The bill, proposed by a bipartisan group of U.S. congresswomen and announced on April 29, would move to “address misuse of the bankruptcy system by organizations facing lawsuits for child sex abuse,” according to a press release from Rep. Deborah Ross, D-North Carolina.

Ross noted that bankruptcy filings, including those by U.S. dioceses facing voluminous child abuse allegations, trigger stays in civil litigation that block plaintiffs from further discovery while the Chapter 11 process plays out.

Ross said U.S. bankruptcy law contains “unacceptable loopholes” that allow organizations to “avoid the consequences of their negligence and abuse.”

The proposed bill would allow abuse victims to continue the discovery process even amid bankruptcy filings. It would also allow victims to submit impact statements within the Chapter 11 proceedings themselves.

The bill would also “require forensic accountants to assess the debtor’s estate and nondebtor holdings in child sex abuse cases.”

The measure, titled the “Closing Bankruptcy Loopholes for Child Predators Act,” was previously introduced in 2024, though it stalled in the House of Representatives.

Bankruptcy generally offers more payouts for victims

Numerous U.S. dioceses have filed for bankruptcy in recent years, particularly amid the passage of state-level laws that have expanded or removed the statute of limitations for filing child abuse claims.

Marie Reilly, a professor of law at Penn State University and an expert in bankruptcy litigation, told EWTN News in 2025 that bankruptcy filings are generally advantageous not just for a diocese but for those seeking compensation from it.

The alternative, she said, is for a plaintiff to “prove their case on a trial of evidence against the diocese,” which requires considerably more effort with less chance of payment.

Committees of survivors usually agree that bankruptcy is the better option, she said, insofar as it ensures that everyone gets some form of compensation instead of just a few big payouts being limited to the quickest litigants.

“Outside of bankruptcy, we call it ‘the race of the diligent,’ where the speediest get the spoils,” she told EWTN News.

Still, the U.S. representatives sponsoring the latest bankruptcy reform bill argue that such procedures should not limit victims from being able to seek evidence in their suits against organizations including Catholic dioceses.

Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, said in the press release that abuse victims “deserve justice, accountability, and transparency at every step of the process.”

"No one should be able to use bankruptcy proceedings as a shield to avoid responsibility," she said, arguing that the bill "closes those loopholes so survivors can continue their pursuit of justice and bad actors are held fully accountable.”

CUA Executive Vice President and Provost Aaron Dominguez was serving as vice chairman of the National Science Board (NSB) while CUA Vice Provost Victor McCrary was serving as NSB chair before the Trump administration fired all 22 board members on April 24.

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” NSB members were informed in an April 24 email from the White House, a spokesperson for the National Science Foundation confirmed to EWTN News.

“The Supreme Court’s reasoning in U.S. v. Arthrex in 2021 raised constitutional questions about whether non-Senate confirmed appointees can exercise the authorities that Congress gave the National Science Board,” a White House official told EWTN News in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Hill to update the statute and ensure the NSB can perform its duties as Congress intended. The National Science Foundation’s work continues uninterrupted.”

The NSB oversees the National Science Foundation, advises the president and Congress on science and engineering policy, approves NSF funding awards, and publishes key reports on the state of U.S. science. Members serve staggered six-year terms.

The case cited by the administration, U.S. v. Arthrex, says federal boards whose members wield unreviewable executive power must be structured so that a properly appointed principal officer, one appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, can review or overrule their decisions.

The NSBʼs actions are advisory, policy‑setting, and subject to oversight by a Senate‑confirmed agency head. While not holding final executive authority, board members oversee a federal agency and approve billions in grants.

The board issued policy‑shaping publications such as Science and Engineering Indicators, Vision 2030, and its Skilled Technical Workforce reports, which influenced federal science priorities and congressional decision‑making. The board also issues merit‑review analyses that guide how the National Science Foundation allocates billions in research funding.

The Catholic University of America declined to comment on the firings. Dominguez and McCrary did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“HHS not renewing funding to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami will result in 85 staff members being laid off as of May 31, 2026,” Peter Routsis-Arroyo, the organization’s CEO, said in a statement to EWTN News.

He said another 20 employees will be let go on June 30.

For decades, CCADM partnered with the federal government to serve vulnerable children and families. The termination of the contract ended a more than 65-year relationship that began with Operation Pedro Pan, which resettled about 14,000 Cuban children who were fleeing the Castro regime in the U.S.

The layoffs follow the announcement that CCADM "had to make the difficult decision to close the Msgr. Bryan Walsh Children’s Village,” Devika Austin, chief administrative officer of CCADM, wrote in an April 24 letter.

The Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh Children’s Village, formerly known as Boys Town, is a CCADM program sheltering unaccompanied, undocumented immigrant children with the ability to house up to 81 children.

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.”

Archbishop Thomas Wenski

Archdiocese of Miami

“This week all affected employees received notice," she wrote. "We are working with our employees to assist them during this difficult transition."

Due to the unforeseen circumstances, CCADM reported in the letter it was “unable to provide 60 days’ notice” to employees and noted that the “layoffs are permanent.”

More than half of the staff laid off was made up of youth care workers in the program, along with numerous others including clinicians, case managers, and medical coordinators.

During a press conference on April 15 following the funding cuts, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami urged the government to reinstate the funds noting that services for unaccompanied minors would “be forced to shut down within three months.”

“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 court in a unanimous ruling April 29 decided the case could proceed in federal court, reversing a lower court decision that had deemed the lawsuit premature.

The pregnancy center had raised First Amendment concerns about whether it could immediately assert its right to challenge a state subpoena demanding donor information — including names, addresses, and places of employment — in federal court, or whether it must first proceed through the state court system.

The ruling was a victory for First Choice Women’s Resource Centers. Diverse groups including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members of Congress, the Trump administration, and the ACLU had agreed that First Choice should be able to challenge the subpoena in federal court without first litigating the issue in New Jersey state court.

The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport, involves a 2023 subpoena issued by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin seeking donor information from First Choice. In 2022, Platkin had begun investigating crisis pregnancy centers like First Choice, saying they are organizations that may provide “false or misleading information about the safety and legality of abortion.”

First Choice described itself in a Supreme Court brief as a faith-based nonprofit serving New Jersey women by offering material support and medical services such as ultrasounds and pregnancy tests. The organization said it does not provide or refer for abortions.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told the court in an amicus brief: “Compelling disclosure of a religious organization’s financial support violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.”

It contended that compelling disclosure would undermine the group’s religious mission and chill the free‑exercise rights of donors who give anonymously in keeping with their beliefs.

The House of Lords, the upper chamber of the U.K. Parliament, halted consideration of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on April 24. More than 1,300 amendments were tabled during the committee stage, a record for any parliamentary bill. The debate lasted over 75 hours, consuming the available parliamentary timetable and preventing the bill from advancing.

There is a “big pushback happening” against assisted suicide, Alex Schadenberg, executive director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, said in an April 28 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”

The House of Lords “actually did what theyʼre supposed to do,” Schadenberg said. “They debated the bill and the government actually expected them to just have a short debate, have it go to committee, and then have it pass through. And in fact, they did have a thorough debate of the bill.”

The bill was introduced by Kim Leadbeater, a British Labour Party politician, and it passed in the House of Commons in June 2025. It would have allowed terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to request medical help to end their own lives.

While proponents said they expect to resurrect the proposal, it is “definitely at this moment losing momentum,” Schadenberg said. “I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it was recently defeated also in Scotland.”

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill "was originally passed by 70 to 56, then it went into committee, then they had the final vote on it and it was defeated,” he said. “The vote flipped around; it was 69 to 57. It was defeated. This is the same group of people who first passed it and then defeated it.”

“We also have the effect of Slovenia, who had a referendum and they overturned their assisted suicide law,” Schadenberg said.

Also in Canada, “thereʼs been a lot of pushback now on euthanasia … So weʼre seeing this big pushback happening, which had not been happening before, partially because our government is very pro-euthanasia,” he said.

‘Language’ of euthanasia matters

In the U.K., and other nations, the language of euthanasia is not always clear, but it is “when a doctor, or in my country of Canada, a nurse practitioner, intentionally kills you,” Schadenberg said.

“This is not about giving you lethal poison and you take it yourself, which is what happens in the U.S. with assisted suicide. This is them actually killing you,” he said.

When "debate actually happens and people get a chance to actually discuss it openly, you realize pretty quickly that the support for it just starts disappearing because the euthanasia movement bases their big push on emotions,” Schadenberg said.

“They want us to fear. They tell us stories of people who were going through difficult health conditions, and the answer for them was killing them," he said. "So I see that when you get this proper debate, things start turning around."

In Canada there is “a committee looking at euthanasia for mental illness alone,” he said. “This whole committee is starting to reverse in direction because weʼre actually discussing, ‘What does this actually mean?’”

The committee is “willing to discuss this openly, and the euthanasia lobby is getting very nervous because people are starting to back off from their support,” he said.

While in the U.S., “there are now 13 states … that have legalized assisted suicide,” we “have to be willing to talk about what it is, always compassionately though,” Schadenberg said.

“Iʼm not opposed to euthanasia or assisted suicide just because of how bad this is. Iʼm opposed to killing people,” he said.

If “you allow the language of the other side to rule the debate, you end up losing the debate because people start thinking of it in a fuzzy way rather than for what it actually is,” Schadenberg said.

Servant of God Joseph Dutton was a Civil War veteran who dedicated the later part of his life to serving people with leprosy alongside Father Damien De Veuster (St. Damien of Molokai) — who called him “Brother Joseph” — in Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai, Hawaii.

“Brother Joseph Dutton’s life is a powerful reminder of what it means to serve others with humility and compassion,” Green said in a press release. “By establishing this day of recognition, Hawaii ensures that his legacy continues to inspire future generations to act with kindness and selflessness.”

“As state senator representing Molokai, this recognition is deeply meaningful to our community,” Sen. Lynn DeCoite said. “Brother Joseph Dutton stood alongside the people of Kalaupapa during one of the most difficult chapters in our history, bringing care, dignity, and hope to those who needed it most. Establishing April 27 as Brother Joseph Dutton Day ensures that his legacy and the strength and resilience of Kalaupapa will continue to be honored for generations to come.”

“For 44 years Joseph Dutton was an important member of the Kalaupapa community, embracing aloha and compassion in giving of his life of service to the patients living during challenging times,” said Dr. Maria Devera, board president of the Joseph Dutton Guild. “It is fitting that we take time to recall and honor that life of service and take a moment and reflect on our call to service.”

Dutton was born Ira Dutton to Protestant parents in Stowe, Vermont, on April 27, 1843. In 1883 he became Catholic and took Joseph as his baptismal name.

The next year he entered a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, where he stayed for almost two years but discerned that a better way for him to offer penance would be through an active spiritual life.

In July 1886, Dutton arrived at Kalaupapa after discovering the work St. Damien was doing on the island. He quickly became an expert in caring for the sick, specifically those with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, and continued his work after Damien died in 1889 from leprosy. He served the sick in Kalaupapa for 44 years.

Dutton died in 1931 at the age of 87 at St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu.

His cause for canonization opened on May 10, 2022, at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu. On Jan. 21, 2024, the local phase of his cause concluded and was sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome for review.

In recent days, one of the countryʼs most prominent bishops in the public arena, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, contended that itʼs not even the role of the Churchʼs leaders to make a final determination about whether a particular war is just or not.

“The role of the Church,” Barron wrote in an X post on April 20, “is to call for peace and to urge that any conflict be strictly circumscribed by the moral constraints of the just war criteria,” which is outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2309).

However, he continued, “it is not the role of the Church to evaluate whether a particular war is just or unjust.” To buttress his argument, Barron cited the catechism’s explicit “just war” doctrine teaching (No. 2309) that “the evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.”

“So, is the war in question truly the last resort?” Barron asked, referencing just war criteria. “Is there really a balance between the good to be attained and the destruction caused by the war? Are combatants and noncombatants being properly distinguished in the waging of the conflict? Do the belligerents have right intention? Is there a reasonable hope of success? The posing of those questions — indeed the insistence upon their moral relevance — belongs rightly to the Church, but the answering of them belongs to the civil authorities,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, other clergy with significant public influence, such as Archdiocese of New York priest Father Gerald Murray, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, hold outright that the U.S. military action against Iran does qualify as a just war.

In an extensive appraisal of the situation in the light of just war teaching, Murray wrote in The Free Press that “the justice of the United States attack on Iran is confirmed by the Iranian regime’s admissions.”

Murray cited U.S. negotiator Steve Witkoff, who revealed that in the days just prior to the outbreak of the war “both Iranian negotiators said to us [Witkoff and fellow U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner] directly with, you know, no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium] and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.” The Iranian negotiators told their U.S. counterparts, Witkoff continued, that “they had the inalienable right to enrich all their nuclear fuel that they possessed.”

“A nuclear-armed Iran with ballistic missiles is an imminent threat to the United States, Israel, and many other countries,” Murray said.

“The advanced state of uranium enrichment meant that the United States and Israel faced an imminent threat. The clear intent of the Iranian regime to build nuclear weapons has not changed. Given that, it was just for the United States and Israel to attack Iran in order to eliminate the nuclear threat,” Murray affirmed, calling the joint military action “an act of protection, rather than aggression, under just war theory.”

Murray also pointed out that the negotiations that preceded the attack on Iran “show the length to which the United States was willing to go to avoid war — evidence that the strike was a last resort.”

Furthermore, he noted that when Witkoff and Kushner told the Iranian negotiators that the United States would provide non-weapons-grade uranium to Iran for 10 years if it stopped pursuing nuclear weapons, they were rebuffed by the Iranians.

“They rejected that, which told us at that very moment that they had no notion of doing anything other than retaining enrichment for the purpose of weaponizing,” Witkoff recounted.

“I do believe this is a just war precisely because of the nature of the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran poses to the United States, Israel, and its allies,” Murray said in a separate interview. “The just war criteria, in my opinion, does not require that we first absorb a nuclear attack before we can actually then respond to try to destroy their nuclear weapons.”

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February but have been in a ceasefire since April 8, which President Donald Trump extended indefinitely amid negotiations. No side has agreed to long-term peace.

Pope Leo XIV criticized the war and urged peace while Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the attack “does not seem to meet the conditions” of just war. 

On April 23, Leo doubled down on his opposition to war, saying he encourages “the continuation of dialogue for peace” amid the ceasefire negotiations. 

“As a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war, and I would like to encourage everyone to make every effort to seek responses that come from a culture of peace and not of hatred,” the Holy Father said.

Tyler Arnold contributed to this report.

As part of its investigation into alleged abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the state attorney generalʼs office had sought to make public the details of a grand jury report, including the identities of individuals who have not been charged with a crime but who allegedly failed to stop abuse from occurring.

A lower court granted the attorney generalʼs request to publish the information, with an appellate court partly upholding that decision. Yet in its April 27 ruling, the Maryland Supreme Court reversed those decisions, holding that the attorney generalʼs office did not “meet [the] burden” of justifying the release of the identities.

“Many grand jury investigations obtain damaging information and allegations about uncharged individuals that the public might benefit from learning,” the high court acknowledged.

But “one of the primary purposes of grand jury secrecy is to protect uncharged persons from public disgrace in the absence of a criminal charge and a forum in which to seek vindication,” it said.

“A court may not order disclosure of secret grand jury material, over the objection of an uncharged individual, for the purpose of holding that person accountable in the court of public opinion,” the justices said.

The court noted that the attorney generalʼs office had argued that the “intensity of public interest” in the case could justify revealing the identities.

Yet “the interests promoted by grand jury secrecy do not increase or decrease based on how much the public wants to learn the information contained in grand jury materials,” the court said.

The decision comes amid ongoing court proceedings in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which filed for bankruptcy in September 2023 ahead of a wave of sex abuse claims filed against it under the Maryland Child Victims Act.

Earlier this month, the archdiocesan insurer Hartford Insurance Group proposed contributing $100 million to a settlement for abuse victims. The archdiocese in 2024 sued multiple insurers over what it claimed was a failure to pay abuse claims for which the insurers were contractually obligated.

In 2024 Archbishop William Lori attended two court-ordered “listening sessions” with alleged victims of sexual abuse, with the prelate describing himself as "deeply moved by their very powerful testimony.”

The dioceseʼs "Trinity Village," located just a few blocks from Pensacola Bay on the Florida Panhandle, will offer the "tiny homes" at "affordable rents to individuals experiencing housing insecurity."

The “target population” for the small parcel of homes is senior citizens, the diocese says, pointing out that the senior demographic is “one of the more vulnerable segments of the population” regarding housing costs.

Groundbreaking for the project took place in September 2024. The site of the village was previously a vacant lot; the parcel is located directly behind the diocesan pastoral center.

Construction of the homes took place throughout 2025. The roughly 300-square-foot houses include a sleeping area, kitchen, living room, dining room and a bathroom, as well as on-site laundry.

Deacon Ray Aguado, the executive director of the Trinity House project, told EWTN News that the Pensacola population has increased “significantly” in recent years, while housing stock has not kept pace.

“Rents in the area have increased and, in some cases, have more than doubled in the past 12-24 months,” he said. “Many citizens, especially seniors, make sacrifices in order to cover their higher cost of housing.”

“These sacrifices include foregoing health care, cutting back on buying healthy foods, or missing meals altogether,” he noted.

“Trinity Village will offer these tiny homes at affordable rents to these seniors,” he said. “Trinity Village will also offer case management and mentoring services to support residents in their personal growth and ensure they maintain sound physical and financial health.”

Rent is expected to run $500 for the homes, with that price including utilities.

At the outset of the project, Pensacola-Tallahassee Bishop William Wack described the project as a “wonderful way for this community to come together” and support a vulnerable population.

“This is what we do as a Church. We donʼt just come together to pray, though that is an important part of what we do,” he said. “We come together [also] to build up the kingdom, to serve our brothers and sisters.”

“I am filled with deep gratitude and great joy as we announce the schedule of events surrounding the long-awaited Mass of beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen," Bishop Louis Tylka of the Diocese of Peoria said in a press release. "This is a momentous occasion not only for our diocese but for the Church in the United States and throughout the world.”

Events kick off on Sept. 20 with an anniversary Mass of Sheen’s ordination at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.

From Sept. 23–24, events will be taking place in St. Louis. Vespers at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis will take place on Sept. 23 followed by the beatification Mass at The Dome at America’s Center on Sept. 24. Before the beatification Mass, the faithful will be able to take part in adoration and confession. After the Mass, a relic of Sheen will be available for veneration.

The website for the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation states that the choice for holding the beatification in St. Louis “was driven by the desire to include the largest number of people possible.”

While the largest venue in Peoria would only hold 15,000 people, The Dome at America’s Center — which hosted a papal visit from Pope John Paul II in 1999 — has a capacity of 100,000. St. Louis is also within a reasonable driving distance from Peoria, taking roughly two and a half hours.

Events will then head back to Peoria with Masses of thanksgiving, parish talks, and an award gala taking place on Sept. 25. The celebration concludes with a Byzantine-rite Mass of thanksgiving at the Cathedral of St. Mary on Sept. 26.

The faithful are also encouraged to take part in a nine-day novena beginning on Sept. 15.

Tylka explained that all of the events have been “thoughtfully planned as part of a pilgrimage to help us enter more deeply into the spiritual richness of this occasion and to encounter the Lord in a meaningful way.”

He added: “The beatification Mass itself will be the central moment of this sacred time, but it is surrounded by opportunities for formation, fellowship, and prayer that we hope will touch hearts and inspire renewed faith. The events that follow the beatification Mass in Peoria, including Masses of Thanksgiving and presentations, will allow us to continue reflecting on the gift of Archbishop Sheen and how his witness calls us forward as missionary disciples.”

“I am truly grateful for the many individuals and teams who have worked tirelessly to prepare for this moment, and I look forward with great anticipation to welcoming pilgrims from near and far,” Tylka said. “My hope is that through this beatification, many will come to know more deeply the love of Jesus Christ, be renewed in their faith, and be inspired to live as joyful witnesses of the Gospel in their own lives.”

Abbott has spent more than 15 years and nearly 5,000 hours answering the Relief & Hope emergency services hotline and accompanying callers, many of whom are at their lowest and most vulnerable points.

The Catholic Charities Maine hotline provides immediate support for individuals and families experiencing crises. Abbott helps with a number of challenges related to finances, mental health, job loss, car repairs, housing, hunger, or any other situation callers may find themselves in.

“When my years of home schooling my children ended, I searched for places where I could feel useful and talk freely about Jesus,” Abbot said in a press release. “I often came home feeling depressed about the need around me and how little I was able to help.”

“Callers thank me for just being willing to listen and empathize. I really feel good after those calls. And I appreciate working with people who put their faith into action every day at work," she said.

"Catholic Charities is such a nice, friendly, godly place to work. I don’t feel I do enough to have earned this award. I am flabbergasted to have received it,” she said.

The award also acknowledges Abbott’s work in developing a large database of resources covering Maine’s 16 counties. Due to its success, the state’s 2-1-1 operators, who provide residents with local health and human services information, have even been known to call her for guidance on how to refer their own callers to the appropriate services.

“Julie Abbott’s service to Catholic Charities Maine shows that sometimes, the quietest contributions can make the greatest impact,” said Kerry Alys Robinson, CCUSA president and CEO.

“Julie’s gift of presence and attention allow struggling neighbors to retain their dignity even in their most distressing and vulnerable moments. She is truly a good and faithful servant to those in need,” Robinson said.

The award has been given annually since 1998 and is bestowed on an individual “who embodies the mission of CCUSA to provide critical services to those in need, advocate for justice in social structures, and call the entire Church and other people of goodwill to do the same,” according to CCUSA.

More than 200,000 people volunteer at Catholic Charities agencies around the country each year, and agencies nominate their most deserving volunteers for the honor. Abbott was also a 2021 Volunteer of the Year finalist for her work.

Abbott will receive the award at CCUSA’s 2026 annual gathering in Richmond, Virginia, later this year.

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement: “We are grateful the lives of the president, those who protect him, and everyone in attendance last night were spared from serious harm. Let us all pray for our elected leaders and public officials that they may receive God’s blessings. Because human life is a precious gift, there is no room for violence of any kind in our society.”

Attendees heard gunshots shortly after the White House Correspondents' Dinner began at the Washington Hilton hotel. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several Cabinet members were evacuated by federal agents. Trump said in a press conference at the White House following the shooting that a lone suspect was taken into police custody and one federal agent was hospitalized after being hit in his bulletproof vest.

Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio, said the issue of gun violence requires attention.

Bonnar said in a statement: “The United States is built on freedom and respect for all. There is no room for violence that endangers the life of any human being. Moreover, the issue of gun violence must be addressed. Violence is never the answer. We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down. We pray for peace in moments of disagreement and discord. As we celebrate our 250th birthday may we live as a nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”

Bonnar also offered a prayer for healing.

We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down.”

Bishop David Bonnar

Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio

Since 2025, the United States has seen a marked escalation in political violence, including assassination attempts and lethal attacks linked to ideological extremism, threats against elected officials, and armed incidents surrounding political events.

High‑profile political actor Charlie Kirk, a conservative commentator, was assassinated in Utah in September 2025. In Minnesota, Rep. Melissa Hortman, the top Democratic leader of the state House of Representatives, was assassinated in her home in June 2025, and her husband was killed in the same attack. Hortman, who had served as Minnesota House speaker, was a Roman Catholic catechist.

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, posted on X on April 26: “Iʼm grateful that the president and his entourage are unhurt after this latest attack. May I raise my voice against the viciousness and tribalism that are so prevalent on the internet and that contribute mightily to the violence we see in our political culture. Can we please remember that it is possible to disagree with a politicianʼs ideas without demonizing and dehumanizing him? Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, and that includes our ideological opponents.”

The online confrontation began after Sikorski responded to Sa’ar’s post apologizing for the destruction of the statue, which he called “grave and disgraceful.” Sikorski wrote that the IDF soldier “should be punished” and that “IDF soldiers themselves admit to war crimes. They killed not only civilian Palestinians but even their own hostages.”

Sa’ar condemned the response, describing the IDF as “a professional and ethical army” adding: “One should be cautious about making irresponsible statements that can ultimately lead to dangerous consequences.”

Catholic Church in South Korea surpasses major population milestone

South Korea’s Catholic population has surpassed 6 million people for the first time, according to statistics released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea.

The numbers released on Tuesday indicated that while the total population of Catholics in the country did not change from the previous year at 11.4%, the total number of Catholics rose by 9,178 from the year prior to 6,006,832, according to a Seoul Economic Daily Report Thursday.

Jesus mosaic created by refugee fleeing Nazis to be preserved

A mosaic of Jesus created by a refugee of Nazi persecution will be preserved, along with the historic Catholic church it is housed in, according to The Tablet.

The mural depicting Jesus on the cross created by Jewish Hungarian emigre artist George Mayer-Marton in 1955 will remain at Holy Rosary Church in Manchester, England, after the Oldham Mural & Cultural Heritage Trust launched a plan to turn the church into an arts and culture center.

Report alleges violations during Syria cost-of-living protest

A report on the April 17 protest in Damascus, Syria, says a peaceful civic demonstration calling for better living conditions, anti-corruption measures, justice, and accountability was met by intimidation, incitement, and multiple violations, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Sunday.

The “Justice for All” report said five people were injured, journalists were targeted in attacks, and a car attempted to drive into the protest, where between 900 and 1,200 Syrians staged a sit-in in Yusuf al-Azma Square.

The report also noted verbal threats against the protesters, who remained peaceful and carried only the Syrian flag, while some opponents used inflammatory slogans, filmed demonstrators, and challenged them over their political history. It urged independent investigations, prosecution of those responsible for incitement and abuse, stronger protections for journalists, and better safeguards for the right to peaceful assembly.

Beloved Italian missionary in Indonesia dies after five decades of ministry

Father Natalino Belingheri, the last surviving member of the first group of Italian missionaries assigned to Indonesia’s North Kalimantan province, has died.

“Thousands” of Indigenous Dayak in North Kalimantan attended Belingheri’s funeral, according to a Licas News report on Monday.

Belingheri, who was known locally by his Dayak name, “Wan Abung,” died April 10. He had been serving in remote areas across the northern province of Indonesia since 1977 and played a significant part in the establishment of the Diocese of Tanjung Selor in 2001, according to the report.

Catholic Nobel laureate urges Church not to ignore political prisoners in Belarus

Ales Bialiatski, a Catholic and Nobel laureate, is calling on Church leaders to intervene on behalf of political prisoners in Belarus in the wake of recent crackdowns on religious freedom.

“Western Church leaders and Vatican diplomats should be helping more against current restrictions,” Bialiatski told OSV News Thursday.

Bialiatski’s remarks come after the March 16 arrest of Father Anatoly Parakhnevich, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Minsk-Mohilev, by KGB agents and the closure of his church.

Bialiatski has been detained multiple times, including in 2021 amid government crackdowns on nationwide protests following President Alexander Lukashenko’s contested election. “I know from my own experience how good it is to be free, with time to recover and rebuild oneself — and if I get to meet the pope, Iʼll inform him of our Churchʼs needs,” Bialiatski said.

Thailand Catholics mourn seminarians killed in car accident

A funeral for four teenaged boys, including two seminarians, in Thailand drew hundreds of attendees, according to a report from Licas News on Monday.

“With their character and faith, they were the hope of their families and of the Thabom community, who longed to see them become priests,” said Father Nicholas Sarawut Sahaikaen, rector of the Prince of Peace Seminary in Udon Thani, in his eulogy for the two seminarians. He noted that one of the boys had also applied to seminary but was unable to attend due to family circumstances.

The ministryʼs initial sale of the pro-life pillow raised roughly $40,000 shortly after they began, Schaefer told EWTN News. “With the sale of the pillow, we were featured in an article, and that’s how the first invitations to schools started to emerge in 2015.”

“So, itʼs been 11 years since weʼve been in schools,” Schaefer said. “Since that first presentation, all kinds of things have come forth: We have presented in eight different states, we are all over the state of Nebraska, we have developed a K-4 Celebration of Life program, a fifth through sixth program, a middle school, and a high school and beyond program.”

Founded in Omaha, Nebraska, Heart of a Child Ministries is growing into a multistate presence, with two new fetal certified educators in Illinois, one in Springfield and another set to be trained in Mokena in October. The organization also now has certified educators in Alabama and Idaho. 

Fetal development education for every level

Heart of a Child’s fetal development education brings live ultrasounds to classrooms in a way that is specially tailored to suit each grade level. Its K–4 program centers on “fun fetal facts for kids” and includes “all kinds of hands-on things,” such as a team of musicians who play songs, according to Schaefer. “The kids absolutely love it,” she said. “We’re just putting the joy of life in front of them.”

Having the foundation of a K–4 program is crucial, according to Schaefer. “It really solidifies the deal — it puts the truth in their hearts from the very beginning so that when the lies start coming in middle school through social media, through their friends, they’ve already seen an ultrasound; they’ve already learned all these amazing facts about what’s happening.”

Through middle school, the curriculum progresses with more detailed fetal development facts, adoption stories, and begins addressing the abortion issue. In high school, the live ultrasound and fetal development education is supplemented with more detailed information about abortion, a testimonial speaker, and a panel discussion.

The ministry’s first college event on March 30, sponsored by Turning Point USA, utilized this format. The event took place at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska, and included a panel of two OB-GYN doctors, a representative for the abortion pill reversal (APR), Teresa Kenney, host of the Hormone Genius podcast, and other pro-life experts.

“We feel confident that when kids walk away from that, their hearts are changed, their hearts are moved, and we have the statistics to prove that,” Schaefer said, noting their events have had “a 56% conversion rate on average” among students regarding the topic of abortion.

Schaefer emphasized that the root of the program’s success is its holistic approach, acknowledging that each child processes information differently depending on age, personality, and maturity.

“Every piece that we do is extremely important because it hits kids at different levels,” she said. “Some kids are more logical, right? They want the facts. Some kids are more heart. They want to hear a testimonial for some from someone who had an abortion, and it affected them. That’s what’s going to touch their hearts.”

9 months of pregnancy for 9 months of school

Apart from its latest multistate expansion, Heart of a Child has also debuted a fetal development curriculum for teachers to implement in their classrooms year-round.

Titled “The Journey Within,” the teacher-led curriculum takes students through nine months of pregnancy during nine months of the school year, with posters, fetal development PowerPoints, ultrasound videos, studies, and images of babies in the womb.

A version of the curriculum is available for both public and Catholic schools and has been vetted by a medical panel for accuracy, Schaefer noted.

“For Catholic schools, we have a spiritual component where each month the teachers go through Scripture readings or a Church teaching, and the kids reflect on that, write about that, and go deeper,” she said. The faith-based curriculum operates under a “4S model” that incorporates Scripture, science, stories, and service. Each faith-based school that Heart of a Child presents to completes a service project, such as raising money to buy diapers for pro-life pregnancy centers.

Schaefer emphasized the importance of fetal development curriculum today, noting that “right now the buzz in pro-life education and the pro-life movement in general is that different states have passed a law requiring fetal development education.”

States that have laws requiring fetal development education in public schools include Tennessee, Idaho, North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, Iowa, and Ohio. Lobbying efforts in Nebraska to pass similar legislation have yet to be successful, Schaefer said, citing difficulty in finding a senator to prioritize a bill with precise language.

“We’ve been meeting with senators, and unfortunately the bill they came up with [had] the potential for a Planned Parenthood to get in there and do fetal development education because it was too loose,” she said. “So weʼve recommended the senators to go back and redo the language, and it might be where certain fetal development programs are required in the state of Nebraska.”

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has signaled his support of efforts to pass legislation requiring education on fetal development in Nebraska public schools, telling EWTN News in an interview earlier this year: “I am 100% behind it and am supportive of it.”

In a recent advocacy appeal, the organization called on Americans to contact their representatives in support of global food aid programs, emphasizing that such efforts reflect a commitment to human dignity, solidarity, and the common good. The House is expected to take up the farm bill (H.R. 7567) during the week of April 27.

“Hunger is a daily reality for families around the world — and the decisions Congress makes right now will shape the future of our global family,” the statement reads. “With the House vote approaching, a narrow window offers a critical opportunity to speak up.”

In an emailed statement to EWTN News, CRS emphasized that U.S. international food assistance — particularly Food for Peace — must remain strong and flexible as “around the world, needs are rising, and these programs are often the difference between families getting through a crisis or not.”

The organization said it is “particularly concerned about anything that would limit flexibility or reduce resources at a time when global hunger is already at historic levels.”

“Programs like Food for Peace have a long track record of saving lives,” it continued, “and it’s critical they remain well funded and able to adapt to complex emergencies.”

It added that in “fast-moving crises, delays or limitations can mean families go without food when they need it most” and framed the issue more broadly: “At its core, this is about human dignity. Hunger isn’t just a policy issue — it’s a moral one.”

“CRS is encouraging both Catholics and policymakers to keep the needs of the most vulnerable at the center of these decisions,” the organization said.

The push comes as lawmakers will decide whether to vote on more than 300 amendments to the legislation, revealing sharp disagreement over whether the bill should focus primarily on domestic nutrition programs or maintain a significant role in global humanitarian food assistance.

Much of the debate has centered on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative. Some proposed changes would tighten eligibility requirements, alter benefit structures, or restrict the types of foods eligible for purchase, including sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods. Other proposals would expand access through measures such as universal school meals, increased nutrition incentives, and additional support for food-insecure communities.

Together, the competing proposals highlight differing visions for federal food policy — whether it should be narrowly focused on alleviating hunger or also used to influence dietary outcomes and public health.

Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, chair of the House Agriculture Committee, has led Republican negotiations on the bill, while Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minnesota, the committee’s ranking Democrat, has served as the lead Democratic negotiator.

In a statement shared with EWTN News, a House Agriculture Committee aide for Thompson said the “Food for Peace program has a long history of helping both American farmers and hungry communities around the world.”

“The House Committee on Agriculture was proud to include a provision in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 that designates the United States Department of Agriculture as this program’s permanent home,” the statement continued. “Chairman Thompson continues to advocate for this program in the halls of Congress as debate on the farm bill advances.”

Craigʼs office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Catholic teaching frames hunger as global responsibility

Catholic organizations have long emphasized that hunger policy extends beyond national borders, a theme reflected in recent advocacy surrounding the farm bill.

In February, a joint Catholic letter to Congress from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), CRS, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Rural Life, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul urged lawmakers to strengthen both domestic and international food assistance programs.

The letter highlighted initiatives such as Food for Peace, which provides U.S. food aid abroad; McGovern-Dole Food for Education, which supports reducing hunger and improving literacy and primary education in low-income countries; and Food for Progress, which helps developing nations strengthen agricultural systems.

The letter’s emphasis on global responsibility reflects broader Catholic teaching on hunger, echoed in recent remarks by Pope Leo XIV.

Speaking at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome for World Food Day in October 2025, the pope noted that “whoever suffers from hunger is not a stranger. He is my brother, and I must help him without delay.”

He expanded on that theme more recently while speaking to reporters aboard the papal flight returning from Africa on April 23, reflecting on the responsibility of wealthier nations to address conditions in poorer regions of the world.

“I ask myself: What are we doing in richer countries to change the situation in poorer countries?” he said. “Why can we not try, both through state aid and through the investments of large wealthy companies and multinationals, to change the situation in countries like those we visited on this visit?”

I ask myself: What are we doing in richer countries to change the situation in poorer countries?”

Pope Leo XIV

Faith-based organizations, including CRS, have pointed to such statements in urging policymakers to maintain international food assistance as part of U.S. humanitarian leadership.

Amendments reflect long-standing debates

Several amendments reflect long-standing debates — often highlighted in Catholic advocacy — over how U.S. policy should balance domestic nutrition programs with international hunger relief.

An amendment by Rep. Jim Costa, D-California, would increase funding for the administration of Food for Peace, a program that provides U.S. food aid abroad, often using uses American agricultural commodities.

Introduced by Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-New York, and Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, another amendment would extend Food for Peace through 2031 and expand its scope to address child wasting, a severe form of malnutrition, through the use of specialized therapeutic foods.

Other amendments focus on domestic programs such as one introduced by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tennessee, that would expand allowable SNAP purchases to include sliced meats and cheeses from delis.

Reps. Kim Schrier, D-Washington, and Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, proposed creating a grant program under the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to support purchases from small and undeserved agricultural producers for distribution through emergency feeding organizations.

The House Rules Committee is set to decide April 27 whether to allow floor votes on any of the amendments.

Expert highlights food system links

Speaking more broadly about the farm bill debate, Stephanie Scott, a senior policy analyst at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, said domestic nutrition programs and international food assistance are more closely linked than they are often treated in policy discussions.

“I think when it comes to the food priorities for both domestic and international, they’re kind of the same in what we as a nation would like,” she told EWTN News, noting that programs such as SNAP and international food aid both function as core tools for addressing hunger.

Scott said international food assistance programs also respond to crises driven by conflict, climate shocks, and economic instability, and raised concerns about whether funding levels are sufficient to meet rising need both domestically and abroad.

“Prioritizing international food security,” she added, “is not only a human right and a basic need but a strategic one.”

The U.S. Department of Justice said on April 24 that it was moving to once again “seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences,” restarting the federal death penalty process that had been indefinitely stalled under the Biden administration.

Among the measures that the Justice Department said it will take include “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad” as well as “streamlining” administrative processes to hasten executions by the federal government.

The government said it would also seek to restart carrying out lethal injections by pentobarbital, a barbiturate that prisoner advocates have said can cause extreme pain and suffering when used in executions.

In an accompanying report released on April 24, the Justice Department called pentobarbital “the gold standard of lethal injection drugs.” It described the drug as “more humane” than other modes of execution and pointed out that it has been used in assisted suicide procedures in the U.S. for those suffering from terminal illnesses.

Pope Leo XIV urges abolition of death penalty

The governmentʼs announcement came roughly at the same time on April 24 that Pope Leo XIV addressed, via video message, a gathering of activists at DePaul University celebrating the 15th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois.

The pope in his message noted that the Catholic Church teaches that “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person."

The Holy See updated the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to explicitly call for the abolition of capital punishment worldwide. Leo likewise told the pro-life advocates in his hometown of Chicago that the Church “affirm[s] that the dignity of the person is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.”

The Holy Father said he joined the advocates in celebrating the stateʼs 2011 abolition of the death penalty; he wrote that he offered his “support to those who advocate for the abolition of the death penalty in the United States of America and around the world.”

“I pray that your efforts will lead to a greater acknowledgement of the dignity of every person and will inspire others to work for the same just cause,” the pope wrote.

Leoʼs message comes one day after he spoke out forcefully against executions aboard the papal plane returning from his apostolic visit to Africa.

Asked about Iranʼs reported large-scale executions, the pope said: “I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe that human life is to be respected and that all people — from conception to natural [death] — their lives should be respected and protected.”

Barr, a Catholic, said because Iranʼs potential use of nuclear weapons posed a legitimate threat to the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, the war doesnʼt violate just war doctrine.

Barr said the Iran war doesnʼt clearly violate just war doctrine during an April 23 panel discussion hosted by the Napa Institute.

“The traditional position of the Church was to exhort leaders to take into account all the factors, but not to say, ‘thatʼs wrong’ unless it clearly violated the just war doctrine, which this obviously doesn’t,” Barr said.

‘If we allow this window to go by’

Barr, a former board member at the Catholic Information Center,  said the U.S. faces “difficult questions dealing with nuclear weapons” and argued that allowing the window of opportunity to dismantle Iranʼs nuclear capabilities to pass by would result in grave consequences.

“If somethingʼs obviously out of bounds, you can say the Nazis, you know, should not have invaded this, or, you know, Saddam Hussein should not have invaded Kuwait. But thatʼs not the situation we face,” he said.

“We face these very difficult questions dealing with nuclear weapons,” Barr said. "We’ve tried for a long time to deal with it, and if we allow this window to go by, the costs in the future are much higher, and the likelihood will be that the people won’t be willing to pay that, and nuclear weapons will be deployed by Iran.”

“Youʼre basically weighing these imponderables and risks,” he said. “If the cost of dealing with it later and allowing them more time to reach a certain level of conventional force will make it almost impossible to deal with it without massive losses, including in Europe, certainly in the Middle East and certainly among Americans, then those future costs have to be taken into account and say thereʼs a window now.”

“When youʼre faced with some of these difficult issues, itʼs very easy to stand back and say, turn the other cheek, or take an absolutist position [that] ‘you shouldnʼt be violent,’” Barr said. “But that begs the question, that doesnʼt really solve the problem, and deal with the real issue at stake that other people have to deal with.”

Barr also said he believed “the primary temptation of religious people is self-righteousness,” which he said Pope Francis “was very good to call attention to.” He said he has seen Catholics on both ends of the political spectrum fall into “virtue signaling,” which he said, “is not coming to grips with the real moral choices and the real practical reality.”

Reflecting on his upbringing, Barr said his father got him interested in St. Augustine, the fourth- to fifth-century theologian who developed criteria morally limiting when war may be justified.

“My parents always said, ‘Think things through, donʼt just take your belief like itʼs a suit off a rack in a store and say, ”OK, Iʼm putting this coat on, this is what I believe.“ Understand why you believe it,’” he said.

Barr’s remarks 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.

Leo has said the Iran war fails to align with just war theory, citing failure to exhaust all diplomatic resources, disproportionate civilian harm, and lack of clear moral objectives. The U.S. bishops have publicly backed Leo, stating that just war teachings do not morally authorize unchecked military violence.

Popes seldom issue blanket rulings but Pope Benedict XV made clear World War I lacked moral legitimacy given its scale, civilian toll, and lack of proportionate ends. Pope John Paul II warned the Gulf War did not meet just war criteria. And the Vatican also formally stated in 2003 the Iraq invasion failed just‑war standards.

Pope Leo XIV urges peace

The Holy Father has said “God does not bless any conflict” and said that “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.”

On Palm Sunday, Leo stated that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’”

The Trump administration defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers for one year; this letter asks the Senate to continue this defunding for 10 years.

Signed by Live Action Founder Lila Rose, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, March for Life Action President Jennie Bradley Lichter, and more than 30 others, the letter urges the Senate to ban abortion funding in the 2026 budget reconciliation package.

“Without further congressional action, federal funding for the abortion industry will resume after July 4, 2026, and taxpayer dollars will once again flow to organizations whose core business model relies on abortion,” the letter read.

“The financial stakes are significant,” the letter continued. “Planned Parenthood alone receives over $830 million annually in taxpayer funding, primarily through federal health programs. Ending this funding would represent one of the most meaningful pro-taxpayer reforms Congress can enact.”

Pennsylvania court rules state Medicaid program must cover abortion

A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled that the state constitution guarantees a right to abortion and that state Medicaid funds must cover abortion.

The April 20 decision struck down a decades-old law that protected taxpayer money from being used to cover abortion through Medicaid.

The case could still be appealed to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court.

In addition to Pennsylvania, 21 states in the U.S. use Medicaid funds to cover abortion, and an additional seven states sometimes do in certain circumstances.

Pennsylvania joins 12 other states that have enshrined a right to abortion in their state constitutions.

In Pennsylvania, abortion is legal through 23 weeks of pregnancy.

U.S. senator urges Federal Trade Commission to investigate ‘misleading’ claims by abortion drug groups

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate abortion drug manufacturers’ claims that the drugs are “safer than Tylenol.”

In an April 20 letter to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Banks asked the commission to investigate “misleading” claims made by those selling abortion drugs, as the trade commission can intervene in “deceptive trade practices.”

“Many online clinics — including online clinics that ship to women in Indiana — explicitly state on their websites that abortion drugs are safer than Tylenol,” Banks said. “Others claim that abortion drugs almost never cause serious complications.”

“At best, these statements are misleading,” Banks continued.

“Emerging evidence indicates that abortion drugs are more dangerous than manufacturers and dispensers claim and cause serious medical complications in a concerning number of cases,” Banks said.

Banks urged the commission to “act swiftly and without delay,” noting that “companies that profit from abortion drugs should be honest about their risk.”

Thousands gather for Virginia March for Life

Thousands of Virginians gathered for a March for Life on Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia.

Speakers included national March for Life President Jennie Bradley Lichter, leaders from the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs, and the Catholic dioceses of Richmond and Arlington, among others.

On the day of, The Family Foundation Action, which partnered with other organizations to host the March for Life, also held a training session for pro-lifers designed to equip them to talk about abortion.

“We had about 1,000 people attend the training, which is remarkable,” Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation of Virginia, told EWTN News. “We had four different trainings: one for ministry leaders, students, medical professionals, and pro-life activists. Attendees were thrilled to be equipped to be more than just a voter but an influencer.”

Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout led the closing prayer of the rally before the march.

“Father, we ask you for grace today, for all those entrusted with the responsibility of leadership in our commonwealth, that they have the courage to turn away from the darkness of the culture of death and turn toward the light of the Gospel of life,” Knestout prayed.

The diocese announced the rollout of “Maria” this month. It describes the tool as a means of “thoughtfully exploring how new technologies can support more attentive listening, more consistent communication, and more personal engagement with those we serve.”

Bishop Frank Caggiano says on the programʼs website that the digital tool will “help us discern how technology may support deeper connection and accompaniment.”

“Maria will help us learn how digital tools can deepen our listening and foster more personal responses, while always keeping human relationships at the heart of the Church’s mission,” he said.

Ethical safeguards, ‘huge potential’

On the April 15 edition of his weekly podcast “Let Me Be Frank,” Caggiano jokingly described himself as “technologically a Neanderthal,” but he expressed excitement that the tool could be used “not just to raise money but to evangelize.”

Speaking on the podcast to diocesan chancellor Deacon Patrick Toole, who spent years as an executive with the technology giant IBM, Caggiano asked if an AI agent can “ever get to the point where it could resist human control.”

Toole acknowledged that such a scenario was “possible,” though he noted that AI companies institute “huge safeguards” to ensure that AI personalities are trained properly.

The deacon said that the diocesan chancery has been holding discussions about “how to use artificial intelligence for the good of the mission” and that diocesan fundraising “seemed like a good opportunity to try it in an area where we donʼt have the resources.”

“My primary motivation was that weʼre doing so many really exciting things and itʼs hard to get the message out,” he said.

Emily Groccia, a vice president at the tech company Givzey, which helped design Maria, said on the podcast that the program was rolled out to 1,000 donors in late March.

She said part of the toolʼs programming will be to “graduate” donors to actual human workers under some circumstances, such as when someone wants to significantly upgrade a donation, or if they raise intimate personal questions better addressed by a fellow human being.

“We are very cautious on allowing our [AI] to engage in lines of conversation that are outside of those traditional fundraising conversations,” she said.

The bishop said that AI fundraising represents “huge potential” for the nearly 200 dioceses in the United States. But he stressed the need for “guidelines” to ensure that AI agents do not take the place of human beings.

“Just off the top of my head, if someone reveals a death, I would not want the assistant to respond at all,” he said. “I want a human person to respond. ... Because again, as a Church, weʼre a unique reality.”

Diocesan spokeswoman Marie Oates shared with EWTN News several examples of Mariaʼs interactions with local Catholics. In one, a parishioner expresses interest in volunteering with immigrants, for which Maria was able to provide information on local Catholic Charities immigration services.

In another, a mother asks Maria for opportunities to get involved in diocesan programs with “other moms like me.” Maria offers to connect the mother to parish programs with mothers' groups and family ministries.

Oates said both interactions “highlight our goal for the program,” which she said focuses on “using AI [not] as a way to replace human relationships but as a tool to help us connect more personally.”

“[We want to use] AI to bridge the gaps in our ability as a Church to communicate directly with everyone, with the goal of fostering more personal and human connection and interaction, so that we as humans can better accompany each other,” she said.

On the bishopʼs podcast, meanwhile, Toole said that Catholics “have the opportunity to bear great fruit” with AI technology “as long as we align it to the One and make sure we stay true to that with Christ at the center.”

Caggiano described AI innovation as representing “an epochal shift in human life” comparable to the development of the printing press.

“Thereʼs no one on Earth alive — even these great architects of [AI] — who really know where all of this will go,” he said. “We need to answer the question, where should it go?”

NIAW runs from April 19–25, bringing attention to the high numbers of people — now 1 in 6 globally — who experience infertility at some point in their lives, according to the World Health Organization.

Snead, a fellow at The Catholic Association, tackles the topic in her book “Infertile But Fruitful: Finding Fulfillment When You Canʼt Conceive.” Through her story and the stories of other women, she wrote the book to be “the voice of a friend who has been where you are now and made it through in one piece.”

Snead said the book was “a chance for me to add to the growing conversation and awareness about infertility, especially among Catholics for whom in vitro fertilization (IVF) (the standard ‘cure’ for infertility) is not an option.”

In an interview with EWTN News, Snead shared her perspective and offered encouragement and advice for couples navigating the grief of infertility.

EWTN News: What might people not know about infertility?

Leigh Snead: For sure, how many people are suffering from it. For good reasons, this is a particularly private cross — it involves the most intimate parts of your marriage, for one. But marriage is public, and people can easily see if you do or donʼt have children, or, in most cases, whether or not youʼre expecting.

There is a lot of hard stuff experienced in silence and even shame. It might be hard to understand if you havenʼt been through it, but it can feel almost humiliating when you canʼt conceive and so you tend to slap on a smile and pretend nothing is wrong.

Itʼs too bad when we give in to this temptation to isolate ourselves from others who really only want to help. Yes, their concern can feel like even more pressure on top of what you may already be feeling internally, but you should open yourself up to their prayers.

In the same way, pray for married couples and couples you think might be carrying the cross of infertility, even before they ask you.

What do you wish you knew when you began navigating infertility, and what would you tell couples who are going through it now?

I wish I hadnʼt overlooked and underestimated the relief and comfort I could have received by being more open about my physical and emotional struggles when facing infertility. The more I kept it a secret, the more shameful it all felt, which led to isolation and even more secrecy and shame.

Privacy is one thing, but purposefully forgoing the love and prayers of those who only care for you out of shame over something you have little to no control over — nothing good can come of that.

What steps can couples who are going through infertility take?

Seek good medical care that aligns with your values. Learn and develop a good understanding of what the Church teaches, especially about the prohibition of IVF. Understand the “why” — not just the fact that itʼs “not allowed.” Communicate with each other and make time to enjoy your marriage even though youʼre struggling.

Bear this burden together. Find parish support groups or a group online. Pray together and choose a saint to accompany you. Youʼre probably going to feel and think some dark things, so frequent confession, spiritual direction, and counseling is a good idea.

What does the Catholic Church offer couples who struggle with this? What do you think the Church can do to further help them?

The teachings on marriage, sexuality, and procreation the Church gives us are such a gift, but we need to be reminded of them regularly. Iʼd like to see more priests and seminarians become fluent in the language of Catholic infertility. I think making a discussion about the possibility of infertility should be included in marriage prep courses.

The Catholic infertility ministry Springs in the Desert is a great resource not only for those carrying the cross of infertility but for those, like priests, hoping to support them.

What advice do you have for couples who are being pushed to try IVF and other methods that do not align with Church teaching?

Seek medical care from a doctor who respects or, even better, shares your views on marriage, sexuality, procreation, and human dignity. This is true for whatever type of medical care you may be seeking and is not limited to fertility care. If you feel mistreated by your physician, just walk out. There is another doctor out there who will provide you with the care you deserve.

You and your husband eventually became parents though adoption. What would you want people to know about adoption?

I think itʼs important to keep in mind that infertility and adoption are not to be lumped together, and I try to not conflate the two in my work. Thatʼs not always easy for me because I have four beautiful sons through the great gift of adoption.

Not everyone with a diagnosis of infertility will be called to adopt a child. There are so many ways to be fruitful! We shouldnʼt limit our idea of a fruitful marriage to the raising of children, and no one should feel obliged to adopt because theyʼre unable to conceive. And if they donʼt hear that call to adopt it does not mean that they didnʼt “really” want a child, or that they arenʼt suffering.

In a similar fashion, adoption fulfilled my call to motherhood but the arrival of my sons did not “cure” my infertility, nor did it take away the scars infertility can leave behind. Itʼs one of those messy parts of life where you feel all the feelings at once.

During HHS budget discussions on Wednesday, Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, pressed Kennedy about assisted suicide, noting that in several states, disability groups have filed lawsuits saying that their assisted suicide laws are discriminatory.

“Disability groups are filing against some of the assisted suicide laws because it seems to target those with disabilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990: That act has worked to protect those with disabilities, not incentivize them to take their own life,” Lankford said.

“We’ve now seen a rise of people with eating disorders that are given access to assisted suicide, and this is just wrong a multitude of ways,” Lankford added.

“What is HHS doing to protect those with disabilities that may be targeted by those assisted suicide laws?” Lankford asked.

“To me, I think those laws are abhorrent,” Kennedy responded. “And we just see in Canada today, I think the No. 1 cause of death is assisted suicide, and as you say, it targets people with disabilities and people who are struggling in their lives.”

Euthanasia is the fifth-leading cause of death in Canada, accounting for an estimated 1 in 20 deaths in Canada. The country is currently considering expanding medical assistance in dying (MAID) to individuals whose sole underlying condition is mental illness.

In the United States, assisted suicide is legal in 12 states and Washington, D.C. A recently-compiled database found that at least 14,000 Americans have died by assisted suicide since 1997; the actual number is likely much higher because not all states provide data.

“I don’t think we can be a moral society — we can’t be a moral society around the globe if that becomes institutionalized throughout our society,” Kennedy told Lankford. “So, I am happy to work with you in whatever way we can.”

Three ongoing lawsuits allege that their state’s assisted suicide laws are discriminatory against people with disabilities.

Most recently in December 2025, several disability and patient advocacy groups filed a lawsuit alleging that Delawareʼs new assisted suicide law discriminates against people with disabilities.

The Delaware lawsuit maintained that “people with life-threatening disabilities” are at “imminent risk” because of the new law.

“Throughout the country, a state-endorsed narrative is rapidly spreading that threatens people with disabilities: Namely, that people with life-threatening disabilities should be directed to suicide help and not suicide prevention,” the lawsuit read.

“At its core, this is discrimination plain and simple,” the lawsuit continued. “With cuts in health care spending at the federal level, persons with life-threatening disabilities are now more vulnerable than ever.”

In another recent lawsuit in July 2025, United Spinal v. Colorado, a coalition of advocacy groups claimed that Colorado’s assisted suicide law is unconstitutional because it allegedly discriminates against those who suffer from disabilities.

In 2023, a similar California lawsuit challenged California’s assisted suicide law, saying it puts people with disabilities at greater risk.

The panel was part of an April 22 event, “Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Jewish-Catholic Friendship at a Moment of Crisis,” cosponsored by the college and the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism.

Featured speakers on the panel included Yarden Zelivansky, an active reserve sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a Jewish convert to Catholicism; Gideon Lazar, an American Jewish convert to Catholicism; and Aviva Lund, a Catholic of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.

The panel was moderated by Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism founding member Simone Rizkallah and Peter Wolfgang, president of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action.

Gen Z and Jewish-Catholic Relations

Observing an uptick in antisemitism among Catholics online, Lazar pointed to Gen Z’s reticence to accept arguments rooted in “brotherhood” or theological similarities between Catholics and Jews.

Lazar said Gen Z men are looking for answers related to theological and political differences, and that when arguments fail to address these differences, “what they’re hearing is you don’t have answers to their questions.”

“Gen Z men in many ways see a culture that has failed them, and they’re looking for answers and feel that because the older generations failed them, they don’t have those answers,” Lazar said.

“When Gen Z men don’t get those real answers,” he said, “theyʼre going to get them from random antisemites online who have quote-mined a bunch of random Church fathers to make the Church fathers and the tradition look antisemitic.”

He further condemned the weaponization of the phrase “Christ is King,” saying “one of the worst things that’s happened is this beautiful message, the kingship of Christ, has been corrupted by people who are fundamentally opposed to Christ.”

“How are we possibly supposed to tell our Jewish brothers and sisters that Jesus is their Messiah when we tell that to them, they think that means you hate us?” he said. “This should be a message of love.”

Being a Jewish Catholic convert in Israel

Zelivanksy, who co-hosts “The Voice of Jacob” podcast with Lazar, shared that his experience being a Jewish convert to Catholicism living in Israel has been “mostly surprisingly benign.”

“It seems to me that especially since Oct. 7, [2023], thereʼs been a shift in how Israelis view what kind of makes you a part of the nation of Israel,” Zelivansky said, explaining even if Israelis disagree with your theological position, he said, it is more important to them that “you do what everybody else does to be a part of the nation of Israel.”

“I canʼt say life is too complicated for me as a Christian. Generally, people seem to just not really care,” he said, noting that his IDF gear and car are marked with the Jerusalem cross.

“A lot of the problems people speak of in Israel are kind of centered in Jerusalem,” said Zelivanksy, who lives just outside Tel Aviv. “My friends who live in Jerusalem do experience some of the spitting and the cursing that you hear about, but Iʼve never experienced it anywhere else.”

Zelivansky, who attended the conference virtually after his flight was delayed due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, also offered his view as a Catholic regarding the war.

“Faith comes first. Faith informs morals. Morals inform politics," he said. “And serving in a certain countryʼs military certainly does not entail agreeing with every single policy.”

“I wouldnʼt say itʼs my place to comment on politics,” he said. “I would say that we all need to inform ourselves on current events that are relevant to us and examine them in the light of faith and not examine faith in the light of politics, which is something that tends to happen a lot, left and right, these days.”

Jewish-Catholic identity

During her remarks, Lund said embracing her Jewish roots as a cradle Catholic among her extended Jewish family has been a mostly positive experience, noting: “From my experience, Jews are not evangelical. They just care about their own people.”

“For me itʼs honestly kind of been an evolution,” she said. “The way I approach it now is basically our Jewish brethren are our brethren, theyʼre our older siblings, and so, we might as well just enjoy them as fellow human beings.”

Lund said her Jewish roots have influenced her Catholic faith, because “the more I meet Jewish brethren, the more I deepen into the mystery of Jesus, especially with evangelizing.”

Sister Francis Domenici Piscatella was born on April 20, 1913, on Long Island.

“My whole mind is [on] God. He has kept me going all these years,” she told Fox 5 News.

“God gives us a certain amount of years to live, and we try to live out that number of years,” the nun told Fox News. "I’ve given up counting my years. I never really thought I would get to be that age.”

Sister Piscatella, a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville since 1931, has dedicated 94 years of her life to the service of the Church. “I wanted to be someone important to the sisters,” she remarked, although those who know her attest that she has had a profound influence on generations of students and religious alike.

A life marked by faith and resilience

The nun lost part of her left arm at the age of 2 in an accident, but it did not prevent her from pursuing her vocation. “I had to show them that the fact that I had only one arm didn’t in any way impede me,” she told Channel 7 Eyewitness News.

“No one ever had to help me. If anyone helped someone else, I was the one who did the helping,” she said.

“I always ran to church and prayed all the time,” she recalled, highlighting the role of faith in her life.

She was a teacher for 52 years. At Molloy College in Rockville Centre, New York, she taught geometry, drawing perfect circles on the blackboard with her one good arm.

A testimony that inspires generations

Those who know her highlight her tireless spirit. Even at the age of 110, she continued performing household chores and attending Mass daily. “I hope you saw something good about this old lady,” she said humbly.

During Sister Piscatellaʼs lifetime, there have been 10 popes, 20 U.S. presidents, two world wars, and several pandemics. According to Guinness World Records, she became the world’s oldest nun following the passing of the Brazilian religious Inah Canabarro Lucas.

During the celebration of her 113th birthday, she said: “It’s very kind of everybody who came and made this such a lovely day.” She even received a proclamation from Pope Leo, the 10th pontiff to be elected in her lifetime.

With a life that continues to bear fruit, Sister Piscatella has become a living symbol of persevering faith and quiet service, leaving an indelible mark on the Church and on those who have passed through her classrooms.

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

The White House said in March that it would go ahead with the planned sale of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper, a transfer that the coalition group Apache Stronghold has been fighting for roughly half a decade.

The Native American group has attempted several times to have federal courts block the sale, which it says violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Those efforts peaked in October 2025 when the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by the group to have its case heard.

Yet on April 22 the religious liberty law firm Becket said Apache Stronghold filed an amended lawsuit in U.S. district court, with senior attorney Luke Goodrich claiming that the federal government “rushed the Oak Flat transfer through under cover of darkness” in order to avoid “meaningful judicial review.”

"That was as illegal as it was brazen," Goodrich said, urging the court to "rescind the illegal transfer and protect the freedom of Western Apaches to continue worshipping at Oak Flat for generations to come.”

In addition to claims of violating both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the suit alleges that the transfer violates the 1852 Treaty of Santa Fe struck between the Apaches and the U.S. government.

The Indigenous coalition has garnered support from major Catholic backers in its religious liberty bid. In 2024 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joined an amicus brief arguing that lower court decisions allowing the sale of Oak Flat represent “a grave misunderstanding” of religious freedom law.

The Knights of Columbus similarly filed a brief in support of the Apaches, arguing that the decision to allow the property to be mined applies an “atextual constraint” to the federal religious freedom law with “no grounding in the statute itself.”

Resolution Copper was aiming to start exploratory drilling at the Oak Flat site in mid-March, according to a March 15 letter filed at the Supreme Court by an attorney for the company.

The research released April 23 found that Christianity has experienced some of the largest losses of followers due to religious switching, when people identify with a different religion in adulthood than they were raised in as a child, compared with other faith groups around the world.

The U.S. data in the report, “Catholicism Has Lost People to Religious Switching in Many Countries, While Protestantism Has Gained in Some,” comes from the Center’s 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study (RLS). The international data comes from surveys conducted by Pew in spring 2024.

The global data that analyzed 24 countries was from Pew’s international surveys conducted via telephone or face-to-face interviews. Pew has conducted more than 800,000 interviews in over 110 countries. The margin of sampling error is based on individual countries’ research.

Religious switching impact on Catholicism

Religious switching has affected Catholicism and Protestantism, two of the largest Christian subgroups, in differing ways. Catholicism has lost more people than it has gained in almost all the countries surveyed, whereas Protestantism has seen a net gain from religious switching.

Despite losses from religious switching, Catholics still make up the majority of the population in eight of the 24 nations Pew surveyed, including Poland (92%), the Philippines (80%), Italy (69%), Mexico (67%), Peru (67%), Hungary (63%), Colombia (60%), and Argentina (58%).

In 12 of the 24 surveyed countries, most of the population was raised Catholic and many adults still identify with the faith today. For example, 96% of Polish adults were raised Catholics. Of the group, 92% still identify with the religion, with 4% reporting they have left Catholicism.

Hungary also experienced a slight loss with 57% of the population identifying as lifelong Catholics and only 2% reporting that they left the Church.

But overall, more people left Catholicism than joined it in 21 of the countries. People who leave Catholicism tend to join Protestantism or disaffiliate from religion altogether, the report said.

Disaffiliation was found to be especially common in parts of Europe and Latin America, including Chile, where 19% of all adults who are former Catholics identify as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.”

In comparison, in Kenya, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Philippines, former Catholics are more likely to have joined Protestantism than to have become religious “nones,” the report said.

Other adults have left the Church, with former Catholics making up 10% or more of the total population in 15 countries.

In Italy, 22% of adults said they were raised Catholic but no longer identify as such, and an additional 1% were not raised Catholic but entered the Church. The nationʼs Catholic population experienced a net loss of 21% due to religious switching.

In the United States, 30% of adults surveyed reported they were raised Catholic and only 17% remain Catholic. An additional 2% who were not raised Catholic reported they entered the Church, for a total of 19% of U.S. adults who are Catholic.

Impact on other religions

Similar to Catholics, former Protestants also make up a large share of the population in many countries. In nine of the 24 countries analyzed, the group was found to make up 10% or more of the population.

In several countries, more people have joined Protestantism than have left it, with the religion having a net gain from switching in almost as many places as it has seen a net loss. Adults who leave Protestantism tend to become religiously unaffiliated, the report said.

Most of the countries where Protestantism has had net gains are in Latin America, including in Brazil where 15% have joined Protestantism and 6% have left. Most Brazilians who reported switching into Protestantism were former Catholics.

A jury in Alameda County Superior Court on April 22 awarded the eight-figure settlement to an unidentified John Doe amid ongoing bankruptcy proceedings brought by the Oakland Diocese.

The law firm Jeff Anderson and Associations said in a press release that the settlement was “the first case to reach a jury verdict under the California Child Victims Act.” The law, passed in 2019, opened a three-year window for alleged abuse victims to file claims outside of the standard statute of limitations.

The allegations brought by the John Doe in Oakland concerned Father Stephen Kiesle, a priest who has faced multiple abuse allegations dating from the 1970s. The victim said Kiesle abused him during that decade.

Kiesle pleaded no contest in 1978 to lewd conduct involving two boys, for which he received probation, while in the early 2000s he was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading no contest on charges of molesting a girl near Sacramento.

Kiesle was charged in 2022 with vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving after a crash that killed a man in Rossmoor, California. He pleaded no contest to those charges in 2023 and was sentenced to more than six years in state prison.

The Diocese of Oakland says on its list of credibly accused priests that Kiesle was removed from ministry in 1978 and laicized in 1987.

In November 2024 the Oakland Diocese said it would pay up to $200 million as part of a major abuse settlement. The diocese filed for bankruptcy in May 2023.

The bankruptcy filing put nearly all abuse lawsuits against the diocese on hold, though several were allowed to proceed to trial, including the John Doe suit settled on April 22.

In a recently published updated end-of-life guidebook, the Catholic bishops of New York state outlined the Catholic Church’s teaching on assisted suicide as well as what care is morally obligatory or morally optional.

The updated pamphlet, “Now and at the Hour of Our Death,” is designed “to simply explain the moral principles of Catholic teaching with regard to end-of-life decision-making and to outline the options that exist in New York state for advance care planning,” according to its introduction. The pamphlet also encourages Catholics to appoint proxies who are informed on their values to make medical decisions should they be unable to make them.

“Medical advances bring with them new and complex questions with regard to medical treatments and moral decision-making,” the introduction to the guidebook reads.

The guidebook specifically addresses the moral problem of assisted suicide but also goes into detail about other important end-of-life decisions.

“Assisted suicide is the voluntary termination of one’s own life using physician-prescribed chemicals or drugs that will cause death. It is considered active euthanasia,” the guidebook reads. “Our Church warns us in no uncertain terms that this practice is objectively immoral and must be avoided, despite the false veil of compassion with which it is sold.”

What types of medical interventions are morally required for Catholics?

Basic lifesaving medical interventions, such as feeding tubes, are generally considered morally obligatory by the Catholic Church, according to the bishops’ guidebook.

The bishops distinguish between these morally required “ordinary” medical interventions and “extraordinary” or morally optional interventions. Determining which is which requires “the weighing of benefits and burdens expected for each individual.”

“This is not just a pragmatic decision of costs and benefits but a moral decision that affects our spiritual health,” the bishops say of end-of-life decisions.

The bishops note that “we must always accept (and others must provide) ordinary medical means of preserving life.”

“Ordinary means are those that offer us a reasonable hope of benefit and would not entail excessive burden on us, our family, or the community,” the bishops continue.

The pamphlet goes into the distinction between “ordinary” and “extraordinary” treatments and its connection to assisted suicide.

“The immorality of directly intending and bringing about our own death or of assisting in the death of another by intentional action is self-evident,” the bishops state. “Decisions can become much more complex, however, when we contemplate the removal or withholding of medical treatment, such as a ventilator or dialysis.”

“Withholding ordinary care with the intention of causing death is considered passive euthanasia and is always gravely contrary to God’s will,” the bishops continue. “But Catholics are not morally bound to prolong the dying process by using every medical treatment available. Allowing natural death to occur is not the same as killing.”

But the bishops note that “extraordinary treatments” are “considered morally optional.”

“For example, it would be permissible for a cancer patient to forego a particularly aggressive and expensive treatment if the patient judged the survival rate too low and the pain of the treatment too great a burden,” the bishops say.

The bishops emphasize that the distinction can be complex and encourage Catholics to seek guidance in these decisions.

“Weighing the burdens and benefits of particular medical treatments for each individual requires us to apply the virtue of prudence, using practical reason to discern the true good and choose the right path,” the bishops say. “Because such decisions are often sensitive and complex, Catholics may wish to seek guidance from a priest, chaplain, or ethicist whose counsel is informed by Church teaching.”

For instance, the bishops note that there is an obligation “in principle” to always provide patients with food and water, including when patients require medical assistance or have irreversible conditions. The bishops also note that this moral standard can have exceptions in extreme cases, such as “when death is imminent” or if the gastric tube causes severe side effects; even then, hydration and nutrition should be provided to the extent possible.

“It is never permissible to remove a feeding tube, or any other form of life-sustaining treatment, based on a belief that the patient’s life no longer holds value or with the intention to terminate the patient’s life,” the bishops state.

How should Catholics make important medical decisions?

The bishops emphasize that the guide “is by no means a substitute for prayer.”

“Determining if and when a particular treatment can morally be withheld or withdrawn should be done collaboratively with the patient or surrogate, family members, health care providers, and spiritual adviser,” the bishops say.

The bishops encourage Catholics to plan in advance and ensure that surrogate decision-makers, a legal standard in New York, will honor “your values and beliefs.”

The bishops recommend the health care proxy as “the most morally appropriate advance care planning tool in New York state.” The New York State Catholic Conference referred New York Catholics to fill out a government form that enables citizens to appoint a trusted loved one to make health care decisions and also to include instructions for their proxy.

Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, noted that the original issue of the guidebook has been a useful tool “for more than 15 years.”

“Our hope is that many thousands more Catholics in the years to come will find ‘Now and at the Hour of Our Death’ to be a useful guide in what is by nature a very stressful time,” Poust said. “We urge Catholics to read the booklet and familiarize themselves with Catholic teaching on these issues and the options available in New York now, before they or their loved ones are facing a health crisis.”

SPLC, an organization that reports it fights “white supremacy and various forms of injustice,” faces charges including 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. SPLC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While there has been overlap with Catholic advocacy over the years on social and economic justice issues such as racial justice and advocacy concerning conditions in immigration detention centers, the SPLC has also taken positions that many Catholic institutions strongly dispute. SPLC has labeled some Catholic organizations as “hate groups.”

The U.S. attorney for the middle district of Alabama issued the April 21 indictment. The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service investigated.

“The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public," Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said.

While "vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups," SPLC "actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups,” Patel said.

According to the indictment, in the 1980s the SPLC began operating a network of individuals who were associated with, or who infiltrated, violent extremist groups at the SPLC’s direction. Donors were unaware that donations were funding the organizers of the same racist and extremist groups that the SPLC reported it was denouncing.

Prosecutors said that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals associated with various extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party), and United Klans of America. No Catholic groups were mentioned in the indictment.

According to the indictment, the scheme was intended to obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the funds would be used for.

In order to pay the individuals, the SPLC allegedly opened bank accounts connected to a series of fake entities such as “Fox Photography” and “Rare Books Warehouse” that were used to send money from donors to informants. The SPLC then made a series of false statements related to the operation of the accounts, the indictment alleges.

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche when announcing the indictment. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked.”

U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson said this "kind of deception undermines public trust and social cohesion.”

Patel added that it is an “ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.” The DOJ reported a conviction will result in the forfeiture of financial gains from the alleged illegal activities.

Labeling Catholics and Christian groups

In recent years, SPLC has been accused of unfairly labeling Christian organizations as “radical.”

In July 2025, the House Judiciary Committee found documents that revealed the FBI “put more federal law-enforcement resources into surveilling Catholics than previously known.”

The committee’s report found that several internal FBI documents used the terms “radical traditionalist catholic” or “Radical-Traditionalist Catholic” between 2009 and 2023. An FBI internal database contained at least 13 documents that used these terms that all cited the SPLC.

Also, in 2021, critics of SPLC said the organization had become extreme after it released its 2020 “census of hate groups,” which included numerous pro-life and family organizations such as the Ruth Institute.

After being classified by SPLC as a hate group, a spokesperson for the Ruth Institute said, “our credit card processing company dropped us. Businesses refused to work with us. People scattered, thinking we were radioactive.”

“What the Southern Poverty Law Center did to us was a mere inconvenience in comparison to the harm they have done to our country. The indiscriminate application of the ‘hate’ label, the ratcheting up of rhetoric — all this has contributed to the polarized and toxic atmosphere we now experience,” according to Jennifer Roback Morse, Ruth Institute president.

Along with the Ruth Institute, Christian organizations Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal advocacy organization defending religious liberty, and Family Research Council, a nonprofit promoting family values, were also both designated as “Anti-LGBTQ hate groups" by SPLC for their stances on marriage and family.

This story was updated at 5:15 p.m. ET on April 22, 2026, to include a statement from the Ruth Institute.

“Saint Joseph: Guardian of the Family” tells the story of a married couple facing a serious marital crisis. After the husband — a journalist — is assigned to investigate testimonies of people who claim to have experienced the intercession of St. Joseph, he begins to be personally impacted by the beloved saint and is inspired to become the guardian of his own family, striving to fix the struggles they face.

Based on true stories, the film shows how love can heal the deepest of wounds and highlights how St. Joseph is a model for fatherhood and marriage.

Made by the Polish production studio Rafael Film, “Saint Joseph: Guardian of the Family” was made through the crowdfunding efforts of more than 5,000 people in Poland and several other countries. After a successful run in theaters internationally, the film will be released in theaters across the United States on April 23.

Dariusz Regucki, the film’s director, told EWTN News in an interview that the film was inspired by Father Jacek Płota, custodian of the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Kalisz, Poland, and a “great devotee” of St. Joseph.

Before working on the film, Regucki was not very familiar with St. Joseph.

“I had no prior personal experiences with St. Joseph … It was only when I received the proposal to make the movie from Rafael Film — something I am still very grateful for — and began working on the script that I started discovering our protagonist for myself,” he shared.

He added that while making the film he “had to remain very careful not to create any caricature of St. Joseph — one that, for example, would merely fulfill our expectations. St. Joseph is a silent yet obedient man, and he simply does his work. He is very concrete. He does not complain, does not grumble, and does not feel sorry for himself.”

“This deeply moved me. St. Joseph inspires me as a father and as a husband. In the rush of everyday life, he makes me stop and, at times, look at myself — almost with embarrassment — as if in a mirror,” he said. “It confronts me with the truth and pulls me out of alienation and my comfort zone. St. Joseph shows me what true love really is.”

The Polish filmmaker said he hopes viewers “will leave the cinema moved and full of hope — holding the hand of his wife, partner, or fiancée, perhaps for the first time in many years. It’s simple, yet very difficult. But it is possible to look at one another with love and say, ‘I love you.’”

He added: “To my viewer — who is so often lost and lonely — I propose that through the story told in the film, and through St. Joseph, they look upward, stop dwelling on their sadness and suffering, and begin to affirm life. This is the message St. Joseph brings to us, and this is how I portray him in my film.”

In a video message on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Cupich reflected with gratitude on the bishops’ adoption of the 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” while Knestout separately emphasized April as a time for prayer, education, and recommitment to the well‑being of the young.

Instagram post

Cupich described the bishops’ enactment of the 2002 “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” in the video as “something important and that I’m really proud of.”

“When I look back at the 50 years of being a priest and 27 years as a bishop, one of the things that I am so pleased happened during my time was a means by which the Church would come together in this country and protect and defend those who suffered abuse,” the Chicago archbishop said. 

“I was the chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People but also was involved in the 2002 moment in which, in Dallas, we enacted the charter,” Cupich said.

“And then, of course, when we released the studies by the John Jay School of Criminal Justice, I was the chair of that committee,” he said.

“So, I think that is an important contribution for the life of the Church that I really embrace as something important and that Iʼm proud of,” he said.

Cupich was serving on the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse in 2002 when the abuse crisis hit and was part of the group that helped draft the charter. The Ad Hoc Committee was established in 1993 by the then-National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) after the conference had been “dealing with the subject of sexual abuse by clergy since the mid-1980s.”

The 2002 charter mandated the creation of a permanent USCCB Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, which Cupich led from 2008 to 2011.

A call for vigilance

“In the protection of children and young people from abuse, it is important for all of us who work or minister to youth to remain vigilant in our efforts of protection and education,” Knestout, who serves as chair of the committee, told EWTN News.

“This annual reminder to recommit and refocus our attention on the physical, intellectual, and spiritual well-being of the young is also an important reminder that, as we continue to walk with survivors in their healing, we are called to continual improvement,” he said.

Knestout noted that each April, dioceses are called to observe National Child Abuse Prevention Month “by praying for victim survivors and their families.”

“We do this in different ways, such as at Mass, or with a special rosary with these intentions,” he said. “Protecting children and youth is a vital part of the Church’s ongoing ministry throughout the year, but April provides us with an occasion for our diocesan safe environment office to share information about our child protection practices with the people of the diocese, ensuring that it remains a core value for our ministry.”

The USCCB’s poster from the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection for National Child Abuse Prevention Month 2026 includes messages such as “Every Child Matters — Make a Difference,” as well as “Let’s stand up for children!” and “Learn how we can all keep children safe.”

“Often we think of a neighbor as just someone who lives nearby, but itʼs more than simple geography,” a new 30-second video advertisement states.

“Being a neighbor is how you show up in moments of need, when things are unsure, when small acts can be huge, and youʼre a light in someoneʼs darkest moment, showing up again and again to faithfully serve,” the advertisement adds. “Thatʼs a neighbor. Be the hope around the corner in your neighborhood nationwide.”

According to a news release, CCUSA has 169 affiliates in the country and serves more than 16 million people every year.

CCUSA Vice President for Communications Kevin Brennan told EWTN News the organization launched the advertisements because volunteers are “the backbone of the work of the Catholic Charities network across the country.”

“There’s always more need, and so it is a priority for us at [CCUSA] and for agencies across the country to encourage people to volunteer,” he said.

Brennan said specific services vary depending on location to “respond to the specific needs of those most in need in their local communities.” The largest service, he said, is to “feed hungry people” through food pantries or other services such as delivering meals to homebound seniors.

Services also include support for those with developmental disabilities, accompanying pregnant mothers in need, and financial counseling for veterans looking to enter the workforce or change careers, among other things.

He said CCUSA “really serves virtually any category of a person in need that you can think of” and any person “can contact your local Catholic Charities agency and learn how you can get involved.”

Brennan said each agency is united in the core mission to “live out the Gospel call to love your neighbor and serve those most in need.” He said doing volunteer work also “benefits the one doing the service.”

“We know [serving your neighbor is] critical to being a well-rounded person [and] to being a well-rounded Catholic,” he said.

According to the news release, the first round of advertisements will run until the end of May, and another two phases will run in the summer and fall. They will appear on Catholic media, other Christian media, and secular national media outlets. They will also run on podcasts and digital publications.

CCUSA will run advertisements in both English and Spanish media.

“Inspired by the merciful, selfless acts of service undertaken each day by the staff and volunteers of the Catholic Charities network, this campaign calls all of us to find ways, big and small, to offer assistance and accompaniment to those struggling in our midst,” CCUSA President and CEO Kerry Alys Robinson said in a statement.

“By following the Gospel call to love and serve our neighbors, we can strengthen our communities, our world, and ourselves,” she said.

The campaign was launched in conjunction with CCUSA’s launch of the traveling museum People of Hope, which celebrates Christian service with stories of faith-based acts of charity.

The museum’s nationwide tour began in late March. It offers an exhibit with 42 stories from CCUSA staff serving around the country and an interactive data wall on poverty and other challenges.

Multiple families whose teens attend the school had complained that a priest stepped over the line into “inappropriate” talk during confession, but in a statement to EWTN News, the diocese said it “looked into complaints raised about conversations that occurred during confession at Charlotte Catholic High School last December” and did not identify any “violations of our conduct policies” in the priest’s behavior.

The families, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their daughters, said that during the sacrament of reconciliation, a priest asked the young women “unexpected and personal questions,” according to a report by WCNC Charlotte.

One father said the priest, who has not been identified, asked his daughter about sexual sins.

According to the young woman’s mother, the question was unrelated to the sins she was confessing at the time. “‘Mom, I was telling him about missing Mass and lying to you and fighting with my brother … and we were not talking about anything sexual at all and he just asked me that,’” the mother said.

Another mother reported that the priest asked her daughter “if she’s ever had a sexual relationship with a boy.”

Those two families and others said they informed the school as well as the Diocese of Charlotte of their concerns.

In its statement, the diocese said it has communicated about the matter “with all involved at the time and has addressed the issue with all priests of the diocese, reiterating the need for pastoral sensitivity in celebrating the sacrament.”

According to the Diocese of Charlotte, Bishop Michael Martin also responded by letter to the families, who told WCNC they received similar responses.

“I am sorry that your daughter had a conversation in confession that made her feel uncomfortable,” Martin reportedly said in his letter.

He said priests sometimes ask clarifying questions during confession or lead a penitent who has not properly examined his or her conscience.

The Catholic Church teaches that the faithful should examine their consciences regularly, but especially prior to the sacrament of reconciliation in order to make a good confession.

“Penitents frequently come to the sacrament having engaged in a limited examination of conscience,” Martin continued, saying a priest might “raise common age-appropriate struggles with sin … to jog his or her memory or give them the benefit of having only to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so they do not have to describe the sin in too much detail."

He reminded the families that priests are prohibited from breaking what is known as the “sacramental seal,” or discussing what they hear in confession.

Charlotte Catholic High School did not respond to EWTN News in time for publication.

Several of the parents who raised the issue expressed dissatisfaction with the bishop’s response, however, with one parent saying she felt her concerns were “dismissed.”

“The whole letter felt like we were being gaslighted,” another mother told the local news outlet. “We understand what is appropriate and inappropriate.”

Nevertheless, one of the mothers said “I’m still a faithful Catholic. I just want this to be about doing the right thing.”

The dioceseʼs statement continued: “Confession is a sacrament meant to address sins so a priest can offer a penitent absolution and guidance. A variety of topics come up during confession, and according to Church norms, a priest may ask clarifying questions and, if necessary, assists the penitent to make a complete confession.”

“Confession is a sacrament Catholics learn about at home and at their church, through required sacramental preparation classes. Confession is offered on a voluntary basis at our schools, and as Catholics, students are encouraged but not required to participate at school,” the statement concluded.

Priests' perspective

A priest who serves as a chaplain to middle and high school students told EWTN News that he knows of only one case personally where a penitent was “scandalized that the priest was asking for clarifying information,” which he acknowledged priests sometimes do to help the penitent make a “good confession.”

“People are sensitive about topics like that right now,” said the priest, who wished to remain anonymous. “Even with completely innocent intentions, things can play out really badly. We’re in the ‘Me Too’ season, we’re in the ‘priests are pedophiles’ time of history.”

The priest told EWTN News that he does not “regularly lead [penitents] in examination of conscience” during confession. He added: “I donʼt know of a single priest that does.”

In addition, the priest noted that there “is a beauty of the seal of confession,” he said, but because of it, a priest accused of wrongdoing “is helpless, not that he’s necessarily innocent, but his ability to defend himself is really limited.”

Another priest and former high school chaplain who also wished to remain anonymous told EWTN News that it is possible there was a misunderstanding, because young people, “especially teen girls, are often embarrassed to speak of sins of a sexual nature and are sometimes not clear during confession, requiring the priest to ask clarifying questions.”

“But the priest should not bring up questions unrelated to the sins the penitent is confessing, and then, they should be clarifying questions only to help him or her make a better confession,” he said.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) released its 2026 national survey of seminarians who are scheduled for ordination this year. The survey was administered between Feb. 12 and March 20.

Out of 428 ordinands invited to participate, 334 ordinands responded to the survey for a response rate of 78%. The responding ordinands represent 110 U.S. dioceses and eparchies and 34 religious institutes. Four in 5 (81%) are preparing for ordination to a diocese or eparchy, and 19% are preparing for religious institutes.

The report is created in collaboration with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations and CARA about seminarians scheduled for ordination to the priesthood in 2026.

On average, responding ordinands first considered priesthood when they were 16 years old and were scheduled for ordination at the age of 33. Ordinands reported they lived in their dioceses for 16 years before entering seminary and knew the members of their religious institute for five years prior.

Most 2026 ordinands are white (62%), with others identifying as Hispanic or Latino (17%), Asian or Pacific Islander (11%), and Black or African American (5%). While most respondents reported they were born in the United States (74%), others said they were born in Vietnam (5%), Mexico (3%), Colombia (2%), or elsewhere (16%).

While most respondents reported they were born in the United States, a third (35%) were born abroad and, on average, came to live in the U.S. at 22 years old. The most common countries of birth among the foreign-born ordinands were Vietnam (5%), Mexico (3%), and Colombia (2%).

Of the men surveyed, 35% attended seminaries in the Midwest, 28% in the Northeast, 19% in the South, 14% in the West, and 5% abroad.

Education

The report found that 11% of responding ordinands were home-schooled at some point in their education and they received various levels of education. Of respondents, 29% attended high school or less, 19% reported some college or trade school, 39% received a college undergraduate degree, and 13% earned a graduate degree.

Of the respondents who went to undergraduate or graduate school before entering seminary, 22% studied theology or philosophy. Other common fields of study included business (18%), engineering (17%), and science or math (11%).

Nearly half of the ordinands (45%) attended a Catholic elementary school, 38% attended Catholic high school, and 34% attended Catholic college. Of all ordinands, 63% also reported participating in religious education in their parish.

Prayer practices

Many ordinands (81%) reported participation in Eucharistic adoration when asked about their prayer practices before entering seminary. Many also reported praying the rosary on a regular basis (79%), prayer and Bible groups (52%), and lectio divina (48%).

Overall, 93% of ordinands participated in at least one parish ministry before entering the seminary. Many reported that they had been active in parish life by serving as altar servers (79%), lectors (49%), campus or youth ministers (34%), or as catechists (32%).

Most ordinands (92%) were encouraged by at least one person to join the priesthood. For many it was a parish priest (70%), friends (49%), or mother (46%). Some also noted discouraging influences including family members (22%) and classmates and friends (17%).

Family life

The report found that 4% of respondents had served in the U.S. armed forces, and 12% reported their parents had a military career in the U.S.

Most respondents were baptized Catholic as an infant (93%), with just 7% who reported they became Catholic later in life. Most ordinands also reported that both of their parents were Catholic (86%).

The majority of respondents (88%) reported that they were raised by a married couple living together, with 97% who were raised by both biological parents and 11% who were raised by grandparents.

Of respondents, 28% said they have a relative who is a priest or religious. Most also said they have a sibling or siblings (96%).

After granting the appeal on April 20, the court will likely hear the case in the fall.

The Colorado universal preschool program provides tuition assistance to families for a school of their choice, whether public or private, but the state government excluded Catholic preschools that have faith requirements for attendees from the program.

The Catholic preschools ask teachers and families to sign a pledge promising to uphold their religious mission, including teachings on sexuality and gender identity. The Colorado preschool program’s nondiscrimination clause, however, requires schools to uphold provisions on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Months after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in September 2025 that Colorado may continue to exclude Catholic preschools due to their religious beliefs, the Archdiocese of Denver and the Catholic preschools asked the Supreme Court to grant them access to the program.

St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy began in August 2023 when two Catholic parish preschools and the Denver Archdiocese filed the first suit.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood declined to comment, citing active litigation.

‘Universal means everyone’

In September 2025, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis celebrated the court ruling to exclude Catholic schools, saying it protected students from “discrimination.”

"Colorado’s highly popular, free Universal Preschool saves families more than $6,000 per year, gives students a strong start, and has skyrocketed Colorado from 27th in preschool enrollment to third,” Polis said in a Sept. 30 statement. “We are building a Colorado for all, where every student is free from discrimination.”

Catholic parents Dan and Lisa Sheley, who have seven children, said in a statement that they hope to be able to participate in the program and choose a Catholic preschool.

“All we want is the freedom to choose the best preschool for our kids without being punished for our faith,” the couple said. “Colorado promised families a universal preschool program, then cut out families like ours because we chose a Catholic education. We pray the Supreme Court will remind Colorado that universal means everyone.”

A Catholic mother of three said that “Colorado is punishing young religious families.”

“In a state that loudly preaches inclusion, it’s shocking to see Colorado go out of its way to exclude families like mine,” said Erika Navarrete Nagle, whose children attend St. Mary’s. “I hope the Supreme Court will make it clear that no family should be targeted for what they believe.”

Officials in charge of the program recently announced that the preschool program had reached 71.2% participation, leaving about 29% of eligible children not participating. The program’s goal is to reach 77% participation by 2030.

Nicholas Reaves, senior counsel at Becket, the religious liberty nonprofit law firm involved in the case, and attorney for the families and preschools, said he is “confident” the high court will rule in favor of religious freedom.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that states cannot exclude families from government benefits because of their faith,” Reaves said.

“Colorado promised free preschool for all, then slammed the door on families who chose a religious education for their children,” Reaves continued. “After three losses in religious freedom cases at the Supreme Court, Colorado should know better.”

In May 2025, the Supreme Court declined to rule in a contentious case involving what was proposed to be the nation’s first religious charter school, leaving untouched a lower court ruling that forbade the Oklahoma Catholic institution from accessing state funds.

In previous years, the high court has ruled in favor of Maine tuition assistance for religious schools in 2022 and in favor of a Pennsylvania-based Catholic foster care agency in 2021.

On April 13, 1986, Pope John Paul II did what no other pope had ever done when he entered the synagogue and was welcomed by Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff. There, he notably declared that “with Judaism we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion.”

Most memorably, he went on to say "you are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers."

At the commemorative event co-sponsored by the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism and the St. John Paul II National Shrine, Eric Cohen, president and CEO of the Tikvah Fund, an influential Jewish think tank, extolled Pope John Paul II as “one of the greatest philosophers, religious leaders, and statesmen of the modern era.”

Likewise, Catherine Szkop, director of public affairs at the Embassy of Israel to the United States, recalled her Polish father recounting to her that “in Poland you can say that you donʼt like Jesus and someone will say, ‘Thatʼs your opinion,’ but if you say you donʼt like Pope John Paul II, theyʼll ask in very colorful language, ‘Whatʼs wrong with you?’”

In addition to being the first pope in nearly 2,000 years to visit a synagogue, Szkop noted that John Paul II was also the first pope to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem and established diplomatic relations with the State of Israel in 1994.

Cohen described antisemitism as “a perverse inversion of the election of the Jews to have a unique role in history, to be a light unto the nations, and to bring the biblical vision of the good to the world,” adding that “it is the use of the Jewish people as an instrument in a campaign for nihilism and or a campaign for a version of the Almighty that seeks not covenant but radical submission through the sword.”

“I believe Jews and Christians have a summons and a calling to stand together against this revolt against the Bible and to stand for the covenantal renewal of the West,” Cohen said.

“And I believe in that project, America is unique," he added.

America as a uniquely Hebraic and providential nation

Cohen recalled the 1790 letter of the nationʼs first president, George Washington, to congregants of the Jewish synagogue of Savannah, Georgia.

Washington wrote: “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors planted them in the promised land — whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation — still continue to water them with the dews of heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”

In addition to defending religious freedom, Cohen pointed out, Washington conspicuously advanced “the idea that you canʼt understand America if you donʼt see it as a providential nation made in the image of the Israelites. That it is the almost chosen nation.”

‘Elder brother’ perspective

Speaking specifically from the perspective of an “elder brother in faith,” Cohen urged both Jews and Christians to remember that “a theology of love, a theology that seeks peace, is not a denial of the reality of evil.”

"Evil is real, and evil has to be opposed sometimes by strength and force, and the Hebrew Bible teaches that,” he said. Referencing Catholic just war theory, Cohen asserted that now more than ever, "we need a reaffirmation and re-explanation of that just war tradition."

He warned both his Catholic and Jewish listeners in attendance, which included diocesan and Dominican clergy as well as members of the American Sephardi Federation, to “not give up on the teachings of the Bible about why force is sometimes necessary.”

Cohen also urged Jews and Catholics to work together “for the religious education of our children.”

Calling it "the great civil rights fight of our age," he continued: "We have to stand together to have a renewal and a renaissance of religious education. That should be the norm in America. And tragically, it is a very, very tiny minority of young Americans who are educated in religious schools.”

Cohen attributed this state of affairs to the country having a system that has until recently been designed against religious schools and “in favor of secularism.”

“We have to stand together in believing that if weʼre going to pass down our faiths, we need an America that welcomes and celebrates religious education,” he emphasized.

On being ‘a blessing to each other’

“The relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community have never been more hopeful or positive than they are today,” Szkop said.

George Weigel, a Catholic theologian and author of “Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II,” said both the Catholic and Jewish communities “are  providentially entangled, not simply because weʼre living in the same space, trying to straighten out the same country, trying to defend the same good things in the world.”

"Weʼre providentially entangled religiously," Weigel continued. "Thatʼs going to take a while for us to wrap our common heads around, but I believe that conversation has started over the past six decades [referring to the 1965 Vatican II document Nostra Aetate] and I think it can only be enriching for both sides."

“The full meaning of that entanglement will only be revealed in the fullness of the kingdom of God, for which both Jews and Christians must hope,” Weigel concluded.

In honor of her birthday, here are 10 quotes from Mother Angelica about the love of Jesus and the beauty and challenge of living a life of faith:

1. “Faith is often most alive when everything feels dark. That is when you choose to believe that God is there, even when you cannot see him or feel him. That kind of faith pleases God the most — because it is pure trust.”
2. “Holiness is not for wimps and the cross is not negotiable, sweetheart — it’s a requirement.”
3. “Jesus asks me to go to him when I am overburdened. He did not promise to take away those burdens, for I must carry mine as he carried his.”
4. “Every Christian who strives for holiness of life experiences dryness of soul. It is to most people a heartrending experience. It is a paradox, for the soul becomes confused when it realizes the harder it strives the further away Jesus seems to be.”
5. “The heart of Jesus is compassionate and understanding. It has felt the sting of ingratitude, and when my heart suffers from that same offense, I can turn to him, and he understands my feelings.”
6. “Jesus feels my sorrow greater than I, for his love is infinite, and he suffers in an infinite way.”
7. “Sometimes my worst day — one filled with pain and suffering — in the eyes of God, is my best day if Iʼve born it cheerfully and Iʼve born it with love.”
8. “Faith is what gets you started. Hope is what keeps you going. Love is what brings you to the end.”
9. “Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach.”
10. “You see, God expects his people to do the ridiculous so he can do the miraculous.”

This year, National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW) runs from April 19–25. Established in 1989 by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, NIAW is an annual initiative held each April that raises public awareness, promotes policy change — especially regarding insurance coverage — and fosters open conversations to support those struggling to build their families.

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association was founded in 1974 as a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals and couples facing infertility through education, advocacy, and community support.

The Catholic Church offers couples struggling with infertility a wide range of resources that aim to address the root of the issue in a holistic manner and in a way that aligns with Church teaching.

Here are four Catholic ministries that work with couples carrying the cross of infertility:

Springs in the Desert

Springs in the Desert is a Catholic infertility ministry founded in 2019 by Kimberly Henkel and Ann Koshute after they recognized how isolating infertility can be and how little pastoral support existed within the Church.

The ministry exists to accompany women and couples spiritually and emotionally, helping them encounter God’s love and discover a broader understanding of fruitfulness beyond biological parenthood.

Rooted deeply in Catholic teaching on marriage, human dignity, and reproductive ethics, it also works to educate clergy and lay leaders about the unique grief and needs associated with infertility.

The ministry offers a wide range of resources, including retreats, small groups, blog reflections, a podcast, and virtual and in-person events designed to foster community and healing.

For this year’s National Infertility Awareness Week, Springs in the Desert has partnered with Ascension to launch two free spiritual resources designed specifically for couples experiencing this hardship. They are a 15-part “Scripture and Saints” audio series featuring biblical figures such as Sarah and Abraham, Ruth and Naomi, Hannah and Elkanah, St. Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, the woman with the hemorrhage, and St. Paul who connect the listener to the lived experience of infertility, and a novena inviting couples to pray with titles of Our Lady such as Our Lady of Sorrows and Queen of Families in order to invoke the Blessed Mother during times of grief and loss.

Both resources will be available beginning April 19 in the Ascension app.

The Fruitful Hollow

The Fruitful Hollow is an online Catholic infertility ministry founded in 2021 by Lauren Allen after her own experience of infertility inspired her to create a space rooted in Church teaching and authentic support.

The ministry focuses on helping women and couples live out their vocation with purpose during infertility, emphasizing that fruitfulness is not limited to having children but can be lived out in many spiritual and relational ways. It aims to address the lack of conversation and resources within Catholic circles and to guide people toward holiness in the midst of suffering.

The ministry provides weekly blog reflections, a mentorship program titled “Sisters of Hannah,” and a wide range of downloadable resources that address grief, medical decisions, marriage, and spiritual growth. It also offers tools for prayer, education on ethical fertility treatments, and even a memorial space for those who have experienced loss.

Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley is a Catholic lay ministry founded in 2022 to support families facing infertility, pregnancy loss, and difficult prenatal or postnatal diagnoses. Rooted in Catholic teaching and devotion — especially to St. Gianna Molla — the ministry’s mission is to accompany those carrying the cross of early-life suffering with prayer, compassion, and spiritual solidarity.

The ministry’s work focuses on providing both spiritual and community-based support, particularly through tangible and relational resources. One of its most distinctive offerings is personalized prayer care packages, which include sacramentals, prayer cards, and handwritten notes designed to bring comfort and encourage prayer during difficult times.

In addition, Lily of the Valley offers online support groups, curated spiritual resources, and opportunities for prayer accompaniment, helping women and families feel less alone and more supported within a faith-filled community as they navigate infertility and related struggles.

Elizabeth Ministry

A parish-based Catholic outreach founded in 1991 in Wisconsin, Elizabeth Ministry is designed to support women and families during critical reproductive and family life experiences, including infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy, and adoption.

The ministry is inspired by the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, emphasizing accompaniment, presence, and shared faith. Its mission is to affirm the dignity of life and provide emotional, spiritual, and practical care to women navigating difficult or unexpected journeys.

The ministry operates primarily through local parish chapters, offering one-on-one mentoring, meal support, prayer networks, and companionship for women experiencing infertility or loss. It also provides training materials, spiritual reflections, and structured programs to help parishes build supportive communities.

Elizabeth Ministry’s work is especially valuable for women seeking in-person, relational support within their local Catholic community rather than solely online resources.

Several parishes and dioceses have their own programs for couples struggling with infertility. For example, the Archdiocese of Denver and the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, have a program called Behold Your Child, which offers spiritual and emotional support for those experiencing infertility and hosts memorial Masses for those who have lost a child due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss.

Known for its blend of adventure, time travel, and meaningful life lessons, the Catholic series has captivated young readers with its charming characters and heartfelt storytelling for over 10 years.

“Chime Travelers,” written by Catholic author Lisa Hendey, follows twins Patrick and Katie as they travel to different places and time periods — all thanks to some magical church bells — to learn valuable life lessons from the saints.

Developed by Family Theater Productions and Herald Entertainment, the new animated series depicts the same stories from the book series and includes episodes on St. Patrick, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare of Assisi, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, and the Holy Family.

In an interview with EWTN News, Hendey said she’s “absolutely thrilled with the outcome” of the animated series.

She shared that she had been in conversations with Family Theater Productions — a Catholic production studio in Hollywood — since 2017 about adapting the books for television.

“They really saw at an early point the potential for the books to become a very dynamic [series], something even bigger than what they were as books, and itʼs been a long path enough to get to where we are now,” Hendey said.

Father David Guffey, executive producer of “Chime Travelers” and the national director of Family Theater Productions, told EWTN News that he believed this series needed to be made because there aren’t many options in terms of Catholic media for children.

“If you look at all the media thatʼs out there, thereʼs not much for Catholic children,” he said. “Thereʼs a lot for Catholic teens. Thereʼs a lot for Catholic adults. Thereʼs not a lot of Catholic childrenʼs programming. And we decided just to take a risk on this animated series so that thereʼd be another option for parents that wanted something solid to show their children.”

While the book series only included five stories, the animated series will have more saint stories made into episodes for future seasons. For these additional stories, Hendey is serving as a consultant.

“Iʼm so delighted that they continue to involve my voice and to give me the chance to say, ‘Well, I donʼt think my character would say that, or have we tried this, or have we thought about this?’ But the new stories are — theyʼre so exciting because theyʼre brand-new. I didnʼt write books about them,” she said. “And now the question will be, do we adapt books from those or what happens next?”

Guffey, who is also a biblical consultant on the hit series “The Chosen," said he believes the rise in popularity in faith-based movies and shows being created has “been a long time in coming.”

“For a long time, executives in Hollywood didnʼt believe that Christians were an audience,” he explained. “They didnʼt believe there was a faith-based audience and so they were very reluctant to fund or distribute projects. Weʼve had some big signs that there is an audience. Christians have proved themselves.”

He highlighted “The Passion of the Christ” as the faith-based movie that opened the doors for other faith-based films to be created and “The Chosen” for doing the same for faith-based television series.

“Christians and Catholics are showing they will seek out the kind of content that suits their families and their faith. And thatʼs going to change Hollywood — the business side of Hollywood especially,” Guffey added.

The Catholic priest also emphasized the importance of creating faith-based media specifically for children.

“With an adult show, adults will watch it once and theyʼre done. But with childrenʼs shows, if theyʼre of any quality at all, children will watch them over and over and over again. So, these shows and these stories really form young people in a really significant way,” he said.

Hendey added that she’s grateful “we have now programming thatʼs not only faithful — because we always wanted to be faithful and we always wanted to really speak to the truth and the beauty and the goodness of our Church — but also thatʼs fun, thatʼs compelling, that kids want to watch over and over again.”

As for her hopes for the series, Hendey said: “I hope that the kids who watch this, in particular, understand the agency that they have in their own lives to learn valuable lessons from the community of saints and to be a force for good in our world. We need them. We need their hearts and their purity and the love that they have, and so I hope they feel emboldened to realize that they really can make change in their world and in our world.”

Guffey added: “When youʼre a kid, you think the problem youʼre going through, youʼre the only one that ever had it and you think you can be a very lonely place. I hope the series shows that first of all, Katie and Patrick go through some of the things they go through at school or at home, but also that the saints and the people whoʼve gone before us have gone through the same thing. And we can draw on the wisdom and the experience of others to gracefully move through the problems, the troubles that we encounter in our lives today.”

“The lives of the saints are the lives of the Gospel in action. And I think itʼs important that children see how faith is put into practice,” Guffey shared. “And when we tell the stories of the saints, we are really telling the story of people who put their faith into practice in the good times and in the more difficult times.”

“Chime Travelers” can be watched on Formed and on Hallow.

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.