Partnership – United Yam

Alabama cannot execute convicted murderer with low IQ after Supreme Court ruling #Catholic The Supreme Court on May 21 rejected an attempt by the state of Alabama to execute a convicted murderer whose low IQ may render him intellectually disabled and thus protected from capital punishment by the U.S. Constitution. The court in an unsigned order dismissed an appeal from Alabama after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Joseph Clifton Smith, with the appeals court holding that Smithʼs low-70s IQ put him close enough to the threshold of an intellectually disability to render his death sentence unconstitutional. The court heard oral arguments in the case in December 2025. The case had followed a twisting path through the federal court system; the 11th Circuit first ruled in Smithʼs favor in 2023, after which the Supreme Court in 2024 vacated that decision and ordered the appeals court to consider it again. A second review by the lower court, with another favorable ruling for Smith, again brought the case before the Supreme Court last year; the high courtʼs May 21 ruling brought the case to an end.The latest ruling represents a potential precedent in how the Supreme Court considers certain cases of capital punishment. The court ruled in the 2002 case Atkins v. Virginia that executing people with intellectual disabilities violated the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment." The justices did not define “intellectual disability” in that case, though it cited expert opinion that “an IQ between 70 and 75 or lower” is “typically considered the cutoff” in some definitions. Theresa Farnan, philosopher on the Ethics and Public Policy Committee of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, told EWTN News in April that Smithʼs death sentence was “clearly a borderline case.” Smith was convicted in the brutal 1997 slaying of Durk Van Dam. “It’s obvious to me he could not grasp the gravity of his crimes,“ Farnan said of Smith. ”In cases like these, the burden on us as a society is even more pronounced to be radically pro-life.”The Catholic Church in recent decades has come out increasingly against the death penalty, with multiple popes arguing that modern penal systems have rendered capital punishment inadmissible in many if not most cases.Pope Leo XIV in particular has spoken out several times against the death penalty in just the first year of his pontificate, arguing that “human life is to be respected” and that support for capital punishment is incompatible with a pro-life philosophy.

U.S. Embassy to the Vatican: Nigerian Christians are being targeted #Catholic ROME — It is “intolerable” that Christians are being targeted for persecution in Nigeria, said U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch during an event in Rome on Friday.The group Solidarity with the Persecuted Church (SPC) and the Embassy of the United States to the Holy See organized the April 17 conference at the embassy on threats to religious freedom in Nigeria.Burch spoke to EWTN News on the sidelines about the stance of the U.S. on religious violence in Nigeria. He described the current situation as a “conflict between radical Islamic groups and Christians because of their faith.”“The United States is the greatest friend of religious liberty,” Burch said. “The purpose of this event is to call attention to the plight of Christians who are being targeted and killed in Nigeria. Unfortunately, there are extremist Islamic groups that have been targeting Christians specifically in their churches and their homes, and the scale and size of the persecution of Christians there is intolerable.”Asked about the denial by some Nigerian government officials that Christians specifically are being targeted, Burch insisted that the current violence against Christians is alarming, citing U.S. President Donald Trump, who designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern in 2025.“The president has said that Christians face an existential crisis in Nigeria, and thanks to his leadership, he is now acting to bring an end to this. We have called on the Nigerian government to take necessary steps to protect Christians, and the United States government is now working in partnership with the Nigerian government to assist them in doing just that,” he said.Steven Wagner, president of SPC, underscored the importance of Nigeria for Christianity in Africa and the need for the Holy See to be involved in raising awareness.“As Nigeria goes, so goes Africa. More Christians are martyred for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country on earth. There is a huge crisis of internally displaced persons. We are calling on the Vatican to increase public awareness of the problem and to continue to encourage the government of Nigeria to make progress in protecting its people,” Wagner said.Burch responds to Trump’s comments on the popeIn his opening remarks at the conference, Burch commented for the first time on the recent tensions between Trump and Pope Leo XIV. He emphasized their difference in approach to armed conflicts and their shared goal of eliminating evil.“In recent days, President Trump and Pope Leo have exchanged, shall we say, sharp words. We must not pretend there is no disagreement. But both men are driven by an unshakable belief in protecting the innocent. One leads with the sword and shield of American power, the other with the cross of sacrificial love. But both are saying in their own languages, ‘Evil must not triumph and innocence must not be abandoned,’” Burch said.Papal trip in AfricaThe pontiff is currently on his first apostolic journey to Africa — visiting Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization and a presenter at the conference, described the trip as a moment of profound unity for all Africans.“This is Africa, and much of the divisions, according to countries in Africa, are artificial divisions that were imposed on the continent,” Nwachukwu told EWTN News. “Africans quite often feel united even beyond the boundaries. So the popeʼs message to these churches and these populations will also be a message to the population in Nigeria and to the Church in Nigeria.”Many of the issues the pope is addressing on his trip “are shared in common in Nigeria,” Burch added. The Holy See and the United States “certainly share this deep, fundamental commitment to religious liberty.”

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A full-size test article of the SpaceX Crew Dragon named DragonFly fires its eight SuperDraco engines in a development test of its ability to land with the accuracy of a helicopter using only the thrusters. The company conducted two tethered tests vehicle attached to a crane so engineers could refine the landing software and systems on the spacecraft. SpaceX envisions returning people to Earth from space on the power of thrust instead of beneath parachutes. SpaceX, in partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, is developing the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 integrated system to take astronauts to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from the United States.
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unitedyam December 1, 2025

Picture of the day

A full-size test article of the SpaceX Crew Dragon named DragonFly fires its eight SuperDraco engines in a development test of its ability to land with the accuracy of a helicopter using only the thrusters. The company conducted two tethered tests vehicle attached to a crane so engineers could refine the landing software and systems on the spacecraft. SpaceX envisions returning people to Earth from space on the power of thrust instead of beneath parachutes. SpaceX, in partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, is developing the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 integrated system to take astronauts to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from the United States.