Catholic News

More than 100 Catholic churches sustained varying degrees of damage following the earthquake that shook Panama on Oct. 9, according to a preliminary report released by the country's bishops' conference.

The 7.5-magnitude earthquake impacted various sectors throughout the country, including in the nation's capital city.

According to an Oct. 19 statement from the National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC, by its Spanish acronym), the earthquake injured 27 people and immediately killed one person. More than 9,000 homes sustained some form of damage.

The natural disaster also caused damage to Catholic Church properties. On Oct. 19, the Panamanian Bishops' Conference (CEP, by its Spanish acronym) published a report detailing the condition of the country's cathedrals, parishes, and chapels.

The document classified the damage to two churches in the Diocese of Santiago de Veraguas as "totally destroyed": St. Isidore the Farmer parish church in Soná, and Jesus of Nazareth Minor Basilica in the district of Atalaya.

The report classifies the damage of several churches in other regions of the country as serious. For example, in the Diocese of Penonomé, St. John the Baptist Parish has "damage to the bell tower, debris on the ground, and cracks in the side walls and the choir balcony."

In the Diocese of Chitré, St. Athanasius Church "suffered the loss of the top level of its tower, debris on the ground, and cracks in its walls"; while in the Diocese of David, "subsidence [some sinking] and cracks in the tower, as well as outward tilting of walls," were recorded at Our Lady of Remedies Parish.

The list of affected buildings also includes churches of high historical value. Among them is the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in the Diocese of Penonomé, which suffered the "partial loss of the upper section of its oldest tower," while the other tower is tilted and has severe damage to its cupola and cross.

Another site affected was Old St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Panama City, where cracks, severe fissures, and damage to the sacristy dome were identified. According to the report, one issue that "requires special attention" is the "apparent leaning of the bell in the south tower, accompanied by cracking at its base."

According to the tally mentioned in the report, the Diocese of Chitré accounts for 118 damaged sites, primarily rural chapels. It is followed by the Diocese of Penonomé with 13, the Archdiocese of Panama and the Diocese of Veraguas with eight each, and the Diocese of David with two.

The CEP clarified that the data presented are "preliminary" in nature, and many church-owned properties still require "specialized technical inspections" to determine the exact extent of the damage.

The report concludes by noting that Catholic Church buildings possess more than just "architectural value"; they serve as "meeting places, the celebration of faith, and collective memory, and are closely linked to the history and identity of Panamanian communities."

The Panamanian episcopate expressed its closeness to the affected communities and highlighted the importance of "protecting people's lives, addressing the safety conditions of the buildings, and ensuring the preservation of these places of worship."

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

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In a culture often quick to divide the sacred from the secular, Theopolis is creating space for the two to meet — supporting Catholic artists and inviting audiences of all backgrounds to encounter faith through art, beauty, and culture.

The Canadian nonprofit was founded in 2025 by Eden O'Brien and Monica Sifert. The two met while attending Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Ontario and maintained the friendship over the years after graduating in 2018. A shared passion for Catholic arts and culture led to their decision to create a society for Catholic artists.

The inspiration behind Theopolis also came from the story of the apostle Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. In the story, Philip asks the eunuch if he understands what he's reading. The eunuch responds no, how can he unless someone explains it to him?

"So once it's explained to him, he wants to be baptized in essentially a puddle on the side of the road. And so that was really inspiring because it went to show how people can engage with media that they don't 100% understand," O'Brien told EWTN News in an interview. "It was Scripture in this case, but it can still prepare the soul for baptism. So that passage has become a kind of motif for our project."

Theopolis — which means "city of God" — works to serve Canadian artists and provide them with visibility and the support and resources they need to be able to focus on their craft and become successful.

O'Brien told EWTN News in an interview that there are "two wings of the project." One is the community side where the group helps to support the artists they work with and supports them "across their professional lives … connecting them with mentors, resources." And second is building "an audience that helps appreciate our artists."

"The other wing to the project is this intersection between faithful and secular audiences," O'Brien shared. "So, things like our public lecture, our exhibition, any kind of public event is based around creating an audience that can learn more about what our artists are doing either in a direct way — as with the exhibition — or in a couple steps removed like with the lecture. It just gets the conversation going."

In May, Theopolis hosted its first exhibition called "The Drama of the Soul." Twelve Canadian Catholic artists participated and created pieces of art that "explored the human soul as the protagonist of a journey that extends beyond life, death, and time," O'Brien explained.

Since then Theopolis has held an event each month. On Oct. 24, it will host its inaugural Gaudí Lecture, titled "The Christian Imagination and the Question of Autonomous Art," and will feature Jonathan Pageau, a French-Canadian icon carver, YouTuber, and public speaker who will discuss symbolism, religion, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

The goal for the lecture "is to make a public defense of the importance, impact, and enduring relevance of the Christian imagination, generally and specifically in Canada," O'Brien said.

Venerable Antoni Gaudí was chosen as the namesake "by the fact that he came to the faith through his artistic practice," she shared.

O'Brien explained that these public events serve as a way to "reignite interest in faith, culture, and the arts within our province and also to turn our artists' artwork to a kind of evangelical purpose by bringing it to Ontario's public square."

"Canada right now, it's different from the States in that with faith people don't wear it on their sleeve in the same way as they do in America," she added. "So it's a bit of a different environment here and so being able to speak to people about the faith through the arts, which kind of bypasses some of the maybe intellectual blockage points that people would have, is really important in Canada at this time."

The impact of AI on Catholic art

Pope Leo XIV recently told a group of Catholic artists at the Vatican that there is a fundamental difference between the art humans create and what artificial intelligence can make based on the work of others.

"The Church needs you," the pope said. "This is especially true in this age of artificial intelligence, in which we urgently need to distinguish human art from what is produced by machines."

As a Catholic artist herself, Sifert said, "it's certainly a threat, but I still think that people are going to want the human touch to art."

She added: "I think that the human touch to art will never go away and that you can really tell, especially from an icon perspective, you can really tell when art has been created by AI or not. It might be difficult [to tell], but still, the sacramentality behind art is not going to go away if you have the human touch to it."

While O'Brien thinks AI can be "a great assistant," she said that "when it comes to the creative side of things, there really is the threat that it stifles the creative power."

"I do think that there is this very real threat that imagination, and that kind of faculty, becomes seriously weakened," she added. "I use AI, as I said, just as an assistant, but even having that habit can weaken your own skills in more basic functions. So I can only imagine how within our own souls it's going to weaken that."

Looking at Theopolis as a whole and its mission, said she O'Brien hopes it will continue "to support the vocation of Catholic artists within the province. Stemming from that, we would like the effect of that to be a kind of creative renaissance of Catholic art within our province."

"We want this art to be brought to the public square in Ontario so that it can be accessed by a wide audience of both people who are Christians themselves and particularly people who aren't practicing the faith, or a faith at all, just so they can have this opportunity to be inspired and, going back to our conviction, that no matter your background or the type of media the Holy Spirit can choose to use it in whatever way he wants."

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Liechtenstein's Hereditary Prince Alois has vetoed a bill that would have legalized abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, blocking a measure the tiny European country's parliament passed by a single vote.

The prince "will therefore withhold" approval from the bill adopted by the principality's parliament, the Princely House said in an Oct. 20 statement.

Under the constitution of Liechtenstein, a nation of about 40,000 people between Switzerland and Austria, no law takes effect without the reigning prince's approval.

The statement said Alois "remains convinced that the proposed reform is not compatible with ensuring adequate protection of unborn life as a fundamental legal value."

The statement added that Alois supports better information, counseling, and support for women before, during, and after pregnancy.

The bill would have allowed abortion up to 12 weeks. The activists behind the initiative pushing for legalization also sought to lift the advertising ban and have health insurance cover abortions.

Abortion remains a crime in Liechtenstein except in cases of rape or grave danger to the woman's life or health. Since 2015, women who have abortions abroad, usually in Switzerland or Austria, have not been prosecuted.

The initiative gathered 4,970 signatures, nearly a quarter of eligible voters. Liechtenstein's parliament, the Landtag, approved it by 13-12 and, by the same margin, declined to put it to a popular vote, EWTN News reported in September.

Alois had said in June that he would veto the measure.

Voters narrowly rejected legalizing abortion in a 2011 referendum after Alois said he would veto it if approved. In 2012, more than three-quarters of voters rejected a proposal to remove the prince's veto over laws approved by referendum.

The initiative committee said the veto was the first Alois has used during his reign, SRF reported. Its members had met Alois at Vaduz Castle hours before the announcement. The committee called for a protest in Vaduz on Saturday.

There are no official statistics on abortions in Liechtenstein.

Before the Landtag vote, Bishop Benno Elbs, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Vaduz, said in an Aug. 21 statement that the existing rules had proven themselves and that protecting unborn life must go hand in hand with counseling and practical help for parents. The archdiocese had not commented publicly on the veto as of Oct. 23.

According to Church teaching, human life is under God's special protection from the moment of conception.

"With the authority conferred by Christ upon Peter and his successors, I therefore affirm, in communion with the bishops of the Catholic Church, that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always a grave moral offense," St. John Paul II declared in 1995 in Evangelium Vitae.

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ROME — A Vatican-backed congress on infertility treatment in line with Catholic teaching was held in Rome last week.

Over the three-day gathering, specialists from various fields addressed the scientific, anthropological, and ethical challenges connected with sexuality and reproduction.

Pope Leo XIV was himself set to address the first day of the Oct. 16–18 conference, titled "The Splendor of the Human Person: Preserving Fertility, Healing Infertility," but the audience had to be canceled due to the pontiff's hospitalization Oct. 13–17.

The congress, held at the Rome campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, opened with a lecture by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on "the dignity and beauty of procreation in the Church's magisterium."

Bishop Claudio Giuliodori, president of the Italy-based Paul VI International Scientific Institute Foundation (ISI) and general ecclesiastical assistant of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, warned that the assisted reproductive technology in vitro fertilization (IVF) "removes the generative act from the responsibility of the spouses" and places it in the hands of "doctors and laboratory technicians."

"It raises no small number of ethical questions that, without any hesitation, we move from a procreative act rooted in the gift of mutual love, expressed in becoming one flesh in marriage, to a kind of delegation or subcontracting of the most relevant and meaningful human act, namely the begetting of a child, entrusting it to a process external to the couple and exclusively technical in nature," the prelate said.

Giuliodori also addressed the moral issues surrounding IVF and other assisted reproductive techniques, ranging from the collection of germ cells and AI-assisted selection of gametes to the production, freezing, and possible use of embryos for scientific research.

"We must consider the numerous and complex technical and ethical questions linked to obtaining germ cells, the selection of gametes today through artificial intelligence, the methods of producing embryos according to the various techniques, the number of those who, even after implantation, are subject to reduction or elimination, the cryopreservation of embryos that are not implanted, and their possible use for scientific research," he said.

The prelate emphasized that Italy is estimated to have between 30,000 and 100,000 frozen embryos, while noting that precise figures do not exist. "No one is able to produce exact data, and this is striking," he said, highlighting the "health, legal, economic, and above all ethical" implications of this reality.

According to Giuliodori, the central issue "from an anthropological and ethical, but also existential and social point of view" is that IVF transfers the generation of new life outside the marital relationship.

'Not produced in a laboratory'

On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown, the first child born through assisted reproductive technologies, came into the world. Giuliodori noted that many of these techniques were initially developed in the field of animal reproduction and argued that their application to human generation is morally unacceptable.

"[That] which may be justified in the context of livestock breeding appears wholly inappropriate and ethically unacceptable for human beings, who have the right to be conceived within the exclusive context of their parents' act of love, not produced in a laboratory," he said.

He also lamented that public debate focuses almost exclusively on adults' desire to have children.

"Unfortunately, there is much discussion about the right to have a child by whatever means, but very little about the right of the child to be conceived in a truly human way within the context of conjugal love," he said.

Leo XIV and Donum Vitae

During his remarks, Giuliodori recalled recent teachings from Pope Leo XIV on the dignity of every human life and the need to set ethical limits on technological development.

The president of the ISI Foundation also cited one of the central affirmations of the instruction Donum Vitae, published Feb. 22, 1987, by the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger: "What is technically possible is not thereby morally admissible."

Clinical alternatives to artificial fertilization

In the second part of his speech, Giuliodori reviewed the history and mission of the ISI, which was created to offer clinical alternatives to artificial fertilization by treating the underlying causes of infertility.

He highlighted that the institute now operates within the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital Foundation, where it benefits from "all the support necessary for the most advanced research" and from an interdisciplinary approach that enables "highly precise and in-depth diagnoses."

According to Giuliodori, this method offers "the real possibility, already widely documented, of providing concrete answers for eliminating the causes of infertility."

He said that the experience accumulated over 25 years has made ISI an international reference point for couples seeking to address infertility without resorting to artificial fertilization techniques.

"The results achieved, including in terms of pregnancies, exceed in percentage terms those reported by medically assisted reproduction centers," he said.

'The infertility emergency'

Dr. Paola Pellicanò, a physician at the Center for Natural Fertility Regulation at Rome's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, a consecrated member of the Ordo Virginum (Order of Virgins), and president of the association Donum Vitae, stressed the need to address "the infertility emergency in which we find ourselves" with responses that go beyond the technical or reproductive solutions usually proposed.

In this regard, she noted that recent World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines have begun to recognize the importance of fertility education, the promotion of healthy lifestyles, and respect for the personal convictions of couples.

According to Pellicanò, these recommendations point toward a greater appreciation of knowledge about fertile periods in the female cycle and educational outreach to the wider population.

The specialist recalled that in 1988 the WHO itself published a guide on natural fertility regulation services, defining them as "primarily educational," and emphasized that "the success of these programs depended on the training of qualified instructors."

Response to a cultural and social emergency

During her presentation, Pellicanò linked the work carried out by the Center for Natural Fertility Regulation in Italy with a broader vision of the person and the family.

Its origins date back to 1976, when gynecologist and missionary Dr. Anna Cappella, trained in natural fertility regulation through her collaboration with Drs. John and Evelyn Billings, took charge of a project promoted by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart with the support of the Holy See and the Italian Bishops' Conference.

That work later led to the creation of a study and research center specializing in natural fertility regulation, which over the years became an international point of reference.

Pellicanò particularly highlighted the center's clinical experience, which has accompanied more than 8,000 couples.

She insisted that fertility should not be viewed solely through the lens of achieving pregnancy: "The passion is not limited to solving the problem of having or not having a child, but embraces the whole of life."

According to Pellicanò, "knowing and understanding fertility allows people to become protagonists of their own decisions" and helps them avoid "a merely passive attitude toward certain interventions or reproductive techniques."

Prevention, responsibility, and generosity

Pellicanò stressed that concepts such as prevention of infertility, responsibility, and generosity are fundamental not only for addressing infertility but also broader phenomena such as the demographic crisis.

"Words such as prevention, but also responsibility and generosity, take on value here, as they are important for addressing the cultural and emotional aspects of infertility and of the decline in birth rates itself," she explained.

She also highlighted the extensive training the network built over the decades, with more than 1,000 instructors of the Billings Ovulation Method in Italy, integrated into international organizations and connected with projects developed on different continents.

The president of Donum Vitae defended a scientific approach that does not lose sight of the human dimension of procreation and medicine.

"Preserving fertility is a scientific vision that places the human person at its center," she said.

In this regard, she recalled that the tradition developed by the center is rooted in the conviction that knowledge of female fertility is a reality inscribed in a woman's very nature and one that can be studied scientifically.

Pellicanò placed this vision in continuity with the teachings of the most recent pontiffs, from St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II to Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV, who in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas presents openness to life as an expression of human beauty and dignity.

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

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At least six people were killed and 28 others injured, some seriously, when gunmen opened fire Friday during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in the village of Hamoud in Karak province, southern Jordan.

Jordan's Public Security Directorate said unidentified gunmen opened fire inside a church in Karak province, causing deaths and injuries. It said security forces were pursuing those involved. Its initial statement did not specify the number of casualties or identify the shooters.

Jordan's Al-Mamlaka television channel, citing a source, reported that two gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire during a funeral at the church in Hamoud.

Reuters quoted a funeral attendee as saying that one gunman carried a rifle and the other a handgun. The witness said the shooting lasted several minutes and targeted a gathering of dozens of mourners. The news agency also reported that security forces had deployed around the church and begun searching for the two suspects.

Jordanian authorities have not yet announced the suspects' identities or a motive for the shooting. No group has claimed responsibility.

Jordan's minister of government communication, Mohammad Momani, said security agencies were responding at the scene and that information would be released once verified. He urged the public to allow the authorities to complete their work and to rely on official sources.

The Public Security Directorate also warned against circulating unofficial information about the incident, urging the public to follow statements issued by the relevant authorities.

Hamoud lies in Karak province, which is home to historic Christian communities alongside Muslim residents. The circumstances and motives behind the shooting remain unknown, pending the findings of the investigation and further official information.

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

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Pope Leo XIV will not travel to Assisi on Oct. 27 for a gathering marking the 40th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by St. John Paul II, the Vatican announced Friday.

The decision follows medical advice as the pope continues to recover from thoracic surgery performed last week.

"To facilitate his recovery following the thoracic surgery performed on Tuesday of last week, and following the advice of his doctors, Pope Leo XIV will not be able to attend the 'Unarmed and Disarming Peace' gathering in Assisi on Oct. 27, as previously planned, on the 40th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by St. John Paul II," the Holy See Press Office said in a statement.

The Vatican added that the pope will send a message expressing his closeness to the organizers, leaders and representatives of Christian denominations and other religions, as well as the guests attending the event.

The statement emphasized the pope's conviction that the "spirit of Assisi," dialogue, and the search for words and gestures of peace are valuable resources in an era marked by conflict.

Earlier Friday, the Holy See Press Office released a medical bulletin signed by Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora.

"As scheduled, the Holy Father underwent a follow-up chest X-ray. The examination confirmed that his postoperative recovery is progressing exceptionally well," the doctors said.

"However, given the short time that has elapsed since the operation, the attending physicians considered it advisable, as a precautionary measure, to recommend against the planned helicopter trip on Oct. 27."

The decision does not indicate any abnormality in the pope's recovery but reflects medical caution ahead of his planned trip to Latin America in November.

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

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Amid rising tensions around migration, a conference in Rome reflected on the challenges modern missionaries face after moving to new countries.

The conference "The Church of the Sheaves: An International Gathering in Rome on Mission as an Exchange of Gifts" began at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome on Oct. 22 and will continue through Oct. 24. It was organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization.

Gathering clergy, scholars, and synodal teams, the conference is also part of a new project from the dicastery to foster a sense of belonging among missionaries in countries where Christianity once flourished.

Migration cannot be stopped

Migration was a recurring theme at the conference, as both missionary activity and migration are increasing worldwide. Tensions surrounding migration, particularly in Europe, prompted participants to discuss the challenges modern missionaries face in their host countries, including discrimination.

Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, a secretary at the Dicastery for Evangelization, described migration as a phenomenon that "cannot stop" and highlighted the Church's experience in addressing it.

"Migration is something we cannot stop," Nwachukwu told EWTN News. Migration will always be there as long as we have human beings and their need to survive. If we try to stop it by force, the migrants themselves will force the gates. So the best way to go about migration is to manage it."

"The Church has been at the forefront of the art, practice, and experience of managing migration. [The missionaries] have shown us that not every migrant should be discriminated against. Every human being, made in the image and likeness of God, has something to offer," Nwachukwu added.

Others noted that the Gospel has necessarily crossed borders in its spread and that relations between missionaries and their host countries must be reciprocal to overcome hostilities, citing the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

"The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman suggests that mission can transform those relationships through vulnerability, dialogue, reciprocity, and witness," Rocío Cortés Rodríguez, assistant professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, said during her presentation.

Reimagining missionary work as an exchange of gifts

The Church of the Sheaves is a new initiative from the Dicastery for Evangelization that will begin as an online course for clergy, religious, and pastoral workers, providing cultural training for missionaries and the communities that receive them.

Father Stan Chu Ilo, co-director of the Church of the Sheaves project, explained that the project aims to reimagine missionary work as an exchange of gifts.

"It is not a reactionary mission," Ilo told EWTN News. "In the past, we had Fidei Donum, where Pope Pius XII, as the world came out of the Second World War, defined the path towards mission as the gift of one part — in this case, it was Europeans who were going to Africa. Now we have a changing world population; the Catholic Church is growing."

"It is a project then to … retrain pastoral agents, missionary practitioners everywhere to embrace this new dynamism and these new opportunities of movement of God's people from one part of the world to another," Ilo added.

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Vice President JD Vance on Oct. 22 told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN News' "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo" that God calls Christians to be "humble in the face [of] uncertainty" and that Christians walking in faith often "take two steps toward Jesus and one step back" before arriving at Christ.

Vance spoke with Arroyo in a wide-ranging interview that included politics, immigration, economics, and faith.

The vice president has been especially forthcoming about his own faith journey, one which began in Appalachian Protestant churches and eventually led him to the Catholic Church. He attended Christian churches while growing up but was drawn to what in June he described as the "beautiful ancient Church" of Catholicism.

Speaking with Arroyo, Vance described a religious experience in which he was driving on mountain roads back from his grandmother's funeral and nearly drove off the road.

"And just like right at that point where I'm like, all right, I'm about to go over the side of the mountain, the car just comes to a completely restful stop," he said. "Like God put his hand on that car and made it stop."

The experience "gnawed at me," Vance said, describing the event as "a door opening."

"[W]e are ultimately God's ambassadors here on Earth," he said, describing what he said is the "powerful" witness of Christians "doing good things."

Arroyo and Vance discussed several other topics in the interview, including the ongoing civil unrest and rioting in France.

"I don't think you can talk about what's happening in France without acknowledging the role of migration," Vance said. "Because in the neighborhoods where you see the most significant violence, the most significant outburst, the burning of these beautiful historical buildings — you often have neighborhoods with extremely high immigrant populations."

Western societies "want to be welcoming to people," the vice president said. But "when we allow someone into our country, are they culturally compatible? Are they willing to assimilate into Western values and Western society?"

Asked about Church leadership on immigration issues, Vance — who has publicly disagreed with the U.S. bishops on some aspects of the immigration debate — said he would "never accuse the Church of being naive."

The Church "will say two things that I fundamentally believe in and agree with, but I think 90% of people agree with, which is: One, you must be welcoming towards a stranger. On the other hand, nations are allowed to control their borders."

As Vance sees it, the Church leadership in the U.S. has "missed an opportunity" to strike a balance on immigration in an age of high migration. He noted that the airplane is "less than 100 years old" and that rapid large-scale immigration is "a very new phenomenon."

"I do think the Church has to figure out what should the immigration policy of an advanced economy be in a world of mass transit," he said.

He noted that Christians are called "to be fundamentally hopeful [of] the future." He disputed arguments that France is on the verge of "civilizational death," describing it instead as "civilizational risk."

"[I] think that if France returns to its Christian roots, it can be welcoming to the stranger. It can also protect its borders and in a way that preserves its civilization," he said.

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A Chicago iconographer had just one week to create an icon of Our Lady of Good Counsel for Pope Leo XIV. The finished work made its way to the Vatican, where the Holy Father received it during a private audience and plans to keep it close and use in his personal prayer.

Joseph Malham is a Chicago-based iconographer who was commissioned to do the piece by Michael Airdo, an attorney from Chicago who had a planned trip to visit the pope and wanted to give him a special gift. Given the Holy Father's Augustinian roots, Airdo decided to give him an image of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which holds a special place in the Augustinian tradition.

The devotion is rooted in a centuries-old image of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child venerated at the Basilica Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy, entrusted to the Augustinians. The order has promoted devotion to Mary under this title for centuries.

After Pope Leo was elected, he traveled to Genazzano — which is about 40 miles southeast of Rome — to pray before the image located in the basilica.

Airdo sent Malham an email inquiring if the icon could be completed, but there was a catch — he only had one week to do it.

"I said, 'It can be done,'" Malham told "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Veronica Dudo on Oct. 21. "I'm single so who cares if I don't sleep and don't eat for a week. The question is, can I do it? And I did it."

He added: "A week later, when Michael [Airdo] was in Rome, he sent me a photo of the Holy Father holding the icon presented to him in a personal, private audience in his library."

Airdo shared with Malham that Pope Leo was moved when he saw the image and said he would be keeping it on a shelf in his bedroom.

Malham also wrote the Holy Father a letter because he "felt very connected with him."

"I wrote him and I said how difficult it is — please keep me in your prayers — because it is difficult, it's a long journey being a self-published artist and an iconographer," he shared. "But I said, so is being any vocation. So was being married and being a priest and in religious life and being the successor of St. Peter. We're all together. It's the communion of saints. And I felt that kind of closed the distance and bonded us together."

In the pope's response, he mentioned praying for Malham and his vocation and asked the iconographer to keep him in his prayers as well.

As for how this experience has made him feel, Malham said: "It's almost too overwhelming to know that the successor of St. Peter not only has my icon, but is going to personally journey with it in his prayer life and he's going to keep it close to him."

"No words suffice. I could rest in the silence of the beauty of that moment and that connectivity is the sacred connection."

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Denver Archbishop James Golka and over half a dozen fellow U.S. Catholic bishops met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 22.

White House Faith Director Jenny Korn told EWTN News the meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office "as part of our ongoing engagement with faith leaders of all denominations from across the country."

In addition to praying with Trump, Korn said several topics were discussed during the meeting, including "religious freedom, the role of the White House Faith Office, school choice, religious visas, and life policy."

Participants included Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles; Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas; Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa; Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee; and Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, of Oakland, California.

Before concluding the meeting, Golka and his brother bishops gathered around Trump at the Oval Office's iconic Resolute desk to pray.

Leading the intercession, Golka thanked God "for the gift of our beautiful nation, the gift of our government, and the gift of this office of the presidency" and asked for God's blessing upon Trump.

Continuing his prayer, Golka also thanked God for "the gift of your Son, Jesus. He's right here with us. He redeems us, saves us, gives us immense mercy, guidance."

Golka also invoked the Holy Spirit, asking the Holy Spirit to "surround our country, to protect us against any influence of evil."

Following the meeting, Golka said in a statement that he "hopes the encounter will foster further dialogue on the sanctity of life, human dignity and other issues of concern to the Catholic Church."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said it had no role in the event.

"This was not something that the USCCB organized. It is not affiliated with the Conference," said Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokesperson.

Korn also emphasized that the meeting was "not politics" but "policy in action ending with meaningful prayer with and for the president." In addition to Korn, Paula White-Cain, the president's longtime spiritual adviser, also attended the meeting.

The USCCB and the Trump administration have been aligned on various issues, including religious liberty and gender ideology, along with some of Trump's pro-life initiatives.

There have also been sharp disagreements on other issues, including the administration's failure to reverse the Biden administration's policy on mail-order abortion drugs, the president's support of IVF, and the administration's mass deportation efforts.

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