St. James the Less Catholic Parish

A priest celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass at the Church of St. Pancratius in Rome. / Credit: Thoom/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, will significantly restrict the practice of the Traditional Latin Mass, limiting it to a single chapel in what Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv, said is a bid to “promote the concord and unity of the Church.”

Martin issued a statement on Friday announcing the new policy, directing that the ancient liturgy would henceforth be celebrated in an as-yet-unnamed chapel in the town of Mooresville.

Martin in his statement said the measure was meant to bring the Charlotte Diocese in line with Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which greatly restricted the Latin Mass “in defense of the unity of the body of Christ.”

The pope said at the time that he was saddened that the celebration of the extraordinary form was characterized by a rejection of the Second Vatican Council and its liturgical reforms. To doubt the council, he said, is “to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church.”

Martin on Friday noted that his predecessor, Bishop Peter Jugis, requested an extension on the directive in order to prepare for the transition. The extension expires this year, Martin noted, and he is “now ready to finish the diocese’s implementation of the norms established.”

Starting on July 8, no parish churches will be permitted to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass in the diocese, Martin said. In accordance with Traditionis Custodes, the bishop said he was “designating a chapel in the diocese” that will be permitted to use the Roman Missal of 1962 and where “faithful adherents may gather for the celebration of the Eucharist” only on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

“A priest of the diocese will be appointed as chaplain, to be responsible for celebrating two Sunday Masses and holy day Masses using the 1962 Roman Missal at this site,” the bishop said.

“Those who are interested in participating in the Eucharistic celebration in this form will remain active members of their current parishes, where they may continue receiving the sacraments,” he added.

Citing the Gospel of John, Martin expressed hope that the new rule “will further ‘promote the concord and unity of the Church’ among the people of God in the Diocese of Charlotte so that, as Jesus prayed to his Father, we ‘may all be one.’”

null / Credit: Alexander Gold/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

About 1 in 3 Americans are turning to New Age practices like tarot cards, astrology, and fortune tellers at least once a year, a recent study found — but most say it’s “just for fun.” 

A study published by Pew Research on Wednesday found that 30% of Americans consult at least one of these New Age practices at least once a year. Astrology was the most popular (28%) followed by tarot cards (11% ) and fortune tellers (6%). 

Most Americans who engage in these practices say they do them for fun, not for insight or guidance. But Catholic Answers apologist Tom Nash told CNA these activities are “spiritually dangerous.” 

“Tarot cards, Ouija boards, seances, and other similar activities are all dangerous forms of divination,” Nash said.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly rejects “all forms of divination,” saying they “contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone” (No. 2116).

Engaging in divination means “we’re likely to get drawn deeper into a life of vice and related problems,” Nash added.

Both religious and nonreligious Americans are just as likely to believe in astrology, according to Pew.

American adults most likely to say they believe that consulting a fortune teller, tarot cards, or astrology provides insights are Hispanic Catholics, Black Protestants, and adults whose religion is “nothing in particular.” In contrast, atheists and white evangelicals are most likely to say they never engage in these practices. 

When compared with Pew’s last survey in 2017, the percentage of people engaging in New Age practices remains steady. The percentage of adults who say they believe in astrology is similar to the percentage recorded in 2017 (going from about 29% in 2017 to 27% in 2024). Gallup polls from the 1990s to early 2000s ranged from between 23% to 28%.  

Notably, younger adults — especially young women — are more likely to believe in astrology and consult horoscopes, the study found. Of women ages 18 to 49, 43% say they believe in astrology.

In addition, Americans who identify as LGBT are also more likely to engage in New Age practices. About half of LGBT Americans consult astrology at least yearly, and LGBT adults are three times as likely as non-LGBT adults to consult tarot cards. 

Nash tied the tendency to turn to New Age practices with the rise of the “nones” in American culture, i.e., the increasing numbers of people who are explicitly turning away from organized religion.

Nash noted that in spite of their abandonment of organized religion, many people continue to “yearn for greater meaning and understanding.”  

“And yet, human beings remain human — made in the image and likeness of God as body-soul composites,” he said, referencing Genesis 1:26-27. 

Nash added that in “our very being, we realize that there’s more to life than just our temporal, material world.”

Without Christ to fill that spiritual “vacuum,” Nash reflected, “we’ll tend to seek out other outlets.” 

“Thus, in the absence of true religion, the fullness of which is only found in Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church, we will tend to seek out alternatives,” Nash said.

In his speech, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he is in “good company” in defending religious freedom, along with the legal team at Becket and the founders of the United States. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Becket

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 24, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was named the Becket Fund’s 2025 Canterbury Medalist, an award that honors his career-long commitment to religious liberty.

“His Eminence has been a towering figure in the fight for religious liberty, not just for Catholics, but for people of all faiths,” Becket President Mark Rienzi said in a statement. “Cardinal Dolan’s leadership in the public square has shaped the national conscience on religious freedom and strengthened the resolve of those who defend it.”

Becket, a nonprofit law firm that represents clients who are defending their religious liberty in court, awarded Dolan the medal during its annual gala in New York. According to Becket, the honor recognizes individuals who demonstrate courage and commitment to defending religious liberty in the United States and globally.

Dolan said in an acceptance speech, which was provided to CNA by Becket, that he is “grateful” to receive the award. 

“I hardly deserve this high award,” Dolan added. “Yet, I readily admit that you are absolutely [spot on] to claim I am intensely devoted to the protection of our ‘first and most cherished liberty,’ religious freedom.”

In his speech, Dolan said he is in “good company” in defending religious freedom, along with the legal team at Becket and the founders of the United States. 

“They and their parents had come here precisely because they were frustrated in countries where religion was imposed or proscribed, nations where battles were waged to coerce religious conviction, where they were hounded and harassed for their beliefs,” he said. 

“Not here, they insisted!” Dolan said. “This was not the way they, or, most importantly, God intended it. Nothing is more free than creedal assent; nothing merited more protection than religious freedom; nothing deserved more top billing in our Constitution.” 

Dolan said religious liberty is “part of our very nature that cannot be erased” and necessary for the respect of “the dignity of the human person.” 

“Our passion for this primary liberty is not just because we happen to be a believer or a patriotic citizen, but because we are a person endowed with certain ingrained rights,” he said.

Dolan was recently appointed to serve on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, which will create a report on threats to religious freedom and strategies to enhance legal protections to preserve those rights. It will also outline the foundations of religious liberty in the United States.

Previously, Dolan has served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and has led the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty. According to Becket, the cardinal has also staunchly defended religious freedom through testimony before Congress and when engaging with the media.

“Religious freedom isn’t just about protecting what happens in church on Sundays — it’s about defending the right of every person to live their faith openly, every day of the week,” Dolan said. “It’s a gift from God — not from government — and it must be protected for people of all faiths.”

Other members of the Catholic clergy who have won this award from Becket include University of Mary President Monsignor James Shea and former Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.

Past medalists also include Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel; Orthodox rabbi of the oldest Jewish congregation in the U.S. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik; and First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Dallin H. Oaks.

(Left to right) Sister Vivien Linkhauer, Sister Gemma Del Duca, and students from Seton Hill University attend the planting of the Anne Frank tree in May 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Seton Hill University

CNA Staff, May 24, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

When Anne Frank was hiding in a secret annex for more than two years in Amsterdam during World War II, she would peer out a small window in the attic at a horse chestnut tree in the yard.

Long after the young teenager’s death in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp in 1945, a Catholic Holocaust education center in Philadelphia has planted a tree grown from a sapling of that very tree in her honor.

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University — founded by two Catholic sisters in 1987 — held a ceremony to plant the small tree at the beginning of May.

James Paharik, director of the education center and a Seton Hill professor of sociology and behavioral health, told CNA that “it means a lot for us to have this tree.” 

“It’s a living testimony to the memory of Anne Frank and what she experienced,” Paharik said.  

Donated by the Anne Frank Center USA, the 6-foot-tall tree sits at a “prominent place on campus.” 

“In her diary, she writes several times about the tree and how much it meant to her to see it,” Paharik said. “It bloomed in the springtime, and it was a sign of hope.”

Journey of the heart

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education — one of the first of its kind in the nation — is “very unique,” Paharik said. Sister Gemma Del Duca and Sister Mary Noel Kernan, both Sisters of Charity, founded the center in the late 1980s to counter antisemitism, provide education on the Holocaust, and honor Holocaust victims.

Sister Gemma, now 93 years old and unwell, managed to attend the ceremony of the planting earlier in May in spite of her illness, where she was able to see her life’s work culminate in the planting of a tree that will remain for years to come.   

When asked what inspired her to found it, Paharik simply said: “Sometimes, sisters get an inspiration and they follow it.”

The center has its roots in the interreligious work that Sister Gemma did. Early on, she began to work with Father Isaac Jacob, a monk from St. Vincent College, a historic Benedictine college down the road from Seton Hill, who was similarly interested in interreligious dialogue.

Sister Gemma and Jacob traveled to Israel in the 1970s where they established Tel Gamaliel, a Christian community in Israel “that promoted understanding between Jews and Catholics,” according to Paharik. There, they translated the rule of St. Benedict into Hebrew and worked with the local community until Sister Gemma’s eventual return to the U.S. 

Sister Gemma’s passion to found the center was a surprise to some in her order.

“I don’t think Sister Gemma had a great deal of support at the beginning from her community, and people weren’t quite sure why this was so important to her,” Paharik reflected. 

But Sister Gemma thought it was “a moral necessity” for Catholics not only to not demean or stereotype “but, in fact, to learn more about Judaism,” Paharik said.  

This was a task she took “quite seriously,” Paharik noted. 

She learned to speak Hebrew while in Israel, even attending services at synagogue, while “at the same time, being totally immersed in Catholicism and being a Sister of Charity.” 

“I think that for her, it’s a journey of the heart,” Paharik said.

The sisters also took inspiration from the Vatican II document on religious dialogue, Nostra Aetate, which was promulgated about two decades before the founding of the center.  

Paharik called Nostra Aetate a “landmark” Catholic document that “encouraged a deeper understanding between Catholics and those of other faiths.”

This coming fall marks the 60th anniversary of the document.

Paharik recalled Sister Gemma’s reflections on deepening her own knowledge of Judaism.

“She said, ‘It’s a journey of the heart. It’s a journey of faith,’” Paharik recalled.

“It’s a mission, really, to unite Catholics and Jews in a positive way instead of continuing the animosity that has marked our relationship for so many centuries,” he continued.

What it means for Seton Hill and beyond 

The center, now more than 35 years old, has grown in its influence on the local community and beyond over the years. The center was a founding organization of the Council of Christian-Jewish Relations (CCJR), an association dedicated to interreligious dialogue between Christians and Jews in the U.S., Canada, and overseas.

The center hosts conferences, bringing speakers from around the country, and also does ecumenical outreach, bringing together Catholics and Protestants to pray, learn, and remember.

“We pray together for the victims of the Holocaust but also of other acts of violence and mass murder that have happened and are still happening around the world today,” Paharik said.

“It’s a way for us to affirm our common belief in the sanctity of human life and to pray for peace,” Paharik said. 

The center also supports Holocaust education in classes at Seton Hill and at local schools, especially grades six through 12. Students will now be able to visit the tree on campus after reading “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

“It will make it all the more meaningful and vivid to them to see what this tree actually looked like, that was so important to Anne, and that she wrote about so beautifully in her diary,” Paharik said. 

Responding to continuing antisemitism 

The center also responded to a local act of antisemitic violence known as one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in the United States. The Tree of Life shootings in Pittsburgh in 2018 — in which an assailant opened fire in a crowded synagogue, killing 11 people — was only about 30 miles from Greensboro, where the center is based.

“All of us knew people who were in one way affected by that terrible event,” Paharik recalled.

Under Paharik’s leadership, the center began to interview victims of the Holocaust, recording the stories of eight survivors who live in the area. 

“Those documentaries are resources for the schools that we work with, so they can tell the stories of these local people who actually lived through the Holocaust,” he said. 

Being with the survivors is “profound,” Paharik reflected, and “seeing the impact of these documentaries on young people is also very moving.”

One of the Holocaust survivors they interviewed — a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue — had been in the parking lot when the Tree of Life shooting began and only “just managed to escape it,” Paharik said.  

“We don’t ever want anything like that to happen again,” he said. 

“Scripture teaches us about the importance of respecting all human life, from birth until natural death,” Paharik continued. “To stereotype, to discriminate, to show hate towards people just because who they are or where they grew up or the faith that they have is actually sinful. It’s a violation of our Christian teaching.”

“Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope,” written by Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director at EWTN News. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 17:14 pm (CNA).

EWTN officially launched the first authoritative biography of Pope Leo XIV, which is available for purchase now, during an event at the Vatican on May 22.

“Leo XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope,” written by Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director at EWTN News, tells the story of Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was elected the new Holy Father on May 8.

Bunson, a Church expert and longtime Vatican journalist who has written over 50 books, said at the book launch at the Campo Santo Teutonico in Rome that Leo’s diverse experience as a pastor, prior general, missionary and bishop in Peru, and as a cardinal have given him a profound understanding of the global Church.

Pope Leo XIV, in his first weeks as pope, has also proven to be a unifying figure who has brought with him an “uncompromising emphasis on the divine person of Jesus Christ,” Bunson continued. 

“He is a universal person. He is someone in the world, but not of the world. He is somebody who, by his call to the priesthood and to the life of the Augustinians, embarked on an absolutely stunning journey,” Bunson said May 22. 

“And what is so remarkable about it is that as time progressed leading up to the conclave, more and more cardinals came to appreciate exactly who he is and why he was, at this moment in time, the person that they felt they could trust with the keys of Peter.”

The biography paints a picture of Pope Leo XIV as a Christ-centered, Augustinian-influenced, and competent leader who is expected to prioritize unity, clarity, and the application of Catholic social teaching, particularly concerning the dignity of the human person in an era of rapid technological change.

Bunson has previously said that he hopes the book will help inform readers about the importance of Pope Leo’s membership in the venerable Order of St. Augustine, and the fact that he is both a mathematician and canon lawyer will help him address the Vatican’s financial woes.

Additionally, Bunson’s book touches on some of the moral and theological issues currently being debated in the Church and public arena, and also discusses the significance of the choice of the name “Leo” and what that says about the pope’s vision for his pontificate.

Michael Warsaw, EWTN’s CEO and chairman of the board, told CNA that he is “excited that EWTN Publishing is releasing this biography of Pope Leo XIV so soon after his election.”

“As the leading Catholic media platform, our aim is to share the Holy Father’s story with the world, starting with his early life, to help people connect with the man now serving as the vicar of Christ,” Warsaw said.

“EWTN is uniquely positioned to publish this biography of the first pope born in the United States and the second pope from the Americas. Like Pope Leo, the EWTN family is global, but our roots are American.”

The book about Leo’s life is available to order on EWTN Religious Catalogue.

Alasdair MacIntyre in March 2009. / Credit: Sean O’Connor/Flickr via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Alasdair MacIntyre, a towering figure in moral philosophy and a Catholic convert credited with reviving the discipline of virtue ethics, died on May 21 at age 96. His seminal 1981 work “After Virtue” reshaped contemporary moral and political philosophy, emphasizing virtue over utilitarian or deontological frameworks. 

Known by many as “the most important” modern Catholic philosopher, MacIntyre’s intellectual and spiritual journey spanned atheism, Marxism, Anglicanism, and ultimately Roman Catholicism. 

MacIntyre’s striking intellect, razor-sharp wit, and exacting teaching profoundly influenced generations of students and academics.

“A great light has gone out,” wrote Patrick Deneen, a political philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame, in response to the news of MacIntyre’s death.

“I have never met, nor do I ever expect to meet, a philosopher as fascinating as the author of ‘After Virtue,’” said Christopher Kaczor, one of MacIntyre’s former students and a visiting fellow at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, where MacIntyre was a permanent senior distinguished research fellow until his death. 

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1929 to Eneas and Greta (Chalmers) MacIntyre, he earned master of arts degrees from the University of Manchester and Oxford. His academic career began in 1951 at Manchester, followed by posts at Leeds, Essex, and Oxford. 

In 1969, he moved to the United States, becoming an “intellectual nomad” with appointments as professor of history of ideas at Brandeis University, dean at Boston University, Henry Luce professor at Wellesley, W. Alton Jones professor at Vanderbilt, and McMahon-Hank professor at Notre Dame.

Though he never earned a doctorate, he received 10 honorary doctorates and appointments during his life, quipping at one point: “I won’t go so far as to say that you have a deformed mind if you have a Ph.D., but you will have to work extra hard to remain educated.”

MacIntyre’s wit shone in his claim to have “broken up the Beatles” by lending his upstairs neighbor, Yoko Ono, a ladder in 1966, leading to her meeting John Lennon.

He also taught at Duke, Yale, and Princeton, and is the former president of the American Philosophical Association. His many accolades include the 2010 Aquinas Medal and memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1985), British Academy (1994), Royal Irish Academy (1999), and American Philosophical Society (2005).

MacIntyre’s “After Virtue,” deemed a 20th-century philosophical classic, critiqued modern moral fragmentation, advocating a return to Aristotelian ethics. His other works, including “Marxism and Christianity,” “Whose Justice? Which Rationality?,” and “Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry,” explored moral traditions and rationality. 

His spiritual journey was as dynamic as his intellectual one. Initially considering becoming a Presbyterian minister in the 1940s, he became Anglican in the 1950s, then an atheist in the 1960s, famously calling himself a “Roman Catholic atheist” because the Catholic God was “worth denying.” 

In 1983, at age 55, he embraced Roman Catholicism and Thomism, inspired by his favorite 20th-century theologian, Joseph Ratzinger (the late Pope Benedict XVI), and finally convinced by the Thomist arguments he first encountered as an undergraduate, “not in the form of moral philosophy, but in that of a critique of English culture developed by members of the Dominican order.”

“Widely regarded as the most important philosopher in modern virtue ethics,” Jennifer Newsome Martin, director of the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture (dCEC), said in a statement to CNA, “Alasdair MacIntyre demonstrated scholarly rigor and an alpine clarity of thought. He was also a generous friend of the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture as our permanent senior distinguished research fellow in residence; what an honor it was that he chose the dCEC to be the locus of his scholarly work after retiring from the philosophy department at Notre Dame. We are all bereft at his passing. His tremendous legacy, however, will continue to reverberate in the life of the center.”

Robert P. George, Princeton’s University’s McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, remembered MacIntyre’s “pugnacious wit” and recalled that “a striking thing about Professor MacIntyre was that he was impossible to classify ideologically. Was he a progressive? Not really. Was he a conservative? No. A centrist? Not that either. He was ‘sui generis.’ Requiescat in pace.”

He is survived by his daughters Jean and Toni from his first marriage and his wife, Lynn Joy.

null / Credit: sergign/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 23, 2025 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

A federal court in New York has ordered the state to halt its enforcement of a law against a Christian photographer and blogger that would force her to express ideas on human sexuality that conflict with her religious faith.

U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci wrote in his Thursday decision that a New York law guaranteeing “equal access to publicly available goods and services” in the marketplace regardless of a person’s sexuality cannot be used to force a business to provide services that convey ideas about human sexuality with which the provider disagrees.

Emilee Carpenter, who operates Emilee Carpenter Photography, sued the state over the law, arguing that it would force her to produce photographs and blogs for same-sex civil weddings and polyamorous engagements despite her religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Violations of the law could land Carpenter up to one year in jail, with fines of up to $100,000, and a revocation of her business license. 

The judge wrote in his decision that Carpenter provides “a customized, tailored photography service that is guided by her own artistic and moral judgment.” He added that her services “are expressive activity protected by the First Amendment.”

Geraci stated in his ruling that Carpenter “believes that opposite-sex marriage is a gift from God, and she uses her wedding photography business to celebrate such marriages.” He emphasized that the law seeks to compel “an expressive activity” and that “such expressive activity is ‘her own.’”

His ruling is narrow and only prevents the state from enforcing the law against Carpenter for now while the litigation against the law continues.

The May 22 ruling is a reversal of Geraci’s own previous ruling from Dec. 31, 2021, on the same question. He explained in the new ruling that he is reversing his own decision based on the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which addressed identical concerns about a Colorado law.

In that 2023 ruling, the Supreme Court decided 6-3 that Colorado could not force a web designer to create websites that promote same-sex marriage, which was in conflict with her religious beliefs.

Geraci wrote that, contrary to his previous ruling, the Supreme Court “held that the free speech clause of the First Amendment bars states from applying their public accommodations laws to ‘expressive activity to compel speech.’”

Bryan Neihart, who works as senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), praised the decision. ADF and Raymond Dague of Dague Law represent Carpenter in her lawsuit. ADF also represented 303 Creative in the precedent-setting Supreme Court case.

“Free speech is for everyone, and more courts are ruling consistent with that message,” Neihart said in a statement. “As the Supreme Court reaffirmed in 303 Creative, the government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe.”

“The U.S. Constitution protects Emilee’s freedom to express her own views as she continues to serve clients of all backgrounds and beliefs,” he added. “The district court rightly upheld this freedom and followed Supreme Court precedent. Emilee can now enjoy the freedom to create and express herself, a freedom that protects all Americans regardless of their views.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office is representing the state in court. Her office did not respond to a request for comment.

The damaged front of the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic stands following a bomb blast on May 17, 2025, in Palm Springs, California. / Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 14:33 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Fertility clinic bomber linked to anti-natalist ideology

Authorities say the man who detonated a car bomb outside a California fertility clinic last Saturday appears to have been motivated by anti-natalist ideology — the belief that no one should have children. 

The attack destroyed the office spaces of the American Reproductive Center in Palm Springs, an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic, but the bombing did not destroy the stored embryos. 

IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos.

The suspect, Guy Edward Bartkus, likely detonated the bomb in what law enforcement is calling an act of domestic terrorism. Bartkus was killed by the detonation, but no one else was killed as the center was empty during the time of the explosion. 

The FBI reportedly found possible links between the suspect and an online forum post in which he contemplated suicide via an explosive device, as well as a YouTube account with a history of videos of homemade explosives. Authorities say they are investigating the suspect’s “manifesto,” which reportedly contained the anti-natalist ideology known as “Efilism.” 

Abortions continue to rise after Dobbs, report confirms 

More than 1.1 million abortions took place from July 2023 to June 2024, according to a recent Charlotte Lozier Institute report compiling available abortion data. 

In a first-of-its-kind report, the analysis compiles abortion totals from various abortionists and other data. Because there is no federal abortion reporting requirement, abortion totals are not definitive, the report noted. The report also found that “thousands upon thousands” of self-managed chemical abortions occur outside the health care system. 

The report found that there are more than 770 abortion centers as well as mail-order abortion drugs being made available through 142 U.S.-based organizations and eight websites operating outside the U.S. health care system. Most abortions happen inside a woman’s home, though out-of-state abortions are on the rise, increasing by 126% from 2020 to 2023, according to the report. 

Hundreds of pro-life Oregonians gather for March for Life

Hundreds of Oregonians gathered outside the state Capitol in Salem, Oregon, on May 17 for the annual Oregon March for Life. 

This year’s theme — “Support Her. Protect Them” — is designed to “emphasize the pro-life movement’s care for both mothers and their babies,” according to organizers. On display at the event was an animated counter depicting the impact of abortion: 63 million lives lost. 

Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, who was one of several pro-life voices speaking at the event, said: “It never ceases to have a deep impact on me when we see, visually, the real impact that the tragedy of abortion has had in our country.” 

Other pro-life leaders and legislators spoke at the event, including Oregon Right to Life President Melody Durrett, Western Seminary theology professor Gerry Breshears, and Oregon Republican Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson. 

Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson called the gathering “deeply inspiring and encouraging,” noting that the March for Life “always renews my sense of optimism for ending abortion and building a culture of life in our state.”

The event is held in May to mark the month that Oregon legalized abortion statewide in 1969. Abortions are legal during all nine months of pregnancy in Oregon, and taxpayer funding contributes to more than half of abortions performed in the state, according to Oregon Right to Life.

Judge strikes down regulation requiring employers to accommodate abortions 

A Louisiana federal judge struck down a Biden-era regulation on Wednesday that required employers to accommodate employees’ abortions. 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulation in question included abortion under pregnancy-related conditions that employers are required to accommodate under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana ruled that in its enforcement of that law, the EEOC had overstepped its bounds by including abortion in the category of pregnancy-related conditions.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires most employers to accommodate workers’ limitations due to pregnancy and childbirth. In 2024, the EEOC determined that these protections included abortion. In response, the states of Louisiana and Mississippi and four Catholic organizations challenged the rule. 

U.S. House moves to repeal FACE Act 

The U.S. House of Representatives is taking steps to repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law allegedly weaponized against pro-life activists under the Biden administration. 

The House Judiciary Committee held a markup of a series of bills, including the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, on Wednesday.

The FACE Act, which has been federal law for 30 years, imposes harsher prison sentences for people who obstruct access to abortion clinics or pro-life pregnancy resource centers. However, under President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, the law was almost exclusively used to convict pro-life demonstrators. Using the FACE Act, dozens of pro-life activists were imprisoned for blocking clinic entrances during protests and other forms of protest. 

Texas Congressman Chip Roy, who has previously worked to repeal the FACE Act, introduced the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 in January. The FACE Act has also been used against pro-abortion activists who defaced life-affirming clinics.

Florida court strikes down law promoting abortion access for minors 

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a law that lets minors get abortions without their parents’ consent was unconstitutional. The court found that the state’s judicial waiver law violated the 14th Amendment right to due process for parents. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal cited parental rights laws as well as a recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court and the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court ruling. 

A young woman is baptized at the 2024 Easter vigil at St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M. / Credit: Courtesy of St. Mary’s Catholic Center, Texas A&M

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

The election of Pope Leo XIV earlier this month has — at least according to Google search data — led to a renewed interest in people searching for information on how to “become Catholic.”

This follows several years of anecdotal reports of a surge of people joining the Catholic Church, especially among young people, across many dioceses in numerous countries. 

The Catholic Church’s requirements to join may seem, at first, to be complicated. The process involves some important rites of initiation as well as spiritual preparation, fellowship with other Catholics and prospective Catholics, and instruction in the teachings of the faith. 

Here’s a guide to becoming Catholic in 2025. 

1) Are you baptized?

There are three sacraments in particular, known as the “sacraments of Christian initiation,” that a person must receive in order to come fully into communion with the Church that Christ founded, and baptism is always the first. (A sacrament is a visible sign of God’s grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to his Church; the Church has seven of them total.) 

The other two sacraments of initiation are the receiving of Christ’s body and blood via the Eucharist, also called holy Communion, and confirmation — whereby the Holy Spirit “confirms and strengthens baptismal grace” within a baptized Catholic. 

A simple baptisimal formula, drawn from Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19, is necessary for baptism: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The celebrant pours water on the head of the baptized, or immerses him or her in water.

In the vast majority of cases, Catholic clergy — deacons, priests, or bishops — are responsible for baptisms. But technically anybody, even non-Christians, can baptize in an emergency — such as in cases where a prospective Christian, even an infant, is in imminent danger of death — as long as the correct formula and water are used. 

If you know for a fact that you’ve never been baptized before, go ahead and skip to item No. 2 below.

If you’ve been validly baptized as a Catholic at some point in your life, even as an infant, then technically you’re already Catholic. If you were baptized a long time ago at a Catholic church, that church likely still has a record of your baptism and can provide it to you if you ask. 

That said, if you’ve been baptized, confirmed, and made your first Communion but have drifted away from your Catholic faith, you can always return to full communion with the Church by going to the sacrament of confession, also called reconciliation or penance. And if you were baptized a long time ago but never received your first holy Communion or confirmation, you can do so after participation in a period of formation; talk to a priest to learn more if that’s your situation. 

If you’ve been baptized a Christian — but not a Catholic — that baptism is likely valid as long as it was done using the formula described above. But there’s more you must do before you’re fully in communion with the Catholic Church. 

2) Talk to a priest.

Contact a local Catholic parish — if you have Catholic friends, they can likely help you with this. The priest or parish leader of Christian initiation may want to meet with you to discuss your desire to become Catholic and help to guide you through the next steps of the process. 

3) Join OCIA.

The next step is to officially join OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. (This process was previously, for a long time, called RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, until a name change in 2021.) OCIA is the Church’s official process for initiating prospective Catholics into the Church who have attained the age of reason, generally around the age of 7. 

(Some individuals choose to arrange to have private instruction in the Catholic faith before formally entering the Church; however, the normative way to receive formation is through OCIA.)

The first step — if you are unbaptized — is entering the catechumenate; becoming known, thereafter, as a “catechumen.” Depending on where you are at in your faith journey, this stage can last for a period of several years, but usually less than one. You will ask someone who is a fully initiated Catholic who is 16 years old or older (among other requirements) to be your “sponsor” to help to guide you through the journey. 

It’s a unique time of learning and questioning that will involve taking classes, likely at your local parish, to learn more about the faith and reflect on how joining the Catholic Church will affect your life. Once you feel ready, the priest and parish team who are working with you may give you approval to make a request for baptism. 

If you are already a baptized Christian, however, this first step looks a little bit different. There’s a recognition that you’ve already given your life to Christ as a baptized Christian and may have been active in other Christian communities. You’ll become, instead of a catechumen, a “candidate.” 

You will likely go through a similar formation program to the catechumens, helping you understand and experience the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church. (It’s worth noting here that while anyone can attend Mass and it’s definitely encouraged that you do so during this time, only Catholics in communion with the Church can receive the Eucharist, or holy Communion.)

The next stage before baptism, regardless of whether you’re a catechumen or a candidate, is called the “Rite of Election,” in which the catechumens and candidates gather with their sponsors and families, usually on the first Sunday of Lent. Lent is the Church’s special 40-day period of penance and preparation leading up to the joyful celebration of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. 

During the Rite of Election ceremony, you will share your desire to be baptized with the local bishop. Your name is written in a book and as a committed catechumen or candidate, you and your compatriots become known as “the elect.” The days of Lent are, for the elect, known as the “Period of Purification and Enlightenment.” Catholics are encouraged to pray for the catechumens and candidates as they near the end of their journey. By this time you will have chosen who you would like to be your godparent or godparents.

At the Easter Vigil Mass, which takes place the Saturday evening before Easter Sunday, catechumens will receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist, thereby coming into full communion with the Catholic Church. 

Candidates, having already been baptized, will make a profession of faith in the Catholic Church when they are ready to do so and will preferably be received into the Church on a Sunday during the year.

Before that, however, candidates will be required to go to the sacrament of confession and are encouraged to do so frequently during their formation. (Baptism wipes away all sins committed prior, so catechumens do not need to do this.)

After being received into the Church, newly initiated Catholics continue to be formed in their faith during what the Church calls the “Period of Mystagogy.” This lasts until Pentecost, the feast 50 days after Easter in which we celebrate the birth of the Church, when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples.

Welcome home to the Catholic Church!

Cologne Cathedral in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/CNA Deutsch

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 23, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news that you might have missed this week:

New statistics show increase in crimes against churches and Christians in Germany

The Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Criminal Police Office found that attacks against German churches increased by 20% in 2024, with a total of 111 registered crimes, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner. Crimes against religious communities also increased, reaching 8,531 in 2024, compared with 7,029 in 2023. A 22% increase was reported in crimes against members and representatives of religious communities, jumping from 6,122 in 2023 to 7,504 in 2024. 

The German government reported that from the start of 2024 to Dec. 10, 2024, a total of 228 crimes with the subtopic “anti-Christian” were registered, including one homicide, 14 assaults, and 52 cases of property damage. During the same time period, 96 crimes with the subtopic “church” were recorded, including 47 cases of property damage.

New bishop of Diocese of Timika appointed after five-year vacancy 

Bishop Bernardus Bofitwos Baru was ordained bishop of Timika, Indonesia, on May 14 after a five-year vacancy following former Bishop John Philip Saklil’s death. More than 10,000 Catholics and 33 bishops attended the ordination service to celebrate the second Indigenous priest to receive episopal ordination and the first Augustinian bishop in Indonesia, Agencia Fides reported.

“This ordination is a sign of the Holy See’s great concern for the Catholic faithful in Papua,” said apostolic nuncio Archbishop Piero Pioppo at the event.

Baru thanked the faithful for his ordination and shared that listening, dialogue, and cooperation will be the cornerstones of his episcopal ministry. “Our relations must be based on love, friendship, and human exchange. We are called to open doors for one another,” he said.

Catholic organizations and environmental agencies criticize lifting of mining ban in Philippines

Church leaders and environmental groups have criticized a top court verdict nullifying a moratorium that paused mining in the Occidental Mindoro province for 25 years. On May 15, the court in the Philippines ruled that the province could not continue a ban in such a large-scale mining area, Union of Catholic Asian News reported. 

In a joint statement, the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose and the Catholic charity Caritas International said the lifting of the ban is a cause for “deep concern” and it ignores past suffering of communities across Occidental Mindoro.

“While we recognize the authority of the state to manage our natural resources, we echo Pope Francis’ warning against a technocratic paradigm that values economic gain over human dignity and ecological balance,” the statement said.

Kidnapped priest in Cameroon released

Father Valentin Mbaïbarem, priest at St. John the Baptist Parish, was released by his abductors this week after he was taken hostage on May 7 in northern Cameroon. Mbaïbarem was kidnapped with five other individuals, four of whom were freed and one who was killed, according to ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of 25 million CFA francs ($42,750) for Mbaïbarem’s release.

Bishop Ambassa Ndjodo of Garoua, Cameroon, said: “As an archdiocese, we did not pay any amount for the release of our priest. I do not know if others have done so,” according to Fides News Service. Ndjodo thanked “all who prayed for [Mbaïbarem]” and asked “for the Lord’s blessing on all who contributed to this outcome.”

Monastery in Iraq rekindles mission of peace and healing

The Lebanese monastery of Brothers of the Cross and Sisters of the Crucified is providing love and service to those in Iraq. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Brother Mary Salibo decided to stay in Qaraqosh, Iraq, to serve by establishing the monastery, rebuilding a local church, and holding retreats for youth and families to provide comfort amid war, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported. 

The two orders were originally founded in Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s but spread to Iraq after the monastery opened. The brothers and sisters continue their mission today by offering spiritual guidance and supporting the sick and marginalized in the area. Their ministry has now expanded to cities in southern Iraq and Karamles, a Christian village located in northern Iraq.

Former homeless people in Brazil help build housing for 200 people

The Belém Mission in São Paulo, Brazil, has began construction on a 17-story building that will house 200 homeless people. About 95% of the workers building the new structure are former homeless people rescued by the Belém Mission, according to CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner, ACI Digital. 

“Normally, we would look for professionals in the market, but, like a miracle, we found these people who know how to work in the different areas of a construction site but who also have love for the Belém Mission,” Antonio Walter, the engineer responsible for the project, told ACI Digital. 

The building is expected to be finished within the next two and half years. “One step at a time, one donation at a time … we will get there,” said Father Gianpietro Carraro, the priest who founded the Belém Mission. “And we thank God because, with the kindness of so many people, we are able to move forward.”