Republican strategist Michael Reagan speaks at a get-out-the-vote rally for U.S. Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle featuring U.S. Sen. John McCain at the Orleans, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010, in Las Vegas. | Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Jan 7, 2026 / 10:07 am (CNA).
Michael Reagan, the adopted son of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and a longtime conservative activist who spoke publicly about his Catholic faith, died on Jan. 4 at 80 years old.
Reagan’s family announced his death on Jan. 6 via Young America’s Foundation, which operates out of the “Reagan Ranch” near Santa Barbara, California. The announcement said Reagan died in Los Angeles “surrounded by his entire family.”
“Michael was and will always remain a beloved husband, father, and grandpa,” the statement said, with the family expressing grief over “the loss of a man who meant so much to all who knew and loved him.”
He is survived by his wife, Colleen, his son Cameron and his daughter Ashley.
Born March 18, 1945, Reagan was adopted by Ronald Reagan and his then-wife Jane Wyman shortly thereafter. He was known throughout the 2000s as the host of “The Michael Reagan Show,” a nationwide radio program.
Reagan was a Catholic through Wyman, a legendary movie star who herself was a third order Dominican. In a 2024 interview with EWTN News’ ChurchPOP, he pointed out that “a lot of people don’t know” of Wyman’s Catholic background.
Joking when comparing his father’s Protestant beliefs with his mother’s Catholic faith, Reagan said: “When you get [to heaven], if you see my dad, look three floors above him [to see my mother].”
Reagan told ChurchPOP Editor Jacqueline Burkepile that a large part of his family is Catholic.
“My whole family is [Catholic],” he said. “My wife, Colleen, converted to Catholicism a few years ago. My son Cameron, his wife, Susanna, my daughter Ashley [are all Catholic].” His grandchildren have been baptized in the Church as well, he said.
“So we got everybody on the planet,” he joked.
In a Jan. 6 reflection, Reagan Ranch Director Andrew Coffin said Reagan “worked alongside Young America’s Foundation to share his father’s legacy and ideas with new generations.”
In a separate statement, Young America’s Foundation President Scott Walker said that Reagan “was such a wonderful inspiration to so many of us.”
Walker said that though Reagan had been optimistic about overcoming his recent health challenges, “unfortunately for all of us, the Good Lord decided to call him home sooner.”
“That said, he and I also discussed his faith and devotion to Jesus,” Walker said. “That should give us all comfort during this difficult time as he is with the Lord.”
Andrew Laubacher, executive director of Humanality, ahead of his talk at SEEK 2026 in Denver, Colorado on Jan. 2, 2026. Credit: Francesca Fenton/EWTN News
Jan 3, 2026 / 17:56 pm (CNA).
In 2018, Andrew Laubacher, a touring Catholic musician at the time, decided to quit social media completely. Despite his recording label telling him that he was making a terrible decision, he was exhausted from the impact it was having on his life and felt God calling him to make this change.
Fast-forward to today and Laubacher is now the executive director of Humanality, a nonprofit organization that “exists to help people discover freedom through an intentional relationship with technology” and offers individuals help to break their digital addiction through a 12-week digital detox program.
Speaking to hundreds of young Catholics at SEEK 2026 in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 2, he explained how social media can become addictive and have negative effects on the human person – including depression, anxiety, and body image issues – and offered tips on how individuals can use technology practically and intentionally.
Laubacher began by highlighting data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which showed that the average U.S. life expectancy decreased for the first time between 2017 and 2019 and that “Americans are 10 times more likely to have a depressive illness than they were 60 years ago."
Citing the federal data as well as research in Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book “The Anxious Generation,” Laubacher explained that in 2010 a new feature was introduced on smartphones which led to “drastic increases in anxiety and depression.”
What was this feature? The front-facing camera.
“When that front-facing camera came out, all of a sudden our lives became self-defining,” he argued.
Laubacher shared how he saw this play out in his own life – constantly comparing himself and his life to others, experiencing lust, feeling lonely, and wasting his time mindlessly scrolling through his feeds.
“These technologies affected me in many different ways,” he said, “And when I made that leap [off social media] everything got better. My friendships got better, my purity, my productivity, my prayer got better. Everything started to improve.”
“So you guys, the way that you've grown up with these technologies has literally changed everything… It's changed the way you think. It's changed the way you behave. It's changed the way you relate to one another. It's changed the way you sleep. It's changed the way you perceive reality,” Laubacher told those gathered.
“You have to understand algorithms are literally shaping your perception of what is true. And if you are living your life scrolling and getting stuck into these platforms like me you're not necessarily as you want to be.”
Laubacher said that the average 18-year-old in 2025 is on pace to have a 90-year life span. He then broke this down into how many months one might spend doing different activities such as eating, sleeping, going to school or work, and driving.
Over the course of one's life, the average person is left with “334 months of free time – this is where you fall in love. This is where you create music, this is where you write that book, this is where you go on the trip with your loved ones. This is where you discover your vocation,” Laubacher said.
“Right now, of those 334 months, 93% of that time is going to be spent on the screen,” he said. “At the end of your lives, you in this crowd will have looked at the screen for 27 years of your life."
"And friends, my mission is to help you get that time back into your life. So you can invest that time and attention into the things that matter most.”
Offering those gathered practical tools to gain more freedom from digital media, Laubacher highlighted three of the 11 ways Humanality’s digital detox program aims to help individuals gain a more human way to be – be light, be giving, and be present.
“Be light” focuses on individuals stopping the nighttime scrolling and beginning to acknowledge the difference between daytime and nighttime. Laubacher explained that people spend 90% of their time indoors versus 100 years ago when people spent 90% of their time outdoors.
Additionally, when people scroll on their phones at nighttime, the light from the screen tells the brain it’s daytime.
“So, our separation from light in the daytime — and you scrolling yourself to sleep in the nighttime — is a huge reason for our mental health slash sleep disorder slash fatigue and exhaustion,” he said.
“Be giving” turns the self-centered nature of social media to one where you “start to think outside of yourself,” which leads a person to be “more happy and more healthy when you live a life that is giving,” Laubacher explained.
The last way Laubacher highlighted was “be present,” which aims to simply teach people how to be present with themselves, with others, and with God.
“Friends, I want to tell you right now, the scariest, best, most amazing adventure in your life is going to be learning to love God, your neighbor, and yourself,” Laubacher said.
“And if I'm honest, I can love people pretty easily, but it's really hard for me to love myself most of the time. And I found that my technologies were not allowing me to get to know the person that God has created me to be.”
“These three ways – there's a lot more – but these three ways I think if you start to implement in your day today you'll start to use technology as a tool and get out of these addictions.”
Many people who receive assistance through anti-poverty programs faced disruptions in 2025, and Catholic Charities’ wish list for 2026 includes government support for food assistance and housing.
The largest disruption came in October when food stamps received through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were delayed amid the government shutdown. Funding for rental and heating assistance were also disrupted.
Confusion about how to implement a memo in January from the Office of Management and Budget calling for a grant freeze also caused delays in funding related to health care, housing affordability, and food assistance.
Luz Tavarez, vice president of government relations at Catholic Charities USA, said “people get nervous and scared” amid disruptions.
Many Catholic Charities affiliates saw an influx in clients, especially during the shutdown, but Tavarez said there are “very poor people who rely on SNAP subsidies for their meals” and who “can’t get to a Catholic Charities [affiliate] or other food pantry for assistance” when it happens.
Long-term eligibility and funding changes to SNAP were also approved in the tax overhaul signed into law in July. Previous rules only included a work requirement up to age 54, but the law extended those requirements up to age 64. It added stricter and more frequent checks for verifying the work requirements.
It also shifted some funding responsibilities away from the federal government and to the states.
Tavarez expressed concern about some of the SNAP changes as well, saying the government should end “burdensome requirements for individuals and states.”
Under the new law, there are stricter rules for verifying a person’s immigration status for benefits. It also limited which noncitizens could receive SNAP benefits, which excluded some refugees and people granted asylum.
Tavarez expressed concern about such SNAP changes, encouraging the government to permit “humanitarian-based noncitizens” to receive those benefits.
Overall the 2025 tax law gave the biggest boost to the richest families while poorer families might get a little less help than before, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The bill added a work requirement for Medicaid recipients, and this will not take effect until 2027. Under the previous law, there was no work requirement for this benefit. It also shifts some Medicaid funding requirements onto the states.
Tavarez said Catholic Charities has “concerns with how [work requirements are] implemented” moving forward but does not oppose the idea outright: “There’s dignity in work so the Church isn’t necessarily opposed to people working as long as there’s some opportunities for people to do other things and other issues are taken into consideration.”
She also expressed concerns about funding shifts: “We know that not every state views things like SNAP and Medicaid as a good thing. We don’t know how states are going to balance their budget and prioritize these programs.”
2026 wish list
Looking forward to 2026, Tavarez said Catholic Charities hopes the government will restore full funding to the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program for food banks and bulk food distribution programs and ensure that funding is protected for school meals and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made policy changes in November that would focus its homelessness funding on “transitional” housing instead of “permanent” housing. This move is facing legal challenges.
President Donald Trump’s administration initially sought to cut federal housing assistance and shift much of those costs to states, but this was ultimately not included in the final version of the 2025 tax law.
In December, Trump promised an “aggressive” housing reform plan that focuses on reducing costs. At this time, the specifics of that proposal have not been announced. The increased cost to buy a new home has outpaced the growth in wages for decades.
Tavarez said Catholic Charities is focused on housing affordability in 2026 and that the solution must be multifaceted. This includes “building and developing affordable housing,” “a tax credit for developers,” “more affordable housing units,” and subsidies and Section 8 vouchers for low-income Americans, she said.
“We recognize that there’s a real crisis — I think everybody does in a bipartisan way — but there needs to be a real bipartisan approach and it’s going to require money,” Tavarez said.
Tax credits and economic trends
Some changes to the tax code included in the 2025 tax law are geared toward helping low-income Americans.
Specifically, the law reduced taxes taken from tips and overtime work. It also increased the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200 and tied the credit to inflation, meaning that it will increase each year based on the rate of inflation.
Tavarez characterized the changes to the child tax credit as a “win” and hopes it can be expanded further.
The economy has been a mixed bag, with November unemployment numbers showing a 4.6% rate. In November of last year, it was slightly lower at 4.2%.
Inflation has gone down a little, with the annual rate being around 2.7%. In 2024, it was around 2.9%. The average wage for workers also outpaced inflation, with hourly wages increasing by 3.5%, which shows a modest inflation-adjusted increase of 0.8%.
Amid heavy immigration enforcement by the Trump administration, several bishops in the U.S. have recently issued broad dispensations to Catholics in their dioceses, allowing them to refrain from attending Mass on Sundays if they fear arrest or deportation from federal officials.
Bishops in North Carolina, California, and elsewhere have issued such dispensations, stating that those with legitimate concerns of being detained by immigration agents are free from the usual Sunday obligation.
The Church’s canon law dictates that Sunday is considered the “primordial holy day of obligation,” one on which all Catholics are “obliged to participate in the Mass.” Several other holy days of obligation exist throughout the liturgical year, though Sunday (or the Saturday evening prior) is always considered obligatory for Mass attendance.
The numerous dispensations issued recently in dioceses around the country have underscored, however, that bishops have some discretion in allowing Catholics to stay home from Mass for legitimate reasons.
Dispensation must be ‘just,’ ‘reasonable’
David Long, an assistant professor in the school of canon law at The Catholic University of America as well as the director of the school’s Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies, told CNA that bishops have the authority to dispense the faithful in their diocese with, as the Code of Canon Law puts it, a “just and reasonable cause.”
“This generally applies when a holy day of obligation falls on a Saturday or Monday, during severe weather events (snowstorms, hurricanes, floods, etc.), when there is no reasonable access to Mass, or during public emergencies such as pandemics or plagues,” he said. Once such circumstances end, he noted, the dispensation itself would cease.
By virtue of their office, diocesan administrators, vicars general, and episcopal vicars also have the power to issue dispensations, Long said.
Priests, however, normally do not have that authority “unless expressly granted by a higher authority, such as their diocesan bishop,” he said.
Canon law, he said, dictates that a dispensation can only be granted when a bishop “judges that it contributes to [the] spiritual good” of his flock, for a just cause, and “after taking into account the circumstances of the case and the gravity of the law from which dispensation is given.”
The lay faithful themselves can determine, in some cases, when they can refrain from going to Mass, though Long stressed that such instances do not constitute “dispensation,” as the laity “does not have the power to dispense at any time” that authority being tied to “executive power in the Church” via ordination.
Canon law dictates, however, that Catholics are not bound to attend Mass when “participation in the Eucharistic celebration becomes impossible.”
Long said such scenarios include “when [the faithful] are sick, contagious, or housebound, when they are the primary caregiver for someone else and cannot arrange coverage for that person, when traveling to Mass is dangerous, when there is no realistic access to Mass, or for some other grave cause.”
“This is not a dispensation,” he said, “but instead is a legal recognition of moral and physical impossibility at times.”
The recent immigration-related controversy isn’t the only large-scale dispensation in recent memory. Virtually every Catholic in the world was dispensed from Mass in the earliest days of the COVID-19 crisis, when government authorities sharply limited public gatherings, including religious gatherings, all over the world.
In 2024, on the other hand, the Vatican said that Catholics in the United States must still attend Mass on holy days of obligation even when they are transferred to Mondays or Saturdays, correcting a long-standing practice in the U.S. Church and ending a dispensation with which many Catholics were familiar.
‘The most incredible privilege we could possibly imagine’
Though the obligation to attend Mass is a major aspect of Church canon law, Father Daniel Brandenburg, LC, cautioned against interpreting it uncharitably.
“This ‘obligation’ is sort of like the obligation of eating,” he said. “If you don’t eat, you’ll die. Similarly, the Church simply recognizes that if we don’t nourish our soul, it withers away and dies. The bare minimum to survive is Mass once a week on Sundays.”
“Most people find the ‘obligation’ of eating to be quite pleasurable,” he continued, “and I think anyone with a modicum of spiritual awareness finds deep joy in attending Mass and receiving the Creator of the universe into their soul. At least I do.”
Like Long, Brandenburg stressed that the lay faithful lack the authority to “dispense” themselves from Mass. Instead, they are directed to follow their consciences when determining if they are incapable of attending Mass, particularly by applying the principle of moral theology “ad impossibilia, nemo tenetur” “(no one is obliged to do what is impossible”).
Being too sick, facing dangerous inclement weather, or lacking the ability to transport themselves are among the reasons the faithful might determine they are unable to attend Mass, he said.
“Here, beware the lax conscience which gives easy excuses,” Brandenburg warned, “and remember that the saints became holy not through excuses, but through heroic love.”
Mass at Arizona State University’s Newman Center chapel. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Bill Clements, director of ASU Newman Center
Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dec 15, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Several college campuses across the country are witnessing a notable rise in baptisms and confirmations among students. Catholic evangelists tell CNA that this growth reflects a deepening desire among young adults for certainty, stability, and faith amid today’s turbulent cultural landscape.
For example, at Arizona State University, the Newman Center is experiencing its largest group of students entering the Church. Ryan Ayala, a former seminarian and campus minister who has served at ASU for three years, oversees the evangelization efforts.
“This past semester, we welcomed 52 students into the Church at Christ the King Parish” in Mesa, Ayala said. “And we are expecting 50 more for the Easter Vigil this spring.” According to Ayala, this year marked a record number of students received into the Catholic Church at ASU.
Each year, ASU’s campus ministry prepares students for baptism, confirmation, and full communion through a fall vigil held in collaboration with Christ the King Parish. Students enter the Church from a wide range of backgrounds: Some encounter Christianity for the first time, others come from Protestant communities, and still others are baptized Catholics preparing to complete their sacraments.
Yailen Cho (at left) was one of 52 Arizona State University students received into the Church last month. Credit: Photo courtesy of Yailen Cho
This year’s group included eight catechumens who were baptized, 26 Christians who made affirmations of faith, and a significant number of Catholics who received confirmation. The ceremony took place on the feast of Christ the King, Nov. 23.
Ayala attributes the growth in part to simple, consistent outreach. “No phone call goes unanswered,” he said. Students come from Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and nondenominational evangelical backgrounds. Those not yet baptized often come from nonreligious homes, and two identified as atheists. One Muslim student is expected to join the program in January. ASU enrolls approximately 200,000 students.
Overall, participation in ASU’s OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program has more than doubled. “This is by far the biggest class we’ve had,” Ayala said.
Supporting this expansion are missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), who lead Bible studies and accompany students in their growing faith. Ayala supervises the missionaries and has completed FOCUS formation himself. The Newman Center offers a focused nine-week OCIA process — shorter than the traditional yearlong program — requiring weekly sessions alongside FOCUS Bible studies.
Reflecting on the surge of interest, Ayala sees both cultural and pastoral dynamics at work. “Two things are going on in this surge. There’s a trend in Gen Z. They are asking deeper, philosophical, and theological questions. Some students were shaken up by the shooting of Charlie Kirk. The other thing is simply responding to emails. I ask my staff to be diligent to inquirers. The most important thing is to respond and give them clarity about how to become Catholic.”
“Our main strategy is to have an urgency to respond to them,” he added. “It was so moving to see all those students from other faith traditions stand up and make the commitment to become Catholic.”
Ayala also noted the role of Catholic media, highlighting one student influenced by Father Mike Schmitz’s online ministry. He further praised the spiritual guidance of Father Bill Clements, who leads the Newman Center. “He does a great job humanizing the priesthood but also removing a lot of the anxieties that newcomers to the faith may have.”
Clements, who has directed the Newman Center for 15 years, reports that about 400 students participate in weekly FOCUS Bible studies, and approximately 1,500 attend one of the six weekend Masses. He said he has seen a clear shift in the past two years.
“In the last two years, a switch was flipped. I think people are tired of crazy. They’re hungry for some direction, truth, goodness, and beauty. We have one of the most beautiful Newman chapels in the country,” he said, “and that has been a huge attraction.”
To meet the growing demand, Clements expanded the OCIA schedule. “I revamped the OCIA process here. When people would hit me up at this time of year, I would have to tell them that we start that in the fall. But I couldn’t stand making people wait. So now I have three sessions: fall, spring, and summer.”
He credited FOCUS missionaries for their close accompaniment of students. “They appeal to students. It affords students a chance to connect with other Catholics, and it’s been instrumental in reviving interest in the Church. The missionaries work hard,” he said.
One student, Yailen Cho, received baptism and confirmation on Nov. 23 at the ASU Newman Chapel. She told CNA: “I didn’t grow up very religious at all. My dad became Catholic two years ago, but I didn’t have any religious background.”
Cho now regularly attends Mass and says the FOCUS program helped deepen her reading of the Gospels. Reflecting on her journey, she shared: “I’d had a prayer relationship with God for a while, and I had prayed that my heart would be softened towards God.”
After wrestling with questions of faith, she reached out to the Newman Center, which she said she found “very warm and welcoming.”
Directing a message to others considering the Catholic faith, she said: “I want everyone to be happy, and I want to be happy. If you live by the Word, as the Bible says, you can be happy in heaven forever.”
Meanwhile, in Michigan and Nebraska
Similar momentum is evident at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rita Zyber, OCIA coordinator at St. Mary Student Parish, said 50 students are currently preparing to enter the Church. Last Easter, 30 students were received, compared with about 20 in 2024.
With daily liturgies and seven weekend Masses, the parish remains consistently full. One Mass was added this year to accommodate greater attendance. “They are packed,” Zyber said.
Reflecting on the increase, she noted: “There is so much chaos in the world. They are looking for structure, stability, and some grounding in God.”
The parish is staffed by Jesuit priests whose Ignatian spirituality resonates strongly with students, Zyber said. She added that other campus and parish OCIA programs across Michigan are seeing similar growth.
Kaup reported that this past spring, 72 converts entered the Church at the Easter Vigil. So far this semester, they already have 125 students interested in joining the Church, he said.
The Rorate Caeli Advent Mass celebrated at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. / Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion
CNA Staff, Dec 14, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Advent is a season filled with rich Catholic traditions, but a slightly lesser-known one is growing in popularity among younger Catholics.
The ancient liturgy of the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass honors the Blessed Virgin Mary through a Mass celebrated at dawn, in complete darkness, and lit only by candles, which symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, entering into the world with Mary as the vessel.
Emerging in the Middle Ages, the Rorate Caeli Mass gets its name from the prophecy of Isaiah. Rorate Caeli is Latin for “drop down, ye heavens.” These are the opening words of this liturgy’s Introit, which is used as an opening psalm or entrance antiphon and comes from Isaiah 45:8.
Father Tony Stephens, rector at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, calls this Mass “a teachable moment.”
“As all of us are gathered in the church, only lit with the candles, slowly the light begins coming in through the windows and it’s like the light of Christ,” he told CNA. The process symbolizes “the light of Christ coming into our lives, slowly but surely and progressively as we go through life.”
“And just like that light begins to come in through the windows, as the physical sun rises, so in our journey as Catholics, the closer we get to Christ, the more his light shines in our life,” he said.
Fr. Nathaneal Mudd, CPM, celebrates the Rorate Caeli Advent Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in 2024. Credit: The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion
Stephens has been rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion for two years but was scheduled to celebrate the Rorate Caeli Mass there for the first time on Dec. 13. The shrine is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States. It was here that the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to Adele Brise in 1859.
When speaking about the Blessed Mother’s role in Advent, Stephens described it as “a season of anticipating Our Lord, but when you look at the subtext of Advent, things about Mary are everywhere — in the readings and her role in salvation history is so important. And so that’s, again, part of the reason you have these special Marian Masses honoring her during this Advent season.”
He also highlighted the fact that this ancient Mass is seeing a resurgence in popularity and credited Pope Benedict XVI, in part, for reintroducing Catholics to older, traditional practices and his “desire of the hermeneutic of continuity.”
“He in his pontificate really emphasized a desire to have that continuity between the earlier traditions of the Church, even prior to the [Vatican II] council … looking at all of the rich liturgical heritage that we have as Catholics,” he added.
The priest pointed out that young people are also searching for more traditional practices.
“There is a great love, especially amongst young people, for things that are traditional,” he said, adding that the Mass also “appeals to the senses in a way that technology and phones don’t.”
“The real light of a candle is way different than the electronic light put off by a cellphone screen,” he said. “A burning, living candle, the way it flickers, and you can’t recharge a candle — it gives everything it has like Jesus did on the cross. A candle burns with all its might to put off that light. And so there is a selflessness about that light of that candle that’s different than technology, and young people desire that kind of self-gift and authenticity.”
Stephens said he hopes those who attend a Rorate Caeli Mass will leave with “an eager anticipation of Jesus coming at Christmastime.”
“A Rorate Caeli Mass is one of those times that we can have a little consolation and we’re reminded of the author of all consolation and his mother,” he said.
The skyline of Fort Worth, Texas. / Credit: 21 Aerials/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA).
Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year.
Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2 in which he said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.
The prelate described it as “a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.”
In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been “a need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin … and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions — that is the vocation of the new Carmel.”
Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.
After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery.
The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.
The bishop emphasized that the Carmel “is an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.”
He said the land was “donated generously by the faithful in the diocese” after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.
Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: “That’s in God’s time.”
He said the sisters will not have a website “because it’s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.”
Olson told CNA he is “very grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It’s a very unique vocation.”
The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: “They’re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.”
A new page for the Carmelites after scandal
In 2023, a public scandal erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese.
Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns’ property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims.
The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides.
Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”
He added that the Holy See “suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”
In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it “will be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.”
“I ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,” the bishop said.
“May their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,” he added.
American adults who identify with Christianity, with another religion, or with no religion have all remained steady, a new Pew Research Center report finds. / Credit: ChoeWatt/Shutterstock
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 9, 2025 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
The number of American adults who identify with Christianity, with another religion, or with no religion have all remained steady, a new Pew Research Center report finds.
Surveys conducted since 2020 have generally found that about 70% of U.S. adults identify with a religion. The numbers have slightly fluctuated, but there has been no clear rise or fall in religious affiliation over the five-year period.
The number of American adults who identify with Christianity, with another religion, or with no religion have all remained steady, a new Pew Research Center report finds. Credit: Courtesy of Pew Research Center.
The research revealed that after Pew found a decline in Christianity in the country from 2007 to 2020, the decline has halted and there is a stable presence of Christianty and religion in the nation.
Young women’s religiosity shifts
While the polling shows no clear evidence of a religious increase among young adults, it did find that young men are now almost as religious as women in the same age group. The finding differs from past studies which found that young women tended to be more religious than young men.
This shift was found to be due to a decline in religiousness among American women, rather than an increase in the religiousness of men. In contrast to the young adults, the data revealed older women are more religious than older men.
Overall, young men and young women surveyed in 2023 and 2024 are less religious than those questioned in 2007 and 2014 studies.
In 2007, 54% of women and 40% of men ages 18 to 24 reported they prayed daily. Data from 2023-2024 revealed only 30% of women and 26% of men in the same age group said they pray daily, indicating the gender gap among religious men and women is closing.
Young adults remain less religious than older Americans
The data found no evidence that any age group has become substantially more or less religious since 2020. In the 2025 NPORS, 83% of adults 71 or older identified with a religion, similarly to the 84% in 2020.
Among the youngest group of adults ages 18 to 30, 55% identify with a religion in 2025. This data is similar to the 57% who reported the same in 2020.
While there was not a large change in the number of adults who practice religion, older generations continue to be more religious than younger ones. Adults aged 71 or older tend to pray more than those ages 18 to 30, with 59% of older adults reporting they pray daily compared to 32% of young adults.
There were also discrepancies among age groups based on how often individuals attend religious services. Adults 71 and older attend the most with 43% reporting they attend at least monthly. Adults 31 to 40 were found to attend the least with 29% reporting they go monthly.
The data shows that today’s adults between the ages of roughly 18 and 22 are at least as religious as the age group slightly older than them who are in their mid to late 20s. Some aspects revealed that the younger U.S. adults may be more religious than the age group slightly older than them.
The 2023–24 RLS found 30% of adults born between 2003 and 2006 said they attended religious services at least once a month, which is higher than the 24% of people born between 1995 and 2002.
This composite image of the Cassiopeia A (or Cas A) supernova remnant, released Jan. 8, 2024, contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), infrared data from Webb (red, green, blue), and optical data from Hubble (red and white). A study by the XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) spacecraft has made the first-ever X-ray detections of chlorine and potassium in the wreckage.
After receiving a letter of excommunication from the Vatican, the leader of a schismatic group in Colorado Springs told congregants he would ignore it — furthering the divide between the small splinter group and the Catholic Church.
Anthony Ward heads the Servants of the Holy Family, a group that labels itself as Catholic in spite of the Diocese of Colorado Springs’ declaration that the group is schismatic.
In a 40-minute speech to his congregation in which he called Church authorities “a kangaroo court” of “heretics” and “freemasons,” Ward went public on Nov. 16 about his excommunication and his plans to continue ignoring the Catholic Church’s directives.
During a secret ceremony in 2024, a bishop whose name was withheld at the time consecrated Ward as a bishop without papal permission.
In the Catholic Church, only the pope can appoint bishops. Consecrating a bishop without papal mandate is considered illicit and incurs an automatic “latae sententiae” excommunication for both parties.
During the meeting at the Servants’ chapel on Nov. 16, Ward told his congregation that the Catholic Church had made a declaration of excommunication against him due to what he described as “persistent, rebellious disobedience.”
Though excommunication is a “medicinal penalty” designed to urge an individual to repent, Ward has said he is “ignoring” the letter and will not be responding within the 30-day window given to him.
Embracing the claims of the letter, Ward said he will continue to disobey, instead putting his loyalty toward what he called “the true Catholic faith.”
“I have not and will not obey commands from the kangaroo court composed of heretics, schismatics, Freemasons, representatives of the most vile sinful perversions, enemies of the cross of Christ,” Ward told the congregation, “of whom the majority of bishops — particularly in this country — no longer believe in the real presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ in the Eucharist.”
The U.S. Catholic bishops recently led a yearslong Eucharistic Revival that centered on the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
Despite the local Catholic diocese’s denouncement of the Servants, the group continues to hold Eucharistic celebrations and is recruiting minors as well as adult men to be trained as priests.
The Servants’ website advertises the group as “faithful to the Latin Mass” as well as to “Catholic doctrine and morals” and claims it is “endorsed by Catholic bishops worldwide.”
Ward named Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu Lusaka, the African archbishop emeritus of Zambia, as the bishop who illicitly consecrated him, but the other bishops are not specified readily on the website.
When asked to comment, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Colorado Springs referred to the most recent public statement by Bishop James Golka in April 2024.
Since 2013, the Diocese of Colorado Springs has publicly held that the Servants are “not in good standing” with the Church.
Pointing to continued “obstinate ill will” by the Servants, Golka declared last year that Ward and other priests affiliated with the Servants “are not in good standing with the diocesan or the universal Catholic Church” and declared it “a schismatic group.”
Pointing to canon law, Golka declared that its Eucharistic celebration “is illicit and a grave moral offense” and that its celebration of baptism “is illicit.” The bishop also declared celebrations of penance, the sacrament of matrimony, confirmation, and holy orders by this group to be invalid.
Golka said it would be “an act of spiritual danger” for Catholics to attend celebrations led by the Servants and encouraged the faithful to pray for reconciliation.
The Servants did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:
1 in 4 post-abortive women regret abortion decades later, study finds
A new study found that 1 in 4 women regret their abortion decades after undergoing the procedure.
The study, published in the International Journal of Women’s Health Care, measured the levels of distress abortive women feel years after having an abortion.
Authored by Father Donald Paul Sullins with The Catholic University of America and the Ruth Institute, the study found that 24% of postabortive women in the U.S. “suffer from serious post-abortion distress.”
Of these post-abortive women, just under half showed “multiple symptoms of post-traumatic stress,” according to the study.
In the study, Sullins called for more research on the long-term effects of abortion as well as the development of “effective therapeutic interventions.”
“The health care of this population of women is understudied and underserved,” the study read. “Women considering an abortion should be informed of the possibility that they may experience persistent emotional distress.”
1 million ‘conversion counts’ highlights pregnancy center’s lifesaving work
A group that promotes life-affirming pregnancy centers has logged 1 million “conversions” away from abortion since its inception, the group announced earlier this week.
Choose Life Marketing works with more than 900 pro-life clients, including pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies.
The group found that a million women experiencing unplanned pregnancies had scheduled an appointment with a pregnancy help center since the agency’s founding in 2016.
“It reflects women choosing connection over isolation, hope over fear, and the courage to reach out for help,” said Nelly Roach, who heads Choose Life Marketing. “Pregnancy help centers across the country continue to meet those moments with the compassion, excellence, and support women deserve.”
“One million women reached out,” she continued. “Hundreds of thousands found the support they needed to choose life. Their courage and their children will shape families, communities, and futures for generations.”
Appeals court rules in favor of pregnancy centers in legal battle
A federal appeals court in New York ruled in favor of pregnancy centers in a legal battle over abortion pill reversal services.
A panel on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction allowing pregnancy clinics to advertise abortion pill reversal.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the group Heartbeat International and 11 pregnancy centers in May 2024 accusing them of fraud in promoting a drug regimen that purports to reverse the effects of mifepristone.
In response, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates sued James, claiming she was attacking their right to free speech. The three-judge panel at the appeals court ruled unanimously that the pregnancy centers could continue to advertise abortion reversal.
Thomas Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, heralded the ruling, saying that pregnancy resource centers in the state “are now free to help women who regret taking the abortion pill and want a chance at saving the lives of their babies.”
“Abortion pill reversal, like the court said, offers no financial gains for pregnancy centers,” Glessner said in a statement shared with CNA. “They are simply giving women another option than ending the life of their unborn babies.”
Iowa lawmaker reintroduces bill in support of pregnant college students
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, has reintroduced a bill requiring colleges to inform pregnant students of their rights and the resources available to them in their schools.
Under Title IX, pregnant students have the right to remain in school and complete their education, but about 30% of abortions are performed on college-aged women, according to Hinson’s press release. Resources that colleges offer to pregnant students often include flexible class schedules, excused absences, and child care assistance.
Students “deserve to know every resource available to them,” Hinson said in a statement.
“It is unacceptable that so many often feel they have to choose between finishing their education and having their baby,” the lawmaker continued.
Praising the bill, Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, said in a statement: “Women balancing school, pregnancy, and family deserve our support. Yet, ironically, far too few know about Title IX, the law that is supposed to protect their rights.”
The scene outside a Catholic church in Istanbul, Turkey, where a reported armed attack took place on Jan. 28, 2024. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).
A Christian advocacy group’s report details “legal, institutional, and social hostility” toward Turkish Christians as Pope Leo XIV begins his six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon Thursday.
The report from The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), titled “The Persecution of Christians in Turkey,” explores government interference against clergy and Christian entities, restrictions on foreign Christians who visit the country, and widespread social animosity toward the faithful, which sometimes includes direct violence.
“Communities that were once integral to the cultural, religious, and historical fabric of Anatolia have been reduced to a fragile remnant,” the authors state.
“Their disappearance is not the product of a single event but the cumulative result of restrictive legislation, administrative obstruction, property confiscations, denial of legal personality, and — more recently — arbitrary expulsions of clergy, missionaries, and converts,” they add.
Modern-day Turkey, which was governed by Christians prior to the Ottoman Empire invasions in late Middle Ages, is still home to about 257,000 Christians. In 1915, Christians still accounted for about 20% of the Turkish population, but the number has dwindled over the past century and they now account for less than 0.3% of the population.
Persecution of Christians
The report says hostility toward Christians is kept alive through environmental factors, such as Turkey’s refusal to recognize its past by continuing to deny the genocide of Armenians and other Christians during World War I.
At that time, about 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 other Christians were forcibly deported or massacred, and Turkey’s criminalization of “insulting the Turkish nation” and “insulting Turkishness” is often enforced to quell speech about the historical events, according to the report.
It notes that politicians and state-run media frequently scapegoat Christians for societal issues and depict them as an external and internal threat, with one example being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referring to survivors of the genocide as “terrorists escaped from the sword” and another being the state-run Yeni Akit allegedly editing Wikipedia to smear Christians, Jews, and other groups.
In some cases, this hostility yields violence, including a 2024 terrorist attack on a Catholic church that killed one person, and other acts of violence and vandalism.
The report notes that Turkey signed the Treaty of Lausanne after the Armenian genocide, which granted people who believe some non-majority faiths full legal recognition and property rights.
Yet, a narrow interpretation of the treaty ensures “a national narrative that presents Sunni Islam as the primary marker of Turkish identity,” the report says. The treaty also fails to recognize all Christians, only giving a specific reference to Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic Christians, and Jews, but not Catholics or Protestants, according to the report.
It states that Sunni Islam is often tied to Turkish identity in public education and the process to be exempt from compulsory Islamic education is burdensome for Christians not covered under the treaty.
No church holds legal personality as a religious institution, which means patriarchates, dioceses, and churches cannot “own property in their own name, initiate legal proceedings, employ staff, open bank accounts, or formally interact with public authorities,” the report states.
The government also interferes with religious leadership, prohibiting non-Turkish citizens from being elected as Ecumenical Patriarch, sitting on the Holy Synod, or participating in patriarchal elections in the Greek Orthodox Church. The government also regulates elections for leadership in the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Turkey shut down the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary in 1971 and — despite promises to let it reopen — keeps it shut down, according to the report.
The report also says Turkey imposes legal constraints and administrative obstruction on Christian “community foundations,” which operate churches, schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions.
This includes blocking board elections and failing to enforce court orders. One of the more egregious violations is imposing “mazbut” trusteeship, which ends Christian institutions’ legal recognition and grants control to the government, which essentially confiscates property, the report said.
“These practices reveal a structural system designed to undermine the autonomy, continuity, and survival of Christian communities in Turkey,” the report states.
According to the report, foreign Protestant pastors are often expelled from seminaries. More broadly, it states that foreign missionaries and converts are often targeted as “national security” threats and frequently expelled from Turkey.
The authors encouraged Turkey to grant full legal recognition to all churches, halt interference in Christian organizations, protect places of worship, end arbitrary expulsions, and return property that has been confiscated.
Catholic Charities D.C. provides Thanksgiving meals to guests on Nov. 25, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Ralph Alswang for Catholic Charities D.C.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 26, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).
Catholic Charities D.C. in the Archdiocese of Washington teamed up with a metropolitan utility company this week to offer a Thanksgiving meal and winter supplies to low-income families and people experiencing homelessness.
The Nov. 25 dinner, held at Pepco Co.’s Edison Place Gallery, was provided through the St. Maria’s Meal Program. Numerous Catholic Charities affiliates in other parts of the country — including New York, Boston, and Cleveland — held similar events to provide food or resources to the needy during the Thanksgiving season.
More than 300 guests came to the Washington, D.C. dinner, which included turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, collard greens, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and sweet potato pie. Guests were also offered winter coats, hats, socks, and toiletry kits.
“Lord, please remind all of us here that we are all children of God and all have unique value, potential to soar, and immeasurable worth and dignity in your eyes — the only eyes that matter,” Jim Malloy, president and CEO of Catholic Charities D.C., said in a prayer before the dinner.
“Help us to live out your Gospel, and as you told us in John 9, to do the works of your Father while it is day,” he prayed.
Catholic Charities DC President and CEO James Malloy offers a prayer before a Thanksgiving meal Nov. 25, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Ralph Alswang for Catholic Charities DC.
The annual Thanksgiving dinner has been held for about 12 years. According to the most recent numbers from the federal government, the homelessness rate in the country is at an all-time high.
Marie Maroun, a spokesperson for Catholic Charities D.C. and one of the 60 volunteers at the dinner, told CNA the event ensures a Thanksgiving meal for those experiencing homelessness or food insecurity, and “provides them with the dignity and respect that they definitely deserve.”
Catholic Charities D.C. also provides food through food pantries and offers hot meals to those in need on Wednesdays.
Eugene Brown, one of the guests, told CNA the meal was “excellent,” and said the regular meals are “helping in keeping our heads above water.”
“God will bless the needy and not the greedy,” said Brown, who is Catholic.
Malloy told CNA that providing hot meals helps “remind ourselves what’s important and who’s important.” He thanked the volunteers, including many of the high school students, who he said “find something very fundamental about their faith here.”
“This is faith in action for them,” he said.
Malloy said that when some in society treat those in need as though they are “expendable,” events like this “refute that.”
“They’re created in the image of God,” he said. “They count.”
Catholic Charities DC provides Thanksgiving meals to guests Nov. 25, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Ralph Alswang for Catholic Charities DC.
The most recent homelessness report from the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) was published in December 2024 and the next annual report is expected in December 2025.
In the 2024 report, HUD estimated that nearly 772,000 people were experiencing homelessness at the beginning of that year. The rate of homelessness increased by about 18% — representing 118,376 more people — in January 2024 when compared to January 2023.
The 2024 report showed the highest number of people experiencing homelessness since HUD began collecting the data in 2007.
Although more recent national numbers are not available, a report from the Washington D.C. Department of Human Services found a 9% decrease in the city’s homelessness from January 2024 to January 2025. However, it found there was only a 1% decrease in the city’s broader metropolitan area, with some nearby Virginia and Maryland counties seeing an uptick.
President Donald Trump ordered removal of homeless encampments in Washington, D.C. in August 2025 and deployed National Guard troops to clear public spaces.
A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
CNA Staff, Nov 26, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Amid the sounds of Arkansas’ waterfalls, women who have had abortions will someday be able to find healing at a “living wall” memorial covered in flora and fauna, where the names of unborn children will be inscribed on the hexagonal stone floor thanks to local artist Lakey Goff, who submitted the living wall design, which was selected for Arkansas’ monument for the unborn.
The memorial will be on state property, but funding must come from the people. Now Goff and other Arkansians are fundraising for the living wall.
A 3D rendering of the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn by the architect of the Living Wall, bringing to life the painted design by Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
On Saturday morning, participants gathered at sunrise at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock to kick off the first annual Living Wall 5K — a race to fundraise for the memorial.
Several groups, both local and national — including LIFE Runners, Caring Hearts Pregnancy Center, and Arkansas Right to Life — showed up to kick off the first annual 5K.
Fundraising began in May 2024 and has reached nearly $30,000; but the living wall’s proposed budget, as of 2025, is estimated to be $1 million.
November has been set aside as a month to remember the unborn in a proclamation signed by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Goff shared with CNA that her inspiration for the wall comes from her faith in Jesus. She hopes it will be a place of healing for women who have had abortions.
Arkansas artist Lakey Goff. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
CNA: What inspired the design and the Bible message accompanying it? Why a living wall?
Lakey Goff: The monument itself is alive with plants, photosynthesis, and oxygen: There’ll be birds that live in it; there are the sound of seven different waterfalls that I’ve recorded from around Arkansas coming off the top of this wall in an audio loop. That is the sound of Jesus’ voice — the sound of many waters.
Then, underneath, you’ll see on there are pavers where women have begun to name their babies that were aborted, to put dates when they were aborted and even Scriptures. It’s a way to be healed and set free and say this happened, where they’re no longer locked up in guilt and shame; and so the babies’ names will be underneath our feet in these hexagonal pavers.
I believe this monument is from the heart of God, the heart of the Father, as he wants to heal our land from the bloodshed in our nation, starting in the state of Arkansas to lead the way.
Why is this monument important?
We don’t want to forget what happened during the 50 years of bloodshed, of innocent babies’ bloodshed in our state. It is an act of repentance, and it is saying, “This will not happen again.” We’re saying, “I’m sorry, God, and we want to honor you and honor life.”
This is the very first living wall monument to the unborn in our nation — and so that’s why it’s taking a little while, because it’s never been done before.
Runners at the 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
What inspired you to send in a design after the 2023 bill passed?
I’ve always been an artist, but I was not in any way involved, at least in my adult years, with the pro-life movement or in the political realm.
I said, “Lord, is there anything that you want to do for this monument?” And I immediately received a blueprint from the Holy Spirit of the details about this living wall.
I received clearly that the Lord wanted to heal women and families who had abortions and who were held captive by guilt and shame. And he gave me Isaiah 61: He wants to give us double honor for shame; he wants to set the captives free.
A 5K participant waves flags at first annual 5K for the Living Wall: Monument to the Unborn on Nov. 22, 2025, at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, Arkansas. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lakey Goff
What do you hope people will take away from experiencing it?
It will be an actual place for women, children, families to come and be healed. It’s a place for repentance. It’s a place of life, vitality. There’s nothing dead about Jesus — he’s the risen King.
Even in the process, women, children, families have already started to be healed. I believe what they will take away from it is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his healing: He came for the lost, not the righteous.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in Piazza della Libertà in August 2025. / Credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 25, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).
Social media lit up last week with claims that Pope Leo XIV “threw a rave” outside St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia. The viral stories included images of laser lights, electronic dance music, and a priest serving as DJ. But what really happened? Here’s what you need to know.
What was the event?
An outdoor electronic music event in front of the city’s iconic 14th-century cathedral was organized by the Archdiocese of Košice to celebrate the Jubilee of Young People and the 75th birthday of Archbishop Bernard Bober. It took place on Nov. 8 and included a Mass celebrated by Bober, who is also the president of the Slovakian Episcopal Conference, with the apostolic nuncio to the country, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli.
Who was there?
The main performer was Father Guilherme Peixoto, 51, a Portuguese priest and electronic music DJ, who led attendees in a mix of electronic and spiritual music. Peixoto also performed at the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon. “Electronic music is a privileged way to build a better world,” Peixoto has said.
Catholic leaders in Košice also attended the event.
Guilherme Peixoto, a priest and DJ, performs onstage during a fair in Coimbra, Portugal, on July 4, 2024. Credit: Felipe Amorim/Getty Images
Did the pope attend or host the rave?
Contrary to sensational headlines, Pope Leo XIV did not throw or personally attend a rave. Instead, the pope appeared on large LED screens via a prerecorded video message, greeting the young people and offering his apostolic blessing: “Dear young people, with joy, I greet you, as you gather before the splendid cathedral of Košice, which is a beating heart of faith and hope. Coming from different nations, yet united by the same faith, your presence is a tangible sign of the fraternity and peace that is instilled in our hearts by friendship with Christ.”
What really happened?
The DJ set blended techno music with fragments of the pope’s message and performed an unreleased track, “Dear Young People,” which included phrases spoken by Leo in his address. Lasers and lights lit up the cathedral, and the crowd — largely composed of young people — danced in celebration. According to press coverage at the time, the event aimed to connect faith with youth culture by “promoting inclusion, tolerance, and respect on the dance floor.”
The pope’s video message included a final “amen,” which was woven into the musical performance. While the Vatican supported the event, it was local clergy and the DJ priest who were hands-on organizers and hosts.
CNA finds: Claims that “the pope hosted or threw a rave” exaggerate the reality. The Vatican supported the event, the pope gave a prerecorded blessing, but the actual rave was organized and performed by Peixoto and the diocese in Košice. The pope did not attend in person nor DJ, but his message to young people and blessing were central to the celebration.
The Comet NEOWISE on 15 August 2020 from Konská, Žilina District, Slovakia. It resulted the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997, but it would have been exceeded in brightness by comet Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS in 2024.
A curious cow watches as NASA astronauts Andre Douglas and Kate Rubins perform a simulated moonwalk in the San Francisco Volcanic Field in Northern Arizona on May 14, 2024.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim poses for a portrait while wearing a spacesuit on July 17, 2024. In his first mission, Kim will serve as a flight engineer during Expedition 72/73 on the International Space Station.
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.
The instrument enclosure of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor is prepared for critical environmental tests inside the historic Chamber A at the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston in December 2024.
A crane lowers the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel framework for the Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23) reflector dish into position on Dec. 18, 2024, at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. A multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN’s capacity and enhance NASA’s deep space communications capabilities for decades to come.
NASA’s SPHEREx observatory is oriented in a horizontal position, revealing all three layers of photon shields as well as the telescope. This photo was taken at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in April 2024.
Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will create a map of the cosmos like no other. Using a technique called spectroscopy to image the entire sky in 102 wavelengths of infrared light, SPHEREx will gather information about the composition of and distance to millions of galaxies and stars. With this map, scientists will study what happened in the first fraction of a second after the big bang, how galaxies formed and evolved, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy.
Art installation “Himmelsleiter” (Billi Thanner) on the tower of St. Lambert’s Church in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany The artwork came from St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna to St. Lambert’s Church in Münster in September 2022. It remained there until March 2024 and has been on display at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris since May 2024.
A visitor takes a picture of a sculpture of an adult Alamosaurus wearing solar glasses outside of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Indianapolis, Ind. On Monday, April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
The New York-based artist team Geraluz, left, and WERC, right, and their son Amaru Alvarez, 5, pose for picture with the mural “To the Moon, and Back” by the artist team that was created as part of the reimagined NASA Art Program, Tuesday, September 24, 2024, at 350 Hudson Street in New York City. The murals use geometrical patterns to invite deeper reflection on the exploration, creativity, and connection with the cosmos.