Catholic News

Amid a loneliness epidemic, recent research shows faith and family are  "antidotes to isolation."

A report published by Institute for Family Studies on Sept. 25 found that churchgoing Catholic couples are happier than other couples. In fact, happiness more than doubled among spouses who attend church compared with their peers.

Among the report's most notable findings is that despite cultural challenges to faith and a decline in marriage, people who attend church consistently report higher levels of happiness and their marriages are strong.

The report drew on data from the General Social Survey (GSS), CARA data, YouGov, Pew Research, and other sources.

Report co-author Brad Wilcox, senior fellow and director of the Get Married Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies, noted that "churchgoing Catholics and Protestants marry more, have more children, and divorce less than their secular peers."

"The good news in the report is that the happiest and most sexually satisfied husbands and wives are churchgoing Catholics," Wilcox told EWTN News. "For instance, 79% of churchgoing Catholics and 74% of churchgoing Protestants are very happily married, compared to 66% of nonreligious husbands and wives."

"Among churchgoers, 55% of Catholics and 45% of Protestants report being satisfied with their sex lives. (i.e., rating one's sex life as "excellent" or "very good"), compared to just 45% of nominal Catholics, 35% of nominal Protestants, and 40% of Nones," Wilcox said.

Also, churchgoers are 39% more likely to be married than their peers, the report found.

"Men and women tethered to the institutions of faith and marriage are more than twice as likely to be very happy today compared to their peers who are not," read the report, authored by Wilcox along with Grant Bailey, Richard Dell'Isola, and Jane Lankes Smith.

"There's a 'faith-family paradox' where the role of faith, marriage, and family life has shrunk since the 1970s (with Catholic weddings falling by 74% since 1970 to the present)," Wilcox said. "But the believers who remain are more likely to enjoy strong, stable families."

Belief in the teachings of the Church makes a difference in marital happiness, the study found.

"Couples who embrace classic Catholic teachings about marital permanence and openness to life are most likely to be happily married and sexually satisfied," Wilcox continued.

The report found that churchgoing couples have "significantly more sex, and more sexual satisfaction, than their secular peers," the report read.

"Catholics and Protestants who believe marriage is a permanent commitment are more likely to be sexually satisfied than their counterparts who do not hold this view (60% versus 46% for Catholics, with a smaller 43% versus 40% difference among Protestants)," Wilcox said.

Given what the data showed, the authors of the report called for greater attention to faith and family.

"Strengthening faith and family is therefore not a matter of nostalgia but of necessity: it could mean the difference between a society that sustains the foundations of personal and social well-being and one that leaves its people to drift alone and unhappy," the report read.

But the report also shed light on problems in churchgoing couples and families, like pornography consumption and lack of community support for big families.

"It's not all good news," Wilcox said. "Men who are struggling with pornography are more likely to get into trouble in their marriages."

Churchgoing husbands still view porn at similar rates to their secular counterparts (a quarter of religious husbands compared with one-third of nonreligious husbands).

In addition, a significant minority of Catholic spouses "worry their marriage may not last."

Catholic parents of families of three or more children reported lower happiness in their marriage. The report cited a lack of community support as a major reason.

"Catholic parents of large families (three or more children) report lower marital happiness, in part, we think, because they don't get enough support from their local church communities," Wilcox said. "Unfortunately, only 46% of churchgoing Catholic parents report receiving even 'some help' from their church community."

The report, which was commissioned by the Catholic group FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), also compared the data with a group of 1,219 respondents who were FOCUS alumni. This group was more likely to get married and to be happily married than other Catholic couples, while also less likely to be sexually satisfied than other Catholic couples.

The authors recommend in the report an active faith life, intentional marital discernment, family support at the parish level, and marriage formation for adolescents and young adults.

"In an age marked by unprecedented digital distraction and loneliness, the value of faith and family is powerful and may well be growing," the report concluded.

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PARIS — Pope Leo XIV warned that Artificial Intelligence has fostered a "corruption of culture" that could affect what it means to be human, during a speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Friday.

The pontiff visited the headquarters of UNESCO — a specialized UN agency that preserves cultural heritage sites and promotes peace, sustainable development, and human rights — on the first day of a Sept. 25-28 journey to France.

"A fundamental question deserves to be explored, one that urgently calls for a response: What does it mean to be human?" Leo said in a speech delivered half in French and half in English.

"Every culture is challenged by this question, which lies at the heart of every form of knowledge, every art and every religion. Even in the twenty-first century, after all, we cannot take for granted that we know who the human person is or what it means to live as a human being," the pontiff said.

He contrasted the domination and confusion of the Tower of Babel, to which he has previously likened AI, with the peace and unity found at Pentecost.

"The corruption of culture which we are considering finds its redemption in the public square of Pentecost," he said. "There, a message of peace is received as good news by people of every nation. This message proclaims the resurrection of Jesus, that is, the victory of life over death and the salvation that gives hope to the world."

Leo also spoke about the development of communications and the risk of spreading false information, and "words devoid of meaning," thereby "hindering dialogue rather than fostering it."

"Artificial intelligence amplifies this problem," he continued. "Although such systems can correlate data, they cannot answer questions that concern the meaning of human life, which is rooted in lived experience."

He condemned oppressive power, pride, injustice, and conflict.

"Science itself, when reduced to a technique of power, no longer serves to elevate the human person, but instead risks degrading the fruits of human endeavor," he said.

The pontiff devoted significant portions of his speech to underlining the care due to every human life, especially the most vulnerable, such as "children in their mothers' wombs and in the various theaters of war, persons with physical and intellectual disabilities, the elderly, migrants and refugees, and all those arrogantly excluded as unproductive."

They are the true test of our claims to respect human dignity, and their protection and promotion extend also to creation," he said.

On technological advancements, the Holy Father said, "the paradox has become increasingly evident: while 'intelligence' is attributed to computational systems, we struggle to recognize the inalienable dignity of human persons, whose lives are judged according to the criterion of efficiency and, when deemed no longer productive, are rejected and discarded."

Pope Leo's arrival at UNESCO was met by a warm applause from the audience.

Before his address, the pope was given a brief tour of the headquarters, including the library, which houses UNESCO's diplomatic archives. Leo also received a loud applause when he watered an olive tree as a sign of nurturing peace.

He was also given a copy of the Book of Peace Memorandum, an archival document submitted to the 4th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 1949 to support its mission to prevent global conflicts after World War II.

Leo underlined that he was visiting UNESCO, "as a pastor, to speak to you on behalf of the Church, which continually seeks to enter into dialogue and has a message to share with every people, with all women and men of good will," and praised the agency's mission to build a just world and favor authentic human development

Citing his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, he said the Holy See looks "upon this Organization as a privileged partner in the service of the common good, which is the 'social expression of the dignity' shared by all of us from the very beginning and in equal measure."

The pope emphasized the importance of truth, without which language becomes subject to violence and power, and noted that "corruption of the law begins with the corruption of the heart."

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PARIS — Pope Leo XIV arrived in France on Friday for a four-day visit to the country that begins with a packed first day, with stops at UNESCO headquarters, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the national stadium for a prayer vigil with 80,000 young people. Leo is the first pope to visit Paris since Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

Leo was welcomed at Paris Orly Airport by President Emmanuel Macron. Two local children presented flowers as the pontiff was given military honors — a formal ceremonial tribute — before entering a room of the airport with the French president for a private conversation.

During the flight from Rome, the pope told reporters that he would address "a number of very important topics" during his visit. "I above all am traveling to France, as anywhere else in the world, as a follower of Jesus Christ who wants to bring peace of Christ throughout the world," he said.

The pope's first stop in the French capital will be the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French president, an 18th-century mansion surrounded by elaborate landscaped gardens.

There, Leo will again have time to speak with Macron, before delivering the first official speech of the trip, addressed to political authorities and members of civil society, the business world, and the diplomatic corps.

Among the most sensitive issues that the pope is expected to address are end-of-life questions. France legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia this summer, becoming the fifth European country to do so after Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain.

After a break for lunch, the Holy Father will visit the headquarters of UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — a specialized UN agency that preserves cultural heritage sites and promotes peace, sustainable development, and human rights.

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More than 100 financial professionals and clergy from various faiths gathered in New York City Sept. 16-17 to attend the second annual Catholic Faith Investor Summit organized around the theme "Empowering Catholic Leaders to Align Their Investments with Their Faith and Create Impact."

Catholic business leaders "can't just check a box" when it comes to faith, Pierre LeCocq told attendees on Sept. 17 after the event's opening Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. "You're in charge of a community of persons. Every decision you make has to be done with that in mind. You're not here to check a box … you're here to love."

In his remarks, LeCocq, past president of UNIAPAC, the International Christian Union of Business Executives, along with other conference speakers, often cited Mensuram Bonam: Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors — A Starting Point and Call to Action, a 2022 document from the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

While not a binding magisterial text, the document offers faith-based guidelines for finance and investment drawn from Catholic social teaching.

Conference founder and chairman, Roger Aguinaldo, a Wall Street veteran, said in his opening address that "most Catholic institutions inherited their investment processes from the broader market, which was never built with Catholic social teaching in mind. Your consultant's model portfolio doesn't know what Mensuram Bonam ("A Good Measure") is. Your benchmark doesn't scream for human dignity."

He told EWTN News he organized the summit after a "reversion" to the Catholic faith several years ago, saying he believes "Jesus wants me to dedicate the last third of my career to helping Catholics align institutional dollars with the Catholic faith and create real social impact … not the ESG screens [environmental, social, governance] Wall Street pushed on us. That was virtue signaling. We have 2,000 years of Church teaching to guide us."

Aguinaldo, who is a former member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' National Advisory Council, said Catholics do not have to sacrifice returns when they invest in alignment with their faith and values.

"Without a deliberate act of will," however, he said "a portfolio drifts toward whatever the market calls responsible, which is not the same thing as what the Church calls faithful."

Exclusion, engagement, impact

Several speakers discussed the three-part investment process of exclusion, engagement, and impact.

Exclusion, or negative screening, means ruling out companies whose products or practices contradict human dignity, such as abortion drugs and contraceptives, pornography, and gambling, among others.

Engagement means using ownership: writing to management, voting proxies, and filing shareholder proposals under Securities and Exchange Commission rules so a resolution can appear on a company's proxy ballot.

Aguinaldo said Catholic investors need not "just throw away oil stocks. You can engage with the companies as a stockholder," asking them to bring practices into line with Catholic principles.

Father Séamus Finn, who served on the working group that produced Mensuram Bonam with Cardinal Peter Turkson, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, told attendees that stockholders can file proposals under SEC rules and use their ownership to press for change.

Engagement sometimes changes policy. When it does not, investors may sell the stock, thus creating impact. Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, executive vice president of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, described that sequence from her work.

She said many of the group's members, including non-Christians, have welcomed Pope Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which focuses on human dignity as economies are reshaped by rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence. That concern also ran through a summit session on new financial infrastructure.

Eddie Cullen, who with Karl Kilb cofounded a digital assets firm that has issued a stablecoin called Catholic USD, told attendees that AI automation of finance "is coming like a freight train" and Catholic financial professionals should be prepared.

The question, as he framed it, was not whether the rails get built but who writes the rules. Cullen said Catholics must get out in front of emerging technologies.

Blockchain, Cullen said, can make transactions faster and more transparent and "will empower the poor" who have been shut out of ordinary banking — an impact play that speakers contrasted with the ESG screens they called insufficient.

Financial consultant Carolyn LaRocco, who works largely with women religious, discussed the challenges of bringing financial products aligned with Catholic social teaching to investors, who might fear making less money with such investments.

"You can make money and do good at the same time," LaRocco said. "You can keep up with the indexes, but you have to push your financial adviser or consultant, to prove Catholic products do not yield worse returns."

She said a problem with her industry is "we want it to scale. We love capitalism; we want to make a lot of money, but it takes time."

In the long run, "how much money do we need?" she went on to ask. "Are we just trying to make money, or are we trying to do good?"

LaRocco said Catholics should challenge themselves and "drive their whole portfolios to mission."

James Good, the chief investment officer at an investment advisory firm, told EWTN News he was "impressed to see a remarkably diverse group of financial professionals converge with a unified mission" centered on aligning faith and financial management, saying "this demonstrates that Catholic values can influence our world for good … while also fulfilling fiduciary and stewardship responsibility."

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A Catholic Relief Services humanitarian aid convoy came under drone attack in Tigray, Ethiopia, according to a report in Addis Standard. The U.S. State Department's Bureau of African Affairs said on X Sept. 22 that it "condemns the recent drone strike on a Catholic Relief humanitarian assistance convoy in Tigray" and called for "a full investigation."

The convoy was reportedly carrying 41 metric tons of food for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the region. The attack injured the driver and a young girl. The humitarian assistance was operating under the Joint Emergency Operation Program (JEOP) and contracted through the Adigrat Diocesan Catholic Secretariat (ADCS).

The Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat condemned the strike and called for "protection of humanitarian workers, supplies and aid routes in accordance with international humanitarian law."

Kazakhstan abolishes death penalty in new constitution

Kazakhstan's new constitution has abolished the death penalty, according to Fides News Agency. The change was approved by referendum on March 15 and officially became law on July 1.

Father Gabriel Jocher, an Austrian priest of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary and national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Kazakhstan, told Fides: "Kazakhstan has once again explicitly confirmed the ban on the death penalty. From a Christian perspective, this is a reason for joy. Human dignity is not lessened even when a person has committed a serious crime. At the same time, respect for human life does not mean turning a blind eye to unlawful acts: justice, accountability, and the protection of society remain fundamental."

South African archbishop condemns killing of 9 women

Archbishop Zolile Peter Mpambani of South Africa's Bloemfontein Archdiocese has condemned violence against women in the country, urging men to respect and protect women following the discovery of nine women's bodies and the arrest of three related to the killings, according to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa.

Police confirmed that the bodies of the women were discovered in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, beginning in July with the ninth body found on the morning of Sept. 17.

In a video recording published Sept. 21, the archbishop said the killings are "a sign of the brutality and cruelty faced by women," noting that there could be other victims whose bodies have not yet been discovered. He called on South African men to respect women and reiterated the Catholic Church's condemnation of gender-based violence, saying women should not be subjected to violence in either private or public spaces.

Decision for Catholic schools in France to mark pope's visit sparks criticism

Euro News reported that a "compulsory day" in Catholic schools celebrating the upcoming papal visit to France has sparked controversy.

According to the report, the General Secretariat for Catholic Education (Sgec), headed by Guillaume Prévost, "asked state-funded private schools under contract to treat Friday 25 September, the day Leo XIV arrives, as a special day and to replace regular lessons with activities focused on the Pope, the Catholic Church and various social issues." 

The move, however, has been critized, in part, because "state-funded private schools under contract are required to follow the national curriculum," according to the report.

Debate in France around religion in the public square is common. After criticism of President Emmanuel Macron's presence at a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Marseille in 2023, the head of state will not be attending any papal Masses celebrated by Leo XIV during his visit.

Lebanese and French dioceses unite in prayer for Pope Leo's visit

A 35-year relationship between the Maronite Diocese of Antelias in Lebanon and the Diocese of Lyon in France is taking on new meaning as Catholics in both countries pray a novena to accompany Pope Leo XIV on his apostolic journey to France, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported.

The nine-day prayer, which began Sept. 20 and will end Sept. 28, began simultaneously at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon and in Antelias. Regina Karam, who prepared the prayer text, said the initiative grew from a desire among Lebanese Catholics to stand spiritually with the French, recalling the material and moral support France offered Lebanon through periods of hunger, war, and the Beirut port explosion.

Each day carries a different intention, including prayers for the pope and priests, the universal Church, political leaders, young people, and the spiritual fruits of the papal journey. On Sunday, participants will unite their prayers with Pope Leo during his time at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Antelias Bishop Antoine Bou Najem backed the initiative and later personally presented the novena text to Pope Leo in Rome.

Music and prayer in Bahrain mark Franciscan jubilee

Catholics in Bahrain marked the Franciscan jubilee with an evening of music, storytelling, and prayer at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali, ACI MENA reported. The celebration, titled "San Francesco 800: A Musical Journey of Faith," brought together clergy, parishioners, diplomats, and other guests under the guidance of Bishop Aldo Berardi, apostolic vicar of Northern Arabia.

Prepared by Capuchin Father Marcus Fernandes, the performance retraced the life and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi through hymns, narration, and dramatic scenes. Adults and children took part alongside musicians, with the program focusing on Franciscan themes including simplicity, humility, fraternity, prayer, peace, and care for creation.

Berardi used the occasion to emphasize the Christian understanding of peace as first a gift from God rather than simply a human achievement, recalling St. Francis' commitment to carrying that peace to others.

Caritas Indonesia officially hands over 100 homes to flood victims

Caritas reported that the Caritas Indonesia network on Sept. 16 "officially handed over permanent housing to residents affected by the flash floods and landslides that struck the Sumatra region in November 2025."

Over 100 completed houses were provided, and the organization, according to Caritas' website, is currently finalizing the construction of approximately 200 more homes. The initiative is part of the "Gerakan Rumah Belarasa" (Compassionate Home Movement) — a humanitarian initiative of the Caritas Indonesia network.

Eastern Canadian bishop, local Catholics seek to save historic cathedral

The bishop of Bathurst, New Brunswick, an eastern Canadian province, said he plans to meet with the city's mayor to seek ways to prevent the loss of the Catholic cathedral there.

Bishop Michel Proulx, O Praem, told Canadian Catholic News he wants to save the city's historic Sacred Heart Cathedral, currently slated for demolition next spring. After Masses on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Oct. 10–12, the church will close for the winter due to heating costs.

Local Catholics are also moblizing to save the cathedral, according to the report. Bathurst Catholic and rally organizer James Risdon is planning a prayer event in front of the cathedral on Oct. 10 "as part of the 2026 Public Square Rosary Crusade across Canada to pray for the revitalization of the Church in Canada."

"We can't just keep closing down church buildings, shrug our shoulders, and pretend this is normal and inevitable. It's not," Risdon said in a statement.

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PARIS – Pope Leo XIV, in his first speech during a four-day visit to France, lamented the use of science and technology for profit instead of moral and ethical human progress and said that everyone is responsible for the protection of life.

Addressing French President Emmanuel Macron and other government members at the Élysée Palace, the head of state's official residence, on Sept. 25, the pontiff said he was concerned "by those trends in society that risk turning science and technology into profit-driven ventures promoting genetic manipulation, surrogacy, the trade in human organs or the possibility of arranging one's own death."

"Let us not forget that mutual respect and the protection of every human life is a duty incumbent upon each and every one of us," he said.

End-of-life questions are among the most sensitive issues the pope is expected to address while in France Sept. 25-28. France legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia this summer, becoming the fifth European country to do so after Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain. In addition, Switzerland and Austria permit assisted suicide.

Euthanasia is the intentional ending of a person's life to relieve suffering. It differs from assisted dying, in which the patient takes life-ending drugs himself, under a physician's guidance. Both practices are prohibited by Catholic teaching.

The duty to protect and respect life, Leo continued, is "an expression of the authentic 'secularity' (laïcité) of the earthly city" since a "Christian engaged in public service and guided by the light of his or her conscience illumined by faith, cannot be considered a proselytizer or a threat to the unity of the nation."

Laïcité is a legal principle strictly separating Church and state in France.

Leo urged the country's political, civil and cultural leaders, as well as French and foreign diplomats, to see that "an authentic secularity" does not exclude religion but values it as an educational resource.

Leo echoed a 2018 speech by Macron, in which the president told the French bishops that "a Church that claims to be uninterested in temporal matters would not be fulfilling her vocation; and that a President of the Republic who claims to be uninterested in the Church and in Catholics would be failing in his duty."

"An authentic secularity, then, consists not in excluding religion from the public sphere or from education, but in striving to ensure that the State and religious institutions maintain dialogue and join forces in the service of the common good, that the world may have life," the pope said.

Speaking before the pope, Macron said that "it is precisely because France is a homeland of freedom and intellect that it is diverse. It is a nation that nurtures a particular passion for constant debate. One must understand it in this way in order truly to love it." The two leaders met privately for 50 minutes before delivering their speeches.

Leo noted France's "deep Christian roots" but also praised the French national motto of "liberty, equality, and fraternity" as a set of "ethical imperatives" and guides to follow as technology — including artificial intelligence — advances.

He cited the French Catholic author Georges Bernanos, who "saw the threat that blind obedience and irresponsibility could lead to a 'Paradise of Machines,' and pointed out that French civilization had instead sought for centuries to form free men and women who are fully responsible for their actions."

The pope, who earlier in the day told reporters accompanying him on the flight from Rome that he was traveling to France "as a follower of Jesus Christ who wants to bring peace of Christ throughout the world," called in his speech for a ban on nuclear weapons and lamented war in the Middle East.

Also present for the pope's address were firemen who responded to the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral and artisans and architects who worked on the landmark's subsequent restoration. The pope celebrated that undertaking, which he said "showed that something considered irreparably destroyed can be reborn through mutual cooperation."

Pope Leo XIV landed in Paris on Friday for a four-day visit to France that began with a packed first day with stops at UNESCO headquarters, Notre-Dame, and the French national stadium for a prayer vigil with 80,000 young people. Leo is the first pope to visit Paris since Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

Curious Parisians stopped what they were doing to watch the pope pass by in a car on his way from the airport to the center of Paris.

After a break for lunch, the Holy Father will visit the headquarters of UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — a specialized UN agency that preserves cultural heritage sites and promotes peace, sustainable development, and human rights.

His journey will also bring him to the towns of Lourdes and Metz, before returning to Rome Sept. 28.

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The beatification Mass for Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen took place at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis on Sept. 24 with tens of thousands of the faithful in attendance. Pope Leo XIV issued a papal decree granting that Fulton Sheen "may henceforth be called blessed." Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, acting as the pope's legate, read the apostolic letter at the Mass in St. Louis.

Blessed Fulton Sheen's feast day will be Dec. 9, the anniversary of his death. That date also marks the first apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego in 1531.

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A pastor in the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, has resigned after a parish employee filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was sexually assaulted by her supervisor and her concerns were dismissed.

Father David Sanchez resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and School in St. Matthews, Kentucky, after a civil lawsuit filed last week accused him of dismissing janitor Gladis Garcia Gomez's claim that she was sexually assaulted by her supervisor, former facilities manager Cesar Barahona.

Archbishop Shelton Fabre accepted Sanchez's resignation and the priest has been placed on administrative leave, according to a letter the archbishop wrote to the parish Sept. 23. He wrote that Sanchez "does not want to be the source of further unrest in the parish" and remains a priest in good standing.

Father John Schwartzlose, the parish's associate pastor, has been named temporary administrator. Fabre said he plans to appoint a new pastor in July 2027.

The lawsuit, filed Sept. 17 in Jefferson County, names the Archdiocese of Louisville, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and School, Sanchez, and Barahona. In it, Garcia Gomez says she was hired as a janitor in April 2025 and that Barahona sexually harassed and assaulted her at work over subsequent months. According to the lawsuit, he regularly forced her into the boiler and maintenance room, where he would rape and sodomize her.

Gladis Garcia Gomez v. Archdiocese of Louisville, et al.

She alleges in the lawsuit that when she reported the attacks and sexual abuse to Sanchez in June 2025, he told her he was a close friend of Barahona, did not believe her, and warned her against speaking further. She claims she met with the archdiocese's human resources department in October 2025, which told her to file a police report, which she did that same month.

Her attorney, John Spalding, said in a statement shared with EWTN News: "It is deeply regrettable that this case exists at all. No person should have to wonder whether a report of sexual violence will be taken seriously and promptly investigated and acted upon. Justice for victims requires more than policies. It requires truth, accountability, and the courage to protect people rather than institutions."

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Louisville told EWTN News it does not comment on pending litigation.

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Catholic schools in Colorado that want to be included in the state's universal preschool program.

Two parents, two Catholic parishes, and the Archdiocese of Denver are suing the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the state's Universal Preschool Program. The USCCB's amicus brief argues Catholic schools should be allowed to participate without compromising their faith.

Although Colorado permits secular and faith-based schools to participate in the program, schools are prohibited from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in the admissions process. The schools argue that this prevents them from only admitting children if their parents agree with Church teachings on those issues.

The USCCB's amicus brief said the case was the latest example of states and cities using nondiscrimination rules to quietly pressure or sideline certain religious beliefs.

"If this trend continues, it will impair the ability of Catholic organizations and other faith-based service providers to partner with state and local governments to serve the public," it adds. "The resulting harm to the nation's social support infrastructure would be immense."

The bishops urged the court to rule in favor of the Catholic schools and provide "clear instruction to courts across the country that religious organizations cannot be barred from participation in public life merely because they live out their sincerely held religious beliefs."

"[This] will ensure that these organizations can continue providing vital, irreplaceable services in partnership with the states while freely exercising their faith," the court filing adds.

Benedictine College gets candidate status for medical school

Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, announced that its proposed School of Osteopathic Medicine received candidate status by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

"Achieving Candidate Status is a significant milestone for Benedictine College. It reflects the dedication and hard work of many people who have helped bring this vision forward," Dr. Marla Golden, the founding dean, said in a statement. "Our attention now turns to the next major step of achieving Pre-Accreditation Status."

According to a news release, receiving candidate status allows the college to move forward toward the process of being accredited.

Study shows economic impact of Franciscan University

A study by the analytics company Lightcast found that Franciscan University of Steubenville generates $81.2 million in its annual economic impact and supports 1,146 jobs in the Ohio Valley.

According to a news release from the university, Franciscan's economic impact was equal to about 1.6% of the Ohio Valley's gross regional product. It found the university and its students supported 1 in every 45 regional jobs.

"Franciscan University's first mission is to form men and women in Christ and prepare them to serve God and others through their families, professions, and communities," Father Dave Pivonka, university president, said in a statement.

"This study gives us a remarkable glimpse at another dimension of that mission," he said. Franciscan is also an economic anchor for the Ohio Valley — providing jobs, supporting businesses, bringing students and visitors to the region, and sending graduates into the world prepared to contribute and serve."

New Catholic head of Intercollegiate Studies Institute

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) — founded by William F. Buckley and Frank Chodorov to support conservative college students — named Christopher Fisher, who has a background in Catholic education, as its new president.

Fisher serves as superintendent of Catholic schools at the Archdiocese of San Francisco and previously worked as the executive director of the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture at Portsmouth Abbey, a Catholic monastery and boarding school.

"Chris's deep commitment to the enduring ideas of the Western tradition, his record of institutional leadership, and his passion for forming the next generation of thoughtful, engaged citizens make him exceptionally well-suited to lead ISI into its next chapter," read an ISI post on X.

In a post on X, Fisher said he is "honored and humbled to be chosen as the next President of ISI, and am deeply grateful to the Board for the opportunity to lead an institution that shaped my own education and vocation."

Tennessee school district adds Ten Commandments in schools

The Hamilton County School Board in Tennessee voted 6-4 to require all public schools in the county to display the Ten Commandments, joining at least five other counties that have adopted similar rules.

These mandates come less than three months after a state law became effective, which expressly allows public schools and charter schools to display the Ten Commandments alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

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