St. Andrew Catholic Church

Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Sept. 14, 2025. / Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday commended U.S. advocates marching in support of those suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), praising those in Chicago seeking a cure for the disease while walking with those afflicted by it. 

The pope gave the video address to marchers at the Les Turner ALS Foundation’s annual ALS Walk for Life. Described as “the biggest ALS gathering in the Midwest,” the foundation says it is “building teams, raising funds for essential care and research, and turning the tide in the fight” against ALS, which affects motor neurons and leads to muscle weakness, paralysis and death. 

Leo in his address expressed “admiration and gratefulness” to the scientists in the gathering, who he said have spent “countless hours” studying the disease in a bid to find a cure. 

“In the last 10 years — using all your knowledge and compassion to understand motor neuron diseases and to alleviate the sufferings those diseases cause — you have made remarkable progress,” he said. “I, like everyone here, am deeply grateful to you.”

He also praised caregivers in the crowd, including doctors and physical therapists, describing them as “angels” who offer “inspiration to me and to all people.” 

“You show us the best of humanity,” he said. 

Further addressing those who suffer from ALS — also known as Lou Gherig’s disease — the pope assured them that they occupy a “special place in my thoughts and prayers.” 

“You have been given a very difficult burden to bear. I wish it [were] otherwise,” Leo said. “Your sufferings, however, offer you an opportunity to discover and affirm a profound truth: The quality of human life is not dependent on achievement.” 

“The quality of our lives is dependent on love,” he continued. “In your suffering, you can experience a depth of human love previously unknown. You can grow in gratefulness for all that has been given and for all the people who are caring for you now. You can develop a profound sense of the beauty of creation, of life in this world and of the mystery of love.”

“I pray for you,” he added. “I pray that rather than being possessed by frustration or hopelessness or despair, you surrender yourself to the mystery of human existence, to the love of your caregivers and to the embrace of the Divine One.”

Pope Leo also comforted those mourning loved ones who have passed from ALS. 

“You have not forgotten them. And, in fact, your love has been purified by your service and then by your mourning,” he said. “You have learned and are every day entering more deeply into the most profound of mysteries — death is not the final word.” 

“Love conquers death,” he said, repeating it twice more: “Love conquers death. Love conquers death.”

The Les Turner ALS Foundation’s annual walk was launched in 2002. The foundation was founded by, and named after, Chicago businessman Les Turner in 1976. 

The organization has raised tens of millions of dollars in support of finding a cure to ALS since its founding. 

Pope Leo XIV addresses thousands of Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment during the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, in St. Peter's Square on Sept. 20, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.

Vatican City, Sep 20, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Forgiveness is fundamental to the virtue of justice, Pope Leo XIV said to thousands of legal professionals gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Workers of Justice on Saturday.

“It is the power of forgiveness, which is proper to the commandment of love, that emerges as a constitutive element of a justice capable of combining the supernatural with the human,” the pope said in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 20.

Leo, who has a doctorate in Church law, explained that the evangelical virtue of justice is not a distraction from human justice, but “questions and redesigns it: It provokes it to go even further, because it pushes it towards the search for reconciliation.”

“Evil, in fact, must not only be punished, but also repaired, and to this end, a profound gaze toward the good of individuals and the common good is necessary,” he urged Church and civil lawyers, judges, and others who work in the legal environment.

“This is an arduous task, but not impossible for those who, aware that they are performing a more demanding service than others, are committed to leading an irreproachable life,” the pope added.

An estimated 20,000 people from 100 countries took part in the Jubilee of Workers of Justice, part of the yearlong Jubilee of Hope, including a large number of pilgrims from the United States and Canada. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was also in attendance.

Joshua McCaig, a lawyer and founding president of the Catholic Bar Association, traveled to Rome for the jubilee with a delegation of over 50 legal professionals from the U.S.

He told EWTN News he hopes the event “will be an opportunity for us all to reflect on what more we can do for the common good.”

“The Catholic Church brings resources, brings hope, brings community, brings values that are instilled in the teachings of Jesus Christ to help all individuals — but also those in the legal profession — further develop an understanding of how this world should be and the role we should play in it,” he said.

Before the audience with the pope, Archbishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, gave a lecture on the theme of “Iustitia Imago Dei: the operator of justice, instrument of hope.”

“Those who administer justice in the Church must also be pastors. … They must respect justice, but they are pastors who must also watch over the good of souls,” Arrieta told EWTN News this week.

In his message, Pope Leo emphasized that the function of justice “is indispensable both for the orderly development of society and as a cardinal virtue that inspires and guides the conscience of every man and woman.”

“Striving for justice, therefore, requires being able to love it as a reality that can only be achieved through constant attention, radical disinterest, and assiduous discernment,” he said.

He noted that the Jubilee of Workers of Justice is a chance to also reflect on an overlooked aspect of justice, the reality that many countries and people “hunger and thirst for justice” because their living conditions are gravely unjust and inhuman.

The pontiff cited St. Augustine, calling the saint’s words “timeless truths” to apply to the current international situation.

“'Without justice,'” the pope quoted, “'the state cannot be administered; it is impossible to have law in a state where there is no true justice. An act performed according to law is certainly performed according to justice, and it is impossible to perform an act according to law that is performed against justice [...] A state where there is no justice is not a state. Justice is, in fact, the virtue that distributes to each his due. Therefore, it is not human justice that takes man away from the true God.'”

“May the challenging words of St. Augustine inspire each of us to always express the exercise of justice in the service of the people to the best of our ability, with our gaze turned to God, so as to fully respect justice, law, and the dignity of persons,” Leo said.

Matteo Ciofi, EWTN News Nightly Vatican producer, and Victoria Cardiel, Vatican Correspondent for ACI Prensa/EWTN News, contributed to this report.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 20, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed.

Bomb squad called after Christian nonprofit CEO in Ireland receives anthrax

The Irish Army bomb squad blocked off part of Dublin city center this week after David Quinn, CEO of the Iona Institute, received a letter in the mail containing a white powdery substance purporting to be anthrax. In a post on social media, Quinn wrote: “Received this in the post today. Nice,” sharing an image of a letter containing the white substance, which read: “Happy anthrax.” 

“I opened up the thing about 1 o’clock and all this powder comes out,” Quinn told the Irish Independent. “It was just addressed ‘Iona Institute,’ so it’s basically targeting me and Breda O’Brien,” he continued, adding: “I can only imagine that it’s somebody with a hang-up about the Catholic Church.”

Catholic monastery in Corfu closes after 381 years due to ‘lack of vocations’

The Capuchin Fathers monastery in Corfu, Greece, has been shut down after nearly 400 years due to a “lack of vocations,” according to the Greek Reporter. 

A final Mass at the monastery was celebrated by the Catholic archbishop of Corfu, Georgios Altouvas, this week, the report said, noting that “worshippers who had long turned to the friars for guidance and support wept as they bid farewell to the last brothers.” The order reportedly said they could no longer find friars to continue running the monastery’s operations.

Mass attendance in Austria goes up, disaffiliation goes down

Mass attendance in Austria has gone up, according to statistics reported by the Pillar on Sept. 17, and the number of individuals filing for formal disaffiliation from the Church has gone down in the past year. 

In addition to the positive attendance trend, the annual statistics also found a rise in Church tax revenue. According to the Pillar, the data reflects a rise from 309,000 worshippers in the spring of 2022 to 378,797 in the fall of 2024. “Attendance rose in the Sankt Pölten Diocese, led by Bishop Alois Schwarz, from 40,193 and 42,652 in 2023 to 63,520 and 46,179 in 2024. In the Vienna Archdiocese, the increase was from 56,906 and 63,157 in 2023 to 78,806 and 84,621 in 2024,” the Pillar reported.

Church in Nepal joins government in condemning unrest

The apostolic administrator of the Vicariate of Nepal, Father Silas Bogati, has signaled approval of the new interim government led by former Chief Justice Sushila Karki amid ongoing anti-corruption protests that have left at least 72 dead, according to UCA news. 

“We as a Catholic community have confidence in Sushila Karki, who, among other things, in the past, when she was still a lawyer, defended one of our priests and some religious sisters who had been wrongly accused in several court cases,” Bogati said of the country’s new interim leader. “We have a good opinion of her and trust in her work in the coming months to act in accordance with the rule of law and the democratic principles of justice and legality.”

Democratic Republic of Congo bishops denounce latest killings

The National Episcopal Conference of Congo has condemned the new wave of deadly attacks in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, decrying what they describe as the growing trivialization of human life in the Central African nation, according to ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa. 

In a Sept. 16 statement shared with ACI Africa, the bishops highlighted recent attacks and expressed concern about the “evolution of the security situation, particularly in the eastern part of the country, which continues to suffer enormous loss of human life as a result of various forms of violence.” The deadliest incident, the Church leaders said, occurred Sept. 8 when at least 102 people were killed in Ntoyo village, Lubero Territory.

Benin bishop: Jihadist attacks ‘a constant threat to our pastoral activities’

Bishop Martin Adjou Moumouni of the Diocese of N’Dali in the West African country of Benin is speaking out after jihadists carried out an attack on a local village, targeting its police station, looting homes, and taking at least six hostages, according to statements the prelate made to Fides News Agency. 

“Nigerian Jihadists have long been spreading terror in our diocese, especially in rural areas,” the bishop said. “We were forced to suspend pastoral activities in the villages, and even in the city, I asked the priests of my diocese to hold services only during daylight hours, as insecurity increases with nightfall.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols signs joint statement to end war in Gaza

The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, has signed a joint statement with Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and other church leaders from England and Ireland, pushing for an end to the war in Gaza.

“We fear that the unfolding assault on Gaza City will only intensify the human suffering and misery as already malnourished and traumatized families are forced, yet again, to flee the horrors of this war,” the statement reads. “This deadly escalation is futile and must stop.” The statement comes ahead of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace on Sept. 21, for which many Christian leaders have organized a day of prayer and public witness. 

Christians in Syria divided over police presence at churches

Syria’s Ministry of the Interior has tightened security measures around churches by deploying armed guards at their entrances following the St. Elias Church bombing in June, according to a Sept. 16 report from ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner. 

“Many believe that the guards give them a sense of comfort and reassurance during prayer, as it provides a layer of protection,” said Joseph Kneifati, a deacon in the Melkite Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Aleppo. “But on the other hand, the church is our second home, sometimes even our first.”

“When we enter and are asked where we’re going, it feels less natural,” he added. “Since childhood, we’ve been accustomed to attending church freely and simply. The presence of armed personnel at the doors has erased that spirit.”

“Nuns vs. The Vatican” includes the detailed stories of Gloria Branciani (left) and Mirjam Kovac, two of three former members of the Loyola Community in Slovenia in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Father Marko Rupnik, a co-founder of the community, is accused of having committed sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against dozens of women religious. / Credit: Filippo Piscopo/Film2 Productions

CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A documentary on Father Marko Rupnik’s alleged abuse of consecrated women, the personal fallout for two of his alleged victims, and what happened when the claims became public decades later premiered at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month.

“Nuns vs. The Vatican” includes the detailed stories of Gloria Branciani, Mirjam Kovac, and Klara (identified only by her first name), three former members of the Loyola Community in Slovenia in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Rupnik, a co-founder of the community, is accused of having committed sexual, psychological, and spiritual abuse against dozens of women religious.

Through the stories of Branciani and Klara, the film, which premiered Sept. 6, argues that Rupnik’s alleged abuse was inextricably linked to his religious art. It also claims he was protected in the Catholic Church, in which he shot to stardom in the 1990s, and interviews experts who say the Vatican’s response has been inadequate.

Branciani was part of the Ignatius Loyola Community in Slovenia, which was co-founded by Rupnik in the 1980s. In the documentary, she recalls how Rupnik allegedly groomed and then sexually and psychologically abused her in the early ’90s and how the abuse was intricately connected with the creation of his art. 

According to Branciani, her complaints about Rupnik went unanswered, she was punished by the community’s mother superior at the time, Ivanka Hosta, and forced out of religious life by Father Tomáš Špidlík, a Czech cardinal and Jesuit who died in 2010. Špidlík, who was close to Rupnik and the priest’s art and spirituality center in Rome, the Centro Aletti, allegedly wrote the resignation letter on her behalf.

In addition to testimony from the alleged victims and their lawyer, it includes the voices of journalists, psychologists, and other abuse experts, including Barbara Dorris, a former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), who was sexually abused by a priest between the ages of 6 and 13.

Dorris and Laura Sgrò, a lawyer for some of Rupnik’s alleged victims, are highly critical of the Church hierarchy’s response to clerical sexual abuse throughout the documentary.

No one from the Vatican participated in the documentary. The film said requests for comment from Rupnik and the former head of the Loyola Community, Hosta, were ignored.

Sarah Pearson, a spokesperson for SNAP, said in a statement to CNA that “SNAP is proud of the legacy of Barbara Dorris, a longtime leader and tireless advocate for the 1 in 3 nuns who experience sexual abuse by priests.”

Pearson continued: “The case of Jesuit priest Father Marko Rupnik illustrates this catastrophe with tragic clarity. Despite overwhelming reports of abuse, Rupnik was shielded for years — kept in ministry through the Vatican’s intervention under Pope Francis. Only after prolonged public outrage was he finally subjected to a canonical process.”

Italian Lorena Luciano directed the film. It was produced by Filippo Piscopo. “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay is among the documentary’s executive producers.

A spokesperson for “Nuns vs. The Vatican” told CNA the documentary will continue to be shown at film festivals in North America, and they are working on getting a screening at the Vatican.

“We are also waiting to see whether Pope Leo will push for the ecclesiastical trial against Rupnik to happen in the fall,” a spokesperson for the production company added.

Earlier this year, the Vatican removed artwork by Rupnik from its official websites. Digital images of the Slovenian priest’s sacred art, which were frequently used by Vatican News to illustrate articles of the Church’s liturgical feast days, are no longer found on the digital news service.

The changes to the Vatican News and the Dicastery for Communication websites came soon after Pope Leo XIV met with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on June 5.

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CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In 2023, Minnesota passed a law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz, that prohibits clinical mental health counselors from practicing “conversion therapy” with minors, effectively barring them from offering any guidance that does not affirm a child’s struggles with sexual orientation or gender identity. 

This ban, enacted under House File 16 and effective Aug. 1, 2023, complicates access to tailored mental health resources for minors struggling with these issues, especially when a minor seeks to change his or her identity. 

David Kirby, a clinical mental health counselor in Minnesota, told CNA that the law created a new minority: young people with same-sex attraction (SSA) who do not want it.

“There are people who find their gay attraction ego dystonic,” Kirby said. “They don’t want it. Maybe some were born with a propensity to SSA, but they know it’s not how they were created to be.”

The American Psychological Association (APA) opposes conversion therapy, or what it refers to as “sexual orientation change efforts,” because it says such efforts do not meet its definition of therapy, which is a “remediation of a physical, mental, or behavioral disorder or disease.” 

“Same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality regardless of sexual orientation identity,” according to the APA, and “efforts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be successful and involve risk of harm.”

Opponents of conversion therapy often cite the use of shock therapy, which was a derivative of behavioral techniques popular in the mid-20th century. The practice has not been used in the U.S. for decades, however, according to the APA. Shock therapy peaked between the 1940s and 1970s, aligning with the APA’s classification of homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disturbance in 1952 until its declassification as a mental disorder in 1973.

The APA acknowledges that over the last several decades, however, conversion therapy in the U.S. entails only cognitive behavioral and other forms of psychotherapy. 

Ban discourages therapists from addressing other issues, opponents say

Numerous studies, including those from the APA and the National Institute of Mental Health, indicate that struggles with sexual orientation and gender identity often co-occur with other mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder.

According to the Minnesota law’s opponents, the ban on psychotherapy that does not affirm sexual orientation and gender identity can discourage therapists, fearing legal or licensing repercussions, from addressing other underlying psychological issues — such as trauma or other mental health conditions — that could contribute to someone not wanting to be gay or transgender.

Kirby said he and others who testified in the state Legislature against the bill in 2018 and again in 2023 have been “heckled,” and some faced “extreme verbal abuse.”

Kirby said the law has had a chilling effect on Christian counselors, some of whom are afraid that if they say anything in therapy sessions that is not gay- or transgender-affirming, they could face some kind of consequence.

He said he and other counselors also have a “fear that people are coming into therapy posing as clients to spy out the therapist.”

So far, however, he said he has not run into any consequences or “pseudo-clients” himself, nor has he heard of anyone else having done so.

The fear and anxiety remain, nevertheless.

“The bill was superfluous,” Kirby said.

Two of the negative consequences of the law, in Kirby’s opinion, are that it locks people with SSA or gender identity issues into thinking “I can’t change who I am” even if they might want to. It also creates a false presumption of homophobia or transphobia. The idea that “anyone who disagrees with me is afraid of me” is just not accurate, he said.

These things are “really, really deceptive and sad for” people with SSA or gender dysphoria, he said.

“What are therapists for, anyway?” he asked. “We’re here to listen to what the client wants. We’re not here to further our agenda. We all learned that in graduate school. We listen to what the client wants, and if we feel we cannot help them, we tell them so.”

The District of Columbia and 23 states have laws that prohibit mental health counselors from practicing conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBT think tank. Four other states and Puerto Rico restrict but do not prohibit the practice.

‘I know I am not a woman, but I definitely don’t feel like a man’

The journal of Robin Westman, the 23-year-old man who killed two children and injured at least 20 people at a Catholic school in Minneapolis in August, showed in a video on YouTube before the attack that he wrote: “I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.” 

“Westman wasn’t clear on who he was,” Kirby observed. “He said he regretted his ‘brainwashing,’” referring to his transgender identity.

When asked how he or other Christian counselors would have responded if Westman had come to them for help, Kirby said: “He would have found people who are nonjudgmental; people who would have loved him, met him where he was at.”

He would have received “loving attention, to hear his story; hear his confusion; walk with him,” Kirby continued.

No one would have “hoisted any agenda on him,” he said. “He would have been met by people who were full of compassion, to help him find the pain.”

“In the end, it’s not about changing our gender. It’s not the solution,” Kirby said. “It is to find the deepest pain. At the core of our identity, who we are in God’s eyes, in our own eyes. People resort to turning to gender but it’s not the solution. It’s just a distraction from the deepest pain in the heart.”

A new mural painted by artist Adam Cvijanovic, the south and west panels seen here, was unveiled at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in New York. The mural, which is the largest permanent artwork commissioned for the cathedral in its 146-year history, celebrates the 1879 Apparition at Knock, Ireland, the faith of generations of immigrants to New York, and the service of New York City’s first responders. / Credit: Diane Bondareff/AP Content Services for the Archdiocese of New York

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan has unveiled a 25-foot-tall mural honoring migrants to New York City. 

Housed in the entryway of the iconic New York church, the mural, “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding,” portrays the apparition of Mary, Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist to the Irish village of Knock as well as immigrants from all over the world, including well-known figures such as Dorothy Day, Pierre Toussaint, and Alfred E. Smith. 

The mural also shows the first Native American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is set to bless the mural this coming Sunday, said at a press briefing on Thursday: “This became not only an ode to Jesus and Mary and Joseph and St. John and the faith of the Irish people who were so instrumental in this archdiocese, it also became an ode to those who followed them and found in this city, this country, and yes, in this Holy Mother Church, an embrace of welcome.” 

Dolan, who will be joined for the official dedication by the rector of the Knock Shrine in Ireland, said he had intended the mural to go up with the last renovations at St. Patrick’s in 2012 but was advised to wait. 

“I’m kind of glad now, because it matured — it was like a Crock-Pot,” he said. 

Adam Cvijanovic, the mural’s painter, said: “I thought when I started making this painting that the important thing to do was to make it about people and portraits. So, everybody in this painting is an actual person. They’re all portraits. Even the angels.”

Dolan’s late mother, Shirley, was the model for one of the immigrants Cvijanovic portrayed. First responders are also depicted in the mural.

“That seemed to me to be a really, really important thing to do,” Cvijanovic continued, “to talk about the people of the city, all of them, and to have it in some place that people could go in New York and feel themselves recognized in the context of respect and hope.”

Major benefactors covered the cost of the mural, according to Dolan.

The cathedral’s rector, Father Enrique Salvo, an immigrant from Nicaragua, weighed in on the mural, saying: “If you would have told me that I was going to be the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral when I came to this country, I would have never believed it. But with God, all things are possible, and hopefully it’s an inspiration for everyone that walks in, that we’re not only welcome, but we’re also invited to make a difference and to let God shine through us.”

Pope Leo XIV receives members of various religious congregations on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 15:31 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday highlighted the value of the vow of obedience in institutes of religious life as “a school of freedom in love” that lays the foundations of fidelity beyond “the ‘feelings’ of the moment.”

During a Sept. 18 meeting with participants in the general chapters and assemblies of various congregations and institutes, the pontiff reflected on “some unifying characteristics” of the legacy of the founders of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Society of Mary (Marists), the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception, and the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate.

First, he emphasized the importance of community life “as a place of sanctification and a source of inspiration, witness, and strength in your apostolate.”

In this regard, Leo XIV explained to those present that “it is no coincidence that the Holy Spirit inspired those who preceded you to join the sisters and brothers whom Providence placed on their path, so that goodness would multiply and grow through the communion of good people. This was the case at the beginning of your foundations and throughout the centuries, and the same continues to take place today.”

Second, Leo XIV emphasized the value of “obedience as an act of love” in the context of religious consecration.

Drawing on the words of St. Augustine, he recalled that obedience is the daughter of charity: “I do not trust what is stuck in the soil unless I can see what’s hanging from the branches. You have charity, do you? Show me its fruit. Let me see obedience,” the saint of Hippo said.

Leo: Talk of obedience ‘is not very fashionable today’

Leo XIV admitted that “talking about obedience is not very fashionable today,” because it is considered to involve a renunciation of one’s own freedom.

“But that is not the case,” he affirmed before explaining that “obedience, in its deepest meaning of active and generous listening to others, is a great act of love by which we accept dying to ourselves so that our brothers and sisters may grow and live.”

“When it is professed and lived with faith, obedience reveals a luminous path of self-giving that can help the world rediscover the value of sacrifice, the capacity for lasting relationships, and the maturity in community that goes beyond the “feelings” of the moment by establishing itself in fidelity. Obedience is a school of freedom in love,” he explained.

The third characteristic highlighted by the pontiff is related to “being attentive to the signs of the times,” which he defined as “an open and perceptive gaze toward the real demands of our brothers and sisters,” without which the present congregations would not have existed.

“Your founders were capable of observing, evaluating, loving, and then setting out, even at the risk of great suffering and failure, to serve the real needs of their brothers and sisters, recognizing the voice of God in the poverty of their neighbors,” the pontiff noted, encouraging the participants “to move forward in the living memory of those courageous beginnings” to identify their potential, “perhaps still unexplored, in order to put them to good use in the service of the ‘here and now.’”

In his parting words to the religious, Leo XIV praised the hidden work they do: “Dear friends, I know how much good you do every day in so many parts of the world — good that is often unseen by human eyes but not by God’s! I thank you and bless you from my heart, encouraging you to continue your mission with faith and generosity.”

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

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 14:31 pm (CNA).

This week the Patients Rights Action Fund, which works to “end the dangerous and discriminatory public policy of assisted suicide,” provided an update on current assisted suicide legislation in the United States, revealing the deadly practice’s ongoing expansion throughout the country.

In a Sept. 18 webinar, group coalitions director Jessica Rodgers explained that most states that allow assisted suicide follow the “Oregon model,” based on Oregan’s assisted suicide criteria. 

The model requires “the patient to be 18 years of age or older, have a terminal illness with six months or less to live, make two or more separate requests with a 15-day waiting period in between, and have two witnesses, which can include heirs to the estate or friends of heirs,” Rodgers said. 

“The drugs must be self-administered and all states do require the falsification of the death certificate,” Rodgers said, meaning the states list the underlying condition that qualifies the patient as the cause of death rather than the prescribed drug that ends his or her life.

States attempting expansions to assisted suicide laws

In 2025, new legislation was proposed in a number of states where assisted suicide is legal to advance its polices and limit some of the “safeguards” in place.

A New Jersey bill was proposed that would remove the 15-day waiting period and the second request if the prescriber thinks death will occur within the time period. The bill is still in play and has not been passed yet. 

In Maine, a 15-day waiting period was reduced to seven days in cases when it is “in the best interests of the patient” according to the judgment of the prescriber. The legislation was passed and signed by the governor after the original version was amended that would have allowed the whole waiting period to be waived.

A Delaware bill passed that allows for advanced practice nurses to prescribe the medication that kills the patients. The bill has no requirements for an in-person exam or a mental health evaluation. 

California proposed a major change that reduced the 15-day waiting period for assisted suicide to only 48 hours. The bill also removes the sunset date, which will keep the End of Life Option Act from expiring. The bill passed last week and is awaiting a signature by the governor.

Some states proposed expansions, but the legislation did not advance. In Washington, D.C., there was a public hearing on a bill that would remove the waiting period in certain cases, but no action was taken.

An Oregon bill was also not advanced that proposed nurse practitioners and physician assistants could prescribe to patients seeking assisted suicide. It also pushed for the waiting period to be reduced from 15 days to 48 hours and would waive the period completely if death is “expected imminently.”

Proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide 

Assisted suicide is legal in 10 states and D.C., but a number of other states have active legislation to legalize it. 

In New York a bill to legalize assisted suicide was approved and is awaiting signature by the governor, which she must sign by the end of the year. The bill does not require the patient to be a resident of the state, has no waiting period, and does not require an in-person exam or a mental health evaluation.

In Rhode Island assisting a suicide is a felony, but there is proposed legislation to legalize assisted suicide that would require an in-person evaluation. The bill requires a 15-day waiting period between requests and an additional 48-hour waiting period that begins after the patient submits his or her signed request for the medication. 

Nevada does not authorize assisted suicide, but legislation pushing for it proposed advanced practice nurses to be allowed to prescribe the drugs, no in-person exam requirement, only one witness necessarily, and no requirement for the patient to be a resident of the state. 

The Nevada legislation does detail that the prescribed drugs would be the cause of death on the certificate rather than the underlying condition.

Legislation in Maryland would not require a mental health evaluation and has a broad meaning for “terminal illness” that can include treatable conditions. The bill has provisions that allow a patient to communicate through someone else “familiar with the individual’s manner of communicating.” 

Proposed legislation in Massachusetts also has a broad definition for “terminal illness” that can include treatable conditions. There was a public hearing in Massachusetts in the state Joint Public Health Committee, which then moved the bill to a second committee on the state House side where it is still active. 

In New Hampshire, a bill is pushing for no residency requirement, no in-person examination requirement, a broad “terminal illness” definition, and no mental health evaluation. The legislation also proposed a 48-hour waiting period and would allow for advanced practice nurses and physician assistants to prescribe the drugs. 

A Tennessee House bill pushing the legalization of assisted suicide primarily follows the Oregon model. It does have a broad meaning for “terminal illness” that can include treatable conditions. On March 4, the first committee hearing was held on the matter, but it was rejected.

In Illinois, a 2025 bill to legalize assisted suicide in the state stalled and will cross over to the 2026 session. The bill had a five-day waiting period, no requirement for mental health evaluation, and broad terminal diagnosis language.

As legislation continues to be proposed and advances in assisted suicide expand, Patients Rights Action Fund highlighted the lack of mental health evaluations across states and noted that waiting periods are being quickly reduced after the initial passing of legislation.

“Ultimately, assisted suicide laws are inherently discriminatory,” Rodgers said on Sept. 18. 

“They take a segment of our neighbors and say: ‘You get a lower standard of care than everybody else,’” she said. “The patients that qualify for assisted suicide are already inherently in a more vulnerable state because of their diagnosis and because of the financial costs that they’re facing with health care and the cost of treatment.”

Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 19, 2025 / 12:02 pm (CNA).

Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk was reportedly strongly considering becoming Catholic just prior to his assassination, according to a bishop who spoke to him shortly before his killing. 

Robert Brennan, a Los Angeles-based writer and the brother of Fresno, California, Bishop Joseph Brennan, said in a Sept. 18 column in the Los Angeles archdiocesan newspaper Angelus that Kirk had a “personal exchange” with the California prelate about a week before Kirk’s murder at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. 

The writer Brennan, who said Bishop Brennan gave him permission to share the story, wrote that Kirk had spoken to the prelate at a prayer breakfast in Visalia. The conservative activist “told the bishop about his Catholic wife and children and how he attended Mass with them.” 

Kirk acknowledged “speculation” about his possible interest in becoming Catholic, Brennan wrote in Angelus; he subsequently told Bishop Brennan: “I’m this close” to converting. 

In his Angelus column Brennan pointed to a recent video Kirk made in which he acknowledged some “big disagreements” with Catholicism but claimed that Protestants “under-value” the Blessed Mother. 

“We don’t talk about Mary enough. We don’t venerate her enough,” Kirk said, arguing that Mary is “the solution” to “toxic feminism” in the U.S. 

“[H]ow fitting one of Charlie Kirk’s last videos was about the preeminent mediatrix of all time and space,” Robert Brennan wrote in Angelus. “In his own way he was reaching out to her, and now, I am convinced, she is returning the favor.”

Kirk was fatally shot while taking questions from audience members during a stop at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” He is survived by his wife, Erika Frantzve, and their 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

Prominent Catholics around the world have joined in the chorus of voices mourning Kirk’s death in the days since he was killed. German Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller referred to Kirk this week as “a martyr for Jesus Christ” and condemned the “satanic celebration” of his death by some of his detractors.

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action and a close friend of Kirk’s, said on Sept. 13 that the activist’s death “will be a turning point” for the country. 

And Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Kirk’s activism “restored optimism about the American future for millions of Americans.”

St. Januarius and the miracle of the liquefaction of his blood contained in a relic. / Credit: Louis Finson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Photo2023, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Stampa, Sep 19, 2025 / 11:10 am (CNA).

The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius was announced in Naples on Sept. 19, with the centuries-old relic once again offering what Abbot Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio called an “invitation to stake everything” on trust in God.

“We are delighted to announce that the relic has been found completely liquid,” said De Gregorio, the abbot of the Treasury Chapel of the Naples Cathedral.

As is tradition, the announcement was accompanied by the waving of a white handkerchief by one of the members of the Treasury of St. Januarius Deputation.

Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, the archbishop of Naples, presided over the morning Mass, then displayed the vial containing the patron saint’s blood before all present during the celebration. 

From the high altar, after showing the vial to the concelebrants, the archbishop descended among the faithful. Liturgical chants accompanied the demonstration. 

The cardinal himself was visibly moved at the beginning of the celebration. His words focused on the wars currently affecting the world and in particular on the situation in Gaza. 

During the Mass there was also a video message from Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, thanking the cardinal and the people of Naples for their spiritual and material support.

The archbishop in his homily touched on the ongoing war in Gaza. “It is the blood of every child of Gaza that is on display in this cathedral,” he said. “Today Naples stands still like the sea when the wind dies down. It is an inner calm, the feeling of a day of celebration, of faith, of identity.” 

“The streets become naves, the balconies become choirs, the city becomes an entire cathedral,” he said. “At the center, not an object, but a sign: a vial, a blood, a name — Januarius. Here we celebrate not a trophy but a living memory: that of the martyrs whom Love has not abandoned.”

Quoting the Gospel of Mark — “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it” — the archbishop said: “It is not a motto for a poster, it is a bridge between two shores. Januarius passed over that bridge in his entirety: His flesh surrendered, his fear conquered, his freedom restored to its Author.” 

“He did not choose to save himself: He chose to give himself,” he said. “And the blood, which the violent believed to be a seal of oblivion, became a voice: a voice that still preaches to the city and calls it to trust the Gospel more than any calculation, more than any prudence.” 

“Let us look at that sign not with superstition but as an invitation to stake everything on entrustment,” he said. 

The dried blood of St. Januarius, who died around A.D. 305, is preserved in two glass ampoules, one larger than the other, in the Chapel of the Treasury of the Naples Cathedral.

The saint’s blood traditionally liquefies three times a year: in commemoration of the transfer of his remains to Naples (the Saturday before the first Sunday in May), on his liturgical feast (Sept. 19), and on the anniversary of the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in 1631, when his intercession was invoked and the city was spared from the effects of the eruption (Dec. 16).

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