GoFundMe campaigns raise more than $1.2 million for victims of Catholic school shooting

Over $1 million has been raised through a GoFundMe campaign for victims of the shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. / Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 12:21 pm (CNA).Numerous online fundraising campaigns have raised well over $1 million to help support victims of the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting that claimed the lives of two children and injured approximately 20 people. Verified GoFundMe fundraisers showed over $1.2 million raised as of the morning of Aug. 29, with the funds supporting those injured in the shooting as well as the family of one of the deceased children. The mass shooting took place on Aug. 27 when a gunman opened fire on the parochial school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. The killer subsequently took his own life. The GoFundMe campaigns created in response to the tragedy include one in support of the Moyski-Flavin family, whose 10-year-ol...

Pope Leo XIV accepts Medal of St. Augustine: 'It's an honor held dearly'

Pope Leo XIV accepts the Medal of St. Augustine from Father Robert P. Hagan, OSA, prior provincial of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova (right) and Father Joseph Farrell, OSA, vicar general of the Order of St. Augustine (left) in a video released on Aug. 28, 2025. / Credit: Screenshot from the YouTube page of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of VillanovaACI Prensa Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 05:10 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV expressed his gratitude to receive the Medal of St. Augustine, awarded by the United States Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, and affirmed that the spirituality of the doctor of the Church has marked his life and ministry."To be recognized as an Augustinian, it's an honor held dearly. So much of who I am I owe to the spirit and the teachings of St. Augustine," he said in a video message shared on St. Augustine's feast day, Aug. 28.The Augustinian Province said on Facebook that the Medal of St. Augustine is the highest honor the pr...

EWTN radio conference highlights importance of 'strong Catholic identity'

null / Credit: Radioshoot/ShutterstockWashington D.C., Aug 29, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).The 2025 EWTN Catholic Radio Conference has drawn hundreds of attendees to Washington, D.C., this week to discuss and learn more about Catholic radio as an evangelization tool.During the conference, attendees have had the opportunity "to network with each other, learn things from each other, and discuss things that have worked, and things that haven't worked, in Catholic radio," EWTN Radio General Manager Jack Williams told CNA. Among the attendees, Williams said about 65 are associated with affiliate stations who carry the network's radio programming in different parts of the country. He noted that many of them didn't necessarily start off their careers in radio but are people who "heeded Mother Angelica's call."On a live EWTN broadcast in 1995, hosted by network foundress Mother Angelica, "she put out the call that if anybody had, or could procure, an AM or FM radio station she would giv...

Illinois man faces homicide charge after allegedly poisoning girlfriend with abortion pill

null / Credit: ArtOlympic/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news in the United States:Illinois man faces homicide charge after allegedly poisoning girlfriend, unborn child with abortion pillA 31-year-old Illinois man has been arrested for homicide of an unborn child after allegedly poisoning his girlfriend with abortion pills.Police in Bloomington, Illinois, arrested Emerson Evans after police found the girlfriend in a bathroom with what appeared to be a human fetus in the toilet on Aug. 22, according to court documents.The girlfriend, who was seven weeks pregnant, told police that the boyfriend had told her he wanted her to have an abortion, but she did not want an abortion. Evans has been charged with intentional homicide of an unborn child after allegedly poisoning his girlfriend and their child.With the rise of the abortion pill, similar cases have been documented across the United States. In Texas...

Minneapolis Catholic church shooter expressed regret about 'gender transition'

Police cruisers near Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, 2025, following a mass shooting that killed two children and injured 17 others, 14 of them children. / Credit: Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 29, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).The shooter who killed two children and injured 17 others at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 27 voiced some regret over his effort to "transition" into a girl when he was a minor, according to handwritten notes he displayed in a YouTube video before the attack.Robin Westman, who was named "Robert" at birth, legally changed his name when he was 17 years old to reflect his self-identified status as a transgender girl. Court documents show that his mother signed off on the name change.Westman published videos to YouTube shortly before the attack, which contained written notes, some of which were in English and others using the Cyrillic alphabet. Several Slavic languages use the...

Pope Leo XIV listed in Time magazine's 'Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence'

Time Magazine named Pope Leo XIV (pictured in the Paul VI Audience Hall) one of its Top 100 most influential thinkers concerning AI on Aug. 28, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 29, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).Time Magazine included Pope Leo XIV in its 2025 list of the "World's Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence" on Thursday, Aug. 28, praising the pontiff's focus on the ethical concerns related to the emerging technology.The magazine listed the top 100 influential people in artificial intelligence (AI) in four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers, and Thinkers. Leo XIV is among the 25 most influential thinkers in the field, according to Time.In a profile included in the magazine, Time technology correspondent Andrew Chow noted that Leo XIV chose his papal name, in part, based on the need for the Church to address ethical matters related to AI and wrote that the Holy Father is "already making good on his vow."When the pontiff met with the ...

Nicaraguan dictatorship banned more than 16,500 religious processions, new report reveals

Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega (whose image is regularly displayed in public places) has perpetrated more than 1,000 attacks on the Catholic Church and banned more than 16,500 religious processions, according to a report released Aug. 27, 2025. / Credit: Barna Tanco/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, Aug 29, 2025 / 10:24 am (CNA).The dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, in Nicaragua has banned more than 16,500 religious processions and activities in recent years and has perpetrated 1,010 attacks against the Catholic Church.The statistics are recorded in the seventh installment of the Spanish-language report "Nicaragua: A Persecuted Church" by exiled lawyer and researcher Martha Patricia Molina, released on Aug. 27. Regarding the ban on processions, Molina explained that it has worsened since 2022 and that the dictatorship has imposed it throughout the country since then. However, the report does not cover all parish churches o...

Ancient cross discovered in Abu Dhabi points to deep Christian roots in region

A 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) plaster cross was unearthed in an ancient monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island about 106 miles southwest Abu Dhabi, ACI MENA reported. / Credit: Courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu DhabiWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 28, 2025 / 17:37 pm (CNA).Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:Ancient cross discovered in Abu Dhabi points to deep Christian roots in regionThe Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has announced a new archaeological discovery: a 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) plaster cross unearthed in an ancient monastery on Sir Bani Yas Island about 106 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi, ACI MENA, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, reported.The artifact was uncovered during excavation work that began earlier this year. According to the Abu Dhabi Media Office, the cross was found in the courtyard of one of the monastery's houses. The cross is believed to date bac...

School district backs off violating student's free speech, religious freedom rights

Sabrina Steffans displays her newly decorated school parking space. / Credit: Courtesy of First Liberty InstituteCNA Staff, Aug 28, 2025 / 15:53 pm (CNA).A rising senior at a high school in Grand Island, New York, Sabrina Steffans, is now allowed to decorate her school parking space with Christian messages after her high school reversed course after initially rejecting her faith-based artwork.Grand Island High School allows seniors to paint their parking spots "to encourage students to express themselves through positive artwork, to beautify the campus, to build school spirit, and to create a new and exciting radiation to support senior class activities and events."When Steffans, a Christian who leads a Bible club at her school, proposed three drawings for her parking space, the school rejected the first two, which had Christian themes.Steffans said the school approved the third design, "which had no Bible verses, no crosses, or anything."Steffans said after the school rejected...

Pope Leo XIV brings about unity in the Syro-Malabar Church

The major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Raphael Thattil. / Credit: Syro-Malabar ChurchACI Prensa Staff, Aug 28, 2025 / 16:23 pm (CNA).The Holy See Press Office has published a series of decisions by Pope Leo XIV to bring about unity in the Syro-Malabar Church of India, which has been at serious risk of schism in recent years due to liturgical disputes.The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the 23 Eastern Churches in full communion with the bishop of Rome and follows the Chaldean liturgical tradition. It is the largest Eastern Church after the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and its origins date back to the preaching of St. Thomas the Apostle.Since 1999, the Church has undergone a long period of division as a result of liturgical reforms that were later confirmed by the synod of the Syro-Malabar Church in 2021.In July, Pope Leo XIV terminated the 2023 appointment of Archbishop Cyril Vasil' as papal delegate to the Syro-Malabar Church after an internal agreement was reached ...