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Actor Al Pacino and Italian film producer Andrea Iervolino give Pope Leo XIV a miniature model of a Maserati car during a private audience at the Vatican on June 17, 2025. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Andrea IervolinoVatican City, Jun 17, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).In an unexpected visit, Hollywood actor Al Pacino was received by Pope Leo XIV on June 17 at the Vatican, according to photos shared on Instagram by Italian film producer Andrea Iervolino.Pacino and Iervolino are currently in Italy filming their next movie, which is dedicated to the origins of the iconic Maserati automobile brand. The film, "The Brothers," which chronicles the vicissitudes of the Maserati brothers, stars the Oscar-winning actor and is produced by Iervolino.During the private audience with the pontiff, Leo was presented with a miniature model of a Maserati vehicle, a symbol of the Italian design-and-engineering legacy.The Holy See Press Office has not issued an official statement about the meeting, nor has ...
Bernardo García is executive director of the Casablanca Declaration. / Credit: "EWTN Noticias"/ScreenshotLima Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 09:42 am (CNA).Bernardo García, executive director of the Casablanca Declaration, a coalition that calls for the universal abolition of surrogacy, said that in reality the practice amounts to "the exploitation of poor women and the sale of children." The Casablanca Declaration takes its name from a conference on the subject held in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2023.García spoke to "EWTN Noticias," the Spanish-language broadcast edition of EWTN News, during the coalition's third summit, held last week in Lima, Peru, with specialists in bioethics, law, and communications participating.García emphasized that the Casablanca Declaration "is an NGO [nongovernmental organization] that informs about the risks and dangers of surrogacy worldwide and actively promotes an international treaty at the United Nations level to abolish this practice.""We believe that...
The New Jersey State House. / Credit: Felix Lipov/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jun 17, 2025 / 10:37 am (CNA).The New Jersey government will be allowed to assemble a grand jury to investigate allegations of clergy sexual abuse there, the state Supreme Court said Monday.In a unanimous ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court said a lower court had erred when it held the state could not empanel the jury, with the high court stating that the government "has the right to proceed with its investigation and present evidence before a special grand jury."The lower court had said in part that any findings from the grand jury could be "fundamentally unfair" because any priests accused in it would lack the ability to adequately challenge the allegations.But the Supreme Court said it was up to judges to decide if any report complied with prevailing legal standards. Courts "cannot and [do] not decide the ultimate question in advance," the ruling said.The court's decision comes just over a month after ...
The Vatican Gardens at Castel Gandolfo is located on the wooded slopes of the Alban Hills, overlooking the blue waters of a small volcanic crater lake. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNARome Newsroom, Jun 17, 2025 / 06:47 am (CNA).The town of Castel Gandolfo has said Pope Leo XIV will again partake in the centuries-long tradition of spending a summer vacation at the lakeside papal residence in the Alban Hills south of Rome.The Vatican has not responded to a request for confirmation, but a spokeswoman for the small town, Giulia Agostinelli, told CNA Leo will arrive sometime during the first week of July.Pope Francis in 2013 broke with the papal practice of escaping the Roman heat in Castel Gandolfo, with its extensive gardens, preferring to remain at his Vatican residence, Santa Marta, even during the summer.Francis opted to turn the papal summer residence into a museum. It opened to the public in 2016.The gardens of the papal residence, called the Barberini Gardens, were opened...
null / Credit: angellodeco/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:49 pm (CNA).Children's Hospital Los Angeles will close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development and its transgender surgical program in July, citing federal and state-level funding pressures.The hospital told families in an email that there was "no viable alternative" to closing the clinic, one of the nation's largest, citing "the increasingly severe impacts of federal administrative actions and proposed policies," including an executive order issued by President Donald Trump earlier in the year.The center's last day of operation will be July 22, according to the email, which was signed by clinic leaders including Paul Viviano and Kelly Johnson.Earlier this year several hospitals in the United States suspended their child transgender programs after Trump's order "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," which moved to halt the "maiming and sterilizing [of] a growing nu...
null / Credit: Wolfgang Schaller|ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jun 16, 2025 / 14:19 pm (CNA).The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the New York Court of Appeals to revisit Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a case challenging a 2017 New York state mandate requiring employers to cover abortions in health insurance plans.The order follows the court's unanimous ruling on June 5 in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, which upheld First Amendment protections for religious organizations.A coalition of religious groups, including the Dioceses of Albany and Ogdensburg, the Sisterhood of St. Mary (Anglican/Episcopal nuns), First Bible Baptist Church, and Catholic Charities, sued New York state in 2017, arguing the mandate forces them to violate their belief in the sanctity of life by forcing them to fund abortions.In 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services mandated that employer health plans cover "medically necessary" abortions. Initially, the...
The Freedom Group was founded in 2023 and works to help men gain freedom from pornography addiction. / Credit: Courtesy of Joe MasekCNA Staff, Jun 15, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).At 8 years old, Minnesota native Joe Masek was exposed to pornography for the first time and went on to struggle with an addiction to it for 23 years. Through a series of actions he finally gained freedom and after experiencing a calling to help other men, he founded a ministry called The Freedom Group in 2023.About 100 men have gone through the ministry's program each year since then. The group uses a 12-month training system as well as additional courses and retreats to help men break free from porn addiction.The Porn Free training system includes weekly coaching calls with a Freedom Coach, group coaching calls, performance and mindset coaching, simple daily habits to build discipline and rhythm, access to an app to connect and track progress, and more. There are also several courses that help i...
Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, during a celebration and mass to honor his selection as Pope on June 14, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesVatican City, Jun 14, 2025 / 19:35 pm (CNA).The following is the full text of Pope Leo XIV's address to Catholics during the "Chicago Celebrates Pope Leo XIV" event at Rate Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team, on Saturday, June 14. My dear friends,It's a pleasure for me to greet all of you gathered together at White Sox Park on this great celebration as a community of faith in the Archdiocese of Chicago. A special greeting to Cardinal Cupich, to the auxiliary bishops, to all my friends who are gathered today on this: the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.And I begin with that because the Trinity is a model of God's love for us. God: Father, Son and Spirit. Three persons in one God live united in the depth of love, in community,...
A Brooklyn Park police officer looks on while guarding the entrance to a neighborhood on June 14, 2025 in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. / Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Jun 14, 2025 / 15:16 pm (CNA).Catholic leaders in Minnesota responded with prayers and calls for peace following what authorities said were the politically motivated shootings of state lawmakers that left two dead.Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were shot and killed early on Saturday in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot early on Saturday in their home in Champlin, with both reportedly expected to survive after surgery. Authorities said they engaged the suspect at Hortman's home, but the alleged killer was able to escape on foot. Police reportedly discovered a list of possible additional targets in the suspect's car, including state Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. A manhunt for the killer was still underway ...
Pope Leo XIV addresses Catholic faithful on the scoreboard at Rate Field, home to the Chicago White Sox, during a celebration and Mass to honor his selection as Pope on June 14, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesChicago, Ill., Jun 14, 2025 / 18:30 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV delivered a video message June 14 to thousands of Catholics gathered in his hometown of Chicago, making a special appeal to young people to be "beacons" of Christ's hope for others."You are the promise of hope for so many of us," the pope told young people attending the "Chicago Celebrates Pope Leo XIV" event at Rate Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. "The world looks to you as you look around yourselves and say: We need you, we need you to come together to share with us in this common mission, as Church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony, among all peoples."The pope acknowledged some of the difficulties fa...
