St. Andrew Catholic Church

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI headquarters building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 4, 2025 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

A report from the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that the 2023 anti-Catholic Richmond FBI memo involved coordination with field offices around the country and that similar disparaging language about certain Catholics was found in at least 13 separate documents.

In February 2023, the FBI retracted a memo from the Richmond, Virginia, field office that detailed an investigation into so-called “radical traditionalist” Catholics after the internal document was leaked to the public and prompted heavy pushback.

The memo called for the FBI to develop sources within parishes that offer the Latin Mass and online Catholic communities for the purpose of “threat mitigation.” Relying almost entirely on designations from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the memo expressed concerns about a potential link between “radical-traditionalist” Catholics and racially motivated violent extremism.

Although the FBI removed the document from its systems and asserted the issue was isolated to one product from one field office, the new report found that multiple field offices were involved in producing the memo and that it was distributed to more than 1,000 FBI employees throughout the country.

The report reveals that analysts at the Richmond field office had consulted with the offices in Louisville, Kentucky; Portland, Oregon; and Milwaukee to gather information about “radical traditionalist” Catholics in preparation for the Richmond office’s report.

Conversations with the Louisville office reportedly helped Richmond analysts conclude that the beliefs of “radical-traditional Catholicism” are “comparable to Islamist theology.” Less is known about what was discussed with the Portland and Milwaukee field offices, but the report found that Richmond’s analysts had phone conversations with them about the subject.

After the Richmond field office produced the memo, the report found that it was sent to other field offices throughout the country.

The report cites an email exchange from the Richmond office to the office in Buffalo, New York, which notes that two “radical traditionalist” Catholic groups are in Buffalo’s area of responsibility.

Some FBI officials in the Milwaukee and Phoenix field offices were concerned about the memo, according to email exchanges. The report notes, however, it’s unclear whether the concerns were shared with the Richmond field office. 

One official questioned: “Is anyone really asking for a product like this?” and complained that “apparently we are at the behest of the SPLC” and another responded: “Yeah, our overreliance on the SPLC hate designations is … problematic.”

According to the report, the Richmond FBI had produced a draft of a second memo on the same subject, which was intended to be distributed to the entire FBI. This was shelved following the backlash to the initial leaked memo.

The draft contained similar assertions of a link between “radical traditionalist” Catholics and racially motivated violent extremism and called for source development within parishes that celebrate the Latin Mass and within Catholic online communities. The draft, which was being written in 2023, asserted that the threat of violence will likely increase during the election cycle.

Although the second draft expressed similar concerns, one noticeable difference is that it did not reference the SPLC.

The report also revealed an internal FBI email, which acknowledged that the phrase “radical traditionalist Catholic” appeared in 13 separate FBI documents and five attachments throughout the agency.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley is requesting that the new FBI director under President Donald Trump — Kash Patel — provide the committee with those documents and any other documents that “purport to tie religious groups to violent extremism based on SPLC and other biased sources.”

The report also chastises former FBI Director Christopher Wray, accusing him of “misleading testimony on the scope of the memo’s distribution” when he classified the memo as “a single product by a single field office.”

“I and other members had already expressed concern as to whether the memo’s production was isolated to Richmond or part of a larger problem,” Grassley wrote. “Testimony calling it the work of a single field office was misleading at best and appears to be part of a pattern of intentional deception.”

Grassley further notes that internal emails demonstrate that FBI leadership was aware that the scope of the issue extended beyond the Richmond office and accuses the agency under Wray’s leadership of “[obstructing] my investigation by not providing these answers for many months.”

He told Patel he is “determined to get to the bottom of the Richmond memo, and of the FBI’s contempt for oversight in the last administration.” 

“I look forward to continuing to work with you to restore the FBI to excellence and prove once again that justice can and must be fairly and evenly administered, blind to whether we are Democrats or Republicans, believers or nonbelievers,” Grassley added.

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, June 1, 2025 for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 4, 2025 / 17:06 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Wednesday afternoon.

“The pope made an appeal for Russia to take a gesture that would favor peace, emphasizing the importance of dialogue to create positive contacts between the parties and seek solutions to the conflict,” Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said in a statement.

Bruni told members of the press that the Holy Father appealed to the Russian leader about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and advocated for the facilitation of aid into affected areas.

The two leaders also discussed Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi’s efforts to facilitate prisoner exchanges. 

“Pope Leo made reference to Patriarch Kirill, thanking him for the congratulations received at the beginning of his pontificate, and underlined how shared Christian values can be a light that helps to seek peace, defend life, and pursue genuine religious freedom,” Bruni added. 

“Gratitude was expressed to the pontiff for his readiness to help settle the crisis, in particular the Vatican’s participation in resolving difficult humanitarian issues on a depoliticized basis,” the Kremlin said in a statement following the call, according to Reuters. 

The Kremlin’s statement further said Putin stressed his belief to the Holy Father “that the Kyiv regime is banking on escalating the conflict and is carrying out sabotage against civilian infrastructure sites on Russian territory.”

Pope Leo XIV’s first call with Putin comes just over three weeks after his first call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 12. At the time, Bruni confirmed the two leaders had spoken after the pope expressed concern for Ukraine during his May 11 Sunday address.

“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Pope Leo had said after singing the Regina Coeli prayer with approximately 100,000 people.

“May everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just, and lasting peace, as soon as possible,” the Holy Father continued.

At the time, Zelenskyy shared a photo on X of him purportedly having a telephone call with Pope Leo. After expressing gratitude to the Holy Father “for his support for Ukraine and all our people,” Zelenskyy said he and the pope specifically discussed the plight of thousands of children deported by Russia.

“Ukraine counts on the Vatican’s assistance in bringing them home to their families,” he added. 

Reiterating Ukraine’s commitment to work toward a “full and unconditional ceasefire” and the end of the war with Russia, Ukraine’s president said he also invited the Holy Father “to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine.” 

The final Easter message delivered by Pope Francis the day before his death included a prayer for the embattled country: “May the risen Christ grant Ukraine, devastated by war, his Easter gift of peace and encourage all parties involved to pursue efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.”

null / Credit: Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 4, 2025 / 16:59 pm (CNA).

The Trump administration on Tuesday nixed a Biden-era requirement that forced emergency room doctors to perform abortions.  

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced on June 3 that it would rescind the July 2022 guidelines issued under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).

That law, originally passed in 1986, was designed to prevent “patient dumping” by requiring Medicare-participating hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment to patients who can’t pay for treatment rather than transferring them. The Biden administration expanded the requirements in the wake of the repeal of Roe v. Wade, requiring hospitals to perform abortions as “stabilizing treatment” in emergency situations. 

The government will “continue to enforce” EMTALA “including for identified emergency medical conditions that place the health of a pregnant woman or her unborn child in serious jeopardy,” CMS said this week.

In its announcement, the government noted that it “will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration’s actions.” 

Pro-life, conscience advocates hail decision

Major pro-life voices celebrated the decision, arguing that the Biden-era guidelines promoted abortion and spread pro-abortion disinformation. 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, called the Tuesday decision “another win for life and truth — stopping Biden’s attack on emergency care for both pregnant moms and their unborn children.” 

The Biden administration’s guidelines were the subject of a lawsuit by the Catholic Medical Association, a national network that promotes Catholic ethics in the medical industry. The group argued that the mandate unlawfully violated conscience rights. 

Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal nonprofit arguing on behalf of the Catholic Medical Association, celebrated the decision, saying that doctors can now “perform their life-giving duties without fear of government officials forcing them to end life and violate their beliefs.”

“Doctors — especially in emergency rooms — are tasked with preserving life. The Trump administration has rolled back a harmful Biden-era mandate that compelled doctors to end unborn lives, in violation of their deeply held beliefs,” stated ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman.

Heritage Foundation Vice President of Domestic Policy Roger Severino celebrated the move, saying that EMTALA under the Biden administration had been “inverted” to “unlawfully mandate abortion nationwide.”

“Wide majorities of Americans oppose forcing doctors and hospitals to take innocent human life and this change goes back to respecting conscience and the rule of law,” Severino said in a post on X. 

“A stain on America’s conscience is now gone, and good riddance,” he said. 

Pro-abortion advocates criticized the decision. Jamila Perritt, the president and CEO of the pro-abortion group Physicians for Reproductive Health, said the decision “sends a clear message: The lives and health of pregnant [women] are not worth protecting.” 

But Dr. Ingrid Skop, who serves as vice president and director of medical affairs at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, called the decision “welcome news for both of my patients — a pregnant woman and her unborn child.” 

In a statement, she criticized the Biden-era guidelines, calling them a “coercive effort … to subvert existing laws to promote abortion.” 

“Although I do not perform elective abortions, I have always been able to provide quality care in obstetric emergencies, seeking to preserve the lives of both mother and child,” Skop noted.

Dannenfelser emphasized that “pregnant women are protected under pro-life laws” and warned that obfuscating this fact is dangerous for women across the nation. 

“Democrats have created confusion on this fact to justify their extremely unpopular agenda for all-trimester abortion,” she said. “In situations where every minute counts, their lies lead to delayed care and put women in needless, unacceptable danger.” 

Bishop Robert Barron spoke on political commentator Tucker Carlson's show on June 2, 2025. / Credit: CNA/EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 4, 2025 / 16:29 pm (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron sat down with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson this week to talk about the Catholic faith and discuss some hot cultural topics. Carlson, an Episcopalian, began the June 2 interview by saying that his friends urged him to have Barron on his show. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever received more texts about any guest than I did about you,” Tucker told Barron. “From Catholics I know, from non-Catholics I know.” 

Barron, founder of Word on Fire Catholic ministries and bishop of the Winona-Rochester Diocese in Minnesota, and Carlson discussed a wide range of subjects, including how to find happiness, prayer, grace, persecution, technology, and the future of the Church.

Finding happiness

The interview began with a discussion about happiness. Carlson cited falling birth rates and increased suicides as evidence of a widespread lack of happiness in the culture.

“The joy of life” comes when “you forget about yourself and you lose yourself in some great value,” Barron said. 

“God is the highest good, the ‘summum bonum.’ That’s why you love the Lord your God. That’s the First Commandment. But when the culture has lost that, which ours is in danger of, you, by definition, become unhappy,” Barron said. 

In order to find happiness, people must let go of their egos and pursue “the good,” he said. “The ego is like a black hole … that will draw everything into itself, suck all of life and light and energy into itself. Nothing can escape.” 

People who feel unhappiness have “lost a sense of God” and therefore lost “the supreme good,” according to Barron. “The best people are those who breathe life into a room. And that happens because they’re not preoccupied with the ego. They’re captivated by some objective good, and they want to show it to you.”

What is true freedom?

The discussion turned to the topic of freedom. 

If we focus too much on choices in our lives, we will “get lost,” Barron said.

“I thought the whole point of the West was choices,” Carlson responded. 

“But, you have to know what your choice is for,” Barron said. “When you deify choice itself, when you say, ‘Autonomy, that’s my God.’ No, choice is for some good.”

He continued: “The idea is to order freedom. Freedom is not an end in itself. Freedom is ordered towards some good. When it’s disordered, it tends to collapse in upon itself.” 

“The whole point of America, I thought, was choice and freedom for its own sake,” Carlson responded. 

“Well, and I would argue it’s not for its own sake,” Barron said. “If that happens to us, something’s gone wrong.”

Of the founding fathers, Barron said they didn’t “have the full Catholic imagination as I would like it, but they certainly had a sense of the objective good, and that the purpose of life is to find that good and be ordered toward it.”

“An ordered freedom is what they were interested in, not freedom for its own sake.”

“Your freedom has to be disciplined and directed,” he continued.

“Our culture, it’s … banks to a river, the river has energy. It’s going somewhere. You knock down the banks. You say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be limited. Don’t set limits to my freedom.’ It just floods the fields.”

When asked by Carlson what are the banks that we’ve demolished, Barron said: “The life of the mind, the moral good, religious good, aesthetic … When that’s lost, the banks are knocked down.” 

Barron explained: “The goal for the Bible is not autonomy, it’s theonomy.” 

“God, ‘theos,’ … becomes the law of my life … When God becomes the norm of my life, I become more myself. I find who I really am. If I jettison God and I say, ‘No, I’m the leader of my own life,’ I get lost.”

“What does Jesus say? ‘The one who loses himself will find it. The one who’s trying to hang on to himself is going to lose it.’ Lose your freedom in God’s greater freedom, and you become now authentically free.”

Prayer and God’s transcendence

Barron spoke of prayer as a way to let go of ego. “Prayer is a conscious exercise in overcoming autonomy. It’s a conscious exercise to say, ‘I want to get out of my preoccupations. I’m placing myself in the presence of God.’”

Prayer is a way to “overcome” and “calm the mind,” Barron explained. He highlighted that the rosary is a “meditative prayer” that can really help the mind “open up to a deeper consciousness or a deeper awareness.” 

When distraction occurs during prayer, Barron instructed people to “acknowledge” it. “Don’t try to fight it,” he said. “Acknowledge it and then go back.”

Related to the topic of the transcendent nature of God, Barron said: “You’re not going to find him in the world … you can’t say things like, ‘Oh, there’s no evidence for God,’ as though he’s a chemical reaction.”

“God is, at the same time, as transcendent as you can imagine, not a thing in the world, and as imminent as you can imagine. He’s higher than anything I could imagine, and he’s closer to me than I am to myself. Now, figure that one out,” Barron said.

When Carlson asked if God needs our sacrifice, Barron responded firmly: “He doesn’t require it.” 

“How could the one who made the entire universe from nothing possibly need anything from it?” Barron said. “It’s just a logical contradiction.”

“He wants the openness of heart signaled by the sacrifice, because he wants us to be alive. And when we say, Lord, ‘I’m opening my heart to you. I’m ordering my life to you in this great sacrifice of praise,’ God delights because now we’re going to find the joy he wants us to have.”

God “needs nothing,” Barron said. “We eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus. We consume the sacrifice. It’s for our benefit, not for God’s.”

Christian persecution

During the interview, Barron highlighted the fact that the 20th century has been “the worst century for Christian martyrs [in] all of Christian history.”

“Now, around the world, we are by far the most persecuted religion,” he said. “It’s a crime. It’s an outrage. We talk in a demure way about religious liberty in our country, which is indeed under threat, but you want the real threat to religious liberty? It’s in different parts of the world. People are being killed for their Christian faith.”

Barron pointed to the late-19th-century Pope Leo XIII, who believed “the devil would have a unique control over the 20th century,” so he formulated “the famous St. Michael prayer … asking for the protection of Michael, the archangel.”

“It’s hard to argue” that Leo XIII’s premonition was not real, Barron explained. “If you believe in the devil, as I do, and you see what happened in the 20th century, it’s hard to imagine it wasn’t to some degree.”

Religion and violence

When asked if Christianity leads to violence, Barron said: “It’s one of the myths of enlightenment historiography that religion is the problem.”

There was a “careful study of all the great wars” conducted, Barron said. “And the conclusion was something like 8% could be traced to a religious cause.”

“There’s the totality of human dysfunction. God’s response to that is not to more violence. It’s to respond with forgiving love. That’s Christianity ... It’s not a religion of violence,” he said.

Technology and faith

In the course of the more-than-hourlong interview, Barron and Carlson discussed digital technology, social media, and artificial intelligence.

“We’re all addicted to [them],” Barron said in reference to smartphones. “Those machines were designed to be addictive.”

He highlighted a program whereby priests have given up their phones for a whole year as a part of a study. Barron said the result was that “they all feel liberated.”

“They all come back saying, ‘It was the best year of my life, and I read books again, and I talked to people. I cultivated friendship. I played games. I played sports … That’s almost an illustration of Augustine’s ‘incurvatus in se,’ that I’m ‘caved in’ over my iPhone.”

Barron mentioned another study that found a “direct correlation between screen time and depression,” which he said he finds “perfectly plausible.” 

“Look how unhealthy it’s making our young kids,” Barron said. “I think taking those things out of the hands of our kids would be a great idea, at least to some degree.”

Later in the interview, however, Barron said “technology is not bad in itself.” It becomes a problem when “you couple technology with a sheer celebration of autonomy or a bracketing of God.” 

Artificial intelligence is “frightening” Barron said. “It [has] to be grounded in a moral vision … or it will become a Frankenstein’s monster.” 

We cannot try to “become God” and “decide to dictate terms to reality. It’ll turn on us and wreck us,” Barron said.

Pope Leo XIV and the future of the Church

When asked what changes Pope Leo XIV may make as the new pontiff, Barron said “I don’t know.” But he did share that he thinks the pope has “made some interesting gestures” so far. 

Pope Leo’s use of Latin and his appearance in the mozzetta on the loggia after his election was a “gesture toward more traditional Catholics,” Barron said. 

At the end of the interview, Carlson voiced a paid advertisement of the Catholic prayer app Hallow, a sponsor of the podcast interview, offering listeners a three-month free trial with the code “TUCKER” at Hallow.com/Tucker and promoting the app’s consecration to Jesus through St. Joseph.

Pope Leo XIV addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his general audience on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 4, 2025 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will gather the cardinals at the Vatican on June 13 to give final approval to the canonizations of eight blesseds whose causes were promoted by Pope Francis.

This event is known as an ordinary public consistory and will be the first of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. It should be noted that Pope Francis convened it at the end of February, when he was hospitalized at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, but no date was set.

This ceremony determines the final step of the canonization process through a vote to set the date on which the blessed will be proclaimed a saint.

On Wednesday, the Office of Liturgical Celebrations confirmed the list of blesseds.

Among them is Blessed Bartolo Longo, an Italian layman and lawyer and founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, Italy.

After abandoning spiritualism and Satanist sects, he embraced Catholicism, became a fervent catechist and a man dedicated to assisting those most in need. He is also recognized as one of the 20th century’s greatest disseminators of devotion to the rosary.

The June 13 consistory is also expected to vote on the date of canonization of the “doctor of the poor,” Venezuelan José Gregorio Hernández.

Also on the list is Peter To Rot, the first blessed from Papua New Guinea, who was killed in World War II for defending marriage.

The cardinals will also decide the date of canonization of Vincenza Maria Poloni, founder of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona, credited with the inexplicable cure of Audelia Parra, a Chilean woman.

Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan, a bishop martyred in the Armenian genocide of 1915, will also be canonized soon.

María del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez, founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus, is slated to become Venezuela’s first female saint. “Mother Carmen,” as many knew her, will be remembered for her immense kindness and wise prudence.

Maria Troncatti, a professed religious of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. This future saint was an Italian missionary who spent much of her life in Ecuador.

Finally, there is Pier Giorgio Frassati, a lay member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, whose canonization is scheduled for Aug. 3. This adventurer and mountain climber developed a profound love for Christ in the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary from a young age.

In his youth, he devoted himself entirely to serving the poor and sought to evangelize through politics, bringing his friends closer to the faith.

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

A New Jersey former parish bookkeeper has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $300,000 from two parishes, June 3, 2025. / Credit: Zack McCarthy via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CNA Staff, Jun 4, 2025 / 13:21 pm (CNA).

A former parish employee in New Jersey has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $300,000 from two parishes several months after she was accused of the thefts. 

Former bookkeeper Melissa Rivera admitted to taking $292,728 from parishes in Washington Township and Pompton Plains, the Morris County prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.

The two parishes were Our Lady of the Mountain and Our Lady of Good Counsel, both located in Morris County. 

Rivera was charged with multiple counts of theft and forgery after being accused earlier this year of writing herself more than 100 checks from parish accounts between May 2018 and May 2024.  

The state said it would recommend probation for Rivera, 60, though she would have to serve 364 days in the Morris County Correctional Center as a condition of that deal, the prosecutor’s office said. 

Rivera will also be required to repay the parishes the money she stole. 

She will be sentenced on July 11, the prosecutor’s office said. The county’s financial crimes unit helped prosecute the case. 

Several Catholic officials have faced prosecution and jail time in recent years over thefts from their respective parishes. 

Another bookkeeper at a Florida Catholic parish was sentenced in November 2024 to more than two years of federal prison after stealing nearly $900,000 from the church at which she managed financial records. 

In July 2024, meanwhile, a priest in Missouri pleaded guilty to stealing $300,000 from a church at which he was pastor for nearly a decade.

And in May 2024 a former employee at a Tampa, Florida, Catholic church pleaded guilty to stealing more than three-quarters of a million dollars from the parish while employed there.

Pope Leo XIV gives a blessing to memebers of the National Italian American Foundation in their meeting on June 4, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 4, 2025 / 11:34 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV met with the National Italian American Foundation on Wednesday and blessed their work in continuing the spiritual and cultural legacy of their ancestors.

Before holding his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father met with board members of the leading Italian American foundation and thanked them for their various initiatives in the U.S. and Italy.

“Your work to continue to educate young people regarding Italian culture and history as well as providing scholarships and other charitable assistance in both countries helps to maintain a mutually beneficial and concrete connection between the two nations,” Pope Leo said at the morning meeting.

The foundation, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, provides $1.5 million each year in educational scholarships and heritage travel opportunities to young students.

During the brief meeting, the Holy Father said the Catholic faith is a “hallmark” of the legacy built by many people who immigrated to the U.S. from Italy.

“A hallmark of many who immigrated to the United States from Italy was their Catholic faith, with its rich traditions of popular piety and devotions that they continued to practice in their new nation,” he said. “This faith sustained them in difficult moments, even as they arrived with a sense of hope for a prosperous future in their new country.” 

Robert Allegrini, National Italian American Foundation president and CEO, told CNA on Wednesday that it was a “tremendous honor” for the organization to meet with the Church’s first U.S.-born pope.

“The warmth of His Holiness’ Italian heritage was manifested in the gracious and pious reception he accorded to each and every member of our delegation,” he shared. “The pope was very happy to hear that the president of the National Italian American Foundation was a fellow Chicagoan.” 

“What is particularly meaningful for us as Italian Americans is that we feel that we combine the best elements of both the Italian and American cultures, traditions, and values,” he said. “This makes us truly special and truly in sympathy with the pope who shares those traits with us.” 

Toward the end of the meeting, Pope Leo encouraged the delegation to also be pilgrims in the Eternal City this week, in addition to their separate Wednesday meetings with him and Italian President Sergio Matarella.

“Your visit to the Vatican occurs during the jubilee year, which is focused on hope, which ‘dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring,’” the Holy Father said, quoting Spes Non Confundit.

“In an age beset by many challenges, may your time here, in a city marked by the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul as well as many saints who strengthened the Church throughout difficult periods of history, may this renew your sense of hope and trust in the future,” he said, before imparting his apostolic blessing upon the delegation, their families, and loved ones.

According to the 2022 American Community Survey, released by the United States Census Bureau, 16 million people, accounting for 4.8% of the total U.S. population, reported having Italian ancestry.

Sister Angela Musolesi served as an assistant to renowned exorcist priest Gabriel Amorth for 28 years. / Credit: Nicolás de Cárdenas/ACI Prensa

Madrid, Spain, Jun 4, 2025 / 10:47 am (CNA).

Sister Angela Musolesi was born in the small Italian town of Budrio on Dec. 8, 1954, the centennial year of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

A Franciscan nun, Sister Angela collaborated for 28 years with the renowned Italian priest and exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth. To expand the legacy of Amorth, who died on Sept. 16, 2016, in Rome at the age of 91, she founded the Children of Light association.

San Pablo Publishing has just published Sister Angela’s Spanish-langauge book “You Are My Ruin,” a volume that explains the causes of demonic possession and offers effective tools for confronting the actions of the devil.

Sister Angela does this with particular reference to the family, a field in which Our Lady of Fátima prophesied that the devil’s final battle against God and humanity will be fought.

Just a short distance from the statue of the fallen angel in Madrid’s Retiro Park, Sister Angela spoke with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, about her latest work.

ACI Prensa: When the devil tells you “You are my ruin,” is it a desperate voice from the devil or a temptation to boost your ego?

Sister Angela: No, it’s a fear the devil has of me … he fears me, just as he feared Father Gabriele Amorth.

How is it that the devil is afraid of a human being?

Because we have Jesus within us, we have the resurrection of Jesus within us. [The devil] knows this well, and sometimes he has told us: “We know that you have already defeated us.” We speak in the name of Jesus, so we have already defeated all the demons, although perhaps we are a little afraid at times. I am not.

But you and Father Amorth are the Navy Seals (the elite force of the United States Navy) in the confrontation with the devil. How do we, as ordinary Catholics, make the devil fear us?

With the action of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bothers the devil a lot. It is the spirit of the risen Jesus. Sometimes, when I have prayed over someone, invoking the Holy Spirit, the devil has cried out: “You are hurting me, you are hurting me.” Only with the Holy Spirit. The more we have the Holy Spirit within us, the more we have the courage of Jesus. As St. Paul says in the Second Letter to Timothy: “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of courage, of strength, of wisdom, of light.”

Your book aims to better understand the enemy. Why is this goal important?

To understand his actions, how he works in the world and within us, in our minds. Because he primarily tries to attack the intellectual faculties and, through that, the heart. From the mind, from the head, through the brain, he confuses us.

The most widespread action in the world is that of Lucifer, who is the spirit of mental confusion, of the darkening of intelligence, of the inability to make decisions, and then also of madness, suicide, and death. This is what happens to young people who no longer have Jesus as a point of reference.

You began your apostolate in prisons. Does the devil move well behind bars?

He moves well in society. Certainly, prisoners, convicts, are the ones who suffer the most. But I can tell you that when I was in prison for 10 years, I would go and bring them Jesus. I would invoke the Holy Spirit, offer prayers of deliverance and healing, and the next time the prisoners would ask me: Sister, are you still saying that prayer?

You also have a great heart for ecumenism.

Absolutely, yes.

Are the different Christian groups more similar in how we conceive of the devil than in other doctrinal matters? Is this a point of unity that favors communion?

Yes, absolutely. Also because, for example, our evangelical brothers and Protestants in general have a great devotion to the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, as we have said, is what bothers the devil the most, because it is the spirit of Jesus. This is a common point. Even the final part of the Lord’s Prayer — “deliver us from evil.” When the devil manifests himself, and that is repeated several times, it makes him scream.

The most difficult thing is to get the devil to manifest himself, to make himself visible through a person who has a demonic action. But the most widespread action in the world is the ordinary action of the devil: mental confusion. It makes people believe he doesn’t exist, it makes them believe he doesn’t create problems.

The teaching that Father Gabriele Amorth has already spread is important because it says: Look, the devil is at work in the world. We must speak more about him, and everyone must apply Jesus’ words: “Whoever believes in me must — not can, must — command the devil, heal the sick, and raise the dead.”

So any of us, a layperson, a nun, or a normal priest, must command the devil and not be afraid. This teaching is sometimes disputed in the Catholic Church because there are priests who say no, that a normal priest, a normal nun, or a layperson cannot do that.

But Jesus was clear. Jesus said: “Whoever believes in me must not be afraid of the devil,” and he must do these things. This is the novelty of Father Gabriel Amorth’s teaching, which we are continuing. I say we because I founded the Children of Light during his lifetime, and we are continuing his teachings.

Tell us something special about the book that invites people to pick it up. What’s new about this book?

More than an explanation of the devil, it’s about how to free oneself from the devil, how to free marriages. It explains very well how to recognize the action of the devil in marriages that are about to break up. It explains what a person, a layperson, a wife can do for her husband if he has difficulties with fidelity, or what a mother can do for her children. This is very important; the book is important for this reason. It is the practical application of how to free oneself from the action of the devil.

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

Pope Leo XIV blesses a small attendee at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, June 4. 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Jun 4, 2025 / 10:09 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV held the third general audience of his pontificate on Wednesday, telling the faithful that even when we feel useless and inadequate, “the Lord reminds us that our life is worthy.”

“Even when it seems we are able to do little in life, it is always worthwhile. There is always the possibility to find meaning, because God loves our life,” Leo said in a sunny St. Peter’s Square on June 4, four days before the one-month mark of his pontificate.

In his catechesis, the pope reflected on the parable of the vineyard workers, which is recounted in the Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16. Leo affirmed that, like the owner of the vineyard, Jesus “does not establish rankings, he gives all of himself to those who open their hearts to him.”

This parable “is a story that fosters our hope,” the pontiff said. “Indeed, at times we have the impression that we cannot find meaning for our lives: We feel useless, inadequate, just like the laborers who wait in the marketplace, waiting for someone to hire them to work.”

Just like the laborers waiting in the market for work, the pope argued, sometimes we are waiting a long time to be acknowledged or appreciated, and we may end up “selling ourselves to the first bidder” in the marketplace, where affection and dignity are bought and sold in an attempt to make a profit.

“God never gives up on us; he is always ready to accept us and give meaning and hope to our lives, however hopeless our situation may seem and however insignificant our merits may appear,” the pope said in his English-language summary of the lesson, which he read himself.

The tireless landowner in the parable goes out over and over again to seek laborers for his fields, even late into the day, when the remaining workers had probably given up all hope, Leo said. “That day had come to nothing. Nevertheless, someone still believed in them.” 

The behavior of the owner of the vineyard is also unusual in other ways, he noted, including that he “comes out in person in search of his laborers. Evidently, he wants to establish a personal relationship with them.”

Then, “for the owner of the vineyard, that is, for God, it is just that each person has what he needs to live. He called the laborers personally, he knows their dignity, and on the basis of this, he wants to pay them, and he gives all of them one denarius,” even those who only worked the last hour of the day, Pope Leo emphasized.

According to the pontiff, the laborers who had spent all day working were disappointed, because “they cannot see the beauty of the gesture of the landowner, who was not unjust but simply generous; who looked not only at merit but also at need.”

Leo warned Christians against the temptation to think they can delay their work in the vineyard because their pay will be the same either way.

He quoted St. Augustine, who said in his Sermon 87: “Why dost thou put off him that calleth thee, certain as thou art of the reward, but uncertain of the day? Take heed then lest peradventure what he is to give thee by promise, thou take from thyself by delay.”

“Do not wait, but respond enthusiastically to the Lord who calls us to work in his vineyard,” the pontiff said, appealing especially to young people. “Do not delay, roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and you will not be disappointed! Working in his vineyard, you will find an answer to that profound question you carry within you: What is the meaning of my life?”

“Let us not be discouraged,” Leo added. “Even in the dark moments of life, when time passes without giving us the answers we seek, let us ask the Lord who will come out again and find us where we are waiting for him. He is generous, and he will come soon!”

Hannah Brockhaus contributed to this report.

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

null / Credit: PIGAMA/Shutterstock

National Catholic Register, Jun 4, 2025 / 09:39 am (CNA).

The bishop of Charlotte, North Carolina, has delayed his plan to restrict the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in his diocese, pushing the date back by nearly three months after a week and a half of significant backlash in North Carolina and beyond.

Bishop Michael Martin has determined that a plan to restrict the TLM from four parish churches to a single, designated chapel will now go into effect on Oct. 2, according to a June 3 story from the Catholic News Herald, the diocese’s official newspaper. The Charlotte bishop had previously announced on May 23 that the restrictions would go into effect on July 8. 

The Herald reported that Martin made the change after accepting a request from the priests of the parishes where the TLM is currently celebrated to delay the restrictions, which he said he had originally scheduled to coincide with changes in diocesan assignments.

“It made sense to start these changes in July when dozens of our priests will be moving to their new parishes and other assignments,” the bishop told his diocesan paper. “That said, I want to listen to the concerns of these parishioners and their priests, and I am willing to give them more time to absorb these changes.”

Martin also told the Herald that if the Vatican changes required restrictions of the TLM, the Diocese of Charlotte “would abide by those instructions.”

The bishop’s delay comes after his decision to restrict the TLM in Charlotte — several months ahead of a Vatican deadline — faced criticism for being premature and unnecessarily restrictive.

Critics pointed out that Martin’s restriction to a single non-parish chapel was being made months ahead of an October cutoff of an extension the Vatican had previously granted the diocese to implement Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 apostolic letter that called for limiting the availability of the TLM to non-parish churches and established Vatican oversight over associated permissions. Some speculated that the timing of the Charlotte moves would effectively preempt Pope Leo XIV, who may choose to regulate the TLM differently than Pope Francis.

The new target date for the Charlotte TLM restrictions now aligns with the original deadline of the Vatican’s extension, which had been requested by the previous ordinary of Charlotte, Bishop Peter Jugis, who retired in April 2024.

The controversy expanded when sweeping liturgical norms Martin had drafted — which included a ban on Latin in all diocesan liturgies and the prohibition of other traditional liturgical practices like “ad orientem” worship — were publicly leaked. 

The Diocese of Charlotte told the Register at the time that the document, which would apply to all forms of the Mass, not just the TLM, was “an early draft that has gone through considerable changes over several months” and is still being discussed by the diocesan presbyteral council and Office for Divine Worship. Given references to Pope Francis, the document appears to have been drafted prior to the late pope’s April 21 death.

“It represented a starting point to update our liturgical norms and methods of catechesis for receiving the Eucharist,” said diocesan communications director Liz Chandler, adding that the norms will be “thoroughly reviewed” in accord with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).

Although the changes have not gone into effect, critics contended that Martin’s justification for them was not consistent with Church teaching, including Vatican II’s pastoral constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

Others raised concerns that Martin, who marked his one-year anniversary as Charlotte’s bishop on May 29, was engaging in unnecessary micromanagement and had failed to adequately listen to people in his diocese.

In addition to allowing the affected communities more time to accept the changes to the TLM in Charlotte, Martin told diocesan priests in a June 3 email that the delay “allows more time for the transition and for renovation of a chapel designated for the TLM community,” according to the Herald.

The diocese is putting $700,000 toward renovations of the designated TLM chapel, which was formerly the home of the Freedom Christian Center, a Protestant community.

The Herald described the Mooresville chapel as “strategically located” between the diocese’s two biggest population centers, but critics have complained that it is more than a two-hour drive from St. John the Baptist in Tryon, one of the four parishes where the TLM will be prohibited starting Oct. 2.

The diocese reports that approximately 1,100 people attend the TLM in Charlotte each week.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.