Secret of a priest influencer: Don't complicate the message 'because the Lord is simple'

Father Cosimo Schena is a priest at St. Francis Parish in the Diocese of Brindisi in southern Italy. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN NewsVatican City, Aug 1, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).With more than a million followers across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other platforms, Father Cosimo Schena has become one of the most recognizable faces of the so-called "digital missionary" phenomenon in Italy."The illness of this century is loneliness, and we listen to each other very little. I try to convey a simple message, because the Lord is simple," Schena explained.It was four years ago that the priest, philosopher, psychologist, and psychotherapy specialist decided to create a social media profile to proclaim the Gospel in a friendly, positive, and accessible way."I earned a doctorate in philosophy, then studied psychology and specialized in psychotherapy. And that's precisely where the need to convey a beautiful message, a positive message, on social media arose. Because when I go onli...

'To give them Jesus': Missionaries of Charity bring powerful witness to Jubilee of Youth 

Fifty-four Missionaries of Charity are in Rome this week for the Catholic Church's Jubilee of Young People, where they are approaching young people one by one to invite them to spend time with Christ in all-day Eucharistic Adoration and to learn about the mission and message of their founder, St. Teresa of Calcutta. / Credit: Courtney MaresRome, Italy, Aug 1, 2025 / 07:30 am (CNA).Just steps away from the exuberant crowds of Gen Z pilgrims chanting and taking selfies in St. Peter's Square, religious sisters in white saris with blue stripes kneel barefoot in silent adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. More than 50 sisters of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity are in Rome this week for the Catholic Church's Jubilee of Youth offering a striking contrast to the vibrant festival atmosphere filling the Vatican's streets. Their mission: "To give them Jesus," said one 25-year-old sister from Spain, who declined to be quoted by name in accordance with the congregation's rul...

Federal Trade Commission launches inquiry into harm of 'gender-affirming care' for minors

Credit: J.J. Gouin/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jul 31, 2025 / 16:35 pm (CNA).The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating potential "unfair or deceptive trade practices" regarding transgender surgeries and drugs.The launch of the federal inquiry is designed to "gauge the harms consumers may be experiencing" from "false or unsupported claims" about transgender treatment, according to a press release. The inquiry focuses on affected minors but is also open to adults who have been affected.The agency's investigation comes after President Donald Trump pledged to end federal support for transition drugs and surgeries in an executive order he issued at the outset of his administration this year.The Federal Trade Commission, a federal agency that promotes marketplace competition and consumer education, will investigate whether practitioners have violated a long-standing law against deception in the marketplace.The investigation falls under the purview of the agency as the primary enf...

American bishops celebrate newest doctor of the Church

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, in St. Peter's Square, a day before the canonization Mass of St. John Henry Newman, Oct. 12, 2019. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 31, 2025 / 17:18 pm (CNA).Catholic bishops across the nation are reacting to the "joyful" news that Pope Leo XIV has approved St. John Henry Newman to be declared the 38th doctor of the universal Church.The July 31 decision to give the title to the 19th-century Catholic convert and English saint was confirmed during Leo's morning meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints."Six years ago, Pope Francis canonized English cardinal John Henry Newman," the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in a post on X. "Now, he will join the other 37 men and women who have received the title of doctor of the Church."A doctor of the Church is someone who has significantly "advanced the knowledge of God through their writing on theology, s...

Leader of English bishops 'thrilled' at Newman's elevation to doctor of the Church

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster speaks with a police officer outside Westminster Cathedral in London, Nov. 9, 2021. / Credit: Mazur/cbcew.org.ukWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 31, 2025 / 11:41 am (CNA).Cardinal Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, (CBCEW) said he is "delighted and thrilled" that Pope Leo XIV has announced that he will declare St. John Henry Newman to be a doctor of the Church.Joining Nichols in a statement from the conference following Thursday's announcement by the Holy See Press Office, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham said of Newman that "it is remarkable that his writings, first as an Anglican and then as a Roman Catholic, but considered as one entire corpus of written work, have led to him being declared a doctor of the Church." "This recognition that the writings of St. John Henry Newman are a true expression of the faith of the Church is of huge encouragement to all who appreciate not on...

Pope Leo XIV appoints new director of the Vatican Observatory

Pope Leo XIV visits the historic telescopes located at the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, 15 miles southeast of Rome, on July 20, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Jul 31, 2025 / 12:11 pm (CNA).Pope Leo XIV on Thursday appointed astronomer Father Richard Anthony D'Souza, SJ, as the new director of the Vatican Observatory.D'Souza, who has worked at the Vatican's astronomical research and educational institution since 2016, will start his new position on Sept. 19, according to the Holy See Press Office statement.The Indian priest succeeds Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ, whose 10-year mandate ends next month, as head of the observatory. Consolmagno will remain at the scientific institution as a staff astronomer.Born in Goa in 1978, D'Souza joined the Society of Jesus in 1996 and was ordained a priest in 2011 after completing studies at the Jnana Deepa Institute of Philosophy and Theology in India.He obtained a bachelor's degree in physics from St. Xavier's Colleg...

Lawsuit claims Massachusetts college dismissed Catholic student over objection to abortion

null / Credit: Ulf Wittrock/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Jul 31, 2025 / 15:05 pm (CNA).A lawsuit filed in Massachusetts alleges that a Catholic student in a medical education program was dismissed from the school after she objected to having been forced to witness an abortion as part of her clinical studies.The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in state court, alleges that Alina Thopurathu was taking part in Springfield College's physician assistant program when, during clinical rotations, she was scheduled to see a dilation and evacuation, or D&E, a procedure commonly used for later-term abortions.Thopurathu, identified in the filing as a practicing Catholic, wrote in evaluations that she had assumed the procedure was intended for a miscarriage and that she was "overwhelmed" at witnessing an actual abortion."In the future, I believe students should be asked if they are comfortable with seeing a D&E rather than being assigned the procedure without patient information," she wr...

Jubilee of Youth: Meet the brave Catholic communicators who are telling their stories

Several of the participants at the 2025 EWTN Summer Academy in Rome, an intensive program in religious journalism and digital storytelling, come from places where Catholics live their faith amid severe adversity. / Credit: Lemmy Ogbonnaya Ijioma/EWTN Summer AcademyVatican City, Jul 31, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Mikhail Ajjan fled war-torn Syria and the terrors of ISIS with his family when he was 10. Now a university student in Sweden, the 21-year-old Catholic faces a vastly different challenge of living his faith in a secular environment and is honing his media skills to help spread the Gospel.Ajjan is one of more than 40 young Catholics from 23 countries who have come together to train in the 2025 EWTN Summer Academy in Rome, an intensive program in religious journalism and digital storytelling, which coincides this year with the Catholic Church's Jubilee of Youth.Mikhail Ajjan, 21, is originally from Aleppo, Syria, but now lives in Sweden. Credit: Lemmy Ogbonnaya Ijioma/EWTN Summ...

UCLA to pay more than $6 million to settle antisemitic complaints

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupy an encampment on the campus of UCLA on April 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. / Credit: Eric Thayer/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 30, 2025 / 16:09 pm (CNA).The University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) has agreed to a permanent court order forbidding campus antisemitism and a $6.13 million settlement after a number of discrimination complaints were filed against the school by Jewish students.In June 2024, three students sued UCLA after the school "allowed a group of activists to set up barricades in the center of campus" to block Jewish students from accessing "critical educational infrastructure," according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court. The suit was managed in part by the religious liberty law firm Becket.UCLA agreed to the payout on July 28 after fighting the lawsuit for over a year. Some of the millions will be allocated to the defendants that brought the case forward, while more than $2 million of the funds...

Abuse victims agree to $246 million settlement from Diocese of Rochester, New York

Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Rochester, New York. / Credit: DanielPenfield via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)CNA Staff, Jul 30, 2025 / 16:39 pm (CNA).Hundreds of clergy abuse victims agreed to a massive settlement from the Diocese of Rochester, New York, this week, bringing the diocese's yearslong bankruptcy proceedings closer to an end. Documents obtained by CNA show a near-unanimous vote in favor of accepting the diocese's proposed $246 million settlement plan, with just a handful of "abstain" votes and none voting against it. The payment comes after years of wrangling in U.S. bankruptcy court as the diocese, the survivors, and diocesan insurance providers worked to come to a settlement amount on which all of them could agree. In 2022 the diocese said it would pay $55 million into a settlement fund, with Bishop Salvatore Matano noting that "additional recoveries" could come from diocesan insurers. Earlier this month Continental Insurance Co. agreed to pay $120...