Catholic News

October is designated by the Catholic Church as the month of the rosary, and Oct. 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Here are seven common myths and facts about this popular devotion and  prayer:

1. Only Catholics can pray the rosary.

False. While rosaries are typically associated with Catholics, non-Catholics can certainly pray the rosary — and in fact, many credit it to their conversion. Even some Protestants recognize the rosary as a valid form of prayer.

2. Praying the rosary is idolatry.

False. Some have objections to the rosary, claiming it idolizes Mary and is overly repetitive.

Just like any practice, the rosary can be abused — just as someone might idolize a particular pastor or priest, a form of worship, or fasting. But the rosary itself is not a form of idolatry.

The rosary is not a prayer to Mary — it is a meditation on the life of Christ revealed in five mysteries "with the purposes of drawing the person praying deeper into reflecting on Christ's joys, sacrifices, sufferings, and the glorious miracles of his life."

When we pray the Hail Mary, we are not adoring Mary; we are asking for her intercession — just as we might ask a friend or family member to pray for us.

Second, any prayer can lose its meaning if we do not intentionally meditate on it. Focusing on the mysteries with purpose and intention is key to the rosary's transforming power. As one author encourages: "The rosary itself stays the same, but we do not."

3. You can wear a rosary as a necklace.

It depends. It is typically considered disrespectful and irreverent to wear a rosary around one's neck as jewelry, even though the Church does not have an explicit declaration against doing so.

However, Canon 1171 of the Code of Canon Law says that "sacred objects, set aside for divine worship by dedication or blessing, are to be treated with reverence. They are not to be made over to secular or inappropriate use, even though they may belong to private persons."

It is important to treat the rosary with respect and intention. If you intend to wear the rosary as a piece of jewelry, this would not be respectful and should be avoided. It goes without saying that wearing the rosary as a mockery or gang symbol would be a sin.

But if it is your intention to use the rosary and be mindful of prayer, then it could be permissible. It is not uncommon in some cultures, like in Honduras and El Salvador, to see the rosary respectfully worn around the neck as a sign of devotion.

Rosary rings or bracelets might be a better option if you want to keep your rosary close at hand as a reminder to pray, as they are kept more out of sight and would not be as easily misconstrued to be a piece of jewelry.

4. The rosary is an extremist symbol.

False. Back in 2022, a widely-shared Atlantic article went viral for accusing the rosary of being an "extremist symbol."

"Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or 'rad trad') Catholics," the article read.

The author also cited the Church's stance on traditional marriage and the sanctity of life as evidence of "extremism" and claimed that Catholics' tendency to call the rosary a "weapon in the fight against evil" as dangerous.

As EWTN News reported in 2022, popes have urged Catholics to pray the rosary since 1571 — often referring to the rosary as a prayer "weapon" and most powerful spiritual tool.

5. The rosary is not biblical.

Untrue! Most of its words come directly from Scripture.

First, the Our Father is prayed. The words of the Our Father are those Christ taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9–13.

The Hail Mary also comes straight from the Bible. The first part, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee," comes from Luke 1:28, and the second, "Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb," is found in Luke 1:42.

Finally, each of the decades prayed on the rosary symbolizes an event in the lives of Jesus and his mother. The decades are divided into four sets of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious, the majority of which are found in Scripture.

6. A rosary bead, or pea, can kill you.

Somewhat true. A rosary pea, or abrus seed, is a vine plant native to India and parts of Asia. The seeds of the vine, which are red with black spots, are often used to make beaded jewelry — including rosaries. Rosary pea seeds contain a toxic substance called "abrin," which is a naturally-occurring poison that can be fatal if ingested. However, it's unlikely for someone to get abrin poisoning just from holding a rosary made from abrus seeds, as one would have to swallow them.

Today, most rosaries are made from other nontoxic materials, such as olive wood or glass — eliminating this concern.

7. The rosary can help protect you.

True. Praying the rosary has proven to be a miraculous force for protecting those of faith and bestowing upon them extra graces, such as the victory of the Christian forces at the Battle of Lepanto after St. Pius V implored Western Christians to pray the rosary.

Many great saints across history, including Pope John Paul II, Padre Pio, and Lucia of Fátima, have also recognized the rosary as the most powerful weapon in fighting the real spiritual battles we face in the world.

We know that spiritual warfare is a real and present danger: "For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens" (Eph 6:11–12).

"The rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin … If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors," Pope Pius XI said.

This story was first published on Oct. 1, 2022, and has been updated.

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On his Radio María program, Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of the Diocese Orihuela-Alicante in Spain recently shared five reasons to pray the rosary during the month of October:

1. The Blessed Mother herself has repeatedly made the request.

The Spanish prelate pointed out that the fact that over the centuries the Virgin Mary has repeatedly asked for the rosary to be prayed "should have already been enough" for Christians to take up the beads every day.

He proceeded to review some of the instances where she had made this request, either explicitly or implicitly. "She did so with St. Dominic of Guzmán around the year 1208, when she asked for that prayer in the face of the Cathars," he noted.

At Lourdes, in 1858, there was no explicit command and yet, Munilla recalled, "the rosary was at the heart of the 18 apparitions to Bernadette."

Some 21 years later, during an 1877 apparition in Gietrzwald, Poland, the Virgin was cited saying directly: "I desire that you pray the rosary every day" and "pray the rosary with fervor."

As Munilla sees it, the apparitions at Fátima in 1917 constitute "the central case" in the matter, because it was there that the Virgin insisted upon the practice.

Munilla recalled that on May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary said: "Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war. She repeated this in June, July, and October, and on Oct. 13, she revealed herself as the Lady of the Rosary."

Munilla went on to reference what the Virgin Mary said in 1980, in the town of Cuapa, Nicaragua. There, "the Virgin Mary asked Bernardo Martínez to pray the rosary every day — not merely reciting it straight through, but meditating on the mysteries" — as well as "promoting it within the family and the parish."

In Kibeho, Rwanda, in 1981, she also made a request to pray the rosary, but with a distinctive feature: "There, the emphasis was not so much on the standard rosary but rather on the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows" of the Virgin.

Likewise, the prelate referred to the apparitions between 1983 and 1990 in San Nicolás, Argentina, where "the Virgin appeared under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary and the messages urged that it be prayed."

Munilla also referred to Medjugorje, where the Church has not issued a ruling on the supernatural nature of the alleged apparitions but has approved the religious and pastoral experience taking place there. It is an experience characterized, he said, by "an insistence on the daily recitation of the rosary."

2. In praying the rosary, one contemplates the face of Christ with Mary.

The second reason put forward is that praying the rosary allows one to contemplate the face of Christ with Mary through meditation on the joyful, sorrowful, glorious, and luminous mysteries. St. John Paul II affirmed this in his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

"He points out that the rosary, while Marian in form, is Christocentric; it is a summary of the Gospel," Munilla noted.

"Each decade presents a mystery from the life of Jesus — joyful, luminous, sorrowful, or glorious — which is meditated upon while reciting the Hail Mary. It means letting the Gospel enter through humble repetition, contemplating the face of Christ with Mary," he explained.

3. It is accessible to everyone and fosters a familiar relationship with God.

Addressing this point, the Spanish prelate recalled how Sister Lucia, the visionary of Fátima, had explained: "If daily Mass and Communion had been required of us, many would not have been able to fulfill the obligation, because not everyone has access to a daily celebration of the Eucharist."

However, she continued, "the rosary, by contrast, fits into any state of life, at any time, and in any place." So much so that Sister Lucia considered it — after the Mass — to be "the prayer most pleasing to God and most beneficial for the soul."

4. It is a powerful prayer of intercession.

Praying the rosary "is a weapon called for to secure peace and for spiritual combat," the bishop added. "Leo XIII dedicated a dozen papal documents to it and proposed it as a remedy for society's great evils. John Paul II linked it again to peace," he added.

5. Repetition brings inner order.

Fifth, Munilla proposed that praying the rosary "helps us guard our hearts. It sustains faith, hope, and charity. It helps us preserve these three theological virtues and avoid being consumed by the spirit of this world."

"Repetition brings order to the inner self," the Spanish prelate continued, emphasizing that "meditation on the mysteries turns one's gaze back to what endures, and Mary's intercession sustains what one cannot uphold alone."

As St. John Bosco would say, Munilla concluded, "the rosary is as necessary for the health of the soul as bread is for the body."

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

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Bishop Christopher Saunders, who led the Diocese of Broome in Australia for more than two decades, was sentenced Wednesday to six years and six months in prison for sexually abusing two young aboriginal men.

Judge Martin Flynn of the District Court of Western Australia set a non-parole period of four years and six months, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Saunders had been in custody since his August conviction.

The jury convicted Saunders of 13 offenses: one count of sexual penetration without consent and 12 counts of unlawful and indecent assault. The offenses involved two men. He was not convicted on charges involving a third man. Saunders, 76, pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations.

Flynn noted a statement from one of the victims saying Saunders had violated their autonomy over their body, ABC News reported.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, said the sentence and the judge's remarks recognized the gravity of the offenses and their profound impact on the victims and survivors.

"We are sorry for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on you," Costelloe said in a statement. "We are sorry that your trust was so directly and profoundly betrayed by a leader of the Church."

Bishop Tim Norton of Broome apologized to the victims and survivors and acknowledged that the sentence could not repair the harm caused. He said the diocese would consult local people about rituals and processes to address anger, loss, confusion, and grief across the diocese.

Saunders stepped aside from governing the Broome Diocese in 2020. Pope Francis accepted his resignation in August 2021.

As EWTN News previously reported, Western Australia Police investigated allegations against Saunders in 2018 but did not initially bring charges.

The Vatican ordered an investigation under Vos Estis Lux Mundi in 2022. It provided the report to civil authorities in 2023, and police reopened their investigation. Police arrested Saunders in February 2024.

After the August verdict, Costelloe said the Church's own investigation could resume and that Rome would determine Saunders' position in the Church.

The Australian bishops renewed their commitment Wednesday to healing, reconciliation, safeguarding, accountability, and transparency throughout the Church.

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A federal judge this month rejected a request from the Diocese of Oakland, California, to resolve its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, arguing that the diocese had not satisfied statutory requirements to do so while dismissing claims that the diocese should be granted a special religious dispensation.

The diocese had proposed a plan earlier in the year to pay more than $200 million into an abuse victims' fund. A committee of survivors countered with a proposed payout of more than $300 million, which the diocese itself subsequently opposed.

Judge William Lafferty said in an Oct. 2 decision that the diocese had failed to demonstrate that it was undergoing a "substantial burden" on its religious rights in being required to adhere to federal bankruptcy proceedings.

The judge dismissed as "incorrect and impossible" a scenario suggested by the diocese that would result in what Lafferty described as an "apocalyptic forced sale of all churches in the Oakland Diocese" under the federal bankruptcy court.

Such a scheme, Lafferty said, "can never be compelled in the bankruptcy system."

Lafferty also expressed concern that the diocese's "liquidation analyses" are "structured in a manner that tilts the playing field" in favor of the diocese itself.

The federal judge admitted that the ruling was "not a happy result" for anyone involved in the trial, including for abuse victims, who he said have been "deeply … immersed" in the trial since 2023.

The diocese, meanwhile, "has prosecuted this case honorably and with great integrity," he said.

The judge urged the diocese and abuse victims to operate with "continuing dialogue and relentless good faith."

"There is no guarantee of success in such endeavors, but also no reason not to begin again," he said.

In a statement after the ruling, Oakland Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, described the decision as "a setback," but he said the diocese remains "committed to providing fair and equitable treatment" for abuse victims while "continuing our mission to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in service to the 500,000 faithful Catholics in our community."

The diocese would "study the court's decision," Barber said, before deciding how to move forward.

The diocese was in the news earlier this year after a California man was awarded a massive $16 million in a civil abuse suit there.

The ruling — rare for U.S. diocesan abuse cases, where most settlements involve groups of abuse victims rather than individual plaintiffs — represented the first jury verdict reached under the 2019 California Child Victims Act, which opened up a three-year look-back window for abuse victims to bring civil suits.

The allegations brought by the John Doe in the Oakland case concerned Father Stephen Kiesle, a priest who has faced multiple abuse allegations dating from the 1970s. The victim said Kiesle abused him during that decade.

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Catholic bishops and other Christian leaders in Colorado issued a letter on immigrants and refugees in observance of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini's feast day during the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. 

"This anniversary invites us to remember not only the founding of our nation but also the generations who have helped bring its ideals to life," the letter, released on Oct. 5, Cabrini's feast day, said, highlighting that "America's immigrant heritage is an essential part of, and inseparable from, our national identity."

Cabrini is the patron saint of immigrants and is the first American to be canonized.

The message, titled "A Pilgrim People, A Shared Hope," is signed by Archbishop James Golka and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of Denver, Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo, and Father Kyle Ingels, the diocesan administrator of Colorado Springs, as well as several other Christian leaders across denominations. The letter comes as the Trump administration's deportation efforts across the country continue to stir controversy among Catholics, including in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which filed a lawsuit Oct. 5 against local and federal officials for barring priests from ministering to Catholic immigrant detainees. 

"We remember with respect the Indigenous peoples who inhabited this land long before the nation's founding, as well as those brought here through slavery and denied the freedom our nation proclaimed," the letter said. "We also give thanks for generations of immigrants and refugees who arrived carrying their faith, cultures, hopes, and gifts."

The letter underscored the contributions of immigrants across agriculture, business, science, medicine, technology, and more. "Here in Colorado, immigrants have worked in our mines and fields, taught in our schools, opened businesses, served in our hospitals, raised families and enriched our civic and religious life," the letter said.

Addressing concerns about national sovereignty and border security, the Christian leaders affirmed "both a nation's responsibility to protect its people and maintain an orderly immigration system and its duty to treat every person with justice and mercy."

"Laws should serve the common good while respecting human dignity, protecting the vulnerable, preserving family unity and providing fair legal processes," the letter said, concluding: "On this anniversary, we invite the faithful to remember the immigrant and refugee stories that have shaped their families and communities; to pray for those displaced from their homes; to support ministries that accompany newcomers; and to build friendships across differences of language, culture and nationality."

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The rain did not stop the record-breaking number of faithful who made their way on a pilgrimage to Luján, Argentina, this past weekend. According to figures provided by the Buenos Aires Province Ministry of Security, the 52nd Youth Pilgrimage to Luján drew 2.7 million people.

The image of the Virgin set out at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, from the San Cayetano Sanctuary in the Liniers sector of Buenos Aires, carried and escorted by a delegation from the Diocese of Lomas de Zamora.

Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva, accompanied by La Plata Archbishop Gustavo Carrara, also set out from Liniers.

Reflecting on the pilgrimage's motto — "Mother, in your embrace we recognize each other as brothers and sisters" — García Cuerva observed: "To be brothers and sisters, the first step is discovering that Mary is the mother of all, and that she unites us. I believe we need to lower the intolerance and contempt we have on occasion for others; we must stop emphasizing what divides us and instead focus on what unites us."

In the rain, wearing store-bought or makeshift raincoats, the crowd began the journey of more than 37 miles separating Liniers from the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Luján, where anticipation is already building for the visit of Pope Leo XIV, who is scheduled to arrive in Argentina on Nov. 8.

Along the way, there was no shortage of prayers and songs, nor of the ever-present support stations where volunteers from parishes, movements, and organizations offered refreshments, assistance to pilgrims, and "free hugs."

By early afternoon on Saturday, the rain had passed, and the sun even came out. The first pilgrims began to arrive in Luján, which gradually filled with the faithful coming to the feet of the Mother — some walking with great difficulty, others supported by their companions, and most visibly moved.

Upon arrival in Luján at nightfall, the journey became difficult due to the sheer number of people — far greater than in previous years, according to regular pilgrims. Some reported taking over an hour just to cover the final few blocks to the basilica.

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Once in Luján, the prayers, expressions of gratitude, hugs, and tears bore witness to the faith of a people who — regardless of age, social class, or political views — had come to receive the embrace of the Virgin of Luján.

Marcos, from Our Lady of Fatima Parish, said he particularly valued the act of making the pilgrimage "not because it is mandatory, but because it allows for a deeper connection with the Virgin, with God, with oneself, and even with one's own family."

Mariana, a "free hugs" volunteer, described her role as providing that "little push" needed for the final 10.5 miles to Luján "to meet the Virgin."

"That embrace is not just for the person I give it to, but also for the one I receive; because I, too, receive so much affection and love — it is a caress for the soul."

Going on pilgrimage, she affirmed, "means following in Jesus' footsteps, going to meet Mother, just as Jesus walked with Mother. I imagine Mary teaching Jesus to walk, waiting for him in a little spot, ready to steady him so he wouldn't fall. That is how Mary is with us: waiting for us, steadying us so we can reach our destination," she reflected.

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García Cuerva celebrated the pilgrimage's main Mass early Sunday morning in Plaza Belgrano, facing the basilica.

In his homily, García Cuerva noted that "there are no ideological rifts or exclusions on the pilgrimage."

"The journey leveled the playing field for us all; as we walked, we all wore out our shoes, we all grew tired, and we all longed to reach Mary's home. What a profound lesson we learned! When we realize we are fellow travelers belonging to the same people, there is no room for individualism or hate speech," he declared.

Reflecting on the state of the nation, he also observed that "our country has many embraces yet to be shared: embraces of forgiveness in the face of so much disparagement and insult; embraces of solidarity amid such indifference; embraces of reconnection amid such lostness; deep embraces — not merely formal gestures — but embraces from the soul."

Along these lines, he also spoke of "wounds of disparagement, intolerance, and physical and verbal violence" — wounds that "are already festering, and it seems the heart of the Argentine people is becoming infected."

He therefore urged: "It is time for us to unite. If the Virgin of Luján embraces us all, it is impossible to look upon each other with contempt, for the other is my brother."

Addressing the faithful, he invited them to be "artisans of fraternity" and to bring Mary's embrace "to those at their breaking point, to the elderly, to those who think differently, to people with disabilities and their families, to the unemployed, to those sleeping on the streets, to adolescents and young people struggling with drug addiction, and to the poorest among us."

Finally, looking ahead to the upcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV, he encouraged everyone to make this pilgrimage a "school of fraternity for our country, one where "Mary teaches us to respect and forgive one another and to engage in dialogue with everyone; where we stop disparaging our brothers and sisters, stop being indifferent to those who suffer, and stop giving way to hatred among ourselves; because here in Luján, we have experienced that, within her maternal embrace, we recognize one another as brothers and sisters."

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

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Catholic investors are urging a major shipping company to account for the legal risk of carrying abortion drugs across state lines.

At FedEx's annual meeting on Sept. 28, the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, sponsored a shareholder proposal asking the company to analyze the regulatory and reputational risks of continuing to ship the abortion pill mifepristone into states where abortion is illegal.

"Given its prevalence as one of the largest shipping services in the United States, we wanted to highlight the risk that FedEx may be posing for its shareholders if the Comstock Act is enforced and it continues to ship mifepristone, one of the key drugs used in the abortion pill regimen," Bishop Michael Olson wrote in a letter to other Catholic bishops, asking them to vote for the proposal if their dioceses own shares in the company.

Olson told EWTN News he posted the letter on a bishops-only website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Citing the U.S. bishops' Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines, he called the proposal "part of the process of exercising stewardship over" the diocese's public equities and "an opportunity to further the culture of life."

The proposal asked FedEx's board to report within a year on how it oversees the legal, regulatory, and reputational risks of transporting mail-order abortion drugs. It did not ask the company to stop shipping the drug. The board opposed it. Final votes had not been tallied when the diocese spoke with EWTN News.

The issue stems from the Comstock Act and the Biden Justice Department's interpretation of it. Passed by Congress in 1873, the law criminalized using the postal system to send obscene, lewd, or indecent materials; information or devices related to contraception; and items or information intended to induce abortion.

More than 20 states restrict or prohibit abortion-inducing drugs within their borders. In December 2022, the Department of Justice under the Biden administration issued a memorandum opinion stating that the Comstock Act "does not prohibit the mailing of certain drugs that can be used to perform abortions where the sender lacks the intent that the recipient of the drugs will use them unlawfully."

The Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, stopped enforcing its in-person dispensing rule for mifepristone in April 2021 for the rest of the COVID emergency, and in December of that same year said it would permanently drop that requirement, allowing the drug to be prescribed and shipped to a patient without an office visit.

"Nevertheless, the Comstock Act is still law and could be interpreted and enforced more vigorously by this or a future Administration," Pia de Solenni, who presented the proposal on the diocese's behalf, said in a letter that accompanied Olson's.

In that letter, she told the bishops: "Your institution has a unique opportunity to leverage its ownership of FedEx to ask for a risk analysis that not only protects the value of the company but also disrupts the delivery of a drug regimen that harms women and destroys unborn human life." She called the proposal a "unique opportunity to slow down the distribution" of abortion drugs.

Olson wrote that "Sadly, since the overturning of Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision in 2022, abortion rates in the United States have increased about 20%, due largely to the government's decision to relax the rules around the distribution" of abortion drugs.

De Solenni, who has a doctorate in moral theology and is the former chancellor of the Diocese of Orange, California, is vice president of corporate engagement at IWP Capital, a for-profit firm that does screening, proxy voting, and corporate engagement for institutional investors, consultants, and asset managers.

She said the company "only does corporate engagement with a Christian understanding of human flourishing" based on the bishops' Socially Responsible Investment Guidelines, first published in 1991, revised in 2003, and updated in 2021.

She told EWTN News that she spoke only for about three minutes during the 20-minute meeting and the company responded for about three minutes.

She said the diocese's proposal was the only one to which the company responded. "It is challenging to get a proposal on a ballot in the first place," she said. And once it is there, "it is very unusual for companies to respond to shareholders. They usually let proposals die."

She called the effort a "moral victory."

"If Christian institutional investors would show up, we would be changing these companies," she said. "If we all voted our proxies, if these companies were hearing from us, they would have different leadership and would make different decisions."

De Solenni said in a separate engagement with Costco, over whether its stores would carry the abortion pill, the first reason the company gave for not carrying it was that "they were unsure about the Comstock Act."

"Our long-term strategy," Olson said, is "responsible stockholding, keeping our investments clean and in line with the Gospel and the integrity of the Church's teaching."

He said that Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, was supportive of the proposal, which Olson said is "part of our whole strategy as a diocese to live by Rerum Novarum," Pope Leo XIII's encyclical published in 1891.

Whatever the final tally, he said the diocese would keep "continued vigilance, and the continued exercise of the prophetic voice in these areas that are overlooked and even taken for granted." As an institutional investor, he said, the diocese is "very scrupulous about this" and tries to avoid "formal cooperation with evil, or even material cooperation with evil. We certainly check twice."

On Sept. 30, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, joined by the attorneys general of Alabama and Arkansas, filed two lawsuits over abortion pills mailed into states that restrict abortion: one at the Supreme Court against shield laws in New York, California, and Massachusetts, and another against providers accused of shipping the drugs.

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Tennessee's Catholic bishops asked the state of Tennessee this week to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment.

In a statement issued Oct. 2, the Tennessee Catholic Conference argued that life imprisonment without parole "serves justice, protects society, and respects the dignity of every human life."

"Accountability for grave wrongdoing is necessary, but it does not require the taking of another life," they wrote. "An execution cannot restore the life taken, and the uncertainty, prolonged proceedings, and suffering surrounding the death penalty can deepen the anguish of everyone involved, including victims' families, prisoners' families, and those charged with carrying out executions."

The bishops' letter comes after the state's recent failed attempt to execute the first woman in over 200 years, 50-year-old Christa Pike.

After two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill Pike on Sept. 30, the execution was halted. She remains on a ventilator in critical condition.

The botched execution was the second for Tennessee this year and led to the resignation of Frank Strada, the commissioner of the Department of Corrections. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee placed a moratorium on executions for the rest of 2026.

In 1995, Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, tortured and then murdered Colleen Slemmer, Pike crushing her skull with a piece of asphalt. Sentenced to death in 1996 at the age of 20, Pike later attempted to strangle a fellow prisoner, Patricia Jones, in 2001. Pike, convicted of attempted murder, also tried to escape in 2012, according to ABC News.

"The fundamental moral question," the bishops wrote, "is whether the State should continue to take lives when it has another means of protecting the public and imposing a serious, lasting punishment. Life without parole provides that alternative. It holds those convicted of the gravest crimes accountable and protects society while preserving the possibility of repentance."

They wrote that "even those who commit terrible crimes retain their human dignity," reflecting the Church's revised stance on capital punishment.

Church teaching has changed on the death penalty

Paragraph 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, revised in 2018, states that the death penalty is no longer admissible because "the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes" and states should administer punishments that "do not definitively deprive the guilty of the possibility of redemption."

According to the catechism, "recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding the common good."

However, Pope Francis argued in his "Address to Participants in the Meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization" in 2017 that the "death penalty is an inhumane measure that, regardless of how it is carried out, abases human dignity."

The catechism now states that "more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens," and urges the Church to work for the abolition of the death penalty.

Trump approves military execution by firing squad

President Donald Trump meanwhile approved an execution by a military firing squad. 

On Oct. 5, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell reported on X that Trump approved the execution by military firing squad of "convicted terrorist" and "jihadist" Nidal Malik Hasan, the former U.S. Army major who shouted "Allahu Akbar" while murdering 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood, an army base in Texas, on Nov. 5, 2009.

Following a court martial, Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013. Parnell said the secretary of the Army will determine the date and location of the execution.

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Bishop Iyad Twal, Latin patriarchal vicar for Jordan and a member of the board of trustees of the Baptism Site Commission, recently affirmed that Jordan is "part of the Holy Land" and described 2030 — marking 2,000 years since Jesus' baptism in the Jordan — as an opportunity to strengthen the country's place on the Christian pilgrimage map.

In an interview with ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Twal said the holy sites of Jordan and Palestine are connected through a single spiritual journey and stressed that the goal is not competition among countries to attract pilgrims but rather a shared experience of faith in the Holy Land.

Twal said the Church views the Holy Land as the "geography of salvation." Its sacred sites, he explained, are not merely places to visit but spaces where the faithful can live out a spiritual experience and encounter the local Church.

He emphasized that tourism preparations, investments, and infrastructure development must not overshadow the spiritual dimension of the occasion. Development, he said, should serve the pilgrim's experience and help pilgrims live it fully rather than turn a holy site into merely a tourist destination.

Twal praised the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's response to the initiative for 2030 and its establishment of a high-level national committee chaired by the prime minister. He said cooperation among the state, the Church, the private sector, and relevant institutions could create a partnership that brings together the occasion's religious, humanitarian, and cultural dimensions.

He also explained that his relationship with the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ has evolved from the personal and spiritual experience of his episcopal consecration there in 2025 into a direct ecclesial responsibility focused on preserving the site's sacred character and serving pilgrims and visitors.

Twal described the local Church as the "living stones" of the Holy Land. He emphasized the importance of introducing pilgrims to the lives of its Christians through their families, young people, schools, and social and ecclesial institutions, enabling visitors to discover their experience of faith and their presence in society.

He said the occasion could also create new opportunities for development, particularly for young people, by advancing the hospitality, services, and religious tourism sectors and making use of technology. Such efforts, he noted, could generate employment and support local communities.

Twal called for reconnecting the region's holy sites within a single pilgrimage route. When circumstances permit, he said, pilgrims could travel through Egypt, Jordan, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Nazareth, allowing them to experience the "full journey."

He stressed that the "success of 2030" should not be measured solely by its celebrations but by what remains afterward in the life of the Church, pilgrimage, and the local community. He added that the occasion could mark the beginning of a journey extending to 2033 and the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Twal summarized the message he hopes pilgrims will carry home with the words: "Renew your baptismal promises." He called for each visit to be accompanied by a renewal of faith, an encounter with the local Church, and a deeper understanding of the experience of Arab Christians in the Holy Land.

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

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About 500 people gathered to pray in Corsica, a Mediterranean French island, on Oct. 1 after a statue of the Virgin Mary was torn from its pedestal and damaged during an obscene incident allegedly filmed and shared on social media.

The statue was found on the ground beneath a stone arch at a traffic circle near the southern entrance to the town of Porto-Vecchio. The statue belonged to the local parish, which filed a complaint along with the city, ICI RCFM reported.

Two seasonal hospitality workers, ages 21 and 24, were detained later that morning. According to a statement from the Ajaccio prosecutor's office reported by Corsican radio station Alta Frequenza, video footage showed one man hanging from the statue, miming a sexual act, and making lewd remarks while the other filmed.

The men are being prosecuted for jointly committing aggravated damage to the statue, to the detriment of the parish and the municipality, and for indecent exposure, Le Figaro reported. They remain presumed innocent and are due to appear before the Ajaccio Criminal Court on Nov. 16.

A court placed them under judicial supervision, ordered them not to return to Corsica, and required them to report regularly to police in their home departments. After an initial attempt to leave was disrupted, both men departed the island by air on Oct. 4, France 3 reported.

Prayer follows anger

Earlier on Oct. 1, more than 100 people gathered outside the gendarmerie following an appeal on social media. At 5:30 p.m., the parish called the community to pray at the traffic circle, drawing elected officials, families, young people, and firefighters in uniform, according to ICI RCFM.

Father Thibault Lambert, pastor of the Porto-Vecchio parish, said his anger and sadness had given way to "joy mixed with pride" at seeing residents united in their attachment to the Virgin Mary, the Church, and their heritage.

The Catholic Church in Corsica expressed support for the parish and said: "We pray for the conversion of those who damaged the image of Mary." It urged the community to recover "a path of serenity and peace" through the rosary on the first day of the month traditionally dedicated to the devotion, according to a diocesan statement.

Porto-Vecchio Mayor Jean-Christophe Angelini condemned what he called an "unspeakable act" and pledged to replace the statue as soon as possible, France 3 reported.

The Corsican Assembly unanimously adopted a motion condemning the "profanation and destruction" of the statue and expressing support for the parish, Porto-Vecchio residents, and the Catholic community.

Assembly President Marie-Antoinette Maupertuis said the attack had offended part of Corsica's common heritage and collective identity. In remarks to the Corsican Assembly, she also appealed for restraint, saying respect for what others hold sacred must be matched by responsibility and measure.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated, adapted, and updated by EWTN News English.

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