St. Andrew Catholic Church

A priest celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass at the Church of St. Pancratius in Rome. / Credit: Thoom/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, will significantly restrict the practice of the Traditional Latin Mass, limiting it to a single chapel in what Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, said is a bid to “promote the concord and unity of the Church.”

Martin issued a statement on Friday announcing the new policy, directing that the ancient liturgy would henceforth be celebrated in an as-yet-unnamed chapel in the town of Mooresville.

Martin in his statement said the measure was meant to bring the Charlotte Diocese in line with Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which greatly restricted the Latin Mass “in defense of the unity of the body of Christ.”

The pope said at the time that he was saddened that the celebration of the extraordinary form was characterized by a rejection of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms. To doubt the council, he said, is “to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church.”

Martin on Friday noted that his predecessor, Bishop Peter Jugis, requested an extension on the directive in order to prepare for the transition. The extension expires this year, Martin noted, and he is “now ready to finish the diocese’s implementation of the norms established.”

Starting on July 8, no parish churches will be permitted to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in the diocese, Martin said. In accordance with Traditionis Custodes, the bishop said he was “designating a chapel in the diocese” that will be permitted to use the Roman Missal of 1962 and where “faithful adherents may gather for the celebration of the Eucharist” only on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

“A priest of the diocese will be appointed as chaplain, to be responsible for celebrating two Sunday Masses and holy day Masses using the 1962 Roman Missal at this site,” the bishop said.

“Those who are interested in participating in the Eucharistic celebration in this form will remain active members of their current parishes, where they may continue receiving the sacraments,” he added.

Citing the Gospel of John, Martin expressed hope that the new rule “will further ‘promote the concord and unity of the Church’ among the people of God in the Diocese of Charlotte so that, as Jesus prayed to his Father, we ‘may all be one.’”

null / Credit: Alexander Gold/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

About 1 in 3 Americans are turning to New Age practices like tarot cards, astrology, and fortune tellers at least once a year, a recent study found — but most say it’s “just for fun.” 

A study published by Pew Research on Wednesday found that 30% of Americans consult at least one of these New Age practices at least once a year. Astrology was the most popular (28%) followed by tarot cards (11% ) and fortune tellers (6%). 

Most Americans who engage in these practices say they do them for fun, not for insight or guidance. But Catholic Answers apologist Tom Nash told CNA these activities are “spiritually dangerous.” 

“Tarot cards, Ouija boards, seances, and other similar activities are all dangerous forms of divination,” Nash said.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly rejects “all forms of divination,” saying they “contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone” (No. 2116).

Engaging in divination means “we’re likely to get drawn deeper into a life of vice and related problems,” Nash added.

Both religious and nonreligious Americans are just as likely to believe in astrology, according to Pew.

American adults most likely to say they believe that consulting a fortune teller, tarot cards, or astrology provides insights are Hispanic Catholics, Black Protestants, and adults whose religion is “nothing in particular.” In contrast, atheists and white evangelicals are most likely to say they never engage in these practices. 

When compared with Pew’s last survey in 2017, the percentage of people engaging in New Age practices remains steady. The percentage of adults who say they believe in astrology is similar to the percentage recorded in 2017 (going from about 29% in 2017 to 27% in 2024). Gallup polls from the 1990s to early 2000s ranged from between 23% to 28%.  

Notably, younger adults — especially young women — are more likely to believe in astrology and consult horoscopes, the study found. Of women ages 18 to 49, 43% say they believe in astrology.

In addition, Americans who identify as LGBT are also more likely to engage in New Age practices. About half of LGBT Americans consult astrology at least yearly, and LGBT adults are three times as likely as non-LGBT adults to consult tarot cards. 

Nash tied the tendency to turn to New Age practices with the rise of the “nones” in American culture, i.e., the increasing numbers of people who are explicitly turning away from organized religion.

Nash noted that in spite of their abandonment of organized religion, many people continue to “yearn for greater meaning and understanding.”  

“And yet, human beings remain human — made in the image and likeness of God as body-soul composites,” he said, referencing Genesis 1:26-27. 

Nash added that in “our very being, we realize that there’s more to life than just our temporal, material world.”

Without Christ to fill that spiritual “vacuum,” Nash reflected, “we’ll tend to seek out other outlets.” 

“Thus, in the absence of true religion, the fullness of which is only found in Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church, we will tend to seek out alternatives,” Nash said.

Cardinal Daniel Sturla is Archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay. / Credit: EWTN Noticias

Lima Newsroom, May 24, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Uruguayan Cardinal Daniel Sturla anticipates that Pope Leo XIV’s first visit to Latin America “will include Argentina, Uruguay, and possibly Peru” on his itinerary.

In a May 21 interview with Uruguay’s “Radio Carve,” when asked about a possible visit by the Holy Father to that country, the archbishop of Montevideo said the likelihood is “very high” because Pope Leo “is very much aware that Argentina and Uruguay weren’t on Francis’ calendar — not because Francis wanted it that way — but because that’s the way things turned out.”

The Uruguayan cardinal, who participated in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV earlier this month, indicated that for “the first visit to Latin America, it seems to me — I am not the one who keeps his schedule — he will have Argentina, Uruguay, and possibly Peru on his itinerary” given that the pontiff was bishop of Chiclayo and later as apostolic administrator of Callao.

Pope Leo XIV ‘seeks the unity of the Church’

“I was very pleased with the pope’s election. I think he is a figure who seeks the unity of the Church, and this is very important today. He will continue the main lines that were innovative and positive, so to speak, of Francis, but with a very different style,” Sturla said.

After mentioning that he had had contact with the Holy Father at the Synod of Synodality and during a meeting of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Uruguayan archbishop emphasized that Leo XIV “is a man who listens a lot, speaks little, and who speaks, let’s say, slowly, thinking a lot about what he says; that is to say, he has a very different character from that of Francis, and I think that is good at this moment in the Church.”

The Salesian cardinal also recounted that “I had often thought in my life as a Christian, as a religious, and as a priest … about being in St. Peter’s Square when a new pope is elected” because “it’s a fantastic thing.”

“I had never imagined being on the other side, let’s say, being on the inside, so it was a very powerful thing,” since “I felt the weight of responsibility for what I was about to do, because it is a historical event that links the life of the Church with what Jesus did with Simon Peter 2,000 years ago, [which is] narrated in the Gospels. When Cardinal [Robert] Prevost says, ‘I accept,’ in that moment he is transformed into the successor of Peter,” the cardinal said, sharing his reflection on his first conclave.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

In his speech, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he is in “good company” in defending religious freedom, along with the legal team at Becket and the founders of the United States. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Becket

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 24, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was named the Becket Fund’s 2025 Canterbury Medalist, an award that honors his career-long commitment to religious liberty.

“His Eminence has been a towering figure in the fight for religious liberty, not just for Catholics, but for people of all faiths,” Becket President Mark Rienzi said in a statement. “Cardinal Dolan’s leadership in the public square has shaped the national conscience on religious freedom and strengthened the resolve of those who defend it.”

Becket, a nonprofit law firm that represents clients who are defending their religious liberty in court, awarded Dolan the medal during its annual gala in New York. According to Becket, the honor recognizes individuals who demonstrate courage and commitment to defending religious liberty in the United States and globally.

Dolan said in an acceptance speech, which was provided to CNA by Becket, that he is “grateful” to receive the award. 

“I hardly deserve this high award,” Dolan added. “Yet, I readily admit that you are absolutely [spot on] to claim I am intensely devoted to the protection of our ‘first and most cherished liberty,’ religious freedom.”

In his speech, Dolan said he is in “good company” in defending religious freedom, along with the legal team at Becket and the founders of the United States. 

“They and their parents had come here precisely because they were frustrated in countries where religion was imposed or proscribed, nations where battles were waged to coerce religious conviction, where they were hounded and harassed for their beliefs,” he said. 

“Not here, they insisted!” Dolan said. “This was not the way they, or, most importantly, God intended it. Nothing is more free than creedal assent; nothing merited more protection than religious freedom; nothing deserved more top billing in our Constitution.” 

Dolan said religious liberty is “part of our very nature that cannot be erased” and necessary for the respect of “the dignity of the human person.” 

“Our passion for this primary liberty is not just because we happen to be a believer or a patriotic citizen, but because we are a person endowed with certain ingrained rights,” he said.

Dolan was recently appointed to serve on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, which will create a report on threats to religious freedom and strategies to enhance legal protections to preserve those rights. It will also outline the foundations of religious liberty in the United States.

Previously, Dolan has served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and has led the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty. According to Becket, the cardinal has also staunchly defended religious freedom through testimony before Congress and when engaging with the media.

“Religious freedom isn’t just about protecting what happens in church on Sundays — it’s about defending the right of every person to live their faith openly, every day of the week,” Dolan said. “It’s a gift from God — not from government — and it must be protected for people of all faiths.”

Other members of the Catholic clergy who have won this award from Becket include University of Mary President Monsignor James Shea and former Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.

Past medalists also include Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel; Orthodox rabbi of the oldest Jewish congregation in the U.S. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik; and First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Dallin H. Oaks.

null / Credit: AC Wimmer/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, May 24, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Father Cristian Meriggi, an exorcist priest of the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy, shared the five spiritual weapons he uses and recommends to combat the devil and his influence.

Meriggi, an exorcist for almost 20 years and a priest for 27, shared his recommendations on the website of the International Association of Exorcists (IAE), to which he has belonged since 2006.

In his text, the priest thanked his mentor, Father Mario Boretti; Father Francesco Bamonte, vice president of the IAE; and Father Gabriele Amorth, a famous exorcist of the Diocese of Rome and co-founder of the IAE. Amorth, who died in 2016, performed tens of thousands of exorcisms during his lifetime.

“I remember the advice Don Gabriele gave me before we said goodbye: ‘Remember, Don Cristian, that we are good for nothing!’” the Italian priest recounted.

Meriggi also thanked Cardinal Ernest Simoni, 96, who “practiced the ministry of exorcist even before the atheist communist regime of Albania arrested him on Christmas Eve 1963. Today he also exercises his beautiful ministry in Tuscany.”

1. Adoration and Communion

Meriggi, whose guide and teacher in exorcisms was Boretti, recalled something the late priest told him: “Without Communion, one cannot be healed.”

Thus, the 55-year-old priest emphasized that “an intense sacramental life, a love for the Eucharistic Christ is crucial because the Eucharist is the true path to healing and liberation. Adoration and Communion!”

2. Confession

The exorcist also emphasized that it is very important to “live with steadfastness the sacrament of confession. Through it, we find God’s mercy, which not only confirms the forgiveness of our sins but also, with his grace, penetrates deeply into the darkest areas of the soul where our sins have their roots.”

3. An intense life of charity

Another important spiritual weapon in the fight against the devil is “to live, as St. Paul says, as far as it depends on us, at peace with all. An intense life of charity where we think not only of our own needs but also of those of others, praying and working for their good, seeking and giving forgiveness.”

“Live everything, every moment of our life, as a gift, aware that everything works for the good of those who love God, even the most difficult moments,” the exorcist exhorted.

4. Devotion to the Virgin Mary and the rosary

Meriggi also emphasized that it is essential “to nurture a faithful and loving devotion to the Virgin Mary. Let us make the prayer of the Church our own: in addition to holy Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, also the holy rosary. And then there is devotion to the saints and the blessed souls in purgatory.”

5. Use of sacramentals

“In addition to the sacramental life, the use of sacramentals is of great benefit. They are like medicines that, together with the sacraments, help us bring God’s grace into every area of ​​our lives,” the Italian priest noted.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sacramentals “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church.” 

Sacramentals can include crucifixes, holy water, medals, and blessed salt, among others.

Finally, Meriggi emphasized that “the entire life of the Church is medicinal; it is a path of liberation, healing, and consolation, leading to resurrection in Christ, to living our days in love and peace, to ward off or expel from our lives the enemy and his influence.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

(Left to right) Sister Vivien Linkhauer, Sister Gemma Del Duca, and students from Seton Hill University attend the planting of the Anne Frank tree in May 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Seton Hill University

CNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When Anne Frank was hiding in a secret annex for more than two years in Amsterdam during World War II, she would peer out a small window in the attic at a horse chestnut tree in the yard.

Long after the young teenager’s death in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp in 1945, a Catholic Holocaust education center in Philadelphia has planted a tree grown from a sapling of that very tree in her honor.

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University — founded by two Catholic sisters in 1987 — held a ceremony to plant the small tree at the beginning of May.

James Paharik, director of the education center and a Seton Hill professor of sociology and behavioral health, told CNA that “it means a lot for us to have this tree.” 

“It’s a living testimony to the memory of Anne Frank and what she experienced,” Paharik said.  

Donated by the Anne Frank Center USA, the 6-foot-tall tree sits at a “prominent place on campus.” 

“In her diary, she writes several times about the tree and how much it meant to her to see it,” Paharik said. “It bloomed in the springtime, and it was a sign of hope.”

Journey of the heart

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education — one of the first of its kind in the nation — is “very unique,” Paharik said. Sister Gemma Del Duca and Sister Mary Noel Kernan, both Sisters of Charity, founded the center in the late 1980s to counter antisemitism, provide education on the Holocaust, and honor Holocaust victims.

Sister Gemma, now 93 years old and unwell, managed to attend the ceremony of the planting earlier in May in spite of her illness, where she was able to see her life’s work culminate in the planting of a tree that will remain for years to come.   

When asked what inspired her to found it, Paharik simply said: “Sometimes, sisters get an inspiration and they follow it.”

The center has its roots in the interreligious work that Sister Gemma did. Early on, she began to work with Father Isaac Jacob, a monk from St. Vincent College, a historic Benedictine college down the road from Seton Hill, who was similarly interested in interreligious dialogue.

Sister Gemma and Jacob traveled to Israel in the 1970s where they established Tel Gamaliel, a Christian community in Israel “that promoted understanding between Jews and Catholics,” according to Paharik. There, they translated the rule of St. Benedict into Hebrew and worked with the local community until Sister Gemma’s eventual return to the U.S. 

Sister Gemma’s passion to found the center was a surprise to some in her order.

“I don’t think Sister Gemma had a great deal of support at the beginning from her community, and people weren’t quite sure why this was so important to her,” Paharik reflected. 

But Sister Gemma thought it was “a moral necessity” for Catholics not only to not demean or stereotype “but, in fact, to learn more about Judaism,” Paharik said.  

This was a task she took “quite seriously,” Paharik noted. 

She learned to speak Hebrew while in Israel, even attending services at synagogue, while “at the same time, being totally immersed in Catholicism and being a Sister of Charity.” 

“I think that for her, it’s a journey of the heart,” Paharik said.

The sisters also took inspiration from the Vatican II document on religious dialogue, Nostra Aetate, which was promulgated about two decades before the founding of the center.  

Paharik called Nostra Aetate a “landmark” Catholic document that “encouraged a deeper understanding between Catholics and those of other faiths.”

This coming fall marks the 60th anniversary of the document.

Paharik recalled Sister Gemma’s reflections on deepening her own knowledge of Judaism.

“She said, ‘It’s a journey of the heart. It’s a journey of faith,’” Paharik recalled.

“It’s a mission, really, to unite Catholics and Jews in a positive way instead of continuing the animosity that has marked our relationship for so many centuries,” he continued.

What it means for Seton Hill and beyond 

The center, now more than 35 years old, has grown in its influence on the local community and beyond over the years. The center was a founding organization of the Council of Christian-Jewish Relations (CCJR), an association dedicated to interreligious dialogue between Christians and Jews in the U.S., Canada, and overseas.

The center hosts conferences, bringing speakers from around the country, and also does ecumenical outreach, bringing together Catholics and Protestants to pray, learn, and remember.

“We pray together for the victims of the Holocaust but also of other acts of violence and mass murder that have happened and are still happening around the world today,” Paharik said.

“It’s a way for us to affirm our common belief in the sanctity of human life and to pray for peace,” Paharik said. 

The center also supports Holocaust education in classes at Seton Hill and at local schools, especially grades six through 12. Students will now be able to visit the tree on campus after reading “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

“It will make it all the more meaningful and vivid to them to see what this tree actually looked like, that was so important to Anne, and that she wrote about so beautifully in her diary,” Paharik said. 

Responding to continuing antisemitism 

The center also responded to a local act of antisemitic violence known as one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in the United States. The Tree of Life shootings in Pittsburgh in 2018 — in which an assailant opened fire in a crowded synagogue, killing 11 people — was only about 30 miles from Greensboro, where the center is based.

“All of us knew people who were in one way affected by that terrible event,” Paharik recalled.

Under Paharik’s leadership, the center began to interview victims of the Holocaust, recording the stories of eight survivors who live in the area. 

“Those documentaries are resources for the schools that we work with, so they can tell the stories of these local people who actually lived through the Holocaust,” he said. 

Being with the survivors is “profound,” Paharik reflected, and “seeing the impact of these documentaries on young people is also very moving.”

One of the Holocaust survivors they interviewed — a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue — had been in the parking lot when the Tree of Life shooting began and only “just managed to escape it,” Paharik said.  

“We don’t ever want anything like that to happen again,” he said. 

“Scripture teaches us about the importance of respecting all human life, from birth until natural death,” Paharik continued. “To stereotype, to discriminate, to show hate towards people just because who they are or where they grew up or the faith that they have is actually sinful. It’s a violation of our Christian teaching.”

“Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope,” written by Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director at EWTN News. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 17:14 pm (CNA).

EWTN officially launched the first authoritative biography of Pope Leo XIV, which is available for purchase now, during an event at the Vatican on May 22.

“Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope,” written by Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director at EWTN News, tells the story of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was elected the new Holy Father on May 8.

Bunson, a Church expert and longtime Vatican journalist who has written over 50 books, said at the book launch at the Campo Santo Teutonico in Rome that Leo’s diverse experience as a pastor, prior general, missionary and bishop in Peru, and as a cardinal have given him a profound understanding of the global Church.

Pope Leo XIV, in his first weeks as pope, has also proven to be a unifying figure who has brought with him an “uncompromising emphasis on the divine person of Jesus Christ,” Bunson continued. 

“He is a universal person. He is someone in the world, but not of the world. He is somebody who, by his call to the priesthood and to the life of the Augustinians, embarked on an absolutely stunning journey,” Bunson said May 22. 

“And what is so remarkable about it is that as time progressed leading up to the conclave, more and more cardinals came to appreciate exactly who he is and why he was, at this moment in time, the person that they felt they could trust with the keys of Peter.”

The biography paints a picture of Pope Leo XIV as a Christ-centered, Augustinian-influenced, and competent leader who is expected to prioritize unity, clarity, and the application of Catholic social teaching, particularly concerning the dignity of the human person in an era of rapid technological change.

Bunson has previously said that he hopes the book will help inform readers about the importance of Pope Leo’s membership in the venerable Order of St. Augustine, and the fact that he is both a mathematician and canon lawyer will help him address the Vatican’s financial woes.

Additionally, Bunson’s book touches on some of the moral and theological issues currently being debated in the Church and public arena, and also discusses the significance of the choice of the name “Leo” and what that says about the pope’s vision for his pontificate.

Michael Warsaw, EWTN’s CEO and chairman of the board, told CNA that he is “excited that EWTN Publishing is releasing this biography of Pope Leo XIV so soon after his election.”

“As the leading Catholic media platform, our aim is to share the Holy Father’s story with the world, starting with his early life, to help people connect with the man now serving as the vicar of Christ,” Warsaw said.

“EWTN is uniquely positioned to publish this biography of the first pope born in the United States and the second pope from the Americas. Like Pope Leo, the EWTN family is global, but our roots are American.”

The book about Leo’s life is available to order on EWTN Religious Catalogue.

Alasdair MacIntyre in March 2009. / Credit: Sean O’Connor/Flickr via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Alasdair MacIntyre, a towering figure in moral philosophy and a Catholic convert credited with reviving the discipline of virtue ethics, died on May 21 at age 96. His seminal 1981 work “After Virtue” reshaped contemporary moral and political philosophy, emphasizing virtue over utilitarian or deontological frameworks. 

Known by many as “the most important” modern Catholic philosopher, MacIntyre’s intellectual and spiritual journey spanned atheism, Marxism, Anglicanism, and ultimately Roman Catholicism. 

MacIntyre’s striking intellect, razor-sharp wit, and exacting teaching profoundly influenced generations of students and academics.

“A great light has gone out,” wrote Patrick Deneen, a political philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame, in response to the news of MacIntyre’s death.

“I have never met, nor do I ever expect to meet, a philosopher as fascinating as the author of ‘After Virtue,’” said Christopher Kaczor, one of MacIntyre’s former students and a visiting fellow at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, where MacIntyre was a permanent senior distinguished research fellow until his death. 

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1929 to Eneas and Greta (Chalmers) MacIntyre, he earned master of arts degrees from the University of Manchester and Oxford. His academic career began in 1951 at Manchester, followed by posts at Leeds, Essex, and Oxford. 

In 1969, he moved to the United States, becoming an “intellectual nomad” with appointments as professor of history of ideas at Brandeis University, dean at Boston University, Henry Luce professor at Wellesley, W. Alton Jones professor at Vanderbilt, and McMahon-Hank professor at Notre Dame.

Though he never earned a doctorate, he received 10 honorary doctorates and appointments during his life, quipping at one point: “I won’t go so far as to say that you have a deformed mind if you have a Ph.D., but you will have to work extra hard to remain educated.”

MacIntyre’s wit shone in his claim to have “broken up the Beatles” by lending his upstairs neighbor, Yoko Ono, a ladder in 1966, leading to her meeting John Lennon.

He also taught at Duke, Yale, and Princeton, and is the former president of the American Philosophical Association. His many accolades include the 2010 Aquinas Medal and memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1985), British Academy (1994), Royal Irish Academy (1999), and American Philosophical Society (2005).

MacIntyre’s “After Virtue,” deemed a 20th-century philosophical classic, critiqued modern moral fragmentation, advocating a return to Aristotelian ethics. His other works, including “Marxism and Christianity,” “Whose Justice? Which Rationality?,” and “Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry,” explored moral traditions and rationality. 

His spiritual journey was as dynamic as his intellectual one. Initially considering becoming a Presbyterian minister in the 1940s, he became Anglican in the 1950s, then an atheist in the 1960s, famously calling himself a “Roman Catholic atheist” because the Catholic God was “worth denying.” 

In 1983, at age 55, he embraced Roman Catholicism and Thomism, inspired by his favorite 20th-century theologian, Joseph Ratzinger (the late Pope Benedict XVI), and finally convinced by the Thomist arguments he first encountered as an undergraduate, “not in the form of moral philosophy, but in that of a critique of English culture developed by members of the Dominican order.”

“Widely regarded as the most important philosopher in modern virtue ethics,” Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture (dCEC), said in a statement to CNA, “Alasdair MacIntyre demonstrated scholarly rigor and an alpine clarity of thought. He was also a generous friend of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture as our permanent senior distinguished research fellow in residence; what an honor it was that he chose the dCEC to be the locus of his scholarly work after retiring from the philosophy department at Notre Dame. We are all bereft at his passing. His tremendous legacy, however, will continue to reverberate in the life of the center.”

Robert P. George, Princeton’s University’s McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, remembered MacIntyre’s “pugnacious wit” and recalled that “a striking thing about Professor MacIntyre was that he was impossible to classify ideologically. Was he a progressive? Not really. Was he a conservative? No. A centrist? Not that either. He was ‘sui generis.’ Requiescat in pace.”

He is survived by his daughters Jean and Toni from his first marriage and his wife, Lynn Joy.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 23, 2025 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

A federal court in New York has ordered the state to halt its enforcement of a law against a Christian photographer and blogger that would force her to express ideas on human sexuality that conflict with her religious faith.

U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci wrote in his Thursday decision that a New York law guaranteeing “equal access to publicly available goods and services” in the marketplace regardless of a person’s sexuality cannot be used to force a business to provide services that convey ideas about human sexuality with which the provider disagrees.

Emilee Carpenter, who operates Emilee Carpenter Photography, sued the state over the law, arguing that it would force her to produce photographs and blogs for same-sex civil weddings and polyamorous engagements despite her religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Violations of the law could land Carpenter up to one year in jail, with fines of up to $100,000, and a revocation of her business license. 

The judge wrote in his decision that Carpenter provides “a customized, tailored photography service that is guided by her own artistic and moral judgment.” He added that her services “are expressive activity protected by the First Amendment.”

Geraci stated in his ruling that Carpenter “believes that opposite-sex marriage is a gift from God, and she uses her wedding photography business to celebrate such marriages.” He emphasized that the law seeks to compel “an expressive activity” and that “such expressive activity is ‘her own.’”

His ruling is narrow and only prevents the state from enforcing the law against Carpenter for now while the litigation against the law continues.

The May 22 ruling is a reversal of Geraci’s own previous ruling from Dec. 31, 2021, on the same question. He explained in the new ruling that he is reversing his own decision based on the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which addressed identical concerns about a Colorado law.

In that 2023 ruling, the Supreme Court decided 6-3 that Colorado could not force a web designer to create websites that promote same-sex marriage, which was in conflict with her religious beliefs.

Geraci wrote that, contrary to his previous ruling, the Supreme Court “held that the free speech clause of the First Amendment bars states from applying their public accommodations laws to ‘expressive activity to compel speech.’”

Bryan Neihart, who works as senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), praised the decision. ADF and Raymond Dague of Dague Law represent Carpenter in her lawsuit. ADF also represented 303 Creative in the precedent-setting Supreme Court case.

“Free speech is for everyone, and more courts are ruling consistent with that message,” Neihart said in a statement. “As the Supreme Court reaffirmed in 303 Creative, the government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe.”

“The U.S. Constitution protects Emilee’s freedom to express her own views as she continues to serve clients of all backgrounds and beliefs,” he added. “The district court rightly upheld this freedom and followed Supreme Court precedent. Emilee can now enjoy the freedom to create and express herself, a freedom that protects all Americans regardless of their views.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office is representing the state in court. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.

Irish high cross at the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary, Ireland. / Credit: Marie-Lise Van Wassenhove via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 15:03 pm (CNA).

The Dublin-based Iona Institute for Religion and Society has released a comprehensive report that highlights significant shifts in religious attitudes and practices in Ireland.

Updating findings from a similar 2011 survey, Amárach Research conducted the latest study and commissioned it in two stages — a survey of 1,000 adults in February followed by a second survey in March.

A striking finding challenges the narrative of declining religiosity among younger adults.

Among 18- to 24-year-olds (Generation Z), 17% identify as religious, compared with just 5% of 25- to 34-year-olds (millennials). Additionally, 54% of Gen Z describe themselves as religious and/or spiritual, compared with 46% of millennials. This group is also more engaged with spiritual content: 18- to 24-year-olds are more likely to read religious or spiritual books, watch related content, and follow spiritual influencers on social media, including platforms like “FaithTok,” than their slightly older counterparts.

David Quinn, CEO of the Iona Institute, told CNA he thinks “young people are seeing that secularism is coming up short. It has no answers to life’s great questions and nothing to say about meaning and purpose. People will always crave these things. Religion provides them.”

Quinn said the survey’s findings are consistent with a recently published report titled “The Quiet Revival.” Commissioned by the U.K.-based Bible Society, the report finds that religiosity is up among 18- to 24-year-olds in Britain as well, with particular growth in the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal churches.

The Iona survey finds that regular Mass-goers, who make up 16% of respondents, have the most favorable view of the Church, while the 22% who do not identify as Catholic — roughly aligning with Census 2022 data — express the most negative sentiments. “Cultural Catholics,” the 62% of respondents who say they identify as Catholic but rarely attend Mass, fall in between. 

The survey highlights divided public sentiment toward religious figures, with attitudes toward priests and nuns split evenly: 33% view them positively, 33% negatively, and the rest remain neutral. 

Respondents overestimate the number of child sexual abusers among the clergy by nearly 4 to 1, on average, though this number is lower than it was in the 2011 survey. 

While 50% of respondents say they hold a positive view of Christianity and only 20% hold a negative view, the Catholic Church as an institution fares less favorably. Only 27% have a favorable view of the Church, while 40% view it unfavorably, likely influenced by the legacy of clerical abuse scandals. However, 45% agree that Catholic teachings remain beneficial to society, with 32% disagreeing, suggesting that the Church’s moral and theological teachings resonate more deeply than the institution itself.

Notably, 25% of respondents say they would be happy if the Catholic Church vanished from Irish society, though 51% disagree.

“In a way it is not surprising that public attitudes towards the Catholic Church are so divided and that there is considerable negativity, especially in view of all the scandals which are still fresh in the public mind,” Breda O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Iona Institute, said in a press release.

However, she continued: “It’s good to see that many people are less negative about the teachings of the Catholic Church than they are towards the institution.”

Quinn told CNA that he sees this as an opportunity.

“The Church needs to talk less about itself and much more about its teachings and do its best to put those teachings into practice. This is what will attract people,” he said.