Catholic News

A 60-day Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) — which strengthens the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and seeks to pave the way for permanent peace — has garnered applause from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan,?who chairs the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, commended both President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the progress and expressed hope for a long-term deal in a June 17 statement.

Both countries' leaders, Zaidan said, have taken a "vitally important step," which is aimed at "ending hostilities" and "advancing deeper dialogue for lasting peace in the region." He added that "preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons is critically important for avoiding a dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East."

Zaidan asked all parties involved to engage in good faith and pray for Pope Leo XIV's intention that "this agreement may help strengthen mutual trust, security and stability in the Middle East, promoting paths of dialogue and cooperation among peoples."

The bishop, who was born in Lebanon and serves as eparch of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, encouraged the U.S., Iran, and Israel to prioritize peace efforts in Lebanon, which is meant to be covered by the U.S.-Iran deal but is still facing Israeli strikes in spite of the MOU.

"I call on the United States, Iran, and Israel to?now also prioritize?an end?to the fighting in Lebanon," Zaidan said.

"The disarming of Hezbollah is necessary for peace and development in Lebanon," he said. "Over one million people have been internally displaced, including?400,000 children, and thousands have fled to neighboring Syria, potentially adding to the region's instability. If?the fighting and humanitarian catastrophe?continue?in Lebanon,?I fear that peace across the wider Middle East will remain unreachable."

The bishop urged prayers for a resolution to the conflicts.

"Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, creator and vivifier,?may breathe wisdom, compassion, and perseverance into the minds and hearts of the?negotiators,?so that?peace in the region may finally become a reality," Zaidan prayed.

The agreement between the U.S. and Iran puts a hold on military combat and reopens the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for international trade. Both the U.S. and Iran agreed not to prevent the passage of any ships. There is gradual sanction relief for Iran, which has already resulted in Iranian oil sales, and a $300 billion fund for development in Iran supported by private investment.

Iran must agree it will never develop a nuclear weapon, which is aligned with its position since 2003 when former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa declaring the development of nuclear weapons as inconsistent with Islamic law. Questions about whether Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium — or to which level nuclear enrichment will be permitted — will be decided in the 60-day window.

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The European Commission has told EWTN News that Pope Leo XIV's call for AI to serve human dignity and the common good reflects principles already embedded in the EU's approach to regulating technology, as lawmakers voted on Tuesday to postpone certain obligations under the bloc's landmark AI Act.

"We could not agree more with the vision of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and with the need for a robust legal framework for AI," Thomas Regnier, European Commission spokesperson for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, told EWTN News following a recent Commission dialogue bringing together EU officials, Church leaders, and experts to discuss AI's ethical and social impact.

"In the EU, this is not just an aspiration. It is already what we are doing through the AI Act, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the GDPR and much more," Regnier said.

From Magnifica Humanitas to Brussels

The closed dialogue followed Pope Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published May 25, and offered an early opportunity to gauge whether its themes are resonating with those implementing Europe's AI rulebook. The discussions included senior officials from the EU's AI Office, which oversees implementation of the Act.

The encyclical sets out Pope Leo's vision for safeguarding human dignity, human agency, and the common good amid rapidly advancing technologies. Its presentation at the Vatican last month included Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, as the Holy See seeks to engage directly with frontier AI developers.

Responding to questions from EWTN News, Regnier said Pope Leo's concerns closely align with existing European policies.

"What the Pope describes is what Europe is already doing," Regnier said.

"We are protecting minors online. We have banned AI systems that exploit the most vulnerable. We are protecting women and children from non-consensual and sexual-abuse AI-generated content. We have prohibited social scoring."

"His Holiness speaks of human dignity and the common good. These are exactly the European values."

Parliament pauses high-risk AI requirements

Regnier's comments come as the European Parliament approved amendments on Tuesday postponing certain obligations affecting high-risk AI systems under the Act, including systems used in health care, education, employment, and law enforcement, a move supporters say will provide legal certainty while harmonized standards are developed.

Irish MEP Michael McNamara, one of Parliament's lead negotiators on the legislation, defended the postponement, arguing businesses need regulatory certainty without weakening the Act's core safeguards.

"We live in an area of rule of law, and one of the things that is most important is regulatory certainty and clarity in what one's legal obligations are," McNamara said following Tuesday's vote.

He said it was regrettable that implementation had to be delayed because harmonized standards had not yet been developed, but stressed that "the protections, the fundamental rights protections, the requirement that you have human beings in the loop, that you have a human override, these all remain in place."

Referring to Pope Leo's encyclical and Antiqua et Nova, a Vatican reflection on AI issued during Pope Francis' pontificate, McNamara said it was essential to ensure "that AI systems work for the benefit of humanity" and that society does not "ever end up in a system where humanity is subjugated by AI systems."

COMECE urges human-centered regulation

AI has been high on the EU agenda this month, with the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) convening a seminar at the European Parliament examining AI's impact on health, loneliness, and children's well-being.

Speaking on behalf of COMECE, Monsignor Emmanuel Agius, professor of moral theology at the University of Malta, argued that the challenge was not simply whether digital environments require regulation, but whether regulation is guided by "an adequate understanding of the human person."

While acknowledging AI's promise in health care and research, he warned of growing risks linked to loneliness, addictive behaviors, disinformation, and the impact of digital environments on children and young people. Describing loneliness as a growing public health concern, he said technological innovation should complement rather than replace meaningful human relationships and care, particularly for vulnerable people.

AI rules must remain dynamic

In a recorded message to seminar participants, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola warned that "AI can move faster than our ability to understand it, let alone govern it" and stressed that rules must be "smart, proportionate, and able to work in the real world."

In his response to EWTN News, Regnier similarly noted that "developments in the field of AI are advancing at an extremely high speed" and "the AI Act was designed as a dynamic and adaptable regulatory framework that is capable of evolving over time."

He pointed to recently agreed prohibitions on so-called "nudification" applications that generate non-consensual sexually explicit content or child sexual abuse material, saying the updated rules seek to ensure that Europeans can benefit from AI while remaining protected from its harmful effects.

"The EU will continue to protect our values and the fundamental rights of every European," Regnier said. "Within this robust legal framework, we now need to invest even more in the responsible uptake of this technology and in the use of AI as a benefit for humankind and a force for good."

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Pope Leo XIV called on the United Nations (U.N.) to prioritize people in combating world hunger and said feeding the hungry is an essential part of peacemaking.

The pontiff visited the headquarters the World Food Programme (WFP) in Rome on Monday. In his remarks, Leo emphasized the seriousness of world hunger, explaining that it often fuels other social challenges, particularly migration.

"More than merely a humanitarian concern, hunger erodes social cohesion, heightens the risk of conflict, and fuels forced migration," Leo said. "In effect, conflicts are 'fed' more readily than people are nourished. This reality reflects not only operational shortcomings but also a fundamental imbalance in political and moral priorities."

The pope also stressed the importance of multilateral collaboration, stating that each state shares co-responsibility to "recognize the inherent God-given dignity of every person." He also encouraged secular governments to be open to collaborating with the Catholic Church to assist the most vulnerable, recognizing their fundamental human right to adequate food.

"Access to adequate food is a fundamental human right grounded in the dignity of every person," Leo remarked.

"The Catholic Church — through parishes, dioceses, Caritas agencies, and other faith-based initiatives — often reaches vulnerable populations in areas inaccessible to international actors. I therefore encourage the World Food Programme and its partners to continue supporting these efforts."

The U.N. World Food Programme was established in 1961 in response to widespread hunger, malnutrition, and food shortages worldwide. In his address, Leo XIV praised the progress of the organization's mission while warning the U.N. about the dangers of a bureaucracy that slows the delivery of food assistance to disadvantaged populations.

"Implementing this appeal [to fight hunger] effectively requires reducing unnecessary bureaucracy so that transparency and accountability serve people rather than impede assistance," the pope said.

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After a meeting at the Vatican in October last year, Pope Leo XIV and a network for victims of clergy sexual abuse and continue to build collaboration through conversations with the Vatican's safeguarding commission.

The pope "is interested in dialogue and in seeing what can be done in his new role. I think the fact that he received us was a sign of trust on his part, because in the past the relationship between survivors' groups and the Vatican has not been easy, so we took a step forward," Matthias Katsch, a member of the advocacy organization Ending Clergy Abuse (ECA) told EWTN News in Rome.

Katsch, who is from Germany, is a member of ECA's board of directors and one of the members most critical of policies adopted to prevent abuse within the Church.

Almost eight months after the initial step of meeting with Pope Leo, the relationship between the Vatican and ECA has been formalized.

On June 15-16, the board of directors of ECA — which is present in 14 countries across five continents — held a meeting with top officials of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) at Palazzo Maffei, a Vatican-owned property in the center of Rome. The PCPM is responsible for promoting safeguarding policies in the Church.

The pope, though not present, proposed the meeting, which will have a second part later this year.

The private meetings — which included, among others, the commission's secretary, Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera — were "very positive," according to Katsch.

The role of the organization Katsch represents, in his words, is "to engage in dialogue with survivors" of abuse and then to press the appropriate Church authorities so that "the changes that are needed can be carried out step by step."

"We have common ground: on both sides we have the same interest. We want to prevent this from continuing to happen," said Katsch, who has spoken publicly about the abuse he suffered at a Jesuit school in Berlin.

The meeting coincided with the recent approval of the PCPM's statutes by Leo, a measure which, according to the body itself, strengthens the Church's commitment to protecting minors and vulnerable persons worldwide.

For ECA representatives, the meeting with the commission was an opportunity "to learn firsthand what this means for the policy they are going to pursue."

"There is now more clarity about roles in this process and, from what I understand, the idea is that it is not only the commission or any other body that is responsible for the protection of minors and accountability … but that the entire Church, in particular the entire Curia, is responsible," Katsch stressed.

In the opening session, the president of the pontifical commission, Archbishop Thibault Verny, insisted that the obligation to listen to victims "must be an active exercise with concrete results in order to be credible."

During the working sessions, ECA representatives called on the Catholic Church to adopt globally the accountability standards in force in the United States, which provide for permanent removal from ministry when abuse is admitted or proven in a legal process.

"We are calling for zero tolerance; that it become law, and this basically means that a priest who has abused a minor [is removed from ministry] within the Church … that he no longer has a leadership role within the Church. We are not talking about expelling someone from the Church, nor from the priesthood, because that is not within our competence," he explained.

This is a specific norm for the United States, approved in 2002 after a historic meeting of priests from that country at the Vatican, following the Boston Globe's January 2002 exposure of the case of Father John Geoghan, who had abused more than 130 children for over 30 years.

After the meeting in the Vatican, all U.S. bishops gathered in Dallas and signed a document titled the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," which included these measures and was ultimately approved in December 2002.

In June, this document was revised, but it maintained the original text's central aim of "addressing, with transparency and accountability, allegations of abuse committed by members of the clergy," as Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Virginia, and chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, explained during the session.

"After 25 years, we have seen that it has worked. Hundreds of priests in the United States have been removed from ministry for having abused children. So why cannot that clarity be applied in other parts of the world? That is our question," Katsch said, noting that PCPM is not the Holy See's legislative body but is responsible for guiding safeguarding strategies alongside other dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

The Vatican will hold a plenary session in September to evaluate the impact of abuse prevention policies and procedures, with the aim of identifying both the progress made and the system's shortcomings.

ECA plans to present a proposal for a universal law that includes, among other measures, the creation of an independent agency with investigative authority, the obligation to issue recommendations and public reports, and a guarantee of transparency throughout the process.

The Code of Canon Law establishes that bishops must open a preliminary investigation as soon as they become aware of a possible crime in their dioceses. After completing the proceedings, they must send the acts to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, along with their assessment.

However, a lack of resources in this body remains one of the main obstacles. "What is needed for justice to be effectively carried out in individual cases is that the team of those who investigate cases from Rome, cases that arrive in Rome, has a number of people proportionate to the number of cases worldwide. I understand that there are now around 20 prosecutors for the whole world, and that does not work," Katsch said.

Another request is the obligation to share information with civil authorities. Katsch emphasized the importance of "cooperating with and reporting to the ordinary courts the cases that come to their attention," while acknowledging the complexity of this issue depending on different legal systems.

"There are countries that do not have the legal standards that allow this, [so] one cannot be certain that the laws are applied fairly," he explained, without specifying particular cases.

The PCPM confirmed to EWTN News that it agreed to continue dialogue with ECA beyond the first meeting at the group's request.

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

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Pope Leo XIV defended the dignity of human life at every stage and warned about the risks of a medicine subordinated to technical or utilitarian criteria at the Vatican on Monday.

"No doctor should ever allow himself, on the basis of laboratory algorithms, to decide on the life of an embryo or of an elderly person," the pope said June 22 during an audience with members of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation.

"Medicine must never become a servant of programmed death!" he emphasized.

The foundation began its work in France in 1995, following the death of geneticist Jérôme Lejeune, considered the father of modern genetics for discovering in 1958 the genetic cause of trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).

According to its website, the organization allocates between four and five million euros (approximately $4.5-5.7 million) annually to research, maintains a biobank in Paris with more than 20,000 samples, and operates medical centers in Paris and Nantes, France, in Madrid, Spain, and in Córdoba, Argentina).

"I wish to express my encouragement for your commitment in favor of life and human dignity," Leo XIV told foundation members.

In his address, the pontiff also recalled the figure of Lejeune, a French scientist whose cause for beatification advanced when Pope Francis in 2021 signed the decree recognizing his heroic virtues.

Despite the international recognition Lejeune's discovery brought him, it was later used by the abortion industry to identify unborn children with Down syndrome — something Lejeune firmly rejected.

The French geneticist, declared venerable, publicly defended the lives of the most vulnerable despite the rejection he faced in certain scientific circles.

During the June 22 meeting, held on the occasion of the centenary of Lejeune's birth, the pope emphasized that the professor dedicated his life to children with disabilities: "Moved by the difficult situation of children with disabilities, Professor Lejeune devoted his life to them as a scientific researcher."

Leo also recalled that the discovery of the chromosomal anomaly responsible for trisomy 21 made Lejeune a "pioneer of modern genetics."

'Medicine is the hatred of disease and the love of the patient'

The Holy Father likewise highlighted Lejeune's medical vocation and his commitment to patients, whom he called "the poorest of the poor," and cited one of his best-known expressions: "Medicine is the hatred of disease and the love of the patient."

The pope also recalled the scientist's influence in the Church, noting that St. Paul VI appointed him a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and that his closeness to St. John Paul II contributed to the creation of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

In his remarks, Leo XIV warned about the ethically questionable use of scientific advances. "A man of science and wisdom, Jérôme Lejeune quickly understood that his scientific discovery would be used to eradicate people with trisomy 21 before their birth," he said. The pontiff added that the geneticist denounced this phenomenon as "chromosomal racism."

"Be, like him, committed witnesses in society, at the service of the constant pursuit of the common good," he said.

The pope reiterated that technology cannot replace medicine or be separated from an ethical framework: "The value of the human person does not depend on what he or she accomplishes or produces."

Finally, he expressed gratitude for the work of the Lejeune Foundation, addressing its members, children of Venerable Lejeune present in the audience, and "dear friends with trisomy 21" and their parents.

"I am pleased by the place you occupy on the global level in research on intellectual disabilities of genetic origin," he said.

The pontiff concluded by encouraging its members to continue promoting a culture of life and the common good, and he imparted his apostolic blessing, extending it to their families and to the patients served by the institution.

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

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In the early morning and late at night, monks still rise to sing the divine office, their voices low and hoarse from sleep. With every breath they are keeping alive a centuries-old tradition in monasteries around the world.

But in a small corner of the internet, and on music providers like Spotify, another form of chant has taken hold. The text is often a hodgepodge of Latin-sounding words; a mechanical simulation not sung by human voices but generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

How should Catholics navigate the new phenomenon of AI-generated chant, or, in the term hymnist Alan Hommerding coined, "Chant GPT"?

What is Gregorian chant?

Chant isn't something that is consumed, like social media or food. Instead, it is a way to worship and pray, according to Catholic theologians and musicians.

"Chant is not meant to be performed for artistic consumption but meant to attune our hearts to the Lord over the course of time," Father Phillip Alcon Ganir, a Jesuit priest who teaches sacred music classes at Boston College, told EWTN News.

Composer and liturgist Father Ricky Manalo, a Paulist priest, agreed, adding: "Gregorian chant is not merely an aesthetic; it is part of the Church's living tradition of sung prayer, as much as Gospel music is a living tradition for many African American Catholics, or pentatonic melodies are a living tradition for many East Asian Catholics."

"Its beauty is tied not only to its sound but to its liturgical, scriptural, and cultural roots," he said.

Named for St. Gregory the Great, Gregorian chant is a "musical synthesis" of Roman and Gallican chant, according to Father Basil Nixen, a monk of the Abbey of San Benedetto in Monte, Norcia, Italy, where the monks chant daily together. These chanted psalms continue to be prayed as part of the Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours — a daily practice for Catholic priests, religious, and laypeople.

"Many might assume that Gregorian chant is really a product of the medieval or dark ages from Western Christianity," noted Giorgio Navarini, founder and director of the Catholic chant group Floriani Sacred Music. "However, Gregorian chant derives its existence from the Hebrew Temple. Sung psalmody, lamentations, and hymns were a significant part of the Hebraic liturgical life in both the synagogue and Temple."

In the Middle Ages came the "unprecedented notation" of the chant, which helped Gregorian chant spread, Nixen explained.

"The sacred melodies of the chant were written by men and women inspired by the Holy Spirit, and every time we sing them, we allow the Holy Spirit to possess our hearts too so as to enter more fully into communion with God in prayer," Nixen said.

"Through the Divine Office the voice of Christ praying to his Father mingles with our own, allowing us to unite our voice with his and to participate in his priestly intercession for the salvation of the world," Nixen said.

How do we pray through Gregorian chant?

Because Gregorian chant is more than just an aesthetic, questions about Gregorian chant are, at their root, questions about the connection between prayer and song.

"Christian worship involves the whole human being — body and soul," Nixen said. "Chanting is fundamental for Christian worship precisely for this purpose, because it allows us to pray not only with our minds but also with our bodies, our heart, our sentiments."

"Worship is the natural expression of the highest love, the love which most engages and engrosses us, which is why we owe it to God alone, whom we must love with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength — i.e., with body, heart, mind, and soul," Nixen said. "And we do this most perfectly when we sing."

Music, Navarini said, is "an art form that directly reflects the inner workings of the soul, unlike other art forms, which gives it a unique power of being united to prayer."

"Chant has the power to raise the soul to the divine," Navarini said. "It is unlike any music in this world and truly provides a doorway and glimpse into the life to come."

Can machines pray?

Human chant is meant to be just that — human, in every imperfection, hoarse voice, or flat note.

"Even with AI aside, one of the dangers of chant recordings is that singers often aim to present pristine, errorless, and sublime sounds — which are good and holy in and of themselves," Ganir said. "But such perfection is not often reflective of a life that worships regularly with chant."

The monks who chant daily in monasteries often sing with "tired" voices, Ganir observed.

"Sung prayer early in the morning or in the evening is often a different, usually 'tired,' sound than prayers chanted during the day," Ganir said.

This isn't a bad thing; in fact, it's part of the deeper meaning behind chant.

"Prayer is meant to span and intersect through all of life," Ganir continued. "And music, especially our chant tradition, can be such a worthy and life-giving companion."

"AI-generated sacred-sounding music may have a place as a tool for study, preparation, or even private reflection, but it should not replace the living voice of the Church, the trained pastoral musician, the human composer, or the sung participation of the assembly," Manalo said.

"AI can generate chant-like sounds or contemporary songs, but it cannot replace the faith, breath, body, and communal participation during a liturgy," Manalo continued.

"Sacred music requires theological depth, pastoral sensitivity, scriptural grounding, ritual awareness, and a sense of the actual community that will sing or hear it," Manalo said.

"Every true prayer is an authentic and personal encounter of trust between a creature with its Creator, a recognition of our dependence on the one who is infinitely good," Father Ezra Sullivan, a Dominican priest and director of the Spirituality Institute at the Angelicum, told EWTN News.

"There is an old saying: 'You cannot give what you do not have,'" Sullivan continued. "Because an algorithm does not have a knowledge and love of God, no person to have a relationship with him, it cannot make prayers or music that authentically express the raising up of the soul to the hands of our loving Father — even if it makes imitations that are somewhat pleasing, the soul would be missing."

"One of the reasons why we like to know the biography of composers or authors is because when we read their works or listen to their music, we can commune with them across the ages and join our souls with theirs in coming closer to God," Sullivan continued. "Artificial intelligence might be able to fool us into thinking that it facilitates these horizontal and vertical relationships, and that's precisely how it can be dangerous in the spiritual realm."

In Pope Leo's recent encyclical letter, Magnifica Humanitas, the Holy Father wrote: "No computational system, however sophisticated, can create a heart that gives itself, or a conscience that discerns good from evil."

"Gregorian chant is what the soul sings to God; it is what a bride sings to her Divine Bridegroom," Nixen said. "If an AI-generated thing can love and get married, then it can sing chant. If it can get baptized, then it can sing chant. But if it cannot love, get married, get baptized, or be united to God, then it cannot chant."

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A relic of the true cross and a decorative silver panel that hung in Christ's tomb will remain on display until July 12 at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

The exhibit also includes vestments, candlesticks, metal flowers, and numerous liturgical objects used in Jerusalem hundreds of years ago.

Catholic kings sent these items to Franciscan friars in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Mass over the course of many years. Similar metalwork was common in Europe but was often melted down for wars or lost due to natural disasters. In Jerusalem, however, the items were preserved despite many wars and being ruled by Ottomans, the British, and eventually the state of Israel.

"We are so honored to present these works of art to our audiences — and delighted, too, that so many people have come to see the exhibition so far," George T.M. Shackelford, Kimbell curator and deputy director, told EWTN News. "People from all over are making the trip to the Kimbell and telling their friends about the experience. That rewards all the work the many members of our team have put into it."

One reason for the survival of these sacred objects is that few people knew about them. Europeans forgot about them for centuries and local attempts to control the Church of the Holy Sepulchre resulted in damage and destruction of some of the objects. The Ottomans eventually codified the arrangement and damaged items were repaired by artisans. 

The Franciscan friars also reclaimed many items and purchased some from the Orthodox. Some items were irreparably damaged but sent to Venice, Italy, where they were melted down, remade, and sent back to Jerusalem.

Similar efforts were needed to repair metal flowers used to decorate altars. During Jerusalem's dry summers, there is little rain from May to September and it is difficult to grow flowers. Adorning altars with metal flowers saves money and scarce water.

The history of the Venetian artists who melted down broken silver objects and made two torchères for the monks can be seen in the exhibit alongside one of the torchères, or lamps, that was damaged and then remade in 1762. 

Stephen Marshall, who works as a concierge at a nearby hotel, has been to the exhibit twice with his family.

"I was impressed learning how all these adornments got switched around after they were made and how mercury was used to embellish gold onto silver," he said. "The processes and gifts from kings and queens in the exhibit, that one torchère that was leaning I can see the constant effort of maintenance. These items were given so much effort beyond the actual cost of the material used."

Monarchs in previous eras rarely visited the Holy Land, so they sent these objects to the Franciscans. Anything created by the French had French symbolism like the fleur-de-lis. The Portuguese used emblems depicting five shields. One Portuguese prince donated a silver bowl for foot washing for the liturgy of the Last Supper.

King John V paid to have a sanctuary lamp made in the 1740s; however, it didn't arrive in Jerusalem until the 1750s when Joseph I was king of Portugal. An earthquake hit Lisbon in 1755, and most similar metalwork was destroyed.

Gazing at the Spanish sanctuary lamp, Elizabeth Felderhoff of Krum, Texas, told EWTN News: "It is a blessing to have the opportunity to have all of these pieces so easily available to the public to appreciate." She said she felt that artists who create good, quality work help others dwell on God during worship.

A humeral veil on display in the exhibit was originally used for secular purposes by a now-unknown Muslim. Somehow it became property of a Christian and was transformed into the veil used by priests during Eucharistic adoration to keep the priest from having to touch the monstrance.

One of the chasubles displayed in the exhibit has images of instruments of Christ's crucifixion. This chasuble would have been especially used during Lent.

Another visitor, Joann Cox, said: "The dream of going to the Holy Land is a bit remote. This is just an incredible opportunity to see the aspect of our Catholic Christian faith, the symbolism and history of every piece on display, and we are grateful that it's here."

Her sentiments were echoed by another attendee, Cintia Vera, who, reflecting on the exhibit, said: "It's beautiful. I'm Catholic and thankful the Kimbell was able to host this exhibit."

Andrew Eubank, marketing and communications manager at the Kimbell, said: "The exhibition has had visitors from international locations including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Korea, South America, and Europe."

Along with the Holy Sepulchre exhibit, visitors can see sacred and secular art of the same and earlier time periods in Kimbell's permanent exhibit, which is free for viewing.

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Samuel Blair and Jason Angelette are two of the five hosts of "The Point Man Podcast," a podcast for Catholic men. Together, alongside Chris Price, Clint Capdepon, and Drew Pearson, they are fathers and husbands who share their knowledge and experience about navigating life today as Catholic men and as leaders of their families.

Blair, a father of four, and Angelette, a widowed father of five, explained that the podcast is aimed at fathers and focuses on how masculinity and the sacramental life can be integrated. Describing themselves as a "mic'd up men's group," they try to foster a community to help men realize they're not alone and encourage one another in their walk with the Lord.

Ahead of Father's Day, EWTN News spoke to the two men about how masculinity is perceived in today's culture, what authentic masculinity looks like, and why fatherhood is such an important vocation in the life of the Church.

(Editor's note: This interview was edited for clarity and length.)

EWTN News: "Toxic masculinity" is a term used a lot in today's culture. How would you each define authentic Catholic masculinity?

Angelette: Jesus Christ. That's authentic masculinity. Jesus Christ fully reveals man to himself in his most high calling … the more that we model, imitate, and walk in the footsteps of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we will radiate a loving walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ in showing what real masculinity looks like.

He tells the story of the prodigal son, which is the greatest short story ever told of what happens when, in the face of a father who is humiliated by his son, his son abandoned him, took the money, squandered the inheritance, and just left this complete stain on the family name, and how does he respond to it? Or when you see the compassion and the mercy that he shows the woman who is literally caught in the very act of adultery. Or you see when he embraces Peter after he's denied him three times and he gives him three chances to redeem himself and to show that mercy and that kindness and that humility and that gentleness.

The heart of a man is a heart that has been set on fire by the Lord Jesus and he loves with gentleness and humility, not weakness in a sense of [being passive], but meekness in the sense of responding to the will of the Father.

Blair: At the end of the day, when we die, the Lord doesn't ask us, "All right, well let me see your bank account, let me see the titles." It's "How well did you love?" And you cannot love if you don't receive love, which is to Jason's point, he said it very succinctly, is Jesus Christ — he is the way, the truth, and life. So, modeling our lives after him and in that offering not only our wife, our children, our community, stability, offering our strength, warmth, validation because we've received that validation and love from the Father.

Angelette: Toxic masculinity is men who are fighting the wrong fight. Men who have embraced the wrong identity, men who have abused the gifts and talents that they've been given for themselves and not for others and for the kingdom.

Why is fatherhood such an important vocation in the life of the Church?

Angelette: John Paul II, who wrote a play — he wrote five plays — and his last one was called "Radiation of Fatherhood." And I feel like part of the gift of fatherhood is to radiate the fatherhood of God into the world and to our children.

That is this beautiful gift that we've been given to participate in this way that God wants to reveal himself through us. He's allowing us to participate — and not act like him, but to love like him, to love with a love like his.

So as men, as husbands, as fathers, there's this ability that through this masculine heart, this male heart, through this fatherhood, that we can love and reveal the love of God, the love of the father into the world.

Satan hates that. I mean, the thing that destroys families is when fathers have abandoned their post and they leave. Look at the statistics of what happens when a father is not embracing his responsibility as the first herald of the faith, to lead their family in faith, and how hard it is for the faith to be passed on to the next generation.

For Father's Day, what message would you like to share with fathers?

Blair: Fathers, know that you're unconditionally loved by God the Father and that the prodigal son points to that. And whether you're the younger son or the older son, he has this great inheritance for his boys, his sons.

Not only should we enter into a relationship with Jesus for our own sake but for our wives, for our children, and ultimately the Church. The Church needs her sons fully engaged. Gone are the days you can just be on the sidelines.

Angelette: You hear all the time that God loves you and unless you're drawing near to the Father, that just sounds like words. So, just avail yourself to really draw into prayer, to the sacraments, to connect with other men in Christ to not walk this road alone.

If you want your heart on fire, draw near to the Sacred Heart and let his fire, let the heart of Christ, ignite your heart to the love that we're called to so we can truly love our families, truly love our children, and love our wives, and be the man that we know in our heart we want to be and that we're being called to be.

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In a time when the meaning of masculinity is often misunderstood and undervalued, Joe Soltis and his 15-year-old son, Jake, are a father/son pair from Cleveland, Ohio, who have made service to others the focus of their lives.

After his mother's serious illness, Jake, almost entirely by himself, built her a sauna and exercise room in the family's basement in order to help her recover.

Joe, the CEO of a marketing company, serves on the board of an ecumenical project that unites Catholics and Protestants called Prayer At The Heart, with the aim of igniting "a great spiritual awakening out of a national movement of unified, humble, desperate prayer, unity and evangelism."

The pair spoke with EWTN News about how their Catholic faith inspires them to be men who make it their mission to love as Jesus loves, and about how they hope to inspire others to do the same.

'There's a good chance Mom won't be coming home'

In 2020, Joe's wife and Jake's mom, Becky, almost died after multiple medical issues led doctors to estimate she had only a 10% chance of survival. Joe said she was diagnosed with lupus, Lyme disease, a burst gall bladder, sepsis, and pancreatitis.

"We weren't allowed to see her in the hospital because it was during Covid," said Joe, the father of five boys and one daughter, who had to tell his kids "there's a good chance Mom won't be coming home."

After weeks in the hospital, Becky began to recover, Joe said, and "by the grace of God, she pulled through."

"Out of that hardship, I have found a woman who is incredibly holy," Joe said of his wife, who, though mostly recovered, still suffers ongoing symptoms from lupus. "She is an incredible mom and an incredible wife. I couldn't ask for anyone better. She is a blessing to all of us."

Joe said that time "brought our family tremendously closer together."

A plan to 'mobilize Christians'

As Becky recovered from her health crisis, Joe watched the race riots that erupted all over the country that summer, leading him to conclude that "there are evil forces" at work leading to such division between Americans.

"That's not what Christ wants," he said, and he wondered whether such division was "manufactured and intentional." He read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, which he called "diabolically brilliant."

On July 4, 2020, between his work, family, and other responsibilities, Joe "happened to be free to sit down and think." He felt inspired to write out a plan that would address how to "mobilize Christians" in a "Catholic, Christian, biblical manner."

Becky helped him fine tune the plan, which Joe then sent to various Christian leaders. Tom Phillips, vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called him back and put him in touch with Doug Small, a Pentecostal leader with a similar vision who also lives in Ohio.

Together, the men came up with Prayer at the Heart, an evangelistic endeavor with the goal of "one million Christians praying for one million friends to know Christ."

Of the ecumenical nature of their ministry, he said there is "great unity among" the team. "We can all unite around Christ." 

"Each congregation-denomination-ministry would brand the effort calling their constituents to prayer, evangelism-mission in their own way," reads the website, on which Christians can sign up to pray for unbelievers.

"The early apostles didn't just stay in their church and pray," Joe said. "They went out and evangelized. It's time for Christians to get out of their homes and churches and bring Jesus to people."

The ministry's strategy also involves other practical initiatives, such as the organization of local gatherings and outdoor prayer meetings, as well as a prayer request line available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In addition, the ministry is organizing neighborhood prayer walks, weekly groups of Christians praying for coworkers, and a new missionary and mentorship program to train young adults in prayer and evangelism.

"There's no person or political party that's going to save us. The only thing that's going to save us is the love of Jesus Christ and the love of others," Joe said.

A message to fathers: 'Love your wife'

This Father's Day, Joe has encouraging words for fathers: "Love your wife and kids the way Christ loved the Church."

"Sacrifice, be willing to lay your life down. Strive to love like Christ, knowing you will sometimes fall short," he said. "Go to church every Sunday. Your kids won't know faith is important if you don't show it. Pray every day with your kids."

"Every night we say the Seven Sorrows of Mary, the St. Michael prayer, and the Angel of God prayer," he said. "Then we say what we're thankful for, and this is what we'd like God to help us with."

The Soltis' also say a rosary once a week as a family, as well as in the car on long trips.

"If your family is going through a difficult time, strongly follow the lead of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and consecrate your family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus," Joe said.

"One of the promises of that consecration is peace within your family. Ours didn't have peace for a while but it does now, thank the Lord."

'If I start, God will help me and guide me through it'

Jake told EWTN News that "my dad and mom have always shown what love is. It's a choice, You choose to love others, to love your enemy. Love is a choice and not an emotional feeling."

When he decided to build the sauna and exercise room for his mother in the family's basement, he said he had "no idea what I was getting into."

Before beginning the basement renovation, Jake said he only "knew how to build a sub par table." During the work, he said he "was just inspired. I just wanted to help my mom."

Joe said his son "put a lot of pressure on himself because his mom's health was at stake." Becky had a grand mal seizure in 2025, which Joe called "scary."

"I have based the majority of my life on the saying 'I will figure it out,'" Jake said. "I know that if I start something, and use the gifts I was given from God, I will be able to figure it out. I'm not wasting my ability, and I trust that if I start, God will help me and guide me through it."

His father said Jake "looked at two Google images" before starting the project. "He has the knack and ability to do this stuff. He would come home from school and work for thousands of hours."

"The only thing I did was I loaded the stuff in the back of the Chevy Tahoe at the hardware store. Every now and then I helped him out," Joe laughed.

"As an 8th grader, he took an unfinished basement, and now we have a fitness center, sauna, theater room, and they're beautiful! They look professional. He did it all himself, for his mother," Joe said proudly.

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ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Thirty-three-year-old Niclas Eichmuller has always felt called to mission work, but he also wanted to have a family. "European Mission Campus has shown me how to do it," he told EWTN News.

The European Mission Campus (EMC), based in Vienna, Austria, draws inspiration from St. John Paul II's "vision of lay vocation, mission, and holiness," said Father Mark Thelen, a Michigan native who leads the effort in Europe.

In an interview, Thelen said he brought Eichmuller, 33, and two other EMC students to the United States in December 2025 to expose them to American models of evangelization and lay ministry. They visited Renewal Ministries, Legatus, Encounter Ministries, and Christ the King Parish in Michigan as well as Damascus Summer Camp in Ohio.

"They were inspired to see so much involvement and leadership by lay missionaries. In Europe, there are a lot more clergy involved, which isn't bad, but they are not accustomed to lay leadership," Thelen said.

EMC, which is managed by Abby Randolph, also based in Michigan, is part of Regnum Christi, a clerical religious institute dedicated to emulating the early Church and forming mission-driven individuals and being a "living fraternity" to renew the Church through spiritual and human support to missionaries.

"Europe needs missionaries," Thelen told a 2025 retreat. "We will not change Europe without community, and we will not experience relationships that are worthwhile without true community," he said.

EMC was founded in 2024 but saw its first class of students in September 2025. Five students are expected to join later this year. Instruction is given online and in person by Legion of Christ clergy and consecrated laity, shared with the Legion's Johannes Paul II Center in Vienna.

EMC students receive three years of formation for missionary service, which Thelen described as a "pastoral MBA" to equip them for full-time lay ministry. EMC students are university graduates, mostly under the age of 30.

Anna Romero, 24, from Spain, told EWTN News that at the age of 8, she joined her family on a Neocatechumenal Way mission to Papua New Guinea. At 18, she experienced a "personal call from Christ to conversion."

"I realized that I wanted to do more with my life," she recalled. "Life is more than about studying and working."

After graduating from university, Romero discerned a call. "I decided to give my life to sharing the Gospel and what God has done for me," she said.

Last year, she entered EMC's first class, which has a curriculum ranging from Scripture to faith-based time management. One key component is "Renewal of the Mind," which draws on the teachings of St. John Paul II.

Romero said EMC formation emphasizes "hearing God's voice," discerning his plan, and living out the Christian vocation as "king, priest, and prophet," even outside ordained or religious life.

EMC participants seek support through "mission partnership development," which builds teams of cooperators committed to prayer and financial backing. Fundraising and group dynamics are part of EMC formation. In European countries, the Church often receives government funding. Therefore, lay missionaries must generally raise their own support.

Romero and the others were impressed by how much American Catholics give to their parishes and missionaries. She said of the trip: "I learned so many useful things. There is a sense of confidence and clarity about evangelization in the U.S.," she said. She saw "a more lively faith" there than in Spain, where "if there aren't professed religious, Opus Dei, or Neocatechumenal Way, there isn't much parish life."

"I would love to start a program in Spain to train young people for missions ... I want to awaken a mission spirit among young people and all the baptized," she said.

EMC student Nina Sole-Martino, 23, first received missionary formation as a camper and staffer at Damascus Summer Camp in Centerburg, Ohio.

"I am open to the Lord's plans for me, and EMC will help to discern my path," she said. She said she wants to "reconfigure my thinking and others' to the mind of God. This means, for example, "changing how we speak to others and even how we speak to ourselves."

Quoting Proverbs 18:21, she said: "Life and death are in the power of the tongue."

Romero said religious vocation is a gift to the Church, but the Church also needs the laity.

"Laypeople in the world are called to collaborate with the Church," she said. "Laypeople are also a light to the world, as families and single people. Some laypeople, but not all laity, are called to be full-time missionaries. We also need saints who are doctors, teachers, and workers. Priests and the religious want and need their support."

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