Life was “like anyone elseʼs,” John Prevost said in an April 17 interview with “EWTN News In Depth.”

“It was regular — go to school, come home, do your homework, go out and play, come in, do your studying, go to bed, and then just repeat that.”

“Rob was in Cub Scouts. We were all altar servers,” he said. “I think we were all in the choir … We all went to Catholic education all the way through high school. So I think it was normal. We were out playing. Youʼd play outside until dusk.”

Recalling memories from his childhood, Prevost said: “One time we were building a shed in the backyard and Rob fell through the roof. It was just part of the wood was rotted, because we were using old doors from the house for the roof.”

Prevost and his brothers were also on “Bozoʼs Circus” in 1960. “It was a kids' program produced by the Chicago local channel WGN. It was an everyday show, and tickets were hard to get. But one of the guys who was in the WGN band taught music to the kids at my dadʼs school.”

“So he said, ‘If you kids ever want to go to “Bozoʼs Circus”’ — well, we jumped at the chance because we were on TV.”

Aside from the funny memories he has of his brothers, Prevost also reflected on his faith during his childhood.

Faith “starts in the home, and then it just gradually would grow and develop. But I think it starts in the home,” he said. “I know periodically our dad would take the Bible out and read Bible stories. We always prayed before dinner. Our parents always, every evening after dinner, prayed the rosary.”

Becoming Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo always wanted to be a priest, and “from a young age, we always knew that he had that calling,” Prevost said.

“When he was maybe first grade or second grade, one of the moms across the street did say to us when we were out there playing, ‘You know, heʼs gonna be the first American pope,’” he said.

Now as the pope, he “talks about important issues and the way we should take on some of these issues,” Prevost said. He said he is focused on working with the “disenfranchised” and “ignored.”

Pope Leo “has the patience of a saint,” Prevost said. “If you ask me a question … I come out and give you an answer. He would take a lot of time to think about it before he responded, and therefore itʼs a whole lot deeper in perspective than mine off the top of my head.”

In his role as pope, Prevost said he believes his brother is bringing people to the faith. He said: “Iʼve had people come to the door and tell me … ‘I wanted to let you know because of your brother, Iʼm coming back.’”

“I think youʼre seeing that across the country. Because of him, people are coming back to church,” he said.

Life as the popeʼs brother

As the pope’s brother, you have to take it “day by day because you never know, in a sense, what each day is going to bring,” Prevost said.

“Itʼs always interesting, but itʼs sometimes sad … you feel powerless of what people are looking for, and they expect me to be able to help, and I canʼt necessarily do anything for them except listen,” he said.

For the most part, Prevost said his relationship with his brother is the same as it was prior to his papacy, besides it being “more long distance now.” Despite the distance, the brothers still communicate daily.

“One of the first questions I ask is, ‘Did you meet anyone famous today?’ And then on Wednesdays, heʼs got that general audience with the crowds … I always ask, ‘Did you get any gifts?’”

Prevost joked about the amount of gifts Pope Leo receives, which are often treats. “Heʼs got two closets full of them now, so people could stop sending Peeps,” he joked.

The pair also stays in touch by playing the Wordle and Words with Friends. “Itʼs a trade-off. He beats me in Wordle. I usually beat him in Words with Friends,” Prevost said.

Catholic education

Prevost, who worked in Catholic schools as a teacher and a principal, also spoke about the “the importance of Catholic school education.”

In Catholic school, “values are started,” he said. “And I worry sometimes that Catholic schools unfortunately are becoming too expensive for the average person to afford, and if itʼs only going to become something for the wealthy people. I hope not.

“But I see the importance of setting values and of setting modes of standard of behavior that the Catholic school can do, I think, somewhat in a different way than regular public school education can do.”

In Catholic school, “we can teach religion, we can pray,” he said. “We can somehow bring religion into a math class. Not to say that ‘thereʼs six angels here, two go away, how many angels are left?’” he joked.

“But the whole atmosphere and the whole philosophy in the Catholic school is the prime reason we are here, to instill and indoctrinate and teach the Catholic faith to the students,” he said.

The April 14 report details how the Justice Department under Biden weaponized the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, including collaboration with pro-abortion groups to target pro-life advocates. 

The report said the Justice Department “affirmatively asked pro-abortion groups about pro-life individuals’ travel and constitutionally protected advocacy,” the Justice Departmentʼs press release on the report indicated.

“The Biden DOJ and career attorneys monitored pro-life activists for years before charging them,” the press release stated.

The Justice Department also said: “Prosecutors knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel requested to prepare an affirmative defense, tried to screen out jurors based on religion, and authorized aggressive arrest tactics instead of allowing pro-life defendants to self-surrender.”

The Biden administration also “helped a pro-abortion group secure funding” and “pursued significantly harsher sentences for pro-life defendants than violent pro-abortion defendants,” according to the department.

“No department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Arkansas lawsuit challenges laws that protect unborn babies

Six women and an OB-GYN, Dr. Chad Taylor, filed a lawsuit against Arkansas laws protecting unborn children, saying that the laws are unconstitutional.

In an April 9 motion, two women joined the original four in the lawsuit, asking the court to halt Arkansas’s laws protecting unborn children through a preliminary injunction.

The 75-page motion alleged that the pro-life laws are unconstitutional per the state constitution and that the laws “lack any rational relationship to protecting life, health, or any other legitimate state interest.”

Filed by Amplify Legal, the litigation arm of Abortion in America, the motion is the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit that began on Feb. 2.

The lawsuit highlighted testimonies from women who were denied abortions by their state, including one who sought an abortion for her ectopic pregnancy out of state after local hospitals were unhelpful, as well as women seeking abortions for babies with life-threatening issues or who were conceived by rape.

Ectopic pregnancies are life-threatening for both the mother and the baby. Arkansas law allows abortions in life-threatening situations “to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”

Every state in the U.S. allows abortion if the woman’s life is at risk.

Pro-life groups call out Justice Department for siding with abortion drug industry

More than 70 pro-life groups urged the U.S. Department of Justice to “stop siding with the abortion drug industry against pro-life states” in a letter this week.

Addressed to acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, the letter highlights the harm of the federal policy allowing mail-order abortion drugs on both women and the integrity of state laws.

Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, and Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas sued the FDA in three separate cases, seeking to protect their citizens from the harms of abortion drugs and to halt policies that undermine their state laws. The Justice Department dismissed all three cases.

“Tragically, to date, this Department of Justice has downplayed the harms of mail-order abortion and called for each case to be paused or even dismissed entirely,” the April 13 letter read.

“When abortion drugs are available through the mail, there is no accountability, state laws are made impotent, and women and girls are hurt. This is a harmful and politically dangerous path,” the letter continued.

“The DOJ and FDA have the authority and the duty to act immediately,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Voters across the board strongly support it and the GOP base demands it.”

Judge rules Oregon law requiring insurance to cover abortion is unconstitutional

A federal judge in Oregon ruled that a state law requiring insurance plans to cover abortion and contraception violates the constitutional rights of Oregon Right to Life, a group that advocates against abortion.

The temporary ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Mustafa Kasubhai this week is a win for the pro-life group, but the full ruling won’t be available for at least another week.

The ruling found that the stateʼs 2017 Reproductive Health Equity Act can’t apply to Oregon Right to Life. The law compels all health insurance companies to “not impose on an enrollee a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement” for contraceptives and abortions. The law has an exemption for religious beliefs but not conscience rights.

Oregon Right to Life sued in 2023, saying that while it did not qualify for the religious exemption, the law violated the groupʼs First Amendment rights. In 2024, a different federal judge disqualified Oregon Right to Life from the exemption because it was not a religious organization. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed this ruling in 2025.

Oregon Right to Life Director Lois Anderson called the recent ruling “a victory for all pro-life Oregonians.”

Ciszek (1904–1984) is known for his spiritual writings “He Leadeth Me” and “With God in Russia,” which he wrote after surviving torture by the Soviet secret police and hard labor during his imprisonment from 1941–1963.

The Vatican first approved the advancement of Ciszek’s cause in 2012. Over the several decades that the cause was in progress, the Jesuits had gathered witness testimonies, writings of Ciszek, and more than 4,000 archival documents from the Jesuits and the Russian archives.

Monsignor Ronald Bocian of the Walter Ciszek Prayer League, the group advocating for Ciszekʼs cause, said in an April 9 letter that “the formal canonization process has been stopped.”

“The diocese has been informed that the documentation relating to his cause does not support advancing his cause for beatification or sainthood,” Bocian said.

“The development comes after years of careful study and discernment at the level of the Holy See, which bears the responsibility of evaluating each cause with thoroughness, integrity, and fidelity to the Church’s norms,” Bocian continued.

“While this news may understandably bring disappointment to many who have been inspired by Father Ciszek’s example of heroic faith and have prayed for his cause, it does not diminish the enduring spiritual value of his life, witness, and legacy,” Bocian said.

This is the second sainthood cause this month that the Vatican has closed. The Vatican also halted the cause of Argentinian bishop and servant of God Jorge Novak earlier this month. The Diocese of Quilmes, Argentina, said the decision expresses “no moral judgment regarding the life, virtues, and pastoral ministry” of the bishop but that it was due to him not carrying out “a possible canonical procedure” as a priest.

According to the letter from Bocian, the Prayer League advocating for Ciszek’s canonization will become the “Father Walter J. Ciszek Society.” Bocian said the society will “remain committed to honoring his memory, sharing his message, and encouraging devotion to the profound spiritual insights he left to the Church.”

“Even as the formal canonization process has been stopped, the grace flowing from his witness remains alive in the hearts of the faithful,” Bocian said.

The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, confirmed the news in a statement to EWTN News, acknowledging the “disappointment” while encouraging the faithful to remember the grace of Ciszek’s life.

“This development comes as the Church evaluates each cause with thoroughness, integrity, and fidelity to its norms,” read the statement from the Diocese of Allentown, which paralleled Bocian’s letter.

Who was Father Walter Ciszek?

Ciszek was born in 1904 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1928 and was ordained in 1937 after being trained to say Mass in the Russian rite. After two years in Poland, he used the chaos of World War II as cover to enter the Soviet Union so that he could minister to Christians who lived under communist persecution.

Soviet authorities arrested him in 1941, believing him to be a spy. Over his decades in prison, he endured solitary confinement, torture, and years of hard labor near the Arctic Circle. Despite the dangers, he said Mass in secret and heard the confessions of other prisoners.

President John F. Kennedy negotiated the prisoner swap that led to his release in 1963. Ciszek went on to write about his spiritual insights and experience in Russia. He died at Fordham University in New York on Dec. 8, 1984. In 1990, Ciszek was declared a servant of God.

“We are delighted to announce that Chicago Public Schools will be restoring special education instructional services to students in Chicago Catholic schools beginning Monday, April 20. Services will be provided through the Friday before Memorial Day, May 22, as had originally been planned,” the archdiocese said in an April 16 statement.

“We appreciate the efforts of CPS CEO Dr. Macquline King and her staff to restore these important services,” the archdiocese said. “We also appreciate the outpouring of support we heard from parents and others in recent days. The archdiocese looks forward to working with CPS in the months ahead to ensure that students with disabilities receive the academic support they need and deserve, whether they attend public or nonpublic schools.”

The news comes after the archdiocese said in an April 10 statement that Chicago Public Schools abruptly terminated its funding for services provided to students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) more than a month before the end of the school year. The archdiocese said CPS informed them of the funding suspension without warning during Holy Week after having verbally confirmed the funding would continue through the end of the year “as recently as March 25.”

Impacted services would have included academic support services such as tutoring in math, reading, and writing for students with learning disabilities. 

The archdiocese said in a previous statement that repeated efforts to reach “an amicable solution” with King had “not yielded a response.” It also said CPS had only terminated IDEA funding for Catholic schools.

Cardinal Blase Cupich condemned the sudden suspension of the program, which he described as a “shocking and possibly discriminatory action by CPS” and an “affront to Catholics.”

“For more than 175 years, our schools have helped lift families out of poverty and produced well-prepared and civically engaged graduates,” Cupich said. “We do so at a cost far below that of other systems and are proud of our students and the teachers who work every day to serve them. We owe them every effort to right this offense by CPS.”

King’s office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

In an April 16 interview on “EWTN News Nightly,” Bishop Stephen D. Parkes shared about the upcoming beatification of the five Spanish Franciscan friars, who are collectively known as the “Georgia Martyrs.” The beatification will take place on Oct. 31 and will be celebrated by Cardinal Francis Leo of the Archdiocese of Toronto.

“People are very excited about this because it is so unique in the life of a diocese,” Parkes told “EWTN News Nightly.” “This is not something that happens very often.”

The beatification will be “the first in the South,” according to Parkes.

Plans for the beatification are still in progress, and a venue has not yet been set — but hailing from Savannah, nicknamed the Hostess City of the South, Parkes said he looks forward “to welcoming many visitors.”

“A lot goes into planning because there are some questions about how many people will actually come,” Parkes said. “Weʼve been looking for a venue that will be large enough to accommodate thousands and we want to be very welcoming.”

From martyr to ‘blessed’

Parkes described the 16th-century martyrs as “men who gave their lives for our faith in defense of the sacrament of marriage.”

“They were Spanish missionaries who came here to our country in order to help to evangelize the Native peoples,” Parkes said. “And, obviously, they fell into some challenges with the evangelization process.”

In September 1597, Father Pedro de Corpa, Father Blas Rodríguez, Father Miguel de Añon, Brother Antonio de Badajóz, and Father Francisco de Veráscola were killed for defending the sanctity of marriage at a mission in present-day Georgia.

The cause for canonization of the Georgia Martyrs officially began in 1950 but ramped up in the 1980s. Beatification is a significant step toward sainthood in the Catholic Church.

In January 2025, Pope Francis recognized the five Franciscans as martyrs for Christ who were killed for their faith. Parkes called this a “milestone” for the cause.

“When Pope Francis gave approval for the beatification to take place, it was significant because we knew that we would be able to move forward with this now,” Parkes said. “It was accepted by the Church.”

“They will be known as Blessed Pedro de Corpa and Companions — also known more commonly as the Georgia Martyrs,” he said. “In our process towards sainthood and canonization, this is a huge milestone.”

What can Catholics learn from the Georgia Martyrs?

When asked what lessons Catholics can take away from the martyrs, Parkes said that “we have to be joyful witnesses.”

“We are called to be witnesses of faith, most especially in this world that we live in today,” he said. “I donʼt think weʼre always understood as Catholics, but we have to be courageous witnesses.”

“We need to continue to promote marriage and family life as a priority for our country, for our communities, for our society,” Parkes said.

“When people see that and see the incredible foundation that we have in faith — we have something solid to believe in — I believe people are looking for that today in a world where so much is fleeting and so many things are temporal,” he continued.

“In this kind of way, look at how we are able to celebrate these men who lived centuries ago, and they were defending something that still exists today and that we lift up today,” Parkes said.

“As the U.S ambassador for the Holy See, my efforts are many, but one of the roles as a diplomat is to remind stakeholders of what unites us and what must never divide us,” Burch said after delivering remarks on the persecution of Nigerian Christians at the U.S. embassy to the Vatican in Rome.

Burch said “we must not pretend that there is no disagreement” because “there clearly is,” but added: “We must also remember what they share.”

“Both men are driven by an unshakable belief in protecting the innocent,” he said. “One leads with the sword and shield of American power, the other with the cross of sacrificial love. But both are saying in their own languages: ‘Evil must not triumph and innocents must not be abandoned.’”

Leo has urged peace between the U.S. and Iran in a war that has claimed more than 3,000 lives in over a month of war, including more than 150 children at a girls' school in Minab and at least 15 American soldiers. Both sides have agreed to a temporary ceasefire.

Trump has made negative comments about Leo, calling him “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.” He said: “I donʼt think heʼs doing a very good job” and “I am not a fan of Pope Leo.” The pontiff said he has “no fear of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel” and emphasized he is “not a politician” and is not interested in debating the president.

The president has falsely claimed Leo said “Iran can have a nuclear weapon.” The Holy Father has warned against nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and has spoken out about nuclear weapons broadly.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers’

Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Bishop Michael Duca wrote a message on April 16 titled “Blessed are the Peacemakers” in which he urged Catholics to pray for peace and warned against treating the pope as if he is a partisan political figure.

Duca called Trump’s rhetoric “troubling because it risks reducing the Holy Father to a partisan figure and further deepening divisions in an already fractured world” and emphasized that the pope “is not a politician.”

“He is the vicar of Christ, entrusted with proclaiming the Gospel ‘in season and out of season,’ challenging all people — regardless of nation or office — to measure their words and actions against the truth of Jesus Christ revealed in the Gospels,” he said. “The Church always seeks to speak for the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of life, and the urgent call to peace.”

Duca warned Catholics not to “be drawn into the relentless cycle of outrage amplified by social media and instantaneous news.”

“I urge you, instead, to pause,” he said. “Do not take the bait of manufactured conflict or allow yourselves to be consumed by voices that profit from division. As Christians, there is only one voice we must follow above all others — the voice of Christ, echoed through his Church.”

The bishop said previous popes, like St. John Paul II, “spoke with moral clarity during times of extraordinary global tension” and the pontiffs “spoke words that were pastoral appeals, rooted in the Gospel, and with profound love for the human family.” He said Leo speaks “in that same tradition.”

“He calls our hearts back to the hard and holy work of dialogue, encounter, and reconciliation,” he said. “As urged in the Scriptures themselves, and as urged by previous pontificates, our call remains the same — ‘Do not be afraid.’ Do not be afraid to choose peace over pride, conversation over condemnation, and unity over division.”

Duca urged Catholics “to join me in praying earnestly for peace in our world, for wisdom among our leaders, and for hearts open to conversion.” He said to “respond as a witness” in all places and “preach the Gospel not only with words but with lives marked by listening, mutual respect, and charity — especially toward those with whom you disagree.”

“Finally, respond with hope,” he said. “The Church has endured far greater storms than those of the present moment. Guided by the Holy Spirit, she continues to proclaim a culture of life in the face of a culture of death and a hope that does not disappoint. When we remain anchored in Christ, the noise of the world loses its power over us.”

Bishops: ‘Pray for peace’

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made a post on X that breaks down what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about just war doctrine after Vice President JD Vance challenged Pope Leo XIV’s statements about war.

“The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration,” the post reads. “The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of the moral legitimacy.”

It notes there must be a just cause because of damage caused by an aggressor that is “lasting, grave, and certain,” all other means of alleviating the threat “have been shown to be impractical and ineffective,” there must be “serious prospects of success,” and the war “must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.”

On the last point, the bishops note “the power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.”

Every condition of just war criteria must be met for a war to be justified.

“These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called ‘just war’ doctrine,” the bishops add. “The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.”

The bishops explain that “all citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.” If a war is necessary, “governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense once all peace efforts have failed,” they add, quoting the catechism directly.

Additionally, the bishops quote the catechism about moral laws during war: "The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring parties.”

The bishops asked everyone to “pray for peace.”

Ishmael Adibuah contributed to this story.

Jury documents obtained by EWTN News show that a jury found Vincent Ambrosetti did not “prove by a preponderance of the evidence” that Bernadette Farrell and Oregon Catholic Press had copied his 1980 song “Emmanuel” with the 1993 hymn “Christ Be Our Light.”

The suit was originally filed in 2020 but dismissed in March 2024, with U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut arguing that Ambrosetti had not shown that the defendants had had “access” to his song prior to writing their own song or that there was a “striking similarity” between the two works.

An appeals court, however, revived the suit in August 2025. The appeals court noted that in 1985, Oregon Catholic Press then-publisher Owen Alstott allegedly met Ambrosetti at a convention, where Ambrosetti gave Alstott a copy of “Emmanuel.” Alstott would go on to meet and eventually marry Farrell.

In March, a jury was played selections of both songs, while New York University music professor Lawrence Ferrara said in a court filing that there was “strong objective musicological evidence of copying" between the two songs.

Yet the jury found otherwise, ruling in favor of both Farrell and of Oregon Catholic Press and against Ambrosettiʼs claim of infringement.

In a status report filed after the juryʼs verdict, Ambrosetti urged the court to “enter a judgment based on the verdict returned by the jury,” after which he said he would “proceed from there,” suggesting he may intend to appeal the case.

The jury debated for less than a day before returning its verdict against Ambrosettiʼs claims.

The Thomas More Society, a Catholic law firm that focuses on religious liberty and civil rights, said on April 16 that it had settled a lawsuit with the Coast Guard in an agreement that “permanently reforms how the Coast Guard evaluates, trains on, and reports religious accommodation requests.”

The yearslong case was first filed in September 2022 as a federal class action lawsuit, one that claimed the Coast Guard was in violation of both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for “categorically denying virtually all religious accommodation requests from the Coast Guard COVID-19 vaccine mandate.”

That mandate has since been rescinded, but the settlement announced on April 16 still serves as a “model for every branch of the military,” attorney Peter Breen said.

One of the provisions in the settlement includes a requirement that the Coast Guard intensively review religious accommodations requests and, in cases where a request is denied, show that granting it would “seriously harm a critical military interest.”

The Coast Guard will also institute “command-wide training” in leadership courses and chaplain instruction. The branch must also publicly affirm its commitment to religious liberty as well as post public data about religious accommodations on its website for three years.

The primary plaintiffs in the suit were Lts. Alaric Stone and Mack Marcenelle as well as Boatswainʼs Mate First Class Eric Jackson.

Marcenelle in the announcement said the team had been “wrongly accused of violating lawful orders” but that the settlement “sets things right once and for all and recognizes the lawful religious freedoms of all Coast Guard service members.”

The government will also pay $750,000 in attorneyʼs fees and expenses as part of the settlement, the Thomas More Society said.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” on April 13, Vance said it’s good the pope discusses what he cares about, but added: “In some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of whatʼs going on in the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”

At a Turning Point, USA event the next day at the University of Georgia, Vance said he respects and admires Leo, likes “that the pope is an advocate for peace,” acknowledging it as “certainly one of his roles.” He disputed Leo’s understanding of just war doctrine and said the pope should be “careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

The comments come as Leo calls for peace and Church officials question the justification of the war on the basis of just war doctrine. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy have said they do not believe the war fits just war criteria.

Three Catholic theologians who spoke with EWTN News disputed the notion that public policy matters — especially as they relate to war — can be separated from “matters of morality” and affirmed the Church’s role in these topics.

EWTN News reached out to Vance’s office to ask whether he believes justifications for entering a war or conduct in war are “matters of morality” but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

‘Matters of morality’

The Church has long held concerns about war to be a moral subject, with St. Augustine writing extensively about it in the early fifth century and popes and theologians both commenting on just war doctrine generally and speaking out about specific wars for centuries.

Joseph Capizzi, dean and ordinary professor of moral theology and ethics at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News that Vance is “just wrong” to draw a line between matters of morality and matters of public policy.

“For people to be moral, they need a good, healthy, stable political community,” he said. “All of us, men, women, children, priest and religious, lay, and so on have a stake in the moral good of the political communities we inhabit.”

The Church, Capizzi said, has been around for more than 2,000 years, and “her experience, her wisdom, her tradition are critical resources for helping us live in good communities.”

“The plea that bishops and popes and priests should ‘stick to morals and avoid politics’ is old, and rightly rejected by all Catholics, lay or otherwise,” he said. “Itʼs what many relied on in the past to try to quiet Catholics about immigration, abortion, poverty, and many other issues. The overlap of politics and morality is expansive.”

Taylor Patrick O’Neill, theology professor at Thomas Aquinas College, told EWTN News he thinks Vance’s comment “was very uncareful.”

“There is no amoral arena,” he said. “There’s no aspect to our … life where moral aspects don’t come into play.”

O’Neill said the pope’s role to speak on matters of faith and morals “includes politics,” adding: “It would be a mistake to think that public policy does not touch upon the moral.”

The Holy Father’s statements, he said, are part of his role “to guide and to teach,” and if Leo were to avoid the Iran war, “it would be quite odd … and not in step with the tradition of the papacy” because it touches on “the faith and the morals of believing people worldwide.”

O’Neill said the pope’s role is not to “dictate public policy” like “directing the [government] in regard to what sort of military formations to use.” But he said the pope’s role is to explain that “certain policies are intrinsically contrary to human flourishing and dignity” and to comment on “moral truths that should affect policy.”

Ron Bolster, dean of the School of Theology and Philosophy at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, told EWTN News he wishes Vance “hadn’t taken his disagreement with the Holy Father publicly” and said it is not helpful to set up a dichotomy between the moral realm and the public policy realm.

“One would certainly hope that you would bring the Gospel to bear on public policy,” he said. “I would like to think [Vance] knows better than that, but his position is not very uncommon.”

A role of the pope, Bolster said, is to “try to bring public servants to a better appreciation for how the Gospel would be advanced in their policies” and to help and guide them “when they’re out of line in that regard.”

“The Gospel and morality [should] drive all policy and any action that we would take,” he said.

Just war doctrine

At Tuesday’s Turning Point event, Vance challenged Leo’s understanding of just war doctrine in a response to the pope’s post on X that read: “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Vance asked: “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis?” and “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those innocent people…?” The vice president said: “I certainly think the answer is yes.”

Capizzi said Vance “misses the point” because Leo is “aware of the Churchʼs understanding of the just war.” When Catholics must wage war, they should “pray in the hope that they are doing Godʼs will … with humility and even a fear of God that they have rightly judged [the] situation,” he said.

“They try to avoid praying with hubris or arrogance about their judgment, because they know Godʼs judgment alone matters,” he said.

Capizzi said Leo’s comments are “about the rise in recourse to violence to attempt to solve problems” and “those who ‘wage wars’ are those turning to violence rather than looking for other solutions.”

O’Neill said Catholics should not interpret Leo’s comments as “throwing out” just war doctrine but understand it the same way they understand Christ saying that “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” in Matthew 26:52.

“Even when a Christian has to take up the sword, he doesn’t live by the sword,” O’Neill said.

Even when a Christian has to take up the sword, he doesn’t live by the sword.

Taylor Patrick ONeill

Theology professor at Thomas Aquinas College

If a Christian must engage in war, O’Neill said, “he does so as if it’s a tragedy.” He said glee or indifference toward war is “not living in accordance with the spirit of Christ” and noted concerns with the administration splicing together videos of the war with action movies, treating it like “a joke” or like “it’s cool.”

“The spirit should always be turned away from warfare,” he said.

Bolster said he read the pope’s comment in the context of Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization: “The threats were made against the culture, the civilians, and the innocents.” He said the pope “has a responsibility to all of the souls entrusted to him and to protect the innocents and call out an escalation that would go beyond the military targets.”

Yet, he also said Vance is in a tough position because when someone “questions whether [the soldiers are] involved in something that’s morally legitimate, you jeopardize their ability to do their job and you jeopardize their safety.”

The U.S. and Iran entered a temporary two-week ceasefire on April 8. So far, a long-term peace deal has not been reached.

For decades, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has partnered with the federal government to serve vulnerable children and families. The sudden termination of this contract ends a more than 65-year relationship that began with Operation Pedro Pan, which resettled approximately 14,000 Cuban children who were fleeing the Castro regime in the United States.

Wenski called for a review of the decision to cut funding for the Unaccompanied Minors Program of Catholic Charities.

“It is baffling that the U.S. government would shut down a program that would be hard-pressed to replicate at the level of competence and excellence that Catholic Charities has achieved, if and when future waves of unaccompanied minors reach our shores,” he said.

The U.S. government oversees the care of unaccompanied minors and partners with organizations such as Catholic Charities to provide services.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has long funded Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami through the Unaccompanied Minors Program since 1960 to provide shelter and services to thousands of unaccompanied minors.

Federal spending data shows that Catholic Charities received $11 million from HHS in fiscal year 2025, but the award ended March 31. The abrupt end will force the organization to shut down services within three months.

The decision comes as President Donald Trump has publicly criticized Pope Leo XIV. However, Wenski said the funding decision is unrelated to those tensions.

The Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh Children’s Village, formerly known as Boys Town —established during the Pedro Pan exodus in the early 1960s — can house up to 81 children today.

“Our track record in serving this vulnerable population is unmatched. Yet Catholic Charities’ services for unaccompanied minors have been stripped of funding and will be forced to shut down within three months,” Wenski said.

Reps. María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez of Florida, both Republicans, also issued a letter to ORR urging the agency to reconsider.

“South Florida has always been the front line of humanitarian migration in our hemisphere,” the April 3 letter stated. They also warned of potential future migration from Cuba and Haiti.

“Catholic Charities provides what cannot be quickly replaced: trained staff, proven infrastructure, and decades of expertise,” they wrote. “Losing this capacity now will make future response efforts more costly, slower, and less effective.”

For those who lived it, today’s crisis is personal

Javier Llorens, first vice president of the Pedro Pan board of directors, arrived in the United States in 1962 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, years before his parents could join him. He spent five years in shelters run by the Catholic Welfare Bureau, the predecessor of Catholic Charities.

“It wasn’t just shelter — it was care, education, and formation,” said Llorens, now a dentist. “That model showed how to care for refugee children the right way.”

With federal funding now cut for programs serving unaccompanied minors, Llorens warned today’s children risk losing that support.

“I understand budgets can be evaluated,” he said. “But what matters is the care of the children. Without it, they are left without assistance and without support to integrate into this country.”

Graciela Anrrich, director of the Pedro Pan board of directors, shared a similar experience. She arrived in the United States from Cuba in 1961 with her sister and spent months in the program before reuniting with her parents.

“The care we received was extraordinary,” said Anrrich, now a professor at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. “We were placed with a wonderful foster family and supported during a very difficult time.”

Both say the program changed their lives — and fear others may now miss that opportunity.

“We have to call the attention of the government,” Llorens said. “They are making a mistake. We only want to help the children.”

Contract funded care for unaccompanied migrant children

Recently, the Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh Children’s Village shelter was housing five children.

Four minors were transferred to a new center, and the last one is expected to reunite with his or her family. After that, the facility will no longer house children.

Peter Routsis-Arroyo, executive director of Catholic Charities, said similar programs across the country are also being affected.

“Programs that received funding starting April 1 will continue. We are currently seeking a 90-day no-cost extension, not yet officially approved, to provide proper notice to staff, severance pay, and the transfer of cases dating back to the 1960s. We may request an additional extension if needed,” he said.

Routsis-Arroyo said the organization received no warning.

“We were negotiating a new budget right up to the time of the cancellation letter. We were even approved for staff hiring the week before notification arrived,” he said.

He added that the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Refugee Resettlement informed them by email March 24 that their application was not selected for funding.

“It appears we scored very well but were not awarded bonus points,” he said.

Catholic Charities has no alternative funding to continue the program.

“Children are referred to us by ORR. Without a contract, ORR will not send children to us,” Routsis-Arroyo said.

The Unaccompanied Minors Program has operated continuously since 1960, making it the longest-running facility of its kind in the country. Contracts are currently awarded every three years.

Routsis-Arroyo said no other agency has provided this level of care for more than 65 years, beginning with Operation Pedro Pan. The Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh Children’s Village was specifically designed, in collaboration with ORR, to provide optimal care for unaccompanied minors.

“If funding is not restored, we will have to transition to other residential programs. Once we do, ORR will lose our capacity to serve this population,” he said.

The current federal process does not allow for an appeal, leaving reconsideration or legal action as the only options.

This story was first published by the Florida Catholic and is reprinted here with permission.

“[The] No. 1 [way to help] is just to pray with us, to be attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit right now, especially in this time of rebuilding, that we move according to what the Lord wants,” Sister Meredith Boquiren, OCD, directress of the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra, California, told anchor Veronica Dudo in an April 16 interview on “EWTN News Nightly.”

Early Saturday afternoon during a four-day Healing the Whole Person retreat, a fire broke out on the second floor of one of the two retreat houses on the campus, which is operated by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.

No one was injured in the fire, but the damaged building is inoperable and will need to be rebuilt.

Three fire departments responded to the scene and prevented the fire from spreading further throughout the campus, which includes the motherhouse, where all the sisters begin formation. The sisters have operated the campus for 85 years.

The exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and the sisters believe the source may have been electrical.

Boquiren said in the interview that the fire alarm went off shortly after the conclusion of the final retreat Mass, which the sisters hosted during the latter half of the Easter Octave, just ahead of Divine Mercy Sunday.

“Weʼve had some false alarms before, so I just went and ran to the place that the source indicated,” Boquiren said. “So I ran up the second floor of the building and saw a bunch of billowing black smoke and realized it was real. And then I ran outside to see, and at that moment the window had burst open with flames.”

She said it was “a strange experience because we had just finished some powerful testimonies” and within the next 10 minutes, “I experienced a sense of weight and darkness at the same time.”

“It was just quite strange to … experience the paschal joy and resurrection of our Lord through the suffering, right? The actual healing journey that we were experiencing on retreat,” she said. “So it was, it was quite a strange contradiction of emotions.”

Boquiren said “the damage was pretty expensive,” noting it is “a two-building, two-floor building with 25 rooms.”

“The water, smoke, and fire damage is pretty extensive,” she said. “The firemen had to make holes through the building on the top, and so itʼs basically unusable and irreparable at this time.”

In addition to asking for prayers, Boquiren said: “If you are willing and able to provide a gift, we would greatly appreciate that.”

Sister Mary Scholastica, OCD, director of advancement for the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, told EWTN News “it is too early for estimated cost of damages” but “an entire building will need to be rebuilt and construction in Southern California is costly.”

She said the retreat house serves more than 13,000 people annually.

Although one building is unusable, Boquiren noted in her “EWTN News Nightly” interview that retreats are still happening, but “it’s just with less capacity.”

“Blessed be God, they are [still happening], because we still have two of the buildings that we use in operation,” she said.

“I believe that a priest who is known, accompanied, and cared for brings that fullness to everything he does: to the altar, to the confessional, to the bedside of the dying,” Bui, auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Phoenix, told EWTN News.

Father Greg Schlarb, who is currently a pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Scottsdale, Arizona, will pioneer the role of vicar for priestly life and ministry for the diocese, working with Bui, the vicar for clergy, to care for priests in the diocese.

While Bui’s role is practical — handling priestly assignments and personnel management — Schlarb will take a “more proactive and personal approach,” according to the diocese.

“I want to be a sounding board, a listening ear, and a compassionate brother who is there to support and assist them,” Schlarb told EWTN News.

No priest has to walk alone

“Priestly formation does not end at ordination,” Bui said. “It is a lifelong journey, and every priest needs someone walking alongside him in that journey. Father Schlarbʼs role exists to make sure no priest in the Diocese of Phoenix has to walk it alone."

“When our priests are well — humanly, spiritually, pastorally — their people feel it,” Bui continued.

The new role is one of several mental health efforts established by Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix. Dolan, who has lost four family members to suicide, is known for his mental health advocacy.

“Bishop Dolan has always understood that the health of the diocese depends on the health of its priests, and as that conviction deepened, it became clear that priestly life and ministry deserved its own dedicated focus, that is, as a distinct and primary pastoral priority,” Bui said.

“How do we make sure our priests have what they need, that they are healthy: spiritually, physically, mentally; that they constantly are formed and transformed in their relationship with Christ?” Dolan asked in his monthly podcast, "Tilma," which highlighted the new role.

“Youʼre not just ordained a priest, but youʼre ordained a priest in the presbyterate — that means there’s a community of priests of which you belong,” Dolan said.

The Diocese of Phoenix spans 44,000 square miles and is the fastest-growing diocese in the U.S. It is home to more than 2 million Catholics and 94 parishes.

“It’s my hope that all of our priests, no matter how far away they are from the Phoenix metropolitan area, will feel supported, heard, and loved,” Schlarb said.

“Just as the parishioners they serve understand that the presence of a priest shepherding in the farthest parts of our diocese demonstrates the care, concern, and love of our bishop, so these heroic priests who serve in these remote parishes will also experience that same care, concern, and love through the presence and support I am able to offer them,” Schlarb said.

A pastor’s heart

“Priests can often face challenges when their life is ‘out of balance,’” Schlarb said. “Sometimes there are personnel issues that cause great concern, or ‘actively disengaged’ parishioners are placing stumbling blocks for our pastors, or there’s little to no opportunity to create community in these remote areas.”

But Bui said he believes Schlarb has “exactly the right gifts to this work.”

“He has a pastorʼs heart, a brother priestʼs credibility, and a genuine love for his fellow priests,” he said.

Even though he does not start in the role until July 1, Schlarb said priests have already begun to reach out.

“There have been priests reaching out for guidance with pastoral challenges, new assignment excitement, and concerns and guidance on applying for sabbaticals or ongoing formation opportunities,” Schlarb said.

“I am grateful to God for this assignment that Bishop John Dolan has entrusted to me and with the guidance of the word or God and the Holy Spirit, I hope to serve our priests to the best of my ability,” he said.

Findings from 2024-2025 Gallup data revealed that 42% of young men ages 18 to 29 said religion is “very important” to them, up 14 percentage points since 2022-2023. This jump pushes them above the 29% of young women who reported the same.

Gallupʼs data comes from 4,015 interviews with U.S. adults, including 295 men under 30 and 145 women under 30. The survey had a margin of error of between plus or minus 7 and 10 percentage points. It also used information from separate reports of 26,601 U.S. adults, including 1,905 men under 30 and 832 women under 30, and a report of 27,616 U.S. adults, including 1,839 men 18 to 29 and 796 women 18 to 29. The margin of error was between plus or minus 3 and 4 percentage points.

Gallup found that young women are significantly the least likely age group of women to report religion is “very important” to them, compared with 47% of women ages 30 to 49, 53% of women ages 50-64, and 64% of women 65 or older.

While young women’s stance on religion has held steady at about 30% since 2020-2021, young menʼs has been less stable. In 2020-2021, 34% of young men said religion was “very important” in their lives; this declined to 28% in 2022-2023 and has increased again.

Further findings from Gallup’s religious data also found that from 2000-2001 through 2024-2025, young men have returned to the high point of how many find religion important.

The percentage of young men who reported monthly or more frequent attendance at religious services has risen. In 2022-2023, 33% of young men reported attending, compared with 40% in 2024-2025.

According to Gallup’s monthly measurement of religious attendance in 2026 so far, 40% of young men continue to attend religious services weekly or monthly, consistent with 2025.

Young women’s attendance has also increased since 2022-2023, rising three points to 39% in 2024-2025. However, this rate remains below the levels recorded in the early 2000s, when the group was at 54%.

Impact of political party and religious affiliation

The research looked at how political affiliation affects how often young men and women attend religious services.

Republican women and men are far more likely to attend religious services than Democratic women and men, with 58% of Republican women and 52% of  men attending at least monthly, compared with 31% of Democratic women and 26% of men.

The report noted that the partisan shifts affect the trends among young men and women differently, because of differences in party identification between them.

In 2024-2025, 48% of young men identified as or leaned Republican, compared with 41% who identified as or leaned Democratic. Among young women, 27% identified as or leaned Republican, compared with 60% who identified as or leaned Democratic.

The report also examined trends in how many young adults practice specific religions. The data found that as young men have become more religious since 2022-2023, more identify with a specific religion, but they still remain the least likely male age group to do so.

In 2024-2025, 63% of young men reported identifying with a specific religion including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or another religion. This was nearly the same as the 61% who reported the same in 2022-2023. However, it is the highest number reported by young men since 2012-2013, when the group was at 67%.

While speaking to the press on April 16, Trump was asked why he was “fighting with the pope.” Trump responded that he himself “[has] to do whatʼs right.”

“Itʼs very simple, I have nothing against the pope,” Trump said. “... Iʼm not fighting with him. The pope made a statement, he says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

The president had slammed Leo as “weak on crime” and “weak on nuclear weapons” in an April 12 social media post while suggesting that the pope “thinks itʼs OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

Leo has several times in recent weeks called for peace while criticizing the ongoing U.S.-led war against Iran, but it is unclear why Trump has repeatedly claimed that Leo has advocated for nuclear weapons in Iran.

The pope has spoken out explicitly against the expansion of global nuclear armaments in the recent past.

‘I want him to preach the Gospel’

Asked at the April 16 press gaggle about the popeʼs obligation to preach the Gospel, the president responded: “I want him to preach the Gospel.”

“Iʼm all about the Gospel,” Trump told reporters. “But I also know that you cannot let [Iran] have a nuclear weapon. If they did, they would use it, and I think theyʼd use it quickly, and they would kill many millions of people.”

“As president of the United States of America, I canʼt allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “And hereʼs the story: They wonʼt have [it]. Theyʼve already agreed not to have [it]. Thatʼs good news. And I think the pope will be very happy.”

Asked by a reporter if he would meet with the pope “to even out your differences,” Trump said: “I donʼt think thatʼs necessary.”

During a press conference at the White House on Monday, Trump claimed that Iranian officials had contacted him seeking a peace deal. “Theyʼd like to make a deal very badly,” the president said.

Earlier peace talks in Islamabad, led by Vice President JD Vance, collapsed last weekend after Iran refused to meet U.S. demands to end its nuclear program.

Trumpʼs support among Catholics dipped notably after the launch of the Iran war, with bipartisan polling finding that 48% of Catholic voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president and 52% disapprove. The president won 55% of the Catholic vote in the 2024 election.

The poll found that most Catholics disapprove of Trump’s actions in Iran and the use of military force against the country but still favor some American influence in the region.

The New Lenox, Illinois, Police Department said in a Facebook post on April 15 that it had responded to a “reported bomb threat at a private residence” in the Chicago suburb about 40 miles outside of the city center.

The statement did not identify the home as belonging to Leoʼs brother John Prevost, but local media reports said the target of the threat was Prevostʼs home. Public records indicate that Prevost lives on the street to which police responded.

Police evacuated nearby homes during their investigation and called in explosive-detection K9 units. “After careful examination, investigators determined that the threat was unsubstantiated and that no explosive devices or hazardous materials were present,” New Lenox police said.

The police noted that no injuries were reported but that the false bomb threat was “a serious offense and may result in criminal charges.”

New Lenox Police Chief Micah Nuesse told EWTN News via email on April 16 that the matter was an “active and ongoing investigation” and that the police department had “no new updates to share” about the crime or any suspects.

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

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

On April 11 at a Vatican peace vigil, the pope criticized the “madness of war” and urged world leaders: “Stop! Itʼs time for peace!” On March 29, meanwhile, he said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.”

In Trumpʼs Truth Social post, he suggested that Leo — the first American-born pontiff — was only elected to the papacy as part of a diplomatic strategy to “deal with” Trump himself, due to Leoʼs U.S. background.

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump claimed in the post.

Responding to a question about Trumpʼs post on April 13, Leo told media that “people who read it will be able to draw their own conclusions.”

"I am not a politician, and I have no intention of entering into a debate with him,” the pope said, adding that he had "no fear neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel."

“In the pursuit of religious freedom, as guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution, we urge the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Cemetery Administration to offer the crucifix as an eligible emblem of belief for inscription on headstones at national cemeteries,” Steube said in an April 10 letter addressed to Secretary Douglas Collins of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Undersecretary for Memorial Affairs Samuel Brown.

“Veterans and their next of kin may select from nearly 100 different emblems representing several different belief systems,” he said, noting sanctioned emblems include symbols for several Christian denominations as well as Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu symbols.

“While even atheists, humanists, and Wiccans have an eligible emblem of belief for inscription, Catholic veterans do not currently have the option to select a crucifix, an emblem of belief that most accurately represents the faith of nearly 20% of all veterans,” he said.

A crucifix is a cross that bears the body of Jesus Christ crucified, which is called the “corpus.” It is a spiritual symbol that recalls the passion and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, calling attention to his love, suffering, and redemption of humanity.

Steubeʼs press release quoted Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, saying, “I support the bipartisan effort led by Congressman Greg Steube (R-Florida) to support the free exercise of religion of veterans in having the crucifix included on tombstones.”

The archdiocese did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The VA has the authority to add emblems administratively, or lawmakers could introduce legislation if the agency does not act.

Steubeʼs letter, signed by 45 members of Congress — including 42 Republicans and three Democrats — requested the Department of Veterans Affairs provide its criteria for evaluating and approving emblems of belief for inscription on headstones at national cemeteries and whether any prior request had been made to include crucifixes on its list.

“VA is looking into the lawmakers’ request and will answer their letter directly,” Quinn Slaven, press secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs, told EWTN News.

Republican Reps. Riley Moore of West Virginia, Mike Carey of Ohio, and John Rutherford of Florida were among the 20 Catholic members of Congress who signed on to the letter. Steube is Protestant, according to Pew Research Center.

Steube’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

St. Joseph Catholic Church in East Bristol lost roughly half of its roof during the weather incident. Photos showed huge portions of the parish roof peeled off, exposing the churchʼs attic and rafters below.

The region has experienced multiple nights of severe storm outbreaks including severe winds, hail, and isolated tornadoes.

Local news reports said tornadoes had been reported in the East Bristol area just after midnight on April 14. The area was under a tornado warning at the time the parish roof was destroyed, though it wasnʼt clear if a tornado was itself responsible for the destruction.

The parish did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the damage. On the parishʼs Facebook page, meanwhile, a post claimed that a tornado had hit the church. Images showed destruction inside the church including insulation piled up near the altar and a light fixture in a pew.

A listing on the Wisconsin Historical Society website says the parish was completed in 1890 and designed by local Swiss-American architect Henry Messmer.

Built in the early Gothic Revival manner, the building has seen several additions in the roughly 130 years since it was built, including in 1965 and 2024.

The parish is part of the Diocese of Madison. A press release from the diocese  said the diocesan office of buildings, construction, and real estate was responding to the incident, along with the insurer Catholic Mutual Group.

“St. Joseph Church has served generations of Catholics in northeast Dane County, and we are heartbroken by the devastation,” the diocese said. “We ask for your prayers as we assess the damage.”

America Reads the Bible is a national Scripture-reading event and movement led by Christians Engaged, a nonprofit organization committed “to discipling Americans on biblical worldview and their responsibilities as citizens to pray, vote, and engage for the well-being of our nation.”

From April 19–25, a diverse set of speakers including some Catholics will gather at the Museum of the Bible and read the King James Version of the Bible from beginning to end “as a spiritual celebration of our nation’s founding ideals and a call to rediscover the truth that still anchors us today,” event organizers reported.

The event is inspired by the Hebrew book of Ezra, where the public reading of Scripture sparked national repentance and renewal, according to a press release.

The event will kick off with an opening celebration on April 18 as leaders from more than 100 national ministries will begin to gather for the weeklong celebration. The recitation will begin on April 19 at the museum and will continue with speakers reading each day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to complete the whole Bible in a week.

Trump himself will read during the 6 p.m. EST hour on April 21, reciting from the book of 2 Chronicles.

“In every generation, through every trial and triumph, God’s Word has guided our people and our country to new heights,” Trump said via a presidential message on April 18.

Those interested in attending can register to join in person or can watch live online.

Catholic speakers

A wide array of speakers including actors, lawmakers, and advocates will participate in the anniversary celebration.

Event sponsors and organizers will speak over the week including Bunni Pounds, America Reads the Bible organizer and president of Christians Engaged, and Steve Green, chair and co-founder of the Museum of the Bible.

Catholic companies, set to serve as partners with America Reads the Bible, including Catholic Book Publishing, will also send speakers. Catholic author Allan Wright, whose books focus on discipleship, evangelization, and the Catholic faith, will read.

The event is also partnering with CatholicVote and will welcome its president, Kelsey Reinhardt, to read.

Catholic figures from the Trump administration will take the stage including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. Among others, Christian administration members participating will also include Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

A number of lawmakers and government representatives will speak, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is Catholic. Others lawmakers scheduled to read include U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa, and Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho.

Pro-life leaders will also read, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Kristie McCrary, adviser to the president. Pro-life advocate Abby Johnson, CEO and founder of ProLove Ministries and And Then There Were None, will read as well.

Entertainers and actors from various Christian backgrounds will read Scripture including Catholic actress and author Patricia Heaton, and Christian actress Candace Cameron Bure, America Reads the Bible national spokesperson. Other entertainers will include actors Dean Cain and David Hunt.

This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. ET on April 18, 2026, with details about President Donald Trumpʼs participation in “America Reads the Bible.”

The statement came as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the latter a Catholic, have taken issue with papal remarks claiming that “anyone who is a disciple of Christ” is “never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Speaking at an April 14 event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA, Vance publicly criticized Pope Leo on his anti-war remarks, asking: “How can you say God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?”

Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massaʼs statement on the subject underscored that Christians are obliged to critically evaluate claims made in favor of armed conflict rather than assume moral legitimacy.

“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war," Massa said.

"A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2308)," Massa noted.

Massa continued: "That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of goodwill must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars,” the bishop concluded.

Pope Leo XIV responded to Trump’s public criticism by saying he has “no fear of the Trump administration” and will continue to proclaim the Gospel.

At the Turning Point USA event, Vance — who is publishing a book about his conversion to the Catholic faith — said if Pope Leo was “going to opine on matters of theology,” his comments needed to be “anchored in the truth.”

“In the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said.

Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who was elected vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2025, said in a statement on X on April 15 that “public officials may opine about theology, as is their right.”

But "the successor of Peter teaches. This is his office," Flores said. "If what he teaches doesn’t sound like what we want to hear, we should admit the likelihood that the problem is in what we want to hear and not in what he teaches.”

Vance: ‘Stick to matters of morality’

On Monday, Vance defended Trumpʼs decision to post on social media, and later delete, an AI-generated image that critics said depicted the president as Jesus Christ. Vance described it as a joke that people misunderstood.

“It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic Church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News.

At the Turning Point USA event, Vance said he likes it when the pope comments on public issues — including immigration, abortion, and war and peace — because it “invites a conversation,” even when there is disagreement.

This story was updated at 4:40 p.m. ET on April 15, 2026, with additional comments by Vance at the Turning Point USA event regarding inviting a conversation.

“The Knights of Columbus has always stood in solidarity with the Holy Father, recognizing in him a spiritual father who calls the world not to division but to unity, not to conflict but to peace,” Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said in the statement.

“In this moment, we reaffirm that commitment with clarity and conviction,” he said.

Trump escalated his criticism of the Holy Father late Tuesday evening in a second post on Truth Social, which criticized the pontiff’s staunch opposition to war.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Leo’s policy views, Kelly said, “the Holy Father’s prophetic voice deserves to be heard with respect and engaged seriously.”

“Pope Leo XIV has consistently called for peace, dialogue, and restraint in a world marked by war and suffering,” he said. “The Holy Father’s words are not political talking points — they are reflections of the Gospel itself.”

Kelly noted that many Catholics and others “have been deeply disappointed by the disparaging comments directed at Pope Leo XIV” by Trump, and that Leo “is not a politician — he is the vicar of Christ, entrusted with proclaiming the Gospel and shepherding souls.”

In his statement, Kelly acknowledged that faithful Catholics can hold differing views on foreign policy and that Catholics should engage in the public square. He said nations can safeguard security “in accordance with the demands of justice and the pursuit of peace.”

“The Church does not ask Catholics to withdraw from civic life but to engage with and elevate it — bringing to our civic dialogue the light of truth, respect for the dignity of every human person, and a steadfast concern for the common good," he said.

Kelly also encouraged prayers for the pope, the president, and other politicians.

“As Knights, we are called to be men of unity, as followers of Christ and patriotic citizens,” he said. “I encourage all Knights of Columbus to pray for the Holy Father, to pray for civic leaders, and to pray for peace and those working to achieve it.”

“And let us recommit ourselves to charity in our public discourse,” he added. “May we be known not for echoing the divisions of our time, but for healing them. In a moment of tension, the path forward is not louder conflict but deeper fidelity — to truth, to charity, and to the Gospel.”

Trump goes after Leo again

Trumpʼs social media post said: “Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a nuclear bomb is absolutely unacceptable."

During the protests, Leo did call for peace, saying in January that “ongoing tensions [in Iran and Syria] continue to claim many lives.”

“I hope and pray that dialogue and peace may be patiently nurtured in pursuit of the common good of the whole of society,” he said at the time.

Leo has also strongly opposed nuclear weapons, saying in June 2025: “The further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, as well as this escalation of violence, imperils the fragile stability remaining in the region.”

While Trump cited numbers exceeding 40,000 people, estimates about the number of people killed in anti-regime protests and unrest in Iran varies a lot, ranging from several thousand to more than 30,000. Most protesters were unarmed, but Iran’s government claims some were armed and killed about 500 security personnel. Trump said the United States tried to arm the protesters, but those guns did not get to the right people.

Vance, bishops offer more comments

Catholic bishops and leaders have responded to Trump’s attack on Pope Leo, and elected officials also have made statements.

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, said he is deeply concerned and troubled by Trump’s social media rhetoric, especially during Holy Week and Easter, which he says falls short of the moral standard expected of both the presidency and a professed Christian. The archbishop criticized Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo, saying the pope’s calls for peace and dialogue arise from his pastoral mission, not political ideology.

Sample said the Church’s role is to proclaim peace, human dignity, and the Gospel, citing Jesus’ teaching: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

The Ancient Order of Hibernians condemned attacks and mockery directed at Pope Leo XIV and the papacy, affirming that respect for the Holy Father is essential to Catholic faith.

Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, said at a Turning Point USA event that Pope Leo XIV should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

“One of the issues here is that if youʼre going to opine on matters of theology, youʼve got to be careful,” he said. “Youʼve got to make sure itʼs anchored in the truth.”

Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said: “Any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response.”

Pope Leo XIV has responded to Trump’s public criticism by saying he has “no fear of the Trump administration” and will continue to speak out boldly with the message of the Gospel.

Pope Leo is visiting Algeria April 13–15 for the first part of his African papal trip. The popeʼs presence has been “widely viewed by the Christian community as a success,” Kelsey Zorzi said in an April 14 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”

Zorzi, director of global advocacy at Alliance Defending Freedom, discussed religious freedom in Algeria and the governmentʼs move to stop the spread of Christianity.

“Algeria is 99% Muslim; less than 1% of the population is Christian," she said. "So for many years, Christians and Muslims have been living side by side. Muslims have been hearing the Gospel and steadily converting to Christianity."

“As of 2017, there were 50 thriving Protestant evangelical churches operating across the country, and these churches were growing, and the government took note of this,” she said.

“To combat what it perceived as an increasing threat,” the government “started enforcing an old 2006 ordinance that required the association of Protestant churches to be licensed,” she said. “These associations tried numerous times to apply for a license, but the government has refused to this day to acknowledge these applications or to grant the licenses.”

“So they have shut down, over the course of the last nine to 10 years, almost 50 churches across the country,” she said.

The government has claimed the closures were due to problems including safety permits and zoning laws, but Zorzi said “these claims are a mere pretext, and the governmentʼs actual motivation is to stop the spread of Christianity in Algeria.”

In the nation, there has been "a long history of pretextual and manipulative tactics that have been used to keep the churches closed,” she said.

“Weʼve seen the government allege that some of the churches have building code violations, and after these alleged violations are remedied, the government still refuses to reopen the churches,” she said.

The government also has asked “the Evangelical Association to meet to discuss the license, and when the invitation for these meetings arrives, itʼs often for a date that has already passed,” she said.

Pope Leo’s visit to Algeria

The pope met with the president of Algeria on April 13, “and we are hearing he did raise the issue of the Protestant church closures as well as the criminal charges that are being brought against pastors,” she said.

Pope Leo also said Mass where the archbishop of Algiers "pointed out that the Christian community in Algeria is comprised of several denominations" and he "specified that several Protestant church leaders were present at the Mass,” she said.

“The pope visited the eastern portion of the country, which is where St. Augustine lived, and planted an olive tree as a symbol of peace,” she said. “The Protestant communityʼs general sense of the popeʼs visit has been highly positive.”

“Theyʼre very encouraged and theyʼre hoping that this might be the thing that leads to change,” she said.

The reorganization, which began in September 2024 in response to declining numbers of priests and churchgoers, is now in its third and final phase. The archdiocese will be organized into 24 “pastorates,” or groups of parishes that work closely together and share resources and ministries. Merged parishes will not yet be closed and may still be used for liturgical celebrations such as funerals, weddings, and weekday Masses.

The archdiocese, in which there are about 182,000 Catholics, has only one priest for every two parishes. The reorganization plan is designed to prevent burnout among the 85 priests actively serving in the archdiocese, a number that is expected to continue to decline.

Many dioceses across the United States have taken similar steps to reorganize parishes in recent years, including the archdioceses of St. Louis, Detroit, and Seattle.

‘Stepping forward in courageous honesty’

Archbishop Thomas Zinkula said the new plan was based on “extensive data” from every parish, according to a statement shared with EWTN News.

Mass attendance is down by almost half as of 2006, according to the archdiocese’s numbers. Catholic marriages are down more than 50% over the same time period, while infant baptisms are down by 22%.

“Like many dioceses across the country, we are facing sobering realities,” the archbishop said. “The number of faithful attending Mass has declined by 46% in 20 years and the number of priests available for ministry has been decreasing.”

“Demographic realities, the decline in the number of priests and religious, and the need for priests to serve more than one parish aren’t signs of failure. They are signs of change,” Zinkula said. “And change in the life of the Church has always called the faithful to deeper trust.”

According to the pastorate website, when parishes merge, the assets will transfer to the new parish where the affected parishioners are assigned.

“I envision us not as separate parts, but as one body — stepping forward in courageous honesty,” the archbishop said.

‘In a state of shock’

Zinkula described the archdiocese as “a vast and diverse Church.”

“Our priests and parish communities serve both rural towns and large cities — each with its own history and traditions, yet all united in the one mission of Christ,” he said.

One of the Catholic parishes that will no longer hold weekend Masses come summer is Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Founded in 1858, Immaculate Conception was the first Catholic parish in the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Father Aaron Junge, pastor of Immaculate Conception, told EWTN News: “I am choosing to focus on being with my people in their grief.”

“My people are still in a state of shock, as well as grief, but I have also seen signs of hope and a willingness to consider what new realities God may be inviting us to,” Junge said.

“This weekend, we heard about Jesus meeting the grief and doubt of St. Thomas with access to his wounds, and so it is to those wounds that I am doing my best to point my people with their own,” he said.

Junge said he hopes parishioners in the merger can bring Christ to the downtown area of the city of Cedar Rapids.

“Ultimately, my hope for the future is that the people of Immaculate Conception will join with the other people of our new pastorate to form a community that is greater than the sum of its constitutive parts and be focused on the worship of Our Lord in the sacraments and witnessing to him,” Junge concluded.

Continuing the Gospel mission

Zinkula acknowledged the difficulty of the coming changes while urging parishioners to think of this as a continuation of the Gospel mission.

“Our mission calls us to look beyond what is comfortable and familiar and ask how we can best proclaim the Gospel in the years ahead,” Zinkula said.

“Every parish church is a place where Christ is made present in the Eucharist. A place filled with memories — baptisms, weddings, funerals, and generations of family faith,” he said. “Every Catholic school has sent forth generations of graduates formed in the faith."

“The sacrifice of those who built these institutions — the immigrant families who gave from what little they had to lay a cornerstone, the priests who served faithfully in small rural parishes, the sisters who formed generations in the classroom — isn’t diminished when a building is used infrequently or not at all,” Zinkula continued. “Their sacrifice lives on in the mission we now carry forward.”

The archbishop urged parishioners to remain united throughout the change.

“There are voices and concerns that risk dividing us, particularly around Sunday Mass in some communities,” he said. “Even so, I am confident that, as we remain united in the Holy Spirit and grounded in the Eucharist — wherever we gather for worship — the Lord will bring this process to a good and grace-filled outcome.”

“And so I ask you to continue walking this journey with me — and with one another — with courage and trust,” Zinkula continued. “May we be worthy of the sacrifices of those who have gone before us, by carrying it forward, together, in faith and in mission.”

In response to Trump’s social media post Monday calling Leo “terrible for foreign policy” and claiming responsibility for his election to the papacy, Alexander John Paul Lutz, a policy fellow at the Helsinki Commission, said during the April 13 hearing that Leo’s message, and the Holy See’s, is unique from other world powers.

“To all of this, the force, the bellicosity, the transactionalism, the insistence that every actor on the world stage must really be angling for or towards something political, Pope Leo responded with a different vision,” Lutz said.

Citing Leo’s address to the diplomatic corps in January, Lutz emphasized that unlike other global powers, Leo’s message asserts that “the protection of the principle of the inviolability of human dignity and the sanctity of life always counts for more than any mere national interest.”

“These are the grounds on which the Holy See conducts its diplomacy,” Lutz said, noting the Vatican engages all parties, but “never fully endorses any state’s political platform.” Rather, he said, the Holy See “will subject every policy it encounters, including those of the United States, to an intellectual and moral rigor that is likely to improve it,” and “insists on speaking the truth for the record, even when doing so may lead to misunderstanding and scorn.”

“What is clear is that no other state on earth is even attempting to do what the Holy See is trying to do, to address the world as it is while insisting that it answer to something higher than power,” Lutz said.

Victor Gaetan, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, echoed Lutz during his testimony and gave context for the Holy See’s diplomatic approach.

“The Vatican has bilateral relations with 184 nations and operates 124 nunciatures or embassies around the world,” Gaetan said. “The popeʼs right-hand man is the secretary of state, who is typically a diplomat, a priest diplomat. Because the diplomats are priests who take vows of silence regarding what they know, they often approach tasks as pastors, which helps explain why Vatican diplomats are notoriously discreet and why they are willing to meet even with dictators. No one is beyond salvation.”

Gaetan explained that Vatican diplomacy has four dimensions: representation, mediation, preservation, and evangelization. He emphasized mediation as “the most important element in Vatican diplomacy,” highlighting several instances of the Holy See’s success in resolving conflicts between nations.

He also noted Leo’s outspoken advocacy for peace is grounded in “the priorities and pragmatism of his predecessors,” including Pope John Paul II, whom Leo echoed in his recent vigil for piece, saying: “Enough of war!”

“The popeʼs critique of war in Iran and bombing in Lebanon should not be understood as a political,” Gaetan said. “Rather, it is a theological position grounded in what is called ‘just war theory,’ developed by none other than St. Augustine in the early fifth century and studied in all United States military academies.”

For a war to be justified, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it must be waged to fight against a grave evil, the damage caused by waging the war cannot be graver than the evil it is meant to eliminate, there must be a serious prospect of success, and all alternatives to war must have already been tried.

Other panelists at the briefing included Peter G. Martin, a former U.S. diplomat at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, and Jackie Aldrette, executive director of AVSI USA, a humanitarian aid organization that has projects in 41 countries.

"I love the Catholic Church. I just wish theyʼd stick to fixing the Church, because thereʼs issues. I know because Iʼm a member. And stay out of politics,
Homan said.

Homan, a Catholic, commented after Trump initiated a direct, personal denunciation of Pope Leo, escalated it publicly, and doubled down in media appearances. Pope Leo responded briefly and calmly, declining to engage in debate and reframing his remarks as moral teaching rather than rebuttal.

Trump had called the pontiff “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy."

Homan said he wished Church leaders would sit down with him to understand his experiences as border czar.

“Maybe theyʼd understand why a secure border saves lives. A secure borderʼs the most humane thing this country can do,” Homan said.

More Catholic bishops respond

Several American Catholic bishops have responded to Trumpʼs criticism, defending Pope Leo XIV.

Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez defended Leoʼs role in preaching “the Gospel of peace.”

“Pope Leo XIV has consistently spoken with clarity and compassion with calls for peaceful resolutions to complex challenges in a manner that upholds the sanctity and dignity of all human life as our world continues to be afflicted with division, conflict, and suffering,” he said. “Both the pope and his message deserve respect and admiration.”

Earlier, Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called Trumpʼs comments “disrespectful” and urged the president to apologize. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City said he was “disheartened” by the comments.

Archbishop Mark S. Rivituso of Mobile, Alabama, said in a statement posted to social media that he echoes the views Coakley expressed and added that he affirms the popeʼs role “as a spiritual leader who speaks from the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

"I encourage all the faithful to be one with the Holy Father in praying for and witnessing to the Gospel of Christ’s peace and care for all peoples," he said. "I ask for all to pray for our president and all in public office to work for a greater peace and justice in our world.”

Catholic Charities announced the 2026-2027 tour in April 2025 after it received a $5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment as part of its Christian Storytelling Initiative.

When considering what stories the charitable organization would like to tell, Catholic Charities USA Vice President for Communications Kevin Brennan told “EWTN News Nightly” on April 10: “Ultimately, it was the story of the people, the men and women of the Catholic Charities network, staff, and volunteers, and the profound and merciful service work that they perform day in and day out.”

The purpose, he said, is “to tell the story through their perspective, which is a bit of a change from how we would normally do it, and to show the rest of us around the country the profound impact this service has not only on the one being served but on the person doing the service.”

The exhibit, housed in a retrofitted tractor-trailer, contains 42 stories from Catholic Charities staff serving around the country, each “telling the story of the one person or one family whom they have served through their work who had the most profound impact on them,” Brennan said.

“The stories call the rest of us who experience the museum to act in kind, to find ways in ways big and small, to help our neighbors and to serve as the Gospel calls us to,” he said.

The museum also has a “poverty simulator,” according to Brennan, where participants take on the persona of someone “living on the margins” and “experience the types of decisions they make.”

The experience, Brennan said, helps participants to grow in “understanding and empathy” for those living in poverty.

In addition, the museum has an interactive data wall on poverty and other challenges facing Americans across the country as well as a learning library and recording booth to record reactions to the museum “and talk about those who give you hope in your life.”

The museum will travel through 21 states, from Texas to Ohio and from Maine to Florida, mostly in the eastern half of the United States, by December.

“Weʼre going to be all over the country for the next two and a half years,” Brennan said, noting the schedule for 2026 is available to view while dates for 2027 will be announced soon.

The Houck home, located in rural eastern Pennsylvania, was raided by 20 armed federal agents in the early hours of the morning on Sept. 23, 2022. Houck was arrested in front of his family and interrogated for six hours.

Houck and his wife, Ryan-Marie, sued the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in November 2023 after Houck was acquitted in January of that same year of the incident that prompted the raid.

While praying at a Planned Parenthood facility in October 2021, Houck had defended his 12-year-old son during an altercation with an aggressive, elderly Planned Parenthood volunteer.

Upon his arrest, Houck was charged with alleged violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 federal law that protects access to abortion services and places of worship. If convicted, Houck faced up to 11 years in federal prison and up to $350,000 in fines. Under the Biden administration, many pro-life activists were charged with violating the FACE Act in what the Justice Department now claims was a weaponization of the law.

In the lawsuit, the Houcks alleged that they and their children suffered post-traumatic stress, economic loss, and loss of reputation after the event. They also said their children suffered from intense anxiety, constant fear of losing their parents, and inability to sleep, and that the stress from the trial led Ryan-Marie to have three miscarriages and receive an infertility diagnosis.

‘Huge victory for free speech'

Two organizations involved in the case are celebrating the victory as a win for the pro-life movement and for freedom of speech.

40 Days for Life President Shawn Carney called the win a “huge legal victory for free speech, not just for pro-life Americans,” in a video statement.

“Itʼs a huge victory for all Americans who want our right to speak our minds peacefully in a law-abiding way without fear of our own government,” Carney said.

Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation, said the organization was “thrilled with the outcome.”

“The Biden Department of Justice’s intimidation against pro-life people and people of faith has been put in its place,” Breen said.

“We took on Goliath — the full might of the United States government — and won,” Breen said. “The jury saw through and rejected the prosecution’s discriminatory case, which was harassment from Day 1. This is a win for Mark and the entire pro-life movement.”

Carney said the victory was a “long shot.”

“They have a 98% conviction rate at the DOJ, so heʼs part of the 2% that got acquitted,” Carney said. “And then to go on offense and to say, weʼre not going to stand for this from our government, and to sue them, and for them to settle and win is a huge, huge victory.”

Carney said that, as pro-lifers, “we got so much persecution from the DOJ under Biden, and President Trump has corrected that.”

“It has been absolutely night and day. Under Biden, at one point, we were getting one to two inquiries from the FBI per week at different 40 Days for Life locations,” Carney said. “This is absolutely ridiculous, and that has stopped, and we have been victorious in our lawsuit against the DOJ.”

“So, be not afraid, go out, peacefully pray to end abortion,” Carney concluded.

Cupich told St. John Henry Newman Parish in Evanston that the archdiocese had launched a review of the parishʼs finances on March 30 amid “serious questions” about the parishʼs “fiscal administration.”

The prelate said in an April 10 letter to the parish that the review found Father Kenneth Anderson “violated a number of core archdiocesan policies pertaining to the proper exercise of good stewardship of parish resources.”

Among the reported violations included “the creation and maintenance of a separate bank account into which he deposited substantial parish funds,” Cupich said.

Some of those funds “were used to cover costs unrelated to parish needs including his personal expenses.”

Anderson resigned after being presented with the findings of the report, Cupich said. The priest also “accepted [Cupichʼs] instruction that, when the full accounting is complete, he is to make restitution for any funds clearly identified as covering his personal expenses.”

The archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the total amount of funds reportedly misused at the parish.

Cupich in his letter said Father Wayne Watts, the pastor of Sts. Joseph and Francis Xavier Parish in nearby Wilmette, oversaw the administration of St. John Henry Newman Parishʼs finances during the review process.

The archbishop further said that he had asked the archdiocesan placement board to recommend a new pastor for the parish by July 1.

Retired priest Father Gerald Gunderson will serve as parish administrator until the new pastor is appointed, Cupich said.

The parish was formed in 2022 after the merging of Sts. Athanasius and Joan of Arc parishes as part of the archdiocesan Renew My Faith campaign.

A day after the end of their historic journey, the four astronauts gave brief yet powerful reflections of their experience during an event at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

During her remarks, Koch — Artemis IIʼs mission specialist — shared that she has learned what the true meaning of a crew is.

“A crew is a group that is in it, all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable,” she said. “A crew has the same cares and the same needs and a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.”

With this in mind and looking down at Earth from space, Koch shared that what struck her wasn’t necessarily just looking down at Earth, but “it was all the blackness around it — Earth was just this lifeboat, hanging undisturbingly in the universe.”

She added: “I know I haven’t learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I know and that is, planet Earth, you are a crew.”

Reflecting on his experience, Wiseman — who served as the Artemis II mission commander — highlighted the important role the astronauts' families played in supporting them.

“No one knows what the families went through. This was not easy being 200,000-plus miles away from home,” he said. “Before you launch it feels like it’s the greatest dream on earth and when you’re out there you just want to get back to your families and your friends.”

He added: “It’s a special thing to be a human and itʼs a special thing to be on planet Earth.”

During his remarks, Glover — who served as the pilot on the mission — said: “When this started on April 3, I wanted to thank God in public and I want to thank God again, because even bigger than my challenge trying to describe what we went through, the gratitude of seeing what we saw, doing what we did, and being with who I was with, it’s too big to just be in one body.”

Glover shared another powerful message outside of his home in Houston to a group of neighbors who gathered to welcome him back. The video was shared on social media.

“Some of us have never met before, and you know whose fault that is? Ours,“ he said. ”So letʼs choose to do this. Letʼs be this more; letʼs be neighbors. I donʼt know if you heard me say it, but God told us to love him with all that we are, and love our neighbors as ourselves.”

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Hansen also touched on three human experiences that left a lasting impact on him — gratitude, joy, and love.

The Canadian astronaut thanked his family, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the many teams that were involved throughout the entire process of the Artemis II mission. He also highlighted the crewʼs commitment to always remain joyful — even during the difficult moments — and the love they each carried for the mission and one another.

“You havenʼt heard us talk a lot about the science, the things weʼve learned, and thatʼs because theyʼre there and theyʼre incredible but itʼs the human experience that is extraordinary for us,” he said.

Co-hosted by CUAʼs Center for the Constitution and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and Carroll Forum for Citizenship and Public Life, along with the University of Notre Dameʼs Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, the conference included a video address by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio highlighting Catholics' presence and influence on the nation.

“It has been 250 years since a new people declared themselves to the world. At the time, less than 2% were Catholic, but the nation they built would come to serve as one of the proudest and most enduring testaments to the eternal truth of our faith," Rubio, himself a Catholic, stated.

Rubio recalled a 1790 letter from the nationʼs first president, George Washington, to the countryʼs first Catholic bishop, John Carroll, in which he spoke of the “patriotic part” American Catholics played in the accomplishment of the American Revolution.

In that same letter, Washington also anticipated that “America, under the smiles of a Divine Providence, the protection of a good government, and the cultivation of manners, morals, and piety, cannot fail of attaining an uncommon degree of eminence, in literature, commerce, agriculture, improvements at home, and respectability abroad.”

Summing it up, Rubio said: “To look upon the history of this golden land is to see the face of God.”

‘Catholic Social Thought and the American Experiment’

One of the symposiumʼs central panels was titled “Catholic Social Thought and the American Experiment” and featured Russell Hittinger, executive director of the Institute for Human Ecology at CUA; Kenneth Grasso, professor and department chair of political science at Texas State University; Ryan T. Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC); and CUA professor Sarah Gustafson.

Grasso focused his presentation on the late Father John Courtney Murray, SJ, an American Jesuit priest and theologian known for his work on the reconciliation of Catholicism with American democratic pluralism and religious freedom.

“Murray in some sense was a celebrant of the American experiment, admired the Founding Fathers, somebody who celebrated Americaʼs success; he also thought that America was in deep trouble.”

The moral tradition “provided the justification and substance of the American experiment and had been the source of its success,” Grasso said. However, Murray also saw that “the very moral tradition which made American democracy compatible with Catholicism no longer lives in the minds and hearts of Americans.”

“And as a result, he worried that America was on the verge of becoming a mass democracy," he said. "Murray approaches this crisis from three different dimensions."

Murrayʼs first approach was how “the Church and Catholic thought played a critical role in creating a new tradition in political thought,” Grasso said. Murray referred to the tradition as “the Western liberal tradition."

“The Western liberal tradition is committed to a government thatʼs limited in scope, subject in its operations to a rule of law, and which acknowledges the sovereignty of God and its duty to conform its actions with the universal moral law, which includes protecting the rights of the person.”

Murrayʼs second approach was “political or sociopolitical,” Grasso said. Murray argued “there is a limit to how much, and what kinds of, pluralism a pluralist society can stand while remaining a functioning body politic.”

“If you have different religious groups holding different convictions about the nature of man, about the precepts of morality, itʼs going to be hard to form that underlying consensus that the body politic needs,” he said.

Lastly, Murrayʼs approach was “theological in nature,” he said. “‘Is America an example of the modern political experiment?’ Yes and no.”

“As America evolved more and more we retheorized our public life along the dimensions of modern political experiment. At the heart of the American experiment, or rather the modern political experiment, is secularity."

“Absent Christian revelation” and “modern cultureʼs rejection of the Christian mode of existence" have created a spiritual vacuum "that will be filled by an explicitly non-Christian mode of existence. This mode of existence will manifest itself in violence ... a violence that threatens to destroy freedom, order, and justice," Grasso said.

"The American experiment will not long survive the revelation that was its ultimate inspiration. Where does this leave us? Murray says it leaves the body politic in a grave crisis,” Grasso said.

‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’

The EPPCʼs Ryan Anderson focused his remarks on the contemporary application in America of Catholic social teaching (CST).

“There are four fundamental basic principles of Catholic social thought,” Anderson said. “Human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity.”

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church “talks about the ‘imago Dei’ ... so thereʼs a transcendent source of our dignity, but it also talks about a transcendent orientation. Weʼre all created for friendship with God. And so itʼs both the origin and the end of the human person that explains the nature of humanity.”

“There is a Catholic account for this that is distinct from the secularist or the Enlightenment. This should easily, whether working from within the Catholic social thought perspective or the Declaration perspective, speak directly to the abortion issue.”

Recognition of the right to life

“Public opinion has gone really, really badly for the pro-life side in the past decade after having been stable for relatively 30 or 40 years. In the past decade, weʼve seen wide divergences,” he said. “I think itʼs too quick to say that American political culture has nothing to do with this.”

When it comes to social thought and the Declaration regarding “the account of liberty and religious liberty in particular,” there are “tensions” between the two, Anderson said.

“But thereʼs also surprising overlap and harmonization between the account that [James] Madison gives us in [‘Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments’], in which he says ‘the reason that we have rights to religious liberty is because we have duties to the Creator.’”

“Then he says, ‘before any man can be considered a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the universe.’ Nice rejection of any secularism,’” Anderson noted.

Today, the matter of religious liberty has become a major issue. While on the presidentʼs Religious Liberty Commission for the past year, Anderson said he has heard "horror story after horror story during our hearings for the past 12 months,” Anderson said.

“The most heated religious liberty issues” often affect Catholics and Christian values. Anderson specifically mentioned the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who “have pursued the state of New York because they are forcing them to engage in transgender nursing homes for the elderly who are dying.”

Lastly, Anderson discussed the pursuit of happiness in regard to the family unit. Marriage and the family, “from a Catholic social perspective, is the basic cell of civilization and is the source of some of the deepest happiness and contentment for most people,” he said.

“When you read through some of the scholars of the founding of what they thought about marriage and the family, thereʼs virtually no daylight between the founderʼs vision for marriage and the family and contemporary Catholic social bodyʼs vision for marriage and the family.”

“It’s a man, woman, husband and wife, mother and father, a nuclear family, extended family. Yes, there are going to be disagreements about contraception, but thatʼs much later,” Anderson said. “Thereʼs a huge agreement on the nature of the human person, nature of human family."

Today there are now developments that have altered this understanding of the family. Anderson highlighted the effects of Obergefell and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Next steps

In addressing these issues impacting human dignity, Anderson laid out several next possible steps for the nation.

He referenced the Craddock article, which outlines a federal legislative strategy for banning abortion and argues that in "the original public meeting of the 14th Amendment, the word ‘person’ would apply to every human being and that would include the unborn child in the womb.”

“From a … proper understanding of the 14th Amendment, this would empower Congress to pass legislation under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment to protect the unborn. I donʼt see Congress doing that," he said.

Therefore, “more immediately, the Trump administration could simply reinstate the safety provisions for the abortion pill that were in existence throughout the entirety of the first Trump administration that Biden got rid of," he said.

Lawmakers are “afraid that if they do anything bold on life right now, it will hurt them in the upcoming midterms,” Anderson said. But, he explained, “thereʼs not a single pro-life elected official who has lost reelection.”

He also explained the need for marriage, because “the root cause of abortion is not the cost of diapers, nor is it the cost of childbirth,” but rather it is premarital pregnancies.

“If youʼre the child and youʼre conceived outside of marriage, 40% of the time youʼre going to die of an abortion. If youʼre conceived inside of marriage, 4% of the time,” Anderson said. “Marriage is the best protector of the unborn."

The nationwide effort provides essential financial assistance for dioceses and eparchies that are unable to sustain core pastoral and evangelizing ministries on their own due to limited financial resources, small Catholic populations, or communities spread across wide geographic areas.

Coordinated by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB), the appeal supports nearly 75 Latin-rite dioceses and Eastern Catholic eparchies in the United States and its current and former territories. These mission dioceses are often located in rural regions or small cities where priests often serve multiple parishes separated by long distances.

Seasonal employment, economic challenges, and shifting demographics can further complicate efforts to maintain consistent parish life and diocesan ministry.

The appeal is intended to help bridge those gaps by supporting core areas of diocesan life, including priestly formation, catechesis, evangelization, and parish-based ministry. Grants also assist with practical needs that vary by region, such as transportation for clergy serving remote communities and resources for dioceses responding to changing cultural realities. 

In announcing this year’s appeal, Bishop Chad W. Zielinski, chair of the bishops' Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions, pointed to the missionary pattern of Christ’s own ministry.

The Catholic faithful who give to the Catholic Home Missions Appeal are mirroring Jesus, who “spent little time in cities but built his ministry in fishing villages and rural areas,” Zielinski said in an April 9 statement.

He also highlighted the spiritual dynamic at the heart of the mission, drawing on the Gospel account of the Samaritan woman at the well, commonly known in Eastern Christian tradition as St. Photina.

“The work of the Catholic Home Missions Appeal reflects Jesus’s encounter with the ‘woman at the well,’ whom Eastern Christians call St. Photina,” Zielinski said. “She was an outcast in a community that was considered heretical and that many of Jesus’ followers avoided. After talking with him, Photina evangelized her neighbors (John 4).”

He added that many of today’s mission dioceses reflect the same openness to the Gospel despite difficult circumstances.

“Most of our mission dioceses are in remote, rural areas, or communities with economic and social challenges,” he said. “Yet they are filled with people like St. Photina, who thirst for the Gospel and are eager to spread its life-changing message.”

Recent funding from the Catholic Home Missions Appeal has provided more than $8.1 million in assistance to mission dioceses, the USCCB noted. The grants support a wide range of pastoral needs that reflect the diversity of Church life across the country and its territories.

In Alaska, assistance helps cover the cost of fuel for seaplanes used by priests traveling to island villages, enabling access to the sacraments in remote communities. According to the release, in the Diocese of Dodge City in Kansas, funding has supported the expansion of Spanish-language ministry, including printed resources, diocesan retreats, and bilingual personnel serving growing Hispanic populations.

Other dioceses have used grant support to strengthen targeted pastoral initiatives. For instance, the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, has deepened its outreach to vulnerable expectant mothers through the USCCB’s Walking with Moms in Need initiative, engaging parishes in local support. The Diocese of Belleville in Illinois has supported a full-time college campus minister who accompanies students in faith formation and vocational discernment, including encouragement toward the priesthood.

In American Samoa, the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago continues to operate five Catholic schools across seven islands, providing educational opportunities in a territory where geographic isolation and economic pressures remain significant challenges.

As parishes prepare for the collection, Church leaders are encouraging Catholics to see the appeal as a practical expression of solidarity with mission dioceses that depend on shared support to sustain parish life and evangelization efforts.

“Your generosity shows Catholics in remote areas that the Church stands with them,” Zielinski said, “and that Jesus is calling them to embrace his mercy and share his message as St. Photina did.”

“I think the president was posting a joke and, of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people werenʼt understanding his humor in that case,” Vance told Fox News' Bret Baier on “Special Report.”

“I think the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media,” Vance added. “And I actually think thatʼs one of the good things about this president, is that he is not filtered.”

Earlier Monday, the president told reporters at the White House that the image depicted him as “a doctor” and “a Red Cross worker,” not as Jesus, as many understood it. He added: “Only the fake news could come up with that one.”

“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there, which we support,” Trump said.

The deleted post

The apparently AI-generated image, posted to Trumpʼs Truth Social account on Sunday evening on Orthodox Easter, showed the president in a white robe and red sash. Both hands emitted a golden light, with one resting on the forehead of a man in a hospital bed. The American flag, the Statue of Liberty, military jets and floating human figures in the sky filled the background. The post contained no caption.

Trump shared the image shortly after publishing a series of posts attacking Pope Leo XIV, calling the pontiff “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy” over his opposition to U.S. military operations in Iran.

The now-deleted image drew swift backlash from across the political spectrum, including from prominent conservative and Christian commentators who are typically supportive of the president. The post was deleted later on Monday.

Vance addresses U.S.-Vatican tensions

In his Fox News appearance, Vance — a Catholic convert — also addressed the broader friction between the White House and the Vatican.

“When it comes to the disagreements with the Vatican, look, weʼre going to have disagreements, from time to time,” Vance said. “I think itʼs a good thing, actually, that the pope is advocating for the things that he cares about.”

He added: “We can respect the pope. We certainly have a good relationship with the Vatican. But weʼre also going to disagree on substantive questions from time to time. I think thatʼs a totally reasonable thing. It isnʼt particularly newsworthy.”

Pope Leo XIV, speaking to journalists aboard the papal flight to Algiers on Monday, responded to the controversy: “I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” the pope said.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, said he was “disheartened” by Trumpʼs remarks about the pope, calling Leo “the vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

It is not the first time a Trump social media post depicting himself in religious imagery has caused controversy.

In May 2025, the president posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the pope shortly after the death of Pope Francis. That post drew condemnation from Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Vance at the time dismissed that controversy as well, saying he was “fine with people telling jokes.”

Chair Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Vice Chair Ben Carson hosted the April 13 meeting with members Ryan Anderson; Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota; and Allyson Ho among others on the panel that was created by President Donald Trump to advocate for freedom of religious belief.

They discussed recommendations to Trump on how to protect religious freedom and reflected on the past year of sessions. While the hearing was the last scheduled meeting, many proposed that it continue to meet in some capacity as “threats to religious freedom both at home and abroad are not disappearing anytime soon,” Barron said.

Reiterating a statement he said at the first hearing, Barron said: “The principal enemy of religious liberty in our country is what I call the ideology of self invention.”

“This is the philosophical program that denies the objectivity of moral values and the stability of human nature, and which proposes consequently that individual choice alone is the determiner of purpose and meaning,” he said.

“This dictatorship of relativism has taken hold in many of our institutions of government, education, and health care and its advocates correctly recognize that their most important intellectual opponents are precisely those who subscribe to traditional religion,” he said.

“Itʼs no exaggeration to say that the proponents of the culture of self invention want religion out of the pivotal institutions of our society,” he said.

“This philosophical opposition manifests itself in a number of concrete ways,” Barron said. He detailed “the anti-religious violence thatʼs been increasing dramatically in our country over the past five to 10 years,” including attacks on churches, statues, and religious peoples.

“In regard to health care, the culture of self invention expresses itself in an aggressive attitude toward those physicians and nurses who refuse on religious grounds to participate in certain medical procedures,” he said.

It is seen in “mandates regarding abortion and contraception, IVF insurance mandates to which Catholics strenuously object, and the requirement to perform so-called gender transition surgeries," Barron said.

Also, “under this health care rubric, we should continue to advocate for pro-life demonstrators who simply want the right to pray at sites where abortions are being performed,” Barron said. Criminalizing such righteous activity is a gross violation of religious liberty, he said.

Barron detailed the need to protect religious social service organizations, including Catholic Charities, promote parents as most important educators of their children, and never require priests to break the seal of confession because it is a “gross violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.”

Barron also noted the need to continue to work against the rise of antisemitism, which is “encouraged by figures on both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum.”

The bishop concluded by addressing immigration, saying the Church "insists that those Catholics who are incarcerated in connection to immigration violations have a right to humane treatment and access to the sacraments,” he said.

Catholics who are incarcerated in connection to immigration violations have a right to humane treatment and access to the sacraments.

Bishop Robert Barron

Member, Religious Liberty Commission

“I … urge the president to allow this commission to continue in some form going forward,“ Barron said. He added: ”I believe itʼs very much in the national interest to persevere in monitoring them.”

"Yes, we would like to continue,” Patrick said in agreement. “Our charter expires in a couple of months, and I think if we all sent a letter and signed it to the president, weʼd like to continue to monitor the outcome and to continue to have hearings as needed as stories break and news breaks would be a great privilege.”

Protection of faith-based organizations

At the final session, the commission also welcomed two panels of witnesses to discuss how religious liberty has facilitated human flourishing in American history and how faith communities help to combat problems facing the U.S. today.

The panel included testimony from Sister Mary Elizabeth, SV, a Sister of Life ministering to women and children in need, who spoke about the important work faith ministries accomplish and the threats facing them today.

“Ours is just one of thousands of religious ministries seeking to be such a light in the world to create a society in which people are cared for, valued, and protected,” Sister Mary Elizabeth said.

The Sisters of Life engage “in a variety of works in order to share this love" through ministering to women and children in need, helping women facing crisis pregnancies, and assisting those who are recovering from abortion, she said.

She detailed legal issues the sisters have faced including in 2022, when “the state of New York passed a law targeting our ministry to pregnant women,” she said. “It allowed government officials to force pregnancy centers, but only those that do not perform abortion, to turn over internal documents, including sensitive information about the women we serve.”

She also addressed the “dangerous” situation facing the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne in New York who have provided comfort and nursing for patients with incurable cancer for 125 years, but the government is warning them about restricting rooms and bathrooms to one sex and failing to use preferred personal pronouns for transgender patients.

“Jesus said, ‘Whatsoever you do to the least of these, you do to me.’ So our religion actually impels us forth to charitable service to others,” she said.

“No matter one’s immigration status, there is no overarching justification for separating nursing infants from their mothers or endangering the health and safety of pregnant women or their preborn babies,” Diocese of Toledo, Ohio, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Diocese of Victoria, Texas, Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, said in a letter.

No matter one’s immigration status, there is no overarching justification for separating nursing infants from their mothers...

Bishop Daniel Thomas and Bishop Brendan Cahill

“In this regard, we urge you in the strongest possible terms to extend the administration’s commitments on life to all vulnerable mothers, infants, and children in the womb,” the Ohio and Texas bishops added.

The bishops said they wrote the letter due to “alarming reports of pregnant mothers not getting the medical care they need while in immigration detention, tragically resulting in miscarriage in some cases, as well as reports of nursing mothers being separated from their babies” during detentions by U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE), which DHS oversees.

DHS responds

A DHS spokesperson said, “Pregnancy in ICE detention is exceedingly rare—making up 0.18% of all illegal aliens currently in custody. Pregnant women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care.”

The percentage DHS cited means hundreds of pregnant women have been imprisoned in the past year. Medical, dental, and mental health intake screening occurs within 12 hours of arriving at a detention facility, the spokesperson said. The agency told U.S. senators that ICE has deported 363 pregnant, postpartum, or nursing women between Jan. 1, 2025 and Feb. 16, 2026, but does not keep full information about numbers of lactating women in detention.

More than a dozen miscarriages were recorded in detention between late 2025 and early 2026, according to a DHS response to senators’ inquiry.

“This is the best healthcare many of these individuals have received in their entire lives,” the DHS spokesperson said.

Facilities also provide women with pregnancy services such as pregnancy testing, routine or specialized prenatal care, postpartum follow-up, and nursing services, the spokesperson said.

The DHS spokesperson encouraged pregnant persons lacking legal status to live in the United States to leave the country: “Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return,” the spokesperson said.

‘Gospelʼs call to uphold the dignity of human life’

In their letter, the bishops said they are writing “as pastors compelled by the Gospel’s call to uphold the dignity of human life.”

“Agency policy still recognizes the vulnerability of these women and their children by generally discouraging their arrest and detention; unfortunately, that policy seems to no longer be followed in practice,” they wrote.

The bishops asked that ICE adhere to Directive 11032.4 on the “Identification and Monitoring of Pregnant, Postpartum, or Nursing Individuals,” which states that ICE should generally avoid the detention of pregnant women and nursing mothers for an administrative violation of immigration laws.

“[Following this directive] would be consistent with this administration’s recent pro-life actions, including those explicitly welcomed by the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities in January,” the bishops wrote.

The bishops also reiterated their concerns from last year when they said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rescinded certain protections for pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Last May, both committees wrote that the CBP change was “deeply troubling and inexcusable.”

The USCCB has been at odds with President Donald Trump on immigration policies throughout his presidency. Trump has voiced support for mass deportations of immigrants who entered the country unlawfully, while the bishops have echoed Pope Leo XIV’s calls for immigration policies that are less harsh.

In November, the bishops voted 216-5 to approve a message that opposes “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.” In February, the USCCB urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold birthright citizenship, calling the Trump administration’s efforts to take it away “immoral.”

Mullin is replacing former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was removed from her post and given a role as special envoy for “The Shield of the Americas.” In March, the USCCB told EWTN News that the bishops planned to advocate for “just immigration policies that recognize the God-given dignity of all involved” when Mullin took over as secretary.

In their letter on concerns for pregnant women and nursing mothers in detention, the bishops also congratulated Mullin on his confirmation.

“We pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you in your continued service to our country,” the bishops wrote.

This story was updated at 11:05 a.m. ET on April 15, 2026 to include comments from DHS.

Mark Walker, U.S. principal adviser for global religious freedom, said the U.S. is following through on its commitment to restrict visas for perpetrators of religious persecution abroad.

In December 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced restriction of U.S. visas under the Immigration and Nationality Act for "those who have directed, authorized, funded, significantly supported, or carried out violations of religious freedom,” Walker said in an April 10 post. “We have already executed on this policy and we will continue to subject perpetrators to additional scrutiny.”

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“If you engage in persecution, you are not welcome in America. The United States is safer when we keep those responsible for religious persecution from entering our homeland,” he said.

Rubio said in a Dec. 3, 2025, statement: “The United States is taking decisive action in response to the mass killings and violence against Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other violent actors in Nigeria and beyond.”

Rubio said the policy would hold accountable “individuals who have directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom and, where appropriate, their immediate family members.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In two segments of the show, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C.; Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; and Cardinal Blaise Cupich of Chicago spoke on the Church in America, from increased conversions and the meaning of patriotism to controversial topics like the Iran ceasefire and immigration enforcement.

Why are young people joining the Church?

Cupich said he does not entirely know what is behind the reported rise in young people entering the Catholic Church as U.S. dioceses report elevated numbers of Easter baptisms and confirmations.

“We are doing some surveys about people who are coming to church to see whatʼs motivating them,” he said. “I do think, though, that research is showing that there really is a deep hunger in the hearts of young people for something that can help them with the meaning of life. But also thereʼs a woundedness on the part of young people that they are seeking healing for.”

“We donʼt have all the answers, but we are going to try to drill down to find out more about that,” Cupich said.

McElroy pointed to a need for “moral leadership in the world” as a partial explanation.

“What a tragedy to have a world in which there are not moral leaders,” he said. “I think young people, and young adults particularly, are looking for a sense of that in their lives — and some of those are coming into the Church for that reason.”

“The number of those joining the Church this year is a record for the archdiocese, which is a wonderful thing,” he said of the Archdiocese of Washington, which had 1,800 converts.

Tobin credited some of the rising interest and attendance in the Catholic Church to Pope Leo.

“Iʼve had the privilege of working closely with four popes: very different people in a lot of ways, but each one in some way was the right one for that moment in time,” Tobin said. “I believe that Pope Leo is the right man at this time.”

When asked about the effect of the sex abuse scandal on people leaving the Church, Cupich noted that it “prompts us to be even more forthright in doing everything possible to protect children, but also to address the harm that was done.”

“That, I think, is something thatʼs always on the front burner for us with regard to the fall off in terms of people practicing,” he said.

Cupich noted, however, that other religions are seeing declines in membership as well.

“Itʼs also part of the secularization thatʼs happening in society today,” he said. “People have a lot more options on Sunday, on the weekend, than they did before. So I think there are a number of factors that contributed to that decline.”

What does patriotism look like for Catholics?

In light of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the cardinals shared their thoughts on a Catholic understanding of patriotism.

“For us as Catholic Americans, we love our country because of what it aspires to be and has for the past 250 years,” McElroy said.

“We love our country not merely because we were born here, if we were, but rather because of its aspirations of democracy, justice, equality, of freedom that have been lived out with differing levels of success all through our history, and having to change it and readapt it to make it more true to its core,” he continued.

“For me," Cupich said, "patriotism is about being united in the common task of creating the opportunities for everyone to flourish — that they would have the opportunity to be the person God intended them to be."

“That is part of the aspirations that immigrants came here with; an opportunity to have a fresh start,” he said. “So how can we work together to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to flourish? I think thatʼs patriotism.”

Pope Leo and politics: Iran and ICE

When asked if he would like to see the first American pope be more outspoken on controversial issues, Tobin said: “Heʼs the pastor of the world; heʼs not a pundit.”

“The distinction is heʼs not going to pronounce on everything, but heʼs going to pronounce on whatʼs important,” Tobin said.

Recently, Pope Leo has called for an end to the war with Iran, advocating for peace and dialogue.

When asked if the Iran war is a just war according to Catholic teaching, McElroy said it is not.

“Catholic faith teaches us there are certain prerequisites for a just war,“ he said. ”You canʼt go for a variety of different aims. You have to have a focused aim, which is to restore justice and restore peace. Thatʼs it.”

When asked about the destruction of the Iranian regimeʼs nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities as an aim of the war, McElroy agreed that the regime “should be removed.”

“Itʼs an abominable regime and it should be removed,” McElroy said. “But this is a war of choice that we went to and I think itʼs embedded in a wider moment in the United States thatʼs worrying, which is this. Weʼre seeing before us the possibility of war after war after war.”

Cupich criticized the Trump administrationʼs “gamification” of the war through social media posts and edits, calling it “sickening.”

“Weʼre dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people and the killing of children and our own soldiers into entertainment,” he said. “It is sickening. To splice together movie cuts with actual bombing and targeting of people for the purposes of entertainment is sickening. This is not who we are. Weʼre better than this.”

The cardinals also shared pastoral concerns amid ongoing deportations, an issue about which Pope Leo has also spoken.

Tobin criticized the tactics used by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, saying that when immigrants “have to hide their identities,” this “can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

“I think somebodyʼs got to call that out,” he said. “And Iʼm not the only one.”

McElroy shared his concern that many immigrants “live under fear.”

He said attendance at Spanish Masses in his archdiocese went down 30% in the past year. “Thirty percent — thatʼs a lot, and itʼs all fear,” he said.

McElroy said there "is a roundup of people throughout the country, people who have been living good, strong lives; [who have] been here a long time." These people "raised their children here; many of their children [were] born here and are citizens,” he said. “Thatʼs what our objection is.”

But the cardinal, who for 10 years served as bishop of San Diego, added that he does believe in strong borders, noting that under Biden, “it got to a point where it was getting out of control.”

Recalling the popeʼs recent words and actions (the pope is currently visiting Africa on his third international journey), Cupich said Leo is “sending a message that his top priority right now is to be with those who are downcast and marginalized.”

Trump made the comments about the Holy Father in a lengthy April 12 post on Truth Social that appeared to be reacting to the pontiff’s recent appeals for peace and an end to the war in Iran. In comments to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, shortly afterward, Trump said: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. … I am not a fan of Pope Leo.” He added: “He’s a very liberal person.”

On Monday morning, the president doubled down on his comments, saying he would not apologize to the pontiff “because Pope Leo said things that are wrong.”

In recent weeks, the pope has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities, crying out “Enough of war!” while presiding over a vigil for peace at St. Peterʼs Basilica at the Vatican on April 11.

“Stop! Itʼs time for peace! Sit at tables of dialogue and mediation, not at tables where rearmament is planned and death actions are deliberated,” he continued.

Iranian leadership spoke out against Trump’s comments, with both the current presidentʼs and the late Imam Sayyid Ali Khameneiʼs social media accounts issuing statements.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote in an April 13 social media post: “His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, I condemn the insult to Your Excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person. I wish you glory by Allah.”

Pezeshkian’s statement comes after peace talks involving Vice President JD Vance collapsed on April 12. Vance, a Catholic convert and Iraq War veteran, blamed Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning its nuclear program.

Khamenei’s social media account posted an April 13 message invoking the teachings of Jesus against war: “Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) used to call people to the path of God, and forbade them from vice and injustice.”

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“The corrupt and tyrannical powers sought to assassinate that divine Messenger,” the post read, “for those steeped in their passions and the instigators of wars could not tolerate the religion, nor the Prophet, nor those who followed the divine path.”

Romeʼs mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, wrote in an April 13 post: “Rome is close to Pope Leo. Donald Trump’s attacks on his high spiritual magisterium and on his commitment to peace are unacceptable and wound sensitivities and consciences. The city of Rome, uniquely bound to its bishop, firmly reaffirms the values of respect, dialogue, and peace.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has strong diplomatic ties to the Trump administration, has yet to make a statement.

Father Nikodemus Schnabel, abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition in Jerusalem, denounced Trump’s post, writing in German: “And then there are actually Catholics — even in the German-speaking world (!) — who still try to sugarcoat the words and actions of this morally bankrupt president and even defend him on moral grounds.”

Catholic bishops in the United Kingdom condemned Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo and defended the Holy Father’s repeated calls for peace.

“As Pope Leo has made clear, we cannot stand by and allow the message of the Gospel to be abused,” Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark, England, said in a statement shared with EWTN News. “As bishops, we are not politicians, nor statesmen, nor do we pretend to have all the answers. But as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we know that each of us is called to be a beacon of his peace."

Wilson called Catholics in the U.K. to “be as courageous as our Holy Father in proclaiming the truth that God demands peace.”

Cardinal Fernando Chomali of Santiago, Chile, also defended the Holy Father, writing in an April 13 post: “Pope Leo XIV is a good man, forged by years of prayer, study, and closeness to the poor.”

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“[Leo] prefers to obey God rather than men. His courage comes from his deepest convictions, from God, and not from passions. We have a coherent leader who charts a path of no return for us: to promote peace always and under all circumstances,” Chomali said.

President Donald Trump called Leo “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” in a lengthy social media post April 12 that drew response from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and elected officials. On April 13, Trump said he would not apologize to Pope Leo. “Because Pope Leo said things that are wrong,” Trump said.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called Trump’s attack on Pope Leo XIV “disrespectful." Barron, who serves on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, said in a post on X that Trump’s comments “were entirely inappropriate and disrespectful” and “I think the president owes the pope an apology.”

“[Trump’s comments] don’t contribute at all to a constructive conversation,” he said. “It is the pope’s prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the moral life. In regard to the concrete application of those principles, people of goodwill can and do disagree.”

Barron encouraged Catholic Trump officials to arrange a meeting with Vatican officials “so that a real dialogue can take place,” saying “this is far preferable to the statements on social media.”

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, said in a social media post: “Along with Archbishop [Paul] Coakley, president of the USCCB, and my brother bishops, I was disheartened by recent comments from President Trump concerning Pope Leo XIV and the Church. I pray that civility and respect are fully restored as together, with God’s grace, we work for peace and harmony among all people. May we also be united in our prayer for the end of war and violence so that Christ’s peace reigns throughout the world and in our hearts.”

Palm Beach, Florida, Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez posted on X: “The @DiocesePB stands firm with our Holy Father, @Pontifex, and strongly rejects the disrespectful and violent attacks that Donald J. Trump has directed against the Holy Father.”

Denver Archbishop James R. Golka said in a statement, “I join my brother bishops in stating clearly that the recent remarks directed at Pope Leo by President Trump are not acceptable. Such language fails to reflect the respect owed to the Successor of Peter and does not serve the common good.”

Golka added, “Even in moments of disagreement, we are called to speak with charity and to seek dialogue that builds up, rather than tears down.”

Buffalo, New York, Bishop Michael Fisher posted on X: “This is not about politics but the very cause of humanity.”

The Catholic Association's Ashley McGuire said in a statement: “The Catholic Church does not in any way fit into American political boxes. It will always prioritize the protection of innocent life in all its stages as well as the cause of the poor and marginalized. Insulting the pope, and all Catholics by extension, with the hope of making the Church bend to American political agendas, is discouraging and counterproductive.”

McGuire added: “We pray that President Trump apologizes to Pope Leo.”

U.S. officials' reaction begins

Republican Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, has not yet commented on the matter, nor has Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, who is Catholic, posted on X that “I find it abhorrent that the president of the United States would publicly attack the successor of St. Peter.”

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on X that Trump “shamefully attacked” the pope. Few Republican elected officials have spoken out.

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Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X: “Hey @GOP, you good with your guy directly attacking the pope now?”

Rep. Lukas Schubert, a Republican Montana state lawmaker, disputed the presidentʼs statement that the pope is a “liberal person.”

“Pope Leo is significantly further to the right than President Trump on abortion, gay marriage, and family values. Also he is more America First on the Iran War,” Schubert said.

AI image

Trump also posted, and later deleted, an AI-created image on Truth Social that appeared to portray himself as Jesus Christ, healing the sick, which led several Catholics to accuse the president of blasphemy.

Edward Feser, a Catholic philosopher and professor at Pasadena City College, posted on X that Trump’s comments illustrate “how utter enslavement to the sin of pride makes a man unsuitable for the presidency.”

“For all their faults, previous presidents had the visceral understanding of proper boundaries not to attack the vicar of Christ even when they disagreed with him,” he said.

Feser quoted Daniel 11:36-37 in response to Trump’s AI image of himself as Christ, which reads: “And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods … He shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all.”

In reaction to the AI photo, Matt Fradd, the host of “Pints With Aquinas,“ urged Catholics to “offer a rosary today for Donald Trump and all blasphemers. ... Seriously. Do it. I will too.”

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Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, did not directly reference Trumpʼs remarks about the pope but criticized the AI-created image on X: “There aren’t enough words to denounce how wrong this is.”

The comments came after Leo criticized the Iran war and Trump’s rhetoric about targeting the entire civilization of Iran. Leo said in response to the post: “I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Republican congresswoman who was a strong ally of Trump before splitting with him on the Iran war and his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, posted on X that Trump “attacked the pope because the pope is rightly against Trump’s war in Iran and then he posted this picture of himself as if he is replacing Jesus.”

“This comes after last week’s post of his evil tirade on Easter and then threatening to kill an entire civilization,” she said. “I completely denounce this and I’m praying against it!!!”

‘Fuels division’

Father Robert Sirico, the founder of the Acton Institute, said in a statement that Leo “has both the right and the duty to speak prophetically on matters of war and peace, the dignity of the human person, and the moral limits of force — even when his words discomfort political leaders.”

He said Trump’s post does not “strengthen America’s moral standing but “merely fuels division.”

Sirico also added that Catholics can disagree with popes on prudential judgments, such as foreign policy or crime, which he said are not infallible: “The Church herself teaches that such applications of principle admit of legitimate debate.”

Toby Capion contributed to this story.

This story was updated at 11:50 a.m. ET on April 13, 2026, with comments from Buffalo, New York, Bishop Michael Fisher and The Catholic Associationʼs Ashley McGuire. It was further updated at 1:45 p.m. ET on April 13, 2026, to indicate that Trump refused to apologize and that the AI post was deleted. It again was updated at 5 p.m. ET on April 13, 2026 to include a statement from Denver Archbishop James R. Golka.

In comments to reporters at Joint Base Andrews shortly afterward, Trump said: “I donʼt think heʼs doing a very good job. … I am not a fan of Pope Leo.” He added: “Heʼs a very liberal person.”

Trump accused Leo of being soft on Iran and criticized the popeʼs opposition to U.S. military operations. “I donʼt want a pope who thinks itʼs OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” the president wrote. He also criticized the pope for opposing the U.S. intervention in Venezuela that ousted President Nicolás Maduro in January.

Leo has not said Iran should possess nuclear weapons. He has called the U.S.-Israel war in Iran “unjust” and on April 7 called Trumpʼs threat to destroy an entire “civilization” in Iran “truly unacceptable.”

Trump also claimed credit for Leoʼs election to the papacy in May 2025, writing: “He wasnʼt on any list to be pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American.” He added: “If I wasnʼt in the White House, Leo wouldnʼt be in the Vatican.”

The post on Truth Social came hours before Leo was scheduled to depart Monday for an 11-day trip to four African countries and one day after the pope presided over a globally broadcast prayer vigil for peace at St. Peterʼs Basilica.

U.S. bishops' leader: Pope 'is not his rival'

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said he was “disheartened” by Trumpʼs public attack on Pope Leo XIV, defending the pontiff as the vicar of Christ who speaks for the Gospel and the care of souls.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City issued a brief statement late Sunday in response to Trumpʼs lengthy social media post calling the pope “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.”

“I am disheartened that the president chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father,” Coakley said. “Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the pope a politician. He is the vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

The president said he preferred the popeʼs older brother, Louis Prevost, a Port Charlotte, Florida, resident who has described himself as a “MAGA type.” “I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA,” Trump wrote.

Trump also criticized Leo for meeting April 9 with David Axelrod, a former chief strategist for President Barack Obama, calling Axelrod “a loser from the left.” The Vatican has previously confirmed the audience but did not disclose what was discussed.

Trump also posted an image that commentators said depicted him as Jesus Christ, wearing a biblical-style robe and laying hands on a bedridden man as light emanates from his fingers, while admirers look on and eagles and military jets fill the sky above an American flag.

The public clash comes after weeks of growing friction between the White House and Catholic leaders since the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran on Feb. 28.

Pope Leoʼs appeals for peace intensified over Holy Week, culminating in Saturdayʼs vigil, where he denounced a “delusion of omnipotence” and warned that “the holy name of God” was being “dragged into discourses of death.”

At a special Mass for peace held in Washington on April 11, Cardinal Robert McElroy argued that the current war fails to meet the strict criteria of just war theory, particularly in light of civilian suffering and the risk of disproportionate harm.

The Vatican has not yet publicly responded to Trumpʼs post. The pope is expected to arrive in Algiers on Monday.

This story was last updated on April 13, 2026, at 12:31 a.m. ET.

Acutis AI has been developed by brothers Peter, 21, and Thomas, 19, Cooney — students who attend the University of Dallas and Baylor University — and strives to stand out as a search tool shaped by Catholic morality that provides responses users can trust.

Additionally, the platform offers parents the ability to monitor their children’s chats, set time limits, and set alerts to be notified when concerning topics are detected.

In an interview with EWTN News, Peter Cooney explained that after he and his brother used many of the other current AI platforms, they found they all had two issues in common: Responses to questions on morality are all built to be neutral, and the platforms cause young people to become dependent on them.

He shared that while testing responses on ChatGPT, he asked the platform its thoughts on abortion — if it was OK to get an abortion and if it could affirm one’s decision in obtaining the procedure.

“Itʼll say, ‘Yes, absolutely. I can affirm this. You made the best decision you could, etc., etc.,” Cooney said. “Thatʼs directly contrary to Church teaching. So, I think that’s the first big issue is that they try to be neutral, but at their core theyʼre not aligned with Church teaching and all the big platforms just have a small team of people who make all these moral decisions.”

In regard to the issue of user dependency, Cooney said: “I think a lot of parents have realized at this point the dangers of social media for their children, and so theyʼve become much more cautious about social media. But, I think very few parents … are aware of the huge threat that AI companions and chatbots can pose to their kids because theyʼre built to hook users and keep them engaged.”

“I think this is especially problematic for young people — like children [or] teenagers — because their brains arenʼt fully developed yet,” he added. “So, if thereʼs a teenager whoʼs lonely, maybe he doesnʼt have a ton of friends at school, maybe he doesnʼt see his parents much, the appeal of having an AI companion that will sound just like a human, and will also be super affirming and validating, thatʼs a huge appeal to those teenagers and they can easily get sucked into them.”

With this in mind, the brothers — who have experience creating websites and other computer programs — grounded Acutis AI in Church teaching by uploading the Catechism of the Catholic Church, encyclicals, the “Summa Theologica,” and other Church documents into the platformʼs code.

Additionally, through coding, Acutis AI is only allowed to answer questions regarding faith and morals from those sources. For any general questions, it is allowed to do a more broad web search.

Cooney pointed out that while there are negatives in using AI, he believes the tool can be used responsibly.

“I donʼt think the right answer is just saying OK, weʼre just not [going to] use AI at all, weʼre just going to ban it completely, because I think it can be a valuable tool if used correctly,” he said.

He added: “I think the best way to use it is to automate things. It should not be a replacement for critical thinking. I think itʼs super important to keep critical thinking at the forefront in all of this.”

The young Catholic also emphasized the importance of maintaining human relationships and preventing AI from taking the place of face-to-face interactions.

For students, Cooney said he believes it can be a great tool in helping them study for tests by having the platform quiz the individual or help create study guides.

Cooney said he hopes Acutis AI will help “teach young people how to use AI responsibly and give parents the guidance they need to help their kids use AI responsibly.”

Looking to the saint who inspired the platformʼs name, Cooney highlighted how St. Carlo Acutis is a “great example of how you use technology to serve God —he used it to spread his love for the Eucharist and he brought so many people closer to Christ through that — so I think we can do the same thing.”

The liturgy, livestreamed from Washington, D.C., was part of a broader global observance of Masses for peace following the pope’s appeal — first made during his Easter “urbi et orbi” blessing — for intensified prayer as tensions escalated and a fragile ceasefire emerged between the United States and Iran.

In his homily, McElroy began with the account of the Resurrection in the Gospel of John, where the risen Christ’s first words to the disciples are: “Peace be with you.”

He said this greeting is not incidental but central to Christian belief, noting that “peace is the ultimate fruit and gift of the Resurrection: an inner conviction that Christ has conquered death once and for all.”

Peace, he added, is also a responsibility.

“For as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said, “we are called profoundly to be peacemakers in the world in which we live.”

He argued that the United States entered the current Iranian conflict by choice rather than necessity, adding that leaders had “no clear intention” but instead moved between aims such as “unconditional surrender to regime change to the degradation of conventional weapons to the removal of nuclear materials.”

“And we blinded ourselves to the cascade of global destructiveness that would flow from our attacks,” he added, citing the “expansion of the war far beyond Iran, the disruption of the world economy, and the loss of life.”

These “policy failures,” he said, amount to a “moral failure," as Catholic just war principles render both “the initiation of this war and any continuation of it morally illegitimate.”

He pointed to Church teaching as articulated by Pope Leo XIV, saying that “the only pathway which Catholic teaching allows at this moment is the permanent cessation of hostilities and vigorous steps to build up the conditions for a lasting peace.”

McElroy invoked the United States’ approaching 250th anniversary as a moment for national reckoning, warning against allowing division and violence to define the country’s identity.

He called on “citizens and believers in this democracy” to advocate for peace both in prayer and with elected representatives.

“For it is very possible that negotiations will fail because of recalcitrance on both sides,” he said, “and the president will move to reenter this immoral war.”

“At that critical juncture, as disciples of Jesus Christ called to be peacemakers in the world, we must answer vocally and in unison: No,” he said. “Not in our name. Not at this moment. Not with our country.”

The cardinal’s homily concluded to sustained applause inside the cathedral.

“Cardinal McElroy’s homily affected me very deeply,” said Timothy Rush, a participant in the Mass. “I particularly applaud the idea that prayer serves to focus our energies, but then we have to apply them and reverse this hideous descent into war by talking to our representatives and others.”

“We have to fight the desensitization that is going on that normalizes the cruelties and violence of war,” he added.

‘True strength is shown in serving life’

A longtime advocate for the Church’s just war doctrine, McElroy has frequently warned that modern conflicts often fail to meet the rigorous criteria for a morally legitimate war.

In a March 9 interview with the Catholic Standard, he said the U.S. decision to engage in war with Iran does not meet key requirements, particularly regarding “just cause,” “right intention,” and proportionality.

He emphasized that Catholic teaching rejects preventative war, noting that the U.S. was not responding to a direct or imminent threat from Iran. “You cannot satisfy the just war tradition’s criterion of right intention,” he explained, pointing to what he described as a lack of clarity surrounding U.S. objectives.

In response to Pope Leo XIV’s call for a global prayer vigil for peace, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) encouraged the faithful to join in prayer, uniting with Catholics worldwide in seeking peace and reconciliation.

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the USCCB, made an urgent plea in an April 7 statement, writing: “Let us entrust to the Lord ‘all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5).’”

Pope Leo XIV’s message during the vigil, held at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 11, echoed these calls for peace. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” he told the nearly 10,000 gathered. “True strength is shown in serving life.”

In his reflection, the pope reminded the Church of its role as a beacon of peace, calling on all people to reject the culture of war and to “unite the moral and spiritual strength of the millions and billions of men and women, young and old, who today choose to believe in peace.”

“Let us believe once again in love, moderation, and good politics,” he said. “We must form ourselves and get personally involved, each following our own calling. Everyone has a place in the mosaic of peace!”

While discussing the role of educators in helping young people to heal from their wounds, Cozzens played a video of Abrams performing her song “Camden."

“The poetry that she sings about expresses the depth of pain that she carries in her heart, and whatʼs even more clear is that it resonates with tens of thousands of people in the stadium all her same age,” Cozzens said during his April 7 keynote, according to UCA News. "Many people in the stadium also feel like singing.”

In the song, an extended reflection on insecurity and personal struggles, Abrams sings, in part: “All of me, a wound to close / But I leave the whole thing open / I just wanted you to know / I was never good at coping.”

“This is the height of popular culture,” he said. “This is what our young people are singing about, the gaping wounds in their hearts."

Catholic educators must invite young people to encounter Christ in their wounds rather than seeking value from social media, artificial intelligence, popular culture, or politics, he said.

The National Catholic Educational Association convention took place April 7–9. Other highlights at the event included a live butter sculpture of Pope Leo XIV and “Puppy Love” sessions sponsored by Safe Hands Rescue and Healing Hearts Rescue, according to the event schedule.

Chicago Archdiocese says public school system abruptly cut off funding for students with disabilities

More than 800 students with disabilities attending Chicago Catholic schools will be affected after the city’s public school system suddenly suspended funding to social services before the end of the school year.

The Chicago Archdiocese said in an April 10 statement that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) targeted only Catholic schools in terminating services for individuals with special needs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The statement noted students with learning differences will lose access to math, reading, and writing tutoring, which will create “severe hardship for hundreds of students” who were relying on the services through the end of the year.

“We are not aware of any other nonpublic school system or individual school, religious or secular, whose IDEA services have been terminated,” the archdiocese said. “It is not clear why Catholic schools are being treated differently, but Catholic school students have the right to be treated equally under the law.”

Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich said the archdiocese "cannot allow this shocking and possibly discriminatory action by CPS to stand, not only given its affront to Catholics, but even more so since this injustice would disenfranchise the students we serve.”

The archdiocese said efforts to reach CPS Superintendent Macquline King “have not yielded a response.”

The archdiocese said the Chicago school system had verbally confirmed funding for the services would continue through the end of the school year “as recently as March 25" before informing the archdiocese during Holy Week that the services would be suspended.

“While federal funding for these services was provided to CPS for the full school year, we were informed that the last day of services would be [April 10],” the archdiocese said.

Georgia archdiocese launches virtual Catholic high school

The Archdiocese of Atlanta is starting a fully online Catholic high school program this fall in partnership with Catholic Education Services.

The launch of Sacred Heart Virtual Academy comes amid increased demand among home schooling families, according to an April 8 report from the Georgia Bulletin.

Curriculum will be provided by Catholic Education Services, whose mission “is to partner with Catholic school leaders and provide services that extend the reach and impact of your school’s mission through a faith-centered, rigorously academic education with a flexible learning platform,” according to its website.

“We knew that we were not filling the needs of a group of kids that were in our parishes,” Kim Shields, the archdiocesan associate superintendent of schools, said in the report. “This allows a child that doesn’t want to go to a brick-and-mortar school to have that opportunity.” 

The school will serve grades 9–12, according to its website, and is open to students outside of the archdiocese.

“My hope is that it serves what we’re about — to provide programs for students to help them develop in all areas of their life,” Shields said. “The premise is that everything is centered around the mission of the Catholic Church.”

U.S. District Judge David Joseph in Lafayette, Louisiana, ruled that the challenge be paused pending the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s review of the safety of the drug but noted that the state could continue the challenge after the review was completed.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a lawsuit in late 2025 to challenge the 2023 deregulation of mifepristone, which is used in chemical abortions. The 2023 rule changes, initiated during former president Joe Biden’s administration, allowed the drugs to be delivered through the mail and prescribed without any visits to a doctor.

In January of this year, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion with a federal district court to pause the suit, pending a review by the FDA of the chemical abortion drug.

Louisiana had filed the lawsuit after residents — including Rosalie Markezich, who is named in the lawsuit — said they were coerced into taking abortion pills that were obtained through the mail. In Markezich’s case, she said her boyfriend forced her to take it.

Study: Maternal mortality decreased in states that protect unborn life

A recent study published by JAMA Network Open found a decrease in maternal mortality in states that protect unborn children from abortions as well as in states with permissive abortion laws.

The study considered 22 million births and more than 12,000 pregnancy-related deaths from 2018 to 2023, with 14 states with abortion bans and 37 control jurisdictions.

“This cohort study found that abortion bans were not associated with statistically significant overall or state-specific increases in pregnancy-associated mortality,” the study read.

In states with strong pro-life laws, on average, maternal mortality rates declined slightly faster than pro-abortion states.

Illinois pregnancy centers continue to appeal for conscience rights

A court heard arguments on Friday from Illinois pregnancy centers that are appealing an Illinois district court decision that affirmed a law requiring pregnancy centers to refer women for abortions.

The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and three Illinois pregnancy centers appealed after an April 2025 court ruling found that requiring pregnancy centers to refer pregnant women for an abortion was not a violation of speech and conscience rights.

“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their convictions, and compelling people to refer others for abortions does that,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Counsel Erin Hawley. “The U.S. Supreme Court held in NIFLA v. Becerra that forcing people to promote abortion is unconstitutional.”

Maryland bill to force hospitals to offer abortions goes to governor’s desk

A Maryland bill that would force hospitals to offer abortions, even against their conscience, in some circumstances, heads to the stateʼs governor after the state Legislature passed it this week.

The bill would require “a hospital to allow the termination of a pregnancy in certain circumstances” under the federal 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which ensures that emergency care is offered regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.

The bill would also require a hospital to screen patients for “emergency pregnancy-related medical condition[s]” and to provide “transfer of a patient who has an emergency pregnancy-related medical condition.”

“This bill will result in a new government-created loss of valuable highly trained and experienced emergency department physicians, nurses, providers, and staff,” said Dr. James Kelly, representing the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. “The legislation will increase the already existing severe shortages of qualified medical staff and will decrease access to emergency medical care, and endanger the health and safety of patients seeking emergency medical care.”

Catholics must have “the entrepreneurial zeal to go out and get souls and to promise people what they actually deeply want,” Brooks said. “This is so critically important, but the way it could fail is because we just donʼt have the guts for it. We donʼt have the stomach for it. We donʼt have the heart for it.”

In an April 10 interview with “EWTN News In Depth,” Brooks spoke about the increasing numbers of Catholics. He also shared what is driving people to the Church and how the Church can best reach new people in natural and simple ways.

While there have been increasing numbers of baptisms and confirmations, Brooks said Catholics “canʼt just rest on our laurels,” as there are still “trends largely going in the other direction with respect to people coming to church,” he said.

The Pew Research Center “shows us that 840 Catholics left last year for every 100 who came into the Church. These are not good statistics. But what we see thatʼs really encouraging is a lot of young people, especially young men, coming into the Church searching for a sense of transcendence and really looking for in-real-life community,” he said.

People want meaning, because the “sense of meaninglessness is characteristic of why people are feeling depression, anxiety, loneliness, addiction,“ Brooks said. “And people are starting to fight back.”

Brooks said: “Theyʼre starting to recognize that the little friend in their pocket, the supercomputer thatʼs their smartphone, is not doing them any favors because itʼs mediating their relationship with other people and they want real-life life.”

“We need meaning, and we have these natural questions: ‘Why am I alive? For what would I give my life? Why does my life matter?’ ... And weʼre starting to figure out after about 15 years that you canʼt Google these questions,” he said.

People “feel that thereʼs something bigger,” he said. “Young people today, they have a craving for something thatʼs bigger and bigger. And if we donʼt feed it, then weʼre not feeding our sheep. Then weʼre not following the teachings of Christ.”

Bring back boredom, but not ‘in a bad way’

In his newest book, “The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness,” Brooks discusses how he wants to bring back “boredom.”

“We have actual protocols built into the Catholic Church that give us moments of peace, that give us moments of perspective that most people just donʼt have,” he said. Catholics have prayer, Mass, and Communion that offer us these moments throughout our days.

“The first thing that I do is I get up very early, then I exercise, and then I go to Mass every day,” Brooks said. “Iʼve been a daily communicant for a long time and so has my wife. And we finish the day, even when Iʼm on the road … we pray the rosary together on the phone before we go to sleep.”

“These are the moments,” and “when I say boredom, I donʼt mean boredom in a bad way,” he said.

“Iʼm not casting aspersions at all. Iʼm talking about blank space. Iʼm talking about turning on the structures in the brain called the default mode network that you need to understand your life. ‘When do I understand my life the most?’ When Iʼm at holy Mass. ‘When do I understand it the most?’ When Iʼm in conversation with God,” he said.

This time in prayer can actually benefit brain function, because “you only have access to certain parts of your brain that you need to find meaning and to love your life when you have these metaphysical experiences,” he said.

"Thereʼs a lot of research on this," he said. "This is not speculation. Thereʼs a ton of neuroscience research that shows that you only have access to certain parts of your brain that you need to find meaning and to love your life when you have these metaphysical experiences.”

Evangelization should be ‘as natural as putting on your shirt’

Brooks also discussed his personal conversion and how through simple ways of “friendship and excellence,” people can invite others to the Church.

“When I was 15, I had an experience at the Shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City on a music trip,” Brooks said. “I came into the Church when I was 16. I went and told my parents, ‘Iʼve discovered that Iʼm Catholic.’”

“I come from a good, strong, Christian background, good evangelical background. I had missionaries on both sides of the family. And my parents looked at each other and they said, ‘I guess itʼs better than drugs.’ They just thought it was rebellion, but the truth is I was called to it. I really was,” he said.

As people now come to the Church the question is: “‘Do you want to go deeper?’ I have something deeper. I have something more profound. I have something that has more historical significance. I have something that has more structure. Come with me, come with me … youʼre hungry and Iʼm going to give you real food,” he said.

“Itʼs the only thing that can fill this hollowness thatʼs in our lives. Itʼs the only thing that can break us out of the simulation,” he said. “People know it in their hearts, and we just have to show that to them. We have to take them by the hand and bring them along.”

As a professor, Brooks said he uses his role to guide students but does not force his faith and beliefs on them.

“I tell them on the first day of class at Harvard, my Catholic faith is the single most important thing in my life. And then I go on and I teach them science,” he said.

“The science of human happiness is what I teach. And they look it up and they say, ‘you know, thatʼs not weird. Itʼs not weird with him. Heʼs doing a good job with his life … He also has a good family life. He loves his wife a lot. Heʼs got kids and grandkids. Thatʼs apostolate. Thatʼs how apostolate actually works,” he said.

“Live your life and live it right and let people see your Catholic faith and donʼt make it weird … Just make it as natural as putting on your shirt. Thatʼs the deal. And thatʼs what Iʼm trying to do every day," he said.

“When my students come to me in office hours, the No. 1 question they ask me is not about my paper, my term project. The No. 1 question they ask me is, ‘How do I fall in love, stay in love, start a family?’ Which, of course, the university doesnʼt teach them, but thatʼs the single most important thing in their lives,” Brooks said.

“No. 2, ‘How do I find my faith?“ Brooks said. ”What do I do to find my faith? They want to be led. You know, this is what it means to be a shepherd … We all have an ability to actually influence other people. And the question is, ‘Am I influencing other people to get them a little closer to heaven? Am I cracking the door that the Holy Spirit in his wisdom can kick in or not?’”

“I believe most Catholics would be surprised, as I was, to learn about the extent of preventable animal suffering in our world today,” Kristin Dunn, the founder of the Saint Francis Institute for Animals, told EWTN News.

The group launched in March and is promoting community outreach and parish partnerships in order to spread its message. It also offers a guided 30-day program of “reflections, readings, short videos, and exercises” meant to introduce Catholics to the topic of animal welfare.

Dunn said she began learning more about animal welfare more than a decade ago. She “loved dogs,” she said, but had given “very little thought to other animals.”

Her growing awareness of the issue was bolstered by works such as Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, which, as part of its reflections on the environment, criticized the “indifference or cruelty” humans often show toward animals.

Dunn also pointed to Catholic writer Matthew Scully’s 2003 book “Dominion,” which criticized “the many ways our society has turned its gaze away from animals” and allowed animal suffering to flourish.

“It’s something I’ve felt called to start for the past decade, since learning about the issues, realizing how connected they are to my Catholic values, and knowing that other Catholics could make a tremendous impact with increased awareness,” Dunn said.

The group has thus far drawn funding from small donors and has received pro-bono legal support and design assistance. Since the launch, “many Catholics have reached out sharing that they’ve hoped for something like this, which has been extremely encouraging,” Dunn said.

‘Not to hurt our humble brethren’

The institute is named for St. Francis of Assisi, who lived during the High Middle Ages and who became famous for his exhortations to treat animals kindly and respectfully.

Catholic theologians throughout the centuries have not always evinced such concern for animals. St. Augustine, for instance, largely dismissed objections to animal suffering in part by arguing that animals are “nonrational” and “do not share the use of reason with us.”

St. Francis, on the other hand, argued strongly for including animals within the human moral framework. He famously wrote that “if you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”

“Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them,” the saint wrote, though he advised that “to stop there is not enough” and that we must “be of service to them wherever they require it.”

Pope Francis echoed those sentiments in his landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. In the document he also pointed to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which, while arguing that it is “legitimate to use animals for food and clothing,” stipulates that it is “contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.”

The Vatican also regularly recognizes the importance of animals within creation through a yearly blessing of the animals in St. Peter’s Square.

“God cherishes his creation. He cares for the animals, the plants, because these create the conditions for life to continue and flourish, especially intelligent life, the life of humankind,” Cardinal Mauro Gambetti said last year during the blessing.

Many animal advocates over the centuries have opted for vegetarianism or veganism in order to avoid any use of animals for food or other materials.

In the modern era, meanwhile, many consumers concerned about animal welfare have opted for “humane” agricultural options such as pasture-based farms rather than the intensive factory-style animal farming from which most meat comes.

Dunn said the Saint Francis Institute is “encouraging people to learn about factory farming, given what so many animals endure and given the urgent need for change.”

“Our focus is on choosing plant-based foods to make the greatest impact for animals, and, within that, to take the first step,” she said.

Among its other outreach efforts, “we’re focused on building partnerships with parishes to share practical, meaningful ways to protect God’s creatures,” Dunn said.

“We can advise on straightforward changes they can make to be more animal-friendly, coordinate talks with animal experts, provide our printed brochures, and explore other ways to work together,” she said.

Dunn said those uncertain of how to start advocating on behalf of animals should “learn about who the animals are — how smart, sensitive, and gentle they are.”

“For example, most people don’t know that pigs are known to be as intelligent as dogs. How can we treat them so differently?” she said.

She quoted Pope Francis, who in Laudato Si’ wrote that if humans “feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”

Learning about animals, Dunn said, “follows the example set by St. Francis, who saw each creature as an individual worthy of love and care.”

When someone becomes a religious, he or she no longer receives an income, making it impossible to maintain student loan payments that can span decades. Fund for Vocations offers a solution.

Founded in 2004 by Corey and Katherine Huber, the organization now offers two programs: the long-standing St. Joseph Grant Program, which covers student loan debt, and the recently launched “DAD Fund” (Discretionary Anti-Discouragement Fund).

While the St. Joseph program handles monthly tuition payments, the DAD Fund takes on the smaller costs of discernment — what Fund for Vocations spokesperson Annie Ryland described as “hidden financial barriers to religious vocations.” The DAD Fund provides grants of $5,000 or $10,000 directly to religious communities to support discerners.

For instance, Mahowald, now a board member of Fund for Vocations, told the group how she had needed to ask her parish to sponsor her airfare to visit the Nashville Dominicans when she was discerning.

“We asked ourselves, ‘How many young people are getting stuck at that stage of discernment? Not being able to fly to the discernment retreat and quietly giving up?’” Ryland told EWTN News.

“Expenses like travel for ‘Come and See’ visits, psychological evaluations, or temporary health insurance can total several thousands of dollars, and that’s all before candidates even enter novitiate,” Ryland added.

Eleven religious communities have already reached out to Fund for Vocations for funds “to support the new discerners,” according to Ryland.

“The goal of the DAD Fund is to ensure that these smaller financial barriers do not delay or discourage men and women who are already showing great courage in sincerely exploring a vocation,” Ryland continued.

Work of renewal

In recent years, the Catholic Church has seen a worldwide decline in the number of priests and seminarians. The number of religious sisters has plummeted since 1965, with an 82% decrease over the past 60 years.

But religious and priests are vital to the life of the Church.

“Every vocation is a gift to the Church,” Mary Radford, executive director of the Fund for Vocations, said in a press release shared with EWTN News. “We want to make sure that practical concerns, whether travel costs, required evaluations, or basic entry expenses, never become the reason someone hesitates to take the next step in discernment.”

“Every religious vocation means a life given over to prayer and service for Christ’s Church,” Ryland said. “Religious serve in parishes, in schools, in medical clinics, on the streets with the homeless and suffering. They are living witness to the power of the Gospel.”

“Religious also serve to remind us all of our heavenly goal. When young people see devout, joy-filled priests and sisters, they catch a glimpse of the power of God’s love and are shown that the Catholic faith is worth living and dying for,” Ryland said. “And of course, we all need the sacraments, so vocations to the priesthood are especially critical for the salvation of souls.”

“By removing the financial obstacles that can stand in the way of a vocation, we get to play a small role in the great work of renewal and hope that God is stirring up in his Church today,” Ryland said.

In the past few weeks since the new fund launched, Ryland said that “the response has been overwhelmingly grateful and positive.”

“Vocations directors seem most excited about being able to assist with travel expenses for candidates who wish to attend a Come and See weekend but cannot afford the trip on their own,” Ryland said.

‘A late vocation’

Steven Ellison, a seminarian with the Discalced Carmelite order, describes himself as a “late vocation.” Raised by a devout Protestant family, Ellison joined the Catholic Church in his early 30s in 2022.

“When the Lord first lifted the veil that covered my eyes and allowed me to see the beauty of his Church for the first time, I perceived then in a passing moment of clarity my vocation to the Discalced Carmelite order and to the priesthood,” Ellison said.

He picked St. Teresa of Ávila as his confirmation sponsor, but it would be a few years before his vocation became fully clear to him.

When he began to pursue a vocation with the Carmelites, he faced the burden of student debt.

“When discerning religious life with its vow to poverty, all personal debts need to be either cleared away or assumed by a third party so that the aspiring religious can be free from financial entanglements,” Ellison said.

He remembered thinking: “If the Lord removes these circumstances that appear to be obstacles and opens every door to Carmel for me then I would enter through each open door so that I might do his will.”

Despite being an older candidate, at 34, the Carmelites said it would not be a barrier — but his student debt still would be.

“It was there that the Fund for Vocations and their donors became the avenue of God’s grace for me,” Ellison said. “In their assumption of my student loans, and in their pledge to support me throughout my formation, the final doors of entry to Carmel were opened and I was able to walk through them with confidence in the Lord because of the faithfulness of his Church.”

“The Fund for Vocations became for me a reflection of the Church’s goodness,” Ellison said.

“The fruits have been innumerable so far, and I have grown accustomed to referring to those fruits as treasures — treasures because these gifts from the Lord seem both hidden and imperishable,” he said of the vocations program.

‘A life given’

Mahowald “was seriously contemplating a religious vocation,” but she had a 30-year payment plan for more than $100,000 in student debt.

“I was dumbfounded by the simple fact that my Catholic education was both the reason for my deep love for Jesus and the obstacle to my pursuit of following Jesus in religious life due to the debt I had accrued,” Mahowald said.

Debt can be a barrier to joining religious life, especially student debt that is designed to be paid off over decades.

“My debt was too significant for the sisters to assume so I knew that I couldn’t enter until that financial difficulty was solved,” Mahowald said.

“There were moments of real sadness and confusion when I didn’t see how God would answer this dilemma,” Mahowald said. “The Fund for Vocations was the miracle that allowed me to enter religious life at the age of 24 instead of 54.”

“I applied for a grant and was eligible to enter religious life while the Fund for Vocations paid my monthly loan payments,” Mahowald said. “The genius behind this model is that it gave me the freedom to discern.”

“The Fund for Vocations is set up to make monthly loan payments while the candidate is in formation,” Mahowald said. “If the candidate discerns to leave, he or she just picks up the next loan payment. If the candidate makes final vows then the loans are taken care of completely.”

Ryland described Fund for Vocations as a “family” and “a beautiful microcosm of the generosity and love of the whole body of Christ.”

“We love to see the relationships of love and prayer that develop between our supporters and our grant recipients,” Ryland continued. “Supporters are like spiritual godmothers and godfathers to these young men and women. Many tell us they think of them as spiritual children.”

Mahowald found the same in her experience.

“One of the fruits of being a grant recipient is that I’ve been adopted into a larger family,” Mahowald said. “Katherine and Corey Huber, the founders of the Fund for Vocations, keep in contact with me and came to celebrate both my first and final vows. Other benefactors were placed in my life that I still keep in touch with to this day.”

“Knowing that donors to the Fund for Vocations were supporting me in my vocational journey taught me that the gift of my ‘yes’ to God was not just for me but also for the upbuilding of the Church,” Mahowald said.

‘I walk the halls with saints in the making’

Mahowald now works as the assistant principal of student life and discipline at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Virginia — the same school she taught at before she became a religious sister.

“My position allows me to watch over and shape the social development of our young students,” Mahowald said. “We care deeply about the formation of the whole person and desire our graduates to become disciples of Christ.”

“I joke with the students that my job is to plan parties and to keep everyone safe. While I say that with a smile, it’s not a bad summary of how I serve,” Mahowald said.

“Working with high school students brings daily adventures, and I am certain that I walk the halls with saints in the making,” Mahowald said. “God is raising up many young people who are sincerely eager to know, love, and serve him.”

“I anticipate more vocations to the priesthood and religious life and therefore am so grateful that the Fund for Vocations exists so that anyone experiencing financial obstacles to religious life will not be discouraged but will instead have hope and support to be able to leave everything and follow Christ,” Mahowald said.

The poll, conducted March 20–23 jointly by Republican pollster Shaw & Co. Research and Democratic pollster Beacon Research, found that 48% of Catholic voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president and 52% disapprove.

It found that 23% of Catholics strongly approve of the job he is doing, 25% somewhat approve, 12% somewhat disapprove, and 40% strongly disapprove. The pollʼs margin of error is plus or minus 3%.

Pope Leo XIV and Catholic bishops in the United States and globally have encouraged Trump to pursue peace and diplomacy, as opposed to war, in Iran. With peace negotiations underway, the Holy Father echoed his call for more diplomacy in an April 10 post on X.

“God does not bless any conflict,” Leo said. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.”

God does not bless any conflict.

Pope Leo XIV

In the 2024 election, Trump won the Catholic vote by a 12-point margin, securing 55% of the voting bloc’s support, compared with former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 43%. In 2020, Trump won 49% of the Catholic vote, compared with former President Joe Biden’s 50%.

This poll comes as Trump’s support is dwindling with the broader American public as well. The poll found that only 41% of all voters approve of the president, and 59% disapprove.

Iran war disapproval

The poll found that most Catholics disapprove of Trump’s actions in Iran and the use of military force against the country but still favor some American influence in the region.

According to the poll, only 40% of Catholics approve of the way Trump has handled the conflict with Iran, and 60% disapprove. It found that 45% of Catholics support military force against Iran and 55% oppose military force. Similarly, 45% of Catholics believe military action against Iran is going well, and 55% believe it is not going well.

The poll found that 39% of Catholics believe attacks on Iran will make the country safer, 38% believe it will make the country less safe, and 23% believe it will not make much of a difference.

Alternatively, 71% of Catholics believe ending Iran’s nuclear program is important, and 29% said it is not important. It found 61% said it is important to bring about changes in Iran’s government, and 39% said it is not important.

The poll also found that 71% of Catholics believe it is important to protect the flow of oil from the region, and 29% believe it is not important. It found that 73% of Catholics believe it is important to reduce Iran’s support for terrorism, and 27% believe it is not important.

According to the poll, 74% of Catholics are concerned about Iran potentially getting a nuclear weapon, and 26% are not concerned.

2024 coalition ‘in tatters’

John White, professor emeritus of politics at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News that he believes Trump’s 2024 coalition “is now in tatters [and] Catholics are no exception.”

“The Iran War is unpopular with the American public and Catholics reflect that,” he said. “What may carry more resonance with Catholic voters are the strong and blunt statements about the war from Pope Leo. It is not unreasonable to assume that there is a higher level of cognitive dissonance among Catholics who support Trump but are hearing the words of the pope. For some, that may result in their shifting opinions.”

Susan Hanssen, history professor at the University of Dallas — a Catholic institution — had a similar view about why Catholic support has dipped, telling EWTN News “a reversal of positions seems to be underway within the Catholic community.

“During Trump‘s campaign, Trump‘s supporters expressed hopes for a fundamental realignment of America’s foreign policy, particularly withdrawing from ‘forever wars,’ while many of Trump’s Catholic critics expressed concern during his campaign that he would disengage America from its support for Ukraine or [for] Israel,” she said. “Support for Trump’s strong stance on Iran seems to be coming now … from Catholics who were wary of Trump earlier.”

Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, has departed the U.S. for his trip to Pakistan, where he plans to directly negotiate with Iranian leaders for a long-term peace while both sides hold off on military strikes during a two-week ceasefire.

The military carried out its deadliest attack of the war on April 8, killing more than 300 people throughout southern and eastern Lebanon and inside Beirut and its surrounding suburbs.

Although Iranian officials continue to assert that Lebanon was included in the U.S.-Iran two-week ceasefire agreement, American and Israeli officials contend this was never promised.

Many people in Lebanon initially believed their country was included in the ceasefire.

Cedric Choukeir, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) country representative for Lebanon, told EWTN News that Wednesday, April 8, was “a little bit of an emotional roller coaster because people woke up to the news of a ceasefire” and many people were “hopeful” until they heard reports that neither the U.S. nor Israel recognized Lebanon as part of the agreement.

“When the strikes happened, it was very sudden,” said Choukeir, who works in the capital city of Beirut. “Everything happened within 10 minutes. The strikes were across the country.”

Most of the strikes occurred within a 10-minute window in the early afternoon. Choukeir said Israel provided no warning before the attack and the strikes included locations that are not covered in evacuation orders as well as villages that had not previously been hit.

He said "people were just going about their daily business in areas they considered themselves to be safe in,” adding that some of the strikes were in “heavily populated” areas in and around Beirut.

“No one felt safe in Beirut and anyone who could leave, left,” Choukeir said.

He said “we had a few people in the office” during the strikes, and “it’s traumatizing for most of us because it’s hard to tell what’s going on; you definitely hear the airstrikes happening.”

“You feel the vibrations, the shaking, the impact of the explosions,” Choukeir said, adding that “the level of chaos is similar to what we experienced a little bit in the Beirut blast [in 2020] and the [Israeli] pager attack in 2024.”

He said everyone in Beirut heard the “sound of ambulances nonstop for several hours after the strikes” and “hospitals were filled up, everyone was coming for blood donations.”

Every one of his team members at CRS in Beirut knows someone who was impacted by the strikes, including people who suffered injuries, he said.

Jesuit Father Daniel Corrou, Middle East and North Africa regional director for Jesuit Refugee Service, similarly told EWTN News that initially, “there was a sense of relief here” amid news of a ceasefire.

Corrou also serves as a parish priest at St. Joseph in Beirut and has opened up his church as a shelter, primarily for migrant workers and ethnic minorities.

Many people, he said, believed “there’s an end in sight.” People were “moving from shelters, and the roads going to the south were full again; the people were moving back down to that area,” he said.

When the strikes happened, Corrou said, “it was everywhere all at once” and people promptly turned their cars back around, away from the south, and “it was sheer chaos on the streets.”

Since the attacks, he said the number of people he has seen camping on the streets doubled, but he is unsure whether these are new people or people who were in shelters before the attack. Government-run and privately-run shelters, he noted, are completely full.

“We have seen an uptick in the number of people trying to get in [for shelter at our church],” Corrou said. “We’re at capacity. We’re completely saturated here.”

Fighting continues as peace talks begin

Choukeir said it’s difficult to know how recent attacks will impact the number of displaced people in Lebanon: “It’s changing on a daily basis ... people are leaving some neighborhoods in the suburbs and going up to Beirut, while some are moving further north.”

“Definitely no one’s going back home, I think,” he said. “People are reluctant to go back.”

Israel’s destruction of bridges that cross the Litani River has also caused problems for those who remain in the south to leave at this point, according to Choukeir. He said there are about 150,000 people remaining there despite evacuation orders. Many are in Tyre, but this includes at least three Christian villages that are difficult to reach: Debel, Rmeish, and Ain Ebel.

Choukeir said only one bridge still functions and just one lane is operational, but “the moment that bridge is cut, there are very few options.”

“The supplies that people have there aren’t going to last for weeks and weeks,” he warned. “Some of the items are going to run out in days.”

Corrou noted that several hospitals were struck in Israelʼs most recent attack and more than 40 health care workers have been killed during the conflict so far. He noted that Catholics have been delivering aid throughout the south, but some difficulties include recent news of a Vatican convoy being turned around after getting caught in a ground fight between Israel and Hezbollah.

He echoed messages coming from Pope Leo XIV about the conflict that “war is always a human failure” and “real peace will never come from violent conflict.” Ultimately, peace for Lebanon will have to come from the “difficult, messy work of dialogue [and] diplomacy,” the pope said.

As the Lebanese and Israeli governments signal talks aimed at peace, Choukeir said he thinks “everybody’s tired of conflict, pain, suffering, [and] destruction,” and “everyone would welcome any kind of cessation to hostilities” and a just, long-lasting peace.

“We pray it would allow people to return home and live in dignity and safety with the hope that their children can have a bright and prosperous future,” he said. “But I havenʼt felt optimism yet. I think the road from … where we are to that hopeful future isn’t clear to people.”

In his April 6 message published in Agenzia Fides, Mathieu emphasized that “in the communion of saints and in the grace of the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, we are truly united, even when we cannot be so visibly. ... I celebrated the Easter Vigil carrying you all in my heart: far from my flock, but precisely for this reason, in a mysterious way, close to each one of you.”

Cambodia welcomes 375 new Catholics

The minority Catholic population in Cambodia has reported a surge in the number of baptisms this Easter, according to Fides News Agency.

Apostolic Prefect of Battambang Father Enrique Figaredo said 92 people were baptized in his province, while 152 catechumens were baptized in the capital city of Phnom Penh and 131 were welcomed into the Church in Kampong Cham.

“The new baptisms of young people and adults that we celebrated this year are a sign of great hope. They show that young Cambodians hear Godʼs call and want to follow it. For our Church, they are a true source of strength and life,” Figaredo said.

Filipino bishop condemns Easter ritual involving dove and balloon

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan in the Philippines reprimanded a local parish for the way it used a live dove in an Easter ritual involving a balloon, according to a Licas News report Wednesday.

The report said the bird was tied to the balloon during the ritual, causing distress to the animal, which was eventually killed.

“I was not aware that there was a subsequent practice of tying the pigeon to balloons, with its wings restrained. Had I known, I would have objected, because this is not only cruel to the animal but also harmful to the environment, especially to marine life that may ingest deflated balloons,” David said after the incident drew controversy among the Philippine Animal Welfare Society.

Christians in southern Lebanon at odds with state and Hezbollah operatives

Lebanon’s Christian community is reacting with growing fury after an Israeli strike killed Pierre Maouad, a Lebanese Forces official; his wife, Flavia; and their neighbor, Roula, on Easter Sunday, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News reported Tuesday.

The deaths quickly fueled accusations that Hezbollah operatives had been using civilians as cover in Christian areas, especially after conflicting accounts emerged about whether the targeted apartment had been occupied. The episode has deepened mistrust toward both Hezbollah and state institutions, with many residents dismissing the Lebanese Army’s explanation of events and demanding accountability.

In several neighborhoods, the fear has translated into stricter local vigilance, new security measures, and louder calls for self-protection, as many Christians insist they are being forced to bear the cost of a war not of their making.

South Korean archdiocese launches Carlo Acutis-inspired AI initiative

The Archdiocese of Seoul has announced it will soon launch AI-integrated information services inspired by St. Carlo Acutis.

The first phase of the initiative will launch in May and will integrate data across services provided by the archdiocese, including catechism, pastoral programs, and volunteer work, with its other information systems, UCA News reported Wednesday.

The second phase will focus on the archdiocese’s administrative systems from 2029–2031. The report said the initiative will also promote World Youth Day 2027, which is set to take place in Seoul.

3 Asian Church leaders appointed by pope to communications dicastery

Three prominent Asian prelates have been tapped by Pope Leo XIV to serve on the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.

The Vatican announced Thursday the appointments of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect for the Dicastery for Evangelization; Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, archbishop of Goa and Damão, India, and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences; and Bishop Marcelino Antonio M. Maralit, president of the Office of Social Communications of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.

The Dicastery for Communication oversees the various media outlets of the Holy See, including the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican News website, Vatican Radio, Vatican Television Center, LʼOsservatore Romano, the Vatican.va website, and the Holy Father’s X account @pontifex.

French church targeted by vandals on Holy Thursday

Vandals attacked a Catholic Church in the French city of Rosny-sous-Bois just outside of Paris, causing serious damage on Holy Thursday.

The unknown perpetrators drove a car into the Church of Saint-Laurent and vandalized the church’s interior with an axe, according to an UOJ report Tuesday. The gates and doors of the church were destroyed, and the sacristy was vandalized, the report said, noting that nothing was stolen.

Religious sisters remain in Yemen amid ongoing conflict

A group of 10 sisters from the Missionaries of Charity are continuing to minister to communities in Yemen despite war and instability in the gulf region.

“The most concrete example of mission in a war-torn area is that of the Sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the priest who lives with them,” Bishop Paolo Martinelli, apostolic vicar of Southern Arabia, said in an interview, according to Licas News, noting the sisters provide companionship to the small community of Catholics. “I am impressed by their joy, by their joy at being in Yemen and being able to be close to the suffering people.”

The Republican governor approved Senate Bill 248, known as the Alabama Released Time Credit Act, on April 8. The new law takes effect July 1.

The measure allows parents to choose for their child to participate in a released-time program sponsored by a church or local community-based religious organization. Instruction must take place off school grounds, be privately funded, and require no use of taxpayer money. Schools are not responsible for transportation or liable for students during the released time.

Students may earn elective credit for participating, provided they complete any missed schoolwork and meet state education guidelines. School boards can deny a request only if there is an objective substantial risk of physical harm to the student.

The bill passed the state Senate 32-0 and the state House 88-4 after revisions.

Supporters say it protects parental rights and religious liberty without burdening public schools.

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Greg Chafuen praised the law in a statement: “The government shouldn’t stop families from raising their children in their family’s faith. SB 248 respects parents’ educational decisions, allowing public school children to be briefly excused from school to receive free, off-campus religious instruction taught by private charitable organizations."

"As the U.S. Supreme Court has explained, respecting parents’ decisions for their child to participate in released-time programs ‘follows the best of our traditions,’” he wrote.

Chafuen was referring to the Supreme Court’s 1952 ruling in Zorach v. Clauson, which upheld the constitutionality of released-time programs. In that decision, the court stated that when the state accommodates religious instruction by adjusting school schedules, it follows “the best of our traditions” by respecting the religious nature of the American people.

Chafuen commended the Alabama Legislature as well as Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and Ivey “for their commitment to ensuring that parents remain in the driver’s seat when it comes to their children’s education.”

The legislation updates a 2019 law and adds clearer guidelines and protections requested by school superintendents.

Critics have raised concerns about church-state separation and potential logistical challenges for schools.

Released-time programs have historically been used more frequently by Protestant and evangelical groups, though Catholic parishes could organize similar off-campus faith formation sessions under the new rules.

At least a dozen other states have similar laws allowing students to leave campus for voluntary religious instruction.

At the 2026 Christian Institutional Investors conference in Lakewood, Colorado, on April 8, speakers urged Christian businesses, schools, and apostolates to stand up for their beliefs as investors.

More than 150 attendees from across the country attended the conference, which was hosted by the faith-based investment consulting company Innovest Portfolio Solutions along with the Archdiocese of Denver, Catholic Benefits Association, The Catholic Foundation of Northern Colorado, AmPhil, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Colorado Christian University, where the event took place.

“This ecumenical gathering brings together Catholic and Protestant leaders to explore portfolio screening, values alignment with asset managers, and the importance of proxy voting and corporate engagement,” Innovest principal Sarah Newman said.

“Our goal is for attendees to leave informed, inspired, and equipped to better understand how their portfolios are built and why the partners they choose truly matter to create returns they need for their Christian mission,” Newman told EWTN News.

Fighting for Christian values through proxy voting

In the fight to bring Christian values into investing, speakers emphasized the importance of proxy voting — a process where shareholders authorize someone else to vote on their behalf in shareholder meetings.

“As a shareholder, youʼre sort of a citizen of a company and are entitled to vote on these matters — but most people donʼt realize that their proxies are being delegated to an adviser and unintentionally support things that are opposed to their own values,” speaker Dustin DeVito said.

DeVito is a research director at the 1792 Exchange, a company working to bring “ideological balance back to public corporations.”

Nicholas Schmitz, the Traviesa chair of finance at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business, noted that Christian investors “need a custom proxy option that actually represents Christian viewpoints” to have a cumulative, widespread impact across corporate America.

Custom proxy options enable institutions to vote according to their own guidelines rather than the default options.

“That would be a huge, huge uptake that would get long-term cultural change,” Schmitz said in a panel titled “Leading Change: Bringing Faithful Christian Proxy Voting Rules to Institutional Systems.”

In November, The Catholic University of America developed new proxy guidelines that leading companies representing shareholders accepted — giving a faith-based option in line with the Catholic Churchʼs teachings.

“Catholicism ... I joke, weʼre the most organized religion in America, but the least organized in capital markets. We donʼt really have an excuse for not getting this right,” Schmitz said.

In his talk, “The Post-ESG Landscape: Where Corporate America Is Headed and How Faith-Aligned Capital Can Lead,” DeVito also encouraged Christian investors to stand up for their faith.

“As Christians, we want to be the ones boldly leading because the lordship of Christ is over everything,” DeVito said. “So if thereʼs any issue in which companies are engaging in something thatʼs biased and thatʼs harming Christians, we need to be willing to have the courage and put ourselves out there and engage on the issue.”

As an example, DeVito cited the debanking of Christians and conservatives. In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting banks and financial institutions from debanking clients based on their political or religious views after Christians and conservatives expressed concern about the controversial practice.

“Even just with a small amount of shares and the willingness to engage these companies and to talk through the research, we end up seeing incredible wins,” DeVito continued. “All it takes is just some people willing to fight.”

In his research at 1792, DeVito said he has seen a trend away from DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives and “ESG” (environmental, social, and governance) — politically-motivated standards that large companies subscribed to but that recently fell out of favor after criticism from conservatives.

DeVito pointed to the work of Robby Starbuck, an influencer known for raising awareness of DEI policies at companies like Tractor Supply, as well as the Trump administration as defining moments in the decline of DEI and ESG.

“For the first time in over 20 years, corporate America is headed back in the direction of depoliticizing and focusing on business,” DeVito said. “And this is good because the companies are supported for the value they bring in, the goods and services they provide, not for identifying and solving all the worldʼs problems.”