Catholic News

For many Catholic couples who were married civilly, the desire to fully participate in the sacramental life of the Church and receive the Eucharist remains a deep longing.

In response, the Diocese of San Jose, California, led by Bishop Oscar Cantú, has launched a landmark convalidation initiative under the California bishops' "Radiate Love" campaign, witnessing dozens of couples enter into the sacrament of matrimony over the past few months.

Originally planned as a small pilot program, the initiative received a massive swell in interest from local families seeking to place Christ at the center of their marriages. Because of the high volume of registrants, celebrations took place across multiple communal Masses presided over by diocesan bishops on July 25, Aug. 1, and Sept. 26, alongside separate private ceremonies for couples who requested them.

The initiative began after the director for Adult Spirituality and Family Life for the Diocese of San Jose, Jose Soto, noticed how many couples attending weekly Mass with their children refrained from Communion due to their marital status.

"We adapted the title 'Radiate Love' because it was used by the California bishops as a way to promote marriage and family in 2024-2025," Soto said. "So, as that initiative was drawing to a close, I created a Radiate Love task force, which was about four or five marriages that I put out an invitation to, and they were passionate about marriage and family, and they helped me put on events throughout the year. One of them said, 'Jose, my heart breaks when I see couples ... come to church, they bring their kids to Mass on Sunday, and they don't take Communion, and I wonder if there's anything we can do to help those couples.' And that's how it started."

While organizers initially planned for a small cohort of 12 to 15 couples to establish a framework, news of the program spread through parishes. After the time to sign up was over, there were a total of 102 couples ready to begin.

"We were just so excited and overwhelmed at the same time, but it was so joyful," Soto said. "It just said to me that there's a need out there, and that couples are willing to come forward when they are welcomed, and when they are, when they see that there's an initiative from the Church to walk with them, to journey with them."

Volunteer mentors Veronica and Richard Wildanger, who had their own civil marriage convalidated 22 years ago, joined the task force after being approached by Soto to support the "wonderfully successful" surge of applicants.

To ensure couples received thorough pastoral care, the diocese implemented the Witness to Love program for marriage preparation by pairing up civilly married couples with experienced mentor couples to walk them through the process. The Wildangers believed this was the next step in turning their marriage toward God.

"And the fact that the diocese offered it up, all of a sudden it was like someone stretching a hand out and saying, here, just hold my hand and we'll guide you through every step," Veronica said.

For candidates like Mireya Aristizábal and Juan David Díaz, who were married civilly three years after moving from Colombia, the program provided both spiritual clarity and personal connection as a couple.

"But in my heart, there was always that little itch," Aristizábal said in Spanish. "Because I said, 'Well, I want to be with my partner, but I want to be with him before God.' That is, the sacrament of matrimony. It's that, the desire to have and to live the sacrament to its fullest."

Her husband saw the decision as a way to support his wife's spiritual life while growing in his own faith.

"She was invited to the party, but they weren't giving her dinner," he said in Spanish. "So it's very difficult … to block her from her beliefs. I said, 'No, I also believe in God, I like the Catholic Church, so let's go.'"

According to Aristizábal, the preparation process helped ground their relationship in shared spiritual formation, finding their community in their new home to join them for the celebration on Sept. 26.

"The impact has been drawing us closer to God, knowing that we are seeking him, and that we want to put him in first place in our lives," Aristizábal said in Spanish.

Throughout the program, organizers and mentors emphasized the theology of sacramental marriage as an unbreakable covenant rather than a mere social agreement, Soto explained.

"When you bring God into it, this is now a covenantal marriage, not sort of a contractual marriage, but a sacramental marriage," Wildanger told EWTN News. "Our Lord is now present, and you owe a responsibility to God to really try to help your spouse get to heaven. It's not solely at this level; it's more of an also at this level. And God is now watching and present in you and can bring graces from that."

Soto noted that elevating civil unions into sacramental covenants provides families with a deeper sense of purpose, stating that couples can "mirror that when they give themselves to each other in holy matrimony."

For many couples, receiving the Eucharist after years of abstaining was an emotional milestone. Some even had exceeded 30 years of only civil marriage, causing many tears of joy, according to Veronica Wildanger.

Rather than detracting from the intimacy of the sacrament, participating in a group ceremony highlighted the universal nature of the Church.

"That makes me see that the Church is unity, and that sharing this sacrament with other people demonstrates that the Church is still very much alive, that it believes in marriage, and that it wants to keep fighting for it," Aristizábal said.

For couples who did not reach the program in time, or were limited due to missing documentation, time constraints, or anxieties — all of which Soto claimed were obstacles experienced by couples during the last year, the message of encouragement is clear: Do not be afraid.

"I would just say that the Church welcomes you, and the Church is here with open arms, and that whenever you are ready, we are here to walk with you every step of the way," Soto said. "So my advice would just be to, if you have it in your heart, if there's been a tug in your heart that says, maybe I should get married in the Church, to listen to it, to respond to it."

Full Article

LUANDA, Angola — Bishop Vicente Carlos Kiaziku of the Diocese of Mbanza Congo in Angola has decried the reported abduction of children in Zaire province, warning that minors taken away from their families could become vulnerable to exploitation, including organ trafficking, prostitution, and modern slavery.

In his homily during Mass at Our Lady of the Conception Cathedral of Mbanza Congo Diocese on Sept. 27, Kiaziku reflected on the vulnerability of children living in situations of abandonment and called on families, authorities, and society to take greater responsibility for their protection.

"The abduction of children to be taken to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC] is a horrible thing," the bishop said.

He warned that children who are abducted could become victims of "organ trafficking, modern slavery, and prostitution."

The bishop described such forms of exploitation as a serious threat to the dignity and safety of minors and urged the local community to remain vigilant.

"Children who are taken away do not go to paradise — no, they go to hell. We must do everything to ensure that this does not happen among us," he added, calling on "families, authorities, and society as a whole" to remain attentive and vigilant."

Kiaziku said the protection of children should not be left solely to individual families or government institutions but should be regarded as a responsibility shared by the entire community.

"Preventing child abduction and trafficking must be assumed as a collective responsibility, especially in a region bordering the DRC," he said.

Movement of people has been reported between Angola and the DRC Zaire province, where the Diocese of Mbanza Kongo is located, and has important crossing points such as Luvo.

Angola and the DRC share a land border of approximately 2,511 kilometers (about 1,560 miles), including about 225 kilometers (approximately 140 miles) in Cabinda province. The remainder is in mainland Angola, including Zaire province.

Kiaziku also drew attention to children who have been abandoned in the province, saying that some of them are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. He appealed for solidarity with children living without adequate family protection, making a particular appeal to families who have the means to welcome children into their homes.

"How good it would be, for example, if families who can do so adopted one of those children," Kiaziku said.

The bishop said such solidarity could help protect children from situations of abandonment and reduce their exposure to exploitation and other dangers.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

Full Article

The Lithuanian Bishops' Conference will pursue an investigation into all crimes committed against minors and vulnerable adults within the Church since March 11, 1990, when the country became independent from the Soviet Union.

"The priority is the victim, not institutional reputation. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish how many such crimes have occurred in the past, since 11 March 1990," the bishops said in a statement, according to a Sept. 28 Delfi report.

The investigation follows a case involving Father Tadas Švedavicius, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Vilnius who was charged in connection with 34 criminal counts of child sexual abuse, possession of child pornography, and distributing alcohol to minors over the course of 20 years, the report said. The conference will consult the Holy See and Lithuanian law enforcement during the investigation.

Filipino bishops back calls to ban political dynasties

Catholic bishops in the Philippines have voiced their support for a nationwide signature campaign calling for the end of political dynasties in the country.

"Public office must never become a family inheritance. It is a public trust entrusted to the people," Bishop Elias Ayuban Jr. of Cubao said at a launch event for the anti-dynasty initiative known as "Dapat Isa Lang" at the Obispado de Cubao in Quezon City, according to a Sept. 30 press release from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

The conference at large backed the initiative in a pastoral statement on Sept. 25, declaring: "As pastors of God's people, we cannot remain indifferent to matters that touch the moral foundations of our society, the dignity of our people, justice, equality, and the common good. For these reasons, we support the call to enact a genuine, meaningful, and effective Anti-Political Dynasty Law that will faithfully give effect to the mandate of our Constitution."

2 synod calls expose tensions in Syriac Catholic Church

A dispute over two proposed meetings of Syriac Catholic bishops has brought internal tensions in the Church into public view. Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan called a synod for Nov. 17–20, while another invitation called bishops to meet Sept. 29–30.

The patriarchate said Church law gives Younan the first right to convene the synod and considers the separate September invitation unlawful. It has also rejected claims that the patriarch failed to call a synod in recent years, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Sept. 30.

An unnamed source cited by ACI MENA disputed that account and questioned the timing of Younan's invitation. The disagreement comes amid wider tensions involving the patriarch and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. Younan has publicly accused the cardinal of encouraging bishops to seek his removal, placing the synod dispute within a broader debate over leadership and authority in the Syriac Catholic Church.

Angolan bishop: Religious zeal must not come at expense of family responsibilities

Bishop Maurício Agostinho Camuto of Angola's Diocese of Caxito has cautioned Catholics against religious practices that could lead them to neglect their family responsibilities.

"Jesus does not ask for spending more time in the Church than caring for the family," Camuto said in his homily during Mass at St. Anne's Cathedral on Sept. 27, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported. "Religious involvement should not result in the abandonment of family responsibilities," he said, citing situations in which "there are even wives whose husbands almost want to separate from them because they spend more time in the Church than at home, taking care of the family, taking care of the husband."

The bishop further called for stronger formation and accompaniment of members of apostolic groups and movements, particularly through catechesis and participation in the sacramental life of the Church.

Japanese cardinal calls faithful to act on behalf of migrants and refugees

Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo is encouraging Catholics to go beyond words and take action on behalf of migrants and refugees.

Kikuchi echoed calls from Pope Leo XIV to move from "merely managing migration" to "full and immediate protection of human rights" in a Sept. 27 reflection, according to UCA News.

The reflection came on World Day of Refugees, Migrants, and Displaced Persons on Sept. 27. Kikuchi further urged Catholics to reflect especially on the pope's appeal for children and to ask themselves, "What can we ourselves do for 'these little ones'?"

Protestant march in Catholic Northern Ireland town permitted; archbishops respond

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission has reversed a ruling previously prohibiting the Protestant Orange Order from marching through the Catholic majority town of Portadown for the first time in nearly three decades, according to a Sept. 30 America Magazine report.

The Sept. 27 march resulted in a clash between Protestant members of the Orange Order and protesters blocking their path from Drumcree Church, according to the report.

Addressing the tension, Archbishop Eamon Martin of the Archdiocese of Armagh and Archbishop John McDowell of the Church of Ireland in Armagh issued a joint statement following the Sept. 27 march.

"As our community faces the crisis in Drumcree today, in which so many sincere views, painful histories and important issues are at stake, we cannot think of any time in the last 30 years when this simple message needs to be more urgently heard. How can we be good neighbors to each other?" the archbishops said. "We call for the urgent creation of a constructive, inclusive and reconciling initiative to patiently find a way through this current crisis. Too much is at stake."

Christian parliamentarian raises security concerns as coalition mission ends in Iraq

The end of the international coalition's mission in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region has renewed security concerns among Christians, according to Ramy Noori Syawish, an elected Christian member of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament.

Syawish told ACI MENA Sept. 30 that the continuing threat from ISIS, armed groups outside state control, and uncontrolled weapons raises questions about the ability of Iraqi and Kurdish forces to respond to another major security crisis. He said smaller communities could be particularly vulnerable because of their declining numbers and dependence on the state for protection. He also pointed to economic hardship and irregular public-sector salaries as factors driving emigration. Syawish said the next Kurdistan Regional Government should prioritize services in Christian areas and address long-running disputes over land and property.

Religion in public life sparks debate over Syria's direction

A series of incidents during the summer has fueled debate over the growing presence of religion in Syria's public life.

The controversies have touched women's dress, education, employment, entertainment, and the way public institutions are being run, according to a Sept. 29 report from ACI MENA. Other disputes followed a dress code directive for female government employees, the separation of male and female students at a Damascus school, and religious questions reportedly included on an employment form.

The debate has also reached the arts, while questions over some public appointments have raised concerns about whether professional qualifications or other considerations are shaping hiring decisions. Some allegations surrounding these cases remain disputed or unverified.

Full Article

Brazil's Superior Electoral Court ruled on Sept. 30 to uphold the removal of false social media posts linking conservative Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a Liberal Party candidate for president, to an alleged initiative to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as the patroness of Brazil.

Under the decision reached in the virtual plenary session, content clearly linking Bolsonaro to the initiative must be removed. However, posts where there is reasonable doubt regarding the link to the candidate are to be preserved. This applies to a post by comedian Antonio Tabet, which was permitted to remain online by the reporting justice, André Mendonça.

The case began on Sept. 24 when Tabet posted an image of the dark-skinned Our Lady of Aparecida on X with the caption: "The militia family hates black women so much that they decided to attack Our Lady of Aparecida." The post did not mention Bolsonaro by name. The senator is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, who was president of Brazil from 2019-2023.

The following day, Mendonça, the vice president of the Superior Electoral Court and the rapporteur for the case, ordered the removal of content that claimed Bolsonaro or his family intended to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as the patroness of Brazil.

Upon reconsidering his vote, the judge concluded there was doubt regarding the link between Tabet's post and Bolsonaro and decided to allow the post to stay online.

"As it is reasonable to take the content to be ambiguous, I believe the solution most consistent with the criteria of minimal intervention [by the courts] and heightened protection of freedom of expression is to keep the post online," Mendonça said.

According to the judge, the decisions ordering the removal of the content specifically naming Flávio Bolsonaro "do not amount to prior restraint" nor did they violate religious freedom.

"Confusing a 'fake news' report with a restriction on faith represents a distortion of the decision's actual substance. Faith was not on trial," Mendonça said. He further noted that "the insinuation that the decisions issued in these proceedings sought to prevent Catholics from expressing support for or devotion to Our Lady of Aparecida is particularly baffling" and emphasized: "Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the decisions warrants such a conclusion."

He also stated that this change does not alter the other points of his decision and emphasized that he considers "objectively false" the claims that Bolsonaro "had authored, presented, proposed, supported, or concretely orchestrated an initiative aimed at removing Our Lady of Aparecida from her status as the patroness of Brazil."

The president of the Supreme Electoral Court, Justice Nunes Marques, concurred with Mendonça and stated that the decision "protects religious freedom in its collective and democratic dimension."

"In my view, the relief granted protects religious freedom in its collective and democratic dimension, as it prevents the faith of millions of Brazilians from being instrumentalized within days of the election [Oct. 4] through a claim without a factual basis designed to artificially stir up emotional reactions among the electorate," Marques said.

He also highlighted that "the contested post did not need to name the candidate to attribute the claim to him; because it was disseminated at the height of the false narrative's circulation — accompanied by the image of the patroness. Its message was only fully realized and achieved its intended effect due to the context of current news stories in which it was embedded." Nevertheless, Marques' difference of opinion regarding Tabet does not alter the effect of the ruling.

This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

On Oct. 2, 1928, "the Lord founded His Work; brought Opus Dei (The Work of God) into being," wrote St. Josemaría Escrivá in his personal notes, as recorded by Andrés Vázquez de Prada in the Spanish-language volume of "The Founder of Opus Dei," a definitive text on the Spanish saint's life.

"The Work of God was not imagined by a man," he would later say. "For many years, the Lord had been inspiring it in an inept and deaf instrument, who saw it for the first time on the Feast of the Guardian Angels."

It was, the saint understood, the answer to the prayers he repeatedly addressed to God: "Domine, ut videam!" and "Domine, ut sit!" ("Lord, that I may see!" and "Lord, that it may come to be!")

On that October day, the founder of Opus Dei was making a spiritual retreat at the Central House of the Vincentian missionaries in Madrid. "I received enlightenment regarding the whole Work ... Deeply moved, I knelt down, I was alone in my room in the interval between talks, and thanked the Lord; I recall with emotion the ringing of the bells of the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels."

On that occasion, Vázquez de Prada notes, St. Josemaría's mind "was illuminated with a clear, general idea of ??his mission."

"The scattered notes the retreatant had brought with him to meditate upon during the retreat consisted of ideas that were, it seems, unsystematized. In the days that followed, he compiled them in an orderly fashion, in accordance with the general enlightenment he had just received regarding the whole work," the author explains.

Building on that foundation, over the years St. Josemaría "drafted documents that he would later hand to his children in Opus Dei," Vázquez de Prada continues.

In 1930, he wrote in a letter: "We have come to say with the humility of one who knows himself to be a sinner and of little account ("homo peccator sum" — I am a sinful man [Luke 5:8], we say with Peter), yet with the faith of one who allows himself to be guided by the hand of God, that holiness is not reserved for a privileged few: that the Lord calls all of us, that he expects love from everyone, from everyone, wherever they may be; from everyone, whatever their state in life, their profession, or their trade."

"For that ordinary, everyday life without pretense can be a means of holiness; there is no need to abandon one's state in life to seek God — if the Lord has not given a soul a religious vocation — since every way of life on this earth can be an occasion for an encounter with Christ," the founder of Opus Dei said.

What is Opus Dei?

Its official Spanish-language website defines Opus Dei as "a hierarchical institution of the Catholic Church, a personal prelature, whose purpose is to contribute to the Church's evangelizing mission."

"Specifically, the aim is to spread a deep awareness of the universal call to holiness and the sanctifying value of ordinary work," the website adds.

Among the faithful who discover a "vocation to Opus Dei" and request to join, a distinction is made between numeraries, who live apostolic celibacy and are fully available for the work of the prelature; associates, who also live apostolic celibacy but whose personal, family, or professional circumstances limit that availability; and supernumeraries, whether married or single, who do not commit to celibacy. Priests incardinated in the prelature are drawn from the ranks of numeraries or associates.

According to the most recent data released by Opus Dei, around 94,450 people are part of the institution, which is present in 68 countries across five continents.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

Pope Leo XIV has convened a gathering on the family at the Vatican from Oct. 7–14, during which bishops will listen to the testimony of 11 married couples from five continents.

These families will present to more than 150 bishops the challenges they encounter in passing on the faith in increasingly secularized societies.

The meeting is being organized on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the postsynodal apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in 2016.

The document sparked intense debate, especially after the bishops of the Buenos Aires Pastoral Region interpreted it as allowing, following a process of accompanied pastoral discernment, access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist for some Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried "when a person judges that he or she would fall into a further fault by harming the children of the new union."

In 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that this interpretation forms part of the authentic magisterium after being incorporated into the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy See's official bulletin.

According to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, participants in the meeting will include the heads of the 15 Eastern Catholic Churches "sui iuris" (14 represented by their patriarchs or highest authorities and one by a delegate), the presidents of the world's 115 bishops' conferences (those of Peru, Paraguay, Turkey, and Ethiopia will send delegates), two representatives of bishops from territories without a bishops' conference, and 22 participants specially chosen by the Holy Father.

In addition, 67 other people will attend, including members of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, the General Secretariat of the Synod, and 26 experts and 16 facilitators.

Not an evaluation of Amoris Laetitia

During a presentation of the gathering at the Vatican, Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life since 2017, a laywoman, mother of five, and doctor of bioethics, emphasized that "this is not about evaluating a text but about deepening our understanding of the family and pastoral realities that have received and interpreted this document in different ways, just as the life of the Church is diverse in the various places around the world where it is present and rooted in the one Gospel."

"The central point on which we must focus our attention is that the Church's goal is not to see texts applied mechanically and uniformly in every reality, because each one has characteristics that are very different from the others," she said.

She stated that the central question of the meeting is: "How is the faith transmitted today? How is faith passed on in families today, and how do families contribute to building up the Church?"

"Without families, the Church cannot renew its Christian roots. It is in families that children are born, where faith and values are transmitted, for better or worse, and where vocations arise," she explained.

To illustrate the scale of the ongoing religious changes, Gambino offered several statistics. In Poland, religious marriages celebrated over the last five years have declined by 45%. In Australia, they have fallen from 88% in 1970 to 16% in 2024. In her view, these are signs that, in different contexts, highlight the urgency of better accompanying couples in their decision to marry and providing stronger support for the transmission of faith within the family.

Orietta Rachele Grazioli, a tenured professor of canon law and comparative family law at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences, and vice coordinator of the expert group, explained that the "methodology chosen by the Holy Father for this gathering is centered on two key words that complement one another: listening and discernment."

5 major themes

The gathering will be structured around five major themes related to marriage, family life, and the transmission of the faith. Reflection will begin with "Families Today: Reality, Beauty, and Challenges," dedicated to analyzing the current situation of the family, and will continue with "Young People and the Discovery of the Vocation to Marriage," "Married Life: The First Years of Marriage, a Decisive Time," and "In Life's Difficulties: Accompanying and Supporting," which will address the accompaniment of engaged and married couples at different stages of their journey.

The meeting will conclude with the theme "Christian Families as Subjects of the Church's Mission," focused on the evangelizing role of families and their contribution to ecclesial life.

Father Giacomo Costa, a consultant to the General Secretariat of the Synod, said that "the question is not what Amoris Laetitia says but what we have learned by trying to live it."

He also recalled that the goal identified by Pope Leo XIV, who will be present at both the opening and closing of the gathering, is "to advance in mutual listening toward a synodal discernment about the steps we must take today to proclaim the Gospel with families. The composition of the assembly itself reflects this objective."

Before the start of the proceedings, an introductory meditation will be given by Sister Helen Alford, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Each morning will be structured around three types of speeches: family testimonies, contributions from bishops, and reflections from experts.

'The goal is not to eliminate differences'

"The goal is not to eliminate differences. We do not want to arrive at an artificial consensus," Costa said. Each day will include a report summarizing the discussions, which will serve as the basis for extensive dialogue and debate sessions in the afternoon. He made clear, however, that "this is not a new synod on the family but a process guided by the synodal method, one that consciously draws upon the experience of the synods and other forums of the Church."

Regarding the expected outcomes of the gathering, Costa insisted that "nothing has been predetermined." A final summary will be prepared at the conclusion of the assembly, but no concluding document will be published. The text will be reviewed by a commission tasked with verifying that it faithfully reflects what emerged during the working sessions.

Afterward, the presidents of bishops' conferences will be invited to promote initiatives in their local Churches aimed at opening new pastoral paths and further developing the proposals that emerge from the gathering.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

Jack Valero, Opus Dei's spokesman in the United Kingdom for the past 25 years, has just published "El Opus Dei sin filtros. Por qué me hice de la Obra" ("Opus Dei Unfiltered: Why I Joined the Work").

In the book, he presents the apostolate founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer in 1928 through the experiences and testimonies of some 20 members. "Opus Dei" in Latin means the "Work of God," commonly referred to by members of the apostolate as "the Work."

Valero has spent many years answering questions about this institution, which has nearly 100,000 members across almost 70 countries worldwide.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, he noted that "sometimes, answering the way I used to — 'from the top down' —  makes it harder to explain" what it actually means to belong to the Catholic Church's only personal prelature.

Thus, when he was offered the chance to write the book in late 2025, he decided to tackle the challenge "from the bottom up."

"It is the people themselves who speak about their lives. Having done it that way, I think it is far more effective, because it's more real. Or rather, it doesn't explain everything to you, but what it does explain, it explains very well."

The book's pages feature a range of members: supernumeraries (men and women with a vocation to marriage); numeraries like Valero and associates (both groups being celibate for apostolic reasons); and assistant numeraries.

The role played by this latter category of members has recently been the subject of controversy due to allegations made by 43 assistant numeraries in Argentina who claimed to have been "victims of trafficking." Valero said his approach to this specific vocation within Opus Dei "has been a major learning experience."

"I realized it's not up to me to explain what that vocation is, but rather for them to explain it, and they do so very well. I was deeply impressed," explained the spokesman, who has included the testimonies of two assistant numeraries in his book. "One at the beginning and one at the end. To make it clear that this is very important within the Work," he indicated.

'It's a privilege to speak about the things I love'

Throughout his work in communications for Opus Dei as an institution, Valero has navigated periods of intense media activity, such as during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom or the release of books like "The Da Vinci Code."

In the first chapter of the book, where he recounts his own vocation, he notes that Opus Dei "doesn't promote a political program or a structured project to transform society." During the conversation with ACI Prensa, he added that the Work "has no program to improve the world, but rather to improve people."

He further noted: "We have many formation programs to help people become like Jesus Christ — to be in the world, respond to God, sanctify everyday realities, etc., and to encourage and inspire them so that they change the world."

Thus, Valero argued, trusting in the use of freedom, they can work together on their initiatives to change the world. "It's an idea we need to develop further because, obviously, we haven't communicated it entirely well, as many people don't understand it. We need to communicate better about that."

Reforming the statutes: 'The Work changes with the Church'

With the centennial of the founding of Opus Dei approaching in two years, the prelature is undertaking the process of modifying its statutes, as directed by Pope Francis in the 2022 motu proprio Ad Charisma Tuendum.

In June 2025, Opus Dei submitted a proposal for modification and is awaiting the decision of Pope Leo XIV.

"They say the Church is 'semper reformanda' ['always reforming']. The world changes, the Church changes, and the Work changes along with the Church, because the Work is part of the Church," Valero explained.

He acknowledged that within the institution, "the way directors govern today is very different from how things were done 40 years ago."

"Governance in the Work is about accompanying and supporting people. It's not about giving them orders. I haven't given any order nor received any order," he emphasized.

Regarding the statutory reform, the spokesman stated that "we are seeking to refine the legal framework" with the same spirit that guided its founder in the beginning: "Everything that comes from God through the Holy See, we accept with great love. We see that it's something that God wants and that gives us great peace."

"We want to imitate Christ and sanctify the world and bring God's love to people. That's what we are doing now. If the legal framework needs to be changed in some way, well, that's what needs to be done, and there's no problem with that," he added.

Reality versus myths

Finally, Valero expressed his hope that the book would be read by Opus Dei members "to appreciate the variety of ways this vocation is lived out" and also by others "so that they might see, instead of the abstract myths they have heard about, the reality of the people themselves."

"I am really hopeful that many people will read it and that this will lead to a greater understanding of what Opus Dei is," he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

A lay member of the Rome-based International Association of Exorcists said he has seen what he considers a significant rise in requests for exorcisms over the past five to eight years.

Adam Blai, a lay adviser in the Pittsburgh Diocese on cases involving alleged demonic activity, told "EWTN News Nightly" on Oct. 1 that the number of cases there has risen sharply in the past five years. He said he and his team pray with people weekly and that exorcists he works with nationwide report being extremely busy.

"For some reason, there's an increase," said Blai, who also teaches priests how to perform exorcisms at the Pope Leo XIII Institute at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. "But the more important, beautiful part is the Holy Spirit is raising up this ministry."

Blai said warding off attack from demonic spirits starts with avoiding occult or other practices that invite in the spirits. "They need permission," he said. "The evil spirits need permission from God to do what they do."

"When we play with the occult, with divination, with ghost hunting, with Ouija boards, we are reaching out to random spirits and saying, 'I want my comfort or my information from you right now on my terms, I'm not going to wait on God, I'm not going to trust God, I'm not going to trust his providence or his grace, I'm going to seek out other spirits,'" Blai continued. "And when we do that, we form a relationship with them. And that's the root of these extraordinary demonic problems."

Blai said the Church has learned to "carefully discern" whether something is a spiritual problem, medical problem, misunderstanding, or even a false claim of possession.

"If we start saying these dramatic prayers over a person with mental illness that has delusional ideas, we could encourage those ideas," he said.

Ultimately, Blai noted that the bishop has sole authority to determine which priests may say exorcism prayers. "Every priest has the power to do exorcisms in their ordination. What they don't have is permission to pick up the exorcism rite and pray it over somebody until the bishop gives that to them," he said.

"Now, all that being said, is it wise to have a priest who is pious, has a good, solid spiritual life, is well known to the bishop? Absolutely. And do some priests have gifts of discernment that may help them in the ministry? Yes, but it's not required," he concluded. "Jesus tends to provide the other people and gifts and support around the ministry that that exorcist needs."

Full Article

The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish a new document on the transmission of the faith, titled Venite ad Me, in mid-October.

According to a source from the dicastery with direct knowledge of its content, who confirmed the information to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the text "addresses various paths and different possibilities to encourage reflection within each diocese on the difficulties and new opportunities we have for transmitting faith in Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters."

Venite ad Me, which means "Come to Me" in Latin, responds to a request made by Pope Francis and embraced by Leo XIV, aimed at stimulating debate and reflection within the Catholic community.

"Given that in many parts of the world the faith is transmitted with increasing difficulty, the question is how we can successfully pass on the faith to others in the world in which we live," the same source added.

In preparing the document, the Vatican consulted bishops' conferences from around the world. According to the Vatican source, 70% of them responded.

"This gives the text a strongly universal character that reflects a wide variety of concerns and contexts regarding the transmission of the faith," the source noted.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

VATICAN CITY — Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, ordained 18 men from the North American College in Rome as transitional deacons in St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

The Oct. 1 celebration came after approximately seven years of rigorous spiritual, academic, and pastoral formation, marking a pivotal step for the men in the journey toward becoming fully ordained Catholic priests.

Transitional deacons are in their final stage of ministry as seminarians before their priestly ordination. For each candidate, the milestone signifies a lifelong commitment to humble service, preaching the Gospel, and assisting at the altar as they step into their ultimate calling as shepherds of the faith.

Reflecting on the weight and grace of the moment, candidate Nicholas Vande Hey of Green Bay, Wisconsin, told EWTN News that he "feels humbled and I feel hungry at the same time ... for what [the Lord is] going to do in the future." Vande Hey is joined by peers representing dioceses across the United States, all of whom have spent years preparing in the heart of the Church.

In his homily, Barron, founder of the Catholic ministry Word on Fire, reminded the candidates of their fundamental and seminal role as preachers of the word.

Drawing on sacred tradition, he emphasized that the young deacons must bear Christ's mission in mind as they complete their studies in Rome and prepare to take what they learned back home to their local parishes.

Christ himself said, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church," Barron said.

The bishop went on to say that "when Christ's words resonate through you to his people, things change. Hearts are set on fire."

Graham Fassero of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, on the eve of his ordination, said: "Rome has been able to give me this habit of thinking as a pilgrim, and I would love to bring some glimmer of that to the people back home too."

For new deacon Brendan Finnegan of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, this ordination is "a fulfillment" as he continues to "learn to be a man in service," leaning on his experiences in Rome to effectively govern and sanctify the people of his parish.

As the 18 men complete their final year of preparation, they carry with them the unique grace of having been ordained in the spiritual center of the universal Church.

Barron closed his homily with this phrase: "Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you preach."

Full Article