Catholic News

Pope Leo XIV has convened a gathering on the family at the Vatican from Oct. 7–14, during which bishops will listen to the testimony of 11 married couples from five continents.

These families will present to more than 150 bishops the challenges they encounter in passing on the faith in increasingly secularized societies.

The meeting is being organized on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the postsynodal apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in 2016.

The document sparked intense debate, especially after the bishops of the Buenos Aires Pastoral Region interpreted it as allowing, following a process of accompanied pastoral discernment, access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist for some Catholics who are divorced and civilly remarried "when a person judges that he or she would fall into a further fault by harming the children of the new union."

In 2023, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that this interpretation forms part of the authentic magisterium after being incorporated into the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy See's official bulletin.

According to the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, participants in the meeting will include the heads of the 15 Eastern Catholic Churches "sui iuris" (14 represented by their patriarchs or highest authorities and one by a delegate), the presidents of the world's 115 bishops' conferences (those of Peru, Paraguay, Turkey, and Ethiopia will send delegates), two representatives of bishops from territories without a bishops' conference, and 22 participants specially chosen by the Holy Father.

In addition, 67 other people will attend, including members of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, the General Secretariat of the Synod, and 26 experts and 16 facilitators.

Not an evaluation of Amoris Laetitia

During a presentation of the gathering at the Vatican, Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life since 2017, a laywoman, mother of five, and doctor of bioethics, emphasized that "this is not about evaluating a text but about deepening our understanding of the family and pastoral realities that have received and interpreted this document in different ways, just as the life of the Church is diverse in the various places around the world where it is present and rooted in the one Gospel."

"The central point on which we must focus our attention is that the Church's goal is not to see texts applied mechanically and uniformly in every reality, because each one has characteristics that are very different from the others," she said.

She stated that the central question of the meeting is: "How is the faith transmitted today? How is faith passed on in families today, and how do families contribute to building up the Church?"

"Without families, the Church cannot renew its Christian roots. It is in families that children are born, where faith and values are transmitted, for better or worse, and where vocations arise," she explained.

To illustrate the scale of the ongoing religious changes, Gambino offered several statistics. In Poland, religious marriages celebrated over the last five years have declined by 45%. In Australia, they have fallen from 88% in 1970 to 16% in 2024. In her view, these are signs that, in different contexts, highlight the urgency of better accompanying couples in their decision to marry and providing stronger support for the transmission of faith within the family.

Orietta Rachele Grazioli, a tenured professor of canon law and comparative family law at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences, and vice coordinator of the expert group, explained that the "methodology chosen by the Holy Father for this gathering is centered on two key words that complement one another: listening and discernment."

5 major themes

The gathering will be structured around five major themes related to marriage, family life, and the transmission of the faith. Reflection will begin with "Families Today: Reality, Beauty, and Challenges," dedicated to analyzing the current situation of the family, and will continue with "Young People and the Discovery of the Vocation to Marriage," "Married Life: The First Years of Marriage, a Decisive Time," and "In Life's Difficulties: Accompanying and Supporting," which will address the accompaniment of engaged and married couples at different stages of their journey.

The meeting will conclude with the theme "Christian Families as Subjects of the Church's Mission," focused on the evangelizing role of families and their contribution to ecclesial life.

Father Giacomo Costa, a consultant to the General Secretariat of the Synod, said that "the question is not what Amoris Laetitia says but what we have learned by trying to live it."

He also recalled that the goal identified by Pope Leo XIV, who will be present at both the opening and closing of the gathering, is "to advance in mutual listening toward a synodal discernment about the steps we must take today to proclaim the Gospel with families. The composition of the assembly itself reflects this objective."

Before the start of the proceedings, an introductory meditation will be given by Sister Helen Alford, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Each morning will be structured around three types of speeches: family testimonies, contributions from bishops, and reflections from experts.

'The goal is not to eliminate differences'

"The goal is not to eliminate differences. We do not want to arrive at an artificial consensus," Costa said. Each day will include a report summarizing the discussions, which will serve as the basis for extensive dialogue and debate sessions in the afternoon. He made clear, however, that "this is not a new synod on the family but a process guided by the synodal method, one that consciously draws upon the experience of the synods and other forums of the Church."

Regarding the expected outcomes of the gathering, Costa insisted that "nothing has been predetermined." A final summary will be prepared at the conclusion of the assembly, but no concluding document will be published. The text will be reviewed by a commission tasked with verifying that it faithfully reflects what emerged during the working sessions.

Afterward, the presidents of bishops' conferences will be invited to promote initiatives in their local Churches aimed at opening new pastoral paths and further developing the proposals that emerge from the gathering.

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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Jack Valero, Opus Dei's spokesman in the United Kingdom for the past 25 years, has just published "El Opus Dei sin filtros. Por qué me hice de la Obra" ("Opus Dei Unfiltered: Why I Joined the Work").

In the book, he presents the apostolate founded by St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer in 1928 through the experiences and testimonies of some 20 members. "Opus Dei" in Latin means the "Work of God," commonly referred to by members of the apostolate as "the Work."

Valero has spent many years answering questions about this institution, which has nearly 100,000 members across almost 70 countries worldwide.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, he noted that "sometimes, answering the way I used to — 'from the top down' —  makes it harder to explain" what it actually means to belong to the Catholic Church's only personal prelature.

Thus, when he was offered the chance to write the book in late 2025, he decided to tackle the challenge "from the bottom up."

"It is the people themselves who speak about their lives. Having done it that way, I think it is far more effective, because it's more real. Or rather, it doesn't explain everything to you, but what it does explain, it explains very well."

The book's pages feature a range of members: supernumeraries (men and women with a vocation to marriage); numeraries like Valero and associates (both groups being celibate for apostolic reasons); and assistant numeraries.

The role played by this latter category of members has recently been the subject of controversy due to allegations made by 43 assistant numeraries in Argentina who claimed to have been "victims of trafficking." Valero said his approach to this specific vocation within Opus Dei "has been a major learning experience."

"I realized it's not up to me to explain what that vocation is, but rather for them to explain it, and they do so very well. I was deeply impressed," explained the spokesman, who has included the testimonies of two assistant numeraries in his book. "One at the beginning and one at the end. To make it clear that this is very important within the Work," he indicated.

'It's a privilege to speak about the things I love'

Throughout his work in communications for Opus Dei as an institution, Valero has navigated periods of intense media activity, such as during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom or the release of books like "The Da Vinci Code."

In the first chapter of the book, where he recounts his own vocation, he notes that Opus Dei "doesn't promote a political program or a structured project to transform society." During the conversation with ACI Prensa, he added that the Work "has no program to improve the world, but rather to improve people."

He further noted: "We have many formation programs to help people become like Jesus Christ — to be in the world, respond to God, sanctify everyday realities, etc., and to encourage and inspire them so that they change the world."

Thus, Valero argued, trusting in the use of freedom, they can work together on their initiatives to change the world. "It's an idea we need to develop further because, obviously, we haven't communicated it entirely well, as many people don't understand it. We need to communicate better about that."

Reforming the statutes: 'The Work changes with the Church'

With the centennial of the founding of Opus Dei approaching in two years, the prelature is undertaking the process of modifying its statutes, as directed by Pope Francis in the 2022 motu proprio Ad Charisma Tuendum.

In June 2025, Opus Dei submitted a proposal for modification and is awaiting the decision of Pope Leo XIV.

"They say the Church is 'semper reformanda' ['always reforming']. The world changes, the Church changes, and the Work changes along with the Church, because the Work is part of the Church," Valero explained.

He acknowledged that within the institution, "the way directors govern today is very different from how things were done 40 years ago."

"Governance in the Work is about accompanying and supporting people. It's not about giving them orders. I haven't given any order nor received any order," he emphasized.

Regarding the statutory reform, the spokesman stated that "we are seeking to refine the legal framework" with the same spirit that guided its founder in the beginning: "Everything that comes from God through the Holy See, we accept with great love. We see that it's something that God wants and that gives us great peace."

"We want to imitate Christ and sanctify the world and bring God's love to people. That's what we are doing now. If the legal framework needs to be changed in some way, well, that's what needs to be done, and there's no problem with that," he added.

Reality versus myths

Finally, Valero expressed his hope that the book would be read by Opus Dei members "to appreciate the variety of ways this vocation is lived out" and also by others "so that they might see, instead of the abstract myths they have heard about, the reality of the people themselves."

"I am really hopeful that many people will read it and that this will lead to a greater understanding of what Opus Dei is," he concluded.

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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A lay member of the Rome-based International Association of Exorcists said he has seen what he considers a significant rise in requests for exorcisms over the past five to eight years.

Adam Blai, a lay adviser in the Pittsburgh Diocese on cases involving alleged demonic activity, told "EWTN News Nightly" on Oct. 1 that the number of cases there has risen sharply in the past five years. He said he and his team pray with people weekly and that exorcists he works with nationwide report being extremely busy.

"For some reason, there's an increase," said Blai, who also teaches priests how to perform exorcisms at the Pope Leo XIII Institute at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. "But the more important, beautiful part is the Holy Spirit is raising up this ministry."

Blai said warding off attack from demonic spirits starts with avoiding occult or other practices that invite in the spirits. "They need permission," he said. "The evil spirits need permission from God to do what they do."

"When we play with the occult, with divination, with ghost hunting, with Ouija boards, we are reaching out to random spirits and saying, 'I want my comfort or my information from you right now on my terms, I'm not going to wait on God, I'm not going to trust God, I'm not going to trust his providence or his grace, I'm going to seek out other spirits,'" Blai continued. "And when we do that, we form a relationship with them. And that's the root of these extraordinary demonic problems."

Blai said the Church has learned to "carefully discern" whether something is a spiritual problem, medical problem, misunderstanding, or even a false claim of possession.

"If we start saying these dramatic prayers over a person with mental illness that has delusional ideas, we could encourage those ideas," he said.

Ultimately, Blai noted that the bishop has sole authority to determine which priests may say exorcism prayers. "Every priest has the power to do exorcisms in their ordination. What they don't have is permission to pick up the exorcism rite and pray it over somebody until the bishop gives that to them," he said.

"Now, all that being said, is it wise to have a priest who is pious, has a good, solid spiritual life, is well known to the bishop? Absolutely. And do some priests have gifts of discernment that may help them in the ministry? Yes, but it's not required," he concluded. "Jesus tends to provide the other people and gifts and support around the ministry that that exorcist needs."

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The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish a new document on the transmission of the faith, titled Venite ad Me, in mid-October.

According to a source from the dicastery with direct knowledge of its content, who confirmed the information to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the text "addresses various paths and different possibilities to encourage reflection within each diocese on the difficulties and new opportunities we have for transmitting faith in Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters."

Venite ad Me, which means "Come to Me" in Latin, responds to a request made by Pope Francis and embraced by Leo XIV, aimed at stimulating debate and reflection within the Catholic community.

"Given that in many parts of the world the faith is transmitted with increasing difficulty, the question is how we can successfully pass on the faith to others in the world in which we live," the same source added.

In preparing the document, the Vatican consulted bishops' conferences from around the world. According to the Vatican source, 70% of them responded.

"This gives the text a strongly universal character that reflects a wide variety of concerns and contexts regarding the transmission of the faith," the source noted.

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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VATICAN CITY — Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, ordained 18 men from the North American College in Rome as transitional deacons in St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday.

The Oct. 1 celebration came after approximately seven years of rigorous spiritual, academic, and pastoral formation, marking a pivotal step for the men in the journey toward becoming fully ordained Catholic priests.

Transitional deacons are in their final stage of ministry as seminarians before their priestly ordination. For each candidate, the milestone signifies a lifelong commitment to humble service, preaching the Gospel, and assisting at the altar as they step into their ultimate calling as shepherds of the faith.

Reflecting on the weight and grace of the moment, candidate Nicholas Vande Hey of Green Bay, Wisconsin, told EWTN News that he "feels humbled and I feel hungry at the same time ... for what [the Lord is] going to do in the future." Vande Hey is joined by peers representing dioceses across the United States, all of whom have spent years preparing in the heart of the Church.

In his homily, Barron, founder of the Catholic ministry Word on Fire, reminded the candidates of their fundamental and seminal role as preachers of the word.

Drawing on sacred tradition, he emphasized that the young deacons must bear Christ's mission in mind as they complete their studies in Rome and prepare to take what they learned back home to their local parishes.

Christ himself said, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church," Barron said.

The bishop went on to say that "when Christ's words resonate through you to his people, things change. Hearts are set on fire."

Graham Fassero of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, on the eve of his ordination, said: "Rome has been able to give me this habit of thinking as a pilgrim, and I would love to bring some glimmer of that to the people back home too."

For new deacon Brendan Finnegan of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut, this ordination is "a fulfillment" as he continues to "learn to be a man in service," leaning on his experiences in Rome to effectively govern and sanctify the people of his parish.

As the 18 men complete their final year of preparation, they carry with them the unique grace of having been ordained in the spiritual center of the universal Church.

Barron closed his homily with this phrase: "Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you preach."

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VATICAN CITY — There is a fundamental difference between the art humans create and what artificial intelligence can make based on the work of others, Pope Leo XIV told a group of artists on Friday.

"The Church needs you," the pontiff said at the Oct. 2 encounter at the Vatican. "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."

"There is an ontological difference — even before an aesthetic one — between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of the human, whereas 'authentic culture and art preserve this spark,'" Leo said, quoting from his encyclical on AI, Magnifica Humanitas.

The pope said this is the reason why the Catholic Church wishes to renew its alliance with artists and cultural institutions.

Leo's address to artists and curators in the Apostolic Palace was part of a meeting on "The Art of Possibility: Weaving Together," organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

The pope pointed to St. Augustine and his testimony of the "restlessness of the human heart in search of truth."

"Art, when it is authentic, is also animated by this restlessness. For this reason, the Church has never considered art to be merely decorative. Instead, for the Church, art nurtures the fundamental posture of listening, through which we can learn about humanity's aspirations and wounds, our thirst for beauty, justice and peace, and our search for meaning," he said.

In the age of search engines and their endless, instantaneous answers that only "give us what we already want," art is different, he noted.

Art "does not proceed by indexing but by inquiry," the pontiff said. "Indeed, its inquiry is a focused attention that is not satisfied with the mere sum of facts, for it never ceases to dig deeper, seeking the thread that unites them. Your art, when it resists homogenization, when it draws our gaze, when it compels us to pause before that which cannot be consumed, is a form of cultural and spiritual regeneration."

Leo cited the homily of his predecessor St. Paul VI from a Mass with artists in 1964.

"St. Paul VI spoke words that remain a landmark for the Church's relationship with artists: 'We need you,' he said. 'Our ministry needs your collaboration. For, as you know, our ministry is to preach and to make the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of the ineffable, of God, accessible and understandable — indeed, inspiring. And in this task, which translates the invisible world into accessible, intelligible forms, you are masters,'" Pope Leo quoted.

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A Belgian bishop has renewed his push to ordain married men as priests in his diocese by 2028, despite no public Vatican authorization for the proposal.

In an interview in the October issue of Herder Korrespondenz, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp said he traveled to Rome in June to present the matter to the Dicastery for the Clergy and the General Secretariat of the Synod.

Bonny linked a possible arrangement to the Synod on Synodality's implementation phase. "I trust that an appropriate arrangement can be found by the end of the synodal process in the fall of 2028," Bonny said according to CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. "It would be a fatal blow to the credibility and implementation of the entire synodal process if no arrangement were reached by then."

Bonny first outlined his plans in March. He also participated in the German Synodal Way as an observer.

At the German bishops' plenary assembly in 2022, Bonny said that "Rome must learn to live with a healthy dose of Germanic culture." He referred to an open style of consultation and discussion, not the ordination of married men; the address was also released as a podcast.

Confidence in Pope Leo

The Vatican has not publicly commented on Bonny's most recent remarks or announced any decision concerning his proposal.

Bonny told the German magazine he was continuing discussions within the Belgian bishops' conference and holding conversations with potential candidates about further formation.

He said the Flemish dioceses faced a serious shortage of priests and that any step toward ordaining married men would need the agreement of both the Belgian bishops' conference and the Vatican.

"How this step could take place with the agreement of the bishops' conference and the Vatican is a question for the coming months," Bonny said.

Bonny said canonists had told him canon law offered various lawful ways to address the question, but he did not identify a specific canonical mechanism or say Vatican officials had endorsed one.

He also said his confidence rested partly on Pope Leo XIV's exercise of his office as a bridge-builder and on conversations with bishops in several countries and continents whom he said faced similar circumstances.

Under Canon 1042 of the Code of Canon Law, a man who has a wife is impeded from receiving sacred orders except when he is legitimately destined for the permanent diaconate. A diocesan bishop cannot unilaterally set aside that impediment or introduce a different priestly-ordination discipline in his diocese.

David Long, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at The Catholic University of America and a canonist, told EWTN News in March that the question of ordaining married men "does not lie within the authority of a diocesan bishop acting on his own."

"Any current change in practice in a Latin diocese would require action by the Holy See and could not be accomplished by a unilateral decision by a diocesan bishop, no matter how pastorally urgent the circumstances may be," he said.

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An aborted baby from New Mexico has won a wrongful death lawsuit against an abortionist.

The estate of a child killed in utero during the third trimester collected $200,000 under New Mexico's wrongful death law.

The case, Wabbington v. Boyd, argued by Albuquerque medical malpractice attorney Mike Seibel, described the unborn baby as a "person" who was "entitled to equal protection under the law." Seibel advocates for women who have been injured by abortion.

The baby's mother had been under the influence of methamphetamine when she went to an abortion clinic in 2020 and was thus unable to give valid informed consent, but the abortion was provided anyway.

The lawsuit said that abortionists also failed to inform her of support available to her in the state or refer her to the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department.

Seibel told Live Action News that the case was the first time an abortionist was ever sued for the wrongful death of a baby.

3 states file lawsuit against telehealth abortion

Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama have filed lawsuits against providers who ship abortion drugs into their states and against California, Massachusetts, and New York over their laws shielding abortion pill providers.

The states' Sept. 30 lawsuit against abortion providers calls mail-order abortion "one of the most dramatic and sweeping interstate conflicts in modern history."

"If state sovereignty means anything, it means that states like Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama cannot be forced to endure open violations of their laws, deaths of their babies, and harms to their women and girls simply because an out-of-state actor disagrees with their sovereign prerogative to choose life within their borders," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit names as defendants several abortion pill providers, including Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants Inc. in Massachusetts and A Safe Choice Network Inc. in California.

A separate lawsuit brought by the states asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the abortion shield laws of California, Massachusetts, and New York unconstitutional.

Poland opens first abortion pill delivery locker

Activist groups in Poland have launched a locker to distribute abortion pills, which they say is the first of its kind in the world.

Women Help Women, a global group that provides abortion pills without physicians, and the Polish abortion activism group Abortion Dream Team put the locker across from Parliament in Warsaw.

The organization gives women who are seeking abortion a six-digit code to open one of 22 numbered lockers.

Abortion is legal in Poland in cases of rape or incest or if there is risk to the mother's life or health.

Respect Life Month prioritizes abortion pill

As Respect Life Month kicks off in October, the U.S. Catholic bishops are emphasizing the importance of opposing abortion pills.

Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' pro-life committee, released a statement on Sept. 29 describing the risks of injury and exploitation from abortion pills as "affronts to human dignity."

"Today, with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks," Thomas said. "This means that more women, many of whom have been misinformed about the nature and risks of the abortion pill, will have an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision. It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers."

Thomas urged the faithful to pray and take action against abortion.

"Our Blessed Mother is our model for upholding the sanctity of all human life in every stage and circumstance," Thomas continued. "We entrust all our efforts to protect mothers and babies to her motherly care, which we greatly need at this time."

"I thank the many thousands of Catholics across the country who have embraced the nationwide invitation to prayer and action on abortion pills, and I ask that we continue our prayers and advocacy throughout the month of October," Thomas said.

Bishop Burbidge calls for weekly fasting, rosary against abortion amendment

As Virginians prepare to vote on an amendment that could create a right to abortion in the state's constitution, Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington is calling on the faithful to take up weekly fasting and prayer throughout October.

The "Catholics Vote No" campaign urges Catholics to vote no on the Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment along with the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment.

Burbidge asked Catholics to fast every Friday and pray the rosary each Sunday this October.

"Our Catholics Vote No campaign is rooted in prayer and fasting," Burbidge said in a statement. "Therefore, On Fridays, I ask that you pray the Stations of the Cross. And fast—which means eating only one full meal and no meat."

"On Sundays, I ask that you pray the Rosary and fast from social media for at least a few hours—especially before and after Mass," he said.

"It would be a powerful force if all in the Diocese of Arlington were united in these efforts," Burbidge continued. "We entrust them to the Lord's amazing grace, so all that is just, right, and true will be done in this election."

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The Archdiocese of Baltimore expects to ordain its largest single-year class in more than 50 years as the number of men in priestly formation continues to rise.

The archdiocese said it will ordain 12 priests in 2027, one in January and 11 in June. Overall, the numbers have grown from 28 seminarians in 2007, 52 in 2020, and 66 this year. In 2026, 14 men, ranging in age from 17 to 36, entered formation from 14 different parishes.

"This has not been sudden," Archbishop William E. Lori said. "It's been building every year, and this is due to a lot of people praying before the Blessed Sacrament. It's due to a good vocations team. It's also due to pastors who are encouraging vocations in their parishes — and to parents who are generously open to the possibility that their son might have a priestly vocation."

Father Steven Roth, vocations director and associate vicar for clergy, told EWTN News that when Lori came to Baltimore, the archbishop was given staggering statistics on the declining number of clergy there, and "from the start, he was determined to reverse that trend."

Lori ordained five priests and 12 transitional deacons at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in May 2026.

"We did the counterintuitive," Roth said. "We raised the bar for the application process. Because of that, we now have 66 vocations directors," he said of the 66 current seminarians.

"Our success is based on the men who have said yes. They're the best advertisement for us," he said, recounting a scenario where a man was on the fence about applying to seminary, but a seminarian on a summer assignment at a parish helped the man decide to apply.

Newly ordained priests are filling positions that have been empty for years: hospital, high school and college chaplaincies, and parishes that have not had an associate pastor in decades.

Roth said they are already seeing the positive effects: at one parish in particular, he said, there has been "a drastic difference" since the arrival of a young priest who is assisting the pastor: "To have a young priest with vigor, it just energizes the community; it excites everyone to continue this work … there are more people now, and the energy in the parish is different."

What brought the initial increase, Roth said, were efforts to get parish leadership to see there was a need for more vocations. "They've run with it," he said. "Pastors have been huge supporters of the archbishop's push and the key to the rising numbers."

Many parishes have created a culture of vocation awareness, encouraging Eucharistic adoration and welcoming him and Father Lenin Suarez, the associate director of vocations, to speak. Pastors have personally invited young men to go to attend discernment retreats such as Quo Vadis, and Quo Vadis Beyond, directed toward high school-aged men.

Both of the archdiocese's propaedeutic houses, in Emmitsburg and Baltimore, are full. Three of this year's new seminarians will spend that first year, the propaedeutic year — a period of prayer, discernment, and human formation — at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary instead, working with the Source of All Hope program among the homeless.

Formation can last up to nine years, which Roth said is intended to be a time of healthy discernment in which the men have the opportunity to reflect on their experiences.

In addition to academics, seminarians undergo background checks, meet with priests and formators, attend spiritual direction, and work at various parish ministries as they discern and before they are formally accepted.

"We have an intense process, once we think they're capable of formation, then we give them the application" to the seminary, Roth said. "We don't just send an application to everyone."

While there are men who leave, Roth said it's a small number. "We do have men who discern out and become wonderful husbands and fathers," he said.

Roth said the quality of the candidates is impressive.

"I'm impressed with them all the time," he said. He described how some have a charism for working with the poor in Baltimore City, spending time with the drug addicted and the homeless. "They're not afraid at all," Roth said.

He also described the fraternity among the seminarians, calling it "incredible."

"When a man is accepted as a seminarian, the other guys immediately start emailing him, inviting him to events," Roth said. "If a man is sick, or if a family member of his is sick or dies, they all rally around" and care for him.

A few years ago, a man in a college seminary broke his leg in a football game. The other seminarians reconfigured the seminary so he could come back sooner while he was still in a wheelchair. "It was inspiring to me," Roth said. "They were all cheering him on."

The vocations director said that while "we celebrate not only the number as well as the caliber" of the young men, "the work is not done. There is so much more opportunity for evangelization. That is why we have to keep praying for vocations."

"Our priests work so hard, they are stretched to the limits. We hope to start expanding our evangelization efforts," Roth said. "We've envisioned journeying with families who've lost a loved one. What usually happens when someone dies is the parish works with the family though the funeral, and that's it. At best you get an invite to an All Souls liturgy later in the year. Imagine if a priest had the time to walk with the family in the months and years after a death, or facilitate a group of laypeople to support the family?"

Regarding the sacraments, Roth said while the Church is good at providing them, it is not great with the follow-up. He would like to see priests supporting young married couples through the first years of marriage and after the baptism of their children. He'd also like to see priests and lay members reach out to fallen away Catholics, showing care and inviting them back to the Church.

Roth said he hopes publicity about the rising numbers of seminarians doesn't mean people will stop praying for more priests. On the contrary, he said, "the archbishop says this is the time for more prayers, for more men to say yes. We are asking for more vocations in every realm: more marriages; for more young women to enter religious communities."

"This is a very broad project. This does not mean the job is done, it's just the beginning," he said.

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Louisville, Kentucky, Archbishop Shelton Fabre says Catholics must form their consciences through Church teaching and place faith ahead of political identity in two videos released Oct. 1.

Fabre reminded Catholics of their "responsibility to vote" and to "form our consciences according to the Gospel and Church teaching" in the video messages produced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The bishops released the videos as U.S. voters prepare for the 2026 midterm elections Nov. 3 that will decide control of Congress, dozens of governorships, and hundreds of state-level offices nationwide.

"Our identity in Christ must come before any political identity," said Fabre, chair of the USCCB's Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Our identity in Christ must come before any political identity."

Bishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville

Chair of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development

Fabre said voting is a moral act rooted in the dignity of human life, charity toward others, and the pursuit of the common good.

"We discern and we pray, and we participate in public life by voting, but also in many other ways, by advocating for the human dignity of each and every person, and also always reminding political structures and political groups that our concern is for the common good," Fabre said in the video "Forming Our Consciences and Voting."

"At the center of my decision is my desire to be the best disciple of Jesus Christ that I can be," Fabre said in the video "The Call to Put Faith Before Politics."

Clergy training

Another USCCB video titled "Preaching Faithful Citizenship and the Call to Put Faith Before Politics," released last month, features Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas; Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore; and Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland, Oregon. Catholics must witness to Christ's love in how they speak, act, and engage politically — not only in what positions they hold, the prelates say in the 16-minute video.

"We need to be agents that promote unity among people, dialogue among people, meaningful conversations among people, respecting the dignity of each and every person who is my neighbor," Sample said in the video. "This is the whole surrounding question around the story of the good Samaritan. And Jesus teaches us in that parable, and we can instruct our people to look there, because that whole parable of the good Samaritan begins with the question, 'And who is my neighbor?'"

Lori said: "I think that that is one of the things that we have to learn to do continually in the life of the Church is to encounter one another, not because we agree on everything, but precisely in those things where we might disagree, but looking at the other person, not as a position to be disagreed with, but a person made in God's image and likeness and called to eternal life."

A written guide for clergy offers a structured training plan to help them teach Catholics how to engage in political life with a well-formed conscience rooted in Church teaching.

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