St. Andrew Catholic Church

Sean Graber, president of EWTN Digital (left), and Peter Gagnon, president of EWTN Studios. / Credit: EWTN

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 16:47 pm (CNA).

Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) Chairman and CEO Michael P. Warsaw has announced a new organizational structure to further EWTN’s mission in the digital landscape by enhancing its content creation and distribution methods under the leadership of two new presidents.

EWTN will now align its operations around two new divisions: EWTN Studios and EWTN Digital. Led by Peter Gagnon, EWTN Studios will focus on content development, while Sean Graber will lead EWTN Digital, which will prioritize the network’s media distribution and broadening its audience. (Note: EWTN is the parent company of CNA.)

“Under the leadership of our foundress, Mother Angelica, EWTN learned to constantly adopt new technology to reach souls,” Warsaw said. “Just as our major network peers in secular media have done, this change in structure will allow EWTN to expand our content offerings and reach new audiences in the places where people now consume media, while remaining always anchored in the teachings of the Church.”

President of EWTN Studios: Peter Gagnon

Gagnon, named president of EWTN Studios after 32 years with the network, has pioneered initiatives in content production, global expansion, and multilingual offerings and has experience leading coverage of papal conclaves, jubilees, and other world events.

Gagnon holds a tremendous understanding of EWTN and its legacy as he is one of the few remaining team members who worked alongside the network’s founder, Mother Angelica.

“EWTN began offering the Mass, the most essential expression of what EWTN exists to bring to the world,” Gagnon said. “And I am excited to embark on this pivotal moment in EWTN’s history as we take the next steps in continuing Mother Angelica’s mission to proclaim the truths of the faith to both our existing audience as well as a whole new generation of Catholics.”

EWTN Studios will continue the organization’s legacy of creating impactful content in the Catholic sphere, producing compelling content in a manner that reflects the changing nature of media and evolving technologies.

President of EWTN Digital: Sean Graber

Graber will serve as the president of EWTN Digital. He holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and has a strong background in business strategy, digital transformation, and product management.

“Mother Angelica was the original innovator, and it’s humbling and exciting to continue her legacy by bringing EWTN’s message to the next generation of Catholics — a message that has profoundly shaped my own faith life,” Graber said.

“I’m thrilled by how this reorganization positions EWTN to reimagine Catholic media at such an inspiring moment for the Church, as many rediscover their faith and we celebrate the historic election of an American pope.”

EWTN Digital will also focus on building platforms to distribute EWTN Studios content and other media in line with the network’s mission, to serve the legacy EWTN audience and new generations of consumers. It will also launch and manage a globally scaled streaming platform that will house the collection of the world’s most beloved Catholic stories and personalities.

Future of EWTN

“In these new roles, Peter and Sean bring diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and legacies to the EWTN family,” Warsaw said. “They are the ideal choice to guide these important new initiatives at EWTN.”

In its 45th year, EWTN continues its mission of service as the largest Catholic media organization in the world. As the network opens new doors and expands its audience, Warsaw said he is “incredibly excited about this next era of EWTN’s history.”

“We will build new platforms that are best in class where our audiences can engage with our content as part of their daily faith journey,” Warsaw said. “EWTN will continue to be present wherever souls thirsting for truth are found.”

EWTN’s 11 global TV channels broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in multiple languages, reaching over 435 million households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; and EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency; the National Catholic Register newspaper and digital platform; ACI Prensa in Spanish; ACI Digital in Portuguese; ACI Stampa in Italian; ACI Africa in English, French, and Portuguese; ACI MENA in Arabic; CNA Deutsch in German; and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including “EWTN News Nightly,” “EWTN Noticias,” “EWTN News In Depth,” “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” and “Vaticano.”

The grounds at the Sanctuary of La Sainte-Baume. / Credit: Sanctuary of La Sainte-Baume

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 16:17 pm (CNA).

Tucked away in a rocky mountain in southeast France is a cave formed by natural erosion called La Sainte-Baume. It is one of the oldest Christian pilgrimage sites in the world as it is the place where Mary Magdalene is believed to have spent the last 30 years of her life.

Esteemed by St. Thomas Aquinas as the “Apostle to the Apostles,” St. Mary Magdalene is regarded by the Dominicans as a secondary patroness of their order, which was founded in Toulouse, France. Appropriately, the cave remains under the care of the friars in the Toulouse province. 

The Dominicans are charged with the task of welcoming and evangelizing pilgrims who make their way to La Sainte-Baume. (The word “baume” comes from the Provençal word “baumo,” meaning “cave.”) The friars, alongside staff and volunteers, run the hostelry located next to the convent at the foot of the mountain directly below the cave. 

“One striking thing about Mary Magdalene is how many different people are drawn to her,” Frére Vincent-Thomas Rist, a Dominican friar of the Toulouse province, told CNA in an email. “At La Sainte Baume, we get a bit of everything: mainstream orthodox Catholics, hikers on holiday, converts from Islam, sisters on pilgrimage, tall blonde women convinced of being reincarnations of Mary Magdalene, traditionists, liberals, and even Jesuits.”

“We sometimes see a couple of Americans,” he added. “We would be delighted to see a few more!”

The friars also run a variety of retreats, including their “Session des bien-aimés” for families with disabled children, especially those with trisomy, and with the association “Mer de miséricorde” for women who have lost a child in the womb, especially due to abortion. They have also run a program called “Ecole de vie,” where young people in their 20s can spend a few months serving, praying with the friars, and taking courses taught by the friars.

Every two years, the Toulouse friars typically meet together at La Sainte Baume for a few days at the end of June immediately following priestly ordinations.

Novices and student brothers will typically spend a week there every summer, acting as chaplains for student or scout groups. A few friars also tend to spend a week in the small house built into the cliff next to the cave in order to be available for confessions, he noted. 

“Mary Magdalene reached the highest heights of holiness after having started off in the lowest realms of serious and degrading sin — whatever those sins were,” said Rist, explaining the significance of the saint to his order.

“In that respect, she is a model of perfect conversion and a sign of hope for all sinners,” he added. “The faith of the Church rests on her eyewitness testimony, and she is a model for preachers.” 

Another friar, Frére Bruno-Thomas Mercier des Rochettes, OP, of Toulouse also told CNA in an email that Mary Magdelene is “an example for the spiritual life (from conversion to evangelization), for those to whom we preach (and for us as well).” 

“We find in Mary Magdalene an example for our preachers,” he said.

Who is Mary Magdalene? 

St. Mary Magdalene is one of the most prominent women mentioned in the New Testament. Her name comes from the town of Magdala in Galilee, where she was born. 

“The Latin exegetical tradition has often identified Magdalene with the penitent woman in Luke 7 and with the sister of Martha, that is, Mary of Bethany in Luke 10 and John 11,” Mercier des Rochettes said. “If it is one and the same person, we have a lot to say about her! She is always at the feet of Jesus, choosing the best and hearing his word, pouring out precious perfumes for him, faithfully staying at the cross, etc.”

In 2016, the Catholic Church upgraded the July 22 liturgical celebration of St. Mary Magdalene from a memorial to a feast.

A historic view of the Provincial tradition: Mary Magdalene’s journey  

The story of Mary Magdalene’s presence in France, according to Rist, “stems from an oral tradition which eventually got put down in writing in the 13th century.” 

The tradition, which was written down in the 1260s by Dominican Blessed Jacobus Voragine, he explained, holds that Mary Magdalene was forced to flee from persecution on a boat with several others, including Martha. She eventually landed in the South of France, where she evangelized Marseilles before retreating to the cave, where she lived for many years in prayer and penance. 

“This, incidentally, is also a point of contact with the Dominican order,” Rist pointed out. “We once used to be known as the Order of Penance.” 

According to the website for La Sainte-Baume, Mary Magdalene arrived in what is now known as Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a commune in the Camargue region of southern France, around A.D. 47.

“Before dying she went to Saint-Maximin, received holy Communion from the hands of the bishop, and then died,” Rist said. “Her body was kept and pilgrims started coming. When Muslims tried to invade the South of France in the eighth century, her body was hidden in a place which gradually faded out of memory.” 

“In the 13th century, a pilgrimage in her honor still existed, but with no relics. The count of Provence started looking for them and found them in what is now the crypt of the Basilica of Saint-Maximin,” he continued. The Dominicans were then installed as caretakers of the site in 1295 by the count of Provence with the support of Pope Boniface VII, in part because “Dominicans had special authorization to absolve particularly grave sins.” 

“Penitents having committed those sins could conveniently be sent on pilgrimage to venerate the relics of Mary Magdalene and would receive absolution by a Dominican,” Frére Vincent-Thomas said.

“As far as I know,” he told CNA, “dating reveals that the relics belong to a Mediterranean woman from the first century who died around the age of 90. What is certain is that the relics we have now are the ones found in 1297 by the count of Provence.”

A history of Dominican presence

In modern history, the order was forced to leave during the French Revolution in the 18th century, during which the cave was looted and the Dominicans’ sanctuary destroyed. They later returned in 1859 at the behest of the Dominican priest, journalist, and political activist Frére Henri Lacordaire, who had the sanctuary rebuilt.

The Dominican communities at Saint-Maximin and La Sainte-Baume were part of the French Christian resistance to the Nazi occupation. And, according to public records, one Dominican friar, Frére Gabril Piprot d’Alleaume, even founded a school at La Sainte-Baume for Jewish and Christian orphan children who had been hidden from deportation efforts during the occupation. 

While Rist acknowledged that it is “difficult to say” how much of the tradition of Mary Magdalene’s presence in France is authentic, rather than “medieval imagination,” he reflected, “that there is a kernel of truth is not impossible.”

The Dominican further explained that both Saint Maximin and La Sainte-Baume were “important places for early Christians” and that “Mary Magdalene’s possible presence in the area is the best/only explanation we have.” 

Some of Mary Magdalene’s relics are kept in the cave at La Sainte-Baume, while her skull remains in the basilica of Saint-Maximin, which is 30 minutes away by car, according to Frére Vincent-Thomas. A community of Dominican sisters live at Saint-Maximin, which he noted is “the one which in France has recently had the most vocations.” 

“It is quiet,” Rist said of the cave, noting he was struck in his first visit by “the beauty of the place” in particular. “The mountain is great, and from the top, (at a chapel called Saint-Pilon) you have one of the best viewpoints on the entire Provence,” he said. According to Rist, the climb is not long, about 45 minutes, “but it is enough to feel the effort.”

“Prepare to take your intentions to Magdalene in her cave, with a few rosaries along the way,” he added. 

“There is always at least one friar at the cave,” explained Mercier des Rochettes, noting that there is a small house “clinging to the cliff” next to it. The cave, which also serves as a chapel, is nestled into the rocky mountainside.

At the foot of La Sainte-Baume, the order has its convent and a hostellry it runs for pilgrims who come to visit the cave.

Every year, on the Sunday closest to July 22, a procession with Mary Magdalene’s skull — contained in a gold reliquary — takes place throughout the streets of Sainte-Maximine.

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 15:46 pm (CNA).

Massachusetts federal judge Indira Talwani on Tuesday issued a ruling blocking the provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that stopped taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and other abortion centers.

In the July 21 ruling, Talwani unilaterally decided that the law does not apply to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood and granted the organization’s request for a temporary injunction while the lawsuit progresses.

Planned Parenthood sued the administration in the Planned Parenthood v. Kennedy lawsuit challenging the provision in the recent reconciliation bill that sought to prohibit abortion centers from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for one year. The case stated the “Defund Provision” violates the First Amendment, the equal protection clause, and the bill of attainder clause of the Constitution. 

Another affected abortion center, Maine Family Planning, also filed a similar lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to restore Medicaid funding.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the political group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the decision “a desperate attempt to run out the clock and a shameful abuse of our tax dollars.”

In a statement, SBA Pro-Life America slammed the ruling, reporting that “every day the order remains in effect, Planned Parenthood continues to rake in millions from American taxpayers.”

“Every day her decision remains in effect, millions are funneled into a business that profits from ending unborn lives and putting women at risk,” Dannenfelser said. “Planned Parenthood’s desperate ploy for our tax dollars only underscores why the One Big Beautiful Bill is such a historic win. It halted, for the first time, over half a billion taxpayer dollars from propping up the corrupt abortion industry.”

“Life is winning. And Big Abortions’ death grip is slipping. With community health centers outnumbering Planned Parenthood facilities 15 to 1, women have better and more comprehensive alternatives. We look forward to the Trump administration swiftly ending this lawfare and restoring the historic victory secured through the One Big Beautiful Bill,” Dannenfelser concluded. 

Other pro-life organizations have also spoken out following the decision. Students for Life of America reported in a post to social media platform X that the decision by the “unelected judge … forced Americans to hand $800 million to Planned Parenthood — the nation’s largest abortion vendor.”

“The courts are protecting death and the abortion industry, not the 402,000 innocent babies that Planned Parenthood kills each year,” the post concluded.

Lila Rose, founder of global pro-life organization Live Action, called Talwani “a rogue district judge” who is “trying to force Americans to keep bankrolling killing children.”

Rose called the ruling “blatant judicial abuse” and urged the Trump administration to “appeal immediately.”

null / Credit: Dzelat/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

The Richmond office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spied on a priest because he refused to discuss private conversations he had with a parishioner who was converting to Catholicism, according to a July 22 report from the House Judiciary Committee.

According to the report, the Richmond FBI investigated the priest’s background, monitored his travel plans, and looked into his credit card information. This investigation was allegedly launched after the priest became uncomfortable with an FBI agent’s questions about a parishioner and said he would need to speak to the church’s leadership and an attorney before answering questions.

“There appeared to be no legitimate law-enforcement purpose for investigating this priest,” the report determined. “This new information suggests that the FBI’s religious liberty abuses were more widespread than the FBI initially admitted and led the public to believe.”

The report, provided to CNA by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s office, offers more details about the extent to which the FBI investigated so-called “radical traditionalist” Catholics. 

The FBI’s investigation into supposed “radical traditionalist” Catholic ties to “the far-right white national movement” was first revealed to the public through a leaked Richmond FBI memo in February 2023.

Although the FBI under former President Joe Biden quickly disavowed the document when it came to light and asserted it was a single product of a single field agency, information unveiled by the Judiciary Committee shows the investigatory efforts into Catholics was more widespread and that the national FBI headquarters was involved.

In the report, the committee states that the Richmond FBI was working with the national FBI headquarters to develop an agency-wide document on “radical traditionalist” Catholics, which was ultimately shelved. The headquarters and other field offices also coordinated with the Richmond FBI investigation of the previously mentioned priest.

The 2023 memo cited the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for the definition of “radical traditionalist” Catholicism, but the new committee report says the field office relied on “several radical anti-religious materials” from organizations that “spewed radical, left-leaning ideology” to inform the agency apart from just the SPLC.

CNA reached out to the FBI for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Spying on a Catholic priest

Emails uncovered by the committee show that the Richmond FBI allegedly coordinated with the national FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, the Louisville FBI field office, and the international London FBI field office in its investigation of the Richmond-area priest who belongs to the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).

SSPX is a traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity that holds an irregular canonical status with the Catholic Church. Its bishops were excommunicated in 1988, though that order was lifted in 2009. The Vatican has worked with SSPX with the intent of eventually reestablishing full communion.

The committee report showed that a Richmond FBI employee interviewed the priest about a parishioner who had recently been arrested.

When the FBI employee asked the priest whether the parishioner had spoken about “desires and plans to commit violence,” the priest “became very uncomfortable and started incoherently stuttering,” according to an email that the employee sent to the counterterrorism unit.

The email stated that the priest “requested to speak with the church’s leadership and attorneys” before continuing. It said the priest then “refused to speak with us any further but has continued to speak with [the parishioner] while in prison, and even attempted to visit him.”

The FBI employee incorrectly asserted in the email that the priest’s communications with the parishioner were “not considered privileged” because he “has not completed his catechism or been baptized in the Church.” Virginia law protects priest-penitent privilege for any confidential communication with a member of clergy related to “spiritual counsel and advice.” 

“The priest-penitent privilege rightly protects communications between a clergy member and an individual seeking spiritual guidance,” the report notes. “It is not dependent on the individual achieving certain milestones in his or her spiritual life.”

In response to the priest’s refusal to disclose confidential information, the Richmond FBI opened a “formal investigative assessment” of the priest. This included an examination of the priest’s ordination history and coordination with the FBI’s London office to monitor the priest’s trip to the United Kingdom. 

In emailed communications, FBI employees discussed the priest’s location, travel plans, and credit card information. The Richmond FBI employee also sought information from other agents about the SSPX more broadly, including the priestly fraternity’s recruitment efforts.

“This new information demonstrates that the FBI not only used its federal law enforcement resources to surveil certain Catholic Americans, but it also used these resources to investigate a clergy member,” the report states.

Richmond FBI briefings on ‘radical traditional Catholics’

The new committee report also details Richmond FBI briefings on traditionalist Catholics and the questionable sources from which they drew their concerns. 

An official Richmond FBI presentation document titled “Traditionalist Catholicism Overview” discussed the “core ideology and beliefs” of traditionalist Catholics and what they view as being “radical-traditionalist Catholicism,” which they abbreviate as RTC. 

Some “core concepts” of traditionalist Catholicism, according to the Richmond FBI presentation, include the Traditional Latin Mass, “conservative family values/roles,” a “rejection of modernity,” and a “tendency toward isolationism.”

The Richmond FBI categorized “radical-traditionalist Catholicism” beliefs to include “belief that mainline Catholicism is illegitimate” and “hardline positions on abortion, LGBTQ matters, and interreligious dialogue.”

It also allegedly includes “apocalyptic overtones,” “rigid fundamentalism [and] integralism,” and an “undertone of antisemitism.”

Some of the sources that FBI analysts cited regarding their concerns include an article in the Atlantic titled “How Extremist Gun Culture Is Trying to Co-opt the Rosary” and another article in Sojourners Magazine titled “The Catholic Church Has a Visible White-Power Faction.” 

The report noted that some of the sources disparage Catholics and the pro-life movement. In the Atlantic article, the author states “the convergence within Christian nationalism is cemented in common causes such as hostility toward abortion-rights advocates.” 

“The FBI analysts who developed the Richmond memorandum relied on literature with an inherent prejudice against people of faith and those with widely-held, deeply personal views of the sanctity of life,” the report notes.

Richmond FBI employees also worked with the FBI national headquarters to develop a “Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report” for external use. It notes that the Richmond FBI interacted with the national office about the possibility as early as December 2022, just a month after the Richmond office began to produce the now-retracted memo. Ultimately, this effort was abandoned after the Richmond memo became public. 

The report stated that current FBI Director Kash Patel, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, provided the committee with the documents. It accused the Biden administration and former FBI Director Christopher Wray of withholding information from the public and misleading Congress about the extent of the investigation into Catholics. 

“Under the Biden-Harris administration, the FBI disrespected and potentially violated the constitutionally protected religious liberties of faithful Americans,” the report states. 

“Throughout the committee’s oversight in the 118th Congress, the Biden-Harris administration refused to provide relevant information to the committee,” it adds.

Jordan in a statement to CNA said lawmakers “knew the Biden-Wray FBI was targeting Catholics, but new documents obtained by the committee — thanks to the leadership of FBI Director Patel — shows that it was worse than anyone thought.”

“Contrary to Director Wray’s statements, the targeting of Catholics went beyond the Richmond Field Office and extended not to just offices across the country but around the world,” Jordan said.

Father Alphonsus Afina. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Fairbanks

CNA Staff, Jul 22, 2025 / 14:16 pm (CNA).

A Nigerian priest who served for years in the U.S. has been released after being held in captivity by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram for several weeks.

Father Alphonsus Afina was captured by Boko Haram in June while serving in the Diocese of Maiduguri in the Nigerian state of Borno.

The priest had previously worked in the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, for six and a half years. 

The Fairbanks Diocese last month urged the faithful to “pray for [Afina’s] freedom from captivity and for his physical and spiritual strength” while he was in captivity.

In a Facebook post on July 21, the diocese announced that Afina had been freed.

“Praise God! We received word today that [Father] Alphonsus Afina is unharmed and has been safely released!” the diocese wrote. “Thank you to all who have been storming heaven for him.”

The diocese called on the faithful to “continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who continue to be held captive that they, too, will soon taste freedom.”

On July 21 the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need said the priest had spent 51 days in captivity. 

Maiduguri Auxiliary Bishop John Bakeni told the charity that the priest was “a bit frail and tired” but was “in good health” and emotionally stable.

“We are now arranging medical checkups and rest for him,” the bishop said, adding that he would be reunited with his family.

The prelate said the priest’s release “should be regarded as a true miracle,” according to the charity, with the bishop citing “the prayers and the intercession of Our Lady.”

Afina was released alongside 10 women who were being held in captivity at the same time, Aid to the Church in Need said.

Church property sits vandalized at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Sunday, July 19, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Pittsburgh

CNA Staff, Jul 22, 2025 / 12:32 pm (CNA).

Federal agents are investigating a vandalism incident at a church in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, according to Bishop Mark Eckman.

Eckman said in a July 19 statement that St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, had been desecrated with “anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic messages.” 

The vandalism “wounded not only the people of this parish but every member of our diocesan family,” the bishop said. 

“This holy place, meant for prayer, community, and the merciful presence of God has been violated in a deeply painful way,” he added. 

Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are leading the inquiry into the incident, the bishop said. 

On Monday the diocese released photos of the vandalism “with the hope that it will prompt someone in the community to come forward with information that may assist investigators in identifying those responsible.”

Images showed a statue of the Virgin Mother spray-painted with a Star of David as well as a door marked with graffiti and a wall tagged with profanity and a swastika.

The diocese is “heartbroken over this hateful act,” Eckman said on Monday, adding that he was urging the faithful to “[pray] for comfort and peace.”

Bradford Arick, a spokesman for the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, confirmed to CNA on Tuesday that the agency “has been made aware of the reported vandalism and is investigating.”

The Family Research Council said in a report last year that vandalism against churches — especially Catholic places of worship — has increased significantly in the U.S. since 2018.

Arielle Del Turco, the director of the group’s Center for Religious Liberty, said last year that “our culture is demonstrating a growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs, and acts of hostility against churches could be a physical manifestation of that.”

Many of those acts of violence appear to have been in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, which allowed abortion to be regulated by the states for the first time in decades.

Then-U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, last year demanded that then-President Joe Biden protect Catholic churches from the “growing number of attacks” they suffered in the wake of that repeal. 

A Catholic church in Wichita, Kansas, was vandalized in March, including damages to statues and hateful graffiti. President Donald Trump at the time described the incident as “terrible” and vowed that the government would “take a look at it.”

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa (left) and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem on July 22, 2025. / Credit: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 09:38 am (CNA).

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa spoke on Tuesday about the devastation of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, emphasizing that the Church “will never abandon” the city’s long-suffering people.

Describing the extent of the destruction in Gaza at a press conference held at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre, Pizzaballa said he and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem witnessed during their July 18 pastoral visit the inadequate living conditions families have been forced to live in.

“We walked through the dust of ruins, past collapsed buildings and tents everywhere: in courtyards, alleyways, on the streets and on the beach,” he told journalists on Tuesday. “Tents that have become homes for those who have lost everything.”

“The Church, the entire Christian community, will never abandon them,” he said.

While expressing particular solidarity with Christian communities in Gaza, the cardinal emphasized that the Church’s “mission” in Gaza is open to all people.

“Our hospitals, shelters, schools, parishes — St. Porphyrius, the Holy Family, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Caritas — are places of encounter and sharing for all: Christians, Muslims, believers, doubters, refugees, children,” he said.

Reiterating Pope Leo XIV’s July 20 Sunday Angelus appeal to the international community to observe international humanitarian law and protect civilians, the cardinal said delaying humanitarian aid to Gaza is “a matter of life and death.”

“Every hour without food, water, medicine and shelter causes deep harm,” he said.

“We have seen it: men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal,” he continued. “This is a humiliation that is hard to bear when you see it with your own eyes.”

Calling the deprivation of basic necessities “morally unacceptable and unjustifiable,” Pizzaballa said he and Theophilos III support the work of all humanitarian actors — “local and international, Christian and Muslim, religious and secular” — to help the people of Gaza.

Besides highlighting the horrors of war, the cardinal said he also witnessed testimonies of faith and “the dignity of the human spirit” in those he and the Greek Orthodox patriarch encountered during their pastoral visit. 

“We met mothers preparing food for others, nurses treating wounds with gentleness, and people of all faiths still praying to the God who sees and never forgets,” he recalled at the press conference.

“Christ is not absent from Gaza,” he said. “He is there — crucified in the wounded, buried under rubble and yet present in every act of mercy, every candle in the darkness, every hand extended to the suffering.”

Zurich, Switzerland. / Credit: Gianfranco Vivi/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 08:42 am (CNA).

Swiss prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a Zurich councillor and former Green Liberal Party leader after she posted images of herself firing approximately 20 shots at a Christian image depicting the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus.

According to the Swiss news outlet 20 Minuten, the Zurich public prosecutor’s office accuses Sanija Ameti of publicly disparaging religious beliefs and disturbing religious peace under Article 261 of the Swiss Penal Code. 

The code penalizes anyone “who publicly and maliciously insults or mocks the religious convictions of others, and in particular their belief in God, or maliciously desecrates objects of religious veneration.”

The incident occurred in September 2024, when Ameti used an air pistol to shoot at a reproduction of the 14th-century painting “Madonna with Child and the Archangel Michael” by the artist Tommaso del Mazza.

The politician reportedly fired from around 10 meters (about 33 feet), deliberately targeting the heads of Mary and Jesus.

Ameti, who identifies as a Muslim-born atheist, then posted photographs of the desecrated image on Instagram, captioning it with the word “abschalten” — a German term that means “switch off” but that, in the context of firing at the faces of Mary and Jesus, was understood by some as a symbolic act of erasure or elimination.

The images of the desecration, including a close-up of the bullet holes, sparked immediate and widespread outrage.

In total, 31 people filed criminal complaints. Ameti resigned from her leadership position in Zurich’s Green Liberal Party and quit the party entirely in January. She still serves as an independent member of Zurich’s municipal council, however.

At the time, Ameti reacted to the outrage on social media with a short post on X. 

“I ask for forgiveness from those hurt by my post,” she wrote, claiming that she had not initially recognized the religious significance of the imagery and then deleted the images upon realizing it.

According to the indictment, the Zurich public prosecutor’s office considers the act to have been a deliberate “public staging” that constituted a “needlessly disparaging and hurtful disregard” for the beliefs of Christians, with the potential to disturb religious peace.

Prosecutors are seeking a conditional fine of 10,000 Swiss francs (approximately $11,500) and a 2,500-franc penalty (roughly $2,900), as well as legal costs.

The Swiss civic movement Mass-Voll, which filed one of the original complaints, described the incident as “a clear incitement to violence against Christians.”

Its president, Nicolas Rimoldi, noted that in light of rising violence against Christians across Europe, such acts “lower the threshold for further attacks,” Swiss media reported.

The former Green Liberal Party politician has so far not publicly commented on the indictment.

Reaction of Swiss bishops

The Swiss Bishops’ Conference at the time condemned the act as “unacceptable,” stating that it expressed “violence and disrespect toward the human person” and caused “deep hurt among Catholic faithful.”

The bishops emphasized that “even apart from the religious depiction of the Mother of God,” the act revealed “a fundamental lack of respect for human dignity,” the bishops said, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur, Switzerland, said Ameti had written to him personally to express remorse.

In response, he publicly offered his forgiveness and urged Catholics and other believers to do the same.

“How could I not forgive her?” he said, according to CNA Deutsch.

The Mississippi state capitol building. The Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance (MAMA) program connects mothers and families with assistance from state and faith-based organizations like Catholic Charities. / Credit: Paul Brady Photography/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 22, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Mississippi is promoting family, motherhood, and pro-life policies through its Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance (MAMA) program. 

Established under Senate Bill 2781 in 2023, the MAMA program leverages state funds to connect women and families with resources that support motherhood and family stability. Mississippi prohibits state funds from going to abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, following the Dobbs decision. 

Faith-based organizations, however, play a strong role in the network of listed services. Catholic Charities of Southern Mississippi, Catholic Charities of Jackson, and Embrace Grace Ministry at Trinity Wesleyan Church are among the organizations that provide both spiritual and material assistance.

“The most important part about the MAMA program is it is comprised of public, private, and faith-based resources,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch in a recent interview on “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.” Fitch oversees the program and played a prominent role in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.

A key component of the program is its mobile-friendly platform, mama.ms.gov, which centralizes information and referrals for essential services. 

The platform allows users to search for resources in their geographical area and is organized by categories that include health care, housing, parenting, mental health providers, and employment.

“What a God thing to have this available technology,” Fitch told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.”

Since its launch, the site has received “over 56,000 hits” and “served 23,000 women with their particular needs.”

In addition to medical and mental health services, MAMA also connects users with providers of material support like diapers and car seats.

The Bare Needs Diaper Bank Warehouse, for instance, distributes diapers, menstrual supplies, and adult incontinence products to families in mid-south Mississippi. Employment services and job training programs are also featured on the platform.

For parents in crisis, the platform provides information about Mississippi’s Safe Haven law, including a list of Safe Haven Baby Box locations where infants under 45 days old can be safely and anonymously surrendered for adoption.

The platform continues to grow its partner list and resource categories, helping ensure that families across Mississippi can locate and receive critical support at every stage of parenthood.

Sebastião Marques Panzo, director of the National Secretariat for the Apostolate of the Laity of the Bishops’ Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST). / Credit: ACI Africa

ACI Africa, Jul 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The upcoming Third National Congress of Catholic Laity in Angola will be a defining moment for the people of God in the southern African nation, the director of the National Secretariat for the Apostolate of the Laity of the Bishops’ Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) said in a press conference July 16.

Addressing journalists, Sebastião Marques Panzo shed light on the July 24–25 congress, which marks the resumption of a four-year cycle of coordination of the laity that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Panzo said the planned congress seeks to strengthen lay identity, promote social transformation, and renew the mission of Catholic laypeople in society.

“This congress is a decisive milestone in the history of the laity and the Catholic Church in Angola,” he said, adding: “This will be a moment for examining our conscience and planning the future. Without evaluation, there is no authentic progress.”

He noted that the congress’ four-year rhythm allows lay movements to assess their work, reaffirm their mission, and adapt to changing realities in the light of the late Pope Francis’ teachings and the Church’s social doctrine.

Panzo recalled the two previous congresses held in Luanda in 1992 and 2019, each shaped by its own historical context.

“The first congress came shortly after the transition to multiparty democracy and called laypeople to embrace citizenship and social responsibility,” he said. “By 2019, the focus had shifted to laypeople as ‘salt and light in the world,’ with emphasis on active citizenship, solidarity, and public witness of faith.”

He added: “We want to consolidate what we have learned and build a more structured and influential lay Church.”

The choice of Namibe Diocese for the 2025 event reflects the national character of the congress and the fact that laypeople in all regions are essential to the Church’s life and mission, Panzo said.

“This choice affirms that all parts of the Church can embrace this moment of reflection and action.”

The event, guided by the theme “Angola at 50 Years: The Role of Catholic Laity in the Political, Social, Economic, and Business Sectors,” will feature two main activities.

The first is a public conference open to all the baptized. The second is a session restricted to 150 delegates — three from each diocese of CEAST, including São Tomé. The delegates are to be responsible for drafting and approving strategic directions for the next four years.

According Panzo, the public session is designed to form and integrate laypeople, while the closed-door session will focus on decision-making and united forward movement.

“We expect this to be a space of networking, strategic debate, and effective use of lay resources and talents,” he said.

The program also includes prayer, biblical formation, and catechesis.

“This solid balance between faith and action is the great richness of the congress,” Panzo said, adding that it “will be a moment of deep listening, living memory, and celebration — an opportunity to learn from those who have helped shape the Church with fidelity and courage.”

To enhance participation, Panzo said a virtual parish platform is to livestream the entire congress, making it accessible to Catholics unable to travel to Namibe.

“This ensures the congress reaches even those in remote areas,” he said.

Delegates are tasked with engaging local movements, collecting testimonies, and bringing grounded insights to the discussions.

“They are not only called to listen but to carry forward the mission,” Panzo said.

After the event, he said two documents will be prepared for publication: a report with recommendations from the public conference and a strategic orientation document for the next four years, to be available on the official event website.

“Let us build a Church that is more participatory, transparent, and missionary. May each layperson embrace their vocation with courage and wisdom,” Panzo said.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.