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U.S. lawmakers urge Trump to press China’s president on Jimmy Lai case #Catholic More than 100 U.S. lawmakers sent President Donald Trump a letter asking him to address Jimmy Lai’s case when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14–15.Lai, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9 over what Chinese officials claim were national security violations. The sentencing followed Lai’s conviction, which ended what Lai’s defenders described as a politically motivated show trial.In October 2025, Trump spoke with Xi Jinping about Lai. In the letter sent to the White House on May 8, lawmakers urged Trump to advocate for Lai again by asking for his humanitarian release.Catholic Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, both longtime advocates of Laiʼs, circulated the bipartisan letter that was signed by 105 other members of Congress.“We know the president wants to do this,” Smith said in a May 8 interview with “EWTN News Nightly." “We want him to know — President Trump — that weʼre solidly behind him about what he might be able to accomplish.”“And he could use that, frankly, more effectively, with Xi Jinping, and say, ‘Look, donʼt just do it for the executive branch. The legislative branch is asking you, as well, from a humanitarian point of view,’” Smith said.The president has “an ability to persuade” like “no other president Iʼve ever known,” Smith said. “And I hope he can persuade Xi Jinping to let this great man go.”The letter notes that Trump’s “direct engagement is critical to securing Mr. Laiʼs immediate release on humanitarian parole” and the case for his freedom “is urgent and undeniable.”“He is a devout Catholic and successful entrepreneur who has already spent five years in detention, much of it in solitary confinement,” lawmakers wrote.“His family, his friends, and supporters have indicated that if he is released, he will leave Hong Kong and withdraw from public life,” they wrote. “It is a clear, practical path forward that reunites a family and prevents this case from becoming an irreversible tragedy — and an enduring symbol of repression that will echo far beyond Hong Kong.”Lai’s ‘deteriorating health’The group is calling for a humanitarian release due to Lai’s “deteriorating health condition.” They wrote: “His health has declined in custody, and prolonged isolation and inadequate prison conditions only increase the risk of permanent harm.”“From a humanitarian point of view, weʼre hoping the president will look Xi Jinping in the eyes and say, ‘Let this guy go. Do it now. Itʼs a good gesture. It means a lot to us as Americans,’” Smith said.“Jimmy Lai spoke truth to power. He did it with grace, eloquence,” Smith said. “His newspaper … was just a beacon of hope and [truth], and for that, heʼs got a life sentence — 20 years. Heʼs 78. Itʼs probably a life sentence, and heʼs very sick.”“Iʼm very concerned,” Smith said. “Weʼve known for decades that when somebody is a political prisoner, and thatʼs what Jimmy Lai is, or religious prisoner, and you get sick, they let you die. They do not attend to your needs.”Lai “has a number of very serious ailments,” Smith said. “Type 2 diabetes is just one of them. Heʼs got a lot of other problems, and they all are compounding, cascading. He needs good medical attention, and he needs it now.”“Otherwise itʼll be a blight on the Chinese Communist Party added to the other blights that theyʼve accumulated over the years. But break that mold of letting people just die in prison through neglect,” Smith said.“No one can do it better than Trump, and I think he will,” Smith said. “And if it does fail, it wonʼt be on Trumpʼs back. Itʼll be, sadly, that Xi Jinping again has decided to stay with being cruel.”
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U.S. lawmakers urge Trump to press China’s president on Jimmy Lai case #Catholic More than 100 U.S. lawmakers sent President Donald Trump a letter asking him to address Jimmy Lai’s case when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14–15.Lai, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9 over what Chinese officials claim were national security violations. The sentencing followed Lai’s conviction, which ended what Lai’s defenders described as a politically motivated show trial.In October 2025, Trump spoke with Xi Jinping about Lai. In the letter sent to the White House on May 8, lawmakers urged Trump to advocate for Lai again by asking for his humanitarian release.Catholic Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, both longtime advocates of Laiʼs, circulated the bipartisan letter that was signed by 105 other members of Congress.“We know the president wants to do this,” Smith said in a May 8 interview with “EWTN News Nightly." “We want him to know — President Trump — that weʼre solidly behind him about what he might be able to accomplish.”“And he could use that, frankly, more effectively, with Xi Jinping, and say, ‘Look, donʼt just do it for the executive branch. The legislative branch is asking you, as well, from a humanitarian point of view,’” Smith said.The president has “an ability to persuade” like “no other president Iʼve ever known,” Smith said. “And I hope he can persuade Xi Jinping to let this great man go.”The letter notes that Trump’s “direct engagement is critical to securing Mr. Laiʼs immediate release on humanitarian parole” and the case for his freedom “is urgent and undeniable.”“He is a devout Catholic and successful entrepreneur who has already spent five years in detention, much of it in solitary confinement,” lawmakers wrote.“His family, his friends, and supporters have indicated that if he is released, he will leave Hong Kong and withdraw from public life,” they wrote. “It is a clear, practical path forward that reunites a family and prevents this case from becoming an irreversible tragedy — and an enduring symbol of repression that will echo far beyond Hong Kong.”Lai’s ‘deteriorating health’The group is calling for a humanitarian release due to Lai’s “deteriorating health condition.” They wrote: “His health has declined in custody, and prolonged isolation and inadequate prison conditions only increase the risk of permanent harm.”“From a humanitarian point of view, weʼre hoping the president will look Xi Jinping in the eyes and say, ‘Let this guy go. Do it now. Itʼs a good gesture. It means a lot to us as Americans,’” Smith said.“Jimmy Lai spoke truth to power. He did it with grace, eloquence,” Smith said. “His newspaper … was just a beacon of hope and [truth], and for that, heʼs got a life sentence — 20 years. Heʼs 78. Itʼs probably a life sentence, and heʼs very sick.”“Iʼm very concerned,” Smith said. “Weʼve known for decades that when somebody is a political prisoner, and thatʼs what Jimmy Lai is, or religious prisoner, and you get sick, they let you die. They do not attend to your needs.”Lai “has a number of very serious ailments,” Smith said. “Type 2 diabetes is just one of them. Heʼs got a lot of other problems, and they all are compounding, cascading. He needs good medical attention, and he needs it now.”“Otherwise itʼll be a blight on the Chinese Communist Party added to the other blights that theyʼve accumulated over the years. But break that mold of letting people just die in prison through neglect,” Smith said.“No one can do it better than Trump, and I think he will,” Smith said. “And if it does fail, it wonʼt be on Trumpʼs back. Itʼll be, sadly, that Xi Jinping again has decided to stay with being cruel.”

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Chinese officials sentenced Lai, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9.

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Hezbollah supporters allegedly launch digital campaign targeting Maronite patriarch #Catholic Hezbollah supporters have reportedly used AI-generated manipulated images to target Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai, the Maronite patriarch of Antioch and All the East. The patriarch described the digital attack on him as “a war of words, not freedom of opinion, but a worrying decline in the standards of language and values, and a violation of human dignity that no one has the right to infringe upon, regardless of its source or form.”The digital attack involved the circulation of altered images portraying the patriarch in mocking and degrading ways.Jowelle M. Howayeck, a Lebanese civic activist and 2022 parliamentary candidate, argued that the campaign is neither spontaneous nor ambiguous in its intent. “It is both intimidation and sectarian provocation, and it is deliberate,” she said. Jowelle M. Howayeck, a Lebanese civic activist and 2022 parliamentary candidate. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Jowelle M. Howayeck For Howayeck, the timing is not accidental. She links the campaign to a broader political context in which Hezbollah is “losing political ground,” prompting what she describes as a predictable shift in strategy: “Divert attention from the core issue and construct a new confrontation that can be framed as a symbolic victory.”In her view, “this is not political engagement. It is crisis management through fear, distraction, and division.”The campaign, she added, also reflects a deepening rupture between Hezbollah and the Christian community.Digital confrontations of this kind are not new in Lebanon’s political landscape, but they carry particular risks in a country built on a fragile and strained social contract. The patriarch himself has been targeted before "because the patriarch represents a form of authority that cannot be coerced or absorbed: moral legitimacy anchored in national identity," Howayeck said. "Whenever his positions align with state sovereignty, they expose a structural contradiction within the opposing project.”
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Hezbollah supporters allegedly launch digital campaign targeting Maronite patriarch #Catholic Hezbollah supporters have reportedly used AI-generated manipulated images to target Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai, the Maronite patriarch of Antioch and All the East. The patriarch described the digital attack on him as “a war of words, not freedom of opinion, but a worrying decline in the standards of language and values, and a violation of human dignity that no one has the right to infringe upon, regardless of its source or form.”The digital attack involved the circulation of altered images portraying the patriarch in mocking and degrading ways.Jowelle M. Howayeck, a Lebanese civic activist and 2022 parliamentary candidate, argued that the campaign is neither spontaneous nor ambiguous in its intent. “It is both intimidation and sectarian provocation, and it is deliberate,” she said. Jowelle M. Howayeck, a Lebanese civic activist and 2022 parliamentary candidate. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Jowelle M. Howayeck For Howayeck, the timing is not accidental. She links the campaign to a broader political context in which Hezbollah is “losing political ground,” prompting what she describes as a predictable shift in strategy: “Divert attention from the core issue and construct a new confrontation that can be framed as a symbolic victory.”In her view, “this is not political engagement. It is crisis management through fear, distraction, and division.”The campaign, she added, also reflects a deepening rupture between Hezbollah and the Christian community.Digital confrontations of this kind are not new in Lebanon’s political landscape, but they carry particular risks in a country built on a fragile and strained social contract. The patriarch himself has been targeted before "because the patriarch represents a form of authority that cannot be coerced or absorbed: moral legitimacy anchored in national identity," Howayeck said. "Whenever his positions align with state sovereignty, they expose a structural contradiction within the opposing project.”

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Hezbollah supporters have reportedly used AI-generated manipulated images to attack Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East.

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The life and legacy of St. Athanasius, champion of the Nicene Creed #Catholic The Catholic Church on May 2 honors St. Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century bishop known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his dedication to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Athanasius played a key role at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and defended the Nicene Creed throughout his life.Last year marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which was convened during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in 325.St. Athanasius was born to Christian parents living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 296. His parents took great care to have their son educated, and his talents came to the attention of a local priest who was later canonized — St. Alexander of Alexandria. The priest and future saint tutored Athanasius in theology and eventually appointed him as an assistant.Around the age of 19, Athanasius spent a formative period in the Egyptian desert as a disciple of St. Anthony in his monastic community. Returning to Alexandria, he was ordained a deacon in 319 and resumed his assistance to Alexander, who had become a bishop. The Catholic Church, newly recognized by the Roman Empire, was already encountering a new series of dangers from within.The most serious threat to the fourth-century Church came from a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus could not have existed eternally as God prior to his historical incarnation as a man. According to Arius, Jesus was the highest of created beings and could be considered “divine” only by analogy. Arians professed a belief in Jesus’ “divinity” but meant only that he was Godʼs greatest creature.Opponents of Arianism brought forth numerous Scriptures that taught Christ’s eternal preexistence and his identity as God. Nonetheless, many Greek-speaking Christians found it intellectually easier to believe in Jesus as a created demigod than to accept the mystery of a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire.NicaeaIn that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea to examine and judge Arius’ doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on Christ’s full deity and established the Nicene Creed as an authoritative statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius’ life was a constant struggle to uphold the council’s teaching about Christ.Near the end of St. Alexander’s life, he insisted that Athanasius succeed him as the bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius took on the position just as Emperor Constantine, despite having convoked the Council of Nicaea, decided to relax its condemnation of Arius and his supporters. Athanasius continually refused to admit Arius to Communion, however, despite the urgings of the emperor.A number of Arians spent the next several decades attempting to manipulate bishops, emperors, and popes to move against Athanasius — particularly through the use of false accusations. Athanasius was accused of theft, murder, assault, and even of causing a famine by interfering with food shipments.Arius became ill and died in 336, but his heresy continued to live. Under the rule of the three emperors that followed Constantine, and particularly under the rule of the strongly Arian Constantius, Athanasius was driven into exile at least five times for insisting on the Nicene Creed as the Church’s authoritative rule of faith.Athanasius received the support of several popes and spent a portion of his exile in Rome. However, the Emperor Constantius did succeed in coercing one pope, Liberius, into condemning Athanasius by having him kidnapped, threatened with death, and sent away from Rome for two years. The pope eventually managed to return to Rome, where he again proclaimed Athanasius’ orthodoxy.Constantius went so far as to send troops to attack his clergy and congregations. Neither these measures nor direct attempts to assassinate the bishop succeeded in silencing him. However, they frequently made it difficult for him to remain in his diocese. He enjoyed some respite after Constantius’ death in 361 but was later persecuted by Emperor Julian the Apostate, who sought to revive paganism.In 369, Athanasius managed to convene an assembly of 90 bishops in Alexandria for the sake of warning the Church in Africa against the continuing threat of Arianism. He died in 373 and was vindicated by a more comprehensive rejection of Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 at Constantinople.St. Gregory Nazianzen, who presided over part of that council, described St. Athanasius as “the true pillar of the Church” whose “life and conduct were the rule of bishops and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith.”This story was last published on May 2, 2025, and has been updated.
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The life and legacy of St. Athanasius, champion of the Nicene Creed #Catholic The Catholic Church on May 2 honors St. Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century bishop known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his dedication to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Athanasius played a key role at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and defended the Nicene Creed throughout his life.Last year marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which was convened during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in 325.St. Athanasius was born to Christian parents living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 296. His parents took great care to have their son educated, and his talents came to the attention of a local priest who was later canonized — St. Alexander of Alexandria. The priest and future saint tutored Athanasius in theology and eventually appointed him as an assistant.Around the age of 19, Athanasius spent a formative period in the Egyptian desert as a disciple of St. Anthony in his monastic community. Returning to Alexandria, he was ordained a deacon in 319 and resumed his assistance to Alexander, who had become a bishop. The Catholic Church, newly recognized by the Roman Empire, was already encountering a new series of dangers from within.The most serious threat to the fourth-century Church came from a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus could not have existed eternally as God prior to his historical incarnation as a man. According to Arius, Jesus was the highest of created beings and could be considered “divine” only by analogy. Arians professed a belief in Jesus’ “divinity” but meant only that he was Godʼs greatest creature.Opponents of Arianism brought forth numerous Scriptures that taught Christ’s eternal preexistence and his identity as God. Nonetheless, many Greek-speaking Christians found it intellectually easier to believe in Jesus as a created demigod than to accept the mystery of a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire.NicaeaIn that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea to examine and judge Arius’ doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on Christ’s full deity and established the Nicene Creed as an authoritative statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius’ life was a constant struggle to uphold the council’s teaching about Christ.Near the end of St. Alexander’s life, he insisted that Athanasius succeed him as the bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius took on the position just as Emperor Constantine, despite having convoked the Council of Nicaea, decided to relax its condemnation of Arius and his supporters. Athanasius continually refused to admit Arius to Communion, however, despite the urgings of the emperor.A number of Arians spent the next several decades attempting to manipulate bishops, emperors, and popes to move against Athanasius — particularly through the use of false accusations. Athanasius was accused of theft, murder, assault, and even of causing a famine by interfering with food shipments.Arius became ill and died in 336, but his heresy continued to live. Under the rule of the three emperors that followed Constantine, and particularly under the rule of the strongly Arian Constantius, Athanasius was driven into exile at least five times for insisting on the Nicene Creed as the Church’s authoritative rule of faith.Athanasius received the support of several popes and spent a portion of his exile in Rome. However, the Emperor Constantius did succeed in coercing one pope, Liberius, into condemning Athanasius by having him kidnapped, threatened with death, and sent away from Rome for two years. The pope eventually managed to return to Rome, where he again proclaimed Athanasius’ orthodoxy.Constantius went so far as to send troops to attack his clergy and congregations. Neither these measures nor direct attempts to assassinate the bishop succeeded in silencing him. However, they frequently made it difficult for him to remain in his diocese. He enjoyed some respite after Constantius’ death in 361 but was later persecuted by Emperor Julian the Apostate, who sought to revive paganism.In 369, Athanasius managed to convene an assembly of 90 bishops in Alexandria for the sake of warning the Church in Africa against the continuing threat of Arianism. He died in 373 and was vindicated by a more comprehensive rejection of Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 at Constantinople.St. Gregory Nazianzen, who presided over part of that council, described St. Athanasius as “the true pillar of the Church” whose “life and conduct were the rule of bishops and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith.”This story was last published on May 2, 2025, and has been updated.

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St. Athanasius, celebrated on May 2, was a fourth-century bishop who is known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his dedication to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity.

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