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Pope Leo XIV made a private visit on July 20 to the Abbey of Montecassino, where St. Benedict of Nursia is buried.

As announced by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff made the trip while on vacation at Castel Gandolfo, where he will remain from July 5-27. At Montecassino, he prayed at the tomb of St. Benedict, considered the father of Western monasticism, “entrusting him with his plea for peace in those regions of the world marked by bloodshed and conflict.”

The pope also enjoyed lunch with the Benedictine community at the abbey.

Leo’s surprise visit to Montecassino was his first since his election to the papacy in 2025. While on vacation that year, he also made a surprise visit to the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie della Mentorella in Guadagnolo, where he also prayed for peace.

The Abbey of Montecassino, founded by St. Benedict in 529 AD, will celebrate the 1,500th anniversary of its founding in 2029.

Leo’s visit to Montecassino was also his third public appearance (outside his Sunday Angelus) during his Castel Gandolfo vacation, following his lunch with the poor on July 11 and a summer concert on July 18. Except for his Sunday Angelus, all private and public audiences, including the Wednesday general audience, are suspended during his vacation.

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In the lead-up to the 21st AMECEA Plenary Assembly in Nairobi, the “Laudato Sì Movement Africa”, in collaboration with the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, engaged in a “Strategic Convening/Workshop on Ethical Investment for Catholics” which yielded a declaration urging ethical investment, care for creation, and greater involvement of young people.

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Pope Leo XIV visits the Abbey of Montecassino and its monastic community and prays at the tomb of St. Benedict “entrusting to him his plea for peace in those regions of the world marked by bloodshed and conflict.”

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A new photography exhibition by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, organized in collaboration with the John Paul II Youth Foundation, has opened at Borgo Laudato si’ in the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo and will remain open to visitors until the end of July.

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A new medal named after Pope Leo XIV to recognize individuals who have worked toward ecological sustainability will be introduced in October 2026.

The pontiff will personally present the “Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal” at the International Sustainability Conference, to be held at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome from Oct. 12–15. The award ceremony will take place on Oct. 13 in the Borgo Laudato Si’ garden, part of the Pontifical Gardens in Castel Gandolfo.

The award and conference were established by Villanova University, a Catholic liberal arts university in Pennsylvania. This is where Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2014. The Dicastery for Integral Human Development will also sponsor the event.

The inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal is a permanent award that will be presented by the university every two years.

An award to reflect the care for our common home

In a July 20 press release, Villanova University’s president, Father Peter Donohue, OSA, explained that the medal will recognize individuals who embody the university’s core belief in ecological stewardship and the common good.

“The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal reflects a deeply held belief at Villanova University: that care for our common home and care for one another are inseparable,” Donohue said. “By recognizing leaders whose work advances both environmental stewardship and the common good, we hope to inspire meaningful and lasting impact in communities around the world.”

The conference, themed “Responding to the Cries of the Earth and the Poor,” will gather more than 300 academics, church officials, and stakeholders for discussions on integral ecology.

The recipient of the Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal may come from any field and will be evaluated based on their efforts to advance sustainability and equity.

Another Villanova initiative to honor Leo XIV

The medal is not the only recent initiative by Villanova University to honor its most famous alumnus.

In July 2026, the university co-sponsored the 38th Annual Liberty Medal ceremony in Philadelphia, which awarded the pope the Liberty Medal ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

On Nov. 1, the university’s basketball team will open its NCAA season in Rome with a men’s and women’s doubleheader against Notre Dame. The initiative was also inspired by Leo XIV, who will meet both teams in an audience ahead of the games.

With summer vacation time in full swing, the Spanish foundation Dale una Vuelta (“Give it some thought”), dedicated to combating pornography, has compiled a list of practical tips for adults, young people, families, and educators.

“The summer vacation time is perhaps always more conflict-ridden. This is because there is more free time and more opportunities [to fall into watching pornography]. The heat itself plays a role, too. There are many factors that make it easier to get hooked or stay hooked on pornography,” Jorge Gutiérrez, the organization’s director general, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Although vacations can increase the risk of falling into pornography use, a change in routine can also become an opportunity to leave the habit behind.

“It’s an ideal time to focus more on hobbies, your own family, and many enjoyable, pleasant activities rather than isolating yourself and ending up watching pornography,” Gutiérrez said. He explained that this addiction “has a lot to do with emotional factors such as tension and anxiety and the desire to escape unpleasant moods.”

The organization’s approach to freeing oneself from porn is based on two ideas: releasing “your best dopamine through activities and relationships that you genuinely enjoy and that help you become freer” and seeking the meaning of life.

“‘Know yourself, love yourself, better yourself’ is the best recipe for overcoming porn,” the organization advises.

‘Humanize the way you look’ at other people

For adults who have fallen into pornography use, the organization offers nine basic recommendations:

1. Identify triggers. Pinpoint the “situations, objects, places, or people” that spark the desire to consume pornography in order to anticipate them or replace harmful habits.

2. Learn from relapses. Make the most of your relapse by asking yourself questions that help you understand why and for what purpose you consume pornography.

3. Strengthen personal relationships. Devote time to social interactions, maintaining contact with friends or forging new connections.

4. Organize your day. Avoid letting your vacation days pass without a plan; pay attention to your diet, rest, and hobbies.

5. Avoid isolation. During vacations, be wary of the most secluded areas of the house, experts warn, noting that “pornography thrives on solitude and isolation.”

6. “Humanize the way you look at others.” Strive to “see beyond sexual pleasure,” recognizing the other person as “an individual with their own life story, family, problems, etc.”

7. Train your willpower. Delay any urge — whether it’s eating a sweet or watching pornography — by five minutes to strengthen your self-control.

8. Understand the reality of the pornography industry. Educate yourself on the dark reality of this industry, because that time spent is “invested in your recovery.”

9. Accept discomfort without giving in. When the urge to consume arises, “accept it without having to satisfy it; tolerate the discomfort,” remembering that it’s possible to experience a sense of lacking something and at the same time, be happy.

The ‘Bermuda Triangle of Porn’ for young people

In addition to these recommendations, Dale una Vuelta offers others specifically for young people.

Tips include seeking out screen-free leisure activities and getting at least a half an hour of exercise daily. It also helps to have three planned activities ready if faced with relapsing, with the rule that they must be “anything other than digital.”

Along with recommendations to avoid sleeping with a mobile phone in the room and to turn off notifications, the organization emphasizes the importance of planning one’s day, noting that “boredom, loneliness, and curiosity make up the ‘Bermuda Triangle of Porn.’”

Advice for parents and educators

For parents and educators, Dale una Vuelta recommends avoiding “long periods where your child spends hours not knowing what to do,” establishing guidelines for mobile phone use, getting to know their friends, and talking to them about sexuality.

The organization also urges parents to get their children into “action mode” to help “release tension and relax the mind and body” while simultaneously encouraging an “inner journey” through connecting with the beauty found in nature, art, and music.

Encouraging reading — “the best vaccine for almost everything,” including pornography as well as building mutual trust and promoting deep conversations — is also among the recommendations.

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.

President Donald Trump declared on Monday that the latest American strikes had hit Iran "very hard," casting the assault as retribution for three US servicemen killed in the region in recent days.

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops submitted a public comment on proposed changes to federal grants, expressing support for restrictions on gender ideology and abortion but opposing restrictions for groups that work with migrants who are in the country unlawfully.

The bishops submitted the public comment to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on July 8. The proposed rule change regulates the activities of organizations that receive certain forms of federal assistance, which includes Catholic charities, schools, and healthcare providers.

Areas of agreement

The bishops support a provision that bans federal funds from being used on efforts that deny “the sex binary in humans” or express the notion “sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic.”

“We fully support this provision, which is prudently designed as a restriction on the scope of activities that may be supported by federal awards rather than as a prohibition on speech or conduct outside the scope of the award,” the bishops’ comment stated.

The bishops also support a provision that bans organizations from charging federal awards for costs “associated with elective abortions … except as expressly authorized by federal law.”

However, they also commented that the rule should be “even stronger in protecting innocent human life” by at least aligning fully with the Hyde Amendment, which would prohibit funds for abortions, with the exception of unborn children conceived in rape or incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger.

They also stated that OMB should clarify what “associated with” means, warning the language does not appear as strong as the gender ideology provision.

The bishops also support a proposal to ban federal agencies from discriminating against or disfavoring faith-based organizations in award applications but urged OMB to strengthen this language too by expressly applying the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

“Even when the law places religious and secular entities on equal footing, RFRA prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening religious exercise unless doing so serves a compelling governmental interest and is the manner of doing so that is least restrictive of that exercise,” the comment added.

It also encouraged a revision in the language to ensure that religious organizations do not get accused of bias against other religions.

Areas of disagreement

The provision receiving the strongest opposition from the bishops is one that prohibits funds from being used to encourage or facilitate “illegal immigration,” noting that Catholic charitable groups have been accused of doing that.

“Providing for the basic human needs of immigrants, without regard to their immigration status, is integral to the mission of the Catholic Church and her ministries,” the comment stated.

“Religious entities that provide food, shelter, or other humanitarian aid to immigrants, or transportation related to such aid, may reasonably fear that their ordinary ministries could be characterized as facilitation of illegal immigration or as an initiative that compromises public safety,” it added.

“Under these same interpretations, even ensuring the full inclusion of undocumented immigrants in the sacramental life of the Church or providing for the education of undocumented children could be misconstrued as ‘encouraging’ their presence in the United States without authorization,” the comment continued.

The bishops also oppose a ban on funding that encourages “anti-American values,” warning it is unclear what this means.

In their comment, they also opposed mandatory e-verify, saying it “may chill lawful hiring, burden nonprofits and religious organizations, create confusion over contractors and indirect-cost employees, and encourage discriminatory over-screening.”

On the final day of his visit to Ukraine, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher meets President Volodymyr Zelensky and acting Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha in Kyiv, visits the Maidan memorial, and holds talks with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations.

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During the opening Mass for the plenary assembly of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, Cardinal Czerny encourages Christians to patiently change the world by allowing the Holy Spirit to act within them and thus bring communion.

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In 1976, Franciscan University of Steubenville held its first youth conference on its campus in Steubenville, Ohio. This summer, the Catholic university celebrates 50 years of a conference that has changed many lives.

Since its founding, the youth conferences have helped over 1 million young people encounter Jesus Christ through dynamic talks, the Mass, Eucharistic adoration, confession, prayer, and fellowship.

The inspiration for the conference for young people came after Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, former president of Franciscan University, held a conference for priests and asked them what the university could do for them. Their response? They wanted some kind of event for young people — specifically teenagers. The next year the first youth conference was held.

“Itʼs really a beautiful testimony to Godʼs faithfulness,” Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, current president of Franciscan University, told EWTN News.

“I was thinking the other day that the teenagers that came to the first youth conferences are now in their late 60s, almost 70 years old,” he added. “So thatʼs half a century of young people whose hearts have been touched, who have encountered Jesus in the sacraments, who have encountered him in the community gathered of young people … itʼs just a tremendous milestone for the young people. Now, the fact that Franciscan University has been able to be a part of that and we had the vision to be able to provide this opportunity, I think, is just a great grace for us as well.”

This summer, Franciscan University hosted four sold-out conferences on its campus in Steubenville with an additional 15 conferences taking place in cities across the United States.

Youth conference speakers this summer include Father Mike Schmitz, host of “The Bible in a Year” podcast; Chris Stefanick, author, speaker, and television host; Father Leo Patalinghug, author, podcast host, and priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore; Katie Prejean McGrady, author and Catholic radio host; Paul J. Kim, speaker, author, and musician; and many more.

Brian Kissinger, executive director of conferences at Franciscan University, told EWTN News that “at the heart of our conferences, at the heart of this experience for young people, is the Blessed Sacrament.”

He explained that they also try to keep the conferences “as invitational as possible.”

“We know teens are coming from a million different places — not just geographically but emotionally, spiritually, catechetically. Some have great formation and loving Catholic homes, others are not Catholic but were just brought there by their Catholic friends,” he explained. “So we really try to make the weekend as invitational as possible, to preach the Gospel message, which never changes, but always approaching the presentation of kerygma assuming that a teenager does not know the whole story.”

One of the most impactful moments that takes place during the conference, Kissinger said, takes place during the closing Mass when the presiding priest invites young men and women to come forward if they heard during the weekend an invitation from God calling them to the priesthood or religious life.

According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate’s (CARA) 2026 survey of newly ordained priests, 18% of priests ordained this year attended a Franciscan University of Steubenville Youth Conference during their vocational journey.

Separate CARA studies found that 21% of women religious and 15% of religious brothers who recently professed perpetual vows also attended a Franciscan youth conference. Combined, 18% of newly professed religious men and women reported participating in a Steubenville Youth Conference — more than any other Catholic conference ministry in the United States.

So what is the secret to the Steubenville Youth Conference’s success among young Catholics?

“People will often ask me, ‘Whatʼs the secret sauce of the conferences?’ But honestly, thereʼs nothing complicated about it,” Pivonka said. “What we do is we gather young people and we provide an environment where they can encounter Jesus. We do that through the sacraments. We do that through adoration. We do that through the sacrament of reconciliation. We do that through worship. And in the best way that we can, to kind of take down the barriers that might exist between that encounter.”

“So, I’d like to say that thereʼs some secret sauce but itʼs really just providing an environment for encounter for the young people,” he added.

“I also donʼt buy into the whole ‘young people arenʼt zealous or you canʼt challenge them,’” he continued. “I mean, we present the teachings of the Church without any hesitation. And what weʼre finding is that young people respond to that.”

From reluctant attendee to joyful disciple

Elizabeth Feulner, an 18-year-old student from Syracuse, New York, has attended two Steubenville Youth Conferences.

In an interview with EWTN News, she shared that she was forced to attend the conference her first year. The youth group at her parish was just starting up and her mom received an email from the youth group leader giving her details about the conference.

“My mom was like, ‘Youʼre going to this. This sounds like a great opportunity. I wish Iʼd had this when I was your age.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, this is very short notice; I donʼt know if this is going to be my favorite thing.’ So it wasnʼt really my choice the first year,” Feulner said.

However, looking back at the first experience, she said it helped her “grow in my personal relationship with Jesus and in more outwardly showing that and being confident in that in a lot of ways in my life.”

She pointed out that attending by herself the first year allowed her to “really sit there and feel the presence of Jesus and feel him working in my life,” which then motivated her to find relationships “centered in God” when she returned home.

Feulner recalled the one moment that impacted her the most during that first conference: Eucharistic adoration.

That year, she attended the conference with a dislocated knee and had to walk with crutches. Adoration took place in the evening but during the day she had walked a lot and was in a lot of pain and was exhausted by the evening.

“I was sitting there during adoration; I was really emotional and the monstrance just stopped right over me and it just felt like for a moment it was just me and God and he was like, ‘I see you and Iʼm here,’” she shared.

“I think that moment has shown me — and Iʼve continued to try and allow it to show me — that heʼs always there,” she added. “And so that physical representation of him being there, looking at me through the monstrance, itʼs like itʼs me and him. And thatʼs continued to shape how I view my relationship with God especially through struggle and throughout my life.”

When Feulner attended this year, she expressed having a completely different perspective and feeling extremely thankful for all the work God had done in her life since attending the first time the previous year.

Since then her youth group has formed and through that she has received Christ-centered friendships, her boyfriend of two years has now converted to Catholicism, and her younger sister was able to attend the conference with her this year.

“I just felt so thankful for the past year and for the community that I, honestly, never thought I would have as a youth,” she said. “This past year has been so fundamental in finally having a community in Christ and in my faith and friendships that are just so unwavering.”

Feulner said she hopes that for those who attend a Steubenville Youth Conference that they would have an “experience at some point that showed them that they know that they are worthy of his love, no matter what theyʼve done and that they know that he sees them, whether they had that moment in adoration or not, that he truly sees them every single day and in everything they go through and that he loves them not in spite of that but because of that.”

Information about upcoming Steubenville Youth Conferences can be found here.

The Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal, a new international honor created by Villanova University to recognize outstanding leadership in sustainability and integral human development, will debut at the 2026 Villanova International Sustainability Conference in Rome and Castel Gandolfo and be presented by the Holy Father himself.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Today's lush and immaculately manicured Vatican Gardens were once just a sprawl of mosquito-infested swamps, clay hillsides and hardy grape vines.

The wild, unpopulated landscape on the fringes of early Rome slowly shifted as it changed to accommodate historical events over the course of 2,000 years: the martyrdom and burial of St. Peter; the blossoming of Christianity; the growth of papal power; and the eventual establishment of the world's smallest sovereign nation.

The gardens make up almost half of Vatican City State's 109 acres and their colorful evolution is documented in a volume updated in 2016: "A Guide to the Vatican Gardens: History, Art, Nature," curated by historians and experts from the Vatican Library and Vatican Museums. Illustrated with full-color photographs and historic black and white engravings, the book is available in English.

In the first century AD, the Roman Emperor Caligula set up a circus for chariot racing near a villa his mother, Agrippina, had built in the area, which was still far on the outskirts of ancient Rome. Shipping over a red granite obelisk from Egypt, he decorated the circus with the monument, which now stands in the center of St. Peter's Square.

Emperor Nero expanded the circus, using it to showcase his cruelty against Christians like burning them alive to light his evening parties on the hill's gardens and crucifying others, like St. Peter, who was then buried in a roadside cemetery nearby. 

As the apostle's tomb became a place of worship, the "circus fell into disrepair, Agrippina's villa decayed and the uninhabited hill returned to wild scrub," wrote  Ambrogio Piazzoni, a former vice prefect of the Vatican Library and book's co-author.

After Emperor Constantine converted and granted Christians the freedom to practice their faith, he ordered the construction of the first basilica dedicated to St. Peter, which meant razing part of the hill and covering over part of the cemetery.

A few small buildings were constructed nearby over the next four centuries including a monastery, but the popes -- the successors of Peter -- didn't start living in this "rustic and unprotected location" by the basilica until the fifth century, Piazzoni wrote.

With the Saracen Raid in 846, Pope Leo IV constructed a fortressed wall to defend the Vatican area from marauders. Inside the walls, there were meadows, vegetable gardens, orchards and vineyards while outside -- which is part of today's gardens -- were more pastures and woods.

Once popes started residing permanently at the Vatican, they added their own personal touches to the vast expanse of greenery surrounding them. 

Pope Nicholas IV had his doctor, Simon of Genoa, cultivate medicinal plants and aromatic herbs in the tradition of the Benedictine monks, who were known for creating treatments for illnesses and distilled liqueurs and tinctures. 

This 13th-century papal initiative was to become the oldest botanical garden in Italy and marked the beginning of the formal scientific study of botany as a branch of medicine, "predating by centuries the teaching of botany" in academies and universities, Piazzoni wrote in the 2016 book. 

Pope Pius V made sure the medicinal plant studies continued in the 16th-century by hiring a Tuscan botanist and geologist to take care of the gardens. The pope gave him the title of "medicinal plant expert of Our Lord" and furnished him with a "safe conduct pass" allowing him to travel anywhere in search of rare plants.

The Vatican medicinal garden gradually lost importance -- becoming a humble lawn -- after Pope Alexander VII built a newer and larger botanical garden, which is still one of the largest in Italy, along the Janiculum hill in 1660. The Vatican lost that and many other properties after the loss of the Papal States in 1870.

Given the variety of habitat and papal proclivities at the time, the Vatican Gardens were also home to a menagerie of wild animals including the brief upkeep of a leopard during the pontificate of Boniface VIII in the 13th century and Hanno, the elephant, which was a gift to Pope Leo X from Portugal's king in 1514. 

Pope Pius XII found an injured finch in the Vatican Gardens and nursed her back to health. "Gretchen," the finch, would keep the pope company and sit on his shoulder at mealtime while hopping down to peck at crumbs.

Today, green parrots nesting in palm trees and a small sampling of cats are the only free-range fauna easily sighted in the Vatican Gardens. 

The gardens went largely unchanged from its Renaissance heyday at the end of the 1500s to the end of the 1900s, primarily, Piazzoni wrote, because the popes had moved their main residence to the Quirinale Palace -- judging it to be "more comfortable, functional and situated in a sunny and healthy place." 

Despite the disuse, the gardens were still cared for and embellished with additional fountains, shrines, statues and exotic or rare plant life.

With the end of the Papal States, the pope moved back to the papal residence at the Vatican. 

Being largely confined to the small property, Pope Leo XIII spent a lot of time caring for the gardens and pursuing his love for hunting and viniculture. He reportedly tended his small vineyard himself, hoeing out the weeds, and visiting often for moments of prayer and writing poetry. He had a papal guard on duty with orders to shoot to scare off birds threatening his grape harvest.

Modern-day popes still use the gardens for exercise, restful relaxation and meditation. Retired Pope Benedict XVI took his daily walk there, praying the rosary along the wooded paths. 

Not just for popes anymore, the gardens were opened to the public several years ago as part of an organized tour either on foot or on an environmentally friendly open bus.

The tours highlight the gardens' blend of art, nature and faith, but also help visitors sense what the book describes as the harmonious co-existence of so many species of flora and fauna, which "reinforce the ideals that constitute the universal mission of this extraordinary place" -- the love and care for God's creation.

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A version of this story was originally published in 2016.

WASHINGTON - In light of several recent immigration enforcement encounters resulting in the loss of life, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, and Bishop Brendan J. Cahill, chairman of the Committee on Migration, issued the following pastoral reflection:  

“As Catholics, we believe that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and, therefore, grieve all situations where human life is brought to an unnatural end. This is a core teaching of our faith and one we can never grow weary of proclaiming as disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

“As the bishops of the United States affirmed last November, ‘We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement.’ Racial profiling in particular not only violates God-given dignity* but also inflicts profound harm on individuals, families, and communities by fostering fear, eroding trust, and increasing the risk of unjust and even tragic outcomes. Our pastoral concerns are distinct from what the civil law itself may permit. 

“Acts that diminish or disregard the dignity of any person or group of people should never be normalized in our society. The dehumanization of immigrants, regardless of their legal status, is one such example of this; the vilification of law enforcement officers is yet another.

“We continue to affirm the legitimate role of civil authorities to implement the law in a humane manner and with respect for fundamental human rights, including the rights to life and due process. The power of the state must always be exercised within the limits of the moral law. To that end, we call for accountability, transparency, and justice, which require that meaningful reforms be made to our immigration system. 

“We join in praying for the souls of those killed and for their families, for our nation, and for all those entrusted with the duties of public service. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric, racial prejudice, and violence and for a renewed commitment to recognizing the inherent dignity of every person as a child of God. We plead for the intercession of Mary, Our Mother, who is the model of perfect faith in times of grief, hardship, and uncertainty.”

*Open Wide Our Hearts, p. 4

###

There was something unique about Spain throughout this World Cup. It wasn’t simply that they won games. Plenty of teams won games. Rather, it was the way they played. 

Every first touch seemed effortless. Every pass had purpose. They moved the ball with patience and precision, making one of the world’s most difficult sports look almost… easy. Even if you weren’t supporting Spain, you probably found yourself watching just a little longer than you intended. Why? 

Because we’re drawn to beauty. The Catholic tradition has long taught that every human heart is attracted to what is true, good and beautiful. These are known as the “transcendentals” because they ultimately find their source in God Himself. Beauty isn’t limited to paintings in galleries, breathtaking sunsets or magnificent cathedrals. It can also be found wherever harmony, excellence and order shine through. 

Sometimes, that includes a soccer pitch. Spain’s style wasn’t beautiful because it was flashy. It was beautiful because it was ordered. 

Eleven players working as one. Every pass creating the next. Every movement serving the team rather than the individual. Their  soccer wasn’t chaotic brilliance; it was harmony. Perhaps that’s why so many people, regardless of which nation they supported, couldn’t help but admire it. 

Spain are deserved World Cup champions. They didn’t just achieve the ultimate prize; they did so with a style that captivated millions along the way. Trophies are remembered, but so too is the manner in which they’re won. Long after the trophy has been lifted, we will still remember how Spain made us feel every time they had possession of the ball. 

Maybe that’s because beauty does more than entertain us – it stirs something within us. It leaves us wanting more. That’s precisely what authentic beauty is meant to do. It doesn’t terminate in itself; it points beyond itself. The beauty of creation points to its Creator. The beauty of sacred art points to heaven. And even the beauty of sport, at its very best, can remind us that our hearts were made to seek something greater than the final whistle. 

That distinction exists in the Christian life too. The world often measures success by achievements, popularity or recognition. God looks deeper. He desires lives that become beautiful – not because they’re free from suffering or failure, but because they’re filled with truth, goodness and love. 

Think of the saints. We aren’t captivated by them because they lived comfortable lives or accumulated worldly success. We are captivated because there was a harmony about them. Their words matched their actions. Their love reflected Christ. Their lives became beautiful because they were shaped by the One who is Beauty itself. 

Perhaps that’s why beauty has such a powerful effect on us. It awakens something deep within the human heart – a longing for the One from whom all beauty comes. Spain’s football offered a glimpse of beauty in sport. It reminded us that excellence can be elegant, that teamwork can be captivating, and that harmony has a way of drawing people in. 

But as enjoyable as beautiful football is, it can only ever point us towards something greater. 

After all, the most beautiful game we’ll ever witness is a life lived for God.

The post What Spain’s World Cup victory teaches us about beauty appeared first on The Catholic Weekly.

About 400 parishioners and visitors gathered at St Luke’s Parish, Revesby, on 19 July to celebrate the feast of St Charbel, marking the third consecutive year the parish has honoured the beloved Lebanese saint with a major community celebration. 

Bishop Richard Umbers celebrated the 10am Mass before festivities continued with Lebanese drumming, music and traditional cuisine, reflecting the rich spiritual and cultural heritage associated with St Charbel. The celebration also highlighted the parish’s growing devotion to the Maronite monk and hermit.  

While St Charbel has long held a special place in the hearts of parishioners, St Luke’s recently brought a first-class relic of the saint from Lebanon, allowing the faithful to venerate one of the church’s most beloved modern saints. 

In 2024, the parish further strengthened that devotion with the installation of a 2.5 metre statue of St Charbel alongside a statue of the parish’s patron, St Luke.  

The statues were blessed by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at the time. Preaching at the feast day Mass, Bishop Umbers encouraged the faithful to look beyond St Charbel’s reputation for miracles and instead imitate the deep interior holiness that characterised his life. 

“There’s something about St Charbel. It’s not just that he was a holy man—there’s something about his silence, his holiness, that is very attractive,” Bishop Umbers said. 

“What is it about St Charbel that we should take into our own lives? It’s his holiness, it’s that work on the inside that each of us is called to discover, as we ask to become people of deeper faith.” 

Parish priest Fr Dariusz Basiaga SDS said the celebration had been a blessing for the community. 

“It was so beautiful to celebrate the Feast of St Charbel,” he said. “Through his intercession, I pray that God will bless us, protect us and always be with us.” 

The post Hundreds honour St Charbel at Revesby feast appeared first on The Catholic Weekly.

Catholics from across Sydney and beyond are invited to celebrate the feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney on Saturday, 8 August. 

The day will include Masses at 8am, 10am, 1pm and 6pm, with pilgrims also invited to pray at St Mary MacKillop’s tomb, visit the Memorial Chapel, and enjoy free entry to the Mary MacKillop Museum, which marks the 160th anniversary of the founding of the Sisters of Saint Joseph by Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods. 

Sr Josephine Dubiel RSJ, congregational leader of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, said the feast is a unique opportunity to honour Australia’s first saint at the place where she lived, died and is buried. 

“The feast day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop is a special opportunity to gather in prayer, celebration and community, giving thanks for Mary’s life, faith and enduring legacy,” she said. 

New features for 2026 include a holy hour for young adults aged 18–35 from 4.30pm before the evening Mass, and a feast day ‘Wonder and Reflection’ zone offering creative activities for children and families. 

The celebrations are also complemented by a nine-day online pilgrimage novena hosted by Mary MacKillop Place and the Mary MacKillop Spirituality Ministry in the lead-up to the feast. 

The 10am Mass will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. Full details and registration for the novena are available at the Mary MacKillop Place website. 

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The Croatian community in Australia has always had a strong connection to its Catholic and cultural heritage. Whether it’s enlivening football games with their emotional and patriotic chants or publicly celebrating religious solemnities with zeal, the Croatian diaspora loves to share its traditions with our country. 

On 1 July, the feast of the Most Precious Blood, Sydney’s Catholics were introduced to another tradition from the Balkan nation with the celebration of a High Mass according to the traditional Croatian Glagolitic Rite at St Michael’s parish in Belfield. The liturgy was celebrated by Fr Mateusz Markiewicz IBP, a visiting priest from the Institute of the Good Shepherd in France, with the assistance of Dominican Prior Fr Laurie Foote OP from Adelaide and Carmelite Brother Jerome Voštan from Perth. 

This tradition traces its origins to Saints Cyril and Methodius who translated the Greek liturgy into Slavonic in the ninth century. Though Latin was historically the language of the western church, Croatian Catholics were permitted to celebrate the liturgy in Old Church Slavonic and pass this tradition down throughout the generations. 

Attended by hundreds of Croatian Australian Catholics from across the country, the Solemn High Mass was celebrated with the last printed Glagolitic Missal from 1927 known as the “Vajs Missal”. Ante Cutuk, one of the organisers, drove down to collect the Missal, along with hand-drawn altar cards, from Fr Velimir Maglica of the Croatian Catholic Chaplaincy in Clifton Hill, Melbourne. 

Having been shown a copy of the Vajs Missal years earlier, Ante was impressed that the Old Church Slavonic language and the Glagolitic script were not merely cultural symbols, but part of a real liturgical tradition that connects Croatian Catholics to the faith of their ancestors. 

“The Glagolitic Mass is one of the most unique treasures of Croatian Catholic heritage,” said Cutuk. 

“It reminds Croatian Catholics that their ancestors preserved the faith through their own sacred language, chant, and customs while remaining fully part of the Roman Catholic Church.  

“Bringing it to Sydney helped show that this ancient liturgy is not dead or an object of nostalgia, but something still capable of moving people and strengthening their faith today. 

“It also showed that Croatian identity is not only about food, music, sport or nationality, but also about the Catholic faith that shaped Croatian people for centuries.”  

Many others helped behind the scenes to prepare the music, servers and necessary rubrics for the Mass. Two Croatians Branko Lovrinov and Danijel Uremović from its capital Zagreb came to Australia to assist with the coordination of the Mass and to guide weekly rehearsals. 

“It was beautiful to see older Croatian Catholics, young people, priests, servers, choir members, and visitors all gathered for the same purpose,” said Cutuk.  

“Seeing the church full, hearing the Old Church Slavonic and the traditional chant, and knowing that people had travelled from interstate and overseas made it feel truly historic.   

“For me personally, it was a great honour to help bring this tradition to Sydney and to be part of something that will hopefully continue in the future.” 

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Now that the Sistine Chapel: Revelations exhibit showcasing the Italian Renaissance art of the Sistine Chapel has disappeared from the St Mary’s Cathedral forecourt, it’s a good moment to explore a grand gallery of Sydney’s own art. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park has one of the highest concentrations of indigenous art in Australia. A ranger last week described it to The Catholic Weekly as “the Louvre of Aboriginal rock carvings”.  

At 15,000 hectares, it’s more spacious than the Louvre and its pavilions are far more dispersed. But like the Louvre, it’s a national treasure. It’s a shame that more people haven’t seen them. Maybe not, of course. The wind and rain and the lichen and moss are slowly eroding these ancient petroglyphs, or stone engravings; more admirers might destroy them, just as the humid breath of the Mona Lisa’s millions of viewers threatens its delicate canvas.  

The most accessible of these carvings are to be found at the Basin track, about 400 metres off the winding road through the park. In a few square metres of flat, smooth, tesselated sandstone are dozens of large and small engravings.  

The most striking depicts a woman and a man lying side-by-side, their arms extended ecstatically towards the moon (or is it a boomerang?), their legs delicately crossed above their ankles. They have been sun-baking there for centuries. Below them is an arc of wallabies hopping and beyond the arc are fish swimming forever in a sandstone sea.  

It’s hard to interpret. Another large tableau depicts a man in the ecstatic pose next to a gentleman with a huge beer gut which surrounds a fish. Is he digesting it or is he wearing it? Next to him is a large fish with a spear protruding from its head.  

There are scripts in the Old World, like Linear A in Crete, which must tell stories of a vanished culture, but they remain undeciphered and are perhaps indecipherable. Which is what we face here. The Garrigal people who created these signs died or dispersed long ago and we’ve lost the key to their language. Are they invocations of spirits? We just don’t know for sure.  

Some 80 years ago Douglas Stewart, one of Australia’s finest 20th century poets, wrote eloquently about these Ku-ring-gai carvings: 

… though the maker’s life has vanished like a leaf’s, 
The carvings living a hard strange life of their own 
Above the water, beneath the tormented cliffs 
They glow with immortal being… 

There are said to be about 800 sites scattered across the dense bushland of the park, making it one of the richest collections in Australia. In addition to carvings of humans, fish, whales, kangaroos, koalas and wallabies, boomerangs, shields and spears, skates, and emus, there are axe grinding grooves, middens, cave paintings and stencils.  

All across the Sydney basin you can find sites with complex collections of figures etched into sandstone outcrops. Many are unmarked to ward off vandals or thieves. Nature also reclaims them. A couple of years ago I stumbled across a large engraving of a man in bushland in Cattai National Park. Now it seems to have disappeared, submerged beneath a blanket of moss and lichen. 

In fact, you could describe Sydney’s landscape as a gigantic parchment with scribbles in a foreign script.  

Some people dismiss Aboriginal rock art as crude and childishly simple. And compared to the frescos of Michelangelo, that’s true. But is technical sophistication the only criterion? A Banksy original has fetched $35 million – and all he needs is a stencil, a can of spray paint, and a ladder.  

Anyhow, such complaints are off the track. Think, rather, of what these carvings have in common with the Sistine Chapel. As Stewart wrote, “They glow with immortal being.” They are not lazy Saturday afternoon doodles. In a cryptic and obscure way, they point to something transcendent.  

In 1986 – 40 years ago this year – St John Paul II addressed a First Nations gathering in Alice Springs and made precisely this point.  

“Your songs, your stories, your paintings, your dances, your languages, must never be lost,” he told the crowd. “Through your closeness to the land you touched the sacredness of man’s relationship with God, for the land was the proof of a power in life greater than yourselves.” 

Here’s an idea to make “the Louvre of Aboriginal rock carvings” more accessible to Sydneysiders. Why can’t the same technology which created the Revelations exhibit be used to display and explain the mysterious vitality of these carvings?  

Much of Michelangelo’s powerful story of creation and sin and redemption and judgement can hardly be seen unless you are a contortionist. And much of rock art cannot be appreciated because it is underfoot and under trees. Could ultra-high res images, digital projections, and CGI give Sydney’s rock art the appreciation it deserves?  

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Getting pillow-hugging kids out of bed to go to school is an uphill battle for many parents. But for some of the nation’s children, this  reluctance indicates something more troubling. For them, just the thought of school can make a student feel anxious, ill, or extremely upset. 

School refusal, also referred to as “school can’t” or “emotionally based school avoidance” is an often-misunderstood issue for both children and parents.  

The Australian government in a 2023 study described school avoidance as a “type of school attendance problem characterised by a child or young person’s emotional distress at attending school”. Due to the anguish felt by the child, it differs from other school attendance issues such as truancy or exclusion.  

Common symptoms are extensive absences; severe emotional distress including anxiety, depression, and physical health issues; staying home with parents’ knowledge; parental failures to get the child to school; and a lack of anti-social disorders. 

Globally, it is estimated one to five per cent of children suffer from emotionally based school avoidance, with rates being higher for disabled children, particularly those with autism or ADHD. 

The study also indicated the rates were increasing after the COVID pandemic, which disrupted schools across the world in 2020 and 2021 and led to large scale interruptions in education, but domestically rates of “school can’t” fell in 2022. Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) in a 2025 study found an estimated 43 to 57 per cent of school absences for autistic children stemmed from emotionally-based school refusal and emphasised it was not a dead end for children who suffer from it.  

“It’s a complex issue that can be addressed with a supportive, collaborative approach involving parents, educators, and healthcare providers,” the study found.  

“Together, you can create a path that acknowledges and respects your child’s unique neurology while promoting educational engagement.” 

Australian Catholic University inclusive education researcher and lecturer Dr Matthew White says there’s “more to it” than kids not simply wanting to go or being disengaged in learning. Each child has his or her own reasons for not wanting to attend school. 

“It’s not as though a school attendance problem just starts straight away; it sneaks up. And because it sneaks up, parents – when it then happens – don’t know what to do,” he told The Catholic Weekly.  

“Schools don’t know what to do either because it’s usually outside the realms of what school have been able to support.”  

White, who was previously a school attendance support officer for the Diocese of Parramatta, said school avoidance has “always been a hidden problem,” even before the pandemic. 

“COVID was probably a classic example where a lot of parents and young people sort of realised that if you don’t go to school, the world’s not going to stop, or if you don’t go to school, you’re not going to not be able to learn,” he said.  

“There’s a lot of different avenues and pathways that young people can take but I think the most important thing is that they that they do that and that they’re proactive about that.” 

MacKillop Institute ReLATE national program director and former principal Justin Roberts says schools are complex and unpredictable places, so students who suffer from anxiety or dislike change may feel very uncomfortable. Having few “safe people” – either adults or peers – in their lives; suffering from trauma and its impacts; and adversity all negatively affect a student in ways school staff may not be able to assist effectively. 

“The key to this working is both parents recognising and being able to work with the school, but the school and its staff being able to recognise those early signs of students disengaging, because we know that’s when it’s easiest to overcome,” said Roberts. 

He also said school refusal does not mean the end for a student’s education or life goals, as there are alternative pathways available.  

“Young people can be absolutely supported to overcome barriers if the people around them take the time to explore what they are and support them in that,” he said.  

“We would have, across our schools, many young people every year who are transitioning back to mainstream education, following the goals they had within mainstream education, or going onto tertiary education.”  

Shawn van der Linden, managing director of Altum Integrated, a faith-based mental health consultancy, told The Catholic Weekly students’ desire to avoid school is “communicating that school has become emotionally unsafe for them,” and even if everything appears to be normal, underlying issues are typically present. 

“Once it gets to that stage of school refusal, we’re usually dealing with really complex dynamics within the family system,” he said.  

“If we’re really wanting a solution, it’s usually a combination of things that are then required of the school doing its part … then the family and parents being willing to look at what happening in the family, their parenting style. 

“Schools can be a place where they can convene mental health professionals, teachers, parents, and bring them into the right kind of conversation. But that takes time and effort and that’s challenging for schools,” Van der Linden said.  

He said school avoidance was not a failure of the parents and said the most important thing was parents being present for their children and not feel a need to be perfect, as children benefit from seeing parents repair mistakes. 

“Parenting is really hard and so any parents in this situation really get the burden, the stress, the uncertainty, and also carrying that sense of ‘am I a failure as a parent?’” he said.   

“The good news is that all the research shows that what is needed is not being a perfect parent, you don’t have to get everything right,” he said.  

Catholic schools have been trying to address this problem in many ways. The Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools has a dedicated resource aimed at struggling students and parents.  

Sydney Catholic Schools also has a student wellbeing policy for its staff which emphasises the level of satisfaction a student receives from school as well as strengthening feelings of safety, dignity, and belonging.  

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Nobel laureates called Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas a “clarion call” and “a giant step forward” for the prevention of AI-driven nuclear warfare as they gathered in Rome 16 July to sign a declaration urging a global treaty banning artificial intelligence from nuclear launch systems.

The signing, held under the gaze of an ancient statue of Julius Caesar in the Senatorial Palace on Rome’s Capitoline Hill, capped two days of closed-door meetings at the Vatican Gardens in Castel Gandolfo, where more than two dozen Nobel laureates met with former heads of state, religious leaders, academics, and artificial intelligence researchers from organizations including Google DeepMind, Aaru and Anthropic.

Speaking in response to a question from OSV News at the press conference at the conclusion of the summit, Arthur B. McDonald, a Canadian astrophysicist and recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics said many scientists welcomed Pope Leo’s encyclical as “a document for humanity.”

McDonald said the pope was uniquely positioned to warn the world about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence alongside the continuing threat of nuclear weapons.

“We are really facing … a crisis for humanity right now,” he said, calling the encyclical “a very timely thing for him to do.”

Maria Ressa, the Filipino journalist who received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, lauded Pope Leo’s leadership on the issue and courage to call out the moral challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

“Now the scientists are coming together with faith,” she said. “Pope Leo’s encyclical was a clarion call for leadership.”

James E. Muller, an American cardiologist who co-founded the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, called Pope Leo’s critique of nuclear deterrence and the new arms race in the encyclical’s fifth chapter “a giant step forward.”

Titled the “Rome Declaration on an Unarmed and Disarming Peace in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Weapons,” the declaration lays out six principles addressing AI governance, nuclear disarmament and the risks posed by emerging technology. It calls for an international treaty ensuring that no automated system is ever allowed to make the final decision to launch a nuclear weapon, and that “meaningful human control” is preserved over such decisions.

The declaration also urges AI developers to publish and be held accountable for the principles guiding their models’ behavior, and states that no company or government should pursue fully automated, self-improving AI systems without the ability to monitor or halt them. It calls for nuclear-armed states to conduct reviews aimed at protecting their arsenals from unauthorized interference by AI, and for renewed negotiations toward the verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons under existing nonproliferation treaties.

The declaration opens by stating that humanity faces “a defining moment” as the nuclear age and the age of AI converge, arguing that humanity failed to prevent a permanent state of nuclear fear after the development of atomic weapons and warning against repeating that mistake with AI.

Echoing the words of Nobel Laureates Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell in the 1955 manifesto highlighting the danger of nuclear weapons, the declaration says, “We appeal as human beings to human beings: remember your humanity, and forget the rest,” adding “our survival and the survival of future generations are at stake.”

David Gross, who won the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics, argued that public pressure, not government leaders, would ultimately drive change.

“If young people were informed of the current danger … they would again be marching in the streets,” Gross said after signing the declaration.

The three-day summit, called the Global Nobel Laureates Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear War, drew roughly 200 delegates and was co-sponsored by institutions including the University of Chicago’s Existential Risk Laboratory, the University of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and The Catholic University of America.

Actress Sharon Stone attended as an honorary peace ambassador, and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences also took part, a presence that advocates for nuclear disarmament welcomed given Russia’s large nuclear arsenal.

Daniel Holz, a University of Chicago astrophysicist who studies black holes, said the Rome gathering itself embodied Pope Leo’s message.

“This meeting … is a lived example of the encyclical,” he said. “We are doing the work that the encyclical specifically is talking about.”

Several senior Vatican officials also addressed the conference, including Cardinals Ángel Fernández Artime, Fabio Baggio, Silvano Maria Tomasi, Mauro Gambetti and Baldassare Reina, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.

Father Andrea Ciucci, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said, “I’m very proud of the event because (on) this occasion … the leaders of the different religions demonstrate that we can work together … in favor of humanity.”

Cardinal Reina said the declaration makes clear that “no machine, no algorithm, and no autonomous system” should determine decisions affecting humanity’s survival.

“Decisions concerning life and death, peace and war, and the future of peoples and generations yet to come must remain under full, responsible, and meaningful human control,” he said.

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Ferrán Torres is the Catholic forward who secured a 1–0 victory for Spain over Messiʼs Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, played on Sunday, July 19, in New Jersey.

“The goal is the least important thing; right now, all I want is to grab that trophy and squeeze it as hard as I can, because I believe it represents the dream of the 47 million people we were representing on the pitch today — because I think we deserved it and we gave it our all,” said Ferrán Torres after the final.

Torres, who plays for Barcelona in Spain, also said that the goal brought him a sense of relief, given the heavy criticism he had faced during the World Cup. “Thank God, He always gives me the strength to keep going, and in the end — as I always say — God grants things to those who deserve them most,” the forward emphasized.

Days before the final, a video was released in which Torres spoke about the importance of God in his life. “I have a cross and an image of the Virgin Mary; ultimately, I think having such strong faith gives me great support — it is something very important to me,” remarked the Spanish forward, who was named the final’s Superior Player of the Match.

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Torres stands out for his Catholic faith within the Spanish national team, alongside coach Luis de la Fuente — who, at the press conference prior to the semifinal match where they defeated France 2–0, stated that he prays “every day, but not because I am at a World Cup or in order to get a result.”

“I give thanks every day — every day I wake up and find myself well, I look at myself and say: ‘Another day I can enjoy life.’ I give thanks for those little things. I pray—because I do pray every day — not to ask for more help,” the Spanish head coach explained at the time.

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.

Anticipation is building across South America for Pope Leo XIV’s expected visit this November. In Peru, President-elect Keiko Fujimori met with church leaders on 16 July, pledging full government cooperation for the upcoming papal trip.

The country’s bishops’ conference confirmed the future administration wants to ensure the US-born pontiff connects with as many local communities as possible to spread his message of unity.

While the Vatican has yet to release an official itinerary, outgoing Peruvian President José María Balcázar previously indicated the early November trip could last up to 10 days, with stops including Lima and Cusco.

Meanwhile, neighbours in Uruguay are also preparing. Cardinal Daniel Sturla of Montevideo announced that the Vatican is expected to confirm the schedule by late July.

“Almost 40 years ago, we experienced the unforgettable visit of St John Paul II. Now we welcome Pope Leo with enormous anticipation. It is a joy for the church, but also for all of Uruguay,” the cardinal said.

The proposed itinerary features a potential stop in the marginalised Casavalle Basin, highlighting the pope’s characteristic closeness to peripheral communities.

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Peruʼs bishops offered prayers and expressed their solidarity with the victims of an earthquake that struck Saturday night in the Junín region — located in the countryʼs central Andean zone — leaving at least five people dead, more than 20 injured, and hundreds affected.

The earthquake, which occurred around 9 p.m., was centered in the district of Chongos Bajo, in the Chupaca province of the Junín region — situated in Peruʼs central Andes, some 193 miles east of Lima — according to the National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI, by its Spanish acronym).

“We share in the grief of the families mourning their loved ones, offering our prayers for the eternal rest of the deceased, and we ask the Lord to grant everyone strength, comfort, and hope,” the bishops stated in the aftermath of the disaster.

“We express our spiritual closeness to all those affected, to those who have lost their homes, and to those generously participating in rescue, care, and relief efforts,” said Bishop Carlos García Camader, president of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference.

After encouraging Peruvians to show solidarity with those affected, the bishops urged them not to lose hope and pray “that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, may intercede for all those affected and accompany our beloved people of Junín.”

Junín’s 5.1-magnitude earthquake

Rescue operations involving the police, firefighters, and the Peruvian army are ongoing, and authorities are assessing the damage — particularly in the Pumpunya area of ​​the Chongos Bajo district, where approximately 50 homes have been affected.

In an interview with Radio Programas del Perú, Hernando Tavera, president of the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP, by its Spanish acronym), stated that the extent of the destruction in this area is due to the fragility of the houses, most of which were built using substandard materials.

“When structures are built according to standards and proper engineering, they obviously yield better results than those constructed using local materials,” which makes them prone to easy collapse, Tavera explained.

So far, the IGP has recorded 12 aftershocks. The strongest measured 3.7 and 3.4 in magnitude.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Luis Enrique Arroyo Sánchez headed to the Chongos Bajo district alongside Defense Minister Amadeo Flores and INDECI chief Luis Enrique Vásquez “to oversee the response to the 5.1-magnitude earthquake and coordinate assistance for the affected population,” according to the Office of the Prime Minister.

Historic cross collapses

As a result of the earthquake, the historic Cani Cruz — known as the Lord of Cani Cruz — collapsed. The cross, erected in 1534 and located in the main square of Chongos Bajo, is one of the regionʼs oldest religious monuments, according to local media reports.

Carved from limestone and featuring reliefs of the crucified Christ and the Virgin Mary, in 1990 it was declared a national cultural heritage site, alongside the main church of Chongos Bajo and the El Copón Chapel.

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.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher prayed for peace in Ukraine at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Berdychiv, assuring the faithful of Pope Leo XIV’s spiritual closeness and urging them never to lose hope in God.

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Today, July 19, marks the 35th anniversary of the restoration of the structures of the Latin Rite Catholic Church in Ukraine. Celebrations are being held at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Scapular in Berdychiv, with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher present as the Pope's special envoy.

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How can you find God amid tragedy? Why does God allow so much suffering?

These are questions people might be asking themselves in Venezuela following the earthquakes of June 24.

Carlos Márquez, auxiliary bishop of Caracas, reflected on the mystery of suffering in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. In the prelateʼs view, the Catholic Church plays a fundamental role in shedding light on these existential questions.

A promise to hold onto: ‘We are not alone’

Márquez said it would be “an act of tremendous pridefulness” to attempt to provide answers that fully resolve this mystery. Ultimately, he noted, asking these questions is a way of “looking for someone to blame.” They are questions that “paralyze us and fill us with bitterness and pain.”

“We can’t escape biological law; we can’t escape the laws of nature. What we once thought was a curse or divine punishment, we now know to be natural processes, processes that are even necessary,” he explained regarding the devastating earthquakes.

To help make sense of the tragedy, Márquez pointed to two specific factors. The first is human freedom, which, when misused, “causes suffering and pain.” He referred to the collapsed buildings, many of which might have been built in unsuitable locations due to poor ground conditions or perhaps constructed without adhering to proper safety standards.

“Imprudence, whether culpable or not, always ends in tragedy. This is not caused, desired, or much less ordained by God. It’s not the divine will,” he remarked.

Márquez identified the second specific element in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, where the apostle to the Gentiles wrote that creation “groans until the present and suffers the pains of childbirth” (Rom 8:22-39).

This helps us understand that nature “readjusts, evolves, and moves” as part of a process “toward the fullness promised by Jesus Christ.” The auxiliary bishop explained that creation “will be subject to pain” until it is recapitulated in Christ, and we, as creatures, undergo these vicissitudes.

“Therefore, on our journey toward the fullness of living happily forever with Christ in heaven, we will encounter pain and suffering,” Márquez noted.

Yet in the face of these realities, the prelate offered a reassuring promise: “Christ’s promise was not that we would not suffer, nor that there would be no earthquakes, floods, or natural tragedies. Amid the pain, he promised not to abandon us. We are not alone: ​​‘I will be with you until the end of the world.’ He promises us his companionship in the midst of pain.”

The Lord “walks with us in the midst of our pain” and fulfills his promise “through his Church, among those who suffer.” The sacraments and the word, he continued, comfort and heal us, and transform our hearts “so we can move forward.”

God also gives us the example and intercession of the saints “so that we do not lose heart” and might feel accompanied. “When one is in great pain, when one is suffering deeply, the tragedy becomes worse when we are alone and isolated,” he said.

Christian hope in the face of death and tragedy

In recent weeks, the most heart-wrenching stories have filled social media. Yet, for the most part, they share a fundamental element highlighted by Márquez: hope.

Many people are thanking God for being alive and, amid unimaginable suffering, affirming that they will live to honor their deceased loved ones and will spare no effort to discover the purpose for which God has saved them.

“If we live united with Christ in suffering, we will live with him forever in heaven. Death does not have the final word. This earthquake does not have the final word. God has the final word, which is a word of life, happiness, and eternal joy,” he stated.

So, what is required of those Venezuelans who remain? Márquez answered clearly: to follow the example of all their saintly compatriots, to face adversity without asking “why,” and to work so that the future may be better.

“Pain is fleeting; death is not final. United in faith, hope, and charity, with our eyes fixed on the risen Christ, we walk together in communion to overcome this tragedy,” Márquez said.

“Venezuela is a land of grace; Venezuela is a land of saints. We have hope, and we will rise again. We will rise from the dust of this earthquake,” he added.

Finally, he recalled the words St. John Paul II spoke at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas during his second visit to the country on Feb. 10, 1996: “Venezuelans, even though the difficulties are serious and the challenges immense, your resolve must be great. Faced with a present full of uncertainty and a future full of questions, put your abilities to use with imagination and, above all, with generosity, trusting in God: God loves mankind.”

As of now, the official death toll following the earthquakes stands at 4,829, while the number of injured and affected people runs into the tens of thousands.

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 warned Sunday against imagining God as “a powerful figure who imposes himself by force, who takes over and dominates, or who arrives triumphantly” and urged Christians to embrace a Gospel-centered approach marked by humility and trust.

Speaking before the Angelus prayer in Liberty Square at Castel Gandolfo, where he is spending several weeks of rest through Monday, July 27, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel reading.

Following the parable of the sower, Jesus addresses the crowds through the images of the good wheat and the weeds, the mustard seed, and the yeast in the dough, the pope noted.

“These three short parables recall the coming of the kingdom of God in history, its action in human lives, and the way it grows, expands, and transforms the world from within,” Pope Leo said.

Through these images, he continued, Jesus warns against thinking of God principally in terms of power, domination, and triumph.

“Instead, God favors smallness, a sign of his discreet love, by which he leaves us free to accept or reject him,” the pope said. “His love makes its presence felt even among the weeds, acts in a hidden and invisible way like the smallest of all seeds, and leavens the dough without making a sound.”

God favors smallness

Pope Leo said believers sometimes expect God to act in dramatic and immediately visible ways.

“We sometimes expect God to do something spectacular; we want him to intervene from on high, immediately uprooting the weeds of evil,” he said.

“We imagine a strong and powerful God, and, unfortunately, we also model our way of being Christians and way of being the Church on this image.”

The kingdom of God, however, continues to grow quietly even amid evil, the pope said.

“However, the kingdom of God spreads even amidst the weeds, requiring us to train our vision so we can discern the good that sprouts despite the darkness of evil, and avoiding rash judgments,” he said.

The image of the smallest seed, Pope Leo explained, teaches Christians to be patient as God works through ordinary events and gradual processes.

“It comes like the smallest of seeds and thus calls for patience in accompanying these processes, so that we can recognize it in the little things of daily life and in the simplicity of ordinary existence,” he said.

The kingdom also “grows invisibly like yeast in flour,” the pope continued, freeing believers from discouragement and inviting them to maintain faith even when God appears absent.

“In fact, he is always with us, and his love is always ready to help us,” he said.

Pope Leo then urged Catholics to apply this divine way of acting to both their personal lives and the life of the Church.

“God’s way of acting must also become the way in which we live, both as individuals and as the Church, amidst the reality that surrounds us,” he said.

“We are called to adopt a Gospel-centered approach, without hastily opposing others through arrogant judgments, without imposing ourselves through power and force, and without losing trust in God’s work.”

The pope cited a reflection given by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, during the Jubilee of Catechists and Religion Teachers in the Holy Year 2000.

“As the then-Cardinal Ratzinger said, it is a matter of submitting ourselves to the logic of the seed — which is not that of success and greatness but that of making ourselves small and serving others,” Pope Leo said.

By embracing this approach, he concluded, Christians can become instruments through which the Gospel quietly transforms the world.

“In this way, we will become like small seeds of the Gospel that sprout and leavens of love that transform the dough of the world.”

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 Sicar retreat (“Sychar” in the English Bible) has given rise to one of the most notable youth evangelization experiences in Latin America. It came about through a process of discernment by a Mexican religious in her own search for God, a dynamic movement that today reaches thousands of young people.

With over 30 years of consecrated life, Mother María Elena Martínez has dedicated her life to the spiritual formation of young people and adults through “Mary, Mother of Love,” a private association of the faithful she founded in Mexico in 2015.

The community is centered on retreats making a spiritual impact, such as Emmaus, which is held in parishes and correctional facilities, and Sicar, which is aimed specifically at young adults.

Her life, marked from childhood by a quest for God, would ultimately become bound up in an initiative that is active today in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Argentina, and Peru.

“I remember as a little girl I had a great thirst for God,” she shared in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

That initial calling deepened over time. At age 11, she recalled, a desire to please Jesus arose within her. “A desire for purity … I wanted to live a life of virginity,” she noted, explaining that she prayed insistently to the Virgin Mary, asking for that consecration.

However, her path was neither immediate nor direct. “Religious life wasn’t something that particularly appealed to me,” she admitted. In her youth, she went through various experiences ranging from completing a degree in translating to exploring broader spiritual concerns, which eventually led her to try out consecrated life with the Missionaries of Charity.

Some time later, she tried cloistered contemplative life. “I wanted something more interior, deeper,” she confessed.

A concern arises: ‘What about the young people?’

The Sicar retreat did not originate as a planned initiative but rather as a pastoral response that only gradually took shape. According to Mother María Elena, for years many people approached her with the same concern: “What about the young people?”

“Do something for the young people,” they would tell her.

The Gospel account of the Samaritan woman began to take center stage in her prayer and discernment. Jesus’ dialogue at the well of Sychar — “If you knew the gift of God” (cf. Jn 4:1-42) — served as the starting point for helping young people discover Christ.

“The passage about the Samaritan woman was so rich, so rich, that I could draw so much from it,” she explained.

The decisive step came in 2016, when the first Sicar retreat was held. Mother María Elena remembered it as the beginning of something small and simple yet deeply meaningful. Young people with prior experience in movements like Emmaus were the first to participate.

Sicar began to expand. After establishing itself in cities such as Mexico City, Tehuacán, and Tecamachalco (in the state of Puebla), as well as San Luis de la Paz (Guanajuato state), Veracruz, Mérida (Yucatán state), and Cuernavaca (Morelos state), the initiative began to cross borders beyond Mexico. The first retreat in Guatemala took place in 2017; Buenos Aires in 2018; Paraguay in 2022; and in Peru in 2023.

“It has been growing in many places, rescuing so many young people,” Mother María Elena said with gratitude.

In Mexico, 38 Sicar retreats have been held with an average of 50 participants each, amounting to nearly 2,000 young people. In Peru, where the initiative arrived in 2023, seven retreats have already taken place with around 70 participants each, reaching approximately 490 people.

Ottmar Ricalde, a Sicar volunteer in Mexico, noted that “Sicar means and has meant so much over these past 10 years.”

“I could write and speak about all the stories, all the laughter, and all the tears, but the most important thing of all is the love of God that has been a gift to me,” he stated.

“My life was always focused on pleasing others, but when I met God and realized how much he loves me, I began wanting to please him,” he said.

In Paraguay, Sicar coordinator Fátima Correa highlighted that the experience “was a time of growth and renewal. It allowed us to view our history with fresh eyes.”

“It was a retreat organized by young people for young people, where every testimony reflected realities many of us could relate to,” she added.

A couple from Argentina who participated in the retreat and are now married say that Sicar marked a turning point in their lives. “We arrived as boyfriend and girlfriend and returned with completely transformed hearts ... today, we feel that one of the greatest fruits was our marriage.”

A growing community in Peru

Sicar arrived in Peru in 2023 and has since established a growing community.

Geraldine Spihlman, director of Sicar in Peru, explained that the initiative arose after a need was identified within youth ministry. “When young people reached the age of 24 or 25, they no longer had a place to continue their journey of faith,” she noted.

Following contact with Mother María Elena, it was decided to launch the initiative in Lima, which holds two retreats a year: in May and November.

Spihlman highlighted that the most visible fruit is the community: “Many young people have discovered that it’s hard to go it alone but that everything is easier in community. It is a community where you can see how they love one another.”

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‘God’s mercy knows no bounds’

One of the most common fruits of these retreats is a shift in how one views others.

In personal encounters, transformation occurs not only for those receiving the retreat but also for those who put it on.

“God’s mercy knows no bounds,” Mother María Elena stated. “You look at people with eyes of mercy. You no longer judge the person; instead, you see them as a child of God,” she explained.

Eros Acevedo, another team member, said the retreat “was an encounter with God that changed everything … I arrived bearing wounds, and his presence touched them. I left renewed.”

Rafael Mansilla, 27, said Sicar taught him to persevere in the faith. “Faith is not a flame that goes out but a steady flame,” he said.

Dina Dávila shared that the retreat was the instrument God used to call her. “The love I have experienced in the community is overwhelming,” she added.

‘A living Jesus’

Through the retreats, Mother María Elena explained, people are invited to encounter “a living Jesus.”

“God continues to act; he continues to perform miracles every day,” she affirmed.

She said she lives one day at a time. “Each day I tell the Lord, ‘For one more day, I say yes to you.’”

The Sicar retreat, born of a contemplative reading of the Gospel, continues to spread wherever young people seek meaning, healing, and an experience of mature faith.

Today, the young “Samaritans” who have lived this experience carry with them the words that marked their encounter with God: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst” (Jn 4:14).

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.

At Castel Gandolfo, after the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV said he continues to follow "with concern the events unfolding in various countries torn apart by war and violence." He urged everyone to unite "our constant prayers" with "generous efforts for peace." He also greeted the many pilgrims gathered in Piazza della Libertà.

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During his Angelus address, Pope Leo says God's Kingdom grows quietly through humility, patience and love rather than power, urging Christians to trust in His hidden work and become "small seeds of the Gospel" in the world.

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The canonization cause for celebrated novelist and Catholic convert Sigrid Undset is expected to open its diocesan phase this fall. One of Norwayʼs most celebrated writers, her life of faith, suffering, and intellectual depth still speaks powerfully to the Church in a secular age.

Undset’s life was marked by personal challenges, public controversy, and choices that drew social scandal — giving complexity to her witness to the faith. Literary historians have noted that her life was unconventional for a woman of her time: She smoked, drank, swore, and was known for a sharp tongue and strong personality.

Her work reflects the suffering and turmoil she encountered in her own life as well as the transcendent faith she discovered in Christ. She became Catholic at 42 after being raised an atheist.

Below is a list of several of Undset’s books — both fiction and nonfiction — each a starting place to discover more about the work and life of this renowned writer and possible saint.

‘Kristin Lavransdatter’

Set in medieval Norway, Undset’s magnum opus follows the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, a headstrong and passionate fictional character who defies societal expectations. Throughout the trilogy, Kristin falls in love and weds against her family’s wishes into a marriage that ultimately becomes tumultuous and stained with infidelity and tragedy.

‘Gunnar’s Daughter’

Set in the Viking era on the edge of the introduction of Christianity, a young woman named Vigdis is raped by a man she loved and conceives a son whom she raises on her own. The heart-wrenching story deals with revenge, forgiveness, and a society on the cusp of accepting Christianity but governed by laws of vengeance.

‘The Master of Hestviken’ tetralogy

“The Master of Hestviken” follows the life of Olav Audunsson, a man torn between pagan codes and Christian piety in medieval Norway. The tetralogy, consisting of four volumes (“The Axe,” “The Snake Pit,” “In the Wilderness,” and “The Son Avenger”), deals with sin, suffering, guilt, and redemption. The book has deeply Catholic themes, including a focus on the sacrament of reconciliation, as Audunsson deals with the guilt of a great sin that he feels he cannot confess.

‘Saga of Saints’

“Saga of Saints” tells the history of Norway through the lives of saints who witnessed to the faith throughout the nation’s history. The saga begins with an opening essay called “The Coming of Christianity to Norway” and follows with stories of historical Norwegian figures including Sunniva, King Olava, and Eystein.

Undset’s personal writings

With a journey to faith that has been compared to St. Augustine, Undset was raised by atheist parents and did not find Catholicism until later in her adult life. “Men, Women, and Places” is a collection of Undset’s biographical and cultural essays that offer a closer look into her inner life.

In the collection of nine biographical essays and literary critiques, Undset explores literary figures, saints, and geography, among other topics. Essays highlight medieval English mystics like Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich as well as poet and philosopher D.H. Lawrence and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

This may be the most confusing line in the New Testament:  "Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings."—St. Luke 16:9.  Let's see what the Church Fathers say about it. -Donate: https://www.padreperegrino.org/donate/

At Castel Gandolfo the Diocese of Albano offers a concert in the Pope's honor for his summer stay. "We live in a world where beauty is lacking. Having the opportunity to come together for an occasion like this is truly a great gift."

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A Nebraska man is in police custody after officials say he made threats against Catholic schools and nuns as well as the children of the state’s Catholic governor.

The Nebraska State Patrol said it initially arrested 32-year-old Ean Halstead on June 29. The patrol said in a press release that police were investigating a threatening online message against Columbus Catholic Schools and the family of state Gov. Jim Pillen.

The investigation led police to Halstead, who was arrested on June 29 after a standoff at his apartment in Omaha. He was charged with obstructing a police officer and failing to obey a lawful order.

A search at his residence revealed “evidence linking [Halstead] to the threatening message sent to Columbus Catholic Schools,” the patrol said. He was subsequently re-arrested on July 17 and charged with “terroristic threats and destruction of evidence.”

Local news reported that the message, posted to the Facebook page of Columbus Catholic Schools, had declared: “I’m going to shoot up this school and kill Jim Pillen’s children and a few nuns for [expletive] funsies.”

A spokesman for Pillen said the governor’s office was “extremely grateful” for law enforcement’s “quick and thorough work to track down this individual and ensure the security of the First Family.”

“We have zero tolerance for political violence here in Nebraska, including threats to carry it out. If you threaten violence against a public official or their family in this state, you will be found and held accountable,” the governor’s office said.

Pillen has four children with his wife, Suzanne. He has been governor of the state since 2023.

Earlier in 2026 he told EWTN News that there was “no way I could possibly be governor without my faith.”

His faith life includes the regular praying of the rosary; describing his average day, he said: “I get up and I pray to do God’s will.”

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup final, which will see the national soccer teams of Spain and Argentina face off on Sunday, the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante in Spain, José Ignacio Munilla, reflected on the values ​​of sport and the risk of idolatry.

Speaking on his program “Sixth Continent” on Radio María Spain regarding the sporting event, the Spanish prelate noted that soccer “possesses values ​​that deserve to be recognized."

He said the Church “cultivates the spiritual values ​​of sport,” which unites families and friends, creates opportunities for social connection in an increasingly individualistic society, and offers a chance to share joys and disappointments, among other virtues.

‘Who holds first place in our hearts?’

However, Munilla pointed out that “precisely because soccer stirs the human heart so deeply, it also becomes a magnificent mirror of our contradictions. For enjoying the sport is one thing, but turning it into a religion is something else entirely.”

“Our era has a curious way of manufacturing saints, but without holiness,” he added, referring to the attention lavished on sports stars, particularly soccer players.

While “it’s not wrong to admire someone who has developed an extraordinary talent through effort and sacrifice,” Munilla suggested it’s worth asking, “Who holds the first place in our hearts?”

The saints, he emphasized, guided generations of Christians for centuries as “models of humility, self-giving, mercy, fortitude, and faithfulness. They weren’t perfect, yet they pointed the way to human fulfillment.”

At another point in his radio reflection, the prelate said: “We all need role models; we all need points of reference. We all end up resembling those we admire. That is why it’s worth asking whether our children are more familiar with the biographies of great soccer players than with those of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. John Paul II, or Blessed Carlo Acutis. It would be a tragedy, of course, not because one must choose between them but because the saints teach us the art of living.”

‘Idols are always made of clay’

Today, people are fascinated with certain athletes, and "when we turn someone into an idol, they will inevitably end up disappointing us. Idols are always made of clay," he added, because just as "today we raise them to the heavens, tomorrow we will tear them down on social media over a missed penalty kick, a bad season, or making some personal mistake, because idolatry always ends up being cruel."

This reveals “that we are not truly loving the people themselves but rather using their successes to fuel our own emotions.”

Munilla also pointed to “the enormous financial disproportion surrounding professional soccer,” reflecting that “the market tends to put a price on what we turn into something indispensable.”

“The problem is not merely about money. The problem lies in the heart. For wherever we place our admiration, that is where our time, our attention, and our resources ultimately go,” Munilla observed, recalling Pope Francis' words: “You roar for a goal, yet you are unable to praise God with that same intensity?”

‘Only God can fill the heart forever’

On a purely human level, the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante reflected on a lesson to be drawn from sports: “Not knowing how to accept defeat is a sign of immaturity. But the person who needs to humiliate others doesn’t know how to win, either.”

He argued that “true sportsmanship lies in discovering that the rival player is not an enemy but someone who made the game possible. Only those who respect the loser truly know how to win. And only those capable of acknowledging the victorʼs merit without resentment truly know how to lose.”

“Let’s never confuse a ball with the meaning of life,” Munilla concluded, emphasizing that “a championship can fill a public square for a night, but only God can fill the heart forever.”

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.

On the third day of his mission to Ukraine, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations prayed this morning at St. Nicholas Church in Kyiv and visited an area where a Russian missile strike in May killed more than 20 people, including children. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher conveyed the closeness of Pope Leo XIV to everyone he met, saying "there is not a single day when he does not pray for Ukraine and for you, men and women of faith."

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Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki is accompanying the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, during his mission to the Eastern European country. "Unfortunately, the war continues, and at the moment we do not even see any hope for its end. Only God can bring it to a stop."

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As the Church prepares to beatify Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on Sept. 24 in St. Louis, Bishop Robert Barron said the beloved archbishop’s legacy extends far beyond his groundbreaking media ministry.

In a July 17 interview on “EWTN News In Depth,” Barron said Sheen’s enduring influence was rooted in decades of prayer, intellectual formation, and faithful preaching — a model he said he believes Catholic evangelists need now more than ever.

The Churchʼs recognition follows years of investigation into Sheenʼs life of heroic virtue and the Vaticanʼs approval of a miracle attributed to his intercession. During his priesthood, Sheen became known for proclaiming the Gospel through preaching, writing, radio, and television.

Evangelization built on formation

In the “EWTN News In Depth” interview with anchor Catherine Hadro, Barron, of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said Sheen’s example offers timely lessons for Catholics seeking to evangelize in today’s digital media landscape.

While technology has made it easier than ever for individuals to become online personalities, Barron said authentic evangelization requires much more than a social media platform or podcast.

According to Barron, Sheenʼs extraordinary effectiveness in radio and television ministry was rooted in decades of intellectual, spiritual, and pastoral formation.

Before becoming one of America’s best-known Catholic communicators, Sheen devoted years to seminary formation, graduate studies at The Catholic University of America, and doctoral studies at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. His preaching reflected a lifelong engagement with sacred Scripture and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, G.K. Chesterton, and St. John Henry Newman.

“He begins his evangelical work only after a long apprenticeship as a teacher, as a writer, as a student,” Barron said. “Fulton Sheen had an extremely rich academic formation. Seminary, Catholic University, and the advanced doctorate at Louvain.”

For Barron, Sheen demonstrates that lasting evangelization is built upon disciplined study and prayer before public ministry.

“I want you to use the old medium of books,” Barron said. “Read and read and read before you dream of getting in front of the microphone.”

A warning for Catholic communicators

Barron said today’s media environment presents opportunities for evangelization but also significant challenges.

“A lot of people just put a shingle on and say, ‘I’m a Catholic spokesman,’” he said.

Without sufficient theological, philosophical, and spiritual formation, Barron warned, Catholic communicators can unintentionally misrepresent the faith.

“I think Sheen would be bothered by that,” he said.

Rather than seeking influence first, Barron encouraged aspiring Catholic communicators to imitate Sheen’s commitment to study, prayer, and fidelity to the Church before entering public ministry.

A life to imitate

Throughout the interview, Barron pointed to five enduring characteristics of Sheen’s life that remain relevant for Catholics today: daily prayer, serious intellectual formation, Christ-centered preaching, personal humility, and joyful evangelization.

Those qualities, Barron said, explain why Sheen’s witness continues to resonate decades after his death and why his influence extends well beyond his pioneering work in television.

Barron concluded by responding to comparisons often made between himself and Sheen. Although both men are Illinois natives, graduates of The Catholic University of America, and widely known for their use of media in evangelization, Barron humbly dismissed it.

“It embarrasses me because I’m much unworthy of a comparison,” Barron said. “He is the greatest preacher in the history of our country.”

Historic beatification

Sheen’s beatification is expected to draw thousands of bishops, priests, religious, seminarians, and lay faithful from across the United States and around the world. Pilgrims are planning to travel to St. Louis not only to witness the historic celebration but also to give thanks for the enduring impact of Sheen’s ministry.

As interest in Sheen continues to grow ahead of his beatification, Catholic leaders are organizing events examining his legacy. On Sept. 23, the Fulton Sheen Institute will host the conference “Americaʼs Saint: The Catholic Hour is Now” in St. Louis, bringing together scholars, clergy, and evangelists to discuss Sheenʼs relevance for the Church and American culture.

“This conference will rally the voices of American Catholics who championed Sheen when his cause was buried,” said Peter Howard, founder and president of the Fulton Sheen Institute and Fulton Sheen Movement. "At a time marked by confusion, fragmentation, and a crisis of identity, Sheen’s message cuts through the noise with conviction and clarity.”

In Kyiv, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher met with the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who spoke to Vatican Media about the joy of welcoming the Pope's special envoy, as well as Cardinal Zuppi during his recent visit: "To pray together with the Holy Father's special envoys is to pray with the universal Church. For us, they are a visible sign of the Church embracing us."

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More than 22 million Catholics across the globe make up a network dedicated to praying daily for the challenges facing humanity and the Church, uniting their prayers with Pope Leo XIV’s monthly intentions.

The Popeʼs Worldwide Prayer Network is a pontifical foundation known for its Pray with the Pope campaign through which the Holy Father announces his monthʼs intention in a video message.

While the pope “has an endless list” of prayer intentions, he chooses 12 to offer for each month of the year, Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, the international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, explained in an interview with “EWTN News In Depth.”

In order to do so, the network will “help the pope to discern the intentions a year ahead,” Fones explained. “So we ask many people — all the dicasteries and our national directors — to give us some proposals, and we offer to him lots of them … about 20 of them.”

The Holy Father “takes some time to pray on these proposals” and then chooses the 12 intentions for the upcoming year in advance.

“So we published, for instance, the 2027 monthly intentions last February. So you can already know what we are about to pray for next year too, so that we can have some time to make the translations, to create the materials in Indonesian, Hindi, Swahili, Guarani, and so on.”

Pope Leo has continued the tradition of Pope Francis, who recorded the first video of the monthly intentions in 2016, but the current pontiff has put his own take on it.

Pope Leo is “not only asking us to pray but praying himself for the monthly intention and inviting us to join him in prayer,” Fones said. “Thatʼs why we call this campaign ‘Pray with the Pope,’ because heʼs the first one interceding for the needs of humanity, and he is inviting us through this campaign to do it with him.”

“Some people may watch the video and participate with him by praying. Others can do it [on] their own. But the important thing is to be united in this network of hearts — compassionate hearts for the needs of the world.”

Pope Leo is also “constantly asking us to pray for contextual … prayer intentions, like a flood or an earthquake in Venezuela, for instance,” Fones said.

All these prayer intentions are then updated “in what we call the popeʼs prayer profile,” Fones said. It consists of “all the requests for prayer that he normally does, whether on Sunday in the Angelus or on Wednesdays during the general audience.”

In order to aid the Holy Father, the network is run by a team of an administrative council appointed by the Holy See, international coordinators, formation leaders, and communications teams.

The network “is a participation in the mission of the Church by offering ourselves through prayer, service, and spiritual formation,” Fones said. Made up of Catholics in more than 90 countries, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is “a very old pontifical work with more than 180 years.”

The network started in 1844 and was first called the Apostleship of Prayer. It was later renamed and established as a formal Vatican foundation in 2020 to support Christ’s mission of compassion for the world across continents and cultures.

Call for prayers to respect life

Pope Leo’s prayer intention for the month of July is for respect for human life in all circumstances.

The Holy Father drew attention to the importance of the intention when he dined with 200 vulnerable people on July 11.

“Having a lunch is just to show a sign [of] what we actually have to do with one another, to sit at the same table, to recognize our common dignity, because we are all sons and daughters of the same God. And when you understand that, you treat others as equal in dignity,” Fones said.

“We may think differently. We may have different positions in life — opinions, backgrounds, stories — but we are all sons and daughters of God. So when you recognize that you can treat others as brothers and sisters, even if you disagree with them,” he said.

Humanitarian agencies are trying to prevent the spread of diseases in Gaza amid severe overcrowding and deteriorating public health conditions.

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“[We] will not receive an extension or any second chances.”

That’s the urgent message Catholics in western New York are telling the local faithful in their bid to preserve a Civil War-era parish in the small town of Auburn.

The Diocese of Rochester is moving to permanently close and potentially sell Holy Family Church due to structural issues that officials say make it unsafe to use as a parish.

The diocese shut down the church in June 2024, but parishioners of the parish in Auburn — located about 40 minutes outside of Syracuse — are petitioning the Vatican to keep the church an active holy site rather than allow it to be sold off to potential developers.

On its website, Holy Family Organization to Preserve and Endure says the Vatican has requested that the group “demonstrate funding for the purchase, repair, and maintenance of the church.”

The organizers say they are working to raise pledges to support the parish but there is a “narrow time window” and numbers “must be provided to the Vatican by mid-late summer 2026.”

“If H.O.P.E. fails to demonstrate sufficient evidence to the Vatican by mid-late summer, then Holy Family Church could be sold to a secular buyer and could be destroyed,” the group said.

Parish’s roots stretch back to early 1800s

The Auburn-based Roblee Historic Preservation said in a “statement of significance” report that Auburn was the site of the first Catholic Mass in the Western New York region in the early 1800s.

The Roblee report was drafted in order to assist the city’s historic review board in potentially awarding a landmark designation to the parish. The New York Historic Preservation Office had previously said the property was eligible for listing on both the state and national historic registers.

The Church of the Holy Family was initially dedicated in 1830 in a chapel previously used by local Methodists. The current building was built in 1861 by local Dutch-born master builder John Vanderbosch.

The report described the parish as the “mother church” of Auburn and “an iconic part of its downtown skyline.”

On its website, the Catholic preservation group says it hopes to retain the parish for “Catholic religious activity,” including rosary groups and private prayer groups, “occasional worship,” sacred music concerts, sacred art displays, and architecture tours.

Karen Odrzywolski, the president of the parish preservation group, said the church is also meant to preserve the memory and legacy of Bishop Patrick Byrne, an apostolic delegate to Korea who was martyred in 1950 during a four-month-long forced march while in the captivity of communist forces in North Korea.

Born in Washington, D.C., Byrne spent his formative years in Auburn, living just a few blocks from the parish. His family attended Mass there and he attended the parochial school; he was confirmed at the parish in 1900.

Odrzywolski told EWTN News the preservation group formed in July 2024, a month after the parish was officially shuttered by the diocese.

“We initially put together a preservation plan, which we shared with our pastor and with the Diocese of Rochester,” she said. “We’ve also shared it with the Vatican.”

“We’ve also worked on educating the community as to the significance of the church,” she said. “We’ve had events in honor of Bishop Byrne and of his family, and on the 75th anniversary of his martyrdom we had a prayer vigil.”

In addition to the link with Byrne, Odrzywolski said the parish was also once host to another famous Catholic bishop, now-Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The prelate, at the time the bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, officiated the funeral Mass of Father William Davie at the parish in 1968.

The Vatican has requested that the group demonstration its ability to fund the church’s upkeep, she said. “We’re very appreciative of this opportunity. We’re hopeful if we can demonstrate the funding they’ll allow us to proceed with preserving the church.”

Thus far, Odrzywolski said, the group isn’t accepting cash donations; instead, it is collecting pledges “so we can demonstrate our ability to fund the maintenance, repair, and preservation of the church.”

“We’ve received over 300 pledges,” she continued. “We’re extremely grateful to every single person who has pledged. Many people have pledged as much as they possibly can. Many who pledge in general may be of limited or fixed income.”

Odrzywolski said the needed repairs are limited to the exterior facade. The interior, she said, has been well maintained over more than a century and a half.

The Vatican, meanwhile, is expecting the group’s proof of viability by August. “We’re trying our best to aim for an Aug. 1 deadline in order to allow enough time to prepare the documents in a timely manner,” she said.

“The truth is, we need the entire community to come together,” she said. “The closure of the church impacts the entire community, and we need individuals, families, and businesses to come together.”

“It’s about the future of Auburn,” she continued. “but it’s also about honoring Bishop Byrne, and ultimately honoring God.”

“I thought that I was going to die that day.”

Haile McAnally’s words still ring years after her experience with abortion pills sent her to the hospital.

Alone in her apartment after she took the pills, McAnally was discovered passed out in the bathtub, surrounded by blood.

“I started hemorrhaging, and the only strength I had when I was sitting on the toilet was to take myself into the bathtub,” she said in a press call on July 13. “And when I laid down in the bathtub, I thought that I was going to die that day.”

Her phone was on the opposite end of the bathroom — out of reach.

“I didnʼt have enough strength to get up and call anybody, so I laid there,” she said. “And that was really all I remember until I woke up in the hospital.”

“My friend had let me know that she found me and called 911, and they came and thankfully rescued me,” McAnally recalled. “I had a blood transfusion at the hospital, and it was a horrifying experience for someone so young that thought that they could trust these medical professionals.”

Now, McAnally is advocating against mail-order abortion pills by signing a letter in support of a woman suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for not having safeguards for women.

“We have to raise awareness about the danger of these pills,” McAnally said.

“I was in a center; I was there where there were nurses and there was a doctor and I had oversight,” McAnally continued. “Mailing these [abortion pills] across the country and putting them in dorm rooms and in bathrooms all around the country with no oversight is, I believe, very reckless.”

McAnally said she hopes she and the other women who have had similar experiences “will be heard.”

“I’m just one story out of many,” McAnally said.

McAnally is one of more than a dozen women harmed by abortion drugs who are asking Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to settle a lawsuit over abortion pill guardrails in a July 8 letter.

The women are rallying behind Rosalie Markezich, the leading voice in an ongoing lawsuit against the federal government. Markezich’s boyfriend at the time allegedly coerced her into taking abortion pills.

“If mail-order abortion wasn’t a thing, I’m 100% sure I would have my child,” the letter read, quoting Markezich.

The women are advocating for in-person prescription requirements for chemical abortions.

“We grieve with Rosalie because many of us recognize parts of our own stories in hers: the pressure, the confusion, the fear, the absence of real medical care, and the feeling that the system was designed to move drugs faster than it was designed to protect women,” the letter read.

The abortion pill has been left largely unregulated by Trump’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in spite of documented danger to women, including coercion, poisonings, and physical harm.

Numerous cases of abortion pill poisonings and coercions have been documented in recent years in addition to Markezich’s.

“No woman should be forced, pressured, deceived, or abandoned into taking drugs that end her child’s life and place her own health at risk,” the letter said.

“The FDA’s illegal abortion drug policy is responsible for this danger, and it is the same policy the department is defending in court,” the letter continued.

SBA Pro-Life America’s Jamie Dangers urged Blanche to address these issues in Louisiana v. FDA.

“The death toll is climbing, and we need action immediately,” Dangers said in a press call on July 13. “This is our new drug crisis. Mifepristone takes more lives every year than fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin combined.”

An estimated 15,000 unborn children are killed monthly by the abortion pill in states where it is illegal, according to Dangers.

“As many as 11% of the women who take these drugs will experience really serious complications, including hemorrhage, infection, sepsis, and more,” Dangers continued.

Jessica Williams, a registered nurse whose baby was saved through abortion pill reversal, also signed the letter and shared her story in the press call.

She obtained abortion pills without ever meeting with a provider.

“My now ex-husband was pressuring me to abort my pregnancy,” Williams said. “At the time, I was also experiencing the emotional roller coaster of going through a divorce.”

“I was vulnerable, emotionally exhausted, and experiencing one of the lowest points in my life,” Williams said.

“I took the first abortion pill after succumbing to the pressures from my ex-husband,” Williams said. “Within the next 24 hours, my mind, body, and spirit spiraled with confusion and a variety of emotions. I wondered if my baby was still alive.”

Because of her background as a nurse, Williams knew there might still be a chance that her unborn daughter was still alive. Staff at a pregnancy resource center stepped in to help her and her unborn daughter.

“I was connected with a compassionate pregnancy resource center in Las Vegas, where I obtained a free ultrasound, was prescribed the abortion pill reversal, and was supported through one of the hardest times of my life,” Williams continued.

“Because of abortion pill reversal, my daughter, Kaylie, is alive,” Williams said. “She is now 3. Sheʼs healthy, beautiful, thriving, and one of the greatest blessings of my life.”

As a nurse, Williams calls the current system “predatory.”

Mail-order abortion lacks the safeguards that in-person visits entail — including ensuring the drugs go to the right person.

“No woman should ever feel trapped, isolated, or without someone to help or understand her options,” she said. “As a medical professional we are sworn in to do no harm.”

“Every woman deserves to make decisions free from coercion or pressure, and with appropriate medical support,” Williams continued.

In addition, Williams is advocating for more information about abortion pill reversal to be given to women. In her own case, she was told that the practice was dangerous.

“As a registered nurse, informed consent has always been one of the most fundamental principles of medicine,” Williams said. “Women deserve complete information about their medical options. They deserve compassionate care.”

If things had been a little different, Williams might not have her daughter Kaylee with her — and that thought motivates her to advocate for other women in similar situations.

“I often think about what my life would look like had I never learned that another option existed,” Williams said. “Thatʼs why I continue to share my story.”

The signing of the agreement on technical cooperation between the two institutions took place on July 17 at the Vatican. The partnership has also been made possible by the Holy See's clear commitment to strengthening its financial architecture in line with international standards.

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As the Church celebrates the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jenny Kraska offers her thoughts on the day's liturgical readings, reflecting on the theme, "The Wheat, the Weeds, and the Weekend.�

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U.S. attorney general nominee Todd Blanche has pledged to enforce a federal law already on the books that would allow the federal government to end the shipping of chemical abortion drugs.

When pressed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during his confirmation hearing on July 15, Blanche agreed to enforce the Comstock Act and other federal pro-life acts to the greatest extent possible.

When asked by Cruz if he would “carefully evaluate every lawful action available to ensure the faithful enforcement of the Comstock Act and other federal pro-life acts,” Blanche said: “Yes.”

Under former president Joe Biden, the Department of Justice determined that mail-order mifepristone is not a violation of the Comstock Act.

The Comstock Act of 1873 prohibits sending obscene materials via the post office as well as the mailing of "every article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.”

Activists urge Congress to defund Planned Parenthood

Advocates for unborn babies and legislators this week rallied to urge Congress to permanently end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.

At a July 16 press conference on Capitol Hill, hosted by Live Action and Defund Coalition partners, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said Congress “should have acted long ago.”

“There is no excuse for Planned Parenthood to be receiving taxpayer money to be carrying out the mutilation of our children, to be carrying out the murder of the innocent unborn, and yet that is what this Congress is planning to do,” Hawley said.

“I’m here to say, ‘Not on my watch.’ It is absolutely unacceptable and indefensible that a Republican Congress would fund Planned Parenthood.”

The rally took place just weeks after the Trump administration’s temporary defunding of Planned Parenthood expired on July 4.

Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, said taxpayer dollars “should never be used to prop up America’s largest abortion business.”

“Planned Parenthood exists to end the lives of preborn children, and every dollar it receives helps sustain an industry built on violence against the innocent,” Rose said in a statement shared with EWTN News.

“The American people should not be made to subsidize abortion businesses under the guise of women’s health. Defund Planned Parenthood now.”

Planned Parenthood investing $47 million into 2026 midterms

Planned Parenthood is investing $47 million into the November midterm elections, targeting Republicans who voted to defund the abortion giant last year.

The “We Decide” Campaign from Planned Parenthood Votes, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, will target voters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as well as in Senate races in Michigan and potentially Maine.

“All the freedoms weʼve fought for are on the line this year, and WE DECIDE what comes next,” reads the We Decide website.

Idaho ballot initiative could repeal protections for unborn babies

An initiative to end Idaho’s strong protection for unborn children has qualified for November’s general election ballot.

Idahoans United for Women and Families, a group that advocates for abortion, announced Monday that it collected more than 110,000 signatures for the ballot initiative.

The proposed initiative would legalize abortion until the unborn baby is viable outside of the womb and establish a right to reproductive health decisions about abortion.

Idaho protects unborn babies throughout all stages of pregnancy, except to save the pregnant woman’s life or in cases of rape or incest, the latter two rules applying only during the first trimester.

Missouri governor signs abortion survivors protection act

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an act to reinforce protections against infanticide for babies born alive after attempted abortions.

The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act establishes charges of first-degree murder against a healthcare practitioner who “knowingly performs or attempts to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive.”

Abortion is legal in Missouri up to the point of fetal viability, where the baby can survive without extraordinary medical intervention, according to the Missouri Constitution.

Missourians will vote on several abortion-related measures in November, with proposed amendments that would protect unborn children throughout pregnancy, with some exceptions.

Catholic leaders are offering prayers and calls for peace and justice after federal immigration agents fatally shot two immigrants in the span of one week.

The Diocese of Portland, Maine, is offering prayers and pastoral support to the family of a Colombian man, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26, who was shot and killed on Monday, July 13, in the small town of Biddeford, Maine.

Archbishop Joe Vásquez of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, meanwhile, called for a “reform that brings about justice to all parties” as well as “peaceful dialogue, mutual respect, and a commitment to charity” after 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, was fatally shot by an ICE agent during a traffic stop July 7 in Houston’s Hispanic Magnolia Park neighborhood.

Conflicting stories

The Maine shooting occurred as Durán “attempted to flee the scene” during a vehicle stop by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, an ICE spokesperson told EWTN News in a statement. 

The spokesperson said the agency was “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.”

Identifying Durán, the ICE statement indicated that “an illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” and when the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

The Diocese of Portland said its Hispanic ministry is providing support to Durán’s wife and 3-year-old daughter as well as the community.

“We pray that all those affected by his death may experience Godʼs loving comfort, strength, and peace,” the diocesan statement added in the wake of the tragedy.

Mufalo Chitam, the executive director of Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, told the Associated Press that Durán was on his way to work when he was apprehended and shot.

The Colombian native was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number, according to the immigrant advocacy group Presente! 

Not the intended target

ICE said Salgado, a father of three who has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades, rammed an ICE vehicle in an East Houston neighborhood and attempted to run over an officer, who then fired in self-defense.

Witnesses, including his brother, who was a passenger in his van, have disputed that account.

In response to the shooting, Vásquez said in a statement on July 15: “As a society, we need to see and treat each other as men and women created in the image and likeness of God, including our immigrant brothers and sisters, our elected officials, as well as our law enforcement officers. Violence and disrespect will only lead to more fear and division,” Vásquez wrote.

Vásquez reiterated the U.S. bishops’ call for “meaningful immigration reform as opposed to an ‘enforcement-only approach.’”

“The U.S. Catholic bishops have repeatedly called for enforcement efforts that are targeted, proportional, and humane,” Vásquez continued.

No body cameras used in either shooting

U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said the ICE agents were not wearing body cameras at the time of Durán’s shooting, the AP reported of the latest incident.

"The question is, what did he do with his vehicle," King said. "Were officers threatened? Were the threats rising to the level that justified deadly force? Thatʼs what this investigation is all about.”

Though cameras at local businesses have footage of the incident, Maine State Police have asked for the footage not to be released pending the investigation, per the AP.

DHS told Houston Public Media the officers involved in Salgado’s shooting were not wearing body cameras because of recent lapses in federal funding.

State and federal agencies, including local police departments, the attorney general’s offices, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the FBI are investigating both shootings.

The law enforcement officers who shot Durán and Salgado have been placed on leave during the investigations.

It is not clear if one of the three men in the van with Salgado was the man ICE was searching for, but a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia told Houston Public Media she spoke with David Venturella, ICE’s acting director, who told her Salgado was not “the intended target.”

Aaron Reitz, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said in a statement July 16 that on the morning Salgado was shot in Houston, federal officials were investigating two Guatemalan men “who had previously evaded arrest and were potentially subject to deportation.” They were also known to be driving a white van.

Reitz said that while searching for the men, federal officers received a report of a similar vehicle in the area, leading police to pull over Salgado’s van because the men inside “fit the suspects’ description.”

“The aliens then fled,” Reitz’s statement continued, “conducting a rapid U-turn and hopping a median to get away. The agents chose not to pursue.”

The federal agents came across Salgado’s van again later that morning, according to Reitz, “and again, the illegal aliens attempted to flee, but this time the agents successfully surrounded the vehicle.”

The officers “instructed the noncompliant aliens to put the van in park. Preliminary information indicates the driver shifted the van into reverse, then forward again, while an officer was partially inside the van or immediately next to it.”

Officers then fired “a single shot” during the confrontation, hitting Salgado. 

Durán and Salgado’s deaths bring the number of those who have been fatally shot by ICE agents this year to four.

In January, two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were killed in separate incidents during immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

A Catholic teacher based in Arbroath, Scotland, is filing suit after she was fired over her pro-life views.

Supported by pro-life group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Sarah Morse, 66, is taking Arbroath High School, run by Angus Council, to court on grounds of discrimination. The move comes after Morse was fired after telling a student, “I am a faithful Roman Catholic and I am against it,” when asked her opinion on abortion during a history lesson in November 2025.

“At no time did I attempt to persuade any student to adopt my position. To be ‘canceled’ and lose my livelihood because of my religious identity is a terrifying precedent for the teaching profession in Scotland,” Morse said.

“As a faithful Roman Catholic, Sarah Morse respectfully said she opposes [abortion]. Hours later she was sacked on the spot,” SPUC said. “We must all have the right to express our pro-life views without fear of losing our jobs.”

Attack on Christians in Egypt raises questions about hate speech

A new attack on Christians in Egypt’s Minya Governorate has renewed scrutiny of sectarian incitement and the deeper roots of anti-Christian hostility.

According to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Bishop Macarius, Coptic Orthodox bishop of Minya, said extremists attacked Copts in the village of al-Tal al-Qibliya, damaged a priest’s car, prevented worshippers from leaving a church, and cut off electricity. Security forces later arrived, arrested those accused of incitement and rioting, and began documenting the damage.

Egyptian senator Bassem Kamel said repeated incidents in Minya point to failures that cannot be addressed by security responses alone, calling for renewed religious discourse, educational reform, media policies that promote acceptance, and faster action on an independent antidiscrimination commission.

Apostolic vicar of Northern Arabia describes pastoral visits amid war

Apostolic Vicar Aldo Berardi, OSST, of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia revealed that he was able to carry out 11 pastoral visits throughout the region despite airport closures and ongoing conflicts.

“Despite the difficulties caused by the attacks and the closure of airports, we were able to carry out the program as planned,” Berardi said in a Fides News article, emphasizing the need to visit his flock “especially at a time marked by tension and fear.” 

The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia covers Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. “We gathered to pray for peace and organized special moments of encounter and fraternity,” he said. “No priest requested to return to his home country, a source of great consolation for the entire community.”

Vatican diplomat highlights HIV crisis among children

Monsignor Marco Formica, counselor of the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, called for increased attention to HIV cases among children.

“My delegation would like to draw special attention to children, who remain particularly vulnerable to HIV. Gaps in both diagnosis and treatment mean that the 3% of HIV patients that are children account for 12% of deaths due to HIV,” Formica said in a statement following a U.N. meeting on HIV and AIDS.

“Quality antenatal as well as perinatal and postpartum care protects both mothers and their children. It is vital to ensure early testing and consistent access to treatment for children with HIV in child-friendly formulations,” he said.

Syriac lawmaker says Christians not sufficiently represented

Gabriel Moshe Kourieh, the only Syriac member of Syria’s Parliament and a leading figure in the Assyrian Democratic Organization, told ACI MENA that Christian representation in the new People’s Assembly remains below the community’s aspirations.

Christians currently hold about 3% of the seats, a figure Kourieh said does not properly reflect their historic role in Syrian public life or their place in the country’s national consensus. He argued that a future fair electoral law could allow broader Christian participation from different provinces while stressing that Syria’s transition must be judged by actions: the building of institutions, separation of powers, judicial independence, and equal citizenship.

Kourieh also placed constitutional recognition of the Syriac-Assyrian identity, language, and culture among his top parliamentary priorities while warning that economic hardship, poor services, and fading hope continue to push many Syrians toward emigration.

Catholic Social Services in Australia urges government to address housing crisis

Catholic Social Services Australia (CCSA) has asked the Australian government to conduct an audit of the country’s regulations on buying and building housing.

“Regulation is not inherently negative. It is introduced to address specific problems or market failures,” CSSA chief executive Jerry Nockles said in a Catholic News report on Thursday following the proposed audit. “Without regular reassessment, well-intentioned regulations can inadvertently constrain housing supply, driving up costs and limiting access — experienced most acutely by low-income households.”

Caritas South Korea named official channel for humanitarian aid

The South Korean Caritas will serve as the primary distributor of humanitarian aid from Caritas International for people north of the border, Asia News reported.

"On behalf of the Caritas Internationalis, we discussed the project of development and cooperation with Kim Seong-il, vice chairman of the National Economic Cooperation Committee of North Korea, who accepted our direct commitment. We also exchanged a letter of intent,” Father Lazzaro You Heung-sik, president of the bishops' aid committee, said following a five-day visit to North Korea in May, according to the report.

Under the agreement, Caritas will serve as the “only channel of aid from Catholics from all over the world,” Paul Jeremiah Hwang Yong-yeon, secretary of the South Korean Caritas, also said.

Filipino bishop calls for end to stigma around mental health

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines pledged to walk with members of the faithful struggling with mental illness and work toward breaking societal stigmas around mental health.

“Mental illness is not a sign of weak faith. It is not a punishment from God. Like any illness, it deserves understanding, appropriate care, and compassionate accompaniment. Every person, whatever his or her condition, is created in the image and likeness of God and possesses an inalienable dignity that no illness can ever take away,” the bishops said in a pastoral statement released on Monday. 

“As a Church, we commit to building communities of encounter, breaking the stigma, strengthening collaboration, and walking together in hope so that every person is welcomed, accompanied, and freed from stigma,” the bishops added.

The Mexico City attorney generalʼs office announced the arrest of a priest from the Archdiocese of Mexico accused of aggravated child sexual abuse against a 17-year-old girl and stated that a judge has already initiated criminal proceedings against him.

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In a statement issued July 15, the attorney general’s office noted that the complaint was filed June 4 by the teenagerʼs mother, who had discovered “conversations with sexual content with a contact identified as ‘Winnie Poo’” on her daughterʼs mobile phone earlier this year.

According to the attorney general’s office, the teenager reportedly stated that the contact in question was a priest identified as Enrique “N,” who allegedly “forced her to engage in sexual acts on four occasions.”

Following the initial inquiries, a supervisory judge ordered the priest to be held in pretrial detention and set a two-month deadline for the conclusion of the supplementary investigation.

Archdiocese initiates canonical investigation

The Archdiocese of Mexico announced in a statement dated July 15 that archbishop Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes had ordered the initiation of an investigation “in accordance with canon law and the procedures established by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

The statement expressed its “support for the minor victim, her family, and anyone who may have been a victim of any form of abuse” and reiterated its commitment to the protection of minors and vulnerable persons, “as well as to providing respectful support to those who have suffered any form of violence.”

The archdiocese also noted that while the investigation is ongoing, it “will avoid making premature judgments” and “will refrain from revealing the priest’s identity while the competent authorities carry out the necessary proceedings.”

Finally, the archdiocese urged anyone aware of a possible case of sexual abuse committed by an ordained minister to report it either by phone or email and provided the contact information.

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

Catholic and Eastern Orthodox bishops exchanged dialogue and joined together in prayer at an ecumenical conference in Washington, D.C., this week with a hope that one day the Eastern and Western churches will be reunited.

The conference, held at the retreat house for the St. John Paul II National Shrine on July 13–15, was organized by the Orientale Lumen Foundation. Jack Figel, an Eastern Catholic who founded the group, named it after St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter expressing hope for reunification.

Speakers included the secretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Archbishop Flavio Pace; the primate of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Tikhon Mollard; Cardinal Seán Patrick OʼMalley; Greek Orthodox Bishop Anthony Vrame; and Romanian Catholic Bishop John Michael Botean.

“I grew up with — I lived with — the tension between East and West my whole life,” Figel told EWTN News.

A reunification, Figel said, “all depends on the Holy Spirit.” He said: “It is going to be a miracle and it’s going to be on God’s time.”

The conference included speeches by both Catholic and Orthodox bishops and joint panels. Prayer services were held in the Eastern form in which bishops from both traditions participated: a moleben to the Holy Spirit on Monday, daily vespers on Tuesday, and the Akathist to the Mother of God on Wednesday.

Theological hurdles

Recent popes have had friendly relations with Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, and ongoing study by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church is seeking to resolve theological disputes.

In 2024, the commission set up two subcommittees to analyze two major points of contention: one for papal infallibility and the other for the Filioque.

Papal infallibility refers to Vatican I’s teaching that the pope can infallibly define doctrines. The Filioque — Latin for “and the Son” — refers to the West adding the phrase in the Nicene Creed “the Holy Spirit … who proceeds from the Father ‘and the Son.’” Catholics argue this clarifies the Latin translation of the Creed, which was originally in Greek; but many Orthodox see it as changing the understanding of the Trinity.

Vrame told EWTN News these theological issues continue to be a hurdle toward Catholic and Orthodox communion.

The No. 1 issue

Speaking from the Orthodox perspective, he said papal infallibility and supremacy is the No. 1 issue. Although Orthodox acknowledge Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as “first among equals” among patriarchs, “our governance structure allows for each national Church to govern itself,” he said.

Dialogue with Rome, Vrame said, must address questions of “how do we begin to understand any claims of universal jurisdiction of the papacy” and “how do we understand any form of papal infallibility.” He said the Catholic embrace of synodality could improve dialogue on this issue.

He said a major question is what unity would look like and pointed toward Rome’s relationship with Eastern Catholics as a possible example, saying they are “in communion with Rome,” but “Rome allowed them to retain their distinctive rites and practices.” However, he noted historical complications with Rome’s past attempts to Latinize Eastern Catholics and a major question to settle is: “What would unity do?”

Mollard also told EWTN News “the whole question of primacy and synodality” remains a major issue, along with “centuries of separation,” which he said “doesn’t help either.”

Pace told EWTN News that the subcommittee addressing infallibility has to “prepare a very good draft” on the matter that the full committee made up of Catholic and Orthodox leaders “can discuss and approve.”

Steps toward unity

As the hierarchy tries to work out millennium-old theological disputes, Mollard said another step is “trying to get from the theological [dialogue] to the implementation” of a stronger relationship but warned “everyone’s afraid to do anything.”

“We do have to practice these things,” he said in his speech. “Let’s work together and see if we can find our unity in Christ … [and] work on the structures that could bring that about more formally.”

“Prayer and humility are always good,” Mollard said.

He told EWTN News that some steps could be jointly “caring for the poor” or “feeding the hungry,” which is “the most direct way that collaboration can take place” at this time. In his speech, O’Malley called for joint prayer and study sessions, joint pastoral letters and statements, and joint works of mercy.

Figel suggested Catholic and Orthodox parishes should “pray once a month for unity for at least 10 or 15 minutes.”

Ultimately, Vrame said full unity and communion would be expressed “in the Eucharist” if all issues are resolved.

“We don’t share the Eucharist,” he said. “That would be the culminating moment.”

Dialogue and the laity

Many bishops said dialogue and bonds should take place among laity too, with Botean saying in his speech that ecumenism cannot just be “at the level of academics.”

“Without the face-to-face stuff, … we’re going to get nowhere,” he said. “And if our competition is the internet, we have more driving us apart than together.”

Botean warned against hostile and uncharitable exchanges, many of which occur on social media, saying: “When we become unloving because of our faith, we’re on the wrong track.”

Lizbeth Moncada, a senior at Florida Atlantic University who attended the conference, told EWTN News that she has “a lot of friends who are Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox” but agreed that online dialogue can often be “polarizing.”

She said exchanges online can be “very disheartening” and she has “wanted to stop engaging in these conversations” at times. Yet, she said discussions like what occurred at the conference are “encouraging.”

Andrew Likoudis of the ecumenical Likoudis Legacy Foundation, told EWTN News: “I try not to even engage in online discourse because of how toxic it is.” Yet, he said “the discourse here is much healthier” and allows Catholics and Orthodox Christians to “cross theological boundaries and retain the integrity of our own traditions without compromise.”

Vrame, commenting on dialogue, said “beating up on somebody else is not very Christian … no matter what you think of their position.” He said people can have “respectful disagreements … without having to beat up on somebody,” saying that’s “no way to show love for your neighbor.”

He said it’s good that people are passionate about their faith but posed the question: “Are we passionate in a way that reflects Christ and Christianity?”

LONDON — Andy Burnham was officially named the leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on July 17, paving the way for him to become the United Kingdom’s first prime minister to enter office publicly identifying identifying as a Catholic.

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer on June 22, Burnham became the main contender to replace him.

Previous prime ministers have had connections to the Catholic faith, although none have begun their terms in office as practicing Catholics. Tony Blair, prime minister from 1997 to 2007, converted to Catholicism after leaving office. Boris Johnson, prime minister from 2019 to 2022, though baptized a Catholic as an infant, entered Downing Street as an Anglican.

Burnham, who was sworn in on a Bible as a new member of Parliament on June 22, has described his Catholic faith as “unshowy,” telling The Guardian in 2009: “Three things are important in my life apart from family: Everton [Football Club], the Labour Party, and the Catholic Church — in that order.”

The appointment could also raise a constitutional question concerning his role in episcopal appointments.

At play is a landmark U.K. law known as the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 (also called the Catholic Emancipation Act). It grants Roman Catholics the right to sit in Parliament and hold most public offices but does not allow them to advise the crown on Church of England episcopal appointments. How this provision may operate in modern constitutional practice remains contested.

Jon Tonge, a politics professor at the University of Liverpool, told EWTN News: “Legally, Burnham would be prohibited from advising the monarch on [Church of England] bishops. The law has not been repealed. The lord chancellor will provide the advice.”

An ‘a la carte’ Catholicism

Tonge continued: “Even though heʼs not a regular at Mass, [Burnham] sent his children to Catholic schools … It is an ‘a la carte’ Catholicism, which ignores the social conservatism (opposition to same-sex marriage or to abortion, as examples) and attempts to apply Catholic social teaching principles to policy. Equality, fairness, justice, and help for those with least are at its heart — hence Burnhamʼs commitment to tackle homelessness in Greater Manchester and donate some of his salary to the issue.”

Burnham has said he was raised with a "live and let live" approach, something that has shaped his stance on policy. He supports abortion and same-sex marriage and is in favor of assisted suicide for terminally ill adults, positions that are not in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, told EWTN News: “I canʼt actually see anything thatʼs obviously Christian in his [Burnham’s] policies. A person that professes and confesses faith will always uphold marriage between one man and one woman, will not champion trans ideology into law and into policy … Heʼs pro-assisted suicide, heʼs pro-liberalization of abortion. So that doesnʼt actually match with his faith.”

In 2023, Burnham delighted Pope Francis at the Vatican when he gifted the pontiff a shirt signed by fellow Argentinian Lisandro Martinez, a player for Manchester United. Following Francis’ death, Burnham described the meeting as the “most moving” experience of his life — despite having previously pressured the pope to bring the Catholic Church “into the 21st century” on issues including LGBT rights.

Growing up in the 1980s in Warrington, Burnham attended St. Aelredʼs Catholic High School and was raised in his Irish mother Eileen’s Catholic faith. She said in a 2015 interview: “You should have seen the fights he and his brothers had on Sundays. They were all altar boys, but Andy had to be the one at the front holding the Communion plate.” 

Burnham married Marie-France van Heel in 2000 after meeting at Cambridge Universityʼs Fitzwilliam College in 1989, and they have three grown children.

This story was updated at 2:45 p.m. ET on July 17, 2026, with a change in the headline and first paragraph to reflect Burnham’s election as leader of the Labour Party.

Catholic Charities workers in Minnesota distributed thousands of masks to vulnerable residents this week amid widespread smoke from raging wildfires both in Minnesota and in Canada.

Data from the Canadian government shows more than 120 “out of control” fires burning in the country, with a large portion concentrated north of Minnesota in the Ontario province.

The Minnesota government, meanwhile, issued an emergency declaration this week as wildfires spread across the northern part of the state. State Gov. Tim Walz said the fires “are posing an increasing threat to lives, property, and our wilderness.”

On its Facebook page, Catholic Charities Twin Cities — which serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul region — said it was distributing N95 face masks at its Saint Paul Opportunity Center. The center was also offering water, meals, showers, and refuge from the ongoing heat wave.

In a video shared by the charity, one Twin Cities resident said the smoke in the region was “very hazy,” making it “really hard to breathe.”

Catholic Charities is “really helping us,” said the man, who was wearing an N95 mask. The Saint Paul shelter “gives us a place to come inside [where] we’re away from this.”

Elizabeth Heger, the vice president of emergency services at the charity, told local outlet MPR News that the organization “went into high gear” after the air quality rapidly deteriorated.

“Our goal is to always make sure that folks are safe and that they have all the resources they need, especially in times like this when the air quality is really bad,” she told MPR.

A spokesperson for Catholic Charities Southeast Michigan, meanwhile, told EWTN News on July 17 that the organization had urged workers to work from home if possible to avoid the poor air quality.

The spokesperson said the charity was also shifting some of its caseload to house calls so that vulnerable residents would not have to venture out into the smoke.

As of July 17 there were more than 800 wildfires total burning across Canada. Numerous cities in the northeastern U.S., as well as cities further into the midwest region of the country, were under widespread air quality alerts.

Cities including Boston; New York; Washington, D.C.; and Baltimore all saw poor air quality accompanied by alerts mid-week, along with other cities including Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Pervasive smoke was expected to continue into the weekend, though shifting wind patterns projected for next week were expected to give much of the U.S. a reprieve from the haze and poor air quality.

One U.S. lawmaker, meanwhile, has proposed sanctioning Canada over the wildfire crisis.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said on July 16 that he would introduce legislation to sanction the country for allegedly “fail[ing] to invest in wildfire prevention methods” such as “forest thinning, fuel reduction, prescribed burns, and stronger enforcement against arson.”

ABUJA, Nigeria — Cardinal John Onaiyekan has challenged Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration to intensify efforts to end kidnapping and other violent crimes in Nigeria, insisting that the government has “no excuse” for failing to tackle the countryʼs worsening insecurity.

In an interview with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on the sidelines of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria, Onaiyekan said the recent rescue of abducted schoolchildren should serve as renewed motivation for authorities to dismantle kidnapping networks.

“We can be saying ‘thank God,’ we thank our president, and so on, but the kidnapping should not have happened in the first place if the government was serious about fighting insecurity. [It] has no excuse not to end kidnapping in Nigeria,” the 82-year-old cardinal said during the July 14 interview.

While expressing gratitude for the childrenʼs safe return after nearly two months in captivity, Onaiyekan, the archbishop emeritus of Abuja, emphasized that the release does not erase the trauma the children endured or the suffering of their families.

“We are all grateful to God. But the release has not cancelled the pain of having so many children taken away in captivity for almost two months,” the cardinal said.

He said the successful rescue does not provide evidence that Nigeriaʼs security crisis has been overcome, noting that many other victims remain in the hands of kidnappers and terrorist groups.

“I am praying and hoping that the government will not believe that we have done well now that these children have been released. We should not forget that there are others, maybe hundreds, out there that are still in the hands of terrorists asking for all kinds of ransom,” he said.

The cardinal questioned why kidnappers continue to operate camps where abducted persons are held for extended periods without being dismantled by security agencies.

“From the way I saw the children on the video, they were not sleeping in the bush all these 60 days,” he observed.

Onaiyekan added: “Very often, the kidnappers have their own arrangements. They sometimes run their own villages, and ordinary men and women are there taking care of those they have captured until they are ready to be released after negotiations and ransom paid.”

“If that is so, we still cannot understand that our government says they cannot deal with these criminal elements,” he said.

According to the Church leader, genuine progress against insecurity will only be achieved when Nigerians can move freely without fear.

“Until we can move around freely and safely in Nigeria, we cannot congratulate ourselves,” he said.

Expressing gratitude once again for the rescue of the children, Onaiyekan appealed to the Nigerian government to provide comprehensive rehabilitation for the rescued children, warning that the trauma of captivity could have lasting psychological and spiritual consequences.

“We hope that the government will realize that after 60 days under such circumstances, these children need special attention in terms of psycho-social and psycho-spiritual therapy to help them overcome the trauma they have been exposed to; some of them are as young as 2 years, which, if not properly addressed, will affect their future,” he said.

Reflecting on the silver jubilee of the Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria,  Onaiyekan recalled helping to establish the organization 25 years ago.

“I was the person who brought them together in the Pope John Paul II Centre 25 years ago,” he said, explaining that the organization was founded after witnessing the success of the Catholic Women Organization (CWO) in mobilizing women to actively participate in the Church.

“The CWO was moving and doing wonderful things, appearing very well and mobilizing women. Somehow, the idea came that you have to do something for the men. Otherwise, they continue to just come to church and go back home, and you cannot count on them for any serious Church organization,” Onaiyekan said.

He called on Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria members to embrace their vocation as fathers by making their families true domestic churches rooted in faith and Christian values.

“The strength of the Church and society begins with the family; Catholic men are to lead by example through love, prayer, integrity, and service. Be good fathers in your families. Let your homes become domestic churches where Christ is truly present,” he said.

The cardinal emphasized that fatherhood extends beyond meeting material needs, urging Catholic men to nurture their families' spiritual lives.

“A father should not only provide food for the family but should also lead them to God through prayer, good example, and faithful living,” he said.

He further encouraged members of the organization to remain committed to evangelization by witnessing to the Gospel in their homes, workplaces, and communities.

Onaiyekan urged Catholic Men Organization of Nigeria members to continue supporting the Churchʼs mission through active participation, charity, and moral leadership, saying their faithful witness would help build stronger families, a stronger Church, and a better society.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

As Zambians prepare to vote in the 13 August Presidential and General Elections, the Catholic Bishops have issued a Pastoral Statement urging violence-free, peaceful and civil electoral campaigns and elections.

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A Canadian same-sex coupleʼs lawsuit against the surrogate mother who refused their request to abort their unborn child is drawing attention not only to abortion but also to deeper questions about surrogacy itself, Canadian bioethicist Moira McQueen said.

Contracting a surrogate mother to carry an implanted embryo separates what the Church calls the unitive and procreative dimensions of marriage, McQueen said. “If you start interfering with that, there will be problems.”

McQueen said the Ontario dispute illustrates how separating conception, pregnancy, and parenthood among different people can create conflicts that no contract can fully prevent.

In this case, the problems read like a checklist of all that can go wrong in surrogate parenting. A same-sex couple allege that the Ontario woman who carried their son to birth breached their surrogacy agreement during the pregnancy and after his birth.

The lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court alleges the surrogate failed to keep the couple informed about the babyʼs health, disregarded medical advice, excluded them from decisions about the pregnancy, and failed to follow their directions regarding the babyʼs medical care. It also accuses her of interfering with legal steps to establish parentage, disclosing confidential information, defaming the couple on social media, and improperly seeking reimbursement for expenses.

The statement of claim doesn’t mention the coupleʼs reported request that the surrogate have an abortion after a prenatal diagnosis.

The National Post, which interviewed the woman, reported that an ultrasound indicated the baby had a cleft lip and other possible conditions. She received a letter from the couple asking that “the pregnancy be terminated,” which “devastated” her, according to the newspaper. When doctors later determined the baby was otherwise healthy, the parents agreed the pregnancy should continue.

The lawsuit doesn’t specify a dollar amount, but the surrogate told the newspaper the couple were seeking approximately $600,000.

That exploitation has global dimensions through the growth of “reproductive tourism” because it’s cheaper to pay a woman in a third-world country, McQueen said. “People have gone to other countries but then not carried out their part of the contract when something [unplanned] happens.”

The contractual nature of the relationship has “nothing to do with love,” she said. McQueen questioned where the child fits into an arrangement driven by contracts and negotiations rather than a loving family relationship.

Even if the arrangement works out, “itʼs what theyʼve done to that person in the other country. It’s using people. Itʼs exploiting them.”

Pope Leo XIV has raised concerns with surrogate parenthood in recent remarks. He told the Vatican diplomatic corps in January that surrogacy turns “gestation into a negotiable service,” violating the dignity of the child and mother, “exploiting her body and the generative process.”

Surrogacy advocate Sally Rhoads-Heinrich, whose organization worked with the parties, rejected the suggestion that the case exposed flaws in surrogacy itself.

“This arrangement soured terribly because sometimes parties (even with the best interests and contracts) can change their minds,” she told Canadian Catholic News. “Everyone went through intense screening, counseling, legal contracts, and had support.”

Although the abortion element is catching attention, she said abortion is “incredibly rare” for a surrogate pregnancy in Canada.

“We’ve only had two cases in our 26-year history,” she said. One was for a baby with hydrocephalus who she said would have died at birth and the other was when parents asked their surrogate to abort one of three triplets in utero in a high-risk triplet pregnancy.

McQueen pointed to the 1987 Vatican instruction Donum Vitae, issued under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. It says children have the right “to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world, and brought up by his own parents.”

Surrogate arrangements set up “to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological, and moral elements which constitute those families,” Ratzinger said. "Such damage to the personal relationships within the family has repercussions on civil society: What threatens the unity and stability of the family is a source of dissension, disorder, and injustice in the whole of social life.”

Benedict made clear that no matter how children enter the world, they must be accepted as a living gift of Godʼs goodness and brought up with love.

McQueen said that because surrogacy is “a contract more than a loving relationship,” a surrogate whose pregnancy no longer meets the intended parents' expectations can come to be viewed as having “broken the contract.” She pointed to cases in which intended parents have abandoned surrogate mothers after pregnancies did not unfold as planned.

Similar questions arose in California in 2015 when gestational surrogate Melissa Cook refused a request by the intended father to abort one of the triplets she was carrying. The dispute prompted a Minnesota legislative study of surrogacy.

Testifying before the Minnesota Legislative Commission on Surrogacy in 2016, University of St. Thomas law professor Teresa Collett argued surrogacy contracts tend to prioritize the expectations of intended parents while leaving surrogate mothers and children more vulnerable when conflicts arise.

Canadian law prohibits paying a woman to act as a surrogate, while allowing reimbursement of pregnancy-related expenses. Rhoads-Heinrich argues Canada should instead permit surrogate mothers to receive compensation.

“Altruistic surrogacy is not ideal as surrogates should be properly compensated for their time, effort, and risk,” she said. Without compensation, she argued, there is a shortage of surrogate mothers, leaving “thousands of embryos frozen in clinics in Canada that will never get the chance at life because of the lack of surrogates available.”

McQueen said frozen embryos raise a separate ethical dilemma. While the Church clearly opposes creating and freezing embryos in the first place, it has not given a definitive answer on whether Catholics should adopt frozen embryos because competing moral considerations are involved.

“Itʼs a terrible problem,” she said. “Itʼs a very sad situation” for infertile couples who long for children, she added, but their suffering does not change the Churchʼs moral concerns about the technologies used to create and freeze embryos.

Christians in Switzerland have protested a new military law that ends the long-standing exemption from compulsory military service for clergy, accusing the federal government of revising the legislation without consulting the country’s religious communities as is customary before legislative changes.

The revised Federal Act on the Armed Forces, which took effect June 1, repealed Article 18, ending the automatic exemption that priests, monks, and other clergy had traditionally received because of their pastoral role in civilian society.

Clergy deemed fit for service are now required to complete the same compulsory military service as other Swiss men: an initial 18 weeks of basic training followed by refresher courses over nine years, amounting to a total of 245 days of service. Military service remains compulsory only for men.

Church response

In a July 8 letter to the Swiss Federal Council, four of the country’s largest Christian bodies criticized the government’s handling of the reform. The signatories included the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland, the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland (Old Catholic), and the umbrella organization Freikirchen.ch, which represents Switzerland’s free churches.

Christian leaders said they had not been invited to participate in the consultation process that normally accompanies significant legislative changes in Switzerland, despite the fact that the reform directly affects the ministry of clergy during times of national crisis.

“We regret this procedural flaw,” said Peter Schneeberger, president of Freikirchen.ch, in a statement. “From our standpoint, this does not correspond to a proper legislative process.”

According to the organizations, they only became aware of the change indirectly after the legislation had already been adopted.

While acknowledging that the reform itself can be debated politically, Schneeberger argued that the deeper issue is what the decision says about the state’s understanding of religion.

By abolishing the exemption, he wrote, the government is abandoning the long-held assumption that pastoral care during wars, disasters, and other emergencies is a public service worthy of special protection. He described the move as a form of “state self-secularization” — not hostility toward religion but a reassessment of the churches’ role in society without any broader public discussion.

Government response

The Federal Council defended the reform by arguing that the exemption had become obsolete. It said the provision was originally intended to ensure civilians would continue receiving spiritual care during wars and national emergencies.

In its reasoning, the government stated that “the increasing secularization of society means that fewer and fewer people feel connected to the Church’s offerings,” concluding that pastoral ministry can no longer be regarded as “an activity essential to maintaining social life.”

Swiss military authorities similarly argued that the exemption no longer reflects the religious realities of modern Swiss society.

The government’s decision comes amid a marked shift in Switzerland’s religious landscape. According to official statistics, Catholics accounted for 42.3% of the population in 2000 but had fallen to 30% by 2024. Over the same period, the proportion of people with no religious affiliation more than tripled, rising from 11.4% to 36.8%, reflecting the country’s accelerating secularization.

Questioning the army’s response

Auxiliary Bishop Alain de Raemy of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg, who previously served as chaplain to the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican, called the government’s decision “a lack of respect for society.”

Pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, de Raemy argued that moments of crisis often increase, rather than diminish, the demand for spiritual care.

“As we saw during COVID, or during the Crans-Montana disaster, there was a need for people available on a spiritual level as well. So how will we manage in times of war and future crises, if priests must serve in the army? What is the Federal Council’s plan?” he asked.

Collectively, the churches have appealed to the Federal Council to clarify how clergy will be able to continue providing pastoral care if they are called to military service and have urged the government to introduce flexible arrangements that preserve their ministry during future national emergencies.

The Secretary for Relations with States and International Organisations is in Ukraine until 21 July as the Pope's envoy for the 35th anniversary of the Renewal of the Structures of the Latin Rite Catholic Church.

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The mother a 25-year-old Spanish woman who died by euthanasia in March following a long legal battle has filed two criminal complaints against the yet-to-be identified men who allegedly raped her daughter.

"I have decided to file a complaint against the men who caused my daughter so much harm. I am doing this because I feel that is what she wanted,” said Yolanda Ramos, the mother of Noelia Castillo, in explaining her reasons for asking the public prosecutorʼs office to investigate two alleged rapes that appear to be at the root of her daughter’s case.

“Noelia spoke about the rapes on television, and on the very day she died, she gave me her diary,” Ramos said. “And when I read it, I understood many things."

In a recording released by the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, Ramos explained how an intuition led her to take the step nearly four months after her daughter was euthanized via lethal injection.

“I feel that my daughter wanted the whole truth to be known someday. That is why I decided to go to the prosecutorʼs office, because I cannot simply stand by and do nothing. They can’t bring my daughter back, but neither do I want this to be forgotten. I am doing this for her, and also for other young women who have gone through the same thing but have not reported it,” she explained.

“It’s the only thing I can do for my daughter,” she said, “so that she is never forgotten.”

In April, Ramos called for the repeal of the euthanasia law via social media: “Please, let this law be abolished. I donʼt want there to be any more Noelias. I donʼt want this to happen again. This euthanasia law must be completely done away with.”

A written record of the assaults

Working with the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, Ramos filed two complaints with the provincial prosecutorʼs offices of Barcelona and Tarragona. She said she hopes the two alleged rapes her daughter suffered will be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.

The foundation said the complaints show that Noelia left, in writing, the story of both sexual assaults.

Regarding the first incident, it describes how she was forced to have sexual relations by her then-romantic partner, a young Pakistani man with whom she had been in a relationship for four years.

As for the second, it details how, after meeting a waiter in Salou, she was drugged, made to consume alcohol, and raped by three men. Three days after that assault, Noelia attempted suicide by throwing herself from the fifth floor of a building. She survived but was left paraplegic. Years later, she would request euthanasia.

According to the foundation, "the events could constitute two counts of rape”  under the penal code.

“The family was unable to report the incidents at the time due to a lack of sufficient evidence. However, following Noeliaʼs death, her mother has gained access to various documents that, according to the complaint, would make it possible to identify the alleged perpetrators,” the foundation stated.

Among the new evidence are handwritten entries “recounting both rapes, as well as conversations, identifying details, and other elements that would facilitate locating the alleged assailants."

Finally, the Christian Lawyers foundation pointed out that “the victimʼs death does not preclude criminal prosecution for these offenses” and called on the public prosecutorʼs office “to initiate the necessary proceedings to identify those responsible and hold them criminally accountable.”

The first euthanasia case to go to court in Spain

Noelia del Castillo was euthanized on March 26. She requested the procedure in April 2024 and it was granted in August of that year. Shortly after that, her parents initiated a legal battle to preserve her life.

This was the first case to go to court in Spain since the euthanasia law came into effect on June 25, 2021. Since then, 1,688 people have died from euthanasia, according to official statistics from the Ministry of Health.

In the legal proceedings, it was requested that the procedure not be carried out, as it was determined that Noelia had not received the necessary support to address her psychiatric issues — issues highlighted by her repeated suicide attempts, one of which caused her serious injuries.

“The Constitutional Court itself makes it clear that euthanasia cannot be applied when the origin of the suffering is a mental illness, and that the state has the obligation to protect these people against the risk of suicide,” Christian Lawyers explained to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, in March.

Separately, a complaint was filed against the doctor and the lawyer who initially assessed Noelia’s request, alleging that they “feigned disagreement in order to refer the decision to the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission and ‘force’ a supposedly higher level of assurance in the decision-making process,” a Supreme Court ruling noted.

Furthermore, a complaint was also lodged against seven members of the Guarantee Commission for conflict of interest and against the former Minister of Health for Catalonia, Josep María Argimón, for having appointed them.

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 Federal Constitutional Court of Pakistan will review a previous ruling that allowed a 13-year-old Christian girl, who was forced into child marriage and religious conversion, to stay with her abductor.

“One year ago in July 2025, Maria [Shahbaz] was abducted. She was forced into a marriage with a 30-year-old man. She was forcibly converted and she remains with the abductor today,” Kelsey Zorzi, director of advocacy for Global Religious Freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo.

ADF International is supporting Shahbaz’s ongoing case and calling for an end to forced marriage and conversions in Pakistan.

Shahbaz has been seeking justice in the Pakistani court since it placed her in the custody of Shehryar Ahmad –— the man who abducted her from her family. The Christian girl was married off to Ahmad and forcibly converted to Islam.

The court previously found that she could remain with her abductor after “they did not verify her age according to her birth certificate,” Zorzi explained. “Instead, they looked at her and said, ‘She doesnʼt look 13. She looks older.’ And they sent her home with the abductor.”

“The Christian community is outraged by the courtʼs latest decision, because what it signals to future abductors is that they can find young girls, they can forcibly marry them, they can forcibly convert them to Islam, and then they can tell the judge that their birth certificates are erroneous, and they can tell them that these girls are any age that they appear to be physically,” she said.

On July 16, “the Federal Constitutional Court, which is the highest court in Pakistan that hears these cases, actually decided to hear a review of their decision from March of this year,” Zorzi said.

The court “is willing to reevaluate that decision,” she said. “On Friday, July 24, they will have the first hearing to reevaluate this.”

The court’s decision follows a resolution adopted by the European Parliament  on July 9 that highlighted Shahbaz’s case and detailed human rights violations in Sudan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. It called for Shahbaz’s return to her family and condemned the broader pattern of child abductions and forced marriages in Pakistan.

In the resolution members of Parliament said they “call for the protection of religious minorities and urge Pakistan’s government to ensure that all cases involving minors or allegations of coercion are subject to transparent and independent investigations.”

“The perpetrators must be prosecuted and Pakistan’s judicial framework strengthened … and abducted girls must be able to return safely,” the resolution said.

Shahbaz’s case is ‘not an isolated event’

Shahbaz’s case is not an isolated case, and child marriage and forced conversion among young girls “is a widespread problem in Pakistan and beyond,” Zorzi said.

According to UNICEF, 100 million girls worldwide are at risk of child marriage this decade. The issue escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to rising poverty and isolation, and lack of education.

“In Pakistan alone, weʼre seeing over 1,000 minority girls being forcibly married and forcibly converted into Islam every single year,” Zorzi said. “So Mariaʼs case is not an isolated event. Itʼs part of a systemic problem that weʼre seeing in this country.”

ADF International believes Shahbaz’s case “is a precedent-setting case,” Zorzi said. “We think it has so much potential to actually stop this problem going forward. So weʼre very hopeful and weʼre very thankful that the court is willing to reconsider it next week.”

“Throughout Pakistan, the pattern of abductions, forced conversions, and coerced marriages of underage girls to much older men is alarming,” Tehmina Arora, director of Advocacy for Asia at ADF International, said in a July 9 press release.

“Hundreds of girls each year find themselves victims of these sham marriages, losing their personal freedoms and facing exploitation and abuse,” Arora said.

“The court must now do what is right by granting her freedom and establishing a precedent that will protect vulnerable young girls from these horrific acts,” she said.