St. Martin de Porres. / Credit: AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
CNA Staff, Nov 3, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).
On Nov. 3, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican brother who lived a life of humble service and charity and became the first Black saint of the Americas.
Here are seven fascinating facts about this inspiring saint:
1. His father refused to acknowledge him.
De Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579. He was the son of a Spanish nobleman and former Panamanian Black slave. His father, Don Juan de Porres, refused to publicly acknowledge the boy as his own because Martin was Black, like his mother. Being biracial would prove challenging for Martin de Porres throughout his life.
2. He started practicing medicine before he was 13.
De Porres served as an apprentice to a doctor, and before the age of 13 he began to learn the practice of medicine. He would eventually become a barber, which at the time performed minor medical and surgical procedures like pulling teeth or emptying abscesses.
3. He faced discrimination as a Dominican.
De Porres entered the Dominican order in 1603. Becoming a Dominican brother proved to be challenging for de Porres because a Peruvian law at the time prevented people of mixed race from joining religious orders. Therefore, he lived with the community and did manual work, earning himself the nickname “the saint of the broom” for his diligence in cleaning the Dominicans’ quarters.
Eventually he was allowed to enter the order, despite the law, and worked in the infirmary tending to the sick and among the impoverished of Peru. “I cure them, but God heals them,” de Porres would say when curing the sick. He also had the task of begging for alms that the community would use to clothe and feed the poor. He also established an orphanage and planted an orchard from which those in need could freely take a day’s supply of fruit.
4. He levitated and bilocated.
De Porres was deeply prayerful, so much so that many of the brothers witnessed him levitating in intense prayer and embracing the crucified cross. De Porres reportedly also had the gift of bilocation, and some of his contemporaries said they encountered him in places as far off as Japan even as he remained in Lima. Some claimed he had appeared to them supernaturally behind locked doors or under otherwise impossible circumstances.
5. He refused to eat meat.
De Porres loved animals. He refused to eat meat and ran a veterinary hospital for sick animals that seemed to seek out his help. Portrayals of the saint often include cats, dogs, and even the rats to whom he showed compassion.
6. He is the patron saint of multiple manual labor occupations.
De Porres was known for the various assignments he carried out and which earned him the title of patron saint of barbers, the sick, and street cleaners. On the 50th anniversary of St. Martin de Porres’ canonization, Father Juan Anguerri, director of the St. Martin de Porres Home for the Poor, said: “These are often thankless tasks, but yet through his humble service, St. Martin sent a message to revitalize these jobs.”
7. He was canonized more than 300 years after his death.
Martin de Porres died on Nov. 3, 1639, at age 60. He was canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 16, 1962. At his canonization Mass, John XXIII called him “Martin of Charity.”
This story was first published on Nov. 3, 2021, and has been updated.
Churches in Jerusalem. / Credit: Amizor via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:
Jerusalem church leaders welcome Gaza ceasefire
The Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem has hailed the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange, describing it as a “first real step toward ending the war,” CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported Oct. 16.
The statement thanked the international community, particularly mediators at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, for helping secure the deal and called for rapid humanitarian access to food, clean water, fuel, and medicine.
The church leaders also voiced alarm over growing violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, insisting that peace talks must lead to an independent Palestinian state living in safety beside Israel. They praised Christians in Gaza for their steadfast faith, calling the communities of St. Porphyrius Orthodox and Holy Family Catholic churches “a living witness of hope amid suffering.”
Tokyo archbishop calls for end to death penalty
Cardinal Isao Kikuchi, archbishop of Tokyo, is calling on Japan to abolish the death penalty and grant clemency to two men charged with murder, according to a report by Crux.
“The Catholic Church in Japan opposes capital punishment, calling for the protection of all life as a gift from the Creator. The Church urges the government to abolish the death penalty and reform the Japanese criminal justice system,” the cardinal said, adding: “I fundamentally believe that if we uphold the value of human life and dignity, we must not employ the same method as the criminals by taking a life away.”
Protests in Cameroon overshadow presidential election despite bishops’ call for peace
Despite repeated appeals by Catholic bishops for peace and transparency ahead of Cameroon’s presidential elections, protests reportedly erupted in some cities in the country, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported Oct. 16.
In the country’s capital of Douala, angry demonstrators accused authorities of electoral fraud in the Oct. 12 vote. This comes after members of the Cameroon bishops’ conference called on authorities to address any electoral insecurities they said could possibly mar the country’s presidential elections.
“Every human life is sacred and must be protected. It is everyone’s duty to ensure that the sanctity of human life is preserved before, during, and after the upcoming elections,” they said, adding: “We call on the competent authorities of the Republic to use their powers to prevent electoral insecurity and ensure a favorable environment, free from fear and intimidation.”
Results for the election are expected by Oct. 26.
Pope Leo XIV meets Jordan’s King Abdullah II: a renewed friendship
Pope Leo XIV welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan and Queen Rania to the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City this week, their first meeting since the pope’s election earlier this year, ACI MENA reported Oct. 14.
The encounter reaffirmed the long-standing friendship between the Holy See and the Hashemite Kingdom, centered on interfaith dialogue and shared concern for peace in the Middle East. The visit comes as King Abdullah tours Europe, including Italy, Hungary, and Slovenia, for talks on regional stability.
Observers note that the strong personal rapport once shared between Pope Francis and the Jordanian monarch is likely to continue under Pope Leo, whose pontificate has already signaled continuity in humanitarian outreach and mutual respect.
Korean Catholics call on government to protect workers under new law
Catholic officials are welcoming a change to Korea’s labor laws that will help protect workers by strengthening unions and adding protections for workers in Korea’s segmented labor market, according to an Oct. 15 report from UCA News.
“Nothing is more important than the happiness, well-being, and protection of the lives of workers and their families, so it is natural for the Church to stand on the side of workers,” said Father Alexander Lee Young-hoon, the Bishops’ Conference of Korea’s secretary of labor.
“When the Church speaks out on labor and social issues, many believers perceive it as a political stance,” said John Park Young-ki, attorney and member of the Seoul Archdiocese Labor Ministry Committee. “The path of a Church that stands with the poor and the vulnerable, as Pope Francis has said, is not to follow secular logic but to show concern for the vulnerable.”
Germany names its head of foreign intelligence service as ambassador to Holy See
Pope Leo XIV received Bruno Kahl, Germany’s new ambassador to the Holy See, on Oct. 11, according to a Vatican press bulletin.
Kahl presented Leo with his credential letters during the meeting, marking the official start of his post. The new ambassador has been in Rome for several weeks, according to reports, and previously met with Leo during a private audience with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. During his stint as head of German intelligence, Kahl was in Ukraine when Russia invaded at the start of the war and had to be evacuated by special forces from the country via car, according to several reports.
The Trump administration will expand access to in vitro fertilization drugs and procedures. / Credit: sejianni/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 18:53 pm (CNA).
President Donald Trump is expanding access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments by partnering with pharmaceutical companies and expanding insurance options.
According to a White House announcement on Oct. 16, the Trump administration is working with major pharmaceutical companies to bring IVF drugs to the U.S. at lower prices. The administration is also expanding insurance coverage for fertility care.
The agreement with leading pharmaceutical group EMD Serono will make IVF drugs available “at very, very heavily reduced prices — prices that you won’t even believe,” Trump said on Thursday in a livestream from the Oval Office.
According to the announcement, women who buy directly from TrumpRx.gov, a website that will launch in January 2026, will get a discount equivalent to 796% of the negotiated price for GONAL-F, a widely used fertility drug.
The FDA will also be expediting its review of an IVF drug that is not yet available in the U.S., which Trump said “would directly compete against a much more expensive option that currently has a monopoly in the American market, and this will bring down costs very significantly.”
In addition, the Trump administration will enable employers to offer separate plans for fertility issues, comparable to the standard life, dental, and vision plans typically available from employers.
“This will make all fertility care, including IVF, far more affordable and accessible,” Trump said. “And by providing coverage at every step of the way, it will reduce the number of people who ultimately need to resort to IVF, because couples will be able to identify and address problems early.”
“The result will be healthier pregnancies, healthier babies, and many more beautiful American children,” Trump continued.
These fertility benefits will include both IVF and other fertility treatments “that address the root causes of infertility,” according to the Oct. 16 announcement.
“There’s no deeper happiness and joy [than] raising children, and now millions of Americans struggling with infertility will have a new chance to share the greatest experience of them all,” Trump said.
IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs in a laboratory to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and freeze them. Undesired embryos are routinely destroyed or used in scientific research.
Lila Rose, a devout Catholic and founder of the pro-life group Live Action, condemned the administration’s action, noting that “IVF kills more babies than abortion.”
“Millions of embryos are frozen, discarded, or destroyed,” Rose said in a post on X on Oct. 16.
“Only 7% of embryos created survive to birth,” she said. IVF is “not a solution to fertility struggles.”
In response to Trump’s announcement, the March for Life celebrated the White House’s focus on children and fertility, while cautioning the administration to protect human life at all its stages, even as embryos.
“March for Life appreciates that President Trump has heard and is responding to so many Americans who dream of becoming parents,” the March for Life said in a statement shared with CNA. “The desire for parenthood is natural and good. Children are a blessing. Life is a gift. The White House’s announcement today is rooted in these core truths.”
The March for Life noted that “every human life is precious — no matter the circumstances” and urged policymakers to protect human life.
“We continue to encourage any federal government policymaking surrounding IVF to prioritize protecting human life in its earliest stages and to fully align with basic standards of medical ethics,” the statement read.
The group also welcomed “the administration’s commitment to making groundbreaking advancements in restorative reproductive medicine more accessible and available to American women.”
Catholic institutes such as the Saint Paul VI Institute have pioneered a form of restorative reproductive medicine called NaProTechnology. “Naprotech” aims to discover and address the root cause of fertility issues via treatment and surgery if necessary. Some conditions that can affect fertility include endometriosis — which affects nearly 1 in 10 women — and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the leading cause of infertility.
“RRM aims to resolve rather than ignore underlying medical issues, increasing health and wellness while also restoring fertility, and responding to the beautiful desire for children while avoiding any collateral loss of human life,” March for Life stated.
Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) is recommended or dispensed by pro-life pregnancy centers to prevent the completion of an abortion shortly after a woman takes mifepristone to achieve a chemical abortion.
Although California has not tried to prohibit use of APR or prevent medical professionals from supplying it to women, Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2023 sued five pro-life pregnancy centers for promoting the medicine, accusing them of making false and misleading claims.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) does not recommend the use of APR, citing insufficient evidence. Alternatively, the American Association of Pro-life OBGYNs (AAPLOG) states the literature “clearly shows that the blockade is reversible with natural progesterone.”
Several pro-life pregnancy centers sued by California responded with lawsuits accusing Bonta of infringing on their First Amendment rights. Two cases were heard by a three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 9.
“It occurs only after a conversation and informed consent from a licensed medical professional,” he said, and accused the attorney general of “trying to censor information about that so the conversation never happens.”
“There’s no evidence on the record that anyone’s been harmed, and we’re almost 20 years into this, over 10 years at COLFS, and 400 babies born,” Breen told the judges.
“There’s no consumer protection here,” he continued. “There is no consumer to be protected. Women have been choosing this. The problem is: Are they going to know that they even have the option?”
Judges question California’s ‘state interest’
The California attorney general’s office was represented in court by Deputy Attorney General Erica Connolly, who argued that the studies backing the safety and effectiveness of APR are insufficient.
Connolly referenced an oft-cited study by George Delgado, which found that certain forms of progesterone supplements have a 64% to 68% success rate when used as an abortion pill reversal.
She accused pro-life pregnancy centers of misrepresenting the study and asserted the research is “not sufficient” in supporting its conclusions because it’s a “retrospective analysis” and “not a randomized controlled study.”
Judge Anthony Johnstone responded, asking: “As a matter of First Amendment doctrine, why does that matter if they’re reporting that a study says what the study says?” Johnstone also noted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved drugs with lower effectiveness rates.
Connolly alternatively argued that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has restricted advertisements when studies are “insufficient.”
Johnstone followed up, noting that California has not regulated the procedure itself but only the speech surrounding it and asked: “Why would it require lower evidence to regulate speech about that process?”
Connolly responded by saying advertisements affect the “informed consent process.” She said one cannot advertise “a treatment is safe and effective and that it does something that the scientific evidence does not establish that it does.”
Both Johnstone and Judge Eric Miller also expressed concern that the attorney general’s office did not adequately demonstrate the state’s interest in regulating the speech surrounding APR. In response Connolly said the interest is in “protecting individuals from misleading commercial speech about medical treatments.”
Ongoing scientific debate
Judge Johnnie Rawlinson raised the point that some medical associations have declined to sign off on APR as effective, but Dalton argued that disagreements within the medical community are “exactly what the First Amendment protects.”
Dalton argued Californians should be free to discuss scientific studies “without fear that the attorney general is going to silence them.” He said the First Amendment provides for “open discussion — not censorship.”
Members of Students for Liberty protest chemical abortions at March for Life, Jan. 24, 2025. / Credit: Tyler Arnold/CNA
CNA Staff, Oct 6, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last week allowing doctors to anonymously prescribe abortion pills, a move ethicists and medical professionals say will endanger women.
The law, designed to protect abortionists, allows them to prescribe the pill anonymously, protecting them from any professional, legal, or ethical oversight and from lawsuits filed by other states.
California abortionists are already facing lawsuits for prescribing abortion drugs in states where they are illegal. In some cases, women maintain that they were coerced or deceived into taking the drugs by the father of their unborn child.
According to the new law, the doctor remains anonymous — even to the patient being prescribed the pill. His or her identity is only accessible via a subpoena within the state of California.
Even the pharmacists dispensing the abortion drug may do so without including their names, or the names of the patient or prescriber, on the bottle.
Abandoning women
Dolores Meehan, a nurse practitioner and the executive director of Bella Primary Care in San Francisco, said the law is “codifying a type of back-alley abortion.”
“There’s no safety oversight at all from the perspective of the patient,” she told CNA. “It’s such a violation of patients’ rights.”
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, called the policy “patient abandonment.”
Health care professionals “have a duty to provide careful medical supervision and oversight to patients who seek to obtain dangerous pharmaceuticals,” he told CNA.
“This oversight calls for significant patient scrutiny, medical testing, interviews, and in-person exams to assure that any prescribed medications will be appropriate for the specific medical situation of the patient,” Pacholczyk continued. “Such attentive oversight gets thrown to the wind when lawmakers and politicians like Gov. Newsom seek to pass unprincipled laws.”
Offering anonymous prescriptions, Pacholczyk said, “is a significant dereliction of duty.”
To do so implies “a willingness to look past important procedural requirements and duties, whether it’s health screening of the woman, obtaining her emergency contact information, or assuring follow-up care and support for her,” he continued.
The policy, Pacholczyk said, “works to corrode the very core of authentic medicine.”
Meehan expressed similar concerns about the anonymity of doctors prescribing abortion pills.
She noted that licenses exist to ensure that “individuals are clear of any malfeasance or any malpractice.”
“You can look up my license, and you can look up everything about me,” she said. “But if you don’t know my license, you don’t know who I am, you can’t.”
She noted that patients are turned into consumers but without any recourse should something go wrong.
“You might as well go on Craigslist,” Meehan said.
Not an informed choice
After he signed the bill, Newsom said that “California stands for a woman’s right to choose.”
But Meehan noted that women don’t always know what they are choosing when they take the abortion pills.
“It’s not about women’s rights, and it’s certainly not about women’s safety, and women’s health, and women’s choice,” Meehan said. “Because choice should always, always, always be accompanied by informed consent.”
“The gross misunderstanding about the abortion pill is that it’s somehow easy,” Meehan said. “But what so many women don’t understand is that they’re going to miscarry at home.”
They’ll go through this “loss,” she noted, “by themselves.”
“Women are really ill-prepared for what’s going to happen in their bodies. There’s the whole idea of women’s choice, but you’re not giving them informed choice,” she said.
Pacholczyk shared similar concerns for women undergoing chemical abortions, saying that self-administered chemical abortions are a “harsh reality.”
The abortion “often takes place in a bathroom, with psychological trauma experienced by a mother who may see her aborted baby floating in a toilet,” he said.
Chemical abortions can sometimes lead to “serious medical complications — including sepsis, hemorrhage, or a need for repeated attempts to expel the child’s body” — for 1 in 10 women within 45 days of taking the abortion pill, he added.
If a woman has an ectopic pregnancy, “administering the abortion pill could increase the risk of complications or delay urgently needed treatment,” he added.
“Rather than treating women as anonymous entities and forcing them into greater isolation … mothers deserve the supportive medical attention and active care of their health care team,” he said.
“Ideally, such attentive care should help them feel strengthened and empowered to carry their pregnancies to term rather than defaulting to a fear-driven and desperate attempt to end their child’s life,” he said.
Lower standard of care
Jordan Butler, spokesperson for pro-life advocacy group Students for Life of America, called the policy “reckless.”
“Eliminating requirements for identification and pregnancy verification creates dangerous loopholes that allow sexual abusers to evade accountability,” Butler said.
Through the policy, Newsom and the abortion industry are “exploiting vulnerable women and children for profit,” she said.
Pacholczyk and Meehan expressed similar concerns for the lower standard of care women — especially vulnerable women — would receive under the law.
For women and girls facing human trafficking or coercion, protections “don’t exist,” Meehan said.
“You could have your local pedophile, a sex offender, stockpiling them,” Meehan said.
“Politicians, the media, and many in the medical profession have decided that abortion deserves an entirely different and lower standard than the rest of medicine,” Pacholczyk said.
“We would never sanction such a loose approach with other potent pharmaceuticals like opioids or cancer medications,” Pacholczyk said.
Boys swing on a rope during recess at Western Academy in Houston, Texas. / Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
Houston, Texas, Oct 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
After years of boys (and their parents) repeatedly ignoring the rules, a private boys school in Houston is taking a novel approach to its smartphone and digital device policy: Bring it to school, and “we will destroy it.”
In the past, if a boy was caught with a phone or other device at the school or a school-sponsored event, faculty would confiscate the device, which would be returned to the parents only after they had met with headmaster Jason Hebert. He would explain the harms to boys caused by smartphone use and why parents “should not put the phone back into your son’s hands.”
Boys look for toads in a pond during recess. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
Under the new policy, which Hebert laid out in a four-page letter to parents last month, after the device is discovered and destroyed, the boy will be suspended. If it happens again, the boy will be automatically expelled.
Along with its singular smartphone policy, the school, which has 230 students in third through eighth grade, takes a unique approach to education. The boys are free to play throughout the park-like, rambling grounds, where they climb and swing from trees, build forts, shoot Nerf guns, and care for (or chase) chickens before and after school and multiple times throughout the school day.
The all-male faculty expects respect and responsibility from the boys at a young age, according to Hebert. The teachers have the boys rise when an adult visits a classroom and encourage parents to let their sons learn to endure hardship and experience natural consequences when they forget their homework or their lunch at home.
Jason Hebert, headmaster at Western Academy in Houston. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
A Catholic priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei serves as chaplain to the school, which was founded in 2010, and oversees the religious education program.
The model is popular: Even with middle-school tuition close to $28,000 a year, every grade has extensive waitlists, and the school may start wait-listing boys beginning as early as kindergarten.
At the beginning of each school year, the boys are sorted into one of four houses that compete throughout the year in games such as capture the flag and “The Hero’s Race,” where the boys in each house choose one boy to race across campus, climbing over obstacles and crawling through mud. There is also a poetry recitation competition known as “The Bard.” One mother, Stephanie Creech, told CNA her sons are so happy at the school they “beg to get to school early and to stay afterward to play.”
Hebert sat down with CNA and discussed what brought about the change in the smartphone policy, saying he chose the words in his letter very carefully.
Hebert speaks to the boys on the first day of school as the faculty looks on. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
Witnessing the damage
“Smartphones are causing significant, unimagined damage to the students who have them,” Hebert wrote in his letter to parents, “as well as to the sons of those parents who have chosen not to give phones to their sons.”
“The damage these phones have caused to our children,” he told CNA in the interview, “it literally has never been imagined.”
“It’s not just pornography,” Hebert continued. “YouTube actors and other characters just trying to get clicks perform the most shameless actions on video. They just have zero respect for the dignity of their bodies and for life, zero. And these boys want to emulate these people.”
Hebert said the last straw came after a mother called him complaining her son saw a graphic, violent video on a smartphone at a school event.
After that, Hebert said he and the other administrators agreed: “That’s it. We’re done.”
Asked why the school did not just consider automatic expulsion after the first offense rather than the destruction of the devices, Hebert said with a laugh: “To be perfectly candid, I want to destroy the phone. I want to give the boys an opportunity to have life without it.”
He ordered a metal grinder for the purpose.
“Look, I am not an alarmist. I am not reactionary. But the bottom line is this: These devices are not neutral. The research is definitive: They are bad for our kids. I have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of boys over two decades in education and I have yet to see an exception to this,” he said.
Hebert said that over the years, he has noticed a degradation in the quality of the boys’ conversation. “You can’t imagine the level of shamelessness” among some of the boys,” many of whom are generally considered “good kids.”
“This type of behavior is unprecedented in my tenure as an educator, and even as a professional athlete,” he said.
Boys cheer their teammates on as the houses compete in a game of “Thud,” in which two boys throw a medicine ball at one another as hard as they can until one of them drops it or gives up. Credit: Courtesy of Western Academy
In the early 2000s, before beginning his teaching career, which included teaching at The Heights School in Maryland, he spent one year as a professional football player on practice squads for three NFL teams: the Chargers, the Titans, and the Raiders.
“I never played in a regular-season game. This is what I tell people: I made it to the NFL. I did not make it in the NFL,” he said, laughing.
“Let me make it clear: I was an athlete around some of the most earthy human beings on the planet,” he said. “These men were not ashamed to say anything in the locker room. Yet these same men would have blushed if they heard some of the things these boys talk about! This is so unimaginable. Yet it is becoming more common now, thanks to these devices.”
Parents on board
Asked if he was worried parents would leave over the school’s new policy, Hebert said if parents are not on board with the school’s values, it might be better if they left and one of the many others on the waitlist could take their spot.
In his letter to parents, Hebert wrote that the “school is a true partnership with parents. We say this not for poetic effect, but because it must be so for the authentic growth of your sons to become a reality.”
He told CNA parents should ask themselves: “How valuable is the phone to you? Are you willing to leave this place for it? This place where your son is so abundantly happy? Is your phone worth that? And if it is, well, it’s a mismatch of vision.”
Since the change in policy, however, Hebert said parental response has been “100% positive.”
After hearing about the school’s new policy, a mother whose son graduated from the school several years ago dropped off a financial donation at the front desk recently “for the phone grinder.”
“Everybody just knows it’s right. Parents might be frustrated because saying no to their sons makes their lives harder, but they know it’s right,” he said.
Hebert, a father of seven, said he and his wife do not allow their children to have smartphones or social media. “My children may not know a lot of the lingo or some of the jokes or about all the parties. They’re on the outside, to a degree.”
“And even though that’s a big deal,” he continued, “the alternative overrides that. It’s a bigger deal.”
“The alternative is not worth it,” he said.
“We all want the truth,” he said, “and the truth is these devices are severely hurting kids. I’m not a doomsday guy, but some day these kids will be in charge of society. Think about that.”
University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. / Credit: Peter Zelasko/CNA
CNA Staff, Sep 25, 2025 / 09:27 am (CNA).
The University of Notre Dame said this week that it had commissioned an external investigation into allegations that the head of a campus residence hall engaged in sexual misconduct years ago.
The allegations concern Father Thomas King, CSC, who was rector of the school’s Zahm Hall dorm from 1980 to 1997.
The school in a Sept. 24 press release did not reveal when and how it learned of the allegations against King, the details of which it did not provide.
But it said it was commissioning a “special committee to oversee an external investigation” into the abuse claims.
The inquiry will be led by lawyer Helen Cantwell at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton. Cantwell is “highly experienced in this important and sensitive work,” the school said.
“We are saddened that there are members of our community who may have suffered abuse while here and may not have received the support, care, and love they deserve,” the school said in the release, authored by university president Father Robert Dowd, CSC, and board of trustees chair John Veihmeyer.
“Our hope is that this external investigation will provide those who may have been affected with the opportunity to be heard,” the statement said.
School officials did not immediately respond to an inquiry on Thursday regarding King’s current status, including if he is still ministering in any capacity.
Though it’s unclear how the university became aware of the allegations, at least one Notre Dame alumnus had spoken out about King’s alleged sexual misconduct ahead of the school’s announcement.
David Tybor, a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and a 1998 graduate of Notre Dame, said in a Facebook post earlier this month that he was “leading a group of Notre Dame guys who were hazed, harassed, raped, and assaulted” by King while at Zahm Hall.
“We’ve collected scores of stories and are curious to hear more,” Tybor wrote on Sept. 8.
The professor also alleged that King was influential in a program for young men who wished to transfer from nearby Holy Cross College to Notre Dame. In another post he alleged that officials “knew about the abuse as early as 1995/96.”
Tybor did not immediately respond to a query on Sept. 25 regarding the allegations. In a comment on Sept. 19, however, he thanked “everyone who has contributed to this effort” to shine light on the alleged abuse.
![Trump administration expands IVF and other fertility treatment coverage #Catholic
The Trump administration will expand access to in vitro fertilization drugs and procedures. / Credit: sejianni/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 18:53 pm (CNA).
President Donald Trump is expanding access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments by partnering with pharmaceutical companies and expanding insurance options. According to a White House announcement on Oct. 16, the Trump administration is working with major pharmaceutical companies to bring IVF drugs to the U.S. at lower prices. The administration is also expanding insurance coverage for fertility care.The agreement with leading pharmaceutical group EMD Serono will make IVF drugs available “at very, very heavily reduced prices — prices that you won’t even believe,” Trump said on Thursday in a livestream from the Oval Office. According to the announcement, women who buy directly from TrumpRx.gov, a website that will launch in January 2026, will get a discount equivalent to 796% of the negotiated price for GONAL-F, a widely used fertility drug.The FDA will also be expediting its review of an IVF drug that is not yet available in the U.S., which Trump said “would directly compete against a much more expensive option that currently has a monopoly in the American market, and this will bring down costs very significantly.”In addition, the Trump administration will enable employers to offer separate plans for fertility issues, comparable to the standard life, dental, and vision plans typically available from employers.“This will make all fertility care, including IVF, far more affordable and accessible,” Trump said. “And by providing coverage at every step of the way, it will reduce the number of people who ultimately need to resort to IVF, because couples will be able to identify and address problems early.” “The result will be healthier pregnancies, healthier babies, and many more beautiful American children,” Trump continued. These fertility benefits will include both IVF and other fertility treatments “that address the root causes of infertility,” according to the Oct. 16 announcement. “There’s no deeper happiness and joy [than] raising children, and now millions of Americans struggling with infertility will have a new chance to share the greatest experience of them all,” Trump said. IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs in a laboratory to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and freeze them. Undesired embryos are routinely destroyed or used in scientific research.Lila Rose, a devout Catholic and founder of the pro-life group Live Action, condemned the administration’s action, noting that “IVF kills more babies than abortion.”“Millions of embryos are frozen, discarded, or destroyed,” Rose said in a post on X on Oct. 16.“Only 7% of embryos created survive to birth,” she said. IVF is “not a solution to fertility struggles.” In response to Trump’s announcement, the March for Life celebrated the White House’s focus on children and fertility, while cautioning the administration to protect human life at all its stages, even as embryos. “March for Life appreciates that President Trump has heard and is responding to so many Americans who dream of becoming parents,” the March for Life said in a statement shared with CNA. “The desire for parenthood is natural and good. Children are a blessing. Life is a gift. The White House’s announcement today is rooted in these core truths.” The March for Life noted that “every human life is precious — no matter the circumstances” and urged policymakers to protect human life. “We continue to encourage any federal government policymaking surrounding IVF to prioritize protecting human life in its earliest stages and to fully align with basic standards of medical ethics,” the statement read. The group also welcomed “the administration’s commitment to making groundbreaking advancements in restorative reproductive medicine more accessible and available to American women.” Catholic institutes such as the Saint Paul VI Institute have pioneered a form of restorative reproductive medicine called NaProTechnology. “Naprotech” aims to discover and address the root cause of fertility issues via treatment and surgery if necessary. Some conditions that can affect fertility include endometriosis — which affects nearly 1 in 10 women — and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the leading cause of infertility.“RRM aims to resolve rather than ignore underlying medical issues, increasing health and wellness while also restoring fertility, and responding to the beautiful desire for children while avoiding any collateral loss of human life,” March for Life stated.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/trump-administration-expands-ivf-and-other-fertility-treatment-coverage-catholic-the-trump-administration-will-expand-access-to-in-vitro-fertilization-drugs-and-procedures-credit-sejianni-shu.webp)
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