In the United States, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said the prelates would join “the faithful and all people of good will in praying for his good health.” He also prayed for those who will perform the operation: “May the hand of Pope Leo’s surgeons be guided by the divine physician, Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York joined the prayers as he finished a week-long pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. “I join with the bishops, priests, faithful, and all people of good will of the Archdiocese of New York in praying for our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, as he prepares for his surgery later this week,” he wrote. He also asked Jesus, “the divine physician,” to care for the pope and guide “the hands of his surgeons, nurses, and other health professionals.”

Prayers from Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru

Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, also wrote about the news. Uruguay is one of the countries expecting Pope Leo XIV on his upcoming visit to Latin America. “Let us pray for his speedy recovery and continue with greater spirit the preparation for his visit to our land,” he wrote.

In Peru, which also expects the pope later this year, the Archdiocese of Lima entrusted his health to the Lord of Miracles, a devotion that draws millions of Peruvians each year. “We ask the Lord of Miracles for his speedy recovery,” the archdiocese said on social media.

The Peruvian bishops’ conference issued a message titled “United in prayer for the health of the Holy Father Leo XIV.” It noted the :serenity and humility” with which the pope shared the news and asked that his health be entrusted to the Lord of Miracles.

“Lifting to God, Lord of life and source of all health, our supplications that he strengthen him and grant him the health that the fulfillment of his mission requires,” the Peruvian bishops said. They also urged communities, families, and the faithful to place the Holy Father under the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that in the fullness of his strength he may continue his mission in service of the Church and all humanity, as a messenger of peace and hope and a witness of unity, fraternity, and encounter among all peoples.

The Argentinian bishops said in a statement: “We ask the Lord to grant him strength and peace at this time, that the operation may go well, and that he may make a swift and full recovery.”

Prayers from Spain

The Spanish bishops’ conference also invited prayer for the pope. Its president, Archbishop Luis Argüello, asked “the whole Spanish Church — dioceses, institutes of consecrated life, communities and lay associations, all members of the People of God, and our fellow citizens — to pray for the health of our beloved Pope Leo XIV.”

The conference’s secretary general, Bishop Francisco César García Magán, recalled the welcome Leo XIV received on his recent visit to Spain and said the faithful can now show him their closeness in another way: “Now we show it by uniting in prayer.”

Instagram post

The conference’s secretary general, Bishop Francisco César García Magán, recalled the welcome Leo XIV received on his recent visit to Spain and said the faithful can now show him their closeness in another way: “Now we show it by uniting in prayer.”

Prayers from Poland, Great Britain, Malta

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, the president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, issued an appeal to the Polish people, asking them to “pray for the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, asking God for a successful operation and a speedy recovery.”

Bishop John Keenan, on behalf of the Scottish bishops’ conference, said: “We invite Catholics across Scotland, and all people of goodwill, to join us in praying for Pope Leo, for the medical team caring for him, and for a successful operation and a full and speedy recovery.”

Archbishop Richard Moth of Westminster and the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, assured Leo of the prayers of the faithful.

“We pray that following the procedure and a period of recovery, he will soon be restored to health,” Moth wrote.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, Archbishop of Malta and Adjunct Secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote on X: “The Church in Malta is united in prayer for the Holy Father, wishing him well for the surgery he will be undergoing.”

Leo XIV asks for prayer

The pope announced the operation after Sunday’s Angelus. Doctors found a nodule on one of his lungs and recommended removing it. In sharing the news, Leo asked the faithful to accompany him spiritually in the coming days: “I entrust myself to your prayer.”

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

He confirmed at the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that the lesion was caught early and is well localized. “The doctors consider it advisable to intervene. I have decided to have the operation to remove it, following their advice,” he said.

Many are asking how nodules are found, how they are evaluated, and what leads doctors to recommend removing them.

The condition, commonly called a “spot on the lung,” shows up on imaging as a white opacity against normal lung tissue and is generally up to 30 millimeters in diameter.

Dr. Bruno Vincenzi, head of the oncology service at the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital in Rome, told ACI Prensa, the sister service of EWTN News, that a nodule can be found because a patient has symptoms that lead to tests.

“A persistent cough that has just appeared, expectoration — that is, producing phlegm with traces of blood — or chest pain can be reasons the patient undergoes studies,” he said.

He added that these findings are now increasingly accidental. Patients may be scanned before an operation or a hospital stay, or as part of a screening program, especially if they are older or have been smokers.

Asked why a doctor would recommend surgery, as in the pope’s case, Vincenzi said certain features on the images can raise concern. Spiculated margins — irregular or jagged — can suggest a more worrying lesion and make removal advisable. Well-defined margins, perhaps with calcifications inside, more often suggest a benign nodule.

Dr. Elmer Huerta, a Peruvian oncologist based in the United States and the first Latin American president of the American Cancer Society, said the operation the pope is expected to have is usually done with minimally invasive techniques. “The old thoracotomies, which meant opening the chest, are no longer done. What is done now is minimally invasive robotic surgery, in which a half-centimeter opening is made between the ribs, the robot is introduced, and the operation is done with that,” he said.

Huerta said it is not yet possible to say how long the pope will need to recover fully, because the specific features of the nodule, and therefore the exact extent of the surgery, are not public. Depending on what is found, doctors may remove a wedge of lung that includes the nodule, a segment, or a whole lobe. That will determine the recovery.

On how soon the pope can resume his usual commitments, Huerta said it depends on the extent of the operation. A wedge removal is simpler, and he could fly in two or three weeks and make his planned trip to Latin America. Removing a lobe would be more complicated. The key is the nature of the nodule, which has not been made public.

Huerta also stressed that most lung nodules are not cancerous. A 2022 study found that 95 percent are benign and only 5 percent are cancer. Cancerous nodules have certain features on X-rays, CT scans, and PET exams.

Vincenzi said a histological analysis is needed to determine what a nodule is. When a nodule is removed because its features suggest a suspicious lesion, the pathologist’s final examination of the cells can give a clear indication of whether it is benign or malignant.

Both experts declined to speculate on the pope’s case without precise clinical details. Vincenzi said it is better to stop at the diagnostic stage, because saying more risks creating needless reassurance or needless worry. Huerta said the same thing he tells his patients: go step by step.

The hospitalization planned for next week will force the pope to cancel all commitments on those days, Vatican press office director Matteo Bruni told ACI Prensa. Among them is the closing Mass of an international meeting on the family, held for the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which Leo XIV was to preside over on Wednesday with the presidents of episcopal conferences gathered at the Vatican.

In principle, the surgery would not affect the trip to South America planned for November 6–17, judging by the pope’s own words at the Angelus. Greeting members of the Brotherhood of the Lord of Miracles in St. Peter’s Square, he said, “Thank you for your prayer for the pastoral visit I will make to Peru.”

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

The report, "Absent from the Table: Catholics in Australia Who Do Not Regularly Attend Sunday Mass," was commissioned by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and carried out by its National Centre for Pastoral Research. Researchers surveyed 1,973 self-selected adult Catholics online in 2024 and interviewed 67 of them from March to July 2025.

“Despite their irregular attendance, most participants remained deeply connected to their faith,” the executive summary states.

Around two-thirds of respondents said faith was very important to them, 77% said Jesus is the Son of God, and 64% said they pray regularly. Just over half (55%) affirmed the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, while 24% saw the elements as symbolic and 21% were unsure.

In all, 74% of respondents attended Mass less than weekly: 19% monthly, 36% occasionally, and 19% not at all. The full report notes that the findings, based on a self-selected sample, “are not fully generalisable to all Catholics in Australia.”

Why they stay away

The researchers identified 14 reasons for missing Mass. The main ones were Mass not being a priority, a crisis of faith, family or household issues, liturgical issues, challenges with the parish priest or other clergy, and the misuse of power and authority in the Church. Respondents also cited abuse, particularly clergy sexual abuse, as a significant factor affecting trust.

According to the bishops' most recent national count, in 2021, about 8.2% of Australiaʼs Catholics, or 417,000 people, went to church on a typical weekend.

Bishop Greg Bennet of Sale, the conferenceʼs vice president and bishop-delegate for pastoral research, said the research is being entrusted to bishops to act on locally.

“The hope is that each diocese will listen carefully to what people have shared and respond with pastoral initiatives shaped by their own communities and contexts,” he said in a statement. “We know there are many people who are open to re-engagement with the Church and we need to work harder to find ways of making those re-connections.”

Bishop Michael Kennedy of Maitland-Newcastle, in a reflection published by his diocese, urged a different question: “Rather than simply asking why people are no longer coming to Mass, we should be asking what they are looking for, what their experiences of the Church have been and what we can do to help them feel they belong.”

Speaking to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square after the Angelus prayer on Oct. 11, the pontiff personally disclosed his medical condition, explaining that the nodule had been discovered at a very early stage.

“Dear brothers and sisters, recently, during some medical examinations, doctors found a well-defined nodule in one of my lungs. It was detected at a very early stage and is well localized,” he said.

Leo XIV said doctors had recommended surgery to remove the nodule and that he had decided to follow their advice.

“The doctors believe it is advisable to operate. I have decided to undergo surgery to remove it, following their advice,” he said.

The pope also confirmed that the operation has already been scheduled and will take place in the coming days. He did not provide further details about the exact date or the surgical procedure.

“The operation has already been scheduled for the coming days. I thank you for your spiritual closeness and entrust myself to your prayers,” he said.

According to Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, who spoke to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the pope’s surgery is scheduled for early this week, although an exact date has not yet been announced.

Bruni also said the pontiff is expected to remain hospitalized for approximately one week at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he will continue his recovery following the operation.

President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, offered and asked for prayers for the pope in a statement: “This morning, the Holy Father announced he will undergo surgery for a lung nodule in the coming days. The bishops of the United States join with the faithful and all people of good will in praying for his good health. May the hand of Pope Leo’s surgeons be guided by the divine physician Jesus Christ. Please find a moment today, as I will, to offer a prayer for Pope Leo and his care team.”

The pope’s hospitalization will require him to cancel all engagements scheduled for the coming days.

Among them is the closing Mass of an international meeting on the family marking the 10th anniversary of the publication of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The pope had been scheduled to preside at the Mass on Wednesday, with the presidents of bishops’ conferences gathered at the Vatican.

However, the pope’s upcoming surgery is not expected, at least for now, to prevent his planned trip to South America from Nov. 6–17, judging by the pontiff’s own remarks during the Angelus.

Leo XIV explicitly referred to his upcoming visit to Peru while greeting members of the Brotherhood of the Lord of Miracles gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

“Thank you for your prayers for the pastoral visit I will make to Peru,” he said.

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

Here are seven destinations across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe where the road itself becomes part of the pilgrimage.

Sumela Monastery, Turkey

Sumela Monastery rises from a sheer cliff above the forested Altindere Valley near Trabzon, roughly 300 meters (984 feet) above the valley floor. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the former Greek Orthodox monastery was an important pilgrimage destination for the region’s Greek Christian communities.

The buildings include a rock church, chapels, monks’ quarters, and a sacred spring. Frescoes depict biblical scenes and episodes from the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary.

The setting reveals how the community adapted its buildings to the mountain, with rooms and balconies extending along the cliff face.

St. Catherine’s Monastery, Egypt

At the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt’s southern Sinai Peninsula, St. Catherine’s Monastery preserves a monastic tradition that has continued since the sixth century. Built under Emperor Justinian, the Orthodox monastery stands at the site traditionally identified with the burning bush from which God spoke to Moses.

Its principal church, the Basilica of the Transfiguration, retains a sixth-century mosaic showing Christ with Moses and Elijah and the apostles Peter, James, and John. The complex also preserves early Christian icons and a library containing thousands of manuscripts in languages including Greek, Arabic, and Syriac, evidence of the many Christian cultures connected with Sinai.

The Monasteries of Meteora, Greece

Meteora’s monasteries crown towering sandstone formations that made the area a place of retreat for generations of Orthodox monks. Hermits began settling here by the 11th century, and monasteries were later built on the summits. By the end of the 15th century, there were 24; six remain in operation today.

Access once depended on rope ladders and nets used to lift people and supplies. At Holy Trinity Monastery, visitors now descend toward the base of the rock and then climb a staircase of about 140 steps carved in 1925. The ascent opens onto views of Kalambaka, the Peneios River, and the surrounding mountains.

Sevanavank Monastery, Armenia

Above Lake Sevan, Sevanavank stands on a peninsula that was once an island, giving its early monastic community a more secluded setting. Its two principal surviving churches were built in 874 through the patronage of Princess Mariam, daughter of Ashot Bagratuni, under the spiritual guidance of the monk Mashtots, who later became Catholicos of All Armenians, the chief bishop and supreme spiritual leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The churches were dedicated to the Holy Apostles and the Mother of God. Their cruciform plans and central domes reflect medieval Armenian church architecture.

The road is gentler than a cliff climb: Visitors ascend the hillside steps to reach the churches and views across the lake. The site also has a link to Armenian Catholic history: Mekhitar of Sebaste, who later founded the Mekhitarist congregation, studied at the monastery in the late 17th century.

Abuna Yemata Guh Church, Ethiopia

Carved into a sandstone pinnacle in the Gheralta Mountains of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Abuna Yemata Guh requires one of the most demanding approaches among these destinations: Reaching its entrance involves scaling a steep rock face.

The church is named for Abuna Yemata, one of the Nine Saints traditionally associated with the spread of monasticism in northern Ethiopia around the beginning of the sixth century. Its interior preserves wall paintings that art historians generally date to the second half of the 15th century, although local tradition assigns them an earlier date.

The Monasteries of Wadi Qadisha, Lebanon

In northern Lebanon, Wadi Qadisha, or the Holy Valley, contains monasteries, cave churches, and hermitages set among steep cliffs and cultivated terraces. Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1998 together with the nearby Cedars of God, the valley bears witness to centuries of Christian monastic life and has a particular place in the Maronite Church’s history.

Our Lady of Qannoubine served as the residence of Maronite patriarchs from 1440 to 1823. Its history reflects the valley’s role as a refuge during periods of persecution. Beneath the church, a narrow crypt provided a hiding place for patriarchs; surviving wall paintings include a depiction of the Coronation of the Virgin.

Mor Mattai Monastery, Iraq

On Mount Alfaf, also known as Mount Maqlub, northeast of Mosul, Mor Mattai Monastery overlooks the Nineveh Plain. The Syriac Orthodox monastery takes its name from St. Matthew the Hermit. Tradition dates its foundation to A.D. 363 and links it to the monk’s flight from persecution under the Roman emperor Julian.

The monastery became an important center of Syriac Christian religious life and learning. Its complex includes churches, chapels, and memorials, while caves in the surrounding mountain recall the hermits who once lived there.

The mountain setting has offered refuge. In 2014, as Islamic State forces advanced in the region, Christians from nearby villages temporarily sheltered at the monastery.

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

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Sir Chris Bryant said in a statement that Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge — part of the national Protestant Orange Order fraternity — would not be permitted to hold its parade down Garvaghy Road through a historically Catholic section of Portadown in County Armagh.

The procession “cannot go ahead,” Bryant said, citing local law enforcement opinion that it would lead to violence, disorder and “a wider contagion effect across Northern Ireland.”

Bryant called for “all protests, rallies and demonstrations to be stood down,” arguing that there is “no excuse for a continued ratcheting up of tensions.”

The weeks-long tensions have stemmed from historical conflicts in the region between unionists in Northern Ireland who advocate continued rule of the province by the United Kingdom and Catholic-affiliated republicans who largely favor reunification with Ireland itself.

Garvaghy Road itself was the site of numerous conflicts amid the Troubles, the decades-long conflict that saw unionists and republicans engage in regular violent and often deadly clashes. The CAIN Archive at Ulster University estimates that more than 3,700 people were killed in the protracted fighting.

Police have largely banned loyalist marches from taking place on Garvaghy Road since the late 1990s due to regular instances of violence that broke out on that stretch of the unionist parade route.

The High Court of Northern Ireland, however, ruled in August against a ban on the march that had been instituted by the Parades Commission, offering unionists the potential opportunity to march down the street for the first time in years.

In his statement announcing the re-instituted ban on the march, Bryant urged residents to “work together to help repair the damage that has been done” over the past several weeks.

“The community in Portadown has been on the sharp end of intense attention for a number of weeks,” he said. “It will take time to rebuild relations. The least we can all do now is give them breathing space.”

Published in Issues in Law and Medicine, a journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, on Oct. 6, the report found that the FDA’s studies on the abortion pill didn’t reflect real-world conditions of abortion pill use.

According to the article, the FDA relied on analysis from groups with political incentives. Additionally, the FDA used “inadequate” adverse event reporting, authors Zachery Sluzala and Ingrid Skop found.

“When federal agencies remove regulations designed to safeguard patient health, those decisions should be grounded in evidence that reflects real-world practice,” Skop, an OB-GYN who works for the Lozier Institute, said in a statement.

“Our analysis found that the FDA’s review fell well short of that standard. Safety decisions should reflect the conditions in which women are using the drugs, not tightly controlled study conditions that fail to mimic real-world use.”

Pro-life groups criticize FDA abortion pill update

In a court-ordered update of the agency’s highly anticipated report on the safety of the abortion pill, the FDA said that it will complete the safety review in March 2027, an announcement that led to backlash from pro-life groups.

A federal judge in Louisiana ordered the status report on the safety review. According to its update, the FDA expects to have results by mid-December, with a final report in March 2027 — more than a year and a half after the group first promised the review.

Pro-life leader Marjorie Dannenfelser, who heads Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the FDA’s update “alarming.”

“The administration must correct course — and, more importantly, it must not wait for the study to conclude before acting,” said Dannenfelser. “Peer-reviewed evidence shows that the Biden administration relied on insufficient evidence and flawed assumptions when it removed the in-person dispensing requirement.

“Action is long overdue,” Dannenfelser said.

Students for Life of America leader Kristan Hawkins also criticized the timeline.

“It shouldn’t take a judge to pry some answers from the FDA on the dangers of chemical abortion pills, nor should it take this long to get them,” said Hawkins. “While we are glad to see the FDA giving attention to deadly drugs, this is not enough to address the harms that recklessly approving mifepristone in 2000 did to public health and fertility.”

Alliance Defending Freedom spokeswoman Erin Hawley observed that “every month of additional delay puts nearly 15,000 additional babies at risk in states where mail-order abortion drugs are unlawful.”

Mail-order abortions “don’t empower women — they facilitate the abuse, coercion, and poisoning of women by making high-risk drugs accessible to bad actors at the click of a button,” said Hawley.

Study: Colleges ‘fail’ pregnant and parenting students

A recent study found that hundreds of state colleges and universities are failing to provide resources to help pregnant and parenting students stay in school.

The study by Students for Life of America’s Demetree Institute found that the average state college campus in the survey offered “barely half the recommended support” for student parents.

The study looked at more than 500 state colleges and universities, examining the housing policies, on-campus resources, financial assistance, medical attention, and accommodations and policy transparency they offer to student-parents.

The three lowest-ranked schools were Dalton State College in Georgia, Dakota State University in South Dakota, and Concord University in West Virginia.

About 98% of schools in the study were missing at least two recommended accommodations for pregnant and parenting students. On-campus housing for families was unavailable at more than 70% of schools. About 85% of schools did not offer scholarships targeted for pregnant or parenting students.

Men’s march for life to be held in Boston

Men will gather in Boston on Nov. 1 for a national men’s march for life.

The National Men’s March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Personhood first began in 2021. In the event, men march about three miles to a rally point where they meet up with their families, pray, and listen to speakers.

In an interview on EWTN’s “At Home With Jim and Joy,” the march’s president, Jim Havens, said the march is focused on “getting men off the sidelines in the fight for equal protection of the preborn — of all human life.”

“We’re going to do it in authentic love; we’re going to do it in a peaceful manner, the right way, standing up in public,” he continued. “It really is powerful when we gather together and do this with Christ at the center.”

Scottish bishops warn against proposal to expand abortion

The Scottish bishops are warning against a proposal that they say would allow abortion up to birth for any reason.

The proposal would decriminalize abortion in Scotland and remove existing legal safeguards protecting unborn children.

The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland expressed opposition to the proposal in a statement by Bishop John Keenan, who heads the bishops’ Marriage, Family and Life Commission.

“There is a better way than abortion,” Keenan said in the statement.

“Every human life possesses inherent dignity and worth; a dignity that does not depend upon age, size, ability, dependency or stage of development,” Keenan said. “It begins at conception and continues until natural death. A just and compassionate society should recognize and protect the lives of both mother and child, especially when either is vulnerable.”

Las Vegas archbishop urges vote against abortion measure

Las Vegas Archbishop George Leo Thomas called on Catholics in Nevada to vote “no” on a ballot measure that would roll back protections for unborn children, minors, and women and expand abortion up to birth.

The Nevada measure would expand the right to abortion, which is already legal in the state up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. The letter opposing the Nevada abortion ballot measure was read at Masses across the archdiocese Oct. 3-4.

“This question is not whether abortion is legal in Nevada; it already is under a law approved by Nevada voters in 1990,” said Thomas. “The Legislature cannot amend or repeal that law; only a direct vote of the people can do so. This question is whether Nevada voters should expand the right to abortion in ways that can harm the health, safety, and welfare of women and minors. Moreover, this measure will have grave and lasting consequences for vulnerable unborn lives.”

“Unborn children have no voice and cannot defend themselves,” Thomas said. “As Catholics, our faith requires us to protect the inherent dignity of every human life and to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

Earlier that day, he was told that Samaritan Cycling USA, a ministry he helped start in 2011 to support Catholic Charities’ Samaritan House, had raised a cumulative $250,000 in just over four years. He was rightfully excited. He couldn’t wait to high-five an injured teammate at the finish line.

Then came a dip in the pavement.

“The wheel went 90 degrees, and I went face-first into the pavement,” he recalled. “I was out cold. I don’t know for how long.”

When he woke up, saved, he believes, by his helmet and divine providence, he remembers, clear as day, hearing the Holy Spirit tell him, “Peace be with you. You will recover.”

He was rushed to the hospital. Two days later, after specialists reviewed the tests, he was told he was a walking miracle.

“You’re a very lucky man,” Schwein remembers one specialist telling him, shaking his head, incredulous. “You missed a brain bleed by a quarter of a millimeter.”

That’s roughly the size of a fine grain of table salt. To say it was a close call might be underselling things.

“I was never going to ride a bike again. I was done,” Schwein said. “We raised a quarter million, and that’s it. There’s no way I’m riding again.”

He prepared to sell his bikes and move on. But the Holy Spirit had other ideas, Schwein said.

“I’m not yet done with you here on Earth. Continue your ministry,” he recalled hearing.

He prayed about it. He called his wife. He took a long bike ride, and hasn’t stopped riding since.

“I said, ‘God, I’m all in,’” he said. “That was 38,000 miles ago and a few million dollars ago.”

Since then, Samaritan House Cycling has grown considerably, welcoming new teammates and raising more than $2.2 million for Northern Colorado’s Samaritan House shelters.

This fall, the ministry is taking that mission farther than ever before: a 45-day, nearly 3,000-mile ride across the United States.

“God has called me to do this, which is why we’re riding across America,” Schwein said, choked up with emotion. “We’re raising national awareness for the crisis of homelessness. God said, ‘Go big or go home.’ We’re going big.”

The 12-member team began their ride on Sunday, Oct. 4, two days after arriving in San Diego. Their 45-day trek will take them through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, where they will finish the ride in St. Augustine, Florida, where the first Catholic Mass of Thanksgiving in what is now the United States was celebrated in 1565.

The mission? Raising awareness and funds to provide shelter, stability, and hope to the homeless in Denver, in Colorado, and across the country.

“There are nearly 1 million people who are homeless every night in the United States, and no one pays attention to them. People walk by them,” Schwein said. “So we’re raising awareness to increase the attention of the United States to this national crisis. We have to do something about it, more than just raising money. It’s about raising awareness so people understand what to do when they get to the corner of an intersection and they see a homeless person.”

And it’s already bearing fruit. Feet haven’t hit pedals yet, and the team has already raised $350,000 to support Catholic Charities’ five Samaritan House locations in Denver, Fort Collins, and Greeley, which provide emergency shelter, support services, and pathways toward stability for individuals and families.

Additionally, the Samaritan Cycling team is partnering with local Catholic Charities along their route to fundraise for ministries serving the homeless nationwide. As they ride across America, the team will also volunteer at Catholic Charities locations, helping shine a spotlight on local efforts to lovingly serve neighbors nationwide.

The timing is all the more meaningful: the ride comes as the United States marks 250 years, Catholic Charities of Denver approaches its 100th anniversary, Samaritan House in downtown Denver celebrates 40 years, and Samaritan Cycling USA marks 15 years.

“What began in 2011 as a small step of faith through Samaritan Cycling has become a lifelong commitment to serve,” Schwein said. “Through cycling, we put faith into action — transforming physical endurance into meaningful impact and heartfelt passion into real provision. We ride because we are called to be bearers of hope, and every mile is a testament to that calling.”

First and foremost, Schwein said, the team needs prayer. Knowing firsthand just how dangerous a ride like this can be, Schwein specifically asked people of goodwill nationwide to pray for riders’ safety and perseverance.

Then, those who feel called to give can donate per mile, with options beginning at 1 cent per mile, or offer a one-time gift. Supporters can give to a particular rider or to the general fund.

For Schwein, though, the most meaningful gift came from a father and his 12-year-old son.

After hearing Schwein speak about the effort after Mass at a local parish, the father approached him and pulled out his wallet, saying he wished he could make a donation but did not think he had anything to give. Surprised to find two dollars, he handed them to his son, who gave them to Schwein.

“This is for you, sir,” the boy said. “Good luck on your ride!”

“We had been getting lots of donations, but the most meaningful one was this man,” Schwein said, pointing to the widow in the Gospels who gave all she had.

This story was first published in Denver Catholic and is reprinted here and adapted by EWTN News with permission.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court, alleged among other claims that the government is violating the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) by barring clergy access to those detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One prison official reportedly suggested that priests could “pass communion in a plastic bag to a prison guard who could then deliver it to the detainee.”

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act is invoked regularly in federal lawsuits by those who argue that the government is excessively burdening their religion. But how does this more-than-30-year-old law work, and how exactly does it protect religious liberty in the U.S.?

Government may not ‘substantially burden’ religion

A rare example of bipartisan unity, the federal law was proposed in 1993, passed unanimously in the U.S. House and near-unanimously in the U.S. Senate, and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton.

The impetus for the law arose in large part due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Employment Division v. Smith. That 1990 decision held that Oregon was permitted to deny unemployment benefits to two Native American residents who had been fired after using peyote in a religious ritual.

Outrage from a large cross-section of civil liberties groups and religious rights organizations led Congress to draft and pass the law. Clinton upon signing the measure said the law “reestablishes a standard that better protects all Americans of all faiths in the exercise of their religion.”

The law directs that the government generally “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” even if the burden stems from a “rule of general applicability.”

The rule does allow for such burdens if the government demonstrates that a restriction is “in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest” and is “the least restrictive means” of accomplishing that goal.

Matt Sharp, who serves as senior counsel and vice president of public policy at Alliance Defending Freedom, told EWTN News the rule “puts the responsibility on the government” to demonstrate that its policies do not violate the law.

“The government has to show that it has a compelling reason to do something” that burdens someone’s religious liberty, Sharp said. “It can’t just say, ‘We like this law.’ It has to be a government interest of the highest order, such as national security or public safety.”

Alliance Defending Freedom has handled numerous RFRA lawsuits over the years. Among them was the case Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell, brought by a Mennonite Christian family who argued that the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate violated the federal religious freedom law.

The family ultimately prevailed, with the U.S. Supreme Court holding that the federal government had violated RFRA in requiring the family to cover contraceptives via its company’s insurance policies.

Sharp, however, acknowledged that the rule has never been a “religion automatically wins” law.

“It definitely makes [U.S. law] more favorable and protective of religion,” he said. But in some cases religious objectors aren’t successful in their challenges, such as the Native American coalition that sued under RFRA to protect one of its sacred sites but which lost at the Supreme Court in 2025.

The Little Sisters of the Poor, meanwhile, have cited in part the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in their 15-year battle over contraceptive mandates.

Yet although the law can sometimes yield a mixed bag, protections for religious freedom have grown steadily in the U.S. in recent years. A total of 30 states so far have adopted a version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act or a similar form of legislation.

Sharp said RFRA requires the government to ensure that in cases where it is imposing on religious practice it is doing so in a “narrowly tailored” way with “the bare minimum possible” imposition.

“It’s a high burden,” he said. “In practice it has been hugely important and beneficial to people of faith.”

Dead Man Walking is being hosted by Jesus Youth Ontario and will take place Oct. 16–18 at the Mother of God Retreat Center in Orangeville, Ontario. The retreat will include talks from Catholic author and speaker Jason Evert, international missionary George Devassy, and local young adults sharing their personal testimonies.

Jim Isaac, a member of the retreat’s planning team, told EWTN News that the inspiration for the retreat came from conversations with parents where it was evident that there was “an overwhelming need.”

“They felt that while children were in high school there were so many guardrails about who they can interact with, who can reach out to them, and all these things to ensure that they have a proper and safe childhood,” he explained. “But, right when they leave high school, all those guardrails are sort of lifted and almost at the same time they also leave home.”

He added that young people also feel “thrown into adulthood” and that this transition “was something that they were struggling with.”

With this in mind, the Dead Man Walking youth retreat was created to give them a space where they can encounter Christ, help them understand the big questions they’re grappling with, and instill in them a strong foundation to maintain their faith during this transition in their lives.

The theme of the retreat comes from John 11, specifically the raising of Lazarus. Isaac explained that many times “we feel that we are going through the motions [and] we are almost like dead people.”

Each day focuses on a specific part of the raising of Lazarus. The theme for Day 1 is “Dead for Four Days,” focusing on the idea that there is always hope even when we’re at our lowest point. Day 2 is called “come out,” encouraging the participants to take part in the Church and in their faith and ends with the opportunity for attendees to go to confession and attend Mass. The last day is called “untie and unbind,” which will call the young people gathered to go out on mission and spread the Gospel message.

Isaac emphasized that their “primary objective is that they [the attendees] have an encounter with Christ at this crucial juncture of their lives.”

“We want these youngsters, who probably are, within their own realities, bombarded with a lot of contemporary and secular media, to understand the richness of the Church,” he added.

“We are hoping that something might resonate with them and that might help them build their interior life and thereby reach out to the people within the community. At the end of the day, it is about reaching out to people and giving them a call for mission. Thatʼs what we are hoping for by the end of it.”

“Iron Mike,” as Ditka was known, had a famously explosive temper, which often boiled over on the sidelines and in postgame press conferences. Ditka, who led the Bears to a Super Bowl XX victory in 1986, once broke his right hand after punching a hard object over frustration with the play of a rookie offensive lineman — then, before the next game, told his team to “win this one for Lefty.”

Less well known was Ditka’s commitment to his Catholic faith, for which he credited his convert mother and the nuns of his parochial school in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where he was raised.

“Growing up, the most important thing was the sacraments with my family,” Ditka told an interviewer with the Catholic website “One Peter Five” in August 2018. “We loved everything about the faith. Going to Catholic school and learning the faith, I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

“I don’t care how many times I got hit by a nun,” Ditka said, “it was good for me.”

Football success

Born Michael Dyczko in 1939, Ditka was the son of a non-churchgoing Ukrainian and Polish steelworker father and an Irish and German mother who converted to Catholicism.

He played tight end for the University of Pittsburgh and then in the NFL for the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys. In 1988 Ditka was honored as the first tight end ever to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

After retiring from playing, Ditka served as an assistant coach before getting his unlikely chance as the head coach of the Bears in 1982.

His 1985 Bears went 15-1 during the regular season and stomped their way through the playoffs to a Super Bowl victory. So confident were the players of that dominant team that they recorded a rap song called “The Super Bowl Shuffle” during the regular season. (Ditka later said he didn’t know about it, but he didn’t criticize the players for doing it.)

Ditka’s success, toughness, temper, and sense of humor made him a cultural phenomenon, inspiring a recurring skit (and guest appearances) on “Saturday Night Live” and launching a career as a motivational speaker.

When the team’s fortunes plummeted, he was fired in 1992. He later coached the New Orleans Saints but was fired after three years.

Off-field philanthropy

Ditka made millions as a pitchman for dozens of products after he left football, and he used some of that wealth to help others.

“Ditka was very supportive of Misericordia and other charities that supported children with special needs and disabilities,” Mary FioRito, an attorney, lifelong Chicagoan, and Cardinal Francis George Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News.

And not just with checks.

“He spoke at fundraisers, and surprised observers could catch him privately visiting with residents he knew by name,” reported the suburban Chicago Daily Herald.

Ditka was also a member of the Knights of Columbus and participated in the organization’s charitable activities.

‘Constant turmoil’

In his 1986 autobiography “Ditka,” published at the peak of his success, Ditka admitted to having had “no spiritual life at all” during the 1970s, before two other coaches got him involved in a Bible study that reintroduced him to God.

“I always had faith, but I never had understanding,” Ditka said. “I always knew what was going on in life. I was raised right. I did all the things you were supposed to do. But I never understood why I was supposed to do them, because I never had a total understanding of what was going on.”

He also acknowledged what he called “constant turmoil inside,” and he compared himself unfavorably to longtime Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry (1924–2000), whom he admired for always keeping his cool on the sidelines and for his involvement in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“My priorities can get mixed up. I don’t think he ever gets his priorities mixed up,” Ditka said in the book.

Ditka said he discovered that following his faith was hard work.

“Sometimes you take for granted that your faith will always be there and everything will be fine. But without making the effort, that’s just not a fact. You have to make a real effort to live your faith daily,” Ditka said in the book.

“Nobody is going to do it every day. Nobody is going to do it perfectly,” he continued. “But unless you make the effort you’ve got no chance at all.”

Ditka married in 1961, got divorced in 1973, and then remarried in 1977. Both wives survive him, as do his four children, according to an obituary in the Daily Herald.

“I’m far from perfect now, and I’m never going to be perfect,” Ditka said in his autobiography. “When I die, I’m going to be still trying to get better than I am.”

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

The report, released more than three months after the June 30 deadline, said the spread of industrial-scale online scam operations “pose a direct threat to US national security.”

Transnational crime organizations, mostly run by Chinese nationals and long based in Southeast Asia, have moved into Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, destabilizing local communities and cheating people out of billions of dollars each year, according to the report.

Fraudulent online romance, gambling, and cryptocurrency schemes have defrauded people in more than 125 countries, with Americans, the primary targets, losing at least $18.2 billion in 2025 to compounds operating out of Southeast Asia, according to the report.

The organizations recruited people from at least 80 countries over the past few years through fraudulent schemes, often pushing them into forced labor and holding them in guarded compounds and manipulating them through violence, sexual exploitation, intimidation, and other acts. They are often coerced into committing crimes, the report found.

The report, an annual assessment required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, covers April 1, 2025, through March 31.

The State Department said it relied on information from embassy reporting, government officials, nongovernmental and international organizations, published reports, news articles, and other sources.

The State Department said that governments that fail to punish traffickers and protect victims should be held accountable.

12 governments cited

Twelve governments are cited in the report for a “policy or pattern” of state-sponsored human trafficking: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Russia, South Sudan, and Sudan. This designation covers “trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers.”

Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, the department listed 14 countries whose forces or state-backed militias recruited or used children in any capacity during hostilities, including as sex slaves: Afghanistan, Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Among country rankings reported so far, Israel returned to Tier 1, the highest category, for the first time since 2021, after five years on Tier 2. The Republic of Congo was downgraded to Tier 3, the lowest, for failing to meet minimum standards and not making significant efforts. A Tier 3 listing can restrict certain U.S. assistance, including security assistance, the report said.

A Tier 1 ranking does not mean that a country has no human trafficking. Instead, according to the report, “a Tier 1 ranking indicates that a government has made efforts to address the problem … and met the TVPA’s minimum standards.”

Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, author of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, said in a statement on Oct. 8 that the report’s findings are “a stark reminder that modern-day slavery remains a global scourge — and that governments must be held accountable when they fail to protect vulnerable people.”

“Human trafficking is an assault on human dignity and freedom,” the congressman wrote. “The United States must continue to use every tool at its disposal — including the TIP Report — to expose human trafficking whenever it rears its ugly head, protect survivors, and press foreign governments to end this blight upon humanity.”

“China remains on Tier 3 — the lowest ranking,” Smith continued, “reflecting its continued failure to meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use and enabling of forced labor — including the systematic exploitation of Uyghurs and other persecuted minorities — is deeply troubling and deserves the greatest level of scrutiny.”

“Moreover, the horrific, ongoing consequences of China’s one-child per couple policy can still be seen and felt today, as the Report notes that a gross disparity — tens of millions more boys than girls — has driven the demand for commercial sex trafficking and coercive marriages in the country,” Smith wrote.

“Governments on Tier 3 — including China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, Burma, Belarus, Cambodia, Cuba, Laos, Nicaragua, Sudan, South Sudan, and Venezuela — can and must do more. Tier 3 must never become a permanent designation; it should serve as a dire warning and a call to action,” Smith wrote.

In a letter signed on Sept. 22, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, primate archbishop of Mexico, appointed Chávez, the magisterial Guadalupan theologian of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, “representative of this particular church, especially in everything concerning the content of this marvelous Guadalupan event, in the preparation and in the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the apparitions of Holy Mary of Tepeyac.”

He said he made the decision in light of Chávez’s “preparation and experience in the subject of the Guadalupan event.”

In the letter, the cardinal recognized the Mexican priest’s work as postulator of the cause of St. Juan Diego, the visionary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as his leadership of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies, which for more than 25 years has borne “fruit in continuing research, in the formation of formators, and in spreading the message of love to so many peoples.”

“May God, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and St. Juan Diego continue to enlighten, inspire, and strengthen you in this mission,” Aguiar wrote.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and 12, 1531, asking him to intercede with the first bishop of Mexico, Friar Juan de Zumárraga, so that a “sacred little house” would be built at the foot of Tepeyac Hill to exalt God: “he who is my compassionate gaze, he who is my help, he who is my salvation.”

On Dec. 12, as proof for the bishop that the apparitions were true, the Virgin sent Juan Diego with roses that had miraculously bloomed on the barren Tepeyac, carried in his tilma, or cloak. When the Indigenous man opened his tilma before de Zumárraga, the image of Mary had been miraculously imprinted on the cloth.

Nearly 500 years later, St. Juan Diego’s tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is still preserved in her shrine in Mexico City.

‘A great honor, but also a great responsibility’

In remarks to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on Oct. 7, Chávez, known as the leading expert on the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said Aguiar’s appointment fills him “with tremendous enthusiasm.”

“It is a great honor, but also a great responsibility,” he said. “It will be a lot of work, but work done with so much affection that you hardly feel it. It is joyful work for Our Lady of Guadalupe.”

The celebration of the fifth centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he said, is meant to promote “the exaltation of, devotion to, and above all adoration of Jesus, her beloved Son, because that is the center of her message.”

He said the celebration, now only five years away, “should unite us all: unite us in love and in enthusiasm to celebrate her who is our Mother and who offers us, gives us, and entrusts to us her Son Jesus Christ.”

“She is our Mother, she protects us, and she is the source of our joy,” he said.

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

The requests were made during an audience on Sept. 11 as part of the ad limina visit the Salvadoran prelates made to Rome from Sept. 7–11.

The Episcopal Conference of El Salvador announced the request in a press release issued Oct. 4 that noted the meeting with the Holy Father “was marked by closeness, fraternity, and the paternal character of the Pontiff.”

In that setting, the bishops presented both petitions concerning St. Óscar Romero, who was assassinated on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in the chapel of Divine Providence Hospital in San Salvador and who was canonized by Pope Francis on Oct. 14, 2018.

According to Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador, president of the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador, the Holy Father received the proposals with “a very positive and welcoming attitude.” The prelate explained, however, that “both decisions require a process of consultation and discernment before a definitive response can be given.”

Pope Leo XIV’s devotion to St. Óscar Romero

During the meeting, Leo also told the Salvadoran bishops of his particular devotion to St. Óscar Romero.

Escobar said the pope used to carry “a holy card of Monsignor Romero together with a third-class relic and commended himself daily to his intercession.”

During the meeting, the bishops of El Salvador gave the pope a first-class relic of St. Óscar Romero.

What is a doctor of the Church?

The title “doctor of the Church” recognizes canonized men and women who possessed deep knowledge, were outstanding teachers, and contributed significantly to the theology of the Church.

Traditionally the title has been granted on three conditions: evident holiness of the candidate, confirmed by canonization as a saint; eminence in doctrine, shown by a body of teaching that made significant and lasting contributions to the life of the Church; and a formal declaration by the Church, usually by a pope.

There are currently 38 doctors of the Church.

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

“It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan,” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the USCCB, said in a statement on Oct. 9.

“Our God is the God of life,” he said. “In no way can Hasan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”

Coakley quoted Romans 12:17, which commands: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.”

“The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,” the archbishop said. “I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.”

Hasan, a man from Arlington, Virginia, was convicted of murdering 13 people and injuring 32 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009, while working as a psychiatrist for the Army. Public witnesses said he screamed “Allahu Akbar” immediately before he began firing. He had email communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda recruiter.

On Oct. 2, President Donald Trump approved a military execution via firing squad for Hasan, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood. On Oct. 8, Hegseth said in an interview with the news outlet Real Americaʼs Voice that the execution will be livestreamed and later reaffirmed this plan on social media.

The announcement of the execution and livestream also faced criticism from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Archbishop Timothy Broglio reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty in a statement to EWTN News.

“Catholic teaching about the death penalty is clear,” Broglio said. “Already the Catechism of the Catholic Church, even before its revision by the late Pope Francis, indicated that in a country such as the United States where the means exist to protect society from such criminals, the death penalty was inadmissible.”

The archbishop said that now, “the teaching is even clearer and more universal” and cited CCC 2267: “Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

Broglio added: “Even in the case of the most heinous crimes, the Church begs for clemency.”

‘A grotesque display of hatred’

The Catholic Mobilizing Network, which works closely with the USCCB on efforts to oppose the death penalty, condemned both the decision to execute Hasan and the decision to livestream his death.

“Beyond the fact that executions do not deter crime or increase safety, it’s appalling that a public official would try to introduce it as a livestream arcade,” Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in a statement.

“It’s been almost a century since our country’s last public execution, and we must not fall into the abyss of such a vengeful practice,” she said. “We undermine our own humanity when we treat another person’s death as something to watch, celebrate, or use for entertainment. It is [reminiscent] of the horrors of lynching in our nation’s past, and would be a grotesque display of hatred witnessed in the public executions of some authoritarian countries today.”

Murphy quoted a Sept. 28 address from Pope Leo XIV, in which he said “the greatness of a civilization is not measured by its material achievements, but by the way it cares for, protects, and upholds the human person.”

She warned that “we violate human dignity” with every execution “because every person is created in the image of God.” She said “the Church instructs us to not seek cruel retribution, but a justice that holds people accountable without perpetuating the cycle of death.”

“What Mr. Hasan did at Fort Hood in 2009 ought not be condoned in any way,” she said. “He inflicted horrible pain and caused terrifying trauma. … But we must not be blinded by bloodlust. The macabre spectacle proposed by Secretary Hegseth is not what our Lord asks of us—it will neither honor victims nor bring healing.”

Walsh said in an Oct. 2 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that Iowa City resident Fatou Traore has resided in that community for more than two decades and has been a legal resident since a 2011 withholding of removal order. A withholding of removal order bars deportation to a country where an immigration judge found the person would likely face persecution.

Davenport Letter

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Traore on Sept. 24. The federal agency told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that she “admitted to using a fake birth certificate and fake passport” to enter the U.S.

Traore’s family has denied those allegations. Walsh, meanwhile, said in his letter that Traore “has raised her family [in Iowa], lived peacefully, and has no criminal history.”

Traore’s family has said the government is preparing to deport her to Sierra Leone, a country with which, Walsh said, “she has no connection and where violence and human rights violations remain serious concerns.”

The bishop said he was “deeply troubled” by the government’s actions, which he argued were proceeding “despite the absence of any lawful or humanitarian justification.”

“Proceeding with this deportation is [a] grave violation of [Traore’s] human dignity and the rights that are intrinsic to each one of us,” the bishop said. He urged the government to stay the deportation and allow Traore to return to her family.

Walsh in his entreaty joined several other religious and community leaders in Iowa in urging the government to hold off on the deportation. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is not the first time the leader of the Davenport Diocese had advocated on behalf of immigrants.

In 2020, then-Bishop Thomas Zinkula — now the Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa — urged the government to release several Guatemalan immigrants from custody, citing the risks of COVID infection while in detainment.

Bishop Michael Router said he would ask the Vatican to dismiss Father Edward Gallagher from the clerical state after he admitted to the charges, which include possession of child pornography, attempted solicitation of sexual activity from a child, and attempted sexual communication with a minor, the BBC reported Oct. 5. Gallagher awaits sentencing on Dec. 9.

"I have already instructed that the documentation required by the Holy See be finalized and transmitted without delay,” Router said in a statement on Oct. 5, according to a BelfastLive report.

“The Church cannot undo the harm that has been caused. Nor can any canonical penalty remove the suffering experienced by victims and survivors. Nevertheless, the Church has a responsibility to respond truthfully, justly, and decisively.”

New Vatican ambassador appointed to United Arab Emirates

Polish priest Monsignor Grzegorz Piotr Bielaszka has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV to be the Vaticanʼs new ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), raising him to the rank of archbishop, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Oct. 5.

Born in Poland in 1974 and ordained in 1999, Bielaszka entered the Holy Seeʼs diplomatic service in 2006. His assignments have included Iraq, Panama, Hungary, Peru, and Gabon. He succeeds Archbishop Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis, who was appointed the Vaticanʼs permanent observer to the United Nations in July.

The appointment comes amid continuing tensions in the Gulf following military confrontation involving Iran, Israel, and the United States. The Vatican has repeatedly called for dialogue and negotiations, while maintaining close diplomatic relations with the UAE, particularly since Pope Francis' historic 2019 visit to Abu Dhabi and the signing of the Document on Human Fraternity.

Catholic Church in Korea switches to Italian, Australian liturgical wine

Parishes across Korea will no longer use domestic wine for liturgical celebrations after the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea announced on Oct. 7 that an Australian and an Italian brand would become the country’s official liturgical wines.

"Starting from this yearʼs Advent season (the four weeks before Christmas), the Australian ‘Seven Hill’ and Italian ‘Alagna Vini’ wines have been selected as the liturgical wines to be used in all Catholic Masses across Korea,” they said in a statement, according to an Oct. 8 Chosun report.

The change is due to aging grape farmers and diminishing land in Korea, the report said. It marks the first in 49 years since the conference signed a contract in 1977 to use local Majuang liturgical wine.

Ethiopia bishop urges reconciliation amid renewed fighting

Bishop Lisane-Christos Matheos Semahun of Ethiopia’s Eparchy of Bahir Dar-Dessie has urged Christians to reject hatred and refrain from rejoicing over the suffering or death of those they regard as enemies as renewed fighting intensifies in parts of the country.

“Every life lost is a tragedy,” the bishop said in an Oct. 3 reflection, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported. Lisane-Christos further called on Catholics to pray for their enemies, care for people affected by the conflict, and support efforts toward dialogue, justice, reconciliation, and peace.

The bishop’s statement comes as BBC reports that Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of an “all-out invasion” in northern Tigray, and Eritrea says in response that it is facing “an unprovoked war of aggression” by Ethiopia.

Hundreds of Catholic young people celebrate care for creation in Baghdad

More than 300 young Catholics gathered in Baghdad for a spiritual event marking the Season of Creation, an annual Christian observance dedicated to prayer and care for the environment.

Through Scripture readings, prayer, and reflections on Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', participants were encouraged to see protecting nature as part of their responsibility toward God and others, ACI MENA reported Oct. 5. Father Amir Kammu explained that environmental problems are also spiritual and moral concerns, particularly because their consequences often fall hardest on the poor.

At the end of the gathering, each participant received a small plant or fish to care for, turning the message of environmental responsibility into a personal commitment.

Glasgow Archdiocese to reduce parishes by half

Archbishop William Nolan has announced widespread cuts to the Archdiocese of Glasgow in Scotland amid dwindling attendance and a shortage in available priests.

“For years now there has been much talk of the need to restructure and reduce the number of parishes in the archdiocese. A plan for that restructuring has now been drawn up, reducing the number of parishes by half and seeing the closure of two dozen churches,” Nolan said in an Oct. 7 statement on Facebook.

The statement noted the number of parishes will be reduced by half and 24 churches will be closed as part of the restructuring plan.

“There are too many parishes but too few people, too many churches but too few priests,” he said. “As for priests, I have been archbishop for less than five years and the number of our active priests is down by a third in that time. Only one of our priests is under the age of 45, most are over the age of 60. Thank goodness we have foreign priests and religious willing to serve in the archdiocese, otherwise the situation would be even more critical than it is.”

Irish priest blocks Nathan Carter concert from taking place at parish

A concert by country music singer Nathan Carter set to take place at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Boyle, Ireland, has been canceled after its parish priest objected to the event.

Father John Gannon contacted Carter and informed the musician he could no longer perform at the church after approval had been given to the singer by the parish’s former pastor, according to an Oct. 5 report from the Irish Independent.

Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran backed up the priest’s decision, telling the Irish Independent that the diocesan policy barring such concerts was to “preserve the sacredness of the church as a place of worship.” He added: “That does not mean that it has to be specifically liturgical music, but it should be spiritual, and where singing is involved, the lyrics should be consistent with the message of the Gospel.”

Catholic Church in Egypt opens beatification cause for former Coptic patriarch

The Catholic Church in Egypt has formally begun the cause for the beatification and canonization of Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, who served as Coptic Catholic patriarch of Alexandria from 1986 to 2006.

The Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Egypt, led by Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac, has invited the faithful to submit information about Ghattas, who died in Cairo in 2009, ACI MENA reported Oct. 6. The request includes testimonies both supporting and questioning his reputation for holiness, as well as personal writings, letters, and other documents that could assist the investigation.

The opening of the cause marks an important step in examining the life and legacy of the former patriarch but does not mean he has yet been declared blessed or a saint.

Canada hosts rosary rallies across the country

A Catholic group in Canada is hosting rosary rallies across the country on Oct. 10 to pray for its conversion.

The campaign from Canada Needs Our Lady started in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, and has grown from 1,083 to more than 1,550 rallies, according to an Oct. 8 report from Independent Catholic News. “The reaction from Canadians has been very encouraging,” Joseph Gensens, Fatima custodian for Canada Needs Our Lady, said in the report. “We hear from people who are so grateful to have the opportunity to come together and pray the Rosary publicly — not only for Canada, but for their families and their communities.”

Canada Needs Our Lady is an organization that advocates for a return to Christian values in Canada.

Those are among the questions being addressed at an international gathering on the family at the Vatican, taking place behind closed doors through Oct. 14 with the participation of presidents of bishops' conferences from around the world.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said in his presentation Friday, Oct. 9, that in his country, and possibly many others, “the concept of a necessary link between sexual activity and procreation, and the importance of this in Christian marriage is no longer widely understood or accepted.”

To illustrate the problem, he cited the observations of a religious education director in Western Australia who is married and has teenage children.

“Many of our young people have inherited cultural assumptions about sexuality that differ substantially from those of the Church — they may understand the Church’s position, but they do not find it easy to embrace,” the educator told him.

Costelloe said this reflects a tension between Church teaching and prevailing cultural attitudes, reinforced by social media, entertainment, peer culture, and online influencers, which frequently promote relationships that prioritize “personal fulfillment, autonomy, and immediate happiness over permanence, sacrifice, and covenant.”

Moral failures of Church leaders

Compounding the problem, Costelloe said, many young people have experienced painful circumstances, including broken marriages in their own families, domestic violence, inequality between men and women, and the moral failures of Church leaders whose credibility has been damaged.

“We are competing with many other approaches to the meaning of marriage,” he acknowledged.

Despite these difficulties, the archbishop emphasized that many young people continue to seek lasting relationships that bring out their best qualities and provide a solid foundation for a meaningful future.

He called for supporting these aspirations and accompanying young people as they seek to build stable relationships.

At the same time, Costelloe observed, the prevalence of divorce and failed relationships has led many young people to question “whether lifelong commitment is possible or even desirable.”

In this context, he emphasized the importance of the example provided by stable marriages and families.

As one married couple told him: “The most persuasive argument for Christian marriage is often a married couple living it well.”

Costelloe suggested that parishes and dioceses should find ways to make such examples more visible, including through marriage preparation programs and Catholic schools.

He also advocated presenting the Churchʼs teaching on marital intimacy positively, as an ideal worth pursuing rather than merely a set of rules and prohibitions.

Understanding why young people reject marriage

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, warned participants that marriage rates are declining worldwide, both for civil marriages and those celebrated in the Church.

“We cannot ignore the fact that the number of marriages is currently declining throughout the world, both civil marriages and marriages celebrated in the Church,” he said. “We will seek to interpret this phenomenon, taking into account whether its causes are the same everywhere.”

The gathering marks the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in 2016 following two synods marked by intense debate over the Churchʼs pastoral approach to families.

The documentʼs proposals for accompanying newlyweds and couples experiencing marital difficulties were partly overshadowed by controversy over its implications for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

Bishops from the Buenos Aires pastoral region interpreted the document as permitting some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist following a process of accompanied pastoral discernment, including in circumstances in which a person believes that abstaining from sexual relations would cause further harm to children of the new union.

In 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that this interpretation forms part of the authentic magisterium, having been published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy Seeʼs official record.

Farrell noted that priests are not alone in worrying about young peopleʼs reluctance to marry. Many Christian parents share that concern as they watch their children struggle with loneliness and uncertainty about lifelong commitments.

“Pastors are not alone in facing this concern. It is felt first and foremost by the many Christian parents whose children suffer from loneliness, remain hesitant to make a lasting commitment, or categorically reject the path that their parents themselves had embraced with joy,” he said.

Among the factors contributing to this trend, Farrell cited divorce, different forms of cohabitation, and prevailing cultural attitudes.

“But at a deeper level, we might ask whether God has perhaps ceased to speak to the hearts of young people, stirring in them a desire for marriage,” he said.

The cardinal said participants would look for signs of hope and consider initiatives, individuals, and circumstances that could open new paths toward marriage.

“We will also consider how attentive our communities are to the witness of those who, despite everything, choose marriage — whether early in life or later on — and how their experience can help us understand and present the vocation to marriage more effectively.”

What are young people seeking when they speak of love?

Auxiliary Bishop Stephen Fernandes of Bombay, India, argued that the Churchʼs central challenge is not simply to ask why young people are reluctant to marry but to understand what they are seeking in relationships.

“The challenge before the Church, therefore, is not to begin by asking why young people are failing to accept marriage, but rather what are they seeking when they speak about love, freedom, dignity, and their future,” he said.

Fernandes explained that young people experience relationships in a cultural environment very different from that of previous generations.

“The culture of immediacy and continual choice can enter their experience of intimacy, while marriage requires patience, presence, forgiveness, and perseverance,” he observed.

He also pointed to economic insecurity as a significant obstacle to marriage, citing employment difficulties, housing costs, migration, and social instability.

“For some, therefore, postponing marriage is not simply a rejection of marriage. It can reflect a crisis of confidence in the possibility of building a stable and enduring life with another person,” he said.

Fernandes stressed that many young people have not abandoned the desire for lasting love, even if they increasingly doubt that it is attainable.

“Young people have not ceased to thirst for love. What has weakened for many is confidence that love can endure,” he said.

He urged the Church to listen more carefully to young peopleʼs experiences and to present marriage not simply as an obligation or social institution but as a vocation grounded in freedom, fidelity, and mutual self-giving.

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.

Murua, a native of Peru who is director of digital strategy and social media for EWTN News, succeeds Montse Alvarado, president and chief operating officer of EWTN News since 2023, whom Pope Leo XIV appointed in June as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. Alvarado takes up the Vatican post the same day.

A story that began with Mother Angelica

Murua’s path into journalism is linked to EWTN’s foundress. When Mother Angelica visited Peru, she gave a talk that Murua, then 20, covered for the then-fledgling ACI Prensa, EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael P. Warsaw told staff in a message announcing the appointment.

“Mother could not have known that one of the young women listening to her would someday help take that same message around the world and eventually be entrusted with leading one of the divisions of the apostolate she founded,” Warsaw wrote. “In many ways, it feels designed by Providence.”

Murua’s career in Catholic media spans more than 30 years and predates EWTN’s acquisition of ACI Prensa. At EWTN, she has held leadership roles across digital, editorial, and broadcast operations, including on the team of “EWTN Noticias,” the network’s flagship Spanish-language nightly newscast.

She played a central role in launching the network’s social media presence and has led digital coverage of three papal conclaves, multiple World Youth Days and jubilees, International Eucharistic Congresses, and Synods of Bishops.

“Ursula understands both the mission of EWTN and the rapidly changing ways people encounter news, faith, and one another,” Warsaw said in a statement. “She has helped shape the digital transformation of EWTN News from within while remaining deeply committed to the truth of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church.”

In a first comment on her appointment, Murua said: "I have had the extraordinary privilege of watching Catholic media transform from radio and broadcast to websites, social media and mobile platforms, and now confront the challenge and promise of artificial intelligence.”

“But the reason we do this work has never changed. People are hungry for truth, for meaning, and ultimately for Christ. Our responsibility is to understand where they are, how they are searching, and how we can faithfully meet them there.”

Speaking of her successor, Alvarado noted Murua, in her role as president of EWTN News, will “continue the work we began together, expanding EWTN News’ digital presence and developing new ways to reach audiences while strengthening our commitment to journalism rooted in fidelity to the Gospel.”

“I have watched Ursula devote particular attention to understanding audiences at every point in their journey of faith, from deeply engaged Catholics to people encountering the Church, or even the Gospel, for the first time. That audience-centered approach has shaped EWTN News' digital strategy and offers a powerful model for how digital missionary discipleship can be done well.”

From EWTN News to the Vatican

Alvarado joined EWTN in 2021 as host of “EWTN News In Depth.” As prefect, she will be the first woman who is not a religious sister to head a dicastery of the Holy See. She succeeds Paolo Ruffini, who has led the dicastery since 2018.

Her tenure brought a global overhaul of EWTN News. In January, EWTN brought Catholic News Agency and the ACI Group under a single EWTN News identity and launched EWTNNews.com. Spanish- and Portuguese-language versions of the site are due to launch next.

About EWTN

In its 46th year, EWTN is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. EWTN’s 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 435 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.

About EWTN News

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News is the global, multilingual news service of the EWTN Global Catholic Network. With language teams based in the United States, Peru, the Vatican, Kenya, Brazil, Germany, Italy, and Iraq, along with correspondents throughout the world, EWTN News delivers coverage in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, and Arabic, serving Catholic audiences worldwide on its new platform: ewtnnews.com. EWTN News operates leading digital and print platforms including ChurchPOP and the National Catholic Register, a nearly 100-year-old biweekly newspaper with a robust digital presence. It also produces television news programs such as “EWTN News Nightly,” “EWTN Noticias,” “EWTN News In Depth,” “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” and “Vaticano.”

The conference, titled “The Splendor of the Human Person: Safeguarding Fertility, Healing Infertility,” will be held Oct. 16–18 at the Rome campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

According to the Vatican, the Holy Father will inaugurate the event during an audience at the Vatican following a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

The congress will mark the 25th anniversary of the International Scientific Institute Paul VI (ISI), which conducts research on human fertility and infertility in support of responsible procreation, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Center for Natural Fertility Regulation.

The initiative is being promoted by the ISI-Paul VI Foundation, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, the Toniolo Institute of Higher Studies, and the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital Foundation, along with other academic and cultural institutions linked to the Church.

Following the audience with Pope Leo XIV, the congress will officially begin at the university auditorium with an opening address by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, on “the dignity and beauty of procreation in the Church’s magisterium.”

Organizers have structured the program around four main themes: “The Transmission of Life Between Society and Science,” “The Fertility Roadmap for Couples,” “Preconception Health and the Prevention of Infertility,” and “Safeguarding the Human Person Amid Hypertechnology and the Culture of Waste.”

In addition to academic presentations, the event will feature scientific and interdisciplinary panels aimed at sharing clinical research, medical experience, and testimonies from health professionals, married couples, and parents.

Participants will reflect on the causes of infertility, therapeutic approaches compatible with Christian ethics, and ways to foster a culture that values human life from conception.

The congress is intended to continue the teaching of St. Paul VI on human fertility and responsible procreation, later developed by St. John Paul II. According to the organizers, the event seeks to highlight the importance of protecting fertility and accompanying married couples who face difficulties conceiving, while encouraging integration between scientific research, medical care, and a Christian anthropological vision.

The concluding session will be led by Bishop Claudio Giuliodori, president of the ISI Foundation and general ecclesiastical assistant of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and Professor Tullio Ghi, director of the Obstetrics and Obstetric Pathology Unit at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

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 Vatican announced Tagle’s appointment on Oct. 9. In the same announcement, Pope Leo XIV approved Tagle’s election one day earlier, on Oct. 8, and accepted Re’s resignation that day.

According to canon law, the cardinal dean is elected from among the cardinal bishops (12 cardinal-bishops as of October 2026). Among the dean’s responsibilities is to summon the cardinals to Rome on the pope’s behalf, particularly for a papal conclave. However, he has no governing authority over them.

After Leo XIV’s election to the papacy, all curial officials automatically lost their positions. However, Leo confirmed Re as dean and Argentine cardinal Leonardo Sandri as vice-dean, a position Sandri still holds.

Pope Francis approved Re in 2020 as dean of the college while setting a new five-year term of service for deans with the possibility of renewal. Previously, the position of dean, considered “first among equals,” was a lifetime appointment.

Re, 92, was made a cardinal by St. John Paul II in 2001 and has worked in the Roman Curia since 1963. He officiated the 2013 conclave, which elected Pope Francis, as the most senior cardinal-bishop.

Tagle, 69, has served as the pro-prefect for the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization since 2019. Before his appointment to the Roman Curia, he served as archbishop of Manila from 2011–2020.

Tagle has also been appointed as papal legate to several milestone Church events, including in the United States. He was appointed legate to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July 2024 and to the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen in St. Louis in September 2026.

Before being elected pope in 2025, Leo XIV, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, was chosen by Francis as the titular cardinal-bishop of Albano. Soon after his election, the pontiff assigned his former cardinal title to Tagle, and Tagle formally took possession of the see in October of the same year.

The second and most recent of these miracles was lifesaving. During her fifth pregnancy, Melissa Villalobos, a lawyer from Chicago, suffered severe internal bleeding caused by a partial placental abruption — a condition that seriously endangered both her life and that of her unborn child.

The day it happened, Villalobos, alone at home and without the strength to call for help, turned to prayer. “Please, Cardinal Newman, stop the bleeding,” she said with difficulty. As she later recounted: “Just as I finished those words, the bleeding stopped, and I noticed in the bathroom the strongest scent of roses in my life. When it stopped, I asked, ‘Cardinal Newman, did you do this?’ and the scent returned a second time. I knew it was him.”

That same afternoon, the doctors confirmed what they could not explain: The tear in the placenta had disappeared. Months later, Villalobos gave birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl, whom she named Gemma.

Five years later, Gemma and her entire family participated in the canonization ceremony for Newman officiated by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 13, 2019.

For Sister Kathleen Dietz, FSO, a renowned specialist on St. John Henry Newman, the healing of the pregnant woman should be seen as a “sign of the times” when “the culture of death permeates everything.”

“He performed this miracle for the sake of life, not only the life of the young mother but also that of her child. It’s very significant,” she told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.

Unexplained healing of a debilitating spinal disorder

The first miracle attributed to Newman’s intercession was on behalf of American deacon Jack Sullivan, who was suffering from a severe degenerative spinal cord disease that had left him almost paralyzed.

In great pain and with little hope of recovery, he prayed for Newman’s intercession. According to his own testimony, on Aug. 15, 2001, he experienced a sudden and complete recovery, which allowed him to walk unaided and shortly afterward to be ordained a permanent deacon.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints officially recognized the healing as scientifically inexplicable, and on July 3, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI officially announced that it constituted a genuine miracle. It led to Newman’s beatification on Sept. 19, 2010, in Birmingham, England, the city where the saint lived for much of his ministry.

Sullivan served as deacon and read the Gospel at the Mass celebrated by Benedict in Rednal, England, very near Newman’s burial site.

Sullivan, who has the only first-class relic of Newman outside the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England, has given numerous presentations with it and has held healing prayer services.

Dietz — who has collaborated on various studies on the spirituality and legacy of St. John Henry Newman — emphasized that miracles authenticate Newman’s holiness and reflect his ongoing mission within the Church.

“Miracles show that Newman continues to have a role as an example and intercessor. He will soon be named a doctor of the Church and thus will also be a teacher of truth,” she noted at the time.

Inspiration for daily life

For the religious, Newman can inspire the faithful in their daily lives with a faith “lived in everyday circumstances.”

Dietz cited Newman’s 1856 work “A Short Road to Perfection” in which he points out that to be saints, “we need nothing more than to fulfill the ordinary duties of the day well.”

“It’s not a matter of heroic or extraordinary feats but of performing the actions of each day with rectitude and consistency: getting up on time, dedicating one’s first thoughts to God, visiting the Blessed Sacrament, praying the Angelus and the rosary, keeping one’s thoughts in order, examining oneself daily, and going to bed at a reasonable hour. If this is done consistently, one is already on the path to perfection,” the saint counseled.

Joy: An essential Christian virtue

Dietz emphasized that Newman saw joy as an essential Christian virtue, even in the midst of sadness, and that his example can guide believers to live their faith in a “practical, tangible, and consistent” way in daily life.

For Dietz, Newman’s life and miracles remind us that holiness is not an unattainable ideal but a “reality accessible to all” through faithfulness to small daily acts and trust in God’s providence.

“His teaching combines theological depth with pastoral application, showing how a saint can be a model and guide for the contemporary Church and for every believer in their daily life,” she explained.

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.

American bishops will meet for their fall plenary assembly from Nov. 16–19 in Baltimore, which will include the election of bishops to the positions. Each bishop will serve as bishop-elect for one year, before taking over the role at the end of the 2027 fall plenary assembly. They serve three-year terms.

The most senior office up for election is USCCB secretary, which also leads the Committee on Priorities and Planning. This bishop helps set conference-wide priorities for the bishops.

Two bishops were nominated for the role: Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, and Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio. Rhoades holds the position because he was elected in 2025 to finish the term of Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, whose election to the USCCB presidency left a vacancy.

There are also two nominees for each of the committee chairs:

• The Committee on Catholic Education: Bishop James D. Conley, Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bishop Edmund J. Whalen, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of New York
• The Committee on Communications: Bishop Daniel J. Felton, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, and Bishop Louis Tylka, Diocese of Peoria, Illinois
• The Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church: Bishop Steven J. Maekawa, OP, Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Bishop Michael M. Pham, Diocese of San Diego
• The Committee on Doctrine: Bishop William M. Joensen, Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, and Bishop Steven J. Lopes, Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
• The Committee on National Collections: Bishop Mark A. Eckman, Diocese of Pittsburgh, and Bishop Gerald L. Vincke, Diocese of Salina, Kansas
• The Committee on Pro-Life Activities: Bishop John T. Folda, Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota, and Bishop Donald J. Hying, Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin

In a letter sent to the faithful of his archdiocese, the prelate wrote of his “astonishment and deep sadness” and said that what happened was “totally unexpected and difficult to understand.”

“Let us entrust him to the merciful love of the Lord. Let us pray for his parishioners, shocked by this unexpected news; for Father Jean-Philippe Nollé, his vicar; and for his family and friends, left desolate by this sudden departure,” the archbishop said.

In his letter, the archbishop remembered Card — who had been “deeply affected” some time ago by his brother’s suicide — as “a pastor much appreciated by his parishioners and who moved with ease among his fellow priests, who trusted him.”

He added that he was “very involved in the life of the cathedral chapter, regularly participated in the canons' prayer in the archbishopʼs chapel, and enjoyed staying afterward for coffee with the staff. He always took part with interest in the meetings of the Diocesan Council for Economic Affairs.”

Looking ahead to Card’s approaching 75th birthday, Hérouard said the two had spoken about the possibility of continuing his mission a little past the usual retirement age. Some had noticed that he seemed “tired lately” and was bothered by insects in his house, but no one thought that was “anything dramatic,” the archbishop wrote.

On the archdioceseʼs Facebook page, Michèle Bauchet commented: “This is deeply sad news. [Father] Bernard was a very kind person. He had agreed to officiate at our son-in-lawʼs funeral Mass.”

She wrote that he was to celebrate her golden wedding anniversary Mass in 2027. “We are truly shocked. We pray for Jean-Philippe Nollé and all of Bernardʼs family,” she added.

The French government declared mental health a national priority for 2025 and 2026. A 2020 study by Mutuelle Saint-Martin and Action Sociale found that 9% of French priests showed a depressive syndrome, 40% had a low sense of personal fulfillment, 7% a high degree of exhaustion, and 2% suffered from severe burnout.

The archdiocese has organized several prayer vigils for the priest. The first is Thursday, Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in Chenôve (Chapel of Saint Teresa). Later that same day, another vigil will be held at 3 p.m. in the church of Corcelles-les-Monts.

Prayers will be held on Friday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. at Sainte-Chantal; and on Monday, Oct. 12, from 8:30 to 10 p.m. at the same location. The funeral will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 10 a.m., also at Sainte-Chantal.

Seek help

If you or someone you know is experiencing an emotional crisis or suicidal thoughts, remember that the Catholic Church offers spiritual guidance, prayer, and someone to talk to and encourages seeking professional help.

You can contact helplines, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988 in the U.S.) for your country, or go to your parish, where you will find pastoral support and resources.

The Catholic Church teaches that life is a gift from God. The Church accompanies those who suffer with compassion and without judgment, offering hope, prayer, and consolation to the affected families.

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 15th Italian National Conference of the International Association of Exorcists (IAE) took place Sept. 21–25 at the Fraterna Domus center in Sacrofano, Italy, near Rome. The meeting focused on the pastoral experience of attendees.

3 cases of demonic possession

Father Benigno Palilla, an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Palermo, Italy, described a young woman who was freed after two and a half years of demonic possession, according to IAE’s website. The association said her suffering is common among younger people and is often tied to ceasing reception of the sacraments, atheism, spiritist sessions, and occult practices. Her troubles had led to aggression toward others and self-hatred that reached suicidal thoughts, the association noted. Palilla said her liberation came on the liturgical memorial of St. Pio of Pietrelcina. He said that after she gave her life fully to God, she felt a deep interior peace and a renewed love of life.

Father Angelo Barra, an exorcist of the Diocese of Salerno, Italy, spoke of a young woman who was a victim of domestic violence. After a trip, she began to complain of severe pain that started during Mass. The association said that a priest’s simple reading of passages from Acts 16 revealed an extraordinary demonic action and set off an “interior earthquake.” Blessings, together with the spiritual support of two Catholic communities in Africa, led to her liberation. She later said she had been the victim of a ritual consecration by a sect in the place she had visited.

Father Michele Tenzon, a former exorcist of the Diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo, recalled a South American woman whose relatives had “offered her to the spirits.” He said in that case, and in an exorcist’s life generally, what matters is living an authentic Christian life, ongoing formation, and the intercession of the Virgin Mary in prayer.

Sacred music and the Virgin Mary

Father Giuseppe Grassi, an exorcist and director of the Office of Sacred Music of the Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni, Italy, said sacred music and song are closely tied to the heights of the angelic ministry and can be used fruitfully in exorcism, according to the association. The more sacred the music, he said, the more closely it is connected to the liturgical action, because it prefigures the liturgy of the heavenly Jerusalem — from the psalms to Gregorian chant and popular songs in honor of the Virgin.

Mariologist Father Salvatore Perrella, a Servite and former dean of the Pontifical Marianum in Rome, stressed the importance of the Virgin Mary’s place in exorcisms. He pointed to her constant rooting in the word of God, “since Mary is intimately involved in the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation.” Mary, he said, “lived and served with fidelity, intelligence, and sobriety the role of collaborator with the Trinity in the salvation and eschatological glorification of the ‘scattered children of God.’” She is “essential in the life of the Church, interceding and praying for good to triumph over evil,” according to the association.

10 years since Father Amorth’s death

Several exorcists remembered Father Gabriele Amorth, the well-known exorcist of the Diocese of Rome and founder of the association, who died on Sept. 16, 2016, and who is credited with tens of thousands of exorcisms.

Father Francesco Bamonte, vice president of the association, recalled Amorth’s early work with the Servant of God Father Candido Amantini, exorcist at the Scala Santa. Amorth, he said, “understood that for a novice exorcist, simply being appointed by the bishop and receiving the ritual was not enough. It was like being an inexperienced surgeon. Hence the need for the conferences, courses, and regular training sessions promoted by the association.”

Father Aldo Buonaiuto, an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, recalled Amorth’s warnings about choices that expose a person to extraordinary demonic action: dangerous occult situations, fascination with the supernatural, personal ambition, an interior predisposition, and the devaluing of affections.

Father Marcello Lanza of the Diocese of Acerra, Italy, highlighted “the mystical component in the life, vocation, and teachings of Father Amorth, understood as a process of conformity to Christ. This is of great importance in the practice of exorcism, because if the ministry is mystically united to the Liberator, who is Christ, the devil is defeated all the more.”

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 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois earlier this year ruled in favor of multiple Catholic plaintiffs, including Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich, barring the state from requiring them to participate in the suicide regime there. Multiple groups of religious sisters have also been included in those protective orders.

The Thomas More Society, a legal group representing Paprocki and several others in their lawsuit, announced on Oct. 8 that “nearly every Catholic health care institution in Illinois” had been included in an expanded court order blocking the suicide law from being enforced.

Among the protected entities are the Catholic Medical Association, the Catholic Psychotherapy Association, and numerous Catholic healthcare affiliates in the Diocese of Springfield.

The order is temporary and will last only so long as the lawsuit against the state suicide law plays out, but Thomas More Society litigation head Peter Breen said in a news release that the law firm would “keep fighting until that protection is permanent.”

“Catholic and Christian health care providers, from hospitals and nursing homes to physicians, nurses, and therapists, strive to heal, not harm, and for generations, have cared for the sick and dying in keeping with their faith,” Breen said, arguing that the state has “no right or authority” to coerce them into helping patients kill themselves.

Narrow opt-out laws mean the Catholic care providers were not obligated to actively facilitate the specific act of suicide. But the state law still requires them to participate in the suicide regime in various other ways, including touting the alleged benefits of taking one’s own life.

Elsewhere in the U.S., Rockville Centre, New York, Bishop John Barres and a coalition of four communities of religious sisters won a victory in July when a U.S. district judge said the state would be barred from enforcing its new suicide law against the Catholic plaintiffs while their own federal suit played out.

Archbishop Christophe El-Kassis argued for an end to capital punishment during a meeting of the Third Committee on Oct. 7, saying the defense of human rights must be “consistent and universal, extending to every person, at every stage and in every circumstance.”

El-Kassis’ remarks come after Tennessee’s Sept. 30 botched execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike, who survived the administration of two syringes of lethal pentobarbital and is receiving medical treatment. A week later, Texas executed a man, marking the 30th execution carried out in the United States in 2026. Separately, President Donald Trump on Oct. 5 approved an execution by a military firing squad.

“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” El-Kassis said, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “This God-given dignity is never forfeited, no matter the gravity of the crime. Advances in penal systems now allow states to protect society effectively without foreclosing the possibility of repentance and redemption.”

El-Kassis emphasized that “there is no recourse” if the death penalty is carried out against an innocent person.

“Conversely, the victims and their families are entitled to solidarity, support, and a justice that is prompt, impartial, and humane. However, the taking of another life cannot restore what has been lost,” he said. “The purpose of punishment is not vengeance, but rather to repair the social bond, protect the common good, and reintegrate the offender.”

He concluded by calling on states in the U.S. where the practice is legal to “consider establishing, without delay, a moratorium on executions as a step towards abolition,” commute existing sentences, ensure fair trials, and enhance rehabilitation efforts.

Drug trafficking

El-Kassis also spoke on the topic of drug trafficking addressing those gathered at the Third Committee meeting on “Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice” with a call to uphold the law for the protection of human dignity and rights of others.

“Renewed determination is required in the face of expanding drug markets and the links between drug trafficking, corruption, and criminal activity around the world,” he said during the Oct. 7 session. “Furthermore, organized criminal groups are exploiting technology and innovation to expand their reach and diversify their operations.”

Quoting Pope Leo XIV, El-Kassis highlighted that prevention against drug use and trafficking must be accompanied by education that begins within the family and continues in schools, “imparting accurate scientific knowledge of the ruinous effects of narcotics upon the brain, the body, personal conduct, and the common good of the community.”

“The Catholic Church will continue to contribute to the common good and the inalienable, God-given dignity of every human person,” he said.

Indigenous peoples

El-Kassis also spoke during a session of the Third Committee on the “Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

“Every human person is endowed with inherent dignity and equal rights. Indigenous peoples, with their unique histories, cultures, spiritualities, and ancestral bonds to the land, form an indispensable part of the human family,” he said. “Their rights must be respected, protected, and promoted as a matter of justice and of the common good.”

El-Kassis further emphasized that “Indigenous peoples are not objects of development policies, but subjects and protagonists of their own destinies.”

The “Viva Cristo Rey! Centenary of the Cristero Epic” began Oct. 7 at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and continues through Oct. 9. The Cristero War began in 1926, and scholars examined its martyrs' legacy and church-state relations across Latin America.

Among those present were the Mexican ambassador to the Holy See, Alberto Medardo Barranco Chavarría; Rodrigo Guerra Lopez, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; and Italian Catholic politician and intellectual Rocco Buttiglione.

La Cristiada: A just war?

The Cristero War in Mexico lasted from 1926-1929, during which armed Catholics, known as the Cristeros, resisted the government’s fierce anticlerical laws. According to estimates from the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, more than 200,000 people were killed for defending the faith against persecution, producing martyrs such as St. José Sánchez del Río and Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro.

Amid these figures, debates have arisen about the movement’s legacy in light of the violence committed by members of the Cristeros in retaliation against anticlerical laws.

Buttiglione, who withdrew as Italyʼs nominee to the European Commission in 2004 after lawmakers objected to comments rooted in his Catholic beliefs about marriage, defended their actions as courageous despite their mistakes.

“We honor the courage of a people who fought and shed their blood for the freedom to live their faith,” Buttiglione said in his speech. “We are not afraid to acknowledge the mistakes and even the culpability of Catholics who lived through this immense tragedy. But they cannot condemn a people rebelling to defend the right to religious freedom.”

Conversely, Guerra described the Cristero movement to EWTN News as “complex” and cited Pope Leo XIV’s teaching on a “disarmed and disarming peace.”

“I believe that the Cristero movement was a complex movement,” Guerra told EWTN News. “It was neither entirely white nor entirely black. Those who lived Christianity and the faith, guided by Pope Leo XIV’s conviction for a disarmed and disarming peace, even if they did not use that language, are today recognized as martyrs and blesseds, and let’s hope many saints in the future.”

Church and state in Latin America

During the conference, scholars also examined the relationship between the Church and secular governments before and after the Cristero War.

In 1929, the war ended with the so-called “Agreements” between the Mexican bishops and President Emilio Portes Gil. The Cristeros laid down their arms after the agreements, but many, according to Franco-Mexican historian Jean Meyer, were still martyred afterward.

Barranco Chavarría told EWTN News that the characterization of the state’s stance against the Church is false.

“There is an interpretation that no longer corresponds to the current government of Mexico. It was always said that the government was trying to silence the Cristeros issue, that it was trying to minimize it. The truth is that no,” Barranco Chavarría told EWTN News.

Guerra added that their relationship was shaped by laicism, the doctrine of separation between church and state.

“Laicism has been very harmful in the history of Mexico,” Guerra told EWTN News. “We continue fighting against that disease, but we need to learn every day how the right to religious liberty is promoted joyfully.”

A potential visit from Pope Leo to Mexico?

The last pontiff to visit Mexico was Pope Francis in 2016.

Barranco Chavarría expressed hope for a future visit from Pope Leo XIV, also noting the visit of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in August, during which he said the pope is “very eager to come to Mexico.”

“The pope received an official invitation on the day of his inauguration,” Barranco Chavarría told EWTN News. “During a phone call with the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, the pope said he was strongly interested in visiting Mexico for the 500th anniversary of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s apparitions in 2031. We hope that next year, around October or November, this dream of the Mexicans can finally become a reality.”

Guerra added about his visit: “We hope that the pope will reinvigorate a new presence of Christian inspiration in public life, which we need so much in our Latin American countries, especially at times when extreme ideologies of the left or the right seem to tear the fabric of our societies.”

Celebrating the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope emphasized the mission of pontifical universities, the importance of critical thinking in the life of faith, and the need to connect academic study with the experiences of ordinary people, especially the poor.

Reflecting on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Leo said that intellectual inquiry is essential to both faith and mission.

The apostle’s words, he explained, are “an appeal to reason, memory, and critical thinking.”

“In every age, there is no shortage of false teachers who exploit the religious sentiments of many believers for their own interests, often pushing them to radicalize certain aspects of the teaching they have received at the expense of the whole — the whole, which is Christ and his Gospel,” the pope warned.

He encouraged students and professors to regard their academic work as a service to the Church and to the search for truth.

“Dear friends, consider study as a service to faith and truth: for your own good and for the good of so many brothers and sisters for whom the Lord gave his life,” he said.

Reason and the willingness to ask questions, guided by Scripture and Church tradition, are indispensable to Christian faith, Leo continued.

The Church, he said, has “both the desire and the responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the treasure of revelation and to develop, within diverse contexts, a prayerful understanding of it, scholarly reflection, cultural mediation, and practical application.”

The pope also addressed the relationship between human intelligence and technology, drawing a distinction between the accumulation of information and the deeper understanding that comes from personal experience.

“The mind must not simply compile data — as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can — but recall lived experiences, which contain depths of meaning that only the human soul can recognize, and connect more deeply with the goodness of these experiences,” he said.

Academic routines, ambition, and rivalries can distract people from the spiritual foundations of their work, leaving them exhausted, divided, and unhappy, Leo cautioned.

“We must therefore return to the heart. That is where it all began; the beginning to which we can always return,” he said.

“Dearest friends, guard your hearts. Whether you are students, researchers, or teachers, guard your hearts, so that every stage of life and every responsibility may be lived ‘with the Spirit.’”

The pope also emphasized the importance of friendships formed during university studies, particularly those grounded in a common search for truth in Christ.

He urged the academic community to remain connected to the wider Church and attentive to the concerns of ordinary believers.

“Remain rooted in the people of God, value its ’sensus fidei,’ and be open to its questions. And do not forget the poor, who are sometimes that persistent friend who comes knocking during the night,” he said.

The relationship between scholarship and everyday life, Leo explained, is fundamental to the Christian understanding of the Incarnation.

“Bring life into your studies and your studies into life, following the logic of the Incarnation, apart from which revelation falls silent,” he said.

“Indeed, the further we stray from the complete reality that the Son of God took on and lived with infinite love, the less we will have to say and the fewer opportunities we will have to understand.”

The pope reminded his listeners that many people lack the educational opportunities available to students at Rome’s pontifical universities.

“Let us open the door; let us not shut ourselves off,” he said.

Referring to his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Leo called for cooperation in building a society in which God can dwell with humanity in peace.

He noted that the fragmentation of knowledge and the impact of new technologies on the human mind present challenges requiring careful reflection.

Quoting the encyclical, he said that “a genuinely healthy attitude is needed, requiring rhythms that incorporate silence, in-depth study, reading, and judicious analysis, for without these elements inner freedom may be compromised.”

Theology, he added, has an important contribution to make in addressing those challenges and bringing different fields of knowledge into dialogue.

Rome’s ecclesiastical institutions have a particular responsibility in this regard because of their service to the universal Church and their role as meeting places for students and scholars from different cultures and traditions.

The pope concluded by encouraging students to take full advantage of the international character of the pontifical universities and to form lasting relationships across cultural and geographic boundaries.

“Look around you at university: The world is seated in your classrooms. Studying alongside you are people from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania,” he said.

“Do not limit yourselves to simply sitting next to one another: Get to know one another, talk to one another, listen to one another, share your experiences of the Church, pray together, share moments of leisure, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime.”

Leo ended his homily by entrusting the new academic year to the intercession of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, and invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

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

According to the Holy See Press Office, the Irish religious sister will assume her new responsibilities on Jan. 4, 2027.

Barron, superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, will take on one of the most significant leadership positions in the Church’s missionary activity. As president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, she will coordinate and promote missionary cooperation among local Churches throughout the world, particularly in regions where the Church is growing and facing significant pastoral challenges.

In 2024, during a press conference following Synod on Synodality discussions, Barron, then president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), which represents approximately 600,000 religious sisters in 80 countries, addressed the question of women who experience “a call to priesthood.”

While discussion of women deacons is often framed in terms of whether women can be ordained in the Church today, Barron argued that the issue should also be approached from another perspective.

“I think we have to look at the question very much from … the Spirit. ‘Is the Spirit calling women?’ Because some women do sense a call to priesthood or diaconate,” she said on Oct. 7, 2024.

Barron also said that, “even if at the moment we may not be looking at ordained ministry” for women, discussion on the issue should continue.

The Irish religious sister further emphasized that opportunities for women to assume positions of governance in the Church continue to depend in large part on cultural factors. She said women are able to take on broader leadership roles in some societies, while doing so remains more difficult in others because of cultural realities.

“I think we have to look at broader than just can or can we not from a theological or a canonical point of view, but in terms of the spirit calling to ministry today and in terms … of the needs of mission today,” she said.

Barron concluded by calling for continued reflection on the issue: “Are those calls there and can we continue the discussion? I think thatʼs what we would be asking at this point in time. Can we continue the discussion in relation to that?”

ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, attempted to contact Barron for clarification regarding her views but did not receive a response by publication time.

Missionary work in Africa

Born in Donegal, Ireland, on Nov. 7, 1968, Barron has academic training in public administration and international development. She earned a masterʼs degree in health administration from Dublinʼs Institute of Public Administration and a masterʼs degree in international development from the Kimmage Development Studies Centre.

Since 2018, she has served as superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, a congregation dedicated to evangelization and missionary service, especially in several African countries.

Her leadership experience also includes prominent roles in international organizations connected to consecrated life and missionary activity. From 2022 to 2025, she served as president of the Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission (SEDOS), and from 2023 to 2025 she led the UISG, the international organization representing superiors general of womenʼs religious congregations worldwide.

Growing presence of women in Vatican leadership

Barron becomes one of the highest-ranking women in the Roman Curia and the first woman to lead the pontifical missionary network operating in more than 120 countries.

Her appointment is part of a series of appointments by Pope Leo XIV that have strengthened the trend of placing women in senior Vatican leadership positions.

The popeʼs first major appointment of a woman came on May 22, 2025, when he named Sister Tiziana Merletti secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

The presence of women in leadership roles continued to expand on April 1, 2026, when Paola Fanelli was appointed director of human resources for the Holy See.

Another significant appointment came on June 2, 2026, when Leo XIV named María Montserrat Alvarado, currently president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication. The Mexican-American journalist and scholar is scheduled to become, on Nov. 1, the first woman to lead the department responsible for coordinating the Holy Seeʼs communications system, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, LʼOsservatore Romano, and Vatican digital platforms.

On June 30, the pope also appointed Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli, 51, as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Smerilli, a professor of political economy, had served as secretary of the dicastery since 2021 and was already the first woman to reach that level within the department.

Pope Leo XIV received representatives of the Association of Vatican Lay Workers and the Women in the Vatican Association on Monday. During the meeting, he said that “the presence of women” in the Vatican “is a valuable asset that must be increasingly recognized and appreciated.”

The pope added that women “bring not only a special sensitivity toward people and relationships but also the full range of human, professional, and intellectual talents inherent in the female experience and perspective.”

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.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law in June 2025. The measure ordered that a “durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” be hung in each Texas public elementary or secondary school classroom.

The law has been subject to legal challenges since its passage. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blocked the law in August 2025, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the law, finding that it does not violate the First Amendment.

In an amicus filing on Sept. 28, scholars with the Lindsay & Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic at the Notre Dame Law School urged the Supreme Court to take up the case, arguing that the high court can provide “urgently needed guidance” regarding the extent of the establishment clause in the First Amendment.

The Texas law “forces state-sponsored religious instruction on children” and “strikes at the heart of the Constitution’s protections” while going against Supreme Court precedent, the filing says.

The appeals court ruling “misstates the history underpinning the First Amendment, defies [Supreme Court] cases, and imperils religious freedom,” the brief argues.

The placement of the Ten Commandments per the state’s rule “guarantees” that students will be effectively coerced into religious instruction, it says.

The purpose of the law is to “teach government-approved religious truth,” the scholars say, in violation of the Constitution and U.S. precedent.

The Supreme Court has ruled on public displays of the Ten Commandments in multiple cases. In 2005 it held that a display at the Texas Capitol was constitutional, though in the same year it struck down Ten Commandments displays at multiple Kentucky courthouses.

In 2024, meanwhile, a federal judge blocked a Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed the ruling, finding that Supreme Court precedent left the constitutional question unresolved.

"The more united we are in Christ, the better able we will be to carry out together the mission that he entrusts to us," the pope wrote. “This spirituality constitutes the daily expression of missionary discipleship."

Leo himself served for years in Peru as an Augustinian missionary priest and bishop, and has often called on Catholics “to proclaim the Gospel without fear, to be missionaries.”

Pope Pius XI established World Mission Day in 1926, following the publication of his landmark encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae, which promoted the idea that supporting missions was the responsibility of all Catholics.

The centennial observance will be marked by Masses all over the world, with the pontiff celebrating the canonization of seven blesseds on Oct. 19 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In his message, the pope highlighted historical figures of faith, including Blessed Pauline Marie Jaricot, who established the Association of the Living Rosary 200 years ago to mobilize prayer and support for missionaries.

The pope urged the faithful to draw inspiration from the zeal of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Until death and beyond, she declared that she would continue her mission: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved.”

“If unity is the condition of mission, love is its essence,” the pope wrote. “Let us commit to contributing to the great mission of evangelization — which is a work of love.”

In a statement issued Oct. 5, members of the South Sudan Council of Churches — which includes representatives of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference — said the suffering of South Sudanese people had reached a point where “silence is no longer an option.”

“We, the church leaders of the South Sudan Council of Churches, express our grave concerns over the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the country,” they said.

The leaders called on the government, traditional authorities, armed groups, and communities to end violence and revenge attacks, secure roads and river transport corridors, and guarantee “safe and unhindered humanitarian access” to affected populations.

They also urged the strengthening of local peace and reconciliation mechanisms, calling on parties to the conflict and communities to choose “restraint over retaliation, dialogue over confrontation, and reconciliation over revenge.”

“We have endured decades of conflict,” they said, adding that South Sudanese “deserve to live without fear of being killed on the roads, displaced from our homes, abducted from our communities, or caught between armed forces and armed youth.”

This year, South Sudan has reportedly experienced renewed fighting between government forces and armed opposition groups, alongside intercommunal violence and the mobilization of armed youth. In parts of Jonglei and Upper Nile, insecurity has driven displacement and disrupted humanitarian operations.

In June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that months of fighting in eastern Jonglei had forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

In an April report, UNICEF said more than 330,000 people had been displaced by ongoing fighting and airstrikes as of March, the vast majority of them women and children. Displacement was also spreading into neighboring Lakes and Upper Nile states, placing pressure on communities and basic services.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan documented 206 incidents of conflict-related violence affecting 1,388 civilians between January and March.

According to its June 30 press release, 767 civilians were killed, 457 injured, 93 abducted, and 71 subjected to conflict-related sexual violence.

In their Oct. 5 statement, South Sudan church leaders highlighted killings, abductions, and displacement across several parts of the country, saying unsafe roads and restricted humanitarian access were worsening conditions for affected communities.

In Upper Nile State, they identified Nasir and Ulang counties as areas where renewed armed confrontations and the mobilization of armed youth had caused deaths, displacement, and disruption of humanitarian access.

They also reported civilian deaths and displacement linked to fighting, intercommunal violence, and the mobilization of armed youth in Nyirol, Uror, Ayod, Akobo, Twic East, and Duk in Jonglei state, as well as in the Pibor Administrative Area.

The leaders raised concern about insecurity around Bentiu in Unity state and in the Ruweng Administrative Area, citing its effects on displaced and vulnerable communities. They also highlighted intercommunal and revenge-related violence in Tonj North and Gogrial East in Warrap state, and in the Abyei Administrative Area.

In the Equatoria region, they said insecurity and attacks along the Juba-Mundri, Juba-Torit, and Juba-Bor roads were threatening civilians and humanitarian operations.

Parts of Yei River County and communities in Western and Eastern Equatoria “continue to experience the effects of armed insecurity, confrontations, and displacement,” they added.

The Christian leaders urged South Sudanese to reject hatred, retaliation, and violence, and to work together for peace, reconciliation, and the protection of their shared destiny.

They prayed that God would “heal our wounded nation” and grant wisdom to its leaders, expressing hope that every community in South Sudan could live “in peace and dignity.”

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

Poll chaplains, sometimes called peacekeepers, volunteer outside of polling locations to help provide nonpartisan election information to voters, seek to mediate tensions that arise, and peacefully intervene and document attempts to intimidate voters or infringe on voting rights.

Even though a poll chaplain is not an official Church or government position, Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said during a virtual conference in late September that Catholics should be proactive in the democratic process, which includes the protection of voting rights with the help of nonpartisan poll watchers and poll chaplains.

We are in an especially fraught and significant moment in our nation’s history, with active, and, at times, successful attempts to gerrymander the vote or suppress turnout in areas that might not be favorable to a preferred candidate.”

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger

Archdiocese of Detroit

“We are in an especially fraught and significant moment in our nation’s history, with active, and, at times, successful attempts to gerrymander the vote or suppress turnout in areas that might not be favorable to a preferred candidate,” Weisenburger said.

“The Church is well within its theological mandate to be an instrument of activity, seeking out voters and registering them to vote, especially in areas that are being targeted for voter suppression or where tactics of intimidation might be used to discourage voting,” Weisenburger said at the Participation, Dignity, and Elections conference on Sept. 16.

“Inviting and training people to be nonpartisan poll watchers or poll chaplains, and to stand firm in the face of intimidation [is also part of that mandate],” the archbishop said.

The conference, organized by Catholics in Communion, included panels about voter support, electoral participation, political polarization, and the Church’s relationship to democracy, along with other subjects related to elections.

“Democracy can be a vehicle for Godʼs care for the human family, but it requires a state that understands its limitations and is not overreaching in its responsibility to create public good order,” Weisenburger said.

“It requires citizens and freely created associations and groups to recognize the responsibilities and duties that flow from freedom,” he said. “It requires a Church that is willing to boldly proclaim the Gospel and apply that Gospel to the task of building a just and thriving society.”

“May we all embrace that responsibility so that our Democratic Republic of the United States can be such an instrument of Godʼs care for us all,” the archbishop said.

Poll chaplains train for midterms

Various organizations have been recruiting and training people to serve as poll chaplains for the 2026 midterm elections. It is a role that has developed within faith communities in the past few election cycles.

The Rev. Jim Wallis, an evangelical preacher who directs Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice, told EWTN News that the center is part of the coalition Faiths United to Save Democracy (FUSD), which has trained more than 1,000 of numerous faith backgrounds to serve as poll chaplains for the November elections. The last scheduled training is on Oct. 15.

“This isn’t political or partisan for us,” he said. “It’s really theological.”

Wallis, who works to articulate the moral and theological framing for why poll chaplains go to voting locations, said the mission is rooted in Genesis 1:26, when God says, “Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness,” which expresses the inviolable dignity of every person.

“This foundational biblical teaching about the dignity of every human being made in the image of God is fundamental to all of our human rights, civil rights, and voting rights,” he said. “... To suppress a vote is to assault the image of God.”

Wallis said FUSD trains people of all faiths and participants include Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists. He said they have trained a “good mix” of laypeople and clergy, which include Catholic priests. Clergy are encouraged to wear religious garb.

Apart from the usual de-escalation training, Wallis expressed concerns about what he called “threats” from President Donald Trump’s administration to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the National Guard to polling locations.

“Polling places have lots of people,” he said. “There’s partisan actors, there’s poll workers. The administration has suggested there be people monitoring elections. … [The chaplains are] a calming presence, they’re often a trusted presence and they’re there to intervene if necessary if intimidation occurs.”

One of the Catholic activist groups involved in recruiting poll chaplains is the Franciscan Action Network (FAN), which alone has recruited 321 volunteers, which include friars, sisters, and lay Franciscans, along with other lay Catholics and Christians.

Robert Christian, director of strategy for FAN, told EWTN News that poll chaplaincy is “deeply compatible with our mission and Franciscan values,” noting that the order is “known for their commitment to peace.”

“Free, fair, peaceful elections allow for the peaceful resolution of differences,” Christian said.

He said “every single person has dignity” and a “right to participate economically, socially, and politically.” Within FAN’s network, he said there’s strong care for “the integrity of elections” and volunteers “want to do their part to make sure everyone feels comfortable showing up on Election Day and [don’t] have to worry about their vote being counted or being turned away.”

Christian said the training focuses mostly on partisan tensions boiling over into the voting line or conflicts between poll workers and a voter. He also said talks about federal intervention, such as ICE agents stationed near voting locations, have caused people to be “nervous.”

“There have been growing concerns around democratic norms and people accepting the outcome of elections,” Christian said. “... It’s a pretty tense atmosphere in the lead-up to the elections.”

The 2026 midterm elections are less than one month away on Nov. 3. Every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection and there are 35 Senate elections. Many states have local elections and ballot referendums, and there are 36 gubernatorial elections.

This story was updated at 1:44 p.m. ET on Oct. 8, 2026, to clarify that the poll chaplain training is not conducted by Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice but rather by Faiths United to Save Democracy (FUSD); the center is part of FUSD.

Mental Health Sunday is part of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops’ (USCCB) National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, a year-round initiative of the U.S. bishops that encourages the faithful to respond and bring awareness to the growing mental health crisis in the country.

While the campaign is a year-round initiative, a special emphasis is placed on the issue Oct. 10–18. During that week, the Novena for Mental Health is prayed. The novena begins on World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10), includes Mental Health Sunday — which takes place on the Sunday that falls within the time frame of the Novena for Mental Health — and ends on the feast of St. Luke (Oct. 18), the patron saint of healthcare.

The novena includes themes related to mental health to reflect on and uses a pray, learn, act structure, which means that each day includes a prayer, a section where participants can learn about mental health issues and about those suffering, and a call to action where participants are encouraged to get involved or do more to spread awareness.

The petitions in the novena include praying for the removal of stigma, the mental health ministry, families, youth and young adults, childhood, the effects of racial discrimination, poverty, suicide awareness, and grief.

In preparation for Mental Health Sunday, parishes and dioceses are being encouraged to launch a mental health resource or provide resources in the narthex after Masses, take part in the novena as a parish community, invite parishioners to bring their petitions about mental health issues to pray as a community, include mental health issues during the Prayer of the Faithful at all Masses, or offer a blessing for those who work in mental health ministries.

The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, is answering this call through the launch of its Mental Health Ministry, which will be introduced to the diocesan community on Oct. 10. Bishop Earl Fernandes will celebrate Mass at the St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus and will recognize individuals with mental health challenges, caregivers, and mental health professionals.

Pope Leo XIV also called upon the faithful to join in prayer during the month of October for mental health ministry.

“Melancholy, bad character, confusion of senses — today, we understand that behind these old labels lies a deep, silent suffering not only of those affected by mental disorders but also of their loved ones and their communities,” Pope Leo said in a video released Oct. 1 on X.

He added: “We live in a world full of tensions, and even as solutions grow so does the number of people in crisis. This October, let us pray for the mental health ministry — an urgent and ever-more-needed service in our Church and in the world.”

In the full video shared on the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recited an original prayer written specifically for this month’s prayer intention. The prayer can be found here.

The Cornell Catholic Community, led by Associate Director Deacon Matthew Hall and priest-chaplains Father Daniel McMullin and Father David Cataline, said in an Oct. 7 statement that campus ministry is offering prayer, pastoral care, and support to students affected by sexual violence.

A former Cornell student’s civil lawsuit alleges fraternity members sexually assaulted her at the Ithaca, New York, campus, leading to scrutiny of Cornell’s disciplinary process. New York Attorney General Letitia James has opened a criminal investigation into the handling of allegations.

Salt, Leaven, and Light

The pastoral letter, “Salt, Leaven, and Light,” reflects on Catholic teaching concerning marriage and sexuality, the theology of the body, the principles of Catholic moral reasoning, the relationship between freedom and authority, and the vocation of Christians to contribute to the moral life of the communities in which they live and work, the statement said.

“We are not called to retreat from difficult conversations because our neighbors do not yet speak the language of Catholic theology,” the pastoral letter said. “Much less are we permitted to stand aloof, as if their plight were not our problem. We are called to help our neighbors see more clearly what they may already see in shadow: that human beings are endowed with an infinite dignity; that sex is sacred; that our choices have real moral meaning; that some things are objectively good and some objectively evil; and that freedom is not simply the power to choose whatever we want, but the capacity to choose what is truly good.”

The letter further offers students nine suggestions for “Seasoning, Leavening, and Enlightening Cornell” amid the ongoing scandal, including prayer before speaking, knowing the Church’s teachings on sexual ethics and consent, rejecting relativism, using personal influence for good, and entering the public square only “when you have something true and charitable to say.”

“Prelims are upon you. The last thing you need is national news cameras filming B-roll as you try to go about your day. Nor do you need 29 paragraphs of extra reading,” the letter said.

“For some of you, the events of these weeks will cause particular bitterness, anxiety, and sadness, as they bring to mind your own experiences of sexual violence, accusations, sins, and other painful experiences. We know too well what it means to call this life a ‘vale of tears.’ But God ‘comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.’ (2 Cor 1:4) Let us bear gently and kindly with one another. Please know of my prayers for you,” the letter said.

Hall said in an email sharing the pastoral letter: “We must enter the discourse as Christians: prayerfully, thoughtfully, charitably, and with confidence that the Catholic faith has something true and beautiful to say to the whole world.”

“We do not want our Catholic students to retreat from difficult conversations,” Hall said. “We want our students to have the intellectual and spiritual resources to enter those conversations charitably and courageously. We need to be able to affirm what is true, recognize human dignity, and help one another pursue what is genuinely good.”

On Oct. 9, the memorial of St. John Henry Newman, patron of Catholic communities at secular universities, the Cornell Catholic Community will observe a day of prayer, the statement said.

“My hope is that this library will help the students of Benedictine College defend the American project today,” Barrett said during her remarks, according to a Sept. 28 press release. “And I hope that it will bring them together to discuss new ideas, forge friendships and, importantly, learn to disagree respectfully. In a time of hyper-polarization, many have limited interactions with those whose beliefs they do not like. But citizens must learn to disagree about ideas without making enemies of the people who hold them. The success of the American project depends on it.”

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, also delivered remarks. “We change the world one soul at a time, and one citizen at a time,” he said. “It happens here every day at Benedictine College … If we could judge the world and its future by what happens here at this college, we can have a very warm spot in our heart and a very bright sense of hope.”

Other speakers at the event included the college’s president, Stephen Minnis; Michael Kuckelman, chairman of the board of directors; Kimberly Shankman, dean and provost of the college; recent alumni Jeffery Schremmer and Arturo Hernandez; and Abbot James Albers of St. Benedict Abbey, who led prayers.

Chicago Archdiocese urges Illinois to join federal education tax credit program

The Archdiocese of Chicago is calling on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to opt the state in to a new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit program that could bring up to $2 billion in additional education funding to Illinois schools.

“Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Treasury released draft guidelines for the Education Freedom Tax Credit program. They offer a clear opportunity for Illinois to join the program and open the door to much-needed education funding for all schools in the state,” the archdiocese said in an Oct. 2 press release.

Under the program, individuals could receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700, while couples filing jointly could receive up to $3,400, for donations to recognized scholarship-granting organizations. The program would not require state or local funding or taxes.

Most of the funding generated through the program would support public school students, while some could provide scholarships for students attending Catholic and other nonpublic schools, according to the archdiocese. The funding also could support tutoring, education technology, school supplies, and transportation.

“If our state does not opt-in, polls indicate that up to $1 billion in Illinois donations would flow to other states, funding that could benefit our own students. It is imperative that Gov. Pritzker opt Illinois into the program to help secure this new funding source for our state’s students,” the archdiocese said.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, CM, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, similarly called the federal scholarship tax credit “a transformative opportunity for children across the country” in an Oct. 2 statement.

Australian Catholic school system to cut ties with religious order after abuse scandal

The Trustees of Edmund Rice Education Australia is considering severing the national network of Catholic schools’ connection with the Christian Brothers after a fallout over the compensation of sexual abuse victims.

Edmund Rice is seeking to part ways with the order that runs the 61 schools in its network as the relationship between the organization and the religious order have “become strained,” according to an ABC News report.

The move comes after the Christian Brothers attempted to avoid paying sex abuse survivor claims by transferring over $50 million worth of property assets to Edmund Rice over a decade in symbolic $1 dollar transfers.

His death was confirmed in a news release by current Bishop Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap, who was appointed to that role in May.

“It is with profound sadness, yet with faith in the promise of the Resurrection, that I announce the passing of the Most Reverend Frank J. Dewane, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Venice in Florida,” Agüero said.

Dewane died at 3 a.m. at Sarasota Memorial Hospital “surrounded by close family and friends,” the prelate said. A cause of death was not immediately given.

Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on March 9, 1950, Dewane was ordained in that diocese on July 16, 1988. Prior to his ordination he worked for NBC in Moscow and also worked at a subsidiary for Pepsi in New York.

Among his roles prior to his consecration as bishop, Dewane served as a member of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York and as the undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

He was named a coadjutor bishop of the Venice Diocese in 2006 by then-Pope Benedict XVI and was ultimately installed as bishop there on Jan. 19, 2007. He retired from that role on May 13 after nearly 20 years of service there.

Among his other roles in the U.S. Church were chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ domestic justice committee as well as on the bishops’ ad hoc Committee Against Racism.

Near the end of his tenure, in 2025, he spoke out against what he described as the “corrosive” rhetoric of U.S. federal officials who were intending to build a detention facility in the Everglades meant to house immigrants in the country illegally.

“Decency requires that we remember individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives,” the bishop said at the time.

Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, the Holy See’s apostolic nuncio to the U.N., called for “true equality” for women, and for global economic and technological advances to prioritize the human person and the common good during remarks delivered at the Oct. 6 session.

El-Kassis, who was appointed to the position in July, spoke during the U.N.’s Third Committee, which focuses on social, humanitarian, and cultural issues, as well as the Second Committee, which focuses on economic and financial issues.

Drawing from Pope Leo XIV’s statement that “development is truly human when it places people at the center instead of the accumulation of wealth,” El-Kassis noted that eradicating poverty must come with the development of a system that does not treat the poor “merely as passive recipients of assistance.”

“Instead, they should be active participants and protagonists in the measures and programs designed to help them in their own lives,” he said. “To achieve the objectives of poverty eradication, full employment and decent work, and social integration, as set out in Copenhagen and reaffirmed in Doha, will require sustained cooperation, creativity and a renewed commitment to a political, economic, ethical and spiritual vision for social development based on human dignity.”

During another session on sustainable development and global economic change, El-Kassis called for the world’s economy to embrace “fairer and more inclusive international financial architecture.”

“The circumstances of a person’s birth should not determine the respect for one’s inherent God-given dignity or the opportunities an individual is able to access,” he said. “Similarly, the economic circumstances of a country should not limit its ability to meaningfully participate decisions that shape its development.”

El-Kassis similarly quoted Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas when speaking about women and emphasized that “equality for women cannot be achieved as long as violence against women remains widespread.” The Holy See’s U.N. representative further decried human trafficking and said other technological and medical developments have enabled forms of exploitation, including surrogacy.

The Holy See reiterated its opposition to surrogacy, arguing that it treats gestation as “a negotiable service,” which violates the dignity of both the child and the mother.

The announcement brings an end to several years of debate and speculation regarding whether the country would allow doctors to help kill individuals who are suffering from mental health issues but who are not terminally or seriously ill.

Fraser told media at the Canadian House of Commons on Oct. 7 that the country would not move forward with the proposed expansion.

“While there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time,” he told media.

Euthanasia has become a leading cause of death in Canada since it was legalized roughly a decade ago. About 100,000 Canadians have died by the country’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) program since 2016.

The country’s euthanasia program is one of the most permissive in the world. In 2023 euthanasia accounted for roughly 1 out of every 20 deaths there.

The MAID program is nominally limited to those suffering from what the government describes as a “grievous and irremediable medical condition,” though the condition need not be fatal or terminal.

The government had previously debated expanding the program to those suffering from mental health issues, though postponed the question in 2024 after a parliamentary report said the nation was “not ready” for the expansion.

Fraser said on Wednesday that upcoming legislation would indefinitely extend the ban on mental health-related euthanasia.

A 2025 report from Cardus Health found that vulnerable demographics were obtaining suicide assistance at disproportionately high rates in Canada. Among those groups were individuals suffering from mental illness.

Assisted suicide has expanded at the regional level in the country. In 2024, for instance, the provincial government of Quebec said it would begin allowing assisted suicide in the form of “advance requests,” where individuals can be euthanized at a time when they are unable to give consent so long as they agreed to the procedure at some point in the past.

In 2024, meanwhile, a watchdog report found that hundreds of violations of the country’s euthanasia rules had gone unreported to law enforcement.

“The wisdom of the people of God reaches us through our common faith, which enlightens all families, including situations marked by difficulties, loneliness, and at times even apparent failure,” the pope said in his opening address to the gathering, being held in the Paul VI Audience Hall and scheduled to conclude Oct. 14.

The closed-door assembly, which is not open to journalists, is expected to produce a synthesis document without doctrinal authority that will later be presented to the pope.

The meeting is part of the synodal evaluation assemblies proposed at the conclusion of the 2021-2024 Synod on Synodality process.

Ten years after the two synods on the family and the widespread debate sparked by Amoris Laetitia, 154 bishops and cardinals, 53 priests and lay faithful, and 11 invited families began a series of meetings Wednesday aimed at assessing the current situation and evaluating the reception of Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation on the family.

The document generated significant debate after its publication because it opened the possibility, in certain cases, for some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist.

The pope made no direct reference to that issue during his address, which he delivered in English following a time of prayer.

Leo XIV said the lives of families pose to the Church “questions that deserve to be faced with courage” and highlighted several situations that concern him.

“In many contexts, a growing distance has emerged between the ways in which sex and intimacy are lived and the Christian vision of marriage,” he said.

“Young people continue to long for love, fidelity, and belonging, yet many find it difficult to embrace how such a vision of love can take shape in their own lives or to believe that a lifelong commitment is the condition for reaching what they desire,” he continued.

“Economic insecurity, migration, violence, loneliness, and other forms of emotional fragility also shape the choices people make and the possibilities they can imagine for their future,” he added.

‘What are people truly seeking?’

Focusing on contemporary challenges, the pope encouraged bishops to listen to families and stressed that the Church still has much to learn from them.

In that context, he posed a series of questions that he said should accompany the meetingʼs work, which is being conducted according to the synodal method and conceived as a space for listening and discernment.

“What are people truly seeking beneath these cultural changes? What do their joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties reveal to us? Where do our pastoral language and practices succeed in opening a path, and where do they fail to touch people’s hearts or assist their efforts to do what is good? What is the lived experience of families teaching us — an experience from which we have not yet fully learned? What can we offer as formation for healthy and holy family life? In particular, what can we learn from parents as they seek to accompany their children and young people in such contexts?”

‘Fragility deserves special attention’

The Holy Father also emphasized that “fragility deserves special attention” because it can “profoundly shape the way people see themselves, their future, and even their relationship with God and with the Church.”

“We all know the gap between the good we desire and what we are able to live. We need grace, forgiveness, and new beginnings to accomplish God’s will, and we learn that fidelity is itself a grace to be received and a path to be gradually renewed, often through trial,” he said.

He added that recognizing this “shared challenge” should shape the way members of the Church accompany families. He then posed additional questions to participants.

“What kind of Church, then, do people encounter precisely when they are most fragile? Do our communities help them discover that they still have a place, a responsibility, and gifts to offer? Can the truth we proclaim be encountered through the patience, closeness, and mercy of our pastoral presence? How can we announce to them the fullness of the Gospel’s teaching about the family?”

The pope urged participants to give these questions the attention they deserve.

“The Holy Spirit often speaks through the very situations that challenge us and enlightens us that we may discover how God’s mercy and the salvific grace of Christ can reach our families today, particularly in their weakness and resilience, in their hopes and disappointments, in their longing for communion and their search for meaning,” he said.

In the final portion of his address, Leo XIV called for the meeting’s work to unfold in a spirit of authentic “evangelical freedom” and encouraged participants to share honestly both the joys and challenges experienced in their local Churches.

Confidentiality requested

The pope also underscored the importance of prayer during the gathering and expressed hope that the meeting would help develop a shared assessment of the past decade of family ministry in the Church.

Finally, he asked all participants to exercise “discretion” and preserve “the confidentiality that this time of listening and discernment requires.”

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.

Like an earlier document on the family by St. John Paul II, Amoris Laetitia was an innovative response to the challenge of following the moral law “when social situations are turbulent and changing quickly,” Alford said.

Amoris Laetitia sparked intense debate following its publication in 2016, especially after the bishops of the Buenos Aires Pastoral Region interpreted it as allowing, following a process of accompanied pastoral discernment, access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist for some Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried “when a person judges that he or she would fall into a further fault by harming the children of the new union.”

In 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that this interpretation forms part of the authentic magisterium after being incorporated into the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy See’s official bulletin.

Earlier this year, Pope Leo called the presidents of bishops’ conferences and heads of Eastern Churches, together with some married couples and theological experts, to spend a week at the Vatican in “synodal discernment” on families and the challenges they face today, including “abandonment, separation, and divorce,” in the light of Amoris Laetitia.

The ‘law of gradualness’

Alford’s address on the first day of the Oct. 7–14 meeting of bishops followed an opening prayer and a speech by Pope Leo XIV, who also said there is continuity in the teaching on marriage from Pope John Paul I through Pope Francis.

Like Leo, Alford, too, connected the two recent apostolic exhortations on the family: St. John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio and Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia.

They both, she said, include the idea of the “law of gradualness.” In Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis said John Paul II proposed it “in the knowledge that the human being ‘knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by different stages of growth.’”

Alford, quoting Pope Francis, said that “this is not a ‘gradualness of law’ but rather a gradualness in the prudential exercise of free acts on the part of subjects who are not in a position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law. For the law is itself a gift of God which points out the way, a gift for everyone without exception; it can be followed with the help of grace.”

Both popes, the sister said, “are concerned to maintain the ideal, ‘law [which] is a gift of God which points out the way,’ as well as to recognize that many are not able to fully ‘understand, appreciate, or … carry out the objective demands of the law.”

She pointed out that 35 years separates Familiaris Consortio and Amoris Laetitia, during which time the lived situation of Christian families has seen many developments.

“As in other cases, such as in the social teaching of the Church, when social situations are turbulent and changing quickly, it can be necessary to find new ways of putting together both the ‘objective demands of the law’ (AL, 295) and the ‘law of gradualness’ (FC, 34) that many experience in trying to enter into it. Both Familiaris Consortio and Amoris Laetitia try to do this in their different historical contexts,” she said.

“Let us not forget,” the sister added, “that St. Thomas Aquinas and all the tradition that goes back to him would say that the law of God reaches its greatest expression in the new law, the law of the Gospel: the grace of Jesus.”

The purpose of the meeting

“In this meeting … we are called to proclaim the Gospel both of and to families,” the Dominican sister said. “It implies that the family is integral to the proclamation of the Gospel. The family both actively proclaims the Gospel and is in need of receiving the proclamation of the Gospel.”

Alford said the stress and brokenness often present in family life and marriage are an opportunity for greater holiness and trust in God. In order to unite their suffering with Christ’s, families need to hear the good news of the Gospel.

“Many families in situations of suffering and need could derive great help in facing their trials from hearing the good news proclaimed to them, receiving the new perspective the Gospel gives us on life and, thereby, the grace of the sacraments,” she said. “The very stresses, tensions, and brokenness in family life can be borne with more fortitude and with the hope that they can be worked through by uniting them to the sufferings of Christ.”

“As Pope Francis says, ‘In the darkest hours of a family’s life, union with Jesus in his abandonment can help avoid a breakup,’” she said, quoting from Amoris Laetitia No. 317.

“The beauty of the vocation to marriage is to be found through and with and in its fragility, not least because weakness can reawaken trust in God, and trust in God awakens the desire for holiness,” Alford said. “This, in a nutshell, is the Gospel of and to the family that we are talking about.”

Helping young people choose marriage

Alford’s talk also touched on the relational gaze of Jesus and its importance for recognizing and “seeing” the relationships that make up our lives, which are not visible like physical objects, yet, like the air we breathe, are really there.

She also spoke about the importance of helping young people enter into marriage with the proper outlook and tools to confront its difficulties.

“In the highly unstable world we live in today, if we are going to help young people have the courage to enter into marriage, and to give them the capacity to cope with the stresses they are going to meet, they will need to ‘see’ their relationships and think about their marriage and family life in a relational way,” she said.

“Social love, as a reflection of the Trinity, is what truly unifies the spiritual meaning of the family and its mission to others, for it makes present the kerygma in all its communal imperatives,” she added, quoting from Amoris Laetitia No. 324.

She encouraged the meeting’s participants to “search for ways to encourage young people to take up the great challenge of marriage and family life, embracing it in the full knowledge that they will experience great fragility as part of the process of realizing its beauty, and that in that fragility, they will find new and unexpected sources of God’s grace and experience a desire for holiness that is their very own.”

“Let us join Jesus in calling them to rise to the challenge, like Jesus called the Samaritan woman, of proclaiming the Gospel to others, precisely in the recognition of their fragility, so as to call others to join them in trusting in God’s grace and in experiencing the Christian desire for holiness,” Alford said.

During the ceremony held at the archdiocesan curia, the “nihil obstat” (“no objection”) from the Vaticanʼs Dicastery for the Causes of Saints was read, along with the decree from Guadalajara Cardinal Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega, ordering the opening of the process.

The decree noted that the archdiocese has the authority to conduct this cause, as Larrañaga passed away within its territory in 2013. In accordance with the 2007 Vatican instruction Sanctorum Mater, which governs diocesan procedures for canonization causes, it is generally the responsibility of the bishop of the diocese where the servant of God died to conduct this stage of the process.

‘A tireless seeker of God’

Representing Robles Ortega, Auxiliary Bishop Juan Manuel Muñoz Curiel of Guadalajara also took part in the event. During his remarks, he remembered Larrañaga as a “tireless seeker of God.”

He further described him as a “mystic of our time who, through his warm words and profound contemplative experience, taught millions of people how to pray and live in intimacy with the Father.”

“He knew how to translate sublime Franciscan mysticism into a simple, accessible method so that the ordinary person could encounter the Lord face-to-face,” Muñoz Curiel stated.

However, he clarified that the aim of initiating Larrañaga’s cause is not to “raise a man to the altars to be admired from afar” but rather to remember that the call to holiness is a “vocation for every baptized person, as he himself used to teach us.”

Muñoz Curiel stated that life was remarkable not because Larrañaga “was free of difficulties but because, amid his weaknesses and the exhaustion of his tireless apostolic work, he knew how to entrust himself with total confidence to the hands of the Father.”

Inspired by this testimony, the prelate invited those present to “break free from spiritual mediocrity and courageously embrace our own vocation to holiness” and asked God that, “if it be for his greater glory and the good of the Church, he might deign to glorify his servant Ignacio.”

What happens next in the process?

As the first procedural step, Monsignor Óscar Sánchez Barba, the diocesan postulator for the cause, formally presented an initial list of 50 witnesses from 10 countries, as well as 47 books and booklets written by Larrañaga, along with other documents and publications regarding his life and work.

Through an established tribunal, the list of witnesses will be interviewed and the texts examined in order to subsequently produce a document known as the “positio,” which will be sent to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

If, following the study at the Vatican, it is determined that Larrañaga lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree and the pope authorizes the corresponding decree, the servant of God will be considered “venerable.”

To subsequently advance toward beatification, the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession will be required.

Who was Ignacio Larrañaga?

Larrañaga was born on May 4, 1928, in the province of Guipúzcoa in Spain’s Basque Country.

In 1940, at the age of 12, he entered the Capuchin Seraphic Minor Seminary in Alsasua and later continued his formation in Fuenterrabía. He subsequently entered the Capuchin novitiate in Sangüesa, where he made his first religious profession in 1948.

The following year, he took the religious name Friar Jesús María de Azpeitia and continued his theological studies in Pamplona, ​​where he was ordained a priest on Dec. 20, 1952.

It is said that “from the beginning of his priesthood, he felt a strong desire to dedicate himself to evangelization and, especially, to deepening his practice of contemplative prayer.”

This led him to travel to the Americas. He arrived in Chile in September 1959, where he “participated in popular missions, visited families, and preached in parishes.”

In 1955, he was appointed director of the Center for Franciscan and Pastoral Studies for Latin America (CEFEPAL). From there, he promoted Franciscan “Fellowship and Renewal Weeks,” initiatives that subsequently spread to various countries across Latin America and Europe.

From 1970 onward, Larrañaga was deeply engaged in work as a preacher and spiritual guide. He traveled to numerous countries in the Americas and Europe, conducting courses and gatherings focused on spirituality.

In 1974, he launched the “Encounters with the Experience of God” in Brazil, which were gatherings centered on silence, prayer, reflection, and listening to the word of God. These encounters began to spread widely.

In Santiago, Chile, in 1984, he developed Prayer and Life Workshops. These workshops were designed to teach the laity various methods of prayer and to help them deepen their Christian lives.

Over the years, the workshops spread across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 2022, they received approval from the Holy See as an International Private Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right.

During his final years, Larrañaga continued to travel, offering retreats and formation gatherings.

In October 2013, he traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico, to participate in one of these gatherings. He passed away in the early hours of Oct. 28 at the age of 85 after 60 years of priesthood.

He authored books such as “Sensing Your Hidden Presence: Toward Intimacy with God,” “From Suffering to Peace,” “The Silence of Mary,” and “Brother Francis of Assisi,” among others, addressing themes such as prayer, suffering, trust in God, conversion, and the pursuit of inner peace.

Regarding Larrañaga, Muñoz Curiel stated: “His work continues to convey that invitation to discover God as Father and to live out one’s faith through a deep, trusting, personal relationship with him.”

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.

“Decades ago, I joined FOCUS at Curtis Martin’s invitation to support the important work of missionary formation. That invitation changed my life in ways I never could have imagined,” Reyes said in a press release. “Over the years, I have watched God use this apostolate to transform thousands of lives on college campuses and in parishes. That fruit is a sign of God’s blessing and a testimony to the faithful leaders and missionaries who have given themselves completely to the Great Commission. It is a privilege to serve alongside them, and I pray God will continue to bless FOCUS for generations to come.”

Curtis Martin, who founded FOCUS in 1998, announced on Dec. 13, 2025, that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO. He said he would continue to serve the student ministry group as its founder and as a board member.

“I have been blessed to know Jonathan for more than 25 years,” Martin said. “Jonathan has extensive leadership experience working with the Church and a deep desire to help others encounter Jesus Christ. Please join me in praying for Jonathan as he helps lead FOCUS and carries this mission forward.”

Reyes has devoted his career to the Catholic Church and returns to FOCUS after previously serving as the organization’s vice president of ministry and formation, where he helped shape the formation of missionaries who accompany college students.

His most recent position was that of senior vice president of communications for the Knights of Columbus. Before joining the Knights, Reyes served the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB), first as the executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development and later as the assistant general secretary for Integral Human Development.

In 2005, Reyes co-founded and served as the first president of the Augustine Institute, which is a private Catholic graduate school of theology. In 2011, he founded Christ in the City, a nonprofit and missionary formation program that focuses on street outreach to homeless individuals. He also previously taught history at Christendom College.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and president of the USCCB told EWTN News: “I welcome with great joy the appointment of Jonathan Reyes, Ph.D., as the new CEO of FOCUS. The friendship Jonathan shares with Curtis Martin gives this transition a special continuity.”

“Jonathan’s experience in various apostolates, most recently the world’s largest fraternal organization, the Knights of Columbus, has prepared him well to lead in this moment,” he added. “My brother bishops and I rely deeply upon lay movements such as FOCUS to help bring the Great Commission to fruition in every generation. May the Lord bless Jonathan and the entire FOCUS family as they continue forming missionary disciples for Christ and his Church.”

Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary in North Dakota, told EWTN News: “Jonathan Reyes is an exemplary choice to lead FOCUS into its next chapter. He was there early on, understands the charism from the inside, and shares deeply in the vision that has animated Curtis Martin’s remarkable work from the start. I have been so grateful for his wisdom and friendship as a trustee of the University of Mary, where I have seen firsthand his rare combination of intellectual depth, apostolic zeal, sound judgment, and genuine humility.”

“Jonathan is a man of the Church, a gifted leader, and, above all, a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ,” he added. “He understands that the great strength of FOCUS has always been its capacity to awaken in young people a love for Christ and a desire to share that love with others. He will lead this extraordinary apostolate into a new season of growth and fruitfulness.”

Mother Mary Concepta, the superior general of the Sisters of Life, told EWTN News: “We have been privileged to collaborate with FOCUS for many years and are deeply grateful for their leadership and dynamic ministry of evangelization in the Church. We congratulate Jonathan Reyes in this new entrustment! We are praying for him and all of FOCUS as they continue this important work of leading young people to an encounter with Christ.”

“I’ve known and admired Jonathan Reyes for many years, both as a lay leader and a friend,” said Archbishop Emeritus Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia. “He’s a man of exceptional Christian character, intellect, apostolic energy, and professional skill. He knows the founder’s vision and the wonderful FOCUS staff and missionaries from long personal experience, and he’ll build on that to make the work of FOCUS even more fruitful in the years ahead. The FOCUS Board made exactly the right choice in a next-generation leader.”

Reyes succeeds interim CEO Tim Thoman, who has led FOCUS during the board’s national search since December 2025.

This story was updated at 4:01 p.m. ET on Oct. 7, 2026, with the statement from Mother Mary Concepta.

Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, accompanied by Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, met with the Holy Father in a private audience Oct. 5.

The audience followed the long-awaited beatification of Sheen, a pioneer of Catholic radio and television whose cause for sainthood was championed by his home diocese in central Illinois. The encounter carried added significance given that both Pope Leo XIV and Blessed Fulton Sheen trace their roots to the state of Illinois.

Following the audience, Tylka highlighted the deep spiritual connection and Church tradition tied to the gift.

“It was a profound joy and privilege to meet with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, and to present him with a relic of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen on behalf of the Diocese of Peoria and all those who have prayed for and supported Archbishop Sheen’s cause,” Tylka said.

“There is a beautiful tradition in the Catholic Church of presenting the Holy Father with the relics of the saints and blesseds, and this particular moment carried special meaning for me. Pope Leo XIV has spoken of Archbishop Sheen on several occasions and has expressed his appreciation for Archbishop Sheen’s extraordinary witness of faith, his ability to proclaim the Gospel through the means of communication available in his time, and his missionary heart. In the days surrounding the beatification, the Holy Father again pointed to Archbishop Sheen as an example of finding new ways to spread the Gospel.”

Gray underscored the historic resonance of placing the relic of the Illinois-born preacher into the hands of an American pope.

“I am deeply grateful for the Holy Father’s interest in Blessed Fulton Sheen and for his support that allowed us to celebrate this long-awaited beatification,” Gray said.

“To place a relic of this son of the Diocese of Peoria into the hands of the first American pope, both of whom are from Illinois, was an especially moving moment. My hope is that this relic will serve as a reminder of who Fulton Sheen was and of the mission he embraced so completely: to bring Jesus Christ to the world. The Holy Father’s own interest in Archbishop Sheen reminds us that his witness continues to speak to the Church today and challenges all of us to proclaim the Gospel with the same conviction and joy.”

The presentation of the relic stands as a lasting symbol of Blessed Fulton Sheen’s legacy as a master communicator, whose impact continues to resonate across the universal Church from his native Illinois to the Vatican.

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

The pontiff held a private audience on Oct. 7 at the Vatican with the Louisiana chapter of the patrons during their pilgrimage to Rome. The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, founded in 1983, is an international group of benefactors who fund the conservation and restoration of the Vatican’s art collections.

Leo, in his remarks, thanked them for their collaboration and support for the Vatican Museums and invited them to create spaces of beauty in a world where technology is often preferred.

“In an age dominated by technology, in which efficiency and profit often take precedence, it is so important that we continue to cultivate a spirit of contemplation and allow time and space for beauty,” Leo said.

He also added that fostering this attitude would “greatly help humanity, especially young people, not only to discover the ability of art to uplift and reveal the depths of the human spirit.”

“Ultimately,” Leo added, “contemplation presents a marvelous opportunity to encounter the God who is beauty, whom St. Augustine described as ever-ancient and ever-new.”

Leo’s recent comments on classical art

Leo’s remarks followed his address during a private audience with artists on Oct. 2 in which he explained the difference between authentic art and art created by artificial intelligence (AI).

“There is an ontological difference — even before an aesthetic one — between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of the human, whereas ‘authentic culture and art preserve this spark,’” Leo said, quoting from his encyclical on AI, Magnifica Humanitas.

“It is certainly not by watering down the content or softening the demands that Christianity can be made attractive,” he recalled on Wednesday, citing the address he delivered to the plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section on Fundamental Questions Regarding Evangelization in the World, on May 28.

During the general audience held in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 7, the pontiff resumed his catechetical series dedicated to the texts of the Second Vatican Council, following last week’s pause, when he reflected on his apostolic journey to France.

Leo thus continued his catechesis on the conciliar constitution Gaudium et Spes. In particular, he focused his reflection on Chapter 4 of the first part of the document, which is devoted to the Church’s mission in the contemporary world.

“It is the task of the whole people of God, especially pastors and theologians, to discern what in the cultures of our time is worthy of consideration, always taking the word of God and the tradition of the Church as the supreme criteria for discernment. This requires a balanced mind, free from cultural trends, capable of viewing the world in a positive light whilst remaining steadfast in preserving and presenting the Gospel message in its entirety,” he said.

We ‘cannot accept the oppression of the weak’

Before thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Leo XIV reflected on the vocation of the lay faithful in the world and recalled that Vatican II fostered a new awareness of the responsibility of all the baptized in the Church’s mission.

Referring to the concrete demands of the Christian faith, Leo XIV said that, by worshipping Christ, “the believer cannot accept the oppression of the weak and the poor, nor the unjust structures that perpetuate conditions of dependence and injustice.”

“The social doctrine of the Church guides the actions of Christians, who collaborate with all people of goodwill in promoting the common good,” he added.

The principal settings for this evangelizing mission, the Holy Father recalled, are the family and the workplace, though it extends to every sphere of life.

The Church’s purpose is not political

The pontiff also made clear that the Church’s purpose is not political in nature but consists rather in bearing witness to faith and charity.

“The council fathers remind us that the Church’s mission is fulfilled also in contributing to the construction of the earthly city. However, her methods and aims are not primarily of a political order; rather, they consist in bearing witness to faith and charity, together with commitment for justice, peace, and fraternity,” he said.

The Church’s ‘first mission’

Leo XIV further explained that the Second Vatican Council reminds us that the Church is neither “above” nor “beside” the world but is, as it were, grafted into it.

In this sense, he emphasized that the Church “journeys through history in the midst of peoples and cultures,” though its “first mission” remains “to help people be attentive to the profound questions of life: those concerning our origin and our destiny, as well as those concerning the meaning of love and suffering.”

“The logic of profit at all costs and the manipulation of information risk exerting undue pressure on people to conform to a lifestyle centered on the consumption of material goods, but our hearts are made to look upwards,” he said.

Consistency between the ‘faith we profess and our lives’

Leo then recalled that proclaiming the Gospel requires consistency of life on the part of believers. To carry out the Church’s evangelizing mission effectively, the pontiff said, “it is necessary for every baptized person to commit to cooperating with the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that their faith may be living and expressed in consistent behavior.”

In this context, he recalled that the council fathers stated that the discrepancy between professed faith and daily life “deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.”

The importance of the rosary

During his greetings to Italian-speaking faithful after the catechesis, the pope recalled the Oct. 7 liturgical memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary and emphasized the importance of this traditional Marian prayer, noting that it is “greatly cherished in the Church’s tradition.”

The Holy Father stressed that Mary is a “sure refuge amid the difficulties of life.” The memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated each year on Oct. 7, recalls the special protection of the Virgin Mary over the Church and encourages devotion to the holy rosary as a path of contemplation, conversion, and the strengthening of faith.

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.

Judge Martin Flynn of the District Court of Western Australia set a non-parole period of four years and six months, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Saunders had been in custody since his August conviction.

The jury convicted Saunders of 13 offenses: one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of unlawful and indecent assault. The offenses involved two men. He was not convicted on charges involving a third man. Saunders, 76, pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations.

Flynn noted a statement from one of the victims saying Saunders had violated their autonomy over their body, ABC News reported.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the sentence and the judgeʼs remarks recognized the gravity of the offenses and their profound impact on the victims and survivors.

“We are sorry for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on you,” Costelloe said in a statement. “We are sorry that your trust was so directly and profoundly betrayed by a leader of the Church.”

Bishop Tim Norton of Broome apologized to the victims and survivors and acknowledged that the sentence could not repair the harm caused. He said the diocese would consult local people about rituals and processes to address anger, loss, confusion, and grief across the diocese.

Saunders stepped aside from governing the Broome Diocese in 2020. Pope Francis accepted his resignation in August 2021.

As EWTN News previously reported, Western Australia Police investigated allegations against Saunders in 2018 but did not initially bring charges.

The Vatican ordered an investigation under Vos Estis Lux Mundi in 2022. It provided the report to civil authorities in 2023, and police reopened their investigation. Police arrested Saunders in February 2024.

After the August verdict, Costelloe said the Churchʼs own investigation could resume and that Rome would determine Saunders' position in the Church.

The Australian bishops renewed their commitment Wednesday to healing, reconciliation, safeguarding, accountability, and transparency throughout the Church.

1. The Blessed Mother herself has repeatedly made the request.

The Spanish prelate pointed out that the fact that over the centuries the Virgin Mary has repeatedly asked for the rosary to be prayed “should have already been enough" for Christians to take up the beads every day.

He proceeded to review some of the instances where she had made this request, either explicitly or implicitly. “She did so with St. Dominic of Guzmán around the year 1208, when she asked for that prayer in the face of the Cathars,” he noted.

At Lourdes, in 1858, there was no explicit command and yet, Munilla recalled, “the rosary was at the heart of the 18 apparitions to Bernadette.”

Some 21 years later, during an 1877 apparition in Gietrzwałd, Poland, the Virgin was cited saying directly: “I desire that you pray the rosary every day” and “pray the rosary with fervor.”

As Munilla sees it, the apparitions at Fátima in 1917 constitute “the central case” in the matter, because it was there that the Virgin insisted upon the practice.

Munilla recalled that on May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary said: “Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war. She repeated this in June, July, and October, and on Oct. 13, she revealed herself as the Lady of the Rosary.”

Munilla went on to reference what the Virgin Mary said in 1980, in the town of Cuapa, Nicaragua. There, “the Virgin Mary asked Bernardo Martínez to pray the rosary every day — not merely reciting it straight through, but meditating on the mysteries” — as well as “promoting it within the family and the parish.”

In Kibeho, Rwanda, in 1981, she also made a request to pray the rosary, but with a distinctive feature: “There, the emphasis was not so much on the standard rosary but rather on the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows” of the Virgin.

Likewise, the prelate referred to the apparitions between 1983 and 1990 in San Nicolás, Argentina, where “the Virgin appeared under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary and the messages urged that it be prayed.”

Munilla also referred to Medjugorje, where the Church has not issued a ruling on the supernatural nature of the alleged apparitions but has approved the religious and pastoral experience taking place there. It is an experience characterized, he said, by “an insistence on the daily recitation of the rosary.”

2. In praying the rosary, one contemplates the face of Christ with Mary.

The second reason put forward is that praying the rosary allows one to contemplate the face of Christ with Mary through meditation on the joyful, sorrowful, glorious, and luminous mysteries. St. John Paul II affirmed this in his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

“He points out that the rosary, while Marian in form, is Christocentric; it is a summary of the Gospel,” Munilla noted.

“Each decade presents a mystery from the life of Jesus — joyful, luminous, sorrowful, or glorious — which is meditated upon while reciting the Hail Mary. It means letting the Gospel enter through humble repetition, contemplating the face of Christ with Mary,” he explained.

3. It is accessible to everyone and fosters a familiar relationship with God.

Addressing this point, the Spanish prelate recalled how Sister Lucia, the visionary of Fátima, had explained: “If daily Mass and Communion had been required of us, many would not have been able to fulfill the obligation, because not everyone has access to a daily celebration of the Eucharist.”

However, she continued, “the rosary, by contrast, fits into any state of life, at any time, and in any place.” So much so that Sister Lucia considered it — after the Mass — to be “the prayer most pleasing to God and most beneficial for the soul.”

4. It is a powerful prayer of intercession.

Praying the rosary “is a weapon called for to secure peace and for spiritual combat,” the bishop added. “Leo XIII dedicated a dozen papal documents to it and proposed it as a remedy for society’s great evils. John Paul II linked it again to peace,” he added.

5. Repetition brings inner order.

Fifth, Munilla proposed that praying the rosary “helps us guard our hearts. It sustains faith, hope, and charity. It helps us preserve these three theological virtues and avoid being consumed by the spirit of this world.”

“Repetition brings order to the inner self,” the Spanish prelate continued, emphasizing that “meditation on the mysteries turns oneʼs gaze back to what endures, and Maryʼs intercession sustains what one cannot uphold alone.”

As St. John Bosco would say, Munilla concluded, “the rosary is as necessary for the health of the soul as bread is for the body.”

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.