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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tomis, an American missionary priest who was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, dedicated more than two decades of his life to northern Peru and has been cited by Pope Leo XIV on various occasions as a major inspiration for his own missionary vocation.

The announcement was made on Aug. 4 during Farfán’s homily for the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. At the Mass, Farfán highlighted the witness of the man who founded Chiclayo’s St. John Vianney Parish and asked the faithful to entrust the upcoming process to God.

“Everyone in our diocesan Church of Chiclayo knew Father Juan Tomis. I want to ask that we learn from him. If all goes well and the Lord accompanies and blesses us, the process for his beatification and canonization will begin before long,” the prelate stated.

The bishop also highlighted that Tomis left his home country to dedicate his life to the most needy in Peru.

“How beautiful that he was born in those lands. He came from the United States to serve these communities in Santa Cruz — in the highlands — and later in our beloved Chiclayo, which holds him so dear. I pray, through the intercession of St. John Vianney, that we may begin this process with joy, gratitude, and hope,” Farfán added.

The news comes just days after the presentation of the Spanish edition of the book “Bridgeport to Peru,” originally written in English in 1989 by Monsignor Stephen M. DiGiovanni under the title “Bridgeportʼs Peru.”

During the book’s presentation, organized by the Friends of Father Juan Tomis group, journalist and researcher Larcery Díaz explained that the translation “was born as a tribute of gratitude to mark the centennial of the birth of the man who was the guide and spiritual father to all the inhabitants of this area: Monsignor Juan Tomis Stack,” he stated.

Díaz recalled that it all began in 1963, when Bridgeport Bishop Walter Curtis, inspired by the Second Vatican Council, decided to send missionary priests to Latin America.

“The book tells us a story that began with a courageous ‘yes,’” Díaz noted. Among those first volunteers was “a young, enthusiastic priest of Slovak descent, filled with faith: Father Juan Tomis.”

The researcher recounted that the priestʼs early years were marked by enormous challenges in the province of Santa Cruz, Cajamarca.

The missionaries encountered a population lacking electricity and potable water, nearly impassable roads, high rates of childhood malnutrition, and strong resistance to any pastoral or social change.

In the face of these challenges, Tomis spearheaded road construction, fostered priestly vocations, helped build a clinic to care for the poorest, and worked to recover Church property that had been illegally occupied.

“Upon arriving during a cold winter, the missionaries faced a reality very different from what they had envisioned. Yet, it was their perseverance that allowed the seed of the Gospel to bear fruit on Peruvian soil,” Díaz noted.

In 1967, the mission relocated to Chiclayo, where Tomis founded St. John Vianney Parish, a community that, as Díaz recalled, he never wanted to turn into merely an institution.

“He did not want just an institution, but a ‘parish family.’ His tools were active charity and human kindness,” he explained.

From there, he spearheaded initiatives that remain etched in the memories of thousands of Chiclayo residents: the Useful Vacations program for children, the establishment of Scout troops, medical clinics, libraries, religious song festivals, and fondly remembered televised Masses.

“Father Juanʼs work transformed Chiclayo. That is undeniable,” the journalist affirmed.

His dedication was also recognized by the Holy See: In 1979, Pope John Paul II bestowed upon him the title of monsignor.

Tomis passed away on June 29, 1986. His funeral drew a crowd of some 20,000 people who accompanied the procession through the streets of Chiclayo, one of the largest outpourings of affection the city has ever seen.

“The outpouring of people from the entire community was spontaneous,” Díaz recalled, reading from an article he wrote 10 years after the priestʼs death.

“I can still see the thousands upon thousands of white handkerchiefs fluttering in the wind, bidding him a final farewell, Díaz recalled. “He was a priest who came to fulfill his duty, always bringing a delicate touch of tenderness, a warm spirit of love for his neighbor, and an unwavering devotion to the needy and the downtrodden,” he continued.

The journalist noted that Tomis “sowed love because he loved love, the hallmark of Christianity” and affirmed that his legacy lives on through the pastoral, social, and educational initiatives he spearheaded in Chiclayo.

At the conclusion of the book’s presentation, Díaz summarized the priestʼs impact in a sentence that takes on special significance today, following the announcement of his future cause for beatification.

“Today, as we open these pages, we do not merely read a historical chronicle; we reconnect with the friend, the teacher, and the guide. This book stands as a testament to how the love of God, when translated into service, can change the history of a community.”

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canadian military bishop says prayer restrictions came after insufficient consultation

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

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

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

Syrian authorities release Kurdish evangelical pastor

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

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

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

Franciscan youth in Egypt make a ‘Passage to Life’

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

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

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

Swiss defense minister apologizes for draft law change affecting clergy

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

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

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

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

Saidnaya churches in Syria cancel feast celebrations

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

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

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

Indonesian Catholics mourn last foreign missionary priest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Surprisingly, though, the Dominicans don’t usually do much to celebrate the saint’s Aug. 8 feast day.

While the August feast “is for us certainly always a feast,” Dominican Father Angelo Giuseppe Urru told EWTN News in 2018, it’s not the primary one.

Instead, the order celebrates “more solemnly” May 24, which is the solemnity of the Translation of St. Dominic.

This unusual feast day commemorates the day St. Dominic’s remains were moved, or “translated,” from their original burial spot behind an altar of the church of San Nicolo della Vigne in Bologna, Italy, to a more prominent place in the church in 1233.

For many Dominican provinces, this day is the big celebration, Urru said.

The move of St. Dominic’s body was carried out at the request of Pope Gregory IX about one year before the saint’s canonization on July 13, 1234, only 13 years after his death.

As recorded in a letter by Blessed Jordan of Saxony, one of the first leaders of the Dominicans, the brothers were very anxious before the move of the body, because they were worried that when the wooden coffin was un-interred from the stone sepulcher, the body would give off a foul odor, since it had been buried in a poorly constructed tomb, exposed to water and heat.

But they received a great surprise, because when the tomb was opened, a wonderful and sweet perfume emanated from the coffin instead.

“Its sweetness astonished those present, and they were filled with wonder at this strange occurrence. Everyone shed tears of joy, and fear and hope rose in all hearts,” Blessed Jordan wrote.

He reported that the odor remained and if anyone touched a hand or some object to the body, the odor immediately attached itself and lingered for a long time.

“The body was carried to the marble sepulcher where it would rest — it and the perfume that it poured forth. This marvelous aroma which the holy body emitted was evidence to all how much the saint had truly been the good odor of Christ,” he wrote.

By 1240, the church containing St. Dominic’s remains had been expanded into a basilica and renamed for the saint.

Now, every year Dominican friars, sisters, and laity all over the world celebrate St. Dominic on May 24.

Mass is celebrated at the Basilica of Santa Sabina, the mother church of the Dominicans in Rome, for this feast.

The tradition is for a priest of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly called the Franciscans, to say the Mass and preach. After Mass, the procession of friars stops at the first side chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament is kept, to sing the “O Lumen,” the Dominican antiphon to St. Dominic.

Besides the tomb with the saint’s body, which is in the basilica in Bologna, there are few relics of St. Dominic in existence.

One relic, a piece of his skull, can be found in Rome. It is at the church of Santa Maria del Rosario, part of a Dominican monastery located on Monte Mario, the tallest hill of Rome.

Urru said he was not sure how it came to be kept in the monastery but that it originated when some students in Bologna stole it to have in their chapel.

“There is also the breviary of St. Dominic, a small breviary,” he said.

In 2016, the Dominicans celebrated the 800th anniversary of their founding with a jubilee year, culminating in an International Congress for the Mission of the Order, which took place Jan. 17–21 in Rome.

Urru voiced gratitude for the blessing of vocations, which allow the order’s work to continue.

Thankfully, though there are some provinces that are very small, many are growing and are very strong, he noted, such as those in Vietnam and Africa. The United States as well has seen a good number of new vocations, he said.

Around the world, “there are many initiatives of the order,” and they are working hard still, just as they have the last 800 years.

Ultimately, though, he said, the future of the order is “in the hands of God.”

This story was first published on Aug. 8, 2017, and has been updated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Legal challenges have not yet been filed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the DOJ “will use every weapon at its disposal to end the destructive and discredited practice of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for children.”

The Department of Justice noted that Texas Children’s cooperated with the investigation and took proactive steps that contributed to the resolution. The claims resolved in the settlement remain allegations, with no determination of liability.

“I am grateful that Texas Children’s wants to be part of the solution and no longer the problem,” said Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division.

Hicks returned to St. Patrickʼs Cathedral to serve as the principal celebrant at the profession of vows of the Sisters of Life on Aug. 6, the feast of the Transfiguration. The day also marked the six-month anniversary of his installation as archbishop of New York.

After only being able to celebrate Mass privately following surgery, “it was a great joy to be back at the main altar and to share that beautiful occasion with the Sisters of Life, their families, and friends,” Hicks wrote in a statement.

After returning from a pilgrimage to Rome in the beginning of July, Hicks was diagnosed with a detached retina in his left eye. He underwent surgery involving “a vitrectomy, two sutures to reattach the retina, and the insertion of a gas bubble,” to aid the healing process.

The surgery was successful, but the archbishop has been in a quiet recovery period since, he said.

“Thanks be to God, my eye and vision continue to heal from the surgery. I am deeply grateful for the excellent medical care I have received,” Hicks said. “Following doctors' orders, I have been taking things slowly during my recovery. As many of you know, that is not always easy for me.”

While the gas bubble is in his eye, Hicks shared he is unable to travel by airplane but will “gradually and carefully” add public Masses and other responsibilities to his schedule.

“I look forward to being with you more frequently in the weeks ahead,” he said.

“This period of recovery has also been a gift. It has provided more time than usual to sit quietly before the Lord in prayer. In the stillness, I have been reminded once again how much we all depend on Godʼs grace each day,” he wrote.

“During these weeks, I have also been praying for you and your intentions, and will continue to do so,” he said. “Please, also, continue to pray for me. Your prayers are the greatest gift you can offer me at this time, and I am deeply grateful for each one.”

“May the Lord Jesus, who healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and brought hope to those in need, bless you with light, peace, and love,” he concluded.

Blanche, who is currently the acting attorney general nominated to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi, made the commitment during a July 30 phone call with pro-life leaders, which was leaked online.

The nominee specifically said he intends to protect pro-life states from outside organizations that mail chemical abortion drugs into pro-life states where the drugs are illegal. Some states, such as New York and California, have enacted policies or laws to prevent prosecutions of abortionists who engage in that practice.

“If states have said we are … going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception, we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can’t attack that and they can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs and things like that,” Blanche said on the call.

“It’s a process that takes a lot of time, and that’s why it’s been 19 months and we don’t have complete victory yet, but we will have victory and victory will be soon and it will be permanent and that’s the important thing [for] everybody [to] remember,” he said.

Blanche said this will be part of the administration’s efforts “to get permanent solutions so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.” The Dobbs decision reversed Roe v. Wade and allowed states to restrict abortion.

He said he is also working with agencies and the White House to reverse “the pro-abortion work” of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

To be elevated to the position officially, Blanche needs to be confirmed by a simple majority in the Senate.

Kansas voters reject referendum

Voters in Kansas overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that had support from pro-life leaders in the state, with 61.4% opposed and only 38.6% in support of it.

The referendum itself was not about abortion. Rather, it would have made the state’s Supreme Court justices democratically elected. In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution guarantees a right to abortion, and pro-life advocates saw the proposed change as an opportunity to combat that interpretation.

Kansans for Life Executive Director Peter Northcott told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” on July 30 that the Kansas Supreme Court “is one of the reasons why abortions have tripled over the last five years” and the amendment would have allowed “the opportunity to have a fair day in court.”

3 Planned Parenthood locations in Michigan shut down

Planned Parenthood of Michigan announced it will close three locations, citing a loss in federal funding as the cause. The locations closing are in Lansing, Livonia, and Warren.

“We have to reshape how we deliver care so Planned Parenthood of Michigan can continue serving patients for generations to come,” Paula Thornton Greear, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said in a statement.

“That means concentrating our resources at regional access points and procedural sites and continuing to expand virtual care across Michigan,” she said.

Chemical abortions in Missouri

A Planned Parenthood affiliate in Springfield, Missouri, has begun to offer chemical abortions at its location.

Sam Lee, the executive director of Campaign Life Missouri and a Catholic deacon, called the development “very distressing news” in a statement.

“Because of the passage of the amendment in 2024 and the ruling by Judge [Jerri] Zhang last month, it’s clear that Planned Parenthood is greatly expanding their abortion activity, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they start doing abortions at even more clinics in Missouri,” he said.

Lee said this news shows that it is “essential” that the people of Missouri pass Amendment 3, which would repeal the 2024 referendum that established a state-level constitutional right to abortion.

The original monument, the work of architect Carlos Maura and sculptor Aniceto Marinas, was built on the Cerro de los Ángeles, the geographical center of Spain, and was funded through public subscription, although the statue itself was donated by the count of Guaqui, Juan Marino de Goyeneche.

The monumental complex, standing 92 feet tall, consisted not only of the central figure of Jesus Christ but also of two sculptural groups representing, respectively, sanctified humanity and humanity journeying toward holiness.

The first group featured St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Jesus, Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos, and St. John the Evangelist, among others. The second group comprised figures representing the path of charity, virtue, and the love essential for conversion and sanctification.

Its inauguration, originally scheduled for 1918, was postponed due to the Spanish flu pandemic until May 30, 1919. It was then that, in the presence of the government, the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Francesco Ragonesi, and a large group of bishops and cardinals, Alfonso XIII pronounced the formula for the consecration of Spain to the Sacred Heart: “Spain, the people of your heritage and predilection, bows reverently today before that throne of goodness raised for you in the heart of the peninsula. Reign in the hearts of men, in the bosom of our homes, in the minds of the wise, in the halls of science and letters, and in our laws and national institutions.”

Tried, shot by firing squad, and blown up with dynamite

The Spanish Civil War broke out on July 18, 1936. Just five days later, five young men who had remained near the monument to defend it against potential desecration were killed.

On Aug. 7, the first Friday of the month, Popular Front militiamen staged a mock summary trial of Jesus; after passing sentence, they fired upon the monument while shouting, “Aim with hatred! Fire with rage!”

They subsequently attempted to topple and demolish the monument using various tools, including cables and sledgehammers, but failed. They then decided to blow it up with dynamite. They subsequently dragged the head of the Christ figure behind a horse to further humiliate the image.

The site, renamed Cerro Rojo (Red Hill), was retaken by Nationalist forces on Nov. 6, 1936, which was another first Friday of the month. Troops under the command of Gen. José Enrique Varela attended a Mass of reparation officiated by a military chaplain.

New monument

Following the end of the Civil War in 1939, reconstruction of the site began in 1944. This coincided with the 25th anniversary of the consecration of Spain, an occasion for which the Holy See had granted a jubilee year.

The sculptor of the original work was engaged for the 38-foot-tall statue of the Sacred Heart, which stands atop an 85-foot pedestal.

Four sculptural groups by Fernando Cruz were placed around the base. The first group, representing “Missionary Spain,” features Isabella the Catholic, Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, and St. Junípero Serra.

The second group, representing “Spain: Defender of the Faith,” includes Bishop Osio of Córdoba, Don Pelayo, Diego Laínez, John of Austria, and Blessed Anselmo Polanco, a bishop martyred during the war.

The third group, dedicated to the Church militant, consists of figures representing charity, virtue, and love. The final sculptural ensemble, representing the Church triumphant, reproduces the saints from the original monument.

The new monument, inaugurated in 1965, is located on the site of the original, the ruins of which are preserved on the other side of the complexʼs large esplanade. Ten years later, a sanctuary was inaugurated featuring a temple carved into the rock.

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

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said Deacon Kenneth Goedeke was arrested after arranging a meeting with what he believed was a 15-year-old boy.

Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said in an official statement on Aug. 6 that the 45-year-old Goedeke had been communicating with an undercover detective rather than an underage boy. He was charged with two counts of soliciting a minor.

Gahler in the statement said he was “angry” and “disgusted” but added that he was “deeply thankful” to detectives for “intervening before a child was harmed.”

In a separate statement on Aug. 6, the Archdiocese of Baltimore confirmed Goedeke’s arrest and said it had “removed Goedeke’s faculties to function as a deacon and suspended him from ministry and employment” pending the results of the investigation.

The archdiocese said the charges were “not related to anyone at the parishes or schools” where Goedeke served. He was ordained as a deacon in 2023, the archdiocese said, and he passed a “thorough employment screening” including background checks and a fingerprint criminal history check.

In his statement, Gahler expressed “anger and resolve, and an unwavering commitment to the safety of our children.”

He urged parents to talk to their children not only about Goedeke’s arrest but “about the broader dangers posed by trusted adults who misuse their positions and by online predators who target our youth.”

Under Maryland law, Goedeke faces up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $75,000.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski met with Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdańsk, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, to begin coordinating preparations for what would be Leo’s first pilgrimage to Poland as pope.

The papal visit would be organized jointly by the Polish government and the Catholic Church.

Formal invitations have already been extended to Pope Leo XIV by both the Polish state and the Church, Vatican News reported. On behalf of the Republic of Poland, invitations have come from Presidents Andrzej Duda and Karol Nawrocki as well as Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The presidium of the Polish Bishops’ Conference has also invited the pope.

Because of the international nature of the visit, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate preparations on the government’s side.

A date for the pilgrimage has not yet been determined. Once it is established, a working group composed of representatives of the relevant Church and state authorities will be created to organize the visit.

Three popes have visited Poland a total of 11 times.

St. John Paul II, a native of Poland, made nine papal visits to the country. Benedict XVI visited in 2006, while Pope Francis traveled to Poland in 2016 for World Youth Day in Kraków.

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

Parolin visited Mexico from Aug. 4–6, a trip that, according to a statement from the country’s bishops, “rekindles” the hope of “counting on the presence and direct blessing of His Holiness Leo XIV in our Mexican homeland.”

As part of his activities, the Vatican secretary of state met with the president on Aug. 5 at the National Palace, the seat of the Mexican government. After the meeting, Sheinbaum reported on social media that among the topics discussed was Magnifica Humanitas, the pope’s first encyclical.

“The pope’s calls for peace, fraternity, and closeness to the most vulnerable represent a humanitarian vision that is indispensable at a time when the world needs to strengthen dialogue, solidarity, and cooperation among nations,” she stated.

Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay: The pope’s priorities

Speaking about her meeting with Parolin during her morning press conference on Aug. 6, the president said that one of the topics addressed was the possibility of the Holy Father visiting Mexico.

According to Sheinbaum, Parolin told her that Pope Leo first wants to visit Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay, as these are countries “that Pope Francis did not visit.” She also indicated that the Holy Father has a “special relationship” with Peru “because he lived there for many years.”

The Holy See confirmed that Leo XIV will make an apostolic journey to Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina from Nov. 6–17.

A visit possible after 2027 elections

Sheinbaum said the pontiff “obviously could not come to Mexico during the electoral period,” so his visit would have to wait until after the midterm elections of 2027.

Mexico will hold federal and state elections on June 6, 2027. At the federal level, the 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies are up for grabs, while in 17 states a total of 19,609 positions will be renewed, including 17 governorships and 1,098 local legislative seats.

“We continue to extend the invitation to him,” Sheinbaum said. “They told us ‘yes,’ that ‘he really wants to come to Mexico,’ … but there is still no established date.”

Sheinbaum indicated that during the meeting she and Parolin also discussed some initiatives developed jointly by the Mexican government and the Catholic Church, among them the program “Yes to Disarmament, Yes to Peace,” which promotes the exchange of firearms for economic incentives. They also talked about the restoration of historic churches.

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.

Taybeh is the modern name of the biblical town of Ephraim, which the Lord Jesus visited shortly before his passion (see John 11:54). In addition to being the only remaining entirely Christian village in the region, it is also globally renowned for its beer.

“The situation in Taybeh has deteriorated drastically in recent months,” Fawadleh said in a statement sent to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. “We are facing settler attacks almost daily, repeated incursions onto private property, the destruction of agricultural land, restrictions on movement due to road closures, military barriers, checkpoints, and growing fear among the population,” the parish priest indicated.

Fawadleh explained that this week, settlers broke into a Christian family’s property, a situation he described as “very alarming.” The home, which had recently been prepared for the family to move into, has become a target of repeated attacks by settlers.

“Settlers have entered the property several times, cut the fence, and even brought their sheep inside the house and onto the surrounding grounds. This is not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern of intimidation intended to make Palestinian families feel unsafe and to force them to abandon their homes and land,” he stated.

The parish priest reported that the affected family is out of danger, as they were not in the home at the time of the attacks. However, he lamented the immense psychological suffering they have endured.

“Imagine preparing your home for your future, only to find strangers repeatedly entering it without fear or accountability,” he said.

“In addition, several new settler outposts have been established around the village, increasing pressure on our community and putting the future of the Christian presence in this land at risk,” Fawadleh added.

A message to Christians around the world

“We ask you not to forget us,” the priest said. While highlighting the miraculous power of prayer, he noted that Taybeh needs more from Christians worldwide. “We ask you to raise your voices, speak the truth, visit us, and stand with the Christian community of the Holy Land,” he emphasized.

He pointed out that the solidarity of Christians across the globe “gives us hope” and “reminds us that we are all one body in Christ.”

“Together, we can help protect these Christians — living witnesses and ‘living stones’ in the land where our faith was born and where the first generation of Christianity was raised up. May God bless you all and keep you safe. Keep praying, and continue the work and the struggles you are engaged in. We are praying for you, too,” Fawadleh concluded.

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

The Vatican also announced that, as he did during his recent journey to Spain, he will meet with victims of clerical sexual abuse during his France trip. The victims themselves will help organize the meeting, with further details to be announced later.

The motto for Leo’s trip, “Pour que le monde ait la vie" (“That the World May Have Life”), is drawn from the Gospel of John 6:51. According to the official Vatican News outlet, the motto “resonates with” the debate over the assisted-dying legislation recently approved by Franceʼs National Assembly.

As announced by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff will begin his journey by departing Rome on Sept. 25 at 7:50 a.m. and arriving at Paris Orly International Airport at 10 a.m.

Paris

At 11 a.m., Leo will pay a courtesy visit to French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, followed by meetings with authorities, where he will deliver his first address. Then, at 3 p.m., he will visit the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

That evening, at 5:15 p.m., the pope will celebrate vespers with clergy and religious at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It will be the first time a pope has visited the cathedral since the 2019 fire. A prayer vigil with young people will follow at the Stade de France at 9 p.m.

The next day, Sept. 26, Leo will visit the Maison Bakhita Center for Social Support and Integration and meet with members of the provincial synod assembly at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

At 3 p.m., Leo will celebrate his first Mass of the trip at Place de la Concorde before traveling to Lourdes at 5:45 p.m.

Lourdes

The pontiff is scheduled to arrive in Lourdes at 7:05 p.m. From there, he will visit the renowned grotto at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes for a prayer service.

The next day, Sept. 27, he will meet with the French bishops at the shrine at 9 a.m. before celebrating there the second Mass of his trip at 11 a.m.

Leo is scheduled that afternoon to meet at the shrine with the staff and sick community of the Accueil Notre Dame. He will then privately meet with Carmelite nuns at their monastery in Lourdes.

At 9 p.m., Leo will lead a rosary and a candlelit procession at the Lourdes grotto.

Metz

For the final day of his trip on Sept. 28, Leo will depart Lourdes at 7:40 a.m. and arrive in Metz at 9:20 a.m., becoming the first pope to visit the city since St. John Paul II in 1988.

There, at 10 a.m., he will join an interreligious meeting at the Robert Schuman Conference Center and then attend another meeting, “To the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity.”

The pope will then celebrate the third and final Mass of his trip at the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz. He will then depart Metz at 7 p.m. to arrive in Rome at 8:50 p.m.

In an interview with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, Bishop Henry Mchamungu, the episcopal delegate in Nyerereʼs cause, said the diocesan inquiry is currently gathering testimony about the late presidentʼs life, faith, and virtues.

"We are in the process of interrogating witnesses,” Mchamungu said. “This is a very important stage because we have to ask people many questions to obtain sufficient information about the life, virtues, and faith of Mwalimu Nyerere.”

The bishop, who spoke to ACI Africa on the sidelines of the 21st AMECEA Plenary Assembly of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) July 19–26 in Nairobi, Kenya, explained that the tribunal conducts detailed interviews with each witness.

“Each witness is asked many questions — sometimes one person can be asked 30 or even 40 questions. We have to listen to many witnesses because we need to gather enough evidence concerning his life and his virtues,” Mchamungu said.

Nyerereʼs cause was initiated in 2005 after the late Bishop Justin Samba of the Diocese of Musoma, together with the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), petitioned the Holy See to open the canonization process.

Pope Benedict XVI declared the former president a servant of God on May 13, 2005.

Mchamungu explained that the cause was later transferred from the Diocese of Musoma to the Archdiocese of Dar es Salaam.

"The president of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference informed the archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, who at that time was Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, that the cause should be transferred from Musoma to Dar-es-Salaam," he explained.

On May 2, 2014, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a rescript authorizing the transfer of the competent forum for the diocesan inquiry from Musoma to Dar es Salaam.

According to Mchamungu, progress slowed after the transfer because Pengo experienced prolonged health challenges.

The process was revived in 2023 when the president of TEC appointed a new postulator to oversee the cause.

"In 2023, it became necessary to revive the cause again,” Mchamungu told ACI Africa. “The president of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference appointed a postulator, who is the person responsible for guiding the cause.”

He noted that the process required further reorganization after the first postulator stepped down for personal reasons.

“We had to look for another person. After some time, we found another postulator who accepted the responsibility. Although he does not live in Tanzania, he agreed to help us continue with the cause,” Mchamungu said, referring to Nairobi-based Brother Reginald D. Cruz.

He acknowledged that the work of the diocesan tribunal remains demanding because its members also carry pastoral responsibilities.

“Everyone has other pastoral duties. Therefore, finding time to meet and conduct the sessions is not easy. However, the cause is continuing after having remained inactive for a long time,” he said.

Mchamungu appealed to Catholics to pray for the progress of the cause, expressing hope that Nyerere may one day be declared blessed.

“We continue asking God that the cause may continue,” he said. “The day will come, God willing, when he will be declared blessed.”

Mchamungu encouraged those who believe they have received extraordinary graces through Nyerereʼs intercession to report them to the tribunal.

“If someone receives a grace through his intercession, that person should inform the tribunal so that it can be investigated and recorded. Later, it can help in the process of declaring him blessed and, God willing, later a saint,” the bishop said.

Reflecting on Nyerereʼs early life, the Tanzanian bishop recalled his close relationship with the Catholic Church before entering politics.

“Before becoming involved in politics, he was a teacher. He taught at St. Francis Secondary School in Pugu, a school that was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers,” he said.

Mchamungu added that the future presidentʼs experience within the Church helped shape his character and approach to public service.

“He was close to the Church and to the priests who managed that school. They knew him and saw that he was a special person, a young man with good values and commitment,” he told ACI Africa.

The Catholic Church leader continued: “Nyerere received many good values from the Church. Those values helped him become a leader who put people before his own interests. That is why many people continue to remember him as an example of leadership with integrity and service to society.”

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

The period of Inca rule in Peru spanned from 1200 to 1532, while Spanish rule began in 1532 and ended in 1821, the year of the country’s declaration of independence.

In an interview with “EWTN Noticias,” the network’s Spanish-language television news program, the author of the new book “The Catholic Incas” contended that the conversion of many members of the Inca nobility was a far more complex process, marked by dialogue and the discovery of common ground between their beliefs and Christianity.

“I believe the biggest mistake, even among us Catholics, is thinking that our faith was imposed upon us,” Aíta affirmed.

“The numbers donʼt add up, because a small handful of Spaniards cannot convince thousands or hundreds of thousands of people,” Aíta indicated. “What we find in this historic process is a series of convergences that are far removed from imposition and much closer to negotiation,” he explained.

According to Aíta, who is also known on social media as Capitán Perú (Captain Peru), the encounter with Christianity sparked interest among the panacas (the family clans of the Inca nobility), who found similarities between certain aspects of their worldview and the Christian message.

“The first to convert were Incas. I am not speaking only of Atahualpa, whom many would say was baptized to avoid being burned to death. After him, there were other Incas who voluntarily requested baptism,” he stated.

The historian also highlighted a little-known episode in Peruvian history: the founding of the first parish in Cusco.

“The San Cristóbal parish was founded by an Inca, the son of Huayna Capac. It was not founded by a Spaniard, nor even by a priest. An Inca founded the first chapel that later became the first parish in Cusco,” Aíta pointed out.

He recounted that his interest in reexamining Peruʼs history began during his first visit to Machu Picchu. “That was when I realized there was much more to it than what I had been taught in class,” he recalled.

Upon returning to Cusco, Aíta began reading historians such as María Rostworowski, José Antonio del Busto, and Donato Amado.

“I discovered an entire history that, unfortunately, is not taught. If what they wrote reached the schools, it would not only change the history of Peru; it would change the way we see our country,” Aíta asserted.

Corpus Christi and the Catholic Incas

A prime example Aíta presents in “The Catholic Incas” is the set of traditional Corpus Christi paintings housed in the Archbishopʼs Palace in Cusco.

Aíta explained that one of these paintings depicts the Incaʼs royal standard-bearer walking behind the monstrance carrying the Eucharist. Instead of wearing the traditional imperial tassel on his head, a servant carries it ahead of him on a cushion.

“He is placing the Incaʼs crown at the feet of Jesus Christ, who is the Eucharistic Sun,” he explained.

“The Incas worshipped the sun, but through the Gospel, they discovered that the true Sun is Jesus Christ. For them, the feast of Corpus Christi brought the ancient festival of the Sun to its fulfillment, because the Sun was now present among them,” he added.

Consequently, he noted that the solemnity of Corpus Christi became one of Cuscoʼs most important religious celebrations and continues to draw massive public participation to this day.

The historian noted that his book includes documents, paintings, and other historical evidence that demonstrates the presence of Inca nobility who fully embraced the Catholic faith.

Among these, he cited the portrait of Marcos Inca, a member of royal Lloque Yupanqui lineage, who is depicted bearing the symbols of Inca nobility alongside the inscription “Inca, Catholic knight by the grace of God.”

As Aíta sees it, this evidence helps explain why Catholicism remains deeply rooted in Peru.

“Faith remains so important in Peru to this day because it is part of our roots, not something imposed. Had it been imposed, we would have changed once the Spaniards left. Yet the Spaniards departed, and we carried on, perhaps even more Catholic than they were,” he concluded.

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

Oklahoma established a charter school system in 1999, which provides public funds for privately run K–12 schools to which parents can send their children instead of a public school operated by a school district. The law only allows “nonsectarian” applicants, which prevents any participation from schools that have a religious identity.

In 2023, the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board (SCSB) approved an application from a proposed Catholic charter school — St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School — which led to a legal challenge from Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who opposed religious charter schools.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court sided against the school, finding that charter schools are public schools and that public schools must be secular. St. Isidore appealed this to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that resulted in a 4-4 deadlock with no majority opinion because Justice Amy Coney Barrett had a conflict of interest and recused herself.

Amid no clear guidance from the federal courts, a Jewish organization — National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation — filed an application to set up a charter school, which was denied. The group, represented by lawyers at the Becket Fund, filed a new lawsuit and asked a federal district court to require the SCSB to consider religious applicants.

“Oklahoma makes room in its charter program for schools of all shapes and sizes, from those focused on science and fine arts to language immersion and classical education,” Daniel Chen, a Becket attorney representing the Jewish foundation, said in a statement.

“The one it refuses to make room for is a faith-based school,” Chen added. “That is religious discrimination, plain and simple, and the state deserves a failing grade for it.”

Chen told EWTN News that Becket is asking the federal court to immediately allow National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation to set up a charter school, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent that requires government programs to allow religious institutions the same access as secular institutions.

“They’re private actors,” he said. “And because they’re private actors, they cannot be excluded from participating in a public benefits program.”

Chen said the federal district court is not bound by the precedent of the Oklahoma Supreme Court because that is a state court, so it could rule in favor of the school. He also said if the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, he hopes Barrett can weigh in to break the 4-4 deadlock.

“We’re hoping that [for] our case, there wouldn’t have to be any recusals,” he said.

School board’s hands are tied

Although the charter school board denied the application from the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, one of its lawyers at First Liberty Institute explained to EWTN News that its hands are tied by the statute and the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision.

“They’re following that order,” said Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty and the lawyer representing SCSB. “But [they] would be happy if the federal court didn’t [require the school board] to engage in that kind of discrimination.”

Sasser said the SCSB does not want to exclude an applicant “simply because it’s religious” and would rather evaluate applicants “just based on the merits.” But he said the order “makes them exclude religious schools just because they’re religious.”

“They want to maximize all of the various choices and opportunities for parents,” he added.

Sasser said he hopes the question goes to the U.S. Supreme Court again so “we’ll get an answer — a real answer.” He said it would provide more clarity for the school board, which “needs an answer.”

John Meiser, director of the Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic at the University of Notre Dame and the lawyer who represented St. Isidore at the Supreme Court, told EWTN News that the question ultimately comes down to whether charter schools are private or public institutions.

In Oklahoma, he said charter schools “are called public schools” and that label “introduces a confusion that I don’t think would be present if they chose any other word.”

He said Supreme Court precedent is clear that religious institutions must have equal access to government programs available to private institutions, but if a charter school is a “government school,” that “doesn’t apply” because the government “doesn’t and can’t run religious schools.”

In spite of the label, Meiser said charter schools in Oklahoma are “formed and designed and run by private groups” and people who work there “are private employees.” He said the structure “looks just like a government contract” and funding from the government “doesn’t turn all those private contractors into the government itself.”

“The dispute is really just about, ‘Well is a charter school in some way different?’” he said.

Although Meiser said he is not aware of any ongoing Catholic efforts to recreate a charter school, he said that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s constitutional arguments for equal access “would presumably apply to all religious operators of schools, and so it would open the door to a Catholic charter school or other religiously based charter school.”

Attorney general stands firm

Drummond, who remains Oklahoma’s attorney general, is standing firm in opposing the creation of religious charter schools and is fighting against National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s efforts.

"This matter was resolved when the state Supreme Courtʼs ruling to prevent taxpayer funded religious charter schools was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year,” Leslie Berger, press secretary for the attorney general’s office, told EWTN News.

Drummond has also criticized the charter school board in public statements surrounding this legal battle in March, accusing the SCSB of “playing politics with the taxpayers' money” and alleged it “manipulated the record [about why National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation’s application was rejected] to make that lawsuit easier to lose — not win.”

"A state agency that deliberately hobbles its own legal position is not doing its job — it is betraying Oklahoma taxpayers,” he said. “I will not allow that.”

Drummond has garnered support from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) for opposing the creation of religious charter schools.

Attorneys for FFRF are representing seven Oklahomans who oppose their tax money being used to support religious charter schools.

“The federal court should rule according to constitutional principles,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. “A religious public charter school has no place in our secular public education system.”

It’s unclear when the federal court will issue its ruling, but National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation has asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction against the state so it can begin operating a school while the litigation plays out.

Speaking with “EWTN News Nightly” in an Aug. 5 interview with anchor Veronica Dudo, Colleen De Vos recounted the final months of her father’s life. He died through Canadaʼs medical assistance in dying (MAID) program in 2023 at age 85 after being diagnosed with terminal chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

“My father wasnʼt very forthcoming with his intentions, unfortunately,” De Vos said. “We did see some very fragile moments during the course of his illness.”

As his condition worsened, De Vos said her family worked to arrange hospice or in-home palliative care, believing those services would provide the compassionate support he needed.

“We were advocating very strongly for hospice care or at-home palliative program,” she said. “He seemed to agree with that.”

But the familyʼs efforts were unsuccessful.

“He was turned down on two occasions, deeming that his diagnosis wasnʼt enough to warrant hospice care,” De Vos said. “That was a surprise to us because we could see he was deteriorating very quickly.”

Instead, she said, a nurse practitioner overseeing his care at home spoke privately with her father about pursuing MAID as his symptoms worsened.

De Vos said the contrast between accessing hospice and obtaining assisted suicide was striking.

“The irony of the availability of MAID that could be arranged very quickly ...  sidelined us very much,” she said.

She recalled receiving “literally the cardboard box in the mail” containing the drugs and supplies needed for the procedure.

“Obtaining [hospice care] was very difficult,” she said. “And this was very simple.”

On the day her father was scheduled to die, De Vos said the family finally learned that a hospice bed had become available.

She called it “very heartbreaking” that he declined the hospice bed.

“I think he proceeded because of his loss of hope,” she said. “We absolutely were prepared to provide him with round-the-clock care.”

Religious freedom challenge in New York

De Vos' story comes as Catholic ministries in New York are challenging the stateʼs new assisted suicide law in federal court.

Speaking on Aug. 5 with “EWTN News Nightly,” Adele Keim, senior counsel at Becket Fund, said New Yorkʼs law differs significantly from those in states such as Oregon and Washington.

“New York has created an opt-out law,” Keim said. “The presumption is youʼre in unless you opt out.”

While some providers may decline to prescribe or administer the lethal drugs, Keim argued that Catholic ministries are still required to participate in other aspects of the process.

“You canʼt opt out of your obligations to counsel patients about assisted suicide and the ‘benefits’ it would provide,” she said. Nor can Catholic providers refuse to refer patients elsewhere if they object to assisted suicide on religious grounds, she said.

Keim said those requirements prompted the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and other Catholic ministries to seek relief in federal court.

Hope, dignity, and the court’s decision

She also spoke with hope in a federal judgeʼs decision to temporarily block New York from enforcing the law against the Catholic plaintiffs while the case proceeds.

“The right to assisted suicide is not a fundamental right,” Keim said, noting that both the U.S. Supreme Court and New Yorkʼs highest court have ruled there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide. “But... there is a fundamental right to religious freedom.”

According to Keim, the injunction ensures the state cannot enforce the law against the Catholic ministries while their constitutional claims are considered.

The Catholic Church teaches that assisted suicide and euthanasia are gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person while encouraging compassionate palliative and hospice care that accompanies patients through natural death.

De Vos said she hopes lawmakers instead “think about the sacred gift of life that we are given by God,” adding: “I donʼt believe that itʼs up to the lawmakers... to give someone the autonomy to end their life.”

The closure occurred in the context of growing political debates around the challenges posed by the expansion of Islam in the country.

The order targeted the “Chanteloup” mosque in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a suburb northeast of the capital in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. It was announced by the local prefecture, the regional arm of the French state administration.

The closure was ordered under a provision enacted in October 2017 that allows prefects to shut down places of worship where preaching is found to “incite violence or hatred, promote terrorism, or provoke acts of terrorism.”

A communique by the local prefect claimed that both the mosque’s regular imams and the guest speakers it hosted spread a “radical Islamist ideology” that “echoes the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, legitimizes jihad, and glorifies death as a martyr.” The administration added that the closure was warranted given the gravity and repetition of statements it judged “capable of inciting terrorist acts.”

The French news agency AFP reported that a video circulating on the social platform X earlier in the year showed an imam who had lectured at least once at the mosque urged Muslims to strike their children aged 11 and older if they failed to pray.

The mosque’s management has contested the order. Its attorney, Rafik Chekkat, announced on social media that the association had filed an emergency appeal with the Montreuil administrative court, arguing the case rested on insufficient, imprecise, and unsubstantiated evidence involving faulty interpretations of Quranic verses.

“The prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis faults an imam for having cited the Surah Al-Baqara at the Chanteloup mosque in Aulnay-sous-Bois, in order to justify its administrative closure,” Chekkat said in a tweet. “If the order is upheld by the courts, the Quran itself becomes grounds for closure.”

He said the mosque had already removed the two imams responsible for what he described as roughly 90% of the complaints against it and that mosque leaders had asked to meet with the prefect beforehand but were refused.

Regional outlet Ici Paris Île-de-France reported the association is also contesting a freeze on its bank accounts and a separate move to dissolve the managing association itself.

A hearing before the Montreuil court was held on Aug. 4; the mosque remained open pending the ruling that should be made public in the coming days.

This is the second time the mosque has faced a shutdown. In 2019, the prefecture ordered its closure after an inspection found the premises did not meet public safety requirements.

Another mosque in the department, in Pantin, closed for six months in 2020 for publicly criticizing history teacher Samuel Paty, who was beheaded that year after showing pupils caricatures of Mohammed, the central figure of the Islamic faith.

Since 2017, the French Senate has ordered seven houses of worship closed under the same provision in its first two years alone, following 19 mosque and prayer-hall closures carried out under France’s 2015–2017 state of emergency after the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015. A further wave followed France’s 2021 law against Islamist “separatism.”

The closure lands amid an ongoing, and polarizing, public conversation in France about the growth of Islam. Government figures put the number of Muslim places of worship nationwide — mosques and smaller prayer rooms combined — at roughly 2,600 in 2024, up from about eight mosques in 1975.

Estimates of France’s Muslim population vary by methodology; INSEE-linked survey data suggest Muslims make up roughly 10% of the metropolitan population, or 6 to 7 million people. A widely covered November 2025 survey by the polling institute IFOP put the adult Muslim share at 7% in 2025, up from 0.5% in 1985.

The closure of the Chanteloup mosque came just one day after the 10th anniversary of the murder of 85-year-old parish priest Jacques Hamel by two Islamic State-inspired attackers inside his own church during Mass on July 26, 2016.

It was the first time in France a terrorist attack had targeted worshippers during a religious service. The local Diocese of Rouen and the town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray — where Hamel was slaughtered — held two days of commemorations July 25 and 26.

A Mass was celebrated by the president of the French bishops’ conference, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, with the homily delivered by Rouen’s Archbishop Dominique Lebrun, built explicitly around interreligious dialogue rather than security concerns.

Saturday’s program featured a roundtable titled “Muslims and Catholics: Educating Young People to Encounter One Another.” Organizers highlighted the public friendship between Roseline Hamel, the slain priest’s sister, and Nassera Kermiche, the mother of one of his killers, as the defining symbol of the decade since the attack.

Eight Florida bishops, representing all six dioceses in the state, signed the Aug. 5 letter. They “urgently” asked Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, and Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Florida, “to bring about the passage of S. 4814.”

The legislation will “offer certainty to our Haitian brothers and sisters in the short-term, while also working toward broader legislative reforms that include opportunities for long-time residents of our communities to regularize their status,” they wrote.

The U.S. House of Representatives advanced the bill that would extend TPS for Haiti through 2029 in April, and the measure has stalled in the Senate.

The bishops further expressed “deep pastoral concern in response to the current state of our immigration system and the human realities involved.”

“The situation is especially daunting for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, Venezuelans, and others who have been relying on temporary protected status (TPS) to live and work lawfully in the United States,” they said.

“So many of these families are left without any legal status or a way to support themselves, all while returning to their country of origin remains unsafe, impractical, and unreasonable because of the ongoing conditions there.”

The letter follows Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski’s previous call for “compassionate” immigration protections for Haitians with TPS upon expiration of their automatic work‑permit extension on July 27.

Following the expiration, Wenski traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers and advocated on behalf of the estimated 353,000 Haitian nationals who hold TPS status in the U.S.

Additional call for broader immigration reform

The bishops also called for broader immigration reform, citing Pope Leo XIV’s message on the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

The Holy Father said “those who have arrived seeking freedom, opportunity, and a place to belong have helped to shape the nation’s character.” He added: “To receive them into the nation with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person.”

“We do not ask you to commit yourselves to immigration reform as a rejection of the national interest but as a means of promoting it,” the bishops said.

“Beyond even the positive economic and social contributions made by immigrants, including those in our own state of Florida, the considerations warranting meaningful improvements to our immigration system are profoundly moral in nature,” they wrote.

“The Catholic Church remains committed to working with you and your colleagues in Congress to bring about bipartisan reforms of our immigration system. Please be assured of our prayers for you and your service to our nation in this 250th year of its independence,” they concluded.

"We are aware of the historic mission that Ceuta represents for our entire nation; we are a bastion of faith that loudly proclaims the value of the faith in the building of a country,” Valdivia said.

“That is why we wish to lift our gaze and see the Lord on our horizon — walking upon the waters of the Strait, approaching our boat, and saying to us: ‘Do not be afraid; it is I,’" he added in remarks released by the diocese in response to the numerous interview requests received in recent days.

Referring to the Ceuta’s patron saint festivities, Valdivia remarked that “centered around St. Mary of Africa, one can understand the faith of a people who have endured centuries of hardship” and that, following events like those of last week, “while it is true there is anger, fear, and at times even a desire to give up, we do not want to do so.”

“The presence of the Virgin Mary offers comfort, peace, and security in God and fosters compassion while simultaneously expressing faith in the God who, having become man, has conquered death. Offering this response entails responding with Godʼs love,” he added.

The Church has demonstrated its maturity amid an unprecedented crisis.”

Bishop Ramón Valdivia

apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta in Spain

The prelate further indicated that “the Church has demonstrated its maturity amid an unprecedented crisis,” even as it continues to “view with concern these events that disturb our peace,” bearing in mind that “this is the second time [such an event has occurred] since the mass influx of May 2021.”

“We feel vulnerable and, in a sense, in need of protection,” added the bishop, who, drawing inspiration from St. Paulʼs Second Letter to the Corinthians, observed: “We are troubled, but not in despair. We trust in God above all.”

Valdivia further noted that the task for the near future involves “rebuilding trust, encouraging those who have suffered fear and anxiety, and working toward a dignified solution for those who entered illegally,” bearing in mind that “feelings very difficult to root out have taken hold in peopleʼs hearts, stemming from the need to care for others while simultaneously protecting the shared space.”

Gratitude to Pope Leo XIV

Meanwhile, the prelate welcomed the words of Pope Leo XIV regarding the crisis — spoken during the Angelus on Sunday, Aug. 2 — as “a balm of comfort, knowing that we are close to the popeʼs heart.”

Leo XIV expressed that he was following “the alarming situation in Ceuta” with concern and asked, through the intercession of Our Lady of Africa, that “solutions of peace, stability, and justice might be found.” These words, the prelate stated, “have helped guide our public mission amid this difficulty, fostering peace, stability, and justice.”

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

The destructive episode at St. Rita Roman Catholic Church in the neighborhood of Long Island City in Queens occurred on Aug. 1 when a man jumped a fence around the courtyard of the parish and smashed a statue of the Virgin Mother with a hammer.

Photos of the attack showed the statue of Mary knocked off its pedestal and in pieces.

The Brooklyn Diocese said in a news release that the New York Police Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime. A diocesan spokesman told EWTN News that no arrests had yet been made in the case as of the morning of Aug. 6.

The diocese said the attack was the fourth of a series of incidents of vandalism at the parish since 2024. In previous attacks vandals smashed a stained-glass window and defaced statues of both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Jude.

Numerous other New York-area parishes have also been vandalized in recent years. Among them was an October 2024 incident at St. Thérèse of Lisieux Church in Brooklyn in which a man vandalized two statues, one of the Blessed Mother and one of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Similar incidents occurred at other churches in 2023, including at two parishes also located in Brooklyn. A February 2024 report by the Family Research Council found an uptick in hostility and vandalism against churches in the U.S., particularly Catholic parishes. 

In January, New York State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton called for increased security for churches after multiple crimes at Catholic parishes on Staten Island.

Church, the state senator said at the time, “is a place of peace and reflection; nobody should feel unsafe where they pray.”

Recent data from the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, meanwhile, showed that church arson attacks across Europe nearly doubled in 2024.

The fire attacks were part of a broader surge in anti-Christian hate crimes that included 274 personal assaults against Christians and the killing of a 76-year-old Spanish monk, according to the report.

Of this event, Benedict XVI noted: “According to the senses, the light of the sun is the most intense ever known in nature.” Despite this fact, Benedict said, “according to the spirit, the disciples saw for a short time a brightness more intense: that of the divine glory of Jesus, which illuminates the whole history of salvation.”

Peter, James, and John experienced an intense beauty, the beauty of an experience of God, a small glimpse of the beatific vision.

The preface for Mass on the Transfiguration explains the significance of the event: “For he revealed his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses ... that the scandal of the cross might be removed from the hearts of his disciples.”

Benedict reflected this sentiment at an Angelus address on March 20, 2011, saying: “We recall the Transfiguration of the Lord and how it prepared the apostles for the coming scandal of the cross.”

The apostles’ experience at the Transfiguration gave them courage and hope in the Resurrection. As the Mass preface ends: “that he might show how in the body of the whole Church is to be fulfilled what so wonderfully shone forth first in its head.”

Christ revealed himself in a new way at the Transfiguration.

“Strengthened by our faith in Jesus, true God and true man, may we be inspired, not scandalized, by the cross given to our Savior and to our fellow Christians who suffer with him throughout the world,” Benedict added. Christ’s transfiguration inspired more faith in the apostles, giving them the strength to face the cross.

Ultimately, faith in Christ and his own transfiguration leads the Christian’s life to be transfigured.

“He is the only voice to listen to, the only one to follow,” Benedict said in a February 2010 Angelus address. “He that, going up towards Jerusalem, will give his life and one day ‘will transfigure our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.’”

As Pope Francis said at an Angelus address on March 1, 2015, speaking about the Transfiguration: “The way of Jesus always leads us to happiness; do not forget it!”

On this year’s feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Leo XIV was in Assisi, Italy, with thousands of young people from across Europe who gathered for GO!, the 2026 Franciscan Youth Meeting.

In his homily at Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels on Aug. 6, Leo said Jesus was “transfigured precisely in conversation with the Father, with those who preceded him — Moses and Elijah — and with his contemporaries, the disciples.” He went on to say that the Church exists “to draw us into this dynamic of listening and deciding, helping us understand for whom to live and how to live.”

This story was first published on Aug. 6, 2021, and has been updated.

According to a diocesan press release, the pontiff will visit Chiclayo Cathedral, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peace, Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University, the districts of Santa Cruz and Zaña, and the open grounds of the Reque Industrial Park, where the main gatherings and celebrations of his visit to the region will take place.

The diocese noted that the return of Leo XIV will represent a moment of great significance for the people, “who will welcome the successor of Peter with faith, hope, and a spirit of unity.” The visit to Chiclayo will be part of his overall apostolic journey to Peru, which will also include the cities of Lima, Cusco, and Pucallpa.

The Peruvian Episcopal Conference (CEP, by its Spanish acronym) has expressed its “immense joy” at the official confirmation of the apostolic visit and is inviting the faithful to prepare themselves spiritually for it.

“His presence among us will be a true gift for our people and an opportunity to renew our faith, strengthen hope, and walk united as a Church in the service of the Gospel,” conference president Bishop Carlos García Camader stated.

The country’s bishops specifically called upon all the faithful and people of goodwill to join in prayer as a form of preparation.

In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Carlos Castillo, archbishop of Lima and primate of Peru, said the pontiff’s upcoming trip is generating “enormous anticipation” among Peruvians.

“We receive this news not only with great pleasure but also with a vital surge of encouragement that prepares us to commit ourselves generously to our faith, so that we may welcome him and better invigorate our Christian and Catholic experience,” Castillo remarked.

The president of Peru, Keiko Fujimori, wrote on her X account that she received “the confirmation with profound joy,” adding that it is “news that fills millions of Peruvians with excitement.”

Fujimori added that the pontiff’s arrival “will be a moment of encounter for our faith and a message of hope for our country.”

“Holy Father, we await you with open hearts to welcome you back to your home, Peru,” she said.

Castillo also noted that the papal visit is taking place during a time marked by challenges such as insecurity, violence, and social difficulties, and that the Holy Fatherʼs presence could foster a necessary reflection.

“May the Holy Father disarm us and make it possible for a peace that is both unarmed and disarming to unfold with full clarity,” Castillo concluded.

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

At a special meeting on Aug. 5, the formal U.S. representation at the OAS presented the draft resolution, titled “Convocation of a Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to Consider the Situation in Nicaragua.” The Permanent Mission of the United States’ resolution was cosponsored by the Permanent Missions of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The Permanent Mission of the United States called for the meeting to take place before Sept. 1, when the Ortega regime is set to codify its latest policy reforms. 

The move would invoke one of the OAS’ highest‑level diplomatic tools, signaling that member states view Nicaragua’s political rupture as a regional concern with direct human rights implications. Ortega’s announcement, paired with constitutional changes aimed at blocking opposition figures from power, prompted the United States and Paraguay to request the extraordinary meeting.

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

She noted that about 838,363 Nicaraguans have fled the country since 2018 and that many face transnational repression. Representatives for several member states said during the meeting that the forced migration of Nicaraguans constitutes a migration crisis and a threat to national security.

Payá, a Catholic of Cuban descent, also highlighted persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, citing the disappearance of Bishop Emeritus Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara of Estelí, Nicaragua. Mata was detained by police on two occasions in late June after praying for the persecuted Church in Nicaragua during a Mass he celebrated on Sunday, June 28.

“We are very concerned about the situation of the persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua and the persecution of the faith in general, and the practice and the exercise of the faith,” Payá told EWTN News. “We have been very vocal about our concerns and alarm about the disappearance of Monsignor Abelardo Mata Guevara.”

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

“When we talk about the Nicaraguan regime, we actually see a systematic continued behavior in the direction of violating freedom of religion, from the situation that took place with Monsignor [Rolando] Alvarez years ago — heʼs now forced to live in exile — to the situation of Monsignor Mata and many other priests and members of the Catholic communities that are afraid to practice their faith,” she said.

Payá said the Ortega regime’s suspension of elections has prompted a “collapse of democracy,” which she said “creates an environment of fear that impacts people of faith.”

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

Payá is the daughter of Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, a Catholic dissident who founded the Christian Liberation Movement (CLM), a peaceful democratic movement inspired by Catholic social teaching in 1988. He was killed during the Cuban Spring in 2012.

“All of my solidarity is with the Nicaraguan people,” Payá said. “And I believe that also all the solidarity of the commission is too, and we will keep following the issue and we will keep engaging in the political dialogue with the member states.”

As announced by the Vatican City State Governorate on July 30, these coins are part of a new Vatican euro collector coin set honoring the new pontificate. This also marks the first time since 2014 that the papal image has appeared on the coins, following Pope Francis’ personal request that his face not be used.

Except for the 5-euro coin, the Vatican coins can be used to buy things in the 21 European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency.

A unique design in the history of Vatican coin-making

Although these new coins with Leo are not the first to feature the pope’s face, they are part of an entirely unique design.

Leo’s coat of arms appears on the 1-cent, 2-cent, and 5-cent euro coins, while his face appears on the larger denominations.

The pope’s image has appeared on minted coins since the Middle Ages, when pontiffs held temporal power over the Papal States. Shortly after the establishment of Vatican City in 1929, the sovereign state issued lira coins (the Italian currency before the euro) bearing the papal image. The Vatican stopped making lira coins after it adopted the euro in 2001.

According to the European Central Bank, the first Vatican coins for the euro were issued in 2002 with the face of St. John Paul II. From 2006–2013, another set of coins was issued with the face of Pope Benedict XVI.

The coins featuring Francis in 2014 were the last until Leo to feature the pope’s face.

Francis’ refusal to be depicted on Vatican coins

For the 2017 issue of Vatican coins, Francis personally requested that his face not be used. Instead, they featured his coat of arms.

In a 2017 interview for Radio Vaticana, Mauro Olivieri, the then-director of the Philatelic and Numismatic Office for Vatican City State, explained the difficulties in accommodating his request.

“[Francis] asked that he no longer appear on coins, medals in general — and especially on those issued by his state — and we did everything we could to accommodate him,” Olivieri said. “We succeeded, despite some difficulties with the EU authorities, which were later resolved, and so the 2017 coinage features the popeʼs coat of arms.”

The newest Vatican coins can be purchased for 59 euros through the Vatican’s Philatelic and Numismatic Office, responsible for its coins and stamps.

The new Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, promulgated by Pope Leo and already in effect, represents considerably more than an update to the legal framework approved by Pope Francis in 2023.

Unlike the previous law, the new text makes a significant change to the way the foundation of the pontiff’s authority over the Vatican city-state is understood.

The constitution promulgated by Pope Francis stated that the pope exercised sovereign powers over Vatican City “by virtue of the Petrine office,” an expression referring to his sacred mission as the successor of St. Peter to guide, safeguard, and maintain the unity of the Church.

In practice, the formulation linked the pope’s temporal authority to his status as the successor of the apostle to whom Christ entrusted the keys of the Church.

“Francis introduced an anomaly that asserted that his powers as head of state derived from being the successor of Peter,” historian of Christianity Giovanni Maria Vian told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Vian, a former editor of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and a professor of patristic philology at Rome’s Sapienza University, said the formulation represented a completely unprecedented innovation.

“It made his authority over Vatican City State derive directly from his status as Peter’s successor,” he said. “It was a theocratic arrangement without precedent in the very long history of the Apostolic See.”

Vian said Pope Leo, who is trained in both civil and canon law, appears to have decided to correct that innovation and return to the approach followed by the two previous Vatican constitutions, promulgated in 1929 and 2000.

“That assertion was neither adequate, correct, nor precise from a theological and historical point of view. That is why it was removed,” said Father Roberto Regoli, an expert in ecclesiastical history and diplomacy from the 19th to the 21st centuries and president of the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation.

“This omission is very important because the concept was unnecessary and, moreover, inappropriate,” he said.

4 constitutions for Vatican City State

The new law, dated July 31, completely replaces the constitution promulgated by Pope Francis on May 13, 2023. It is the fourth Fundamental Law in the history of Vatican City State.

The first was promulgated by Pope Pius XI on June 7, 1929, a few months after the signing of the Lateran Pacts and the creation of the new state. The law was drafted by Jewish jurist Federico Cammeo.

The second was the reform approved by St. John Paul II in 2000. The third was promulgated by Pope Francis in 2023.

Now, just three years later, Pope Leo has approved the Vatican’s fourth constitution.

The most significant change is found in the preamble. The new text recalls that Vatican City State was created through the Lateran Treaty to guarantee the Holy See absolute and visible independence and to ensure its sovereignty in the international sphere.

According to Vian, the difference between the two constitutions is substantial.

“One cannot maintain that Peter possessed temporal power or that his successors received it directly from him,” he said.

The historian noted that the temporal power of the popes emerged centuries after the apostolic era.

“That did not occur until the beginning of the Middle Ages,” he said. “The Papal States began to take shape around the middle of the eighth century.”

From that perspective, Vian said the formulation introduced by Pope Francis was historically difficult to sustain.

“It was probably the result of a mentality connected to his Jesuit background, obedience to the pope, and also the legal advice he received,” he said. “But from a historical and ecclesiological point of view, it was an anomaly.”

Regoli likewise said Pope Leo has restored the traditional formulation.

“Temporal power is at the service of spiritual power, nothing more,” he said. “Temporal power cannot be divinized or placed on the same level as spiritual ministry.”

A more traditional understanding of the Petrine ministry

Both experts said Pope Leo’s decision reflects a more traditional understanding of the Petrine ministry.

“He understands it in continuity with the tradition of his predecessors,” Vian said.

The Italian historian noted that the popes’ temporal power developed between the eighth and 19th centuries, over the course of more than a millennium, without deriving directly from the apostolic primacy of St. Peter.

Vian also said it was necessary to place the creation of Vatican City State in its historical context.

Following the French Revolution, the Papal States were abolished on several occasions: in 1798, with the establishment of the French-backed First Roman Republic; in 1809, during the Napoleonic occupation; in 1849, with the Second Roman Republic; and finally in 1870, when Italian troops took Rome and brought the temporal power of the popes to an end.

The events opened what became known as the “Roman Question.” For nearly 60 years, the pontiffs refused to recognize the new situation created by the Italian state. As a gesture of protest, they ceased appearing at the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to impart public blessings.

The crisis was resolved in 1929 with the signing of the Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreements included an international treaty, a financial convention, and a concordat.

The treaty created Vatican City State as a sovereign territory intended to guarantee the independence of the Holy See.

The new constitution preserves the traditional principle that the pope possesses the fullness of power within Vatican City State.

Article 1 states: “The Supreme Pontiff, sovereign of Vatican City State, possesses the fullness of governing authority, which includes legislative, executive, and judicial power.”

The wording is nearly identical to that used by Pope Pius XI in 1929.

A new legal framework

Another significant change introduced by Pope Leo provides a legal basis for a situation that arose during Pope Francis’ pontificate.

The new Fundamental Law incorporates a November 2025 motu proprio allowing the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State to be held by someone other than a cardinal.

The reform addresses the case of Sister Raffaella Petrini, whom Pope Francis appointed to lead the Governorate of Vatican City State even though the legislation then in force stipulated that the position was to be held by a cardinal.

The appointment prompted criticism because of the discrepancy between the law and the institutional reality.

According to Regoli, the new constitution formalizes a correction Pope Leo had already introduced in 2025.

“The previous constitution established that the president had to be a cardinal; however, the president was Sister Petrini,” he said. “There was therefore an inconsistency between the law and reality. The pope intervened in 2025, and now, with the new 2026 constitution, that change has been fully incorporated into the legislation.”

The legal change means that “in addition to Sister Petrini, any other woman or man, including a layperson, may hold that office,” Regoli said.

“This is because Vatican City State, since it is not directly connected to theological or sacramental matters, does not necessarily require its governor to be a cardinal, bishop, or cleric,” he explained.

Membership in the College of Cardinals is therefore not an indispensable requirement, he said, because the position is not connected to the sacrament of holy orders.

The new Fundamental Law not only returns the Vatican constitution to the legal tradition of 1929 and 2000 but also regularizes several institutional reforms introduced in recent years.

Both experts agreed, however, that the most important change remains the redefinition of the origin of the pope’s temporal authority, an issue they consider essential to understanding the nature of the world’s smallest state.

“Pope Leo XIV has repaired an unprecedented break and returned to the original spirit in which Vatican City State was created,” Vian concluded.

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

The event involves a prayer relay linking Hiroshima to Nagasaki, Rome, and New York.

The Diocese of Hiroshima offered a Mass for the victims of the bomb and all war dead at 8 a.m. Thursday local time at the World Peace Memorial Cathedral in the cityʼs Noboricho district, the hour the diocese gathers each year, minutes after the 1945 blast.

The vigil, organized with the Community of SantʼEgidio — the Rome-based lay movement known for its peace diplomacy — runs until exactly 11:02 a.m. on Sunday, the very minute the second atomic bomb struck Nagasaki, according to the diocese.

The Focolare Movement, parishioners, and volunteers are taking part. SantʼEgidio has kept the vigil annually since 2022.

The day, Aug. 6, is also the feast of the Transfiguration.

The Japanese prelate and the SantʼEgidio president, Marco Impagliazzo, issued a joint message to link the commemoration with the call for the common good as set out in Pope Leoʼs first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.

In the message, Shirahama and Impagliazzo reflected on the American pontiffʼs words, calling the vigil a way to receive the peace of the risen Christ, “a disarming, humble, and persevering peace” — the phrase Leo used from the loggia of St. Peterʼs Basilica minutes after his election in May 2025.

Three chapels are open to the public for this event: the crypt of the cathedral in Hiroshima, the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in New York, and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome.

The prayer is livestreamed, and organizers are reading aloud intentions sent in from around the world.

An observance dating back to St. John Paul II

Thursday also marks the beginning of the annual “Ten Days for Peace” for Japanese Catholics, an event of prayer and penance running from the day of the Hiroshima bombing to the date of Japanʼs surrender on Aug. 15.

The bishops began the observance after Pope John Paul II came to Hiroshima in 1981 and issued his Appeal for Peace, telling the world that to remember the city is to repudiate nuclear war.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2006 World Day of Peace message, called reliance on nuclear arms “not only baneful but also completely fallacious,” warning that in a nuclear war there would be “no victors, only victims.”

Pope Leo, in a foreword published in July, called for the elimination of nuclear weapons outright.

As announced by the Holy See on Aug. 6, the pontiff also accepted the resignation of Archbishop Roberto Octavio González Nieves, OFM, who has led the archdiocese since 1999.

González concludes nearly 30 years of service

González concludes his service in Puerto Rico having led the archdiocese through challenging times, including Hurricane María in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was ordained a Franciscan priest in 1977 and served as auxiliary bishop of Boston before becoming bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas. Notably, he replaced Bishop René Gracida at Corpus Christi, who signed his name to a “filial correction” criticizing Pope Francis’ 2016 encyclical Amoris Laetitia.

Assigned to Puerto Rico by St. John Paul II, in 2023 González was honored with the Spirit of Francis Award by the Catholic Extension Society in recognition of his service in helping Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane María.

Bishop Ramos: A theologian with pastoral work

Ramos was born in Maunabo, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 15, 1952. After completing studies in biology and theology in Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Rome, he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Caguas in Puerto Rico in 1983.

After more than 20 years as a parish priest and professor, he was named bishop of Fajardo-Humacao in 2008. He was transferred to Caguas in 2017 and was subsequently nominated as president of the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference.

Langa died on Monday, Aug. 3, at Maputo Central Hospital, the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM) announced in a statement.

“As he completes his earthly pilgrimage, CEM gives thanks to God for the life and ministry of Cardinal Langa, who dedicated himself faithfully to the service of the Catholic Church in Mozambique, particularly in the Diocese of Xai-Xai,” CEM members said in the statement.

They urged the people of God to “unite in prayer for the eternal repose of his soul.”

“Further information concerning the funeral rites and celebrations will be communicated by the CEM in due course,” the Catholic bishops added.

Born in Mangunze, Gaza Province, in October 1927, Langa was ordained a priest in June 1957.

In 1976, Pope Paul VI appointed him the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Xai-Xai, where he served for more than two decades amid war, social upheaval, and the difficult task of pastoral reconstruction.

During those years, he promoted the pastoral life of the diocese and paid special attention to communities affected by the conflict as well as by epidemics and natural disasters.

In addition to his pastoral work, the late cardinal stood out for his knowledge of local languages. He participated in the edition of the translation of the texts of the Second Vatican Council into the main languages of Mozambique, contributing to their dissemination among the country’s Catholic communities.

After his retirement in July 2004, he remained closely connected to the diocese and continued to be regarded as a respected figure known for his simplicity, pastoral presence, and fidelity to the Gospel.

Langa’s elevation to the College of Cardinals by the late Pope Francis in February 2015 marked a historic moment for Mozambique, making him the second Mozambican cardinal.

With his passing, the College of Cardinals now consists of 240 cardinals, of whom 116 are electors and 124 are non-electors.

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

The Aug. 4 video message was presented by the president of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym), Bishop Ramón Castro Castro, and the CEM’s secretary-general, Bishop Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal.

“A hundred years ago in Mexico, the bells of the churches were silenced,” the prelates recalled, but “their blood spoke instead.”

“For two years, the churches were closed, and the religious conflict pitted Mexicans against one another,” they stated.

The bishops lamented that “what happened in Mexico a century ago bears that tragic face. It was not a nation invaded by outsiders but a people divided against itself.”

“On both sides of the trenches and the battalions were children of the same land — baptized in the same parishes, heirs to the same culture, and sharing the same mother in their hearts: the Virgin of Guadalupe,” they added.

“Today, a hundred years later, we, the bishops of Mexico, wish to address everyone, not to reopen wounds but to heal them; not to judge the dead but to serve the living,” the prelates stated.

“A people that does not remember is at the mercy of those who write history for them,” they warned, going on to emphasize that “Christian memory is not nostalgia for the past; it is strength for the present.”

The bishops further stated: “We are not commemorating a war, we are not celebrating a victory.” They continued: “We do not exalt arms, nor do we idealize violence. We do not call for revenge, and we do not fuel resentment.”

Rather, they said, “we commemorate the fidelity of a believing people who kept the faith alive when the churches fell silent. We commemorate our martyrs, who did not kill for Christ but died for him. And we remember a lesson learned at a very high price,” the bishops pointed out.

In this regard, Mexico’s bishops emphasized that “religious freedom is not a privilege of the clergy but the right of every human person.”

The prelates underscored that “the martyrs remind us that there are truths worth living for and, if necessary, dying for — because whoever lays down their life out of love does not lose it; they sow.”

“Today, we defend religious freedom as a right for all — believers and nonbelievers alike — because no conscience should be coerced, manipulated, or silenced,” they emphasized.

This “time of grace,” the country’s bishops noted, represents “a call to build a Church that listens before speaking, that journeys together, and that awakens in every baptized person the awareness of living out their faith within the family, at work, and in public life.”

“May this time find us reconciled — capable of speaking the truth without hatred, of forgiving without forgetting, and of building together a nation where no conscience is coerced and no life is deemed disposable,” the bishops affirmed.

“May Christ reign in our hearts, and may St. Mary of Guadalupe protect our homeland,” they concluded.

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

The pope celebrated Mass on Thursday at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels before the Portiuncula, the small chapel closely associated with the life and vocation of St. Francis.

Addressing approximately 2,500 participants in the GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting on the feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Leo said Assisi has long drawn pilgrims because “everything whispers that our lives can take on a new form, radiate light, and heal the world.”

“It was here that the transformation of Francis, Clare, and then thousands of other young people began,” he said. “They embraced the Gospel ‘sine glossa’ — we could say, in its simplicity — then the life of Jesus began anew within them.”

Reflecting on the Gospel account of the Transfiguration, the pope said the young pilgrims had come to Assisi in search of direction and meaning.

“We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going,” he said. “In the Gospel, we see that meaning can indeed be found, that a path can be glimpsed. Like Peter, James, and John, we too have been brought a little aside, and Jesus is with us. What matters is his presence.”

“Now, in Jesus’ transfiguration, God himself reveals his glory, which takes the form of a cloud that protects and envelops. He points to his Son and invites us to listen to him. The path of life is discovered by following him together.”

Pope Leo told the young people that their days of prayer, meetings, and conversation in Assisi offered evidence that they were not alone.

“We are not alone! In recent days you have experienced this, since you have met and listened to one another, moving beyond the clamor of overlapping and conflicting voices to the art of conversation,” he said.

“Today, we contemplate Jesus, who is transfigured precisely in conversation with the Father, with those who preceded him — Moses and Elijah — and with his contemporaries, the disciples.”

The Church, the pope continued, exists to draw people into “this dynamic of listening and decision-making,” helping them understand “for whom we are to live and how we are to live.”

He highlighted the Franciscan tradition’s emphasis on restoring relationships damaged by sin, division, and exploitation.

“Franciscan spirituality, in which you have been formed, is among the most attentive to restoring fundamental relationships with God and with all his creatures,” he said. “Today, more than ever, this is a harmony that needs to be safeguarded and cultivated.”

Pope Leo said St. Francis continues to attract people eight centuries after his death because of the profound humanity that led him to abandon familiar paths and follow Christ in a new and radical way.

“Dear friends, the reason why St. Francis still draws us to himself, even 800 years after his death, lies in the grandeur of humanity that led him to abandon familiar ways in order to find a new path that is more consistent with that of Jesus,” he said.

“Even in a town that had been Christian for centuries, such as Assisi, this seemed revolutionary.”

The pope then issued a direct appeal to the young people gathered before the Portiuncula.

“Well then, dear young people, today Europe and the whole world are looking to you to be new saints,” he said. “Dare to believe in the word of the Gospel; become fully human with the freedom of Jesus Christ; embrace Sister Poverty!”

The name of the youth gathering, he said, was itself a missionary command.

“The title of your gathering, GO!, is a mission, a sending forth onto paths for which we have no maps, because they are opened by listening to the heart, obeying the Holy Spirit, and following the Risen One wherever he has chosen to go before us,” Pope Leo said.

“Go! Go! Better yet: Let us go! Let’s go to the margins, where the injustice and arrogance of a few deny the dignity and dreams of many, of far too many sons and daughters of God.”

Following Christ may bring misunderstanding, including from one’s own family or community, the pope cautioned. He insisted, however, that opposing injustice and division does not mean betraying one’s roots.

“We may not be understood, even by those closest to us, as happened to St. Francis,” he said.

“Yet, breaking free from the culture of power, and tearing down the walls that separate human beings from one another, is never a betrayal of our families, towns, or traditions. Instead, it means freeing them from their ghosts, from enemies invented out of fear or ignorance and from the violence with which people seek to impose their own limited order on a reality that surpasses us on every side.”

“To trust in God is to rediscover, like Francis and Clare, a world of brothers and sisters to cherish and serve, not to exploit and dominate,” he continued. “Not a world to defend, but to embrace.”

Concluding his homily, Pope Leo encouraged the young participants to place every aspect of their lives at the service of what he called the “civilization of love.”

“Unite the best energies of your magnificent humanity: your studies, skills, work, friendships, love, and prayer, so that you can bring St. Francis’ vision to life in many different ways,” he said.

The pope then recited the prayer commonly attributed to St. Francis, beginning: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

At the conclusion of the Mass, Francesco Varone addressed Pope Leo on behalf of the young participants.

“During these days, we have prayed, listened to testimonies, formed friendships, and allowed ourselves to be challenged by the Gospel and by the witness of St. Francis, who right here at the Portiuncula learned to make his life a total response to God’s love,” Varone said.

“Today, all of this has found fulfillment in your presence. Holy Father, we young people need authentic witnesses, men capable of pointing us to Christ with their lives, not only with words.”

“Your voice encourages us not to be afraid to choose the good and to believe that the Gospel can still change the human heart,” he continued. “Thank you, Holy Father, because today you make us feel that we are Church. Thank you for being here in Assisi, in Mary’s house; thank you for being among your young people.”

Following the celebration, Pope Leo entered the Portiuncula for a period of silent prayer, greeted the faithful, and then departed for the Vatican.

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.

Verret and her husband, Ryan, have for years run the marriage ministry Witness to Love; in 2024 Pope Francis named them as consultants to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life.

Since 2012 the Verrets have used that ministry to reach both engaged and married couples in a variety of formats. And their work has occurred amid an encouraging shift in U.S. marriage culture: declining divorce rates for new marriages.

Data compiled by the Institute for Family Studies shows that couples who married in the 2010s have markedly lower divorce rates than couples who married in earlier decades.

That trend has been part of an overall decline in divorce since roughly the 1980s onward: While 30% of first marriages in the 1970s ended in divorce after 10 years, just 18% of first marriages from 2010–2012 did so, with the divorce rate for the rest of the latter decade remaining roughly similar so far.

Mary Rose Verret told EWTN News there’s “not a lot of data” to indicate reasons why that rate is trending downward. Yet some of the explanations, she said, could be that people “are taking marriage a little more seriously” and are entering into the institution more prepared.

She said that half of the work of their ministry involves engaged or recently married couples, while the other half is with couples who have been married longer and who serve as mentors of younger husbands and wives.

When looking to keep divorce rates low, Verret said, ministering to those who have been married for years is just as critical a component as preparing couples for marriage.

“The more we can do to strengthen existing marriages, that’s what going to lower the divorce rate and increase the number of happily married couples that are really being witnesses,” she said.

The beginning point, meanwhile, is close to home, she said: “Start with your own marriage. Start with investing in your church community. Invest in your diocese.”

“There’s nothing more important than preparing the next generation of couples and families,” she said.

The 50% divorce myth

A pop culture talking point for years has been the contention that half of all marriages will end in divorce. Yet the Institute for Family Studies argues that that statistic is outdated, having been popularized “during the heyday of hippies through the MTV era” amid massive shifts in the institution of marriage.

Decades of data, on the other hand, indicate that only first marriages that began in the 1970s had a more-than-50% likelihood of ending in divorce by their 50th anniversary. In the 1950s the rate hovered around 30%; in the 1960s it was slightly over 40%.

Other decades thus far have trended higher or lower, though none have topped 50%.

Grant Bailey, the deputy director of the Get Married Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies, told EWTN News that the decline of divorce rates from their peak in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s can be explained in part by “later marriages.”

“The divorce revolution of the 1960s and 1970s saw rising divorce rates across the board, with the highest divorce rates among couples who married in their early 20s,” he said. “Adults began marrying later, bringing lower divorce risks, and as a result we saw the aggregate divorce rate fall from the 1980s onward.”

Yet more recent data show divorce rates trending downward “regardless of what age couples marry.” Later marriages, he said, “no longer explain why divorce rates are falling.”

Peter and Sheila Oprysko, the North America secretariat ecclesial team of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, said declining divorce numbers are in part due to a greater “intentionality” about marriage among younger people.

“We know that people are getting married later in life,” Peter told EWTN News. “So when they make a decision, they’ve spent the time living with it, thinking it out, and coming out in the end with it. So there’s a more permanent decision there.”

Sheila said many young Catholic couples getting married today are “coming back to the Church” with a greater awareness of its implications.

“They’re understanding what our faith is, and they’re beginning to understand marriage is a sacrament,” she said.

Marriage Encounter advertises itself as a “marriage enrichment program.” Peter said the program itself is “not a crisis hotline” for marriages but one that helps husbands and wives develop a “lifelong communication framework” that actually prevents crises from arising in the first place.

He said that the statistics of successful marriage “don’t happen by accident.”

“They happen when couples invest in their relationship and learn the skills to communicate deeply,” he said. Marriage advocates in recent years are “seeing a greater intentionality in nourishing that commitment,” he said.

Sheila said the program teaches not just communication but prayer as a couple. “They also have a community (of married couples) afterward, too, so they realize they have even more support.”

Though divorce numbers are promising, overall marriage rates remain anemic in recent decades. A Heritage Foundation report in May found that over the past 50 years, marriage rates have declined from more than 90% of Americans having married by ages 30-35 in 1962 to 55% as of 2025.

In October, the Vatican will host a meeting of bishops focused on marriage and childbearing, among other issues. The Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life said discussions will include “walking with families in complex situations” such as “abandonment, separation, and divorce.”

Worldwide Marriage Encounter was recognized by the Vatican this year as an official international association of the faithful, Peter Oprysko told EWTN News. Peter and Sheila attended the reading of the decree in Rome and afterward had an audience with Pope Leo XIV.

At the event, both Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell and Pope Leo XIV “talked about the importance of marriage, for the family and for the Church,” Sheila said.

Though the decline in divorce is a welcome development for marriage advocates, Bailey said the “at least some of the decline in divorce rates is due to a more select population,” which he called “the admittedly dark side to an otherwise positive finding.”

“Fewer adults are getting married today, but couples who do marry appear to be more committed than those from recent decades,” he said. He said the public should be taught that “a successful marriage is not a coin toss and that it is possible to form a stable and happy family life in the present day.”

Ryan Verret argued that in his extensive writings on the topic, Pope John Paul II positioned marriage and family as a counterrevolution to destructive modernist tendencies.

“Maybe in some ways we’re in the counterrevolution now,” he said. “There definitely seems to be a substantial movement of young people coming back to faith and things that are transcendent.”

Sheila Oprysko said that married couples should treat their marriage like anything else that needs regular upkeep to stay healthy.

“You bring your car in for maintenance,” she said. “Priests go on for retreat once a year. You do something for yourself spiritually. You’ve got to do something for your marriage as well.”

Peter Oprysko argued that marriage advocates “can’t be complacent” even as divorce trends look promising. “We have to keep reaching out,” he said. “We’re trying to change the narrative.”

Mary Rose Verret, meanwhile, stressed that husbands and wives in happy, thriving unions need to serve as vital witnesses to a culture in need of healthy marriage.

“If you don’t see happy married couples around, you’re not going to want to get married,” she said.

“If we get it right, the marriage rate will go up and the divorce rate will go down,” she said.

The pope spoke Aug. 6 at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels during the GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting 2026, a gathering of young people ages 18 to 33 from throughout Europe and from countries including the United States, Vietnam, and South Sudan.

The event formed part of celebrations marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

In 1221, St. Francis gathered approximately 5,000 friars from across Europe near the Portiuncula for what became known as the Chapter of Mats. With nowhere else to stay, the friars slept on simple mats — an image Pope Leo XIV invoked in his remarks to the young participants, many of whom had spent the gathering sleeping in bags.

The pope arrived by helicopter at approximately 8:28 a.m. near St. Mary of the Angels. He was welcomed by Bishop Felice Accrocca of Assisi and local civil authorities before traveling to the basilica, where he was received by the ministers general of the principal Franciscan orders.

According to Father Alfio Vespoli, Pope Leo XIV personally chose the youth gathering from among the many events planned for the Franciscan centenary year.

Father Marco Vianelli, provincial minister of the Friars Minor of Umbria and Sardinia, welcomed the pope and recalled the importance of the Portiuncula in Franciscan history.

“Your Holiness, here at the Portiuncula St. Francis understood his vocation; here he welcomed his first brothers; here St. Clare consecrated her life to the Lord; here the indulgence of the Pardon of Assisi blossomed, a sign of God’s boundless mercy,” Vianelli said.

“Here, on Oct. 3, 1226, naked on the bare earth, he welcomed Sister Death in song,” the friar continued. “We thank you for accepting our invitation and for wanting to meet these young people.”

Becoming artisans of peace

The first question came from Karolina, a young woman from Zagreb, Croatia, who described the challenge of witnessing to the faith in a rapidly changing society.

“Today, however, we live in a rapidly changing world, where many young people struggle to find points of reference, to build authentic relationships and open their hearts to God,” she said. “We too want to be credible witnesses to the Gospel wherever we live, study, and work, and to bring the light of Christ with the simplicity and fraternal spirit of St. Francis.”

She asked the pope what advice he would give young people formed in the Franciscan spiritual tradition so that they could remain faithful disciples of Christ and bring hope to their peers without losing the joy and simplicity of the Gospel.

Pope Leo XIV noted that Karolina came from a part of Europe that was marked by war only three decades ago and praised the Franciscans’ history of promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence among Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Muslims.

“Increasingly, Christians will be called to become artisans of peace within societies that are tempted to place religion at the service of competing identities,” the pope said.

“Being witnesses to Christ, therefore, is both captivating and demanding. It enlarges our minds and hearts, freeing us from artificial boundaries, from the fears created by misinformation, and from walls built by prejudice,” he continued. “Rejecting the culture of power and building a civilization of love are choices that are not immediately understood or accepted.”

The pope encouraged the young people to learn from St. Francis a radical commitment to the Gospel that should never be confused with fundamentalism.

“St. Francis, however, teaches that radicalism of the Gospel is the very opposite of fundamentalism,” he said. “It does not make us blind or violent; instead, it makes us aware, attentive, and always eager to follow Jesus, and therefore humble and welcoming toward everyone. It is not an easy path, but it brings much joy.”

Pope Leo XIV then asked the participants to imagine the site eight centuries earlier, when young friars from across Europe gathered around St. Francis.

Citing “The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi,” the pope described the friars gathered “company by company, here 40, there a hundred, and there 80 together, all employed in speaking of God, in prayers, in tears, and in exercises of charity, behaving themselves with so great silence and with such sobriety that no clamor was heard there.”

“That silence stands in stark contrast to war, with its violence, clamor, and cruelty,” he said. “The simple mats on which those friars slept speak to us of peace — just like your sleeping bags today. This is the Church: an assembly of brothers and sisters to which everyone is invited.”

The pope also encouraged the young people to bear witness through personal encounters at a time when technology is making face-to-face relationships less common.

“More than words, it is this joy that evangelizes, and it cannot be hidden,” he said.

The courage to choose forever

Giovanni, a 27-year-old from Bologna, Italy, asked about discerning and remaining faithful to a vocation in a culture dominated by temporary commitments.

“How can we say a full and courageous ‘yes’ to him, without ‘putting our hand to the plough and looking back,’ by dwelling too much on the hardships and sacrifices that the journey may entail?” he asked. “What helped you most on your own vocational journey?”

Pope Leo XIV said contemporary misunderstandings of freedom can lead people to believe that no decision is truly permanent because both individuals and the world around them are constantly changing.

“In such a context, the courage to make a definitive choice may well be the most revolutionary act of all,” he said.

A permanent choice, the pope continued, “does not imprison us within a cage; rather, it opens us to a greater dynamism.”

“To love is an exodus,” he said. “It is a path to be discovered, a journey that God himself walks with us. This is the meaning of every vocation.”

Faith, trust, and faithfulness are inseparably connected, the pope said, warning that people cannot solve their problems simply by fleeing commitments or moving continually from one experience to another.

“We may multiply our experiences, our acquaintances, and our possessions yet remain in exactly the same place,” he said. “The human cost is immense, and the inner emptiness that follows is profound.”

Reflecting on his own vocation, Pope Leo XIV said God had always accompanied him through the people placed beside him.

“Looking back on my own life, I can say that the Lord has never left me alone,” he said. “He has always accompanied me, often by placing people beside me with whom I could share the journey.”

The pope said the light that guided him as a priest, an Augustinian, and a missionary remained with him when he was called to accept the unique vocation of serving as pope.

Rebuilding a wounded Church

The final question was posed by Luigi, a 22-year-old from Paternò, Sicily, who spoke on behalf of the Franciscan Youth of Sicily.

Luigi recalled that St. Francis remained obedient to the pope and the Roman Church despite the contradictions and difficulties of his time. Rather than attacking or judging the Church, Francis responded through compassion, obedience, and reparative love, he said.

“Today many young people say that they ‘believe, but not in the Church,’” Luigi said. “Even within our own communities we sometimes see a Church marked by contradictions and internal crises.”

“How can we remain faithful to this reparative love?” he asked. “Why is it so difficult today to see the Church as a mother who, despite her wounds, is always ready to welcome us and to love us?”

Pope Leo XIV acknowledged that many people throughout history have struggled to experience the Church as Christ desires her to be.

“This causes deep suffering; it leaves wounds and disappointments, and for some it even becomes an obstacle to faith,” he said.

Yet the Church continues to bring together men and women who otherwise might never have met, the pope said. Whenever people overcome discrimination and inequality by recognizing one another as brothers and sisters, the miracle desired by Christ is renewed.

“The word of God, the sacraments, and the practice of fraternal love are the means by which the image of Christ is formed within us,” Pope Leo XIV said.

“Francis walked this path: not to dominate, but to serve; not to grasp, but to receive; not to withhold, but to give back,” he continued. “This is the very life of God, which continually renews the Church and makes her a free people, a place of refreshment and salvation.”

Each Christian has a role in the continuing work of rebuilding the Church, the pope said, through different vocations and responsibilities undertaken together.

“Then we shall speak of the Church with the affection one has for a mother, because we shall know that we belong to her,” he said.

After the public exchange, the pope greeted representatives of the Franciscan orders, bishops attending the gathering, and members of the national committee responsible for the eighth centenary of St. Francis’ death. He later celebrated Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels.

Father Luca De Pasquale, one of the organizers, told ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News, that the gathering was not intended to create a temporary spiritual high in which the young people merely enjoyed spending several days together.

Its central objective, he said, was to prepare a “missionary charter” offering concrete guidance to help participants return home and place the Gospel and fraternity at the center of their daily lives.

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 Voting Rights Act of 1965 emerged from the sacrifices and perseverance of countless individuals who worked to secure the fundamental right to vote, particularly for communities of color that had long faced discrimination and exclusion,” said Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, chair of the USCCB Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation.

The USCCB issued the statement on Aug. 5, one day before the anniversary. The Voting Rights Act was enacted to combat Jim Crow laws that were designed to disenfranchise Black Americans.

“For decades, the U.S. bishops have advocated for the right of eligible citizens to participate fully in public life, including the protection of voting rights,” said Garcia, bishop of Austin, Texas. “We encourage all citizens to exercise their right to vote and urge policymakers to safeguard voting rights and promote fair representation for all.”

“Today is also an occasion to remember the hard-won history of voting rights in our country, and to recommit to the work which remains,” he added.

Garcia also said in his statement that “today, many communities of color worry about how recent developments will impact their fair representation and future participation in the democratic process.”

Recent developments could affect fair district maps, equal representation, and long‑term participation in elections. One development includes a 2013 Supreme Court decision, which ruled unconstitutional a provision of the Voting Rights Act that required certain states to obtain federal approval to change voting laws if that state had a history of disenfranchising voters.

Another development included a 2020 ruling that upheld Arizona election laws that required voters to cast ballots in their assigned precincts and banned people from submitting another person’s ballot (unless that person is a family or household member).

Rulings in 2023 and 2026 addressed racial gerrymandering, which is illegal under the Voting Rights Act. The 2023 ruling found a 2023 Alabama congressional district map to be illegal for not having any Black-majority districts and the 2026 ruling struck down Louisiana maps for relying too much on race in crafting districts.

Although racial gerrymandering is illegal, federal law does not prohibit partisan gerrymandering.

Garcia quoted Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, saying the bishops “affirm the value of democracy ‘insofar as it guarantees the effective participation of citizens’ as a reflection of their dignity.”

“May we continue to work together for the common good and for a society in which all citizens are able to participate fully and faithfully in our democracy,” Garcia said.

The pope’s message was delivered by the apostolic nuncio in Rwanda, Archbishop Arnaldo Sánchez Catalán, during the opening ceremony of the first-ever SIGNIS World Congress to be held in Africa, taking place in Kigali under the theme “Digital Communication for Cultural Harmony and Environmental Well-Being.”

In the message, sent through Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Leo XIV expressed his spiritual closeness to participants and said he hoped their deliberations would provide “a new impetus” for ensuring that communication platforms serve the common good of the human family.

The pope warned against a communication culture increasingly shaped by algorithms rather than genuine human encounter.

He noted that the digital age has transformed everyday life, emphasizing that online communication goes beyond the transmission of information.

In his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV observes that digital communication contributes to the creation of culture because it shapes how people perceive the world and consequently influences the collective conscience.

Against this background, the Holy Father encouraged participants to explore communication strategies and tools inspired by the pursuit of truth and respect for human dignity. He said such efforts should contribute to a culture rooted in Gospel values, particularly communion, peace, and environmental stewardship.

Addressing participants through a recorded message, Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, warned that technological advances, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), must not come at the expense of human relationships and responsibility.

Ruffini acknowledged the transformative potential of AI but said the central question confronting society is not technological but human: what kind of people humanity chooses to become while using these technologies.

AI, he said, can calculate, organize information, and emulate language, but it cannot replace wisdom born from freedom, personal experience, responsibility, and love.

“We must never allow algorithms to write our story,” Ruffini cautioned, stressing that human beings must remain in control of the technologies they create.

He called on communicators to safeguard human voices and faces in an increasingly digital environment, emphasizing that doing so requires cultivating critical thinking, preserving spaces for dialogue, and ensuring that technology remains at the service of the human person.

Ruffini also challenged SIGNIS to strengthen its role as a global network connecting professionals working in journalism, cinema, and communication.

He described communication as a public good that needs to be protected, urging the organization to build alliances with professionals, entrepreneurs, and information engineers committed to creating a better digital communication ecosystem.

According to the prefect, SIGNIS should remain a network of people united by faith rather than becoming merely an ecclesiastical bureaucracy.

He envisioned the organization as a space where relationships of trust can flourish, reliable information can be shared, and projects can be developed to promote a different model of communication.

Such a network, he said, should create room for dialogue amid diversity and disagreement while ensuring that differences do not destroy fraternity.

Ruffini further challenged Catholic communicators to resist a communication model driven primarily by profit or the pursuit of consensus, insisting that the ultimate purpose of communication must remain at the service of truth.

“The future of communication will not ultimately depend on the power of our technologies. It will depend on the strength of our commitment and on the nature of our relationship,” he said.

He urged participants to use their faith-based network to build bridges and create meaningful encounters in a world increasingly mediated by digital platforms.

Ruffini called for greater space for human voices and faces in digital communication, encouraging SIGNIS members to help shape a communication ecosystem that places human dignity and relationships at its center.

“The greatest innovation we can still offer our society is not as much a machine but a more human way of communicating,” he said.

Participants in the Aug. 3–8 congress are exploring a wide range of topics, including digital communication for communion, religious and cultural praxis in the digital age, artificial intelligence in contemporary media, media literacy, youth engagement, environmental communication, and the role of Catholic communicators in promoting reconciliation and cultural harmony.

Among the African countries represented at the congress are Rwanda (the host country), Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zambia, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Benin, South Africa, and Mozambique.

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

In the address, Coakley drew a clear distinction between authentic patriotism and distorted nationalism, emphasizing that true love of country must be rooted in virtue. “Patriotism is not first and foremost a political virtue; itʼs a religious one,” he said at the Aug. 4 dinner, which opened the 144th Knights’ convention at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center.

The archbishop of Oklahoma City, a fourth-degree member of the Knights of Columbus, said patriotism naturally “flows from the Fourth Commandment,” which commands honor toward one’s mother and one’s father. He said “it can rightly be understood as a form of familial love extended outward.”

Coakley cited St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings on piety from the “Summa Theologica,” in which the theologian explained the duties that one has for his or her nation, comparing them to the duties owed to one’s parents.

"The principles of our being and government are our parents and our country that have given us birth and nourishment,” Coakley quoted from the “Summa.” “Consequently, man is chiefly debtor to his parents and his country, after God. … Just as it belongs to religion to worship God, … so it belongs to piety in the second place to give honor to our parents and to our country.”

The archbishop explained that a person owes unique debts to family that he or she would not owe to a stranger “not because our family is objectively more valuable than other people, but because of the unique relationship we have with them.”

“So too, patriotism is a recognition of a similar debt of gratitude owed to our country — a debt of gratitude,” he said. “It is not a claim that our nation is superior to every other nation on earth. It is a claim that this nation, with all its imperfections, is the one through which God chose to give us life, language, liberty, and the countless ordinary gifts that make everything in our lives possible.”

This virtue, Coakley said, applies to “all people of every nation” and cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The love and service of oneʼs country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity.”

Catholic patriotism

The archbishop said a proper Catholic understanding of patriotism is not “blind allegiance” or “some sort of tribal pride” but rather “gratitude,” which is “the same virtue that should animate a son toward the mother who raised him.”

“The Church has never asked us to love our country instead of loving God or to love it more than we love the truth,” Coakley added. “She has simply recognized that what most people already know: that we owe something real to the place that gave us life and that ignoring this debt is a form of ingratitude.”

He said most people “do not choose our country,” just as they do not choose their parents, but “our country has shaped so much of who we are” for better or for worse, and that “none of this is accidental” but instead “divine providence.”

“Our Heavenly Father positioned each of us at this moment in these circumstances and in this place where we find ourselves for a reason,” Coakley said. “Our love of country and our desire for it to be more just and more perfect is not merely sentiment. Itʼs a participation in Godʼs providential plan for our lives and the lives of those who will come after us.”

Patriotism vs. nationalism

“A love of country can go wrong and go wrong badly,” Coakley said. Patriotism “is not the same as nationalism,” Coakley said.

“Patriotism, as the Knights of Columbus have always understood it, is not a matter of uncritically affirming everything our country has done in its history, excusing its injustices, or treating its power or prestige as ends in themselves. Nationalism, by contrast, tends to elevate the nation to the status of an idol, something owed a total and unconditional loyalty that properly belongs only to God. It resents correction. It rejects the suggestion that the nation could ever be wrong.”

“Patriotism, by contrast, is more like the love of a good son for his mother,” Coakley said. “He honors her. He defends her. He is grateful to her. And precisely because he loves her, he also tells her the truth when she has strayed and he works to help her become the woman God intended her to be.”

He said a patriot can “grieve his countryʼs sins without ceasing to love his country,” which is “often the clearest sign that love is real.” He said patriotism and Christian conscience “were never meant to be enemies.”

“Love of country should impel us toward peace, toward justice for the poor and the vulnerable, and toward the kind of civic friendship that has always been harder to sustain than either indifference or tribalism, which today often takes the form of an extreme partisanship,” he said.

In practice, Coakley said this means voting with a properly formed conscience, being engaged civilly, and being there for one’s neighbors. For some, he said, it has meant “risking your lives in the uniform of your country.”

The archbishop warned that patriotism is sometimes neglected or treated with suspicion and encouraged Catholics to instill properly ordered patriotism into their children and grandchildren.

“We are called to love our country,” he said. “Honor your country as you honor your parents with gratitude, with loyalty, and with honesty that never mistakes flattery for love. Put God first and let your patriotism flow from that priority rather than compete with it.”

Patriotism is one of the four pillars of the Knights of Columbus, with the other three being charity, unity, and fraternity.

Below are four facts that can help shed light on the scale of the crisis.

1. It is a Spanish territory on the North African coast.

Ceuta is a Spanish city located on the North African coast, at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. Together with the city of Melilla, it forms the European Unionʼs only land border with Africa and is a point of critical geopolitical importance.

Conquered by Portugal in 1415, it became part of Spain under the 1668 Treaty of Lisbon. Morocco claims that both Ceuta and Melilla belong to its territory, even though both were Spanish outposts before Morocco existed as a nation.

2. It is a multicultural society.

Ceuta has a registered population of over 80,000. The majority are Spanish nationals of diverse backgrounds. In addition to a Catholic majority, some 35,000 people practice Islam, and there are also significant Jewish and Hindu communities.

Most of the city’s foreign population, which accounts for 6% of the total, is of Moroccan origin.

Although Spanish is the official language, Hindi, English, Haketia (a North African dialect of Ladino or Judeo-Spanish), and Darija (the Moroccan variety of Arabic) are also commonly spoken.

3. It has been a border crossing for African migration to Europe.

The Ceuta border, like that of Melilla, separates two radically different socioeconomic realities; this disparity is evident in everything from wages to public services, such as education, healthcare, and transportation.

People arrive at this boundary intending to cross it — not only Moroccans but also individuals from across Africa who have traveled thousands of miles, driven largely by the desire for prosperity and peace. During the arduous journey, many fall prey to migrant-smuggling rings or human traffickers.

These movements have reportedly been used as a demographic weapon, a claim recently made by the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Luis Argüello.

Additionally, these movements overwhelm support services, such as the city’s Temporary Immigrant Stay Center. The facilityʼs capacity of over 500 places is routinely stretched to the breaking point. Prior to the latest surge of people, the center was already serving 200 individuals beyond its capacity, while another 500 were waiting nearby for assistance.

4. There have been tensions between Morocco and Spain.

Ceuta and Melilla have been at the epicenter of diplomatic tensions between Morocco and Spain for decades, with Morocco’s ambition to annex the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara serving as the backdrop.

In recent years, there has been a significant shift in the Spanish governmentʼs stance on this issue.

In April 2021, Spain admitted Sahrawi leader Brahim Ghali for COVID-19 treatment, triggering a diplomatic crisis with Morocco that culminated in a surge of migration into Ceuta in May of that year, with over 10,000 people entering the city. Many of them were children.

In an unexpected move that departed from the diplomatic stance Spain had maintained for decades, in March 2022 it was revealed that the Spanish government, in a letter sent to King Mohammed, supported Moroccoʼs claims regarding Western Sahara.

Then, in May 2022, the Spanish government publicly acknowledged that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s phone had been intercepted between May 19 and May 31, 2021 — right in the midst of the diplomatic crisis with Morocco. This sequence of events could explain why the Spanish government has chosen to keep a low profile regarding Morocco following the arrival of more than 70,000 people in Ceuta within the span of a few hours last week.

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.

Results from the Missouri Secretary of State’s office on Aug. 5 showed 83% of voters rejecting Amendment 5, which if passed would have reduced and eventually eliminated Missouri’s income tax while allowing lawmakers to expand sales taxes.

Missouri’s four Catholic bishops in July had urged voters to consider “the moral principles that should guide us in pondering any tax proposal.” They had warned that the “most vulnerable” of the state’s residents could face undue burdens if sales taxes increased there.

The bishops had acknowledged that supporters of the income tax repeal had “a sincere desire to promote the long-term prosperity” of Missouri. But such aims should be “weighed alongside the potential effects on those who are most vulnerable,” they said.

The measure had been touted by state Republicans including Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Catholic, who said after the ruling’s defeat that the measure’s advocates “made the case that Missouri should think boldly about its future, challenge the status quo, and pursue policies that make our state more competitive.”

“I remain committed to working with the General Assembly in the years ahead on ways to continue cutting taxes, growing our state’s economy, and pursuing conservative policies that help Missouri families keep more of what they earn,” the governor said.

Advocates, meanwhile, hailed the defeat of the measure. The Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy described the measure in a blog post as “a blank check to raise or expand sales taxes,” one the group said would “enable enormous income tax cuts for the state’s wealthiest households.”

Voters who rejected the measure “set a positive example for states around the country, turning away from what would have been one of the most damaging tax policy changes in any state in recent years,” the group said.

The Catholic fraternal organizationʼs annual convention is being held Aug. 4–6 in Denver. It includes Masses, prayer services, an awards session recognizing member and council achievements, and a summary of the organizationʼs annual report.

The event, focused on the order’s principles of charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism, opened with Mass celebrated by Archbishop James Golka of Denver along with dozens of bishops, hundreds of priests and deacons, and thousands of Knights and families.

In his homily, Golka shared his personal relationship with the Knights, as he is a fourth-degree Knight, his six brothers are Knights, and his late father was a Knight. In 2021, the year Golka was named bishop of Colorado Springs, his family was named Family of the Year by the Knights of Columbus Nebraska State Council.

“The Knights of Columbus exists to help our men grow in their faith, and they sure did for my dad,” Golka said.

“God wants the Knights of Columbus to help him care for his children. God wants the Knights of Columbus to help carry out Godʼs purposes. God wants the Knights of Columbus to live for God and Godʼs purposes, not ours,” he said.

“And when we do that, we care for the people of God,” he said.

“The Knights of Columbus empowers Catholic men to live their faith and serve their family, parish, community, and country,” he said.

“But I think if I step back and look at the Knights of Columbus, along with many other apostolates doing such good work, I think weʼre all part of a bigger mission. The Knights of Columbus exist because God wants his world back,” he said.

In order to further this mission, we must “listen to God” and “beg God for clarity,” Golka said.

“He already has a plan for the Knights of Columbus. He has a plan for your council. He has a plan for your marriage and your family. We need to be experts in listening to him so we know what his plan is,” he said.

“And brothers and sisters, whenever I look at Jesus to find out his plan, he is never anxious. He is never afraid. Heʼs excited to show us who he is,” Golka said.

Supreme Knight presents Knights’ annual report

During the convention, Knights and observers also gathered for Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly’s presentation of the Knights’ report on Aug. 4, which highlighted the Knights’ work aiding the most vulnerable, and its growing membership.

“Just as Christ came to serve, we devote our lives to serving others, especially the vulnerable,” Kelly said. “All of our charity reflects the love of God. It’s a charity that evangelizes.”

Kelly’s address included a comprehensive summary of the Knights of Columbus’ work over the past year, highlighting initiatives that have advanced the mission of the organizationʼs founder, Blessed Michael McGivney.

“We are not just another charitable organization. We are not a social club,” Kelly said. “We are a global brotherhood of Catholic leaders and we are united in Jesus Christ. He is the true source of our strength. And as we reflect on our service over the past year, we give all the glory to God.”

“Last year, our brother Knights devoted more than 48 million hours to volunteering,” Kelly said. “Thatʼs 130,000 hours of volunteer service every day. And around the world, we donated more than $200 million. And thatʼs a new record.”

Addressing some of the specific efforts, Kelly shared that “California Knights delivered more than 800 wheelchairs to the Philippines last year, and through this program, weʼre serving refugees fleeing war, soldiers injured in the line of duty, and children with nowhere else to turn.”

“We also serve children who need a warm jacket to get through the winter, and our Coats for Kids program is growing faster than ever. Last year, we gave more than 300,000 coats to children in need. Thatʼs the most ever,” he said.

He also detailed the Knights’ work aiding those affected by natural disasters, including the earthquakes in Venezuela in June and those in Jamaica.

Kelly discussed the growing number of men joining the Knights and how the organization is reaching new groups.

“More than 2.2 million men now count themselves as Knights of Columbus, and last year we welcomed more than 105,000 new members. Thatʼs the most growth weʼve had in more than a century since the surge that followed the first world war,” he said.

“Last year, 15% of new members who joined in the United States and Canada were Hispanic, and our commitment to Latino communities has never been stronger,” he said.

“Father McGivney also wanted to reach young men. The fastest-growing group of Knights is men under the age of 35. And we continue to reach young men during their college years. We now have more than 37,000 college Knights at 320 college councils,” he said.

Looking ahead, the Supreme Knight also shared new initiatives by the Knights intended to continue McGivney’s mission and further guide the fraternity’s members.

“For years, weʼve heard … from Knights about the need for a retreat for men,” Kelly said. The Knights responded by creating “Heart of the Gospel” in collaboration with ACTS XXIX.

“It gives councils everything they need to hold a retreat for the men of the parish,” Kelly said. “This retreat will help you grow in your faith so you can witness to others.”

To advance Knights’ faith, the Knights of Columbus also launched “Cor,” a small-group program “to give young men exactly what they are looking for — a community centered in Jesus Christ.”

He also announced a new video series, "Encountering the Poor,” which is in partnership with Denver-based Christ in the City, to better equip Knights to serve the homeless.

Supreme Knightʼs Awards Session

To acknowledge the works of the fraternity councils, more than 2,100 Knights and their families also gathered for the Supreme Knight’s Awards Session.

Presented by Kelly, the awards recognize individual Knights, councils, assemblies, and jurisdictions throughout the world who have carried out McGivney’s mission.

The annual Blessed Michael McGivney Medal went to Father Robert F. Higgins, who serves as the parochial vicar of St. John Neumann Parish in Columbia, South Carolina, the South Carolina Knights of Columbus district friar, and the South Carolina Knights of Columbus state chaplain — a role he has held for 19 years.

Following in the footsteps of McGivney, Higgins is the diocese’s first vicar of prisons, ministering in four federal prisons, 24 state prisons, and 48 county jails.

Other winners included a council in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, which won “Faith Program of the Year” for coordinating a pilgrimage to Poland for the more than 45 widows and orphans of Ukrainian men who died defending their country.

Kelly also awarded “Family Program of the Year” to a council in the Philippines, recognizing its work restoring the marriage of 18 couples, who were previously only civilly married or living together unwed. The council worked to bring the couples to full communion with the Church through the sacrament of matrimony.

Kelly honored a council in Carbonear and Labrador, Newfoundland, as the “Community Program of the Year” for aiding 50 firefighters and volunteers during the 2025 Kingston, Newfoundland, wildfire.

Judge Heather Cooper said in a July 28 decision in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that a committee of abuse victims could seek compensation from the reportedly “hundreds of millions of dollars” tied up in diocesan parishes and other assets.

Memorandum of Decision - 7/28/2026

The diocese had argued in part that opening those assets to legal proceedings would require “substantial” litigation “against over 64 defendants” linked to the diocese, though Cooper said that the federal bankruptcy process helps “streamline” such legal disputes.

Attorneys for the diocese also argued that the parishes in general “were built with funds raised by the parishioners” and that their current financial assets “are limited for the specific charitable, religious, and educational purposes” established by the parishes themselves.

The judge said that “more clarity” about the extent of diocesan property “could help the ongoing efforts” to reach a final settlement in the case. The Burlington Diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2024 amid large numbers of abuse lawsuits.

Including parishes directly in legal proceedings is relatively rare in diocesan bankruptcy cases. In most instances, dioceses pursue global settlements with abuse victims without directly involving parish assets.

When a diocese files for bankruptcy it will usually ask the court to halt any litigation against individual parishes, in part because a parish being sued for the actions of a diocesan priest could claim the diocese itself is liable and sue the diocese in turn.

Yet parishes will often be required to contribute to diocesan abuse settlements internally. In 2025, for instance, the Diocese of Buffalo, New York, said its parishes would be required to pay up to 80% of their “unrestricted cash” to help fund a $150 million settlement there.

Parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, meanwhile, were also required to contribute to a settlement trust after the diocese said in 2024 that it would pay $323 million to abuse survivors.

Bishop Luis Carlos Lerma Martínez of Nuevo Laredo announced that the pilgrims were heading toward the state of Jalisco when the bus they were traveling in was intercepted in the early hours of Saturday, Aug. 1.

“While it is true that, thank God, there were no serious injuries — let alone any loss of life — the lack of security on the highways of our country is deeply concerning,” Lerma lamented.

Lerma likewise urged the pertinent authorities to “redouble their efforts to strengthen security on our roads and thus prevent these types of incidents that cause such harm to our society.”

How did the robbery occur?

During an Aug. 4 press conference, Anahí Zamora, the pilgrimage organizer, provided details about the robbery. She explained that the group consisted of 47 pilgrims — including seniors, children, and several families — along with the driver and the co-driver.

She explained that around 3:45 a.m., while they were traveling along a highway in the state of Guanajuato, two men dressed in uniforms resembling those of the National Guard — a federal police force that, among other duties, patrols Mexico’s highways — signaled them to stop using a flashlight.

The driver assumed it was a checkpoint, so he stopped the bus and got out along with the co-driver. That was when the men “forced them to kneel alongside the road, held them at gunpoint, and began boarding” the vehicle.

Once inside the bus, the men began threatening the passengers with their weapons. “They took everything we had with us: suitcases, bags, cellphones,” Zamora recalled.

Following the incident, those affected managed to contact the authorities as well as representatives of the Diocese of Nuevo Laredo, who provided support to the group to continue their journey and subsequently return home.

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

The local diocese has acknowledged the donorʼs intentions but stressed that, from the Churchʼs point of view, there is no financial barrier to baptism in the first place.

Peter Löw, a Starnberg-based investor and practicing Catholic, has set aside 20,000 euros ($21,800) for the initiative, which he calls “Starnberger Schutzengelchen” (“Little Starnberg Guardian Angel”).

The amount is enough to cover up to 40 baptisms this year.

Support for families in expensive region

To qualify, a child must be no older than 3 and registered in the Catholic parish community of Starnberg, a lakeside area about 17 miles south of Munich.

Prized for its scenery and its short commute to the city, Starnberg has drawn an influx of wealthy newcomers that has made it one of the richest districts in Germany, with among the countryʼs highest incomes and property prices. The same pressure has driven up housing costs for local families, some of whom, the parish priest said, find even the cost of a baptism celebration hard to meet.

Löw, a father of eight who ranks among Germanyʼs wealthier businessmen, started the effort after a conversation with the Starnberg parish priest, Father Andreas Jall.

The priest had told him about families who were holding back from baptizing their children because of the cost of the celebration.

Löw told the newspaper Bild that if a modest sum nudged parents toward baptism, that was “a good thing,” adding that families were free to spend the money however they wished. He also framed the gift as an incentive to bring children into the life of the parish, telling Bild: “My eight children are all baptized.”

He said he would assess at the end of the year whether the initiative had been worthwhile.

Four families had already received the money by late July, Jall told the German Press Agency (dpa), noting that all four baptisms had been registered roughly six months in advance and that the offer had not triggered a sudden rush of new bookings.

The Diocese of Augsburg gave a mixed assessment in a statement to the official news portal of the German bishops' media arm.

Catholic parents are already obliged to have their children baptized as soon as possible and to raise them in the faith, a diocesan spokesman said, and because the Church charges nothing for a baptism, the financial element the initiative puts front and center is unlikely to be decisive in a familyʼs decision.

Every believer who meets the conditions has a right to receive the sacraments, the spokesman added.

Theology and intention

The Bavarian diocese called Löwʼs generosity “a likeable expression of charity” but said that wherever “the reception of a sacrament and financial considerations, however well meant, move too close together,” an “uneasy feeling” remains from the Churchʼs point of view.

The diocese also questioned the theology behind the offer. Baptism presupposes a conscious decision of faith and is far more than a simple blessing, the spokesman said; if no faith is thereby awakened or strengthened, the purpose of even a “surely well-intentioned initiative” is called into question.

Jall, the local parish priest, has defended the measure. Some parishioners had objected that it risked cheapening the Churchʼs reputation, he told the German Press Agency, but he said his own view started from the families' side. “We want to help families in this high-priced area,” he said, adding that the aim clearly was not to “buy” believers but to help Catholic families.

The initiative comes as the Catholic Church in Germany keeps shrinking. It recorded a net loss of about 321,659 members in 2025, leaving roughly 19.2 million Catholics, or 23% of the population — a decline driven partly by Germans formally quitting the Church to escape its state-collected tax on members.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The second installment of the institute’s “America’s Demoralized Men” study, based on a nationally representative YouGov survey of 2,000 men ages 18 to 29, examined young men’s social lives, mental health, civic engagement, and online habits. Researchers said the findings revealed a generation that still desires marriage, fatherhood, and meaningful work but often struggles to achieve those goals.

“We really tried to allow young men to speak for themselves,” said Michael Toscano, co-author of the report and director of the Family First Technology Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies. “They still have these honorable aspirations to be responsible men, to marry, to have children, and to contribute to society.”

A generation searching for connection

Researchers described many respondents as “demoralized” — not because they have abandoned hope entirely, but because many feel powerless to reach the lives they desire.

The survey found that 61% of young men often feel they have little control over what happens to them, while 54% said they never seem to do enough to please others. More than 4 in 10 (43%) agreed with the statement “I am inclined to think that I am a failure.”

Loneliness also emerged as a defining theme.

While roughly 45% of respondents said they rarely or never feel lonely, 55% reported feeling lonely at least some of the time. Similarly, 54% said they feel isolated at least occasionally, and nearly half (48%) said they lack a sense of community. About 1 in 5 respondents said they seldom or never feel loved or wanted by others.

Toscano cautioned against attributing the crisis to a single cause.

“We strive in the report not to think in a monocausal way,” he said. “The loneliness crisis is something that is visiting everyone.”

Still, he argued that the breakdown of family life has played a significant role.

“An honest assessment of where young men are today would have to begin with the breakdown of the family,” Toscano said, noting that many respondents still desire marriage and fatherhood but increasingly feel those milestones are beyond reach.

Fewer friendships, less community

The survey also found many young men have few close relationships.

About 4 in 10 respondents reported having two or fewer close friends, including 34% who have just one or two close friends and 9% who said they have none at all.

Researchers found that strong institutional ties often made a difference. Young men connected to marriage, education, or religious communities were more likely to report having three or more close friends. Participation in all-male organizations during adolescence, such as sports teams or the Boy Scouts, was also associated with stronger friendships later in life.

Overall civic participation remained relatively low. Although 57% participate in at least one community activity, only 31% volunteer regularly, while fewer than one-third belong to a faith-based group, social club, or civic organization. Just one-quarter attend religious services at least monthly.

Financial worries

Economic concerns also weighed heavily on respondents.

About half agreed with the statement “No matter how hard I work, people like me will never achieve the American dream,” while nearly three-quarters (72%) said personal connections matter more than ability or hard work when it comes to getting ahead.

Toscano said rising living costs were one of the clearest explanations offered by respondents.

“The main expression of doubt in the American dream was the sense that the money they earned was simply not enough to keep up with the rising costs of life,” he said.

Despite those concerns, optimism has not disappeared entirely. An overwhelming 84% of respondents said having ambitious plans for the future describes them at least somewhat well.

Digital habits often deepen distress

The report also points to widespread use of electronic media, with researchers warning that many young men appear to be using technology as a substitute for genuine relationships.

Nearly half (44%) play video games many times each day, while another 42% play at least several times a week.

Pornography use was also common. About 42% reported viewing pornography daily or several times each week, including 24% of regular religious service attendees.

Online gambling likewise proved widespread, with 23% gambling daily and another 12% doing so several times a week.

Toscano said these behaviors appear to function as what the report calls “maladaptive coping.”

“If the world around you is increasingly closing off your opportunity to be a successful man, what you might do is look for it in a synthetic environment,” he said.

Researchers found strong links between frequent online activity and emotional distress. Among men who watch pornography many times a day, 43% reported loneliness, 36% depression, and 29% anxiety. Two-thirds of daily online gamblers reported emotional distress, while 66% of daily gamblers and 63% of daily pornography users described themselves as failures, compared with 42% of young men overall.

Toscano emphasized that the survey cannot establish cause and effect but suggests a troubling cycle in which loneliness and unhealthy digital habits reinforce one another.

A call for the Church

Although church attendance was associated with stronger social connections, Toscano noted that loneliness remains common even among churchgoers.

“The lonely might be sitting in the pew right next to them,” he said.

He encouraged pastors and parish leaders to listen carefully to young men’s experiences, affirm their aspirations, and create opportunities for authentic friendships and mentorship between younger and older men.

“There still remains a desire for them to get married and have kids and have good jobs,” Toscano said. “We need to encourage those desires.”

He also said the Church should respond to the broader loneliness crisis affecting every generation. Referencing Pope Leo’s call for “digital sobriety,” Toscano said Catholics of all ages — not only young people — must intentionally rebuild face-to-face relationships.

“It’s time for everyone to be called out of their shell,” he said.

Despite significant obstacles, he said, many young men continue to desire family, responsibility, meaningful work, and lives of service.

“Men have value as men,” Toscano said. “It’s important to allow them to contribute to society as men. That’s not something we should be afraid of, but something we should encourage.”

As reported by the Vatican on Aug. 5, the pontiff accepted the invitation of the heads of state and ecclesiastical authorities of the three countries to carry out the pastoral visit, which will include several emblematic cities of each nation.

The first stage of the trip will take place in Uruguay, where Leo XIV will stay from Nov. 6–8. During those days he will visit the cities of Montevideo, Paysandú, and Florida.

Subsequently the Holy Father will travel to Argentina, where he will visit from Nov. 8–11. The itinerary includes visits to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and the Marian sanctuary of Our Lady of Luján, one of the main pilgrimage centers in the country.

The last portion of the trip will take place in Peru, from Nov. 11–17. In that country, in which the pope has had citizenship since 2015, he will travel to Lima, Chiclayo, Cuzco, and Pucallpa on an itinerary that will take him both to the coast and to the mountains and the Peruvian Amazon.

The Holy See said it would release a more detailed itinerary in the near future.

The visit will have a special meaning for Peru, a country where Leo XIV did extensive pastoral and missionary work for years.

The pope, then-Father Robert Prevost, lived in Peru for more than two decades in total. He arrived in the country in 1985. His first destination was Chulucanas, but it was in Trujillo and Chiclayo where his pastoral dedication took deep roots.

In 2015, already a nationalized Peruvian, he was appointed bishop of Chiclayo, where he exercised a close and committed leadership. He was there until January 2023 when he was appointed by Pope Francis as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

“In our time, in contexts dominated by an efficiency-driven and consumerist mindset, prayer may seem pointless and trivial,” the pope said during his Aug. 5 general audience.

“In a world where science and technology claim to provide all the answers, praying may appear to be a form of escapism,” he continued.

Leo resumed his weekly public audience after suspending most of his official schedule during the traditional July summer break. Because of Rome’s high summer temperatures, the audience was held inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Continuing his catechetical series on the Second Vatican Council, the pope focused on the ecclesial dimension of liturgical prayer as presented in the conciliar constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium.

He warned that prayer is increasingly misunderstood, including within Christian homes.

“Furthermore, even in many Christian families, the tradition of prayer is no longer passed on, whilst many people risk confusing it with just another technique, of a psychological nature aimed at personal well-being,” he said.

“Prayer, however, as a fundamental dimension of our humanity, is worth rediscovering in its true form.”

Leo said Sacrosanctum Concilium took this need seriously. He recalled the words of St. Paul VI when the constitution became the first document promulgated by the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 4, 1963.

“God comes first; prayer is our primary duty; the liturgy is the primary source of the divine life communicated to us, the primary school of our spiritual life,” Paul VI said at the time.

Leo explained that the word “prayer” in the constitution refers to the liturgy as a whole. This understanding, he said, proved decisive in guiding the liturgical reform and placing the active participation of the faithful at its center.

“The liturgy is presented first and foremost as the place of encounter, of God’s initiative in drawing near to humanity in his Son, ‘the Word made flesh, anointed by the Holy Spirit,’” the pope said.

The faithful respond “through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,” he continued, through “the very prayer which Christ himself, together with his body, addresses to the Father.”

The importance of the Liturgy of the Hours

Leo recalled Paul VI’s desire that the Liturgy of the Hours — the Church’s daily public prayer, which is inseparable from the Eucharist — would permeate, enliven, and guide all Christian prayer.

“For this desire to be fulfilled, the Liturgy of the Hours needs to be more fully embraced and lived out in the daily lives of the baptized and of the communities,” Leo said.

The pope described the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours as “the breath of the life of the Church,” through which the Holy Spirit circulates throughout the body of Christ.

He said the Liturgy of the Hours sanctifies the different moments of ordinary life.

“Bound to the Eucharist, whose light it prolongs, the Liturgy of the Hours sanctifies the time of our daily lives: In the morning, we begin the day with faith and gratitude; at midday, we ask for the strength to remain faithful amidst our labors; in the evening, once our work is done, vespers accompany the moment of sunset; at night, we fall asleep entrusting ourselves to God’s peace,” he said.

“Each hour is an act of hope: During our earthly pilgrimage, we keep watch, awaiting with the whole Church the glorious return of the Lord.”

The Liturgy of the Hours can also serve as a practical school for those learning how to pray, the pope said, particularly people preparing to enter the Catholic Church.

“To the many people who wish to learn to pray, especially catechumens, it can offer the path and the school of Christian prayer,” he said.

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

Both men received the sacraments after two years of catechesis provided by the prison ministry of the Archdiocese of Campo Grande.

“What is the primary objective of prison ministry? Education, celebration, and life in the faith,” explained Said Brandão Sayd, the ministry’s coordinator, in an interview with ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News.

“Our principal goal is to have a Catholic community within the prison — to ensure that people, even amid all those difficulties, receive the Church’s help and can effectively leave that place or live there in a state of grace,” he added.

The sacraments were administered by Father Álisson Muryel, the ecclesiastical adviser for the prison ministry in the Archdiocese of Campo Grande, an area that, according to Brandão, has 11 prisons and nearly 10,000 inmates. The ministry is “present in all the prisons,” he said.

Without going into details regarding the personal information of the prisoners who received the sacraments, Brandão noted that one of them is single and “due to leave soon.”

“He wants to rebuild his life; he wants to do it differently,” Brandão said.

The other man, “who is staying longer,” is in “a stable relationship but wants to receive the sacrament of marriage.”

The coordinator explained that “in the second half of the year,” they are going to “prepare him for this sacrament.”

Brandão told ACI Digital that there is a team of catechists, supported by a parish, at every prison in the archdiocese. “Our meetings always follow this pattern, prioritizing catechesis,” he said. “Above all else, the Catholic Church needs to go in there [into the prison] and proclaim the message,” he added.

According to Brandão, it is not enough simply to “offer a hug” or “be deeply concerned about human rights, important as that is ... But if you don’t speak about Jesus in there, who will?”

“Without that, there is no conversion,” he affirmed.

According to Brandão, there are prisons where the pastoral team is able to be present every week, while in others, due to scheduling restrictions, meetings take place every two weeks.

“Since it is organized by cellblock, the blocks cannot be mixed. So, we go in, visiting two blocks one week, another two the next, and carry out the work there in that way,” Brandão explained.

Through this process, the inmates follow a program lasting one or two years, depending on the frequency of the monthly catechesis sessions.

During the meetings, they work on the four dimensions of the faith: the creed, the commandments, prayer, and the sacraments. That period of preparation, Brandão noted, is intended to ensure the inmate “is aware of what he is receiving, and embraces it ... it is a great responsibility to prepare them so they understand what the faith is.”

However, Brandão pointed out, providing good catechesis is pointless without the sacraments, and that is why a monthly Mass is held at the prison. At Gameleira 2, Mass is celebrated once a month in one of the four cellblocks. “So, each block has three Masses a year,” he explained.

Mass is preceded by a time of confession for those who have already received the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist.

After the prisoners are released from the correctional facility, pastoral care workers encourage them to continue attending a parish near their homes.

“We do not know what is happening in each person’s heart, but the Word is reaching them, and the Gospel is being proclaimed,” Brandão concluded.

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

Catholic leaders in social teaching, environmental stewardship, and advocacy said the Church is not opposed to artificial intelligence itself.

“The Church is not anti-tech. It is not, in a sense, anti-AI,” Scott Hurd, vice president of leadership development and Catholic identity at Catholic Charities USA, told EWTN News. “But it is very concerned about the ethics involved in the design of these tools and the data centers.”

Why data centers matter

Data centers house the computer servers that process and store information behind artificial intelligence systems. Their rapid growth, however, has also prompted concerns over electricity use, water consumption, electronic waste, and impacts on nearby communities.

Hurd said the issues can be understood in simple terms.

“They require immense amounts of energy,” he said, noting that facilities also consume large quantities of water to keep servers cool. In some areas, he added, residents have reported concerns over water quality, while aging computer equipment contributes to growing amounts of electronic waste.

Hurd also pointed to local concerns including electrical grid demands and noise from cooling systems.

“Water, energy use, the type of energy being used, and e-waste are big problems,” he said. “Then locally for people who live there, the noise pollution can really impact a community and the well-being of the people who live there.”

Kayla Jacobs, director of advocacy and youth mobilization for the Catholic Climate Covenant, said her organization regularly hears from Catholics living in communities where data centers are planned or under construction.

“We’ve been hearing a lot about the huge strain on resources,” Jacobs said in an interview with EWTN News. “That leads to higher energy and water bills for common people because, at the moment, those companies putting in these data centers aren’t required to pay for that.”

She added that residents also express concerns about air quality, construction impacts, light pollution, and the overall quality of life near the facilities.

Industry response

The Data Center Coalition, which represents many of the industryʼs largest operators, disputed claims that data centers are driving higher utility costs or failing to pay for the resources they consume.

“Data centers are committed to being responsible and responsive neighbors,” Dan Diorio, the coalitionʼs executive vice president for state policy and government affairs, said in a statement to EWTN News.

Data centers provide the infrastructure behind not only artificial intelligence but also online banking, hospitals, schools, manufacturing, telehealth, air travel, and other essential digital services. The group said the facilities are increasingly critical to the U.S. economy and modern daily life.

Diorio said research from states including Virginia and Arizona indicates the industry pays its full energy costs, while studies have found data centers have not been a primary driver of electricity rate increases nationally.

He also said many facilities use relatively modest amounts of water compared with other industries. In Virginia — the world’s largest data center market — 83% of data centers use the same or less water than an average commercial office building.

Diorio pledged continued collaboration with local communities and policymakers on responsible resource use.

The coalitionʼs assessment differs from concerns raised by Catholic environmental advocates, who argue that communities are already experiencing higher resource demands and other local impacts.

A question of Catholic social teaching

While environmental concerns surrounding AI infrastructure often enter political debate, environmental advocates said Catholics should view the issue primarily through the lens of Catholic social teaching.

“It is a doctrinal matter to be considered,” Hurd said, noting that concern for the environment is closely tied to concern for local communities through the Church’s understanding of integral ecology.

Molly Burhans, an environmental researcher and the Ignazio Danti, OP, fellow in geography at The Catholic University of Americaʼs Leonine Institute for AI and Emerging Technologies, said Catholics should resist treating the issue as a choice between embracing or rejecting technology.

“We need to distinguish where they make sense and how they can make sense,” Burhans told EWTN News. “We can’t really go backwards in time now. We can’t get rid of this technology. How can we work with it and align it with human flourishing and the common good?”

Burhans said Catholics should evaluate AI development according to the principles of human dignity, the common good, and stewardship of creation.

Burhans also argued that environmental stewardship itself is a pro-life concern.

“Pollution almost always disproportionately falls on the vulnerable,” she said, including unborn children, who are especially susceptible to environmental toxins during development.

She described creation not as “a warehouse” for human consumption but as “a gift entrusted to us for stewardship.”

What can Catholics do?

Rather than seeing the issue solely as one for lawmakers or technology companies, Catholics have a role to play, advocates said.

Hurd encouraged Catholics to become familiar with the Church’s growing body of teaching on artificial intelligence, including the Vatican document Antiqua et Nova, Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ guidance on AI.

He also suggested that Catholics examine their own use of AI.

Pope Leo’s call for “digital sobriety,” Hurd said, challenges Catholics to use artificial intelligence intentionally rather than frivolously, recognizing that every AI interaction relies on physical infrastructure with real environmental costs.

“I think an ethical case can be made to use this with intention,” he said, “understanding that there’s a real environmental impact.”

Jacobs likewise encouraged Catholics to think critically about their personal use of AI, not only for environmental reasons but also for the social impact it can have on humanity.

“People are using it without even thinking about it,” she said. “But we really need to reduce our use of AI, not just for the environmental impacts, but also we need to consider the effect it has on human interaction,” Jacobs said.

She said local governments often hold public hearings before approving projects, allowing residents to ask questions about environmental impacts, water use, and community planning.

Balancing innovation with responsibility

The advocates stressed that artificial intelligence itself offers significant opportunities, from medical advances to improved education and scientific research. The challenge, they said, is ensuring that technological progress does not come at the expense of people or the environment.

“We need an equally ambitious commitment to renewable energy, responsible water stewardship, transparency, and just economic participation,” Burhans said.

For Catholics, the argument ultimately extends beyond technology.

“Caring for our common home is not just an act of environmental care,” Burhans said. “It’s also an act of gratitude.”

As artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly permanent part of daily life, Catholic leaders say the challenge is ensuring its development serves the common good while respecting both human dignity and Godʼs creation.

“I express deep gratitude for your orders, continued generosity to the less fortunate, and trust that your endeavors will continue to bear fruit for many years to come,” the Holy Father said in a video message.

The message was shared with Knights and observers at the Knights of Columbus’ 144th Supreme Convention held this year in Denver.

The Catholic fraternal organization’s annual convention, Aug. 4–6, includes Masses, prayer services, an awards session celebrating member and council achievements, and the organizationʼs annual report.

“As you gather for these days of discussion, fraternity, and prayer under the theme of ‘In the One We Are One,’ I would like to reflect briefly with you on the importance of promoting the virtues of unity and charity, two foundational principles of your order,” the Holy Father said.

Recalling Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper that his apostles “all be one,” the Holy Father urged unity.

“Our Lord asked that this gift of unity be given not only to them but also to those who would believe in him through their word throughout the centuries. However, the preservation of unity is often not easy and it cannot be taken for granted. It must be actively cultivated through honest and humble dialogue.”

The pope encouraged the Knights “to continue bearing witness to that concord which Jesus so ardently desires,” within families, parishes, and wider communities.

“In an age all too often marked by division and pointed rhetoric, thereʼs a great need for prophets of harmony who seek to build bridges and strive to reconcile opposing positions wherever possible.”

Reflecting on the second virtue, “works of charity,” Pope Leo said it “can often be a way to promote unity.”

Charity “becomes not only a response to human suffering but also a powerful means of fostering fraternity and strengthening the communion that is at the heart of the Christian life,” Pope Leo said.

“Your own history bears eloquent testimony to this truth,” he said.

The Holy Father highlighted the Knights’ continued mission started by its “noble founder,” Blessed Michael McGivney.

The “Knights of Columbus have worked together for well over a century to show Christʼs love to the unborn, expectant mothers, persecuted Christians, victims of war and human trafficking, the poor and vulnerable, and those who live in the margins of society,” he said.

“Through the initiatives undertaken by your local councils, as well as at the national and international levels, countless people have benefited from your kindness.”

Pope Leo concluded offering “cordial, good wishes for the work of the Supreme Convention” and entrusting the gathering to the intercession of Mary, mother of the Church.

Archbishop Lori also issues call for charity

Ahead of the convention, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore celebrated Mass on Aug. 1 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.

The archbishop also called on the Knights to draw from McGivney’s witness to charity.

McGivney “made charity the first principle of his ministry as a parish priest and charity the first principle of the Knights of Columbus,” Lori said in his homily.

“For he knew and ardently believed that in all things the love of Christ conquers. It is this vision, this charism, that he breathed into the Knights of Columbus and it is reflected today in the immensity of the order’s charity,” he said.

“Today, Father McGivney’s holiness is reflected in the Christ-like charity of the Knights of Columbus, rendered on a scale that Father McGivney could not have imagined,” he said. McGivney “set in motion a fraternal organization rooted in the charity of Christ, a fellowship that would reflect the utter generosity of God’s love,” Lori said.