An indulgence can be received by praying or singing the hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus" during the solemnity of Pentecost. The prayer is below.

What is a plenary indulgence?

The following “General Remarks on Indulgences” from “Gift of the Indulgence” summarizes the usual conditions given in the Churchʼs law (cf. Apostolic Penitentiary, Prot. N. 39/05/I):

“This is how an indulgence is defined in the Code of Canon Law (can. 992) and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 1471): ‘An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.’”

Conditions in all cases

In order to obtain the plenary indulgence, in addition to praying or signing the hymn mentioned above, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

1. Detachment from all sin, even venial.

2. Sacramental confession, holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the pope. These three conditions can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence, but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed.

A single sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences, but frequent sacramental confession is encouraged in order to obtain the grace of deeper conversion and purity of heart.

Prayer: Veni Creator Spiritus

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest, and in our souls take up thy rest; come with thy grace and heavenly aid to fill the hearts which thou hast made.

O comforter, to thee we cry, O heavenly gift of God Most High, O fount of life and fire of love, and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in thy sevenfold gifts are known; thou, finger of Godʼs hand we own; thou, promise of the Father, thou who dost the tongue with power imbue.

Kindle our sense from above, and make our hearts oʼerflow with love; with patience firm and virtue high the weakness of our flesh supply.

Far from us drive the foe we dread, and grant us thy peace instead; so shall we not, with thee for guide, turn from the path of life aside.

Oh, may thy grace on us bestow the Father and the Son to know; and thee, through endless times confessed, of both the eternal Spirit blest.

Now to the Father and the Son, who rose from death, be glory given, with thou, O Holy Comforter, henceforth by all in earth and heaven. Amen.

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

“The challenge is that it is not an event. We are used to concerts, which are prepared, closed and thatʼs it," he said in an interview with EWTN News about the preparations for the trip of Pope Leo XIV, who will visit Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands from June 6 to 12.

He expressed hope that the visit will be “a moment of experience and ... a moment also that will be slow, that it helps us to look up and take a step forward.”

Preparations in record time

Cardinal Cobo explained that the visit has been organized in “record time,” with just three months of work, and with a much greater social and ecclesial response than expected.

“We have had three scarce months to prepare a trip, during which we have also found that there is a great desire and an incredible expectation. I think we thought it was going to be something [for which] we had to motivate [Catholics] a lot, but nothing was needed,” he said.

As he highlighted, the popeʼs program in Madrid has been designed as a “pastoral triptych” with three major components: the celebration of the Eucharist on the feast of Corpus Christi, the great meeting with the Church of Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, and a space for dialogue with leaders of culture, economy and sport.

“The celebration of the Eucharist, [especially on] Corpus Christi — which is a very important holiday for us — and celebrating it with the successor of Peter, is a gift for the whole Church of Madrid and for the whole Church of Spain, because they will come from all places. This is the most celebratory central moment,” said the cardinal.

The pope and “politics with capital letters”

In Coboʼs opinion, one of the most delicate moments will be the appearance of the Holy Father in the Cortes, or the Spanish parliament, before a joint session of both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate.

Cobo warned that he is concerned that a message about “politics with capital letters” may be reduced to a partisan reading.

“In a society where we are used to talking about political parties, that moment is important,” he said.

“Of course the intention is that the pope will come, that he will support politicians, that he will support politics and that he will thus be able to reinforce democracy from the experience and tradition of the Church,” he said.

Asked if the recent accusation of alleged corruption of the former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero could have any impact on the visit, Cobo indicated it was unlikely.

“We are used to working with many events in political life. Thatʼs already part of life and the headlines are moving,” he said. “I think the good thing about a papal visit is that ... it can help us look up and see that despite the political situation that is painful ... there is a higher level.”

“There is another level, a level that speaks to us of hope, it is a level that speaks to us of responsibility, that speaks to us of ethics,” he said.

“I believe that we are not going to contradict one thing with another, but we are going to get used to being also in another space, which is that of non-confrontation and welcoming wounds and difficulties and putting them in front of the space of meaning that life gives and that faith tells us.”

The hope of the young, and not so young

The cardinal also noted that for young people the visit could represent a response to a climate of “disorientation”, “uprooting” and “hopelessness.”

He maintained that many are looking for “anchors” and answers about the meaning of life, something that, in his opinion, explains the renewed interest in the figure of the pope among new generations.

“I think it is a response to a longing that young people have ... and not only young people, I think it is from a very broad generation, I believe that there is an experience of a certain discomfort, a disorientation ... a certain de-rooting. People need anchors that they donʼt have.”

A meeting between Pope Leo XIV and Bad Bunny?

Regarding the coincidence of the popeʼs presence in Madrid occurring at the same time as the rapper Bad Bunnyʼs concerts, Cobo did not close the door to a possible meeting, although he left it in the hands of both parties.

“The pope is never closed to talking to anyone who wants to enter into dialogue with him,” he said.

“If at some point that can happen, we wouldnʼt rule it out of course, but that depends on the two of them. What is certain is that indeed Madrid is very big and can have different events on the same day,” he said.

“In life, we come to understand that the more fragile a beauty is, the greater the care and responsibility it demands,” the pope told the crowd in Acerraʼs Piazza Calipari.

The Holy Father arrived in the small town earlier in the day for a brief pastoral visit. Acerra is located about 130 miles southeast of Rome.

After meeting with local Church leaders at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, the pope headed to the piazza, where he said he was “delighted” to spend the Saturday morning with the crowd of around 15,000.

The popeʼs visit to the Land of Fires came on the 11th anniversary of the late Pope Francis' landmark environmental encyclical Laudato Si'. Acerra has for years suffered environmental fallout due to the dumping of waste materials in the region.

Yet “life is present here, and it stands in opposition to death; justice exists, and it will prevail,” the pope said. “We must, of course, choose life and break free from the bonds of death.”

“There is always a subtle convenience to be found in resignation, in compromise, and in postponing necessary and courageous decisions,” he continued. “Fatalism, complaining, and shifting the blame onto others serve as a breeding ground for lawlessness and mark the beginning of a desertification of consciences.”

“For this reason, I would like to say to you all: Let each of us shoulder our own responsibilities; let us choose justice; let us serve life!”

The pontiff further reminded the citizens of Acerra of the need to care for creation.

“I would like to thank those ‘pioneers’ who, through their courageous commitment, were the first to denounce the ills plaguing this land and to draw attention to the obscured and denied reality of its poisoning,” the pope said.

“I am thinking, in particular, of the members of environmental associations,” the pope said. “We all know that we must stand guard over the health of creation just as we stand guard over our own front door, and that we must resist the temptations of power and enrichment linked to practices that pollute the earth, the water, the air, and our shared life.”

Acerra Mayor Tito dʼErrico expressed his gratitude to the pope for his presence, pointing to the significance of the Laudato Si' anniversary. “Integral ecology is not merely a label; it is a social and economic model that places the dignity of the human person at its very center,” dʼErrico said.

During the visit Acerra Bishop Antonio Di Donna presented the Holy Father with two precious mementos linked to St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, the patron saint of the diocese: a statue of the saint and an autograph letter.

Following the event in the piazza, the pope departed by helicopter to Rome.

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

The pope arrived in Acerra around 8:45 a.m., landing at the Arcoleo sports field, where he was immediately welcomed by Acerra Bishop Antonio Di Donna.

Numerous dignitaries were also present, including Tito d’Errico, the mayor of Acerra.

Pope Leo XIVʼs visit to the region also marks the 11th anniversary of the publication of the late Pope Francis’ landmark environmental encyclical Laudato Si'.

Pope Francis himself was originally scheduled to visit the area for the encyclical’s fifth anniversary, though the visit was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the sports field, Pope Leo XIV traveled immediately by car to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Acerra, where he met with bishops, clergy, members of religious orders, and the families of victims of environmental pollution. Approximately 12,000 faithful were present for the occasion.

"Today we wish to fulfill Pope Francis’ desire, recognizing the great gift that the encyclical Laudato Si’ has represented for the Church’s mission in this land," the Holy Father said.

"Indeed, the cry of creation and of the poor among you has been felt most dramatically due to a deadly concentration of shadowy interests and indifference toward the common good — forces that have poisoned both the natural and social environments," he said, adding: "It is a cry that calls for conversion!”

Di Donna himself recounted the history of the region at the cathedral, stating that the “environmental tragedy” began in the 1980s, “when certain industrialists in the north needed to dispose of vast quantities of toxic waste.”

“Over the span of roughly 30 years, hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic waste arrived from numerous industries across northern Italy, only to be dumped in a specific part of this territory,” the bishop said.

The environmental crisis triggered “a collapse of the agricultural industry,” the bishop said, describing the “Terra dei Fuochi” label as “a mark of infamy for our region.”

Pope Leo XIV told the assembly he had come to listen to those in the region who have lost loved ones to the environmental devastation. The pope said he also wished to “thank those who have responded to evil with good.”

“We suffer because of the devastation that has compromised a marvelous ecosystem — places, histories, and memories,” the pope said.

“Faced with this reality, there are two possible attitudes: indifference or responsibility,” he continued. “You have chosen responsibility, and — with God’s help — you have embarked upon a path of commitment and the pursuit of justice.”

“Can these lands come back to life?” the pope continued. “Be the answer yourselves: a united community, in faith and in commitment. Then life will multiply.”

The pope was scheduled to return to Rome after his visit to Acerra, located a little over 130 miles southeast of Rome. The Holy Father also met with civic leaders and local residents of Acerra.

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

The production studios also announced that filming concluded ahead of schedule after shooting for 134 days in the cities of Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi, and Matera in Italy.

“Mel is a true visionary with an artist’s eye for scale and a storyteller’s instinct for emotional truth,” Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a press release on May 21. “Every image we’ve seen from set feels like a masterwork painting brought to life. There are very few directors who can operate at this level of epic spectacle while at the same time delivering such depth and conviction. Mel has crafted a film of extraordinary ambition that audiences worldwide have been waiting to experience for over 20 years.”

“The Resurrection of the Christ” is the sequel to Gibson’s famous film “The Passion of the Christ,” which starred Jim Caviezel as Jesus.

While many believed that Caviezel would reprise his role as Jesus, the filmmakers decided to instead select an entirely new cast. Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen will portray Jesus, Cuban actress Mariela Garriga will play Mary Magdalene, Kasia Smutniak will play the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Italy’s Pier Luigi Pasino will play Simon Peter.

Released in 2004, “The Passion of the Christ” vividly depicts the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his crucifixion.

The film has been the subject of debate since its release. The graphic scenes of Christ’s scourging and crucifixion sparked controversy; some critics considered it excessively violent, while others praised it for its historical authenticity and its ability to realistically convey Christ’s suffering.

In January 2004, Joaquín Navarro-Valls, then-director of the Holy See Press Office, noted that Pope John Paul II had seen the film and gave it a positive review, describing it as “the cinematographic recounting of the historical fact of the passion of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel accounts.”

Despite controversies surrounding the film, it garnered a profit of $370 million domestically with many crediting it as having opened the door to faith-based media in Hollywood.

“We, Catholic leaders and organizations committed to justice, peace, and the dignity of every human person, express our grave concern and unequivocal moral objection to the recent legislation expanding the use of the death penalty, particularly its application in the context of prolonged occupation,” Pax Christi International said in a letter signed by 56 Catholic leaders including bishops, priests, and religious, and 51 Catholic organizations.

“By introducing and normalizing the death penalty within military courts operating in occupied territory, it institutionalizes a system of state-sanctioned killing on discriminatory grounds,” the letter said. “The fact that Israeli citizens are excluded from these provisions highlights the inequity and discrimination inherent in this law.”

Bangladesh outlaws finding out babies’ sex in womb to combat selective abortion

The High Court of Bangladesh has banned couples from finding out the sex of their baby in the womb, stating doing so encourages selective abortions.

The landmark ruling found that disclosure of the sex of a baby before birth to be “discriminatory” and a violation of constitutional rights, according to an Asia News report. The judges found that determination of sex before birth encourages discrimination against girls and that “the issuance of guidelines alone is not sufficient” to address the problem."

"By banning the determination and disclosure of the sex of the fetus, the lives of many children can be saved,” Edward Pallab Rozario, a doctor and president of the Association of Catholic Doctors of Bangladesh, said in the report.

Preparations continue in Baghdad for installation of new Chaldean patriarch

In Baghdad, preparations are underway for the installation of Patriarch-elect Paul III Nona on May 29 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baghdad.

The ceremony will include mainly religious, with the participation of the Chaldean Synod Fathers and invited Church leaders, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Thursday.

A special reception for the new patriarch was also planned for May 22 followed by his first Mass as a patriarch after the installation. Choirs and young deacons from across Iraq are preparing liturgical and traditional Chaldean hymns in Syriac (Neo-Aramaic) and Arabic for the celebrations.

Church leaders welcome new papal nuncio in Damascus

In Syria, Catholic Church leaders welcomed the new papal nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Roberto Cona, upon his arrival in Damascus, ACI MENA reported Wednesday.

Church leaders expressed hope that his mission will help strengthen ties between Syria and the Holy See at a critical time for the country. Archbishop Youhanna Jihad Battah said Syrian Christians value the Vatican’s continued presence and support, especially after years of conflict and economic hardship.

Ethiopian bishops appeal for protection of migrants facing abuse abroad

Members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) have appealed for greater protection of Ethiopian migrants worldwide, warning that many are caught in systems of exploitation, violence, fear, and abuse as they seek better lives abroad, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported Thursday.

“Millions of young Ethiopian men and women leave their homeland not because they lack love for their country but in search of better employment opportunities and improved living conditions,” the CBCE members said in a statement Thursday on the worsening plight of Ethiopian migrants in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, stressing that every migrant possesses inviolable human dignity regardless of legal status or economic condition.

Slovakia remembers doctor and nun slain in South Sudan

Apostolic Nuncio to Slovakia Archbishop Nicola Girasoli celebrated a Mass in honor of Sister Veronika Racková, a doctor and missionary in South Sudan, on the 10th anniversary of her death.

During his homily, Girasoli reflected on Racková’s legacy and called for those who knew and loved her to contribute to her cause “so that the beatification process can begin, because her witness of Christian life is beautiful, and todayʼs celebration helps us to make further progress in this direction,” according to a report from Fides News Agency on Tuesday.

Racková, a member of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Servants of the Holy Spirit, served as a missionary and doctor in Ghana and Sudan before she was shot and killed by South Sudanese soldiers at a checkpoint in May 2016 on her way back from helping transport a pregnant mother to the hospital.

Catholic sisters warn of impersonation in eastern Africa

Members of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) in the Ethiopia-South Sudan-Uganda region have issued a warning to Catholic Dioceses, Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL), and the wider faithful in eastern Africa over a woman allegedly presenting herself as a member of the congregation.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Thursday, the leadership of congregation identified the woman as “Maria Cecilia Nyakato Kemigisha” and rejected any association with her.

“After verification, we wish to state clearly that Maria Cecilia Nyakato Kemigisha is not and has never been a member of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) and has no connection with our region or congregation,” leader Sister Lovely Thomas, SSpS, said in the statement, noting the impersonator has been contacting dioceses, religious communities, and individuals asking for various forms of assistance.

In the decree on the celebration, the then-head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, wrote that the intention for the memorial was to help the faithful “remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the mystery of the cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic banquet, and to the mother of the redeemer and mother of the redeemed, the virgin who makes her offering to God.”

While this memorial honoring the Blessed Mother as the mother of the Church is relatively new, Mary’s title as mother of the Church has been associated with her for centuries.

The theological foundation for the title is often traced to the Gospel of John. As Jesus hangs on the cross, he says to his mother: “Woman, behold your son,” and to the apostle John: “Behold your mother.” Catholic tradition has long interpreted that moment as John representing all disciples, making Mary the spiritual mother of the entire Christian community.

The 2018 decree highlights this moment as well. It reads: “Indeed, the mother standing beneath the cross (cf. Jn 19:25) accepted her son’s testament of love and welcomed all people in the person of the beloved disciple as sons and daughters to be reborn unto life eternal. She thus became the tender mother of the Church, which Christ begot on the cross handing on the Spirit. Christ, in turn, in the beloved disciple, chose all disciples as ministers of his love towards his mother, entrusting her to them so that they might welcome her with filial affection.”

Over the centuries, Marian devotion expanded through prayers, feast days, art, and theology, but the specific title “mother of the Church” gained wider prominence during the 20th century.

During the Second Vatican Council, bishops debated how Mary should be presented within modern Church teaching. Some argued for a separate document dedicated entirely to Mary, while others believed she should be discussed within the Church’s broader mission and identity.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI formally proclaimed Mary as “mater Ecclesiae” — “mother of the Church” — calling her “mother of all the faithful and pastors.”

It was also added to the Roman Missal after the holy year of reconciliation in 1975. Subsequently, some countries, dioceses, and religious families were granted permission by the Holy See to add this celebration to their particular calendars. With its addition to the General Roman Calendar, it is now celebrated by the whole Roman Catholic Church.

Pope John Paul II strongly championed this Marian title and had a deep devotion to “mater Ecclesiae.” The pope’s papal motto was “Totus tuus” (“Totally yours”) and signified his total consecration to Jesus through Mary.

During his papacy he also had a mosaic commissioned facing St. Peter’s Square titled “Mater Ecclesiae.” This mosaic was done after the pope’s survival of a 1981 assassination attempt in which John Paul II credited Mary with saving his life, and he dedicated his pontificate to her protection.

John Paul II also wrote extensively about the Blessed Mother’s role in guiding the faithful, most notably in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater, which explores Mary’s participation in the plan of salvation, the mother of God being at the center of the pilgrim Church, and examines Mary’s role as intercessor and spiritual mother.

With this in mind, the memorial aims to “encourage the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in the pastors, religious, and faithful, as well as a growth of genuine Marian piety.”

Youth organizations, womenʼs groups, and lay associations — working with religious sisters and priests — are leading rosary devotions in villages and cities. The Diocese of Mymensinghʼs Youth Commission has launched a monthlong initiative aimed at students living in city hostels, while parishes from Dhaka to Natore are continuing long-standing community devotions.

In Mymensingh, the diocesan Youth Commission inaugurated the program at the Surasree-Panthanivas Mess, a student hostel in the Kachizhuli area, where young men and women joined the rosary and Mass together, according to Charchil Mrong, secretary of the Youth Commission of the Diocese of Mymensingh.

“Many said that they were able to connect with each other and be optimistic about their faith and goals,” Mrong told EWTN News. “Our aim is to bring disconnected youth from religious places back to the path of Jesus and we took this initiative with that aim in mind.”

Mrong said the May rosary is also being prayed in homes across the city, where families gather as they do each year for the devotion.

“It is not just in the hostels where students stay, but like every year, this rosary prayer starts in May in different families in the city, and through this prayer, families come together. This is not just a prayer but also strengthens unity, harmony, and family ties in the entire area,” Mrong said. “This prayer will reach all the young men and women in Mymensingh, bringing them together to a new light of hope. Hopefully, this prayer will bring positive changes in our youth society.”

Weekly devotions in the capital

In Dhaka, the rosary and Mass are offered every Tuesday and Wednesday during May at Tejgaon Holy Rosary Church. People from all walks of life take part, with many remaining after the prayers to pray privately at the Marian grotto and light candles.

“Mother Mary is the best means of reaching Jesus; we can reach Jesus through praying to Mother Mary,” said Father Jyanto S. Gomes, parish priest of Holy Rosary Church.

“Mother Mary is a symbol of obedience and humility. By praying to her, we make ourselves obedient and humble to Jesus,” Gomes said. “This prayer should be a constant part of our family life in May and we should maintain the practice of prayer.”

Village devotion in the north

In Natore district to the north, parishioners of Gopalpur Catholic Church gather each Wednesday in May to pray the rosary at the parish cemetery. In surrounding villages, women travel from house to house leading the rosary.

“The devotion to Mother Mary is strengthened in this month of May,” said Mary Rozario, a member of Gopalpur Church. “Although we should always pray this prayer, we cannot do it much due to lack of time, but in May we try to pray to Mother Mary.”

“People are now very busy with worldly matters, and their attention to prayer is very low,” Rozario said. “Therefore, the Church should take timely steps to make them prayer-oriented. We should move away from traditional prayer and determine the time for prayer considering the time of people.”

This marks the second official meeting between the Holy Father and the institution, which is the official association of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of all European Union member states. The organization views the encounter as an opportunity to reflect in particular on the process of European integration and to discuss the bishops’ role in promoting peace and integral human development.

Essential issues on the Church’s agenda in Europe

In a statement issued prior to its audience with the pontiff, COMECE outlined some of the topics the group wished to bring to the table, such as migration and the rise of populism in Europe; the fight against poverty; data protection within the Church; artificial intelligence; efforts to facilitate unrestricted access to abortion across the EU; and the mental health of Europeans, among others.

The bishops also discussed a potential visit by Pope Leo XIV to the European Parliament, the appointment of a new special envoy for freedom of religion, and the political shifts currently taking place within the European Parliament.

The COMECE presidency also presented to the Holy Father a proposal to hold a new gathering of “Rethinking Europe” in the autumn of 2027, marking 10 years since the first meeting, which gathered some 300 people at the Vatican, including political representatives from the European Union and its member states, academics, and Church representatives.

The event aimed to reflect on the challenges facing the European Union and to explore ways to strengthen and renew the European project.

Peace: A paramount issue

In a statement to EWTN News, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, apostolic nuncio to the European Union, highlighted regarding the meeting with the pontiff the need to revitalize Europeʼs capacity to promote dialogue and peace. He recounted that members of COMECE asked the pope what their priorities should be, to which the pontiff responded with clarity: the issue of peace.

Auza also noted that the Holy Father encouraged the bishops to delve deeper into “how the Church should relate to political bodies and how it must remain faithful to its prophetic role” as well as into the issue of migration “within the context of certain movements we call populist in the European Union.”

Auza underscored that Leo XIV upholds “the right of states to define their own migration policies” and emphasized that the Church does not question this. Rather, it maintains that, once migrants have reached their new destination, they cannot be denied the services they need, nor can their human dignity fail to be fully respected.

The bishops also encouraged the pontiff to visit European institutions, recalling the official invitation extended to him by Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, during a private audience on March 5.

According to the nuncio, this visit “would be of great assistance to us, as it would lend significant momentum and great authority, we might say, to the work we constantly carry out in Brussels and Strasbourg.”

Excellent atmosphere, calm dialogue

For his part, Bishop Mariano Crociata, president of COMECE, highlighted in a conversation with EWTN News the “calm, serene, and welcoming” presence of Pope Leo XIV.

“The meeting unfolded in an atmosphere of great naturalness, spontaneity, and cordiality, and at the same time, of clarity regarding the issues discussed,” he emphasized.

Crociata stated that it was “a calm dialogue” between people who know one another “and who hold the same task and the same mission in their hearts ... there was an excellent atmosphere and a desire to continue working in unity and together.”

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.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown’s office alleged in a complaint that Providence regularly refused accommodations or failed to implement accommodations such as limited lifting or more frequent sitting for pregnant and nursing mothers.

The complaint also alleges that some superiors retaliated against employees after they requested accommodations.

The lawsuit said this violates the state’s Healthy Starts Act and the Washington Law Against Discrimination.

Pennsylvania attorney general appeals lower court ruling

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday is looking to overturn a court ruling that struck down a law preventing the state from funding abortion.

Sunday appealed the lower court’s ruling, which struck down the state’s ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion in an ongoing case that began in 2019 when abortion providers brought a suit against the state’s abortion funding ban.

The attorney general said he had a “statutory obligation to defend the commonwealthʼs laws.”

“My responsibility as attorney general is to defend the rule of law and defend statutes without interference of personal opinion or political posturing,” Sunday said in a statement to EWTN News.

Maine senator absent from abortion-related committee meetings, records show

Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, has not attended abortion-related Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee meetings since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, according to committee hearing reports.

Collins confirmed the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018, saying at the time that she thought he wouldn’t be a part of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Her office did not respond to a request for comment from EWTN News.

With the pontiffʼs authorization, 80 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and the Lebanese Patriarch Elias Hoyek will be beatified. In addition, Salesian missionary Constantino Vendrame; discalced Carmelite from Cameroon Brother Jean Thierry; Spanish religious María Ana Alberdi Echezarreta; and Brother Nazareno da Pula, a Capuchin lay brother, will be declared venerable.

The 80 ‘Martyrs of Santander’ to be beatified

Just days before the start of his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV authorized the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Francisco González de Córdova and 79 companions — consisting of 67 priests, three Carmelites, three seminarians, and seven laypeople — who were killed during the Spanish Civil War in Santander in northern Spain.

According to the Diocese of Santander, the martyrs, soon to be beatified, died without renouncing their faith and while forgiving their attackers, even praying for them. Some of them were thrown into the Cantabrian Sea with their hands and feet bound; others were executed and burned, or disappeared aboard the ship “Alfonso Pérez,” which had been converted into a prison by the Popular Front of the Second Spanish Republic.

The priest Francisco González de Córdova refused to cease celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments, which he continued to impart clandestinely until his arrest. During his captivity, he continued to hear the confessions of his companions and blessed them before their execution. He was murdered in the hold of the prison ship.

Elias Hoyek, ‘Father of Greater Lebanon’

The patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Venerable Elias Hoyek, will be declared blessed as the pontiff has approved a miracle attributed to his intercession.

Born on Dec. 4, 1843, in Helta, he founded the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family in Ebrine, northern Lebanon, the first female religious institute of apostolic life in the Maronite Church.

He was elected patriarch of Antioch and of All the East for the Maronites in 1899, a position he held for more than 30 years “with great dedication and pastoral sensitivity, constantly attending to the formation of the clergy and the catechesis of the faithful,” the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints notes.

The future blessed aided the Lebanese people during the First World War, placing convents and monasteries at their disposal, a gesture for which he was sentenced to deportation, though he was ultimately able to remain in Lebanon thanks to the intervention of Pope Benedict XV.

At the Congress of Versailles, he advocated for the independence of his homeland, which had been part of the Ottoman Empire during the war, achieving the proclamation of the new State of Greater Lebanon on Sept. 1, 1920; for this reason, he is known as the “Father of Greater Lebanon.”

He used his influence to humbly assist those in need, regardless of their social standing.

4 new venerables

The Holy Father also approved the heroic virtues of Servant of God Constantine Vendrame (1893–1957). Also known as the “Apostle of Shillong,” he was a Salesian missionary from Italy who evangelized in India.

The Servant of God Nazareno da Pula (1911–1992), a Capuchin lay brother, will also be declared venerable.

Leo XIV likewise authorized the recognition of the heroic virtues of the Servant of God María Ana Alberdi Echezarreta (1912–1998), baptized as María de la Concepción Cruz, abbess of the monastery of the Franciscan Conceptionist Sisters.

Finally, the pope authorized the recognition of the heroic virtues of the Servant of God Jean-Thierry of Jesus the Child and of the Passion (1982–2006), a professed religious of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.

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.

Shane and Jennifer DeGross, a Christian couple who served as licensed foster parents in Washington state for nine years, sued the state in 2024 for religious discrimination. The state had declined to renew their foster license in 2022 because of their sincerely held Christian beliefs that God created the human body as either male or female, and that this biological sex is immutable.

The DeGrosses objected to the state’s policy requiring foster parents to affirm a child’s gender identity, including using pronouns that do not align with the child’s sex and supporting social or medical transitioning.

The state decided to settle this week after a key federal court ruling in April denied Washington’s motion to dismiss the case with respect to the DeGrosses’ First Amendment claims to the free exercise of religion and free speech, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.

During the nine years they served as foster parents, the couple cared for multiple children and were described by their licensing agency as exemplary foster parents, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious freedom law group representing the couple.

As part of the settlement reached on May 20, Washington’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) will change its licensing policies to respect all religious families’ deeply held convictions and won’t “attach any conditions or restrictions to the license solely because of their religious beliefs, including speech and actions pertaining to marriage, gender, or sexual relationships.” State officials also agreed to pay $250,000 in attorneys’ fees.

“When children are sleeping on cots in child-welfare offices for lack of loving homes, states like Washington should be doing everything they can to bring in more qualified foster parents,” said Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse, ADF senior counsel, when the federal court issued its decision in April.

The federal district court cited another ADF case in its April opinion, Bates v. Pakseresht, where ADF had successfully challenged a similar law in Oregon on behalf of a Christian mother, Jessica Bates.

In 2023, Bates challenged the department rule that required those seeking to become adoptive or foster parents must agree to “respect, accept, and support the … sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression … of a child or young adult” who is placed in the home.

In 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ordered that the Oregon Department of Human Services must allow Bates to begin the process of adopting two children without first making her comply with the stateʼs gender identity affirmation policy.

According to a statement from ADF, the appeals court ruled that Oregon’s policy “engaged in viewpoint discrimination and violated Bates’ free speech and free exercise of religion. The Washington district court saw the same issues in how the state’s policy violated the DeGrosses’ constitutional rights.”

The settlement permanently resolves the dispute and requires DCYF to stop imposing viewpoint-based restrictions on religious foster parents.

In honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the pilgrimage will begin in Florida, where the first recorded Catholic Mass within the future continental United States was celebrated, highlighting the country’s Catholic roots.

“We have to return to one nation under God, and I think that by beginning this pilgrimage at St. Augustine, weʼre returning to one of the major start points for Catholicism,” Jeffrey Bruno, a photojournalist and contributor to the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, said in an interview with Register Radio.

“If we do return to that as a nation, we really will be a nation filled with hope and with promise,” he said.

The launch of the pilgrimage will include remarks from Jason Shanks, president of the National Eucharistic Congress. He will also be joined by Bishop Erik Pohlmeier of St. Augustine and the nine perpetual pilgrims who will travel the entirety of the pilgrimage, which spans more than 2,000 miles.

The 250th anniversary coinciding with the pilgrimage is “perfect,” said Bruno, who has photographed past Eucharistic pilgrimages and the Eucharistic congress. “Hopefully itʼs going to be a new start, a fresh start“ and ”the next 250 will be really happy and holy, I pray.”

The pilgrimage will pass through most of the original 13 colonies. Pilgrims will travel the Eastern Seaboard along the Cabrini Route in honor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first U.S. citizen to be canonized.

The group will stop in Baltimore, which is the U.S. Catholic Church’s “foundation,” as it houses “the first cathedral” and “was the first diocese" in the nation, Bruno said.

Pilgrims also will travel through Colonial Williamsburg, the immersive restoration of Virginia’s 18th‑century capital, where “American culture ... meets Catholic culture,” he said.

“American Catholic culture has had such an incredible impact on this country,” he said. “Catholicism is so interwoven into the fabric of the United States. Mother Cabrini is the perfect example of that too, with all the accomplishments, all the hospitals and institutions that she founded over all the years.”

“Healthcare, education, all these different things, itʼs like they can all find their roots back in … Catholicism” and its “contributions to this country,” he said.

“I just hope [and] I pray that the contributions moving forward will be even more intense," Bruno said.

The pilgrimage will conclude on July 5 in Philadelphia.

Graces of the Blessed Sacrament

As the Eucharist travels from state to state, it will offer needed “grace” to believers and nonbelievers alike, Bruno said. 

In his past experience on the pilgrimages, he said “seeing the impact of the Blessed Sacrament” and “passing through the highways and the byways has been the privilege of a lifetime.”

“The grace that comes from these pilgrimages, from these processions, from the processions with the Blessed Sacrament, and the witness of the pilgrims and the people that turn out to join in the local parishes … itʼs breathtaking. Itʼs incredible,” he said.

Bruno said “the efficacy of grace” is just like a quotation attributed to the inspiration of St. Carlo Acutis: “People who put themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints."

“I think that bringing the Blessed Sacrament” and “crossing all these different towns and places and exposing people — believers, nonbelievers, people that are hurt, people that are broken — to his grace ... [has] an efficacy that can’t be understated,” he said.

“Itʼs something that I think the country has missed for a long period of time. And Iʼm super glad that this is happening now,” Bruno said. “You see the hunger is out there.”

“Everybody needs him” and “heʼs present, heʼs available,” Bruno said. “The grace is there.”

He has made artificial intelligence a priority and has also not hesitated to speak out against war, calling for, as he has often repeated, a “disarmed and disarming peace.” In his first homily as pope, he also underlined his desire for “a united Church, a sign of unity and communion.”

What do Leoʼs writings, both before and after his election, reveal about his priorities for the Church and the world?

Augustinian ideal of authority: His doctoral thesis

The then-Father Robert Prevost successfully defended his doctoral thesis in canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 1987. His thesis, titled “The Office and Authority of the Local Prior in the Order of St. Augustine,” discussed the role of local priors in the Augustinian order based on Augustine’s monastic rule.

Considered by many to be his major literary work before he became pope, Prevost argued that the authority of priors within the Augustinian order must serve the common good of the entire community. The thesis also clarified the juridical power of priors and stated that they must find joy in serving before exercising authority.

‘Liberi Sotto la Grazia’: A collection of Prevostʼs writings as Augustinian prior general

Earlier this month, the Vatican published a book of the previously unpublished writing, homilies, and speeches of Prevost when he was the Augustinian prior general from 2001–2013.

The book, currently in Italian but expected to be published in English as well, reveals several general themes from addresses he gave as he traveled extensively to support Augustinian communities around the world. These themes include a stress on unity, servant leadership, social justice, and constant spiritual renewal.

Peace, unity, and ethical use of technology: Writings as pope

Since his election as the successor of Peter, Leoʼs writings and public addresses have revealed key aspects of his pastoral and theological vision for the Church.

• Homily for papal installation Mass: Inaugurating his ministry as universal pastor on May 18, 2025, Leo preached on the twofold dimension of his new ministry: love and unity. He urged Catholics to recommit their efforts to building a united Church as “a leaven for a reconciled world.”
• Dilexi Te: Finishing an uncompleted apostolic exhortation from his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo built upon Francis' legacy of advocating for the poor and marginalized. Underscoring this point, he wrote that “one cannot love God without extending one’s love to the poor.”
• Homily to the 2025 general chapter of Augustinians: Offering Mass to open the Augustinian general chapter meetings, Leo emphasized the need to promote unity, a key characteristic of Augustinian spirituality. The pope encouraged his confreres to “promote unity, within the order and throughout the order, throughout the Church and the world.”
• 2026 address to the diplomatic corps: Considered the “state of the world” address of a pope, Leo denounced the tendencies of war, abortion, religious discrimination, and the mistreatment of migrants.
• Palm Sunday 2026 homily: Starting his first Holy Week as pontiff, Leo spoke vociferously against the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He famously said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.”
• 60th World Day of Social Communications: The pope, having made artificial intelligence a priority early on in his pontificate, stressed the need to preserve human voices and faces at a time when they are threatened by AI. Regarding AI technologies, he said it is “important to educate ourselves and others about how to use AI intentionally” to “prevent them from being used in the creation of harmful content and behaviors such as digital fraud, cyberbullying, and deepfakes.”

Pope Leo XIVʼs first encyclical is expected to be released on Monday, May 25. The Vatican has confirmed that the full title of the encyclical is Magnifica Humanitas: “On the Protection of Human Dignity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” Leo signed the letter, which is expected to provide moral guidance on the digital revolution and emerging technologies such as AI, on May 15.

Czerny, the Czech-born prefect for the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, discussed the canonization causes of two Czech priests — Father Jan Bula and Father Václav Drbola — who will be beatified June 6.

"The witness of Father Jan and Father Václav addresses each of us individually in our daily struggles, big and small,” Czerny said at the May 20 conference, according to the Vatican-run Vatican News.

“Their martyrdom teaches us that there is no human situation — however degrading or unjust — in which Christ cannot be witnessed,” he said.

According to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, both priests were imprisoned and killed between 1951 and 1952 amid the Czechoslovak communist regime’s persecution of the Catholic Church following World War II. They were in the Diocese of Brno.

Both priests worked extensively with the Catholic youth and were eventually imprisoned. According to the dicastery, both priests were falsely accused in prison of plotting to assassinate communist officials and were subsequently executed.

The dicastery states they were persecuted and killed for their pastoral work and the regime’s hatred of the Catholic faith.

"For Jan and Václav, God’s hands were their support behind the bars of the Jihlava prison, their defense during long interrogations, and the safeguard of their dignity, which remained intact even amid the most degrading humiliations,” Czerny said at the conference.

“The communist regime did not merely want to kill them; it wanted to annihilate their priestly identity,” he said. “It wanted them to betray, to deny, to renounce their faith.”

Czerny said Bula and Václav “were able to transform the darkness of hatred and the cold of the gallows into the place of their living encounter with the Lord.“ He said they “testified with their very lives that light can pierce the dark clouds in history.”

"We admire the splendor of the grain of wheat that, after remaining hidden for decades in the furrow of Bohemian and Moravian soil — nurtured despite a difficult history and fertilized by sacrifice — now springs forth before our eyes,” Czerny said.

This sprout, which broke through the frozen ground of atheism and oppression, is proof that no violence can stifle the life of God in those who entrust themselves to him.”

Cardinal Michael Czerny

prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development

"This sprout, which broke through the frozen ground of atheism and oppression, is proof that no violence can stifle the life of God in those who entrust themselves to him,” he added.

Czerny said the beatification of the two martyrs shows the reality of Christ’s promise in Matthew 28:20 that “I am with you always,” with the prefect saying the promise “shines forth fulfilled and written in the blood and joy of these two priests."

“May their sacrificial offering help us to be Christians, citizens, men and women who know how to ‘lose’ our lives in service, forgiveness, and truth,” he said, “that beyond the veil of trial and death, awaiting us is the bright light of God’s loving smile and a joy that no one will ever be able to take from us.”

Pope Leo XIV approved the beatification of the two priests in October 2025 along with nine servants of God who were martyred by the Nazi regime because of its hatred of the Catholic faith.

“Current federal investments in housing programs do not meet the great need we see in our country,” Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky; Catholic Charities USA CEO Kerry Alys Robinson; and National Council of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul President John Berry said in a May 21 joint letter to Congress. “Ultimately, we urge you to provide the highest level of funding possible for housing and community development programs serving families and individuals who are poor and vulnerable.”

Fabre serves as chair of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

The letter comes amid proposed cuts to federal funding for housing programs from $84.2 billion to $73.5 billion for fiscal 2027.

Citing the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2024, the letter pointed out that homelessness is at its “highest recorded levels for both individuals and also families with children.”

HUD has yet to release legally-required data for 2025.

The letter also cited data from 2025 showing that more families and individuals than ever before are spending more than 30% of their income on housing and that “only 1 out of every 4 income-eligible households receives housing assistance.”

The letter specifically called for “robust funding” for a wide range of programs, including Section 8 housing, housing programs for the elderly, the HOME Investment Partnership Program, homelessness assistance grants through the Continuum of Care Program, and housing counseling centers.

The letter called for protections for faith-based shelters and organizations, “to enable these groups to continue to serve people in need without forcing them to violate their beliefs or compromise the safety of their clients.”

“The Catholic Church, through all its ministries, is one of the largest private providers of housing services for poor and vulnerable people in the country,” the letter said. “We serve as many as we can; however, we lack the resources to assist all our brothers and sisters in need.”

The letter noted that in 2025 despite providing over 196,000 people access to housing and offering homeless-related services to over 719,000 individuals, the Catholic Charities network has 73,000 families on waiting lists for housing. 

“Considering such widespread, unmet need, it is clear that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) needs more resources,” the letter said.

On May 17, thousands gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the White House event celebrating “one nation under God” and "the connection between religion and our American democracy,”  Barron said.

In an interview with EWTN News’ Colm Flynn ahead of the event, Barron discussed the “hugely important” phrase "one nation under God.”

“In the written versions of the Gettysburg Address that [Abraham Lincoln] prepared before giving it, the phrase ‘under God’ is not there,” Barron explained.

“But then when he was delivering it he added ... ‘under God,’“ Barron said. ”I think it represented a deep intuition that Lincoln had that you canʼt really understand our democracy without it.”

The phrase “under God” is “meant to hold off tyranny,” he said. It is clear that “all kings and all rulers are under God, meaning under the judgment and authority of God. Our founders understood that.”

“And that little phrase is meant to hold off that tendency to deify any political establishment, political party, political ruler. Weʼre a nation, yes indeed, but weʼre under God. Our laws are determined by God,” he said.

“I love the First Amendment to our Constitution, which in its opening lines expresses very eloquently … the right balance,“ he said. ”Namely, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.’”

“But then thereʼs a second part, the second clause of that: ‘Congress shall make no law limiting the free exercise of religion,’” he said.

“Thatʼs an eloquent balance. So thereʼs no officially state-sanctioned religion, but that does not mean that religion has no role in public life. On the contrary, because there should be no law restricting the free exercise of religion,” Barron said.

Catholics’ role in public life and public office

Catholics in public office should bring “moral sensibility into their public decisions,” Barron said.

“Weʼre not here to impose Catholicism on anybody,” he said. “But I think to bring a moral and spiritual sensibility into the decisions that you make at these high levels is altogether valid.”

As a member of the White House Religious Liberty Commission, Barron said he met “lots of Catholics in the present administration” and told them to “bring Thomas Aquinas into your public life.”

“By which I mean bring these great moral and spiritual principles that indeed undergird our democracy, but make them a lively presence in the work that you do,” he said.

Barron further spoke about his time on the White House commission, where he received both criticism and praise.

When asked to be a commissioner, “my first reaction was very positive,” Barron said. “I thought … ‘Theyʼre inviting a Catholic bishop to be a voice around the table in the formulation of this policy. Why would I say no?’”

To say no would be “taking a Catholic voice away from that process,” he said.

“I’m not implementing the policy. Iʼm making suggestions regarding the formulation of policy,” Barron explained. “The president could take or leave what we say … So Iʼm not implementing the presidentʼs policies. Iʼm helping to shape public policy.”

“The commission was great. I spoke my mind in every setting. No one censored me,” said Barron, who was present at a White House Holy Week event when Pentecostal pastor Paula Cain White compared the president’s suffering to Jesus Christ’s.

Barron said he was able to address issues within the administration, specifically about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “detainees in Chicago having access to sacraments and pastoral care.”

The bishop took the matter to Homeland Security and “no one questioned” him. It was “a religious liberty issue,” because “people have a right to their sacraments and pastoral care,” he said.

Barron also spoke out in regard to the president’s “critical remarks about the pope.”

“I said in an X post that I have deep admiration for the president in regard to religion. Heʼs done wonderful things. But I said I think that was a disrespectful way to talk to the pope,” Barron said.

“In regards to prudential judgment,” a president can “disagree with the pope,” Barron said. “But the pope is not ... just an ordinary hack politician that you can sort of talk in that flippant way to.”

“Heʼs the vicar of Christ, successor of Peter. Heʼs our Holy Father. And I just felt that was disrespectful, and I thought it was not a constructive contribution to the conversation,” he said.

“Heʼs the Holy Father, so we have a filial relationship to him. Heʼs a father, weʼre like children … we have a family relationship to the pope. So itʼs different than just our relationship to a political leader.”

“At the level of principle and the moral values that ought to be informing our life … we abide by what the pope is saying, but I think there can be disagreement at the prudential level,” Barron said.

Dividing issues in the nation today

Amid numerous wars right now, Barron said “we should study” the just war tradition.

It offers “very useful criteria, and I think the Churchʼs job is to bring these to consciousness and urge political leaders to apply them,” he said.

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that when it comes to the evaluation and application of the criteria, that belongs to the civil authorities. And I think thereʼs great wisdom there too.”

Barron also spoke to the ongoing matters with U.S. immigration enforcement.

“A completely open border invites a lot of moral chaos, and a lot of catastrophe happens because of an open border. So the Church recognizes the legitimacy of that,” Barron said. “At the same time, the Church wants us to welcome the stranger and to be open to those who are in great need and those who are seeking refuge.”

ICE “is a very legitimate expression of the governmentʼs authority, but … I think ICE is way too blunt a tool to use to solve the general issue of people in the country illegally,” Barron said.

“I think a political solution has to be found. I donʼt think ICE is the right instrument to do that,” he said. “Iʼd invite people who are intimately involved in these things to have a good, morally informed conversation about it and come to good prudential judgments.”

“Iʼm not an expert in immigration policy, and Iʼm not an expert in the economics that are prevailing on the ground in various situations,” he said. “I think we have to inform all those who are making those decisions, make sure they have a keen moral sensibility, [and] know what the principles are.”

“But I think people of goodwill can, and obviously do, disagree about how they are applied … concretely,” he said.

The timing is politically advantageous. Abelaʼs Labour government holds a comfortable parliamentary majority, and opinion polls hint the party is on track to win a record fourth consecutive term.

Yet the election has forced an uncomfortable conversation about abortion, a topic observers note that Maltese politicians often keep deliberately vague.

A country deeply divided on abortion

Since Maltaʼs constitution explicitly names Catholicism as the state religion, the nationʼs legal framework reflects that foundation by having a near-total prohibition on abortion. In line with Church teaching, treatment for ectopic pregnancies is permitted.

Critics have often labeled the nation as having the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe and regularly called for more abortion rights. As external pressure for liberalization continues to mount, there is also deep internal division between younger, more urban voters who support some abortion access and a significant portion of the electorate that opposes it on moral or religious grounds.

Some note that this tension has made abortion a political minefield. Rather than clearly stating whether they are “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” Maltese politicians allegedly employ careful ambiguity. They frame positions using broader language centered on “womenʼs health,” “medical emergencies,” “human rights,” or “legal clarity.” The use of such technical language allows them to address sensitive cases without explicitly endorsing wider abortion access.

Pro-life advocates demand clarity

Ahead of the May 30 election, one of Maltaʼs largest and most prolific pro-life groups, the Life Network Foundation, issued a direct question to all political parties.

It demanded that each of Maltaʼs six major political parties participating in the elections clearly state whether they will support changes to Maltese law that would introduce abortion and voluntary assisted euthanasia in the next legislature. The foundation asked for a simple yes-or-no answer.

Notably, the Labour government has already broken ranks on one issue. On May 15, it pledged to hold a referendum on voluntary assisted euthanasia if reelected but remained silent on abortion.

As of May 22, four of the six parties had responded to the Life Network Foundationʼs questionnaire. The foundation has pledged to publish all responses or publicly note which parties refused to answer.

By asking for a direct answer on pro-life issues, it gives Maltaʼs political factions no room to avoid stating their values directly to voters on these key issues. It also allows for more accountability and transparency in the political arena ahead of elections.

Pro-abortion encroachment

Given Maltaʼs strong anti-abortion history and stance, there has been increased activity by pro-abortion organizations to slowly increase abortion rights in the country. Most notably, Women on Waves, a Dutch pro-abortion organization, announced in mid-April that it had installed approximately 15 abortion lock safes around Malta.

Each safe contains one mifepristone pill and four misoprostol pills, collectively making up the chemical abortion pill regimen. Women interested in accessing abortion would email the organization, which would provide the location of the abortion safes and the code to unlock the safe.

In response to this, the National Council of Women Malta called for legal action into the placement of these abortion pill safes. “Any initiative which appears to facilitate access to abortion pills in Malta raises serious concerns about respect for the law, public safety, the protection of vulnerable women, and the protection of unborn life,” the council stated, requesting authorities investigate the placement of these safes.

Questions were also raised about the verification aspects of obtaining these abortion pills and what medical safeguards were in place to ensure they did not fall into the wrong hands. In response, Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of Women on Waves, noted that her organization was simply fulfilling an “unmet demand.”

Women on Waves has operated in Malta since 2007. It gained notoriety and visibility in recent years through high-profile campaigns, including at the Malta Maritime Museum, featuring pro-abortion art. The organization has faced backlash in Spain and Poland from citizens and municipalities alike, but its Malta operation is particularly provocative given the countryʼs near-total prohibition on abortion.

The landscape architecture student hiked upward for 14 hours, carrying on his back a 77-pound walnut cross that he had sculpted following the disappearance of the iron cross that had crowned the summit since 1951.

After covering over 17 miles and ascending 6,230 feet with the help of a friend, the 18-year-old managed to reach the highest peak in the Pyrenees, situated at an elevation of 9,840 feet.

Instagram post

Following a report by a group of mountaineers last April, the Spanish Civil Guard confirmed that the original 10-foot cross, weighing 220 pounds, had been toppled and thrown down the slope.

The original cross was installed at the summit of Aneto 75 years ago by a hiking club from Catalonia. Subsequently, the Mountaineers of Aragón also placed an image of the Virgin of the Pillar (the patroness of Spain) and a carving of St. Martial, the patron saint of Benasque, the valley within the Aragonese region where the peak is located inside the Posets-Maladeta Nature Park.

This symbol of faith, situated atop Spainʼs second-highest peak, has been the subject of controversy and various acts of vandalism. In 1999, it was torn from its base by a storm, and more recently, in 2018, it was found painted yellow, a color associated with the Catalan independence movement.

The mayor of the town of Benasque, Manuel Mora, applauded the initiative and stated that the wooden cross would remain until the original is restored. A group called “Movement Towards a Secular State” denounced the installation of the new cross, however, and urged that disciplinary proceedings be opened against Le Lagadec.

For his part, Le Lagadec took to social media to call for an end to the “degradation of this type of heritage,” having documented the entire process from the creation of the cross to its installation atop Aneto.

He also recounted that he had the help of several people who encouraged him throughout the entire ascent, recalling a woman who lent him her hiking stick during the most difficult sections.

“Upon reaching the summit, I still struggled to fully grasp what I had just accomplished,” he wrote in one of his posts, calling his feat “an extraordinary human and athletic adventure, culminating in the installation of the cross at the very summit.”

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.

To mark the anniversary of Laudato Si', Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for creation, Leo will meet May 23 with the community of Acerra and the surrounding area, including those who have prematurely lost loved ones due to the pollution.

“The pope’s visit certainly represents a moment of great courage and strength for a population that often feels alone in the face of a problem of enormous proportions,” local attorney Valentina Centonze told EWTN News.

Centonze, who monitors compliance to judicial decontamination orders for the area, said: “No one can imagine resolving this situation on their own. The Holy Father’s closeness to our land is therefore a source of comfort and support but also a warning to the authorities, urging them to fully understand the suffering of this people and to deploy all necessary means to seriously address the issue.”

The Land of Fires

Acerra and the surrounding roughly 400 square miles — dubbed the “Land of Fires” (“Terra dei Fuochi” in Italian) — lie just northeast of the city of Naples, about 140 miles south of Rome.

The territory has a higher-than-average incidence of cancerous tumors and congenital malformations, which studies have linked to the dumping of millions of tons of toxic waste from northern Italian factories — at the hands of organized crime groups like the Camorra clans — and garbage fires that released highly toxic dioxins and PCBs into the air and food chain of the highly-agricultural region.

“We are in southern Italy, a region historically plagued by social problems, unemployment, crime, and a fragile economy. Added to this is the environmental disaster, which has caused illness and death,” Bishop Antonio Di Donna, bishop of Acerra since 2013, told EWTN News.

“The greatest challenge,” he said, “is coping with a precarious situation, especially from a health perspective. We are dealing with families marked by bereavement, with young people and children who fall ill and die. This is an additional burden on top of an already difficult situation.”

During his roughly three-hour visit to Acerra, Pope Leo will visit the cathedral, where he will address bishops, priests, and religious alongside families who have lost loved ones or are currently suffering from illnesses related to the environmental crisis.

“We were deeply committed to ensuring that he could offer them a word of comfort,” the bishop said.

Afterward, the pontiff will make his way to the city’s main square, where he will address mayors and residents from across the territory before leaving by helicopter to return to Rome.

“I hope that the pope’s visit will provide further impetus to keep the issue in the spotlight and to strengthen our commitment,” Di Donna added.

A poisoned land

Angelo Venturato, whose daughter Maria Venturato died in 2016 at the age of 25 from a rare leg tumor, will be among the crowd in the cathedral on May 23.

“After Maria’s death, I fell ill too: I had a tumor, fortunately benign,” Venturato told EWTN News. “But without faith, I wouldn’t be here today. Faith helped me not to shut myself away in my grief. It gave me the strength to keep bringing smiles to others.”

“The positive thing today is that people have become aware of what happened in Acerra. There are associations, volunteer groups, mothers, and citizens who work every day to defend the area. We know this land has been poisoned, but we won’t give up,” he said.

Following his daughter’s death, Venturato formed an association to help others living through the same thing he and his family experienced.

The name, “Se Allunghi la Mano Troverai la Mia,” (“If you reach out, you will find my hand”) was inspired by his daughter, who encouraged him with the phrase before she died.

“Today, we provide free transportation to help sick people get to hospitals and treatment centers, especially cancer patients and children. We never leave anyone alone: We accompany them, wait with them during their treatments, and take them home,” Venturato said.

Acerra’s diocesan Catholic charity, Caritas, is also supporting the local community with free diagnostic tests and other general and pediatric medical care in addition to psychiatric support and general financial assistance. It also runs a community center and a day center for at-risk youth.

“In this region, people are even more afraid of getting sick. They feel this fear deeply, and sometimes they’re even afraid to get checked,” Caritas Director Vincenzo Castaldo told EWTN News. “They often tell us: ‘It’s better not to know; we’re going to die anyway.’ It’s hard to hear those words.”

The clinic was founded “to provide a free opportunity, to simplify access to care, and to offer a sense of closeness — a comforting touch from the Church in matters of health, a presence that helps people recognize their problems and face them,” he explained.

Di Donna drew attention to the more than 50 sites across Italy designated “contaminated sites” — in Italy, “there are many ‘lands of fires,’” he said.

The Diocese of Acerra is one of about 10 dioceses in the area that for over 30 years have “heard the cry of the earth and of the poor,” the bishop said. “We have embarked on a journey focused first and foremost on raising awareness: against pollution and for the care of creation.”

“We’re anxious to get them to visit this,” Luz Tavarez, vice president for government relations at Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), told EWTN News. Tavarez was among 21 diocesan officials who participated in CCUSA’s annual “Hill Day” on May 19-20 to lobby Congress on housing, food insecurities, and other poverty-related issues.

CCUSA’s mobile museum is scheduled to be parked on the National Mall in front of the Capitol through May 22.

“Whatʼs really amazing about the People of Hope Museum is that itʼs a firsthand account of how we see Jesus in the people we serve,” she said. “So, I really hope that they do get down here. We have invited every single one of them to come, so weʼll see.”

The group met with about 60 offices, Tavarez said, including members of the House and Senate.

Four members addressed CCUSA, including Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

“All of those members challenged us to just continue to hit the ground educating members of the important work that we do,” Tavarez said. “I think thereʼs a recognition on both sides of the aisle of how critical the work that Catholic Charities around the country, the work that we do, is. But again, our goal was just really to ensure that government funding, government appropriations, is reaching the most vulnerable.”

Tavarez highlighted the recently-passed farm bill and housing issues as areas where they found bipartisan support among members. She said the group did not experience much pushback but that the challenge lay in educating members “on how our Catholic faith is translated into the policy positions we take, and thatʼs just consistent on both sides of the aisle.”

The lobbying day came a week after Democratic senators pressed Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner over missing data on homelessness and the Trump administration’s planned cuts to federal funding for homelessness.

“Itʼs important to understand that not everyone understands the work that we do,” she said. “And for some people, Catholic Charities means just one thing, you know, perhaps itʼs working with immigrants. For other people, Catholic Charities is just the local food pantries. And there is some intersection there.”

“What is beautiful about ‘Hill Day’ in my view is that Catholic Charities, of course, is not a political or partisan entity,” CCUSA CEO Kerry Alys Robinson told EWTN News. “It is a social ministry of the Church, and it encompasses the full political spectrum.”

“Elected officials across the aisle all understand just how important Catholic Charities is to their constituents in their districts and in their states,” she said. “So I think judging from all reports, the meetings went very, very well, and our diocesan directors are especially happy to be here.”

The move comes amid growth of the Catholic Church in Sweden. The nation, which historically restricted religious freedom, has 130,000 registered Catholics.

The Stockholm office will produce news from the Vatican along with devotional and catechetical content for local audiences and beyond.

“EWTN’s mission has always been to bring the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith to people wherever they are,” said Michael P. Warsaw, chairman of the board and CEO of EWTN.

Founded by Mother Angelica 45 years ago, EWTN is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. EWTN is the parent company of EWTN News.

“The opening of our Stockholm office is an important step in serving a growing Catholic community in Sweden driven by immigration and conversions,” Warsaw said. “For EWTN, the Catholic Church in Sweden represents a dynamic and expanding audience for faithful Catholic media and local-language evangelization.”

EWTN looks to reach the growing online audience in Sweden, where 93% of people go online daily, according to a 2025 report by the Swedish Internet Foundation.

“EWTN Sweden is built for the way people in Sweden live and consume media today,” said Ulf Silfverling, director of EWTN Sweden. “Through EWTN.se and our media channels, we want to provide faithful, accessible, and relevant Catholic content that speaks to Swedish audiences in their own language and context.”

“This office represents more than a new location; it is a commitment to Scandinavia, Sweden, and its growing community of faithful as EWTN continues to work on reaching every home and every heart,” said Andreas Thonhauser, chief global officer of EWTN.

“By producing native Swedish content and collaborating more closely with Catholics in the region, EWTN can help deepen the faith and connect northern Europe more fully with the life of the universal Church,” Thonhauser added.

The grant, awarded to the Jesuit university on May 19, is part of the Aspen Institute’s Trust in Practice Award grants, which are sponsored by the insurance company Allstate. Loyola is one of 11 recipients of the grant.

According to a news release by Loyola, the grant will establish a program called “Rooted in Trust,” which will build on its York Road Community Day program. Its stated goal is to build trust across racial, generational, and socioeconomic divides.

The grant funds a two-year project through April 2028 that begins with several months of community dialogue and listening sessions between people from the east side and from the west side of York Road in North Baltimore, which the news release said was historically divided.

The west side of the divide has a higher white population and higher income, while the east side has a higher Black population and lower income, which is rooted in 1930s efforts to segregate the communities, according to a 2020 article in The Johns Hopkins Newsletter.

According to the Loyola news release, the dialogue sessions will help develop a plan for five greening and public space activation community projects. It’s not yet clear what the specific projects will be.

Each project will have one co-lead from the west side and one from the east side. The project site will have signs that explain the history and the culture of the area.

“The Rooted in Trust Program will start with community dialogues in order to understand how historic divides have shaped relationships, access, and use of space,” said Gia Grier McGinnis, Loyola executive director of the neighborhood resilience and community engagement.

“Then, through intergenerational environmental stewardship and placemaking activities, we hope deeper connections can form — both among people who might not otherwise interact and with spaces they reimagine together,” she said. “We are honored that the Aspen Institute and Allstate have given us this incredible opportunity, and we look forward to sharing what we learn with others across Baltimore and across the country.”

Loyola will lead the program that will include three other partners: the Govans-Boundary United Methodist Church; the York Road Partnership, which has more than 30 member organizations; and the York Road Improvement District.

“Rooted in Trust builds upon Loyola’s long-standing, place-based community development efforts in the Greater Govans and York Road corridor neighborhoods, which emphasize community-university collaboration and partnership,” Deb Cady Melzer, Loyola vice president of student development, said in a statement.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Aspen Institute and Allstate for this transformational award, which empowers Loyola and our neighbors to continue this important work,” she said.

The Aspen Institute launched the Trust in Practice Awards initiative in October 2025 with a $5 million donation from Allstate. According to a news release, the initiative is to fund community organizations that support civic engagement, volunteering, and bridging differences with intergenerational participants.

“In today’s interconnected world, trust among people is a key part of what strengthens our communities and country,” Dan Porterfield, Aspen Institute president and CEO, said in a statement at the time.

“The Trust in Practice Awards are an example of our joint commitment to building and sustaining trust across communities and among individuals of all backgrounds and beliefs,” he said. “We are grateful to Allstate for their leadership and partnership in this important effort.”

It was launched in response to Allstate research that found 41% of people said they generally trust other Americans.

“The world beyond Villanova is waiting for you, sometimes with open arms, and sometimes with truly dangerous intent. You will have the challenge and the opportunity to make a big difference, if you carry with you those Augustinian values of veritas, unitas, caritas,” Leo, a graduate of the Class of 1977, said in a written message read at Villanova’s May 19 commencement ceremony.

“This being the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, I would invite you to recall in a special way the guiding principles of the foundations of our nation: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all [people] are created equal; that they are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’” the pope said.

“May the graduates of 2026 always be faithful to the guiding light that has been so important for these 250 years,” Leo said. “Congratulations, and please know that I send all of you my apostolic blessing.”

Benedictine College condemns antisemitic leaflet, promises disciplinary action

Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, condemned the distribution of antisemitic leaflets across its campus in late April following a conference on Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II document on non-Christian religions, hosted by the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism.

The flyer was distributed by a group called “Coalition of Catholics Against Jewish Supremacy” and accused Benedictine College theology professor Matthew Ramage of “blasphemy.”

“The college is proud that our students took the initiative to remove these anonymous flyers from cars in campus parking lots, and we are also proud that our student groups were the first to respond to the attacks,” the college said in a statement, praising the Latin Mass Society for speaking out and expressing “its disgust and utter disappointment at the content” of the leaflet.

“Questions are now being raised about repercussions,” the college said. “Any student who is found to be involved in conduct that violates the Student Code of Conduct is subject to the college’s student disciplinary procedures, but this process is confidential to protect students.”

Liberty University student challenges Supreme Court on taxpayer funding for religious studies

Liberty University student Bethany Hall is challenging a decades-old Supreme Court precedent limiting the use of taxpayer-funded scholarships for students in religious studies programs.

Hall is suing Virginia officials for blocking her from using a $5,000 per year scholarship she received through the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant program to pay for her degree in youth ministries, considered a vocational religious degree. Majors that “prepare individuals for the professional practice of religious vocations” disqualify students from receiving the public funds, according to the state program.

After a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against her on May 13, Hall’s case is one step closer to the Supreme Court, according to a May 19 report. 

“It’s just quite simply wrong and very sad that our Supreme Court made that decision back then,” Hall said. “Because whether you agree with Christianity or a different religion or not, it’s not up to the court to determine if I get to receive a scholarship paid for by taxpayer dollars.”

Canadian university launches ‘Pope Francis Institute’

St. Jerome’s University in Ontario, Canada, announced it is opening an institute dedicated to the legacy of Pope Francis.

“To honor Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his death, St. Jerome’s University is announcing the creation of a new hub for learning, dialogue, and leadership formation,” the university said in a press release. “The Pope Francis Institute will be the world’s first initiative of its kind dedicated to advancing the legacy of the late pontiff.”

The Pope Francis Institute will officially launch with a public event sometime during the 2026-2027 academic year, according to the release.

The institute will host programs “rooted in the spirituality of Francis and the educational tradition of his Jesuit order,” including public lectures, retreats, professional development, and research.

The award, an international distinction bestowed by the Path to Peace Foundation, was presented May 18 in New York to Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly during the traditional Path to Peace gala dinner, organized in support of the work of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations and various urgent humanitarian causes.

The award was presented by the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, president of the foundation and permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N.

The Knights of Columbus, considered the worldʼs foremost Catholic lay organization for men, carries out initiatives involving charity, humanitarian aid, formation, and support for families in various countries.

The organization states that its mission is to help Catholic men live out their faith and serve their families, parishes, communities, and nations.

“On behalf of more than 2.2 million Knights of Columbus worldwide, it is an incredible honor to accept the Path to Peace Award,” Kelly said during the ceremony.

The organization’s leader recalled that Blessed Michael McGivney founded the Knights more than 140 years ago “upon the pillars of charity, unity, and fraternity.”

“Today, we are proud to continue this mission throughout the world in our parishes and communities, and in nations facing the devastating impacts of war and religious intolerance. We pray that our efforts help bring peace and alleviate suffering, bearing witness to the hope that comes from Jesus Christ,” Kelly stated.

An award linked to the diplomacy of the Holy See

The significance of this recognition is closely linked to the diplomatic and humanitarian mission of the Holy See at the U.N.

The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the U.N. was officially established on April 6, 1964, and has since played an active role in promoting peace, justice, human rights, and the social doctrine of the Church within the international community.

As the Path to Peace Foundation explains, the foundation was established with the aim of expanding humanitarian and reconciliation activities beyond the strictly diplomatic sphere, promoting the Catholic Churchʼs message of peace and the popeʼs teachings on morality, development, and human rights.

Its key initiatives include international seminars on social encyclicals, cultural activities at the U.N., humanitarian projects for refugees and the sick, and the dissemination of documents related to the diplomacy of the Holy See.

Recognition of international leaders

The Path to Peace Award has been presented since 1993 to individuals and institutions whose lives and work have contributed significantly to the well-being of the international community.

Recipients include former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali; Corazon Aquino, former president of the Philippines; Lech Wałęsa, former trade union leader and president of Poland; King Abdullah II along with Queen Rania Al Abdullah, reigning Jordanian monarchs; and current U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

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 just a few weeks, young Pietro from Reggio Calabria in Italy will finish high school and begin his university studies, a major change about which he feels “a great deal of confusion.”

The young Italian conveyed his concerns to the Holy Father in a heartfelt letter published May 19 in Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter’s Square) magazine. Specifically, the young man said he fears losing the friendships he has forged in high school and not knowing which path God desires for him.

Fear of the future

In his letter, he opened up to the pope and shared his dream of “building and realizing the project of a family united in the love of Christ.” He also asks for prayers for his future and for the ability to understand how to live with the feelings of “restlessness and longing” while embarking upon his new path with serenity.

Mindful of the weight the young man feels upon his shoulders, Pope Leo XIV congratulated him in his letter for not being easily satisfied and for taking his life seriously.

First, the pontiff reminded him that he is loved by Jesus — personally and just as he is — including his dreams, questions, and fears. “This love precedes you and will always accompany you; it does not depend on the decisions you make or the paths you take,” he assured the young man.

‘What was authentic isn’t lost’

The pope also reminded Pietro that Jesus “knows the experience of friendship well,” and for this reason, “he would be the first to understand your fear regarding the friendships that have marked these years.”

The Holy Father reminded him that “what was authentic isn’t lost; indeed, true love does not dissolve but remains forever; it matures even when it changes form.”

Regarding the desires the young man harbors in his heart, the pope encouraged him to focus on those that grant him “a profound peace” and guide him toward good decisions, reminding him of the importance of discernment.

“Do not be in a hurry to understand everything immediately. Time is a patient teacher and heals wounds,” he added.

‘Not everything that ends is a defeat’

He also advised him to pray every day, listen to the word of God, receive the sacraments, and converse with wise individuals who could help him discern which ties he ought to keep.

“Not everything that comes to an end is a defeat; sometimes, it is merely a necessary step toward growth. Your dream of a family founded upon the love of Christ is a precious gift for the Church as well; preserve it with confidence. The Lord does not disappoint the desires that he himself has kindled within the heart,” the pontiff advised.

Before concluding his letter, the pope reminded Pietro that restlessness is not a negative sign but rather represents “the place where God is working on a deep level.”

“I ask for you the grace of inner peace, of trust, and of a clear perspective on your life. I entrust you to Mary, who as a young woman learned to trust despite having kept in her heart questions greater than herself,” the pope said.

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

His death was announced by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in the archdiocesan newspaper, Catholic Review. Ricard passed away at St. Josephʼs Seminary in Washington, D.C., according to the archdiocese.

“Bishop John Ricard’s death is a profound loss for our local Church and for the entire Catholic community in the United States,” Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said in the announcement.

Lori said Ricard, a former auxiliary bishop in Baltimore, "served this archdiocese with grace, humility, and a joyful spirit that made him beloved by all who encountered him.”

Born in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, on Feb. 29, 1940, as one of eight children, Ricard attended Epiphany Apostolic College in Newburgh, New York. He completed religious studies at St. Joseph Seminary in Washington, D.C., and received a doctoral degree from The Catholic University of America.

He joined the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, or the Josephites, in 1962 and took his final vows on June 1, 1967. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1968, by Baton Rouge Bishop Emmet Tracy.

He served at several parishes in New Orleans and Washington prior to being appointed as a vicar bishop in the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Pope John Paul II. He was subsequently consecrated as an auxiliary bishop of that archdiocese on July 2, 1984, the first Black bishop to serve there.

In 1997 he was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, where he served until 2011 when he retired for health reasons.

In addition to his duties as a prelate, Ricard also served as the first president of the National Black Catholic Congress, holding that role from the congress' inception in 1987 until 2017.

After his retirement from Pensacola-Tallahassee, he served as rector of St. Josephʼs Seminary in Washington. He was elected superior general of the Josephites in 2019.

Having grown up amid pervasive racism in the segregated South prior to the Civil Rights era, Ricard at times commented on racial conflict in the United States, including in 2016 amid civil unrest around police shootings, which he described as a “wake-up call for all of us” in an interview with Catholic News Service.

The bishop said he and his friends “lived under constant threat of being arrested” during the 1950s in Louisiana. He said the Catholic Church can “bring [a lot] to the table” of racial healing in the United States.

“Weʼve got a lot of work to do,” he told the news service.

In a statement released after his death, the Josephites said Ricard “faithfully served the Catholic Church for decades through his ministry as a Josephite priest, counselor, educator, pastor, bishop, humanitarian, and leader.”

“He devoted his life to the proclamation of the Gospel, humanitarian efforts worldwide, the mission of the Josephite Society, and the pastoral care of God’s people, especially within Black Catholic communities,” they said.

The Josephites asked for “prayers for the repose of Bishop Ricard’s soul, for the Josephite community, his family, friends, and all who mourn his passing.”

The controversy centers on the so-called “Latham report,” a years-old inquiry commissioned by the school itself amid the fallout of bombshell abuse allegations against now-disgraced and deceased former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Attorney Gabriel Magee represents several Church abuse victims as part of “approximately 400 cases total” in a consolidated litigation against the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall is a defendant in a handful of the cases, he told EWTN News.

As part of those proceedings, state judge Avion Benjamin had ordered the school in November 2025 to turn over the Latham report to lawyers representing victims of clergy abuse. The school had previously argued that the report was protected by attorney-client privilege.

Seton Hall appealed Benjaminʼs order to surrender the report. Oral arguments were held in the appeals court this month.

The Latham report was commissioned by Seton Hall in 2019. Produced by the law firm Latham & Watkins, it has never been made public. The report is expected to examine whether Monsignor Joseph Reilly, then rector of Seton Hall’s Immaculate Conception Seminary (and now university president), knew about abuse claims and failed to report them. Reilly was appointed president in 2024.

Neither the school nor attorneys representing it responded to requests for comment on the ongoing litigation. Magee, meanwhile, disputed claims that the report is protected by legal shields such as the attorney-client privilege or the “work-product privilege.”

“For either to apply, the primary purpose must either be conveying legal advice or it must have been created in anticipation of litigation,” Magee said.

“But the record here shows instead that the Latham Report was created for self-critical analysis by Seton Hall, primarily to determine how to discipline employees who failed to report the sexual harassment and sexual abuse committed by McCarrick and to advise [the school] on how to create new policies to prevent this from happening again,” he said.

Magee said the appeal to the higher court had been expedited, suggesting the court may issue a ruling “sooner rather than later.”

Newark Archdiocese ordered investigation in 2025

Amid the ongoing controversy, Newark archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin in February 2025 ordered an independent review.

The prelate said at the time that the review would examine “how the findings of [the earlier reports] relate to Monsignor Joseph Reilly, including whether they were communicated to any and all appropriate personnel at the archdiocese and Seton Hall University and Monsignor Reilly, and if so, by what means and by whom.”

The archbishop said he had not “place[d] a timetable” on the review, which was being carried out by the law firm Ropes & Gray.

Tobin in 2025 had further said that he had not “restricted the firm from exploring any relevant facts or avenue of investigation.”

"A transparent review of the facts will best serve the interests of all involved and of those who have voiced a call for it,” the cardinal said.

In a statement to EWTN News, the Archdiocese of Newark indicated that the review was still ongoing as of May 20.

“Cardinal Tobin stands by his earlier statement that there should be no restrictions on Ropes & Gray’s efforts to access all relevant information and witnesses,” the archdiocese said.

The cardinal “remains committed to a transparent examination of the facts and is optimistic that the review will be completed as expeditiously as possible,” the statement added.

The court in an unsigned order dismissed an appeal from Alabama after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Joseph Clifton Smith, with the appeals court holding that Smithʼs low-70s IQ put him close enough to the threshold of an intellectually disability to render his death sentence unconstitutional.

The court heard oral arguments in the case in December 2025. The case had followed a twisting path through the federal court system; the 11th Circuit first ruled in Smithʼs favor in 2023, after which the Supreme Court in 2024 vacated that decision and ordered the appeals court to consider it again.

A second review by the lower court, with another favorable ruling for Smith, again brought the case before the Supreme Court last year; the high courtʼs May 21 ruling brought the case to an end.

The latest ruling represents a potential precedent in how the Supreme Court considers certain cases of capital punishment. The court ruled in the 2002 case Atkins v. Virginia that executing people with intellectual disabilities violated the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment."

The justices did not define “intellectual disability” in that case, though it cited expert opinion that “an IQ between 70 and 75 or lower” is “typically considered the cutoff” in some definitions.

Theresa Farnan, philosopher on the Ethics and Public Policy Committee of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, told EWTN News in April that Smithʼs death sentence was “clearly a borderline case.” Smith was convicted in the brutal 1997 slaying of Durk Van Dam.

“It’s obvious to me he could not grasp the gravity of his crimes,“ Farnan said of Smith. ”In cases like these, the burden on us as a society is even more pronounced to be radically pro-life.”

The Catholic Church in recent decades has come out increasingly against the death penalty, with multiple popes arguing that modern penal systems have rendered capital punishment inadmissible in many if not most cases.

Pope Leo XIV in particular has spoken out several times against the death penalty in just the first year of his pontificate, arguing that “human life is to be respected” and that support for capital punishment is incompatible with a pro-life philosophy.

Speaking at a conference on AI in Rome on May 21, Mendonça warned of the dangers of AI, saying that it can “have painful consequences on the destiny of individuals.”

“When a deepfake lends a personʼs face to words they have never spoken ... it is the very grammar of the human encounter that is altered,” Mendonça said. “Technology that exploits our need for relationship ... can not only have painful consequences on the destiny of individuals, but it can also damage the social, cultural, and political fabric of societies.”

Preserving humanity in the age of AI

Coming a few days before of the release of Pope Leo XIVʼs Magnifica Humanitas, which will treat moral and social questions related to AI, the theme of the conference was “Preserving Human Voices and Faces.”

Organized by the Dicastery for Communication and held at the Pontifical Urban University, the conference brought together professors, journalists, and engineers who offered insights into the risks AI poses to authentic human experiences.

Mendonça, citing the popeʼs message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, clarified that the goal “lies not in stopping digital innovation but in guiding it.”

Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, added: “The greatest danger consists in passively accepting the idea that knowledge no longer belongs to us.”

Magnifica Humanitas: Keeping the human at the center

Some of the conference panelists expressed their hopes for Leoʼs upcoming encyclical on AI.

One of those was Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Section of Culture of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. Speaking to EWTN News on the sidelines, Tighe gave his impressions about what the pope intends to contribute with this document.

“I think the pope is doing two things: First, he will be offering perspectives that enable people to reflect and think critically about AI and its role in society. Second, he is initiating a dialogue,” Tighe told EWTN News. “He wants to create an environment where all the various people who have a part in the development of AI are attentive to keeping the human at the center.”

Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan, extended the invitation during a papal audience on May 15, according to UCA News.

Pope Leo XIV responded positively to the invitation and expressed a desire to visit Pakistan in the future, the outlet reported.

Shukardin said the bishops returned from the “ad limina” visit with renewed hope for the church in Pakistan.

“The challenges we have in Pakistan are first how to evangelize the Church and also reach other people. A big challenge is that our people are still illiterate but strong in faith; they are poor but very hardworking. Many of our people are not receiving equal rights,” he said in a video shared on May 16 on Catholic TV.

“We have a big problem regarding blasphemy cases and forced conversions. Sometimes our Church is rejected and persecuted because we are not doing what others expect. Our Church is going through difficulties, but we are hopeful that one day we will receive equal rights in Pakistan.”

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, religious minorities in the country, including Christians and Ahmadis, continued to face persecution and discrimination in 2025.

The commissionʼs annual report highlighted persistent cases of forced conversion and underage marriages involving Hindu and Christian girls in Punjab and Sindh provinces, exposing failures in enforcing child marriage laws.

Mary James Gill, a Christian politician, former lawmaker, and executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, said Christians continue to face social and economic marginalization along with challenges related to religious freedom and interfaith relations.

“Eighty percent of Christians in Pakistan live below the poverty line. The reasons are linked more to caste-based structures than religion itself. A papal visit can bring attention to these issues,” she told EWTN News on May 19.

Gill said the Vatican holds moral and diplomatic influence that could help amplify the concerns of marginalized communities.

“Pakistan as a state gives weight and respect to Vatican recommendations and to figures such as the archbishop of Canterbury. A papal visit could increase visibility for Christian concerns and resonate with expectations from the community. It would also be a positive gesture because Christian political leadership in Pakistan often remains divided,” she said.

Speaking May 21 in the Synod Hall to participants in a meeting promoted by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, the pope reflected on the theme of governance in ecclesial communities and the responsibility of those who lead them.

“In every social entity there exists a need for suitable people and structures to guide and coordinate communal life,” Pope Leo said. “At its root, the term ‘to govern’ refers to the action of ‘holding the helm,’ of ‘steering a ship.’ It is, therefore, a matter of providing a sure direction, so that the community may be a place of growth for the people who belong to it.”

The pope said Church governance cannot be reduced to administrative efficiency or coordination.

“However, in the Church, governance does not arise simply from the need to coordinate the religious needs of its members,” he said. “The Church was established by Christ as a lasting sign of his universal salvific will and is the place, willed by God, where all people, in every age, may receive the fruits of redemption and experience the new life that Christ has given us.”

For that reason, he said, governance in the Church “is never merely technical” but “has a salvific orientation in itself,” directed toward “the spiritual good of the faithful.”

Addressing leaders of lay associations and movements, Pope Leo said governance is generally entrusted to laypeople and “expresses participation in the royal ‘munus’ of Christ received in baptism.” He emphasized that such leadership is “placed at the service of other faithful and of the life of the association” and should be the fruit of free elections understood as an act of communal discernment.

“If, as we have said, governance is a particular gift of the Holy Spirit, which the members of a community recognize as present in some of their brethren in the faith, at least three consequences derive from this,” the pope said.

The first, he said, is that governance must be “for the benefit of all,” serving the community, the association, and the whole Church. “Governance, therefore, can never be exploited for personal interests or worldly forms of prestige and power,” he said.

The second consequence, Pope Leo continued, is that governance “can never be imposed from above but must be a gift recognizable within the community and freely accepted,” which is why “free elections” are important.

The third, he said, is that the governance of an association, “like every charism,” remains subject to the discernment of pastors, who are responsible for safeguarding “the authenticity and orderly use of charisms.”

The pope also cited several qualities he said must mark Church governance: “mutual listening, shared responsibility, transparency, fraternal closeness, and communal discernment.”

Leaders of ecclesial movements, he said, have a delicate task. They must both preserve “the memory of a living heritage” and exercise a “prophetic” role by listening to present pastoral needs and responding to “the new challenges and to the cultural, social, and spiritual sensibilities of our time.”

“Indeed, only in this way can one be a Christian, a disciple and a missionary in today’s society and Church,” Pope Leo said.

He placed particular emphasis on communion, warning against the temptation for ecclesial groups to close in on themselves.

“Those who exercise a mission of leadership in the Church must learn to listen to and welcome different opinions, different cultural and spiritual orientations, and different personal temperaments, always seeking to preserve, especially in necessary and often difficult decisions, the greater good of communion,” he said.

“This requires a witness of meekness, detachment, and selfless love for one’s brothers and sisters and for the community, which serves as an example to everyone,” the pope added.

Pope Leo warned that some groups can become self-referential.

“At times we find groups who close themselves up and think that their specific reality is the only one, or that it is the Church, but the Church is all of us, it is much more!” he said. “And so our movements must truly endeavor to live in communion with the entire Church, at diocesan level.”

The bishop, he said, is “a very important figure of reference,” adding that groups must seek communion with the Church both locally and universally.

The pope concluded by thanking the associations and movements for their service, calling them “an inestimable gift to the Church.”

“There is great richness among you: so many well-formed people and so many fine evangelizers; so many young people and diverse vocations to the priesthood and married life,” he said. “The variety of charisms, gifts, and methods of apostolate developed over the years allows you to be present in the fields of culture, art, social life and work, bringing the light of the Gospel everywhere.”

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

‘An attack on human dignity’

Speaking to EWTN News, Irish Member of European Parliament Michael McNamara, one of the European Parliamentʼs lead lawmakers on the AI Act, said negotiators pushed for an outright ban on systems used to generate nonconsensual intimate imagery and AI-generated child sexual abuse material, which he described as “an attack on the fundamental rights of real people, particularly the inviolability of human dignity and the right to privacy.”

McNamara previously participated in an interfaith Brussels delegation on AI governance led by former Irish ambassador to the Holy See Professor Philip McDonagh.

“We were insistent that these prohibitions sit in Article 5, among the absolute bans in the AI Act,” McNamara added.

Following the agreement, he said the new provisions would ensure authorities had “the tools to act if providers do not address AI systems that compromise fundamental rights or human dignity.”

Under the agreement, companies will have until Dec. 2 to comply with the new restrictions.

Delays to ‘high-risk’ AI rules

The legislation also postpones the application of some obligations for “high-risk” AI systems until 2027 and 2028, a move lawmakers say was necessary because technical standards required for implementation were not ready in time.

Under the act, high-risk systems include AI used in healthcare, education, employment, law enforcement, and border management, where algorithmic decisions can directly affect human rights and access to essential services.

“To be frank, my preference would have been no extension,” McNamara said, while acknowledging lawmakers faced pressure to ensure the rules could be implemented with legal certainty.

“Certainty matters: for industry, yes, but also for citizens and for the authorities that will enforce these rules,” he said.

EU bishops welcome restrictions

The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) welcomed the ban. Speaking to EWTN News, Friederike Ladenburger, COMECE adviser on ethics, research, and health, said the restrictions are “legally justified” because such systems process biometric and intimate personal data in ways that undermine fundamental rights, particularly human dignity, privacy, consent, and the protection of minors.

“From an ethical perspective, nudifier applications constitute a form of technological exploitation that objectifies the person,” she added. Such systems conflict with principles of “dignity, solidarity, and the safeguarding of vulnerable individuals” that should guide implementation of the AI Act, she said.

Alessandro Calcagno, COMECE assistant general secretary and adviser on fundamental rights, said the organization has consistently called for stronger protections for children in AI regulation.

“In its 2020 contribution to the EU White Paper on AI, COMECE stressed that children are the most vulnerable in the context of AI use and application,” he told EWTN News.

Interfaith and Vatican dialogue on AI

The anticipated papal encyclical follows several years of Vatican engagement on AI ethics through the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Rome Call for AI Ethics, and repeated interventions from previous popes warning against technologies that risk reducing the human person to data, manipulation, or simulation.

McDonagh, who serves as director of the Centre for Religion, Human Values, and International Relations at Dublin City University, said the debate surrounding AI reflects a technological transformation of “profound historical and civilizational significance,” comparable to the agricultural and industrial revolutions, which also produced “dramatic new forms of inequality and violence.”

Following the provisional agreement, he said the rapid emergence of AI raises deeper questions about human coexistence and the moral foundations of society.

“The anthropological question of how we make sense of our existence and co-existence is more urgent than ever,” he said.

Ahead of the encyclicalʼs release, members of the COMECE presidency held private talks with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on AI governance, the future of the EU, and wider global challenges.

The patriarch made the remarks during a gathering hosted by King Abdullah II of Jordan with Church leaders at the baptism site of Jesus Christ, traditionally known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan on May 18.

Located on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, opposite Jericho in the West Bank, the site is venerated by Christians around the world as the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. In recognition of its universal spiritual significance, UNESCO inscribed the baptism site on its World Heritage List in 2015.

King Abdullah announced that the Jordanian government will adopt and support an initiative to commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of Christ’s baptism in 2030. The plan includes upgrading infrastructure and services at the baptism site to welcome pilgrims from around the world while preserving its sacred character.The king also emphasized his personal commitment to overseeing preparations, underscoring Jordan’s role in protecting holy sites and supporting the Christian presence in the region.

“This initiative is a call to look forward with faith and responsibility,“ Pizzaballa said. ”The baptism site must remain a living place, where visitors do not simply come to see but encounter God and rediscover the depth of their baptism.”

Church leaders in Jordan welcomed the king’s support for the Baptism Jubilee 2030, describing it as a historic opportunity to strengthen Christian unity and renew the meaning of pilgrimage to the baptism site. They stressed that preparations should begin locally, through the development of facilities, the training of staff, and efforts to ensure that the site remains a place of living faith. They also called for engagement with churches and Christian institutions worldwide to encourage broad participation in the jubilee.

For Church leaders, the jubilee is not only a commemoration of a major moment in Christian history but also a global spiritual event inviting believers everywhere to rediscover the depth of their baptism and to see the baptism site as a symbol of reconciliation and hope.

Pizzaballa expressed deep appreciation for Jordan’s role in safeguarding the site and promoting peace.

“In this blessed land,” he said, “we see in your leadership a living example of how faith can become a bridge between peoples and a foundation for peace in the world.”

The baptism site carries profound spiritual and historical significance. Known in Scripture as “Bethany Beyond the Jordan,” it is the place where Jesus entered the waters to be baptized by John, sanctifying creation and inaugurating his public ministry.

Archaeological remains of ancient churches and monasteries bear witness to centuries of Christian devotion, while modern pilgrims continue to gather there for liturgies, prayer, and reflection.

Since its recognition by UNESCO, the site has become a major destination for Christian pilgrimage, drawing thousands of visitors each year to the banks of the Jordan River.

The 2030 jubilee initiative is envisioned not only as the commemoration of a milestone in Christian history but also as a global spiritual event. It seeks to renew the meaning of baptism for believers, strengthen Christian pilgrimage, and present the baptism site as a beacon of reconciliation and hope.

As preparations begin, Bethany Beyond the Jordan is preparing to welcome the world, offering a tangible connection to the beginning of Christ’s mission and a testimony to faith, peace, and coexistence in the Middle East.

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.

“Courteous and clear dialogue, essential though it is, must be accompanied by a deeper conversion of heart: the willingness to set aside particular interests for the sake of the common good,” the pope said in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace on May 21.

“No nation, no society, and no international order can call itself just and humane if it measures its success solely by power or prosperity while neglecting those who live at the margins,” he continued. “Indeed, Christ’s love for the least and the forgotten compels us to reject every form of selfishness that leaves the poor and the vulnerable invisible.”

Leo received in audience the new ambassadors to the Holy See from Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Yemen, Rwanda, Namibia, Mauritius, Chad, and Sri Lanka on the occasion of the presentation of their credentials.

Referencing his address to the diplomatic corps in January, the Holy Father emphasized the “urgent need for a return to ‘a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus’ on all levels — bilateral, regional, and multilateral.”

Dialogue motivated by a sincere search for peace, he added, “demands that words once again express clear realities without distortion or hostility.”

He urged diplomats and international organizations to be animated by a “spirit of self-giving solidarity … in order to create spaces for encounter and mediation.”

The pope assured the ambassadors of the readiness of the Secretariat of State and dicasteries of the Roman Curia to assist them as they undertake their new responsibilities.

“At a moment when geopolitical tensions continue to fragment our world further, it is necessary to make them more representative, effective, and oriented toward the unity of the human family,” he said.

“May your mission strengthen dialogue, deepen mutual understanding, and contribute to the peace so greatly needed in our world.”

The 18-page document, titled “The Path of Implementation of the Synod: Towards the Assemblies 2027–2028 — Stages, Criteria, and Tools for Preparation,” establishes a four-stage process and a common method for local Churches, episcopal conferences, and continental bodies.

The new text follows a letter sent last year to bishops, eparchs, patriarchs, and major archbishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches defining the process of accompaniment in the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, which concluded in 2024 after a three-year process.

The Synod’s implementation path will unfold in four progressive stages: Recollecting, in the first half of 2027; Interpreting, in the second half of 2027; Orienting, in the first four months of 2028; and Celebrating, in October 2028.

Each stage will culminate in an assembly and the drafting of materials meant to feed ecclesial discernment ahead of the final assembly.

According to the document, the unity of the process will be guided by a common question at every level: “In light of the journey undertaken after the conclusion of the 2021–2024 Synod, and with a view to offering its fruits as a gift to the other Churches and to the Holy Father: What concrete form of a missionary synodal Church, and what new paths of synodality, are emerging in your community?”

The document says the process is not meant to repeat the consultation stage of the Synod but to help the Churches learn from what has already been lived, recognize fruits and difficulties, recalibrate priorities and processes “in the light of careful discernment,” strengthen co-responsibility, and foster an “authentic exchange of gifts among the Churches.”

The Synod office also stresses that the implementation phase “does not introduce additional tasks alongside the ordinary life of communities; rather, it orients and renews that life from within.”

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the Synod, said the proposal should be understood as a time of ecclesial discernment rather than as another administrative burden.

“What we are proposing to the local Churches,” Grech said, “is not an additional task but rather a time of shared discernment and thanksgiving in which to reread together what the Spirit is causing to grow in the Church and to recognize the steps we are called to take.”

“The assemblies do not coincide with a sociological consultation or a deliberative process, nor are they a technical assessment,” he continued. “Rather, they are a profound ecclesial and spiritual experience of discernment: a moment of synthesis and renewed impetus for the journey, so that the exchange of gifts among the Churches may become a concrete experience and synodality may increasingly take shape as the ordinary style of ecclesial life at the service of mission.”

Where this has not already been done, the document says it is “essential to reactivate and support diocesan, national, and continental synodal teams,” whose composition is to be communicated to the General Secretariat of the Synod.

The document calls for assemblies with broad participation, including men and women of different generations, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, members of movements and associations, and faithful not belonging to organized structures. It also asks for attention to the presence of “persons living in situations of fragility or marginality.”

The text adds that it is important “to value voices not directly traceable to ecclesial structures” and, where appropriate, to provide for the participation of representatives of other Churches and Christian communions or of other religions.

At the diocesan and eparchial level, each local Church will prepare a narrative report before its assembly and a letter to other local Churches during the assembly. National or regional assemblies will prepare a theological-pastoral report and a letter to other Churches.

Continental assemblies will prepare a “perspective report” to help shape the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for the 2028 meetings at the Vatican.

All materials must be sent to the General Secretariat of the Synod by specific deadlines: June 30, 2027, for the local stage; Dec. 31, 2027, for the national or regional stage; and April 30, 2028, for the continental stage.

The document proposes conversation in the Spirit as the privileged method for community discernment while allowing adaptations for the needs of each context.

The implementation phase began after Pope Francis received the Synod’s Final Document in 2024. The new stage, according to the document, was “subsequently confirmed and promoted by Pope Leo XIV” with the aim of helping synodality become an ordinary style of ecclesial life at the service of mission.

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 1994 Pope John Paul II established the Pontifical Academy for Life, which works with institutions of higher education, scientific societies, and research centers that deal with life-related issues.

Today, the academy is at the forefront of discussions about artificial intelligence, end-of-life care, and public bioethics.

In March, Pope Leo XIV promulgated new statutes for the Pontifical Academy for Life, recalling that its objective is “the defense and promotion of the value of human life and the dignity of the person.”

The academyʼs mandate is to have a center of studies to “research about the new challenges” and “the new problems concerning human life,” Archbishop Renzo Pegoraro, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said in an interview with “EWTN Pro-life Weekly.”

There is an "important ... interdisciplinary dialogue involving biologists, doctors, but also philosophers, theologians, lawyers — all people that could help to analyze the new questions, the new problems, sometimes very urgent and very complicated issues,” he said.

The Pontifical Academy for Life is composed of a presidency, a central office, members, also called academicians, and supporters. Pegoraro has been serving as the president for nearly a year, following his appointment by Pope Leo XIV on May 27, 2025.

Prior, Pegoraro was the chancellor of the academy. He is also a bioethicist who earned a medical degree before entering the seminary.

Pegoraro and the team work to tackle issues that often stem from “the development of medicine” and “the development of science or biology."

They find ways “to define the ethical responsibilities to protect human life and to promote human life with the respect of the dignity of all human beings — from the beginning of life to the end of life,” Pegoraro said.

Changes and advances at the academy

Prior to 2016, those who wanted to work at the academy had to sign a declaration stating that they were pro-life. Since 2016 they no longer need to sign a statement, but the people who work for the academy still need to conform to Church teachings on matters of human dignity.

“We realized the last 10 years, to have members that are not Catholic,” Pegoraro said.

The academy has a “presence of members coming from other religions,” including two Jewish members, one Muslim member, and two Greek Orthodox members, Pegoraro said.

“But they confirm to agree with the basic values concerning human life, and they agree with the teaching of the Catholic Church about these topics,” he said.

Pegoraro addressed some of the specific projects at the academy including one, “neuroscience.“ It addresses the “problems [and] risk of enhancement or manipulation of the human being,” he said.

There is "an interesting project about … neonatal care,” Pegoraro said. It focuses on “before the delivery and immediately after the delivery — particularly for premature children.” It addresses “how to guarantee good care of the baby” and “good care for the mother,” he said.

“There is also an interesting working group now about ethics and disability,” he said.

In the changing times, the academy works to address updated technologies with some of its other projects on artificial intelligence and robots.

With the arrival of the millions of tourists Mexico is expecting during the event, the Catholic Church there has expressed concern that “risks may increase” with regard to “human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violence.”

In this context, the Commission for the Protection of Minors for the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico issued a statement May 19 acknowledging that while sporting events of this magnitude “present an opportunity for encounter, togetherness, fraternity, and cultural exchange,” they can also be exploited by “criminal networks that operate through deception, manipulation, coercion, exploitation, and the abuse of individuals.”

In the Mexican cities that will host matches  — Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara — the arrival of “more than 5.5 million international visitors” is anticipated, according to Gabriela Cuevas Barrón, the Mexican government’s World Cup coordinator.

Reports from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNICEF, and Amnesty International have warned that this massive movement of people “entails a massive influx of visitors with a potential impact on tourism-related sexual exploitation.”

In light of this situation, the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico called upon authorities to “strengthen prevention, early detection, responsible reporting, and the protection of potential victims during this period.”

How could a person fall into the hands of these networks?

The bishops' statement reiterated several warnings issued by the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City regarding risk factors that require special attention; among them is the use of social media, which has been identified “as a means for recruiting minors.”

The council also issued a warning regarding “a growing trend of recruiting individuals of other nationalities — primarily from Colombia, Venezuela, and Honduras — with false promises of obtaining legal immigration status.”

The organization drew attention to the lack of awareness surrounding this type of crime and recommended the implementation of “targeted awareness campaigns, particularly in sectors with high exposure during the World Cup.”

What can a member of the Church do to help?

The Archdiocese of Mexico urged priests, deacons, men and women religious, catechists, and pastoral workers to “actively join this effort through concrete actions aimed at raising awareness and prevention.”

Among the proposed actions, particular emphasis was placed on the need to “speak clearly about this crime within pastoral settings.” In this regard, the archdiocese encouraged the “placement of informational materials in visible locations” in parishes and places where people gather at churches.

The archdiocese recommended “guiding parents and guardians regarding the risks present in digital environments” as well as “disseminating protocols for the protection of minors and promoting a culture of caring in catechesis and youth groups.”

Likewise, it proposed including “moments of prayer for victims of trafficking, exploitation, abuse, and violence.”

The archdiocese further reminded that, in the event of a potentially risky situation, “one must not directly confront the potential aggressor or trafficker, nor publicly expose the potential victim.”

The recommended course of action, it stated, is “to act with prudence, safeguard one’s personal safety, listen without applying pressure, inform the right people, and refer the matter to the competent authorities.”

Various national and international organizations have launched the website Mundialsintrata (“World Cup Without Trafficking”) where users can access information and materials related to this initiative, which aims to promote the identification and safe reporting of human trafficking cases.

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 communiqué issued May 18, the chancellor of the diocese said Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele had directed that all Catholic communities in the diocese observe strict preventive measures aimed at limiting the spread of the deadly virus.

“Given that the Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever epidemic has been declared a ‘health emergency,’ the Diocese of Goma recommends that all parish, priestly, and religious communities observe preventive measures,” Father Christian Kisonia said.

Among the measures announced are avoiding physical contact with persons showing Ebola symptoms, frequent handwashing with soap, the use of hand sanitizers, and avoiding contact with bodily fluids.

Kisonia also urged the people of God to report any suspected Ebola cases to the nearest health facility.

In the communiqué, the chancellor said handwashing before Mass “is mandatory” for all worshippers, directing parishes to prepare washbasins with chlorinated water and soap for use by the faithful.

“Washing before Mass is mandatory for all the faithful,” Kisonia emphasized.

He further directed communities to limit visits from outsiders until further notice as part of efforts to contain the outbreak.

The DRC is facing a fresh Ebola outbreak linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak on May 15 after several deaths were reported in Ituri province. Health officials say investigations and contact tracing are ongoing, and there is currently no licensed vaccine specifically approved for the Bundibugyo strain.

On May 16, WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, citing risks associated with cross-border movement, delayed case detection, weak health systems, and insecurity in eastern Congo.

The latest outbreak has equally spread to neighboring Uganda, forcing the government to postpone the 2026 Martyrs’ Day.

Uganda’s Catholic bishops have urged the people of God in the east African nation to continue commemorating the Uganda Martyrs in prayer and unity.

“Although the national gathering at Namugongo has been postponed, dioceses and parishes are encouraged to celebrate the day with the guidance of the diocesan bishop and the relevant government authorities,” members of the Uganda Episcopal Conference said.

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

In a statement issued May 18, the bishop described the incident as “deeply saddening” and urged Catholics to include prayers for the victims in every Mass and prayer gathering.

“In view of the recent and deeply saddening incident of the abduction of teachers, students, and children in schools in Ogbomoso, I urgently appeal that, if not already being done, we include the intention for the safe release of the captives in every holy Mass henceforth,” Badejo said.

He also directed that the intention be remembered in all intercessory prayers, including the ongoing novena to the Holy Spirit ahead of Pentecost Sunday.

The appeal follows the attack on Ahoro-Esiele/Yawota axis of Ogbomoso and the abduction of pupils, students, and teachers from Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School.

According to Sahara Reporters, armed men invaded the schools during class hours and shot a teacher, causing panic among students, teachers, and residents, before abducting a principal, identified as Rachael Alamu, along with an unspecified number of students.

Sources in the community said the attackers fled the area using the principal’s vehicle and escaped into a nearby forest reserve bordering the community.

Residents also lamented the delayed response from security agencies, noting that the nearest police station is located far from the affected community.

The spokesperson for the Oyo State Police Command, Ayanlade Olayinka, confirmed the attack and disclosed that tactical and intelligence teams had been deployed to rescue the victims and apprehend those responsible.

On May 18, teachers in the area staged a peaceful protest following the abduction of students and fellow educators. The demonstrators shut down classrooms and marched to the Teaching Service Commission office in Ogbomoso, carrying placards and calling for urgent government intervention.

The protest followed the circulation of a disturbing viral video allegedly showing one of the abducted teachers being beheaded by the kidnappers. The victim was later identified as Michael Oyedokun, a mathematics teacher.

Speaking to journalists on May 18, Gov. Seyi Makinde provided details about the abductions in the three schools.

“We can now confirm conclusively that at Community Secondary School, about seven students were abducted, while at First Baptist Primary and Nursery School, 18 children were abducted, along with about seven teachers. Unfortunately, as I reported yesterday, one of them was killed,” the governor said.

He added: “Whatever it is they demand, we are ready to listen and address what we can as a state government. But the children and their teachers must be released.”

The governor also urged residents to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies.

“If you see something strange, say something, and expect us to act. We will not surrender to terror. We will do everything possible to ensure that our children and their teachers return safely,” Makinde said.

In his May 18 statement, Badejo called for prayers for political leaders in Nigeria, asking God to grant them wisdom and courage to address the country’s worsening insecurity.

“I also ask that we pray earnestly for our government, that God may grant our leaders the wisdom, insight, and courage needed to act swiftly and decisively in the protection of our people,” he said.

The bishop underscored the power of prayer in moments of fear and uncertainty, saying: “Dear brothers and sisters, prayer is the greatest power we possess. Let us use it to the fullest.”

“May the merciful God hear our cry, answer us with his mercy, and favor our land with lasting peace. Kyrie Eleison. Amen,” Badejo implored.

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

The Carolyn E. Fugett Intergenerational Center was created to offer care for all ages — from Head Start to senior care programs. It intends to bring the greater community together through weekly activities, sports teams, art classes, and career guidance.

Kevin Creamer, director of the center, told EWTN News that Catholic Charities of Baltimore has been working to bring generations together through community sites for about 10 years.

The new facility started "as an outgrowth of some of the early childhood supports that we were offering across the agency,” he said.

Catholic Charities is “one of the largest Head Start providers in Baltimore City,” with “13 unique locations and a little under 700 children and families being served there,” Creamer said. “So we have a good grasp on the impact of that early childhood support.”

“But weʼve tried to be intentional as weʼve grown with families and seen those families age out of Head Start and move on to school and eventually careers and college — the benefit of the wraparound services that Head Start provides.”

He continued: “So the question … presented itself: ‘How can we be more intentional about bringing services to attach, so that families arenʼt losing the support structure of Head Start or donʼt have an ability to connect in-house to services?’”

The facility, named after community leader Carolyn Fugett, was ultimately a way to answer the question.

Catholic Charities acquired the project site, which was previously an elementary school, in 2021. Construction for the project took about three and a half years.

“The center itself is a byproduct of our Centennial and Capital Campaign,” Creamer said. “Catholic Charities Baltimore turned 100 in 2023, and a campaign was launched to spearhead three milestone projects for the agency.”

The campaign raised a little over $100 million, which, along with the Fugett Center, contributed to the Gallagher Meaningful Day Center, a center for individuals with intellectual disabilities, and the Cherry Hill Town Center, a community gathering space.

The center has also been funded by private fundraising with a number of partners to support activities and programs.

Community engagement all under ‘one roof’

The intergenerational model allows for multiple program partners to be present and offer activities to different age groups all under one roof.

“We knew we wanted to bring in what we had already been doing well in the neighborhood: our food pantry program, our Head Start programming, some of our behavioral health services,” Creamer said. “But to fill in the gaps around that model, we needed to defer to the expertise of the leaders in the neighborhood.”

Creamer began talking with community partners and leaders “to make sure that we got this right and that there was room in the project scope for the interests of the community.”

“The loss of recreation centers and access to things like after-school basketball and basketball leagues was something that came up a lot in those conversations,” he said.

So basketball became “a big driver,” Creamer said. “PeacePlayers is our in-house basketball partner,” and “theyʼll be running youth programming from [ages] 5 to, really, 25” at the center.

Starting this summer, PeacePlayers will use the Fugett Center as one of its locations for a free program for kids and a coaching and leadership development program for teens and young adults.

A “lack of senior programming space and activity space” also came up when leaders spoke with neighbors, especially since the center is “located right next to Rosemont Tower, which is a 200-unit Housing Authority building largely for seniors,” Creamer said.

To address this, the facility has “five community classrooms thatʼll house a rotating curriculum of classes” including “senior dance class, musical theater, chair yoga, candle making — all free of charge to our neighbors.”

It will offer community art projects led by outside vendors but will also engage the community with volunteer-led classes, as neighbors hope “to lead crocheting classes or jewelry-making classes,” Creamer said.

“We want to empower residents to also give back their gifts,” Creamer said.

The space will also provide “access to the internet, to learn computer skills,” Creamer said. It has a computer lab to offer “digital literacy instruction, job preparation, resume writing, and interview training.”

Named in honor of a lifelong ‘community leader’

The center is named after Carolyn E. Fugett, “who is the mother of Reginald F. Lewis ... who was an entrepreneur and a lawyer — widely considered the first Black billionaire in U.S. history," Creamer said.

Fugett “was a community leader throughout her entire life" who "passed about three years ago at the age of 97."

"She did not ask for credit" and "she preferred to operate in the backdrop but was such a wellspring of compassion.”

As "a big advocate of child education,” she worked with bishops, schoolteachers, and principals to help Catholic schools integrate coming out of segregation.

“So when we thought about the early childhood education piece, the beacon that we want this community center to provide to the neighborhood, she represented all of what we hope to be."

“A handful of the team attached to this project were at her funeral service at St. Edwardʼs Church, which is right across the street from the [center]," Creamer said.

“We came out of that service after hearing the outpouring of love from her family and from the community at large, and the first thing you see walking out of those church doors was the building that was being constructed.”

"Sometimes God speaks very clearly, and itʼs hard not to listen,” he said.

“Weʼre honored to bear her name, and weʼre excited to carry that torch. Sheʼs shown us who we have to be, as has the community. We just need to keep listening and keep rising to the occasion,” Creamer said.

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles and chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, wrote a letter on behalf of the U.S. bishops on May 19 to Bishop Hassa Florent Kone of the Diocese of San in Mali expressing “fraternal solidarity and deep condolences.”

“Be assured of our spiritual closeness with the bishops and faithful of your country as well as our prayers for the many communities mourning the death of military personnel and civilians, and caring for those wounded by these acts of violence,” Zaidan wrote.

Several coordinated strikes hit a number of military positions across the west African country, including the Kati military base near Bamako, the capital of Mali. The country’s defense minister, ​Sadio Camara, was ‌killed in the attack, carried ​out by ​an al-Qaeda affiliate and Tuareg rebels.

Zaidan highlighted the concern the USCCB has “by the increasing fragility of human security conditions and the growing violence suffered by the people of Mali and in other areas of the Sahel.”

“We reiterate that interreligious dialogue and collaboration among all people of goodwill remain crucial to building social cohesion and lasting peace in the Sahel. We thank God for the work of the Catholic bishops in the region to these ends, with the support of Catholic Relief Services, through the Sahel Peace Initiative,” he said.

The Maronite Catholic bishop also pointed out that “education access and fostering economic opportunity for young people are essential elements of building peace and promoting respect for human dignity.”

In a statement released after the incidents, members of the Episcopal Conference of Mali — the official assembly of Catholic bishops in Mali — said they had followed “with great sorrow” the confrontations in Bamako, Sévaré-Mopti, Gao, and Kidal, where defense and security forces engaged the armed terrorist groups.

The bishops extended “sincere condolences to the state of Mali, to the bereaved families, and to the entire Malian nation” while entrusting the victims to God’s mercy.

They prayed for “the eternal rest of the soldiers and civilians who sacrificed their lives for the homeland” and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

Zaidan added: “In this month of May, I join the bishops of Mali in praying that your country may be guided to truth, unity, and lasting peace, through the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

“In 250 years, our nation has never allowed the state to make the church support abortion — and now’s not the time to start,” Laura Wolk Slavis, an attorney for Becket who represents the Catholic groups in the lawsuit, said in a statement.

The lawsuit centers on a May 2025 court ruling that interprets the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) to include a mandate that employers must offer accommodations to employees for obtaining abortions if they are not fully elective.

The language of the PWFA itself does not mention abortion but instead requires that employers offer accommodations to pregnant women in the workplace. The USCCB supported the law, and its Senate sponsor, Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pennsylvania, with cosponsor Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, promised it would not require abortion accommodations.

In spite of this, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under former President Joe Biden imposed rules for PWFA that interpreted it as requiring abortion accommodations for both elective and nonelective abortions in April 2024, which prompted the USCCB lawsuit.

A federal court in May 2025 ruled that the law itself, regardless of what the regulations say, does require that the Catholic bishops and the other Catholic groups offer abortion accommodations if a pregnant woman is experiencing a negative health effect from the pregnancy itself but not if it is fully elective.

According to the USCCB lawsuit, such negative effects range from serious complications with the pregnancy to common pregnancy-related conditions such as minor or severe hormonal changes, anxiety, nausea, or vomiting.

Daniel Blomberg, an attorney for Becket, told EWTN News that some of the conditions listed are “literally the case for any pregnancy.” He noted that the ruling requires the Catholic groups to not only accommodate abortions in those situations but also to rewrite policies and procedures in a way that clearly communicates these accommodations to employees or prospective employees.

The court’s interpretation of the law, Blomberg said, forces Catholic ministries to “adopt anti-life employment policies and statements in the workplace” and would stifle the speech of anyone in the workplace who would discourage an abortion accommodation.

As interpreted by the court, the rule would “police the internal speech and even the atmosphere of the religious ministry” and it “radically transforms the requirements on religious ministries” as it relates to abortion, he warned.

Blomberg noted that the 2025 court ruling interpreted the law itself as creating this mandate — not simply the regulations that followed. He explained that this means President Donald Trump’s administration does not have the authority to overrule the court order by promulgating regulations.

He noted that the Department of Justice’s report on anti-Christian bias under Trump admonished the Biden-era PWFA rule, but “it remains to be seen how the administration’s lawyers will respond in court.”

The EEOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wolk Slavis noted in her statement that other lawsuits against this PWFA interpretation led to stronger religious freedom rulings for other organizations that objected.

“Every other court to consider religious objections to this mandate has protected churches, and we hope the 5th Circuit does too,” she said.

On June 7, the second day of his apostolic journey, the pontiff will hold a private meeting with a delegation of the Augustinian community at the apostolic nunciature in Madrid.

The Augustinian province of San Juan de Sahagún in Spain and Portugal comprises 338 religious with solemn vows, forming 36 communities distributed across 39 houses, including two communities in Portugal and two formation communities where 45 brothers are undergoing formation.

While primarily established in the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish Augustinian province also extends to other parts of the world: Antilles, Argentina, India, Peru, Venezuela, and Tanzania, in vicariates. It also has two delegations in Central America and Cuba.

In total, this subdivision of the Order of St. Augustine is present in 12 countries in addition to Spain and Portugal: the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, United States, Argentina, India, Peru, Venezuela, Tanzania, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

The orderʼs international character is evident in Spainʼs Augustinian communities. In Barcelona, ​​the community consists of four religious, two originally from the Philippines and two from Tanzania. Together, the four of them provide pastoral care for three parishes within the Archdiocese of Barcelona.

One of these is St. Augustine Parish, where on June 10 Pope Leo XIV will meet with diocesan charitable and assistance organizations. Situated off the beaten tourist path, it is located in the Raval neighborhood, one of the most disadvantaged in Barcelona. Indeed, very close to the parish, the Missionaries of Charity provide meals to about 400 people each day.

In the Canary Islands, the Order of St. Augustine has maintained a presence since the 14th century, and numerous missionaries have set out from there. Currently, a single community remains in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife Island, comprising four religious: Father Ángel Andrés, a 77-year-old Spaniard who serves as coordinator; Father Manuel Ángel Andrés Alegre, a 96-year-old Spaniard; Father Aldrin Alvarado, 45, originally from the Philippines; and Father Jojo Neyssery Lonankutty from India, also 45.

The Order of St. Augustine in Spain runs 17 schools and three university residential colleges in addition to the Royal University Center Escorial-María Cristina. This work benefits nearly 18,000 students and employs 1,500 teachers, support staff, and administrators.

The Spanish Augustinians maintain two formation houses, one in Valladolid and another in El Escorial, where the novitiate is also headquartered.

Each educational center features a pastoral team coordinated by a designated leader and comprising both Augustinian religious and lay members responsible for planning and promoting activities related to the apostolate and evangelization.

The events surrounding the popeʼs visit to Spain are being organized by the Augustinian family in collaboration with other religious congregations including the Augustinian Recollects, Discalced Augustinians, Assumptionist Augustinians, Augustinian Missionaries, Augustinians of the Amparo, and Contemplative Augustinians, thereby bringing together approximately 8,000 pilgrims from various parts of Spain.

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.

“It is a very big crisis,” Rafaramalala Volanarisoa, head of office for Catholic Relief Services in the DRC, told EWTN News. “Of course, Ebola, there’s no treatment, there’s no vaccines, so it’s very difficult to contain.”

Volanarisoa, who is based in the capital, Kinshasa, said CRS is partnering with Caritas medical centers across seven Catholic dioceses as well as the DRC Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) to help combat the outbreak.

She said CRS is providing funding to health centers for medical and hygiene supplies and distributing educational materials to help prevent transmission and counter misinformation.

“We have sent money to them to purchase those different supplies to protect the health center staff but also to protect those who are doing education in the community,” she said. “There are really big needs, so in many aspects, it’s reaching the community, doing proper education, and also supporting health center staff so they are protected.”

In addition to a lack of medical and sanitation supplies, Volanarisoa said population movement driven by armed groups and multiple warring factions is complicating response efforts. She also noted resistance among some local communities to accepting CRS-led public health education.

Volanarisoa said stigma and disbelief have fueled misinformation that Ebola is “fake” or intended to undermine local traditions, including burial practices. She said that while there is a high risk of transmission from bodies of those who have died from the disease, some communities remain resistant to changing burial practices.

“It’s very difficult for the population to do it in their proper ways, so there is misinformation that this is something brought to change the way we live here,” she said.

She noted that CRS does not operate directly on the front lines due to “cultural norms,” language barriers, and long-standing relationships between the Church and local communities.

Although she said the scope of the outbreak remains difficult to determine, she estimated the total cost to stop the spread of the virus at around $3 million and said past assessments suggest that if cases surpass 500, containment could take more than a year.

According to Volanarisoa, there are 33 confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC. There are also 516 suspected cases in the DRC, 131 deaths among suspected cases, and 541 people identified as contacts of confirmed cases or symptomatic deaths.

Two lab-confirmed cases have been reported in Kampala, Uganda, including one death, among two unrelated individuals who traveled into the country from the DRC, according to WHO.

Rimaycuna offered details regarding the daily spiritual life of the pontiff, whom he described as a man who “lives always in the constant presence of God.”

“From the very start of the day, he has his fixed times for prayer, including holy Mass and the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours; we also pray the rosary,” the priest explained.

The pope’s personal secretary added that Leo XIV throughout the day “always seeks contact with God through silence and through prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel.”

According to Rimaycuna, the pontiff’s spirituality is deeply influenced by the thought of St. Augustine. “St. Augustine used to say: God is so intimately within man that man himself is within himself,” he noted.

“The Holy Father seeks God within himself; he speaks with him, that is prayer,” he added.

A spirituality that translates into closeness

The Peruvian priest said the pope’s spiritual experience is subsequently reflected in his interactions with “the people with whom he works.”

This closeness, he noted, is manifested in “the time he gives to every person who seeks him out” and in the attention he pays to those who confide their difficulties or concerns to him.

“When someone entrusts him with a specific intention or concern, he keeps them very much in mind,” he added.

A pope who listens before deciding

Rimaycuna also described Leo XIV as a patient and prudent man in the governance of the Church. “He is not a man of immediate decisions. He always thinks, listens, and takes into account even opposing views,” he stated.

The secretary emphasized that the pontiff seeks to avoid confrontation and promote unity.

“He is a man who seeks to build bridges, seeks dialogue, and always avoids confrontation,” he added.

Peace: A constant concern

The papal secretary also noted that one of the Holy Father’s greatest sources of suffering is the current wars. “He suffers a lot because of all of this,” he said, referring to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, noting that Leo XIV’s first words after being elected pope were a call for peace: “Peace be with all of you.”

“He always works for peace; he constantly calls upon authorities for a ceasefire,” he noted.

The pope will always need our prayers

Rimaycuna asked the faithful to pray constantly for the Holy Father, given the spiritual weight the pope bears in leading the universal Church.

“We can never offer too many prayers. The Holy Father will always need our prayers,” he emphasized.

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.

Today, however, his focus has shifted from profit margins to parish ministry. After years serving as a Catholic deacon, Borba now stands on the threshold of an even more profound calling: ordination to the priesthood.

In 2004, Borba — alongside father and son Alan and Joseph Shamah — founded the cruelty-free makeup brand e.l.f. Cosmetics, which stands for “eyes, lips, face.” By the mid-2010s the brand had reached immense levels of success thanks to its affordable prices and ethical products. By 2014, the makeup brand reached $100 million in sales.

Living a life of luxury, in his 40s Borba began to experience a call from God. In 2019, Borba gave up the fortune he had acquired from e.l.f., donating it all to different charities, and entered seminary in the Diocese of Fresno, California.

Borba was ordained a transitional deacon on June 21, 2025, and will be ordained a priest on May 23.

In an interview with “EWTN News Nightly,” Borba shared that he first felt the calling to the priesthood when he was 10 years old but, feeling unworthy, he “ran away from the call and in the process I was running away from my faith also.”

“I had a very big conversion when I was 40,” he added. “At that time, I was in transition of different businesses and through the help of God I was able to understand the state of my soul and where I was headed. I really wanted to recalibrate my life with him and to re-entertain what he offered me when I was 10.”

It was during a house party that Borba realized how lonely, empty, and unloved he felt, despite having everything in terms of material wealth.

“That was another grace from God that he gave me to understand my unhappiness,” he said. “Then he allowed me to ask him the question, ‘Help me be the man you created me to be, but I can’t do it without your help.’ And that’s when the love and mercy came into my life.”

Borba explained that after that moment, his journey continued with the sale of one of his luxury cars. All proceeds were donated to charity, and when he saw “how it could affect people’s lives with positive change — helping with the poverty and the homelessness — that was the key that God, Our Lord, used with me to open the floodgates for the rest of it to go.”

Letting go of the material wealth was one of the hardest aspects of the transition from secular life to religious life, Borba shared. The former beauty mogul went from owning houses to “living in a little tiny room” when he entered St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California.

“You can’t fit everything in there, so you have to make a decision to hold onto it or not. And the seminary gives you the opportunity to figure that out — to either unite to his will or not,” he said. “So, for me, it was to have to give that up. It took me years to get comfortable with that, but now I’m actually in tons of peace knowing that I don’t have many possessions and that I can actually travel and focus on where ministry and Our Lord takes me.”

“Once I surrendered to him and understood the reality of why I’m here, why we’re all placed here, is to get back in union with him, it literally changed my life,” he shared.

Borba encouraged those who might also be ignoring God’s call in their lives to “not give up.”

“If Our Lord is calling you and you’re just not ready for the call, ask him to have patience with you and to direct you in the life that you’re currently in. But let me tell you, if we orient ourselves to God right now, he takes care of everything for us in this life as well as prepares us for the next,” he said.

“If we’re able to do his will, the joy and the love and the success will come, but itʼs oriented to his divine providence. That’s what I didn’t know, that is the truth, and that’s what I want to let everyone know: Put him first and everything will fall into place, I promise you.”

In a letter to leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees, Louisville, Kentucky, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre, chair of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, wrote that conserving the environment is a command from God and necessary for the common good.

“In the Book of Genesis, God commands humanity ‘to cultivate and care for’ the Earth and its resources,” Fabre wrote, quoting Genesis 2:15.

He listed the environmental priorities of both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV and said one important way to fulfill that mission is with federal funding to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI).

Fabre encouraged the restoration of previous levels of funding after the fiscal 2026 budget decreased EPA funding by $277 million and DOI funding by $211 million. The Trump administrationʼs fiscal 2027 budget proposal called for cutting the EPA’s budget by more than half and decreasing the Interior Departmentʼs budget by nearly 13%.

Fabre said adequate funding and staffing is necessary for the agencies to fulfill their responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act, and to support certain initiatives.

“Notable initiatives from these agencies that foster care for creation and the common good include the Superfund Program to clean up toxic waste contamination; State Revolving Funds (SRF) programs that provide loans, matched by states, to upgrade aging infrastructure to improve access to clean and safe drinking water, improve the health of our nation’s rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and support economic opportunities; and programs that monitor air quality from power plants and industrial facilities, schools, and ports,” the letter said.

The bishop further expressed concerns about cuts to programs that were meant to promote clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and safeguard endangered species and wilderness areas, among other things.

“Adequate funding for EPA and DOI is necessary for our nation to safeguard our God-given, life-sustaining natural resources such as water, air, lands, and wildlife,” Fabre wrote.

“These investments further promote economic opportunity and healthy environments where people live and recreate,” he added. “Congress should take care to ensure that these funds address environmental risks to God’s creation, especially for the most vulnerable amongst us.”

Fabre thanked the lawmakers for efforts to protect ecosystems and public health, ensure safe drinking water and clean air, address climate change, and support sustainable livelihoods.

“The common good requires sound stewardship of the environment and respect for the human dignity of all who share our common home,” he added.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Church in Minnesota, issued a statement May 16 saying it is “encouraged” that lawmakers in both legislative houses overwhelmingly passed the Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act.

The bill is aimed at curbing the purportedly addictive design of social media for young children by imposing new requirements on large social media platforms earning $1 billion or more in global advertising revenue.

It prohibits several features for accounts of children 15 and younger, including infinite scrolling, algorithmic or profile-based feeds, push notifications for new content or likes, autoplay videos, visible engagement metrics such as likes and shares, and usage-based awards, badges, or streaks.

“No more ads, no more push notifications, no more infinite scrolling … and the strongest privacy protections,” state Rep. Peggy Scott, the author of the bill in the state House, said when presenting the bill.

Targeted or paid commercial advertising based on the child’s activity or personal information is also banned for youth accounts.

“This legislation puts parents back in the driver’s seat and helps them foster healthy dialogue with their kids about social media use,” said Maggee Hangge, assistant director for family policy at the Minnesota Catholic Conference, in a press release. “It will mean happier kids who are less anxious, less worried, and more focused on the present moment.”

After passing with a vote of 132-2 in the House and a vote of 66-0 in the Senate, the bill now requires Gov. Tim Walz’s signature to become law.

“I’ve seen the addiction, the mental health issues — this is an area [of concern] that crosses party lines,” said state Sen. Michael Kreun, who co-authored the bill.

“Parents really need help right now with all this technology,” he said. “Kids themselves are asking for help, as we have seen from the data.”

The bishops’ conference cited a recent Minnesota Student Survey that found  that almost 20% of students are online between midnight and 5 a.m. at least five nights a week, along with a 2023 study that showed that 97% of students report using their smartphones during the school day.

Johann D’Souza, a Catholic psychologist who focuses on the destructive effects of screen overuse on youth, told EWTN News that the Minnesota bill is “a laudable step in the right direction given the documented mental health crisis in youth starting in 2010, the year Instagram came out.”

“Let’s build momentum from this small but real win to further protect children from toxic screen use and digital destruction,” he said.

If signed by Walz, the law would take effect July 1, 2027, for both new and existing accounts. It includes exemptions for email, direct messaging, streaming services, online games, and e-commerce platforms where social features are not central.

Enforcement includes a private right of action for families, with potential statutory damages of $10,000 per knowing or reckless violation, plus possible punitive damages and state attorney general enforcement as a deceptive trade practice.

But what are papal encyclicals, and what can they reveal about the popeʼs priorities on the world stage and for the Church?

The pope’s pastoral letter

A papal encyclical is a pastoral letter written by the pope, primarily addressed to bishops but also to Catholics and all people, typically reflecting on Church teachings and suggesting ways to apply them to modern issues.

According to the 1917 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, encyclicals were “letters sent to all the bishops of Christendom, or at least to all those in one particular country, and intended to guide them in their relations with their flocks.”

Encyclicals are part of the pope’s everyday teaching authority, known as his “ordinary magisterium.” They are among the most common ways he presents Church doctrine and serve as authoritative and valuable sources of Catholic teaching and guidance on contemporary topics, including sexuality, Catholic social teaching, and stewardship of the earth.

Since Pope Leo XIII, encyclicals have become one of the most common means by which popes are heard across the globe on the most pressing issues of our time.

Are Catholics required to believe them?

A pope does not normally use an encyclical to make an "ex cathedra" declaration — a solemn, and rare, statement on faith or morals, normally promulgated in an apostolic constitution. Modern examples of "ex cathedra" proclamations include the popes' definitions of the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950).

Encyclicals, however, are not merely letters or expressions of the popeʼs opinion. They carry significant doctrinal weight and are frequently cited as important sources of Catholic teaching.

According to canon law, Catholics are required to give “a religious submission of the intellect and will” to these letters and to “take care to avoid those things which do not agree with it.”

Simply put, Catholics are to presume that the pope teaches the truth in these letters and to sincerely respect the teachings they contain.

Recent encyclical trends

Initially addressed exclusively to bishops, papal encyclicals began reaching broader audiences in the modern period, beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum. It marked the first time in many years that the bishop of Rome had written a pastoral letter on matters other than doctrine or internal affairs of the Church, instead addressing workers’ rights, the right to private property, and the dangers of socialism.

With St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris in 1963, pontiffs increasingly addressed their letters to “all men of goodwill,” shifting from a mainly Catholic audience to the global stage.

Since the Second Vatican Council, papal encyclicals have increasingly focused on threats to the dignity of the human person and authentic human development. St. Paul VI wrote Humanae Vitae in 1968, reiterating and applying Church teaching to the question of artificial birth control. St. John Paul II dedicated four encyclicals to promoting Catholic social teaching, building on Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum. Pope Francis’ four encyclicals largely addressed the preservation of ecology and universal fraternity.

Despite the importance given to these letters in the modern period, the average number of encyclicals per pope is relatively small. Francis wrote only four, while Benedict XVI, his immediate predecessor, wrote just three. John Paul II wrote 14, but the average number of encyclicals per pope since the Second Vatican Council has been just seven.

Leo XIII has the most encyclicals of any pope, with 88, 11 of which are dedicated to the rosary.

Pope Leo XIVʼs first encyclical builds on others

Pope Leo XIV indicated at the beginning of his pontificate that he intended to follow in the footsteps of Pope Leo XIII, his predecessor, by responding to todayʼs industrial revolution: “developments in the field of artificial intelligence.”

May 15 marked the 135th anniversary of the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical on capital and labor, Rerum Novarum: “Of New Things” — the first in a long line of social encyclicals produced in the modern era of the Catholic Church.

Addressing the College of Cardinals on May 10, 2025, Leo said: “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

Magnifica Humanitas is expected to be released on May 25 at 11:30 a.m. Rome time in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall.