Catholic News

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday expressed his closeness to the people of Venezuela after recent earthquakes, offering prayers for the victims and encouragement to rescue workers.

"I wish to express my solidarity with our Venezuelan brothers and sisters affected by the recent earthquakes, which have caused numerous deaths and injuries, as well as extensive damage to property," the pope said after praying the Angelus on June 28 in St. Peter's Square.

"Praying to the Lord for the eternal rest of the deceased, I renew my spiritual solidarity with their families, the injured, and all who have been shaken by this tragedy," he continued. "I also wish to express my gratitude and encouragement to those generously working on search and rescue efforts and providing assistance."

Before the Angelus, Pope Leo reflected on the day's Gospel reading from Matthew 10:37–42, saying that Jesus' call to discipleship is rooted in a love that requires "detachment, loss and hospitality."

"In today's Gospel reading, we hear some of Jesus' exhortations on how to follow him and be witnesses to his kingdom," the pope said. "This is not just a matter of outward acts, but of committing ourselves entirely to a loving relationship with him."

The first requirement, he said, is detachment. Citing Jesus' words — "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" — Pope Leo said the Lord wanted the apostles to be free for mission.

"When the Lord begins to send his apostles on mission, he wants them to be free from any ties," he said. "However, this applies to everyone, as even the most significant relationships find their fullness through the love that Christ gives us."

The pope pointed to married life as an example, saying it "can only be lived fully by 'leaving' one's parents' home in order to commit to the life of marriage." He also spoke of raising children, saying parents help them "to fulfill themselves and be happy by teaching them to 'stand on their own two feet' and make their own choices."

Quoting St. Augustine, Pope Leo said: "It is painful to part from what you love. Yet even the farmer temporarily loses what he sows."

"Only by 'losing' that seed sown in the ground, can we see it blossom," the pope added.

Pope Leo said Christians often struggle to understand that "love is also loss," especially "in a world where losing is seen as weakness and we are obsessed with having and possessing."

"However, love only bears fruit in self-giving: when we are willing to lose a little of ourselves to make room for another; to lose a little time to listen to a friend; to lose a little comfort to share in a time of hardship," he said.

He added that "according to the Gospel, those who hold on to their lives merely for themselves actually lose them, for they do not open themselves to the joy of love and thus become barren."

"This is why Jesus invites us to embrace the cross," the pope said. "He offered himself, lost himself, and in this very way we were enabled to receive his life in abundance. In the same way, if we live by the logic of the gift of self, we too will be capable of bringing forth new life in our relationships."

Finally, Pope Leo turned to hospitality, saying love must take shape in concrete acts.

"Love is expressed through concrete choices and actions; by a commitment made up of small daily gestures, such as offering a glass of water to someone who is thirsty," he said.

Jesus, he said, sent his disciples without provisions "so that, by being dependent on the help of others, they would inspire hospitality in those they met."

"By welcoming those who come in Jesus' name, we welcome him and the heavenly Father who sent him," the pope said. "Indeed, love for the Lord always involves welcoming our brothers and sisters."

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

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More than 100 years after its founding, Boys Town continues to advance Venerable Father Edward J. Flanagan's mission of caring for the vulnerable and underserved, reaching more than 2 million children and families every year.

The Irish-born priest is revered for his revolutionary approach to caring for homeless children in the 20th century, leading him to be declared "Venerable" by Pope Leo XIV in March, 2026.

Following the advancement of Flanagan's canonization cause, Thomas Lynch, who serves as the historian and director of community programs for Boys Town, told EWTN News that the priest's life serves as an example of "how children can be treated and how to treat your fellow man too."

"Venerable Father Flanagan was born and raised in Ireland in a very devout Catholic family, and he had a great devotion to helping people from the examples of his mother and father," Lynch said.

He was born in County Galway in 1886, and moved to America in 1904. His journey through seminary was put on hold due to poor health, but he was eventually ordained in 1912.

While the priest is known for rescuing homeless children and housing them at Father Flanagan's Boys Home, his work went beyond aiding children at the village now known as Boys Town.

Flanagan had "special ideas and concepts in child care…that were so radical," but it came "from his concepts of being a Catholic priest of love and dignity for the individual," Lynch said. "It changed the way children were treated around the world."

Flanagan was "a great champion for civil rights," Lynch said. "He traveled across America advocating equality regardless of a person's race or religion. He felt that [was] one of the greatest stains in America — any type of religious or racial discrimination."

"Many people don't realize he went out of his way to help Japanese Americans during World War II. During the internment, he helped around 200 to 300 of them leave the camps and begin new lives, and he brought a number of them to live in the village of Boys Town."

Creating Boys Town 'with love'

"When Father Flanagan created Boys Town in 1917, unfortunately, in America, there were no child care programs existing that were standard across the country," Lynch said. "There were reform schools," but they were "terrible places."

In the schools, "children would commit suicide because the guards would be so violent," he said. Many of the children were also in orphanages, but "when you became a teenager, you were expelled."

To combat the issue, Flanagan "came forward and said: 'They're going to live with me. They're going to have love, education, a spiritual life, and be taught a trade. It'll be done. No corporal punishment. No verbal abuse. They'll live as a family.'"

To start Boys Town, Flanagan used "the borrowed $90 he had," Lynch said. "He had no money and no one really believed in him except for a few people in the city of Omaha."

"But he always said: 'God would provide.'"

At Boys Town, "he created one of the first intentionally integrated communities in America…and he did it all with love," he said. "He referenced love almost every day, in every sermon, and in every prayer."

Flanagan's success caught the attention of people across the globe, leading his life and legacy to be immortalized in the 1938 movie "Boys Town," starring Spencer Tracy, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the priest.

Flanagan's work was also esteemed by multiple presidents and leaders.

"President Franklin Roosevelt said America needed 49 more Father Flanagan's, one for every state and territory, because his ideas were so far forward and proving successful," Lynch said.

In 1947, Flanagan was even invited by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was leading the allied occupation of Japan, to review the child welfare conditions in Japan and Korea.

After the trip, Flanagan culminated a report, "Children of Defeat," which included findings on the devastating conditions of children left homeless and abandoned by World War II across Asia. He presented it to President Harry Truman at the White House on July 11, 1947.

Flanagan was also invited to do a similar assessment in Austria and Germany the following year, but while in Germany Flanagan suffered a heart attack and died on May 15, 1948.

Following his death, Flanagan's successors continued many of the same principles and practices of his celebrated work.

Flanagan's principles still present today

Flanagan often said, "'I do not have all the answers on child care,' but he learned from every child that came to him, and he did extensive research with children and families," Lynch said.

Boys Town now operates nine sites including its home campus in Nebraska and locations in Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, and New England.

"It's the largest residential care facility in America" with "300 boys and girls living with us," Lynch said.

The "programs we serve touch the lives of around 2 million children and families every year across the United States, through our medical programs, our counseling programs, [and] our psychiatric programs."

"We do strategic planning, and we review our programs about every five years and determine what's the next area we should move into based on what's going on in society," he said.

Boys Town offers in-home family services, "where we actually go into a home and work with a family that are having issues," he said. It provides "foster care programming," which "trains foster parents across America in the basic theories and concepts of Father Flanagan."

To help students, Boys Town operates its Well-Managed Schools. Lynch said: "We teach schools and students the concepts of Father Flanagan — of respecting each other and how to get along in the classroom."

Boys Town's National Research Hospital offers aid and specialized care. It is  conducting "advanced work on autism and Parkinson's disease," and "working with special MRI machines," Lynch said.

The organizaiton also started a residential treatment center to help families struggling with a troubled child who is experiencing behavior problems.

It's for "boys and girls that can't live at home because…maybe they're violent or have severe mental issues," Lynch said.

Cause for canonization

"The cause for father began many years ago, some of our alumni felt that Father Flanagan should be a saint in the Catholic Church."

"When he created Boys Town, he created it on his Catholic theology, his training in his life," Lynch said. "It is an example to the world of what Catholic teaching and theology can do to help the lives of not just children, but society."

"He took the Catholic tenets of love, inclusion, and acceptance, and he brought that to the care of children in America, when really no one had even thought of it before," Lynch said.

In "2012, a Mass was held at Boys Town on Saint Patrick's Day, and that's when the Archdiocese of Omaha officially opened Father Flanagan's cause."

Pope Leo XIV declared the "heroic virtue" of Flanagan alongside four other holy men and women on March 23, 2026.

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Every fourth of July, thousands of rubber ducks make their way down an oversized water slide as part of the annual Wabash Valley Rubber Duck Regatta hosted by Catholic Charities of Terre Haute in Indiana. The event has become a popular tradition and a successful way to raise money for people in need. 

The regatta started in 2018 when the advisory council for Catholic Charities Terre Haute was looking for a new way to engage with the local community, specifically through a fundraising event. One of the council members was familiar with the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank Duck Regatta and suggested they reach out to find out how the event is done.

Realizing they could take advantage of the town's natural resource, the Wabash River, the council members decided to move forward. The duck regatta is now held every fourth of July alongside the town's Independence Day celebrations, which include a concert, fireworks, and now, the duck regatta.

"The first couple of years I was so surprised because I thought 'Well, maybe because people are coming to the concert we might get a few people spill over and come and watch the race,' but no, we had a lot of people that actually came to watch the race that I think then fed into staying for the concert. So I think it's been a little bit of give and take for both," Jennifer Tames, assistant agency director for Catholic Charities of Terre Haute, told EWTN News in an interview.

Tames explained that "duck season" began on May 21 — the day when people can start "adopting" rubber ducks for the race. The ducks are available for $5 and can be found at 20 different locations in the area. Then one lucky duck is chosen at the end of the race and whoever that duck belongs to wins $10,000.

While the race used to be held in the Wabash River, it is now done in a man-made, large waterslide due to safety concerns from the unpredictability in water levels. Despite this change, the community continues to show strong support for the event.

"The community has really gotten behind the event and they enjoy it. The kids love coming to watch the race itself even though we're no longer on the river," Tames said.

She shared that roughly $45,000 is raised from the regatta each year and all proceeds go directly to the work Catholic Charities does in the area.

Catholic Charities Terre Haute has four "service lines": nourishing the body, providing safe shelter, offering quality youth programs, and providing the spirit of Christmas — all supporting children, adults, families, and seniors.

Through the Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank, the equivalent of 3.8 million meals are provided throughout the year to seven counties in West Central Indiana.

The Ryves Youth Center runs year round and provides tutoring, mentoring, counseling, and recreational activities such as field trips and a summer camp. Additionally, there is a full-time preschool program that runs year-round and all children who participate in any of the programs at the youth center are provided with meals.

The Bethany House Emergency Shelter houses single women, married couples, and families. The staff works as case managers to help understand what led the individual or the family to homelessness and help them to set goals to be able to work to become self-sufficient again.

Lastly, the Christmas Store in Terre Haute provides hygiene products, clothing, toys and household items to those needing help with their Christmas. Thanks to retail partners, local community groups, and individual donations the shelves of the Christmas Store remain filled with new gifts year round.

"I don't think anybody gets into nonprofit work for the wealth," Tames said. "We all get in it because we believe in what we do and we believe in the change that we can make in our community and the change that we can make in a single life."

She added, "Even though in my role I'm not necessarily working with each of our neighbors every day, I can go home and know that the work that I do in raising funds for Catholic Charities, in raising awareness about Catholic Charities and the programs that we operate, is making a meaningful difference in somebody else's life. You don't get that everywhere."

Tames shared that when it comes to the duck regatta, their hope "would be to increase the number of ducks…so that we can put more of those funds into the resources that we provide every year."

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Jesus in the Eucharist visited the streets of America's most historic city Saturday, drawing thousands of people on a sunny morning in Boston.

The procession, which lasted two hours and 15 minutes, went by portions of the Freedom Trail, a 2 ½-mile-long red line of paint and bricks begun in 1951 that helps visitors find many of the most famous sites in the city, including many associated with the American Revolution.

Boston Archbishop Richard Henning pointed out to the crowd before the procession began that they would be walking by some of the most historic places in the country. But then he added: "We will make history."

"Because this will be the first time that we journey along the Freedom Trail as the people of God, led by our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ," Henning said.

A National Eucharistic Pilgrimage official estimated the crowd at 2,500 to 3,000. Archbishop Henning said later that whenever he turned around from the front he could never see the end of it in the back.

Jason Shanks, president of National Eucharistic Congress, which oversees the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, said the crowd in Boston was the largest since this year's version up the East Coast began May 24 in St. Augustine, Florida.

"It was a beautiful moment to see the people of God sort of show up for Jesus, and you could really hear their voices," Shanks said during a press conference Saturday afternoon at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End of Boston.

Hymns and prayers through a portable loudspeaker were led by Polish, Latino, Vietnamese, and Cape Verdean groups, among others, along with English speakers.

Participants experienced the sights and sounds of the city. When Archbishop Henning spoke at the beginning, near the visitors center on Boston Common, he occasionally competed with a jackhammer on nearby Tremont Street.

The beginning point was about a two-minute walk from where another group of organizers was setting up a Hare Krishna festival, and about a three-minute walk away from where St. John Paul II celebrated Mass on Oct. 1, 1979 before an estimated 1 million people in the pouring rain.

Saturday's procession included a portion of the route on Commercial Street that the canonized pope took in an open vehicle through the North End more than 46 years ago.

The procession also proceeded from the top of Old South Meeting House, the former Congregational church (now museum) where the Boston Tea Party began in December 1773, and on a house in Charlestown, near where the Battle of Bunker Hill took place in June 1775.

The walk began on Boston Common at about 10 a.m. amid sunny skies and with the temperature at 72 degrees, with a slight breeze. It turned warmer as the morning went on. Unseasonal fog covered large portions of Boston Harbor near the North End, but procession route remained clear, with high visibility.

Participants said the first three decades of the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary on waterside sidewalks along Commercial Street, near where the molasses flood of January 1919 killed 21 people after a poorly constructed tank collapsed during a thaw.

As the rosary blared out over an artificial turf field along the harbor, players on a women's softball team occasionally looked away from a team huddle to watch. A short distance to the north, sunbathers on the outfield grass of a Little League field also took notice.

The people

EWTN News spoke with several participants, including some who noted that the United States is about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

Nancy Goggin, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception and St. James in Stoughton, which is southwest of Boston, was asked why she came.

"Because I love our Lord. And I just think it's really such a beautiful thing to celebrate our 250th anniversary of the country in this way," Goggin said. "To process with Jesus through the Thirteen Colonies is so important."

English Puritans who wanted to purify the Church of England from all Catholic influences founded Boston in 1630 and laid out Boston Common, where the Eucharistic pilgrimage began, in 1634. Goggin was asked what the Puritans would make of a Catholic procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

Goggin, who was passing out rosaries as a member of the World Apostolate of Fatima, said she is a descendant of an English Separatist Puritan who sailed to the then-new Plymouth Colony in the early 1620s, not long after the Pilgrims arrived.

"They came here for religious freedom, and they came here to worship God," she said. "And so I think it's really fitting."

Asked what she hoped will come from the Eucharistic procession, she corrected the question.

"It's not 'come from it.' It's happening," she said. "There's a resurgence in the Catholic Church that is so beautiful. So many people are entering."

Tho Dinh, 57, who lives in Quincy, attended with a contingent from St. Ambrose, a Vietnamese parish in Dorchester, which is the largest section of Boston.

He told EWTN News he left Vietnam as one of the Boat People after Communist North Vietnam took over South Vietnam, spending three years in a refugee camp in Malaysia and then six months in the Philippines learning English and American culture before coming to Boston in September 1991.

"We have to worship God and thank God for all the blessings we have," Dinh said, explaining why he came for the procession.

He said a Eucharistic procession far from church has different meaning from ordinary parish worship.

"It's community, so it's more connection. It's unity of the Church, so it's good," he said.

"We hope for peace in the world. And we pray for peace, and people unified with each other," Dinh said. "We hope for a better future for young children. And people coming back to the Church."

Valentina Zamora, 15, a member of St. Anthony's in Everett, whose parents are from El Salvador, said she hoped the faith would become "stronger than it already is" because of the procession.

She also told EWTN News the outdoor setting, which included the grass and trees and hills of Boston Common, was a good place for it.

"Because this is what God created, so it would be nice to hear more about God in his creation," she said.

Marice Moline, 57, of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Winthrop, said the procession offers people a chance to see Jesus in the Eucharist who might not otherwise see him.

"It's an opportunity for public display of Christ," Moline said.

"To remind people that there's hope. To remind people that there's something greater in the world than themselves right now," she added.

Filomena Brandao, 69, of Randolph, who told EWTN News she came to the United States from Cape Verde alone at age 22, said she came to the Eucharistic procession in Boston partly out of patriotism.

"Because we're celebrating independence — 250 years. All the history, all the stories. As an immigrant, I wanted to experience it much more," said Brandao, who now has a husband, four children, and six grandchildren.

"We have a lot to thank God for," she said.

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VATICAN CITY—Pope Leo XIV on June 29 will bless and bestow the "pallium" — a white woolen vestment symbolizing pastoral authority and unity with the pope — on 32 new metropolitan archbishops, including four from the United States.

Leo will impose the pallia at a Mass for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Peter's Basilica.

The U.S. archbishops who will receive the pallium this year are Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, Archbishop James Checchio of New Orleans, Archbishop James Golka of Denver, and Archbishop Mark Rivituso of Mobile, Alabama.

New York, NY

Archbishop Ronald Hicks, 58, grew up in South Holland, Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago.

Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1994, Hicks later served as dean of formation at St. Joseph College Seminary in Chicago and at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois.

Hicks is fluent in Spanish with past ministry experience in Mexico and Central America, including five years in El Salvador.

He served as an auxiliary bishop of Chicago from 2018 to 2020, before being named bishop of Joliet, Illinois in 2020 by Pope Francis. He was installed as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in February 2026.

At a press conference following the announcement of his appointment to New York in December 2025, Hicks said he was committed to learning about the archdiocese's efforts to compensate survivors of sexual abuse. The archdiocese has proposed an $800 million settlement for abuse victims as it seeks to resolve a five-year legal battle.

Hicks said in a May 1 statement that "although much work remains to be done before a settlement can be finalized and consummated, I am cautiously optimistic about the path we are on."

He said both sides have been working to reach an agreement and to "create the framework of a comprehensive arrangement that will deliver compensation to victim-survivors faster and more efficiently than the traditional legal process."

In a video published June 25 from Assisi, Italy, where Hicks is leading a pilgrimage ahead of receiving the pallium, he invited the Catholics of New York to follow the example of St. Francis, "as together we look for ways in the mission of the Church to continue to rebuild it, to repair it, and to renew it."

New Orleans, LA

The 60-year-old Archbishop James Checchio was installed in New Orleans on Feb. 18, after nearly five months as a coadjutor archbishop assisting Archbishop Gregory Aymond before his retirement in February.

Checchio previously served, from 2016 to 2025, as bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey. He is from Camden, New Jersey. He was rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome from 2006 to 2016 and has a doctorate in canon law.

In New Orleans — an archdiocese of over half a million Catholics in southeastern Louisiana — Checchio inherited bankruptcy and a $230 million settlement to clergy sexual abuse claimants that took years to reach an outcome.

"Bankruptcy means you're broke, right? So we're broke," Checchio told EWTN News in Rome, commenting on the archdiocese's financial situation.

He added that he's grateful the archdiocese was able to pull together a good payment for the survivors of abuse and that they continue to reach out to them and pray for them.

"It's primarily the survivors, but a lot of other people are affected by it, families and the loss of trust," he added. "The priests are affected… the morale."

Checchio noted that the people are resilient. "New Orleans is used to rebuilding," he said. "There's great hope and joy in the people and the priests."

After his appointment as coadjutor last September, he remembers reading the bleak news about the archdiocese.

But since arriving, he realized "the Church in New Orleans is vibrant" with a lot of young people and young families.

"There are people that love the faith. They love family life. They love traditions and they're very loyal people," he said.

Checchio brought a delegation of around 180 people, including family and friends, to Rome on the occasion of receiving the pallium.

Receiving the symbolic vestment himself, he said, is "a bit surreal," after years as the rector of the Pontifical North American College, when it was his job to organize a reception for the new American metropolitan archbishops.

"But it's extra special, I think, with an American pope too."

Denver, CO

Archbishop James Golka, 59, was born and raised in Grand Island, Nebraska, as the fourth of 10 children. After 27 years in parish ministry and diocesan leadership in the Grand Island diocese, in 2021, he was made bishop of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He was appointed archbishop of Denver by Pope Leo XIV in February and was installed on March 25, shortly after the death of both of his parents.

In an interview with EWTN News in Denver earlier this month, Golka shared that he has felt his parents' presence with him several times during his first months as archbishop, and while it was painful to lose them, he trusts they are interceding for him from heaven.

"It's a great honor" to receive the pallium from Pope Leo, the archbishop said in comments to EWTN News in Rome on June 26.

"I never thought I would be here this day, so I'm just grateful to God for the chance to do it," he noted, adding that the pallium is less for him than it is for all the people of the archdiocese.

The pallium, he said, "represents Christ, who's the Good Shepherd, who has found a way, by creating the Church the way he did, to continue to be our pastor and shepherd. The main bishop of Denver is not me, it's Jesus. … It's a humbling thing to be able to let Christ work through you that way."

He added that the pallium "also represents a oneness and a closeness with the Holy Father. So there's something very tender about receiving that from an American pope."

On the situation in Colorado, the archbishop pointed out that "it's a very pro-abortion state, so many people who have worked for years in that area just feel kind of beat up."

Golka said he hopes to help energize those in pro-life ministry so they can keep standing for life: "We're going to keep holding up the great dignity of life. That's really important to me."

He added that priests are also very close to his heart as a bishop and he wants them to be "healthy, happy, and holy. I'm all in to help them do that because I'm on the same trip. I want to try to do the same thing for me."

"Archbishop Aquila began many good initiatives [in Denver]," Golka noted. "It's a group of people ready for mission. And so I just get to come in and kind of activate that and just listen to them… So it makes me want to be on mission even more. It makes me want to be a better priest and a better bishop."

Mobile, AL

Archbishop Mark Rivituso, 64, was installed as the metropolitan archbishop of Mobile, Alabama, in September 2025.

From St. Louis, Missouri, he served as an auxiliary bishop of the St. Louis archdiocese starting in 2017. He is the sixth of eight children and has a licentiate (similar to a master's degree) in canon and civil law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada.

He is also a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of Peter Claver, and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Writing in "The Catholic Week," the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Mobile, on June 12, Rivituso reflected on the pilgrimage he will make to Rome to receive the pallium.

"All of you will be on pilgrimage with us — for you will be in my heart and prayers with every step and at every holy site," he wrote to his archdiocese. "When I receive the pallium from Pope Leo XIV, it is a sign of our communion with the Holy Father. Receiving the pallium placed around my neck will be a blessed reminder that I bear and live the yoke of Christ's shepherding love for each one of you."

What is a pallium?

The pallium is a narrow, circular band of white wool with pendants hanging down the front and the back. It is adorned with six small black crosses and three pins (called spinulae), which resemble both thorns and the nails used to crucify Jesus.

It is bestowed on the Latin-rite patriarch of Jerusalem and metropolitan archbishops — the diocesan archbishop of the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or region — as a symbol of communion, authority, and unity with the pope and his pastoral mission to be a shepherd for the people of God. The pope also wears the pallium over his chasuble when he is celebrating Mass.

Before the vestments are bestowed on the metropolitan archbishops, they are placed for a time in a spot near the tomb of St. Peter, under the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, to reinforce the bishop's connection to Peter through apostolic succession.

At Pope Benedict XVI's inaugural Mass on April 24, 2005, he explained the symbolism of the pallium and the lamb's wool as "meant to represent the lost, the sick, or weak sheep which the shepherd places on his shoulders to carry to the waters of life."

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ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Catholics should be proud of their contributions to the United States, especially for the intellectual tradition inherited from philosophers, theologians, and saints who contributed to the ideas leading to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, author and Hillsdale College Professor Matthew Mehan told EWTN News leading up to the 250th anniversary of the nation.

Mehan is associate dean and professor of government studies at Hillsdale College's Washington, D.C. campus. He holds a doctorate in literature from the University of Dallas and recently authored The American Book of Fables, a book for all ages that reflects Mehan's desire to contribute to national renewal.

The fables are set in the American landscape, framed by the Declaration of Independence, and accompanied by historical documents illustrating the country's history, complexity, and geographical regions.

In interviews with EWTN News, the author and scholar said the book grew out of his broader efforts to promote culture renewal through educational reform.

"In a sense, it is an unsurprisingly Catholic endeavour of 'fides et ratio,'" he said. "I wanted something like in church, where there is a papal flag and an American flag, representing faith, morals, love of country, and love of neighbor."

"I've always thought that way. I've also thought a lot about a combination of those things, with beautiful images and beautiful moral sentiments, and how those come together. So when the semiquinquicentennial was coming up, I thought it would be a great gift to the country.".

Mehan won the America 250 Innovation Prize from the Heritage Foundation for the work.

The educator and father of eight said he shares the concerns of many teachers and parents dismayed by the current culture and how education has failed to cultivate virtue, civic pride and responsibility.

He and his wife founded a school cooperative in Reston, Virginia that now has 38 participating families. He has also designed curricula for schools across the country.

The role of educators is essential, Mehan said, while noting that doctorates are now the equivalent of 19th-century master's degrees in terms of academic formation.

"Catholic academics don't know their own traditions very well," he argued. "They know Greek philosophers, and the moderns who reject the Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, and Catholic vision of Western civilization and human nature, and may know the Summa Theologica and St. Augustine. But what they don't know is the poetical and rhetorical tradition which moves people toward a common vision, which is an indispensable part of good letters and a healthy citizenry."

"And they don't know the Romans," he added. Drawing on the classical tradition, Mehan noted that Roman thinkers such as Cicero and Seneca prepared the "good soil," the intellectual antecedents that inspired America's founders.

"Cicero, for instance, was taught in all seminaries until the 1900s," while Seneca was praised by St. Jerome, he said. And ideas found in Cicero were the underpinnings of the theory of natural rights that informed later Catholic philosophers.

Seneca's De Clementia, for example, contributed to concepts of constitutional democracy and rights that shaped the American experiment in government. These classical authors, he argues, still have relevance and deserve renewed attention in universities and seminaries.

Asked about the future of Catholic education and how it can play a role in a national renewal, despite the closing of Catholic parishes and schools, Mehan said: "Catholic education is displaying a nascent energy."

"It's very dynamic and full of people who have reoriented education towards what the Christian humanists of the Catholic tradition understood as their goal, which is to help students have a clean conscience and thus have the most joyful life possible in this life and the next," he said.

For Mehan, moral formation must take precedence over the mere transmission of information. He argues that Catholic education drifted from this mission in the 20th century as it increasingly followed secular models of education.

Subjects such as calculus, computer coding, and the sciences are valuable, he said, but they should not be the primary focus of Catholic schools.

"If you aim at them, ironically, you won't get them. If you aim high, you'll get the high and the low. If you aim for the low, you'll get nothing. That is why education has collapsed except where the moral life is, ideally, centered around Christ."

Catholics holding doctorates who complain that tenured positions at colleges and universities are scarce should look to K-12 schools to make national renewal a reality, Mehan said.

The renewal of Catholic education, and how it can contribute to national renewal, depends on placing Christ at the center and embracing the universal call to holiness emphasized by the Second Vatican Council, he argued.

Movements such as Opus Dei and the Neo-catechumenal Way serve as "an enormous engine," Mehan said, to plant holiness in students and encourage teachers themselves to be saints. It will change "how people teach, how they design curricula, and how they bring forward the richness of the Catholic faith and tradition."

"Actually, I'm very hopeful," he said.

To Catholics who may think of themselves as strangers in the United States, Mehan said, "No, brother, you built this too."

"Your people, your religious tradition, are at home here," he said. "And you are meant for republican self-government. Augustine's City of God laid the groundwork, St. Thomas Aquinas built the scaffolding, and St. Thomas More made it shine. American Catholics built this country with sweat, blood, and their arms."

"This is your patrimony too," he said.

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Pope Leo XIV on June 27 thanked the College of Cardinals for their work during their two-day extraordinary consistory, highlighting their reflections on war, poverty, and social fragmentation as well as deeper wounds such as loneliness and loss of meaning.

The pope said in his closing address that he was "particularly struck by the way [the cardinals] spoke about young people," especially in their suffering that can at times lead "to the extreme despair of taking their own lives."

"You have recognized one of the deepest wounds of our time," he said, "yet you have also been able to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit [in their] search for authenticity, for genuine relationships, and for meaning."

Addressing another of the world's wounds — war — Leo XIV reiterated themes from his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas , warning that war stems from a broader "culture of power" affecting politics, economics, and even religion.

"War is born within us," he said, but it is "precisely in the heart that peace is also decided." It is in that same heart, he said, where Christ "continues to meet us, speak to us, and to convert us," and he called for renewed commitment to dialogue, multilateral cooperation, and nonviolent responses rooted in the Gospel.

Although the cardinals discussed "just war," the pope did not specifically mention the tradition in his address, noting instead the theme of self-defense in light of "profound transformations" in contemporary conflicts.

Reflection on this topic needs to be "further developed," he said, "with necessary theological and pastoral rigor."

Issuing a global appeal, Leo XIV declared: "God desires peace for every nation and every people," urging the Church to help the world reject violence and rediscover the Lord's paths of reconciliation.

Pope Leo also underscored the importance of the family, the Church's social doctrine, and the formation of consciences, while reaffirming the role of ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue in promoting peace.

He urged the cardinals to deepen the Church's synodal path as a "spiritual style" rooted in listening, discernment, and fidelity to the Gospel. Synodality, he said, is not primarily about structures or decision-making, but about safeguarding the Church's mission through shared discernment.

"The question is not 'who decides,'" he said, "but how we together safeguard the gift entrusted to the Church."

Leo XIV encouraged the cardinals to promote active participation across local Churches, saying that authentic synodality arises from encounter and openness to the Holy Spirit.

He likened this two-day gathering — which had a distinctly synodal format of working group discussions — to the Gospel account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in which Christ renews hope and clarifies mission.

Referring to a meeting of bishops in October to mark the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, the pope said the gathering will be part of the implementation of the Synod on Synodality — a chance to "foster spaces where the People of God can listen to one another, pray, discern and walk together."

The pope closed by entrusting the fruits of the consistory to the intercession of Our Lady. "May she teach us to preserve unity in diversity and to serve the Gospel of peace with humility, courage, and hope," he said.

He reiterated that these extraordinary consistories will take place annually, and said he will be announcing next year's meeting at the end of the year.

Vatican synthesis

As the consistory took place behind closed doors, it was not possible to know exactly what the cardinals discussed during the two-day meeting.

Instead, media had to rely on syntheses provided by the Holy See Press Office which omitted some key interventions such as Cardinal Gerhard Müller's call on the Vatican to issue a formal response to the Society of St. Pius X's latest challenge to Rome, as reported on Saturday by Il Giornale's Nico Spuntoni.

The syntheses also did not cover any topics raised in the free discussion at the end of the consistory. The Vatican did, however, provide full texts of four cardinals' reflections.

Opening Friday afternoon's session on "The Culture of Power and the Civilization of Love" was Cardinal Victor Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who reflected on the theme and Chapter V of?Magnifica Humanitas.

Drawing on the social encyclical, he argued that a deep cultural shift had been enabling the outbreak and normalization of new wars, often sustained by AI-driven media and political manipulation.

Magnifica Humanitas, he said, marked a significant development by declaring "just war" theory outdated in practice. It insisted instead on a far stricter understanding of legitimate defense and condemning pre-emptive and disproportionate warfare as incompatible with Catholic teaching and the Second Vatican Council's Gaudium et Spes and its rejection of indiscriminate destruction.

As examples, he highlighted military interventions in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Relativism, cynicism, "spiteful verbal attacks by political leaders," and geopolitical inconsistency favored violent powers, the cardinal said, adding that the Church's social doctrine was the answer.

Alluding to a consistent life ethic, he said the teaching is coherent in its defense of life, migrants, peace, and the vulnerable, and that it is capable of resisting the culture of power and fostering a culture of fraternity and the common good.

The Vatican reported that in their working groups during the session, presided over by Filipino Cardinal Siongco David, the cardinals similarly voiced concern about a pervasive "culture of power" marked by polarization, normalization of war, and diminished sensitivity to violence.

In response, they stressed the Church's urgent duty to witness credibly to peace through a transformed language of encounter, rooted in listening, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and through visible Christian unity.

They also urged dialogue with other religions, especially Islam, and engagement with international institutions. The Vatican said "numerous groups" called for moving beyond classical "just war" frameworks toward proportionate self-defense, while reaffirming the Gospel as the true source of peace.

The Vatican said strong support was expressed for Pope Leo XIV's encyclical and his moral leadership, alongside renewed reflection on the Petrine ministry as a safeguard of the Church's independence and a sign of unity.

Building the common good

Saturday morning's session shifted focus to "Building for the Common Good," examining the deep fractures affecting societies, families, and individuals.

Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg presented?Magnifica Humanitas?as a theologically coherent vision of human "building" in an age of technological power, reading the whole encyclical through the opening contrast between Babel's self-enclosed self-sufficiency and Jerusalem's God-oriented rebuilding.

He noted that the introduction offered a "grammar of building" structured around desire, limitation, shared responsibility, and discernment, asking whether technological expansion, including AI, actually produced more just relationships and institutions attentive to the person.

In his reading, the conclusion showed how this grammar found its fulfilment in the theological virtues: faith reading history in the light of God's merciful plan, charity rooted in the Eucharist grounding synodal communion, and hope directing concrete responsibility toward a "civilization of love," all sustained by prayer exemplified in Mary's contemplative gaze.

In the Vatican-summarized discussions that followed, presided by Tanzanian Cardinal Protase Rugambwa, the cardinals highlighted the anthropological crisis underlying these divisions, including loss of meaning, identity, and relationships, exacerbated by extreme individualism and emerging challenges such as artificial intelligence.

AI was discussed not only technologically but as a force reshaping human self-understanding, raising concerns about dignity, limitation, and the reduction of persons to data. The common good was presented as both elusive and essential, requiring a rediscovery of solidarity grounded in faith and expressed through concrete care for the poor.

The Vatican said the Church's social doctrine and the formation of responsible political leaders were seen as vital responses to systemic inequality and fragmentation. Across interventions, the Gospel emerged as the antidote to division, calling the Church to embody a "Samaritan" presence, foster belonging, and promote synodality as a lived practice of listening and shared responsibility.

Final session

The final session of the consistory turned to the practical implementation of synodality, emphasizing spiritual elements and institutional challenges.

In his reflection, Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod Secretariat, described the Synod on Synodality as a profound experience "in the Spirit" and declared that it had already awakened in the Church a broad desire for participation, mutual listening, and shared discernment among bishops, clergy, religious, and laity.

He asserted that the current implementation phase was not a matter of mechanically applying decisions but of receiving, testing, and integrating synodal insights into the ordinary life of local Churches, culminating in the 2028 ecclesial assembly.

That phase, he said, depended on bishops as primary stewards of the synodal journey, adding that they needed to hold together synodality and collegiality as complementary expressions of one communion ordered to mission in a world marked by war, inequality, migration, and technological upheaval.

In their discussions that followed, presided by Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, the Vatican said the cardinals agreed on the need to integrate the "ascetical and historical" dimensions of synodality while ensuring that its processes do not become overly burdensome or distract from the Church's evangelical mission.

Particular attention was given to priestly formation, with calls for a vision of the priesthood that is dynamic, attractive, and authentically evangelical without reinforcing clericalism.

Discussion also clarified the complementary roles of hierarchy and laity in discerning the voice of "the Spirit," highlighting synodality as a shared but differentiated responsibility within the People of God. The contribution of Eastern Catholic Churches, with their longstanding synodal traditions, was said to be especially valuable.

The Vatican synthesis noted that cardinals discussed "the risk that the complexity of the consultation process might weigh down the Church at a time when she is called to bear witness."

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A federal lawsuit filed in U.S. district court this week claims leaders in the state of Michigan targeted a Catholic charity for following the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleges that state Attorney General Dana Nessel, state Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel, and other government officials engaged in a "pattern of religious targeting" against the charity in order to pressure it to "abandon its beliefs."

The suit says government officials met with the charity in March 2026 and "raised concerns" about the organization's core values, including the requirement that staff sign a pledge related to matters on abortion and adoption, among other issues.

After that meeting, a state-contracted insurance distributor "adopted a brand-new policy specifically targeting Catholic Charities' religious beliefs and practices." Part of the new policy included a disclosure requirement regarding "service limitations" related in part to abortion and gay marriage, the suit says.

The state health department subsequently discontinued its designation of the charity's Cristo Rey Community Center as a women's specialty service provider, the suit says, with the government stipulating that the charity must make "policy and procedural changes" in order to have that designation reinstated.

The suit says the government has "completely ignored" the charity's efforts to obtain clarification about the alleged policy violations. The state-contracted insurance facilitator, meanwhile, has stopped referring clients to the charity for women's services, according to the filing.

The decisions by the state government violates religious discrimination protections in the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit says, while women in the region have been "left without access to the faith-based, relationship-centered treatment that Catholic Charities' ministry uniquely provides."

The suit, which was filed by attorneys with the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, asks the court to reverse the state government's decisions and further prevent it from withholding federal grant funding from the charity.

The state attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit. But this is not the first time the state government has tangled with a Catholic charity.

In 2019 St. Vincent Catholic Charities filed a suit against the state over its requirement that adoption agencies must match children with same-sex couples in order to receive state funding.

The charity ultimately won a settlement with the government in 2022 allowing it to continue its adoption services without violating its Catholic identity.

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The National Abortion Federation, a professional association of abortion providers, publicly updated their policy to support abortion throughout all stages of pregnancy earlier this week.

The group updated the policy to mark the anniversary of the Dobbs decision that returned abortion legislation to the states — the decision that enabled more states to enact laws that protect unborn children.

"This moment demands a new era of abortion advocacy, one that understands viability and gestational limits are common and equally harmful forms of abortion bans," read a joint statement from the National Abortion Federation and Physicians for Reproductive Health. "When laws regulating abortion care include arbitrary legal limits, politicians and police are invited into exam rooms, advancing control over pregnant people — forcing them to stay pregnant and finding ways to punish them when they don't."

The policy opposes laws that are common in pro-life states, like viability-based and gestation-based laws.

The group's policy "supports abortion care and access throughout pregnancy and opposes legislation and policies that interfere with that care, including viability limits and gestation-based bans."

Live Action spokesman Noah Brandt condemned the policy for dehumanizing unborn babies.

"The National Abortion Federation is a radical organization dedicated solely to dehumanizing every child in the womb, pushing for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, and advocating for the destruction of children nationwide," Brandt told EWTN News.

"By formally rejecting any legal limits on abortion at any stage of pregnancy for any reason, the NAF only further exposes their intent, justifying the violent killing of viable babies which can include excruciating dismemberment or a lethal injection into the baby's heart," he indicated.

"Opposing any limit to abortion denies basic biology and the humanity of preborn children from the moment of conception," Brandt added. "As pro-life Americans, we must focus on life-affirming policies that protect both mother and child by rejecting abortion at any stage and offering true help through sacrifice, service, and prayer," he emphasized.

"The National Abortion Federation's agenda for abortion with no limits has become the de facto position of the Democratic?Party," Kelsey Pritchard, communications director for SBA Pro-Life America told EWTN News. "The U.S. is 1 of 8 countries in the world that allows all-trimester abortion and we're on that list with Communist China and Vietnam. Fifteen states allow abortion at any point, including in the seventh, eighth and ninth months of pregnancy."

Pritchard noted that "several abortion businesses openly advertise third-trimester abortions," including ones in Colorado, Maryland, and Illinois. "This isn't just hypothetical: second and third trimester abortions are happening in the blue states," Pritchard said. "Babies who can feel pain and survive outside of the womb are being killed."

Meanwhile, Dr. Christina Francis, head of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, observed: "There is never a need to intentionally end the life of our preborn patient at any point in pregnancy."

"Claims that induced abortion is 'necessary' later in pregnancy (at a point when a baby can survive outside of the mother) are not only ignorant of medical facts, but they're also dangerous," Francis said. "Abortions later in pregnancy are dangerous for women, increasing their risk of immediate complications, adverse mental health outcomes, preterm birth in future pregnancies, and even death."

"If a mother is facing a serious pregnancy complication, she can be delivered, and both patients can receive the care they need and deserve," Francis said.

Pritchard called for action, noting that "only?10% of voters?support abortion up until birth."

"This week, we celebrated the overturn of Roe v. Wade, which ended a dark period in our nation's history, saving innocent lives by allowing the people and their elected representatives to protect precious preborn children," Brandt said.

"In America's 250th year, the pro-life movement and the GOP must take bold new steps to make progress toward a national minimum standard to protect unborn children in every state," Pritchard said.

This type of law, she said, would "be the 'floor'?that establishes a limit for the whole country –?including?in blue states – and allows pro-life states to continue to aggressively protect life even further."

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The future of hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants living legally in the United States remains uncertain after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to move forward with changes to temporary protected status (TPS), shifting the issue back to Congress.

In response to the decision, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami called on Congress to protect TPS holders, arguing that ending the humanitarian program would have serious consequences for migrants, their families, and communities across the country.

In an interview with Veronica Dudo of "EWTN News Nightly" on June 26, Wenski said the court's ruling was "not unexpected," adding that the justices ultimately returned the issue to lawmakers.

"The decision was not unexpected, because a conservative court doesn't want to rule from the bench, as it were. And so what has been done is kick the ball back into the Congress, which is the body of the government that is supposed to be making the laws," he said.

Push for Senate vote

The Miami archbishop said the U.S. Senate should send the president legislation passed in the House that would extend TPS protections for Haitians for three additional years. In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the legislation, H.R. 1689, that would extend TPS for Haitians until 2029. Senate consideration is next.

"We're asking the senators of the United States to approve that proposition, so that it could be passed into law," he said, and he also urged its passage in a column for the Archdiocese of Miami.

TPS allows nationals from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions to remain and work legally in the United States temporarily. Haiti was first designated for TPS following the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Wenski warned that ending those protections could have severe humanitarian consequences.

"Haiti could be described very correctly as a house on fire," he said. "It would be hard to see how you could send back 350,000 people, many of whom have been here since the earthquake of 2010, and have built lives here in this country … and it's unconscionable to think that that could be done without creating a tremendous humanitarian disaster."

The archbishop also highlighted the economic role many Haitian immigrants play, particularly in healthcare.

"The Haitians are working; they're not on the public dole. They're not public charges. They're working, and many of them are working in the healthcare sector," he said.

Within the Archdiocese of Miami, he said, many TPS holders serve in Catholic nursing homes and other healthcare ministries.

"To have their work permits revoked and taken away from them would have not only a terrible effect on them, but it would have an economic impact on the entire community," he said.

The archdiocese is also preparing to assist migrants facing legal uncertainty.

"The Archdiocese of Miami has Catholic Legal Services … we're trying to accompany them and to see if there are any other pathways or solutions," he said.

Even so, Wenski emphasized that lasting immigration reform must come from Congress.

"The ball is in the court of the Senate."

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