Pope Leo XIV meets Fr. James Martin at the Vatican

Father James Martin, SJ. / Credit: Flickr by Shawn (CC BY-NC 2.0)Vatican City, Sep 1, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV met in a private audience with Father James Martin, S.J., at the Vatican on Monday.Martin, who is in Rome to lead a Jubilee pilgrimage for his LGBTQ ministry, Outreach, also had one-on-one audiences with Pope Francis on at least two occasions.The Vatican does not customarily comment on papal audiences with individuals and the Holy See Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for information about the meeting.Responding to a request for comment from CNA, Martin wrote: "I was honored and grateful to meet with the Holy Father this morning in an audience in the Apostolic Palace, and heard the same message I heard from Pope Francis on LGBTQ people, which is one of openness and welcome: 'Todos, todos, todos.' I found the Pope serene, joyful and encouraging."The Jesuit priest, an author and editor at large at America Media, is the founder of Outreach, w...

Study: Mental health-related hospitalizations rates doubled for women who had abortions

null / Credit: GBALLGIGGSPHOTO/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Sep 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).A recent study found that the rate of mental-health-related hospitalizations doubled for women who had abortions compared with women who gave birth. The study, published this summer in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, compared abortions with other pregnancies in hospitals in Quebec, Canada, between 2006 and 2022, tracking data on women for up to 17 years.The study, which compared more than 1.2 million women who gave birth in Quebec hospitals with more than 28,000 women who had abortions, found that "rates of mental-health-related hospitalization were higher following induced abortions than other pregnancies." Abortion was associated with a number of mental-health-related difficulties including hospitalization for psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and suicide attempts, the study found.This association was especially high for women who were younger than 25 years at the t...

Pope Leo XIV praises Italian society for works done in spirit of St. Francis of Assisi

Members of St. Francis' Work for the Poor, wearing t-shirts with the phrase "a helping hand to man every day," with the Holy Father in the Vatican's Clementine Hall. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Sep 1, 2025 / 09:47 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Monday welcomed members of the Opera San Francesco per i Poveri ("St. Francis' Work for the Poor") to the Vatican, thanking the society for their witness of charity according to the Franciscan tradition.  "When you see a poor person," the Holy Father said, recalling the words of St. Francis of Assisi, "you are placed before the mirror of the Lord and his poor Mother.""Likewise, in the sick, know how to see the infirmities with which Jesus took on himself," he added. Each year, the Opera San Francesco per i Poveri provides a wide variety of services to more than 30,000 people. Their charitable works include managing cafeterias and health clinics, as well as providing job counseling and psychological support for thos...

Pope Leo XIV expresses condolences for 800 dead left by earthquake in Afghanistan

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for more than 1 million young pilgrims at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, in Rome's outskirts, on Aug. 3, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNAVatican City, Sep 1, 2025 / 11:05 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV expressed his condolences for the more than 800 dead left by the earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan on Sunday night, with a magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale, also causing widespread destruction.According to local authorities, more than 800 people died and 1,500 were injured, especially in the districts of Nurgal, Sawkay, Watapur, Dara Pech, and Chapi Dara."Deeply saddened by the significant loss of life caused by the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV offers fervent prayers for the souls of the deceased, the wounded, and those still missing," reads the telegram sent on behalf of the Pontiff.The telegram, signed by the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, states that the Pontiff entrusts "all affected by t...

The Catholic Church has a lot to say about Labor Day — why?

null / Credit: mikeledray/ShutterstockDenver, Colo., Sep 1, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).As the U.S. celebrates Labor Day, Catholics have a wealth of resources in biblical interpretation, Church teaching, and social thought that address the nature of work and the place of the worker in society and in God's creation.But are Catholics, and others, aware of these resources?One Catholic leader considering such questions is Father Sinclair Oubre, a priest of the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas. He is the spiritual moderator of the Catholic Labor Network, a Catholic association that promotes Catholic teaching about work and labor unions. It also supports labor organizing."All work, no matter what the work is, is essential," Oubre likes to say. In his view, if a woman in janitorial work at a major software company does not show up to clean the toilets and empty the trash, all production in the office will nosedive.Centuries of Catholic teaching about labor can be found compiled in the Compendium ...

3 true stories of how cancel culture works, according to Cardinal Chomali

Cardinal Fernando Chomali speaks with ACI Prensa correspondent Julieta Villar during a January 2025 interview. / Credit: "EWTN Noticas"/ScreenshotACI Prensa Staff, Aug 31, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Cardinal Fernando Chomali, the archbishop of Santiago and primate of Chile, shared three stories that reflect cancel culture and highlighted the need to cultivate humility in times of mistrust and aggression.The prelate was participating in an open meeting with students from the Catholic University of Chile, which took place at the San Joaquín campus and also featured professionals and academics.The purpose of the event was to seek spaces for encounter, using dialogue as a transformative tool.In his presentation, Chomali focused on dialogue, explaining that it does not involve renouncing one's convictions but rather being willing to understand others from their own history and context: "When we stop listening, we also stop learning. Dialogue begins when we recognize that the other person...

Pope Leo prays for Minneapolis school shooting victims, laments 'pandemic of arms'

Pope Leo XIV speaks from a window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square during the Sunday Angelus on Aug. 24, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media.Vatican City, Aug 31, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed for the victims of a shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, and deplored a worldwide "pandemic of arms" which has left many children dead or injured."Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American state of Minnesota," the pontiff said in English on Aug. 31, after leading the weekly Angelus prayer from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square."We include in our prayers," he added, "the countless children killed and injured every day around the world. Let us plead to God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world."An Aug. 27 shooting at a school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis left two children dead and 17 others wounded.Leo turned to Mary, the Queen of P...

Norwegian bishops warn of euthanasia support ahead of parliamentary election

Bishop Erik Varden. / Credit: Pål Johannes NesCNA Newsroom, Aug 30, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).The Catholic bishops of Norway have issued a pastoral letter calling on the faithful to be guided by Church teaching on human life and dignity in the country's parliamentary election scheduled for Sept. 8. The bishops also voiced concern about growing political support for euthanasia.In the letter dated for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time and released this weekend, Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim and Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo emphasized that voting is "not only a right; it is a demanding and weighty duty" for Norway's approximately 160,000 Catholics."We are troubled by the apparent growth of support for euthanasia in our country and among our politicians," they wrote."All who suffer from pain or illness should receive every form of care we can offer, as should their families and those who look after them. To 'help' someone die helps no one."The bishops stressed the inviolability ...

GoFundMe campaigns raise more than $1.2 million for victims of Catholic school shooting

Over $1 million has been raised through a GoFundMe campaign for victims of the shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. / Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 12:21 pm (CNA).Numerous online fundraising campaigns have raised well over $1 million to help support victims of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting that claimed the lives of two children and injured approximately 20 people. Verified GoFundMe fundraisers showed over $1.2 million raised as of the morning of Aug. 29, with the funds supporting those injured in the shooting as well as the family of one of the deceased children. The mass shooting took place on Aug. 27 when a gunman opened fire on the parochial school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. The killer subsequently took his own life. The GoFundMe campaigns created in response to the tragedy include one in support of the Moyski-Flavin family, whose 10-year-ol...

Pope Leo XIV accepts Medal of St. Augustine: 'It's an honor held dearly'

Pope Leo XIV accepts the Medal of St. Augustine from Father Robert P. Hagan, OSA, prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova (right) and Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, vicar general of the Order of St. Augustine (left) in a video released on Aug. 28, 2025. / Credit: Screenshot from the YouTube page of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of VillanovaACI Prensa Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 05:10 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV expressed his gratitude to receive the Medal of St. Augustine, awarded by the United States Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, and affirmed that the spirituality of the doctor of the Church has marked his life and ministry."To be recognized as an Augustinian, it's an honor held dearly. So much of who I am I owe to the spirit and the teachings of St. Augustine," he said in a video message shared on St. Augustine's feast day, Aug. 28.The Augustinian Province said on Facebook that the Medal of St. Augustine is the highest honor the pr...