St. Andrew Catholic Church

Health care professionals at the Colorado-based, pro-life Bella Health and Wellness health care clinic. / Credit: Bella Health and Wellness

CNA Staff, Aug 2, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A federal district court on Friday ordered that a Colorado medical clinic run by two Catholic nurses can continue its abortion-pill reversal ministry, partially blocking a state law that had sought to ban the practice.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said in his Friday ruling that Colorado’s abortion pill reversal ban interfered with the religious rights of nurses Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett.

The Catholic mother-daughter team runs the Denver-area Bella Health and Wellness clinic. Part of their services include administering the hormone progesterone that can counteract the effects of chemical abortions.

Colorado in 2023 banned abortion pill reversal alleging that it constitutes a “deceptive trade practice.” That same year the nurses sued the state over the ban, arguing that it impeded their religious beliefs and those of their clients.

Domenico in October 2023 issued a temporary block on the state’s ban. His ruling on Friday made the ban permanent.

It is “not disputed that by effectively prohibiting them from using a particular treatment for pregnant women, this law burdened [the nurses’] sincerely held religious beliefs,” the judge wrote in part.

And “while the clinical efficacy of abortion pill reversal remains debatable, nobody has been injured by the treatment and a number of women have successfully given birth after receiving it,” he said.

The state failed to show it had “a compelling interest in regulating this practice,” he ruled in making the injunction permanent.

The judge noted that Colorado in numerous other contexts allows “off-label” use of progesterone, The state, he said, did not provide compelling evidence that using progesterone to counteract an abortion pill “sets medication abortion reversal apart from other off-label uses of progesterone.”

Domenico said his ruling only prohibits action against the Bella clinic and does not impact the overall law itself.

In a press release from the religious liberty law firm Becket, which had represented the clinic in the suit, the nurses said the state “tried to deprive pregnant women of the life-affirming care that is best for them and their babies.”

“We are overjoyed that the court has recognized our constitutional right to continue offering this support to the many women who come to our clinic seeking help,” they said.

Becket attorney Rebekah Ricketts, meanwhile, said the ruling “ensures that pregnant women in Colorado will not be denied this compassionate care or be forced to have abortions against their will.”  

In addition to abortion pill reversal, the clinic also offers primary care, gynecology, infertility help, and surgery for women’s health, as well as pediatric care and men’s health care.

Mural of Pope Francis in La Plata, Argentina. / Credit: Municipality of La Plata, Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 2, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Just a few meters from Immaculate Conception Cathedral in the Argentine city of La Plata stands the world’s largest mural dedicated to Pope Francis, painted by renowned artist Martín Ron. This work represented a great technical challenge and aims to be a message of peace, of union “between earth and heaven,” and — why not? — a place of prayer and pilgrimage.

Ron’s career spans both time and space, with more than two decades of painting and works that beautify cities around the world. In his native Argentina, a soccer-loving land par excellence, two of his most talked-about murals are those depicting star players Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, just a sample of the hundreds that bear his signature.

On July 26, in the presence of city officials and the archbishop of La Plata, Gustavo Carrara, a 50-meter-high (164-foot) mural depicting Pope Francis, another of the “popular idols” Ron was tasked with painting, was inaugurated and blessed.

“As muralists, beyond painting our own works, we are constantly identifying those figures that have a strong popular following,” because muralism “is still pop art,” the artist told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

“Painting them in these dimensions and contributing to enhancing the collective memory of these figures, especially in places where art doesn’t reach, is very important,” he said.

In the case of Francis, “beyond the fact that he’s the pope, who is the most important person in Argentina, and his position in the Catholic Church, he still has the imprint of a pop idol — although the word ‘idol’ is, in this case, in quotation marks — because he has that reach, he’s still a healthy pop idol,” he noted, because there’s something about these idols “that has to do with how they become incarnated in the culture.”

The great challenge

Located at the intersection of 54th and 14th Streets, the mural of Pope Francis completes the already imposing landscape of La Plata Cathedral. Painting it there was a request from the La Plata City Council and represented a major technical challenge.

Although he had complete freedom to choose an image that represented the recently deceased Argentine pontiff, the limitations had to do with the “hardest aspect of the project, which is the dimensions, the format of the wall, and the angles from which it will be viewed.”

“In this case, the path was quite clear, because it’s right next to the cathedral, it overlooks the plaza, and it’s very central. But the only limitation I had, which is what can sometimes filter out the best photos, is the particular format of this building. While tall, it’s very narrow: 50 meters by 5 meters [164 feet by 16 feet].”

This detail meant that in that place” maybe the best photo, the one with the best story to tell, isn’t compositionally suitable for the location.” The first requirement, then, was “to create a composition that gains height and progresses vertically to interpret it from the bottom up, or from the top down.”

“It’s the pope. One can fall into the commonplace of saying: ‘Well, Pope Francis, any photo will do, as long as he looks good in the photo, is photogenic, and we all recognize him.’ But it has to have something more; it has to tell a story,” he stated.

Knowing that the work ‘will transcend’

The chosen image was a well-known one from the first months of Francis’ pontificate, where he can be seen smiling and looking up, holding a dove in his hand as it begins to spread its wings.

“It’s a very tender photo. I think it’s one of the best. It’s very well known, and it says a lot because it connects with heaven, through all the symbolism of the dove within the Catholic faith,” he noted.

Furthermore, technically, “it solved the issue of verticality for me, because it begins with the cassock, the cross of the Good Shepherd, then the neck appears, the portrait, and then there’s the arm that emerges from the frame and reenters, and above it, a crown with the dove and the sky, which merges with the real sky. That’s it. In slang, we say we ‘nailed’ it.”

“When you have all those variables, you already know that the work will transcend, it will be talked about, and it will become a new landmark of the city of La Plata,” he summarized.

Ron said he anticipates that the mural will become a landmark in the city, “because of the power of the image, because it’s about who he is, because it’s the first, because it’s in such a central location, in Plaza Moreno, next to the cathedral,” he stated, emphasizing that “when things like this happen, you’re helping to generate new landmarks. There’s something else to see and discover in La Plata.”

A believer but not a practicing Christian, Ron said he felt it was a positive thing that his work “be crowned with a blessing,” because he believes that “beyond who paints it, the important thing is how it reaches people.”

“I’m the channel, the person responsible for a work, but when I sign it, the work belongs to the people,” he explained. “All of us artists who paint murals let go of the work,” he said, especially when traveling around the world, because “the place takes ownership of it, the people take ownership of it, and the artist may never see it again,” he explained. Therefore, each work “is like a gift, an opening.”

In this case, “the fact that a lot of things start happening around us, related to this personage, is the best thing that can happen, not only for me but for the people.”

“That the work is blessed and that, in the future, this even might become a place of pilgrimage, that for some it is an opportunity to be closer to the figure of Pope Francis, going to La Plata, going to the cathedral, saying a prayer, asking him for something there, would be fabulous.”

Francis transmits the peace the world needs

On a personal level, Ron noted that Pope Francis transmits peace to him. “He is a popular figure who made a certain symbolic rupture, by stripping away absolutely everything material.”

“Beyond his more political legacy, he is a person whom you listen to, and he transmits peace, beyond what he says, even from the look on his face,” he commented.

Therefore, “I wanted to capture that image, which, beyond the dove, is an image that greatly represents peace, and we need it at this time in the world,” he said.

Big turnout for the dedication 

The mural was inaugurated with a massive event attended by the mayor of La Plata, Julio Alak; representatives of the Catholic community; school representatives; members of political parties; and other institutions. In addition to artistic performances, the event included a blessing by the local archbishop, Gustavo Carrara.

“The city must be a place of encounter, of integration, where neighbors help each other walk together,” the prelate said, hoping “that the figure of Francis will inspire us in this city to work for a culture of encounter and inspire us on paths toward fraternity and social friendship.”

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

Pakistan minority rights campaigners protest the sentencing of a Christian man to death for sharing an allegedly blasphemous TikTok post in Karachi on July 2, 2024. / Credit: RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP via Getty Images

Brussels, Belgium, Aug 2, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Pakistan’s Senate has passed legislation removing the death penalty for two specific crimes in what officials openly acknowledge is a calculated move to preserve billions in European trade benefits — while leaving untouched the blasphemy laws that have sent dozens of Christians to death row. 

The Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, which awaits National Assembly approval and presidential sign-off, eliminates capital punishment for publicly stripping women and harboring hijackers. Pakistani officials did not attempt to disguise their motivation: the changes were explicitly designed to satisfy European Union requirements under the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) trade scheme, which demands that death sentences be “limited to the most serious crimes only.”

“This bill is aimed at aligning Pakistan’s laws with its international obligations under the GSP+ trade agreement with the European Union,” Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told senators, according to Pakistani media reports. 

Trade benefits trump human rights 

The GSP+ scheme grants Pakistan zero-duty access to European markets on 66% of its exports — benefits worth approximately $3 billion annually that Pakistani officials admit they cannot afford to lose. In return, Pakistan must implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labor protections, and good governance.

However, the selective nature of Pakistan’s compliance reveals the limits of European leverage when confronting the Islamic Republic’s treatment of religious minorities.

While Pakistan has eliminated death sentences for two relatively obscure crimes, it maintains capital punishment for over 100 offenses — including blasphemy charges that disproportionately target the country’s 3 million Christians and other religious minorities.

“The death penalty currently applies to over a hundred offenses” in Pakistan, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar acknowledged during Senate debates, defending the broader system while yielding minimal ground to European pressure.

Christians bear the brunt 

At least 34 members of religious minorities, including Christians, currently sit on death row in Pakistan’s Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to Lahore-based researcher Sarmad Ali. The overwhelming majority face blasphemy charges under laws that human rights advocates say are routinely misused to settle personal disputes and persecute religious minorities.

The case of Asia Bibi — a Catholic mother of five who spent eight years on death row before her 2018 acquittal — epitomizes the dangers facing Pakistani Christians. Bibi was convicted of blasphemy after Muslim co-workers refused to drink water she had touched because of her faith, leading to an argument that resulted in false accusations.

Her eventual vindication came at enormous cost: Two prominent Pakistani politicians who supported her — Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti — were assassinated by Islamic extremists. Taseer was gunned down by his own bodyguard while Bhatti, Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet minister, was killed by the Pakistani Taliban.

Even after the Supreme Court cleared Bibi of all charges, nationwide protests by Islamic hardliners forced her family into hiding before they eventually found asylum in Canada.

Government draws red lines 

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has made clear that while it will make symbolic concessions to preserve European trade benefits, it will not touch blasphemy laws that remain sacred to the country’s Islamic identity.

Following European Parliament resolutions condemning Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in 2021, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government declared it would “not compromise on the country’s blasphemy law.” It argued that Pakistan’s agreements with the EU “did not include any condition concerning religion.”

The current government maintains this position. During a January visit to Pakistan, EU Special Representative for Human Rights Ambassador Olof Skoog warned that Pakistan “should not take its GSP+ status for granted” and highlighted concerns about blasphemy law abuse. Yet Pakistani officials continue to insist that religious laws remain beyond European influence.

European response falls short 

The European Union’s response to Pakistan’s selective compliance has been characteristically diplomatic but ineffective at protecting religious minorities. While European Parliament members have repeatedly called for reviews of Pakistan’s trade status over blasphemy law abuse, the European Commission has maintained the country’s preferential trading relationship. 

In 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution with 678 votes calling for immediate review of Pakistan’s GSP+ status over blasphemy laws, expressing particular concern about Christian couple Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel, who were sentenced to death on blasphemy charges. Yet Pakistan retained its trade benefits. 

The 10th EU-Pakistan Political Dialogue held in Brussels this July saw both sides “reaffirm their commitment to deepening cooperation” despite what European officials acknowledge is “growing scrutiny over Pakistan’s human rights record.” 

Rising persecution goes unchecked 

Christian advocates report that blasphemy cases continue to rise in Pakistan despite European pressure. “Unfortunately, blasphemy cases continue to rise, and during this year alone, at least five Christians have been charged with committing blasphemy,” said Nasir Saeed of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance, and Settlement.

The legal system remains stacked against religious minorities. “The whole burden of proof is laid on the victim to prove himself/herself innocent, and court hearings are very often adjourned,” Saeed explained. “As a result, victims of this law have to suffer several years in prison, sometimes longer than their punishment.” 

Several Christians remain imprisoned for years on blasphemy charges, including Sajjad Masih (nine years) and Zafar Bhatti (eight years). In comparison, others like Sawan Maish and Imran Ghafur Masih were released only after serving eight and 11 years, respectively. 

Economic calculations override faith 

Pakistan’s approach to the GSP+ requirements reveals a government willing to make minimal adjustments to preserve economic benefits while refusing to address the core issues that endanger religious minorities. The death penalty amendments target two crimes that are rarely prosecuted, allowing Pakistan to claim reform while maintaining the broader system of religious persecution.

According to Justice Project Pakistan’s 2024 report, the country handed down 174 death sentences last year — a significant increase from 102 in 2023 — with 6,161 prisoners currently on death row nationwide.

The GSP+ scheme has been extended until 2027, but European officials conduct reviews every two years. The upcoming renewal cycle will test whether Europe’s commitment to trade benefits outweighs its stated concerns for religious freedom and minority rights.

For Pakistan’s embattled Christian community, the recent death penalty amendments offer no relief from the blasphemy laws that continue to threaten their lives and freedom. As long as European trade policy prioritizes economic relationships over religious liberty, Pakistani Christians will remain vulnerable to a justice system that treats their faith as grounds for persecution.

Gabby is the Ecuador program’s mother representative on the Innovation Fund proposal selection committee. Standing before a photo of Unbound’s late co-founder Bob Hentzen, she proudly holds the certificate of recognition awarded to her by Unbound for her participation and valuable contributions in the selection process. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Unbound

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Once seen as only recipients of aid, mothers in underprivileged areas across the globe are becoming agents of change as the Catholic nonprofit Unbound empowers them to create paths out of poverty and serve as community leaders.

“From our founding in 1981, our mission, our reason of being, our approach from our founders, has been driven by a core belief in letting the people that we support make the decisions,” Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound, told CNA.

“It stems in part from their own faith, from Catholic social teaching, but those closest to the problem … make the decisions,” she said.

To further execute its mission, Unbound has implemented a number of programs including Poverty Stoplight and Agents of Change that keep the decision-making power in the hands of those who can “effectively improve their families best” — mothers.

Poverty Stoplight 

Unbound is “driven by empowerment, dignity of the person, [and] goal setting,” Hufft said.

The organization advanced this mission through a partnership with nonprofit Fundación Paraguaya and its coaching tool, Poverty Stoplight.

“What Poverty Stoplight has done with this partnership has brought us a tool … for the families to help better define what the goals are that tie to indicators of multidimensional poverty, help set their goals, and help see goal by goal achievement,” Hufft said.

Unbound works “in 16 countries and with over a quarter of a million families. So techniques and methods that work at a small scale don’t necessarily work at that scale,” Dan Pearson, chief international programs officer of Unbound, told CNA.

As of June, Unbound is the largest implementer of the Poverty Stoplight with more than 250,000 participants.

The first step of the program is for “the families themselves [to] determine the dimensions of poverty in their area,” Pearson said. “We know that poverty is not just about money. It’s about a whole range of lack of opportunities and lack of choices.”

They determine the most relevant indicators of poverty within their specific location. The families examine key indicators including income, employment, housing, education, and health to get a better idea of where they are at. 

Then the mothers and families themselves define what “poverty,” “extreme poverty,” and “no poverty” actually mean to them, which Pearson called an “eye-opening” step.

“It surprised us that most of the families we serve never had a clear picture of what they were trying to achieve. They see the wealthy people on TV, and they know that’s probably not where they’re going to get.” Pearson asked: “But, what are they trying to get to? What would that look like tangibly?”

“Then the third step is self-assessing,” Pearson said. Families decide what areas in their lives are “red” for extreme poverty, “yellow” for poverty, or “green” for no poverty. “With up to 50 indicators in each location, families found that they were already green in some areas.”

After finishing the assessment, families set priorities. They are given a “life map” that shows the “red, yellow, and green dots for each of the indicators, and they identify which of those they want to focus on now.”

They then receive a cash transfer from Unbound to aid their newly established goals. “Having the certainty of some income from us helps them do longer-term planning, because that decision-making horizon extends by weeks or months. And we make better decisions when we have a longer-term horizon like that,” Pearson said.

A June assessment found that since implementing Poverty Stoplight in 2020, Unbound “families have logged close to 300,000 achievements,” Hufft said. Meaning their indicators have moved “from extreme poverty to no poverty, or poverty to no poverty.”

Pearson attributed the success to the fact that “the families themselves retain control over the decisions that impact their lives.”

“Ultimately the families, and particularly the mothers … are the experts,” he said.

Agents of Change 

The mothers are “not doing it alone by any means,” Hufft said.

Unbound offers direct guidance through its local teams that provide training, support, and resources. But what is especially unique is that the families going through Unbound programs work together for assistance and encouragement.

In 2001, Unbound started its small-group model in India, placing 25 to 30 mothers in groups to meet monthly for extra support. Now, there are more than 11,000 groups across the globe.

“As we started to see some success with the Poverty Stoplight at the household level … we were trying to figure out then how [to] take that to the community level, again, without sacrificing the control that they have over these decisions,” Pearson said. “We looked to those small groups of women, and we created a program first called Agents of Change.”

The program places women who know their local challenges best at the forefront of coming up with solutions. They determine how funds are allocated to support community ideas that would improve lives and help break the cycle of poverty.

Unbound recently set aside a $500,000 innovation fund to fund larger approved projects. It will fund 10-12 grants ranging from $20,000 to $60,000, focused on addressing urgent needs identified by those experiencing them.

“The difference, though, is that they don’t submit those proposals to us, and they don’t submit those proposals to our donors or to our partners,” Pearson said.

“Our partners overseas work with the communities to select one representative from each country,” who then make up the committees that receive the program proposals. They decide which to fund, giving the women “the experience of being on the funder side, of having to weigh competing priorities within the community.”

The approved grants from the innovation fund will help thousands, including 600 families in San Marcos, Guatemala, that will receive access to clean water thanks to the “Sustainable and Accessible Water Supply System: Source of Life” program.

Another approved proposal is called “Disability Is Not Inability” developed in Tanzania that is “equipping a technical center for children with special needs” to help 100 Unbound sponsored and non-sponsored students.

Future of Unbound 

“We’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible and that our responsibility in international nonprofits is to look for new ways to create a framework where the community itself can take control of their futures,” Hufft said. 

“One of our strategic goals is elimination of poverty. If you look overall at the state of our world and … at the numbers of people living in extreme poverty, it does seem overwhelming,” Hufft said. But “what Unbound is showing, with data now because of Poverty Stoplight, it is possible.”

“When you take it family by family, individual by individual, it’s possible,” Hufft concluded.

The relic stolen from St. Dominic Savio Parish. / Credit: St. Dominic Savio Parish

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 1, 2025 / 17:19 pm (CNA).

A relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis was stolen from the St. Dominic Savio Parish in the Argentine Archdiocese of Paraná. The pastor is seeking to recover it, emphasizing that it has no material value but does have profound spiritual significance for the community.

Father Walter Minigutti, the pastor, told local media that the theft occurred minutes after noon on July 25 and was recorded on security cameras. A couple can be seen entering the church and removing the bolted glass case containing the relic, enthroned in 2021.

“This is truly a very sad day for us, and we need our saint [Carlo Acutis] to return to the parish. We are sharing the security camera footage, where this couple can be seen,” Minigutti said in an interview with the Argentine news site El Once.

A formal complaint has already been filed with the authorities, and the incident is under police investigation. Camera footage will be analyzed to identify those responsible for the theft.

The priest asked for the reliquary to be returned: “I beg whoever took the relics to return them. They have no monetary value, but they do have great spiritual value for our community,” he said. The reliquary contains a first-class relic: a strand of hair and a fingernail belonging to the future saint.

In a July 31 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the priest said that “there is still no news” and prayed “to the Lord and the blessed that this cherished relic may return.”

The figure of Carlo Acutis is very significant to the parish, so much so that a secondary school is being built in his name.

The relic was kept in a place specially prepared for its display and veneration, with a glass case containing a reliquary bearing the image of the young blessed dressed in everyday clothes, honoring his characterization as a “saint in jeans and sneakers.”

“The place was designed so that the faithful could contemplate him. He is a very contemporary saint, close to young people, and his life conveys a powerful message about faith in the present time,” Minigutti said in his interview with El Once.

Acutis, who died at the age of 15, was deeply devoted to the Eucharist: “He went to Mass every day, prayed the rosary, did Eucharistic adoration, and used the internet to evangelize. He’s an example for our youth,” the priest said.

“This is devastating for us because it’s something very dear to us, but I have great faith and confidence in the residents of Paraná and Santa Lucía neighborhood, so please give us a hand to recover it,” he appealed.

In a few days, on Aug. 12, it will be four years since the relic was enthroned in the church. For that reason, a Mass in honor of Acutis is celebrated on the 12th of every month. The blessed’s feast day is Oct. 12, the day he died.

Acutis is scheduled to be canonized on Sept. 7 along with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.

“A blessed is one of the many blessings that God gives to the Church, and having his relics is having part of his life’s story among us,” the parish priest stated, emphasizing that “the sentimental, religious, and spiritual value he holds for the community is incalculable.”

Finally, he called for “reflection and solidarity: If anyone knows these people or just finds these relics, please bring them back to the parish.”

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

Young people raise their voices from the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere on Aug. 1, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 1, 2025 / 16:49 pm (CNA).

“We’re not tourists in spiritual things. We are pilgrims [searching for] meaning. We come with backpacks full of doubts, wounds, songs, and hope. And with a certainty in our hearts: Christ is alive. And he calls us.”

Thus begins the “Manifesto of the Young Christians of Europe,” the heart of the “Rome ’25-Way of St. James ’27-Jerusalem ’33” project, which aims to “restore the soul” of the Old Continent and invites Christians to encounter the Lord through pilgrimage, healing, and evangelization.

This initiative, which began to take shape two years ago with the support of the Bishops’ Subcommission for Youth and Children of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, as well as the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and the Church in Jerusalem, invites young Christians across the continent to open up a new pathway to faith and hope in view of the Jubilee of the Redemption, which will be celebrated in 2033.

The initiative is also supported by the Holy See and Pope Leo XIV, to whom it was presented after a general audience at the Vatican on June 25.

The key moment for the project took place on the morning of Friday, Aug. 1, amid the Jubilee of Youth. Many young people gathered at St. Mary’s Basilica in Trastevere to give voice to a generation that wants to create a new Europe with Christ at its center.

“This manifesto is an act of faith and a call to hope. It is the voice of a [generation of] youth who do not want to remain on the sidelines, who don’t have to clamor, ‘We want more [material things],’ we want Christ at the center... The revolution has begun; the Spirit is blowing,” said Fernando Moscardó, who served as one of the youth spokespersons for the project during the presentation in Rome in July.

On that occasion, Monsignor Marco Gnavi, parish priest at St. Mary’s Basilica in Trastevere and host of the Aug. 1 event, said he was “surprised by the enthusiasm of young people,” especially in a time of “painful changes.”

The document has been published on the project’s official website, and all those “who feel part of it” are encouraged to sign it.

In addition, all information, updates, and progress on the initiative will be shared through social media under the handle @J2R2033 (Journey to Redemption 2033).

At the Aug. 1 event, attended by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, several young people of various nationalities read the manifesto aloud.

Fisichella also dedicated time to praying for peace in the world, especially for Ukraine and the conflict in the Holy Land. Among those present were young people from Palestine and Israel.

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

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in New York City. / Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 16:19 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing a rule change that would prohibit medical centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from performing both surgical and chemical abortions in most cases and from providing counseling that encourages abortion.

The proposed regulatory change, submitted by the VA on Aug. 1, must undergo a 30-day public comment period before it can be adopted.

Under the proposal, abortion would only be allowed when the mother’s life is at risk. The text also clarifies that women can still receive all necessary treatments for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.

In an explanation provided with the rule change proposal, VA regulators note that Congress created the department to provide “only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families.” It states that unless the mother’s life is at risk, “abortion is not a ‘needed’ VA service.”

From 1999 — when the VA established its first medical benefits package — through September 2022, the department did not offer abortion or pro-abortion counseling. It was not until after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to restrict abortion that President Joe Biden’s administration changed the regulation to permit broad abortion coverage at the VA.

The Biden-era rule permits the VA to perform abortions if “the life or the health” of the woman is endangered by the pregnancy, which broadly extends to both physical and mental health. The new Trump administration proposed rule would create a more strict standard, only permitting abortion “when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.”

Under the Biden-era rule, the VA can also perform abortions in cases of rape and incest, which are self-reported and not verified. The Trump administration’s proposed rule change would not permit the VA to perform abortions in these instances.

The VA’s explanation of the proposed rule change notes that prior to the Biden administration’s shift, the VA “had consistently interpreted abortion services as not ‘needed’ medical services and therefore not covered by the medical benefits package.” It states that the Biden-era rule is “legally questionable.”

“This proposed rule restores VA to its proper role as the United States’ provider of needed medical services to those who served, delivered on behalf of a grateful nation,” the explanation reads.

A spokesperson for the VA said in a statement provided to CNA that the prior administration’s shift was “politically motivated” and that “federal law and long-standing precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling.”

“[The] VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms,” the spokesperson added.

When the Biden administration adopted the rule to expand abortions at the VA, the archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Timothy P. Broglio, condemned the rule as “morally repugnant and incongruent with the Gospel.” 

“I implore the faithful of this archdiocese to continue to advocate for human life and to refuse any participation in the evil of abortion,” Broglio said at the time.

Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro is the new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. / Credit: ACI Stampa

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 15:56 pm (CNA).

The new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, says the Church has plans to address a number of pressing matters surrounding human dignity, including artificial intelligence (AI), health systems, and the environment. 

When Pegoraro stepped into his new role, he said Pope Leo XIV recommended the academy continue a dialogue “with experts from various disciplines on the challenges facing humanity on the theme of life and the quality of life in different contexts.”

The academy will also continue its focus on “issues related to the beginning and end of life as well as environmental sustainability, equity in health care systems, the right to care, health, and essential services.”

In an interview with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Catholic News Service, Pegoraro said as “we live in a difficult landscape … and human life on the planet is truly challenged,” the Catholic Church “has a wealth of wisdom and a vision to serve everyone in order to make the world a better and more livable place.”

Technology and AI

Pegoraro said that “all facets of society” must be involved in the “debate” regarding technology. 

“Really, everything can be addressed if all of society — policymakers, governments, the Church, different organizations — put the issue of the use of technology at the forefront,“ Pegoraro said. “And the media also have a very important role in disseminating information and subject matter on this.”

As AI advances at fast rates, Pegoraro said, the Pontifical Academy for Life “can make an important contribution to the development of the papal magisterium, in line with all the dicasteries.”

The academy, with Catholic Physicians Throughout the World, will organize an international meeting in Rome in November on “AI and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity.” The conference will “confront the changes introduced by AI” and “enhance the ‘Rome Call for AI Ethics,’” a 2020 document that lays the foundations for an ethical use of AI.

The progress of AI and robotics, especially in the health field, is “extraordinary,” but “we must never forget that the needs of the person who is sick and in need of help are the priority,” Pegoraro said.

Health systems

Pegoraro shared that the Church “will address the sustainability of health systems in February 2026, with examples from five continents and detailed studies.”

Leaders will ensure that “ethical framework” will be a theme at the international congress. 

“We want to end up with a strong call to understand that ‘health’ and health systems must provide answers centered on life in all contexts, in all social and political realms,” Pegoraro said. 

“In addition to scientific knowledge, there is a need for an ethical point of view and an awareness of the questions that come from patients, from those who are sick.” 

Pegoraro highlighted the importance of supporting the sick through end-of-life care. The academy “promotes palliative care, always and especially in the final and fragile phases of life, always asking that there be attention to and respect for the protection and dignity of people who are frail.”

When asked about “aggressive treatment and the requirement to provide food and hydration to individuals in a vegetative state,” Pegoraro said it is “very complex.” But, he said, “we need to understand how to interpret treatments so that they may support and care for sick people.”

“Every situation is to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis so that they support the sick person and are not a source of further suffering,” Pegoraro said. “There are no ready-made solutions; instead, an approach of constant dialogue between doctor, patient, and family members must be fostered.”

Most urgent matters

According to Pegoraro, the most urgent bioethical and AI-related issue to tackle is “data management, its use, and storage, the objectives of the so-called ‘Big Companies,’” including Google, Apple, Facebook, and others. 

“The topic of human life must be posed by looking at all dimensions of its development, at different social and political contexts, at its connection with respect for the environment, and by scrutinizing how technologies either help us live more fully and better or [hurt us by] providing terrible tools for control and manipulation.”

The topic of data is key, because “today, the wealth of big industries is the data we ourselves put on the internet,” Pegoraro said. 

“We need a public debate on a global scale,” he said, “a grand coalition aimed at the respect of data … The framework is clear and Pope Francis gave it to us with Fratelli Tutti, expanding on Vatican II: We are one human family, and the issues of development and life affect every one of us.”

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, expressed approval of U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments recognizing starvation in Gaza. 

“I commend President Trump for acknowledging that starvation is happening in Gaza, especially affecting children,” Zaidan wrote in a July 31 statement, adding: “And I urge him to demand the immediate expansion of humanitarian assistance through all channels in Gaza.” 

Zaidan, who leads the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, has remained outspoken in his calls for “lasting peace” in the Holy Land.

The Lebanese bishop’s comments come after Trump told reporters during a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland: “We’ll be helping with the food ... We’re also going to make sure that they don’t have barriers stopping people ... We can save a lot of people. That’s real starvation. I see it, and you can’t fake that.”

Zaidan further cited remarks by the Holy Father during the Angelus last Sunday: “Reflecting Christ’s mandate in the Gospel to love one another, Pope Leo XIV’s challenge to us is clear: ‘We cannot pray to God as “Father” and then be harsh and insensitive towards others. Instead, it is important to let ourselves be transformed by his goodness, his patience, his mercy, so that his face may be reflected in ours as in a mirror.’”

Leo’s appeal came after an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic parish left three dead and 15 wounded, including the parish’s pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have said the strike was incidental, with Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein expressing the country’s “deep regret over the damage to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and over any civilian casualties.” 

Zaidan expressed solidarity on behalf of the bishops’ conference with Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Gazan Christians; “and all men and women of goodwill in the Holy Land, especially those suffering from unprovoked violence.” 

“Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, creator and vivifier, may infuse fraternal love into the hearts and minds of peoples of all faiths living in the lands of Our Lord’s life, death, and glorious resurrection,” Zaidan concluded.

A priest listens to a penitent during confession during a reconciliation event at the Circus Maximus, Rome, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Aug 1, 2025 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

Thousands of Jubilee of Youth pilgrims headed to the Circus Maximus in Rome on Friday to receive the Church’s sacrament of reconciliation.

While patiently waiting in long and winding queues to have their confessions heard at the ancient site — where Christians were once martyred for their faith — pilgrims told CNA why seeking God’s forgiveness is important for them.

Touched by Pope Leo XIV’s reminder to young people that “hope does not disappoint,” Canadian Angie Alvarez Salinas from the Archdiocese of Toronto said she believes “the love of God triumphs” over any sin.

“Confession is that renewal,” she said. “Like how Jesus said, ‘I make all things new’ ... You’re made clean and you’re made a ‘new creation.’”

“It gives you hope knowing that no matter what you have done previously or whatever your path, your struggles, or your sufferings are,” she said, “God knows you at the deepest level and he just wants to shower you with his love.”

Braving the Roman heat to get to the Circus Maximus by midday, Australian Louis Shu, who joined a 70-person international delegation organized by the Pallottine Fathers and Brothers, said he was surprised and moved to see so many people lining up to talk one-on-one with a priest.

“Confession is something that young people might shy away from,” he told CNA. “I think especially in the last few years that there’s been a change or something in the air that’s really bringing young people back into the Church.”

“People are searching for meaning, people are searching for God, for Jesus,” he said. “And I think this Jubilee Year of Hope is definitely a way of bringing young people back in.”  

“I think it shows that the Church is alive and that young people still go to Church,” he added.

Iraqi Nicholas Dastafkan told CNA he believes confession is the most important sacrament after baptism as it makes you feel like “a reborn baby without any sins.”

“There is no church in the city I’m living in Turkey,” he said. “But whenever I find a Catholic church or even a Catholic priest on the street I go to confession.”

Grateful for the spiritual advice he has received from priests, Dastafkan said their words are like a “charger” that reenergizes Christians to live their faith in their daily lives.

For Filipino seminarian Vinnize Rey Pilapil, who is accompanying a youth delegation from the Philippines, seeing the “enormous number of people” at the Friday jubilee event dedicated to prayer and penance was a surprise.

Emphasizing that it is Jesus Christ himself — not the priest — who absolves sins, Pilapil said the desire of wanting to go to confession is a sign of grace that someone is being “called by God.”

“You are telling your story and you’re confessing your sins to Jesus himself,” he told CNA. “As we know in the Gospel, he listens, he welcomes you, he embraces you, and, most especially, he pardons all your sins.”