The caucus, which first formed in 2020, established ad hoc committees for the defense of life, family, and religious freedom in both chambers, coordinated by Rep. Luis Miguel López and Sen. Karina Espinosa.

Over the 2022–2026 term, the group advanced more than 30 legislative initiatives, three of which became law: Law 2310 of 2023 (the “Empty Arms” Law) providing comprehensive support for parents mourning miscarriage or newborn loss; Law 2361 of 2024 strengthening public policy on breastfeeding and human milk banks; and Law 2495 of 2025 creating the “Made by Family” Seal to support family-owned businesses.

The caucus also successfully modified Bill 155/23C to define marriage in the Civil Code as between “a man and a woman.” The bill initially stated that marriage is between “two adults.”

Furthermore, the caucus blocked or amended “articles to defend the family, life, and religious freedom.”

In the report, members of the caucus addressed not only their achievements but also “the battles fought against harmful bills, many of which were ultimately shelved thanks to the joint action of the caucus members.”

“Each victory represents a step toward solidifying the goal of ensuring that the voices of those who defend life and the family have a place in democratic debate,” the report notes.

The caucus also successfully eliminated the tax on churches within the Tax Reform and removed Article 277 of Bill 338/23C — the “2022–2026 National Development Plan” — which sought to establish a public policy favoring abortion and other “sexual and reproductive rights.’”

Furthermore, prevented from moving forward in the legislative process were initiatives “seeking to legalize cannabis, the four statutory bills on euthanasia, the more than 10 bills seeking to impose gender ideology, and the three statutory bills seeking to authorize surrogacy, among others.”

Nevertheless, the report notes that “the challenges ahead are enormous” for the members of the pro-life caucus during the term beginning on July 20.

Among these challenges are “continuing to strengthen the unity of the pro-life caucus, broadening its influence on public opinion, and confronting with solid arguments and constructive proposals the cultural and legislative challenges that put the values ​​we defend under strain.”

“The struggle for life, family, and religious freedom is ongoing, and this report stands as a testament to the fact that, with perseverance and commitment, significant victories can be achieved and the groundwork laid for those yet to come.”

In the lead-up to the congressional elections on March 8, the citizens' group Unidos por la Vida (United for Life) encouraged candidates to sign the “Commitment to Life and Family.”

Following the official vote count, the group reported that more than 30 of the candidates who signed the pledge were elected to the new Congress. They will form the next pro-life caucus in the Legislature, alongside any other lawmakers who wish to join.

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 legislation, named the Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9), received Royal Assent on June 18 and is set to take effect July 18. The law increases penalties for hate‑motivated offenses, adds new protections against intimidation or blocking access to places of worship, and bans the promotion of terrorism or certain hate symbols. It also repeals a section of the Criminal Code that said a person could not be convicted for “in good faith” expressing an opinion on a religious subject or based on a religious text.

Cardinal Frank Leo of Toronto urged lawmakers to “carefully consider amendments that will provide clear and unambiguous protection for freedom of religion, conscience, and expression.”

Missionaries of Charity acquitted by Indian court in child trafficking case

The Ranchi Civil Court of Jharkhand, India, has acquitted Missionaries of Charity Sister Concelia Baxla of 2018 charges of child trafficking.

Baxla had been accused of cooperating with the sale of a 2-week-old baby from a home for unwed mothers for 50,000 rupees.

“This has taken eight years to get cleared,” Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Daltonganj, a former general secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, said, according to an Asia News report Thursday. “Today, after years of suffering, prayer, and perseverance, truth has prevailed.” The decision comes after the sister spent three years in prison before being granted bail and an intense investigation of the congregation’s facilities across the Indian state of Jharkhand, the report noted.

U.S.-born missionary sister who helped shape African Bible dies at 87

Tributes poured in following the death of Sister Mary Augustine Nemer, a member of the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul who spent more than three decades serving the Church in East Africa.

Nemer, who died Tuesday, according to a report from ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, contributed significantly to the publication of the African Bible, one of the most important Catholic publishing projects on the continent. Beyond publishing, the late Sister Mary Augustine assisted sisters serving in Africa with immigration documentation, taught English, catechetics, and the Constitutions of the Daughters of St. Paul, and played a key role in the formation of young women preparing for religious life.

Coptic Catholic synod focuses on education and the diaspora

The Coptic Catholic Synod concluded its two-day meeting in Egypt with discussions focused on pastoral life, education, and the future of communities outside Egypt, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Wednesday.

The bishops expressed support for the Upper Egypt Association for Education and emphasized the importance of developing its mission while preserving its Catholic identity. A point of discussion was the possible establishment of the first Coptic Catholic eparchy in the diaspora. The synod also reviewed developments related to Egypt’s Christian personal status law and reflected on Catholic social teaching in the age of artificial intelligence, especially the need to protect human dignity, truth, justice, and peace.

Weapons theft revealed in murder case of 11 Catholics in Northern Ireland

Documents detailing the theft of a British army gun later used to murder 11 Catholics in Northern Ireland have been revealed more than 50 years later amid an ongoing civil case against the country’s police service and Ministry of Defence by a surviving family member.

The documents, which were not provided to investigation teams, link a Sterling submachine gun stolen from a military base in Northern Ireland in May 1974 to two gang members, who family survivor Eugene Reavey claims were involved in the murder of his three brothers, John Martin Reavey, Brian Reavey, and Anthony Reavey, according to an Irish News report on Tuesday. The stolen gun was used to kill 11 Catholics in 1975 and 1976.

Patriarch Paul III Nona receives Kurdish officials in Ankawa

Newly installed Chaldean Patriarch Paul III Nona received senior officials from the Kurdistan Region during his first pastoral visit outside the patriarchal diocese.

The meetings in Ankawa included congratulations from President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, and other political and civil figures, ACI MENA reported Wednesday. Discussions focused on the situation of Christians in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, coexistence, and the protection of the country’s religious and cultural diversity. Patriarch Nona thanked the Kurdish leadership and recalled the region’s role in receiving displaced Christians after the ISIS invasion in 2014.

He also stressed the need to help Christians regain confidence, remain in their homeland, and find safe conditions and work opportunities that could encourage displaced and emigrated families to return.

‘We still have a long way to go,’ says archbishop in Democratic Republic of Congo

Archbishop François-Xavier Maroy Rusengo of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expressed concern over persistent insecurity and violence in the eastern part of the country, lamenting that decades of conflict continue to undermine efforts toward national unity and lasting peace.

“For three decades, we have lived through the horrors of war in eastern DRC. This situation shows that we still have a long way to go in building a united nation, one family of Godʼs children living on the land the Lord has entrusted to us,” the archbishop said during a Thanksgiving Mass marking the 20th anniversary of his installation on Thursday, ACI Africa reported. Drawing on the Gospel message of love and reconciliation, Maroy urged Congolese citizens to embrace peaceful coexistence and work together for the common good.

The gathering took place outside the court in Santo Domingo during a public hearing regarding a “direct constitutional challenge” filed by groups such as the pro-abortion Catholics for the Right to Decide and the Dominican Christian Alliance Association. They seek the decriminalization of abortion based on three grounds: danger to the motherʼs life, fetal non-viability, and rape or incest.

The legal maneuver seeks to challenge articles 106, 107, 108, 110, and 111 of Law 74-25, which establishes the new penal code of the Dominican Republic and is set to take effect on Aug. 3. These articles prescribe various penalties for women who undergo an abortion and for those who assist in the procedure.

The pro-life demonstrators emphasized that in its upcoming ruling, the Constitutional Court must underscore that Article 37 of the Dominican constitution establishes that “the right to life is inviolable from conception to death.”

“We are driven not by confrontation but by love and the defense of the most vulnerable. Attempting to legalize abortion by having the court interpret the law this way would flagrantly violate our constitution and undermine the nationʼs sovereignty regarding its laws, which has already been expressed through the legislative branch in the new penal code,” 40 Days for Life and the vicariate said in a joint statement sent to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

At the event, pro-life advocates displayed banners with messages such as "The DR is pro-life; we pray for a pro-life and constitutional penal code"; "We pray for an end to abortion”; and "Women need support, not abortion."

“Pro-life organizations concluded the day by reiterating their unwavering commitment to supporting mothers in vulnerable situations and to the ongoing defense of the family in the Dominican Republic,” the statement noted.

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

In his homily during Mass on Sunday, June 14, at the Cuernavaca cathedral, Castro noted that the World Cup “is an event that reminds us that no championship is won alone.”

“No matter how excellent the soccer players are, they cannot succeed alone. Teamwork is required, as are discipline, constant effort, adherence to the rules, and ... mutual trust.”

In the realm of sports, he said, “we have an example for the Church: We are playing the greatest match in history, we have Jesus Christ as our captain, and we must work together and trust one another, above all knowing that the Holy Spirit is in our midst, strengthening, encouraging, and transforming us.”

The FIFA World Cup is being hosted this year by Mexico, the United States, and Canada from June 11 to July 19. Thirteen of the matches are scheduled to be held in the Mexican cities of Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.

‘Christ sees people’s hidden pain’

In his homily, Castro also highlighted that “Christ sees people’s hidden pain; Christ sees the wounds of our personal history and of our families.”

The Lord, he continued, “sees the loneliness of the elderly, sees the uncertainty of many young people, sees the anguish of those who find no meaning in their lives, the suffering of the poorest; he sees the victims of violence, sees those who have lost hope.”

“That compassion includes all this and more, because we are his special treasure,” he emphasized.

The Mexican people, he lamented, are “weary and disheartened” by “violence, insecurity, extortion, corruption, mistrust in society, family breakdown, and religious indifference.”

“God sees this, feels it, and, we might say, suffers because he loves us, because he sees his treasure wounded; he looks upon these realities and he doesn’t look at them from afar, but looking upon them with his love and mercy and his heart feels compassion for all of this,” he noted.

In this context, Castro affirmed that “God never tires of us, never; he certainly does not resign himself to our wounds and sins” and “never ceases to love his people.”

‘There is a tremendous spiritual hunger’

The Mexican prelate highlighted that “God knows there is an enormous need for workers in his vineyard,” as “there is a tremendous spiritual hunger; the emptiness of the heart and that hunger remain intense.”

“There are so many people who live without faith or appear to live without faith, yet deep down in their hearts, they continue to seek the meaning of their lives, continue to seek hope, and continue to seek love,” he noted.

“When Jesus says that laborers are lacking, he’s not referring only to priests and religious — no,” Castro clarified, for “we also need committed laypeople, generous young people who respond; we need holy families, we need convinced catechists, we need laypeople who love their Church.”

Reflecting on the calling of the Twelve Apostles, the bishop of Cuernavaca noted that Jesus “did not choose the most perfect” individuals; rather, they were “very simple people, simple fishermen, courageous and impulsive men, people with very difficult temperaments, and even a traitor.”

“We sometimes think that God chooses only saints to serve him,” the bishop said, but “the Gospel tells us otherwise: God calls fragile people to transform them into instruments of his grace.”

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

In a statement, Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama announced that this gesture of fraternity “arises in response to the difficulties several Cuban dioceses are facing in ensuring a supply of hosts, an essential element for the celebration of the sacrament that constitutes the source and summit of the Christian life.”

Meanwhile, El Visitante, the official newspaper of the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico, reported that Archbishop Roberto O. González Nieves of San Juan is coordinating the country’s efforts to get the aid to Cuba.

Currently, all of Cuba’s hosts are produced at the Monastery of Santa Teresa and San José, home to a Discalced Carmelite community. However, the lack of a reliable power supply has hindered production.

Eucharist, the ‘sacrament of unity’

Friar George Payano, a Dominican priest, told Agence France-Presse that making Communion hosts requires time and suitable machinery, but “the hours of electricity are very limited.”

“This results in lower production and means they have to, as they announced to the priests and bishops, ration distribution somewhat,” the friar noted.

Ulloa stated in his message that beyond the material value of the shipment, “this act constitutes a concrete sign of the Communion that unites the Church beyond borders.”

The archbishop noted that the Eucharist “is the sacrament of unity. Gathered around the same bread of life, we recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters and as members of one body.”

“Therefore, when a community lacks what is necessary to celebrate this mystery, we feel the duty from the Gospel to reach out and accompany them,” he said.

El Visitante noted that González described the initiative similarly, saying that it is “a visible sign of communion among the particular Churches of the Caribbean and a concrete expression of the unity born of the Eucharist.”

The Puerto Rican newspaper added that the shipment also serves as an invitation to “keep on praying for the Cuban people, for their pastors and the faithful, so that strengthened by God’s grace they may continue to proclaim the Gospel and joyfully celebrate the mysteries of our faith.”

The hosts sent from Panama were made by the Sisters of the Monastery of the Visitation and shipped free of charge by Copa Airlines. In Puerto Rico, production involved the collaboration of the cloistered Dominican sisters of the Mother of God Monastery as well as the support of the faithful who made donations for their preparation.

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.

“Casting out demons means committing ourselves to processes of personal and social liberation, and helping those trapped by idols, fear, or hopelessness to regain their freedom,” the bishop noted during a Mass he celebrated at St. Agatha Parish in Miami on June 14.

“It also means denouncing the irrationality and cruelty of regimes that violate human dignity and multiply peopleʼs misery, often even invoking the name of God,” he emphasized.

Báez, who was forced to leave Nicaragua in 2019, now lives in exile and serves at the Miami parish where his compatriots gather. Like many others, Báez was a victim of persecution by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, which intensified its ruthless campaign against the Catholic Church in 2018, a campaign that continues to this day.

The Nicaraguan prelate reflected on a passage from the Gospel of Matthew, stating that Jesus saw the crowd and “had compassion for them, because they were weary and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.”

This image, he noted, “has lost none of its relevance. Today, too, there are many people living like sheep without a shepherd: individuals who are sad, lonely, disoriented, and disillusioned by deceptive idols; families torn apart by poverty, forced migration, or violence; entire peoples deprived of freedom and a future due to war or dominated by dictatorial regimes that impose themselves through fear and repression.”

In this situation, the bishop explained, “prayer is the first and most urgent response,” not because it “replaces action but because it is the root and foundation of action, making it fruitful and strong.”

Through prayer, one can be in tune with the Lord and move toward effective action, he noted. “From this compassion and this prayer came forth the choice of the Twelve [Apostles],” the prelate emphasized.

“The power Jesus grants is a power at the service of life and human dignity. It is exactly the opposite of the power that seduces the world — the power that crushes, controls, intimidates, and subjugates. This power, received to serve rather than to subjugate, did not end with the Twelve; it continues today through us,” he said.

In addition to casting out demons, he said every member of the Church is called to perform various actions, such as “healing the sick, raising the dead, and cleansing lepers.”

The bishop explained that resurrecting the dead “is restoring hope to those who no longer expect anything, helping them discover glimmers of Godʼs light in the middle of the nights of life. It’s announcing, without tiring, the God of life.”

“And it is also to oppose the oppressive powers that subjugate people, with the conviction that God accompanies and blesses the efforts made for the freedom and dignity of people,” he noted.

The Nicaraguan prelate also emphasized that “cleansing the lepers means striving to restore dignity to those marginalized by society or religion, through gestures of inclusion, solidarity, and respectful dialogue.”

He remarked that “the laborers remain few. The Lord continues to seek those today who are willing to extend his compassionate gaze into the world. May that gaze be ours.”

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 bishops’ conference explained that the initiative includes a prayer vigil for Colombia in cathedrals, parishes, and other ecclesial communities as well as an invitation “for families to gather in their homes to light a candle or taper and offer a prayer for Colombia as an expression of trust in God and commitment to the nation’s future.”

To conduct the vigil, the bishops’ conference prepared a resource with opening remarks that emphasize that “Colombia is going through a decisive moment” and that, before exercising the right to vote that will determine the country’s future, “it is necessary to listen to the voice of God.”

“We are brought together by love for Colombia and the certainty that, without God, we will not be able to build the civilization of love we all long for, nor sustain our common home,” the bishops note.

However, they also recall that during the election campaign, “too many words have been heard that wound, divide, and point fingers.”

“Pope Leo XIV, during his recent visit to Spain, reminded us that the temptation to gain popularity by stoking the fires of polarization seems to be growing rather than diminishing,” they say. “He invited us to choose a different path: ‘It is not the culture of confrontation but that of encounter that creates stability and prosperity.’”

The June 21 presidential runoff election pits Abelardo de la Espriella, who is on the more conservative side of the political spectrum, against Iván Cepeda, a member of current president Gustavo Petro’s leftist party.

The ombudsman’s office noted that the final days of the campaign are characterized by “an electoral climate marked by high levels of confrontational rhetoric, stigmatization, the spread of false or misleading information, and challenges to democratic institutions.”

“In the current high-tension context — where there are signs that escalating verbal violence could lead to physical violence, the ombudsman’s office reiterates its call for candidates to focus their actions on protecting lives and de-escalating confrontation in public debate,” an ombudsman’s office document stated.

The ombudsman’s office also called on both candidates to act with the moral rectitude proper to those aspiring to become the head of state and with the strengthened responsibility that such an aspiration entails toward society and democratic coexistence.

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

In a statement released on June 14, the National Dialogue for Peace called for placing a “white ribbon or small flag” on the doors of homes, schools, and workplaces on June 20 to make “visible the commitment to peace, dialogue, reconciliation, or hope.”

The group also called for “ringing church bells on June 20 at 3 p.m. as a call to all sectors of society to build peace and to renew our commitment to forming the community that Mexico needs today.”

Campos Morales and Mora Salazar were killed on June 20, 2022, inside their parish church in the town of Cerocahui in the Mexican state of Chihuahua while attempting to protect a man who was being pursued by a criminal.

The organization also asked Mexicans to “place photographs of missing persons at church altars during the celebrations on Sunday, June 21,” as well as to “offer a special prayer for families searching [for their loved ones] and invite adolescents and young people to present the offerings as a sign of a Church that recognizes their place and accompanies them in building hope.”

The National Dialogue for Peace was started following the murder of the Jesuits as an initiative of the Catholic Church in Mexico formed by the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, the Bishops’ Commission for the Laity, the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Mexico, and the Society of Jesus in Mexico.

In its statement, the National Dialogue for Peace stated that on June 20, “we remember the murdered religious leaders, the thousands of missing persons, the families living amid violence, the merchants suffering extortion, and the forests illegally logged.”

“It’s a day to remember the suffering that we are standing against throughout Mexico and to call upon all sectors of society to redouble their efforts to sow peace. Amid the pain this country is experiencing, Jesus continues to call us to build peace,” the statement explained.

Reflecting on the efforts made since 2022, the organization noted that “over these four years, we have learned that the great challenge is to build a responsible and participatory community capable of deciding its own destiny.”

While “violence isolates people and stifles social participation, paving the way for the imposition of criminal projects and ideas,” the National Dialogue for Peace said, noting that “the process of building peace entails reaching out to others to heal, participate, and form one’s own judgment.”

“Building peace today entails healing the wound caused by the forced disappearance of loved ones, having concern for abandoned youth, and envisioning the institutional framework Mexico needs. That wound is healed through truth, political will, and reparation for the harm done,” the National Dialogue for Peace stated.

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.

Yet Alex Schadenberg, the executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, says there is a grim upside to that trend: Other countries increasingly donʼt want anything to do with assisted suicide.

“The only good thing about Canada is the effect Canada is having on other countries,” he said.

Assisted suicide measures have recently suffered notable defeats in numerous other national legislatures. But the procedure remains immensely popular in Canada.

Government data show that suicide uptake grew at an annual rate of more than 30% from 2019 to 2022; it has decreased in the years since, though it has continued to grow, with a total number of 16,499 Canadians dying by suicide in 2024.

The “vast majority” of people who died by assisted suicide had a “reasonably foreseeable death,” the government said, while around 4.5% of victims' deaths did not meet that criteria.

The government said that the decreasing rate of growth “seem[s] to suggest that the number of annual [suicides] is beginning to stabilize,” though it said that “long-term trends” would only be identifiable after “several more years.”

Data indicate that the country has the highest numbers of assisted suicide deaths in the world.

Some restrictions, proposed expansions

The Canadian Supreme Court ruled in February 2015 that the countryʼs ban on assisted suicide was illegal. That decision technically legalized the practice in Canada, though the court delayed implementation of the decision for a year.

Assisted suicide became fully available in the country the following summer, on June 16, 2016. In April of this year the country officially passed 100,000 “provisions” of MAID.

David Cooke, the campaigns manager for the Ontario-based Campaign Life Coalition, told EWTN News that the 10-year mark for the MAID program is “an anniversary to mourn.”

“With 10 years of legalized medical homicide, Canada has the blood of over 100,000 victims on its hands — blood that cries out to God for justice,” he said. “Canada’s euthanasia program is on a killing spree.”

Cooke argued that while the program was touted as an “answer” to “human suffering,” the program has “unleashed enormous suffering on Canadian society and on the family and friends of victims.”

“Even the victims themselves suffer — by being subjected to medical and societal abandonment, prejudice, being denied timely access to life-affirming treatment and support, plus they must face the horrendous and indescribable experience of being poisoned to death,” he said.

The euthanasia regime “has also utterly destroyed the integrity and lifesaving purpose of our healthcare system, dispensing with sick and disabled Canadians as a cost-saving measure,” he argued.

Advocates have argued that the government program has built-in safeguards, including stipulations that patients must be at least 18 years old and suffering from a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” before they are allowed to partake in it.

Yet critics have argued that the system is rife with both abuse and safety failures, allowing Canadians to access assisted suicide when they shouldnʼt qualify for it.

The reported safety failures are so acute that in 2024 the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association — which helped get MAID legalized a decade ago — warned of the need for more safeguards in the program.

Among the concerns raised by pro-life advocates has been the push to expand suicide to those suffering solely from mental illnesses. That expansion has been delayed until 2027, though the group Cardus Health said in 2025 that patients with mental illnesses were dying at disproportionately high rates in the country.

A 2024 report, meanwhile, claimed that from 2018 “euthanasia regulators” in Ontario had identified over 400 “issues with compliance” with MAID laws — including failures of the eligibility process and mishandled reporting — but that  none of those violations were prosecuted.

Catholic advocates in the country have regularly protested against the program over the past decade, including in February when the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the government to pass a measure prohibiting citizens from accessing MAID if their sole condition is a mental illness.

Schadenberg said the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is active in combatting efforts to expand MAID, including in the case of Claire Brosseau, a Canadian actress who is suing to access euthanasia due to ongoing mental illness.

Brosseau has argued that she suffers from “a severe form of bipolar I disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other mental disorders,” and that the countryʼs MAID laws “discriminate” against individuals like her.

Yet concerns about allowing mental illness patients to access assisted suicide are so prevalent that in 2025 the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities urged Canada to halt the planned expansion of MAID for those suffering solely from mental health issues. 

Cooke said such a plan would allow euthanasia for those struggling with depression, addiction, autism, schizophrenia, eating disorders, and “a multitude of other difficulties which impair one’s thinking and judgment.”

“Offering euthanasia to those ‘not in their right mind’ is a horror that recalls the Nazi T4 program,” he said. “These hurting souls are better served through counseling, therapy, and medication — not murder.”

Schadenberg pointed to modestly encouraging proposed euthanasia safeguards in Alberta that would offer protections to underage citizens and those suffering from mental illnesses. He said the proposals were “minor restrictions” but he described them as “positive outcomes compared to the rest of Canada.”

Cooke also cited the Alberta safeguards, which also include affirming the rights of medical patients to not receive care from doctors who perform euthanasia and upholding the rights of doctors themselves to not kill their patients.

Doctors and other medical officials in Alberta are now also forbidden from proposing euthanasia as a medical option, instead being required to wait until a patient brings it up.

Though assisted suicide uptake remains high in Canada, Schadenberg claimed that the countryʼs runaway suicide rate was driving backlash in other nations.

“Scotland defeated their assisted suicide bill, the U.K. bill died in the House of Lords, [and] Slovenia overturned their assisted suicide law,” he said, arguing that “all of this is related to how crazy Canada has become.”

Cooke said the Campaign Life Coalition is urging other provinces to develop their own safeguards while raising awareness of “the horrors of euthanasia” through lobbying and public demonstrations.

Schadenberg told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” in March, meanwhile, that the fight against euthanasia in Canada is “a long-term situation that we have to be involved in.”

“Most people are dying by euthanasia not because theyʼre in extreme pain ... Usually itʼs because they feel their life lacks meaning, purpose, or value,” he said.

“The most important thing we can do is recognize the importance of caring for people, being with people,” he argued.

He urged advocates to ensure that “family members [and] friends ... when theyʼre going through illness, that theyʼre not feeling alone, theyʼre not feeling lonely, theyʼre not feeling that their life lacks meaning or purpose of value, and that someone actually cares about them.”

Colombia’s June 21 election pits right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella against left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda of President Gustavo Petroʼs party.

In a June 10 statement, the CEC warned that “certain posts and comments are circulating on digital platforms presenting partisan interpretations of recent episcopal statements, even going so far as to use them to support specific political positions.”

The bishops called for these “messages to be understood and disseminated within their full context, avoiding uses unrelated to their pastoral purpose.”

“The statements and exhortations issued by the presidency of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference are inspired by the Gospel, the Church’s social doctrine, and the magisterium,” with the aim of “offering criteria for reflection that foster citizen participation in the country’s democratic life, grounded in responsible discernment, freedom, respect, a culture of encounter, reconciliation, and the pursuit of the common good,” the press release noted.

“In no case,” the bishops clarified, “do these statements seek to favor, endorse, or delegitimize any candidacy, nor to express support for specific political projects.”

For these reasons, the CEC reiterated its call for the bishops' statements to be shared or discussed “while respecting their context, content, and original purpose, and avoiding interpretations that could cause confusion or contribute to the polarization affecting our society.”

Likewise, the CEC called for verifying any information through “the institution’s official channels before replicating or interpreting its statements.”

It noted that, at this decisive moment for Colombia, the CEC “maintains its call to foster a climate of mutual respect, serenity, dialogue, and hope, as well as to reject all forms of violence, stigmatization, or division.”

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 proposed Safe Social Media Act, introduced in the House of Commons on Wednesday by Culture Minister Marc Miller, would ban children under the age of 16 from creating social media accounts on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and similar platforms.

The move comes amid mounting evidence linking heavy social media use to increased rates of anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and distorted body image among youth.

Canadian officials cited studies showing that platforms designed to maximize engagement often exploit the vulnerabilities of adolescent brains still developing impulse control and judgment.

The legislation requires platforms to implement age-verification systems and to delete any existing accounts belonging to users under 16.

Under the bill, social media companies would be required to conduct risk assessments and take concrete steps to mitigate harms to young users. This includes limiting addictive design features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay videos, and personalized algorithmic feeds that target children.

Platforms must also provide robust tools for reporting harmful content, blocking users, and protecting against material that promotes self-harm, eating disorders, bullying, hate speech, violence, or the sexual exploitation of minors.

The legislation would create a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada to oversee enforcement. Companies that fail to comply could face significant penalties of up to $10 million or 3% of their global annual revenue, whichever is greater.

Adult-oriented websites, particularly pornography services, would face even stricter rules with very limited exemptions. The bill excludes gaming platforms such as Roblox and AI chatbots from the under-16 ban but still requires them to meet certain safety standards.

The Safe Social Media Act also mandates that platforms submit and publicly disclose detailed “Digital Safety Plans” outlining how they will protect young users.

The Canadian proposal aligns with a broader global trend of governments stepping in to protect children. Last year, Australia became the first country to ban social media for teens under 16, though the law’s effects remain mixed.

Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety, reported in March that while social media platforms had taken “some steps” to comply with the country’s ban on users under 16, a “substantial number of children” still retained accounts on the restricted platforms.

The compliance update revealed that approximately 4.7 million under-16 accounts were removed or restricted by mid-January, with another 310,000 blocked in the following weeks.

However, eSafety expressed concerns over ongoing gaps, including weak age verification, poor reporting systems, and practices that allowed children to repeatedly attempt age checks until they gained access. The regulator is now investigating major platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube — for potential noncompliance.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, both France’s National Assembly and the Senate approved a bill that would prohibit children under 15 from using major social media platforms. The measure also includes a ban on mobile phones in high schools. If finalized, the restrictions are expected to take effect in September, making France the first European country to impose such limits.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said last year he would push for a ban on social media for children under age 15 after “a senseless wave of violence” he attributed to social media use that included the stabbing of a teacher by a 14-year-old boy.

“I am banning social media for children under 15,” Macron wrote in a social media post on June 10, 2025. “Platforms have the ability to verify age. Do it.”

Closer to home, Catholic leaders in the United States are voicing strong support for similar protections. The bishops of Minnesota recently praised state legislation limiting social media’s addictive features for children under 16, including infinite scrolling, algorithmic feeds, and push notifications.

In a statement, the bishops highlighted how such measures promote healthier habits and allow young people to engage more fully with family, faith, and real-world relationships.

“These restrictions will mean happier kids who are less anxious, less worried, and more focused on the present moment,” a spokesperson for the Minnesota Catholic Conference noted.

The announcement was made on June 8 during the blessing and groundbreaking ceremony for a monument to Our Lady of the Assumption on the capitalʼs waterfront, an event attended by the archbishop of Asunción, Cardinal Adalberto Martínez, and the apostolic nuncio to Paraguay, Archbishop Vincenzo Turturro.

In presenting the project, Peña highlighted the close collaboration between the national government and the Paraguayan Bishops’ Conference.

The president said the restoration concerns not only infrastructure but also serves as a tangible expression of the governmentʼs conviction that “the Catholic Church is not merely part of our history, but part of what we aspire to be as a nation.”

Paraguay’s Catholic University developed the specifications for the project, which has received approval from the National Secretariat of Culture. Itaipú, a hydroelectric power plant jointly owned by Paraguay and Brazil, will finance the project, the president announced.

The Diocese of Asunción was erected in 1547. A previous cathedral was built in 1548 and later replaced by the current cathedral, which was dedicated in 1845.

The work is part of a series of restoration projects of emblematic sites with support from Itaipú and includes buildings such as historic St. Bonaventure church in Yaguarón, the Ñandejára Guasu shrine in Piribebuy, and St. Blaise Cathedral in Ciudad del Este.

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 Mass, which the cardinal will celebrate on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, will take place at noon at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Guayaquil.

Pablo Moysam, spokesman for the eventʼs organizing committee, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that “it is evident that in the hearts of ordinary Catholics there is a need to renew our country’s consecration to the heart of Jesus to ask for his protection and mercy and as a people to make an act of faith and hope in union with the whole Church on the feast of the Sacred Heart.”

“It will take place in Guayaquil because it is the city hardest hit by insecurity and the one most in need of this renewal,” he noted.

According to official figures from Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior, the country recorded 2,778 first-degree murders from January to April. In the area comprising Guayaquil, Durán, and Samborondón, there were 674 homicides during the first three months of 2026. Many of these crimes are linked to disputes between drug-trafficking gangs.

Moysam also told ACI Prensa that Ecuador was the “first nation in the world officially consecrated to the heart of Jesus, on March 25, 1874.” The renewal, he continued, seeks to “place our families, authorities, and communities under his protection once again.”

“This is an open invitation to the entire Church as well as to civil and military authorities. Beyond the numbers, the spirit of this celebration is to call together all Ecuadorians who wish to join in prayer for the country,” he noted.

Moysam also highlighted that this renewal of the consecration serves as a reminder that “God’s love is a source of hope, reconciliation, and commitment to the common good.”

“In a context marked by social challenges, violence, and uncertainty, this act helps renew confidence that the country can build paths of peace, justice, and fraternity through personal conversion and solidarity among all.”

The last time Ecuador renewed its consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was on March 25, 2024, during the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress held in Quito.

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

In a June 7 editorial, the archdiocese stressed that “the emotions of these days will remain in our memories but our children will still be there waiting for our attention, our parents needing a call, our grandparents longing for a visit, our spouse waiting for some time together, and our daily responsibilities demanding our presence.”

The Archdiocese of Mexico stated that “the world once again comes to a halt before the playing field. Millions of people will gather in front of a screen to celebrate, suffer disappointment, feel the excitement, and share the passion that soccer brings out.”

“Mexico, like many other participating nations, is undergoing challenges that call for unity; the entire world, caught up in scenarios of war and inequality, is in urgent need of reconciliation,” the editorial noted.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the worldʼs premier soccer championship, will have three host countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The opening match, between Mexico and South Africa, will take place on June 11 in Mexico City. Thirteen matches total will be played in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.

After acknowledging the frequent divisions caused by “politics, social media, economic disparities, or the wounds we carry in our personal and community relationships,” the archdiocese noted that during the World Cup weeks, “we will see entire families sitting together in front of the television, neighbors gathering to watch a match, and people who don’t usually agree on things celebrating the same goal.”

The archdiocese recalled that Pope Leo XIV, in his prayer intention for June, “reminds us that ‘in life, as in the game, no one is saved alone. We need others to grow, to learn respect, to overcome our limits, and to celebrate together the victories we achieve.'"

The archdiocese acknowledged that “the World Cup can be a great celebration” yet noted that “any celebration has meaning when it strengthens the bonds that sustain our lives.”

In this spirit, it extended an invitation to Mexican society, urging that “these weeks help us sit down together at the table as a family more often, reconcile with those from whom we have drifted apart, pick up conversations we had put on hold, and rediscover the joy of sharing.”

“Sport need not be a reason to distance ourselves from those we love, to isolate ourselves, or to shut ourselves away for hours in front of the television, shunning human contact or neglecting what requires our attention,” the editorial pointed out.

Both while the World Cup is underway as well as after it ends, “the people who are with us on the journey today remain essential.”

“We still need peace in our communities. We still need to be close to those who suffer. We still need to value and defend human life and dignity. We still urgently need reconciliation in our country. And the love we build each day in our homes remains irreplaceable,” the archdiocese emphasized.

The archdiocese encouraged people to both enjoy the soccer matches and celebrate “the fraternity it can inspire,” without forgetting “that trophies are fleeting and that the most valuable things in our lives are built day by day in family, friendship, honest work, and everyone’s commitment to building a more united society.”

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 FIFA World Cup is one of the most-watched sporting events with roughly 5 billion people tuning in to the tournament that brings together soccer’s best athletes from around the world.

This year’s men’s tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19 and will be held in all three host countries. The last time the U.S. hosted a World Cup was in 1994, while Mexico has hosted the event in 1970 and 1986, and this will mark the first time Canada will host the prestigious soccer tournament. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the 23rd edition of the quadrennial international menʼs soccer tournament.

Long before the World Cup became the globe’s most-watched sporting event, its founder, Jules Rimet, was shaped by a vision deeply influenced by his faith and a belief in the dignity and unity of humanity.

Rimet was born on Oct. 14, 1873, in the village of Theuley in France to a devout Catholic family. He was known to have a heart for the poor and was inspired by Catholic social teaching.

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the harsh conditions, poverty, and labor exploitation brought on by the Industrial Revolution. This encyclical inspired Rimet to help create an organization that provided social and medical aid to the poor. He was 17 years old.

The Catholic Frenchman also had a love for sports and believed it could unite people from all different races and social classes. At 24 years old he started a sports club called Red Star, which was open to anyone regardless of social class. He also included soccer in the club despite the sport being looked down upon as being only for Englishmen and the lower class.

In 1904, Rimet helped establish the Fédération Internationale de Football Association — International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA. After serving in World War I, he returned to FIFA and became its president in 1921.

Nine years later, the first World Cup was held in Uruguay. He viewed the World Cup as an opportunity to bring nations who may be at war together, promote universal fraternity and solidarity among all people, and prevent future global conflicts. He also worked hard to professionalize soccer so that working-class athletes could earn a living doing what they loved.

Rimet served as the president of FIFA for 33 years. From 1930 to 1970, the championship trophy was named the Jules Rimet Trophy.

He died in 1956 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize due to his part in creating the World Cup tournament.

In the book “A History of Football in 100 Objects,” Rimet’s grandson, Yves, remembered his grandfather as a “humanist and idealist who believed that sport could unite the world. Unlike many others in his time, he realized that, to be truly democratic, to truly engage the masses, international sport must be professional.”

When asked — while in the northern city of Chiclayo — about the date of the Holy Fatherʼs arrival in Peru, the president replied that the trip “is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10,” according to RPP.

However, the Vatican has not yet made an official announcement regarding the apostolic visit, which could also include Uruguay and Argentina.

In April, Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay, stated that the Holy Father might visit Uruguay between "late November and early December."

Pope Leo XIV in Peru

Then-Father Robert Prevost arrived as a missionary in Chulucanas, in the Piura department of northern Peru, in 1985. He remained there until 1986.

He returned to the country in 1988 — specifically to Trujillo, also in northern Peru — where he remained until 1999. He served as a formator and superior for the Augustinians as well as director of studies and rector of the San Carlos y San Marcelo Seminary.

After serving two terms as superior general of the Augustinians in Rome, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of Chiclayo in November 2014; he became the bishop of that diocese in September 2015. That same year, he acquired Peruvian citizenship.

In April 2020, he was appointed apostolic administrator of Callao and served in that role for one year. Prevost remained in Peru until January 2023, when he was called to work at the Vatican to head the Dicastery for Bishops.

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected successor of St. Peter on May 8, 2025. In his first words to the world, he included a special greeting to his “beloved Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru.”

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.

This year, the event featured the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of Latin America, brought from Mexico, accompanied by a reproduction of St. Juan Diego’s tilma, upon which the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared in 1531.

During the event, there were moments of prayer, praise, preaching, artistic performances by Catholic singers, and Mass, celebrated by Archbishop João Justino de Medeiros Silva of Goiânia.

According to its organizers, Totus Tuus is the largest free Marian event in Brazilʼs central-west region. Held annually since 2015, it is organized by Our Lady of the Assumption Parish with the support of the Archdiocese of Goiânia. It always takes place on the last Saturday of May at the Serra Dourada Stadium.

The reproduction of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was prominently displayed during the celebration, suddenly fell from a height of more than 16 feet in front of the faithful.

The image is an authorized and certified copy of the tilma housed at the Marian shrine in Mexico City. According to the event organizers, it was created to the same standards of fidelity to the original image and is used for international pilgrimages.

The image of the Virgin, encased in a wooden frame, was mounted on an acrylic stand set up for the celebration when it came loose and fell. Despite the horror at seeing the image fall, it remained intact and suffered no damage.

According to the organizers, the incident “had a strong emotional impact on the participants.” Videos of the scene went viral on social media, garnering thousands of views and accompanied by stories of faith, testimonies, and messages of devotion.

Father Marcos Rogério de Oliveira, founder of Totus Tuus and pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption, said that at the moment the image of the tilma fell, they were “praying the rosary and were on the fourth mystery” when he felt “that something was about to happen.”

“I spoke with Sister Zélia, who was beside me, and she told me the enemy was furious. That was when it all happened. But in that moment, we were left with a much deeper message: How many times do we fall in life? How many times does our heart ache? And the Virgin seems to tell us: ‘Here I am. Rise up.’ The tilma fell, yet it remained intact. The same happens to us when we trust in Mary’s intercession. We fall, but she helps us stay on our feet. It was a grace that deeply moved the hearts of everyone present,” the priest said.

Instagram post

Oliveira said the incident resounded with the faithful as an invitation to trust, persevere, and have certainty in the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary.

“In that moment, we felt in a tangible way that the Mother [of God] was leaving a message for each of us. In every fall in life, ask for her intercession. When your heart aches, cry out to her. The message was given: She crushes the head of the serpent and destroys all enemies. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us,” Oliveira noted.

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

In a May 30 editorial, the newspaper’s editorial board wrote that the claim that 215 childrenʼs remains had been found was “an extraordinary assertion” that “requires proof.”

The editorial said the "starting point for the media” in 2021 should have been searching for evidence when the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation issued a press release announcing “confirmation of the remains of 215 children of the Kamloops Indian Residential School” through the use of ground-penetrating radar that identified subterranean anomalies.“

"The media, including The Globe and Mail, did not initially scrutinize, much less challenge, that assertion,” the editorial said.

The newspaper said the fact of historical crimes committed against Indigenous children at residential schools “does not automatically validate the claims of missing remains being found” or the reference to “mass graves.”

The editorial noted that media changed their wording gradually to refer to “possible or probable graves,” but said the lesson learned was that “assertions about residential schools should be listened to carefully, and then, just as carefully, held up to scrutiny.”

The Globe and Mail also pointed at politicians who made unverified comments, saying then-British Columbia Premier John Horgan called Kamloops “a tragedy of unimaginable proportions,” something he “had no way of knowing whether that was true.”

Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “made much more dramatic pronouncements that were also not founded in fact” and ordered the Canadian flag to be flown at half staff at all federal buildings. The flag remained lowered for more than five months.

Although Horgan died in 2024, Trudeau “still has the opportunity to set the record straight,” the editorial said. “He has not; neither has the current Liberal [Party] government.”

The editorial also said Ottawa has yet to account for hundreds of millions of dollars sent to First Nations to establish whether the soil anomalies are human remains.

In the days leading up to the editorial, The Globe and Mail and the National Post both carried reports about the five-year anniversary of the Kamloops press release. “Since the announcement in 2021, the story of the Tk’emlúps 215 has moved from certainty to ambiguity,” one Globe story said.

The National Post’s Terry Glavin, who came under fire for his first-anniversary investigative feature “The Year of the Graves: How the Worldʼs Media Got It Wrong on Mass Graves,” wrote last week that the reconciliation process has been tainted and genuine residential school survivors have suffered most.

Glavin noted that the flawed coverage gave rise to an expanding definition of “residential schools denialism,” which he described as a “wholly unique construct” that compares skepticism of residential stories to Holocaust denial.

The Globe’s admission was reported by other media — not all of which were supportive of the Globe’s editorial. While The New York Post said the “mass-graves scam reveals the cost of media bias,” journalist Rachel Gilmore wrote in her Substack column that the editorial had “just fueled residential school denialism.”

In 2022, the federal government appointed Kimberly Murray as special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves. In an interim report in June 2023, Murray called on lawmakers to consider criminalizing the denial or minimization of the abuses Indigenous children suffered at residential schools.

On June 1, the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights reviewing Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, voted to amend the bill by adding criminalization of residential school denialism. However, on June 3, the Senate voted down the amendment, according to Juno News.

“We are in need of a mature, committed, and convinced faith,” the bishop of Papantla shared with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, lamenting that “unfortunately, many of our parishioners who are baptized do not live out their faith in an orthodox manner” and end up seeking a “solution to their difficulties in other areas.”

“Having the solution within their own Church in pastoral practice and by living out the sacraments, they go looking for solutions elsewhere,” falling “into spiritist practices or other types — satanic ones, or the so-called ‘Santa Muerte,’ [a Mexican folk saint and deity personifying death], etc.”

It is in this way that some people end up facing various spiritual difficulties, he explained.

This denotes a lack of faith, he pointed out, for “when there is total trust in the Lord, we know that there may be difficulties, that there may be problems, but that, ultimately, the Lord permits all of this to bring about a greater good and to guide us along the right path.”

“The Christian life is not a victorious life devoid of pain or problems; rather, one embraces this as a path, following the Lord,” he explained.

A new pastoral ministry to address spiritual suffering

The Mexican bishops established the new pastoral ministry during their general assembly in November 2025 and appointed Zapata as its head. The prelate explained to ACI Prensa that the decision is framed within the “growing need to address these situations of spiritual, moral, and physical suffering of some persons, which may have a malevolent origin.”

“Therefore, it was deemed appropriate to officially support the exorcists who were already undergoing training courses,” as well as to “accompany them” and foster “unity and cohesion regarding this entire issue at the national level.”

However, he emphasized that DEPAC “will not focus solely on ministering to exorcists” but rather aims at a comprehensive “pastoral ministry of consolation,” for “what people often need is consolation — to be listened to, to receive guidance, and to have prayers offered on their behalf — so that they may follow a path and a process in following the Lord.”

All priests, he underscored, as pastors of their parishioners, must “listen to their faithful to see what difficulties or sorrows they are enduring or suffering.”

For this reason, it is necessary to foster among priests a “serious and profound” formation in theology, spirituality, morality, and pastoral practice regarding these matters, in order to be able to attend to them.

The ordinary action of the devil

While the Mexican prelate emphasized that it is necessary to address problems related to the “extraordinary action” of the devil such as demonic possession, he noted that “it is through his ordinary action that the devil causes so much evil in the world.”

It is “through temptation that many of us fall.” It’s how the devil “produces the worst evils in the world and not [through] possession,” which happens once in a million cases.

Zapata also urged against exaggerating the power of the devil in our lives: “It should neither be denied nor seen everywhere,” for we must also “assume our own responsibility.”

“The devil can’t do what God doesn’t permit him to do, and what we don’t permit him to do,” he said. “Thus, if he wreaks havoc upon us, it is because we first allowed him to do so. We venture onto his paths and let him into our lives.”

The formation the Church seeks to promote in Mexico

With these challenges in mind, the recently established DEPAC aims to “form and guide all our priests so that they may recognize divine action, the action of the devil, and human action, and know how to discern,” while also ensuring they are equipped to “attend to special cases of extraordinary action” of the devil.

Along these lines, the new ministry team has already been conducting spiritual exercises and courses for priests, and has scheduled new training sessions for July of this year including lay experts in various disciplines who assist in this pastoral ministry, such as physicians and psychologists.

Outlining the qualities required of an exorcist priest, Zapata noted: “We simply need a priest grounded in doctrine, a good priest, generally speaking.”

“This is not a matter of having a charism; it’s a matter of a mandate issued by the bishop to a priest whom he sees has the qualities for this,” he pointed out; consequently, every prelate “must evaluate the qualities the priest has.”

However, he emphasized that it is considered important “that he be a Eucharistic priest, a Marian priest, a priest who enjoys caring for those in need, especially the sick.”

Thus “a priest who is, let us say, upright, transparent, and honest,” he summarized.

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 miracle dates back to 1649 in the old town of Santa Magdalena de Ciudad Eten, when on the eve of the solemnity of Corpus Christi, “the Divine Child appeared on a consecrated host” during Mass. Months later, on July 22 of that same year, there was a new apparition of the Divine Child on the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene. It then disappeared, and in its place there were “three intertwined hearts symbolizing the Most Holy Trinity.”

These events, recorded by ecclesiastical authorities of the time, have been preserved in historical documents that are currently housed in San Francisco Convent in Lima and in the National Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain.

‘A gift from God for living in communion’

In observance of the occasion, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 noted that its mission is simple yet profound: to draw more people closer to a love for the Eucharist.

They also recalled the words of the then-bishop of Chiclayo, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, who was one of the driving forces behind the recognition of the miracle by the Vatican.

During a celebration in Eten, he stated: “This beautiful gift, that great gift which God, the source of all life and of all that is good... this gift that God has bestowed here, in this place, with you and for you, is given precisely to experience this joy of being united in the communion of the Church with the Child of the Miracle.”

In 2019, Prevost presented Pope Francis with a document regarding the history of the Miracle of Eten, which compiled “20,000 testimonies of faith,” and that same year he stated: “This miracle is approved on the basis of a continuous tradition in the city of Eten.”

Faith lived in daily life

Beyond the commemorative events, the celebration was also marked by new stories of faith.

One of them is that of Gabriel Crosby Sánchez. His mother, Arabella, recounted with emotion how, from a very young age, she placed him under the protection of the Child of the Miracle and took him every Saturday to the so-called “Masses of Promise.”

Over time, that practice bore fruit: Today, Gabriel serves as an acolyte at St. John Vianney Parish in the Magdalena del Mar district of metro Lima.

For his family and the community, his story is a simple but strong sign that the faith is passed on at home, in everyday life, and that when lived with perseverance it can transform lives.

A devotion that continues its journey

On this anniversary, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 expressed special gratitude for the warm welcome extended by the community of Magdalena del Mar, where the image of the Divine Child of the Miracle was recently received.

The group also renewed its invitation to the faithful to join the spiritual pilgrimage currently traveling through various regions of the country — including central Lima, Comas, Lurín, and Bellavista as a preparation for the expected visit of the Holy Father.

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.

“Despite the enormous and intense medical efforts undertaken to restore the health of our Brother [akin to ‘comrade’] Brooklyn whose physical and neurological deterioration was the result of a bacterial infection triggered by the COVID-19 virus, we regret to confirm that unfortunately he has departed this plane of existence,” states a communiqué from Nicaragua’s Ministry of Health dated May 31.

The Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Forensic Medicine “are carrying out the procedures corresponding to the certification of his death,” adds the text published in El 19 Digital, a media outlet aligned with the Nicaraguan dictatorship.

‘To be a Christian is to speak out and not remain silent’

“What exists in our country is not a government; it is a regime of repression, a cruel dictatorship that has turned Nicaragua into a police state,” Father Edwing Román, a Nicaraguan priest serving as vicar at St. Agatha Parish in Miami, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on May 31.

The priest denounced various “crimes against humanity” committed by the dictatorship, such as “arbitrary detentions based on fabricated charges, political prisoners dying in jails from torture, persecution of the Church, closing universities, stripping people of their citizenship, confiscations, disappearances, and murders.”

Román also warned that “thinking differently is now a crime in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan people deserve freedom, justice, and dignity, which are today being trampled upon by these criminals in power.”

All of this “is already known to the international community, and they must act in the face of these systematic violations. To be a Christian is to speak out, not to remain silent in the face of this injustice,” the priest emphasized.

Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report “Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” which chronicles the dictatorship’s attacks against the Catholic Church since 2018, said that what happened to the late political prisoner is “repugnant, reprehensible, and inhumane.”

“With the Indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, the total number of people murdered by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship now stands at nine. There are more than 45 political prisoners who could still meet the same fate. These are crimes that must not go unpunished,” Molina told ACI Prensa on May 31.

UN reports more cases

On May 1, a group of U.N. experts gathered in Geneva expressed their “deep concern” regarding missing persons in Nicaragua who reportedly died while in the dictatorship’s custody after having been tortured.

In addition to Rivera, the experts referred to the case of another missing person who reportedly died “in February 2026 while in detention, and whose body was returned to their relatives without a death certificate.”

In total, there are reportedly more than 112 victims of enforced disappearance, cases regarding which the Nicaraguan regime has been notified yet has provided no response to date.

Rivera’s case

The case of Rivera, who was detained by the dictatorship on Sept. 29, 2023, has recently drawn a number of reactions from both the international and domestic communities, including that of his daughter, Tininiska Rivera, who refuted the regime’s statements regarding her father’s health.

On Wednesday, May 27, the Nicaraguan regime published a statement in El 19 Digital reporting on Brooklyn’s “delicate” health condition, following his hospitalization on March 7. At that time, the news outlet reported that the political prisoner was on “invasive mechanical ventilation” due to a respiratory issue.

“As the daughter of Brooklyn Rivera Bryan, I categorically reject the recent statement issued by the Ortega-Murillo Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, which contains false information regarding the condition of my father’s health and the conditions of his detention,” Tininiska stated in a communiqué sent to the media, as reported by the newspaper La Prensa.

After noting that her father was in “optimal health” at the time of his detention, Tininiska emphasized that “since his abduction and forced disappearance, no visits by any family members have been permitted. Our family has gone through this period in a state of uncertainty, anguish, and zero response from the government, without independent access or verifiable information regarding his actual condition.”

Rivera ‘didn’t simply die; he was murdered’

Arturo McFields Yescas, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States, stated on X that “Brooklyn Rivera Bryan didn’t [simply] die; he was murdered. It was a state crime. It is the same playbook used in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua: They enter [prison] alive and leave dead.”

Rivera was one of the most influential Indigenous leaders on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast and founded the Yatama movement, an organization dedicated to the defense of the Miskito people and other Indigenous communities. He served as a representative in the National Assembly.

Born on Sept. 24, 1952, in Nicaragua, he led an armed Indigenous resistance in the 1980s against the first Sandinista government and later participated in peace negotiations and the process for autonomy for the Indigenous peoples of Nicaragua’s Caribbean region.

Dictators far from God ‘multiply human victims’

Although he did not refer directly to Rivera, the exiled auxiliary bishop of Managua, Silvio Báez, stated May 31 that “in contemplating the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, a mystery of love, unity, and freedom, we grasp just how far removed from God are the cruelty and cynicism of dictators who, no matter how much they invoke his name, exude hatred, multiply human victims, and seek to deify themselves by means of violence and repression.”

“They are aging people in power, blinded by their ambition, destined for destruction,” the prelate stated in his homily for the Mass he celebrated Sunday, May 31, at St. Agatha Parish in Miami.

Those who believe in the one and triune God, the bishop continued, “don’t impose ourselves by force; we know how to listen, and we donʼt offend.”

“Faith in the Trinity,” he emphasized, “compels us to reject the logic of division, polarization, contempt for diversity, and the exclusion of minorities.”

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.

He gives retreats, hears confessions, and provides biblical formation and pastoral care to vulnerable individuals, a ministry through which he says he frequently witnesses “many miracles” in the form of conversions and renewed closeness to the faith.

“The truth is that it’s a blessing, because practically every weekend there are groups attending the retreat,” the priest said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, referring to Holy Family Retreat House in Lurín, the place from which he carries out a large part of his missionary work.

“One certainly sees the fruits," he said. "One sees the good it does for people." He told ACI Prensa that priests like him "are privileged” because people open their consciences to them, and consequently, "one sees miracles constantly.”

Ampuero explained that the most requested retreats are those focused on inner healing and those designed for couples, which are open to engaged couples and those living together, with the aim of drawing them closer to the sacrament of matrimony.

“We have also been emphasizing silent retreats, because we see that there is a need to turn inward, a need to put down roots, and a need to strengthen that relationship with the Lord,” he added.

A mission accessible to the poorest

Ampuero highlighted that one of the aims of the retreat house is to enable people of limited financial means to participate.

“If there are people who can’t pay, or who can only pay a portion, we welcome them just the same. Divine Providence has always looked after us, and we have never gone without,” he explained.

For the priest, the impact of these encounters with God is evident. “One need only look at the joy with which people leave at the end of a retreat; the difference in their faces between the day they arrive and the day they depart,” he remarked.

“People come back again. They say, ‘It has done me so much good that I want to do it again.’ So, that is certainly very motivating,” he added.

‘I’ve found great openness to the Gospel here’

Ampuero arrived in Peru in 2011, following years of pastoral service and academic formation in Spain and Italy.

A specialist in Sacred Scripture, he pursued studies in Rome and Jerusalem at the behest of his superiors. He served as a professor of “Introduction to Sacred Scripture and the Epistles of St. Paul” at the San Ildefonso Institute of Higher Theological Studies in Toledo, in addition to serving as a formator at the seminary for several years.

He subsequently channeled this experience toward evangelization and the formation of Godʼs people.

“I didn’t view myself as a biblical researcher, but rather as someone tasked with disseminating, with making known, all that richness,” he explained.

He currently has nearly 30 publications on biblical and spiritual formation to his name.

The presence of priests from Toledo in South Lima dates back several decades to when they first began working in Villa El Salvador, a district still marked by poverty.

Ampuero said that one of the experiences that has impacted him most since his arrival in Peru has been the peopleʼs receptiveness to the Catholic faith.

“In Spain, there has been very strong secularization over the last few decades. My experience upon arriving here is that, generally speaking, that was not the case. I have encountered a great openness to the Gospel, a great openness to the tenets of the faith,” he said.

He also said the people are close to their priests and place a high value on the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“One can sometimes spend hours hearing confessions, and people seek out the priest; sometimes simply to unburden themselves, to share their problems, and to find a little consolation and hope,” he recounted.

Evangelizing among the most vulnerable

In addition to leading spiritual retreats, Ampuero ministers at the Sowing Hope shelter, which houses 150 men — including the elderly, individuals with mental illnesses, and people rescued from the streets, many of whom are former drug addicts.

“These individuals, who have often lost everything, can come to know the greatest thing of all: the love of God,” he said.

The priest particularly highlighted the transformative power of faith in people struggling with addiction. “We know that in cases of addiction, it’s faith in Christ, the encounter with Christ, that can most radically set you free,” he affirmed.

“That encounter with Christ is what liberates you and heals all wounds.”

‘Prayer is my daily strength’

The priest said that the key to sustaining such an intense apostolate lies in prayer.

“For me, prayer is my daily strength, and I would not give it up for anything. It’s what gives you oxygen; it’s what strengthens you; it’s what enables you to bear the burdens of your brothers and sisters as well,” he explained.

Finally, he shared a message to young people who may be experiencing stirrings to enter the religious or consecrated life.

“Don’t be afraid. When God calls us to something, he will always provide the means to carry it out,” he affirmed.

“God takes nothing away; rather, he gives everything,” he said, recalling a saying of the late Pope Benedict XVI.

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.

According to these groups, such a move would eliminate legal protections for the unborn in Mexico and open the door to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

On May 28, the SCJN is scheduled to debate the draft ruling regarding Constitutional Challenge 172/2024, authored by Supreme Court Justice-Rapporteur Irving Espinosa Betanzo.

The proposal posits that “removing abortion from penal codes is fundamental to precluding criminal proceedings and eradicating both social criminalization and that which occurs within healthcare services.”

The constitutional challenge, filed in 2024 by the federal executive branch and the National Human Rights Commission, seeks to invalidate articles of the Aguascalientes State Law for the Protection of Life, which establishes that “from the moment an individual is conceived, he/she falls under the protection of the present law.”

The challenge also seeks to invalidate articles of the penal code of the state of Aguascalientes, which reduce the time frame for abortion on demand from 12 to six weeks of gestation.

Citing the feminist nongovernmental organization Group for Information on Elective Reproduction (GIRE, by its Spanish acronym), which promotes the abortion agenda in Mexico, the draft ruling states that “the only way to eliminate criminalization is through total decriminalization, whereby abortion would be regulated solely within the realm of public health.”

GIRE is regarded by the U.S. abortion provider Planned Parenthood as one of its “allies and partners,” which “we are proud to stand with ... for sexual and reproductive health and rights,” it said.

According to the proposal presented by Espinosa, “achieving the full decriminalization of abortion in Mexico would be a historic milestone that marks a turning point in the fight for reproductive justice.”

In a May 27 interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Uriel Esqueda, leader of campaigns for the Actívate (Get Active) platform, noted that “what this Aguascalientes case seeks to do is completely strip away even the slightest protection for the human being in the womb,” thereby setting a “precedent” that would subsequently be replicated in other states to liberalize access to abortion.

“At the end of the day, by repealing the criminalization of abortion, you open the door to allowing abortion at any stage of pregnancy,” he pointed out.

The pro-life organization Red Familia (Family Network) warned that the constitutional challenge would “increasingly narrow the scope of legislative discretion available to the states."

"Although it does not formally establish a single time limit for abortion across Mexico," the group said, "it’s a push toward a uniform national model constructed upon judicial criteria rather than democratic deliberation [going through the legislative process]; in doing so, it risks a direct confrontation with governors and legislators.”

“We are deeply concerned that this draft ruling not only invalidates in a practically comprehensive manner the regulations democratically approved by the Aguascalientes Congress but also moves toward a logic of structural decriminalization of abortion in Mexico by maintaining that the very use of criminal law to protect life in gestation would be contrary to the democratic rule of law,” said Laura Hernández, director of public affairs for Red Familia, in a press release to ACI Prensa.

Rodrigo Iván Cortes, president of the National Front for the Family, stated in a video message that “the Supreme Court intends to commit a supreme injustice this week, as they plan to vote on a proposal to remove the crime of abortion [from the statutes of] Aguascalientes,” thereby permitting the practice throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy and doing so “with repercussions that could extend across the entire republic.”

“Mexico does not need more death; we have enough already with the hundreds of thousands of people murdered by organized crime, without the Supreme Court now seeking to legalize the death of the most innocent [human beings],” he stated.

‘Activist judges’

Esqueda charged that “today, in the [Supreme] Court, we do not have impartial judges; we have activists who answer to ideological agendas and minority interest groups.”

He further criticized the Supreme Court justices, stating that “today, they feel they’re legislators and that they’re above the states.”

Following judicial reform in 2024, justices of the SCJN are elected by popular vote. The current members took office on Sept. 1, 2025, and will serve terms ranging from eight to 11 years.

The leader of campaigns for Actívate lamented that, although the change in the court’s composition came with promises to “protect Mexicans,” the justices could this Thursday leave “the human being in the mother’s womb without any form of protection. So these Mexicans are second-class citizens? They don’t matter?”

Esqueda urged people to join the campaign launched by Actívate, which has gathered more than 2,400 signatures demanding that the justices not approve the draft ruling proposed by Espinosa, and encouraging Mexicans “not to remain indifferent.”

“Today, a group of justices feel they own the country, and we cannot allow that,” he stated.

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

In a conversation this week with Aid to the Church in Need/Spain, the 70-year-old prelate expressed his anguish over the crisis afflicting the country, saying that “Cuba is hurting.”

González, the bishop of Santa Clara, recounted that “there are people showing up [at the parishes] saying they’ve gone days without eating and don’t know where to turn. Food can’t be kept fresh due to the lack of electricity, and recently people have been frequently fainting in church because many of them haven’t eaten.”

"Everything is a struggle to survive. The present is precarious; the future, totally uncertain.” It’s “the most difficult and saddest moment in the history of my people that I have ever witnessed,” he said.

Furthermore, the crisis is also impacting the healthcare system, as “in some major hospitals, surgeries are not being performed due to a lack of water” and surgical supplies. “I know of more than one case where someone had to seek out every necessary resource — even suture thread — from family or friends abroad in order to undergo surgery,” he noted.

González also addressed the fear of a possible conflict with the United States. “The fear of war is tremendous; it’s part of the daily concern of many people. People are talking about it all the time, which is very stressful, especially for the children and elderly,” he noted. “On the street, you can hear people saying: ‘We can no longer bear such suffering, and we have nowhere to turn.’”

In conversations, you can sense “sadness, hopelessness, and uncertainty” among the people. “Those who are able to emigrate are doing so. What’s left is an increasingly aging country, just with old people devoid of resources and with meager pensions,” he stated.

González noted that the lack of electricity put an end to overnight Eucharistic adoration and led to an increase in robberies on the streets as well as in homes.

Despite this, he pointed out, the Church strives to “keep the spirit alive, offer hope where there is none, listen, and provide accompaniment.”

Among the faithful, “initiatives are springing up to aid those living in destitution, the poorest and most needy; among these are small soup kitchens and meal delivery services for the physically impaired and the bedridden sick. They’re coming up with food and resources out of nowhere,” he said.

The bishop recounted that at one soup kitchen serving over 300 people, the religious sisters had to improvise by mixing “cans of black and white beans in order to provide more servings. People see that; they see that the Church is sharing, that it gives whatever it has.”

The bishop said this action “is evident proof of what God’s providence and Christian charity are capable of doing.” He said “the day a nun or a priest dies of hunger or for lack of medication is the day no one is left alive, because everyone shares the little they have.”

“It’s truly beautiful that this aid, this charity, is carried out without manipulation by any party, simply thanks to people who wish to help. And you can also see the gratitude of those who receive it,” he remarked.

However, rising prices and fuel shortages have pushed the Church into a “pastoral maintenance mode,” as priests are often unable to celebrate Mass in rural villages and hamlets due to a lack of resources.

“There are places where people are much more isolated and vulnerable. Religious congregations, too, are in a precarious state, and many lack sufficient resources to sustain their presence on the island,” he explained.

“Although many people are leaving the island, the Church remains; the people recognize and appreciate this choice,” González said, asking that Cuba not be forgotten. In addition to prayer, the bishop stated that, while “not everything can be solved, any help counts. The people of Cuba are suffering, and the Church is part of that people.”

Amid this situation, Caritas Cuba continues its work of distributing humanitarian aid sent from the United States to those affected by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.

This assistance, consisting of food and hygiene supplies, is being distributed in the dioceses of Holguín-Las Tunas, Bayamo-Manzanillo, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo-Baracoa, areas affected by the natural disaster.

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 brothers, Anderson Carlos Ramos, 35, and Emerson Luiz Ramos, 38, were ordained priests in Guarapuava in the Brazilian state of Paraná on Saturday, May 23 — Emerson’s birthday.

The ordination took place at Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, where both men grew up; received the sacraments of baptism, first Communion, and confirmation; served as altar boys; and sang in the choir.

After their ordination, the brothers will follow different paths in their priestly ministry. Emerson will serve as a priest of the Diocese of Guarapuava, while Anderson belongs to the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the Passionists.

The ordination was conferred by the bishop of Guarapuava, Amilton Manoel da Silva. In his homily, the bishop noted that both brothers had also been baptized together at Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows Parish and that Anderson and Emerson were fulfilling “God’s dream.”

“In God’s dream, he had already thought of you and had already anointed you for life and for holiness. And that beautiful plan, throughout your lives, gradually became clearer until the moment arrived for you to give your ‘yes,’” he said.

Da Silva emphasized that “nothing is a coincidence” but rather “providence.”

“It was God’s will that you would be here today as brothers by blood, and now also brothers in the sacrament of holy orders, as priests to serve him, to love him, and to bring him into peopleʼs hearts in order to save humanity,” he stated.

According to the Diocese of Guarapuava, during his period of formation, Emerson left the seminary after five years. However, he continued to participate in the community as a catechist and nurture his faith until he once again felt Godʼs call to return to the seminary. Anderson, for his part, decided to enter religious life after completing his military service.

At the conclusion of the ordination and Mass, Anderson declared that this was a “great day, a historic day” for Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, “our home.”

“Today, as we stand before the altar, we cannot fail to acknowledge the path that brought us here. It was neither an idealized journey nor one made solely of certainties,” he said.

He emphasized that “there were struggles, silence, difficult nights, and many unanswered questions; yet it was precisely in life as it is — sometimes hard, sometimes in periods of dryness — that God chose to encounter us.”

Anderson emphasized that “being a priest is not a position of honor but of self-giving.”

“It means being in the midst of the people, recognizing their sorrows as our own, and never losing sight of where we come from, for that is precisely what keeps us from losing our way along the journey,” he said.

He offered words of gratitude to God, “the source and origin of all things, who gave us life as well as this undeserved grace of the priesthood.” He also thanked the bishop, the priests, formators, seminarians, and family members.

He addressed his mother, Lindacir de Fátima Santos Ramos, telling her that “not even in his wildest dreams” would he have imagined that her children “would be in this place today.”

“In those moments of suffering and pain which only we know, and which we would wish upon no one, we never dreamed that God would write this story. But he writes straight with crooked lines. Thank you so much, simply for being who you are,” he said.

In a statement to the Diocese of Guarapuava, the mother of the new priests said she felt very happy.

“I have no words to thank God for this great victory he has granted me, for seeing my sons ordained today. It’s a great grace. I will be grateful to God until my very last breath for the sons I have,” she said.

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

The encyclicalʼs theme is “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence." In it, the pope calls upon both society and those who design artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to be subject to “more rigorous ethical constraints” out of “respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life.”

The cardinal shared 10 points on social media to foster a deeper understanding of the Holy Fatherʼs central message in the document:

1. The human person lies at the center of all technological progress.

2. The great challenge of our time is not technical but human and spiritual.

3. Artificial intelligence must be placed at the service of the common good.

4. Human dignity does not depend on productivity or capabilities.

5. Fragility is not a defect that must be eliminated.

6. No artificial intelligence can replace human experience.

7. Truth is a common good that must be protected.

8. Human work cannot be subjected to the logic of machines.

9. Freedom is threatened by new, invisible forms of control.

10. Peace and the civilization of love constitute the true alternative to technological power.

An illuminating document for Chile’s situation

The president of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop René Rebolledo Salinas, expressed his gratitude to the Holy Father for the encyclical while highlighting the document’s “profound resonance” with Chile’s pastoral and social challenges.

He specifically noted the pope’s concern regarding the vulnerability of young people to technological addictions and digital manipulation, a challenge currently facing the country. He also observed that one of the Church’s great challenges is transforming the enthusiasm of young people into an enduring missionary witness.

“The digital environment is the natural mission territory for the new generations,” said the prelate, warning that “it’s not enough to turn off the screens; we must accompany them so that they may carry the light of the Gospel to this new continent.”

He also mentioned the upcoming International Church Communications Seminar, which will take place in Chile July 27–28 with the theme: “The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence.”

"The publication of Magnifica Humanitas arrives at a providential moment as all the countryʼs bishops will gather at the end of July for the seminar on communications and AI," he noted, saying the gathering will make the encyclical an "illuminating foundational text."

Addressing the popeʼs warning regarding how AI may undermine truth and democratic life, Rebolledo emphasized that, in the current scenario of political and social transformations, the Churchʼs role will continue to be that of enlightening consciences through the Gospel and the social doctrine of the Church.

“The Holy Father is clear: a technology that seeks only economic gain constructs a new Babel that sacrifices the most vulnerable,” the prelate emphasized, reflecting: “In Chile, this directly challenges us to pay closer attention to the new forms of poverty currently emerging.”

At the same time, he urged the protection of truth “in an era where disinformation and artificial intelligence can confuse what is true and what is false.”

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What can a member of the Church do to help?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He had endured several health challenges in recent years, including a stroke in March 2025.

Tributes are pouring in for the man who shepherded Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), the political arm of the Canadian pro-life movement, for over 34 years as national president before passing the leadership reins to his successor Jeff Gunnarson in late 2018.

Gunnarson penned a poignant missive to the dedicated husband, father, and grandfather who was “a mentor and a fatherly presence to so many” he encountered.

“His tireless work helped shape, strengthen, and mobilize the movement across the country, saving countless lives and inspiring generations of pro-life Canadians,” Gunnarson wrote. “Yet Jim’s impact extended far beyond public leadership. If someone needed help, he would help, often quietly, without recognition and without ever seeking praise.”

Hughes devoted more than 80 hours a week advocating against abortion during his years actively leading Campaign Life, and remarkably he still devoted more than 60 hours per week to this fight during his retirement years.

During Hughes' tenure the Campaign Life mailing list grew from 200 names in 1978 to nearly 200,000 today. He also brought the National March for Life to Ottawa in 1997. And he was active in the political arena by supporting pro-life legislation and lobbying against bills that he deemed did not go far enough in safeguarding life.

He was deemed a great bridge-builder between people and a man who empowered the next generation of pro-life leaders.

Alissa Golob, the co-founder of Right Now, an organization striving to effectuate the election of pro-life MPs, saluted Hughes for his role in her formation as an advocate.

“Jim gave me my start in the pro-life movement by hiring me right out of university as the youth coordinator for Campaign Life Coalition,” Golob wrote on X. “He gave me many amazing opportunities and helped shape me to become the pro-life woman I am today. Although we had our differences, at the end of the day he was an amazing man who wanted to protect babies and is the reason why so many pro-life organizations exist today. He is greatly loved and will be missed.”

After his passion for the pro-life cause was kindled at a Campaign Life retreat as a teenager, Patrick Craine, the president of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College, stated in a Facebook tribute that it was an honor to work alongside Hughes for many years as president of Campaign Life Coalition Nova Scotia.

Of Hughes, Craine wrote that “the movement is immeasurably poorer for his absence. But the leaders he formed, the institutions he built, and the lives he helped protect are his lasting legacy.” All of Hughes' deeds on behalf of the unborn, Craine added, were guided by his faith in Christ.

“Jim was a committed Catholic, and it was that faith, not mere ideology or politics, that animated everything he did. He understood the defense of the unborn not as a cause among many but as a profound moral and spiritual calling. His was the conviction of a man who truly believed every life is made in the image and likeness of God and who ordered his entire life accordingly.”

Hughes’ efforts to emulate Jesus was evident in the love he exhibited for figures who espoused pro-choice doctrine. He once told the famous Canadian abortionist Dr. Henry Morgantaler that “I’m still praying for you” during an encounter in a downtown Toronto restaurant.

Father Thomas Lynch, president of Priests for Life Canada, lauded Hughes' tireless advocacy for the unborn amid an discouraging Canadian cultural landscape.

"I admired Jim for never losing hope, never giving up, and never failing to speak up for the preborn and the defenseless," Lynch wrote. "We worked together for many years with CLC, in its various forms, and in too many organizations to count. Positive, funny, indefatigable, and always on the lookout for another opportunity to speak, to organize, and to achieve the goals of the pro-life movement — he will be sorely missed.”

This story was first published by Canadaʼs The Catholic Register and is reprinted here, with adaptations, with permission.

With the goal of sustaining an orphanage that provided a home for dozens of children, Gutiérrez decided to enter the world of freestyle wrestling, which combines sport and spectacle and is deeply rooted in Mexican popular culture.

The name of Friar Storm echoes through wrestling arenas from Mexico to Japan, but his story achieved global fame thanks to a 2006 film inspired by him: “ Nacho Libre,” starring Jack Black (though the priest has always been quick to clarify that the movie is not his biography, because, he said, “I never stalked a nun").

Today, at the age of 80, Friar Storm is waging a different kind of battle. He still celebrates Mass occasionally, and facing advancing blindness as well as the ailments typical of old age, he supports himself by selling wrestling-themed merchandise.

A life marked by violence

Gutiérrez was born in 1945 in a town in the state of Hidalgo, although he grew up in Mexico City near the Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica. As he told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, it was a neighborhood “of kicks and punches,” a place where violence was a daily reality.

There he fell in with “gang kids” who introduced him to the world of drugs. That addiction, he confessed with sadness, led him to a life of crime; he was even arrested for homicide, but he managed to prove his innocence.

Upon reaching adulthood, he wanted to leave that life behind. He sought help at a church, and this led him to consider a priestly vocation. “I said to myself: ‘If there werenʼt cool priests, good guys, really down-to-earth, how many of us wouldn’t change?’”

Gutiérrez recounted that he found spiritual support in a religious brother from the Mercedarian order who took him to a detox clinic and subsequently helped him enter the Order of Poor Regular Clerics of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools, known as the Piarists, where he completed his novitiate around 1962.

Before professing the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, his formator asked the novices to share their life stories. Gutiérrez recalled feeling afraid that the others would discover who he truly was and he considered running away. Then his formator told him that he need not fear, because “it is precisely people like you that the Church needs.”

While serving as a deacon in the port of Veracruz, where he taught classes and assisted at a parish, he recalled that the young people told him: “We don’t want priests here.” He won their friendship over time and was ordained a priest there on May 26, 1973.

Thus began his ministry, marked by his work helping young people whom he affectionately called his “cubs,” kids who accompanied him wherever he went. His bond with them was such that, even when he was transferred to other parishes, they would follow him, and he would take it upon himself to find them temporary homes.

Around 1976, acting on the suggestion of a Piarist superior, he decided to leave the order and seek out a bishop who would accept him “along with all my ‘chamacos’” (as children are known in Mexico).

In the state of Mexico in the Diocese of Texcoco, he was welcomed by Bishop Magín C. Torreblanca Reyes, who gave him a chapel and the opportunity to embark on his dream of building a childrenʼs home, a project he began with 15 youths. “The most I ever had living with me at one time was 350,” he noted.

From the altar to the ring: The origins of Friar Storm

With no money to build his orphanage, he recalled an old inspiration: the 1962 film “El Señor Tormenta” (“Mr. Storm”), in which a priest becomes a masked wrestler. He originally fantasized about becoming a boxer, fighting a couple of bouts, earning $2 million, and using that money to build the shelter.

He couldn’t find anyone to teach him to box, however, but it was in that search that he met José Ramírez, “El Líder” (“The Leader”), an amateur wrestler who taught him how to do basic moves.

To launch his wrestling career, he adopted the name of the character who had inspired him. “Mr. Storm was a ‘mister’; I’m a friar so I took the name Friar Storm,” he recalled. He then went to see Ranulfo López, one of the most prominent mask-makers in the industry, who helped him design his mask.

“The yellow signifies the quick reflexes that Friar Storm sought to display in the ring; the red signifies the blood which he is willing to shed for his orphans’ home, and [at the center of the mask] the diamond, to attain eternal life,” he recalled.

In his first fight in 1977, he earned a mere handful of pesos, yet he didn’t hesitate to donate the entire sum to lay the foundations for the “Casa Hogar de los Cachorros” (“Home for the Cubs”).

From modest neighborhood arenas, he gradually climbed the ranks to reach the most professional venues. His name began to spread by word of mouth, though his career did not truly take off until 1983, when the wrestler “Hurricane Ramírez” revealed his true identity, a secret he had kept guarded for six years.

On one occasion “Hurricane” challenged Gutiérrez to a match, but he declined because he had to officiate a wedding. Much to Gutiérrez’s disbelief, he showed up on the day of the religious ceremony, unmasked, among those in attendance.

“He winked at me, and I winked back. The wedding Mass ended; I went to the sacristy, and there he was. He said to me: ‘You really are a priest — and those scoundrels [the wrestlers], look how they beat you up!’

From then on, everyone wanted to see the man who, in addition to delivering homilies, delivered blows in the ring. His fame grew, and with it, so did his apostolate within the world of freestyle wrestling. “I began baptizing [the other wrestlers'] children; I began hearing their confessions and [giving them] their first Communions,” he recalled.

“I would be leaving after a match, and even the wrestlers themselves would say to me: ‘Won’t you give me your blessing, Father? Where can I find you? I’d like to go to confession,’” the priest related.

Although inside the ring “they showed me no mercy since I was already among the stars — everyone wanted to beat Friar Storm," outside the ring, “they never once disrespected me.”

A legacy that impacted lives

Although Gutiérrez admitted he did not understand how he managed to balance his life — juggling his wrestling career, the children’s home, and the priesthood — he attributes it all to divine providence. “God helped me a great deal,” he affirmed.

“It was very difficult for me because for instance I would finish wrestling at 10 or 11 o’clock at night, and then I would drive back from wherever I happened to be. I would arrive just in time to celebrate [Mass] on Monday morning.”

With a smile, he declared: “No one can tell you that there was no Mass because I went off to wrestle.”

Among the many children he helped was “Storm Jr.,” who arrived at the orphanage when he was barely 12 years old, hailing from a small town in the state of Nayarit. In an interview with ACI Prensa, he recalled: “We would sleep three, four, or five to a room or sometimes on the floor.”

Instagram post

He, too, wanted to dedicate himself to professional wrestling. In doing so, he gained not only a mentor but also a close friend, a bond that has endured ever since, as the two now live together: “Since he is getting on in years and is quite elderly, there is no one to look after him but me.”

Currently, both men support themselves by selling official Friar Storm merchandise such as keychains, masks, and other items to attendees at wrestling events.

“Storm Jr.” said he feels a great sense of responsibility “because I bear this name and have a godfather, a very famous mentor like Friar Storm.”

From the orphanage, which Gutiérrez eventually sold to pay for the university studies of his “cubs,” came three doctors, 16 teachers, two accountants, 20 computer technicians, 13 lawyers, and a priest. In addition, he sponsored several young wrestlers.

One of them is Father “Fuerza Divina” (“Divine Force”). Although he didn’t live in the orphanage, he was inspired by the priest’s example. Today, he combines his priestly ministry with professional wrestling. In the courtyard of his parish in Mexico City, he installed a small wrestling ring where young people train while simultaneously receiving spiritual formation.

He shared with ACI Prensa that he uses that ring “not only to give them actual wrestling lessons but also to impart a message about values, a message of evangelization.”

“Thanks to this, many are drawing closer to the parish. Many of them are leaving negative things behind. Many of them are behaving better, both with their families and in their own personal lives,” Father “Divine Force” said.

The story of Friar Storm has inspired films, vocations, and hundreds of lives. Today, at 80 years old, the old wrestler lives an austere life, yet one with a heart full of gratitude. “I wrestled with a single objective: that everything I earned would go to the children’s home... I never did get that $2 million, but I do want to say that I am proud.”

And if he had to choose between the wrestling ring and the altar, his choice is clear: “Friar Storm would never have existed had I not been a priest.”

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.

Father Duberley Salazar has developed the “Discern” method, which is presented through short videos available on the “Clínica del Alma” (“Clinic for the Soul”) Instagram account. Salazar explained to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that the videos serve “as a practical tool to guide and form oneʼs conscience in making responsible political decisions.”

“We live in complex times: times of moral confusion, social polarization, and political decisions that profoundly shape the destiny of individuals, families, and peoples. In this context, a decisive question arises: How should a Christian discern when faced with concrete political choices?” the Colombian priest states in the introductory video.

He also points out that Christianity possesses “an inescapable social and political dimension”; consequently, the method he has developed is grounded in that "which seeks the common good and which the Gospel illuminates, purifies, and elevates” and seeks to enlighten those believers who “experience a disconnect between the faith they profess and the decisions they make in public life.”

“They believe, but they don’t always discern. They vote, but not always from a formed conscience. From this dissonance is born a weak, disembodied faith incapable of transforming history,” he notes.

The videos have been developed based on the “principles of sacred Scripture, the social doctrine of the Church, moral theology, philosophy, political science, bioethics, and psychology, uniting faith and reason, spirituality and social responsibility.”

The program "is neither an ideological manual nor a partisan guide. It is an ethical and spiritual compass, designed to inform the conscience without imposing decisions,” the priest explains.

For example, the first video, titled “God First,” invites viewers to pray and place their vote in God’s hands before making a decision, because “it’s not about choosing what suits me best but rather what glorifies God and promotes the common good.”

The second video, titled “Get Informed,” urges viewers not to vote “blindly” but rather to inform themselves beforehand regarding the situation in their country or locality, each candidate, their platforms, and “their respect for the rule of law, the constitution, and democratic norms.”

“Faith does not exclude reason; on the contrary, it enlightens and purifies it,” the video notes.

Thus, the method proceeds, reflecting on service, consistency with Christian values, listening to that voice within, responsibility, the need to be exemplary in virtue, inspiration that edifies, and resilience.

What to do when there is no ideal candidate

In a document shared with ACI Prensa, Salazar explains that if, after evaluating the candidates, it is discovered that “none fully meet” the outlined criteria, one may “apply the moral principle of the ‘lesser evil’ or the ‘choosing the possible good.’”

“This principle teaches that, in situations where no option is ideal, it is licit to choose the least harmful one or the one that offers greater consistency with Christian values, thereby avoiding contribution to a greater evil or to the deterioration of society,” he states.

The priest points out that “the intention is not to seek human perfection, which no one possesses, but rather to act with responsibility, prudence, and faithful obedience to the Gospel, insofar as is possible.”

He also noted that St. Thomas Aquinas referred to this moral principle when he noted: “Do not do evil so that good may come of it; always do whatever good you can, and avoid whatever evil is possible.”

“This means that when voting, it is not merely a matter of choosing what comes closest to the good, but also of avoiding options that could gravely harm the common good or human dignity,” Salazar explains.

However, if one determines that no candidate respects fundamental values, “the option of casting a blank ballot exists in some electoral systems as a way to express your dissatisfaction.”

The priest points out that “from a moral and Christian standpoint, this option may be legitimate when, in truth, none of the candidates represents the common good or consistency with fundamental values.”

But he noted that it is also important “to discern whether this gesture responsibly expresses your will or if, on the contrary, it could indirectly favor an option contrary to those values.”

“For this reason, the principle of the ‘lesser evil’ invites you not only to choose the least harmful option but also to evaluate the real consequences of your vote within the specific context of your country and of society as a whole,” Salazar notes.

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.

Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca delivered the message during the 12th annual Walk for Peace in his diocese on Saturday, May 16, as thousands gathered to reject resignation in the face of ongoing violence.

This march, he said, demonstrates that the people of Morelos are “a people who keep moving forward, who don’t give up, and who continue to believe that peace is possible.”

According to the most recent report by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, 17 Mexican localities appear on the list of the 50 most violent cities in the world. Cuernavaca ranks 23rd.

Guarding the ‘flame’ of peace

After recalling the message of Pope Leo XIV for the 2026 World Day of Peace observed on Jan. 1, in which the Holy Father described peace as “a small flame threatened by the storm,” Castro affirmed: “That is what we have come here to do today: to guard that flame so that it’s not extinguished by the storm. And we do so together, for if we stand alone, it goes out. But together, we can keep it lit.”

The Mexican prelate emphasized that his message is not “that of a politician, nor of a social analyst, nor of someone who seeks to point out the suffering of others from a distance. I speak as a shepherd, as a brother who walks alongside his people.”

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“I speak as a disciple of Jesus Christ who has seen too many tears on the faces of [the people of] Morelos and of Mexico, of our homeland, so deeply wounded by the violence afflicting our families,” he noted.

“I have heard the mothers who break their silence, searching [for their disappeared children],” he continued. “I have seen the fear of young people who feel their future slipping away; the weariness of entire families living amid uncertainty, violence, and abandonment; the exhaustion of transport workers unable to earn an honest living because organized crime holds them in subjugation; and the fed-up frustration of so many who can no longer put up with the corruption we endure.”

In the face of this suffering, he said, “the Church cannot remain indifferent, nor take refuge in the comforting atmosphere of its churches; for the God in whom we believe is not a God who observes from afar, he is the God of the burning bush, the God who said to Moses: ‘I have seen the oppression of my people, I have heard their outcry, and I have come down to deliver them.’ Our God hears the cries of the victims, walks with them, and calls upon us, too, not to look the other way.”

“The Church is not here to divide or to sow confusion out of ambition or to gain power; the Church is here to build based on the truth, for only the truth can open the way to authentic reconciliation,” the prelate said.

“In the face of the person mourning a child, of the one who has been forcibly disappeared, of the one being extorted, or of the one who has lost hope — there is Christ, crying out once again from the cross,” he lamented.

A priest forced to leave his parish due to death threats

The prelate subsequently referred to the “particular wound” afflicting the small town of Huautla, in southern Morelos — one of the “poorest and most forgotten corners of our state,” a “land of simple, hardworking people; a land hard hit for years by poverty and migration; a land that has watched its children depart in search of the daily bread they can’t get there.”

There, he denounced, “organized crime has reached a level of cruelty that defies description,” exacting extortion payments, also known as protection money, “simply for living there, simply for owning a home.”

“When the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Huautla became the last bastion of hope for the community, as the priest so often is in Mexico’s most vulnerable villages, and when his presence and his words were the only support the people had left to keep from sinking into despair, organized crime threatened to take his life.”

“Those threats were so serious, so real, and so concrete that he was forced to leave his community for his own physical protection; and today, Huautla is left without a shepherd,” he lamented.

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Governing means not abandoning the people

Castro emphasized in his message that “governing means not abandoning the people. Governing means not refusing to take up the responsibility of guaranteeing the security and well-being of every person within the territory entrusted to them.”

“Our heartfelt plea without mincing words is that Huautla not be left all alone; that the government do its job to help the mothers searching [for their disappeared children] an effort which they rightly deserve; that transport workers be afforded security; that thousands upon thousands of merchants — micro, small, and medium-sized alike — be able to work without having to pay protection money; and that our young people be provided with real alternatives: quality education, decent jobs, and personal safety, so that organized crime is not the only door open to them.”

“We ask you, government officials, not to sell us false narratives. The people aren’t buying them anymore then you declare peace, while 90% of the people of Morelos are afraid to step out onto the street. That’s not governing; that’s an insult to the intelligence of the people,” he stated.

At the same time, he assured the authorities of help from the Church and its priests, religious, and communities: “We’re not here to criticize for the sake of criticism; we are here to contribute, to offer accompaniment, to put forward proposals, and to walk together toward peace.”

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 cardinal made this appeal May 15 during the Mass for Peace and Social Development in Cuba, held at St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Rome, an event organized by the Cuban Embassy to the Holy See.

“Let us pray that the beloved land of Cuba may experience days of greater serenity, of authentic human and social development, of harmony, and of hope. Let us pray that every political, economic, and international decision be illuminated by wisdom, prudence, and a sincere pursuit of the well-being of the people,” Czerny said.

This appeal comes amidst talks between the Cuban and U.S. governments and pressure from Washington for fundamental changes to take place on the island.

In his homily, the cardinal noted that “any logic of permanent confrontation runs the risk of compounding the burden that already weighs upon ordinary people, especially the poorest, the elderly, the sick, and children.”

Therefore, he called for humanitarian aid to arrive “in sufficient quantity and without obstacles, never being instrumentalized for political or geopolitical ends.”

Czerny’s remarks follow an offer by the U.S. to send $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba, to be distributed by the Catholic Church without the intermediation of the communist government.

The proposed aid would follow two previous shipments, totaling $3 million and $6 million, earmarked for those affected by Hurricane Melissa and which are being distributed directly by Caritas Cuba.

Other countries that have sent humanitarian aid include Mexico, Brazil, and Spain, although the extent of the Cuban governmentʼs involvement in the aid distribution is unknown.

Placing the person at the center

In his homily, the Vatican prefect noted that the social doctrine of the Church teaches that “authentic peace is founded on moral and spiritual pillars even before political or economic ones.”

Czerny also recalled the apostolic visits of St. John Paul II in 1998 and Pope Francis in 2015, highlighting the Polish pope’s prophetic call for “the world to open itself to Cuba, and for Cuba to open itself to the world.”

“It wasn’t a political slogan. It was a spiritual and human invitation to tear down walls of misunderstanding, to open up spaces of mutual trust, and to allow peoples to encounter one another without fear,” he noted.

Regarding Francis' visit, the cardinal recalled the pontiffʼs invitation to “place the concrete individual at the center of social and political life,” because “service is ‘never ideological,’” but rather, stems from genuine care for one’s neighbor.

Czerny affirmed that Jesus’s promise that “sadness will turn into joy” is not naive, for it is grounded in “the Christian certainty that God continues to act within human history, even when darkness and bewilderment prevail.”

“The Holy Spirit continues to raise up men and women capable of building fraternity, reconciliation, and paths of peace,” Czerny said, inviting the faithful to ask the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba, to “accompany this nation’s journey with her maternal protection and safeguard all her children in peace.”

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 Mass of Consecration, celebrated as part of the Fourth National Rosary, took place at the primatial cathedral of Bogotá and was offered by the president of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Francisco Javier Múnera.

Prior to the ceremony, the more than 600 faithful who filled the cathedral participated in the recitation of the Holy Rosary, accompanied by a statue of Our Lady of Fátima and by a monstrance in the form of the “Mutilated Christ” (armless as if amputated) in which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed.

Concelebrating with Múnera were the bishop emeritus of Ocaña, Jorge Enrique Lozano Zafra, as well as priests from religious communities such as the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Union of the Catholic Apostolate as well as the Maronite Exarchate, and the Archdiocese of Bogotá.

In his homily, the archbishop of Cartagena also noted that consecrating oneself “to the Immaculate Heart of Mary allows us to unify our life, our Christian life, because it presupposes and actualizes the consecration to Christ that derives from Baptism.”

“The Immaculate Heart of Mary, a spotless, most pure heart, unites us closely to the heart of her Son, so that, transformed by the One who is meek and humble, we may be able to transform the world as well as our personal and social relationships,” he said.

The prelate reminded that just as at the wedding feast at Cana, Mary invites people to do whatever Jesus tells them, being “docile to transformation for the good of all that we are, with our potential and our fragilities as a country.”

“Her maternal presence opens us to hope and enables us to restore trust in one another. We are brothers and sisters; we are citizens of this beloved homeland. It’s true that we have differences, we are diverse,” he noted.

However, he clarified that “we may even be adversaries, but never enemies.”

He called upon those engaged in politics to always exercise discernment in the pursuit of the common good, “so that we may work toward the national project we yearn for, one characterized by justice, equity, and solidarity, and, above all, by the pursuit of truth. Let us not be afraid; the truth will set us free.”

He affirmed that the consecration also serves as a prayer for “hearts that open up bridges, that mend relationships, that forge new bonds, all in the service of others, all to serve our homeland, through the noble service of politics that promotes and defends the dignity of all people, especially the most vulnerable; that promotes and defends life in all its manifestations and stages; and that promotes truth and justice.”

“Therefore, we can conclude by saying: Give us a heart like yours, like Mary’s, for Mary’s heart leads us to the One who is meek and humble of heart: Christ, our peace,” the archbishop prayed.

Prayer for countryʼs consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Before the conclusion of the Mass, Munera approached the statue of Our Lady of Fátima to renew the countryʼs consecration with the following prayer:

O Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church! God has chosen you so that his Son, Jesus Christ, Lord of Life and Peace, may dwell among us, radiating the light of truth and love.

Oh, Mother of Grace! You know our history: our wounds, our tears, our hopes, our struggles amidst lights and shadows, and the times we have preferred to ignore God in the building of our nation, trusting solely on our human capabilities and wounding, through sin, the heart of God, our Father, who desires us to be his children and brothers and sisters.

Oh, Most Loving Mother! You know the love that we Colombians express to You through the various manifestations of Marian veneration that fill us with joy and hope in the fulfillment of the promise you made at Fátima: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”

Oh, Mother of Tenderness! Today we recall the words of your son Jesus when he said to you while you stood at the foot of the cross, beside the beloved disciple: “Behold, your son” (Jn 19:26), and thus entrusted us all to your maternal care. Then, you were entrusted to our filial care when, addressing the disciple and, in him, all of us, he declared: “Behold, your mother” (v. 27).

Oh, Mary, Queen of all creation! Today, once again, we consecrate to you all of us Colombians, those living both at home and abroad; yours we wish to be forever. We consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart, so that the bond between God and us celebrated in Holy Baptism may remain alive forever, and that we may walk along the paths of freedom, justice, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.

Oh, Mother of Mercies! We ask you to defend and cultivate this Garden of God called Colombia. May peace flourish which is a gift of the Holy Spirit and artisanal work of our fraternal coexistence along with justice and equity, which seat us at the table as brothers and sisters to partake of the loaves that God multiplies for all. Bless, dear Mother, our cities with their industries, our mountains with their crops, and our rivers and seas with the life they hold within.

Oh, Mary, all-powerful in supplication! United with your most holy spouse and powerful intercessor, St. Joseph, intercede for us. In these difficult times for Colombia, bring to the throne of God the prayer that Christ placed upon our lips: “Our Father, deliver us from evil. Amen.”

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.

Members of every ethnic background, young and elderly, priests, families and church groups carried pro-life signs and walked the streets of the Canadian capital to press for an end to abortion and euthanasia in Canada.

The day began with liturgies celebrated at Notre Dame Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Basilica, and St. Clement. Ottawa-Cornwall Archbishop Marcel Damphousse was the main celebrant at the cathedral, joined by papal nuncio Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Bryan Bayda, and some 30 priests and deacons.

At a midday rally before the march, organizer Debbie Duval told the crowd, “We march on a Thursday, in Ottawa, because that’s when our legislators are sitting in the House of Commons. We want them to hear us. We want them to know we’re here.”

Matthew Wojciechoski, Project Manager at Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), which organizes the annual event, told the crowd, “We are here to call upon the members of Parliament to enact legal protections for all human beings from conception up to natural death. To remind Parliament of four simple words, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”

The March for Life takes place in May to mark the month in 1969 when the omnibus bill that decriminalized abortion in Canada was passed.

This year’s march fell on the very anniversary of the vote and adopted as its theme Jesus’ command, “Follow me.”

CLC national president Jeff Gunnarson asked the crowd to pray for founder and former president Jim Hughes who is in hospital with pneumonia and “not doing well.”

“Jim devoted decades of his life to the unborn and building this movement in Canada. Many of us are standing here today because of sacrifices he made long before we arrived,” Gunnarson said.

The featured speaker was Aleš Primc, co-founder of the Slovenian political party Voice for Children and Families that recently forced a referendum to overturn the country’s assisted suicide law. He led pro-lifers in a series of loud “hellos” to people of all ages, from unborn children to “people with gray hair like me.”

“Saying “hello” is the start of recognizing our shared humanity,” he said.

Speaker Rebecca Kiessling, a U.S. lawyer and founder of the organization Save the 1 — a reference to the one per cent of babies conceived in rape — said she narrowly escaped “the death penalty” in the womb at two abortion clinics.

Kiessling, who was conceived in rape, has dedicated her legal career to advocating for the rights of mothers whose children were similarly conceived. She lobbies for abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Born four years prior to the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade, she said she survived only because “the (existing) law in Michigan protected me.”

“I did not deserve the death penalty for the crime of the man who raped my mother. My mother chose abortion. I wasn’t lucky: I was protected. The law matters.”

Conservative MP Arnold Viersen brought his two toddler children to the stage with him, one of them amusing the crowd by peeking through the railing and jumping around loudly enough to be heard over the public address system.

The Parliament Hill speeches and the march through Ottawa are the centrepoint of four days of events, from a candlelight vigil the night before to pray and remember babies lost to abortion, a banquet Thursday evening, and a youth summit on Friday.

Gunnarson summed up why the march continues each year. “Sometimes this work can feel difficult, sometimes we feel that no progress is being made, but then we gather here and we remember that truth does not expire, love does not quit, and courage inspires courage.”

Pro-life supporters march in British Columbia

Across the country, ihundreds also gathered at the annual March for Life in Victoria, British Columbiaʼs capital city, where participants marched through downtown streets carrying pro-life signs and banners before rallying at the legislature to hear speakers, including Vancouver Archbishop Richard Smith.

The Victoria event drew families, clergy, students, and supporters from across the province for speeches, prayer, and music focused on the protection of unborn life and care for vulnerable people. Organizers also highlighted concerns surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide.

In his homily at St. Andrewʼs Cathedral in Victoria, Smith acknowledged that many pro-life advocates can feel discouraged by what he described as “a powerful juggernaut moving forward and expanding in a manner that appears irresistible,” pointing to abortion and the expansion of euthanasia in Canada.

But he urged participants not to lose hope, saying, “God is at work, God is on the move, and God is an unstoppable force. His saving will simply cannot be thwarted by human iniquity.”

“This is why we march,” he said. “It is incumbent upon all of us to look for any and every opportunity to witness to the truth of God’s own love for life.”

Speaking later in front of the B.C. Legislature, Smith said the annual March for Life was part of a broader effort to build “a culture of life” through speaking, celebrating, and serving.

“Our march is a very peaceful event, and a great occasion for us to witness to the beauty of all life,” he said, adding that every human being is “willed, loved and necessary.”

He also said society needs “radically transformed human relationships, defined no longer by an extreme individualism and a false notion of freedom, but by a self-giving love that welcomes the other as gift.”

Several other March for Life events are also scheduled across Canada later this month and into June.

The Toronto March for Life will take place Saturday, May 23 at 11 a.m. at Queen’s Park North in Toronto. Organizers say a prayer service will be held beforehand at 9:30 a.m., along with workshops and educational events following the march.

The Halifax March for Life in Nova Scotia is scheduled for Saturday, May 30 at 1 p.m. at St. Maryʼs Cathedral Basilica in Halifax.

The Prince Edward Island March for Life will be held Saturday, June 6 at 2 p.m. at Central Christian Church in Charlottetown.

The Catholic Register with B.C. Catholic files

This article was orignally published by the B.C. Catholic and is reprinted here, with adaptations, with permission. 

The regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, ramped up its persecution of the Catholic Church in 2018.

After the dictatorship exiled Silvio Báez, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, from Nicaragua in April 2019, Mendieta, who as a seminarian often accompanied the bishop, was forced to flee the country as well, traveling first to Guatemala and then to Costa Rica.

His journey concluded in Miami in January 2022, where, with the assistance of Báez and Father Marco Somarriba, pastor of St. Agatha Parish in Miami, he was able to continue his priestly formation.

On May 9 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, he knelt before Archbishop Thomas Wenski and received the priestly ordination that the Nicaraguan dictatorship had attempted to deny him.

“I carry my people and my homeland in my heart, and I will offer my first Mass for them,” the newly ordained Nicaraguan priest, who will serve as parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle in Miami, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on May 10.

“This priesthood is a blessing for me, for my family, for the Church, and for the people of Nicaragua,” added Mendieta, who was born in La Concepción township in the Masaya district of Nicaragua.

He celebrated his first Mass on May 10 at St. Agatha, accompanied by Báez and other Nicaraguan priests who attended the ordination.

“I am grateful to the Archdiocese of Miami for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to serve the people of God. Here we have a broader perspective that our ministry is for all of God’s people and that our people, especially those from Latin America, share the same aspirations for freedom, peace, and stability,” he emphasized.

Father Edwing Román, parochial vicar at St. Agatha, told ACI Prensa that “it’s a source of great joy to have Father Cristhian as another brother in the priesthood. He is a young man of many virtues and a dedicated scholar.”

“I admire his piety and humility as well as his ease in forming friendships with the faithful. May God bless him abundantly, and may he be a shepherd modeled after Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest,” Román said.

In a video posted by the Archdiocese of Miami on May 6, Mendieta recalled that when he was 6 years old and attending a concert, he announced that he was thinking of becoming a priest, which surprised his family.

Years later, while involved in his parishʼs youth ministry, the example of his hardworking parish priest, Father José Antonio, who strove to reach every community, no matter how remote, encouraged him to pursue his vocation and change his plans to become a doctor.

The young priest also shared that he enjoys classical music and Frank Sinatra, and that when he is driving, he entertains himself by listening to the British band Queen.

Along with Mendieta, the following men were ordained: Adam Cahill, Henry Cárdenas Afanador, Tomasz Kaziel, Arístides Lima, Carlos Luzardo, Saint-Clos Papouloute, Pietro Pironato, and Michele Sega.

In his homily, Wenski highlighted the diverse origins of the new priests — Nicaragua, Italy, Poland, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, etc. — and noted that “in an increasingly secularized world, where many have lost the sense of the transcendent, the priest is an enigma, a symbol of great contradiction.”

"Nowadays, many view religious faith with hostility or at best, with indifference. In such a world, the Church will always appear out of step and irrelevant. Often, such a Church will be viewed if not with contempt and mockery, with total incomprehension. As Jesus said: ‘If the world hates you, know that it hated me first,’” the archbishop said.

“Face the challenges of your ministry without anxiety or mediocrity, and do not allow yourselves to be intimidated or influenced by those who make power, wealth, or pleasure the primary criteria of their lives,” he exhorted.

After encouraging the new priests to lay down their lives for their faithful, Wenski urged them to be “generous with their time and available to hear the confessions of the faithful.”

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 office of the president shared the event on social media on May 9 after the head of state and her staff attended a Mass celebrated by Bishop Javier Román  of Limón, president of the Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference.

During his homily, the prelate said the gesture of beginning one’s administration with a Mass serves as a reminder that “there are decisions and burdens that cannot be sustained solely by our own strength,” emphasizing the need to turn to God in our daily lives.

He invited Fernández to draw inspiration when exercising power from the example of St. Thomas More, who did so “with rectitude and consistency,” noting that authority attains its “greatest grandeur when exercised considering others.”

Peace for Costa Rica and its leaders

Román offered a prayer asking for “strength” for those assuming public responsibilities, noting that behind every office, “there remains a person, a heart that needs serenity and peace so as not to harden amid so many pressures.”

He invited the new officials to seek that peace in God, who, he assured, “walks with us even amid trials,” affirming that the Costa Rican people also share this need, given the current social context of violence and uncertainty.

“Families battered by violence need that peace. Our youth, often tempted by misguided paths or by discouragement, need it. Our communities, scarred by insecurity, drug trafficking, and murders, need it,” he stated.

In light of this situation, Román invoked the Holy Spirit to grant the new officials “wisdom in making decisions, prudence to listen, and clarity to act, always with the well-being of our people in mind.”

‘A call to live out one’s faith publicly’

Román said this is a time when “faith is hidden or is lived out solely in private,” noting that faith in public life “can become a guide for acting with rectitude, honesty, and with a sense of morality.”

He added that when a person recognizes the existence of a truth greater than oneself, he or she “also understands that power has limits and that all authority must be exercised with ethics, conscience, and respect for life.”

Women in power

During the ceremony, Román also highlighted the fact that, for the second time in Costa Rican history, a woman has assumed the leadership of the country.

He said that women possess a special capacity to “safeguard life, to sustain it even amid difficulties, and to remind us that behind every decision, there are always real people, families, and genuine suffering.”

The bishop affirmed that the country needs “firmness, yes; but also humanity,” as well as leaders capable of “listening to that cry and seeking ways to relieve those who feel that the doors are beginning to close.”

Román issued a call for national unity and said that “the challenges facing us are too great to deal with while we are divided,” inviting his listeners to “walk together and build the future of our nation with confidence.”

“As a Church, we wish to say to you with sincerity, Madam President: We pray for you. Not only during this celebration. Every Sunday, the Church lifts up its prayers for those who bear the responsibility of leading the peoples,” he said.

The bishop then entrusted the present and future of the country to the protection of Our Lady of the Angels, asking that she “accompany every step of this new government, protect our people, and help us to live as brothers and sisters. And may the Lord grant us the grace to walk together, in truth, justice, and hope.”

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 leadership of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference updated the pope at the Vatican on May 4 about the situation: “Change has arrived, yes — but democracy has not yet," Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate, president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

“Many unresolved questions remain regarding what Venezuela’s immediate future will be like,” Zárate explained, following the meeting with the leadership team held with Pope Leo XIV, to whom they laid out the complex and uncertain situation the country is currently facing.

“Throughout these past months, we have asked ourselves many questions, and we still do not have sufficient answers,” he explained in a statement to ACI Prensa.

The bishops “constantly” receive requests to mediate the release of political prisoners. However, “the channels are not always open,” Zárate said.

More than 450 political prisoners remain behind bars, according to the count by Foro Penal, the promised amnesty has stalled, and fear of arbitrary detention persists in the streets.

As pastors, he noted, the Venezuelan bishops “have highlighted the need to restore the primacy of human dignity, which is the fundamental point of the Church’s social doctrine.”

“Upon this,” he clearly affirmed, “would rest the freedom of citizens, the right to participate, the paths toward democratization that we need, and overcoming of merely partisan or private interests for the sake of the common good.”

Political continuity following Maduro’s departure

Although he acknowledged that since Maduroʼs capture, “there is a change, a result of the fact that the person who previously held the highest office is no longer there,” he pointed out that “there is also continuity among the political actors,” which casts doubt on whether there will be political change.

The prelate emphasized that the outlook remains uncertain: “More concrete decisions were expected in the political sphere, which have yet to materialize.”

Relations with the United States have been normalized, but for Zárate, the advent of democracy does not appear to be imminent. “The reconstruction of political institutions, economic recovery, and the establishment of a new social dynamic constitute a slow, complex, and difficult undertaking,” he said.

In this process, he insisted that “the participation of everyone is required,” particularly to overcome the “constant confrontation and conflict-ridden political rhetoric that have impoverished Venezuelan social life.”

The prelate issued an urgent call to rebuild trust: “It is necessary to restore the population’s trust in institutions such as the National Electoral Council, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, and other state institutions” in order to reestablish “healthy democratic coexistence.”

The National Electoral Council tallies and announces election results and declared Maduro the winner of the last presidential election despite strong evidence to the contrary.

The amnesty law passed in February benefited 8,616 people. However, that process appears to have stalled since Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced that it had come to an end.

For the Church, this represented a key opportunity to advance national reconciliation, even though the lawʼs implementation has been inconsistent.

“What was particularly significant was the full liberty of political prisoners, not merely their release,” Zárate said.

“Release would mean that they leave the detention facility, but their activities would still remain restricted; we are speaking of full liberty, that is, the recognition of full freedom for all,” the archbishop explained.

The prelate acknowledged a loss of momentum after initial progress: “At first, there was greater diligence in the implementation of the amnesty law; subsequently, however, there has been something of a delay.”

In light of this, he warned that as long as there remains a Venezuelan “imprisoned for their political ideas or personal opinions, we can hardly rest easy or build a better society in peace.”

Víctor Hugo Quero, a Venezuelan political prisoner who died in custody, is one of many on a long list of citizens who have perished at the hands of the state over more than 25 years of authoritarian socialist rule.

“Doubts therefore remain regarding the whereabouts of many others. At this moment, there is the open question whether those about whom there is no news may have met a similar fate,” he added.

From initial hope to discouragement

Maduro’s removal from power sparked a certain “hopeful expectation” among Venezuelans, he said, yet now there is growing frustration. “There is much talk of investments in oil, of better prices, and of agreements with various companies, but the concrete reality is the average Venezuelan continues to suffer from the same deprivations,” Zárate lamented.

Among these difficulties, he cited “the constant rise in prices, the depreciation of buying power, the inability to access certain services, or the deficiencies within those very services” such as electricity or water supply. It’s a situation that “breeds discouragement.”

The harsh reality of the Venezuelan diaspora

After years of crisis, many who fled the country have been unable to return. “There are more than 8 million Venezuelans outside our country,” the archbishop noted.

The impact of the diaspora is part of families' daily lives: “There are children who don’t have the opportunity to be close to their parents, and parents who cannot enjoy their children or their grandchildren.”

This also impacts ecclesial life: “The migration of many Venezuelans also leaves parishes without catechists, without their ministers, and without the young people who were part of the youth ministry.”

Economic deterioration further exacerbates this scenario. “The widespread impoverishment of the population — to which the Church has sought to respond through social programs [providing] food and healthcare — also affects the life of the Christian community,” he noted.

Zárate said this reality even limits the Church’s pastoral outreach: “It finds itself weakened in its capacity to carry out its programs and to provide assistance to people.”

The bishops’ priority: ‘Preserving internal unity’

The president of the bishops’ conference stated that one of the episcopate’s constant efforts has been “to preserve internal unity."

Unity was one of the key issues discussed during the meeting at the Vatican on May 4. The pope, he said, was “very attentive; he is well-informed about the reality in the country.”

The pontiff centered his interest on the Church’s role as an agent of reconciliation: “His questions focused on the role we can play in the reunification of the Venezuelan people and in the internal unity of the Church.”

Zárate emphasized that the credibility of the message depends on the witness: “We could hardly proclaim reunification, reconciliation, or harmonious coexistence if divergences were visible within the Church itself.”

Some things never should have happened

Zárate clarified that the Church’s message of reconciliation to Venezuelan society “is not that forgiving means forgetting.”

“There are situations that never should have happened, and there are people who are responsible,” he pointed out.

Nevertheless, Zárate emphasized that the response cannot be based on vengeance: “We cannot believe that revenge or retaliation will provide the answer. The healing of hearts must be based on the truth.”

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

In 1961, Fidel Castroʼs communist regime confiscated hundreds of schools and other assets from the Catholic Church, among them the cloister and school that the Piarist Fathers maintained in the Guanabacoa district of Havana.

However, the prolonged economic crisis and the negligence of the authorities have led to the gradual deterioration of both buildings.

Compounding this situation was the looting of the Piarists’ church in October 2025, during which criminals stole “candelabras for the Blessed Sacrament, vestments, and fans, smashing display cases and windows.”

“We filed a complaint, but only a few items could be recovered,” they said.

Next came a fire in March of this year at the old cloister — “abandoned for over a year by the municipal department of education without maintenance or security” and a blaze on April 9 that damaged the church door after unknown individuals set fire to trash accumulated in the street.

In their post, the Piarist Fathers warned that what is being destroyed is the first Teachers College for Cuba and Latin America founded by the order in 1857 and declared a national monument in 1990. “Nationalized in 1961, state ownership brought only neglect and, now, destruction,” they charged.

They said the parties responsible for the situation are the municipal department of education and the municipal government; for while the former “abandoned the building without protection,” the latter “ignored repeated warnings from the cultural heritage authorities as well as our own.”

Furthermore, they noted, “the [Communist] Party condones criminal inaction: Promises ‘fade into bureaucratic silence’ while the looting is carried out in plain sight.”

The Piarist Fathers said they have spent “months working to reclaim these places to restore them and breathe new life into them in the service of Guanabacoa.”

They are demanding of the authorities the “immediate return of the cloister and school to the Piarist order,” an “end to empty promises,” and that “public accountability for criminal negligence” be established.

“This is not a demand [in the name of the Catholic religion]; it is the very identity of all the people of Guanabacoa that is fading away. Enough with the complicity. There is still time,” they urged.

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.

For many, the project’s next — and most important — step marks a joyous continuation of a dream long held by generations of parishioners and clergy alike.

Celebrations will take place on Pentecost Sunday with Mass at the current St. Patrick’s Church, followed by a procession to the new site located at 150 Martin Byrne Dr. for the formal blessing and groundbreaking ceremony. There, Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Ivan Camilleri will preside, joined by parishioners, major donors, local mayors, and councillors. The day will conclude with a festive barbecue, live music, games, and family activities back at St. Patrick’s.

Monsignor Owen Keenan, pastor of St. Patrick’s, the archdiocese’s second-oldest parish, said the long-awaited moment is deeply meaningful for all. He spoke to Canadaʼs The Catholic Register about the parish communityʼs vision for a larger church, dating back to the 1980s, with planning truly intensifying in 2015 under the late Father Vito Marziliano. 

Unfortunately, misfortune befell the project even in its earliest stages.

“ First, our architect Renzo Pianon died at 47, and then COVID hit us hard with the drop in attendance and various fundraising challenges before Father Vito left us far too young,” Keenan said. “There were moments of asking what is next? How much more can the community endure?”

Still, the community persisted through Marziliano’s Loaves and Fishes Campaign — a project solely dedicated to St. Patrick’s mission of building a new, larger church property to serve a growing local population.

Speaking to The Catholic Register in October 2025, Keenan revealed that the City of Brampton, Region of Peel, and the City of Caledon anticipated an increase of between 50,000 to 60,000 people within the confines of the parish in the next 15 to 20 years. He also shared the growing interest from parishioners — and pledges of $1 million to be paid upon the start of construction and an additional $1 million in bequests from an anonymous parishioner and an area business, respectively.

While the community has continued to rally behind the cause — including a promising showing and fundraising efforts at last year’s gala in October —Keenan concedes that a sense of restlessness has been creeping in.

“ Weʼve managed to maintain and reestablish a good level of fundraising after COVID, but weʼve run out of runway — people are only going to throw money at a question mark for so long. Thus far, we have around $350,000 worth of new donations already, with more expected as we go and as we break ground,” he said.

In total, the project has amassed several million dollars for the project.

Despite the impressive figures, Keenan reiterated that rising prices have played a role in the project’s delay. Even as the market shows itʼs a good time to build, a 32,000-square-foot project in 2018 was estimated to cost $12.9 million, but by 2024, a reduced 28,000-square-foot building was estimated to cost as much as $26.5 million, leading the parish to scale its operation back from wants to needs.

Still, the new church itself is set to be Marziliano’s swan song and become something truly unique as his original vision promised.

“He was quite an artist, and so the design for the new church will be based on a 19th-century reconstruction of a sixth-century church in the Holy Land, specifically the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish in Tabgha, Israel,” Keenan said.

The extensive project involves building a bigger version that remains faithful to the original design, complete with a traditional Romanesque style, rounded apse, cruciform shape, and pillars up the aisles.

Now, the project that required a true test of the communityʼs resiliency, patience, and faith will reach its most defining moment with May 24’s first dig.

Looking back on the multigenerational effort, Keenan is grateful for the patience and steadfast support of parishioners who have sacrificed for this new church over a decade.

“ We are all very excited, and I canʼt say enough about the good people of this parish who have been wanting this for so long. There are lots of good people for whom weʼre enormously grateful,” he said.

“We want a place for families who are stressed to be able to come together to appeal to the Lord. Letʼs find our identity in Christ, as St. Paul says, and letʼs truly rejoice together.”

This story was first published in Canadaʼs The Catholic Register and has been adapted by EWTN News. It is reprinted here with permission.

The theme for the rosary event, organized by various lay groups and supported by the Colombian bishops, is “Colombia’s Peace and Reconciliation Are Built Upon the Conversion of Your Heart.”

The country has been plagued by violent Marxist guerrilla groups and drug trafficking for decades.

The day’s events will consist of two main parts. The first will take place at the Bogotá cathedral at 11 a.m. with the recitation of the rosary, the celebration of Mass, and the consecration of the country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The rosary will be led by the cathedral’s parish priest, Father Sergio Pulido Gutiérrez. The president of the bishops’ conference, Archbishop Francisco Javier Múnera Correa, will celebrate the Mass and make the act of consecration.

The second part will begin at 5 p.m. in Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar, where Eucharistic adoration, a candlelit procession, and the recitation of the rosary will take place. The organizers said that during this Marian prayer, Our Lady will be asked to intercede “for the conversion of Colombians, in order to achieve peace and reconciliation.”

Múnera invited Colombians living both within and outside the country to “join in on May 13 for the great act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary.”

“We will ask the mother of the Lord to rekindle hope within us, sustain unity, and intercede for the reconciliation and peace of all Colombians,” the president of the bishops’ conference stated.

More information can be found on the national rosaryʼs YouTube and Instagram channels.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Violence in Jalisco and the extent of organized crime in Mexico

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking anonymously to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, a priest in active service in Nicaragua revealed the exact mechanisms by which the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, control, surveil, and silence the Catholic Church in the country.

The Nicaraguan dictatorship intensified its persecution of the Church in 2018 after bishops and priests offered to mediate between the regime and civil society in the wake of popular protests. Documented attacks against Catholics in the country now total over 1,030, and 149 priests have been expelled or exiled.

The priest said the population “has grown accustomed to the situation and no longer says anything. I sense a calm atmosphere, yet the restrictions, which are always present, persist, because there is no freedom.”

Every Sunday, 'the police arrive to take my photograph’

Speaking about how the police monitor priests and bishops, the priest recounted: “Whenever there are liturgical services, we have to report what they are and where they are being held; we have to report when we leave our parish boundaries, and we have to state how long we intend to remain at any location outside of it.”

“And the police arrive to take my photograph, always, every Sunday. It’s a way of verifying that we are where we said we would be. Police superiors require their officers to provide evidence of the visits they conduct, and thatʼs how they maintain control,” he added.

“If you fail to give notice,” the priest continued, “sometimes nothing happens; but other times when they realize that youʼre outside the parish and didn’t give prior notice, they make a call. There have been times when it simply slipped my mind to let them know.”

Regarding the bishops, he said he believes that “yes, they are monitored, they are kept under surveillance. And the police are constantly asking about this or that meeting: where it’s going to take place and whether the bishop will be there.” It also appears the police do in fact “have some person along with his vehicle assigned to” follow the bishops.

Political or social issues avoided in homilies

The priest explained that no priest can speak about social or political topics; otherwise, he risks being considered an opponent to the regime and it could cost him one of two things: “imprisonment or exile.”

“If we speak about a social problem or something currently taking place, they may view us as opponents, as if we were delivering a speech inciting rebellion. And so, they keep watch. They listen whether in person or via broadcasts, and they record us and file reports,” he said.

Any criticism of the dictatorship, he added, “they interpret as political discourse or an act of insurrection. And so that can have consequences.”

The priest recounted that whenever he learns of a fellow priest being imprisoned, there is “total silence. You can’t visit them; you can’t speak with them.”

Pressure on the bishops

ACI Prensa asked the priest why the bishops of Nicaragua do not typically speak about the situation in the country or criticize the dictatorship.

“First, perhaps, out of fear of being expelled. I believe thatʼs the primary factor. And there is the fear of leaving a large population of believers [without a bishop] as happened in Matagalpa, Estelí, or Jinotega” where the bishops are in exile, the priest noted.

The four dioceses currently without a bishop present in the country are Jinotega, whose bishop, Carlos Herrera, serves as president of the bishops' conference; Siuna, Matagalpa, and Estelí. The latter two are headed by Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was exiled to Rome in January 2024.

The priest noted that “in the dioceses where the bishops are absent, there are no priestly ordinations, primarily because the bishops are not there.”

“They [the police] are specifically keeping those dioceses under surveillance,” he added, explaining that a bishop from another diocese is also not permitted to ordain priests who fall outside his own jurisdiction.

In a diocese where the bishop is still present, he continued, “ordinations do take place, but they are conducted with great prudence and caution; they are not given much publicity or promoted in the media, so as to avoid any difficulties.”

The priest noted that there has been a decline in the number of priests due to expulsions, and that the most affected diocese is Matagalpa, with nearly half of its clergy now outside the country — a reprisal against Álvarez, who “in his homilies never sugarcoated” the situation in Nicaragua.

Processions banned in Nicaragua

The priest said that while most processions are banned, “there are some, traditionally massive in scale, that have been permitted,” such as those for St. Jerome or the Virgin of Mercy; “but more for their cultural and tourism value and not because it might be an opening toward the faith which they [the police] have otherwise closed.”

The priest recalled when he requested permission from the police to hold a procession and an officer told him that they could imprison him if he proceeded with it.

How does the Church get by day to day?

In 2023, the dictatorship banned the inflow of foreign funds to the Catholic Church after accusing it of “money laundering,” an accusation deemed “ridiculous” at the time by Félix Maradiaga, president of the Freedom for Nicaragua Foundation, while simultaneously freezing the bank accounts of the country’s parishes and dioceses in an attempt to further curtail their activities.

“There are no [parish] vehicles, and it’s impossible to purchase them using the offertory funds because the people are poor. So I have to go around asking people to give me a ride,” he recounted.

Among the many institutions whose legal status was revoked by the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship — meaning they cease to function and their assets are transferred to the regime — is Caritas Nicaragua, the charitable arm of the Catholic Church, which was dissolved by the dictatorship in March 2023.

“We no longer have access to Caritas or foreign aid, because all of that has been banned. Consequently, here, assistance is provided by the population itself amid their poverty,” the priest emphasized.

Without the assistance of Caritas, “it’s the community itself that takes it upon itself to help us. We rely on divine providence, and thatʼs how we carry on.”

“If we survive, it’s because of the help of the people themselves. The people pay for the electricity and the water. These costs are not paid with the collection or offerings. The same goes for food; the people pitch in to help me. Without that, it would not be sustainable,” he explained.

“We collaborate with the people; we help, we deliver food, provisions to certain people. I haven’t had any issues with the police in that regard, but I do it publicly; I don’t do it in secret,” he explained.

According to an April World Bank report, 2.8 million people in Nicaragua live in poverty.

Are there vocations in Nicaragua?

The Nicaraguan priest highlighted that, despite everything, there still are vocations. “It’s true that there was a decline in vocations after 2018. There was significant attrition and a decrease in numbers, and many young people left the country; however, vocations are currently on the rise.”

The year 2018 marked a turning point in the persecution against the Church. Protests against the dictatorship prompted the regime to intensify its multifaceted attacks against Catholics. Nicaraguan lawyer and activist Martha Patricia Molina, author of the report ”Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church,” provides a detailed account of these attacks.

“Today, vocations are once again beginning to resurge in the seminaries. Before last year there were few, but today the number of seminarians has already risen,” the priest added.

Despite the tribulations, the Church in Nicaragua ‘walks with hope’

The priest said “a characteristic of Nicaraguans is their love for the pope, because he [represents human] dignity and the Church, it’s something that characterizes the Nicaraguan Catholic.”

Bolstered by the pope’s encouragement expressed to the exiled Nicaraguan bishops in August 2025 and despite all the difficulties facing Nicaragua, the priest said there are reasons for hope, such as those newly baptized at Easter.

“I believe that the Church in Nicaragua is a suffering Church; yet, above all that suffering, we press onward. We are spurred on and find hope in the knowledge of what Easter has given us: the resurrection of Christ, that Christ is alive, that Christ is with us, and that he walks in our midst,” he said.

“Even amid these tribulations,” he affirmed, “the Church in Nicaragua moves forward with confidence; it moves forward with hope. We’re not sorrowful; we are joyful. We simply hope to receive the solidarity and attention of the world, and that, one day, we may be able to live out our faith in complete freedom.”

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

“There are some things you just don’t talk about to some people,” said Father Larry Holland, who has completed studies in healthcare chaplaincy in addition to serving at numerous parishes in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

He described his reaction when a doctor brought up the option of medical aid in dying (MAID) should his condition deteriorate. “I think I was very shocked,” he said. “It is such a sensitive subject.”

Holland, 79, is currently convalescing at VGH after suffering a hip fracture from a fall in his bathroom on Christmas Day. He spoke to The B.C. Catholic about the offers of MAID from two healthcare professionals, despite their knowing he was a Catholic priest.

Holland said he wasn’t dying then or now and that the doctor’s mention of MAID left him “kind of silent” for a moment. The doctor then raised the subject again, saying it’s “something they have to discuss with someone who’s been given a terminal diagnosis.”

Holland recalled telling the doctor he was morally opposed to euthanasia. The doctor explained that “he just wanted to make sure that, if a [terminal] diagnosis came up or not ... I knew of the different services I had access to.”

Weeks later, a second offer of MAID came from a nurse who the priest said seemed uncomfortable raising the topic and was likely doing so out of compassion because of the pain he was enduring.

“It’s a false compassion, really,” he said.

A spokesman for Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates VGH, told The B.C. Catholic in an email that “staff may consider bringing up MAID based on their clinical judgment, provided they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.”

Staff are also “responsible for answering questions when patients bring up the topic of MAID,” the spokesman said.

The two incidents arise as Canada approaches 100,000 assisted dying deaths.

Father Larry Lynn, the archdiocese’s pro-life chaplain, said he was shocked to hear about Holland’s case.

“This must surely be among the most appalling examples of Canada’s coercive and insensitive euthanasia regime,” Lynn said in an interview.

He said it’s disturbing that a healthcare provider suggests euthanasia with any patient, and particularly when the patient is a consecrated religious known to be morally opposed. “It places the medical practitioner into the role of the devil, tempting a vulnerable person into mortal sin.”

He’s equally troubled that Canadian euthanasia providers aren’t ruling out initiating discussions with Roman Catholics about MAID. In a document titled “Bringing up Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) as a Clinical Care Option,” the Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers recommends against assuming patients oppose MAID because of their faith.

The document says: “Healthcare professionals may draw incorrect assumptions about a person’s views on MAID; e.g., they may assume that a patient objects to MAID because she is a Roman Catholic nun, and yet Roman Catholic nuns and others dedicated to a faith-based way of life have requested MAID.” The booklet does not provide a source for the information.

An updated version published in March removes the Catholic reference but gives the same advice regarding people of a “faith community” and even those of “strong faith.”

Lynn called it “diabolical” to use a nun as an example for overcoming a patient’s moral objections.

The booklet reflects a recent trend of encouraging healthcare personnel to initiate MAID discussions with patients. In November 2025, The B.C. Catholic reported on a little-known 2023 Health Canada document urging health authorities and professional bodies to adopt “practice standards” requiring doctors and nurse practitioners to raise MAID with certain patients.

The MAID assessors and providers document similarly says physicians and nurse practitioners involved in care planning and consent processes “have a professional obligation to initiate a discussion about MAID if a patient might be eligible for MAID.” However, Health Canada does not have the authority to require provinces or health authorities to adopt such guidelines and The B.C. Catholic found no evidence of any public agency or professional body in British Columbia doing so.

Amanda Achtman, creator of the anti-euthanasia project Dying to Meet You and ethics director of Canadian Physicians for Life, said initiating MAID discussions in a medical setting is a form of coercion that attacks patients’ deepest convictions when they’re vulnerable. To “torment” someone who has deeply held beliefs with an offer of MAID is “an attack on their identity,” Achtman said.

Holland admitted he was in so much pain that he could “feel the temptation” to accept MAID. “It’s a human reaction. We always look for the easy way out.”

Conservative member of Parliament Garnett Genuis has introduced Bill C-260, An Act to Prevent Coercion of Persons Not Seeking Medical Assistance in Dying, which would prohibit federal employees from proactively offering or recommending MAID. The bill resulted from incidents of bureaucrats such as veterans counselors trying to steer vulnerable people toward assisted dying.

The Alberta government introduced legislation in March that would restrict regulated health professionals from providing information about MAID to their patients unless the patient brings it up. The Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act would also restrict the public display of MAID information, such as posters, within healthcare facilities.

The bill is worth supporting, said Achtman, who lives in Calgary. “Simply being offered euthanasia already kills the person, because it defeats and deflates their sense of self-worth and value.”

The unwanted initiation of MAID discussions in Canada made international headlines in March after Achtman shared the story of an 84-year-old woman, Miriam Lancaster, who went to VGH last year for severe back pain. She said the first doctor she spoke with in the emergency room raised MAID before any diagnostic work had been done. Lancaster’s daughter was present and confirmed the incident, adding her mother eventually responded to rehabilitation and rest.

The Catholic chaplain at VGH, Father Ronald Sequeira, said it’s a constant struggle to help suffering patients not lose hope. He said he tries to offer them “some kind of encouragement and comfort,” but many give up.

“The moment you lose hope, the devil comes in, in different personalities, and says, ‘Do you want MAID? I don’t want people to suffer.’”

Patients often don’t realize that suffering is redemptive, he said. “God makes us more pure, more strong, through the suffering when we offer it up,” Sequeira said. “So we give hope — help them not to lose hope.”

Holland said turning down an offer of death opens one to new experiences. Even enduring pain “can encourage growth,” he said. “It can motivate you, it can open up new worlds, new vistas, new opportunities,” including enriched relationships.

He said he is sharing his story in the hope it will help others. “I went through it; you can go through it, too.”

This story was first published in The B.C. Catholic and is reprinted here with permission and adaptations.

The 2026 conference, “Restoring the Covenant: Catholic Social Teaching as Common Social Ground,” will take place on Saturday, May 30, at De La Salle Oaklands College in Toronto.

The gathering is rooted in Catholic social doctrine and inspired by Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, in which he says: “Since the end of society is to make people better, the chief good that society can possess is virtue,” said Matthew Marquardt, executive director of Catholic Conscience.

Open to Catholics and all people of goodwill, the aim is to offer Catholic social teaching as a roadmap for renewing public life, Marquardt said.

The conference is meant to be a place where young professionals, potential volunteers, and benefactors can begin to match their skills and resources to the Church’s most pressing projects.

The day will combine liturgy and prayer with plenary talks and themed breakout sessions, all framed by Catholic social teaching’s vision of human dignity and the common good.

Speakers include Bishop Mark Hagemoen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon; Peter Copeland of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute; Tucker Sigourney, a John and Daria Barry postdoctoral fellow at Harvard; Moira McQueen, a prominent lawyer and consultant in moral theology who until recently served as executive director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute; and Kathleen Muggeridge of Young Professional Catholics of Toronto and the Office of Social Action of the Archdiocese of Montreal.

In an education session, Catholic Register publisher Peter Stockland will host a discussion examining the influence of news and media in shaping social values.

In a world marked by radical individualism, moral relativism, and what organizers describe as “a culture indifferent to the dignity of life,” the conference proposes Catholic social teaching as a unifying framework for rebuilding the bonds that make us a true covenant people.

For example, Catholic social teaching offers a Catholic lens for evaluating and interpreting governmental wellness indexes, such as the Quality of Life Framework recently adopted by the government of Canada.

“Our social covenant is broken and needs to be restored, said Marquardt, who is also president of Canadian Catholic News. “And the responsibility for doing that is on every one of us. We belong to one another and each have a role to play in society.”

The conference grew out of months of discussions about the fragile state of Catholic apostolates in Canada and the surprising appetite among young Catholics for serious engagement, he said.

“If you go to church in Toronto since the pandemic, attendance is up a lot,” Marquardt said. “The difference is a lot of young people who are very ardent. They say they want things to do.”

Organizers say the event is intended to:

• Advance civic conversation on restoring a shared social covenant grounded in common principles and values, as an alternative to the social currents pulling people away from God and one another.
• Bring together Canadian Catholic social and civic initiatives — along with other groups of goodwill — to increase awareness and promote cooperation among them.
• Promote volunteer, employment, and fundraising opportunities for these initiatives, helping them find the skills and support they need to survive and grow.

The vision goes beyond theory. In recent years, small Catholic organizations such as Catholic Insight, Catholic Conscience, and Canadian Catholic News have struggled with increasingly complex regulatory demands, especially those affecting interactions with agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency, and the practical burden of running lean operations with minimal staff.

This story was first published by The B.C. Catholic and is reprinted here with permission.

During her tour of Mexico to promote the book, which was released in February, Tapia spoke on April 28 with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, saying that the pro-life cause is a matter of “a commitment to civilization,” one that means opposing “any form of human extermination — be it abortion, the death penalty, or eugenics.”

She addressed a draft ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, Mexico’s highest judicial body, which “seeks the decriminalization of abortion and, consequently, the permission to perform abortions throughout the entire nine months of gestation.”

The ruling concerns a 2024 constitutional challenge to a state law protecting life from conception in which the court states that “removing abortion from penal codes is fundamental to precluding criminal proceedings and eradicating social criminalization and that which occurs within healthcare services.”

Defending life: ‘A commitment to civilization’

Given the current legal and cultural juncture Mexico is facing, she explained, “we have [selected] the 20 best arguments from a nonreligious perspective to come to the defense of life and seek to dismantle, because they are either false or flawed, the 20 most popular excuses we always hear to promote the decriminalization of abortion.”

“Defending life is not something proprietary to Catholics,” she pointed out, although she highlighted that “Catholics have been doing so for 2,000 years, and doing it very well.”

“We human beings are the ones who create the state and governments in any era and in any country,” she emphasized; therefore, “we must radically oppose any branch of the government of a state arrogating to itself or assigning to itself the authority to decide which humans live and which humans die.”

The discussion regarding the draft ruling at the Mexican Supreme Court was scheduled for early January but has since been postponed indefinitely.

A legal expert, Tapia served as a distinguished professor of Roman law and civil law at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and currently teaches electoral law in the master’s program in constitutional law at Pan-American University.

She has also advised the John Paul II Institute and Red Familia (Family Network), among others, on issues such as surrogacy, palliative care, abortion, advance directives, and conscientious objection. She is a member of the Interdisciplinary Family Studies Group at Pan-American University.

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Keys to the ‘cultural battle’

In the “cultural battle” to defend life, she stated, “it’s essential to correctly choose the terrain, to correctly choose one’s weapons.”

“If you defend life based on your religious position and you go before a court seeking to defend life using faith-based arguments, it is highly probable that you will fail; for constitutional or constitutional-procedural language entails certain requirements that are incompatible with the language you are employing, or want to employ,” she explained.

She even warned that “it is highly probable that you will be stigmatized and dismissed right from the start,” which is why it is important to avoid — to borrow a war analogy — ‘bringing horses to a naval battle.’"

“That is why this set of arguments serves a practical purpose,” she emphasized, for it “compiles the 20 best, truly splendid arguments for defending human life without any religious basis.”

“Every Life Matters: Bulletproof Arguments,” published by Ediciones MUAC, is now available for sale in Mexico in Spanish, and will be available for purchase through Amazon in the coming weeks. English and French versions are currently in the works.

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 initiative was spearheaded by the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Men and Women Religious (CLAR, by its Spanish acronym) in the context of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations held on April 26, just a few days after the first anniversary of the death of the Argentine pontiff, who passed away on April 21, 2025, at the age of 88.

In the introduction, Father Israel Arévalo Muñoz, deputy secretary of CLAR, explains that the volume brings together diverse perspectives on “the pastoral, political, spiritual, and ecological imprint that Pope Francis has left on the Church and on society.”

The content is divided into four sections: “Spirituality and New Humanism,” “Theological-Pastoral Horizons,” “Francis’ Challenges to Religious Life,” and “Francis and the World’s Socio-Environmental and Political Challenges.”

Twenty-one authors from diverse ecclesial and academic backgrounds collaborated on the work, including laypeople, women religious, and priests from congregations and institutes such as the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, the Society of Jesus, and the Order of Preachers, among others. The prologue was written by Cardinal Ángel Rossi, SJ, archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina, who is considered a “spiritual son” of Francis.

Arévalo notes that one of the central themes of the text is to demonstrate that Pope Francis’ leadership was grounded “in prayer, listening to the Spirit, and the conviction that the Gospel must once again become the center of ecclesial life.”

He also notes that the Holy Father championed a “profound ecclesial reform, grounded in transparency, co-responsibility, and pastoral conversion.”

Regarding his style of evangelization, the priest highlights that it was distinguished by “closeness, service, simplicity, and a commitment to the poor and marginalized” as well as by promoting a Church that is “Samaritan, missionary, and present in the geographical, social, and existential peripheries.”

In this regard, the deputy secretary of CLAR expressed his hope that the book would inspire civil society, the Church, and religious life to “embody a coherent, prophetic, and compassionate leadership” and motivate Catholics to work toward “a culture of encounter, interreligious dialogue, respect for diversity, and the pursuit of unity amid differences.”

The book can be downloaded free of charge here.

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

The event took place the day after the anniversary of the law passed on April 24, 2007, when the capital cityʼs government legalized abortion on demand for up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

According to the Mexico City Secretariat of Public Health, nearly 300,000 abortions were performed in the countryʼs capital between 2007 and 2025.

The 2007 decision paved the way for similar laws in other states, such that 24 out of 31 states across the country currently have loosened restrictions on abortion.

To demonstrate against these regulations, groups of friends, families, young people mobilized by parishes, and other participants began gathering early at the Monument to the Revolution. From there, the contingent set off toward the Mexico City Legislature in a march that, according to organizers, drew a crowd of more than 2,000 people.

Throughout the route, young people set the pace with drums, chants, and slogans. Many wore blue handkerchiefs and T-shirts bearing pro-life messages and held signs in defense of motherhood and the unborn.

Among those in attendance was 22-year-old Macarena Muñoz, who told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that she came to demonstrate that there are still “pro-life young people here in Mexico and in all the states who want to see these laws changed, and who do not want abortion to be decriminalized.”

She said it is important to show society that there are young people who understand that “to defend any other right such as women’s rights, one must first defend the intrinsic value: the value of life.”

Other states begin to permit abortion

Although the first decriminalization of abortion in Mexico took place in 2007 in the capital, the most significant gain for laws allowing abortion occurred during the six-year term of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which began in 2018, when the political party MORENA secured a majority in various state legislatures and pushed for laws allowing abortion in 12 states.

Subsequently, with the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum, also a MORENA party member, on Oct. 1, 2024, and backed by support from her party in the state legislatures, new laws permitting abortion were passed in Jalisco, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Mexico, Chiapas, Nayarit, Chihuahua, Campeche, Yucatán, and Tabasco states.

The march brought together people from various regions of the country. According to the organizers, participants came from at least 20 cities.

One of them was Regina Hinojosa, 24, who traveled from Puebla. Speaking with ACI Prensa, she lamented that during the time abortion has been legal in Mexico City and other states, “there hasn’t been anything that could be positive for women.”

She maintained that above any other agenda, Mexican women “deserve more laws in favor of their well-being and that of their babies.”

Juan Pablo Perea, 21, a native of Michoacán, also participated. In an interview with ACI Prensa, he stated that he had traveled with the intention of reminding others that “it falls to us young people to fight for this because we are no longer merely the future of the country but its present; and if we do nothing at this time, no one else will.”

Although he acknowledged that this is a “struggle that, regrettably, currently seems to be losing ground,” he encouraged other young people to get involved, pointing out that “without life, there is no future.”

Young people don’t want these deadly laws

Some pro-life legislators also participated in the march, such as Juliana Rosario Hernández Quintanar of the National Action Party, a Querétaro state representative who has championed legislative initiatives such as declaring March 25 the “Day of Life.”

Hernández told ACI Prensa that more laws are needed to protect vulnerable persons including the unborn and therefore called upon her colleagues not to give up, for “there is no better cause than fighting for life, because life is the future, life is hope, and today in Mexico, we have a great demand for life [to be protected].”

Furthermore, she expressed the view that Mexico bears a “great debt” in this regard, assuring that as politicians, “we are here to defend these causes, the ones that truly matter and the ones that will allow us to make a lasting difference.”

Youth at the forefront

Another attendee was Rodrigo Baños, 20, who issued a call to other young people to participate with “attitude and determination” in the defense of human rights, particularly those of women and the unborn.

The young man also told ACI Prensa that, following the example of previous generations, “now it is our turn, this is our moment to go out and fight” for the right to life. He encouraged his contemporaries, reminding them: “We are young; we have nothing to lose. We must give it our all.”

At the close of the event , a manifesto was read from the stage ending on the same note, with a message addressed to Mexican youth and to “those who sought to convince us to give up.”

“We refuse; we are a generation that does not grow accustomed, that does not sell out, that does not remain silent, that does not surrender. We will not give up. We will not tire of defending the truth. We will not stop loving Mexico.”

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

In the document, by the conference’s National Coordination of Catechesis, catechesis is viewed not merely as a process of formation but as an experience that “transforms hearts and lives, leading to renewed commitment to the Gospel.”

The document is addressed specifically to bishops, priests, catechists, and pastoral workers, and seeks to serve as a “source of inspiration and encouragement” to foster in them a greater appreciation of catechesis as a driving force for evangelization.

The publication notes that catechesis "is not merely intellectual knowledge but an experience of grace that transforms the heart and one’s entire existence, making the believer a participant in Trinitarian life.”

It also emphasizes the need to move beyond the prevailing view of catechesis as simply preparation for the sacraments, proposing a paradigm shift wherein it becomes a communal, missionary, and experiential undertaking. Within this framework, the document emphasizes that Christian initiation functions by “integrating the catechized person into the community,” thereby fostering commitment to the family, society, and the Church.

The participation of families is important in catechesis; parents, godparents, and entire communities should become actively involved.

Among the documentʼs most valuable contributions are the testimonies of young people, families, and catechists, who bear witness to the spiritual growth they experienced.

“My whole life changed and my family’s as well. Now I feel fulfilled doing so much for others,” said a participant who through this process found a new opportunity for life and service.

Formation should lead to the practice of the works of mercy. Accompanying suffering families means “touching the suffering body of Christ, integrating the social and spiritual dimensions into the catechetical process,” the text points out.

Christian initiation, according to the document, “is a response to the cultural shifts and relativism affecting young people and families,” promoting integration and fostering a faith that is both lived and shared.

Finally, the document proposes Christian initiation as a journey of pastoral renewal that fosters an “ecclesial renewal ... aimed at a new vocational impetus and a new missionary awakening of parish communities.”

“Stories of Light” is thus presented as a pastoral tool that seeks to offer a model of a “Church that goes out,” one centered on encounter with Christ, on the transformative dimension of catechesis, and on living out the faith in community.

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

The project was announced April 21 during a press conference given by Bolivia’s deputy minister for the Promotion of Sustainable Tourism, Andrés Aramayo; the bishop of Oruro, Cristobal Bialasik; architect Josefina Matas, who will direct the restoration; and Debra Hevia, chief of mission at the U.S. embassy.

The U.S. will make an investment of $66,240 toward the restoration of the historic church, which dates back to the early 17th century.

Hevia said the funding comes from the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Preservation Fund, which has a history spanning more than 26 years of protecting Bolivian cultural heritage.

“This church is beautiful. Its architectural style and murals tell the story of Bolivia, and we want to protect them to share with the world,” she said, highlighting the importance of preserving Bolivia’s history and combating the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage objects.

“As the Ministry of Sustainable Tourism, Cultures, Folklore, and Gastronomy, we view culture as a catalyst for our national pride, of our essence, but also for the social cohesion and peace we so urgently need to truly understand where we come from and where we wish to go,” Aramayo said at the press conference.

The project, which entails the repair and waterproofing of the thatched roof as well as the reconstruction of the buttresses that support the building, will respect the churchʼs architectural style and unique construction materials, the deputy minister explained. In addition, the exterior walls and façades, which have deteriorated with age, will be restored.

The building, constructed between 1587 and 1608, is located in the Andean province of Sajama at an elevation of 12,788 feet above sea level.

It is a large structure built of stone and adobe, featuring stone buttresses and a gated entrance to the church compound composed of two pilasters and a semicircular arch executed in a Renaissance style.

Inside the church, the walls and ceilings feature paintings depicting biblical scenes, which were completed in 1777 according to period documents belonging to the town of Curahuara de Carangas.

In 1960, the church was declared a national monument. With this restoration, the town hopes to become a hub for economic and social development through tourism, as part of a national religious tourism strategy.

At the press conference, the local bishop expressed his gratitude to the United States, as well as to Germany, which funded previous restoration work on the church.

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.