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Jan 21, 2026 / 15:49 pm (CNA).

A federal health spending bill would impose a long-enforced ban on using taxpayer funds for elective abortion, known as the Hyde Amendment.

The U.S. House is set to consider the bill this week, which would fund the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. Lawmakers would need to pass spending bills in both chambers and send them to the White House by Jan. 30 or the government could face another partial shutdown.

Republican President Donald Trump had asked his party to be "flexible" in its approach to the provision in a separate funding bill. According to a Jan. 19 news release from the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill includes the provision "protecting the lives of unborn children" known as the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment, which is not permanent law, was first included as a rider in federal spending bills in 1976. It was included consistently since then although some recent legislation and budget proposals have sometimes excluded it. The provision would ban federal funds for abortion except when the unborn child is conceived through rape or incest or if the life of the mother is at risk.

Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the amendment is "a long-standing federal policy that's been included for the last five decades and is popular with the American people."

"Americans don't want to pay for abortion on demand," she said.

Many Democratic lawmakers have sought to eliminate the rider in recent years, saying it disproportionately limits abortion access for low-income women. Former President Joe Biden reversed his longtime support of the Hyde Amendment in the lead-up to the 2020 election and refused to include it in his spending proposals, saying: "If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone's zip code." But Republicans successfully negotiated the rider's inclusion into spending bills.

In January 2025, Trump issued an executive order directing the government to enforce the Hyde Amendment. A year later, Trump urged Republicans to be "a little flexible on Hyde" when lawmakers were negotiating the extension of health care subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act. A White House spokesperson also said the president would work with Congress to ensure the strongest possible pro-life protections.

The House eventually passed the extension without the Hyde Amendment after 17 Republicans joined Democrats to support the bill. The Senate has not yet advanced the measure, where the question of whether to include the Hyde Amendment has been a point of contention between Republicans and Democrats.

In mid-January, Trump announced a plan to change how health care subsidies are disbursed. There was no mention of the Hyde Amendment in the White House's 827-word memo.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has consistently lobbied for the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment in spending bills. On Jan. 14, the bishops sent a letter to Congress "to stress in the strongest possible terms that Hyde is essential for health care policy that protects human dignity."

"Authentic health care and the protection of human life go hand in hand," the letter said. "There can be no compromise on these two combined values."

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Jan 21, 2026 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Thousands of pilgrims gathered at a Marian shrine in northern Bangladesh on Jan. 16 to express gratitude to Mary for protecting villagers during the country's 1971 War of Independence.

The annual pilgrimage at Nabai Battala village in the Rajshahi Diocese concluded a nine-day novena with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur. The pilgrimage commemorates an incident during Bangladesh's war for independence from Pakistan when Pakistani soldiers surrounded the village church but left without harming anyone inside.

"It is not like this that Mother Mary does not listen to anyone's prayers," Tudu said in his homily. "The people of Nabai Battala have already received the grace of Mother Mary. During the War of Independence in 1971, they trusted Mother Mary to save their lives. And Mother Mary has indeed protected the devotees in the arms of her love."

Prayer amid danger

During the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971, Pakistani troops, aided by local Razakars — Bangladeshis who opposed independence — came to Nabai Battala village to capture freedom fighters. Villagers had agreed that if such an attack occurred, they would gather in the church when the bell rang and pray to Mary.

When more than 100 Pakistani soldiers arrived, villagers — both Christians and Hindus — took refuge in the church. The troops surrounded them and ordered some to pray, but the Hindus could not comply with the order. The soldiers then aimed their guns at the villagers.

No one fled. They continued praying, and for reasons unknown, the Pakistani troops departed without firing a shot. Since then, villagers have expressed their gratitude to Mary through annual prayers at the site.

Many of the Hindu villagers later converted to Christianity.

Official recognition

On Jan. 16, 2004, the then-bishop of Rajshahi, Paulinus Costa, declared Nabai Battala — an Indigenous-dominated area about 186 miles north of Dhaka — a pilgrimage site. The location has been celebrated annually with increasing solemnity since.

In 2019, new meditation scenes and statues were installed at 14 stations along the Way of the Cross and at the grotto of Mary, and a new pilgrimage altar was constructed.

Bishop Gervas Rozario formally designated Nabai Battala as a pilgrimage center of the Rajshahi Diocese in 2023.

Living faith

"Pilgrimage is essentially an expression of a Christian's living faith — where the deep devotion, hope, and desire of the heart combine to create a yearning for the closeness and intimacy of God," Tudu said. "From this yearning comes the celebration of communion, joy, and gratitude."

He added that "the pilgrimage site of the protector Mother Mary of Nabai Battala is also a place of unique blessing. In this holy land, God continues to shower mercy on his devotees through the intercession of the protector Mother Mary."

Costantina Hansda, a community leader and social activist from Nabai Battala, said the annual pilgrimage has been celebrated since 1971. "On that day, all our villagers were saved from the hands of the Pakistani army by praying to her intercession. Therefore, we perform this pilgrimage every year to thank and express our gratitude to Mother Mary."

Answered prayers

A couple who traveled about 124 miles to the shrine told EWTN News they came to thank Mary for answering their prayers. Their 3-year-old son had cried inexplicably at night for an extended period, and doctors were unable to help.

"Last year we prayed to Mother Mary, and since then our son has not cried at night like previous years. He is fine now. That is why we came to thank Mother Mary," the couple said.

They added: "Mother Mary is truly a mother who listens to her children and fulfills their prayers."

On the night of Jan. 15, pilgrims from surrounding villages carried candles in procession to the shrine, participated in Eucharistic adoration, and went to confession in preparation for the feast day.

On the morning of Jan. 16, pilgrims gathered at the Way of the Cross before the Mass, which was attended by thousands of Marian devotees, priests, religious brothers, and sisters.

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Jan 21, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).

A Pew Research Center report found Catholics remain the largest religious group across Latin America despite increases in other religious identities.

The report, "Catholicism Has Declined in Latin America Over the Past Decade," draws on a nationally representative face-to-face survey of 6,234 adults conducted from Jan. 22 to April 27, 2024, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

The analysis was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world.

The research released Jan. 21 found that Latin American adults are more religious than adults in many other countries Pew has also surveyed in recent years, especially in Europe where many adults have left Christianity since childhood.

Pew analyzed the changes in religion among adults in Latin America from 2013 to 2024. It found Latin Americans are about as likely to believe in God as they were a decade ago. Even among those who identify as religiously unaffiliated, most said they believe in God.

Of those surveyed, 97% of adults in Peru said they believe in God, 98% in Brazil, 94% in Mexico, 97% in Colombia, 90% in Argentina, and 89% in Chile.

Most adults are active in their faith, poll showed

Catholicism remains the largest religion in Latin America. In 2024, roughly half of Brazilians (46%) and Chileans (46%) identified as Catholic, and the majority of all adults in Peru (67%), Mexico (67%), Colombia (60%), and Argentina (58%) identified as such.

In those countries, most adults are active in their faith. In 2024, the majority of adults in Brazil (76%), Colombia (71%), and Peru (58%) said they pray "daily or more often."

Since 2013–2014, the Catholic population in all six countries surveyed decreased. Colombia experienced the largest decline in Catholics, with a drop of 19 percentage points. Peru had the lowest drop with a 9-point decrease.

Former Catholics in Latin America tend to identify as either religiously unaffiliated or Protestant, while former Protestants tend to have become "nones." As of 2024, there were more religiously unaffiliated adults than Protestants in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

The report noted a reason for the decline of Catholicism and growth of religiously unaffiliated populations in Latin America is religious switching by adults who were raised Catholic but no longer identify with the religion. Across the six Latin American countries surveyed, around 20% or more adults said they were raised Catholic but have since left the religion.

The research found that Brazil is the only country surveyed where former Catholics are more likely to have become Protestant (13%) than to be religiously unaffiliated (7%). It also found that in Peru there is a roughly equal number of former Catholics who have become Protestants (9%) and "nones" (7%).

Pew also found that about half or more of adults surveyed in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru said religion is very important in their lives. Prayer is fairly common, as majorities of Brazilian, Colombian, and Peruvian adults said they pray at least once a day.

Hispanic Catholics in the U.S.

Similar to the religious changes in Latin America, fewer Hispanics in the United States identify as Catholic in 2024 (42%) than they did a decade ago (58%), according to Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study.

The number of Hispanics who are religiously unaffiliated has also increased in the U.S. since 2014, with about a quarter now describing their religious identity as atheist, agnostic, or "nothing in particular."

Of Hispanic adults in the U.S., 40% said religion is very important in their life, and 47% said they pray at least daily. A large majority (83%) also said they believe in God, according to a 2023 Pew Center survey.

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Jan 20, 2026 / 16:37 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV and leaders of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), a community dedicated to the traditional Roman rite, held a "cordial half-hour meeting" on Monday, Jan. 19, at the apostolic palace.

The priestly fraternity said in a Jan. 20 statement that the Holy Father received in private audience its superior general, Minneapolis-born Father John Berg. Also present was Father Josef Bisig, a co-founder of the FSSP and its first superior general, who now serves as rector of the FSSP's Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Texas.

The FSSP is a society of apostolic life of pontifical right founded in 1988 by priests who broke with Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the Society of St. Pius X, precisely in order to remain fully under the Roman pontiff while preserving the older liturgy.

The FSSP's leaders, who had requested the meeting, said in a cautiously worded statement that it was "an opportunity to present to the Holy Father in greater detail the foundation and history of the fraternity as well as the various forms of apostolate that it has been offering to the faithful for almost 38 years."

They added that the papal audience also provided an "opportunity to evoke any misunderstandings and obstacles that the fraternity encounters in certain places and to answer questions from the supreme pontiff."

The audience came at a sensitive time for the fraternity and for those who value the traditional form of the Latin rite as a whole following Pope Francis' 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes that imposed sweeping restrictions on parishes and communities dedicated to the traditional Roman rite.

Due to Traditionis Custodes, the FSSP is currently undergoing an apostolic visitation initiated by the Holy See in late 2024. The visitation is part of a broader process of accompanying institutes formerly under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei but that now, due to Traditionis Custodes, fall under the auspices of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Both the FSSP and the dicastery have both stressed that the apostolic visitation is not punitive but a normal exercise of oversight so the dicastery can "know who we are, how we are doing, and how we live so as to provide us with any help we may need." The fraternity also underwent an apostolic visitation in 2014.

Although Pope Francis gave the FSSP a kind of protected but precarious niche, explicitly exempting it from some of the restrictions in a Feb. 11, 2022, decree, the priestly fraternity was still subjected to tighter structural control and scrutiny than under Benedict XVI. That decree arose from a prior private audience between Pope Francis and FSSP leaders.

Monday's meeting was therefore significant, representing Leo XIV's first clear, personal outreach to a leading traditional community and showing his willingness to listen to their concerns.

It also follows on the heels of the Holy Father granting Cardinal Raymond Burke the celebration of a pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica last October, along with the pope's willingness to grant case-by-case exemptions to some traditional communities. The pope appears to be pursuing a policy of "pragmatic leniency" with such communities, neither willing to undo Francis' liturgical changes but also not enforcing them with the same rigor.

Observers have therefore welcomed Monday's meeting and are taking solace in the fact that the Church now has an American pope willing to listen to a fellow American superior general of a traditional order at a time when, according to one insider, "the waters are rough." Berg also brings much experience to his role, having already served as the fraternity's superior general from 2006 to 2018.

Like many traditional Roman rite communities and parishes, the FSSP is a flourishing community with several hundred priests and seminarians worldwide, a steady flow of vocations, and well-attended liturgies.

In its communique, the FSSP said Pope Leo XIV gave his blessing, "which he extended to all members of the fraternity."

"The Fraternity of St. Peter is grateful to the Holy Father for offering this opportunity to meet with him," the statement concluded, adding that it "encourages the faithful to continue to pray fervently during the 30 days novena of preparation for the renewal of its consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Feb. 11."

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Jan 20, 2026 / 17:07 pm (CNA).

Following a tragic train accident that occurred on Sunday evening, Jan. 18, in the Spanish town of Adamuz in the Córdoba province, the Catholic Church is providing pastoral care for those affected.

In addition to the help offered immediately after the accident by the local parish priest and the provision of diocesan resources by Bishop Jesús Fernández of Córdoba after he visited the scene of the accident on Monday morning, the diocese has assigned a team of three priests to the area.

The priests, Leopoldo Rivero, Francisco J. Granados, and Manuel Sánchez, will remain at the Poniente Sur Civic Center in Córdoba, the support center for the families of the victims, for as long as needed.

In a statement, the diocese emphasized the importance of a priestly presence in "a place where despair and uncertainty take their toll as people search for any indication as to the whereabouts of their loved ones."

Rivero stated that with its presence, the Church is providing "the spiritual care so necessary at this time," as rescue operations continue, given that many passengers are still missing and may be trapped in the wrecked train cars.

To date, authorities have confirmed the deaths of 41 people and the transfer of 152 injured people to hospitals, where they are receiving treatment, some of them still in very serious condition. At least 43 people remain missing.

Psychologists are referring "families who need [pastoral care] to the priests so that they can be with them, accompany them, and pray with them so that they feel warmth, closeness, and comfort," Rivero added.

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.

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Jan 20, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will present its 12th annual OneLife LA event on Saturday, Jan. 24, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. The day will highlight a variety of life and family issues, including advocating for the protection of the unborn. 

The event includes a roster of speakers and performers beginning at 2 p.m. followed by a Walk for Life at 3 p.m. and a Requiem Mass for the unborn celebrated by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez at 5 p.m.

In addition to Gómez, each of the auxiliary bishops in the archdiocese's five pastoral regions typically attend, as well as bishops in neighboring dioceses.

In a statement, Gómez said: "Every life is precious and must be loved and protected, from conception until natural death — as children of God made in his image, every person has a sanctity and dignity that cannot be diminished."

Speakers for the event include Gómez; El Paso,Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz; pro-life and prenatal health advocate Nora Yesenia; Sofía Alatorre González, who will discuss a life-changing accident she had at age 8; archdiocesan priest Father Matt Wheeler; Daniela Verástegui, a mother who speaks on family life issues and sister of actor Eduardo Verástegui; and Ken Rose of the Knights of Columbus.

As part of the event, Rose will receive a $10,000 Dr. Tirso del Junco grant on behalf of the Knights, which will be distributed to 20 local pregnancy centers along with matching funding from the Supreme Knight.

Rose has been a regular attendee at OneLife LA as well as other pro-life walks throughout the state of California and said he was "honored" to receive the grant on behalf of the Knights, an annual grant that has been made since 2020. He said: "It's an awesome event, and I've been surprised at the turnout, especially considering the challenges they've had in recent years."

The challenges he referenced include heavy rain in frequently sunny Southern California in 2024, and in 2025, due to heavy smoke caused by L.A.'s Eaton and Palisades wildfires, participants remained indoors at the cathedral. (The 2026 forecast so far is partly cloudy, no rain, with mild temperatures.) The 2025 event included testimonials from local residents who had lost their homes in the fires, as well as the display of the tabernacle of Corpus Christi Parish in Pacific Palisades, which was rescued from the ruins of the church after it had burned down.

In previous years, Rose has been impressed with a large number of young people who turned out for the walk, including teens as well as young adults. He also noted that it drew a large number of his fellow Knights (some in official regalia), as "we are Catholic gentlemen who are asked to step up on behalf of people who are less fortunate than us."

Rose said in his remarks he plans to tell those in attendance "that life is special in all its stages. We must protect it, from birth to natural death. It's what we believe as Catholics."

Isaac Cuevas of the archdiocesan Office of Life, Justice, and Peace, said he believes the Knights to be a worthy grant recipient, as the Knights "exemplify service rooted in faith and respect for the dignity of every person. Their work strengthens families, supports those in need, and builds a culture that honors life at every stage."

In addition to the Knights, other key participating organizations include 40 Days for Life, NET Ministries, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Sisters Poor of Jesus Christ, Catholic Charities Los Angeles, Sofesa, Depaul USA, Program for Tortured Victims, Order of Malta, Options United, and Care for Creation. The event also draws groups from Catholic parishes and schools as well as local religious.

Like-minded individuals

Other repeat participants include Ann Sanders, who began participating 12 years ago as part of the Order of Malta and today is an event organizer with the archdiocesan Office of Life, Justice, and Peace. 

"I've always enjoyed participating because it is an opportunity to be around like-minded individuals who desire to protect the beauty and dignity of human life," she said. "People come together to support the life-affirming work that is being done throughout the archdiocese."

Previous years have drawn 5,000 or more participants, she continued, and the archdiocese is hoping for strong attendance again in 2026.

Tim Shannon, who is also a member of the Order of Malta and is president of the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries, will also attend again in 2026. His group distributes food to Southern Californians in need; at OneLife LA members distribute supplies such as sunscreen and water, offer basic medical care, and provide seating where older or disabled walkers can rest. Donations for items come from the Order of Malta.

He, like Rose, noted the participation of large numbers of young people, "which is refreshing. They're our future," he said.

In addition to speakers, performers at the event include Francis Cabildo, worship leader and songwriter, and Miriam Solis, a Mexican singer from Guadalajara. Companion events to OneLife LA include a OneLife LA Holy Hour on Friday, Jan. 23, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Christ the King Parish in Los Angeles.

Series of pro-life walks

OneLife LA is one of a series of pro-life walks offered throughout the state of California hosted by Catholic dioceses or often organized by Catholics. The second-largest pro-life walk in the country, Walk for Live West Coast, will be held in San Francisco on the same day, with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone playing a prominent role, as well as a San Diego Walk for Life sponsored by the Diocese of San Diego with San Diego Bishop Michael Pham participating. 

On Jan. 23 at Oakland City Hall, there will be the Standing Up 4Life rally and walk featuring many speakers from the Black pro-life community. The National March for Life in Washington, D.C., also occurs on Jan. 23; March for Life will hold a rally and march at the California state capitol in Sacramento on March 16.

OneLife LA is free to attend, but participants are asked to register online at www.onelifela.org.

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Jan 19, 2026 / 09:34 am (CNA).

Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron has called on federal immigration officials to focus on deporting only serious criminals while also urging U.S. protesters to "cease interfering" with the work of immigration agents, with the plea coming amid heightened national tensions amid mass deportations and the killing of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis.

Barron issued the statement on Jan. 18 via X. A native of Chicago, he was made bishop of the southern Minnesota diocese in 2022.

The prelate made the remarks as officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continue enhanced deportations of immigrants in the country illegally. The mass deportation effort is a major part of U.S. President Donald Trump's domestic policy in his second term.

Tensions were heightened greatly on Jan. 7 when an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis as she apparently engaged in a protest of ICE enforcement in the city.

Good had partially blocked a street with her car and was approached by ICE agents, who ordered her out of the vehicle; when she attempted to speed away she allegedly struck ICE agent Jonathan Ross with her car. Ross shot and killed her in response. The killing generated national outrage and major protests throughout the country.

'There is a way out'

Barron, who regularly weighs in on Catholic and other issues in the public sphere, said on X that his "heart is breaking" over the "violence, retribution, threats, protests, deep suspicion of one another, political unrest [and] fear" that has spread throughout Minnesota in recent weeks.

Offering "a modest proposal" for resolving "this unbearable state of affairs," Barron urged immigration officials to "limit themselves, at least for the time being, to rounding up undocumented people who have committed serious crimes."

"Political leaders should stop stirring up resentment against officers who are endeavoring to enforce the laws of the country," he continued. "And protestors should cease interfering with the work of ICE."

Americans, meanwhile, "must stop shouting at one another and demonizing their opponents."

"Where we are now is untenable. There is a way out," the bishop said.

Minneapolis is only the latest flashpoint in ongoing national unrest over the federal government's immigration actions, one that has touched the U.S. Catholic Church in numerous ways.

Multiple U.S. bishops have issued dispensations from Mass for those who are afraid of being arrested and deported, including the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Diocese of San Bernardino, and numerous others.

In December of 2025 ICE agents arrested a Catholic church employee in Minnesota, after which they surveilled the parish, with the church pastor claiming the agents were "terrorizing" locals "just by their presence."

Church leaders have regularly attempted to reach out to immigrants who have been targeted for deportation by ICE. In November of 2025 Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez led the Stations of the Cross at an ICE detention facility in Aurora, while prelates such as Lincoln Bishop James Conley have urged the government to allow pastoral access to detained immigrants.

At their November 2025 plenary assembly, the U.S. bishops d eclared their opposition to the indiscriminate mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally. The bishops urged the government to respect the dignity of migrants as well.

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Jan 19, 2026 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Sister Mary Antona Ebo was the only Black Catholic nun who marched with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

"I'm here because I'm a Negro, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness," Ebo said to fellow demonstrators at a March 10, 1965, protest attended by King.

The protest took place three days after the "Bloody Sunday" clash, where police attacked several hundred voting rights demonstrators with clubs and tear gas, causing severe injuries among the nonviolent marchers.

Sister Mary Antona Ebo died Nov. 11, 2017, in Bridgeton, Missouri, at the age of 93, the St. Louis Review reported at the time.

After the "Bloody Sunday" attacks, King had called on church leaders from around the country to go to Selma. Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter of St. Louis asked his archdiocese's human rights commission to send representatives, Ebo recounted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2015.

Ebo's supervisor, also a religious sister, asked her whether she would join a 50-member delegation of laymen, Protestant ministers, rabbis, priests, and five white nuns.

Just before she left for Alabama, she heard that a white minister who had traveled to Selma, James Reeb, had been severely attacked after he left a restaurant and later died from his injuries.

At the time, Ebo said, she wondered: "If they would beat a white minister to death on the streets of Selma, what are they going to do when I show up?"

In Selma on March 10, Ebo went to Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, joining local leaders and the demonstrators who had been injured in the clash.

"They had bandages on their heads, teeth were knocked out, crutches, casts on their arms. You could tell that they were freshly injured," she told the Post-Dispatch. "They had already been through the battleground, and they were still wanting to go back and finish the job."

Many of the injured were treated at Good Samaritan Hospital, run by Edmundite priests and the Sisters of St. Joseph, the only Selma hospital that served Blacks. Since their arrival in 1937, the Edmundites had faced intimidation and threats from local officials, other whites, and even the Ku Klux Klan, CNN reported.

The injured demonstrators and their supporters left the Selma church, with Ebo in front. They marched toward the courthouse, then were blocked by state troopers in riot gear. She and other demonstrators knelt to pray the Our Father before they agreed to turn around.

Despite the violent interruption, the 57-mile march drew 25,000 participants. It concluded on the steps of the state capitol in Montgomery with King's famous March 25 speech against racial prejudice.

"How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice," King said.

King would be dead within three years. On a fateful April 4, 1968, he was shot by an assassin at a Memphis hotel.

He had asked to be taken to a Catholic hospital should anything happen to him, and he was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis. At the time, it was a nursing school combined with a 400-bed hospital.

There, too, Catholic religious sisters played a role.

Sister Jane Marie Klein and Sister Anna Marie Hofmeyer recounted their story to The Paper of Montgomery County Online in January 2017.

The Franciscan nuns were walking around the hospital grounds when they heard the sirens of an ambulance. One of the sisters was paged three times, and they discovered that King had been shot and taken to their hospital.

The National Guard and local police locked down the hospital for security reasons as doctors tried to save King.

"We were obviously not allowed to go in when they were working with him because they were feverishly working with him," Klein said. "But after they pronounced him dead we did go back into the ER. There was a gentleman as big as the door guarding the door and he looked at us and said, 'You want in?' We said yes, we'd like to go pray with him. So he let the three of us in, closed the door behind us, and gave us our time."

Hofmeyer recounted the scene in the hospital room. "He had no chance," she said.

Klein said authorities delayed the announcement of King's death to prepare for riots they knew would result.

Three decades later, Klein met with King's widow, Coretta Scott King, at a meeting of the Catholic Health Association Board in Atlanta where King was a keynote speaker. The Franciscan sister and the widow of the civil rights leader told each other how they had spent that night.

Klein said being present that night in 1968 was "indescribable."

"You do what you got to do," she said. "What's the right thing to do? Hindsight? It was a privilege to be able to take care of him that night and to pray with him. Who would have ever thought that we would be that privileged?"

She said King's life shows "to some extent one person can make a difference." She wondered "how anybody could listen to Dr. King and not be moved to work toward breaking down these barriers."

Klein would serve as chairperson of the Franciscan Alliance Board of Trustees, overseeing support for health care. Hofmeyer would work in the alliance's archives. In 2021, both were living at the Provinciate at St. Francis Convent in Mishawaka, Indiana.

For her part, after Selma, Ebo would go on to serve as a hospital administrator and a chaplain.

In 1968 she helped found the National Black Sisters' Conference. The woman who had been rejected from several Catholic nursing schools because of her race would serve in her congregation's leadership as it reunited with another Franciscan order, and she served as a director of social concerns for the Missouri Catholic Conference.

She frequently spoke on civil rights topics. When controversy erupted over a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer's killing of Michael Brown, a Black man, she led a prayer vigil. She thought the Ferguson protests were comparable to those of Selma.

"I mean, after all, if Mike Brown really did swipe the box of cigars, it's not the policeman's place to shoot him dead," she said.

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis presided at her requiem Mass in November 2021, saying in a statement: "We will miss her living example of working for justice in the context of our Catholic faith."

A previous version of this story was first published on Catholic News Agency on Jan. 17, 2022.

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Jan 18, 2026 / 10:26 am (CNA).

This past week, nearly a quarter of U.S. states sued the federal government for defining biological sex as binary, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for and against legally allowing males to compete against females in sports, and a Vatican official called surrogacy a "new form of colonialism" that commodifies women and their children.

These are just the latest legal and cultural effects of a "mass cultural confusion" surrounding the meaning and purpose of the human body, and particularly women's bodies, according to Leah Jacobson, program coordinator of the Catholic Women's and Gender Studies Program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

On Jan. 9–10, the program sponsored a symposium titled "The Beauty of Truth: Navigating Society Today as a Catholic Woman," which brought together a group of Catholic women who have used their gifts of intellect and faith to serve as what Jacobson calls an "antidote" to the "chaos and confusion" of the cultural moment.

The speakers presented on a wide range of topics concerned with the beauty, truth, and necessity of the Church's teachings on human sexuality in many realms.

'Every act is an act of human subtraction'

In one of the first talks, writer Mary Eberstadt argued that the question "Who am I?" became harder to answer due to the widespread use of the birth control pill, which has led to huge increases in abortion, divorce, fatherlessness, single parenthood, and childlessness. These effects led to a reduction in the number of people in an individual's life, which, she argued, resulted in widespread confusion over gender identity and the meaning and purpose of the body.

While she acknowledged that not everyone has been affected equally, "members of our species share a collective environment."

"Just as toxic waste affects everyone," she said, the reduction in the number of human connections "amounts to a massive disturbance to the human ecosystem," leading to a crisis of human identity.

"The number of people we can call our own" became smaller, she said. "Each of these acts is an act of human subtraction," Eberstadt said. "I'm not trying to make a point about morality, but arithmetic."

Eberstadt also attributed the decline in religiosity to this decline in the number of human connections modern people experience.

"The sexual revolution subtracted the number of role models," she said. "Many children have no siblings, no cousins, no aunts or uncles, no father, yet that is how humans conduct social learning."

"Without children, adults are less likely to go to church," she said. "Without birth, we lose knowledge of the transcendent. Without an earthly father, it is hard to grasp the paradigm of an earthly father."

'A love deficit'

"Living without God is not liberating people," she continued. "It's tearing some individuals apart, making people miserable and lonely."

When the sexual revolution made sex "recreational and not procreative, what it produced above all is a love deficit," Eberstadt said.

At the same time, secularization produced "troubled, disconnected souls drifting through society without gravity, shattering the ability to answer 'Who am I?'"

"The Church is the answer to the love deficit because Church teachings about who we are and what we're here for are true," she said.

She concluded with a final note on hope, saying "it is easy to feel embattled, but we must never lose sight of the faces of the sexual revolution's victims," she said, "who are sending up primal screams for a world more ordered than many of today's people now know; more ordered to mercy, to community and redemption."

The Church's teachings were 'truly beautiful' but 'very, very hard to live'

Erika Bachiochi, a legal scholar and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who teaches a class for the graduate program, shared her experience as a mother of seven who tried to live according to the Church's "difficult" teachings.

As her children began to arrive at "a breakneck pace" and each pregnancy was "a bit of a crucible," Bachiochi said being a mother was "very hard" for her, partly due to wounds from her youth (among other troubles, her own mother had been married and divorced three times), and partly because of a lack of community.

Echoing Eberstadt's "arithmetic" problem, Bachiochi described having very few examples of Catholic family life and a very small support system.

Bachiochi said she believes God heals us from our wounds through our "particular vocations," however.

Of motherhood, she said: "I think God really healed me through being faithful to teachings that I found quite hard, but truly beautiful. I was intellectually convinced by them and found them spiritually beautiful, but found them to be very, very hard to live."

"Motherhood has served to heal me profoundly," she said, encouraging young mothers to have faith that though it might be difficult now, there is an "amazing future" awaiting them.

"It's really an incredible gift that Church has given me ... the gift of obedience," she said.

She also said by God's grace, she was given an "excellent husband" and has found that "just as the Church promises, that leaning into motherhood, into the little things, the daily needs, the constant requests for my attention, has truly been a school of virtue."

The Catholic Women's and Gender Studies Program is a new part of the Nesti Center for Faith and Culture at the University of St. Thomas, a recognized Catholic cultural center of the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education.

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Jan 17, 2026 / 08:16 am (CNA).

Abortions in England and Wales hit a record high as use of the abortion pill continues to rise.

The number of abortions jumped 11% from 2022 to 2023, going from 250,000 to 270,000 according to figures from the Department of Health.

Almost 90% of these abortions were done via abortion pills, and most were performed on very young unborn children, usually aged two to nine weeks. Surgical abortions have been decreasing for the past two decades, according to the Department of Health

The abortion rate is estimated to be at 12.3 per 1,000 women in 2023, almost doubling the 2013 rate, which was 7.1 per 1,000 women. About 40% of women who had abortions in 2023 in England and Wales had already had an abortion in the past.

Pregnancy support line takes 1.3 million calls in 2025

Heartbeat International's pregnancy support helpline broke records with 1.3 million calls in 2025, according to a recent report by the group.

The Option Line tripled the number of calls it received in 2025 --- calls which, more than 90% of the time, come from men and women who are at risk for abortion, according to the organization.

Via its High Risk Response Network, Option Line helps connect those in need to local pregnancy help centers for prompt telecare consultations, as well as in-person visits. According to Heartbeat International, 9 out of ten callers show up for virtual consultation appointments, and three in four callers show up for pregnancy help appointments after they call.

Gov. Newsom rejects abortionist extradition request

California Gov. Gavin Newsom refused to extradite a California abortionist who allegedly provided abortion pills to a man who coerced his girlfriend into having an abortion.

Newsom on Wednesday rejected Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's indictment for abortionist Remy Coeytaux, who was charged with criminal abortion in Louisiana after Rosalie Markezich's boyfriend allegedly ordered abortion pills from him and forced her to take them. Newsom said in a statement that he would "never be complicit with Trump's war on women." 

South Carolina lawmakers introduce bill to ban coerced abortion 

South Carolina lawmakers introduced several pro-life bills at the start of this year's legislative session, including a bill to protect women from coerced abortions. 

The bill would make it a crime to coerce a woman into having an abortion, with penalties up to one year in prison and $5,000 in fines, or higher if she is a minor or if the perpetrator is the father of the child.

This bill was among several other newly-introduced pro-life bills, including a bill to protect unborn children after conception. The Life Begins at Conception Act, sponsored by Sen Matt. Leber (R-District 41), would protect unborn children after conception unless they were conceived by rape or incest. Legislators also introduced a bill that would ban chemical abortion pills.

Lawmakers also introduced a bill to classify abortion drugs as a controlled substance. This bill, if passed, would make possession without a prescription a felony, while exempting pregnant women from prosecution.

Another bill would make it a felony to pay for or reimburse the cost of an abortion for a South Carolina resident and would criminalize donating to organizations who fund women crossing state lines for abortions. Another bill would permanently bar abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid funds for any services, codifying a 2017 executive order. 

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