In 2023 Helsel’s daughter, Mary Catherine, was stillborn. The experience and grief was ultimately “a huge catalyst to me going back to school,” Helsel told EWTN News.

“I think death has an interesting way of snapping your priorities in line,” she said. “And through the death of our daughter, I understood that tomorrow was not promised. And I had been holding this dream very closely for 17 years, just trusting,” she said.

“Much of my healing process after the stillbirth of our daughter was helped along by solid Catholic counseling,” she said. “So I just felt a whisper at first, and then I felt like, ‘I can turn around and be this for someone else in need.’ And so I did.”

Path back to school

A native of Arizona, Helsel met her now-husband, Doug, in high school. She then attended Northern Arizona University to receive a bachelorʼs degree in psychology with the hopes of becoming a counselor, but motherhood ultimately became her first priority.

“My firstborn … was born during finals week of my bachelorʼs degree,” Helsel said. “I actually had a positive pregnancy test the day before I was scheduled to take the GRE [Graduate Record Examination].”

“I just knew that motherhood was the priority and that Godʼs timing would take care of things. So I stayed at home,” she said.

Helsel decided to put her plans of working as a counselor on the side and focus on her growing family. She and her husband had seven children over the next 17 years, but after the loss of their sixth child she felt called to switch her plans and return to school.

“We just started taking one step in front of the other,” she said. Helsel started by applying to the University of Mary’s master’s program for counseling about six months after her daughter’s passing but was thrown an unexpected “curveball” during the process.

“On the feast of the Annunciation, I got in. But then I also had a positive pregnancy test with my daughter, Isabel, on the very same day.”

“I remember standing in the bathroom with my husband with my phone in one hand with an acceptance letter, and on the counter was a positive pregnancy test with our seventh baby.”

Motherhood provided ‘the skills to be a fantastic student’

Despite navigating grief, welcoming a new baby, and continuing to care for the rest of her family, Helsel not only decided to return to school but also opted for a five-semester accelerated program.

She graduated on April 25 with a 4.0 GPA and her whole family by her side. It was all possible not in spite of her 17 years as a stay-at-home mom but because of the experience.

“I actually think that motherhood, 17 years of motherhood, gave me the skills to be a fantastic student,” she said. “I learned time management. I learned prioritization. I learned how to ask for help. I learned all kinds of things in the trenches of motherhood that gave me the opportunity to really thrive at UMary.”

“I guess the loss of my daughter really showed me that like all things are ‘figure-out-able,’” she said. “When youʼve gone through something like that, it makes you unafraid to do really big things.”

“I knew that I could just cannonball into the deep end and we could do this. And my husband was an amazing support throughout the program. But, Isabel was the curveball of all curveballs,” she said.

“She was born during Christmas break and I just jumped back in in January. I didnʼt take any time off,” she said. "I would be in a rocking chair breastfeeding her, and my laptop is sitting next to me and Iʼm listening to a lecture.”

“I became a pro at using the dictation tool on Microsoft Word” so “I could hold my baby and dictate a paper,” she said. “It was just a really wild time. I learned to be extremely flexible and gentle with myself ... But I just knew God was like, ‘go, go right now.’”

“It was super bumpy at some points,“ she said. ”But I chose the University of Mary because I feel like [University of Mary president] Monsignor [James] Shea and the university really put their money where their mouth is in terms of supporting nontraditional students — especially mothers.”

“All of my professors were extremely accommodating with extensions if I needed one. A few professors gave me early finals because Isabel was born right at the end of that first semester,” she said. “So the University of Mary was really crucial to my success because everyone was behind me.”

Helsel noted that her professors, especially counseling professor Olivia Wedel, and other facility members and students were champions in cheering her “all the way to the finish line.”

Waddell “would always remind me that ‘Iʼm surrounded by support,’” Helsel said. “When youʼre super tired and youʼre on your fourth Crock-Pot meal of the week and you donʼt have anymore bandwidth left, I just thought, ‘I am surrounded by support.’”

“Jesus is real and his promises are too,” Helsel said. “I just remember really having to trust the Lord in a new way and also having to be very open to my dream not looking exactly like I wanted.”

“So yes, I went back to school and I got a masterʼs degree, but it looked absolutely nothing like I thought it was going to, but it was also better, just like he had promised me.”

“Your dreams matter to him,“ she said. ”Trust him, and especially Our Lady, with your dreams. Because he wants both. He wants your motherhood and your dreams.”

Catholic counseling offers ‘the keys to real human flourishing’

Officially a licensed counselor, Helsel is ready to jump in headfirst to help others in need by utilizing the guidance offered by the Catholic Church.

“I believe very deeply that the Catholic Church has the keys to real human flourishing,” she said. “So I knew I wanted to become a mental health professional with those guardrails in place, because I benefited so much from Catholic counseling.”

“I want to turn back around and help the next woman or couple or … anyone in line that needs to hear the good news, coupled with solid mental health formation. Like St. Thomas Aquinas says, ‘faith and reason.’ We need both.”

With her “perinatal mental health training,” Helsel hopes to primarily work in the womenʼs health category “to support other women, pregnant women, postpartum women,” she said. “And obviously I have a love for people who may have lost a child in a particular way.”

Helsel is interested in helping those discerning vocations, as her oldest son plans to apply to the priesthood. She is also hoping to support the vocation of marriage as it is “under a particular attack at this time.”

To accomplish all of this, Helsel has already started her own private practice called Concordia Counseling.

“I chose Concordia because Mary Catherine had a congenital heart condition,” she said. “Concordia means heart to heart or to bring two hearts into harmony. I wanted to honor my baby in heaven and Our Lord with my work. And so I started Concordia Counseling.”

“Iʼm just getting it started. I have a caseload of about 10 clients, but Iʼm hoping to accept more,“ Helsel said. ”I know that the work I want to do most of all involves not just mental health but the teachings of the Catholic Church.”

“I just think the framework needs to be formed properly, and that is the Catholic understanding of the whole person. And from there we can jump off anywhere,” she said.

“How could God create those killers?” she recalled asking through her tears.

As mass killings and ethnic violence tore apart her home country after a coup, Barankitse fled with 25 children, both Hutu and Tutsi, to the safest place she could think of — a Catholic church.

But her faith had been challenged.

“I felt broken,” she told EWTN News. “After witnessing continued massacres and the deaths of my friends and family, I lost my voice and spirit.”

“[I] told God I no longer believed he was love because I could not understand how he could have created such hatred and killers,” she said.

Then, she heard the voice of a little girl — one of the first children she had rescued.

“We’re still in life,” little Chloe said. “We are here.”

“In this moment, I was reminded and saw that God is love,” Barankitse said.

She prayed for the strength “to go and shine in his glory.”

“I knew God had not abandoned me,” she said.

This wasn’t the only moment that shook Barankitse’s faith to her core. She would see more violence and death over the years. But it would become a defining moment for her.

Beginning with the 25 children she saved, Barankitse would go on to rescue and raise tens of thousands of children, eventually formally creating an organization called Maison Shalom.

Maison Shalom didn’t just provide for the children’s practical needs like shelter, education, and healthcare. Barankitse wanted to teach them to love and forgive, across ethnic barriers.

It was the children who came up with the name.

“We took the name ‘Shalom’ because my children heard on the radio that shalom meant peace, and that is our dream,” she explained.

“From the beginning, Maison Shalom was more than a shelter — it was a community where every child could belong, regardless of ethnicity,” she said.

Barankitse had seen firsthand the destruction of hate, and she wanted to break the cycle.

“Hate destroys not only its victims but also those who carry it,” she said.

“It is not entire ethnic groups that hate each other; it is individuals who choose hatred,” she said. “I refused to make that choice.”

“I asked myself, what could I do to raise children who would break this cycle?” Barankitse continued. “My answer was to raise children with compassion, forgiveness, and love.”

“My strategy has always been to love, because love is creative and transformative,” she said. “Through this love, I choose to respond to violence with compassion, protection, and reconciliation.”

“Love made me an inventor, and I sought to build a community infused with compassion.”

“Forgiveness, as taught by the Church, is radical — it asks us to break the cycle of vengeance and hatred, even when it seems justified,” Barankitse said.

“Love is not just a feeling; it is a force that builds futures out of the rubble of war,” she said.

“And I know that I can never give up because the children I help give me the strength and courage to always stand up, their resilience inspiring me every day,” Barankitse said.

Walking through war zones

Barankitse would walk through war zones to save orphans — even those other people thought weren’t worth saving.

“As the brutal violence and killings continued, I fought for the safety of these children,” she said. “More and more children continued to find refuge with me.”

“I walked directly into war zones and picked children out amid piles of dead bodies because these children deserved the opportunity to live, be treated with dignity, and build peace,” she said.

Barankitse fought for those who other people thought weren’t worth saving.

“One day, I came across a mother who had been killed in a grenade attack with her 4-month-old baby strapped to her back,” she recalled. “The baby was severely injured and people told me to leave him, but I knew I could not give up.”

“I chose to protect him and find medical help for him,” Barankitse said.

In spite of his injuries, the 4-month-old baby would live.

“I am proud to say that he survived and has grown up into a successful young man,” Barankitse said.

Baranktise still remembers another harrowing moment when she had to fight to get medical help for a child who was injured with a deep gash in her neck.

She took her to the airport to bring her to a hospital that could treat her — but other passengers “were refusing to let me aboard due to her condition,” she said.

“They were afraid,” Barankitse said. “I said, ‘No, you have no compassion. You will help me.’”

“Eventually, they listened to me and let me on the plane, putting a curtain between myself and the child and the other passengers,” Barankitse said.

The little girl survived. Now she is married with two children of her own.

“Sometimes love means standing strong for those who need help,” Barankitse said. “Nobody can stop love, and it remains my way of remaining strong against violence and hatred to this day.”

Barankitse had another “deep spiritual crisis” in 1996 after another wave of killings in which she witnessed the death of one of her best friends.

“I spent a month in prayer and returned humbled, realizing I am just a small instrument in God’s hands,” she said. “That is why I continue to pray to God to give me enough strength to continue doing his work.”

“Faith does not shield you from suffering; it walks with you through it,” she said.

“My strength comes from my faith and from the children themselves,” Barankitse said.

“Even as a child, I was troubled by violence and dreamed of becoming a teacher to change the world by teaching children compassion and love,” she said. “Throughout my childhood, my mother taught me that God is love, and when we are created, he gives us strength.”

Faith amid violence

Even after being forced out of her home nation in 2015 due to threats of violence, Barankitse has continued her work, relying on her faith to motivate her.

She left Burundi for Rwanda, where she created Oasis of Peace, which served more than 70,000 Burundian refugees.

“My faith taught me that we are created in love and that God gives us enough strength — ‘Do not be afraid, I will be with you until the end of the world,’” Barankitse said. “That is where I found my smile and my joy, even in the darkest moments.”

Barankitse’s work is founded in her Catholic faith.

“Being Christian is not just about going to church and praying; it is about restoring dignity to every human being,” Barankitse said.

“You can give someone food or clothes, but if they have no dignity, they have nothing,” Barankitse said. “By showing my love to the people around me, I seek to give back dignity to all — deciding to see the humanity in everyone, even those who have hurt you most.”

“This is how I build a future where no child has to suffer as my family and friends did,” she said. “Hate will never have the last word. Not as long as we practice love.”

“Catholic teaching tells us that every person is made in the image of God and deserves reverence and love,” she said. “This belief is a foundation for all of my work.”

Oasis of Peace offers counseling for victims of torture and rape, as well as education, vocational training, and micro-financing “so families can rebuild their lives with dignity,” Barankitse said.

Oasis of Peace also provides education for children. The recently launched École Sainte-Anne de Kigali initiative helps in “bringing together children from both underprivileged and more privileged backgrounds in a shared space of learning, growth, and dignity,” according to Barankitse.

“When I see a child orphaned by violence, I see a child of God. When I meet a woman who has survived rape, I see a person of infinite worth,” Barankitse said. “I believe in celebrating differences because this reminds us of how we are all created uniquely. We all deserve to feel love, compassion, and dignity.”

Barankitse continues her work every day, expanding Oasis of Peace, and speaking internationally about her story and the needs of the people she helps.

“Every day is full and purposeful,” she said.

“My hope is to continue sharing my story and the stories of Mason Shalom, inspiring others by showing them the power of love. My days are spent listening, organizing, and dreaming with those I serve.”

Barankitse won the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, which provided her with funding to help more refugee children.

“My dream is to create Shalom Houses everywhere, so every person knows they belong,” she said.

When asked what message she wanted to share, Barankitse said: “Do not give up.”

“The world can show you things that make you want to despair — I have seen them,” she said. “I have been forced to watch friends be murdered, held mutilated children, and fled my country as a refugee. Yet I still believe love is stronger."

To support or learn more about Barankitseʼs work, visit https://maisonshalom.org/.

His decision came after a personal encounter with Christ, when he realized there was no turning back: He was firmly convinced that the Catholic faith was the true one.

The 25-year-old, who did not share his last name, first became interested in the Catholic faith during his school years, while studying authors such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine of Hippo.

For over five years, until beginning his catechumenate in 2025, the young man reflected deeply upon and researched various religious traditions. In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Jonás recalled that it was during the process of researching Islam that "I ended up becoming a Christian.”

Transformed lives

For Jonás, the person of Christ and the sacraments were what transformed his life. “If Christ doesn’t enter into your heart, Christ who is God made man, who gave himself up for us on the cross, then ultimately you are not a Christian, but merely someone who knows a lot about Christianity,” he said. In his case, what impacted him most were Christ’s passion and self-sacrifice on the cross, as well as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

On the same day as Jonás, Lourdes Ángel also received the sacrament of baptism. Like Jonás, she grew up in a Muslim family. However, she explained to ACI Prensa that she always felt it was abundantly clear “that Christ was present in my life; even though no one had ever spoken to me about him, I already felt his presence very deeply.”

“My mother always tried to instill the Muslim religion in me, but I always gravitated toward Christianity. It was as if my heart were already in another place, without having any formation” in the Catholic faith, the 21-year-old recalled.

She shared that God helped her escape a toxic relationship at the age of 19 and that it was then that she met her current boyfriend, who is involved with the Neocatechumenal Way. “I realized that God was calling me, and I wasn’t going to close the door on him or turn my back on him,” she recounted.

What struck her most about the Catholics she knew was seeing “that people were so happy. They follow God and are happy even when things go badly for them, even when they have problems from time to time. It’s as if they see something good in suffering and know that Christ has a better plan for them. I wanted that; I wanted to understand how they could be so happy.”

Breaking the parameters of their world

The journey both of them took to embrace the Catholic faith wasnʼt easy. “Leaving your initial faith,” Jonás explained, “is quite difficult, because ultimately it structures your life and [converting] entails breaking with the established framework of your world.”

What he found most difficult was conveying this decision to his family: “I don’t think they will ever understand it ... they simply cannot wrap their heads around the idea that someone could change something like that. To them, it’s like a kind of identity or culture more than a path that one must seek out and discover.”

Even so, Jonás said that Jesus Christ is the one who helps him keep going, the one who comforts him and gives him the necessary strength to persevere. “Even Jesus himself warns us that the world will not particularly love us ... if they did it to him, they’ll do it to us.”

For Lourdes, the most difficult part was leaving behind her former way of life and attempting to “fit God in without changing anything about myself.” She specifically recalled a lesson taught to her by her catechist: “You cannot bring God into your life without doing anything for him; you have to make room for him, and then you can worry about everything else.”

A new rebirth

Jonás cherishes a fond memory of the Easter Vigil, when he received the sacraments of Christian initiation alongside 47 other adults. “It was a very happy experience. The next day, I felt completed,” he recalled.

He said that, before receiving baptism, “I felt a rather large void in my life, one I tried to fill with various ideologies ... the truth is that I was living in a state of considerable internal disorder within my soul, within my spirit.”

“After accepting Jesus into my heart,” Jonás continued, “I believe I am a much more ordered person in the moral aspect. Now I view others not merely as instruments but truly as creations of God made in God’s image and that makes me feel complete; it’s been like being reborn.”

He also shared that he tries to go to Mass every day. “For me, the Eucharist is like a spiritual treasure, what recharges me with spiritual strength. The body of Christ gives us grace and the capacity to view the world in a supernatural way, not merely through human eyes, but to also see it somewhat like Jesus would,” he said.

Accompaniment and faith in community

On this journey of conversion, he said he is especially grateful for the guidance of his catechist as well as that of the parish priest and his fellow parishioners. He also highlighted the importance of living out one’s faith with the support of others and within a community, for as he pointed out, “in isolation, people succumb; they grow weak.”

Along these same lines, Lourdes emphasized that “forming yourself alone” is not the same as having the assistance of a catechist: “You are much more conscious of what you are receiving and of what you are going to do at Easter,” she emphasized.

Lourdes also recalled her baptism “with great joy.” Ultimately, she noted, “you receive Christ himself, something truly astonishing,” just as the realization “that God loved me despite everything I had done. He was there waiting for me, and I am very happy to have received him.”

Jonás encouraged those going through a similar situation not to give up, pointing out that the process of conversion “does not happen over a single weekend.”

“Don’t give up,“ he said. ”Ultimately, as Jesus said, a Christian is not accepted in his own home, nor in his own family. I would tell them to persevere, to draw strength from the words of Jesus in the Gospel, to come to know him, to continue inquiring and discerning, and to seek out people who share their beliefs and can help 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.

Michael New, assistant professor of social research at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business, told “EWTN News Nightly” on May 8: “The Supreme Court may extend the stay if they need more time to deliberate; they may simply uphold the 5th Circuit Courtʼs decision that bans tele-abortion, and the ban will go into effect; or they may want to do a full hearing [and] conduct oral arguments.”

The Supreme Court on May 4 temporarily blocked a lower court order requiring in‑person dispensing of mifepristone after two manufacturers asked the justices to intervene, prompting Justice Samuel Alito to issue an administrative stay that restores mail‑order access until May 11 at 5 p.m. ET while the court weighs the request.

Although Alito instructed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the state of Louisiana to respond by 5 p.m. ET on May 7, the Justice Department failed to do so.

New described the development as “odd,” saying the failure by the Justice Department, which represents the FDA, to meet the filing deadline could be that “they don’t want to defend the FDA’s position any longer” or that it may signal a policy change.

“Sometimes when people think theyʼre going to lose a case, they change public policy because theyʼd rather change policy than, you know, lose a court case,” New said. “Itʼs really hard to say at this point.”

Ultimately, New said the Supreme Court should “absolutely” reinstate in-person requirements to obtain abortion pills, saying: “Thereʼs some real serious public health issues at play here.”

Judicial Crisis Network President Carrie Severino gave context for the latest developments in a May 7 interview on EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” noting that the FDAʼs ongoing approval of nationwide mail-order abortion effectively circumvents Louisiana law protecting unborn human life.

“The court should decide hopefully by the 11th, because thatʼs when the stay expires,” she said. “If they donʼt make any decision, then the 5th Circuit ruling goes back into effect and the FDA will have to disallow mailing of these pills, at least during the pendency of litigation,” said Severino, who is also a former Supreme Court clerk.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the FDA to carry out a review of the abortion drug in May 2025, which is still ongoing.

Ultimately, Severino said, the Supreme Court will not be ruling on “what the FDA needs to do at the end of the day” but on whether abortion drugs will be allowed to be mailed into Louisiana or not.

“Eventually, you know, then itʼs going to go back and the district court and the 5th Circuit are going to have to reconsider it,” she said. “It could well return to the Supreme Court ultimately, but thatʼs going to be a ways down the litigation.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has spoken out against the dangers of mail-order abortion drugs for women and urged the FDA to restore in-person visits to screen for life-threatening conditions such as ectopic pregnancies as well as abuse and human trafficking.

Lai, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9 over what Chinese officials claim were national security violations. The sentencing followed Lai’s conviction, which ended what Lai’s defenders described as a politically motivated show trial.

In October 2025, Trump spoke with Xi Jinping about Lai. In the letter sent to the White House on May 8, lawmakers urged Trump to advocate for Lai again by asking for his humanitarian release.

Catholic Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, both longtime advocates of Laiʼs, circulated the bipartisan letter that was signed by 105 other members of Congress.

“We know the president wants to do this,” Smith said in a May 8 interview with “EWTN News Nightly." “We want him to know — President Trump — that weʼre solidly behind him about what he might be able to accomplish.”

“And he could use that, frankly, more effectively, with Xi Jinping, and say, ‘Look, donʼt just do it for the executive branch. The legislative branch is asking you, as well, from a humanitarian point of view,’” Smith said.

The president has “an ability to persuade” like “no other president Iʼve ever known,” Smith said. “And I hope he can persuade Xi Jinping to let this great man go.”

The letter notes that Trump’s “direct engagement is critical to securing Mr. Laiʼs immediate release on humanitarian parole” and the case for his freedom “is urgent and undeniable.”

“He is a devout Catholic and successful entrepreneur who has already spent five years in detention, much of it in solitary confinement,” lawmakers wrote.

“His family, his friends, and supporters have indicated that if he is released, he will leave Hong Kong and withdraw from public life,” they wrote. “It is a clear, practical path forward that reunites a family and prevents this case from becoming an irreversible tragedy — and an enduring symbol of repression that will echo far beyond Hong Kong.”

Lai’s ‘deteriorating health’

The group is calling for a humanitarian release due to Lai’s “deteriorating health condition.” They wrote: “His health has declined in custody, and prolonged isolation and inadequate prison conditions only increase the risk of permanent harm.”

“From a humanitarian point of view, weʼre hoping the president will look Xi Jinping in the eyes and say, ‘Let this guy go. Do it now. Itʼs a good gesture. It means a lot to us as Americans,’” Smith said.

“Jimmy Lai spoke truth to power. He did it with grace, eloquence,” Smith said. “His newspaper … was just a beacon of hope and [truth], and for that, heʼs got a life sentence — 20 years. Heʼs 78. Itʼs probably a life sentence, and heʼs very sick.”

“Iʼm very concerned,” Smith said. “Weʼve known for decades that when somebody is a political prisoner, and thatʼs what Jimmy Lai is, or religious prisoner, and you get sick, they let you die. They do not attend to your needs.”

Lai “has a number of very serious ailments,” Smith said. “Type 2 diabetes is just one of them. Heʼs got a lot of other problems, and they all are compounding, cascading. He needs good medical attention, and he needs it now.”

“Otherwise itʼll be a blight on the Chinese Communist Party added to the other blights that theyʼve accumulated over the years. But break that mold of letting people just die in prison through neglect,” Smith said.

“No one can do it better than Trump, and I think he will,” Smith said. “And if it does fail, it wonʼt be on Trumpʼs back. Itʼll be, sadly, that Xi Jinping again has decided to stay with being cruel.”

“The cry of the poor and the marginalized must reach the ears of the international community. We cannot remain silent while the lives of so many hang in the balance,” Medhin said in a report Tuesday, according to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa.

Medhin called for immediate diplomatic engagement with Saudi authorities and urged the promotion of alternatives to capital punishment that uphold human dignity and the possibility of rehabilitation. Medhin’s appeal comes as more than 200 Ethiopian youths detained in Saudi Arabia have been handed mass death sentences over alleged drug-related offenses.

Christian Finnish parliamentarian announces next move in legal battle

Päivi Räsänen, a parliamentarian convicted by the Finnish Supreme Court of hate speech in March, will appeal her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

“The failure of the Finnish Supreme Court to uphold freedom of speech has set a dangerous precedent in my country and across Europe,” Räsänen said in a May 7 press release from her legal team Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, which is representing her free of cost. “I make my appeal in the hope that the European Court of Human Rights will recognize that peacefully expressing one’s beliefs is never a crime and ensure that this basic freedom is protected for all,” she said.

Räsänen’s appeal comes after a nearly seven-year legal battle in which she was unanimously acquitted by two lower courts in Finland before the latest Supreme Court ruling acquitted her of charges relating to a 2019 Bible tweet but convicted her of “making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group,” under a section of a Finnish criminal code titled “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Catholics arrested in India after confronting mob of Hindu protesters

Police arrested four Catholics in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on charges including illegal conversion, rioting, and attempted murder after they confronted a Hindu nationalist mob that stormed a local parish celebrating Mass.

“It is very unfortunate that our people have been accused of serious criminal offenses and arrested for opposing right-wing Hindu activists’ illegal acts,” Father Arvind Amliyar, a parish priest, said following their arrests, according to a UCA report on Monday.

Amliyar said the Hindu nationalist mob entered the building during Communion and started filming with their phones and “alleging religious conversion activity.” He also said the mob accused them of killing a cow for a “community feast.” When parishioners stepped in to stop the mob, one of the activists threatened them with a knife before the parishioners overpowered him and took it away. When the police arrived, four Catholics were arrested and authorities rejected attempts to file complaints against the mob, “saying a case was already registered,” according to the priest. 

Australian Pontifical Mission Societies’ ‘World Mission Rosary’ initiative returns

The Pontifical Mission Societies of Australia is once more calling for participation in its “World Mission Rosary” during the month of May.

The World Mission Rosary, founded by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1951, is a global prayer initiative in which each of the five decades is a different color representing each of the five continents. Prayers will be led online Monday through Friday throughout the whole month.

“By representing each continent with its five decades of colors, the World Mission Rosary is a beautiful reminder of the mission we all live each day on our personal journey,” Catholic Mission said in a May 1 statement to Fides News Agency. “By praying together, we hope this initiative will help us pause and reflect on the missionary commitment that the Church, and each one of us, has carried out and continues to carry out every day for those most in need.”

South Korean Catholic hospital adopts ethics code for AI

The Catholic Medical Center (CMC) of the Catholic University of Korea in Seoul debuted the country’s first Medical Artificial Intelligence Ethics Code.

The code, which offers guidelines centered on human dignity and the common good for the use of artificial intelligence (AI), was announced during its May 7 Ethical AI Transformation Symposium, UCA News reported May 8.

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick of Seoul emphasized during remarks at the symposium on the new code that “medicine lies not merely in the transmission of knowledge but in a human relationship in which one life recognizes and respects another,” according to the report.

Sacred symbolism behind head coverings of Eastern patriarchs

ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, has published a feature tracing the long and symbolic evolution of the head coverings worn by patriarchs and bishops of the Church of the East, especially within the Chaldean tradition.

Drawing on the testimony of Chaldean Archbishop Habib Hormiz, the story follows the development from early silk and colored coverings, known in some sources as the “biron,” to the black “shash” or “shushta,” which became associated with wisdom. The piece connects these traditions to Mesopotamian culture, biblical priestly garments, monastic influence, and later Catholic history, including the consecration of Yohannan Sulaqa in 1553.

Hormiz also explains that union with Rome did not erase the Eastern tradition, though the zucchetto entered Chaldean episcopal use only later, while the modern shushta gradually became a ready-made black cylindrical cap.

Cambodian Catholics celebrate new church, priest, and deacon

A new parish, the Church of St. Joseph the Worker, was consecrated for Catholics in the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh in Cambodia on Saturday.

The celebration of the new parish was presided over by Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh. “In opening these doors today, we experience immense joy: the joy of a completed church, the joy of having a sacred place worthy of praising the Lord,” the bishop said, according to a report from Fides News Agency on Monday. “It is the joy of our people, the people of God in Cambodia, who have been able to build a beautiful church in the city of Phnom Penh to celebrate, praise, and give thanks to the Lord.”

European bishops issue reflection on mental health

Catholic bishops in Europe published a reflection paper titled “Mental Health in Europe — A Call for Care” detailing a Catholic approach to mental health “rooted in human dignity, solidarity, and integral care.”

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) said in a press release on Thursday that the publication of the document comes “at a time when Europe is facing a complex and interconnected set of mental health challenges” and that it hopes to highlight “the need for a holistic approach that places the human person at the center.”

COMECE said the document “aims to provide EU policymakers, healthcare professionals, and civil society actors with ethical reflections and practical orientations capable of supporting mental well-being across Europe.”

During the first session on May 2, nearly 500 people connected in real time. In a statement to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the Digital Ministry noted that there are “more than 1,400 people who signed up to view a recording of the initial session.

The Digital Missionaries School consists of seven monthly sessions running until October, culminating in an in-person national gathering in the Archdiocese of Cali, “where the aim is to consolidate a network of digital missionaries and officially commission them.”

The May 2 session was moderated by Rafael Beltrán, coordinator of Digital Ministry in Colombia and a member of the “The Church Hears You” team, and by Father Martín Sepúlveda Mora, director of the Colombian bishops' conferenceʼs Department of Communications.

Participants included Bishop Juan Carlos Cárdenas Toro, president of the bishops’ Commission for Communications and Technologies, and Bishop Dimas Acuña, episcopal liaison for the Digital Ministry in Colombia.

Also present was Monsignor Lucio Adrián Ruiz, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, who during the launch highlighted the scope and significance of the school, stating that it is a space that manifests “that missionary spirit which the Church has and which lives in our hearts.”

“We are called to widen the tent of our hearts and our gaze, to discover all those who need the Lord, even in those places in life where many seek him without knowing it,” he noted, referring to digital evangelization.

He also reminded the participants that the digital mission consists “not merely of techniques or strategies” but rather “is called to be a presence: an ecclesial presence, a presence that makes visible the fact that we are not alone.”

For this reason, he warned against the risk of reducing evangelization to metrics. “Our mission goes against the current. It’s not measured in followers but in communion, in encounter, and in the capacity to get people to undertake real processes in their lives,” he noted.

Father Álvaro Serrano Bayán, a collaborator with the Dicastery for Communication, was also present via Rome. He noted that “the digital mission is here to stay,” given that more than 70% of the world’s population is connected to the internet.

However, he reminded them that “the mission does not depend on the algorithm but on prayer”; therefore, the digital missionary “proclaims the Gospel in the digital environment with responsibility, creativity, and fidelity.”

For this reason, he encouraged digital missionaries to “keep alive the inner fire, the one that is not kindled by algorithms but by prayer, community, and the Holy Spirit.”

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.

Saphier, a radiologist who specializes in treating breast cancer, earned her medical degree and completed a Mayo Clinic fellowship after giving birth to her son in high school.

Saphier, a practicing Catholic, has shared that she had a deep connection to her Catholic faith while she was pregnant as a teen, even though she faced many challenges because she kept her son, even being asked to stop attending the teen Mass in her area.

“I lost a lot of friends when I made the decision to have the baby,” she recalled in a CBN News interview about her pregnancy.

“I was reading my teen Bible a ton during that time and I was trying to draw strength from my Bible,” Saphier said.

Her son would go on to be present at all of her graduation ceremonies going forward, and as an adult, went to flight school.

The announcement came at the end of April after Trump announced he was withdrawing the nomination of Dr. Casey Means, whom many pro-life activists saw as not solid on pro-life issues.

Live Action President and Founder Lila Rose celebrated Saphier in a post on X after the appointment, calling her “inspiring.”

The National Right to Life Committee called Saphier an “excellent choice,” noting that her story makes the appointment “especially meaningful.”

Spokesperson Raimundo Rojas noted how Saphier “has spoken openly about the fear, uncertainty, judgment, and pressure that surrounded that moment [pregnancy].”

“Many young women in that situation hear one message from the culture: abortion will fix this. Motherhood will ruin your future. Your child stands between you and your dreams,” Rojas said. “Dr. Saphier chose life. She chose her son. She chose courage. She chose what the culture deems the harder road, and that road did not destroy her future. It helped shape it.”

Oklahoma criminalizes distribution of abortion drugs

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law a bill that criminalizes the distribution of abortion drugs in the state.

The law makes it a felony to provide abortion drugs to women knowing they are seeking abortion. Violators may be fined up to $100,000 and/or receive 10 years in prison.

The law does not apply to drugs used to treat ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.

The measure, authored by state Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, and state Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, will go into effect 90 days after lawmakers end the legislative session.

Oklahoma law protects unborn children from abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with an exception if the mother’s life is at risk.

Kentucky judge strikes down state’s definition of unborn children as human beings

A circuit court struck down part of Kentucky’s pro-life law that defined human life as beginning at conception.

The law had defined a human being as “an individual living member of the species homo sapiens throughout the entire embryonic and fetal stages of the unborn child from fertilization to full gestation and childbirth.”

The case is related to the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Because of the judge’s ruling, unborn babies will no longer be considered human beings and IVF will no longer be in a legal gray area in the state.

IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos.

In an interview with Sister Faustina Elena Andrulytė, editor-in-chief of the Lithuanian magazine Kelionė, the Lithuanian archbishop opened a window into his time in Ukraine, defined by missile alerts, exhausted soldiers, grieving mothers and, despite the chaos, an extraordinary surge of faith.

The decision to stay in the midst of war

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, most diplomats had fled the country, yet Kulbokas made the firm decision to stay. He recounted how a friend of his from the British military “came to evacuate people, then stayed to help the nunciature,” saying “that soldier made all the nunciature employees complete military training courses,” which included sealing windows, evacuating quickly within 20 seconds, and storing food so it would not spoil.

When word reached the nunciature that Kyiv would be encircled by Russian forces within 24 hours, Kulbokas recalled that most ambassadors had decided to leave, with only Poland and Turkmenistan choosing to remain. “It was clear the city could soon be fully surrounded,” he said. “But we stayed.”

He described one account of a Ukrainian soldier armed with portable Javelin missiles who had spotted a Russian tank moving through a street near Kyiv. The soldier emerged from cover, fired a missile, and hid again. When a second tank appeared, he fired again. Then a third time.

“Itʼs good that I didnʼt know there were a dozen tanks there,” the soldier later said. The Russian convoy, believing it was facing a larger defensive force after several tanks were destroyed, reportedly halted its advance.

For Kulbokas, the episode illustrated how “even one personʼs contribution can be enormous” in moments of national crisis.

Living under missiles and the sound of war

As the war progressed, residents and nunciature staff became experts at reading air raid alerts.

“If the signal indicates a ballistic missile, you have to be in a shelter within 10 minutes,” Kulbokas explained. “If itʼs drones or cruise missiles, I go back to bed and try to sleep.”

One of the sisters working in the nunciature, he explained, had become something of a missile analyst, reading flight data on her phone to calculate how long the staff had before impact. He recalled one instance when she and the nunciature driver were at a market and an alert sounded. Checking her phone, she announced they had eight or nine minutes, just enough time to finish buying vegetables and return safely. They made it through the nunciature door seconds before explosions were heard near that very market.

The nuncio also shared the story of a seminarian who had taken academic leave to serve in the military. When he returned to his seminary, he could not sleep because it was too quiet. He had grown so accustomed to the sound of explosions that silence had become unbearable. Kulbokas later had him sent for treatment.

Chaplains on the front line

The nuncio spoke with particular tenderness about military chaplains, describing them as filling a void that trained psychologists have largely been unable to occupy. He recounted how a woman running a program to train 25 psychologists to work with wounded soldiers watched 23 walk away after a single session, with most saying “this is not for me.”

After a second session, the remaining two psychologists also left. “Then the woman who organized the training said: ‘Now I have only one hope left, priests and monks.’”

One chaplain the nuncio knows regularly brings his dog to the front. He rarely discusses religion directly. Instead, he prepares young soldiers for the raw reality of combat. “Donʼt be surprised, when you first find yourself in the trenches, you may pee and poop out of fear. This is normal. This happens to everyone.” He distributes rosaries, prays, blesses, listens to confessions, and stays present.

“Soldiers are more open with a chaplain than with a psychologist,” Kulbokas noted. “However, soldiers accept a dog best: There is no need for either words or questions, the puppy comes, snuggles up, and the therapy takes place.”

The shortage of chaplains remains acute, with only 60% to 70% of the need being met. The stakes of that gap are painfully illustrated by the archbishopʼs account of a military doctor describing wounded soldiers who, unable to be evacuated under drone surveillance, decline further medical intervention by saying: “Donʼt stitch it up, it wonʼt help anymore, better give me absolution.”

“When you face eternity,” Kulbokas reflected, “forgiveness is the only thing you really need.”

Faith rising from the ruins

Perhaps the most astonishing dimension of the archbishopʼs testimony is what the war has done to religious belief. In Kherson, where Kulbokas said the civilian population has fallen to one-fifth of its prewar size, the Catholic parish has grown fivefold to sixfold. “In Kherson, there are no unbelievers left,” Kulbokas said.

He also described how, in the Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia, roughly 30 to 50 kilometers (19 to 31 miles) from the front lines, Auxiliary Bishop Jan Sobilo and his team distribute food packages of bread and canned meat to residents. They use these moments to foster hope and talk about Christ.

Kulbokas said the war has also led people in the region to reconsider their faith. He noted that an Orthodox bishop and two Protestant pastors had converted to Catholicism and later became Catholic priests.

Recalling one story, Kulbokas said a Protestant pastor became curious after hearing reports about a Catholic bishop known for praying the rosary and rapidly building a church. “Donʼt go, because youʼll convert and become a Catholic,” a friend reportedly warned him. According to the archbishop, the pastor attended a single homily during Mass and soon decided to enter the Catholic Church.

Sister Paesie was born Claire Joelle Phillipe in Lorraine, France. Raised in a faith-filled Catholic home, she felt called to religious life at a young age.

Inspired by Mother Teresa’s dedication to serving those most in need, Sister Paesie was drawn to the Missionaries of Charity. With a strong desire to spend her life loving Jesus through loving the poor, she made her final vows in 1996.

Sister Paesie chose her name in connection to St. Thérèse of Lisieux and a woman who showed great repentance. In St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s autobiography, “Story of a Soul,” “she refers to a woman who was known as a sinner and who converted and died of love,” Sister Paesie said. The woman, known as Paesie, was detailed in “the lives of the fathers of the desert,” which tells her story of repentance and salvation.

After various missions around the world, Sister Paesieʼs service as a Missionary of Charity took her to Haiti in 1999, where she worked for several years.

“I had been a Missionary of Charity … for about 30 years, but in 2017, I founded a new community under the bishop of Port-au-Prince,” Sister Paesie told EWTN News during a recent visit to the U.S. “My inspiration for that actually came from Mother Teresa, from one of her visions she had before founding the Missionaries of Charity: She saw Jesus on the cross showing her a group of children in the dark. Then Jesus told her, ‘Do you see those children? They do not love me because they do not know me. So go bring my light to them.'”

Sister Paesie continued: “When I was in Haiti … I saw all the children wandering about in the streets. These words of Jesus really came back to me strongly, and I felt the Lord was asking me to do something to protect them from the dangers of the streets, and then to bring his light to them.”

“I spoke about it with the bishop, and he encouraged me,” she said.

Sister Paesie left the Missionaries of Charity to begin the Kizito Family, a religious community named in honor of St. Kizito, a 14-year-old Ugandan martyr known as a protector of children, especially those facing danger, moral trials, and educational challenges.

On June 3, 2018, the Kizito Family received approval from the archbishop of Port-au-Prince as a pious association of the faithful — the first step in establishing a religious community at the diocesan level.

Sister Paesie then established the Kizito Family as a nonprofit organization to begin her ministry. Today, it runs seven houses for orphaned, abandoned, and in need children as well as eight schools and numerous centers to provide education and catechism in Cité Soleil, Haitiʼs biggest and most notorious slum.

Combating the ‘chaos’ in Haiti

Sister Paesieʼs mission has become even more dire as the state of the nation “has been … sinking deeper and deeper into chaos on the political level,” she said.

Haiti is the most impoverished nation in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Children suffer from cholera without clean water to drink, and nearly 2 million people face emergency levels of hunger. Conflict and natural disasters have displaced approximately 1.4 million people — over half of them are children.

Many children are used to perpetual gang violence; they are trafficked and are victims of daily assaults. Grave violations against children surged 490% between 2023 and 2024, according to a World Vision report.

“The gangs are just becoming stronger and stronger as time goes by,“ Sister Paesie said. ”The gang violence before was limited to the slum areas. But then they began attacking and taking over other areas of the country [and] of the city … which had been peaceful places before.”

The gangs “burn houses, they kill people, they rape women. And people, they just run away and then they donʼt come back because the gang members settle there. They just steal everything from the houses, from the shops. And then after a while, they go attack another place," Sister Paesie said.

“On Easter Sunday, there was a little Protestant church in the countryside which was attacked and everyone was killed in that church. It was 80 people — women, children. And then they burnt it.”

While Sister Paesie was traveling in the U.S. in April, the area where her organizationʼs homes and schools are located fell under attack.

“My staff members … called me and we had to remove all the children from there because they were scared. They went over to another place. So this is going on, all the time,” she said. “I spoke to some of my teachers, and they told me for a week they had been locked inside the house because the gang members just told people, ‘Donʼt come out.’”

“They are ruling, they are deciding everything,” she said. “So this is the dark side of it. But there are other sides also.”

Offering children ‘a safe place’

Despite the increasing violence, Sister Paesie, other sisters, and staff members remain committed to their mission.

In the Kizito Family schools, there are 3,000 children, 1,700 of whom attend school daily, and 1,000 are in the Sunday schools and catechism centers. The schools offer much more than education but are primarily for safety and to ensure the children receive meals.

“We have our teachers [who] are local staff members,” she said. “They are young people who live there — right there in the slum area.”

“This is what makes it possible for the schools to operate even when there is violence because they are ... not far from the schools. We have 210 staff members altogether — teachers, cooks, drivers, all kinds of people, all Haitians.”

The Kizito Family also prioritizes guiding the children to the faith by providing catechism to 800 children and ensuring they are able to receive the sacraments. They often spend time offering prayer intentions and visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

“The country was largely Catholic, because it had been a French colony. But then, like 40 years back, the evangelicals began coming down a lot from the United States and converting many people. So now itʼs maybe half and half," Sister Paesie said.

She said itʼs very important to instill the Catholic faith in the children to combat the practice of voodoo, which is common in the nation. “There are people who are Christians and donʼt practice voodoo at all, but many people are kind of one leg in both sides.”

Full-time care

The Kizoto Family staff cares for another 200 children who live with them in the homes full time. They “are kids who were completely on the streets, cut off from their families, or orphans,” Sister Paesie said.

“The adoption process has been nearly stopped completely … because of the violence and because [of] the high level of corruption,“ she said. ”So most countries have just decided to stop.”

“The children who are with us, they are mostly bigger children because they had been on the streets and then they came to us,” she said. But “now, in the last few months, we did receive little ones.”

“We have a group of them, 2 to 6 years old. Most of their parents have been killed in these gang attacks, or some [of] their moms died in childbirth because … the women are not eating properly.”

“So those little ones actually could be adopted, but the situation of the country now is such chaos that you cannot really think of adoption right now.”

Despite adoption being currently closed, the children still receive love and care each day. With the Kizito Family, children in Cité Soleil are able to play, laugh, and worship with a community, Sister Paesie said. Even amid the mayhem, they sense God’s presence, which offers “joy.” What they really need, Sister Paesie said, are prayers.

“We see all these Catholic communities that are separated from each other, and so the idea behind the happy hour is to bring as many of them as we can in one room and to build that community,” said Fady Antoon, the founder and organizer of the event, citing the Acts of the Apostles as his main inspiration for the event.

“It’s like in the Book of Acts, when you read the disciples not only broke bread together, but also they prayed together and cared for the people in their community,” he said, underscoring the event’s charitable aspect.

Attendees are invited to make an optional donation, which Antoon said goes to a local charity. “For example, usually we always donate to the Cathedral of St. Matthew Homeless Ministry,” he said, estimating the group to have donated around $1,000 to the D.C.-based ministry since the happy hour started in June 2025.

The most recent happy hour, hosted at a rooftop venue in Arlington, Virginia, called Top of the Town, drew 190 attendees despite a lack of formal advertising, according to Antoon. During Lent, Antoon organized a holy hour that was attended by more than 120 people.

The location of the happy hour — though always in Washington, D.C., or Virginia — changes from month to month, depending on where Antoon can find a venue willing to host the event for free. The Emmaus Hour always begins with a prayer led by a local priest but otherwise bucks additional structure. 

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“The idea is to bring people together who share the same faith and values, but also to support each other, whether its professionally or on a social level,” he said, describing the gathering as a “support system” and place “to come after hours and socialize.”

Indeed, according to Antoon, the Emmaus Hour has served as the meeting place for 15 couples, while three others have landed jobs through connections made there.

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Beyond this, Antoon emphasized that the happy hour has also acted as space for evangelization, particularly for fallen-away Catholics.

“If some people have fallen away from the Catholic Church, it might be harder for them to go to the church,” Antoon said. “But if they showed up to the happy hour and if the happy hour is a gate for them to get into the Catholic Church again, then thatʼs one of the purposes of it.”

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Antoon shared that during one of the happy hours, hosted in an event room at a local bar, a military serviceman came up to the Dominican priest who had led the prayer and asked for a blessing.

“He said, ‘Father, would you just lay a hand on me and pray? I’m going to get deployed, and I haven’t been practicing my Catholic faith,’” Antoon recalled.

For those who leave the happy hour inspired to grow in their faith, foster deeper connections, or even delve into classic literature, Antoon has developed a reading list, posted to the event’s website.

The next happy hour will take place on May 20. Further information about the time and location of the event can also be found on the website.

Noting that he is “the proud son of a World War II veteran who served as a gunner on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific theater,“ Conley offers a concise primer on what he calls “Just War Theory 101,” writing that while the Catholic Church “is not inherently pacifist and does not mandate the renunciation of all violence,” it is also “adamantly skeptical of war.”

He recalls Pope Leo XIV’s recent and many calls for peace, saying that because “of the evils and injustices that all war brings with it, we must do everything reasonably possible to avoid it.”

However, he writes, the “Church teaches one has a right to self-defense against an unjust aggressor, even to use lethal defense if necessary,” a right that “also applies to nations when faced with an unjust aggressor-nation.”

Conley lays out the “strict and imposing” conditions that the Church teaches must be met for a war to be considered just; namely, “war be a last resort, declared by a proper authority, have a just cause, and be proportional.”

These four conditions are known in Latin as the “‘jus ad bellum,’ the justification or reason for waging war.”

In addition to these, he references the "‘jus in bello’ — the law that governs the way in which warfare is conducted."

The prelate notes that two requirements govern the means of war: “Noncombatants and civilians must not be deliberately targeted” and “the harm inflicted must be proportionate to the legitimate military objective.”

In his assessment, Conley takes into account the current Iranian regimeʼs evil actions, including the killing of tens of thousands of its own citizens engaging in peaceful protests earlier this year and sponsorship of terrorism by proxy over decades, along with its efforts to build a nuclear weapon.

Conley holds that a country does not “have to wait until an enemy is on the brink of attacking” before it can act.

Nevertheless, he maintains there “remain serious moral questions about several aspects of the Iran conflict” and cites, among other concerns, the use of AI-directed autonomous weapons.

“The Church is clear that such weapons could not be used justly, even in a just war,” Conley observes, going on to approvingly cite the position of Catholic moral theologian Charlie Camosy that deadly actions in war “require human beings to be the ones morally responsible — and to take moral responsibility — in order for actions in a war to be just.”

Haunting memory of Enola Gay chaplain

Conleyʼs reflections on the subject are sandwiched between his recollection of the haunting story of Father George Zabelka, the Catholic priest who gave a blessing of safety to the crew of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.

Zabelka regularly blessed the airmen before their missions. After speaking with one who had flown a reconnaissance flight over Nagasaki, Japan, after the atomic bomb was dropped, however, the priest thought: “My God, what have we done?” The airman “described how thousands of scorched, twisted bodies writhed on the ground in the final throes of death, while those still on their feet wandered aimlessly in shock — flesh seared, melted, and falling off.”

Zabelka eventually concluded that “he had denied the very foundations of his faith by lending moral and religious support to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

In a speech Zabelka gave 40 years after the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs, he said: “War is now, always has been, and always will be bad, bad news. I was there. I saw real war. Those who have seen real war will bear me out. I assure you, it is not of Christ. It is not Christ’s way.”

Conley concludes by saying he stands “in solidarity with Pope Leo and Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in urging Catholics and all people of goodwill to pray for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Iran.”

“More destruction will only lead to more innocent lives being killed in the crossfire,” he writes. “Please pray that those in leadership positions can find a way forward without more destruction and bloodshed.”

In a joint letter April 28, the bishops and Catholic aid organizations warned that rising food insecurity, cuts to nutrition assistance, and instability in international food aid programs are placing vulnerable families at greater risk both in the United States and abroad.

The letter was signed by leaders from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and Catholic Rural Life.

“It is difficult to make ends meet for many, and families need help,” the organizations wrote, citing U.S. Department of Agriculture data showing that 13.7% of American households experienced food insecurity at some point in 2024. The letter also noted that grocery prices are expected to continue rising in 2026 despite slower inflation than in previous years.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, chair of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, said in a statement that the USCCB should “spend time suggesting how to pay for the hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending they are recommending in their letter.”

“Do they have an opinion on the ‘moral dimension’ of leaving future generations to pay the added cost of a $2 trillion deficit and $37 trillion federal debt?” he continued. “What is the ‘human dimension’ of advocating for able-bodied adults (who aren’t caring for others but choose not to work even 20 hours a week) to receive welfare benefits, with the cost to be borne by others who choose to work?”

He asked why the bishops aren’t “advocating for states to take a larger role in these issues, consistent with federalism?”

Food is a ‘human right’

The Catholic leaders framed the issue not simply as a political or economic debate but as a moral responsibility rooted in Catholic social teaching.

Quoting Pope Leo XIV, the letter stated that “only through sincere and constant cooperation can we build fair and accessible food security for all.”

The appeal comes during a month in which Pope Leo has focused the Church’s attention directly on hunger. The pontiff’s prayer intention for May is “that everyone has access to quality food every day,” calling Catholics worldwide to pray and work toward an end to hunger and food insecurity.

Speaking to EWTN News, Julie Bodnar, policy adviser in the USCCB Office of Domestic Social Development, described access to food as a “human right.”

“We need to make sure that we are giving people the kind of tools to live out their human dignity,” she said. “The pope’s prayer intention this month ties into this appeal perfectly. The bishops have always advocated … to protect the poor and vulnerable and make sure that everyone has a right to adequate nutrition.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “Concern for the health of its citizens requires that society help in the attainment of living conditions that allow them to grow and reach maturity: food and clothing, housing, healthcare, basic education, employment, and social assistance.”

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA (SVdP), which operates thousands of food pantries, meal sites, and food programs across the country, highlighted the growing need for assistance.

The organization said in a statement that it has seen an increase in requests for support as “more than 47 million people in the U.S. struggle to put food on the table, and rising food costs only exacerbate their financial strain.”

“The Vincentian perspective can inform better policymaking as a result of our more than 80,000 volunteers’ direct and daily experience with people in need,” the statement continued. “We echo the Holy Father’s message on World Food Day in which he stated that ‘No one can remain on the sidelines in the fight against hunger.’”

Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Relief Services, and Catholic Rural Life did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The coalition urged lawmakers to maintain — and in many cases increase — funding for federal nutrition programs, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), among others.

SVdP said: “At a minimum, Congress should provide level funding for these life-sustaining programs and oppose any proposed funding cuts.”

Bodnar noted WICʼs assistance to families in need. “The bishops are extremely grateful that WIC has continued to be funded over the past several years by lawmakers, even when it looked like it was going to be very difficult to do so,” she said.

Maintaining full funding for WIC, she added, would help preserve the program’s fruit and vegetable benefit, which she said would be affected under the House proposal.

The letter also called for continued support for rural housing programs, conservation initiatives, and international food efforts such as Food for Peace Title II and the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program.

Particular concern was expressed over recent reductions and structural changes to SNAP enacted through the tax overhaul enacted in July 2025 as well as over administrative actions affecting school meals, food banks, conservation efforts, and international aid.

The Catholic organizations asked Congress to “safeguard programs that Congress has authorized and funded in the past from harmful administrative actions and protect against further cuts that harm those who are hungry and the farmers who feed them.”

The groups additionally advocated for increased flexibility in SNAP work requirements, stronger support for food banks, expanded access to nutrition assistance for immigrants and refugees lawfully present in the U.S., and increased funding for sustainable agriculture initiatives.

At the same time, the letter reaffirmed the Church’s pro-life teaching, arguing that support for women, children, and families cannot be separated from broader efforts to promote human dignity. The coalition urged Congress to “protect the dignity and sanctity of human life in all conditions and stages” while opposing policies that expand access to chemical abortion.

The U.S. House is next expected to take up the agriculture appropriations bill after the House Appropriations Committee approved it on April 29 in a 35-25 vote.

According to the committee, the legislation would provide about $26.27 billion in discretionary funding, slightly below fiscal 2026 levels. Republican leadership has described the bill as fiscally responsible legislation that prioritizes farmers, rural communities, and nutrition programs. Democratic members of the committee, however, have criticized the proposal, arguing it would increase costs for U.S. farmers and reduce aid supporting rural communities.

Separately, lawmakers are considering the farm bill with overlaps in nutrition and agriculture policies.

Courage International said in a May 8 press release that the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod was guilty of “calumny” against the group when it published an annex to a final report of a synodal study group on May 5.

That report, titled “Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues," included testimonies from two men in putative civil "marriages," one of whom attended Courage meetings in the past.

Since the early 1980s Courage has been offering ministry to men and women who experience attraction to the same sex. The testimony offered by the unnamed man in the synodal report alleged that the Courage meetings he attended were “secretive and hidden” while the people in it were “lonely, hopeless, and often depressed.”

In its response on May 8, Courage said it considered the report “to be both calumny and detraction against the organization and its members.”

The group said it disputed the implication that it engages in “reparative therapy” for homosexual attraction. It further said the synod was “unjust” in its presentation of Courage meetings.

The report “characterizes the meetings [the man] attended as ‘secretive and hidden.’ Courage members understand those meetings to be confidential and secure — precisely so that they can speak candidly and vulnerably without fear of someone reporting about them,” the statement said.

The statement acknowledged that those experiencing same-sex attraction are indeed often “lonely, hopeless, and depressed,” but it argued that Courage “bring[s] them together for support and insist[s] on the confidentiality that enables them to speak freely about their struggles.”

“Courage has suffered calumny and detraction before, but usually from secular outlets,” the group said. “It is a great sadness and an additional wound to our members to have this false and unjust depiction in a Vatican document.”

The statement invited synod officials to meet with group leaders to learn more about the ministry.

The Connecticut-based organization traces its earliest roots to an effort started by New York archbishop Cardinal Terence Cooke, who in 1978 conceived of a same-sex attraction ministry and asked Father John Harvey, OSFS, to lead the effort.

Harvey, who died in 2010, authored the 1979 pamphlet “A Spiritual Plan to Redirect One’s Life,” offering a program for “homosexually-oriented persons” to “achieve a chaste, productive, and happy life.”

The apostolate held its first official meeting the following year on Sept. 26 at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Manhattan.

Father Brian Gannon, the executive director of Courage, told EWTN News on the occasion of the groupʼs 45th anniversary that its members “want to follow exactly what the Church is teaching.”

“The secular world has a twisted view of sexuality,” he said. “This is such a needed ministry. It helps people find peace.”

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal group representing the counselor, Frank Canepa, filed the lawsuit on May 1 at the Oregon Court of Appeals, asking for the order to be overturned.

According to ADF, Canepa had treated the client at least 44 times in over two years and had never mentioned his religious views on same-sex relationships. In one session, however, Canepa’s client insisted for 20 minutes that he “personally bless” her same-sex relationship.

Canepa said he tried to politely redirect the client’s repeated demands for him to disclose his personal views on her same-sex relationship but because she persisted, he finally told her he could not affirm it.

By doing so, according to the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists, he violated state law as well as the American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics.

The board ordered Canepa to attend six hours of continuing education and pay for his own hearing, which cost $89,636.

“The government can’t target counselors for their views and can’t force people to say things that go against their core convictions,” said Jonathan Scruggs, ADF senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy.

Scruggs referred to the recently decided Chiles v. Salazar case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision on March 31, ruled that the state cannot silence counselors’ personal or professional viewpoints during talk therapy sessions with clients.

The court held that such counseling conversations are protected speech under the First Amendment and that Colorado’s law targeting certain viewpoints on sexual orientation and gender identity constituted unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

ADF lawyer Logan Spena, one of Canepaʼs attorneys, told EWTN News he is hopeful the Oregon appeals court will follow the U.S. Supreme Courtʼs reasoning in Chiles, which Spena said was “so strong.”

“Counseling is speech, which is protected by the First Amendment,” Spena said. “Oregon law says counselors can’t impose their values on their clients. Canepa did not do that. He answered the client’s question when she demanded to know his personal view.”

“In the context of a counseling relationship, people want to know about their counselors,” he continued. “Transparency and authenticity are required for a good counseling relationship,” which, in Canepa and the clientʼs case, lasted two and a half years.

Terry Braciszewski, president-elect of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association, which submitted an amicus brief in the Chiles vs. Salazar case, told EWTN News that Canepa “is not cited for being malicious or non-therapeutic but rather for refraining from abandoning his beliefs ... he was being ethical and moral in adhering to his therapeutic approach and care for the person.”

“These personal therapeutic qualities likely contributed to why the client continued seeing Canepa for two and a half years,” he said.

Canepa did not “endorse a position that was in opposition to his faith and beliefs,” Braciszewski said. Instead, he “chose to affirm his rights” to free speech and the free exercise of his religion.

“The Supreme Court recently took Colorado to task for censoring counselors and mandating orthodoxy in the counselor’s office,” Scruggs said. “Now, Oregon needs to learn the same First Amendment lesson. We are urging the Oregon appellate court to overturn the board’s unlawful demand, restore First Amendment sanity, and halt the state’s attempt to weaponize its licensure system.”

In separate reflections shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on the first anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s election on May 8, 2025, many have pointed particularly to the pope’s maiden apostolic visit to Africa as a defining moment of his ministry.

Church leaders from across the continent have also highlighted the Holy Father’s emphasis on dialogue, reconciliation, missionary outreach, justice, and peace.

Through the president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Catholic bishops in Africa said that “throughout this first year of his pontificate, his witness of faith and humility has become a source of hope for the Church and for the world.”

They said Pope Leoʼs “tireless appeals for peace, reconciliation, justice, and human fraternity have touched hearts across nations and renewed confidence in the Gospel of Christ, especially among those who suffer from war, poverty, displacement, and social injustice.”

For SECAM, the Holy Father’s recently concluded trip to Africa was “not merely a pastoral journey but also a powerful sign of communion, closeness, and encouragement.”

“He came to Africa as a true apostle of Christ and messenger of peace, strengthening the faith of the people, comforting the afflicted, inspiring the youth, and reaffirming the dignity of every human person,” the continental episcopal body said.

‘The “margins” become the center’

Bishop Christian Carlassare of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Bentiu, apostolic administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek, described the popeʼs choice of Africa for his first intercontinental visit as a strong ecclesial statement.

“Going to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea means declaring through actions that the Gospel does not follow the maps of power but crosses them and overturns them,” Carlassare said in his reflection shared with ACI Africa.

He added: “In a world that measures the value of peoples according to economic weight, this journey reversed the perspective: the so-called ‘margins’ become the center.”

The Italian-born member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus said the people of God in Africa are “not communities ‘to be assisted’ but living subjects of mission.”

“Here, faith is not a cultural fact or a tradition: It is choice, resistance, and concrete hope,” he said.

Reflecting on the significance of the pope’s engagement with African realities, Carlassare said the journey highlighted “that mission is increasingly a circular movement of mutual giving and receiving.”

“And in this movement, one realizes that it is often the ‘small ones’ who evangelize the ‘great,’” he added.

The chairman of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), Bishop Charles Sampa Kasonde of Zambia’s Catholic Diocese of Solwezi, also reflected on the pope’s visit to Africa.

“This is a pope who is bringing us together to realize the gift of love in our ministry and our mission as a Church,” Kasonde said about the first pope from the United States, who belongs to the Order of St. Augustine.

Referring to the April 13–15 apostolic journey of Leo XIV to Algeria, the Zambian bishop said the Holy Father “connects with his root, St. Augustine of Hippo, who is the patron saint for their congregation as Augustinians.”

“He gives honor to this great son of Africa,” Kasonde further said.

The AMECEA chairman also reflected on the Holy Father’s emphasis on Christian-Muslim relations during the Algeria visit. “This opens up also the interaction with our brothers and sisters, the Muslims, in appreciating what religion stands for,” Kasonde said in his audio reflection.

On the pope’s visit to Cameroon, Kasonde said Pope Leo sought “creating the bond of friendship and praying for that unity that subsists in the children of God.”

For Bishop Diego Ramón Sarrió Cucarella of Algeria’s Catholic Diocese of Laghouat-Ghardaïa, Pope Leoʼs presence in Algeria, the first pontiff to visit the North African nation, carried deep significance for the local Church.

“His visit to Algeria was experienced by our small local Church, and by many beyond the Catholic community, as a moment of fraternity, peace, and spiritual encouragement,” Diego said.

The Spanish-born member of the Missionaries of Africa (MAfr/White Fathers) added: “His words on dialogue, reconciliation, the dignity of every human person, and the importance of building bridges deeply resonated with the Algerian people.”

In his reflection shared with ACI Africa, Diego described the Holy Father’s insistence “that believers are called to be artisans of peace and fraternity in a wounded world” as “particularly meaningful.”

‘The Church must continue to be a sign of peace’

In Cameroon, Bishop Michael Miabesue Bibi of the Catholic Diocese of Buea said that many people were moved by the Holy Father’s message during his four-day apostolic visit.

“Many faithful in Cameroon were deeply moved by his encouraging words calling on Africans ‘not to lose hope despite the trials of the present moment’ and his reminder that ‘the Church must continue to be a sign of peace, reconciliation, and hope in society,'" Bibi said, recalling the April 15–18 visit.

The Cameroonian bishop said the pope’s “closeness to young people, displaced persons, and families facing hardship left a lasting spiritual impact on many across the country.”

For his part, Bishop José Luís Gerardo Ponce de León of Eswatini’s Catholic Diocese of Manzini in South Africa said Pope Leo XIV’s first anniversary cannot be reflected upon without recalling his first address as pope on May 8, 2025, following his election.

“We cannot but remember his very first address on this day,” Ponce de León said, recalling the Holy Father’s “call for an unarmed and disarming peace, humble and persevering.”

“These have not been just words. We have seen them leading him daily in the last year and a call to each one of us to be peacemakers with and like him,” the Argentine member of the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries (IMC) has said in a reflection shared with ACI Africa.

For Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, Pope Leoʼs first year resonated strongly in a continent “burdened by conflict, poverty, corruption, and fragile social structures.”

“Pope Leo XIV speaks directly to this reality,” Hiiboro said in a reflection shared with ACI Africa, adding that the Holy Father “reminds us that leadership must become service and that the dignity of every human person must remain at the center of society.”

Reflecting on South Sudan’s context, the South Sudanese bishop who chairs the Commission for the Promotion of Integral Human Development of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference said: “Our peace remains fragile, yet our faith remains strong.”

‘The Church is called to ... see, to recognize, to give voice’

In his reflection shared with ACI Africa, Carlassare also spoke about exploitation, injustice, and the prophetic role of the Church.

“Pope Leo convincingly returned to the theme of exploitation,” he said recalling the apostolic journey to Africa of Pope Leo XIV. “He spoke of plundered natural resources, economic dependence, and dependence on humanitarian aid caused by poor governance and lack of peace.”

Carlassare went on to quote the late Pope Francis’ January 2023 appeal in the DRC, recalling: “Hands off from Africa. Stop suffocating it: It is not a natural reservoir to be exploited or a land to be plundered.”

For Carlassare, Pope Leo’s emphasis on dialogue and encounter during his pastoral visit to Africa also stood out.

“Mission does not pass through ideological confrontation but through daily relationships and becoming a neighbor to the other,” he said. "In a global system that tends to make entire peoples invisible, the Church is called to do the opposite: to see, to recognize, to give voice.”

As Pope Leo XIV marks one year since his election, African Church leaders continue to envision his pontificate through the lens of missionary closeness, peace-building, and attention to those living at the peripheries.

In a message addressed to Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of his first anniversary as pope, SECAM leadership said that the Holy Father’s “words and gestures” have “renewed missionary zeal, encouraged reconciliation where wounds and divisions persist, deepened solidarity among ecclesial communities, and strengthened the Church’s commitment to justice, peace, and integral human development.”

“The Church in Africa entrusts his ministry to the loving protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Catholic bishops in Africa said in the message signed by SECAM president Cardinal Ambongo.

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

The document, titled “Set Out on the Journey,” was approved during the plenary assembly in November 2025 but was not published until after the conferenceʼs meeting in April.

Following an exercise in “conversation in the Spirit” — the same method used during the Synod on Synodality — the Spanish prelates established the following seven priority pastoral goals:

1. Proclaiming the Gospel and initiation into the Christian life

The prelates observed that “in Spain, the era — firmly established for centuries — in which we would say, ‘I am Catholic because I was born in Spain,’ has passed. We can no longer take Christian conversion for granted.”

Consequently, the catechumenate is an “indispensable” reality in the dioceses, serving to ensure the continued growth of impactful experiences following the initial proclamation of the Gospel. “Today, Christian initiation along with the creation of communities that accompany individuals through this process and welcome the newly initiated constitute a fundamental priority,” they stated.

The bishops further emphasized that “in secularized Spanish society, the Church’s challenge is not so much atheism as it is the hunger for God, which manifests itself in very diverse ways,” such that all pastoral actions “should assess their impact on the initial proclamation.”

2. Celebrating Sunday

Added to the challenge of Christian initiation is “another great challenge of ecclesial life: the celebration of the Lord’s Day” — that is, participation in Sunday Mass, which, as the prelates underscored, “is not a mere act of private devotion or fulfilling an obligation but rather the experience of being an assembly of the called — those who, summoned by the Word, are gathered together as a people taking the form of the body of Christ, in order to be sent forth on mission.”

In Spain, only about 8 million of the country’s 45 million inhabitants attend Mass regularly on Sundays.

3. A Church with fewer people but a lot of parishes

The bishops' third pastoral concern stems from the realization that the Catholic Church in Spain has more than 22,000 parishes distributed across over 11,000 municipalities and smaller local entities, many of which have fewer than 100 inhabitants.

This distribution reveals “a great asymmetry.” As the prelates expressed with concern, “many baptismal fonts ‘hold no water’ — that is to say, there is no Christian community that, under the action of the Spirit, possesses the capacity to bring forth new Christians.”

On the other hand, in areas with larger populations, the parish community “possesses a very weak awareness of the responsibility entailed by the baptismal font.”

Beyond the diocesan parochial structure, Spain is home to 1,400 monasteries and shrines as well as hundreds of non-parochial churches where the Sunday Eucharist is celebrated, institutions that are typically under the care of religious communities.

In this regard, the prelates declared: “We cannot simply stand by and watch the ship sink.”

4. Promoting formative communities

Given that “one has never been able to be a Christian alone,” the prelates consider it necessary to “offer a visible communal face” and to foster the creation of communities “where the integral formation of the heart may be lived out.”

The bishops acknowledged that, despite experiences of initial proclamation, “at times there exists the difficulty of transforming emotion into virtue,” as noted in the recently published document “Cor ad cor loquitur” (“Heart Speaks to Heart”).

In this regard, they consider the integration of Catholic immigrants to be a “great opportunity to revive and rejuvenate” the communities.

5. Living the faith in a pluralistic society

The Spanish prelates focused their attention on the pluralistic social reality in which “people of diverse ethnic origins, with diverse ideological, ethical, and religious worldviews” coexist — and not always “in a proper spirit of coexistence, but rather they fall into confrontation.”

Given that “the religious map of Spain is changing” and there are “increasingly more adherents of other religions who do not come ‘from abroad,’” this poses “a new challenge for the Church, which must establish channels for coexistence based on mutual respect and the fundamental right to religious freedom.”

6. Welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants

The bishops’ conference also takes into account the need to address the reality of increasing migration, in a twofold sense.

“Catholics must be incorporated into the Christian community”; therefore, the CEE called for an effort to welcome them by “offering the possibility of a space of their own that does not break off communion with the whole.”

With regard to those of other faiths, the prelates highlighted the “opportunity for interreligious dialogue and collaboration in the service of the common good,” while acknowledging that this constitutes “a challenge for Catholics, who must be formed in order to engage in dialogue based on mutual respect.”

7. Bringing the love of the heart of Christ to the world

Beyond matters more specific to the Spanish context, the prelates, in their latest pastoral guidance, aim to make the love of God present beyond the confines of the Church: “It is essential to practice political charity in schools, in neighborhoods, in hospitals, and in our relationships with one another — fostering a presence, where possible, within institutional politics, the life of political parties, or other channels of institutional action.”

In the charitable sphere, the bishops also warned that “we run the risk that our organizations — so dependent on the welfare state, its regulations, and its subsidies for the third sector — may offer the novelty of Christian love in a weak manner and be easily confused with NGOs [nongovernmental organizations]. The same could happen to us in our educational institutions or our media outlets.”

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 Wheeling-Charleston Diocese said in a statement that Bransfield “passed away peacefully.” It urged the faithful to pray for his family and friends.

“As it is the tradition in our Church to pray for the dead as well as for the living, we pray for the repose of his soul, asking God’s mercy upon him,” the diocese said.

A native of Philadelphia, Bransfield was ordained in that archdiocese in 1971. He served as the first rector at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., after it was named a basilica in 1990.

Pope John Paul II appointed him to lead Wheeling-Charleston in 2004. He served there until 2018 when he reached the customary retirement age of 75.

After Bransfield retired, Pope Francis ordered Baltimore Archbishop William Lori to investigate claims that Bransfield had engaged in sexual harassment of adults. The investigation ultimately uncovered a wide-ranging series of scandals, including a “consistent pattern” of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Bransfield bestowed financial gifts on several bishops, Lori said, adding he received $7,500 worth of gifts from Bransfield and subsequently returned the funds.

The inquiry also found instances of financial mismanagement and impropriety, including what were reportedly huge amounts of money spent on alcohol and millions of dollars spent on a home renovation.

The bishop “adopted an extravagant and lavish lifestyle that was in stark contrast to the faithful he served and was for his own personal benefit,” the report found.

Pope Francis subsequently banned Bransfield from participating in public celebration of the Mass, while Bransfieldʼs successor, Bishop Mark Brennan, ordered him to pay nearly $800,000 in restitution to the diocese.

Brennan also barred Bransfield from being buried in the diocesan cemetery. The diocese said on May 7 that his funeral and burial would “not take place in West Virginia.”

Yet despite the violence and destruction, they have refused to abandon their homes and villages. Much of this resilience has been sustained through the support of Catholic organizations and initiatives, which continue to help families, churches, and communities endure the crisis.

A French Catholic ally in Lebanon

L’Œuvre d’Orient is one of the Catholic organizations that has supported Christian communities in Lebanon long before the war. Its work includes supporting Christian schools, churches, pastoral initiatives, and agricultural projects, as many of these southern communities are largely rural and farming-based.

In a conversation with ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Vincent Gelot, director of L’Œuvre d’Orient in Lebanon, said the French organization has delivered in 2026 seven humanitarian aid convoys and carried out several visits to villages in southern Lebanon.

“We are extremely close to the local communities. We have known them for a long time, we love them, and we try to remain as present as possible by their side,” Gelot said.

Explaining his approach to humanitarian work, he added: “As far as L’Œuvre d’Orient is concerned, I make it a point to accompany every one of our trucks. I want to be certain the aid reaches its destination and the right people. It is important to be physically present, because when we come, we meet our partners and the villagers and remind them how courageous and important they are. We are trying to maintain this human bond. It is not only about sending trucks and aid but also about being there with them on the ground.”

Gelot described the difficult reality facing Christians in southern Lebanon as being “caught in a vice” between Hezbollah militants attempting to use their villages to launch attacks across the border and Israeli military operations that have left homes, schools, and convents destroyed or occupied. “It is their very existence that is at stake,” he said.

Gelot stressed that many of these villages date back to the time of Christ.

“This is a region visited by Christ, the apostles, and the Virgin Mary. The people are profoundly attached to their land and their villages. It is therefore essential to help them remain on their native land.”

He also praised what he described as the communities’ “peaceful courage and resistance,” saying it is vital to stand beside them and show them the affection, admiration, and support of L’Œuvre d’Orient, its donors, and the Church in France.

However, for him, the stakes go beyond the survival of one community. “It is the very existence of Lebanon that is at stake,” he said, describing the country as a rare model in the Middle East for religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and freedom of the press. He added that Christians in Lebanon continue to hold a unique political, cultural, and historical role that remains vital to preserve.

He also highlighted the close coordination between L’Œuvre d’Orient; the apostolic nuncio, Paolo Borgia; and other Catholic organizations, including Caritas Lebanon.

Caritas on the front lines

Peter Mahfouz, commander and head of the emergency response unit at Caritas Lebanon, has been on the ground assisting communities across southern Lebanon.

Speaking to ACI MENA, he said Caritas teams have been delivering emergency food parcels, hygiene and shelter kits, mattresses, and blankets while also operating mobile clinics that bring medical consultations and essential medication directly to villages cut off from hospitals.

According to Mahfouz, the most urgent needs today include shelter capacity, continuity of medical care for chronic patients, food assistance for families who have lost their income, and mental health support — particularly for children and the elderly. He also stressed the urgent need to maintain humanitarian corridors allowing aid to reach southern Lebanon.

Mahfouz said one of the organization’s biggest challenges is that “the needs are growing faster than the funding.” Access to some villages also remains difficult and at times dangerous, forcing teams to constantly adapt routes and delaying aid distributions.

Furthermore, he stressed that Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis has not paused during the war: “Fuel, electricity, and the cost of basic food continue to weigh on every family we serve and on our own operations.”

Explaining how Caritas coordinates its work, Mahfouz said local parishes are often the organization’s first point of contact within affected communities.

“They know the families, they know who is most vulnerable, and they open their halls and centers as shelters when needed,” he added.

Caritas works closely with dioceses, religious congregations operating schools and clinics, and other Catholic organizations. “It is a network built on trust that existed long before this war, and that is exactly why it works in an emergency,” he concluded.

Asked what keeps him going despite the exhaustion and risks, Mahfouz pointed to the people themselves.

“The way they welcome us, the way their faces change when they see us arrive, and the prayers they send with us when we leave. You arrive expecting to give something, and you leave realizing they have given you more. That is what carries us through the long days,” he said.

A Polish initiative

The Lebanese Christian diaspora has also played an active role in supporting communities affected by the war, with numerous initiatives mobilizing aid from abroad.

European partners have also stepped up. One example is “Lebanon in Need,” a volunteer crisis committee founded by the Maronite Missionary Foundation in Poland in partnership with 4fund.com as part of the international “Europe for Lebanon” fundraising campaign.

The initiative emphasizes transparency and accountability in humanitarian assistance. All donations are processed through 4fund.com, a payment institution licensed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and authorized to operate across the European Economic Area, meaning transactions are subject to anti-money-laundering controls, regulatory oversight, and full traceability.

Organizers also stress that 100% of donations reach the field thanks to the commission-free structure of the partnership. Aid is distributed through trusted local channels, including Caritas Lebanon, the Lebanese Red Cross, and local parishes.

The initiative further relies on continuous coordination between partners to avoid duplication of aid efforts, while regular financial and narrative reports are prepared to ensure transparency with donors.

The Vaticanʼs ongoing support

This week, a screenshot from a video call between parish priests in southern Lebanon went viral after Pope Leo XIV surprised them with a call to express his solidarity and prayers. The Vatican has repeatedly shown support for Lebanon’s Christians throughout the war, not only through words but also through concrete assistance.

The call was organized by the apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, Borgia, who has become a deeply respected and loved figure in these communities. Viewed by many locals as a hero, he has consistently visited front-line villages, even during periods of heightened danger. Beyond diplomacy, he has taken a direct role in relief efforts, helping distribute aid alongside volunteers, carrying boxes from trucks, speaking with residents, and listening to their concerns. He works closely with Catholic organizations and initiatives supporting affected Christian communities in the south.

Ahead of the papal visit, Seek What Is Above, an initiative encouraging “people to lift their minds and hearts to God,” has released a new version of the Fifteen Saturdays with the hopes of reintroducing “the forgotten Marian devotion."

The devotion is a series of 15 meditations on the mysteries of the rosary derived from the writings of Longo, who promoted the prayer by publishing a book with the same title in the late 1800s.

Longo, canonized by Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 19, 2025, developed a powerful devotion to the Blessed Mother after he was brought back to the Catholic faith following many years as a Satanic “priest.”

Following his intense conversion, Longo devoted his life to spreading the fruits of the rosary and played an instrumental role in establishing the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii.

“Bartolo really popularized the Fifteen Saturdays devotion through the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii,” Dominican Father Joseph-Anthony Kress told EWTN News. “It started when he met a noblewoman who had a … pamphlet translated from French that discussed the Fifteen Saturdays.”

Using the mysteries of the rosary, the devotion encourages “a 15-week spiritual journey,” Kress, the promoter of the holy rosary for the Province of St. Joseph, explained. “Every Saturday you dedicate to one of the 15 mysteries of the rosary, and you meditate on that mystery for the rest of the week.”

Inspired by it, Longo then expanded on the original pamphlet in his book.

“He compiled all of the Scripture quotations and citations pertaining to each of the mysteries so that they would be collected in one place for … the individual praying, so itʼd be easier for them to enter into the mysteries in their totality,” Kress said.

Seek What Is Above’s new edition provides both written and image-based meditations with a series of paintings from St. Paul’s Church, a historic Dominican church in Antwerp, Belgium.

The 15-week-long devotion “encourages us to approach the rosary focused on the mysteries themselves,” Kress said. It also “encourages the reception of the Eucharist on each Saturday as well as confession as a part of the structure to make sure that youʼre spiritually prepared.”

St. Bartolo: ‘Apostle of the Rosary’

On the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, Pope Leo will visit the Shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary and the Chapel of Blessed Bartolo Longo, which houses Longo’s relics and remains. The Holy Father will also celebrate Mass in the city’s central square — Piazza Bartolo Longo.

While there is now a lasting presence of the saint in Pompeii, Longo was not always a strong example of the Catholic faith. He lived during the late 19th century when the Church was fighting to combat the growing popularity of the occult.

Born into a devout Catholic family, Longo fell away from the faith while studying law in Naples. He began to visit some of the cityʼs infamous mediums who introduced him into the occult. His interest in the supernatural led him into Satanism and he began to preside over Satanic services, preaching blasphemously against God and the Church.

Simultaneously, Longo was struggling with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. A university professor, Vincenzo Pepe, urged him to abandon Satanism and introduced him to his future confessor, Dominican Father Alberto Radente.

With guidance from Radente and others, Longo repented and returned to the Church but still couldn’t forgive himself or see how God could ever forgive him.

One day in Pompeii Longo despaired over his past with Satanism, but God helped him to see how he could be saved and how he could save others.

“I heard an echo in my ear of the voice of Friar Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘One who propagates my rosary shall be saved,’” Longo wrote.

“Falling to my knees, I exclaimed: ‘If your words are true that he who propagates your rosary will be saved, I shall reach salvation because I shall not leave this earth without propagating your rosary,'” he wrote.

From then on he helped others “not just in their physical poverty but also in deep spiritual poverty” by “promoting the rosary,” Kress said.

“He extended himself to care for the most vulnerable in his own city, and he put his professional skill set to work for the good of the poor — being a lawyer by trade and offering free legal services to the poor who were being taken advantage of.”

Longo devoted himself to works of charity by starting orphanages and institutions for children of prisoners.

“His conversion from the spiritualisms of the day in which he lived in the occult to rejecting all of that to follow Christ and being devoted to the mother of Christ is such a moving conversion,” Kress said.

“It really speaks to the hope that we as Christians cling to, that thereʼs never a situation, never a particular life circumstance, that eliminates the hope of a conversion and union with Christ,” Kress said.

Longo became a Third Order Dominican and would return to the exact places he once participated in occult activities. There, with a rosary in his hand, he would encourage those present to reject their ways and turn to the Blessed Mother for protection.

His love for the rosary and the Blessed Mother not only led to the establishment of Marian shrines and lasting devotions but also served as inspiration for Pope John Paul II’s addition of the luminous mysteries to the rosary.

“As a true apostle of the rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo had a special charism,” St. John Paul wrote in his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae proposing the new mysteries.

“By his whole lifeʼs work and especially by the practice of the ‘15 Saturdays,’ Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart of the rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII, the ‘Pope of the Rosary.’”

Why pray the Fifteen Saturdays devotion?

The Fifteen Saturdays is a unique devotion to pray and meditate on, as it is both devotional and sacramental.

“Committing to a Fifteen Saturdays devotion may seem like a large chunk of time — itʼs a few months,” Kress said. “But it shows us that the rosary itself is, in a small sense, the summary of the Gospel thatʼs lived out over a time.”

“Itʼs treated as a presentation of the mysteries of the life of Christ and the Gospels, but … it also incorporates a sacramental life, as it incorporates the reception of the Eucharist, incorporates confession, alongside mental prayer,” Kress said.

It portrays “that our life with Christ isnʼt just this private secluded thing that we do in these interiors, but we join together in the public worship of the Church in the sacraments,” he said.

“The greater sacramental life that we live fuels our mental prayer and our contemplation” and “disposes us to a more worthy reception of the sacraments,” Kress said.

“Then on a human level, I think it helps us to live in the gift of perseverance.”

“This isnʼt just a quick fix. It takes a little bit of a commitment,” Kress continued. “But it slowly unfolds and allows the grace of God to nourish and nurture our souls over the course of time.”

“So we grow in the virtue of hope and grow in the grace of perseverance by pursuing such a devotion like the Fifteen Saturdays,” he said.

“When we were watching the white smoke come out of the chimney at the Vatican, the last thing that any of us were thinking of as we were watching on TV back in Chicago was that there would be a native of Chicago who was elected the Holy Father,” Auxiliary Bishop Robert Lombardo of Chicago said in a May 7 video message marking Pope Leo XIV’s first anniversary as pope.

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The message also included testimonies from Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois; Bishop Ronald Hicks of New York; Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago; Bishop Paul Etienne of Seattle; Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of St. Louis; Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Cooke of Philadelphia; Bishop Douglas Lucia of Syracuse, New York; Bishop Robert McClory of Gary, Indiana; and Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, of Oakland, California.

Several bishops recalled their shock at learning the new pope was an American.

“When I heard of Pope Leoʼs election, I couldnʼt believe it. I really had to do a double take because conventional wisdom has been that there will never be a pope from the United States,” Rozanski said.

“I remember my reaction to his election being one of surprise because everybody said, ‘Well, it could never be an American,’” Lucia said. “So when his name was announced, I was actually in a diocesan admin meeting and everybody said, ‘Whoʼs that?’ And I go, ‘Itʼs an American.’”

McClory described his reaction as “a tremendous kind of excitement and joy” and echoed his brother bishops, saying: “Never in my lifetime did I think we would have a pope from the United States. I just didn’t think it was a possibility.”

Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, recalled “flying home” from the grocery store when he heard the news that a new pope had been elected, and that he “was so excited” when he made it to his computer to watch the results. 

“Being from Chicago, we also have a double sense of pride,” Cupich said. “After all, we like to say that Chicago produced a pope, and that we take great pride in.”

Leo was elected as the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on May 8, 2025.

CNN’s Erin Burnett on her show “OutFront” on May 6 asked Prevost to talk about how the brothers, who have differing political views, can still “be brothers and family” and have love.

“Can you just talk about that, because I think so many people want to hear how they, too, can have that in their lives?” she asked.

Prevost told her that when the brothers talk, topics about which they disagree “may come up, but nothing” his brother might say “is going to change my opinion, and nothing I say is going to change his opinion, so why discuss it?”

“Families fight, but family is forever,” Prevost, who said he speaks to Leo every day, told her.

He said the brothers discuss “what we’re doing, what’s new in our lives, what we’re doing next … There is that brother connection. And really, what brothers do not fight? You know?”

“That’s fair,” Burnett said.

The CNN host also asked how Prevost rises above President Donald Trump’s recent accusation that Leo is “endangering a lot of Catholics; [is] terrible for foreign policy,” and asked how his “life has changed because of your brother’s role?”, mentioning the death threats Prevost has received.

“You just keep going,” Prevost said. “There is a matter of what is known as faith, and it deepens our faith, because we do what we’re doing because itʼs a role we’ve been put into, and we just go ahead and do it.”

Prevost told “EWTN News in Depth” in an April interview that faith “starts in the home,“ saying that ”periodically our dad would take the Bible out and read Bible stories. We always prayed before dinner. Our parents always, every evening after dinner, prayed the rosary.”

In April, police in New Lenox, Illinois, responded to a “reported bomb threat at a private residence” that local media said belonged to Prevost. After an investigation, the police determined the threat was “unsubstantiated and that no explosive devices or hazardous materials were present.”

The hoax threat came several days after President Donald Trump praised Pope Leo XIVʼs eldest brother, Louis, in a Truth Social post in which he derided Pope Leo XIV as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” after Leo repeatedly criticized the ongoing U.S.-led war in Iran.

Burnett also noted how Trump has talked about Louis, who visited the president at the White House last year, calling him “a supporter, a MAGA all the way.”

“I like [Leoʼs] brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!” Trump said in April.

“Religious freedom in India is abysmal. Religious minority communities and their places of worship remain particularly vulnerable to discriminatory legislation, surveillance, and harassment,” U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Vice Chair Asif Mahmood said during a May 7 hearing. “Members of the clergy are also routinely arrested and released under accusation of conducting forced conversions.”

USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler also highlighted persecution in India on the national, state, and local level through discriminatory legislation, arbitrary detention of religious leaders, failure to intervene in attacks against religious minorities, anti-conversion laws in 13 out of 28 states, anti-terrorism laws targeting minorities, and citizenship laws. She described religious freedom in India as continuing in “a downward trajectory.”

The hearing comes as the commission warns of escalating attacks against Christians in India, including mob violence and property destruction. The Catholic population in India is about 23 million, about 1.6% of the countryʼs population, according to the Vatican.

Raqib Naik, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, called for the State Department to designate India as a country of particular concern (CPC).

“I believe that acknowledging the problem is the first step,” Naik said. “I think the U.S. should designate India as a CPC. I think that should be the first step because you cannot have a solution without acknowledging the problem.” Naik further called for sanctions and heightened awareness of transnational repression, which he said poses a “national security threat.”

Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Stephen Rapp called for “methods that have a bite to them” to place pressure on the Indian government to end religious persecution in the country. Rapp encouraged heightened reporting of religious freedom violators to “build cases” against them so that it may be possible to prosecute them internationally in the future.

“Maybe many of the perpetrators may never travel, but basically you send a signal that if you commit crimes like these there will be no rest in this life,” Rapp said. “It’s not enough, but it’s something.”

Religious freedom advocate David Curry called for the State Department to demand that its international partners uphold religious liberty as a preliminary requirement in all negotiations.

“The international religious freedom infrastructure within the State Department should be part of every discussion and negotiation,” Curry said. “Human rights and international religious freedom should be part of these discussions.” 

Indian anthropologist Angana Chatterji echoed Curry, urging the U.S. “to examine seriously the impossibility of economic benefit and profit from relations with India under the current extreme conditions.”

Georgetown Law professor Arjun Sethi noted that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was banned under the George W. Bush administration from entering the U.S. from 2005 to 2014. “And now he’s courted by this country,” he said.

“I think we should just have a much deeper understanding of who he is, what he stands for, and what he’s about,” Sethi said.

“There are various opportunities to expand the usage of targeted sanctions, particularly in countries that rank among the world’s worst violators of religious freedom,” the USCIRF document said.

In the fact sheet, the USCIRF recommended the U.S. federal government not simply sanction entire countries but impose targeted sanctions against individuals and entities directly responsible for the violations.

“While countrywide trade embargoes impose broad restrictions on countries to exert maximum pressure, these can cause collateral damage on civilian populations,” it states.

“In contrast, targeted sanctions focus narrowly on the individuals or entities responsible for abuses,” it adds. “Depending on the program, these measures can include banning visas, freezing assets, and blocking financial transactions.”

Specific perpetrators

The document lays out certain perpetrators who violate religious liberty in foreign countries, which was detailed in the USCIRF’s 2026 annual report published in March.

In Afghanistan, for example, the USCIRF recommends sanctions against high-ranked Taliban officials of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which is the body tasked with enforcing Sharia law.

People involved in Iraqi militias, like the Popular Mobilization Forces, are recommended for sanctions, as are non-state actors and those affiliated with transnational authorities in Syria, which perpetuate religious freedom violations. It also lists government and non-state actors in Libya.

It recommends targeted sanctions against government agencies and officials in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Individuals in two sub-Saharan African countries are also included: Nigerian government and military officials who tolerate or are complicit in attacks on religious communities and Eritrean government officials, including those in the police, judiciary, and correctional system.

The fact sheet recommends targeted sanctions against Chinese government agencies, entities, and officials. It also suggests sanctions against individuals and entities in neighboring India, like intelligence officials and the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Two Latin American countries are included. It suggests sanctions against Nicaraguan officials who tolerate or are complicit in targeting religious communities. It encourages sanctions against Cuban officials, including Caridad Diego Bello, the head of the Office of Religious Affairs.

Russia is the only European country listed. It suggests sanctions against officials and state agencies, including the Federal Security Service, which is an intelligence agency.

Ways to sanction

The document notes that several policies can be used to implement targeted sanctions related to human rights abuses.

The policies permit economic sanctions and visa bans against any foreign individual or entity engaged in “extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” and those involved in “serious human rights abuse.”

Other policies permit visa bans on individuals and — when appropriate — immediate family members for participating in religious freedom violations or gross violations of human rights.

“The primary goal of these programs is to drive behavior change by altering perpetrators’ cost-benefit calculations, reducing their sense of impunity, and publicly naming and shaming,” the document reads.

“These measures signal international expectations, restrict access to the resources needed to continue violations, and demonstrate solidarity with victims and survivors,” it adds. “Generally, visa sanctions are legally required to be issued confidentially, which can diminish some of the impacts from ‘naming and shaming’ and decrease transparency.”

The call took place May 6 during Pope Leo’s audience in Rome with the apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, Archbishop Paolo Borgia.

During the video call, which took place around 9:45 a.m. Rome time, the Holy Father, who visited Lebanon in December 2025 on his first international trip, reiterated his “encouragement” to the priests “for the work they are doing,” assured them of his prayers, and imparted his blessing, according to Vatican News.

The archbishop, well aware of the suffering endured by the priests there, has been working in the border region with Israel for several months delivering food, basic necessities, and the pope’s encouragement.

Father Toni Elias, parish priest in Rmeish, a village separated from Israel by a forest, said the video call “was beautiful. The pope encouraged us; he told us that he prays for us and supports us, and he gave us his blessing with the hope that peace would soon be achieved.”

“It was a breath of hope and trust that was much needed,” he emphasized.

Regarding Borgia, the priest remarked that “he brings charity; he walks through danger, through bombed-out streets and houses that have been destroyed and razed to the ground. I see in him the mission of his patron saint, St. Paul.”

A priest killed in March

On March 9, Pope Leo XIV expressed his sorrow over the death of Father Pierre al-Rahi, a victim of Israeli shelling that took place that day in southern Lebanon.

“Pope Leo XIV expresses his profound sorrow for all the victims of the bombings in the Middle East these past few days, for the many innocent people, including numerous children, and for those who were helping them, such as Father Pierre al-Rahi, a Maronite priest killed this afternoon in Qlayaa,” stated a communiqué that day from the Vatican Press Office.

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 May 5 presentation at the Catholic Information Center, Steven Notley, the academic director of the El Araj Excavation Project, said the excavation of the last town of apostolic times to be discovered, which began in 2016 and has been ongoing since then, has essentially confirmed that the site, known as El Araj, is indeed the location of the Galilean seaside town of Bethsaida, which is referenced several times in the New Testament.

Notley, who is also executive director of the Center for the Study of Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins, lived in Jerusalem with his wife and four children for 16 years and has been leading groups of students and laypeople to Israel and the eastern Mediterranean region for over 35 years.

Melissa Overmyer, a Catholic evangelist who has participated in the dig at Bethsaida, shared her own testimony at the event, saying being a part of such experiences in the Holy Land turns “Bible stories into Bible realities.”

Notley said excavations at the site in 2018 uncovered the remains of a Byzantine-era basilica and in 2023 a first-century house was located directly under its apse.

These remains, he said, match the historic account of Willibald, an eighth-century bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria, Germany, who traveled to the Holy Land in 725 A.D. and wrote about a church in Bethsaida that was built over the home of Sts. Peter and Andrew.

Among the discoveries made at this basilica is a mosaic, uncovered in 2022, with the inscription “Chief of the apostles and keeper of the keys of heaven, intercede for him and his children George and Theophano."

Last year, the site also endured a wildfire, the results of which Notley said have subsequently allowed the team to uncover evidence of columns and other structures previously overlooked due to dense underbrush.

Notley told EWTN News that the archaeological team was able to identify a structure underneath the apse of the basilica by identifying pottery they discovered there as first-century pottery. The team also found first-century fishing weights.

“So, we have a first-century house wall under the apse. It doesnʼt have a plaque on it that says ‘Peter slept here,’ but from a perspective of archaeology, it doesnʼt get much better than that,” Notley said.

Notley said he welcomes volunteers to participate in the ongoing dig, which he said is entirely privately funded. Information about how to volunteer may be found on the excavation’s website.

In an official statement released by the Diocese of Tagbilaran on May 5, Saco said that after “much prayer and careful discernment,” he had decided not to continue with the episcopal ordination scheduled for May 26.

“I sincerely ask for your understanding regarding this change of heart,” Saco said in the statement. “It comes from a deep awareness of my own human limitations and inadequacies.”

Saco, who had been serving as diocesan administrator since October 2025 following the appointment of Bishop Alberto Uy as archbishop of Cebu in 2025, was appointed bishop of Tagbilaran by Pope Leo XIV on March 25.

The Archdiocese of Cebu, the metropolitan see of Tagbilaran, later confirmed that the Vatican had accepted Sacoʼs decision.

In a statement, Uy said that Saco had communicated his decision directly to the Holy Father.

“Bishop-elect Gerardo ‘Jingboy’ Saco Jr. has communicated to the Holy Father his decision not to proceed with his episcopal ordination,” Uy said. “The papal nuncio has informed me that the Holy Father has accepted his decision.”

Uy acknowledged that while he respects Sacoʼs decision, it “has brought sadness to many of us, especially the faithful of the Diocese of Tagbilaran.”

Despite widespread public interest surrounding the rare decision, Saco has declined interview requests from journalists. Sources interviewed by EWTN News said the priest has requested privacy and told those seeking interviews that he “just needs more time for himself.”

One priest from the Diocese of Tagbilaran, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said many clergy were initially “shocked and saddened” upon hearing the news but that he respected the decision of Saco, whom he described as “a simple man, kind and has a big heart for the poor and marginalized.”

“We have a very thriving diocese. We are not in debt. We have so many vocations. We send out priests to do mission work because we have many priests here. I donʼt know why he declined.”

Online, many Catholic faithful and netizens reacted with surprise and sympathy. Some described the decision as “courageous,” noting that stepping away from such an appointment required humility and honesty. Others promised prayers for Saco and for the Diocese of Tagbilaran, which remains “sede vacante” pending a new episcopal appointment.

Difficult role

Catholic apologist and pro-life advocate Carlos Antonio Palad cautioned against “dark and baseless speculations” about Sacoʼs reasons, noting that “the pope has accepted his decision, so he cannot be accused of disobedience, as some have implied.”

Palad added that the leadership of a diocese “is very heavy, and it is not a secret that many priests refuse the office when it is offered to them,” urging respect for Sacoʼs “conscience and his decision.”

Catholic commentators also noted that, while rare, there have been instances in Church history where priests or bishops-elect declined episcopal appointments before ordination.

The Diocese of Tagbilaran comprises 60 parishes, served by 126 diocesan priests across 1,734 square kilometers (670 square miles) of the southern half of the island province of Bohol, according to the latest statistics.

Saco remains the diocesan administrator as the Holy See restarts the selection process for a new bishop of Tagbilaran.

KGN is owned by LSMU Kaunas Hospital, which itself is equally divided between two shareholders: the Ministry of Health and the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU), each holding 50% ownership. Both shareholders recently approved an optimization plan that would merge KGN into the larger hospital in an effort to streamline operations and reduce costs linked to obstetrics.

A century of care

Founded in 1926, KGN is the last major maternity home of its kind in Lithuania, focusing on low-risk pregnant mothers. When a report of its family-friendly environment and quality care reached Pope John Paul II in 1997, the impressed pontiff later sent a handwritten greeting blessing the maternity home. To date, it has been consistently rated as one of the best places to give birth in Lithuania.

The maternity home has long partnered with Caritas Lithuania, the Archdiocese of Kaunas, and various pregnancy crisis centers to help mothers give birth in a safe and highly personal environment, which most argue is not the case in typical obstetrics wards in major hospitals.

Critics of the merger say that dismantling KGN, given its rich 100-year history, recognition from the late pope, and excellent record, makes families feel unheard and their needs ignored.

Why families fear the merger

Jarūnė Rimavičė, head of the “Letʼs Save the Kaunas Maternity Home” initiative, which has gathered over 12,000 signatures, told EWTN News that the merger plans would negatively alter the care mothers receive.

She explained that the infrastructure at LSMU Kaunas Hospital is less family-friendly and that allocating higher flows of pregnant mothers there would result in “less privacy and less individual attention.” She also pointed out that “some of the delivery rooms and wards do not have private sanitary facilities, which reduces the feeling of privacy and dignity during childbirth.”

Rimavičė argued that KGNʼs defining strength lies not only in its family-oriented facilities but also in a care culture built around emotional safety, close personal attention, and respectful communication between staff and mothers.

She said this approach is a key reason for the maternity homeʼs high satisfaction among families. Such a culture, she warned, “cannot be simply transferred to another environment by administrative decision alone.”

For that reason, she said, merging KGN into a larger multi-specialty hospital “is not an equivalent transfer of services — it is a real deterioration of conditions for women in labor.”

An appeal to Pope Leo XIV

Reports circulated that organizers of the KGN petition had met with Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the apostolic nuncio to the Baltic states.

When EWTN News approached him for confirmation, Gänswein acknowledged the meeting, saying he received three representatives who outlined the situation surrounding the Kaunas Christian Maternity Home. He added: “On that occasion they gave me a letter for Pope Leo XIV.”

Organizers later told EWTN News that the letter was an appeal to the Holy Father, detailing their concerns. Gänswein added that he subsequently spoke with the archbishop of Kaunas, informing him of the meeting while discussing the facts of the matter. “He promised to take care on the matter,” he noted.

The Archdiocese of Kaunas later issued a statement supporting the petition while highlighting the long-standing role of maternity homes “whose activities are based on Christian values,” in providing both medical and dignity-based care. Kaunas Archbishop Kęstutis Kėvalas also called for cooperation to find solutions to preserve the maternity home.

Lithuaniaʼs current healthcare situation

On May 3, marked as Motherʼs Day in Lithuania, supporters gathered outside KGN, calling for its preservation while stressing its importance to families. The demonstration reflects a broader rise in visibility of Lithuaniaʼs pro-life movement, which included a major pro-life march held last year in Vilnius. It also comes as the government continues to discuss measures aimed at supporting families and addressing the countryʼs declining birth rate.

Against this backdrop, Rimavičė highlighted what she described as a clear policy contradiction. “On one hand, the state talks about encouraging birth rates, but on the other hand, it reduces the choices available to mothers and destroys precisely those places that families trust the most and where they feel safe,” she said.

Others have also pointed to structural issues in Lithuaniaʼs healthcare system. The current funding model reimburses hospitals largely based on the number of deliveries performed, which critics say incentivizes volume over quality. This approach can contribute to staff burnout, lower levels of individual care, and a tendency to favor faster, more intervention-heavy procedures, such as C-section births over natural births. Rimavičė stated that “maternity wards already face low pay and heavy workloads,” making it difficult to attract and retain staff, and leaving obstetrics systematically undervalued.

Observers have pointed to Germany as a potential model for reform. There, funding changes introduced payments that cover fixed costs regardless of delivery volume, helping maintain service availability and reducing incentives tied to the number of births.

Rimavičė said her initiativeʼs goal is to preserve the Kaunas Christian Maternity Home as an independent, family-oriented facility offering a “safe alternative between home birth and hospital inpatient birth.” She stressed that the group supports reform, but only if it improves conditions for mothers, including changes to the funding model and more targeted, quality-focused service optimization.

While this process is sometimes presented as part of “reorganization,” many see it as a sign of deeper changes affecting the identity of public space and the balance of its symbols.

The latest changes in Palmyra affected 16 school names. Among the most prominent was that of archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad, whose name became internationally associated with Palmyra after he spent more than four decades as director of its antiquities. He contributed to the discovery, restoration, and documentation of large parts of the ancient city before being killed by ISIS for refusing to reveal the locations of archaeological treasures. He later became an international symbol of the protection of heritage.

Also removed was the name of educator Jumaa al-Bayai, one of the pioneers of educational development in the Syrian Badia. His name was associated with social stability and educational work, and he helped graduate generations of professional cadres in the region.

The changes also included the name of writer and physician Abd al-Salam al-Ujayli, considered one of the pillars of modern Syrian culture. As a novelist and short-story writer, he helped consolidate Syria’s cultural standing, dedicating his life to documenting the identity of the Syrian Badia and serving his community as a doctor.

The name of Huda Shaarawi, an icon of the Arab women’s movement in the 20th century, was also removed. Shaarawi contributed to women’s empowerment and to helping to free women from rigid social constraints by advocating for their right to education and political participation. Her name was replaced at one of Palmyra’s schools with “Al-Shayma bint al-Harith.”

This step does not appear to be isolated. Days earlier, street names in the city of Homs were replaced with other names, removing figures such as Zaki al-Arsuzi, Saleh al-Ali, Sultan al-Atrash, and others.

Schools in several Syrian governorates have witnessed similar changes in recent months. In Aleppo, the names of about 128 schools were changed. The Sami al-Kayyali School, named after the writer and researcher, was renamed Imam al-Ghazali School. Other names were replaced with religious titles, such as Dawn of Islam and Aisha, Mother of the Believers.

The renaming has also affected two schools bearing the names of Christian figures, Mikhail Kashour and Antoine Aswad. The name of poet Nizar Qabbani was nearly replaced with that of one of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions before the decision was reversed. In Damascus, dozens of names were reconsidered, including an attempt to remove the name of playwright Saadallah Wannous, before officials backed down under public pressure.

The wave of school and street renaming, therefore, is not limited to the removal of symbols associated with Syria’s former authorities. It also extends to literary, scientific, and national figures with no connection to the previous government, raising serious questions about the criteria being used in the process.

At the same time, critics point to a clear increase in the adoption of religious names reflecting one particular identity, some of which are not connected to the Syrian context. They say this reflects the dominance of a single narrative at the expense of the country’s historical and cultural diversity.

While there is no objection to a balanced presence of religious figures in public life, critics stress that public space must continue to reflect the mosaic of society. For them, the debate has become a struggle over memory, identity, and Syria’s image.

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.

In a May 3 press conference, the Mexican cardinal noted that “this is nothing new; it’s what the people experience.”

The cardinal said this in response to a question from the press regarding recent controversy surrounding the unsealing of an indictment filed by a U.S. federal prosecutor, which was announced in an April 29 press release, against the governor of the state of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, and nine other Mexican officials.

Rocha, a member of the ruling Morena party, is charged with “narcotics importation [into the U.S.] conspiracy,” “possession of machine guns and destructive devices,” and “conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.” U.S. authorities are seeking life imprisonment for the politician, who is currently on leave from his post.

Regarding the accusations made by U.S. authorities, Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, said during her May 4 morning press conference that “we don’t cover for anyone” but demanded “evidence.”

“Let them send whatever evidence they have. And if warranted, the prosecutor’s office — the [federal] prosecutor’s office — will take action,” she said.

The power of organized crime in Mexico is 'nothing new’

Robles noted that “the allegations made by the U.S. government are one thing, allegations which I am willing to assume are based on investigation, on firsthand knowledge, and which have some foundation.”

However, he emphasized, “as far as our own country is concerned, something we have been saying and lamenting for a long time now, we are experiencing, at the level of many municipalities and several states, that the government, the decisions, are in the hands of organized crime.”

The residents experience this through a financial "levy they call ‘protection money’ — demanded, threatened, and coerced — because they have a business or hold a job, and are forced to pay a fee to organized crime,” he said.

The archbishop noted that the actions of criminals have also made themselves felt “during election periods,” and that he knows of cases involving candidates who “received threats from organized crime if they continued their bid for the office to which they were legitimately aspiring.”

This, he warned, “indicates that organized crime in many places puts forward its candidates, imposes its candidates under threat,” in situations that “speak to the very real power that organized crime holds within the structure of our society.”

“I don’t know to what degree the authorities bear a shared responsibility — it could not be otherwise — or to what degree there is impunity, for we do not see these matters being brought to trial or subjected to the enforcement of the law,” he stated. “In that sense, we can say that the drug traffickers govern in certain jurisdictions, in certain places.”

Violence in Jalisco and the extent of organized crime in Mexico

Jalisco is the stronghold of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State.

According to the 2025 Mexico Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, “over the last two decades, Jalisco has recorded both the highest number of disappeared [missing and presumed dead] persons and the highest number of bodies exhumed from clandestine graves.”

“Of the 3,335 bodies exhumed nationwide between late 2018 and late 2021, one-third were found in Jalisco alone, representing by far the highest figure recorded in any state,” the report notes.

An especially dramatic case that brought these practices to international light in early 2025 was that of “Rancho Izaguirre,” about 40 miles from Guadalajara, where charred human remains, along with hundreds of scattered clothes and shoes, were discovered in what had apparently functioned as an organized crime training and extermination camp.

Based on leaked intelligence from the Secretariat of National Defense, the Mexican newspaper El Universal produced an “Organized Crime Map” of Mexico in October 2022, indicating that “40% of the country’s states have their entire territory divided among one or more organized crime groups.”

“Of the 2,471 municipalities in Mexico, at least one cartel, crime gang, or crime cell is listed in 1,198 of them [48%],” the Mexican newspaper states.

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.

"Well, I can tell you this, that as far as the pope is concerned, itʼs very simple, whether I make him happy or I donʼt make him happy, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told EWTN News' Toby Capion when asked what message he hopes Rubio delivers to Leo at the May 7 meeting.

“And he seemed to be saying that they can [obtain a nuclear weapon], and I say they cannot because if that happened, the entire world would be hostage, and weʼre not going to let that happen,” he said. “Thatʼs my only message.”

Trump has repeated the claim several times that Leo believes Iran should be able to obtain a nuclear weapon; however, the pontiff has never said those words and has spoken out against nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and against nuclear weapons more broadly.

When speaking about the Israel-Iran conflict in June 2025, Leo said: “The commitment to creating a safer world, free from the nuclear threat, should be pursued through respectful encounter and sincere dialogue, to build a lasting peace, based on justice, fraternity, and the common good.”

On March 5, Leo spoke more broadly against nuclear weapons, saying: “May the nuclear threat never again dictate the future of humanity.”

During a news conference on May 5, Rubio told reporters that his May 7 meeting with Leo is not about the president’s criticism of the Holy Father. Rather, he said the meeting had already been scheduled.

“The trip is really not tied to anything other than the fact that it would be normal for us to engage with them and other secretaries of state have done that in the past,” Rubio said, noting common interests in religious freedom, Christian persecution, and humanitarian aid to Cuba.

While the Holy See has yet to make an official announcement, the news came as no surprise, as rumors of a papal trip to France had been circulating since March. 

“Since his election, a year ago, Pope Leo XIV has been asked by several bishops to come to France,” the communiqué said. The formal invitation was extended by Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, president of the French Bishops’ Conference, acting in coordination with the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Celestino Migliore. It received an important boost when French President Emmanuel Macron voiced his own support for the trip during his Vatican visit April 10.

Commenting on the announcement, Aveline, who has held several working sessions with the pope on the matter, said that “Leo XIV has expressed, on various occasions, the great esteem he holds for our country and its spiritual history.”

The cardinal continued: “His coming would be an opportunity to share with the pope what our Church in France is living and to let ourselves be encouraged by his word.” He added that the two had already begun mapping out a tentative itinerary.

According to the itinerary currently under consideration, the Holy Father would visit both the French capital — where he is also expected to visit Notre-Dame Cathedral — and Lourdes, a landmark site of Marian apparitions in the Pyrenees Mountains.

According to reporting by press agency I.Média quoted by Famille chrétienne, the name of Scy-Chazelles, a small town in the Moselle department (northeast of France) that is home to the residence and tomb of Robert Schuman — known as the “Father of Europe” and whose cause of canonization is underway — has also been regularly mentioned as a possible stop. The Diocese of Metz, however, has said it has no confirmed information to that effect. 

If the visit goes ahead as planned, Leo XIV would be the first pope to make an official state visit to France in nearly two decades. The last came in September 2008, when Benedict XVI traveled to Paris and Lourdes. Pope Francis visited France three times during his pontificate — in Strasbourg in 2014 to address the European Parliament, in Marseille in 2023 for the Mediterranean Meetings, and in Corsica for a symposium on “popular religiosity in the Mediterranean” in December 2024 — though none of these trips constituted an official state visit. John Paul II, for his part, made no fewer than seven trips to France across the course of his pontificate.

The choice of date, according to observers, can be explained by the Holy See’s desire to distance itself sufficiently from the electoral calendar in the interest of neutrality, as the presidential elections are scheduled for the first half of 2027.

The announcement comes at a time of unexpected renewal for Catholicism in France, a country known as the “eldest daughter of the Church” but long associated with aggressive “laicité” (“secularism”) and de-Christianization.

In recent years, the Church has seen a steady increase in the number of adult catechumens, with 13,000 of them receiving baptism at Easter this year. In response, the bishops of the Île-de-France region convened a dedicated pastoral council focused on how to welcome these newcomers appropriately — accompanying them not only through the sacraments of initiation but also toward a lasting and deeply rooted life of faith. 

Pending the official announcement from the Holy See, the bishops of France have asked all the faithful to hold the preparation of this event in prayer.

The pontiff will depart from Rome on June 6 at 8 a.m. local time and is scheduled to arrive in Madrid at 10:30 a.m.

At 11:30 a.m., a welcome ceremony will take place at the Royal Palace of Madrid, followed by a courtesy visit to the king and queen of Spain, Don Felipe VI and Doña Letizia. At the same venue, the pontiff will meet with government officials, members of civil society, and the diplomatic corps, before whom he will deliver his first address.

At 6 p.m., he will visit the CEDIA 24-hour facility (an outreach to homeless people). Later that evening, starting at 8:30 p.m., a prayer vigil with young people will be held at Plaza de Lima, adjacent to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

On Sunday, June 7, he will celebrate Mass in Cibeles plaza followed by the Corpus Christi procession. In the afternoon, he will hold a private meeting with members of the Order of St. Augustine at the nunciature, and at 6 p.m. he will preside over an event titled “Weaving Networks with the Worlds of Culture, Art, and Sport,” where he will deliver another address.

In the evening, he will dine at the residence of the archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal José Cobo.

On Monday, June 8, at 9:30 a.m., he will meet with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the nunciature before heading to the Congress of Deputies (lower house), where Leo XIV will become the first pontiff to address the countryʼs legislature, known as the Cortes Generales.

Subsequently, he will proceed to the headquarters of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary. There he will meet with the prelates. He will also meet with the bishops at the nunciature and have lunch there.

At 6 p.m., a prayer service and veneration of the Virgin of Almudena will take place at the cathedral. Afterward, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, he will meet with the diocesan community, where he will offer another reflection.

On Tuesday, June 9, before traveling to Barcelona, Leo XIV will meet with volunteers at a pavilion within the International Trade Fair Center, to whom he will address a few words.

Shortly after 11, he will take off from Madrid, arriving at El Prat airport in Barcelona around 12:30. At 1 p.m. he will pray midday prayer at the cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia, where he will deliver a homily.

At 8 p.m. a prayer vigil will take place at Olympic Stadium, where the pope will deliver an address.

The following morning, Wednesday, June 10, the Holy Father will travel to the “Brians 1” correctional facility. At noon, he will proceed to the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, where he will pray the rosary and deliver an address.

Following lunch with the Benedictine community of Montserrat, he will hold a meeting at 4:30 p.m. with charitable and social assistance organizations at the St Augustine Church, where he will give another reflection.

At 7:30 p.m., he will celebrate Mass at Sagrada Família Basilica, where the Jesus Christ Tower will be inaugurated.

On Thursday, June 11, the pope will travel to the city of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria Island. At 11:40 a.m., he will get a firsthand look at the reception of migrants at the port of the town of Arguineguín on the southern end of the island.

At 1:30 p.m., he will meet with bishops, priests, deacons, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers at Santa Ana Cathedral. Later that day, at 6:30 p.m., he will celebrate Mass at Gran Canaria Stadium.

On Friday, June 12, he will fly to the city of Santa Cruz on Tenerife Island, arriving at 9:10 a.m. Subsequently, he will hold a meeting with the migrants housed at the Las Raíces center.

At 10:10 a.m., a gathering focused on migrant integration initiatives is scheduled to take place at the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna. After noon, he will celebrate Mass at the port of Santa Cruz on Tenerife.

Following a farewell ceremony, his plane will take off at 3 p.m. bound for Rome, where it is scheduled to arrive at 8:10 p.m. Rome time.

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 Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll surveyed 2,560 American adults between April 24–28. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

Pollsters asked people whether they hold a positive or negative view about statements and actions by Trump, Leo, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

It found that 66% of people have a positive view of Leo asking Americans to contact members of Congress to work toward peace and reject war and only 30% view his words negatively.

Leo made that comment to reporters on April 7 after Trump threatened to annihilate the “whole civilization” of Iran if the country did not reach a peace deal with the U.S. The Holy Father called the threat “a sign of the hatred, the division, the destruction that the human being is capable of.”

The pontiff also called the language “unacceptable,” and the poll found most Americans agreed with that assessment. Only 21% of people viewed the threat positively, and 76% viewed it negatively.

Americans also disliked Trump saying “I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” which was one of the president’s reactions to the pope’s comments. It found just 38% of people viewing the retort positively and 57% viewing it negatively.

Leo never said Iran should have nuclear weapons but rather spoke against nuclear proliferation in the Middle East when Iran and Israel entered military conflict in 2025. The pontiff also spoke against nuclear weapons more broadly.

The poll found that Americans also overwhelmingly disliked Trump posting an AI-created image of himself resembling Jesus Christ amid his public disagreements with the Holy Father, finding that only 9% of people viewed it positively and 87% viewed it negatively. The president deleted the image and said he thought it portrayed him dressed as a doctor rather than Christ.

Americans also disliked a public prayer by Hegseth in which he asked God for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy” in relation to U.S. attacks on Iran. The poll found only 27% of Americans viewed those comments positively and 69% negatively.

Views on Trump and Leo

Trump’s approval among Catholics and Americans broadly has fallen in recent months amid the Iran war and the higher cost of gas and food and broader hikes in inflation and the cost of living that followed.

The poll found Trump’s disapproval from Americans rose to 62% and his approval rating was only 37%. On certain key issues, Trump’s approval is even worse, with 66% disapproving of the way he is handling Iran, 72% disapproving of his handling of inflation, and 76% disapproving of the way he has handled the cost of living.

It found 46% believe Trump’s attacks on Iran are inconsistent with his campaign promise to avoid foreign wars, 22% see it as consistent, and 30% are unsure. It found 36% of people believe military force against Iran was the right decision, and 61% view it as a mistake.

American views about Leo are much better, although many non-Catholics still do not have an opinion about the first American pontiff.

Only 38% of Catholics said they approve of Trump, and 61% said they disapprove. Among white Catholics, 49% approve and 51% disapprove. Among Hispanic Catholics, 25% approve and 72% disapprove.

The poll found that 41% of Americans have a favorable view of Leo, 16% have a negative view, and 43% have no opinion. Among Catholics, 61% have favorable views of the pope, 14% have unfavorable views, and 25% do not have an opinion.

Among Democratic or Democratic-leaning Catholics, 76% have a favorable view of Leo, 14% have a negative view, and 18% have no opinion. With Republican and Republican-leaning Catholics, 48% have a positive view, 23% have a negative view, and 29% have no opinion.

The poll found 60% of white Catholics have a favorable opinion of Leo and 15% have a negative view, with 24% holding no opinion. For Hispanic Catholics, 59% have a favorable view 12% have a negative view, and 29% have no opinion.

John White, professor emeritus of politics at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News the poll shows “the danger and absurdity” of Trump directly criticizing Leo when the president is facing bad poll numbers and when those who have an opinion about the pope mostly view him positively.

“Trump spent even more political capital with his false assertion that the pope favors a nuclear Iran,” he said. “As Pope Leo responded, this is simply not true. The teachings of the Catholic Church and of Pope Leoʼs predecessors have been consistent in this regard.”

Unlike Trump, White said Leo does not “think in terms of political capital but only to preach the Gospel.”

“In this, Pope Leo is fulfilling his mandate,” he said. “And the message of the Gospel has endured because billions of people have accepted it.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with Leo on May 7, although Rubio said this meeting was already planned and is not related to Trump’s comments.

For his part, Leo told reporters it’s “not in my interest at all” to debate with Trump: “So we go on the journey, we continue proclaiming the Gospel message.”

This story was updated at 5:15 p.m. ET on May 6, 2026, to include additional polling data related to favorability of the president and the pope among Catholics.

In an interview with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa,  following the resurgence of violence in Nigeria, Monsignor Pius Barinaadaa Kii stated that although Christianity promotes peace, believers must not ignore the need to protect their lives. 

“Christian persecution in Nigeria is real. It is more pronounced in some parts of the country than others,” he said during the May 4 interview.

He added: “Even though we adopt a nonviolent posture, we also have a necessary obligation to defend our lives and to defend ourselves to any extent that we can.”

Addressing concerns about insecurity and targeted attacks on Christians, Kii reiterated the Church’s long-standing commitment to peace while clarifying that this does not preclude self-defense.

He made reference to the teachings of Jesus Christ, explaining that while Christ advocated nonviolence, there were moments when he acknowledged the need for defense.

“Our Lord was a nonviolent person, because violence always begets violence,” he said.

He however pointed to a biblical moment involving Peter to underscore his argument, saying: “There was a moment in the life of Christ when he told Peter, ‘Sheath your sword, the moment will come when you will need it.’”

The Nigerian priest emphasized that Christians must remain vigilant and responsible in safeguarding their lives, especially in regions where attacks have become frequent.

Kii also addressed Nigeria’s current economic challenges, acknowledging the hardship faced by citizens while expressing cautious optimism about ongoing reforms.

He urged Nigerians to remain patient and forward-looking despite the difficulties.

“Nigeria has been in a situation for a very long time,” he noted, adding that while reforms are “very biting,” they are necessary steps toward long-term stability.

“The president himself said it will not be easy, but we should prepare for a rough ride so that we have a smoother ride tomorrow,” he said.

A canon lawyer, Kii expressed hope that the economic measures being implemented would eventually yield positive outcomes, likening the expected turnaround to the joy of Easter following the sorrow of Good Friday.

“We hope and pray that all the reforms will be quick for us at Easter in this country tomorrow,” he said.

Reflecting on Nigeria’s political future, particularly the 2027 general elections, Kii called for trust in divine providence and a renewed sense of faith among citizens. He urged Nigerians not to lose hope, emphasizing that God remains in control of the nation’s destiny.

“God remains God on his own terms. Let God be God on his own terms,” he said.

Kii said faith in God’s plan is essential in navigating both political uncertainties and national challenges. He reassured Nigerians that the country is on a divinely guided path.

“God knows what he is doing in our country. God knows where he is taking our country to,” he said.

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

“The new species is dedicated to the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV,” authors Peter Huemer, Lauri Kaila, and Andreas H. Segerer wrote in a research article on the species. “The pontiff is a strong advocate of climate and environmental protection, and we hope that his voice may serve as an example for humanity.”

In the journal, Nota Lepidopterologica, the entomologists said the species was discovered on the Mediterranean island of Crete. It is a medium-sized species with a 2-centimeter wingspan, gold spots, and prominent white bands.

“Furthermore, due to its distinctive coloration and overall appearance, the new species belongs to a group of Pyralidae whose species names refer to high secular or ecclesiastical offices including Pyralis regalis, Pyralis imperialis, Pyralis princeps, and Pyralis cardinalis,” they wrote.

Butterflies are often named after external characteristics, geographical locations, or in honor of distinguished individuals, according to a press release from Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, or the Tyrolean State Museum, located in Innsbruck, Austria.

Within the Pyralis genus, a different tradition has emerged. As early as 1775, Austrian naturalists and Jesuits Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller described the first species of the group as Pyralis regalis, or "royal,” due to its coloration.

This prompted similar names including Pyralis princeps and Pyralis cardinalis, which belong to the superfamily Pyraloidea comprised of 16,000 described species worldwide.

In the Old Testament (Genesis 2), Adam is instructed to name all animals. According to the museum, this led to the action of taxonomy — the science of classifying, naming, and categorizing organisms — to often be considered, “in the biblical sense, the oldest task of humankind.”

According to Huemer, head of studies at the Tyrolean State Museum, the naming process is more than a scientific act but a symbolic gesture. For the Pope Leo moth, it is an appeal to the head of the Catholic Church and to draw attention to humanityʼs central responsibility for the preservation of creation.

“We are facing a global biodiversity crisis, yet only a fraction of the world’s species has been scientifically documented,” Huemer said in a statement. “Effective conservation of biodiversity requires that species are first recognized, described, and named.”

Huemer’s call echoes the pope’s "call for conversion” at a 2025 international conference on climate justice, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si’.

“It is only by returning to the heart that a true ecological conversion can take place,” the Holy Father said. “We must shift from collecting data to caring, and from environmental discourse to an ecological conversion that transforms both personal and communal lifestyles."

While the poll outcomes from the two southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been soothing for Christians, the results from West Bengal and Assam in eastern and northeastern India have come as frustrating for Christian communities.

Kerala: A ‘clear verdict’ against propaganda

In the southern Christian heartland of Kerala, the ruling communist alliance was decimated to 35 seats while the opposition Congress-led alliance won 102 seats in the 140-member assembly of Kerala, a state of 35 million people, 18% of whom are Christian.

“The result has shown that the people cannot be misled by propaganda and they have given a clear verdict against it,” Father Thomas Tharayil, deputy secretary of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, told EWTN News on May 6.

The remark came against the backdrop of anti-Christian propaganda by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with prominent Christians in the BJP even attacking Church leaders for the Churchʼs protest against the draconian amendment to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

Christians in Kerala were relieved after four prominent Christians who had allied with the BJP lost the polls despite making much noise against church leadership: P.C. George, a seven-time Kerala legislator; his son Shone George; federal Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurian; and Anoop Antony.

Half a dozen other Christian candidates the BJP fielded in Christian pockets under its lotus symbol also lost, while the party won just three seats with its Hindu candidates.

Tamil Nadu: A ‘genuinely historic’ TVK upset

In neighboring Tamil Nadu, with a population of 77 million, the new political party TVK (Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam — Victory Party of Tamil Nadu), founded by Catholic actor Joseph Vijay, stunned the Dravidian parties that had held power for nearly six decades between them.

Under Vijayʼs leadership, the TVK he founded in 2024 won 108 of the 234 seats in the state legislature, with the ruling DMK reduced to 73 and the opposition AIADMK left with 53 seats.

Describing the TVK victory that stunned even poll forecasts as “genuinely historic,” Father Charles Antony, editor of the Catholic fortnightly New Leader based in Chennai, told EWTN News: “Vijayʼs victory is real, consequential, and disruptive [of the] bipolar politics” in the state, which has more than 5 million Christians.

“He visited churches, temples, and mosques alike during the campaign, successfully projecting himself as a leader for all communities. This secular messaging helped his party distance itself from identity-based polarization,” he added.

While Vijay is “Catholic,” Antony emphasized that “his Christian identity is incidental to his politics. Attacks from the BJP [on his Christian identity] with ‘minority’ tag against him, paradoxically, may have helped consolidate minority votes.”

West Bengal: ‘A terrible result many had feared’

The likely outcome in West Bengal — the state bordering Bangladesh — had been the subject of much conjecture even before voting, due to the controversial, hurried action of the Election Commission of India that disenfranchised more than 9 million, or 12%, of its 76 million voters under a Special Intensive Revision of the voter list.

The Trinamool Congress, which had ruled the state since 2011 across three consecutive terms, lost the election badly — as many had feared — winning a mere 80 seats while the BJP captured power in the state for the first time, with 205 seats in the 294-seat state assembly.

“This is a terrible result many had feared,” Sunil Lucas, former president of Signis India, told EWTN News, while prominent Church leaders declined to comment on the results that bring the Hindu nationalist BJP to power in West Bengal — with Kolkata as its capital — for the first time.

“Decoding BJPʼs Bengal sweep: 77 seats won in 2021 retained, 129 wrested from TMC,” Indian Express summed up the results, which were flayed by the ruling party and the opposition parties other than the BJP.

On May 5, the national news channel NDTV carried a similar report with graphic details on how the ruling Trinamool Congress party “performed in seats with high voter deletions.” In constituencies where more than 25,000 voters had been disenfranchised, the BJP had won 95 of 147 seats, the report pointed out.

Assam: ‘Democracy becomes a failure’

In Assam state in the northeast, the BJP improved its tally with allies to 102 of the stateʼs 126 seats, securing a third consecutive term.

“When the ruling party with over two-thirds majority has no member of the minorities in the legislature, democracy becomes a failure,” Allen Brooks, a Catholic and spokesperson for the ecumenical Assam Christian Forum, told EWTN News.

While none of the 82 BJP winners are from the Muslim community, which accounts for 34% of Assamʼs population, Brooks also lamented that “there is not a single Christian in the Assam Assembly now, though Christians account for 3.7%” of the stateʼs 31 million people.

Commenting on the election results, Cardinal Anthony Poola, president of the Catholic Bishops' conference of India, in a May 6 statement said: “The true measure of a vibrant democracy lies not just in the successful conduct of elections but in the steadfast commitment of elected leaders to serve the most vulnerable. We urge the new governments to work hand-in-hand with all institutions to build a more just, inclusive, and equitable India.”

This story was updated at 12:29 p.m. ET on May 6, 2026, to include Cardinal Anthony Poolaʼs statement.

His remarks in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, come against a backdrop of growing concerns about mental health issues within the clergy. In April, Filipino Cardinal José Advíncula warned that “almost 1 in 5 priests in the Philippines suffers from psychological distress” and urged that mental health be prioritized in order to sustain pastoral ministry.

Vial, a professor of psychology and spiritual life in the theology department of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, emphasized that this problem should come as no surprise, as it is part of a broader reality.

“In many countries and not just among priests, people suffer from psychological distress,” he said, noting that “nearly 30% of the adult population suffers from some form of psychological pathology” and that anxiety "affects roughly 25% of the general population.”

Warning signs: When to be concerned

Vial stressed the importance of identifying warning signs. According to the specialist, the first sign of a mental health issue is often “a continuously and excessively negative emotional state: fear, sadness, distress, anger, and persistent negative thoughts.”

He further warned that these signs must be taken seriously when they persist over time: “When you observe a person who is overly anxious, overly insecure, or overly sad for a period that has already lasted, for instance, a couple of weeks, that’s a warning sign that requires attention.”

Otherwise, he cautioned, the situation may get worse: “If not addressed, the alarm itself turns into a fire. The person ends up getting burned."

Regarding treatment, Vial emphasized the importance of a proper diagnosis: “The first step is to make a diagnosis … to give a name to the difficulties.” He explained that it is not enough to treat the symptoms; rather, it is necessary to get to the root causes.

Likewise, he issued a clear call to seek out specialists: “You shouldn’t be afraid of health professionals — psychologists, psychiatrists, and doctors.”

Burnout: A common risk among priests

Among the most common problems he sees in priests is burnout, or what he calls the “disillusioned Good Samaritan syndrome,” which he described as “a state of exhaustion” linked to constantly serving others.

“It occurs in people who work by serving others, by giving of themselves to others,” he explained, noting that it affects not only priests but also doctors, teachers, and mothers.

A particularly relevant aspect is its root cause: “Often, it is not brought about by overwork but rather by service work that has lost its sense of purpose.”

Shared responsibility in the Church

Vial emphasized that caring for mental health is not solely an individual responsibility. “When problems arise in a diocese, the bishop must take the time to see what is happening,” he said, noting that both personal and institutional factors are typically involved.

Among these, he cited “excessive perfectionism,” “insecurity,” and “unhealed wounds” but also situations such as “leaving the priest excessively isolated” or “burdening him with too many responsibilities without providing support.”

“That is why it is a collaborative effort,” he emphasized.

Vial highlighted the importance of the support provided by the laity. “All of us in the Church must pray for our priests … and look out for our pastors,” he said. They are “the ones entrusted with leading us to heaven and bringing heaven down to earth.”

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.

On April 20, the permit to remove and replace the windows in one of the nave’s southern chapels, designed under Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, the architect behind Notre Dame’s iconic spire, was publicly posted on the cathedral’s railings, triggering an almost immediate legal response. The heritage preservation group “Sites et Monuments,” which watched helplessly as scaffolding was erected on April 27, announced that it would file an urgent legal appeal before the Paris Administrative Court targeting the authorization itself.

The plan to replace these windows with contemporary creations by French artist Claire Tabouret — unveiled to the public at the Grand Palais late last year — has drawn unusually broad opposition over the past two years, from heritage experts to Catholic figures.

A battle over the cathedral’s identity

Included among the main arguments against the project are that the Viollet-le-Duc windows belong to the cathedral’s 19th-century restoration and that introducing contemporary works in the nave would disrupt its balance. The proposed designs have themselves been criticized as overly figurative for the nave. For many, removing windows that survived the 2019 blaze — and have since been cleaned and restored — runs counter to the logic of the restoration itself.

Critics also point to the estimated cost of the project, around 4 million euros (about $4.7 million), as disproportionate, given broader heritage needs. The project has also faced opposition from France’s National Commission for Heritage and Architecture, which issued a negative opinion in July 2024.

For the president of Sites et Monuments, Julien Lacaze, the issue touches the core of heritage protection. “The question is whether the Viollet-le-Duc windows that are to be removed have artistic and historical value or not,” he said in an interview with Famille Chrétienne. “Viollet-le-Duc was not simply a restorer; he was a creator in the full sense. What matters is his vision of the Middle Ages and the freedom with which he approached it.”

The association had already filed a previous legal challenge last year, contesting the authority of the public body overseeing Notre Dame’s restoration to remove the windows. That case is still under appeal, while the new action goes directly to the substance of the decision. To support its legal efforts, Sites et Monuments has also launched a crowdfunding campaign.

Beyond the courtroom, the backlash continues to grow across France, with more than 340,000 people having signed a petition calling for the preservation of the Viollet-le-Duc windows.

The scale of public opposition has done little to slow the project, which many see as a reflection of President Emmanuel Macron’s desire to leave a contemporary mark on the restored cathedral — a vision already tested after the 2019 fire, when his proposal to replace the spire with a modern design was ultimately set aside after intense controversy. Critics now see the stained-glass project as a renewed attempt to leave his mark on the monument.

More broadly, the controversy points to a deeper divide over how the past should be treated — preserved as an inherited whole or reinterpreted through contemporary artistic choices. Supporters of the project argue that historic monuments must remain open to new forms of expression; Tabouret, who designed the controversial windows in question, has warned against “freezing” a monument in time.

Priest’s call to protest

While Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich has approved the current project, a position echoed by some within the Church who see contemporary art as a legitimate expression within historic monuments, the proposal is not enjoying unanimous support within Catholic ranks.

One of the most outspoken voices in recent days has been Father Michel Viot, a Paris-based priest who has called for a peaceful public protest.

In a message on social media, he said that Catholics in Paris, across France and abroad — particularly those who contributed to the cathedral’s restoration — should be “warned of the day hands are laid on the windows.” He urged them to gather on-site either with rosaries, or simply “to pray or protest,” all to “demand respect for the law.” He denounced what he described as an arbitrary decision and an attack on beauty that, in his words, serves a “culture of death.”

The fact that the works were authorized despite repeated negative opinions from heritage authorities has reinforced the perception of a top-down initiative driven primarily by political considerations — a perception that has since ignited a broader wave of outrage across social media.

For now, all eyes turn to the administrative court, where the fate of the project may soon be tested.

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

The intersection of Pineapple and Henry streets in Brooklyn Heights was renamed to “Dorothy Day Way” on May 2. Day was born nearby at 71 Pineapple St. in 1897.

Martha Hennessy, Day’s granddaughter, and members of the Dorothy Day Guild attended the ceremony unveiling the new street sign.

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Hennessy called the ceremony “a beautiful moment” in an interview with The Tablet.

Alex Avitabile, a member of the guild, spearheaded the campaign to honor her by changing the street name. He recalled meeting her in 1970 after a talk she gave at the Catholic Worker House in Rochester, New York, saying he recognized that he was in the presence of a holy person.

“I knew,” Avitabile shared. “She had a way about her — her eyes. There are a few people I’ve met who are saintly people. And I could just see that.”

Kevin Ahern, board chairman of the guild, also attended the unveiling ceremony and said he believes the new street name can be an evangelization tool.

“By learning about her,“ he said, people ”can be inspired by her to live their life a little bit different and make the world a better place.”

“I truly believe that she will bring so much good to the Catholic Church and bring people back to the Church,” Hennessy said.

Her cause for canonization opened in 2000, and she is now recognized as a servant of God, the first step in the process toward possible sainthood.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Chicago, Day was baptized Episcopalian at the age of 12. From a young age she showed signs of caring deeply about religion and justice.

As a young woman, she was shaped by the social upheavals of the 1910s and influenced by works like Upton Sinclairʼs book “The Jungle,” which exposed the harsh realities of industrial labor. She left college and moved to New York, working as a reporter for a socialist newspaper and immersing herself in radical political and artistic circles, including a relationship with anarchist Forster Batterham.

In the 1920s, Day settled on Staten Island, where she raised her daughter, Tamar, and gradually deepened her spiritual life. Drawn to Catholicism, she began praying regularly and had her daughter baptized before entering the Catholic Church herself in 1927.

After becoming a single mother, her concern for the poor took on new urgency. In 1933, she partnered with Peter Maurin to launch the Catholic Worker Movement, combining direct service with a radical commitment to living out the Gospel through voluntary poverty.

Through the movement, Day helped establish houses of hospitality, soup kitchens, and farming communities, serving those in need throughout the Great Depression and beyond. A lifelong pacifist, she spoke out against war, including the Vietnam War, and supported labor rights and civil rights efforts. Day never took a salary for her work and remained committed to serving the marginalized for decades.

She died in 1990 and her legacy continues through Catholic Worker communities worldwide.

Rubio was asked by a reporter during a news conference on May 5 whether the May 7 meeting is an attempt to “smooth things over” with Leo after Trump called him “weak on crime” and “weak on nuclear weapons” and falsely accused him of wanting Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

The secretary said this is not the reason for the meeting, but instead it is “a trip we had planned from before.” He acknowledged “we had some stuff that happened” but said there is “a lot to talk about with the Vatican.”

“The pope just returned from a trip to Africa, where the Church is growing very vibrantly, and we have shared concerns about religious freedom in different parts of the world,” Rubio said. “We’d love to talk to them about that.”

Rubio added that the U.S. gave $6 million of humanitarian aid to Cuba, which was distributed by the Church, and “we’d like to do more” with that partnership.

“We’re willing to give more humanitarian aid to Cuba, by the way, distributed through the Church, but the Cuban regime has to allow us to do it,” he said.

A reporter also asked Rubio about Trump’s more recent comment about Leo on May 4. On “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” the president again accused Leo of holding the view that “it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon” and added: “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.”

In response, Rubio said the president’s position is that “Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon because they would use it against places that have a lot of Catholics, including Christians and others for that matter.”

“[Trump] doesn’t understand why anybody — leave aside the pope — the president, and I for that matter, I think most people, I cannot understand why anyone would think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon,” Rubio said.

Although Leo has urged diplomacy in Iran as opposed to war, the Holy Father has not said he supports Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. Rather, the pope has spoken out strongly against nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.

Rubio accused Iran of “holding the whole world hostage” by refusing to let ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran threatened to block all ships from passing through the strait without express permission from its government following the American and Israeli attack. The U.S. is now blockading every ship that coordinates with Iran.

“What do you think they would do if they had a nuclear weapon?” Rubio said. “They would hold the world hostage with that nuclear weapon.”

Rubio was also asked about the upcoming papal visit by an Italian journalist. He similarly said he plans to discuss “the destruction of religious liberty, the persecution of Christian minorities, and also the challenges that are being faced by Christians in Africa, where the pope just recently visited.”

“So we have a lot to talk about with them and I engage with them quite a bit on that front, so the trip is really not tied to anything other than the fact that it would be normal for us to engage with them and other secretaries of state have done that in the past,” he said.

“The pope is obviously the vicar of Christ … but he’s also the head of a nation-state and it’s an organization that has a presence in over a hundred-something countries around the world and we engage with the Vatican quite a bit because they’re present in many different places,” Rubio said.

In a May 4 letter to Congress, Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, who heads the Committee on Pro-Life Activities for the U.S. bishops, urged Congress “to advance appropriations that respect and affirm the dignity of all human life, from conception to natural death.”

Addressed to the chairs and vice chairs for the committees on appropriations of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, Thomas in the letter voiced support for policies that support women and children, defund abortion providers, and support restorative reproductive medicine.

“We continue to call for policies that put children and families first,” he said. “Funding priorities, aligned in this way, must respond to mothers in need and their babies, born and preborn alike.”

Thomas urged Congress to invest in maternal and child health as well as fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

“In addition to such assistance, pro-family policies ought to support husbands and wives and the integrity of the family itself,” he continued.

Thomas noted that the bishops' priorities, such as “support for the poor, migrants and refugees, foreign assistance, environmental protection, health care, housing, nutrition, and more,” are founded in the “dignity and flourishing of the human person” through “the protection of innocent, preborn lives.”

Thomas urged Congress to continue upholding the Hyde Amendment, which protects taxpayer funding from being used for abortions, and to “oppose any bill that expands taxpayer funding of elective abortion.”

He also called for an extension of “last year’s historic, one-year defunding of the abortion industry in Medicaid within the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ (H.R.1),” which expires in July.

“We urge Congress not only to extend this prohibition of funding in the budget reconciliation process but complement this effort through other appropriations packages, such as by defunding major abortion providers in the Title X family planning program,” Thomas said.

“Congress should do all it can to defund this enterprise and, instead, ensure greater support for authentic, life-affirming health care providers who truly serve mothers and their children in need,” he continued.

Planned Parenthood performed an all-time high of 434,450 abortions of unborn babies in 2023-2024, according to the organizationʼs most recent annual report. Almost half of Planned Parenthood’s revenue came from taxpayer dollars, even as abortion services increased and other services dwindled, according to the groupʼs 2024-2025 annual report.

Thomas also voiced support for restorative reproductive medicine to help couples experiencing infertility have families.

“We support funding and access to resources, such as training or research, for holistic and comprehensive restorative reproductive medicine, to help identify and treat underlying causes for those experiencing infertility,” he said.

The bishop voiced opposition to in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos.

“IVF represents an underregulated industry that creates hundreds of thousands or even millions of preborn children who will be interminably frozen, lost in attempts to implant them within a mother, or discarded and killed (often in a selective, eugenic manner),” Thomas said.

“By turning the conception of children into a lucrative manufacturing process, IVF also violates their rights and treats them like property,” he continued.

Nevertheless, he said, “no one has any less worth because of being conceived through IVF. Every person has infinite, inherent dignity, which must be upheld through every stage and circumstance of life.”

“Society must make it easier to welcome and raise a new child and should promote life and hope for preborn children and their mothers and fathers,” Thomas said.

The long-lived prelate, who was ordained in 1959 and appointed a bishop by Pope Paul VI in 1971, was the bishop emeritus of Corpus Christi since his retirement in 1997. He was appointed to that diocese in 1983 and had previously served as the bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, and as an auxiliary bishop of Miami.

Born in New Orleans on June 9, 1923, Gracida said that as a young man he was captivated by the depiction of Jesuit martyrs in James Fenimore Cooperʼs 1826 novel "The Last of the Mohicans."

He told the journalist Jim Graves in 2016 that upon entering the Benedictine monastery he took the name of the Jesuit martyr Rene Goupil, who was tortured and martyred by Iroquois in 1642.

Among the dwindling number of World War II veterans still alive, Gracida served with distinction in the U.S. Army Air Corps, flying multiple missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. In one mission over the Ruhr Valley his airplane lost two engines, leading him to nearly bail out over enemy territory before the craft recovered.

His flying career did not end after World War II. He told Graves that following a stint in the hospital in 1972 after he drove across Southern Florida performing dozens of confirmations, he acquired a pilotʼs license and a small aircraft, which allowed him to fly around the archdiocese rather than spend long hours on the road.

In several instances, he said, he blacked out during intense thunderstorms, waking up at different altitudes than when he lost consciousness. “It’s another example of God preserving my life,” he said.

Gracida said that he considered EWTN foundress Mother Angelica a friend. In his 2005 biography of Mother Angelica, Raymond Arroyo noted that when the U.S. bishops debated the extent of their collaboration with EWTN in 1988, Gracida “cinched the deal” by proposing that the bishops adhere to a secret ballot when voting on any disputes.

Gracida was among the signatories of the Aug. 11, 2017, “filial correction” addressed to then-Pope Francis over the Holy Fatherʼs apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

In his later years he was known for expressing a number of controversial views, including a claim that Pope Benedict XVIʼs 2013 resignation was invalid. He was a vocal supporter of the Traditional Latin Mass.

In announcing his death, the Diocese of Corpus Christi said that under his leadership it developed its communications arm and expanded ministries throughout the diocese.

A trained architect, the bishop reportedly reviewed all diocesan building proposals before they were sent to construction. The bishop in his retirement “remained active and was an avid hunter and fisher,” the diocese said.

Earlier this year, in a statement to the advocacy group Catholics for Catholics, he exhorted listeners to “keep the faith.”

“As long as your faith is a motivating factor in your life, guiding what you do, youʼre on the right track,” he said.

He told Graves in 2016 that his many brushes with death — including a near-fatal case of pneumonia in the 1950s — led him to believe that he was kept alive for a purpose.

“I have no doubt that the only reason I’m alive today ... is because God has work for me to do,” he said at the time. “I have a message to deliver; God has kept me alive to deliver it.”

“I know that I am not capable of this big responsibility,” Vaquilar said. "But being chosen for this big responsibility, I am hoping for all the help from God, for I know he will guide me as a pastor,” the bishop-designate said after David William Antonio, archbishop of Nueva Segovia — the jurisdiction in which Vaquilar had served until now — announced his appointment.

“Your presence is a blessing, and we look forward to journeying together in faith, hope, and service. Thank you for saying ‘yes’ to this new ministry. The local Church of Urdaneta is blessed to have you as our new shepherd,” the Diocese of Urdaneta posted on Facebook.

Vaquilar succeeds Bishop Jacinto A. José, who led the diocese for over 20 years and whose resignation the pope accepted after the prelate reached the age of 75, the retirement age for bishops in the Catholic Church.

Who is the new bishop of Urdaneta?

Born on May 3, 1970, in the town of Cabugao in Ilocos Sur province, Vaquilar studied philosophy at the San Pablo University Seminary in Baguio and theology at the Immaculate Conception School of Theology in Vigan. He earned a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and a doctorate in biblical theology from the Loyola School of Theology in Quezon City.

He was ordained a priest on May 5, 1997, for the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia.

He has held the following positions, among others: parochial vicar of the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Paul in Vigan (1997–2000, 2004); professor and resident formator at the Immaculate Conception School of Theology in Vigan (2000–2001, 2005–2009); and rector of the Immaculate Conception School of Theology in Vigan (2009–2011, and subsequently, since 2015).

He has also served as parish priest at St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Sinait (2013–2014) and as director of the Archdiocesan Biblical Apostolate since 2018.

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.

Speaking anonymously to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, a priest in active service in Nicaragua revealed the exact mechanisms by which the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, control, surveil, and silence the Catholic Church in the country.

The Nicaraguan dictatorship intensified its persecution of the Church in 2018 after bishops and priests offered to mediate between the regime and civil society in the wake of popular protests. Documented attacks against Catholics in the country now total over 1,030, and 149 priests have been expelled or exiled.

The priest said the population “has grown accustomed to the situation and no longer says anything. I sense a calm atmosphere, yet the restrictions, which are always present, persist, because there is no freedom.”

Every Sunday, 'the police arrive to take my photograph’

Speaking about how the police monitor priests and bishops, the priest recounted: “Whenever there are liturgical services, we have to report what they are and where they are being held; we have to report when we leave our parish boundaries, and we have to state how long we intend to remain at any location outside of it.”

“And the police arrive to take my photograph, always, every Sunday. It’s a way of verifying that we are where we said we would be. Police superiors require their officers to provide evidence of the visits they conduct, and thatʼs how they maintain control,” he added.

“If you fail to give notice,” the priest continued, “sometimes nothing happens; but other times when they realize that youʼre outside the parish and didn’t give prior notice, they make a call. There have been times when it simply slipped my mind to let them know.”

Regarding the bishops, he said he believes that “yes, they are monitored, they are kept under surveillance. And the police are constantly asking about this or that meeting: where it’s going to take place and whether the bishop will be there.” It also appears the police do in fact “have some person along with his vehicle assigned to” follow the bishops.

Political or social issues avoided in homilies

The priest explained that no priest can speak about social or political topics; otherwise, he risks being considered an opponent to the regime and it could cost him one of two things: “imprisonment or exile.”

“If we speak about a social problem or something currently taking place, they may view us as opponents, as if we were delivering a speech inciting rebellion. And so, they keep watch. They listen whether in person or via broadcasts, and they record us and file reports,” he said.

Any criticism of the dictatorship, he added, “they interpret as political discourse or an act of insurrection. And so that can have consequences.”

The priest recounted that whenever he learns of a fellow priest being imprisoned, there is “total silence. You can’t visit them; you can’t speak with them.”

Pressure on the bishops

ACI Prensa asked the priest why the bishops of Nicaragua do not typically speak about the situation in the country or criticize the dictatorship.

“First, perhaps, out of fear of being expelled. I believe thatʼs the primary factor. And there is the fear of leaving a large population of believers [without a bishop] as happened in Matagalpa, Estelí, or Jinotega” where the bishops are in exile, the priest noted.

The four dioceses currently without a bishop present in the country are Jinotega, whose bishop, Carlos Herrera, serves as president of the bishops' conference; Siuna, Matagalpa, and Estelí. The latter two are headed by Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was exiled to Rome in January 2024.

The priest noted that “in the dioceses where the bishops are absent, there are no priestly ordinations, primarily because the bishops are not there.”

“They [the police] are specifically keeping those dioceses under surveillance,” he added, explaining that a bishop from another diocese is also not permitted to ordain priests who fall outside his own jurisdiction.

In a diocese where the bishop is still present, he continued, “ordinations do take place, but they are conducted with great prudence and caution; they are not given much publicity or promoted in the media, so as to avoid any difficulties.”

The priest noted that there has been a decline in the number of priests due to expulsions, and that the most affected diocese is Matagalpa, with nearly half of its clergy now outside the country — a reprisal against Álvarez, who “in his homilies never sugarcoated” the situation in Nicaragua.

Processions banned in Nicaragua

The priest said that while most processions are banned, “there are some, traditionally massive in scale, that have been permitted,” such as those for St. Jerome or the Virgin of Mercy; “but more for their cultural and tourism value and not because it might be an opening toward the faith which they [the police] have otherwise closed.”

The priest recalled when he requested permission from the police to hold a procession and an officer told him that they could imprison him if he proceeded with it.

How does the Church get by day to day?

In 2023, the dictatorship banned the inflow of foreign funds to the Catholic Church after accusing it of “money laundering,” an accusation deemed “ridiculous” at the time by Félix Maradiaga, president of the Freedom for Nicaragua Foundation, while simultaneously freezing the bank accounts of the country’s parishes and dioceses in an attempt to further curtail their activities.

“There are no [parish] vehicles, and it’s impossible to purchase them using the offertory funds because the people are poor. So I have to go around asking people to give me a ride,” he recounted.

Among the many institutions whose legal status was revoked by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship — meaning they cease to function and their assets are transferred to the regime — is Caritas Nicaragua, the charitable arm of the Catholic Church, which was dissolved by the dictatorship in March 2023.

“We no longer have access to Caritas or foreign aid, because all of that has been banned. Consequently, here, assistance is provided by the population itself amid their poverty,” the priest emphasized.

Without the assistance of Caritas, “it’s the community itself that takes it upon itself to help us. We rely on divine providence, and thatʼs how we carry on.”

“If we survive, it’s because of the help of the people themselves. The people pay for the electricity and the water. These costs are not paid with the collection or offerings. The same goes for food; the people pitch in to help me. Without that, it would not be sustainable,” he explained.

“We collaborate with the people; we help, we deliver food, provisions to certain people. I haven’t had any issues with the police in that regard, but I do it publicly; I don’t do it in secret,” he explained.

According to an April World Bank report, 2.8 million people in Nicaragua live in poverty.

Are there vocations in Nicaragua?

The Nicaraguan priest highlighted that, despite everything, there still are vocations. “It’s true that there was a decline in vocations after 2018. There was significant attrition and a decrease in numbers, and many young people left the country; however, vocations are currently on the rise.”

The year 2018 marked a turning point in the persecution against the Church. Protests against the dictatorship prompted the regime to intensify its multifaceted attacks against Catholics. Nicaraguan lawyer and activist Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report ”Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” provides a detailed account of these attacks.

“Today, vocations are once again beginning to resurge in the seminaries. Before last year there were few, but today the number of seminarians has already risen,” the priest added.

Despite the tribulations, the Church in Nicaragua ‘walks with hope’

The priest said “a characteristic of Nicaraguans is their love for the pope, because he [represents human] dignity and the Church, it’s something that characterizes the Nicaraguan Catholic.”

Bolstered by the pope’s encouragement expressed to the exiled Nicaraguan bishops in August 2025 and despite all the difficulties facing Nicaragua, the priest said there are reasons for hope, such as those newly baptized at Easter.

“I believe that the Church in Nicaragua is a suffering Church; yet, above all that suffering, we press onward. We are spurred on and find hope in the knowledge of what Easter has given us: the resurrection of Christ, that Christ is alive, that Christ is with us, and that he walks in our midst,” he said.

“Even amid these tribulations,” he affirmed, “the Church in Nicaragua moves forward with confidence; it moves forward with hope. We’re not sorrowful; we are joyful. We simply hope to receive the solidarity and attention of the world, and that, one day, we may be able to live out our faith in complete freedom.”

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 his homily, Doran addressed the relationship between science, faith, and human dignity, centering his message on the truth regarding the human embryo and the child in the mother’s womb.

He reminded the congregation that there is no conflict between the truth of science and the truth of faith, and clarified that the starting point of faith “is the revealed word of God, which, for us Christians, comes to its completeness in the person and teaching of Jesus.”

Along these lines, he emphasized that scientific advancements have made it possible to confirm that the genetic identity of a new individual “is already established once fertilization has occurred,” noting that “what happens after that is an amazing process of growth and development.”

Based on this, the theologian and bioethicist further stated that anyone who denies the essential continuity between the embryo and the baby born nine months later “is flying in the face of truth.”

Referencing Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, he noted that “in every living thing there must be a first principle of life which explained and governed all its action.”

“Human action,” he continued, “includes complex reasoning and the formation of concepts, which are beyond the limits of the material world.”

This, according to Doran, led many of these thinkers to conclude “that the first principle of life in human beings must be a spiritual soul.”

The bishop pointed out that “once there is a living body, even one as small as an embryo, there must be a soul which explains and directs all its growth and development and its action throughout the cycle of life.”

He also emphasized that “everything in the universe is not only created by God but finds its purpose and meaning in an order established by God,” underscoring that “there is an intelligent plan, and we mess with nature at our peril.”

Abortion not only kills babies but also wounds women

In light of these considerations, the bishop noted that abortion “not only kills babies, it also wounds women in the depth of their being” and does “untold moral and spiritual damage to all who promote it or who participate in it, precisely because it flies in the face of truth.”

In connection with the introduction of a new bill to expand the availability of abortion in the country, he questioned the reasons why some legislators seem determined “to ignore the truth or to deny it entirely.”

In this regard, he appealed to the responsibility of Catholics to know the Gospel of Life “in all its dimensions, and to confidently bear witness to it, both in our private lives and in the public space.”

“We need to find new ways of offering life-affirming support to women who are in crisis during pregnancy or after the birth of a child,” he emphasized.

Doran recalled the invitation of Pope Leo XIV: “The Church is called to reach all peoples, not by imposing itself but by bearing witness to the truth in charity.”

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 patriarch described the digital attack on him as “a war of words, not freedom of opinion, but a worrying decline in the standards of language and values, and a violation of human dignity that no one has the right to infringe upon, regardless of its source or form.”

The digital attack involved the circulation of altered images portraying the patriarch in mocking and degrading ways.

Jowelle M. Howayeck, a Lebanese civic activist and 2022 parliamentary candidate, argued that the campaign is neither spontaneous nor ambiguous in its intent. “It is both intimidation and sectarian provocation, and it is deliberate,” she said.

For Howayeck, the timing is not accidental. She links the campaign to a broader political context in which Hezbollah is “losing political ground,” prompting what she describes as a predictable shift in strategy: “Divert attention from the core issue and construct a new confrontation that can be framed as a symbolic victory.”

In her view, “this is not political engagement. It is crisis management through fear, distraction, and division.”

The campaign, she added, also reflects a deepening rupture between Hezbollah and the Christian community.

Digital confrontations of this kind are not new in Lebanon’s political landscape, but they carry particular risks in a country built on a fragile and strained social contract.

The patriarch himself has been targeted before "because the patriarch represents a form of authority that cannot be coerced or absorbed: moral legitimacy anchored in national identity," Howayeck said. "Whenever his positions align with state sovereignty, they expose a structural contradiction within the opposing project.”

Yarounʼs mayor, Adib Ajaka, rejected claims by the Israeli army that it did not know the buildings were religious places, and the Council of Melkite Greek Catholic Bishops in Lebanon urged the Lebanese government and the United Nations “to protect the property of civilians and religious institutions, citing in particular the village of Yaroun,” according to the Associated Press.

Speaking to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Ajaka clarified that some media outlets have been recirculating images of a destroyed church as if they were from the latest incident, but the church itself had already been targeted multiple times since 2024. He stressed that the most recent incident concerns the demolition of the monastery and the school.

Responding to the Israeli army’s claim that “there were no indications that it was a religious building,” Ajaqa rejected the statement as unconvincing, noting that the site was clearly identifiable, bearing a cross and a statue of the Virgin Mary.

He also pointed out that the church had been targeted previously and that footage from 2024 showed the deliberate destruction of a statue of St. George.

Ajaka said images published by Israel showing the diocese and a nearby clinic were used to suggest that the monastery had not been destroyed, but in reality they referred to a separate building housing a clinic run by the Order of Malta. He suggested that the presence of the organization’s flag may have contributed to it being spared so far.

According to Ajaka, the bulldozing operations took place after the ceasefire came into effect. At first, residents did not grasp the scale of what was happening, as they remained in contact with nearby towns such as Rmeish and Ain Ebel, where no strikes or shelling had been reported from Yaroun. This created the impression that the village had not been directly targeted. It later became clear, however, that what had taken place was not bombardment but the widespread bulldozing of homes.

Yaroun is home to about 60 Melkite Catholic families — all of whom fled at the outbreak of the war in 2024. Seventeen families returned during the initial ceasefire period, but many others were unable to do so due to the destruction of their homes. Today, residents remain unable to return, scattered between rented accommodations, monasteries, and relatives’ homes, while some have relocated to nearby Christian villages in the south.

Ajaka noted that assistance to residents has so far been limited, emphasizing that the most urgent need is direct financial support to help cover rent. At the same time, he expressed gratitude for the support provided by the Vatican and for the continued efforts of the apostolic nuncio through regular visits and follow-up on the situation of displaced families.

He also recalled that during the pope’s visit to Lebanon in December 2025, a historic stone from the village church dating back to 1872, engraved with an image of St. George, was presented to him in the hope of drawing attention to Yaroun and its people.

Today, the fate of this stone remains unknown, as the church has been destroyed and residents are unable to return to see what remains. Ajaka stressed that the destroyed homes of the Catholic families there are over a century old and are purely civilian properties.

Church vandalism across Lebanon

The alleged demolitions in Yaroun come amid recent and varied incidents of church vandalism in Lebanon, with multiple places of worship targeted and their contents deliberately damaged.

Among them, the Church of Mar Shalita in Qobeiyat was stormed and vandalized. And in Ajaltoun, the Church of Our Lady was targeted, with intruders stealing items, destroying furniture, and leaving bullets scattered on the floor.

Taken together, these incidents reflect a broader climate in which Lebanese Christians increasingly feel under pressure, facing different forms of intimidation and attack from multiple actors.

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

The reactions followed a May 2 ceremony by the provincial Department of Endowments, Hajj, Religious and Minority Affairs, which distributed checks to 37 victims from minority communities affected by terrorism in the province bordering Afghanistan.

The beneficiaries included 11 widows, 24 orphaned children, and two persons with disabilities, who received payments ranging from 1 million to 2 million rupees ($3,588 to $7,175).

Some recipients were linked to All Saints Church, where at least 96 people were killed and more than 150 injured in twin suicide bombings on Sept. 22, 2013.

Among them was Zubair Zafar, who lost his father in the attack claimed by a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Now working as an office assistant at the civil secretariat, Zafar said he plans to use the 2 million rupees to support his siblings' education and arrange his younger sisterʼs marriage.

“I wanted to join the military, but I could not leave my family as the eldest of five children,” he said. “I started working after my grade 12 exams to support my mother, who works as a kitchen in-charge at an orphanage run by the Peshawar Diocese of the Church of Pakistan.”

He said government officials, in their speeches, promised laptops, scholarships, and profit-sharing from minority funds for widows and orphans. “Given the pace, we have little hope,” he added.

Delayed disbursements

While provincial governments in Sindh and Punjab provided compensation ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 rupees to victims soon after the attack, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government delayed disbursements despite court interventions and repeated appeals.

Frustration deepened after the Provincial Disaster Management Authority and the Auqaf Department converted an earlier 200 million rupee compensation package earmarked for Christian victims into a broader endowment fund for minorities, a move families say diluted targeted relief.

On April 1, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi approved increasing the fundʼs allocation from 200 million to 400 million rupees and directed authorities to expedite payments.

But survivors say the process remains opaque and slow.

Khuram Yaqoob Sahotra, who lost his right eye in the blast, returned from the distribution ceremony disheartened.

“I was told the compensation would be given before July 1. I expected the checks the same day. Now we are told to wait again for approval,” he said.

The 40-year-old father of three, a former school clerk who lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic, still carries ball bearings lodged in his spine.

“Doctors have advised me against lifting heavy objects. I cannot sit or stand for long periods,” he said, adding that his extended family now supports him.

He continues to undergo treatment for complications related to his artificial eye. “Initially, support came from across the country, but it later dried up. Now there is no clear plan. There is no transparency,” he said.

Habib Khan, additional secretary of the Auqaf Department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said at least 100 more minority victims would receive compensation this month.

“The data is being verified. Those with incomplete documents are being contacted. No one will be left out,” he said, declining to comment on the prolonged delay.

‘A mockery of justice’

Rights advocates say the payments come too late for many families.

The Cecil and Iris Chaudhry Foundation, a Catholic charity that provided vocational training to 80 orphaned girls and widowed mothers after the attack, said many victims died over the years due to inadequate medical care and financial hardship.

“More than a decade has passed, during which many injured victims lost their lives and families lost their sole breadwinners,” said Michelle Chaudhry, president of the foundation. “Disbursing funds in installments now amounts to a mockery of justice.”

She urged the government to release full compensation in a single payment “with dignity and respect.”

All Saints Church

Built in 1883 inside Peshawarʼs Kohati Gate, All Saints Church is widely regarded as Pakistanʼs only church designed in a mosque-inspired architectural style, with domes, minaret-like towers, and Persian and Pashto biblical inscriptions. The Christian community rebuilt it at a cost of 4 million rupees ($14,349) without government support.

Peshawar remains on the front line of militancy in Pakistan.

In 2022, Church of Pakistan lay pastor William Siraj, 70, was shot dead and another pastor injured after Sunday prayers at Shaheedan (Martyrs)-e-All Saints Church in Peshawar.

In 2016, security forces foiled a suicide attack on a Christian neighborhood in the cityʼs Warsak area after four suicide bombers attempted to enter the colony.

The text presents political participation as a legitimate expression of Christian responsibility while encouraging the faithful to be informed, take part in public life, and vote in line with the principles of Catholic social teaching.

Distinguishing between moral absolutes and matters of prudence

The documentʼs approach rests on a crucial distinction between two categories of values. On matters of “practical wisdom,” including policy issues such as the economy, climate, crime, and migration, the document acknowledges legitimate disagreement among believers. Democracy, it explains, functions as “not a community of opinion but a system for the peaceful resolution of conflicts of values.” On these contested issues, Catholics are encouraged to apply principles such as solidarity, subsidiarity, and the common good while ultimately retaining freedom of judgment.

However, the document takes a different stance on what it identifies as nonnegotiable moral issues. It asserts that “every human beingʼs right to life from conception to natural death” constitutes a foundational “absolute value,” describing abortion and euthanasia as “serious violations of human dignity.”

The timing of this moral clarity is significant. In Sweden, several political parties have proposed a constitutional amendment to guarantee access to abortion. Because constitutional changes in Sweden require approval by two successive parliaments with a general election in between, the proposalʼs future depends on whether the next Riksdag maintains support. If adopted, the amendment could take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Simultaneously, the government is modernizing the nationʼs abortion framework by updating its language, adding advances in abortion procedures, and expanding access to at-home chemical abortion.

While acknowledging that abortion enjoys broad political support across parties, the document frames euthanasia as a still contested issue, positioning it as part of a wider cultural struggle against what Church teaching describes as a “culture of death.”

A careful balance between conviction and pluralism

Despite these firm moral positions, the document concludes with a call for restraint and pluralism among believers. It cautions against equating any particular political stance with Catholicism itself, noting that “two equally good Catholics, who have allowed their practical wisdom to be guided equally by faith, may and can therefore arrive at entirely different party-political conclusions in all fields of practical wisdom.” This nuanced approach reflects an attempt to guide conscience without dictating votes.

EWTN News spoke to Father Thomas Idergard, SJ, chairman of the commission. He framed the document as a response to a recurring pastoral need rather than a political intervention. “With elections approaching, the faithful request some guidance on how to apply faith in their choices as voters,” he explained. Beyond pastoral concern, he noted a broader social rationale: Christians must be equipped with the “necessary tools to participate in public life,” doing so in a way that employs “secular language and secular arguments for universality” while remaining transparent about faith as a “driving force.”

Idergard said the documentʼs framework for discernment operates in two stages. “The first step considers the effect my vote will have on legislation in matters regarding absolute values,” particularly those concerning life and death, “where faith binds the conscience.” The second step, he added, “considers all issues for practical wisdom where faith informs,” while allowing room for personal and secular judgment.

Within this framework, Idergard identified euthanasia as the primary pro-life issue where voters may have tangible impact in the next parliamentary term, noting that “there are different positions among the political parties” across the spectrum that could influence legislation. Regarding abortion, by contrast, “all are on the same line,” he observed, a reality that highlights the documentʼs significance in a political landscape where the issue has achieved unusual consensus.

Idergard said the document does not signal a new direction for the Catholic Church in Sweden but rather reflects an ongoing commitment. “The Catholic Church in Sweden has always been visibly active on pro-life issues,” he noted, citing initiatives such as the annual “Respect for Life Sunday.”

A bold voice in secular Sweden

Benedicta Lindberg, secretary-general of Respekt, the pro-life organization of the Catholic Diocese of Stockholm, described her reaction to the document as reflecting “a significant and, in the Swedish context, a rather bold step.” She pointed to the countryʼs political and cultural landscape, where abortion is widely regarded as a settled matter beyond political contestation.

Lindberg noted that Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius had observed in 2024 that no parliamentary parties currently seek to challenge what is commonly referred to as a “right” to abortion in any substantial way. This consensus, she suggested, has contributed to hesitation among Swedish Catholics to engage visibly in party politics.

“Issuing such a document in an election year is meaningful because it makes a distinctly Catholic voice more visible in public debate,” Lindberg said. She added that the guidance “could help encourage a more visible pro-life presence, although probably not a mass political movement in the short term.”

The documentʼs release arrives as Swedish society confronts fundamental questions about the scope of abortion access and the legal status of euthanasia. By grounding its argument in Catholic social teaching while respecting democratic pluralism, the Diocese of Stockholm has attempted to offer guidance that is both morally clear and pastorally sensitive, a balance that may prove instructive for Catholic communities navigating secular political contexts elsewhere in Europe and beyond.