The United States solicitor general urged the Supreme Court to stop Colorado from excluding Catholic schools from the state's universal preschool (UPK) program.
The United States solicitor general urged the Supreme Court to stop Colorado from excluding Catholic schools from the state's universal preschool (UPK) program in a brief on Friday.
The 25-page amicus brief, submitted by Solicitor General John Sauer, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris, and Assistant to the Solicitor General Emily Hall, asked the Supreme Court to consider the religious discrimination case.
The friend-of-the-court brief is the latest development in the yearslong legal troubles that religious preschools wanting to be involved in the UPK have faced. The UPK program pledges to provide tuition assistance to families for qualifying preschools, but several religious preschools have been excluded from the program due to its requirements related to its equal opportunity mandate.
Most recently, the U.S Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld the UPK program in spite of alleged religious discrimination against faith-based preschools. In response, the parish-run preschools and the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver are appealing to the Supreme Court.
The solicitor general's brief highlighted the "severity of the court of appeals' error." The solicitor general noted that the UPK gives some exemptions from its equal access requirements to secular schools while withholding exemptions from religious schools.
"Colorado's exemptions allow differential treatment for some groups, e.g., low-income families or disabled children, but not others. Having departed from universal even-handedness, Colorado cannot claim that allowing Catholic preschools to apply a preference based on Catholic teachings on sexual orientation and gender identity would uniquely undermine its law," the brief read.
"Granting review in this case would allow this court to provide useful guidance on a subject that lower courts frequently confront," the brief stated.
Becket, the religious liberty legal group arguing the case, welcomed the brief.
"The solicitor general's filing in this case signals to the court just how egregious, illegal, and dangerous Colorado's discrimination is," Nick Reaves, senior counsel at Becket and lead attorney for the preschools and families, said in a statement.
"The state is labeling a program 'universal' and then banning religious families and schools from it because of their faith," Reaves continued. "If that kind of exclusion is allowed to stand, no religious group is safe from being pushed out of public life."
Twenty other parties have filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of the preschools since December 2025, including Thomas More Society, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Notre Dame Education Law Project, and West Virginia and 21 other states.
"Our preschools exist to help parents who want an education rooted in the Catholic faith for their children," said Scott Elmer, chief mission officer for the Archdiocese of Denver, in a November 2025 statement. "All we ask is for the ability to offer families who choose a Catholic education the same access to free preschool services that's available at thousands of other preschools across Colorado."
"We're grateful the solicitor general recognized what's at stake here and added his voice to a growing chorus urging the Supreme Court to hear this case," Reaves concluded.
As the sixth annual International Religious Freedom Summit wrapped up in Washington, D.C., the organization's co-chairs addressed the current state of global religious liberty.
2026 International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit co-chairs Sam Brownback and Katrina Lantos Swett offered a fresh assessment of the current state of global religious liberty and the movement's growth.
The IRF Summit, which concluded in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, is a broad coalition of religious and human rights groups that advocate for religious freedom for all people across the globe.
Assessing the current religious freedom panorama, "we see more countries putting resources into this issue, appointing high-level envoys focused on freedom of religion or belief," Lantos Swett told EWTN News. "So that's on the good side of the ledger."
"On the bad side of the ledger, the evidence now is that over 80% of the world's population live in countries where there is some degree of repression, persecution, and societal and legal imposition on this fundamental human right," she said.
Current concerns right now include what is known as "transnational repression." She explained: "We increasingly are seeing some of these very bad actors in the world reaching the long hand of violence, threat, intimidation, harassment beyond their national borders."
Lantos Swett detailed China, Iran, and Russia are at the "top of the list" of worst countries when it comes to religious freedom matters.
"We're very concerned about the efforts by the Chinese government to engage in what I would view as a hostile takeover of the Catholic Church by appointing their own bishops and controlling what the Catholic Church is allowed to do in China," she indicated.
There is also present "false propaganda" and even potential issues with artificial intelligence (AI) and how it "will impact for good and for ill, the defense of conscience rights."
Infringement upon religious freedom around the world is "a massive problem," Brownback said. "It's probably one of the most abused human rights in the world."
"It happens to all different faiths everywhere. It's time the world wakes up and pushed us back against this," Brownback said.
Agreeing with Lantos Swett, Brownback said China is "No. 1" when it comes to the worst countries for religious freedom. He also noted Nigeria and the Indian subcontinent.
In China, "they oppress their people, but then they also produce the technology that goes out to, we think, nearly 80 countries for oppression," he said.
How religious freedom movement can take action
Those involved in the IRF movement have "been climbing up the backside of the mountain where nobody could see us for a long period of time, and now we're up at a perch that a lot of people are shooting at us," Brownback said during a Feb. 2 summit panel.
"Now that we're in the center of the debate and the discussion, we've got to act like it. We've got to have our factual settings together. We've got to be careful and cautious, but bold and courageous," he said.
Jan Jekielek, senior editor with The Epoch Times, with International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit co-chairs Sam Brownback and Katrina Lantos Swett at the 2026 IRF Summit in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington, D.C. | Credit: Photo courtesy of IRF Summit
"At the same time, we've got to form alliances and pull people in, not just from religious freedom, but also from democracy movements, from security movements to make this … a global movement, a grassroots movement, because that's where we win as a global grassroots movement."
Lantos Swett expanded further on what the movement needs to do next. She said the cause for religious liberty is bigger than the "politics of the day." The cause "is more profound and ultimately more unifying than the many things that pull us apart."
"We have become deeply divided, deeply hostile towards those who don't agree with us politically or on some other criteria. But Ambassador Brownback and I certainly have felt that as it relates to the fight to defend religious freedom for everyone everywhere, it is of paramount importance that this remain really not just a bipartisan cause but a nonpartisan cause," she said.
The "movement is growing" in part to "an unease about the pervasive nihilism we see in the world around us," Lantos Swett said. "You know, nihilism, this philosophy, either moral nihilism, there's no such thing as right and wrong. Or as existential nihilism, life itself has no meaning, no purpose. It's a terrible way to live. It's a terrible way for a community and a society to feel."
"I do think, especially maybe even among young people, that you sense that they're moving away from that somewhat aimless and nihilistic view of life and searching for something more meaningful."
"I hope that that will also help us recruit a new generation of leaders to this movement because they are starting to understand how important it is to have a defining purpose and sense of meaning and consequence to your life," she said.
The 300 Catholic leaders are asking that Congress approve protections for migrants in any funding bill to prioritize family unity and alternatives to detention.
About 300 Catholic leaders, including 15 bishops, sent a letter to the Senate this week asking lawmakers to reject funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if the appropriations bill does not include protections for migrants.
Republicans and Democrats reached a temporary deal on the appropriations bill, which extends funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which operates ICE, for just two weeks. The bill will likely receive a vote Saturday, but lawmakers will need to further negotiate DHS and ICE funds in early February even if it passes.
The main point of contention over the bill is ICE funding, with Democrats opposing the mass deportation efforts of President Donald Trump's administration. Negotiations over the funding became more tense after border patrol agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti during a confrontation at an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis this month.
The letter from Catholic leaders, which includes Santa Fe, New Mexico, Archbishop John C. Wester and Seattle Archbishop Paul D. Etienne among the signatories, asked the Senate to oppose ICE funding for similar reasons: opposition to Trump's mass deportation initiative.
"Catholic social teaching affirms that the family is the basic unit of society, willed by God and deserving of protection in law and public policy," the letter reads. "Recent immigration enforcement actions carried out under DHS authority have heightened our concern that this fundamental principle is being compromised. In many communities, enforcement practices have resulted in families being separated with little warning or recourse."
The letter expresses concern about parents getting detained "without the opportunity to prepare their children" and spouses being separated from each other, which they say undermines family stability and inflicts lasting harm, especially on children.
"For these reasons, we cannot support legislation that expands or sustains enforcement practices without adequately addressing their consequences for families and communities," the letter continues. "A DHS budget that prioritizes detention and removal — while lacking strong safeguards for family unity, due process, and accountability — risks entrenching harm rather than promoting justice or public safety."
The letter also accuses federal officials of engaging in a "disproportionate use of force and the erosion of civil liberties" in response to protests.
The Catholic leaders are asking that any funding bill include protections that ensure family unity, requires people to be treated "with respect and care in recognition of their inherent dignity," and that alternatives to detention are prioritized and oversight and accountability be in place "to prevent "abuses that devastate families and communities."
"Our faith calls us to recognize Christ in every person; this includes the migrant, the refugee, and the child who bears the pain of separation," they continued. "To disregard that suffering is to turn away from a core moral responsibility we share as a society."
Other bishops who joined in the letter include El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz; Lexington, Kentucky, Bishop John Stowe; San Diego Bishop Michael Pham; and Superior General of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart Bishop John Ricard. Leaders of several Catholic organizations, such as Jesuit Refugee Service USA President Kelly Ryan and Catholic Volunteer Network Executive Director Cecilia Flores.
The letter noted the concerns of the signatories were grounded in a message approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in November 2025, which opposed "the indiscriminate mass deportation of people." The statement received overwhelming support from the bishops, who approved it with a 216-5 vote.
Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., joined a separate interfaith statement with non-Catholic religious leaders in the Washington, D.C., area on Jan. 29, which criticized the killings of two U.S. citizens at anti-ICE protests in Minnesota.
"We condemn without reservation the use of indiscriminate and lethal force against civilians," the joint statement read. "The actions we have witnessed in recent days represent a grave departure from our nation's deepest moral commitments and from the values of human dignity, restraint, and accountability that our faith traditions uphold."
Many Catholic organizations have provided charitable services for migrants and some Catholics, including clergy, have engaged in activism and protests against the deportation efforts.
The Catholic nonprofit Pax Christi recently launched STAND, which is an acronym for Solidarity to Advocate for Neighbors' Dignity. The initiative encourages Catholics to pray for migrants, study Catholic teaching on migrants, and contact lawmakers and engage in public witness.
The Chicago Archdiocese said it fired substitute teacher Brett Smith after learning of his history of child sex abuse allegations.
Court documents reveal that a man who served as a substitute teacher for over a year in the Archdiocese of Chicago has been accused of inappropriately touching children multiple times in multiple states and has even served jail time related to those charges.
The archdiocese said in a Jan. 25 email and confirmed in public statements that it had fired substitute teacher Brett Smith upon learning of his "history of child molestation allegations in Illinois and other states."
Smith had worked as a substitute teacher in at least four archdiocesan schools on the South Side and south suburbs since 2024 as well as tutored at least one student in the student's home, according to the archdiocese.
The archdiocese said it was aware of "no allegations of sexual misconduct" regarding Smith at the archdiocesan schools. It said, however, that a family "filed a complaint against Mr. Smith with their local police for conduct that occurred while he was tutoring in their home."
Smith's name "was Brett Zagorac before he legally changed it in 2019," the archdiocese said.
On Jan. 29 police in Orlando Park, Illinois, announced that they had arrested Smith on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse; Smith had been under investigation concerning abuse involving a juvenile, police said. CBS Chicago reported on Jan. 30, meanwhile, that Smith was facing additional charges in Evergreen Park.
'A history of using fake names'
Local news reports from 2021, 2020, 2011, 2010, and numerous other years detail accusations of inappropriate touching by a man named Brett Zagorac or Brett Smith in Indiana, Illinois, and Arizona.
In a 2020 court filing obtained by EWTN News, meanwhile, Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Heston Silbert said Smith was the subject of a "complaint for special action" and petitioned the Superior Court of Arizona to block Smith's fingerprint clearance card.
In that 2020 filing, Silbert asked the Superior Court of Arizona to intervene after the Arizona Board of Fingerprinting granted Smith a "good cause exception" to obtain a fingerprint clearance card. This card is required to allow someone to work in positions that involve children or vulnerable adults.
Silbert appealed to the court to "protect Arizona children" from what he said was a "substantial risk of victimization" by Smith, who he said had been "arrested 10 times and served prison time for inappropriately touching children."
Smith "has a history of using fake names," Silbert alleged, claiming that he "continued this conduct" even as he was seeking the fingerprinting exception.
In the 2020 filing, Silbert detailed a history of Smith's arrests and convictions, starting in 2002 when he was arrested by the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Indiana allegedly for rubbing a boy's back while substitute teaching in a classroom. After his arrest, another student reported similar behavior; still another student also reported witnessing similar touching.
The case was ultimately dropped due in part to "the victim's unwillingness to testify," though Smith was arrested again in 2005, according to the filing, for "felony child molesting" after he allegedly touched a boy's genitals during class.
Those charges were also dismissed, again after the alleged victim was unwilling to testify. The filing detailed further arrests in 2005, 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016, most of which involved either child sex abuse allegations or order violations related to such cases.
In one case, he pleaded guilty to a reduced count of battery and received 20 days in jail and two years' probation; in another, a jury found him guilty of misdemeanor battery and he was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
In multiple cases, the 2020 filing claims, Smith used fake names when attempting to gain access to children via tutoring or nanny services.
Silbert in the 2020 filing said that in May 2019 Smith moved to change his last name from Zagorac, filing the request in Maricopa County Superior Court.
The 2020 filing goes on to explain that after being denied a fingerprint card in 2018, Smith applied again for the card in June 2019 after the name change request and was denied again. Later that year he applied for the "good cause exception," which the Arizona Board of Fingerprinting ultimately accepted.
In April 2021 a grand jury indicted Smith on multiple counts of forgery, fraud, and perjury related to his name change application and his efforts to access children through tutoring positions.
Smith subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of felony forgery, receiving a sentence of 2.5 years of probation.
Archdiocese said it performed background checks
In its Jan. 25 email, the archdiocese said Smith had passed both a state background check and a fingerprint check prior to his employment in schools there.
The archdiocese did not respond to multiple requests for comment from EWTN News regarding Smith's employment. But the archdiocese told the Chicago Tribune that Smith "passed the Illinois State Police name and fingerprint tests," according to the paper.
"Neither his current name nor previous names appears on any convicted sex offender list in the country," the archdiocese told the Tribune. "We are still working to determine how these government systems on which we and other schools rely did not identify him."
A spokeswoman for the Illinois State Police told EWTN News that it "receive[d] a fingerprint for a criminal history check from the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2024 and the Chicago Board of Education in 2025."
"In both instances, ISP processed the request and provided a response the same day," the spokeswoman said, adding that the police are "prohibited from sharing that response."
"ISP will provide the criminal history information to the organization, but the organization will determine what is done with that information and make the hiring decision," she said.
Under state record laws, the spokeswoman said, an organization such as the archdiocese "would receive a criminal history containing unsealed convictions and sealed felony convictions."
Filipino overseas workers, driven by economic necessity, have become what Pope Francis calls "smugglers of the faith," quietly evangelizing through presence and service in parishes worldwide.
Across continents, Filipino Catholics have emerged as what Pope Francis once memorably called "smugglers of the faith": believers who carry the Gospel not by argument but through presence, perseverance, and hope.
During the first-ever Simbang Gabi — a nine-day series of devotional Masses celebrated by Filipino Catholics from Dec. 16–24, leading up to Christmas — celebrated by a pope at St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis said in 2019: "I have often said that here in Rome Filipino women are 'smugglers' of faith! Because wherever they go to work, they sow the faith."
Never before were those words more visible than in the experience of millions of Filipinos living and working abroad. What began as labor migration has become an unplanned but unmistakable form of evangelization — carried by ordinary Catholic families whose faith is lived openly, communally, and joyfully.
Faith carried in daily life
For many Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), migration was never intended as a mission. It was about economic survival and responsibility toward families back home. Yet for Fulgencio Abuan, who spent decades working in the Middle East, faith slowly moved from the margins to the center of his life abroad.
Through encounters with lay ecclesial movements such as Couples for Christ in Bahrain, his faith deepened through regular prayer meetings and formation programs. Personal renewal gradually became shared witnessing.
Members of Couples for Christ attend a formation session during a family day celebration at Sacred Heart Parish in Manama, Bahrain. Lay ecclesial movements like Couples for Christ help Filipino migrants deepen their faith while working abroad. | Credit: Fulgencio Abuan
Abuan recalled that their work was never confrontational or overtly missionary. Instead, it unfolded through presence — welcoming new arrivals, inviting others to prayer, organizing fellowship after Mass, and simply making parish life feel human again. In environments where public religious expression was restricted, Filipinos learned to witness quietly but consistently.
Accidental missionaries
This same pattern is visible in East Asia. In Japan, lay missionary Erlyn Regondon has spent more than a decade working with the Archdiocese of Tokyo, accompanying Filipino migrants, technical trainees, and international parishioners. She observed that many Filipinos who were only marginally involved in parish life back home often become deeply engaged once abroad.
Members of the English Pastoral Ministry of Catholic Tokyo International Center stand before the Atomic Bomb Dome during a pilgrimage to Hiroshima in May 2024. Filipino Catholics in Japan actively participate in parish life and evangelization. | Credit: Erlyn Regondon
Economic necessity may prompt migration, she explained, but distance from family and familiar culture frequently awakens a deeper reliance on faith. Filipinos step forward as choir members, catechists, altar servers, and parish coordinators — roles they never imagined assuming in the Philippines.
Japanese Church leaders have taken notice. Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo has repeatedly acknowledged Filipinos not simply as migrants to be accompanied but as missionary disciples whose presence brings energy, youth, and stability to parish life.
A Church revived by Filipino devotion
In the United States, similar dynamics are at work. Philadelphia Auxiliary Bishop Efren Esmilla, a Filipino shepherd serving the Church in America, has repeatedly witnessed how some parishes on the brink of closure experience a sudden renewal through Filipino immigrants.
As he frequently remarks in pastoral conversations: "Kapag may Pilipino, nabubuhay muli ang parokya." ("If there is a Filipino, the parish becomes alive again!")
According to Esmilla, Filipino devotional life — like the Simbang Gabi, Holy Week processions, Marian feasts, and a deeply Eucharistic spirituality — does more than preserve cultural identity. These practices restore joy, participation, and communal warmth. Fellowship after Mass, shared meals, music, and visible hospitality become entry points not only for fellow Filipinos but also for longtime parishioners who had grown distant.
He pointed to concrete examples: parishes that once counted fewer than a dozen worshippers at Christmas now filled again after being entrusted to Filipino-led communities. Rather than closing churches, dioceses increasingly rely on committed lay leaders — many of them migrants — to sustain parish administration, catechesis, and outreach amid ongoing clergy shortages.
Born and educated in the Philippines, and ordained a priest and consecrated bishop in the United States, Esmilla said he believes this renewal is not accidental. Filipino spirituality, he explained, is profoundly Eucharistic and relational. The Mass naturally overflows into service.
Witness beyond the Church walls
That quiet witness sometimes extends well beyond parish boundaries. Father Kenneth Rey Parsad, a recently ordained Filipino priest whose chanting of the psalm during Pope Francis' Mass at the Manila Cathedral in 2015 drew international attention, recalled being surprised by messages he received afterward — not only from Catholics but also from non-Christians.
Father Kenneth Rey Parsad stands in prayer at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City shortly after his presbyteral ordination on June 13, 2025. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Kenneth Rey Parsad
"I would get messages saying, 'I'm not Christian, I'm Muslim — but I was inspired,'" he recalled. For him, the experience underscored that evangelization is not always deliberate. "I just sang the psalm," he said. "It wasn't me. It was the grace of God."
For Parsad, who grew up in a family shaped by migration, the Filipino diaspora's evangelizing role feels deeply familiar. Faith becomes visible, not as ideology but as lived trust.
The Filipino diaspora by the numbers
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, an estimated 2.16 million Filipinos were working overseas as of 2023. Most are based in Asia (77.4%), followed by the Americas (9.8%), Europe (8.4%), Australia (3.0%), and Africa (1.3%).
Saudi Arabia remains the top destination, hosting about one-fifth of all OFWs, followed by the United Arab Emirates. Even in countries where Filipinos are a numerical minority, their presence in parish ministries, choirs, and chaplaincies is often disproportionate to their numbers.
Behind these statistics are communities that pray together, share meals, organize novenas, celebrate fiestas, and quietly rebuild parish life wherever they settle.
The Church's pastoral response
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has long recognized the pastoral and missionary dimensions of migration.
Through its Episcopal Commission for Migrants and Itinerant People, the Church supports chaplaincies, lay formation programs, and pastoral accompaniment for migrants facing loneliness, cultural displacement, and the risk of faith erosion.
Host dioceses increasingly collaborate with Philippine Church institutions, recognizing that migrant ministry is not only about care but also about mission. Filipino priests, religious, and lay leaders now serve across the globe — often in regions first evangelized centuries earlier by Western missionaries.
This quiet reversal gives concrete form to Pope Paul VI's insight in his 1975 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi "… the Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself … Having been sent and evangelized, the Church herself sends out evangelizers."
A faith once received, now shared
Five hundred years ago, Christianity reached the Philippines through foreign missionaries. Today, history has come full circle. The descendants of those once evangelized now carry the faith across borders, mainly not by design but by the demands of life itself.
As Pope Francis observed, Filipino Catholics "smuggle" the faith through joy, service, and fidelity. Wherever Filipinos gather — for work, worship, or simple companionship — the Church quietly takes root again.
In a world searching for hope, that quiet faith continues to speak.
Catholic marriages in the U.S. have declined 75% in about 50 years, even as the Catholic population has risen.
A steep decline in Catholic marriages in the U.S. over the past few decades is underscoring the need for "proactive" marriage support in the Church.
Data obtained by EWTN News from the Official Catholic Directory shows a major drop-off in U.S. Catholic marriage, from about 267,000 in the year 2000 to just 111,718 in 2024, a decline of nearly 60%.
The drop is even starker when compared with midcentury numbers: In 1970 there were about 426,000 Catholic marriages in the United States, compared with about 108,000 in 2025, a roughly 75% drop-off, though the 2025 numbers are still provisional.
Those declines have come even as the total number of Catholics in the U.S. has risen, from about 47.8 million Catholics in 1970 to 68 million last year.
'Broader societal factors' contribute to drop-off
Christian Meert, the founder and president of the Colorado-based Agape Catholic Ministries, told EWTN News that society is "not moving in the 'marriage direction.'"
Agape offers Catholic marriage preparation and enrichment as well as other services such as natural family planning instruction. Marriage prep, Meert argued, should offer "real relational skills, communication, finances, and faith integration" for couples on the verge of matrimony.
But various factors — including "delayed adulthood, high divorce rates, economic pressures, shifting priorities, rising individualism, the evolution of dating culture, [and] cohabitation" — have all helped drive marriage rates down, he said.
The Catholic marriage decline has occurred alongside a steep decline in marriage throughout society, Meert said, though the Catholic drop-off is "disproportionately larger."
"Yes, society in general is not helping, politicians are not helping, secularization and cultural shifts have eroded social support for all religious institutions," he pointed out.
But the Church can take "proactive steps" to help reverse the decline, he said, including fostering "community spaces where young adults can meet and form healthy relationships," focusing on "individual marriage formation" rather than broad, "cheap" programs and engaging parish families to "accompany engaged couples during their marriage preparation and after."
Church leaders make regular appeals for a healthier and more fruitful marriage culture. Pope Leo XIV in November 2025 urged the Roman Rota to avoid "false mercy" when considering marriage annulments, warning again on Jan. 26 against "pastoral decisions [on annulments] lacking a solid objective foundation."
In 2024, meanwhile, the U.S. bishops announced the "Love Means More" initiative, one meant to "bring clarity and compassion" to issues surrounding love, marriage, and sexuality.
Still more efforts have come from the lay faithful. In 2025 Emily Wilson-Hussem and her husband, Daniël, launched a new Catholic dating app, "SacredSpark," which Wilson-Hussem described as a place "where we can connect people who will build up the Church because they've entered into a sacramental marriage and will build up the family."
The Life-Giving Wounds ministry, meanwhile — founded in 2020 by husband and wife Daniel and Bethany Meola — ministers to adult children of divorce, helping them overcome the pain and trauma of their parents' divorces in order to strengthen their own marriages.
In a June 2025 homily, Pope Leo described marriage as "not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman," one that is "total, faithful, and fruitful."
"In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation," the Holy Father said. "It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts."
The marriage decline has even formed part of the secular discourse, as experts have warned that steep drop-offs in fertility in most of the developed world can be tied in part to declines in marriage rates and that policymakers who want to encourage more births should also be encouraging more marriages.
Meert, meanwhile, said Catholic families should be offering positive examples for young people to follow in the faith and in marriage.
He disputed the argument that "all the blame [can be put] on the clergy" for failing to transmit Catholic teaching to the faithful over the past few decades.
"What example are parents and grandparents giving to their children? How do they practice their faith? How do they transmit their faith?" he said. "When we see the rise in divorce, families not practicing their faith, not going to church, not active in their parishes — what can we expect?"
"We, the Church, the whole community of faithful, aren't we all responsible?" he said.
Warning against corruption, Thailand's Catholic bishops have called on all citizens to exercise their moral duty to vote in the upcoming general elections.
Ahead of general elections scheduled for next month, Catholic bishops in Thailand have urged all citizens to elect worthy candidates.
"Let this election be proof of our love for God and our neighbors," said Archbishop Francis Xavier Vira Arpondratana of Bangkok, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Thailand, in a pastoral letter dated Jan. 27. "We pray for God's blessing and wisdom for all citizens to choose leaders with strong morals and creative public policies."
As the Feb. 8 elections approach, the Catholic Church in Thailand said it wants to support society.
"While the Church remains strictly independent from any political party, all have a responsibility to act as a moral mission and a social conscience to ensure that this election follows the path of truth and justice," the prelate said.
The Church calls Christians to see voting as a personal moral duty for the common good by actively participating in the election and casting a vote for candidates who best represent these values.
Christians comprise less than 1% of Thailand's population of 66 million.
Echoing the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2240), Arpondratana reminded all of their duty, saying: "Citizens have a duty to contribute to society through taxes, national defense, and the exercise of their right to vote."
Neglecting this responsibility, he said, is to "fail in our responsibility toward the common good. This duty does not end at the ballot box; it includes monitoring and protecting moral truths throughout every stage of the political process."
"We also recognize that abstaining from voting is an option, but only when all candidates are morally unacceptable," he said.
A healthy democracy is more than just a set of rules, the archbishop said. It must be built on core human values — specifically human dignity, human rights, and the common good. Without these moral foundations, a democracy can easily turn into a hidden tyranny that oppresses its people.
The Church encourages all to cast their vote for candidates who respect the value and dignity of every person and who prioritize the common good over personal gain.
"Look for leaders who value local citizens, allow communities to participate in decision-making, and possess a spirit of sacrifice," Arpondratana said. "A true leader focuses on the well-being of others, especially the poor and the vulnerable."
Citizens have the right to choose capable leaders who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain. Leadership should not be considered the ownership of power; instead, power must be exercised as a service.
"The Church issues a strong warning to politicians and government officials regarding integrity," Arpondratana said.
Citizens need to be vigilant about fraudulent practices that can undermine the integrity and fairness of elections, he said.
"Buying or selling votes, or any act of cheating, is the start of corruption that destroys the structure of society," he said. "Political corruption is a betrayal of the people and a serious violation of social justice."
"We join together in prayer for those who will be elected, that they may lead our nation toward true peace and fraternity," Arpondratana added.
History of political instability
In 2025, the U.S.-based think tank Freedom House changed Thailand's rating from "Partly Free" to "Not Free." The organization took this action because the main opposition party was dissolved and activists, refugees, and asylum seekers were forcibly returned to places where they were reportedly mistreated.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with a history of political instability, marked by military coups and weak civilian governments.
Rights organizations have described the nation as a "flawed democracy" because the monarchy, the military, and the judiciary hold excessive authority, even though elections are held regularly.
The Feb. 8 polls come after years of political instability, including the dissolution of opposition parties, the formation of new alliances, and the collapse of the government in 2025.
Students spearheaded a significant anti-monarchy movement, bringing substantial changes to the political landscape. The Future Forward Party emerged from this movement, followed by the Move Forward Party.
The Move Forward Party secured the majority of seats in the lower house during the 2023 national election, but the Senate, composed of pro-military and pro-royalist members, prevented the party from forming a government.
Eventually, the Constitutional Court dissolved the Move Forward Party in August 2024 for violating election laws. In 2020, the court had also dissolved the party's predecessor, the Future Forward Party.
These decisions resulted in the unexpected coming together of pro-royalist factions and the Pheu Thai Party, which formed a government in 2023.
The Thai-Cambodian conflict, which began in July 2025, was the primary reason for the disintegration of that government. Following a scandal involving a leaked phone call, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party was removed from her position by the Constitutional Court in August 2025.
Anutin Charnvirakul, a business magnate and the leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, a conservative-populist political party, was elected prime minister in September 2025.
Charnvirakul dissolved the Parliament and called for a snap election on Dec. 12, 2025.
In the aftermath of the Move Forward Party's dissolution, politicians from that party reorganized themselves under the banner of the People's Party. Observers believe this party may win in the coming election.
Syrian Christians in Al-Jazeera await a political solution amid fears of an ISIS comeback.
In a significant development, government forces this week have taken control of large areas in northeast Syria's Al-Jazeera region after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) withdrew following a surprise attack, while the cities of Hasakah and Qamishli remained outside of this advance.
With Damascus announcing its resolve to regain control of these cities, Christians living in the area are experiencing a mix of anxiety and anticipation, coupled with hope that the next phase will be handled through peaceful political channels that prevent further violence and unrest.
In the wake of this, the head of the Chaldean Church in Syria, Bishop Antoine Audo, called for prioritizing reconciliation and dialogue among the conflicting parties, encouraging Christians to be a source of hope and positivity and to continue bearing witness to their long history.
The recent turmoil has also brought back to the forefront fears of renewed activity by ISIS, especially after the SDF relinquished guard of several prisons holding thousands of the group's fighters.
However, Syrian government sources have confirmed that all prisons — including Al-Qattan prison, the Al-Hol camp (which contains families of ISIS fighters), and Al-Shaddadi prison — are under government control. In the latter specifically, large escape operations occurred, though specialized units recaptured more than 80 escaped inmates.
Amid this, U.S. forces in the area have begun transferring approximately 7,000 ISIS detainees to Iraq to ensure they remain in secure detention centers.
In a special interview with ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Basher Ishaq Saadi, deputy head of the Assyrian Democratic Organization, emphasized that ISIS no longer has its former strength but warned that any return would pose a serious danger to Christians and other communities.
Saadi reviewed the extensive abuses Christians suffered at the hands of the group — from killings, kidnappings, bombings, and church burnings to the 2015 invasion of 34 Assyrian villages along the Khabur River, which led to the displacement of most of their residents. Today only about 1,000 remain of an original 15,000.
Saadi stressed that the threat to the Christian presence today does not come solely from extremist groups but also from political repression, lack of freedoms, religious and ethnic discrimination, and absence of equality and citizenship rights. These factors have driven, and continue to drive, many Christians to emigrate. Nonetheless, he affirmed that a segment of Christians will remain attached to their land, driven by hope for a future of peace, dignity, and equality.
Saadi also said that the future of Christians in Syria and the broader Middle East depends on building modern civil states grounded in the rule of law and institutional structures that are neutral toward religions and ensure citizens' rights without discrimination. He said this is the only way to cement stability and preserve the region's historical diversity.
This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Ahead of his 80th birthday, Cardinal Christophe Pierre sat down with "EWTN News In-Depth" anchor Catherine Hadro to discuss his tenure as the Vatican's representative to the U.S.
The relationship between the Vatican and the U.S. Catholic bishops is not as contentious as people might think, according to Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who offered insights into his role as papal nuncio to the U.S. since 2016 during an interview with "EWTN News In-Depth" ahead of his 80th birthday.
The French-born prelate described the past 10 years serving as the papal representative to the U.S. as "very beautiful" and "difficult" years, touching on topics such as allegations of tensions between the Vatican and the U.S. bishops under the late Pope Francis, the Synod on Synodality, the Eucharistic revival, political polarization, and immigration.
Pierre turned 80 on Jan. 30. Cardinals remain cardinals for life, and age-specific norms mean that cardinals retain their title and may continue other functions but cannot vote in papal elections after this age. Pierre's successor is expected to be named shortly.
Pope Francis
In his interview with "EWTN News In-Depth" anchor Catherine Hadro, Pierre dispelled notions of heightened tensions between the Vatican and U.S. bishops under the late Pope Francis, saying: "We have to be very careful when we speak about the tensions between the Holy Father and the bishops. I think the tensions are normal."
"We are not in a war," he said. "I have never seen a war. Sometimes people have said the bishops in the United States are at war with the Holy Father. This is not true. I've been 10 years here, and I've been working in nine countries for the last 50 years, and I would not say that the American bishops have had war with the Holy See or the pope."
While Pierre acknowledged that "Pope Francis has provoked us [at times]," the prelate described the late pontiff as "a magnificent leader," citing his intuition and "capacity to discern where we are in today's world."
Though the synod often caused confusion among bishops and laypeople, Pierre noted how Francis encouraged people to "continue to work together, continue to discern, and continue to listen to each other, and to the world."
"This is precisely what Pope Leo will do," Pierre said. "He wants to to meet the young people, to listen to them, but also he wants them to listen to him because he's the leader. So I think the challenges have been at that level."
The Church and U.S. politics
Pierre stressed the need for civic actors to "to remain faithful to the mission of the Church," which he said is "not to reproduce in our Church the polarization of society but to be a place where we can heal and help the people to rediscover unity."
The Eucharistic revival, he said, has served as a way to "rediscover what is the center for the Church," namely, Christ and his presence in our lives.
The nuncio warned against the temptation to become "culture warriors" in service of defending ideas and ideologies rather than "contemplating Christ in my life."
"Sometimes we give more importance to the idea, and from idea, you have ideology," he said. "We become defenders of ideologies."
The Church receives the Gospel as a gift while with ideology we construct it according to our own preferences, keeping what we like and discarding what we don't, Pierre said.
Immigration
Pierre praised the role of Church in the area of immigration, saying he has "not seen any division" on the topic. "In the Church, the bishops are together," he said. "I am very proud of this Church."
The nuncio stressed that a solution to the problem of immigration must be solved and encouraged Catholics to "not be afraid to speak up." He called on elected officials to resolve the current crisis, saying: "If they don't resolve the problem, they create the problem."
Ultimately, he said, "the center of our message [as a Church] is the value of the human person" and noted that migrants make up approximately 40% of the 80 million Catholics in the U.S. "So should we abandon these people or not?" he said. "They are human beings."
The faithful should "ask God's grace and God"s presence as we address very difficult and challenging situations on the ground," Archbishop Paul Coakley said regarding immigration issues.
Archbishop Paul Coakley said immigration remains a "very high priority" for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
In a Jan. 30 interview with "EWTN News In Depth," Coakley discussed "the unrest taking place in our cities, particularly in Minneapolis and the violent outbreak," following the recent death of Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by federal agents on Jan. 24.
The incident marked the second death by federal agents in the city. Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
Following Pretti's death, Coakley, president of the USCCB, called for his brother bishops and priests across the United States to offer "a Holy Hour for peace."
"I think in view of the anger, the violent reactions that are taking place ... we felt prompted to try to change the tone of the conversations and call people, not necessarily to avoid any kind of public witness, but really to call people to give witness by prayer," he said.
The call is to bring "it all to the Lord in the holy Eucharist, to ask God's grace and God's presence, God's courage, God's guidance as we address very difficult and challenging situations on the ground," he said.
The present debate over ICE and law enforcement "is an issue that we simply can't avoid," Coakley said. The situation is "impacting so many of our people, both migrants, immigrants, but as well as law enforcement."
It is also affecting "people that are wondering, questioning in their own hearts and their minds, what is the proper and appropriate response for Catholic[s], for Christians, for people of goodwill in the face of a nearly unprecedented situation."
Immigration enforcement is "a high priority … for all of us, as was evident by the special message that we issued back in November at our fall assembly. I think that was a message that was passed nearly unanimously by the U.S. bishops," he said.
"One takeaway that we realized almost immediately after that meeting was the relief that was granted for the R-1 visa for the many religious workers working throughout our country who were facing real obstacles in renewing their visas and staffing our parishes as priests and religious sisters and religious workers everywhere," Coakley said.
The administration "listened and they heard, and I was satisfied, at least at this point, with the progress that we've made so far," Coakley said. "We did discuss other matters, of course, in the time that I had with him, including meaningful immigration reform."
While citizens and leaders across America are well aware of the developing situation in Minneapolis, Coakley said he would be "very surprised" if the situation was not also on Pope Leo XIV's radar.
"I think he stays pretty well-informed as to what's happening here in the United States, being the land of his birth, of course. But it's garnered worldwide attention and global coverage. So it's got to be on Pope Leo's radar screen and a matter of concern for him as well," he said.
A call to prayer and action
Coakley has previously called the situation a time of "fear and polarization." In the interview, he further discussed how the country got to its state of division and what the faithful can do amid it.
"I don't think it's something that has happened overnight. I think we've been sliding in this direction for a number of years," he said. "But I think we got here because of fear. I think fear is a tool of the enemy of our human nature, as St. Ignatius of Loyola would describe 'the evil one.'"
"He was trying to turn us against one another, to be blind to the dignity of our brothers and sisters and their God-given dignity, created in his image and likeness," he said.
To combat the situation, Coakley encouraged parishes across the nation to call for a Holy Hour and to "turn to the Lord and seek his grace and to seek his guidance." He also urged people "to be careful where we're getting our information."
"Because there are some outlets, I suspect, that are playing upon these fears, and we need to avoid becoming pawns of that kind of spinning of information and facts, and to really begin with turning to the Lord in prayer and seeking his grace and his guidance," he said.
Faithful in Minneapolis are 'afraid'
In a subsequent interview with "EWTN News In Depth" on Jan. 30, Jesuit Father R.J. Fichtinger, a priest on the ground in Minneapolis, shared that the faithful in the area are "afraid."
There's "this pervasive tiredness, this pervasive frustration around our community not feeling like we have our own agency, our own ability to be able to respond to the various needs," he said.
In a time of disagreement, Fichtinger advised the faithful to "do what Jesus did" and "go in prayer."
"I think the first step is, in fact, intentional prayer. Then the second is to divorce people from actions. That can be really difficult, but that sense in which we recognize we can judge unjust actions," he said.
"The reality is our world is complicated, and that art of having hard and difficult conversations is something that I think we need to rediscover," he said.
As the bishops call for prayer and Holy Hours, Fichtinger said: "I don't know of a better way of addressing the Lord in prayer than in adoration, in peace, and in prayer, in the beautiful silence that adoration and benediction can give."
