Catholic News

Guaranteed Rate Field was transformed into a sea of white-and-black novelty miters on Tuesday night as the Chicago White Sox celebrated "Pope Night," honoring Chicago native and Sox fan Pope Leo XIV.

To pull off the unique promotion respectfully, the White Sox marketing team collaborated early on with Chicago priest Father Tom Hurley. "We didn't want to do anything sacrilegious or offend people," said Mike Downey, senior director of marketing and promotions for the White Sox, on "EWTN News Nightly." "We wanted to do something fun and tasteful that celebrates the fact that Pope Leo is a White Sox fan."

The collaboration paid off in a memorable ballpark moment when thousands of fans joined together for an impromptu "sign of peace." Wearing their White Sox-branded novelty miters, fans turned to neighbors in nearby seats, exchanging handshakes, high-fives, and blessings across the concourses.

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Hurley, who joined the crowd in the stands, reflected on what the pontiff would have wanted to come of such a night.

"A few more home runs," Hurley joked, motioning to his own branded miter. "But here's what he really would love to see. The pope is a guy who promotes peace. In the Catholic tradition, we offer a sign of peace during Mass because we want to bring peace to the world. I think the pope would love seeing everyone stand, find a new friend, and offer that same peace — whether they're Catholic or not."

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The idea for the tribute took root shortly after May 8, 2025, when Pope Leo XIV — formerly Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost — was elevated to the papacy. Known for wearing a White Sox cap at the Vatican and having attended Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, the pontiff's lifelong allegiance inspired the team to act once news of his fandom broke.

Originally planned as a targeted promotion for a designated section of 10,000 fans, overwhelming demand after its announcement prompted the organization to expand the giveaway to all 40,000 attendees.

The spiritual energy in the stands mirrored the action on the field. The first-place White Sox kept the momentum going against the Cincinnati Reds, starting off with a first-pitch leadoff home run by Brenton Doyle.

"It seems like there's a little magic happening on the South Side right now," Downey added. "Fans like to comment that we've got the pope on our side. My message for him is just to keep an eye out for the South Siders and say a prayer for us in October."

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

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HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) announced Aug. 10 the launch of Harper Catholic, a new imprint serving Catholic readers, authors, booksellers, parishes, and organizations.

The new branch of HCCP will be led by associate publisher Kristi McDonald, who has over 15 years of experience in Catholic publishing, spending 14 years at Ave Maria Press.

McDonald told EWTN News in an interview that Harper Catholic comes at a time where the company recognizes "the unique spiritual needs of Catholics and the tremendous opportunity to serve a Church that is growing and changing in the United States and around the world."

"We're seeing new converts coming into the Church, Catholics rediscovering their faith, and readers at every stage looking for resources that can help them go deeper," she said. "That inspires us to publish books that feed that spiritual hunger, answer meaningful questions, and accompany people in the ordinary realities of Catholic life."

The creation of Harper Catholic also comes after the success seen in Catholic Bible Press, which is HCCP's first Catholic imprint and publishes editions of the Bible such as the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition and the New American Bible, Revised Edition.

"Harper Catholic is also a natural next step in the work HarperCollins Christian Publishing has already been doing in the Catholic market. Catholic Bible Press has experienced rapid growth and success over the past six years, demonstrating both the need for excellent Catholic resources and the opportunity for HCCP to serve this audience with care and purpose," McDonald explained.

She added: "Harper Catholic builds on that strong foundation by expanding our Catholic publishing program beyond Bibles and represents our continued investment in serving Catholic readers, authors, parishes, booksellers, and institutions."

Harper Catholic aims to expand HCCP's Catholic publishing beyond Bibles and into spiritual classics, theology, devotionals, memoirs, cultural engagement, and books from leading voices in the Church today.

"We plan to publish a broad range of accessible, faithful, relevant, and intellectually substantial books for Catholics across generations and stages of spiritual life," McDonald shared.

"The goal is to reflect something of the richness and breadth of Catholicism itself while remaining attentive to the real questions and spiritual longings people are bringing to their faith today."

McDonald said the publication's primary goal "is to share the truth and beauty of the Catholic faith with the world through powerful writing and authentic, trustworthy voices."

"We want Harper Catholic to become a publishing home where established and emerging Catholic authors can bring faithful, compelling ideas to readers, and where Catholics know they can find books that help them grow closer to God, live the sacramental life more fully, and encounter Christ in the ordinary rhythms of their days," she said.

In terms of HCCP's perspective, McDonald said, "this is a long-term commitment."

"The success of Catholic Bible Press has given us a strong foundation and shown us what is possible when we serve Catholic readers with excellence and intentionality," she said. "Harper Catholic allows us to build on that success, broaden the ways we serve the Church, and continue investing in Catholic publishing for years to come."

The imprint is actively accepting proposals from authors and agents and will announce its first acquisitions and publishing plans in the coming months.

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Christopher Saunders, the former bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Broome, Australia, was convicted on Aug. 13 of sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men between 2008 and 2017.

Saunders, who is 76 years old, led the northwest Australian diocese from 1996 until 2021 when he resigned. He was convicted of 13 charges, which included nonconsensual sexual penetration. He originally faced 26 charges, but seven were dropped and he was not found guilty for the other six.

Bishop Tim Norton of the Diocese of Broome published a pastoral letter to the faithful after his predecessor was convicted.

Norton thanked the police and the prosecutors "for their commitment to bringing this matter before a jury." He acknowledged "the courage of victims, survivors and other witnesses" who "showed extraordinary resilience and commitment through a long and difficult process."

"They deserved to be heard with compassion and treated with dignity," he said.

On behalf of the diocese, Norton apologized for "the hurt [the victims] have experienced," for "the shame they have endured," and "that it has taken so long for their voices to be heard and for their pain to be acknowledged." He said the diocese would "do all we can to reach out to them for hope and healing."

"We are acutely aware that the victims of this betrayal are not just those who have told their stories to police and before the court," Norton said.

"Trust has been broken and wounds of betrayal and division have been exposed across the diocese," he said. "The hurt extends to those who have placed their trust in our leadership and our Church. Many who have served their parishes and their communities selflessly have been left with difficult questions and unresolved feelings."

Norton said he is committed to ensuring that the diocese is "a place of safety, respect and accountability." He said leaders "will do all we can to create an environment of trust and openness" and will move to "ensure that people are treated with dignity and compassion and continue to seek authentic and peaceful relationships, even if we do not always agree with each other."

Norton said diocesan and parish staff can connect people to independent support services if any person requests support.

"We ask Our Lady Queen of Peace, the patroness of our diocese, to intercede for us and to accompany us on this journey of reconciliation, healing and hope," the bishop concluded.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), prosecutors said Saunders hosted "shirts off" gatherings with young men who would wear only boxer shorts. They said he supplied alcohol and food with church funds and would touch the men sexually and in at least one case engaged in oral sex without consent.

ABC reported that Saunders' defense lawyer acknowledged "boozy" and "sleazy" behavior, but they rejected claims of nonconsensual sexual activity. The former bishop maintained his innocence in the trial.

The initial charges accused Saunders of sexual activity with minors, but he was not convicted of any charges related to victims who were minors.

The Western Australia Police Force first investigated Saunders in 2018 but chose not to file any charges in 2021. The Vatican launched its own investigation in 2022 and submitted its findings to the police in 2023. The police reopened their investigation in 2023 and arrested him in 2024.

Although the Vatican did not release its findings to the public, it was leaked to Seven News in Australia, which reported that the investigation found Saunders likely sexually assaulted four youths and possibly groomed 67 others.

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Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley this week lamented Oklahoma's execution of a condemned murderer, calling for prayers for both the killer's victims and the killer himself while urging a "more humane form of justice."

The state on Aug. 13 put to death Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, who was convicted of killing Olimpia Fisher in Oklahoma City in 2003. The execution was carried out at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary shortly after 10 a.m. CT.

Tennessee executed Anthony Darrell Hines, who was convicted of killing Catherine Jenkins in 1985, on Aug. 13, and later that day Alabama planned to execute Jeremy Tremaine Williams for the rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in 2021.

The last time three U.S. states carried out executions on the same day was in 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas put inmates to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In a press release also posted to X, Coakley — who serves as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — expressed "sadness" over the execution and said he was "disheartened" as Oklahoma "continues along an ominous path."

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The archbishop said the state was "carrying out executions with a frequency and regularity that places it among the nation's leaders" in capital punishment.

Coakley has regularly urged authorities to end the death penalty. In 2022, after a federal court dismissed a challenge to the state's capital punishment regime, Coakley called on lawmakers to end executions there. He argued that an execution devalues human life and "does not ultimately bring closure and peace to those who have lost a loved one."

The archbishop has also repeatedly lamented specific executions in the state, including that of Kendrick Simpson, who was put to death in February.

On Aug. 13, he noted that the execution of Cuesta-Rodriguez constituted the 132nd time Oklahoma has killed someone since 1990.

"Capital punishment does not provide justice," he said. "Our modern prisons are secure. Life imprisonment offers assurance that citizens are not at risk. And it allows for a conversion of hearts."

He asked readers to "join me in praying for the victim of this crime, Olimpia Fisher, and her family, as well as Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez and his family."

Coakley is among the numerous U.S. bishops that regularly advocate against the death penalty. The Death Penalty Information Center says that among the 50 U.S. states since 1976 Oklahoma has had far and away the most executions relative to its population, though Texas has executed nearly five times as many people overall as Oklahoma.

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Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz, Germany, who chairs the pastoral commission of the German Bishops' Conference, said the Vatican's reasoning on the ban on lay preaching is, in his view, "not entirely consistent" on some points.

The Vatican — specifically Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments — rejected a request from the German bishops in June arising from the Synodal Way for permission to let a commissioned layperson preach in place of the homily at Mass in exceptional cases.

Kohlgraf said the Diocese of Mainz observes the ban but that lay preaching has become customary in some of its parishes and that he will neither authorize it nor move to stop it.

"The letter from the liturgy prefect says that the only one who preaches at Mass is the priest who celebrates it," Kohlgraf told the official news portal of the German bishops' media arm, katholisch.de. "But a priest who concelebrates, or a deacon who takes part, would then logically also not be permitted to preach at that Mass."

"In any case, in the Diocese of Mainz we abide by the Church's directive that laypeople do not preach a homily at Mass," the bishop said, before qualifying: "In practice, though, it has become established that this happens from time to time nonetheless. I am not going to change that there."

Pressed on the point, Kohlgraf made clear that a woman employed by the diocese as a personnel officer, for example, could not preach "according to the Roman requirements." Nor could he as bishop "issue such a permission": "Canon law does not allow it, and that remains our basis."

"Nevertheless, it is the case that in some parishes here it is customary for laypeople to preach," he added. "When I learn of it, I will not intervene disciplinarily or sanction it under canon law. But I do not promote it either, and I cannot permit it. I simply take note that in some parishes such a practice has become established."

Concern about 'denunciation'

"I do argue, though, for using all the other forms of proclamation that canon law makes possible," Kohlgraf said. "Perhaps one would have to collect all these possibilities of proclamation for laypeople in the liturgy since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). In the Diocese of Mainz, the liturgical commission published a set of guidelines on this last year, compiling the many possibilities of the preaching ministry."

For the Diocese of Mainz, the bishop summarized, the Roman letter changes "nothing in concrete pastoral practice." He was more troubled, he said, "that the ban on lay preaching from Rome is now encouraging denunciation," because there are "people who report liturgical violations to the bishop immediately and write directly to me."

"That existed before as well, that individual people complained to me, but now they demand that I must intervene. Some even write to the nuncio or directly to Rome," he said.

He reacts to such reports in a friendly and unruffled way, Kohlgraf said: "I take note of it and pass it on, usually to the respective pastor or pastoral leader of the parish concerned."

In principle, the bishop of Mainz underlined, permission for lay preaching at Mass would be welcome to him, and he regards it as an enrichment for the Church where pastoral workers are theologically qualified to preach. "But I can still only choose the forms that canon law permits," he said.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The Lilly Endowment has given the University of Notre Dame a $5 million grant to support the Department of Theology's Master of Arts and Master of Divinity programs.

"This grant connects Notre Dame's world-class Department of Theology with leading partners where the Catholic Church is growing and in need of well-formed, dynamic Church leaders," Father Kevin Grove, CSC, an associate professor of theology at Notre Dame, said in a July 27 press release. "Together, we will work to recruit, form, educate, support and place these future ministers. We are exceptionally grateful to the Lilly Endowment for providing us the chance to reimagine how lay church leaders are raised up, formed and placed."

The grant will serve the university's New Horizons program, which provides full tuition support for M.A. students and stipends for M.Div. students as well as postgraduate job placement assistance. 

California Catholic school replaces pride flags with rainbow symbol

Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California, has opted to take down its pride and progress flags for the upcoming school year, replacing them with a custom rainbow "Inclusive O" symbol.

"Many of you know that over the last few years, questions about Pride and Progress flags have become part of a much larger conversation taking place throughout the Catholic Church in the United States. Across the country, Catholic schools have been working to navigate these tensions while remaining united as communities, caring for students, and living their Catholic values," Bishop O'Dowd President Kim Walsh said in a statement posted to the school's website.

Bishop O'Dowd High School is a diocesan school that operates under the Diocese of Oakland and superintendent of Catholic schools.

Local news outlet KQED reported that the new symbol came after the diocese asked the school to take down its pride flag after someone informed Bishop Michael Barber about it. Barber spoke out about sex and gender issues in a joint letter with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco in 2023, calling on Catholics to respond to gender ideology with "truth and charity."

Walsh said this conversation "became a lightning rod within our own community," which prompted the school to develop the new symbol, a rainbow-colored O in the style of the school's branding. "Our Inclusive O now appears in lieu of the Pride and Progress flags that had previously been displayed in some classrooms, and is now displayed campus-wide," she said.

Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, house of formation to become seminary

The Diocese of Wichita in Kansas has announced that its St. Joseph House of Formation will be transformed into St. Philip Neri Seminary.

"The Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme will formally establish a new seminary for priestly formation on Aug. 26, 2026, marking an historic milestone in the life of the diocese, and fulfilling a vision first explored more than two decades ago," the diocese said in an Aug. 6 announcement.

"Effective August 26, the institution will be known as St. Philip Neri Seminary, honoring the 16th-century saint renowned for his joyful spirit, deep holiness, and dedication to forming priests and evangelizing through authentic friendship," Kemme said.

"For the last nine years, we have been able to form our men during their college years here with such success that we now think it's important to officially recognize the house of formation as a true canonical seminary," he said in a Q&A posted on the diocese's website.

"It was a seminary, but it was called the St. Joseph House of Formation," he continued. "Now it is going to be established officially as a seminary, a place of formation for the priests of our diocese."

Milwaukee debuts first new Catholic school buildings in 60 years

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee celebrated the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 11 for the first newly constructed Catholic school buildings in nearly 60 years.

The ceremony comes two years after Seton Catholic Schools announced the two buildings would be constructed by early 2026. St. Rafael the Archangel and Prince of Peace School will officially open at the start of the school year on Aug. 24.

"St. Rafael and Prince of Peace have been integral to Milwaukee's educational landscape for years," Seton said in the press release. "These new buildings will offer modern, student-centered environments designed to foster learning, creativity, and spiritual growth. These will be more than just schools — they will be vibrant hubs for student engagement, community gatherings and faith development."

"As one of the first new Catholic school buildings in Milwaukee in nearly 60 years, this investment reflects our deep commitment to our students, families, and the future of our community," a statement posted on both of the schools' websites reads. 

Raleigh, North Carolina, Catholic school students top national, state benchmarks

Students in Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, Catholic schools surpassed national and state benchmarks in both math and reading.

"The data reveals that 47% of Diocese students are performing at or above grade level in math, compared to 32% nationally and 32% across North Carolina," the diocese revealed in an Aug. 10 statement. "The gap is even more pronounced in reading, where 59% of Diocese students are scoring at or above grade level, well ahead of the 38% national norm and 35% state average."

The data comes from spring 2026 i-Ready diagnostic results, the diocese said.

"These results reflect what happens when dedicated teachers, engaged families, and a strong academic foundation come together," Michael Mastrocinque, director of instruction for diocesan Catholic schools in Raleigh, said. "Our students aren't just meeting expectations — they're exceeding them at a level that puts them well ahead of their peers across the state and the country. This is a direct result of the hard work happening in our classrooms every single day, and it reaffirms our commitment to academic excellence rooted in the Catholic tradition."

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is calling for "compassion, simplicity, and access to care" to be reflected in the final rule that enforces work requirements for people who receive Medicaid benefits.

The USCCB — along with the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Charities USA — sent a joint letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 31 to highlight their shared concerns about the final rule before it is fully implemented on Jan. 1, 2027.

The bishops warned the Medicaid work-requirement rule could strip coverage from medically frail patients, add burdensome documentation standards, and create an unrealistic timeline that states and providers cannot meet.

Although the rule has already been adopted, the USCCB is urging CMS delay implementation and make changes that broaden the medical frailty and short-term hardship exceptions, ease verification requirements for patients, and better educate patients on rules to prevent any losses in coverage for eligible people.

"We are profoundly concerned that [the] requirements … will result in coverage loss for eligible individuals who rely on Medicaid to address their health care needs and to achieve their highest possible degree of self-sufficiency," the joint letter states.

The rule requires at least 80 hours of work per month for nonexempt people or another type of community engagement, such as volunteering, job training, or education. Recipients can combine different forms of work and community engagement to reach the 80-hour requirement.

Proposed delay and changes

States must implement the work requirements by Jan. 1, 2027, and the joint letter urges a delay because the rule forces states to "implement significant new operational processes," which the letter warns could lead to mistakes "within a compressed implementation timeframe."

"Launching these requirements before states are fully prepared increases the risk that eligible patients will lose Medicaid coverage because of administrative barriers rather than because they are no longer eligible," the letter states.

The three organizations are also concerned that the medical frailty exclusion — which exempts people with certain disabilities and health conditions from work requirements — is "too narrow."

To qualify for the exclusion, a person must verify that he or she has the condition and that the condition "significantly impairs their ability to comply with the work and community engagement requirements," the letter notes. The three Catholic organizations encouraged CMS to exempt people based on the condition alone rather than requiring they demonstrate that the impairment prevents them from work.

The letter also expressed concerns about the language that enforces the short-term hardship exception, warning that a person would need to demonstrate that hardship in the month before the exception can be applied.

"We recommend … [ensuring] that a short-term hardship exception may satisfy an individual's work and community engagement requirement obligation for the month of the hardship event, including where that month is the month of application or renewal, without requiring a separate showing of compliance during a prior review period," the letter adds.

They also caution that the verification and documentation requirements shift too much of the burden to patients and providers.

"Experience from prior work and community engagement requirement demonstrations in several states shows that administrative friction, rather than ineligibility, causes many otherwise eligible individuals to lose coverage," the letter states.

"Each additional document request, third-party verification requirement, or delay in obtaining records increases the risk that eligible individuals will lose Medicaid coverage for procedural reasons," it adds.

The letter also encourages CMS to ensure states "have adequate time to develop, test, and validate" their communications with patients, ensuring they understand the new rules before implementation.

"States should not disenroll beneficiaries until they have demonstrated that notices are effective in helping eligible individuals understand and successfully navigate the new requirements," the letter adds.

In the letter, the three organizations said they are "committed to supporting the implementation of work and community engagement requirements in a manner that is legally compliant, operationally sound, and protective of the patients that the exclusion and exception framework are designed to serve."

CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EWTN News.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it has implemented a final rule that formally bans using funds for "sex-rejecting procedures" for minors, which are drugs and surgeries used to facilitate "gender transitions."

According to a CMS news release, this includes puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical operations. It states these medical procedures cause irreversible damage, including infertility, impaired sexual function, diminished bone density, altered brain development, and other physiological effects.

The move formalizes a policy of President Donald Trump's administration to prevent minors from accessing these drugs and surgeries. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that instructed agencies to adopt rules to "end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children."

The final rule includes a tapering-off period of up to six months for children who are receiving cross-sex hormones, which allows them to be gradually weaned off the medicine. It does not affect mental health services.

"Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits," CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a statement.

"By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we're following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish," he said.

Rachel N. Morrison, director of the Ethics and Public Policy Center's Administrative State Accountability Project, told EWTN News that government funding should never support "harmful, sterilizing, and often irreversible sex-rejecting procedures."

"I am grateful to CMS and the Trump administration for their efforts to combat gender ideology, protect children from the harms [of] sex-rejecting procedures, and advance policies that reflect a true understanding of the nature of the human person," she said.

The Church's position

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) referred EWTN News to a Feb. 17 letter to CMS, which said the proposed ban on federal funding "aligns with Catholic teaching on the nature of the human person" and "reflects true distinctions between the sexes."

"Rejection of our God-given bodies, such as by modifying them to appear as the opposite sex, is a grave matter, and when done with full knowledge and complete consent, is a grave sin," the letter states.

In November 2025, the USCCB published a new edition of its "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services" guidelines, which prohibit Catholic institutions from providing treatments that "aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function" such as "interventions that aim to transform sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex (or to nullify sexual characteristics…)."

Joseph Meaney, past president and senior ethicist for the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), told EWTN News CMS "should be applauded for putting an end to federal taxpayer funding of transgender procedures on children."

"There is substantial agreement between U.S. government policy and Catholic teaching in this area of healthcare policy," he said.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, an NCBC senior ethicist, told EWTN News that the implementation of the rule "is very sensible and long overdue."

"Countless youth have already been railroaded along this path, placing themselves at great risk and damaging their bodies as they struggle with this confusion," Pacholczyk said. "Once a young person steps onto that train, they often become 'regular business customers,' with a lifelong dependence on the continued prescribing of hormones and additional cycles of expensive surgeries."

He said tax money should not pay for "a hysterectomy on a girl who wants to live as a boy, nor to provide breast implants into a boy who thinks he is a girl." He said children "deserve far better from the world of medicine and psychiatry."

"They are entitled to solid psychotherapy as a means of assisting them to reintegrate their subjective gender identity with their objective lifelong biology so they can recognize and embrace the beautiful gift of the biological sex they have been endowed with from the beginning," Pacholczyk said.

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Two hospitals in Texas have been ordered to provide lifesaving care for a soon-to-be-born baby at the center of an interstate surrogacy dispute.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton's office announced in an Aug. 11 press release that UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center of Dallas were legally obligated to care for Gabriel, a baby due to be born on Sept. 2 to surrogate mother McKenna West. A Texas district court had earlier ruled that the hospitals would be required to care for the baby.

In an earlier letter to the hospitals on Aug. 10, Paxton said Gabriel had been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and that his "intended parents" said they would seek to "refuse consent" to an operation.

The parents, identified in court documents as Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, "may seek to move the child to California so that treatment can be withheld there," the letter said.

West reportedly traveled to Texas from Alaska after Gilkar and Ahmed urged her to seek an abortion after the diagnosis of the syndrome, according to news reports. She allegedly offered to take full responsibility of the baby, though the baby's biological parents reportedly refused.

In an emergency order dated Aug. 11, the Dallas district court ordered that upon birth the baby would be provided with "medically indicated stabilizing and life-sustaining care" at either of the hospitals.

The court also barred the child's removal from either the hospitals or the state of Texas except as necessary for his medical care.

Paxton hailed the court's order as "the right decision."

"My office utilized every tool at our disposal to protect life, and we will not back down in continuing to support baby Gabriel's well-being," the prosecutor said. "Every child in our state deserves to be cared for and protected, and that's exactly what I'll fight for." 

'A problem for the 13th Amendment'

Anthony Sirven, a Catholic Florida-based attorney who has published on the subject of surrogacy, told EWTN News that this case and others like it portend "whether we're going to decide custody based on a contract."

"The [surrogacy] contract is about a human life," he said. "So the question is: How do you enforce a contract over a human life? The answer should be 'you can't' because of the 13th and 14th Amendments." The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States while the 14th Amendment enshrined  equal protection and due process in the U.S. Constitution.

Early litigation surrounding in vitro fertilization and surrogacy had to walk a careful line, Sirven said, as Roe v. Wade had asserted that unborn children are not human persons, putting their legal status into uncertainty. Courts ultimately settled around the idea that embryos are "a special kind of property," he said, allowing courts to enforce contract-based rights over them.

But the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision "overturned Roe and, arguably, every case that relied on Roe to recognize a property interest in human life," he said, throwing years of precedent into uncertainty.

On the Texas case, "we'll see what happens," Sirven said. "If this child is born and given lifesaving care, the next question will become 'Who's going to take custody of him?' If the 'intended parents' seek custody or other rights under a contract, and the court rules in their favor on the basis of a contract, then that's a problem under both the 13th and 14th Amendments."

Stefano Gennarini, the vice president for legal studies at the New York-based Center for Family and Human Rights, told EWTN News that "most lawyers" would agree it is "hard to predict a case like this."

Gennarini said he was not an expert in either Texas or Alaskan family law, but he said international legal conventions — specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — affirms "the human right of mothers and their children to receive special protections during pregnancy and after birth."

"Allowing a third party to contractually decide what kind of treatment a surrogate mother can seek eviscerates these international protections," he said. "Overall, this case illustrates how dangerous any form of surrogacy is."

The practice of surrogacy, he said, "legally deconstructs the natural family as recognized in international law," leading to what he described as "inhuman scenarios" such as that in Texas.

The order handed down in Texas takes effect on the event of Gabriel's birth and "remains in effect until further order," the court said.

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Bishop Joseph Gontrand Décoste of Jérémie, Haiti, detailed the ongoing violence in the nation and warned that the Church has become a target for gangs.

The Church is "the last remaining bulkhead — moral, ethical, spiritual, and prophetic," he said. "That is why they want to eliminate us."

Décoste told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic pastoral aid organization, that despite the widespread violence in the Caribbean nation, the Church remains hopeful.

"We keep praying, singing, and dancing. In Haiti we say: 'As long as they haven't cut off our head, we still have hope of wearing a hat.' That is why we never lose hope," he said.

The bishop thanked organizations working to offer aid to the nation. He said: "Your prayers sustain us enormously; without them we could not carry on. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart."

Gang violence in the nation continues to rise with armed gangs controlling between 70% and 90% of the capital.

Amid the violence, in Port-au-Prince, 40 parishes have had to close, according to ACN. Schools and religious houses have also been attacked, burned, and seized.

Sister Paesie, a Catholic sister who operates an organization to aid children in Cité Soleil, Haiti, also highlighted the increasing violence.

The sister and her team at the Kizito Family, which runs homes, schools, and catechism programs, recently took in dozens more children following numerous recent attacks.

Sister Paesie told EWTN News that last week gangs attacked an area in Port-au-Prince where the organization operates one of its schools. Most of the population fled besides a few elderly people who were unable to, and most were killed.

"The parents began bringing children to us for shelter," she told EWTN News. On Aug. 9, "we took in about 20" and "others came yesterday, and about 50 today."

"The Missionaries of Charity accepted to take in the girls" and "we have the boys," she said.

"Among them were four brothers [who] were alone when the attack took place. The parents had gone to work, and a cousin grabbed them and fled. When the father returned home, he was not aware of the attack. He was killed and burned. The mother did not show up … where the people took refuge," she said.

Sister Paesie also detailed how the attacks and destruction have left organizations, many of them run by religious orders, unable to operate and provide aid to those in need.

She specifically noted a Missionaries of Charity convent that was attacked and burned down two years ago.

It remains "completely empty and the buildings destroyed," she said. "It used to receive more than 2,000 patients every year."

U.S. bishops urge protection for Haitian nationals on TPS

U.S. bishops have continuously warned of the unsafe conditions in Haiti, urging lawmakers to extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitian nationals living in the United States.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has previously said that ending temporary residency protections for Haitians would be "sending people into a burning building."

He said Haiti "remains a country on the brink," noting the "widespread gang violence and kidnapping, a rampant cholera epidemic, and spreading food insecurity."

"The lack of functioning state institutions has resulted in a general breakdown of security, with attacks on women and children becoming commonplace," he said. "It would be an act of abject cruelty for the United States to send families back to such dangerous and unsafe conditions."

Other Florida bishops, and many Ohio bishops, have also addressed the matter, calling for a more permanent solution to care for the refugees.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in April, and the Senate has not acted on that measure or on a bill (S. 4814), which would require the Homeland Security secretary to designate Haiti for TPS through early 2029, giving eligible Haitian nationals in the United States protection from deportation and authorization to work while conditions in Haiti remain unsafe.

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