement requirements in a manner that is legally compliant, operationally sound, and protective of the patients that the exclusion and exception framework are designed to serve.”

CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EWTN News.

The Church is “the last remaining bulkhead — moral, ethical, spiritual, and prophetic,” he said. “That is why they want to eliminate us.”

Décoste told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic pastoral aid organization, that despite the widespread violence in the Caribbean nation, the Church remains hopeful.

“We keep praying, singing, and dancing. In Haiti we say: ‘As long as they haven’t cut off our head, we still have hope of wearing a hat.’ That is why we never lose hope,” he said.

The bishop thanked organizations working to offer aid to the nation. He said: “Your prayers sustain us enormously; without them we could not carry on. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.”

Gang violence in the nation continues to rise with armed gangs controlling between 70% and 90% of the capital.

Amid the violence, in Port-au-Prince, 40 parishes have had to close, according to ACN. Schools and religious houses have also been attacked, burned, and seized.

Sister Paesie, a Catholic sister who operates an organization to aid children in Cité Soleil, Haiti, also highlighted the increasing violence.

The sister and her team at the Kizito Family, which runs homes, schools, and catechism programs, recently took in dozens more children following numerous recent attacks.

Sister Paesie told EWTN News that last week gangs attacked an area in Port-au-Prince where the organization operates one of its schools. Most of the population fled besides a few elderly people who were unable to, and most were killed.

“The parents began bringing children to us for shelter,” she told EWTN News. On Aug. 9, “we took in about 20” and “others came yesterday, and about 50 today.”

“The Missionaries of Charity accepted to take in the girls” and “we have the boys,” she said.

“Among them were four brothers [who] were alone when the attack took place. The parents had gone to work, and a cousin grabbed them and fled. When the father returned home, he was not aware of the attack. He was killed and burned. The mother did not show up … where the people took refuge,” she said.

Sister Paesie also detailed how the attacks and destruction have left organizations, many of them run by religious orders, unable to operate and provide aid to those in need.

She specifically noted a Missionaries of Charity convent that was attacked and burned down two years ago.

It remains "completely empty and the buildings destroyed,” she said. “It used to receive more than 2,000 patients every year.”

U.S. bishops urge protection for Haitian nationals on TPS

U.S. bishops have continuously warned of the unsafe conditions in Haiti, urging lawmakers to extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian nationals living in the United States.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has previously said that ending temporary residency protections for Haitians would be “sending people into a burning building.”

He said Haiti “remains a country on the brink,” noting the “widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity.”

“The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace,” he said. “It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions.”

Other Florida bishops, and many Ohio bishops, have also addressed the matter, calling for a more permanent solution to care for the refugees.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in April, and the Senate has not acted on that measure or on a bill (S. 4814), which would require the Homeland Security secretary to designate Haiti for TPS through early 2029, giving eligible Haitian nationals in the United States protection from deportation and authorization to work while conditions in Haiti remain unsafe.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced in an Aug. 11 press release that UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas were legally obligated to care for Gabriel, a baby due to be born on Sept. 2 to surrogate mother McKenna West. A Texas district court had earlier ruled that the hospitals would be required to care for the baby.

In an earlier letter to the hospitals on Aug. 10, Paxton said Gabriel had been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and that his “intended parents” said they would seek to “refuse consent” to an operation.

The parents, identified in court documents as Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, “may seek to move the child to California so that treatment can be withheld there,” the letter said.

West reportedly traveled to Texas from Alaska after Gilkar and Ahmed urged her to seek an abortion after the diagnosis of the syndrome, according to news reports. She allegedly offered to take full responsibility of the baby, though the baby’s biological parents reportedly refused.

In an emergency order dated Aug. 11, the Dallas district court ordered that upon birth the baby would be provided with “medically indicated stabilizing and life-sustaining care” at either of the hospitals.

The court also barred the child’s removal from either the hospitals or the state of Texas except as necessary for his medical care.

Paxton hailed the court’s order as “the right decision.”

“My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel’s well-being,” the prosecutor said. “Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that’s exactly what I’ll fight for.” 

‘A problem for the 13th Amendment’

Anthony Sirven, a Catholic Florida-based attorney who has published on the subject of surrogacy, told EWTN News that this case and others like it portend “whether we’re going to decide custody based on a contract.”

“The [surrogacy] contract is about a human life,” he said. “So the question is: How do you enforce a contract over a human life? The answer should be ‘you can’t’ because of the 13th and 14th Amendments.” The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States while the 14th Amendment enshrined  equal protection and due process in the U.S. Constitution.

Early litigation surrounding in vitro fertilization and surrogacy had to walk a careful line, Sirven said, as Roe v. Wade had asserted that unborn children are not human persons, putting their legal status into uncertainty. Courts ultimately settled around the idea that embryos are “a special kind of property,” he said, allowing courts to enforce contract-based rights over them.

But the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision “overturned Roe and, arguably, every case that relied on Roe to recognize a property interest in human life,” he said, throwing years of precedent into uncertainty.

On the Texas case, “we’ll see what happens,” Sirven said. “If this child is born and given lifesaving care, the next question will become ‘Who’s going to take custody of him?’ If the ‘intended parents’ seek custody or other rights under a contract, and the court rules in their favor on the basis of a contract, then that’s a problem under both the 13th and 14th Amendments.”

Stefano Gennarini, the vice president for legal studies at the New York-based Center for Family and Human Rights, told EWTN News that “most lawyers” would agree it is “hard to predict a case like this.”

Gennarini said he was not an expert in either Texas or Alaskan family law, but he said international legal conventions — specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — affirms “the human right of mothers and their children to receive special protections during pregnancy and after birth.”

“Allowing a third party to contractually decide what kind of treatment a surrogate mother can seek eviscerates these international protections,” he said. “Overall, this case illustrates how dangerous any form of surrogacy is.”

The practice of surrogacy, he said, “legally deconstructs the natural family as recognized in international law,” leading to what he described as “inhuman scenarios” such as that in Texas.

The order handed down in Texas takes effect on the event of Gabriel’s birth and “remains in effect until further order,” the court said.

According to a CMS news release, this includes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations. It states these medical procedures cause irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other physiological effects.

The move formalizes a policy of President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent minors from accessing these drugs and surgeries. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that instructed agencies to adopt rules to “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

The final rule includes a tapering-off period of up to six months for children who are receiving cross-sex hormones, which allows them to be gradually weaned off the medicine. It does not affect mental health services.

“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement.

“By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish,” he said.

Rachel N. Morrison, director of the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Administrative State Accountability Project, told EWTN News that government funding should never support “harmful, sterilizing, and often irreversible sex-rejecting procedures.”

“I am grateful to CMS and the Trump administration for their efforts to combat gender ideology, protect children from the harms [of] sex-rejecting procedures, and advance policies that reflect a true understanding of the nature of the human person,” she said.

The Church’s position

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) referred EWTN News to a Feb. 17 letter to CMS, which said the proposed ban on federal funding “aligns with Catholic teaching on the nature of the human person” and “reflects true distinctions between the sexes.”

“Rejection of our God-given bodies, such as by modifying them to appear as the opposite sex, is a grave matter, and when done with full knowledge and complete consent, is a grave sin,” the letter states.

In November 2025, the USCCB published a new edition of its ”Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” guidelines, which prohibit Catholic institutions from providing treatments that “aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function” such as “interventions that aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex (or to nullify sexual characteristics…).”

Joseph Meaney, past president and senior ethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), told EWTN News CMS “should be applauded for putting an end to federal taxpayer funding of transgender procedures on children.”

“There is substantial agreement between U.S. government policy and Catholic teaching in this area of healthcare policy,” he said.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, an NCBC senior ethicist, told EWTN News that the implementation of the rule “is very sensible and long overdue.”

“Countless youth have already been railroaded along this path, placing themselves at great risk and damaging their bodies as they struggle with this confusion,” Pacholczyk said. “Once a young person steps onto that train, they often become ‘regular business customers,’ with a lifelong dependence on the continued prescribing of hormones and additional cycles of expensive surgeries.”

He said tax money should not pay for “a hysterectomy on a girl who wants to live as a boy, nor to provide breast implants into a boy who thinks he is a girl.” He said children “deserve far better from the world of medicine and psychiatry.”

“They are entitled to solid psychotherapy as a means of assisting them to reintegrate their subjective gender identity with their objective lifelong biology so they can recognize and embrace the beautiful gift of the biological sex they have been endowed with from the beginning,” Pacholczyk said.

Father Jim Goins read about the “scourge of medical debt in the country” and decided to do something. About 20 million people — nearly 1 in 12 adults — owe medical debt, and federal data shows Americans owe at least $220 billion in unpaid medical bills, according to the ⁠Peterson‑KFF Health System Tracker, an independent project of the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF that analyzes U.S. healthcare spending.

“It haunts people, haunts their credit reports,” Goins told EWTN News. “So I was also praying about that biblical concept of the year of favor, the year of favor from the Lord, how that debts were to be forgiven. Those who were in debt bondage were to be redeemed in that year of favor. Christ, of course, is the year of favor for us. But I wanted to do something on the parish level to address the problem.”

Goins discussed the matter with his parish administrator, Sharon Blakely, who located the nonprofit organization Undue Medical Debt, which uses donated dollars to purchase bundles of unpaid medical debt at a fraction of the price from hospitals, health systems, and debt collectors.

Daniel Lempert, Undue’s vice president of communications, told EWTN News: “We purchase these debts for pennies on the dollar. We’re able to buy these debts so cheaply because they belong to those who are least able to pay — a sign of how broken our healthcare system is.”

“My target, my goal, was $10,000 from my parish. I asked them for $10,000. We did 10-bucks Sundays,” Goins said. “Everyone throw in 10 bucks, and weʼll try to raise this money. It caught fire and they gave us $25,000. So when all was said and done, we were instrumental in abolishing over $6.5 million in medical debt here in central Oklahoma in four counties.”

Lempert said: “The amount we pay reflects their value on the existing debt market. The difference is that we flip that market on its head for good and never collect a single penny.”

“On average, $1 donated abolishes about $100 of medical debt. Thatʼs what allowed St. Eugeneʼs $25,000 gift to erase over $6.5 million,” Lempert said about the partnership first reported by local outlet KFOR News.

Blakely said the parish organized the fundraiser around the Fourth of July holiday, calling it “250 years of America, let’s do a freedom from medical debt fundraising thing for the Fourth of July.”

She said parishioners responded fervently to the idea, sending in donations well after the deadline set at the end of June. “Weʼve had so many parishioners reach out to us telling us how there have been times in their lives where this could have like, totally, like saved them.”

“We want to challenge anybody, like anyone, to beat us,” Blakely said, calling for parishes across the country to make abolishing medical debt “a friendly competition.”

“Beat us, and then when we do it again next summer, weʼll try to beat you and letʼs just try to get rid of medical debt,” she said. “When we all help each other, itʼs really easy to get along in this world when weʼre all together.”

Goins echoed Blakely, adding that if parishes around the country would partner with nonprofits like Undue, the amount of debt that could be abolished would be “staggering.”

“I told our crowds, you know, that weʼre all just one ER visit away from a medical debt. It could happen to any one of us. Any one of us could be bankrupted by medical debt,” he said. “It has nothing to do with your character, it has nothing to do whether youʼre a hard worker or not, whether youʼre industrious, whether you save or not. It just happens and it ruins peopleʼs lives. So that struck a chord.”

“All Christians are called to be builders of Christʼs communion, formed in a synodal Church in which everyone cooperates in the same mission according to their own charism and ministry,” he said during the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ (LCWR) 70th anniversary celebration being held in Orlando, Florida, Aug. 11–14.

“In a special way, those in religious life are called to become experts in synodality due to the opportunities afforded by community life to practice it, as well as the very way that your congregations are organized,” he said.

The celebration, part of the group’s 2026 annual assembly, brings together women religious from Canada, the United States, and Latin America to foster fellowship and honor decades of ministry.

“Even though you come from communities with different histories and apostolates, it is important to remember the need to foster unity within and among your institutes as well as in the broader Church,” the pope said.

The gathering features numerous talks from religious women, reflections, and time in prayer and adoration.

The Holy Father further highlighted synodality in his message, sharing he “was pleased to learn that the assemblyʼs proceedings will include a synodal method of listening, discussion, and discernment, with an openness and a willingness to understand what others are saying.”

‘The Church needs you’

The Holy Father further expressed his gratitude for “the long-standing contributions” of religious institutions, highlighting their work in “the fields of evangelization, education, and caring for the poor and marginalized.”

“As you reflect on your theme of ‘Many Charisms, One Spirit, One Call,’ I pray that you will especially keep in mind the specific charisms entrusted by God to the founders and foundresses of your respective communities,” he said,

“The Church needs you and all of the diversity and richness of the forms of consecration and ministry that you represent, for with your vitality and the witness of a life centered on Jesus, you can contribute to waking up the world,” he said.

The Church needs you and all of the diversity and richness of the forms of consecration and ministry that you represent, for with your vitality and the witness of a life centered on Jesus, you can contribute to waking up the world.”

Pope Leo XIV

The Holy Father detailed that fostering religious vocations is of “vital importance.”

“Today, despite the increasing phenomenon of secularization in the world, there is also a growing hunger for God. Indeed, as I recently observed on my apostolic journey to Spain, ‘Many young people and adults are rediscovering the Christian faith, sometimes after having drifted away from God over a period of time,’” he said.

In conversation with young people, the Holy Father called on religious women and men “to seek ways to introduce them to your way of life and help them to hear the voice of the Lord, who speaks to us in the depths of our hearts.”

“Encourage them to be courageous in responding to Jesus, who is never outdone in generosity, so that they too may share the joy that comes from following his call,” he said.

Pope Leo concluded wishing the group “a fruitful gathering” and entrusted their work to the maternal protection of Mary, Mother of the Church.

The suit, brought in U.S. District Court by Bishop Thomas Paprocki, the Lutheran Care Center, and four Illinois-based doctors, argues that the Illinois “End-of-Life Options” law requires doctors to participate in helping patients kill themselves even if they conscientiously object to doing so.

“Health care entities,” meanwhile, must promote the “benefits” of the suicide law to patients even if they object to doing so, the suit says; those providers are also required to allow on-site practitioners to facilitate patient access to assisted suicide.

The lawsuit argues that both the doctors and the Lutheran nursing facility “[cannot] in good conscience comply” with the law. The suit also says that Paprocki is obligated to uphold the U.S. bishops’ Catholic health service directives that forbid Catholic health facilities from participating in assisted suicide.

In a press release from the Thomas More Society, which is representing the plaintiffs in the suit, Paprocki said Catholic healthcare is meant to advance “the healing work of Christ” and “affirm the God-given dignity of every human life.”

The state’s assisted suicide law “undermines that mission by forcing Catholic hospitals and those who serve in them to push death onto their most vulnerable patients,” the bishop said.

“We must be free to serve the sick and the dying according to our faith, not according to the state’s mandate,” he added.

Mary Keen, one of the physicians in the suit, said the state’s requirement for doctors to facilitate assisted suicide “violates everything I know as a health care professional, as well as my deeply held Catholic convictions on the dignity of every human life.”

“As a doctor, I have a responsibility to meet my patients’ existential pain with loving accompaniment, not with abandonment,” she said.

This is not the first lawsuit brought by Catholic objectors against an assisted suicide law in the U.S. In July, Rockville Centre Bishop John Barres and four communities of religious sisters filed a lawsuit against New York’s assisted suicide law, arguing the measure would force them to participate in helping patients kill themselves.

The state subsequently agreed not to force the sisters to participate in the suicide program while their lawsuit proceeds. The suicide law went into effect on Aug. 5.

Judge Paul Maloney granted the motion to reconsider Aug. 7 in light of the 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta. The Supreme Court decided 6-3 that a similar policy in California likely violated the parents’ First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion, which includes the right to direct the religious development of their children.

Similar to the California lawsuit, the two Michigan parents — Dan and Jennifer Mead — have argued that their views on gender and human sexuality are based on their Christian faith. The original lawsuit states that the Meads believe “each of us is born with a fixed biological sex that is a gift from God, not an arbitrary imposition subject to change.”

According to the lawsuit, their seventh-grade daughter asked school officials at the Rockford Public School District to refer to her with a masculine name and use male pronouns. School officials began doing this but never informed her parents, and the school counselor had discussed the daughter’s broader mental health struggles with her parents, the lawsuit states.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Kate Anderson, who represents the parents in court, said in a statement that “parents have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and healthcare of their children — without government interference.”

“By intentionally concealing this information from the Meads, the school district violated their constitutional rights as parents to make critical decisions about their daughter,” Anderson said. “The court’s ruling is a necessary step toward protecting the Mead family’s First Amendment rights.”

Steve Matthews, superintendent for Rockford Public Schools, told EWTN News “the legal process continues to proceed” and “we have no comment at this time as we continue through this process.”

Court proceedings continue

The lawsuit alleges that school officials began treating the Meads’ daughter as a boy in 2022. It states that the school used a masculine name and male pronouns when speaking with their daughter and in internal school records. Yet, they used her legal name and female pronouns when talking to her parents and in documents shared with parents, it states.

Her parents removed her from the school in October 2022 after school officials forgot to alter a document that used the masculine name and male pronouns before giving it to her parents, the lawsuit states. This is how the parents discovered the school’s practices.

The Meads filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging the school district violated their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the 14th Amendment’s protection of a parent’s right to raise his or her children.

In 2025, a federal court allowed the 14th Amendment claims to proceed but dismissed the First Amendment claims. On Aug. 7, 2026, the court granted a motion to reconsider First Amendment claims in light of the new Supreme Court precedent set in Mirabelli v. Bonta.

Maloney’s court order in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division states the Supreme Court ruling “calls into question the court’s interpretation of the relevant law and will grant the motion to reconsider.” It says the lawsuit filed in Mirabelli v. Bonta “involved school policies similar to the district’s policies here.”

“When a student engaged in gender transitioning at school, the policy prevented school staff from telling the student’s parents about their child’s situation unless the student consented,” the judge said of the Mirabelli v. Bonta decision.

“Like the policies at issue in Mirabelli, the policies here likely created a substantial burden on the Meads’ free-exercise rights,” the order adds. “The Meads share religious beliefs similar to the parents in Mirabelli about the permanency of biological sex and the fixed relationship between sex and gender.”

The judge’s order notes that the Rockford Public School District’s position is that its policies are designed “to meet [the district’s] interest in promoting student safety and success.” Yet, the court order states that the policies “do not factor in parents’ views and, as a result, they ‘cut’ parents out.”

Noel Sterett, ADF senior counsel, told EWTN News that Rockford’s policies are “not materially different from the policies that were struck down or considered likely unconstitutional” by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

He said school officials were “altering documents before they went home” and called that part of an “active effort to keep the [information] from the Meads.” He said her parents, in talks with the counselor, were trying to “actually help their daughter” with mental health struggles related to anxiety and depression and “get to the bottom of why she [was] struggling.”

In spite of the Supreme Court guidance, Sterett noted that many states and school districts are still “trying to defend policies that cut parents out and allow [school officials] to socially transition children.”

“Parents need to know about these policies,” he said. “... [And] wherever these policies are, we need to fight them.”

This story was updated at 1:33 p.m. ET on Aug. 12, 2026, with the quotes from Noel Sterett.

Unbound, an international nonprofit founded by lay Catholics and grounded in Catholic social teaching, centers its numerous programs on alleviating poverty by allowing families to identify their own priorities and lead their personal development.

The organization, which is approaching its 45th anniversary in November, helps families remain in charge through direct cash transfers. Since it was established, Unbound has raised $3 billion, $2.5 billion of which has gone directly into families’ bank accounts.

The findings draw from 13 years of evaluations across 16 countries, spanning programs focused on women’s empowerment, education, elder support, leadership development, and community engagement.

The evaluations serve as a way to examine what is working and where the organization can make changes and updates to better serve families.

Just like its programs, the evaluation process is “quite decentralized” with dozens of “local internal evaluators embedded within each program staff around the world,” Melissa Velazquez, vice president of program evaluation and learning at Unbound, told EWTN News.

The evaluations are “to really make sure that weʼre moving in a direction that is evidence based and helping us understand what works best,” Velazquez said. “First and foremost” the evaluations are “for the families and communities so that they can learn and grow, and we can learn and grow.”

They are also to show sponsors the benefits and success of Unbound’s mission and to show “others who might be working in the international development space,” Velazquez said.

“Our very loyal, longtime base of donors and sponsors are very connected to our work emotionally through their faith and through the power of our stories,” Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound, told EWTN News.

“Then the opportunity is very exciting to be able to turn now to our sponsors and donors and actually show … that impact,” Hufft said.

Data reveals increasing rates of women in leadership

In 2025, Unbound surveyed 2,329 women in Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Uganda, Kenya, and the Philippines. The research compared Unbound participants to women on the organization’s waiting list and adjusted for differences including age, education, and marital status.

It found that women in Unbound programs reported higher levels of confidence, more access to leadership opportunities, and greater financial inclusion.

The evaluations found that 70% of women participating in Unbound programs in Guatemala had a bank account registered in their names, compared with 24% of women with children on the organizationʼs sponsorship waiting list.

In Nairobi, Kenya, 60% of sponsored women accessed credit in the previous year compared with 34% of women on the waiting list.

Unbound also examined the outcomes of its numerous mothers groups, which are community-based support groups of parents or guardians with sponsored children in Unbound.

Through the organizationʼs Agents of Change program, the women make community-level decisions based on community needs with the help of grant money they receive after getting proposals approved.

“Unbound is so focused on household poverty, the elimination of that, and helping families … direct their own path. But we recognize that there are issues in the community,” Velazquez said. “So there are things that have to be worked on at a community level or a structural level.”

When evaluating the program, “we werenʼt just trying to count how many roads were paved or how many solar lights were installed. We were looking at empowerment outcomes for women,” Velazquez said.

The organization asked: “How many women felt confident to speak to authority? How many of them felt like leaders in the community? How many of them felt they actually had the power to make change?”

In Kampala, Uganda, women participating in the groups were 21 percentage points more likely to hold leadership positions than their nonparticipating counterparts.

A 2025 evaluation found that 74% of the participants feel they are involved in community decisions and make their community a better place to live. Also, 35% reported that they held a leadership position in their community since joining Unbound.

Due to the success, Unbound created an additional program, Agents of Change Kids. It will launch in 2027 to give children opportunities to develop community leadership as well as decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Evaluations reveal success for families, elders

Another evaluation addressed Unbound participants who use Poverty Stoplight, a poverty measurement tool. Families use green indicators to mark “no poverty,” yellow for “poverty,” and red for “extreme poverty” in numerous areas of poverty in their lives and then create pathways to improve each one.

A 2025 analysis found that nearly half of participating families have surpassed the 60% green threshold and over 60% have fewer than 10% red indicators.

Evaluations also showed positive updates within Unbound’s programs for elder support. It revealed that elderly participants reported less loneliness, stronger social connections, improved food security, and greater access to healthcare than nonparticipating elders.

It found 66% of participating elders reported receiving all needed medical care compared with only 40% of those not in Unbound. The outcomes for elders led the organization to increase its elder sponsorship in its 2030 strategic plan.

Next steps for Unbound

Unbound’s 2030 strategic plan, “Hope in Every Step: A Radical Journey to End Poverty,” is a guide of the organizationʼs work helping to eliminate global poverty by expanding the impact of its decentralized approach.

The plan was shaped by program partners across the globe. It highlights what Unbound wants to achieve, overarching goals, and strategic pillars it will use to measure the impact to eliminate poverty, empower women, advance education, build community, and promote well-being of all ages.

Ultimately, Unbound will continue its mission of family-led decision-making.

“I donʼt think that thereʼs anyone better positioned to understand what their family needs and how to prioritize between a lot of competing priorities with little resources and various time constraints and levels of urgency on it,” Hufft said. “No one, at the core, can do it like the family.”

The report, published July 27, alleged “a retreat of Western nations from human rights” like religious freedom, which has “contributed to widespread religious persecution affecting Christians and other faith communities worldwide.”

According to the authors, the U.S. and many European nations are prioritizing “hard interests,” which they called a shift “reverting to the historical norms of foreign affairs.” The report notes some specific changes seen in President Donald Trump’s second administration, which began in January 2025.

In what the authors called “the U.S. retreat,” they cited elements of the administration’s foreign policy. This included reductions to “funding and staffing” for agencies and nongovernmental organizations that support international religious freedom, the lack of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, and “weak congressional and executive prioritization.”

According to the report, this coincided with a foreign policy centered on “military force, economic power, and territorial security” and de-emphasizing “alliances, values, and soft-power tools.”

Specifically, they note Trump’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which included international religious freedom initiatives, and the suspension of the refugee resettlement program, to which victims of religious persecution previously had access.

It states that USAID’s functions and its staff have been reduced “to the minimum level required by statute” and the Department of State’s human rights initiatives were shifted to its regional bureaus, “which lacked relevant expertise and typically prioritized relationship-maintenance over rights concerns.” It states the International Religious Freedom Office was “demoted” and incorporated into the State Department’s broader human rights bureau and faced staffing cuts.

The report notes the administration has not disclosed how many international religious freedom programs were cut. However, it cited the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) 2026 annual report that concluded “a significant portion” had been terminated.

According to the Dallas Baptist University report, cuts included programs that “counter restrictive laws, support early warning systems for religious violence, promote interfaith dialogue, document violations, provide emergency assistance to religious freedom activists, and provide humanitarian aid to persecuted communities.”

“As the largest financial supporter of international religious freedom efforts, the U.S. government’s abrupt halt and subsequent cuts to its IRF-related assistance harmed the programs’ beneficiaries and implementers, and undercut the IRF advocacy community,” it adds.

The report notes European states followed the U.S. lead by cutting its own foreign assistance, which included initiatives that promote international religious freedom.

It also expresses concern that the position for U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom has remained vacant throughout Trump’s second term after his nominee did not secure a Senate confirmation. The State Department also has not released its annual International Religious Freedom report in 2025, it notes, which is required by law.

Alternatively, the report gives the Trump administration credit for designating Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations, which prompted its government to engage with the U.S. to address problems. It also cited a visa policy that bans individuals who have directed, authorized, supported, or participated in violations of religious freedom.

State Department disputes characterization

In a statement provided to EWTN News, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S., under Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is focused on international religious freedom and has “re-established the United States as a global leader” in defending the right domestically and abroad.

“Under this Administration, the Department of State has made unprecedented advances in accountability by revoking visas from violators of religious freedom and pushing action to defend people of faith around the world,” the spokesperson said. “From our global visa actions, to our public defense of Christians targeted for silent prayer in the United Kingdom, to our designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, we are once again standing up for people of faith in no uncertain terms.”

“The Department unapologetically affirms religious freedom as our nation’s first freedom,” the spokesperson added. “We are also committed to direct advocacy at all levels on behalf of prisoners of conscience.”

Alberto Fernández, an EWTN contributor and former diplomat, told EWTN News that he thinks the U.S. focus on international religious freedom is “far more nuanced” than the report suggests, arguing that religious freedom advocacy always took a back seat in U.S. diplomacy.

Fernández said religious freedom concerns have always been “an add-on” to U.S. diplomatic negotiations, as opposed to a top priority, saying it has always “struggled to get attention.” He said U.S. diplomats may “raise a religious freedom issue,” but “it will be one of a dozen issues that is raised with a specific country.”

He also disputed USAID’s focus on international religious freedom, saying when he was serving in government for more than two dozen years until 2015, the agency “had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do [anything about religious freedom],” adding: “It’s not something they wanted to do; it was something they had to be forced to do.”

Under Trump, he noted that the administration has prioritized religious freedom with the new government in Syria, has made religious freedom in Nigeria a priority, and has advocated on behalf of Orthodox Christians in Turkey, encouraging the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary, which the Turkish government shut down in 1971.

“It’s always going to be an issue that’s going to fight for attention at the table,” Fernández said, adding that “people need to keep pushing it … in their interactions with administrations.”

The legislation signed Aug. 10 removes all of the state’s restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. An elective late-term abortion may be done based upon “the professional judgment of the physician” performing it, under the law.

“It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year. Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey’s approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.

The state Senate sent the legislation to Healey’s desk on July 31 for her signature.

Under the previous statute, state law allowed abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy if a physician says it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman, because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis, or because the fetus wouldn’t likely survive outside the uterus.

“Today, mothers and fathers and families who experience these devastating diagnoses — and they are devastating, heartbreaking — now theyʼll be able to make their own choices,” Healey said at a press conference on Aug. 10.

Healey and supporters of the measure said the change in the law was needed because Massachusetts hospitals were increasingly refusing to provide abortions for women who already qualified for post‑24‑week abortions under existing law and that doctors needed clearer authority to reaffirm that medical judgment governs late‑term abortion decisions.

Healey, who is an outspoken supporter of abortion access, has served as the state’s governor since 2023.

Responding to the enacted legislation, Dannenfelser urged that the GOP “must abandon the ‘leave it to the states’ position — a stance that permits egregious late-term abortion laws like this one — and advance national protections for unborn children.”

SBA Pro-Life America highlighted that abortions done during the second and third trimesters are generally done by dismemberment of the baby or labor, noting that inducing labor may result in a live birth.

“Without a minimum national standard, the United States remains 1 of only 8 countries worldwide that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy,” Dannenfelser said.

According to a 2024 study from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, 46 of 50 countries in Europe limit abortion after 15 weeks –– a point by which the baby feels pain. The institute also found that over 60,000 abortions occur after 15 weeks each year.

“We must do all we can to turn the page on America’s ugly chapter of late-term abortion,” Dannenfelser said.

The research published in March explored if there were links between what societies value — such as independence and community — and anxiety disorder rates among children and adolescents over three decades.

The study by Leonard Konstantin Kulisch, Ana Lorena Domínguez Rojas, Silvia Schneider, and Babett Voigt analyzed preexisting records and data during the years 1989 to 2022 from the World Value Survey, Global Burden of Disease study, Human Development Report, and Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.

The research found an emphasis on independence was linked to higher anxiety rates in “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) nations, while a greater emphasis on religious faith and interdependence correlated with less anxiety disorders globally.

It also found that the importance of religious faith in socialization, and its link to interdependence, was associated with fewer anxiety disorders across 70 of the countries examined.

The study did not compare religious versus nonreligious people or compare specific countries.

While the effect sizes were small, it did find that “in countries where emphasis on religious faith in childrearing declined, youth anxiety rose,” Brandon Vaidyanathan, professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News.

Country-based disparities

In WEIRD nations, the societies that have norms that are oriented toward independence were associated with more anxiety disorders, but the analyses found no significant association among the non-WEIRD countries.

In “developing societies [a] shift toward independence accompanies gains in growth and quality of life that may offset its psychological costs, but in already developed societies, it may only intensify competition and achievement-pressure,” Vaidyanathan explained.

“The difference between WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies on the independence finding is quite interesting, and the authors suggest that it is stage-dependent,” Vaidyanathan said.

“But religion is universal in providing goods that do not depend on development stage” including “belonging, order, meaning, purpose, routine.”

Family versus society predictors

The study reports that religious socialization may serve as “a protective factor” against anxiety issues in children and adolescents, which “is at the communal level much more than the individual level,” Vaidyanathan said.

So much so that the U.S. data suggested the societyʼs religious norms predicted childrenʼs anxiety better than the motherʼs own beliefs.

“The religiosity of the surrounding social environment was a stronger predictor of childrenʼs anxiety level than the familyʼs own faith, suggesting the protection comes from the society more than family,” Vaidyanathan said.

The global protective factor was not communal values in general but religious faith specifically, which Vaidyanathan called “textbook sociology” of religion.

“Since Durkheim, sociologists have shown that integration into [a] shared moral community buffers individuals from anomie” or “normlessness,” he said.

“Where the community has clear norms, attachments, obligations, limits … the individual doesnʼt have to shoulder the burden of ordering life themselves —which is where anxiety comes in.”

“Thatʼs why the protection is at the group level more than individual or family level, and that is what gets eroded in a secularized society,” he said.

Vaidyanathan also pointed to Peter Berger, a sociologist and Protestant theologian who coined the term “plausibility structures,” which are the social, cultural, and institutional environments that make certain values or religious beliefs seem believable and normal to a group of people.

Bergerʼs “famous concept of ‘plausibility structures’ helps us understand that a religious framework reduces anxiety, only while the surrounding society keeps it plausible — when the surrounding community keeps talking and living as if it were true.”

“When that fails, religion becomes one option among many and even a devout householdʼs commitment to their faith is not enough to shield a child in that society. So this is why community norms [or] religiosity matters much more than family belief,” Vaidyanathan said.

The music group’s latest project, “Strange Land,” was released as a surprise drop just a couple of days into their summer tour, offering listeners a blend of deep theological reflection and traditional Americana music.

The surprise drop decision was driven largely by their demanding schedules. After writing and recording the tracks a year prior, the postproduction process had to fit around their primary duties as “hounds of the Lord.”

“The postproduction process just takes a while because we are all full-time preachers and teachers and chaplains and pastors,” said Dominican Father Justin Bolger, who spoke with the National Catholic Register, the sister news partner of EWTN News, along with his band brothers while on the road.

“After this kind of two-week stint that we do in the summer, the music takes a backseat to that ... So it kind of came out when it came out.”

Musically, “Strange Land” ranges from spiritual anthems like “In-A-My Soul” and “Gloria” to playfully titled tracks like “Garrigou” and “Good Old Elvis.”

Dominican Father Thomas Joseph White, one of the founding members of the band who also serves as rector at the Angelicum in Rome, noted that the variety reflects the band’s distinct personalities while remaining grounded in shared themes.

“There are some themes that show up, like pilgrimage and hope and struggle, that are in all the songs,” he explained. “It’s very consistent with what we’ve done on other albums, and it just comes out organically or naturally from our songwriting.”

The record marks a step forward in technical execution for the ensemble.

White described the album as representing a “slightly higher echelon of musical sophistication,” aided by tighter harmonies and complex arrangements. Unlike previous albums where the friars handled all engineering themselves in retreat houses, they hired a professional recording engineer for “Strange Land.”

“It frees up more of the band to just focus on the music and to collaborate and just have that be the focus,” Bolger added.

That spirit of collaboration is rooted deeply in their shared Dominican vocation. “We’ve known each other for years, and we’re all united in the Dominican order, so it just makes for a real atmosphere of ease,” said Dominican Father Jonah Teller, describing the mutual trust involved when bringing personal songs to the group.

As the band’s popularity grows, so does a devoted grassroots fan base. White observed a natural overlap between people interested in Catholic intellectual life — such as participants in the Thomistic Institute — and fans of their bluegrass music.

That enthusiasm has even spilled over into unofficial merchandise crafted by fans. At recent shows, custom fan art has begun to emerge, including T-shirts designed by a college student featuring torch-bearing dogs alongside the caption “I’m a dog for my Lord,” as well as custom “Good Tree” hats.

“You do see some kind of fan art emerge at these shows, which is charming,” Bolger noted.

White deadpanned that the order was engaged in a “very serious lawsuit” to confiscate the student’s assets and protect its intellectual property, prompting laughter from the rest of the band.

The group’s reach has extended all the way to the Vatican.

Recalling a past meeting with Pope Leo XIV, White shared that while most gifts were set aside, the pontiff asked to keep The Hillbilly Thomists’ CDs close by.

“So I don’t know if he listens to them, but I do know he made the point of keeping them,” White joked, adding: “It’s unclear at this point in time whether any of our lyrics will be quoted in forthcoming encyclicals, but there’s some speculation.”

When asked about playing traditional American folk and bluegrass music, especially as the nation celebrates 250 years of independence, singer and mandolin player Dominican Father Austin Litke pointed out the unique place the band occupies within the genre.

“The Christian part of American culture has not always been predominantly Catholic,” Litke noted.

“To be able to take up that form of music and infuse it with Catholic doctrine, Catholic culture, and certainly Thomistic culture ... we hope is part of the genius of the creativity that’s come out of our fraternal work.”

The 11-show tour concludes on Saturday, Aug. 8, fittingly on the feast of St. Dominic, with a performance alongside the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia at the Dominican Campus in Nashville, Tennessee.

As for how fans can support the new release, Bolger kept his message simple: “Let all the old people and the young people know that they can find it on Spotify.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

“What we’ve come to understand is that mental illness has really come to the forefront as a very big factor in those who are experiencing homelessness,” , told “EWTN News Nightly” on Aug. 7.

“Over the years itʼs been addiction, both alcohol and narcotic kind, and then just traumatic family events, death of a loved one, things like that,” he said. “But the largest number in recent years is really dealing with mental health.”

The Atlantic City Rescue Mission is one of the nationʼs oldest homeless outreach centers, providing shelter, meals, addiction recovery, job training, mental health services, and long-term support for individuals experiencing homelessness.

“Weʼre the largest shelter in southern new Jersey,” Brown said. “An interesting note, during COVID, we were the only shelter that actually remained open during the whole time of COVID. So we really have seen it all.”

The Vatican released a message July 30 urging the United Nations to include the homeless in efforts to create sustainable cities, stating that the “persistence of homelessness should trouble the conscience of the international community.”

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s annual Point-In-Time (PIT) report, 745,652 people were homeless in the U.S. in 2025, including 266,320 people living on the street on a single night in January 2025. While the total number of homeless people in the U.S. has increased by 27% since 2013, the number decreased by 3% from 2024 to 2025.

Ultimately, when addressing the underlying causes of homelessness, Brown emphasized the need to provide hope to those who arrive at the mission.

“When someone steps through the doorway into the mission, itʼs their worst day,” he said. “Our job is to serve them as weʼve been called to be servants to the poor and servants to the homeless, which is to really provide them with hope.”

“If we just feed and house and donʼt share the Gospel, weʼve really done an injustice to that individual. So thatʼs paramount,” Brown said.

“In Australia, the strain on social cohesion has been made painfully visible by a disturbing rise in antisemitism,” the statement said, citing the Bondi Beach shooting attack and other forms of targeting that have “left many to feel unsafe in places that should be secure, such as schools, synagogues, streets, and public events.”

“Such hatred is an affront to God,” the bishops said, calling on Catholics to live the Gospel by remaining close to Christ through prayer and the sacraments, encountering other cultures with openness, and “exercising restraint in what we say — especially online — rejecting gossip, slander, dehumanizing labels, and sharing unverified claims.” 

Canadian military bishop says prayer restrictions came after insufficient consultation

Bishop Scott McCaig of the Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate of Canada said members of the Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy were not included in the drafting of new policies that restrict prayer at official ceremonies.

McCaig said the Department of National Defence drafted the policy without consulting members and that they were asked to assist only with “word-crafting” and “final touches,” according to a report from the Catholic Register on Aug. 6.

“There are a number of us who are very concerned about the lack of consultation,” the bishop said. Under the new policy, faith leaders are not allowed to include faith-specific language in spiritual reflections at public events, the report said.

Syrian authorities release Kurdish evangelical pastor

Syrian authorities have released the Rev. Nihad Hassan, pastor of the Kurdish Evangelical Church in Beirut, following two weeks in detention.

His attorney said Hassan’s vehicle and personal belongings were also returned, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported.

The pastor had traveled through official crossings to his hometown in the Afrin region before security personnel detained him the following day. A criminal investigation reportedly accused him of publishing online material offensive to a religion or its sacred rites and of provoking sectarian tensions. The Kurdish Lawyers Union welcomed his release while calling for the protection of civil liberties, due process, and the rule of law.

Franciscan youth in Egypt make a ‘Passage to Life’

Egypt’s 33rd Franciscan youth journey marked the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s death with 10 days of retreat, prayer, and service held July 25 through Aug. 3.

For the first time, participants began their spiritual exercises in the Siwa Oasis, where silence and reflection offered space to consider their vocations and relationship with God, ACI MENA reported Aug. 6. Returning to Cairo, they visited Melkite, Maronite, and Chaldean Catholic churches; learned about the Dominican mission of Christian-Muslim dialogue; and served in shelters, elder-care homes, and medical institutions.

Father Mokhles Masri, who leads the initiative, said the theme “Passage to Life” presented St. Francis’ death as an entry into eternal life, while the accompanying motto, “Enlighten the darkness of my heart,” invited participants to encounter God’s light amid struggles with faith, hope, and love.

Swiss defense minister apologizes for draft law change affecting clergy

Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister has issued an apology for removing exemptions from military service for clergy members without consulting church leaders.

Pfister said in a July 21 letter that the Federal Council’s decision to end exemptions for clergy was “an oversight” and that church leaders should “unquestionably” have been consulted prior to the change going into effect on June 1.

“We ask your forgiveness,” he wrote. The Federal Council had defended the reform by arguing that the exemption had become obsolete. It said the provision was originally intended to ensure civilians would continue receiving spiritual care during wars and national emergencies.

In its reasoning, the government stated that “the increasing secularization of society means that fewer and fewer people feel connected to the Church’s offerings,” concluding that pastoral ministry can no longer be regarded as “an activity essential to maintaining social life.”

Saidnaya churches in Syria cancel feast celebrations

Christian parish committees in Saidnaya, Syria, have canceled public celebrations for several upcoming feasts in protest of the continued detention of local residents, ACI MENA reported.

Representatives of the Melkite Greek Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Syriac Orthodox communities said churches would hold prayers indoors but suspend festivities for the Transfiguration, Our Lady, the Cross, and Hagia Sophia until detainees are released, abducted residents return, and security concerns are addressed. Their joint statement also cited prolonged scrutiny of Saidnaya residents at the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing, online threats, and a rise in thefts and kidnappings.

The decision follows the cancellation of the Christian village of Marmarita’s annual carnival for a second consecutive year amid concerns about public safety.

Indonesian Catholics mourn last foreign missionary priest

Catholics on the eastern Indonesian island of Lembata bid farewell to their last foreign missionary priest, Father Nicholas Strawn, an American, who died on Aug. 4, according to UCA News. 

“We remember him as a priest who was very close to the people, willing to visit remote areas and greet us warmly, while reminding us to study well,” Anselmus Deri, a Catholic and journalist from Lembata, said in the report.

Strawn, 92, had served parishes in the Diocese of Larantuka since 1963, helping to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life, according to the report, which noted the diocese has about 50 priests and dozens of nuns.

Historical society to record interiors of more than 3,000 Irish churches

The Catholic Historical Society of Ireland is launching an initiative to digitally record the interiors of Catholic churches across Ireland.

The project will be carried out by Maynooth University and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, according to a report from the Catholic Herald on Aug. 4. The team of researchers will compile an online database of photos and other historical records that will be freely accessible for research purposes, the report said.

British historian to walk ‘In the Footsteps of the Martyrs’ for charity

The walk “In the Footsteps of the Martyrs” will take place in London on Sept. 13 in support of Aid to the Church in Need, the charitable organization announced on Aug. 6.

Historian and journalist Joanna Bogle will lead the walk along the Thames River retracing the path of Catholic martyrs in the Reformation era in solidarity with those suffering persecution today.

“Our Catholic story is richer than just the Catholic martyrs of the Reformation era, but we’re focusing on that to link with the millions of people globally who are being persecuted today,” Bogle said. “On the way we will pray and unite ourselves with people who suffered in the past and we are praying for people who are suffering for their faith today.”

The executive orders issued Aug. 6 direct the government to stop allowing foreign visitors to enter the United States on short‑term visas for the purpose of giving birth and impose a narrower limit on birthright citizenship after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a broader attempt to end citizenship for children born to people in the country temporarily or unlawfully.

One executive order would end automatic birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are not U.S. citizens and engage in a commercial transaction or fraudulent activity to ensure the mother is inside U.S. territory to give birth. It also would end birthright citizenship for a child born of a parent considered an “alien enemy,” including members of terrorist organizations.

A second executive order titled “Ending Birth Tourism” authorizes federal departments to implement rules that prevent the entry of pregnant foreign women seeking to give birth in the United States and allow removal if they enter the country. The order refers to noncitizens entering the U.S. for the purpose of giving birth on American soil and efforts from a foreign national to coordinate such entries.

Under existing State Department guidance, consular officers can deny a B‑1/B‑2 visitor visa if they believe the applicant’s primary purpose is to give birth in the U.S. to obtain citizenship for the child.

Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), criticized the birthright citizenship executive order in a statement to EWTN News.

“The Supreme Court has already spoken: birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution,” Gallagher said.

“This latest attempt by the Trump administration to circumvent settled law only creates needless fear and uncertainty for immigrant families,” she added. “Catholic social teaching calls us to uphold the dignity of every person and welcome the stranger — not seek new ways to exclude them.”

The USCCB has not taken a clear position on the executive orders yet, but it is monitoring how they are enforced and potential judicial proceedings.

“The USCCB supports the application of constitutional principles and the rule of law in a manner consistent with the God-given dignity of every human person,” USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi told EWTN News.

“We’re reviewing the executive orders and will continue to monitor for administrative actions taken and possible judicial proceedings concerning their implementation,” she said.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled the 14th Amendment of the Constitution protects automatic birthright citizenship with few exceptions. The protection extends to children who are born to people who are in the country unlawfully.

Although the majority opinion did not directly address “birth tourism,” it did clearly say birthright citizenship applies to the children of parents who are “unlawfully or temporarily present” in the country.

The “birth tourism” concern appeared in the dissents authored by both Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Alito, in his dissent, wrote that he believed the majority’s opinion protects birthright citizenship to “the children of ‘birth tourists,’” though saying he does not not agree with the ruling.

Thomas wrote in his dissent that people have taken advantage of birthright citizenship through “birth tourism” and said there are companies that “collect large fees from wealthy foreigners to facilitate their trips to give birth in the United States.”

However, in the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that words like “temporary” and “lawful” do not appear in the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment: “For a simple reason: they did not matter.”

Ashley Feasley, a legal expert for the Immigration Law and Policy Initiative at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News she believes the executive orders are “an attempt to undermine” the Supreme Court.

“Although they will almost certainly face legal challenge, in the interim they will place a profound burden on some of the most vulnerable migrants, pregnant women, and on the officers who work diligently to defend our borders,” she said.

“Requiring Department of Homeland Security officials to interrogate women, many of whom have legal visas, about their pregnancies, even turning them away from ports of entry without clearly defined criteria for doing so, risks harming both woman and unborn child and diverts DHS officers' attention from the vital missions of border security and trade facilitation,” Feasley said.

Legal challenges have not yet been filed.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, first announced by Paxton’s office in May, Texas Children’s, the largest children’s hospital in the United States, said it would no longer provide “gender-transition” interventions, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, to minors, per Texas law.

“This historic settlement is a resounding defeat for the radical gender ideology that has preyed on Texas children under the guise of ‘care,’” Paxton said in a press release Aug. 5.

Per the executed agreement, Texas Children’s “will pay a total of $10 million to resolve these claims,” with $8,576,000 going to the state of Texas. It will also fund, for five years, a detransition clinic offering free restorative medical care to patients who previously underwent such procedures. The clinic must open by the end of October.

“Texas Children’s has agreed to pay millions back to Texas,” Paxton said. “The detransition clinic, which is the first of its kind, must open within months. Activist doctors who harmed children have been fired.”

The agreement also required the permanent termination and revocation of privileges for five physicians who performed these interventions.

The hospital is permanently barred from rehiring or credentialing the doctors and must implement new compliance measures, including bylaw changes that will automatically revoke privileges for any physician who violates Texas law prohibiting such procedures on children.

“This settlement sends an unmistakable message,” Paxton said. “If you put radical ideology over childrenʼs health, my office will go after you. We will continue to lead the way in stopping the far-left’s radical gender agenda.”

The settlement agreement resolves a yearslong investigation of the hospital by the DOJ and the state of Texas that began after whistleblower allegations surfaced claiming the hospital had continued performing sex-change procedures on minors in secret even after state lawmakers made such procedures illegal.

The Justice Department said in May that the Houston-based hospital had agreed to pay millions in civil penalties and damages for allegedly falsely billing Medicaid and other insurers for “pediatric sex-rejecting procedures.”

The federal government had alleged that the hospital violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the False Claims Act, and federal fraud and conspiracy laws.

Following the publication of a directive by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that transgender procedures on minors that could be considered “child abuse” under existing state law, Texas Children’s announced in 2022 that it would cease “sex-change” therapies and procedures, citing concerns that these practices were potentially illegal.

In 2023 Texas passed a law that explicitly banned puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-transition surgeries for minors under 18.

Nevertheless, at least three doctors associated with Texas Children’s — Richard Roberts, David Paul, and Kristy Rialon — continued to perform “sex-rejecting” procedures on children throughout 2022 and 2023, according to whistleblower evidence published by Christopher Rufo, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Rufo claimed that Rialon had been performing surgeries on minors ranging in age from 15 to as young as 1.

Calling the settlement “historic,” Paxton said in May that it “will ensure that the deranged child mutilators who hurt our kids are fired and held accountable.”

According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the DOJ “will use every weapon at its disposal to end the destructive and discredited practice of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for children.”

The Department of Justice noted that Texas Children’s cooperated with the investigation and took proactive steps that contributed to the resolution. The claims resolved in the settlement remain allegations, with no determination of liability.

“I am grateful that Texas Children’s wants to be part of the solution and no longer the problem,” said Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division.

Hicks returned to St. Patrickʼs Cathedral to serve as the principal celebrant at the profession of vows of the Sisters of Life on Aug. 6, the feast of the Transfiguration. The day also marked the six-month anniversary of his installation as archbishop of New York.

After only being able to celebrate Mass privately following surgery, “it was a great joy to be back at the main altar and to share that beautiful occasion with the Sisters of Life, their families, and friends,” Hicks wrote in a statement.

After returning from a pilgrimage to Rome in the beginning of July, Hicks was diagnosed with a detached retina in his left eye. He underwent surgery involving “a vitrectomy, two sutures to reattach the retina, and the insertion of a gas bubble,” to aid the healing process.

The surgery was successful, but the archbishop has been in a quiet recovery period since, he said.

“Thanks be to God, my eye and vision continue to heal from the surgery. I am deeply grateful for the excellent medical care I have received,” Hicks said. “Following doctors' orders, I have been taking things slowly during my recovery. As many of you know, that is not always easy for me.”

While the gas bubble is in his eye, Hicks shared he is unable to travel by airplane but will “gradually and carefully” add public Masses and other responsibilities to his schedule.

“I look forward to being with you more frequently in the weeks ahead,” he said.

“This period of recovery has also been a gift. It has provided more time than usual to sit quietly before the Lord in prayer. In the stillness, I have been reminded once again how much we all depend on Godʼs grace each day,” he wrote.

“During these weeks, I have also been praying for you and your intentions, and will continue to do so,” he said. “Please, also, continue to pray for me. Your prayers are the greatest gift you can offer me at this time, and I am deeply grateful for each one.”

“May the Lord Jesus, who healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and brought hope to those in need, bless you with light, peace, and love,” he concluded.

Blanche, who is currently the acting attorney general nominated to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi, made the commitment during a July 30 phone call with pro-life leaders, which was leaked online.

The nominee specifically said he intends to protect pro-life states from outside organizations that mail chemical abortion drugs into pro-life states where the drugs are illegal. Some states, such as New York and California, have enacted policies or laws to prevent prosecutions of abortionists who engage in that practice.

“If states have said we are … going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception, we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that and they can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs and things like that,” Blanche said on the call.

“It’s a process that takes a lot of time, and that’s why it’s been 19 months and we don’t have complete victory yet, but we will have victory and victory will be soon and it will be permanent and that’s the important thing [for] everybody [to] remember,” he said.

Blanche said this will be part of the administration’s efforts “to get permanent solutions so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.” The Dobbs decision reversed Roe v. Wade and allowed states to restrict abortion.

He said he is also working with agencies and the White House to reverse “the pro-abortion work” of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

To be elevated to the position officially, Blanche needs to be confirmed by a simple majority in the Senate.

Kansas voters reject referendum

Voters in Kansas overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that had support from pro-life leaders in the state, with 61.4% opposed and only 38.6% in support of it.

The referendum itself was not about abortion. Rather, it would have made the state’s Supreme Court justices democratically elected. In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution guarantees a right to abortion, and pro-life advocates saw the proposed change as an opportunity to combat that interpretation.

Kansans for Life Executive Director Peter Northcott told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” on July 30 that the Kansas Supreme Court “is one of the reasons why abortions have tripled over the last five years” and the amendment would have allowed “the opportunity to have a fair day in court.”

3 Planned Parenthood locations in Michigan shut down

Planned Parenthood of Michigan announced it will close three locations, citing a loss in federal funding as the cause. The locations closing are in Lansing, Livonia, and Warren.

“We have to reshape how we deliver care so Planned Parenthood of Michigan can continue serving patients for generations to come,” Paula Thornton Greear, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said in a statement.

“That means concentrating our resources at regional access points and procedural sites and continuing to expand virtual care across Michigan,” she said.

Chemical abortions in Missouri

A Planned Parenthood affiliate in Springfield, Missouri, has begun to offer chemical abortions at its location.

Sam Lee, the executive director of Campaign Life Missouri and a Catholic deacon, called the development “very distressing news” in a statement.

“Because of the passage of the amendment in 2024 and the ruling by Judge [Jerri] Zhang last month, it’s clear that Planned Parenthood is greatly expanding their abortion activity, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they start doing abortions at even more clinics in Missouri,” he said.

Lee said this news shows that it is “essential” that the people of Missouri pass Amendment 3, which would repeal the 2024 referendum that established a state-level constitutional right to abortion.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said Deacon Kenneth Goedeke was arrested after arranging a meeting with what he believed was a 15-year-old boy.

Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said in an official statement on Aug. 6 that the 45-year-old Goedeke had been communicating with an undercover detective rather than an underage boy. He was charged with two counts of soliciting a minor.

Gahler in the statement said he was “angry” and “disgusted” but added that he was “deeply thankful” to detectives for “intervening before a child was harmed.”

In a separate statement on Aug. 6, the Archdiocese of Baltimore confirmed Goedeke’s arrest and said it had “removed Goedeke’s faculties to function as a deacon and suspended him from ministry and employment” pending the results of the investigation.

The archdiocese said the charges were “not related to anyone at the parishes or schools” where Goedeke served. He was ordained as a deacon in 2023, the archdiocese said, and he passed a “thorough employment screening” including background checks and a fingerprint criminal history check.

In his statement, Gahler expressed “anger and resolve, and an unwavering commitment to the safety of our children.”

He urged parents to talk to their children not only about Goedeke’s arrest but “about the broader dangers posed by trusted adults who misuse their positions and by online predators who target our youth.”

Under Maryland law, Goedeke faces up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $75,000.

Oklahoma established a charter school system in 1999, which provides public funds for privately run K–12 schools to which parents can send their children instead of a public school operated by a school district. The law only allows “nonsectarian” applicants, which prevents any participation from schools that have a religious identity.

In 2023, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board (SCSB) approved an application from a proposed Catholic charter school — St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School — which led to a legal challenge from Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who opposed religious charter schools.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court sided against the school, finding that charter schools are public schools and that public schools must be secular. St. Isidore appealed this to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that resulted in a 4-4 deadlock with no majority opinion because Justice Amy Coney Barrett had a conflict of interest and recused herself.

Amid no clear guidance from the federal courts, a Jewish organization — National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation — filed an application to set up a charter school, which was denied. The group, represented by lawyers at the Becket Fund, filed a new lawsuit and asked a federal district court to require the SCSB to consider religious applicants.

“Oklahoma makes room in its charter program for schools of all shapes and sizes, from those focused on science and fine arts to language immersion and classical education,” Daniel Chen, a Becket attorney representing the Jewish foundation, said in a statement.

“The one it refuses to make room for is a faith-based school,” Chen added. “That is religious discrimination, plain and simple, and the state deserves a failing grade for it.”

Chen told EWTN News that Becket is asking the federal court to immediately allow National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation to set up a charter school, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent that requires government programs to allow religious institutions the same access as secular institutions.

“They’re private actors,” he said. “And because they’re private actors, they cannot be excluded from participating in a public benefits program.”

Chen said the federal district court is not bound by the precedent of the Oklahoma Supreme Court because that is a state court, so it could rule in favor of the school. He also said if the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, he hopes Barrett can weigh in to break the 4-4 deadlock.

“We’re hoping that [for] our case, there wouldn’t have to be any recusals,” he said.

School board’s hands are tied

Although the charter school board denied the application from the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, one of its lawyers at First Liberty Institute explained to EWTN News that its hands are tied by the statute and the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision.

“They’re following that order,” said Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty and the lawyer representing SCSB. “But [they] would be happy if the federal court didn’t [require the school board] to engage in that kind of discrimination.”

Sasser said the SCSB does not want to exclude an applicant “simply because it’s religious” and would rather evaluate applicants “just based on the merits.” But he said the order “makes them exclude religious schools just because they’re religious.”

“They want to maximize all of the various choices and opportunities for parents,” he added.

Sasser said he hopes the question goes to the U.S. Supreme Court again so “we’ll get an answer — a real answer.” He said it would provide more clarity for the school board, which “needs an answer.”

John Meiser, director of the Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic at the University of Notre Dame and the lawyer who represented St. Isidore at the Supreme Court, told EWTN News that the question ultimately comes down to whether charter schools are private or public institutions.

In Oklahoma, he said charter schools “are called public schools” and that label “introduces a confusion that I don’t think would be present if they chose any other word.”

He said Supreme Court precedent is clear that religious institutions must have equal access to government programs available to private institutions, but if a charter school is a “government school,” that “doesn’t apply” because the government “doesn’t and can’t run religious schools.”

In spite of the label, Meiser said charter schools in Oklahoma are “formed and designed and run by private groups” and people who work there “are private employees.” He said the structure “looks just like a government contract” and funding from the government “doesn’t turn all those private contractors into the government itself.”

“The dispute is really just about, ‘Well is a charter school in some way different?’” he said.

Although Meiser said he is not aware of any ongoing Catholic efforts to recreate a charter school, he said that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s constitutional arguments for equal access “would presumably apply to all religious operators of schools, and so it would open the door to a Catholic charter school or other religiously based charter school.”

Attorney general stands firm

Drummond, who remains Oklahoma’s attorney general, is standing firm in opposing the creation of religious charter schools and is fighting against National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s efforts.

"This matter was resolved when the state Supreme Courtʼs ruling to prevent taxpayer funded religious charter schools was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year,” Leslie Berger, press secretary for the attorney general’s office, told EWTN News.

Drummond has also criticized the charter school board in public statements surrounding this legal battle in March, accusing the SCSB of “playing politics with the taxpayers' money” and alleged it “manipulated the record [about why National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s application was rejected] to make that lawsuit easier to lose — not win.”

"A state agency that deliberately hobbles its own legal position is not doing its job — it is betraying Oklahoma taxpayers,” he said. “I will not allow that.”

Drummond has garnered support from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) for opposing the creation of religious charter schools.

Attorneys for FFRF are representing seven Oklahomans who oppose their tax money being used to support religious charter schools.

“The federal court should rule according to constitutional principles,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. “A religious public charter school has no place in our secular public education system.”

It’s unclear when the federal court will issue its ruling, but National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation has asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction against the state so it can begin operating a school while the litigation plays out.