Death – United Yam

9 quotes from the saints about guardian angels

unitedyam October 2, 2025

null / Credit: Petra Homeier/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 2, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

During the month of October, the Catholic Church celebrates guardian angels.

Guardian angels are instruments of providence who help protect their charges from suffering serious harm and assist them on the path of salvation.

It is a teaching of the Church that every one of the faithful has his or her own guardian angel, and it is the general teaching of theologians that everyone has a guardian angel from birth.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their [angels’] watchful care and intercession. ‘Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.’ Already here on earth, the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God” (No. 336).

Several of our greatest saints have also shared their thoughts on guardian angels. Here’s what they had to say:

St. John Vianney

“Our guardian angels are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.”

St. John Bosco

“When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped. Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him; he trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel.”

St. Jerome

“How great is the dignity of souls, that each person has from birth received an angel to protect it.”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“My holy Guardian Angel, cover me with your wing. With your fire light the road that I’m taking. Come, direct my steps… help me, I call upon you. Just for today.”

St. Basil the Great

“Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life.”

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

“We should show our affection for the angels, for one day they will be our co-heirs just as here below they are our guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father.”

St. Francis de Sales

“Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them frequently in spirit. Without being seen, they are present with you.”

St. Josemaría Escrivá

“If you remembered the presence of your angel and the angels of your neighbors, you would avoid many of the foolish things which slip into your conversations.”

St. John Cassian

“Cherubim means knowledge in abundance. They provide an everlasting protection for that which appeases God, namely, the calm of your heart, and they will cast a shadow of protection against all the attacks of malign spirits.”

This story was first published on Oct. 2, 2022, and has been updated.

How to pray the St. Thérèse of Lisieux novena

unitedyam October 1, 2025

St. Thérèse of Lisieux. / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, Oct 1, 2025 / 05:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as the Little Flower, on Oct. 1.

Born to Zelie and Louis Martin in 1873 — both canonized saints — Thérèse was the youngest of five siblings. Devout from a young age, she experienced a miraculous healing at around the age of 9 from an unknown illness for which doctors could not find a treatment. After turning to the Blessed Virgin Mary for her intercession, young Thérèse was healed and felt called to religious life.

In 1888, at the age of 15, she entered a Carmelite monastery in Lisieux, France. Her ability to live her ordinary life in an extraordinary way became known as the “Little Way” — a journey toward Christ made up of small acts of love in everyday life.

In 1896, Thérèse was diagnosed with tuberculosis and passed away at the age of 24 the following year. Pope Pius XI canonized her in 1925, making her the youngest canonized saint at the time. In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church for her significant spiritual contribution to the universal Church.

Over the years, the St. Thérèse Novena has become popular for those seeking to live a life of love and simplicity. While many pray it leading up to her feast day, the nine-day novena can be prayed any time of the year. Here’s how to pray it:

— Begin by making the sign of the cross.

— Recite the Holy Spirit prayer:

Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of divine love.

— Recite the following prayer:

Dearest St. Thérèse of Lisieux, you said that you would spend your time in heaven doing good on earth.

Your trust in God was complete. Pray that he may increase my trust in his goodness and mercy as I ask for the following petitions: [state your intentions]

Pray for me that I, like you, may have great and innocent confidence in the loving promises of our God. Pray that I may live my life in union with God’s plan for me and one day see the face of God, whom you loved so deeply.

St. Thérèse, you were faithful to God even unto the moment of your death. Pray for me that I may be faithful to our loving God. May my life bring peace and love to the world through faithful endurance in love for God our savior.

Loving God, you blessed St. Thérèse with a capacity for a great love. Help me to believe in your unconditional love for each of your children, especially for me.

I love you, Lord. Help me to love you more!

— Recite the “Glory Be” prayer:

Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

— Conclude by making the sign of the cross.

Brooklyn bishop calls on faithful to lobby against New York assisted suicide legislation

unitedyam September 30, 2025

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan carries the thurible around the altar inside Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 30, 2025 / 17:32 pm (CNA).

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan is calling on the faithful to contact New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to oppose the assisted suicide legislation that currently awaits her signature.

“Our fight against assisted suicide is not over,” Brennan said in a post on the social media platform X.

Assisted suicide is not yet legal in New York, but the Medical Aid in Dying Act was passed by the state Legislature in June and will become legal upon Hochul’s signature. The law will allow terminally ill New York residents who are over 18 to request medically assisted death.

“Gov. Hochul, we know difficult decisions weigh heavily on leaders and you carefully consider the impact of every decision on New Yorkers,” Brennan wrote. “As you review the assisted suicide legislation, we respectfully urge you to veto it.”

“Assisted suicide targets the poor, the vulnerable, and especially individuals suffering with mental illness. There are better ways to support those facing end-of-life challenges, through improved palliative care, pain management, and compassionate support systems.”

In a video to the faithful, Brennan addressed Hochul and said: “You championed New York’s suicide prevention program and invested millions of dollars to, as you said, ‘ensure New Yorkers are aware of this critical resource.’ That groundbreaking program has worked to provide the right training and crisis intervention measures to prevent suicides.”

Hochul has previously launched several campaigns to bring New York suicide rates down including a crisis hotline and initiatives to help schools, hospitals, first responders, and veterans. She has also helped develop and fund a number of youth suicide prevention programs.

The programs offer “hope to those who are most in need,” Brennan said. He added: “But now you are being asked to sign a bill that contradicts your efforts and targets high-risk populations. How can we justify preventing suicide for some while helping others to die?”

In support of the New York State Catholic Conference’s mission to “work with the government to shape laws and policies that pursue social justice, respect for life, and the common good,” Brennan asked the faithful to message the governor directly with a pre-written email to stop the legislation.

“I urge Catholics to reach out to Gov. Hochul now and to ask her to stay consistent on this issue,” Brennan said. “Let us continue to pray for the respect of all life and the human dignity of all people.”

Lobbying against the legislation is ‘critical’

Catholic bioethicist Father Tad Pacholczyk told CNA that “it’s critical” that New Yorkers “respond to the bishop’s call for action.”

“The push of anti-life forces has continued unabated for many years, and the incessant turning of the wheels of their finely-tuned propaganda machine has managed to gradually draw more and more of us into a perspective of complacency when it comes to physician-assisted suicide,” he said.

Pacholczyk added: “Combined with a tendency to substitute emotion for ethical reasoning, prevalent in much of the media and society, I think we stand on the edge of a well-greased slope, poised to hurl down headlong.”

The bioethicist highlighted that if assisted suiside “is not outlawed and strong protections for vulnerable patients are not enacted,” the U.S is likely to replicate the repercussions seen in Canada, which is experiencing disproportionately high rates of premature deaths among vulnerable groups.

“We need to do what we can to light a fire and raise heightened awareness of the rights of patients not to be pressured in this manner,” Pacholczyk said. “We also need to take steps to offer real support and accompaniment to our loved ones as they pass through one of the most important stretches of their lives, so their journey can be indelibly imprinted by a genuinely good and holy death.”

Shooting at LDS church in Michigan prompts Catholic solidarity, prayers

unitedyam September 29, 2025

Nurses who are on strike hold signs in support of the community following a shooting and fire at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in front of Henry Ford Genesys Hospital on Sept. 29, 2025, in Grand Blanc, Michigan. / Credit: Emily Elconin/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Sep 29, 2025 / 21:45 pm (CNA).

Multiple U.S. Catholic bishops offered prayers and expressed their solidarity after a gunman attacked a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan, on Sept. 28, killing four people, injuring eight, and setting the building on fire. The incident occurred just before 10:30 a.m. during a Sunday service with hundreds in attendance.

The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford of Burton, Michigan, drove a pickup truck into the chapel’s entrance, entered with an assault-style rifle, and began shooting. Witnesses reported Sanford shouting anti-LDS slurs. He then used an accelerant to start a fire inside the building. Grand Blanc Township Police arrived within a minute of 911 calls, engaging Sanford in a shootout and killing him. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the chapel was destroyed.

The victims included two adults and one child found in the debris, and one person who died from gunshot wounds at the hospital. Eight others were injured, five with gunshot wounds and three with smoke inhalation.

In a statement, Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis promised prayers for the LDS community, saying the LDS church had recently ”extended their sincere condolences and prayers to the faithful of this archdiocese,” referring to the August shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where two students were killed and over 20 people were injured.

”Please join me in praying for them and for an end to senseless violence around the globe,” Hebda said.

In a separate statement, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, also offered his prayers for those killed at the church, while also “assuring those who mourn, and those who are injured, my solace and support.”

”Any place of worship should be a sanctuary of peace,” Boyea continued. “The violation of such a haven, especially upon a Sunday morning, makes yesterday’s act of mass violence even more shocking. I commend the first responders for heroically assisting at the scene and for working to safeguard other local places of worship.”

”Lastly, let us remember that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life,” he said. ”Hence, in this moment of tragedy, let us all draw closer to Jesus, prince of peace.”

Meanwhile, Detroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said he was “heartbroken” by the gun violence and arson in Grand Blanc. “In this time of immense sorrow, I ask that we stand in solidarity with the victims, their families, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,” Weisenburger said.

”In an era marked by hostilities and division, let us all come together in faith and compassion, upholding the fundamental right to worship freely and without fear. May God’s infinite love and mercy embrace and heal us all.”

Bishop David Walkowiak of Grand Rapids, Michigan, also expressed his sorrow after the tragic attack, saying: “No one should ever fear for their safety while gathering to worship. The ability to pray, to assemble peacefully, and to express one’s faith is not only a constitutional right but a moral necessity for a compassionate society. My prayers are with the victims, their families, and the entire Latter-day Saints community as they grieve and seek healing in the face of this senseless violence.”

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, prayed for healing in another post, saying: “May we be united in prayer for those who lost their lives in the tragic violence at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan. We pray for their eternal rest, for comfort to their families, and for healing and peace for the entire community.”

The attack came one day after the death of LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson on Saturday, Sept. 27, at age 101 in Salt Lake City.

President Donald Trump addressed the incident in a post on Truth Social, stating: “This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. The Trump administration will keep the public posted, as we always do. In the meantime, PRAY for the victims, and their families. THIS EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY MUST END, IMMEDIATELY!”

Vice President JD Vance also addressed the attack in a social media post: “Just an awful situation in Michigan. FBI is on the scene and the entire administration is monitoring things. Say a prayer for the victims and first responders.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also issued a statement expressing grief and gratitude for support: “We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of prayers and concern from so many people around the world. In moments of sorrow and uncertainty, we find strength and comfort through our faith in Jesus Christ. Places of worship are meant to be sanctuaries of peacemaking, prayer, and connection. We pray for peace and healing for all involved.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered flags lowered statewide, describing the incident as “unacceptable violence in a sanctuary” and pledging support for the investigation. Grand Blanc area schools, both Catholic and public, closed Sept. 29.

The FBI, with support from the ATF and Michigan State Police, is investigating the attack as targeted violence. Three unexploded devices were found at the scene. Sanford, a former Marine and truck driver, had no known ties to the church but expressed anti-LDS views, according to neighbors. His social media included posts about religious “deceptions.” The FBI is examining his motives.

Trump, Vance among those honoring Charlie Kirk’s Christian legacy

unitedyam September 22, 2025

Erika Kirk embraces U.S. President Donald Trump at the conclusion of the memorial service held for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21, 2025. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 09:35 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Erika Kirk, and more than a dozen others gave speeches to honor the late Charlie Kirk at Sunday’s memorial service, highlighting his efforts to promote conservative values to young people and promote the Gospel on campus.

Some 90,000 people gathered for the memorial service at State Farm Stadium and an adjacent venue in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21. Bishop Robert Barron, who had scheduled Kirk to come on his show, was among those in attendance.

Kirk, an evangelical Christian, was assassinated on Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University while debating students on campus. At the time, Kirk was conversing with a young ideological opponent about transgenderism and gun violence. Prior to the question, he had been discussing his Christian faith with another questioner, something he often included in his conservative campus activism.

“What was even more important to Charlie than politics and service was the choice he made in the fifth grade — which he called the most important decision of his life — to become a Christian and a follower of his Savior Jesus Christ,” Trump, a self-identified nondenominational Christian, said during his speech.

Trump praised Kirk’s legacy of evangelizing the message of Christ and his activism to promote conservative values on campus, saying Kirk was “inspired by faith and his love of freedom” to establish the conservative campus organization Turning Point USA when he was just 18 years old.

“Charlie Kirk started with an idea only to change minds on college campuses and instead he ended up with a far greater achievement: changing history,” the president said. “… Today Charlie Kirk rests in heaven for all eternity. He has gone from speaking on campuses in Wisconsin to kneeling at the throne of God.”

Vance, a Catholic who often discussed theology with Kirk, spoke about Kirk’s devotion to honest debate in his campus activism, saying his “unshakable belief in the Gospel led him to see differences in opinion, not as battlefields to conquer but as waystations in the pursuit of truth.”

“He knew it was right to love others, your neighbor, your interlocutor, your enemy,” Vance said.
“But he also understood his duty to say what is right and what is wrong, to distinguish what is false from what is true.”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during the memorial service for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, on Sept. 21, 2025. Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

The vice president noted that even after death, Kirk’s message to defend life, to get married and start a family, and to follow Christ, continue to reach people. Vance said his own public appearances have been particularly influenced by Kirk after the assassination.

“I was telling somebody backstage that I always felt a little uncomfortable talking about my faith in public, as much as I love the Lord, as much as it was an important part of my life,” Vance told the crowd. “I’ve talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life. And that is the undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk. You know, he loved God and because he wanted to understand God’s creation and the men and women made in his image.”

Kirk’s widow forgives assassin

Kirk’s wife, Erika, said her husband’s devotion to Christ has influenced many Americans in the aftermath of the assassination.

“This past week, we saw people open a Bible for the first time in a decade, we saw people pray for the first time since they were children, we saw people go to a church service for the first time in their entire lives,” Erika Kirk said.

“Pray again, read the Bible again, go to Church next Sunday and the Sunday after that, and break free from the temptations and shackles of this world,” she urged the audience.

“Being a follower of Christ is not easy,” she continued. “It’s not supposed to be easy. Jesus said ‘if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’ He said he would be persecuted, he said we would be persecuted, and Charlie knew that and happily carried his cross all the way to the end.”

Erika Kirk said he had gone onto Utah Valley University’s campus to show people, especially young men, “a better path and a better life that was right there for the taking.” She added: “He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life.”

Appealing to the Gospel message, Erika Kirk also extended forgiveness to the man who shot her husband.

“On the cross, our Savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,’” she said. “That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”

‘I want to be remembered for courage for my faith’

Other speakers also highlighted Kirk’s emphasis on Christ in his campus activism.

Donald Trump Jr. reminded the crowd that Kirk said just months before his death that if he were to die, “I want to be remembered for my courage for my faith.”

“Those were not empty words,” Trump Jr. said. “Last week, Charlie joined a long line of courageous men and women who were martyred for what they believe.”

The country’s Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Catholic, said Kirk’s devotion to God modeled St. Francis of Assisi’s instruction to try to live one’s life in imitation of Christ.

“Charlie understood the great paradox: That it’s only by surrender to God that God’s power can flow into our lives and make us effective human beings,” Kennedy said. “Christ died at 33 years old, but he changed the trajectory of history. Charlie died at 31 years old, but because he had surrendered, he also now has changed the trajectory of history.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth similarly noted that Kirk “was a true believer,” one who understood that “Only Christ is King, our Lord and Savior.”

“Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus,” Hegseth said. “Fear God and fear no man. That was Charlie Kirk.”

Political commentator Tucker Carlson said Kirk was essentially “a Christian evangelist” who “was bringing the Gospel to the country.”

“He also knew that politics wasn’t the final answer,” Carlson said. “It can’t answer the deepest questions, actually. That the only real solution is Jesus.”

Anti-assisted-suicide group says suicide laws expanding throughout U.S. in 2025

unitedyam September 19, 2025

null / Credit: nito/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 14:31 pm (CNA).

This week the Patients Rights Action Fund, which works to “end the dangerous and discriminatory public policy of assisted suicide,” provided an update on current assisted suicide legislation in the United States, revealing the deadly practice’s ongoing expansion throughout the country.

In a Sept. 18 webinar, group coalitions director Jessica Rodgers explained that most states that allow assisted suicide follow the “Oregon model,” based on Oregan’s assisted suicide criteria.

The model requires “the patient to be 18 years of age or older, have a terminal illness with six months or less to live, make two or more separate requests with a 15-day waiting period in between, and have two witnesses, which can include heirs to the estate or friends of heirs,” Rodgers said.

“The drugs must be self-administered and all states do require the falsification of the death certificate,” Rodgers said, meaning the states list the underlying condition that qualifies the patient as the cause of death rather than the prescribed drug that ends his or her life.

States attempting expansions to assisted suicide laws

In 2025, new legislation was proposed in a number of states where assisted suicide is legal to advance its polices and limit some of the “safeguards” in place.

A New Jersey bill was proposed that would remove the 15-day waiting period and the second request if the prescriber thinks death will occur within the time period. The bill is still in play and has not been passed yet.

In Maine, a 15-day waiting period was reduced to seven days in cases when it is “in the best interests of the patient” according to the judgment of the prescriber. The legislation was passed and signed by the governor after the original version was amended that would have allowed the whole waiting period to be waived.

A Delaware bill passed that allows for advanced practice nurses to prescribe the medication that kills the patients. The bill has no requirements for an in-person exam or a mental health evaluation.

California proposed a major change that reduced the 15-day waiting period for assisted suicide to only 48 hours. The bill also removes the sunset date, which will keep the End of Life Option Act from expiring. The bill passed last week and is awaiting a signature by the governor.

Some states proposed expansions, but the legislation did not advance. In Washington, D.C., there was a public hearing on a bill that would remove the waiting period in certain cases, but no action was taken.

An Oregon bill was also not advanced that proposed nurse practitioners and physician assistants could prescribe to patients seeking assisted suicide. It also pushed for the waiting period to be reduced from 15 days to 48 hours and would waive the period completely if death is “expected imminently.”

Proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide

Assisted suicide is legal in 10 states and D.C., but a number of other states have active legislation to legalize it.

In New York a bill to legalize assisted suicide was approved and is awaiting signature by the governor, which she must sign by the end of the year. The bill does not require the patient to be a resident of the state, has no waiting period, and does not require an in-person exam or a mental health evaluation.

In Rhode Island assisting a suicide is a felony, but there is proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide that would require an in-person evaluation. The bill requires a 15-day waiting period between requests and an additional 48-hour waiting period that begins after the patient submits his or her signed request for the medication.

Nevada does not authorize assisted suicide, but legislation pushing for it proposed advanced practice nurses to be allowed to prescribe the drugs, no in-person exam requirement, only one witness necessarily, and no requirement for the patient to be a resident of the state.

The Nevada legislation does detail that the prescribed drugs would be the cause of death on the certificate rather than the underlying condition.

Legislation in Maryland would not require a mental health evaluation and has a broad meaning for “terminal illness” that can include treatable conditions. The bill has provisions that allow a patient to communicate through someone else “familiar with the individual’s manner of communicating.”

Proposed legislation in Massachusetts also has a broad definition for “terminal illness” that can include treatable conditions. There was a public hearing in Massachusetts in the state Joint Public Health Committee, which then moved the bill to a second committee on the state House side where it is still active.

In New Hampshire, a bill is pushing for no residency requirement, no in-person examination requirement, a broad “terminal illness” definition, and no mental health evaluation. The legislation also proposed a 48-hour waiting period and would allow for advanced practice nurses and physician assistants to prescribe the drugs.

A Tennessee House bill pushing the legalization of assisted suicide primarily follows the Oregon model. It does have a broad meaning for “terminal illness” that can include treatable conditions. On March 4, the first committee hearing was held on the matter, but it was rejected.

In Illinois, a 2025 bill to legalize assisted suicide in the state stalled and will cross over to the 2026 session. The bill had a five-day waiting period, no requirement for mental health evaluation, and broad terminal diagnosis language.

As legislation continues to be proposed and advances in assisted suicide expand, Patients Rights Action Fund highlighted the lack of mental health evaluations across states and noted that waiting periods are being quickly reduced after the initial passing of legislation.

“Ultimately, assisted suicide laws are inherently discriminatory,” Rodgers said on Sept. 18.

“They take a segment of our neighbors and say: ‘You get a lower standard of care than everybody else,’” she said. “The patients that qualify for assisted suicide are already inherently in a more vulnerable state because of their diagnosis and because of the financial costs that they’re facing with health care and the cost of treatment.”

Report: Charlie Kirk was ‘this close’ to becoming Catholic just prior to his death

unitedyam September 19, 2025

Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 12:02 pm (CNA).

Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was reportedly strongly considering becoming Catholic just prior to his assassination, according to a bishop who spoke to him shortly before his killing.

Robert Brennan, a Los Angeles-based writer and the brother of Fresno, California, Bishop Joseph Brennan, said in a Sept. 18 column in the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper Angelus that Kirk had a “personal exchange” with the California prelate about a week before Kirk’s murder at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

The writer Brennan, who said Bishop Brennan gave him permission to share the story, wrote that Kirk had spoken to the prelate at a prayer breakfast in Visalia. The conservative activist “told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them.”

Bishop Joseph Brennan of the Diocese of Fresno in California. Credit: Thank You (22 Millions+) views from Los Angeles, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kirk acknowledged “speculation” about his possible interest in becoming Catholic, Brennan wrote in Angelus; he subsequently told Bishop Brennan: “I’m this close” to converting.

In his Angelus column Brennan pointed to a recent video Kirk made in which he acknowledged some “big disagreements” with Catholicism but claimed that Protestants “under-value” the Blessed Mother.

“We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough,” Kirk said, arguing that Mary is “the solution” to “toxic feminism” in the U.S.

“[H]ow fitting one of Charlie Kirk’s last videos was about the preeminent mediatrix of all time and space,” Robert Brennan wrote in Angelus. “In his own way he was reaching out to her, and now, I am convinced, she is returning the favor.”

Kirk was fatally shot while taking questions from audience members during a stop at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” He is survived by his wife, Erika Frantzve, and their 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

Prominent Catholics around the world have joined in the chorus of voices mourning Kirk’s death in the days since he was killed. German Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller referred to Kirk this week as “a martyr for Jesus Christ” and condemned the “satanic celebration” of his death by some of his detractors.

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action and a close friend of Kirk’s, said on Sept. 13 that the activist’s death “will be a turning point” for the country.

And Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Kirk’s activism “restored optimism about the American future for millions of Americans.”

Deacon in San Diego says he will self-deport after residency status revoked

unitedyam September 17, 2025

View of the San Diego skyline. / Credit: russellstreet, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).

A deacon in San Diego told parishioners last week that he will voluntarily deport himself after his residency status was revoked by the U.S. government.

The deacon reportedly made the announcement at St. Jude Shrine of the West during Masses on Sept. 14. Local media reported that the clergyman came to the U.S. when he was 13 and “served the St. Jude community for roughly four decades.” He will reportedly be returning to Tijuana, Mexico.

Local reports did not identify the deacon. A diocesan representative indicated to CNA that the news reports were accurate, but the diocese said it could not identify the deacon himself and that he was handling the matter privately.

Representatives at St. Jude Parish did not respond to queries regarding the announcement.

The deacon’s self-deportation comes amid a wave of heightened immigration enforcement around the country as the Trump administration works to ramp up deportations of immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Catholic and Christian advocates have criticized the elevated enforcement. Prior to his death, Pope Francis in February told the U.S. bishops that amid the deportations, the faithful “are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa.”

In the spring, meanwhile, religious leaders including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Association of Evangelicals lamented the potential impacts of mass deportations on Christian families in the U.S.

A “significant share of the immigrants who are a part of our body are vulnerable to deportation, whether because they have no legal status or their legal protections could be withdrawn,” the leaders said.

In some cases priests have faced deportation or loss of legal status amid changing immigration rules. In Texas, a Mexican-born Catholic priest who served in the Diocese of Laredo, Texas, for nine years left the United States last month because his application for residency was denied and his religious worker visa was expiring.

Catholic advocates have repeatedly warned that changes to U.S. visa rules have brought about a looming crisis in which many U.S.-based priests will be forced to leave their ministries, return to their home countries, and remain there for lengthy wait times.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told EWTN News in August that the Trump administration is “committed” to addressing that issue.

“We’ll have a plan to fix it,” Rubio said. Details of that plan have yet to be released.

Homilies across U.S. take stock of Charlie Kirk assassination

unitedyam September 16, 2025

Priests throughout the country have mentioned assassinated conservative Christian activisit Charlie Kirk in their homilies this week. / Credit: ChoeWatt/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 16, 2025 / 18:24 pm (CNA).

Catholic priests around the country have discussed the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk during their homilies in the last week.

Kirk, 31, was shot during a campus event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. The alleged shooter has since been apprehended and identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. Kirk is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two young children.

“So many times it seems almost surreal how the Gospel passage for the day fits … a situation that we face as Christians in our daily lives,” Father Chris Alar at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, said during his homily on Sept. 11, referencing the day’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus instructs his disciples to love their enemies.

“That is what Charlie Kirk did. I was watching some of his videos last night, and he was saying of murderers that they are still children of God, and he prayed for them,” the priest reflected, noting that though Kirk was political, he had not been a politician.

“When one side realizes they can’t defeat the truth, they turn to violence,” he said, citing the emperor Herod, who he said “realized that he couldn’t defeat the truth, so he turned to violence.”

Father John Hollowell at All Saints Parish in Indianapolis also reflected during his homily on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that he had felt “a great welling up in my heart” to join the military in the aftermath of the tragic event 24 years ago. Ultimately, he said, “I felt God telling me that the way that I was supposed to respond to the tragedy that I was seeing unfolding 24 years ago today was to become a diocesan priest.”

“Throughout the last 12 hours,” he said, “some of your young adult children and young adult family and friends are having that same urge to join the military, to join the police.”

He continued: “We need to just take a minute to just calmly ask ourselves: ‘Lord, what do you want me to do with my life? How can I lay down my life more perfectly for other people, for my country, for my community, for my parish?’ And God will let you know.”

“On Sept. 11, my prayers are with Charlie Kirk’s wife, with his children, but also in this tragic time in the United States of America,” said Father Jonathan Meyer, also of All Saints Parish. “My prayers are also with the family of the refugee from Charlotte, the families in Minnesota that … grieve and mourn, but also for those 24 years ago who, due to acts of hate, still don’t have their grandparents, their parents, their sons.”

“Just this week we were reminded once again of how fallen our world is with the murder of Charlie Kirk,” said Father Eric Ayers of St. Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, during his Sunday homily. “He was the most recent in a long line in the last number of years of attempts at assassinations … [and] other acts of violence that occur in the political spheres.”

“These acts of violence of course are unconscionable and are a horrible tragedy for our nation,” he added.

The priest stated “before we blame one side or another, we need to remember that those actions don’t represent the vast majority of people for whom politics is important.”

Noting that “language over politics has gotten more extreme, more polarizing, more divisive,” Ayers concluded his reflections by advocating for self-sacrifice and the abandonment of “ego” as ways to foster civility in political discourse in the U.S.

In churches where Kirk’s death was not mentioned in the priest’s homily, prayers were offered for the repose of his soul, including on Sunday Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C, and at St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill.

Father John Evans of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City told a local news outlet that people began gathering at the cathedral in the wake of Kirk’s assassination, with many coming to the church before Sunday Mass, “praying privately, some in groups, praying the rosary, and different prayers of different sorts.”

Several users on social media noted their priests offered homilies about Kirk’s death, with one account on X writing: “Today at my Catholic Mass the homily was about Charlie Kirk, what he stood for … It was about walking in Jesus’ shoes and bearing our cross.”

Today at my Catholic mass the Homily was about Charlie Kirk, what he stood for & the message his widow displayed on the way to the airport holding the Crucifix out of the window. It was about walking in Jesus’s shoes & bearing our cross. #ChristisKing

— GreenRooster (@GreneRooster) September 15, 2025

Another user reported that the homily at his parish centered on Kirk and said his church prayed a rosary for the late TPUSA founder after Mass.

My church had a great homily about Charlie Kirk. We also all prayed a collective Rosary for Charlie Kirk immediately after Mass.

— adam◽️ (@heavenappealer) September 15, 2025

Catholic social media influencer Sachin Jose also noted the church where he attended Mass in New York “remembered Charlie Kirk in the priest’s homily.”

The Catholic Church where I attended Mass today remembered Charlie Kirk in the priest’s homily. Masses are being offered across the country for the repose of his soul. Here is a Mass card from New York.

Image: @bronxilla pic.twitter.com/R0VhUIRshI

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) September 12, 2025

Parents of Annunciation shooting victim say daughter’s progress is a ‘miracle’

unitedyam September 16, 2025

Flowers are seen on Sept. 3, 2025, outside the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where a shooter killed two children and injured 21 other people on Aug. 27, 2025. / Credit: Alex Wroblewski/Getty

CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2025 / 16:14 pm (CNA).

Less than three weeks after the Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minnesota that killed two children and injured 21 during Mass, the parents of a 12-year-old girl who was shot in the head say her progress has been “miraculous.”

When Sophia Forchas arrived at the hospital with a critical gunshot wound in her head, the doctors warned her parents that her life was in the balance.

“Doctors warned us she was on the brink of death,” Forchas’ parents, Tom and Amy Forchas, said in a statement. “In that darkest hour, the world responded with faithful devotion and fervent prayer.”

As news of the shooting spread, people around the world offered prayers for the victims and the community in prayer services, online, and in the quiet of their own homes.

In the early days after the shooting, Forchas’ condition “was changing minute to minute,” according to a Sept. 5 update from her parents.

A GoFundMe page organized by Michelle Erickson on the Forchas’ behalf has raised more than $1 million for Sophia’s recovery and to support her family with counseling services.

Sophia’s younger brother was also inside the school during the shooting, according to Erickson. Sophia’s mother, a pediatric critical care nurse, “arrived at work to help during the tragedy, before knowing it was her children’s school that was attacked and that her daughter was critically injured,” according to the GoFundMe page.

Sophia’s parents asked the world for prayers — and the world responded. The Forchases say they have heard from people from Athens to Minneapolis who are praying for their daughter.

In the wake of the tragedy, the Forchas family said that “rays of hope emerged” last week.

Sophia’s doctor said she “was showing signs of resilience,” the family said. “Her progress to this point is being called miraculous. We are calling it a miracle.”

“We thank you for all the prayers, love, and unwavering support from across the globe,” the Forchas family said. “The road ahead for Sophia is steep, but she is climbing it with fierce determination.”

“She is fighting not just for herself, but for every soul who stood by her in prayer,” they continued. “Please continue to keep Sophia in your hearts and prayers. She is a warrior! And she is winning!!”

‘Shattered and heartbroken, but not lost’

This week, hundreds gathered to support the family of 10-year-old Harper Moyski, one of the two children killed in the shooting. Fletcher Merkel, 8, also died in the attack. Twenty-one other people, mostly children, were also injured.

Mike Moyski and Jackie Flavin, Harper’s parents, called her a “light” in their remarks at a celebration of life on Sept. 14 at Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis.

“She taught us something profound, that light doesn’t always mean being strong on your own,” Flavin said, according to a report by CBS News. “Sometimes it really means being soft enough to let love in.”

“Harper didn’t do anything halfway. She was extra in the very best way,” Flavin said. “She just packed so much joy and imagination into her short 10 years, and thank God. Thank God she made it all count.”

Harper’s mother said the last few weeks “have felt like being dropped at the bottom of the ocean, where it is pitch dark, and the pressure is crushing and no human is really meant to survive it.”

But in the midst of their suffering, Harper’s parents said they feel grateful for the support.

“There’s just so much love and support lighting our path that we haven’t felt lost,” Flavin said. “Shattered and heartbroken, but not lost.”

“You’ve lifted us up during the hardest days of our lives, and we are so grateful,” Moyski said.

Aftermath of a tragedy

Annunciation Catholic School students are returning to school with a modified schedule this week, according to an announcement by the school’s leaders. The school will have supportive activities as well as extra security and support staff.

The church where the shooting took place will have to be reconsecrated, according to the archdiocese.

Reconsecration is a Catholic ritual used to purify a sacred space after it has been desecrated.

Father Matthew Crane, a canon lawyer in Minnesota, explained that as part of the rite, “the sanctuary is stripped in a manner consistent with Good Friday.”

“After the procession, much like the rite for initially dedicating a church, the celebrant, usually a diocesan bishop, blesses holy water and then sprinkles the people and walls with it,” Crane said. “Penitential prayers are offered, and the altar is only dressed with cloth and candles after these rituals have concluded.”

Crane said the “spiritual effects” include “purification and reparation.”

Crane, who has attended a reconsecration in the past, said he “was surprised at how, by virtue of participating in that ritual, I felt connected to and comfortable in the building and place.”

“I would hope that in Annunciation, or any Catholic community, the ritual of reconsecration would grant the community a profound sense of being once again at home in a house of God,” he said.

Faith, family and God’s mercy: Highlights from Erika Kirk’s TV address

unitedyam September 13, 2025

Vice President JD Vance (R) second lady Usha Vance (C) and Erika Kirk deplane Air Force Two while escorting the body of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 11, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. / Credit: Kirk, Eric Thayer/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Sep 13, 2025 / 10:05 am (CNA).

Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, vowed to continue her husband’s work Friday night during an impassioned and deeply personal televised address that focused on the importance of faith and family life.

Appearing on Fox News just two days after her husband was shot and killed by an assassin’s bullet, fired from a rooftop on the campus of Utah Valley University where he was holding an outdoor event, she spoke for more than 16 minutes, maintaining her composure as she stood at a podium in her husband’s podcast studio, beside his empty chair.

“I will never, ever have the words to describe the loss that I feel in my heart,” said Erika Kirk, the mother of two young children, ages 1 and 3.

“I honestly have no idea what any of this means,” she said. “I know that God does, but I don’t. But Charlie, baby, I know you do, too. So does our Lord.”

“The evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done,” she said.

“They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love.”

Here are other highlights from her remarks:

She revealed that she had not yet told the couple’s 3-year-old daughter of her father’s death.

“When I got home last night, Gigi, our daughter, just ran into my arms. And I talked to her, and she said, ‘Mommy, I missed you.’ I said, ‘I missed you too, baby.’

“She goes, ‘Where’s daddy?’ She’s 3. I said, ‘Baby, daddy loves you so much. He’s on a work trip with Jesus, so he can afford your blueberry budget.'”

She talked about why her husband advocated so passionately for marriage and family life.

“Charlie always believed that God’s design for marriage in the family was absolutely amazing. And it is. It is. And it was the greatest joy of his life. And over and over, he would tell all these young people to come and find their future spouse, become wives and husbands and parents. And the reason why is because he wanted you all to experience what he had, and still has,” she said.

“He wanted everyone to bring heaven into this earth through love and joy that comes from raising a family. It’s beautiful. Charlie always said that if he ever ran for office —I know a lot of you asked if he ever was going to — but privately, he told me if he ever did run for office, that his top priority would be to revive the American family. That was his priority.

“One of Charlie’s favorite Bible verses was Ephesians 5 verse 25: ‘Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.’

“My husband laid down his life for me, for our nation, for our children. He showed the ultimate and true covenantal love,” she said.

Erika, who is a baptized Catholic, witnessed to the Christian faith she and her husband shared.

“Charlie always said that when he was gone, he, he wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith,” she said.

“And one of the final conversations that he had on this earth, my husband witnessed for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his Savior’s side, wearing the glorious crown of a martyr.”

During the broadcast, Erika Kirk urged others to make faith central to their lives, as her husband had done.

“But most important of all, if you aren’t a member of a church, I beg you to join one, a Bible-believing church,” she said.

“Our battle is not simply a political one above all. It is spiritual. It is spiritual. The spiritual warfare is palpable. Charlie loved his Savior with all of his heart, and he wanted every one of you to know him, too. He wanted everyone to know that if they confess, if they confess the Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead, then they will be saved.

“Hear me when I say this. Nobody is ever too young to know the gospel. Nobody. Nobody is ever too young to get involved with saving this beautiful country, this country my husband loved and still loves. And nobody is ever too old, either.”

She vowed to continue Charlie’s work with Turning Point USA, the conservativve advocacy organization he founded, and said the campus speaking tour he had just embarked on would go on.

“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea,” she said.

“You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.

“To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die,” she said. “It won’t. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die.”

‘Kendrick was joyful all the time,’ reflects father of Kendrick Castillo

unitedyam September 13, 2025

Kendrick Castillo, who died in a school shooting in 2019 and whose cause for canonization has been opened in the Diocese of Colorado Springs. / Credit: Photo courtesy of John and Maria Castillo

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Colorado Springs announced it received a petition to open a cause for canonization for Kendrick Castillo, the lone fatal casualty after a shooting at a Colorado school in 2019, when the 18-year-old died after jumping into the line of fire to stop one of the shooters.

“Knowing Kendrick, we knew that that was something that he would do,” said his parents, Maria and John Castillo, in an interview with “EWTN News In Depth” this week.

“We’re so humbled and grateful,” John said about the opening of Kendrick’s cause for canonization. “It’s one of the greatest gifts that can ever be bestowed upon anybody. It’s just the sheer mention of sainthood. We always have felt … that since Kendrick was born, he’s been our saint. He’s worthy, and we believe that. But to hear it coming from our Catholic brothers and sisters and our families, it’s different and it’s more powerful.”

The priests in the diocese advocating for Kendrick’s cause believe that he qualifies for beatification in a new category called “Offering of Life.”

In a 2017 motu proprio, Pope Francis established a new category of Christian life eligible for beatification, recognizing individuals who died prematurely as a sacrificial offering of their life out of love for God and neighbor.

Since his death, there have been “numerous things that have taken place to honor Kendrick, and they’ve all been spectacular,” John said. “But this is on a level that is indescribable. It really is an honor, it’s humbling.”

Reflected on the kind of man his son was, John said: “Kendrick was joyful all the time. I don’t think there’s a picture [of him] that we have that doesn’t have a smile on it. He was just happy all the time. He loved life.”

“He made friends everywhere he went,” John continued, remembering a particular time when Kendrick was in preschool. “A child was being dropped off and was afraid to leave his mom for the day. Kendrick, as a little kid, went over and hugged him and said it would be OK and comforted him. That was just in his nature.”

At the public school Kendrick attended, “he took his Catholic faith and did what we’re asked to do as Catholics,” John said. He showed the “agape love that we should have for our savior. That’s what Kendrick did every day. I just wish people got to know his personality and see that.”

His son had a “willingness to live out his faith and help his community at church,” the elder Castillo said, recalling his service as an usher and altar server at Mass and funerals.

On the day of the shooting, Kendrick “risked his life to save others,” John said. “That was in Kendrick’s nature. We wish that he didn’t have to do that, of course. But in that moment, it wasn’t surprising to us that he would not run the other way [and] that he would defend the sanctity of life.”

Maria said she wants her son to be remembered for “his love.” She said: “He loved his friends, his parents, but most importantly, he loved God.”

Following recent shootings at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota and Evergreen High School in Colorado, John offered consolation and wisdom to parents who have lost a child in such a tragedy. “My words to them would be: ‘Hold each other close.’”

“Remember what we’re called to do in faith and surrender to trust in the Lord,” John said. “God did not make this happen. Evil is real, and we can’t let evil divide us. We must comfort one another. We must try to seek viable solutions that are going to create safety for our families and our community … Reach out to one another and don’t let evil win and pull you away from anything that’s positive and God’s grace in our lives.”

Students for Life’s Kristan Hawkins: Charlie Kirk ‘died a martyr’

unitedyam September 13, 2025

Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins. / Credit: “EWTN News in Depth”/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10 at a Utah college campus, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action and a close friend of Kirk’s, said: “His death will be a turning point.”

In an interview with “EWTN News In Depth,” Hawkins called Kirk “a joyful warrior.” She pointed out: “He was a man of God and just moments before he was assassinated, he had proclaimed that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior. And he never shirked away from that, just like he never shirked away from any of the other political debates … I believe with my whole heart, he died a martyr.”

Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and campus activist, “truly enjoyed having conversations with those who disagreed with him and having the opportunity to change their minds,” Hawkins said. “He was a huge learning advocate … He was always wanting to find out the best ways to save our country and to advance our faith.”

“We work symbiotically on campuses to spread the good news of the Gospel, but then also spread the voice of reason, which Pope Benedict was very clear [about]. He wrote about how reason is God’s gift and when reason is abandoned, violence becomes the only remaining path … When people stop talking, when they disagree with each other, it only leads to violence.”

Hawkins highlighted Kirk’s mission to protect human life. Students for Life honored him in January at the National Pro-Life Summit with the Defender of Life Award “for his advocacy for life on college campuses.”

Turning Point, Students for Life, and similar organizations that work to defend life “have become increasingly effective [in] winning back students,” Hawkins said, especially because of Kirk’s “ability to reach young men.”

While the pro-life organizations have been “effective and things have started to shift in our country, it hasn’t shifted enough,” Hawkins said. “We still have a culture of death.”

Manifestation of the ‘culture of death’

The day of Kirk’s death, Hawkins was speaking to students at the University of Montana. “I was on campus for two hours before Charlie was shot and every argument from the 150 pro-choice students who surrounded me … was: ‘Maybe it is a baby, maybe it is human, but I can still kill it because I want to. That’s a culture of death.”

“When I announced to them that my friend had been shot and we were trying to find updates on Charlie’s condition … they laughed.”

This is the callous response of pro-choice students at the University of Montana when I told them my friend Charlie Kirk had been shot.

It was horrific. I share this because evil must be exposed in our nation, now more than ever. We may be at one of the lowest points in our… pic.twitter.com/1QFpG754AX

— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) September 11, 2025

“This is what a culture of death breeds. When you say it’s OK to kill innocent babies and that there should be no recourse [for] killing innocent, helpless babies who are the most innocent among us, this is what it leads to. This is why we say it’s a culture of death that must be defeated and this is why we can’t abandon the campuses right now,” Hawkins said. “Do we abandon violence or accept reason?”

Despite this tragedy, Hawkins said: “We have to stay on campuses, because we have to teach this generation, Gen Z, that violence isn’t acceptable.” She shared that her organizations will be going to “160 campuses this semester talking about [their] fall theme, which is ‘every human life matters.’ Charlie Kirk’s life matters.”

“We have to go now harder and louder than ever before because God’s gift of reason must prevail. That is the only way our mission survives this.”

Hawkins also asked people to pray for Kirk’s wife, Erika, and their young children. “I can’t even imagine the pain that Erika is going through,” Hawkins said. “To lose the love of her life, the father of her children, her rock, one that she loves so dearly, and Erika loves so fiercely. But she also loves the Lord.”

“And so my prayer for her right now is that her faith prevails, and her faith carries her through this moment, and God grants her strength. She is strong enough to endure this. I would ask folks every morning when you wake up, pray for Erika. Pray for those two young children.”

Pew survey: 8 out of 10 U.S. Catholics view Pope Leo XIV favorably

unitedyam September 12, 2025

Pope Leo waves to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 6, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2025 / 14:56 pm (CNA).

A new report from a Pew Research Center survey finds that 8 out of 10 American Catholics view Pope Leo XIV favorably.

According to the report, 84% of U.S. Catholics surveyed say they have a “mostly favorable” view (47%) of the pope or a “very favorable” view (37%) — while only 4% of Catholics view him unfavorably and 11% say they have never heard of him.

Among non-Catholic Americans, more than half of those surveyed (56%) say they view him favorably, while 31% say they have never heard of him.

Pew surveyed 9,916 U.S. adults (which includes 1,849 Catholics) from July 8 through Aug. 3. The margin of error in the survey is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The very same percentage of U.S. Catholics — 84% — viewed Pope Francis favorably in the early months of his pontificate as well, according to the report.

Those who attend Mass more often have a more favorable view of the new pope. Among U.S. Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more often, 95% say they have a favorable view. Of those who attend Mass once or twice a year or a few times a month, the number stands at 84%, while 77% of Catholics who seldom or never attend Mass say they have a favorable view.

More than three-quarters of U.S. Catholics say they are excited that Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago in 1955, is the first U.S.-born pope.

Though so many view him in a positive light, only 7% of Catholic survey respondents say they know a lot about the new pope, while a quarter say they know nothing at all. Just under 70% say they know “a little” about the pontiff, who spent decades working for the Church in Peru, eventually serving as the bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023.

He was elected to the papacy by the College of Cardinals on May 8 after the death of Pope Francis on April 21.

Among weekly Catholic Mass attendees, 75% say they only know a little about the new pope, and 11% say they know nothing.

“These numbers show both the excitement and the challenge of a new papacy,” said Montse Alvarado, president and COO of EWTN News (CNA’s parent company). “While Pope Leo XIV has been warmly received, many still don’t know his story.”

“With our presence in Peru and the Vatican, and decades of experience covering the Church, EWTN News is uniquely positioned to help Catholics understand the people and places that shaped the Holy Father — and to serve as a force for unity for his pontificate,” she said.

The latest findings are part of Pew’s American Trends Panel, part of Pew’s ongoing research on Catholicism in the U.S.

In June, Pew reported that nearly 50% of adults in the U.S. have some connection to the Catholic faith.

“Catholicism’s roots in the United States run deep,” Pew stated in the report titled “U.S. Catholicism: Connections to the Religion, Beliefs, and Practices.”

Pew found that 47% of U.S. adults have Catholic ties: 20% identify as Catholic, 9% as “culturally Catholic,” 9% as ex-Catholic, and 9% report a connection through a Catholic parent, spouse, or past Mass attendance.

New film on St. Maximilian Kolbe’s final days highlights hope amid darkness

unitedyam September 12, 2025

The premiere of “Triumph of the Heart” in Dallas on Sept. 8, 2025. / Credit: Nicole Marie Richards

CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new film called “Triumph of the Heart” depicts St. Maximilian Kolbe’s last days on earth in a starvation bunker in the German death camp of Auschwitz. The film will be released in theaters on Sept. 12.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar and priest who volunteered to die in place of another man in Auschwitz. He spent the last 14 days of his life in a starvation bunker alongside nine other men.

The red carpet at the premiere of "Triumph of the Heart" in Dallas on Sept. 8, 2025. Credit: Nicole Marie Richards — The red carpet at the premiere of “Triumph of the Heart” in Dallas on Sept. 8, 2025. Credit: Nicole Marie Richards

At the film’s Sept. 8 premiere in Dallas, where over 1,000 people gathered at the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building on the University of Texas at Dallas campus to show their support and watch the film, writer and director Anthony D’Ambrosio told CNA on the red carpet that it was “surreal” to see the magnitude of the premiere.

He explained that it was originally meant to be a more intimate gathering with roughly 200 people in attendance but “God, of course, had other plans,” D’Ambrosio said. “I think that what I’m seeing is that God keeps on growing our vision for where he wants to take the film, where he wants to take this story.”

The current rise in faith-based media

Actors who also spoke on the red carpet discussed the resurgence of faith-based media being seen in today’s culture.

Michael Iskander, who portrays King David in Prime Video’s “House of David” and served as the master of ceremonies for the premiere, said he believes “Christ is pouring his heart out to all of us in every way possible and media is one of those frontiers that hasn’t really been touched yet.”

He credited the hit series “The Chosen” for “paving the path for so much faith-based filmmaking and showing people that this is a market that people want to see.”

Michael Iskander, the actor who portrays King David in Prime Video's "House of David," at the Sept. 8, 2025, premiere of "Triumph of the Heart." Credit: Nicole Marie Richards — Michael Iskander, the actor who portrays King David in Prime Video’s “House of David,” at the Sept. 8, 2025, premiere of “Triumph of the Heart.” Credit: Nicole Marie Richards

A recent convert to Catholicism, Iskander shared that St. Maximilian Kolbe was one of the first saints he learned about from the Catholic Church. He highlighted the saint’s use of media to spread the Gospel message to the masses and said it is “fitting that this film and this rise in Christianity, especially in filmmaking, had to do with St. Kolbe.”

Jeff Schiefelbein, co-host of the podcast “The Beatidudes” and an investor in “Triumph of the Heart,” said he believes there is a resurgence in faith-based media because people are “sick of all the fake stuff.”

“We’re being told to compare ourselves to things that aren’t even important. The materialism has swung so far that the pendulum is making its way back,” he said. “… I think there’s going to be this resurgence … of young people, Gen Xers, old people coming back and saying, ‘Wait, we want what’s real, what’s true, what’s good, and what’s beautiful’ and so it is rooted in the Gospel when we go and seek those.”

Marcellino D’Ambrosio, a well-known author, Catholic commentator, and executive producer of the film — also the father of Anthony D’Ambrosio — called this moment we’re seeing in faith-based media “a Holy Spirit moment.”

“Human beings always need God but I think something really special is going on right now,” he said.

“St. Augustine said it well: Our hearts are restless until we rest in him. And success in the culture — this is a fascinating thing that actually goes back even to the successful cultures in Rome — there’s an emptiness when you have a certain amount of success and you have leisure; nothing satisfies but God,” he added. “So it oftentimes leads people to that restlessness that St. Augustine talks about — to look for him, to be open to him, and I think that’s what’s going on in our culture right now.”

Actor Marcin Kwaśny as Maximilian Kolbe in “Triumph of the Heart.” Credit: Triumph of the Heart movie/Sherwood Fellows

A film that inspires hope

As for what those involved in the film hope viewers take away from it, the major theme they mentioned was their wish that it fills the audience with hope.

“I hope they will take away hope,” Marcellino D’Ambrosio said. “I hope that everyone realizes that God is real; I have a future, no matter how bad the present looks … he’s with me in the present and he has something in store for me that’s greater than my wildest dreams.”

Rowan Polonski, the actor who portrays Albert in the film — one of the men in the starvation bunker alongside Kolbe — told CNA his hope is for the audience to be “pleasantly surprised in the way that they’re moved.”

“Entering into this movie, you could quite easily walk in thinking it’s going to be a pretty dark and heavy write, but what I want them to walk out with is a sense of joy and catharsis,” he added. “And a sense that no matter how dark times can get, how low one can feel, there’s always a way out, there’s always a crack of light somewhere that you can cling onto and follow through and it’s normally in the form of love.”

Producer Cecilia Stevenson added: “I really want people to feel love when they watch this movie and specifically to feel the love of Our Lord and how he enters into our suffering with us, just like Kolbe did for those men in that film. Our movie, Kolbe’s story, it’s a modern-day example that ultimately points us to Christ, and I really hope people feel that love and I hope it gives them hope, that there is meaning in life and that suffering itself can have meaning.”

Politicians, faith leaders condemn political violence after Charlie Kirk assassination

unitedyam September 11, 2025

A makeshift memorial is seen at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in honor of political activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem, Utah. / Credit: George Frey/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 11, 2025 / 13:04 pm (CNA).

Faith leaders and political leaders are uniting their voices to condemn politically motivated violence following the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk.

Following the confirmation of Kirk’s death by President Donald Trump, some hours after the TPUSA founder was shot at a Utah Valley University event on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 10, countless faith and political leaders began to speak out against the scourge of political violence.

In a statement, Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, railed against the “vicious pattern of political and social disorder” of the past several weeks, citing the Annunciation Catholic school shooting, the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, “and now the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, known for his commitment to civil and rational discourse.”

As Americans, we are witnesses in just the past few weeks to a vicious pattern of political and social disorder. At Annunciation Catholic Parish in Minneapolis, the killings of Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel, two innocent children. In Charlotte, the murder of Ukrainian refugee…

— Bishop Burbidge (@BishopBurbidge) September 10, 2025

“What we see unfolding in our nation is a vicious pattern of hatreds rooted in the rejection of God, of the dignity of the human person, and the sanctity of the family,” the bishop observed.

“We are living through a perilous moment,” Burbridge continued. “Our challenge is not only one of partisan disagreement, law, and policy, but in a deeper way our challenge is to uphold the central goods of American political life: of faith, of families, and of a national commitment to live together in harmony as brothers and sisters.”

Kirk’s assasination hit Bishop Barron particularly hard

“I am devastated by the news of Charlie Kirk’s death,” Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron said after news of Kirk’s death was confirmed by President Donald Trump.

Barron went on to reveal that Kirk had been scheduled to appear on his show, “Bishop Barron Presents,” in 10 days. The founder of Word on Fire called Kirk “a great debater and also one of the best advocates in our country for civil discourse, but he was, first and last, a passionate Christian,” recalling that when they first met four years ago, “we didn’t talk much about politics. We talked about theology, in which he had a deep interest, and about Christ. I know I’m joining millions of people around the world in praying that he rests now in the peace of the Lord.”

Moral theologian on root of problem

“You have to be willfully blind not to see that the root of the problem is political hatred, and that that hatred is no more obvious than in those who cannot restrain themselves from badmouthing a man even when he lay dying,” said Edward Feser, a Catholic philosopher and professor at Pasadena City College.

I have nothing against reasonable gun control laws. But you have to be willfully blind not to see that the root of the problem is political hatred, and that that hatred is no more obvious than in those who cannot restrain themselves from badmouthing a man even when he lay dying.

— Edward Feser (@FeserEdward) September 10, 2025

In a joint post showcasing their shared perspective across ideological divides, Princeton legal scholar Robert George and Harvard theology and philosophy professor Cornel West said: “For our nation, this is a moment for deep healing and for bearing witness to the precious humanity of all our brothers and sisters — those with whom we agree and those with whom we disagree.” The pair had appeared together on Kirk’s show recently.

We join our fellow citizens of all faiths in praying for the repose of the soul of Charlie Kirk and for the comfort and consolation of his wife, two small children, and other loved ones.

We recently appeared as guests on Charlie’s podcast, where he engaged us with moral…

— Robert P. George (@McCormickProf) September 11, 2025

Meanwhile, CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt said the tragic shooting “was not merely an assault on one man: It was an assault on the principles of free dialogue, civic order, and human dignity.”

It is with profound grief that I respond to the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk during his “American Comeback” tour at Utah Valley University. Today, our nation mourns not only the loss of a bold voice for truth, but a husband and father who leaves behind a wife and two…

— Kelsey (Wicks) Reinhardt (@catholickelsey) September 10, 2025

“As Catholics, we affirm with unwavering conviction that every human life is sacred,” Reinhardt continued, offering prayers for the repose of Kirk’s soul. “I call upon every leader, regardless of party or persuasion, to condemn this murder unequivocally. To remain silent in the face of such evil is to be complicit in its advance. Let this tragedy awaken America to the urgent need to recover respect for life, civility in discourse, and courage in the pursuit of truth.”

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts also weighed in, writing: “What a horrific day in American history.”

What a horrific day in American history.

To Charlie’s family, friends, and @TPUSA colleagues: we must never, never, never, never, never, never stop fighting to build the America that he helped make possible. He restored optimism about the American future for millions of… pic.twitter.com/VYP2WUaRiD

— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) September 10, 2025

“To Charlie’s family, friends, and @TPUSA colleagues: We must never, never, never, never, never, never stop fighting to build the America that he helped make possible,” Roberts added.

Netanyahu: Kirk ‘stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined world leaders in condemning Kirk’s assasination, writing: “Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom. A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization.”

Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom. A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization. I spoke to him only two weeks ago and invited him to Israel. Sadly, that visit will not take place.
We lost an…

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 10, 2025

Netanyahu revealed he had spoken to Kirk “only two weeks ago” and had invited the late TPUSA founder to visit Israel.

“Sadly, that visit will not take place,” the prime minister said. “We lost an incredible human being. His boundless pride in America and his valiant belief in free speech will leave a lasting impact.”

In another tribute, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who hosted Kirk as the first guest on his new podcast, said: “His senseless murder is a reminder of how important it is for all of us, across the political spectrum, to foster genuine discourse on issues that deeply affect us all without resorting to political violence.”

We should all feel a deep sense of grief and outrage at the terrible violence that took place in Utah today. Charlie Kirk’s murder is sick and reprehensible, and our thoughts are with his family, children, and loved ones.

I knew Charlie, and I admired his passion and commitment…

— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) September 10, 2025

“The best way to honor Charlie’s memory is to continue his work: Engage with each other, across ideology, through spirited discourse,” he continued. “In a democracy, ideas are tested through words and good-faith debate — never through violence.”

Newsom added: “Honest disagreement makes us stronger; violence only drives us further apart and corrodes the values at the heart of this nation.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden both took to social media as well, with Biden writing in a post: “There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.”

There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 10, 2025

“I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah. Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family,” Harris wrote, adding: “Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.”

I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah. Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family.

Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 10, 2025

1,000-piece St. Carlo Acutis mosaic used to ‘convict the universal call to holiness’

unitedyam September 9, 2025

Artist Johnny Vrba presents the commissioned Carlo Acutis piece to kids at St. Carlo Acutis Parish in Chicago. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Chicago Catholic

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 9, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

As the faithful continue to celebrate the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis, a 1,000-piece mosaic portrait of the new saint made of toy soldiers, Pokémon, shoelaces, and other surprises hangs in Rome.

After artist Johnny Vrba heard about Acutis, he was inspired to create a portrait of the saint out of recognizable items that visually tell his story. Vrba has now crafted and presented two portraits of Acutis to help young Catholics learn about the first millennial saint.

“Every figure, every toy, every single thing that is glued on the piece has a meaning and a purpose,” Vrba told CNA. “It’s all on there for a reason. Every single one of them is numbered, just like Scripture says: ‘He hasn’t just counted them, because he’s numbered us. He’s numbered the hairs on our heads.’”

Johnny Vrba with his Carlo Acutis portrait in Assisi, Italy. Credit: Photo courtesy of Johnny Vrba

Discovering ‘an ordinary, but extraordinary, saint’

Vrba was raised Catholic but didn’t completely commit to his faith until an unexpected trip established his relationship with Christ.

In 2020, Vrba was on a study abroad trip sailing to Shanghai, China, when the COVID-19 virus broke out. “The voyage did not go as planned, but during that uncertain time I actually met the Lord for the first time in a really powerful way.”

After the experience, Vrba got involved in missionary work, was in school, and created a bit of art on the side. He had always enjoyed painting and building small toys and thought: “I wonder if there’s a way to combine drawing, painting, and this sculptural component.”

Vrba put faith and art together to create a couple portraits of Jesus with the Crown of Thorns. One is made of wine corks to represent Jesus’ miracle in Cana, and the other is crafted of toy soldiers. Then a friend of Vrba’s told him about Acutis, inspiring the next steps for the young artist.

“I’d never heard of Carlo Acutis. He was totally under my radar,” Vrba said. “Then I researched him and thought: ‘He has some very similar things to my own story and synchronicities.’ Like bringing his parents to the faith and bringing them to Mass. Then being into technology and filming and animals, like his dogs and cats. He’s just such an ordinary, but extraordinary, saint.”

The St. Carlo Acutis mosaic in the making. Credit: Photo courtesy of Johnny Vrba

“I started dreaming about what a piece could look like,” Vrba said. He decided his next sculpture would be an image Acutis made of toys, because “Carlo would have played with video game controllers, and played Pokémon and Mario.”

‘The First Millennial Saint’

Creating the mosaic was no simple task. Vrba had to track down thousands of quality soldiers and toys, paint them, and meticulously glue each one in place. The result was the 45-pound mosaic called “The First Millennial Saint.”

“Every toy has a meaning and a purpose,” Vrba said. Many of the soldiers are turned facing a figure of the crucifixion to represent “the culture of death.” They are “flaccid, boring, colored, gray, white, and black figures that are all pointing at the cross — pointing at Jesus.”

There are also colorful soldiers that are “outward-facing, evangelizing, and filled with the joy of the Gospel.” The 163 colorful figures represent Christians who are fighting against the culture of death and also the 163 Eucharistic miracles Acutis documented on his website.

The sculpture also has dozens of hidden “Easter eggs” that viewers might just miss, including a dolphin and various Pokémon characters hinting at Acutis’ favorite animal and favorite game. The background is even a soccer field to represent his love for the sport.

“People really gravitate towards the computer desk setup. It has a saxophone, the Bible, a world map, a little soda, and his dogs and cats around him where he would have worked at his little station. It blends right in with the piece, you would never even know, but when you turn your head sideways you can see it.”

“Then both of the miracles are incorporated,” Vrba said. The miracle of Mattheus, a young boy from Brazil who was healed from a birth defect that caused him difficulty eating is represented with small steak and french fry figurines, because it was the first meal he was able to consume after his mother asked Acutis to intercede for her son.

The sculpture includes a bicycle to represent the miracle that saved Valeria Valverde, a young Costa Rican woman who suffered a serious head injury from a bike accident in Florence. The toy bike is “placed on Carlo’s head where she cracked her head and suffered brain hemorrhaging.” After her mother prayed at Acutis’ tomb, she made a complete recovery.

Artist Johnny Vrba presents the commissioned Carlo Acutis piece to kids at St. Carlo Acutis Parish in Chicago. Credit: Photo courtesy of Chicago Catholic

A mission of more than just art

Vrba created the original mosaic for Acutis’ mother, which he planned to give to her during a meeting at Acutis’ canonization in April. After it was postponed due to Pope Francis’ death, the meeting was unfortunately canceled. Since the piece had already traveled to Italy, Vrba decided to take it to the church where Acutis is buried in Assisi.

The sculpture traveled around the city where Vrba showed it to pilgrims and placed it in spots Acutis once stood himself. After gaining traction on its journey, it was acquired by and placed in the Vatican’s youth center.

While in Assisi, Vrba also met a number of parishioners of St. Carlo Acutis Parish in Chicago — the only church in the United States named after Acutis. One parishioner commissioned a replica of the piece that Vrba created with even more details than the original.

Inspired by Acutis’ quote “We are all born originals, but many of us die photocopies,” Vrba ensures each work of art, even replicas, are different. “I want to make every piece unique, because every person is unique. Die as an original, not as a photocopy.”

Vrba presented the original during the Jubilee of Youth and the replica to kids at St. Carlo Acutis Parish. When kids see the sculpture Vrba loves that they realize “each figure on the piece has a special mission, and each one of us in the Church [has] a special mission. We are made for a purpose. We are the lifeblood of the Church.”

“I want to make art that people don’t just look at but look into. And it’s the greatest joy in my life when kids come up to it and they’re able to touch things, push buttons, and they can get their hands on it, interact with it. I love seeing them look into it.”

Vrba is currently working on four pieces that will be shown at Miami Art Week in December, including portraits of St. John Paul II and newly canonized St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. Vrba’s art will be one of the very few, if not the only, religious pieces at the mostly secular show.

“Then the goal would be to use those pieces at school parishes, stand-alone parishes, churches, and any Catholic missions to preach the lives of the saints.” He added: “The mission is to speak and evangelize, and especially, convict the universal call to holiness in an artistic way … using the commonplace household items and toys that people recognize.”

Diocese investigates sainthood cause of Virginia father who saved son

unitedyam September 8, 2025

Tom Vander Woude with two of his grandchildren, Michael and Bobby Vander Woude (from left to right). The Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is investigating Tom Vander Woude’s cause for sainthood almost two decades after he died saving his son. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

CNA Staff, Sep 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Suffocation awaited a young man with Down syndrome when the eroded surface of a toxic sewage tank crumbled beneath his feet.

Joseph Vander Woude would have died alone in the cramped tank surrounded by toxic fumes, but his father jumped in, pushing him toward the surface with his last breath.

Even as his lungs filled with toxic gases, Tom called out to the farmhand who was trying to pull Joseph out.

“You pull, I’ll push,” he said.

Tom eventually faded into unconsciousness, still propping Joseph up until emergency responders pulled them both out of the 7-foot-deep tank.

By the time they did, Tom was dead.

It was Sept. 8, 2008, when Tom, 66, left behind his wife and seven sons. But Tom’s legacy wouldn’t end there.

Seventeen years later, a group of Catholics is now working with the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, to open his cause for sainthood.

“You’re shocked that he’s gone, and you miss him, and you don’t know what’s going to replace that void, if it ever will be replaced,” his fifth son, Chris Vander Woude, told CNA. “But then you’re like, that’s a hero.”

More than 1,500 people attended Tom’s funeral Mass, including the local bishop, more than 75 priests, and more than 60 altar boys.

Tom’s story continues to resonate. A guild founded in his name is interviewing those who knew him, while the diocese has named a postulator and vice postulator to investigate his cause for sainthood.

Depending on what they find, his case could go to Rome.

Signs of holiness

In the Catholic Church, three things can put you on the path to sainthood: martyrdom, heroic virtue, and now — after a 2017 move by Pope Francis to expand sainthood — a sacrificial death.

Keith Henderson never knew Tom, but as he learned about him, he was inspired to found the Tom Vander Woude Guild that is advocating for his cause by sharing his story. Alongside the guild, the Diocese of Arlington has taken several preliminary steps to open his cause, including naming a postulator and vice postulator, who are investigating and promoting the cause.

As Henderson has learned more about Tom, he found that “his entire life was one of tremendous faith and selfless service to everyone he met.”

“His selfless life and death serve as a model for how laypeople can pursue holiness in the 21st century,” he told CNA.

Tom Vander Woude and his wife, Mary Ellen. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

“He was very joyful. His charity abounds,” Chris added. “He was always helping people.”

But at the same time, Tom was ordinary.

Chris remembers his dad as “quiet” and more of a “St. Joseph character.” Born on April 24, 1942, Tom was a “South Dakota farmer boy” who married his high school sweetheart, Mary Ellen. It was a “country boy meets city girl” type of love story, Chris said.

Tom would go on to become many more things — math whiz, Navy pilot, commercial pilot, farmer, father, and now, potential saint.

In 1965, Tom Vander Woude became a Navy pilot. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

“He was just an ordinary sort of a guy who made an extraordinary impact in so many ways, and on so many people during his life,” Henderson said.

By all accounts, Tom was a busy man: a commercial pilot with a demanding schedule, an attentive father of seven, and a dedicated farmer.

But Tom attended daily Mass often, prayed the rosary every day, and made a weekly Holy Hour from 2 to 3 a.m. — odd hours due to his flying schedule.

“Dad was the unquestioned leader and protector of the family, and he led spiritually, too,” Chris said. “No matter what dad did that day, if it was flying or farming, he was on his knees saying the rosary.”

Tom Vander Woude with baby Joseph “Josie” Vander Woude. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

Getting Josie off the sidelines

For Chris it has been “surreal” to share his father’s story. People are praying for his father’s intercession in all sorts of scenarios — often related to having a child with special needs, Chris said.

Tom’s third-oldest son, Dan Vander Woude, recalled how Tom went out of his way to ensure that Joseph, affectionately known as “Josie” by his family, was included.

When he was young, part of Joseph’s physical therapy entailed crawling on the ground. Tom was right there with him, crawling on the floor.

When a grown-up Dan asked his father to coach a JV basketball team, Tom was all in — as long as Joseph could be there, too.

Tom Vander Woude coached basketball in his spare time. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

“I thought Joseph would simply do the warm-ups with the team and cheer them on from the bench,” Dan recalled.

But to Dan’s surprise, during one basketball game, Tom had convinced the other coach and the referees to let Joseph play.

“Joseph went into the game and wasted no time getting a couple of fouls and chucking up some long shots,” Dan said. “Joseph was beaming because Dad had given him the opportunity to play in a real game.”

“I was deeply moved that my dad was always committed to getting Joseph off the sidelines and into the game — in basketball and all areas of life,” Dan said.

Tom Vander Woude with Josie on a horse. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

‘Just do the right thing’

After the sewage tank accident, Joseph spent several days at the hospital recovering. Healthy now, Joseph takes care of his 81-year-old mother on the family farm.

“Seventeen years later, Joseph actually takes care of Mom,” Chris said. “It’s just amazing to see God’s plan and providence.”

Joseph carries the groceries, gets the door for his mom, and offers her his arm when she needs it.

“You always see Joseph and mom together — very similar to early on, you always saw Joseph and dad together in his last few years,” Chris said.

Tom’s family continues to grow, with 39 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. His eldest son, Father Tom Vander Woude, is a Catholic priest.

A family photo taken at Chris Vander Woude’s graduation from Christendom College. From right to left: Joseph, Tom, Dan Vander Woude (third son), Father Tom Vander Woude (oldest son), Steve Vander Woude (second son), Pat Vander Woude (sixth son), Chris Vander Woude (fifth son). Credit: Photo courtesy of the Tom Vander Woude Guild

Chris had decided to spread his father’s story after telling it to a parish in Boston one day.

“Many people were crying,” he recalled. “They were on the edge of their seats. A lot of it resonates with them.”

“Knowing that people were grateful for being able to hear the story — that was a big catalyst,” he said. “If they were grateful, there’s probably a lot of other people out there that would love to hear his story.”

Since then, Chris is set on sharing his father’s story. In addition to several podcasts and talks he has given at local Virginia parishes and in Maryland, he plans to speak at parishes in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, New York City, and several other states.

“He’s a very humble man, so he’s probably not very happy with all the notoriety,” Chris said.

Tom wasn’t one to turn a phrase, but Chris does remember a simple saying of his dad’s. Tom used to say: “Just do the right thing,” Chris recalled. “Usually, that’s pretty simple. We’re the ones that make it more complicated by thinking of all the different circumstances or possibilities.”

“Dad never aimed to do anything extraordinary. He just aimed to live every day as best he can,” Chris said. “And so I think that’s an example for all of us.”

‘Triumph of the Heart’ tells powerful story of St. Maximilian Kolbe

unitedyam September 6, 2025

From left to right: Actor Marcin Kwaśny as Maximilian Kolbe and Christopher Sherwood as Karl Fritzsch in “Triumph of the Heart.” / Credit: Triumph of the Heart movie/Sherwood Fellows

CNA Staff, Sep 6, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Anthony D’Ambrosio grew up Catholic and always viewed his faith as one of the most important aspects of his life — even entering seminary for a brief period of time. However, he felt called to leave seminary and go into youth ministry. He fell in love and was about to get engaged when he was diagnosed with a life-altering medical condition — a chronic mold infection with a major symptom being severe and even life-threatening insomnia.

D’Ambrosio’s relationship ended, he couldn’t maintain a job, and his faith unraveled. It was during the sleepless nights that he began to discover the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, which led to creating a movie about the saint — “Triumph of the Heart.” It will be released in theaters on Sept. 12.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan friar, priest, and martyr who volunteered to die in place of another man in the German death camp of Auschwitz. Kolbe spent the last 14 days of his life in a starvation bunker alongside nine other men. “Triumph of the Heart” focuses on Kolbe’s last days on earth spent in the starvation bunker.

While writing the film, D’Ambrosio began to see his own battle with insomnia as “being a bit of a stand-in for starvation,” he told CNA in an interview. The fact that Kolbe was also able to accompany three other men “to that miracle of staying alive for 14 days without food or water with him” was also meaningful for D’Ambrosio because “I knew that if Kolbe could have helped men in that situation to find a reason to live, that he could help me to find a reason to live.”

As D’Ambrosio spent more and more time with Kolbe’s story, he began to “see what true sanctity looked like, what love looked like.”

“This idea that he had volunteered to take on the suffering of these men in order to be with them — that really began to melt my own heart and to open me back up to God’s presence,” he added.

It was then that D’Ambrosio began his journey to create the film. He began to write the script, pilgrimaged several times to Poland to learn more about Kolbe, lived with the Franciscan friars in Poland, studied his story with the librarian who handles his archives, and ultimately worked with an American crew and partnered with Poles to tell the martyr’s story.

A portrayal seen in "Triumph of the Heart" of Maximilian Kolbe, along with the other men, in the starvation bunker. Credit: Triumph of the Heart movie/Sherwood Fellows — A portrayal seen in “Triumph of the Heart” of Maximilian Kolbe, along with the other men, in the starvation bunker. Credit: Triumph of the Heart movie/Sherwood Fellows

Despite facing numerous challenges while making the film, D’Ambrosio said the most beautiful aspect was seeing “how generous the Catholic world has been.”

“Triumph of the Heart” was an entirely crowdfunded movie — meaning all production costs were covered thanks to donations from individuals.

D’Ambrosio shared that not only did everyday Catholics generously donate financially, but they also donated airline miles for the crew to be able to travel and many volunteered to go to Poland on their own dime to help with the production while the team was there for three months filming.

“I mean the whole movie is just a compilation of the stories of people who have sacrificed immensely in order to tell the story,” D’Ambrosio said.

When reflecting on the life and story of Kolbe, D’Ambrosio said it serves as a great reminder to Catholics that “when everything is hopeless, really, truly, love has the power to overcome darkness and to change the world.”

“The choice to have to maintain love and hope and faith in the face of darkness is the most powerful expression of God’s love and presence that any person can offer the world,” he added.

Despite having his life’s work destroyed by the Nazis and witness his country of Poland be conquered and destroyed by the Germans, Kolbe maintained his faith, and for D’Ambrosio “that has been the part of his life that has resounded the most throughout history and throughout time.”

“I think for anybody that is struggling in any way in their lives right now, they can look at his suffering and look at the fruit of it and make sense in many ways — maybe not make sense but they can like find a balm and find a compass for their own action the way that I did,” he said.

D’Ambrosio emphasized that the movie is primarily about hope and said he finds it “very apropos that this year was declared to be a Jubilee of Hope and that somehow Kolbe’s movie and his story is coming out in the jubilee year.”

The filmmaker said he hopes viewers “will come away with this catharsis — with this feeling of all of that was worth it if that’s what heaven is like.”

“I think that the way that the movie leaves people is like a little promise of ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK. The place we’re going is better and all of the suffering and trials and tribulations that you go through here now and all the crosses that you bear, they will be fully redeemed and you will be completely filled up and made new.’”

New animated movie aims to bring story of Jesus to life through eyes of John the disciple

unitedyam September 2, 2025

The disciple John and Jesus in the new animated movie “Light of the World.” / Credit: Salvation Poem Foundation

CNA Staff, Sep 2, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A new 2D-animated movie, told through the eyes of Jesus’ beloved disciple John, will be released in theaters on Sept. 5, taking viewers from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to his passion, death, and resurrection. “Light of the World” is the first movie from the Salvation Poem Project, a nonprofit ministry and independent studio that crafts stories to share Jesus Christ with the world.

Brennan McPherson, producer of the film, told CNA in an interview that his team chose to tell the story from John’s perspective because he was likely the youngest disciple so they believe his perspective is the most relatable.

“Telling it from the perspective of a young teenager — young kids want to age up and they see themselves in that. Teenagers are going through those formative years, so they relate with it. And then adults know what that formative time in their life was like. So it made it more appealing to a full family,” he explained.

He added that the filmmakers “wanted to show how the Gospel changed a young boy’s life and how it can still change our lives today.”

For the filmmakers — who also create other forms of faith-based media — projects such as this one are an “an act of worship.”

“We’re nerdy animation lovers, and we wanted to make a beautiful animated film that honored God, that told the truth about the Gospel, and that could be used as a tool to share our faith with people in a way that’s nonthreatening and that is not just compelling but genuine and respectful towards the audience,” McPherson said.

“What we’re trying to give people is an experience of the goodness of Jesus and let that resonate on a heart level so that they can fall in love with him,” he added.

The disciple John in the new animated movie "Light of the World." Credit: Salvation Poem Foundation — The disciple John in the new animated movie “Light of the World.” Credit: Salvation Poem Foundation

When deciding what parts of Jesus’ ministry to include in the film, McPherson explained that filmmakers were trying to answer the question “How do you tell the basic big fundamental beats that make the Gospel totally clear to someone who’s had zero background?”

With this in mind, all of the choices “were through the lens of how do we make the actual structure of the story basically symbolize the Gospel itself, show the Gospel in action, as opposed to just telling us about it.”

He also emphasized the importance the filmmakers gave to “the biblical accuracy, the theological accuracy, [and] making it accessible for children.”

As for what he hopes viewers will take away from the film, McPherson said he hopes “that they will see Jesus is beautiful and fall in love with him and decide to follow him with their lives.”

“We wanted to give people a very clear emotional experience of the Gospel so that it just poured into their hearts. We’re so busy in this culture these days that it’s hard to get people to stop and really think about the claims of Jesus, really consider who he was and whether or not he was true,” he said. “And so this is our way of just basically like, ‘Hey, this is the most beautiful thing to us. That’s what we want to spend our time making art about, and we hope that you see what we see in it.’”

Live musical performance honors life and legacy of St. Teresa of Calcutta

unitedyam August 31, 2025

Soprano Catherine Wethington sings during a live performance of “Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa” at Carnegie Hall. / Credit: Richard Termine

CNA Staff, Aug 31, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A live musical performance celebrating the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta will be taking center stage at the Music Center at Strathmore in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6 after a successful performance at the historic Carnegie Hall in New York.

“Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa” highlights the life and legacy of Mother Teresa, especially her service to the poor through the order she founded — the Missionaries of Charity.

The live musical event is conducted by Dante Santiago Anzolini and features the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, baritone Sean Michael Plumb, and soprano Catherine Wethington, who also curated the show.

Catherine Wethington, the featured soprano and curator of "Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa." Credit: DJ Corey Photography — Catherine Wethington, the featured soprano and curator of “Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa.” Credit: DJ Corey Photography

In 2019, Wethington was invited to sing in a chamber music festival in the Balkans, which included a concert in Skopje, Macedonia — the hometown of Mother Teresa. There she visited a museum about the life and legacy of the beloved saint and was introduced to a piece of music titled “Divine Waltz, Hymn to Mother Teresa,” which was commissioned by Dijana Toksa for the saint’s 2016 canonization ceremony at the Vatican.

The piece, composed by Genc Tukiçi, uses a poem written by Mother Teresa upon leaving her homeland to accept her call to ministry and was built off a motif composed by her cousin, Lorenc Antoni. Wethington was invited in 2023 to be the soprano soloist for the piece’s Albanian premiere commemorating the 20th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s beatification.

“The experience of performing this piece in Tirana and recognizing that St. Teresa continues to have a revolutionary impact on people’s lives today led me to create a program that celebrates her journey, her courage, and her faith,” Wethington told CNA in an interview.

The first half of the musical program focuses on Mother Teresa’s ministry to the sick and dying, and the belief that death is not the end but leads to something greater. The second half focuses on the saint’s earthly life — her childhood, her time in India, and her Catholic faith.

“The program is a combination of sacred and secular works that either place us in the physical location of her journey or highlight a part of her life from youthfulness to faithful struggle to global inspiration,” Wethington explained.

The soprano said she hopes “that people walk away from the evening recognizing that her message can impact our communities today, especially as we are surrounded by so much suffering.”

She added: “It’s tempting to place Mother Teresa on such a lofty pedestal that her impact seems beyond our reach. Her greatness didn’t spring from perfection, it grew from perseverance, faith, and relentless compassion in the face of overwhelming need.”

“Her most famous words ring like a challenge across the decades: ‘Small things done with great love will change the world.’ This isn’t mere sentiment, it’s a call to action,” Wethington said. “Her message was elegantly simple: love without condition, serve without pride, act without expecting reward. In doing so, she proved that even one gift, fully given, can transform the world. We can transform the world, too.”

Tickets to the performance in Washington, D.C., can be found here.

Where does your state stand on the death penalty?

unitedyam August 30, 2025

null / Credit: felipe caparros/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Aug 30, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The United States is seeing the highest number of executions in more than a decade, with 30 executions so far in 2025.

CNA has released three new interactive maps to show where each state in the U.S. stands on life issues — the protection of unborn life, assisted suicide, and the death penalty. The maps will be updated as new information on each issue becomes available.

Below is an analysis of the map that shows where each state stands on death penalty laws as of August 2025.

The death penalty in the U.S.

The United States is split on the death penalty, which is also known as capital punishment. Twenty-three states have the death penalty, while 23 states have abolished it. In the remaining four states, executions have been temporarily paused via executive action, but the death penalty has not been abolished.

Of the states that have abolished the death penalty, Michigan took the lead, becoming the first state to abolish the death penalty in 1847. Alaska and Hawaii — both newer states — have never had the death penalty.

Five states (Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah) allow the death penalty via firing squad as an alternative to lethal injection.

The federal death penalty can be implemented for certain federal crimes in all 50 states as well as U.S. territories.

A total of 16 federal executions have occurred since the modern federal death penalty was instituted in 1988.

The federal death penalty was found unconstitutional in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Furman v. Georgia in 1972, but it was later reinstated for certain offenses and then expanded by the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994.

In 2024, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men but left three men on death row.

Where does your state stand on the death penalty?

Alabama: The death penalty is legal in Alabama. The state has one of the highest per capita execution rates in the nation, with 81 people executed since 1976.

Alaska: Alaska has never had the death penalty. Capital punishment was abolished by the territorial legislature two years before Alaska became a state. Hawaii and Alaska are the only states to have never had capital punishment in state law.

Arizona: The death penalty is currently legal in Arizona but has been paused for various reasons throughout the state’s history. In 2025 executions resumed in Arizona following a three-year pause.

Arkansas: Arkansas allows the death penalty if a defendant is found guilty of capital murder, defined as the premeditated and deliberate death of another person. In 2025, Arkansas became the fifth state to use nitrogen gas for executions.

California: California has had a moratorium on its death penalty since 2019.

Colorado: In 2020, Colorado abolished the death penalty.

Connecticut: In 2012, Connecticut abolished the death penalty for future crimes.

Delaware: The Delaware Supreme Court found capital punishment to be unconstitutional in 2016, and in 2024 Delaware repealed the state’s death penalty laws.

District of Columbia: The District of Columbia does not have a death penalty. It was repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981.

Florida: Florida allows the death penalty for first-degree murder and other capital felonies, including sexual battery. Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 ended requirements for juries to vote unanimously for capital punishment. DeSantis also signed legislation allowing capital punishment in the case of sexual battery of children.

Georgia: Georgia law allows the death penalty in cases where the defendants are at least 17 years old and commit certain homicides; for instance, if the method of homicide was depraved or if the defendant committed the murder in a public place threatening other people.

Hawaii: Hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1957 when it was still a territory, prior to becoming a state. Hawaii and Alaska are the only states to have never had capital punishment in state law.

Idaho: Idaho is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squads. In 2023, the state allowed this method due to a shortage of lethal-injection drugs. The method can be used if the state cannot obtain lethal-injection drugs.

Illinois: Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.

Indiana: In Indiana, the death penalty is legal in some murder cases with “aggravating circumstances” for someone 18 or older who is not intellectually disabled. Lethal injection is the only method of execution that is legal.

Iowa: Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965. Though some capital punishment proponents have attempted to bring it back over the years, none have succeeded.

Kansas: The death penalty is legal in Kansas, but the state has not executed anyone since 1994. Kansas has abolished and reinstated the death penalty several times.

Kentucky: The death penalty is legal in Kentucky for those convicted of murder with aggravating circumstances.

Louisiana: The death penalty is legal in Louisiana.

Maine: Maine abolished the death penalty in 1887.

Maryland: Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013.

Massachusetts: Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1984.

Michigan: Michigan was the first state — and the first government in the English-speaking world — to abolish the death penalty. It abolished capital punishment in its constitution in 1847.

Minnesota: In 1911, Minnesota abolished the death penalty via the state Legislature.

Mississippi: Mississippi is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad.

Missouri: Capital punishment is legal in Missouri, typically for first-degree murder with aggravating factors.

Montana: The death penalty is legal in Montana.

Nebraska: Though Nebraska lawmakers have debated abolishing the death penalty in recent years, it remains legal.

Nevada: The death penalty is legal in Nevada in first-degree murder cases with at least one aggravating circumstance.

New Hampshire: New Hampshire abolished the death penalty in 2019 after the state Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of the repeal bill.

New Jersey: New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007.

New Mexico: New Mexico abolished the death penalty in 2009.

New York: In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals declared New York’s death penalty law unconstitutional.

North Carolina: The death penalty is legal in North Carolina for first-degree murder cases with an aggravating factor. The state law has 11 aggravating factors, including for sexual offenses, cruelty, and murder of a witness or law enforcement officer.

North Dakota: In 1973, North Dakota abolished the death penalty.

Ohio: In 2020, Gov. Mike DeWine declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Ohio.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma has the highest per capita state execution rate, with 127 executions from 1976–2024. Oklahoma is one of five states to allow capital punishment by firing squad.

Oregon: Executions have been paused as Oregon has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2011.

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on executions since 2015.

Rhode Island: Rhode Island abolished the death penalty in 1852. The state briefly reinstated it in 1872, but it never carried out another execution.

South Carolina: South Carolina is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad.

South Dakota: In South Dakota, the death penalty is legal only in cases where someone dies. Those who are declared insane or those with mental disabilities cannot be sentenced to capital punishment.

Tennessee: The death penalty is legal in Tennessee. In 2022, Gov. Bill Lee placed a moratorium on capital punishment for review of lethal injection protocols, but executions recently reopened.

Texas: Texas has the second-highest per capita state execution rate, with 101 executions from 1976–2024.

Utah: Utah is one of five states to allow the death penalty by firing squad, and it has been requested twice in recent years. States with this option usually allow defendants to choose, as some say it is less painful and more instantaneous than lethal injection, which at times has taken hours to cause death.

Vermont: Vermont abolished the death penalty in 1972 after the U.S. Supreme Court — for a brief period of time — declared the punishment unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia.

Virginia: Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021.

Washington: In 2018, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, citing racial bias and arbitrariness. In 2023, capital punishment was formally removed from state law.

West Virginia: West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965, though there have been attempts to reinstate it in recent years.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1953, one of the first states to do so.

Wyoming: The death penalty by lethal injection is legal in Wyoming. It is not allowed if the person is mentally incapacitated or pregnant.

Federal: The death penalty is legal on a federal level in the United States of America. The Trump administration restored the death penalty on Jan. 20, 2025, via an executive order.

Catholic Church teaching on the death penalty

In 2018, the Vatican developed the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, with Pope Francis updating the Catechism of the Catholic Church to reflect that the death penalty is “inadmissible” in the contemporary landscape.

Previous teaching in the catechism issued during the pontificate of St. John Paul II permitted the death penalty in “very rare” cases, saying that “cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today … are very rare, if not practically nonexistent” (CCC, 2267, pre-2018).

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Assam reports 1st Guillain-Barre Syndrome death, Maharashtra tally climbs to 5 -Times of India- #timesofindia #India #News

unitedyam February 1, 2025

Maharashtra reported its fifth death due to Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), with Assam confirming its first fatality. The outbreak has caused an increase in critical cases in Pune, leading to a rise in ICU admissions and ventilator support. Water contamination has been identified as a potential cause.

First suspected GBS death in Maharashtra, cases in Pune surge to 101 -Times of India- #timesofindia #India #News

unitedyam January 26, 2025

The Maharashtra health department reported possibly the first death associated with the Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) outbreak in Pune, with cases reaching 101. The outbreak has led to 16 patients on ventilators and a significant number of cases in children and the elderly. Authorities are investigating potential water contamination as a source.

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In Tumakuru, farmer Yoganand bravely stopped a leopard attack by grabbing its tail, preventing harm to villagers. Forest officials captured the weak and partially visually impaired animal, transferring it to a Mysuru rescue center. The leopard had been preying on livestock in nearby villages.

Death toll from earthquake in China’s Tibet jumps to 50, over 60 injured -Times of India- #timesofindia #India #News

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A powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes near the Tibet-Nepal border, killing at least nine people. It causes building collapses and shakes regions across Bihar and North India. The quake’s epicentre is in Tibet, about 93 km from Lobuche, Nepal. Two aftershocks were also recorded.

Revelation 6:8 – The Pale Horse #AIImage

unitedyam September 15, 2024July 31, 2024

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.

unitedyam July 21, 2024June 26, 2024

Psalms 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.
He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebreateth me, how goodly

I looked, and there before me was a Pale Horse! – Revelation 6:8

unitedyam July 12, 2024June 26, 2024

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, a figure cloaked in shadow, exuding an aura of foreboding. The horse, an eerie shade of pale, almost translucent, seemed to embody the essence of mortality itself. Its eyes, dark and hollow, bore into the souls of those who dared to meet its gaze. Death’s skeletal hands clutched the reins with a grip that spoke of inevitability and finality. As the horse moved forward, the very air seemed to chill, the ground beneath its hooves blackening as though scorched by an unseen fire.

Re-imagine ‘Knight- Death and the Devil’ by Albrecht Durer

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In the Style of Salvador Dali – recreate ‘Knight- Death and the Devil’ by Albrecht Durer — using bold Color
#AIart #DigitalArt #CreativeAI, #ArtCommunity