Catholic News

Pope Leo XIV on March 12 appointed Spanish Augustinian Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín as papal almoner and prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, elevating him to the rank of archbishop at the same time.

Marín de San Martín replaces Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, who will return to his native Poland as the new metropolitan archbishop of Lódz. Krajewski was named almoner in 2013, a cardinal in 2018, and prefect of the newly constituted charity dicastery in 2022.

The papal almoner is a key position in the Vatican, one that has played a vital role in the Church and its charitable undertakings for centuries. But what is the purpose of this office? What does an almoner do, and how does he fit into the complex structure of the Holy See?

Role emerged in earliest years of the Church

Matthew Bunson, vice president and editorial director of EWTN News, said the role of almoner dates back to the earliest days of the Church.

"This has always been a concern of the popes — to care for those most in need," he said. Popular history holds that Pope Gregory I, also known as Gregory the Great, who took control of much of the civil authority in Rome in the absence of civil government, wept upon learning that an indigent citizen of Rome had starved to death, leading the sixth-century pope to emphasize ministries to the poor.

The position of almoner fully emerged under Innocent III, whose papacy took place in the late 1190s and early 1200s. "Subsequent centuries gave it more form," Bunson said.

He noted that Pope Leo XIII sought more mechanisms for funding the charities overseen by the almoner. Among the fundraising mechanisms that emerged from his papacy was the custom of papal blessings; Catholics may be familiar with such blessings by seeing them framed and hung in the homes of the married couples to whom they are often given.

Though the papal alms office has for years headed global charity efforts at the behest of the pope, Bunson said Pope Francis during his papacy placed an "immense" amount of importance in the office, transforming it into a dicastery and making it what has been described as a "flagship initiative of the pontificate."

Krajewski utilized the office to offer assistance to Ukrainians after the Russian invasion of their country in 2022. Domestically, meanwhile, the office oversees major charity initiatives in Rome, including the Mother of Mercy Clinic and the San Martino Outpatient Center.

Though commentators and analysts regularly opine on the authority and prestige of various Vatican appointments, the almoner position, Bunson said, is less one of power and more one of "pastoral care and spiritual care."

The position's importance is illustrated by the fact that it is one of the few Vatican offices that remains wholly uninterrupted in the event of a pope's death or resignation.

Another such position is the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the so-called "tribunal of mercy," the dicastery concerned with the internal forum and indulgences, especially the forgiveness of sins.

That official always keeps his job to ensure every Catholic always has an opportunity for God's loving mercy. Similarly, the almoner retains his office because "everyone needs direct access to the Church's pastoral care," Bunson said.

He also noted that Marín de San Martín is an Augustinian. "Traditionally, the apostolic almoner is attached very closely to the papal household," Bunson said. "Leo is continuing to surround himself with Augustinians."

The charitable purpose of the position was perhaps best exemplified by a directive Pope Francis reportedly gave to Krajewski upon appointing him to the office. "You can sell your desk. You don't need it," the pope said, according to Krajewski himself.

"You need to get out of the Vatican," Francis told him. "Don't wait for people to come ringing. You need to go out and look for the poor."

Full Article

The Supreme Court will consider whether the federal government must inspect and process asylum seekers rather than turn them away to wait in Mexico.

The court is set to hear arguments March 24 on whether migrants who present themselves at a U.S. port of entry but are stopped on the Mexican side of the border are legally considered to have "arrived in the United States" and therefore have the right to seek asylum.

The plaintiffs in Noem v. Al Otro Lado argue turning away asylum-seekers violates the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops agrees with them.

The USCCB wrote in an amicus curiae brief: "The turnback policy is not just a flawed piece of statutory interpretation but an historical aberration — one that, during the period it was enforced, left vulnerable asylum seekers stranded in encampments on the border while lawfully trying to seek asylum at a port of entry."

Turning away asylum seekers meant they "suffered predation from gangs, malnutrition, and inadequate shelter, and some lost their lives. Blessing the government's reading of the INA — and thereby opening the door to reinstatement of the turnback policy — would therefore be a moral disaster, not just a legal error," the bishops wrote.

"It is unsurprising that care for refugees has been a cornerstone of the Church's teachings since its founding: Catholics believe refugees reflect the image of Christ and deserve the utmost charity. Even a sovereign state's power over its borders cannot abridge this fundamental duty of care — which, at the very minimum, requires that nations not put asylum seekers at even more risk of harm when they arrive at the border asking for relief," the bishops wrote.

Asylum seekers, to qualify, must be present in the United States and must be fleeing imminent persecution based on religious, political, or racial discrimination, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Seeking asylum for economic reasons is not an acceptable criterion, DHS says.

Supporters of DHS' position say that Section 208 of the INA states that asylum seekers must be in the United States, not at its border checkpoint, to apply.

'In' versus 'at'

Immigration author and former immigration judge Andrew Arthur said the case centers on a preposition: "in" versus "at." He said the "literalist Supreme Court" is likely to issue a unanimous decision on the case, because the language, specifically the use of the preposition "in," disallows asylum seekers to be processed on the other side of the border, because they are not "in" the United States.

"The long-term ramifications of this case are going to affirm DHS' authority and restrictions at the border," Arthur said.

U.S. bishops' special message on immigration approved at the 2025 Fall Plenary Assembly on Nov. 12 expressed the bishops' opposition to "the indiscriminate mass deportation of people."

"Human dignity and national security are not in conflict," the bishops said.

The bishops' message also addressed their concerns over the conditions of detention centers and prayed "for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement."

Full Article

A group of Catholic moral theologians and ethicists have filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in federal court in support of Anthropic, an American artificial intelligence (AI) company that is suing the Department of Defense over the Pentagon's insistence that it should be free to use Anthropic's AI products without restriction, including for mass surveillance and autonomous weaponry.

Anthropic, creator of the widely adopted AI assistant Claude, ran afoul of the Pentagon's leadership late last month when its CEO, Dario Amodei, told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the company refused "in good conscience" to allow Claude to be used specifically for those purposes.

In addition to Anthropic subsequently losing a $200 million contract with the Defense Department, Hegseth announced Anthropic would be designated a "supply chain risk" — a first for an American company. President Donald Trump has directed all government agencies to halt the use of Anthropic's products within six months. Fearing financial annihilation, Anthropic on March 9 filed two lawsuits against the Department of Defense, challenging the "supply chain risk" designation as an inappropriate retaliation.

The falling out between Anthropic and the Pentagon sparked a major debate on the ethics and morality of AI, with many commentators expressing appreciation for Anthropic's decision to make a principled stand against the government's demands.

In the brief filed March 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division, the group of 14 Catholic scholars — including professors, authors, and at least one priest, Legionary Father Michael Baggot — said the teaching of the Catholic Church supports Anthropic's decision to reject the Pentagon's demands on its technology related to mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.

"Anthropic, in the red lines it has drawn for the use of its products on domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons systems, sought to uphold minimal standards of ethical conduct for technical progress. In doing so, Anthropic was acting as a responsible and moral corporate citizen, not as a threat to the safety of the American supply chain," the authors of the brief wrote.

The substance of the brief was written by four scholars: Charles Camosy, an associate professor of moral theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; Joseph Vukov, an associate professor of philosophy and the associate director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago; Brian J.A. Boyd, a moral theologian; and Brian Patrick Green, a lecturer in ethics at the Graduate School of Engineering at Santa Clara University, a Catholic institution in California.

'A threat for man and for the world'

In the brief, the scholars note that Anthropic has said it is not categorically opposed to the idea of autonomous weaponry or mass surveillance; rather, the company believes its systems are not yet "sufficiently reliable, interpretable, or controllable to be entrusted with decisions that directly take a human life without human oversight, or to conduct population-scale surveillance."

While the scholars indicated agreement with Anthropic on the criticisms of such systems' reliability, they stressed that the Catholic tradition has "consistently emphasized that decisions affecting human life, freedom, and dignity must remain the responsibility of human actors and that not every technically feasible or legally permissible use of a tool is therefore appropriate," and that "when technology is capable of violating life, dignity, and freedom, it is reasonable to draw clear boundaries around its use."

On the topic of mass surveillance, the scholars note that the Church's teaching on the right to privacy is rooted in the dignity of every human person. A widespread surveillance regime by the military would undermine the dignity of those being surveilled, the scholars argued.

Such a centralized surveillance system would also tread on the Catholic idea of subsidiarity — the idea that decisions and oversight should be handled by the smallest, most local competent body — by undermining state and local governments, which are not only more likely to understand context better than a distant AI but which must also live with the effects, the scholars continued.

On the topic of lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS (sometimes called "killer robots"), the scholars firmly asserted that the use of weapons capable of making wartime decisions on their own violates the Catholic principle of "just war." In a just war, human judgment must be employed to ensure, for example, that a violent act is a proportionate use of force, or in the selection or avoidance of targets. Human involvement in such decisions is crucial, the scholars said, because "judgments of proportionality and discrimination are prudential — not mere pattern matching." This and other reasons are why the Vatican has repeatedly and forcefully expressed opposition to the idea of LAWS, going back as far as 2013.

"[LAWS] circumvent the kind of practical judgment and careful decision-making that should inform all human decisions, and especially those that involve matters of life and death," the scholars wrote.

The scholars conclude their brief by quoting Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Spe Salvi on the topic of technological progress. "If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in man's ethical formation, in man's inner growth (cf. Ephesians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 4:16), then it is not progress at all but a threat for man and for the world," the encyclical states.

Green, one of the authors of the amicus brief, previously told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, that Anthropic's principled stand, especially coming from a commercial company, is important.

"You can imagine an alternate universe where Dario Amodei just said, 'OK, we'll sign it. It's no big deal.' They would be doing fine as a business, and the rest of the world would not be talking about AI ethics right now. [But] this universe that we're living in is one that has been fundamentally changed in a lot of ways because somebody decided to take an ethical stand. I think that's important," Green said.

"I think this ethical stand is good, potentially — assuming that the government does not actually destroy Anthropic and reduce their value to zero," he added.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

Full Article

A years-old copyright lawsuit over Catholic hymns saw jurors in Oregon this week receive a crash course in music reading along with a livestreamed performance of the songs at the center of the dispute.

The suit, originally filed by American Catholic composer Vincent Ambrosetti in May 2020, accuses songwriter Bernadette Farrell and Oregon Catholic Press of copyright infringement against Ambrosetti's 1980 hymn "Emmanuel."

The suit alleges that Farrell's 1993 hymn "Christ Be Our Light" illegally copied elements of "Emmanuel," with Ambrosetti arguing for a "striking similarity" between the two songs.

Part of Farrell's work contains "the same notes, the same key, and the same time signature," the suit alleges.

The suit was dismissed in March 2024, with U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut arguing that Ambrosetti had not shown that the defendants had had "access" to his song prior to writing their own song or that there was a "striking similarity" between the two works.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed that decision in August 2025, reviving the lawsuit and arguing that there were "genuine issues of material fact" regarding the similarity of the songs.

The appeals court noted that in 1985, Oregon Catholic Press then-publisher Owen Alstott allegedly met Ambrosetti at a convention, where Ambrosetti gave Alstott a copy of "Emmanuel." Alstott would go on to meet and eventually marry Farrell. 

The trial began anew on March 16. The Oregonian reported that the panel of eight jurors were instructed on several basic principles of musical comprehension, including how to read music, "how to distinguish between a quarter note and a half note," and "how many beats each measure holds."

Lawrence Ferrara, a professor of music at New York University, also performed several musical samples of the disputed works via video during the trial.

Ferrara has participated in court proceedings and copyright disputes for decades, including analysis and professional opinion. In a February preliminary report filed to the court he pointed to similarities in the two songs that he said provide "strong objective musicological evidence of copying."

Ambrosetti in his 2020 lawsuit said he had sent an infringement notice to the plaintiffs alleging the copyright violation but that they continued to use their song, leading to his filing the suit. The trial is expected to continue through the week.

Full Article

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), which works closely with the U.S. bishops, told EWTN News that it "hopes and prays" the U.S. Supreme Court will order President Donald Trump's administration to keep protections in place for Syrian and Haitian migrants.

On March 16, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit that challenges the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) decision to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for migrants from Haiti and Syria.

The court ordered that the protections will remain in place for the time being, until the justices make a final decision. This prevents deportations while the case is litigated. The court will hear oral arguments in the last week of April.

More than 300,000 Haitians and more than 6,000 Syrians are protected from removal based on the TPS status but would lose the ability to live and work in the United States if it is ultimately terminated.

"CLINIC hopes and prays that the Supreme Court recognizes that the administration cannot abuse its executive authority and play with human lives," Elnora Bassey, a policy attorney for CLINIC, told EWTN News.

Bassey said "this constant back-and-forth" between the administration and the courts has put migrants who rely on those protections "in a state of despair as their future remains unknown."

"The administration's lawless attempts to interfere with humanitarian protections for immigrants must come to an end, and they must adhere to the legal process set in place to ensure the integrity of that process remains intact," Bassey said.

"Immigrants, just like all other human beings, ought to be treated with dignity and respect, and the administration must follow the law of the land and provide humanitarian protections rather than disregard the plain language of the statute to protect vulnerable human beings," she said.

The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration seeks to revoke TPS status for migrants from nearly a dozen countries, action that has faced legal challenges. These moves are part of Trump's broader efforts to restrict immigration and enforce mass deportations.

Andrew Arthur, former immigration judge and resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), told EWTN News he is "reasonably sure" the Supreme Court will ultimately side with the Trump administration in the lawsuit.

He said the court's decision to allow the TPS designation to remain in place until the case is settled "keeps everybody in place until the decision is made."

"It basically maintains the status quo until the case is completed, to err on the side of caution," Arthur said.

He said he believes the Trump administration will prevail because law permits TPS designations to be offered in response to a "substantial but temporary disruption of living conditions" that prevents people from returning to their home countries safely. He said it's "meant for a very short period of time."

Arthur said conditions in Syria are more stable than amid the 2012 designation during the civil war. Haiti's issues, he said, are more long-standing and Haiti is "no more dangerous … than it was 10 years ago."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) declined to comment on this specific development and referred to previous statements in which the bishops have urged the administration to keep TPS status in place.

Specifically regarding Haiti, USCCB Committee on Migration Chair Bishop Brendan Cahill and Committee on International Justice and Peace Bishop A. Elias Zaidan issued a joint statement in January that said "there is simply no realistic opportunity for the safe and orderly return of people."

Full Article

A recent bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would regulate abortion pills due to their potential environmental impact.

The Clean Water for All Life Act would also require a physician to be present for the chemical abortion and a "catch kit" for contaminated blood and aborted tissue. It would also require an in-person exam to prescribe abortion pills.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, is designed to address claims that chemical abortion procedures may contribute to environmental contamination. Supporters say the bill would tighten disposal requirements, while critics question the science behind those concerns.

"The murder-for-profit abortion industry is not only ending innocent life but is also polluting our water, endangering women, and operating with virtually no accountability," Miller said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on March 18. "Every year, more than 50 tons of chemically contaminated medical waste, including blood, placental tissue, and the remains of preborn children are flushed into America's water systems as a direct result of chemical abortion pills."

In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration did an environmental assessment of mifepristone tablets and found "no significant impact."

The drug was first approved for chemical abortions in 2000, however, and mifepristone-induced abortions now account for more than 60% of abortions in the U.S., not including un-facilitated abortions, such as mail-order abortions in states where chemical abortions are illegal, many of which go unrecorded.

A Students for Life of America report claims that "more than 50 tons of abortion pollution and human remains enter our water system every year," including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) that affect hormones.

Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins spoke about the research on "EWTN News Nightly" on March 17.

"What we have found through our own research is that in three metropolitan areas where we tested the water, the three active metabolites that are only found in the chemical abortion drug mifepristone are actually in our drinking water," Hawkins said.

Mifepristone, a synthetic hormone, blocks the reception of progesterone, a hormone essential for maintaining pregnancy. When mifepristone is taken during pregnancy, it prevents the unborn child from receiving vital nutrients, causing an abortion.

"Chemical abortions are the leading cause of infant death in our country," Hawkins said. "You're talking over 700,000 abortions a year are happening this way."

Miller called the issue "a growing and deeply alarming public health and environmental crisis."

"Our water systems were never designed to filter these toxic substances," Miller said. "The fact is, the abortion pill ingredients used to starve a preborn child remain active and unfiltered in our water treatments. That means families across the nation may be unknowingly ingesting abortion-related chemicals in their drinking water, exposing them to potential health risks like infertility and cancer."

"Innocent life should never be discarded as waste; our environment should not be contaminated; and women deserve full transparency about the dangers of the abortion pill," Miller said. "When women are fully informed of the harms of chemical abortion pills, I believe they are far more more likely to choose life, sparing not only the life of their unborn child but also preserving the health of our population."

"This is more than about policy; it's about protecting life, defending public health, and holding an industry accountable for its actions that has led to the death of millions," Miller said.

Full Article

Pope Leo XIV sent a video message to the participants of the sixth assembly of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA, by its Spanish acronym). The region is the largest tropical rainforest on the planet, covering an area of ??approximately 2.59 million square miles shared by nine South American countries. The pontiff lamented the "growing deterioration" of the natural environment.

"You have made me keenly aware of the sufferings and hopes of the region's inhabitants, as well as the growing deterioration of their natural environment. To all those suffering from this situation, I wish to express my closeness," the pope said in the message for the gathering, which is being held in Bogotá from March 17–19 and which marks a new step in the ecclesial journey of the Amazon region.

The gathering brings together pastors, men and women religious, and lay faithful from the Amazonian territories with the aim of laying the foundations to promote synodality within local Churches during the 2026–2030 period, foundations that could serve as an instrument to guide the evangelizing mission in the Amazonian territory.

The pontiff also referenced another key part of the meeting: the election of the presidency of the CEAMA for the 2026–2030 term.

He noted that the new team's tasks will include continuing to advance the implementation of the Synod for the Amazon and preparing contributions drawn from the Amazonian experience for the ecclesial assembly scheduled to take place in Rome in 2028.

"Know that I accompany you with my prayers in this important step," assured the pope, who also described the assembly as "a privileged time of listening to the Holy Spirit" to discern the path of Christian communities in the Amazon region.

In this regard, he cited Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonía, recalling that the Church's mission is to proclaim "a God who loves every human being infinitely, a love he has fully manifested in Christ."

'Something new is being born'

The participants in CEAMA's sixth assembly have chosen as their theme a verse from the prophet Isaiah: "I am about to do something new: It is already springing forth, do you not perceive it?" (Is 43:19).

The pope revisited this image to highlight the process currently underway within the Amazonian Church. "It's true: Something new is being born; it is still fragile, but it is already in process," he affirmed.

To illustrate this, he drew upon the image of the "shihuahuaco" — known as the "giant of the jungle" — a tree that grows slowly but can live for over a thousand years and become an ecosystem in itself, serving as a sanctuary for numerous species.

Through this metaphor, the pope explained that the Church must "be a sign of unity in diversity and a safe haven that generates and protects life."

Furthermore, he noted that the current context demands an "adequate response to the numerous social, environmental, cultural, and ecclesial challenges that persist in the Amazon — a region threatened by situations of abuse and exploitation." In this context, he made reference to the passion flower, "whose distinctive shape makes a striking allusion to the passion of Christ" and which the participants have chosen as the symbol of the assembly.

"It represents the prophetic role of the Church and of all its members — each according to their own mission: to proclaim the 'kerygma' [Gospel message] and new life in Christ, to accompany those who suffer, and to safeguard creation and respect for life in all its forms, especially human life," he stated.

A Church with an Amazonian face

Another objective of the ecclesial conference, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, is to advance toward the construction of a Church with an "Amazonian face," one of the great aspirations that emerged during the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region.

According to the Holy Father, this process is achieved through the inculturation of the faith, which allows the Church to be enriched by new cultural expressions and to manifest the mystery of Christ with greater fullness.

However, he warned that it is a demanding path. "Inculturation is a difficult, yet necessary, path," he affirmed, encouraging the participants to "courageously embrace the newness of the Spirit, capable of always creating something new with the inexhaustible treasure of Jesus Christ."

At the conclusion of his message, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the Amazonian communities to continue strengthening the identity of missionary disciples in the region, recalling the witness of so many men and women who gave their lives for the Gospel in those territories.

"I encourage you to press forward together — pastors and faithful alike — in strengthening the identity of missionary disciples in the Amazon. Continue sowing in the furrow that has been watered even with the blood of so many men and women who have preceded you, and who, united to the passion of Christ, have become the root of a 'giant tree' growing in the Amazon," the pontiff said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Full Article

Modern popes of the last two centuries — from Pius IX to Francis — have sought the protection and intercession of St. Joseph in times of personal and societal need, elevating his status as a patron for all Catholics.

Here's how some of the popes of the past have contributed to the Church's devotion to the holy patriarch.

Pius IX

Early in his pontificate, Pope Pius IX saw the growing devotion to St. Joseph among Catholic faithful across Europe and abroad, according to theologian and Church historian Veronika Seifert.

"[He] ??welcomed the growing spirituality towards St. Joseph and promoted these seeds," she told EWTN News. "There were many religious congregations and dioceses that chose him as their protector and many confraternities formed with a strong devotion to him."

This impetus from Catholic communities led Pius IX to approve the 1870 decree Quemadmodum Deus, which declared St. Joseph as universal patron of the Church, toward the end of the First Vatican Council.

Leo XIII

Quamquam Pluries, the first encyclical dedicated to St. Joseph, was published by Pope Leo XIII in 1889, nearly two decades after Pius IX declared the earthly father of Jesus the patron of the universal Church.

"Practically every pope has added a small piece to what was missing" in Pius' 1870 decree, Seifert said.

Known for his devotion to the Virgin Mary, Leo XIII's personal devotion to St. Joseph was subsequently connected to the Mother of God. Though his encyclical, he encouraged Catholics to jointly seek the aid of the two holy spouses.

"Joseph shines among all mankind by the most august dignity, since by divine will, he was the guardian of the Son of God and reputed as his father among men," he wrote.

Pius X

Pope Pius X, who governed the Church for 11 years in the wake of the first world war, wrote a number of prayers dedicated to the holy patriarch and approved the Litany of St. Joseph in 1909.

Seeing in him a virtuous model for families and workers, he encouraged Catholics to imitate Joseph's example as head of the Holy Family and as a laborer in his workshop in Nazareth.

Pius XII

Devotion to St. Joseph the Worker was further elevated when Pope Pius XII instituted a liturgical feast day in his honor in 1955.

"Pius XII instituted the feast day that Pius XI intended to [be celebrated] on the third Sunday after Easter. Pius XII moved it to May 1 — a date we now all know," Seifert said.

Wanting to counter the influence of communism on the Church and its faithful, Pius XII wanted to emphasize a Christian vision of work that saw labor as a means of participating in the creative power of God.

May 1 is "Labor Day" or "International Workers Day" in over 80 countries, including most of Europe.

John XXIII

Describing Pope John XXIII as a "great devotee" of St. Joseph, Seifert said he was the first pope to decree his inclusion in the Mass.

"He inserted the name of St. Joseph into the [Roman] Canon, precisely in the First Eucharistic Prayer, placing it immediately after the Virgin Mary," she said.

Announced just one month into the opening of the Second Vatican Council on Nov. 13, 1962, the liturgical change was the first to the Roman Canon since the seventh century, The New York Times reported.

John Paul II

Pope John Paul II wrote about the life and mission of St. Joseph when he published his apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Custos in 1989 to mark the centenary of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Quamquam Pluries.

"May St. Joseph become for all of us an exceptional teacher in the service of Christ's saving mission, a mission which is the responsibility of each and every member of the Church: husbands and wives, parents, those who live by the work of their hands or by any other kind of work, those called to the contemplative life and those called to the apostolate," he wrote.

Seifert said the joyful and sorrowful experiences of the Holy Family are not distant to the human realities of the present day.

"By meditating on the feelings of St. Joseph, we can learn a lot and perhaps even put something right in our own lives," the theologian and Church historian said.

Francis

Having inaugurated his pontificate on the March 19 feast day of St. Joseph in 2013, Pope Francis popularized devotion to the "Sleeping St. Joseph" following his 2015 apostolic journey to the Philippines.

During the papal journey, Francis revealed his love for the foster father of Jesus, saying: "Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church! … So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath St. Joseph, so that he can dream about it!"

Pope Francis also proclaimed the Church's first-ever Year of St. Joseph through his 2020 apostolic letter Patris Corde ("With a Father's Heart") to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the holy patriarch being named patron of the universal Church by Pope Pius IX.

Watch "Devotion to St. Joseph throughout the Centuries" on Vaticano here.

Full Article

President Donald Trump's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching an investigation into 13 states for allegedly violating federal conscience protections for those who hold moral or religious objections to abortion.

The HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced March 19 that its investigation relies on information that those states have allegedly coerced health care entities to provide coverage of or pay for abortions as a condition of offering health coverage in those states.

States that either have laws or regulations that conflict with federal conscience protection mandates are: California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

According to a news release, the states may be in violation of the Weldon Amendment, which is routinely added to health care spending bills annually. It prohibits state and local discrimination against health entities that do not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.

"OCR launches these investigations to address certain states' alleged disregard of, or confusion about, compliance with the Weldon Amendment," HHS OCR Director Paula M. Stannard said in a statement.

"Under the Weldon Amendment," she added, "health care entities, such as health insurance issuers and health plans, are protected from state discrimination for not paying for, or providing coverage of, abortion contrary to conscience. Period."

An HHS official said in a conference call that the OCR is investigating every state with "some type of mandate" that requires insurance plans to "cover abortion, regardless of whether or not [an entity] … objects on the basis of religious belief or conscience."

The HHS official said OCR sent letters to relevant states March 18, requesting information to help determine whether the policies violate the Weldon Amendment. If OCR determines that a state is in violation, the office will seek to solve the matter informally, the official said. If this fails, OCR will withhold funding or request action from the Department of Justice, the official said.

In January, OCR strengthened its interpretation of the Weldon Amendment. It disavowed a legal opinion under former President Joe Biden that had previously excluded employers and plan sponsors from protection under Weldon.

Although OCR determined in January that those entities were covered under Weldon, the HHS official said states did not amend laws or regulations to comply with the current interpretation.

A 2026 report from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Committee on Religious Liberty urged Congress to pass the Conscience Protection Act to broadly expand conscience protections for all Americans.

Full Article

The nation's capital will serve as the halfway point for the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The Catholic Information Center's (CIC) Washington, D.C., Eucharistic procession has taken place the past three years, processing through the city's downtown area near the White House and past the U.S. Capitol.

Father Charles Trullols, CIC director, started the procession in 2023. "I thought it was a great opportunity as we were going through the National Eucharistic Revival to have a Eucharistic procession in the center of our nation's capital, so that so many people around the country could see that we praise, and we pray, and we worship, together," Trullols said in an interview with "EWTN News Nightly."

Ahead of the upcoming 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, the Archdiocese of Washington reached out to Trullols to inquire if the CIC would partner with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in the capital for the 250th anniversary of the country.

"To partner with them at the heart of our nation's capital … is a great honor," Trullols said. "And we are looking forward to having many, many, many people joining us."

"I was so excited and so happy to be able to do that, especially because the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is going to have such a relevance … this year for so many people to see our faith and to express their belief in the real presence of the Eucharist through the journey that they are going to be doing from Florida, going up north, and finally ending in Philadelphia," Trullols said.

The 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage's theme is "One Nation Under God," to commemorate the anniversary. Pilgrims will journey on the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Route to honor the first American citizen to be canonized.

The 2026 pilgrimage is set to kick off on May 24 in St. Augustine, Florida, and conclude on July 5 in Philadelphia. The Eucharistic procession will go through 18 dioceses and archdioceses.

Walking with Jesus

Since starting the annual event in D.C., Trullols said "the best part, for me, of the Eucharistic procession is to see Jesus walking with us."

There are "so many people out there in the streets who do not know what's going on, and they ask, and they inquire, and they also benefit from all the grace that is coming out from the monstrance, from the Blessed Sacrament, even if they don't realize that is happening," he said.

"But many other times people also join, without expecting it, into the procession. And this year, on June 6, when we are going to have our Eucharistic procession with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage … I hope it will be a great sunny day for us to celebrate, to commemorate, and to walk with Our Lord in the Eucharist," he said.

Physically walking with the Eucharist in person is "very important because it's a personal encounter with Jesus Christ," Trullols said. "Through the screens, we see people, we look at people, but many times we are lacking this personal encounter with Our Lord, which is to physically be with him and honor him and worship him publicly."

Full Article