St. Michael the Archangel

USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops’ spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. / Credit: USCCB

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 13:31 pm (CNA).

As the Senate considers provisions for the “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget reconciliation, U.S bishops are asking lawmakers to protect vulnerable groups. 

“The bishops are grateful that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes provisions that promote the dignity of human life and support parental choice in education,” Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in a statement. 

“These are commendable provisions that are important priorities for the bishops.”

“Still, Congress must be consistent in protecting human life and dignity and make drastic changes to the bill to protect those most in need,” Broglio said. 

“As Pope Leo XIV recently stated, it is the responsibility of politicians to promote and protect the common good, including by working to overcome great wealth inequality,” he continued. “This bill does not answer this call. It takes from the poor to give to the wealthy.”

In a letter sent to senators signed by Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Bishops Robert Barron, Kevin Rhoades, Mark Seitz, David O’Connell, and Daniel Thomas, the bishops detailed their stance on certain bill provisions.

Broglio said: “I underscore what my brother bishops said in their recent letter to find a better way forward and urge senators to think and act with courage and creativity to protect human dignity for all, to uphold the common good, and to change provisions that undermine these fundamental values.”

In the letter, the bishops said they “strongly support” the bill’s plan to end “taxpayer subsidization of major abortion and ‘gender transition’ providers such as Planned Parenthood” and the bill’s support for “parental choice in education.”

The bishops also stated their agreement with “the inclusion of a $1,000 ‘above-the-line’ charitable deduction in the Senate bill” and said it is “a very positive step in the right direction.”

However, the bishops are not in support of cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They urged senators to protect these programs, adding that “the changes to SNAP will cause millions of people to go hungry.”

The bishops also disagree with “the unprecedented increase in funding for immigration enforcement and detention,” which they said “would disproportionately impact immigrant and mixed-status families with strong ties to American communities.”

They added that cuts “to clean energy incentives and the repeal of environmental programs and energy efficient loans … will lead to increased pollution that harms children and the unborn, stifles economic opportunity, and decreases resilience against extreme weather.”

In agreement with the letter, Broglio said the bill “provides tax breaks for some while undermining the social safety net for others through major cuts to nutrition assistance and Medicaid.”

“It fails to protect families and children by promoting an enforcement-only approach to immigration and eroding access to legal protections,” he said. “It harms God’s creation and future generations through cuts to clean energy incentives and environmental programs.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2025, ruled Maryland parents can opt out of LGBT-themed lessons in public schools, upholding their right to the free exercise of their respective religions. / Credit: PT Hamilton/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jun 27, 2025 / 12:26 pm (CNA).

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a group of Maryland parents who had sued a school district over its refusal to allow families to opt their children out of LGBT-focused lessons. 

In a 6-3 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court ruled on June 27 that the parents — who included Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims — were “entitled to a preliminary injunction” against the Montgomery County Board of Education, one that will allow them to excuse their children from the controversial lessons while the case is remanded to lower courts for further proceedings. 

The parents “are likely to succeed on their claim that the board’s policies unconstitutionally burden their religious exercise,” the court said. 

The reading materials, the Supreme Court said — which include promotions of same-sex “marriages” — are “designed to present certain values and beliefs as things to be celebrated, and certain contrary values and beliefs as things to be rejected.”

The materials go beyond mere “exposure,” the justices said, and “burdens the parents’ right to the free exercise of religion.”

Under the district’s policy, the school board only permitted opt-outs in narrow circumstances, mostly related to sexual education in health class. It did not permit opt-outs for coursework that endorsed the views that there are more than two “genders,” that a boy can become a girl, or that homosexual marriages are moral.

Some of the coursework initially introduced in the curriculum was designed to promote these concepts to children as young as 3 years old in preschool.

One book involved in the dispute, called “Pride Puppy,” taught preschool children the alphabet with a story about a homosexual pride parade, which introduced children to words like “drag queen,” “leather,” and “zipper.”

It also introduced young children to Marsha B. Johnson, a drag queen, gay rights activist, and prostitute.

Lawyers with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented the parents in their lawsuit. On Friday, Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, called the ruling “a historic victory for parental rights in Maryland and across America.”

“Kids shouldn’t be forced into conversations about drag queens, pride parades, or gender transitions without their parents’ permission,” he said. “Today, the court restored common sense and made clear that parents — not government — have the final say in how their children are raised.”

In a Friday statement, meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops hailed the Supreme Court for upholding parental rights to directing their children's educations.

"Public schools in our diverse country include families from many communities with a variety of deep-seated convictions about faith and morals," Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the chairman of the bishops' religious liberty committee, said in the statement.

"When these schools address issues that touch on these matters, they ought to respect all families," Rhoades said. "Parents do not forfeit their rights as primary educators of their children when they send their kids to public schools."

Stressing that children "should not be learning that their personal identity as male or female can be separated from their bodies," the bishop said in cases where a school teaches this ideology, "it ought to respect those who choose not to participate."

The lawsuit against the school district, located just north of Washington, D.C., was filed in May 2023. 

The Supreme Court took up the controversial case in January of this year after two lower courts ruled against a group of parents who sued the Montgomery County board over the school district’s having provided LGBT-themed lessons and reading materials to their children. 

Both the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled against the parents, claiming they had no right to be notified or opt their kids out of the sexuality-themed literature. 

The school district initially allowed the parents to opt out but changed its policy less than a year later. It removed the LGBT puppy book and another book from the program curriculum last year, though the books were still available at school libraries.

During oral arguments in April, most of the justices on the high court appeared sympathetic toward the parents in their lawsuit. 

In a dissent to the Friday ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed the decision could usher in “chaos” for public schools around the country.

Sotomayor suggested that the LGBT materials in the dispute represented merely “a range of concepts and views” and “new ideas.”

“Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools,” she alleged.

This story was updated on Friday, June 27, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. with a statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pro-life activists participate in a Celebrate Life Day Rally at the Lincoln Memorial on June 24, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 11:41 am (CNA).

This weekend six pro-life organizations will host a three-day-long event in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the third anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

After a successful 2024 event, the Celebrate Life Weekend returns June 27–29 for three days of events that mark the anniversary of the June 24, 2022, decision and encourage “the pro-life generation to fight for equal rights for all — born and preborn — through the 14th Amendment,” according to the Students for Life of America (SFLA) website.

“Last year, we mobilized the youth vote to celebrate Life after Roe v. Wade’s demise,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of SFLA, in a press release. “Now, we’re building on our momentum to create even more pro-life victories — calling on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood while also fighting for equal protections for preborn lives.”

The weekend will be hosted by SFLA, Students for Life Action, Vitae Foundation, Sidewalk Advocates for Life, And Then There Were None, and Pro Love Ministries.

The celebration kicks off Friday evening with a gala in downtown Washington, D.C. Athlete and advocate Riley Gaines will be the keynote speaker alongside other pro-life leaders who organizers say will “highlight the help available for mothers and their children, born and preborn.”

Other confirmed speakers at the gala include Hawkins; Dr. Abby Johnson, president of And Then There Were None and ProLove Ministries; Lauren Muzyka, president and CEO of Sidewalk Advocates for Life; and Brandy Meeks, president and CEO of Vitae Foundation.

On Saturday a diaper drive and rally will be held on Capitol Hill. The event will feature the confirmed speakers from the gala as well as additional guests who will speak about the pro-life movement and the push “to defund Planned Parenthood.”

According to Johnson in a Facebook media post, the event will be the “nation’s largest diaper drive.”

An expected 392,715 diapers will be donated to pregnancy care centers and families in the local community. Each diaper represents “a preborn life ended by Planned Parenthood last year.”

In addition to the two events, the National Celebrate Life Conference will hold other gatherings for registered attendees on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to “offer training and strategy to rally and educate the pro-life generation, as well as key legislators.”

The conference’s mission is to “unite pro-life women and men to celebrate, collaborate, and strategize for the protection of preborn children and to make abortion unthinkable in our culture.”

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church, speaks during a prayer vigil in 2014. / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 11:06 am (CNA).

Here’s a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Iraqi bishop says imposing Iran regime change ‘can only worsen the situation’

Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church, issued a stark criticism of calls for regime change in Iran following the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

“Imposing another regime would only worsen the situation. Change must come from within, if the citizens deem it necessary,” Sako told Agenzia Fides. “Twenty-two years after the fall of the regime in Iraq, there is still no true citizenship, no law, no security, and no stability. Corruption and sectarianism persist.”

Damascus church bombing exposes deepening distrust and rising extremism

Following the deadly bombing at Mar Elias Orthodox Church in Damascus, tensions have grown not just over the attack itself but over who is responsible.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi condemned the Syrian government in a powerful funeral homily, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, for failing to protect its citizens, signaling an unusually bold rebuke.

Although Syrian authorities claimed ISIS was behind the attack and arrested several suspects, many locals remain skeptical, especially since the group has not publicly claimed responsibility. Amid these conflicting narratives, a lesser-known extremist group, “Saraya Ansar al-Sunna,” claimed the attack on Telegram, citing sectarian motivations. Observers suspect ties between the attackers and radical factions once part of larger militant coalitions.

Pakistani Christian convicted of blasphemy 23 years ago is freed

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has freed Anwar Kenneth, a Pakistani Christian man who was arrested in 2001 for writing letters that had allegedly “blasphemous” content about Muhammad and the Quran according to the Islamic country’s stringent laws. 

Despite Kenneth being diagnosed with a mental illness, a lower court sentenced him to death in 2002 and later upheld the sentence in 2014, according to a report from UCA News. His lawyer, Rana Abdul Hameed, said he will be released next week. “Although doctors had declared him insane at the time of the alleged offense, he kept confessing and pleading to be hanged, which complicated the trial,” she said. 

Indian police charge 9 Catholic priests with ‘unlawful assembly’ 

Police in India have charged nine Catholic priests for causing public disturbance through “unlawful assembly” for joining a protest in the coastal town of Chellanam in the communist-ruled Kerala state, according to UCA News. 

More than 150 priests and 5,000 mostly lay Catholics joined the protest against the government for “[failing] to protect around 500 homes from possible submergence in the Arabian Sea due to coastal erosion.”

Vice President of the Kerala Region Latin Catholic Council Joseph Jude was also charged. “This is totally a false case and we cannot be silenced with it,” he said, highlighting that the government’s failure to rebuild will impact “several thousand” mostly Catholic fishermen in the area, leaving them homeless.

Catholic bishops urge Kenyan government not to ignore police brutality 

Catholic bishops in Kenya have cautioned the government against denying police brutality and silent killings of innocent Kenyans, including peaceful protesters, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported.

In a statement the bishops read out in turns at a June 24 press conference on the state of the nation, they declared that “the government must acknowledge the fact that there have been mysterious deaths under their watch and at least try to get to the perpetrators.” The bishops’ statement comes nationwide after the murder of Albert Ojwang, a teacher and blogger who was arrested and killed in police custody.

Caritas in Papua New Guinea works to end witchcraft accusations, violence

Caritas Papua New Guinea is working to end the widespread problem of violence provoked by false accusations of witchcraft in the province of Simbu, “one of the most affected provinces,” where hundreds of cases are recorded each year, according to an Agenzia Fides report.  

Bishop Paul Sundu of the Diocese of Kundiawa explained in the report that accusations of witchcraft in the region are a commonplace means “to get rid of enemies, block their success in business, education, or politics.” Witchcraft accusations have also been linked to gender-based violence against women, the report noted. 

Judy Gelua, diocesan coordinator of Caritas in the Diocese of Kundiawa, noted Caritas’ successful efforts to promote change by providing “guidance on human rights, peace-building, and the protection of minors, women, and vulnerable people,” resulting in the level of violence “slowly declining.”

Pope Leo XIV ordains a priest in St. Peter’s Basilica on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday, June 27, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2025 / 09:26 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV ordained 32 men to the priesthood Friday on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, calling on them to draw inspiration from the many examples of priestly holiness in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history and to share God’s love with the world.

Thousands of priests filled St. Peter’s Basilica for the June 27 Mass, the high point of this week’s Jubilee of Priests. The diverse group of men ordained hailed from more than 20 countries, including South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Romania — most from beyond Western Europe.

“Love God and your brothers and sisters, and give yourselves to them generously,” Pope Leo in his homily told the men about to be ordained, moments before the ordination.  

“Be fervent in your celebration of the sacraments, in prayer, especially in adoration before the Eucharist, and in your ministry. Keep close to your flock, give freely of your time and energy to everyone, without reserve and without partiality, as the pierced side of the crucified Jesus and the example of the saints teach us to do.”

In front of the altar built on the tomb of St. Peter, the men being ordained lay prostrate on the marble floor of the basilica as thousands chanted the Litany of the Saints.

St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world, was almost completely filled with rows and rows of priests in white vestments kneeling. Pope Leo XIV placed his hands on the heads of each of the young men whom he personally ordained to the priesthood.

Pope Leo highlighted the centuries of priestly witnesses in the Church who “have been martyrs, tireless apostles, missionaries, and champions of charity,” urging the new priests to “cherish this treasure: learn their stories, study their lives and work, imitate their virtues, be inspired by their zeal, and invoke their intercession often and insistently.” 

The pope also warned against the lure of superficial worldly success. “All too often, today’s world offers models of success and prestige that are dubious and short-lived. Do not let yourselves be taken in by them!” he said. “Look rather to the solid example and apostolic fruitfulness, frequently hidden and unassuming, of those who, with faith and dedication, have spent their lives in service of the Lord and their brothers and sisters.” 

The ordinations held special meaning for many of the young men, some of whom were stepping foot in Rome for the first time. 

“I received the news with tears in my eyes, but with joy. I would never have expected it. For me it is the proof of how God acts in one’s life. He has a perfect plan. You just have to trust,” said Jiergue Stanley, a 35-year-old from Haiti who traveled to the Eternal City for the first time to be ordained.

Gilbert Tika from Ghana told “EWTN News Nightly” ahead of his ordination: “It’s something wonderful to be ordained by the pope, Pope Leo. I think it’s a special gift that God is giving me and the other brothers that will also be ordained.”

“Being a priest for me means I have to be a sign of hope for the people with whom I live, with whom I will minister,” he added. “Practicing the habit of looking at things with the eyes of Jesus Christ. And helping others to look at the world through the eyes of Christ and let the people feel they are still loved by God.”

Another newly ordained priest from Mexico, 27-year-old Jorge Antonio Escobedo Rosales, said: “I accepted this gift with great joy after 13 years of priestly formation.”

Pope Leo XIV was visibly emotional as he greeted each of the new priests after the ordination rites, embracing each of them under Bernini’s baldacchino.

“Our hope is grounded in the knowledge that the Lord never abandons us: He is always at our side,” the pope said. “At the same time, we are called to cooperate with him, above all by putting the Eucharist at the center of our lives, inasmuch as it is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’”

He quoted a line from a homily St. Augustine gave on the anniversary of his episcopal ordination — “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian” — emphasizing the joyful fruit of the communion that unites the faithful, priests, and bishops in the recognition that all are saved by the same mercy of God.

On the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which focuses on Christ’s love poured out for humanity, Pope Leo reaffirmed his commitment to ecclesial unity and peace. “The priestly ministry is one of sanctification and reconciliation for the building up of the body of Christ in unity,” he said.

“In the solemn Mass inaugurating my pontificate [on May 18], I voiced before the people of God my great desire for ‘a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.’ Today, I share this desire once more with all of you,” he continued. 

The solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrated each year on the Friday after Corpus Christi, originated in 17th-century France through the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. It was officially instituted by Pope Pius IX in 1856 and has become an important Catholic solemnity day emphasizing Christ’s love and the call to compassion and reparation.

Pope Francis’ final encyclical, Dilexit Nos, meaning “He Loved Us,” was about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

“Reconciled with one another, united and transformed by the love that flows abundantly from the heart of Christ, let us walk together humbly and resolutely in his footsteps,” Pope Leo XIV said. 

“Let us bring the peace of the risen Lord to our world, with the freedom born of the knowledge that we have  been loved, chosen, and sent by the Father.”

Monsignor Vito Buonanno and Dee Steel pose before the Lego model of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 24, 2025. / Credit: Paris Apodaca/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is offering specialized guided tours for deaf and blind visitors, giving immersive and sensory experiences to make the sacred site more accessible.

The Deaf and Blind Tour Initiative, which began holding tours in April, includes American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted guides for those who are deaf and tactile stations for those who are blind, allowing participants to engage with statues, mosaics, and sacred art through touch and sight. 

These tours mark the first of their kind in the U.S., Monsignor Vito Buonanno, the director of pilgrimages for the shrine, told CNA.

The project idea was created by volunteer docent Marilyn Lasecki, ASL interpreter Katy Betker, and with the support of Monsignor Walter Rossi, the rector of the shrine.

Inspired by Vatican accessibility

The root of the idea took shape in 2021 when Lasecki decided to launch the project in honor of her late father, Leonard, who worked with deaf people when he was alive. In her research, she discovered that the Vatican Museums are recognized for their accommodations for deaf and blind visitors. Motivated by that model, the basilica’s staff began planning their own adaptation.

In March, Dee Steel, the director of the basilica’s Office of Visitor Services, traveled to Rome and met with the Vatican’s tour director to study their tactile systems firsthand.

“Both the Deaf and Blind communities are greatly underserved by museums and church communities,” Lasecki told CNA. “The Vatican Museums are at the top of the list for welcoming both the deaf and the blind, with specialized tours.” 

For deaf visitors, volunteer docents work alongside Betker to guide groups through the church. To improve accessibility, Betker helped adapt the docents’ scripts to better suit ASL grammar.

“There is not a word-for-word translation. It’s because they are two very different languages,” Betker said. Tour guides “have to not only change [the] word order around [but also] change a lot of the way that they speak and with their script for the tours.”

She also advised docents on subtle adjustments that enhance communication, like waiting for a deaf participant to finish observing a site before continuing with spoken commentary.

Steel recounted one docent’s realization during a tour: “When somebody is signing what you say, you have to make sure the people are looking at the signer.”

During one of the first tours, Father Michael Depcik — a deaf priest and chaplain from the Archdiocese of Baltimore — concelebrated Mass at the basilica. Depcik emphasized that having direct communication in ASL allowed deaf Catholics to fully experience the liturgy.

“Usually, they would go through an interpreter, but it’s not the same,” the priest told CNA. “The Deaf are finally able to connect directly for the full immersion into the experience with these assets.”

He also highlighted the importance of the sensory experience. “The Deaf are very visual,” he said. 

When asked about smells like incense, Depcik told CNA: “It’s like music for the eyes — the smells and the art, it’s all a very important part of the experience of the Deaf.”

The basilica also created tactile experiences for blind visitors with the help of Father Mike Joly, a blind priest from St. Joan of Arc Parish in Yorktown, Virginia. 

The tour for the blind features 15 hands-on stations, including the Founder’s Chapel, the Our Mother of Africa statue, and the Our Lady of Pompei Chapel.

This tour starts with a scale model of the basilica built from over 10,000 Lego bricks by artist John Davisson. It will be on display on the crypt level to help visitors visualize the structure’s layout and the scale of the building. 

Buonanno described Joly’s visit to the Founder’s Chapel. Staff removed ropes so he could explore the marble sarcophagus of Bishop Thomas Shahan by touch.

“[Joly] realized — he was blind at 7 years old, so he had seven years of seeing — but he never knew the feel of a miter, that it’s two sides,” Buonanno said.

In the Our Mother of Africa chapel, there are faces of the four Evangelists that people can touch as well as the statue of the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child. 

Joly helped staff reinterpret sacred artwork. “We always thought of Jesus as pointing toward another piece of artwork, but [Joly] felt the finger and said, ‘Jesus is giving a blessing,” Steel recalled.

“[Joly] saw more with his hands than we saw with our eyes,” Steel commented.

The priest “taught us things… that is the beautiful interaction with this,” Buonanno added. 

With the tours now underway, the basilica hopes to raise awareness and expand participation.

The facility wants to “expand [the initiative], make it more known,” Buonanno said. “It’s just so that more people can know that it exists.”

Archbishops wear the pallium they received from Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, June 29, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday will bless and bestow the “pallium” — a white woolen vestment symbolizing pastoral authority and unity with the pope — on 48 new metropolitan archbishops, including eight from the United States, in a return to a custom changed by Pope Francis in 2015.

Leo will impose the pallia at a Mass for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 29.

The U.S. archbishops who will be in Rome to receive the pallium on June 29 are Richard Henning of Boston, Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee, Joe Steve Vásquez of Galveston-Houston, Edward Weisenburger of Detroit, Robert Casey of Cincinnati, Michael McGovern of Omaha, W. Shawn McKnight of Kansas City in Kansas, and Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington.

Archbishop Ryan Pagente Jimenez of Agaña, Guam (a U.S. territory), is also expected to be imposed with the pallium.

The pallium is a narrow, circular band of white wool with pendants hanging down the front and the back. It is adorned with six small black crosses and three pins (called spinulae), which resemble both thorns and the nails used to crucify Jesus.

It is bestowed on the Latin-rite patriarch of Jerusalem and metropolitan archbishops — the diocesan archbishop of the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or region — as a symbol of communion, authority, and unity with the pope and his pastoral mission to be a shepherd for the people of God. The pope also wears the pallium over his chasuble when he is celebrating Mass.

Until Pope Francis changed the policy in 2015, it had been the custom for centuries for the pope to impose the pallium on the shoulders of each new metropolitan archbishop created in the past year.

Ten years ago, Pope Francis opted to only bless the pallia and then give them to each of the new archbishops to be vested by the apostolic nuncio in their own archdiocese as a sign of the archbishop’s relationship with the local Church.

According to the master of liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Pope Leo will be both blessing and personally imposing the pallia on the archbishops.

Before the vestments are bestowed on the metropolitan archbishops, they are placed for a time in a spot near the tomb of St. Peter, under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, to reinforce the bishop’s connection to Peter through apostolic succession.

The tradition of the pope giving a pallium to select bishops began as early as the sixth century, though some historians believe a cloak-like version of pallium existed and was worn by Christians in the first century. By the ninth century, all metropolitan bishops were expected to wear the pallium in their territory.

Another tradition tied to the pallia and believed to date back in various forms to the sixth century is the blessing of the lambs from which the woolen stole, or at least a part of it, is made.

For centuries, every year on Jan. 21, the feast of St. Agnes, two young lambs were brought to the Basilica of St. Agnes to be blessed by the pope. They would then be entrusted to the Benedictine nuns of the Basilica of St. Cecilia to be sheared and their wool woven into the new pallia. While today the pallia are still created from lamb’s wool, the papal blessing of the lambs was discontinued by Pope Francis a few years into his pontificate.

At Pope Benedict XVI’s inaugural Mass on April 24, 2005, he explained the symbolism of the pallium and the lamb’s wool as “meant to represent the lost, the sick, or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders to carry to the waters of life.”

Top, left to right: St. Catherine of Siena, St. John Paul II, Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Francis de Sales. Bottom, left to right: St. John Henry Newman, St. Gertrude of Helfta, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Thomas Aquinas. / Credit: Brooklyn Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Gov.pl, CC BY 3.0 PL, via Wikimedia Commons; Leiloeira São Domingos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Corrado Giaquinto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Giovanni Battista Lucini, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Herbert Rose Barraud, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Public domain via Wikimedia Commons; Céline Martin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Carlo Crivelli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Rome Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ 2024 encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus is packed with testimonies from the saints of prayer and devotion to the heart of Christ throughout the centuries.

Dilexit Nos, meaning “He Loved Us,” describes how devotion to the heart of Christ “reappears in the spiritual journey of many saints” and how in each one the devotion takes on new hues. The most frequently quoted saints in the encyclical are St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. John Paul II, but more than two dozen saints are quoted in all.

The encyclical explains how the Church Fathers’ descriptions of the wounded side of Christ as the wellspring of the life of grace later began to be associated with his heart, especially in monastic life.

It adds that “devotion to the heart of Christ slowly passed beyond the walls of the monasteries to enrich the spirituality of saintly teachers, preachers, and founders of religious congregations, who then spread it to the farthest reaches of the earth.”

Here are 20 saints devoted to the Sacred Heart found in Dilexit Nos:

St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622)

St. Francis de Sales was deeply moved by Jesus’ words “Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:29). He writes in the “Introduction to the Devout Life” that the ordinary trials of life — such as “the tiresome peculiarities of a husband or wife” or a headache or toothache — when accepted lovingly, “are most pleasing to God’s goodness.” In his letters, Francis wrote about Christ’s open heart, seeing it as an invitation to dwell within and trust completely in God’s grace, describing it as “a heart on which all our names are written.”

“Surely it is a source of profound consolation to know that we are loved so deeply by Our Lord, who constantly carries us in his heart,” he said in a Lenten homily on Feb. 20, 1622.

St. John Henry Newman (1801–1890)

St. John Henry Newman chose “Cor ad cor loquitur” (“Heart speaks to heart”) as his motto, a phrase drawn from a letter by St. Francis de Sales. He experienced Christ’s Sacred Heart most powerfully in the Eucharist, where he sensed Jesus’ heart “beat[ing] for us still” and prayed: “O make my heart beat with thy heart. Purify it of all that is earthly, all that is proud and sensual, all that is hard and cruel, of all perversity, of all disorder, of all deadness. So fill it with thee, that neither the events of the day nor the circumstances of the time may have power to ruffle it, but that in thy love and thy fear it may have peace.”

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690)

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is perhaps the saint most associated with the Sacred Heart of Jesus because of a series of apparitions of Christ in Paray-le-Monial, France. In the first message Alacoque received, she described how the Lord “asked for my heart, which I asked him to take, which he did and then placed myself in his own adorable heart, from which he made me see mine like a little atom consumed in the fiery furnace of his own.” In subsequent messages, “he revealed to me the ineffable wonders of his pure love and to what extremes it had led him to love mankind” and how “his pure love, with which he loves men to the utmost” is met with “only ingratitude and indifference.”

Alacoque wrote in one of her letters: “It is necessary that the divine heart of Jesus in some way replace our own; that he alone live and work in us and for us; that his will … work absolutely and without any resistance on our part; and finally that its affections, thoughts, and desires take the place of our own, especially his love, so that he is loved in himself and for our sakes. And so, this lovable heart being our all in all, we can say with St. Paul that we no longer live our own lives, but it is he who lives within us.”

St. Claude de La Colombière (1641–1682)

St. Claude de La Colombière was a French Jesuit priest and confessor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. He helped develop devotion to the Sacred Heart, combining the experiences of St. Margaret Mary with the contemplative approach of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Claude meditated on the attitude of Christ toward those who sought to arrest and put him to death: “His heart is full of bitter sorrow; every violent passion is unleashed against him and all nature is in turmoil, yet amid all this confusion, all these temptations, his heart remains firmly directed to God.”

St. Gertrude of Helfta (1256–1302)

St. Gertrude of Helfta, a Cistercian mystic, writes of a time in prayer in which she leaned her head on the heart of Christ and heard his heart beating. She reflected that the “sweet sound of those heartbeats has been reserved for modern times, so that hearing them, our aging and lukewarm world may be renewed in the love of God.”

St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn (1241–1298)

St. Mechtilde, another Cistercian mystic, shared St. Gertrude’s intimate devotion to the heart of Jesus. The encyclical lists her as among “a number of holy women, [who] in recounting their experiences of encounter with Christ, have spoken of resting in the heart of the Lord as the source of life and interior peace.”

St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660)

St. Vincent de Paul emphasized that “God asks primarily for our heart,” teaching that the poor can have more merit by giving with “greater love” than those with wealth who can give more. He urged his confreres to “find in the heart of Our Lord a word of consolation for the poor sick person.” The constitutions of his congregation underline that “by gentleness we inherit the earth. If we act on this, we will win people over so that they will turn to the Lord. That will not happen if we treat people harshly or sharply.” For him, embodying the “heart of the Son of God” meant going everywhere in mission and bringing the warmth of Christ’s love to the suffering and poor.

St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380)

St. Catherine of Siena wrote that the Lord’s sufferings are impossible for us to comprehend, but the open heart of Christ enables us to have a lively personal encounter with his boundless love. Catherine’s “Dialogue on Divine Providence” records a conversation she had with God in which he said to her: “I wished to reveal to you the secret of my heart, allowing you to see it open, so that you can understand that I have loved you so much more than I could have proved to you by the suffering that I once endured.”

St. John Paul II (1920–2005)

St. John Paul II described Christ’s heart as “the Holy Spirit’s masterpiece” and saw it as foundational for building a “civilization of love.” In a general audience in the first year of his papacy, John Paul II spoke about “the mystery of the heart of Christ” and shared that “it has spoken to me ever since my youth.” Throughout his pontificate, he taught that “the Savior’s heart invites us to return to the Father’s love, which is the source of every authentic love.”

“The men and women of the third millennium need the heart of Christ in order to know God and to know themselves; they need it to build the civilization of love,” John Paul II said in 1994.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)

St. Bernard preached on the importance of loving Jesus with “the full and deep affection of all your heart.” He described Christ’s pierced side as a revelation of the outpouring of the Lord’s love from his compassionate heart. In the year 1072, he preached: “Those who crucified him pierced his hands and feet … A lance passed through his soul even to the region of his heart. No longer is he unable to take pity on my weakness. The wounds inflicted on his body have disclosed to us the secrets of his heart; they enable us to contemplate the great mystery of his compassion.”

St. Bonaventure (1221–1274)

St. Bonaventure presents the heart of Christ as the source of the sacraments and of grace. In his treatise “Lignum Vitae,” Bonaventure wrote that in the blood and water flowing from the wounded side of Christ, the price of our salvation flows “from the hidden wellspring of his heart, enabling the Church’s sacraments to confer the life of grace and thus to be, for those who live in Christ, like a cup filled from the living fount springing up to life eternal.”

St. John Eudes (1601–1680)

St. John Eudes wrote the propers for the Mass of the Sacred Heart and was an ardent proponent of the devotion. Dilexit Nos describes how St. John Eudes convinced the bishop of the Rennes Diocese in France to approve the celebration of the feast of the “Adorable Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” the first time that such a feast was officially authorized in the Church. The following year, five more bishops in France authorized the celebration of the feast in their dioceses.

St. Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916)

St. Charles de Foucauld made it his mission to console the Sacred Heart of Jesus, adopting an image of the cross planted in the heart of Christ as his emblem. He consecrated himself to Christ’s heart, believing that he must “embrace all men and women” like the heart of Jesus. He made a promise in 1906 to “let the heart of Jesus live in me, so that it is no longer I who live, but the heart of Jesus that lives in me, as he lived in Nazareth.”

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the phrase “heart of Christ” can refer to sacred Scripture, “which makes known his heart.” The encyclical quotes St. Thomas Aquinas’ theological exposition of the Gospel of St. John in which he wrote that whenever someone “hastens to share various gifts of grace received from God, living water flows from his heart.”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897)

St. Thérèse of Lisieux felt an intimate bond with Jesus’ heart. At age 15, she could speak of Jesus as the one “whose heart beats in unison with my own.” One of her sisters took as her religious name “Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart,” and the monastery that Thérèse entered was dedicated to the Sacred Heart. She wrote in a letter to a priest: “Ever since I have been given the grace to understand also the love of the heart of Jesus, I admit that it has expelled all fear from my heart. The remembrance of my faults humbles me, draws me never to depend on my strength, which is only weakness, but this remembrance speaks to me of mercy and love even more.”

St. John of the Cross (1542–1591)

St. John of the Cross viewed the image of Christ’s pierced side as an invitation to full union with the Lord. In his poetry, he portrayed Christ as a wounded stag, comforted by the soul that turns to him. John sought to explain that in mystical experience, the infinite love of the risen Christ “condescends” to enable us, through the open heart of Christ, to experience an encounter of truly reciprocal love. 

St. Ambrose (340–397)

The encyclical repeatedly quotes St. Ambrose, who offered a reflection on Jesus as the source of “living water.” He wrote: “Drink of Christ, for he is the rock that pours forth a flood of water. Drink of Christ, for he is the source of life. Drink of Christ, for he is the river whose streams gladden the city of God. Drink of Christ, for he is our peace. Drink of Christ, for from his side flows living water.”

St. Augustine (354–430)

St. Augustine “opened the way to devotion to the Sacred Heart as the locus of our personal encounter with the Lord,” according to Dilexit Nos. “For Augustine, Christ’s wounded side is not only the source of grace and the sacraments but also the symbol of our intimate union with Christ, the setting of an encounter of love.” In his “Tractates on the Gospel of John,” Augustine reflects on how when John, the beloved disciple, reclined on Jesus’ bosom at the Last Supper, he drew near to the secret place of wisdom.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)

In his “Spiritual Exercises,” St. Ignatius encourages retreatants to contemplate the wounded side of the crucified Lord to enter into the heart of Christ. Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, which has promoted devotion to Jesus’ divine heart for more than a century. The society was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1871.

St. Daniel Comboni (1831–1881)

St. Daniel Comboni saw the heart of Jesus as the source of strength for his missionary work in Africa. He founded the Sons of the Sacred Heart Jesus, which today are known as the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as well as the Comboni Missionary Sisters. The saintly missionary once said: “This divine heart, which let itself be pierced by an enemy’s lance in order to pour forth through that sacred wound the sacraments by which the Church was formed, has never ceased to love.”

This article was first published on Nov. 1, 2024, and has been updated.

Doug Keck hosts an episode of “EWTN Bookmark” on May 8, 2025. After a 29-year career at the network, EWTN announced June 26, 2025, that Keck will retire from his administrative duties as president and chief operating officer of EWTN. Keck will receive the honorary title of president emeritus and will continue to host “EWTN Bookmark” as well as co-host “Father Spitzer’s Universe.” / Credit: “EWTN Bookmark”/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Jun 26, 2025 / 19:11 pm (CNA).

The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) announced June 26 that after a distinguished 29-year career at the network, Doug Keck will retire from his administrative duties as president and chief operating officer. He also will step down as a member of the EWTN board of governors.

Keck joined EWTN in 1996 following a career in cable television, sports, and media in New York City. His tenure saw the network, founded in 1981 by Mother Angelica, evolve into an award-winning global powerhouse, becoming the largest Catholic media organization in the world.

During Keck’s tenure, EWTN (CNA’s parent company) expanded its reach across television, radio, and digital platforms, producing notable initiatives such as “Life on the Rock,” “EWTN Bookmark,” and “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” the pioneering show of the network’s broader news programming.

In 2013, Keck was named president and chief operating officer after serving since 2009 as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

“On behalf of the entire EWTN family around the globe, I want to thank Doug for keeping the mission of EWTN our No. 1 priority over the years and never compromising in sharing the truth of the Gospel for views or clicks,” EWTN Board Chairman and CEO Michael Warsaw said in a statement. “EWTN is better off today for his contributions and for his dedication to our mission.”

Keck, who has also served as president and chief operating officer of EWTN Religious Catalogue and EWTN Publishing, was also a member of the board of governors of the various EWTN entities. Keck will receive the honorary title of president emeritus and will continue to host “EWTN Bookmark” as well as co-host “Father Spitzer’s Universe.”

“This announcement is one of many that will usher in the next generation of talent to EWTN,” Warsaw continued. “While this is a moment of change, I am excited about the future of our global team and how we are building upon the past to carry out our mission for future generations. Doug remains a member of the EWTN family and will continue to mentor the up-and-coming leaders in the Catholic media landscape.”

About EWTN

EWTN, now in its 44th year, is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. Its 11 global TV channels broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in multiple languages, reaching over 435 million households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division. 

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency; The National Catholic Register newspaper and digital platform; ACI Prensa in Spanish; ACI Digital in Portuguese; ACI Stampa in Italian; ACI Africa in English, French, and Portuguese; ACI MENA in Arabic; CNA Deutsch in German; and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including “EWTN News Nightly,” “EWTN Noticias,” “EWTN News In Depth,” “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly,” “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” and “Vaticano.”

Marriage supporters rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, April 28, 2015. / Credit: Addie Mena/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 26, 2025 / 18:02 pm (CNA).

The United States Supreme Court on June 26, 2015, decided that every state is constitutionally required to perform and recognize same-sex civil marriages — a controversial ruling at the time that was followed by major shifts in cultural norms and public opinion.

When the justices handed down the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling in a 5-4 decision, only 16 states had already enacted laws legalizing same-sex civil marriage. The practice, however, had been ongoing in 21 additional states because lower courts had ruled against most state-level bans prior to the Supreme Court ruling.

In the aftermath of the ruling, some Christians have been sued for adhering to biblical teachings on marriage and human sexuality in relation to anti-discrimination laws. Broader movements to normalize both homosexuality and transgenderism have also led to legal battles over parental rights, women’s rights, and religious liberty.

A decade later, public support for same-sex marriage is higher than it was. Yet some polling has shown that the trend might be reversing, potentially due to the subsequent cultural battles that followed.

The United States post-Obergefell

Ever since the ruling, efforts to prevent discrimination have repeatedly been at odds with religious liberty and parental rights.

In Colorado, for example, a baker named Jack Phillips fought and won three multiyear lawsuits filed against him for refusing to bake cakes for same-sex civil weddings and gender transition celebrations. A Christian photographer in New York and a web designer in Colorado, along with others, also fought and won multiyear lawsuits based on their refusals to provide services for same-sex civil weddings.

Many legal battles on similar issues are still ongoing. Foster parents in Vermont and a mother looking to adopt in Oregon are suing their states over policies that require them to embrace gender ideology to participate in foster programs. Parents in California are suing the state over a law that prohibits teachers from informing parents about their children’s “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”

The Supreme Court is considering a case in which a Maryland school board is refusing to let parents opt children out of course material that promotes homosexuality and transgenderism. 

There are numerous political and legal battles nationwide over policies that allow biological males who self-identify as transgender women to access women’s locker rooms and other private spaces and allow them to participate in female sporting events.

“Obergefell gave license to the unraveling of social norms and understanding around sexual morality, family structure, and even personal identity,” Mary Rice Hasson, director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA.

In Hasson’s view, the Supreme Court, equating a same-sex partnership with a marriage, “emboldened activists promoting the transgender agenda, which claims a ‘trans woman’ is just the same as a woman.”

“The same personal autonomy claims that license same-sex sexual relationships are used to license self-defined identity claims,” she said.

When the decision was laid down in 2015, about 60% of the public supported legal recognition of same-sex marriages, according to a Gallup poll at the time. This was a major shift over the previous two decades, as support was only around 37% in 2005 and as low as 27% in 1996.

A May 2025 Gallup poll shows that support increased to about 68% a decade later. Even though that’s an eight-point increase over the decade, the pollsters found that support has gone down for two years straight after hitting a peak of 71% support in 2022 and 2023, with the bulk of the decrease coming from Republican voters and young people.

When commenting on the decline in support over the past two years, Hasson said that “perhaps the excesses of sexual libertinism, championed by the rainbow groups and on display in pride parades, demonstrate that same-sex sexual relationships are not the same as marriage.”

Arthur Schaper, the field director for the pro-family group MassResistance, told CNA he sees “a growing movement against this,” mostly because “people are starting to see the consequences of it.”

“This kind of stuff is happening all over,” he said, referring to the imposition of gender ideology and homosexuality in public life. “This is just egregious.”

“Everything that we warned everybody about — what would happen if you redefined a fundamental institution and corrupted it — it has come to pass,” Schaper added.

Efforts to overturn Obergefell

The Supreme Court has not revisited Obergefell since the initial ruling, and Hasson expressed some pessimism about the current makeup of the court, saying it’s “unlikely to muster a majority to overturn” the decision.

Yet some groups, including MassResistance, have been encouraging state lawmakers to adopt resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reevaluate the ruling. Lawmakers in at least nine states have introduced such resolutions. The Idaho House and the North Dakota House passed their resolutions, but most efforts have failed to gain steam.

“We see this as a first step and we’re doubling down on our efforts,” Schaper said. “And we’re going to continue fighting this.”

Schaper said some of the arguments against the decision focus on 10th Amendment claims that the regulation of marriage is a state issue and not a federal one. He also referenced some of the dissenting opinions from the court that suggested the ruling “alters the relationship of citizen to government” by asserting “the government [rather than God] gives freedom, the government gives dignity.”

He said Obergefell is also “based on this fraud that people are genetically homosexual” and treats sexuality as though it is an immutable characteristic like race. He criticized Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan for not recusing themselves from the case despite officiating same-sex civil weddings and reiterated the point that “redefining marriage has led to an imposition of values.”

Jennifer Morse, the president of the Ruth Institute, told CNA she believes “removing the gender requirement from marriage was bad public policy” and said Obergefell should be overturned.

In Morse’s view, a legal recognition of same-sex marriage “promotes the idea that the sex of the body is not significant, even for the most gendered thing we do, namely bearing and begetting children and assigning legal parental rights.”

“If the sex of the body doesn’t matter for marriage, it doesn’t matter on the sporting field, or in the locker room or in the prisons,” Morse said. “In this way, Obergefell paved the way for the excesses of the [transgender] movement.” 

Morse also expressed concerns about the effect on children, saying that same-sex marriage distorts “how we see fertility, parenthood, and children” and “it tacitly assumes that biological connections between parents and children are unimportant and in fact negotiable.”

“Rather than seeing each and every child being a gift from God, children are increasingly seen as a lifestyle option for adults, who can acquire children pretty much however they like,” she added, referencing adoption by same-sex couples.

“Redefining marriage redefines parenthood,” Morse said. “Contracts among groups of adults, rather than an act of love between parents, form the basis of parenthood.”

Schaper argued that in the early 2000s, conservative arguments for traditional marriage were mostly weak and simply focused on “tradition or preference or religion.” In reality, he said the support for same-sex marriage is “putting your selfish desires ahead of the needs of children, of public health, and public order.”

“If people just stand their ground and stand for truth, we can win,” he added.

Catholic Church teaching

In spite of consistent Church teaching, American Catholics support the legalization of same-sex civil marriages at about the same rate as the broader population. According to a 2024 Pew poll, about 70% of self-identified Catholics said they support same-sex marriage, which was slightly higher than the population as a whole.

Julia Dezelski, the associate director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, told CNA these trends are a “downstream effect of cultural distortions of love for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.”

“The Church can address this issue by demonstrating that love for people who experience same-sex attraction is precisely what motivates us to oppose same-sex sexual activity,” she said. “The Church teaches the truth and beauty of human sexuality because it is true and beautiful, and therefore good for every man and woman.”

“Man and woman are created for communion,” Dezelski added. “The natural law inscribes this reality and desire in our very flesh. It finds its fulfillment in the one-flesh union of man and woman in marriage. Only two people of the opposite sex can experience this one-flesh union, from which the miracle of life is born.”