Glass

Miami archbishop, president of Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA delve into Dilexi te #Catholic “The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me,’” said Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski during an Oct. 9, 2025, press conference in Miami. / Credit: Emily Chaffins/CNA Miami, Florida, Oct 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). “There’s somebody here who wants to talk to you,” the receptionist said to John Berry.Now the president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA (SVdp USA), Berry was serving the Georgia branch when a woman arrived at the office with a check. The stranger wanted to support the organization’s goals of helping people overcome poverty. Her donation was large, but her reason for donating was even more astounding.“A number of years ago, I was down on my luck, and you all helped me,” she said. “I’m in a position now where I can help you.”Berry recalled the encounter while pondering Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, published Oct. 9, centering on compassion for the poor. The exhortation’s introductory phrase — from which the title is derived — is “I have loved you,” from Revelation 3:9.Indeed, the first American pope’s message is about the necessary exchange of love between the poor and those who serve, as mirrored by Berry and the donor.Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami recognized the major papal milestone by holding a press conference Thursday to unpack Pope Leo’s words. He summarized the pope’s message: “We are to love the poor, not to blame them for their poverty but to assist them so they can discover and own their … dignity as human beings.”During the press conference at the Archdiocese of Miami pastoral center, the archbishop spoke about one of the key ideas in Dilexi te, “accompaniment,” which informs the SVdP donor’s story.“Accompaniment would be treating them as a brother or sister and not lording it over [them],” Wenski said. Otherwise, “they themselves feel offended in their dignity, and then what we’re doing is not so much trying to help them but [instead] trying to make us feel good.”On the contrary, accompaniment can be far from the feel good.“Accompaniment means that we roll up our sleeves and work with them, and oftentimes when doing so we’re not going to feel good because it’s going to require a lot of sweat and tears,” the archbishop added. Indeed, SVdP USA strives to embody the Catholic mindset of accompaniment, as volunteers dialogue with impoverished families and individuals to tailor the method of aid to their specific situations. Some of SVdP USA’s offerings include monetary aid, food pantries, free pharmacy programs, shelters, clinics, and education centers.Society of St. Vincent de Paul pharmacist Kellie Elisar (left) and team at the St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge Charitable Pharmacy on June 24, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Society of St. Vincent de Paul“We’re not the kind of agency where somebody who’s in need walks in the door, fills out a form, slips it under a hole in a glass wall, and then next thing you know, somebody says, ‘OK, we’ll pay your bill’ or hands over a box of food,” Berry explained. “Ours is a sit-down conversation, a personal encounter, where we talk with people and create a solution together. We find out from them what are their needs, what are the things that are challenging them.”In the Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic Legal Services represents immigrants in need, and people struggling with the English language can attend parish-based ESL (English as a second language) classes.As Wenski put it: “The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me.’”“It is significant because these first apostolic exhortations tend to be the putting forth of a strategic plan for the priorities of the pope for his pontificate,” he added.Both the archbishop and Berry pointed out that Pope Leo’s missionary outreach in Peru likely informs his perspective on the poor within the exhortation as someone who walked the walk. “This is his heart,” Berry said.
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Miami archbishop, president of Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA delve into Dilexi te #Catholic “The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me,’” said Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski during an Oct. 9, 2025, press conference in Miami. / Credit: Emily Chaffins/CNA Miami, Florida, Oct 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). “There’s somebody here who wants to talk to you,” the receptionist said to John Berry.Now the president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA (SVdp USA), Berry was serving the Georgia branch when a woman arrived at the office with a check. The stranger wanted to support the organization’s goals of helping people overcome poverty. Her donation was large, but her reason for donating was even more astounding.“A number of years ago, I was down on my luck, and you all helped me,” she said. “I’m in a position now where I can help you.”Berry recalled the encounter while pondering Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, published Oct. 9, centering on compassion for the poor. The exhortation’s introductory phrase — from which the title is derived — is “I have loved you,” from Revelation 3:9.Indeed, the first American pope’s message is about the necessary exchange of love between the poor and those who serve, as mirrored by Berry and the donor.Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami recognized the major papal milestone by holding a press conference Thursday to unpack Pope Leo’s words. He summarized the pope’s message: “We are to love the poor, not to blame them for their poverty but to assist them so they can discover and own their … dignity as human beings.”During the press conference at the Archdiocese of Miami pastoral center, the archbishop spoke about one of the key ideas in Dilexi te, “accompaniment,” which informs the SVdP donor’s story.“Accompaniment would be treating them as a brother or sister and not lording it over [them],” Wenski said. Otherwise, “they themselves feel offended in their dignity, and then what we’re doing is not so much trying to help them but [instead] trying to make us feel good.”On the contrary, accompaniment can be far from the feel good.“Accompaniment means that we roll up our sleeves and work with them, and oftentimes when doing so we’re not going to feel good because it’s going to require a lot of sweat and tears,” the archbishop added. Indeed, SVdP USA strives to embody the Catholic mindset of accompaniment, as volunteers dialogue with impoverished families and individuals to tailor the method of aid to their specific situations. Some of SVdP USA’s offerings include monetary aid, food pantries, free pharmacy programs, shelters, clinics, and education centers.Society of St. Vincent de Paul pharmacist Kellie Elisar (left) and team at the St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge Charitable Pharmacy on June 24, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Society of St. Vincent de Paul“We’re not the kind of agency where somebody who’s in need walks in the door, fills out a form, slips it under a hole in a glass wall, and then next thing you know, somebody says, ‘OK, we’ll pay your bill’ or hands over a box of food,” Berry explained. “Ours is a sit-down conversation, a personal encounter, where we talk with people and create a solution together. We find out from them what are their needs, what are the things that are challenging them.”In the Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic Legal Services represents immigrants in need, and people struggling with the English language can attend parish-based ESL (English as a second language) classes.As Wenski put it: “The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me.’”“It is significant because these first apostolic exhortations tend to be the putting forth of a strategic plan for the priorities of the pope for his pontificate,” he added.Both the archbishop and Berry pointed out that Pope Leo’s missionary outreach in Peru likely informs his perspective on the poor within the exhortation as someone who walked the walk. “This is his heart,” Berry said.

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“The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me,’” said Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski during an Oct. 9, 2025, press conference in Miami. / Credit: Emily Chaffins/CNA

Miami, Florida, Oct 10, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

“There’s somebody here who wants to talk to you,” the receptionist said to John Berry.

Now the president of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul USA (SVdp USA), Berry was serving the Georgia branch when a woman arrived at the office with a check. The stranger wanted to support the organization’s goals of helping people overcome poverty. Her donation was large, but her reason for donating was even more astounding.

“A number of years ago, I was down on my luck, and you all helped me,” she said. “I’m in a position now where I can help you.”

Berry recalled the encounter while pondering Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, published Oct. 9, centering on compassion for the poor. The exhortation’s introductory phrase — from which the title is derived — is “I have loved you,” from Revelation 3:9.

Indeed, the first American pope’s message is about the necessary exchange of love between the poor and those who serve, as mirrored by Berry and the donor.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami recognized the major papal milestone by holding a press conference Thursday to unpack Pope Leo’s words. He summarized the pope’s message: “We are to love the poor, not to blame them for their poverty but to assist them so they can discover and own their … dignity as human beings.”

During the press conference at the Archdiocese of Miami pastoral center, the archbishop spoke about one of the key ideas in Dilexi te, “accompaniment,” which informs the SVdP donor’s story.

“Accompaniment would be treating them as a brother or sister and not lording it over [them],” Wenski said. Otherwise, “they themselves feel offended in their dignity, and then what we’re doing is not so much trying to help them but [instead] trying to make us feel good.”

On the contrary, accompaniment can be far from the feel good.

“Accompaniment means that we roll up our sleeves and work with them, and oftentimes when doing so we’re not going to feel good because it’s going to require a lot of sweat and tears,” the archbishop added. 

Indeed, SVdP USA strives to embody the Catholic mindset of accompaniment, as volunteers dialogue with impoverished families and individuals to tailor the method of aid to their specific situations. Some of SVdP USA’s offerings include monetary aid, food pantries, free pharmacy programs, shelters, clinics, and education centers.

Society of St. Vincent de Paul pharmacist Kellie Elisar (left) and team at the St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge Charitable Pharmacy on June 24, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Society of St. Vincent de Paul pharmacist Kellie Elisar (left) and team at the St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge Charitable Pharmacy on June 24, 2025. Credit: Photo courtesy of Society of St. Vincent de Paul

“We’re not the kind of agency where somebody who’s in need walks in the door, fills out a form, slips it under a hole in a glass wall, and then next thing you know, somebody says, ‘OK, we’ll pay your bill’ or hands over a box of food,” Berry explained. “Ours is a sit-down conversation, a personal encounter, where we talk with people and create a solution together. We find out from them what are their needs, what are the things that are challenging them.”

In the Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic Legal Services represents immigrants in need, and people struggling with the English language can attend parish-based ESL (English as a second language) classes.

As Wenski put it: “The Christian is supposed to answer the question ‘Who is my neighbor?’, and the answer is: ‘The one who needs me.’”

“It is significant because these first apostolic exhortations tend to be the putting forth of a strategic plan for the priorities of the pope for his pontificate,” he added.

Both the archbishop and Berry pointed out that Pope Leo’s missionary outreach in Peru likely informs his perspective on the poor within the exhortation as someone who walked the walk. 

“This is his heart,” Berry said.

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7 common myths and facts about the rosary
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7 common myths and facts about the rosary

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A woman prays the rosary at the Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on Sept. 28, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 7, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

October is designated by the Catholic Church as the Month of the Rosary, and Oct. 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Here are seven common myths and facts about this devotion to Our Lady:

1. Only Catholics can pray the rosary. 

False. While rosaries are typically associated with Catholics, non-Catholics can certainly pray the rosary — and in fact, many credit it to their conversion. Even some Protestants recognize the rosary as a valid form of prayer.

2. Praying the rosary is idolatry. 

False. Some have objections to the rosary, claiming it idolizes Mary and is overly repetitive. 

Just like any practice, the rosary can be abused — just as someone might idolize a particular pastor or priest, a form of worship, or fasting. But the rosary itself is not a form of idolatry. 

The rosary is not a prayer to Mary — it is a meditation on the life of Christ revealed in five mysteries “with the purposes of drawing the person praying deeper into reflecting on Christ’s joys, sacrifices, sufferings, and the glorious miracles of his life.” 

When we pray the Hail Mary, we are not adoring Mary, we are asking for her intercession — just as we might ask a friend or family member to pray for us. 

Second, any prayer can lose its meaning if we do not intentionally meditate on it. Focusing on the mysteries with purpose and intention is key to the rosary’s transforming power. As one author encourages: “The rosary itself stays the same, but we do not.”

3. You can wear a rosary as a necklace.

It depends. It is typically considered disrespectful and irreverent to wear a rosary around one’s neck as jewelry, even though the Church does not have an explicit declaration against doing so. 

However, Canon 1171 of the Code of Canon Law says that “sacred objects, set aside for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated with reverence. They are not to be made over to secular or inappropriate use, even though they may belong to private persons.”

It is important to treat the rosary with respect and intention. If you intend to wear the rosary as a piece of jewelry, this would not be respectful and should be avoided. It goes without saying that wearing the rosary as a mockery or gang symbol would be a sin.

But if it is your intention to use the rosary and be mindful of prayer, then it could be permissible. It is not uncommon in some cultures, like in Honduras and El Salvador, to see the rosary respectfully worn around the neck as a sign of devotion.

Rosary rings or bracelets might be a better option if you want to keep your rosary close at hand as a reminder to pray, as they are kept more out of sight and would not be as easily misconstrued to be a piece of jewelry. 

4. The rosary is an extremist symbol.

False. A widely-shared 2022 Atlantic article went viral for accusing the rosary of being an “extremist symbol.” 

“Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or ‘rad trad’) Catholics,” the article read.

The author also cited the Church’s stance on traditional marriage and the sanctity of life as evidence of “extremism” and claimed that Catholics’ tendency to call the rosary a “weapon in the fight against evil” as dangerous.

As CNA reported in 2022, popes have urged Catholics to pray the rosary since 1571 — often referring to the rosary as a prayer “weapon” and most powerful spiritual tool.

5. The rosary is not biblical.

Untrue! Most of its words come directly from Scripture.

First, the Our Father is prayed. The words of the Our Father are those Christ taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9–13.

The Hail Mary also comes straight from the Bible. The first part, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee,” comes from Luke 1:28, and the second, “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,” is found in Luke 1:42.

Finally, each of the decades prayed on the rosary symbolizes an event in the lives of Jesus and Mary. The decades are divided into four sets of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious, the majority of which are found in Scripture. 

6. A rosary bead, or pea, can kill you.

Somewhat true. A rosary pea, or abrus seed, is a vine plant native to India and parts of Asia. The seeds of the vine, which are red with black spots, are often used to make beaded jewelry — including rosaries. Rosary pea seeds contain a toxic substance called “abrin,” which is a naturally-occurring poison that can be fatal if ingested. However, it’s unlikely for someone to get abrin poisoning just from holding a rosary made from abrus seeds, as one would have to swallow them.

Today, most rosaries are made from other nontoxic materials, such as olive wood or glass — eliminating this concern.

7. Carrying a rosary can protect you.

True. The rosary has proven to be a miraculous force for protecting those of faith and bestowing upon them extra graces, such as the victory of the Christian forces at the Battle of Lepanto after St. Pius V implored Western Christians to pray the rosary.

Many great saints across history, including Pope John Paul II, Padre Pio, and Lucia of Fátima, have also recognized the rosary as the most powerful weapon in fighting the real spiritual battles we face in the world. 

We know that spiritual warfare is a real and present danger: “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6:11–12). 

“The rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin … If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors,” Pope Pius XI said. 

This story was first published on Oct. 1, 2022, and has been updated.

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Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael: The 3 great archangels of the Bible
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Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael: The 3 great archangels of the Bible

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A stained-glass window in St. Sulpice Church in Fougeres, France, depicts (from left to right) the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. / Credit: Tiberiu Stan/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 29, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Many Catholics can, at the drop of a hat, recite the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel — the famous petition to that venerable saint to “defend us in battle” and “cast into hell Satan.”

In the culture of the Church, Michael is often accompanied by his two fellow archangels — Sts. Gabriel and Raphael — with the three forming a phalanx of protection, healing, and petition for those who ask for their intercession. The Church celebrates the three archangels with a joint feast day on Sept. 29.

St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel is hailed in the Book of Daniel as “the great prince who has charge of [God’s] people.”

Michael Aquilina, the executive vice president and trustee of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology in Steubenville, Ohio, described Michael among angels as “the one most often named — and most often invoked — and most often seen in history-changing apparitions.”

Devotion to Michael, Aquilina told CNA, “has been with the Church from the beginning. And Michael has been with God’s people since before the beginning of the Church.”

Michael’s history in the Bible is depicted through Daniel, in Jude (in which he battles Satan for possession of Moses’ body), and in Revelation as he “wag[es] war with the dragon” alongside his fellow angels. 

Michael, Aquilina said, was “a supremely important character who was there from the beginning of the story.” Rabbinic tradition holds that Michael was at the center of many of the great biblical dramas even if not explicitly mentioned. 

He was an early subject of veneration in the Church, though Aquilina noted that the Reformation led to a steep decline in devotion to the angels — until the end of the 19th century, when Michael began an “amazing comeback journey” in the life of the Church. 

Following a vision of Satan “running riot” on the planet, “Pope Leo composed three prayers to St. Michael, ranging from short to long,” Aquilina said. “The brief one, he commanded, should be prayed at the end of every Mass.” 

This was a regular feature of the Mass until the Vatican II era, after which it came to an end — though Pope John Paul II in 1994 urged Catholics to make the prayer a regular part of their lives.

“St. Michael is there for us in the day of battle, which is every day,” Aquilina said.

The St. Michael Prayer: St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil / May God rebuke him, we humbly pray / And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the divine power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

St. Gabriel the Archangel

Gabriel appears regularly in Scripture as a messenger of God’s word, both in the Old and New Testaments. Daniel identifies Gabriel as a “man” who came “to give [him] insight and understanding,” relaying prophetic answers to Daniel’s entreaties to God. 

In the New Testament, Luke relays Gabriel’s appearances to both Zechariah and the Virgin Mary. At the former, he informs the priest that his wife, Elizabeth, will soon conceive a child; at the latter he informs Mary herself that she will do the same. The two children in question, of course, were respectively John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. 

Christian tradition further associates Gabriel with the apostle Paul’s reference in his First Letter to the Thessalonians to the “archangel’s call” and “the sound of the trumpet of God.”

“Judgment will begin with the archangel’s call and the sound of the horn,” Aquilina told CNA. “Thus we hear often of Gabriel’s trumpet.”

Media workers in particular have “good professional reasons to go to Gabriel,” Aquilina said.

“Since he is the Bible’s great communicator — the great teller of good news — he is the natural patron of broadcasters and all those who work in electronic media,” he said. 

“For the same reason, he’s the patron saint of preachers … but also of postal workers, diplomats, and messengers.”

The St. Gabriel Prayer: O Blessed Archangel Gabriel, we beseech thee, do thou intercede for us at the throne of divine mercy in our present necessities, that as thou didst announce to Mary the mystery of the Incarnation, so through thy prayers and patronage in heaven we may obtain the benefits of the same, and sing the praise of God forever in the land of the living. Amen.

St. Raphael the Archangel

Lesser-known among the three great archangels, Raphael’s mission from God “is not obvious to the casual reader” of the Bible, Aquilina said. Yet his story, depicted in the Book of Tobit, is “something unique in the whole Bible.” In other depictions of angels, they come to Earth only briefly, to deliver a message or to help God’s favored people in some way. 

“Raphael is different,” Aquilina said. “He stays around for the whole story, and by the end he’s become something more than an angel … he’s become a friend.”

In Tobit, Raphael accompanies Tobias, the son of the book’s namesake, as he travels to retrieve money left by his father in another town, helping him along the way and arranging for his marriage to Sarah. 

The biblical account “has in every generation provided insight and consolation to the devout,” Aquilina said. 

Notably, Raphael deftly uses the natural world to work God’s miracles: “What we would ordinarily call catastrophes — blindness, multiple widowhood, destitution, estrangement — all these become providential channels of grace by the time the threads of the story are all wound up in the end.”

“Raphael is patron of many kinds of people,” Aquilina said. “Of course, he’s the patron of singles in search of a mate — and those in search of a friend. He is the patron of pharmacists because he provided the salve of healing. He is a patron for anyone in search of a cure.” 

He is also the patron saint of blind people, travelers, sick people, and youth. 

“Raphael’s story,” Aquilina said, “remains a model for those who would enjoy the friendship of the angels.”

Prayer to St. Raphael: St. Raphael, of the glorious seven who stand before the throne of him who lives and reigns, angel of health, the Lord has filled your hand with balm from heaven to soothe or cure our pains. Heal or cure the victim of disease. And guide our steps when doubtful of our ways. Amen.

This story was first published on Sept. 29, 2023, and has been updated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Laws limiting those with mental health disorders from gun possession

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Picture of the day This stained glass window located in the Basilica of St. James and St. Agnes, a church in Nysa, Poland, depicts angels adoring the sacred host and wine during an epiclesis to the Holy Spirit, represented as a dove. Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is observed as a religious celebration in much of Western Christianity and as a public holiday in various nations. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day This stained glass window located in the Basilica of St. James and St. Agnes, a church in Nysa, Poland, depicts angels adoring the sacred host and wine during an epiclesis to the Holy Spirit, represented as a dove. Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is observed as a religious celebration in much of Western Christianity and as a public holiday in various nations. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
This stained glass window located in the Basilica of St. James and St. Agnes, a church in Nysa, Poland, depicts angels adoring the sacred host and wine during an epiclesis to the Holy Spirit, represented as a dove. Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is observed as a religious celebration in much of Western Christianity and as a public holiday in various nations.
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Picture of the day This stained glass window from Église Sainte-Madeleine, a church in Gramond, France, depicts Saints Victor of Damascus and Paul the Apostle. Though they were not contemporaries, both men have a connection to Damascus. Moreover, legend has it that each were martyred by beheading, hence they are displayed holding swords. Today is the feast of The Conversion of St. Paul and the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in much of Western Christianity. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day This stained glass window from Église Sainte-Madeleine, a church in Gramond, France, depicts Saints Victor of Damascus and Paul the Apostle. Though they were not contemporaries, both men have a connection to Damascus. Moreover, legend has it that each were martyred by beheading, hence they are displayed holding swords. Today is the feast of The Conversion of St. Paul and the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in much of Western Christianity. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
This stained glass window from Église Sainte-Madeleine, a church in Gramond, France, depicts Saints Victor of Damascus and Paul the Apostle. Though they were not contemporaries, both men have a connection to Damascus. Moreover, legend has it that each were martyred by beheading, hence they are displayed holding swords. Today is the feast of The Conversion of St. Paul and the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in much of Western Christianity.
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