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The U.S. bishops addressed their plan to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Guadalupan event and detailed their participation in the Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena.

The bishops discussed engagement with the novena at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 11. The Intercontinental Guadalupan Novena is a nine-year novena called for by Pope Francis in 2022 that anticipates the fifth centennial of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2031.

“We will celebrate 500 years since the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and at the same time, all of the graces we continue even now to experience under her patronage,” Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn, New York, chair of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, said at the meeting.

The bishops of Mexico have been preparing for the quincentennial celebration  and in the past year invited the U.S. bishops' conference to participate in the celebration, Brennan said.

“The Mexican bishops are, together with the Vatican through the Pontifical Council for Latin America, calling this a … novena of years,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of San José, California, chair of the USCCB Subcommittee on Hispanic and Latino Affairs.

“There is much depth to be plumbed for us in our diocese and our communities in these five years that remain for this novena,” he said.

As St. John Paul II said in his apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America: “In blessed Mary, upon whom we see an impressive example of a perfectly inculturated evangelization.”

“Those are words that should echo in our hearts as we seek to evangelize our own churches in the United States,” Cantu said.

Cantu said bishops should reflect and ask, “How do we take the methodology that Mary used 500 years ago and adapt it to our own needs in the culture … in the 21st century here in the United States?” Cantu said bishops should consider not “only the message but the methodology of Mary.”

Cantu recalled Pope Leo addressed the Theological Congress a few months ago in Mexico City, saying Our Lady of Guadalupe is a lesson in divine pedagogy on the inculturation of saving truth. "‘La Morentia’ manifests Godʼs way of drawing close to his people,” Pope Leo said.

Plan for pastoral activity

Following the pope’s call, “the Subcommittee on Hispanic Latino Affairs is proposing three phases in the coming years for our pastoral activity, and weʼve looked to weave them into already existing activities,” Cantu said.

He proposed “Phase 1 of missionary activity in our dioceses and parishes … would lead up to the Eucharistic congress that is being planned nationally.”

The subcommittee proposed “having a tilma for each diocese that would be given to each ordinary for veneration in the cathedral … or in a designated place by the bishop,” he said. “The tilma can be used as a missionary presence to journey from parish to parish, or to key places in each diocese.”

The tilma would be “an exact replica of the original" and it will be “touched to the original, so it becomes a third-class relic,” Cantu said.

“Phase 2 would include the time from the National Eucharistic Congress to the Jubilee 2031, which will be the 500th anniversary,” he said. It would be initiated by the National Eucharistic Congress and would “then continue pilgrimages from parish to parish using the tilma that would go to each diocese,” he said.

Phase 3 would focus on “jubilee celebrations,” including the “2031 Jubilee to the ... great jubilee of the 2,000 years of redemption,” he said.

Then “we are proposing some kind of national celebration for 2031,” he said. “Weʼre not sure what that would look like,” but “we would certainly like to be in dialogue with the administration of the USCCB in that regard.”

“We already know there will be an international celebration in Mexico City” and “we know that Pope Leo has been invited to participate,” Cantu said. “He has not responded yet … But weʼre pretty sure that he will be there.”

We present video highlights of Pope Leo XIV's pastoral visit to Spain, focusing on Thursday, June 11, when he travelled from Barcelona to Las Palmas De Gran Canaria.

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Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said that “today, there are more martyrs than in the first centuries of Church history.”

“Martyrdom truly belongs to the heart of Christianity,” said the Swiss prelate, who made his remarks in late May during the annual pilgrimage for persecuted Christians organized by the Swiss branch of ACN at the Einsiedeln Benedictine Abbey.

Koch, who has led the organization since November 2025, when he was appointed by Pope Leo XIV, is also the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican.

Reaffirming the pontifical foundation’s commitment to helping persecuted Christians, Koch emphasized that martyrdom is not merely a phenomenon of the past but remains “a lived reality for countless Christians around the globe,” ACN reported.

The cardinal also highlighted the witness of the many Christians persecuted worldwide: “Dictators do not distinguish between Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, or Protestants.”

“Christians are not persecuted because they belong to a particular church but because of their faith in Christ. The blood that has been shed unites Christians beyond their divisions,” he noted, recalling Pope Francis’ expression the “ecumenism of blood.”

During the pilgrimage, prayers were offered for the victims of persecution and violence in countries such as Iraq, Haiti, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

In January, the organization Open Doors published a report revealing that more than 388 million Christians worldwide suffer persecution and discrimination and that 4,849 were killed between October 2024 and September 2025.

The majority of these crimes took place in Nigeria, where Christian persecution is so severe the U.S. redesignated it as a “country of particular concern” in October 2025.

Of his role as president of ACN, Koch said: “I accepted this mission with great joy because ACN has always been very close to my heart. It is a pontifical foundation that does immense good while constantly reminding us how many parts of the Church are living in situations of great need. To contribute to this mission is something very important to me.”

Donations were also collected during the pilgrimage, which will support ACN projects in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, where the pontifical foundation assists displaced families and Catholic schools serving vulnerable communities.

What is ACN?

According to the foundation, ACN supports “the Catholic Church in its evangelization work among the world’s most needy, discriminated-against, and persecuted communities,” funding more than 5,000 pastoral and humanitarian emergency projects across 137 countries.

It has 23 offices worldwide dedicated to raising awareness about the reality facing these Christians, fostering prayer, and fundraising. ACN receives no grants from public institutions.

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

The bishops of the United States voted in favor of a revised version of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The document, also known as “the Dallas Charter,” is a set of procedures originally established in 2002 to address allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.

The bishops voted on the revised document at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 11.

The revised charter offers changes and additions but maintains the focus of the original document “to address with transparency and accountability accusations of abuse committed by clergy,” said Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, chair of the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People, at the meeting.

The revision process began in 2021 and was done in collaboration with USCCB Committees on the Protection of Children and Young People; Canonical Affairs and Church Governance; Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations; the Office of the General Counsel; and the National Review Board.

The new document offers a glossary “in response to repeated requests from dioceses on having more consistent definitions of various terms,” Knestout said.

“Among the influences drawn from the revisions of Book VI of the Code of Canon Law is the integration of the right of an accused to the presumption of innocence,” and “among the Vos Estis Lux Mundi general provisions is the identification of mandatory Church reporters to complement mandatory reporting to civil authorities,” he said.

The revised version also includes a “clear allowance for electronic letters of suitability” and “an added reference to the protection of information under the seal of the sacrament of penance,” Knestout said.

To ensure the charter focuses on abuse of minors, the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations will develop a separate document from the charter that will focus on standards of behavior for both clergy and laity with adults, including vulnerable adults.

Vote invites debate among bishops

Prior to voting, the bishops discussed and debated the topic. Some of the bishops inquired about the language within the document and offered proposed changes.

During the discussion, Archbishop Shawn McKnight of Kansas City, Kansas, proposed the bishops “postpone [the] vote until the next meeting,” which will be held in November. Bishop Earl Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio, seconded the motion as the bishops will not “lose very much by delaying” and to ensure his presbyteral council is “sufficiently consulted."

In response to the bishops in favor of the postponement, Knestout said that “there has been quite a bit of consultation already." He added: “I am not sure whatʼs gained through the additional time, other than … an opportunity for some dioceses and presbyterates to look at this again.”

Ultimately the majority voted not to postpone the vote. The bishops then approved the revised charter, with 176 voting yes, 22 voting no, and six abstaining.

Bishops react to approval of charter

“Iʼm coming towards the conclusion of my own term as the chair. I inherited the [charter] process and I wanted to make sure it was concluded,” Knestout told EWTN News following the vote.

“This was … our best effort to make sure it was adapted to some of the developments and circumstances of the present,” he said. “So it can function as the guide for our ongoing work in caring for and making sure that we are providing safeguarding for children and young people within our diocese and do it in a good way that is respectful of the role of priests.”

As the bishops revised the document, it was “necessary for us to do two things as bishops,” Knestout said.

“One is to express our love for, our care for those who are victim survivors, and for all those whoʼve been injured or wounded because of the abuse issue or the crisis, and to assure them that ... with both transparency and accountability, [we] will address the issue and continue to do so in a vigilant way.”

It was also to reflect updates “from the developments that have occurred with canon law over the last eight years to also express in a tangible way our concern for our priests and for their needs” and “to address issues of due process and presumed innocence.”

It “tries to do both in a way thatʼs balanced and thatʼs authentic but is consistent and addresses the issue of the crisis in a way that will bring trust and healing over time,” he said.

While the charter was under review, the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance “wanted to keep clarity … that the charter is for protection of children and young people,” Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, chair of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, told EWTN News.

“I think it has worked well over the last 25 years” and “I think these amendments that we had and the changes will be for the better,” he said.

“There were voices, and continue to be voices, that wanted to expand that to include other areas of misconduct, misconduct by bishops, or misconduct by priests with adults,” but there “are other avenues … for doing that,” Paprocki said.

“By not including vulnerable adults in the charter does not say that we donʼt think itʼs important,” but “it should be an entirely separate process, and in my experience it has been good to have that as a separate process.”

“I would also point out that there are some things already in existence,” he said. He detailed Pope Francis’ 2016 moto proprio As a Loving Mother, which “provides for the removal of bishops for different kinds of misconduct,” and Vos Estis Lux Mundi.

In contrast, McKnight told “EWTN News In Depth” it is “a missed opportunity” that the revised charter does not address the abuse of adults, abuses of power, and episcopal misconduct or cover-ups.

McKnight explained that he has previously “made a full proposal” that the bishops “consider not revising the charter but to honor it as an historical document written for its time period.”

“My proposal is that we have an integrated statement of moral commitment, like the charter, that would honor it but be organically related to it” and “encompass these other things that are just as pressing of an issue for our ecclesial life,” he said.

The bishops voting to not postpone the vote was also “a missed opportunity for us to exercise a bit more the approach that our Holy Father, Pope Leo, is asking us to do as bishops,” he said.

While “there has been extensive consultation over several years by conference leadership, the bishops as a body have not been involved in that other than four years ago was the last time we were consulted,” McKnight said.

“So my feeling was that … we should have the opportunity to take and solicit feedback from our own clergy and our own laypeople, and to work more collaboratively and in a spirit of co-responsibility,” he said.

Next steps

Going forward, “the administrative committee has asked the Committee for Clergy Consecrated Life and Vocations … [to] take up the next step of looking at issues of sexual misconduct with adults and with vulnerable adults,” Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, chair of the Committee for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, told EWTN News.

“Weʼve accepted that as the committee, and we are going to start the work on producing such a document,” he said.

“As we do so … we are going to collaborate with all of the other agencies and those who are involved with sexual misconduct on how we respond as the USCCB within the Church,” Hicks said.

Having separate documents addressing different areas of abuse “is making sure that issues stay in their lane properly,” Hicks said.

The charter looks “at issues of children, minors, preventing abuse, protecting children, and also the accompaniment of victim survivors,” he said. “Then thereʼs opportunities for continued conversation of ‘What does abuse and sexual misconduct look like with adults or vulnerable adults?’”

“Let another document address that so that we are properly making sure we attend to the original outset of what the charter was meant for, which is the protection of children, the prevention of abuse, and the accompaniment of victim survivors,” Hicks said.

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A Catholic football coach is being backed by the U.S. Department of Justice in his lawsuit against a public university that fired him for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Nick Rolovich first sued Washington State University in 2022 after he was dismissed from the school for refusing the vaccination in 2021.

In his lawsuit Rolovich said the university failed to uphold its contract with him when it fired him for refusing the shot. The suit alleged that the firing was not made with “just cause” and that the school violated its contract in dismissing him over the dispute.

In the suit Rolovich said he “drew upon his study of the Bible, personal
prayer, personal experience, personal study, advice from others, advice from a Catholic priest, and the teachings of the Church in concluding that his conscience precluded him from receiving any available COVID-19 vaccine.”

A federal district court ruled against Rolovich in 2025. On June 10 the coach and his legal team appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit arguing the case.

Rolovich in his appeal has received the backing of the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that the coach had provided “voluminous ... evidence where he asserted, and demonstrated evidence of, a sincere religious belief.”

“That evidence attested to his sincere Catholic beliefs and articulated the conflict between that belief system and his objection to taking the vaccine,” the government said, arguing that the appeals court should reverse the lower courtʼs ruling.

A decision from the appeals court will likely be handed down in the next few months. In a June 10 release, Joseph Davis — a senior attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the coach in the case — argued that the school fired Rolovich solely because it “disliked his beliefs.”

“Sidelining a coach for standing by his faith betrays the spirit of college athletics and religious freedom,” Davis said, arguing that the court should  "throw the flag on WSU’s unnecessary roughness and protect every American’s right to live and work according to their faith.”

Several Catholics in the U.S. have won high-profile lawsuits in recent years over their refusals to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The University of Colorado’s medical school in late 2025 agreed to pay out a massive eight-figure settlement after it required multiple staffers, including a Catholic doctor, to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination.

In 2024, meanwhile, Catholic Michigan resident Lisa Domski received $12.7 million in a religious discrimination lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan after it fired her over her refusal to take the vaccine.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña announced this week that work will proceed on the restoration and enhancement of Our Lady of the Assumption Metropolitan Cathedral in Asunción, the capital city.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multiple lawsuits filed in federal courts on June 11 allege that permissive assisted suicide laws in New York and Illinois are threatening the life and well-being of individuals with disabilities in those states.

Several individual plaintiffs and patients‘ rights groups filed the suits in two U.S. district courts arguing against the states’ respective laws that permit doctors to intentionally cause the death of patients deemed terminally ill, a process known as “medical aid in dying,” a term used in state law.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the stateʼs assisted suicide bill into law in December 2025, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed her own stateʼs bill in February of this year. Both measures have been ardently opposed by Catholic leaders.

The Illinois suit — brought by two plaintiffs and several groups including the Institute for Patients' Rights and the National Council on Independent Living — argues that the stateʼs law removes the “ethical obligation of every physician to do no harm,” nullifying a doctorʼs requirement to, in part, “actively prevent the patient from ... suicide.”

The state is offering suicide as a “reasonable option” for medical patients, the suit argues, and permits suicide to be “encouraged by physicians.”

The New York law, meanwhile — which is scheduled to go into effect in August — presents a “looming threat” to individuals with disabilities, the lawsuit in that state says, in part because it does not require medical officials to “consider a patient’s psychiatric or psychological condition or how that may affect their suicidality” when they ask for help in dying.

The New York suit argues that the law will allow patients to obtain suicide assistance even if they are not suffering from terminal conditions; it further alleges that the law would allow patients to “make themselves eligible” for suicide by “declining available medical treatment.”

Both suits argue that the respective suicide regimes violate state and federal laws, including disability protection laws; the suits further claim that the rules violate equal-protection provisions under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Matt Vallière, president and executive director of the Institute for Patients' Rights, which is a party in both suits, said in a June 11 press release that the laws “create a separate and unequal system in which people with life-threatening disabilities are offered death instead of the support programs everyone else gets.”

The lawsuits “are about affirming that every person has inestimable value and dignity, regardless of age, disability, or prognosis, and ensuring that no one is treated as disposable under the law,” he said.

The filings are the fourth and fifth lawsuits filed as part of a national effort by the initiative End Assisted Suicide, a coalition group targeting state suicide laws on behalf of people with disabilities.

Catholic leaders in both states have sharply criticized the assisted suicide laws. New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks said this month that the stateʼs law would usher in a “new and frightening era” there.

“How long before this so-called ‘compassion’ for the terminally ill evolves from a ‘choice’ into an expectation to kill oneself for all sorts of vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities, the elderly, and those in impoverished and medically underserved communities?” the prelate said.

The Illinois bishops, meanwhile, described their stateʼs assisted suicide law as a “dangerous and heartbreaking path.”

“Rather than investing in real end-of-life support such as palliative and hospice care, pain management, and family-centered accompaniment, our state has chosen to normalize killing oneself,” the bishops said.

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The New York state Legislature passed a bill that replaces the words “mother” and “father” in some state laws with gender-neutral language, a move that New York’s bishops say will further “muddy what is true and good.”

The bill, passed by the state Assembly in March and by the state Senate on June 2, now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul to be signed into law.

Under the new law, “mother” would be replaced with “gestating parent,” and “father” would be “non-gestating parent.” The words “paternity” and “filiation” would be replaced with “parentage.”

The New York State Catholic Conference issued a memorandum on June 10 noting the bishops’ opposition to the new law, calling it “politically charged” and “unnecessary.”

“The truth is that mothers are mothers, and fathers are fathers,” the bishops wrote. “Words matter, and serious changes to our governing language serve only to wash away the importance of these roles in our society.”

“The yearslong push in our state for abortion on demand and up until birth, the endless millions of dollars funneled to Planned Parenthood, and the legalization of commercial surrogacy have reduced women to vessels and babies to disposable commodities,” they said.

“The Legislature’s final twist of the knife is now apparently removing the term ‘mother’ altogether,” they wrote. “We must reverse course and recognize the importance of both mothers and fathers and pursue changes that truly support women and families.”

The legislation (Senate Bill S9316/Assembly Bill A8382A) targets parts of the Family Court Act and laws having to do with, among others, domestic relations, social services, vehicle and traffic, alcoholic beverage control, child support statutes, and education law.

On June 3, Hochul said she was unfamiliar with the specifics of the bill and would familiarize herself with them before commenting.

“I have until the end of the year to review them and make a decision,” she said, though according to New York state law, now that the Legislature is adjourned, she has 30 days to sign it. If she does not, the bill is automatically pocket-vetoed (it dies and does not become law).

New York’s bishops urged Hochul “to veto this upsetting legislation and uphold the importance of both mothers and fathers in our state,” saying the bill’s “wholesale effect will be to mock the foundation of the family.”

The bishops accused legislators of “political pandering and appeasing a small group of very loud advocates.”

“Erasing the terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ from our laws will not help struggling New Yorkers afford groceries, access healthcare, or find housing, but it will further muddy what is true and good,” they wrote.

All 38 Senate Democrats who voted supported the measure, while all 22 Republicans voted against it. One Democrat also voted no, joining the unanimous Republican opposition. The bill had previously passed the Assembly 91-46 on March 19, with almost all Democrats voting for it and almost all Republicans against.

According to reporting by Fox5 New York, the state Senate bill passed quickly and with no debate, “shocking” some lawmakers.

While there was a short floor speech last week by Republican State Sen. Dean Murray opposing the bill, the overall process was rushed as the legislative session wrapped up June 10.

“These terms matter,” Murray said. “'Mother' is one of the most sacred titles you can have. As is 'father,' 'grandmother,' grandfather.'”

He continued: “In fact ... the term mother is so important, we have a special day named after it,” referring to Motherʼs Day.

“Of course, now maybe we change that to Gestating Parentʼs Day ... and Fatherʼs Day, just change it to Parentʼs Day.”

Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney, a U.S. Congresswoman who previously served in the New York State Assembly from 2011 to 2016, issued a strong rebuke on social media, stating: “The party that can’t define a woman is now rewriting New York law to erase mothers and fathers. Only in Albany could ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ become too controversial.”

Proponents argue the new language is more inclusive and takes into account special cases that occur when there is no clear biological parent, such as in surrogacy and adoption situations.

ORLANDO, Florida — A prominent Catholic academic urged a gathering of the U.S. bishops to take a more assertive role in ensuring that Catholic universities live out their distinctively religious mission.

Santiago Schnell, the provost of Dartmouth University and a former dean at the University of Notre Dame, told members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at their plenary assembly in Orlando that they “could be more vocal” and “more pushy” when it comes to making sure that Catholic universities are faithful to their unique identity.

“I think you are being too respectful,” Schnell told the bishops during his June 10 talk. “You own the word ‘Catholic.’ We academic administrators, we don’t.”

Schnell delivered his pointed observations to the bishops at the end of a presentation on the state of Catholic higher education, during which the Ivy League administrator suggested that Catholic universities have focused more on imitating secular universities and chasing college rankings than on imaginatively living out their distinctive mission.

As a result, Schnell contended, the Church is failing to impact the intellectual and cultural life of the nation and even retain its own members.

“They’re leaving it because we don’t have intellectuals and we don’t have a proper formation in higher education that allows them to articulate effectively their faith, to themselves and others,” said Schnell, a frequent commentator on Catholic higher education and influential advocate for higher education reform in America.

One bishop in attendance described Schnell’s presentation as a “sober moment for the bishops.”

“Hopefully the topic motivated bishops to continue the hard work of calling our universities back to their ecclesial and evangelistic mission,” Bishop Andrew Cozzens of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News.

Schnell’s talk preceded a closed-door conversation on Catholic higher education with the U.S. bishops.

The Dartmouth provost’s talk marked the 25th anniversary of the U.S. implementation of Ex Corde Ecclesiae (“From the Heart of the Church”), the 1990 apostolic constitution in which St. John Paul II outlined the Church’s vision for Catholic universities and their relationship with bishops.

Promulgated amid growing tension between Catholic universities and the Church hierarchy, the document presents Catholic universities as participating directly in the Church’s mission.

While Ex Corde Ecclesiae emphasizes that a Catholic university itself has a responsibility for upholding its Catholic identity, St. John Paul II also taught that the local bishop “has the right and duty to watch over the preservation and strengthening” of the Catholic character of Catholic universities in his diocese.

A ‘Catholic paradox’

In his presentation, Schnell described a widening gap between the Church’s vision for Catholic higher education and universities that increasingly resemble their secular counterparts.

“These days, both Catholic institutions and non-Catholic institutions have become very secularized, and they’re doing this through imitation,” he said.

A major driver, he argued, is college rankings, which reward convergence more than distinction.

“Twenty-five years ago when I moved to the United States, I would give a seminar at the University of Chicago, I would give a seminar at Yale, and I would give a seminar at the University of Michigan, and I knew that I was in those universities,” said Schnell, who was born and raised in Venezuela and completed his graduate work in mathematical biology at England’s Oxford University. “Today … we have become so good imitations of each other that you cannot distinguish the place where you are.”

Catholic universities, he added, have followed the same path, becoming “indifferent and indistinguishable” from secular peers.

That shift, he said, has narrowed higher education’s purpose, reducing it to credentials and job preparation rather than intellectual and moral formation.

“It’s about training for the first job,” he said, critiquing the current status quo. “It’s not training for life.”

Schnell also argued that Catholic institutions are not producing enough intellectual and cultural leaders within the Church. He pointed to Hispanic Catholics, who represent a growing share of the Church but lag in educational attainment, as evidence of what he called a “Catholic paradox”: strong infrastructure paired with uneven outcomes.

He also criticized mission statements that increasingly resemble social-service or advocacy organizations.

“All academic institutions and mission statements, particularly the Catholics, have become what I call ‘NGOs,’” he said, referring to the acronym for nongovernmental organizations. “That’s not the mission of the Catholic university.”

Forming future Church doctors 

When Schnell turned to what he described as the core of his proposal, he pointed to a slide outlining a three-part framework for renewal in Catholic higher education focused on forming the Church’s next generation of intellectual leaders, clarifying the role of bishops in university life and strengthening the formative culture of Catholic campuses.

“Our mission shouldn’t be creating individuals who go to the workplace,” Schnell said. Instead, he said that Catholic universities should form scholars who have the potential to be doctors of the Church, i.e., saints who have made significant contributions to theology or doctrine. “That’s the primary mission of a Catholic institution.” 

Schnell said Catholic identity is sustained not only through governance but also through campus culture — what St. John Henry Newman called the “genius loci,” or spirit of place, formed in daily life.

“It’s the conversations that the students have while they are walking to their dorms or they are walking to the chapel,” he said. “It’s the conversations that they’re having about their faith.”

Schnell warned that Catholic character can erode when faculty and administrators do not actively share the Church’s mission.

In some cases, he said, universities have prioritized conformity over fidelity to that mission. Schnell recalled declining an invitation to lead a Catholic university after learning that only about 12% of its faculty and fewer than a quarter of its students were Catholic.

“According to your definition, that’s no longer a Catholic institution,” he recalled his wife telling him.

As the presentation concluded, Schnell returned briefly to the role of bishops in helping to shape the character of Catholic universities.

“What is the participation of the bishops?” he said, telling the gathered Church leaders that the members of a Catholic university were “their flock.”

“They’re not mine. They’re not going to be the flock of any academic administrator.”

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

Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, president of Caritas Internationalis, urged Caritas Asia workers to stand at the side of the poor and to help build a synodal Church, addressing the Caritas Asia Regional Conference and Partners' Forum in Bangkok, Thailand.

The conference, held under the theme “Synodality: Sensitivity, Synergy, and Spirituality. All for Caritas — Solidarity,” ran from June 9–11.

“We cannot close our eyes to the reality of the poor. Today, our world is wounded. Humanity cries out. Sometimes people become indifferent to the suffering of others. Caritas is the Gospel made visible through compassion, closeness, and services,” Kikuchi said in his inaugural address.

The Regional Conference and Partners‘ Forum serves as the premier governance and collaborative gathering for the Catholic Churchʼs humanitarian network in the region. It brought together presidents, directors, and senior staff from more than 25 Caritas member organizations across Asia, along with global partners including Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Spain, Caritas Italiana, Caritas Germany, Caritas Canada, and CAFOD, as well as representatives from the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.

Caritas Asia serves as the regional secretariat for one of the seven regions of the Caritas Internationalis network, said Benedict Alo DʼRozario, president of Caritas Asia, in a message to EWTN News. He said Caritas Asia represents the region within the global networkʼs support structures and takes part in joint work on staff capacity building, advocacy for social justice, care for creation, humanitarian response, integral human development, anti-human trafficking, safe migration, child protection, education, and moral formation.

DʼRozario said Caritas Asia has adopted four priorities going forward: care for people and planet, adaptability and preparedness, organizational capacity and effectiveness, and leadership and engagement.

He said Caritas Asia is not simply an organization but the heart of the Church, practicing synodality by going into communities, listening carefully, and responding to their needs. Caritas serves others, DʼRozario said, because it recognizes Christ in the poor, the suffering, and the vulnerable, and its mission is rooted in an encounter with Jesus Christ.

Participants described Kikuchiʼs remarks as highly relevant and inspiring for those across Caritas Asia.

Caritas Bangladesh acts as the social arm of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh, as do other national Caritas organizations across Asia. Daud Jibon Das, executive director of Caritas Bangladesh, said the key message he took from the conference was that, although global funding is gradually decreasing, the Church must continue to care for the poor and those in need.

Caritas Bangladesh has long worked for the poor and neglected people of the country, and the conference will further accelerate its educational work, Das said.

“We work for justice for all, regardless of race, religion, caste, we want all neglected people, poor people to be well,” he told EWTN News. “Even if the funds decrease, we will continue to do our work within our means.”

On June 9, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Bulgaria violated freedom protections after authorities used an overly broad and vaguely-worded ban on “religious propaganda” to prevent Jehovahʼs Witnesses from engaging in door-to-door evangelization. Such religious outreach was banned while other forms of canvassing were permitted.

The case was brought by members of the group, who argued that local authorities had unlawfully prevented them from carrying out their missionary work.

Judges found that regulations adopted by the city of Shumen unlawfully restricted religious activity and failed to clearly define what constituted prohibited religious propaganda. The ruling concluded that the ban violated Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

Nicolas Bauer, a doctor of law and advocacy director at the European Centre for Law and Justice, which intervened in the case as a third party, said the judgment reaffirms a fundamental principle of religious liberty.

“Evangelizing is often viewed with suspicion in a secularized Europe,” Bauer told EWTN News. “The ECHR ruling reaffirms a basic requirement of religious freedom for believers: the right to the same freedom of expression as everyone else.”

Understanding the situation

At the center of the dispute was what the court viewed as unequal treatment of religious speech. Under Shumen city regulations, residents and organizations were permitted to go door-to-door for commercial and political purposes, but religious outreach alone was prohibited.

“It was permitted to knock on the door of the cityʼs inhabitants to sell a vacuum cleaner or promote a political program,” Bauer explained, “but forbidden to hand out a Bible or a pious image.”

Municipal authorities justified the ban by claiming it protected the privacy of residents against “abusive or coercive proselytism.” The court rejected that argument and dismissed the need for a blanket ban on door-to-door evangelization. It also noted that authorities had not “demonstrated the existence of concrete or repeated disturbances” to justify such a broad measure.

The court stressed that exposure to differing beliefs is part of life in a democratic society, noting that “being exposed to religious ideas or beliefs that one does not share cannot, in itself, justify a blanket ban on peaceful missionary activities.”

Bauer also highlighted that individuals already possess practical means of avoiding unwanted contact, including declining to answer the door, politely dismissing visitors, or indicating that they do not wish to receive canvassers.

Implications beyond Bulgaria

For Bauer and other legal experts, the judgment reinforces the principle that religious expression enjoys the same protection as other forms of speech in democratic societies.

Bauer also noted that restrictions on evangelization affect not only those who wish to share their faith but also those who may want to hear it. “If the court recognizes the importance of the right to try to convince oneʼs neighbor,” he said, “it is also so that this neighbor can exercise their freedom to change religion.”

The judgment does not prevent authorities from acting against coercive, abusive, or intrusive conduct. Rather, it draws a distinction between peaceful evangelization and harassment, making clear that governments cannot impose blanket bans on religious outreach simply because some members of the public may find it unwelcome. Bauer noted that “the role of public authorities is to punish visitors who enter a home against the will of its occupant.”

For Christian communities engaged in missionary work, the decision offers reassurance that peaceful evangelization remains protected under European human rights law.

Religious freedom debates across Europe

The ruling arrives amid broader debates across Europe over the limits of religious expression in public life.

While Bulgariaʼs case centered on door-to-door evangelization, Bauer said Christians increasingly encounter legal and political challenges in other contexts.

He pointed to the controversial “buffer zone” laws surrounding abortion facilities in countries such as the United Kingdom and Spain. Pro-life advocates contend that some of these measures have been used to restrict activities ranging from conversations and leafleting to silent prayer, if authorities believe they could influence individuals approaching clinics.

Other disputes have involved public manifestations of Christian belief. Finnish Parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen faced years of legal proceedings after publicly expressing Christian views on sexuality. In France, legal controversies have emerged over the display of crosses, Nativity scenes, and religious statues in public spaces.

According to Bauer, these cases reflect a growing tension between traditional expressions of Christianity and increasingly secular societies. “Christian faith in the public sphere stands in stark contrast to the values of modern society,” he said. Yet Bauer also explained that responsibility does not rest solely with governments or courts. Christian communities themselves, he suggested, sometimes contribute to the gradual disappearance of religious expression by ceasing to exercise freedoms they already possess.

He pointed to the decline of public Eucharistic processions in some parts of Europe as an example of a practice that once visibly expressed Christian faith in the public square.

“A freedom that is not exercised eventually erodes,” Bauer said.

As European societies continue to debate the role of religion in public life, the ECHRʼs decision serves as a reminder that religious freedom includes not only the right to hold beliefs privately but also the right to share them peacefully with others. For many Christians, that principle remains at the heart of the Churchʼs missionary mission and witness in the public square.

Pope Leo XIV urged the Church in the Canary Islands to remain united in faith by embracing the Cross, deepening its Eucharistic life, and serving the most vulnerable with solidarity and hope.

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ARGUINEGUÍN, Canary Islands — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called for an “examination of conscience” on migration during a visit to the port of Arguineguín in Spain’s Canary Islands, a site that became a symbol of the collapse of migration management in 2020.

The small fishing port on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria was once dubbed the “dock of shame” after more than 2,600 migrants were left crowded outdoors there for weeks six years ago, many sleeping on rough concrete after crossing the Atlantic in fragile boats from Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Morocco, and parts of the Sahara.

On June 11, Leo turned the site into what many present described as a dock of hope.

“It is not enough to manage arrivals, distribute figures, reinforce borders, or mourn the dead once they have already died,” the pope said.

Human dignity, he said, “requires legal and safe routes, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious processes of welcome and integration, and policies that allow each person to live with dignity in his or her own land.”

Along the same lines, the pope emphasized that while there is a right to seek refuge when one’s life is threatened, there is also a right not to be forced to migrate: “the right to remain in one’s own home without hunger, without war, without persecution, without violence, without the land becoming uninhabitable, without corruption stealing the bread of the poor, without weapons destroying the future of children.”

“We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead,” Leo said. “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”

The Canary Islands marked the final stop of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain and one of its most symbolically charged moments. Migration remains an open wound in Europe and beyond, and Arguineguín has long stood as one of its most visible scars.

“This tragedy must become an examination of conscience,” the pope said.

Leo directed his appeal to several audiences. Countries of origin, he said, “must create conditions of peace, justice, and development.” Countries of transit, he added, must “not leave the weak in the hands of criminal networks.”

He also addressed Europe directly, saying it “cannot proclaim human dignity and grow accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming cemeteries without headstones.” The international community, he said, is called to “effective and persevering cooperation.”

The Church, too, “must allow herself to be challenged,” the pope said. “Welcoming the migrant cannot be something secondary or delegated only to a few volunteers.”

The pope also offered a direct message to ordinary Catholics.

“We kneel before the altar to adore Christ present in the Eucharist, from whom we receive the strength and the reason to live charity,” he said. “Therefore, we cannot then ‘pass by’ the cayucos and pateras, because from prayer all service flows and to it every commitment returns.”

The pope invoked the biblical figures of Leviathan and Rahab to describe the “monsters that lurk in these seas: mafias that traffic in despair, traffickers who enslave women and children, and the indifference of many who allow the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or oblivion.”

But faith, he said, “does not remain paralyzed before the power of the sea.”

“We believe in a God who subdues chaos, sets limits to evil, and opens a path when death seems to prevail,” Leo said.

Where Christ “commands the sea to be silent,” he added, “the Church cannot remain silent before those who are abandoned to its waters.”

The pope said conversion begins when “the migrant stops being just one more person, stops being a category and a number.”

Leo’s visit to the Canary Islands was one Pope Francis had wanted to make but was unable to carry out. Leo delivered a message echoing the one Francis brought to Lampedusa in 2013. Leo is also scheduled to visit the Italian island on July 4, the day the United States marks 250 years since its founding.

“We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead,” Leo said. “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”

In a speech interrupted several times by applause, the pope asked that history “not have to accuse us of having turned the pain of those who suffer into the usual landscape of our coasts.”

Before speaking, Leo listened to several testimonies from people close to the migration crisis.

Tito Villarmea, captain of the maritime rescue vessel Urania, said that in 18 years he has helped rescue more than 20,000 people — “a number that hurts and is not forgotten.”

Although irregular arrivals by sea have fallen sharply this year — down about 35% from the previous year — rescue operations have continued, many in extreme conditions. According to Spain’s Interior Ministry, 10,224 migrants arrived irregularly in Spain from Jan. 1 to May 31, down 35.2% from 15,769 during the same period last year. Irregular land entries into Ceuta and Melilla rose 210% to 2,366 people.

Villarmea recalled one rescue involving a mother traveling in a small boat with her child, surrounded by wounded people and lifeless bodies.

“Once safely on board, the woman approached the child, about 14 years old, took off the cap and jacket, and pulled out some gold earrings to put them on,” he said. “It was a girl. She cried and I cried, because I am the father of two teenagers.”

María Reyes Alemán, a Caritas volunteer, also addressed the pope, describing her work accompanying migrants amid the humanitarian crisis.

“We learned that it was not about solving everything, but about being present,” she said, explaining that small gestures such as a smile or a look can also communicate hope.

Another powerful testimony came from Blessing, a Nigerian woman and trafficking survivor who was not present for security reasons. In a letter read aloud, she recounted leaving Nigeria at age 22, leaving behind her two daughters. When the time came to cross the sea, she said, she saw people who had departed before her group that same day drown.

“The mafia took me to a place where they performed a ritual, the ‘juju,’” she said. “They told me I had a debt of 25,000 euros that I had to pay when I arrived in Europe.”

During six months of captivity, she became pregnant by a man connected to the trafficking network.

“When I arrived in Spain, they took my baby away from me to force me into prostitution,” she said. Her forced enslavement ended when her son was 11 months old and police arrested those holding her captive. She said the Church helped her rebuild her life.

Leo also warned migrants like Blessing not to trust those who exploit hopes for a better future.

“Do not believe those who promise easy paradises in exchange for your body, your money, your silence, or your freedom,” he said.

Such false promises, he said, are “siren songs” and “industries of death.”

The pope also mentioned El Hierro, the least populated of the Canary Islands, which has become a major arrival point for migrants, with more than 50,000 irregular arrivals since 2020. The peak came in 2024, with nearly 30,000 arrivals.

The island’s treatment by authorities has prompted frustration from local officials, including Alpidio Armas, the socialist president of the island council, who did not attend the pope’s events.

El Hierro, Leo said, “has seen thousands of people arrive, torn from their land and entrusted to the fragility of a cayuco.”

There, he said, “there are people recovered from the sea and lifeless bodies rescued from the waters.” For that reason, “the successor of Peter cannot turn away from these docks.”

The event concluded with a floral offering in memory of the victims of migration by sea, a symbolic gesture at a place that has become an emblem of suffering but also of solidarity.

The pope then went to a nearby image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patroness of sailors, where he blessed a cross erected as a permanent memorial to those who never reached their destination.

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.

BALTIMORE — About 300 Catholics gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Wednesday, June 10, for Mass and a Eucharistic procession through downtown Baltimore as the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage’s St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Route continued through the nation’s first Catholic diocese.

Following the morning Mass, pilgrims processed several blocks in the rain from the basilica to Baltimore’s Washington Monument, one of the city’s most recognizable civic landmarks, praying and singing as they accompanied the Blessed Sacrament through the city’s historic streets.

The Baltimore stop is part of the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is traveling under the theme “One Nation Under God” as the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

In his homily, Monsignor Jay O’Connor reflected on the meaning of pilgrimage and the public witness of carrying the Eucharist through cities, towns, highways, and waterways across the country.

“This National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which is of Jesus through the streets and the highways and the plains and the waterways of our country, brings the blessing of the real presence of Jesus into the heart and soul of our fellow citizens and our country,” he said.

The basilica, completed in 1821, is the first cathedral constructed in the United States. It was built under the leadership of Bishop John Carroll, the first bishop of the United States, making the Baltimore stop a significant moment for a pilgrimage moving through many of the original 13 colonies during the nation’s semiquincentennial year.

O’Connor said pilgrimage is not meant to be easy, citing St. John Paul II’s teaching that God uses the challenges of the journey to form his people.

“Through the challenges of the journey, God forms us into the people he calls us to be — a community of missionary disciples,” he said.

The celebrant also recalled a previous Eucharistic procession in Baltimore, when a man came out of his home and asked what was happening as the procession passed through his neighborhood.

“One pilgrim responded, ‘Jesus is walking through your neighborhood,’” he said. “The man asked, ‘Can I join you?’ And he was invited to walk the rest of the way with the pilgrims. That’s what a pilgrimage is.”

For the perpetual pilgrims accompanying the Eucharist along the Cabrini route, the journey has included long days of travel, prayer, public witness, and constant movement.

“It’s been very busy,” said John Paul Flynn, one of the perpetual pilgrims. “But it’s through that busyness, I think, that you start to lean more into it and lean more into the graces that are there.”

He said the experience of traveling with the Blessed Sacrament has been unlike anything else.

“Getting to be with Jesus all the time is a really unique experience,” he said, noting that the pilgrims even have adoration in the van as they travel.

The pilgrimage was scheduled to continue through Maryland with stops in Severna Park and Annapolis before crossing the Chesapeake Bay by boat to Kent Island and the Diocese of Wilmington.

The Cabrini route is named for St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the Italian-born missionary sister who became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized a saint. Cabrini dedicated her life to serving immigrants, orphans, the sick, and the poor, founding schools, hospitals, and orphanages across the United States and beyond.

The route began over Memorial Day weekend in St. Augustine, Florida, and is traveling north along the Eastern Seaboard before concluding in Philadelphia over Independence Day weekend.

Sergi, a young Catalan man, was surprised by an encounter with Pope Leo XIV in Spain on June 10 he will never forget.

During the pope’s visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, an abbey northwest of Barcelona, Sergi handed Leo his rosary. The pontiff slipped it into his pocket before using it minutes later to pray.

Unexpectedly, the story did not end there — after the event, Sergi managed to recover his prized sacramental, now prayed with by the pope.

Sergi (who asked that his last name not be shared) told EWTN News he had not planned to go to the shrine on the day of the papal visit. He is from Terrassa, a city between Barcelona and Montserrat.

The invitation to go to the popeʼs prayer came unexpectedly through a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity, connected to his youth group, who encouraged both him and his girlfriend, María, to join the gathering. The night before, they attended the pope’s event at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona and returned so tired that they almost decided not to go again.

However, they felt they could not miss the chance to see Pope Leo during his visit to their homeland, and in order to attend they both had to take the day off from work. They never imagined what would happen or the gift they would receive.

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Sergi, María, and their friend secured a spot in the atrium of the basilica, and when the pope arrived, Sergi managed to get very close to the mini-popemobile as it passed by. At that moment he took out his rosary, hoping it would be blessed.

“I just wanted him to bless it, that’s all, but he asked me, ‘Is it for me?’ And I’m not going to say no, so of course I said yes, and he kept it,” the young man said.

Indeed, in a video recorded by EWTN News, the pope can be seen taking the rosary and putting it in his pocket. A few minutes later, to the young couple’s total surprise, they saw the pope praying with Sergi’s rosary in his hands.

“When we saw it on the screen, we realized it was the same one he was using to pray!” Sergi said.

But the story did not end there. María had the idea of trying to get the rosary back, and when the event ended, they tried. However, the pope was already in the official car, and the security caravan would not allow anyone to approach.

“We tried to tell him, but he just passed us by,” Sergi told EWTN News.

At that moment, the run of his life began. Montserrat, as its name suggests, is set on a mountain range, so he had to run downhill.

“I ran the whole way down until I said, ‘Well, let the pope keep it,’ and I gave up, but my girlfriend told me, ‘Keep trying.’”

So Sergi started running again, sprinting and shouting to the pope to give it back. Knowing the caravan could not stop, he took an extreme measure: asking the pope to throw it to him.

“At that moment I wasn’t thinking — I just knew I wanted to get the rosary back, knowing the pope had prayed with it. I was overwhelmed with excitement by the moment and the situation.”

The pope granted his request, tossing the rosary from the car window as he drove by. Then, with the help of a police officer, Sergi recovered his rosary, now prayed with by the pope.

“We went without expecting anything, and we came back with the greatest gift we could have received,” the young man said, still moved by the experience.

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.

Pope Leo XIV continued his historic visit to Spain on June 10 with a whirlwind series of events in Barcelona including a visit to a penitentiary and Mass at the famed Sagrada Familia Basilica.

The Holy Father will now depart mainland Europe and visit the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, finishing his trip on June 12 before returning to Rome.

Here is a look at what Pope Leo XIV has been up to in Barcelona:

At a meeting with migrants and the organisations that rescue and accompany them in Gran Canaria, Pope Leo urges the world not to grow indifferent to their suffering and calls for legal and safe migration pathways, denounces human trafficking and exploitation, and insists that “human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border.”

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When Pope Leo XIV arrived at the Church of Sant Augustin (Agustí Nou) in Barcelona's El Raval neighbourhood, he was being hosted, so to speak, by his brothers – four Augustinians who serve at the Church in Barcelona. This small Augustinian community comprises two Filipinos and two Tanzanians. Vatican News spoke with the Prior, Fr. Dennis Pineda – originally from the Philippines, but with over 16 years of pastoral ministry and presence in Spain.

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Faces of Choice founder Lyric Gillett awoke in the middle of the night with an idea she would later describe as “a dream filled with faces.”

She hastily scribbled the concept and script that would eventually become a commercial that is set to reach large crowds at the FIFA 2026 World Cup.

“It felt as though I had been handed a glimpse of people whose stories had yet to be told,” Gillett told EWTN News. “I wrote everything down immediately.”

Gillett’s idea was about encounter — giving people the chance to encounter the survivors of abortion.

“Again and again, Christ revealed truth through encounter,” Gillett said. “He met people face-to-face. He restored sight not only to the blind but to those who could see physically while remaining blind to deeper realities.”

Gillett’s nonprofit, Faces of Choice, is scheduled to run a series of advertisements during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will reach global audiences. The ads give abortion survivors a chance to speak and be heard.

“My hope is that when the world sees these men and women, something deeper than opinion will be awakened,” Gillett said. “Not because people hear a new argument, but because they find a human being looking back at them.”

Truth through encounter

“At its heart, Faces of Choice is an invitation to encounter,” Gillett said. “We exist to help people see what has too often remained unseen: that behind every discussion about abortion stands a human being made in the image of God, with a name, a face, and a story.”

“The doctrine of the Imago Dei is not merely a theological concept. It is a reality that demands recognition,” Gillett said. “Every human life possesses an inherent dignity that is not earned, granted by society, or dependent upon circumstance. It is bestowed by God himself.”

“For me, this work is not only about defending life,” Gillett said. “It is about restoring visibility to people whose humanity has too often been denied, and inviting both the Church and the world to see them.”

Gillett originally had an advertisement set to play at the Super Bowl in 2020 — but just days before the game, the advertisement was blocked from airing.

“What seemed like a closed door opened an expanse to an enormous gateway — one that has ultimately led us toward the threshold of introducing abortion survivors to the world through the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the largest audiences in human history, with projected viewership in the billions,” Gillett said.

Faces of Choice’s motto can be summed up in a simple phrase, Gillett said: “‘Choice’ is not merely a word. ‘Choice’ is a person.”

Finally heard: Abortion survivors speak

Gillett takes inspiration from Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., who “helped reveal the full humanity and dignity of African Americans in a society that had too often ignored both,” she said.

“Most cultural debates eventually reach a point where arguments alone stop stirring hearts,” Gillett said. “Historyʼs great turning points often occur when people come face-to-face with those whose humanity can no longer be denied.”

“Abortion survivors occupy a uniquely powerful place in this conversation, because their very existence reveals a reality many people have never considered,” Gillett said.

Hope Hoffman survived a dilation and curettage abortion at 10 and a half weeks' gestation, about three months of pregnancy.

“She bears a visible scar on her head from where the abortion instrument cut into and crushed her skull,” Gillett said. “Today she lives with cerebral palsy, yet she radiates joy, courage, a profound appreciation for life, and hope.”

“When someone looks into the eyes of a survivor and realizes, ‘I never knew people like this existed,’ something changes,” she said. “When they understand that saying ‘I supported your mother’s choice’ to a survivor of abortion means the person before them would cease to exist in the success of that ‘choice,’ the conversation moves from argument to conscience.”

Hoffman shared her thoughts, saying: “I became very upset while thinking about how some people say that an unborn child is not a person.”

“Being small, different, or not yet born doesnʼt change who you are,” Gillett recalled Hoffman saying. “I know this better than most."

Another abortion survivor, Imre Téglásy of Hungary, survived multiple abortion attempts in 1952.

Gillett described him as “remarkable.”

“Since then, he has gone on to help save over 50,000 babies from abortion throughout Europe, raise a large family of his own, and devote himself to serving women and children in need,” Gillett said.

“What stands out most is not simply survival," Gillett said. “It is what many survivors have done with the lives they were nearly denied.”

“I have met survivors who live with significant physical disabilities, survivors who endured lifelong medical complications, survivors who have wrestled with profound emotional wounds, and survivors who have experienced extraordinary forgiveness and spiritual healing,” she continued. “There is a recurring theme among most of them: gratitude, forgiveness, resilience, and purpose. Many see their lives not merely as lives that were spared but as ones entrusted with a mission.”

“What is heartbreaking is how often they have remained unseen,” Gillett said. “What is transformative is what happens when they are finally heard.”

p/c sjvcenter.org In Priest Psych Unit: Part 1,  I gave an introduction to what happens to Catholic priests who are sent to psychological behavioral centers.  Some men request a sabbatical there.  But other priests (usually the conservative ones) are sent there by a bishop to break them of their orthodoxy (usually hung on the red-herring [...]

BARCELONA, Spain (CNS) -- Flying from Spain's capital of Madrid to Barcelona June 9, Pope Leo XIV shifted his focus to the deeper and darker existential questions punctuating human life.

In Madrid -- the seat of government, the monarchy and finance as well as home to world-famous art, culture and sport -- the pope highlighted the gifts that Spain and its people already possess; saying they need to work together in their diversity to protect human dignity in order to thrive and address the many political, economic and social challenges they face. 

From the political center of Spain, Pope Leo traveled to Barcelona, the country's second-largest city and the capital of Catalonia, a region with a distinct language and culture that has long been home to a movement seeking greater autonomy or independence from Spain. Tensions escalated in 2017 after Catalan leaders organized an independence referendum that Madrid opposed and Spanish courts later ruled unconstitutional.

His remarks throughout his time in Barcelona built on a broader message: that human dignity does not depend on success, productivity or a flawless past, and that God does not abandon people in suffering or define them by their mistakes.

"We must question the dynamics of our society, the culture of individualism and the temptation of violence -- but not God," he said June 9 at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium.

While Pope Leo did not touch on current political or cultural debates there, he did read substantial portions of his written texts in Catalan, a regional language spoken in northeastern Spain. When he stumbled with its complex sounds, he received loud, appreciative applause from the crowds at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, which was named after a former president of the autonomous region who was imprisoned by the Spanish Republic, exiled and then shot by General Francisco Franco's authoritarian regime. 

He urged the 40,000 faithful in the stadium for a prayer vigil June 9 to reflect "on our personal journey, as well as on the 'nights' of our journey as a Church and those of Spain -- its cities, its old and new forms of poverty, its society and culture."

"At times, we experience the night of faith, the weariness of believing, the fatigue of the spirit, a sense of inadequacy in the face of the Gospel's call, the bitterness of our failures and the fear of not measuring up," he said in his homily. 

The preoccupation with failure and being forsaken was clear in the painful stories three young people shared with the pope and the crowd: one young man had lived feeling "immense emptiness"; one young woman had attempted suicide; and another spent time in foster care and juvenile detention after her father had tried to kill her mother.

"Sometimes I look up to heaven and ask God, 'Where were you when I was a little girl?'" she told the pope at the stadium.

In his response, the pope asked people to reconsider who's really to blame. "Should we ask, 'Where was God?' Or should we ask ourselves about humanity?" 

Each of the three young people ended their testimonies with questions of advice to the pope on the very struggles they shared. 

"He has endowed us with intelligence and will, given us a conscience," he said in his lengthy responses, encouraging people to take responsibility to confront injustices "both personally and as a society."

At the same time, Pope Leo forcefully admonished any attempts to "spiritualize pain, superficially attributing it to 'God's will' or to some mysterious plan of his, because this risks minimizing that suffering, silencing it and hurting people."

"God does not want suffering. He carries it with us and invites us to trust in him with perseverance," he said, because "with God, life is always reborn." 

On the other hand, he said, moments of darkness and suffering must never be silenced just "because certain cultural norms demand that we always be victorious and perfect."

Pope Leo noted an apparent correlation between increased mental health issues and a "deeply wrong" strain of constant progress prevalent in modern society that "subjects people to pressures, expectations and tensions that compromise healthy balances." He also called for "a healthcare system that prioritizes this invisible and widespread malaise" of depression.

A "healthy sense of restlessness" must be cultivated instead of chasing relentlessly after profit, performance and perfection, he said. "When people learn to pause and value what is important … allowing themselves to be enlightened by the Gospel, they also develop a critical perspective on a social system that does not put people first."

The pope also reached out to those marginalized in the prison system when he visited the city's "Brians 1" penitentiary. 

From the sunny exterior of the prison where birds chirped from green trees, incarcerated women shouted from the windows, "God bless you!" and "Long live the pope!" when he arrived early June 10. In the dim, dark gray-walled hall, brightened by white flowers on the stage, the pope listened to two women share their stories of loss, anger and finding peace.

"God loves you just as you are, but he dreams of you being even better!" he said. "The Lord allows us all to start anew, for being human and being Christian does not mean never making mistakes, but rather growing in the ability to convert, repent, make amends and, above all, to reconcile and forgive."

In fact, "we too are called not to judge the 'nights' -- neither the nights of our own lives, those of the Church, nor those of the society around us," he said in his homily at the prayer service June 9.

The darkness is a sign to keep searching, asking God questions and being open to the work of the Holy Spirit, he said. "We must welcome the night no longer as a sign of failure, but as the beginning of a new life."

That new life requires putting down one's protective and sometimes violent "armor," much like St. Ignatius of Loyola did after he prayed at the statue of Our Lady of Montserrat, housed in a sanctuary of the same name, and gave up his life as a soldier.

At the same sanctuary and Benedictine monastery, built into the jagged mountain range northwest of the city, Pope Leo said, Jesus "exposes the violence that can lurk in our words and attitudes: criticism that humiliates, condemnation that destroys and aggression that divides."

"That hidden violence can often disguise itself as a kind of armor, which we use to protect our wounds, our fears and the suffering caused by injustice," he said. 

The pope made no mention of clergy sex abuse while he was in Barcelona, even though the Montserrat monastery has come to symbolize the scandal in Spain after multiple victims came forward starting in 2019, reporting decades of abuse by the monks. Just two months before the pope's visit, the Catholic Church and Spain's government agreed on a compensation program for abuse victims.

When meeting with diocesan charities and aid organizations at the Church of San Agustí in Barcelona June 10, one volunteer told the pope they recognize their limitations and do not try to "fix" people's lives; their aim is to "never turn their backs" on anyone needing help.  

Pope Leo told them that Christians must be kind, gentle, compassionate, selfless "and seek the good of others, knowing that in every brother and sister who suffers it is the Lord himself." 

The pope spent most of that address responding to Renzo, a 6-year-old boy, who asked the pope light-hearted curiosities, like whether he liked soccer, and serious queries about homelessness, poverty and forgiveness.

In this small, poor parish, made up of many immigrants and missionaries, Pope Leo was in his element, comfortably going from being playful -- speaking off-the-cuff and making his audience laugh -- to being more solemn and sticking to prepared remarks "so we do not get sidetracked."  

There were many moments the pope's fun side shone through, like when, prompted by kids in the Olympic stadium, he gestured the "6-7" meme. He sat in the cockpit for part of the flight to Barcelona and radioed the pilot of a Spanish air force fighter jet escorting the papal plane, and he met with Bad Bunny before leaving Madrid after teasing reporters that the U.S. singer might outshine him with their overlapping events.

The trip's motto of "Lift up your gaze" became literal at the pope's final event in Barcelona with the blessing of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia's central tower, which makes it the tallest church in the world.

Standing at 566 feet high and topped by a glass and white enameled cross to reflect sunlight by day and glow at night, it was lit up during a stunning light and fireworks show to celebrate the pope's blessing and the 100th anniversary of the death of its architect, the venerable Antoni Gaudí.

As the Montserrat choir sang and music reached a crescendo, thousands of small hollow "towers" left on spectators' seats suddenly turned on and glowed in tandem with the lights glowing in the church. People immediately held aloft the small lights, which were remotely controlled to create waves and pulsate, evoking a larger living being, shining in harmony with the church and others.

The basilica is "a sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain" and to "lift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, shining forth in his Son made man," the pope said in his homily during Mass inside the basilica.

Construction of the massive edifice began in 1882. It survived two World Wars, a civil war, anarchist attacks and unsteady funding. The basilica remains "a work in progress today, reminding us that the Christian life is always a journey," the pope said. Each Christian is a "living stone" in the edifice of the Church and that, too, is a project that God is still carrying out, he said. 

His final message to the city was that holiness is not about perfection but about allowing God to continue his work within us, even amid mistakes, setbacks and suffering. 

"Since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, this work consists in our very lives, which God  conceives as a masterpiece that we are to create together, and he calls us to collaborate with him."

 

Pope Leo XIV is set to arrive in the Canary Islands—the landing place for thousands of migrants coming from one of the deadliest migratory routes in the world. The local Caritas works with volunteers to “be by the side of the most vulnerable” and help offer a new life to those who make it to shore.

Read all

 

Encyclicals have high authority. They’re not infallible, though they often quote and explain infallible teachings. There’s a duty to plunge in to them, ask questions, discover their meaning. 

Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas covers a vast number of topics – though it’ll always be the ‘AI Encyclical’. Clever folk will interpret the letter. I’ll wait for those interpretations to mature before reading them. I’ve read the letter twice and though I’m not attempting an interpretation here, it did prompt some thoughts. 

Educationalists have spent years handling the risks of AI. It’s encouraging that the pope sees education as part of the solution to AI. He also recognises the inevitability of rapid tech change, dominance of the profit motive, the issue of power, the risks of insincerity and cynicism in tech companies. He makes many excellent points which hit home. 

Pope Leo’s Letter stirred up three thoughts in me. If something is genuinely intelligent, it’s not a something but a person ie. a human or an angel (or it’s God – a rather special case). There isn’t a third way of being intelligent (though we can use the word “intelligence” to mean whatever we like of course). So, if you’re intelligent, you’re real, not artificial. And if you’re artificial, you’re not real, not a person. 

People who study the human person or ‘anthropology’ start by showing persons don’t just process information. They understand what they process. And that requires self-consciousness as well as consciousness. And on that basis, we build up understanding. Understanding covers two things: the world around us (reality) and how to change the world (ethics). So intelligent people can become wise and also virtuous: moral beings. None of this applies to manmade systems or machines. 

The second thing I’ve been pondering is different Catholic contexts for thinking about AI. One obvious context would be the dialogue begun 30 years ago in the encyclical Fides et Ratio, with its profound meditation on the nature of thinking, intelligence, philosophy and truth. Another would be moral teaching with its focus on the ultimate human purposes that give meaning to our choices – life, friendship, truth, faith, peace, family, etc. Instead, the pope has gone with social teaching. Why? 

Partly, this is tactical. To some inside the Church and most outside social teaching is an acceptable face of Catholicism: terms like solidarity, rights, dignity, social justice are warmly received, particularly by people troubled by other parts of doctrine or morals. 

Yet sound social teaching is entirely premised on Catholic moral teaching – and you certainly can’t accept the one without the other. ‘Common good’ presupposes the ‘individual good’: each of us valuing the ultimate purposes of human life, including preserving life from conception, seeking truth in all its fullness, promoting marriage and family etc. ‘Dignity’ is simply the value possessed by intelligent life or persons. ‘Solidarity’ isn’t political activism but a virtue developed through lived communion. 

There’s a noble tradition of the popes writing social encyclicals to commemorate the anniversaries of Rerum Novarum, the encyclical in which the last Pope Leo directed the Church’s attention towards the concrete realities of social life. But the Magisterium does not define a set of ‘social principles’ that somehow run parallel to moral principles. These are simply the implications of Catholic moral teaching lived out in the world. 

As treatment of AI requires anthropology, so it requires ethics. Pope Leo has very cleverly positioned us for the necessary anthropological and ethical debate to come and done this by first scooping up the vast majority of people outside the Church and a great many inside too. 

Finally, in the introduction the encyclical identifies tech advance as among the great trends of our times about which the Church must speak out. The pope has spoken, but he hasn’t lectured the world on the science or sociology of AI – for which the papacy has no competence. Rather, he has stuck to the papal competence: identifying and applying principles from Catholic tradition and teaching. 

This is surely the way in which the pope and his collaborators will go on to explain the other great trends of the age – the dangerous race and religion debates, gender identity, immigration, war and conflict, the fluctuating story of religious belief and practice. Leo has convincingly demonstrated how to address an issue that matters to everyone by turning to the Magisterium. We can anticipate scholarly interpretations of Magnifica Humanitas, and Magisterial teaching on the other great trends of the age. 

Hayden Ramsay is the President of the Catholic Institute of Sydney and Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame Australia. 

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I was never very good at dating. I found it difficult to act naturally. I would have a genuinely decent man opposite me just trying to choose an entree, and there I was giving myself till dessert to decide if this could be forever. 

Once, I was chatting away about something I thought was important, only to notice the gentleman opposite me was distracted. 

“Sorry,” he laughed, “I was just eavesdropping on the conversation at the next table.” Ouch. 

In hindsight, I can’t blame the poor guy. I was probably being overly intense or philosophical, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. I had failed to capture his attention…and we obviously weren’t getting married. 

The truth is, we have all been wounded, or have wounded another, through inattentiveness; something communicated that the other was not interesting enough, attractive enough or even worthy enough of our time. 

In a world where attention has been commodified, validation of our unique personhood is traded for data in the algorithms of online platforms. 

A human’s longing to be seen, known and loved is universal, imprinted by the Creator as a reminder to “Seek the Lord and live” (Amos 5:6). 

However, “the Attention Economy” has taken authentic human encounters, meant to be experienced face to face and side by side, and held them for ransom. 

On the one hand, we are becoming accustomed to preferring human connection at a safe distance. 

On the other hand, we see a desire to experience things in the flesh. Consider the die-hard fan who will not settle for watching the game or listening to the latest album at home. 

They will buy the ticket, brave the elements, and endure the queues and crowds, just to soak in the joy of it all; the experience reverberating on their skin long after the final siren or last note. 

It is no shock to God that humans desire but require a tangible encounter. I think of the woman who had been haemorrhaging for twelve years, taking a chance to reach out and touch a thread from Jesus’ garment after years of shame, rejection and depletion.  

Had she opted for timidity or a resolve to catch him at another time, had she not reached out to touch our Lord, this scene may never have happened, and whatever hope remained may have haemorrhaged too. 

To borrow a sentiment from the Dayenu, had God walked the earth, performed miracles, endured Calvary, and risen from the dead, but decided not to remain with us, “it would have been enough.” 

But God’s generosity cannot be outdone. There he waits, longing to be interrupted, longing to heal, longing to look at us with an infinite gaze of love through the Eucharist. In front of the monstrance, we can relearn attentiveness. 

My first attempts at Eucharistic adoration were strained. I came with prayers, devotions, and spiritual readings, like a hyperactive guest trying to outdo the host’s hospitality… Until it’s almost audible, “Rachael, Rachael, you are worried and distracted by many things.” 

St John Vianney once asked a poor farmer how he who would spend hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The farmer answered, “I look at him, and he looks at me.” 

While I have not reached that simplicity, I have learned to melt into the silence of Adoration. 

The same Jesus who healed the haemorrhaging woman meets me there, in the flesh. I rest against his chest and breathe deeply. 

I complain about the ways in which I have been wronged, to which he responds with a few things I need to work on myself (FYI, he takes that whole log in your own eye/speck in your brother’s eye pretty seriously). 

I go to have my cup filled and to consult with him about where and how I should pour myself out. And he looks at me, like I’m the only person in the world. He just asks me not to act like that is the case. 

When you have been seen, you feel compelled to pay it forward. It becomes easier to slow down the bedtime routine and really look at my children, squeezing them tight before tucking them in. 

It becomes the norm to linger in conversation with my neighbour. It seems right to smile at the person serving me at the checkout and ask about their day instead of packing groceries in silence. 

If I were dating today (thanks be to God I am not), I would delight in listening to another person’s story and share a meal with them without wondering if things would work out long term. 

It is necessary to show up for others. They deserve our attention. Precisely because God showed up for us first, and continues to show up for us, in the flesh. 

Rachael Ndaira is a wife, mother, and teacher. She writes at rachaelndaira.substack.com 

The post Melto D’Moronoyo: Seen by God appeared first on The Catholic Weekly.

The hearings of the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion are underway. The stories of the experiences which Jewish Australians have endured since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October 2023 are heart wrenching. 

What makes them even more powerful – and frightening – is that the Jewish people have been suffering persecution for centuries. 

This history really is important if we wish to try to gain any understanding of the impact of anti-Semitism leading to the Bondi terror attacks. 

I was very lucky to see a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank during its regrettably brief run at the State Theatre in late March. Given the fractures which have opened up, or perhaps simply been exposed, in Australian society since 7 October 223, The Diary of Anne Frank has some very powerful and important messages to share. 

Before seeing the play I had not read the book or seen any other production of it. 

I was familiar – as I suspect are most readers – with the basic story of a Jewish family hiding in an attic in Amsterdam during the Second World War. 

In fact, the story involves 10 people. Anne is the teenage daughter of Otto and Edith Frank. The Franks are a German family who fled to Holland to escape the Nazis, only to see the Nazis then occupy that country. 

At the time the diary was written, Otto Frank was a factory owner in Amsterdam. To escape the Nazis, Otto devised a plan with the Dutch gentile manager of his factory, Mr Kraler, and his assistant Miep, to hide in the attic of the factory with the door concealed behind a bookcase. 

Mr Frank invited another Jewish family – the Van Daans (Peter, his wife Petronella and their teenage son Putti) – to join them in their hideaway. Mr Van Daan had helped Mr Frank establish his life in Holland after he arrived from Germany. 

They were later joined in the attic by Mr Dussel, a dentist. 

Once ensconced in the attic, the hideaways were entirely dependent on two gentiles – Mr Kraler and Miep – for all supplies and news. 

The story is incredibly tense as discovery was a constant fear. To maintain secrecy, the group kept strictly to a regime of silence during the factory’s working hours. 

They were ultimately betrayed by a thief who broke into the factory on a weekend – when they did not keep silent – and heard them. 

In all of the months effectively trapped in an attic, none of the hideaways ever plans a violent response to their discovery. 

When the Nazis do arrive they simply stand passively. 

At the conclusion of the play we learn that only Mr Frank survived the Holocaust and, on returning to the attic after the war, found Anne’s diary still there. 

It is clear from this play that if the Nazis considered someone to be Jewish, the fact that they might be an atheist (as the teenage Putti seems to be) or a Christian (as the thoroughly Dutch Mr Dussel appears to be, observant of Christmas but knowing nothing of Hanukkah) was irrelevant. 

Their hatred was of Jews whatever their religious faith might be. 

However, it is also clear from the play that the religious Jews in the hideaway found meaning, strength and comfort in their faith. In conversation with Putti, Anne says: “I wish you had a religion … Just to believe in something!” 

Though they had every reason to be filled with hatred themselves, the focus of the hideaways is almost exclusively on the good – their good fortune at life in the attic and the kindness of the gentiles who helped them. 

This sentiment is captured in the play’s final line, taken from Anne Frank’s diary entry of 15 July 1944: “I still believe in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” 

The value of religious belief and the dignity of every person are important messages, particularly at this time of conflict in the world and division in our own society. 

In Matthew’s Gospel, read on Palm Sunday, Pontius Pilate responds to the crowd’s call for the crucifixion of Our Lord by asking: “What? What harm has he done?” 

Christ’s only “crime” was to speak the truth, and that of course is no crime at all. 

The only “crime” of Anne Frank and her companions was their genealogy, which of course is also no crime at all. 

Sadly, it is the same “crime” for which innocent people were massacred in Israel on 7 October 2023 and at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025. Racism was not defeated with the Nazis. 

While Anne Frank and her companions did not know the thief who betrayed them, John’s Gospel reminds us that Christ was also betrayed by a thief. 

As John says: “[Judas] was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions.” 

The message here might be that those who are in the habit of acting immorally in small things may become so morally corrupted that they would betray others, even if it leads to their death. 

To cite Anne Frank, being “truly good at heart” requires good actions and the fostering of good habits. 

The meekness of Anne Frank and her companions when discovered by the Nazis reminds us of Christ’s response to the cohort who seized him in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Rather than calling for a violent response from his followers, Christ tells Simon Peter to put his sword back in its scabbard. 

The kindness of the gentiles to Anne Frank and her companions reminds us of Simon of Cyrene, who helped Christ carry his cross. 

It also brings to mind the bravery of Bondi hero Ahmed Al Ahmed – a Muslim – who attempted to stop the killing of Jews on 14 December last year. 

It is well to remember past injustices so that we might learn from them. 

We should keep the work of the Royal Commission in our prayers and hope for sound recommendations for a future Australia that validates Anne Frank’s belief that “in spite of everything … people are truly good at heart.”

Michael Quinlan is the Emeritus Professor/ former Head of School, Law and Business and Dean of School of Law, Sydney at University of Notre Dame, Australia 

The post Lessons from Anne Frank for a fractured society appeared first on The Catholic Weekly.

We are living in an age shaped by artificial intelligence, digital connectivity, algorithmic power, and unprecedented scientific achievement.

AI now influences medicine, communication, economics, warfare, education, governance, and even our understanding of human identity.

Many celebrate these developments as signs of limitless human progress.

Yet beneath the excitement lies a deeper moral question: Are we using technology to protect and preserve human dignity? This question lies at the heart of Pope Leo XIV’s recent teaching document, “Magnifica Humanitas”.

To frame his reflection, the Pope draws two biblical images: the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Neh 2-6). These narratives provide a rich theological lens through which to examine the ethical and spiritual challenges of the contemporary world.

Far from being merely an ancient explanation for linguistic diversity, the story of Babel offers a profound critique of human pride, technological absolutism, centralised power, and the illusion of self-sufficiency apart from God.

In the Babel narrative, humanity becomes absorbed in itself. The people say to one another: “Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4).

Australian bishops welcome Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical ‘Magnifica humanitas’

Their ambition is directed neither toward the glory of God nor the common good, but toward self-exaltation. Human aspiration becomes centred on pride, power, and self-sufficiency.

This attitude reflects the deeper reality of humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden. In the fall, Adam and Eve turned away from trusting God and sought to place themselves at the centre.

Rather than receiving life as a gift from God, they desired independence and the power to determine good and evil for themselves.

Sin, therefore, is not merely disobedience; it is the attempt to replace God with the self as the ultimate point of reference.

The Tower of Babel continues this fallen condition. Humanity seeks to reach heaven by its own power.

The tower becomes a symbol of pride and the illusion that security, greatness, and unity can be achieved without God.

Instead of building communion through humility and obedience, the people seek to “make a name” for themselves.

The tragedy of Babel is not the act of building. Human creativity is a gift from God, and technological development is not inherently evil. The problem lies in the spirit that animates the project. God had commanded Noah and his descendants: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1).

Yet the builders of Babel refuse this divine mandate. Rather than spreading throughout the earth according to God’s plan, they gather in self-sufficiency and rebellion.

Pope Leo XIV tells Vatican press conference AI must be disarmed for humanity’s sake

Babel thus becomes a symbol of humanity’s attempt to secure its identity, future, greatness and permanence on its own terms. What appears outwardly as unity is, in reality, a rejection of dependence upon God.

Consequently, the very project intended to create unity results in confusion and division. Those who sought greatness apart from God become scattered and unable to understand one another.

Scripture reveals a profound truth: whenever human beings sever their relationship with God, relationships with one another are also wounded. Self-centredness inevitably leads to fragmentation.

This stands in striking contrast to the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls under Nehemiah. There, the people work together not for personal glorification but for the restoration of the community.

Their efforts are marked by cooperation, shared responsibility, concern for the common good and trust in God. Babel represents pride seeking self-exaltation; Nehemiah represents humble service directed toward the communion, restoration and the common good.

The contrast speaks powerfully to the modern age, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence and rapid technological advancement. Technology itself is not the enemy.

Yet, it can become a new “Tower of Babel” when driven primarily by profit, prestige, domination, or the pursuit of power. Society risks valuing efficiency over compassion, power over truth, and success over human dignity.

Pope Leo’s AI encyclical prompts reflection on human dignity

This spirit of Babel is evident whenever individuals or societies reject the idea that human life possesses a God-given order and meaning. Instead of receiving identity as a gift from the Creator, many insist on defining reality entirely for themselves. The prevailing attitude becomes: ‘I alone determine truth, identity and morality’.

At the heart of this mentality lies the ancient temptation from Eden: “You will be like God” (Gen 3:5).

Humanity no longer wishes to receive wisdom from the Creator but seeks radical self-determination. The modern person is tempted to become the sole architect of meaning, identity, and moral truth.

In such a worldview, obedience, and reverence before God are often viewed not as pathways to authentic freedom but as obstacles to personal autonomy.

Pope Leo XIV reminds us in Magnifica Humanitas that the antidote to Babel is not the rejection of progress but the recovery of authentic human flourishing.

Human creativity must remain rooted in humility, truth, accountability, moral responsibility and reverence for God. Technology should serve the dignity of the human person and the common good, never human arrogance or domination.

The biblical tradition insists that human dignity does not arise from intelligence, productivity or efficiency alone, but from being created in the image and likeness of God. Human beings are relational, moral, spiritual, and embodied creatures.

Artificial intelligence may imitate aspects of reasoning, language, and creativity, but it cannot replace conscience, empathy, sacrificial love, or spiritual transcendence.

Pope Leo XIV declares the digital age a mission field in ‘Magnifica Humanitas’

For this reason, the development of AI requires not only innovation but also ethical restraint, global accountability, profound moral responsibility, and authentic human encounter.

The biblical vision does not oppose human creativity; rather, it calls humanity to place creativity within an ethical and spiritual horizon grounded in humility and wisdom. The true opposite of Babel is not technological regression but wisdom—the wisdom that recognises that not everything that can be built ought to be built.

Genuine greatness does not come from making a name for ourselves, but from using human gifts in service of truth, justice, communion, and the dignity of every person.

The encyclical does not condemn technology; rather, it calls humanity to ensure that technological progress remains at the service of the human person and the common good.

The Christian response is neither fear nor naive optimism, but moral discernment rooted in the Gospel.

As the Pope observes, “when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanisation, our is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human.

We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fulness in Christ, the splendour of which no machine can ever replace”.

Fr Biju Jose OSH is the Parish Priest of Ku-ring-gai Chase Catholic Parish.

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Pope Leo XIV blessed the newly completed Tower of Jesus Christ at Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica 10 June, inaugurating the crowning spire that makes the iconic church the tallest Catholic church the world and urging people to lift their gaze to Christ “who alone reveals to us the truth about God and the truth about ourselves.”

Pope Leo offered Mass inside the basilica and formally inaugurated the Tower of Jesus Christ, which stands at more than 564 feet, before a crowd of thousands gathered inside and around the Sagrada Familia.

“By looking at Christ, we can see the world with renewed eyes: the tower of the cross then becomes a banner of charity, for God loves us in this way, transforming an instrument of death into a sign of hope,” the pope said.

Spain’s King Felipe VI welcomed the pope upon his arrival at the basilica. Before Mass, Pope Leo descended to the basilica’s crypt to pray at the tomb of Antoni Gaudí, the visionary Catalan architect who devoted 43 years of his life to the design and construction of the basilica before his death in 1926 at age 73.

The papal Mass fell on the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death. Known as “God’s architect,” Gaudí’s cause for canonization advanced last year when Pope Francis declared him venerable in April 2025.

Pope Leo paid tribute to the visionary builder in his homily, reflecting on Gaudí’s intent to narrate the mysteries of Christ’s life through stone and light.

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One of the historic milestones of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Spain was the opportunity to realize Antoni Gaudí’s dream: the inauguration and blessing of the Tower of Jesus Christ, coinciding exactly with the centenary of the great architect’s death.

“God’s architect” died leaving behind a vast legacy of art and devotion visible throughout Barcelona — like an open-air Gospel sculpted in stone.

The spectacular central spire — crowned by a white cross that makes the basilica the tallest in the world and which will be open to visitors starting in 2028 — is undoubtedly one of them.

The celebration marked the conclusion of Leo’s visit to Barcelona before he travels Thursday to two of the Canary Islands — Tenerife and Las Palmas — where the pope will address the suffering of migrants who risk their lives on the Atlantic route in search of a better future.

After Mass, Leo XIV stepped outside to bless and inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ — a beautiful ceremony in which the pope, rather than simply putting his stamp on a finished work, charted a course for Christians.

“The Sagrada Família is the tallest church in the world — not to stand out in worldly rankings, but to guide the steps of God’s people journeying through this land of Catalonia, with the cross illuminating the path like a lamp lit in anticipation of the Bridegroom’s return,” he affirmed.

As he has done since setting foot in Spain on Saturday, June 6, the pope delivered a message of unity and harmony.

“The entire city of Barcelona and all of Catalonia gather in this temple — itself a sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain — and lift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, resplendent in his son made man, Jesus Christ,” he explained at the altar of the basilica consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, noting that it stands as a visible sign of the invisible God.

The pope thus called for eyes to be raised toward the Tower of Jesus Christ and toward that inimitable masterpiece, the Sagrada Família.

Scripture, he said, “teaches us that it is not we who give God a place, as if he were an element in a series or part of a whole greater than himself.”

“Rather, it is God who gives us a place, and the place he gives us is his own heart: the place of the Son, for us who were strangers; the place of the Beloved, for us who are sinners,” he declared.

Like a shepherd guiding his flock in the teachings of the Church, the pope continued his interpretation of the Gospel — specifically, the passage where the Lord tells the Pharisees: “If you do not believe that ‘I AM,’ you will die in your sins.”

“Strong words,” the pope remarked, clarifying “that they are by no means threats or blackmail.”

“They are an invitation to salvation — a call to freedom from Christ, who desires our ultimate, eternal good,” he said. In the face of the threat of evil, “the Lord is always with us, always on our side.”

He then uttered one of the most powerful statements of the trip: “Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot believe in Jesus and promote war. We cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent. We cannot believe in Jesus and abandon those who suffer, those who weep, and those fleeing from misery.”

Before celebrating the Eucharist, he went down to the crypt to pray and lay a floral offering where the remains of the architect — whom Pope Francis declared venerable in 2025 — rest. Seeing him pray at the tomb served as further encouragement for the cause of the virtuous life of the architect — who died a century ago on this very day — to eventually be inscribed in the Church’s book of saints.

This was one of the most moving moments, as neither John Paul II nor Benedict XVI visited the tomb during their own visits to the basilica.

The foundation stone of the Sagrada Familia was laid in 1882; for 144 years, it has grown alongside Barcelona — and alongside Gaudí himself, up until the day of his death.

The pope’s presence here represents more than just a tour of a work of breathtaking beauty; it carries an eloquence that transcends its commemorative significance. Few works like the Sagrada Familia so powerfully convey that beauty is not a secondary adornment of faith, but rather a way of making God visible.

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.

Pope Leo XIV listened to deeply personal testimonies from young people grappling with depression, family trauma and questions of faith on his first day in Barcelona at Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, telling a crowd of tens of thousands that God does not abandon those who suffer, even when his presence feels most distant.

In one of the evening’s most poignant moments, a young woman named Carmina described her yearslong struggle with depression and a suicide attempt, asking the pope where God could be found “when the darkness is absolute and we cannot take it anymore.”

Pope Leo gave her a hug after his response in which he called her presence at the event “a remarkable miracle.””I am moved,” he said, “that you are here among us and that you have found the strength to embrace this second chance that the Lord has given you.”

In his closing speech, the pope reflected that “we are called to engage with the shadows of our own human condition: We lack the full truth; we do not fully fathom the mystery of ourselves or the true identity of others; we do not always succeed in understanding the hidden truth of the reality that surrounds us and the events unfolding before our eyes.

We seek a light to illuminate the path.” The evening opened with a performance of the castell, the centuries-old Catalan tradition of building human towers, by a group from Vilafranca del Penedès.

The post Pope Leo speaks with suicide survivor about mental health appeared first on The Catholic Weekly.

As the US prepares to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, faith leaders and others working to prevent human trafficking are seeking to raise awareness to prevent such abuse during the international soccer tournament.

During a 9 June webinar, “Human Trafficking and Major Sporting Events,” hosted by the New Jersey Catholic Conference in partnership with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, panelists noted that venues for the upcoming matches include MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Philadelphia Stadium, also known as Lincoln Financial Field, in Philadelphia.

“As we prepare for the start of the 2026 World Cup that will draw millions of visitors, athletes, media representatives, and support personnel to our region. It’s important to understand both the opportunities and challenges these events can bring,” James King, NJCC executive director, said during the discussion.

Felicitas Brugo Onetti, the anti-trafficking education and outreach coordinator for the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, said “the full continuum of the pro-life ethic” upholds “the dignity and rights of every person.”

“Combating human trafficking is a vital part of this continuum, protecting individuals from exploitation, ensuring their freedom and well-being throughout their lives,” as well as part of a call to care for God’s creation, she said.

“Catholic social teaching urges us to see trafficked persons, not as strangers, but as brothers and sisters, whose suffering is our shared responsibility,” she said.

Pennsylvania State Sen. Cris Dush, chair of that chamber’s Anti-Human Trafficking Caucus, said lawmakers are “trying to provide tools for the prosecutors, (and) the police officers, so that the prosecutors and the police officers can actually become trauma-informed,” and try to prevent victims from facing criminal charges themselves.

“One of the survivors that I spoke to, she’d been pulled over. She was with her trafficker, and there were drugs in the car as well, and she was made to take the fall for it, because he had other girls that could work – but he was the one that bailed her out. They get their victims caught up in law enforcement, and then they come and bail them out,” Dush said. “They’re seen as the savior of these people there. And the things that they do – to isolate the folks that they’ve got caught up in what’s called ‘the life’ within the community – they’re experts at manipulation.”

In a similar message issued 19 May, the Commission for the Protection of Minors of the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico urged the faithful to take preventive action against crimes of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, particularly before and during the World Cup.

In the statement, the commission expressed its “deep concern regarding the risks” that major events and associated travel and mass gatherings can pose for “children, adolescents, women, migrants, and people in vulnerable situations.”

“Major international sporting events are an opportunity for encounter, coexistence, fraternity, and cultural exchange,” the statement said. “However, they can also be exploited by criminal networks that operate through deception, manipulation, coercion, exploitation, and abuse of vulnerable people. Faced with this reality, as the Church we cannot remain indifferent. Human dignity cannot be bought, sold, or exploited. Every person, especially children and adolescents, must be protected, cared for, and accompanied. Human trafficking constitutes a grave violation of human rights and a deep wound to our society.”

The post Human trafficking prevention advocates share World Cup challenges, opportunities appeared first on The Catholic Weekly.

Since the time Ángeles Hernández discovered her calling to become a pilot after boarding a Boeing 747 as a child bound for a visit to England, she never imagined that, decades later, she would sit in the cockpit of an Iberia airplane flying the successor of St. Peter from Madrid to Barcelona.

During takeoff, the pope was invited to the cockpit, where they shared an exchange she said she will never forget.

“I think I’m still beside myself ... I’m still on cloud nine. I’ve hardly had time to stop and pray, and I believe this is something you process through prayer because otherwise it doesn’t sink in the same way,” the 33-year-old pilot told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, just a day after an experience she said she will always cherish in her heart.

The woman from Extremadura, Spain, said it hasnʼt yet fully sunk in and that she still needs to “bring down to earth” the emotions she experienced on the afternoon of June 9, when Pope Leo XIV sat with her and pilot Pablo Martínez in the cockpit.

She said she feels “blessed” and attributed the event to “God’s ways.” She also recalled a conversation with a nun from the Eucharistic Sisters of Nazareth, for whom she holds great affection: “I told her I didn’t know if I deserved something like this, and she replied that it was the Lord’s way of telling me he loved me.”

The video of Hernández with Pope Leo in the cockpit has gone viral around the world.

It shows the pontiff clearly enjoying the experience. “I do think he really enjoyed the flight,” she said. “He mentioned that it was his first time taking off [while in the cockpit] and he asked us technical questions, such as what temperature the engines reach upon startup. He was very curious, and we explained the operation [of the plane] to him as we went along.”

Martinez, the other pilot, told the pope he is a Real Madrid soccer team fan and had enjoyed the popeʼs allusion the day before to the “spectacular goal” scored for the Church in Madrid. The pope jokingly replied that he’s also a “White” (referring to the nickname for Real Madrid fans) and added that one has to “be careful” in Barcelona, ​​given the traditional rivalry between the Real team and Barça (the Barcelona team).

During the journey, the plane carrying the pope was escorted by two Spanish Air Force F-18 fighter jets. At one point during the flight, the cockpit crew made contact with the military pilots.

Hernández said the pope “didn’t hesitate for a moment to put on the headset and pick up the microphone” to speak with Commander López of the Zaragoza Squadron. “It was a unique experience,” she recalled, with feeling.

Hernández also had the opportunity to ask the Holy Father to pray for her family’s intentions and, more broadly, for all families in Spain: “For all their concerns, their intentions, and the illnesses borne in silence, and also for those who care for the sick.”

She also asked him for a blessing for many of her friends and family members.

“The pope told me to let them know they have his blessing and that he is praying for them. I’ll never forget those words — they are truly a gift,” she said.

Although the years of training and the journey to becoming a pilot haven’t always been easy, Hernández stated with conviction: “It’s a matter of putting things in God’s hands and saying, ‘Let’s give it our all; if you are with me, we’ll make it.’

She said faith is an immense gift she received from her parents and grandparents, who were the ones responsible for sowing that initial seed. Over the years, she explained, that seed has been “watered” thanks to many people she has met along the way.

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

In Barcelona’s Raval — a lively neighborhood where more than half the population is of migrant origin — joy palpably filled the streets on Wednesday.

Before celebrating Mass on June 10 at Barcelonaʼs iconic Sagrada Familia Basilica, Pope Leo XIV brought his affection to this community in one of the cityʼs most disadvantaged yet vibrant areas, demonstrating that the pope has not come to just admire churches but to touch human suffering.

In this neighborhood, St. Augustine Church houses — within the premises of a former convent — a soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity and the Mano Amiga Foundation, which distributes clothing and food to the poor.

The beneficiaries of this ministry include the family of 6-year-old Renzo. He and his family arrived in Spain some time ago fleeing extreme poverty in Peru.

Renzo — a little boy from a vulnerable family struggling to make ends meet — put the pope on the spot.

“Why do bad things happen to some people? And not to others? Whose fault is it? Why are there so many people living on the street? No one sees them; no one helps them,” he asked the Holy Father with the sweet innocence of a child.

But before addressing that question, the pope answered another: whether he had wanted to be pope when he was a child.

“I didn’t want to be pope, neither as a young man nor as an old man,” the pontiff remarked, drawing laughter from those present.

But “when the Lord calls, one must say yes,” he added. It was evident that the pope felt at ease in this parish. He even said: “I truly feel at home here, and thank you for everything you represent.”

Leo shared that “it is not easy to find the answer, Renzo, to your question about why bad things happen to some people while others are spared,” while noting that “reflecting on the life of Jesus might help us.”

“God’s word tells us that Our Lord ‘went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,’ and yet we know he was crucified. But the story did not end there, for he rose again on the third day, conquering both evil and death,” the Holy Father recalled.

The pope emphasized that “through the life of Jesus Christ, God shows us that, even amid suffering, he never abandons any of his children, for he has prepared eternal joy for us — a place where there will be no more sorrow or pain. Let us have confidence; Jesus is with us, helping and accompanying us, and giving us the strength to navigate the difficult moments we may encounter in life.”

During a diocesan meeting with organizations dedicated to social assistance, the pope highlighted the aid they provide to people living in this neighborhood marked by marginalization.

Each diocesan ecclesial community, he noted — moved by charity and guided by the Holy Spirit — “is called to reach out, according to its own means and capabilities, and with discretion, sensitivity, and perseverance, to the wounds and needs of the least and most vulnerable, in order to alleviate their suffering and remedy their poverty.”

As Christians, he affirmed, “we are called to the task of making God’s love for every man and woman present within the concrete fabric of history.”

Also present at the gathering were the four Augustinians living in Barcelona and the surrounding area who served as hosts: two Tanzanians and two Filipinos who minister at neighborhood parishes and one in Badalona.

The pope focused much of his address on forgiveness. “Forgiving does not mean saying that what was wrong was actually right, nor does it mean letting someone continue to cause harm. It does not mean forcing oneself to forget, as if nothing had happened,” he explained.

[Forgiving] does not mean forcing oneself to forget, as if nothing had happened.”

Pope Leo XIV

Forgiving, he added, “means not letting hatred take over our hearts.” He emphasized: “Jesus asks us to forgive because it is the only way to experience God’s peace and heal spiritual wounds.”

The pontiff also addressed one of the most painful social ills: the loneliness of the elderly. “Let us not allow loneliness and abandonment to become the norm in the lives of older adults. That is a very sad thing,” he warned.

Renzo also asked the pope if he liked soccer, a question that drew laughter from those present.

As is well known, the pope plays tennis, but he revealed that he also played soccer as a young man. He shared that in Peru, he “followed the local teams closely” while also playing soccer alongside the seminarians.

“A little sport is good for everyone,” he said, concluding the moving encounter.

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.

ORLANDO, Florida — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted June 10 to support advancing the cause of beatification and canonization for Monsignor Joseph Buh, a Slovenian-born missionary priest who spent more than half a century ministering in northern Minnesota.

The vote took place during the bishops’ plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, after Duluth Bishop Daniel J. Felton asked members to consider whether it was advisable to advance the cause on the local level.

The bishops also approved advancing the cause of sainthood for John Rick Miller, a layman and international missionary known as the “ambassador of the Virgin Mary.”

Presenting the request to his fellow bishops, Felton described Buh as “a remarkable example of missionary discipleship” whose “love for Christ and the Church led him to leave his homeland of Slovenia and dedicate his life to the people of northeastern Minnesota.”

“His story remains profoundly relevant for the Church today,” Felton said. “For we live in a missionary age.”

The action marks another step in a process that has been developing in the Diocese of Duluth for several years. In 2024, the diocese began formally exploring whether Buh’s cause should move forward, consulting clergy and the faithful about devotion to the priest and his reputation for holiness.

Buh was born in 1833 in what is now Slovenia and was ordained in 1858. After emigrating to the United States, he became one of the most influential Catholic missionaries in northern Minnesota during a period of rapid immigration and settlement.

Known for extensive travels across the region — often by horseback over long distances and difficult terrain — Buh ministered to immigrant mining communities and Native American settlements at a time when priests could spend weeks or months covering a single mission circuit. He helped establish more than 50 parishes and missions and later served as vicar general of the Diocese of Duluth.

Felton said Buh anticipated key elements of modern Catholic teaching on evangelization.

“He immersed himself in the communities that he served. He learned their languages, understood their customs and struggles and, most importantly, learned the language of their hearts,” Felton said.

Buh spoke six languages, including Ojibwe, an Algonquian language, which Felton said he learned so that he could “faithfully serve and evangelize the Indigenous communities.”

He added that Buh’s pastoral method was rooted in presence and listening.

“He began by listening after learning their language, their story, and their needs,” Felton said. “His example reminds us that evangelization begins with presence, listening, and genuine love for the people entrusted to our care.”

The proposal brought before the bishops follows several years of preparatory work in the Diocese of Duluth. In October 2023, Felton appointed Father Richard Kunst to help evaluate whether sufficient devotion to Buh existed among the faithful to warrant moving forward with a cause.

‘A true spiritual father’

Although Buh died in 1922, interest in his life has persisted within the Diocese of Duluth. Advocates of the cause point to both his missionary work and the reputation for sanctity that followed him during his lifetime and after his death.

Felton said the faithful of northeastern Minnesota have long regarded Buh as “a true spiritual father,” reflected in the title by which he became known, the “patriarch of the Diocese of Duluth.”

His ministry coincided with demographic changes in northern Minnesota as mining and railroad expansion drew new immigrant communities to the region. His fluency in multiple languages allowed him to minister across cultural lines, particularly among European immigrant groups who often lacked stable parish structures in their early years in the United States.

At his funeral, Church leaders praised his decades of missionary service across remote communities in northern Minnesota. In the years since, his memory has remained particularly strong in the region.

“Stories of his life continue to be shared throughout our region, even to this day,” Felton told the bishops. “There are accounts of his sacrifices while traveling through severe winters, his tireless efforts to provide both spiritual and material assistance, and the deep trust people placed in his prayers.”

“For generations, devotion to Monsignor Buh has endured,” he added.

Interest in Buh’s cause has increased in recent years. His remains were exhumed in 2024 and transferred to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Duluth, where they were formally entombed in 2025.

As supporters have examined Buh’s life and writings, Felton said he is remembered as “a beloved, gentle, humble, and generous priest” whose life was ordered toward helping others draw closer to God.

“He did not come to Minnesota in search of adventure or personal gain,” Felton said, “but out of a desire to serve Jesus Christ and to lead others.”

The bishops’ vote does not open the cause nor declare Buh a saint. Rather, it represents one of several preliminary steps in the canonization process.

If the process continues, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints would need to grant a “nihil obstat” (“nothing stands in the way”), allowing the cause to be formally opened. At that point, Buh would receive the title “servant of God.”

Felton told the bishops that Buh’s witness speaks to the Church’s present missionary context.

“I truly do believe the Holy Spirit is lifting him up in this time,” he said. “I think the Holy Spirit has lifted him up for our times to be our inspiration, to be our guide.”

With the FIFA World Cup set to begin on Thursday, during his apostolic visit to Spain Pope Leo XIV shared a reflection regarding soccer, highlighting the importance of learning teamwork as a lesson for life.

“Soccer also helps us remember something very important: that life is not a race to be run in solitude; it is something played as a team, and we must learn to run together,” the pontiff observed during a meeting with members of diocesan charitable and assistance organizations at the Church of St. Augustine in Barcelona.

“Someone who could be a star but never passes the ball — doesnʼt let the others get into the game — will probably lose,” the pontiff added while answering questions from Renzo, a 6-year-old boy who wanted to know if the Holy Father liked soccer.

At the outset of his remarks on the subject, the Holy Father mentioned that he currently plays tennis but used to play American football in his youth.

He also recalled his time as a missionary in Peru and the love for sports that he shared with seminarians there. “When I was in Trujillo, I played soccer — on defense, if you want to know; I wasnʼt a big goal-scorer,” he recounted.

“A little sport is good for everyone; one has to find ways to — let’s say — maintain and enjoy good health: body, mind, and soul. So, that has indeed been a part of my life,” he continued.

Finally, he connected the topic of sports to the social work carried out by Church communities in Barcelona, ​​describing them as a team working in unity. “I want to acknowledge and commend everything you are doing here,” he concluded.

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

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted to advance the cause of beatification and canonization for Catholic missionary John Rick Miller on the local level.

Miller was an American businessman and missionary known for numerous apostolates including the association "For the Love of God Worldwide," which promotes consecration to God through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The bishops voted in favor of moving the servant of God’s cause forward at the spring USCCB plenary meeting held in Orlando, Florida, on June 10.

As the bishops prepare to consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they referenced Miller’s cause, noting his long focus on national consecration.

“The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints has granted the confidence of the forum to the Archdiocese of Miami,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said at the meeting. “This particular cause recognizes, or underscores, the vocation of the laity to holiness.”

“St. John Paul II wrote … that to ask to be baptized means to ask to become holy,” Wenski said. “Miller is a layman who, after a deep conversion, lived that baptismal call to holiness in an exemplary way, which is why we present his cause for your consideration today.”

Miller “was born in New York City in July 1948 into a Catholic family. He was a husband, a father of two children, [and] an international corporate executive,” Wenski said. “In 1988, after some years of distance from religious practice, he experienced a deep conversion through the intercession of the Blessed Mother."

“From that moment, his spiritual life rested on two inseparable pillars — a life of prayer, adoration, and daily Eucharist, before which he placed every apostolic initiative and intent, and also [an] intense Marian devotion, lived a filial entrustment to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and also the chaste heart of St. Joseph.”

“The three hearts … became the hallmark of his apostolate,” Wenski said. “He left a fervent and industrious corporate life and dedicated himself fully to the apostolate.”

Mission abroad

Miller’s work reached numerous nations, as he evangelized and taught the catechism across the globe.

“I think thereʼs enough evidence of holiness in multiple nations recognized by bishops and archbishops — Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador, honored by many civil institutions,” Wenski said.

“He co-founded the Apostolate of St. Joseph in 2001, he founded the Guild of Our Lady of Willesden in London under Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OʼConnor, and with the Pallottine Fathers, he promoted 10 Marian shrines in southern India,” he said.

“Through his initiative, Colombia was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 2008. With that experience, the Mission for the Love of God Worldwide was born in 2009 and recognized in 2011 by the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference as a private association of the faithful,” he said.

“Diagnosed with esophageal cancer at the end of 2012, he continued to evangelize until his final weeks,” Wenski said.

“His life is a testament to the living out, or the following, of Lumen Gentium that states that it belongs to the laity by their very vocation to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs, and directing them according to God’s will,” Wenski said.

“There is a pastoral need for lay models of holiness, and he and his life exemplified that,” Wenski said.

Miller joins the 87 U.S. Catholics on the official path to sainthood, in addition to the 11 canonized Americans who have already been declared saints.

-The Roman Catechism of Trent (RCT) p. 316-327. -The Sacraments, ep. 29. -My site: https://www.padreperegrino.org/donate/ -My Substack: https://padreperegrino.substack.com

Although most Americans view birth control and having children outside of marriage as morally acceptable behaviors, that support saw a significant drop according to Gallup’s 2026 Value and Beliefs poll.

The annual survey tracks American views about 20 subjects with moral implications. The issues that saw the largest decreases in support in 2026 were birth control, having children outside of marriage, sex between teenagers, gambling, and cloning animals.

Pollsters surveyed 1,001 adults from May 1–17. The report has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Pollsters asked whether the person finds the behaviors “morally acceptable” or “morally wrong.”

Joseph Meaney, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told EWTN News ethics cannot be measured by polling because “what is right is not necessarily popular,” but these polls “help us understand how effectively ethical conduct is being taught and perceived.”

“It is hopeful to see clear moral violations like using birth control and out-of-wedlock pregnancy losing support in American society,” he said.

Shifting views

The issue that saw the largest drop of societal support from 2025 to 2026 was having children outside of marriage, with the poll finding 58% of Americans believing this is morally acceptable and 35% saying it is morally wrong — a nine-point drop in acceptance from last year.

Pollsters found a partisan divide on the subject, with 76% of Democrats viewing it as morally acceptable, along with 56% of independents and 44% of Republicans.

For birth control, 83% of Americans called it acceptable and 11% called it morally wrong, which shows a seven-point drop in acceptance from the previous year. It found a slight partisan divide here as well, with 92% of Democrats accepting it, along with 81% of independents and 79% of Republicans.

As gambling becomes more widespread through websites and mobile applications, the societal acceptance dropped down to 57%, with disapproval rising to 35%. This is a six-point drop from the previous year. It has acceptance from 66% of Democrats, 55% of Republicans, and 53% of independents.

Societal acceptance of sex between teenagers has consistently been low, but it decreased by an additional six points in 2026 from 41% acceptance to 35% acceptance, with disapproval at 57%. It’s accepted by 54% of Democrats, 35% of independents, and 16% of Republicans.

Cloning animals has also been consistently unpopular, but acceptance went down from 34% to 27%, with 64% disapproving. This did not have a significant partisan divide: 29% of independents, 27% of Democrats, and 25% of Republicans view it as acceptable.

Other values measured

Pollsters also asked other ethical questions related to subjects such as abortion and other life issues, gender, human sexuality, and marriage but did not see a major shift from 2025 through 2026.

A majority of people, 52%, believe the death penalty is morally acceptable while 39% say it is not. A plurality of people believe abortion and doctor-assisted suicide are morally acceptable, with 49% approving on both questions. It found 41% say abortion is morally wrong and 45% of people say doctor-assisted suicide is morally wrong.

There was a partisan divide here with Republicans being more likely to view the death penalty as morally acceptable and Democrats being more likely to view abortion and doctor-assisted suicide as morally acceptable.

The poll found societal acceptance for divorce at 74%, for premarital sex at 65%, and for gay and lesbian relationships at 62%. Alternatively, only 38% said it is morally acceptable to change one’s gender.

The poll showed that support for same-sex marriage is below its 2021 and 2022 peak of 71%, sitting now at 65%. This is slightly lower than the 68% of people who said they supported same-sex marriage in 2025. The decline mostly comes from Republicans, with only 35% supporting same-sex marriage, down from 38% in 2025 and significantly down from its 2022 peak of 56%.

Societal acceptance for extramarital affairs was found to be 7%, for cloning humans at 9%, for polygamy at 19%, and for pornography 31%.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told EWTN News these types of polls “help remind us of the importance of being in dialogue, and actively discussing critical moral issues in an open society, so as to contribute to the formation of human consciences in truth and light.”

“To the extent that Catholics try to stand up for unpopular truths, like the unacceptability of divorce, premarital sex, and birth control, and to the extent that they seek to structure their own choices and lives around these deep moral verities, it has the undeniable effect of sparking interest and even awakening the consciences of more worldly-minded individuals, whether they profess to be atheistic, agnostic, or otherwise unsure about higher matters,” he said.

“Catholics have a particular obligation and responsibility in this regard to strengthen the culture around them, because ‘to whom much is given, much is expected,’” Pacholczyk added.

This story was updated at 11 a.m. ET on June 11, 2026, to include polling data on same-sex marriage.

Describing the Basilica as a catechesis made of stone, color, and light, the Pope emphasized that those who believe cannot kill innocent people nor abandon those who suffer, who weep, who flee from poverty.

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Following his meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said the Christian presence in the Holy Land is facing “a difficult reality” amid growing violence and the absence of any political horizon.

Speaking to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, the patriarch said ongoing instability is increasing the vulnerability of local communities and deepening people’s uncertainty about the future.

The patriarch’s remarks came after an official ceremony at the Élysée Palace attended by French political and Church leaders, during which Macron awarded Pizzaballa the rank of officer in the Legion of Honor in recognition of his service to the people of the Holy Land and his ongoing efforts to promote interreligious dialogue and defend the values of justice and peace.

The cardinal said his meetings with Macron were “important and direct” and that their discussion focused less on political details, which the president already knows, and more on social issues, people’s concerns, and their daily realities in both Palestine and Israel.

He added that Macron showed particular interest in understanding how the Church interprets current developments and in learning about the humanitarian situation of Christian communities in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.

Pizzaballa also noted that Palestinian Christians “do not differ in their suffering from other Palestinians.” Settlements continue to expand, lands are being confiscated, and landowners are often prevented from accessing or working their property, he said. At the same time, attacks by settlers continue amid what he described as a clear lack of security.

He also pointed to the economic crisis that is prompting many Christian families to consider emigration, especially after years of war, declining employment opportunities, and the suspension of development projects.

Pizzaballa called on the international community and churches in the West to “redouble their efforts to create real opportunities, build connections, and develop new pathways that enable families to remain in their homeland and preserve their roots.

Regarding the Church’s mission in the context of the conflict, Pizzaballa stressed that its role begins with speaking the truth and condemning injustice. It also includes promoting mutual respect, helping build dignified lives, and accompanying people as they seek to overcome despair.

The Church, he said, “tries to be a voice reminding everyone of the humanity of the other,” while combining spiritual care with advocacy for justice and peace.

The patriarch also reflected on the region’s broader tensions, noting that conflict has become part of the culture of the region after generations of violence. Overcoming this legacy, he said, “will not happen anytime soon,” particularly in the absence of leadership capable of looking beyond the barriers imposed by violence.

He added that the Church remains committed to serving as “a bridge of hope” at a time when trust is diminishing and fears are increasing.

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 Archdiocese of Guayaquil in Ecuador is inviting all the faithful to participate on Friday, June 12, in a Mass during which Cardinal Luis Cabrera will renew the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was done for the first time on March 25, 1874.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Six Catholic activists linked to the traditionalist movement Civitas were held in police custody for nearly 48 hours after attempting to block a contemporary art installation from taking place inside the Church of Saint-Laurent in Paris’ 10th arrondissement on the evening of Saturday, June 6 — the opening night of the city’s 25th annual Nuit Blanche (“Sleepless Night”) festival.

According to online reports, they were released on the evening of June 8.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to AFP that the six were detained following disturbances by a group of approximately 30 individuals outside and inside the church on boulevard Magenta.

Two of those held are suspected of voluntary violence against Alexandra Cordebard, the Socialist mayor of the 10th arrondissement, and Pouria Amirshahi, an Ecologist member of the National Assembly, both of whom reported being jostled and said they intended to file complaints.

The four others were held for participating in an unlawful assembly after refusing to disperse following official warnings.

The City of Paris announced Saturday night that it would also file a complaint, accusing “far-right fundamentalist militants” of attempting to prevent the presentation of one of the festivalʼs works.

Authorization for the use of Saint-Laurent was granted by the parish and the Archdiocese of Paris through their established cultural partnership with the association Art, Culture et Foi, which regularly facilitates artistic events in Parisian churches.

Titled “Sous la peau du ciel” (“Under the Skin of the Sky”), artist Marie-Luce Nadal’s immersive sound installation was conceived as an invisible membrane stretched between what represented the atmosphere and human beings. It consisted of playing recordings of wishes from anonymous people collected from around the world, mixed and blended with the sounds of thunder and lightning and then played inside the church. 

Among the recorded wishes shared during the evening were: “I hope the true left comes to power”; “I hope everyone’s soul takes over”; “I hope to be happy and in love all the time”; and “more pasta in the school cafeteria.” 

The broader controversy, however, centered on the Nuit Blanche’s artistic director, Barbara Butch, a French DJ and LGBT activist who became a polarizing figure after her appearance in a tableau during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The scene, which featured drag queens and dancers seated along a long table with Butch at the center — wearing a silver headdress resembling a halo — was widely interpreted on social media as a mockery of Leonardo da Vinciʼs famous painting “The Last Supper.” Butch later posted a caption on Instagram reading “Oh yes! Oh yes! The New Gay Testament!”

Against that backdrop, the appointment of Butch to lead the 2026 Nuit Blanche — an event that included programming inside several Parisian churches — drew organized objection from some Catholic groups weeks before the festival opened.

Civitas International, along with the Knights of Our Lady (Militia Sanctae Mariae), had publicly called on Catholics to protest the use of church buildings for the festival. Civitas International is distinct from the French political party Civitas, which was dissolved by the French government in late 2023. It remains active in Switzerland and Belgium and continues to operate online.

In a statement issued Sunday, Civitas International president Alain Escada denied that the group had organized a “collective” action and rejected the accusations of violence.

“We challenge anyone to produce a single image of any aggression carried out against Alexandra Cordebard or deputy Pouria Amirshahi by Catholics during this action,” the statement read, calling the accusations an attempt to “intimidate, stigmatize, or even criminalize” Catholics.

Escada also cited the opinion of jurist Grégor Puppinck, director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, that using a place of worship for purposes unrelated to worship constitutes a violation of both Article 13 of France’s 1905 Law on the Separation of Church and State and Canon 1210 of the Code of Canon Law.

Whether physical violence occurred remains contested. The mayor stated on X that she “personally received blows” from individuals who wanted to prevent entry to the church. Those detained offer a sharply different account.

Mathieu Goyer, president of the association Sainte-Geneviève Paris, who was among those arrested, said in a June 9 interview that he was held for 44 hours across three different police stations.

“The mayor of the 10th accused us of violence — that is why our custody was extended,” he said. “But when police reviewed the surveillance footage, the mayor can be seen on the other side of the church gate. She simply wanted her media moment.”

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on the evening of June 9 that it had closed the case against the six activists, concluding that “there was insufficient evidence of any offense.”

The Archdiocese of Paris, for its part, has not issued any public statement on the events.

Conservative Catholic commentators, including Olivier Frèrejacques of the political review Liberté Politique, described this silence as “incomprehensible” and questioned why Church authorities had agreed to host a festival directed by Butch in the first place.

ORLANDO, Florida — In his first address to the U.S. bishops since becoming apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia called for deeper communion within the Church and presented Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate as a moment of renewal rooted in continuity with the vision of Pope Francis.

Speaking June 10 at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, Caccia emphasized themes of peace, communion, and mission, describing them as essential both to the Church’s public witness and to the ministry of bishops themselves.

“I wish to be present among you as a brother bishop who journeys with you,” Caccia told the assembly. “My service here is one of listening, trust, and shared discernment within the Church that we are all serving together.”

The address marked Caccia’s first appearance before the full body of U.S. bishops since Pope Leo appointed him nuncio in March, succeeding Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who retired after reaching the Vatican’s age limit.

Caccia began by conveying greetings and a blessing from Pope Leo, telling the bishops that the Holy Father remains close to them in their ministry and prays that the Lord will strengthen them in their vocation.

The nuncio also paid tribute to Pierre, thanking his predecessor for years of service to the Church in the United States and noting his efforts to travel widely throughout the country to better understand local Churches.

Throughout his remarks, Caccia repeatedly returned to the theme of communion, portraying it as a defining characteristic of the Church’s mission and of the new pontificate.

“I see the election of Pope Leo as a gift of the Holy Spirit,” he said, encouraging the Church in the United States to foster what is best in its tradition while continuing to confront difficult chapters in its recent history, particularly the abuse crisis.

The archbishop emphasized that the United States has contributed significantly to the life of the universal Church and now has given the Church its first pope born and raised in the country. Recalling observations by French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville during his travels in America in the 1830s, Caccia noted that one priest had suggested the United States could someday become the center of Catholicism.

“Perhaps he was very optimistic,” Caccia joked, drawing laughter from the bishops. “But I wonder what Tocqueville would think today, seeing that the successor of Peter has come from this land.”

At the same time, he cautioned that esteem for the Church in America must not obscure the need for continued renewal and purification.

“The Church is at once holy and always in need of being purified,” he said, quoting the Second Vatican Council.

‘We are called to build together’

Another focus of the speech was the bishops’ planned consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, scheduled for June 11. Caccia described the act as providing a “spiritual center” for the assembly and linked devotion to the Sacred Heart directly to the Church’s efforts to foster unity and peace.

“Rooted in our own communion with Jesus, we can become builders of peace and communion among ourselves and with others,” he said.

Communion, Caccia emphasized, naturally leads to mission. While noting the Churchʼs history as both a recipient and sender of missionaries, he said the missionary vocation is lived not only by going out to others but also by welcoming those who come to us.

“To meet them with the charity of Christ, to recognize their dignity, and to help them find a place in the life of the community is also part of a missionary Church,” he said. The theme was later echoed by Archbishop Paul Coakley, USCCB president, in remarks following the nuncioʼs address.

The nuncio also highlighted what he described as a strong continuity between Pope Francis and Pope Leo.

Referencing Francis’ encyclical Dilexit Nos and Leo’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, Caccia said both pontiffs have emphasized the dignity of the human person in the face of modern challenges and technological advancements.

“Here we can see the continuity between Pope Francis and Pope Leo,” he said.

According to Caccia, Francis stressed that no technology can fully capture the depth of the human heart, while Leo is asking how the Church can safeguard human dignity amid rapidly developing technological systems.

“Such a humanism allows the Church to meet new realities without naive enthusiasm or anxious fear,” he said. “It also reminds us that the Church’s response is built in communion, not in isolation.”

Drawing on an image used by Pope Leo in Magnifica Humanitas, Caccia pointed to the biblical figure Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem alongside the people.

The emphasis on unity reflected themes that have marked Caccia’s own diplomatic ministry. Before arriving in Washington, the Milan-born prelate served as the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York from 2019 until his appointment as nuncio, representing the Vatican on issues ranging from migration to nuclear disarmament.

Ordained a priest in 1983, Caccia entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1991 and later served as apostolic nuncio to Lebanon and the Philippines before his assignment to the United States.

As apostolic nuncio, he serves both as the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States and as the pope’s representative to the Catholic Church in the country, maintaining relations with the U.S. government while also playing a key role in communication between the Vatican and the nation’s bishops.

A ‘living tradition’

Near the conclusion of his remarks, Caccia presented each bishop with a pocket-sized volume containing Lumen Gentium and Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council’s dogmatic constitutions.

The gesture underscored another theme of the speech: continuity with the Church’s living tradition.

“This continuity is important,” Caccia said. “We are not beginning again from zero. We receive a living tradition; and above all, we receive the love of Christ, poured out from his heart for the life of the world."

As the bishops gather for their first plenary assembly since Pope Leo’s election and under the leadership of newly elected USCCB president Coakley, Caccia’s message offered a vision of the Church centered on communion with Christ, unity among bishops, and a shared missionary purpose.

“May our renewal in the Sacred Heart of Jesus give us the grace to do this together,” the nuncio said, “for the life of the Church and the good of the world.”

ORLANDO, Florida — Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), on Wednesday offered his first remarks as president to his brother bishops.

At the USCCB spring plenary session in Orlando, Florida, on June 10, Coakley, archbishop of Oklahoma City, detailed what the U.S. bishops have recently accomplished, and outlined the challenges they still face and work they have to do.

The work of the bishops “is good work,” Coakley said. “It is necessary work, as can be seen in the many ways we, as a conference, have responded to the many challenges our world faces today.”

The archbishop said he is “especially pleased to recognize the impact” of the conferenceʼs special message on immigration issued at the bishops‘ November meeting, which expressed the bishops’ opposition to “indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

“That message demonstrated our united concern as pastors for the dignity of every person, especially our migrant brothers and sisters," Coakley said.

“I am also grateful for our unity: our unity as bishops of the United States, our unity with the Holy Father, Pope Leo, and our unity with all his predecessors since the founding of this nation,” he said.

“For 250 years, the bishops of this country have worked together, alongside priests, religious brothers and sisters, and so many faithful men and women as witnesses to Christ and to make known his love in so many concrete ways,” he said.

This work has been accomplished through parishes, schools, hospitals, and charitable agencies, which are “performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, including welcoming wave after wave of new arrivals to this land," Coakley said.

“Admittedly, we have not been always perfect in doing this, but overall, I would say our track record is very good,” he said.

The bishops “are commanded to put out into the deep water, to move beyond our comfort zones and the safe places where we can maintain our illusions of safety and control,” he said.

Mission of the conference going forward

The president shared “challenges” that the bishops face and how the Church must offer “hope” in order to address them.

“The Church’s witness to Christ" is especially needed today "in an age of constant flux, of forced migration, polarization, disruptions, climatic and economic upheavals, artificial intelligence, and wars," and when "many are wondering what it even means to be a human person," Coakley said.

The bishop posed the questions “What are some of the challenges to hope that need to be addressed? Where must hope be restored and how, as a conference, can we help?”

“First and foremost,” these questions can be addressed “by continuing to defend human dignity,” Coakley said.

“The dignity of the human person continues to be threatened," he said. Through "threats to the unborn, to the elderly, to the sick and suffering" and "through the violence of war and injustice."

“Society tends to disregard and cast aside what it deems useless, but life, human life, can never be adequately valued based on it being useful or useless. Or a burden or unworthy of protection,” he said.

“To restore hope necessitates preaching exactly that — that life is a gift from God,” he said.

“Human dignity is also threatened by the scourge of racism, by abuse, disdain, and contempt — especially towards the poor, the stranger, the condemned, and the outcast,” Coakley said.

Reducing polarization in our nation

“Another area in which we can promote hope is in our willingness and efforts to work with others — both in and outside of the halls of government — to reduce polarization,” Coakley said.

“Together we are working on ways to promote faithful citizenship — through dialogue, deeper realization of who is our neighbor, and by placing faith before politics — a faith that inspires hope, respect, and the pursuit of the common good," he said.

Following a “cordial visit to the White House last January, which I am grateful to have made, we recognize the need for further progress,” Coakley said regarding his Jan. 12 meeting with President Donald Trump, about four months before the president called the pope “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” in a social media post that drew a response from U.S. bishops.

The Church must “stay in the conversation,” Coakley said. “As our Holy Father has said in so many contexts and in so many ways, ‘Now is the time for dialogue and building bridges.’”

“Polarization within our country, and even within our Church, is a scandal that can only be overcome through encounter, through the cultivation of interpersonal relationships and conversations between those who may disagree,” Coakley said.

In order to “help restore hope to a world so desperately in need of it,” the bishops must reach “out to all those who are hungry to hear the words of hope that come from the Lord,” he said.

“This year we saw record numbers enter the Church, and this, after last year’s record numbers. This is a great sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is also a further example of how we need to put out into the deep — proclaiming the risen Son of God and sharing the Gospel with others,” he said.

As the bishops prepare to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11, Coakley said: “I am reminded how deep, unfathomable, and profound is the love that lives in that heart, and how it embraces the entire world.”

“Can there be a greater message of hope? Can a greater gift of hope be offered?” he asked.

“It is the love flowing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus that feeds our hope," he said.

“I know that we have much work to do before we rest, but we are comforted by two things — we are in this vineyard working together, and, in the end, it is the Lord who will accomplish it all,” Coakley concluded.

Octave of Corpus Christi

The eight days between Corpus Christi and the Feast of the Sacred Heart — the Octave of Corpus Christi — have a special significance for our monastery. It is during these eight days that we enter into a deeper retreat, letting go of all needless contact with the world to devote ourselves more to the One Thing Necessary, our Eucharistic Lord.

We began the celebration of Corpus Christi on the feast itself, last Thursday. In procession we escorted the Eucharistic King through His monastic domain. We stopped at the altar of our Lourdes Grotto for Benediction, and then proceeded back to our Oratory for the second Benediction. In the evening, after Vespers, we had our third Benediction of the day.

On Sunday we celebrated the external solemnity. Again we went in procession, the faithful following us to the Lourdes Grotto and again to the Oratory. During both processions it rained. Both times the rain began immediately after the first Benediction at the altar of the Lourdes Grotto.

And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because He hath given you a teacher of justice, and He will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. (Joel 2:23)

Corpus Christi and the Exodus from Egypt

Throughout Paschaltide, the Church, the new Israel, relives, we could say, all that Israel went through in her Exodus from Egypt. Easter itself, the Lord’s Death and Resurrection, was our Passover. Through the Blood of the Lamb, we were delivered from slavery. We passed through the Red Sea through our Baptism out into freedom. And Pentecost, at the conclusion of Paschaltide, recalled for us the arrival of Israel at Mount Sinai where the covenant was made, where they received the Law. As the Lord descended upon the mountain in cloud and in fire, so too the Holy Ghost descended in fire upon the Church, giving her the New Law written upon our hearts.

And now, having concluded Paschaltide, Corpus Christi allows us to remember Israel’s crossing over into the Promised Land. “He fed them with the fat of wheat and filled them with honey out of the rock.” So we sang in the Introit. The fat of wheat and the honey from the rock refer to the Promised Land, a land of abundant harvests, a land flowing with milk and honey. The words are taken from Psalm 80, a psalm which gives thanks for Israel’s deliverance from slavery and being led into the promised land, where God says, “Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.” And so today’s feast points us to our entry into the Promised Land, the Promised Land which we are longing for after this earthly pilgrimage.

The Four Senses of Scripture

The Holy Eucharist, in fact, points us to the past, the present, and the future. It is rather like Sacred Scripture. The Church tells us that there are four senses of Sacred Scripture. We can look at the literal sense, what it’s telling us actually happened. But then the realities of Scripture point also to the allegorical or Christological sense, telling us about the Mystery of Christ, what Our Lord did for us; to the moral sense, which tells us about our life in the present, what we are to do here and now; and the anagogical or eschatological sense, the sense that points us to what is to come, to the glory that we hope for.

Applied to the Eucharist

We can read the different realities of Sacred Scripture on these different levels. And the Holy Eucharist can be seen this way as well. The antiphon sung at the Magnificat at Vespers throughout Corpus Christi points to these four senses.

O Sacred Banquet in which Christ is received. This is the literal sense. This is what is happening. Christ is received.
The memory of His Passion is recalled. This is, if you will, the allegorical sense or Christological sense, telling us what Christ did for us–His Sacrifice on the Cross, which is sacramentally represented and offered in an unbloody manner in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist.
The mind is filled with grace. This is the moral sense, what is happening here and now in our souls through the Eucharist.
And the pledge of future glory is given to us. This is the anagogical sense, the sense that points us on to what is to come.

The Pledge of Future Glory

The Eucharist is the pledge of future glory. In the Eucharist, the glory that we hope for is already a reality in a certain sense. To be sure, the veil is still there. We don’t see God face to face. We are still pilgrims and wayfarers. And so the Eucharist is our manna — food that sustains us on the journey through this life. But It is also a foretaste of the fruits of the Promised Land. In that Promised Land of Heaven, our happiness will consist, as the Postcommunion prayer of Corpus Christi says, in ‘the everlasting enjoyment of Thy divinity’, being united with God face to face, as He is in Himself.

Here in this life, in the Most Holy Eucharist, we don’t see God face to face. We don’t have vision. We still have to rely on faith. But it is truly Our Lord, with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, Who is present here and Who unites Himself to us. United to Him, we receive the infusion of His divine love, of charity. And that charity is indeed the beginning of eternal life. For while faith will pass away and give place to sight in Heaven, the charity, the union with God through love which we have already in this life, will continue. That same reality will be with us in Heaven. But it is already given to us here in the Most Holy Eucharist.

So as we celebrate this gift of the Most Holy Eucharist today, it is for us a foretaste of what it will be like to enter into the Promised Land. As we go in procession with Our Lord in the monstrance, we are like the Israelites who went in their triumphal procession, their triumphal march into the Promised Land, with the Ark of the Covenant in their midst in which God was present amongst them. Our Lord is even more truly present, with His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, here in the Most Holy Eucharist. And we go in procession with Him throughout this land, looking forward to the day when we will enter definitively into the Promised Land.

This is the source of our hope. It is this which sustains us in our pilgrimage through this valley of tears. It can seem perhaps that life is long, that it’s too hard to try to live according to the Gospel, to keep God’s commandments, keep ourselves free from sin, to live for Him throughout this long journey to Heaven. Heaven can seem very far off, very abstract. So Our Lord gives us this foretaste of Heaven in the Holy Eucharist. If it seems like it’s too hard to avoid sin throughout our life simply because of the seemingly distant hope of Heaven, let us at least strive each day to keep ourselves free from grave sins so that, living in the state of grace, we can approach our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament–the little bit of Heaven which is given to us here and now, to draw us on day by day until we cross the threshold of eternity.

As we celebrate this greatest gift of Our Lord’s love, let us ask Him to help us always to receive It worthily, aware of what is being given to us, aware that this is the beginning, the foretaste here on earth, of eternal life. We ask Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament to help us receive Our Lord with the love with which she did during the years of her exile on this earth–the years when she longed to see the face of her Son Who had ascended, when she would have said in the words of Psalm 72, “What have I in heaven? And apart from Thee, what do I desire upon earth? My flesh and my heart have fainted away, but God is the God of my heart, God is my portion forever.” Our portion here in the Most Holy Eucharist, as He promises to be our portion forever in the heavenly Land of Promise.

As an intense heat wave grips Pakistan, churches are providing relief to worshippers through adjusted Mass schedules, water distribution, heat-awareness campaigns, and improved ventilation.

Daily Mass schedules at St. Patrickʼs Cathedral in the port city of Karachi have been adjusted after Archbishop Benny Mario Travas urged Catholics to take precautions during daytime hours, Father Mario Rodrigues, principal of St. Patrickʼs High School and former rector of the cathedral, told EWTN News.

“Prayer timings have been shifted to early mornings and late evenings. Churches have been instructed to install reverse-osmosis water filtration plants and water coolers. We are trying our best to respond to the soaring mercury,” he said.

Rodrigues spoke on June 9, when high humidity pushed the “feels-like” temperature to around 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in Pakistanʼs largest city, home to about 200,000 Catholics.

Media reports said at least 14 people died in Karachi last month during a heat spell that saw temperatures reach 44.1 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit), the highest recorded in the city since 2018.

Instagram post

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned that heat wave conditions are likely to intensify across the country, with temperatures expected to remain 4-6 degrees Celsius (about 7-11 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal in northern regions and 5-7 degrees Celsius (about 9-13 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal in southern areas on June 10–11.

Father Anthony Arbaz, parish priest of St. James Church in Karachi, the capital of the southern province of Sindh, said 11 churches in his parish are relying on natural ventilation and community awareness to protect worshippers.

“We are widening windows and opening all ceiling ventilators in our churches. Karachiʼs nights were once famous for being cool even during the hottest months. Not anymore,” he said.

“It is a difficult situation for the entire country. Even ventilation seems helpless under the scorching sun because the fans only circulate hot air.”

Arbaz said cold drinking water is being provided to worshippers, while volunteers add oral rehydration solution and flavored electrolyte drinks to water coolers.

“Doctors and nurses are invited after Mass to educate the faithful on preventing heatstroke through simple measures such as carrying water bottles and covering their heads with wet towels,” he added.

Samson Chris, a medical assistant who has conducted heat-awareness sessions at St. James Church for the past three years, said church youth groups have been encouraged to shift sports activities to the evening.

“The attendance of elderly people at the 10 p.m. Mass has declined because prolonged power outages of 12-16 hours a day are disrupting sleep and affecting their health,” he said.

In Lahore, air conditioning brings new costs

In Lahore, where temperatures have also exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week, some churches are turning to air conditioning despite rising electricity costs.

Attendance at Holy Cross Catholic Church increased in the summer after two air-conditioning units were installed in 2024. However, church leaders now face mounting utility bills.

“Authorities at Sacred Heart Cathedral stopped contributing toward the electricity costs after the air-conditioning system was installed. The parish priest initially resisted the move, but parishioners insisted because the church, located above a school building, receives direct sunlight throughout the day,” said Anthony Gill, a member of the church committee.

The churchʼs electricity bill reached 14,000 Pakistani rupees (about $50) in May. Parishioners now take up a special collection on the first two Sundays of each month to help cover the expense.

“We also appeal to relatives, especially those living in Western countries, to support the church financially so that worshippers can find some relief from the heat during prayer services,” Gill said.

New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks urged people to be “vigilant” about assisted suicide legislation as implementation of the state law draws near.

The New York State Department of Health released proposed rules for the assisted suicide law set to take effect Aug. 5, two days after the comment period ends.

The law enacted Feb. 6 would let people with terminally ill diagnoses of six months or less request drugs to end their lives.

The proposed rules would require two verbal requests from patients separated by at least 48 hours; a written request with two witnesses; and a final attestation form completed by the patient 48 hours before taking the medication. A five‑day waiting period applies to the time between when the prescription is written and when a pharmacy may fill it. Patients would self-administer the life-ending drugs. The death certificate would list the underlying disease or condition as the cause of death.

Hicks described the New York legislation as an “assault on human life, the next step toward a complete throwaway mentality” in a June 2 article in First Things.

“When this law becomes effective, a new and frightening era begins in New York,” Hicks said. “How long before this so-called ‘compassion’ for the terminally ill evolves from a ‘choice’ into an expectation to kill oneself for all sorts of vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities, the elderly, and those in impoverished and medically underserved communities?”

Jose Hernandez, a disabilities advocate for the New York Association on Independent Living, criticized the law given its negative affect on people with disabilities. He told EWTN News that society already treats many people with disabilities as a “burden.”

For people with disabilities, “everything is a fight,” said Hernandez, who became a C-5 quadriplegic after a diving accident at 15 years old.

As a New Yorker who grew up in the South Bronx, he voiced concerns that insurance companies would be incentivized to approve the cheaper alternative of assisted suicide.

Hernandez said his perspective is shaped by his own childhood: When he was 8, his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live — the same prognosis that would make someone eligible for assisted suicide under New York’s law. She went on to live another 13 years.

When asked what he would say to people considering assisted suicide, Hernandez urged people to consider alternatives such as hospice and palliative care, or even induced comas, to pass with “peace” into the next life.

Hicks encouraged people to consider the witness of Pope Francis when he was dying.

“Our lives are sacred gifts from God that we are to protect and cherish,” Hicks wrote.

“We saw the beauty of a natural death exemplified just over a year ago when Pope Francis, clearly weakened by illness and age, traveled through St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile on Easter Sunday, demonstrating the dignity of life even while suffering the afflictions and ailments that would claim his life the very next day,” he wrote.

Jamie Towey, spokesman for Aging With Dignity, told EWTN News that “assisted suicide is the wrong answer to real problems.”

“Americans should be seriously concerned by New Yorkʼs assisted suicide law, not only because it classifies the elderly and people with disabilities as worthy of suicide, but because this isnʼt the end; itʼs just the beginning,” Towey said.

“The original version of the bill was extraordinarily radical — no waiting periods, no state residency requirements — and the suicide-affirming care lobby will fight to bring this version of the bill back. That is their playbook,” Towey said.

Taking inspiration from St. Teresa of Calcutta, Aging With Dignity is dedicated to protecting the rights of people approaching the end of life. Through its “Five Wishes” program, Aging With Dignity helps those who are elderly or nearing death define how they want to be treated.

“The good news is, there are real solutions we can provide the dying and those with serious illness: advance care planning resources, access to palliative care, timely referral to hospice, patient-centered care, quality pain management, and loving, personal accompaniment,” Towey said.

Jessica Rodgers, coalitions director for Patients' Rights Action Fund, criticized assisted suicide laws for failing to protect vulnerable patients.

“Assisted suicide laws across the United States are written to protect prescribers, not patients, and nothing in the proposed regulations addresses that reality,” Rodgers said.

“Current regulations offer no oversight after the drugs are dispensed and no follow-up with the patient,” Rodgers said. “As it stands, we will continue to see vulnerable patients harmed by this discriminatory policy.”

Hicks warned New Yorkers of “the slippery slope” the New York law creates.

“What begins as a personal choice could lead to situations where external forces, such as government agencies or insurance companies, begin to influence or even dictate end-of-life decisions,” Hicks said. “This shift could undermine the respect and protection due to every human life.”

“It’s a future we must guard against with both compassion and vigilance,” Hicks said.

QUELIMANE, Mozambique — Catholic leaders' grief over the killing of Bishop Osório Citora Afonso of Mozambique’s Quelimane Diocese continues to deepen as Pope Leo XIV, Catholic bishops in Africa, the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization, and the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) joined in mourning the 54-year-old bishop, calling for justice.

Authorities in Mozambique said Afonso was fatally shot during a home invasion at his residence in Quelimane during the early hours of June 6. 

The Mozambican member of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries (IMC), Afonso had led the Diocese of Quelimane since July 2025 and also served as apostolic administrator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Beira and secretary-general of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM).

Members of the CEM have demanded urgent action and accountability. In a June 8 letter, the episcopal body condemned what it described as a “vile and cowardly crime” and insisted on a swift, rigorous investigation to uncover both the masterminds and perpetrators of the attack.

Earlier this week, in a message released by the Holy See, Pope Leo XIV said he had “learned with sorrow of the grave act of violence” that claimed Afonsoʼs life and said he was joined in prayer with all the people of Mozambique.

Pope Leo XIV’s message came as Church leaders across Africa and beyond reacted to the killing, describing it as a painful loss for the Church and an attack on the values the late bishop dedicated his life to promoting.

Africa’s bishops condemn ‘barbaric crime’

In a June 6 statement, the leadership of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) expressed “profound shock, sorrow, and indignation” over the violent killing of Afonso.

“This heinous act, perpetrated against a shepherd of God’s people, constitutes not only an attack on the life and dignity of a devoted servant of the Gospel but also an assault on the values of peace, justice, human dignity, and religious freedom that are essential for the flourishing of every society,” said SECAM President Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, OFM Cap, leader of the Archdiocese of Kinshasa.

Ambongo also said they “strongly and unequivocally condemn this barbaric crime.”

“No religious leader, regardless of faith or denomination, should ever become the target of violence,” he said.

He continued: “Those who dedicate their lives to serving God and promoting reconciliation, solidarity, education, charity, and the common good deserve protection and respect, not persecution and death.”

On behalf of Africa’s Catholic bishops, Ambongo called on Mozambican authorities to conduct “an immediate, thorough, transparent, and independent investigation” and ensure that all those responsible are “identified, prosecuted, and brought to justice without delay.”

“The people of Mozambique, the Catholic Church, and the international community deserve the truth,” Ambongo said.

The cardinal went on to urge the Mozambican government to strengthen protection for religious leaders and places of worship, emphasizing that religious freedom is “a fundamental human right and a cornerstone of every democratic and peaceful society.”

He expressed condolences to Mozambique’s Catholic bishops, clergy, women and men religious, and lay faithful of the Quelimane Diocese and Beira Archdiocese, IMC members, and the late bishop’s family and loved ones.

“We join them in mourning the loss of a faithful pastor whose life was dedicated to the service of Christ and his Church,” Ambongo said.

Vatican dicastery recalls missionary service

The Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization, where Afonso served at the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches before becoming a bishop, also issued a tribute, highlighting the late bishop’s missionary commitment and service to the universal Church.

“With deep sorrow, yet comforted by the firm hope of the resurrection promised by Our Lord Jesus Christ,” officials of the Vatican Dicastery said they joined “in the mourning of the Church in Mozambique” and united themselves spiritually with the pope and the faithful of Quelimane and Beira.

The dicastery officials recalled that Afonso, born in Ribáuè on May 6, 1972, took his solemn vows in the Consolata Missionary Institute and was ordained a priest in 2002.

“Inspired by a genuine missionary spirit and a deep love for sacred Scripture, he generously dedicated his ministry to the service of evangelization in Africa, Italy, and the universal Church,” they said.

Vatican Dicastery officials noted that the late bishop served as an official of the Dicastery for Evangelization from 2017 until his episcopal appointment in September 2023.

“The years spent at the service of the dicastery were marked by competence, dedication, a sincere ecclesial spirit, and a generous commitment to the mission ad gentes and to the growth of the young Churches,” they said.

The dicastery officials recounted his appointment as auxiliary bishop of Maputo in September 2023 and later as bishop of Quelimane in July 2025.

In April, he was also entrusted with responsibility for the Archdiocese of Beira as apostolic administrator.

Reflecting on Afonso’s passing, the Vatican officials said: “His sudden death deprives the Church in Mozambique of a zealous and caring pastor, an exemplary missionary, a man of profound faith, and a faithful servant of the Gospel.”

They added that those who worked with the late bishop remembered “his humility, fraternal kindness, spiritual depth, pastoral wisdom, and his total dedication to the mission entrusted to him by the Lord for the good of the Church.”

The dicastery entrusted Afonso’s soul to “the infinite mercy of the Father” and prayed that the Lord would “comfort all who mourn his death and sustain his Church in its confident expectation of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

ACN sees another ‘dark cloud’ over Mozambique

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) also lamented Afonso’s killing, describing it as another painful moment for the Church in the southern African nation.

Officials of the pontifical charity said the murder “adds yet another dark cloud over the Church in Mozambique.”

They noted that the Church in the country “is already grappling with terrorist violence in the north of the country, particularly in Cabo Delgado Province.”

Officials of the Catholic charity with the mission of supporting persecuted and oppressed Christians worldwide recalled that Afonso had repeatedly warned about insecurity and violence in the region before his death.

Reaffirming their commitment to the local Church, ACN officials said Mozambique “remains a priority country” for the organization, which continues to support the Church through humanitarian assistance, psychosocial programs, and reconstruction projects.

As the Church in Mozambique prepares funeral arrangements for the slain bishop, tributes from Rome, Africa, and Catholic organizations continue to pour in from across the world.

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

Texas Catholics are preparing to welcome fans from around the world as the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament officially begins this week.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the Diocese of Fort Worth, and the Diocese of Dallas have launched special initiatives blending hospitality, faith, and outreach for the hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world descending on those cities during the largest World Cup in history, which begins June 11.

The cities of Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth will host 16 matches total, with a tournament-high nine matches taking place at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, which sits in between Fort Worth and Dallas.

The Diocese of Dallas has launched the “Welcome the World, Welcome the Stranger” initiative, encouraging parishes to extend hospitality to the city’s visitors, offering a downloadable resource kit that includes prayers and ideas that “will help your community welcome visitors from around the globe with faith, joy, and generosity.”

The diocese is also offering fans information on Mass times in multiple languages and “everything you need to stay connected to your faith during your visit to north Texas.”

“We are grateful for your presence among us and for this moment that brings the world together in a spirit of joy and unity,” Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said on the dioceseʼs World Cup website. “It is my hope that, during your time here, you will experience not only our hospitality but also the peace that comes from being welcomed as part of one human family.”

Burns celebrated an opening Mass on June 7 at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There are additional Holy Hours planned for specific match days.

Dallas Stadium will feature several high-profile group games such as Netherlands vs. Japan (June 14), England vs. Croatia (June 17), and Argentina vs. Austria (June 22) before culminating in a semifinal on July 14.

The Fort Worth Dioceseʼs initiative, “Together for the Win,” is available in multiple languages and offers visiting fans parish locations, including their distance from Dallas Stadium.

Diocesan spokesman John Cuccaro told EWTN News individual parishes may organize watch parties, and the diocese plans to share social media reels featuring parishioners attending matches.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houstonʼs dedicated World Cup website, meanwhile, offers a parish locator, information on special Masses and other events, and links to notable Catholic sites in the city, which expects over 500,000 visitors.

NRG Stadium (temporarily renamed Houston Stadium) will host seven matches from June 14 to July 4, including five group-stage games and two knockout rounds.

Portugal will be playing two matches in Houston on June 17 and June 23. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is inviting fans to worship at a special Portuguese Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on Sunday, June 21, at 3:30 p.m.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament opens in Mexico City with the match between Mexico and South Africa at the iconic Estadio Azteca. The opening ceremony will take place at the same venue about 90 minutes before kickoff, celebrating Mexican culture through music, dance, and folklore.

There will be three separate opening ceremonies — one in each host country — with additional events in Toronto and Los Angeles on June 12.

This expanded 48-team tournament features a record 104 matches across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, running through the final on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The 11 U.S. host cities will collectively stage 78 of the tournament’s 104 matches. In addition to the two cities in Texas, matches will take place in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey (East Rutherford), Boston (Foxborough), Miami (Miami Gardens), Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara), Seattle, and Kansas City.

At a meeting with Diocesan Charity and Welfare organisations in Barcelona, Pope Leo XIV answers a young boy's questions about suffering, forgiveness and the meaning of life, reminding Christians that authentic charity begins with recognising Christ in every person.

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Philippine bishops have appealed for donations to help people affected by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Mindanao in the southern Philippines that left thousands displaced and communities struggling to recover.

The June 8 earthquake caused buildings to collapse, triggering landslides and setting off tsunami warnings across a swath of the southern island.

According to the Office of Civil Defense, the national disaster agency, the earthquake had left 46 people dead, 630 injured, and 17 missing as of June 10.

More than 800,000 households across Mindanao lacked access to electricity, with the Department of Energy yet to fully assess damage to energy infrastructure and accelerate power restoration efforts.

Expressing profound sorrow and solidarity with people in Sarangani province and other parts of Mindanao, Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), issued a statement on June 9.

“We grieve with the families who have lost loved ones, pray for the speedy recovery of those who have been injured, and stand in spiritual communion with all those who have been displaced from their homes and livelihoods,” he said.

“We also remember in our prayers the rescue workers, medical personnel, government agencies, and volunteers who continue to labor tirelessly in responding to this tragedy,” he added.

He urged all dioceses to hold a second collection at Sunday Masses on June 14. The proceeds will be sent through the diocesan social action centers and Caritas Philippines to support relief and rehabilitation efforts.

In a separate message, Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos, head of Caritas Philippines, the humanitarian, development, and advocacy arm of the CBCP, said many families are in urgent need of assistance.

“In times of uncertainty and loss, we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Mindanao,” he added. “May compassion, hope, and our shared humanity continue to connect us as communities rebuild and rise together.”

Peopleʼs donations can help provide relief and restore hope, and no amount is too small when given with love, the prelate said.

Caritas Philippines, together with diocesan social action centers, is responding to affected communities, with their efforts matched by dioceses, religious congregations, and aid groups across the country.

Dioceses express solidarity

The Diocese of Antipolo has sent 100,000 pesos ($1,630) to the Diocese of Marbel for earthquake relief and 50,000 pesos ($810) to Stella Maris in General Santos City to assist seafarers' families affected by the disaster.

“In solidarity with our brothers and sisters affected by the recent earthquake in Mindanao, the Diocese of Antipolo has extended financial assistance to support ongoing relief and recovery efforts,” Antipolo Bishop Ruperto Santos said.

“As one Church, we continue to respond to the call of Christian charity and compassion. We also invite the faithful and all people of goodwill to support our ongoing relief efforts through cash donations,” he added.

Santos said peopleʼs generosity will help bring hope, relief, and recovery to families and communities affected by the calamity.

The Philippines has 87 ecclesiastical jurisdictions, comprising 60 dioceses, 16 archdioceses, six apostolic vicariates, four territorial prelatures, and a military ordinariate, which have started expressing solidarity with those affected by the disaster.

Marcos visits quake-hit region

On June 10, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited General Santos City, including the National High School, one of the sites damaged by the earthquake.

After speaking with teachers and students, he said the government would provide mental health support, in coordination with the Department of Health, for students traumatized by the earthquake.

“When I talked to the teachers, I told them they should remember that this was a traumatizing experience for the students, for the children,” he said. “So, they should also keep an eye on them.”

He added that teachers would be trained to talk with students and provide support to those who may be experiencing trauma and stress.

The earthquake struck on the first day of the school year, following the two-month summer break, disrupting classes across several areas of Mindanao and affecting the safety and learning of teachers and students.

The Department of Education said the earthquake had affected more than 3.2 million students.

Marcos also announced 100 million pesos ($1,627,000) in financial assistance for the General Santos City government to repair its city hall, which was damaged by the earthquake, and 50,000 pesos ($810) for the families of those who died.

Appeal for more cooperation

The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines called for solidarity with the victims.

“We pray for the safety of our communities, the strength of rescue and response teams, and the swift recovery of all affected areas. As one faith community, let us continue to accompany our brothers and sisters through our prayers and acts of compassion,” the association said in a social media post.

The Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines (CMSP) also appealed to the public to aid families affected by the calamity, urging people to help disaster victims facing hardship, uncertainty, and a lack of necessities.

“In this time of tragedy and uncertainty, let us come together as one community of faith and compassion. The recent earthquake in Mindanao has left many families grieving, displaced, and in urgent need of assistance,” a CMSP statement read.

The organization stressed that, through donations, the Church can help provide food, clean water, temporary shelter, medicine, and other essential needs for affected families.

“As consecrated persons and people of goodwill, we are called to be instruments of Godʼs love and mercy. Through your generous donations, we can help provide food, water, shelter, medicines, and other essential needs for our brothers and sisters affected by this disaster,” CMSP said.

“With the support of the government and church organizations and others, we can pick up the pieces and rebuild our lives again,” Nova Lapara, 37, a mother of two teenage girls from General Santos City, told EWTN News.

Pope Leo XIV has called for greater respect for the elderly, affirming that their fragility still has much to teach humanity today.

In a letter sent via the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, to the participants of the June 10 symposium in Rome titled “A Bridge Toward Heaven,” the pontiff expressed his hope that their efforts would encourage “renewed attitudes of respect, gratitude, and esteem toward the elderly.”

Leo also criticized the modern tendency to equate strength with mere displays of power. “The society we live in is dominated by the logic of performance and competition, whereby strength is conceived as a display of power and tends to degenerate into abuse,” the message said.

The pope also praised the witness of the elderly in their physical weakness with age and described them as offering profound lessons for the younger generation, who might not yet recognize their value.

“The elderly, in the serene acceptance of the limitations linked to the passing of the years, without hiding them or being ashamed of them, can be teachers of life, capable of showing everyone — and especially young people — that the value of an existence is not measured by the yardstick of efficiency or self-sufficiency but by the capacity to love and to let oneself be loved, to give and to receive,” the message said.

Amid worsening armed conflicts in countries such as Ukraine, Nigeria, and those in the Middle East, a group of teenagers recently came to Rome to launch a new peace initiative, Project Oxygen.

From May 31 to June 5, 40 teenagers from war-torn regions worldwide, including Ukraine, Nigeria, and the Middle East, participated in peace-building workshops on diplomacy and political engagement in conflict-affected areas. Through Project Oxygen, they aim to shift current narratives about conflict toward a future of creativity and compassion.

Their activities included visits to Vatican dicasteries and the Italian Parliament, conferences on artificial intelligence, and a Wednesday general audience with Pope Leo XIV.

One of the participants, Olena from Ukraine, expressed her conviction that her young generation can make a difference by uniting around shared values in a divided world.

“We can make a change altogether and understand what things and circumstances unite us, and by that go to peace altogether,” Olena told EWTN News.

Kathleen Hessert, founder of Project Oxygen and CEO of Sports Media Challenge, added: “The people in charge have not been able to come up with the solutions to peace. So we need to look somewhere else. And [by] their creativity and their imagination, these kids can bring a vibrancy, a creativity, and a dedication to peace.”

After praying the Rosary and pronouncing an address in the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, Pope Leo spends some time with the Benedictine monks that run the monastery.

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MONTSERRAT, Spain — The rugged silhouette of the Montserrat mountain range was one of the first symbols of Catalonia that Pope Leo XIV saw from above as his plane brought him to Barcelona from Madrid on June 9.

The following day, the pope traveled by car to the mountainous area of Montserrat — whose name in Catalan means “serrated mountain” — home to a Benedictine abbey, which rises to a height of over 4,000 feet on the west side of the Llobregat River.

Before arriving, however, the pontiff made a brief detour during the approximate 25-mile journey from Barcelona to stop at Brians 1 Penitentiary Center — a place steeped in suffering, where the lives of inmates find some comfort thanks to the prison chaplain, Father Jesús Bel, coordinator of prison ministry for the Diocese of Sant Feliu de Llobregat and a Mercedarian priest who has spent 40 years accompanying those deprived of their freedom.

As he did during his trip to Equatorial Guinea, the pope embraced the suffering carried by prisoners.

There, he heard directly from two inmates, Montserrat and Josefina, about the importance of having an anchor such as faith in Christ when life shows its harshest face. Their testimony moved the pope.

“Here in prison I am not alone — Jesus gives me strength, he gives me life. I feel him within me; otherwise, I don’t know how I could have endured this,” Josefina told him.

After her words, a heavy silence fell. Then, Leo offered a reflection that resonated among those present: “The mistakes of a person’s life do not determine who they are.”

God loves you as you are

The pontiff invoked St. Augustine to underscore that the past does not chain the future, adding: “God loves you just as you are, but he dreams of you being even better! The Lord allows us all to start anew, for being human and being Christian does not mean never making mistakes, but rather growing in the ability to convert, repent, make amends, and, above all, to reconcile and forgive.”

The encounter — though barely 20 minutes — set the tone for the rest of the day: the mercy of God embracing even the darkest hearts.

The ascent to Montserrat

After visiting the prison, the pontiff headed to the Abbey of Montserrat, nestled among towering rock formations that resemble sculpted figures of animals or objects. The monastery radiates peace both inside and outside its ancient walls.

In 1025, Abbot Oliba, then superior of the monastery of Ripoll, founded a smaller monastery on the mountain of Montserrat at a site where a small hermitage dedicated to the Virgin already stood.

According to tradition, the first image of the Virgin — known in Catalan as “La Mare de Déu de Montserrat” — was discovered in the year 880 by children tending a flock in a cave after seeing a light on the mountain.

When the bishop learned of the discovery, he sought to move the small statue to Manresa but was unable to do so because it became too heavy — a sign, he believed, that the Virgin wished to remain there. He then ordered a sanctuary to be built on the spot.

At the foot of Montserrat, after praying the rosary, the pope lifted up his prayer: “Let us ask her to help us clothe ourselves only with the armor of God.”

“Let us also consider how the Virgin holds the globe in her right hand, a sign of her maternal care, for the whole world finds a place in her heart. She invites us to recognize one another as brothers and sisters, so that no one is excluded and that communion is stronger than every division,” he added.

The image of Mary currently venerated is a 12th-century Romanesque wooden sculpture, just over 3 feet tall, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus.

Except for the faces and hands, the statue is covered in gold, while the Virgin’s dark complexion has earned her the popular nickname “La Moreneta." In 2023, Pope Francis offered a Golden Rose to this venerated image.

Among those who entrusted themselves to her was St. Ignatius of Loyola, in one of the most profound conversions in Christian tradition: “After a night spent in prayer before the Virgin, [he] laid aside his knightly arms — a moment that marked the beginning of a new life in the service of Jesus Christ,” Pope Leo XIV recalled.

For centuries, faithful from all walks of life have passed through this sanctuary, praying the rosary bead by bead, because Mary, “Mare de Déu,” as the pope said, “is fundamental in the life of every Christian.”

“I am happy to come to the feet of La Moreneta to entrust to her, with full confidence in her maternal intercession, my Petrine ministry and the mission of the Church in a world that cries out for justice and peace,” the pope said.

“I invite you today to accept Mary’s invitation: ‘Do whatever he tells you' (Jn 2:5). These words spoken at Cana in Galilee contain a true guide for Christian living, because Mary leads us to Christ and teaches us to listen to his voice, obey his word, and allow him to transform us,” he added.

The pontiff also made clear the message God brought to the world when he became man: “Jesus shows us the path of mercy, reconciliation, truth, and gentleness. At the same time, he exposes the violence that can lurk in our words and attitudes: criticism that humiliates, condemnation that destroys, and aggression that divides.”

That hidden violence, he continued, “can often disguise itself as a kind of armor, which we use to protect our wounds, our fears, and the suffering caused by injustice.”

Over the centuries, Montserrat has grown as living things do — with scars and memory. It has not always been a place of peace. It was plundered, destroyed, abandoned. Yet it always rose again, as if the mountain itself sustained it.

Leo XIV concluded by asking that “Mary, Mother of the Church, always guide us to Jesus. I invite you to honor her with these words that you know so well: To the Catalans, you will always be the Princess; to the Spanish people and to the whole world, all our love; say to us: You are my treasure, I am your mother, do not be afraid.”

In the abbey cloister, hundreds of people waited eagerly for the pope. Among them was Miguel, a kind-eyed boy who wrote a letter hoping to hand it to the pontiff himself.

“He wanted to write it in Italian, even though the pope — as we know — speaks Spanish perfectly,” said his father, also named Miguel. In the letter, he asks nothing for himself or his family.

“I would like him to bless all of Ukraine,” said the 9-year-old, an avid reader who currently keeps the greatest of all books on his nightstand. “I’m reading the Bible. I love everything about it,” he said.

‘Catalonia without La Moreneta would be nothing’

Also waiting for the pope were two nuns from the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sister Ángeles Piqué, from a small town in Lleida, and Sister Doraliza, originally from Cajamarca, Peru.

“We need the pope to bring us Christ’s message: unity, fraternity, and to come to the Virgin as our point of reference," Sister Doralizia said.

She gave voice to the widespread devotion to the Virgin of Montserrat in this region of Spain. “Catalonia without La Moreneta would be nothing,” she said.

“Our Lady of Montserrat is a very special grace. This is her sanctuary, and all her children come here to ask for her protection and to be sheltered under her mantle,” Piqué added.

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

For more than a thousand years, generations of Catholics in Madrid have turned to Our Lady of Almudena in times of celebration, hardship, and prayer. On June 8, that enduring devotion received one of the Church’s highest marks of recognition when Pope Leo XIV bestowed a Golden Rose upon the historic statue.

“As a symbol of the pope’s filial love for the Virgin Mary, I will place a Golden Rose at her feet,” Leo said during a ceremony at Madrid’s Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena.

The papal honor — one of the highest distinctions a pope can bestow upon a Marian image or shrine — recognizes the deep devotion generations of Spanish Catholics have shown to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Almudena.

The exact origin of the gifting of a Golden Rose is unknown, although it is considered one of the oldest papal traditions. The earliest reliable record dates to 1096, when Pope Urban II sent one to Fulcone d’Angers.

Hidden in the citadel wall

Addressing the faithful gathered in the cathedral, Leo reflected on the image’s unique place in Madrid’s history.

“For centuries, countless generations of Madrileños have venerated this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding her divine Son in her arms and presenting him to us,” the pope said.

According to long-standing tradition, the devotion dates to the early centuries of Christianity in Spain. When Muslim forces conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula in A.D. 712, Christians in Madrid reportedly concealed the statue within the city’s defensive walls to protect it from destruction. The image remained hidden for centuries as Christian kingdoms gradually sought to reclaim territories across the peninsula during the Reconquista.

The wall that fell 

In 1083, after King Alfonso VI of Castile recaptured Madrid, Christians searched for the long-lost statue. Tradition holds that after days of prayer, a section of the city wall suddenly collapsed, revealing the image preserved within. Witnesses reported seeing lights near the site, and the statue was discovered largely intact despite centuries of concealment.

Recalling the story, Leo noted that “during challenging periods for the Christian community, the statue of the Virgin Mary was hidden in a niche of the citadel wall for protection. It remained concealed for some time, until parts of the wall collapsed and it was miraculously discovered intact.”

The title “Almudena” derives from the Arabic word “al-mudayna,” meaning “citadel” or “fortress,” a reference to the location where the image was found.

A message for today 

In his homily, the pope used the collapse of the wall as a spiritual lesson for modern society.“

It was thanks to a collapsed wall that the Mother was reunited with her people,” Leo said. “This event is providential, because it points to the path that Jesus, through his most holy mother, invites us to follow.”

Leo connected that image to challenges facing the modern world, observing that “there are still many walls that do not protect but rather divide, separate, and isolate.”

The ceremony also highlighted the popeʼs connection to Spain, a nation whose Catholic heritage has profoundly shaped the history of the Church. By honoring one of Spain’s most beloved Marian images, the pontiff underscored the enduring importance of popular Marian devotion and the Christian roots that continue to influence Spanish culture.

Renewing faith and hope 

Beyond its historical significance, the story of Our Lady of Almudena continues to resonate with Catholics today. The devotion recalls themes of perseverance, hope, and trust in God’s providence, themes Pope Leo himself highlighted as he encouraged the faithful to remain steadfast in faith, charity, and hope.

Calling the devotion a source of hope, Leo described it as “a sign of the Christian roots that characterize you and give you life, but also of the great hope which continues to motivate you to move forward.”

He concluded by encouraging Catholics to remain steadfast in faith, charity, and hope, asking that the intercession of Our Lady of Almudena strengthen believers in their love for Christ and help them “form bonds and restore the universal language of communion, fraternal love, and harmony.”

For more than a thousand years, generations of Catholics in Madrid have turned to Our Lady of Almudena in times of celebration, hardship, and prayer. On June 8, that enduring devotion received one of the Church’s highest marks of recognition when Pope Leo XIV bestowed a Golden Rose upon the historic statue.

“As a symbol of the pope’s filial love for the Virgin Mary, I will place a Golden Rose at her feet,” Leo said during a ceremony at Madrid’s Cathedral of Santa María la Real de la Almudena.

The papal honor — one of the highest distinctions a pope can bestow upon a Marian image or shrine — recognizes the deep devotion generations of Spanish Catholics have shown to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Almudena.

The exact origin of the gifting of a Golden Rose is unknown, although it is considered one of the oldest papal traditions. The earliest reliable record dates to 1096, when Pope Urban II sent one to Fulcone d’Angers.

Hidden in the citadel wall

Addressing the faithful gathered in the cathedral, Leo reflected on the image’s unique place in Madrid’s history.

“For centuries, countless generations of Madrileños have venerated this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding her divine Son in her arms and presenting him to us,” the pope said.

According to long-standing tradition, the devotion dates to the early centuries of Christianity in Spain. When Muslim forces conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula in A.D. 712, Christians in Madrid reportedly concealed the statue within the city’s defensive walls to protect it from destruction. The image remained hidden for centuries as Christian kingdoms gradually sought to reclaim territories across the peninsula during the Reconquista.

The wall that fell 

In 1083, after King Alfonso VI of Castile recaptured Madrid, Christians searched for the long-lost statue. Tradition holds that after days of prayer, a section of the city wall suddenly collapsed, revealing the image preserved within. Witnesses reported seeing lights near the site, and the statue was discovered largely intact despite centuries of concealment.

Recalling the story, Leo noted that “during challenging periods for the Christian community, the statue of the Virgin Mary was hidden in a niche of the citadel wall for protection. It remained concealed for some time, until parts of the wall collapsed and it was miraculously discovered intact.”

The title “Almudena” derives from the Arabic word “al-mudayna,” meaning “citadel” or “fortress,” a reference to the location where the image was found.

A message for today 

In his homily, the pope used the collapse of the wall as a spiritual lesson for modern society.“

It was thanks to a collapsed wall that the Mother was reunited with her people,” Leo said. “This event is providential, because it points to the path that Jesus, through his most holy mother, invites us to follow.”

Leo connected that image to challenges facing the modern world, observing that “there are still many walls that do not protect but rather divide, separate, and isolate.”

The ceremony also highlighted the popeʼs connection to Spain, a nation whose Catholic heritage has profoundly shaped the history of the Church. By honoring one of Spain’s most beloved Marian images, the pontiff underscored the enduring importance of popular Marian devotion and the Christian roots that continue to influence Spanish culture.

Renewing faith and hope 

Beyond its historical significance, the story of Our Lady of Almudena continues to resonate with Catholics today. The devotion recalls themes of perseverance, hope, and trust in God’s providence, themes Pope Leo himself highlighted as he encouraged the faithful to remain steadfast in faith, charity, and hope.

Calling the devotion a source of hope, Leo described it as “a sign of the Christian roots that characterize you and give you life, but also of the great hope which continues to motivate you to move forward.”

He concluded by encouraging Catholics to remain steadfast in faith, charity, and hope, asking that the intercession of Our Lady of Almudena strengthen believers in their love for Christ and help them “form bonds and restore the universal language of communion, fraternal love, and harmony.”

In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Pope Leo XIV will visit the Port of Arguineguín—dubbed in 2020 the Port of Shame after thousands of migrants arrived and were met with inadequate facilities. Now, the General Secretariat of Pastoral Care hopes the papal visit will transform this pier into a place of hope and allow migrants “to feel accompanied by the Holy Father.”

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In the largest gathering of Catholics in Ireland since Pope Francis’ visit in 2018, the annual All Ireland Rosary brought over 13,000 people to Knock Shrine on June 6 in a joint prayer for peace.

Speaking to EWTN News after the rally, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland Eamon Martin said: “It was a very special joy for me to preside at the Eucharist in Knock at the rosary rally. I felt a tremendous sense of joy and hope among the people who were gathered there. And it was especially gratifying to see many young people, including the childrenʼs rosary group, who made a very important and beautiful contribution to the day.”

The archbishop added: “I really felt that Knock was alive, and it makes me realize that our Blessed Mother continues to speak into the troubled world in which we live, with many new problems and new challenges. From the point of view of Ireland, itʼs very important for us to have a gathering like this, to affirm the very many people who have remained strong and steadfast in their faith and who need this kind of gathering in order to give them encouragement and a strong sense of mission.”

Martin said the word “mission” stayed with him after leaving the rally. “Thatʼs a word that I went home with in my head,“ he said. ”There is a wonderful mission involved in the rosary rally. Itʼs about gathering people but also about sending them back into their homes, parishes, and communities, to continue to make the beautiful graces of our Blessed Mother well known, to continue to pray for peace.”

Turning to the practical ways in which people can make a difference in their local parishes, Martin said: “I personally would invite people to restore the practice of the First Saturday devotions. This would be in fulfillment of our Blessed Motherʼs own wish, but it would also provide a new and further structure for parishes to gather, to pray the rosary, to have adoration, to have the sacrament of reconciliation available.”

Martin also expressed hope that other countries might be inspired by the example of the All Ireland Rosary Rally.

In his sermon during the Mass at the shrine on the day of the rally, the archbishop encouraged the congregation of thousands to pray often, in union with Mary, for the protection of humanity in this technological age.

Echoing the words of Pope Leo XIV in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, he said: “Artificial Intelligence is already shaping human life in homes, workplaces, and communities; in hospitals, public services, and economies. AI can do remarkable and helpful things. It can even mimic human behavior and voices, but it cannot love, suffer, forgive, pray, or hope as humans can, nor can it be truly ‘wise.’ AI does not have a conscience.”

Together with Bishop Donal McKeown and Bishop John Buckley, Martin led the renewal of the consecration of Ireland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the culmination of the rosary procession.

Speaking to EWTN News, Christine O’Hara, a secondary schoolteacher in Cork, Ireland, said: “The rosary rally was a very blessed and grace-filled day, and thereʼs a number of things that weʼre really hoping people will take away from the event. The first being that people will feel inspired to pray the rosary every day.”

O’Hara, who runs a childrenʼs rosary group and two First Saturday communities, added: “Our Lady said in Fátima, pray the rosary every day to obtain peace in the world and an end to the war. Itʼs the desire of Archbishop Eamon Martin that the renewal of the First Saturday devotion would happen in this country. Weʼre really hoping and praying that one of the fruits, and Iʼm sure there will be many fruits from this rosary rally, but weʼre really hoping and praying that people will feel inspired to start the First Saturday devotion in their parish.”

OʼHara also said she hopes more people will be inspired to start childrenʼs rosary groups as well as rosary groups for adults in their parishes.

The huge crowd also heard from an inspiring panel of international speakers. Bishop Oliver Doeme spoke to the crowds about the power of the rosary in strengthening the faith and courage of the people of his diocese in Nigeria who live in daily fear of murder at the hands of Boko Haram terrorists.

Nikki Kingsley shared her remarkable conversion journey from the Muslim faith in her native Pakistan to being received into the Catholic faith. Her moving and inspiring story focused on the power of the rosary and her devotion to Our Lady.

Other speakers included Father Chris Alar, the provincial superior of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception, who talked of the importance of Marian devotion, and Sister Ângela de Fátima, vice postulator for the cause of the three Fátima children.