![Faith on the Hill: Catholic members of Congress share how faith shapes their lives and work #Catholic For many of the 150 Catholics serving in the 119th Congress, faith plays an important role in their lives and work.The current number of Catholic lawmakers on Capitol Hill is slightly higher than the previous Congress, with Catholics accounting for more than 28% of the members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Of the Catholic members, 126 serve in the House and 24 in the Senate, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.In this special report, EWTN News Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales spoke with various Catholic members of Congress about their faith and how they live it in their work.Sen. Eric SchmittSen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, grew up a cradle Catholic and said his parents instilled in him the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ at a young age.“I grew up in St. Louis, which is a very Catholic town and has been referred to as the Rome of the West because per capita, very Catholic,” Schmitt told Rosales.A “conversation back home, it might very easily start … ‘What parish are you at? or ‘What parish did you grow up in?’” Schmitt said.At 17, Schmitt went to a Jesuit retreat house that had a profound impact on him. Later, when his son was born with a rare genetic condition, Schmitt would often return to the Jesuits for prayer.It “was a seed that was planted … when I was confronted with this really kind of difficult situation. I went back there, and it was a profound experience,” he said. “I go back every year. Itʼs a … weekend silent retreat. And that keeps me very rooted.”When working busy days on the Hill, Schmitt said he looks to prayer.“Iʼll listen to a podcast by Bishop [Robert] Barron or Father Michael Schmitz,” he said. “I think technology now too has allowed a different avenue for people to … maintain their faith and grow their faith.”Even “if itʼs five or 10 minutes, it really does help me kind of start the day right,” Schmitt said.Rep. John RutherfordRep. John Rutherford, R-Florida, also spoke about leaning on his faith when working in a hectic position, often by attending Mass and saying the rosary.“In Ephesians 2:10, it says, ‘for we are all Godʼs workmanship, created in the image of Christ Jesus to do good work,’ which he prepared … in advance for us to do,’” Rutherford said. “So heʼs got work out there that heʼs prepared for me to do,” he continued.While Rutherford’s Catholic faith is incorporated into his day-to-day life, he shared that was not always the case. He grew up in the United Methodist Church, but at about 14 years old, “fell away from the church,” he said.After becoming a police officer in Jacksonville, Florida, Rutherford’s perspective on faith changed. Witnessing crimes made him question his own mortality.“So I went back to the Bible, and I read the Bible literally cover to cover, not once but twice,” he said.Rutherford returned to the Methodist Church, while his wife and kids attended Catholic Mass. After reading about the Methodist Churchʼs seven principles, he realized he didnʼt agree with them.“It was a long process, but I finally read a book by Pope John Paul II, ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope,’ and that explained where the authority of the Church is,” Rutherford said. “And how itʼs passed down through the papacy.”After his research, and inspired by the true Church and presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Rutherford entered the Catholic Church.Rep. Mark MessmerRep. Mark Messmer, R-Indiana, said he has spent his life putting God, family, and community first.It was during his time as a state legislator that a colleague invited Messmer and his wife to attend a Cursillo, a retreat focused on showing Christian laity how to become effective leaders and how to use the Gospel in daily life.“It ignited a passion and a love for Christ, and a love for the Eucharist that I always said I wanted. And then it gives you the tools [for] your prayer life, study life, and evangelization, how to live that out on a daily basis,” he said.Messmer said he stays grounded with daily Mass and his Friday morning prayer group. He and his family also all join together for a weekly group call to catch up and join for “spiritual reinforcement.”Rep. Stephanie BiceRep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma, converted to Catholicism in college after she started going to Mass with her now husband.Bice served six years in the Oklahoma Senate and later ran for U.S. Congress. She joined a number of women who have been elected over the past two cycles.“Not every woman believes that … you should be able to terminate pregnancies up to birth,” Bice said. “So you had a groundswell of women consider running for congressional seats and Senate seats,” she said.While serving on Capitol Hill, Bice said she turns to prayer and the comfort of the Blessed Mother.“I stumbled across a group of staffers that actually pray the rosary on fly-in days in the morning,” she explained. “I said, ‘Hey, can a member come?’ And they were delighted that I would even ask.”One highlight of her congressional career was meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican. The invitation came from Rep. James Langevin, a fellow Catholic and Democrat from Rhode Island.Pope Francis “looked at my husband and I after blessing us both, and he said: ‘Will you pray for me?’ And that was pretty profound,” Bice said.Rep. Robert Onder“Really, my Catholic faith has motivated me my whole life, my whole career, and really motivated in many ways the direction my life has taken,” Rep. Robert Onder, R-Missouri, said.Onder said his faith was present in his work trying to pass a religious liberty bill in the Missouri Senate and through his fight to protect the conscience rights of physicians who are forced to perform abortions.As a medical doctor, Onder detailed the present problem in some states and hospitals, which “want to force physicians to participate in abortions, participate in vitro fertilization or artificial contraception, and, of course, more recently, participate in euthanasia.”Onder said his political service has been motivated by love of God, family, and country. He said he stays rooted in faith by attending daily Mass. He said he also enjoys talking with other lawmakers about their love for Christ.“Speaker [Mike] Johnson is absolutely a brother in the Christian faith and a very, very strong believer,” Onder said. “It does give me a lot hope and a lot of encouragement to serve with other people who really take their faith seriously.”Rep. Riley MooreRep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, said his Catholic faith is “is the most important thing” in his life.“It forms me — every decision I make, everything that I do here on the Hill, it is central to my life. Iʼm always praying to be able to deepen my faith, be a strong family man, and then also my service.”“So itʼs my faith, my family, my service to my state, my country. But faith comes first.”“Canʼt always be easy to discern Godʼs will, particularly in a place that is more about individual will and not Godʼs will,” Moore said. “Iʼm trying to re-center myself towards that. Thatʼs that gravitational pull for me that Iʼm always trying to get back to.”Moore started as a Hill staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, working under the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois. One of his priorities is drawing attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, especially in Nigeria.While in Nigeria, “I met a woman who had had all five of her children murdered, murdered by Islamic terrorists,” Moore said. “I met another woman who had her two daughters and husband killed right in front of her, and then they killed her unborn child.”“As we know and weʼve heard many times, and itʼs so true that there is salvation through suffering. I think that … their suffering offers us salvation as well by doing something here,” he said.House Majority Whip Tom EmmerMajority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Emmer discussed how his faith was largely inspired by his family, including his father, who attended daily Mass.“The example that they set is, I believe, why I am who I am,” said Emmer, R-Minnesota.Emmer also detailed the trials of his faith, including the loss of his sister Bridget, who died of breast cancer at 38 years old.Emmer said he was angry at the Lord and had doubts about Godʼs will because of his sisterʼs suffering. A conversation with Bridget during her chemotherapy treatment was a pivotal moment for him and his faith.“She looked at me and she said, ‘Tom, would I love to live forever? Absolutely. But Iʼm not going to,’” he explained. His sister added: “I have lived a good life. If God comes and calls me today, so be it.”Emmer said her words brought him away from his own anger with the Lord. Now his message to others is to put God first while living each moment to the fullest.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/faith-on-the-hill-catholic-members-of-congress-share-how-faith-shapes-their-lives-and-work-catholic-for-many-of-the-150-catholics-serving-in-the-119th-congress-faith-plays-an-important-role-in-thei-scaled.jpg "Faith on the Hill: Catholic members of Congress share how faith shapes their lives and work #Catholic For many of the 150 Catholics serving in the 119th Congress, faith plays an important role in their lives and work.The current number of Catholic lawmakers on Capitol Hill is slightly higher than the previous Congress, with Catholics accounting for more than 28% of the members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Of the Catholic members, 126 serve in the House and 24 in the Senate, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.In this special report, EWTN News Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales spoke with various Catholic members of Congress about their faith and how they live it in their work.Sen. Eric SchmittSen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, grew up a cradle Catholic and said his parents instilled in him the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ at a young age.“I grew up in St. Louis, which is a very Catholic town and has been referred to as the Rome of the West because per capita, very Catholic,” Schmitt told Rosales.A “conversation back home, it might very easily start … ‘What parish are you at? or ‘What parish did you grow up in?’” Schmitt said.At 17, Schmitt went to a Jesuit retreat house that had a profound impact on him. Later, when his son was born with a rare genetic condition, Schmitt would often return to the Jesuits for prayer.It “was a seed that was planted … when I was confronted with this really kind of difficult situation. I went back there, and it was a profound experience,” he said. “I go back every year. Itʼs a … weekend silent retreat. And that keeps me very rooted.”When working busy days on the Hill, Schmitt said he looks to prayer.“Iʼll listen to a podcast by Bishop [Robert] Barron or Father Michael Schmitz,” he said. “I think technology now too has allowed a different avenue for people to … maintain their faith and grow their faith.”Even “if itʼs five or 10 minutes, it really does help me kind of start the day right,” Schmitt said.Rep. John RutherfordRep. John Rutherford, R-Florida, also spoke about leaning on his faith when working in a hectic position, often by attending Mass and saying the rosary.“In Ephesians 2:10, it says, ‘for we are all Godʼs workmanship, created in the image of Christ Jesus to do good work,’ which he prepared … in advance for us to do,’” Rutherford said. “So heʼs got work out there that heʼs prepared for me to do,” he continued.While Rutherford’s Catholic faith is incorporated into his day-to-day life, he shared that was not always the case. He grew up in the United Methodist Church, but at about 14 years old, “fell away from the church,” he said.After becoming a police officer in Jacksonville, Florida, Rutherford’s perspective on faith changed. Witnessing crimes made him question his own mortality.“So I went back to the Bible, and I read the Bible literally cover to cover, not once but twice,” he said.Rutherford returned to the Methodist Church, while his wife and kids attended Catholic Mass. After reading about the Methodist Churchʼs seven principles, he realized he didnʼt agree with them.“It was a long process, but I finally read a book by Pope John Paul II, ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope,’ and that explained where the authority of the Church is,” Rutherford said. “And how itʼs passed down through the papacy.”After his research, and inspired by the true Church and presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Rutherford entered the Catholic Church.Rep. Mark MessmerRep. Mark Messmer, R-Indiana, said he has spent his life putting God, family, and community first.It was during his time as a state legislator that a colleague invited Messmer and his wife to attend a Cursillo, a retreat focused on showing Christian laity how to become effective leaders and how to use the Gospel in daily life.“It ignited a passion and a love for Christ, and a love for the Eucharist that I always said I wanted. And then it gives you the tools [for] your prayer life, study life, and evangelization, how to live that out on a daily basis,” he said.Messmer said he stays grounded with daily Mass and his Friday morning prayer group. He and his family also all join together for a weekly group call to catch up and join for “spiritual reinforcement.”Rep. Stephanie BiceRep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma, converted to Catholicism in college after she started going to Mass with her now husband.Bice served six years in the Oklahoma Senate and later ran for U.S. Congress. She joined a number of women who have been elected over the past two cycles.“Not every woman believes that … you should be able to terminate pregnancies up to birth,” Bice said. “So you had a groundswell of women consider running for congressional seats and Senate seats,” she said.While serving on Capitol Hill, Bice said she turns to prayer and the comfort of the Blessed Mother.“I stumbled across a group of staffers that actually pray the rosary on fly-in days in the morning,” she explained. “I said, ‘Hey, can a member come?’ And they were delighted that I would even ask.”One highlight of her congressional career was meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican. The invitation came from Rep. James Langevin, a fellow Catholic and Democrat from Rhode Island.Pope Francis “looked at my husband and I after blessing us both, and he said: ‘Will you pray for me?’ And that was pretty profound,” Bice said.Rep. Robert Onder“Really, my Catholic faith has motivated me my whole life, my whole career, and really motivated in many ways the direction my life has taken,” Rep. Robert Onder, R-Missouri, said.Onder said his faith was present in his work trying to pass a religious liberty bill in the Missouri Senate and through his fight to protect the conscience rights of physicians who are forced to perform abortions.As a medical doctor, Onder detailed the present problem in some states and hospitals, which “want to force physicians to participate in abortions, participate in vitro fertilization or artificial contraception, and, of course, more recently, participate in euthanasia.”Onder said his political service has been motivated by love of God, family, and country. He said he stays rooted in faith by attending daily Mass. He said he also enjoys talking with other lawmakers about their love for Christ.“Speaker [Mike] Johnson is absolutely a brother in the Christian faith and a very, very strong believer,” Onder said. “It does give me a lot hope and a lot of encouragement to serve with other people who really take their faith seriously.”Rep. Riley MooreRep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, said his Catholic faith is “is the most important thing” in his life.“It forms me — every decision I make, everything that I do here on the Hill, it is central to my life. Iʼm always praying to be able to deepen my faith, be a strong family man, and then also my service.”“So itʼs my faith, my family, my service to my state, my country. But faith comes first.”“Canʼt always be easy to discern Godʼs will, particularly in a place that is more about individual will and not Godʼs will,” Moore said. “Iʼm trying to re-center myself towards that. Thatʼs that gravitational pull for me that Iʼm always trying to get back to.”Moore started as a Hill staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, working under the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois. One of his priorities is drawing attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, especially in Nigeria.While in Nigeria, “I met a woman who had had all five of her children murdered, murdered by Islamic terrorists,” Moore said. “I met another woman who had her two daughters and husband killed right in front of her, and then they killed her unborn child.”“As we know and weʼve heard many times, and itʼs so true that there is salvation through suffering. I think that … their suffering offers us salvation as well by doing something here,” he said.House Majority Whip Tom EmmerMajority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Emmer discussed how his faith was largely inspired by his family, including his father, who attended daily Mass.“The example that they set is, I believe, why I am who I am,” said Emmer, R-Minnesota.Emmer also detailed the trials of his faith, including the loss of his sister Bridget, who died of breast cancer at 38 years old.Emmer said he was angry at the Lord and had doubts about Godʼs will because of his sisterʼs suffering. A conversation with Bridget during her chemotherapy treatment was a pivotal moment for him and his faith.“She looked at me and she said, ‘Tom, would I love to live forever? Absolutely. But Iʼm not going to,’” he explained. His sister added: “I have lived a good life. If God comes and calls me today, so be it.”Emmer said her words brought him away from his own anger with the Lord. Now his message to others is to put God first while living each moment to the fullest.")
EWTN News Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales spoke with various Catholic lawmakers about how their faith intersects with their public service.
“All work, no matter what the work is, is essential,” said Father Sinclair Oubre, spiritual moderator of the Catholic Labor Network.
The guide is meant to assist in priestly formation on Catholic Social Teaching, so they can better communicate those teachings to their congregations.
![Human rights group calls Nicaragua’s constitutional reforms a ‘usurpation of power’ #Catholic Nicaragua’s National Assembly, controlled by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, “unanimously” approved a constitutional reform barring “traitors to the homeland” (the term the regime uses for its political opposition) from participating in elections. The measure has sparked widespread domestic and international condemnation.The reform was “unanimously approved in general terms,” Assembly President Gustavo Porras stated on Sept. 1 during a special session held in the city of León, according to the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa.The reform amends the constitution, which extends the presidential term, as well as those of other high-ranking officials, from six to seven years, with the possibility of renewal.Ortega has governed Nicaragua for about 30 years: since 2007, and previously, from 1979 to 1990. On July 19, he stated that there would be no further elections in Nicaragua, and on July 31, he proposed the reform — set to take effect in 2027 — that excludes “coup plotters” and “terrorists,”, terms he uses to refer to the political opposition, from participating in elections.Reforms are a ‘formalization of the usurpation of power’Ruta del Cambio (Pathway for Change), an organization which defends human rights and the rule of law, declared in a Sept. 2 statement that it “categorically rejects and and gives no legal recognition to the partial reform to the Political Constitution [of the Republic of Nicaragua] approved during the first legislative session on Sept. 1, 2026, by a National Assembly stripped of all independence and reduced to a mere rubber stamp for the will of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.”Ruta del Cambio counts among its leaders Félix Maradiaga, a former presidential candidate and former political prisoner now living in exile.“What has been approved is not a constitutional reform. It is the formalization of the usurpation of power through a text drafted in secret, approved without opposition, and voted for with unanimous obedience by those who owe their positions, privileges, and impunity to the couple that has hijacked the state,” Ruta del Cambio charged.“Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have turned the constitution into a family’s title deed. They have transformed the state into personal property, the law into an instrument of vengeance, and the republic’s [law enforcement apparatus] into tools of terror against the very people they swore to serve,” the organization emphasized.Ruta del Cambio called for “rejecting the legal validity of this reform and of any act, mandate, extension, or appointment derived from it, and formally declaring it without force under international law.”Elections ‘without legitimacy’“What we are seeing in Nicaragua right now is a reform attempting to hold elections without competition, without legitimacy, and without any possibility of change. In other words, Ortega controls the judges and the playing field, and seeks to firmly establish his authoritarian model without any competition,” stated Arturo Mcfields Yescas, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), in a Sept. 3 interview with EWTN Noticias, the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News.“This further undermines not only civil and political freedoms but also another fundamental freedom: religious freedom,” he pointed out.McFields explained that when the regime speaks of “traitors to the homeland,” it is referring to those who dissent from its rule. “People who questioned Ortega’s authority immediately became traitors to the homeland,” as did those who “simply thought differently” or called for “international mediation.”“This means,” he charged, “that anyone who does not applaud Ortega becomes a traitor to the homeland.”U.S. reactionOn Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on X that “the Murillo-Ortega’s National Assembly gutted what remained of Nicaragua’s democracy in the second constitutional rewrite in two years. The U.S. will implement measures at the next @OAS_official [meeting of foreign ministers] to ensure that our hemisphere stops business as usual with this dictatorship.”Regarding the United States’ call for countries to sever diplomatic and commercial ties with Nicaragua, McFields called it “an extraordinary start.” “For the first time, Ortega is facing pressure of this nature. For the first time, the OAS has approved a resolution on Nicaragua almost unanimously,” by convening a meeting of foreign ministers to address the situation, McFields said.Likewise, neighboring Costa Rica expressed its “deep concern regarding the ongoing deterioration of democracy in Nicaragua, exacerbated by the recent constitutional reform that further limits political and electoral participation,” and stated that it “will support a firm and coordinated response” with the OAS.The government of Peru, led by President Keiko Fujimori, also rejected the approval of the constitutional reform. In a Sept. 2 statement, it declared that it “will stand with the Nicaraguan people, their political prisoners, their exiles, and all those who are currently persecuted for dreaming of free elections.”Persecution of the Catholic Church in NicaraguaMcFields questioned the stance of countries like Brazil and Mexico, which did not support the resolution against Nicaragua, stating that “it’s surprising, painful, and something that ought to change. There should be empathy for the suffering of the Nicaraguan people, for persecuted politicians, for priests who have been imprisoned, exiled, or banished, and for the churches that have, at times, been burned down. It is truly grotesque, yet ideology seems to be prevailing over democracy.”Since 2018, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has waged a fierce campaign of persecution against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. Its latest known victim is the bishop emeritus of Estelí, Abelardo Mata (80), who suffers from diabetes, a heart condition, and vision problems. His condition remains uncertain, despite the regime’s claim that he is at home. In mid-August, the regime released a video of an interview with the prelate, who recently celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest, without specifying when the footage was recorded.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/human-rights-group-calls-nicaraguas-constitutional-reforms-a-usurpation-of-power-catholic-nicaraguas-national-assembly-controlled-by-the-dictatorship-of-president.jpg "Human rights group calls Nicaragua’s constitutional reforms a ‘usurpation of power’ #Catholic Nicaragua’s National Assembly, controlled by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo, “unanimously” approved a constitutional reform barring “traitors to the homeland” (the term the regime uses for its political opposition) from participating in elections. The measure has sparked widespread domestic and international condemnation.The reform was “unanimously approved in general terms,” Assembly President Gustavo Porras stated on Sept. 1 during a special session held in the city of León, according to the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa.The reform amends the constitution, which extends the presidential term, as well as those of other high-ranking officials, from six to seven years, with the possibility of renewal.Ortega has governed Nicaragua for about 30 years: since 2007, and previously, from 1979 to 1990. On July 19, he stated that there would be no further elections in Nicaragua, and on July 31, he proposed the reform — set to take effect in 2027 — that excludes “coup plotters” and “terrorists,”, terms he uses to refer to the political opposition, from participating in elections.Reforms are a ‘formalization of the usurpation of power’Ruta del Cambio (Pathway for Change), an organization which defends human rights and the rule of law, declared in a Sept. 2 statement that it “categorically rejects and and gives no legal recognition to the partial reform to the Political Constitution [of the Republic of Nicaragua] approved during the first legislative session on Sept. 1, 2026, by a National Assembly stripped of all independence and reduced to a mere rubber stamp for the will of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo.”Ruta del Cambio counts among its leaders Félix Maradiaga, a former presidential candidate and former political prisoner now living in exile.“What has been approved is not a constitutional reform. It is the formalization of the usurpation of power through a text drafted in secret, approved without opposition, and voted for with unanimous obedience by those who owe their positions, privileges, and impunity to the couple that has hijacked the state,” Ruta del Cambio charged.“Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have turned the constitution into a family’s title deed. They have transformed the state into personal property, the law into an instrument of vengeance, and the republic’s [law enforcement apparatus] into tools of terror against the very people they swore to serve,” the organization emphasized.Ruta del Cambio called for “rejecting the legal validity of this reform and of any act, mandate, extension, or appointment derived from it, and formally declaring it without force under international law.”Elections ‘without legitimacy’“What we are seeing in Nicaragua right now is a reform attempting to hold elections without competition, without legitimacy, and without any possibility of change. In other words, Ortega controls the judges and the playing field, and seeks to firmly establish his authoritarian model without any competition,” stated Arturo Mcfields Yescas, Nicaragua’s former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), in a Sept. 3 interview with EWTN Noticias, the Spanish-language edition of EWTN News.“This further undermines not only civil and political freedoms but also another fundamental freedom: religious freedom,” he pointed out.McFields explained that when the regime speaks of “traitors to the homeland,” it is referring to those who dissent from its rule. “People who questioned Ortega’s authority immediately became traitors to the homeland,” as did those who “simply thought differently” or called for “international mediation.”“This means,” he charged, “that anyone who does not applaud Ortega becomes a traitor to the homeland.”U.S. reactionOn Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on X that “the Murillo-Ortega’s National Assembly gutted what remained of Nicaragua’s democracy in the second constitutional rewrite in two years. The U.S. will implement measures at the next @OAS_official [meeting of foreign ministers] to ensure that our hemisphere stops business as usual with this dictatorship.”Regarding the United States’ call for countries to sever diplomatic and commercial ties with Nicaragua, McFields called it “an extraordinary start.” “For the first time, Ortega is facing pressure of this nature. For the first time, the OAS has approved a resolution on Nicaragua almost unanimously,” by convening a meeting of foreign ministers to address the situation, McFields said.Likewise, neighboring Costa Rica expressed its “deep concern regarding the ongoing deterioration of democracy in Nicaragua, exacerbated by the recent constitutional reform that further limits political and electoral participation,” and stated that it “will support a firm and coordinated response” with the OAS.The government of Peru, led by President Keiko Fujimori, also rejected the approval of the constitutional reform. In a Sept. 2 statement, it declared that it “will stand with the Nicaraguan people, their political prisoners, their exiles, and all those who are currently persecuted for dreaming of free elections.”Persecution of the Catholic Church in NicaraguaMcFields questioned the stance of countries like Brazil and Mexico, which did not support the resolution against Nicaragua, stating that “it’s surprising, painful, and something that ought to change. There should be empathy for the suffering of the Nicaraguan people, for persecuted politicians, for priests who have been imprisoned, exiled, or banished, and for the churches that have, at times, been burned down. It is truly grotesque, yet ideology seems to be prevailing over democracy.”Since 2018, the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship has waged a fierce campaign of persecution against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. Its latest known victim is the bishop emeritus of Estelí, Abelardo Mata (80), who suffers from diabetes, a heart condition, and vision problems. His condition remains uncertain, despite the regime’s claim that he is at home. In mid-August, the regime released a video of an interview with the prelate, who recently celebrated his 50th anniversary as a priest, without specifying when the footage was recorded.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
The Ortega-Murilla regime has approved reforms that bar the opposition from participating in elections, drawing strong opposition from exiled leaders, the United States, Costa Rica and Peru.
The program has been a fixture of the Church calendar since 2000, when it was launched by St. John Paul II.
The bishops discussed the pastoral challenges facing the Church in North America as a whole and concelebrated a Mass on Aug. 30 in the Cuernavaca, Mexico, cathedral.
![Hope for broken marriages: One couple’s story #Catholic On April 7, 2009, Mariela Villanueva landed in Venezuela convinced that she was going to end her marriage. Five years had passed since her husband, Harold Figueras, had left his family in Peru and rebuilt his life in another country. She carried with her the pain of a long separation and the resolve to sign the divorce papers. He had with him a written list of all the grievances he intended to unleash the moment he saw her.Nothing happened the way either of them had imagined.They arranged to meet on a Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, at the very spot where they had courted years before. When Mariela appeared, Harold frantically searched for the sheet of paper containing his complaints. It had vanished.“I was expecting a war. She opened her arms to embrace me, and I realized that I was the only one who wanted to fight,” Harold recalled in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. Mariela said she made that gesture because she had already begun a process of conversion and was holding onto one last hope.That embrace did not immediately restore the marriage, however. It would still be nearly a month before he ended the other relationship he was in and decided to return to his family. But on that day, they both attest, Jesus won the first great battle.
Harold and Mariela in front of Lima Cathedral. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
A marriage marked by woundednessHarold and Mariela met in 1998 at the Venezuelan College of Engineers. He worked in systems; she was a young lawyer running a legal consultation firm with dozens of professionals under her supervision.While Mariela had grown up in a Catholic family and frequently prayed the rosary, Harold was completely indifferent to the faith.“I used to make fun of priests. For me, getting married in the Church was simply a matter of fulfilling a social formality,” he admitted.They were married in a civil ceremony and on Sept. 2, 2000, received the sacrament at marriage at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Barranco, Peru. However, they acknowledged that they came to the altar without truly understanding the meaning of the vocation of marriage.“We began our life together without God at the center. That was the first major mistake,” Harold explained.Over the years, deep-seated wounds began to surface: abandonment, loneliness, pride, an inability to communicate, and unrealistic expectations about love. Venezuela’s economic crisis further aggravated the situation. Harold traveled constantly between the two countries until, one day, he simply stopped coming back.Mariela was left alone in Lima with her young daughter.
Recent photo of Harold and Mariela with their three daughters in Lima, Peru. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Mom, teach me to pray’Paradoxically, the restoration did not begin when Harold changed. It began when Mariela got down on her knees.Estranged from the Church and filled with resentment, the young mother had abandoned the practice of her faith after being hurt by a bad experience at a parish. Everything changed thanks to an unexpected request from her 7-year-old daughter: “Mom, grandma says you know how to pray. Teach me the rosary.”Mariela agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. Shortly after that, her daughter insisted on making her first Communion and said something that pierced her mother’s heart: “You know what it’s like to have Jesus in your heart… so why don’t you [go to Communion]?”Those words led Mariela back to the confessional.From then on, she began a routine that would change her life: daily Mass before work, Eucharistic adoration at midday, and the rosary every night with her daughter.“I was looking for God to change my husband. The Lord ended up changing me,” she related.
Harold and Mariela with members of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.” | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Look at me’During Eucharistic adoration, an experience occurred that would, years later, give its name to the retreat the couple now leads as part of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.”Mariela was praying, seeing herself as the victim in her story: “Lord, look at me. Look at how good I am. Look at what he did to me.”Then, she raised her eyes toward the monstrance.“I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw Jesus, wounded and bloodied. And he said to me only: ‘Look at me.’”In that moment, she experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. She began to recall her own sins from childhood and realized that, for years, she had been unable to recognize her own wounds.“I realized that God wasn’t going to ask me about Harold’s sins. He was going to ask me how much I loved my husband within the sacrament.”Her prayer changed completely, and she no longer asked for Harold to return. She only prayed: “Lord, bring him back to you.”
Mariela Villanueva. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mariela Villanueva
The hell of the occultWhile Mariela was deepening her prayer life, Harold was heading down a completely opposite path.Seeking better financial prospects, he began consulting tarot cards. Next came syncretist Santería practices, and finally Palería, a witchcraft practice involving human remains and animal sacrifices.“I entered a dark room containing skeletal remains. I felt an indescribable fear, yet I kept looking for answers where they weren’t to be found,” Harold recalled.Amid that emptiness, he began to notice something strange. Mariela kept calling him, but no longer to get him back. One afternoon, in a mocking tone, he asked her: “What’s wrong? Don’t you need me anymore?”Her answer baffled him.“No. Whatʼs going on is that I have someone here who loves me.”Harold thought she had another romantic partner, but today he knows his wife was speaking of Christ himself.
Harold Figueras. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras
Welcomed back with loveAfter that encounter with his wife in Venezuela, Harold eventually returned to Peru.He admitted he was terrified of facing Mariela’s family and above all, their daughter. He imagined reproaches, humiliation, and rejection. Yet, he found exactly the opposite.“They all hugged me as if I had just stepped out to buy bread,” he recounted.A few days later, he accompanied Mariela to the Oblate Fathers’ church in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima. He had no thought of even going inside. He was standing near the doorway when, as he tells it, he felt an inner impulse that led him straight to the confessional.“I told the priest: ‘Father, I’ve been separated from my wife for five years, and I don’t know why I’ve come back.’”The priest invited him to attend a spiritual retreat. It was there that Harold experienced his own conversion.Before the Blessed Sacrament, after resisting for hours, Harold looked up: “I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw two honey-colored eyes that pierced my heart. I began to weep as I never had in my life.”From that moment on, he abandoned the occult and began a journey of faith that continues to this day.An ongoing miracleMore than 15 years have passed since that reconciliation.Harold and Mariela maintain that the true miracle was not simply living together again but discovering that marriage is a daily path to holiness.“Restoring the marriage takes your whole life. It doesn’t stop when the husband returns. It begins there,” Mariela said.
Harold and Mariela today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
That experience gave rise to the “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family” movement, an initiative that supports spouses who are separated or on the verge of divorce. The path they propose begins with oneʼs own conversion rather than an attempt to change oneʼs spouse.Those who come to the mission begin with what’s called “Mary’s Workshop,” a preparation for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that focuses on the sacrament of marriage. There, the aim is for each person to acknowledge his or her own wounds and receive the tools to discern how to handle their issues as a family.However, Harold and Mariela noted that not all journeys end the same way. Some married couples manage to reunite, while others go their separate ways, including through the process of a declaration of nullity. What remains, they maintain, is the call to conversion and to seek God’s will.“The Lord wants us to be holy,” Mariela explained. She said that even when a person goes through a process different from what she or he hoped for, suffering can become an opportunity to draw closer to Christ and offer that pain for the holiness of the Church.Today, when they look back, the couple no longer see themselves as the same people who had separated. Mariela describes Harold as a man more committed to knowing Godʼs love and capable of giving of himself to his family.For his part, he acknowledged that the woman he reunited with after five years was no longer the same one he had left behind.
The Figueras Villanueva family today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
For this reason, their testimony does not aim to offer a formula for restoring a lost marriage. It is, above all, the story of two people who discovered that, before asking God to change the other person, they had to allow themselves to be transformed by him.“Many people come saying, ‘I want my husband to come back.’ We tell them: First, let Jesus return to the center of your heart,” Harold explained.Their message to couples in crisis stems from that experience: Don’t hide your wounds, don’t let shame defeat you, and don’t confuse restoration with a simple return to the life you had before.For as they discovered that Wednesday afternoon in 2009, some marital battles are not won by defeating the other person but by allowing oneself to be conquered by God’s merciful love.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/hope-for-broken-marriages-one-couples-story-catholic-on-april-7-2009-mariela-villanueva-landed-in-venezuela-convinced-that-she-was-going-to-end-her-marriage-five-years-had-passed-since-h.jpg "Hope for broken marriages: One couple’s story #Catholic On April 7, 2009, Mariela Villanueva landed in Venezuela convinced that she was going to end her marriage. Five years had passed since her husband, Harold Figueras, had left his family in Peru and rebuilt his life in another country. She carried with her the pain of a long separation and the resolve to sign the divorce papers. He had with him a written list of all the grievances he intended to unleash the moment he saw her.Nothing happened the way either of them had imagined.They arranged to meet on a Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, at the very spot where they had courted years before. When Mariela appeared, Harold frantically searched for the sheet of paper containing his complaints. It had vanished.“I was expecting a war. She opened her arms to embrace me, and I realized that I was the only one who wanted to fight,” Harold recalled in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. Mariela said she made that gesture because she had already begun a process of conversion and was holding onto one last hope.That embrace did not immediately restore the marriage, however. It would still be nearly a month before he ended the other relationship he was in and decided to return to his family. But on that day, they both attest, Jesus won the first great battle.
Harold and Mariela in front of Lima Cathedral. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
A marriage marked by woundednessHarold and Mariela met in 1998 at the Venezuelan College of Engineers. He worked in systems; she was a young lawyer running a legal consultation firm with dozens of professionals under her supervision.While Mariela had grown up in a Catholic family and frequently prayed the rosary, Harold was completely indifferent to the faith.“I used to make fun of priests. For me, getting married in the Church was simply a matter of fulfilling a social formality,” he admitted.They were married in a civil ceremony and on Sept. 2, 2000, received the sacrament at marriage at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Barranco, Peru. However, they acknowledged that they came to the altar without truly understanding the meaning of the vocation of marriage.“We began our life together without God at the center. That was the first major mistake,” Harold explained.Over the years, deep-seated wounds began to surface: abandonment, loneliness, pride, an inability to communicate, and unrealistic expectations about love. Venezuela’s economic crisis further aggravated the situation. Harold traveled constantly between the two countries until, one day, he simply stopped coming back.Mariela was left alone in Lima with her young daughter.
Recent photo of Harold and Mariela with their three daughters in Lima, Peru. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Mom, teach me to pray’Paradoxically, the restoration did not begin when Harold changed. It began when Mariela got down on her knees.Estranged from the Church and filled with resentment, the young mother had abandoned the practice of her faith after being hurt by a bad experience at a parish. Everything changed thanks to an unexpected request from her 7-year-old daughter: “Mom, grandma says you know how to pray. Teach me the rosary.”Mariela agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. Shortly after that, her daughter insisted on making her first Communion and said something that pierced her mother’s heart: “You know what it’s like to have Jesus in your heart… so why don’t you [go to Communion]?”Those words led Mariela back to the confessional.From then on, she began a routine that would change her life: daily Mass before work, Eucharistic adoration at midday, and the rosary every night with her daughter.“I was looking for God to change my husband. The Lord ended up changing me,” she related.
Harold and Mariela with members of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.” | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Look at me’During Eucharistic adoration, an experience occurred that would, years later, give its name to the retreat the couple now leads as part of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.”Mariela was praying, seeing herself as the victim in her story: “Lord, look at me. Look at how good I am. Look at what he did to me.”Then, she raised her eyes toward the monstrance.“I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw Jesus, wounded and bloodied. And he said to me only: ‘Look at me.’”In that moment, she experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. She began to recall her own sins from childhood and realized that, for years, she had been unable to recognize her own wounds.“I realized that God wasn’t going to ask me about Harold’s sins. He was going to ask me how much I loved my husband within the sacrament.”Her prayer changed completely, and she no longer asked for Harold to return. She only prayed: “Lord, bring him back to you.”
Mariela Villanueva. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mariela Villanueva
The hell of the occultWhile Mariela was deepening her prayer life, Harold was heading down a completely opposite path.Seeking better financial prospects, he began consulting tarot cards. Next came syncretist Santería practices, and finally Palería, a witchcraft practice involving human remains and animal sacrifices.“I entered a dark room containing skeletal remains. I felt an indescribable fear, yet I kept looking for answers where they weren’t to be found,” Harold recalled.Amid that emptiness, he began to notice something strange. Mariela kept calling him, but no longer to get him back. One afternoon, in a mocking tone, he asked her: “What’s wrong? Don’t you need me anymore?”Her answer baffled him.“No. Whatʼs going on is that I have someone here who loves me.”Harold thought she had another romantic partner, but today he knows his wife was speaking of Christ himself.
Harold Figueras. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras
Welcomed back with loveAfter that encounter with his wife in Venezuela, Harold eventually returned to Peru.He admitted he was terrified of facing Mariela’s family and above all, their daughter. He imagined reproaches, humiliation, and rejection. Yet, he found exactly the opposite.“They all hugged me as if I had just stepped out to buy bread,” he recounted.A few days later, he accompanied Mariela to the Oblate Fathers’ church in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima. He had no thought of even going inside. He was standing near the doorway when, as he tells it, he felt an inner impulse that led him straight to the confessional.“I told the priest: ‘Father, I’ve been separated from my wife for five years, and I don’t know why I’ve come back.’”The priest invited him to attend a spiritual retreat. It was there that Harold experienced his own conversion.Before the Blessed Sacrament, after resisting for hours, Harold looked up: “I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw two honey-colored eyes that pierced my heart. I began to weep as I never had in my life.”From that moment on, he abandoned the occult and began a journey of faith that continues to this day.An ongoing miracleMore than 15 years have passed since that reconciliation.Harold and Mariela maintain that the true miracle was not simply living together again but discovering that marriage is a daily path to holiness.“Restoring the marriage takes your whole life. It doesn’t stop when the husband returns. It begins there,” Mariela said.
Harold and Mariela today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
That experience gave rise to the “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family” movement, an initiative that supports spouses who are separated or on the verge of divorce. The path they propose begins with oneʼs own conversion rather than an attempt to change oneʼs spouse.Those who come to the mission begin with what’s called “Mary’s Workshop,” a preparation for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that focuses on the sacrament of marriage. There, the aim is for each person to acknowledge his or her own wounds and receive the tools to discern how to handle their issues as a family.However, Harold and Mariela noted that not all journeys end the same way. Some married couples manage to reunite, while others go their separate ways, including through the process of a declaration of nullity. What remains, they maintain, is the call to conversion and to seek God’s will.“The Lord wants us to be holy,” Mariela explained. She said that even when a person goes through a process different from what she or he hoped for, suffering can become an opportunity to draw closer to Christ and offer that pain for the holiness of the Church.Today, when they look back, the couple no longer see themselves as the same people who had separated. Mariela describes Harold as a man more committed to knowing Godʼs love and capable of giving of himself to his family.For his part, he acknowledged that the woman he reunited with after five years was no longer the same one he had left behind.
The Figueras Villanueva family today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
For this reason, their testimony does not aim to offer a formula for restoring a lost marriage. It is, above all, the story of two people who discovered that, before asking God to change the other person, they had to allow themselves to be transformed by him.“Many people come saying, ‘I want my husband to come back.’ We tell them: First, let Jesus return to the center of your heart,” Harold explained.Their message to couples in crisis stems from that experience: Don’t hide your wounds, don’t let shame defeat you, and don’t confuse restoration with a simple return to the life you had before.For as they discovered that Wednesday afternoon in 2009, some marital battles are not won by defeating the other person but by allowing oneself to be conquered by God’s merciful love.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
Starting out their marriage without God at the center, the couple became estranged and the husband left, but things began to change when their daughter asked her mom, “Teach me to pray.”
Vietnamese youth drawn to the TLM, Holy Land priests highlight plight of Christian community, Philippine dioceses call for end of mining agreement, and more in this week’s world news roundup.
Bishop Erik Varden invoked a ninth-century prayer for the dying as he commended King Harald V to God’s mercy on behalf of Norwegian Catholics.
Two Augustinian priests living in Rome explain why the woman they refer to as their “grandmother” continues to be a source of hope and inspiration.
Catholic parishes and Catholic Charities in Nevada are responding with aid amid an ongoing wildfire that has caused mass evacuations in the Reno area.
Ecuadoran lawyer Pablo Proaño’s remarks followed the death due to a pregnancy complication of Stefano, the son of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and his wife, Lavinia Valbonesi.
![Advocates warn New Jersey law could criminalize prayer outside abortion clinics #Catholic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Aug. 20 signed a bill that criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care, a law that opponents say has serious implications for freedom of speech.The law criminalizes inflicting “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.Under the new law, an officer can “order the immediate dispersal of a gathering that substantially impedes access to or departure from an entrance or driveway to a reproductive or gender-affirming health care facility during the business hours of the facility.”The measure is a type of “bubble” law, which creates zones around abortion clinics where free speech is limited in “buffer zones.”Violations of the law could be punished by up to 18 months’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy criticized the law, describing its provisions as “inherently subjective” and the law itself as “a serious danger to free speech.”“Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside a facility can easily be labeled ‘intimidation’ by someone who claims to feel threatened, leaving pro-life advocates open to criminal charges that are difficult to disprove and chilling constitutionally protected expression,” Tasy said.Catholic diocese leads campaign against abortion amendment referendumThe Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is leading a campaign to oppose an amendment referendum that could create a right to abortion in the state constitution as well as another measure that would remove a same-sex marriage ban in the state.The campaign Catholics Vote No is opposing the ballot measure titled the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment” as well as the “Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.”Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge describes the measures as “very serious legal threats to human life and marriage” in a video statement.“If written into Virginia’s Constitution, these unjust amendments would be extraordinarily difficult to reverse,” the campaign website states. The abortion amendment would “effectively” make Virginia “a sanctuary for abortion and commercial abortion businesses,” it states. “Basic health and safety standards that protect women from harm would be eliminated, parents would be pushed out of life-altering decisions involving their family and children, and unregulated abortions would be possible, performed even on healthy babies up to the moment of birth for any reason with no limits,” the campaign says.Live Action says it will keep referring to abortion as ‘killing’The pro-life group Live Action has said it will not stop calling abortion “killing” after a pro-abortion group threatened the organization with legal action.Live Action made the declaration in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the abortion-supporting legal group Amplify Legal. The dispute is over claims made by Live Action in multiple articles about abortion cases where the unborn baby had a serious life-threatening diagnosis.“Each of our clients has described the decision to end their wanted pregnancy as the most compassionate choice for their own health, future fertility, and family’s wellbeing,” the letter read, arguing that Live Action News “repeatedly [wrote] about our clients intentionally ‘killing’ their babies.”In its response Live Action said it would not follow the request to “delete years of reporting and commentary on the most contested moral and political question in American public life.”“We are fighting for a culture and legal system that respects every human life and refuses to treat the sick, disabled, or unborn as disposable,” said Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose in a statement. “Legal threats against our First Amendment right to speak will not change that mission.”Catholic dad Mark Houck continues pro-life work after federal legal battleCatholic father Mark Houck is joining CatholicVote’s development team as a gift officer, the group announced this week. Houck and his family are adjusting to life after their home in rural eastern Pennsylvania was raided by 20 armed federal agents in the early hours of Sept. 23, 2022. Houck was arrested in front of his family and interrogated for six hours. The incident led to nearly four years of legal battles, which concluded with the family earning a seven-figure settlement for damages.“I am still very much unpacking spiritually what happened to us — very profound and certainly God is revealing his ultimate plan for us through it all, CatholicVote being the latest direction he has taken us,” Houck told EWTN News. “We are so happy to be with an organization that shares our passion for our faith, the pro-life cause, and, of course, advocacy in the public square.”Houck’s role in the organization "will extend beyond that [of a gift officer],” CatholicVote spokeswoman Laurie Olsen told EWTN News. He will “have a voice in all our pro-life efforts,” she said.Houck, meanwhile, told EWTN News: “We measure success by one soul at a time.”“Save a soul, you save your own soul. It is that one soul that gets me going and up early to head into Philadelphia and serve the common good with sidewalk advocacy,” he said.Federal court strikes down Indiana abortion parental-consent lawThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled on Aug. 18 against an Indiana law that prevents doctors from providing abortion assistance to minors without parental consent.The 54-page ruling struck down a law that required parental consent to aid or assist a minor in obtaining an abortion. The ruling said that the parental-consent law violated the First Amendment.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/advocates-warn-new-jersey-law-could-criminalize-prayer-outside-abortion-clinics-catholic-new-jersey-gov-mikie-sherrill-on-aug-20-signed-a-bill-that-criminalizes-interference-with.jpg "Advocates warn New Jersey law could criminalize prayer outside abortion clinics #Catholic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Aug. 20 signed a bill that criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care, a law that opponents say has serious implications for freedom of speech.The law criminalizes inflicting “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.Under the new law, an officer can “order the immediate dispersal of a gathering that substantially impedes access to or departure from an entrance or driveway to a reproductive or gender-affirming health care facility during the business hours of the facility.”The measure is a type of “bubble” law, which creates zones around abortion clinics where free speech is limited in “buffer zones.”Violations of the law could be punished by up to 18 months’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy criticized the law, describing its provisions as “inherently subjective” and the law itself as “a serious danger to free speech.”“Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside a facility can easily be labeled ‘intimidation’ by someone who claims to feel threatened, leaving pro-life advocates open to criminal charges that are difficult to disprove and chilling constitutionally protected expression,” Tasy said.Catholic diocese leads campaign against abortion amendment referendumThe Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is leading a campaign to oppose an amendment referendum that could create a right to abortion in the state constitution as well as another measure that would remove a same-sex marriage ban in the state.The campaign Catholics Vote No is opposing the ballot measure titled the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment” as well as the “Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.”Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge describes the measures as “very serious legal threats to human life and marriage” in a video statement.“If written into Virginia’s Constitution, these unjust amendments would be extraordinarily difficult to reverse,” the campaign website states. The abortion amendment would “effectively” make Virginia “a sanctuary for abortion and commercial abortion businesses,” it states. “Basic health and safety standards that protect women from harm would be eliminated, parents would be pushed out of life-altering decisions involving their family and children, and unregulated abortions would be possible, performed even on healthy babies up to the moment of birth for any reason with no limits,” the campaign says.Live Action says it will keep referring to abortion as ‘killing’The pro-life group Live Action has said it will not stop calling abortion “killing” after a pro-abortion group threatened the organization with legal action.Live Action made the declaration in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the abortion-supporting legal group Amplify Legal. The dispute is over claims made by Live Action in multiple articles about abortion cases where the unborn baby had a serious life-threatening diagnosis.“Each of our clients has described the decision to end their wanted pregnancy as the most compassionate choice for their own health, future fertility, and family’s wellbeing,” the letter read, arguing that Live Action News “repeatedly [wrote] about our clients intentionally ‘killing’ their babies.”In its response Live Action said it would not follow the request to “delete years of reporting and commentary on the most contested moral and political question in American public life.”“We are fighting for a culture and legal system that respects every human life and refuses to treat the sick, disabled, or unborn as disposable,” said Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose in a statement. “Legal threats against our First Amendment right to speak will not change that mission.”Catholic dad Mark Houck continues pro-life work after federal legal battleCatholic father Mark Houck is joining CatholicVote’s development team as a gift officer, the group announced this week. Houck and his family are adjusting to life after their home in rural eastern Pennsylvania was raided by 20 armed federal agents in the early hours of Sept. 23, 2022. Houck was arrested in front of his family and interrogated for six hours. The incident led to nearly four years of legal battles, which concluded with the family earning a seven-figure settlement for damages.“I am still very much unpacking spiritually what happened to us — very profound and certainly God is revealing his ultimate plan for us through it all, CatholicVote being the latest direction he has taken us,” Houck told EWTN News. “We are so happy to be with an organization that shares our passion for our faith, the pro-life cause, and, of course, advocacy in the public square.”Houck’s role in the organization \"will extend beyond that [of a gift officer],” CatholicVote spokeswoman Laurie Olsen told EWTN News. He will “have a voice in all our pro-life efforts,” she said.Houck, meanwhile, told EWTN News: “We measure success by one soul at a time.”“Save a soul, you save your own soul. It is that one soul that gets me going and up early to head into Philadelphia and serve the common good with sidewalk advocacy,” he said.Federal court strikes down Indiana abortion parental-consent lawThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled on Aug. 18 against an Indiana law that prevents doctors from providing abortion assistance to minors without parental consent.The 54-page ruling struck down a law that required parental consent to aid or assist a minor in obtaining an abortion. The ruling said that the parental-consent law violated the First Amendment.")
![People ‘thirsting for Christ’ at procession in Brazil, bishop says #Catholic About 50,000 faithful took part in the closing procession for the novena to Our Lady of Glory in Brazil on Aug. 15. The local bishop, Flávio Giovenale, said the large turnout reflects the faith of the people, who are “thirsting for Christ.”“This multitude is saying: We want spirituality, we want Jesus, and we love Our Lady because she leads us to Jesus,” the bishop told the website Juruá 24 Horas.“Our Lady is like a mother who takes us to school; the teacher — the master — is Jesus, and Our Lady leads us to him,” he said.The devotees walked about two miles in a procession lasting nearly two hours. Holding candles, they followed the image of Our Lady, praying and giving thanks.“We came to give thanks for the harvest and for our family’s health. Being here among so many people sharing the same purpose is something indescribable,” farmer Renilson Fox said to news website G1.“We spend the whole year waiting for this moment,” veterinarian Douglas Vasconcelos told G1. He said that for him, this “is a day to renew our faith and give thanks for so many graces received.”Mary is our ‘prototype’“Today, we celebrate Our Lady of Glory, who is already there [in glory], a gift from God,” Giovenale said during the Mass at the Cruzeiro do Sul cathedral prior to the procession. The bishop recalled Jesus’s words: “I am going to the Father’s glory, and after I prepare a place, I will return and take you with me.”“We say that at the end of time, we will all rise again and be reunited in body and soul to live in heaven, body and soul. But for Our Lady, Jesus chose to make an exception, a gift. In his freedom, he said: ‘Our Lady was the first to say yes to me; she will also be the first to rise again,’” he explained.The bishop recalled that the Dormition of Mary, although not found in the Bible, has been a tradition “since the early years” of Christianity. It says “that Our Lady fell asleep in the Lord and Jesus came and took her, body and soul.”“She is there in heaven, body and soul, as the first Christian, the first to say ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord,’ and the first to rise again, body and soul. She is, as it were, our prototype,” he said.In his homily, Giovenale said that before attaining glory, Mary served, and Christians must follow her example to reach the kingdom of heaven.“We’re going to walk in procession, why? Because Mary — after receiving the angel’s announcement that she would be the Mother of the Savior, and after saying, ‘I am the servant of the Lord’ — what did she do? She went to serve Elizabeth,” he said.“To serve, to be Christians, to be a faithful people, we can’t afford to slack off. Jesus promised us happiness, not ease. It requires effort; it requires saying, ‘I want to serve,’ just as Mary did,” he said.The bishop recalled that it was Jesus who said, “I came into the world not to be served, but to serve.” “Mary was the one who, in so many ways, anticipated this, because she is the first to be faithful to Jesus,” he added.Giovenale cited the theme of this year’s novena to Our Lady of Glory: “Our Lady of Glory, Mother of the Faithful People.” “If we want to be faithful to Jesus, faithful to God, we must imitate Mary — to journey forth and go serve others,” he said.This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/people-thirsting-for-christ-at-procession-in-brazil-bishop-says-catholic-about-50000-faithful-took-part-in-the-closing-procession-for-the-novena-to-our-lady-of-glory-in-brazil-on.webp "People ‘thirsting for Christ’ at procession in Brazil, bishop says #Catholic About 50,000 faithful took part in the closing procession for the novena to Our Lady of Glory in Brazil on Aug. 15. The local bishop, Flávio Giovenale, said the large turnout reflects the faith of the people, who are “thirsting for Christ.”“This multitude is saying: We want spirituality, we want Jesus, and we love Our Lady because she leads us to Jesus,” the bishop told the website Juruá 24 Horas.“Our Lady is like a mother who takes us to school; the teacher — the master — is Jesus, and Our Lady leads us to him,” he said.The devotees walked about two miles in a procession lasting nearly two hours. Holding candles, they followed the image of Our Lady, praying and giving thanks.“We came to give thanks for the harvest and for our family’s health. Being here among so many people sharing the same purpose is something indescribable,” farmer Renilson Fox said to news website G1.“We spend the whole year waiting for this moment,” veterinarian Douglas Vasconcelos told G1. He said that for him, this “is a day to renew our faith and give thanks for so many graces received.”Mary is our ‘prototype’“Today, we celebrate Our Lady of Glory, who is already there [in glory], a gift from God,” Giovenale said during the Mass at the Cruzeiro do Sul cathedral prior to the procession. The bishop recalled Jesus’s words: “I am going to the Father’s glory, and after I prepare a place, I will return and take you with me.”“We say that at the end of time, we will all rise again and be reunited in body and soul to live in heaven, body and soul. But for Our Lady, Jesus chose to make an exception, a gift. In his freedom, he said: ‘Our Lady was the first to say yes to me; she will also be the first to rise again,’” he explained.The bishop recalled that the Dormition of Mary, although not found in the Bible, has been a tradition “since the early years” of Christianity. It says “that Our Lady fell asleep in the Lord and Jesus came and took her, body and soul.”“She is there in heaven, body and soul, as the first Christian, the first to say ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord,’ and the first to rise again, body and soul. She is, as it were, our prototype,” he said.In his homily, Giovenale said that before attaining glory, Mary served, and Christians must follow her example to reach the kingdom of heaven.“We’re going to walk in procession, why? Because Mary — after receiving the angel’s announcement that she would be the Mother of the Savior, and after saying, ‘I am the servant of the Lord’ — what did she do? She went to serve Elizabeth,” he said.“To serve, to be Christians, to be a faithful people, we can’t afford to slack off. Jesus promised us happiness, not ease. It requires effort; it requires saying, ‘I want to serve,’ just as Mary did,” he said.The bishop recalled that it was Jesus who said, “I came into the world not to be served, but to serve.” “Mary was the one who, in so many ways, anticipated this, because she is the first to be faithful to Jesus,” he added.Giovenale cited the theme of this year’s novena to Our Lady of Glory: “Our Lady of Glory, Mother of the Faithful People.” “If we want to be faithful to Jesus, faithful to God, we must imitate Mary — to journey forth and go serve others,” he said.This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
In his homily, Bishop Flávio Giovenale held up Mary as the faithful disciple who, like her son, served others.
![‘It’s always the Holy Spirit’: Meet 3 dioceses seeing large numbers of priestly ordinations #Catholic What drives a young man to discern into the priesthood — a supportive family, a vibrant parish, a proactive pastor, an outspoken bishop? Father John Eckert’s response: “Yes.” Eckert, the vocations director for the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, chuckled a little when describing the myriad paths that a young man may take when finding his way to holy orders. But, he said, “it’s always the Holy Spirit at work. It’s always cooperating with the grace of God.” The Charlotte Diocese is among those in the U.S. seeing high numbers of seminarians and priestly ordinations. The diocese in western North Carolina saw a record 10 young men ordained to the priesthood earlier in 2026; that followed six ordinations in 2025 and seven in 2024. “We’re blessed in the Diocese of Charlotte,” Eckert said. “It’s a beautiful moment.” The priest just wrapped up his first full year as vocations director there. He said one of the strengths of the diocese is in its vibrant faith life, which he attributed partly to the “evangelical Bible-belt roots” of the region. “This is Billy Graham territory,” he joked. The diocese itself bears out that witness, he said. “The Church is growing like crazy down here,” he said. “We have wonderful families. We have faithful, hardworking priests. We’ve had five bishops who keep on striving to bear the Gospel message and bring that to every corner of the diocese.”The growing ranks of the priesthood is proof of that high spirit, though Eckert said it can be tricky to tease out just what contributes to years of high ordinations. One of the diocese’s strengths, he said, is its own “in-house college seminary.” “It’s so wonderful that if we have a young man interested in the priesthood, we can actually just bring him to this place and show him where the initial years of formation will take place,” he said. The school offers prospective seminarians a chance to see “a group of men living this out, being very intentional about their prayer life, striving to grow in love of Our Lord.”Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, told EWTN News that when seeing such high levels of devotion to the priesthood, “we often have to just marvel at God’s work.” Priests in the diocese, he said, excel at offering candidates to the priesthood “the opportunity to see a healthy, holy, good person that they can see themselves becoming.” Families, meanwhile, have become “far more open” to communicating to their sons that they would be “honored to see [them] consider the priesthood.”“That dynamic has come about because the presbyterate gives a good example,” the bishop said. “It makes families, and parents in particular, more willing to be able to create that environment in their own families.”Both Martin and Eckert said that at a certain point Church leaders simply have to acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit. “To fully try to understand it is important,” Martin said, “but in some ways it’s best just to appreciate and enjoy it and be grateful for it.”Eckert, meanwhile, cited as an example 1 Corinthians 3:6, in which Paul tells the Church at Corinth about its faith: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”The priest spoke joyfully about his work in the diocesan vocations office, though he downplayed his own role in bringing men to holy orders. He recounted with a laugh what a speaker told a group of vocations directors at a recent conference: “Gentlemen, get over yourselves. Nobody ever entered seminary because of their vocations director.”Priestly vocation ‘seen as a natural, fulfilling life’Father Garett Burns, the director of vocations promotion in the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, admitted that the Midwestern diocese is “blessed with a strong culture of vocations.” “For example, this past May six men were ordained to the priesthood,” he said. “We’ve been blessed to generally have a steady number of ordinations each year. There have been 22 priestly ordinations since 2020 and 44 priestly ordinations in the last 10 years. We will begin this academic year with 50 seminarians in formation.”He said that it is “difficult to capture succinctly” why a diocese might have such abundant vocations, describing every Catholic’s vocation as a “mystery of grace.” But he said promoting vocations throughout every aspect of Church life — including in families, schools, and parishes — has borne steady fruit. The diocese has an abundance of Eucharistic adoration, he said, including perpetual adoration. Such chapels present opportunities for young people to spend time in silence before Christ, he said, and “these moments are where vocations grow and flourish.”Priests and bishops in the diocese, meanwhile, are “deeply committed to the Lord.” “When priests love their priesthood and enjoy each other, that is attractive to young men,” he said. A local seminary program has also borne fruit, he said, allowing young men to form a close, core connection with the Church “at home.” The priest said he hesitates to offer advice to other dioceses, admitting that there is “no universal solution” given the unique histories, gifts, and challenges of each diocese. But expanding opportunities for Eucharistic adoration, he said, offers “one viable option that promises to deepen the culture of vocations.”Father Noah Morey, the vocations director in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, echoed the assessment of his fellow vocations directors: “It’s not just one thing, it’s everything,” he told EWTN News. The Arlington Diocese saw seven new priests ordained in 2026; it recorded 12 ordinations in 2025. Morey noted that when it comes to ordinations, “it’s not about numbers, it’s about quality.” But he said the Arlington Diocese has a “strong culture of vocations” that has helped produce exemplary priests over the years. The diocese has promoted vocations since its founding in 1974. Its first leader, Bishop Thomas Welsh, “really fostered that culture” in part by bringing a Poor Clares monastery to the diocese. “Our bishops have all taken a hands-on approach of fostering vocations in young men from a young age,” Morey said. Bishops in Arlington regularly attend seminary events and meet personally with aspiring priests, he said. Eucharistic adoration is prolific throughout the diocese, meanwhile; several years ago, Morey said, current Bishop Michael Burbidge asked every pastor in the diocese to institute 40 hours of Eucharistic adoration annually.The diocese also holds St. Andrew dinners several times a year, which allows young men to speak to both the bishop and diocesan priests about their potential discernment. “I tell the young men, it’s a very low-commitment event — you’re not signing your life away!” he said. “You just show up for a free dinner with the bishop.” A yearly “Quo Vadis?” summer camp offers another opportunity for young men to have face-to-face discernment with Church leaders. An active, vibrant priesthood in the diocese also helps foster vocational discernment, he said. “If a young man sees a priest who’s in love with the Lord, that’s really attractive to the priesthood,” he said. And faith-filled and encouraging families are equally to credit for fostering vocations in young men, Morey continued. He offered a baseball analogy to describe the process by which young men find their way to the priesthood. “The families are the starting pitchers,” he said. “The priests are the middle relievers. And the vocations director is the closer.”Globally the Church has continued to see lower vocations; the most recent data shows a continued drop in priests, with significant declines in Europe and the Americas, though Africa and Asia saw notable increases. In the first 15 months of his pontificate Pope Leo XIV has continued to emphasize the importance of vocations. In June 2025 he told vocations ministers at the Vatican that their job consisted of “forming men capable of loving, listening, praying, and serving as a community.”The pope said God “continues to call and remains faithful to his promises.” He urged leaders to help bring about the creation of appropriate conditions “to hear [God’s] voice.”In Charlotte, Bishop Martin said the best response to an increase in vocations is to be both joyful for the gift and determined to help it flourish. “There’s something in God’s design that’s beyond even what I can say,” he said. “I can provide some insights, but at the end of the day, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.” Eckert, meanwhile, said an increase in vocations is a blessing no matter where it develops.“The job that I think we all have is being intentional in our discipleship of Jesus Christ,” he said. “I pray for myself and all my brother vocations directors out there. Whether it happens in Peoria or it happens in Charlotte, it’s good for all of us.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/its-always-the-holy-spirit-meet-3-dioceses-seeing-large-numbers-of-priestly-ordinations-catholic-what-drives-a-young-man-to-discern-into-the-priesthood-a-support.jpg "‘It’s always the Holy Spirit’: Meet 3 dioceses seeing large numbers of priestly ordinations #Catholic What drives a young man to discern into the priesthood — a supportive family, a vibrant parish, a proactive pastor, an outspoken bishop? Father John Eckert’s response: “Yes.” Eckert, the vocations director for the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, chuckled a little when describing the myriad paths that a young man may take when finding his way to holy orders. But, he said, “it’s always the Holy Spirit at work. It’s always cooperating with the grace of God.” The Charlotte Diocese is among those in the U.S. seeing high numbers of seminarians and priestly ordinations. The diocese in western North Carolina saw a record 10 young men ordained to the priesthood earlier in 2026; that followed six ordinations in 2025 and seven in 2024. “We’re blessed in the Diocese of Charlotte,” Eckert said. “It’s a beautiful moment.” The priest just wrapped up his first full year as vocations director there. He said one of the strengths of the diocese is in its vibrant faith life, which he attributed partly to the “evangelical Bible-belt roots” of the region. “This is Billy Graham territory,” he joked. The diocese itself bears out that witness, he said. “The Church is growing like crazy down here,” he said. “We have wonderful families. We have faithful, hardworking priests. We’ve had five bishops who keep on striving to bear the Gospel message and bring that to every corner of the diocese.”The growing ranks of the priesthood is proof of that high spirit, though Eckert said it can be tricky to tease out just what contributes to years of high ordinations. One of the diocese’s strengths, he said, is its own “in-house college seminary.” “It’s so wonderful that if we have a young man interested in the priesthood, we can actually just bring him to this place and show him where the initial years of formation will take place,” he said. The school offers prospective seminarians a chance to see “a group of men living this out, being very intentional about their prayer life, striving to grow in love of Our Lord.”Charlotte Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, told EWTN News that when seeing such high levels of devotion to the priesthood, “we often have to just marvel at God’s work.” Priests in the diocese, he said, excel at offering candidates to the priesthood “the opportunity to see a healthy, holy, good person that they can see themselves becoming.” Families, meanwhile, have become “far more open” to communicating to their sons that they would be “honored to see [them] consider the priesthood.”“That dynamic has come about because the presbyterate gives a good example,” the bishop said. “It makes families, and parents in particular, more willing to be able to create that environment in their own families.”Both Martin and Eckert said that at a certain point Church leaders simply have to acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit. “To fully try to understand it is important,” Martin said, “but in some ways it’s best just to appreciate and enjoy it and be grateful for it.”Eckert, meanwhile, cited as an example 1 Corinthians 3:6, in which Paul tells the Church at Corinth about its faith: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”The priest spoke joyfully about his work in the diocesan vocations office, though he downplayed his own role in bringing men to holy orders. He recounted with a laugh what a speaker told a group of vocations directors at a recent conference: “Gentlemen, get over yourselves. Nobody ever entered seminary because of their vocations director.”Priestly vocation ‘seen as a natural, fulfilling life’Father Garett Burns, the director of vocations promotion in the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, admitted that the Midwestern diocese is “blessed with a strong culture of vocations.” “For example, this past May six men were ordained to the priesthood,” he said. “We’ve been blessed to generally have a steady number of ordinations each year. There have been 22 priestly ordinations since 2020 and 44 priestly ordinations in the last 10 years. We will begin this academic year with 50 seminarians in formation.”He said that it is “difficult to capture succinctly” why a diocese might have such abundant vocations, describing every Catholic’s vocation as a “mystery of grace.” But he said promoting vocations throughout every aspect of Church life — including in families, schools, and parishes — has borne steady fruit. The diocese has an abundance of Eucharistic adoration, he said, including perpetual adoration. Such chapels present opportunities for young people to spend time in silence before Christ, he said, and “these moments are where vocations grow and flourish.”Priests and bishops in the diocese, meanwhile, are “deeply committed to the Lord.” “When priests love their priesthood and enjoy each other, that is attractive to young men,” he said. A local seminary program has also borne fruit, he said, allowing young men to form a close, core connection with the Church “at home.” The priest said he hesitates to offer advice to other dioceses, admitting that there is “no universal solution” given the unique histories, gifts, and challenges of each diocese. But expanding opportunities for Eucharistic adoration, he said, offers “one viable option that promises to deepen the culture of vocations.”Father Noah Morey, the vocations director in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, echoed the assessment of his fellow vocations directors: “It’s not just one thing, it’s everything,” he told EWTN News. The Arlington Diocese saw seven new priests ordained in 2026; it recorded 12 ordinations in 2025. Morey noted that when it comes to ordinations, “it’s not about numbers, it’s about quality.” But he said the Arlington Diocese has a “strong culture of vocations” that has helped produce exemplary priests over the years. The diocese has promoted vocations since its founding in 1974. Its first leader, Bishop Thomas Welsh, “really fostered that culture” in part by bringing a Poor Clares monastery to the diocese. “Our bishops have all taken a hands-on approach of fostering vocations in young men from a young age,” Morey said. Bishops in Arlington regularly attend seminary events and meet personally with aspiring priests, he said. Eucharistic adoration is prolific throughout the diocese, meanwhile; several years ago, Morey said, current Bishop Michael Burbidge asked every pastor in the diocese to institute 40 hours of Eucharistic adoration annually.The diocese also holds St. Andrew dinners several times a year, which allows young men to speak to both the bishop and diocesan priests about their potential discernment. “I tell the young men, it’s a very low-commitment event — you’re not signing your life away!” he said. “You just show up for a free dinner with the bishop.” A yearly “Quo Vadis?” summer camp offers another opportunity for young men to have face-to-face discernment with Church leaders. An active, vibrant priesthood in the diocese also helps foster vocational discernment, he said. “If a young man sees a priest who’s in love with the Lord, that’s really attractive to the priesthood,” he said. And faith-filled and encouraging families are equally to credit for fostering vocations in young men, Morey continued. He offered a baseball analogy to describe the process by which young men find their way to the priesthood. “The families are the starting pitchers,” he said. “The priests are the middle relievers. And the vocations director is the closer.”Globally the Church has continued to see lower vocations; the most recent data shows a continued drop in priests, with significant declines in Europe and the Americas, though Africa and Asia saw notable increases. In the first 15 months of his pontificate Pope Leo XIV has continued to emphasize the importance of vocations. In June 2025 he told vocations ministers at the Vatican that their job consisted of “forming men capable of loving, listening, praying, and serving as a community.”The pope said God “continues to call and remains faithful to his promises.” He urged leaders to help bring about the creation of appropriate conditions “to hear [God’s] voice.”In Charlotte, Bishop Martin said the best response to an increase in vocations is to be both joyful for the gift and determined to help it flourish. “There’s something in God’s design that’s beyond even what I can say,” he said. “I can provide some insights, but at the end of the day, this is the work of the Holy Spirit.” Eckert, meanwhile, said an increase in vocations is a blessing no matter where it develops.“The job that I think we all have is being intentional in our discipleship of Jesus Christ,” he said. “I pray for myself and all my brother vocations directors out there. Whether it happens in Peoria or it happens in Charlotte, it’s good for all of us.”")
Multiple dioceses throughout the U.S. are bucking national trends and seeing large numbers of men discern into the priesthood.
Using a questionnaire and a few important criteria, Father Fernando Cuevas has helped singles who want Christ at the center of their lives to find each other.
Several homes were looted and vandalized in a mainly Catholic village after the body of a Muslim man was found nearby, and 19 Indigenous villagers were arrested.
![Study shows society’s religious norms can affect children’s anxiety #Catholic Religious faith in society may do more than provide spiritual comfort and moral guidance; it could also help protect against anxiety disorders, according to a recent study published in Developmental Science.The research published in March explored if there were links between what societies value — such as independence and community — and anxiety disorder rates among children and adolescents over three decades.The study by Leonard Konstantin Kulisch, Ana Lorena Domínguez Rojas, Silvia Schneider, and Babett Voigt analyzed preexisting records and data during the years 1989 to 2022 from the World Value Survey, Global Burden of Disease study, Human Development Report, and Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.The research found an emphasis on independence was linked to higher anxiety rates in “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) nations, while a greater emphasis on religious faith and interdependence correlated with less anxiety disorders globally.It also found that the importance of religious faith in socialization, and its link to interdependence, was associated with fewer anxiety disorders across 70 of the countries examined.The study did not compare religious versus nonreligious people or compare specific countries. While the effect sizes were small, it did find that “in countries where emphasis on religious faith in childrearing declined, youth anxiety rose,” Brandon Vaidyanathan, professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News.Country-based disparitiesIn WEIRD nations, the societies that have norms that are oriented toward independence were associated with more anxiety disorders, but the analyses found no significant association among the non-WEIRD countries.In “developing societies [a] shift toward independence accompanies gains in growth and quality of life that may offset its psychological costs, but in already developed societies, it may only intensify competition and achievement-pressure,” Vaidyanathan explained.“The difference between WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies on the independence finding is quite interesting, and the authors suggest that it is stage-dependent,” Vaidyanathan said.“But religion is universal in providing goods that do not depend on development stage” including “belonging, order, meaning, purpose, routine.”Family versus society predictorsThe study reports that religious socialization may serve as “a protective factor” against anxiety issues in children and adolescents, which “is at the communal level much more than the individual level,” Vaidyanathan said. So much so that the U.S. data suggested the societyʼs religious norms predicted childrenʼs anxiety better than the motherʼs own beliefs.“The religiosity of the surrounding social environment was a stronger predictor of childrenʼs anxiety level than the familyʼs own faith, suggesting the protection comes from the society more than family,” Vaidyanathan said. The global protective factor was not communal values in general but religious faith specifically, which Vaidyanathan called “textbook sociology” of religion.“Since Durkheim, sociologists have shown that integration into [a] shared moral community buffers individuals from anomie” or “normlessness,” he said.“Where the community has clear norms, attachments, obligations, limits … the individual doesnʼt have to shoulder the burden of ordering life themselves —which is where anxiety comes in.”“Thatʼs why the protection is at the group level more than individual or family level, and that is what gets eroded in a secularized society,” he said.Vaidyanathan also pointed to Peter Berger, a sociologist and Protestant theologian who coined the term “plausibility structures,” which are the social, cultural, and institutional environments that make certain values or religious beliefs seem believable and normal to a group of people.Bergerʼs “famous concept of ‘plausibility structures’ helps us understand that a religious framework reduces anxiety, only while the surrounding society keeps it plausible — when the surrounding community keeps talking and living as if it were true.”“When that fails, religion becomes one option among many and even a devout householdʼs commitment to their faith is not enough to shield a child in that society. So this is why community norms [or] religiosity matters much more than family belief,” Vaidyanathan said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/study-shows-societys-religious-norms-can-affect-childrens-anxiety-catholic-religious-faith-in-society-may-do-more-than-provide-spiritual-comfort-and-moral-guidance-it-could-also-he.jpg "Study shows society’s religious norms can affect children’s anxiety #Catholic Religious faith in society may do more than provide spiritual comfort and moral guidance; it could also help protect against anxiety disorders, according to a recent study published in Developmental Science.The research published in March explored if there were links between what societies value — such as independence and community — and anxiety disorder rates among children and adolescents over three decades.The study by Leonard Konstantin Kulisch, Ana Lorena Domínguez Rojas, Silvia Schneider, and Babett Voigt analyzed preexisting records and data during the years 1989 to 2022 from the World Value Survey, Global Burden of Disease study, Human Development Report, and Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.The research found an emphasis on independence was linked to higher anxiety rates in “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) nations, while a greater emphasis on religious faith and interdependence correlated with less anxiety disorders globally.It also found that the importance of religious faith in socialization, and its link to interdependence, was associated with fewer anxiety disorders across 70 of the countries examined.The study did not compare religious versus nonreligious people or compare specific countries. While the effect sizes were small, it did find that “in countries where emphasis on religious faith in childrearing declined, youth anxiety rose,” Brandon Vaidyanathan, professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News.Country-based disparitiesIn WEIRD nations, the societies that have norms that are oriented toward independence were associated with more anxiety disorders, but the analyses found no significant association among the non-WEIRD countries.In “developing societies [a] shift toward independence accompanies gains in growth and quality of life that may offset its psychological costs, but in already developed societies, it may only intensify competition and achievement-pressure,” Vaidyanathan explained.“The difference between WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies on the independence finding is quite interesting, and the authors suggest that it is stage-dependent,” Vaidyanathan said.“But religion is universal in providing goods that do not depend on development stage” including “belonging, order, meaning, purpose, routine.”Family versus society predictorsThe study reports that religious socialization may serve as “a protective factor” against anxiety issues in children and adolescents, which “is at the communal level much more than the individual level,” Vaidyanathan said. So much so that the U.S. data suggested the societyʼs religious norms predicted childrenʼs anxiety better than the motherʼs own beliefs.“The religiosity of the surrounding social environment was a stronger predictor of childrenʼs anxiety level than the familyʼs own faith, suggesting the protection comes from the society more than family,” Vaidyanathan said. The global protective factor was not communal values in general but religious faith specifically, which Vaidyanathan called “textbook sociology” of religion.“Since Durkheim, sociologists have shown that integration into [a] shared moral community buffers individuals from anomie” or “normlessness,” he said.“Where the community has clear norms, attachments, obligations, limits … the individual doesnʼt have to shoulder the burden of ordering life themselves —which is where anxiety comes in.”“Thatʼs why the protection is at the group level more than individual or family level, and that is what gets eroded in a secularized society,” he said.Vaidyanathan also pointed to Peter Berger, a sociologist and Protestant theologian who coined the term “plausibility structures,” which are the social, cultural, and institutional environments that make certain values or religious beliefs seem believable and normal to a group of people.Bergerʼs “famous concept of ‘plausibility structures’ helps us understand that a religious framework reduces anxiety, only while the surrounding society keeps it plausible — when the surrounding community keeps talking and living as if it were true.”“When that fails, religion becomes one option among many and even a devout householdʼs commitment to their faith is not enough to shield a child in that society. So this is why community norms [or] religiosity matters much more than family belief,” Vaidyanathan said.")
The study, which looked at data over three decades, reports that a country’s religious values may serve as “a protective factor” against anxiety issues in children and adolescents.
![Family learns hospice bed opened as father faced scheduled assisted suicide #Catholic As New Yorkʼs Medical Aid in Dying Act takes effect amid legal challenges, one Canadian woman is sharing her familyʼs experience with physician-assisted suicide, saying it convinced her that vulnerable patients need greater access to hospice and palliative care — not assisted death.Speaking with “EWTN News Nightly” in an Aug. 5 interview with anchor Veronica Dudo, Colleen De Vos recounted the final months of her father’s life. He died through Canadaʼs medical assistance in dying (MAID) program in 2023 at age 85 after being diagnosed with terminal chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).“My father wasnʼt very forthcoming with his intentions, unfortunately,” De Vos said. “We did see some very fragile moments during the course of his illness.”As his condition worsened, De Vos said her family worked to arrange hospice or in-home palliative care, believing those services would provide the compassionate support he needed.“We were advocating very strongly for hospice care or at-home palliative program,” she said. “He seemed to agree with that.”But the familyʼs efforts were unsuccessful.“He was turned down on two occasions, deeming that his diagnosis wasnʼt enough to warrant hospice care,” De Vos said. “That was a surprise to us because we could see he was deteriorating very quickly.”Instead, she said, a nurse practitioner overseeing his care at home spoke privately with her father about pursuing MAID as his symptoms worsened.De Vos said the contrast between accessing hospice and obtaining assisted suicide was striking.“The irony of the availability of MAID that could be arranged very quickly … sidelined us very much,” she said.She recalled receiving “literally the cardboard box in the mail” containing the drugs and supplies needed for the procedure.“Obtaining [hospice care] was very difficult,” she said. “And this was very simple.”On the day her father was scheduled to die, De Vos said the family finally learned that a hospice bed had become available.She called it “very heartbreaking” that he declined the hospice bed.“I think he proceeded because of his loss of hope,” she said. “We absolutely were prepared to provide him with round-the-clock care.”Religious freedom challenge in New YorkDe Vos' story comes as Catholic ministries in New York are challenging the stateʼs new assisted suicide law in federal court.Speaking on Aug. 5 with “EWTN News Nightly,” Adele Keim, senior counsel at Becket Fund, said New Yorkʼs law differs significantly from those in states such as Oregon and Washington.“New York has created an opt-out law,” Keim said. “The presumption is youʼre in unless you opt out.”While some providers may decline to prescribe or administer the lethal drugs, Keim argued that Catholic ministries are still required to participate in other aspects of the process.“You canʼt opt out of your obligations to counsel patients about assisted suicide and the ‘benefits’ it would provide,” she said. Nor can Catholic providers refuse to refer patients elsewhere if they object to assisted suicide on religious grounds, she said.Keim said those requirements prompted the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and other Catholic ministries to seek relief in federal court.Hope, dignity, and the court’s decisionShe also spoke with hope in a federal judgeʼs decision to temporarily block New York from enforcing the law against the Catholic plaintiffs while the case proceeds.“The right to assisted suicide is not a fundamental right,” Keim said, noting that both the U.S. Supreme Court and New Yorkʼs highest court have ruled there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide. “But… there is a fundamental right to religious freedom.”According to Keim, the injunction ensures the state cannot enforce the law against the Catholic ministries while their constitutional claims are considered.The Catholic Church teaches that assisted suicide and euthanasia are gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person while encouraging compassionate palliative and hospice care that accompanies patients through natural death.De Vos said she hopes lawmakers instead “think about the sacred gift of life that we are given by God,” adding: “I donʼt believe that itʼs up to the lawmakers… to give someone the autonomy to end their life.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/family-learns-hospice-bed-opened-as-father-faced-scheduled-assisted-suicide-catholic-as-new-yorkcabcs-medical-aid-in-dying-act-takes-effect-amid-legal-challenges-one-canadian-woman-is-sharing-her.png "Family learns hospice bed opened as father faced scheduled assisted suicide #Catholic As New Yorkʼs Medical Aid in Dying Act takes effect amid legal challenges, one Canadian woman is sharing her familyʼs experience with physician-assisted suicide, saying it convinced her that vulnerable patients need greater access to hospice and palliative care — not assisted death.Speaking with “EWTN News Nightly” in an Aug. 5 interview with anchor Veronica Dudo, Colleen De Vos recounted the final months of her father’s life. He died through Canadaʼs medical assistance in dying (MAID) program in 2023 at age 85 after being diagnosed with terminal chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).“My father wasnʼt very forthcoming with his intentions, unfortunately,” De Vos said. “We did see some very fragile moments during the course of his illness.”As his condition worsened, De Vos said her family worked to arrange hospice or in-home palliative care, believing those services would provide the compassionate support he needed.“We were advocating very strongly for hospice care or at-home palliative program,” she said. “He seemed to agree with that.”But the familyʼs efforts were unsuccessful.“He was turned down on two occasions, deeming that his diagnosis wasnʼt enough to warrant hospice care,” De Vos said. “That was a surprise to us because we could see he was deteriorating very quickly.”Instead, she said, a nurse practitioner overseeing his care at home spoke privately with her father about pursuing MAID as his symptoms worsened.De Vos said the contrast between accessing hospice and obtaining assisted suicide was striking.“The irony of the availability of MAID that could be arranged very quickly … sidelined us very much,” she said.She recalled receiving “literally the cardboard box in the mail” containing the drugs and supplies needed for the procedure.“Obtaining [hospice care] was very difficult,” she said. “And this was very simple.”On the day her father was scheduled to die, De Vos said the family finally learned that a hospice bed had become available.She called it “very heartbreaking” that he declined the hospice bed.“I think he proceeded because of his loss of hope,” she said. “We absolutely were prepared to provide him with round-the-clock care.”Religious freedom challenge in New YorkDe Vos' story comes as Catholic ministries in New York are challenging the stateʼs new assisted suicide law in federal court.Speaking on Aug. 5 with “EWTN News Nightly,” Adele Keim, senior counsel at Becket Fund, said New Yorkʼs law differs significantly from those in states such as Oregon and Washington.“New York has created an opt-out law,” Keim said. “The presumption is youʼre in unless you opt out.”While some providers may decline to prescribe or administer the lethal drugs, Keim argued that Catholic ministries are still required to participate in other aspects of the process.“You canʼt opt out of your obligations to counsel patients about assisted suicide and the ‘benefits’ it would provide,” she said. Nor can Catholic providers refuse to refer patients elsewhere if they object to assisted suicide on religious grounds, she said.Keim said those requirements prompted the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and other Catholic ministries to seek relief in federal court.Hope, dignity, and the court’s decisionShe also spoke with hope in a federal judgeʼs decision to temporarily block New York from enforcing the law against the Catholic plaintiffs while the case proceeds.“The right to assisted suicide is not a fundamental right,” Keim said, noting that both the U.S. Supreme Court and New Yorkʼs highest court have ruled there is no constitutional right to assisted suicide. “But… there is a fundamental right to religious freedom.”According to Keim, the injunction ensures the state cannot enforce the law against the Catholic ministries while their constitutional claims are considered.The Catholic Church teaches that assisted suicide and euthanasia are gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person while encouraging compassionate palliative and hospice care that accompanies patients through natural death.De Vos said she hopes lawmakers instead “think about the sacred gift of life that we are given by God,” adding: “I donʼt believe that itʼs up to the lawmakers… to give someone the autonomy to end their life.”")
A Canadian woman said her father’s assisted suicide came after failed efforts to secure hospice care, as Catholic ministries challenge New York’s assisted suicide law in court.
Bishop Daniel E. Garcia said the Voting Rights Act was born from the sacrifice of those who fought to secure equal access to the ballot, especially for communities of color long denied that right.
The pope’s message was delivered by the apostolic nuncio in Rwanda during the opening ceremony of the first-ever SIGNIS World Congress to be held in Africa, taking place in Rwanda this week.
“I write to comfort the afflicted, to ignite the comfortable, and to confront injustice with the full conviction of the Gospel,” San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller wrote.
The family of Father Arsanios Wadid, who was murdered in April 2022, confirmed that the man found guilty of the crime has been put to death.
![March for Life president steps down to become ‘full-time mom’ #Catholic March for Life president steps down to focus on familyJennie Bradley Lichter, the president of the March for Life, is stepping down to devote more time to her family as a “full-time mom,” the leader said this week.“I have been humbled and inspired by the stories — so many stories, everywhere I go — of how the March for Life has changed people’s minds and hearts, how for so many Marchers it has sparked a lifetime of action and advocacy on behalf of the unborn, and in some cases, how it has changed the entire trajectory of their lives,” Bradley Lichter wrote in a farewell statement.She and her husband “are raising two tweens and a rising kindergartner, and it has become very clear that my family needs more of my time and my active presence than I’m able to give while leading the March for Life,” she said in the statement “My most important titles of all are not ‘President’ — but ‘wife’ and ‘Mom,’” she said.Bradley Lichter said that her role has been “the highlight of my professional life.”The resignation is effective July 31. The March for Life Board is actively searching for a new president.The annual demonstration draws tens of thousands to the nation’s capital yearly to advocate for the rights of unborn babies.Abortion drug present in municipal water, study findsA study published on July 20 in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine highlighted the need for “significant additional investigation into the levels of various hormones and [endocrine-disrupting chemicals], including mifepristone, in water sources,” with researchers finding high levels of the abortion drug in municipal water supplies.Mifepristone is used in chemical abortions, as well as in treatment for miscarriages, and works by blocking progesterone, a hormone necessary for pregnancy. The investigation found “significant levels of mifepristone (up to 0.041 μgram/l) in the water of all but one of the nine sampling classes,” the study read. Water samples “were collected from sites upstream and downstream of water treatment facilities, and from municipal tap water,” from multiple American cities.“Because of the plethora of effects of progesterone, this contaminant could affect the physiology of aquatic animals; and human health, including fertility, pregnancy and fetal development,” the researchers said. Justice Department settles with pro-life father after FBI raidThe U.S. Department of Justice reached a seven-figure settlement with pro-life father Paul Vaughn after his home was raided by the FBI in connection with his pro-life work.The settlement affirmed that under the Biden administration, the government’s actions “were an abuse of government power,” according to a July 28 press release by the Thomas More Society, the legal nonprofit that defended Vaughn.Vaughn, a Catholic father of 11, was arrested at gunpoint after the FBI raided his house in connection with his protest at an abortion clinic. He is one of several pro-life advocates prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act during the Biden administration.“My family has been through a traumatic ordeal that never should have happened. But today brings an end to this portion of the story,” Vaughn said in a statement.“This chapter is finally closed, and our family looks forward with gratitude and hope, as we continue to serve God, advocating for the most vulnerable among us without fear.”Catholic bishops of Massachusetts speak out against late-term abortion billThe Catholic bishops of Massachusetts spoke out this week against a bill that will legalize late-term abortion in the state.“As Catholic bishops we have a moral responsibility to present and uphold Catholic teaching and the sacred God-given dignity of every human life from conception to the natural death,” the bishops said in July 29 statement signed by Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston, Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, and Bishop Edgar da Cunha of Fall River.The state legislature passed the bill in July, with the Massachusetts Senate voting in favor of it on July 31. The measure, if signed into law, will remove the stateʼs 24-week limit on abortion.“The proposed elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion is, in our judgement, a radical measure which is gravely immoral,” the bishops’ statement read. The advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is also strongly opposing the bill; the group’s president Marjorie Dannenfelser called for nationwide protections for unborn children.“If Gov. [Maura] Healey signs this bill into law, Massachusetts will join 10 states and Washington, D.C. with an all-trimester abortion policy where babies are killed after the point they can survive outside of the womb,” Dannenfelser told EWTN News. “These extreme laws that only 10% of Americans support are enabled by the ‘states-only’ philosophy on abortion,” she said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/march-for-life-president-steps-down-to-become-full-time-mom-catholic-march-for-life-president-steps-down-to-focus-on-familyjennie-bradley-lichter-the-president-of-the-march-for-life-is-stepping.jpg "March for Life president steps down to become ‘full-time mom’ #Catholic March for Life president steps down to focus on familyJennie Bradley Lichter, the president of the March for Life, is stepping down to devote more time to her family as a “full-time mom,” the leader said this week.“I have been humbled and inspired by the stories — so many stories, everywhere I go — of how the March for Life has changed people’s minds and hearts, how for so many Marchers it has sparked a lifetime of action and advocacy on behalf of the unborn, and in some cases, how it has changed the entire trajectory of their lives,” Bradley Lichter wrote in a farewell statement.She and her husband “are raising two tweens and a rising kindergartner, and it has become very clear that my family needs more of my time and my active presence than I’m able to give while leading the March for Life,” she said in the statement “My most important titles of all are not ‘President’ — but ‘wife’ and ‘Mom,’” she said.Bradley Lichter said that her role has been “the highlight of my professional life.”The resignation is effective July 31. The March for Life Board is actively searching for a new president.The annual demonstration draws tens of thousands to the nation’s capital yearly to advocate for the rights of unborn babies.Abortion drug present in municipal water, study findsA study published on July 20 in the Journal of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine highlighted the need for “significant additional investigation into the levels of various hormones and [endocrine-disrupting chemicals], including mifepristone, in water sources,” with researchers finding high levels of the abortion drug in municipal water supplies.Mifepristone is used in chemical abortions, as well as in treatment for miscarriages, and works by blocking progesterone, a hormone necessary for pregnancy. The investigation found “significant levels of mifepristone (up to 0.041 μgram/l) in the water of all but one of the nine sampling classes,” the study read. Water samples “were collected from sites upstream and downstream of water treatment facilities, and from municipal tap water,” from multiple American cities.“Because of the plethora of effects of progesterone, this contaminant could affect the physiology of aquatic animals; and human health, including fertility, pregnancy and fetal development,” the researchers said. Justice Department settles with pro-life father after FBI raidThe U.S. Department of Justice reached a seven-figure settlement with pro-life father Paul Vaughn after his home was raided by the FBI in connection with his pro-life work.The settlement affirmed that under the Biden administration, the government’s actions “were an abuse of government power,” according to a July 28 press release by the Thomas More Society, the legal nonprofit that defended Vaughn.Vaughn, a Catholic father of 11, was arrested at gunpoint after the FBI raided his house in connection with his protest at an abortion clinic. He is one of several pro-life advocates prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act during the Biden administration.“My family has been through a traumatic ordeal that never should have happened. But today brings an end to this portion of the story,” Vaughn said in a statement.“This chapter is finally closed, and our family looks forward with gratitude and hope, as we continue to serve God, advocating for the most vulnerable among us without fear.”Catholic bishops of Massachusetts speak out against late-term abortion billThe Catholic bishops of Massachusetts spoke out this week against a bill that will legalize late-term abortion in the state.“As Catholic bishops we have a moral responsibility to present and uphold Catholic teaching and the sacred God-given dignity of every human life from conception to the natural death,” the bishops said in July 29 statement signed by Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Archbishop Richard Henning of Boston, Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, and Bishop Edgar da Cunha of Fall River.The state legislature passed the bill in July, with the Massachusetts Senate voting in favor of it on July 31. The measure, if signed into law, will remove the stateʼs 24-week limit on abortion.“The proposed elimination of any legal restraint on late-term abortion is, in our judgement, a radical measure which is gravely immoral,” the bishops’ statement read. The advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is also strongly opposing the bill; the group’s president Marjorie Dannenfelser called for nationwide protections for unborn children.“If Gov. [Maura] Healey signs this bill into law, Massachusetts will join 10 states and Washington, D.C. with an all-trimester abortion policy where babies are killed after the point they can survive outside of the womb,” Dannenfelser told EWTN News. “These extreme laws that only 10% of Americans support are enabled by the ‘states-only’ philosophy on abortion,” she said.")
Catholic Health Services, one of the Archdiocese of Miami’s largest ministries, faces losing an estimated 40 to 50 employees, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said.
The pontiff also reflected on the kingdom of God as a treasure that enlarges life and unites people of different backgrounds in Christ.
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Blue shark (Prionace glauca), Faial-Pico Channel, Azores Islands, Portugal. The blue shark is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, that inhabits deep waters (images taken though between 5 and 10 meter below water) averaging around 3.1 m (10 ft) and preferring cooler waters. They can live up to 20 years, can move very quickly and feed primarily on small fish and squid, although they can take larger prey.
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NASA’s Artemis II crew shared brief remarks with friends, family, and colleagues after they landed at Ellington Airport near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, April 11, 2026, after a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth.
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Orbicular (round body) batfish (Platax orbicularis), Red Sea, Egypt. It belongs to the family Ephippidae, the spadefishes and batfishes. This species is found in the Indo-Pacific but has been recorded outside its native range in the western Atlantic Ocean. The adult can reach a total length of 40 centimetres (16 in).
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Kalahari lion (Panthera leo) male cub, four months old, in the Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa Shortly after feeding on eland with the rest of the family.
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