“We gather not first to celebrate ourselves, but to consecrate, to entrust… and to place our whole nation into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ,” Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said in his homily.

The liturgy took place on the final day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary meeting, during the nation’s 250th anniversary year.

In the hours leading up to the Mass, bishops concluded their assembly with reflections that centered on the meaning of devotion to the Sacred Heart in contemporary life.

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, described the devotion as a response to modern forms of spiritual strain, including loneliness and the pressure to measure personal worth by achievement or failure. Drawing on Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos, he said contemporary culture often unsettles identity itself.

“The Sacred Heart of Jesus answers that question decisively,” Sample said. “When we know that we are loved by Christ, we no longer need to build our identity on achievements or failures.”

He added that devotion to the Sacred Heart offers freedom from fear, self-centeredness, despair, and superficiality while also calling believers to bring that love into public life. “The world needs witnesses whose hearts resemble the heart of Jesus,” he said.

Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, reflected on the Sacred Heart as a source of communion within the Church, emphasizing that unity within the Church is not built on shared preference but on divine initiative and grace. He described the Church as “a brotherhood not created by personal preference, affinity, or ideology but by the providence of God and the will of Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis pointed to the devotion as a path of interior renewal grounded in prayer and sacramental life. Citing St. John Henry Newman’s phrase “cor ad cor loquitur” (“heart speaks to heart”), he said the deepest encounter with Christ takes place in a personal, interior communion shaped by prayer and the Eucharist.

Shortly before the Mass, bishops spent time in Eucharistic adoration and benediction and venerated the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the 17th-century French nun whose visions helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the Church.

‘The Sacred Heart does not divide’

In his homily, Lori placed the consecration within the broader moral and spiritual tensions of Church and national life, framing it as an act of trust rather than achievement.

“To love as Christ loves is the true measure of Christian discipleship, and it is the true measure of our humanity,” he said.

He acknowledged that this measure has often not been lived out. “Indeed, it has sometimes obscured it almost beyond recognition,” he said, noting the reality of division, sin, and failure alongside moments of grace.

Lori said the act of entrustment is not an assertion of strength but an admission of dependence on mercy. “We cannot come to the heart of Christ while pretending we have no need of his mercy,” he said.

The future, he emphasized, cannot ultimately be secured by human systems or planning. “The future belongs to God, not to political movements, economic forces, or human plans,” he said.

He then described the Sacred Heart as the source of reconciliation itself, not merely a devotional image but a living reality that reshapes those who turn to it.

“The Sacred Heart does not divide, it reconciles,” he said. “It does not harden hearts, it transforms them. It does not simply invite us to receive love; it sends us forth to share it.”

Reflecting on the Gospel, he described Christ as fully entering the human condition with “a heart that has known joy and sorrow, friendship and betrayal, suffering and sacrifice.”

“The Sacred Heart reveals a savior who desires not merely our obedience, but our friendship,” he said. “Not simply our service, but our communion with him.”

That communion, he added, is meant to shape the whole of Christian life. “To remain in his love and allow that love to shape everything we do,” he said.

Prayer of entrustment

Following the homily, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, led the solemn prayer of consecration, placing the moment within a wider historical and theological tradition.

He recalled that 127 years earlier Pope Leo XIII consecrated the human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, presenting the Orlando liturgy as a continuation of that same act of entrustment.

“In that same spirit, we now consecrate the United States of America,” Coakley said, noting that Christ “in his own blood has removed all divisions and made of many nations one people of God.”

He led repeated invocation throughout the prayer: “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.”

The consecration prayer addressed Christ as the “Desire of Nations and Center of History,” asking him to bless the United States, heal the nation’s wounds, and bring reconciliation, justice, and peace where they are lacking.

It also gave thanks for the blessings bestowed upon the country, affirmed the dignity of every person as a gift from the Creator, and made reparation for offenses against God and human dignity.

The prayer further asked that the Church in the United States be a visible sign of Christ’s presence in the world, pointing “all people to [his] infinite love.” It prayed for peace in families and communities, the reconciliation of broken relationships, the repair of injustices, and the healing of the nation through a deeper union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

‘A powerful moment in our national story’

President Donald Trump also issued a message marking the consecration, calling it “a powerful moment in our national story” and linking it to Bishop John Carroll’s post-Revolutionary consecration of the United States to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

He described the moment as part of a broader spiritual inheritance, noting that American history has long been shaped by public expressions of faith.

“As Catholic bishops consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this 250th year of our independence, we recommit ourselves,” he said, calling for renewed attention to the nation’s “spiritual identity and great civilizational inheritance.”

Trump called the consecration “a poignant reminder that America has always been guided by the loving hand of God,” framing it as both reflection and renewal during the semiquincentennial year.

The bishops discussed engagement with the novena at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 11. The Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena is a nine-year novena called for by Pope Francis in 2022 that anticipates the fifth centennial of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031.

“We will celebrate 500 years since the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and at the same time, all of the graces we continue even now to experience under her patronage,” Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn, New York, chair of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, said at the meeting.

The bishops of Mexico have been preparing for the quincentennial celebration  and in the past year invited the U.S. bishops' conference to participate in the celebration, Brennan said.

“The Mexican bishops are, together with the Vatican through the Pontifical Council for Latin America, calling this a … novena of years,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of San José, California, chair of the USCCB Subcommittee on Hispanic and Latino Affairs.

“There is much depth to be plumbed for us in our diocese and our communities in these five years that remain for this novena,” he said.

As St. John Paul II said in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America: “In blessed Mary, upon whom we see an impressive example of a perfectly inculturated evangelization.”

“Those are words that should echo in our hearts as we seek to evangelize our own churches in the United States,” Cantu said.

Cantu said bishops should reflect and ask, “How do we take the methodology that Mary used 500 years ago and adapt it to our own needs in the culture … in the 21st century here in the United States?” Cantu said bishops should consider not “only the message but the methodology of Mary.”

Cantu recalled Pope Leo addressed the Theological Congress a few months ago in Mexico City, saying Our Lady of Guadalupe is a lesson in divine pedagogy on the inculturation of saving truth. "‘La Morentia’ manifests Godʼs way of drawing close to his people,” Pope Leo said.

Plan for pastoral activity

Following the pope’s call, “the Subcommittee on Hispanic Latino Affairs is proposing three phases in the coming years for our pastoral activity, and weʼve looked to weave them into already existing activities,” Cantu said.

He proposed “Phase 1 of missionary activity in our dioceses and parishes … would lead up to the Eucharistic congress that is being planned nationally.”

The subcommittee proposed “having a tilma for each diocese that would be given to each ordinary for veneration in the cathedral … or in a designated place by the bishop,” he said. “The tilma can be used as a missionary presence to journey from parish to parish, or to key places in each diocese.”

The tilma would be “an exact replica of the original" and it will be “touched to the original, so it becomes a third-class relic,” Cantu said.

“Phase 2 would include the time from the National Eucharistic Congress to the Jubilee 2031, which will be the 500th anniversary,” he said. It would be initiated by the National Eucharistic Congress and would “then continue pilgrimages from parish to parish using the tilma that would go to each diocese,” he said.

Phase 3 would focus on “jubilee celebrations,” including the “2031 Jubilee to the ... great jubilee of the 2,000 years of redemption,” he said.

Then “we are proposing some kind of national celebration for 2031,” he said. “Weʼre not sure what that would look like,” but “we would certainly like to be in dialogue with the administration of the USCCB in that regard.”

“We already know there will be an international celebration in Mexico City” and “we know that Pope Leo has been invited to participate,” Cantu said. “He has not responded yet … But weʼre pretty sure that he will be there.”

“Martyrdom truly belongs to the heart of Christianity,” said the Swiss prelate, who made his remarks in late May during the annual pilgrimage for persecuted Christians organized by the Swiss branch of ACN at the Einsiedeln Benedictine Abbey.

Koch, who has led the organization since November 2025, when he was appointed by Pope Leo XIV, is also the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican.

Reaffirming the pontifical foundation’s commitment to helping persecuted Christians, Koch emphasized that martyrdom is not merely a phenomenon of the past but remains “a lived reality for countless Christians around the globe,” ACN reported.

The cardinal also highlighted the witness of the many Christians persecuted worldwide: “Dictators do not distinguish between Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, or Protestants.”

“Christians are not persecuted because they belong to a particular church but because of their faith in Christ. The blood that has been shed unites Christians beyond their divisions,” he noted, recalling Pope Francis’ expression the “ecumenism of blood.”

During the pilgrimage, prayers were offered for the victims of persecution and violence in countries such as Iraq, Haiti, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

In January, the organization Open Doors published a report revealing that more than 388 million Christians worldwide suffer persecution and discrimination and that 4,849 were killed between October 2024 and September 2025.

The majority of these crimes took place in Nigeria, where Christian persecution is so severe the U.S. redesignated it as a “country of particular concern” in October 2025.

Of his role as president of ACN, Koch said: “I accepted this mission with great joy because ACN has always been very close to my heart. It is a pontifical foundation that does immense good while constantly reminding us how many parts of the Church are living in situations of great need. To contribute to this mission is something very important to me.”

Donations were also collected during the pilgrimage, which will support ACN projects in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, where the pontifical foundation assists displaced families and Catholic schools serving vulnerable communities.

What is ACN?

According to the foundation, ACN supports “the Catholic Church in its evangelization work among the world’s most needy, discriminated-against, and persecuted communities,” funding more than 5,000 pastoral and humanitarian emergency projects across 137 countries.

It has 23 offices worldwide dedicated to raising awareness about the reality facing these Christians, fostering prayer, and fundraising. ACN receives no grants from public institutions.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The document, also known as “the Dallas Charter,” is a set of procedures originally established in 2002 to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

The bishops voted on the revised document at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 11.

The revised charter offers changes and additions but maintains the focus of the original document “to address with transparency and accountability accusations of abuse committed by clergy,” said Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, chair of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, at the meeting.

The revision process began in 2021 and was done in collaboration with USCCB Committees on the Protection of Children and Young People; Canonical Affairs and Church Governance; Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations; the Office of the General Counsel; and the National Review Board.

The new document offers a glossary “in response to repeated requests from dioceses on having more consistent definitions of various terms,” Knestout said.

“Among the influences drawn from the revisions of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law is the integration of the right of an accused to the presumption of innocence,” and “among the Vos Estis Lux Mundi general provisions is the identification of mandatory Church reporters to complement mandatory reporting to civil authorities,” he said.

The revised version also includes a “clear allowance for electronic letters of suitability” and “an added reference to the protection of information under the seal of the sacrament of penance,” Knestout said.

To ensure the charter focuses on abuse of minors, the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations will develop a separate document from the charter that will focus on standards of behavior for both clergy and laity with adults, including vulnerable adults.

Vote invites debate among bishops

Prior to voting, the bishops discussed and debated the topic. Some of the bishops inquired about the language within the document and offered proposed changes.

During the discussion, Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kansas, proposed the bishops “postpone [the] vote until the next meeting,” which will be held in November. Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, seconded the motion as the bishops will not “lose very much by delaying” and to ensure his presbyteral council is “sufficiently consulted."

In response to the bishops in favor of the postponement, Knestout said that “there has been quite a bit of consultation already." He added: “I am not sure whatʼs gained through the additional time, other than … an opportunity for some dioceses and presbyterates to look at this again.”

Ultimately the majority voted not to postpone the vote. The bishops then approved the revised charter, with 176 voting yes, 22 voting no, and six abstaining.

Bishops react to approval of charter

“Iʼm coming towards the conclusion of my own term as the chair. I inherited the [charter] process and I wanted to make sure it was concluded,” Knestout told EWTN News following the vote.

“This was … our best effort to make sure it was adapted to some of the developments and circumstances of the present,” he said. “So it can function as the guide for our ongoing work in caring for and making sure that we are providing safeguarding for children and young people within our diocese and do it in a good way that is respectful of the role of priests.”

As the bishops revised the document, it was “necessary for us to do two things as bishops,” Knestout said.

“One is to express our love for, our care for those who are victim survivors, and for all those whoʼve been injured or wounded because of the abuse issue or the crisis, and to assure them that ... with both transparency and accountability, [we] will address the issue and continue to do so in a vigilant way.”

It was also to reflect updates “from the developments that have occurred with canon law over the last eight years to also express in a tangible way our concern for our priests and for their needs” and “to address issues of due process and presumed innocence.”

It “tries to do both in a way thatʼs balanced and thatʼs authentic but is consistent and addresses the issue of the crisis in a way that will bring trust and healing over time,” he said.

While the charter was under review, the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance “wanted to keep clarity … that the charter is for protection of children and young people,” Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, chair of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, told EWTN News.

“I think it has worked well over the last 25 years” and “I think these amendments that we had and the changes will be for the better,” he said.

“There were voices, and continue to be voices, that wanted to expand that to include other areas of misconduct, misconduct by bishops, or misconduct by priests with adults,” but there “are other avenues … for doing that,” Paprocki said.

“By not including vulnerable adults in the charter does not say that we donʼt think itʼs important,” but “it should be an entirely separate process, and in my experience it has been good to have that as a separate process.”

“I would also point out that there are some things already in existence,” he said. He detailed Pope Francis’ 2016 moto proprio As a Loving Mother, which “provides for the removal of bishops for different kinds of misconduct,” and Vos Estis Lux Mundi.

In contrast, McKnight told “EWTN News In Depth” it is “a missed opportunity” that the revised charter does not address the abuse of adults, abuses of power, and episcopal misconduct or cover-ups.

McKnight explained that he has previously “made a full proposal” that the bishops “consider not revising the charter but to honor it as an historical document written for its time period.”

“My proposal is that we have an integrated statement of moral commitment, like the charter, that would honor it but be organically related to it” and “encompass these other things that are just as pressing of an issue for our ecclesial life,” he said.

The bishops voting to not postpone the vote was also “a missed opportunity for us to exercise a bit more the approach that our Holy Father, Pope Leo, is asking us to do as bishops,” he said.

While “there has been extensive consultation over several years by conference leadership, the bishops as a body have not been involved in that other than four years ago was the last time we were consulted,” McKnight said.

“So my feeling was that … we should have the opportunity to take and solicit feedback from our own clergy and our own laypeople, and to work more collaboratively and in a spirit of co-responsibility,” he said.

Next steps

Going forward, “the administrative committee has asked the Committee for Clergy Consecrated Life and Vocations … [to] take up the next step of looking at issues of sexual misconduct with adults and with vulnerable adults,” Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, chair of the Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, told EWTN News.

“Weʼve accepted that as the committee, and we are going to start the work on producing such a document,” he said.

“As we do so … we are going to collaborate with all of the other agencies and those who are involved with sexual misconduct on how we respond as the USCCB within the Church,” Hicks said.

Having separate documents addressing different areas of abuse “is making sure that issues stay in their lane properly,” Hicks said.

The charter looks “at issues of children, minors, preventing abuse, protecting children, and also the accompaniment of victim survivors,” he said. “Then thereʼs opportunities for continued conversation of ‘What does abuse and sexual misconduct look like with adults or vulnerable adults?’”

“Let another document address that so that we are properly making sure we attend to the original outset of what the charter was meant for, which is the protection of children, the prevention of abuse, and the accompaniment of victim survivors,” Hicks said.

Nick Rolovich first sued Washington State University in 2022 after he was dismissed from the school for refusing the vaccination in 2021.

In his lawsuit Rolovich said the university failed to uphold its contract with him when it fired him for refusing the shot. The suit alleged that the firing was not made with “just cause” and that the school violated its contract in dismissing him over the dispute.

In the suit Rolovich said he “drew upon his study of the Bible, personal
prayer, personal experience, personal study, advice from others, advice from a Catholic priest, and the teachings of the Church in concluding that his conscience precluded him from receiving any available COVID-19 vaccine.”

A federal district court ruled against Rolovich in 2025. On June 10 the coach and his legal team appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit arguing the case.

Rolovich in his appeal has received the backing of the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that the coach had provided “voluminous ... evidence where he asserted, and demonstrated evidence of, a sincere religious belief.”

“That evidence attested to his sincere Catholic beliefs and articulated the conflict between that belief system and his objection to taking the vaccine,” the government said, arguing that the appeals court should reverse the lower courtʼs ruling.

A decision from the appeals court will likely be handed down in the next few months. In a June 10 release, Joseph Davis — a senior attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the coach in the case — argued that the school fired Rolovich solely because it “disliked his beliefs.”

“Sidelining a coach for standing by his faith betrays the spirit of college athletics and religious freedom,” Davis said, arguing that the court should  "throw the flag on WSU’s unnecessary roughness and protect every American’s right to live and work according to their faith.”

Several Catholics in the U.S. have won high-profile lawsuits in recent years over their refusals to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The University of Colorado’s medical school in late 2025 agreed to pay out a massive eight-figure settlement after it required multiple staffers, including a Catholic doctor, to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination.

In 2024, meanwhile, Catholic Michigan resident Lisa Domski received $12.7 million in a religious discrimination lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan after it fired her over her refusal to take the vaccine.

The announcement was made on June 8 during the blessing and groundbreaking ceremony for a monument to Our Lady of the Assumption on the capitalʼs waterfront, an event attended by the archbishop of Asunción, Cardinal Adalberto Martínez, and the apostolic nuncio to Paraguay, Archbishop Vincenzo Turturro.

In presenting the project, Peña highlighted the close collaboration between the national government and the Paraguayan Bishops’ Conference.

The president said the restoration concerns not only infrastructure but also serves as a tangible expression of the governmentʼs conviction that “the Catholic Church is not merely part of our history, but part of what we aspire to be as a nation.”

Paraguay’s Catholic University developed the specifications for the project, which has received approval from the National Secretariat of Culture. Itaipú, a hydroelectric power plant jointly owned by Paraguay and Brazil, will finance the project, the president announced.

The Diocese of Asunción was erected in 1547. A previous cathedral was built in 1548 and later replaced by the current cathedral, which was dedicated in 1845.

The work is part of a series of restoration projects of emblematic sites with support from Itaipú and includes buildings such as historic St. Bonaventure church in Yaguarón, the Ñandejára Guasu shrine in Piribebuy, and St. Blaise Cathedral in Ciudad del Este.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Several individual plaintiffs and patients‘ rights groups filed the suits in two U.S. district courts arguing against the states’ respective laws that permit doctors to intentionally cause the death of patients deemed terminally ill, a process known as “medical aid in dying,” a term used in state law.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the stateʼs assisted suicide bill into law in December 2025, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed her own stateʼs bill in February of this year. Both measures have been ardently opposed by Catholic leaders.

The Illinois suit — brought by two plaintiffs and several groups including the Institute for Patients' Rights and the National Council on Independent Living — argues that the stateʼs law removes the “ethical obligation of every physician to do no harm,” nullifying a doctorʼs requirement to, in part, “actively prevent the patient from ... suicide.”

The state is offering suicide as a “reasonable option” for medical patients, the suit argues, and permits suicide to be “encouraged by physicians.”

The New York law, meanwhile — which is scheduled to go into effect in August — presents a “looming threat” to individuals with disabilities, the lawsuit in that state says, in part because it does not require medical officials to “consider a patient’s psychiatric or psychological condition or how that may affect their suicidality” when they ask for help in dying.

The New York suit argues that the law will allow patients to obtain suicide assistance even if they are not suffering from terminal conditions; it further alleges that the law would allow patients to “make themselves eligible” for suicide by “declining available medical treatment.”

Both suits argue that the respective suicide regimes violate state and federal laws, including disability protection laws; the suits further claim that the rules violate equal-protection provisions under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Matt Vallière, president and executive director of the Institute for Patients' Rights, which is a party in both suits, said in a June 11 press release that the laws “create a separate and unequal system in which people with life-threatening disabilities are offered death instead of the support programs everyone else gets.”

The lawsuits “are about affirming that every person has inestimable value and dignity, regardless of age, disability, or prognosis, and ensuring that no one is treated as disposable under the law,” he said.

The filings are the fourth and fifth lawsuits filed as part of a national effort by the initiative End Assisted Suicide, a coalition group targeting state suicide laws on behalf of people with disabilities.

Catholic leaders in both states have sharply criticized the assisted suicide laws. New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks said this month that the stateʼs law would usher in a “new and frightening era” there.

“How long before this so-called ‘compassion’ for the terminally ill evolves from a ‘choice’ into an expectation to kill oneself for all sorts of vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities, the elderly, and those in impoverished and medically underserved communities?” the prelate said.

The Illinois bishops, meanwhile, described their stateʼs assisted suicide law as a “dangerous and heartbreaking path.”

“Rather than investing in real end-of-life support such as palliative and hospice care, pain management, and family-centered accompaniment, our state has chosen to normalize killing oneself,” the bishops said.

The bill, passed by the state Assembly in March and by the state Senate on June 2, now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul to be signed into law.

Under the new law, “mother” would be replaced with “gestating parent,” and “father” would be “non-gestating parent.” The words “paternity” and “filiation” would be replaced with “parentage.”

The New York State Catholic Conference issued a memorandum on June 10 noting the bishops’ opposition to the new law, calling it “politically charged” and “unnecessary.”

“The truth is that mothers are mothers, and fathers are fathers,” the bishops wrote. “Words matter, and serious changes to our governing language serve only to wash away the importance of these roles in our society.”

“The yearslong push in our state for abortion on demand and up until birth, the endless millions of dollars funneled to Planned Parenthood, and the legalization of commercial surrogacy have reduced women to vessels and babies to disposable commodities,” they said.

“The Legislature’s final twist of the knife is now apparently removing the term ‘mother’ altogether,” they wrote. “We must reverse course and recognize the importance of both mothers and fathers and pursue changes that truly support women and families.”

The legislation (Senate Bill S9316/Assembly Bill A8382A) targets parts of the Family Court Act and laws having to do with, among others, domestic relations, social services, vehicle and traffic, alcoholic beverage control, child support statutes, and education law.

On June 3, Hochul said she was unfamiliar with the specifics of the bill and would familiarize herself with them before commenting.

“I have until the end of the year to review them and make a decision,” she said, though according to New York state law, now that the Legislature is adjourned, she has 30 days to sign it. If she does not, the bill is automatically pocket-vetoed (it dies and does not become law).

New York’s bishops urged Hochul “to veto this upsetting legislation and uphold the importance of both mothers and fathers in our state,” saying the bill’s “wholesale effect will be to mock the foundation of the family.”

The bishops accused legislators of “political pandering and appeasing a small group of very loud advocates.”

“Erasing the terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ from our laws will not help struggling New Yorkers afford groceries, access healthcare, or find housing, but it will further muddy what is true and good,” they wrote.

All 38 Senate Democrats who voted supported the measure, while all 22 Republicans voted against it. One Democrat also voted no, joining the unanimous Republican opposition. The bill had previously passed the Assembly 91-46 on March 19, with almost all Democrats voting for it and almost all Republicans against.

According to reporting by Fox5 New York, the state Senate bill passed quickly and with no debate, “shocking” some lawmakers.

While there was a short floor speech last week by Republican State Sen. Dean Murray opposing the bill, the overall process was rushed as the legislative session wrapped up June 10.

“These terms matter,” Murray said. “'Mother' is one of the most sacred titles you can have. As is 'father,' 'grandmother,' grandfather.'”

He continued: “In fact ... the term mother is so important, we have a special day named after it,” referring to Motherʼs Day.

“Of course, now maybe we change that to Gestating Parentʼs Day ... and Fatherʼs Day, just change it to Parentʼs Day.”

Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney, a U.S. Congresswoman who previously served in the New York State Assembly from 2011 to 2016, issued a strong rebuke on social media, stating: “The party that can’t define a woman is now rewriting New York law to erase mothers and fathers. Only in Albany could ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ become too controversial.”

Proponents argue the new language is more inclusive and takes into account special cases that occur when there is no clear biological parent, such as in surrogacy and adoption situations.

Santiago Schnell, the provost of Dartmouth University and a former dean at the University of Notre Dame, told members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at their plenary assembly in Orlando that they “could be more vocal” and “more pushy” when it comes to making sure that Catholic universities are faithful to their unique identity.

“I think you are being too respectful,” Schnell told the bishops during his June 10 talk. “You own the word ‘Catholic.’ We academic administrators, we don’t.”

Schnell delivered his pointed observations to the bishops at the end of a presentation on the state of Catholic higher education, during which the Ivy League administrator suggested that Catholic universities have focused more on imitating secular universities and chasing college rankings than on imaginatively living out their distinctive mission.

As a result, Schnell contended, the Church is failing to impact the intellectual and cultural life of the nation and even retain its own members.

“They’re leaving it because we don’t have intellectuals and we don’t have a proper formation in higher education that allows them to articulate effectively their faith, to themselves and others,” said Schnell, a frequent commentator on Catholic higher education and influential advocate for higher education reform in America.

One bishop in attendance described Schnell’s presentation as a “sober moment for the bishops.”

“Hopefully the topic motivated bishops to continue the hard work of calling our universities back to their ecclesial and evangelistic mission,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News.

Schnell’s talk preceded a closed-door conversation on Catholic higher education with the U.S. bishops.

The Dartmouth provost’s talk marked the 25th anniversary of the U.S. implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae (“From the Heart of the Church”), the 1990 apostolic constitution in which St. John Paul II outlined the Church’s vision for Catholic universities and their relationship with bishops.

Promulgated amid growing tension between Catholic universities and the Church hierarchy, the document presents Catholic universities as participating directly in the Church’s mission.

While Ex Corde Ecclesiae emphasizes that a Catholic university itself has a responsibility for upholding its Catholic identity, St. John Paul II also taught that the local bishop “has the right and duty to watch over the preservation and strengthening” of the Catholic character of Catholic universities in his diocese.

A ‘Catholic paradox’

In his presentation, Schnell described a widening gap between the Church’s vision for Catholic higher education and universities that increasingly resemble their secular counterparts.

“These days, both Catholic institutions and non-Catholic institutions have become very secularized, and they’re doing this through imitation,” he said.

A major driver, he argued, is college rankings, which reward convergence more than distinction.

“Twenty-five years ago when I moved to the United States, I would give a seminar at the University of Chicago, I would give a seminar at Yale, and I would give a seminar at the University of Michigan, and I knew that I was in those universities,” said Schnell, who was born and raised in Venezuela and completed his graduate work in mathematical biology at England’s Oxford University. “Today … we have become so good imitations of each other that you cannot distinguish the place where you are.”

Catholic universities, he added, have followed the same path, becoming “indifferent and indistinguishable” from secular peers.

That shift, he said, has narrowed higher education’s purpose, reducing it to credentials and job preparation rather than intellectual and moral formation.

“It’s about training for the first job,” he said, critiquing the current status quo. “It’s not training for life.”

Schnell also argued that Catholic institutions are not producing enough intellectual and cultural leaders within the Church. He pointed to Hispanic Catholics, who represent a growing share of the Church but lag in educational attainment, as evidence of what he called a “Catholic paradox”: strong infrastructure paired with uneven outcomes.

He also criticized mission statements that increasingly resemble social-service or advocacy organizations.

“All academic institutions and mission statements, particularly the Catholics, have become what I call ‘NGOs,’” he said, referring to the acronym for nongovernmental organizations. “That’s not the mission of the Catholic university.”

Forming future Church doctors 

When Schnell turned to what he described as the core of his proposal, he pointed to a slide outlining a three-part framework for renewal in Catholic higher education focused on forming the Church’s next generation of intellectual leaders, clarifying the role of bishops in university life and strengthening the formative culture of Catholic campuses.

“Our mission shouldn’t be creating individuals who go to the workplace,” Schnell said. Instead, he said that Catholic universities should form scholars who have the potential to be doctors of the Church, i.e., saints who have made significant contributions to theology or doctrine. “That’s the primary mission of a Catholic institution.” 

Schnell said Catholic identity is sustained not only through governance but also through campus culture — what St. John Henry Newman called the “genius loci,” or spirit of place, formed in daily life.

“It’s the conversations that the students have while they are walking to their dorms or they are walking to the chapel,” he said. “It’s the conversations that they’re having about their faith.”

Schnell warned that Catholic character can erode when faculty and administrators do not actively share the Church’s mission.

In some cases, he said, universities have prioritized conformity over fidelity to that mission. Schnell recalled declining an invitation to lead a Catholic university after learning that only about 12% of its faculty and fewer than a quarter of its students were Catholic.

“According to your definition, that’s no longer a Catholic institution,” he recalled his wife telling him.

As the presentation concluded, Schnell returned briefly to the role of bishops in helping to shape the character of Catholic universities.

“What is the participation of the bishops?” he said, telling the gathered Church leaders that the members of a Catholic university were “their flock.”

“They’re not mine. They’re not going to be the flock of any academic administrator.”

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

The conference, held under the theme “Synodality: Sensitivity, Synergy, and Spirituality. All for Caritas — Solidarity,” ran from June 9–11.

“We cannot close our eyes to the reality of the poor. Today, our world is wounded. Humanity cries out. Sometimes people become indifferent to the suffering of others. Caritas is the Gospel made visible through compassion, closeness, and services,” Kikuchi said in his inaugural address.

The Regional Conference and Partners‘ Forum serves as the premier governance and collaborative gathering for the Catholic Churchʼs humanitarian network in the region. It brought together presidents, directors, and senior staff from more than 25 Caritas member organizations across Asia, along with global partners including Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Spain, Caritas Italiana, Caritas Germany, Caritas Canada, and CAFOD, as well as representatives from the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.

Caritas Asia serves as the regional secretariat for one of the seven regions of the Caritas Internationalis network, said Benedict Alo DʼRozario, president of Caritas Asia, in a message to EWTN News. He said Caritas Asia represents the region within the global networkʼs support structures and takes part in joint work on staff capacity building, advocacy for social justice, care for creation, humanitarian response, integral human development, anti-human trafficking, safe migration, child protection, education, and moral formation.

DʼRozario said Caritas Asia has adopted four priorities going forward: care for people and planet, adaptability and preparedness, organizational capacity and effectiveness, and leadership and engagement.

He said Caritas Asia is not simply an organization but the heart of the Church, practicing synodality by going into communities, listening carefully, and responding to their needs. Caritas serves others, DʼRozario said, because it recognizes Christ in the poor, the suffering, and the vulnerable, and its mission is rooted in an encounter with Jesus Christ.

Participants described Kikuchiʼs remarks as highly relevant and inspiring for those across Caritas Asia.

Caritas Bangladesh acts as the social arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh, as do other national Caritas organizations across Asia. Daud Jibon Das, executive director of Caritas Bangladesh, said the key message he took from the conference was that, although global funding is gradually decreasing, the Church must continue to care for the poor and those in need.

Caritas Bangladesh has long worked for the poor and neglected people of the country, and the conference will further accelerate its educational work, Das said.

“We work for justice for all, regardless of race, religion, caste, we want all neglected people, poor people to be well,” he told EWTN News. “Even if the funds decrease, we will continue to do our work within our means.”

The case was brought by members of the group, who argued that local authorities had unlawfully prevented them from carrying out their missionary work.

Judges found that regulations adopted by the city of Shumen unlawfully restricted religious activity and failed to clearly define what constituted prohibited religious propaganda. The ruling concluded that the ban violated Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

Nicolas Bauer, a doctor of law and advocacy director at the European Centre for Law and Justice, which intervened in the case as a third party, said the judgment reaffirms a fundamental principle of religious liberty.

“Evangelizing is often viewed with suspicion in a secularized Europe,” Bauer told EWTN News. “The ECHR ruling reaffirms a basic requirement of religious freedom for believers: the right to the same freedom of expression as everyone else.”

Understanding the situation

At the center of the dispute was what the court viewed as unequal treatment of religious speech. Under Shumen city regulations, residents and organizations were permitted to go door-to-door for commercial and political purposes, but religious outreach alone was prohibited.

“It was permitted to knock on the door of the cityʼs inhabitants to sell a vacuum cleaner or promote a political program,” Bauer explained, “but forbidden to hand out a Bible or a pious image.”

Municipal authorities justified the ban by claiming it protected the privacy of residents against “abusive or coercive proselytism.” The court rejected that argument and dismissed the need for a blanket ban on door-to-door evangelization. It also noted that authorities had not “demonstrated the existence of concrete or repeated disturbances” to justify such a broad measure.

The court stressed that exposure to differing beliefs is part of life in a democratic society, noting that “being exposed to religious ideas or beliefs that one does not share cannot, in itself, justify a blanket ban on peaceful missionary activities.”

Bauer also highlighted that individuals already possess practical means of avoiding unwanted contact, including declining to answer the door, politely dismissing visitors, or indicating that they do not wish to receive canvassers.

Implications beyond Bulgaria

For Bauer and other legal experts, the judgment reinforces the principle that religious expression enjoys the same protection as other forms of speech in democratic societies.

Bauer also noted that restrictions on evangelization affect not only those who wish to share their faith but also those who may want to hear it. “If the court recognizes the importance of the right to try to convince oneʼs neighbor,” he said, “it is also so that this neighbor can exercise their freedom to change religion.”

The judgment does not prevent authorities from acting against coercive, abusive, or intrusive conduct. Rather, it draws a distinction between peaceful evangelization and harassment, making clear that governments cannot impose blanket bans on religious outreach simply because some members of the public may find it unwelcome. Bauer noted that “the role of public authorities is to punish visitors who enter a home against the will of its occupant.”

For Christian communities engaged in missionary work, the decision offers reassurance that peaceful evangelization remains protected under European human rights law.

Religious freedom debates across Europe

The ruling arrives amid broader debates across Europe over the limits of religious expression in public life.

While Bulgariaʼs case centered on door-to-door evangelization, Bauer said Christians increasingly encounter legal and political challenges in other contexts.

He pointed to the controversial “buffer zone” laws surrounding abortion facilities in countries such as the United Kingdom and Spain. Pro-life advocates contend that some of these measures have been used to restrict activities ranging from conversations and leafleting to silent prayer, if authorities believe they could influence individuals approaching clinics.

Other disputes have involved public manifestations of Christian belief. Finnish Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen faced years of legal proceedings after publicly expressing Christian views on sexuality. In France, legal controversies have emerged over the display of crosses, Nativity scenes, and religious statues in public spaces.

According to Bauer, these cases reflect a growing tension between traditional expressions of Christianity and increasingly secular societies. “Christian faith in the public sphere stands in stark contrast to the values of modern society,” he said. Yet Bauer also explained that responsibility does not rest solely with governments or courts. Christian communities themselves, he suggested, sometimes contribute to the gradual disappearance of religious expression by ceasing to exercise freedoms they already possess.

He pointed to the decline of public Eucharistic processions in some parts of Europe as an example of a practice that once visibly expressed Christian faith in the public square.

“A freedom that is not exercised eventually erodes,” Bauer said.

As European societies continue to debate the role of religion in public life, the ECHRʼs decision serves as a reminder that religious freedom includes not only the right to hold beliefs privately but also the right to share them peacefully with others. For many Christians, that principle remains at the heart of the Churchʼs missionary mission and witness in the public square.

Following the morning Mass, pilgrims processed several blocks in the rain from the basilica to Baltimore’s Washington Monument, one of the city’s most recognizable civic landmarks, praying and singing as they accompanied the Blessed Sacrament through the city’s historic streets.

The Baltimore stop is part of the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is traveling under the theme “One Nation Under God” as the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

In his homily, Monsignor Jay O’Connor reflected on the meaning of pilgrimage and the public witness of carrying the Eucharist through cities, towns, highways, and waterways across the country.

“This National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is of Jesus through the streets and the highways and the plains and the waterways of our country, brings the blessing of the real presence of Jesus into the heart and soul of our fellow citizens and our country,” he said.

The basilica, completed in 1821, is the first cathedral constructed in the United States. It was built under the leadership of Bishop John Carroll, the first bishop of the United States, making the Baltimore stop a significant moment for a pilgrimage moving through many of the original 13 colonies during the nation’s semiquincentennial year.

O’Connor said pilgrimage is not meant to be easy, citing St. John Paul II’s teaching that God uses the challenges of the journey to form his people.

“Through the challenges of the journey, God forms us into the people he calls us to be — a community of missionary disciples,” he said.

The celebrant also recalled a previous Eucharistic procession in Baltimore, when a man came out of his home and asked what was happening as the procession passed through his neighborhood.

“One pilgrim responded, ‘Jesus is walking through your neighborhood,’” he said. “The man asked, ‘Can I join you?’ And he was invited to walk the rest of the way with the pilgrims. That’s what a pilgrimage is.”

For the perpetual pilgrims accompanying the Eucharist along the Cabrini route, the journey has included long days of travel, prayer, public witness, and constant movement.

“It’s been very busy,” said John Paul Flynn, one of the perpetual pilgrims. “But it’s through that busyness, I think, that you start to lean more into it and lean more into the graces that are there.”

He said the experience of traveling with the Blessed Sacrament has been unlike anything else.

“Getting to be with Jesus all the time is a really unique experience,” he said, noting that the pilgrims even have adoration in the van as they travel.

The pilgrimage was scheduled to continue through Maryland with stops in Severna Park and Annapolis before crossing the Chesapeake Bay by boat to Kent Island and the Diocese of Wilmington.

The Cabrini route is named for St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the Italian-born missionary sister who became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. Cabrini dedicated her life to serving immigrants, orphans, the sick, and the poor, founding schools, hospitals, and orphanages across the United States and beyond.

The route began over Memorial Day weekend in St. Augustine, Florida, and is traveling north along the Eastern Seaboard before concluding in Philadelphia over Independence Day weekend.

She hastily scribbled the concept and script that would eventually become a commercial that is set to reach large crowds at the FIFA 2026 World Cup.

“It felt as though I had been handed a glimpse of people whose stories had yet to be told,” Gillett told EWTN News. “I wrote everything down immediately.”

Gillett’s idea was about encounter — giving people the chance to encounter the survivors of abortion.

“Again and again, Christ revealed truth through encounter,” Gillett said. “He met people face-to-face. He restored sight not only to the blind but to those who could see physically while remaining blind to deeper realities.”

Gillett’s nonprofit, Faces of Choice, is scheduled to run a series of advertisements during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will reach global audiences. The ads give abortion survivors a chance to speak and be heard.

“My hope is that when the world sees these men and women, something deeper than opinion will be awakened,” Gillett said. “Not because people hear a new argument, but because they find a human being looking back at them.”

Truth through encounter

“At its heart, Faces of Choice is an invitation to encounter,” Gillett said. “We exist to help people see what has too often remained unseen: that behind every discussion about abortion stands a human being made in the image of God, with a name, a face, and a story.”

“The doctrine of the Imago Dei is not merely a theological concept. It is a reality that demands recognition,” Gillett said. “Every human life possesses an inherent dignity that is not earned, granted by society, or dependent upon circumstance. It is bestowed by God himself.”

“For me, this work is not only about defending life,” Gillett said. “It is about restoring visibility to people whose humanity has too often been denied, and inviting both the Church and the world to see them.”

Gillett originally had an advertisement set to play at the Super Bowl in 2020 — but just days before the game, the advertisement was blocked from airing.

“What seemed like a closed door opened an expanse to an enormous gateway — one that has ultimately led us toward the threshold of introducing abortion survivors to the world through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the largest audiences in human history, with projected viewership in the billions,” Gillett said.

Faces of Choice’s motto can be summed up in a simple phrase, Gillett said: “‘Choice’ is not merely a word. ‘Choice’ is a person.”

Finally heard: Abortion survivors speak

Gillett takes inspiration from Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., who “helped reveal the full humanity and dignity of African Americans in a society that had too often ignored both,” she said.

“Most cultural debates eventually reach a point where arguments alone stop stirring hearts,” Gillett said. “Historyʼs great turning points often occur when people come face-to-face with those whose humanity can no longer be denied.”

“Abortion survivors occupy a uniquely powerful place in this conversation, because their very existence reveals a reality many people have never considered,” Gillett said.

Hope Hoffman survived a dilation and curettage abortion at 10 and a half weeks' gestation, about three months of pregnancy.

“She bears a visible scar on her head from where the abortion instrument cut into and crushed her skull,” Gillett said. “Today she lives with cerebral palsy, yet she radiates joy, courage, a profound appreciation for life, and hope.”

“When someone looks into the eyes of a survivor and realizes, ‘I never knew people like this existed,’ something changes,” she said. “When they understand that saying ‘I supported your mother’s choice’ to a survivor of abortion means the person before them would cease to exist in the success of that ‘choice,’ the conversation moves from argument to conscience.”

Hoffman shared her thoughts, saying: “I became very upset while thinking about how some people say that an unborn child is not a person.”

“Being small, different, or not yet born doesnʼt change who you are,” Gillett recalled Hoffman saying. “I know this better than most."

Another abortion survivor, Imre Téglásy of Hungary, survived multiple abortion attempts in 1952.

Gillett described him as “remarkable.”

“Since then, he has gone on to help save over 50,000 babies from abortion throughout Europe, raise a large family of his own, and devote himself to serving women and children in need,” Gillett said.

“What stands out most is not simply survival," Gillett said. “It is what many survivors have done with the lives they were nearly denied.”

“I have met survivors who live with significant physical disabilities, survivors who endured lifelong medical complications, survivors who have wrestled with profound emotional wounds, and survivors who have experienced extraordinary forgiveness and spiritual healing,” she continued. “There is a recurring theme among most of them: gratitude, forgiveness, resilience, and purpose. Many see their lives not merely as lives that were spared but as ones entrusted with a mission.”

“What is heartbreaking is how often they have remained unseen,” Gillett said. “What is transformative is what happens when they are finally heard.”

The vote took place during the bishops’ plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, after Duluth Bishop Daniel J. Felton asked members to consider whether it was advisable to advance the cause on the local level.

The bishops also approved advancing the cause of sainthood for John Rick Miller, a layman and international missionary known as the “ambassador of the Virgin Mary.”

Presenting the request to his fellow bishops, Felton described Buh as “a remarkable example of missionary discipleship” whose “love for Christ and the Church led him to leave his homeland of Slovenia and dedicate his life to the people of northeastern Minnesota.”

“His story remains profoundly relevant for the Church today,” Felton said. “For we live in a missionary age.”

The action marks another step in a process that has been developing in the Diocese of Duluth for several years. In 2024, the diocese began formally exploring whether Buh’s cause should move forward, consulting clergy and the faithful about devotion to the priest and his reputation for holiness.

Buh was born in 1833 in what is now Slovenia and was ordained in 1858. After emigrating to the United States, he became one of the most influential Catholic missionaries in northern Minnesota during a period of rapid immigration and settlement.

Known for extensive travels across the region — often by horseback over long distances and difficult terrain — Buh ministered to immigrant mining communities and Native American settlements at a time when priests could spend weeks or months covering a single mission circuit. He helped establish more than 50 parishes and missions and later served as vicar general of the Diocese of Duluth.

Felton said Buh anticipated key elements of modern Catholic teaching on evangelization.

“He immersed himself in the communities that he served. He learned their languages, understood their customs and struggles and, most importantly, learned the language of their hearts,” Felton said.

Buh spoke six languages, including Ojibwe, an Algonquian language, which Felton said he learned so that he could “faithfully serve and evangelize the Indigenous communities.”

He added that Buh’s pastoral method was rooted in presence and listening.

“He began by listening after learning their language, their story, and their needs,” Felton said. “His example reminds us that evangelization begins with presence, listening, and genuine love for the people entrusted to our care.”

The proposal brought before the bishops follows several years of preparatory work in the Diocese of Duluth. In October 2023, Felton appointed Father Richard Kunst to help evaluate whether sufficient devotion to Buh existed among the faithful to warrant moving forward with a cause.

‘A true spiritual father’

Although Buh died in 1922, interest in his life has persisted within the Diocese of Duluth. Advocates of the cause point to both his missionary work and the reputation for sanctity that followed him during his lifetime and after his death.

Felton said the faithful of northeastern Minnesota have long regarded Buh as “a true spiritual father,” reflected in the title by which he became known, the “patriarch of the Diocese of Duluth.”

His ministry coincided with demographic changes in northern Minnesota as mining and railroad expansion drew new immigrant communities to the region. His fluency in multiple languages allowed him to minister across cultural lines, particularly among European immigrant groups who often lacked stable parish structures in their early years in the United States.

At his funeral, Church leaders praised his decades of missionary service across remote communities in northern Minnesota. In the years since, his memory has remained particularly strong in the region.

“Stories of his life continue to be shared throughout our region, even to this day,” Felton told the bishops. “There are accounts of his sacrifices while traveling through severe winters, his tireless efforts to provide both spiritual and material assistance, and the deep trust people placed in his prayers.”

“For generations, devotion to Monsignor Buh has endured,” he added.

Interest in Buh’s cause has increased in recent years. His remains were exhumed in 2024 and transferred to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Duluth, where they were formally entombed in 2025.

As supporters have examined Buh’s life and writings, Felton said he is remembered as “a beloved, gentle, humble, and generous priest” whose life was ordered toward helping others draw closer to God.

“He did not come to Minnesota in search of adventure or personal gain,” Felton said, “but out of a desire to serve Jesus Christ and to lead others.”

The bishops’ vote does not open the cause nor declare Buh a saint. Rather, it represents one of several preliminary steps in the canonization process.

If the process continues, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints would need to grant a “nihil obstat” (“nothing stands in the way”), allowing the cause to be formally opened. At that point, Buh would receive the title “servant of God.”

Felton told the bishops that Buh’s witness speaks to the Church’s present missionary context.

“I truly do believe the Holy Spirit is lifting him up in this time,” he said. “I think the Holy Spirit has lifted him up for our times to be our inspiration, to be our guide.”

Miller was an American businessman and missionary known for numerous apostolates including the association "For the Love of God Worldwide," which promotes consecration to God through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The bishops voted in favor of moving the servant of God’s cause forward at the spring USCCB plenary meeting held in Orlando, Florida, on June 10.

As the bishops prepare to consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they referenced Miller’s cause, noting his long focus on national consecration.

“The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has granted the confidence of the forum to the Archdiocese of Miami,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said at the meeting. “This particular cause recognizes, or underscores, the vocation of the laity to holiness.”

“St. John Paul II wrote … that to ask to be baptized means to ask to become holy,” Wenski said. “Miller is a layman who, after a deep conversion, lived that baptismal call to holiness in an exemplary way, which is why we present his cause for your consideration today.”

Miller “was born in New York City in July 1948 into a Catholic family. He was a husband, a father of two children, [and] an international corporate executive,” Wenski said. “In 1988, after some years of distance from religious practice, he experienced a deep conversion through the intercession of the Blessed Mother."

“From that moment, his spiritual life rested on two inseparable pillars — a life of prayer, adoration, and daily Eucharist, before which he placed every apostolic initiative and intent, and also [an] intense Marian devotion, lived a filial entrustment to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and also the chaste heart of St. Joseph.”

“The three hearts … became the hallmark of his apostolate,” Wenski said. “He left a fervent and industrious corporate life and dedicated himself fully to the apostolate.”

Mission abroad

Miller’s work reached numerous nations, as he evangelized and taught the catechism across the globe.

“I think thereʼs enough evidence of holiness in multiple nations recognized by bishops and archbishops — Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador, honored by many civil institutions,” Wenski said.

“He co-founded the Apostolate of St. Joseph in 2001, he founded the Guild of Our Lady of Willesden in London under Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OʼConnor, and with the Pallottine Fathers, he promoted 10 Marian shrines in southern India,” he said.

“Through his initiative, Colombia was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 2008. With that experience, the Mission for the Love of God Worldwide was born in 2009 and recognized in 2011 by the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference as a private association of the faithful,” he said.

“Diagnosed with esophageal cancer at the end of 2012, he continued to evangelize until his final weeks,” Wenski said.

“His life is a testament to the living out, or the following, of Lumen Gentium that states that it belongs to the laity by their very vocation to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs, and directing them according to God’s will,” Wenski said.

“There is a pastoral need for lay models of holiness, and he and his life exemplified that,” Wenski said.

Miller joins the 87 U.S. Catholics on the official path to sainthood, in addition to the 11 canonized Americans who have already been declared saints.

The annual survey tracks American views about 20 subjects with moral implications. The issues that saw the largest decreases in support in 2026 were birth control, having children outside of marriage, sex between teenagers, gambling, and cloning animals.

Pollsters surveyed 1,001 adults from May 1–17. The report has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Pollsters asked whether the person finds the behaviors “morally acceptable” or “morally wrong.”

Joseph Meaney, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told EWTN News ethics cannot be measured by polling because “what is right is not necessarily popular,” but these polls “help us understand how effectively ethical conduct is being taught and perceived.”

“It is hopeful to see clear moral violations like using birth control and out-of-wedlock pregnancy losing support in American society,” he said.

Shifting views

The issue that saw the largest drop of societal support from 2025 to 2026 was having children outside of marriage, with the poll finding 58% of Americans believing this is morally acceptable and 35% saying it is morally wrong — a nine-point drop in acceptance from last year.

Pollsters found a partisan divide on the subject, with 76% of Democrats viewing it as morally acceptable, along with 56% of independents and 44% of Republicans.

For birth control, 83% of Americans called it acceptable and 11% called it morally wrong, which shows a seven-point drop in acceptance from the previous year. It found a slight partisan divide here as well, with 92% of Democrats accepting it, along with 81% of independents and 79% of Republicans.

As gambling becomes more widespread through websites and mobile applications, the societal acceptance dropped down to 57%, with disapproval rising to 35%. This is a six-point drop from the previous year. It has acceptance from 66% of Democrats, 55% of Republicans, and 53% of independents.

Societal acceptance of sex between teenagers has consistently been low, but it decreased by an additional six points in 2026 from 41% acceptance to 35% acceptance, with disapproval at 57%. It’s accepted by 54% of Democrats, 35% of independents, and 16% of Republicans.

Cloning animals has also been consistently unpopular, but acceptance went down from 34% to 27%, with 64% disapproving. This did not have a significant partisan divide: 29% of independents, 27% of Democrats, and 25% of Republicans view it as acceptable.

Other values measured

Pollsters also asked other ethical questions related to subjects such as abortion and other life issues, gender, human sexuality, and marriage but did not see a major shift from 2025 through 2026.

A majority of people, 52%, believe the death penalty is morally acceptable while 39% say it is not. A plurality of people believe abortion and doctor-assisted suicide are morally acceptable, with 49% approving on both questions. It found 41% say abortion is morally wrong and 45% of people say doctor-assisted suicide is morally wrong.

There was a partisan divide here with Republicans being more likely to view the death penalty as morally acceptable and Democrats being more likely to view abortion and doctor-assisted suicide as morally acceptable.

The poll found societal acceptance for divorce at 74%, for premarital sex at 65%, and for gay and lesbian relationships at 62%. Alternatively, only 38% said it is morally acceptable to change one’s gender.

The poll showed that support for same-sex marriage is below its 2021 and 2022 peak of 71%, sitting now at 65%. This is slightly lower than the 68% of people who said they supported same-sex marriage in 2025. The decline mostly comes from Republicans, with only 35% supporting same-sex marriage, down from 38% in 2025 and significantly down from its 2022 peak of 56%.

Societal acceptance for extramarital affairs was found to be 7%, for cloning humans at 9%, for polygamy at 19%, and for pornography 31%.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told EWTN News these types of polls “help remind us of the importance of being in dialogue, and actively discussing critical moral issues in an open society, so as to contribute to the formation of human consciences in truth and light.”

“To the extent that Catholics try to stand up for unpopular truths, like the unacceptability of divorce, premarital sex, and birth control, and to the extent that they seek to structure their own choices and lives around these deep moral verities, it has the undeniable effect of sparking interest and even awakening the consciences of more worldly-minded individuals, whether they profess to be atheistic, agnostic, or otherwise unsure about higher matters,” he said.

“Catholics have a particular obligation and responsibility in this regard to strengthen the culture around them, because ‘to whom much is given, much is expected,’” Pacholczyk added.

This story was updated at 11 a.m. ET on June 11, 2026, to include polling data on same-sex marriage.

Speaking to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, the patriarch said ongoing instability is increasing the vulnerability of local communities and deepening people’s uncertainty about the future.

The patriarch’s remarks came after an official ceremony at the Élysée Palace attended by French political and Church leaders, during which Macron awarded Pizzaballa the rank of officer in the Legion of Honor in recognition of his service to the people of the Holy Land and his ongoing efforts to promote interreligious dialogue and defend the values of justice and peace.

The cardinal said his meetings with Macron were “important and direct” and that their discussion focused less on political details, which the president already knows, and more on social issues, people’s concerns, and their daily realities in both Palestine and Israel.

He added that Macron showed particular interest in understanding how the Church interprets current developments and in learning about the humanitarian situation of Christian communities in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.

Pizzaballa also noted that Palestinian Christians “do not differ in their suffering from other Palestinians.” Settlements continue to expand, lands are being confiscated, and landowners are often prevented from accessing or working their property, he said. At the same time, attacks by settlers continue amid what he described as a clear lack of security.

He also pointed to the economic crisis that is prompting many Christian families to consider emigration, especially after years of war, declining employment opportunities, and the suspension of development projects.

Pizzaballa called on the international community and churches in the West to “redouble their efforts to create real opportunities, build connections, and develop new pathways that enable families to remain in their homeland and preserve their roots.

Regarding the Church’s mission in the context of the conflict, Pizzaballa stressed that its role begins with speaking the truth and condemning injustice. It also includes promoting mutual respect, helping build dignified lives, and accompanying people as they seek to overcome despair.

The Church, he said, “tries to be a voice reminding everyone of the humanity of the other,” while combining spiritual care with advocacy for justice and peace.

The patriarch also reflected on the region’s broader tensions, noting that conflict has become part of the culture of the region after generations of violence. Overcoming this legacy, he said, “will not happen anytime soon,” particularly in the absence of leadership capable of looking beyond the barriers imposed by violence.

He added that the Church remains committed to serving as “a bridge of hope” at a time when trust is diminishing and fears are increasing.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Mass, which the cardinal will celebrate on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, will take place at noon at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guayaquil.

Pablo Moysam, spokesman for the eventʼs organizing committee, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that “it is evident that in the hearts of ordinary Catholics there is a need to renew our country’s consecration to the heart of Jesus to ask for his protection and mercy and as a people to make an act of faith and hope in union with the whole Church on the feast of the Sacred Heart.”

“It will take place in Guayaquil because it is the city hardest hit by insecurity and the one most in need of this renewal,” he noted.

According to official figures from Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior, the country recorded 2,778 first-degree murders from January to April. In the area comprising Guayaquil, Durán, and Samborondón, there were 674 homicides during the first three months of 2026. Many of these crimes are linked to disputes between drug-trafficking gangs.

Moysam also told ACI Prensa that Ecuador was the “first nation in the world officially consecrated to the heart of Jesus, on March 25, 1874.” The renewal, he continued, seeks to “place our families, authorities, and communities under his protection once again.”

“This is an open invitation to the entire Church as well as to civil and military authorities. Beyond the numbers, the spirit of this celebration is to call together all Ecuadorians who wish to join in prayer for the country,” he noted.

Moysam also highlighted that this renewal of the consecration serves as a reminder that “God’s love is a source of hope, reconciliation, and commitment to the common good.”

“In a context marked by social challenges, violence, and uncertainty, this act helps renew confidence that the country can build paths of peace, justice, and fraternity through personal conversion and solidarity among all.”

The last time Ecuador renewed its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was on March 25, 2024, during the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress held in Quito.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

According to online reports, they were released on the evening of June 8.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP that the six were detained following disturbances by a group of approximately 30 individuals outside and inside the church on boulevard Magenta.

Two of those held are suspected of voluntary violence against Alexandra Cordebard, the Socialist mayor of the 10th arrondissement, and Pouria Amirshahi, an Ecologist member of the National Assembly, both of whom reported being jostled and said they intended to file complaints.

The four others were held for participating in an unlawful assembly after refusing to disperse following official warnings.

The City of Paris announced Saturday night that it would also file a complaint, accusing “far-right fundamentalist militants” of attempting to prevent the presentation of one of the festivalʼs works.

Authorization for the use of Saint-Laurent was granted by the parish and the Archdiocese of Paris through their established cultural partnership with the association Art, Culture et Foi, which regularly facilitates artistic events in Parisian churches.

Titled “Sous la peau du ciel” (“Under the Skin of the Sky”), artist Marie-Luce Nadal’s immersive sound installation was conceived as an invisible membrane stretched between what represented the atmosphere and human beings. It consisted of playing recordings of wishes from anonymous people collected from around the world, mixed and blended with the sounds of thunder and lightning and then played inside the church. 

Among the recorded wishes shared during the evening were: “I hope the true left comes to power”; “I hope everyone’s soul takes over”; “I hope to be happy and in love all the time”; and “more pasta in the school cafeteria.” 

The broader controversy, however, centered on the Nuit Blanche’s artistic director, Barbara Butch, a French DJ and LGBT activist who became a polarizing figure after her appearance in a tableau during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The scene, which featured drag queens and dancers seated along a long table with Butch at the center — wearing a silver headdress resembling a halo — was widely interpreted on social media as a mockery of Leonardo da Vinciʼs famous painting “The Last Supper.” Butch later posted a caption on Instagram reading “Oh yes! Oh yes! The New Gay Testament!”

Against that backdrop, the appointment of Butch to lead the 2026 Nuit Blanche — an event that included programming inside several Parisian churches — drew organized objection from some Catholic groups weeks before the festival opened.

Civitas International, along with the Knights of Our Lady (Militia Sanctae Mariae), had publicly called on Catholics to protest the use of church buildings for the festival. Civitas International is distinct from the French political party Civitas, which was dissolved by the French government in late 2023. It remains active in Switzerland and Belgium and continues to operate online.

In a statement issued Sunday, Civitas International president Alain Escada denied that the group had organized a “collective” action and rejected the accusations of violence.

“We challenge anyone to produce a single image of any aggression carried out against Alexandra Cordebard or deputy Pouria Amirshahi by Catholics during this action,” the statement read, calling the accusations an attempt to “intimidate, stigmatize, or even criminalize” Catholics.

Escada also cited the opinion of jurist Grégor Puppinck, director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, that using a place of worship for purposes unrelated to worship constitutes a violation of both Article 13 of France’s 1905 Law on the Separation of Church and State and Canon 1210 of the Code of Canon Law.

Whether physical violence occurred remains contested. The mayor stated on X that she “personally received blows” from individuals who wanted to prevent entry to the church. Those detained offer a sharply different account.

Mathieu Goyer, president of the association Sainte-Geneviève Paris, who was among those arrested, said in a June 9 interview that he was held for 44 hours across three different police stations.

“The mayor of the 10th accused us of violence — that is why our custody was extended,” he said. “But when police reviewed the surveillance footage, the mayor can be seen on the other side of the church gate. She simply wanted her media moment.”

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on the evening of June 9 that it had closed the case against the six activists, concluding that “there was insufficient evidence of any offense.”

The Archdiocese of Paris, for its part, has not issued any public statement on the events.

Conservative Catholic commentators, including Olivier Frèrejacques of the political review Liberté Politique, described this silence as “incomprehensible” and questioned why Church authorities had agreed to host a festival directed by Butch in the first place.

Speaking June 10 at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, Caccia emphasized themes of peace, communion, and mission, describing them as essential both to the Church’s public witness and to the ministry of bishops themselves.

“I wish to be present among you as a brother bishop who journeys with you,” Caccia told the assembly. “My service here is one of listening, trust, and shared discernment within the Church that we are all serving together.”

The address marked Caccia’s first appearance before the full body of U.S. bishops since Pope Leo appointed him nuncio in March, succeeding Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who retired after reaching the Vatican’s age limit.

Caccia began by conveying greetings and a blessing from Pope Leo, telling the bishops that the Holy Father remains close to them in their ministry and prays that the Lord will strengthen them in their vocation.

The nuncio also paid tribute to Pierre, thanking his predecessor for years of service to the Church in the United States and noting his efforts to travel widely throughout the country to better understand local Churches.

Throughout his remarks, Caccia repeatedly returned to the theme of communion, portraying it as a defining characteristic of the Church’s mission and of the new pontificate.

“I see the election of Pope Leo as a gift of the Holy Spirit,” he said, encouraging the Church in the United States to foster what is best in its tradition while continuing to confront difficult chapters in its recent history, particularly the abuse crisis.

The archbishop emphasized that the United States has contributed significantly to the life of the universal Church and now has given the Church its first pope born and raised in the country. Recalling observations by French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville during his travels in America in the 1830s, Caccia noted that one priest had suggested the United States could someday become the center of Catholicism.

“Perhaps he was very optimistic,” Caccia joked, drawing laughter from the bishops. “But I wonder what Tocqueville would think today, seeing that the successor of Peter has come from this land.”

At the same time, he cautioned that esteem for the Church in America must not obscure the need for continued renewal and purification.

“The Church is at once holy and always in need of being purified,” he said, quoting the Second Vatican Council.

‘We are called to build together’

Another focus of the speech was the bishops’ planned consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, scheduled for June 11. Caccia described the act as providing a “spiritual center” for the assembly and linked devotion to the Sacred Heart directly to the Church’s efforts to foster unity and peace.

“Rooted in our own communion with Jesus, we can become builders of peace and communion among ourselves and with others,” he said.

Communion, Caccia emphasized, naturally leads to mission. While noting the Churchʼs history as both a recipient and sender of missionaries, he said the missionary vocation is lived not only by going out to others but also by welcoming those who come to us.

“To meet them with the charity of Christ, to recognize their dignity, and to help them find a place in the life of the community is also part of a missionary Church,” he said. The theme was later echoed by Archbishop Paul Coakley, USCCB president, in remarks following the nuncioʼs address.

The nuncio also highlighted what he described as a strong continuity between Pope Francis and Pope Leo.

Referencing Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos and Leo’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, Caccia said both pontiffs have emphasized the dignity of the human person in the face of modern challenges and technological advancements.

“Here we can see the continuity between Pope Francis and Pope Leo,” he said.

According to Caccia, Francis stressed that no technology can fully capture the depth of the human heart, while Leo is asking how the Church can safeguard human dignity amid rapidly developing technological systems.

“Such a humanism allows the Church to meet new realities without naive enthusiasm or anxious fear,” he said. “It also reminds us that the Church’s response is built in communion, not in isolation.”

Drawing on an image used by Pope Leo in Magnifica Humanitas, Caccia pointed to the biblical figure Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem alongside the people.

The emphasis on unity reflected themes that have marked Caccia’s own diplomatic ministry. Before arriving in Washington, the Milan-born prelate served as the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York from 2019 until his appointment as nuncio, representing the Vatican on issues ranging from migration to nuclear disarmament.

Ordained a priest in 1983, Caccia entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1991 and later served as apostolic nuncio to Lebanon and the Philippines before his assignment to the United States.

As apostolic nuncio, he serves both as the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States and as the pope’s representative to the Catholic Church in the country, maintaining relations with the U.S. government while also playing a key role in communication between the Vatican and the nation’s bishops.

A ‘living tradition’

Near the conclusion of his remarks, Caccia presented each bishop with a pocket-sized volume containing Lumen Gentium and Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitutions.

The gesture underscored another theme of the speech: continuity with the Church’s living tradition.

“This continuity is important,” Caccia said. “We are not beginning again from zero. We receive a living tradition; and above all, we receive the love of Christ, poured out from his heart for the life of the world."

As the bishops gather for their first plenary assembly since Pope Leo’s election and under the leadership of newly elected USCCB president Coakley, Caccia’s message offered a vision of the Church centered on communion with Christ, unity among bishops, and a shared missionary purpose.

“May our renewal in the Sacred Heart of Jesus give us the grace to do this together,” the nuncio said, “for the life of the Church and the good of the world.”

At the USCCB spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 10, Coakley, archbishop of Oklahoma City, detailed what the U.S. bishops have recently accomplished, and outlined the challenges they still face and work they have to do.

The work of the bishops “is good work,” Coakley said. “It is necessary work, as can be seen in the many ways we, as a conference, have responded to the many challenges our world faces today.”

The archbishop said he is “especially pleased to recognize the impact” of the conferenceʼs special message on immigration issued at the bishops‘ November meeting, which expressed the bishops’ opposition to “indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

“That message demonstrated our united concern as pastors for the dignity of every person, especially our migrant brothers and sisters," Coakley said.

“I am also grateful for our unity: our unity as bishops of the United States, our unity with the Holy Father, Pope Leo, and our unity with all his predecessors since the founding of this nation,” he said.

“For 250 years, the bishops of this country have worked together, alongside priests, religious brothers and sisters, and so many faithful men and women as witnesses to Christ and to make known his love in so many concrete ways,” he said.

This work has been accomplished through parishes, schools, hospitals, and charitable agencies, which are “performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, including welcoming wave after wave of new arrivals to this land," Coakley said.

“Admittedly, we have not been always perfect in doing this, but overall, I would say our track record is very good,” he said.

The bishops “are commanded to put out into the deep water, to move beyond our comfort zones and the safe places where we can maintain our illusions of safety and control,” he said.

Mission of the conference going forward

The president shared “challenges” that the bishops face and how the Church must offer “hope” in order to address them.

“The Church’s witness to Christ" is especially needed today "in an age of constant flux, of forced migration, polarization, disruptions, climatic and economic upheavals, artificial intelligence, and wars," and when "many are wondering what it even means to be a human person," Coakley said.

The bishop posed the questions “What are some of the challenges to hope that need to be addressed? Where must hope be restored and how, as a conference, can we help?”

“First and foremost,” these questions can be addressed “by continuing to defend human dignity,” Coakley said.

“The dignity of the human person continues to be threatened," he said. Through "threats to the unborn, to the elderly, to the sick and suffering" and "through the violence of war and injustice."

“Society tends to disregard and cast aside what it deems useless, but life, human life, can never be adequately valued based on it being useful or useless. Or a burden or unworthy of protection,” he said.

“To restore hope necessitates preaching exactly that — that life is a gift from God,” he said.

“Human dignity is also threatened by the scourge of racism, by abuse, disdain, and contempt — especially towards the poor, the stranger, the condemned, and the outcast,” Coakley said.

Reducing polarization in our nation

“Another area in which we can promote hope is in our willingness and efforts to work with others — both in and outside of the halls of government — to reduce polarization,” Coakley said.

“Together we are working on ways to promote faithful citizenship — through dialogue, deeper realization of who is our neighbor, and by placing faith before politics — a faith that inspires hope, respect, and the pursuit of the common good," he said.

Following a “cordial visit to the White House last January, which I am grateful to have made, we recognize the need for further progress,” Coakley said regarding his Jan. 12 meeting with President Donald Trump, about four months before the president called the pope “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” in a social media post that drew a response from U.S. bishops.

The Church must “stay in the conversation,” Coakley said. “As our Holy Father has said in so many contexts and in so many ways, ‘Now is the time for dialogue and building bridges.’”

“Polarization within our country, and even within our Church, is a scandal that can only be overcome through encounter, through the cultivation of interpersonal relationships and conversations between those who may disagree,” Coakley said.

In order to “help restore hope to a world so desperately in need of it,” the bishops must reach “out to all those who are hungry to hear the words of hope that come from the Lord,” he said.

“This year we saw record numbers enter the Church, and this, after last year’s record numbers. This is a great sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is also a further example of how we need to put out into the deep — proclaiming the risen Son of God and sharing the Gospel with others,” he said.

As the bishops prepare to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, Coakley said: “I am reminded how deep, unfathomable, and profound is the love that lives in that heart, and how it embraces the entire world.”

“Can there be a greater message of hope? Can a greater gift of hope be offered?” he asked.

“It is the love flowing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus that feeds our hope," he said.

“I know that we have much work to do before we rest, but we are comforted by two things — we are in this vineyard working together, and, in the end, it is the Lord who will accomplish it all,” Coakley concluded.

Daily Mass schedules at St. Patrickʼs Cathedral in the port city of Karachi have been adjusted after Archbishop Benny Mario Travas urged Catholics to take precautions during daytime hours, Father Mario Rodrigues, principal of St. Patrickʼs High School and former rector of the cathedral, told EWTN News.

“Prayer timings have been shifted to early mornings and late evenings. Churches have been instructed to install reverse-osmosis water filtration plants and water coolers. We are trying our best to respond to the soaring mercury,” he said.

Rodrigues spoke on June 9, when high humidity pushed the “feels-like” temperature to around 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in Pakistanʼs largest city, home to about 200,000 Catholics.

Media reports said at least 14 people died in Karachi last month during a heat spell that saw temperatures reach 44.1 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest recorded in the city since 2018.

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The Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned that heat wave conditions are likely to intensify across the country, with temperatures expected to remain 4-6 degrees Celsius (about 7-11 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal in northern regions and 5-7 degrees Celsius (about 9-13 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal in southern areas on June 10–11.

Father Anthony Arbaz, parish priest of St. James Church in Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sindh, said 11 churches in his parish are relying on natural ventilation and community awareness to protect worshippers.

“We are widening windows and opening all ceiling ventilators in our churches. Karachiʼs nights were once famous for being cool even during the hottest months. Not anymore,” he said.

“It is a difficult situation for the entire country. Even ventilation seems helpless under the scorching sun because the fans only circulate hot air.”

Arbaz said cold drinking water is being provided to worshippers, while volunteers add oral rehydration solution and flavored electrolyte drinks to water coolers.

“Doctors and nurses are invited after Mass to educate the faithful on preventing heatstroke through simple measures such as carrying water bottles and covering their heads with wet towels,” he added.

Samson Chris, a medical assistant who has conducted heat-awareness sessions at St. James Church for the past three years, said church youth groups have been encouraged to shift sports activities to the evening.

“The attendance of elderly people at the 10 p.m. Mass has declined because prolonged power outages of 12-16 hours a day are disrupting sleep and affecting their health,” he said.

In Lahore, air conditioning brings new costs

In Lahore, where temperatures have also exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week, some churches are turning to air conditioning despite rising electricity costs.

Attendance at Holy Cross Catholic Church increased in the summer after two air-conditioning units were installed in 2024. However, church leaders now face mounting utility bills.

“Authorities at Sacred Heart Cathedral stopped contributing toward the electricity costs after the air-conditioning system was installed. The parish priest initially resisted the move, but parishioners insisted because the church, located above a school building, receives direct sunlight throughout the day,” said Anthony Gill, a member of the church committee.

The churchʼs electricity bill reached 14,000 Pakistani rupees (about $50) in May. Parishioners now take up a special collection on the first two Sundays of each month to help cover the expense.

“We also appeal to relatives, especially those living in Western countries, to support the church financially so that worshippers can find some relief from the heat during prayer services,” Gill said.

The New York State Department of Health released proposed rules for the assisted suicide law set to take effect Aug. 5, two days after the comment period ends.

The law enacted Feb. 6 would let people with terminally ill diagnoses of six months or less request drugs to end their lives.

The proposed rules would require two verbal requests from patients separated by at least 48 hours; a written request with two witnesses; and a final attestation form completed by the patient 48 hours before taking the medication. A five‑day waiting period applies to the time between when the prescription is written and when a pharmacy may fill it. Patients would self-administer the life-ending drugs. The death certificate would list the underlying disease or condition as the cause of death.

Hicks described the New York legislation as an “assault on human life, the next step toward a complete throwaway mentality” in a June 2 article in First Things.

“When this law becomes effective, a new and frightening era begins in New York,” Hicks said. “How long before this so-called ‘compassion’ for the terminally ill evolves from a ‘choice’ into an expectation to kill oneself for all sorts of vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities, the elderly, and those in impoverished and medically underserved communities?”

Jose Hernandez, a disabilities advocate for the New York Association on Independent Living, criticized the law given its negative affect on people with disabilities. He told EWTN News that society already treats many people with disabilities as a “burden.”

For people with disabilities, “everything is a fight,” said Hernandez, who became a C-5 quadriplegic after a diving accident at 15 years old.

As a New Yorker who grew up in the South Bronx, he voiced concerns that insurance companies would be incentivized to approve the cheaper alternative of assisted suicide.

Hernandez said his perspective is shaped by his own childhood: When he was 8, his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live — the same prognosis that would make someone eligible for assisted suicide under New York’s law. She went on to live another 13 years.

When asked what he would say to people considering assisted suicide, Hernandez urged people to consider alternatives such as hospice and palliative care, or even induced comas, to pass with “peace” into the next life.

Hicks encouraged people to consider the witness of Pope Francis when he was dying.

“Our lives are sacred gifts from God that we are to protect and cherish,” Hicks wrote.

“We saw the beauty of a natural death exemplified just over a year ago when Pope Francis, clearly weakened by illness and age, traveled through St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile on Easter Sunday, demonstrating the dignity of life even while suffering the afflictions and ailments that would claim his life the very next day,” he wrote.

Jamie Towey, spokesman for Aging With Dignity, told EWTN News that “assisted suicide is the wrong answer to real problems.”

“Americans should be seriously concerned by New Yorkʼs assisted suicide law, not only because it classifies the elderly and people with disabilities as worthy of suicide, but because this isnʼt the end; itʼs just the beginning,” Towey said.

“The original version of the bill was extraordinarily radical — no waiting periods, no state residency requirements — and the suicide-affirming care lobby will fight to bring this version of the bill back. That is their playbook,” Towey said.

Taking inspiration from St. Teresa of Calcutta, Aging With Dignity is dedicated to protecting the rights of people approaching the end of life. Through its “Five Wishes” program, Aging With Dignity helps those who are elderly or nearing death define how they want to be treated.

“The good news is, there are real solutions we can provide the dying and those with serious illness: advance care planning resources, access to palliative care, timely referral to hospice, patient-centered care, quality pain management, and loving, personal accompaniment,” Towey said.

Jessica Rodgers, coalitions director for Patients' Rights Action Fund, criticized assisted suicide laws for failing to protect vulnerable patients.

“Assisted suicide laws across the United States are written to protect prescribers, not patients, and nothing in the proposed regulations addresses that reality,” Rodgers said.

“Current regulations offer no oversight after the drugs are dispensed and no follow-up with the patient,” Rodgers said. “As it stands, we will continue to see vulnerable patients harmed by this discriminatory policy.”

Hicks warned New Yorkers of “the slippery slope” the New York law creates.

“What begins as a personal choice could lead to situations where external forces, such as government agencies or insurance companies, begin to influence or even dictate end-of-life decisions,” Hicks said. “This shift could undermine the respect and protection due to every human life.”

“It’s a future we must guard against with both compassion and vigilance,” Hicks said.

Authorities in Mozambique said Afonso was fatally shot during a home invasion at his residence in Quelimane during the early hours of June 6. 

The Mozambican member of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries (IMC), Afonso had led the Diocese of Quelimane since July 2025 and also served as apostolic administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Beira and secretary-general of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM).

Members of the CEM have demanded urgent action and accountability. In a June 8 letter, the episcopal body condemned what it described as a “vile and cowardly crime” and insisted on a swift, rigorous investigation to uncover both the masterminds and perpetrators of the attack.

Earlier this week, in a message released by the Holy See, Pope Leo XIV said he had “learned with sorrow of the grave act of violence” that claimed Afonsoʼs life and said he was joined in prayer with all the people of Mozambique.

Pope Leo XIV’s message came as Church leaders across Africa and beyond reacted to the killing, describing it as a painful loss for the Church and an attack on the values the late bishop dedicated his life to promoting.

Africa’s bishops condemn ‘barbaric crime’

In a June 6 statement, the leadership of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) expressed “profound shock, sorrow, and indignation” over the violent killing of Afonso.

“This heinous act, perpetrated against a shepherd of God’s people, constitutes not only an attack on the life and dignity of a devoted servant of the Gospel but also an assault on the values of peace, justice, human dignity, and religious freedom that are essential for the flourishing of every society,” said SECAM President Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, OFM Cap, leader of the Archdiocese of Kinshasa.

Ambongo also said they “strongly and unequivocally condemn this barbaric crime.”

“No religious leader, regardless of faith or denomination, should ever become the target of violence,” he said.

He continued: “Those who dedicate their lives to serving God and promoting reconciliation, solidarity, education, charity, and the common good deserve protection and respect, not persecution and death.”

On behalf of Africa’s Catholic bishops, Ambongo called on Mozambican authorities to conduct “an immediate, thorough, transparent, and independent investigation” and ensure that all those responsible are “identified, prosecuted, and brought to justice without delay.”

“The people of Mozambique, the Catholic Church, and the international community deserve the truth,” Ambongo said.

The cardinal went on to urge the Mozambican government to strengthen protection for religious leaders and places of worship, emphasizing that religious freedom is “a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of every democratic and peaceful society.”

He expressed condolences to Mozambique’s Catholic bishops, clergy, women and men religious, and lay faithful of the Quelimane Diocese and Beira Archdiocese, IMC members, and the late bishop’s family and loved ones.

“We join them in mourning the loss of a faithful pastor whose life was dedicated to the service of Christ and his Church,” Ambongo said.

Vatican dicastery recalls missionary service

The Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization, where Afonso served at the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches before becoming a bishop, also issued a tribute, highlighting the late bishop’s missionary commitment and service to the universal Church.

“With deep sorrow, yet comforted by the firm hope of the resurrection promised by Our Lord Jesus Christ,” officials of the Vatican Dicastery said they joined “in the mourning of the Church in Mozambique” and united themselves spiritually with the pope and the faithful of Quelimane and Beira.

The dicastery officials recalled that Afonso, born in Ribáuè on May 6, 1972, took his solemn vows in the Consolata Missionary Institute and was ordained a priest in 2002.

“Inspired by a genuine missionary spirit and a deep love for sacred Scripture, he generously dedicated his ministry to the service of evangelization in Africa, Italy, and the universal Church,” they said.

Vatican Dicastery officials noted that the late bishop served as an official of the Dicastery for Evangelization from 2017 until his episcopal appointment in September 2023.

“The years spent at the service of the dicastery were marked by competence, dedication, a sincere ecclesial spirit, and a generous commitment to the mission ad gentes and to the growth of the young Churches,” they said.

The dicastery officials recounted his appointment as auxiliary bishop of Maputo in September 2023 and later as bishop of Quelimane in July 2025.

In April, he was also entrusted with responsibility for the Archdiocese of Beira as apostolic administrator.

Reflecting on Afonso’s passing, the Vatican officials said: “His sudden death deprives the Church in Mozambique of a zealous and caring pastor, an exemplary missionary, a man of profound faith, and a faithful servant of the Gospel.”

They added that those who worked with the late bishop remembered “his humility, fraternal kindness, spiritual depth, pastoral wisdom, and his total dedication to the mission entrusted to him by the Lord for the good of the Church.”

The dicastery entrusted Afonso’s soul to “the infinite mercy of the Father” and prayed that the Lord would “comfort all who mourn his death and sustain his Church in its confident expectation of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

ACN sees another ‘dark cloud’ over Mozambique

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) also lamented Afonso’s killing, describing it as another painful moment for the Church in the southern African nation.

Officials of the pontifical charity said the murder “adds yet another dark cloud over the Church in Mozambique.”

They noted that the Church in the country “is already grappling with terrorist violence in the north of the country, particularly in Cabo Delgado Province.”

Officials of the Catholic charity with the mission of supporting persecuted and oppressed Christians worldwide recalled that Afonso had repeatedly warned about insecurity and violence in the region before his death.

Reaffirming their commitment to the local Church, ACN officials said Mozambique “remains a priority country” for the organization, which continues to support the Church through humanitarian assistance, psychosocial programs, and reconstruction projects.

As the Church in Mozambique prepares funeral arrangements for the slain bishop, tributes from Rome, Africa, and Catholic organizations continue to pour in from across the world.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the Diocese of Fort Worth, and the Diocese of Dallas have launched special initiatives blending hospitality, faith, and outreach for the hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world descending on those cities during the largest World Cup in history, which begins June 11.

The cities of Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth will host 16 matches total, with a tournament-high nine matches taking place at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, which sits in between Fort Worth and Dallas.

The Diocese of Dallas has launched the “Welcome the World, Welcome the Stranger” initiative, encouraging parishes to extend hospitality to the city’s visitors, offering a downloadable resource kit that includes prayers and ideas that “will help your community welcome visitors from around the globe with faith, joy, and generosity.”

The diocese is also offering fans information on Mass times in multiple languages and “everything you need to stay connected to your faith during your visit to north Texas.”

“We are grateful for your presence among us and for this moment that brings the world together in a spirit of joy and unity,” Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said on the dioceseʼs World Cup website. “It is my hope that, during your time here, you will experience not only our hospitality but also the peace that comes from being welcomed as part of one human family.”

Burns celebrated an opening Mass on June 7 at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There are additional Holy Hours planned for specific match days.

Dallas Stadium will feature several high-profile group games such as Netherlands vs. Japan (June 14), England vs. Croatia (June 17), and Argentina vs. Austria (June 22) before culminating in a semifinal on July 14.

The Fort Worth Dioceseʼs initiative, “Together for the Win,” is available in multiple languages and offers visiting fans parish locations, including their distance from Dallas Stadium.

Diocesan spokesman John Cuccaro told EWTN News individual parishes may organize watch parties, and the diocese plans to share social media reels featuring parishioners attending matches.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houstonʼs dedicated World Cup website, meanwhile, offers a parish locator, information on special Masses and other events, and links to notable Catholic sites in the city, which expects over 500,000 visitors.

NRG Stadium (temporarily renamed Houston Stadium) will host seven matches from June 14 to July 4, including five group-stage games and two knockout rounds.

Portugal will be playing two matches in Houston on June 17 and June 23. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is inviting fans to worship at a special Portuguese Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on Sunday, June 21, at 3:30 p.m.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament opens in Mexico City with the match between Mexico and South Africa at the iconic Estadio Azteca. The opening ceremony will take place at the same venue about 90 minutes before kickoff, celebrating Mexican culture through music, dance, and folklore.

There will be three separate opening ceremonies — one in each host country — with additional events in Toronto and Los Angeles on June 12.

This expanded 48-team tournament features a record 104 matches across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, running through the final on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The 11 U.S. host cities will collectively stage 78 of the tournament’s 104 matches. In addition to the two cities in Texas, matches will take place in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford), Boston (Foxborough), Miami (Miami Gardens), Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara), Seattle, and Kansas City.

The June 8 earthquake caused buildings to collapse, triggering landslides and setting off tsunami warnings across a swath of the southern island.

According to the Office of Civil Defense, the national disaster agency, the earthquake had left 46 people dead, 630 injured, and 17 missing as of June 10.

More than 800,000 households across Mindanao lacked access to electricity, with the Department of Energy yet to fully assess damage to energy infrastructure and accelerate power restoration efforts.

Expressing profound sorrow and solidarity with people in Sarangani province and other parts of Mindanao, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), issued a statement on June 9.

“We grieve with the families who have lost loved ones, pray for the speedy recovery of those who have been injured, and stand in spiritual communion with all those who have been displaced from their homes and livelihoods,” he said.

“We also remember in our prayers the rescue workers, medical personnel, government agencies, and volunteers who continue to labor tirelessly in responding to this tragedy,” he added.

He urged all dioceses to hold a second collection at Sunday Masses on June 14. The proceeds will be sent through the diocesan social action centers and Caritas Philippines to support relief and rehabilitation efforts.

In a separate message, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, head of Caritas Philippines, the humanitarian, development, and advocacy arm of the CBCP, said many families are in urgent need of assistance.

“In times of uncertainty and loss, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Mindanao,” he added. “May compassion, hope, and our shared humanity continue to connect us as communities rebuild and rise together.”

Peopleʼs donations can help provide relief and restore hope, and no amount is too small when given with love, the prelate said.

Caritas Philippines, together with diocesan social action centers, is responding to affected communities, with their efforts matched by dioceses, religious congregations, and aid groups across the country.

Dioceses express solidarity

The Diocese of Antipolo has sent 100,000 pesos ($1,630) to the Diocese of Marbel for earthquake relief and 50,000 pesos ($810) to Stella Maris in General Santos City to assist seafarers' families affected by the disaster.

“In solidarity with our brothers and sisters affected by the recent earthquake in Mindanao, the Diocese of Antipolo has extended financial assistance to support ongoing relief and recovery efforts,” Antipolo Bishop Ruperto Santos said.

“As one Church, we continue to respond to the call of Christian charity and compassion. We also invite the faithful and all people of goodwill to support our ongoing relief efforts through cash donations,” he added.

Santos said peopleʼs generosity will help bring hope, relief, and recovery to families and communities affected by the calamity.

The Philippines has 87 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, comprising 60 dioceses, 16 archdioceses, six apostolic vicariates, four territorial prelatures, and a military ordinariate, which have started expressing solidarity with those affected by the disaster.

Marcos visits quake-hit region

On June 10, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited General Santos City, including the National High School, one of the sites damaged by the earthquake.

After speaking with teachers and students, he said the government would provide mental health support, in coordination with the Department of Health, for students traumatized by the earthquake.

“When I talked to the teachers, I told them they should remember that this was a traumatizing experience for the students, for the children,” he said. “So, they should also keep an eye on them.”

He added that teachers would be trained to talk with students and provide support to those who may be experiencing trauma and stress.

The earthquake struck on the first day of the school year, following the two-month summer break, disrupting classes across several areas of Mindanao and affecting the safety and learning of teachers and students.

The Department of Education said the earthquake had affected more than 3.2 million students.

Marcos also announced 100 million pesos ($1,627,000) in financial assistance for the General Santos City government to repair its city hall, which was damaged by the earthquake, and 50,000 pesos ($810) for the families of those who died.

Appeal for more cooperation

The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines called for solidarity with the victims.

“We pray for the safety of our communities, the strength of rescue and response teams, and the swift recovery of all affected areas. As one faith community, let us continue to accompany our brothers and sisters through our prayers and acts of compassion,” the association said in a social media post.

The Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP) also appealed to the public to aid families affected by the calamity, urging people to help disaster victims facing hardship, uncertainty, and a lack of necessities.

“In this time of tragedy and uncertainty, let us come together as one community of faith and compassion. The recent earthquake in Mindanao has left many families grieving, displaced, and in urgent need of assistance,” a CMSP statement read.

The organization stressed that, through donations, the Church can help provide food, clean water, temporary shelter, medicine, and other essential needs for affected families.

“As consecrated persons and people of goodwill, we are called to be instruments of Godʼs love and mercy. Through your generous donations, we can help provide food, water, shelter, medicines, and other essential needs for our brothers and sisters affected by this disaster,” CMSP said.

“With the support of the government and church organizations and others, we can pick up the pieces and rebuild our lives again,” Nova Lapara, 37, a mother of two teenage girls from General Santos City, told EWTN News.

Speaking to EWTN News after the rally, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin said: “It was a very special joy for me to preside at the Eucharist in Knock at the rosary rally. I felt a tremendous sense of joy and hope among the people who were gathered there. And it was especially gratifying to see many young people, including the childrenʼs rosary group, who made a very important and beautiful contribution to the day.”

The archbishop added: “I really felt that Knock was alive, and it makes me realize that our Blessed Mother continues to speak into the troubled world in which we live, with many new problems and new challenges. From the point of view of Ireland, itʼs very important for us to have a gathering like this, to affirm the very many people who have remained strong and steadfast in their faith and who need this kind of gathering in order to give them encouragement and a strong sense of mission.”

Martin said the word “mission” stayed with him after leaving the rally. “Thatʼs a word that I went home with in my head,“ he said. ”There is a wonderful mission involved in the rosary rally. Itʼs about gathering people but also about sending them back into their homes, parishes, and communities, to continue to make the beautiful graces of our Blessed Mother well known, to continue to pray for peace.”

Turning to the practical ways in which people can make a difference in their local parishes, Martin said: “I personally would invite people to restore the practice of the First Saturday devotions. This would be in fulfillment of our Blessed Motherʼs own wish, but it would also provide a new and further structure for parishes to gather, to pray the rosary, to have adoration, to have the sacrament of reconciliation available.”

Martin also expressed hope that other countries might be inspired by the example of the All Ireland Rosary Rally.

In his sermon during the Mass at the shrine on the day of the rally, the archbishop encouraged the congregation of thousands to pray often, in union with Mary, for the protection of humanity in this technological age.

Echoing the words of Pope Leo XIV in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, he said: “Artificial Intelligence is already shaping human life in homes, workplaces, and communities; in hospitals, public services, and economies. AI can do remarkable and helpful things. It can even mimic human behavior and voices, but it cannot love, suffer, forgive, pray, or hope as humans can, nor can it be truly ‘wise.’ AI does not have a conscience.”

Together with Bishop Donal McKeown and Bishop John Buckley, Martin led the renewal of the consecration of Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the culmination of the rosary procession.

Speaking to EWTN News, Christine O’Hara, a secondary schoolteacher in Cork, Ireland, said: “The rosary rally was a very blessed and grace-filled day, and thereʼs a number of things that weʼre really hoping people will take away from the event. The first being that people will feel inspired to pray the rosary every day.”

O’Hara, who runs a childrenʼs rosary group and two First Saturday communities, added: “Our Lady said in Fátima, pray the rosary every day to obtain peace in the world and an end to the war. Itʼs the desire of Archbishop Eamon Martin that the renewal of the First Saturday devotion would happen in this country. Weʼre really hoping and praying that one of the fruits, and Iʼm sure there will be many fruits from this rosary rally, but weʼre really hoping and praying that people will feel inspired to start the First Saturday devotion in their parish.”

OʼHara also said she hopes more people will be inspired to start childrenʼs rosary groups as well as rosary groups for adults in their parishes.

The huge crowd also heard from an inspiring panel of international speakers. Bishop Oliver Doeme spoke to the crowds about the power of the rosary in strengthening the faith and courage of the people of his diocese in Nigeria who live in daily fear of murder at the hands of Boko Haram terrorists.

Nikki Kingsley shared her remarkable conversion journey from the Muslim faith in her native Pakistan to being received into the Catholic faith. Her moving and inspiring story focused on the power of the rosary and her devotion to Our Lady.

Other speakers included Father Chris Alar, the provincial superior of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, who talked of the importance of Marian devotion, and Sister Ângela de Fátima, vice postulator for the cause of the three Fátima children.

In a June 7 editorial, the archdiocese stressed that “the emotions of these days will remain in our memories but our children will still be there waiting for our attention, our parents needing a call, our grandparents longing for a visit, our spouse waiting for some time together, and our daily responsibilities demanding our presence.”

The Archdiocese of Mexico stated that “the world once again comes to a halt before the playing field. Millions of people will gather in front of a screen to celebrate, suffer disappointment, feel the excitement, and share the passion that soccer brings out.”

“Mexico, like many other participating nations, is undergoing challenges that call for unity; the entire world, caught up in scenarios of war and inequality, is in urgent need of reconciliation,” the editorial noted.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the worldʼs premier soccer championship, will have three host countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The opening match, between Mexico and South Africa, will take place on June 11 in Mexico City. Thirteen matches total will be played in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.

After acknowledging the frequent divisions caused by “politics, social media, economic disparities, or the wounds we carry in our personal and community relationships,” the archdiocese noted that during the World Cup weeks, “we will see entire families sitting together in front of the television, neighbors gathering to watch a match, and people who don’t usually agree on things celebrating the same goal.”

The archdiocese recalled that Pope Leo XIV, in his prayer intention for June, “reminds us that ‘in life, as in the game, no one is saved alone. We need others to grow, to learn respect, to overcome our limits, and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.'"

The archdiocese acknowledged that “the World Cup can be a great celebration” yet noted that “any celebration has meaning when it strengthens the bonds that sustain our lives.”

In this spirit, it extended an invitation to Mexican society, urging that “these weeks help us sit down together at the table as a family more often, reconcile with those from whom we have drifted apart, pick up conversations we had put on hold, and rediscover the joy of sharing.”

“Sport need not be a reason to distance ourselves from those we love, to isolate ourselves, or to shut ourselves away for hours in front of the television, shunning human contact or neglecting what requires our attention,” the editorial pointed out.

Both while the World Cup is underway as well as after it ends, “the people who are with us on the journey today remain essential.”

“We still need peace in our communities. We still need to be close to those who suffer. We still need to value and defend human life and dignity. We still urgently need reconciliation in our country. And the love we build each day in our homes remains irreplaceable,” the archdiocese emphasized.

The archdiocese encouraged people to both enjoy the soccer matches and celebrate “the fraternity it can inspire,” without forgetting “that trophies are fleeting and that the most valuable things in our lives are built day by day in family, friendship, honest work, and everyone’s commitment to building a more united society.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

About 130 scientists gathered for this yearʼs conference for talks that touched on the deeply Catholic history of science, the moral dilemma of identical twins, how science and faith are one in their pursuit of truth, how AI fits into the grand scheme of things, and how key mathematical discoveries reveal God’s beauty and infinity.

The Society of Catholic Scientists (SCS) exists to correct the false characterization of faith and science as opposed, and how to combat this myth was a constant topic in both formal presentations and informal conversations. All presentations can be seen on the recorded livestream.

Castel-Branco told the story in his Saturday morning talk of Blessed Nicolas Steno, a revolutionary scientist who is considered the father of geology and comparative anatomy. This brilliant researcher converted to Catholicism after witnessing a Corpus Christi procession in Italy, going on to become a bishop and then a saint.

The same research skills Steno used to understand the natural world, Castel-Branco said, became his path to heaven as he turned his intellect toward studying the Church fathers and theology.

Later on Saturday afternoon, Maureen Condic, neurobiology professor and bioethicist at The Catholic University of America, presented her solution to the “twin problem.” Identical twins pose a moral dilemma: If one embryo can divide into two distinct persons, how does that square with the belief that personhood begins at conception? 

Condic pulled from the newest research in molecular developmental biology and the ancient wisdom of Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics to present a sophisticated answer that affirms the dignity of human life at all stages, arguing that the splitting of an embryo to become identical twins is an act of biological regeneration, comparable to asexual reproduction. Thus an embryo becoming identical twins is not the division of one human person but the spawning of a second individual from a first.

Ignasi Rosell, a particle physicist and one of several visitors from the society’s Spain chapter, explained how scientists can understand their work in light of St. John Henry Newman’s vision of the university, saying: “Truth is one. Newman was not defending theology against science: He was defending the unity of knowledge. The university remains the privileged place where that unity is sought.”

Two talks addressed artificial intelligence, one addressing trustworthy scientific inference given the scope of AI and the other attempting to place machine intelligence on Aristotle’s “Great Chain of Being” that classified all living and nonliving things into a hierarchical scale based on the complexity of their souls.

The conference also turned to the philosophy of mathematics in a presentation that revealed how religious faith brings new understanding to every field of scientific inquiry. Gregory F. Johnson, principal software engineer at Zap Surgical Systems, a spin-off of the Stanford Medical School, discussed “The Mathematical and Philosophical Revolution Launched by Gödelʼs Incompleteness Theorem,” a theorem published in 1931 that fundamentally altered the philosophy of mathematics.

“The key thing Gödel showed was that mathematics has sort of infinite realms where weʼre being asked to explore more and more deeply,” Johnson told EWTN News. “Gödel thought — he was a man of faith, a man of religious belief — that, in a way, God created an abstract realm to go with the material physical realm, where he was just opening doors for us to explore more and more deeply into his truth and his presence."

Participants called the conference “joyful,” “refreshing,” and “genuinely interdisciplinary.”

“Itʼs just a joyful sharing of the intersection of faith and science,” Alexander Webber, a research fellow at the Food and Drug Administration, told EWTN News. It was Webber’s fifth year attending the conference, and he said he frequently encourages friends and colleagues to come too.

“Itʼs just an incredible experience every year, gathering with highly qualified scientists who are also believers,” he said. “We always have wonderful conversations — not only on how our faith informs our work but also how our work reveals more about our faith. I always leave feeling edified. It’s very much unlike other conferences. Nobody here is really putting on any pretenses.”

Other attendees said they enjoy being with other serious scientists who are devout Catholics and who share their understanding that faith and science go hand in hand.

Robert Scherrer, a physics professor at Vanderbilt University, said: “Thereʼs this myth that science and religion are opposed to each other. A lot of atheists have a very simplistic view of religion: The religion they donʼt believe in is not the religion I do believe in. But young people see this myth and think, ‘I have to pick which team Iʼm going to be on.’”

Chris Clemens, an astrophysicist and former provost of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, was one of the first members of the SCS. He said it was hard to find other Catholic scientists at first, but now it has grown and draws more members every year.

The organization has seen enormous development in its international chapters. The president of the Spain chapter, the second-largest chapter after the U.S., gave a presentation about its growth and success at the conference.

Scherrer, another founding member of the SCS, said he greatly enjoys the event’s interdisciplinary nature. “All the other conferences I go to are in my specialty, and itʼs fun, but it’s the same topics every time,” he said. “Whereas here, Iʼve heard talks about bees, and the Great Lakes, and lobster brains, and all sorts of things that you just donʼt get in your normal run of your life, so itʼs much more interesting. It reminds me of when I was a kid and was interested in science. I didnʼt just do physics; I was interested in all science. It feels like a chance to get back to that.”

SCS members have initiated a number of projects to share more broadly the compatibility of faith and science, from a “Faith, Science, and Reason” high-school textbook written by Chris Baglow, who directs the Science & Religion Initiative of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, to a new training this year that prepares scientists to give lectures on the unity of faith and science.

The prelate made the announcement via his official X account, noting also that the pontiffʼs presence would be “a source of comfort and encouragement for many.”

The confirmation coincides with an announcement from the French Bishops' Conference, which stated via social media that the pope will participate in five major gatherings during the visit.

On Sept. 25, the pope will preside over vespers at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and take part in an evening event with young people; on the 26th, he will celebrate an open-air Mass in Paris; on the 27th, he will celebrate the Eucharist at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes; and on the 28th, he will preside over Mass at Metz Cathedral.

“We can now give free rein to our joy, as we are able to publicly confirm that Paris will welcome the Holy Father on Sept. 25 and 26 as part of his apostolic journey to France!” Ulrich wrote.

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The archbishop noted that the announcement follows several weeks of preparation in his archdiocese and highlighted the importance of the Holy Fatherʼs “pastoral and fatherly care” for French Catholics.

Ulrich expressed pride in the choice of Paris as one of the key stops on the journey: “We know that Paris is just one of the dioceses in France and that each particular Church reflects the face of Christ in its own way.”

He added that the Church in Paris must prepare itself and “work wholeheartedly to create the conditions for a true encounter that transcends our own boundaries.”

Encounters with young people and a large-scale Mass

As the archbishop explained, on Friday, Sept. 25 — prior to vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with priests, deacons, consecrated religious, and seminarians from across France — the pope will have an encounter with the faithful.

On Saturday, Sept. 26, the pope “will preside over an open-air Mass in the heart of Paris, to which I invite you to join — either by attending in person, if you are able, or through prayer,” Ulrich stated.

Call for volunteers and prayer

The archbishop noted that many logistical details are still being finalized, but he invited the faithful to get involved in organizing the visit.

He also asked for financial support to help welcome the many pilgrims expected to attend the events. Finally, he urged Catholics to support the preparations through prayer.

"Above all, I ask you to join in this preparation through prayer: prayer for the Holy Father ... and prayer for all those ... who will be involved in organizing this visit,” he wrote.

Ulrich concluded by asking for prayers for the Church in France, that it may remain “united behind the bishops in full communion with the successor of Peter” and preserve, “amid all the storms of our time, its faithful joy in the Lord’s Gospel.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The vice president told Fox News host Jesse Watters on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on June 8 that he attended Christian churches while growing up but that he “wasnʼt properly formed in my faith” and that he eventually fell away from Christianity.

“I had a lot of people who just did not, I think, properly support me in my own faith journey. And so I kind of just lost it,” he told Watters.

Vance said he experienced considerable career success as he grew older and became a lawyer. “I was professionally very successful. I was making a lot of money. Iʼd gone to all the right schools,” he said.

But “I realized that American elite culture was forming me to be kind of a bad person.”

When his wife, Usha, gave birth to their first baby, Vance said he began thinking about “how to be a good person, how to be virtuous, how to be a good and supportive husband, how to raise [their] son to be a good man himself.”

These questions led him to consider returning to the faith, he said; he ultimately converted to Catholicism in 2019.

“It felt like the world was changing so fast,” he said. “And what I loved about Catholicism is that you had this beautiful ancient Church, and you had all of these traditions that were very firmly rooted, some of which went back literally thousands of years. And I just really loved that sense of tradition.”

He admitted that itʼs “possible sometimes to think too much about this stuff” and that ultimately he joined the Catholic faith because “when I went to a Catholic church, I felt at home.”

“[A]fter a lot of soul searching, thatʼs just what felt like home to me,” he said.

Vance added he enjoys the “dynamism” that comes from the religiously pluralistic culture of the United States.

“Certainly it has been true for me that while I made my home in the Catholic Church, some of my best friends and some of the most influential people Iʼve met ... have been Protestants. So I think thatʼs going to continue to be true,” he said.

Vanceʼs wife, Usha, is Hindu, which Vance said “brings a lot” to their marriage.

“Itʼs definitely dynamic to have a Hindu [mother], a Catholic father, two Catholic kids, and one 4-year-old girl who hasnʼt figured it out yet,” he said. “But I wouldnʼt take it any other way.”

Watters noted that he himself is Protestant but that his wife is “kind of trying to get me to convert to Catholicism.” He joked with Vance: “Iʼm not there yet. Maybe Iʼll get there one day.”

“Weʼll talk,” Vance replied with a laugh.

Vanceʼs upcoming book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” will be released on June 16. Vance said earlier this year that the book will explore the “story of how I regained my faith.”

"I’m a Christian, and I became a Christian because I believe that Jesus Christ’s teachings are true,” Vance said when the book was announced. “But I didn’t always think that, and by sharing my journey I might be helpful to others — Catholic, Protestant, or otherwise — who are seeking reconciliation with God.”

The court’s June 4 decision to issue a temporary stay for Nigerian priest Father Martin Umeatuegbu’s student visa comes after the Trump administration issued proclamations placing a hold on all visa adjustment of status applications and restricting entry for all foreign nationals from “high-risk” countries, including Nigeria.

The 14‑day stay, granted in response to the archdiocese’s May 22 emergency request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order, gives the Archdiocese of Santa Fe time to petition the U.S. government to upgrade Umeatuegbu’s student visa to an R‑1 religious worker visa, a five-year visa typically held by foreign-born priests while serving in the U.S. and applying for green card status.

The outcome of Umeatuegbu’s case could set a precedent for other foreign-born priests from countries designated by the U.S. as “high risk.”

Umeatuegbu’s visa was set to expire on June 4. The Archdiocese of Santa Fe had filed its petition to upgrade his visa to R-1 status on Dec. 31, 2025. Umeatuegbu was ordained to the priesthood on May 23 and has been assigned to St. Anne Parish in Santa Fe.

Umeatuegbu obtained a master of arts degree in theology from Mount Angel Abbey Seminary and was ordained to the diaconate on June 5, 2025, according to the seminary’s website.

The archdiocese did not return EWTN News’ request for comment.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales wrote that “the archdiocese is likely to succeed on merits under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act” and said the policy of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services “infringes on the archdiocese’s right to select its minister of choice.”

Gonzales said the U.S. government “is unlikely to demonstrate that the policy is the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling governmental interest,” especially since it has already lifted adjudicative holds on other categories of petitions.

At this significant site of the Neocatechumenal Way on the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee in the Holy Land, the cardinal conferred priestly ordination upon Francisco Hurtado Cárdenas (Colombia), José Pablo Morera Mesén (Costa Rica), Adolfo René De León Salguero (Guatemala), and David Sotgiu (Italy).

In his homily, Pizzaballa highlighted the providential nature of the date — the eve of Corpus Christi — and emphasized that “there is no Eucharist without a priest, nor a priest without the Eucharist.” The Italian cardinal also stressed that “love cannot be locked within itself; it must be communicated, it must become a gift,” according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The cardinal also emphasized that the priesthood is not a personal possession but a received gift that must be safeguarded. “If you keep it for yourselves, it will be stifled; it must always become a gift,” he warned the new priests.

Pizzaballa also encouraged the new priests to remember “what the Lord has done for you,” so that they do not forget the journey they have traveled or the people who have supported and accompanied them.

He also emphasized that a priest must lead people to an encounter with Christ through his witness and by helping communities live out the faith as something vibrant within the Church.

At the end of the homily, the patriarch highlighted both the beauty and the demanding nature of serving the Church in Jerusalem — a small, complex reality wounded by many situations. “Here, it is necessary to go to the very depths, to live the life of God to the fullest, right where the Word became incarnate and became tangible and real,” he emphasized.

In June of last year, in the same church, Pizzaballa conferred priestly ordination upon John Oscar Nuñez (Philippines), Giacomo Pagliariccia (Italy), and Lucas Solbach (France), who were also trained at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Galilee.

In a press release issued June 8, the experts said the situation is “deeply troubling,” particularly in northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt region, where a “deteriorating security situation” and an “inadequate” response from civil authorities has allowed armed extremist groups — which include Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, along with radicalized Muslim herdsmen — to operate with relative impunity.

The experts pointed to the role of local interpretations of Sharia law in 12 northern states, blasphemy codes, and systemic failures in access to civil justice as contributing factors.

“These reports are deeply troubling,” the experts stated. “Violence targeting Christians and other religious minorities continues to be rampant.”

“The testimonies we have received paint a horrifying picture of fear, trauma, coercion, and abandonment. Victims and survivors must not be left without protection, justice, [and] reparations, including rehabilitation and meaningful support,” the experts wrote.

In a formal communication sent to the Nigerian government, the U.N. experts cited specific incidents such as the abduction of girls taken from a church in Borno state; the forced conversion and marriage of a 13-year-old girl in Bauchi state; and a gruesome attack on a 16-year-old Christian girl, whose hand was reportedly cut off by militants after her family rejected a forced marriage proposal.

These cases form part of a “broader pattern of violence” against Christian communities, according to the U.N. experts, “including killings, attacks on churches and villages, mass displacement, mob violence linked to accusations of blasphemy, and severe insecurity affecting women and children in internally displaced persons camps.”

Women and girls in displaced persons camps face particular vulnerability to sexual exploitation, they said, with some coerced into sexual acts in exchange for food or aid. Many reportedly hide their Christian identity or wear hijabs for survival.

“If confirmed, these allegations may amount to serious violations of international human rights law, including violations of the rights to life, safety, liberty, security, freedom of religion or belief, freedom from torture, enforced disappearance, slavery and trafficking, and the rights of women and children,” the experts said.

In a statement June 8 responding to the U.N. report, Giorgio Mazzoli, the director of U.N. advocacy at the religious freedom organization ADF International, said: “Christians, particularly women and girls, among other religious minorities, have faced grave and systematic atrocities at the hands of armed militant groups operating with impunity in parts of Nigeria.”

ADF International was one of several human rights organizations that pushed the U.S. State Department to redesignate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” in the fall of 2025.

Mazzoli continued: “For too long, the international community has remained largely silent as this crisis has deepened. The joint communication from five U.N. mechanisms is a significant and welcome step towards ensuring that these violations receive international attention, and that their root causes — including discriminatory legal frameworks — are fully addressed.”

The U.N.'s June 8 statement was issued by a team of experts made up of U.N. special rapporteurs and a working group. The special rapporteurs include Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions; Nicolas Levrat, special rapporteur on minority issues; and Alice Jill Edwards, special rapporteur on torture.

The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is composed of Gabriella Citroni, Grażyna Baranowska , Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, and Mohamed Al Obaidi.

The experts urged Nigerian authorities to take urgent action to protect at-risk populations, secure the release of abducted persons, conduct independent investigations, prosecute perpetrators, and provide justice, reparations, and support to victims.

“Impunity for these crimes only fuels further violence,” they warned. “Nigerian authorities must act urgently to prevent further irreparable harm and ensure accountability for all violations.”

Antonio Tyson will serve two life sentences and a 40-year sentence for the murder of Father Otis Young and Ruth Prats, according to a June 8 press release from the office of Judicial District Attorney J. Collin Sims.

Young and Prats were found murdered in Covington, Louisiana, in November 2022; the bodies of both victims were burned after the victims themselves had been stabbed and beaten.

Young, 71, had retired in July of that year after serving as pastor for approximately 10 years at St. Peter Catholic Church in Covington. Prats had been a parish employee at that church.

Tyson was arrested shortly after the murders. Sims' office said in its release that he pleaded guilty to the murders on May 5. Part of the plea deal included Tyson waiving “all present and future rights to pursue sentence reductions, administrative corrections, judicial reviews, or release mechanisms.”

Tyson will also “be incarcerated within specialized state facilities under conditions identical to capital inmates awaiting execution,” the prosecutorʼs office said.

The severe imprisonment conditions and the appeal waiver “fulfill the explicit desire of the Prats and Young families that Tyson experience the maximal physical restrictions warranted by his heinous offenses, while simultaneously shielding the families from years of appellate delays and litigation associated with a capital trial,” the office said.

Sims in a statement said the sentencing “brings a permanent closure to a deeply painful chapter in our community’s history.”

The prosecutorʼs office was initially prepared to seek the death penalty, Sims said, but “recent disclosures regarding historical childhood IQ testing, [along with] a traumatic brain injury discovered in MRI scans,” meant such a sentence would likely have been subject to “meaningful challenges” at appeal.

“Rather than exposing these grieving families to potentially decades of litigation and the meaningful possibility that an execution could never legally be carried out, this negotiated resolution guarantees that Tyson will remain removed from society for the rest of his natural life under maximum-security, death-row conditions,” the prosecutor said.

Tyson had reportedly been released from prison just a few months prior to committing the murders. His latest sentences will run consecutively to each other, the prosecutorʼs office said.

In early March, two priests of the Diocese of Pinsk in southern Belarus were refused permission to continue their ministry. In May, three priests of the northern Diocese of Vitebsk lost their permits, followed later that month by five priests and a monk of the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev. All were Polish citizens who had ministered in Belarusian parishes for years, several of them for decades.

A number of the affected priests held parish leadership and deanery-level roles in the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, the metropolitan see that includes the capital, Minsk.

The move follows a pattern in which the Belarusian government has steadily increased pressure on the Catholic Church in Belarus, a community with long-held Polish ties.

Administrative pressure on foreign priests

Belarus operates one of the most restrictive frameworks for foreign clergy in the region. Priests may serve only with explicit approval from the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs, a state office in Minsk headed by Aleksandr Rumak. Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized Rumak for refusing residency permits without explanation and for declining to engage with the foreign clergy affected.

Permits are tied to a specific parish and are typically granted for just three to six months, though some are issued for a year. Regulations forbid individual parishes from applying for permits on their own; requests must instead pass through registered national religious bodies, a slow and bureaucratic process.

Foreign clergy must also demonstrate proficiency in Belarusian or Russian and are forbidden to carry out religious activities outside the specific localities where their inviting parish is registered. If a priest wishes to celebrate Mass in another parish, further government permission is required.

State security services also closely monitor the sermons, websites, and social media activity of foreign priests, while authorities in Minsk can deny, revoke, or refuse to renew residency permits without giving an official reason.

A notable example is Polish priest Father Józef Geza, who in 2022 was forced to leave Belarus after 25 years of ministry when authorities declined to renew his permit without publicly explaining the decision.

Growing clergy shortages

Metropolitan Archbishop Iosif Staneuski of Minsk-Mohilev acknowledged the impact of these restrictions in a May 28 interview with Vatican News, warning that the number of priests serving in Belarus is steadily declining, particularly in the countryʼs eastern regions.

He said some priests are now required to travel hundreds of kilometers to serve multiple parishes because of the growing shortages.

The archbishop also noted that foreign priests — especially Poles who have ministered in Belarus for decades — are increasingly unable to remain in the country because of residency-permit restrictions, placing additional strain on already limited pastoral resources.

Staneuski said the Church remains open to priests from around the world, stressing that the Catholic Church has no borders and that differences in language, nationality, or skin color are no obstacle to Christian ministry. Yet he explained that the most sustainable solution to Belarus' shrinking number of priests is the development of local vocations, as restrictions on foreign clergy increasingly leave parishes understaffed.

Political roots of the crackdown

Relations between the Belarusian state and the Catholic Church deteriorated sharply after President Alexander Lukashenkoʼs disputed reelection in 2020, which triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests in the countryʼs history.

During the crackdown that followed, Catholic churches sheltered protesters and human rights activists fleeing security forces, while senior clergy publicly condemned the violence. Since then, dozens of priests have faced threats, deportation, administrative penalties, or imprisonment on charges of espionage and treason that the Church and rights groups say were fabricated.

The rift widened after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which Belarus helped facilitate by allowing its territory to be used by Russian forces. In line with the Vatican, Belarus' Catholic hierarchy repeatedly called for peace and urged Minsk not to deepen its involvement in the war, placing the Church at odds with a government closely aligned with the Kremlin.

Prominent critics of Lukashenko have also emerged from Belarus' Catholic community. Among them is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, a practicing Catholic and one of the countryʼs most prominent human rights advocates. During a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on May 27, Bialiatski raised concerns about ongoing human rights violations in Belarus.

Polish ties and geopolitical tensions

In September 2020, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Sergey Naryshkin accused the United States of using Belarus' Catholic communities to foment unrest and sow domestic divisions. Although no evidence was presented, the claims reinforced a narrative promoted by Moscow and Minsk that portrays the Catholic Church as a vehicle for foreign influence.

Those suspicions are amplified by the Belarusian Churchʼs long-standing ties to Poland. Many Belarusian Catholics are concentrated in the western regions of Grodno and Brest near the Polish border, while a significant number of priests either have Polish roots or were educated in Polish seminaries.

At the same time, Warsaw has remained one of the most outspoken critics of both Lukashenko and the Kremlin, frequently condemning repression in Belarus and raising concerns about the treatment of the countryʼs Polish minority.

Against this backdrop, Belarusian authorities have increasingly viewed the Catholic Churchʼs cross-border links as a political liability rather than a religious or cultural connection, making it a recurring target in the governmentʼs broader campaign against independent institutions and civil society.

Pilgrims arrived from more than 50 countries around the world, including Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Wallis and Futuna, Guam, Chile, Argentina, the United States, Spain, Italy, and Poland.

The congress opened with public Mass in Vilnius Cathedral Square at 12:30 p.m., which was followed by a Eucharistic procession through the streets of Vilnius Old Town at 2 p.m.

A procession through Lithuania’s wounded past

During his homily, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas told pilgrims that the procession route had been deliberately chosen to pass sites that reflect both the suffering and resilience of the Church in Lithuania.

“As we walk through the city, we will stop to pray at the stations that remind us of the city’s wounds and at the same time testify to healing,” he explained.

He referenced the Church of St. Casimir, once converted into a museum of atheism by the Soviets, and the Gate of Dawn, a Marian shrine that communist authorities had planned to demolish. He highlighted their continued existence as a testament to God’s mercy and the endurance of faith despite decades of Soviet attempts to suppress it.

Among those attending the opening Mass were Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda; Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the apostolic nuncio to the Baltic States; Fra' John Timothy Dunlap, grand master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta; Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization; and Cardinal Sigitas Tamkevičius. They were joined by Lithuanian Ambassador to the Holy See Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė, bishops from across Lithuania, and diplomats from neighboring countries.

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims

Later in the evening at 6 p.m., the congress officially opened on the Hill of the Savior, beside the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the former Visitation Monastery, both of which suffered under Soviet persecution. The venue is located just steps away from the former convent where St. Faustina received many of her visions and where artist Eugeniusz Kazimirowski painted the first divine mercy image.

Pope Leo XIV addressed participants by video message, stressing the relevance of divine mercy in a world marked by war, violence, and growing anxiety. “Amid the vortex of violence that poisons relationships and destroys lives, the mercy of God asks to be allowed into our hearts with its amazing power of renewal,” the Holy Father said.

The pope also urged the faithful to welcome God’s mercy as a force of personal renewal, saying it has the power to transform lives through love and forgiveness. “The peace that we so deeply desire cannot be attained without mercy,” the pope said.

He concluded by encouraging pilgrims to unite their trust in God’s infinite mercy with a commitment to building a more compassionate and welcoming society, beginning within their own families.

In his message, Pope Leo XIV offered special greetings to Grušas, Nausėda, and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The orthodox leader’s participation highlighted the congress’ international and ecumenical significance.

Building a city of mercy

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nausėda said the event’s message was particularly relevant at a time of growing global uncertainty, conflict, and anxiety about the future. He presented the gathering in Vilnius as a source of hope and spiritual renewal, expressing confidence that its message of mercy would resonate far beyond Lithuania and reach people searching for peace in troubled times.

Meanwhile the grand master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta highlighted the enduring significance of the original image of the merciful Jesus, painted in Vilnius, describing it as a continuing call for believers to carry the message of divine mercy into the modern world.

Grušas likewise stressed that the congress theme, “Building a City of Mercy,” was intended as a practical challenge rather than a symbolic slogan. He said a truly merciful society is built through forgiveness, solidarity with the vulnerable, care for those who suffer, and a commitment to unite truth with charity, with Christians called to serve as witnesses of hope in public life.

The opening ceremony concluded with performances of traditional Lithuanian music and dance, highlighting the host nation’s cultural heritage. The congress will continue throughout the week, ending on June 12, with workshops, testimonies, prayer gatherings, and other events examining the role of divine mercy in the modern world.

The event was broadcast live by EWTN.

Vaccari, president of Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), a papal agency that delivers humanitarian aid, described the realities facing those living amid ongoing regional tensions in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo, an excerpt of which was broadcast on June 8.

Vaccari said about a visit to Jerusalem: “The day began with the sound of large sirens. Loud sirens going off, letting us know that rockets, drones, and missiles were on their way.” The situation, he said, dramatically altered the day’s plans for residents and aid workers alike.

Despite the challenges, Vaccari continued his journey throughout the region, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a visible Church presence among suffering communities.

CNEWA maintains offices throughout the Middle East, including in Jerusalem, Amman, and Beirut. According to Vaccari, the organization’s local presence enables it to respond quickly to changing circumstances and coordinate assistance directly with Church leaders on the ground.

“The work that we do is on the ground,” Vaccari said, noting that local staff and Church partners remain deeply connected to the communities they serve.

Much of CNEWA’s work focuses on humanitarian relief in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, and Lebanon. The organization provides assistance ranging from food and clean water to medicine, medical equipment, and emergency relief for families displaced by conflict.

Beyond material aid, CNEWA has increasingly emphasized psychosocial and emotional support programs. Vaccari said such healing initiatives have become especially important as communities continue to endure the trauma associated with war and displacement.

“To whatever extent we can work to try to provide clean water, medicine, food, medical relief, medical equipment, weʼre trying to do that,” he said. “Psychosocial healing, which as you can well imagine under the circumstances right now, is [also] a very needed entity.”

Founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926, CNEWA works on behalf of the Holy See to support Eastern Catholic Churches and provide humanitarian assistance throughout the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India, and Eastern Europe. The organization partners closely with local bishops, religious communities, and lay leaders to deliver aid where it is most needed.

“We work with the local Church,” Vaccari said. “We’re working with local bishops, lay leadership, consecrated religious, and the nuncios.”

The organization’s work is funded largely through donations from Catholics and other benefactors around the world.

“Never, in a typical mission, do we work alone,” Vaccari said. He expressed gratitude for local partners and donors whose support makes the organization’s humanitarian and pastoral outreach possible.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the most-watched sporting events with roughly 5 billion people tuning in to the tournament that brings together soccer’s best athletes from around the world.

This year’s men’s tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19 and will be held in all three host countries. The last time the U.S. hosted a World Cup was in 1994, while Mexico has hosted the event in 1970 and 1986, and this will mark the first time Canada will host the prestigious soccer tournament. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the 23rd edition of the quadrennial international menʼs soccer tournament.

Long before the World Cup became the globe’s most-watched sporting event, its founder, Jules Rimet, was shaped by a vision deeply influenced by his faith and a belief in the dignity and unity of humanity.

Rimet was born on Oct. 14, 1873, in the village of Theuley in France to a devout Catholic family. He was known to have a heart for the poor and was inspired by Catholic social teaching.

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the harsh conditions, poverty, and labor exploitation brought on by the Industrial Revolution. This encyclical inspired Rimet to help create an organization that provided social and medical aid to the poor. He was 17 years old.

The Catholic Frenchman also had a love for sports and believed it could unite people from all different races and social classes. At 24 years old he started a sports club called Red Star, which was open to anyone regardless of social class. He also included soccer in the club despite the sport being looked down upon as being only for Englishmen and the lower class.

In 1904, Rimet helped establish the Fédération Internationale de Football Association — International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA. After serving in World War I, he returned to FIFA and became its president in 1921.

Nine years later, the first World Cup was held in Uruguay. He viewed the World Cup as an opportunity to bring nations who may be at war together, promote universal fraternity and solidarity among all people, and prevent future global conflicts. He also worked hard to professionalize soccer so that working-class athletes could earn a living doing what they loved.

Rimet served as the president of FIFA for 33 years. From 1930 to 1970, the championship trophy was named the Jules Rimet Trophy.

He died in 1956 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize due to his part in creating the World Cup tournament.

In the book “A History of Football in 100 Objects,” Rimet’s grandson, Yves, remembered his grandfather as a “humanist and idealist who believed that sport could unite the world. Unlike many others in his time, he realized that, to be truly democratic, to truly engage the masses, international sport must be professional.”

“Today the Trump administration took decisive steps to impose additional visa restrictions on more than 100 dictatorship officials and their family members,” Rubio said in a June 8 statement.

“With this new set of restrictions, the U.S. government has now taken steps to impose visa restrictions on over 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and their family members for their complicit role in Rosario Murillo and Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship,” Rubio said.

Since 2007, Ortega and Murillo, his wife and co-president, have established an authoritarian regime in the country, repressing opposition through arrests, exile, and violence, suppressing civil rights, canceling elections, and persecuting the Church.

The move comes in response to the dictatorship’s "responsibility for the horrific death of political prisoner Brooklyn Rivera,” according to the statement.

Rivera, an Indigenous leader and political prisoner, died at 73 after being held incommunicado by the Murillo-Ortega regime for more than 970 days.

“Despite the enormous and intense medical efforts undertaken to restore the health of our Brother Brooklyn, whose physical and neurological deterioration was the result of a bacterial infection triggered by the COVID-19 virus, we regret to confirm that unfortunately he has departed this plane of existence,” asserted a communiqué dated May 31 from Nicaragua’s Ministry of Health.

Rubio alleged the direct involvement of U.S.-sanctioned Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker, a loyal member of the oppressive regime, in denying medical care to Rivera and with preventing Rivera’s family from burying his remains.

The visa restrictions place increased pressure on the dictatorship, which has carried out systematic persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua for years.

Religious persecution at the hands of the dictatorship has included restrictions on the sacraments and the celebration of the Mass; heightened surveillance; forced disappearances and detentions; exile for bishops, priests, and religious; and the forced closure of Catholic institutions. The regime has also banned the ordination of priests and deacons in dioceses with exiled bishops.

In a social media post, Rubio further described the Murillo-Ortega regime as “an enemy of humanity,” noting that “the Trump administration will not ignore their crimes and brutality.”

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At least six of Riveraʼs relatives remain in detention, according to the U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Peytonʼs tomb was moved from the Holy Cross Community Cemetery in North Easton, Massachusetts, to the chapel at the Father Peyton Center, also in North Easton.

Now on the path to sainthood, Peyton (1909–1992) was hospitalized with tuberculosis in 1939 and on the brink of death when he felt like he was losing his faith. His priest friend encouraged him to seek out the Virgin Mary’s intercession.

Inspired by memories of growing up praying the rosary with his family, Peyton asked all of his friends and family members to ask for Maryʼs intercession for him. He promised that if he was healed, he would dedicate his life to encouraging devotion to Mary through the family rosary.

After a miraculous recovery, Peyton followed through on his promise. Two years after his recovery, he was ordained a Holy Cross priest and went on to lead a widespread campaign to encourage families to pray the rosary through billboards, radio shows, television, and rosary rallies that drew millions worldwide.

Peyton has since taken an important step in the canonization process. In December 2017, Pope Francis declared him venerable, recognizing him for his heroic virtue.

President of Holy Cross Family Ministries Father Fred Jenga said at a press conference of Peyton’s devotion to Mary through the family rosary: “We need it at this time more than even in the past. Family life has been going through some kind of crisis. There [are] a lot of divisions and hurts.”

At the reopening of the center, five families took turns leading decades of the rosary as part of the opening ceremony at the center’s grotto. The grotto is a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, France, which was one of Peyton’s favorite religious sites.

In addition to Peyton’s tomb, the revamped pilgrimage site now has an immersive rosary exhibit, a rosary walk, and a museum of Peyton’s life. The priests of the Holy Cross congregation, Peyton’s order, run the center.

“When we pray together as a family regularly, we invite God to become the center of our lives,” Jenga said. "As we know, God is love, God is patience, God is kindness, God is generosity — those are the kinds of blessings that we pray upon our families when we give ourselves that opportunity to pray together.”

Father David Marcham, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who serves as vice postulator and guild director of the canonization cause, encouraged people to pray for Peyton’s sainthood cause.

“Weʼre at the point now where weʼre asking people to pray through his intercession for a miracle in their lives,” Marcham said. “And if one were to be declared a medical miracle by the Vatican, then he would reach the next level, which would be blessed.”

“There’s this great synergy between the life of a holy person and their ongoing effect even after theyʼve gone home to God,” Marcham said. “So we want to invite people to join us, and hopefully through that, in Godʼs grace, itʼll strengthen their families.”

The Father Peyton Center currently draws about 2,500 visitors per year, but organizers anticipate a growth to 7,500.

“When we have role models that lead us to grow in virtue and holiness ourselves and bring that to our families, then we start to pray more intentionally for our needs and pray together,” Marcham said.

Father Charles McCoy, vice president of Holy Cross Family Ministries, said having Peyton’s remains at the center transforms it into a place of pilgrimage.

“To have his own physical presence with us here now with the transfer of his body to our center, itʼs just an opportunity for us to really see this as a place, not just of education or prayer, but even pilgrimage in support of the legacy of prayer that he gave on to us in Holy Cross and in the Church,” McCoy said.

The grant to Catholic Relief Services (CRS) marks “the first of a series of global State Department awards to trusted and vetted implementing organizations,” according to a June 5 press release. The $240 million awarded to Catholic Relief Services comes from U.S. State Department humanitarian assistance funds appropriated by Congress and administered through the department’s disaster‑response bureau.

“These awards will focus on the rapid deployment of time-bound, lifesaving assistance in response to crises around the world, with implementers able to respond within 24 hours,” the State Department said, noting that its staff is “working closely” with CRS and other aid implementers to ensure the aid is delivered in a timely manner “while reducing administrative overhead and duplicative efforts.”

CRS will use the aid to provide assistance in countries “with significant levels of humanitarian need,” the State Department said, citing Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where CRS is working to stop the latest Ebola outbreak.

State Department Bureau of Disaster and Humanitarian Response Senior Bureau Official Ryan Shrum announced the grant in Rome alongside U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch, CRS Vice President for Humanitarian Response Jennifer Poidatz, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations Agencies in Rome Lynda Blanchard, and Caritas Internationalis Secretary-General Alistair Dutton.

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See posted several images of the event on social media, writing: “This grant will allow CRS to address urgent humanitarian needs arising from disasters and complex emergencies around the world. CRS’ expertise, its deep roots in disaster response, and its network of local partners will help us deliver a fast, flexible, and efficient model of global humanitarian assistance.”

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“CRS is grateful for the opportunity to reach more people affected by crisis at a time when humanitarian needs far exceed available resources,” Poidatz said in a June 5 statement following the announcement. “We appreciate the leadership of the United States and of national governments committed to responding to new and enduring crises."

News of the foreign aid grant comes more than a year after the Trump administration effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2025 following an executive order by President Donald Trump during the first month of his administration. USAID, formerly the government’s lead foreign‑aid and development agency, focused on long‑term development such as health systems, agriculture, education, and economic growth.

Catholic Relief Services did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

At Columbia University, researchers have now edited the DNA of human embryos with “unprecedented accuracy,” according to a recent report by the New York Times.

Dieter Egli, a professor of developmental cell biology in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia, led the research, using a technique called base editing to replace individual genetic letters in sequences of DNA, according to the report.

Egli’s work did not cause the damage that the gene editing technique “CRISPR,” or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, usually causes. Potential side effects are still unknown, according to the researcher, and the technique is not ready to be implemented clinically.

The developing technology comes with its own ethical implications, as it could be used to help cure disease-causing mutations in the early stages of life, but it could also be used in a eugenic way to select traits of unborn children.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a neuroscientist and senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, drew attention to ethical concerns with these experiments.

“Trying to make genetic modifications in a more efficient manner than had been previously achieved is precisely the kind of experiment that should have been carried out in animal embryos, not human embryos,” he told EWTN News.

“The same basic biological information reported in these studies could readily have been obtained that way,” Pacholczyk said.

Ethical concerns with embryo experimentation

In addition to the unethical nature of the experiments themselves, Pacholczyk considered the way researchers obtained the unborn children to be unethical as well.

“Parents were asked to hand over their extremely young ‘leftover children’ in fertility clinics to allow scientists to carry out experiments on them, while other subjects of experimentation were created via IVF to be used as ‘research fodder,’” Pacholczyk said.

Scientists either got the embryos from parents who had “leftover children” or created the human embryos for experimentation — both of which Pacholczyk said the Church calls unethical.

“Researchers sought out eggs from women for the purpose of fertilizing those eggs to create embryonic humans in glassware, so they could then serve as raw materials for research and experimentation,” Pacholczyk said. “From the get-go, these experiments at Columbia University were unethical.”

“Also of note, the human embryos produced in these experiments were oftentimes intentionally sacrificed to obtain their embryonic stem cells, which were used for additional research,” Pacholczyk continued.

“Creating humans for the purpose of destroying them is invariably unethical and should be illegal,” he continued.

Some embryos were obtained from parents who created children through in vitro fertilization (IVF), which Pacholczyk said neglects the consent of the unborn human being.

Parents could not give consent for their unborn children to be experimented on, he said, because “ethical consent by definition focuses on the improvement of health and excludes any approval of directly causing their death or otherwise using subjects as mere means to an end.”

“Informed consent is particularly important when dealing with very vulnerable research subjects, and human embryos are among the most vulnerable of God’s creatures,” Pacholczyk said. “Human embryos are a special class of individuals deserving of special protections.”

Looking to the future: Ethical concerns of gene editing

Pacholczyk noted that the Catholic Church would support gene editing as medical therapy but not at the risk of the unborn child.

“It is important to note that the Church would allow for gene editing to fix genetic abnormalities, as long as the risks were very low for the embryonic patient, and heritable changes to the DNA of our species were not made,” Pacholczyk said. “Such repair is simply a form of direct medical therapy for the individual.”

He noted, however, that at this point, gene editing still poses huge risks to the unborn.

“The complex science of genetic modification at this point in time still involves enormous risks to the embryo,” he said.

Pacholczyk also raised concerns about Catholics' acceptance of genetic enhancement, warning that their widespread acceptance of IVF is a harbinger of things to come.

“Catholics need to be concerned about the prospects of genetically modifying future generations,” Pacholczyk said.

“In the past, Catholics seem to have largely missed the boat when it came to recognizing and articulating the moral unacceptability of creating children in test tubes and glassware via IVF, and now Catholics participate in such technologies at rates that probably donʼt differ much from the general population,” he continued.

“Similarly, when genetic enhancement of children takes place in the future, considering the widespread lack of understanding and serious reflection on the moral and ethical issues involved, Catholics are likely to end up being swayed by the technological temptation and may end up, once again, ‘going along to get along,’” he said.

The study, “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” released in June by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, examined data from four national studies involving tens of thousands of Americans raised in Christian households.

Researchers sought to identify which behaviors most strongly influence whether children retain their faith into adulthood. The study found that the family home is the single-most critical factor in determining whether faith is successfully passed on from one generation to the next.

The power of parental example

According to the report, children whose parents regularly attended church, prayed consistently in front of them, spoke openly about their faith, and fostered strong family relationships were significantly more likely to remain active Christians as adults. The results showed that adults whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church regularly themselves decades later (26% versus 12%). The effect was even stronger when both parents participated in religious life together.

The study also highlighted the importance of simple spiritual practices within family life. Saying grace before meals, evening or morning prayers together, and having frequent conversations about faith all corresponded with higher levels of religious belief and practice in adulthood. Children raised in homes where religion was discussed several times a week were substantially more likely to identify as Christian, pray daily, and consider faith an important part of their lives as they went through adulthood.

The domestic church

For Catholics, the findings reflect what the Church has always taught regarding the role of parents as the primary educators of their children in the faith. The Church has often referred to the family as the “domestic church,” emphasizing that parents are called not only to teach religious truths but also to model a life of discipleship through daily prayer, sacramental participation, and Christian witness.

The study further found that the quality of family relationships had a tremendous impact on children as well. Adults who reported having strong and loving relationships with both parents were more likely to remain religious than those who experienced distant or conflict-ridden family environments. About 41%of children who attend church weekly with both parents go on to attend church weekly as an adult, the study said. This percentage drops to 29% if children attend with only one parent. In particular, researchers noted the significant role fathers play in shaping the spiritual lives of their children.

Marriage stability also emerged as an important factor. Children raised in homes characterized by strong and happy marriages showed higher rates of adult religious practice. When their lived experience corresponds with what they learned in Sunday school and the Bible, they are more likely to accept those truths in adulthood. Also, compared with non-married individuals, married individuals have significantly more faith conversations with their children, suggesting more frequent and intentional engagement within the home.

While cultural forces may be difficult to control, many of the factors most closely associated with transmitting faith remain within the reach of families themselves, the study showed.

“In a culture where religion is no longer reinforced by broader society,” the study’s authors, Jesse Smith and Jane Lankes Smith, wrote, “parents cannot assume faith will simply rub off on their children.” Instead, faith is most effectively passed on when it is lived openly, discussed regularly, and woven into the ordinary rhythms of family life.

“Parents cannot assume their children will carry on the faith they were raised with. Passing on faith requires intentional effort from both mothers and fathers. Parents serve as their childrenʼs most influential teachers, role models, and guides in matters of faith. What they do will make a difference long after their children grow up and leave home,” Jesse Smith said in an email.

“For churches, that means youth programming alone is not enough. Congregations should invest not only in children but also in parents, equipping them to fulfill their central role in shaping the next generationʼs religious lives,” Smith said.

The study draws on four longitudinal datasets: the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), Communio’s 2024-25 congregational survey, Add Health, and the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), using descriptive statistics and logistic regression with demographic controls. Analyses using GFS, Add Health, and NSYR are weighted. Everything reported in the study is a statistically significant finding based on 95% confidence intervals, Smith said.

“This golden anniversary is a blessed occasion to offer gratitude for the abundant graces God has bestowed upon you throughout the past 50 years,” Bishop Elias Zaidan, bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, wrote in a letter to Pacwa.

Pacwa is celebrating decades as a Jesuit priest following his ordination on June 12, 1976, in his native Chicago and entrance into the Society of Jesus on Aug. 21, 1968.

Pacwa has also had a successful media career after he began his work with EWTN under its foundress, Mother Angelica, in 1984.

After working in numerous cities, Pacwa relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, in 2001 to work full time with EWTN, where he has hosted several radio and television shows, series, and documentaries that teach and discuss the Catholic faith.

To honor his work, the Alabama Legislature enacted a resolution in April that recognizes his decades of service, theological contributions, and media work.

Gov. Kay Ivey, R-Alabama, presented a certificate to Pacwa recognizing his anniversary. The certificate dated May 27, embossed with the governor’s seal, said, “Father Pacwa has certainly become one of the most recognized faces of EWTN after the late Mother Angelica, its inspirational foundress. I have also been made aware of Father Pacwa’s tremendous community and social contributions, which deserve high commendation.”

The priest earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in philosophy and theology from the University of Detroit, a master of divinity and a sacred theology baccalaureate magna cum laude from the Jesuit School of Theology at Loyola University, and a master’s and doctorate in Old Testament studies from Vanderbilt University.

Pacwa has taught high school, college, and seminary courses, including teaching Hebrew at Loyola University in Chicago for nine years. He is the author of more than 20 books, the founder of Ignatius Productions, a media production company, and is a senior fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

Pacwa engages in prison ministry by evangelizing and serving the spiritual needs of prisoners. He has also led thousands of pilgrims to the Holy Land and other Christian sites in Europe and the Middle East.

Republican Rep. Chris Pringle introduced Alabamaʼs resolution, which honors Pacwaʼs vocation and “career that has touched the lives of innumerable people, many of them residents of Alabama, but also worldwide through his efforts in theological education, service to others, and ministry,” according to the measure.

The legislation acknowledges Pacwaʼs “tremendous contributions … to Alabamians and those that he has trained throughout the country, and through his worldwide impact through Alabama-based EWTN, with hopes that he may continue his exceptional ministry and continue to serve others in a way that reflects well on this state and nation, and on his Church.”

50 years of priestly ministry

In addition to his publications and media presence, Pacwa also serves his community through celebrating the Maronite Catholic Mass at St. Elias Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic church in Birmingham.

During a June 7 Mass at the church, a letter from Zaidan was read to Pacwa.

“This is a wonderful milestone in your ministry and life,” Zaidan said. “We give sincere thanks to Almighty God for calling you and for your disposition to follow him in the religious and priestly life.”

The anniversary is “an opportunity for us to express our heartfelt appreciation for your steadfast dedication and faithful service to the people of God,” Zaidan said.

“As you reflect upon 50 years of priestly ministry, you can look back with gratitude on the countless lives you have touched, how you captivated so many people through your programs on EWTN, as well as providing care and guidance through the mission retreats you held over the years,” he said.

“May God continue to bless you abundantly and grant you many more years of faithful and fruitful ministry. I hope and pray you will have many more years filled with Godʼs grace,” the bishop said.

This story was updated at noon ET June 9, 2026, to include information about a certificate from Gov. Kay Ivey, R-Alabama, recognizing Father Mitch Pacwa.

Of the championship, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller said in a video posted on social media on June 3 that “when the Spurs win," New Yorkʼs Archbishop Ronald Hicks will send him a box of bagels, cream cheese, and lox.

San Antonioʼs chief pastor continued: "If by some slight possibility, hard to think, the Spurs arenʼt victorious, I will send him Texas gift boxes with items from HEB,” a favorite Texas grocery store based in San Antonio.

“I am really looking forward to enjoying those bagels,” García-Siller teased.

The San Antonio archbishop said that he and “thousands” of Salesian sisters, some of whom have attended games for years and have been seeing cheering on the Spurs during the playoffs, are also praying for the Spurs’ victory.

He also said both he and Hicks are “united in prayer for the safety of the players.”

According to the Archdiocese of San Antonio, García-Siller will be watching Game 3 on Monday, June 8. Asked for additional thoughts by EWTN News, the archbishop replied only: “Go Spurs go!”

For his part, Hicks said in a video on social media that he has “caught Knicks fever.”

He mentioned Knicks players Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart, who all attended Villanova University, “the alma mater of our Holy Father, who reminds us that he praises the Lord for the gift of sport, for those who glorify God through the exercise of their bodies, for the friendship born on the field, and for the joy of playing as a team."

Hicks said he is “looking forward to this friendly wager with my friend, Archbishop Gustavo,” confirming he will send bagels if the Knicks lose, and said he looks “forward to whatever he’s going to … send my way from San Antonio."

“I’ve lit my candles, I’ve said my prayers … Go Knicks!” New York’s archbishop concluded.

The Spurs and Knicks are the last two teams standing in the 2026 NBA season. The Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 4-3 in the Western Conference Finals.

They are now in a best-of-seven series for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, with the Knicks currently leading 2-0 after winning both Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio.

Entering Game 3 of the Finals on Monday night, the Knicks have won 13 consecutive playoff games — the second-longest single-postseason winning streak ever, trailing only the 15-game run by the Golden State Warriors in 2017.

After sweeping the 76ers and Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference playoffs and winning the first two games of the Finals in San Antonio, New York has outscored opponents by 273 points, the best 13-game margin in playoff history.

It has been 53 years since the Knicks' last championship, the longest drought for any NBA franchise.

The last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals was 1999, when they faced the Spurs.

A Knicks victory in Game 3 would put them on the brink at 3-0, while a Spurs win could spark a comeback and extend the series.

As a longtime Knicks fan, President Donald Trump, who was invited by team owner James Dolan, will attend Game 3. This will mark the first time a sitting president attends an NBA Finals game.

In Game 1 on Wednesday, June 3, the Knicks rallied from a double-digit deficit to defeat the Spurs 105-95, with Brunson leading the way with 30 points.

Game 2 on Friday, June 5, proved even tighter: New York built a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter only for San Antonio to storm back, but the Knicks held on for a thrilling 105-104 victory after Victor Wembanyama, age 22, the tallest player in the NBA at 7 feet 4 inches and a record-setting rookie, missed a potential game-winning jumper at the buzzer following a late turnover.

“Wemby,” as he is called, made NBA history in his 2023-24 rookie season with the Spurs, becoming the first player ever to record at least 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 blocks, and 100 three-pointers in a single season. He was the unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie First Team selection in 2024.

In 2025-26, he captured NBA Defensive Player of the Year, making him the youngest and first unanimous winner ever.

The series now shifts to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Monday, June 8, at 8:30 p.m. ET, with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday, June 10, at the same time and venue. Subsequent games, if necessary, return to San Antonio for Game 5 on June 13, followed by Game 6 in New York on June 16 and a potential Game 7 back in San Antonio on June 19.

The winner earns their franchise’s next title. If they win, the Knicks will earn their first since 1973, while the title will be the Spurs’ first since 2014.

The procession is an established Cork tradition, and it made its way through the city from the North Cathedral to the Grand Parade, the vibrant heart of the city, even if — in the words of Cork Bishop Fintan Gavin — “the weather couldn’t have been much worse.”

Speaking just before the procession set off, Gavin told EWTN News: “Today we have the unique opportunity to participate in the 100th anniversary of the first Eucharistic procession here in our city. Of course, it really is unique to Cork.”

“Thereʼll be people of all ages, from parishes all over the diocese, from our new Irish — someone described them recently as the ‘new Corconians’ — from all over the world, from the different communities, will join us as we walk with Jesus and the Blessed Sacrament down to Grand Parade.”

Organizers estimated the 2026 procession attracted approximately 5,000 people as the Eucharist was carried along the route by Gavin followed by a throng of faithful under a canopy of umbrellas as they braved the unseasonable wind and heavy rain.

In his words to the large gathering, the bishop said of the procession: “It was born in a time when people longed for unity after division, for peace after conflict, and for healing after wounds that were still very raw. The people of Cork wanted Jesus in the Eucharist to be brought through the streets of the city. They wanted to say, in faith, ‘Lord, walk with us. Bless our homes. Heal our divisions. Stay with us.’”

He added: “One hundred years later, that prayer has lost none of its urgency. Today our city streets become an aisle. The concrete beneath our feet is blessed by the One who once walked the roads of Galilee and who now walks the streets of Cork.”

The bishop said the procession is "the fruit of much prayer, preparation, and mission across our diocese in these past two weeks. Today the procession ends here, but the mission does not. May we go from here with hearts burning too, not simply proud of a tradition we have inherited but with a love for Christ who is with us now and ready to hand on a living faith; not only carrying Christ through Cork today but allowing Christ to carry Cork into tomorrow.”

Sheila Kelleher, coordinator of youth ministry in the Cork and Ross Diocese, told EWTN News the event is "a great opportunity for us to come together and show our faith in a very public way, walking through the streets of our city with the Eucharist and bringing Jesus to the people of the city.”

“I think to give hope to people and to be able to continue that tradition even today, showing that the Catholic faith is very much still alive, and people of all ages are willing to get involved, from young and old, no matter what your background, whether youʼre Irish or you are new Irish and all the different faith communities coming together.”

In the weeks leading up to the anniversary procession, a series of faith events took place across the Diocese of Cork and Ross to mark the occasion — including the presentation of the relics of the first millennial saint, St. Carlo Acutis.

There were 100 hours of adoration for the 100th anniversary and a two-week diocesan mission led by young people from the Diocese of Cork and Ross as well as a mission from Canadaʼs Catholic Christian Outreach.

The celebration also included special blessings for individuals competing in the Cork City Marathon and for students taking their state exams this summer.

The Eucharistic procession is now one of the longest-running traditions in Cork.

On the evening of Saturday, June 6, at the 53rd annual Old West End Festival, 12 people were wounded in an apparent dispute between two shooters who have yet to be identified, according to local police.

Police said all 12 injured were in "stable condition” as of Sunday afternoon. Organizers canceled the festival, which was to continue through Sunday.

The shooting took place just a few blocks from Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral during the vigil Mass on the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

Thomas issued a statement on June 7, saying: “For those of us who live in the Old West End, this tragedy is literally close to home.”

Despite the “eerie quiet” in the neighborhood Sunday morning following the festival’s cancellation, Thomas said the faithful gathered and “carried Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of the Old West End in the annual Eucharistic procession.”

“The Lord of Life was borne through the very neighborhood that had witnessed violence only hours before,” he said. “In that sacred procession, we proclaimed a message radically opposed to hatred and violence: a message of peace, unity, love, and respect for every person.”

The bishop said he remembers in prayer “the hundreds of innocent festival attendees whose sense of security was violated.”

“While these tragic acts have shaken our neighborhood, they have not shaken our faith in humanity, nor have they shaken our faith in the Lord of Life,” he said. “We remain committed to building a culture in which every person is valued, protected, and treated with dignity: a culture not of death but of life.”

Thomas also referenced Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the pontiff states that “human rights are inviolable, since they are ‘inherent in the human person and in human dignity.’"

Thomas said: “Every act of violence is a failure to recognize the God-given dignity of the human person.”

“Together with the people of the Old West End and our 19-county diocese, I lament and decry the indiscriminate violence that has so deeply affected this neighborhood,” the bishop wrote, saying: “Gun violence has taken center stage in our community, leaving suffering and fear in its wake.”

Investigative Lt. Dan Gerken said at a news conference Saturday that local police, who have not identified the shooters or made any arrests, are reviewing video footage and interviewing witnesses and victims.

"Iʼm feeling good about where we are right now, but weʼll need the communityʼs help. Weʼll take all the information we can,” he said.

“As far as violence, this is over the top,” Gerken said. “Twelve people is a lot. This is way over the top.”

When asked — while in the northern city of Chiclayo — about the date of the Holy Fatherʼs arrival in Peru, the president replied that the trip “is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10,” according to RPP.

However, the Vatican has not yet made an official announcement regarding the apostolic visit, which could also include Uruguay and Argentina.

In April, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay, stated that the Holy Father might visit Uruguay between "late November and early December."

Pope Leo XIV in Peru

Then-Father Robert Prevost arrived as a missionary in Chulucanas, in the Piura department of northern Peru, in 1985. He remained there until 1986.

He returned to the country in 1988 — specifically to Trujillo, also in northern Peru — where he remained until 1999. He served as a formator and superior for the Augustinians as well as director of studies and rector of the San Carlos y San Marcelo Seminary.

After serving two terms as superior general of the Augustinians in Rome, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of Chiclayo in November 2014; he became the bishop of that diocese in September 2015. That same year, he acquired Peruvian citizenship.

In April 2020, he was appointed apostolic administrator of Callao and served in that role for one year. Prevost remained in Peru until January 2023, when he was called to work at the Vatican to head the Dicastery for Bishops.

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected successor of St. Peter on May 8, 2025. In his first words to the world, he included a special greeting to his “beloved Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Converts to Catholicism account for 1.5% of U.S. adults. Converts make up 8% of the nation’s Catholics, and the remaining 92% of Catholics are “cradle Catholics,” who were raised in the faith and still identify with it today.

Pew detailed “key facts about converts to and from Catholicism” in the U.S. drawn from the center’s 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and previous pew reports.

The RLS is a study intended to provide estimates of the U.S. population’s religious composition, beliefs, and practices. It was conducted from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, with a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents.

The survey’s margin of error for results for the full sample is plus or minus 0.8 percentage points and had a 20% response rate.

While Catholic converts account for a small share of the country’s adult population, the number of converts to Catholicism is on par with, or larger, than the number of Americans who identify with some Protestant groups, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Reformed Christians.

The research found that the most common reason converts joined the faith was due to a Catholic spouse or a desire to get married in the Church. In the U.S., 1 in 4 married Catholics are married to a non-Catholic, including 1% who are married to someone from a non-Christian religious background.

The RLS found that about two-thirds of Catholic converts were of a different Christian tradition before converting.

More than half (59%) of converts told Pew that they were raised Protestant, and 9% were raised in another Christian tradition, such as Orthodox Christianity or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

About 1 in 5 Catholic converts (22%) did not have any religious affiliation as a child.

Characteristics and practices of cradle Catholics versus converts

Pew noted differences between converts and cradle Catholics, including that converts are more likely than those raised in the faith to be Republican.

Among Catholic registered voters, 60% of converts identified as Republican or leaned toward the Republican Party as of Pew’s 2023-24 study. Of lifelong Catholics, 52% said they identify the same.

Of cradle Catholics, 43% identified as Democratic or Democratic leaning, compared with 35% of Catholic converts who reported the same.

Most Catholic converts who responded are white (67%), compared with 20% who are Hispanic, 3% who are Black, and 4% who are Asian.

In contrast, 53% of cradle Catholics are white and 37% are Hispanic.

The research also found that 79% of converts were born in the U.S. and 18% were born outside of the country, compared with 67% of cradle catholics who were born in the U.S. and 30% who were born outside the nation.

Pew also found that Catholic converts attend Mass more regularly than cradle Catholics.

Of adults, 38% of converts attend Mass at least weekly and 58% receive Communion every time they go to Mass, compared with 28% of cradle Catholics who attend at least weekly and 34% who receive Communion every time.

Converts also go to confession slightly more, with 29% reporting they go at least once a year compared with 23% of cradle Catholics.