![Inaugural edition of Sheen Awards honors Mother Angelica #Catholic On Sept. 25, one day after the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, members of the media and entertainment world as well as the Church at large gathered in Peoria, Illinois — the hometown of now-Blessed Fulton Sheen — for the inaugural Sheen Awards.Among the notable figures in attendance were Bishop Louis Tylka of the Diocese of Peoria; Bishop John Barres of the Diocese Rockville Centre, New York; Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota; Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen”; David Henrie, host of EWTN’s travel series “Seeking Beauty”; and Siobhan Fallon Hogan, host of the EWTN podcast “Catholics and Cappuccinos.” Seven awards were presented including the Radio and Podcast Impact Award, the Evangelization Impact Award, the Mission and Humanitarian Impact Award, the Innovation Impact Award, the Digital Creator Impact Award, the Television and Streaming Impact Award, and the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Lifetime Achievement Award.Mother Angelica, EWTN’s foundress, posthumously received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was bestowed on Mother Angelica in recognition of her lifetime of service to the Church and her pioneering use of television to proclaim the Gospel through the Eternal Word Television Network. EWTN Studios President Peter Gagnon accepted the award on her behalf.“On behalf of Michael Warsaw, CEO, and myself, we want to thank Bishop Tylka and the Archbishop Sheen Foundation for honoring Mother Angelica with this award,” Gagnon said in his acceptance speech. Gagnon worked with Mother Angelica for many years and pointed out that “one of her favorite expressions was to say, ‘This is awesome!’”He said: “When there would be a papal event, she would say, ‘Wasnʼt that awesome?’ … I think tonight she would say, ‘This is awesome.’”A little over one year after the death of Sheen — on Dec. 12, 1980 — EWTN was officially incorporated by Mother Angelica. Reflecting on this, Gagnon said: “I donʼt think itʼs a coincidence.”“Mother Angelica took the torch from Archbishop Sheen because she saw the power of reaching people through the media, through television,” he said. “She, like Archbishop Sheen, could reach through that camera lens and talk to you. And when she was talking to you, she was talking to you directly.”Gagnon added: “Also like him [Sheen], she had just an incredible love for the Church and a zeal for souls. I never knew anyone who loved Our Lord as much as Mother Angelica did. Her impact on many throughout the world is truly humbling and amazing.”EWTN has aired “Life Is Worth Living,” Sheen’s popular television show, for over 20 years. Gagnon emphasized that the network is “proud to share his words and message throughout the world.”In an additional statement commenting on the significance of the award, Michael Warsaw, chairman and CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network, noted: “Among the great Catholic evangelists of the 20th century, Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and our own Mother Angelica, stand out for the extraordinary ways they embraced media to proclaim the Gospel, defend the dignity of the human person and speak the truth to a world desperately in need of Jesus Christ.” “It is especially meaningful to see Mother Angelica honored in the name of Archbishop Sheen, whose pioneering use of radio and television demonstrated the power of media in service of the Gospel,” Warsaw pointed out. He said the recognition is “particularly poignant as we mark the 10th anniversary of Mother Angelica’s passing.”
EWTN Studios President Peter Gagnon accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Mother Angelica at the Sheen Awards on Sept. 25, 2026. | Credit: Nellie Gould, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation
“She would have been deeply honored to be recognized at the inaugural Sheen Awards and counted among the innovators and communicators carrying forward Archbishop Sheen’s legacy,” Warsaw added.Broaching the topic of Mother Angelica’s own potential cause for canonization, Warsaw indicated: “While I remain mindful of the Church’s careful discernment regarding any potential cause for sainthood, I can say personally that I pray and hope that one day Mother Angelica might be numbered among the saints of the Church she loved and served so faithfully.”Warsaw concluded: “On behalf of the entire EWTN family, I am profoundly grateful for this recognition of Mother Angelica and, more importantly, for the opportunity to remember what animated both Mother Angelica and Blessed Fulton Sheen: the desire to bring souls to Jesus Christ. May their example inspire us all to use the gifts God has given us to proclaim the Gospel with courage, creativity and joy.”Additional Sheen Award recipients included Katie McGrady, who received the Radio and Podcast Impact Award; Roumie, who received the Television and Streaming Impact Award; and Barron, who received the Evangelization Impact Award.The Mission and Humanitarian Impact Award went to the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, while Hallow received the Innovation Impact Award. Paul J. Kim was awarded the Digital Creator Impact Award.Watch EWTN’s livestream of the red carpet at the Sheen Awards here.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/inaugural-edition-of-sheen-awards-honors-mother-angelica-catholic-on-sept-25-one-day-after-the-beatification-of-archbishop-fulton-sheen-members-of-the-media-and-entertainment-world-as-well-as-the-scaled.jpg "Inaugural edition of Sheen Awards honors Mother Angelica #Catholic On Sept. 25, one day after the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, members of the media and entertainment world as well as the Church at large gathered in Peoria, Illinois — the hometown of now-Blessed Fulton Sheen — for the inaugural Sheen Awards.Among the notable figures in attendance were Bishop Louis Tylka of the Diocese of Peoria; Bishop John Barres of the Diocese Rockville Centre, New York; Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota; Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen”; David Henrie, host of EWTN’s travel series “Seeking Beauty”; and Siobhan Fallon Hogan, host of the EWTN podcast “Catholics and Cappuccinos.” Seven awards were presented including the Radio and Podcast Impact Award, the Evangelization Impact Award, the Mission and Humanitarian Impact Award, the Innovation Impact Award, the Digital Creator Impact Award, the Television and Streaming Impact Award, and the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Lifetime Achievement Award.Mother Angelica, EWTN’s foundress, posthumously received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was bestowed on Mother Angelica in recognition of her lifetime of service to the Church and her pioneering use of television to proclaim the Gospel through the Eternal Word Television Network. EWTN Studios President Peter Gagnon accepted the award on her behalf.“On behalf of Michael Warsaw, CEO, and myself, we want to thank Bishop Tylka and the Archbishop Sheen Foundation for honoring Mother Angelica with this award,” Gagnon said in his acceptance speech. Gagnon worked with Mother Angelica for many years and pointed out that “one of her favorite expressions was to say, ‘This is awesome!’”He said: “When there would be a papal event, she would say, ‘Wasnʼt that awesome?’ … I think tonight she would say, ‘This is awesome.’”A little over one year after the death of Sheen — on Dec. 12, 1980 — EWTN was officially incorporated by Mother Angelica. Reflecting on this, Gagnon said: “I donʼt think itʼs a coincidence.”“Mother Angelica took the torch from Archbishop Sheen because she saw the power of reaching people through the media, through television,” he said. “She, like Archbishop Sheen, could reach through that camera lens and talk to you. And when she was talking to you, she was talking to you directly.”Gagnon added: “Also like him [Sheen], she had just an incredible love for the Church and a zeal for souls. I never knew anyone who loved Our Lord as much as Mother Angelica did. Her impact on many throughout the world is truly humbling and amazing.”EWTN has aired “Life Is Worth Living,” Sheen’s popular television show, for over 20 years. Gagnon emphasized that the network is “proud to share his words and message throughout the world.”In an additional statement commenting on the significance of the award, Michael Warsaw, chairman and CEO of EWTN Global Catholic Network, noted: “Among the great Catholic evangelists of the 20th century, Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and our own Mother Angelica, stand out for the extraordinary ways they embraced media to proclaim the Gospel, defend the dignity of the human person and speak the truth to a world desperately in need of Jesus Christ.” “It is especially meaningful to see Mother Angelica honored in the name of Archbishop Sheen, whose pioneering use of radio and television demonstrated the power of media in service of the Gospel,” Warsaw pointed out. He said the recognition is “particularly poignant as we mark the 10th anniversary of Mother Angelica’s passing.”
EWTN Studios President Peter Gagnon accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Mother Angelica at the Sheen Awards on Sept. 25, 2026. | Credit: Nellie Gould, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation
“She would have been deeply honored to be recognized at the inaugural Sheen Awards and counted among the innovators and communicators carrying forward Archbishop Sheen’s legacy,” Warsaw added.Broaching the topic of Mother Angelica’s own potential cause for canonization, Warsaw indicated: “While I remain mindful of the Church’s careful discernment regarding any potential cause for sainthood, I can say personally that I pray and hope that one day Mother Angelica might be numbered among the saints of the Church she loved and served so faithfully.”Warsaw concluded: “On behalf of the entire EWTN family, I am profoundly grateful for this recognition of Mother Angelica and, more importantly, for the opportunity to remember what animated both Mother Angelica and Blessed Fulton Sheen: the desire to bring souls to Jesus Christ. May their example inspire us all to use the gifts God has given us to proclaim the Gospel with courage, creativity and joy.”Additional Sheen Award recipients included Katie McGrady, who received the Radio and Podcast Impact Award; Roumie, who received the Television and Streaming Impact Award; and Barron, who received the Evangelization Impact Award.The Mission and Humanitarian Impact Award went to the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, while Hallow received the Innovation Impact Award. Paul J. Kim was awarded the Digital Creator Impact Award.Watch EWTN’s livestream of the red carpet at the Sheen Awards here.")
Pope Leo XIV blessed Olivia Hamelin, a 3-year-old with a rare genetic condition, during his visit to Lourdes, France.
“Let us repeat together: ‘I love you, Jesus. I love you, Mary,’” the pontiff said in his remarks before the rosary in the Vatican Gardens.
The beloved Carmelite nun, patron saint of the missions, and youngest doctor of the Church is celebrated in the universal Church on Oct. 1.
“In a world connected online and disconnected offline, be people of presence,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin said. “In a world asking whether we can remain human, answer with the witness of your lives.”
Retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is set to give the keynote address at the Jan. 22, 2027, rally.
![Pope Leo meets French abuse victims in Lourdes #Catholic LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV met seven French victims of clerical sexual abuse on Sunday, making a gesture of solidarity and reconciliation at a shrine world-famous for its healing waters.The nearly two-hour encounter took place at the residence of the local bishop, where Leo is staying for his two nights at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.Speaking to journalists after the meeting, one of the victims, Jérôme Guillement, said, “There was something sincere about [Pope Leo]. With him, every word was carefully chosen; every word had meaning. … There were a lot of emotions.”According to the Holy See Press Office, Leo spent an hour and a half speaking to the four men and three women individually, before addressing them as a group for about 20 minutes and “thanking them for their painful testimony and reaffirming his commitment to ensuring that the harm they experienced is not repeated for others.”He “expressed his solidarity with them and, through them, with all those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the wounds of abuse,” the statement said.Leo also prayed with some of the victims.“I sensed that he was a man of commitment and also a man of resolve,” Olivier Mardi, one of the participants, said after the meeting. “He’s not fooled and knows that these events will continue and that we must remain vigilant… There was an emotional side to it, and at the same time something very powerful when he speaks.”Five of the seven involved in the meeting revealed their identities ahead of the pope’s trip. Among them was Bertrand Virieux, a victim of ex-priest Bernard Preynat, who in 2020 was sentenced to five years in prison for assaults on young scouts in the Archdiocese of Lyon. Preynat died in 2024.The Church in France has been grappling with the repercussions of abuse in the wake of an independent commission’s report that hundreds of thousands of children had been abused by clergy and religious over the past 70 years.The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) published a nearly 2,500-page final report in October 2021, estimating that 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns in France from 1950 to 2020.It added that when abuse by lay Church workers was also taken into account, “the estimated number of child victims rises to 330,000 for the whole of the period.”The victims were accompanied by Bishop Gérard Le Stang of Amiens, president of the Council for the Prevention and Combating of Pedophilia within the French bishops’ conference.Guillement said Leo “felt that the Church in France still had a great deal of work to do” to prevent abuse.“We talked about prevention as part of a cultural shift at all levels … There are different opinions, but from his perspective, there’s still a systemic dimension at play,” the man added.According to Mardi, the pontiff “responded well to our very concrete proposals; he knows he has to work with us… He said we need to rekindle hope, and it takes serious commitment to make that happen.”Pope Leo spoke about the clerical sexual abuse of minors in his address to the French bishops on the morning of Sept. 27.“In recent years, you have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors by members of the clergy or in an ecclesial context,” he said.The pontiff praised them for their courageous measures to listen, search for truth, justice, forgiveness, and making amends, as well as “a firm commitment to a culture of prevention and protection against these crimes.”“You must continue along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance,” he said.Before addressing the bishops, Leo stopped in front of a memorial for victims of child sexual abuse, featuring the brief reflection of an anonymous victim.“[The victim] will come to understand that it was the entire culture of a system that sought to protect itself rather than protect him,” an inscription on the memorial reads. “And his turmoil continues to deepen around this question: Why can’t justice be done for him? It is so vital to him that he may finally find peace and that the tears of his childhood may cease to flow.”At an open-air Mass later on Sunday morning, the pope seemed to allude to the clerical abuse crisis, saying in his homily that “In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within [the Church], we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze. Recognizing our own faults is essential to our spiritual growth.”The pope’s plans for a private conversation with victims ignited controversy among several abuse support groups in France who criticized the format of the meeting and the exclusion of victims’ organizations.Asked about the criticism, Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bozo, the spokesman of the French bishops’ conference, told journalists that “there are many survivor groups … If all of them had been included or brought together, it would have been a very large format, and it would not have had the same impact.”“What helps us most in accompanying victims is listening to them. And to do that, you cannot have 50 people sitting in front of you. That is really what the pope wanted,” Bozo said.The Lourdes shrine was an evocative backdrop for the meeting with abuse victims, since it is among the first shrines to cover artwork by the accused sexual abuser Father Marko Rupnik, currently on trial at the Vatican.Mosaics by Rupnik on the façade of the Basilica of the Rosary were covered ahead of Leo’s visit and will remain indefinitely hidden.“It had come to carry such a symbolic burden for victims that, even though many of the people who come to Lourdes are not abuse victims, for those who are, something had to be done,” Bishop Bozo said.“If it becomes so difficult for people to come to Lourdes, people who should have a privileged place there because they are suffering, then the situation is no longer acceptable,” the spokesman added. “So I think covering the mosaics is a first step. Afterward, something new will have to be proposed, perhaps a new work of art.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pope-leo-meets-french-abuse-victims-in-lourdes-catholic-lourdes-france-pope-leo-xiv-met-seven-french-victims-of-clerical-sexual-abuse-on-sunday-making-a-gesture-of-solidarity-and-reconcil-scaled.jpg "Pope Leo meets French abuse victims in Lourdes #Catholic LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV met seven French victims of clerical sexual abuse on Sunday, making a gesture of solidarity and reconciliation at a shrine world-famous for its healing waters.The nearly two-hour encounter took place at the residence of the local bishop, where Leo is staying for his two nights at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.Speaking to journalists after the meeting, one of the victims, Jérôme Guillement, said, “There was something sincere about [Pope Leo]. With him, every word was carefully chosen; every word had meaning. … There were a lot of emotions.”According to the Holy See Press Office, Leo spent an hour and a half speaking to the four men and three women individually, before addressing them as a group for about 20 minutes and “thanking them for their painful testimony and reaffirming his commitment to ensuring that the harm they experienced is not repeated for others.”He “expressed his solidarity with them and, through them, with all those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the wounds of abuse,” the statement said.Leo also prayed with some of the victims.“I sensed that he was a man of commitment and also a man of resolve,” Olivier Mardi, one of the participants, said after the meeting. “He’s not fooled and knows that these events will continue and that we must remain vigilant… There was an emotional side to it, and at the same time something very powerful when he speaks.”Five of the seven involved in the meeting revealed their identities ahead of the pope’s trip. Among them was Bertrand Virieux, a victim of ex-priest Bernard Preynat, who in 2020 was sentenced to five years in prison for assaults on young scouts in the Archdiocese of Lyon. Preynat died in 2024.The Church in France has been grappling with the repercussions of abuse in the wake of an independent commission’s report that hundreds of thousands of children had been abused by clergy and religious over the past 70 years.The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) published a nearly 2,500-page final report in October 2021, estimating that 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns in France from 1950 to 2020.It added that when abuse by lay Church workers was also taken into account, “the estimated number of child victims rises to 330,000 for the whole of the period.”The victims were accompanied by Bishop Gérard Le Stang of Amiens, president of the Council for the Prevention and Combating of Pedophilia within the French bishops’ conference.Guillement said Leo “felt that the Church in France still had a great deal of work to do” to prevent abuse.“We talked about prevention as part of a cultural shift at all levels … There are different opinions, but from his perspective, there’s still a systemic dimension at play,” the man added.According to Mardi, the pontiff “responded well to our very concrete proposals; he knows he has to work with us… He said we need to rekindle hope, and it takes serious commitment to make that happen.”Pope Leo spoke about the clerical sexual abuse of minors in his address to the French bishops on the morning of Sept. 27.“In recent years, you have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors by members of the clergy or in an ecclesial context,” he said.The pontiff praised them for their courageous measures to listen, search for truth, justice, forgiveness, and making amends, as well as “a firm commitment to a culture of prevention and protection against these crimes.”“You must continue along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance,” he said.Before addressing the bishops, Leo stopped in front of a memorial for victims of child sexual abuse, featuring the brief reflection of an anonymous victim.“[The victim] will come to understand that it was the entire culture of a system that sought to protect itself rather than protect him,” an inscription on the memorial reads. “And his turmoil continues to deepen around this question: Why can’t justice be done for him? It is so vital to him that he may finally find peace and that the tears of his childhood may cease to flow.”At an open-air Mass later on Sunday morning, the pope seemed to allude to the clerical abuse crisis, saying in his homily that “In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within [the Church], we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze. Recognizing our own faults is essential to our spiritual growth.”The pope’s plans for a private conversation with victims ignited controversy among several abuse support groups in France who criticized the format of the meeting and the exclusion of victims’ organizations.Asked about the criticism, Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bozo, the spokesman of the French bishops’ conference, told journalists that “there are many survivor groups … If all of them had been included or brought together, it would have been a very large format, and it would not have had the same impact.”“What helps us most in accompanying victims is listening to them. And to do that, you cannot have 50 people sitting in front of you. That is really what the pope wanted,” Bozo said.The Lourdes shrine was an evocative backdrop for the meeting with abuse victims, since it is among the first shrines to cover artwork by the accused sexual abuser Father Marko Rupnik, currently on trial at the Vatican.Mosaics by Rupnik on the façade of the Basilica of the Rosary were covered ahead of Leo’s visit and will remain indefinitely hidden.“It had come to carry such a symbolic burden for victims that, even though many of the people who come to Lourdes are not abuse victims, for those who are, something had to be done,” Bishop Bozo said.“If it becomes so difficult for people to come to Lourdes, people who should have a privileged place there because they are suffering, then the situation is no longer acceptable,” the spokesman added. “So I think covering the mosaics is a first step. Afterward, something new will have to be proposed, perhaps a new work of art.”")
The pontiff “expressed his solidarity with them and, through them, with all those who have suffered and continue to suffer from the wounds of abuse,” the Vatican said.
![Pope Leo in Lourdes: The Church must heal her ‘wounds, infidelities, and painful errors’ #Catholic LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV issued a firm call to conversion from sin and error in the Church, and invited all to repent and do penance, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday.Mary’s call to conversion in her message to St. Bernadette “also concerns the Church herself as she makes her earthly journey. She must have the courage to begin with herself,” he said at Mass on Sept. 27.“In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within her, we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze. Recognizing our own faults is essential to our spiritual growth,” the pontiff said.In 2021, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) published a nearly 2,500-page final report, estimating that 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns in France from 1950 to 2020.TweetLeo is scheduled to meet later on Sunday with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse in France.Lourdes is an evocative backdrop to the private meeting, since it is among the first shrines to cover artwork by the accused sexual abuser Father Marko Rupnik, currently on trial at the Vatican.Rupnik’s mosaics decorating the front of the Basilica of the Rosary were covered ahead of Leo’s visit and will remain covered indefinitely, according to the local bishop.The pope celebrated Mass on a prairie across the river Gave de Pau from the grotto of the apparitions on the third day of his Sept. 25-28 visit to France.Pilgrims from France and around the world gathered on the grassy hill and along the streets of the shrine. Some waved flags or held banners of sacred images. A number of pilgrims arrived in wheelchairs. Around 150,000 people attended the Mass, according to the Vatican.Claire Banks, a nurse from the UK, said she has traveled over 100 times to Lourdes.“It was too good of an opportunity to miss coming here and seeing the pope. I think he’s wonderful,” she told EWTN News. She described an “electric atmosphere” at the shrine since Leo’s arrival.Libby Frank, another Mass attendee, is also from the UK, but has lived in Lourdes for 40 years. She recently retired after working for a charity that brings sick people to the shrine.“I worked for three papal visits and now I’ve come to one papal visit to enjoy it with my family and friends and just be part of the community,” she said, referencing two visits by St. Pope John Paul II in 1983 and 2004, and one by Pope Benedict in 2008.“There’s been a phenomenal amount of excitement locally waiting for Leo to come visit. The town [of Lourdes] has really gotten behind everything that’s happening,” she said.TweetThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is among the most popular Catholic shrines in the world, built on the site of Mary’s apparitions to St. Bernadette in 1858. It is particularly visited by the sick, who come to bathe in or drink its healing spring water.In his homily, Pope Leo noted that a “call to conversion, both tender and urgent,” was a central part of the message the Virgin Mary entrusted to Bernadette, and that “it is today, not tomorrow, that we must repent.”He said Jesus is quite direct about the call to repentance: “As St. Luke tells us, ‘Unless you repent, you will all perish.’ But he also extends our horizon beyond this earthly life to the horizon of eternal life.”“Did not the Virgin Mary say to St. Bernadette, ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next’?” Leo said.The pope noted that we can often forget this in an age and society focused on progress and material wellbeing.Eternal life is already won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice, he continued, but “the obstacle to grace and eternal life — the only obstacle to this love — is sin.”The Holy Father called everyone to do penance, an act of love for God and for our brothers and sisters, “who do not heed this call to conversion, and whose sins lead them towards death.”“We want to make amends for the wounds our sins have dealt to [God’s] heart,” he said.Addressing the many sick, elderly, and disabled people present at the Mass, Leo said their suffering, if lived in a “spirit of offering,” can take part “in the redemptive work that the world so greatly needs.”“In this way, you are truly at the heart of the Church, and your role is irreplaceable,” he said.“In the face of current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in illness, suffering and old age, the grotto of Massabielle stands as a place of Christian hope,” he said. “Here, no one is turned away due to their frailty.”Earlier in the morning, Leo met with France’s bishops at the shrine, where he praised their courage in opposing the recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country.“I encourage you to persevere, together with all people of good will who uphold the same values,” he told the bishops’ conference.At the end of Mass, before praying the Angelus, the pope invited those present to pray the rosary for peace, and to offer concrete acts of penance and mercy.“It was here that the Immaculate Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette with the rosary and, as it were, guided her in prayer,” he said. “For this reason, today I invite all the faithful and all Christian communities to pray the holy rosary throughout the coming month of October, with the particular intention that wars may cease and that peace may be established among peoples in conflict.”Elliot Hartley contributed to this report.This story was updated at 7:14 a.m. ET with more information about the Mass and the pope’s meeting with bishops.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pope-leo-in-lourdes-the-church-must-heal-her-wounds-infidelities-and-painful-errors-catholic-lourdes-france-pope-leo-xiv-issued-a-firm-call-to-conversion-from-sin-and.jpg "Pope Leo in Lourdes: The Church must heal her ‘wounds, infidelities, and painful errors’ #Catholic LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV issued a firm call to conversion from sin and error in the Church, and invited all to repent and do penance, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday.Mary’s call to conversion in her message to St. Bernadette “also concerns the Church herself as she makes her earthly journey. She must have the courage to begin with herself,” he said at Mass on Sept. 27.“In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within her, we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze. Recognizing our own faults is essential to our spiritual growth,” the pontiff said.In 2021, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) published a nearly 2,500-page final report, estimating that 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns in France from 1950 to 2020.TweetLeo is scheduled to meet later on Sunday with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse in France.Lourdes is an evocative backdrop to the private meeting, since it is among the first shrines to cover artwork by the accused sexual abuser Father Marko Rupnik, currently on trial at the Vatican.Rupnik’s mosaics decorating the front of the Basilica of the Rosary were covered ahead of Leo’s visit and will remain covered indefinitely, according to the local bishop.The pope celebrated Mass on a prairie across the river Gave de Pau from the grotto of the apparitions on the third day of his Sept. 25-28 visit to France.Pilgrims from France and around the world gathered on the grassy hill and along the streets of the shrine. Some waved flags or held banners of sacred images. A number of pilgrims arrived in wheelchairs. Around 150,000 people attended the Mass, according to the Vatican.Claire Banks, a nurse from the UK, said she has traveled over 100 times to Lourdes.“It was too good of an opportunity to miss coming here and seeing the pope. I think he’s wonderful,” she told EWTN News. She described an “electric atmosphere” at the shrine since Leo’s arrival.Libby Frank, another Mass attendee, is also from the UK, but has lived in Lourdes for 40 years. She recently retired after working for a charity that brings sick people to the shrine.“I worked for three papal visits and now I’ve come to one papal visit to enjoy it with my family and friends and just be part of the community,” she said, referencing two visits by St. Pope John Paul II in 1983 and 2004, and one by Pope Benedict in 2008.“There’s been a phenomenal amount of excitement locally waiting for Leo to come visit. The town [of Lourdes] has really gotten behind everything that’s happening,” she said.TweetThe Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is among the most popular Catholic shrines in the world, built on the site of Mary’s apparitions to St. Bernadette in 1858. It is particularly visited by the sick, who come to bathe in or drink its healing spring water.In his homily, Pope Leo noted that a “call to conversion, both tender and urgent,” was a central part of the message the Virgin Mary entrusted to Bernadette, and that “it is today, not tomorrow, that we must repent.”He said Jesus is quite direct about the call to repentance: “As St. Luke tells us, ‘Unless you repent, you will all perish.’ But he also extends our horizon beyond this earthly life to the horizon of eternal life.”“Did not the Virgin Mary say to St. Bernadette, ‘I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next’?” Leo said.The pope noted that we can often forget this in an age and society focused on progress and material wellbeing.Eternal life is already won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice, he continued, but “the obstacle to grace and eternal life — the only obstacle to this love — is sin.”The Holy Father called everyone to do penance, an act of love for God and for our brothers and sisters, “who do not heed this call to conversion, and whose sins lead them towards death.”“We want to make amends for the wounds our sins have dealt to [God’s] heart,” he said.Addressing the many sick, elderly, and disabled people present at the Mass, Leo said their suffering, if lived in a “spirit of offering,” can take part “in the redemptive work that the world so greatly needs.”“In this way, you are truly at the heart of the Church, and your role is irreplaceable,” he said.“In the face of current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in illness, suffering and old age, the grotto of Massabielle stands as a place of Christian hope,” he said. “Here, no one is turned away due to their frailty.”Earlier in the morning, Leo met with France’s bishops at the shrine, where he praised their courage in opposing the recent legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in the country.“I encourage you to persevere, together with all people of good will who uphold the same values,” he told the bishops’ conference.At the end of Mass, before praying the Angelus, the pope invited those present to pray the rosary for peace, and to offer concrete acts of penance and mercy.“It was here that the Immaculate Virgin appeared to St. Bernadette with the rosary and, as it were, guided her in prayer,” he said. “For this reason, today I invite all the faithful and all Christian communities to pray the holy rosary throughout the coming month of October, with the particular intention that wars may cease and that peace may be established among peoples in conflict.”Elliot Hartley contributed to this report.This story was updated at 7:14 a.m. ET with more information about the Mass and the pope’s meeting with bishops.")
The pontiff spoke about the urgency of repentance and conversion at a Mass on the third day of his visit to France.
The combined parish of St. Mary in El Paso, Illinois, and St. John in Benson, Illinois, will be the first parish in the world to be named after the new blessed.
![Over 150,000 visitors prepare to welcome Pope Leo in Lourdes #Catholic LOURDES, France — As Pope Leo XIV lands in Paris to begin the first official papal visit to France since 2008, pilgrims, organizers, and business owners in Lourdes are preparing for his arrival in the town expected on Saturday night.Patrick Vinuales, owner of Hôtels Vinuales — the largest hotel chain in Lourdes — told EWTN News: “The average number of people who would be staying in Lourdes is roughly 20,000. But for the Sunday Mass, there will be something like 150,000 people. We expect altogether an attendance of nearly a quarter of a million people over the weekend.”“What I think is very important is the enthusiasm of people. A lot of people have been calling us saying even if they couldnʼt come, they were so happy for the pope to come to Lourdes, to reveal more about the message of Our Lady to Bernadette,” he told EWTN News.Tourism is a big business in Lourdes. The town is widely considered to be the area with the highest concentration of hotels in France outside of Paris — rather unusual for a town with a population of 10,000. Hotel owners have been making the most of the increase in numbers.Joseph Tedesco, owner of the Grand Hôtel Moderne, built in 1896 by the nephew of St. Bernadette, told EWTN News: “Everybody increased their prices… We made a huge effort to welcome individuals, because usually itʼs mostly big dioceses… but this event made more individuals come and thatʼs a completely different type of business.”For the major ceremonies, tourists will need to have registered in advance, or they won’t be allowed into the sanctuary. “The biggest challenge is the people who organized the pilgrimage before they knew the pope was coming. There are a lot of people who donʼt have their ticket,” he said. “Our hotel is in the red area, so it wonʼt be accessible [by car].”Pope John Paul II visited Lourdes in 1983 and 2004. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI visited, which Tedesco recalls. “Two months after I bought the hotel 18 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI arrived… We didnʼt have all this security for sure. But thatʼs maybe because we didnʼt have the geopolitical problem that we have today.”
Pilgrims gather to pray before Pope Leo arrives in Lourdes, France, during his papal trip to France Sept. 25-28, 2026. | Credit: Elliot Hartley
“This visit is, first and foremost, a visit by the Successor of Peter to strengthen his brothers in the faith and to address our society as a whole,” said Monsignor Jean-Marc Micas, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.During this visit, Pope Leo will pray at the grotto and take part in the torchlight procession, meet with bishops of the French Episcopal Conference, celebrate Holy Mass, and meet the staff and sick community at Accueil Notre Dame, the main hospital for sick pilgrims.He also will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse in the Church — a major focus for critics who argue the Church hasn’t confronted the problem fully.The visit also marks an increase in the number of attendees on organized pilgrimage groups. Most visitors to Lourdes come as part of an organized group, often with their local diocese.Caroline Trainor, a Lourdes organizer for Joe Walsh Tours, told EWTN News she had seen a huge increase in sign-ups. “When they heard that the pope was visiting, they were signing up to come back to be here over the weekend,” she said. “So thatʼs really positive for the future because it brings Lourdes back into the spotlight… Even coming in this morning, you can kind of feel this little ripple of excitement.”Lourdes’ story can be traced back to 1858, when St. Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, had apparitions of Our Lady in a small cave. A shrine was built there, and the Pyrenean town became a pilgrimage site known for its miraculous healings.Paul Eaton, president of Ireland’s national Carmelite pilgrimage, told EWTN News: “It’s just electrifying. You really have to come here to experience it. It’s just something else… weʼre so blessed to have this honor.”“When the news first came out, we thought ‘this is not happening!’ That increased our numbers, which was fantastic… Weʼre very lucky because we have an awful lot of the same people that come with us every year who are actually hooked… They love Lourdes. They really, really do.”Michael Murphy has been coming on pilgrimage to Lourdes for 19 years. He told EWTN News: “Thereʼs a draw that continually brings me back. Itʼs difficult to explain. Itʼs just the serenity and the atmosphere. For the dates and to align with the pope as well, it just made it extra special.”Organized pilgrimages to Lourdes often have two sides. Pilgrims can either join as someone in need of assistance or as a volunteer. Those with learning or physical disabilities spend the week being assisted by volunteers, who help them with their daily needs.Clíona, a first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News: “I heard people describing Lourdes before, but I never expected it just to be like this. Thereʼs something about it. Itʼs like a magical place.”“Itʼs a different experience than Iʼve ever experienced before,” Harry Lynch, another first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News. “I wasnʼt expecting it to be this busy. Everyoneʼs very excited about everything thatʼs about to happen.”Martin has been visiting Lourdes for 20 years from Ireland. He told EWTN News: “Weʼve got more youth coming now than we had years ago, which is great. With the visit of the pope, we’re getting two trips in one! Thereʼs so much excitement, so much talk about it, and itʼs a great thing for everyone. Some people donʼt get the chance to go to Rome, so they’re getting a real run for their money this year.”The visit is expected to provide a huge boost to Lourdes’ economy. Natasha Afonso, a local souvenir shop owner, told EWTN News: “When tourists found out the pope was coming, many delayed their trips to align the dates. So, we lost a lot of business in the middle [of the] season, but now it’s growing again.”“Lourdes is known for its miracles, so it’s good for the publicity, for the young people, and the new generations to come.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/over-150000-visitors-prepare-to-welcome-pope-leo-in-lourdes-catholic-lourdes-france-as-pope-leo-xiv-lands-in-paris-to-begin-the-first-official-papal-visit-to-france-since-2008-pilgrims.jpg "Over 150,000 visitors prepare to welcome Pope Leo in Lourdes #Catholic LOURDES, France — As Pope Leo XIV lands in Paris to begin the first official papal visit to France since 2008, pilgrims, organizers, and business owners in Lourdes are preparing for his arrival in the town expected on Saturday night.Patrick Vinuales, owner of Hôtels Vinuales — the largest hotel chain in Lourdes — told EWTN News: “The average number of people who would be staying in Lourdes is roughly 20,000. But for the Sunday Mass, there will be something like 150,000 people. We expect altogether an attendance of nearly a quarter of a million people over the weekend.”“What I think is very important is the enthusiasm of people. A lot of people have been calling us saying even if they couldnʼt come, they were so happy for the pope to come to Lourdes, to reveal more about the message of Our Lady to Bernadette,” he told EWTN News.Tourism is a big business in Lourdes. The town is widely considered to be the area with the highest concentration of hotels in France outside of Paris — rather unusual for a town with a population of 10,000. Hotel owners have been making the most of the increase in numbers.Joseph Tedesco, owner of the Grand Hôtel Moderne, built in 1896 by the nephew of St. Bernadette, told EWTN News: “Everybody increased their prices… We made a huge effort to welcome individuals, because usually itʼs mostly big dioceses… but this event made more individuals come and thatʼs a completely different type of business.”For the major ceremonies, tourists will need to have registered in advance, or they won’t be allowed into the sanctuary. “The biggest challenge is the people who organized the pilgrimage before they knew the pope was coming. There are a lot of people who donʼt have their ticket,” he said. “Our hotel is in the red area, so it wonʼt be accessible [by car].”Pope John Paul II visited Lourdes in 1983 and 2004. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI visited, which Tedesco recalls. “Two months after I bought the hotel 18 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI arrived… We didnʼt have all this security for sure. But thatʼs maybe because we didnʼt have the geopolitical problem that we have today.”
Pilgrims gather to pray before Pope Leo arrives in Lourdes, France, during his papal trip to France Sept. 25-28, 2026. | Credit: Elliot Hartley
“This visit is, first and foremost, a visit by the Successor of Peter to strengthen his brothers in the faith and to address our society as a whole,” said Monsignor Jean-Marc Micas, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.During this visit, Pope Leo will pray at the grotto and take part in the torchlight procession, meet with bishops of the French Episcopal Conference, celebrate Holy Mass, and meet the staff and sick community at Accueil Notre Dame, the main hospital for sick pilgrims.He also will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse in the Church — a major focus for critics who argue the Church hasn’t confronted the problem fully.The visit also marks an increase in the number of attendees on organized pilgrimage groups. Most visitors to Lourdes come as part of an organized group, often with their local diocese.Caroline Trainor, a Lourdes organizer for Joe Walsh Tours, told EWTN News she had seen a huge increase in sign-ups. “When they heard that the pope was visiting, they were signing up to come back to be here over the weekend,” she said. “So thatʼs really positive for the future because it brings Lourdes back into the spotlight… Even coming in this morning, you can kind of feel this little ripple of excitement.”Lourdes’ story can be traced back to 1858, when St. Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, had apparitions of Our Lady in a small cave. A shrine was built there, and the Pyrenean town became a pilgrimage site known for its miraculous healings.Paul Eaton, president of Ireland’s national Carmelite pilgrimage, told EWTN News: “It’s just electrifying. You really have to come here to experience it. It’s just something else… weʼre so blessed to have this honor.”“When the news first came out, we thought ‘this is not happening!’ That increased our numbers, which was fantastic… Weʼre very lucky because we have an awful lot of the same people that come with us every year who are actually hooked… They love Lourdes. They really, really do.”Michael Murphy has been coming on pilgrimage to Lourdes for 19 years. He told EWTN News: “Thereʼs a draw that continually brings me back. Itʼs difficult to explain. Itʼs just the serenity and the atmosphere. For the dates and to align with the pope as well, it just made it extra special.”Organized pilgrimages to Lourdes often have two sides. Pilgrims can either join as someone in need of assistance or as a volunteer. Those with learning or physical disabilities spend the week being assisted by volunteers, who help them with their daily needs.Clíona, a first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News: “I heard people describing Lourdes before, but I never expected it just to be like this. Thereʼs something about it. Itʼs like a magical place.”“Itʼs a different experience than Iʼve ever experienced before,” Harry Lynch, another first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News. “I wasnʼt expecting it to be this busy. Everyoneʼs very excited about everything thatʼs about to happen.”Martin has been visiting Lourdes for 20 years from Ireland. He told EWTN News: “Weʼve got more youth coming now than we had years ago, which is great. With the visit of the pope, we’re getting two trips in one! Thereʼs so much excitement, so much talk about it, and itʼs a great thing for everyone. Some people donʼt get the chance to go to Rome, so they’re getting a real run for their money this year.”The visit is expected to provide a huge boost to Lourdes’ economy. Natasha Afonso, a local souvenir shop owner, told EWTN News: “When tourists found out the pope was coming, many delayed their trips to align the dates. So, we lost a lot of business in the middle [of the] season, but now it’s growing again.”“Lourdes is known for its miracles, so it’s good for the publicity, for the young people, and the new generations to come.”")
As Pope Leo XIV makes his way to Lourdes later on Sept. 26 as part of his four-day trip to France, pilgrims, local residents, and business owners in the famous town prepare with excitement.
France’s Catholic culture and the energy of the country’s young people stole the show at a prayer vigil at the national stadium in Saint-Denis, France.
![As beatification nears, new book explains why Fulton Sheen was ‘America’s Apostle’ #Catholic With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was “America’s Apostle.”Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book “America’s Apostle” on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop’s beatification on Sept. 24.“I think … the title is a perfect one — ‘Americaʼs Apostle,’ because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles,” Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.“[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet,” Bunson said. “But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should.”Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called “The Catholic Hour” in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting “Life Is Worth Living.” At its peak, Sheen’s radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.“Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal,” Bunson said. “I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So itʼs perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called ‘Americaʼs Apostle.’”Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.Bunson explained that Sheen “made a promise on the day of his ordination” that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.
The book cover for “America’s Apostle: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen” features a portrait of Sheen. It was released days before Sheen’s beatification set for Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: EWTN
“He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to,” Bunson said. “Because thatʼs how seriously he took what he was saying.”“So as a communicator, it wasnʼt just communicating about himself,” he said. “He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour.”“Fulton Sheen, pray for us,” Bunson concluded.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/as-beatification-nears-new-book-explains-why-fulton-sheen-was-americas-apostle-catholic-with-the-beatification-of-archbishop-fulton-sheen-approaching-a-new-book-on-the-li.png "As beatification nears, new book explains why Fulton Sheen was ‘America’s Apostle’ #Catholic With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was “America’s Apostle.”Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book “America’s Apostle” on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop’s beatification on Sept. 24.“I think … the title is a perfect one — ‘Americaʼs Apostle,’ because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles,” Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.“[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet,” Bunson said. “But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should.”Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called “The Catholic Hour” in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting “Life Is Worth Living.” At its peak, Sheen’s radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.“Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal,” Bunson said. “I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So itʼs perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called ‘Americaʼs Apostle.’”Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.Bunson explained that Sheen “made a promise on the day of his ordination” that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.
The book cover for “America’s Apostle: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen” features a portrait of Sheen. It was released days before Sheen’s beatification set for Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: EWTN
“He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to,” Bunson said. “Because thatʼs how seriously he took what he was saying.”“So as a communicator, it wasnʼt just communicating about himself,” he said. “He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour.”“Fulton Sheen, pray for us,” Bunson concluded.")
The book by Allan Smith was published on Sept. 15, about one week before the beatification. EWTN’s Matthew Bunson discusses the book and Sheen’s legacy on “EWTN News Nightly.”
Addressing the scourge of sexual abuse, the archbishop of Panama requested the services of the Transparency Commission, a project sponsored by Notre Dame Law School and Madrid’s Villanueva University.
The Sept. 15 murder of Father Román de la Cruz Hernández was likely perpetrated by organized crime and is not an isolated incident but forms part of a pattern of fear and intimidation.
Although church attendance is low and the society is quite s quite secularized, the president of Uruguay’s bishops’ conference believes Pope Leo’s visit will give a boost to the country’s spiritual renewal.
The holy day for Jews involves fasting and atonement and is held in late September or early October.
The priest was found dead with gunshot wounds along a stretch of highway. The local bishop urged people not to speculate about the crime and denounced the ongoing violence in the country.
![Venezuela: Talks with opposition, oil deal, Delcy Rodríguez in New York, and the Church’s stance #Catholic Sept. 15 marked the start of the second round of negotiations between a Venezuelan opposition delegation and the country’s ruling socialist regime, a process promoted and driven by the U.S. government with an eye toward potential presidential elections in the South American nation.Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, arrived in Venezuela on Sept. 13 and before national and international media explained that once this weekʼs discussions conclude, the country could expect an announcement regarding the agreements reached.Meanwhile, Jorge Millán, who is also part of the opposition delegation, stated that they would continue “pursuing a Supreme Court of Justice with honorable, independent, and impartial judges capable of providing Venezuela with an upstanding judicial system after so many years. At the end of the cycle [of talks], we will present clear and verifiable objectives.”He also stated that this round of negotiations would also address the status of political parties, political guarantees, and “the dismantling of the repressive apparatus” established by Chavismo (the socialist government established by President Hugo Chávez and continued by President Nicolás Maduro) for over two decades. The state of freedom of expression in Venezuela will also be one of the items on the agenda.“The foundation for achieving a full democracy requires creating the conditions for elections to be held in Venezuela as soon as possible, as quickly as possible. We are laying the groundwork to reach those important areas that will enable all Venezuelans to elect our leaders very soon, with the speed we desire but also allowing for the time this will take,” Millán added.Concerns and proposals from the Catholic ChurchLast week, Cardinals Baltazar Porras and Diego Padrón, together with Bishop Emeritus Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales, once again spoke out regarding the political and social situation in Venezuela. The prelates had previously raised their voices at the start of negotiations, offering to serve as guarantors of the process.On this occasion, they addressed the state of “indeterminacy, confusion, and uncertainty” prevailing in the country, offering “certain opinions, judgments, and proposals” that seek to “open the way” to help overcome the current crisis and achieve solid institutional stability and the national common good.Following the capture and extradition of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces on Jan. 3, the prelates noted that “changes have occurred, yet neither the desired and expected change nor a shift toward the structuring and functioning of the country in line with the preamble and fundamental principles of the 1999 Constitution is perceptible.”The cardinals and the bishop cite as examples of this lack of change that there are still political prisoners and a climate of repression as well as a state monopoly on the media and the continued centralization of power. Although these issues have been placed on the negotiating tableʼs agenda, the prelates maintain that these talks “operate within a framework of limited scope and authority.”In this regard, they pointed out that the state is operating on “shaky and legally undefined ground,” while the executive branch is “illegitimate regarding both its origins and its exercise of power.” Consequently, they emphasized the urgent need to call for elections soon.Oil deals with few detailsA few weeks ago, the Trump administration and the Chavista regime signed a massive energy deal granting the United States effective control over approximately one-third of Venezuelan oil, some 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.Beyond the economic aspects, the agreement has sparked particular controversy by including Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López as an intermediary. He has been the subject of several investigations regarding alleged corruption, inflated prices in electricity contracts, and money laundering linked to the oil sector.Within Venezuela, Betancourt is singled out as one of the key figures responsible for the serious deterioration of the electrical grid, which has led to daily, hourslong blackouts across the country for years, severely impacting the populationʼs daily lives and even resulting in loss of life due to various causes.While acknowledging they are not experts in the field, Porras, Padrón, and Pérez Morales call for greater transparency in the negotiations and recommend “prudence and a gradual approach regarding commitments.” This, they state, reflects the prevailing sentiment among the Venezuelan people, who are concerned about the fate and use of the “vast sums of money” the state is set to receive.Greater emphasis on the need to call electionsIn light of the foregoing, the cardinals and the bishop underscored the priority of allowing the sovereign people of Venezuela to have a “a defined and clear mandate” regarding the nation’s future, a step that would also offer a sure path toward “encounter, social reconciliation, and peace.”“God has given us this country as a setting in which to build a ‘new society,’ the ideal of the civilization of love. We Venezuelans, through our own efforts and by invoking divine assistance, must keep hope alive and continue working on this compelling task, striving to reap its fruits of peace, freedom, justice, and fraternity,” the prelates stated.Delcy Rodríguez in New York?According to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report, Venezuelaʼs interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is considering a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place next week.If the trip goes ahead, Rodríguez would be in the same city where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody. When asked about a possible meeting with the Chavista leader, President Donald Trump simply replied: “Maybe, maybe.”Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that an in-person meeting “probably will happen” if the presence of the interim regimeʼs president is confirmed.Rodríguezʼs presence on U.S. soil would mark a milestone in relations between Washington and Caracas, following more than two decades of tension and discord. Within Venezuela, the growing rapprochement between the U.S. government and the remnants of Chavismo is fueling concern and uncertainty regarding the possibility of real political change.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.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/venezuela-talks-with-opposition-oil-deal-delcy-rodriguez-in-new-york-and-the-churchs-stance-catholic-sept-15-marked-the-start-of-the-second-round-of-negotiations-between-a-venezuelan-op.jpg "Venezuela: Talks with opposition, oil deal, Delcy Rodríguez in New York, and the Church’s stance #Catholic Sept. 15 marked the start of the second round of negotiations between a Venezuelan opposition delegation and the country’s ruling socialist regime, a process promoted and driven by the U.S. government with an eye toward potential presidential elections in the South American nation.Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, arrived in Venezuela on Sept. 13 and before national and international media explained that once this weekʼs discussions conclude, the country could expect an announcement regarding the agreements reached.Meanwhile, Jorge Millán, who is also part of the opposition delegation, stated that they would continue “pursuing a Supreme Court of Justice with honorable, independent, and impartial judges capable of providing Venezuela with an upstanding judicial system after so many years. At the end of the cycle [of talks], we will present clear and verifiable objectives.”He also stated that this round of negotiations would also address the status of political parties, political guarantees, and “the dismantling of the repressive apparatus” established by Chavismo (the socialist government established by President Hugo Chávez and continued by President Nicolás Maduro) for over two decades. The state of freedom of expression in Venezuela will also be one of the items on the agenda.“The foundation for achieving a full democracy requires creating the conditions for elections to be held in Venezuela as soon as possible, as quickly as possible. We are laying the groundwork to reach those important areas that will enable all Venezuelans to elect our leaders very soon, with the speed we desire but also allowing for the time this will take,” Millán added.Concerns and proposals from the Catholic ChurchLast week, Cardinals Baltazar Porras and Diego Padrón, together with Bishop Emeritus Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales, once again spoke out regarding the political and social situation in Venezuela. The prelates had previously raised their voices at the start of negotiations, offering to serve as guarantors of the process.On this occasion, they addressed the state of “indeterminacy, confusion, and uncertainty” prevailing in the country, offering “certain opinions, judgments, and proposals” that seek to “open the way” to help overcome the current crisis and achieve solid institutional stability and the national common good.Following the capture and extradition of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces on Jan. 3, the prelates noted that “changes have occurred, yet neither the desired and expected change nor a shift toward the structuring and functioning of the country in line with the preamble and fundamental principles of the 1999 Constitution is perceptible.”The cardinals and the bishop cite as examples of this lack of change that there are still political prisoners and a climate of repression as well as a state monopoly on the media and the continued centralization of power. Although these issues have been placed on the negotiating tableʼs agenda, the prelates maintain that these talks “operate within a framework of limited scope and authority.”In this regard, they pointed out that the state is operating on “shaky and legally undefined ground,” while the executive branch is “illegitimate regarding both its origins and its exercise of power.” Consequently, they emphasized the urgent need to call for elections soon.Oil deals with few detailsA few weeks ago, the Trump administration and the Chavista regime signed a massive energy deal granting the United States effective control over approximately one-third of Venezuelan oil, some 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.Beyond the economic aspects, the agreement has sparked particular controversy by including Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López as an intermediary. He has been the subject of several investigations regarding alleged corruption, inflated prices in electricity contracts, and money laundering linked to the oil sector.Within Venezuela, Betancourt is singled out as one of the key figures responsible for the serious deterioration of the electrical grid, which has led to daily, hourslong blackouts across the country for years, severely impacting the populationʼs daily lives and even resulting in loss of life due to various causes.While acknowledging they are not experts in the field, Porras, Padrón, and Pérez Morales call for greater transparency in the negotiations and recommend “prudence and a gradual approach regarding commitments.” This, they state, reflects the prevailing sentiment among the Venezuelan people, who are concerned about the fate and use of the “vast sums of money” the state is set to receive.Greater emphasis on the need to call electionsIn light of the foregoing, the cardinals and the bishop underscored the priority of allowing the sovereign people of Venezuela to have a “a defined and clear mandate” regarding the nation’s future, a step that would also offer a sure path toward “encounter, social reconciliation, and peace.”“God has given us this country as a setting in which to build a ‘new society,’ the ideal of the civilization of love. We Venezuelans, through our own efforts and by invoking divine assistance, must keep hope alive and continue working on this compelling task, striving to reap its fruits of peace, freedom, justice, and fraternity,” the prelates stated.Delcy Rodríguez in New York?According to a Sept. 14 Bloomberg report, Venezuelaʼs interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, is considering a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place next week.If the trip goes ahead, Rodríguez would be in the same city where Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores are in U.S. custody. When asked about a possible meeting with the Chavista leader, President Donald Trump simply replied: “Maybe, maybe.”Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that an in-person meeting “probably will happen” if the presence of the interim regimeʼs president is confirmed.Rodríguezʼs presence on U.S. soil would mark a milestone in relations between Washington and Caracas, following more than two decades of tension and discord. Within Venezuela, the growing rapprochement between the U.S. government and the remnants of Chavismo is fueling concern and uncertainty regarding the possibility of real political change.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.")
Ongoing talks between the socialist regime and the opposition in Venezuela are making some progress while the Church is trying to contribute to the transition to democracy and freedom.
The Latin patrarch presided over Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Taybeh, calling on Christians to live the “logic of the cross” through love and self-giving.
The sainthood cause for Tom Vander Woude, a Catholic father of seven who died saving his youngest son, moves to the information gathering stage.
![Catholic professor calls families to reclaim the home in a technological age #Catholic John Cuddeback, a professor of philosophy at Christendom College, says families today don’t often know how to achieve what they desire in their homes and family life. As a remedy, drawing from both ancient and modern thinkers, he has released "The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” a book that outlines eight pillars for reclaiming the home as a place of human flourishing. “Families today are struggling to achieve what they so badly want: to have the kind of relationships we’re made for, beginning in the home, especially between spouses and between parents and children,” Cuddeback said. “They know they want something different, something better, but they feel hamstrung. In a culture that works against them in many ways, they are frustrated because they lack clear vision and examples to pattern themselves after.”
“The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter” by Christendom College professor John Cuddeback. | Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/EWTN News
Cuddeback, who teaches a course on family and household and is also the author of “True Friendship,” spoke to EWTN News about how he hopes his book conveys that “[a]nyone can choose to be intentional about their household and make real progress with dramatic fruits in the lives of those we love most.” EWTN News: What do you see as the biggest challenge to building and maintaining an intentional home?Cuddebach: It all begins with priorities. As a society we have turned away from the intense focus that our household requires — and this is evident in how we struggle in marriage, raising children, and relating to the elderly. Even many traditionally-minded folks struggle to realize and enact the demanding, even while ordinary, aspects of God’s plan for our homes.Aristotle says that a society tends to produce the kind of people it honors. We do not honor those who prioritize home life — either women or men. This means that many of the structures, practices, and assumptions of our age are at odds with the real good of home life. This is especially evident in our obsession with the latest technologies.This book is a call to all of us to do something radically different and profoundly better — while always recognizing we must be people of our time and place. It calls us to discover that looking first to what our children and our elderly really need is the high road to deeper fulfillment for all of us.How has Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas influenced your thought on how technology should be incorporated in the home?Pope Leo makes clear that we have come to a crisis point. The time is now to be honest, serious, and persistent in examining our use of technology in view of real human flourishing. This must start in the home. No one else is going to do this for us.But as the pope makes clear, right practice must flow from an understanding of who we are and what we’re made for. “The Intentional Household” offers the rich and positive view of daily life in the home that grounds such an examination. It gives the “yes” that strengthens the “nos” we need to say. It gives direction for rising to the challenges of our age, including how to channel technology to true human flourishing.Approaching homelife intentionally — especially attending to the ordinary in good work and true leisure as essential to our relationships — we can take real steps to become those biblical good stewards so honored by the Lord.How does this apply to those across all walks of life, including single people, married couples without children, those who are divorced or separated?The principles of a vibrant home life are both perennial and flexible. Wherever we find ourselves we can discover how the plan that God wrote into human nature is much better than we have realized.Brokenness and suffering today are widespread. God’s plan encompasses these realities. By the grace of God, anyone who is humble and willing to take an intentional approach can affect real, and indeed dramatic change by applying the book’s eight principles. We can all take real steps to make our homes a place of vibrant life, with deep belonging, connection, and presence.One of the thinkers you cite in your book is Wendell Berry. In light of his recent passing can you speak to his influence on your life and thinking?Wendell Berry saw clearly how the loss of activities of work and leisure in the home has led to our experience of disconnection and isolation. Home should be a place of deep connection: between us and loved ones and neighbors, between soul and body, between us and the earth.One of Berry’s pivotal insights is the key role of a certain kind of work in the home. Berry has pointed out that the work of traditional home arts is much more important than we have realized. He argues that as the breakdown of home life came especially through the loss of good work, the renewal will likewise come through a rediscovery of work that connects us to one another as it connects us to our bodies and to the earth, and ultimately to God.Wendell Berry was a prophet of the extraordinary beauty and importance of the ordinary. Making our home an intentional household means rediscovering the power of ordinary things, such as mealtimes with the whole household, shared work in the kitchen and other home arts, and “porch time” and other such leisure times. Attention to these things can transform our marriage, parenting, and other key relationships.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/catholic-professor-calls-families-to-reclaim-the-home-in-a-technological-age-catholic-john-cuddeback-a-professor-of-philosophy-at-christendom-college-says-families-today-dont-often-know-ho.jpg "Catholic professor calls families to reclaim the home in a technological age #Catholic John Cuddeback, a professor of philosophy at Christendom College, says families today don’t often know how to achieve what they desire in their homes and family life. As a remedy, drawing from both ancient and modern thinkers, he has released \"The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” a book that outlines eight pillars for reclaiming the home as a place of human flourishing. “Families today are struggling to achieve what they so badly want: to have the kind of relationships we’re made for, beginning in the home, especially between spouses and between parents and children,” Cuddeback said. “They know they want something different, something better, but they feel hamstrung. In a culture that works against them in many ways, they are frustrated because they lack clear vision and examples to pattern themselves after.”
“The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter” by Christendom College professor John Cuddeback. | Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/EWTN News
Cuddeback, who teaches a course on family and household and is also the author of “True Friendship,” spoke to EWTN News about how he hopes his book conveys that “[a]nyone can choose to be intentional about their household and make real progress with dramatic fruits in the lives of those we love most.” EWTN News: What do you see as the biggest challenge to building and maintaining an intentional home?Cuddebach: It all begins with priorities. As a society we have turned away from the intense focus that our household requires — and this is evident in how we struggle in marriage, raising children, and relating to the elderly. Even many traditionally-minded folks struggle to realize and enact the demanding, even while ordinary, aspects of God’s plan for our homes.Aristotle says that a society tends to produce the kind of people it honors. We do not honor those who prioritize home life — either women or men. This means that many of the structures, practices, and assumptions of our age are at odds with the real good of home life. This is especially evident in our obsession with the latest technologies.This book is a call to all of us to do something radically different and profoundly better — while always recognizing we must be people of our time and place. It calls us to discover that looking first to what our children and our elderly really need is the high road to deeper fulfillment for all of us.How has Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas influenced your thought on how technology should be incorporated in the home?Pope Leo makes clear that we have come to a crisis point. The time is now to be honest, serious, and persistent in examining our use of technology in view of real human flourishing. This must start in the home. No one else is going to do this for us.But as the pope makes clear, right practice must flow from an understanding of who we are and what we’re made for. “The Intentional Household” offers the rich and positive view of daily life in the home that grounds such an examination. It gives the “yes” that strengthens the “nos” we need to say. It gives direction for rising to the challenges of our age, including how to channel technology to true human flourishing.Approaching homelife intentionally — especially attending to the ordinary in good work and true leisure as essential to our relationships — we can take real steps to become those biblical good stewards so honored by the Lord.How does this apply to those across all walks of life, including single people, married couples without children, those who are divorced or separated?The principles of a vibrant home life are both perennial and flexible. Wherever we find ourselves we can discover how the plan that God wrote into human nature is much better than we have realized.Brokenness and suffering today are widespread. God’s plan encompasses these realities. By the grace of God, anyone who is humble and willing to take an intentional approach can affect real, and indeed dramatic change by applying the book’s eight principles. We can all take real steps to make our homes a place of vibrant life, with deep belonging, connection, and presence.One of the thinkers you cite in your book is Wendell Berry. In light of his recent passing can you speak to his influence on your life and thinking?Wendell Berry saw clearly how the loss of activities of work and leisure in the home has led to our experience of disconnection and isolation. Home should be a place of deep connection: between us and loved ones and neighbors, between soul and body, between us and the earth.One of Berry’s pivotal insights is the key role of a certain kind of work in the home. Berry has pointed out that the work of traditional home arts is much more important than we have realized. He argues that as the breakdown of home life came especially through the loss of good work, the renewal will likewise come through a rediscovery of work that connects us to one another as it connects us to our bodies and to the earth, and ultimately to God.Wendell Berry was a prophet of the extraordinary beauty and importance of the ordinary. Making our home an intentional household means rediscovering the power of ordinary things, such as mealtimes with the whole household, shared work in the kitchen and other home arts, and “porch time” and other such leisure times. Attention to these things can transform our marriage, parenting, and other key relationships.")
Christendom College professor John Cuddeback spoke to EWTN News about his new book “The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” and treating our homes as places of human flourishing.
Director Benjamin Tanaka, executive producer Gabriel Patrick, and composer Ethan Hsu call the project “The Francis Chronicles.”
This past Sept. 7, the “Creed of the Ecclesial Base Communities” was included as part of a Mass marking Brazil’s annual “Cry of the Excluded” event.
![Faith on the Hill: Catholic members of Congress share how faith shapes their lives and work #Catholic For many of the 150 Catholics serving in the 119th Congress, faith plays an important role in their lives and work.The current number of Catholic lawmakers on Capitol Hill is slightly higher than the previous Congress, with Catholics accounting for more than 28% of the members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Of the Catholic members, 126 serve in the House and 24 in the Senate, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.In this special report, EWTN News Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales spoke with various Catholic members of Congress about their faith and how they live it in their work.Sen. Eric SchmittSen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, grew up a cradle Catholic and said his parents instilled in him the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ at a young age.“I grew up in St. Louis, which is a very Catholic town and has been referred to as the Rome of the West because per capita, very Catholic,” Schmitt told Rosales.A “conversation back home, it might very easily start … ‘What parish are you at? or ‘What parish did you grow up in?’” Schmitt said.At 17, Schmitt went to a Jesuit retreat house that had a profound impact on him. Later, when his son was born with a rare genetic condition, Schmitt would often return to the Jesuits for prayer.It “was a seed that was planted … when I was confronted with this really kind of difficult situation. I went back there, and it was a profound experience,” he said. “I go back every year. Itʼs a … weekend silent retreat. And that keeps me very rooted.”When working busy days on the Hill, Schmitt said he looks to prayer.“Iʼll listen to a podcast by Bishop [Robert] Barron or Father Michael Schmitz,” he said. “I think technology now too has allowed a different avenue for people to … maintain their faith and grow their faith.”Even “if itʼs five or 10 minutes, it really does help me kind of start the day right,” Schmitt said.Rep. John RutherfordRep. John Rutherford, R-Florida, also spoke about leaning on his faith when working in a hectic position, often by attending Mass and saying the rosary.“In Ephesians 2:10, it says, ‘for we are all Godʼs workmanship, created in the image of Christ Jesus to do good work,’ which he prepared … in advance for us to do,’” Rutherford said. “So heʼs got work out there that heʼs prepared for me to do,” he continued.While Rutherford’s Catholic faith is incorporated into his day-to-day life, he shared that was not always the case. He grew up in the United Methodist Church, but at about 14 years old, “fell away from the church,” he said.After becoming a police officer in Jacksonville, Florida, Rutherford’s perspective on faith changed. Witnessing crimes made him question his own mortality.“So I went back to the Bible, and I read the Bible literally cover to cover, not once but twice,” he said.Rutherford returned to the Methodist Church, while his wife and kids attended Catholic Mass. After reading about the Methodist Churchʼs seven principles, he realized he didnʼt agree with them.“It was a long process, but I finally read a book by Pope John Paul II, ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope,’ and that explained where the authority of the Church is,” Rutherford said. “And how itʼs passed down through the papacy.”After his research, and inspired by the true Church and presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Rutherford entered the Catholic Church.Rep. Mark MessmerRep. Mark Messmer, R-Indiana, said he has spent his life putting God, family, and community first.It was during his time as a state legislator that a colleague invited Messmer and his wife to attend a Cursillo, a retreat focused on showing Christian laity how to become effective leaders and how to use the Gospel in daily life.“It ignited a passion and a love for Christ, and a love for the Eucharist that I always said I wanted. And then it gives you the tools [for] your prayer life, study life, and evangelization, how to live that out on a daily basis,” he said.Messmer said he stays grounded with daily Mass and his Friday morning prayer group. He and his family also all join together for a weekly group call to catch up and join for “spiritual reinforcement.”Rep. Stephanie BiceRep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma, converted to Catholicism in college after she started going to Mass with her now husband.Bice served six years in the Oklahoma Senate and later ran for U.S. Congress. She joined a number of women who have been elected over the past two cycles.“Not every woman believes that … you should be able to terminate pregnancies up to birth,” Bice said. “So you had a groundswell of women consider running for congressional seats and Senate seats,” she said.While serving on Capitol Hill, Bice said she turns to prayer and the comfort of the Blessed Mother.“I stumbled across a group of staffers that actually pray the rosary on fly-in days in the morning,” she explained. “I said, ‘Hey, can a member come?’ And they were delighted that I would even ask.”One highlight of her congressional career was meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican. The invitation came from Rep. James Langevin, a fellow Catholic and Democrat from Rhode Island.Pope Francis “looked at my husband and I after blessing us both, and he said: ‘Will you pray for me?’ And that was pretty profound,” Bice said.Rep. Robert Onder“Really, my Catholic faith has motivated me my whole life, my whole career, and really motivated in many ways the direction my life has taken,” Rep. Robert Onder, R-Missouri, said.Onder said his faith was present in his work trying to pass a religious liberty bill in the Missouri Senate and through his fight to protect the conscience rights of physicians who are forced to perform abortions.As a medical doctor, Onder detailed the present problem in some states and hospitals, which “want to force physicians to participate in abortions, participate in vitro fertilization or artificial contraception, and, of course, more recently, participate in euthanasia.”Onder said his political service has been motivated by love of God, family, and country. He said he stays rooted in faith by attending daily Mass. He said he also enjoys talking with other lawmakers about their love for Christ.“Speaker [Mike] Johnson is absolutely a brother in the Christian faith and a very, very strong believer,” Onder said. “It does give me a lot hope and a lot of encouragement to serve with other people who really take their faith seriously.”Rep. Riley MooreRep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, said his Catholic faith is “is the most important thing” in his life.“It forms me — every decision I make, everything that I do here on the Hill, it is central to my life. Iʼm always praying to be able to deepen my faith, be a strong family man, and then also my service.”“So itʼs my faith, my family, my service to my state, my country. But faith comes first.”“Canʼt always be easy to discern Godʼs will, particularly in a place that is more about individual will and not Godʼs will,” Moore said. “Iʼm trying to re-center myself towards that. Thatʼs that gravitational pull for me that Iʼm always trying to get back to.”Moore started as a Hill staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, working under the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois. One of his priorities is drawing attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, especially in Nigeria.While in Nigeria, “I met a woman who had had all five of her children murdered, murdered by Islamic terrorists,” Moore said. “I met another woman who had her two daughters and husband killed right in front of her, and then they killed her unborn child.”“As we know and weʼve heard many times, and itʼs so true that there is salvation through suffering. I think that … their suffering offers us salvation as well by doing something here,” he said.House Majority Whip Tom EmmerMajority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Emmer discussed how his faith was largely inspired by his family, including his father, who attended daily Mass.“The example that they set is, I believe, why I am who I am,” said Emmer, R-Minnesota.Emmer also detailed the trials of his faith, including the loss of his sister Bridget, who died of breast cancer at 38 years old.Emmer said he was angry at the Lord and had doubts about Godʼs will because of his sisterʼs suffering. A conversation with Bridget during her chemotherapy treatment was a pivotal moment for him and his faith.“She looked at me and she said, ‘Tom, would I love to live forever? Absolutely. But Iʼm not going to,’” he explained. His sister added: “I have lived a good life. If God comes and calls me today, so be it.”Emmer said her words brought him away from his own anger with the Lord. Now his message to others is to put God first while living each moment to the fullest.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/faith-on-the-hill-catholic-members-of-congress-share-how-faith-shapes-their-lives-and-work-catholic-for-many-of-the-150-catholics-serving-in-the-119th-congress-faith-plays-an-important-role-in-thei-scaled.jpg "Faith on the Hill: Catholic members of Congress share how faith shapes their lives and work #Catholic For many of the 150 Catholics serving in the 119th Congress, faith plays an important role in their lives and work.The current number of Catholic lawmakers on Capitol Hill is slightly higher than the previous Congress, with Catholics accounting for more than 28% of the members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate. Of the Catholic members, 126 serve in the House and 24 in the Senate, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.In this special report, EWTN News Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales spoke with various Catholic members of Congress about their faith and how they live it in their work.Sen. Eric SchmittSen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, grew up a cradle Catholic and said his parents instilled in him the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ at a young age.“I grew up in St. Louis, which is a very Catholic town and has been referred to as the Rome of the West because per capita, very Catholic,” Schmitt told Rosales.A “conversation back home, it might very easily start … ‘What parish are you at? or ‘What parish did you grow up in?’” Schmitt said.At 17, Schmitt went to a Jesuit retreat house that had a profound impact on him. Later, when his son was born with a rare genetic condition, Schmitt would often return to the Jesuits for prayer.It “was a seed that was planted … when I was confronted with this really kind of difficult situation. I went back there, and it was a profound experience,” he said. “I go back every year. Itʼs a … weekend silent retreat. And that keeps me very rooted.”When working busy days on the Hill, Schmitt said he looks to prayer.“Iʼll listen to a podcast by Bishop [Robert] Barron or Father Michael Schmitz,” he said. “I think technology now too has allowed a different avenue for people to … maintain their faith and grow their faith.”Even “if itʼs five or 10 minutes, it really does help me kind of start the day right,” Schmitt said.Rep. John RutherfordRep. John Rutherford, R-Florida, also spoke about leaning on his faith when working in a hectic position, often by attending Mass and saying the rosary.“In Ephesians 2:10, it says, ‘for we are all Godʼs workmanship, created in the image of Christ Jesus to do good work,’ which he prepared … in advance for us to do,’” Rutherford said. “So heʼs got work out there that heʼs prepared for me to do,” he continued.While Rutherford’s Catholic faith is incorporated into his day-to-day life, he shared that was not always the case. He grew up in the United Methodist Church, but at about 14 years old, “fell away from the church,” he said.After becoming a police officer in Jacksonville, Florida, Rutherford’s perspective on faith changed. Witnessing crimes made him question his own mortality.“So I went back to the Bible, and I read the Bible literally cover to cover, not once but twice,” he said.Rutherford returned to the Methodist Church, while his wife and kids attended Catholic Mass. After reading about the Methodist Churchʼs seven principles, he realized he didnʼt agree with them.“It was a long process, but I finally read a book by Pope John Paul II, ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope,’ and that explained where the authority of the Church is,” Rutherford said. “And how itʼs passed down through the papacy.”After his research, and inspired by the true Church and presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Rutherford entered the Catholic Church.Rep. Mark MessmerRep. Mark Messmer, R-Indiana, said he has spent his life putting God, family, and community first.It was during his time as a state legislator that a colleague invited Messmer and his wife to attend a Cursillo, a retreat focused on showing Christian laity how to become effective leaders and how to use the Gospel in daily life.“It ignited a passion and a love for Christ, and a love for the Eucharist that I always said I wanted. And then it gives you the tools [for] your prayer life, study life, and evangelization, how to live that out on a daily basis,” he said.Messmer said he stays grounded with daily Mass and his Friday morning prayer group. He and his family also all join together for a weekly group call to catch up and join for “spiritual reinforcement.”Rep. Stephanie BiceRep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma, converted to Catholicism in college after she started going to Mass with her now husband.Bice served six years in the Oklahoma Senate and later ran for U.S. Congress. She joined a number of women who have been elected over the past two cycles.“Not every woman believes that … you should be able to terminate pregnancies up to birth,” Bice said. “So you had a groundswell of women consider running for congressional seats and Senate seats,” she said.While serving on Capitol Hill, Bice said she turns to prayer and the comfort of the Blessed Mother.“I stumbled across a group of staffers that actually pray the rosary on fly-in days in the morning,” she explained. “I said, ‘Hey, can a member come?’ And they were delighted that I would even ask.”One highlight of her congressional career was meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican. The invitation came from Rep. James Langevin, a fellow Catholic and Democrat from Rhode Island.Pope Francis “looked at my husband and I after blessing us both, and he said: ‘Will you pray for me?’ And that was pretty profound,” Bice said.Rep. Robert Onder“Really, my Catholic faith has motivated me my whole life, my whole career, and really motivated in many ways the direction my life has taken,” Rep. Robert Onder, R-Missouri, said.Onder said his faith was present in his work trying to pass a religious liberty bill in the Missouri Senate and through his fight to protect the conscience rights of physicians who are forced to perform abortions.As a medical doctor, Onder detailed the present problem in some states and hospitals, which “want to force physicians to participate in abortions, participate in vitro fertilization or artificial contraception, and, of course, more recently, participate in euthanasia.”Onder said his political service has been motivated by love of God, family, and country. He said he stays rooted in faith by attending daily Mass. He said he also enjoys talking with other lawmakers about their love for Christ.“Speaker [Mike] Johnson is absolutely a brother in the Christian faith and a very, very strong believer,” Onder said. “It does give me a lot hope and a lot of encouragement to serve with other people who really take their faith seriously.”Rep. Riley MooreRep. Riley Moore, R-West Virginia, said his Catholic faith is “is the most important thing” in his life.“It forms me — every decision I make, everything that I do here on the Hill, it is central to my life. Iʼm always praying to be able to deepen my faith, be a strong family man, and then also my service.”“So itʼs my faith, my family, my service to my state, my country. But faith comes first.”“Canʼt always be easy to discern Godʼs will, particularly in a place that is more about individual will and not Godʼs will,” Moore said. “Iʼm trying to re-center myself towards that. Thatʼs that gravitational pull for me that Iʼm always trying to get back to.”Moore started as a Hill staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, working under the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois. One of his priorities is drawing attention to the persecution of Christians around the world, especially in Nigeria.While in Nigeria, “I met a woman who had had all five of her children murdered, murdered by Islamic terrorists,” Moore said. “I met another woman who had her two daughters and husband killed right in front of her, and then they killed her unborn child.”“As we know and weʼve heard many times, and itʼs so true that there is salvation through suffering. I think that … their suffering offers us salvation as well by doing something here,” he said.House Majority Whip Tom EmmerMajority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Emmer discussed how his faith was largely inspired by his family, including his father, who attended daily Mass.“The example that they set is, I believe, why I am who I am,” said Emmer, R-Minnesota.Emmer also detailed the trials of his faith, including the loss of his sister Bridget, who died of breast cancer at 38 years old.Emmer said he was angry at the Lord and had doubts about Godʼs will because of his sisterʼs suffering. A conversation with Bridget during her chemotherapy treatment was a pivotal moment for him and his faith.“She looked at me and she said, ‘Tom, would I love to live forever? Absolutely. But Iʼm not going to,’” he explained. His sister added: “I have lived a good life. If God comes and calls me today, so be it.”Emmer said her words brought him away from his own anger with the Lord. Now his message to others is to put God first while living each moment to the fullest.")
EWTN News Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales spoke with various Catholic lawmakers about how their faith intersects with their public service.
“All work, no matter what the work is, is essential,” said Father Sinclair Oubre, spiritual moderator of the Catholic Labor Network.
Catholic cardinal presides over Rosary Rally in Holland, Norway celebrates 100 years since first Mass, Scottish sisters to stand trial for abuse, and more in this week’s world news round up.
The guide is meant to assist in priestly formation on Catholic Social Teaching, so they can better communicate those teachings to their congregations.
“Catholic and Christian couples don’t just have to register for their home goods,” but can “also register for sacred arts, sacred jewelry, beautiful wall mounts, and icons,” James Reichert said.
The Holy Father encouraged silent contemplation of the wonders and harmony of the created world, which can lead to authentic ecological conversion and awareness of our responsibility for creation.
The bishops discussed the pastoral challenges facing the Church in North America as a whole and concelebrated a Mass on Aug. 30 in the Cuernavaca, Mexico, cathedral.
![Hope for broken marriages: One couple’s story #Catholic On April 7, 2009, Mariela Villanueva landed in Venezuela convinced that she was going to end her marriage. Five years had passed since her husband, Harold Figueras, had left his family in Peru and rebuilt his life in another country. She carried with her the pain of a long separation and the resolve to sign the divorce papers. He had with him a written list of all the grievances he intended to unleash the moment he saw her.Nothing happened the way either of them had imagined.They arranged to meet on a Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, at the very spot where they had courted years before. When Mariela appeared, Harold frantically searched for the sheet of paper containing his complaints. It had vanished.“I was expecting a war. She opened her arms to embrace me, and I realized that I was the only one who wanted to fight,” Harold recalled in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. Mariela said she made that gesture because she had already begun a process of conversion and was holding onto one last hope.That embrace did not immediately restore the marriage, however. It would still be nearly a month before he ended the other relationship he was in and decided to return to his family. But on that day, they both attest, Jesus won the first great battle.
Harold and Mariela in front of Lima Cathedral. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
A marriage marked by woundednessHarold and Mariela met in 1998 at the Venezuelan College of Engineers. He worked in systems; she was a young lawyer running a legal consultation firm with dozens of professionals under her supervision.While Mariela had grown up in a Catholic family and frequently prayed the rosary, Harold was completely indifferent to the faith.“I used to make fun of priests. For me, getting married in the Church was simply a matter of fulfilling a social formality,” he admitted.They were married in a civil ceremony and on Sept. 2, 2000, received the sacrament at marriage at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Barranco, Peru. However, they acknowledged that they came to the altar without truly understanding the meaning of the vocation of marriage.“We began our life together without God at the center. That was the first major mistake,” Harold explained.Over the years, deep-seated wounds began to surface: abandonment, loneliness, pride, an inability to communicate, and unrealistic expectations about love. Venezuela’s economic crisis further aggravated the situation. Harold traveled constantly between the two countries until, one day, he simply stopped coming back.Mariela was left alone in Lima with her young daughter.
Recent photo of Harold and Mariela with their three daughters in Lima, Peru. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Mom, teach me to pray’Paradoxically, the restoration did not begin when Harold changed. It began when Mariela got down on her knees.Estranged from the Church and filled with resentment, the young mother had abandoned the practice of her faith after being hurt by a bad experience at a parish. Everything changed thanks to an unexpected request from her 7-year-old daughter: “Mom, grandma says you know how to pray. Teach me the rosary.”Mariela agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. Shortly after that, her daughter insisted on making her first Communion and said something that pierced her mother’s heart: “You know what it’s like to have Jesus in your heart… so why don’t you [go to Communion]?”Those words led Mariela back to the confessional.From then on, she began a routine that would change her life: daily Mass before work, Eucharistic adoration at midday, and the rosary every night with her daughter.“I was looking for God to change my husband. The Lord ended up changing me,” she related.
Harold and Mariela with members of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.” | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Look at me’During Eucharistic adoration, an experience occurred that would, years later, give its name to the retreat the couple now leads as part of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.”Mariela was praying, seeing herself as the victim in her story: “Lord, look at me. Look at how good I am. Look at what he did to me.”Then, she raised her eyes toward the monstrance.“I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw Jesus, wounded and bloodied. And he said to me only: ‘Look at me.’”In that moment, she experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. She began to recall her own sins from childhood and realized that, for years, she had been unable to recognize her own wounds.“I realized that God wasn’t going to ask me about Harold’s sins. He was going to ask me how much I loved my husband within the sacrament.”Her prayer changed completely, and she no longer asked for Harold to return. She only prayed: “Lord, bring him back to you.”
Mariela Villanueva. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mariela Villanueva
The hell of the occultWhile Mariela was deepening her prayer life, Harold was heading down a completely opposite path.Seeking better financial prospects, he began consulting tarot cards. Next came syncretist Santería practices, and finally Palería, a witchcraft practice involving human remains and animal sacrifices.“I entered a dark room containing skeletal remains. I felt an indescribable fear, yet I kept looking for answers where they weren’t to be found,” Harold recalled.Amid that emptiness, he began to notice something strange. Mariela kept calling him, but no longer to get him back. One afternoon, in a mocking tone, he asked her: “What’s wrong? Don’t you need me anymore?”Her answer baffled him.“No. Whatʼs going on is that I have someone here who loves me.”Harold thought she had another romantic partner, but today he knows his wife was speaking of Christ himself.
Harold Figueras. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras
Welcomed back with loveAfter that encounter with his wife in Venezuela, Harold eventually returned to Peru.He admitted he was terrified of facing Mariela’s family and above all, their daughter. He imagined reproaches, humiliation, and rejection. Yet, he found exactly the opposite.“They all hugged me as if I had just stepped out to buy bread,” he recounted.A few days later, he accompanied Mariela to the Oblate Fathers’ church in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima. He had no thought of even going inside. He was standing near the doorway when, as he tells it, he felt an inner impulse that led him straight to the confessional.“I told the priest: ‘Father, I’ve been separated from my wife for five years, and I don’t know why I’ve come back.’”The priest invited him to attend a spiritual retreat. It was there that Harold experienced his own conversion.Before the Blessed Sacrament, after resisting for hours, Harold looked up: “I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw two honey-colored eyes that pierced my heart. I began to weep as I never had in my life.”From that moment on, he abandoned the occult and began a journey of faith that continues to this day.An ongoing miracleMore than 15 years have passed since that reconciliation.Harold and Mariela maintain that the true miracle was not simply living together again but discovering that marriage is a daily path to holiness.“Restoring the marriage takes your whole life. It doesn’t stop when the husband returns. It begins there,” Mariela said.
Harold and Mariela today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
That experience gave rise to the “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family” movement, an initiative that supports spouses who are separated or on the verge of divorce. The path they propose begins with oneʼs own conversion rather than an attempt to change oneʼs spouse.Those who come to the mission begin with what’s called “Mary’s Workshop,” a preparation for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that focuses on the sacrament of marriage. There, the aim is for each person to acknowledge his or her own wounds and receive the tools to discern how to handle their issues as a family.However, Harold and Mariela noted that not all journeys end the same way. Some married couples manage to reunite, while others go their separate ways, including through the process of a declaration of nullity. What remains, they maintain, is the call to conversion and to seek God’s will.“The Lord wants us to be holy,” Mariela explained. She said that even when a person goes through a process different from what she or he hoped for, suffering can become an opportunity to draw closer to Christ and offer that pain for the holiness of the Church.Today, when they look back, the couple no longer see themselves as the same people who had separated. Mariela describes Harold as a man more committed to knowing Godʼs love and capable of giving of himself to his family.For his part, he acknowledged that the woman he reunited with after five years was no longer the same one he had left behind.
The Figueras Villanueva family today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
For this reason, their testimony does not aim to offer a formula for restoring a lost marriage. It is, above all, the story of two people who discovered that, before asking God to change the other person, they had to allow themselves to be transformed by him.“Many people come saying, ‘I want my husband to come back.’ We tell them: First, let Jesus return to the center of your heart,” Harold explained.Their message to couples in crisis stems from that experience: Don’t hide your wounds, don’t let shame defeat you, and don’t confuse restoration with a simple return to the life you had before.For as they discovered that Wednesday afternoon in 2009, some marital battles are not won by defeating the other person but by allowing oneself to be conquered by God’s merciful love.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.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/hope-for-broken-marriages-one-couples-story-catholic-on-april-7-2009-mariela-villanueva-landed-in-venezuela-convinced-that-she-was-going-to-end-her-marriage-five-years-had-passed-since-h.jpg "Hope for broken marriages: One couple’s story #Catholic On April 7, 2009, Mariela Villanueva landed in Venezuela convinced that she was going to end her marriage. Five years had passed since her husband, Harold Figueras, had left his family in Peru and rebuilt his life in another country. She carried with her the pain of a long separation and the resolve to sign the divorce papers. He had with him a written list of all the grievances he intended to unleash the moment he saw her.Nothing happened the way either of them had imagined.They arranged to meet on a Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, at the very spot where they had courted years before. When Mariela appeared, Harold frantically searched for the sheet of paper containing his complaints. It had vanished.“I was expecting a war. She opened her arms to embrace me, and I realized that I was the only one who wanted to fight,” Harold recalled in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. Mariela said she made that gesture because she had already begun a process of conversion and was holding onto one last hope.That embrace did not immediately restore the marriage, however. It would still be nearly a month before he ended the other relationship he was in and decided to return to his family. But on that day, they both attest, Jesus won the first great battle.
Harold and Mariela in front of Lima Cathedral. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
A marriage marked by woundednessHarold and Mariela met in 1998 at the Venezuelan College of Engineers. He worked in systems; she was a young lawyer running a legal consultation firm with dozens of professionals under her supervision.While Mariela had grown up in a Catholic family and frequently prayed the rosary, Harold was completely indifferent to the faith.“I used to make fun of priests. For me, getting married in the Church was simply a matter of fulfilling a social formality,” he admitted.They were married in a civil ceremony and on Sept. 2, 2000, received the sacrament at marriage at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Barranco, Peru. However, they acknowledged that they came to the altar without truly understanding the meaning of the vocation of marriage.“We began our life together without God at the center. That was the first major mistake,” Harold explained.Over the years, deep-seated wounds began to surface: abandonment, loneliness, pride, an inability to communicate, and unrealistic expectations about love. Venezuela’s economic crisis further aggravated the situation. Harold traveled constantly between the two countries until, one day, he simply stopped coming back.Mariela was left alone in Lima with her young daughter.
Recent photo of Harold and Mariela with their three daughters in Lima, Peru. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Mom, teach me to pray’Paradoxically, the restoration did not begin when Harold changed. It began when Mariela got down on her knees.Estranged from the Church and filled with resentment, the young mother had abandoned the practice of her faith after being hurt by a bad experience at a parish. Everything changed thanks to an unexpected request from her 7-year-old daughter: “Mom, grandma says you know how to pray. Teach me the rosary.”Mariela agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. Shortly after that, her daughter insisted on making her first Communion and said something that pierced her mother’s heart: “You know what it’s like to have Jesus in your heart… so why don’t you [go to Communion]?”Those words led Mariela back to the confessional.From then on, she began a routine that would change her life: daily Mass before work, Eucharistic adoration at midday, and the rosary every night with her daughter.“I was looking for God to change my husband. The Lord ended up changing me,” she related.
Harold and Mariela with members of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.” | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Look at me’During Eucharistic adoration, an experience occurred that would, years later, give its name to the retreat the couple now leads as part of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.”Mariela was praying, seeing herself as the victim in her story: “Lord, look at me. Look at how good I am. Look at what he did to me.”Then, she raised her eyes toward the monstrance.“I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw Jesus, wounded and bloodied. And he said to me only: ‘Look at me.’”In that moment, she experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. She began to recall her own sins from childhood and realized that, for years, she had been unable to recognize her own wounds.“I realized that God wasn’t going to ask me about Harold’s sins. He was going to ask me how much I loved my husband within the sacrament.”Her prayer changed completely, and she no longer asked for Harold to return. She only prayed: “Lord, bring him back to you.”
Mariela Villanueva. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mariela Villanueva
The hell of the occultWhile Mariela was deepening her prayer life, Harold was heading down a completely opposite path.Seeking better financial prospects, he began consulting tarot cards. Next came syncretist Santería practices, and finally Palería, a witchcraft practice involving human remains and animal sacrifices.“I entered a dark room containing skeletal remains. I felt an indescribable fear, yet I kept looking for answers where they weren’t to be found,” Harold recalled.Amid that emptiness, he began to notice something strange. Mariela kept calling him, but no longer to get him back. One afternoon, in a mocking tone, he asked her: “What’s wrong? Don’t you need me anymore?”Her answer baffled him.“No. Whatʼs going on is that I have someone here who loves me.”Harold thought she had another romantic partner, but today he knows his wife was speaking of Christ himself.
Harold Figueras. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras
Welcomed back with loveAfter that encounter with his wife in Venezuela, Harold eventually returned to Peru.He admitted he was terrified of facing Mariela’s family and above all, their daughter. He imagined reproaches, humiliation, and rejection. Yet, he found exactly the opposite.“They all hugged me as if I had just stepped out to buy bread,” he recounted.A few days later, he accompanied Mariela to the Oblate Fathers’ church in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima. He had no thought of even going inside. He was standing near the doorway when, as he tells it, he felt an inner impulse that led him straight to the confessional.“I told the priest: ‘Father, I’ve been separated from my wife for five years, and I don’t know why I’ve come back.’”The priest invited him to attend a spiritual retreat. It was there that Harold experienced his own conversion.Before the Blessed Sacrament, after resisting for hours, Harold looked up: “I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw two honey-colored eyes that pierced my heart. I began to weep as I never had in my life.”From that moment on, he abandoned the occult and began a journey of faith that continues to this day.An ongoing miracleMore than 15 years have passed since that reconciliation.Harold and Mariela maintain that the true miracle was not simply living together again but discovering that marriage is a daily path to holiness.“Restoring the marriage takes your whole life. It doesn’t stop when the husband returns. It begins there,” Mariela said.
Harold and Mariela today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
That experience gave rise to the “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family” movement, an initiative that supports spouses who are separated or on the verge of divorce. The path they propose begins with oneʼs own conversion rather than an attempt to change oneʼs spouse.Those who come to the mission begin with what’s called “Mary’s Workshop,” a preparation for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that focuses on the sacrament of marriage. There, the aim is for each person to acknowledge his or her own wounds and receive the tools to discern how to handle their issues as a family.However, Harold and Mariela noted that not all journeys end the same way. Some married couples manage to reunite, while others go their separate ways, including through the process of a declaration of nullity. What remains, they maintain, is the call to conversion and to seek God’s will.“The Lord wants us to be holy,” Mariela explained. She said that even when a person goes through a process different from what she or he hoped for, suffering can become an opportunity to draw closer to Christ and offer that pain for the holiness of the Church.Today, when they look back, the couple no longer see themselves as the same people who had separated. Mariela describes Harold as a man more committed to knowing Godʼs love and capable of giving of himself to his family.For his part, he acknowledged that the woman he reunited with after five years was no longer the same one he had left behind.
The Figueras Villanueva family today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
For this reason, their testimony does not aim to offer a formula for restoring a lost marriage. It is, above all, the story of two people who discovered that, before asking God to change the other person, they had to allow themselves to be transformed by him.“Many people come saying, ‘I want my husband to come back.’ We tell them: First, let Jesus return to the center of your heart,” Harold explained.Their message to couples in crisis stems from that experience: Don’t hide your wounds, don’t let shame defeat you, and don’t confuse restoration with a simple return to the life you had before.For as they discovered that Wednesday afternoon in 2009, some marital battles are not won by defeating the other person but by allowing oneself to be conquered by God’s merciful love.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.")
Starting out their marriage without God at the center, the couple became estranged and the husband left, but things began to change when their daughter asked her mom, “Teach me to pray.”
The annual camping event welcomes dads and sons for a mission to grow closer, strengthen their relationships through challenges and reflections, and partake in faith-filled adventures.
Bishop Erik Varden invoked a ninth-century prayer for the dying as he commended King Harald V to God’s mercy on behalf of Norwegian Catholics.
After reviewing a joint investigation, Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, has approved Father Michael Pfleger to return to ministry “effective immediately.”
Catholic parishes and Catholic Charities in Nevada are responding with aid amid an ongoing wildfire that has caused mass evacuations in the Reno area.
During his Angelus on Aug. 23, the pontiff expressed closeness to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
![‘You are home’: Pope Leo XIV meets with sick, disabled residents at Rimini #Catholic Pope Leo XIV met with sick and disabled residents of the city of Rimini, Italy on Aug. 22, urging them to “follow the Lord by taking an active part in the life of the Church.” The meeting came at the end of a whirlwind day of travel for the pope, who visited the tiny landlocked country of San Marino before making an appearance at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini.
Pope Leo XIV is handed flowers by a woman in a wheelchair at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
In his meeting with those suffering from illness and disabilities, which took place at Rimini Cathedral, the pope said the ancient church signified to the sick and poor: “You are home.”Jesus, the Holy Father said, worked to “heal [sick people] and restore to them a life worthy of their dignity.”
Pope Leo XIV speaks at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
He urged the assembly to take part in Church life “in the parish, in associations, and in places of welcome and service.”The pope subsequently said Mass at the Port of Rimini, where in his homily he told the faithful that “everything we are and have is a gift from God.”He said every baptized Christian is oriented toward “embracing, gathering, welcoming, liberating, forgiving [and] emancipating anyone who is a prisoner of sin and its consequence.”Referring to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the pope said: “God is simple, because he is pure charity, and calls us also to love with a heart similar to his, conforming our ways to his ways and our thoughts to his thoughts.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/you-are-home-pope-leo-xiv-meets-with-sick-disabled-residents-at-rimini-catholic-pope-leo-xiv-met-with-sick-and-disabled-residents-of-the-city-of-rimini-italy-on-aug-22-urging-t-scaled.jpg "‘You are home’: Pope Leo XIV meets with sick, disabled residents at Rimini #Catholic Pope Leo XIV met with sick and disabled residents of the city of Rimini, Italy on Aug. 22, urging them to “follow the Lord by taking an active part in the life of the Church.” The meeting came at the end of a whirlwind day of travel for the pope, who visited the tiny landlocked country of San Marino before making an appearance at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini.
Pope Leo XIV is handed flowers by a woman in a wheelchair at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
In his meeting with those suffering from illness and disabilities, which took place at Rimini Cathedral, the pope said the ancient church signified to the sick and poor: “You are home.”Jesus, the Holy Father said, worked to “heal [sick people] and restore to them a life worthy of their dignity.”
Pope Leo XIV speaks at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
He urged the assembly to take part in Church life “in the parish, in associations, and in places of welcome and service.”The pope subsequently said Mass at the Port of Rimini, where in his homily he told the faithful that “everything we are and have is a gift from God.”He said every baptized Christian is oriented toward “embracing, gathering, welcoming, liberating, forgiving [and] emancipating anyone who is a prisoner of sin and its consequence.”Referring to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the pope said: “God is simple, because he is pure charity, and calls us also to love with a heart similar to his, conforming our ways to his ways and our thoughts to his thoughts.”")
The pope urged the assembly to take part in Church life “in the parish, in associations, and in places of welcome and service.”
![At friendship meeting in Italy, Pope Leo calls for fraternity: ‘Love is the law of life’ #Catholic Pope Leo XIV arrived in the Italian city of Rimini on Aug. 22 to visit the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, telling about 60,000 attendees that “love is the force that can transform the world.”Upon arrival after a brief visit to the country of San Marino, Leo addressed a spontaneous greeting to the people gathered in the auditorium, expressing his joy and pointing out that “the loudest applause should be for Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo XIV greets attendees at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini, Italy, Aug. 22, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
“Our hearts, so big and capable of loving, should never be closed. Letʼs find the way together to build a world of peace and love,” he said.In his speech to the gathering, Pope Leo recounted the teachings of his immediate predecessors on social friendship, fraternity and union, highlighting the value of Riminiʼs meeting to achieve these ideals. The annual event is hosted by the international organization Communion and Liberation. He assured the assembly that “in recognizing our dignity as children of God, we come into contact with what originally unites human beings, beyond all diversity, separation or conflict.”“We can identify with each other, listen to each other and establish friendship, between individuals and, therefore, also between peoples. Before borders, definitions and institutions, there are always people,” he added.Reflecting on the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo did not hesitate to affirm that “it is a time of responsibility” among men and that it is love that is the foundation of a fraternal society.“Following Jesus Christ after the tragedies and the new beginnings of the twentieth century implies, in fact, a clear awareness: Evil is not fought with evil. As in heaven, as on earth, love is the law of life, the method of redemption of the crucified Messiah,” he said.“Faced with the false realism that rearms minds, words and nations, the current Catholic culture must counteract the realism of mercy, which maintains that enemies cannot exist and that everyone, even adversaries, are brothers to whom they look into the eyes and receive with sincerity,” he added.Addressing especially young people, Leo told them that they “are a sign that the future is a promise, not a threat” and witnesses of a love that “continues to inspire hope.”“Love moves, drives, awakens from lethargy, inspires new vocations and calls us to take risks. Get involved! Open up to true universality, expanding your ties beyond any too close affiliation,” he said."In every corner of the world, especially in the margins and among those who suffer, you will find those willing to build the civilization of love. Do not allow anyone to belittle this word, which is the very name of God: 'God is love,'" said the Holy Father.“In love, there is never coercion or indoctrination; there is never seduction, deception or manipulation. Love resides only in freedom, in sincere exchange, in generous self-giving.”Finally, he invited young people to remain devoted to Christ to testify, without boasting, in the midst of todayʼs world."May the Holy Spirit instruct us in the practice of communion. That gives us pleasure for [the Holy Spirit], appreciation for him and hope in him. May he continue to guide us, dear brothers and sisters, with that love 'that moves the sun and the other stars'," he concluded.This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News’ Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/at-friendship-meeting-in-italy-pope-leo-calls-for-fraternity-love-is-the-law-of-life-catholic-pope-leo-xiv-arrived-in-the-italian-city-of-rimini-on-aug-22-to-visit-the-47th-scaled.jpg "At friendship meeting in Italy, Pope Leo calls for fraternity: ‘Love is the law of life’ #Catholic Pope Leo XIV arrived in the Italian city of Rimini on Aug. 22 to visit the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, telling about 60,000 attendees that “love is the force that can transform the world.”Upon arrival after a brief visit to the country of San Marino, Leo addressed a spontaneous greeting to the people gathered in the auditorium, expressing his joy and pointing out that “the loudest applause should be for Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo XIV greets attendees at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini, Italy, Aug. 22, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
“Our hearts, so big and capable of loving, should never be closed. Letʼs find the way together to build a world of peace and love,” he said.In his speech to the gathering, Pope Leo recounted the teachings of his immediate predecessors on social friendship, fraternity and union, highlighting the value of Riminiʼs meeting to achieve these ideals. The annual event is hosted by the international organization Communion and Liberation. He assured the assembly that “in recognizing our dignity as children of God, we come into contact with what originally unites human beings, beyond all diversity, separation or conflict.”“We can identify with each other, listen to each other and establish friendship, between individuals and, therefore, also between peoples. Before borders, definitions and institutions, there are always people,” he added.Reflecting on the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo did not hesitate to affirm that “it is a time of responsibility” among men and that it is love that is the foundation of a fraternal society.“Following Jesus Christ after the tragedies and the new beginnings of the twentieth century implies, in fact, a clear awareness: Evil is not fought with evil. As in heaven, as on earth, love is the law of life, the method of redemption of the crucified Messiah,” he said.“Faced with the false realism that rearms minds, words and nations, the current Catholic culture must counteract the realism of mercy, which maintains that enemies cannot exist and that everyone, even adversaries, are brothers to whom they look into the eyes and receive with sincerity,” he added.Addressing especially young people, Leo told them that they “are a sign that the future is a promise, not a threat” and witnesses of a love that “continues to inspire hope.”“Love moves, drives, awakens from lethargy, inspires new vocations and calls us to take risks. Get involved! Open up to true universality, expanding your ties beyond any too close affiliation,” he said.\"In every corner of the world, especially in the margins and among those who suffer, you will find those willing to build the civilization of love. Do not allow anyone to belittle this word, which is the very name of God: 'God is love,'\" said the Holy Father.“In love, there is never coercion or indoctrination; there is never seduction, deception or manipulation. Love resides only in freedom, in sincere exchange, in generous self-giving.”Finally, he invited young people to remain devoted to Christ to testify, without boasting, in the midst of todayʼs world.\"May the Holy Spirit instruct us in the practice of communion. That gives us pleasure for [the Holy Spirit], appreciation for him and hope in him. May he continue to guide us, dear brothers and sisters, with that love 'that moves the sun and the other stars',\" he concluded.This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News’ Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
“Our heart, so big and capable of loving, should never be closed. Let’s find the way together to build a world of peace and love,” the pope said to a crowd of thousands.
This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month takes us to a fantastical realm within our home galaxy, where piercing starlight and billowing winds sculpt dust clouds into inventive shapes. This scene is from the Carina Nebula, which lies just 7500 light-years away in the constellation Carina (the Keel).
Read More![Advocates warn New Jersey law could criminalize prayer outside abortion clinics #Catholic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Aug. 20 signed a bill that criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care, a law that opponents say has serious implications for freedom of speech.The law criminalizes inflicting “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.Under the new law, an officer can “order the immediate dispersal of a gathering that substantially impedes access to or departure from an entrance or driveway to a reproductive or gender-affirming health care facility during the business hours of the facility.”The measure is a type of “bubble” law, which creates zones around abortion clinics where free speech is limited in “buffer zones.”Violations of the law could be punished by up to 18 months’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy criticized the law, describing its provisions as “inherently subjective” and the law itself as “a serious danger to free speech.”“Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside a facility can easily be labeled ‘intimidation’ by someone who claims to feel threatened, leaving pro-life advocates open to criminal charges that are difficult to disprove and chilling constitutionally protected expression,” Tasy said.Catholic diocese leads campaign against abortion amendment referendumThe Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is leading a campaign to oppose an amendment referendum that could create a right to abortion in the state constitution as well as another measure that would remove a same-sex marriage ban in the state.The campaign Catholics Vote No is opposing the ballot measure titled the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment” as well as the “Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.”Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge describes the measures as “very serious legal threats to human life and marriage” in a video statement.“If written into Virginia’s Constitution, these unjust amendments would be extraordinarily difficult to reverse,” the campaign website states. The abortion amendment would “effectively” make Virginia “a sanctuary for abortion and commercial abortion businesses,” it states. “Basic health and safety standards that protect women from harm would be eliminated, parents would be pushed out of life-altering decisions involving their family and children, and unregulated abortions would be possible, performed even on healthy babies up to the moment of birth for any reason with no limits,” the campaign says.Live Action says it will keep referring to abortion as ‘killing’The pro-life group Live Action has said it will not stop calling abortion “killing” after a pro-abortion group threatened the organization with legal action.Live Action made the declaration in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the abortion-supporting legal group Amplify Legal. The dispute is over claims made by Live Action in multiple articles about abortion cases where the unborn baby had a serious life-threatening diagnosis.“Each of our clients has described the decision to end their wanted pregnancy as the most compassionate choice for their own health, future fertility, and family’s wellbeing,” the letter read, arguing that Live Action News “repeatedly [wrote] about our clients intentionally ‘killing’ their babies.”In its response Live Action said it would not follow the request to “delete years of reporting and commentary on the most contested moral and political question in American public life.”“We are fighting for a culture and legal system that respects every human life and refuses to treat the sick, disabled, or unborn as disposable,” said Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose in a statement. “Legal threats against our First Amendment right to speak will not change that mission.”Catholic dad Mark Houck continues pro-life work after federal legal battleCatholic father Mark Houck is joining CatholicVote’s development team as a gift officer, the group announced this week. Houck and his family are adjusting to life after their home in rural eastern Pennsylvania was raided by 20 armed federal agents in the early hours of Sept. 23, 2022. Houck was arrested in front of his family and interrogated for six hours. The incident led to nearly four years of legal battles, which concluded with the family earning a seven-figure settlement for damages.“I am still very much unpacking spiritually what happened to us — very profound and certainly God is revealing his ultimate plan for us through it all, CatholicVote being the latest direction he has taken us,” Houck told EWTN News. “We are so happy to be with an organization that shares our passion for our faith, the pro-life cause, and, of course, advocacy in the public square.”Houck’s role in the organization "will extend beyond that [of a gift officer],” CatholicVote spokeswoman Laurie Olsen told EWTN News. He will “have a voice in all our pro-life efforts,” she said.Houck, meanwhile, told EWTN News: “We measure success by one soul at a time.”“Save a soul, you save your own soul. It is that one soul that gets me going and up early to head into Philadelphia and serve the common good with sidewalk advocacy,” he said.Federal court strikes down Indiana abortion parental-consent lawThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled on Aug. 18 against an Indiana law that prevents doctors from providing abortion assistance to minors without parental consent.The 54-page ruling struck down a law that required parental consent to aid or assist a minor in obtaining an abortion. The ruling said that the parental-consent law violated the First Amendment.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/advocates-warn-new-jersey-law-could-criminalize-prayer-outside-abortion-clinics-catholic-new-jersey-gov-mikie-sherrill-on-aug-20-signed-a-bill-that-criminalizes-interference-with.jpg "Advocates warn New Jersey law could criminalize prayer outside abortion clinics #Catholic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Aug. 20 signed a bill that criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care, a law that opponents say has serious implications for freedom of speech.The law criminalizes inflicting “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.Under the new law, an officer can “order the immediate dispersal of a gathering that substantially impedes access to or departure from an entrance or driveway to a reproductive or gender-affirming health care facility during the business hours of the facility.”The measure is a type of “bubble” law, which creates zones around abortion clinics where free speech is limited in “buffer zones.”Violations of the law could be punished by up to 18 months’ imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine.New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy criticized the law, describing its provisions as “inherently subjective” and the law itself as “a serious danger to free speech.”“Peaceful sidewalk counseling, prayer, holding signs, or simply offering help and alternatives outside a facility can easily be labeled ‘intimidation’ by someone who claims to feel threatened, leaving pro-life advocates open to criminal charges that are difficult to disprove and chilling constitutionally protected expression,” Tasy said.Catholic diocese leads campaign against abortion amendment referendumThe Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, is leading a campaign to oppose an amendment referendum that could create a right to abortion in the state constitution as well as another measure that would remove a same-sex marriage ban in the state.The campaign Catholics Vote No is opposing the ballot measure titled the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment” as well as the “Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.”Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge describes the measures as “very serious legal threats to human life and marriage” in a video statement.“If written into Virginia’s Constitution, these unjust amendments would be extraordinarily difficult to reverse,” the campaign website states. The abortion amendment would “effectively” make Virginia “a sanctuary for abortion and commercial abortion businesses,” it states. “Basic health and safety standards that protect women from harm would be eliminated, parents would be pushed out of life-altering decisions involving their family and children, and unregulated abortions would be possible, performed even on healthy babies up to the moment of birth for any reason with no limits,” the campaign says.Live Action says it will keep referring to abortion as ‘killing’The pro-life group Live Action has said it will not stop calling abortion “killing” after a pro-abortion group threatened the organization with legal action.Live Action made the declaration in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the abortion-supporting legal group Amplify Legal. The dispute is over claims made by Live Action in multiple articles about abortion cases where the unborn baby had a serious life-threatening diagnosis.“Each of our clients has described the decision to end their wanted pregnancy as the most compassionate choice for their own health, future fertility, and family’s wellbeing,” the letter read, arguing that Live Action News “repeatedly [wrote] about our clients intentionally ‘killing’ their babies.”In its response Live Action said it would not follow the request to “delete years of reporting and commentary on the most contested moral and political question in American public life.”“We are fighting for a culture and legal system that respects every human life and refuses to treat the sick, disabled, or unborn as disposable,” said Live Action Founder and President Lila Rose in a statement. “Legal threats against our First Amendment right to speak will not change that mission.”Catholic dad Mark Houck continues pro-life work after federal legal battleCatholic father Mark Houck is joining CatholicVote’s development team as a gift officer, the group announced this week. Houck and his family are adjusting to life after their home in rural eastern Pennsylvania was raided by 20 armed federal agents in the early hours of Sept. 23, 2022. Houck was arrested in front of his family and interrogated for six hours. The incident led to nearly four years of legal battles, which concluded with the family earning a seven-figure settlement for damages.“I am still very much unpacking spiritually what happened to us — very profound and certainly God is revealing his ultimate plan for us through it all, CatholicVote being the latest direction he has taken us,” Houck told EWTN News. “We are so happy to be with an organization that shares our passion for our faith, the pro-life cause, and, of course, advocacy in the public square.”Houck’s role in the organization \"will extend beyond that [of a gift officer],” CatholicVote spokeswoman Laurie Olsen told EWTN News. He will “have a voice in all our pro-life efforts,” she said.Houck, meanwhile, told EWTN News: “We measure success by one soul at a time.”“Save a soul, you save your own soul. It is that one soul that gets me going and up early to head into Philadelphia and serve the common good with sidewalk advocacy,” he said.Federal court strikes down Indiana abortion parental-consent lawThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled on Aug. 18 against an Indiana law that prevents doctors from providing abortion assistance to minors without parental consent.The 54-page ruling struck down a law that required parental consent to aid or assist a minor in obtaining an abortion. The ruling said that the parental-consent law violated the First Amendment.")
![People ‘thirsting for Christ’ at procession in Brazil, bishop says #Catholic About 50,000 faithful took part in the closing procession for the novena to Our Lady of Glory in Brazil on Aug. 15. The local bishop, Flávio Giovenale, said the large turnout reflects the faith of the people, who are “thirsting for Christ.”“This multitude is saying: We want spirituality, we want Jesus, and we love Our Lady because she leads us to Jesus,” the bishop told the website Juruá 24 Horas.“Our Lady is like a mother who takes us to school; the teacher — the master — is Jesus, and Our Lady leads us to him,” he said.The devotees walked about two miles in a procession lasting nearly two hours. Holding candles, they followed the image of Our Lady, praying and giving thanks.“We came to give thanks for the harvest and for our family’s health. Being here among so many people sharing the same purpose is something indescribable,” farmer Renilson Fox said to news website G1.“We spend the whole year waiting for this moment,” veterinarian Douglas Vasconcelos told G1. He said that for him, this “is a day to renew our faith and give thanks for so many graces received.”Mary is our ‘prototype’“Today, we celebrate Our Lady of Glory, who is already there [in glory], a gift from God,” Giovenale said during the Mass at the Cruzeiro do Sul cathedral prior to the procession. The bishop recalled Jesus’s words: “I am going to the Father’s glory, and after I prepare a place, I will return and take you with me.”“We say that at the end of time, we will all rise again and be reunited in body and soul to live in heaven, body and soul. But for Our Lady, Jesus chose to make an exception, a gift. In his freedom, he said: ‘Our Lady was the first to say yes to me; she will also be the first to rise again,’” he explained.The bishop recalled that the Dormition of Mary, although not found in the Bible, has been a tradition “since the early years” of Christianity. It says “that Our Lady fell asleep in the Lord and Jesus came and took her, body and soul.”“She is there in heaven, body and soul, as the first Christian, the first to say ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord,’ and the first to rise again, body and soul. She is, as it were, our prototype,” he said.In his homily, Giovenale said that before attaining glory, Mary served, and Christians must follow her example to reach the kingdom of heaven.“We’re going to walk in procession, why? Because Mary — after receiving the angel’s announcement that she would be the Mother of the Savior, and after saying, ‘I am the servant of the Lord’ — what did she do? She went to serve Elizabeth,” he said.“To serve, to be Christians, to be a faithful people, we can’t afford to slack off. Jesus promised us happiness, not ease. It requires effort; it requires saying, ‘I want to serve,’ just as Mary did,” he said.The bishop recalled that it was Jesus who said, “I came into the world not to be served, but to serve.” “Mary was the one who, in so many ways, anticipated this, because she is the first to be faithful to Jesus,” he added.Giovenale cited the theme of this year’s novena to Our Lady of Glory: “Our Lady of Glory, Mother of the Faithful People.” “If we want to be faithful to Jesus, faithful to God, we must imitate Mary — to journey forth and go serve others,” he said.This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/people-thirsting-for-christ-at-procession-in-brazil-bishop-says-catholic-about-50000-faithful-took-part-in-the-closing-procession-for-the-novena-to-our-lady-of-glory-in-brazil-on.webp "People ‘thirsting for Christ’ at procession in Brazil, bishop says #Catholic About 50,000 faithful took part in the closing procession for the novena to Our Lady of Glory in Brazil on Aug. 15. The local bishop, Flávio Giovenale, said the large turnout reflects the faith of the people, who are “thirsting for Christ.”“This multitude is saying: We want spirituality, we want Jesus, and we love Our Lady because she leads us to Jesus,” the bishop told the website Juruá 24 Horas.“Our Lady is like a mother who takes us to school; the teacher — the master — is Jesus, and Our Lady leads us to him,” he said.The devotees walked about two miles in a procession lasting nearly two hours. Holding candles, they followed the image of Our Lady, praying and giving thanks.“We came to give thanks for the harvest and for our family’s health. Being here among so many people sharing the same purpose is something indescribable,” farmer Renilson Fox said to news website G1.“We spend the whole year waiting for this moment,” veterinarian Douglas Vasconcelos told G1. He said that for him, this “is a day to renew our faith and give thanks for so many graces received.”Mary is our ‘prototype’“Today, we celebrate Our Lady of Glory, who is already there [in glory], a gift from God,” Giovenale said during the Mass at the Cruzeiro do Sul cathedral prior to the procession. The bishop recalled Jesus’s words: “I am going to the Father’s glory, and after I prepare a place, I will return and take you with me.”“We say that at the end of time, we will all rise again and be reunited in body and soul to live in heaven, body and soul. But for Our Lady, Jesus chose to make an exception, a gift. In his freedom, he said: ‘Our Lady was the first to say yes to me; she will also be the first to rise again,’” he explained.The bishop recalled that the Dormition of Mary, although not found in the Bible, has been a tradition “since the early years” of Christianity. It says “that Our Lady fell asleep in the Lord and Jesus came and took her, body and soul.”“She is there in heaven, body and soul, as the first Christian, the first to say ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord,’ and the first to rise again, body and soul. She is, as it were, our prototype,” he said.In his homily, Giovenale said that before attaining glory, Mary served, and Christians must follow her example to reach the kingdom of heaven.“We’re going to walk in procession, why? Because Mary — after receiving the angel’s announcement that she would be the Mother of the Savior, and after saying, ‘I am the servant of the Lord’ — what did she do? She went to serve Elizabeth,” he said.“To serve, to be Christians, to be a faithful people, we can’t afford to slack off. Jesus promised us happiness, not ease. It requires effort; it requires saying, ‘I want to serve,’ just as Mary did,” he said.The bishop recalled that it was Jesus who said, “I came into the world not to be served, but to serve.” “Mary was the one who, in so many ways, anticipated this, because she is the first to be faithful to Jesus,” he added.Giovenale cited the theme of this year’s novena to Our Lady of Glory: “Our Lady of Glory, Mother of the Faithful People.” “If we want to be faithful to Jesus, faithful to God, we must imitate Mary — to journey forth and go serve others,” he said.This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
In his homily, Bishop Flávio Giovenale held up Mary as the faithful disciple who, like her son, served others.
On the morning of July 20, 1976, roughly 40 minutes after mission controllers received word that the Viking 1 lander had successfully touched down on the surface of Mars, this photo gave us our first view from the surface of another planet.
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NASA celebrates Hubble’s 36th anniversary with a new image of the Trifid Nebula, a star-forming region it first captured in 1997. The telescope leveraged almost its full operational lifetime to show us changes in the nebula on human time scales with an improved camera.
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