The earthquake, which occurred around 9:00 p.m., was centered in the district of Chongos Bajo, in the Chupaca province of the Junín region — situated in Peruʼs central Andes, some 193 miles east of Lima — according to the National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI, by its Spanish acronym).

“We share in the grief of the families mourning their loved ones, offering our prayers for the eternal rest of the deceased, and we ask the Lord to grant everyone strength, comfort, and hope,” the bishops stated in the aftermath of the disaster.

“We express our spiritual closeness to all those affected, to those who have lost their homes, and to those generously participating in rescue, care, and relief efforts,” said Bishop Carlos García Camader, president of the Peruvian Bishops Conference.

After encouraging Peruvians to show solidarity with those affected, the bishops urge them not to lose hope and pray “that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, may intercede for all those affected and accompany our beloved people of Junín.”

Junín’s 5.1 magnitude earthquake

Rescue operations involving the police, firefighters, and the Peruvian army are ongoing, and authorities are assessing the damage — particularly in the Pumpunya area of ​​the Chongos Bajo district, where approximately 50 homes have been affected.

In an interview with Radio Programas del Perú (RPP, by its Spanish acronym), Hernando Tavera, president of the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP, by its Spanish acronym), stated that the extent of the destruction in this area is due to the fragility of the houses, most of which were built using substandard materials.

“When structures are built according to standards and proper engineering, they obviously yield better results than those constructed using local materials,” which makes them prone to easy collapse, Tavera explained.

So far, the IGP has recorded 12 aftershocks. The strongest measured 3.7 and 3.4 in magnitude.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Luis Enrique Arroyo Sánchez headed to the Chongos Bajo district alongside Defense Minister Amadeo Flores and INDECI chief Luis Enrique Vásquez “to oversee the response to the 5.1-magnitude earthquake and coordinate assistance for the affected population,” according to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Historic cross collapses

As a result of the earthquake, the historic Cani Cruz —known as the Lord of Cani Cruz — collapsed. The cross, erected in 1534 and located in the main square of Chongos Bajo, is one of the regionʼs oldest religious monuments, according to local media reports.

Carved from limestone and featuring reliefs of the crucified Christ and the Virgin Mary, in 1990 it was declared national cultural heritage site, alongside the main church of Chongos Bajo and the El Copón Chapel.

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.

These are questions people might be asking themselves in Venezuela following the earthquakes of June 24.

Carlos Márquez, auxiliary bishop of Caracas, reflected on the mystery of suffering in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. In the prelateʼs view, the Catholic Church plays a fundamental role in shedding light on these existential questions.

A promise to hold onto: ‘We are not alone’

Márquez said it would be “an act of tremendous pridefulness” to attempt to provide answers that fully resolve this mystery. Ultimately, he noted, asking these questions is a way of “looking for someone to blame.” They are questions that “paralyze us and fill us with bitterness and pain.”

“We can’t escape biological law; we can’t escape the laws of nature. What we once thought was a curse or divine punishment, we now know to be natural processes, processes that are even necessary,” he explained regarding the devastating earthquakes.

To help make sense of the tragedy, Márquez pointed to two specific factors. The first is human freedom, which, when misused, “causes suffering and pain.” He referred to the collapsed buildings, many of which might have been built in unsuitable locations due to poor ground conditions or perhaps constructed without adhering to proper safety standards.

“Imprudence, whether culpable or not, always ends in tragedy. This is not caused, desired, or much less ordained by God. It’s not the divine will,” he remarked.

Márquez identified the second specific element in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, where the apostle to the Gentiles wrote that creation “groans until the present and suffers the pains of childbirth” (Rom 8:22-39).

This helps us understand that nature “readjusts, evolves, and moves” as part of a process “toward the fullness promised by Jesus Christ.” The auxiliary bishop explained that creation “will be subject to pain” until it is recapitulated in Christ, and we, as creatures, undergo these vicissitudes.

“Therefore, on our journey toward the fullness of living happily forever with Christ in heaven, we will encounter pain and suffering,” Márquez noted.

Yet in the face of these realities, the prelate offered a reassuring promise: “Christ’s promise was not that we would not suffer, nor that there would be no earthquakes, floods, or natural tragedies. Amid the pain, he promised not to abandon us. We are not alone: ​​‘I will be with you until the end of the world.’ He promises us his companionship in the midst of pain.”

The Lord “walks with us in the midst of our pain” and fulfills his promise “through his Church, among those who suffer.” The sacraments and the word, he continued, comfort and heal us, and transform our hearts “so we can move forward.”

God also gives us the example and intercession of the saints “so that we do not lose heart” and might feel accompanied. “When one is in great pain, when one is suffering deeply, the tragedy becomes worse when we are alone and isolated,” he said.

Christian hope in the face of death and tragedy

In recent weeks, the most heart-wrenching stories have filled social media. Yet, for the most part, they share a fundamental element highlighted by Márquez: hope.

Many people are thanking God for being alive and, amid unimaginable suffering, affirming that they will live to honor their deceased loved ones and will spare no effort to discover the purpose for which God has saved them.

“If we live united with Christ in suffering, we will live with him forever in heaven. Death does not have the final word. This earthquake does not have the final word. God has the final word, which is a word of life, happiness, and eternal joy,” he stated.

So, what is required of those Venezuelans who remain? Márquez answered clearly: to follow the example of all their saintly compatriots, to face adversity without asking “why,” and to work so that the future may be better.

“Pain is fleeting; death is not final. United in faith, hope, and charity, with our eyes fixed on the risen Christ, we walk together in communion to overcome this tragedy,” Márquez said.

“Venezuela is a land of grace; Venezuela is a land of saints. We have hope, and we will rise again. We will rise from the dust of this earthquake,” he added.

Finally, he recalled the words St. John Paul II spoke at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas during his second visit to the country on Feb. 10, 1996: “Venezuelans, even though the difficulties are serious and the challenges immense, your resolve must be great. Faced with a present full of uncertainty and a future full of questions, put your abilities to use with imagination and, above all, with generosity, trusting in God: God loves mankind.”

As of now, the official death toll following the earthquakes stands at 4,829, while the number of injured and affected people runs into the tens of thousands.

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.

With over 30 years of consecrated life, Mother María Elena Martínez has dedicated her life to the spiritual formation of young people and adults through “Mary, Mother of Love,” a private association of the faithful she founded in Mexico in 2015.

The community is centered on retreats making a spiritual impact, such as Emmaus, which is held in parishes and correctional facilities, and Sicar, which is aimed specifically at young adults.

Her life, marked from childhood by a quest for God, would ultimately become bound up in an initiative that is active today in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Argentina, and Peru.

“I remember as a little girl I had a great thirst for God,” she shared in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

That initial calling deepened over time. At age 11, she recalled, a desire to please Jesus arose within her. “A desire for purity … I wanted to live a life of virginity,” she noted, explaining that she prayed insistently to the Virgin Mary, asking for that consecration.

However, her path was neither immediate nor direct. “Religious life wasn’t something that particularly appealed to me,” she admitted. In her youth, she went through various experiences ranging from completing a degree in translating to exploring broader spiritual concerns, which eventually led her to try out consecrated life with the Missionaries of Charity.

Some time later, she tried cloistered contemplative life. “I wanted something more interior, deeper,” she confessed.

A concern arises: ‘What about the young people?’

The Sicar retreat did not originate as a planned initiative but rather as a pastoral response that only gradually took shape. According to Mother María Elena, for years many people approached her with the same concern: “What about the young people?”

“Do something for the young people,” they would tell her.

The Gospel account of the Samaritan woman began to take center stage in her prayer and discernment. Jesus’ dialogue at the well of Sychar — “If you knew the gift of God” (cf. Jn 4:1-42) — served as the starting point for helping young people discover Christ.

“The passage about the Samaritan woman was so rich, so rich, that I could draw so much from it,” she explained.

The decisive step came in 2016, when the first Sicar retreat was held. Mother María Elena remembered it as the beginning of something small and simple yet deeply meaningful. Young people with prior experience in movements like Emmaus were the first to participate.

Sicar began to expand. After establishing itself in cities such as Mexico City, Tehuacán, and Tecamachalco (in the state of Puebla), as well as San Luis de la Paz (Guanajuato state), Veracruz, Mérida (Yucatán state), and Cuernavaca (Morelos state), the initiative began to cross borders beyond Mexico. The first retreat in Guatemala took place in 2017; Buenos Aires in 2018; Paraguay in 2022; and in Peru in 2023.

“It has been growing in many places, rescuing so many young people,” Mother María Elena said with gratitude.

In Mexico, 38 Sicar retreats have been held with an average of 50 participants each, amounting to nearly 2,000 young people. In Peru, where the initiative arrived in 2023, seven retreats have already taken place with around 70 participants each, reaching approximately 490 people.

Ottmar Ricalde, a Sicar volunteer in Mexico, noted that “Sicar means and has meant so much over these past 10 years.”

“I could write and speak about all the stories, all the laughter, and all the tears, but the most important thing of all is the love of God that has been a gift to me,” he stated.

“My life was always focused on pleasing others, but when I met God and realized how much he loves me, I began wanting to please him,” he said.

In Paraguay, Sicar coordinator Fátima Correa highlighted that the experience “was a time of growth and renewal. It allowed us to view our history with fresh eyes.”

“It was a retreat organized by young people for young people, where every testimony reflected realities many of us could relate to,” she added.

A couple from Argentina who participated in the retreat and are now married say that Sicar marked a turning point in their lives. “We arrived as boyfriend and girlfriend and returned with completely transformed hearts ... today, we feel that one of the greatest fruits was our marriage.”

A growing community in Peru

Sicar arrived in Peru in 2023 and has since established a growing community.

Geraldine Spihlman, director of Sicar in Peru, explained that the initiative arose after a need was identified within youth ministry. “When young people reached the age of 24 or 25, they no longer had a place to continue their journey of faith,” she noted.

Following contact with Mother María Elena, it was decided to launch the initiative in Lima, which holds two retreats a year: in May and November.

Spihlman highlighted that the most visible fruit is the community: “Many young people have discovered that it’s hard to go it alone but that everything is easier in community. It is a community where you can see how they love one another.”

Instagram post

‘God’s mercy knows no bounds’

One of the most common fruits of these retreats is a shift in how one views others.

In personal encounters, transformation occurs not only for those receiving the retreat but also for those who put it on.

“God’s mercy knows no bounds,” Mother María Elena stated. “You look at people with eyes of mercy. You no longer judge the person; instead, you see them as a child of God,” she explained.

Eros Acevedo, another team member, said the retreat “was an encounter with God that changed everything … I arrived bearing wounds, and his presence touched them. I left renewed.”

Rafael Mansilla, 27, said Sicar taught him to persevere in the faith. “Faith is not a flame that goes out but a steady flame,” he said.

Dina Dávila shared that the retreat was the instrument God used to call her. “The love I have experienced in the community is overwhelming,” she added.

‘A living Jesus’

Through the retreats, Mother María Elena explained, people are invited to encounter “a living Jesus.”

“God continues to act; he continues to perform miracles every day,” she affirmed.

She said she lives one day at a time. “Each day I tell the Lord, ‘For one more day, I say yes to you.’”

The Sicar retreat, born of a contemplative reading of the Gospel, continues to spread wherever young people seek meaning, healing, and an experience of mature faith.

Today, the young “Samaritans” who have lived this experience carry with them the words that marked their encounter with God: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst” (Jn 4:14).

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.

Undset’s life was marked by personal challenges, public controversy, and choices that drew social scandal — giving complexity to her witness to the faith. Literary historians have noted that her life was unconventional for a woman of her time: She smoked, drank, swore, and was known for a sharp tongue and strong personality.

Her work reflects the suffering and turmoil she encountered in her own life as well as the transcendent faith she discovered in Christ. She became Catholic at 42 after being raised an atheist.

Below is a list of several of Undset’s books — both fiction and nonfiction — each a starting place to discover more about the work and life of this renowned writer and possible saint.

‘Kristin Lavransdatter’

Set in medieval Norway, Undset’s magnum opus follows the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, a headstrong and passionate fictional character who defies societal expectations. Throughout the trilogy, Kristin falls in love and weds against her family’s wishes into a marriage that ultimately becomes tumultuous and stained with infidelity and tragedy.

‘Gunnar’s Daughter’

Set in the Viking era on the edge of the introduction of Christianity, a young woman named Vigdis is raped by a man she loved and conceives a son whom she raises on her own. The heart-wrenching story deals with revenge, forgiveness, and a society on the cusp of accepting Christianity but governed by laws of vengeance.

‘The Master of Hestviken’ tetralogy

“The Master of Hestviken” follows the life of Olav Audunsson, a man torn between pagan codes and Christian piety in medieval Norway. The tetralogy, consisting of four volumes (“The Axe,” “The Snake Pit,” “In the Wilderness,” and “The Son Avenger”), deals with sin, suffering, guilt, and redemption. The book has deeply Catholic themes, including a focus on the sacrament of reconciliation, as Audunsson deals with the guilt of a great sin that he feels he cannot confess.

‘Saga of Saints’

“Saga of Saints” tells the history of Norway through the lives of saints who witnessed to the faith throughout the nation’s history. The saga begins with an opening essay called “The Coming of Christianity to Norway” and follows with stories of historical Norwegian figures including Sunniva, King Olava, and Eystein.

Undset’s personal writings

With a journey to faith that has been compared to St. Augustine, Undset was raised by atheist parents and did not find Catholicism until later in her adult life. “Men, Women, and Places” is a collection of Undset’s biographical and cultural essays that offer a closer look into her inner life.

In the collection of nine biographical essays and literary critiques, Undset explores literary figures, saints, and geography, among other topics. Essays highlight medieval English mystics like Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich as well as poet and philosopher D.H. Lawrence and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

The Nebraska State Patrol said they initially arrested 32-year-old Ean Halstead on June 29. The patrol said in a press release that police were investigating a threatening online message against Columbus Catholic Schools and the family of state Gov. Jim Pillen.

The investigation led police to Halstead, who was arrested on June 29 after a standoff at his apartment in Omaha. He was charged with obstructing a police officer and failing to obey a lawful order.

A search at his residence revealed “evidence linking [Halstead] to the threatening message sent to Columbus Catholic Schools,” the patrol said. He was subsequently re-arrested on July 17 and charged with “terroristic threats and destruction of evidence.”

Local news reported that the message, posted to the Facebook page of Columbus Catholic Schools, had declared: “I’m going to shoot up this school and kill Jim Pillen’s children and a few nuns for (expletive) funsies.”

A spokesman for Pillen said the governor’s office was “extremely grateful” for law enforcement’s “quick and thorough work to track down this individual and ensure the security of the First Family.”

“We have zero tolerance for political violence here in Nebraska, including threats to carry it out. If you threaten violence against a public official or their family in this state, you will be found and held accountable,” the governor’s office said.

Pillen has four children with his wife Suzanne. He has been governor of the state since 2023.

Earlier in 2026 he told EWTN News that there was “no way I could possibly be governor without my faith.”

His faith life includes the regular praying of the rosary; describing his average day, he said: “I get up and I pray to do God’s will.”

Speaking on his program “Sixth Continent” on Radio María Spain regarding the sporting event, the Spanish prelate noted that soccer “possesses values ​​that deserve to be recognized."

He said the Church “cultivates the spiritual values ​​of sport,” which unites families and friends, creates opportunities for social connection in an increasingly individualistic society, and offers a chance to share joys and disappointments, among other virtues.

‘Who holds first place in our hearts?’

However, Munilla pointed out that “precisely because soccer stirs the human heart so deeply, it also becomes a magnificent mirror of our contradictions. For enjoying the sport is one thing, but turning it into a religion is something else entirely.”

“Our era has a curious way of manufacturing saints, but without holiness,” he added, referring to the attention lavished on sports stars, particularly soccer players.

While “it’s not wrong to admire someone who has developed an extraordinary talent through effort and sacrifice,” Munilla suggested it’s worth asking, “Who holds the first place in our hearts?”

The saints, he emphasized, guided generations of Christians for centuries as “models of humility, self-giving, mercy, fortitude, and faithfulness. They weren’t perfect, yet they pointed the way to human fulfillment.”

At another point in his radio reflection, the prelate said: “We all need role models; we all need points of reference. We all end up resembling those we admire. That is why it’s worth asking whether our children are more familiar with the biographies of great soccer players than with those of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II, or Blessed Carlo Acutis. It would be a tragedy, of course, not because one must choose between them but because the saints teach us the art of living.”

‘Idols are always made of clay’

Today, people are fascinated with certain athletes, and "when we turn someone into an idol, they will inevitably end up disappointing us. Idols are always made of clay," he added, because just as "today we raise them to the heavens, tomorrow we will tear them down on social media over a missed penalty kick, a bad season, or making some personal mistake, because idolatry always ends up being cruel."

This reveals “that we are not truly loving the people themselves but rather using their successes to fuel our own emotions.”

Munilla also pointed to “the enormous financial disproportion surrounding professional soccer,” reflecting that “the market tends to put a price on what we turn into something indispensable.”

“The problem is not merely about money. The problem lies in the heart. For wherever we place our admiration, that is where our time, our attention, and our resources ultimately go,” Munilla observed, recalling Pope Francis' words: “You roar for a goal, yet you are unable to praise God with that same intensity?”

‘Only God can fill the heart forever’

On a purely human level, the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante reflected on a lesson to be drawn from sports: “Not knowing how to accept defeat is a sign of immaturity. But the person who needs to humiliate others doesn’t know how to win, either.”

He argued that “true sportsmanship lies in discovering that the rival player is not an enemy but someone who made the game possible. Only those who respect the loser truly know how to win. And only those capable of acknowledging the victorʼs merit without resentment truly know how to lose.”

“Let’s never confuse a ball with the meaning of life,” Munilla concluded, emphasizing that “a championship can fill a public square for a night, but only God can fill the heart forever.”

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.

In a July 17 interview on “EWTN News In Depth,” Barron said Sheen’s enduring influence was rooted in decades of prayer, intellectual formation, and faithful preaching — a model he said he believes Catholic evangelists need now more than ever.

The Churchʼs recognition follows years of investigation into Sheenʼs life of heroic virtue and the Vaticanʼs approval of a miracle attributed to his intercession. During his priesthood, Sheen became known for proclaiming the Gospel through preaching, writing, radio, and television.

Evangelization built on formation

In the “EWTN News In Depth” interview with anchor Catherine Hadro, Barron, of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said Sheen’s example offers timely lessons for Catholics seeking to evangelize in today’s digital media landscape.

While technology has made it easier than ever for individuals to become online personalities, Barron said authentic evangelization requires much more than a social media platform or podcast.

According to Barron, Sheenʼs extraordinary effectiveness in radio and television ministry was rooted in decades of intellectual, spiritual, and pastoral formation.

Before becoming one of America’s best-known Catholic communicators, Sheen devoted years to seminary formation, graduate studies at The Catholic University of America, and doctoral studies at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. His preaching reflected a lifelong engagement with sacred Scripture and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, G.K. Chesterton, and St. John Henry Newman.

“He begins his evangelical work only after a long apprenticeship as a teacher, as a writer, as a student,” Barron said. “Fulton Sheen had an extremely rich academic formation. Seminary, Catholic University, and the advanced doctorate at Louvain.”

For Barron, Sheen demonstrates that lasting evangelization is built upon disciplined study and prayer before public ministry.

“I want you to use the old medium of books,” Barron said. “Read and read and read before you dream of getting in front of the microphone.”

A warning for Catholic communicators

Barron said today’s media environment presents opportunities for evangelization but also significant challenges.

“A lot of people just put a shingle on and say, ‘I’m a Catholic spokesman,’” he said.

Without sufficient theological, philosophical, and spiritual formation, Barron warned, Catholic communicators can unintentionally misrepresent the faith.

“I think Sheen would be bothered by that,” he said.

Rather than seeking influence first, Barron encouraged aspiring Catholic communicators to imitate Sheen’s commitment to study, prayer, and fidelity to the Church before entering public ministry.

A life to imitate

Throughout the interview, Barron pointed to five enduring characteristics of Sheen’s life that remain relevant for Catholics today: daily prayer, serious intellectual formation, Christ-centered preaching, personal humility, and joyful evangelization.

Those qualities, Barron said, explain why Sheen’s witness continues to resonate decades after his death and why his influence extends well beyond his pioneering work in television.

Barron concluded by responding to comparisons often made between himself and Sheen. Although both men are Illinois natives, graduates of The Catholic University of America, and widely known for their use of media in evangelization, Barron humbly dismissed it.

“It embarrasses me because I’m much unworthy of a comparison,” Barron said. “He is the greatest preacher in the history of our country.”

Historic beatification

Sheen’s beatification is expected to draw thousands of bishops, priests, religious, seminarians, and lay faithful from across the United States and around the world. Pilgrims are planning to travel to St. Louis not only to witness the historic celebration but also to give thanks for the enduring impact of Sheen’s ministry.

As interest in Sheen continues to grow ahead of his beatification, Catholic leaders are organizing events examining his legacy. On Sept. 23, the Fulton Sheen Institute will host the conference “Americaʼs Saint: The Catholic Hour is Now” in St. Louis, bringing together scholars, clergy, and evangelists to discuss Sheenʼs relevance for the Church and American culture.

“This conference will rally the voices of American Catholics who championed Sheen when his cause was buried,” said Peter Howard, founder and president of the Fulton Sheen Institute and Fulton Sheen Movement. "At a time marked by confusion, fragmentation, and a crisis of identity, Sheen’s message cuts through the noise with conviction and clarity.”

The Popeʼs Worldwide Prayer Network is a pontifical foundation known for its Pray with the Pope campaign through which the Holy Father announces his monthʼs intention in a video message.

While the pope “has an endless list” of prayer intentions, he chooses 12 to offer for each month of the year, Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, the international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, explained in an interview with “EWTN News In Depth.”

In order to do so, the network will “help the pope to discern the intentions a year ahead,” Fones explained. “So we ask many people — all the dicasteries and our national directors — to give us some proposals, and we offer to him lots of them … about 20 of them.”

The Holy Father “takes some time to pray on these proposals” and then chooses the 12 intentions for the upcoming year in advance.

“So we published, for instance, the 2027 monthly intentions last February. So you can already know what we are about to pray for next year too, so that we can have some time to make the translations, to create the materials in Indonesian, Hindi, Swahili, Guarani, and so on.”

Pope Leo has continued the tradition of Pope Francis, who recorded the first video of the monthly intentions in 2016, but the current pontiff has put his own take on it.

Pope Leo is “not only asking us to pray but praying himself for the monthly intention and inviting us to join him in prayer,” Fones said. “Thatʼs why we call this campaign ‘Pray with the Pope,’ because heʼs the first one interceding for the needs of humanity, and he is inviting us through this campaign to do it with him.”

“Some people may watch the video and participate with him by praying. Others can do it [on] their own. But the important thing is to be united in this network of hearts — compassionate hearts for the needs of the world.”

Pope Leo is also “constantly asking us to pray for contextual … prayer intentions, like a flood or an earthquake in Venezuela, for instance,” Fones said.

All these prayer intentions are then updated “in what we call the popeʼs prayer profile,” Fones said. It consists of “all the requests for prayer that he normally does, whether on Sunday in the Angelus or on Wednesdays during the general audience.”

In order to aid the Holy Father, the network is run by a team of an administrative council appointed by the Holy See, international coordinators, formation leaders, and communications teams.

The network “is a participation in the mission of the Church by offering ourselves through prayer, service, and spiritual formation,” Fones said. Made up of Catholics in more than 90 countries, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is “a very old pontifical work with more than 180 years.”

The network started in 1844 and was first called the Apostleship of Prayer. It was later renamed and established as a formal Vatican foundation in 2020 to support Christ’s mission of compassion for the world across continents and cultures.

Call for prayers to respect life

Pope Leo’s prayer intention for the month of July is for respect for human life in all circumstances.

The Holy Father drew attention to the importance of the intention when he dined with 200 vulnerable people on July 11.

“Having a lunch is just to show a sign [of] what we actually have to do with one another, to sit at the same table, to recognize our common dignity, because we are all sons and daughters of the same God. And when you understand that, you treat others as equal in dignity,” Fones said.

“We may think differently. We may have different positions in life — opinions, backgrounds, stories — but we are all sons and daughters of God. So when you recognize that you can treat others as brothers and sisters, even if you disagree with them,” he said.

That’s the urgent message Catholics in western New York are telling the local faithful in their bid to preserve a Civil War-era parish in the small town of Auburn.

The Diocese of Rochester is moving to permanently close and potentially sell Holy Family Church due to structural issues that officials say make it unsafe to use as a parish.

The diocese shut down the church in June 2024, but parishioners of the parish in Auburn — located about 40 minutes outside of Syracuse — are petitioning the Vatican to keep the church an active holy site rather than allow it to be sold off to potential developers.

On its website, Holy Family Organization to Preserve and Endure says the Vatican has requested that the group “demonstrate funding for the purchase, repair, and maintenance of the church.”

The organizers say they are working to raise pledges to support the parish but there is a “narrow time window” and numbers “must be provided to the Vatican by mid-late summer 2026.”

“If H.O.P.E. fails to demonstrate sufficient evidence to the Vatican by mid-late summer, then Holy Family Church could be sold to a secular buyer and could be destroyed,” the group said.

Parish’s roots stretch back to early 1800s

The Auburn-based Roblee Historic Preservation said in a “statement of significance” report that Auburn was the site of the first Catholic Mass in the Western New York region in the early 1800s.

The Roblee report was drafted in order to assist the city’s historic review board in potentially awarding a landmark designation to the parish. The New York Historic Preservation Office had previously said the property was eligible for listing on both the state and national historic registers.

The Church of the Holy Family was initially dedicated in 1830 in a chapel previously used by local Methodists. The current building was built in 1861 by local Dutch-born master builder John Vanderbosch.

The report described the parish as the “mother church” of Auburn and “an iconic part of its downtown skyline.”

On its website, the Catholic preservation group says it hopes to retain the parish for “Catholic religious activity,” including rosary groups and private prayer groups, “occasional worship,” sacred music concerts, sacred art displays, and architecture tours.

Karen Odrzywolski, the president of the parish preservation group, said the church is also meant to preserve the memory and legacy of Bishop Patrick Byrne, an apostolic delegate to Korea who was martyred in 1950 during a four-month-long forced march while in the captivity of communist forces in North Korea.

Born in Washington, D.C., Byrne spent his formative years in Auburn, living just a few blocks from the parish. His family attended Mass there and he attended the parochial school; he was confirmed at the parish in 1900.

Odrzywolski told EWTN News the preservation group formed in July 2024, a month after the parish was officially shuttered by the diocese.

“We initially put together a preservation plan, which we shared with our pastor and with the Diocese of Rochester,” she said. “We’ve also shared it with the Vatican.”

“We’ve also worked on educating the community as to the significance of the church,” she said. “We’ve had events in honor of Bishop Byrne and of his family, and on the 75th anniversary of his martyrdom we had a prayer vigil.”

In addition to the link with Byrne, Odrzywolski said the parish was also once host to another famous Catholic bishop, now-Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The prelate, at the time the bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, officiated the funeral Mass of Father William Davie at the parish in 1968.

The Vatican has requested that the group demonstration its ability to fund the church’s upkeep, she said. “We’re very appreciative of this opportunity. We’re hopeful if we can demonstrate the funding they’ll allow us to proceed with preserving the church.”

Thus far, Odrzywolski said, the group isn’t accepting cash donations; instead, it is collecting pledges “so we can demonstrate our ability to fund the maintenance, repair, and preservation of the church.”

“We’ve received over 300 pledges,” she continued. “We’re extremely grateful to every single person who has pledged. Many people have pledged as much as they possibly can. Many who pledge in general may be of limited or fixed income.”

Odrzywolski said the needed repairs are limited to the exterior facade. The interior, she said, has been well maintained over more than a century and a half.

The Vatican, meanwhile, is expecting the group’s proof of viability by August. “We’re trying our best to aim for an Aug. 1 deadline in order to allow enough time to prepare the documents in a timely manner,” she said.

“The truth is, we need the entire community to come together,” she said. “The closure of the church impacts the entire community, and we need individuals, families, and businesses to come together.”

“It’s about the future of Auburn,” she continued. “but it’s also about honoring Bishop Byrne, and ultimately honoring God.”

Haile McAnally’s words still ring years after her experience with abortion pills sent her to the hospital.

Alone in her apartment after she took the pills, McAnally was discovered passed out in the bathtub, surrounded by blood.

“I started hemorrhaging, and the only strength I had when I was sitting on the toilet was to take myself into the bathtub,” she said in a press call on July 13. “And when I laid down in the bathtub, I thought that I was going to die that day.”

Her phone was on the opposite end of the bathroom — out of reach.

“I didnʼt have enough strength to get up and call anybody, so I laid there,” she said. “And that was really all I remember until I woke up in the hospital.”

“My friend had let me know that she found me and called 911, and they came and thankfully rescued me,” McAnally recalled. “I had a blood transfusion at the hospital, and it was a horrifying experience for someone so young that thought that they could trust these medical professionals.”

Now, McAnally is advocating against mail-order abortion pills by signing a letter in support of a woman suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for not having safeguards for women.

“We have to raise awareness about the danger of these pills,” McAnally said.

“I was in a center; I was there where there were nurses and there was a doctor and I had oversight,” McAnally continued. “Mailing these [abortion pills] across the country and putting them in dorm rooms and in bathrooms all around the country with no oversight is, I believe, very reckless.”

McAnally said she hopes she and the other women who have had similar experiences “will be heard.”

“I’m just one story out of many,” McAnally said.

McAnally is one of more than a dozen women harmed by abortion drugs who are asking Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to settle a lawsuit over abortion pill guardrails in a July 8 letter.

The women are rallying behind Rosalie Markezich, the leading voice in an ongoing lawsuit against the federal government. Markezich’s boyfriend at the time allegedly coerced her into taking abortion pills.

“If mail-order abortion wasn’t a thing, I’m 100% sure I would have my child,” the letter read, quoting Markezich.

The women are advocating for in-person prescription requirements for chemical abortions.

“We grieve with Rosalie because many of us recognize parts of our own stories in hers: the pressure, the confusion, the fear, the absence of real medical care, and the feeling that the system was designed to move drugs faster than it was designed to protect women,” the letter read.

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

Numerous cases of abortion pill poisonings and coercions have been documented in recent years in addition to Markezich’s.

“No woman should be forced, pressured, deceived, or abandoned into taking drugs that end her child’s life and place her own health at risk,” the letter said.

“The FDA’s illegal abortion drug policy is responsible for this danger, and it is the same policy the department is defending in court,” the letter continued.

SBA Pro-Life America’s Jamie Dangers urged Blanche to address these issues in Louisiana v. FDA.

“The death toll is climbing, and we need action immediately,” Dangers said in a press call on July 13. “This is our new drug crisis. Mifepristone takes more lives every year than fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin combined.”

An estimated 15,000 unborn children are killed monthly by the abortion pill in states where it is illegal, according to Dangers.

“As many as 11% of the women who take these drugs will experience really serious complications, including hemorrhage, infection, sepsis, and more,” Dangers continued.

Jessica Williams, a registered nurse whose baby was saved through abortion pill reversal, also signed the letter and shared her story in the press call.

She obtained abortion pills without ever meeting with a provider.

“My now ex-husband was pressuring me to abort my pregnancy,” Williams said. “At the time, I was also experiencing the emotional roller coaster of going through a divorce.”

“I was vulnerable, emotionally exhausted, and experiencing one of the lowest points in my life,” Williams said.

“I took the first abortion pill after succumbing to the pressures from my ex-husband,” Williams said. “Within the next 24 hours, my mind, body, and spirit spiraled with confusion and a variety of emotions. I wondered if my baby was still alive.”

Because of her background as a nurse, Williams knew there might still be a chance that her unborn daughter was still alive. Staff at a pregnancy resource center stepped in to help her and her unborn daughter.

“I was connected with a compassionate pregnancy resource center in Las Vegas, where I obtained a free ultrasound, was prescribed the abortion pill reversal, and was supported through one of the hardest times of my life,” Williams continued.

“Because of abortion pill reversal, my daughter, Kaylie, is alive,” Williams said. “She is now 3. Sheʼs healthy, beautiful, thriving, and one of the greatest blessings of my life.”

As a nurse, Williams calls the current system “predatory.”

Mail-order abortion lacks the safeguards that in-person visits entail — including ensuring the drugs go to the right person.

“No woman should ever feel trapped, isolated, or without someone to help or understand her options,” she said. “As a medical professional we are sworn in to do no harm.”

“Every woman deserves to make decisions free from coercion or pressure, and with appropriate medical support,” Williams continued.

In addition, Williams is advocating for more information about abortion pill reversal to be given to women. In her own case, she was told that the practice was dangerous.

“As a registered nurse, informed consent has always been one of the most fundamental principles of medicine,” Williams said. “Women deserve complete information about their medical options. They deserve compassionate care.”

If things had been a little different, Williams might not have her daughter Kaylee with her — and that thought motivates her to advocate for other women in similar situations.

“I often think about what my life would look like had I never learned that another option existed,” Williams said. “Thatʼs why I continue to share my story.”

When pressed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during his confirmation hearing on July 15, Blanche agreed to enforce the Comstock Act and other federal pro-life acts to the greatest extent possible.

When asked by Cruz if he would “carefully evaluate every lawful action available to ensure the faithful enforcement of the Comstock Act and other federal pro-life acts,” Blanche said: “Yes.”

Under former president Joe Biden, the Department of Justice determined that mail-order mifepristone is not a violation of the Comstock Act.

The Comstock Act of 1873 prohibits sending obscene materials via the post office as well as the mailing of "every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.”

Activists urge Congress to defund Planned Parenthood

Advocates for unborn babies and legislators this week rallied to urge Congress to permanently end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.

At a July 16 press conference on Capitol Hill, hosted by Live Action and Defund Coalition partners, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said Congress “should have acted long ago.”

“There is no excuse for Planned Parenthood to be receiving taxpayer money to be carrying out the mutilation of our children, to be carrying out the murder of the innocent unborn, and yet that is what this Congress is planning to do,” Hawley said.

“I’m here to say, ‘Not on my watch.’ It is absolutely unacceptable and indefensible that a Republican Congress would fund Planned Parenthood.”

The rally took place just weeks after the Trump administration’s temporary defunding of Planned Parenthood expired on July 4.

Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, said taxpayer dollars “should never be used to prop up America’s largest abortion business.”

“Planned Parenthood exists to end the lives of preborn children, and every dollar it receives helps sustain an industry built on violence against the innocent,” Rose said in a statement shared with EWTN News.

“The American people should not be made to subsidize abortion businesses under the guise of women’s health. Defund Planned Parenthood now.”

Planned Parenthood investing $47 million into 2026 midterms

Planned Parenthood is investing $47 million into the November midterm elections, targeting Republicans who voted to defund the abortion giant last year.

The “We Decide” Campaign from Planned Parenthood Votes, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, will target voters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as well as in Senate races in Michigan and potentially Maine.

“All the freedoms weʼve fought for are on the line this year, and WE DECIDE what comes next,” reads the We Decide website.

Idaho ballot initiative could repeal protections for unborn babies

An initiative to end Idaho’s strong protection for unborn children has qualified for November’s general election ballot.

Idahoans United for Women and Families, a group that advocates for abortion, announced Monday that it collected more than 110,000 signatures for the ballot initiative.

The proposed initiative would legalize abortion until the unborn baby is viable outside of the womb and establish a right to reproductive health decisions about abortion.

Idaho protects unborn babies throughout all stages of pregnancy, except to save the pregnant woman’s life or in cases of rape or incest, the latter two rules applying only during the first trimester.

Missouri governor signs abortion survivors protection act

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an act to reinforce protections against infanticide for babies born alive after attempted abortions.

The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act establishes charges of first-degree murder against a healthcare practitioner who “knowingly performs or attempts to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive.”

Abortion is legal in Missouri up to the point of fetal viability, where the baby can survive without extraordinary medical intervention, according to the Missouri Constitution.

Missourians will vote on several abortion-related measures in November, with proposed amendments that would protect unborn children throughout pregnancy, with some exceptions.

The Diocese of Portland, Maine, is offering prayers and pastoral support to the family of a Colombian man, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26, who was shot and killed on Monday, July 13, in the small town of Biddeford, Maine.

Archbishop Joe Vásquez of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, meanwhile, called for a “reform that brings about justice to all parties” as well as “peaceful dialogue, mutual respect, and a commitment to charity” after 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, was fatally shot by an ICE agent during a traffic stop July 7 in Houston’s Hispanic Magnolia Park neighborhood.

Conflicting stories

The Maine shooting occurred as Durán “attempted to flee the scene” during a vehicle stop by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, an ICE spokesperson told EWTN News in a statement. 

The spokesperson said the agency was “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.”

Identifying Durán, the ICE statement indicated that “an illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” and when the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

The Diocese of Portland said its Hispanic ministry is providing support to Durán’s wife and 3-year-old daughter as well as the community.

“We pray that all those affected by his death may experience Godʼs loving comfort, strength, and peace,” the diocesan statement added in the wake of the tragedy.

Mufalo Chitam, the executive director of Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, told the Associated Press that Durán was on his way to work when he was apprehended and shot.

The Colombian native was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number, according to the immigrant advocacy group Presente! 

Not the intended target

ICE said Salgado, a father of three who has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades, rammed an ICE vehicle in an East Houston neighborhood and attempted to run over an officer, who then fired in self-defense.

Witnesses, including his brother, who was a passenger in his van, have disputed that account.

In response to the shooting, Vásquez said in a statement on July 15: “As a society, we need to see and treat each other as men and women created in the image and likeness of God, including our immigrant brothers and sisters, our elected officials, as well as our law enforcement officers. Violence and disrespect will only lead to more fear and division,” Vásquez wrote.

Vásquez reiterated the U.S. bishops’ call for “meaningful immigration reform as opposed to an ‘enforcement-only approach.’”

“The U.S. Catholic bishops have repeatedly called for enforcement efforts that are targeted, proportional, and humane,” Vásquez continued.

No body cameras used in either shooting

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said the ICE agents were not wearing body cameras at the time of Durán’s shooting, the AP reported of the latest incident.

"The question is, what did he do with his vehicle," King said. "Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force? Thatʼs what this investigation is all about.”

Though cameras at local businesses have footage of the incident, Maine State Police have asked for the footage not to be released pending the investigation, per the AP.

DHS told Houston Public Media the officers involved in Salgado’s shooting were not wearing body cameras because of recent lapses in federal funding.

State and federal agencies, including local police departments, the attorney general’s offices, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the FBI are investigating both shootings.

The law enforcement officers who shot Durán and Salgado have been placed on leave during the investigations.

It is not clear if one of the three men in the van with Salgado was the man ICE was searching for, but a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia told Houston Public Media she spoke with David Venturella, ICE’s acting director, who told her Salgado was not “the intended target.”

Aaron Reitz, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said in a statement July 16 that on the morning Salgado was shot in Houston, federal officials were investigating two Guatemalan men “who had previously evaded arrest and were potentially subject to deportation.” They were also known to be driving a white van.

Reitz said that while searching for the men, federal officers received a report of a similar vehicle in the area, leading police to pull over Salgado’s van because the men inside “fit the suspects’ description.”

“The aliens then fled,” Reitz’s statement continued, “conducting a rapid U-turn and hopping a median to get away. The agents chose not to pursue.”

The federal agents came across Salgado’s van again later that morning, according to Reitz, “and again, the illegal aliens attempted to flee, but this time the agents successfully surrounded the vehicle.”

The officers “instructed the noncompliant aliens to put the van in park. Preliminary information indicates the driver shifted the van into reverse, then forward again, while an officer was partially inside the van or immediately next to it.”

Officers then fired “a single shot” during the confrontation, hitting Salgado. 

Durán and Salgado’s deaths bring the number of those who have been fatally shot by ICE agents this year to four.

In January, two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were killed in separate incidents during immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Supported by pro-life group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Sarah Morse, 66, is taking Arbroath High School, run by Angus Council, to court on grounds of discrimination. The move comes after Morse was fired after telling a student, “I am a faithful Roman Catholic and I am against it,” when asked her opinion on abortion during a history lesson in November 2025.

“At no time did I attempt to persuade any student to adopt my position. To be ‘canceled’ and lose my livelihood because of my religious identity is a terrifying precedent for the teaching profession in Scotland,” Morse said.

“As a faithful Roman Catholic, Sarah Morse respectfully said she opposes [abortion]. Hours later she was sacked on the spot,” SPUC said. “We must all have the right to express our pro-life views without fear of losing our jobs.”

Attack on Christians in Egypt raises questions about hate speech

A new attack on Christians in Egypt’s Minya Governorate has renewed scrutiny of sectarian incitement and the deeper roots of anti-Christian hostility.

According to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Bishop Macarius, Coptic Orthodox bishop of Minya, said extremists attacked Copts in the village of al-Tal al-Qibliya, damaged a priest’s car, prevented worshippers from leaving a church, and cut off electricity. Security forces later arrived, arrested those accused of incitement and rioting, and began documenting the damage.

Egyptian senator Bassem Kamel said repeated incidents in Minya point to failures that cannot be addressed by security responses alone, calling for renewed religious discourse, educational reform, media policies that promote acceptance, and faster action on an independent antidiscrimination commission.

Apostolic vicar of Northern Arabia describes pastoral visits amid war

Apostolic Vicar Aldo Berardi, OSST, of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia revealed that he was able to carry out 11 pastoral visits throughout the region despite airport closures and ongoing conflicts.

“Despite the difficulties caused by the attacks and the closure of airports, we were able to carry out the program as planned,” Berardi said in a Fides News article, emphasizing the need to visit his flock “especially at a time marked by tension and fear.” 

The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia covers Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. “We gathered to pray for peace and organized special moments of encounter and fraternity,” he said. “No priest requested to return to his home country, a source of great consolation for the entire community.”

Vatican diplomat highlights HIV crisis among children

Monsignor Marco Formica, counselor of the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, called for increased attention to HIV cases among children.

“My delegation would like to draw special attention to children, who remain particularly vulnerable to HIV. Gaps in both diagnosis and treatment mean that the 3% of HIV patients that are children account for 12% of deaths due to HIV,” Formica said in a statement following a U.N. meeting on HIV and AIDS.

“Quality antenatal as well as perinatal and postpartum care protects both mothers and their children. It is vital to ensure early testing and consistent access to treatment for children with HIV in child-friendly formulations,” he said.

Syriac lawmaker says Christians not sufficiently represented

Gabriel Moshe Kourieh, the only Syriac member of Syria’s Parliament and a leading figure in the Assyrian Democratic Organization, told ACI MENA that Christian representation in the new People’s Assembly remains below the community’s aspirations.

Christians currently hold about 3% of the seats, a figure Kourieh said does not properly reflect their historic role in Syrian public life or their place in the country’s national consensus. He argued that a future fair electoral law could allow broader Christian participation from different provinces while stressing that Syria’s transition must be judged by actions: the building of institutions, separation of powers, judicial independence, and equal citizenship.

Kourieh also placed constitutional recognition of the Syriac-Assyrian identity, language, and culture among his top parliamentary priorities while warning that economic hardship, poor services, and fading hope continue to push many Syrians toward emigration.

Catholic Social Services in Australia urges government to address housing crisis

Catholic Social Services Australia (CCSA) has asked the Australian government to conduct an audit of the country’s regulations on buying and building housing.

“Regulation is not inherently negative. It is introduced to address specific problems or market failures,” CSSA chief executive Jerry Nockles said in a Catholic News report on Thursday following the proposed audit. “Without regular reassessment, well-intentioned regulations can inadvertently constrain housing supply, driving up costs and limiting access — experienced most acutely by low-income households.”

Caritas South Korea named official channel for humanitarian aid

The South Korean Caritas will serve as the primary distributor of humanitarian aid from Caritas International for people north of the border, Asia News reported.

"On behalf of the Caritas Internationalis, we discussed the project of development and cooperation with Kim Seong-il, vice chairman of the National Economic Cooperation Committee of North Korea, who accepted our direct commitment. We also exchanged a letter of intent,” Father Lazzaro You Heung-sik, president of the bishops' aid committee, said following a five-day visit to North Korea in May, according to the report.

Under the agreement, Caritas will serve as the “only channel of aid from Catholics from all over the world,” Paul Jeremiah Hwang Yong-yeon, secretary of the South Korean Caritas, also said.

Filipino bishop calls for end to stigma around mental health

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines pledged to walk with members of the faithful struggling with mental illness and work toward breaking societal stigmas around mental health.

“Mental illness is not a sign of weak faith. It is not a punishment from God. Like any illness, it deserves understanding, appropriate care, and compassionate accompaniment. Every person, whatever his or her condition, is created in the image and likeness of God and possesses an inalienable dignity that no illness can ever take away,” the bishops said in a pastoral statement released on Monday. 

“As a Church, we commit to building communities of encounter, breaking the stigma, strengthening collaboration, and walking together in hope so that every person is welcomed, accompanied, and freed from stigma,” the bishops added.

Tweet

In a statement issued July 15, the attorney general’s office noted that the complaint was filed June 4 by the teenagerʼs mother, who had discovered “conversations with sexual content with a contact identified as ‘Winnie Poo’” on her daughterʼs mobile phone earlier this year.

According to the attorney general’s office, the teenager reportedly stated that the contact in question was a priest identified as Enrique “N,” who allegedly “forced her to engage in sexual acts on four occasions.”

Following the initial inquiries, a supervisory judge ordered the priest to be held in pretrial detention and set a two-month deadline for the conclusion of the supplementary investigation.

Archdiocese initiates canonical investigation

The Archdiocese of Mexico announced in a statement dated July 15 that archbishop Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes had ordered the initiation of an investigation “in accordance with canon law and the procedures established by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

The statement expressed its “support for the minor victim, her family, and anyone who may have been a victim of any form of abuse” and reiterated its commitment to the protection of minors and vulnerable persons, “as well as to providing respectful support to those who have suffered any form of violence.”

The archdiocese also noted that while the investigation is ongoing, it “will avoid making premature judgments” and “will refrain from revealing the priest’s identity while the competent authorities carry out the necessary proceedings.”

Finally, the archdiocese urged anyone aware of a possible case of sexual abuse committed by an ordained minister to report it either by phone or email and provided the contact information.

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

The conference, held at the retreat house for the St. John Paul II National Shrine on July 13–15, was organized by the Orientale Lumen Foundation. Jack Figel, an Eastern Catholic who founded the group, named it after St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter expressing hope for reunification.

Speakers included the secretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Archbishop Flavio Pace; the primate of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Tikhon Mollard; Cardinal Seán Patrick OʼMalley; Greek Orthodox Bishop Anthony Vrame; and Romanian Catholic Bishop John Michael Botean.

“I grew up with — I lived with — the tension between East and West my whole life,” Figel told EWTN News.

A reunification, Figel said, “all depends on the Holy Spirit.” He said: “It is going to be a miracle and it’s going to be on God’s time.”

The conference included speeches by both Catholic and Orthodox bishops and joint panels. Prayer services were held in the Eastern form in which bishops from both traditions participated: a moleben to the Holy Spirit on Monday, daily vespers on Tuesday, and the Akathist to the Mother of God on Wednesday.

Theological hurdles

Recent popes have had friendly relations with Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, and ongoing study by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church is seeking to resolve theological disputes.

In 2024, the commission set up two subcommittees to analyze two major points of contention: one for papal infallibility and the other for the Filioque.

Papal infallibility refers to Vatican I’s teaching that the pope can infallibly define doctrines. The Filioque — Latin for “and the Son” — refers to the West adding the phrase in the Nicene Creed “the Holy Spirit … who proceeds from the Father ‘and the Son.’” Catholics argue this clarifies the Latin translation of the Creed, which was originally in Greek; but many Orthodox see it as changing the understanding of the Trinity.

Vrame told EWTN News these theological issues continue to be a hurdle toward Catholic and Orthodox communion.

The No. 1 issue

Speaking from the Orthodox perspective, he said papal infallibility and supremacy is the No. 1 issue. Although Orthodox acknowledge Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as “first among equals” among patriarchs, “our governance structure allows for each national Church to govern itself,” he said.

Dialogue with Rome, Vrame said, must address questions of “how do we begin to understand any claims of universal jurisdiction of the papacy” and “how do we understand any form of papal infallibility.” He said the Catholic embrace of synodality could improve dialogue on this issue.

He said a major question is what unity would look like and pointed toward Rome’s relationship with Eastern Catholics as a possible example, saying they are “in communion with Rome,” but “Rome allowed them to retain their distinctive rites and practices.” However, he noted historical complications with Rome’s past attempts to Latinize Eastern Catholics and a major question to settle is: “What would unity do?”

Mollard also told EWTN News “the whole question of primacy and synodality” remains a major issue, along with “centuries of separation,” which he said “doesn’t help either.”

Pace told EWTN News that the subcommittee addressing infallibility has to “prepare a very good draft” on the matter that the full committee made up of Catholic and Orthodox leaders “can discuss and approve.”

Steps toward unity

As the hierarchy tries to work out millennium-old theological disputes, Mollard said another step is “trying to get from the theological [dialogue] to the implementation” of a stronger relationship but warned “everyone’s afraid to do anything.”

“We do have to practice these things,” he said in his speech. “Let’s work together and see if we can find our unity in Christ … [and] work on the structures that could bring that about more formally.”

“Prayer and humility are always good,” Mollard said.

He told EWTN News that some steps could be jointly “caring for the poor” or “feeding the hungry,” which is “the most direct way that collaboration can take place” at this time. In his speech, O’Malley called for joint prayer and study sessions, joint pastoral letters and statements, and joint works of mercy.

Figel suggested Catholic and Orthodox parishes should “pray once a month for unity for at least 10 or 15 minutes.”

Ultimately, Vrame said full unity and communion would be expressed “in the Eucharist” if all issues are resolved.

“We don’t share the Eucharist,” he said. “That would be the culminating moment.”

Dialogue and the laity

Many bishops said dialogue and bonds should take place among laity too, with Botean saying in his speech that ecumenism cannot just be “at the level of academics.”

“Without the face-to-face stuff, … we’re going to get nowhere,” he said. “And if our competition is the internet, we have more driving us apart than together.”

Botean warned against hostile and uncharitable exchanges, many of which occur on social media, saying: “When we become unloving because of our faith, we’re on the wrong track.”

Lizbeth Moncada, a senior at Florida Atlantic University who attended the conference, told EWTN News that she has “a lot of friends who are Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox” but agreed that online dialogue can often be “polarizing.”

She said exchanges online can be “very disheartening” and she has “wanted to stop engaging in these conversations” at times. Yet, she said discussions like what occurred at the conference are “encouraging.”

Andrew Likoudis of the ecumenical Likoudis Legacy Foundation, told EWTN News: “I try not to even engage in online discourse because of how toxic it is.” Yet, he said “the discourse here is much healthier” and allows Catholics and Orthodox Christians to “cross theological boundaries and retain the integrity of our own traditions without compromise.”

Vrame, commenting on dialogue, said “beating up on somebody else is not very Christian … no matter what you think of their position.” He said people can have “respectful disagreements … without having to beat up on somebody,” saying that’s “no way to show love for your neighbor.”

He said it’s good that people are passionate about their faith but posed the question: “Are we passionate in a way that reflects Christ and Christianity?”

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer on June 22, Burnham became the main contender to replace him.

Previous prime ministers have had connections to the Catholic faith, although none have begun their terms in office as practicing Catholics. Tony Blair, prime minister from 1997 to 2007, converted to Catholicism after leaving office. Boris Johnson, prime minister from 2019 to 2022, though baptized a Catholic as an infant, entered Downing Street as an Anglican.

Burnham, who was sworn in on a Bible as a new member of Parliament on June 22, has described his Catholic faith as “unshowy,” telling The Guardian in 2009: “Three things are important in my life apart from family: Everton [Football Club], the Labour Party, and the Catholic Church — in that order.”

The appointment could also raise a constitutional question concerning his role in episcopal appointments.

At play is a landmark U.K. law known as the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 (also called the Catholic Emancipation Act). It grants Roman Catholics the right to sit in Parliament and hold most public offices but does not allow them to advise the crown on Church of England episcopal appointments. How this provision may operate in modern constitutional practice remains contested.

Jon Tonge, a politics professor at the University of Liverpool, told EWTN News: “Legally, Burnham would be prohibited from advising the monarch on [Church of England] bishops. The law has not been repealed. The lord chancellor will provide the advice.”

An ‘a la carte’ Catholicism

Tonge continued: “Even though heʼs not a regular at Mass, [Burnham] sent his children to Catholic schools … It is an ‘a la carte’ Catholicism, which ignores the social conservatism (opposition to same-sex marriage or to abortion, as examples) and attempts to apply Catholic social teaching principles to policy. Equality, fairness, justice, and help for those with least are at its heart — hence Burnhamʼs commitment to tackle homelessness in Greater Manchester and donate some of his salary to the issue.”

Burnham has said he was raised with a "live and let live" approach, something that has shaped his stance on policy. He supports abortion and same-sex marriage and is in favor of assisted suicide for terminally ill adults, positions that are not in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, told EWTN News: “I canʼt actually see anything thatʼs obviously Christian in his [Burnham’s] policies. A person that professes and confesses faith will always uphold marriage between one man and one woman, will not champion trans ideology into law and into policy … Heʼs pro-assisted suicide, heʼs pro-liberalization of abortion. So that doesnʼt actually match with his faith.”

In 2023, Burnham delighted Pope Francis at the Vatican when he gifted the pontiff a shirt signed by fellow Argentinian Lisandro Martinez, a player for Manchester United. Following Francis’ death, Burnham described the meeting as the “most moving” experience of his life — despite having previously pressured the pope to bring the Catholic Church “into the 21st century” on issues including LGBT rights.

Growing up in the 1980s in Warrington, Burnham attended St. Aelredʼs Catholic High School and was raised in his Irish mother Eileen’s Catholic faith. She said in a 2015 interview: “You should have seen the fights he and his brothers had on Sundays. They were all altar boys, but Andy had to be the one at the front holding the Communion plate.” 

Burnham married Marie-France van Heel in 2000 after meeting at Cambridge Universityʼs Fitzwilliam College in 1989, and they have three grown children.

This story was updated at 2:45 p.m. ET on July 17, 2026, with a change in the headline and first paragraph to reflect Burnham’s election as leader of the Labour Party.

Data from the Canadian government shows more than 120 “out of control” fires burning in the country, with a large portion concentrated north of Minnesota in the Ontario province.

The Minnesota government, meanwhile, issued an emergency declaration this week as wildfires spread across the northern part of the state. State Gov. Tim Walz said the fires “are posing an increasing threat to lives, property, and our wilderness.”

On its Facebook page, Catholic Charities Twin Cities — which serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul region — said it was distributing N95 face masks at its Saint Paul Opportunity Center. The center was also offering water, meals, showers, and refuge from the ongoing heat wave.

In a video shared by the charity, one Twin Cities resident said the smoke in the region was “very hazy,” making it “really hard to breathe.”

Catholic Charities is “really helping us,” said the man, who was wearing an N95 mask. The Saint Paul shelter “gives us a place to come inside [where] we’re away from this.”

Elizabeth Heger, the vice president of emergency services at the charity, told local outlet MPR News that the organization “went into high gear” after the air quality rapidly deteriorated.

“Our goal is to always make sure that folks are safe and that they have all the resources they need, especially in times like this when the air quality is really bad,” she told MPR.

A spokesperson for Catholic Charities Southeast Michigan, meanwhile, told EWTN News on July 17 that the organization had urged workers to work from home if possible to avoid the poor air quality.

The spokesperson said the charity was also shifting some of its caseload to house calls so that vulnerable residents would not have to venture out into the smoke.

As of July 17 there were more than 800 wildfires total burning across Canada. Numerous cities in the northeastern U.S., as well as cities further into the midwest region of the country, were under widespread air quality alerts.

Cities including Boston; New York; Washington, D.C.; and Baltimore all saw poor air quality accompanied by alerts mid-week, along with other cities including Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Pervasive smoke was expected to continue into the weekend, though shifting wind patterns projected for next week were expected to give much of the U.S. a reprieve from the haze and poor air quality.

One U.S. lawmaker, meanwhile, has proposed sanctioning Canada over the wildfire crisis.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said on July 16 that he would introduce legislation to sanction the country for allegedly “fail[ing] to invest in wildfire prevention methods” such as “forest thinning, fuel reduction, prescribed burns, and stronger enforcement against arson.”

In an interview with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on the sidelines of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria, Onaiyekan said the recent rescue of abducted schoolchildren should serve as renewed motivation for authorities to dismantle kidnapping networks.

“We can be saying ‘thank God,’ we thank our president, and so on, but the kidnapping should not have happened in the first place if the government was serious about fighting insecurity. [It] has no excuse not to end kidnapping in Nigeria,” the 82-year-old cardinal said during the July 14 interview.

While expressing gratitude for the childrenʼs safe return after nearly two months in captivity, Onaiyekan, the archbishop emeritus of Abuja, emphasized that the release does not erase the trauma the children endured or the suffering of their families.

“We are all grateful to God. But the release has not cancelled the pain of having so many children taken away in captivity for almost two months,” the cardinal said.

He said the successful rescue does not provide evidence that Nigeriaʼs security crisis has been overcome, noting that many other victims remain in the hands of kidnappers and terrorist groups.

“I am praying and hoping that the government will not believe that we have done well now that these children have been released. We should not forget that there are others, maybe hundreds, out there that are still in the hands of terrorists asking for all kinds of ransom,” he said.

The cardinal questioned why kidnappers continue to operate camps where abducted persons are held for extended periods without being dismantled by security agencies.

“From the way I saw the children on the video, they were not sleeping in the bush all these 60 days,” he observed.

Onaiyekan added: “Very often, the kidnappers have their own arrangements. They sometimes run their own villages, and ordinary men and women are there taking care of those they have captured until they are ready to be released after negotiations and ransom paid.”

“If that is so, we still cannot understand that our government says they cannot deal with these criminal elements,” he said.

According to the Church leader, genuine progress against insecurity will only be achieved when Nigerians can move freely without fear.

“Until we can move around freely and safely in Nigeria, we cannot congratulate ourselves,” he said.

Expressing gratitude once again for the rescue of the children, Onaiyekan appealed to the Nigerian government to provide comprehensive rehabilitation for the rescued children, warning that the trauma of captivity could have lasting psychological and spiritual consequences.

“We hope that the government will realize that after 60 days under such circumstances, these children need special attention in terms of psycho-social and psycho-spiritual therapy to help them overcome the trauma they have been exposed to; some of them are as young as 2 years, which, if not properly addressed, will affect their future,” he said.

Reflecting on the silver jubilee of the Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria,  Onaiyekan recalled helping to establish the organization 25 years ago.

“I was the person who brought them together in the Pope John Paul II Centre 25 years ago,” he said, explaining that the organization was founded after witnessing the success of the Catholic Women Organization (CWO) in mobilizing women to actively participate in the Church.

“The CWO was moving and doing wonderful things, appearing very well and mobilizing women. Somehow, the idea came that you have to do something for the men. Otherwise, they continue to just come to church and go back home, and you cannot count on them for any serious Church organization,” Onaiyekan said.

He called on Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria members to embrace their vocation as fathers by making their families true domestic churches rooted in faith and Christian values.

“The strength of the Church and society begins with the family; Catholic men are to lead by example through love, prayer, integrity, and service. Be good fathers in your families. Let your homes become domestic churches where Christ is truly present,” he said.

The cardinal emphasized that fatherhood extends beyond meeting material needs, urging Catholic men to nurture their families' spiritual lives.

“A father should not only provide food for the family but should also lead them to God through prayer, good example, and faithful living,” he said.

He further encouraged members of the organization to remain committed to evangelization by witnessing to the Gospel in their homes, workplaces, and communities.

Onaiyekan urged Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria members to continue supporting the Churchʼs mission through active participation, charity, and moral leadership, saying their faithful witness would help build stronger families, a stronger Church, and a better society.

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

Contracting a surrogate mother to carry an implanted embryo separates what the Church calls the unitive and procreative dimensions of marriage, McQueen said. “If you start interfering with that, there will be problems.”

McQueen said the Ontario dispute illustrates how separating conception, pregnancy, and parenthood among different people can create conflicts that no contract can fully prevent.

In this case, the problems read like a checklist of all that can go wrong in surrogate parenting. A same-sex couple allege that the Ontario woman who carried their son to birth breached their surrogacy agreement during the pregnancy and after his birth.

The lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court alleges the surrogate failed to keep the couple informed about the babyʼs health, disregarded medical advice, excluded them from decisions about the pregnancy, and failed to follow their directions regarding the babyʼs medical care. It also accuses her of interfering with legal steps to establish parentage, disclosing confidential information, defaming the couple on social media, and improperly seeking reimbursement for expenses.

The statement of claim doesn’t mention the coupleʼs reported request that the surrogate have an abortion after a prenatal diagnosis.

The National Post, which interviewed the woman, reported that an ultrasound indicated the baby had a cleft lip and other possible conditions. She received a letter from the couple asking that “the pregnancy be terminated,” which “devastated” her, according to the newspaper. When doctors later determined the baby was otherwise healthy, the parents agreed the pregnancy should continue.

The lawsuit doesn’t specify a dollar amount, but the surrogate told the newspaper the couple were seeking approximately $600,000.

That exploitation has global dimensions through the growth of “reproductive tourism” because it’s cheaper to pay a woman in a third-world country, McQueen said. “People have gone to other countries but then not carried out their part of the contract when something [unplanned] happens.”

The contractual nature of the relationship has “nothing to do with love,” she said. McQueen questioned where the child fits into an arrangement driven by contracts and negotiations rather than a loving family relationship.

Even if the arrangement works out, “itʼs what theyʼve done to that person in the other country. It’s using people. Itʼs exploiting them.”

Pope Leo XIV has raised concerns with surrogate parenthood in recent remarks. He told the Vatican diplomatic corps in January that surrogacy turns “gestation into a negotiable service,” violating the dignity of the child and mother, “exploiting her body and the generative process.”

Surrogacy advocate Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, whose organization worked with the parties, rejected the suggestion that the case exposed flaws in surrogacy itself.

“This arrangement soured terribly because sometimes parties (even with the best interests and contracts) can change their minds,” she told Canadian Catholic News. “Everyone went through intense screening, counseling, legal contracts, and had support.”

Although the abortion element is catching attention, she said abortion is “incredibly rare” for a surrogate pregnancy in Canada.

“We’ve only had two cases in our 26-year history,” she said. One was for a baby with hydrocephalus who she said would have died at birth and the other was when parents asked their surrogate to abort one of three triplets in utero in a high-risk triplet pregnancy.

McQueen pointed to the 1987 Vatican instruction Donum Vitae, issued under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. It says children have the right “to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world, and brought up by his own parents.”

Surrogate arrangements set up “to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological, and moral elements which constitute those families,” Ratzinger said. "Such damage to the personal relationships within the family has repercussions on civil society: What threatens the unity and stability of the family is a source of dissension, disorder, and injustice in the whole of social life.”

Benedict made clear that no matter how children enter the world, they must be accepted as a living gift of Godʼs goodness and brought up with love.

McQueen said that because surrogacy is “a contract more than a loving relationship,” a surrogate whose pregnancy no longer meets the intended parents' expectations can come to be viewed as having “broken the contract.” She pointed to cases in which intended parents have abandoned surrogate mothers after pregnancies did not unfold as planned.

Similar questions arose in California in 2015 when gestational surrogate Melissa Cook refused a request by the intended father to abort one of the triplets she was carrying. The dispute prompted a Minnesota legislative study of surrogacy.

Testifying before the Minnesota Legislative Commission on Surrogacy in 2016, University of St. Thomas law professor Teresa Collett argued surrogacy contracts tend to prioritize the expectations of intended parents while leaving surrogate mothers and children more vulnerable when conflicts arise.

Canadian law prohibits paying a woman to act as a surrogate, while allowing reimbursement of pregnancy-related expenses. Rhoads-Heinrich argues Canada should instead permit surrogate mothers to receive compensation.

“Altruistic surrogacy is not ideal as surrogates should be properly compensated for their time, effort, and risk,” she said. Without compensation, she argued, there is a shortage of surrogate mothers, leaving “thousands of embryos frozen in clinics in Canada that will never get the chance at life because of the lack of surrogates available.”

McQueen said frozen embryos raise a separate ethical dilemma. While the Church clearly opposes creating and freezing embryos in the first place, it has not given a definitive answer on whether Catholics should adopt frozen embryos because competing moral considerations are involved.

“Itʼs a terrible problem,” she said. “Itʼs a very sad situation” for infertile couples who long for children, she added, but their suffering does not change the Churchʼs moral concerns about the technologies used to create and freeze embryos.

The revised Federal Act on the Armed Forces, which took effect June 1, repealed Article 18, ending the automatic exemption that priests, monks, and other clergy had traditionally received because of their pastoral role in civilian society.

Clergy deemed fit for service are now required to complete the same compulsory military service as other Swiss men: an initial 18 weeks of basic training followed by refresher courses over nine years, amounting to a total of 245 days of service. Military service remains compulsory only for men.

Church response

In a July 8 letter to the Swiss Federal Council, four of the country’s largest Christian bodies criticized the government’s handling of the reform. The signatories included the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland, the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland (Old Catholic), and the umbrella organization Freikirchen.ch, which represents Switzerland’s free churches.

Christian leaders said they had not been invited to participate in the consultation process that normally accompanies significant legislative changes in Switzerland, despite the fact that the reform directly affects the ministry of clergy during times of national crisis.

“We regret this procedural flaw,” said Peter Schneeberger, president of Freikirchen.ch, in a statement. “From our standpoint, this does not correspond to a proper legislative process.”

According to the organizations, they only became aware of the change indirectly after the legislation had already been adopted.

While acknowledging that the reform itself can be debated politically, Schneeberger argued that the deeper issue is what the decision says about the state’s understanding of religion.

By abolishing the exemption, he wrote, the government is abandoning the long-held assumption that pastoral care during wars, disasters, and other emergencies is a public service worthy of special protection. He described the move as a form of “state self-secularization” — not hostility toward religion but a reassessment of the churches’ role in society without any broader public discussion.

Government response

The Federal Council defended the reform by arguing that the exemption had become obsolete. It said the provision was originally intended to ensure civilians would continue receiving spiritual care during wars and national emergencies.

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

Swiss military authorities similarly argued that the exemption no longer reflects the religious realities of modern Swiss society.

The government’s decision comes amid a marked shift in Switzerland’s religious landscape. According to official statistics, Catholics accounted for 42.3% of the population in 2000 but had fallen to 30% by 2024. Over the same period, the proportion of people with no religious affiliation more than tripled, rising from 11.4% to 36.8%, reflecting the country’s accelerating secularization.

Questioning the army’s response

Auxiliary Bishop Alain de Raemy of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg, who previously served as chaplain to the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican, called the government’s decision “a lack of respect for society.”

Pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, de Raemy argued that moments of crisis often increase, rather than diminish, the demand for spiritual care.

“As we saw during COVID, or during the Crans-Montana disaster, there was a need for people available on a spiritual level as well. So how will we manage in times of war and future crises, if priests must serve in the army? What is the Federal Council’s plan?” he asked.

Collectively, the churches have appealed to the Federal Council to clarify how clergy will be able to continue providing pastoral care if they are called to military service and have urged the government to introduce flexible arrangements that preserve their ministry during future national emergencies.

"I have decided to file a complaint against the men who caused my daughter so much harm. I am doing this because I feel that is what she wanted,” said Yolanda Ramos, the mother of Noelia Castillo, in explaining her reasons for asking the public prosecutorʼs office to investigate two alleged rapes that appear to be at the root of her daughter’s case.

“Noelia spoke about the rapes on television, and on the very day she died, she gave me her diary,” Ramos said. “And when I read it, I understood many things."

In a recording released by the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, Ramos explained how an intuition led her to take the step nearly four months after her daughter was euthanized via lethal injection.

“I feel that my daughter wanted the whole truth to be known someday. That is why I decided to go to the prosecutorʼs office, because I cannot simply stand by and do nothing. They can’t bring my daughter back, but neither do I want this to be forgotten. I am doing this for her, and also for other young women who have gone through the same thing but have not reported it,” she explained.

“It’s the only thing I can do for my daughter,” she said, “so that she is never forgotten.”

In April, Ramos called for the repeal of the euthanasia law via social media: “Please, let this law be abolished. I donʼt want there to be any more Noelias. I donʼt want this to happen again. This euthanasia law must be completely done away with.”

A written record of the assaults

Working with the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, Ramos filed two complaints with the provincial prosecutorʼs offices of Barcelona and Tarragona. She said she hopes the two alleged rapes her daughter suffered will be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.

The foundation said the complaints show that Noelia left, in writing, the story of both sexual assaults.

Regarding the first incident, it describes how she was forced to have sexual relations by her then-romantic partner, a young Pakistani man with whom she had been in a relationship for four years.

As for the second, it details how, after meeting a waiter in Salou, she was drugged, made to consume alcohol, and raped by three men. Three days after that assault, Noelia attempted suicide by throwing herself from the fifth floor of a building. She survived but was left paraplegic. Years later, she would request euthanasia.

According to the foundation, "the events could constitute two counts of rape”  under the penal code.

“The family was unable to report the incidents at the time due to a lack of sufficient evidence. However, following Noeliaʼs death, her mother has gained access to various documents that, according to the complaint, would make it possible to identify the alleged perpetrators,” the foundation stated.

Among the new evidence are handwritten entries “recounting both rapes, as well as conversations, identifying details, and other elements that would facilitate locating the alleged assailants."

Finally, the Christian Lawyers foundation pointed out that “the victimʼs death does not preclude criminal prosecution for these offenses” and called on the public prosecutorʼs office “to initiate the necessary proceedings to identify those responsible and hold them criminally accountable.”

The first euthanasia case to go to court in Spain

Noelia del Castillo was euthanized on March 26. She requested the procedure in April 2024 and it was granted in August of that year. Shortly after that, her parents initiated a legal battle to preserve her life.

This was the first case to go to court in Spain since the euthanasia law came into effect on June 25, 2021. Since then, 1,688 people have died from euthanasia, according to official statistics from the Ministry of Health.

In the legal proceedings, it was requested that the procedure not be carried out, as it was determined that Noelia had not received the necessary support to address her psychiatric issues — issues highlighted by her repeated suicide attempts, one of which caused her serious injuries.

“The Constitutional Court itself makes it clear that euthanasia cannot be applied when the origin of the suffering is a mental illness, and that the state has the obligation to protect these people against the risk of suicide,” Christian Lawyers explained to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, in March.

Separately, a complaint was filed against the doctor and the lawyer who initially assessed Noelia’s request, alleging that they “feigned disagreement in order to refer the decision to the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission and ‘force’ a supposedly higher level of assurance in the decision-making process,” a Supreme Court ruling noted.

Furthermore, a complaint was also lodged against seven members of the Guarantee Commission for conflict of interest and against the former Minister of Health for Catalonia, Josep María Argimón, for having appointed them.

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.

“One year ago in July 2025, Maria [Shahbaz] was abducted. She was forced into a marriage with a 30-year-old man. She was forcibly converted and she remains with the abductor today,” Kelsey Zorzi, director of advocacy for Global Religious Freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo.

ADF International is supporting Shahbaz’s ongoing case and calling for an end to forced marriage and conversions in Pakistan.

Shahbaz has been seeking justice in the Pakistani court since it placed her in the custody of Shehryar Ahmad –— the man who abducted her from her family. The Christian girl was married off to Ahmad and forcibly converted to Islam.

The court previously found that she could remain with her abductor after “they did not verify her age according to her birth certificate,” Zorzi explained. “Instead, they looked at her and said, ‘She doesnʼt look 13. She looks older.’ And they sent her home with the abductor.”

“The Christian community is outraged by the courtʼs latest decision, because what it signals to future abductors is that they can find young girls, they can forcibly marry them, they can forcibly convert them to Islam, and then they can tell the judge that their birth certificates are erroneous, and they can tell them that these girls are any age that they appear to be physically,” she said.

On July 16, “the Federal Constitutional Court, which is the highest court in Pakistan that hears these cases, actually decided to hear a review of their decision from March of this year,” Zorzi said.

The court “is willing to reevaluate that decision,” she said. “On Friday, July 24, they will have the first hearing to reevaluate this.”

The court’s decision follows a resolution adopted by the European Parliament  on July 9 that highlighted Shahbaz’s case and detailed human rights violations in Sudan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. It called for Shahbaz’s return to her family and condemned the broader pattern of child abductions and forced marriages in Pakistan.

In the resolution members of Parliament said they “call for the protection of religious minorities and urge Pakistan’s government to ensure that all cases involving minors or allegations of coercion are subject to transparent and independent investigations.”

“The perpetrators must be prosecuted and Pakistan’s judicial framework strengthened … and abducted girls must be able to return safely,” the resolution said.

Shahbaz’s case is ‘not an isolated event’

Shahbaz’s case is not an isolated case, and child marriage and forced conversion among young girls “is a widespread problem in Pakistan and beyond,” Zorzi said.

According to UNICEF, 100 million girls worldwide are at risk of child marriage this decade. The issue escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to rising poverty and isolation, and lack of education.

“In Pakistan alone, weʼre seeing over 1,000 minority girls being forcibly married and forcibly converted into Islam every single year,” Zorzi said. “So Mariaʼs case is not an isolated event. Itʼs part of a systemic problem that weʼre seeing in this country.”

ADF International believes Shahbaz’s case “is a precedent-setting case,” Zorzi said. “We think it has so much potential to actually stop this problem going forward. So weʼre very hopeful and weʼre very thankful that the court is willing to reconsider it next week.”

“Throughout Pakistan, the pattern of abductions, forced conversions, and coerced marriages of underage girls to much older men is alarming,” Tehmina Arora, director of Advocacy for Asia at ADF International, said in a July 9 press release.

“Hundreds of girls each year find themselves victims of these sham marriages, losing their personal freedoms and facing exploitation and abuse,” Arora said.

“The court must now do what is right by granting her freedom and establishing a precedent that will protect vulnerable young girls from these horrific acts,” she said.

Silva, who helped Spain capture its first men’s FIFA World Cup title in 2010, has spoken of his familyʼs devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of his hometown of Arguineguín on Gran Canaria in Spainʼs Canary Islands.

Following Spainʼs historic victory in South Africa, Silva returned home to fulfill a promise to participate in the annual festivities honoring the Blessed Virgin. Speaking with reporters at the time, he said he wanted to join the celebration “as always,” continuing a family tradition of taking part in the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Silvaʼs grandmother recalled the anxiety of watching the 2010 World Cup final, saying the family entrusted the match to the Virgin Maryʼs intercession.

“We were very nervous,” she said. “I couldnʼt even watch the end. I just held on to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Who would have thought that when this 14-year-old boy I raised left my home he would achieve this? I am so proud.”

The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated each year on July 16, drawing thousands of faithful to processions and parish celebrations around the world. In Arguineguín, where Silva was raised, the celebration includes a traditional procession through streets adorned with intricate carpets created by local residents in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

As Spain seeks another World Cup crown, Silvaʼs story continues to resonate with many Catholics, illustrating how faith and devotion often accompany athletes during moments of both triumph and uncertainty. While the outcome of Sunday’s final remains unknown, the former Spanish internationalʼs public witness offers an enduring example of gratitude to God and confidence in the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“We regret that this briefing was uploaded to our website without going through the established internal review processes that are in place to ensure consistency, accuracy, and alignment with Amnesty International UKʼs positions,” an Amnesty International UK spokesperson said.

The statement comes after the organization removed a report titled “A Growing Threat: The Anti-Rights Movement in the UK” from its website following backlash from organizations that were categorized as “anti-rights” as well as conservative author J.K. Rowling.

“Because these groups challenge core human rights principles, Amnesty International UK uses the term ‘anti-rights’ to describe their aims and impact,” the report said of the 117 organizations it censured for restricting human rights, including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW), the Catholic Herald, the Catholic Medical Association, Right to Life UK, and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.

“The Catholic Church works to uphold the God-given rights of all humanity, without exception,” the CBCEW said in a statement shared with EWTN News. “This includes the rights of those unjustly imprisoned, of refugees and migrants, of those who have been trafficked, and the right to life of all people from conception to natural death.”

“Furthermore,” the statement continued, “we uphold the right to freedom of religion, conscience, and expression as explained in the document of the Second Vatican Council Dignitatis Humanae. Our belief in the dignity of every person, from which a proper understanding of human rights comes, animates all our work in the field of social justice in England and Wales.”

The report also cited the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission at the U.N. General Assembly as playing a role in coining the term “gender ideology,” which the report said is used by “anti-rights actors.”

An image Rowling posted showed Amnesty’s website after the report was taken down that stated the briefing was “temporarily removed” and was being subject to internal review.

“Amnesty International UK has shown its true colors in releasing this report,” a spokesperson for ADF told EWTN News. “Though it has now been removed, the publication made it very clear the organization is strongly biased against Christian groups and their beliefs.”

“To smear a large, collective list of Christian organizations as ‘anti-rights’ is not only an inaccurate accusation but completely disregards the right each of these organizations has to freely and peacefully express their views,” the ADF spokesperson added.

Amnesty International UK said the report’s "use of language does not reflect the position of Amnesty International UK, which is why it was promptly removed.”

"We remain committed to defending human rights, including both the rights of women and the rights of trans people,” the statement said. "Human rights protections are strongest when they apply equally to everyone, and no community should be singled out for unfair treatment or denied their dignity and rights."

This story was updated at 10:20 a.m. ET on July 17, 2026, with the statement from ADF International.

The resignation was accepted as Santarsiero turned 75, the age at which the Code of Canon Law requires bishops to submit their resignation to the pope. The decision comes just over three months after allegations of sexual abuse and psychological mistreatment against the prelate came to light.

The Holy See Press Office stated only that “the Holy Father has accepted the resignation” without providing further details.

Accusations against Santarsiero

In April, the Spanish news outlet InfoVaticana reported on the accusations, contained in a dossier sent to the apostolic nunciature in Peru and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.

According to the outlet, the documentation contains allegations of sexual abuse and psychological mistreatment attributed to the bishop over a period of several years.

InfoVaticana also reported that the two accounts align on key details of the alleged incidents, with one of them claiming that some of the abuse occurred while the victim was still a minor.

Santarsiero denied the accusations. The same outlet reported that he “categorically” denied the alleged conduct, as it “completely contradicts my track record and principles as a priest and bishop, in which I have always acted with integrity, respect, and pastoral commitment.”

Following the public disclosure of the allegations, the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference (CEP, by its Spanish acronym) issued a statement on April 9 announcing that Santarsiero had requested to step down as secretary-general of the Peruvian episcopate “as an act of responsibility toward the institutional mission, in order to devote himself to clarifying the truth.”

In the same statement, signed by CEP president Bishop Carlos García Camader, the bishops affirmed that the institution “is making every necessary effort to clarify the reported incidents, acting in accordance with established protocols and applicable law, both canon and civil.”

The bishops also reaffirmed “confidence in the canonical penal system and its proper application” and reminded that other alleged victims may turn to the listening channels established by the motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi.

Santarsiero’s background

Born in Italy on June 13, 1951, Santarsiero belongs to the Oblates of St. Joseph. He arrived in Peru in 1973 to pursue his theological studies and was ordained a priest on June 14, 1980.

St. John Paul II appointed Santarsiero prelate of Huarí in June 2001, and he received episcopal ordination on Aug. 12 of that same year. On Feb. 4, 2004, he was named bishop of Huacho and took possession of the diocese that April.

In addition to his pastoral service in Huacho, he was a member of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference starting in 2017 and had been serving as its secretary-general since 2024.

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.

“This year’s Global Persecution Index is a sobering reminder that millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ continue to pay a high price for their faith,” Shawn Wright, president of ICC, said in a statement.

ICC is a nonprofit organization assisting the persecuted Christian church through assistance, advocacy, and awareness across the globe.

The index, “Faces of the Persecuted,” was created by ICC as more than 388 million Christians worldwide — or 1 in 7 believers — live under "high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith,” according to the report.

The index highlights the leaders of countries where persecution is worsening including Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The index outlines trends in religious freedom that are aiding the rise of persecution including religious nationalism, transnational repression, state control over religious organizations, terrorism, authoritarianism, restrictions on women, and the use of the West to persecute.

The report states: “Despite these challenges, the church continues to grow in some of the most hostile environments, and resistance to repression is rising as individuals and communities push back against injustice and demand greater freedom.”

“Behind every statistic is a real person: someone who has chosen faithfulness to Jesus over safety, comfort, or even life itself,” Wright said. “Our hope is that this report not only informs decision-makers and stakeholders but moves readers to act with urgency, conviction, and compassion.”

Recommendations to ‘ease the burden of persecuted Christians’

The index details Christian persecution in African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian, and Southeast Asian countries, and it specifically offers recommendations to aid the faithful in Nigeria, Nicaragua, Syria, and India.

As Nigerians face political persecution, mob violence, and other actions aiding the nation’s religious persecution, ICC recommends immediate and independent investigations into the reported mass killings against the faithful in the country.

It also calls for international leadership to reverse legal barriers, including blasphemy laws in the nation that criminalize disfavored religious beliefs.

In Nicaragua, ICC notes that hundreds of priests, nuns, and other religious workers have disappeared or been detained. The nation’s regime also engages in systematic attempts to control religious sermons and media, and surveil members of independent religious organizations.

To combat the issues, ICC recommends expedited asylum pathways for the exiled clergy and calls for the support of aid to parishes and civil society organizations shuttered by the regime. It also urges expanded international sanctions against Nicaraguan officials, including regime leaders Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.

In Syria, religious people face numerous challenges despite a shift of government following the Assad regime. They experience reprisals, detentions, and discrimination that prevents their participation in governance councils and denies them property restitution.

In its index, ICC recommends support for programs that aid displaced communities and protect targeted Christians in Syria. It also calls for accountability for war crimes committed by both Assad and post-Assad actors.

As India’s persecution is on the rise, ICC urges the protection of independent nongovernmental organizations and media working to provide aid and to report on the persecuted groups as the faithful in the nation face mob attacks and other acts of violence.

“Come together and pray for unity,” O’Malley said at the conference, hosted by the Orientale Lumen Foundation at the retreat house for the St. John Paul II National Shrine on July 13–15.

Speakers included Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox bishops, and a few dozen laity and clergy focused on ecumenism attended. Along with O’Malley, speakers included Archbishop Flavio Pace — secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity — and Metropolitan Tikhon Mollard, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).

O’Malley encouraged concrete steps to integrate Catholic and Orthodox communities, one of the most important of which was “praying together.” Just prior to his speech, the Catholic and Orthodox clergy — including O’Malley, Pace, and Mollard — prayed daily vespers together in the form used in Eastern churches.

The cardinal, speaking to those gathered, said unity will ultimately be achieved as a gift to the faithful granted by Christ and will come about “how he wills [it].” He said he considers joint prayer to be crucial because it is the Holy Spirit who will “illuminate the way” toward East-West communion.

‘Work for unity’

In his address, O’Malley discussed his concern with the disunity of Christianity, which he said “weakens our ability [as Christians] to proclaim the Gospel with coherence and authority.”

He recalled his early work in the 1970s with the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. The order was deeply involved in missionary work in Papua New Guinea. Although O’Malley himself was not a missionary there, he spoke about conversations with colleagues who were working with people accepting Christianity in large numbers.

O’Malley noted that when new converts had learned about the various Christian denominations, many felt “sad and embarrassed.” Although many Christians view the disunity as “normative,” he said, the people of Papua New Guinea correctly recognized it as “scandalous.”

“All disciples of Jesus Christ must feel an impulse to work for unity among Christians,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley said Catholics should see Orthodoxy as the “greatest possibility of success in this task in fulfilling Christ’s wish so that we all become one so the world may believe.” He noted that the two share “so many saints and devotions” and are more similar to Catholics in theology than any other Christian community.

He expressed joy that many Orthodox churches send representatives to meetings held by the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and that the Catholic Church also sent representatives to the Orthodox Council of Crete in 2016. Yet, he encouraged a stronger bond.

O’Malley urged the bodies to “consider the possibility of joint pastoral letters or statements” on issues of mutual agreement like world hunger, euthanasia, and abortion. He said they should establish committees together to organize joint prayer, study sessions, and works of mercy.

His idea of unity, he explained, would be “communion without absorption” and said there is a difference between “unity and uniformity.” He said people should look to the Eastern Catholic Churches as a model, saying “they are bridges for reconciliation and laboratories for synodal communion.”

Although Rome’s relationship with the Eastern Catholics was not always perfect (O’Malley noted historical attempts at forced Latinization), the cardinal said there is an opportunity to work more closely with Eastern Catholics as part of ecumenical efforts, focused on “greater respect for their uniqueness.”

Mollard, speaking from the Orthodox position, echoed O’Malley’s desire for unity and the feeling of pain over continued separation.

“It affects the faithful in the parishes and how they live their lives,” the metropolitan said. “And perhaps encourage[s] us all to not just reach out and educate but really inspire in people that faith in Christ and love for the Church can drive … [the path toward] unity.”

O’Malley told EWTN News that ecumenism requires “different groups that would be Catholic and Orthodox, working together,” and Church leaders should be “letting people know the progress that has been made in the dialogue.”

He said Eastern Orthodox Christians “have the sacraments,” they have apostolic succession, and “the differences are not great.” Although theological disputes remain a division between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, he said he believes the causes of the schism were more political and cultural.

“Most Catholics and Orthodox in the pews are not focused on those fine points of theology,” O’Malley said.

Ongoing Vatican ecumenical work

Many theological disputes, however, are being hashed out at the highest levels of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Some of the biggest include questions of papal supremacy, primacy, and jurisdiction as well as the language of the Nicene Creed and subsequently certain details about the Holy Trinity.

Pace, who flew in from Rome, discussed some of the history and recent progress on ecumenism related to these subjects during his speech, noting that the end goal is “full unity” between the East and the West.

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, formed in 1980, created two subcommittees in 2024. One focuses on infallibility, which is the current priority. The other is about the dispute about the Nicene Creed.

"We have to prepare a very good draft,” Pace told EWTN News.

He said once the subcommittee completes its draft on infallibility, the body will consider a call for a full meeting for approval. He said the subcommittee must “arrive to a good document that the [full committee] can discuss and approve.”

The First Vatican Council teaches that the pope speaks infallibly on matters of faith and morals when defining matters of doctrine and invoking his papal authority, binding the declaration on the entire Church.

Bishop Anthony Vrame, a Greek Orthodox bishop and director of Holy Cross Orthodox Press, said in a panel discussion that Orthodoxy recognizes the indefectibility of councils: “When the Church gathers together in council, … no error is possible.” Yet, papal infallibility is different, as it is “designated to one person.”

Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, offered a prerecorded video message for the conference, stating that he hopes the eventual documents will be received by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Koch emphasized the importance of clergy informing the laity when there are developments, so the progress is “not to be remained known only by experts.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York said in July that Father Jeffrey Nowak of Lackawanna, New York, had been arrested and charged with both the receipt and possession of child pornography.

Nowak had been placed on administrative leave by the diocese in 2019 amid allegations that he had sexually harassed a seminarian. Bishop Michael Fisher, who was appointed to the diocese in 2021, subsequently told Nowak that his priestly faculties in the diocese would not be reinstated and that he would advise other bishops not to accept Nowak in their own dioceses.

In a July 15 statement, the diocese pointed out that it was required by canon law to “provide some level of financial sustenance” to Nowak, even though he was not in active ministry. But after the “abhorrent criminal conduct” of which Nowak was accused this month, the diocese said it was “no longer providing any financial support” to the priest.

In addition, Fisher “has now instructed the diocese’s judicial vicar to gather the necessary documentation based on these latest allegations to petition the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to dismiss Jeffrey Nowak from the clerical state,” the statement said.

The diocese had previously not made such a petition due to “no allegation of child sexual abuse or other criminal allegation,” the statement said.

In its statement, the diocese noted that its financial support of Nowak was “considerably less than what an active priest receives and also less than what a retired priest receives.”

Nowak is facing up to 20 years in prison on the child pornography charges. In announcing Nowak’s arrest earlier in July, U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said the priest “hid behind a keyboard and took part in the tragic exploitation of one of society’s most vulnerable populations, our children.”

“Nowak has now been exposed and can no longer hide and will be held accountable for his disgraceful behavior,” the prosecutor said.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels on July 15 during a discussion titled “Europe and Africa: In Conversation with Cardinal Robert Sarah,” the former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said international cooperation is increasingly undermined by a growing disconnect between language and reality.

“In the relationship between the European Union and Africa, words are today used not to reveal reality but to hide it, and even to distort it,” Sarah said.

Pointing to expressions such as “sexual and reproductive health,” “gender equality,” and “human rights,” Sarah argued that such language is sometimes used to advance concepts that many African societies neither share nor have chosen.

“If words no longer mean what they say, how can there be authentic dialogue?” he asked. “How can Africa trust a Europe that speaks with equivocal, double-meaning words?”

He warned that international agreements relying on ambiguous terminology risk becoming “instruments of perversion and of silent power” rather than genuine cooperation.

Lessons from the pope’s AI encyclical

Sarah also drew on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published in May, arguing that although it addresses the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI), its warning against manipulative and deceptive language also extends beyond technology to diplomacy and international cooperation.

He said the encyclical calls on policymakers to ensure political, economic, and technological systems remain grounded in truth and always serve the human person. It also insists on human oversight and moral discernment so that AI remains at the service of the human person rather than becoming its master.

Warning against reducing individuals to “statistical categories or instruments of economic power” rather than recognizing their “transcendent dignity,” Sarah said the encyclical ultimately places the human person at the center.

“The question remains, and always will remain, anthropological,” he said, urging Europe and Africa to build their partnership on “the truth of the human person, of the family, and of peoples.”

Europe-Africa cooperation

Opening the conference, Paolo Inselvini, an Italian member of the European Parliament, said the gathering offered an opportunity to recover Europe’s Christian roots while promoting “a frank, equal dialogue” with Africa based on truth rather than ideology.

European Parliament Vice President Antonella Sberna pointed to the EU’s Global Gateway investment strategy and Italy’s Mattei Plan as examples of cooperation with Africa based on “respect, reality, and the identity of peoples.” She said such discussions help “translate our values into legislation and concrete change.”

Launched in 2021, Global Gateway is the EU’s flagship global investment strategy. As part of that strategy, the EU aims to mobilize up to 150 billion euros ($171.9 billion) in public and private investment across Africa.

A bridge between continents

Born in Guinea, Sarah was appointed archbishop of Conakry by Pope John Paul II in 1979 at the age of 34, becoming the youngest Catholic bishop in the world at the time.

Pope Benedict XVI named him president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum in 2010, and Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2014, a position he held until his retirement in 2021.

Archbishop Bernardito Cleopas Auza, the apostolic nuncio to the European Union, who also spoke at the event, recalled his first meeting with the cardinal during reconstruction efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He described Sarah as someone whose life and ministry have spanned Africa, Europe, and the universal Church.

Sarah remains one of the Catholic Church’s most influential voices on evangelization, liturgy, religious freedom, and the relationship between faith, culture, and public life.

The 2 p.m. CT Sept. 24 ceremony at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis will formally declare Sheen “blessed,” bringing him one step closer to sainthood.

Link, programming director for the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, told Veronica Dudo on “EWTN News Nightly” on July 15 that pilgrims can arrive early for the broader celebration, which includes a nine-day novena of Holy Hours in Peoria, Illinois, leading up to the beatification, along with Masses of thanksgiving and the Sheen Awards Gala afterward.

Sheen was a pioneering television evangelist whose popular media ministry made him one of the most influential American Church figures of the 20th century.

“I think of someone who fell in love with Jesus Christ,” said Link, with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. “He knew Jesus Christ through his study. He knew Jesus Christ in the Church and in the liturgy. But in a really profound way, he knew Christ in the Eucharist. He knew Christ in prayer.”

“He knew he was a child of God. He knew he was a priest of Jesus Christ,” she said. “He knew that as a priest then that he was called to be a victim and to offer his life in union with the sacrifice of Christ.”

Link also reflected on St. John Paul II’s 1979 meeting with Sheen, when the pope embraced the archbishop and called him “a loyal son of the Church.”

“John Paul II could see right into the heart of Fulton Sheen’s identity there and just affirmed him at the deepest level,” she said.

Encouraging the faithful to attend

Inviting Catholics to attend the beatification in St. Louis, Link called the celebration “a gift for the Church.”

“Fulton Sheen doesn’t need it. He’s in heaven,” she said. “But it’s a gift that the Church gives to us.”

At the beatification, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle will serve as the papal representative. Before the liturgy, pilgrims can attend a morning program featuring Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Sister Josephine Garrett, CSFN; Matt Maher; Monsignor Roger Landry; and Katie McGrady.

The beatification Mass requires a ticket, which costs about $15 to $25. Organizers say the fee is intended to offset the high costs of hosting thousands of pilgrims in a stadium venue.

Organizers have stressed that the ticket charge is not a fee for attending Mass, which canon law prohibits. Instead, it is intended to help cover the costs of hosting the large-scale event, including security, crowd management, and stadium operations, while also helping make attendance possible for priests, religious, and school groups.

However, a priest who has been helping migrants for over a decade points to a reality that goes unrecorded: routes that are less visible, more expensive, and exposed to organized crime networks.

In Mexico, according to figures from the Migration Policy, Registry, and Personal Identity Unit, the number of recorded instances of individuals with irregular migration status fell from over 1.2 million in 2024 to 155,730 in 2025. As of May of this year, the total stands at 18,083 cases.

On the U.S. side, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 443,671 encounters at the southwest border during fiscal year 2025, compared with 2.1 million the previous year. So far in fiscal year 2026, the figure stands at 90,121.

This trend also reflects the shrinking number of people assisted by Catholic shelters.

Located halfway along the route of those seeking to reach the north of the continent, the Mexican city of Puebla is also seeing a drop in the number of migrants arriving to seek help at Catholic shelters.

Father Alberto Vivar León told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that 1,200 migrants were assisted at the Archdiocese of Puebla’s three shelters during 2023. Two years later, in 2025, the figure was 145.

Ordained nearly 15 years ago, Vivar has dedicated the last 11 years to assisting migrants. He estimated that the shelters have assisted around 60 migrants during the first half of 2026.

His close involvement with migrants began at San Felipe de Jesús parish in Hueyotlipan, about an hour north of Puebla. The parish boundaries include the Puebla City Central Bus Terminal (CAPU, by its Spanish acronym), which for years has served as a transit point for many migrants continuing their journey northward.

Both that parish and Our Lady of the Assumption, where Vivar has served as parish priest since late 2021, are located near the railway tracks known to many as “La Bestia” (“The Beast”), another mode of transport historically used by many migrants, despite the risks involved in traveling atop freight cars.

The numbers

Although the figures point to a decline in migration flows, Vivar said this doesn’t mean people have stopped trying to reach the U.S. “The traffic continues,” he said. “Perhaps not as many as before, but they keep coming through. People are still passing through Mexico.”

He believes the policies implemented by the administrations of President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum have contributed to a “natural decrease in the number of people, because they couldn’t cross as freely.” However, he maintains that these policies have also led to a situation where “organized crime exploited the circumstances and began profiting from them.”

Criminals are currently demanding “between $6,000 and $7,000” of migrants seeking to cross Mexico, he said.

“Organized crime … continues to take advantage” of migrants, he reiterated.

An important change in migrant transportation

Throughout his years of pastoral work, Vivar has observed a significant shift regarding transportation.

In the past, he noted, migrants would board the freight train to take advantage of routes heading north. However, since 2018, many have avoided this option because “drug traffickers with long guns get on, demand payment, and throw anyone who doesnʼt pay off the train.”

Word of this has spread among migrants, leading them to switch to buses; subsequently, however, Mexican authorities stepped up document checks for those traveling through the country.

The result was that many migrants began to rely on buses offering alternative routes, some of which were controlled by criminal groups.

Along these routes, Vivar said that some migrants end up falling victim to scams, abuse, and even forced labor.

Violence: A constant on the migrant’s journey

One of the cases the Mexican priest recalled involved a group of five or six young people whom he had advised to be wary of anyone trying to offer help, “because people are watching where you come from and who you are.”

“They didn’t listen to me, and a pickup truck took them away,” he said. “They took them to a ranch. They kept them there working for about 15 days without pay” and barely gave them anything to eat.

“One day, they managed to escape,” he said. “They returned to the shelter ... and said, ‘Father, you were right.’”

Criminals, Vivar warned, “are lying in wait at bus stops” such as the CAPU terminal, where “several individuals are looking specifically to rob migrants” because they are easy to spot “and [the criminals] know that if they rob them, they won’t cry out” because the authorities “will deport them.”

He also recalled one migrant who was abducted in San Luis Potosí and fell victim to sexual abuse at the hands of criminals. The victim managed to escape when his captors asked him to prepare breakfast. He seized a moment of inattention to flee barefoot and, after receiving help from several people, managed to reach the shelter in Puebla. “It was a very, very ugly situation; and from here, we paid for his fare to Tapachula in southern Mexico so he could continue on to his country.”

The Church’s response

In the face of such suffering, Vivar noted that the Church continues to maintain shelters where migrants can receive food, clothing, medical care, and a place to rest for one or two nights before continuing their journey.

Furthermore, thanks to a bazaar organized by the parish community, there are funds that help cover the cost of travel fares as well.

These shelters receive no government aid. Years ago, during the massive migrant caravans, authorities would send some aid, he said, but “there has been a distancing since 2018 under the new administrations because that support is no longer there.”

“The government does not have migrant shelters; it’s the Church that operates migrant shelters throughout the country. The National Migration Institute has detention centers; they are not shelters,” he said.

Assistance to migrants should not be restricted to Catholic shelters but should be the responsibility of every believer, Vivar emphasized, and every Christian must “try to help.”

Almsgiving, he said, is not about giving from “my surplus” but rather about “giving what is right.”

“Give your alms, but alms in the sense of giving what is necessary. If you have some clothes, if you have a jacket, give it to them.”

“Help however you can, and then — yes — send them to the shelters we have, and we’ll see what else can be done,” he added.

The migrant, he said, “didn’t leave home because he wanted to ... he isn’t going days without eating and sleeping on the street because he wanted to.”

Rather, migrants leave “out of necessity, because they have no other option,” Vivar said, and are “chasing a dream, trying to provide for their families.”

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.

In the letter, Joya reflected on his nearly four years of episcopal ministry since taking charge of the Maralal Diocese in October 2022, outlining financial, administrative, and pastoral challenges he said he encountered upon his arrival and the reforms he has since undertaken.

“It is painful to state that I found the diocese with multiple problems but no one was willing to tell me the cause of the problems and how to get the solution,” he wrote in the four-page letter dated July 12.

The Kenyan-born member of the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries wrote that, alongside seeking donations and grants to support the diocese, he initiated assessments, financial audits, restructuring, and debt repayment.

“That helped me to conduct assessment of the diocese, carry out audits in all parishes, institutions, offices; set up systems and structures; do restructuring; and pay debts and some loans,” Joya said in the letter.

He went on to respond to the criticism that he had frequently appealed for financial support and failed to act against priests alleged to be living contrary to their vocation or possessing property whose acquisition could not be explained.

Addressing concerns over fundraising, he wrote: “I want everyone to know that I have mobilized hundreds of millions of shillings in the time I have been [here] — more than all the money all Christians of this diocese have done for their Church without counting on the major projects that have been done directly in various parishes and institutions.”

Turning to the issue of clergy discipline, the bishop said he had acted only after obtaining sufficient information.

“I never suspect or hold any priest accountable for any wrongdoing without credible information. Since I now have some information and identified such priests, I announce here two things,” he said.

The first, he wrote, is the introduction of new obligations for priests in the Diocese of Maralal under Canon 277 §3 of the Code of Canon Law.

The measures require priests to be in their presbyteries before 7 p.m. for evening prayers and prohibit them from spending the night away from the priests' residence without the bishop’s permission.

The measures also state that no layperson is to sleep or stay in a priest’s house or a religious sister’s convent without the bishopʼs authorization.

The norms further prohibit priests from drinking alcohol in bars or presenting themselves for liturgical celebrations “drunk or with the hangover of alcohol.”

The new rules also prohibit priests from engaging in private business outside “the business of the Church,” acquiring property they cannot explain, or cohabiting or engaging in relationships “with a person of the opposite sex or same sex.”

Additional measures concern the administration of parish and institutional finances, the functioning of finance councils and parish councils, annual budgets and audits, the authorized use of diocesan vehicles, and adherence to both Church and civil law.

In another measure, Joya announced the suspension of seven priests under Canons 1336 §§1–4 and 1281 §3 of the Code of Canon Law. He said the suspensions will remain in force “until the issues of abuse of ecclesiastical power, negligence of administration, and mismanagement of the temporal goods of the Church are resolved.”

The suspended priests are Fathers Paul Maina, Peter Musau, Stephen Lekasuyan, Peter Nderitu, Christopher Letikirich, John Dida, and Jonathan Namoni, whom Joya noted had already been suspended on July 10.

The pastoral letter did not specify the particular allegations against the priests or indicate whether the suspensions arise from the same circumstances. The letter also did not detail the specific canonical restrictions imposed on each priest beyond citing the relevant provisions of Church law.

Additionally, the letter also did not indicate whether the priests received individual canonical decrees explaining the reasons for their suspension, the scope of the disciplinary measures, or the conditions each would be required to meet before the suspension is lifted.

Inviting the faithful to accompany the suspended priests in prayer, Joya wrote: “Pray for these priests of ours at this moment they are starting a life of deep reflection on the value of their vocation and the importance of working for the common good of the Church.”

Alongside the disciplinary measures, the bishop announced five new priestly appointments in his diocese, including parish, pastoral center, and media apostolate assignments.

The pastoral letter concluded by asking the faithful to continue praying for him as he “endeavors to save the diocese from the difficult challenges it is undergoing.”

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

In a moment filled with hope and meaning, Metropolitan Athanasius Fahd, Greek Orthodox archbishop of Latakia and its dependencies, celebrated the first Divine Liturgy for the parish since the outbreak of the war.

The liturgy was held in the hall of St. George Church because the church building itself suffered extensive damage in previous years.

During the celebration, worshippers lit candles before the icon of St. George, the village’s patron saint, symbolically marking the return of spiritual life to the community and the beginning of a new chapter. Residents hope this step will help them restore their natural presence in their homeland.

Speaking to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Fahd said the celebration was a first step toward encouraging the people of Ghassaniyeh to return to their land.

He expressed his joy at seeing the happiness on the faces of those who attended the liturgy. He also noted that cooperation between the Church and the villagers had made it possible to prepare the church hall as a center serving the needs of the community.

The metropolitan explained that the space will serve two main purposes.

Its first purpose is spiritual, providing a place for prayers and liturgies that remain at the heart of Christian life.

Its second purpose is social. The hall will remain open to villagers as a common home, especially for those who return to visit their farmland or stay temporarily in the village but do not yet have a home suitable for living or a place to rest.

One resident recalled the difficult years the village endured. He said Ghassaniyeh had been struck by explosive barrels and missiles launched by forces linked to the former government, causing widespread destruction and forcing most residents to leave.

He added that conditions are now more stable, freedom of movement has improved, and residents have begun returning to their homes and farmland.

A woman who recently returned to the village also spoke of her joy at being home again. She said she had come back after 14 years away and had begun rebuilding her house and obtaining the basic supplies needed to make it livable.

The road home, however, remains difficult, especially because of the need to rebuild houses and repair infrastructure.

The Church continues to support residents as they restore their homes and rebuild their lives. In recent months, it has also worked to address issues involving their properties and farmland, including land that had come under the control of foreign armed factions, such as Uyghur and Turkistan groups.

Fahd’s visit was his second to Ghassaniyeh, following an inspection visit in May.

The Latin Church also celebrated its first Mass in the village in November 2025, offering another sign of the Christian community’s determination to return.

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.

“Haiti is in the grip of an overwhelming humanitarian crisis,” Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice president for crisis response, recovery, and development at the International Rescue Committee, told “EWTN News Nightly” on July 15.

According to Donnelly, more than 1,200 civilians are estimated to have been killed in drone attacks in Haiti this year, including 17 children.

“This is one of the most concerning aspects of the humanitarian situation in Haiti and of the trends that weʼve seen over recent months,” he said.

Donnelly described the drones as “small, cheap, easier-to-operate quadcopter-type drones which are fitted with explosives and then used essentially as improvised explosive devices, some of which have exploded in public areas with children around or people who are out shopping, leading to a number of fatalities.”

“The situation is particularly acute in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is in the grip of gang-fueled violence, with gangs controlling about 90% of the total territory of the capital city,” he said.

In addition, Donnelly said Haitians face limited access to healthcare, and about half of the country’s population of around 6.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

“Our team on the ground, working very closely with Haitian civil society organizations, is focused on providing healthcare support, supporting primary healthcare, and, in particular, services for women and children and water and sanitation,” he said. “The risk of communicable diseases, given the displacement and the underfunding of public services in Haiti, is quite significant, as well as protection services for women and children who are particularly at risk of violence given the given the situation on the ground.”

Donnelly’s remarks come as Haiti has climbed from ninth place in 2023 to fifth place in 2026 on the International Rescue Committee’s annual emergency watch list, which ranks the top 20 countries facing the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. No. 1 on the list is Sudan.

First Liberty, a legal organization dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty, released the annual index ranking religious liberty protections for each of the 50 states.

This year, Arkansas and Tennessee ranked first and second, with scores of 89% and 85%. Both states earned an “excellent” rating, meaning that they scored above 80%, marking the first time any state has crossed that threshold in the RLS.

Conducted by the institute’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy (CRCD), the report focuses on select legal safeguards of religious exercise in laws and constitutions.

The report assigns a percentage score to each state based on 50 legal protections that states have to protect religious liberty within six categories: government, healthcare, economic life, religious life, and family and education. These protections are gathered into 20 “safeguards,” which researchers average to produce each state’s index score.

The RLS also measures if states did a “poor,” “adequate,” “competent,” or “excellent” job of protecting religious liberty based on the percentage of protections they had adopted.

After ranking sixth in 2025, Arkansas surged to the top this year, taking the spot from Florida, which dropped to third place.

According to the report, Arkansas’ first-place ranking is largely due to the state decision to enact H.B. 1615 — a law that protects individuals and institutions from being forced to participate in wedding ceremonies to which they have religious objections.

Arkansas’ score is 63 percentage points higher than the lowest-ranked state, New York, which RLS authors said protects 26% of the measured safeguards. New York returned to last place for the first time since 2022, taking West Virginiaʼs previous spot.

While Arkansas protects 89% of the religious liberty safeguards tracked in the 2026 RLS index, it is still missing seven of the specific protections RLS considers.

“There remains room for improvement, however, for all states, and our hope is that the Religious Liberty in the States project can help catalyze such gains for years to come,” Jordan Ballor, executive director of First Liberty’s CRCD, wrote in the report.

Changes and improvements among states

“As the report indicates, there are also some hopeful trends as some states have taken action to increase their protections,” Ballor said.

Changes include Tennesseeʼs move from 10th to second place after it adopted what the report called an “exemplary” medical conscience law, with protections that allow healthcare providers and institutions to refuse to perform, provide, or pay for medical services because of their religious beliefs.

While ranking 23rd and 45th, the RLS noted that Georgia and Wyoming adopted Religious Freedom Restoration Acts in 2025, laws to protect individuals and organizations from government regulations that substantially burden their religious practices.

Due to their “competent” and “average” scores, Montana (71.3%), Illinois (70.4%), Mississippi (66.7%), Ohio (66.3%), Idaho (64.2%), South Carolina (62.9%), and Washington (60%) ranked among the 10 best states at protecting religious liberty.

The trends among states have the “potential to become a virtuous cycle as states learn from what other states have done, emulate them, and become more active in protecting and promoting the free-exercise rights of their constituents,” Ballor said.

The National Eucharistic Revival, a three‑year U.S. bishops’ initiative aimed at renewing Catholic belief in and devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist through teaching, parish outreach, and national events, was launched in 2022 in response to declining belief among Catholics in the Real Presence. The revival culminated in the National Eucharistic Congress in 2024.

Speaking at the Institute for Catholic Culture on the topic “The Table of the Lord and the Table of Demons: Eucharistic Coherence and the Age of Moral Relativism,” Paprocki said July 14 that the revival’s mission extends beyond renewing devotion to the Eucharist to fostering lives that correspond to what Catholics profess to believe.

Communion with Christ

Paprocki emphasized that the Eucharist is both the sacrifice of Christ made present and the sacrament of communion with God and the Church.

“The core belief of Catholics about the mystery of the Eucharist is our faith in the real presence of Christ,” he said. “The sacrament of the Eucharist is called holy Communion precisely because, by placing us in intimate communion with the sacrifice of Christ, we are placed in intimate communion with him, and through him, with each other.”

Worthy reception of Communion

Because of that reality, Paprocki said, Catholics conscious of mortal sin should first seek reconciliation before approaching the altar.

“As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives holy Communion while in the state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace that the sacrament conveys, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege,” Paprocki said.

Quoting St. Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians, the bishop added that “whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.”

Paprocki said this understanding forms the basis for what the Church calls “Eucharistic coherence,” which he defined as consistency between belief and conduct.

“A person who, by his or her own action, has broken communion with Christ in his Church but receives the Blessed Sacrament acts incoherently, both claiming and rejecting communion at the same time. It is thus a countersign, a lie,” he said.

Canon law and public witness

Referring to Canon 915, Paprocki said ministers of holy Communion must sometimes withhold Communion from those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin.

Canon 915 says: “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy Communion.”

The bishop also cited a 2004 memorandum by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger interpreting Canon 915, which addresses the denial of holy Communion to those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin. Paprocki said those who publicly and obstinately support grave moral evils such as abortion or euthanasia fall under Canon 915ʼs provisions.

Paprocki quoted the memo: When “the person in question with obstinate persistence still presents himself to receive the whole Eucharist … the minister of holy Communion must refuse to distribute it.”

Paprocki clarified that this denial is not meant as a punishment but to encourage a change of heart.

Paprocki said behaviors that would warrant denial of Communion include heterosexuals cohabiting without marriage, homosexuals engaging in sexual activity, and divorced people remarrying without having received an annulment.

Paprocki referred to his 2018 denial of the Eucharist to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, for supporting abortion access laws. Paprocki said: “The denial of Communion is a medicinal remedy that seeks to foster a change of heart” and is meant to encourage politicians “to repent and return to being pro-life.”

Paprocki concluded: “In seeking Eucharistic coherence in an age of moral relativism, it is important to remember that the ultimate goal is conversion and readmission to Communion. Even when a difficult decision must be made, not to admit someone to holy Communion until there has been repentance and reconciliation, such discipline does not contradict the law by which it is motivated.”

The priest took his run-up, waited for the whistle, and placed the ball right next to the goalpost. With that match-winning goal, the crowd broke out in euphoria: Dozens of seminarians rushed onto the field as priests from seven dioceses in southern Peru celebrated Huancavelica’s title win in the 2026 Clergy Champions playoffs.

On July 2, more than 150 priests from the dioceses of Puno, Cusco, Abancay, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Huancayo, and Tarma participated in the soccer tournament. For a decade, the event has strengthened priestly fraternity, promoted vocations, and served as a reminder that sports can be a means of evangelization.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Father José Raúl Ayuque Tornero, a priest of the Diocese of Huancavelica and one of the eventʼs organizers, explained that the initiative grew out of the friendship among priests who attended the major seminary in Abancay.

Its origins are deeply rooted in “fraternity and friendship among the priests,” Ayuque said. “At first, it was simply a get-together of friends.”

The event has since become a tradition for the dioceses in the southern part of the country.

A cliff-hanger final decided by penalty kicks

Ayuque excitedly recalled the final match, which was attended by families, priests, and seminarians.

“The atmosphere was extraordinary. Our minor seminarians kept spirits high throughout the day. We had marching bands performing from St. John Vianney Minor Seminary and the Teresa de la Cruz educational institution run by the Canoness Sisters,” he told ACI Prensa.

The bands provided musical accompaniment and cheered equally for both Huancavelica and Cusco as the teams faced off in the final match, which began around 5 p.m.

In Huancavelica, the sun sets early due to the areaʼs geography, making the match even more exciting. Fans followed each play closely, waiting for a goal.

The end of the match could not have been more suspenseful: Cusco failed to get a penalty kick past the Huancavelica goalie, and all eyes were then on Salazar, who skillfully placed his shot out of reach of the Cusco goalkeeper and won the championship.

A celebration immediately began on the field. The priests sang the St. John Mary Vianney hymn composed by the late bishop emeritus of Huancavelica, William Molloy.

“In Huancavelica, we have a very young clergy, with an average age close to 35, and that is also reflected in the enthusiasm with which we experience these gatherings,” Ayuque said.

The awards ceremony followed. Abancay took fourth place, Ayacucho third, and Cusco second, while Huancavelica received the cup.

The Archdiocese of Huancayo was announced as the venue for the next championship matches.

“Beyond the competition, I saw joy in everyone — the joy of sharing the mission God gives us as priests,” Ayuque commented.

For his part, referee Daniel Jorge Cruz Olarte remarked that the most gratifying aspect of being part of this tournament was “seeing how they respect one another.”

“They are wholesome people; they respect the referee, they respect their teammates and opponents, and they experience the sport with a spirit of fraternity.”

A championship born of friendship

Although it now brings together priests from seven jurisdictions and even the regionʼs bishops, the Clergy Champions League began quite simply.

“It started about 10 years ago. At first, only Abancay, Ayacucho, and Huancavelica — the closest ones — participated. Gradually, it took shape and we can now say that this gathering has become an established tradition in the Peruvian Andes,” Ayuque explained.

He said in the future, the league would also like to include the dioceses of Ica, Arequipa, and Tacna “so that it truly represents all of southern Peru.”

Much more than soccer

For the priest, the Clergy Champions was never just a sports tournament.

“These gatherings strengthen our own sanctification as priests. We meet older, younger, and newly ordained priests from different backgrounds, and we see how the Lord continues to call each one amid varying circumstances,” he said.

Ayuque said the sport can become an authentic tool to awaken vocations. “It helps us learn to live as a team, to understand that life must be built seeking communion, knowing how to share, show solidarity, and always feel the presence of our brother,” he said.

Father Doroteo Borda López, one of the participants, highlighted to ACI Prensa that the league is an experience of communion.

“It’s a way for us to participate as priests of a local Church and to come together. Getting together with nearly 150 priests and seeing that sport unites, heals, and is also part of spirituality is something very valuable,” he said.

For Borda, the Clergy Champions shows young people that the Church remains alive and “that we are just as normal people as anyone else.”

“On the field, we get angry, we play, we run, and we have our differences, but afterward, we continue sharing our lives.”

Ayuque said he believes the league’s greatest lesson for young people is “to show them that the priest’s mission is not limited solely to piety or prayer.”

“All the realities of life can and must be offered to God. The priest is called to bring God’s grace to all people and to all human endeavors. That’s why more laborers are needed for the harvest, more young people who will dedicate their lives,” he stated.

‘Sport is absolutely essential’

The priest also advocated for sports as a necessary part of holistic formation. “In our seminaries, we strive to dedicate at least one hour a day to sports, since the human person is both body and soul,” he said.

“Sport disciplines the body, makes it more agile, and helps eliminate the bodyʼs toxins. When our physical condition is well cared for, it also becomes easier to engage attentively in prayer and the encounter with God,” he said.

“A neglected body ends up influencing one’s spiritual life as well … Pope Francis frequently spoke of acedia, that kind of spiritual sloth that often stems from a body that is overly comfortable,” he added.

“Sport prepares our nature for a personal encounter with the Lord and helps us view the world with greater joy and optimism,” he concluded.

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 291-241 vote came three years after President Emmanuel Macron, who had made it one of his key campaign promises, first opened the question to national debate.

The vote ended an unusual parliamentary stalemate between the National Assembly and the Senate. Members of the National Assembly passed the bill three times over the course of 14 months — most recently on June 30 by a vote of 295 to 232 — and senators rejected it just as many times.

On July 7, the Senate passed, by a narrow majority of 169 to 164, with 11 abstentions, a preliminary motion to outright reject the bill rather than debate it, and this motion itself called on the government to end the legislative process. Rather than heeding this call, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu invoked Article 45 of the Constitution, which allows the government to give the National Assembly the final say when repeated readings fail to produce an agreement between the two chambers. He then referred the bill back to the National Assembly for a fourth and final vote instead of a fourth reading in the Senate.

The July 15 vote, however, did not close the matter. On July 14, Lecornu announced he would refer part of the text to the Constitutional Council, a step Senate President Gérard Larcher had also urged, citing in particular how the billʼs conscience clause would interact with health and social care facilities built around end-of-life accompaniment that exclude assisted dying. The council must rule within a month, or eight days if the government asks for an expedited review, meaning the law cannot be promulgated until that review is complete even though the Assembly has now adopted it.

The end-of-life law covers both euthanasia, administered by a doctor or nurse, and assisted suicide, in which the patient self-administers a lethal substance, under five cumulative conditions: A person must be an adult, a stable resident of France, diagnosed with a serious and incurable condition, in an advanced or terminal phase of that condition, and suffering in a way current treatment cannot relieve, while remaining able to express a free and informed decision. Self-administration is supposed to be the default rule, with the law providing for intervention by a healthcare professional only when the patient is physically unable to act.

A supporting measure aimed at expanding access to palliative care was adopted with much broader support, passing its first reading in the Senate by a vote of 307 to 17. To date, more than 20% of French departments still lack a palliative care unit, according to figures cited repeatedly by the Bishops’ Conference of France during the debate.

The push to legalize assisted dying traces back to September 2022, when the National Consultative Ethics Committee reversed its earlier opposition to assisted dying and endorsed an “ethical” application of the practice. A citizens’ panel Macron had convened spent the following winter weighing the question and backed legalization.

The French president unveiled the outline of a bill in March 2024, but the initiative stalled when he dissolved the Assembly in June the same year. Deputy Olivier Falorni, who had filed an earlier and unsuccessful end-of-life bill, revived it in 2025.

Critics argue the newly adopted framework is among the most permissive of its kind in the world. Grégor Puppinck, a Catholic lawyer and director general of the European Centre for Law and Justice, has published a point-by-point analysis contending that the entire process rests on the judgment of a single physician, who may meet the patient for the first time on the day of the request and need not be the one already treating them.

The two additional professionals that physician must consult are chosen by the same person, are not required to examine the patient in person, and may be consulted by videoconference.

Puppinck noted the statute sets no minimum interval between the decision and the act itself beyond a two-day reflection window, relatives have no guaranteed right to be informed beforehand, and they cannot challenge the outcome in court.

Doctors who object in conscience must still refer patients to a colleague willing to proceed, and private and religious institutions, including nursing homes, must accommodate mobile euthanasia teams under threat of administrative penalties. Oversight, in Puppinck’s account, comes only after death, based on a report filed by the same clinician who carried it out.

The founders of the ethics collective Democracy, Ethics, and Solidarity, Laurent Frémont and Emmanuel Hirsch, wrote in Le Journal du Dimanche that the law’s eligibility criteria — primarily a “serious and incurable condition” causing “unbearable suffering,” are defined vaguely enough that a strict medical interpretation could make more than 1 million people eligible, including patients with chronic illnesses, psychiatric disorders, or advanced age, without requiring a prior written request, a peer review by medical colleagues, or a psychiatric evaluation.

A 2025 study by the Fondation pour l’innovation politique estimated the measure could save the state around 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) a year in health, eldercare, and pension spending, a projection critics have cited as evidence of the pressures vulnerable and elderly patients could face once the law takes effect.

The French bishops’ conference called the text a threat to “the most fragile” among French citizens in a statement issued in May 2025 ahead of the Assembly’s first vote on the bill. The archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, has repeatedly urged lawmakers to reconsider their position, asserting that true solidarity is built through caring for others rather than through death. “More than assistance in dying, our society needs assistance in living,” he has repeatedly stated.

In a video appeal to lawmakers released before the vote, Archbishop Vincent Jordy of Tours invoked François Rabelais’ centuries-old warning that “science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.” What is underway, he said, is “an anthropological shift,” a new way of viewing life and its end that will gradually reshape the country, touching caregivers, families, people with disabilities, and the relationship between generations.

He pointed to the Netherlands, where regulators had layered on safeguards for two decades and where health officials confirmed in June that a child under 12 had been euthanized for the first time, under a 2024 expansion of the law to children between the ages of 1 and 12.

Making a law, Jordy said, is also opening doors toward things “one had perhaps not imagined” when it was written.

According to the Catholic Churchʼs news site in Germany, 41-year-old Senad Mrkaljevic was ordained a priest a few weeks ago by the archbishop of Berlin, Heiner Koch, at St. Hedwigʼs Cathedral.

“Many people fear that faith will take something away from them. My experience is exactly the opposite: God gives me much more. That is what I want to convey to others,” the new priest stated.

Born in 1984 in Brčko in the former Yugoslavia, Mrkaljevic grew up in a Muslim family where religion did not play a central role.

“Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims lived peacefully alongside one another back then,” he recalled. However, the outbreak of the war in Bosnia in 1992 forced his family to seek refuge, first in Austria and later in Germany.

“As a child, it was hard to grasp what fleeing meant, and I quickly felt like an outsider in Germany,” he recounted.

Compounding these difficulties, Mrkaljevic has a congenital visual impairment, which made integrating into school life more challenging.

His journey toward the Catholic faith began around the age of 23, when he started reading the Bible and secretly visiting the church every Sunday morning. He felt afraid the first time he entered a church. “Going in there was quite a challenge for me. I kept asking myself, ‘Is what you’re doing right?’” he recalled.

Over time, he realized he no longer wanted to hide. “I didn’t want to lead a double life,” he explained. In 2009, he was baptized during the Easter Vigil, a decision his family initially found difficult.

“It was a problem for my mother; she tried to make me change my mind,” he recounted. Even so, he decided to move forward.

After completing his theology studies at the Lantershofen seminary for adult vocations in 2023, he was assigned first as a deacon and later as a chaplain to St. Edith Stein Parish in Berlin’s Neukölln district, an area with a significant Muslim population.

Mrkaljevic said he believes that, given his background, he can become a bridge-builder between Christians and Muslims.

He also noted that, over time, his decision was met with respect by his loved ones. “My conversion and my decision to become a priest were acknowledged by my Muslim family in Bosnia as well as by my siblings,” he said. His mother even attended his priestly ordination.

Looking ahead to his new ministry, Mrkaljevic expressed his desire to provide spiritual accompaniment to people and “to proclaim the good news.”

“It is never in vain, however few we may be. I myself have experienced how much it has enriched me, and that is what I want to share with others,” he said.

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 prelate himself, meanwhile, told EWTN News that there was “nothing nefarious” in such a proposal, which he said was meant to protect Church assets from additional lawsuits while the diocese was already paying out settlements to abuse victims.

Celeste Heinonen claims in a July 9 court statement that she interviewed for the position of chief financial officer at the Diocese of Burlington in 2020. During that interview she said she spoke to then-Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne, who she said brought up the topic of sex abuse lawsuits against the diocese.

The state had recently eliminated the statute of limitations of childhood sex abuse lawsuits, and Heinonen claimed in her deposition that Coyne stressed the “financial strain” under which the lawsuits could place the diocese.

The deposition alleges that Coyne claimed the diocese was seeking to “transfer its assets” in order to shield them from the abuse lawsuits. Heinonen said Coyne asked her if she “would be willing to help the diocese prepare the necessary paperwork to ensure that if the diocese lost its lawsuits, there would not be assets left to satisfy the potential judgments.”

In the deposition Heinonen said she was “shocked and felt sick to my stomach” over the request and that she was “noncommittal in my response.”

Heinonen said she later met with then-Chancellor Monsignor John McDermott, who she claims “asked how I felt about Bishop Coyne’s proposal.”

The priest “explained to me that it was important for the diocese to protect its current parishioners and not let the past ‘sins of its fathers’ harm the current parishioners or the diocese.”

Heinonen said she was informed later that same day that she had not received the job, with the position reportedly being offered to another candidate from Florida. Heinonen said in the deposition that she was “extremely upset and confused” by the questions regarding diocesan assets.

Coyne began serving as archbishop of Hartford, Connecticut, starting in 2024; that same year, McDermott was installed as bishop of Burlington.

‘We always tried to make amends’

Speaking to EWTN News from Hartford, Coyne said he did not remember the exact specifics of the conversations he held with the candidates during the interview process. He confirmed that the CFO position was ultimately offered to a candidate from Florida whose professional background in Catholic nonprofit work made him more suitable for the role.

The archbishop said there was “nothing nefarious” in his proposal that Church financial assets be moved around in advance of potential litigation.

“We weren’t violating any court orders,” he said. “The funds we had were free to be moved in any direction.”

He referred to such proposals as “good business.”

“It’s what anyone would do,” he said. “At that point we weren’t being sued. But the state was rattling the saber about the statute of limitations. I wanted to protect the assets of the Church that the faithful had given in good faith.”

“There was nothing untoward, illegal, or nefarious about saying, ‘Let’s protect our assets just in case we get sued again,’” he told EWTN News.

“You can spin anything you want and make it look bad,” he said. “But any person in charge of an organization would certainly do what they can to protect the assets of the organization for the good of the organization.”

Coyne said that during his time as bishop the Burlington Diocese was actively settling lawsuits with abuse victims even as the statute of limitations debate was occurring in the Vermont Legislature.

“These people were obviously victims,” he told EWTN News. “And we would settle with them at a comparable amount to global settlements we’d had in the past. We settled with some people for $350,000 to $400,000.”

“We always tried to make amends,” the archbishop said.

It was not immediately clear why Heinonen had filed the deposition in bankruptcy court, though court records suggest the statement was part of a series of motions by the plaintiffs of the abuse lawsuits playing out as part of diocesan bankruptcy proceedings. Heinonen could not be reached for comment regarding the allegations.

The Diocese of Burlington filed for bankruptcy in October 2024 while facing 31 lawsuits from abuse victims. McDermott said at the time that under the Chapter 11 filing, “funds will be allocated among all those who have claims against the diocese while hopefully allowing the diocese to maintain its essential mission and ministries.”

Coyne himself, meanwhile, oversaw a $35 million abuse settlement in the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut, in February 2025. Coyne had been serving as the apostolic administrator of that diocese ahead of the installation of now-Bishop Richard Reidy.

Hosted by the Alliance to End Human Trafficking and the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, the July 14 congressional briefing focused on the need to reauthorize federal anti‑trafficking programs through fiscal 2029 and pass legislation to impose requirements on social media platforms to reduce harms to minors.

Sponsor Rep. Chris Smith, R‑New Jersey, titled his human trafficking bill the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 1144), and the measure is next up for House consideration. A separate bill, named the Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1748) by sponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R‑Tennessee, has not yet seen action in the Senate Commerce Committee.

Smith’s legislation would reauthorize federal anti-trafficking programs while expanding prevention initiatives, survivor services, and law enforcement training.

Catholic advocates emphasize prevention

Advocates at the briefing argued that prevention must become the centerpiece of the nationʼs anti-trafficking strategy.

Sister Ann Scholz, SSND, a founding member of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, said the time has come for Congress to move beyond simply raising awareness about trafficking.

“We believe this Congress has the opportunity to enact two pieces of bipartisan legislation that will move us closer to ending the scourge of human trafficking,” Scholz said, describing both bills as measures that emphasize prevention and protect vulnerable populations.

Fran Eskin-Royer, executive director for National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, said Congress has allowed the legislation to languish despite bipartisan backing. She said reauthorization would strengthen prevention efforts while updating federal responses to evolving forms of exploitation.

“Both bills are not new. Theyʼve been around, and they are not moving … We need everyone to contact their members of Congress and urge that this bill pass,” Eskin-Royer told “EWTN News Nightly” host Veronica Dudo.

The briefing featured survivor leaders, legal experts, clinicians, and service providers who argued that preventing trafficking requires greater investment in education, technology safeguards, and long-term support for survivors.

Gina Cavallo, president of the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking and a survivor of trafficking, told attendees that legislation such as H.R. 1144 could have dramatically changed the course of her life.

“Had these bills been put in place, this would not have happened to me,” she said. “My life could have been dramatically different.”

Cavallo recounted being failed by multiple institutions during her childhood, including family, schools, and law enforcement, leaving her vulnerable to exploitation. Rather than being recognized as a victim, she said, she was criminalized.

“I had my childhood taken, my dignity, my dreams — everything,” she said, urging lawmakers to continue treating human trafficking as a bipartisan issue centered on protecting human dignity.

Katie Boller Gosewisch, executive director of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, told “EWTN News Nightly” that the crime remains vastly underreported worldwide.

“According to the Global Slavery Index, on any given day, about 50 million people are caught in human trafficking,” she said, noting that the figure includes forced marriage, organ trafficking, sex trafficking, and forced labor.

Smith calls for House vote

Smith told attendees the bill’s consideration has been delayed despite broad bipartisan support.

“It was supposed to be up yesterday,” Smith said, explaining that House leadership had postponed floor consideration. “Delay is denial. We need to get this bill on the floor.”

Smith, who authored the original Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, said the legislation has led to thousands of prosecutions over the past two decades but argued that reauthorization is needed to strengthen prevention efforts, expand survivor services, and address emerging forms of exploitation.

Catholic leaders warn delay leaves greater risk

Advocates called on Congress to approve the legislation without further delay, arguing that every day of inaction leaves vulnerable people at greater risk.

“The reauthorization of this essential law has been delayed for too long,” the Alliance to End Human Trafficking said in a statement. “Every day it’s delayed is another day we fall short of our commitment to those affected by one of the most egregious violations of human dignity.”

A canon of the basilica and episcopal vicar for the clergy since August 2024, he was named exorcist for the Marian shrine in February of this year.

In a July 12 statement, Aguiar announced the appointment “after hearing the proposals presented by the Venerable Chapter of Guadalupe and the Permanent Council of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference.”

The cardinal commissioned the rector to lead a “new phase of institutional and pastoral renewal, with the collaboration of all the priests, deacons, consecrated persons, and lay faithful who serve at this beloved shrine.”

The cardinal also expressed his “gratitude for the service rendered” by the outgoing rector, Monsignor Efraín Hernández Díaz, whose resignation he accepted.

According to the Archdiocese of Mexico, the shrine receives around 35 million pilgrims each year. During the Guadalupe celebrations in December 2025 alone, some 13 million visitors came to the shrine, according to figures from the Mexico City Government Secretariat.

Who is the new rector of the basilica?

Born in Mexico City on Aug. 10, 1968, Villalobos was ordained a priest on July 12, 1998, at the basilica itself by the then-prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Colombian Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos.

From 1997 to 2008, he served as an assistant to the then-archbishop emeritus of Mexico, Cardinal Ernesto Corripio Ahumada.

Throughout his ministry, he has held various pastoral assignments in parishes in the Mexico City boroughs of Xochimilco, Tlalpan, Coyoacán, and Álvaro Obregón.

In August 2024, he was appointed a canon of the basilica and episcopal vicar for the clergy of the Archdiocese of Mexico.

Since February 2026, he has served as an exorcist at the basilica.

The start of ‘a phase to update and improve’

The basilica, Aguiar noted in his statement, “holds a privileged place in the life of our local Church and in the hearts of millions of pilgrims”; therefore, “any decision regarding this sacred site must always have as its aim to strengthen its evangelizing mission and the service it offers to the people of God.”

“We have begun a phase of updating and improving administrative, operational, and pastoral processes at the Basilica of Guadalupe,” the cardinal added, taking “as a reference the updates promoted by Pope Francis for the papal basilicas of St. Mary Major in Rome and St. Peter in the Vatican.”

In the case of the Marian shrine, which houses the tilma bearing the image of the Virgin Mary on which it miraculously appeared nearly 500 years ago, the renewal now underway “will help distinguish the pastoral mission from administrative operations,” thereby consolidating an institution that is “more efficient and organized.”

Aguiar also stated that, since last year, “various administrative and operational reviews” have been conducted at the basilica and that the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, the apostolic nunciature, and the Holy See were all informed of them.

“These reviews, routine in the life of any institution, have made it possible to identify opportunities to strengthen evangelization efforts, internal organization, and the services provided daily to millions of pilgrims,” continued the primatial archbishop of Mexico.

“Let us allow the words that have sustained our people’s hope for nearly five centuries to resonate once more in our hearts: ‘Am I not here, I who am your mother?’” he encouraged.

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.

Caronan will serve for a 12-year term, overseeing both the pastoral care and the governance of the community.

“I was certainly surprised that my confreres chose me to fill this important fatherly role,” Caronan said. “I know that Godʼs grace will sustain me every step of the way, and I pray that he will help me to be the kind of father that our community desires me to be. Already in the first few weeks since my election, I can see just how much his grace is helping me to undertake this task.”

Born Edgar Caronan in Manila, Philippines, in 1964, he immigrated to the United States with his family in 1975 and arrived at St. Michael’s Abbey a decade later, making his solemn profession in 1992. He was ordained a priest in 1994.

Caronan is a canon lawyer and spent much of his career working in the marriage tribunals of the Diocese of Orange, in which the abbey is located, and the neighboring Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He has served as the judicial vicar of both the Diocese of Orange and the Maronite Tribunal of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon. He has also been the regular celebrant of the Tridentine Mass at St. John the Baptist Parish in Costa Mesa, which is staffed by the Norbertine Fathers.

900 years

The Norbertine order was founded 900 years ago by St. Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, Germany, and vice chancellor for the Holy Roman Empire. The community’s charism, according to St. Michael Abbey’s first abbot, Ladislas Parker (1915–2010) in a Diocese of Orange newspaper from 1995 on the occasion of his retirement, is “to combine the contemplative life of a monk with the active life of a parish priest, and to tie this work to community in an abbey.”

The Norbertines are easily recognized by their traditional white cassock — which, according to pious belief, was given to St. Norbert by the Blessed Virgin Mary as a sign of her protection and favor — and their motto, “Prepared for every good work.” The essence or “heartbeat” of the order is fervent devotion to the Eucharist, which is central to Norbertine spirituality, Parker said.

The original members of the community were seven Norbertine priests who fled an oppressive communist government in Hungary in 1950. They made their way to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1957 (the Diocese of Orange would be established in 1976), when Cardinal James McIntyre invited them to teach at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.

By 1960, Parker and his fellow Norbertines had collectively earned $46,000 and purchased a remote strip of cattle-grazing land at the base of the Saddleback Mountains. They established St. Michael’s Priory, named for the abbey in Csorna, Hungary, and in 1984, Pope John Paul II approved the conferral of abbey status on St. Michael’s.

In contrast to many religious communities, St. Michael’s Abbey has enjoyed an abundance of vocations, with 68 priests and 32 men currently in formation. The growth necessitated the moving of the community from the former cow pasture to a 320-acre site nine miles away in 2021 with ample space for the community, its apostolates, and future growth.

Today, the community staffs two parishes, St. John’s and Sts. Peter and Paul in Wilmington, California; administers a high school in San Pedro, California; operates a local summer camp; staffs the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin; and staffs Corpus Christi Priory in Springfield, Illinois. Additionally, each Sunday, individual Norbertines assist at more than 30 parishes throughout Southern California.

The order also operates a digital apostolate, The Abbot’s Circle, which offers online resources to help viewers grow in their faith as well as provide news about the community.

The election for the new abbot began with a vote on the length of term the abbot would serve; Hayes was elected for life with a mandatory retirement age of 75. This time, the community opted for a 12-year term. Caronan’s election followed via secret ballot; he is the first Filipino-born abbot in the history of the community.

“God has blessed our community so wonderfully in the past several decades,” Caronan said. “I hope during my tenure as abbot to build upon this solid foundation in such a way that our Norbertine canonical life will flourish spiritually, that our apostolic work in the wider Church will grow, and that through the life and ministry of St. Michaelʼs Abbey, Christ will draw many souls closer to himself.”

‘Patris Corde’

Caronan selected as his abbatial motto “Patris corde” (“With a father’s heart”), reflecting the “fatherly governance and fatherly care” with which he hopes to lead the community, Father Ambrose Criste, director of The Abbot’s Circle, shared with EWTN News. “It’s representative of the type of man he is.”

On Sept. 28, Caronan will receive an abbatial blessing at the abbey during a public ceremony expected to draw many prominent churchmen as well as civic officials.

Like bishops, abbots are prelates with authority over their communities, but unlike bishops they are “blessed” rather than “ordained”; hence they cannot ordain priests.

At the ceremony, Caronan will receive the traditional pontifical insignia of an abbot, including a ring, pectoral cross, miter, and crozier.

St. Michael’s Abbey welcomes members of the public to join them daily for prayer as well as for special events, including the abbatial blessing and their celebration of the feast of St. Michael every Sept. 29.

On July 8, a Mass was celebrated at Holy Cross Church, marking the communityʼs return to their church and concluding a lengthy restoration process.

The earthquakes of Sept. 7 and 19, 2017, resulted in 468 deaths and caused damage to thousands of buildings.

In Mexico City alone, around 160 Catholic churches suffered structural damage of varying severity such as these two churches located just a short distance apart.

5 centuries of history

Holy True Cross Church is considered one of the oldest churches in the country.

According to tradition, the explorer and conquistador Hernán Cortés ordered the construction of a small chapel to commemorate the landing of the Spanish expedition at the port of what is now known as the state of Veracruz. Over time, that chapel gave rise to the parish as it is known today.

The church also houses important works of sacred art, such as the Christ of the Seven Veils, which is said to have been a gift from Pope Paul III to King Carlos V of Spain. Additionally, a relic of the true cross is preserved there, considered by Christian tradition to be a fragment of the cross on which Jesus Christ died.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Father Juan Carlos Guerrero Ugalde, the pastor of Holy True Cross and St. John of God, stated that restoring the churches was a priority of “not only ecclesiastical but also civic interest.”

“This church [Holy True Cross] was the third parish established in the city and, therefore, holds a tradition of faith dating back to the 16th century,” he explained.

9 years to return

Guerrero described the restoration process as “meticulous and slow” due to the complexity of the damage.

Among other measures, the bell towers, which were at risk of collapse, were reinforced, cracks were repaired, the hydraulic piles supporting both structures were serviced, the roofs were waterproofed, and work was carried out to correct the effects of the ground settling.

The work was overseen by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, as both buildings are part of the nationʼs historical heritage.

In Mexico, religious buildings constructed prior to the 1992 constitutional reforms are state property, although they remain places of worship and are used by religious associations.

The restoration of the Holy True Cross church faced an additional challenge: a fire in August 2020 caused by individuals living on the street. Reports indicate that a campfire spiraled out of control, damaging the choir loft, the dome, and sacred art.

Today, those walking through the historic central part of Mexico City can once again enter the church. Marcela Eduardo, who works in the area and took a moment of free time to stop in and pray, did just that.

“It brought me great joy to see it open and to see that repairs are underway,” she noted in an interview with ACI Prensa. She said that when she saw the parish church open, her first thought was to go in to see Christ and “greet him, make the sign of the cross, and ask him for something: that he give me more energy.”

Much more than a church

These churches are surrounded by some of Mexico’s most important cultural landmarks, such as the Franz Mayer Museum, the Palace of Fine Arts, and the Alameda Central, a large city park.

Although Holy True Cross and St. John of God churches might go unnoticed by some tourists amid so many other buildings, Guerrero noted that their value has been “significant for both the faith and the city.”

He explained that, following the 1985 earthquake, the area welcomed numerous families from various places, necessitating the construction of a new community identity. Pastoral work at the time “consisted of gradually integrating the way of life of longtime residents and that of those who were newly arriving.”

Over the years, he added, violence, drug trafficking, and social breakdown affected life in the neighborhood, making the Church’s presence even more necessary.

For Betsabé Jara, who visited the church after touring the Franz Mayer Museum, the reopening represents an opportunity to regain a place for encountering God.

“It brings peace of mind that the church is open, that one can enter and pray. Especially for people who couldnʼt go elsewhere because there wasnʼt a church nearby,” she said in an interview with ACI Prensa.

Building the community

The priest noted that reactivating community life will be the next challenge. He explained that a “call has already gone out to neighborhood residents to come for formation as pastoral workers.”

He also noted that they aim to develop social programs such as job training for individuals who did not complete their formal education as well as cultural initiatives in collaboration with nearby museums.

“We want the spaces we have in both churches to be truly utilized and filled with formation programs,” Guerrero said.

As the community gradually restores life to these churches, Masses are currently held regularly on Sundays, whereas weekday Masses take place only upon the request of the faithful.

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.

“More than 110,000 metric tons of U.S.-grown agricultural commodities” will be delivered to the two East African countries under an agreement in principle between CRS and the USDA, according to a July 14 USDA announcement.

“American farmers feed, fuel, and clothe the world, and under President Trump’s leadership, we’re utilizing that bounty to serve those in need while ensuring that the benefits of U.S. food aid flow back to America’s hardworking farmers, ranchers, and producers that make this assistance possible,” Michelle Bekkering, USDA’s deputy undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, said in a statement. “We’re also enforcing strict accountability so that aid goes to those who actually need it, safeguarding hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and delivering aid that builds self-reliance instead of long-term dependence.” 

“Authorized under Title II of the Food for Peace Act,” the announcement said, “the agreement leverages Catholic Relief Services’ operational footprints in East Africa, including the Sudan Emergency Project and the Joint Emergency Operation in Ethiopia.”

CRS has faced a sharp drop in federal support after the Trump administration collapsed global‑health and humanitarian functions of the U.S. Agency for International Development into the State Department in 2025. USAID earlier supplied roughly half of the agency’s $1.5 billion budget.

CRS President and CEO Sean Callahan said in a July 14 press release that the agreement came “at a critical moment for struggling families in Sudan and Ethiopia.”

“For decades, our partnership with USDA has connected the generosity and productivity of American farmers with some of the world’s most vulnerable communities,” Callahan said. “We are committed to ensuring these resources are managed responsibly and translated into meaningful support for families working to overcome crisis.”

“We are hopeful fellow trusted organizations carrying out lifesaving work across the world are supported in their efforts to meet these critical needs for extremely vulnerable families and communities,” he said.

Callahan told EWTN News that CRS tracks the delivery of food commodities “to the last mile and employs robust monitoring, verification, and financial oversight to help ensure assistance reaches the people it is intended to serve.”

“We continually assess security conditions, adjust operations as needed, and work closely with local partners to help ensure assistance reaches the people it is intended to serve,” he said.

Maura O’Brien, a former USAID official who led its Sudan and South Sudan office and serves as coordinator for the Michael B. Kim Institute for Ethical Inquiry and Leadership at Haverford College, said CRS has been a trusted partner but USAID’s absence will be felt.

“Not having any U.S. presence in the field makes any assistance more vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse — especially in a conflict environment. Oversight and coordination are essential to effectively delivering desperately needed relief to communities in East Africa," O’Brien said.

USDA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Regulators will consider a rule change that would create a category of limited excepted benefits that covers IVF and other fertility-related treatments. It does not impose mandates but rather creates more opportunities for employers to offer the coverage.

In a 17-page letter submitted by the USCCB’s legal counsel, the bishops expressed support for expanding fertility-related coverage that respects unborn embryonic human life and the natural procreation process — but strongly discouraged any inclusion of IVF.

“IVF, especially as practiced in the U.S., kills or freezes at least as many preborn children as abortion — at a magnitude of hundreds of thousands or perhaps over a million per year,” the bishops’ comment noted.

When a person receives an IVF treatment, “multiple fertilized eggs or zygotes — human beings — are produced” for every cycle, at which stage most die, according to the bishops’ comment. For embryos that survive, some are implanted but “others [are] destroyed or put in inhumane cryopreservation.”

The process for selecting which embryos are implanted and which ones are destroyed includes genetic screening, which the bishops’ comment called a “dystopian form of modern eugenics that kills those children deemed genetically inferior.” At times, when more than one embryo is implanted but the parents only want one child, the others are aborted through a process called “selective reduction,” they explained.

“Promoting IVF,” the statement said, “... stands in glaring contrast to this administration’s other pro-life statements and actions.”

The bishops said indefinitely freezing surviving embryos “is also a profound and terrible violation of their dignity and rights,” adding: “Hundreds of thousands of our smallest brothers and sisters in the U.S. are experiencing this fate right now.”

Additionally, the bishops warned IVF “commodifies our fellow human beings and treats them like products and property.” They warned the technology violates “the exclusivity of the marriage bond in its most unique context and unnaturally [separates] the procreative aspect from the unitive aspect (that is, regarding the unity of the spouses) of the marital act.”

The comment also cited practical concerns for the Labor Department, warning the inclusion of IVF could put the entire rule at risk because it may exceed the department’s statutory authority and that it is arbitrary and capricious, which could be a problem in court.

If IVF is ultimately included, the bishops requested guardrails. This includes rules that prevent the destruction of embryos, prohibit genetic screening, and clearly communicate alternatives, such as restorative reproductive medicine (RRM).

Regardless of whether IVF is included, the bishops encouraged flexibility to ensure coverage of RRM is clearly included so employers “can make meaningful use of that flexibility by affording them the opportunity to know of the full range of possible fertility care that can identify and heal a patient’s underlying conditions while safeguarding human life and dignity.”

RRM healthcare focuses on addressing the underlying conditions that cause infertility and works toward helping the couple achieve conception naturally through the marital act.

More Catholics chime in

The bishops’ concerns were echoed by other Catholic organizations, including the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), and the National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA (NACN-USA).

“In the IVF process more babies die than are ever born,” the CMA comment said. “The babies that are eventually terminated, after lengthy periods of cold storage, do not voluntarily sacrifice their freedom, their potential, or their lives.”

The statement promoted RRM, which CMA called “more holistic, gentler, more respectful of human life, more compassionate, more empathetic, and more generous.” It stated RRM is “devoid of violence or neglect or disdain toward viable beings denied access to being ‘in utero.’”

CMA also joined NCBC and NACN-USA in a joint comment, which called the initiative to expand infertility care “a valuable opportunity to advance real solutions to infertility that respects the God-given dignity of parents and of children, born and preborn.”

Yet they jointly encouraged the department “to refocus the rule on therapeutic, restorative treatments and to abandon its inclusion of IVF, which is profoundly flawed both legally, therapeutically, and morally, and does nothing to address the underlying pathology.”

“If IVF is included in the final rule, regulations must limit the number of embryos being engendered by the number of embryos that can safely be implanted and gestated unto birth,” the statement added.

“Engendering embryos with the intent to provide ‘spares’ for eugenic or research purposes is an [affront] to humanity and should be prohibited; and current practices of selective reduction, especially after there has been a deliberate engendering of more embryos than can safely be gestated is an egregious [affront] to human life and should be prohibited,” it stated.

“A Catholic engaged in public life cannot ignore” the Church’s constant teaching against euthanasia, Aillet told France Catholique in a July 7 interview. He highlighted that the Christian faith engages a person’s whole existence and that every lawmaker must examine in conscience whether the acts they take align with the faith they profess.

A public vote for a law gravely contrary to the Church’s moral teaching, he said, creates “a real problem of ecclesial coherence,” and Catholic lawmakers who support the bill need to weigh the consequences of that choice. If they are aware of the inconsistency, he said, “they will no longer be able to receive Communion,” adding that the Church has the authority to remind them of this, just as some bishops have already done in the United States.

Aillet said he wanted to invite lawmakers to a sincere examination of conscience and raised the question of whether society has the right to make the deliberate ending of a human life its answer to suffering.

The National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, is scheduled to hold the decisive vote on the bill Wednesday, July 15. Barring a last-minute reversal, the measure is expected to pass by a wide margin, as it has in each of its three previous readings in the lower chamber, most recently by 295 votes to 232 on June 30.

The bill has been rejected three times by the Senate, most recently on July 7 by a narrow vote of 169 to 164, with 11 abstentions.

Under Article 45 of the French Constitution, the government can give the Assembly the final word once the two chambers remain deadlocked after repeated readings, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is expected to invoke that procedure Wednesday.

The bill, titled a “right to aid in dying,” legalizes both euthanasia, administered by a doctor or nurse, and assisted suicide, in which the patient self-administers a lethal substance. Access is restricted to adults who are stable residents of France, suffer from a serious and incurable condition in an advanced or terminal phase, experience suffering that cannot be relieved by treatment, and remain able to express their will freely and with full understanding throughout the process.

Aillet also grounded his warning in the Vatican’s 2020 letter Samaritanus Bonus, which he said had reaffirmed that euthanasia is intrinsically evil regardless of circumstance. He distinguished true compassion from what St. John Paul II called a “false mercy,” arguing that a genuinely fraternal society answers suffering with palliative care and accompaniment rather than the elimination of the person who suffers.

The bishop also called for a fully guaranteed conscience clause for health workers and defended the right of Catholic-run care institutions to refuse to participate, warning that without it, some might be forced to close or relocate abroad.

The French bishops’ conference has opposed the bill since its earliest stages, issuing formal statements opposing the bill after the Assembly’s first vote in May 2025, again after the second reading in February, and a third time on Ascension Day in May, when it warned of “moral imprudence” and “democratic disrespect” given the absence of political and social consensus.

On the eve of the June 30 vote, the Church released a video appeal to lawmakers, with Archbishop Vincent Jordy of Tours saying the testimony of caregivers, jurists, and associations involved in end-of-life care had been “painfully ignored” during the debates.

The Christian social network Hozana has separately called on believers to join a prayer chain addressed to French lawmakers ahead of Wednesdayʼs vote, an appeal that has drawn more than 58,000 participants.

The bill’s critics are not confined to religious circles. The Société française d’accompagnement et de soins palliatifs and other caregiver federations have opposed the text, arguing that palliative care should be made a real, accessible alternative before any shift toward assisted death and that the bill’s clinical framework and oversight remain unclear.

Asked about the pending visit of Pope Leo XIV to France, whose chosen motto for the trip is “So that the world may have life,” Aillet said he hoped the pope would reaffirm the inalienable dignity of every human life regardless of how the vote turns out.

During a meeting with Chaldean Patriarch Paul III Nona, the prime minister said the return of Christians who were forced to leave Iraq has become a national priority for his government.

He said the government is ready to provide the support needed to encourage Christian families to return, including making them eligible for the countryʼs 1 million residential land plot initiative.

Al Zaidi said Iraqʼs strength lies in its ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity and in the unity of its people. He described Christians as “an active and essential component of Iraqi society and a key partner in building the state and shaping Iraqʼs history and future.”

An invitation to invest

The prime minister also encouraged Iraqi Christian business leaders and investors living abroad to return and take part in rebuilding the country by investing in the opportunities available across several sectors, particularly healthcare and education.

He said the government remains committed to strengthening stability and providing the support needed to help their projects succeed, contribute to economic development, and create new jobs.

Nona expressed appreciation for the prime ministerʼs initiatives and his commitment to supporting Iraqʼs Christian community.

He said the governmentʼs position sends an important message encouraging Iraqi Christians in the diaspora to return home, strengthens their confidence in the countryʼs future, and supports the willingness of Christian business leaders and investors to contribute to Iraqʼs reconstruction and development.

The Churchʼs response

Commenting on the initiative, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Nicodemus Matti Sharaf of the Archdiocese of Mosul, Kirkuk, and Kurdistan welcomed the prime ministerʼs call for Christians to return.

He described it as “an official recognition of the Christian communityʼs rightful place in the land of its fathers and ancestors.”

At the same time, he stressed that addressing the reasons Christians left Iraq in the first place is even more important. Without doing so, he said, the invitation is unlikely to achieve its intended results.

Speaking to an Arabic television channel, Sharaf pointed to several challenges that have contributed to Christian emigration and continue to discourage many from returning.

Among them, he said, are ongoing marginalization and the lack of genuine political representation, noting that Christians still do not have a dedicated electoral register that would allow them to elect their own representatives to Parliament.

He also cited widespread corruption, inadequate infrastructure, limited access to quality healthcare and education, and a shortage of employment opportunities.

These conditions, he said, force many Iraqi Christians abroad to compare what they have found overseas with what remains unavailable at home.

Sharaf expressed hope that the governmentʼs campaign against corruption would continue with genuine determination and produce tangible results that restore citizens' confidence.

He described Iraq as “a country floating on a lake of corruption,” adding that this alone is “enough to drive any citizen, Christian or otherwise, to leave.”

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.

An anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad on July 13 sentenced Irfan Yousaf, a crane driver, to 10 years in prison for attacking the town’s Christian neighborhood after allegations of Quran desecration. He was among thousands of Muslims accused of participating in the riots that left 26 churches and more than 80 Christian homes vandalized.

News of the verdict was greeted with applause during a July 13 consultation jointly organized by the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), the country’s main ecumenical body representing Protestant churches, and the nongovernmental Implementation Minority Rights Forum (IMRF).

Samuel Pyara, chairman of IMRF, who has filed petitions in the Supreme Court and regularly meets federal officials to press for speedy trials and compensation for victims, said the conviction was secured through digital forensic evidence.

“It followed forensic analysis of a video recorded by Wahida Mukhtar, a local Christian woman, showing Yousaf demolishing a church and an adjacent house with a crane. Government-certified experts authenticated the footage and testified before the court,” Pyara, the lead petitioner in the Supreme Courtʼs “suo motu” proceedings, told EWTN News.

Pyara said Christian witnesses faced sustained intimidation during the trial.

“One complainant, a brick kiln worker, was suddenly pressured by his employer to repay outstanding loans. A farmer’s ready-to-harvest radish crop was poisoned. Others were denied agricultural land by Muslim landlords, young Christians lost their jobs, and an internet cable provider saw his business collapse,” he said.

Participants at the consultation also gave a standing ovation to Mukhtar, 30, whose cellphone footage became crucial evidence.

Mukhtar said she fractured a bone in her left foot after being struck by a brick thrown by a rioter while filming the attacks with her family. The following month, her contract as an assistant subdistrict sports officer was not renewed, and she was forced to sell the equipment from her gym after Muslim members stopped using the facility.

“Christian witnesses who identified members of the mob, helped secure their arrests, and testified in court were pressured to sign compromise agreements. Fear could not deter us. This conviction is the result of our sacrifice,” she said.

A church official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the verdict as deeply symbolic.

“The crane was the election symbol of the now-banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan TLP, whose supporters were widely accused of leading the violence. Convicting the crane driver carries symbolic significance for many Christians,” he said.

TLP, a hard-line Islamist party, has built much of its support around defending Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and organizing mass protests over alleged blasphemy.

Human rights groups and Christian leaders have repeatedly accused the party’s supporters of fueling hostility toward religious minorities through inflammatory rhetoric, although the party has denied involvement in acts of mob violence.

Despite welcoming the conviction, Christian leaders said it should not obscure the broader failure to secure justice.

In a July 14 statement, the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) said that, since 2009, those accused of carrying out major mob attacks on Christians and Christian settlements have ultimately been acquitted.

The statement was issued jointly by Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan and NCJP chairman; NCJP National Director Father Bernard Emmanuel; and NCJP Executive Director Naeem Yousaf Gill.

Sharon Shamir, a Lahore-based human rights advocate, cautioned against viewing the conviction as full justice.

“Calling this ‘justice served’ is premature. One conviction in a tragedy as massive as Jaranwala barely scratches the surface,” she said.

“Dozens of lives were shattered, homes and churches were destroyed, and an entire community was traumatized. Where are the rest of the perpetrators? Who is being held accountable for the systemic failures that allowed such violence to unfold? Selective accountability risks turning justice into symbolism rather than substance.”

She added that justice “is not a headline or a moment but a process. Until that process is complete, calling it ‘served’ is misleading.”

Following news of Graham’s death, leaders from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, National Right to Life, and other pro-life groups reflected on the South Carolina Republican’s legacy, highlighting his willingness to pursue federal protections for unborn children even when such efforts faced political opposition.

Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named to hold his Senate seat temporarily to fulfill the remainder of his term.

Among those paying tribute was Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, which worked closely with Graham on federal abortion legislation.

“Lindsey Graham was an unwavering pro-life champion and a friend,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “A man of vision and tenacity, he gave wise counsel and advocacy in countless difficult moments fighting for the rights of the unborn child.”

“Sen. Graham never retreated from the fight for the unborn,” Kelsey Pritchard, communications director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told Veronica Dudo in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” “He always would run into battle, even when no one else would.”

Pritchard pointed to Graham’s role in efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, his advocacy on abortion pill regulations, and his repeated calls for national protections for unborn children.

Legacy of federal pro-life advocacy

Following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Graham became one of the leading congressional voices arguing that the federal government still had a responsibility to protect unborn children, introducing legislation to establish nationwide abortion limits.

Pritchard said one of the movement’s top priorities remains ending the policy permitting abortion drugs to be prescribed through telehealth and mailed without an in-person physician visit.

She noted that Graham was instrumental in organizing a letter signed by 51 senators urging the administration to rescind the policy.

“Lindsey Graham was so influential on that front,” Pritchard said. “We’ll be continuing that work in the days ahead.”

In a statement issued following Graham’s death, National Right to Life also honored Graham’s decades of advocacy, calling him “one of the most influential and steadfast champions of unborn children ever to serve in the United States Congress.”

“The pro-life movement has lost one of its greatest champions,” National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said. “Throughout his career, Lindsey Graham never wavered in his conviction that every innocent human life has inherent dignity and deserves the protection of the law.”

Graham’s office noted his role in passing a law enacted in 2004 that recognizes an unborn child as a separate victim in certain federal crimes. It also pointed to his years of introducing legislation to protect pain-capable unborn children from abortion and his advocacy for federal protections following the 2022 Dobbs decision.

South Carolina Citizens for Life Executive Director Holly Gatling called Graham “a great defender” of the right to life, saying “the unborn, their mothers, and the medically vulnerable members of our human family had a great defender in Sen. Graham.”

Carrying forward Graham’s legacy

For Pritchard, Graham’s lasting legacy extends beyond legislation.

“We hope that they remember that he was such a cheerful warrior, someone with a great sense of humor and someone who never backed down,” she told “EWTN News Nightly.” “He said we should never apologize for standing up for the unborn.”

“There will be no replacements for Lindsey Graham, that’s for sure,” she added. “But we hope and pray there will be many people who follow his example and continue the fight for babies and moms.”