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Miami archbishop calls for ‘compassionate’ protections for Haitians ahead of TPS deadline #Catholic Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski urged “compassionate” immigration protections for Haitians with temporary protected status (TPS) upon expiration of their automatic work‑permit extension.As “widespread violence, political instability, economic collapse, and humanitarian suffering” continue in Haiti, Wenski said July 24 that the Caribbean nation remains unsafe as a place for migrants to return. About 353,000 Haitian nationals hold TPS status in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).Miami’s archbishop said local ministries are “preparing for the consequences” of policy changes, including the termination of work authorizations for diocesan employees. Employment authorization documents (EADs) reached a court-extended expiration July 27.TPS is an immigration status granted to eligible foreign nationals from designated countries that are unsafe to return to due to ongoing conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25 ruled that DHS could end TPS for Haitians and Syrians. El Salvador’s TPS designation is set to expire Sept. 9.The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 1689) in April that would add three more years of TPS for Haitian nationals. The legislation has stalled in the Senate.Catholic Health Services (CHS), one of the Archdiocese of Miamiʼs largest ministries, which employs a significant number of Haitian workers who hold TPS, “is currently evaluating the effects of the recent federal changes affecting TPS work authorization, Wenski said.“At this time, an estimated 40 to 50 valued employees may be affected, although the final number remains under review as the organization works individually with each employee based on his or her unique circumstances,” he said.Haitian CHS workers “are more than employees — they are members of our Church and our community,” Wenski said. “They care for the sick, comfort the elderly, and serve some of the most vulnerable among us with compassion and dedication.”Ahead of the deadline, Wenski said “our hearts are with our Haitian brothers and sisters who are living with uncertainty, fear, and anxiety about what the future may hold for themselves and their families.”“The Church recognizes the right of nations to secure their borders and to establish just immigration laws. At the same time, our Catholic faith calls us to uphold the dignity of every human person and to accompany those who are vulnerable,” he said. As “Haiti continues to endure profound hardship,” Wenski urged “elected leaders to pursue compassionate and humane solutions that protect family unity and recognize the extraordinary circumstances facing the Haitian people.”“To our Haitian brothers and sisters: You are not alone. The Catholic Church walks with you,” he said.Haitian workers in Ohio face uncertain futureOhio bishops also have called for continued TPS protections for Haitians, especially as Springfield, Ohio, is home to a large Haitian population. The Catholic Conference of Ohio released a June statement urging action and continued TPS.As the Supreme Court decision has left many families worried about losing their jobs, Ohio-based organizations are also preparing to aid those facing loss of TPS.In an interview July 24 with “EWTN News Nightly,” Casey Rollins, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul in Springfield, Ohio, said the organizationʼs team helps immigrants and nonimmigrants “while theyʼre enduring, or while theyʼre navigating … a crisis or a situation.”“That would be, in this case, once they lost their jobs, we will help them take care of their rent and utilities if they now canʼt pay that,” she said.For “over 60 years, weʼve helped Americans with rent and utilities and those kinds of necessities for independent living. Now weʼre doing that with Haitians and other immigrants whoʼve recently lost jobs,” she explained.“We also are helping the families who, many of them, are certain to be deported,” she said.Following the loss of workers in the Ohio community, “weʼre going to be in trouble,” she said. For years, the area needed “more workers here,” and the Haitian community was “taking a lot of these jobs.”
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Miami archbishop calls for ‘compassionate’ protections for Haitians ahead of TPS deadline #Catholic Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski urged “compassionate” immigration protections for Haitians with temporary protected status (TPS) upon expiration of their automatic work‑permit extension.As “widespread violence, political instability, economic collapse, and humanitarian suffering” continue in Haiti, Wenski said July 24 that the Caribbean nation remains unsafe as a place for migrants to return. About 353,000 Haitian nationals hold TPS status in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).Miami’s archbishop said local ministries are “preparing for the consequences” of policy changes, including the termination of work authorizations for diocesan employees. Employment authorization documents (EADs) reached a court-extended expiration July 27.TPS is an immigration status granted to eligible foreign nationals from designated countries that are unsafe to return to due to ongoing conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25 ruled that DHS could end TPS for Haitians and Syrians. El Salvador’s TPS designation is set to expire Sept. 9.The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 1689) in April that would add three more years of TPS for Haitian nationals. The legislation has stalled in the Senate.Catholic Health Services (CHS), one of the Archdiocese of Miamiʼs largest ministries, which employs a significant number of Haitian workers who hold TPS, “is currently evaluating the effects of the recent federal changes affecting TPS work authorization, Wenski said.“At this time, an estimated 40 to 50 valued employees may be affected, although the final number remains under review as the organization works individually with each employee based on his or her unique circumstances,” he said.Haitian CHS workers “are more than employees — they are members of our Church and our community,” Wenski said. “They care for the sick, comfort the elderly, and serve some of the most vulnerable among us with compassion and dedication.”Ahead of the deadline, Wenski said “our hearts are with our Haitian brothers and sisters who are living with uncertainty, fear, and anxiety about what the future may hold for themselves and their families.”“The Church recognizes the right of nations to secure their borders and to establish just immigration laws. At the same time, our Catholic faith calls us to uphold the dignity of every human person and to accompany those who are vulnerable,” he said. As “Haiti continues to endure profound hardship,” Wenski urged “elected leaders to pursue compassionate and humane solutions that protect family unity and recognize the extraordinary circumstances facing the Haitian people.”“To our Haitian brothers and sisters: You are not alone. The Catholic Church walks with you,” he said.Haitian workers in Ohio face uncertain futureOhio bishops also have called for continued TPS protections for Haitians, especially as Springfield, Ohio, is home to a large Haitian population. The Catholic Conference of Ohio released a June statement urging action and continued TPS.As the Supreme Court decision has left many families worried about losing their jobs, Ohio-based organizations are also preparing to aid those facing loss of TPS.In an interview July 24 with “EWTN News Nightly,” Casey Rollins, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul in Springfield, Ohio, said the organizationʼs team helps immigrants and nonimmigrants “while theyʼre enduring, or while theyʼre navigating … a crisis or a situation.”“That would be, in this case, once they lost their jobs, we will help them take care of their rent and utilities if they now canʼt pay that,” she said.For “over 60 years, weʼve helped Americans with rent and utilities and those kinds of necessities for independent living. Now weʼre doing that with Haitians and other immigrants whoʼve recently lost jobs,” she explained.“We also are helping the families who, many of them, are certain to be deported,” she said.Following the loss of workers in the Ohio community, “weʼre going to be in trouble,” she said. For years, the area needed “more workers here,” and the Haitian community was “taking a lot of these jobs.”

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Catholic Health Services, one of the Archdiocese of Miami’s largest ministries, faces losing an estimated 40 to 50 employees, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski said.

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Post-World Cup insults fly between Spaniards and Argentinans: ‘It’s idolatry,’ priest says #Catholic In response to the insults exchanged on social media between Argentinian and Spanish fans following the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, a priest questioned the amount of rage, warning that those behaving this way have “lost their bearings" and that "the way they’re acting isn’t about soccer; it’s idolatry." In a thread posted on X, Father Francisco Javier Bronchalo, a Spanish priest from the Diocese of Getafe, lamented having read “too many insults on social media between Argentinians and Spaniards” in recent days.“Someone posts something with the best of intentions, and people come down on them as if they had hit their mother,” he noted.The Spanish national team defeated Argentina 1-0 on Sunday, July 19, with a goal by Ferrán Torres and became world champion for the second time, following the title won in 2010.In his reflection, Bronchalo noted that “the human heart is made to worship” and warned that if it “does not worship God, it will worship something else: success, the body, money, or a soccer team.”This idolatry, he continued, replaces “liturgical chant with the team anthem, the worshipping assembly with the cheering section, and salvation with winning a title,” ultimately becoming “a religion without God.”The Spanish priest said “the insults and excesses seen in recent days” demonstrate that “people defend with violence and mockery something that, deep down, is devoid of both truth and meaning.”“The Gospel says that the mouth speaks from what overflows from the heart. Today, we would say: The fingers write from what overflows from the heart,” he remarked.However, Bronchalo clarified that “[soccer] is not the problem,” as the sport can bring about “healthy joy” and promote values ​​such as effort, perseverance, loyalty, and teamwork.“But a means treated as an end becomes a tyrant. Soccer as an ultimate end turns into the opposite: a source of anger, anxiety, and emptiness,” he warned.“The question is not whether you are passionate about soccer. The question is what place it holds in your heart. If it is a means, it draws you closer to heaven. If it is an end, it traps you on earth,” he said.Bishop Munilla: Don’t turn soccer into ‘a religion’The Spanish priest’s reflection echoed the warning issued before the World Cup final by the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante in Spain, José Ignacio Munilla, who highlighted that soccer has values ​​worth recognizing but noted that “it is one thing to enjoy the sport, and quite another to turn it into a religion.”The prelate further noted that “an inability to accept defeat is a sign of immaturity” but “those who need to humiliate others don’t know how to win, either.” “True sportsmanship lies in discovering that one’s rival is not an enemy but someone who makes the game possible,” he stated.‘Rivals for a day. Brothers forever’Amid verbal clashes on social media, Catholic priests from Argentina and Spain shared messages of goodwill and congratulations.Argentinian priest Father Tomás Agustín Beroch wrote on X: “Congratulations to Spain. They were far superior and won decisively. Long live Spain — our Motherland that evangelized us — and congratulations on this cup. It is well-deserved.”“As I’ve been saying throughout this World Cup, we must win heaven, and Christ must reign in our hearts above all else. A big hug to my Spanish friends and to all the people of that great nation,” he said.Hours before the final, Father Francisco Delgado of the Archdiocese of Toledo in Spain posted an image of two soccer players — one Spanish and the other Argentinian — walking across the playing field with their arms around each other. Above them, the words read: “Rivals for a day. Brothers forever.”Argentinian priest Father Javier Olivera Ravasi congratulated Spain on the championship on X, stating: “They deserve it. They were better.”He then posted a photo of his backpack featuring the flags of Argentina and Spain, which he has carried “for years” declaring “Long live Christ the King! Long live Catholic Spain and Catholic Argentina!”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Post-World Cup insults fly between Spaniards and Argentinans: ‘It’s idolatry,’ priest says #Catholic In response to the insults exchanged on social media between Argentinian and Spanish fans following the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, a priest questioned the amount of rage, warning that those behaving this way have “lost their bearings" and that "the way they’re acting isn’t about soccer; it’s idolatry." In a thread posted on X, Father Francisco Javier Bronchalo, a Spanish priest from the Diocese of Getafe, lamented having read “too many insults on social media between Argentinians and Spaniards” in recent days.“Someone posts something with the best of intentions, and people come down on them as if they had hit their mother,” he noted.The Spanish national team defeated Argentina 1-0 on Sunday, July 19, with a goal by Ferrán Torres and became world champion for the second time, following the title won in 2010.In his reflection, Bronchalo noted that “the human heart is made to worship” and warned that if it “does not worship God, it will worship something else: success, the body, money, or a soccer team.”This idolatry, he continued, replaces “liturgical chant with the team anthem, the worshipping assembly with the cheering section, and salvation with winning a title,” ultimately becoming “a religion without God.”The Spanish priest said “the insults and excesses seen in recent days” demonstrate that “people defend with violence and mockery something that, deep down, is devoid of both truth and meaning.”“The Gospel says that the mouth speaks from what overflows from the heart. Today, we would say: The fingers write from what overflows from the heart,” he remarked.However, Bronchalo clarified that “[soccer] is not the problem,” as the sport can bring about “healthy joy” and promote values ​​such as effort, perseverance, loyalty, and teamwork.“But a means treated as an end becomes a tyrant. Soccer as an ultimate end turns into the opposite: a source of anger, anxiety, and emptiness,” he warned.“The question is not whether you are passionate about soccer. The question is what place it holds in your heart. If it is a means, it draws you closer to heaven. If it is an end, it traps you on earth,” he said.Bishop Munilla: Don’t turn soccer into ‘a religion’The Spanish priest’s reflection echoed the warning issued before the World Cup final by the bishop of Orihuela-Alicante in Spain, José Ignacio Munilla, who highlighted that soccer has values ​​worth recognizing but noted that “it is one thing to enjoy the sport, and quite another to turn it into a religion.”The prelate further noted that “an inability to accept defeat is a sign of immaturity” but “those who need to humiliate others don’t know how to win, either.” “True sportsmanship lies in discovering that one’s rival is not an enemy but someone who makes the game possible,” he stated.‘Rivals for a day. Brothers forever’Amid verbal clashes on social media, Catholic priests from Argentina and Spain shared messages of goodwill and congratulations.Argentinian priest Father Tomás Agustín Beroch wrote on X: “Congratulations to Spain. They were far superior and won decisively. Long live Spain — our Motherland that evangelized us — and congratulations on this cup. It is well-deserved.”“As I’ve been saying throughout this World Cup, we must win heaven, and Christ must reign in our hearts above all else. A big hug to my Spanish friends and to all the people of that great nation,” he said.Hours before the final, Father Francisco Delgado of the Archdiocese of Toledo in Spain posted an image of two soccer players — one Spanish and the other Argentinian — walking across the playing field with their arms around each other. Above them, the words read: “Rivals for a day. Brothers forever.”Argentinian priest Father Javier Olivera Ravasi congratulated Spain on the championship on X, stating: “They deserve it. They were better.”He then posted a photo of his backpack featuring the flags of Argentina and Spain, which he has carried “for years” declaring “Long live Christ the King! Long live Catholic Spain and Catholic Argentina!”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The priest said “the human heart is made to worship” and warned that if it “does not worship God, it will worship something else: success, the body, money, or a soccer team.”

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Ferrán Torres, the Catholic forward who won the World Cup for Spain #Catholic Ferrán Torres is the Catholic forward who secured a 1–0 victory for Spain over Messiʼs Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, played on Sunday, July 19, in New Jersey.“The goal is the least important thing; right now, all I want is to grab that trophy and squeeze it as hard as I can, because I believe it represents the dream of the 47 million people we were representing on the pitch today — because I think we deserved it and we gave it our all,” said Ferrán Torres after the final.Torres, who plays for Barcelona in Spain, also said that the goal brought him a sense of relief, given the heavy criticism he had faced during the World Cup. “Thank God, He always gives me the strength to keep going, and in the end — as I always say — God grants things to those who deserve them most,” the forward emphasized.Days before the final, a video was released in which Torres spoke about the importance of God in his life. “I have a cross and an image of the Virgin Mary; ultimately, I think having such strong faith gives me great support — it is something very important to me,” remarked the Spanish forward, who was named the final’s Superior Player of the Match.TweetTorres stands out for his Catholic faith within the Spanish national team, alongside coach Luis de la Fuente — who, at the press conference prior to the semifinal match where they defeated France 2–0, stated that he prays “every day, but not because I am at a World Cup or in order to get a result.”“I give thanks every day — every day I wake up and find myself well, I look at myself and say: ‘Another day I can enjoy life.’ I give thanks for those little things. I pray—because I do pray every day — not to ask for more help,” the Spanish head coach explained at the time.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Ferrán Torres, the Catholic forward who won the World Cup for Spain #Catholic Ferrán Torres is the Catholic forward who secured a 1–0 victory for Spain over Messiʼs Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, played on Sunday, July 19, in New Jersey.“The goal is the least important thing; right now, all I want is to grab that trophy and squeeze it as hard as I can, because I believe it represents the dream of the 47 million people we were representing on the pitch today — because I think we deserved it and we gave it our all,” said Ferrán Torres after the final.Torres, who plays for Barcelona in Spain, also said that the goal brought him a sense of relief, given the heavy criticism he had faced during the World Cup. “Thank God, He always gives me the strength to keep going, and in the end — as I always say — God grants things to those who deserve them most,” the forward emphasized.Days before the final, a video was released in which Torres spoke about the importance of God in his life. “I have a cross and an image of the Virgin Mary; ultimately, I think having such strong faith gives me great support — it is something very important to me,” remarked the Spanish forward, who was named the final’s Superior Player of the Match.TweetTorres stands out for his Catholic faith within the Spanish national team, alongside coach Luis de la Fuente — who, at the press conference prior to the semifinal match where they defeated France 2–0, stated that he prays “every day, but not because I am at a World Cup or in order to get a result.”“I give thanks every day — every day I wake up and find myself well, I look at myself and say: ‘Another day I can enjoy life.’ I give thanks for those little things. I pray—because I do pray every day — not to ask for more help,” the Spanish head coach explained at the time.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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Torres stands out for his Catholic faith within the Spanish national team, alongside coach Luis de la Fuente.

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Sicar: The retreat transforming the lives of young people in Latin America #Catholic The Sicar retreat (“Sychar” in the English Bible) has given rise to one of the most notable youth evangelization experiences in Latin America. It came about through a process of discernment by a Mexican religious in her own search for God, a dynamic movement that today reaches thousands of young people.With over 30 years of consecrated life, Mother María Elena Martínez has dedicated her life to the spiritual formation of young people and adults through “Mary, Mother of Love,” a private association of the faithful she founded in Mexico in 2015.The community is centered on retreats making a spiritual impact, such as Emmaus, which is held in parishes and correctional facilities, and Sicar, which is aimed specifically at young adults. Mother María Elena Martínez. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez Her life, marked from childhood by a quest for God, would ultimately become bound up in an initiative that is active today in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Argentina, and Peru.“I remember as a little girl I had a great thirst for God,” she shared in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.That initial calling deepened over time. At age 11, she recalled, a desire to please Jesus arose within her. “A desire for purity … I wanted to live a life of virginity,” she noted, explaining that she prayed insistently to the Virgin Mary, asking for that consecration. Mother María Elena Martínez in front of an oasis. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez However, her path was neither immediate nor direct. “Religious life wasn’t something that particularly appealed to me,” she admitted. In her youth, she went through various experiences ranging from completing a degree in translating to exploring broader spiritual concerns, which eventually led her to try out consecrated life with the Missionaries of Charity.Some time later, she tried cloistered contemplative life. “I wanted something more interior, deeper,” she confessed.A concern arises: ‘What about the young people?’The Sicar retreat did not originate as a planned initiative but rather as a pastoral response that only gradually took shape. According to Mother María Elena, for years many people approached her with the same concern: “What about the young people?” “Do something for the young people,” they would tell her. Sicar team members in Mexico. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez The Gospel account of the Samaritan woman began to take center stage in her prayer and discernment. Jesus’ dialogue at the well of Sychar — “If you knew the gift of God” (cf. Jn 4:1-42) — served as the starting point for helping young people discover Christ. “The passage about the Samaritan woman was so rich, so rich, that I could draw so much from it,” she explained.The decisive step came in 2016, when the first Sicar retreat was held. Mother María Elena remembered it as the beginning of something small and simple yet deeply meaningful. Young people with prior experience in movements like Emmaus were the first to participate. Sicar Mexico. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez Sicar began to expand. After establishing itself in cities such as Mexico City, Tehuacán, and Tecamachalco (in the state of Puebla), as well as San Luis de la Paz (Guanajuato state), Veracruz, Mérida (Yucatán state), and Cuernavaca (Morelos state), the initiative began to cross borders beyond Mexico. The first retreat in Guatemala took place in 2017; Buenos Aires in 2018; Paraguay in 2022; and in Peru in 2023.“It has been growing in many places, rescuing so many young people,” Mother María Elena said with gratitude.In Mexico, 38 Sicar retreats have been held with an average of 50 participants each, amounting to nearly 2,000 young people. In Peru, where the initiative arrived in 2023, seven retreats have already taken place with around 70 participants each, reaching approximately 490 people. Sicar Mexico. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez Ottmar Ricalde, a Sicar volunteer in Mexico, noted that “Sicar means and has meant so much over these past 10 years.” “I could write and speak about all the stories, all the laughter, and all the tears, but the most important thing of all is the love of God that has been a gift to me,” he stated.“My life was always focused on pleasing others, but when I met God and realized how much he loves me, I began wanting to please him,” he said.In Paraguay, Sicar coordinator Fátima Correa highlighted that the experience “was a time of growth and renewal. It allowed us to view our history with fresh eyes.” Sicar Paraguay 2026 team members. | Credit: Sicar Paraguay “It was a retreat organized by young people for young people, where every testimony reflected realities many of us could relate to,” she added.A couple from Argentina who participated in the retreat and are now married say that Sicar marked a turning point in their lives. “We arrived as boyfriend and girlfriend and returned with completely transformed hearts … today, we feel that one of the greatest fruits was our marriage.”A growing community in PeruSicar arrived in Peru in 2023 and has since established a growing community.Geraldine Spihlman, director of Sicar in Peru, explained that the initiative arose after a need was identified within youth ministry. “When young people reached the age of 24 or 25, they no longer had a place to continue their journey of faith,” she noted.Following contact with Mother María Elena, it was decided to launch the initiative in Lima, which holds two retreats a year: in May and November.Spihlman highlighted that the most visible fruit is the community: “Many young people have discovered that it’s hard to go it alone but that everything is easier in community. It is a community where you can see how they love one another.”Instagram post‘God’s mercy knows no bounds’One of the most common fruits of these retreats is a shift in how one views others.In personal encounters, transformation occurs not only for those receiving the retreat but also for those who put it on. “God’s mercy knows no bounds,” Mother María Elena stated. “You look at people with eyes of mercy. You no longer judge the person; instead, you see them as a child of God,” she explained.Eros Acevedo, another team member, said the retreat “was an encounter with God that changed everything … I arrived bearing wounds, and his presence touched them. I left renewed.” Sicar Peru team members, May 2026. | Credit: Sicar Peru Rafael Mansilla, 27, said Sicar taught him to persevere in the faith. “Faith is not a flame that goes out but a steady flame,” he said.Dina Dávila shared that the retreat was the instrument God used to call her. “The love I have experienced in the community is overwhelming,” she added.‘A living Jesus’Through the retreats, Mother María Elena explained, people are invited to encounter “a living Jesus.” “God continues to act; he continues to perform miracles every day,” she affirmed. She said she lives one day at a time. “Each day I tell the Lord, ‘For one more day, I say yes to you.’” Participants in a Sicar retreat in Mexico. | Credit: Sicar Mexico The Sicar retreat, born of a contemplative reading of the Gospel, continues to spread wherever young people seek meaning, healing, and an experience of mature faith.Today, the young “Samaritans” who have lived this experience carry with them the words that marked their encounter with God: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst” (Jn 4:14).This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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Sicar: The retreat transforming the lives of young people in Latin America #Catholic The Sicar retreat (“Sychar” in the English Bible) has given rise to one of the most notable youth evangelization experiences in Latin America. It came about through a process of discernment by a Mexican religious in her own search for God, a dynamic movement that today reaches thousands of young people.With over 30 years of consecrated life, Mother María Elena Martínez has dedicated her life to the spiritual formation of young people and adults through “Mary, Mother of Love,” a private association of the faithful she founded in Mexico in 2015.The community is centered on retreats making a spiritual impact, such as Emmaus, which is held in parishes and correctional facilities, and Sicar, which is aimed specifically at young adults. Mother María Elena Martínez. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez Her life, marked from childhood by a quest for God, would ultimately become bound up in an initiative that is active today in several Latin American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Argentina, and Peru.“I remember as a little girl I had a great thirst for God,” she shared in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.That initial calling deepened over time. At age 11, she recalled, a desire to please Jesus arose within her. “A desire for purity … I wanted to live a life of virginity,” she noted, explaining that she prayed insistently to the Virgin Mary, asking for that consecration. Mother María Elena Martínez in front of an oasis. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez However, her path was neither immediate nor direct. “Religious life wasn’t something that particularly appealed to me,” she admitted. In her youth, she went through various experiences ranging from completing a degree in translating to exploring broader spiritual concerns, which eventually led her to try out consecrated life with the Missionaries of Charity.Some time later, she tried cloistered contemplative life. “I wanted something more interior, deeper,” she confessed.A concern arises: ‘What about the young people?’The Sicar retreat did not originate as a planned initiative but rather as a pastoral response that only gradually took shape. According to Mother María Elena, for years many people approached her with the same concern: “What about the young people?” “Do something for the young people,” they would tell her. Sicar team members in Mexico. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez The Gospel account of the Samaritan woman began to take center stage in her prayer and discernment. Jesus’ dialogue at the well of Sychar — “If you knew the gift of God” (cf. Jn 4:1-42) — served as the starting point for helping young people discover Christ. “The passage about the Samaritan woman was so rich, so rich, that I could draw so much from it,” she explained.The decisive step came in 2016, when the first Sicar retreat was held. Mother María Elena remembered it as the beginning of something small and simple yet deeply meaningful. Young people with prior experience in movements like Emmaus were the first to participate. Sicar Mexico. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez Sicar began to expand. After establishing itself in cities such as Mexico City, Tehuacán, and Tecamachalco (in the state of Puebla), as well as San Luis de la Paz (Guanajuato state), Veracruz, Mérida (Yucatán state), and Cuernavaca (Morelos state), the initiative began to cross borders beyond Mexico. The first retreat in Guatemala took place in 2017; Buenos Aires in 2018; Paraguay in 2022; and in Peru in 2023.“It has been growing in many places, rescuing so many young people,” Mother María Elena said with gratitude.In Mexico, 38 Sicar retreats have been held with an average of 50 participants each, amounting to nearly 2,000 young people. In Peru, where the initiative arrived in 2023, seven retreats have already taken place with around 70 participants each, reaching approximately 490 people. Sicar Mexico. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mother María Elena Martínez Ottmar Ricalde, a Sicar volunteer in Mexico, noted that “Sicar means and has meant so much over these past 10 years.” “I could write and speak about all the stories, all the laughter, and all the tears, but the most important thing of all is the love of God that has been a gift to me,” he stated.“My life was always focused on pleasing others, but when I met God and realized how much he loves me, I began wanting to please him,” he said.In Paraguay, Sicar coordinator Fátima Correa highlighted that the experience “was a time of growth and renewal. It allowed us to view our history with fresh eyes.” Sicar Paraguay 2026 team members. | Credit: Sicar Paraguay “It was a retreat organized by young people for young people, where every testimony reflected realities many of us could relate to,” she added.A couple from Argentina who participated in the retreat and are now married say that Sicar marked a turning point in their lives. “We arrived as boyfriend and girlfriend and returned with completely transformed hearts … today, we feel that one of the greatest fruits was our marriage.”A growing community in PeruSicar arrived in Peru in 2023 and has since established a growing community.Geraldine Spihlman, director of Sicar in Peru, explained that the initiative arose after a need was identified within youth ministry. “When young people reached the age of 24 or 25, they no longer had a place to continue their journey of faith,” she noted.Following contact with Mother María Elena, it was decided to launch the initiative in Lima, which holds two retreats a year: in May and November.Spihlman highlighted that the most visible fruit is the community: “Many young people have discovered that it’s hard to go it alone but that everything is easier in community. It is a community where you can see how they love one another.”Instagram post‘God’s mercy knows no bounds’One of the most common fruits of these retreats is a shift in how one views others.In personal encounters, transformation occurs not only for those receiving the retreat but also for those who put it on. “God’s mercy knows no bounds,” Mother María Elena stated. “You look at people with eyes of mercy. You no longer judge the person; instead, you see them as a child of God,” she explained.Eros Acevedo, another team member, said the retreat “was an encounter with God that changed everything … I arrived bearing wounds, and his presence touched them. I left renewed.” Sicar Peru team members, May 2026. | Credit: Sicar Peru Rafael Mansilla, 27, said Sicar taught him to persevere in the faith. “Faith is not a flame that goes out but a steady flame,” he said.Dina Dávila shared that the retreat was the instrument God used to call her. “The love I have experienced in the community is overwhelming,” she added.‘A living Jesus’Through the retreats, Mother María Elena explained, people are invited to encounter “a living Jesus.” “God continues to act; he continues to perform miracles every day,” she affirmed. She said she lives one day at a time. “Each day I tell the Lord, ‘For one more day, I say yes to you.’” Participants in a Sicar retreat in Mexico. | Credit: Sicar Mexico The Sicar retreat, born of a contemplative reading of the Gospel, continues to spread wherever young people seek meaning, healing, and an experience of mature faith.Today, the young “Samaritans” who have lived this experience carry with them the words that marked their encounter with God: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst” (Jn 4:14).This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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Through her own spiritual journey seeking God, Mother María Elena Martínez founded a community and a retreat movement that is touching the lives of thousands of young people in Latin America.

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How papal prayer intentions are chosen, according to head of Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network #Catholic More than 22 million Catholics across the globe make up a network dedicated to praying daily for the challenges facing humanity and the Church, uniting their prayers with Pope Leo XIV’s monthly intentions.The Popeʼs Worldwide Prayer Network is a pontifical foundation known for its Pray with the Pope campaign through which the Holy Father announces his monthʼs intention in a video message.While the pope “has an endless list” of prayer intentions, he chooses 12 to offer for each month of the year, Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, the international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, explained in an interview with “EWTN News In Depth.”In order to do so, the network will “help the pope to discern the intentions a year ahead,” Fones explained. “So we ask many people — all the dicasteries and our national directors — to give us some proposals, and we offer to him lots of them … about 20 of them.”The Holy Father “takes some time to pray on these proposals” and then chooses the 12 intentions for the upcoming year in advance.“So we published, for instance, the 2027 monthly intentions last February. So you can already know what we are about to pray for next year too, so that we can have some time to make the translations, to create the materials in Indonesian, Hindi, Swahili, Guarani, and so on.”Pope Leo has continued the tradition of Pope Francis, who recorded the first video of the monthly intentions in 2016, but the current pontiff has put his own take on it.Pope Leo is “not only asking us to pray but praying himself for the monthly intention and inviting us to join him in prayer,” Fones said. “Thatʼs why we call this campaign ‘Pray with the Pope,’ because heʼs the first one interceding for the needs of humanity, and he is inviting us through this campaign to do it with him.”“Some people may watch the video and participate with him by praying. Others can do it [on] their own. But the important thing is to be united in this network of hearts — compassionate hearts for the needs of the world.”Pope Leo is also “constantly asking us to pray for contextual … prayer intentions, like a flood or an earthquake in Venezuela, for instance,” Fones said.All these prayer intentions are then updated “in what we call the popeʼs prayer profile,” Fones said. It consists of “all the requests for prayer that he normally does, whether on Sunday in the Angelus or on Wednesdays during the general audience.”In order to aid the Holy Father, the network is run by a team of an administrative council appointed by the Holy See, international coordinators, formation leaders, and communications teams. The network “is a participation in the mission of the Church by offering ourselves through prayer, service, and spiritual formation,” Fones said. Made up of Catholics in more than 90 countries, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is “a very old pontifical work with more than 180 years.” The network started in 1844 and was first called the Apostleship of Prayer. It was later renamed and established as a formal Vatican foundation in 2020 to support Christ’s mission of compassion for the world across continents and cultures.Call for prayers to respect lifePope Leo’s prayer intention for the month of July is for respect for human life in all circumstances.The Holy Father drew attention to the importance of the intention when he dined with 200 vulnerable people on July 11.“Having a lunch is just to show a sign [of] what we actually have to do with one another, to sit at the same table, to recognize our common dignity, because we are all sons and daughters of the same God. And when you understand that, you treat others as equal in dignity,” Fones said.“We may think differently. We may have different positions in life — opinions, backgrounds, stories — but we are all sons and daughters of God. So when you recognize that you can treat others as brothers and sisters, even if you disagree with them,” he said.
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How papal prayer intentions are chosen, according to head of Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network #Catholic More than 22 million Catholics across the globe make up a network dedicated to praying daily for the challenges facing humanity and the Church, uniting their prayers with Pope Leo XIV’s monthly intentions.The Popeʼs Worldwide Prayer Network is a pontifical foundation known for its Pray with the Pope campaign through which the Holy Father announces his monthʼs intention in a video message.While the pope “has an endless list” of prayer intentions, he chooses 12 to offer for each month of the year, Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ, the international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, explained in an interview with “EWTN News In Depth.”In order to do so, the network will “help the pope to discern the intentions a year ahead,” Fones explained. “So we ask many people — all the dicasteries and our national directors — to give us some proposals, and we offer to him lots of them … about 20 of them.”The Holy Father “takes some time to pray on these proposals” and then chooses the 12 intentions for the upcoming year in advance.“So we published, for instance, the 2027 monthly intentions last February. So you can already know what we are about to pray for next year too, so that we can have some time to make the translations, to create the materials in Indonesian, Hindi, Swahili, Guarani, and so on.”Pope Leo has continued the tradition of Pope Francis, who recorded the first video of the monthly intentions in 2016, but the current pontiff has put his own take on it.Pope Leo is “not only asking us to pray but praying himself for the monthly intention and inviting us to join him in prayer,” Fones said. “Thatʼs why we call this campaign ‘Pray with the Pope,’ because heʼs the first one interceding for the needs of humanity, and he is inviting us through this campaign to do it with him.”“Some people may watch the video and participate with him by praying. Others can do it [on] their own. But the important thing is to be united in this network of hearts — compassionate hearts for the needs of the world.”Pope Leo is also “constantly asking us to pray for contextual … prayer intentions, like a flood or an earthquake in Venezuela, for instance,” Fones said.All these prayer intentions are then updated “in what we call the popeʼs prayer profile,” Fones said. It consists of “all the requests for prayer that he normally does, whether on Sunday in the Angelus or on Wednesdays during the general audience.”In order to aid the Holy Father, the network is run by a team of an administrative council appointed by the Holy See, international coordinators, formation leaders, and communications teams. The network “is a participation in the mission of the Church by offering ourselves through prayer, service, and spiritual formation,” Fones said. Made up of Catholics in more than 90 countries, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is “a very old pontifical work with more than 180 years.” The network started in 1844 and was first called the Apostleship of Prayer. It was later renamed and established as a formal Vatican foundation in 2020 to support Christ’s mission of compassion for the world across continents and cultures.Call for prayers to respect lifePope Leo’s prayer intention for the month of July is for respect for human life in all circumstances.The Holy Father drew attention to the importance of the intention when he dined with 200 vulnerable people on July 11.“Having a lunch is just to show a sign [of] what we actually have to do with one another, to sit at the same table, to recognize our common dignity, because we are all sons and daughters of the same God. And when you understand that, you treat others as equal in dignity,” Fones said.“We may think differently. We may have different positions in life — opinions, backgrounds, stories — but we are all sons and daughters of God. So when you recognize that you can treat others as brothers and sisters, even if you disagree with them,” he said.

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While Pope Leo “has an endless list” of prayer intentions, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network helps him choose 12 to offer each month of the year, according to Father Cristóbal Fones, SJ.

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Haiti plunged into deepening violence as drone fatalities, gang activity increase #Catholic Escalating gang violence and a 120% increase in drone attacks have driven Haiti deeper into what aid officials describe as a rapidly deteriorating situation, placing the country among the top five on the International Rescue Committeeʼs 2026 emergency watch list.“Haiti is in the grip of an overwhelming humanitarian crisis,” Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice president for crisis response, recovery, and development at the International Rescue Committee, told “EWTN News Nightly” on July 15.According to Donnelly, more than 1,200 civilians are estimated to have been killed in drone attacks in Haiti this year, including 17 children.“This is one of the most concerning aspects of the humanitarian situation in Haiti and of the trends that weʼve seen over recent months,” he said.Donnelly described the drones as “small, cheap, easier-to-operate quadcopter-type drones which are fitted with explosives and then used essentially as improvised explosive devices, some of which have exploded in public areas with children around or people who are out shopping, leading to a number of fatalities.”“The situation is particularly acute in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is in the grip of gang-fueled violence, with gangs controlling about 90% of the total territory of the capital city,” he said.In addition, Donnelly said Haitians face limited access to healthcare, and about half of the country’s population of around 6.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.“Our team on the ground, working very closely with Haitian civil society organizations, is focused on providing healthcare support, supporting primary healthcare, and, in particular, services for women and children and water and sanitation,” he said. “The risk of communicable diseases, given the displacement and the underfunding of public services in Haiti, is quite significant, as well as protection services for women and children who are particularly at risk of violence given the given the situation on the ground.”Donnelly’s remarks come as Haiti has climbed from ninth place in 2023 to fifth place in 2026 on the International Rescue Committee’s annual emergency watch list, which ranks the top 20 countries facing the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. No. 1 on the list is Sudan.
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Haiti plunged into deepening violence as drone fatalities, gang activity increase #Catholic Escalating gang violence and a 120% increase in drone attacks have driven Haiti deeper into what aid officials describe as a rapidly deteriorating situation, placing the country among the top five on the International Rescue Committeeʼs 2026 emergency watch list.“Haiti is in the grip of an overwhelming humanitarian crisis,” Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice president for crisis response, recovery, and development at the International Rescue Committee, told “EWTN News Nightly” on July 15.According to Donnelly, more than 1,200 civilians are estimated to have been killed in drone attacks in Haiti this year, including 17 children.“This is one of the most concerning aspects of the humanitarian situation in Haiti and of the trends that weʼve seen over recent months,” he said.Donnelly described the drones as “small, cheap, easier-to-operate quadcopter-type drones which are fitted with explosives and then used essentially as improvised explosive devices, some of which have exploded in public areas with children around or people who are out shopping, leading to a number of fatalities.”“The situation is particularly acute in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which is in the grip of gang-fueled violence, with gangs controlling about 90% of the total territory of the capital city,” he said.In addition, Donnelly said Haitians face limited access to healthcare, and about half of the country’s population of around 6.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.“Our team on the ground, working very closely with Haitian civil society organizations, is focused on providing healthcare support, supporting primary healthcare, and, in particular, services for women and children and water and sanitation,” he said. “The risk of communicable diseases, given the displacement and the underfunding of public services in Haiti, is quite significant, as well as protection services for women and children who are particularly at risk of violence given the given the situation on the ground.”Donnelly’s remarks come as Haiti has climbed from ninth place in 2023 to fifth place in 2026 on the International Rescue Committee’s annual emergency watch list, which ranks the top 20 countries facing the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. No. 1 on the list is Sudan.

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Haiti climbed to No. 5 on the International Rescue Committee’s 2026 emergency watch list, which ranks the top 20 countries facing the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

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As the World Cup final looms, what lessons can defeat teach us? #Catholic With fewer than 10 matches left to play, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is entering its final stretch. As the tournament continues and more national teams are defeated and eliminated, the dream of becoming world champion fades away.Faced with this reality, a question arises: What message can defeat convey from the perspective of the Catholic faith?The worldʼs most important national team tournament has already seen the elimination of host countries Mexico, the United States, and Canada, as well as teams with high aspirations like Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Luka Modrić’s Croatia.Although one might think that a defeat brings only sadness and frustration, Father David Jasso, a priest of the Archdiocese of Monterrey, Mexico, and former sporting director of the Monterrey Soccer Club, said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that failure also offers important lessons.“We learn more from failure and mistakes than from achievements and successes,” the priest stated, noting that defeat is part of life and personal growth.He also highlighted that the World Cup has demonstrated the power of sport to bring people together around the same dream. He pointed out that experiences like this remind us that we can still “unite, that we can still be together, and that shared hopes and dreams are also part of life.”He encouraged fans to experience the remainder of the tournament in a spirit of fraternity. “Even though our national team isnʼt participating, we love soccer, so let’s enjoy it, especially with family and friends,” he said, while also calling for gatherings and fan festivities to take place “with respect and peace.”Jasso noted that although soccer is a “thrilling, indescribable” sport and winning the World Cup is a great aspiration, “there are more important things for which we are playing,” including “glory, heaven, and salvation.”He also pointed out the importance of preserving the essence of the game, urging people to “carefully protect the sport from corruption, negative practices, and business aspects that unfortunately affect this beautiful sport.”A moment to reflect on hopeFather José de Jesús Aguilar, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mexico, told ACI Prensa that even in defeat, “one must always have hope.”The priest noted that the Gospel invites us to “always seek success, the best, and growth,” but he also pointed out that Scripture teaches, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, that “there is a time to win and a time to lose.”He explained that this is because “there are many things that do not depend solely on oneself, but also on others,” and furthermore, “people, times, circumstances, opportunities, and many other things” can change.For this reason, he urged fans to accept the final scores with composure, noting that although all the teams are competing to lift up the trophy in celebration, “in this World Cup, there will be only one winner, while all the others participate and learn even from their losses.”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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As the World Cup final looms, what lessons can defeat teach us? #Catholic With fewer than 10 matches left to play, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is entering its final stretch. As the tournament continues and more national teams are defeated and eliminated, the dream of becoming world champion fades away.Faced with this reality, a question arises: What message can defeat convey from the perspective of the Catholic faith?The worldʼs most important national team tournament has already seen the elimination of host countries Mexico, the United States, and Canada, as well as teams with high aspirations like Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Luka Modrić’s Croatia.Although one might think that a defeat brings only sadness and frustration, Father David Jasso, a priest of the Archdiocese of Monterrey, Mexico, and former sporting director of the Monterrey Soccer Club, said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that failure also offers important lessons.“We learn more from failure and mistakes than from achievements and successes,” the priest stated, noting that defeat is part of life and personal growth.He also highlighted that the World Cup has demonstrated the power of sport to bring people together around the same dream. He pointed out that experiences like this remind us that we can still “unite, that we can still be together, and that shared hopes and dreams are also part of life.”He encouraged fans to experience the remainder of the tournament in a spirit of fraternity. “Even though our national team isnʼt participating, we love soccer, so let’s enjoy it, especially with family and friends,” he said, while also calling for gatherings and fan festivities to take place “with respect and peace.”Jasso noted that although soccer is a “thrilling, indescribable” sport and winning the World Cup is a great aspiration, “there are more important things for which we are playing,” including “glory, heaven, and salvation.”He also pointed out the importance of preserving the essence of the game, urging people to “carefully protect the sport from corruption, negative practices, and business aspects that unfortunately affect this beautiful sport.”A moment to reflect on hopeFather José de Jesús Aguilar, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mexico, told ACI Prensa that even in defeat, “one must always have hope.”The priest noted that the Gospel invites us to “always seek success, the best, and growth,” but he also pointed out that Scripture teaches, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, that “there is a time to win and a time to lose.”He explained that this is because “there are many things that do not depend solely on oneself, but also on others,” and furthermore, “people, times, circumstances, opportunities, and many other things” can change.For this reason, he urged fans to accept the final scores with composure, noting that although all the teams are competing to lift up the trophy in celebration, “in this World Cup, there will be only one winner, while all the others participate and learn even from their losses.”This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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In the world of sports, as in life, “we learn more from failure and mistakes than from achievements and successes,” said former Monterrey Soccer Club director and priest Father David Jasso.

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Notre Dame awards religious liberty prize to Becket Fund for Supreme Court wins #Catholic Notre Dame Law School awarded its 2026 Prize for Religious Liberty to the Becket Fund — a nonprofit law firm that has secured 13 Supreme Court victories in the past 15 years defending the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections.“We’re deeply honored to be recognized with the religious liberty prize,” Becket President and CEO Mark Rienzi told EWTN News.“We’re honored to be able to be part of fighting to protect something that is very important for our country and the Church,” said Reinzi, who accepted the award at the July 8 conclusion of Notre Dame’s sixth annual Religious Liberty Summit in Chicago.Becket — established in 1994 to provide cost-free legal counsel to those whose religious liberties were violated — has an undefeated record at the Supreme Court.Its lawyers represented the Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby against contraception mandates, defended the rights of Maryland parents to opt their children out of gender-related coursework that conflicted with their religious beliefs, and backed a Catholic foster care agency that only placed children with opposite-sex married couples.G. Marcus Cole, a dean and professor of law at Notre Dame, said during the award ceremony that when the university started giving out the award, “we always imagined that it would go to one person.”“But when we think about the Becket Fund, it is an entire team of lawyers, led by Mark Rienzi, who have made a difference in our world, who have made our lives better,” he said. “And for that reason, we thought it only appropriate to give the award to the Becket Fund as an entity."Ongoing fights for religious libertyThe most recent victory secured by Becket came in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which ensured parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, had a right to opt their children out of coursework that included material related to gender that conflicted with their religious faith.Rienzi told EWTN News that “parents don’t give up the right to [raise] their children when they drop their kids off at the schoolhouse gates.” He added: “Your children don’t belong to the state just because you use a public school.”Becket represented Catholic, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Muslim parents in the lawsuit. Rienzi said religious parents have a right to “operate equally as a full citizen and full member of the public” by utilizing the public school system while maintaining the right to instill religious values in their children.“[This was] the most important case in at least 50 or 100 years in establishing that principle,” he said.Becket also secured the 2020 victory for the Little Sisters of the Poor in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal regulations that exempted the religious sisters from mandatory contraception coverage in insurance plans.The sisters, however, are back in court after the governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged those exemptions on separate grounds than those on which the court previously ruled. This case is now in an appellate court, which heard oral arguments on July 7. Becket is representing them again and Rienzi is the lead attorney on the case.“It’s outrageous that governments keep volunteering for the beating they get when they keep [going after] the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Rienzi said.He said “the law is really, really clear” that Pennsylvania cannot remove their exemptions from the mandate.Becket is also representing a coalition of Catholic preschools in Colorado that is suing the state because they were excluded from a “universal” tuition program. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. Notre Dame awarded Becket the prize less than one week after Americans celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which culminated in the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which secured religious freedom.“God created everybody equal and equally free and gave them rights,” Rienzi said, adding that religious freedom is “essential to the declaration’s idea of who we are as a country and … [it] is crucial for maintaining it.”“It’s a shame that you still have to fight about it,” Rienzi said. “But on the other hand, it’s worth fighting for.”
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Notre Dame awards religious liberty prize to Becket Fund for Supreme Court wins #Catholic Notre Dame Law School awarded its 2026 Prize for Religious Liberty to the Becket Fund — a nonprofit law firm that has secured 13 Supreme Court victories in the past 15 years defending the First Amendment’s religious liberty protections.“We’re deeply honored to be recognized with the religious liberty prize,” Becket President and CEO Mark Rienzi told EWTN News.“We’re honored to be able to be part of fighting to protect something that is very important for our country and the Church,” said Reinzi, who accepted the award at the July 8 conclusion of Notre Dame’s sixth annual Religious Liberty Summit in Chicago.Becket — established in 1994 to provide cost-free legal counsel to those whose religious liberties were violated — has an undefeated record at the Supreme Court.Its lawyers represented the Little Sisters of the Poor and Hobby Lobby against contraception mandates, defended the rights of Maryland parents to opt their children out of gender-related coursework that conflicted with their religious beliefs, and backed a Catholic foster care agency that only placed children with opposite-sex married couples.G. Marcus Cole, a dean and professor of law at Notre Dame, said during the award ceremony that when the university started giving out the award, “we always imagined that it would go to one person.”“But when we think about the Becket Fund, it is an entire team of lawyers, led by Mark Rienzi, who have made a difference in our world, who have made our lives better,” he said. “And for that reason, we thought it only appropriate to give the award to the Becket Fund as an entity."Ongoing fights for religious libertyThe most recent victory secured by Becket came in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which ensured parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, had a right to opt their children out of coursework that included material related to gender that conflicted with their religious faith.Rienzi told EWTN News that “parents don’t give up the right to [raise] their children when they drop their kids off at the schoolhouse gates.” He added: “Your children don’t belong to the state just because you use a public school.”Becket represented Catholic, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Muslim parents in the lawsuit. Rienzi said religious parents have a right to “operate equally as a full citizen and full member of the public” by utilizing the public school system while maintaining the right to instill religious values in their children.“[This was] the most important case in at least 50 or 100 years in establishing that principle,” he said.Becket also secured the 2020 victory for the Little Sisters of the Poor in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of federal regulations that exempted the religious sisters from mandatory contraception coverage in insurance plans.The sisters, however, are back in court after the governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey challenged those exemptions on separate grounds than those on which the court previously ruled. This case is now in an appellate court, which heard oral arguments on July 7. Becket is representing them again and Rienzi is the lead attorney on the case.“It’s outrageous that governments keep volunteering for the beating they get when they keep [going after] the Little Sisters of the Poor,” Rienzi said.He said “the law is really, really clear” that Pennsylvania cannot remove their exemptions from the mandate.Becket is also representing a coalition of Catholic preschools in Colorado that is suing the state because they were excluded from a “universal” tuition program. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. Notre Dame awarded Becket the prize less than one week after Americans celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which culminated in the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which secured religious freedom.“God created everybody equal and equally free and gave them rights,” Rienzi said, adding that religious freedom is “essential to the declaration’s idea of who we are as a country and … [it] is crucial for maintaining it.”“It’s a shame that you still have to fight about it,” Rienzi said. “But on the other hand, it’s worth fighting for.”

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Becket President Mark Rienzi said the group is “deeply honored” to be awarded the prize, saying religious liberty “is worth fighting for.”

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Perpetual Eucharistic pilgrims reflect on ‘being with Christ 24/7’ as pilgrimage nears end #Catholic When John Paul Flynn, a rising junior at The Catholic University of America, decided to do mission work, he did not realize he would be doing it with Christ himself.Since May 24, Flynn has been part of a nine-person team taking the Blessed Sacrament across 18 dioceses as part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will finish in Philadelphia on Sunday in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Pope Leo XIV will deliver a video message prior to the closing Mass in the  Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Perpetual pilgrim John Paul Flynn. Photo credit: Simple Heart Photography in partnership with the National Eucharistic Congress. The 2026 pilgrimage is under the patronage of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first United States citizen to be canonized. During Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Pavia on June 20th, he venerated a relic of the heart of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini brought from Codogno. The pope’s veneration of St. Frances’ relic occurred the same week that Flynn and his fellow perpetual pilgrims accompanied the Eucharist to a private retreat at the Mother Cabrini National Shrine in Manhattan, where the saint is buried.The procession crossed the Delaware River in homage to the route George Washington took during his iconic crossing there in 1776.Another highlight for Flynn was when the monstrance was lifted high in front of the Washington Monument. “I knew I wanted to do mission work. I saw an application, prayed about it, and applied to be a part of the team,” Flynn, a social media coordinator and photographer, told EWTN News. “I knew I wanted to use my talents for Christ. This is a special opportunity to be with Christ 24/7.”In this case, “24/7” means taking the Tabernacle by van in between pilgrimage stops and accompanying the Eucharist down city streets, country roads, even into retirement homes, and encountering people of “diverse communities,” he said. When Flynn and the team recently walked through Boston, including down the Freedom Trail, they were joined by some 3,000 fellow believers, the biggest showing on the pilgrimage yet.Pilgrim Raymond Martinez, II, a fourth-year seminarian at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Missouri, said the processions and the timing around the nation’s milestone made him reflect on the history of the Church in America, and how far Catholics had come from, being excluded from public office to being able to worship freely like they did this summer. Perpetual pilgrim Raymond Martinez. Photo credit: Simple Heart Photography in partnership with the National Eucharistic Congress. The closing events in Philadelphia on Independence Day weekend will draw pilgrims to two shrines that speak to the legacy of the Church in America: the tomb of St. Katharine Drexel, the first native-born United States citizen to be canonized, and the shrine of Saint John Neumann, the first canonized American bishop.Martinez and Flynn both said they encountered the occasional heckler as well as commuters annoyed by street closures, but overall, the reception in the processions was positive and conducive to evangelization. "If youʼve pulled off all these logistics, there must be divine help,“ they recalled an atheist telling them in Georgia.While Flynn managed social media, Martinez was tasked with missionary work from handing out prayer cards, t-shirts and food to homeless people watching from the sidelines to answering questions from curious bystanders who had never seen the Eucharist.Flynn and Martinez said that the response they received from non-Catholics — as well as those estranged from the Church — was worth the long days, many in extreme heat. One bystander told pilgrims he was Catholic but had never actually attended Mass. Another they encountered on a boardwalk explained he had been away from the Church for years but felt inspired to return.The pilgrimage will continue next year, with the goal of visiting all fifty states. The next National Eucharistic Congress will take place in 2029 and is still collecting prayer intentions from across the country and Holy Hour pledges as part of its goal of offering 250,000 Holy Hours in honor of the anniversary year.
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Perpetual Eucharistic pilgrims reflect on ‘being with Christ 24/7’ as pilgrimage nears end #Catholic When John Paul Flynn, a rising junior at The Catholic University of America, decided to do mission work, he did not realize he would be doing it with Christ himself.Since May 24, Flynn has been part of a nine-person team taking the Blessed Sacrament across 18 dioceses as part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will finish in Philadelphia on Sunday in celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations. Pope Leo XIV will deliver a video message prior to the closing Mass in the  Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Perpetual pilgrim John Paul Flynn. Photo credit: Simple Heart Photography in partnership with the National Eucharistic Congress. The 2026 pilgrimage is under the patronage of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first United States citizen to be canonized. During Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Pavia on June 20th, he venerated a relic of the heart of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini brought from Codogno. The pope’s veneration of St. Frances’ relic occurred the same week that Flynn and his fellow perpetual pilgrims accompanied the Eucharist to a private retreat at the Mother Cabrini National Shrine in Manhattan, where the saint is buried.The procession crossed the Delaware River in homage to the route George Washington took during his iconic crossing there in 1776.Another highlight for Flynn was when the monstrance was lifted high in front of the Washington Monument. “I knew I wanted to do mission work. I saw an application, prayed about it, and applied to be a part of the team,” Flynn, a social media coordinator and photographer, told EWTN News. “I knew I wanted to use my talents for Christ. This is a special opportunity to be with Christ 24/7.”In this case, “24/7” means taking the Tabernacle by van in between pilgrimage stops and accompanying the Eucharist down city streets, country roads, even into retirement homes, and encountering people of “diverse communities,” he said. When Flynn and the team recently walked through Boston, including down the Freedom Trail, they were joined by some 3,000 fellow believers, the biggest showing on the pilgrimage yet.Pilgrim Raymond Martinez, II, a fourth-year seminarian at Conception Seminary College in Conception, Missouri, said the processions and the timing around the nation’s milestone made him reflect on the history of the Church in America, and how far Catholics had come from, being excluded from public office to being able to worship freely like they did this summer. Perpetual pilgrim Raymond Martinez. Photo credit: Simple Heart Photography in partnership with the National Eucharistic Congress. The closing events in Philadelphia on Independence Day weekend will draw pilgrims to two shrines that speak to the legacy of the Church in America: the tomb of St. Katharine Drexel, the first native-born United States citizen to be canonized, and the shrine of Saint John Neumann, the first canonized American bishop.Martinez and Flynn both said they encountered the occasional heckler as well as commuters annoyed by street closures, but overall, the reception in the processions was positive and conducive to evangelization. "If youʼve pulled off all these logistics, there must be divine help,“ they recalled an atheist telling them in Georgia.While Flynn managed social media, Martinez was tasked with missionary work from handing out prayer cards, t-shirts and food to homeless people watching from the sidelines to answering questions from curious bystanders who had never seen the Eucharist.Flynn and Martinez said that the response they received from non-Catholics — as well as those estranged from the Church — was worth the long days, many in extreme heat. One bystander told pilgrims he was Catholic but had never actually attended Mass. Another they encountered on a boardwalk explained he had been away from the Church for years but felt inspired to return.The pilgrimage will continue next year, with the goal of visiting all fifty states. The next National Eucharistic Congress will take place in 2029 and is still collecting prayer intentions from across the country and Holy Hour pledges as part of its goal of offering 250,000 Holy Hours in honor of the anniversary year.

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A nine-person team has taken the Blessed Sacrament across 18 dioceses as part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which will come to an end in Philadelphia on July 5.

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Students Build Moon Robots for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge – Katherine Rauscher, of Michigan Technological University, prepares her team’s prototype lunar robot for its turn during the finals for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge competition on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Forty-seven teams from around the U.S. designed and built remote-controlled robots capable of traversing challenging lunar terrain while constructing regolith-based berm under conditions similar to those the agency will face as it returns to the lunar surface through Artemis.
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Students Build Moon Robots for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge – Katherine Rauscher, of Michigan Technological University, prepares her team’s prototype lunar robot for its turn during the finals for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge competition on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Forty-seven teams from around the U.S. designed and built remote-controlled robots capable of traversing challenging lunar terrain while constructing regolith-based berm under conditions similar to those the agency will face as it returns to the lunar surface through Artemis.

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Katherine Rauscher, of Michigan Technological University, prepares her team’s prototype lunar robot for its turn during the finals for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge competition on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Forty-seven teams from around the U.S. designed and built remote-controlled robots capable of traversing challenging lunar terrain while constructing regolith-based berm under conditions similar to those the agency will face as it returns to the lunar surface through Artemis.

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Telescopes Team Up for New View of Cat’s Eye Nebula – In Euclid’s wide, near-infrared, and visible light view, the arcs and filaments of the nebula’s bright central region are situated within a halo of colorful fragments of gas zooming away from the star. This ring was ejected from the star at an earlier stage, before the main nebula at the center formed. Hubble captures the very core of the billowing gas with high-resolution visible-light images, adding extra detail in the center of this image. The whole nebula stands out against a backdrop teeming with distant galaxies, demonstrating how local astrophysical beauty and the farthest reaches of the cosmos can be seen together in modern astronomical surveys. Together, these missions provide a rich and complementary view of NGC 6543 — revealing the delicate interplay between stellar end-of-life processes and the vast cosmic tapestry beyond.
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Telescopes Team Up for New View of Cat’s Eye Nebula – In Euclid’s wide, near-infrared, and visible light view, the arcs and filaments of the nebula’s bright central region are situated within a halo of colorful fragments of gas zooming away from the star. This ring was ejected from the star at an earlier stage, before the main nebula at the center formed. Hubble captures the very core of the billowing gas with high-resolution visible-light images, adding extra detail in the center of this image. The whole nebula stands out against a backdrop teeming with distant galaxies, demonstrating how local astrophysical beauty and the farthest reaches of the cosmos can be seen together in modern astronomical surveys. Together, these missions provide a rich and complementary view of NGC 6543 — revealing the delicate interplay between stellar end-of-life processes and the vast cosmic tapestry beyond.

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In Euclid’s wide, near-infrared, and visible light view, the arcs and filaments of the nebula’s bright central region are situated within a halo of colorful fragments of gas zooming away from the star. This ring was ejected from the star at an earlier stage, before the main nebula at the center formed. Hubble captures the very core of the billowing gas with high-resolution visible-light images, adding extra detail in the center of this image. The whole nebula stands out against a backdrop teeming with distant galaxies, demonstrating how local astrophysical beauty and the farthest reaches of the cosmos can be seen together in modern astronomical surveys. Together, these missions provide a rich and complementary view of NGC 6543 — revealing the delicate interplay between stellar end-of-life processes and the vast cosmic tapestry beyond.

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Artemis II Recovery Training – Off the coast of California, NASA’s Artemis Landing and Recovery team and the Department of War that will work together to retrieve the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft following their return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean are performing a final simulation of their activities, called a just-in-time training, at sea on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. During the training, teams use the Crew Module Test Article, a full-scale mockup of the Orion spacecraft, to simulate as close as possible the conditions they can expect to encounter during splashdown of the Artemis II mission.
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Artemis II Recovery Training – Off the coast of California, NASA’s Artemis Landing and Recovery team and the Department of War that will work together to retrieve the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft following their return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean are performing a final simulation of their activities, called a just-in-time training, at sea on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. During the training, teams use the Crew Module Test Article, a full-scale mockup of the Orion spacecraft, to simulate as close as possible the conditions they can expect to encounter during splashdown of the Artemis II mission.

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Off the coast of California, NASA’s Artemis Landing and Recovery team and the Department of War that will work together to retrieve the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft following their return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean are performing a final simulation of their activities, called a just-in-time training, at sea on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. During the training, teams use the Crew Module Test Article, a full-scale mockup of the Orion spacecraft, to simulate as close as possible the conditions they can expect to encounter during splashdown of the Artemis II mission.

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Harnessing the Sun to Extract Oxygen on the Moon – The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project aims to demonstrate the carbothermal reduction of lunar regolith to produce oxygen on the Moon’s South Pole. For this test, the team integrated the solar concentrator, mirrors, and software and confirmed the production of carbon monoxide.

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The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project aims to demonstrate the carbothermal reduction of lunar regolith to produce oxygen on the Moon’s South Pole. For this test, the team integrated the solar concentrator, mirrors, and software and confirmed the production of carbon monoxide.

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Webb Maps Uranus’ Upper Atmosphere – For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet.
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Webb Maps Uranus’ Upper Atmosphere – For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet.

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For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet.

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Picture of the day Margaret D. Foster, seen in her lab. The original caption by the National Photo Company is “Miss Margaret D. Foster, Uncle Sam’s only woman chemist, Oct. 4/19” – that’s possibly a bit misleading, though she definitely was the first female chemist in the United States Geological Survey team. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Margaret D. Foster, seen in her lab. The original caption by the National Photo Company is “Miss Margaret D. Foster, Uncle Sam’s only woman chemist, Oct. 4/19” – that’s possibly a bit misleading, though she definitely was the first female chemist in the United States Geological Survey team. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Margaret D. Foster, seen in her lab. The original caption by the National Photo Company is “Miss Margaret D. Foster, Uncle Sam’s only woman chemist, Oct. 4/19” – that’s possibly a bit misleading, though she definitely was the first female chemist in the United States Geological Survey team.
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Picture of the day Explosive Ordnance Disposal 1st Class Christopher Courtney assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Six (EODMU-6), Det. 16 assists his team members during Special Purpose Insertion Extraction (SPIE) training from an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) shown below the helicopter was launched on this day 50 years ago. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Explosive Ordnance Disposal 1st Class Christopher Courtney assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Six (EODMU-6), Det. 16 assists his team members during Special Purpose Insertion Extraction (SPIE) training from an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) shown below the helicopter was launched on this day 50 years ago. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Explosive Ordnance Disposal 1st Class Christopher Courtney assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Six (EODMU-6), Det. 16 assists his team members during Special Purpose Insertion Extraction (SPIE) training from an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) shown below the helicopter was launched on this day 50 years ago.
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Artemis II Crew Walks Out for Practice Scenarios
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Artemis II Crew Walks Out for Practice Scenarios

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From left to right, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot; Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander; CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, and NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, suit up and walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. During a two-day operation, the Artemis II team practiced night-run demonstrations of different launch day scenarios for the Artemis II test flight.

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Picture of the day TDK tape head cleaner cassette “HCL-11” made of clear hard plastic. The plastic is birefringent and demonstrates internal stress as coloured patterns (photoelasticity) when photographed using cross-polarisation. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released on this date in August 1963. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day TDK tape head cleaner cassette “HCL-11” made of clear hard plastic. The plastic is birefringent and demonstrates internal stress as coloured patterns (photoelasticity) when photographed using cross-polarisation. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released on this date in August 1963. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
TDK tape head cleaner cassette “HCL-11” made of clear hard plastic. The plastic is birefringent and demonstrates internal stress as coloured patterns (photoelasticity) when photographed using cross-polarisation. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was released on this date in August 1963.
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