Catholic News

Pope Leo XIV will not travel to Assisi on Oct. 27 for a gathering marking the 40th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by St. John Paul II, the Vatican announced Friday.

The decision follows medical advice as the pope continues to recover from thoracic surgery performed last week.

"To facilitate his recovery following the thoracic surgery performed on Tuesday of last week, and following the advice of his doctors, Pope Leo XIV will not be able to attend the 'Unarmed and Disarming Peace' gathering in Assisi on Oct. 27, as previously planned, on the 40th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace convened by St. John Paul II," the Holy See Press Office said in a statement.

The Vatican added that the pope will send a message expressing his closeness to the organizers, leaders and representatives of Christian denominations and other religions, as well as the guests attending the event.

The statement emphasized the pope's conviction that the "spirit of Assisi," dialogue, and the search for words and gestures of peace are valuable resources in an era marked by conflict.

Earlier Friday, the Holy See Press Office released a medical bulletin signed by Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora.

"As scheduled, the Holy Father underwent a follow-up chest X-ray. The examination confirmed that his postoperative recovery is progressing exceptionally well," the doctors said.

"However, given the short time that has elapsed since the operation, the attending physicians considered it advisable, as a precautionary measure, to recommend against the planned helicopter trip on Oct. 27."

The decision does not indicate any abnormality in the pope's recovery but reflects medical caution ahead of his planned trip to Latin America in November.

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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Amid rising tensions around migration, a conference in Rome reflected on the challenges modern missionaries face after moving to new countries.

The conference "The Church of the Sheaves: An International Gathering in Rome on Mission as an Exchange of Gifts" began at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome on Oct. 22 and will continue through Oct. 24. It was organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization.

Gathering clergy, scholars, and synodal teams, the conference is also part of a new project from the dicastery to foster a sense of belonging among missionaries in countries where Christianity once flourished.

Migration cannot be stopped

Migration was a recurring theme at the conference, as both missionary activity and migration are increasing worldwide. Tensions surrounding migration, particularly in Europe, prompted participants to discuss the challenges modern missionaries face in their host countries, including discrimination.

Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, a secretary at the Dicastery for Evangelization, described migration as a phenomenon that "cannot stop" and highlighted the Church's experience in addressing it.

"Migration is something we cannot stop," Nwachukwu told EWTN News. Migration will always be there as long as we have human beings and their need to survive. If we try to stop it by force, the migrants themselves will force the gates. So the best way to go about migration is to manage it."

"The Church has been at the forefront of the art, practice, and experience of managing migration. [The missionaries] have shown us that not every migrant should be discriminated against. Every human being, made in the image and likeness of God, has something to offer," Nwachukwu added.

Others noted that the Gospel has necessarily crossed borders in its spread and that relations between missionaries and their host countries must be reciprocal to overcome hostilities, citing the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

"The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman suggests that mission can transform those relationships through vulnerability, dialogue, reciprocity, and witness," Rocío Cortés Rodríguez, assistant professor of theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, said during her presentation.

Reimagining missionary work as an exchange of gifts

The Church of the Sheaves is a new initiative from the Dicastery for Evangelization that will begin as an online course for clergy, religious, and pastoral workers, providing cultural training for missionaries and the communities that receive them.

Father Stan Chu Ilo, co-director of the Church of the Sheaves project, explained that the project aims to reimagine missionary work as an exchange of gifts.

"It is not a reactionary mission," Ilo told EWTN News. "In the past, we had Fidei Donum, where Pope Pius XII, as the world came out of the Second World War, defined the path towards mission as the gift of one part — in this case, it was Europeans who were going to Africa. Now we have a changing world population; the Catholic Church is growing."

"It is a project then to … retrain pastoral agents, missionary practitioners everywhere to embrace this new dynamism and these new opportunities of movement of God's people from one part of the world to another," Ilo added.

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Vice President JD Vance on Oct. 22 told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN News' "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo" that God calls Christians to be "humble in the face [of] uncertainty" and that Christians walking in faith often "take two steps toward Jesus and one step back" before arriving at Christ.

Vance spoke with Arroyo in a wide-ranging interview that included politics, immigration, economics, and faith.

The vice president has been especially forthcoming about his own faith journey, one which began in Appalachian Protestant churches and eventually led him to the Catholic Church. He attended Christian churches while growing up but was drawn to what in June he described as the "beautiful ancient Church" of Catholicism.

Speaking with Arroyo, Vance described a religious experience in which he was driving on mountain roads back from his grandmother's funeral and nearly drove off the road.

"And just like right at that point where I'm like, all right, I'm about to go over the side of the mountain, the car just comes to a completely restful stop," he said. "Like God put his hand on that car and made it stop."

The experience "gnawed at me," Vance said, describing the event as "a door opening."

"[W]e are ultimately God's ambassadors here on Earth," he said, describing what he said is the "powerful" witness of Christians "doing good things."

Arroyo and Vance discussed several other topics in the interview, including the ongoing civil unrest and rioting in France.

"I don't think you can talk about what's happening in France without acknowledging the role of migration," Vance said. "Because in the neighborhoods where you see the most significant violence, the most significant outburst, the burning of these beautiful historical buildings — you often have neighborhoods with extremely high immigrant populations."

Western societies "want to be welcoming to people," the vice president said. But "when we allow someone into our country, are they culturally compatible? Are they willing to assimilate into Western values and Western society?"

Asked about Church leadership on immigration issues, Vance — who has publicly disagreed with the U.S. bishops on some aspects of the immigration debate — said he would "never accuse the Church of being naive."

The Church "will say two things that I fundamentally believe in and agree with, but I think 90% of people agree with, which is: One, you must be welcoming towards a stranger. On the other hand, nations are allowed to control their borders."

As Vance sees it, the Church leadership in the U.S. has "missed an opportunity" to strike a balance on immigration in an age of high migration. He noted that the airplane is "less than 100 years old" and that rapid large-scale immigration is "a very new phenomenon."

"I do think the Church has to figure out what should the immigration policy of an advanced economy be in a world of mass transit," he said.

He noted that Christians are called "to be fundamentally hopeful [of] the future." He disputed arguments that France is on the verge of "civilizational death," describing it instead as "civilizational risk."

"[I] think that if France returns to its Christian roots, it can be welcoming to the stranger. It can also protect its borders and in a way that preserves its civilization," he said.

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A Chicago iconographer had just one week to create an icon of Our Lady of Good Counsel for Pope Leo XIV. The finished work made its way to the Vatican, where the Holy Father received it during a private audience and plans to keep it close and use in his personal prayer.

Joseph Malham is a Chicago-based iconographer who was commissioned to do the piece by Michael Airdo, an attorney from Chicago who had a planned trip to visit the pope and wanted to give him a special gift. Given the Holy Father's Augustinian roots, Airdo decided to give him an image of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which holds a special place in the Augustinian tradition.

The devotion is rooted in a centuries-old image of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child venerated at the Basilica Sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy, entrusted to the Augustinians. The order has promoted devotion to Mary under this title for centuries.

After Pope Leo was elected, he traveled to Genazzano — which is about 40 miles southeast of Rome — to pray before the image located in the basilica.

Airdo sent Malham an email inquiring if the icon could be completed, but there was a catch — he only had one week to do it.

"I said, 'It can be done,'" Malham told "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Veronica Dudo on Oct. 21. "I'm single so who cares if I don't sleep and don't eat for a week. The question is, can I do it? And I did it."

He added: "A week later, when Michael [Airdo] was in Rome, he sent me a photo of the Holy Father holding the icon presented to him in a personal, private audience in his library."

Airdo shared with Malham that Pope Leo was moved when he saw the image and said he would be keeping it on a shelf in his bedroom.

Malham also wrote the Holy Father a letter because he "felt very connected with him."

"I wrote him and I said how difficult it is — please keep me in your prayers — because it is difficult, it's a long journey being a self-published artist and an iconographer," he shared. "But I said, so is being any vocation. So was being married and being a priest and in religious life and being the successor of St. Peter. We're all together. It's the communion of saints. And I felt that kind of closed the distance and bonded us together."

In the pope's response, he mentioned praying for Malham and his vocation and asked the iconographer to keep him in his prayers as well.

As for how this experience has made him feel, Malham said: "It's almost too overwhelming to know that the successor of St. Peter not only has my icon, but is going to personally journey with it in his prayer life and he's going to keep it close to him."

"No words suffice. I could rest in the silence of the beauty of that moment and that connectivity is the sacred connection."

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Denver Archbishop James Golka and over half a dozen fellow U.S. Catholic bishops met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Oct. 22.

White House Faith Director Jenny Korn told EWTN News the meeting was organized by the White House Faith Office "as part of our ongoing engagement with faith leaders of all denominations from across the country."

In addition to praying with Trump, Korn said several topics were discussed during the meeting, including "religious freedom, the role of the White House Faith Office, school choice, religious visas, and life policy."

Participants included Bishop Abdallah Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles; Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas; Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico; Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas; Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Iowa; Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee; and Bishop Michael Barber, SJ, of Oakland, California.

Before concluding the meeting, Golka and his brother bishops gathered around Trump at the Oval Office's iconic Resolute desk to pray.

Leading the intercession, Golka thanked God "for the gift of our beautiful nation, the gift of our government, and the gift of this office of the presidency" and asked for God's blessing upon Trump.

Continuing his prayer, Golka also thanked God for "the gift of your Son, Jesus. He's right here with us. He redeems us, saves us, gives us immense mercy, guidance."

Golka also invoked the Holy Spirit, asking the Holy Spirit to "surround our country, to protect us against any influence of evil."

Following the meeting, Golka said in a statement that he "hopes the encounter will foster further dialogue on the sanctity of life, human dignity and other issues of concern to the Catholic Church."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said it had no role in the event.

"This was not something that the USCCB organized. It is not affiliated with the Conference," said Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokesperson.

Korn also emphasized that the meeting was "not politics" but "policy in action ending with meaningful prayer with and for the president." In addition to Korn, Paula White-Cain, the president's longtime spiritual adviser, also attended the meeting.

The USCCB and the Trump administration have been aligned on various issues, including religious liberty and gender ideology, along with some of Trump's pro-life initiatives.

There have also been sharp disagreements on other issues, including the administration's failure to reverse the Biden administration's policy on mail-order abortion drugs, the president's support of IVF, and the administration's mass deportation efforts.

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The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on Thursday published the document "Venite ad Me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change," which is expected to be the last of the documents commissioned from the dicastery by the late Pope Francis.

The text, approved by Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 21, consists of eight chapters and 144 paragraphs, and bears the signature of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

It is presented as a set of "considerations," drawing on the input and contributions of several national bishops' conferences, rather than as a "doctrinal note."

The document says that today, difficulties to sharing the faith abound, including the spread of secularization and individualism.

"It must be acknowledged that what is in crisis is not only the transmission of the faith, but also a certain vision of the human person and of his or her foundational values — a vision that had found its fulfillment precisely in the Gospel," it says.

"The crisis of modernity, which is the hallmark of this epochal change, has thus contributed to the emergence of a new culture that has come into competition with the traditional structures through which the faith has been transmitted."

Encounter with the Lord Jesus

The text says that "the heart of the Christian experience" is "an encounter with the Lord Jesus that brings us into contact with the true light of divine love, keeps us from losing our way in darkness, and leads us to life. It is precisely in this sense that we can speak of the 'light of faith.'"

"The transmission of the faith," the document says, "has its ultimate foundation in God's initiative, who, in Christ, revealed his face and entrusted the Apostles the task of proclaiming the Gospel to all nations. This mission, however, did not end with the apostolic preaching but continues throughout history through the Church."

The document also recalls the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who, in a 2007 homily, reaffirmed that "the most authentic force of the evangelizing mission of the community of the Lord's disciples remains the power of attraction."

Role of the family, Church community

Central to this transmission is the role of the family, "the first and most essential place for the transmission of the faith." In the family, there exists "the primary setting in which faith [was] passed from one generation to the next," the document says.

From the family, one then moves to the Church community: "What a person has received from their parents — namely, the witness of faith in Jesus, who fully revealed the face of God's infinite love, freeing human beings from darkness and opening them to the true light of life — finds in the Church the means and the opportunities to become the guiding principle of how that person sees the world," it says.

The document adds: "Through catechesis, the celebration of the sacraments, the various spaces that foster active participation in community life (as proposed by the current synodal journey), commitment to the most disadvantaged, and gathering in the house of the Lord on Sundays, one reaches that maturity of faith which ultimately consists in seeing everything 'through the eyes of Jesus.'"

In our age there are still people who convert or return to the practice of the Catholic faith; nevertheless, "there is also a parallel difficulty concerning the perseverance of neophytes [new Catholics], who often, shortly after receiving baptism, return to a state of practical indifference," the document says. It therefore becomes necessary, the dicastery warns, to rediscover "the importance of the community in welcoming and accompanying new members of the faithful."

New technologies and ideology

Addressing new digital technologies and artificial intelligence, the document says "the invitation to faith risks becoming disembodied, detached from concrete life, or tied to ideologies promoted by vocal minorities. This can lead to distortions of the faith itself or of conscience, or it can lead people to construct a so-called 'do-it-yourself' faith, shaped by their own tastes and preferences rather than by the teaching of the Church."

At the same time, this situation opens up new frontiers for evangelization and, the dicastery states, the essential need "to transmit the faith, beginning with the 'kerygma.'"

"It seems entirely natural that believers should embark on a renewed period of proclaiming the Gospel," it continues. For this reason, "Christian communities are strongly called to promote — in season and out of season — a renewal of the proclamation of the 'kerygma.'"

Liturgy

In the document, the liturgy is given particular importance for the transmission of the faith: "If the heart of the Christian proclamation is the encounter with God's saving love in Christ, the liturgy constitutes the privileged place in which this mystery is celebrated and communicated sacramentally. For this reason, it plays a central role in handing on the faith, serving as the beating heart of ecclesial life, where the community is nourished by the Word of God and the Bread of eternal life."

"In this regard, we must move beyond a reductive view that regards the liturgy as merely a ritual framework for ecclesial life. The liturgy, in fact, is first and foremost an experience of faith, even before it is a teaching, in that it allows the faithful to participate in gestures, words, silences, and symbols, thereby experiencing the mystery of Christ in a living way," it continues.

The document further emphasizes that special care must be taken to enable, in every diocese, both the faithful and those approaching or returning to the believing community to encounter the various liturgical sensibilities present within the tradition of the Catholic Church.

While respecting the liturgical norms currently in force, pastors are called to value the richness of the Catholic liturgical heritage in such a way as to reach the diverse sensibilities of their flock. "The Christian community grows and is built up through ritual practices, and in this regard, the Church's rich spiritual heritage represents a precious and inexhaustible resource," the document says.

Inculturation

Finally, the document includes a passage on inculturation. It is important to recall, it states, "that the inculturation of the faith constitutes a necessary step in its transmission, since the Gospel message must be made understandable to people who share values and categories that do not perfectly coincide with the Hellenistic-Semitic ones in which the biblical text was originally formulated."

"Where the faith touches the cultural roots and expressions of a people, its transmission truly becomes easier and more fruitful," it says.

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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Pope Leo XIV on Thursday encouraged those involved in Catholic school and university pastoral ministry to respond to a "merciless" culture, which constantly compares and ranks young people, with the trust of Christ, capable of transforming lives just as it transformed the Twelve Apostles.

"Jesus did not choose the Twelve because they were already courageous; he called them and, through his trust, made them capable. To our young people we must be able to repeat the words the disciples addressed to the blind Bartimaeus: 'Take heart; get up, he is calling you,'" the pontiff said in a message addressed to participants in the International Congress on School and University Pastoral Ministry, which concludes Friday, Oct. 23, in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

The gathering, organized by the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education, brings together 1,200 participants from 60 countries and is inspired by the apostolic letter "Charting New Maps of Hope," the first apostolic letter of Pope Leo XIV. In it, he proposes a new phase of education built on three pillars: cultivating interiority, promoting a humane and rational use of digital technologies, and educating for peace.

"Help the young people you encounter become protagonists of a new way of inhabiting the world, builders of fraternity and of a more just society. Courage is born from a covenant of trust: from the experience of someone believing in you before you believe in yourself," the Holy Father said.

Digital loneliness and feelings of inadequacy

Leo XIV warned that many students today face situations of suffering marked by "wounded families, digital loneliness, feelings of inadequacy, or fear of a future that seems uncertain."

"We live in a culture of performance that constantly compares and ranks, sometimes mercilessly. A misunderstood meritocracy ends up failing to respect the dignity of persons," he warned.

For this reason, he stressed the importance of educational institutions being, above all, "a home, a familiar place where one is expected."

The pope also emphasized that the proper mission of education is the shared search for truth and encouraged educators to value young people's questions and foster an encounter between faith and reason: "May your passion be to help young people experience the beauty of an encounter with Christ, as well as the fruitfulness of the synergy between faith and reason."

Leo XIV also invited participants to focus their efforts on the integral formation of young people, especially in educating their emotional life and interior life.

"School and university pastoral ministry will be all the more fruitful the more it is centered on the education of the heart," he said. In this regard, he encouraged the promotion of compassion, gratitude, sensitivity to the suffering of others, and openness to God, recalling that "charity and prayer are inseparable."

In closing, the pope compared the educational mission to Jesus' accompaniment of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and urged teachers, chaplains, and pastoral workers to walk alongside young people and help them discover the gifts God has placed within them.

"You have chosen to do something much greater: to walk with them along the way until they discover the gifts God has already placed within them," he concluded.

'Revival driven by Leo XIV'

Among those taking part in the Vatican gathering is Carina Rossa, a member of the coordinating committee of the Global Compact on Education.

According to Rossa, who is from Argentina, one of the most significant aspects of the congress is the renewed attention the Holy See is giving to educational pastoral ministry, an area that, she explained, until now did not have a dedicated structure within the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

"Educational pastoral ministry is experiencing a revival driven by Leo XIV," she said. "It is an area that is the heart of the university and the heart of the school."

She recalled that the Global Compact on Education was launched by Pope Francis in 2020 and highlighted the importance of Leo XIV's decision to take it up again and relaunch it during the Jubilee of the World of Education in 2025.

"The fact that Pope Leo relaunched the Global Compact on Education has been very important in revitalizing this proposal," she said. According to Rossa, universities and educational institutions in different parts of the world have shown renewed interest ever since. "There is a need for, and a new enthusiasm about, this project."

3 priorities for Catholic education

Rossa noted that the congress is centered on three major goals identified by Leo XIV: cultivating interior life, promoting a humane use of digital technologies, and educating for peace.

In particular, she emphasized the importance of recovering the spiritual dimension of education in a context marked by a crisis of meaning and mental health challenges among young people.

"What is emerging strongly is a great desire for meaning, interiority, spirituality, and silence," she said. "We appreciate that Pope Leo speaks about this from his Augustinian charism, but above all because he does so in light of listening to young people," the Global Compact on Education representative said.

She explained that in recent years the initiative has gathered testimonies and concerns from young people in different countries.

While she sees among them a strong social commitment and a desire for an integral education, she believes there is an even deeper need.

"St. Augustine reflects today's young person very well, searching everywhere until discovering that God was within him all along," she said.

A pastoral ministry that transforms academic life

For Rossa, educational pastoral ministry should not be understood as a parallel activity or one limited to religious celebrations but as a dimension capable of transforming the entire life of an academic institution.

"It is not something isolated, nor is it only about celebrations," she explained. "It can revitalize the way we teach, the way we relate to students, the way the university connects with its local community, or how it approaches questions such as care for creation, the search for truth, beauty, and culture."

After only the first day of the congress, the Argentine highlighted the high quality of the presentations and the atmosphere among participants.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm," she said. "The 1,200 people gathered here are not only listening but are creating a true community among pastoral workers from different parts of the world."

Unexpected encounter with the pope

One of the most moving moments of the congress was the encounter with Leo XIV, which had been on the schedule for weeks but had been thrown into doubt because of his recent lung cancer surgery, from which he is gradually recovering.

"It was very moving because we were not expecting it," Rossa recounted. "Given his health situation, it seemed to me a very generous gesture on his part."

After his address, Leo XIV personally greeted several of the speakers and participants.

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

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The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem condemned an attack by "masked settlers" against Palestinian olive farmers and visiting European diplomats and officials in Taybeh, a town east of Ramallah in the central West Bank. The attack happened during an olive harvest event coordinated with the town's Latin Patriarchate parish.

Calling the violence "not an isolated incident," leaders have urged authorities to hold those responsible accountable and protect residents.

The attack followed another violent incident in the Palestinian village of Abu Falah, north of Ramallah, when a Washington Post photojournalist was attacked and seriously injured by Israeli settlers while she and other journalists were covering the olive harvest there.

In a statement following the Oct. 17 attack, the church leaders said Palestinian villages across the West Bank were experiencing widespread settler violence during the olive harvest, when families return to their land to gather their crops and renew ties stretching back generations.

"This wild attack on the Christian village of Taybeh and against its peaceful population is not an isolated incident. In the past weeks the Palestinian villages of the West Bank have been exposed to a wide-scale terror by settlers, which is reaching a peak during this time of the olive harvest, when families go to their lands to collect what they need to live and renew their generations-long bond with their lands," the statement said.

The leaders also expressed concern over a recently published religious ruling permitting Jews to take Palestinians' olives, describing it as "unfounded, very worrying and dangerous, and absolutely unacceptable." They welcomed the public rejection of the ruling by several rabbis and other Jewish voices.

Those targeted in the attack included diplomats from France, Belgium, and Poland. The mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, Bernard Baudoux, was physically assaulted, and a Belgian consular vehicle was damaged. Independent international reporting corroborated the attack.

Israeli authorities said they had opened an investigation and later announced arrests.

The attack occurred during a harvest that provides a vital source of income for Palestinian families and reflects farmers' generations-long connection to their land. The targeting of a delegation that included European diplomats also brought wider international diplomatic attention to the violence facing Palestinian farmers.

The church leaders welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog's condemnation of the attack and the steps taken by Israeli police. They said, however, that conditions on the ground showed the attacks were continuing because of the perpetrators' "impunity." They expressed hope that law enforcement would continue "in a serious and consistent manner" rather than remain a one-time response.

In August, the Israeli military declared Taybeh a closed military zone, restricting access to nonresidents in what it described as an effort to curb attacks by Israelis in the area. Attacks nevertheless continued, including the Oct. 17 assault on farmers and the visiting European diplomatic delegation.

Taybeh is one of the West Bank's most prominent remaining Palestinian Christian communities. The church leaders' appeal therefore concerns more than the protection of a religious site: It addresses the safety of a Christian community whose residents live and work in the town, facing threats to their security, land, and livelihoods, as well as uncertainty over the future of their families and young people.

The church leaders called on the relevant authorities to bring those responsible to justice and urged the international community to intensify efforts to protect the people of Taybeh and the wider West Bank, along with visitors expressing solidarity with them. They reaffirmed their support for Taybeh's churches and community and pledged to continue working to preserve the Christian presence there.

The leaders' statement came a day after a high-level U.S. delegation visited Taybeh. The delegation included Brian Burch, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See; Riley Barnes, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor; and other U.S. diplomatic and security officials.

The delegation met with Father Bashar Fawadleh, pastor of the Latin Patriarchate parish in Taybeh, and the executive director of the Christian Presence Observatory — Holy Land. They heard accounts of the attacks and their effects on residents' lives and livelihoods.

Members of the delegation said they took those concerns seriously. Participants in the meeting called for practical measures to protect civilians, ensure access to agricultural land, strengthen accountability, and help Palestinian Christian communities remain in their homeland.

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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The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 21 left in place lower-court rulings that require the federal prison system to continue providing transgender-related benefits to inmates.

The unsigned order rejected the Bureau of Prison's petition to reverse rulings from both the U.S. district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have granted the government's request.

The high court's decision means that the bureau may not implement a policy passed in February that forbids the use of hormone therapy on prisoners who believe themselves to be the opposite sex. The rule also forbids "social accommodations" including wigs and makeup.

The suit against the Bureau of Prisons was brought by several inmates who identify as transgender.

LGBT-related policy at federal prisons has been in flux following President Donald Trump's 2024 election. Earlier that year, the Biden Justice Department had signaled that prisons throughout the United States must provide prisoners with transgender-related medical care, including "hormone therapy" and other gender-related requests.

Just after taking office in January 2025, on the other hand, Trump issued an executive order that purported to combat "efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex." Among the provisions of that order was a directive ordering the Bureau of Prisons to "[revise] its policies concerning medical care" to move away from gender-related provisions.

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Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN) honored Archbishop Paul Coakley with an award for his public opposition to the death penalty during its Justice Reimagined Awards and Celebration at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C.

Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, received CMN's Archbishop Fiorenza Dignity and Life Award, named after civil rights advocate and death penalty abolitionist Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, at the Oct. 21 event.

Coakley, a longtime advocate against the death penalty including in his home state of Oklahoma, earlier this month condemned the Trump administration's plan to livestream the military execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter, Nidal Hasan. "Our God is the God of life," he said in an Oct. 9 statement. "In no way can Hasan's actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered."

"It goes without saying that I'm very humbled and honored by this this award," Coakley said during his acceptance speech. "Archbishop Fiorenza was a true champion whom I knew as the president of the bishops' conference when I was a brand-new bishop, and I had always admired his work and his convictions and his principles."

"Being in the United States of America at this time has really turned my attention more toward advocating for the condemned on death row and the need for us as a people, as a Church, as a nation to recognize the injustice and the inhumanity of what is being done in our name," he said.

Being in the United States of America at this time has really turned my attention more toward advocating for the condemned on death row and the need for us as a people, as a Church, as a nation to recognize the injustice and the inhumanity of what is being done in our name."

Archbishop Paul Coakley

Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Coakley shared that he first became aware of the importance of advocating for life in 1973, the year Roe v. Wade was passed into law and the year he graduated from high school. The law, he said, allowed "the wholesale destruction of the most vulnerable and innocent of human lives on a massive scale."

"So for many years, in terms of life issues, opposing abortion and advocating for the right to the life of the unborn was really my primary passion and concern," he said. "Only later did I come to appreciate the meaning of respect for life from conception to its natural end."

Coakley reflected that over time, "seeing up close that life is sacred and that it is to be preserved" ultimately led to him to the conclusion "that human dignity cannot be forfeited, no matter how heinous the crime that a man or woman has committed." 

He noted that during his time as an archbishop in Oklahoma, he was struck by the notion that his home state, like Florida and Texas, "was very solidly pro-life in terms of supporting the right to life of the unborn" but was "unforgiving" in its embrace of capital punishment.

Coakley spoke out in August against the execution of a condemned murderer in Oklahoma, calling for prayers for both the killer's victims and the killer himself while urging a "more humane form of justice."

Concluding his speech, Coakley expressed gratitude to CMN for its advocacy.

"I'm encouraged and hopeful, especially in view of some of the things that have been in the news of late, that we'll all find renewed courage and determination to continue this fight to advocate for the sanctity, the dignity of every human life, from conception to its natural end," he said.

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., delivered a message from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin expressing his closeness to those gathered for the event.

Elizabeth Bruening, a Catholic and two-time Pulitzer-Prize finalist and writer for The Atlantic, also received a Reimagining Justice Award at the event.

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