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A 13th-century fresco of St. Francis of Assisi by the Florentine painter Cimabue, one of the earliest depictions of the saint, is located in the lower church of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy. / Credit: Jacob Stein/Crux StationalisCNA Staff, Oct 4, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. Francis of Assisi every year on Oct. 4. Known as the patron saint of animals and ecology, the 13th-century Italian friar is often remembered for his deep humility, his life of prayer, and for founding the Franciscan order.Here are seven things to know about this beloved saint:1. Francis was a party-loving rich kid before his conversion.Before giving his life completely over to the Lord, Francis lived a life of luxury. His father, Pietro di Bernardone, was a wealthy silk merchant in Assisi, and Francis lived a carefree, pleasure-seeking life in his youth. He was known for partying, fine clothes, and his dreams of glory on the battlefield. It...
Boys swing on a rope during recess at Western Academy in Houston, Texas. / Credit: Courtesy of Western AcademyHouston, Texas, Oct 4, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).After years of boys (and their parents) repeatedly ignoring the rules, a private boys school in Houston is taking a novel approach to its smartphone and digital device policy: Bring it to school, and "we will destroy it."Western Academy, an independent, liberal arts school that states its goal is to educate young men "in the good, the true, and the beautiful," has never allowed students to bring electronic devices to school.In the past, if a boy was caught with a phone or other device at the school or a school-sponsored event, faculty would confiscate the device, which would be returned to the parents only after they had met with headmaster Jason Hebert. He would explain the harms to boys caused by smartphone use and why parents "should not put the phone back into your son's hands."Boys look for toads in a pond during recess....
Young people listen to the stories of Christian youth with lived experience of mental health challenges as part of "The Sanctuary Youth Series" by Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Sanctuary Mental Health MinistriesCNA Staff, Oct 4, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Daniel Whitehead knew it was time for a change when his wife told him she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him smile. With the strain of constantly meeting with people who were struggling, the Christian pastor said he had "gone numb.""I realized in that moment, it had been well over a year that I'd felt any emotion," he told CNA. "No laughter, no tears, just numbness."Then he discovered Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries. At the time, it was a small, local ecumenical group creating resources for mental health in pastoral ministry. Nine years later, Whitehead has become its leader and Sanctuary has become a large-scale resource operating across the world. Daniel Whitehead is the CEO o...
The broken Virgin Mary statue Kevin Matthews found in a dumpster. / Credit: ODB FilmsCNA Staff, Oct 4, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).Kevin Matthews was at the top of his game as one of the most famous on-air radio personalities in Chicago in the 1980s and '90s. He was partying with professional athletes and celebrities and posting 10 million listeners a week at the peak of his popularity. All of that changed when he received a life-altering medical diagnosis. Yet the biggest change in his life happened when he found a broken Virgin Mary statue in the trash. Kevin Matthews, former radio personality, speaks at a Catholic parish. His true story is told in the new documentary "Broken Mary: The Kevin Matthews Story." Credit: ODB Films"Broken Mary: The Kevin Matthews Story" is a new documentary recounting Matthews' true story of fame, brokenness, and finding redemption in Jesus Christ thanks to his devotion to the Blessed Mother. The documentary will be in theaters for one night on...
Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Maxim Elramsisy/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 3, 2025 / 12:32 pm (CNA).The president of the National Association of Black Catholic Administrators (NABCA) decried the "loss of civility and respect" in public discourse after the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk and said Black bishops received death threats. "It is with sadness that we acknowledge the death of Charlie Kirk. Regardless of our individual opinions about his work or words, every life is sacred," Father Reginald Norman said in a statement. Kirk was shot dead while speaking at a Utah Valley University event Sept. 10. "In the days following his death, however, we have seen something even more tragic than the loss of one life: the loss of civility and respect for one another," he continued. "Threats against Black bishops and Catholic leaders are deeply trou...
Pope Francis ordains 10 men to the priesthood in St. Peter's Basilica on May 7, 2017. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 3, 2025 / 13:35 pm (CNA).Seminaries and their formators are beginning to rethink what formation should look like in the U.S. following reports that enrollment at graduate-level seminaries is continuing to decline. The fall 2025 CARA report released by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found that graduate and college-level seminary enrollment in the U.S. has declined significantly, while high school enrollment has remained steady. According to the report about the 2024-2025 academic year, college seminary enrollment went down 6% from 889 to 840 from the previous year. Similarly, graduate-level seminary enrollment dropped 8% from 2,920 to 2,686. High school seminary enrollment rose by 2% from 295 to 300. 'Right-sizing' formation"Many Catholics, vocations personnel, and seminary ...
Father Custodio Ballester. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Hazteoir.orgAnn Arbor, Michigan, Oct 3, 2025 / 14:23 pm (CNA).Freedom of speech and religion in Spain is in play as Father Custodio Ballester faces a possible three-year prison sentence and fines after a trial this week found him guilty of making allegedly "Islamophobic" statements in print and in an interview. Questioned by CNA about his upcoming sentencing, Ballester said: "The survival of freedom of expression in today's Spain depends on the ruling in this case. Otherwise, we'll be headed toward a new Cuban dictatorship. One where you were arrested for what you said as well as for what you thought, if it differed from what [Cuban communist dictator] Fidel Castro decided."Ballester and two others, fellow priest Father Jesús Calvo and journalist Armando Robles, were accused of making allegedly Islamophobic statements in complaints filed before Spain's socialist government by the Association of Spanish Muslims Aga...
Pope Leo XIV greets an elderly woman at the Vatican on Oct. 3, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Oct 3, 2025 / 15:08 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Friday said that old age is both a gift and a challenge, and in response the Catholic Church is called to develop missionary pastoral care that involves the elderly as witnesses of hope.On Oct. 3, the pontiff received at the Vatican Apostolic Palace participants in the Second International Congress on Pastoral Care of the Elderly, organized by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life.In his address, Leo XIV emphasized that the theme of the meeting, "Your Elders Shall Dream Dreams," taken from the book of the prophet Joel, contains words dear to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who often spoke "of the need for an alliance between young and old."The pontiff explained that in this biblical passage, "the prophet announces the universal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who creates unity among generations and distributes diffe...
Arequipa Archbishop Javier Del Río Alba is pictured here with the diocese's newly ordained priests on Sept. 29, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of ArequipaACI Prensa Staff, Oct 3, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).The archbishop of Arequipa, Javier Del Río Alba, recently ordained five new priests in southern Peru, encouraging them to be holy priests who give their lives for others and defend them from the devil.In his homily for the Mass he celebrated in the Arequipa cathedral on Sept. 29, the feast of the Archangels, the prelate referred to the battle of the angels against the devil, the dragon in the Book of Revelation. The devil seeks the damnation of mankind, which the archbishop described as "a battle that is going on and will continue until the end of time" against "humanity and especially against the Church," because the demon cannot bear that men and women have the possibility of going to heaven.The end of that fight, the archbishop continued, is the victory alre...
Photographer holding camera against newlywed couple. / Credit: Vectorfusionart/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 3, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).A federal court awarded nominal damages to a Christian photographer after the city government of Louisville, Kentucky, sought to enforce an anti-discrimination ordinance that could have forced her to provide photography services for same-sex civil weddings.Judge Benjamin Beaton found that Louisville's Fairness Ordinance contained "two provisions" that limited the expression of Christian wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson, who sought $1 in damages. The court awarded Nelson the requested damages. According to the ruling, the ordinance prohibited "the denial of goods and services to members of protected classes," which includes people with same-sex attraction. The publication provision of the ordinance also prevented her "from writing and publishing any indication or explanation that she wouldn't photograph same-sex weddings,...
