Senator introduces bill to ban Obamacare-funded abortions

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. / Credit: Office of Senator Josh Hawley, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 18:12 pm (CNA).Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.Senator introduces bill to ban Obamacare-funded abortionsU.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, on Oct. 15 introduced a bill to protect unborn children from abortion and minors from so-called gender transition.The bill would prevent taxpayer dollars from going toward abortions or transgender procedures for minors via Obamacare. While the Hyde Amendment already prohibits federal funding of abortion, Hawley's bill would "write Hyde language directly into the federal coverage terms of health plans," according to a press release from Hawley's office.Jamie Dangers, director of federal affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, expressed gratitude "to Sen. Hawley for recognizing that Obamacare funds abortion and must be fixed.""This bill would do what should have been done...

Ecumenical coalition urges Trump to crack down on Nigeria

Nigerian security officers during a military operation ahead of the gubernatorial elections in Benin City, Edo, Nigeria, on Sept. 17, 2020. / Credit: Oluwafemi Dawodu/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).Christian leaders delivered a letter to President Donald Trump on Oct. 15 urging him to redesignate Nigeria as a country of particular concern on the U.S. government's international religious freedom watch list. "We fervently urge you to redesignate Nigeria as a 'country of particular concern' (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom [IRF] Act, as you did in your first term," the letter states. "The last several years have seen a burgeoning of violent attacks specifically targeting rural Christians in the country's Middle Belt, while the government in Abuja barely lifts a finger to protect them." The letter's signatories included San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone; Nina Shea, Hudson Institute senior fellow and director...

Study finds decline in young Americans identifying as 'transgender,' 'queer'

The number of young Americans who are self-identifying as transgender or nonheterosexual declined in 2024 and 2025, according to an Oct. 10, 2025, report. / Credit: Andrii Yalanskyi/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 16, 2025 / 14:11 pm (CNA).The number of young Americans who self-identify as transgender or nonheterosexual declined in 2024 and 2025, according to a report from the Centre for Heterodox Social Science (CHSS), which compiled data from undergraduate student surveys and broader surveys of young people.The Oct. 10 report, titled "The Decline of Trans and Queer Identity Among Young Americans," found an overall decline in people who identify with the broader "LGBTQ+" community, with a bulk of the decline in those who identify as bisexual, transgender, and queer.Eric Kaufmann, director of CHSS and a politics professor at the University of Buckingham, led the study.The report noted a surge in young people identifying with those segments in the 2010s and the 2020s,...

Uruguay legalizes euthanasia

The Legislative Palace of Uruguay. / Credit: Coquimbo58, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 14:41 pm (CNA).On Wednesday, Oct. 15, Uruguay's Senate passed the Death with Dignity bill, which opens the door to euthanasia in the country.Following a favorable vote by 20 senators (out of 31 present), the bill, which had previously been approved in August by Uruguay's lower house, will go to the office of President Yamandú Orsi, a member of the Broad Front, the political coalition that promoted the legislative initiative.Orsi can sign the bill into law or veto it, either entirely or partially. The measure approved by the Senate would allow any person over the age of 18 in Uruguay who "suffers from one or more chronic, incurable, and irreversible pathologies or health conditions that seriously impair their quality of life, causing unbearable suffering" to have access to euthanasia.With this outcome, Uruguay would become the first country in South America to...

Book to feature Pope Leo's writings and meditations as Augustinian prior

Pope Leo XIV is shown here at the Holy Mass for the opening of the general chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine on Sept. 1, 2025 . / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Oct 16, 2025 / 06:03 am (CNA).The Order of St. Augustine and the Vatican Publishing House announced the publication of a new book by Pope Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost O.S.A., titled "Free Under Grace: Writings and Meditations 2001-2013." The book will be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, which opened Wednesday.The tome will include, for the first time, the writings of the current pontiff during his term as prior general of the Augustinian Order, offering readers a "closer look at his spirituality," according to a statement from the Vatican Publishing House. It will include reflections, meditations, homilies, and addresses, all imbued with the characteristic Augustinian spirituality of the reigning pontiff.The book will be published in Italian in the Spring of 2026. Spanish and English ver...

Catholic nonprofit's global religious freedom report to be released Oct. 21

Cardinal Pietro Parolin speaks at an Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) press conference in Rome, Italy, on Sept 28, 2017. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.Vatican City, Oct 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).International Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will release its global religious freedom report in Rome next week with an Oct. 21 conference featuring the Vatican's secretary of state and victims of religious persecution.Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will introduce the "Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025" with a speech at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum conference center near the Vatican. The report, released every two years since 1999, is a global study of religious freedom and persecution across all countries and faith groups."Since the first edition of the RFR, the situation has steadily worsened, and unfortunately, this negative trend is expected to continue," Marta Petrosillo, the report's editor-in-chief, said in a press re...

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem speaks out after first phase of peace deal completed

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa (L) and a members of a Christian visit the Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City on July 18, 2025. / Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 15, 2025 / 17:51 pm (CNA).Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa has given an update on the status of Christians in Gaza after the first phase of the historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas began this week. "We are in daily contact with them," the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said of the Catholic community in Gaza in a Vatican News interview. "They keep writing that they still cannot believe they were able to sleep through the night without hearing the sound of bombs." Despite the promising outcome of the first phase of the peace deal, which saw the return of Israeli hostages and the strategic withdrawal of IDF troops from Gaza, Pizzaballa emphasized that the situation in Gaza "remains very fluid." Amid de-escalation between Israel and Hamas...

Georgetown University taps Eduardo Peñalver as new president

Eduardo Peñalver will begin his role as the 49th president of Georgetown on July 1, 2026. / Credit: Georgetown UniversityWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 15, 2025 / 18:22 pm (CNA).The oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher learning in the United States, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., has named Eduardo Peñalver, current president of Seattle University and former dean of Cornell Law School, as its 49th president. "We are pleased to welcome Eduardo Peñalver to Georgetown University," Thomas A. Reynolds, chair of the board of directors, said in a press release announcing the decision. "President Peñalver is an exceptional leader steeped in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition who brings a wealth of experience in higher education, a global mindset, a commitment to social justice and academic excellence, and a bold vision for Georgetown's future."Peñalver will assume his new role on July 1, 2026.  He has served as the 22nd president of Seattle University, a...

Vatican approves auxiliary bishop for Shanghai

Pope Leo gives an address in St. Peter's Basilica. 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaEWTN News, Oct 15, 2025 / 09:45 am (CNA).The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Leo XIV appointed Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin as auxiliary bishop of Shanghai on Aug. 11, with his episcopal ordination taking place today under the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China.Father Wu Jianlin's consecration at St. Ignatius Cathedral marks a further development in the complex relationship between Beijing and the Vatican.Chinese authorities had previously announced Wu's "election" by an assembly of priests and laypeople on April 28, during the sede vacante period following the death of Pope Francis.The Vatican Bollettino, published Wednesday, revealed that the Holy Father approved Wu's candidacy on Aug. 11.While his appointment was not previously made public, the announcement suggests the move was made in accordance with the Vatican-China agreemen...

Pope Leo XIV explains why Christian hope is better than optimism

Pope Leo XIV waves from the popemobile during an Oct. 15, 2025 public audience in St. Peter's Square. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA.Rome Newsroom, Oct 15, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).Optimism can disappoint us, but Christian hope "promises and fulfills" our hearts' desire for fullness, Pope Leo XIV said at his weekly audience on Wednesday.Addressing thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 15, the pope said, "This deep desire in our hearts can find its ultimate answer not in roles, not in power, not in having, but in the certainty that there is someone who guarantees this constitutive impulse of our humanity; in the awareness that this expectation will not be disappointed or thwarted. This certainty coincides with hope.""This does not mean thinking in an optimistic way: often optimism lets us down, causing our expectations to implode, whereas hope promises and fulfills," he added in his weekly message.The Holy Father continued his reflections on the mystery of Christ, w...