Catholic News

The Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has published a study analyzing the mental health crisis in Europe from an ethical, social, and Christian perspective, and proposed recommendations for EU public policies.

The document, titled "Mental Health in Europe — A Call for Care," states that Europe is facing a growing mental health crisis with increases in depression and anxiety being causes by various factors, such as loneliness, trauma, suicide, job insecurity, aging, digitalization, and forced migration.

The study notes that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the crisis while it simultaneously exposed the weaknesses of the European mental health care system.

The document, which advocates for a "comprehensive" vision of mental health that also encompasses social, relational, and spiritual dimensions, was prepared by the COMECE ethics committee.

Loneliness: One of the greatest risks to mental health

Friederike Ladenburger is a jurist, adviser on ethics, research, and health, and secretary of the commission. In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, she emphasized the need to address mental health from a "multidimensional" perspective that takes into account not only biological and psychological needs but also "spiritual support."

She also noted that the document stems from a concern regarding "current, urgent, and pressing" issues such as loneliness, one of the greatest risks to mental health today, which "has evolved into one of the major crises of our time."

Ladenburger clarified that loneliness is defined as "the absence of social contact and the perceived discrepancy between a person's desires and their actual social network," emphasizing that the problem is not solely quantitative. "It is not just about the size of your network, but also the quality of your network," she stated, underscoring the importance of having "meaningful, authentic, and lasting human connections."

The document states that mental well-being depends not only on clinical treatments but also on strong human relationships, social integration, a sense of belonging, and respect for the dignity of every individual.

She noted that the report rests on three fundamental pillars drawn from Christian anthropology: that "the human person is created in the image of God," that this dignity encompasses "both body and soul," and that human beings possess an essential relational and spiritual dimension.

"One of the most important points of our report is the communal aspect of the human person," she said, indicating that the Church can help address social isolation with community events.

Strengthening families

The COMECE study also emphasizes the need for the European Union to promote policies that strengthen families as a fundamental place where care takes place.

The report identifies the family as "the basic cell of society" and, in this vein, warned that Europe is undergoing "an urgent and dramatic demographic change."

Consequently, Ladenburger called for greater financial support for young families: "They need financial support, financial relief, and the opportunity to start a family" as well as "jobs and decent housing."

Technology must not replace human contact

Ladenburger expressed concern regarding the impact of artificial intelligence, particularly among young people, underscoring the need for European regulation to protect individuals from technological abuse, digital addiction, and online harassment.

She warned that the use of digital tools must be "supplementary, not substitutive," acknowledging that digital technologies can improve access to psychological care but emphasizing that technology should complement, rather than replace, human contact.

She said that "the priority is the human being," whose core capacity remains "to express empathy and feel with others."

Spiritual accompaniment

In addition, COMECE called for European policies that include spiritual accompaniment in hospitals and in other vulnerable settings, including reproductive health, palliative and end-of-life care, and migration.

Regarding surrogacy, she explained that the report outlines the psychological risks for both the pregnant mother and the child. Likewise, concerning palliative care, it advocates for comprehensive care that is not limited to the clinical aspect. "Every human being must be treated with dignity, especially those who are suffering," Ladenburger pointed out.

Emphasizing the importance of hospital chaplaincies and of every individual's right to practice his or her religion, especially in situations of suffering or displacement, the bishops' commission noted that effective support would not only be "medical or clinical ... it also entails spiritual support."

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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Pilgrims from all over the world descended on the Fátima Shrine in Portugal to commemorate the feast of Our Lady of Fátima.

On the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Fátima, May 12, the light of thousands of candles illuminated the night at the spot where Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children 109 years ago.

The faithful filled the shrine, gathering to participate in the recitation of the rosary and the traditional candlelight procession.

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'We come as pilgrims and depart as missionary disciples'

Rui Manuel Sousa Valério, patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal, celebrated the Mass on May 13. In his homily, the prelate emphasized that the pilgrimage "does not end here" but rather Fátima is "a point for sending forth."

This celebration commemorates the first of the six apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima to the three shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos, 10, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, 9 and 7, in 1917.

The pilgrimage on May 13 is the most attended, welcoming more than 450,000 pilgrims last year. They gather at Cova da Iria, a neighborhood that was once the field where the three shepherd children pastured their family's sheep and where the Virgin Mary appeared.

The Catholic Church officially recognized the apparitions as worthy of belief in 1930.

"We come as pilgrims and depart as missionary disciples; everything we experience here — prayer, silence, reconciliation, and communion — cannot remain confined within the Cova da Iria," the prelate noted.

He invited the faithful to let the experience of Fátima "enter into our hearts" as well as into all areas of life — our homes, families, workplaces, and schools — and also "into the wounds and joys of daily life."

Sousa emphasized that the message of Fátima is truly embraced "when it transforms into a mission, and what we receive becomes a light for others."

He further recalled that in her apparitions, the Virgin called for conversion and for the responsibility of love: "True devotion to Mary never closes the heart. It opens it; it never isolates, it sends forth; it never sleeps, it awakens."

The Virgin Mary asked the children to pray the rosary every day for the conversion of sinners and to obtain peace for the world, especially an end to the ongoing First World War. She also invited them to make personal sacrifices and offer their sufferings on behalf of sinners.

She promised to return on the 13th day of each month for the next six months and confided that she had secrets to reveal concerning the fate of the world.

To prove that the apparitions were true, Mary promised the children that during the last of her six appearances, she would provide a sign so people would believe in the apparitions and in her message. What happened on that day — Oct. 13, 1917 — has come to be known as the "Miracle of the Sun," or "the day the sun danced."

May 13, 2026, also marks the 45th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. For this reason, the Mass in Fátima was celebrated using the chalice that the Polish pontiff donated during one of his visits to the site.

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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Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, said he is introducing legislation to ensure hospitals and freestanding birth centers provide clear information about the rights that grieving parents have regarding the cremation or burial of their miscarried or stillborn child.

Marshall, who practiced as an obstetrician-gynecologist for more than 25 years, said he is naming the bill the "Bereaved Parents Rights Act." Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Florida, who personally suffered an ectopic pregnancy, said she is sponsoring a companion version in the House.

Laws on the handling of fetal remains following a miscarriage or stillbirth vary state to state, and many states have no clear legal requirements regarding the disposition of remains, leaving hospitals to rely on internal policies and procedures, according to Marshall.

Students for Life Action backs the measure and is leading lobbying on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to back it, said Kristan Hawkins, the organization's president.

The legislation would amend Title XVIII of the Social Security Act "to say that the hospital that she is birthing her child into, whether the child's born stillborn or miscarried … has to notify the parents no less than six hours after the event or before discharge" and "how she can get her baby's body to the funeral home to have a funeral if she would like to," Hawkins said.

A standardized form from the secretary of Health and Human Services would ensure a parent has the right to cremate the child after miscarriage or stillbirth, and it would apply in every state, Hawkins said.

The legislation "is a no-brainer," Cammack said. "This is very simple in my mind. Any parent who has lost a child needs the space, opportunity, and resources to properly grieve that child."

To "provide a burial for your child to recover the remains of your child" is "not a partisan issue," she said. "I believe that is a human issue and something that, if we are serious about honoring life and protecting people, we really do champion and pass this legislation to give closure to so many families around the country."

Bill sponsors said they have been trying to find a Democratic cosponsor for the bill without success.

"There's a culture around the issue that doesn't allow people to get to the facts. And while you are entitled, certainly, to your own opinion, you are not entitled to your own facts," Cammack said.

"And the fact is that these are children, these are human beings that have heartbeats, and they deserve the same dignity that a child who was born and has been lost deserves," she said.

"It should be something very simple that every woman, regardless of where you are in the country, what hospital you find yourself in, is given the exact same rights as a woman who is in a state that values and protects life," she said.

Personal testimonies

"I see tremendous value in women coming together and reaching across the aisle saying, 'We've all experienced loss in some form or fashion, whether yourself personally or you know someone who has,'" Cammack said.

A briefing by Students for Life Action on May 13 included numerous personal testimonials from women who have been affected by miscarriage and stillbirth who are urging lawmakers to advance the bill.

Sarah Wirtz said: "I could not go to the hospital. I actually waited three days to go to the hospital because I just was trying to research … if I was going to be allowed to have my son," she said. "He had passed away, but I still had him inside of me."

"I knew within at least the medical system, after 20 weeks I was afforded more protection" and "I was absolutely terrified what this meant legally for my baby," she said.

Wirtz said she was asking: "Would I be given my baby? When I went in to give birth, would they take him from me?"

Wirtz said she risked her own health to spend time finding resources to ensure she was able to keep her son's body. Once she found Heaven's Gain Ministries, a Catholic organization that helps families with pregnancy loss, she was told "You're very blessed to be in Ohio," because state law ensured she had the right to her baby.

"So I went to the hospital, I gave birth to my son Noah, and I was able to bury him," she said. "But I was also told at the time, if [I] had been in California … I wouldn't be afforded the same rights under the law."

"He would have been deemed as his gestational size, which is under 20 weeks, and I wouldn't have been guaranteed right to disposition and ... what happened to his body," she said.

Language of miscarriage

Hawkins also noted the importance of the language when discussing abortion and miscarriage, and ensuring women know the difference and understand the procedures.

"Something we saw in the fall of the Dobbs … was Planned Parenthood intentionally started changing the language around abortion, direct intentional abortion, and they started using the phrase 'induced miscarriage,'" she said.

"That's largely because of the invention and the shifting of the abortion industry to the chemical abortion pill, where we know at least 70% of these abortions, that are still killing about a million children a year, are being committed using these pills," she said.

"The way they're framing these abortions to many young confused women, very scared women, is you're just going to 'induce a miscarriage. It's going to be just like a miscarriage,'" she said.

"We know those are two very different things. And I think apart from the evil of Planned Parenthood killing children and harming women … this is the third greatest evil they've ever committed, which is trying to use the pain and the tragedy of a miscarriage to then justify and try to change the hearts of millions of Americans on their issue, which is the intentional destruction of a human being," Hawkins said.

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Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas called pro-life organizations to offer reassurance about his commitment to life after some people in the movement raised concerns.

"Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas is personally committed to delivering on President Trump's pro-life and pro-family agenda at the FDA," Andrew Nixon, deputy assistant secretary for media relations at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told EWTN News.

"Both he and other administration officials will continue regularly interacting with stakeholders in this community to inform FDA decision-making," he said.

Diamantas is serving as acting commissioner after the May 12 resignation of Commissioner Marty Makary, who faced criticism from within the pro-life movement for failure to impose stricter regulations on the  abortion drug mifepristone.

Some pro-life leaders celebrated Makary's departure but grew concerned about Diamantas because court records show him serving as legal counsel for a Planned Parenthood affiliate while working at the Baker Donelson law firm. The case was related to a property dispute.

Alex Bruesewitz, an adviser to President Donald Trump, dismissed the concern in a post on X, saying he was a junior associate assigned to the case but removed himself because of his pro-life beliefs.

Within the past two days, Diamantas has reached out to some pro-life advocates, including March for Life President Jennie Bradley Lichter. A spokesperson for Live Action confirmed he had scheduled a conversation with Live Action President Lila Rose as well.

"Within a few hours of being handed this big new job, he was getting on the phone with pro-life leaders and that in itself, I think, is a really encouraging sign of where his priorities are going to be," Lichter told "EWTN Pro-Life Weekly" host Abigail Galván.

Lichter said she spoke with Diamantas about her concerns with mifepristone, specifically about "the lack of safety, the lack of guardrails, [and] its easy availability."

Under Makary, the FDA launched a study to review the 2023 deregulation of mifepristone, but so far no action has been taken to increase restrictions. Rather, in that same month, the FDA approved a generic version of the drug.

Based on her conversation, Lichter said, "I think we're going to see real movement" on that study and "I think that the cause of life is going to have, you know, a real champion at the FDA" under Diamantas' leadership.

"I feel really comfortable that he is bringing in strong pro-life commitments and a commitment to transparency and to moving with all deliberate speed to take a close look at mifepristone and then take decisive action based on what that study shows," she said.

Mark Harrington, president of Created Equal, told EWTN News he had not received a call from Diamantas and expressed hesitations about his leadership of the FDA, saying his efforts "could just be viewed as nothing more than damage control."

"Talk is cheap," he said. "But personnel is policy, and the fact that Diamantas [reportedly] represented Planned Parenthood makes me skeptical that he will advocate for the full mifepristone safety study. We will trust but verify. Action needs to be taken now on the abortion drug."

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The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See has publicly rejected online claims that the Vatican granted Iran a unique or politically motivated diplomatic award, calling the allegation inaccurate and misleading.

"Contrary to news reports, Pope Leo has not bestowed an exclusive special honor on the Iranian ambassador to the Holy See," the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See said in a May 13 social media post. "This decoration is given to all accredited ambassadors to the Holy See after 2+ years of service and has been standard practice for many years."

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The post comes after Iranian state media outlets reported that the Vatican honored Iran's ambassador, Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, with an award for "strengthening diplomatic ties and serving the cause of peace and dialogue."

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Pope Leo XIV awarded the "Vatican's highest diplomatic honor to Iran's ambassador" for his "efforts to promote peace, dialogue, and bilateral relations."

The report further claimed that "officials praised the Iranian embassy's activities in advancing peaceful coexistence, wisdom, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue," and that in the official decree, Leo "expressed appreciation for Ambassador Mokhtari's services in strengthening ties with the Holy See." The Holy See has had diplomatic relations with Iran since May 1953.

The U.S. Embassy explained that the award given to Mokhtari "is a personal recognition and does not imply support or opposition to any policy or country."

"Thirteen ambassadors were recently given this recognition. Previous U.S. ambassadors have all received the same," the post noted. "Finally, the decoration was not given in person by the pope."

Vatican News reported that Mokhtari was among 13 ambassadors to receive the recognition for completing two years of service. The ceremony was presided over by Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, substitute for general affairs at the Secretariat of State, who presented insignia and official parchments to the diplomats.

The Holy See Press Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles, a Catholic, described the incident as "a reminder about the ubiquity and power of propaganda, especially when we're talking about the Iran war."

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"It's all propaganda," Knowles said. "The Iranians are clearly making hay out of this rote procedure that the Vatican presented."

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As a seminarian, Cristhian David Mendieta Hernández had to flee Nicaragua, persecuted by the very dictatorship that had recently exiled his bishop.

The regime of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, ramped up its persecution of the Catholic Church in 2018.

After the dictatorship exiled Silvio Báez, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, from Nicaragua in April 2019, Mendieta, who as a seminarian often accompanied the bishop, was forced to flee the country as well, traveling first to Guatemala and then to Costa Rica.

His journey concluded in Miami in January 2022, where, with the assistance of Báez and Father Marco Somarriba, pastor of St. Agatha Parish in Miami, he was able to continue his priestly formation.

On May 9 at St. Mary's Cathedral, he knelt before Archbishop Thomas Wenski and received the priestly ordination that the Nicaraguan dictatorship had attempted to deny him.

"I carry my people and my homeland in my heart, and I will offer my first Mass for them," the newly ordained Nicaraguan priest, who will serve as parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle in Miami, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on May 10.

"This priesthood is a blessing for me, for my family, for the Church, and for the people of Nicaragua," added Mendieta, who was born in La Concepción township in the Masaya district of Nicaragua.

He celebrated his first Mass on May 10 at St. Agatha, accompanied by Báez and other Nicaraguan priests who attended the ordination.

"I am grateful to the Archdiocese of Miami for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to serve the people of God. Here we have a broader perspective that our ministry is for all of God's people and that our people, especially those from Latin America, share the same aspirations for freedom, peace, and stability," he emphasized.

Father Edwing Román, parochial vicar at St. Agatha, told ACI Prensa that "it's a source of great joy to have Father Cristhian as another brother in the priesthood. He is a young man of many virtues and a dedicated scholar."

"I admire his piety and humility as well as his ease in forming friendships with the faithful. May God bless him abundantly, and may he be a shepherd modeled after Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest," Román said.

In a video posted by the Archdiocese of Miami on May 6, Mendieta recalled that when he was 6 years old and attending a concert, he announced that he was thinking of becoming a priest, which surprised his family.

Years later, while involved in his parish's youth ministry, the example of his hardworking parish priest, Father José Antonio, who strove to reach every community, no matter how remote, encouraged him to pursue his vocation and change his plans to become a doctor.

The young priest also shared that he enjoys classical music and Frank Sinatra, and that when he is driving, he entertains himself by listening to the British band Queen.

Along with Mendieta, the following men were ordained: Adam Cahill, Henry Cárdenas Afanador, Tomasz Kaziel, Arístides Lima, Carlos Luzardo, Saint-Clos Papouloute, Pietro Pironato, and Michele Sega.

In his homily, Wenski highlighted the diverse origins of the new priests — Nicaragua, Italy, Poland, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, etc. — and noted that "in an increasingly secularized world, where many have lost the sense of the transcendent, the priest is an enigma, a symbol of great contradiction."

"Nowadays, many view religious faith with hostility or at best, with indifference. In such a world, the Church will always appear out of step and irrelevant. Often, such a Church will be viewed if not with contempt and mockery, with total incomprehension. As Jesus said: 'If the world hates you, know that it hated me first,'" the archbishop said.

"Face the challenges of your ministry without anxiety or mediocrity, and do not allow yourselves to be intimidated or influenced by those who make power, wealth, or pleasure the primary criteria of their lives," he exhorted.

After encouraging the new priests to lay down their lives for their faithful, Wenski urged them to be "generous with their time and available to hear the confessions of the faithful."

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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The Vatican's doctrine chief warned Wednesday that the plan of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to consecrate new bishops without papal mandate will represent a schismatic act resulting in excommunication.

"This act will constitute 'a schismatic act,' and 'formal adherence to schism constitutes a grave offense against God and entails the excommunication established by the law of the Church,'" said Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The cardinal's brief statement quoted from St. John Paul II's letter Ecclesia Dei, which the late pope wrote shortly after the society's unlawful ordination of four bishops conferred by SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in June 1988.

Fernández went on to say that the Holy Father "continues in his prayers to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten the leaders of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X so that they may reconsider the very grave decision they have made."

Under canon law, a bishop who consecrates another bishop without a papal mandate and the person who receives that consecration incur automatic excommunication.

The SSPX has declared it intends to proceed with illicit episcopal consecrations at its international seminary in Écône, Switzerland, on July 1, in defiance of the Vatican's warnings of schism.

The decision to proceed with the consecrations without papal approval was confirmed in a Feb. 18 letter penned by SSPX superior general Father Davide Pagliarani a week after his Feb. 12 meeting with Fernández, during which the Vatican proposed a structured theological dialogue in order to avoid ecclesial rupture.

The SSPX, which exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass, maintains doctrinal differences with certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly with regard to religious freedom and the Church's approach to other faiths.

Cardinals Gerhard Müller and Robert Sarah, prominent supporters of the Traditional Latin Mass, have spoken out against the SSPX's decision to defy the Vatican. Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired archbishop of Hong Kong, has also urged the traditionalist group to avoid schism "at all costs."

The proposed July 1 date for the episcopal consecrations coincides with the anniversary of the 1988 excommunication of SSPX founder Lefebvre for consecrating four bishops without the permission of Rome.

The Society of St. Pius X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EWTN News.

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Costa Rica's new president, Laura Virginia Fernández Delgado, began her administration on May 8 by laying down her presidential sash before an image of Our Lady of the Angels, the country's patroness.

The office of the president shared the event on social media on May 9 after the head of state and her staff attended a Mass celebrated by Bishop Javier Román  of Limón, president of the Costa Rican Bishops' Conference.

During his homily, the prelate said the gesture of beginning one's administration with a Mass serves as a reminder that "there are decisions and burdens that cannot be sustained solely by our own strength," emphasizing the need to turn to God in our daily lives.

He invited Fernández to draw inspiration when exercising power from the example of St. Thomas More, who did so "with rectitude and consistency," noting that authority attains its "greatest grandeur when exercised considering others."

Peace for Costa Rica and its leaders

Román offered a prayer asking for "strength" for those assuming public responsibilities, noting that behind every office, "there remains a person, a heart that needs serenity and peace so as not to harden amid so many pressures."

He invited the new officials to seek that peace in God, who, he assured, "walks with us even amid trials," affirming that the Costa Rican people also share this need, given the current social context of violence and uncertainty.

"Families battered by violence need that peace. Our youth, often tempted by misguided paths or by discouragement, need it. Our communities, scarred by insecurity, drug trafficking, and murders, need it," he stated.

In light of this situation, Román invoked the Holy Spirit to grant the new officials "wisdom in making decisions, prudence to listen, and clarity to act, always with the well-being of our people in mind."

'A call to live out one's faith publicly'

Román said this is a time when "faith is hidden or is lived out solely in private," noting that faith in public life "can become a guide for acting with rectitude, honesty, and with a sense of morality."

He added that when a person recognizes the existence of a truth greater than oneself, he or she "also understands that power has limits and that all authority must be exercised with ethics, conscience, and respect for life."

Women in power

During the ceremony, Román also highlighted the fact that, for the second time in Costa Rican history, a woman has assumed the leadership of the country.

He said that women possess a special capacity to "safeguard life, to sustain it even amid difficulties, and to remind us that behind every decision, there are always real people, families, and genuine suffering."

The bishop affirmed that the country needs "firmness, yes; but also humanity," as well as leaders capable of "listening to that cry and seeking ways to relieve those who feel that the doors are beginning to close."

Román issued a call for national unity and said that "the challenges facing us are too great to deal with while we are divided," inviting his listeners to "walk together and build the future of our nation with confidence."

"As a Church, we wish to say to you with sincerity, Madam President: We pray for you. Not only during this celebration. Every Sunday, the Church lifts up its prayers for those who bear the responsibility of leading the peoples," he said.

The bishop then entrusted the present and future of the country to the protection of Our Lady of the Angels, asking that she "accompany every step of this new government, protect our people, and help us to live as brothers and sisters. And may the Lord grant us the grace to walk together, in truth, justice, and hope."

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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In an unexpected gesture as he was greeting people at the general audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV stopped at the exact spot where, 45 years ago, St. John Paul II was shot in an assassination attempt.

Leo got out of the vehicle and remained in silence to pray before the white marble plaque marking the place where the Polish pope was struck by four gunshots fired by the Turkish gunman Ali Agca on May 13, 1981. Leo then knelt and touched the plaque before continuing his ride around the square.

The attack on John Paul II coincided with the anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal.

Days after the attempt on his life, while still recovering, John Paul II read the third part of the secret of Fátima, until then known only to the popes and later made public. Written by one of the seers, Sister Lucia, it describes the vision of the Holy Father "afflicted with pain and sorrow," praying "for the souls of the corpses he met on his way."

Pope John Paul II never ceased to express his gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving his life. "One hand fired; another guided the bullet," he said in an interview with the French writer André Frossard. After being discharged from the hospital and resuming general audiences in St. Peter's Square following five months of hospitalization, he also said he had experienced "the extraordinary maternal protection which proved stronger than the deadly projectile."

In 1982, St. John Paul II celebrated Mass in Fátima and consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On May 13, 2000, he beatified the shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta at the Portuguese shrine.

'Mary, model of the Church'

Today, Leo XIV wanted to underscore that the attempt on John Paul II's life was not fatal "thanks to the protection of Our Lady, as he himself confirmed in many ways."

For this reason, he explained, he dedicated his May 13 catechesis to "the Virgin Mary, model of the Church" and to his predecessor, whose motto was "Totus Tuus."

The pope thus continued his cycle of catechesis on the Second Vatican Council, pausing on the final chapter of the dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Leo said Mary "is hailed as a preeminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent example in faith and charity."

"Mary is the perfect model of what the whole Church is called to be: a creature of the Word of the Lord and mother of the children of God, begotten in docility to the action of the Holy Spirit," the Holy Father said. "Furthermore, as she is the believer par excellence, in whom we are offered the perfect form of unconditional openness to the divine mystery within the communion of God's holy people, Mary is an excellent member of the ecclesial community."

He also explained that the Virgin Mary is the "woman who is the icon of the Mystery," who was granted the grace to live "the extraordinary experience of becoming the mother of the Messiah."

"In her, both God's gratuitous election and her free consent of faith in him shine forth. Mary is therefore the woman who is the icon of the Mystery, that is, of the divine plan of salvation, once hidden and now revealed in its fullness in Jesus Christ," he said.

In the Virgin Mary, he continued, there is also reflected "the mystery of the Church: in her, the people of God find the representation of their origin, their model, and their homeland."

Model of maternal charity

In the mother of the Lord, the Church contemplates its own mystery, "not only because she finds in her the model of virginal faith, maternal charity, and the spousal covenant to which she is called but also and above all because in her she recognizes her own archetype, the ideal figure of what she is called to be," Leo said.

The reflections contained in Lumen Gentium, he concluded, teach us to love the Church and to serve within her the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, which is coming and which will be fully realized in glory.

He invited the faithful to allow themselves to be challenged by the example of Mary, virgin and mother, with concrete questions: "Do I live my participation of the Church with humble and active faith? Do I recognize in her the community of the covenant that God has given me to respond to his infinite love? Do I feel that I am a living part of the Church, in obedience to the pastors given by God? Do I look to Mary as a model, an outstanding member and mother of the Church, and ask her to help me be a faithful disciple of her son?"

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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LAHORE, Pakistan — A minority rights advocacy group has linked the recent deaths of sanitation workers in Pakistan to what it describes as systemic discrimination against Christians, who are disproportionately employed in high-risk sewer cleaning jobs.

In a statement issued on May 12, Minority Concern said Christian sanitation workers continue to face unsafe working conditions, inadequate protective equipment, and limited employment opportunities beyond sanitation work due to entrenched discrimination.

On May 7, Shabbir Masih, a 33-year-old father of three, died after inhaling toxic gases inside a 25-foot-deep sewer line in Faisalabad. Three days earlier, Shakeel Masih and Samar Masih died while cleaning a sewer line in Sahiwal district.

In April, three Christian sanitation workers also died in similar incidents in Karachi in the southern province of Sindh.

"Sanitary workers are indispensable members of society. No individual should risk their life simply for carrying out essential public service work," said Aftab Alexander Mughal, director of Minority Concern.

"Protecting the rights and safety of Christian sanitary workers is not only a labor issue — it is a matter of human dignity, equality, and justice."

Christians make up about 1.37% of Pakistan's population and have long complained of being pushed into low-paid sanitation work historically associated with marginalized castes in South Asia.

'The death toll is higher than reported'

Speaking from Lahore, 49-year-old Catholic sanitation worker Shafiq Masih rejected official claims that proper personal protective equipment (PPE) is provided to workers.

"Each of the Water and Sanitation Authority field office responsible for sewer maintenance reportedly has only one PPE suit, shown only to visiting officials or media," he told EWTN News.

"Even that imported suit from Japan is not suitable for local conditions — it is heavy and impractical. The death toll is higher than reported."

Masih, who helped form a union of nearly 2,900 sanitation workers in Lahore's Johar Town area in 2023, said little has changed in more than two decades of service.

"The Church has no concern for us," he said, adding that he received assurance of only spiritual support when he raised the issue with his parish priest.

He also said that after Christian workers refused to enter manholes without PPE, authorities began hiring daily wage laborers to perform the same tasks.

Court rulings and government response

Rights groups such as Minority Concern have urged Pakistan's federal and provincial governments, municipal authorities, and employers to end discriminatory hiring practices that channel minorities into hazardous work.

In December 2025, the Islamabad High Court barred the use of the phrase "Christians only" in sanitation job advertisements and called for urgent safety reforms to reduce fatalities among sewer workers.

According to Manzoor Masih of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), violations of the ruling have decreased.

"Concerned departments apologized and re-advertised after we notified the violations," he said, expressing concern over the rising number of deaths.

He added that the commission has taken notice and sought reports from provincial Water and Sanitation Authority offices.

In November 2025, the NCHR filed a petition before the Federal Constitutional Court seeking an end to manual sewer cleaning, arguing that forcing workers into toxic environments without protection violates constitutional guarantees of life, dignity, equality, and safe working conditions.

A 2024 NCHR inquiry report titled "Risk of Sanitation Work in Pakistan" warned that sanitation workers continue to face deadly conditions due to the absence of occupational safety standards, weak enforcement of labor laws, and discrimination against religious minorities.

The report estimates that sanitation workers make up about 2% of Pakistan's 225 million population and that approximately 80% are Christians.

Based on a survey of 42 sanitation workers in Karachi, it found that 78.6% were never provided personal protective equipment, while 57.1% reported workplace injuries, including lung damage and dislocated joints.

It documented at least 14 deaths between 2022 and 2024, mostly in Punjab, caused by toxic sewer gases and unsafe working practices.

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