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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 30, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York is asking state lawmakers to oppose a bill that would legalize voluntary euthanasia, sometimes known as physician-assisted suicide.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Dolan wrote that lawmakers should strengthen efforts to "prevent" deaths by suicide rather than establishing a legal method to end one's own life.

Dolan recounted an experience in which he saw a man on the George Washington Bridge who was "threatening to jump," saying that onlookers prayed for him and rescuers tried "to coax him back to safety."

"We all rallied on behalf of a troubled man intent on suicide," he wrote. "That's how it is when someone is thinking of taking his own life."

Dolan noted that the archdiocese runs programs in its schools to help students who might be considering suicide and that the state "spends millions" of dollars on suicide prevention efforts and has bolstered mental health investments under the governorship of Kathy Hochul.

"Which is why I am more than puzzled, I am stunned, when I read that New York lawmakers are on the verge of legalizing suicide — not by leaping from a bridge but via a poison cocktail easily provided by physicians and pharmacists," the cardinal added.

"I can't help but shake my head in disbelief at the disparity in official responses," he wrote. "Our government will marshal all its resources to save the life of one hopeless and despondent man. Yet it may conclude that some lives aren't worth living — perhaps due to a serious illness or disability — and we will hand those despondent women and men a proverbial loaded gun and tell them to have at it."

The proposed legislation passed the state's lower chamber 81-67 last month with support from most Democrats and strong opposition from the Republican minority. More than 20 Democrats joined Republicans in opposition to the bill. The bill is now in the Senate, where some hesitancy within the Democratic Party is delaying a vote.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said two weeks ago that "more people have signed on in the Senate than had been over the past few years" and that if the proposal gets support from a majority of the body, "I'll certainly bring it to the floor," according to Politico.

In 10 states and the District of Columbia, euthanasia is legal in limited circumstances. Most of those states legalized the practice within the past decade. Euthanasia remains illegal in most of the country.

Under the New York proposal, euthanasia would only be legal for terminal illnesses, but Dolan noted in his op-ed that "many controllable illnesses can become terminal if untreated."

"In a recent podcast, the Assembly sponsor conceded that diabetics could become eligible if they cease taking insulin, making their condition 'terminal' by definition," the cardinal wrote.

He warned that even though the proposed New York law would have some limits, advocates of euthanasia in states where it is already legal "continue to push for expansion." He also pointed to Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program, which "initially looked very much like the New York bill" but has since greatly expanded.

When MAID was first enacted in Canada in 2016, a person needed to be terminally ill to qualify, but in 2021 the country expanded eligibility to include people who are chronically ill, even if their illness is not terminal. Although this only applies to physical illnesses, the program's eligibility is set to expand in 2027 to include people who have chronic mental illnesses.

The use of MAID in Canada continues to rise annually and now accounts for nearly 5% of all of the country's deaths.

Dolan noted that some of the Democrats who opposed the bill in the state's lower chamber "cited fears about how poor, medically underserved communities would be targeted and the danger that unconsumed drugs could be sold on the streets of their districts."

"The prospects of defeating the bill look bleak, and it's tempting to give in to hopelessness," the cardinal wrote.

"But those brave first responders on the bridge didn't give in; they worked together to stop a tragedy," Dolan added. "Will state senators or Ms. Hochul step up to protect precious human life? That is my prayer."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 30, 2025 / 18:53 pm (CNA).

The whole nature of Chrisitian martyrdom has shifted in the 21st century, according to Robert Royal, author of the new book "The Martyrs of the New Millennium."

Interviewed on "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo" on Thursday, Royal said that since his last work on the subject, "The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century," 25 years ago, the greatest threat to Christians in the world has shifted from totalitarianism to "radical Islam." 

"This is a point of view that really seeks to create a worldwide caliphate. That's the word that they use," he said. "These radical Islamic figures, they think about it as establishing an Ottoman Empire, but not just restricted to Turkey and a few of the lands in the Middle East, but a total empire of Islam everywhere."

He continued: "This is something that the West, in particular, needs to wake up to," he said, because despite the defeat of ISIS, "it didn't go away. It's transferred itself to other parts of the world, and it will come back with a vengeance."

Africa

Royal especially pointed to radical Islamism "all across Central Africa, across sub-Saharan Africa." 

Discussing the plight of Nigerian Christians, he noted that since finishing the writing of his new book last November, he estimates that since then "something on the order of 2,000 and 3,000 Christians have probably been killed by radical Islam." 

Just this past weekend, an attack by extremist Muslim herdsmen in Nigeria left dozens dead and resulted in the kidnapping of a Catholic priest and several nuns. Hundreds of Jihadist Fulani herdsmen gunned down nearly 40 people, more than half of them Christians, across several villages on Sunday, according to a report by Truth Nigeria, a humanitarian-aid nonprofit that seeks to document Nigeria's struggles with corruption and crime.

Latin America

"Surprisingly," Royal said, "organizations that track the martyrdom of priests in particular say that Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world today to be a Catholic priest." He said that today, persecution of priests in that country "is the result of cartels, human traffickers, drug traffickers, and anybody who steps in front of what those criminal organizations are trying to do puts themselves at risk." 

In Nicaragua, he said, systematic persecution against Christians similarly stems from corruption from those seeking power. 

"Now it's not so much a matter of Marxism as it is a matter of a family wanting to control a country in which the Church is the only effective opposition to their tyranny," Royal observed, referring to the government of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo. "They're closing down TV stations, radio stations, and have expelled bishops and priests. It's an old playbook, but now it's being used for the sake of a particular family rather than an ideology."

The Ortega dictatorship has kidnapped, imprisoned, murdered, and forcefully expelled bishops, priests, and religious sisters from the country, shut down Catholic schools and organizations, and restricted religious practice nationwide. 

China

"The situation in China is very discouraging because our own Church made a very bad bargain with a totalitarian regime," he said, pointing out that while overt persecution has declined in the country, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to restrict the Church. Ten bishops have also been reported missing, he noted. 

"We know that there are images of President Xi inside of churches. There are attempts to rewrite parts of the Gospels to point it in the direction of the Communist Party. They're being more careful about creating martyrs because, of course, that raises the international temperature against China," he said. "But they do it."

"Now we have a pope who was head of the committee in the Vatican who appointed bishops," Royal said, noting that Pope Leo XIV has also been to the country himself. "It'll be very interesting to see if he is able to do anything."

The Vatican renewed its agreement with China on the appointment of Catholic bishops for four more years in October 2024. Originally signed in September 2018, the provisional agreement was previously renewed for a two-year period in 2020 and again in October 2022. 

The terms of the agreement have not been made public, though the late Pope Francis had said it includes a joint commission between the Chinese government and the Vatican on the appointment of Catholic bishops, overseen by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The West

"We should not consider ourselves exempt from persecution," Royal said of Christians living in Western countries. "We do have, of course, radical Islamic figures in Europe and in the United States, Australia, all the countries we normally think of as the West." 

Royal cited the findings by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, which records hundreds of anti-Christian hate crimes per year.

"France alone loses about two religious buildings a month," he said. He also mentioned the cases of pro-life protesters jailed in the U.K. for praying outside of abortion clinics. 

Royal also called for vigilance in the U.S., as sectors of American society also seek to pin "hate speech" labels on traditional Christian beliefs.

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CNA Staff, May 30, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned pro-democracy advocate and Hong Kong entrepreneur, is the honorary recipient of the 2025 Bradley Prize for his unwavering commitment to free speech, democracy, and journalistic integrity. 

His son, Sebastien Lai, accepted the award on his father's behalf at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The Bradley Prize recognizes Lai's role as a Catholic human rights activist standing against one of the world's most oppressive regimes.

Imprisoned for over four years and currently in solitary confinement, Lai, 77, faces potential life imprisonment under Beijing's 2020 national security law, which has stifled dissent and suppressed free speech in Hong Kong. 

"Jimmy's extraordinary courage and deeply held beliefs in journalistic integrity, human dignity, and democracy are an inspiration to all who value freedom," said Rick Graber, president of The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. "His sacrifice serves as a beacon of hope for those fighting against tyranny, and we are proud to award him with an honorary Bradley Prize."

Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has become a global symbol of resistance against what Graber described as the "oppressive, authoritarian rule" of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The former stowaway and child factory worker turned billionaire's entrepreneurial ventures spanned digital media and retail apparel, but it was his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government's tightening grip on freedom and democracy in Hong Kong that led to his multiple arrests.

Sebastien Lai told EWTN's Raymond Arroyo on "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo" on Thursday that he and his family are worried about his father, a diabetic with little to no access to medical care, the sacraments, or natural light in his "more than 1,600 days" in solitary confinement.

"It's just cruelty what they're doing to him" in prison, Sebastien said, "and he needs to be released immediately."

President Donald Trump has said he would include Jimmy Lai's release as part of ongoing negotiations with China. Sebastien met with members of the Trump administration in March, telling Arroyo he is "hopeful" and is grateful for the president's "moral clarity" regarding his father's case.

Though the elder Lai is a British citizen and could have fled, he chose to remain in Hong Kong, advocating for his principles. Sebastien said he has not yet met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer but he is hopeful the British government will help bring about his father's release.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, based in Milwaukee, established the Bradley Prize in 2004 to honor individuals whose work strengthens the principles of American exceptionalism, limited government, free markets, and civil society. Each recipient receives a $250,000 to $300,000 stipend for contributions in areas such as constitutional order, education, and cultural vitality.

Past recipients include economist Thomas Sowell; journalists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer; Robert P. George; and Mary Ann Glendon, the Harvard Law School professor emeritus who also served as the first woman president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Sebastien asked EWTN viewers to write to their elected representatives in Washington asking for Jimmy's release and to "say a little prayer and light a candle" for his freedom. He expressed hope that Pope Leo XIV, who asked for prayers for the people in China this past Sunday, would also call for Jimmy Lai's release.

"It is such a clear case of a persecuted Christian," Sebastien said of his father's imprisonment. The pope's support of Lai "would give the people in China hope. It would definitely give my father hope."

He said his father's faith is his "pillar," and although he is physically weak, he is "spiritually and intellectually" strong. "He knows he is doing the right thing by God." 

The Chinese government wants his father to think that "he's fighting by himself in his little cell," Lai said. "But he's not. He's fighting for everybody's freedom."

"A man's courage to give up everything he has to fight for what is right reverberates through time," he said.

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Vatican City, May 30, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

More than 80,000 ancient manuscripts from the Vatican Library will be restored and digitized thanks to an agreement with the Colnaghi Foundation. The initiative seeks to preserve unique documents and facilitate worldwide access to this treasure of the Church.

The shelves of the Vatican Library house a large part of humanity's literary legacy. They include more than 82,000 manuscripts and 1.6 million printed books (more than 8,000 of them "incunabula," which means those printed before 1501).

Among the gems in its catalog are a document with Botticelli's illustrations for the "Divine Comedy" and the only nearly complete copy of Cicero's "Republic" that has survived.

Humidity and the decomposition of the inks over time have turned their preservation into a major challenge for all popes.

"The preserved organic material is in a very deteriorated state and would disintegrate if we don't take action to restore it in the best possible way," Candida Lodovica de Angelis Corvi of the Colnaghi Foundation told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.

Lodovica just signed a five-year agreement with the Vatican precisely to prevent this deterioration.

The agreement includes an ambitious digitization project "that will allow scholars remote access to important documents that are currently only available in person," she explained. The director of this prestigious commercial art gallery, founded in 1760, noted that this will have "a profound impact on the average person's ability to access knowledge." 

One of the main advantages of this project is that the Vatican Library will be able to use a special and unique scanner from the Factum company, a subsidiary of the Colnaghi group. "When you scan the surface, you can obtain more details, for example, determining the date of the [book or document] itself," she explained.

Furthermore, this device also makes it possible to bring to light parts that are hidden from view. "There is a stratification relative to time within the paper itself. Beneath what we see is previous [writing, printing, or sketches]. There could be a secret message, or it could simply be the result of the need to reuse a piece of paper," she noted.

In addition, the project also includes an architectural renovation of the library, to be carried out by the David Chipperfield firm, which was founded by the renowned London-based British architect 40 years ago.

The papal library, directed by the Italian Raffaella Vincenti since 2012, has enthusiastically embraced this collaborative effort. "We wish to express our profound gratitude to the Colnaghi Foundation for its generous support of several important library projects, which reinforce our commitment to the dissemination of culture," said the institution's prefect emeritus, Monsignor Cesare Pasini. 

Previously unseen works by Caravaggio, Bernini, Tintoretto, and Titian

To celebrate this collaboration between the art world and ecclesiastical institutions, the Codex exhibition opened May 26. It brings together 14 works from private collections that are not normally on view. In fact, visits to this exhibition are limited to a special permit that must be requested from the Vatican through the library. On June 2, the works will return to private collections.

The works on display comprise a visual and historical tour through sacred art and portraits from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, highlighting pieces by some of history's greatest masters.

The exhibition opens with "St. Peter the Penitent" by Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck, depicting the apostle in tears with a profoundly human expression of repentance, featuring Baroque "chiaroscuro" (strong light and dark contrasts).

Next to the painting is the letter, preserved in the Vatican collection, with which the archbishop of Seville, Antonio Salinas, who commissioned the painting, granted a plenary indulgence to the faithful.

The exhibition continues with "The Triumph of Flora," a mythological allegory by Mario Nuzzi, exuberant in color and symbolism, celebrating the fertility of nature with a festive and decorative spirit that contrasts with the gravity of other pieces.

Another work on display is Michelangelo's preparatory sketch for "The Adoration of the Brazen Serpent," a powerful scene from the Old Testament. The drawing demonstrates the artist's anatomical and expressive intensity, which manages to condense drama and redemption into a single figure.

Another renowned piece is the "Portrait of Maffeo Barberini," a work by Caravaggio painted around 1598. It depicts the future Pope Urban VIII when he was about 30 years old. The painting shows Barberini seated, emerging from the shadows, his face illuminated, and dressed modestly in a black robe and cap, holding a document in his left hand and pointing with his right, suggesting an interaction with a figure outside the field of vision. This portrait remained in a private collection in Florence for decades and was attributed to Caravaggio by historian Roberto Longhi in 1963.

The exhibition includes works by other of the most influential artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Titian's "Portrait of Pope Paul III," painted during his trip to Rome between October 1545 and May 1546. This painting, in which the pope appears with a shrewd expression and the traditional camauro (a red cap with white trim), a symbol of his authority, belongs to a private collection and is housed in Lisbon, Portugal.

Another portrait is that of "Clement VII," painted by Sebastiano del Piombo. Of particular note by the artist Tintoretto is the "Portrait of Cardinal Marcantonio da Mula," which demonstrates the painter's ability to combine the cardinal's dignified appearance with dynamism.

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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CNA Staff, May 29, 2025 / 14:42 pm (CNA).

A lawsuit filed in Wisconsin alleges that an employee of a Catholic Charities affiliate there stole millions of dollars as part of a yearslong scheme involving credit card fraud and fake invoices. 

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said in the lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Wisconsin circuit court, that former employee Brandi Ellis "abused her authority and misappropriated millions of dollars" when serving in a variety of financial roles within the organization. 

Ellis allegedly worked as an accountant, an accounting manager, and eventually as a finance manager at the charity, with her employment taking place from February 2014 to May 2024. 

The suit alleges that Ellis paid "false invoices ostensibly reflecting work and/or services completed or provided by vendors" but which actually funneled money to vendors with "personal or professional connections" to Ellis. 

The accountant also allegedly used corporate credit cards to make personal purchases. 

The schemes each totaled "hundreds of thousands of dollars," the suit alleges. 

In addition to suing its ex-accountant, the charity is also suing the Madison, Wisconsin-based financial services firm Baker Tilly over allegedly failing to identify the fraudulent activity as part of auditing services it provided to the Catholic organization. 

The firm should have recognized "goods and services that could not reasonably be in support of the plaintiff's charitable mission," the suit argues, including "Amazon Prime video rentals, Uber rides, Ticketmaster purchases, [and] casino purchases from MGM Grand."

The accounting group "failed to recognize clearly fraudulent purchasing activity," the suit alleges, and further relied on "internal documents generated by … Brandi Ellis" rather than independently verified third-party data. 

The suit seeks damages from both Ellis and the accounting firm.

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Lima Newsroom, May 29, 2025 / 15:12 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Cardinal Robert Sarah as his special envoy for the celebrations taking place in France commemorating the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of St. Anne to the Breton peasant Yvon Nicolazic.

The Vatican stated that, as the papal special envoy, the prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments will preside over "the liturgical celebrations to be held July 25-26 at the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, Diocese of Vannes (France), on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of St. Anne to the Breton peasant Yvon Nicolazic."

In the early 1620s, Nicolazic experienced a vision of a radiant lady, later identified as St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She reportedly instructed him to rebuild a long-lost chapel dedicated to her on his land.

On its website, the Sainte-Anne-d'Auray Shrine states that this happened on July 25, 1624, the eve of the feast of St. Anne.

"The next 7th of March, following St. Anne's call, Yvon Nicolazic discovered a statue of St. Anne in the ruins of a chapel in his field at Bocenno. It was the sign giving proof of the truth of the apparitions," the website adds.

The shrine notes that "from that day forward, pilgrims came in droves to this place then called "Keranna," or "the village of Anne," proving that St. Anne was honored in this place even before the apparitions, a fact borne out by the presence of the old chapel stones among which the statue was found."

The shrine notes that after four centuries, the pilgrimages "retain their vitality." St. John Paul II visited the Shrine of Sainte-Anne d'Auray on Sept. 20, 1996.

As part of the fourth centenary of the apparitions, the shrine is also celebrating its jubilee year, holding a series of devotional and academic activities.

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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CNA Staff, May 29, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Sisters of Bon Secours are launching a citywide campaign against gun violence with seven other Catholic congregations in Baltimore.

The advertisement campaign announced this week features ads inside and outside of city buses and in subway transit stations throughout the city that say "Put the Guns Down. Let Peace Begin With Us."

The Bon Secours sisters are part of a coalition of religious sisters and others advocating for gun violence prevention called "Nuns Against Gun Violence." Taking inspiration from a similar campaign by other sisters in Ohio, the Sisters of Bon Secours ultimately landed on an advertising campaign.

"The Sisters of Bon Secours have been involved in gun violence prevention advocacy efforts for many years and were looking for a way to bring more attention to the issue," said Simone Blanchard, director of justice, peace, and integrity of creation for the Sisters of Bon Secours.

Bus advertisements will carry the message "all over the city instead of a few stationery billboards," she said.

The advertisements feature a QR code that takes viewers to the sisters' webpage, which has resources on combating gun violence, including a prayer for victims of gun violence and links to the Archdiocese of Baltimore's gun buyback program. 

"The ads on Baltimore city buses reflect the commitment of my community and other Catholic sisters in Baltimore to say: There is another way," said Sister Patricia Dowling of the Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours. 

"We all deserve safe streets, a sense of peace, and the freedom to live without fear," she continued. "Peace begins with each of us, and anything we can do to raise awareness about alternatives to violence and the sacredness of life is essential today."

Dowling said the campaign aligns with the congregation's charism and is also "deeply personal." 

"As a Sister of Bon Secours living in West Baltimore, I hear gunshots regularly," Dowling told CNA. "I've seen the faces of those who've been shot, and I've walked with neighbors carrying the pain and trauma that gun violence leaves behind."

"Our charism — compassion, healing, and liberation — calls us to uphold the dignity of every person and to seek peace in every situation," she continued.

"It's not just about my neighborhood — it's about all of us," Dowling said. 

Baltimore is among the top 10 cities in the U.S. with the highest rates of gun homicides. According to a recent review by Pew Research, the states with the highest gun murder rates in the U.S. include Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and New Mexico as well as Washington, D.C.

Blanchard said the campaign has its roots in Catholic social teaching, "starting with the foundational principle of the sacredness of every human life from conception to natural death."

"This teaching stems from the fact that we are all created in the image of God and have inherent dignity," Blanchard told CNA. 

"As Catholics we are called to work for the common good towards a just and peaceful society where everyone's needs are met, especially those living in poverty and violence," Blanchard said. 

She noted that the campaign — and other efforts like it — is about having "solidarity with those who are suffering the most from the effects of gun violence."

Other congregations that helped sponsor the new campaign include the Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore Emmanuel Monastery; the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Province of St. Louise; the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart; the School Sisters of Notre Dame, Atlantic Midwest Province; Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, U.S. East-West Province; the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas; and the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

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Vatican City, May 29, 2025 / 10:09 am (CNA).

World-class cyclists will greet Pope Leo XIV and circle Vatican City on Sunday before embarking on the final lap of the Giro d'Italia, a multistage bicycle race that concludes in Rome.

The professional race, which started in Albania on May 9, is among the top three most important international multistage races in the world, together with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. It includes 21 stages, mostly in Italy.

The last stage of the 108th edition of the race will take place on June 1, starting from the Caracalla Baths, just south of the Coliseum, and proceeding toward the Vatican.

The 1.8-mile noncompetitive ride through the Vatican will start from the Petriano Square, just south of St. Peter's Basilica inside the city state, where Pope Leo XIV will greet the athletes at the starting line.  

The path of the race will then follow the Vatican walls past the basilica to climb toward the Vatican Gardens and arrive at the heliport, the highest, westernmost point of the territory.

The racers will then pedal through a green space dotted with Marian images, including a replica of the Lourdes grotto and a mosaic of Our Lady of Good Counsel — a favorite devotion of Pope Leo. After descending toward the Vatican Museums and the "Square Garden," the cyclists will double back along the rear of St. Peter's Basilica to exit out a side gate on the south side of Vatican City.

The history of the cycling competition dates back to 1909. The annual race has taken place over three weeks between May and June every year since its beginning, with interruptions only for the First and Second World Wars. In 1946 and 2020 it was postponed but still took place.

Among the storied winners of the Giro d'Italia is Italian cycling champion Gino Bartali, a devout Catholic who helped save more than 800 Jews during World War II.

Bartali, who was declared "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem in 2013, won the Giro d'Italia twice between 1936 and the outbreak of the Second World War. He was also a twice winner of the Tour de France.

Using cycling training as a cover, during World War II, the road cyclist transported photographs and forged documents between Florence and Franciscan convents in the surrounding regions where Jews were hidden. He also carried messages and documents for the Italian Resistance.

Bartali also assisted the Assisi Network, an underground network of Catholic clergy who hid Jews in convents and monasteries during World War II by taking Jews from the hiding places to the Swiss Alps in a wagon with a secret compartment attached to his bicycle. If he was stopped, he said that the wagon was for training.

The champion's reputation and popularity as Italy's top cyclist meant that he was largely left alone by the Fascist police and German troops, who did not want to risk upsetting his numerous fans by arresting him.

The cyclist used to say: "Good is done, but not said. And certain medals hang on the soul, not on the jacket."

The husband and father of three children died in 2000 at the age of 85. His cause for beatification was opened in 2018.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A Catholic foster care ministry leader is calling for Catholic families to support vulnerable children and families by becoming foster parents. 

Springs of Love ministry founder Kimberly Henkel said many Catholics are unaware of the "huge crisis in our country" surrounding foster care, and people of faith are in a unique position to bring love to children in need of foster care. 

Henkel, who is a foster and adoptive mother herself, launched Springs of Love as a ministry to help other Catholic couples navigate the process of fostering. Henkel described the foster system as "very cyclical" and "difficult to break out of," with children often passing from home to home. In the end, she said, children who age out of foster care with no family connections are often left increasingly prone to addiction, homelessness, and even trafficking.

"We have the answer," Henkel said in an "EWTN Pro-Life Weekly" interview with host Abi Galvan on Tuesday. "We can help these children to heal by loving them … We have Jesus, the healer, the divine physician who can heal all of our wounds."

According to Henkel, who founded Springs of Love in 2022, there are some 400,000 children in the foster care system. Approximately 20,000 will age out every year with no solid family foundation from which to embark on adulthood. 

"As my husband and I … started fostering and adopting, as we continued down the path, we just saw this need," Henkel recalled. "So we started [Springs of Love] and are trying to No. 1, raise awareness, because so many Catholics have no idea" of the great need for foster families.

Springs of Love is currently working on releasing a new curriculum for prospective foster parents later this summer, Henkel said, noting that while much of it will touch on fostering from a pro-life perspective and the "joy of adoption," it will also delve into more difficult aspects.

"A lot of the times when these kids are aging out," she said, "they have no connections, they have nobody to look out for them." Henkel noted that about 70% of young women who age out of the foster care system become pregnant within the first couple of years and either go on to "repeat the cycle" they experienced in their own lives or have an abortion.

"We're really going in and trying to educate people," Henkel said, "and doing it through the light of the Gospel to give people that hope that Christ can truly come into our hearts and bring the healing that we need." 

Springs of Love has a video series on EWTN on Demand that tells the stories of foster families. The point, according to Henkel, is not only to raise awareness of the process of fostering a child but also to show that the aim of fostering is ultimately family reunification. 

"The goal of foster care is reunification, so if it is safe for a child to go back home, then we want to continue being a support to that family," Henkel said. 

"This is how we can see a huge change, because when we're dealing with these massive issues of homelessness, poverty, addictions, and trafficking, in order for people to break out of that, they need to be poured into," she continued. "They need to know the love of Jesus [and] to have people to come alongside them and accompany them."

Springs of Love is the sister organization of a ministry Henkel previously helped co-found called Springs in the Desert, which accompanies Catholic couples struggling with infertility and loss, "by offering a place of respite and solidarity," as stated on its website.

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Vatican City, May 28, 2025 / 15:21 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV held the second general audience of his pontificate today in which he reflected on the parable of the good Samaritan.

At the beginning of his catechesis, addressed to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father recalled that the parables of the Gospel offer an opportunity "to change perspective and open ourselves up to hope."

The lack of hope, the pontiff explained, is sometimes due "to the fact that we fixate on a certain rigid and closed way of seeing things," and the parables "help us to look at them from another point of view."

He then recalled that Jesus proposes this parable to "a doctor of the law," who asks him: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Lk 10:25-37), and then Jesus invites him to love his neighbor.

'The practice of worship does not automatically lead to compassion'

The scene of the parable of the good Samaritan is a road "as difficult and harsh as life itself," the pope said. In fact, the man who crosses it "is attacked, beaten, robbed, and left half dead."

"It is the experience that happens when situations, people, sometimes even those we have trusted, take everything from us and leave us in the middle of the road," the pontiff emphasized.

Leo XIV then added that "life is made up of encounters, and in these encounters, we emerge for what we are. We find ourselves in front of others, faced with their fragility and weakness, and we can decide what to do: to take care of them or pretend nothing is wrong."

He recalled that the priest and the Levite went down that same road and didn't stop to help him. "The practice of worship does not automatically lead to being compassionate. Indeed, before being a religious matter, compassion is a question of humanity! Before being believers, we are called to be human," he emphasized.

Haste as an obstacle to compassion

The pope pointed out that "haste, so present in our lives, very often impedes us from feeling compassion. One who thinks his or her journey must be the priority is not willing to stop for another."

However, the Samaritan, who belonged to a despised people, decided to stop to help the man. Thus, Leo XIV emphasized that "religiosity does not enter into this. This Samaritan simply stops because he is a man faced with another man in need of help."

He also affirmed that compassion "is expressed through practical gestures," recalling that the Samaritan "approaches, because if you want to help someone, you cannot think of keeping your distance; you have to get involved, get dirty yourself, perhaps be contaminated."

"One truly helps if one is willing to feel the weight of the other's pain," Pope Leo XIV noted.

"When will we, too, be capable of interrupting our journey and having compassion? When we understand that the wounded man in the street represents each one of us. And then the memory of all the times that Jesus stopped to take care of us will make us more capable of compassion," he said.

Finally, Pope Leo invited the faithful to pray to "grow in humanity, so that our relationships may be truer and richer in compassion."

"Let us ask the heart of Jesus for the grace to increasingly have the same feelings he does," he concluded.

After greeting the pilgrims from different countries, the Holy Father intoned the Our Father in Latin and imparted his blessing to the faithful present, who listened attentively despite the high temperatures and intense Roman spring sun.

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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