A federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled to require in-person distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone, the most prevalent form of abortion in the U.S.
A New Orleans federal appeals court restricted access to mail-order prescriptions of the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone.
The panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, will require in-person distribution of the mifipristone at clinics.
The ruling found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation that allows prescriptions of the medication that blocks progesterone without meeting with a physician "undermines" the state of Louisiana. In Louisiana, the state considers unborn children to be human beings from the moment of conception and legal persons.
Medication abortions, which rely on mifepristone and misoprostol, accounted for 63% of U.S. abortions in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The number of actual abortions might be higher due to underreporting, according to the organization, which was affiliated with Planned Parenthood until 2007.
A recent study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) found that the removal of in-person visit requirements led to an increase in adverse effects for women having drug-induced abortions. This study is one among several pointing to a higher rate of serious problems.
Multiple other studies have shown high rates of hospitalizations for women taking the abortion pill. "Chemical abortion has a complication rate four times greater than surgical abortion," according to one study. Another report found that medication abortion complications are often underreported or misclassified.
Republican legislators have introduced a bill to protect the unborn from a form of second trimester abortion that involves dismembering the bodies of unborn children.
Lawmakers and activists are voicing support for a bill that would protect unborn children from a form of second trimester abortion that involves dismembering the bodies of unborn babies.
Introduced by Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Florida, along with Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Bob Onder, R-Missouri, on April 30, the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2026 would prohibit dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedures in the United States.
The bill protects women from being prosecuted, as only abortionists would be prosecuted under the act and not women who have abortions. Abortionists who knowingly perform these abortions would face fines and/or imprisonment for up to two years, according to the legislation. Women who experienced trauma from these abortions would also have legal recourse to seek damages.
The 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is the only federal law that prohibits a specific abortion procedure, leaving every other procedure unregulated. Lawmakers introduced similar legislation to ban dismemberment abortion in 2023.
Cammack, who is also mother to a newborn, described dismemberment abortion as "inhuman."
"Under our current system, abortion procedures exist in a legal gray area with no federal standards and no accountability," Cammack said. "Providers can perform inhumane extraction methods and face zero consequences. That ends now."
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, who is introducing companion legislation in the Senate, described dismemberment abortions as "among the most brutal methods of abortion, accounting for around 80% of second-trimester abortions."
"Our legislation would make performing a dismemberment abortion a criminal offense, with the doctor or healthcare provider who performs it liable to fines and up to two years in prison," Rounds stated.
Supporters of the bill point out that unborn children in the second trimester can often feel pain.
"The fact that this horrifying procedure is still being done to children who can feel pain in the womb is why we need to enact the Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act," said Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, who introduced the companion legislation with Rounds.
Studies vary on exactly when unborn children can feel pain. There is some evidence suggesting they can feel pain as early as 12 weeks' gestation, before the second trimester even begins, while babies delivered preterm as early as 21 weeks' gestation have been documented to react to pain.
Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of March for Life Action and a practicing Catholic, voiced her support for the bill.
"March for Life Action thanks Rep. Cammack for this important piece of legislation that would stop the barbaric practice of tearing preborn babies apart limb from limb — which is often performed at a point in pregnancy when babies have the capacity to feel pain," Lichter stated.
Hon. Marilyn Musgrave, vice president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the practice "barbaric," noting that it "takes the lives of 60,000 to 70,000 developed babies every year."
"Dismemberment abortions, the most common second trimester abortion method, ends the life of an unborn baby by tearing off her arms and legs, removing her torso, then crushing her tiny head," Musgrave said.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus and a medical doctor who formerly worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital, said the practice "violates both medical ethics and human dignity."
"As a physician, I believe the practice of medicine requires a commitment to protect and preserve human life, never to take it," Harris said. "This legislation defends the sanctity of unborn life, holds providers who perform this procedure accountable, and recognizes rare medical emergencies in which a physician must intervene to save the life of the mother."
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, pointed out that the bill would "allow women to receive compensation for the harms done to them."
"Medical providers that cause the slow, painful death of an unborn child ought to be held criminally responsible," Stutzman said. "In addition, this bill allows women to seek damages for physical and psychological harm that often accompanies these horrific procedures."
A 2026 peer-reviewed study by the Charlotte Lozier Institute documented the trauma that women often experience because of abortion. According to the study, nearly 25% of women who had abortions reported high levels of grief, depression, and regret; they also said they frequently thought of their aborted child.
Another recent study found that nearly 40% of women who suffer pregnancy loss from abortion or miscarriage experience persistent grief for about 20 years after.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus along with Harris, said the law "exposes the reality of abortion practices and protects unborn babies from the excruciating pain of being dismembered alive."
"The truth is that unborn babies are society's youngest patients: They deserve respect, love, and access to healing, life-affirming medical care and interventions," he said.
The report by the Supervisory and Financial Information and Authority for 2025 detailed the efforts at transparency and accountability in Vatican financial affairs.
The Supervisory and Financial Information and Authority (ASIF, by its Italian acronym), the body established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to put an end to irregularities, received a total of 78 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) within its financial system in 2025.
Of these reports, 73 were linked to accounts held at the Institute for the Works of Religion — known as the Vatican Bank — four originated from various entities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, while one pertained to another unspecified organization.
The annual report, presented April 30, underscores, according to the Vatican, "the robustness" of its own oversight system regarding "the prevention of and fight against money laundering and terrorist financing."
According to the report, there has also been "a strengthening" of relations with counterpart agencies and key international bodies, as part of its commitment to international standards in the field of financial oversight.
In 2024, the Vatican's financial watchdog received 79 reports of suspicious activity, representing a 36% decrease compared with 2023, when 123 cases were identified.
Compared with the previous year, the report notes a lower incidence of communications related to the use of cash, a phenomenon that, according to the official statement, would be linked to a reduction in financial flows passing through Vatican City State. In 2024, these flows totaled 27,866,033 euros ($32.6 million), whereas last year the figure was 18,770,783 euros ($22 million).
This trend is also reflected in the statistics regarding declarations of cross-border cash transport.
The report also indicates that a financial transaction valued at approximately 522,000 euros ($611,883) was suspended as a preventive measure in light of potential illegality, although the report does not specify the date or the intended purpose of said amount.
Despite this, the qualitative level of the communications received by the ASIF remains stable, as evidenced by both the volume of exchanges with other authorities and the preventive measures adopted. Financial intelligence continues to be a key element in the conduct of subsequent investigative activities.
Throughout 2025, the ASIF sent 16 reports to the Office of the Promoter of Justice, the body that exercises prosecutorial functions, a figure slightly higher than that of the previous year, when 11 cases were referred.
Internally, the report specifically highlights the strengthening of collaboration between the authorities of the Holy See and those of Vatican City State.
The flow of communications with key domestic counterparts saw a notable increase compared with the previous year, with a 65% rise in incoming communications and a 31% rise in outgoing ones — a figure that, according to the document, reflects an increasingly integrated and cohesive system.
Likewise, international cooperation activities have been strengthened, with the participation of the Holy See in Moneyval, the Council of Europe body tasked with assessing systems for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, among other forums.
The report concludes by highlighting the close and constant cooperation with the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps, which has established itself as a central interlocutor in the work carried out by ASIF.
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.
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.
In a bill proposed on April 16, several senators are looking to close a loophole that has enabled hundreds of millions of federal dollars to go to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Marsh Blackburn, R-Tennessee; Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana; and others introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would ban Title X family planning grants from going to any group that provides abortion or funds abortion providers.
The bill makes exceptions for Medicaid coverage in cases of rape, incest, or situations that threaten the life of the mother. The prohibition also does not apply to hospitals, as long as the hospitals don't fund clinics that provide abortions.
"Organizations that perform abortions should not receive any taxpayer dollars," Cruz said in a statement. "I have long fought to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood and to ensure that Title X family planning grants are not awarded to entities that perform abortions or fund abortion providers."
EPA to test drinking water for drug used in chemical abortions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will test drinking water for misoprostol, a pill used in chemical abortions.
The move to test the water for the drug follows recent efforts by activists and lawmakers to protect the environment from chemical abortion pill drugs, given the increase in their use.
In December 2025, Students for Life of America called on the EPA to add the abortion drug mifepristone to a list of drinking water contaminants tracked by public utilities.
Legislators in several states are introducing bills restricting abortion pills, citing concerns about water contamination. New legislation in Arizona, Idaho, Maine, West Virginia, and Wyoming would require abortion providers to have their patients collect expelled medical waste from at-home abortions.
Chemical abortions now make up 63% of all abortions in the United States, according to 2023 data by the Guttmacher Institute, in a more than 50% increase since 2020.
Poll finds slight decrease in support for abortion legality
A recent poll on abortion found a slight decrease in pro-abortion support.
From 2024 to 2025, the percent of people who say abortion should be legal in most or all cases fell slightly, by two points, according to the recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
The institute surveyed more than 21,000 adults between February and December 2025.
According to the poll, 6 in 10 Americans said abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
The poll also found that Americans who attend religious services with some frequency are more likely to oppose abortion. Of Americans who attend services weekly or more, only 32% supported abortion. Of those who rarely or never attend religious services, 76% supported abortion.
Since 2010, there has been an overall upward trend toward supporting abortion. For instance, the percent of Americans who say abortion should always be illegal has dropped from 15% in 2010 to 8% in 2025, according to the institute's poll.
CVS denies 'partnership' with New York Planned Parenthood
CVS is denying a strategic partnership with Planned Parenthood of Greater New York after the abortion provider referenced a partnership between the two organizations.
Planned Parenthood of Greater New York said it had a "strategic partnership" with CVS for abortion pill access, language that has since been removed from the abortion provider's website.
CVS said it does not have a formal partnership with Planned Parenthood, though it does fill prescriptions for chemical abortions.
"We don't have a partnership with Planned Parenthood," CVS said in a statement to EWTN News. "As we do for all physicians, we dispense medicines as prescribed and consistent with the law."
Wyoming judge blocks heartbeat law
A judge in Wyoming blocked a "heartbeat" law that protects unborn children throughout most of pregnancy, beginning when their heartbeats are detectable.
In January the state Supreme Court struck down protections for unborn children, finding the laws violated the state constitution.
Natrona County District Judge Dan Forgey granted a temporary restraining order against the law, saying the law would likely be struck down for similar reasons.
Wyoming — the least populated state in the United States with just under 600,000 residents — has one abortion clinic.
Four states have heartbeat laws to protect unborn children when cardiac activity can be detected, usually at about six weeks' gestation.
The U.S. House advanced legislation that could change how the U.S. delivers international food assistance. Senate consideration is next.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the farm bill in a 224-200 vote on April 30, advancing legislation that could reshape U.S. global food assistance, following warnings from Catholic organizations about its potential impact on global hunger response efforts.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which had urged lawmakers ahead of the vote to preserve and strengthen global food aid programs, said in an emailed statement to EWTN News that it was "encouraged that key international food security and nutrition programs were protected."
"Several steps remain in the process," it continued, "and we look forward to continuing to work with both parties to lift up these essential programs as conversations move forward."
The bill's passage marks a step forward in a farm bill process that has stalled in recent years since the 2018 reauthorization. Senate consideration is next, where lawmakers are expected to consider revisions amid ongoing debate over how the federal government should structure food assistance at home and abroad.
At the center of the international provisions is Food for Peace, the U.S. flagship global hunger program that provides food assistance to countries facing war, natural disasters, or severe economic instability, often serving as a key source of emergency food aid worldwide.
Under the House-passed bill, Food for Peace would be permanently transferred from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a shift long debated by policymakers. USAID has been largely dismantled under the Trump administration, with most of its programs absorbed into the U.S. Department of State.
The legislation also would require that at least 50% of Food for Peace funding be used to purchase and transport U.S.-grown agricultural commodities. Additionally, the bill includes a $200 million earmark for ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF), nutrient-dense products used to treat severe malnutrition in children.
Supporters argue the changes would strengthen ties between U.S. farmers and international aid programs, while humanitarian groups have raised concerns that they could reduce flexibility in responding to emergencies.
The House Agriculture Committee has defended the changes as strengthening the connection between U.S. agriculture and international food assistance while maintaining the program's humanitarian purpose.
The House-passed bill also would reauthorize the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, which supports efforts to reduce hunger and improve literacy in low-income countries. Organizations such as Save the Children and Bread for the World, a Christian advocacy group focused on reducing global hunger, praised the provision, framing it as consistent with broader humanitarian goals.
Hunger as a 'moral issue'
Catholic organizations have consistently framed international food assistance as part of a broader moral responsibility toward vulnerable populations, a theme reflected in recent joint advocacy from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), CRS, and other Catholic agencies.
In earlier outreach to Congress ahead of the vote, CRS warned that limiting flexibility or resources could weaken the ability of the United States to respond quickly when families face hunger driven by forces beyond their control.
"Programs like Food for Peace have a long track record of saving lives, and it's critical they remain well funded and able to adapt to complex emergencies," CRS said in a statement, describing hunger as not just a policy issue "but a moral one."
Much of the broader House debate also centered on domestic nutrition policy, particularly the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as lawmakers considered amendments addressing eligibility rules and restrictions on certain food purchases like rotisserie chickens.
Debate on the bill also included contentious provisions related to pesticide regulation and other agricultural policy issues, reflecting broader divisions over the direction of federal farm policy.
Lawmakers considered more than 300 amendments during the process, with roughly 49 ultimately adopted or incorporated into the final package.
The Senate Judiciary Committee released the texts by ex-prosecutors who were dismissed shortly after Donald Trump returned to the presidency.
Text messages released by the Senate Judiciary Committee show two former federal prosecutors discussing desires to prosecute nuns during investigations of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Joseph Cooney and Molly Gaston, career prosecutors at the Justice Department rather than political appointees, played a role in prosecuting President Donald Trump during former President Joe Biden's administration. Both were fired shortly after Trump became president a second time and are legal partners at Gaston & Cooney PLLC. Cooney is running for Congress in Virginia.
While texting on government-issued devices, Gaston wrote about a photo published by The New York Times from Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally, which preceded the Jan. 6 attack, saying: "I just noticed for the first time the nuns near the oathkeepers in one of the NYT photographs."
Cooney said, "I know!" to which Gaston replied: "I would like to take a special assignment of finding and prosecuting them."
Cooney, who worked in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, responded to her comments about prosecuting the women by saying "I'm with you" and adding: "Although I'd like to prosecute any nun who still wears the head habit." Gaston, who was a lead prosecutor in the special counsel's Jan. 6-related case involving allegations of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, replied to the message with "hahaha."
The photo shows three women wearing traditional habits standing on the National Mall near the stage for the rally and does not show them trying to breach restricted areas or enter the U.S. Capitol. The women appear to be associated with a convent that is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church and does not have canonical standing with the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, where they are located.
Another photo of the women at the rally published by The Conversation also does not show anyone trying to enter restricted areas or the Capitol. EWTN News could not reach the women in the photos.
Women wearing traditional habits attend Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Gregory Starrett
The text messages also show Gaston saying "people are insane" for wanting priests to deny Communion to Biden. The two also discussed the COVID-19-era restrictions on the Mass, with Gaston saying she has been "really bad about [tuning into] video Mass" and Cooney saying "video Mass is really hard."
Nearly all Catholic sisters and nuns wore habits prior to the Second Vatican Council, although the practice since then often depends on the religious community to which the person belongs or can come down to personal choice.
The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles explain on their website that a habit is "economical, simple, modest, and above all a sign, a symbol, of God and his love for each of us."
"Our habit calls out silently to people we meet or even pass by in the street, the store, even the beach," the website states. "It says, 'Look up; for greater things you were born.' It says, 'Hold on, this too shall pass, and God is with you always leading you in the way you are to go.' It says, 'I am a symbol, a reminder, of God's presence in our world. You can't actually see him, but in seeing me you are reminded of him.'"
The Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province state on their website that their habit is "a sign of our consecration to God and witness to poverty."
"We are vested with a white tunic, a black belt with a rosary attached, a white scapular, a veil, and cappa," it states. "Symbolically, black reminds us that we have been called from the death valley of sin toward a life of intensified grace in Christ (white). The visible habit furthermore reflects the simplicity of life, innocence, renunciation, penance, and mortification, a hidden life in Christ."
'I was appalled'
EWTN News received copies of the text exchange, first reported by the Daily Wire, from the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. EWTN News contacted Cooney's campaign and the law firm where both are partners to request a comment and did not receive a response.
The messages were provided to Grassley's office by the Justice Department in relation to a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into federal efforts to prosecute Trump during Biden's presidency.
"Freedom of religion is a cherished First Amendment right enshrined in our Constitution by the Founding Fathers," Grassley, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement provided to EWTN News.
"I was appalled, but sadly not surprised, to discover evidence of Biden DOJ prosecutors threatening to use the power of the federal justice system to target people of faith," he said. "Time and again, my oversight has shown the Biden Justice Department, including these prosecutors who went on to advance Jack Smith's Arctic Frost investigation, showed total disdain for equal justice."
Nearly 1,600 people were prosecuted in Jan. 6 cases for a range of offenses connected to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including unlawful entry, assault, property destruction, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy, with President Trump later granted clemency to about 1,500 of them.
It does not appear the photographed women faced prosecution, although some Catholic sisters have fended off federal encroachment into their religious activities in recent years.
Most famously, the Little Sisters of the Poor won a U.S. Supreme Court case in 2020 following a nine-year-long battle against the mandate to cover contraception in their insurance plans, per rules in the Affordable Care Act. In spite of that victory, the sisters are still fighting federal contraception rules in court.
In New York, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who provide care to terminally ill people, faced a warning from the state Department of Health for "refusing to assign a room to a resident other than in accordance with the resident's gender identity." They are also fighting the rules in court.
On April 30, Trump's DOJ published a report on "anti-Christian bias" it alleges plagued the federal government under Biden's presidency. It documents rules and regulations that damaged religious liberty related to abortion, contraception, and gender policies. It alleges weaponization of the government against Christians, including pro-life protesters.
"The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people," Pope Leo XIV said.
Pope Leo XIV echoed his calls for dialogue and peace between the United States and Iran while expressing grief over the deaths of innocent children killed in a military attack that struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran.
The Holy Father offered these comments April 23 after he received a letter from parents of girls who died in the strike. More than 150 people were killed in the Feb. 28 strike, which the Defense Department says it is investigating.
"I have just seen a letter from families of children who were killed on the first day of the attack," Leo said while speaking to journalists on a flight back to Rome after visiting four countries in Africa, according to the Vatican-run Vatican News.
"They speak about how they have lost their children, who died in that event," he said. "The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people."
Leo called the situation in Iran "complex" amid the ongoing ceasefire, stating that "one day Iran says yes and the United States says no, and vice versa." The pope warned: "We do not know where things are heading."
"This chaotic, critical situation for the global economy has been created, but there is also an entire population in Iran of innocent people suffering because of this war," he said. "So, on regime change, yes or no: It is not even clear what regime currently exists after the first days of attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran."
"Rather, I would encourage the continuation of dialogue for peace, that all sides make every effort to promote peace, remove the threat of war, and respect international law," he said. "It is very important that innocent people are protected, as has not happened in several places."
The letter from the parents of the victims was published in full by a reporter for Press TV, which is operated by the Iranian government. The letter is written in Farsi.
According to a partial English translation on Press TV, the parents said the pontiff's consistent advocacy for peace "offered a healing touch to our broken hearts."
"Today, instead of feeling the warmth of our children's embrace, we are left to hold onto their charred bags and bloody journals," the letter said, according to the translation.
"Our children will never return home to build a brighter future, but it is the prayer of us grieving parents that your message to 'lay down the weapons' be heard, at a time when the United States and the Israeli regime fuel the flames of these atrocities with their excessive demands," it added.
"We know what our mission is," he said. "We know what authority we have. We're very clear about that. We follow the orders of the president."
"We've got lawyers all over the place, looking at what we're doing and why we're doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution and under our laws to execute it," he added. "So we feel very confident across the spectrum about what we're doing and why we're doing it, and the legal justification that we're following in order to do it."
A Defense Department official told EWTN News that the strike on the school in Minab "is currently under investigation" and "more details will be provided [when] they become available." The Pentagon has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
Authorities detained three men in connection with the late-night assault and theft at De Mazenod Catholic Church in Dhaka, the latest in a string of attacks on Bangladesh's small Christian minority.
Police in Bangladesh arrested three Muslim men on April 30 in connection with a late-night assault on an Oblate missionary and a robbery at a Catholic church in the country's capital, authorities said.
Officers raided the area on the night of April 30 and detained the suspects, according to Tanvir Ahmed, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Ahmed said the men had prior robbery cases against them and that police were continuing to investigate.
"The Christian community was celebrating Easter Sunday a month ago and the robbers thought the father had extra money, so they committed this robbery," Ahmed told EWTN News.
According to police, the men arrived at the church on a rickshaw; the driver kept watch outside while two others scaled the perimeter wall, cut through a grille, and entered the priest's bedroom.
The predawn assault
The arrests follow an attack at around 2:30 a.m. on April 28 on Father Subash Pulok Gomes, OMI, 51, an Oblate missionary who lives in the compound of De Mazenod Catholic Church in Baridhara, Dhaka's diplomatic enclave.
The intruders made off with cash, the priest's passport, and other documents, according to the police account. Gomes is currently undergoing treatment.
"They beat me and tortured me and tied me up and then fought with me, and my nose and face were injured," Gomes said.
A day after the incident, the priest filed a general diary with police describing the assault.
"When I was crying, they covered my face with a cloth and beat me," he said in his statement. "Two unidentified people beat me and took 250,000 [taka; $2,037] and other valuable papers including my passport that were kept in the cupboard in the room."
According to the statement, one of the assailants called the other "Mizan" — a name commonly used among Muslim men in Bangladesh — and tried to calm the priest before the men left with the cash and documents.
Following the incident, the priests, in consultation with their superior and other Church authorities, filed only the general diary rather than pursuing a formal criminal case.
"For religious and spiritual reasons, I and the Church authorities will not file any case regarding the incident. I request that the incident be recorded in the general diary for future reference," Gomes said.
A priest told EWTN News that Gomes is now undergoing mental trauma. A second robbery occurred at a Catholic residence on the same night, lay leaders and Church authorities said, expressing concern over the incidents.
A pattern of attacks
The De Mazenod Church has been targeted before. On May 4, 2022, police arrested a 26-year-old Muslim man, Mohammad Nahid Sheikh, for hurling bricks at the church and damaging an image of the Virgin Mary.
In April of that year, a young man attacked a Catholic church in Joypurhat in northern Bangladesh and destroyed statues of Jesus, Mary, and St. Teresa of Calcutta.
More recently, attackers detonated a homemade bomb outside St. Mary's Cathedral in Dhaka on Nov. 7, 2025; hours later, another device exploded inside the compound of St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School and College in the Mohammadpur neighborhood. About a month earlier, on Oct. 8, 2025, a similar device was detonated at the gate of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, founded by Portuguese missionaries in 1677 and one of the oldest Catholic institutions in the country.
In 2001, 10 Catholics were killed and dozens injured in a bomb blast during a Sunday Mass in Gopalganj, in southern Bangladesh, but the incident is still being investigated.
Christians account for less than 0.5% of the population of Bangladesh, and religious minorities together make up around 8% of the more than 180 million people in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation.
Christian leaders demand investigation
Christian leaders are calling for justice. After the latest robbery, representatives of the Bangladesh Christian Association met with priests at De Mazenod Church and demanded a government investigation.
The association's president, Nirmal Rozario, said the incident was very unfortunate and posed grave risks to religious life in the country.
"We condemn this incident and demand a fair investigation from the government into this incident and all the incidents that have happened to Christian minority communities in the past," Rozario told EWTN News.
Bishop Pavel Konzbul of Brno, Czech Republic, is backing the late-May gathering despite a public backlash led by former Czech presidents Václav Klaus and Milo Zeman.
For the first time, the Sudeten German Association, uniting descendants of those expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II, will gather in Brno, the second-largest city in modern-day Czech Republic. They were invited by the cultural festival Meeting Brno for part of its multiday program in late May. Both entities will discuss reconciliation and commemorate the victims of the Shoah.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is expected to come, too. The gathering is titled "All Life Is Meeting."
A reconciliation Mass will be celebrated at the Brno Exhibition Centre as part of the gathering.
Ulrike Scharf, Bavarian state minister for family, labor, and social affairs, told EWTN News that the event "shows that we are reconciled, that we have become friends."
Scharf, whose agenda includes Sudeten Germans in Bavaria, stressed that reconciliation is "the essence of Europe." In this "wonderful" European community, "it is crucial that we meet in friendship," the politician explained.
Yet the decision created a polemic in Czechia, with public figures weighing in and a series of protests, one of which was attended by the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura. Rather than reconciliation, they see the gathering as a provocation and relativization of history.
The critique came also from Milo Zeman and Václav Klaus, who served as presidents as well as prime ministers of Czechia. "We have nothing to reconcile with the Germans," Klaus said, clarifying that he does "not feel not reconciled" with them.
"We did not trigger two world wars" and "are not the cause of tens of millions of victims" of World War II, Klaus explained, arguing that as prime minister in 1997, he signed, together with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the Czech-German Declaration on Mutual Relations and Their Future Development.
Wounds that remain
However, the bishop of Brno, Pavel Konzbul, welcomed "every initiative that leads to the meeting of people, to dialogue, and to overcoming historical injustices," he underscored for EWTN News.
"Reconciliation between nations and individuals," the prelate continued, "does not happen by denying or simplifying the past but by "talking about it truthfully and with respect."
Thus, he sees "the presence of the descendants of the Sudeten Germans" in his diocese "primarily as an opportunity for such a meeting," provided "it takes place in a spirit of respect, without mutual accusations or spreading false slander, and with openness to the other."
The local bishop appealed to participants, residents, and critics to act with "calm, respect, and to a willingness to look for what can unite us."
Only "such attitudes are the basis of true and lasting peace," the bishop underlined.
When the new archbishop of Prague, Stanislav Pribyl, was the bishop of Litomerice a few months ago, he proclaimed 2026 a Year of Reconciliation to address wounds that remain from World War II and its aftermath.
Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland, the majority-German region in Czechoslovakia, in 1938 and later established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the country. Following Germany's defeat, Czechoslovakia expelled approximately 3 million ethnic Germans.
Pope Leo XIV's prayer intention for the month of May is that everyone might have food.
Pope Leo XIV's prayer intention for the month of May is that everyone might have food.
In a video released on X, the Holy Father asked the faithful: "What do you feel about 318 million people experiencing acute hunger every day?"
"We need to act, but without prayer we will remain powerless," he said. "This May, I invite you to join me in prayer that we may seriously commit to avoiding food waste and to ensuring that everyone has access to quality food every day."
In the full video shared on the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network website, Pope Leo recites an original prayer written specifically for this month's prayer intention.
Here is the pope's full prayer:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lord of creation,
You gave us the fertile earth and, with it, our daily bread,
as a sign of your love and providence.
Today we recognize with sorrow
that millions of brothers and sisters continue to suffer from hunger,
while so many goods are wasted at our tables.
Awaken in us a new awareness:
that we learn to thank for every food,
to consume simply,
to share with joy,
and to care for the fruits of the earth as a gift from you,
destined for all, not just a few.
Good Father,
make us capable of transforming the logic of selfish consumption
into a culture of solidarity.
May our communities promote concrete gestures:
awareness campaigns, food banks,
and a sober and responsible lifestyle.
You who sent us your beloved Son Jesus,
broken bread for the life of the world,
give us a new heart, hungry for justice and thirsty for fraternity.
May no one be excluded from the common table,
and may your Spirit teach us to see bread
not as an object of consumption,
but as a sign of communion and care.
Amen.
"Pray with the Pope" is accessible on the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network website and its digital platforms.
