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CNA Staff, May 6, 2025 / 18:11 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday urged a federal judge in Texas to dismiss an ongoing lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its removal of safety restrictions on abortion drugs.  

In its filing on Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued in federal court that Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri did not have standing to sue, following the Biden administration's legal course. 

The three Republican-led states sued the FDA last year, maintaining that the loosening restrictions on the drug mifepristone have led to abortion pills flooding their states, endangering women and undermining pro-life laws. 

The FDA should prohibit telehealth prescriptions for mifepristone, require in-office visits, and restrict the gestational age at which chemical abortions can occur, the states argued, saying that "women should have the in-person care of a doctor when taking high-risk drugs." 

The three states picked up the lawsuit after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously dismissed it in June 2023, saying that the group of pro-life doctors and organizations that filed the original case lacked standing as they could not show they had been harmed by the abortion drug's widespread availability. 

In 2021, the FDA lifted restrictions on mifepristone, authorizing doctors to prescribe the drugs online and mail the pills, allowing women to perform early abortions — up to 10 weeks of gestation — without leaving their homes. 

Department of Justice attorneys asked the federal judge in Texas to throw out the lawsuit. 

"Regardless of the merits of the states' claims, the states cannot proceed in this court," read the May 5 memorandum issued by the DOJ. 

A pro-life group is urging the Trump administration to reinstate medical safeguards around abortion pills.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, told CNA that the motion "is about who has the right to sue, not whether abortion drugs are safe." 

During the recent presidential campaign, pro-life advocates criticized Trump for his position that abortion law should be left for the states to decide. In 2024, Trump committed to not restricting abortion pill access and said that abortion is no longer a federal issue.

Dannenfelser urged the Trump administration "to reinstate basic measures that require real medical oversight" in regard to the abortion pill. 

"Women and girls deserve better than high-risk drugs with no in-person doctor, no follow up, and no accountability," Dannenfelser said. "This isn't health care, it's harm."

A recent study found that more than 1 in 10 women who take the abortion pill mifepristone to complete a chemical abortion will suffer a serious health complication during the process.

Dannenfelser called abortion drugs "dangerous."

"A growing body of evidence shows the serious harm these drugs pose to women as well as their babies," Dannenfelser continued. 

"At a minimum, the Trump administration should reverse the Biden FDA's reckless nationwide mail-order abortion drug policy," Dannenfelser said.

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Washington D.C., May 6, 2025 / 18:41 pm (CNA).

On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of first responders filled St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., to attend the 31st annual Blue Mass, a tradition that honors the sacrifice of those serving in law enforcement and public safety.

Organized by the Archdiocese of Washington, Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell celebrated the May 6 Mass, as Cardinal Robert McElroy is currently in Rome for the papal conclave. 

Several prominent members of law enforcement participated in the Mass, including Chief John Thomas Manger of the U.S. Capitol Police and Deputy Director Michele Ward Leo of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who both served as lectors. 

"Today, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, as well as gathering to celebrate all of you, our first responders, our police officers, our firefighters, our ENTs, all who push into situations … most of us are doing our best to get away from," said Monsignor Salvatore A. Criscuolo, retired pastor of St. Patrick's and a police chaplain, who gave the homily. 

"You wear uniforms that the world recognizes. But underneath that uniform, whether it be a uniform or a suit, there's a human soul, a human being, a beloved child of God," he continued, emphasizing the crucial need for first responders to be dependent on Christ. 

"Because only Christ can truly feed the deep hunger and all of you," Criscuolo said, "the hunger for peace after the chaos of death, the hunger for justice after everything is so unjust, the hunger for hope when everything feels hopeless."

Christ, he said, does not make himself distant from suffering and tragedy but rather is "in the mix" of it all.

"So when you answer that 911 call, you bring presence, peace, and safety," he continued. "When you rescue someone who is trapped or injured, you bring mercy. When you come to someone who is frightened by the world here, you become an instrument of the hands of God. That is your vocation."

Criscuolo has served as a chaplain to law enforcement for 37 years. Previously, he served as pastor at St. Patrick Church for 16 years.

"I've been on the streets when there have been some real difficulties," he told CNA after the Mass, reflecting on his years of experience as a chaplain. Recalling the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said: "9/11 was the first time ever I had seen fear on police officers' faces." 

Serving as a chaplain to first responders, he said, is "a rewarding ministry, and they give back to me more than I could ever give to them. They're always very supportive … They're all family people: men and women, husbands and wives … and they come here every day, and they don't know what they're going to be facing." 

After the Presentation of the Colors, the names of 13 fallen service members from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area as well as 15 officers from previous years stretching back as far as 1885 were read in a solemn tribute as representatives of their divisions or family members stood in recognition.

 While the tradition of holding a Blue Mass at St. Patrick's began just over 30 years ago, Criscuolo said the tradition of having special Masses for police officers goes back to the 1930s.

"There was a Catholic police society and a Protestant society, and the [Catholic] police officers would have their Mass here every Mother's Day, and all the Protestant officers would work," he said. "Then in June, the Protestants had their service, and all the Catholics would work the streets for them."

The tradition stopped for several years, he said, until "about 31 years ago, I decided we needed to bring this back again. And we did," he concluded, smiling. "It gets bigger and bigger each year, which is so nice to see."

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CNA Newsroom, May 6, 2025 / 18:44 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

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CNA Newsroom, May 6, 2025 / 08:25 am (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis' successor will begin on May 7, as the Church enters the final preparatory phase for choosing its 267th pope.

Follow here for live updates of the latest news and information on the papal transition:

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Vatican City, May 6, 2025 / 09:46 am (CNA).

The papal fisherman's ring and lead seal were nulled during the 12th general congregation of the College of Cardinals on Tuesday.

The ring and seal are destroyed or nulled after a pope's death to prevent their future misuse to seal official documents.

Vatican Media shared photos and videos of the cancellation of the ring and seal on May 6, and the X account of the Vatican secretary of state said the procedure was carried out in the presence of camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell and the College of Cardinals in the New Synod Hall.

According to Universi Dominici Gregis, the apostolic constitution regulating the "sede vacante," the College of Cardinals must "arrange for the destruction of the fisherman's ring and of the lead seal with which apostolic letters are despatched" after the pope's death.

The fisherman's ring is one of several rings typically worn by the Roman pontiff. The ring takes its name from its image of St. Peter as a fisherman, which became the standard design around the mid-15th century.

The first record of the ring's use was on two letters of Clement IV in 1265 and 1266. It was used as a wax seal in private letters in place of the official lead seal used for solemn papal documents.

In 1842, use of the ring and wax seal were replaced by a stamp, but each pope still receives a unique ring of the fisherman at the start of his papacy. Outside of papal ceremonies, Pope Francis typically wore only his episcopal ring.

The destruction of the ring and seal is part of a number of security measures overseen by the camerlengo after the pope's death, including the sealing of the papal apartments, until the election of a new pontiff.

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CNA Staff, May 6, 2025 / 10:27 am (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, this week said the next pope should be a disciple of Christ first and foremost, one who places "the declaration of Jesus" at the center of his papacy. 

Barron spoke to EWTN News Vatican Correspondent Colm Flynn on May 5 in Rome. The U.S. prelate noted that the Church is on "pins and needles" during the interregnum before the election of the next pope, though he admitted it's "an exciting time."

Asked by Flynn about the commentary that has proliferated around the papacy since Pope Francis' death on April 21, Barron said the "politicization" of the papal selection process reflects a "lack of proper prioritization." 

The bishop pointed to Australian priest and theologian Father Gerald Glynn O'Collins, SJ, who when  asked what he was looking for in the next pope after John Paul II's death, responded, as Barron put it: "I want someone who declares the resurrection of Jesus in a compelling way."

"Because that was Peter's job," Barron said, "and this is the successor of Peter. I think to put the stress on the spiritual, on the evangelical, on the declaration of Jesus — that's what matters." 

The prelate admitted that there are "further implications" to a pope's job. He told Flynn that there are "political strategies" that help advance the "moral principles" espoused by the Church.

"[T]he preoccupation with — oh, is he left-wing? Is he right-wing? Climate change, immigration — OK, we can get to all that," Barron said. 

"But the first thing I'd look for is a disciple, a believer in Jesus, and who has the capacity to proclaim the Resurrection in a compelling way," he said. "That's the pope's job, [and] to be a source of unity for the Church."

The politicization of the papacy is "seeing [the role] through a relentlessly secular political lens," Barron said. "And you know, again, I get it. But I'm annoyed at the way it gets the priorities off." 

Asked about the cardinals who are considered top contenders for the papal election this week, Barron pointed out that, during the last conclave, "nobody" suspected then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would become Pope Francis. 

"I always put that forward as a caution whenever we're talking about candidates," the bishop said. "There is certainly a good chance it won't be any of these people."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 6, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, announced this week that the 167 Catholics killed in the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 will be included on the list of "Witnesses of Faith" established by Pope Francis.

Inspired by an apostolic letter by Pope John Paul II, who wanted to ensure the legacy of the "unknown soldiers of God's great cause" was not lost, Pope Francis created the Commission of the New Martyrs - Witnesses of the Faith in 2023. Francis sought to acknowledge Catholics who have lost their lives while professing their faith in the first quarter of the 21st century. Compiled by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee Year, the list is an ongoing catalogue of Christian martyrs who, the Holy Father said, "are witnesses of the hope that comes from faith in Christ."

On April 21, 2019, terrorists bombed two Catholic churches, St. Sebastian's and St. Anthony's; an evangelical church; three hotels; and a private residence in Sri Lanka, killing more than 260 people.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, who has been the archbishop of Colombo since 2009, said that Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, has included the names of the 167 Catholics who died on the Witnesses of the Faith list, "considering the context of their heroism."

Ranjith said they are being included to "honor their sacrifice." 

This past weekend, St. Anthony Church in Colombo held a vigil to honor the lives lost during the fatal bombings. Hundreds of people, including Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic religious leaders, attended the gathering.

Following his attendance at the vigil, Ranjith traveled to the Vatican to take part in the conclave.

Six years after the attacks, Ranjith and the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka are still demanding further investigations into the bomings to examine potential involvement of state officials.

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Vatican City, May 5, 2025 / 13:56 pm (CNA).

Before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile clinic to assist the children of Gaza, one of the communities most affected by the war and humanitarian crisis in that region.

As Peter Brune, secretary-general of Caritas Sweden and one of the project's driving forces, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, it is the popemobile the pontiff used during his visit to Bethlehem in May 2014 during his historic trip to the Holy Land. "Since then, the vehicle has been on display in a public square in the Palestinian city," he said.

"The popemobile has been refurbished and upgraded to fulfill a new and hopeful mission: to provide medical assistance to injured and malnourished children who currently have no access to any type of health care," Brune explained.

The initiative was personally entrusted by the pope to Caritas Jerusalem in the final months of his life to respond to the extremely serious humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced children live without access to food, clean water, or basic medical care amid the Hamas conflict with Israel.

With the new name of "Vehicle of Hope," the former popemobile is being equipped with basic medical equipment: rapid diagnostic kits, suture materials, syringes, vaccines, oxygen, refrigerated medications, and other vital supplies.

The clinic will be operated by drivers and trained medical staff from Caritas Jerusalem, an organization with extensive experience in the region.

"This is a concrete, lifesaving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has virtually collapsed," Brune emphasized.

The mobile pediatric clinic can be deployed in the Palestinian territory as soon as humanitarian access is restored, with the mission of "providing basic care in the most isolated areas and reminding the world that children's rights and dignity must always be protected," Brune explained.

"It is not just a medical tool but a symbol that the world has not forgotten the children of Gaza," Brune added.

For his part, in a statement, Caritas Jerusalem Secretary-General Anton Asfar said the vehicle donated by Pope Francis represents "the love, care, and closeness that His Holiness showed toward the most vulnerable throughout the crisis."

The last time Pope Francis rode in a popemobile was on Sunday, April 20, just one day before his death. Despite his delicate health, he chose to move about St. Peter's Square one last time to greet the faithful after giving his "urbi et orbi" blessing. During that emotional tour, he asked to stop the vehicle several times to bless a child with cancer and several babies.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 5, 2025 / 14:57 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders and some members of the Church hierarchy in the United States have criticized President Donald Trump for sharing an AI-generated image of himself dressed as a pope.

Trump, who frequently shares memes of himself on social media, posted the image to Truth Social on Friday after joking that he would like to be chosen as the next pope. The White House subsequently posted the photo on its official X account.

The social media posts came just days after the president said he would "like to be pope" when a reporter asked him who he hopes is selected for the papacy in the upcoming papal conclave. As part of his response to that same question, he went on to say he actually had "no preference" while also touting Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as a "very good" candidate.

Trump's latest joke about the matter received pushback from some Catholic leaders, including Dolan, Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, and the entire New York Catholic Conference. As of the time of publication, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had not issued a statement nor responded to a request for comment from CNA.

Dolan, the archbishop of New York City and an appointee to Trump's recently created Religious Liberty Commission, told a reporter in Rome that he hopes the president "had nothing to do with that" and said "it wasn't good."

Speaking in Italian, Dolan called the stunt "brutta figura," essentially meaning that it was in bad form.

Barron, the bishop of Winona–Rochester, Minnesota, who was also appointed to the Religious Liberty Commission, told EWTN News that he thinks it was "a bad joke" and a "sophomoric attempt at humor." 

"I don't think at all it represents some disdain for the Catholic Church or some attack on the Catholic Church," he said. "President Trump has signaled in all sorts of ways his support for and affection for the Catholic Church. I think it was a bad joke that obviously landed very poorly and was seen as offensive by a lot of Catholics and I wish he hadn't done it."

Milwaukee Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the conclave is "a very serious time" for the Catholic Church and expressed displeasure that "we've lost great respect for moments like this."

Some Catholic leaders who criticized the president took stronger offense to the image.

The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops, posted on X that "there is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President."

"We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter," the post added. "Do not mock us."

Paprocki, who is the bishop of Springfield, Illinois, said on X that the photo "mocks God, the Catholic Church, and the papacy."

"This is deeply offensive to Catholics especially during this sacred time that we are still mourning the death of Pope Francis and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the election of our new pope," Paprocki wrote. "He owes an apology."

Other Catholic figures did not take such offense, however.

Vice President JD Vance, who is a convert to Catholicism, responded to criticisms of the image from commentator and writer Bill Kristol, who is not Catholic.

"As a general rule," wrote Vance, "I'm fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen," referring to Kristol's role in support of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In a news release, Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, called the image "dumb, but not bigoted."

"What Trump did was silly, but it was hardly an expression of bigotry," Donohue said. "We deal with real cases of anti-Catholicism at the Catholic League, not junior-league pranks."

CatholicVote's vice president Joshua Mercer — whose organization ran advertisements for Trump in the last election — said in a statement that the image is "obviously intended to be humorous."

"There is no need to imagine that he believes he could be pope, or that he intended to mock the papacy," Mercer said. "Memes depicting famous people as the new pope have been playfully circulating on social media everywhere for the past week."

Brian Burch, the president of CatholicVote and Trump's nominee as the ambassador to the Holy See, declined to comment. 

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Vatican City, May 4, 2025 / 19:58 pm (CNA).

On the ninth and final day of Novendiales, the nine days of mourning for Pope Francis, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti reflected on the papal mission to love and serve Christ and his Church.

The mission of a pope "is love itself, which becomes service to the Church and to all humanity," the cardinal said in St. Peter's Basilica.

The Mass for the ninth and last of the Novendiales was celebrated for the third Sunday of Easter.

In his homily, Mamberti, who was the prefect of the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's final court of appeal, since 2014, spoke about the day's Gospel passage, in which Jesus asks St. Peter three times if he loves him, calling on him to "feed my lambs" and "tend my sheep."

"Love is the key word of this Gospel passage," Mamberti said. "The first to recognize Jesus is 'the disciple whom Jesus loved,' John."

In the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, Jesus uses "the verb to love, a strong word, while Peter, mindful of the betrayal responds with the less demanding expression, 'to care,' and the third time Jesus himself uses the expression to care, adjusting to the apostle's weakness," the cardinal said.

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Mamberti noted that although Peter knew that Jesus was satisfied with his "'poor love, the only one of which he [was] capable. ... It is precisely this divine adjustment that gives hope to the disciple.'"

From that point on, Peter followed the Lord with a keen awareness of his own fragility but was not discouraged, Mamberti said, knowing that the Lord was beside him.

Mamberti then quoted St. John Paul II, who said regarding the Gospel passage that "every day the same dialogue between Jesus and Peter takes place within my heart. He, though aware of my human frailty, encourages me to respond with confidence like Peter: 'Lord,you know everything; you know that I love you' (Jn 21:17)."

"We have all admired how much Pope Francis, animated by the Lord's love and carried by his grace, has been faithful to his mission to the utmost consumption of his strength," Mamberti continued.

Alluding to the first reading of the day from the Acts of the Apostles, Mamberti said Pope Francis "has reminded the powerful that we must obey God rather than men and proclaimed to all humanity the joy of the Gospel, the merciful Father, Christ the savior. He did this in his magisterium, in his travels, in his gestures, in his lifestyle."

The cardinal recalled how he was close to Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, April 20, as the Holy Father gave his final "urbi et orbi" blessing before the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square, one day before he passed away.

Mamberti said he witnessed Pope Francis' "suffering but above all his courage and determination to serve the people of God to the end."

Noting that adoration is "an essential dimension of the Church's mission and the lives of the faithful," Mamberti observed that "this capacity that gives adoration was not difficult to recognize in Pope Francis."

"His intense pastoral life, his countless meetings, were grounded in the long moments of prayer that the Ignatian discipline had imprinted in him," he said.

Everything Francis did, Mamberti said, "he did under the gaze of Mary," recalling the 126 times the late pope visited the "Salus Populi Romani" icon in the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray.

"And now that he rests at the beloved image," Mamberti said, "we entrust him with gratitude and confidence to the intercession of the mother of the Lord and our mother."

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