Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Galaxy M74. / Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV encouraged young astronomy students at the Vatican this week to “be generous in sharing what you learn and what you experience, as best you can and however you can.”

“Surely, this must be an exciting time to be an astronomer,” Pope Leo said to scholars at the Vatican on June 16. The students gathered as part of a monthlong astronomy and astrophysics summer school program hosted by the Vatican Observatory.

The biannual summer program is taking place at the observatory’s headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where students come from across the globe to participate. The Vatican Observatory only accepts a small group of students in their final year of undergraduate studies or first year of graduate school.

Each summer the program has a different theme and area of study. The 2025 group is exploring the universe with data from the James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently the largest telescope in space. Pope Leo called it a “truly remarkable instrument,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Do not the James Webb images also fill us with wonder, and indeed a mysterious joy, as we contemplate their sublime beauty?” the pope asked. 

Students will focus on the telescope’s contributions over the last three years to the evolution of galaxies, birth of stars, and planetary systems and the origin of life.

“For the first time, we are able to peer deeply into the atmosphere of exoplanets where life may be developing and study the nebulae where planetary systems themselves are forming,” Pope Leo said.

“The authors of sacred Scripture, writing so many centuries ago, did not have the benefit of this privilege, yet their poetic and religious imagination pondered what the moment of creation must have been like.”

Pope Leo discussed scientists’ ability to trace “the ancient light of distant galaxies,” which he said “speaks of the very beginning of our universe.”

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, president of the Vatican Observatory, told CNA that they “were thrilled that Pope Leo was able to meet with the students and faculty of our summer school.” He said “the students have told me how much they enjoyed, and felt honored by, the chance they each had to speak briefly with him.”

“From his remarks, it’s clear that he embraces our mission to find joy in the study of God’s creation,” Consolmagno said.

He also shared that he “was especially touched” by Pope Leo’s “reference to St. Augustine’s description of the ‘seeds’ God has sown in the harmony of the universe.”

“Each of you is part of a much greater community,” Leo told the young scientists. 

“Along with the contribution of your fellow scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, it was also with the support of your families and so many of your friends that you have been able to appreciate and take part in this wonderful enterprise, which has enabled us to see the world around us in a new way.” 

“Never forget, then, that what you are doing is meant to benefit all of us,” the pope added.

“The more joy you share, the more joy you create, and in this way, through your pursuit of knowledge, each of you can contribute to building a more peaceful and just world,” he said. 

Jesus and the disciples during Season 4 of “The Chosen.” / Credit: The Chosen/Mike Kubeisy

Vatican City, Jun 19, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

On June 23, there will be an exclusive presentation at the Vatican of the fourth episode of the fifth season of “The Chosen,” the successful series based on the life of Jesus Christ and the apostles.

According to the Holy See Press Office, next Monday at 11:30 a.m. local time in the Marconi Hall, the cast and producers of “The Chosen” will hold a press conference to discuss the innovative and impactful series.

Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus, will be in attendance for the presentation of the fifth season, titled “The Last Supper.” Also present will be Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of the series; Elizabeth Tabish, who portrays Mary Magdalene in the series; George Xanthis, who plays St. John; and Vanessa Benavente, who plays the Virgin Mary.

They will also discuss the release of two feature films by “The Chosen” about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The crucifixion episode is currently being filmed in Matera, Italy.

At the press conference, details will be shared about the production and the reasons why the series has achieved international popularity on five continents, even being watched by more than 30% of nonbelievers worldwide.

That same day, at 5 p.m. local time, the Vatican premiere of the fourth episode of the fifth season will take place at the historic Vatican Film Library.

The episode is titled “The Same Coin” and features one of the most powerful scenes in the series’ history: The women’s last supper with the “dayenu,” a beloved song sung during the Jewish holiday of Passover. 

Additionally, the Vatican announced that Roumie will present a gift from “The Chosen” to Pope Leo XIV during the June 25 general audience. Roumie met with Pope Francis twice during his pontificate.

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

Mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik are displayed throughout the shrine in Lourdes, France. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 19, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Advocates for sexual abuse victims say that religious art by the accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik should be taken down or covered up to spare victims further suffering. But Church authorities in charge of the works, which decorate prominent Catholic churches around the world, have responded to those calls in different ways. 

Rupnik has been accused of the sexual and psychological abuse of dozens of women under his spiritual care in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was briefly excommunicated by the Catholic Church in 2020 and expelled from the Jesuit order in 2023, but he remains a priest. The Vatican is still in the process of making a final judgment in his case.

Responding to calls that Rupnik’s works be covered or destroyed and for reproductions to be removed from websites and publications, shrines in Europe and the U.S. have covered up their now controversial mosaics. But other institutions have taken a more tolerant approach. Some authorities, including the Diocese of Rome, are waiting to see what the Vatican does before they decide what to do with his art.

Earlier this month, the official Vatican News outlet removed images of the priest’s distinctive works, inspired by artistic traditions from Eastern Christianity, from its website, after years of criticism for its use of them to illustrate pages dedicated to saints and feast days.

The Vatican’s communications dicastery did not respond to a request for comment on the recent change and whether it reflected a new policy under Pope Leo XIV. Last year, the department’s top official, Paolo Ruffini, defended leaving the images online, saying that to remove them would not be “the Christian response” and that he didn’t want to “throw stones” at the disgraced artist.

According to the Rome-based Centro Aletti, the art and theology school founded in 1993 and previously directed by Rupnik, the workshop has 232 completed mosaic and other art projects around the world — with the vast majority concentrated in Europe, especially Italy, where there are approximately 115 installations across the country.

Centro Aletti last year called the pressure to remove works of art by the studio part of “cancel culture” and the “criminalization of art.” Neither Rupnik nor the workshop responded to requests for comment for this article. 

Some calling for the art’s removal or concealment say that seeing the works in places of worship can have a traumatic effect on abuse victims, particularly since Rupnik’s accusers say he sexually abused them as they assisted him in the process of making his art.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors sent a letter to top Vatican officials last year urging them not to display artwork, like Rupnik’s, “that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense” of those accused of abuse. 

The secretary of the commission, Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, told EWTN News in April in response to a question about the Rupnik case that “art can be a powerful tool for healing, but the content of an artwork — and especially the identity of its creator — can be re-traumatizing for someone who has experienced these horrific crimes [of abuse].”

Francesco Zanardi, an Italian abuse survivor and founder of Rete L’Abuso, told CNA that “in this case, [Rupnik’s work] is not art, it is a symbol,” which “creates problems for the victim, above all because it maintains a link between the Church and Rupnik … an inappropriate link.”

“That it should be removed seems obvious to me,” Zanardi added. He called it “almost offensive” how much attention is on Rupnik’s artwork instead of on the harm done to the priest’s alleged victims.

Others, instead, believe that Rupnik’s art should be understood as separate from the man and his alleged crimes. Father Dino Battison, chaplain of the Shrine of Our Lady of Health of the Sick in the northern Italian region of Veneto, told CNA that the shrine will be leaving its Rupnik mosaics in place and visible.

“Beauty and the message are one thing… Mercy is another thing not to be forgotten,” he said. “How many artists have behaved badly from a moral point of view... and how many works of art should we remove or destroy.”

Rome waits on Vatican

In Rome, Rupnik’s mosaics can be found in nearly four dozen locations, including a large number of parish churches as well as hospital chapels and the chapels of religious congregations and international seminaries.

The Diocese of Rome has Rupnik art in its major seminary and at the headquarters of the diocesan branch of the international charity Caritas. A diocesan spokesperson told CNA that any decision by the diocese will need to be made in conjunction with the Holy See.

The Vatican has at least three original mosaics by the artist, including in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, in the chapel of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and in the San Calisto Building in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood.

Pope Francis also had at least one image by Rupnik hanging in his apartment at the Vatican guesthouse.

CNA received no response from the Vatican Press Office or the Dicastery for Communication about what the Holy See or the pope will do about the works of art.

The Jesuit order has works by its former member in five locations in Rome: in two chapels at its general curia, in the chapel of the international seminary, and in the chapels of two residences.

Rupnik’s former superior, Father Johan Verschueren, told CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, ACI Prensa, that the order is not planning to remove Rupnik mosaics from Jesuit communities for the time being, treating it as an “internal problem” because they are in private chapels closed to the public.

Verschueren said opinions about the art differ by generation, and “so far, only some younger Jesuits in formation are not happy with these mosaics. For trained Jesuits it is different.”

For some Jesuit priests, Verscheuren said, the mosaics “now function more as a mirror of our fallen human reality: We are all capable of great and terrible things at the same time. It humbles us and helps us realize that we are all sinners in need of salvation and mercy.”

International shrines act — or don’t

Rupnik’s art can be found in some of the most prominent Catholic shrines around the world, including the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The second-largest cathedral in the world, the Aparecida shrine is decorated with more than 65,600 square feet of Rupnik mosaics on its exterior depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

ACI Prensa received no response from the shrine to an inquiry about the fate of the Rupnik mosaics.

At the end of March, the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most popular shrines in the world, announced it would cover mosaics by Rupnik on the entrances to the shrine’s main church between late March and early June. 

“A new symbolic step had to be taken to make the entrance to the basilica easier for all those who today cannot cross the threshold,” Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas said at the time.

Eight months prior, the Knights of Columbus covered the priest’s mosaics in the two chapels of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., and in the chapel at the Knights’ headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut, a dramatic move that represented at the time the strongest public stand by a major Catholic organization regarding the former Jesuit’s art.

“The No. 1 factor [in the decision] was compassion for victims,” Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, told EWTN News in 2024. “We needed to prioritize victims over anything, any material thing.”

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, said earlier this year it is taking a mixed approach: It has stopped using images of Rupnik’s art in any online or published materials, but it will not take down the mosaics that cover the entire back wall of the shrine’s largest and most modern worship space, the Basilica of the Holy Trinity.

In the southern Mediterranean island country of Malta, the Diocese of Gozo has said it is sticking to its decision not to remove a series of Rupnik mosaics from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’ Pinu, including one above the main door. 

Other prominent sites of Rupnik art

One of the most popular shrines in Italy, the shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, also features floor-to-ceiling Rupnik mosaics in its lower church, where Catholics pray at the tomb of the Capuchin saint commonly known as Padre Pio. The mosaics along the access ramp and in the crypt were completed between 2009 and 2013.

The Capuchin Franciscan friars who run the shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo did not respond to CNA’s question about whether they would do anything about the mosaics.

An aide to the bishop of Caltagirone in Sicily, whose cathedral church features Rupnik mosaic installations from 2015 on the back wall of the sanctuary and on the front of the altar, and whose seminary chapel features a Rupnik workshop painting dating to 2023, said there was no assessment in progress about their possible removal.

After Italy, Spain is the European country with the highest concentration of works by the priest, with at least 12 separate sites featuring his art. Among them, highlights include the Madrid Cathedral (with mosaics in the sacristy, chapter house, and chapel of the Blessed Sacrament) and the Cave Sanctuary of St. Ignatius in Manresa.

The Loyola Center in Bilbao, a religious center associated with the Society of Jesus, has several mosaics designed by Rupnik as well as a Jesuit church in Seville.

In statements to ACI Prensa, José Luis García Íñiguez, coordinator of the communications office of the Jesuits in Spain, said the order’s headquarters in Rome has offered to initiate a process of reparation in an unspecified form to 20 of Rupnik’s victims, but “for now, there is no firm decision on what to do and how to do it with the mosaics.”

Montse Alvarado and Paola Arriaza contributed to this report.

Venerable Augustus Tolton. / Credit: Public domain

CNA Staff, Jun 19, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On June 19, the United States commemorates the anniversary of the 1865 order that gave freedom to enslaved African Americans in Texas, issued two months after the Civil War ended. More commonly known as “Juneteenth,” it became a federal holiday in 2021 and serves as a fitting day to remember the first Black Catholic priest in the U.S. whose cause has been opened for canonization — Venerable Augustus Tolton.

Tolton was born into slavery in Brush Creek, Ralls County, Missouri, on April 1, 1854, to Catholic parents Peter Paul Tolton and Martha Jane Chisley.

Peter Paul escaped shortly after the beginning of the Civil War and joined the Union Army, dying shortly thereafter. In 1862, Augustus Tolton, along with his mother and two siblings, escaped by crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. 

“John, boy, you’re free. Never forget the goodness of the Lord,” Tolton’s mother reportedly told him after the crossing.

Tolton began to attend St. Peter’s Catholic School, an all-white parish school in Quincy, Illinois, thanks to the help of Father Peter McGirr. The priest went on to baptize Tolton, instruct him for his first holy Communion, and encouraged his vocation to the priesthood.

No American seminary would accept Tolton because of his race, so he studied for the priesthood in Rome and was ordained in 1886 at the age of 31, becoming the first African American ordained as a priest.

Tolton returned to the U.S. where he served for three years at a parish in Quincy. From there he went to Chicago and started a parish for Black Catholics — St. Monica Parish. He remained there until he died unexpectedly while on a retreat in 1897. He was just 43 years old. 

During his short but impactful life, Tolton learned to speak fluent English, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, and African dialects. He was also a talented musician with a beautiful voice. He helped the poor and sick, fed the hungry, and helped many discover the faith. He was lovingly known as “Good Father Gus.”

Tolton’s cause was opened by the Archdiocese of Chicago on Feb. 24, 2011, making him a servant of God, and then on June 12, 2019, Pope Francis declared him venerable, which is the second step toward canonization.

Addressing the committee who was to decide where Tolton would be sent after his ordination in 1886 and who overruled the previous decision to send him to Africa, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni reportedly said the following: “America has been called the most enlightened nation in the world. We shall see whether it deserves that honor. If the United States has never before seen a Black priest, it must see one now.”

Despite President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation going into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, it could not be implemented in states still under Confederate control, and enforcement of the proclamation relied upon the advance of Union troops. It wasn’t until Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans were freed by executive decree.

This story was first published on June 19, 2024, and has been updated.

“Witnesses to Hope” is the theme for the 2025 Religious Freedom Week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced June 18, 2025. / Credit: Freedom Studio/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 18, 2025 / 18:43 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is commemorating 2025 Religious Freedom Week with the theme “Witnesses to Hope,” according to a June 18 announcement.

Religious Freedom Week, which the USCCB first launched in 2018, begins on Monday, June 22 — the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher — and runs through Sunday, June 29 — the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The USCCB is urging Catholics to “pray, reflect, and act to promote religious freedom” during the week. The conference is also asking the faithful to contact their senators in support of school choice in the Senate budget reconciliation bill, which could benefit Catholic schools.

In its announcement, the USCCB stated that the theme “builds on the annual [religious freedom] report released earlier this year by the conference’s Committee for Religious Liberty that highlights the impact of political polarization on religious freedom.”

The USCCB’s Jan. 16 annual report on the state of religious liberty expressed concerns about policies on immigration, gender ideology, abortion, and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In the January report, the bishops wrote that Catholic nongovernmental organizations are being “singled out for special hostility” and referenced the El Paso-based Annunciation House, which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to shut down. After the report was issued, President Donald Trump’s administration stripped some federal funds from Catholic organizations that provide foreign aid and domestic services for migrants.

The report also criticized proposed rules that push gender ideology onto schools and hospitals, which Trump has reversed. The bishops also expressed concerns about potential bills to impose abortion, contraception, or IVF coverage mandates for health insurance policies.

In its June 18 news release, the USCCB also announced a religious liberty essay contest the bishops organized with the Secretariat of Catholic Education and Our Sunday Visitor Institute. According to the bishops, the top essays from the competition will be published during Religious Freedom Week.

The Blessed Sacrament is seen through the window of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage van moments before departure from St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on May 18, 2025. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

CNA Staff, Jun 18, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

The National Eucharistic Congress has changed the route and agenda for the conclusion of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in Los Angeles this Sunday, citing safety concerns. 

The culmination of the St. Katherine Drexel pilgrimage route will no longer include a Eucharistic procession through downtown Los Angeles but will instead remain on the grounds of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the festival that was to follow the procession has been canceled entirely. 

The route adjustment and festival cancellation follows recent riots in Los Angeles over deportations of unauthorized immigrants. The unrest began in early June. More than 350 people have been arrested since, and the Los Angeles mayor only recently lifted a curfew.

The change of plans is designed to ensure the safety of participants while still “providing an opportunity for the people of God to come together in prayer and community,” according to National Eucharistic Congress President Jason Shanks.

“Based upon our conversations with LAPD this week, we feel confident that this new plan ensures the safety of all involved while still bringing the Eucharistic presence of Our Lord to downtown L.A. in this intentional way,” Shanks said in a June 18 statement. 

Organizers noted that “the center of the 2025 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is not an event but a Person.”

More than 3,000 people from around the U.S. are registered to attend the pilgrimage’s culminating June 22 Corpus Christi Mass and procession, according to organizers. The Mass will still take place at the downtown cathedral on Sunday afternoon along with the scaled-down procession.

The pilgrimage, named for St. Katharine Drexel, which follows the unprecedented four national pilgrimages that took place during the summer of 2024, is organized to bear witness to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. 

The 3,300-mile, 10-state trek began in mid-May in Indianapolis and included a group of eight young Catholic “Perpetual Pilgrims.”

The perpetual pilgrims have endured a lot already, encountering anti-Catholic protestors along the route. Nevertheless, the pilgrims endeavored to preserve a spirit of quiet prayer amid the rowdy protests.

According to the updated schedule released by the National Eucharistic Congress, on the final day of the St. Katharine Drexel pilgrimage route Catholics will gather for Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 3 p.m., as originally planned. The apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, will celebrate, while Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles will preach the homily. Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, and all the Los Angeles bishops will concelebrate along with them.

The Eucharistic procession is scheduled to begin after Mass, at approximately 4:30 p.m. Rather than going through the public streets of downtown, the procession will proceed through the cathedral plaza with several stops along the way. 

The bishops will then take the Eucharistic Lord onto Temple Street — a main street in front of the cathedral, which will be closed to traffic — to bless the city. The prayerful event will conclude with a final Benediction inside the cathedral. 

Amid the changes, Shanks said “revival can’t be stopped by circumstance.”

“The flames of Eucharistic faith continue to spread nationwide,” he continued. “Now more than ever, we are calling Catholics across the country to become Eucharistic missionaries: to carry the fire of revival into your homes, your parishes, and your communities.”

An image of the Sacred Heart in the Church of the Jesu, in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 18, 2025 / 17:53 pm (CNA).

Bishop David Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, issued a pastoral letter this month inviting all clergy, religious, and laity in the diocese to rediscover their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus during this jubilee year.

In his third pastoral letter, titled “Take Heart! Do Not Lose Heart! Behold the Sacred Heart!”, the bishop asked the faithful, when they enter their parishes, to be “intentional” about “acknowledging and praying to the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” 

“At this year’s chrism Mass, the Diocese of Youngstown gifted her priests with an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to display in their prayer space especially as they answer God’s call to serve with a shepherd’s heart.”

Bonnar also encouraged Catholics to “extend this same focus to the images of the Sacred Heart in our homes.”

In a press release, the diocese reported that the bishop said he was “inspired by Pope Francis’ last encyclical Dilexit Nos (‘He Loved Us’), which discusses the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ.” 

Bonnar also announced in the letter that on Sept. 28, the “diocese will celebrate an enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in every church,” corresponding with the end of the 350th Jubilee for the Sacred Heart.

The diocese reported in the press release that “the enthronement ritual involves veneration … of an image of the Sacred Heart to affirm the kingship of Jesus in the life of those participating.”

“During our upcoming clergy convocation, I will celebrate with our priests an enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” Bonnar explained in the letter. “Together as a presbyterate, we will pray to the Sacred Heart for strength and grace as we teach, sanctify, and lead the people of God in our portion of the Lord’s vineyard always with a shepherd’s heart.”

“Together, as a community of believers, we will behold the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” he wrote. “I pray that the life and love that flows from the Sacred Heart will empower us to be a more loving and unified Church.”

Bonnar’s letter also addressed how the election of Pope Leo XIV and his connection to St. Augustine has encouraged the “world to embrace and be embraced by the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

The bishop said his hope is that “this long, intentional gaze at Jesus and his Sacred Heart” will encourage “more vocations to the priesthood, consecrated life, and married life.”

“I also pray that our commitment to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will enliven us to open our hearts more to one another in a spirit of empathy, compassion, and forgiveness so that we ourselves embody the heart of Jesus,” he said.

null / Credit: Ivanko80/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 18, 2025 / 17:23 pm (CNA).

The abortion pill reversal (APR) drug supplied by Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN) has saved the lives of more than 7,000 unborn children since 2007, according to estimates from Heartbeat International.

Heartbeat International, a pro-life organization that operates APRN, announced the milestone in a June 12 article posted on “Pregnancy Help News,” a website the organization runs. 

Approximately 1,000 unborn lives have been saved over the last seven months alone, according to the organization’s numbers.

“Instead of taking a year to add another 1,000, it’s only taken about half that time,” Heartbeat International President Jor-El Godsey said in a statement, adding: “The APRN team reached 7,000 faster than expected.”

“Since November of last year, we’ve seen a marked increase in women finding us with the hope of changing the path they had previously chosen,” he added. “Milestones like this are important as we see chemical abortion exploding across the U.S. It’s only natural that with more abortions, there will be more women who regret making — or being forced into — that decision.”

APR is intended to reverse the effects of the abortion pill mifepristone and save the pregnancy.

Mifepristone, which is the first drug taken for a chemical abortion, attempts to kill the unborn child by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the child’s supply of oxygen and nutrients. A second pill, misoprostol, induces contractions to expel the child from the mother’s body.

If a woman has only taken mifepristone but has not yet taken misoprostol, the reversal drug could save her unborn child’s life by restoring the hormone progesterone. APR is often offered at pro-life pregnancy centers, also known as pregnancy resource centers.

Heartbeat International calculates the number of lives saved by combining individually tracked cases with statistical estimates, according to a spokesperson. Tracked cases, which account for thousands of lives, are women whose pregnancy was tracked after taking APR drugs.

For the unconfirmed outcomes, the group estimates the number of lives saved based on the success rate of APR drugs, which was calculated in a study by George Delgado, the medical director of Culture of Life Family Services and an APRN medical adviser.

“It’s very exciting to see that it has been successful that many times because it’s offering an option to women who begin a chemical abortion and change their minds,” Dr. Karen Poehailos, a Catholic pro-life doctor who serves on the medical advisory board for APRN, told CNA.

Poehailos, who also works as a family physician, said she has overseen more than 80 APR treatments for women. She said she still keeps in touch with the family of the first child she helped save with APR, who is now 9 years old and “doing well.”

She said APR treatments are “basically a matter of receptor competition” in which APR drugs try to restore progesterone while the mifepristone works to block it. She added that it’s “a very safe medicine to use in pregnancy” and has been prescribed by doctors to reduce the risks of miscarriages and premature labor for about 50 years.

“[Progesterone is] a very normal hormone for pregnancy and is present in large amounts throughout the pregnancy,” Poehailos noted.

Political and legal efforts to curtail access

There have been numerous political and legal efforts to curtail access to APR and restrict the operations and speech of pro-life pregnancy resource centers that often provide them.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Heartbeat International and affiliated pregnancy resource centers over use of the drug. The lawsuit claimed that there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that the drugs can reverse the effects of a chemical abortion pill.

The lawsuit alleged that advertisements promoting the abortion pill reversal drugs are fraudulent and misleading, labeling the actions of pregnancy resource centers as “predatory and unlawful.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a similar lawsuit in her state, claiming that pro-life pregnancy centers are engaged in false advertising in their promotion of the medicine.

Other efforts include Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signing a bill that would have banned the drug had it not been halted by a judge. Additionally, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health launched an “education campaign” against pregnancy centers, alleging they spread misinformation.

Some women who say APR has saved their children’s lives have fought back against efforts to prevent access. Mackenna Greene, who said her daughter was saved by APR treatments after she took mifepristone, was involved in a lawsuit against the Colorado ban.

Poehailos told CNA she’s “not certain why it has become such an issue” since the hormone has been in use for more than five decades.

She pointed to the 2018 Delgado study of more than 750 women that found two-thirds of women who took progesterone after taking mifepristone gave birth to the child. Alternatively, women who take mifepristone but skip the second chemical abortion drug misoprostol only give birth to the child about 20%-40% of the time, according to the study.

“It’s statistically significant,” Poehailos said.

Aid to the Church in Need released its 2024 report detailing how it spent $150 million in donations on June 18, 2025. / Credit: yul38885/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 18, 2025 / 16:53 pm (CNA).

The international Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) spent more than $150 million on thousands of projects to support Christians in 137 countries in 2024, according to a financial report released by the organization on June 18.

Some of the projects included aid to Christians in Ukraine and countries throughout the Middle East and Africa. They also supported faith formation for Catholic seminarians, priests, and laypeople, and funded transportation and construction costs in service to the Church.

Based in Germany, ACN, which is supported by donations and does not receive government funding, reported that about 80% of funds was spent directly on mission-related expenses. A little more than 7% was spent on administrative expenses and nearly 13% went to advertising.

ACN received funds from more than 360,000 donors from 23 different countries. 

Nearly 85% of mission-related expenses supported 5,335 aid projects globally, according to the report. The remaining 15% of mission-related funding supported information work such as the publication of Christian literature and advocacy for Christians, proclaiming the Catholic faith, and defense of persecuted Christians. 

“Thanks to your generosity, ACN has been able to bring hope to hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters in faith, who face daily challenges such as persecution or wars or sheer poverty,” ACN International Executive President Regina Lynch said in a statement.

“Many of you experience your own hardships, but still, you have answered God’s call to bring hope to others,” Lynch said. “At the heart of every project is the desire to help the Church to be an instrument of God’s message of love for all people.”

In total, ACN received $150.4 million in donations throughout the year and spent an additional $2.4 million in reserves from the previous year. The funding was nearly identical to 2023, when ACN received $154 million in donations and spent an additional $800,000 from reserves.

According to the report, faith formation accounted for more than 28% of the total funding and Mass stipends accounted for nearly 24%. Construction projects represented nearly 24% of funding and transportation accounted for about 10.5% of funds.

Throughout 2024, ACN provided nearly 1.85 million Mass stipends to more than 42,000 priests, which means that nearly every 17 seconds a Mass was celebrated because of ACN funds, an ACN news release noted.

Funds also supported faith formation for nearly 10,000 seminarians throughout the year, which the news release stated represents 1 in every 11 seminarians. This includes more than 5,300 in Africa, more than 1,800 in Latin America, more than 1,750 in Asia, and nearly 1,100 in Europe.

Aid to Ukraine, Africa, the Middle East

As the Russia-Ukraine war continued through 2024, Christians in Ukraine were the largest benefactors of support from ACN.

ACN spent about $9.1 million on Ukraine, which included funding for counseling and support for people suffering from trauma. The money also included funding to train seminarians and to support priests’ basic needs as well as to pay for transportation for them to carry out their pastoral ministry.

Speaking with “EWTN News Nightly,” Father Anton Lässer — the ecclesiastical assistant for ACN — recalled his last trip to Ukraine, saying: “You see these young people, they have lost a leg or an arm or they are blind.”

He spoke about one soldier he encountered there.

“When he was in the hospital he … couldn’t talk so he showed to the sister, ‘please open my eyes’ so that he could realize if he was still able to see,” Lässer said. “And he told us he was never [as] grateful as when he could realize he was still able to see.”

The continent that received the most support from ACN was Africa, where the organization spent more than 30% of its funds. Nigeria and Burkina Faso received the largest amount of aid.

“The Church in Africa is growing rapidly and is blessed with large numbers of priestly and religious vocations,” Lynch said in a statement. “Africa suffers not only from deep poverty but also increasingly from violent Islamic jihadist terror in a growing number of countries.”

Following Africa, the region that received the second most funding was Asia-Oceania, where about 18.7% of the money was spent. The largest benefactors were Christians in India, which accounted for $6.7 million worth of funding. According to ACN, Christians in India are the largest benefactors of scholarships and Mass stipends from ACN funds.

About 17.5% of the funding was spent in the Middle East, with Christians in Lebanon, Syria, and the Holy Land being the largest benefactors. According to ACN, this funding helped to support Christians facing struggles due to armed conflicts.

Latin America accounted for nearly 17% of the funding and Europe received nearly 16% of the funding. About 1% went to other regions.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

CNA Staff, Jun 18, 2025 / 16:23 pm (CNA).

Leading Catholic voices in New York, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan, are urging the state’s Catholic governor to veto an assisted suicide bill that has no wait period or psychological evaluation requirement.  

“This is the cheapening of human life,” Dolan said in a June 17 episode of “Conversations with Cardinal Dolan.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Catholic, has yet to publicly disclose her position on the bill. The state Senate passed the measure on June 9 in spite of bipartisan opposition in the New York Legislature, where numerous Democrats voted against it along with all Republicans. 

Proponents of the bill say assisted suicide would expand end-of-life choices. New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Senate sponsor of the bill, said that New York “has made history” by passing the bill, which he says will “reduce human suffering.”

Dennis Poust, the executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, called the bill “the worst assisted suicide bill in the country” because of its lack of patient guardrails.

While assisted suicide is legal in a dozen states and the District of Columbia, the New York bill is unique in that it has no waiting period, Poust said.

“You could get a terminal diagnosis from your doctor. You’ll be grief-stricken, you’ll be in despair, and you could at that moment request assisted suicide drugs from that doctor and then from a subsequent doctor next door,” Poust told “EWTN News Nightly” on June 13.

“The next day, you could be ending your life,” he said. “It’s egregious.”

Poust also criticized the lack of a psychological evaluation requirement in the bill. 

“Everyone who gets a terminal diagnosis has a moment of depression,” he said. “We all know the five stages of grief, and depression is one of them. But the doctors don’t have to even go there. They can just prescribe the pills if you’re of sound mind.” 

Dolan had earlier expressed hope in a June 10 episode of his show, recalling when he spoke with Hochul about the subject at the June 8 National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

The cardinal said he has praised Hochul for her work in support of mental health care. Hochul has promoted mental health support and suicide prevention during her tenure, including a billion-dollar effort to improve mental care.

“Suicide is an effect when somebody’s struggling emotionally as well as physically,” Dolan recalled telling the governor. “That’s when people are so desperate and we have to help their mental health so that they don’t go for suicide — that’s why we don’t want the physician-assisted suicide.” 

“She didn’t commit herself, but something tells me her gut’s not into this,” Dolan continued. “I’m hoping she’ll take the courageous, right thing to do.”

Dolan urged local Catholics to write to the governor and share their opposition to the bill. 

“This bill is just bad public policy,” Poust said. “It’s bad for people with disabilities, vulnerable people, people of color who tend to live in medically underserved areas and already get cheated in the health care system.”

“There are a lot of good reasons for the governor to veto this that have really nothing to do with her Catholic faith,” Poust continued.

Assisted suicide legislation has passed in multiple countries across the globe, including Canada. But these laws have seen backlash in many cases as assisted suicide has encroached on health care.

Poust urged anyone who is considering assisted suicide to seek out palliative care.

“We don’t want anyone to suffer,” Poust said. “We want people to avail themselves of hospice care. There are ways to control pain. There are ways to pass from this life to the next in peace and love and with caring people around you.”

“I would strongly urge people to not despair and to let God take you when he’s good and ready,” Poust concluded.