Research – United Yam

Mother Cabrini Institute aims to change ‘mental pattern’ of associating immigrants with crime

unitedyam October 7, 2025

null / Credit: Amy Lutz/Shutterstock

Vatican City, Oct 7, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A new institute at Pope Leo XIV’s undergraduate alma mater wants to change the “mental pattern” that associates immigrants with crime.

In the 19th century, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini embraced the travails of millions of recently arrived Italian immigrants to the United States. Inspired by this legacy of the first American saint, Villanova University — the flagship institution of the Order of St. Augustine — has just launched the Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration.

It was from this institution of higher learning in Philadelphia that Robert Francis Prevost — now Pope Leo XIV — earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1977.

The initiative is based on the Augustinian values of “veritas, unitas, and caritas” (truth, unity, and charity) and seeks to bring together the academic community and other external stakeholders to promote concrete actions to address the contemporary challenges of migration.

“Currently, there is a mentality that associates immigrants with crime, drug trafficking, or human trafficking. However, immigrants are the ones who care for our children and our elders; we open the doors of our homes to them so they can clean our homes. We invite them into the most intimate parts of our lives, yet the media generates contrary images that make it difficult to recognize their humanity,” explained Professor Michele Pistone, director of the center, which was inaugurated at the Vatican on Sept. 30.

Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration Director Michele Pristone is shown here accompanied by Father Joseph Lawrence Farrell, OSA, prior general of the Augustinians. Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration

The institute seeks to reverse negative perceptions through an interdisciplinary approach based on four pillars: teaching, research, advocacy, and service.

“We want to transform hearts and minds, work with all Villanova colleges, and connect with centers, alumni, and community partners to create systemic change,” the professor said.

For Pistone, the university is an ideal setting for this type of work. “What better place to do it than at a university, where we can study it, be active on the ground, learn from the experience, and teach students — the future leaders of our country and businesses — to understand the migrant experience?”

The scholar also participated in the event “Refugees and Migrants in Our Common Home,” which took place in Rome from Oct. 1–3 ahead of the Jubilee of Migrants (Oct. 4–5). The more than 200 participants in the global gathering from over 40 countries were welcomed to the Vatican last week by Pope Leo XIV.

As Pistone explained in conversation with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the seed of the Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration was planted in 2022 when Pope Francis called on universities to research and teach more about migrants and refugees.

“I was in the front row and felt like he was speaking directly to me. I felt a personal calling to be part of the solution,” said the law professor at Villanova’s Charles Widger School of Law.

Personal inspiration and lifelong commitment

Pistone’s passion for migration is deeply rooted in her family history. During her studies in Italy, she visited Sicily in search of the origins of her grandparents, who immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.

Professor Michele Pistone is director of the Mother Cabrini Institute on Immigration. Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News

“Seeing my relatives, who didn’t know my father, and seeing how they rejoiced in his accomplishments in New York, changed my life. I began to understand the history of migrants from a lived perspective, and that led me to work with asylum seekers since 1999,” Pistone said.

For Pistone, migration is part of the identity and mission of the United States. “My state, Pennsylvania, was founded as a refuge for those fleeing religious persecution. That’s what asylum is all about: offering refuge to those who cannot live according to their beliefs or express themselves freely,” she explained.

Inspired by the life and work of Mother Cabrini, canonized by Pius XII in 1946, Pistone emphasized the value of the newly inaugurated center as an intellectual and social hub: “Mother Cabrini was a visionary and social entrepreneur. Her charisma guides us today in asking ourselves: What is Mother Cabrini’s work in the contemporary world? We want to carry out that mission through education, research, public advocacy, and service.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cash aid for moms: Michigan program cuts infant poverty, boosts families

unitedyam October 6, 2025

null / Credit: Tatiana Vdb via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A Michigan-based program is providing thousands of dollars to expecting mothers to lessen poverty and improve babies’ health — and all that’s needed is an ultrasound and an ID.

The first community-wide and unconditional cash transfer program for new families in the United States called Rx Kids began with the mission to improve “health, hope, and opportunity.” The initiative began in January 2024 in Flint, Michigan, where enrolled mothers receive $1,500 during their pregnancies and an additional $500 a month for the first year of their child’s life.

In 2024, Dr. Mona Hanna, a pediatrician and the director of the Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, launched the program with the help of Luke Shaefer, the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an initiative that partners with communities to find ways to alleviate poverty.

The city of Flint had been struggling with childhood poverty, “which is a major challenge and economic hardship, especially for new families,” Shaefer told CNA. In order to find ways to combat it, Hanna spoke directly with mothers. They shared how impactful the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit was, which provided parents funds to put toward necessities for their children.

The program had helped “child poverty plummet to the lowest level ever recorded,” Shaefer explained. He had worked on the program design himself, so he was brought in to help create Rx Kids with a similar goal.

The hope for Rx Kids was simply “to support expectant moms during pregnancy,” Shaefer said. Oftentimes, “the period of pregnancy and the first year of life is actually when families are the poorest,” he said. To combat this, the money helps fund food, rent, car seats, diapers, and other baby supplies and necessities.

Even families higher on “the economic ladder really struggle to make ends meet when they’re welcoming a new baby, which is really maddening because it’s such a critical period for the development of a child,” Shaefer said. “What happens in the womb, and then what happens in the first year of life, are fundamental to shaping the architecture for kids throughout the life course.”

Expecting mothers from all economic backgrounds can apply to the program. To enroll, women submit an ultrasound and identification to verify residency within the participating location. The only other qualification is that the mothers are at least 16 weeks along in their pregnancies or will have legal guardianship over the child after birth.

Funding and operations

Rx Kids is funded through a public-private partnership model that combines federal funds, often Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and private support from philanthropic foundations, local businesses, and health care systems.

Since it started, the program has provided nearly $11 million in cash transfers to the more than 2,000 enrolled mothers in Flint. There have also been 1,800 babies being born in the city within the program.

The cash transfers are sent through the nonprofit GiveDirectly, which solely administers cash payments to families through programs like Rx Kids to lessen global poverty. It currently has operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and the U.S.

After seeing success with Rx Kids mothers in Flint, the program expanded to help Michigan families in Kalamazoo, Eastern Upper Peninsula, Clare County, and Oakland County. It has now enrolled more than 3,500 mothers, provided nearly $15 million in funds, and contributed to more than 2,800 babies.

“Not unlike the support provided by the nearly 100 pregnancy resource centers in Michigan whose staff and volunteers walk alongside women providing material support, counseling, and parenting classes, the Rx Kids program aims to care for women and babies during the challenging time of pregnancy and infancy by providing a no-strings-attached cash program,” Genevieve Marnon, legislative director at Right to Life of Michigan, told CNA.

“The pro-life community has long recognized that when women are supported, respected, and valued, they are more likely to choose birth to abortion and experience better health outcomes,” Marnon said.

In a state where abortion is “considered a constitutional right, every effort to ensure women have the support they need to make a choice for life is something to applaud.”

Success and benefits

“Programs like [Rx Kids] lead to healthier birth weights, lower rates of postpartum depression, and an atmosphere that celebrates each and every woman and child,” Maron said. “The data speaks for itself.”

Recently, Rx Kids received back “the first line of research that is looking really positive,” Shaefer said. Researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan conducted a study published by the American Journal of Public Health that analyzed more than 450,000 births across Michigan.

The researchers reported that after the program launched in 2024, Flint experienced an 18% drop in preterm births and a 27% reduction in low birth weight when compared with the previous year and similar Michigan cities.

There was also a reported 29% reduction in NICU admissions, which prevented nearly 60 hospitalizations annually. The outcomes were linked to behavioral changes of women during their pregnancies, including increased prenatal care.

“We’re not forcing anyone to go to prenatal care, but when we provide the economic resources, they go,” Schaefer explained.

Church support

The Catholic Church in Michigan has also been in favor of the program. Jacob Kanclerz, communications associate for the Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC), told CNA that it helps provide “mothers facing difficult circumstances with the resources they need to make a choice for life and avoid resorting to abortion.”

MCC, which serves as the public policy voice for the Church in the state, “supports the Rx Kids program because of its direct assistance to mothers and children in need in lower-income communities in Michigan.”

In line with the Church, the program works “to promote and protect human life as well as provide for the poor and vulnerable in society,” Kanclerz said. MCC has supported funding in the state budget for the Rx Kids program and has testified in support of the expansion of Senate Bill 309, which would incorporate the program officially into state law.

At a hearing for the bill, Tom Hickson, vice president for public policy and advocacy for MCC, said: “By helping mothers pay for critical prenatal and infant health care services and other expenses surrounding childbirth, Rx Kids can help mothers provide their babies the care they need while in the womb and after they are born.”

He added: “This program has been a wonderful help to expectant mothers and their babies who need extra support during this critical stage of life.”

Rx Kids is currently helping Michigan families, but it also offers a startup guide for other states and communities interested in modeling the program. Schaefer said there is “a ton of interest” from other states that hope to implement the program.

There are two versions of the Rx Kids model that areas can implement, depending on their funding availability and goals. One offers $1,500 during pregnancy and an additional $500 each month for six months following the child’s birth. Communities can also model the original version implemented in Flint, which offers a $1,500 cash transfer during pregnancy, and the additional monthly funds for a whole year.

To secure funding, Rx Kids encourages communities to utilize public sources, state or federal dollars, and private support from philanthropic organizations that want to contribute to the mission of alleviating poverty and supporting babies and their mothers.

Texas boys school establishes policy to destroy smartphones

unitedyam October 4, 2025

Boys swing on a rope during recess at Western Academy in Houston, Texas. / Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy

Houston, Texas, Oct 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

After years of boys (and their parents) repeatedly ignoring the rules, a private boys school in Houston is taking a novel approach to its smartphone and digital device policy: Bring it to school, and “we will destroy it.”

Western Academy, an independent, liberal arts school that states its goal is to educate young men “in the good, the true, and the beautiful,” has never allowed students to bring electronic devices to school.

In the past, if a boy was caught with a phone or other device at the school or a school-sponsored event, faculty would confiscate the device, which would be returned to the parents only after they had met with headmaster Jason Hebert. He would explain the harms to boys caused by smartphone use and why parents “should not put the phone back into your son’s hands.”

Boys look for toads in a pond during recess. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy

Under the new policy, which Hebert laid out in a four-page letter to parents last month, after the device is discovered and destroyed, the boy will be suspended. If it happens again, the boy will be automatically expelled.

Along with its singular smartphone policy, the school, which has 230 students in third through eighth grade, takes a unique approach to education. The boys are free to play throughout the park-like, rambling grounds, where they climb and swing from trees, build forts, shoot Nerf guns, and care for (or chase) chickens before and after school and multiple times throughout the school day.

The all-male faculty expects respect and responsibility from the boys at a young age, according to Hebert. The teachers have the boys rise when an adult visits a classroom and encourage parents to let their sons learn to endure hardship and experience natural consequences when they forget their homework or their lunch at home.

Jason Hebert, headmaster at Western Academy in Houston. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy

A Catholic priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei serves as chaplain to the school, which was founded in 2010, and oversees the religious education program.

The model is popular: Even with middle-school tuition close to $28,000 a year, every grade has extensive waitlists, and the school may start wait-listing boys beginning as early as kindergarten.

At the beginning of each school year, the boys are sorted into one of four houses that compete throughout the year in games such as capture the flag and “The Hero’s Race,” where the boys in each house choose one boy to race across campus, climbing over obstacles and crawling through mud. There is also a poetry recitation competition known as “The Bard.” One mother, Stephanie Creech, told CNA her sons are so happy at the school they “beg to get to school early and to stay afterward to play.”

Hebert sat down with CNA and discussed what brought about the change in the smartphone policy, saying he chose the words in his letter very carefully.

Hebert speaks to the boys on the first day of school as the faculty looks on. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy

Witnessing the damage

“Smartphones are causing significant, unimagined damage to the students who have them,” Hebert wrote in his letter to parents, “as well as to the sons of those parents who have chosen not to give phones to their sons.”

“The damage these phones have caused to our children,” he told CNA in the interview, “it literally has never been imagined.”

“It’s not just pornography,” Hebert continued. “YouTube actors and other characters just trying to get clicks perform the most shameless actions on video. They just have zero respect for the dignity of their bodies and for life, zero. And these boys want to emulate these people.”

Hebert said the last straw came after a mother called him complaining her son saw a graphic, violent video on a smartphone at a school event.

After that, Hebert said he and the other administrators agreed: “That’s it. We’re done.”

Asked why the school did not just consider automatic expulsion after the first offense rather than the destruction of the devices, Hebert said with a laugh: “To be perfectly candid, I want to destroy the phone. I want to give the boys an opportunity to have life without it.”

He ordered a metal grinder for the purpose.

“Look, I am not an alarmist. I am not reactionary. But the bottom line is this: These devices are not neutral. The research is definitive: They are bad for our kids. I have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of boys over two decades in education and I have yet to see an exception to this,” he said.

Hebert said that over the years, he has noticed a degradation in the quality of the boys’ conversation. “You can’t imagine the level of shamelessness” among some of the boys,” many of whom are generally considered “good kids.”

“This type of behavior is unprecedented in my tenure as an educator, and even as a professional athlete,” he said.

Boys cheer their teammates on as the houses compete in a game of "Thud," in which two boys throw a medicine ball at one another as hard as they can until one of them drops it or gives up. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy — Boys cheer their teammates on as the houses compete in a game of “Thud,” in which two boys throw a medicine ball at one another as hard as they can until one of them drops it or gives up. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy

In the early 2000s, before beginning his teaching career, which included teaching at The Heights School in Maryland, he spent one year as a professional football player on practice squads for three NFL teams: the Chargers, the Titans, and the Raiders.

“I never played in a regular-season game. This is what I tell people: I made it to the NFL. I did not make it in the NFL,” he said, laughing.

“Let me make it clear: I was an athlete around some of the most earthy human beings on the planet,” he said. “These men were not ashamed to say anything in the locker room. Yet these same men would have blushed if they heard some of the things these boys talk about! This is so unimaginable. Yet it is becoming more common now, thanks to these devices.”

Parents on board

Asked if he was worried parents would leave over the school’s new policy, Hebert said if parents are not on board with the school’s values, it might be better if they left and one of the many others on the waitlist could take their spot.

In his letter to parents, Hebert wrote that the “school is a true partnership with parents. We say this not for poetic effect, but because it must be so for the authentic growth of your sons to become a reality.”

He told CNA parents should ask themselves: “How valuable is the phone to you? Are you willing to leave this place for it? This place where your son is so abundantly happy? Is your phone worth that? And if it is, well, it’s a mismatch of vision.”

Since the change in policy, however, Hebert said parental response has been “100% positive.”

After hearing about the school’s new policy, a mother whose son graduated from the school several years ago dropped off a financial donation at the front desk recently “for the phone grinder.”

“Everybody just knows it’s right. Parents might be frustrated because saying no to their sons makes their lives harder, but they know it’s right,” he said.

Hebert, a father of seven, said he and his wife do not allow their children to have smartphones or social media. “My children may not know a lot of the lingo or some of the jokes or about all the parties. They’re on the outside, to a degree.”

“And even though that’s a big deal,” he continued, “the alternative overrides that. It’s a bigger deal.”

“The alternative is not worth it,” he said.

“We all want the truth,” he said, “and the truth is these devices are severely hurting kids. I’m not a doomsday guy, but some day these kids will be in charge of society. Think about that.”

Possible U.S. government shutdown could disrupt military Masses, meals for preschoolers

unitedyam September 27, 2025

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 27, 2025 / 08:30 am (CNA).

A looming U.S. government shutdown could affect Roman Catholic churches and Catholic institutions that depend on government funding.

The closure, which will come about if lawmakers cannot agree on a spending package to fund the federal government, could pause military members’ ability to attend Mass, interrupt subsidized meals for preschoolers in Catholic schools and limit assistance with church security. Congress so far lacks agreement on funding federal agencies when the budget year begins on Oct. 1.

A shutdown would mean housing, health and food programs for people in need could experience cascading delays, according to a Sept. 26 statement by Catholic Charities USA.

“A government shutdown would result in more people falling into poverty, and the recovery from such a setback could take several months or even years,” the statement said.

“One thing we can all agree on is that the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable in society should not suffer because lawmakers cannot come to an agreement.”

Besides Church-related programs, a shutdown would affect a range of other services, including education for at-risk preschoolers, scientific research, and grants to charitable organizations.

Many Catholic entities rely on federal funding from Head Start, an early childhood education program that offers health screenings and meals to families below the federal poverty level.

Military Masses, Church security

Military worship services could be affected in a lengthy shutdown. In an extended shutdown in 2013, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA said it would lack a Catholic priest to celebrate Sunday Mass at chapels at some U.S. military installations where non-active-duty priests serve as government contractors.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Federal efforts to “maintain safe and secure houses of worship” also could be degraded at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency in a government shutdown. Two children died in August in a mass shooting at the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The federal agency provides resources that assist houses of worship in securing physical and digital infrastructure. The department said in anticipation of a narrowly avoided government shutdown in 2023 that it “would also be forced to suspend both physical and cybersecurity assessments for government and industry partners.”

Federal agencies have not yet issued contingency plans for a potential shutdown, and the security agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Abortion pill complications are underreported, report finds

unitedyam September 24, 2025

Credit: Ivanko80/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 24, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Abortion pill complications go underreported in abortion industry studies and mainstream media, according to a recent report by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).

Abortion industry studies claim that serious complications are incredibly rare — occurring in less than half a percent of cases, according to the report “Missed, Misclassified, and Minimized: Why Abortion Pill Complications Are Underreported.”

But a study last year found that more than 1 in 10 women who took the abortion pill experienced serious complications such as hemorrhaging, infection, failed abortions, and surgical follow-up.

The author of the report, Randall O’Bannon, set out to investigate the discrepancy.

O’Bannon, director of education and research for the National Right to Life, found several factors contributing to the discrepancies. For one, he found that abortion providers often encourage women to conceal negative side effects and tell doctors they are symptoms of a miscarriage. O’Bannon also observed what he called a “contemptible lack of curiosity in the media” toward stories of women hurt by abortion drugs. Finally, serious complications are often categorized as “minor,” O’Bannon found.

O’Bannon said the “flawed or slanted industry studies” are “not good enough.”

“The public — and policymakers — deserve accurate, transparent reporting on the dangers of chemical abortion,” he said in a statement.

Dr. Ingrid Skop, vice president and director of medical affairs for Charlotte Lozier Institute and a board-certified OB-GYN, said she has encountered these medical complications in her own career as a medical provider.

“I have cared for dozens of women presenting to the ER with abortion drug complications, and they are told by abortion advocates there’s no need to report the use of abortion drugs,” she told CNA.

“When I see a woman in the ER with continued pain and bleeding sometimes weeks or even months after taking abortion drugs, she usually has retained pregnancy tissue and/or the dead baby, which the drugs have failed to expel,” Skop continued. “An unaware ER doctor is likely to give her more of the drugs that already failed rather than expediting the surgical aspiration she needs.”

“As a researcher and practicing OB-GYN, I can attest that the lived experience for many women reflects the data documented in this report,” Skop said.

“So where are all the women some of these later reports and studies say have been injured and abused by these drugs and their prescribers?” O’Bannon asked. “Once again, we see that they have been silenced and minimized, told their pain and blood and trauma are ‘minor complications’ that somehow just don’t rise to the level worthy of being noticed. But they suffer and bleed just the same.”

Looking at the numbers

Michael New, assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business for The Catholic University of America, noted that “the FDA’s own data shows that there are a number of health risks involved with chemical abortions.”

“Since the FDA approved the chemical abortion pill in 2000, the FDA’s own data indicates that there have been 32 deaths, 4,218 adverse events, 1,049 hospitalizations, 604 cases of blood loss requiring a transfusion, 418 infections, and 75 severe infections,” New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, told CNA.

The FDA figures “are underreported” due to a change in the reporting requirements implemented nearly a decade ago, according to New.

“In 2016, the FDA quit requiring that health care professionals report complications from chemical abortion drugs,” New said. “Since 2016, the reporting of complications has been voluntary.”

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA removed the requirement for women to have an in-person medical exam before being prescribed chemical abortion drugs.

Since then, “the number of complications has almost certainly increased,” New said.

Without a medical exam, abortion providers may unwittingly provide abortion drugs to women whose pregnancies are further along than is recommended for chemical abortions, as well as women who have ectopic pregnancies (a life-threatening condition where the embryo implants outside the uterus).

Trump administration continues to implement ‘unwise policy’

“The Biden administration FDA and thus far the Trump administration FDA have continued with this unwise policy,” New said.

Chemical abortions are sometimes falsely advertised as “safer than Tylenol.” But a chemical abortion is far less safe than even a surgical abortion, Skop noted.

“Complications occur at least four times as frequently following drug-induced abortions compared to surgical abortions, causing at least 1 in 15 women to require emergency care when the drugs are used as the FDA recommends,” Skop said. “Even more women suffer when they are taken at advanced gestational ages.”

“The abortion pill is being sold as safe, but independent data tell another story,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a statement. “Women are being harmed, and the dangers are being ignored or hidden.”

“Abortion industry spin makes mifepristone abortions sound easy, but the truth is each abortion takes the life of a living preborn child and places the woman in danger,” Tobias said.

How can policymakers respond?

New noted that public officials could take several steps “to protect mothers and children” from these dangers, including requiring that “medical professionals report complications that arise from chemical abortions.”

In addition, the FDA “could require that women obtaining chemical abortions first have an in-person medical exam,” a change that New said the Trump administration could make “right away.”

“Thus far, it is disappointing that the Trump administration has not prioritized keeping women safe from unregulated chemical abortion drugs,” New said.

Skop added that “policymakers need better abortion data.”

“Extensive deficiencies affect abortion data collection in the U.S., including a lack of anonymized national reporting requirements,” Skop said.

“Women also need to know the true risk of abortion and potential complications, which are both physical and mental,” she continued.

Skop noted that “the majority of women with a history of abortion would have preferred to give birth if they had the necessary support.”

“Women also should know there are 2,750 pregnancy resource centers that want to walk alongside women facing an unintended pregnancy to provide any support they need,” Skop said.

Nonprofit organizations across the country exist to provide pregnant women and mothers with support — from baby clothes to ultrasounds to parenting classes.

“The abortion industry’s goal is to promote all-trimester abortion on demand,” Skop noted. “And lawmakers, the public, and most importantly, women considering abortion, must understand abortion advocates will mislead them to achieve that goal.”

Mothers urge lawmakers to ban assault weapons after Minneapolis Catholic school shooting

unitedyam September 22, 2025

Police gather at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, 2025, following a mass shooting that killed two children and injured 17 others, 14 of them children. / Credit: Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2025 / 17:17 pm (CNA).

At a town hall meeting in Plymouth, Minnesota, over the weekend, three mothers whose children survived the school shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in August advocated for stricter gun laws.

Two children were killed and 21 people were injured after Robin Westman, 23, a man who identified as a woman, shot through the stained-glass windows of the church during a school Mass on Aug. 27.

Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed in the attack.

Carla Maldonado, who has two children at Annunciation Catholic School, said “taking action” by tightening gun laws would honor the deaths of the two children and “all lives taken by gun violence.”

“We cannot accept a world where civilians have access to weapons designed for battlefields,” she said, referring to assault weapons and calling for their prohibition.

Another mother, Malia Kimbrell, who also supports an assault weapons ban, asked: “If the next mass shooting happens at your child’s school, what type of weapon are you comfortable with the shooter being armed with?”

Kimbrell, whose daughter Vivian, 9, is recovering after she was shot multiple times, advocated for “more mental health resources and safer gun storage and better background checks and detecting potential threats online and improved security measures.”

Stephanie Moscetti said her son “was an honorary pallbearer at his friend’s [Merkel’s] funeral; how is this our reality?”

“Our kids deserve safe schools, they deserve safe childhoods where they can play and learn,” she said.

Rep. Kelly Morrison, a Democrat who represents Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, organized the town hall meeting, which focused on the prevention of gun violence.

Several of the mothers at the town hall also testified last week before a working group of state lawmakers who deliberated over proposed reforms dealing with gun violence.

At the hearing, Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, asked lawmakers to strengthen the law surrounding mental health resources access, pointing out that none of the proposals put forward would have prevented the shooting because Westman legally purchased the weapons.

Westman used three firearms during the August attack: a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, all of which were purchased legally under existing state law. The rifle was likely an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, which is considered an assault weapon.

Laws limiting those with mental health disorders from gun possession

Though Westman struggled with his gender identity, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed “gender identity disorder” from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and replaced it with “gender dysphoria” in the revised version, known as the DSM-5, published in 2013.

This change marked a significant shift in how struggles with a person’s sexual identity are classified, with health care professionals no longer calling it a mental illness.

The new classification of gender dysphoria, though it is still in the APA’s manual of mental disorders, addresses the symptoms, or the distress, associated with gender incongruence and not the incongruence itself.

Minnesota, along with 29 other states, bars people with mental health issues who have been involuntarily committed or found to be a danger to self or others from possessing a gun.

This law did not come into play in the August shooting, however.

Gov. Tim Walz in early September called for a special session, which has yet to take place, that will focus on gun safety. He proposed banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips as well as more safety regulations concerning storage and a stronger red flag law.

Minnesota’s current red flag law allows family or local and state officials to ask for an extreme risk protection order, or ERPO, which allows them to petition the court to have an at-risk person’s guns removed or to temporarily prohibit that person from buying a gun.

“We passed a red flag law. It was passed in 2023 and it was supposed to deal with a situation like this,” Minnesota House Republican leader Harry Niska said in early September after Walz proposed the special session. “So I hope everyone is asking serious questions about why — why did this incident not trigger either a background check flag or a red flag?”

Walz will need the support of Republican lawmakers in the special session, and they have different proposals. They want to make private school security eligible for state funding, something the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of Minnesota’s six Catholic dioceses, has asked for multiple times.

Republicans also want to allow doctors more discretion concerning transgender medical procedures, more funds for mental health facilities, and harsher penalties for certain gun crimes.

Ten states ban assault weapons, but the proposal in Minnesota failed to come up for a vote in 2023. Just over half of rural residents opposed an assault weapons ban in a 2022 MinnPost poll, while 69% of urban dwellers supported it. Overall, the poll found that nearly 54% supported it.

Minnesota already has one of the nation’s stronger gun regulation frameworks, according to Everytown Research, which ranks the state 14th in the country for gun safety policies.

The state requires universal background checks for all firearm sales, including private transfers, and domestic violence protections prohibit access for those under restraining orders or with misdemeanor convictions, among many other regulations.

Study: ‘Traditional liturgical experiences predict stronger belief in the Real Presence’

unitedyam September 22, 2025

The Eucharist is displayed in a monstrance in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City before a Eucharistic procession on Oct. 15, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A recent study found that traditional liturgical experiences, including receiving the Eucharist by tongue, indicate a stronger belief among Catholics in the Real Presence.

Last year, Natalie A. Lindemann published a journal article on Catholics’ belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ’s body and blood in the Eucharist. Lindemann, a professor in the department of psychology at William Paterson University, recently published a follow-up peer-reviewed article that uses a larger sample size and examines additional information.

Belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is central to the Catholic faith, but only about 57% of U.S. Catholics believe with certainty the Eucharist is Jesus’ body, according to Lindemann’s report.

The new study, published in the Catholic Social Science Review, found receiving the Eucharist on the tongue, attending a parish that rings consecration bells, and attending a parish that offers the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) have an effect on one’s belief in the Real Presence.

The research is from a survey of 860 U.S. Catholic English-speaking adults. The group closely reflects the ratio of men to women in the U.S. adult Catholic population. The ethnicity demographic was biased toward the overrepresentation of some ethnic groups, so a corrective weight was applied.

Participants’ Eucharistic beliefs varied with 31% reporting they are certain of the Real Presence, 23.6% being certain that the Eucharist is a symbol without Jesus being present, 10.5% said Jesus is probably present, 19.2% were not sure, and 15.8% said the Eucharist is probably a symbol.

How ‘bodily and related social liturgical practices’ predict beliefs

The survey asked participants to answer questions on a scale of 1 to 5. One represented the belief that “bread and wine are symbols of Jesus; I am certain that Jesus is not really present.” Five indicated that person is “certain that Jesus is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.” Belief in the Real Presence on the five-point rating scale was found to have an average mean (M) of 3.10.

Participants who have received the Eucharist on the tongue at some point (M=3.27) believe more in the Real Presence than those who have never received the Eucharist by tongue (M=2.79). People who often receive on the tongue, and often see others receive on the tongue, also reported a stronger belief in the Real Presence.

Those who always receive on the tongue (M=3.69) showed a moderately higher belief in the Real Presence than those who always receive in the hand (M=3). The report noted that since most participants consistently receive the Eucharist via one method, treating the reception method as a scale variable is questionable.

Catholics who said people should receive the Eucharist on the tongue had a significantly stronger belief in the Real Presence (M=4.32) than those who said one should receive in the hand (M=2.62). Those who reported they value personal choice regarding how one receives fell in between (M=3.37).

The report noted that 33 participants mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an effect by prompting more reception in the hand.

Factoring in the Traditional Latin Mass

“The TLM liturgy prescribes Eucharistic-reverent behavior … therefore, [Lindemann] expected that Catholics who attend the TLM would on average have stronger Real Presence beliefs.” The study found this to be true as participants whose parishes offer a TLM (M=3.63), whether or not the participant has ever attended it, showed a slightly stronger belief in the Real Presence than those whose parishes do not offer one (M=3.04).

The effect of the Latin Mass was slightly higher among those who both attend a parish that celebrates TLM and have attended it before (M=3.83), compared with Catholics with no exposure to a Latin Mass (M=3.07).

There was also a trend toward stronger Real Presence belief among people who have a positive perception of TLM (M=3.74) than those with a negative perception (M=2.44). Those with neutral feelings toward TLM were found to have a mean of 3.60.

“Since consecration bells signal the importance of the consecration,” Lindemann said she “predicted that participants whose parishes more often ring consecration bells would report a stronger belief in the Real Presence.” This prediction was found to be true. Specifically, there was a substantially higher belief among Catholics who have always heard consecration bells at Mass (M=3.43) than those who have never heard them before (M=2.53).

Other factors that tended to result in a higher belief in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist included more frequent Mass attendance and politically conservative viewpoints.

The participants were also asked about the location of the tabernacle at the altar, but the study found there was no relationship between where it is placed and Eucharistic belief. Sex, age, and ethnicity were also found to have no effect.

Federal government cancels grants for fetal human tissue research

unitedyam September 18, 2025

null / Credit: Alex_Traksel/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 18, 2025 / 16:03 pm (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

National Institutes of Health refuses to renew fetal tissue grants

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is refusing to renew more than a dozen grants related to human fetal tissue research.

The federal agency told Breitbart News that multiple grants involving human fetal remains “will not be renewed.” The funding was originally launched under the Biden administration, the NIH told the conservative news outlet.

The agency revealed the decision shortly after a report from the watchdog group White Coat Waste exposed the ongoing funding.

The NIH told Breitbart that it is “guided by a commitment to valuing human life and ensuring that federally funded research is conducted responsibly and transparently.”

Lila Rose wins Yale debate on abortion with pro-choice leader

Lila Rose, the founder and president of Live Action, emerged the winner in a debate about abortion at Yale Political Union, the pro-life group said this week.

The Yale group describes itself as “the oldest and largest collegiate debate society in America” and “the central forum for political engagement and debate at Yale.” Attendees are permitted to vote to determine the winner of debates after speeches are given.

Live Action reported that Rose on Sept. 16 debated Frances Kissling, a former Catholics for Choice president and the founding president of the National Abortion Federation.

Kissling “argued that preborn children are not as valuable as other humans,” while Rose “defended their humanity and pointed out the injustices that occur when society dehumanizes certain human beings,” Live Action said.

Rose “came out ahead in a 60-31 vote,” the pro-life group said.

“We won. The room voted for the pro-life side,” Rose later wrote on X. “Yale organizer was shocked. Change is here. Thank you for praying.”

Assisted suicide activists go on trial in France as country debates euthanasia

Multiple elderly defendants are on trial in France for allegedly helping dozens of people purchase deadly drugs to end their own lives.

The trial of a dozen defendants, ranging from 74 to 89 years old, comes as the country debates legalizing assisted suicide. The French National Assembly approved an assisted dying measure earlier this year, with the bill now before the national senate.

Le Monde reported this week that the 12 defendants in the recently begun trial are accused of helping patients procure the drug pentobarbital, which is used in executions in the United States but is only legal to euthanize animals in France.

The defendants are reportedly members of Ultime Liberte (“Ultimate Freedom”), a pro-assisted-suicide group.

Texas governor signs bill allowing state residents to sue abortion pill manufacturers

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 17 signed into law a measure permitting state residents to sue manufacturers of abortion pills who circulate the deadly drugs in the state.

The law, passed by the state Legislature earlier this month, will allow plaintiffs to collect up to $100,000 in damages from those who bring abortion pills into the state or provide them to Texas residents.

Pregnant women who use the pills cannot be sued under the law.

CUA appoints Microsoft AI director to lead new institute on emerging technologies

unitedyam September 15, 2025

The Catholic University of America has announced that Taylor Black, director of artificial intelligence at Microsoft, will lead a new institute on emerging technologies and AI at the Washington, D.C.-based university. / Credit: The Catholic University of America

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 15, 2025 / 15:36 pm (CNA).

The Catholic University of America (CUA) announced that Taylor Black, director of artificial intelligence (AI) at Microsoft, will lead a new institute on emerging technologies and AI at the Washington, D.C.-based university.

At the technology conglomerate, Black serves as the director of AI and venture ecosystems in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer. In the role, he designs and leads cross-company initiatives that integrate innovation, product development, and community engagement to foster the next generation of technologies. He will remain in the position but plans to travel regularly to CUA’s campus.

“Taylor’s background in innovation, AI, and entrepreneurship; studies in philosophy and law; and his formation as a deacon candidate make him the ideal person for this new venture,” H. Joseph Yost, senior vice provost of research for CUA, said in a statement. “From our first conversation, we knew he was the person we wanted to lead Catholic University’s expansion of AI programs and innovation.”

Black received an undergraduate degree in philosophy and classics from Gonzaga University and a master’s degree in philosophy and a law degree from Boston College. His career took off after he created a successful web development business while still in school. He went on to hold consulting, business development, and venture positions before joining Microsoft in 2021.

While working in the technology field, Black said he has noticed an increase in questions related to human dignity from his secular colleagues. The new institute will work to tackle some of the concerns by pursuing innovation in AI and engaging in dialogue about human issues central to the Catholic Church.

“The Church has been trying to get people to ask the question ‘What does it mean to be human?’ for a very long time. Now a bunch of people are asking it unprompted,” Black said in an interview with CUA. “This lends itself to addressing the gaping hole in understanding what people should know about what it means to be human in a deeper way.”

“Universities are for the formation of human persons. If you’re well-formed, you generally do a better job in the workplace,” Black said. He is interested in “how we reinvigorate the heart of what the university is — its human formation roots — while still providing the tools and training necessary from an entrepreneurial perspective to take this new economic paradigm in stride.”

The new AI initiative will bring faculty together from multiple departments including engineering, business, science, art, philosophy, and theology to engage collaboration within as well as outside the university.

The new institute follows a number of other advances at CUA. Earlier this year, the university achieved R1 status, which placed it among the top 5% of universities nationwide in terms of research funding and doctorates.

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.

unitedyam September 3, 2025

Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats in the ocean. This photo, taken from NASA’s Gulfstream V Research Aircraft on July 21, 2022, shows Arctic sea ice in the Lincoln Sea north of Greenland.

Study: Mental health-related hospitalizations rates doubled for women who had abortions

unitedyam September 1, 2025

null / Credit: GBALLGIGGSPHOTO/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A recent study found that the rate of mental-health-related hospitalizations doubled for women who had abortions compared with women who gave birth.

The study, published this summer in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, compared abortions with other pregnancies in hospitals in Quebec, Canada, between 2006 and 2022, tracking data on women for up to 17 years.

The study, which compared more than 1.2 million women who gave birth in Quebec hospitals with more than 28,000 women who had abortions, found that “rates of mental-health-related hospitalization were higher following induced abortions than other pregnancies.”

Abortion was associated with a number of mental-health-related difficulties including hospitalization for psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide attempts, the study found.

This association was especially high for women who were younger than 25 years at the time of their abortions, as well as for patients who already had an existing mental illness.

The risk of mental health hospitalization was highest within five years of the abortion. The risk decreased gradually after the five-year point, but only after 17 years did the risk begin “to resemble” pregnancies carried to term, according to the study.

Tessa Cox, senior research associate at the think tank Charlotte Lozier Institute, said the study was “particularly powerful.”

“This recent study out of Canada, which has more comprehensive health care data than the U.S., adds to a mounting body of research suggesting that abortion can harm women’s mental health,” Cox said.

“The abortion industry downplays the evidence, so the fact that this new study included more than a million women and took prior mental health and other related factors into account makes it particularly powerful,” she told CNA.

“Women deserve to have all the facts — and women and men who have been harmed by abortion need to know that forgiveness and healing are possible,” Cox said.

Another scholar called the study “robust,” noting that it followed the data over an extended period of time and had constants that enabled the information to be more accurate.

Michael New, senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at The Catholic University of America, noted that the study “provides strong statistical evidence that abortion increases the risk of a range of mental health problems.”

New said the study had many strengths, including its large sample size, the way it tracked women over an extended period of time, and how the authors analyzed data from an extended period of time.

This method was rare, according to the study, which noted that “large population-based studies with long-term follow-up are rare yet necessary to understand the mental health needs of women post abortion.”

New called this study’s results “robust,” noting that this study stands firm against criticism that similar studies have faced.

The study is one of several that have investigated correlation between mental health challenges and abortion.

“While other research has found that women who obtain abortions are likely to suffer from mental health disorders, critics of these studies have argued that women with mental health problems are more likely to obtain abortions in the first place,” New said.

“Most importantly it holds constant whether or not the women in the study had been hospitalized with mental health problems in the past,” he said of the Canadian study.

Trump administration appeals to some pro-life reproductive health care despite IVF push

unitedyam August 26, 2025

null / Credit: Aykut Erdogdu/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 26, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

President Donald Trump’s administration has started to incorporate some elements of pro-life reproductive health care into its policy goals, which pro-life advocates argue are alternatives to in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures meant to address fertility problems.

So far the inclusion of these efforts has been limited and the president has remained consistent in supporting IVF as the major solution to fertility issues. Yet some Catholics and others in the pro-life movement have been urging these alternative approaches amid ethical concerns surrounding IVF, such as the millions of human embryos killed through the procedure.

Life-affirming options tend to focus on curing the root causes of infertility. This health care, which many practitioners call “restorative reproductive medicine,” can include charting one’s menstrual cycle, lifestyle and diet changes, and diagnosing and treating underlying conditions that lead to fertility struggles.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is currently considering grant applicants for an “infertility training center,” which is the most concrete plan to date to incorporate pro-life fertility care options within the administration’s policy goals.

The potential $1.5 million grant would use federal Title X family planning funds to help the recipient “educate on the root causes of infertility and the broad range of holistic infertility treatments and referrals available.” The money would also help “expand and enhance root cause infertility testing, treatments, and referrals.”

When reached for comment, an HHS spokesperson told CNA the agency could not comment on “potential or future policy decisions.”

Restorative reproductive medicine was also discussed at a recent event hosted by the MAHA Institute, named after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” slogan. The institute is run by Del Bigtree, who is Kennedy’s former communications director.

“Traditional women’s health and fertility care has relied heavily on Big Pharma Band-Aids and workarounds that circumvent a woman’s reproductive system rather than working in harmony with it and doing the work of deeper investigation to find and treat underlying causes of infertility,” Maureen Ferguson, a commissioner on the Commission on International Religious Freedom, said at the event.

Ferguson introduced a roundtable of doctors who practice restorative reproductive medicine.

“Restorative reproductive medicine is effective, affordable, it leads to healthier moms and babies, and it’s far preferred by couples, most of whom wish to conceive naturally,” Ferguson said.

Reproductive medicine policy opportunities

Emma Waters, a policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told CNA there are several ways the government can promote restorative reproductive medicine.

“This needs to be a project that both states and the federal government prioritize,” she said.

Waters said current insurance coding “doesn’t account for the kinds of care that [restorative reproductive medicine] is offering” or “doesn’t cover each step.”

She noted that insurance will often cover surgeries to fix endometriosis, which often causes infertility, but will not cover the initial exploratory surgery needed to properly diagnose the condition.

She said this could be improved with broader coverage or a restorative reproductive medicine “bundle package for care,” similar to an OB-GYN bundle package for when a woman is pregnant, to “simplify the billing process.”

Additional policy options, Waters noted, include grant funding for research and training.

Restorative reproductive medicine “is aiming to ensure that that man and woman’s body is the healthiest it can be for the pregnancy journey,” she said.

Waters noted that this health care “recognizes that infertility is not a disease but is a symptom of underlying conditions.” As opposed to IVF, restorative reproductive medicine focuses on “the root, rather than bypassing the body,” and helps ensure the body is healthy enough to “sustain that embryo through pregnancy and a live birth.”

Theresa Notare, who serves as the assistant director of the natural family planning program at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told CNA restorative reproductive medicine is often practiced in a way consistent with Catholic Church teaching, such as natural procreative technology and fertility education and medical management.

“You’re trying to basically healthfully address whatever problem a patient is having and you’re trying to restore them to the balance that they should have … to naturally conceive,” she said.

IVF alternatively violates Church teaching because it destroys human embryos and because “conception would be taking place outside of the marital embrace,” Notare said.

She said marriage is a covenant in which “the man and the women are coming together in this one-flesh union.”

“That communion of persons — that environment — is where the Lord God gave husband and wife stewardship over the power of life and love,” Notare said.

unitedyam August 26, 2025

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits on the ramp at sunrise before ground tests at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, on July 18, 2025. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission to demonstrate quiet supersonic flight.

unitedyam August 22, 2025

The parachute of the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy test experiment deploys following an air launch from an Alta X drone on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

NASA Drop Test Supports Safer Air Taxi Designs

unitedyam July 29, 2025

An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is being prepared for a drop test by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim, Axiom Mission 4 Commander Peggy Whitson Conduct Research in Space

unitedyam July 25, 2025

Expedition 73 Flight Engineer Jonny Kim from NASA and Axiom Mission 4 Commander Peggy Whitson work together inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module setting up research hardware to culture patient-derived cancer cells, model their growth in microgravity, and test a state-of-the-art fluorescence microscope.

unitedyam July 23, 2025

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft taxis across the runway during a low-speed taxi test at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on July 10, 2025. The test marks the start of taxi tests and the last series of ground tests before first flight.

unitedyam July 2, 2025

Three members of NASA’s Lewis Research Center’s (now NASA’s Glenn Research Center) Educational Services Office pose with one of the center’s Spacemobile space science demonstration units on Nov. 1, 1964.

unitedyam June 28, 2025

In 1963, Captain Engle was assigned as one of two Air Force test pilots to fly the X-15 Research Rocket aircraft. In 1965, he flew the X-15 to an altitude of 280,600 feet, and became the youngest pilot ever to qualify as an astronaut. Three of his sixteen flights in the X-15 exceeded the 50-mile (264,000 feet) altitude required for astronaut rating.

unitedyam May 21, 2025

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen during its “aluminum bird” systems testing at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The test verified how the aircraft’s hardware and software work together, responding to pilot inputs and handling injected system failures.

unitedyam May 8, 2025

The NASA “meatball” logo mounted on the south side of the Flight Research Building at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, as seen through foliage.

unitedyam May 3, 2025

The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking from the Rassvet module on April 19, 2025. The Soyuz crew ship would parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan about three hours later returning NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner back to Earth after a 220-day space research mission.

unitedyam April 1, 2025

Thomas Ozoroski, a researcher at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, takes icing accretion measurements in October 2024 as part of transonic truss-braced wing concept research. Researchers at NASA Glenn conducted another test campaign in March 2025.

Turning Vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel

unitedyam March 29, 2025

In this February 1944 publicity photo, men stand in front of turning vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory. The AWT was the only wind tunnel capable of testing full-size aircraft engines in simulated altitude conditions. A large wooden drive fan, located on the other side of these vanes, created wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour.

unitedyam March 15, 2025

A NASA photographer captured a time-lapse image of the lunar eclipse and blood moon above the Space Environments Complex at NASA’s Glenn Research Center at Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, OH on March 14, 2025.

unitedyam March 1, 2025

An apprentice at Langley Laboratory (now NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia) inspects wind tunnel components in this image from May 15, 1943.

unitedyam January 28, 2025

The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched a second-generation navigation satellite, NVS-02, into a geosynchronous transfer orbit using a GSLV rocket in its 100th launch from Sriharikota. This satellite, which incorporates both indigenous and procured atomic clocks, will replace IRNSS-1E and enhance the NavIC base layer constellation.

unitedyam January 15, 2025

Chief of aerodynamics Elton W. Miller ponders the future of the Sperry M-1 Messenger, the first full-scale airplane tested in the Propeller Research Tunnel. Miller was one of the designers of the Propeller Research Tunnel.

unitedyam January 7, 2025

A test subject being suited up for studies on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator located in the hangar at Langley Research Center. The initial version of this simulator was located inside the hangar. Later a larger version would be located at the Lunar Landing Facility.

NASA Runs X-59 Engine in Maximum Afterburner

unitedyam December 27, 2024

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft completed its first maximum afterburner test at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. This full-power test, during which the engine generates additional thrust, validates the additional power needed for meeting the testing conditions of the aircraft. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which aims to overcome a major barrier to supersonic flight over land by reducing the noise of sonic booms.

unitedyam December 14, 2024

An atmospheric probe model attached upside down to a quad rotor remotely piloted aircraft ascends with the Moon visible on Oct. 22, 2024. The quad rotor aircraft released the probe above Rogers Dry Lake, a flight area adjacent NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The probe was designed and built at the center.

unitedyam December 10, 2024

A portrait of Mary W. Jackson is seen after it was unveiled, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at the NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Mary W. Jackson was a pioneering aerospace engineer and mathematician at NASA’s Langley Research Center.

Interior of Vacuum Tank at the Electric Propulsion Laboratory

unitedyam November 10, 2024

Interior of the 20-foot diameter vacuum tank at the NASA Lewis Research Center’s Electric Propulsion Laboratory.

unitedyam November 6, 2024

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft sits in its run stall at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, firing up its engine for the first time. These engine-run tests start at low power and allow the X-59 team to verify the aircraft’s systems are working together while powered by its own engine. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission, which seeks to solve one of the major barriers to supersonic flight over land by making sonic booms quieter.

60 Years Ago: Lunar Landing Research Vehicle Takes Flight

unitedyam October 31, 2024

NASA test pilot Joe Walker took the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) for its first spin 60 years ago today. NASA used the LLRV, also known as the flying bedstead, to train Apollo astronauts for the descent to the Moon’s surface.

unitedyam October 17, 2024

When this picture was taken in July 1994, Dr. Irene Duhart Long was director of the Biomedical Operations and Research Office at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She was responsible for the program management of the center’s aerospace and occupational medicine, life sciences research, environmental health programs, and the operations management of the life sciences support facilities. Dr. Long also was responsible for providing the coordinating medical, environmental monitoring and environmental health support to launch and landing activities and day-to-day institutional functions.