Sansone, 27, was born and raised in a Catholic family. He and his five siblings grew up in St. Louis, where their faith played an important role in their daily lives.

“Catholicism was ingrained in just about every aspect of my childhood and my life growing up,” Sansone told EWTN News in an interview. “We were taught from a very young age that faith was extremely important. It came right before family and then two before hard work.”

He added: “We had a little prayer corner in every house that weʼve lived in that had a picture of Jesus and then right underneath was a kneeler and then a bunch of little pamphlets — prayer cards or funerals of loved ones, and things like that.”

Sansone was taught hard work on his family’s 170-acre soy, corn, and wheat farm located on his great-grandfather’s land. It was here that he learned about farm life.

Fast forward to 2024 and Sansone’s mother and sisters were watching Season 2 of “Farmer Wants a Wife,” a reality dating series that follows farmers as they search for love among a group of women willing to leave city life behind for a chance at a relationship and life on the farm. The show combines romance with the realities of rural life, as the farmers and contestants get to know one another with the possibility of building a future together.

“They were constantly telling me to come watch it and see an episode and things like that and I just kept saying, ‘No, not interested,’” he recalled.

Then Sansone received a direct message (DM) on Instagram from the creators of the show. After thinking about it and speaking to his family about it, he decided to take part in the show.

“Realistically, the motivation for me to actually entertain that DM and to ultimately go on the show was, hey, this is a fun, random, once in a lifetime thing. I can make the most of it … and perhaps even find a wife,” he said.

Despite Sansone not finding a wife on the show, he reflected that it “reinforced his faith.”

“There were no Catholics in my group. I was the only one … I think what it really did is reinforced my faith a little bit because we would have these faith-based conversations on the show and we would have conversations about our beliefs and things like that and it kind of forced me to reconcile with myself what I actually did believe. So I would say that in doing that it reinforced my faith,” he shared.

Coming off the show and once it aired, Sansone began to gain a following on social media. He explained that he came to the realization one day that he “didn’t do anything to earn it.”

“All of this kind of fame and publicity, I would say in air quotes, is not something that I earned,” he said. “So, my way of paying back that opportunity, that was obviously a gift from God, was to use my platform to promote my faith.”

Sansone, who goes by @notjohnsansone on Instagram, has 109,000 followers on the platform and uses his growing social media platform to share approachable Catholic content, often drawing from his own experiences to encourage others in their faith. His posts touch on Catholic teachings, prayer, and the realities of striving for holiness while acknowledging the imperfections and struggles of everyday life.

Instagram post

“The social media world is not the friendliest spot for that type of thing,” he said. “So, my way of doing it and my strategy is more so kind of to subtly incorporate that into everyday things and make it a relatable thing that people who donʼt understand the faith or maybe didnʼt grow up in it, itʼs something for them to relate to.”

Thanks to his content creating, Sansone admitted that it has “forced me to improve my faith” and has “strengthened it.”

“Iʼve met a lot of interesting people through it [social media]. People who are much stronger in their faith, know a lot more about the Catholic Church and her history,” he added. “And in being around them, I think Iʼve forced myself to kind of become better at my faith.”

Sansone’s content creation recently took him to Peoria, Illinois, ahead of the beatification of Venerable Fulton Sheen alongside a large group of other Catholic content creators. He called the experience “incredible” and that he also “learned a lot about my faith and it kind of made me realize how far I needed to go still.”

Reflecting on Sheen’s life and how his legacy can inspire Catholic content creators, Sansone said: “I think what was great about him is that a lot of his messages were, yes, based in the Catholic faith, but they were more relatable to an everyday person. You didnʼt have to be Catholic to utilize his messages and apply them to your own life. I feel like thatʼs one important thing that a lot of Catholic content creators can do. Itʼs what I try to do.”

As for what he hopes viewers of his content take away from it, Sansone emphasized that he wants “people to understand Catholicism for what it really is.”

These are the words of Sarah Taylor, a Catholic mother of three whose 9-year-old son, Reid, was excluded from parish activities because of his autism.

“As a mother, it was heartbreaking to see my child denied opportunities to participate in the very community where we sought belonging, acceptance, and spiritual growth,” Taylor told EWTN News.

Reid was asked to leave sacramental preparation classes and Vacation Bible School because the parish couldn’t accommodate his special needs. His mother described this as “devastating” — but she decided to do something about it.

“In the days that followed, I felt a wide range of emotions — sadness, frustration, disappointment, and a fierce determination to advocate for greater inclusion of individuals with disabilities within the Catholic Church,” Taylor said. “My husband and I knew that something needed to change, not only for our son, but for other families who might face similar barriers.”

Taylor reached out to her home diocese of Baton Rouge, who put them in contact with the All Are Welcome ministry. Through the ministry, she and her family found genuine, “life-changing” acceptance.

“We were welcomed not despite Reidʼs autism, but with an understanding that his differences are part of who he is,” Taylor said. “That sense of acceptance was life-changing for our entire family.”

“The ministry has also strengthened our faith journey in unexpected ways,” Taylor said. “During a time when we felt hurt and disconnected from the Church, the kindness, compassion, and support we received reminded us of what it truly means to be the body of Christ. Through the ministry, we experienced the love and inclusion that Jesus demonstrated throughout his ministry.”

An estimated 1 in 4 people have a disability, according to 2022 CDC data. About 3.2% of children — 1 in 31 children — have autism. But ministries designed for inclusivity can be hard to find.

Jodi Devore, who has three children with autism, founded All Are Welcome along with another Catholic mom, Edda Dupaquier, after having similar experiences. The Catholic special needs support ministry began as a backyard rosary group and has since expanded throughout the diocese.

“As we prayed and shared our stories, we realized we all carried the same desire,” Devore said of the backyard rosary group. “We didnʼt want a ministry beside the Church — we wanted our families to fully belong within the Church. We wanted our children to know Christ, receive the sacraments, build genuine friendships, and participate fully in parish life alongside everyone else.

“As we prayed and shared our stories, we realized we all carried the same desire,” Devore said of the backyard rosary group. “We didnʼt want a ministry beside the Church — we wanted our families to fully belong within the Church. We wanted our children to know Christ, receive the sacraments, build genuine friendships, and participate fully in parish life alongside everyone else.

The ministry has had a powerful impact on the diocese.

“Weʼve watched families return to Mass after years away. Children have received sacraments,” Devore said. “Parents who once felt alone have found a community that truly understands them. Most importantly, weʼve witnessed families rediscover that they have a place in the life of the Catholic Church.”

“Our hope has always been simple: that every individual with special and exceptional needs — and every parent, sibling, and caregiver who walks beside them — would know they are not just welcome in the Church, but that they are an essential part of the body of Christ,” Devore said.

Running to the altar: Sensory-friendly Masses

Mass is a key area where families with children with disabilities can feel excluded — but it’s one of the most important parts of being Catholic. Sensory-friendly Masses — designed for people with special needs like autism — are “one of the most meaningful parts of our ministry,” according to Devore.

These Masses feature lower lighting, softer music, and shorter and more literal homilies.

“Families know they can move around as needed without fear of judgment,” Devore explained. “Most importantly, everyone gets Jesus.”

Before and after Mass, the environment is full of excitement and beauty, according to Devore.

“Children and adults with disabilities often run to the altar with joy. They arenʼt afraid. They arenʼt worried about doing something wrong. Theyʼre simply drawn to Christ,” Devore said. “Every time I see it, Iʼm reminded thatʼs what the Church should feel like — a place where people are free to run toward Jesus.”

Attending Mass can be incredibly challenging for families with children with special needs.

“For many families, Sunday morning isnʼt as simple as getting everyone dressed and going to Mass,” Devore said. “Sometimes the clothes are too itchy. The smell of incense can be overwhelming. The music may be painfully loud. Sitting still for an hour can feel impossible. A child may need to move, vocalize, or leave the pew altogether.”

“As a parent, youʼre doing everything you can to help your child, but at the same time youʼre painfully aware of every glance, every stare, and every whispered comment around you,” Devore said.

“What hurts most isnʼt the noise or the outbursts. Itʼs the feeling that you and your child, your family, donʼt belong in the very place where you should feel most at home,” Devore said.

Taylor explained how children with autism may behave differently during Mass, but that doesn’t make them any less reverent.

“As a mother of a child with autism, my hope is that every member of the Catholic Church understands how important it is to welcome individuals with disabilities into the Mass — not just occasionally, but as a natural and expected part of parish life,” Taylor said.

“A child may wear noise-canceling headphones to manage the sounds of a crowded church,” Taylor said. “They may flap their hands when they are excited, rock back and forth for comfort, stim during the homily, or carry a beloved dinosaur up with them when they receive Communion. These behaviors are not distractions; they are part of how that child experiences and navigates the world. They do not lessen the reverence of their worship or the sincerity of their faith.”

“The Catholic Church is meant to be a home for everyone,” Taylor continued. “When individuals with disabilities are present at Mass, they are not interrupting the community — they are enriching it. Their presence reminds us that Godʼs love is not reserved for those who fit a certain mold. It is for all of his children.”

“What matters most is not whether a child sits perfectly still, remains silent, or follows every social expectation,” Taylor said. “What matters is that they are there. They are present. They are experiencing Jesus in the way they are able. They are witnessing the miracle of the Eucharist and participating in the life of the Church.”

“Our differences are not obstacles to Godʼs love; they are reflections of the beautiful diversity of his creation,” Taylor said. “If we truly believe that every person is made in the image and likeness of God, then every person deserves to be welcomed, valued, and embraced within our faith communities. A child with headphones, flapping hands, or a dinosaur in hand belongs at the Lordʼs table just as much as anyone else. And the Church is stronger, more compassionate, and more Christ-like because they are there.”

“These children of ours, they make the ground holy,” said Dupaquier, who helps lead the ministry alongside Devore and Deacon Randall Waguespack. “And they make us better people with more virtues, with more patience, with more understanding — capable of loving in ways that we weren’t sure that we could love.”

Coming home: Communities transformed

The ministry has helped bring families back into the Church; most importantly, it has made the Church feel like home.

Devore and her family experienced feeling “like outsiders in our own Church.”

“Not because people were intentionally unkind, but because many simply didnʼt understand what they were seeing,” Devore explained. “Over time, that judgment becomes exhausting, and for many families, it leads them to quietly stop coming.”

But Devore said the ministry has given her “hope.”

“Iʼve watched parishioners grow in understanding, volunteers embrace these families with incredible love, and parents finally take a deep breath because they know they donʼt have to apologize for their child simply being who God created them to be,” Devore said.

The All Are Welcome ministry hosts family retreats, support groups, and helps support persons with disabilities in participating in the liturgy, not only through sensory-friendly Masses but also through active lay participation.

“Weʼre also passionate about meaningful participation in the liturgy. Individuals with disabilities serve as altar servers, proclaim the readings when theyʼre able, bring forward the gifts, and participate in the Mass in visible and meaningful ways. They arenʼt simply attending church — theyʼre helping lead the worship of the Church,” Devore said.

Through the ministry, Devore has seen transformation not only of families but also of parishes.

“The greatest transformation weʼve witnessed isnʼt just that families return to Mass. Itʼs that they begin to believe they belong there,” Devore said.

“Parishioners begin seeing gifts instead of limitations. Entire parish communities are transformed because they discover that these families arenʼt guests in the Church — theyʼre an essential part of it,” Devore said.

“Weʼve seen families return to Mass after years away,” Devore said. “Weʼve celebrated children receiving the Eucharist when their parents once thought it might never happen. Weʼve watched parish communities discover the incredible gifts these individuals bring to the Church.”

“Our greatest hope is that one day no family will wonder whether thereʼs a place for them in the Catholic Church,” Devore said. “We want every individual, regardless of ability, to know Christ, receive the sacraments, discover their God-given gifts, and live a life rooted in faith.”

Understanding disability: Seeing as Christ sees

Devore and Taylor encouraged people to be accepting of people with special needs, sharing what they believe is most important for others to understand about disability.

“Families affected by disability often face barriers that many people never think about,” Devore said.

“I would want people to understand that no two children with disabilities are alike,” Taylor said. “My son may communicate differently, process information differently, or respond to situations in ways that others do not immediately understand, but those differences do not diminish his value, his intelligence, or his desire to belong. Like every child, he wants to be accepted, included, and loved for who he is.”

It’s not about big gestures, but more about the small moments, according to Taylor. “Simple acts of patience, understanding, and inclusion can make an enormous difference for our families,” she said.

But acceptance is also about how other people “see.”

“Perhaps most importantly, I would want people to move beyond seeing the disability and instead see the child: see their unique gifts, their personality, their sense of humor, their faith, their kindness, and their potential,” Taylor said.

“I would simply ask people to see one another through the eyes of Christ,” Devore said. “If you see a child making unexpected noises at Mass, an adult who communicates differently, or a family that seems overwhelmed, donʼt assume they donʼt care or donʼt want to be there.”

“More often than not, theyʼre doing everything they can just to be present,” Devore continued. “A smile. An invitation. Sitting beside them instead of moving away. Those simple acts of kindness can change someoneʼs entire experience of the Church.”

Addressing a new Vatican document commemorating the 60th anniversary of Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate — which discourages “defensive entrenchment” and single-minded proselytism — Barron clarified the distinction between aggressive pushiness and authentic Christian proclamation.

“In a way, I wish we would drop the word ‘proselytizing’ because it’s used now in so many different ways,” he said.

Recalling a conversation with Pope Francis during an ad limina visit, Barron noted that the pope defined proselytism as “obnoxious evangelization” — a browbeating, overbearing approach.

While supporting respectful dialogue, Barron insisted that sharing the faith remains nonnegotiable.

“We are really good at stressing how kind, respectful, and tolerant we should be. That’s great, and I’m all in favor of it. But we also announce Jesus — in a friendly way, in a nonthreatening way,” he said.

Expressing a desire for Church documents to place greater emphasis on proclamation, he added: “The Church is not a debating society. ... We are here to proclaim a word in love. It’s the truth in love. But by God, it’s the truth, and I think that’s obviously worth emphasizing.”

Advising the White House on religious freedom

The Word on Fire founder also responded to critics questioning his involvement with the Trump administration following his appointment to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Clarifying his position, Barron pushed back against claims that his participation represents a political endorsement. “I’m not a member of the Trump administration!” he said. “The president invited me to be around the table to discuss issues about religious liberty so that policy in that regard could be better formulated. Why would I say no to that?”

Comparing his role to that of legendary Notre Dame president Father Theodore Hesburgh — who served on numerous presidential commissions across multiple administrations — Barron noted: “If Joe Biden had invited me to be on a commission considering issues of religious liberty, I would have said, ‘Sure!’ ... It’s not in any way a compromise or siding with one party.”

Advocating for Jimmy Lai and religious liberty in China

Turning to international affairs, Barron stressed his long-standing advocacy for imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai. While noting he was unsure if his public advocacy influenced his appointment to USCIRF, the bishop made his intentions clear regarding his new watchdog role.

“For years now, I’ve been advocating on behalf of Jimmy Lai. I think it’s outrageous the way he’s been treated,” Barron said. “If Jimmy Lai isn’t brought up in the commission, I would certainly bring him up.”

When asked about the Vatican’s controversial agreement with Beijing regarding the appointment of bishops, Barron hesitated on the specifics of current Vatican diplomacy while pointing to a proven historical model: “I’m a John Paul II man, and the way he dealt with communism, I think, is the right way to deal with it.”

Legacy of Fulton Sheen and resurgence of communism

Looking ahead to the upcoming beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen in St. Louis, Barron praised the pioneering Catholic broadcaster as a model for modern evangelists — highlighting both Sheen’s holiness as the “saint of the Holy Hour” and his courage in identifying ideological threats.

Barron noted that Sheen’s bold stance against communism in the mid-20th century carries striking relevance for contemporary culture. “The fact that Sheen took on communism back in the 1940s and ’50s, when he correctly discerned it was threat No. 1 ... well, it’s back,” the bishop observed. “It’s back in institutional form in different places around the world, but also in our own country.”

Explaining why Sheen’s critique remains essential today, Barron added: “What he noticed about communism was its deep antipathy toward God, the things of the spirit and the moral order, and he knew this was deeply disruptive to the values of the West. That’s a message that still needs to be heard.”

Modern culture and empathy

Concluding the conversation, Barron reflected on a recent article he penned regarding the limitations of empathy when elevated above all other virtues in public and ecclesial life.

“Empathy is a good thing — to feel with somebody else. ... However, there is a hierarchy of values, and empathy is not at the top. At the top of the hierarchy for a Christian has to be love,” Barron explicated, drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of love as “willing the good of the other.”

“To love is not to spare the feelings of someone; to love is to will the good of the other. ... We don’t say, ‘God is empathy’; we say, ‘God is love.’”

Watch the full interview below:

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

Jeremiah Robinson from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, was charged with making terroristic threats, which is a Class D felony that carries up to seven years in prison. He was charged on Sept. 16, according to a news release from the St. Louis prosecuting attorney’s office.

Brecht Mulvihill, executive director of communications for the archdiocese, expressed gratitude to law enforcement in a statement to EWTN News and said the archdiocese is praying for an end to hatred and threats of violence.

“First, we wish to extend our gratitude to the law enforcement officers who responded immediately to this incident, especially to the Shrewsbury Police Department,” Mulvihill said.

“The safety and wellbeing of the men and women who serve the Church are of the utmost importance, and we pray for an end to the hatred and threats of violence that have become so regrettably prevalent on social media,” he said.

Prosecutors alleged that Robinson posted a video on TikTok on Sept. 15 in which he said he was two minutes away from the archdiocese and that God had instructed him to use no discernment and that “everyone who walks into that church is guilty and to kill them.”

According to the prosecutors, Robinson posted a second video in the parking lot and turned his phone to show archdiocesan offices and said his directions were to leave no one breathing.

The news release states that the FBI’s national operations center contacted the Shrewsbury Police Department about the video.

It states the building was evacuated. The building was searched for bombs, which included the use of bomb-sniffing dogs, but there was nothing found.

Robinson is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond, according to prosecutors.

“Take this all of you and drink from it: For this is the chalice…” Father Brent Bowman prayed at the altar, followed by a six-second pause while celebrating Mass for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota, on Sept. 14.

He continued the consecration prayer through tears and then sobbed for nearly one minute at the altar, struggling to raise the chalice. He continued to cry as he raised the chalice and was weeping as he knelt before the blood of Christ after the consecration.

Instagram post

Bowman’s emotional response to the consecration was captured on video because the parish livestreams its daily Masses on YouTube and it spread across social media platforms, with many viewers wondering what prompted the reaction.

In his statement, he explained that he did not witness what the Church considers a “Eucharistic miracle,” such as when the accidents of the bread and wine apparently change in some way along with the substance. Rather, he said, “I had a private spiritual experience” during the Mass.

“During the consecration prayer over the wine at the altar, as I spoke the words, I was given what I believe to be internal knowledge of the power of these words being spoken and the reality of their effect to the point that I had difficulty speaking,” Bowman said in his statement.

“With each word, I became more physically overwhelmed as seen in the video,” he said. “At the same time, I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of God’s power coming down upon the altar, and I felt the heaviness of Jesus’s substantial presence in the chalice in my hands.”

“The chalice became too heavy to hold as I felt it pulled down to rest upon the altar,” Bowman said. “I felt my hands fixed to the chalice of the Precious Blood, and I could not physically move it. Attempting to elevate the Precious Blood, which I was not able to do for a period of time, I believe I was given grace to understand more deeply the bittersweetness of Our Lord’s Passion and how much blood Christ shed for the immense weight of all our sins.”

“I believe I experienced this weight in the chalice,” he said. “This spiritual experience emotionally and physically overwhelmed me as evident in the Mass recording.”

Bowman noted that spiritual experiences are “completely unmerited gifts and signs of God’s abundant love for all his people” but “not necessarily signs of any person’s holiness.”

“I pray this brief testimony moves all our hearts to contemplate more deeply the mysteries of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and the Precious Blood,” he said.

Although Bowman did not experience a “Eucharistic miracle” in the sense of the bread or the wine altering its appearance, God does perform a miracle at every Mass during consecration, known as transubstantiation.

When the priest consecrates the Eucharist, the “substance” of bread and wine does not remain, but instead the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ even though it maintains the physical appearance and chemical structure of bread and wine.

“The presence of Christʼs true body and blood in this sacrament cannot be detected by sense, nor understanding, but by faith alone, which rests upon Divine authority,” St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the “Summa Theologica.”

St. Cyril of Alexandria, a patriarch and doctor of the Church, wrote about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist in a sermon about the Last Supper, written in the early 400s: “Do not doubt that this is true, since Himself plainly says, ‘This is My body’ [and] ‘This is My blood,’ but rather receive in faith the Saviorʼs word; for He, being the Truth, cannot lie.”

“For the words of God are of course true, and in no manner whatsoever can they be false: for even though we understand not in what way God works acts such as these, yet He Himself knows the way of His works,” Cyril wrote.

The archbishop’s pastoral letter, “Uniting for Our Sacred Waters,” was released this month as fears of declining water reservoirs increased in New Mexico.

It also comes shortly after Pope Leo XIV issued a prayer intention for the care of water. The Holy Father described clean water as a “blessing” but noted that 25% of the world’s population lacks safe drinking water.

“Entire communities and nations need our action and our prayer for the care of water for the blessed relief,” the pope said.

The NASA Earth Observatory revealed this summer that the Elephant Butte Reservoir, the state’s largest, had shrunk to just 1.4% capacity, its lowest since 1971, driven by persistent drought conditions and early snowmelt.

Wester in the pastoral letter urged Catholics to recognize the deep connection between water and the Catholic faith.

“We bless ourselves with water when entering and leaving our churches,” he wrote. “Just as we share and celebrate the word of Christ, we share and celebrate the sacredness of water.”

“Together, let us reflect on our kinship with our waters and how we are responsible for protecting, conserving, and restoring them,” he said.

The archbishop cited Pope Francis’ warnings in Laudato Si’ about water scarcity and a potential “acute water shortage” across the world. Wester said human society must make “moral choices” that “equitably protect people, waters, lands, and wildlife.”

He lamented what he described as the “squander[ing]” of water in New Mexico, specifically the depletion of groundwater supplies there, as well as contamination of aquifers by local military activity and nuclear weapons laboratories.

Water, the archbishop said, is “an oasis for the good of all.” God teaches that humans should both share and steward such a resource, he wrote.

The archbishop urged authorities to hold those accountable who pollute waterways and to protect water sources from future pollution. “[E]ach of us,” meanwhile, “can pay attention, pray, and act in our personal, spiritual, and political lives.”

He urged Catholics to “consider what water means to you and to envision a better future for our sacred waters — and everyone who shares in them as God’s gift.”

This is not the first environmental warning the archbishop has issued. In May he warned the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration to stop expanding production of plutonium pits, with the prelate describing nuclear weapons as “immoral” and “genocidal.”

In June, meanwhile, he similarly warned the Arms Control Association about the concept of a “just” nuclear war and lamented the lack of momentum toward nuclear disarmament.

Wester is among the Church leaders — along with Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle; Archbishop Peter Nakamura of Nagasaki, Japan; and Bishop Alexis Shirahama of Hiroshima, Japan — who have formed a coalition of prelates called the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons.

The bishops and archbishops all oversee dioceses or archdioceses with deep connections to nuclear technology. The Manhattan Project developed the first nuclear weapons just outside of Santa Fe in the 1940s, while Seattle is home to the largest stockpile of deployed nuclear weapons in the world.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meanwhile, were the first and to-date only places where nuclear weapons were used in acts of war.

A large audience gathered Sept. 16 at the Basilica of St. Mary Queen of Apostles in Rome for the conference, titled “Father Gabriele Amorth: The Living Legacy for the Church and Our Time.”

Amorth died in Rome on Sept. 16, 2016. The Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, the Society of St. Paul, and the International Association of Exorcists organized the event in his memory.

Speakers included Father Francesco Bamonte, vice president of the International Association of Exorcists; Father Marcello Lanza, an exorcist in the Diocese of Acerra and a scholar of Amorth’s life; Father Aldo Buonaiuto, an exorcist and coordinator of the anti-cult service of the Pope John XXIII Community; and Father Stefano Stimamiglio, director of Famiglia Cristiana. Annachiara Valle, Famiglia Cristiana’s Vatican correspondent, moderated the discussion.

The speakers portrayed Amorth as a priest who dedicated his life to the ministry of exorcism but whose thought and example also shed light on broader dimensions of spirituality and faith. The conference explored not only his ministry but also his profound humanity and a spirituality that approached mysticism.

Bamonte reviewed the principal stages of Amorth’s life and ministry. Cardinal Ugo Poletti appointed the Pauline priest an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome in 1985. Amorth trained under Venerable Father Candido Amantini, a Passionist priest and renowned exorcist at Rome’s Scala Santa.

Amorth’s dedication to the ministry led him to establish the International Association of Exorcists in 1994. He served as its president until 2000.

Formation was particularly important to Amorth. He sought to provide firm theological criteria and prevent people’s suffering and vulnerability from being exploited through occult practices. Bamonte also emphasized Amorth’s attentiveness to those who suffered and his understanding of exorcism as an “act of charity.”

Lanza examined the relationship among theology, mysticism, and spiritual discernment in Amorth’s life and ministry.

Buonaiuto drew a parallel between Amorth and Father Oreste Benzi, founder of the Pope John XXIII Community. He described them as two priests who “certainly did not know diplomacy” and who addressed directly the issue closest to their hearts: the suffering of others.

Stimamiglio focused on Amorth’s ability to communicate simply and without technical language. Amorth did not reject journalism but believed it should be as clear as possible and remain close to the truth — an approach inspired by Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Society of St. Paul — and ultimately point toward the truth of the Gospel and of Christ.

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

During a Sept. 18 audience with approximately 50 members of the Leo XIV International Study Center, the pope described Christian humanism as “a vision open to the Creator” that fosters fraternal relationships. He said Catholic social teaching emerged from that same humanist tradition.

“The Church’s social doctrine also emerged from this matrix,” Leo said in the Vatican’s Consistory Hall. “Its analysis of Christian revelation in the context of modern social, labor, economic, and cultural issues would not have been possible without the contribution of the laity, men and women alike, who grappled with the great issues of their time.”

“At their side were those men and women religious who embodied a Church forging ahead in new directions,” he said, quoting his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te.

The research, educational, and cultural institution was founded within the Order of St. Augustine in October 2025 and is dedicated to studying the life and magisterium of Pope Leo XIV.

“The epochal change we are now undergoing makes even more necessary a constant interaction between the faithful and the Church’s magisterium, between ordinary citizens and experts, between individuals and institutions,” the pope said.

During the audience, Leo encouraged the center’s members to promote formation directed toward public engagement and service to society.

“At the cost of swimming against the tide, your mission of hope consists of promoting, in Italy and throughout the world, formation for public and political life conceived as a service to the common good, responsibility towards the community, and the building of relationships based on solidarity, justice, and peace,” he said.

Established as an organization in Italy’s “third sector” in December 2025, the center seeks to promote reflection on Catholic social teaching and its application to contemporary challenges.

A civilization of love

Leo expressed his appreciation for the Augustinian initiative, stressing “the importance of reflection and critical thinking in building a civilization of love, to which the social doctrine of the Church has much to offer.”

The pope also praised the center’s commitment to dialogue with universities, academic institutions, public bodies, civil society organizations, ecclesial institutions, and networks of associations in an effort to foster cooperation and exchange at both the national and international levels.

In that context, he highlighted its collaboration with the Theological Faculty of Central Italy and the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum.

“The key lies in walking together, always, without closing the door to encounter even with those who are different and seem to think, speak, or act differently,” he said.

A humanism open to peace

Leo also emphasized the symbolic significance of Florence as the home of the new study center.

The choice of the city, he explained, is “an invitation to draw inspiration from the values of humanism, a vision open to the Creator and, for that very reason, one that builds fraternal relationships.”

“It is not wars, but the weaving of peace and just balances that produces civilization, with the active participation of all the social and cultural components of an open society,” he said.

Political formation as an answer to resignation

Leo expressed his hope that the center would foster dialogue and prepare new generations to participate in public life.

“May your study center promote this exercise, which requires pioneers and facilitators, especially when forms of mistrust and resignation threaten to prevail,” he said.

The pope called the center’s work “the opposite of resignation” and urged it to promote public and political service grounded in responsibility for the community and the common good.

St. Augustine and love as a force for renewal

In the final part of his address, Leo underscored the relevance of Augustinian thought to the challenges facing the contemporary world.

Augustinian reflection, he said, has “much to offer in this regard within today’s international context, for an understanding of love as the principle of renewal in personal, economic, and political life.”

“Love binds in order to liberate, unites in order to generate, and commits in order to build,” he said.

The pope also cited his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas: “We view history in the light of the crucified and risen Lord … We do not consider the present as a predetermined fate, but an opportunity for personal and collective conversion.”

Finally, he encouraged the center’s members to become witnesses to God’s quiet action in history.

“Yes, be experts in God’s newness: not that which dazzles with speed and efficiency, but that which he works silently, freeing the old world from its dead ends and opening up paths along which we may journey together, toward his city,” he said.

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

The Fabbrica di San Pietro — the Vatican institution responsible for maintaining St. Peter’s — announced the project’s completion on Sept. 17. The announcement described the project as necessary to conserve “one of the most significant decorative achievements of early seventeenth-century Rome.” The Italian Mannerist painter Cristofano Roncalli (also known as “Il Pomarancio”) created the mosaics between 1601 and 1604.

The Clementine Chapel, distinct from another of the same name in the Vatican Grottoes, contains the Altar of St. Gregory the Great (where he is buried), the monument to Pope Pius VII, the Altar of the Lie, and the Altar of the Transfiguration.

The restoration included preliminary inspections of the mosaics, cleaning and dust removal, removal of incompatible materials, and efflorescence treatment.

The Clementine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Clement VIII, who reigned from 1592–1605. It was begun and designed by the renowned Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, who also designed the main dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Italian architect Giacomo della Porta completed the chapel’s dome in 1580, 20 years before the jubilee year of 1600.

The mosaics were restored as St. Peter’s Basilica marked the 400th anniversary of its consecration. In February, the Vatican announced that it will open new parts of the basilica — including the full terrace — and roll out a “SmartPass” digital entry system.

The basilica, which replaced an earlier Constantinian basilica, was consecrated by Pope Urban VIII on Nov. 18, 1626.

Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, the new permanent observer of the Holy See to the U.N., made these remarks on Sept. 17, delivering his first address since being appointed by Pope Leo XIV in July. He delivered the address in New York at the Global Conference on Promoting Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Countering Hate Speech.

In his address, El-Kassis reaffirmed the Holy See’s position that all human beings possess inviolable human dignity that cannot be diminished. He also warned against threats to this dignity, including hate speech.

“Hate speech — whether directed against individuals or communities on the basis of their religion, ethnicity, nationality, or any other characteristic — contradicts the commandment to love one’s neighbor, poisons public discourse, inflames division, and too often prepares the ground for violence and persecution,” El-Kassis stated in his remarks.

El-Kassis also affirmed the Holy See’s recognition of the right to freedom of expression, provided that one be mindful of the responsibilities that accompany this freedom.

The archbishop also cited Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, reminding those present that the “first contribution we can make toward a more humane civilization is to be mindful of our words.”

“Pope Leo XIV insists, ‘… Disarmed and disarming communication allows us to share a different view of the world and to act in a manner consistent with our human dignity,’” El-Kassis concluded.

Discussing the administration’s efforts in an interview with EWTN News White House correspondent Owen Jensen, White House Faith Office Director Jenny Korn emphasized the importance of having “a White House Faith Office that the president put in the West Wing as a direct report to him to work on policy that affects religious institutions and people of faith in their daily lives.”

The list of accomplishments covers 25 categories, including the protection of religious liberty, defending houses of worship, securing conscience rights, ending the weaponization of government, expanding school choice, upholding parental rights, restoring biological truth, and defending life.

Among the most recent items, Korn highlighted the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) guidance to all federal departments and agencies, directing them to protect religious liberty in all programs, policies, and practices.

That guidance includes lifting restrictions that prevented federally-funded faith-based organizations from including prayer and the religious aspect as part of their programs.

“We canʼt take away those rights. We canʼt take your faith out. Your faith is the part of the whole reason why you are serving the community,” Korn said.

The White House listed several “victories” tied to conscience rights, including strengthening protections for healthcare providers who object to abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide.

Among other measures, the Department of Health and Human Services has rescinded previous departmental guidance that could force pharmacists to stock and dispense abortion pills in violation of pharmacists’ religious beliefs.

The report also touts that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has conducted terminations and overseen resignations following an anti-Catholic memo authored by the FBI during the Biden administration.

In addition, the White House notes that the Department of Justice’s Weaponization Working Group released a report on how that department, under the previous administration, collaborated with pro-abortion groups to target pro-lifers and weaponize the FACE Act against pro-life defendants.

The Department of Justice has subsequently restricted “the misuse of the FACE Act against pro-life advocates, dismissing several cases aimed at persecuting pro-life Americans.”

Defending life

Nonetheless, pro-life leaders have also given some critical reviews during Trump’s second term.

While there has been praise for measures that include conscience protections and restrictions on abortion-related funding overseas, they have criticized the administration’s failure to sufficiently regulate abortion pills and completely defund Planned Parenthood, in addition to the administration’s support for in vitro fertilization (IVF).

The White House list indicates that the “Food and Drug Administration is conducting a review of the abortion drug mifepristone.” Korn said she has not had a specific conversation with Trump on where he stands on the abortion drug mifepristone.

IVF expansion on victories list

The list glaringly counts Trump’s expansion of IVF as a “victory,” stating Trump “took action to lower costs and expand access to IVF and high-quality fertility care.”

The Catholic Church strongly opposes the practice. “Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states.

Addressing this issue, Korn said the “president is very pro-family. And so we want to be able to make sure that we are allowing Americans to be able to grow their family.”

“But we understand the nuances and we understand thereʼs some disagreements,” she acknowledged. Korn emphasized that “Catholics are at the table” as the administration’s policy deliberations continue and that she expects many additional favorable outcomes for people of faith during the rest of the president’s term.

The Church Appointments (Repeal of Discriminatory Provision) Bill would allow Catholic and Jewish prime ministers to provide advice to the monarch on Church of England appointments, which is part of the prime minister’s role.

According to the U.K. government, amendments were brought into law in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to remove restrictions on Catholic and Jewish people in public life, but the restriction related to advising on Church appointments was left in place.

Up until recently there have been no Catholic or Jewish prime ministers, but Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who came to power on July 20, is a Catholic and has had to transfer this responsibility to the lord chancellor.

Inquiry into police collusion in death of Catholic father in Ireland concludes

An inquiry in Ireland has found that four Royal Ulster Constabulary officers “did not collude” with attackers who assaulted a 25-year-old Catholic father of three in 1997 in County Armagh, according to a report in RTÉ.

The inquiry into the murder of Robert Hamill found however that there were “multiple police failings in the investigation, including a tip-off to a suspect to destroy the clothing he wore that night.”

Hamill was walking home with friends when he was assaulted by a large crowd. To date, no one has been convicted of the murder.

Vatican official urges Asian Catholic digital missionaries to be ‘responsible’

In her plenary address at the Asian Catholic Digital Missionary Assembly 2026 in Manila, Philippines, on Sept. 11, Natasa Govekar, director of the Theological-Pastoral Department of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, said that Christian influencers online should treat their efforts “as a responsibility rather than a measure of status.”

According to LiCAS.news, Govekar said that “every Christian should be aware of his or her potential influence, regardless of the size of an online following, while responsibility grows as audiences expand.”

Govekar also said digital evangelization “should move away from individual-centered influence and toward communion, shared mission, and witness.” She warned against treating Christian communication as a form of marketing, saying: “We are not advertising, but communicating to live the life that was given to us.”

Archbishop says states should renounce nuclear weapons

At the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Sept. 15 in Vienna, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the secretary for relations with states and international organizations, called for the responsible use of nuclear technology, which he said is “inseparable from the commitments and responsibilities that accompany it.”

His comments were made while marking the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

According to a report in Vatican News, Gallagher highlighted the Holy See’s “longstanding commitment—as one of the IAEA’s original signatories seventy years ago—based on the conviction that a technology with such vast potential as nuclear energy ‘must be guided by sound ethical principles, be used for the service of peace and integral human development, and be protected from any destructive use.’”

The archbishop urged “sound ethical principles” on nuclear energy, saying that nuclear technology may be used to benefit humanity, but its development should not “lead to the acquisition of nuclear weapons, protecting facilities in wartime, and applying artificial intelligence with an awareness of the associated risks and sound safety standards.”

Missing Zimbabwean priest found dead at Harare hospital mortuary

The Archdiocese of Harare in Zimbabwe announced the death of Father Regis Chikuni days after appealing for prayers and assistance in locating the priest.

According to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, the archdiocese said Chikuni was found deceased at the mortuary of Parirenyatwa Hospital and relesed a death notice on Sept. 9.

Chikuni is believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run road accident in Harare while attempting to cross the road. He reportedly had no identification with him at the time of the accident, making it difficult for authorities to establish his identity. Police are expected to issue an official statement on the circumstances surrounding his death.

Archbishop of Westminster issues statement urging 2-state solution in Holy Land

The archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Archbishop Richard Moth, issued a statement on Sept. 15 condemning violence in the Holy Land, stating that the two-state solution should “remain the goal of all people of good will.”

“The Church in England and Wales has a particular concern about the Holy Land. With the encouragement of the Holy See and the support of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, we have organized the Holy Land Co-ordination, an annual pilgrimage of bishops from around the world to support Christians in the region through presence, prayer, pilgrimage and persuasion,” he said.

“However, violence continues to engulf the Holy Land, pushing people apart while undermining hopes for peaceful co-existence in a two-state solution. It has also led to a polarisation of views and even despair, which make the necessary bridge building for forgiveness and reconciliation so much more difficult.”

The archbishop called violence a “stain on humanity,” and cited both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV, who have called for “the international community to work toward advancing the two-state solution, for a just and lasting peace.”

Syrian town revives its distinctive traditions for feast of the Holy Cross

This year’s feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Maaloula, Syria, drew thousands of residents, returning families, and visitors, bringing what local clergy described as a renewed sense of life to the historic Christian town, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported.

Father Fadi Barqil, superior of the Melkite Catholic Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, said preparations began nearly a month before the feast. Residents carried a cross to the mountaintop on Sept. 12 and illuminated it, while the eve of the feast included evening prayer, traditional processions, and the lighting of fires on the mountains. On the feast itself, processions moved through the town with banners, poetry, dabke (a traditional folk dance), and visits to homes followed by a communal meal.

Barqil stressed that the religious meaning of the celebration must remain at its center, warning against reducing the feast to its outward customs. He also encouraged Maaloula’s families to continue returning, visiting their homes and keeping them illuminated, saying their presence is what restores the town’s spirit.

Bishops in Australia seek married couples’ input for support programs

The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s Commission for Life, Family, and Public Engagement announced funding for a research project that responds to concerns raised in the late Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love).

“Pope Francis had a particular concern for the newly married,” Auxiliary Bishop Tony Percy of Sydney said. “He recognised that as a Church we have tended to focus on preparation for marriage and then, after the wedding, have more or less left couples to fend for themselves.”

The bishops want to hear from married couples so they are funding a professional survey, which has already collected 440 responses. “We hope to reach 1,000 respondents over September for best research results,” project manager Jessica George said.

The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) agreed to a legal settlement with Jessica Bates, who was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). It affirms the department will not consider her religious beliefs when evaluating her application for a certification to adopt children and will not attempt to regulate her speech about gender and sexuality.

“Every child deserves a loving home, and children suffer when the government excludes people of faith from foster care because of the state’s own ideological crusade,” ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said in a statement following the Sept. 9 settlement.

“Oregon officials turned Jessica away just because of her common-sense belief that parents should help children become comfortable with who they are instead of pushing them down a path of confusion and medicalization,” he said. “We believe this settlement is a win-win that protects constitutional rights and puts children’s interests first.”

In September 2022, the ODHS denied Bates’ application because she would not comply with a state policy that requires applicants to agree they will “respect, accept and support the … sexual orientation, gender identity [and] gender expression … of a child or young adult” who is placed in the home, which ADF has characterized as a “gender ideology mandate.”

Bates sued ODHS in March 2023, arguing that the policy violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion. The lawsuit stated she told the certification officer she would love any child as her own but would not facilitate a child’s gender transition through hormone therapy, use pronouns inconsistent with a child’s biological sex, or encourage gender expression inconsistent with the child’s biological sex or same-sex attraction.

A federal district court initially ruled in favor of ODHS in December 2023, but an appellate panel of judges ruled in July 2025 that ODHS likely violated her constitutional rights and blocked the department from enforcing the rules against her while the lawsuit continued.

Legal settlement

Per the legal agreement, ODHS will allow Bates to apply for a certification and will not consider her religious views in any way.

It states ODHS will not deny the application “because of her religious beliefs that sexual activity should occur only within the confines of a marriage between one man and one woman, and a person should identify and seek to live consistent with his or her biological sex.”

The settlement adds that this extends to her “desire to respectfully speak about, live out, parent, and make day-to-day caregiving decisions consistent with these sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Under the agreement, ODHS also cannot require her to “agree to use prescribed words or language, including chosen pronouns, to express views about sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression inconsistent with her religious beliefs described above as a condition of certification.”

“[The] ODHS may not enforce any per se standard, rule, or policy that precludes Bates from being considered for any particular placement, based in whole or in part based on her religious belief,” the settlement agreement states.

It further prohibits ODHS from disqualifying Bates from consideration for any particular child placement based on her religious beliefs.

Yet, the settlement does not prevent ODHS from “deciding a child’s placement based on its individualized consideration of the child’s needs and of a foster parent’s concerns or limitations (including where religiously motivated) on their ability or willingness to meet the child’s specific needs, including with regard to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”

The Oregon attorney general’s office referred EWTN News to the Oregon Department of Human Services for comment. The department did not respond to a request for comment.

In a Sept. 16 statement, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) expressed its indignation and sadness over the crime as well as its solidarity with the Diocese of Huejutla, Hidalgo, to which De la Cruz belonged

According to the bishops' conference, the priest’s murder took place on Sept. 15. The newspaper El Universal reported that the body of De la Cruz was found with gunshot wounds along a stretch of the Tolago-Tetlapaya highway in the Lolotla district of Hidalgo.

“We stand in fraternal solidarity with José Hiraís Acosta Beltrán, bishop of Huejutla, his priests, consecrated religious, and the entire people of God of this local Church,” the CEM stated while “calling upon the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to clarify the facts and ensure that justice is served swiftly.”

The Mexican bishops also prayed “for the eternal rest of Father Román,” asking God “to grant strength and comfort to his family, friends, parishioners, and all those who shared in his ministry and his life.”

The CEM statement joins that of Acosta, who urged against speculating about the crime “to allow the relevant authorities to conduct the investigation and report on the tragedy.”

At the same time, the bishop of Huejutla denounced “the alarming situation of violence going on in our country.”

The prelate asked the faithful to work to build “a culture of peace and reconciliation, seeking the eradication of violence, and not to lose respect for the life of any person.”

“Let us allow God, in his infinite goodness, to help us root out from the human heart every destructive sentiment of resentment, vengeance, and hatred that threatens the most precious gift he has bestowed upon us: life,” he emphasized.

According to the Catholic Multimedia Center, 28 incidents of violence against Church members, including the murders of four priests, have been recorded during Claudia Sheinbaum’s term as president of Mexico so far.

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 embassy made the announcement following a meeting between U.S. Chargé dʼAffaires Mike Hammer and the director of Caritas Cuba, Carmen María Nodal Martínez.

In a post on X, the embassy stated that the additional aid will be directed to the provinces of Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila, Cienfuegos, Matanzas, and Pinar del Rio.

Collaboration between the U.S. government and the Catholic Church in Cuba began in November 2025, when the bishops announced they had received an offer of $3 million in aid for those affected by Hurricane Melissa.

This initial humanitarian assistance began arriving in January 2026, and since then, the United States has made further offers of aid, which have been distributed by Caritas Cuba without the involvement of the Cuban communist regime.

On Feb. 5, the U.S. State Department announced a new shipment of humanitarian aid worth $6 million, “following the successful collaboration” with the Catholic Church in Cuba in distributing the initial $3 million in aid.

On May 13, the State Department announced its intention to provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba, $60 million of which would be distributed through Caritas.

The first shipment of this aid package arrived in late July.

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.

Popcak told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, why he felt compelled to add a Catholic voice to this headline-making conversation.

“I created it because Catholics aren’t immune from either physical or emotional illness, and, as Catholics, we have a unique, holistic perspective on healing that encourages us to use the medical, psychological, relational, and spiritual tools available to us to promote our healing and well-being."

Popcak emphasized the need for a faithful voice in a conversation that affects approximately 1 in 7 new mothers.

“As much as we might like to think otherwise, people of faith are just as affected by mental-health problems as anybody else,” Popcak emphasized.

“Research really does show that faith plays a protective element ... but we are still afflicted with these things. Being able to respond to this in a way that is reflective of our Catholic faith and the Catholic view of the person I thought was important.”

Breaking the stigma of guilt

A central focus of the e-book is addressing the unique layer of spiritual guilt that Catholic mothers often experience when struggling with mental health post-childbirth.

Popcak explained that many Catholic mothers internalize their symptoms as a personal or spiritual failing, incorrectly believing their distress signals a lack of gratitude for their child or a weak prayer life.

“These feelings are not the mom,” Popcak said during an interview on EWTN Radio. “They are the illness attacking your feelings. ... You’re not failing any more than you would be failing if you had the flu. You didn’t make yourself get postpartum depression either. It’s your body’s reaction to the normal crash of hormones that occurs after birth, plus a lot of other factors.”

The book opens with an urgent disclaimer encouraging mothers experiencing severe crisis or self-harm thoughts to seek immediate medical intervention, reminding them that “these feelings are not you; they are the illness talking.”

Distinguishing ‘baby blues’ from clinical needs

During the broadcast, Popcak outlined the critical differences between common short-term mood shifts — often referred to as the “baby blues” — and clinical postpartum depression or psychosis. While the “baby blues” typically peak around day five post-delivery and resolve within two weeks, symptoms lasting longer require professional medical evaluation.

Popcak advocated for routine screening at OB-GYN and pediatric visits, comparing mental health checkups to baseline physical assessments.

“When we go to the doctor, even if we’re not feeling lightheaded, they take our blood pressure,” Popcak noted. “A postpartum depression screening tool takes about four minutes to complete. ... It should be just as standard as getting your blood pressure taken.”

He also emphasized that treatment should address both physical and psychological dimensions, recommending psychological counseling alongside medical treatments like SSRIs (common prescription medications for depression and anxiety) to help mothers develop coping strategies and process underlying stressors.

Self-sacrifice vs. self-destruction

Addressing spiritual questions surrounding maternal sacrifice, Popcak distinguished between healthy, Christlike self-giving and harmful self-neglect.

“There is a difference between self-sacrifice and self-destruction,” Popcak warned, urging husbands and extended family to step up support for new mothers. “God gives us our body to work for the good of others. In a sense, it’s a tool, but it can only do the job it was created to do if we take care of it. ... It’s not irresponsible or selfish or self-indulgent for the carpenter to sharpen his saw.”

The new e-book is available as a free public service download for mothers, families, and pastoral care providers. 

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

Nearly 600,000 people registered for the open-air papal Mass at the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Élysées before sign-ups closed on Sept. 16, according to Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris. Registration was encouraged but not required. The huge response forced organizers to expand the security perimeter well beyond the original footprint.

“You responded in great numbers to the Holy Fatherʼs invitation to come and pray with him,” Ulrich said in a statement.

Demand built fast: When registration opened Aug. 10, more than 200,000 people signed up for the Paris Mass in the first few hours. All 80,000 places for the youth vigil at the Stade de France on Sept. 25 were claimed within hours. Nearly 300,000 registrations were recorded across both Paris events in the first 24 hours, according to Zenit.

Gen. Hervé Wattecamps, the general coordinator appointed by the Archdiocese of Paris, told French media that 8,000 new registrations were arriving daily in the final stretch.

The diocese has set up a gigantic overflow zone for people to gather, running from the Place de lʼÉtoile along Avenue de la Grande-Armée toward Porte Maillot.

The official papal visit site confirms the Mass is still scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sept. 26. The gates will open at 9 a.m., and Pope Leo is expected to arrive at the Champs-Élysées at 1:45 p.m. local time.

Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, president of the bishops' conference, told reporters that the level of interest showed France “resists secularization,” citing what he called a “new momentum of neophytes and catechumens.”

Passing the plate to pay the bill

The French bishops' conference (CEF) has put the total cost of Pope Leoʼs Sept. 25–28 visit at 27 million euros (about $31 million), well above early estimates.

A national fundraising campaign was launched in summer and has raised 5.5 million euros so far, leaving a shortfall of 21.5 million euros. The bishops' conference said the campaign will continue throughout the visit.

The French state is providing security forces and public services but no direct financial support or funding.

Instead, according to Vatican News, funding sources include corporate sponsorships, the sale of merchandise, and donations from the faithful through the bishops' conference website pape-france.fr.

The funding model contrasts with the financing of World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul: South Koreaʼs Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism is leading a cross-agency government support task force alongside the Church-led local organizing committee. In France, prelates are passing the plate.

Beyond Paris, a European legacy

Outside the capital, the apostolic visit includes two stops: Lourdes and Metz.

In Lourdes, the pope will celebrate Mass at the Marian shrine on Sept. 27. He will also meet privately with seven survivors of abuse, according to Vatican News.

The visit closes Sept. 28 with a Mass in Metz, a historic town in Lorraine in northeastern France that changed hands between France and Germany through three wars and two annexations.

Archbishop Philippe Ballot of Metz told Vatican News: “The border is no longer a place of separation, but a place of encounter.”

Pope Leo will speak at the Robert Schuman Centre, named after the Catholic statesman Pope Francis declared venerable in 2021.

Parolin expressed his concerns about AI on the sidelines of the conference “Faith and Reason in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” held Sept. 16 in Rome at the Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian Parliament.

As originally reported by Vatican News, Parolin also delivered a keynote address at the conference, focusing on both the potential and the threats of AI. In his address, he thanked Italian President Sergio Mattarella for his recent appeal for greater collaboration among states on AI governance and said he hoped nations would respond.

“My concern is that there are countries which, in fact, want to go it alone,” Parolin said in his address. “Let us stop and genuinely reflect on what the consequences of artificial intelligence and its use might be.”

‘I try to put a little heart into my homilies’

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines, Parolin stated that he did not use AI to draft his homilies, preferring to “put a little heart” into them.

“Artificial intelligence is all head and no heart. I try to put a little heart into my homilies,” Parolin said to the journalists.

“Today artificial intelligence is imposing itself, because when you open your computer and read something, it already gives you a summary.”

His discouragement of using AI to draft homilies echoes that of Pope Leo XIV. During a Q&A session with priests of the Diocese of Rome in February, he warned priests against this practice.

Holy See diplomacy in Russia-Ukraine conflict

Parolin also responded to journalists’ questions about the Holy See’s advocacy of Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia. He expressed hope that it would reach a peaceful resolution.

“The diplomacy of the Holy See, the diplomacy of sowing, does not produce a harvest. So we hope that, by continuing to sow, one day, when God wills it, we may also reap,” Parolin said.

His comments follow recent interventions by the Holy See in pursuing a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, traveled to Russia from Aug. 25–27 to meet with its leaders to discuss potential resolutions to the war.

Cahill’s appointment, announced by the Vatican on Sept. 17, makes him the successor to then-bishop Ronald Hicks, who led the diocese from 2020 to 2026. The pontiff appointed Hicks as archbishop of New York in December 2025.

According to the Vatican announcement, Cahill was born in Coral Gables, Florida, on Nov. 28, 1963. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas on May 19, 1990.

Before his ordination, Cahill earned degrees in psychology, African American studies, and dogmatic theology. He studied at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Xavier University in Louisiana, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

After his ordination, Cahill served as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for four years before returning to St. Mary’s Seminary as a faculty member. He was promoted to rector of the seminary in 2001.

After a period of service in the archdiocesan curia, Pope Francis appointed Cahill as the third bishop of Victoria. He received episcopal consecration on June 29, 2015, from the then-archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

In 2025, Cahill was appointed chair of the Committee on Migration for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Preserving Assisi combines ultra-high-resolution photography, 3D surveying, immersive virtual tours, and a digital archive to create an unparalleled record of the basilica and its history.

The new digital platform was developed by Haltadefinizione, part of the Gruppo Panini Cultura, and in collaboration with the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis.

Preserving Assisi aims to offer a new way to explore and understand the famous site. It also aims to provide the opportunity for a digital version of the basilica to be created so that a detailed record of its architecture, paintings, and surfaces can be used for future research and support documentation, monitoring, and conservation over time.

The inspiration for the project came from an extensive photographic campaign commissioned by Franco Cosimo Panini Editore. The campaign was called “Mirabilia Italiae” and it was dedicated to the systematic documentation of Italy’s major monuments. Around 2,000 photographs were produced.

On Sept. 26, 1997, an earthquake hit the Umbria and Marche regions of Italy, which resulted in the collapse of sections of the upper basilica. Providentially, hours before the earthquake struck, photographs were taken for the “Mirabilia Italiae” of those very sections that then collapsed. These photographs ended up playing a major role and serving as key references in the reconstruction and restoration of the basilica.

The experience became one of the driving factors behind the Preserving Assisi digital platform in that it not only serves as a way to document the basilica’s past but also provides knowledge for its future preservation.

“Over the past thirty years, the technologies we use to document cultural heritage have changed radically, but our purpose has remained the same: to organize and preserve knowledge so that it can be studied, shared and passed on to future generations,” Lucia Panini, co-founder of Gruppo Panini Cultura, said in a press release.

The project has captured over 27,000 photographs, resulting in 12 terabytes (TB) of data and 98 completed digital assets, including gigapixel images and 360-degree panoramas.

One of the most significant results from the project so far is the gigapixel image of Pietro Lorenzetti’s Crucifixion painting. Measuring 101,627 by 78,170 pixels, it contains nearly 8 billion pixels.

“Preserving Assisi is one of the most complex projects we have undertaken in our 20 years of work,” Luca Ponzio, founder and CEO of Haltadefinizione, said. “It brings together, within a single digital environment, a range of tools and multimedia content designed to present, document, and support the study of the Basilica of St. Francis.”

He added: “It is a project that will continue to grow over time through new acquisitions, further research, and new ways of exploring the site.”

Friar Marco Moroni, custos of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi, said: “Preserving Assisi is a project that fills us with great enthusiasm. The experience of the 1997 Assisi earthquake made us even more aware of the importance of creating a photographic record of the highest possible quality to safeguard and enhance this extraordinary artistic heritage, together with its profound significance as an expression of faith.”

He added: “This documentation will allow future restoration work to be undertaken with an extraordinary level of knowledge and precision, while also opening up these artistic and spiritual treasures to audiences around the world in the finest possible detail.”

The project is supported by the National Committee for the Celebration of the Eighth Centenary of the Death of Saint Francis of Assisi, together with the Umbria Region and the City of Assisi in collaboration with the University of Florence.

Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix, Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego took part in a Sept. 9 ribbon‑cutting ceremony marking the opening.

“The people formed here will carry what they learned beyond these walls and into their parishes, their families and communities; into the lives of those who need their care, whether through priestly ministry or mental health services,” Dolan said at the event.

“This work is ultimately about accompanying people and helping them recognize they are cherished, made in God’s image and likeness — and that can never be annulled — and they are not alone,” he said.

The 3,132-square-foot education center will support both Nazareth Seminary and the Photina Center for Catholic Counseling. The center will offer in‑person courses for the University of Mary’s Catholic anthropology certificate, limited master’s‑level counseling courses, and professional development resources.

The Photina Center will support the work of the mental health ministry, including its program to place counselors in the diocese’s Catholic schools.

The center takes its name from St. Photina, whom Eastern Christian tradition identifies as the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well in John’s Gospel. Photina means “light” to reflect the center’s goal to illuminate paths of hope and healing.

University of St. Thomas to host archbishop emeritus of Assisi for event honoring St. Francis

The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota will welcome Archbishop Emeritus Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi for a day of prayer and reflection during its St. Francis celebration on Sept. 18.

The event will include public veneration of sacred relics of St. Carlo Acutis, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Clare of Assisi, and a lecture by the archbishop.

The unveiling of the sacred relics and the opening of veneration will take place in the campus’ Chapel of St. Basil, where Mass will also be celebrated for attendees.

Following the day of prayer, Sorrentino’s lecture will explore how St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures” (“Canticle of the Sun”) serves as a summary of the saint’s life.

The school said the hymn is not simply a tribute to nature or an early example of Italian but a witness to St. Francis’ “love for God carried at length to the full extent of the created universe.”

Bridgeport Diocese launches kids education series starring animated Bishop Caggiano

The Diocese of Bridgeport is launching an educational series led by an animated Bishop Frank Caggiano to teach young children about the Catholic faith.

“Bishop Frank Teaches the Faith” is a weekly series from the diocese’s Institute for Catholic Formation. The series will include weekly two- to three-minute episodes that introduce young children and families to different topics of the Catholic faith.

“Every generation of the Church is called to find new and creative ways to proclaim the Gospel,” Caggiano said in a Sept. 15 statement.

“Our children are growing up in a world shaped by digital media, and we have an extraordinary opportunity to enter that world with them and introduce them more deeply to Jesus Christ and the beauty of our Catholic faith,” he said.

Each episode pairs animation and storytelling with Caggiano’s own voice. According to the diocese, the goal is to help kids recognize that the faith is an invitation into a relationship with Jesus Christ and a way of living each day.

“Anything we can do to help parents raise faith-filled children is a win,” said Patrick Donovan, executive director of the Institute for Catholic Formation.

“Our hope is that these short episodes will spark conversations at home, reinforce what children are learning in their parishes and schools, and, most importantly, help them grow closer to Jesus,” he said.

The series will launch on Sept. 18 with the release of the first 10 episodes, which will be available online. Following the initial release, episodes will become available every Friday.

Loyola University Maryland expands aid with guarantees for early decision, Catholic grads

Loyola University Maryland is introducing two financial aid guarantees for early decision students and graduates of Catholic high schools entering in fall 2027.

The university is guaranteeing at least $40,000 annually in Loyola-funded scholarships and grants for students admitted through early decision and eligible graduates of Catholic high schools.

“These new commitments reflect Loyolaʼs desire to make an exceptional Jesuit education more accessible while providing students and families with greater clarity about affordability earlier in the college search process,” said Terrence M. Sawyer, president of Loyola, in a statement.

"We want families to have confidence that a Loyola education can be financially within reach,” he said.

Loyola’s early decision commitment guarantees at least $40,000 a year in Loyola‑funded aid for students admitted in November or January. The schools’ Catholic high school commitment will similarly guarantee eligible graduates of Catholic high schools in the U.S. and abroad $40,000 annually.

In anticipation of Xiʼs visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.

“Jimmy Lai is not being imprisoned because he committed any act of violence whatsoever,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said.

“His son has emphasized that his father has never, never advocated violence. Rather, Jimmy Lai used his voice, his newspaper, and his public platform to support freedom and democracy,” he said.

Smith said he introduced legislation Sept. 16 that would require the State Department to quickly assess any death in custody of a Hong Kong political prisoner and impose sanctions on officials found responsible. He titled the bill the “Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026.”

At the hearing, Sebastien Lai offered testimony along with Steve Yates, a research fellow on China and national security policy, and Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.

“I want to thank America, President Trump, who has been a true champion of my fatherʼs, his administration, and the senators and members of both parties whose support has never wavered and only gotten stronger. That is moral courage, and my family does not take it for granted,” Sebastien Lai said.

“By the end of this year my father will have spent six years in a maximum-security prison in solitary. At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong. With a 20-year sentence looming over him, if he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison,” he said.

“My sister Claire was to testify beside me today. A few weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cancer,” he said.

“I was with her in London last week as she began chemotherapy. My father learned of his own daughterʼs diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,“ he said.

“We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough,” he said.

“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,“ he said.

The appeal to Xi “is simple," Sebastien Lai said. “My father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice; his death in prison would be a disgrace. Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment.”

America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late.”

Sebastien Lai

Son of imprisoned Hong Kong media publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai

Clifford, of the Washington‑based advocacy group promoting human rights in Hong Kong, spoke on behalf of his friend Jimmy Lai and to remind “people that Jimmy is just one of hundreds of political prisoners being held in often appalling conditions.”

“Iʼd like to emphasize the release of Jimmy Lai would be something President Trump, Republicans and Democrats, indeed, freedom-loving people around the world would applaud,” Clifford said. “It would be a unifying event at the time when the world really needs it.”

Yates said Jimmy Lai’s case is “a test of character, of Xi Jinping’s leadership, of the president’s relationship with his counterpart, and of whether there remains any credible basis for the assumptions on which American policy toward Hong Kong was long constructed.”

The case is “a litmus test of whether there remains any reason to believe there is a future in Xi Jinping’s China for the kind of man Jimmy Lai is: a child of God, a lover of the real China, and, it may fairly be said, one of China’s greatest entrepreneurs,” Yates said.

Lai’s health ‘is going to get worse’

At a subsequent event, Sebastien Lai spoke at a press conference at Georgetown University about his father.

Trump has previously met with Xi about Jimmy Lai’s case, which did not end with his release, but Sebastian Lai said he does not believe “it is a lost cause.” He said he hopes Trump raises his father’s case “again and again.”

Sebastian Lai detailed his father’s health, which “hasnʼt gotten any better” while in solitary confinement.

“He now has heart issues. His nails fall off. His teeth are rotting. During the summer, he bleeds all over his body because [of] his rashes,” he said.

His health was especially worrisome recently because “Hong Kong just had a record summer,” Sebastien Lai said. “The heat traps in there and essentially bakes in itself. So weʼre very, very worried.”

Caoilfhionn Gallagher, human rights lawyer and leader of the international legal team representing Jimmy Lai, further laid out the urgency of the case.

“It’s very clear that if someone is detained in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, there is a direct ramification for their mortality,” she said.

“The risk to prisoners detained in solitary confinement is particularly heightened if they’re elderly or diabetic, and Jimmy Lai is both. So this couldn’t be a more urgent and timely discussion,” she said.

Gallagher also noted the broader human rights issues and lack of democracy in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong “has become a place where you can be thrown in prison for singing the wrong song, or not singing the right song, or wearing the wrong T-shirt, printing the wrong newspaper. And I think Jimmy Laiʼs case is hugely important in itself because of who he is,” Gallagher said.

“Heʼs probably the worldʼs most famous political prisoner at the moment. His case is hugely important, but we think part of why theyʼve gone for Jimmy Lai is because by getting the biggest fish of all, it sends the message to the small fry across Hong Kong,” Gallagher said.

"It makes very clear that their message is keep silent or youʼll be next,” Gallagher said.

Xi’s visit to the U.S. offers “a particular opportunity to shine a light on this issue,” she said.

Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, arrived in Venezuela on Sept. 13 and before national and international media explained that once this weekʼs discussions conclude, the country could expect an announcement regarding the agreements reached.

Meanwhile, Jorge Millán, who is also part of the opposition delegation, stated that they would continue “pursuing a Supreme Court of Justice with honorable, independent, and impartial judges capable of providing Venezuela with an upstanding judicial system after so many years. At the end of the cycle [of talks], we will present clear and verifiable objectives.”

He also stated that this round of negotiations would also address the status of political parties, political guarantees, and “the dismantling of the repressive apparatus” established by Chavismo (the socialist government established by President Hugo Chávez and continued by President Nicolás Maduro) for over two decades. The state of freedom of expression in Venezuela will also be one of the items on the agenda.

“The foundation for achieving a full democracy requires creating the conditions for elections to be held in Venezuela as soon as possible, as quickly as possible. We are laying the groundwork to reach those important areas that will enable all Venezuelans to elect our leaders very soon, with the speed we desire but also allowing for the time this will take,” Millán added.

Concerns and proposals from the Catholic Church

Last week, Cardinals Baltazar Porras and Diego Padrón, together with Bishop Emeritus Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales, once again spoke out regarding the political and social situation in Venezuela. The prelates had previously raised their voices at the start of negotiations, offering to serve as guarantors of the process.

On this occasion, they addressed the state of “indeterminacy, confusion, and uncertainty” prevailing in the country, offering “certain opinions, judgments, and proposals” that seek to “open the way” to help overcome the current crisis and achieve solid institutional stability and the national common good.

Following the capture and extradition of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces on Jan. 3, the prelates noted that “changes have occurred, yet neither the desired and expected change nor a shift toward the structuring and functioning of the country in line with the preamble and fundamental principles of the 1999 Constitution is perceptible.”

The cardinals and the bishop cite as examples of this lack of change that there are still political prisoners and a climate of repression as well as a state monopoly on the media and the continued centralization of power. Although these issues have been placed on the negotiating tableʼs agenda, the prelates maintain that these talks “operate within a framework of limited scope and authority.”

In this regard, they pointed out that the state is operating on “shaky and legally undefined ground,” while the executive branch is “illegitimate regarding both its origins and its exercise of power.” Consequently, they emphasized the urgent need to call for elections soon.

Oil deals with few details

A few weeks ago, the Trump administration and the Chavista regime signed a massive energy deal granting the United States effective control over approximately one-third of Venezuelan oil, some 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.

Beyond the economic aspects, the agreement has sparked particular controversy by including Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López as an intermediary. He has been the subject of several investigations regarding alleged corruption, inflated prices in electricity contracts, and money laundering linked to the oil sector.

Within Venezuela, Betancourt is singled out as one of the key figures responsible for the serious deterioration of the electrical grid, which has led to daily, hourslong blackouts across the country for years, severely impacting the populationʼs daily lives and even resulting in loss of life due to various causes.

While acknowledging they are not experts in the field, Porras, Padrón, and Pérez Morales call for greater transparency in the negotiations and recommend “prudence and a gradual approach regarding commitments.” This, they state, reflects the prevailing sentiment among the Venezuelan people, who are concerned about the fate and use of the “vast sums of money” the state is set to receive.

Greater emphasis on the need to call elections

In light of the foregoing, the cardinals and the bishop underscored the priority of allowing the sovereign people of Venezuela to have a “a defined and clear mandate” regarding the nation’s future, a step that would also offer a sure path toward “encounter, social reconciliation, and peace.”

“God has given us this country as a setting in which to build a ‘new society,’ the ideal of the civilization of love. We Venezuelans, through our own efforts and by invoking divine assistance, must keep hope alive and continue working on this compelling task, striving to reap its fruits of peace, freedom, justice, and fraternity,” the prelates stated.

Delcy Rodríguez in New York?

According to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report, Venezuelaʼs interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is considering a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place next week.

If the trip goes ahead, Rodríguez would be in the same city where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody. When asked about a possible meeting with the Chavista leader, President Donald Trump simply replied: “Maybe, maybe.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that an in-person meeting “probably will happen” if the presence of the interim regimeʼs president is confirmed.

Rodríguezʼs presence on U.S. soil would mark a milestone in relations between Washington and Caracas, following more than two decades of tension and discord.

Within Venezuela, the growing rapprochement between the U.S. government and the remnants of Chavismo is fueling concern and uncertainty regarding the possibility of real political change.

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.

Barron, who already serves as a member of the domestically focused Religious Liberty Commission, was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump. The Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, bishop was selected for the post alongside former U.S. Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan and former missionary Andrew Brunson.

In a statement to EWTN News on Sept. 16, Barron said he was “honored” to accept Trump’s invitation to serve on the commission.

The bishop noted that the commission itself is “strictly bi-partisan” with its members “chosen by leaders of both major political parties.”

He highlighted the numerous Catholics who have served on the commission over the years, including Princeton Professor Robert George, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, Jesuit Father Thomas Reese, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and Bishop William Murphy.

“I feel privileged to join their company,” Barron said.

An independent agency in the legislative branch, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom monitors global religious liberty issues and recommends policy to the U.S. government to advance religious liberty around the world.

It regularly publishes briefs on countries it identifies as consistent violators of religious liberty. It also advocates for those suffering from religious persecution, such as this week when it urged Trump to push for the release of religious prisoners in China and for the end of religious persecution by the Chinese government.

The appointments on Sept. 16 came shortly after Trump asked Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of famed late Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, to serve as the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

The bishops said in a Sept. 16 announcement that the conference’s administrative committee also met with “representatives from a variety of tech firms and specialists” who work with AI.

Bishops’ spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi said the meeting “focused on ways to keep any system of Artificial Intelligence at the service of humanity” as well as “the urgent need to address the real and present dangers such technology presents.”

The meeting came amid warnings from numerous AI leaders of the risks posed by AI systems, which are undergoing rapid advancement and which critics say could one day threaten humanity with extinction if they become advanced enough.

In an apparent reference to those warnings, Noguchi in the press release referred to “recent events” she said “have only emphasized the great need for action by everyone involved.”

The bishops aimed to use the conversations to “help to identify ways the Church can contribute to the moral foundation of AI models and steps the companies can take to protect against misuse of their inventions and to guarantee human oversight of the technology.”

Following the meetings, the bishops’ administrative committee launched a task force aimed at “preserving human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.” San Jose, California, Bishop Oscar Cantù will serve as task force chair, the bishops said.

“Over a dozen” bishops traveled to Capitol Hill after the meetings to press Congress for strong safety standards on artificial intelligence and to “support legislation to protect children online.”

Noguchi said the bishops and AI leaders also discussed “how the Church and industry can work together toward the goal of ensuring that technology is used in ways that keep it human-centered” while respecting human dignity and benefiting both the rich and the poor.

Church leaders have repeatedly called for meaningful AI oversight as the technology has progressed from a computer-based novelty to an embedded part of the global economy and of modern life.

Pope Leo XIV in May published his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the Holy Father warned that AI “tends to amplify the power of those who already possess economic resources, expertise, and access to data.”

“In practice … technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise it, finance it, regulate it, and use it,” the pope wrote.

In August, meanwhile, the pope warned that decisions affecting human life are increasingly being entrusted to machines and called for safeguards governing artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.

Earlier this month the U.S. bishops acknowledged the “widespread concern” that AI will lead to “higher unemployment and to fewer jobs that can support a family.” The technology must be “carefully developed” to serve the common good, they said.

Also earlier this month Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, noted the “perception that we need a moral voice” on the topic of AI.

“Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice,” the archbishop said.

Here are seven lessons he shared throughout his life:

1. “Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning.”

In a June 2004 interview with Italian Vatican expert Sandro Magister, Amorth discussed the state of Satanism and the devil’s influence on contemporary culture.

“In general terms, Satan is always active. He has been the tempter from the beginning. He does everything he can to make man sin, and whenever evil is committed, he is behind it — though it remains clear that man freely chooses his own actions. But there is also an extraordinary form of action by the evil one: diabolical possession,” he said at the time.

2. “The world is under the power of the devil.”

In the book “The Last Exorcist,” co-authored with Vatican expert Paolo Rodari, Amorth stated that “the world is under the power of the devil. And alongside Satan are many of his prophets — people whom the Bible calls false prophets. False because they lead to lies rather than the truth.”

“These people exist both outside and within the Church. They are easily recognizable: They claim to speak on behalf of the Church, yet they speak on behalf of the world. They demand that the Church assume the roles of the world, and in doing so, they confuse the faithful and steer the Church into waters that are not its own. They are the waters of the evil one,” he added.

3. “Satan attacks the pope above all.”

In his book “The Last Exorcist,” Amorth also noted that “Satan attacks the pope above all. His hatred for the successor of Peter is fierce. I have experienced this in my exorcisms.”

“After the pope, Satan attacks cardinals, bishops, and all priests and religious. It is only natural for this to be the case. No one should be scandalized by it. Priests and religious are called to a fierce spiritual battle.”

4. Invoking St. John Paul II is effective against the devil.

In May 2011, Amorth told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that St. John Paul II had become, in recent years, “a powerful intercessor in the fight against the devil.”

“I have asked the devil more than once: ‘Why are you so afraid of John Paul II?’ And I received two different answers, both interesting. The first was: ‘Because he dismantled my plans.’ And I believe that refers to the fall of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe — the collapse of communism.”

“Another answer the devil gave me was: ‘Because he snatched many young people from my hands.’ There are many young people who converted thanks to John Paul II. Perhaps some were already Christians but not practicing, and then, through John Paul II, they returned to the practice of the faith,” he explained.

5. The devil “wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints.”

Amorth addressed the smear campaign against then-Pope Benedict XVI, whom some accused of covering up sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, when in reality it was he who established the zero-tolerance policy. The exorcist denounced at the time that the devil “uses” priests to cast blame on the entire Church.

“The devil has it in for the Church; he wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of the saints. He fights the Church through men of the Church, but he cannot prevail against the Church itself,” he noted.

The experienced exorcist also stated that “the devil tempts men of the Church, so it should not surprise us if even priests — who possess every divine aid, such as prayer and the sacraments — fall into temptation. They, too, live in the world and can fall just like men of the world.”

6. The most effective intercessor of all is the Virgin Mary.

In May 2002, when asked about the most effective intercessor of all, Amorth told ACI Prensa that “of course, the Virgin is the most effective. And especially when you invoke her as Mary!”

“I once asked Satan: ‘But why are you more afraid when I invoke Our Lady than when I invoke Jesus Christ?’ He answered: ‘Because it humiliates me more to be defeated by a human creature than to be defeated by him.’”

7. The devil is in “everything that denies God.”

Speaking to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, Amorth recounted an occasion when a cardinal told him: “Be honest, the devil doesn’t exist.” The priest replied: “You ought to read a book that will be very useful to you: the Gospel.”

Furthermore, the exorcist described the devil as being present in “everything that denies God,” such as “abortion, divorce, homosexuality, satanic rock music, or programs featuring violence and sex on television.”

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

“Today, in the face of those who foment divisions and stir up conflicts, believers of different traditions — and above all their leaders — while remaining aware of their irreducible differences, are called to seek, with clarity and hope, the conditions necessary for peaceful coexistence,” states a new joint note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

The document, titled “A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate,” was published Sept. 16. Pope Leo XIV approved the note at an audience with the prefects and secretaries of the three dicasteries on June 22 and ordered its publication.

The text reviews the teaching of successive popes on interreligious relations, looks back at the path traveled since Nostra Aetate was promulgated in 1965, and turns to the challenges facing dialogue today.

“In stark contrast to those rigid attitudes that seek to resolve conflicts by force, it is time to promote a new ethic of dialogue: a culture of complexity, flexibility, and friendship,” the document states. “It is no longer a matter of fearing or keeping one’s distance from the ‘other believer’ — another civilization, another way of thinking — but of daring the encounter.”

One of the document’s proposals is to give greater recognition to concrete initiatives undertaken by local Churches.

“At the same time, greater appreciation must be given to the concrete initiatives undertaken by the local Churches, which are on the front lines,” the note states. “It is they who, at the local level, develop the most creative and courageous forms of encounter: dialogue commissions, joint projects, educational or humanitarian initiatives, and shared celebrations.”

By gathering and sharing those experiences, the document says, “the universal Church can enrich her life while also identifying and guiding new pastoral paths.”

At the same time, the Vatican note stresses that dialogue does not mean abandoning claims to religious truth.

“It is not, therefore, a matter of renouncing the truth but of proclaiming it in a manner befitting the Gospel: with esteem, listening, and charity,” the document states.

The note says achieving genuine dialogue requires “a genuine shift in mindset,” defined as “abandoning the logic of defensiveness, hostility, or conquest in order to adopt an attitude that is open, benevolent, and courageous.”

It also calls for a renewed pedagogy of dialogue, beginning with formation in seminaries, theological institutes, and pastoral programs.

“It is no longer sufficient to proclaim the importance of dialogue; it must now be lived, providing the faithful with the tools to participate in it in an informed, critical, and serene manner,” the document states.

The note points to knowledge of religions, the history of interreligious relations, guidelines for dialogue, religious literacy, and an understanding of contemporary cultural and geopolitical issues as important elements of such formation.

In its conclusion, the document underscores the importance it assigns to interreligious fraternity amid contemporary conflicts and social challenges.

“Fraternity among believers of different religious traditions is not merely an ideal, but a moral, spiritual, and social imperative,” it states.

“Faced with contemporary challenges — religious extremism, global migration, secularization, and ecological and social crises — religions are called to transform the world and society so that they may become fraternal expressions of God’s will.”

“This commitment necessarily involves a renewed education in dialogue, especially among younger generations, to overcome fears and prejudices and to foster a genuine culture of encounter,” the note concludes.

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

Holy Family School, attached to Gaza’s only Catholic church, Holy Family Parish, welcomed approximately 1,000 students back to school on Sept. 15, according to the Catholic aid group Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

Holy Family’s parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, told a visiting delegation from ACN that he hopes the reopening of the school “will bring some sense of normality” to the students and their families, “even though nothing is normal in Gaza.”

“There is almost nowhere in Gaza that has not been destroyed, destruction is all around,” Romanelli said, “but we have worked hard to make the school a clean environment, where the children — who have been through so much — can feel safe.”

The ACN delegation was in Gaza to assess local needs during the ongoing war with Israel, according to the aid group.

The majority of the 1,000 students at the school are Muslim, according to George Akroush, director of the project development office of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Christian students make up about 13% of the student population.

“For the first time, all Christian students in Gaza will be studying together in one Christian school,” Akroush told ACN. “This creates a strong sense of community and shows that the Church remains close to them, accompanying them in the midst of all they are going through.”

Previously, five Christian schools served Gaza: three Catholic, one evangelical Protestant, and one Orthodox.

Romanelli said he hopes the reopened school will be “like a light in the darkness for the local community that has experienced so much suffering.”

“Everyone in Gaza is carrying so much trauma,” he said, telling ACN the school is incorporating a psychosocial support program “that will be an important part of what we do with the children” as well as the teachers, many of whom “are so traumatized, and it is almost as if they are not the same people who we knew before the start of the war.”

He said he hopes that when Gazans, who have begun returning to the devastated region, see the “students coming in their uniforms to the school, it shows them that there is a future,” he added.

The priest said he takes families to the beach on Sundays after Mass, “even though the water in the beach is filled with rubble — everywhere in Gaza is filled with rubble,” because “we want to have some time of recreation for the families.”

“The needs in Gaza are enormous,” he continued, saying the students have asked him to keep the school open for after-school activities because “we have nothing to do and nowhere to go.”

Auxiliary Bishop Josef Graf of Regensburg told the Catholic Sunday newspaper of the Diocese of Bolzano-Brixen in an interview published Sept. 15 that he personally believes the Church could open the door to so-called “viri probati” — men of proven faith who are married.

“I personally believe the Church could afford ‘viri probati.’ It could grant ordination to ‘proven men’ with a marriage and a family,” Graf said.

The German prelate pointed out that the Diocese of Regensburg had several married priests — former Protestant pastors who converted to Catholicism and were ordained with Romeʼs permission while continuing to live in marriage and family.

“We also recognize the priestly ordination of the Orthodox churches and of the Eastern Catholic churches of the Byzantine rite. These have married priests alongside the monastic state,” Graf said. “I could well imagine the Church taking the path of ‘viri probati.’ But the priest shortage would probably not be eliminated by it.”

Celibacy ‘not indispensable’

Graf, 69, who served as seminary spiritual director for 26 years before his episcopal appointment in 2015, affirmed the value of priestly celibacy but said it is not a prerequisite for ordination.

“I still believe that the celibacy of the priest has not only a great tradition in the Catholic Church but is also a charism that is helpful in the exercise of priestly ministry,” he said.

Celibacy, when lived honestly, Graf added, will always involve renunciation of sexual intimacy, and “the lifelong partnership of marriage, of having oneʼs own children.”

“Celibacy, as an expression of following Christ, will always also involve the way of the cross. However, the unmarried state of the priest would not be a ‘conditio sine qua non’ — an indispensable prerequisite — for receiving priestly ordination,” he said.

The celibacy lived by ordained men and women in the Latin Church is rooted in the example of Christ, who lived unmarried. It enables the priest to serve his community with undivided attention and functions as an eschatological sign pointing to the fullness of communion with God, in which “they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Mt 22:30). Pope Paul VI described celibacy in Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (1967) as the object and outward sign of a complete and generous self-giving to the mystery of Christ.

Womenʼs ordination rejected

Graf firmly rejected calls for the ordination of women, a demand raised by Germanyʼs Synodal Way process.

“I believe that is not possible. Already because we have a different tradition,” he said. “If a pope were to break with this tradition, it would at present lead to a split in the Church.”

Asked whether tradition was the only argument against it, Graf replied: “Not at all. In my view there are still very weighty theological reasons for the sacrament of ordination being reserved to men. Listing them here would require too much space.”

The Catholic Church holds that only men can be validly ordained to the priesthood, a teaching declared as definitive by St. John Paul II in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. The teaching applies analogously to the diaconate and the episcopate.

Ordination numbers and ‘crisis of faith’

Germany ordained 30 men to the priesthood in 2026, up from 25 the previous year. Eleven of the countryʼs 27 dioceses and archdioceses had no new priest this year. Regensburg had one. In 1966, there were 447 ordinations across Germany.

Graf attributed the decline primarily to secularization and anti-Church sentiment rather than celibacy.

“When I entered the seminary in 1977, it was practically an honor for a village and even more for my parents. Today it is unfortunately different. The priestly vocation is a contested profession — the abuse scandal being the key word,” he said.

He also pointed to the experience of Germanyʼs Protestant churches as evidence that abolishing celibacy does not solve the underlying problem.

“All our Catholic hot-button issues like celibacy and womenʼs ordination have long been settled by the Protestant church in Germany. Yet it now also suffers from personnel shortages and ongoing membership losses,” Graf said.

“I say that with no ‘schadenfreude,’ certainly not. But one can see that the root of the problems lies elsewhere. It is the decline of faith.”

Fulda plenary ahead

Grafʼs public remarks were made less than two weeks before Germanyʼs bishops convene for their autumn plenary in Fulda from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. The agenda under new conference president Bishop Heiner Wilmer includes surrogacy, assisted suicide, organ donation, artificial intelligence, and sexual abuse.

Wilmer, the bishop of Münster and a member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, was elected president of the German Bishops' Conference in February. In an interview with Vatican News published Sept. 16, he called for renewal.

“We need not be afraid of renewal,” Wilmer said. “Nor need we be afraid of the spirit of the times, which shows us how to proclaim the Gospel well today.”

Wilmer argued that a synodal Church is essential for Europe. “Europe urgently needs a synodal Church, because Europe is becoming ever more complex, ever more fragmented. The danger is that Europe falls apart, descends into petty statism, and there are skirmishes,” he said.

The statutes for Germanyʼs planned Synodal Conference — a controversial, permanent body that would give laypeople a formal advisory role alongside bishops — remain pending approval from the Holy See. Wilmer submitted the text to the Vatican on March 31. The conferenceʼs inaugural meeting, originally planned for November in Stuttgart, has been postponed until Romeʼs response is finalized.

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

Their argument is not that technological innovation should be resisted but that decisions affecting jobs, wages, and working conditions should not be left solely to corporate executives or automated systems. Instead, they point to collective bargaining, social dialogue, and human oversight as safeguards for workers’ dignity and rights.

Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), said protecting workers requires confronting a model in which executives make far-reaching technological decisions without worker input.

“Right now, we have CEOs who want to play God to make decisions that affect hundreds of millions of working people without our input and consent,” Shuler said.

Shuler made the remarks at a Sept. 11 Vatican press conference held in connection with the Fourth Fratelli Tutti Synodal Meeting, a Sept. 10–12 gathering in Rome focused on dialogue between the Global North and South on social and environmental issues. The press conference brought together labor and Church leaders to discuss, among other questions, the impact of artificial intelligence on workers and the need for social dialogue. Other speakers included Bishop Daniel Flores, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Cardinal Jaime Spengler; and labor leader Gerardo Martínez.

For Shuler, social dialogue is essential to ensuring that AI is developed and deployed with human dignity in mind. She compared the current technological transition to the introduction of electricity during the second industrial revolution.

“Electricity was a new technology that was raw and revolutionary and dangerous, and companies were racing to make profits and people were suffering,” she said.

Shuler linked that history to Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed the relationship between labor and capital. It was “workers organizing together in a union who stood up to demand safety from the government, from power companies, and negotiated to make sure electricity was installed and used responsibly to benefit everyone,” she said.

She also pointed to the partnership between the AFL-CIO and Microsoft as an example of how organized labor can seek a formal role in the development and introduction of AI.

Shuler said the agreement “guarantees workers a voice in the development of AI” and “puts into writing our workers’ right to form a union.”

Martínez similarly argued that worker protections need not come at the expense of technological innovation. He summarized the labor movement’s approach in three principles: “Not resisting innovation, not accepting exclusion, and negotiating transition.”

Under that approach, unions do not reject technological advances but insist that automated systems should not independently determine fundamental working conditions.

“We cannot accept that an algorithm decides by itself about employment, salary, and rights that correspond to a worker,” Martínez said.

He said the objective should be integration rather than a confrontation between workers and technology: “The challenge is not technology against work. The challenge is technology with worthy work, productivity, distribution, and development with social justice.”

Flores connected the issue of worker participation to Catholic social teaching, particularly the principle of subsidiarity and the importance of allowing communities affected by technological change to express their concerns.

“From the Catholic point of view, history is not always a matter of what the powerful decide, that there are other things that move history,” Flores said. “One of them is social friendship, and a sense of justice, and a sense of what is right.”

Those themes also figure prominently in Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses the protection of human dignity amid the development of artificial intelligence.

Spengler cited the encyclical’s call to each generation to shape technological and social change in accordance with human dignity: “Each generation inherits the task of shaping its own era, of guiding history to become a place where the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice is promoted, and fraternity is made possible.”

Taken together, the speakers presented worker participation as a central question in the development of AI. Their proposed safeguards include collective bargaining, negotiated technological transitions, human oversight, and cooperation among unions, employers, international organizations, and faith communities — with the aim of ensuring that innovation serves workers rather than leaving consequential employment decisions to algorithms alone.

The pontiff held a private audience at the Vatican on Sept. 16 with participants in the conference “The 21st Century: A New Time of Martyrs?” held at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome from Sept. 15–16.

The conference, organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, discussed the ecumenical initiative “Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith” established by Pope Francis in 2023 to document the deaths of Christians of all denominations who have been killed for their faith since 2000.

Among the cases discussed was that of Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who was killed in Brazil in 2005 while serving the local population in the Amazon.

Christian witnesses propose a faith lived out daily, not an ideology

In his address, Pope Leo praised the dicastery’s work cataloging the lives of Christians killed for their faith and explained that their example can teach believers today to present the faith not as an ideology but as a way of life.

“The evangelizing strength of the new witnesses to the faith represents one of the Church’s greatest resources for proclaiming the Gospel in today’s world,” Leo said. “The witnesses to the faith do not propose an ideology but show a faith lived out in everyday life.”

He also explained the significance of those Christians to Catholics, saying they “are brothers and sisters who, in different geographical, historical, and political contexts, have given their life for the Gospel.”

The pope also said that daily holiness — the holiness next door — can help Christians explain and defend their faith in arguments.

“In indifferent cultural contexts, “holiness next door” and quiet heroism become powerful arguments, capable of speaking to everyone, even the most skeptical.”

Muslims in West Bank are tired of violence against Christians

Speakers at the conference included Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

Pizzaballa, who delivered a speech on the suffering of Christians amid ongoing wars in the Holy Land, recounted his experience of explaining that suffering to Muslim students in Palestine.

“I agreed to meet with young people from the local university [in Palestine] who insisted I come,” Pizzaballa recounted. “I had never experienced that before and was afraid. About 600 students were there, all Muslims. During the discussion, I expected political questions about the war. Instead, all the questions were about life, faith, and Christianity.”

“When I said that Christianity rejects violence …, they stood up and applauded, saying they, too, are tired of living in a system of violence.”

The blood of the martyrs comes before theological disagreements among Christians

Semeraro, in his address, discussed the progress of the “Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses of the Faith” initiative and emphasized the need to prioritize the sacrifice of Christians for the faith over theological debates.

“The blood of the martyrs comes before our theological dialogues,” Semeraro said. “Where our Christian confessions still have wounds that need to be healed, the martyrs tell us that what is essential is already shared: the confession of Christ, even unto the gift of oneʼs life. This is called the ‘ecumenism of blood.’"

Sister Dorothy Stang and the impact of 9/11 on Christian persecution

Among the Christians mentioned at the conference was Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun who was murdered in Brazil in 2005 for defending the land rights of the Indigenous peoples. In 2025, she became the first U.S. woman to be included in a permanent memorial in Rome for modern Christian martyrs.

Sister Nicoletta Spezzati, a consultor for the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, described Stang as a “woman of contemplative prayer” who understood that “the predatory devastation of the planet is not simply a moral offense but humanityʼs rebellion against the Creator.”

Marcia Goodman, a niece of Stang, added that her life was rooted in the belief in a sustainable environment for all people.

“It’s especially powerful that Dorothy, a woman, is being recognized as a modern martyr,” Goodman told EWTN News. “She led her life in the belief that all people matter and therefore deserve a place to call home.”

Besides Stang, the impact of the U.S. terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, on Christian persecution in Europe was also noted. Father Roberto Regoli, president of the Joseph Ratzinger Foundation, described those attacks as a precursor to a new scale of Christian persecution internationally.

“Twenty-five years ago, on Sept. 11, we remember the attacks on the Twin Towers. We remember the airplane that struck the Pentagon in Washington. From those years onward, there was an escalation of conflicts at the international level,” Regoli said.

“In the face of secularism, social difficulties, psychological difficulties, and religious tensions, there are men and women — religious and laypeople — who remain where they are. And perhaps this is itself a form of testimony: to remain in oneʼs place,” Regoli added.

Elias Turk contributed to this report.

“Conflict, which at times degenerates into violence, is the result of the power of sin and the way it conditions mindsets and actions at every level, causing destruction and death,” he said during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

He underscored the need to “be ever more open to the logic of reciprocity, sharing, and care, as is also the case amongst the various members of the human body.”

The pontiff thus continued his catechetical series dedicated to Gaudium et Spes, the pastoral constitution on the Church and its role in the modern world, approved by the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 7, 1965.

According to Pope Leo, the message of the document, which considers “the growing interdependence of men” as “one of the salient features of the modern world,” is especially urgent today.

Risk of delegating important decisions to algorithms

Although the development of communications technology, social media, and artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities and helping to break down “barriers and distances,” the pope observed that human relationships “are tending to become less and less personal, more virtual.”

From this perspective, he also warned of the risk of “becoming accustomed to delegating to algorithms decisions that are the sole preserve of the human conscience.”

“Ensuring that social relationships have real substance and personal depth is, in this regard, the contribution that the Christian community seeks to offer,” he told the hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his teaching.

The pope also recalled that the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes offers a concise definition of the common good, understood as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.”

At the same time, he noted that the document recognizes the interdependence of peoples and states that “every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the entire human family.”

Respect for human dignity

Building on this approach, the council fathers identified several “practical and particularly urgent consequences,” including respect for the human person.

The pope recalled that Gaudium et Spes states: “Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed.”

Likewise, the pope said that the second consequence of this message is “respect and love for adversaries or for those who think and act in ways different from our own.”

Third, Pope Leo emphasized that the fundamental equality of all human beings gives rise to the demand for social justice. In this regard, he urged people to “overcome the individualistic mindset” and adopt “an attitude of responsibility and participation.”

“The future of humanity depends on each person’s commitment to collaborate with God and with their brothers and sisters in building a more humane world,” the pope concluded.

At the end of the general audience, Leo XIV offered a special greeting to various groups of pilgrims and expressed his “deep appreciation” for the apostolate carried out by prison chaplains.

“May you always be a living presence of the Gospel and of Christian hope,” the Holy Father said, also thanking them for the assistance they provide both to him and to the Secretariat of State in the spiritual care of prisoners who write to the pope each day to share their personal struggles and wounds.

Among those present, Leo XIV also greeted participants in a pharmaceutical care course, encouraging them to combine scientific expertise with human closeness and an integral vision of the person.

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.

Every year, on the night of Sept. 15, Mexico begins its independence day celebrations by reenacting the “Grito de Dolores” (“Cry of Dolores”). On Sept. 16, 1810, in the town of Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bells and urged the assembled people to take up arms against the Spanish colonial government.

Mexico’s independence was finally achieved on Sept. 27, 1821, with the entry of Agustín de Iturbide into Mexico City at the head of the Army of the Three Guarantees. The army got its name for its defense of the three “guarantees” of the Plan of Iguala: the Catholic faith as the national religion, independence from Spain, and social and legal equality between between all citizens regardless of ethnic origin.

‘Celebrating independence does not mean turning a blind eye’

In a Sept. 14 statement, the CEM said that in Mexico, “we have made progress in recognizing people’s rights, women’s participation, the strengthening of institutions, solidarity in the face of disasters, and a societal yearning for peace that can no longer be ignored.”

“At the same time, the country continues to bleed from violence, persons inexplicably gone missing, impunity, humiliating inequality, and the forced displacement of entire communities,” the bishops lamented.

For the Catholic Church in Mexico, “celebrating independence does not mean turning a blind eye; it means remembering where we come from so we have the resolve to keep on building.”

In their message, the bishops called on leaders at all levels to ensure “that freedom is not [viewed as] a concession, but is a guarantee; that security and justice cease to be mere promises; and that victims are heard.”

“Furthermore, on the eve of a new election season, we call for public debate to be worthy of the [nation that] sustains it,” they stated, with an eye toward the June 2027 elections, in which the entire federal house of representatives will be elected as well as local officials across Mexico’s 31 states.

The bishops also urged citizens “to love Mexico by acting uprightly every day,” participating politically, fulfilling their personal responsibilities, and “by caring for those who have the least.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe, ‘the heart and soul of our people’

The bishops emphasized that Mexican independence “was born clasping a standard,” noting that “the image of Holy Mary of Guadalupe became the banner of a people realizing that it had become a nation.”

“It was the recognition that this people already had a mother and with her, a common identity capable of uniting the Indigenous person, the person of European descent born in Mexico, and the mestizo in a single home. Even the first president of the republic chose to call himself Guadalupe,” they noted, referring to Guadalupe Victoria, Mexico’s first president.

Originally known as José Miguel Fernández y Félix, the independence fighter adopted that name due to his devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and his confidence in the victory of the independence cause, according to the General Archive of the Nation.

“Two centuries later, she continues to be the heart and soul of our people,” the bishops stated, pointing out that Our Lady of Guadalupe “continues to ask for the same thing as she did on Tepeyac: that her sacred little house [chapel] be built in order to show and give all her love, her compassion, her help and her protection to her littlest children, to hear their cries and remedy their sorrows, their miseries, their pain.”

With a view to the upcoming fifth centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which will be celebrated in 2031, the bishops pointed out that "the Intercontinental Guadalupana Novena calls us to make that love an encounter, reconciliation and justice."

‘Protecting and safeguarding’ freedom of expression and religion

Noting that “independence evokes a decisive word: freedom,” the bishops called for “protecting and safeguarding” two human rights in particular: freedom of expression and religion.

The former, they pointed out, “requires media representing various viewpoints, the personal safety of journalists, and a public debate that does not dismiss those who think differently,” while religious freedom “is not limited to worship within a temple but encompasses the right to believe, to educate in accordance with one’s own convictions, to associate, to serve, and to contribute publicly to the common good.”

“This national anniversary finds us amid the centennial remembrance of the Religious Conflict (the Cristero War). We recall it during these celebrations because it was a fratricidal conflict between brothers who shared the same faith, heart, and culture, and because its lesson is urgent: When freedom of conscience is restricted, the entire nation suffers.”

This remembrance, they affirmed, “calls upon us to always call for religious freedom to be fully recognized and exercised as a fundamental human right — for Catholics and for all religious denominations in our country.”

‘The Church is not a guest in Mexico’

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference further emphasized that “the Church is not a guest in Mexico: It has been part of the country’s fabric since before the state even existed.”

The Church in the country, the bishops noted, established and “sustained the first schools, hospitals, and shelters; it educated many of those who envisioned what the nation would be; and it has never ceased to be present where the suffering is greatest.”

“Today, that presence has concrete names: Caritas and its thousands of volunteers in every emergency; schools, universities, and educational foundations; migrant centers, soup kitchens, clinics, and shelters for women and children; human rights advocacy centers; support for victims and their families; the rebuilding of the social fabric; and constant work for peace,” the CEM stated.

The bishops noted that “the social fabric, freedom, and peace in Mexico are also sustained by the quiet, effective work of believers.”

“As the Church, we offer who we are: open communities, hands ready to serve, a voice to speak out without hatred, and the ability to build bridges where others erect walls,” they affirmed.

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 Dorothea Project — named after two servants of God, Dorothy Day and Sister Thea Bowman — organized the Sept. 15 event to coincide with the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, one of the patrons of the organization.

Catholics gathered for Mass at St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill, celebrated by Washington, D.C., Auxiliary Bishop Gary Studniewski, and processed to Upper Senate Park, which is less than a mile from the parish and sits adjacent to the Capitol. They prayed the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary.

In his homily, Studniewski reflected on the Gospel reading from John 19 when Mary, the mother of God, stood before Christ on the cross. As Mary did, he said, “we want to stand at the foot of the cross of suffering, the suffering Christ, [and] we want to be present to our suffering brothers and sisters to offer our tears and our prayers and our consolation.”

The bishop said that “these days, in our own country, we are aware of so many who suffer the pains of injustice.” He said: “We gather today, mindful of the many men, women, and children — real families — who suffer the injustice of being mistreated as immigrants, migrants, strangers.”

“Like our Blessed Mother, we may appear to be powerless at the foot of the cross,” Studniewski said. “But the suffering of our brothers and sisters in need is somehow softened by our presence and by the agency of those who love them. They are not alone. They are accompanied in their suffering. They are loved.”

Anna Marie Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), an organization that works closely with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said the procession and rally come at a “difficult and frightening moment for immigrant communities in the United States.”

She said deportations impact people “who have lived, worked, worshipped, raised children, and have contributed to our community for years.” She said immigration status is more complicated than “legal” and “illegal,” noting that people can face deportation when protected status expires or have difficulty moving from temporary to permanent status.

People who follow the laws, Gallagher said, may “find that the rules have changed around them.”

Policies, she said, must protect “family safety and human life” and always be consistent with “human dignity.” She said policies should recognize every person, regardless of immigration status, as “a person created in the image and likeness of God.”

“You are part of our communities,” Gallagher said of migrant communities. “Your dignity does not depend upon your immigration status. You are not invisible and the Church will continue to walk with you.”

Many gathered for the procession carried signs, some of which were premade and depicted Our Lady of Sorrows with the text, “dignity, family, solidarity.” Art Laffin, a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker movement in Washington, D.C., carried a handwritten sign saying, “Love your neighbor means to welcome the immigrant, not to detain and deport them.”

Kathy O’Leary, who traveled from New Jersey, told EWTN News she came to connect with Catholics “taking action right now,” adding: “We need to show our love for our neighbors.” She said she’s grateful Pope Leo XIV and the U.S. bishops have spoken up for migrants, noting that their statements have encouraged more people to attend events like this.

Frank Panopoulos, a human rights attorney and activist, told EWTN News he also believes it’s “great that the bishops and the pope are speaking about it.” Yet, he said he does not believe the message has reached the pews to the point that it motivates more people to take action.

He said gatherings that defend the dignity of migrants should have “the same kind of crowd that Jesus got when he entered into Jerusalem.”

Ken Cooper, a retired religion teacher, told EWTN News he attended the event because “when you welcome the stranger, you welcome [Christ],” quoting from Matthew 25.

“If they’re here, you must treat all human beings like Christ,” he said.

Following the rally, the Dorothea Project took groups to several congressional offices with whom they coordinated meetings, including the office of Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia.

“We must build an immigration system that upholds American values and treats every person with the dignity they deserve,“ Beyer said in a statement to EWTN News. ”I’m grateful to the Dorothea Project for its partnership in this work, including its continued advocacy to protect our neighbors’ freedom to worship without fear and pass our Protecting Sensitive Locations Act into law.”

Katie Holler, founder of the Dorothea Project, told EWTN News the group “feels really blessed that so many people came from both near and far” for the event. The advocacy of Leo and the U.S. bishops on behalf of migrants, she said, “gives us fertile soil” to bring more Catholics into public advocacy for migrants.

This story was updated at 1:35 p.m. ET on Sept. 17, 2026, to include a statement by Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia.

The commission called on Trump to continue his efforts for the release of the prisoners ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to the U.S. on Sept. 24.

USCIRF called for the release of Catholic pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, numerous Christian leaders, and others in prison for practicing their religious beliefs.

“President Trump boldly demonstrated to President Xi during their meeting in Beijing earlier this year that the United States stands for religious freedom by calling for the release of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) prisoners,” said Asif Mahmood, chair of USCIRF.

“Speaking up again sends a clear and consistent signal that religious freedom for all is a priority for the United States and that it expects the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to respect its population rather than persecute millions for practicing their faith,” he said.

The commission highlighted that after a direct appeal by Trump, Chinese authorities previously freed former prisoner Pastor Ezra Jin of the Zion Church in July. He was permitted to relocate to the United States and reunite with his family.

While Jin was released, eight other Zion Church leaders who were arrested alongside him remain detained.

“In releasing Pastor Jin, President Xi showed that he has the power to release FoRB prisoners if he so desires—and indeed he has an obligation to do so under international law,” said Cece Heil, vice chair of USCIRF.

USCIRF detailed the other leaders whose release the commission is urging and is asking Trump “to seize the opportunity during his upcoming summit with President Xi,” Heil said.

They called on Trump to discuss religious leaders including “Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Pastor Gao Quanfu and his wife Pang Yu, Jimmy Lai, the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family,” Heil said.

The commission also asked Trump “to urge the Chinese government to provide a passport to U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident, Pastor John Cao and allow him to reunite with his family and seek urgent medical treatment in the United States,” Heil said.

The appeal also precedes a planned hearing on Sept. 16 held by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, to discuss the release of Lai. Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, will offer testimony regarding his father’s immediate release and to examine the broader implications of his continued imprisonment.

In its 2026 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State redesignate China as a country of particular concern (CPC) for engaging “in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” according to the commission.

USCIRF urges special watchlist designation for Kyrgyz Republic

In a September report, USCIRF also reaffirmed its call for the Kyrgyz Republic to be placed on the U.S. Department of State’s special watchlist.

The brief was released to highlight “legal restrictions as well as recent violations that Kyrgyz officials have committed against independent Muslims and Christians from unregistered communities,” USCIRF reported.

“The Kyrgyz government regularly violates freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) as laid out in its constitution as well as in international documents such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which it is a signatory,” the report said.

USCIRF detailed that Kyrgyz officials apply a “vague label of extremism” to justify matters such as regularly raiding places of worship, issuing fines, seizing religious materials, imposing prison sentences, forcing individuals to renounce their beliefs, and engaging in physical abuse.

In early 2025, the nation’s president, Sadyr Japarov, amended a restrictive  religion law and approved other acts, which significantly tightened state control over religious groups.

“Enforcement of these laws—which often occurs in conjunction with broadly framed anti-extremism statues under the Criminal Code—often involves targeting religious groups that the government considers ‘nontraditional,’ particularly independent Muslims and members of unregistered Christian groups,” the report said.

The commissionʼs report noted that targeted Christian groups often face persecution “from harassment and fines to prison sentences and physical abuse,” according to the report.

Pizzaballa made the remarks while presiding over a Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at Christ the Redeemer Church in Taybeh, a predominantly Christian town in the West Bank.

Bishop William Shomali, patriarchal vicar; Father Davide Meli; and Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, concelebrated the Mass.

“The cross is our victory, and it is the victory of love,” Pizzaballa said.

He added that Christ “chose to enter into the suffering of the cross out of love for us.” The patriarch stressed that Christians are “people of the cross” and that the sign defining their identity should be reflected in the way they live and in their relationships within their families, parishes, and wider communities.

“We are called to live according to the logic of the cross,” he said.

Pizzaballa noted that Christians do not need to seek out suffering, because they are already surrounded by suffering in many forms. Yet, he said, such experiences can become an opening for God’s presence in their lives.

Fawadleh welcomed Pizzaballa to the celebration, telling him: “Your presence today is more than simply taking part in our feast; it is a sign of communion, consolation, and hope.”

The celebration took place as Taybeh continues to face the repercussions of attacks by Israeli settlers, restrictions on movement and access to essential services (Palestinians living in the West Bank require Israeli permits to enter Jerusalem), declining employment opportunities, and continued emigration — all pressures that have placed additional strain on the town’s residents.

Following the Mass, the faithful joined a candlelight procession through the streets of Taybeh to the historic St. George Church, known locally as Al-Khader. There, prayers were offered and pomegranates were blessed and distributed to participants before the traditional feast day flame was lit.

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

Lynch, whose father, Franklin Graham, leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, revealed the news on X on Sept. 15, saying Trump had asked her to serve as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

The role helps lead the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Lynch on X said it would be “a great honor and privilege” to serve in the role.

“If confirmed by the Senate, please pray that I would serve with excellence and make the most of every opportunity to protect our most precious and fundamental right—and one that far too many people around the world still live without—freedom of religion,” she wrote.

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Lynch has remained active in the religious advocacy and aid networks started by her grandfather and continue to be run by her family.

She has served as an adviser to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and at Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian aid organization also led by Franklin Graham.

On Sept. 15 Franklin Graham said his daughter is “uniquely” qualified for the role, the duties of which include promoting religious freedom abroad and advising the U.S. government when that right is violated internationally.

The government says the religious freedom ambassador serves as “a principal adviser to the president and the principal adviser to the secretary of state regarding matters affecting religious freedom abroad.” The ambassador‑at‑large also has served as a nonvoting member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has three vacancies yet to be appointed by the president.

Franklin Graham said his daughter has “traveled the world and been a student of this issue for many years” and has “a broad worldview and knowledge of the issues facing religious freedom today.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of her, and I ask you to pray that God would give her wisdom and strength,” Graham wrote.

The group’s 95th annual educational conference, held in Phoenix Sept. 10–12, emphasized the early Church Fathers, whose influence was strongest in the East, in order to “promote a more comprehensive view and more respect for the mysteries of human health and disease,” said conference chair Dr. Mary Keen-Kirchoff.

“We’re embodied spirits, not just physical bodies,” she said at the opening. Healing, she added, “is a return to humanity’s original creation in the image and likeness of God.”

The conference theme was “Mysteries and Miracles: Restoring the Practice of Medicine to Heal the Whole Person.” Setting the tone, Father Andriy Chirovsky, a theologian and priest of the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with Rome, and psychiatrist Dr. Donna C. Dobrowolsky shared the first plenary.

They moved between theology and clinical practice, saying they hoped to help medical professionals recover a holistic understanding of “the whole person, because thatʼs who all of us care about.” Theology without clinical reality stays abstract, they said; clinical work without a complete Christian anthropology becomes fragmented.

“If the human person is misunderstood, then healing will also be misunderstood and therefore less effective,” Chirovsky said. “Healing requires a true anthropology.”

He quoted Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, in which the pontiff wrote: “We Christians lift our eyes to the Incarnate God, knowing that it is ‘only the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear.’”

Why the East, and why now?

Chirovsky cited St. John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One), in which the pope, referring to the Eastern and Western Catholic churches, wrote that “the Church must breathe with her two lungs!”

Dobrowolsky noted that what the West calls sacraments, the East calls mysteries: rites “not fully comprehensible by human reason, but revealed by God.”

Chirovsky said Eastern spirituality and practice “preserve certain habits of thought that are especially needed at this moment in history.”

He was not arguing against the West, he said. Any strength can become distorted when it loses its complement. The East offers “a needed medicine for some of the pathologies of modern culture,” especially the idea that a person is the center of the universe, “self-defining,” and “the ground of truth.”

“We require revelation to understand our own selves,” he said.

“If the person is not self-explaining,” Dobrowolsky said, medicine has to be careful because lab values and symptom clusters aren’t enough to explain a person. They’re important, but they don’t tell us everything about who a human person is.”

The Catholic Church needs both the East and the West in the same way a healthy person must think with both hemispheres of the brain, the priest said, quoting neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist’s book “The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.”

In his book, McGilchrist notes that the left side of the brain is analytical and narrow, while the right side focuses more on the big picture, and pathology results when the two sides don’t work together and one side dominates.

Chirovsky compared modern medicine’s laser focus on the analytical and quantifiable, using hyperspecialization in the medical field as an example, to a pathology with too much dependence on the left brain.

“The analytic mode is powerful, but when it dominates unchecked, the person becomes legible as data but less visible as mystery and as a person,” he said.

“Any practice of medicine that loses sight of the whole person as revealed in the incarnate Son of God is going to run into lots of trouble,” he added. “Modern medicine is doing exactly that.”

Dobrowolsky agreed, adding that “in medicine, that imbalance isn’t theoretical, we see it every day.”

Seeing the human being as mystery does not mean the person is unintelligible, she said. “We’re saying this human person is not exhausted by reductionist accounts. And that the deepest truth of the human person is disclosed in relation to Christ.”

“If a person is reduced to a collection of functions, risks, and measurable outputs, their care becomes reduced as well,” she continued, saying that while practitioners may “retain technical brilliance … the patient may begin to disappear beneath the technique.”

Indeed, the conference’s breakout sessions touched upon the necessity for a Christian anthropology informed by a Church “breathing with both lungs," with talks titled “Healing Is Not the Same as Curing: Patristic Anthropology and the Limits of Modern Medicine,” “The Neglected Soul: Ancient Monastic Teachings on Depression in the Modern World,” and “Psychedelics, AI, Spirituality, and More: Ancient Wisdom for Reenchanting Medicine.”

“My prayer before the conference was that all attendees receive abundant graces of understanding and hope for the future,” Keen-Kirchoff told EWTN News. “I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit was so present … and trust that attendees are more in tune with who we are in Christ and who we are to become in Christ.”

Bishop James D. Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, won the CMA’s annual Evangelium Vitae award for his pastoral efforts surrounding mental health.

In May 2024, Conley published a pastoral letter titled “A Future with Hope,” concerning the Catholic response to mental health struggles. The honor sits close to the conference’s theme: care that views the person as a whole, in the mystery of body and spirit.

The Vatican announced his appointment on Sept. 15, ending a nearly one-year wait for a new bishop of the diocese. The diocese was previously led by then-Bishop James Checchio from 2016 to 2025, after he served as rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Checchio became the archbishop of New Orleans in 2026 after a brief period as its coadjutor archbishop.

The pope has also accepted the resignation of Bishop Francis Malone of Shreveport, Louisiana. Malone, 76, has led the diocese since 2019. Bishops are required to submit their resignations to the pope at the age of 75.

According to the Vatican announcement, Saporito was born in Newark on May 3, 1962. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark on May 30, 1992.

He also earned an accounting degree from Rutgers University and studied at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology in South Orange, New Jersey, for several years before his ordination.

After his ordination, Saporito served as a parish priest at several parish churches throughout the archdiocese: St. Peter the Apostle in River Edge (1994–1999), Our Lady of Visitation in Paramus (1999–2001), St. Elizabeth in Wyckoff (2001–2004), St. Joseph in Maplewood (2004–2011), and St. Helen in Westfield (2011–2020).

In February 2020, Pope Francis appointed Saporito as an auxiliary bishop of Newark. He received his episcopal consecration on June 30 of the same year from Cardinal Joseph Tobin, CSsR, who has served as archbishop of Newark since 2016.

Khalil was arrested and detained Feb. 8, 2025. His daughter and advocacy group Christian Solidarity International (CSI) have urged U.S. governmental intervention.

Veronica Dudo, “EWTN News Nightly” anchor, interviewed Khalil’s daughter, Natalie Khalil, and Joel Veldkamp, CSI director for public advocacy, on Sept. 14 about the detention, the state of U.S.-Syrian relations, and Natalie’s recent letter to President Donald Trump appealing for help.

“It’s been 19 months since they got him. We don’t know why they got him. They didn’t claim that they have any charges against him. We weren’t allowed to get a lawyer. They came to our house and said, ‘He was wanted,’” she said.

Khalil, known for his Christian faith, gained wide respect in 2015 when he organized the defense of Sadad during an ISIS assault, an effort credited with saving more than 9,000 residents.

Veldkamp said: “Suleiman Khalil is very well known in Syria for saving the town.”

He received an early warning that ISIS, a violent extremist organization responsible for mass atrocities across Syria and Iraq, was approaching, Veldkamp said.

Khalil was not aligned with the former regime but was an independent Christian political figure who acted out of necessity to protect his community, Veldkamp said.

Veldkamp said it appears Khalil is being punished for those actions, a move that sends a stark warning to Christians across Syria about their place in the country. Veldkamp said such treatment threatens the survival of the Christian community in one of the world’s oldest centers of Christianity. The treatment of Khalil, Veldkamp said, undercuts the government’s own assurances to Washington.

“For the new Syrian government, which has only been in power for about two years, to tell the United States that they’re joining their fight against terrorism, and then to put a man like this in prison, it sends a very confusing message to the U.S. It sends a terrible message to Christians in Syria who are really uncertain about their future under this new government,” Veldkamp said.

“The new Syrian government is very dependent on the U.S. government — on the Trump administration. The Trump administration has high hopes for Syria,” Veldkamp said.

‘We weren’t allowed to be Christians’

Natalie Khalil said the family faced strict limits during their visits, including rules that barred them from expressing their Christian identity.

“Even when we went to visit, we weren’t allowed to be ourselves,” she said. “We were asked to wear hijab to cover the head and hair. We were to cover the whole body. Yet, my brother went wearing a necklace with a cross — they took it off his neck. We weren’t allowed to be Christians in that place.”

She added: “I wasn’t able to get him a Bible inside to the prison.”

In a letter to Trump, Natalie expressed her plea for justice.

“My story is not unique. I don’t need special treatment; I just need the justice for my father’s case,” Natalie said.

Their stories are part of a global catalog of martyrs promoted by the Vatican that already exceeds 1,700 documented cases.

“Many were murdered for reasons related to drug trafficking, deforestation, or for opposing the exploitation of natural resources,” explained Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The cardinal noted that while many were missionaries, the group also included lay faithful who gave their lives defending the Gospel and denouncing drug traffickers, protecting Indigenous territories from deforestation, or fighting the illegal exploitation of natural resources.

As he explained, the common thread in these cases is that these individuals became “inconvenient” to those controlling illicit activities. Their Gospel witness clashed directly with economic interests and criminal structures.

A conference to reflect on the new martyrs

Semeraro offered these reflections while presenting the international conference “The 21st Century: A New Era of Martyrs?” at the Vatican, a day of study and reflection dedicated to exploring the witness of Christians who have lost their lives for the sake of the Gospel in various parts of the world.

The gathering, organized by the Commission for New Martyrs — Witnesses to the Faith, was scheduled to take place Sept. 15 at the Pontifical Augustinianum Institute in Rome.

The international congress will bring together some of the most prominent voices from the Church, academia, and journalism in Rome to reflect on Christian witness in the contemporary world.

Participants include Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; and Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Experts will also speak, such as Archbishop Fabio Fabene, president of the Commission for New Martyrs; journalist Lucia Capuzzi; historian Father Roberto Regoli; and South Sudanese religious sister Alice Jurugo Drajea, who will share about Christian life amid the war ravaging her country.

The initiative comes a year after the commemoration of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith of the 21st century, presided over on Sept. 14, 2025, by Pope Leo XIV together with representatives of other Christian churches and communities at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

The commission continues to gather testimonies and information regarding Christians killed for their faith, aiming to preserve their memory and document the various forms of persecution and Christian witness in contemporary times.

According to data released by the organization last year, 1,624 martyrs worldwide had been documented between 2000 and 2025. Of these, 304 were from the Americas, a figure that reflects the specific nature of martyrdom in this region today.

The commission also noted that the record now exceeds 1,700 documented cases and that between 100 and 150 new testimonies were added in the last year alone, confirming that the phenomenon remains very much ongoing.

Holiness goes beyond canonization

In his remarks, Semeraro emphasized that holiness in the Church is not limited to those officially canonized.

“The grace of holiness in the Church is represented by canonization, but it is not exhausted by them. Obviously, this does not rule out the possibility that, provided the necessary conditions are met, the corresponding processes of beatification and canonization could be initiated for some of those listed in the catalogue,” he noted.

This is the case, for example, of Floribert Bwana Chui, a young Congolese man from the Community of Sant’Egidio who was murdered in 2007 for refusing to accept bribes and who was beatified in 2025.

However, he noted that the primary goal is to highlight the “high standard of ordinary Christian living” spoken of by St. John Paul II in Novo Millennio Ineunte, which Pope Francis later referred to as that of “the saints next door.”

The anthropological value of holiness

The cardinal also highlighted the deeply human dimension of Christian holiness.

“We need witnesses, martyrs, who have given themselves completely to demonstrate this to us day after day. We need them so that, even in the small choices of daily life, we may choose the good over comfort, knowing that this is precisely how we truly live life,” he explained, citing Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi.

Semeraro also highlighted the ecumenical value of this project, a characteristic that he noted St. John Paul II had sought to instill in the commission from its very inception.

Martyrdom continues to grow in the 21st century

During the presentation of the conference, historian Riccardi, vice chair of the commission, maintained that the Church is truly experiencing a “new era of martyrdom.”

He recalled that St. John Paul II promoted the gathering of testimonies from 20th-century martyrs for the jubilee of the year 2000, an initiative deeply shaped by his personal experience under the Nazi and communist regimes. In Riccardi’s view, that insight has proven even more relevant today.

For this reason, he explained, Pope Francis decided to reactivate and consolidate the Commission for New Martyrs, convinced that “the time of martyrdom continues.”

The Churchʼs response has been extensive. Dioceses, religious congregations, lay movements, episcopal conferences, and apostolic nunciatures have sent hundreds of testimonies to the Vatican.

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.

“Daniel and the Fiery Furnace” stars Mena Massoud, best known for his role playing Aladdin in the live action version of the film, as Daniel and Elijah Alexander, known for his role playing Atticus in the series “The Chosen,” as King Nebuchadnezzar.

Co-directed and produced by brothers Matthew and Daniel Kooman, “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace" became one of the most successful recent faith-based crowdfunding campaigns. It raised $1.2 million in order to fund its production.

The movie will be released in theaters on Sept. 18.

EWTN News spoke to the stars of the movie and the Kooman brothers about the inspiration behind the film and what they hope audiences will take away from it.

Daniel Kooman explained that the inspiration for the film came from the “timeless relevance of the story.”

“It really felt like coming to it as an origin story of Daniel and his friends being young men at the time of the Jewish exile was something that hadnʼt been depicted — that weʼve seen — in [a] story before,” he said. “So imagining it, these young men coming up against intense and immense challenges coming into Babylon, which was the heart of the world … and seeing how they stood up under temptation, how they stood for their convictions, and their faith was something that inspired us so much as storytellers.”

When it came to making the movie, Matthew Kooman emphasized the importance placed on relying on Scripture to tell the story. While some creative liberties were still taken, he said that anytime Scripture was being spoken or used “we didnʼt stray from it.”

“The first three chapters that weʼre telling in this movie are really based on a lot of research about time and the world that they were living in and when things happened in sequence,” Matthew added. “But then when youʼre sharing the scriptural moments that everybody knows — that are accurate and what everybody has memorized or learned as kids — without straying from those things, making it interesting with kind of filling in some of the gaps that we donʼt know.”

As for the actors, both had always hoped to portray biblical figures.

Massoud, a Coptic Orthodox Christian, shared that he grew up taking part in church plays and played Jesus in the Stations of the Cross in elementary school, so he has wanted to take part in a faith-based project in his professional career for some time.

“I really wanted to get involved with a biblical, faith-based project and Daniel just seemed like the perfect fit,” he said.

He added: “A lot of biblical stories, I think, get the reputation of being older characters, older messages, but I think this is a story thatʼs really about young people taking charge of not only their own lives, but taking charge of their faith, of their relationship with God, and leading by example, which is, I think, the most powerful thing about Daniel and the kingʼs relationship is that they both lead by example and they both challenge each other in action as well.”

Alexander, who was born and raised Jewish, said he has wanted to portray an Old Testament figure since Hebrew school.

“Ever since Hebrew school when I was first introduced to the stories of the five books of Moses … I was fascinated by these remarkable stories, these huge epic stories of men and women who changed the course of history,” Alexander said.

“They were stories of particular and personal relationships with God,” he added. “And I was always inspired by that, by the idea of being close friends with God.”

A particularly powerful line from the movie — which the filmmakers call the theme of the film — is: “God does not put you through the fire to test you, he puts you through it to refine you.”

“One of the things that the Bible later tells us is that God disciplines those he loves and the one that he calls as a son or a daughter, he will actually refine you, he will make your life come more in line with his will and his ways,” Daniel Kooman said. “And that was something that Daniel and his friends actually embraced.”

“The furnace was literally seven times hotter, which is the temperature that can refine and purify gold. So these men walked in and they burned hotter than the flames. And they actually saw the refinement of their lives and their hearts and they submitted humbly to God,” he added. “They said in incredible reverence to the Almighty, ‘Even if God doesnʼt deliver us, because heʼs the Almighty, he can do what he wants, weʼre still going to follow him. We still choose Yahweh.’ And thatʼs just such an incredibly powerful theme. And they were refined by the flames.”

Massoud — who speaks the line in the film — said: “Young people and old people, people of any age, we often ask the question, ‘Why is this happening to me? Why is God putting me through this? Why am I being tested?’ And I think it is important to keep in mind that God doesnʼt throw anything at you that he knows you canʼt handle. He is not looking to defeat people. He is not looking to have people surrender to life, though, he is looking for people to surrender to him.”

“God is throwing things at you, challenges in your life, obstacles in your life, to help you become a better, stronger version of yourself,” he emphasized.

As for what they hope audiences take away from the film, Matthew Kooman said that “thereʼs a refining fire that we can walk through, we can be a part of, and that itʼs worth standing for your faith.”

The study, published in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (JAHM), found that physicians rarely screen for coercion and pressure to abort, even though it is the highest predictive risk factor for negative outcomes.

The authors, David C. Reardon, Dr. Martha W. Shuping, and Dr. Patricia K. Giebink, called the failure to screen for this “medical negligence.”

“Women considering abortions should be evaluated for risk factors predictive of negative outcomes,” the study read. “The failure to screen for these risk factors is medical negligence. Screening and informing women of their personal risk factors as required by ethical and legal standards may lead to consideration of alternatives to abortion by women who consider the risks unacceptable.”

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life group that does abortion-related research, said it was a “methodologically strong study,” noting that 1,000 women were surveyed, 226 of whom had an abortion in the past.

“Pro-lifers and the medical community should learn several important lessons from this study,” New told EWTN News. “First, coerced abortions are not uncommon. Secondly, … this study adds to a body of research that finds that a substantial percentage of abortions are unwanted or are inconsistent with the values of the woman seeking the abortion.”

“Third, even though supporters of legal abortion claim that women obtaining abortions report low levels of mental health problems, they should acknowledge that mental health risks are substantially higher among the subset of women who are emotionally conflicted or who would prefer not to have the abortion,” he continued.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, urged physicians “to provide full disclosure of the risks and side effects to their patients.”

“The long list of bad mental, emotional, and health effects that regularly arise in the wake of an induced abortion should give pause to anyone seeking, or counseling, abortion, especially when it comes to medical professionals who themselves need to be fully informed regarding the seriousness of these risks,” Pacholczyk told EWTN News.

“I think it’s fair to say that a key duty of the physician or healthcare professional, in seeking to ‘do no harm,’ would be to try to dissuade their patients from acting on any desire to procure a direct abortion,” he continued. “And a candid discussion about the broad range of potential bad outcomes from the procedure provides an excellent starting point for dialoguing with their patients in a moment of crisis.”

Pacholczyk urged medical professionals to have references for pre-abortion counseling for women considering abortion.

“While medical professionals may not be able themselves to provide all the support a young woman requires when confronted with an unexpected pregnancy, they should be able to recommend or refer the woman to obtain additional helpful pre-abortion counseling so she can ponder, and bring to the surface, her own motives and fears, and by doing so, hopefully strengthen her to steer clear of the pseudo-remedy of abortion and instead address her situation with a heightened awareness of the care, accompaniment, and support coming from those around her,” Pacholczyk said. 

Though difficult to enforce, legislation to require medical professionals to screen for coercion may enable victims of coercion to sue abortion clinics, if put into effect, according to New.

“It is unsurprising that physicians performing abortions rarely screen for coercion,” New said. “Many abortion are done in high-volume clinics where abortion doctors spend very little time with women seeking abortions.”

Kelsey Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the abortion industry doesn’t prioritize women.

“The abortion industry prioritizes profit — not women’s well-being, informed consent, or health, the overwhelming evidence shows,” Pritchard said.

“Previous peer-reviewed research by Charlotte Lozier Institute scholars indicates most women who’ve had abortions would have preferred not to if they had more support, with nearly a quarter describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced,” Pritchard continued.

She voiced concerns about the ease of abortion coercion due to mail-order abortion.

“Since Democrats made it as easy as ordering an Amazon package for anyone anywhere to buy and ship dangerous abortion drugs, even to states with pro-life laws, this hidden epidemic has gone from bad to worse, with alarming cases of women assaulted and poisoned across the country,” Pritchard said.

“Women pressured, coerced, or forced to abort go on to report higher levels of mental health and quality-of-life difficulties, which they all too often endure silently as they can face significant hurdles to coming forward,” Pritchard said.

“The loudest pro-abortion voices refuse to acknowledge the truth behind their narrative of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice,’” Pritchard said.

The diocese will begin gathering information — a key initial stage in the Catholic Church’s process of determining sainthood.

When Joseph, a teenager at the time, fell into a septic tank, Tom climbed into the tank with him, pushing him up toward the surface, away from the toxic fumes, saving his son’s life. Tom, 66, died on Sept. 8, 2008, in the accident, leaving behind his wife and seven sons.

His legacy didn’t end there, however. Because of his self-sacrificial act, a group of Catholics, formally called the Tom Vander Woude Guild, began to advocate for his cause.

“His final act of self-sacrificial love was widely regarded as the culmination of a Christian life marked by faith, charity, humility, fortitude, and generous service to others,” read Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge’s edict, also signed by Monsignor Paul deLadurantaye, the chancellor of the diocese.

After receiving a formal petition from the cause’s postulator, Waldery Hilgeman, the diocese is asking for all information that could affect the cause to be brought forward. The bishop is also collecting any writings by Vander Woude and any documents about him.

“We see in the life and death of Thomas Vander Woude a sincere response to the Christian call to sainthood,” Burbidge said. “As heroic as were the circumstances of Thomas Vander Woude’s death, this husband and father showed in a profound way that sanctity is to be sought first and foremost through personal faithfulness in daily life and to a consistent and sincere yes to God in the circumstances of one’s vocation and responsibilities.”

Burbidge spoke about the cause in a podcast on Sept. 10, describing Vander Woude as “a holy, faithful, selfless, sacrificial man who serves as an inspiration for us.”

“That’s what saints do,” he continued. “They show us that we, who are ordinary and flawed, can live heroic and holy lives."

“When you move forward in this cause, itʼs not just because of that one heroic event, but also the day-to-day faithfulness as a husband, as a father, as a citizen, as a man of God,” Burbidge said.

Chris Vander Woude, a son of Tom Vander Woude who is advocating for his cause, expressed his excitement at the progress.

“I am grateful to the Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Burbidge for taking this step in the investigative process; it is truly exciting and incredibly humbling at the same time,” Chris Vander Woude told EWTN News.

“Not a day goes by without missing Dad, but witnessing how his story continues to inspire so many is a consolation,” he said. “I think his commitment to his daily vocation as a husband and father, culminating in his sacrifice for my brother, resonates with all sorts of people — especially parents. We continue to pray that Godʼs will be done in this process.”

In January 2025, 196 dioceses were invited to take part in the annual Diocesan Natural Family Planning Ministry National 2025 Profile Report by the USCCB. Of the dioceses, 61 completed the questionnaire.

Similarly to past years, there is a wide gap between the numbers of couples who enroll in an introductory NFP education program and those who follow up with a full course.

The report found that a total of 18,211 individuals received some information or instruction on NFP across dioceses in 2025. In comparison, there were only 7,518 individuals who attended a full course in NFP.

The report noted that further research must be done among dioceses to understand the disparities and adjust NFP efforts to combat them.

It is important to strengthen NFP programs for many reasons but especially for the overall health of women, according to Dr. Annevay Conlee, vice president of the Women’s Health Service Line at OSF HealthCare, an integrated health system founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.

“When looking at the overall health of the couple, but also the woman in particular, fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) are better than artificial contraceptive methods when looking at the wellness aspect and monitoring health, recognizing abnormalities, and being able to help in a restorative way sustain and support health,” Conlee told EWTN News.

“It does not cause the side effects and long-term potential consequences that contraception does,” she said.

To best ensure that couples continue the NFP learning process, Conlee suggested dioceses and other NFP providers ensure that they offer different types of options to “fit the needs and time commitment of the couple,” she said.

Also, they should be “making sure that there is awareness of not only the ability to achieve and avoid pregnancy with this but also monitor health and wellness,” she said.

Report reveals few employees and low budget

The 2025 report also found that employment for NFP programs differs among dioceses.

Of the 2025 respondents, 30% reported they rely on paid part-time staff and volunteers, and 16% have a full-time paid NFP coordinator.

Most instructors are volunteers (58%) who do not receive any stipend, while some are volunteers who do receive a stipend (16%) to cover expenses.

Steve Mattern, senior vice president of mission services at OSF HealthCare, noted high levels of volunteers may contribute to some of the low numbers.

“It seems like volunteers staff much of the demands of this work and while some … pre-marriage work does involve expectation of education and training, many dioceses do not expect this nor have the ability to serve it if they did expect it,” Mattern said.

“Still, there are some wonderful things happening where the next generations of Catholics are stepping up to give witness talks, to help give orientation, and to support education,” he said.

Along with employees, the survey also found that limited funding continues to be a significant issue for NFP programs. Of dioceses surveyed, 68% budgeted less than $5,000 for NFP programs.

Most diocesan NFP programs rely on indirect funding from other sources including donations from parishes, grants from local Knights of Columbus councils, a fee for course instruction, and follow-up fees, according to the report.

Next steps for the Church

“We hear anecdotally in healthcare that fewer couples are coming to seek marriage in the Catholic Church,” Mattern said.

As “more people are living together and may be seeking marriage outside the Church when they do marry,” there is more of a question around what “needs to be in the required marriage prep pathway,” he said.

“Should the couple go through a course of their choosing within a range of offered methodologies for NFP, and should the diocese offer a coupon or resource for them to do this?”

“This has been tried and it does work; many do go on to take a course offering,” he said. “However, other dioceses may seek to do a very basic course … and may not really get to NFP or may make only a brief mention of it.”

“It seems like a strong and effective communication approach and partnership across both the diocese and the Catholic healthcare ministry, and its professionals can bring a stronger approach for life and for the good of these couples and their family life,” Mattern said.

Overall, “people still need basic awareness of what the fertility awareness-based methodologies offer and provide and so this work is ongoing and invites our creativity, hope, and imagination,” he said.

While discussion around NFP is usually in regard to pregnancy, “it is so much more important to start forming our minds and hearts when we are young and in the context of our families,” Sister M. Mikela Meidl, FSGM, president of OSF HealthCare, said.

“Learning about modesty, purity, and the beauty of our bodies as we grow and develop helps create an openness to understand ourselves long before we marry,” she said.

“Supporting and helping parents to hold these conversations without embarrassment and full of confidence and attentive listening will go a long way in making people desire what is true and good,” she said.

The procession, which organizers called the “Hosanna Procession,” began at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Baghdeda, also widely known as Qaraqosh — a predominantly Christian town on Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. Participants followed the traditional Palm Sunday procession route toward St. John Church.

Along the way, young people and other faithful prayed, sang hymns, and chanted while carrying olive branches as a symbol of peace. The procession concluded with the “Service of the Cross — Teshmeshta,” a prayer service from the Syriac tradition, followed by the lighting of the festival torch.

Before setting out from the cathedral, participants attended a spiritual conference titled “St. Francis: A Living Model for Our Young People in Living Hope,” presented by Dominican Father Nuwairan Nasser. He encouraged the young people to follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi, seeking to embody his spiritual values in their daily lives and to live more deeply the meaning of the festival’s theme.

‘In the footsteps of St. Francis’

The festival began Thursday under the theme “In the Footsteps of St. Francis.” The opening program included a spiritual reflection by Hanno titled “Leave Everything That Makes You Lose Yourself.”

The bishop stressed the importance of understanding Christian freedom as a free response of obedience to God rather than as freedom without accountability or responsibility. His reflection drew on the festival’s theme and the life of St. Francis.

Participants then divided into groups for pilgrimages and prayer at several churches in Baghdeda, including St. Ephrem the Syriac Church, Sts. Behnam and Sarah Church, St. James the Mutilated Church, St. John the Baptist Church, and St. Joseph Church.

Mosul welcomes Baghdeda’s young Christians

The festival’s second day included visits to restored churches belonging to the diocese in Mosul, a city where the Christian community suffered severe persecution and displacement during the occupation of the Islamic State group.

The young people began at St. Thomas Church and continued to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, both in Mosul’s Old City, before concluding at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church on the city’s eastern side.

Residents greeted the crowds of young Christians and welcomed what organizers described as “the renewed Christian presence in the community’s historic homeland.”

The day also featured a spiritual conference titled “Forgive So That You May Be Free,” presented by Chorbishop Emmanuel Kallo, the bishop’s special vicar and official responsible for the Syriac Catholic churches in Mosul.

Kallo reflected on the Christian understanding of forgiveness and explained how forgiving others can help free a person from the burden and pain caused by wrongdoing.

The young people also participated in Eucharistic adoration at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church.

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

The request was submitted to the U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and human trafficking, Katarina Schwarz, to mark the centennial of the 1926 Slavery Convention and the upcoming Human Rights Council session dedicated to the occasion, “the agenda of which includes, among other issues, new forms of slavery.”

The request is based on the argument that surrogacy reduces the child in utero to an object of disposal, which corresponds to the definition of slavery set forth in the 1926 Geneva Convention, namely, the exercise of the attributes of the right of ownership.

In the case of the woman carrying the baby, her body is subjected to the will of third parties, which includes control over her diet and medical care as well as, potentially, embryo reduction or abortion, the statement explains.

The Casablanca Declaration experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance point out that "at the international level, several United Nations bodies have already characterized surrogacy as the sale of children, including the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children in 2018 and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019."

Furthermore, in her July 2025 report, the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls called for the eradication of all forms of surrogacy and the adoption of a binding international instrument to abolish this practice. Finally, a June 22 joint statement by states calls for a moratorium with a view to the universal abolition of surrogacy.

In their statement, the Casablanca Group of Experts and Juristes Pour l’Enfance also called on Schwarz to urge states to put an end to this practice within their territories and to commit to its universal abolition.

The Catholic Church also condemns the practice of surrogacy.

In his 2024 address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis described the practice of so-called surrogacy as "deplorable," noting that it is "a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”

The Holy Father urged the international community “to prohibit this practice universally,” as “human life must be preserved and defended” at every stage of its existence.

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 Peter Donohue, OSA, president of Villanova University, made the announcement at a Vatican press conference on Sept. 14.

The medal, established by Villanova University and named after Pope Leo XIV, recognizes individuals who have worked toward ecological sustainability. The pontiff will personally present the award at a ceremony on Oct. 13 in the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden, part of the Pontifical Gardens in Castel Gandolfo.

Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, prior general of the Augustinians, was also present at Monday’s press conference.

Villanova University is a Catholic liberal arts university in Pennsylvania. Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2014 from Villanova University.

‘Sustainability is about accompanying those who suffer’

In announcing the recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, Donohue praised Czerny’s “extraordinary passion for justice, human dignity, and the care of creation,” noting that his witness is an apt reminder of what authentic sustainability is.

“His witness reminds us that authentic sustainability is never solely about environmental stewardship. It is also about accompanying those who suffer, defending the dignity of the human person, and building a future that leaves no one behind,” Donohue said.

In his speech accepting the honor, Czerny cited Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, saying the pope highlighted the need for shared responsibility in achieving sustainability.

“[The pope] has made responsibility even more explicit. We are responsible for the world, not just to take care of it, even though it would be part of sustainability, but in fact we are building it,” the cardinal said.

The morality of data centers

As artificial intelligence (AI) drives a rapid expansion of data centers worldwide, concern has grown about their environmental impact, particularly water consumption and human displacement.

Speaking to EWTN News after the conference, Czerny noted that many AI companies building data centers often do not consult residents before building on their land.

“The decision to build data centers is like all the big developmental decisions that we make,” Czerny told EWTN News. “It is not an unusual question, and itʼs one that needs to be answered with the participation of the significant stakeholders.”

“You have to ask about whether the people living there are going to pay the price, carry the burden, and suffer the consequences. Were they consulted? Otherwise, it is an imposition and an injustice,” he added.

The pontiff inaugurated the exhibit, “AQVA,” part of the theme “Catastrophe and Wonder,” which will be on display at the Vatican Library through May 14, 2027. The exhibit includes artwork highlighting a “reflection on water as both a threat and a resource” and reflects a recent focus on promoting contemporary art at the Vatican.

‘The pope’s library is a heart’

The occasion also marked Leo’s first visit to the library since his election to the papacy in 2025. In his remarks, he described the Vatican Library — the pope’s library — as a beating heart and a symbol of life.

“How should we describe the pope’s library? I will use a metaphor: The Apostolic Library is a heart,” Leo said. “A beating heart is a symbol of life, and it results from two opposing movements, systole and diastole: a contraction and a relaxation, a movement towards the center and another towards the periphery.”

The pope then explained that the heart’s movements of contraction and relaxation are mirrored in both the quiet atmosphere of the Vatican Library and its engagement with human history.

Archbishop Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, the Holy See’s librarian and archivist, reflected on the library’s and the Church’s role in promoting dialogue, as shown by the new exhibit.

“This exhibition, among other things, precisely by putting together a centuries-old library and contemporary artists, says exactly this: Generations are intertwined. Let us not pretend to be men and women alone, because we are already in the company of all generations, and to them we are indebted,” Pagazzi told EWTN News at the inauguration.

The exhibit features contemporary art, including an enormous art installation inspired by Gustave Doré’s iconic 1866 wood engraving of the Great Flood, a collection of short culinary stories by Italian chef Fulvio Pierangelini, and marine artwork by American typographer Bill Moran as well as pieces from the Vatican’s permanent collections, such as historic cookbooks from around the world centered on seafood.

The pope also encouraged all present, particularly the Vatican Library employees, to “keep finding new pathways towards reconciliation.”

JR, a French artist who created the exhibit’s installation of an ocean wave on the outside of the library, reflected on his role as a bridge-builder.

“Well, you know, as an artist, my role is to create bridges, and so I feel in my place, like where I need to be working, even if it’s pretty intimidating to work in a place like the Vatican,” JR told EWTN News.

More room at the Vatican Library

In a document issued the same day, Leo decreed that a new building be constructed in Vatican City to house the Vatican Library’s growing manuscript collection. He noted that current storage was insufficient, citing Pope Francis’ 2024 move of parts of the library to the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary building near the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

“Unprecedented opportunities have arisen to create new facilities within the territory of the Vatican City State, which are undoubtedly preferable, for a variety of reasons, to the solution that had previously been identified,” the pope wrote. The new building will be located in an area currently reserved for the parking of service vehicles.

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Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi contributed to this report.

Pope Francis restricted the use of the 1962 Roman Missal with the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. Under subsequent Vatican regulations, diocesan bishops must obtain permission from the Holy See to authorize celebrations according to that missal in parish churches.

The 2025 figure was also close to the 35 dioceses and other ecclesiastical jurisdictions that received permission in 2022, the first full year after Traditionis Custodes took effect. The number rose to 55 in 2023 before returning to 34 in each of the following two years.

The figures appear in the Summarium Decretorum for 2025, the annual summary of decrees issued by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

The document shows that permission was granted during 2025 for celebrations according to the 1962 Roman Missal in parishes located in 34 dioceses around the world.

Seven of the decrees were issued during the pontificate of Francis, who died April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. The other 27 were issued after the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, indicating continuity in the Vatican’s case-by-case handling of requests during the change of pontificates.

The vast majority — 29 of the 34 published decrees — renewed existing permissions for an additional two years for communities already celebrating the liturgy according to the 1962 missal promulgated by St. John XXIII. In several cases, a single authorization covered more than one parish in the same diocese.

United States received most permissions

The U.S. decrees included permissions for Traditional Latin Mass celebrations in the dioceses of Sacramento, California; Nashville, Tennessee; Lincoln, Nebraska; Davenport, Iowa; and Cleveland, as well as the Archdiocese of Seattle.

According to the Summarium Decretorum for 2022, the Holy See that year granted permissions to 35 dioceses and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, 20 of them in the United States, making the country the leading recipient of such concessions.

The Traditional Latin Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, traces its form to the liturgy codified by St. Pius V following the Council of Trent. The reform was set out in the Roman Missal of 1570 in response to the council’s call to unify the various liturgical uses then in existence.

The missal currently used for these celebrations is based on that promulgated by St. Pius V but was revised by St. John XXIII in 1962.

One of the form’s most distinctive characteristics is that the priest generally celebrates “ad orientem” — facing liturgical east rather than the congregation — as he leads the faithful in common prayer.

The permissions granted across the two pontificates in 2025 show that the Holy See continued to consider requests individually under the restrictions established during Francis’ pontificate.

The annual Summarium Decretorum is one of the few official sources indicating how the provisions of Traditionis Custodes are applied in practice.

The decree indexes published from 2022 through 2025 also document the Holy See’s broader work regulating the liturgy. The records include approvals of translations of liturgical books, confirmations of calendars particular to dioceses and religious congregations, grants of the title of minor basilica, canonical coronations of Marian images, and recognitions of new heavenly patrons.

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.