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A philosopher of science and technology, Father Ricardo Mejía Fernández is an expert in transhumanism. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Ricardo Mejía FernándezMadrid, Spain, Apr 3, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).In his new book "Integral Transhumanism," Spanish priest Ricardo Mejía Fernández examines the transhumanist movement as "a technological extension of traditional humanism."According to the definition of the Transhumanist Association, transhumanism "is a cultural and intellectual movement that affirms the possibility and necessity of improving the human condition, based on the use of reason applied within an ethical framework sustained by human rights and the ideals of the Enlightenment and humanism." In the book's prologue, the archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta, emphasizes that Mejía approaches the general transhumanist proposal from "a de-ideologized view of reality," like the child in Hans Christian Andersen's story who unabashedly declares that the emperor has no cloth...
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin meets with President Alar Karis of Estonia at the Vatican on April 3, 2025, to discuss local and regional issues including prospects of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Apr 3, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with President Alar Karis of Estonia at the Vatican on Thursday morning to discuss local and regional issues including prospects of ending the Russia-Ukraine war.During the April 3 audience, Parolin and Karis expressed appreciation for "good bilateral relations" between their two states as well as the "positive contribution" of local Catholic communities in the northern European nation.Approximately 6,700 Catholics live in Estonia, accounting for 0.5% of the country's total population. According to Statistics Estonia, the country's 2022 census showed the Catholic population grew from 0.4% in 2011 to 0.8% in 2021.The Vatican erected the Diocese o...
Asylum seekers wait for their CBP One appointments with U.S. authorities before crossing through El Chaparral port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Jan. 20, 2025. / Credit: GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 16:31 pm (CNA).Catholic and evangelical leaders are urging Christians to consider the "sobering" effects of mass deportation efforts by the government, arguing that ongoing aggressive immigration enforcement will be felt beyond those who are being deported. Church leaders with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief, and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in their report "One Part of the Body" highlight the potential impacts of mass deportations on Christian families in the U.S."In the United States," the leaders write in the report, "immigrants from various countries form integral parts of the body of Christ. Most, of course, are lawfully present...
Vice President JD Vance speaks at a film-screening event April 1, 2025, at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Erin Granzow/Courtesy of the Heritage FoundationNational Catholic Register, Apr 2, 2025 / 17:03 pm (CNA).Vice President JD Vance hailed the accomplishments of the Trump administration in ushering in a return to democratic and faith-based values Tuesday evening at the screening of a documentary film series that warns a regime of "soft totalitarianism" threatens the United States and the West.In his remarks, Vance returned to the theme he raised in his February speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he criticized European Union leaders for undermining free speech and democracy."The ruling elite of the societies have become actively hostile to some of the very ideas that those countries were founded on in the first place," Vance said before an audience of about 100 people at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. In addition to Vance's sp...
Polonia Castellanos, founder of the Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers. / Credit: Women World Platform, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPuebla, Mexico, Apr 2, 2025 / 17:46 pm (CNA).Attacks against Christians, especially Catholics, are on the rise in both Europe and Latin America, according to various reports from specialized organizations.During 2023, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe documented 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes in 35 European countries. This figure includes 232 personal attacks ranging from harassment and threats to physical violence. Nearly half the attacks occurred in France.The disturbing trend was also noted in the 2023 Report on Religious Freedom published by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need.The executive summary of the latter research report warns of "a considerable increase in incidents perpetrated by individuals or groups advocating for certain ideological views that are intolerant...
U.S. Supreme Court. / Credit: PT Hamilton/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments for a lawsuit that will determine whether South Carolina and other states can deny Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for non-abortive medical services.All three justices appointed by Democrats appeared to empathize with Planned Parenthood in the case, but the six Republican-appointed justices were more nuanced with their questions for the lawyers representing both parties.Federal Medicaid funds cannot be used to cover elective abortions, but federal law does not restrict abortion clinics, such as Planned Parenthood facilities, from receiving Medicaid funds for other services they offer.However, in 2016, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed an executive order to block abortion clinics from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for any services, arguing that tax money should not support institu...
More than 60 men died after a mosque collapsed in Sagaing Township aftera 7.7-magmitude earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of the Action Against Hunger team in SagaingACI Prensa Staff, Apr 2, 2025 / 18:36 pm (CNA).Rescue teams have been working against the clock in Myanmar searching for survivors under the rubble after last Friday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake. But the battle hasn't just been against time or the high temperatures of over 100 degrees."The army isn't allowing relief teams to operate freely," a priest from the Diocese of Loikaw in eastern Myanmar told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner."The Church is also trying to help, but we encounter countless obstacles. We can't freely access the affected areas because there are military checkpoints everywhere. Supplies are confiscated, volunteers are prevented from entering, and in some areas the army doesn't even allow victims to receive the assistance they need," said the priest, who ...
The Basilica of the Holy Trinity at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal. / Credit: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRome Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 10:52 am (CNA).While a Catholic shrine in Lourdes, France, announced on Monday it is covering mosaics by alleged abuser Father Marko Rupnik on the doors to one of its basilicas, another of the world's most popular sites of Marian devotion said it is not considering removing its own Rupnik artwork.A spokesperson for the Fátima shrine in Portugal told the Portuguese news outlet 7Margens via email this week that the international shrine is not taking down the mosaic installation but has stopped using its image in any distributed materials.The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, which receives over 6 million visitors a year, is located on the site of the Virgin Mary's apparitions to three shepherd children in 1917.The back wall of the shrine's largest and most modern worship space, the Basi...
In 1984, Pope John Paul II met in Rome with 300,000 young people from all over the world in a meeting that laid the foundations for today's World Youth Day. / Credit: Gregorini Demetrio, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsVatican City, Apr 2, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).Now 20 years since Pope John Paul II's death on April 2, 2005, one of his closest collaborators says the Polish pontiff lives on in the hearts and memories of the many people who still feel connected to him today.Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul II's personal secretary for nearly four decades, told EWTN News during an interview in Krakow that visitors to the saint's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica "don't go to the dead pope, they go to the living pope. He lives in hearts, he lives in memories.""There is still this dialogue between the pope and the people and the people with him. This is how I feel," the 85-year-old cardinal and former archbishop of Krakow said. "He departed but at the same time remained with us. … Pe...
The documentation of Mary's case was submitted to the Solanus Casey Center. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Diocese of LansingWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Many Catholics credit prayers of intercession to Blessed Solanus Casey for curing and helping people who suffer from illnesses. Mary Bartold of DeWitt, Michigan, is now among the many who do so after her two tumors vanished with no medical intervention but after continuous prayers to Casey, whose ministry was built upon healing and compassion.Mary's unexpected health issues began almost a year ago in late April 2024, the Detroit Free Press reported. Mary was a sophomore at Lansing Catholic High School in Michigan when she began to experience severe abdominal pain while at school. Mary and her family could not pinpoint what the problem was.Mary's parents, Susan and Rick Bartold, took her for a CT scan and ultrasound of her abdomen. The images revealed two masses on each of her ovaries: one was 7.3 centim...
