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Catholics express mixed views on first year of Trump’s second term #Catholic With Speaker of the House Mike Johnson by his side, President Donald Trump speaks to the press following a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Jan 20, 2026 / 12:21 pm (CNA). Catholics are offering mixed reactions to the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, which included domestic policy actions that align with U.S. bishops on gender-related issues, and also tensions over immigration, expansion of the death penalty, and reduced funding for organizations that provide food and basic support to people in need.Trump secured his electoral victory in 2024 with the help of Catholics, who supported him by a double-digit margin, according to exit polls. A Pew Research Center report found that nearly a quarter of Trump’s voters in 2024 were Catholic.Throughout his first year, Trump — who calls himself a nondenominational Christian — has invoked Christianity and created a White House Faith Office. He created a Religious Liberty Commission by executive order in May 2025 and became the first president to issue a proclamation honoring the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception in December.Last year, the president also launched the “America Prays” initiative, which encouraged people to dedicate one hour of prayer for the United States and its people in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.Immigration, poverty, and NGOsJohn White, professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, said the first year of Trump’s second term “challenged Catholics on many levels.”“The brutality of ICE has caused the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to issue an extraordinary statement at the prompting of Pope Leo XIV,” White said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a special message in November opposing indiscriminate mass deportations, calling for humane treatment, urging meaningful reform, and affirming the compatibility of national security with human dignity.The Trump administration, with JD Vance, the second Catholic vice president in U.S. history, cut billions of dollars in funding to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which financially damaged several Catholic nonprofits that had received funding. Trump also signed into law historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.“The cuts to NGO funding, SNAP, and Medicaid benefits, alongside the huge increases in health care costs, have hurt the poor and middle class at home and around the world,” he said. “Instead of being the good Samaritan, Trump has challenged our Catholic values and narrowed our vision of who we are and what we believe. JD Vance’s interpretation of ‘Ordo Amoris’ of a hierarchy to those whom we love rather than a universal love is a case in point and has been repudiated by Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV,” he said.The cuts aligned federal policy with the administration’s agenda, which included strict immigration enforcement, mass deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, and less foreign aid support.Catholic Charities USA was previously receiving more than $100 million annually for migrant services, and the Trump administration cut off those funds. In response, the organization scaled back its services.Since Trump took office, the administration said it has deported more than 600,000 people.Karen Sullivan, director of advocacy for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), which provides legal services to migrants, said she is “very concerned about the way that immigration enforcement has been carried out,” adding her organization is “very concerned that human dignity of all persons [needs to] be respected.”Sullivan said the administration is “enabling their officers to use excessive force as they are taking people into custody” and “denying access to oversight at their detention centers.” She also expressed concern about the administration increasing fees for asylum applications and giving agents more leeway to conduct immigration enforcement at sensitive locations, such as churches, schools, and hospitals.She said the large number of deportations and the increase in expedited removals has “been a strain” on organizations that seek to provide legal help to migrants.CLINIC receives inquiries from people who are facing deportation and also those who fear they may be deported. She said: “The worry and the fear among those people [who may face deportation] makes them seek out assistance and advice even more often.”“The pace of the changes that have been happening in the past year have been very difficult to manage,” she said. “We are having to respond very quickly to changes."Executive actions on genderSusan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), viewed the first year of Trump’s second term in mostly successful terms.“As Catholics we know that the law educates, and during Trump’s first year in office we witnessed an actual shift in public opinion on the LGBT/transgender ideology due to his asserting the scientific and natural common sense that there are only male and female,” Hanssen said.Trump took executive action to prohibit what he called the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children, such as hormone therapy and surgical transition. He signed a policy restricting participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports. He legally recognized only two genders, determined by biology: male and female.“His strong executive action on this essential point — domestically in making the executive branch remove its trans-affirming language, the executive department of education stop subverting parental rights over their children, and women’s rights in sports, and (importantly) putting an end to USAID’s [U.S. Agency for International Development] pushing this gender agenda on the countries who need our economic assistance,” she said.“This has led to a genuine public shift, with fewer independent corporations choosing to enforce June as LGBT Pride month on their customer base, fewer DEI programs pushing the gender agenda on hiring, and a shift (especially among young men) towards disapproval of gender transitioning children and even towards disapproval of the legalization of so-called same sex ‘marriage,’” she added. “We will need to see how these executive branch victories will affect judicial and legislative action moving forward.”Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, had a similar view of some of the social changes.“The current administration has focused significant energy on the important task of ‘putting folks on notice,’ so it’s hard to deny, for example, that the misguided medico-pharmaceutical industry that has profited handsomely from exploiting vulnerable youth and other gender dysphoric individuals can no longer miss the loud indicators that these practices will not be able to continue unabated,” he said.Death penaltyTrump signaled a renewed and more aggressive federal capital-punishment policy in 2025, in opposition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office directing the Justice Department to actively pursue the federal death penalty for serious crimes. He also directed federal prosecutors to seek death sentences in Washington, D.C., homicide cases. His administration lifted a moratorium on executions, reversing a pause in federal executions and following President Joe Biden’s commutations of federal death sentences.Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, then-president of the USCCB, in a Jan. 22, 2025, statement called Trump’s support for expanding the federal death penalty “deeply troubling.” Newly elected USCCB president Archbishop Paul Coakley likewise called for the abolition of the death penalty.
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Catholics express mixed views on first year of Trump’s second term #Catholic With Speaker of the House Mike Johnson by his side, President Donald Trump speaks to the press following a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Jan 20, 2026 / 12:21 pm (CNA). Catholics are offering mixed reactions to the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, which included domestic policy actions that align with U.S. bishops on gender-related issues, and also tensions over immigration, expansion of the death penalty, and reduced funding for organizations that provide food and basic support to people in need.Trump secured his electoral victory in 2024 with the help of Catholics, who supported him by a double-digit margin, according to exit polls. A Pew Research Center report found that nearly a quarter of Trump’s voters in 2024 were Catholic.Throughout his first year, Trump — who calls himself a nondenominational Christian — has invoked Christianity and created a White House Faith Office. He created a Religious Liberty Commission by executive order in May 2025 and became the first president to issue a proclamation honoring the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception in December.Last year, the president also launched the “America Prays” initiative, which encouraged people to dedicate one hour of prayer for the United States and its people in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.Immigration, poverty, and NGOsJohn White, professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, said the first year of Trump’s second term “challenged Catholics on many levels.”“The brutality of ICE has caused the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to issue an extraordinary statement at the prompting of Pope Leo XIV,” White said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a special message in November opposing indiscriminate mass deportations, calling for humane treatment, urging meaningful reform, and affirming the compatibility of national security with human dignity.The Trump administration, with JD Vance, the second Catholic vice president in U.S. history, cut billions of dollars in funding to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which financially damaged several Catholic nonprofits that had received funding. Trump also signed into law historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.“The cuts to NGO funding, SNAP, and Medicaid benefits, alongside the huge increases in health care costs, have hurt the poor and middle class at home and around the world,” he said. “Instead of being the good Samaritan, Trump has challenged our Catholic values and narrowed our vision of who we are and what we believe. JD Vance’s interpretation of ‘Ordo Amoris’ of a hierarchy to those whom we love rather than a universal love is a case in point and has been repudiated by Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV,” he said.The cuts aligned federal policy with the administration’s agenda, which included strict immigration enforcement, mass deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, and less foreign aid support.Catholic Charities USA was previously receiving more than $100 million annually for migrant services, and the Trump administration cut off those funds. In response, the organization scaled back its services.Since Trump took office, the administration said it has deported more than 600,000 people.Karen Sullivan, director of advocacy for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), which provides legal services to migrants, said she is “very concerned about the way that immigration enforcement has been carried out,” adding her organization is “very concerned that human dignity of all persons [needs to] be respected.”Sullivan said the administration is “enabling their officers to use excessive force as they are taking people into custody” and “denying access to oversight at their detention centers.” She also expressed concern about the administration increasing fees for asylum applications and giving agents more leeway to conduct immigration enforcement at sensitive locations, such as churches, schools, and hospitals.She said the large number of deportations and the increase in expedited removals has “been a strain” on organizations that seek to provide legal help to migrants.CLINIC receives inquiries from people who are facing deportation and also those who fear they may be deported. She said: “The worry and the fear among those people [who may face deportation] makes them seek out assistance and advice even more often.”“The pace of the changes that have been happening in the past year have been very difficult to manage,” she said. “We are having to respond very quickly to changes."Executive actions on genderSusan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), viewed the first year of Trump’s second term in mostly successful terms.“As Catholics we know that the law educates, and during Trump’s first year in office we witnessed an actual shift in public opinion on the LGBT/transgender ideology due to his asserting the scientific and natural common sense that there are only male and female,” Hanssen said.Trump took executive action to prohibit what he called the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children, such as hormone therapy and surgical transition. He signed a policy restricting participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports. He legally recognized only two genders, determined by biology: male and female.“His strong executive action on this essential point — domestically in making the executive branch remove its trans-affirming language, the executive department of education stop subverting parental rights over their children, and women’s rights in sports, and (importantly) putting an end to USAID’s [U.S. Agency for International Development] pushing this gender agenda on the countries who need our economic assistance,” she said.“This has led to a genuine public shift, with fewer independent corporations choosing to enforce June as LGBT Pride month on their customer base, fewer DEI programs pushing the gender agenda on hiring, and a shift (especially among young men) towards disapproval of gender transitioning children and even towards disapproval of the legalization of so-called same sex ‘marriage,’” she added. “We will need to see how these executive branch victories will affect judicial and legislative action moving forward.”Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, had a similar view of some of the social changes.“The current administration has focused significant energy on the important task of ‘putting folks on notice,’ so it’s hard to deny, for example, that the misguided medico-pharmaceutical industry that has profited handsomely from exploiting vulnerable youth and other gender dysphoric individuals can no longer miss the loud indicators that these practices will not be able to continue unabated,” he said.Death penaltyTrump signaled a renewed and more aggressive federal capital-punishment policy in 2025, in opposition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office directing the Justice Department to actively pursue the federal death penalty for serious crimes. He also directed federal prosecutors to seek death sentences in Washington, D.C., homicide cases. His administration lifted a moratorium on executions, reversing a pause in federal executions and following President Joe Biden’s commutations of federal death sentences.Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, then-president of the USCCB, in a Jan. 22, 2025, statement called Trump’s support for expanding the federal death penalty “deeply troubling.” Newly elected USCCB president Archbishop Paul Coakley likewise called for the abolition of the death penalty.

unitedyam

With Speaker of the House Mike Johnson by his side, President Donald Trump speaks to the press following a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Jan 20, 2026 / 12:21 pm (CNA).

Catholics are offering mixed reactions to the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, which included domestic policy actions that align with U.S. bishops on gender-related issues, and also tensions over immigration, expansion of the death penalty, and reduced funding for organizations that provide food and basic support to people in need.

Trump secured his electoral victory in 2024 with the help of Catholics, who supported him by a double-digit margin, according to exit polls. A Pew Research Center report found that nearly a quarter of Trump’s voters in 2024 were Catholic.

Throughout his first year, Trump — who calls himself a nondenominational Christian — has invoked Christianity and created a White House Faith Office. He created a Religious Liberty Commission by executive order in May 2025 and became the first president to issue a proclamation honoring the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception in December.

Last year, the president also launched the “America Prays” initiative, which encouraged people to dedicate one hour of prayer for the United States and its people in preparation for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.

Immigration, poverty, and NGOs

John White, professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, said the first year of Trump’s second term “challenged Catholics on many levels.”

“The brutality of ICE has caused the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to issue an extraordinary statement at the prompting of Pope Leo XIV,” White said, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a special message in November opposing indiscriminate mass deportations, calling for humane treatment, urging meaningful reform, and affirming the compatibility of national security with human dignity.

The Trump administration, with JD Vance, the second Catholic vice president in U.S. history, cut billions of dollars in funding to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which financially damaged several Catholic nonprofits that had received funding. Trump also signed into law historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“The cuts to NGO funding, SNAP, and Medicaid benefits, alongside the huge increases in health care costs, have hurt the poor and middle class at home and around the world,” he said. “Instead of being the good Samaritan, Trump has challenged our Catholic values and narrowed our vision of who we are and what we believe. JD Vance’s interpretation of ‘Ordo Amoris’ of a hierarchy to those whom we love rather than a universal love is a case in point and has been repudiated by Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV,” he said.

The cuts aligned federal policy with the administration’s agenda, which included strict immigration enforcement, mass deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, and less foreign aid support.

Catholic Charities USA was previously receiving more than $100 million annually for migrant services, and the Trump administration cut off those funds. In response, the organization scaled back its services.

Since Trump took office, the administration said it has deported more than 600,000 people.

Karen Sullivan, director of advocacy for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), which provides legal services to migrants, said she is “very concerned about the way that immigration enforcement has been carried out,” adding her organization is “very concerned that human dignity of all persons [needs to] be respected.”

Sullivan said the administration is “enabling their officers to use excessive force as they are taking people into custody” and “denying access to oversight at their detention centers.” She also expressed concern about the administration increasing fees for asylum applications and giving agents more leeway to conduct immigration enforcement at sensitive locations, such as churches, schools, and hospitals.

She said the large number of deportations and the increase in expedited removals has “been a strain” on organizations that seek to provide legal help to migrants.

CLINIC receives inquiries from people who are facing deportation and also those who fear they may be deported. She said: “The worry and the fear among those people [who may face deportation] makes them seek out assistance and advice even more often.”

“The pace of the changes that have been happening in the past year have been very difficult to manage,” she said. “We are having to respond very quickly to changes."

Executive actions on gender

Susan Hanssen, a history professor at the University of Dallas (a Catholic institution), viewed the first year of Trump’s second term in mostly successful terms.

“As Catholics we know that the law educates, and during Trump’s first year in office we witnessed an actual shift in public opinion on the LGBT/transgender ideology due to his asserting the scientific and natural common sense that there are only male and female,” Hanssen said.

Trump took executive action to prohibit what he called the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children, such as hormone therapy and surgical transition. He signed a policy restricting participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports. He legally recognized only two genders, determined by biology: male and female.

“His strong executive action on this essential point — domestically in making the executive branch remove its trans-affirming language, the executive department of education stop subverting parental rights over their children, and women’s rights in sports, and (importantly) putting an end to USAID’s [U.S. Agency for International Development] pushing this gender agenda on the countries who need our economic assistance,” she said.

“This has led to a genuine public shift, with fewer independent corporations choosing to enforce June as LGBT Pride month on their customer base, fewer DEI programs pushing the gender agenda on hiring, and a shift (especially among young men) towards disapproval of gender transitioning children and even towards disapproval of the legalization of so-called same sex ‘marriage,’” she added. “We will need to see how these executive branch victories will affect judicial and legislative action moving forward.”

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, had a similar view of some of the social changes.

“The current administration has focused significant energy on the important task of ‘putting folks on notice,’ so it’s hard to deny, for example, that the misguided medico-pharmaceutical industry that has profited handsomely from exploiting vulnerable youth and other gender dysphoric individuals can no longer miss the loud indicators that these practices will not be able to continue unabated,” he said.

Death penalty

Trump signaled a renewed and more aggressive federal capital-punishment policy in 2025, in opposition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”

Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office directing the Justice Department to actively pursue the federal death penalty for serious crimes. He also directed federal prosecutors to seek death sentences in Washington, D.C., homicide cases. His administration lifted a moratorium on executions, reversing a pause in federal executions and following President Joe Biden’s commutations of federal death sentences.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, then-president of the USCCB, in a Jan. 22, 2025, statement called Trump’s support for expanding the federal death penalty “deeply troubling.” Newly elected USCCB president Archbishop Paul Coakley likewise called for the abolition of the death penalty.

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CUA professor launches AI marketplace in line with Catholic social teaching #Catholic Credit: David Gyung/Shutterstock Jan 17, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA). An artificial intelligence (AI) marketplace launched by a business professor at The Catholic University of America seeks to offer products and services in a venue consistent with the social teachings of the Catholic Church — it is called Almma AI.Lucas Wall, who teaches finance at the university and has led several entrepreneurial ventures, began building Almma AI in mid-2023. The marketplace facilitates transactions for AI-related products, allowing people to upload their creations to be purchased or, in some cases, used for no charge.The types of products that can be offered on the marketplace include Large Language Models (LLMs) — similar to ChatGPT and Grok — along with AI prompts, personas, assistants, agents, and plugins.Although other marketplaces exist, Wall told EWTN News that Almma AI is designed to ensure the average person can “benefit from this new revolution that is coming” by selling or purchasing products in the marketplace.“With most technological revolutions and changes, there are only a handful of people who make fortunes,” Wall said.Almma’s mission statement is “AI profits for all,” and Wall said it is meant to “help people monetize their knowledge.” He said the marketplace can “build bridges across cultures” because people anywhere can access it, and “allows people to make solutions for their neighbors or for their parishes.”Almma does not exclusively offer Catholic-related products, but it does block the sale of anything that is immoral or could provoke sin, which Wall said was another major contrast with other AI marketplaces.“I want to be part of the group of people who help innovation meet morality,” he said.Among the examples of problems within larger AI companies, he noted, are the development of artificial romantic chatbots and the creation of erotica and artificial pornographic images and videos. He also expressed concern about AI consultation in end-of-life care.“I refuse to believe we don’t have enough imagination as a Catholic community and the courage to build something better,” Wall said.AI and Catholic social teachingWall said the development of Almma AI was “responding to the call of Pope Francis that he very clearly outlined in [the 2025 doctrinal note] Antiqua et Nova” and also took inspiration from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.In Antiqua et Nova, the Vatican holds that the development of AI should spur us to “a renewed appreciation of all that is human.” It teaches that AI should be used to serve the common good, promote human development, and not simply be used for individual or corporate gain.That note builds on the framework provided in Rerum Novarum, which expressed Catholic social teaching in the wake of the industrial revolution. At the time, Pope Leo XIII emphasized a need to seek the common good and safeguard the dignity of work when many laborers faced poor working conditions.“Wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner,” Leo XIII writes. “... If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income.”Wall said Almma AI follows those guidelines by “trying to help people earn a decent living and keeping their dignity.” He added: “If you want to monetize a skill, we have the tools for you.”When the current pontiff Leo XIV chose the name “Leo,” he said he did so to honor Leo XIII, who “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.” He chose the name, in part, because AI developments pose “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor,” Leo XIV explained.Leo XIV has spoken at length about AI. This includes warnings about anti-human ideologies, the threat to human connections and interactions, and concern about the displacement of workers. However, he has also highlighted the potential benefits of AI if used to advance humanity and uphold the dignity of the human person.Wall welcomed continued guidance from the Vatican, saying the Church has “moral foundations … beyond what anyone in secular society can point at.” He expressed hope that Leo XIV will author a document similar to Rerum Novarum that addresses the changes AI is bringing about to the global economy“I pray daily for it,” Wall said.
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CUA professor launches AI marketplace in line with Catholic social teaching #Catholic Credit: David Gyung/Shutterstock Jan 17, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA). An artificial intelligence (AI) marketplace launched by a business professor at The Catholic University of America seeks to offer products and services in a venue consistent with the social teachings of the Catholic Church — it is called Almma AI.Lucas Wall, who teaches finance at the university and has led several entrepreneurial ventures, began building Almma AI in mid-2023. The marketplace facilitates transactions for AI-related products, allowing people to upload their creations to be purchased or, in some cases, used for no charge.The types of products that can be offered on the marketplace include Large Language Models (LLMs) — similar to ChatGPT and Grok — along with AI prompts, personas, assistants, agents, and plugins.Although other marketplaces exist, Wall told EWTN News that Almma AI is designed to ensure the average person can “benefit from this new revolution that is coming” by selling or purchasing products in the marketplace.“With most technological revolutions and changes, there are only a handful of people who make fortunes,” Wall said.Almma’s mission statement is “AI profits for all,” and Wall said it is meant to “help people monetize their knowledge.” He said the marketplace can “build bridges across cultures” because people anywhere can access it, and “allows people to make solutions for their neighbors or for their parishes.”Almma does not exclusively offer Catholic-related products, but it does block the sale of anything that is immoral or could provoke sin, which Wall said was another major contrast with other AI marketplaces.“I want to be part of the group of people who help innovation meet morality,” he said.Among the examples of problems within larger AI companies, he noted, are the development of artificial romantic chatbots and the creation of erotica and artificial pornographic images and videos. He also expressed concern about AI consultation in end-of-life care.“I refuse to believe we don’t have enough imagination as a Catholic community and the courage to build something better,” Wall said.AI and Catholic social teachingWall said the development of Almma AI was “responding to the call of Pope Francis that he very clearly outlined in [the 2025 doctrinal note] Antiqua et Nova” and also took inspiration from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.In Antiqua et Nova, the Vatican holds that the development of AI should spur us to “a renewed appreciation of all that is human.” It teaches that AI should be used to serve the common good, promote human development, and not simply be used for individual or corporate gain.That note builds on the framework provided in Rerum Novarum, which expressed Catholic social teaching in the wake of the industrial revolution. At the time, Pope Leo XIII emphasized a need to seek the common good and safeguard the dignity of work when many laborers faced poor working conditions.“Wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner,” Leo XIII writes. “… If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income.”Wall said Almma AI follows those guidelines by “trying to help people earn a decent living and keeping their dignity.” He added: “If you want to monetize a skill, we have the tools for you.”When the current pontiff Leo XIV chose the name “Leo,” he said he did so to honor Leo XIII, who “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.” He chose the name, in part, because AI developments pose “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor,” Leo XIV explained.Leo XIV has spoken at length about AI. This includes warnings about anti-human ideologies, the threat to human connections and interactions, and concern about the displacement of workers. However, he has also highlighted the potential benefits of AI if used to advance humanity and uphold the dignity of the human person.Wall welcomed continued guidance from the Vatican, saying the Church has “moral foundations … beyond what anyone in secular society can point at.” He expressed hope that Leo XIV will author a document similar to Rerum Novarum that addresses the changes AI is bringing about to the global economy“I pray daily for it,” Wall said.

unitedyam

Credit: David Gyung/Shutterstock

Jan 17, 2026 / 06:00 am (CNA).

An artificial intelligence (AI) marketplace launched by a business professor at The Catholic University of America seeks to offer products and services in a venue consistent with the social teachings of the Catholic Church — it is called Almma AI.

Lucas Wall, who teaches finance at the university and has led several entrepreneurial ventures, began building Almma AI in mid-2023. The marketplace facilitates transactions for AI-related products, allowing people to upload their creations to be purchased or, in some cases, used for no charge.

The types of products that can be offered on the marketplace include Large Language Models (LLMs) — similar to ChatGPT and Grok — along with AI prompts, personas, assistants, agents, and plugins.

Although other marketplaces exist, Wall told EWTN News that Almma AI is designed to ensure the average person can “benefit from this new revolution that is coming” by selling or purchasing products in the marketplace.

“With most technological revolutions and changes, there are only a handful of people who make fortunes,” Wall said.

Almma’s mission statement is “AI profits for all,” and Wall said it is meant to “help people monetize their knowledge.” He said the marketplace can “build bridges across cultures” because people anywhere can access it, and “allows people to make solutions for their neighbors or for their parishes.”

Almma does not exclusively offer Catholic-related products, but it does block the sale of anything that is immoral or could provoke sin, which Wall said was another major contrast with other AI marketplaces.

“I want to be part of the group of people who help innovation meet morality,” he said.

Among the examples of problems within larger AI companies, he noted, are the development of artificial romantic chatbots and the creation of erotica and artificial pornographic images and videos. He also expressed concern about AI consultation in end-of-life care.

“I refuse to believe we don’t have enough imagination as a Catholic community and the courage to build something better,” Wall said.

AI and Catholic social teaching

Wall said the development of Almma AI was “responding to the call of Pope Francis that he very clearly outlined in [the 2025 doctrinal note] Antiqua et Nova” and also took inspiration from Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.

In Antiqua et Nova, the Vatican holds that the development of AI should spur us to “a renewed appreciation of all that is human.” It teaches that AI should be used to serve the common good, promote human development, and not simply be used for individual or corporate gain.

That note builds on the framework provided in Rerum Novarum, which expressed Catholic social teaching in the wake of the industrial revolution. At the time, Pope Leo XIII emphasized a need to seek the common good and safeguard the dignity of work when many laborers faced poor working conditions.

“Wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner,” Leo XIII writes. “… If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income.”

Wall said Almma AI follows those guidelines by “trying to help people earn a decent living and keeping their dignity.” He added: “If you want to monetize a skill, we have the tools for you.”

When the current pontiff Leo XIV chose the name “Leo,” he said he did so to honor Leo XIII, who “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.” He chose the name, in part, because AI developments pose “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor,” Leo XIV explained.

Leo XIV has spoken at length about AI. This includes warnings about anti-human ideologies, the threat to human connections and interactions, and concern about the displacement of workers. However, he has also highlighted the potential benefits of AI if used to advance humanity and uphold the dignity of the human person.

Wall welcomed continued guidance from the Vatican, saying the Church has “moral foundations … beyond what anyone in secular society can point at.” He expressed hope that Leo XIV will author a document similar to Rerum Novarum that addresses the changes AI is bringing about to the global economy

“I pray daily for it,” Wall said.

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House Republican budget plan would permanently defund Planned Parenthood #Catholic Republicans say they are crafting a bill to permanently defund Planned Parenthood Jan. 13, 2026. | Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Jan 14, 2026 / 16:19 pm (CNA). House Republican lawmakers unveiled a framework that outlines their budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes permanently defunding large abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.The Republican Study Committee, which is the largest Republican-aligned caucus in the House, published the framework on Jan. 13. The document is a starting point for crafting the budget but does not include any of the specific language that will ultimately be included in the bill.According to the framework, House Republican leaders intend to “extend and make permanent” the temporary freeze on federal funds for abortion providers, which was included in the tax overhaul that President Donald Trump signed into law last July.That bill included a one-year freeze on Medicaid reimbursements for organizations that provide abortions on a large scale. Although existing law had already blocked direct taxpayer funds for elective abortions, the change in law expanded the ban to include non-abortive services that are offered by organizations that perform abortions on a large scale.If that provision is not extended or made permanent in the next fiscal year, Planned Parenthood would again be eligible for Medicaid reimbursements for its non-abortive services.Many Republicans had initially hoped to implement a more long-term freeze on reimbursements for Planned Parenthood in last year’s bill, but that effort failed. The original House proposal last year planned a 10-year freeze, but it was reduced to only one year following negotiations and compromise.A spokesperson for National Right to Life said the organization is “excited” by the framework, adding that “this proposal would benefit countless American families while also protecting unborn Americans by extending the current defunding of major abortion providers.”“Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize abortion providers, and we are encouraged to see this principle reflected in the reconciliation framework,” the spokesperson said.The ongoing one-year freeze already had a major impact on Planned Parenthood. Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood facilities closed last year, caused in part by the revenue stemming from those provisions in the tax overhaul.Republicans hold a narrow five-seat majority in the House and a six-seat majority in the Senate, which means a small number of Republicans defecting could ultimately sink certain provisions.The framework for the budget proposal also suggests an extension on the long-standing ban on direct federal funding for elective abortions, which has been included in federal budgets since 1976.It also extends a ban on funds for “gender transition/mutilation procedures,” which was included in the tax overhaul.According to the framework, both of these rules would apply to Medicaid reimbursements and tax credits provided through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. According to the Republican Study Committee, the rules would save taxpayers about .9 billion in federal spending costs.The framework for the budget priorities comes about one week after President Donald Trump asked Republicans to be “flexible” on language related to taxpayer-funded abortion in relation to negotiations surrounding extensions to health care subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.Trump’s comments prompted criticism from some pro-life leaders, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.In an Oval Office press conference Jan. 14, Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said they didn’t know anything about HHS funds being released to Planned Parenthood in December.
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House Republican budget plan would permanently defund Planned Parenthood #Catholic Republicans say they are crafting a bill to permanently defund Planned Parenthood Jan. 13, 2026. | Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Jan 14, 2026 / 16:19 pm (CNA). House Republican lawmakers unveiled a framework that outlines their budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes permanently defunding large abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.The Republican Study Committee, which is the largest Republican-aligned caucus in the House, published the framework on Jan. 13. The document is a starting point for crafting the budget but does not include any of the specific language that will ultimately be included in the bill.According to the framework, House Republican leaders intend to “extend and make permanent” the temporary freeze on federal funds for abortion providers, which was included in the tax overhaul that President Donald Trump signed into law last July.That bill included a one-year freeze on Medicaid reimbursements for organizations that provide abortions on a large scale. Although existing law had already blocked direct taxpayer funds for elective abortions, the change in law expanded the ban to include non-abortive services that are offered by organizations that perform abortions on a large scale.If that provision is not extended or made permanent in the next fiscal year, Planned Parenthood would again be eligible for Medicaid reimbursements for its non-abortive services.Many Republicans had initially hoped to implement a more long-term freeze on reimbursements for Planned Parenthood in last year’s bill, but that effort failed. The original House proposal last year planned a 10-year freeze, but it was reduced to only one year following negotiations and compromise.A spokesperson for National Right to Life said the organization is “excited” by the framework, adding that “this proposal would benefit countless American families while also protecting unborn Americans by extending the current defunding of major abortion providers.”“Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize abortion providers, and we are encouraged to see this principle reflected in the reconciliation framework,” the spokesperson said.The ongoing one-year freeze already had a major impact on Planned Parenthood. Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood facilities closed last year, caused in part by the revenue stemming from those provisions in the tax overhaul.Republicans hold a narrow five-seat majority in the House and a six-seat majority in the Senate, which means a small number of Republicans defecting could ultimately sink certain provisions.The framework for the budget proposal also suggests an extension on the long-standing ban on direct federal funding for elective abortions, which has been included in federal budgets since 1976.It also extends a ban on funds for “gender transition/mutilation procedures,” which was included in the tax overhaul.According to the framework, both of these rules would apply to Medicaid reimbursements and tax credits provided through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. According to the Republican Study Committee, the rules would save taxpayers about $2.9 billion in federal spending costs.The framework for the budget priorities comes about one week after President Donald Trump asked Republicans to be “flexible” on language related to taxpayer-funded abortion in relation to negotiations surrounding extensions to health care subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.Trump’s comments prompted criticism from some pro-life leaders, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.In an Oval Office press conference Jan. 14, Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said they didn’t know anything about HHS funds being released to Planned Parenthood in December.

unitedyam

Republicans say they are crafting a bill to permanently defund Planned Parenthood Jan. 13, 2026. | Credit: usarmyband, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jan 14, 2026 / 16:19 pm (CNA).

House Republican lawmakers unveiled a framework that outlines their budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, which includes permanently defunding large abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.

The Republican Study Committee, which is the largest Republican-aligned caucus in the House, published the framework on Jan. 13. The document is a starting point for crafting the budget but does not include any of the specific language that will ultimately be included in the bill.

According to the framework, House Republican leaders intend to “extend and make permanent” the temporary freeze on federal funds for abortion providers, which was included in the tax overhaul that President Donald Trump signed into law last July.

That bill included a one-year freeze on Medicaid reimbursements for organizations that provide abortions on a large scale. Although existing law had already blocked direct taxpayer funds for elective abortions, the change in law expanded the ban to include non-abortive services that are offered by organizations that perform abortions on a large scale.

If that provision is not extended or made permanent in the next fiscal year, Planned Parenthood would again be eligible for Medicaid reimbursements for its non-abortive services.

Many Republicans had initially hoped to implement a more long-term freeze on reimbursements for Planned Parenthood in last year’s bill, but that effort failed. The original House proposal last year planned a 10-year freeze, but it was reduced to only one year following negotiations and compromise.

A spokesperson for National Right to Life said the organization is “excited” by the framework, adding that “this proposal would benefit countless American families while also protecting unborn Americans by extending the current defunding of major abortion providers.”

“Taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize abortion providers, and we are encouraged to see this principle reflected in the reconciliation framework,” the spokesperson said.

The ongoing one-year freeze already had a major impact on Planned Parenthood. Nearly 70 Planned Parenthood facilities closed last year, caused in part by the revenue stemming from those provisions in the tax overhaul.

Republicans hold a narrow five-seat majority in the House and a six-seat majority in the Senate, which means a small number of Republicans defecting could ultimately sink certain provisions.

The framework for the budget proposal also suggests an extension on the long-standing ban on direct federal funding for elective abortions, which has been included in federal budgets since 1976.

It also extends a ban on funds for “gender transition/mutilation procedures,” which was included in the tax overhaul.

According to the framework, both of these rules would apply to Medicaid reimbursements and tax credits provided through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. According to the Republican Study Committee, the rules would save taxpayers about $2.9 billion in federal spending costs.

The framework for the budget priorities comes about one week after President Donald Trump asked Republicans to be “flexible” on language related to taxpayer-funded abortion in relation to negotiations surrounding extensions to health care subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.

Trump’s comments prompted criticism from some pro-life leaders, including Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

In an Oval Office press conference Jan. 14, Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said they didn’t know anything about HHS funds being released to Planned Parenthood in December.

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Bishop Barron critiques New York Mayor Mamdani’s embrace of ‘collectivism’ #Catholic Democratic Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media during a press conference after voting on Nov. 4, 2025. | Credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images Jan 5, 2026 / 17:32 pm (CNA). Bishop Robert Barron, founder of the Word on Fire ministry, criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for promising constituents “the warmth of collectivism” in his Jan. 1 inaugural address.Mamdani, who defeated two candidates with nearly 51% of the vote in the November election, won on a democratic socialist platform. His plans include free buses, city-owned grocery stores, no-cost child care, raising the minimum wage to per hour, and freezing the rent for people in rent-stabilized apartments.“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” Mamdani said in his inaugural address.“If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it,” he said. “Because no matter what you eat, what language you speak, how you pray, or where you come from — the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.”Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in a post on X that this line “took my breath away.”“Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least 100 million people in the last century,” Barron said.“Socialist and communist forms of government around the world today — Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, etc. — are disastrous,” he added. “Catholic social teaching has consistently condemned socialism and has embraced the market economy, which people like Mayor Mamdani caricature as ‘rugged individualism.’ In fact, it is the economic system that is based upon the rights, freedom, and dignity of the human person.”“For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” Barron concluded.Catholic teaching on socialismBoth socialism and communism have been condemned by many popes, first by Pope Pius IX in his 1849 encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, just one year after Karl Marx published “ The Communist Manifesto.”The foundation of Catholic social teaching rests on Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.In the encyclical, Leo denounced socialism and communism, and also condemned poor labor conditions for the working class and employers “who use human beings as mere instruments for moneymaking.”“Each needs the other: Capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital,” the 19th century pontiff wrote. “Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity.”Pope Pius XI, in his 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, wrote of the importance of private property, that man must be able to “fully cultivate and develop all his faculties unto the praise and glory of his Creator; and that by faithfully fulfilling the duties of his craft or other calling he may obtain for himself temporal and at the same time eternal happiness.”Socialism, he said, is “wholly ignoring and indifferent to this sublime end of both man and society, affirms that human association has been instituted for the sake of material advantage alone.”“Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist,” Pius XI wrote.Pope Benedict XVI differentiated socialism and democratic socialism. In 2006, he wrote: “In many respects, democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine and has in any case made a remarkable contribution to the formation of a social consciousness.”Though, in his 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI wrote that government should not control everything but that society needs a state that, “in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need.”Pope Francis has criticized Marxist ideology but also “radical individualism,” which he said in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti “makes us believe that everything consists in giving free rein to our own ambitions, as if by pursuing ever greater ambitions and creating safety nets we would somehow be serving the common good.”In 2024, Francis encouraged cooperation and dialogue between Marxists and Christians. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with ‘communism’ or ‘socialism.’ She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of ‘capitalism,’ individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.”
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Bishop Barron critiques New York Mayor Mamdani’s embrace of ‘collectivism’ #Catholic Democratic Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media during a press conference after voting on Nov. 4, 2025. | Credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images Jan 5, 2026 / 17:32 pm (CNA). Bishop Robert Barron, founder of the Word on Fire ministry, criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for promising constituents “the warmth of collectivism” in his Jan. 1 inaugural address.Mamdani, who defeated two candidates with nearly 51% of the vote in the November election, won on a democratic socialist platform. His plans include free buses, city-owned grocery stores, no-cost child care, raising the minimum wage to $30 per hour, and freezing the rent for people in rent-stabilized apartments.“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” Mamdani said in his inaugural address.“If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it,” he said. “Because no matter what you eat, what language you speak, how you pray, or where you come from — the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.”Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in a post on X that this line “took my breath away.”“Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least 100 million people in the last century,” Barron said.“Socialist and communist forms of government around the world today — Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, etc. — are disastrous,” he added. “Catholic social teaching has consistently condemned socialism and has embraced the market economy, which people like Mayor Mamdani caricature as ‘rugged individualism.’ In fact, it is the economic system that is based upon the rights, freedom, and dignity of the human person.”“For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” Barron concluded.Catholic teaching on socialismBoth socialism and communism have been condemned by many popes, first by Pope Pius IX in his 1849 encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, just one year after Karl Marx published “ The Communist Manifesto.”The foundation of Catholic social teaching rests on Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.In the encyclical, Leo denounced socialism and communism, and also condemned poor labor conditions for the working class and employers “who use human beings as mere instruments for moneymaking.”“Each needs the other: Capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital,” the 19th century pontiff wrote. “Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity.”Pope Pius XI, in his 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, wrote of the importance of private property, that man must be able to “fully cultivate and develop all his faculties unto the praise and glory of his Creator; and that by faithfully fulfilling the duties of his craft or other calling he may obtain for himself temporal and at the same time eternal happiness.”Socialism, he said, is “wholly ignoring and indifferent to this sublime end of both man and society, affirms that human association has been instituted for the sake of material advantage alone.”“Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist,” Pius XI wrote.Pope Benedict XVI differentiated socialism and democratic socialism. In 2006, he wrote: “In many respects, democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine and has in any case made a remarkable contribution to the formation of a social consciousness.”Though, in his 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI wrote that government should not control everything but that society needs a state that, “in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need.”Pope Francis has criticized Marxist ideology but also “radical individualism,” which he said in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti “makes us believe that everything consists in giving free rein to our own ambitions, as if by pursuing ever greater ambitions and creating safety nets we would somehow be serving the common good.”In 2024, Francis encouraged cooperation and dialogue between Marxists and Christians. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with ‘communism’ or ‘socialism.’ She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of ‘capitalism,’ individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.”

unitedyam

Democratic Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani speaks to members of the media during a press conference after voting on Nov. 4, 2025. | Credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Jan 5, 2026 / 17:32 pm (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron, founder of the Word on Fire ministry, criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for promising constituents “the warmth of collectivism” in his Jan. 1 inaugural address.

Mamdani, who defeated two candidates with nearly 51% of the vote in the November election, won on a democratic socialist platform. His plans include free buses, city-owned grocery stores, no-cost child care, raising the minimum wage to $30 per hour, and freezing the rent for people in rent-stabilized apartments.

“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,” Mamdani said in his inaugural address.

“If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it,” he said. “Because no matter what you eat, what language you speak, how you pray, or where you come from — the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.”

Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said in a post on X that this line “took my breath away.”

“Collectivism in its various forms is responsible for the deaths of at least 100 million people in the last century,” Barron said.

“Socialist and communist forms of government around the world today — Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, etc. — are disastrous,” he added. “Catholic social teaching has consistently condemned socialism and has embraced the market economy, which people like Mayor Mamdani caricature as ‘rugged individualism.’ In fact, it is the economic system that is based upon the rights, freedom, and dignity of the human person.”

“For God’s sake, spare me the ‘warmth of collectivism,’” Barron concluded.

Catholic teaching on socialism

Both socialism and communism have been condemned by many popes, first by Pope Pius IX in his 1849 encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, just one year after Karl Marx published “ The Communist Manifesto.”

The foundation of Catholic social teaching rests on Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.

In the encyclical, Leo denounced socialism and communism, and also condemned poor labor conditions for the working class and employers “who use human beings as mere instruments for moneymaking.”

“Each needs the other: Capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital,” the 19th century pontiff wrote. “Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity.”

Pope Pius XI, in his 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, wrote of the importance of private property, that man must be able to “fully cultivate and develop all his faculties unto the praise and glory of his Creator; and that by faithfully fulfilling the duties of his craft or other calling he may obtain for himself temporal and at the same time eternal happiness.”

Socialism, he said, is “wholly ignoring and indifferent to this sublime end of both man and society, affirms that human association has been instituted for the sake of material advantage alone.”

“Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist,” Pius XI wrote.

Pope Benedict XVI differentiated socialism and democratic socialism. In 2006, he wrote: “In many respects, democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine and has in any case made a remarkable contribution to the formation of a social consciousness.”

Though, in his 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI wrote that government should not control everything but that society needs a state that, “in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need.”

Pope Francis has criticized Marxist ideology but also “radical individualism,” which he said in his 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti “makes us believe that everything consists in giving free rein to our own ambitions, as if by pursuing ever greater ambitions and creating safety nets we would somehow be serving the common good.”

In 2024, Francis encouraged cooperation and dialogue between Marxists and Christians.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with ‘communism’ or ‘socialism.’ She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of ‘capitalism,’ individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor.”

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St. John Neumann, promoter of Catholic education in the U.S., is celebrated today #Catholic The National Shrine of St. John Neumann at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. | Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Jan 5, 2026 / 04:00 am (CNA). Every Jan. 5 the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Neumann, Redemptorist missionary, fourth bishop of the city of Philadelphia, and organizer of the first Catholic education network in the U.S.John Nepomucene Neumann was born in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in 1811. He attended school in Budweis and years later, in 1831, entered the seminary in that same city. Upon completing his preparation for the priesthood, he presented himself to his diocese but suffered an unexpected setback. The local bishop had fallen ill and priestly ordinations in his diocese were suspended until further notice.Neumann, eager to serve the Lord, wrote letters to the bishops of the neighboring dioceses, but none of them wanted to accept him. Despite the obstacles, the saint was not discouraged.To earn his living, he went to work in a factory where he met a few Americans from whom he learned some English. Later, he contacted some bishops in the United States. Neumann had a missionary soul and was ready to move to America.Priest and missionary in North AmericaThe archbishop of New York agreed to receive and ordain Neumann, so he left his family and friends to embark on the adventure of proclaiming the Lord in a distant land. After being ordained in the U.S., Neumann joined 36 other priests who were to assist the almost 200,000 Catholics living in the U.S. at the time.The newly ordained was entrusted with the administration of a parish. The first pastoral difficulty he faced was the vast territory entrusted to him: His parish stretched from Ontario, Canada, to Pennsylvania.Given the immense need, Neumann spent most of his time visiting villages and towns. He had to cross inhospitable territories, walk long distances in extreme cold and sweltering heat, and trek high mountains and majestic landscapes — all in order to watch over his flock and to assist those in need.These were long years of providing catechesis, administering the sacraments, and celebrating the Eucharist. It was common to see Neumann preach both in churches and in abandoned huts. He even preached outside taverns, refuges for impenitent souls.Neumann often had to celebrate Mass in dining rooms and kitchens.RedemptoristWith time and continued difficulties, the missionary priest discovered the need for the support of a religious community. He knew the Redemptorists well so he applied to join the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. When the time came, he took his vows at the congregation’s house in Baltimore in 1842.Neumann was noted for his piety and kindness as well as his versatility in understanding and accompanying his parishioners, most of whom were European immigrants. Neumann knew up to six languages, so it was not difficult for him to communicate with Catholics who did not speak English well.In 1847, he was appointed visitator of the Redemptorists in the United States. At the end of his service, the Redemptorists were ready to form an autonomous “province or religious province,” which became a reality in 1850.Promoter of Catholic education in the U.S.Neumann was then ordained bishop of Philadelphia, and from that city he organized the diocesan system of Catholic schools, becoming a great promoter of religious education in the country. He also founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, dedicated to teaching in schools, and was the promoter of the construction of more than 80 churches throughout the country.Neumann was a simple man, short in stature and reportedly good-natured. Although he never had robust health, he carried out great pastoral and literary activity. He wrote many articles in magazines and newspapers, and published two catechisms and a history of the Bible for schoolchildren.Once, in one of his articles, he wrote: “I have never regretted having dedicated myself to the mission in America.”On Jan. 5, 1860, when he was just 48 years old, he suddenly collapsed in the street and went home to the Lord. He was beatified in 1963 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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St. John Neumann, promoter of Catholic education in the U.S., is celebrated today #Catholic The National Shrine of St. John Neumann at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. | Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Jan 5, 2026 / 04:00 am (CNA). Every Jan. 5 the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Neumann, Redemptorist missionary, fourth bishop of the city of Philadelphia, and organizer of the first Catholic education network in the U.S.John Nepomucene Neumann was born in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in 1811. He attended school in Budweis and years later, in 1831, entered the seminary in that same city. Upon completing his preparation for the priesthood, he presented himself to his diocese but suffered an unexpected setback. The local bishop had fallen ill and priestly ordinations in his diocese were suspended until further notice.Neumann, eager to serve the Lord, wrote letters to the bishops of the neighboring dioceses, but none of them wanted to accept him. Despite the obstacles, the saint was not discouraged.To earn his living, he went to work in a factory where he met a few Americans from whom he learned some English. Later, he contacted some bishops in the United States. Neumann had a missionary soul and was ready to move to America.Priest and missionary in North AmericaThe archbishop of New York agreed to receive and ordain Neumann, so he left his family and friends to embark on the adventure of proclaiming the Lord in a distant land. After being ordained in the U.S., Neumann joined 36 other priests who were to assist the almost 200,000 Catholics living in the U.S. at the time.The newly ordained was entrusted with the administration of a parish. The first pastoral difficulty he faced was the vast territory entrusted to him: His parish stretched from Ontario, Canada, to Pennsylvania.Given the immense need, Neumann spent most of his time visiting villages and towns. He had to cross inhospitable territories, walk long distances in extreme cold and sweltering heat, and trek high mountains and majestic landscapes — all in order to watch over his flock and to assist those in need.These were long years of providing catechesis, administering the sacraments, and celebrating the Eucharist. It was common to see Neumann preach both in churches and in abandoned huts. He even preached outside taverns, refuges for impenitent souls.Neumann often had to celebrate Mass in dining rooms and kitchens.RedemptoristWith time and continued difficulties, the missionary priest discovered the need for the support of a religious community. He knew the Redemptorists well so he applied to join the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. When the time came, he took his vows at the congregation’s house in Baltimore in 1842.Neumann was noted for his piety and kindness as well as his versatility in understanding and accompanying his parishioners, most of whom were European immigrants. Neumann knew up to six languages, so it was not difficult for him to communicate with Catholics who did not speak English well.In 1847, he was appointed visitator of the Redemptorists in the United States. At the end of his service, the Redemptorists were ready to form an autonomous “province or religious province,” which became a reality in 1850.Promoter of Catholic education in the U.S.Neumann was then ordained bishop of Philadelphia, and from that city he organized the diocesan system of Catholic schools, becoming a great promoter of religious education in the country. He also founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, dedicated to teaching in schools, and was the promoter of the construction of more than 80 churches throughout the country.Neumann was a simple man, short in stature and reportedly good-natured. Although he never had robust health, he carried out great pastoral and literary activity. He wrote many articles in magazines and newspapers, and published two catechisms and a history of the Bible for schoolchildren.Once, in one of his articles, he wrote: “I have never regretted having dedicated myself to the mission in America.”On Jan. 5, 1860, when he was just 48 years old, he suddenly collapsed in the street and went home to the Lord. He was beatified in 1963 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

unitedyam

The National Shrine of St. John Neumann at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. | Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jan 5, 2026 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Every Jan. 5 the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Neumann, Redemptorist missionary, fourth bishop of the city of Philadelphia, and organizer of the first Catholic education network in the U.S.

John Nepomucene Neumann was born in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in 1811. He attended school in Budweis and years later, in 1831, entered the seminary in that same city.

Upon completing his preparation for the priesthood, he presented himself to his diocese but suffered an unexpected setback. The local bishop had fallen ill and priestly ordinations in his diocese were suspended until further notice.

Neumann, eager to serve the Lord, wrote letters to the bishops of the neighboring dioceses, but none of them wanted to accept him. Despite the obstacles, the saint was not discouraged.

To earn his living, he went to work in a factory where he met a few Americans from whom he learned some English. Later, he contacted some bishops in the United States. Neumann had a missionary soul and was ready to move to America.

Priest and missionary in North America

The archbishop of New York agreed to receive and ordain Neumann, so he left his family and friends to embark on the adventure of proclaiming the Lord in a distant land. After being ordained in the U.S., Neumann joined 36 other priests who were to assist the almost 200,000 Catholics living in the U.S. at the time.

The newly ordained was entrusted with the administration of a parish. The first pastoral difficulty he faced was the vast territory entrusted to him: His parish stretched from Ontario, Canada, to Pennsylvania.

Given the immense need, Neumann spent most of his time visiting villages and towns. He had to cross inhospitable territories, walk long distances in extreme cold and sweltering heat, and trek high mountains and majestic landscapes — all in order to watch over his flock and to assist those in need.

These were long years of providing catechesis, administering the sacraments, and celebrating the Eucharist. It was common to see Neumann preach both in churches and in abandoned huts. He even preached outside taverns, refuges for impenitent souls.

Neumann often had to celebrate Mass in dining rooms and kitchens.

Redemptorist

With time and continued difficulties, the missionary priest discovered the need for the support of a religious community. He knew the Redemptorists well so he applied to join the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. When the time came, he took his vows at the congregation’s house in Baltimore in 1842.

Neumann was noted for his piety and kindness as well as his versatility in understanding and accompanying his parishioners, most of whom were European immigrants. Neumann knew up to six languages, so it was not difficult for him to communicate with Catholics who did not speak English well.

In 1847, he was appointed visitator of the Redemptorists in the United States. At the end of his service, the Redemptorists were ready to form an autonomous “province or religious province,” which became a reality in 1850.

Promoter of Catholic education in the U.S.

Neumann was then ordained bishop of Philadelphia, and from that city he organized the diocesan system of Catholic schools, becoming a great promoter of religious education in the country. He also founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, dedicated to teaching in schools, and was the promoter of the construction of more than 80 churches throughout the country.

Neumann was a simple man, short in stature and reportedly good-natured. Although he never had robust health, he carried out great pastoral and literary activity. He wrote many articles in magazines and newspapers, and published two catechisms and a history of the Bible for schoolchildren.

Once, in one of his articles, he wrote: “I have never regretted having dedicated myself to the mission in America.”

On Jan. 5, 1860, when he was just 48 years old, he suddenly collapsed in the street and went home to the Lord. He was beatified in 1963 and canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.

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

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Rest in peace: Looking back at notable Catholics who passed away in 2025 #Catholic Credit: udra11/Shutterstock Dec 31, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). The past year has seen several notable Catholics pass away — from public officials to the vicar of Christ himself.Here’s a rundown of some prominent Catholics around the world who left us in 2025:Pope Francis (Dec. 17, 1936 — April 21, 2025)The Holy Father, Pope Francis, passed away at 7:35 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. The 88-year-old pontiff led the Catholic Church for a little more than 12 years.The first Latin American pope in history as well as the first Jesuit pope, Francis led the Church through significant canonical and catechetical reforms, urging the faithful to reach out and minister to those on the margins of society while preaching the mercy of God.Upon his death he left the legacy of what Cardinal Kevin Farrell said was a life “dedicated to the service of God and his Church,” one that urged the faithful to “live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.”Pope Francis was succeeded in the chair of St. Peter by Pope Leo XIV on May 8.Mabel Landry Staton (Nov. 20, 1932 — Feb. 20, 2025)Mabel Landry Staton, a trailblazing athlete who briefly set an Olympic record at the 1952 Summer Olympics, died on Feb. 20 at age 92.Representing the United States at the Olympic games in Helsinki in 1952, Staton — known as “Dolly” after a nickname from her father — set a record in the long jump category at 19 feet 3.25 inches. Though the record only lasted for several minutes before New Zealand athlete Yvette Williams bested it, Staton would go on to win medals in the 1955 Pan American Games.The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Staton served as a Eucharistic minister at St. Thomas More Church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, as well as on the board of the Black Catholic Ministry of the Diocese of Camden.According to the Inquirer, Staton “could still outsprint some of the local high school boys in her 70s.”Alasdair MacIntyre (Jan. 12, 1929 — May 21, 2025)Alasdair MacIntyre, a towering figure in moral philosophy and a Catholic convert credited with reviving the discipline of virtue ethics, died on May 21 at age 96.His seminal 1981 work “After Virtue” reshaped contemporary moral and political philosophy, emphasizing virtue over utilitarian or deontological frameworks.Known by many as “the most important” modern Catholic philosopher, MacIntyre’s intellectual and spiritual journey spanned atheism, Marxism, Anglicanism, and ultimately Roman Catholicism.James Hitchcock (Feb. 13, 1938 — July 14, 2025)James Hitchcock — a noted historian of the Catholic Church, popular author, and longtime college professor — died on July 14 at age 87.Hitchcock was remembered by friends and colleagues as a man of prophetic insight who defended Church teaching and helped to make the Catholic intellectual tradition accessible for his students and readers.Hitchcock taught history at Saint Louis University from the late 1960s until 2013. Some of the most popular of the dozen books he wrote include his one-volume “History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium,” published in 2012 by Ignatius Press.Frank Caprio (Nov. 24, 1936 — Aug. 20, 2025)Frank Caprio, who served as a Providence, Rhode Island, municipal court judge for nearly 40 years and came to be known as “America’s nicest judge,” passed away on Aug. 20 from pancreatic cancer.Caprio gained worldwide fame for a lenient judicial style that blended justice, extreme empathy, and mercy when his courtroom was televised in a program called “Caught in Providence.”The program began in 1999 and went viral in 2017, achieving hundreds of millions of views since then. The show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 and has a YouTube channel with nearly 3 million subscribers.Caprio told EWTN News in February that he always kept in mind something his father, a hardworking Italian immigrant with a fifth-grade education, had impressed upon him: “What might seem like a small fine to some was something that many couldn’t afford.”“Your case is dismissed” became Caprio’s signature phrase.Thomas A. Nelson (March 1, 1937 — Aug. 16, 2025)Thomas A. Nelson, the founder of TAN Books — a Catholic publishing house known for its books promoting traditional Catholicism in the post-Vatican II era — died Aug. 16 at age 88.Nelson, who had previously worked as a teacher, founded TAN Books and Publishers Inc. in Rockford, Illinois, in 1967 and an accompanying printing plant in 1978. In addition to being Nelson’s initials, TAN is an acronym for the Latin phrase “Tuum Adoramus Nomen” (“Let Us Adore Thy Name”).Under Nelson’s ownership, TAN became known for publishing orthodox Catholic books, including reprints of classic Catholic works on theology, Scripture, traditional devotions, the Traditional Latin Mass, and the lives of the saints as well as new titles on these subjects by contemporary authors.Katharine, Duchess of Kent (Feb. 22, 1933 — Sept. 4, 2025)The Duchess of Kent, who became the first senior British royal to be received into the Catholic Church since the 17th century, died on Sept. 4 at the age of 92.Renowned for her natural charm, compassion for the sick and downtrodden, and commitment to serving others, the duchess was a much-loved and hardworking British royal whose popularity was enhanced by her own personal suffering and self-effacing nature.She was received into the Church in January 1994 by Cardinal Basil Hume. Up until then, no senior royal had publicly been received into the Church since 1685.Katharine spoke favorably of the Church’s moral precepts. “I do love guidelines and the Catholic Church offers you guidelines,” she once told the BBC. “I have always wanted that in my life. I like to know what’s expected of me.”Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt (Aug. 21, 1919 — Oct. 9, 2025)Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the beloved Catholic nun who became known across the country at the age of 98 as the chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team, died Oct. 9 at the age of 106.Sister Jean was born Dolores Bertha Schmidt on Aug. 21, 1919, to Joseph and Bertha Schmidt. She was raised in a devout Catholic home in San Francisco’s Castro District.In 1937, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and took the name Sister Jean Dolores. In 1991, she joined the staff at Loyola Chicago and three years later became part of the basketball team, first as an academic adviser before transitioning to chaplain.Sister Jean led the team in prayer before each game — praying for her players to be safe, for the referees to be fair, and for God’s assistance during the game.She also admitted to praying for the opposing team, though “not as hard.”Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA (Feb. 25, 1931 — Nov. 10, 2025)Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died on Nov. 10 at age 94 after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life.Sister Mary Michael was the last of the original five nuns who, along with EWTN foundress Mother Angelica, began the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama.Born Evelyn Shinosky on Feb. 25, 1931, to Joseph and Helen Shinosky, she entered Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 15, 1951, and received the habit and her new name the following May.Her passing marked the end of an era at EWTN and at the monastery — one that saw both the launch of the global Catholic network and the expansion of the religious community to include the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.Paul Badde (March 10, 1948 — Nov. 10, 2025)Paul Badde, author of many well-known books such as “Benedict Up Close,” “The Face of God,” and “The True Icon,” died on Nov. 10 at the age of 77 after a long illness. Badde was also a veteran contributor to EWTN and CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.Born in Schaag, Germany — a small village on the Lower Rhine — he studied philosophy and sociology in Freiburg as well as art history, history, and political science in Frankfurt. Before embarking on a journalistic career, Badde worked as a teacher for several years.A founding editor of Vatican Magazine, Paul and his wife, Ellen, had five children. Sister JoAnn Persch (June 27, 1934 — Nov. 14, 2025)Longtime immigrant rights advocate Sister JoAnn Persch died on Nov. 14 at age 91.Two weeks before her death, Persch attempted to bring Communion to detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility where for decades the Sisters of Mercy ministered to migrants and refugees. Officials denied her entry.Persch and Sister Pat Murphy were founding members of the Su Casa Catholic Worker House in Chicago, serving refugees from Central America who were survivors of war, torture, and political persecution.May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
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Rest in peace: Looking back at notable Catholics who passed away in 2025 #Catholic Credit: udra11/Shutterstock Dec 31, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). The past year has seen several notable Catholics pass away — from public officials to the vicar of Christ himself.Here’s a rundown of some prominent Catholics around the world who left us in 2025:Pope Francis (Dec. 17, 1936 — April 21, 2025)The Holy Father, Pope Francis, passed away at 7:35 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. The 88-year-old pontiff led the Catholic Church for a little more than 12 years.The first Latin American pope in history as well as the first Jesuit pope, Francis led the Church through significant canonical and catechetical reforms, urging the faithful to reach out and minister to those on the margins of society while preaching the mercy of God.Upon his death he left the legacy of what Cardinal Kevin Farrell said was a life “dedicated to the service of God and his Church,” one that urged the faithful to “live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.”Pope Francis was succeeded in the chair of St. Peter by Pope Leo XIV on May 8.Mabel Landry Staton (Nov. 20, 1932 — Feb. 20, 2025)Mabel Landry Staton, a trailblazing athlete who briefly set an Olympic record at the 1952 Summer Olympics, died on Feb. 20 at age 92.Representing the United States at the Olympic games in Helsinki in 1952, Staton — known as “Dolly” after a nickname from her father — set a record in the long jump category at 19 feet 3.25 inches. Though the record only lasted for several minutes before New Zealand athlete Yvette Williams bested it, Staton would go on to win medals in the 1955 Pan American Games.The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Staton served as a Eucharistic minister at St. Thomas More Church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, as well as on the board of the Black Catholic Ministry of the Diocese of Camden.According to the Inquirer, Staton “could still outsprint some of the local high school boys in her 70s.”Alasdair MacIntyre (Jan. 12, 1929 — May 21, 2025)Alasdair MacIntyre, a towering figure in moral philosophy and a Catholic convert credited with reviving the discipline of virtue ethics, died on May 21 at age 96.His seminal 1981 work “After Virtue” reshaped contemporary moral and political philosophy, emphasizing virtue over utilitarian or deontological frameworks.Known by many as “the most important” modern Catholic philosopher, MacIntyre’s intellectual and spiritual journey spanned atheism, Marxism, Anglicanism, and ultimately Roman Catholicism.James Hitchcock (Feb. 13, 1938 — July 14, 2025)James Hitchcock — a noted historian of the Catholic Church, popular author, and longtime college professor — died on July 14 at age 87.Hitchcock was remembered by friends and colleagues as a man of prophetic insight who defended Church teaching and helped to make the Catholic intellectual tradition accessible for his students and readers.Hitchcock taught history at Saint Louis University from the late 1960s until 2013. Some of the most popular of the dozen books he wrote include his one-volume “History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium,” published in 2012 by Ignatius Press.Frank Caprio (Nov. 24, 1936 — Aug. 20, 2025)Frank Caprio, who served as a Providence, Rhode Island, municipal court judge for nearly 40 years and came to be known as “America’s nicest judge,” passed away on Aug. 20 from pancreatic cancer.Caprio gained worldwide fame for a lenient judicial style that blended justice, extreme empathy, and mercy when his courtroom was televised in a program called “Caught in Providence.”The program began in 1999 and went viral in 2017, achieving hundreds of millions of views since then. The show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 and has a YouTube channel with nearly 3 million subscribers.Caprio told EWTN News in February that he always kept in mind something his father, a hardworking Italian immigrant with a fifth-grade education, had impressed upon him: “What might seem like a small fine to some was something that many couldn’t afford.”“Your case is dismissed” became Caprio’s signature phrase.Thomas A. Nelson (March 1, 1937 — Aug. 16, 2025)Thomas A. Nelson, the founder of TAN Books — a Catholic publishing house known for its books promoting traditional Catholicism in the post-Vatican II era — died Aug. 16 at age 88.Nelson, who had previously worked as a teacher, founded TAN Books and Publishers Inc. in Rockford, Illinois, in 1967 and an accompanying printing plant in 1978. In addition to being Nelson’s initials, TAN is an acronym for the Latin phrase “Tuum Adoramus Nomen” (“Let Us Adore Thy Name”).Under Nelson’s ownership, TAN became known for publishing orthodox Catholic books, including reprints of classic Catholic works on theology, Scripture, traditional devotions, the Traditional Latin Mass, and the lives of the saints as well as new titles on these subjects by contemporary authors.Katharine, Duchess of Kent (Feb. 22, 1933 — Sept. 4, 2025)The Duchess of Kent, who became the first senior British royal to be received into the Catholic Church since the 17th century, died on Sept. 4 at the age of 92.Renowned for her natural charm, compassion for the sick and downtrodden, and commitment to serving others, the duchess was a much-loved and hardworking British royal whose popularity was enhanced by her own personal suffering and self-effacing nature.She was received into the Church in January 1994 by Cardinal Basil Hume. Up until then, no senior royal had publicly been received into the Church since 1685.Katharine spoke favorably of the Church’s moral precepts. “I do love guidelines and the Catholic Church offers you guidelines,” she once told the BBC. “I have always wanted that in my life. I like to know what’s expected of me.”Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt (Aug. 21, 1919 — Oct. 9, 2025)Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the beloved Catholic nun who became known across the country at the age of 98 as the chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team, died Oct. 9 at the age of 106.Sister Jean was born Dolores Bertha Schmidt on Aug. 21, 1919, to Joseph and Bertha Schmidt. She was raised in a devout Catholic home in San Francisco’s Castro District.In 1937, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and took the name Sister Jean Dolores. In 1991, she joined the staff at Loyola Chicago and three years later became part of the basketball team, first as an academic adviser before transitioning to chaplain.Sister Jean led the team in prayer before each game — praying for her players to be safe, for the referees to be fair, and for God’s assistance during the game.She also admitted to praying for the opposing team, though “not as hard.”Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA (Feb. 25, 1931 — Nov. 10, 2025)Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died on Nov. 10 at age 94 after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life.Sister Mary Michael was the last of the original five nuns who, along with EWTN foundress Mother Angelica, began the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama.Born Evelyn Shinosky on Feb. 25, 1931, to Joseph and Helen Shinosky, she entered Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 15, 1951, and received the habit and her new name the following May.Her passing marked the end of an era at EWTN and at the monastery — one that saw both the launch of the global Catholic network and the expansion of the religious community to include the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.Paul Badde (March 10, 1948 — Nov. 10, 2025)Paul Badde, author of many well-known books such as “Benedict Up Close,” “The Face of God,” and “The True Icon,” died on Nov. 10 at the age of 77 after a long illness. Badde was also a veteran contributor to EWTN and CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.Born in Schaag, Germany — a small village on the Lower Rhine — he studied philosophy and sociology in Freiburg as well as art history, history, and political science in Frankfurt. Before embarking on a journalistic career, Badde worked as a teacher for several years.A founding editor of Vatican Magazine, Paul and his wife, Ellen, had five children. Sister JoAnn Persch (June 27, 1934 — Nov. 14, 2025)Longtime immigrant rights advocate Sister JoAnn Persch died on Nov. 14 at age 91.Two weeks before her death, Persch attempted to bring Communion to detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility where for decades the Sisters of Mercy ministered to migrants and refugees. Officials denied her entry.Persch and Sister Pat Murphy were founding members of the Su Casa Catholic Worker House in Chicago, serving refugees from Central America who were survivors of war, torture, and political persecution.May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

unitedyam

Credit: udra11/Shutterstock

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

The past year has seen several notable Catholics pass away — from public officials to the vicar of Christ himself.

Here’s a rundown of some prominent Catholics around the world who left us in 2025:

Pope Francis (Dec. 17, 1936 — April 21, 2025)

The Holy Father, Pope Francis, passed away at 7:35 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 21, at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. The 88-year-old pontiff led the Catholic Church for a little more than 12 years.

The first Latin American pope in history as well as the first Jesuit pope, Francis led the Church through significant canonical and catechetical reforms, urging the faithful to reach out and minister to those on the margins of society while preaching the mercy of God.

Upon his death he left the legacy of what Cardinal Kevin Farrell said was a life “dedicated to the service of God and his Church,” one that urged the faithful to “live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized.”

Pope Francis was succeeded in the chair of St. Peter by Pope Leo XIV on May 8.

Mabel Landry Staton (Nov. 20, 1932 — Feb. 20, 2025)

Mabel Landry Staton, a trailblazing athlete who briefly set an Olympic record at the 1952 Summer Olympics, died on Feb. 20 at age 92.

Representing the United States at the Olympic games in Helsinki in 1952, Staton — known as “Dolly” after a nickname from her father — set a record in the long jump category at 19 feet 3.25 inches. Though the record only lasted for several minutes before New Zealand athlete Yvette Williams bested it, Staton would go on to win medals in the 1955 Pan American Games.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Staton served as a Eucharistic minister at St. Thomas More Church in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, as well as on the board of the Black Catholic Ministry of the Diocese of Camden.

According to the Inquirer, Staton “could still outsprint some of the local high school boys in her 70s.”

Alasdair MacIntyre (Jan. 12, 1929 — May 21, 2025)

Alasdair MacIntyre, a towering figure in moral philosophy and a Catholic convert credited with reviving the discipline of virtue ethics, died on May 21 at age 96.

His seminal 1981 work “After Virtue” reshaped contemporary moral and political philosophy, emphasizing virtue over utilitarian or deontological frameworks.

Known by many as “the most important” modern Catholic philosopher, MacIntyre’s intellectual and spiritual journey spanned atheism, Marxism, Anglicanism, and ultimately Roman Catholicism.

James Hitchcock (Feb. 13, 1938 — July 14, 2025)

James Hitchcock — a noted historian of the Catholic Church, popular author, and longtime college professor — died on July 14 at age 87.

Hitchcock was remembered by friends and colleagues as a man of prophetic insight who defended Church teaching and helped to make the Catholic intellectual tradition accessible for his students and readers.

Hitchcock taught history at Saint Louis University from the late 1960s until 2013. Some of the most popular of the dozen books he wrote include his one-volume “History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium,” published in 2012 by Ignatius Press.

Frank Caprio (Nov. 24, 1936 — Aug. 20, 2025)

Frank Caprio, who served as a Providence, Rhode Island, municipal court judge for nearly 40 years and came to be known as “America’s nicest judge,” passed away on Aug. 20 from pancreatic cancer.

Caprio gained worldwide fame for a lenient judicial style that blended justice, extreme empathy, and mercy when his courtroom was televised in a program called “Caught in Providence.”

The program began in 1999 and went viral in 2017, achieving hundreds of millions of views since then. The show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 and has a YouTube channel with nearly 3 million subscribers.

Caprio told EWTN News in February that he always kept in mind something his father, a hardworking Italian immigrant with a fifth-grade education, had impressed upon him: “What might seem like a small fine to some was something that many couldn’t afford.”

“Your case is dismissed” became Caprio’s signature phrase.

Thomas A. Nelson (March 1, 1937 — Aug. 16, 2025)

Thomas A. Nelson, the founder of TAN Books — a Catholic publishing house known for its books promoting traditional Catholicism in the post-Vatican II era — died Aug. 16 at age 88.

Nelson, who had previously worked as a teacher, founded TAN Books and Publishers Inc. in Rockford, Illinois, in 1967 and an accompanying printing plant in 1978. In addition to being Nelson’s initials, TAN is an acronym for the Latin phrase “Tuum Adoramus Nomen” (“Let Us Adore Thy Name”).

Under Nelson’s ownership, TAN became known for publishing orthodox Catholic books, including reprints of classic Catholic works on theology, Scripture, traditional devotions, the Traditional Latin Mass, and the lives of the saints as well as new titles on these subjects by contemporary authors.

Katharine, Duchess of Kent (Feb. 22, 1933 — Sept. 4, 2025)

The Duchess of Kent, who became the first senior British royal to be received into the Catholic Church since the 17th century, died on Sept. 4 at the age of 92.

Renowned for her natural charm, compassion for the sick and downtrodden, and commitment to serving others, the duchess was a much-loved and hardworking British royal whose popularity was enhanced by her own personal suffering and self-effacing nature.

She was received into the Church in January 1994 by Cardinal Basil Hume. Up until then, no senior royal had publicly been received into the Church since 1685.

Katharine spoke favorably of the Church’s moral precepts. “I do love guidelines and the Catholic Church offers you guidelines,” she once told the BBC. “I have always wanted that in my life. I like to know what’s expected of me.”

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt (Aug. 21, 1919 — Oct. 9, 2025)

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the beloved Catholic nun who became known across the country at the age of 98 as the chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team, died Oct. 9 at the age of 106.

Sister Jean was born Dolores Bertha Schmidt on Aug. 21, 1919, to Joseph and Bertha Schmidt. She was raised in a devout Catholic home in San Francisco’s Castro District.

In 1937, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and took the name Sister Jean Dolores. In 1991, she joined the staff at Loyola Chicago and three years later became part of the basketball team, first as an academic adviser before transitioning to chaplain.

Sister Jean led the team in prayer before each game — praying for her players to be safe, for the referees to be fair, and for God’s assistance during the game.

She also admitted to praying for the opposing team, though “not as hard.”

Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA (Feb. 25, 1931 — Nov. 10, 2025)

Sister Mary Michael of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, PCPA, died on Nov. 10 at age 94 after roughly three-quarters of a century of religious life.

Sister Mary Michael was the last of the original five nuns who, along with EWTN foundress Mother Angelica, began the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama.

Born Evelyn Shinosky on Feb. 25, 1931, to Joseph and Helen Shinosky, she entered Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 15, 1951, and received the habit and her new name the following May.

Her passing marked the end of an era at EWTN and at the monastery — one that saw both the launch of the global Catholic network and the expansion of the religious community to include the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.

Paul Badde (March 10, 1948 — Nov. 10, 2025)

Paul Badde, author of many well-known books such as “Benedict Up Close,” “The Face of God,” and “The True Icon,” died on Nov. 10 at the age of 77 after a long illness. Badde was also a veteran contributor to EWTN and CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

Born in Schaag, Germany — a small village on the Lower Rhine — he studied philosophy and sociology in Freiburg as well as art history, history, and political science in Frankfurt. Before embarking on a journalistic career, Badde worked as a teacher for several years.

A founding editor of Vatican Magazine, Paul and his wife, Ellen, had five children.

Sister JoAnn Persch (June 27, 1934 — Nov. 14, 2025)

Longtime immigrant rights advocate Sister JoAnn Persch died on Nov. 14 at age 91.

Two weeks before her death, Persch attempted to bring Communion to detainees at the Broadview, Illinois, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility where for decades the Sisters of Mercy ministered to migrants and refugees. Officials denied her entry.

Persch and Sister Pat Murphy were founding members of the Su Casa Catholic Worker House in Chicago, serving refugees from Central America who were survivors of war, torture, and political persecution.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

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Vice President Vance presents a Christian vision of politics #Catholic U.S. Vice President JD Vance. / Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CNA Staff, Dec 23, 2025 / 14:27 pm (CNA). U.S. Vice President JD Vance, America’s second Catholic vice president, laid out a distinctly Christian vision for American politics in a speech this week, declaring that “the only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been and, by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation.”Speaking to more than 30,000 young conservatives at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2025 some three months after the death of its founder Charlie Kirk, Vance called for a politics rooted in a Christian faith that honors the family, protects the weak, and rejects what he described as a decades-long “war” on Christianity in public life.The Christian faith has provided a “shared moral language” since the nation’s founding, the Yale-trained lawyer argued, which led to “our understanding of natural law and rights, our sense of duty to one’s neighbor, the conviction that the strong must protect the weak, and the belief in individual conscience.”“Christianity is America’s creed,” the vice president said to loud cheers, while acknowledging that not everyone needs to be a Christian and “we must respect each individual’s pathway” to God. Even so, he said, “even our famously American idea of religious liberty is a Christian concept.” Vance described how, over the past several decades, “freedom of religion transformed into freedom from religion” as a result of the cultural assault on Christian faith from those on “the left” who have “labored to push Christianity out of national life. They’ve kicked it out of the schools, out of the workplace, out of the fundamental parts of the public square.”He continued: “And in a public square devoid of God, we got a vacuum. And the ideas that filled that void preyed on the very worst of human nature rather than uplifting it.”Vance said cultural voices opposed to Christian faith “told us not that we were children of God, but children of this or that identity group. They replaced God’s beautiful design for the family that men and women could rely on … with the idea that men could turn into women so long as they bought the right bunch of pills from Big Pharma.” The former U.S. senator and Catholic convert credited President Donald Trump for ending the cultural “war that has been waged on Christians and Christianity in the United States of America,” touting the administration’s policy priorities as the fruit of Christian motivation.“We help older Americans in retirement, including by ending taxes on Social Security, because we believe in honoring your father and mother rather than shipping all of their money off to Ukraine,” he said. “We believe in taking care of the poor, which is why we have Medicaid, so that the least among us can afford their prescriptions or to take their kids to see a doctor.”Speaking of the despair he felt after the assassination of his friend Kirk, he said: “What saved me was realizing that the story of the Christian faith … is one of immense loss followed by even bigger victory. It’s a story of very dark nights followed by very bright dawns. What saved me was remembering the inherent goodness of God and that his grace overflows when we least expect it.”Of masculinity, Vance said: “The fruits of true Christianity are good husbands, patient fathers, builders of great things, and slayers of dragons. And yes, men who are willing to die for a principle if that’s what God asked them to do.”He described how he saw the fruits of Christian men living out their faith during a recent visit to a men’s ministry that aids those who struggle with addiction and homelessness: “They feed them. They clothe them. They give them shelter and financial advice. They live out the very best part of Christ’s commission.”After eating lunch with some of the men who were “all back on their feet” after receiving help, Vance said he saw that the answer to “What saved them?” was not “racial commonality or grievance … a DEI prep course” or “a welfare check.”“It was the fact that a carpenter died 2,000 years ago and changed the world in the process.” “A true Christian politics,” he said, “cannot just be about the protection of the unborn or the promotion of the family. As important as those things absolutely are, it must be at the heart of our full understanding of government.” On immigration policy, Vance has challenged U.S. bishops, popesThe vice president has publicly disagreed with the U.S. bishops on their reaction to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, as well as with Pope Leo XIV and the late Pope Francis, who seemed to criticize Vance in a letter the pontiff penned to the U.S. bishops last winter. In defense of the administration’s approach to immigration, Vance had in a late January interview invoked an “old school … Christian concept” he later identified as the “ordo amoris,” or “rightly ordered love.” He said that according to the concept, one’s “compassion belongs first” to one’s family and fellow citizens, “and then after that” to the rest of the world.After Pope Leo on Nov. 18 asked Americans to listen to U.S. bishops’ message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and urging the humane treatment of migrants, Vance countered: “Border security is not just good for American citizens. It is the humanitarian thing to do for the entire world.”Vance continued: “Open borders” do not promote “[human] dignity, even of the illegal migrants themselves,” citing drug and sex trafficking.“When you empower the cartels and when you empower the human traffickers, whether in the United States or anywhere else, you’re empowering the very worst people in the world,” Vance said.In this week’s AmFest speech, he touted the administration’s successes regarding immigration: “December marks seven months straight of zero releases at the southern border. More than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States. The first time in over 50 years that we have had negative net migration.”At the end of the speech, Vance told the thousands of young people that while “only God can promise you salvation in heaven” if they have faith in God, “I promise you closed borders and safe communities. I promise you good jobs and a dignified life … together, we can fulfill the promise of the greatest nation in the history of the earth.”
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Vice President Vance presents a Christian vision of politics #Catholic U.S. Vice President JD Vance. / Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CNA Staff, Dec 23, 2025 / 14:27 pm (CNA). U.S. Vice President JD Vance, America’s second Catholic vice president, laid out a distinctly Christian vision for American politics in a speech this week, declaring that “the only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been and, by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation.”Speaking to more than 30,000 young conservatives at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2025 some three months after the death of its founder Charlie Kirk, Vance called for a politics rooted in a Christian faith that honors the family, protects the weak, and rejects what he described as a decades-long “war” on Christianity in public life.The Christian faith has provided a “shared moral language” since the nation’s founding, the Yale-trained lawyer argued, which led to “our understanding of natural law and rights, our sense of duty to one’s neighbor, the conviction that the strong must protect the weak, and the belief in individual conscience.”“Christianity is America’s creed,” the vice president said to loud cheers, while acknowledging that not everyone needs to be a Christian and “we must respect each individual’s pathway” to God. Even so, he said, “even our famously American idea of religious liberty is a Christian concept.” Vance described how, over the past several decades, “freedom of religion transformed into freedom from religion” as a result of the cultural assault on Christian faith from those on “the left” who have “labored to push Christianity out of national life. They’ve kicked it out of the schools, out of the workplace, out of the fundamental parts of the public square.”He continued: “And in a public square devoid of God, we got a vacuum. And the ideas that filled that void preyed on the very worst of human nature rather than uplifting it.”Vance said cultural voices opposed to Christian faith “told us not that we were children of God, but children of this or that identity group. They replaced God’s beautiful design for the family that men and women could rely on … with the idea that men could turn into women so long as they bought the right bunch of pills from Big Pharma.” The former U.S. senator and Catholic convert credited President Donald Trump for ending the cultural “war that has been waged on Christians and Christianity in the United States of America,” touting the administration’s policy priorities as the fruit of Christian motivation.“We help older Americans in retirement, including by ending taxes on Social Security, because we believe in honoring your father and mother rather than shipping all of their money off to Ukraine,” he said. “We believe in taking care of the poor, which is why we have Medicaid, so that the least among us can afford their prescriptions or to take their kids to see a doctor.”Speaking of the despair he felt after the assassination of his friend Kirk, he said: “What saved me was realizing that the story of the Christian faith … is one of immense loss followed by even bigger victory. It’s a story of very dark nights followed by very bright dawns. What saved me was remembering the inherent goodness of God and that his grace overflows when we least expect it.”Of masculinity, Vance said: “The fruits of true Christianity are good husbands, patient fathers, builders of great things, and slayers of dragons. And yes, men who are willing to die for a principle if that’s what God asked them to do.”He described how he saw the fruits of Christian men living out their faith during a recent visit to a men’s ministry that aids those who struggle with addiction and homelessness: “They feed them. They clothe them. They give them shelter and financial advice. They live out the very best part of Christ’s commission.”After eating lunch with some of the men who were “all back on their feet” after receiving help, Vance said he saw that the answer to “What saved them?” was not “racial commonality or grievance … a DEI prep course” or “a welfare check.”“It was the fact that a carpenter died 2,000 years ago and changed the world in the process.” “A true Christian politics,” he said, “cannot just be about the protection of the unborn or the promotion of the family. As important as those things absolutely are, it must be at the heart of our full understanding of government.” On immigration policy, Vance has challenged U.S. bishops, popesThe vice president has publicly disagreed with the U.S. bishops on their reaction to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, as well as with Pope Leo XIV and the late Pope Francis, who seemed to criticize Vance in a letter the pontiff penned to the U.S. bishops last winter. In defense of the administration’s approach to immigration, Vance had in a late January interview invoked an “old school … Christian concept” he later identified as the “ordo amoris,” or “rightly ordered love.” He said that according to the concept, one’s “compassion belongs first” to one’s family and fellow citizens, “and then after that” to the rest of the world.After Pope Leo on Nov. 18 asked Americans to listen to U.S. bishops’ message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and urging the humane treatment of migrants, Vance countered: “Border security is not just good for American citizens. It is the humanitarian thing to do for the entire world.”Vance continued: “Open borders” do not promote “[human] dignity, even of the illegal migrants themselves,” citing drug and sex trafficking.“When you empower the cartels and when you empower the human traffickers, whether in the United States or anywhere else, you’re empowering the very worst people in the world,” Vance said.In this week’s AmFest speech, he touted the administration’s successes regarding immigration: “December marks seven months straight of zero releases at the southern border. More than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States. The first time in over 50 years that we have had negative net migration.”At the end of the speech, Vance told the thousands of young people that while “only God can promise you salvation in heaven” if they have faith in God, “I promise you closed borders and safe communities. I promise you good jobs and a dignified life … together, we can fulfill the promise of the greatest nation in the history of the earth.”

unitedyam

U.S. Vice President JD Vance. / Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Dec 23, 2025 / 14:27 pm (CNA).

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, America’s second Catholic vice president, laid out a distinctly Christian vision for American politics in a speech this week, declaring that “the only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been and, by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation.”

Speaking to more than 30,000 young conservatives at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2025 some three months after the death of its founder Charlie Kirk, Vance called for a politics rooted in a Christian faith that honors the family, protects the weak, and rejects what he described as a decades-long “war” on Christianity in public life.

The Christian faith has provided a “shared moral language” since the nation’s founding, the Yale-trained lawyer argued, which led to “our understanding of natural law and rights, our sense of duty to one’s neighbor, the conviction that the strong must protect the weak, and the belief in individual conscience.”

“Christianity is America’s creed,” the vice president said to loud cheers, while acknowledging that not everyone needs to be a Christian and “we must respect each individual’s pathway” to God. Even so, he said, “even our famously American idea of religious liberty is a Christian concept.” 

Vance described how, over the past several decades, “freedom of religion transformed into freedom from religion” as a result of the cultural assault on Christian faith from those on “the left” who have “labored to push Christianity out of national life. They’ve kicked it out of the schools, out of the workplace, out of the fundamental parts of the public square.”

He continued: “And in a public square devoid of God, we got a vacuum. And the ideas that filled that void preyed on the very worst of human nature rather than uplifting it.”

Vance said cultural voices opposed to Christian faith “told us not that we were children of God, but children of this or that identity group. They replaced God’s beautiful design for the family that men and women could rely on … with the idea that men could turn into women so long as they bought the right bunch of pills from Big Pharma.” 

The former U.S. senator and Catholic convert credited President Donald Trump for ending the cultural “war that has been waged on Christians and Christianity in the United States of America,” touting the administration’s policy priorities as the fruit of Christian motivation.

“We help older Americans in retirement, including by ending taxes on Social Security, because we believe in honoring your father and mother rather than shipping all of their money off to Ukraine,” he said. “We believe in taking care of the poor, which is why we have Medicaid, so that the least among us can afford their prescriptions or to take their kids to see a doctor.”

Speaking of the despair he felt after the assassination of his friend Kirk, he said: “What saved me was realizing that the story of the Christian faith … is one of immense loss followed by even bigger victory. It’s a story of very dark nights followed by very bright dawns. What saved me was remembering the inherent goodness of God and that his grace overflows when we least expect it.”

Of masculinity, Vance said: “The fruits of true Christianity are good husbands, patient fathers, builders of great things, and slayers of dragons. And yes, men who are willing to die for a principle if that’s what God asked them to do.”

He described how he saw the fruits of Christian men living out their faith during a recent visit to a men’s ministry that aids those who struggle with addiction and homelessness: “They feed them. They clothe them. They give them shelter and financial advice. They live out the very best part of Christ’s commission.”

After eating lunch with some of the men who were “all back on their feet” after receiving help, Vance said he saw that the answer to “What saved them?” was not “racial commonality or grievance … a DEI prep course” or “a welfare check.”

“It was the fact that a carpenter died 2,000 years ago and changed the world in the process.” 

“A true Christian politics,” he said, “cannot just be about the protection of the unborn or the promotion of the family. As important as those things absolutely are, it must be at the heart of our full understanding of government.” 

On immigration policy, Vance has challenged U.S. bishops, popes

The vice president has publicly disagreed with the U.S. bishops on their reaction to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, as well as with Pope Leo XIV and the late Pope Francis, who seemed to criticize Vance in a letter the pontiff penned to the U.S. bishops last winter. 

In defense of the administration’s approach to immigration, Vance had in a late January interview invoked an “old school … Christian concept” he later identified as the “ordo amoris,” or “rightly ordered love.” 

He said that according to the concept, one’s “compassion belongs first” to one’s family and fellow citizens, “and then after that” to the rest of the world.

After Pope Leo on Nov. 18 asked Americans to listen to U.S. bishops’ message opposing “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and urging the humane treatment of migrants, Vance countered: “Border security is not just good for American citizens. It is the humanitarian thing to do for the entire world.”

Vance continued: “Open borders” do not promote “[human] dignity, even of the illegal migrants themselves,” citing drug and sex trafficking.

“When you empower the cartels and when you empower the human traffickers, whether in the United States or anywhere else, you’re empowering the very worst people in the world,” Vance said.

In this week’s AmFest speech, he touted the administration’s successes regarding immigration: “December marks seven months straight of zero releases at the southern border. More than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States. The first time in over 50 years that we have had negative net migration.”

At the end of the speech, Vance told the thousands of young people that while “only God can promise you salvation in heaven” if they have faith in God, “I promise you closed borders and safe communities. I promise you good jobs and a dignified life … together, we can fulfill the promise of the greatest nation in the history of the earth.”

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CNA explains: What is natural family planning? #Catholic Credit: Chinnapong/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). In an era when artificial contraception often dominates public discussions on family planning, the Catholic Church continues to champion natural family planning (NFP). Far from merely another birth control technique, NFP invites couples to cooperate with God’s plan for married love, which “is a ‘great mystery,’ a sign of the love between Christ and his Church (Eph 5:32),” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  NFP — also known as a fertility awareness-based method (FABM) — relies on observing and measuring a woman’s natural signs of fertility, such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and hormone levels, in order to identify fertile and infertile phases of her menstrual cycle. Unlike chemical or mechanical contraceptives, which suppress or block fertility, NFP respects the woman’s body and its natural rhythms and allows spouses to achieve or postpone pregnancy, after mutual discernment, through informed abstinence during fertile windows. Most importantly, NFP honors the sacredness of the unitive and procreative aspects of the conjugal act, which the Church teaches must always be a total gift of self between the spouses and open to the gift of new human life. “Suppressing fertility by using contraception denies part of the inherent meaning of married sexuality and does harm to the couple’s unity,” according to the USCCB. “The total giving of oneself, body and soul, to one’s beloved is no time to say: ‘I give you everything I am — except…’ The Church’s teaching is not only about observing a rule but about preserving that total, mutual gift of two persons in its integrity.”In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, St. Paul VI affirmed that couples may space births for serious reasons, using natural methods that honor the “inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings” of the marital act. The USCCB explains that “NFP is not a contraceptive, it does nothing to suppress or block conception.”“On the surface, there may seem to be little difference (between NFP and contraception),” according to the bishops. “But the end result is not the only thing that matters, and the way we get to that result may make an enormous moral difference. Some ways respect God’s gifts to us while others do not.”The bishops continue: “When couples use contraception, either physical or chemical, they suppress their fertility, asserting that they alone have ultimate control over this power to create a new human life. With NFP, spouses respect God’s design for life and love. They may choose to refrain from sexual union during the woman’s fertile time, doing nothing to destroy the love-giving or life-giving meaning that is present. This is the difference between choosing to falsify the full marital language of the body and choosing at certain times not to speak that language.”The practice of NFP traces its modern roots to the mid-20th century, evolving from early, relatively unreliable calendar-based methods in the 1930s to the smartphone app-based approaches of today. Common methods include the Billings Ovulation Method, which tracks cervical mucus changes, and sympto-thermal methods, which combine the charting of mucus observations, temperature shifts, and cervical changes. The Marquette Model uses “several different biomarker devices to detect urinary biomarkers (estrogen, LH, and progesterone),” according to its website.Per USCCB data, NFP, with perfect use, yields 88% to 100% effectiveness in avoiding pregnancy, with imperfect use at 70% to 98%. For couples trying to achieve pregnancy, it typically occurs in about one year for approximately 85% of couples not using NFP, and within three to six months for those who are. Pope Francis praised the Billings method in 2023 as “a valuable tool” for “responsible management of procreative choices,” urging a “new revolution in our way of thinking” to value the body’s “great book of nature.” He noted its simplicity amid a “contraceptive culture,” promoting tenderness between the spouses and an authentic freedom.Beyond efficacy at planning, preventing, or postponing pregnancy in a morally licit way, couples who use NFP acknowledge that it can be difficult but say it builds intimacy and improves communication as well as self-mastery, transforming what can be otherwise difficult times of periodic abstinence into opportunities for deeper intimacy.Jessica Vanderhyde, a nurse and mother of seven who is using the Marquette method because she and her husband do not feel ready to welcome another child, told CNA that while NFP can be frustrating because of the periods of abstinence it requires, it also “leads to a lot more closeness in the marriage.”“If it’s been a long period of abstinence, we try to come up with other ways to be close. I need to make sure I’m more affectionate with him because sexual intimacy is one of the primary ways he feels I love him. If that can’t happen, I have to be conscious of that,” she said.“We have become good at taking each other’s feelings and needs into consideration. I work at providing what he needs as much as I can.”Vanderhyde also noted how charting symptoms can bring the couple closer as it allows the husband to really appreciate his wife’s body as well as her needs.“The husband should be involved in the tracking of it,” she continued, “so that he fully participates in the process and doesn’t feel like he’s at the whims of his wife’s moods.”She said it can also reveal underlying health issues like infertility or hormonal imbalances, which artificial forms of birth control can mask.
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CNA explains: What is natural family planning? #Catholic Credit: Chinnapong/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA). In an era when artificial contraception often dominates public discussions on family planning, the Catholic Church continues to champion natural family planning (NFP). Far from merely another birth control technique, NFP invites couples to cooperate with God’s plan for married love, which “is a ‘great mystery,’ a sign of the love between Christ and his Church (Eph 5:32),” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  NFP — also known as a fertility awareness-based method (FABM) — relies on observing and measuring a woman’s natural signs of fertility, such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and hormone levels, in order to identify fertile and infertile phases of her menstrual cycle. Unlike chemical or mechanical contraceptives, which suppress or block fertility, NFP respects the woman’s body and its natural rhythms and allows spouses to achieve or postpone pregnancy, after mutual discernment, through informed abstinence during fertile windows. Most importantly, NFP honors the sacredness of the unitive and procreative aspects of the conjugal act, which the Church teaches must always be a total gift of self between the spouses and open to the gift of new human life. “Suppressing fertility by using contraception denies part of the inherent meaning of married sexuality and does harm to the couple’s unity,” according to the USCCB. “The total giving of oneself, body and soul, to one’s beloved is no time to say: ‘I give you everything I am — except…’ The Church’s teaching is not only about observing a rule but about preserving that total, mutual gift of two persons in its integrity.”In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, St. Paul VI affirmed that couples may space births for serious reasons, using natural methods that honor the “inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings” of the marital act. The USCCB explains that “NFP is not a contraceptive, it does nothing to suppress or block conception.”“On the surface, there may seem to be little difference (between NFP and contraception),” according to the bishops. “But the end result is not the only thing that matters, and the way we get to that result may make an enormous moral difference. Some ways respect God’s gifts to us while others do not.”The bishops continue: “When couples use contraception, either physical or chemical, they suppress their fertility, asserting that they alone have ultimate control over this power to create a new human life. With NFP, spouses respect God’s design for life and love. They may choose to refrain from sexual union during the woman’s fertile time, doing nothing to destroy the love-giving or life-giving meaning that is present. This is the difference between choosing to falsify the full marital language of the body and choosing at certain times not to speak that language.”The practice of NFP traces its modern roots to the mid-20th century, evolving from early, relatively unreliable calendar-based methods in the 1930s to the smartphone app-based approaches of today. Common methods include the Billings Ovulation Method, which tracks cervical mucus changes, and sympto-thermal methods, which combine the charting of mucus observations, temperature shifts, and cervical changes. The Marquette Model uses “several different biomarker devices to detect urinary biomarkers (estrogen, LH, and progesterone),” according to its website.Per USCCB data, NFP, with perfect use, yields 88% to 100% effectiveness in avoiding pregnancy, with imperfect use at 70% to 98%. For couples trying to achieve pregnancy, it typically occurs in about one year for approximately 85% of couples not using NFP, and within three to six months for those who are. Pope Francis praised the Billings method in 2023 as “a valuable tool” for “responsible management of procreative choices,” urging a “new revolution in our way of thinking” to value the body’s “great book of nature.” He noted its simplicity amid a “contraceptive culture,” promoting tenderness between the spouses and an authentic freedom.Beyond efficacy at planning, preventing, or postponing pregnancy in a morally licit way, couples who use NFP acknowledge that it can be difficult but say it builds intimacy and improves communication as well as self-mastery, transforming what can be otherwise difficult times of periodic abstinence into opportunities for deeper intimacy.Jessica Vanderhyde, a nurse and mother of seven who is using the Marquette method because she and her husband do not feel ready to welcome another child, told CNA that while NFP can be frustrating because of the periods of abstinence it requires, it also “leads to a lot more closeness in the marriage.”“If it’s been a long period of abstinence, we try to come up with other ways to be close. I need to make sure I’m more affectionate with him because sexual intimacy is one of the primary ways he feels I love him. If that can’t happen, I have to be conscious of that,” she said.“We have become good at taking each other’s feelings and needs into consideration. I work at providing what he needs as much as I can.”Vanderhyde also noted how charting symptoms can bring the couple closer as it allows the husband to really appreciate his wife’s body as well as her needs.“The husband should be involved in the tracking of it,” she continued, “so that he fully participates in the process and doesn’t feel like he’s at the whims of his wife’s moods.”She said it can also reveal underlying health issues like infertility or hormonal imbalances, which artificial forms of birth control can mask.

unitedyam

Credit: Chinnapong/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In an era when artificial contraception often dominates public discussions on family planning, the Catholic Church continues to champion natural family planning (NFP). 

Far from merely another birth control technique, NFP invites couples to cooperate with God’s plan for married love, which “is a ‘great mystery,’ a sign of the love between Christ and his Church (Eph 5:32),” according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  

NFP — also known as a fertility awareness-based method (FABM) — relies on observing and measuring a woman’s natural signs of fertility, such as basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and hormone levels, in order to identify fertile and infertile phases of her menstrual cycle. 

Unlike chemical or mechanical contraceptives, which suppress or block fertility, NFP respects the woman’s body and its natural rhythms and allows spouses to achieve or postpone pregnancy, after mutual discernment, through informed abstinence during fertile windows. 

Most importantly, NFP honors the sacredness of the unitive and procreative aspects of the conjugal act, which the Church teaches must always be a total gift of self between the spouses and open to the gift of new human life. 

“Suppressing fertility by using contraception denies part of the inherent meaning of married sexuality and does harm to the couple’s unity,” according to the USCCB. “The total giving of oneself, body and soul, to one’s beloved is no time to say: ‘I give you everything I am — except…’ The Church’s teaching is not only about observing a rule but about preserving that total, mutual gift of two persons in its integrity.”

In his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, St. Paul VI affirmed that couples may space births for serious reasons, using natural methods that honor the “inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings” of the marital act. 

The USCCB explains that “NFP is not a contraceptive, it does nothing to suppress or block conception.”

“On the surface, there may seem to be little difference (between NFP and contraception),” according to the bishops. “But the end result is not the only thing that matters, and the way we get to that result may make an enormous moral difference. Some ways respect God’s gifts to us while others do not.”

The bishops continue: “When couples use contraception, either physical or chemical, they suppress their fertility, asserting that they alone have ultimate control over this power to create a new human life. With NFP, spouses respect God’s design for life and love. They may choose to refrain from sexual union during the woman’s fertile time, doing nothing to destroy the love-giving or life-giving meaning that is present. This is the difference between choosing to falsify the full marital language of the body and choosing at certain times not to speak that language.”

The practice of NFP traces its modern roots to the mid-20th century, evolving from early, relatively unreliable calendar-based methods in the 1930s to the smartphone app-based approaches of today. 

Common methods include the Billings Ovulation Method, which tracks cervical mucus changes, and sympto-thermal methods, which combine the charting of mucus observations, temperature shifts, and cervical changes. The Marquette Model uses “several different biomarker devices to detect urinary biomarkers (estrogen, LH, and progesterone),” according to its website.

Per USCCB data, NFP, with perfect use, yields 88% to 100% effectiveness in avoiding pregnancy, with imperfect use at 70% to 98%. For couples trying to achieve pregnancy, it typically occurs in about one year for approximately 85% of couples not using NFP, and within three to six months for those who are. 

Pope Francis praised the Billings method in 2023 as “a valuable tool” for “responsible management of procreative choices,” urging a “new revolution in our way of thinking” to value the body’s “great book of nature.” He noted its simplicity amid a “contraceptive culture,” promoting tenderness between the spouses and an authentic freedom.

Beyond efficacy at planning, preventing, or postponing pregnancy in a morally licit way, couples who use NFP acknowledge that it can be difficult but say it builds intimacy and improves communication as well as self-mastery, transforming what can be otherwise difficult times of periodic abstinence into opportunities for deeper intimacy.

Jessica Vanderhyde, a nurse and mother of seven who is using the Marquette method because she and her husband do not feel ready to welcome another child, told CNA that while NFP can be frustrating because of the periods of abstinence it requires, it also “leads to a lot more closeness in the marriage.”

“If it’s been a long period of abstinence, we try to come up with other ways to be close. I need to make sure I’m more affectionate with him because sexual intimacy is one of the primary ways he feels I love him. If that can’t happen, I have to be conscious of that,” she said.

“We have become good at taking each other’s feelings and needs into consideration. I work at providing what he needs as much as I can.”

Vanderhyde also noted how charting symptoms can bring the couple closer as it allows the husband to really appreciate his wife’s body as well as her needs.

“The husband should be involved in the tracking of it,” she continued, “so that he fully participates in the process and doesn’t feel like he’s at the whims of his wife’s moods.”

She said it can also reveal underlying health issues like infertility or hormonal imbalances, which artificial forms of birth control can mask.

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How Iskali is helping young Latino Catholics encounter God and find their purpose #Catholic Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, seeks to form active missionary disciples. / Credit: Iskali CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). Fifteen years ago, Vicente Del Real felt called to create a way to reach out to young Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. and provide them with a space to encounter God and use their gifts and talents for the Church. He went on to found Iskali, a nonprofit based in Chicago that promotes the leadership and holistic development of Latino youth, helping them flourish spiritually, personally, academically, and socially. Inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role in the Americas as “the star of the new evangelization,” Iskali works to form, empower, and equip young Latinos to become transformative leaders and to invigorate the Catholic Church.The name “Iskali” comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, language symbolizing growth, resurgence, and new beginnings. This was also the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke when she appeared to Juan Diego. Despite Juan Diego being from the Chichimeca people, and not an Aztec, the two groups of people shared the same language. Del Real told CNA in an interview that he felt the need to “respond to the urgent need to walk with young Hispanics as they navigate the questions of life, the struggles of life, and to be able to provide to them what the Church has to say and has to offer.”He added that “at the heart of Iskali is the work of evangelization.” This is done through providing young Latinos with an “adequate formation so they can understand the faith,” which will hopefully lead them to have a “personal encounter with God.”Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, received major grants to help it continue its evangelization efforts. Credit: IskaliIskali is founded on four pillars: faith and community, mentorship and scholarship, sports and wellness, and service to the poor. The pillar of faith and community involves members coming together each week for fellowship. Anywhere from five to 600 young adults gather to spend time getting to know one another and learning more about God and the Catholic faith. Through Iskali’s mentorship program, individuals are matched with a Latino professional who serves as a mentor and helps them with professional development. Iskali also provides scholarships for young people to attend colleges and trade schools, and works with parishes to set up a variety of sports leagues to help young people build relationships, provide another form of faith formation, and stay active. Additionally, once a month, Iskali communities serve those most in need — the homeless, people in hospitals, nursing homes, and immigrant families who have been affected by detentions or deportations.Members of Iskali gather for fellowship. Credit: IskaliSeveral recent studies show that the Latino population is the fastest-growing demographic in the Catholic Church. Del Real said he believes this is because “Latino young people are very attentive to the faith.”“They have seen their faith lived in their families, our home, with their grandmas, with their mothers. Faith is kind of embedded in our culture,” he added.In response to this growth being seen among Latinos in parishes, Iskali is launching a missionary program where a full-time missionary will be assigned to a parish that has a Hispanic population of over 50% to work in Hispanic ministry.“We are very, very excited … this is the first missionary program that helps to serve the Latino Church in the U.S., and we hope that this missionary program will bear the fruits of vocations to marriage, vocation to priesthood in the Hispanic community,” Del Real shared.Del Real said he also hopes that those who are a part of Iskali leave the formation knowing that they “are beloved, know that God is seeking intimacy with you, and know that he wants you to flourish as a person.”“We always say that we hope the people flourish,” he said. “God is a God of love and he wants to see us flourish. If we are a flower in his garden, he wants us to bloom.”
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How Iskali is helping young Latino Catholics encounter God and find their purpose #Catholic Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, seeks to form active missionary disciples. / Credit: Iskali CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA). Fifteen years ago, Vicente Del Real felt called to create a way to reach out to young Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. and provide them with a space to encounter God and use their gifts and talents for the Church. He went on to found Iskali, a nonprofit based in Chicago that promotes the leadership and holistic development of Latino youth, helping them flourish spiritually, personally, academically, and socially. Inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role in the Americas as “the star of the new evangelization,” Iskali works to form, empower, and equip young Latinos to become transformative leaders and to invigorate the Catholic Church.The name “Iskali” comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, language symbolizing growth, resurgence, and new beginnings. This was also the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke when she appeared to Juan Diego. Despite Juan Diego being from the Chichimeca people, and not an Aztec, the two groups of people shared the same language. Del Real told CNA in an interview that he felt the need to “respond to the urgent need to walk with young Hispanics as they navigate the questions of life, the struggles of life, and to be able to provide to them what the Church has to say and has to offer.”He added that “at the heart of Iskali is the work of evangelization.” This is done through providing young Latinos with an “adequate formation so they can understand the faith,” which will hopefully lead them to have a “personal encounter with God.”Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, received major grants to help it continue its evangelization efforts. Credit: IskaliIskali is founded on four pillars: faith and community, mentorship and scholarship, sports and wellness, and service to the poor. The pillar of faith and community involves members coming together each week for fellowship. Anywhere from five to 600 young adults gather to spend time getting to know one another and learning more about God and the Catholic faith. Through Iskali’s mentorship program, individuals are matched with a Latino professional who serves as a mentor and helps them with professional development. Iskali also provides scholarships for young people to attend colleges and trade schools, and works with parishes to set up a variety of sports leagues to help young people build relationships, provide another form of faith formation, and stay active. Additionally, once a month, Iskali communities serve those most in need — the homeless, people in hospitals, nursing homes, and immigrant families who have been affected by detentions or deportations.Members of Iskali gather for fellowship. Credit: IskaliSeveral recent studies show that the Latino population is the fastest-growing demographic in the Catholic Church. Del Real said he believes this is because “Latino young people are very attentive to the faith.”“They have seen their faith lived in their families, our home, with their grandmas, with their mothers. Faith is kind of embedded in our culture,” he added.In response to this growth being seen among Latinos in parishes, Iskali is launching a missionary program where a full-time missionary will be assigned to a parish that has a Hispanic population of over 50% to work in Hispanic ministry.“We are very, very excited … this is the first missionary program that helps to serve the Latino Church in the U.S., and we hope that this missionary program will bear the fruits of vocations to marriage, vocation to priesthood in the Hispanic community,” Del Real shared.Del Real said he also hopes that those who are a part of Iskali leave the formation knowing that they “are beloved, know that God is seeking intimacy with you, and know that he wants you to flourish as a person.”“We always say that we hope the people flourish,” he said. “God is a God of love and he wants to see us flourish. If we are a flower in his garden, he wants us to bloom.”

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Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, seeks to form active missionary disciples. / Credit: Iskali

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Fifteen years ago, Vicente Del Real felt called to create a way to reach out to young Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. and provide them with a space to encounter God and use their gifts and talents for the Church. He went on to found Iskali, a nonprofit based in Chicago that promotes the leadership and holistic development of Latino youth, helping them flourish spiritually, personally, academically, and socially. 

Inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe’s role in the Americas as “the star of the new evangelization,” Iskali works to form, empower, and equip young Latinos to become transformative leaders and to invigorate the Catholic Church.

The name “Iskali” comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, language symbolizing growth, resurgence, and new beginnings. This was also the language Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke when she appeared to Juan Diego. Despite Juan Diego being from the Chichimeca people, and not an Aztec, the two groups of people shared the same language. 

Del Real told CNA in an interview that he felt the need to “respond to the urgent need to walk with young Hispanics as they navigate the questions of life, the struggles of life, and to be able to provide to them what the Church has to say and has to offer.”

He added that “at the heart of Iskali is the work of evangelization.” This is done through providing young Latinos with an “adequate formation so they can understand the faith,” which will hopefully lead them to have a “personal encounter with God.”

Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, received major grants to help it continue its evangelization efforts. Credit: Iskali
Iskali, a ministry that serves young Hispanic Catholics in the United States, received major grants to help it continue its evangelization efforts. Credit: Iskali

Iskali is founded on four pillars: faith and community, mentorship and scholarship, sports and wellness, and service to the poor. 

The pillar of faith and community involves members coming together each week for fellowship. Anywhere from five to 600 young adults gather to spend time getting to know one another and learning more about God and the Catholic faith. 

Through Iskali’s mentorship program, individuals are matched with a Latino professional who serves as a mentor and helps them with professional development. Iskali also provides scholarships for young people to attend colleges and trade schools, and works with parishes to set up a variety of sports leagues to help young people build relationships, provide another form of faith formation, and stay active. 

Additionally, once a month, Iskali communities serve those most in need — the homeless, people in hospitals, nursing homes, and immigrant families who have been affected by detentions or deportations.

Members of Iskali gather for fellowship. Credit: Iskali
Members of Iskali gather for fellowship. Credit: Iskali

Several recent studies show that the Latino population is the fastest-growing demographic in the Catholic Church. Del Real said he believes this is because “Latino young people are very attentive to the faith.”

“They have seen their faith lived in their families, our home, with their grandmas, with their mothers. Faith is kind of embedded in our culture,” he added.

In response to this growth being seen among Latinos in parishes, Iskali is launching a missionary program where a full-time missionary will be assigned to a parish that has a Hispanic population of over 50% to work in Hispanic ministry.

“We are very, very excited … this is the first missionary program that helps to serve the Latino Church in the U.S., and we hope that this missionary program will bear the fruits of vocations to marriage, vocation to priesthood in the Hispanic community,” Del Real shared.

Del Real said he also hopes that those who are a part of Iskali leave the formation knowing that they “are beloved, know that God is seeking intimacy with you, and know that he wants you to flourish as a person.”

“We always say that we hope the people flourish,” he said. “God is a God of love and he wants to see us flourish. If we are a flower in his garden, he wants us to bloom.”

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Massachusetts removes LGBT ideology requirements for foster care parents #Catholic null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA). Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group. Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster. Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change. Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said. With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code. The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs. Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”
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Massachusetts removes LGBT ideology requirements for foster care parents #Catholic null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA). Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group. Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster. Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change. Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said. With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code. The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs. Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

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null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2025 / 12:54 pm (CNA).

Massachusetts will no longer require prospective foster parents to affirm gender ideology in order to qualify for fostering children, with the move coming after a federal lawsuit from a religious liberty group. 

Alliance Defending Freedom said Dec. 17 that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families “will no longer exclude Christian and other religious families from foster care” because of their “commonly held beliefs that boys are boys and girls are girls.”

The legal group announced in September that it had filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court over the state policy, which required prospective parents to agree to affirm a child’s “sexual orientation and gender identity” before being permitted to foster. 

Attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse said at the time that the state’s foster system was “in crisis” with more than 1,400 children awaiting placement in foster homes. 

Yet the state was “putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.

The suit had been filed on behalf of two Massachusetts families who had been licensed to serve as foster parents in the state. They had provided homes for nearly three dozen foster children between them and were “in good standing” at the time of the policy change. 

Yet the state policy required them to “promise to use a child’s chosen pronouns, verbally affirm a child’s gender identity contrary to biological sex, and even encourage a child to medically transition, forcing these families to speak against their core religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said. 

With its policy change, Massachusetts will instead require foster parents to affirm a child’s “individual identity and needs,” with the LGBT-related language having been removed from the state code. 

The amended language comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that aims to improve the nation’s foster care system by modernizing the current child welfare system, developing partnerships with private sector organizations, and prioritizing the participation of those with sincerely held religious beliefs. 

Families previously excluded by the state rule are “eager to reapply for their licenses,” Widmalm-Delphonse said on Dec. 17.

The lawyer commended Massachusetts for taking a “step in the right direction,” though he said the legal group will continue its efforts until it is “positive that Massachusetts is committed to respecting religious persons and ideological diversity among foster parents.”

Other authorities have made efforts in recent years to exclude parents from state child care programs on the basis of gender ideology.

In July a federal appeals court ruled in a 2-1 decision that Oregon likely violated a Christian mother’s First Amendment rights by demanding that she embrace gender ideology and homosexuality in order to adopt children.

In April, meanwhile, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation that would have prohibited the government from requiring parents to affirm support for gender ideology and homosexuality if they want to qualify to adopt or foster children.

In contrast, Arkansas in April enacted a law to prevent adoptive agencies and foster care providers from discriminating against potential parents on account of their religious beliefs. 

The Arkansas law specifically prohibits the government from discriminating against parents over their refusal to accept “any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the person’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

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Picture of the day Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning ‘place of Ganga’ in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning ‘place of Ganga’ in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Shrine dedicated to Shiva situated at the shore of the Gangabal Lake, a high altitude glacial lake in the Indian Himalayas. The lake is situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Jammu and Kashmir, and is called Gangabal meaning ‘place of Ganga’ in Kashmiri language. It is considered sacred in Hinduism as an abode of Shiva and used by Kashmiri Hindus to immerse the ashes of their dead after cremation. It has been described as a place of pilgrimage in several ancient Hindu texts and an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the lake starts from a nearby 8th century Shiva temple. This picture was taken in the month of Shravan, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar, which is dedicated to the worship of Shiva.
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