Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

A parental rights group sent a letter to several federal agencies asking them to investigate the YMCA’s alleged violation of Title IX policies on June 10, 2025. / Credit: Ronnie Chua/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 / 18:08 pm (CNA).

A parental rights group has filed formal complaints against the YMCA with three federal agencies, requesting an investigation of the organization for allegedly violating the law by permitting biological males to use girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms, and overnight cabins.

The American Parents Coalition (APC), led by Alleigh Marré, sent letters on June 10 to the secretaries of the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She requested an investigation into possible Title IX violations on the part of the YMCA.

“The YMCA has betrayed the families it claims to serve,” Marré said in a statement. “Girls are expected to share teams, locker rooms, bathrooms, and overnight cabins with biological males, while parents are often kept in the dark.”

“As a federally funded institution receiving more than 600 million taxpayer dollars, the YMCA is legally obligated to protect girls, not sacrifice fairness, safety, and privacy to promote gender ideology,” she added.

The APC alleges that because the YMCA is a recipient of federal funds, it is required to adhere to Title IX rules, which ban sex-based discrimination. President Donald Trump issued executive orders clarifying that federal anti-discrimination rules are based on a person’s “sex” and not self-purported “gender identity,” instructing agencies to safeguard “intimate spaces” reserved for girls and women such as locker rooms and bathrooms.

The APC accuses the YMCA of maintaining “discriminatory policies” that go against Title IX rules and “imperil vulnerable children.” It alleges the YMCA embraces “radical gender ideology” through its policies.

“Under such an ideology, a man can walk into a YMCA locker room where young girls are changing because he feels like a woman,” the complaint alleges. “The YMCA policies prioritize the man but not the young girls in the locker room.”

The letter cites a since-deleted 2017 document on the American YMCA’s website about “how to create a safe space for LGBTQ+ campers.” One of the recommendations in the document was to “ensure all campers and staff have access to the facilities aligned with their gender identity and comfort within facility and resource limitations” as opposed to separating facilities on the basis of biological sex.

Marré told CNA that these recommendations are not “just theoretical” and cited examples in which YMCA facilities forced women and girls to “share that space with a man.”

In 2022, an 80-year-old woman was banned from a YMCA pool in Washington after expressing concerns about a biological male being present in a female locker room while young girls were changing. An article from the Daily Mail this week detailed an ongoing dispute at a YMCA gym in California in which several women have complained about a biological male who frequently uses the female locker room.

In April, police in Missouri launched an investigation into reports that a biological male exposed himself to children in a girls’ locker room at North Kansas City YMCA. North Kansas City YMCA told the local Fox affiliate that it was cooperating with the investigation but that “individuals are allowed to use the locker room or restroom that they identify with” according to state and local law.

Some YMCA summer camps include information on their websites that state that facilities are separated on the basis of self-asserted “gender identity” rather than biological sex. Camp Olson in Minnesota, for example, states that cabin assignments are based on “gender preference.”

YMCA disputes APC’s letter

The YMCA is disputing some of the APC letter’s characterizations of its policies.

A spokesperson for the YMCA dismissed the now-deleted 2017 document about separating facilities on the basis of gender identity as simply a “blog” that “had a number of ideas for camps that were interested in being more inclusive,” telling CNA this was never a mandatory policy.

“Y-USA does not have a nationwide policy around locker room and bathroom facilities,” according to an official statement from the YMCA provided to CNA.

“State laws about transgender inclusion in gendered spaces remain an ever-evolving topic,” the statement added. “Considering this, Y-USA advocates for the personal safety and privacy of all members and participants.”

Marré told CNA that the YMCA’s response is “insufficient” and criticized the American YMCA for quietly removing the 2017 document and several other webpages that discuss gender ideology and homosexual pride without providing a public explanation or officially revising its policy.

“Until they explicitly say that their locker rooms, private spaces, and sports teams are [separated based on] biological sex, we have no reason to believe that’s actually the case,” Marré said.

Marré said the YMCA should “respect and follow Title IX as it is written,” but if the organization chooses not to, it should not “delete those policies” from its website but instead should “clearly communicate [it] to [its] members.”

APC is urging parents to question local YMCAs about their policies before allowing their children to participate in activities there. The organization has provided sample questions to help parents inquire about gender-related policies.

Bryan and Rebecca Gantt, two foster parents in Vermont, had their licenses revoked for refusing to embrace gender ideology. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom

CNA Staff, Jun 12, 2025 / 17:38 pm (CNA).

Twenty-two states and various religious freedom and free speech advocates have filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of two Vermont couples who are suing the state after their licenses to be foster parents were revoked due to their religious beliefs concerning human sexuality. 

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is suing on behalf of Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt after the Vermont Department for Children and Families informed the two families that their belief that persons cannot change biological sex and that marriage is only between a man and a woman precluded them from serving as foster parents in the state.

Despite describing the Wuotis and the Gantts as “amazing,” “wonderful,” and “welcoming,” state officials revoked the couples’ foster care licenses after they expressed their commonly-held and constitutionally-protected religious beliefs. The state said these beliefs made them “unqualified” to parent any child, regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity. 

In 2014, the Wuotis became foster parents, eventually adopting two brothers from foster care. The Gantts started fostering in 2016, caring for children born with drug dependencies or fetal alcohol syndrome, and have adopted three children.

Attorneys general from 21 states and the Arizona Legislature filed an amicus curiae, or friend-of-the-court brief, on June 6 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of the families, writing that the state is burdening the couples’ “free speech and free exercise rights.”

In another friend-of-the-court brief, The Conscience Project director Andrea Picciotti-Bayer decried Vermont’s “ideological intolerance,” writing that Vermont’s stance is “nothing other than an ideological snare set to identify and exclude anyone — especially those with religious convictions — unwilling to embrace gender ideology.”

Picciotti-Bayer told CNA that the Vermont policy is especially egregious because there is a tremendous need for foster families in the state and nationwide. Because of the huge shortage, Picciotti-Bayer said children are being placed in “crazy situations” like hotels and sheriff’s offices.

She criticized the Vermont Department for Children and Families, saying the state’s “priorities are so far off,” because excluding Christian families like the Wuotis and the Gantts prevents foster children from “finding safe, loving, and stable homes.”

ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse agreed, saying in a statement that “Vermont’s foster-care system is in crisis: There aren’t enough families to care for vulnerable kids. Yet instead of inviting families from diverse backgrounds to help care for vulnerable kids, Vermont is shutting the door on them, putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of suffering kids.”

According to Picciotti-Bayer, Christians have an “incredible track record in fostering,” saying Christian families are more likely than the general population to foster and are also more likely to foster more complex placements.

“Hard-to-place kids often find the best homes in families of faith,” Picciotti-Bayer told CNA, because of the “deep bench of community support” found in churches and faith communities, who support foster families by providing food, clothes, and respite support. 

“When you know these Christian families make stellar foster families,” she continued, “for the state to categorically exclude them seems nonsensical, apart from the possibility of grave discrimination.”

A friend-of-the-court brief was also filed by Concerned Women for America, the First Liberty Institute, the Foundation for Moral Law, and professors Mark Regnerus, Catherine Pakaluk, Loren Marks, and Joseph Price.

A friend-of-the-court brief was even filed by the left-leaning Women’s Liberation Front, whose attorney, Lauren Bone, wrote that “gender ideology is religious in nature,” and mandating that foster parents adopt such ideology is akin to an “unconstitutional establishment of religion.”  

Bone also wrote that gender ideology, rather than being “progressive,” is actually a “regressive approach to sex stereotypes and sexuality” that “harms children, women, and LGB [lesbian, gay, and bisexual] people” by “leading often troubled children to question their sex, by subverting the basis for necessary sex separation, and by confounding the meaning of same-sex attraction.”

French president Emmanuel Macron. / Credit: Frederic Legrand COMEO/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 / 17:08 pm (CNA).

French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to ban social media for children under the age of 15 after a fatal knife attack at a middle school sparked debate about the psychological effects of social media on children.

“I am banning social media for children under 15,” Macron wrote in a social media post on June 10. “Platforms have the ability to verify age. Do it.”

Macron’s announcement directly followed the stabbing attack, which took place on June 10 when a 14-year-old student stabbed a 31-year-old teaching assistant during a routine bag search outside the school in Nogent, France. 

The French president condemned the “senseless wave of violence,” writing in another post after the attack: “The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilized to reduce crime.” 

France Education Minister Élisabeth Borne described the suspect as a “young man from a family where both parents work, who does not present any particular difficulties.” She further noted shock among fellow students, as the student “was very integrated in the middle school,” according to a report from France24, which noted a recent 15% jump in reports of bladed weapons in schools and a “general rise in youth crime.” 

The victim was a mother to a young boy and had been working at the school since September. 

European Union joins debate: Which countries support a ban? 

In addition to France, Spain and Greece have also signaled a desire to enact similar child-protection policies in their respective countries, according to EuroNews. However, the European Union signaled on Wednesday that it would not seek to enact an EU-wide age verification for social media, despite calls from Macron to do so as soon as possible. 

“Let’s be clear ... [a] wide social media ban is not what the European Commission is doing. It’s not where we are heading to. Why? Because this is the prerogative of our member states,” commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said Wednesday.

Macron has said France “cannot wait” for the EU to reach a solution and that he plans to implement the ban regardless, according to a Politico report. 

In Australia, lawmakers sent shockwaves around the world when they passed the first-ever law banning children under the age of 16 from social media platforms in January. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, which was ushered hastily through the Australian Parliament and passed in late November, is set to take effect Dec. 10. 

The plan has drawn both praise and criticism from various quarters of the world as commentators of various backgrounds and ideologies — including many Catholics — try to assess the suitability of such a ban and whether, in practice, it will actually work

At the time the legislation was passed, Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne, who leads Australia’s largest archdiocese, told CNA that the Church in Australia is actively engaged in advocating and proactively helping parents to protect their children online, including from the potential negative effects of social media and smartphone use.

“Parents share with me that it can be hard to protect their children from the potential harms of social media when they feel they’d be denying them something their peers are all using,” Comensoli told CNA. 

U.S. attitude toward social media bans

Social media bans for minors are starting to pick up across the United States including in Florida, which signed a bill last year barring children under the age of 14 from joining social media platforms. Texas is poised to enact a similar ban for anyone under the age of 18. 

While legislation in Florida has passed, it has yet to be enacted as a federal judge recently barred state officials from enforcing the law while legal challenges against it continue, according to AP news reports. 

Last year, a group of 42 state attorneys called for the U.S. surgeon general to add a health warning to algorithm-driven social media sites, citing the potential psychological harm that such sites can have on children and teenagers.

“As state attorneys general, we sometimes disagree about important issues, but all of us share an abiding concern for the safety of the kids in our jurisdictions — and algorithm-driven social media platforms threaten that safety,” the coalition of attorneys general wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to congressional leaders.

Miguel Uribe Turbay, Colombian senator and presidential hopeful; and Cardinal Luis José Rueda, archbishop of Bogotá. / Credit: Luigi Venegas (CC BY-SA 4.0); Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Lima Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 / 16:38 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Luis José Rueda, archbishop of Bogotá and primate of Colombia, said that with the slight improvement of Miguel Uribe Turbay, senator and presidential hopeful who barely survived a June 7 assassination attempt, “we could be looking at a miracle.”

“We could be looking at a miracle, and we’re hoping for one. And I praise and bless the Lord for these signs, and I believe there are many people praying, praying disinterestedly, from different parts of the country,” the cardinal said in an interview with W Radio when asked about Uribe’s fifth medical report.

Uribe, 39, a husband and father, was gravely wounded on June 7 in Bogotá when a 15-year-old boy shot him in the head. He was taken to a hospital run by the Santa Fe Foundation, which provides daily updates on his condition.

On June 8, a large march for peace and to protest the attack against Uribe was held in Bogotá and other cities, with thousands of Colombians participating.

In a June 11 medical report, the Santa Fe Foundation noted that “despite the severity of his clinical condition, there are signs of neurological improvement due to a decrease in cerebral edema”; however, “he remains in critical condition.”

Rueda emphasized that when someone suffers like Uribe’s wife and son, Jesus, the Son of God, draws near to them and encourages them. Thus, when “suffering is combined with hope and love: That is the miracle. A miracle is not magic; a miracle is love and hope that is close at hand.”

The Virgin Mary and suffering

The archbishop of Bogotá also emphasized that “the Blessed Virgin Mary is a woman who had to accompany the mission of Jesus of Nazareth” and accompanied him “at the cross. She accompanies all the children of humanity, those who believe and those who do not.”

“The Virgin accompanies the pain and the hope of all,” the cardinal emphasized.

“Life and death are situations accompanied by the tenderness of a God who never abandons us and who also experienced death so that we might also pass through it,” the archbishop said, referring to the attacks that occurred on June 10 in the Cauca and Valle del Cauca districts, which left at least seven dead.

On June 10, at approximately 9 p.m. local time, Colombian President Gustavo Petro received Rueda at the president’s official residence.

The cardinal emphasized that the meeting featured “a respectful dialogue. It was a dialogue where we were able to discuss the situation in the country, and I went there not to speak in the person of the archbishop of Bogotá but on behalf of all my brother bishops of Colombia and of the president of the bishops’ conference, Archbishop Francisco Javier Múnera Correa.”

Rueda emphasized the importance of “reaching out to the heads of Colombian institutions to convey a message — even if it’s just a millimeter of increased trust — of mutual respect among those at the helm of the country’s institutions so that Colombia can have some hope that we can rebuild, that we can engage in dialogue.”

The cardinal also explained that “the bishops’ conference is committed to creating a space for meeting where the president of the republic and the heads of the country’s various institutional bodies will be present to say: ‘We all close ranks in the name of life and in the name of rejecting all forms of violence in the various parts of our country.’”

“I believe that principles like these, life and the rejection of violence, have no ideology, no slant to them. This is ecumenical; it belongs to everyone, to Catholics and non-Catholics, to those of one political party and another.”

“Here, either we all win or we all lose,” he concluded, “because we are one family, the 50 million Colombians.”

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 waves from the popemobile at the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square for Mass on Pentecost Sunday on June 8, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 12, 2025 / 15:47 pm (CNA).

A leader of the Catholic charismatic renewal said he believes that charismatics will enjoy harmonious relations with Pope Leo XIV following a mixed experience with Pope Francis, whose efforts to centralize the grassroots movement at the Vatican raised concerns among some members.

“I truly believe Pope Leo will be very supportive of the renewal and of other lay movements,” said Shayne Bennett, the director of mission and faith formation at the Holy Spirit Seminary in Brisbane, Australia. “What we do know about him was that he was supportive of the charismatic renewal in his own diocese back in Peru.”

Bennett spoke in Rome following a June 9–12 meeting of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS), a Rome-based umbrella group established by Francis for charismatic movements worldwide. Bennett serves as CHARIS coordinator of the commission of communities.

Pope Francis was not initially supportive of charismatic movements in his native Argentina. In a 2024 private audience with the president and members of the National Council of Renewal in the Holy Spirit, the late pontiff said he had once likened the group to “samba school and not an ecclesial movement.”

During the meeting, Francis promoted the role of CHARIS as a coordinating organization to support smaller charismatic groups around the world and encouraged the movement to “take to heart the indications I have left you” and “journey on this road of communion” with other movements in accord with the Vatican body. 

Not all charismatics welcomed the policy, Bennett said.

“I think there’s always a reaction when leaders are decisive,” the CHARIS leader told CNA. “The fact that Pope Francis gave us three goals, if you like, some people would see that as controlling.”

Francis charged the “spiritists” with three “forms of witness” when he inaugurated CHARIS in 2019: baptism in the Holy Spirit, unity and communion, and service to the poor.      

Bennett stressed that Francis encouraged the charismatic renewal, along with other lay movements, like Pope Benedict XVI and John Paul II before him. The Australian met multiple times with all three popes.

The first pope to formally back the Catholic charismatic renewal was Paul VI when he appointed Cardinal Léon Joseph Suenens as the first cardinal delegate and episcopal adviser for the movement in 1974.

In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, which was released in 1975 on the 10th anniversary of the close of the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI described smaller charismatic groups as “hope for the universal Church.”

According to Bennett, who conducted programs in East and West Africa with CHARIS, supportive bishops in the region view the charismatic renewal as a realization of John Paul II’s dream for a “new evangelization” and Benedict XVI’s desire for all baptized Catholics to take “responsibility for their participation” in Jesus’ mission in the life of the Church and the world. 

“There’s been an incredible continuity of support and encouragement, which I expect will continue,” Bennett told CNA.

Scene of the walled city of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The oldest governor’s mansion under the American flag, La Fortaleza, is top right. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Jun 12, 2025 / 15:17 pm (CNA).

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increases its raids and deportations in Puerto Rico, several of the island’s bishops have expressed alarm and reminded Catholics of their duty to welcome and protect those in need.

During a June 11 press conference at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Bishop Ángel Luis Ríos Matos of Mayagüez said he issued orders to parishes in his diocese not to provide information to federal agents “unless supported by a court order.”

However, he added, “even with a court order, when it comes to justice for the poor, a higher justice prevails.”

“If consequences must be paid, they will be. I don’t call this civil disobedience but rather obedience to the doctrine of justice and charity. We must obey God before men,” the bishop said. 

The bishop’s statement was met with applause by those present, including Archbishop Roberto González Nieves of San Juan and Bishop Rubén Antonio González Medina of Ponce.

Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up efforts to deport unauthorized immigrants in the country. In Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, many undocumented migrants hail from the Dominican Republic.

The governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican who supported Trump in the elections, said her government would not oppose the deportations, including those conducted in churches and hospitals, because the island “cannot afford” to violate it and risk losing access to federal funds.

As reported by the Spanish newspaper El País, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has detained 445 people in Puerto Rico since raids began on Jan. 26. While the majority are Dominicans, DHS said a number of undocumented migrants were from Haiti, Venezuela, and Mexico.

Sandra Colón, a DHS office spokesperson, told El País that “81 people have been removed to their country through voluntary departure or expedited removal.”

The deportations on the island prompted a statement from Bishop Eusebio Ramos Morales of Caguas, who said the deportations “while presented as legal, are unjust and immoral when executed without mercy or respect for human dignity.”

“From our island of Puerto Rico, many of us were led to believe that these practices would not affect us directly. However, we have witnessed how immigration agents raid impoverished and vulnerable communities, especially those of our Dominican brothers and sisters, whose contribution to the economic, social, and cultural development of Puerto Rico is invaluable,” Ramos wrote.

The bishop said increased raids by ICE have caused families to live in fear, children to be absent from school, the sick to be without access to medical care, and “many without the ability to earn a living with dignity.”

“This situation cries out to heaven,” he added.

At the June 11 press conference, Ríos also said that should agents “come to request information or detain people inside the church, the right of sanctuary — which is recognized worldwide and in America — prevails and protects the rights of the immigrant.”

However, in January, the Trump administration rescinded the designation that categorized places of worship as “protected areas” safe from immigration enforcement.

CNA reached out to Ríos on June 12 to inquire whether federal authorities have attempted to detain people in diocesan churches. However, he was unavailable for comment.

Under the Trump administration directive, churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious institutions no longer hold special protection, thus granting federal agents increased discretion to conduct raids and arrests.

The policy was challenged in court by 27 Christian and Jewish groups, who argued the directive violated religious freedom rights protected by the Constitution. However, in April, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled that the groups’ concerns did not have a legal standing. 

The government’s directive on protected areas, especially places of worship, represented only “a modest change in the internal guidance that DHS is providing its immigration officers and does not mandate conducting enforcement activities during worship services or while social service ministries are being provided,” the ruling stated.

Meanwhile, in a local television interview, ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge for Puerto Rico, Rebecca González-Ramos, assured that federal agents would “not enter churches, hospitals or schools” to search for undocumented migrants.

“We will not enter and we do not separate family units, either,” she said in a June 10 Telemundo interview.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone specifically commissioned the United States’ first Center for Sainthood Studies to foster “a deeper understanding of the processes involved in recognizing the holiness of individuals and their potential for sainthood.” / Credit: Dennis Callahan/Archdiocese of San Francisco

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 / 14:47 pm (CNA).

The United States’ first Center for Sainthood Studies has opened at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.

The center announced that its goal is to “provide a roadmap for advancing candidates for canonization and increasing the chances of American candidates achieving sainthood” and aims to “make sainthood causes less intimidating and encourage more people to initiate causes,” according to the center’s website.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone specifically commissioned the center to foster “a deeper understanding of the processes involved in recognizing the holiness of individuals and their potential for sainthood.”

The resources offered by the center include expert consultation, a digitization service, networking opportunities, promotion of popular piety around a cause, assistance with grant writing, and a certification program that consists of a six-day course that guides participants through the sainthood application process and canonical procedures.

The center’s first certification course, to be held Feb. 16–21, 2026, at the Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park, will be taught by two postulators and canon law experts from Rome: Emanuele Spedicato and Waldery Hilgeman. The program is open to clergy, religious, and laity. 

Michael McDevitt, a spokesperson for the center, told CNA that while canon law provides a framework for the process leading up to sainthood, it lacks practical guidance for the laity. “Canon law has a clear set of rules to follow, but it’s not a how-to guide. It doesn’t take [people] step by step,” McDevitt said.

McDevitt himself has worked particularly closely with the cause for Servant of God Cora Evans, a former Mormon and American housewife.

“There’s so many stories out there that could be told, and if we can help people with that process, more stories will come to light,” McDevitt said. “We all know that only God can make us saints, but it does take people to move this forward.”

null / Credit: Patrick Thomas/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 12, 2025 / 13:43 pm (CNA).

Pro-life advocates are warning of the need to protect vulnerable patients, including the elderly and terminally ill, as New York prepares to legalize assisted suicide.

New York will become the 12th state in the country, along with the District of Columbia, to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients in order to allow them to kill themselves. The measure passed the state Legislature this week and is expected to be signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

New York’s law defines a “terminal illness or condition” as “an incurable and irreversible illness or condition that has been medically confirmed” and will “within reasonable medical judgment” result in death within six months.

Catholics, pro-life allies speak out against the bill

A chorus of pro-life advocates has spoken out against New York’s passage of the bill, calling on Hochul to veto it. 

The New York State Catholic Conference warned that the measure would bring about an “assisted suicide nightmare,” with the bishops urging the governor this week to recognize that the law “would be catastrophic for medically underserved communities, including communities of color, as well as for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.”

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said the bill’s passage “while not completely unexpected, is truly disappointing.” 

“We turn to the governor urging her to act boldly, consistent with her efforts to combat the suicide crisis in our state, and veto this bill,” the bishop said. 

The New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide, meanwhile, called the measure “a grave mistake for New York.”

“It brings our state dangerously close to a public policy that many in the medical, disability, and mental health communities consider deeply flawed and unjust,” the group said, adding that the law “contains no requirement that a person seeking a lethal prescription receive a mental health evaluation.”

Kathryn Jean Lopez, currently the chair of New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s pro-life commission, told CNA that those opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide in the state should be prepared for a tough road ahead, saying it is virtually certain that Hochul will sign the legislation. 

“She’s so enthusiastic about abortion, it would seemingly take a miracle to say no to her caucus on this,” said Lopez, who is also the religion editor at National Review. 

Lopez expressed doubt that the law, if signed, will generate much sustained pushback. “There’s not going to be a march on the street to reverse assisted suicide,” she lamented. 

She said that raising awareness of assisted suicide is nevertheless key, stressing the need for family and friends to defend the most vulnerable, such as the terminally ill and the elderly. 

“Being advocates, that’s the most important thing at this point,” she said. “Because this is the reality we’re living in.”

Increases in suicides, reported abuses worldwide

Critics of euthanasia and assisted suicide have pointed to countries that have already legalized the procedure and which have seen both huge increases in suicides and reported abuses. 

Eve Slater, a physician and former assistant secretary for health and human services under President George W. Bush, told CNA that in every case where euthanasia has been legalized, suicide numbers have soared.

She pointed out that suicide currently accounts for 5% of Canadian deaths, a number that rises to the double digits in some provinces. She also cited rapid rises of suicide in some European countries after the practice has been legalized.

The Canadian government in 2016 legalized “medical aid in dying.” Less than a decade later suicide accounts for roughly 1 in 20 deaths there. In some cases the suicide program has been expanded to include those who cannot consent to the procedure at the time, while hundreds of violations of the law are allegedly going unreported. 

In the Netherlands last year, meanwhile, the government permitted the assisted suicide of a physically healthy 29-year-old woman with mental health issues. Other countries, such as France and England, are also actively considering allowing euthanasia. 

In an op-ed last month in National Review, Slater wrote that huge increases in euthanasia are “enabled by wording that includes ambiguous eligibility criteria and then by gradual liberalization of interpretation.”

“[I]n each state where [euthanasia] has been legalized, amendments to widen eligibility either have been granted or are under discussion,” Slater wrote. “The amendments include provisions for tourism, the possibility of self-injection, a shortening of the reflection period, reduction of informed-consent safeguards, and the ability of certain nonphysicians to prescribe.”

Legal suicide ‘irrational’

Slater told CNA that New York’s willingness to embrace suicide conflicts directly with state laws requiring doctors to prevent suicide itself. 

“If a patient comes in to see me, and even hints of thoughts of suicide, I am obligated — we teach this, it’s standard practice — to recommend they see a psychiatrist immediately. And if they are hesitant, we have to call security,” she said. “Now what do I do?”

Lopez also pointed out the inconsistency in how, even as assisted suicide becomes more accepted, there are still official efforts to discourage suicide in general. 

“If you or I Google ‘assisted suicide’ because we’re looking for the latest news stories, we’ll get the number for a suicide hotline in response,” she said. “Someone’s still concerned you want to kill yourself and they want to talk you out of it.” 

“That’s good,” she pointed out, “but it’s also irrational,” given the increasing mainstream acceptance of euthanasia.

Slater said this is “different from normal pro-life politics.” 

New York residents “have to be aware of the gravity and the damage to human dignity that these laws do,” she said.

Speaking of doctors, Slater stressed that even if the doctors themselves are not explicitly pro-life, they in particular should know that the laws are “a total violation of our oath as physicians to take care of patients to the very end.”

“Doctors have to be aware that it’s effectively state-sanctioned suicide and that it sends the message that suicides under certain conditions are legitimate,” she said.

A general view shows a damaged building at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. / Credit: SAM PANTHAKY/AFP via Getty Images

Bangalore, India, Jun 12, 2025 / 11:31 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on June 12 joined the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in expressing condolences and prayers following the crash of the Air India Boeing Dreamliner to London that killed nearly 250 passengers shortly after takeoff at Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of western Gujarat state.

Stating he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy,” Leo in a message offered “heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives” while “commending the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty.”

The CBCI, meanwhile, said the “heartbreaking incident … has left the nation in shock and mourning.”

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those who lost their lives in this devastating accident,” the bishops said.

“We humbly urge all our Catholic faithful and all people of goodwill across the country to join us in prayer for the victims of this tragedy — for the eternal rest of those who have died [and] for comfort to the bereaved,” the prelates added.

“We stand in solidarity with the victims and their families and with all the rescue personnel working tirelessly at the crash site.”

Officials have confirmed 241 on board dead as the wide-bodied aircraft, reportedly filled with fuel for over 7,000 miles, exploded after crashing just seconds after takeoff without gaining height near the Ahmedabad International Airport. 

Reports of a sole survivor of the crash could not be confirmed as of press time.

There are “no words to describe this tragedy,” Archbishop Thomas Macwan of Gandhinagar, who heads the Catholic Church in Gujarat, told CNA. 

“I went through the list of passengers and could identify the names of at least four or five Christians. There could be more as surnames are common to different religions and only first names will reveal the identity,” the archbishop said.

“The visuals of charred buildings at the crash site adds to fears of more deaths,” he added.

Media reports say at least five medical students may have died and many more were injured in the flight crash when it hit the compound of the BJ Medical College, run by the government.

Several multistory buildings in the vicinity were reportedly shattered and burnt in the crash of the Dreamliner. The airliner was reportedly carrying 181 Indians, including 12 crew, besides 61 foreign nationals.

Among the passengers was reportedly Vijay Rupani, the former chief minister of Gujarat.

Catholic school students won the right to play sports and participate in other public school activities in the State College Area School District after a victory in federal court on June 10, 2025. / Credit: matimix/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 12, 2025 / 10:59 am (CNA).

Catholic families in Pennsylvania won a victory at federal court this week when a local school district agreed to allow students of parochial schools to participate in district sporting events and other activities.

The Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm based in Chicago, said in a press release that multiple Catholic families had won the “major victory” in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania after bringing the suit in July 2023.

The State College Area School District had originally said that parochial school students were not allowed to participate in district extracurricular activities, though it allowed home-schooled and charter school students to take part in those events.

The Catholic school families had sued the district arguing that the policy violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and equal protection.

In December 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann allowed the challenge to proceed, agreeing that the rule appeared to violate the defendants’ constitutional rights.

In a filing on June 10, the Catholic families and the school district agreed to a consent order stipulating that the Catholic students “are generally entitled to the same generally available benefits as those provided to home-schooled and charter school students” in the district.

The district said it agreed to “make available to parochial school students … the same extracurricular and co-curricular activities (including athletics) and educational programs offered to home-schooled students and charter school students.”

Thomas Breth, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, said in the press release that school districts in Pennsylvania “cannot discriminate against students and exclude them from activities simply because they choose to attend a religious-based school.”

“Religious discrimination has no place in our society, but especially in our public schools,” Breth said.

He argued that the order “strengthens the ability of parents to prioritize their family’s religious beliefs when making educational decisions without being forced to sacrifice educational and athletic opportunities that are offered to other students and paid for with their tax dollars.”

In an interview with CNA, the lawyer said that though the consent order does not apply statewide, it will likely help to ensure that other districts do not exclude parochial students from district activities.

“I fully expect that many, many school districts are going to fall in line and decide not to litigate the issue,” he said.

The district ended up paying $150,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs, Breth noted. He urged parents of Catholic school students to consider pressing their districts to allow their children access to extracurricular activities.

“I’ve already been in contact with parents in other school districts,” he added. “They’re in similar situations. We’re going to push hard in other districts if they don’t recognize they have a constitutional obligation to let parochial school students participate in the same manner as charter and home-schooled students.”

“Hopefully, it’s not going to take litigation. Hopefully, it will take letters,” he said. “Hopefully, the district will do what’s right for the kids, because ultimately that’s what this is about.”