Catholic News

The bishop of Piracicaba (São Paulo state), Brazil, Devair Araújo da Fonseca, criticized President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following his remarks implying the Church needs to end celibacy and ordain women if it wants to grow. Da Silva is running for reelection as the Workers' Party candidate.

During a Sept. 16 meeting at the Planalto Palace (president's office) in the capital, Brasília, with Americans and Brazilians from the Evangelical Front for the Rule of Law, Da Silva said he had "the opportunity to speak to Pope Francis" about these topics.

"As long as the Catholic Church doesn't end celibacy and allow women to be priests, to be bishops — allow women to speak, you know? — we're going to see the Catholic Church face difficulties," he said. In Da Silva's view, the fact that a woman can "be whatever she wants" is what "has caused the evangelical church to grow so much in Brazil."

Catholics currently make up about 57% of the population, down from about 90% in 1970.

On Sept. 19, Araújo da Fonseca posted a video on his social media channels featuring a homily he had delivered the previous night in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste (São Paulo state), in which he responded to the president.

"We are seeing politicians trying to tell the Church what it should do. They even try to speak about priestly celibacy, when they ought to be looking after the country. And they are doing a very poor job of it," he said.

The bishop of Piracicaba emphasized the need to "be attentive" at the time of the election, the first round of which will take place on Oct. 4, with a runoff, if necessary, scheduled for Oct. 25.

"Let us not have a short memory, for the future depends on the choices we make in the present. And if we, as Christians, turn a blind eye to this, we will pay the price," he said.

Araújo da Fonseca addressed those who "were thinking of staying home on Election Day and not voting because it isn't worth it." He urged them to vote as "an act of sacrifice and penance."

"But make your choice. Remember that we all bear the consequences. Do not choose those who wish to destroy our freedom. Do not make choices for which we will later have to pay the price," he added.

The bishop of Formosa (Goiás state), Adair José Guimarães, also commented on Da Silva's statements. He said he was not surprised by them, "because usually leaders, when they are ignorant, want to meddle in everything. They think they have a monopoly on the truth about everything."

Guimarães stated that "the Catholic Church is not something just anyone can understand," as "it is an institution of divine right, over 2,000 years old, with its incredibly rich tradition, its magisterium, and sacred Scripture."

In the view of the bishop of Formosa, "the nation's leader needs to take good care of the nation" rather than "meddle in Church affairs."

He recalled an incident in 2005 when Lula, "in his first term," said: "I am a Catholic, Apostolic and Roman." At the time, the then-archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Cardinal Eusébio Oscar Scheid, was asked about the Workers' Party leader's statement and remarked: "Look, he says he is a Roman Apostolic Catholic, but my take is this: He is chaotic, apostate, and romantic."

"So, I share that same view held by our late cardinal regarding the matter. I need say no more than that," Guimarães said.

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

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The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, began its third annual blood drive on Sept. 19, the feast of St. Januarius, the martyred fourth-century bishop whose blood at times miraculously liquefies.

The diocese has partnered once again with the Miller-Keystone Blood Center, which during the 2025 campaign collected 821 units of blood — 40% more than the previous year, according to a diocesan press release. Sixty-three parishes and schools throughout the diocese participated in the blood drive last year.

"Blood cannot be manufactured or replaced," Allentown Bishop Alfred A. Schlert said in the release. "It can only come from individuals willing to give of themselves for others."

The Miller-Keystone Blood Center said that because of a national shortage of donated blood, most centers around the country are operating with only a one- or two-day inventory.

"Blood is perishable, and there is no substitute," said Monika Kotlarska-Gross, director of donor relations at Miller-Keystone. "The only source is the volunteer blood donor."

Someone in the U.S. is transfused about every two seconds, according to the Red Cross, which said in July that an emergency shortage it had declared the month before had escalated to a national blood supply crisis, the second in the Red Cross' history (the first was in 2022).

Summer is "trauma season," according to the Red Cross, with more wrecks and outdoor injuries, and a single trauma patient can use dozens of units. The shortage comes as school blood drives disappear in the summertime. The Red Cross also blamed heat, air quality, and foodborne illness for keeping donors at home.

A diocesan spokesman told EWTN News the campaign can "become a straightforward model other dioceses around the country could adopt."

Donors who give under their parish's sponsor code will receive a St. Januarius medallion blessed by the bishop, he said.

The blood drive will end on Dec. 16, one of the dates St. Januarius' blood is venerated for its miraculous liquefaction. According to the Diocese of Naples, Italy, the saint's blood liquefied this year on Sept. 19 at 10:04 a.m.

St. Januarius, patron of blood banks

St. Januarius, the patron saint of blood banks and those who've suffered heart attacks, was the bishop of Benevento in the early 300s. Tradition holds that he hid Christians during the persecution of Roman Emperor Diocletian and was eventually caught and executed.

After his death, a woman named Eusebia is said to have saved some of his blood in two flasks, and since at least 1389, his dried blood has often miraculously liquefied and then solidified again, especially on his feast day and sometimes before popes and other holy people.

His blood is kept in Naples, nicknamed the "City of Blood," which observes an annual feast and procession in his honor.

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Do No Harm — a nonprofit that says it works to keep identity politics out of medical education — asked the Health and Human Services inspector general to investigate Planned Parenthood over alleged miscoding tied to youth cross-sex hormone prescriptions.

The group, which also campaigns against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives it argues inject gender ideology into clinical practice, says in a Sept. 22 letter that Planned Parenthood and its affiliates may be coding visits in ways that make youth hormone prescriptions appear routine. According to the letter, such coding could obscure what the group calls "sex-rejecting" services and allow private and public insurers to cover treatments that might otherwise be excluded.

Do No Harm further cites what it describes as "significant, often irreversible" risks associated with these treatments and says available evidence on their safety or effectiveness for addressing gender dysphoria is "low to very low quality." The letter also notes the procedures' "lucrative" nature, asserting they can create long-term patients.

Because health insurance providers, including government-sponsored ones such as Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE, reimburse for "medically necessary" treatments only, the group alleges that Planned Parenthood miscodes the procedures in order to get illegally reimbursed.

The letter says some Planned Parenthood affiliates as well as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) have publicly discussed using such strategic coding practices.

According to the letter, a professional data broker Do No Harm hired to examine Planned Parenthood's coding practices between 2015 and 2025 found "a subset of approximately 800 patients from across the country for whom Planned Parenthood affiliates wrote between 1,100 and 1,200 prescriptions seemingly related to gender dysphoria while potentially failing to use the correct diagnosis codes for the associated office visit."

Because of the limitations "inherent in a private actor's attempt to root out another private actor's wrongdoing without any of the government's tools," Do No Harm asked HHS to investigate Planned Parenthood's coding practices for office visits as well as to "determine whether and to what extent" those office visits result in pharmacies filling prescriptions for cross-sex hormones, which are then submitted to the federal government for reimbursement.

Two large U.S. health systems, New York University Langone Hospitals and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, agreed Sept. 18 to end pediatric gender-affirming medical interventions for minors and pay financial penalties to resolve Justice Department investigations. NYU Langone will pay $8.5 million and UPMC will pay $950,000.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January ending federal support for gender transition-related care for minors and, in a March joint address to Congress, called for federal legislation "permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children."

These developments come just a month after HHS' August report, "Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of 'Gender Medicine.'"

The report outlines HHS' findings and recommendations about the transgender medicine industry and refers to the DOJ and the HHS inspector general's office clinics and hospitals identified in the report for investigation for possible violations of federal law.

Planned Parenthood did not respond to a request for comment.

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The archbishop of Panama, José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, stated that "we cannot remain silent in the face of abuse" during his presentation of the report "Assessment of Institutional Responses (AIR) in cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable persons" within the Archdiocese of Panama between 2001 and 2025.

The report by the Transparency Commission (TC), a pilot project and the first from an interdisciplinary group of independent experts on addressing and preventing abuse within ecclesial settings, was presented on Sept. 22 at the Santa María La Antigua University auditorium in Panama City.

Speaking during the presentation, Ulloa emphasized: "It has already been said here, and we know it: Our Panamanian culture often prefers to remain silent, but in the face of abuse, we cannot remain silent."

"We want to listen; we want to take every complaint seriously, with respect, and confidentiality, protecting the individuals involved and acting in accordance with established procedures," he added.

The prelate explained that the archdiocese he leads "remains committed to reporting relevant allegations to the competent civil authorities in accordance with current legislation" and acknowledged the need to ask what can be done better to move forward in the prevention of abuse.

"A culture of protection is not built solely through written rules; it is built when every priest, religious, pastoral worker, collaborator, and member of our communities understands that protecting minors and vulnerable persons is an ongoing, shared responsibility," the archbishop emphasized.

Asking forgiveness of the victims

The prelate also addressed "in a special way victims and survivors. We are deeply pained by the suffering you have endured."

"It pains us to know that those who should have found a place of welcome, care, and trust within the Church experienced situations that caused them such deep wounds," he continued.

Ulloa emphasized that "wherever members of our Church caused harm, and wherever our institutional response fell short of what the victims needed and had a right to expect, we ask for forgiveness in the name of the Church."

The archbishop also noted that "over this 25-year period, and I wish to highlight this especially for the media, more than 18 priests have been removed from priestly ministry due to situations involving the Sixth Commandment, offenses against property, or other issues they have experienced."

The Transparency Commission

According to its website, the Transparency Commission (TC) was established to conduct comprehensive investigations "in a holistic, professional, independent, and rigorous manner regarding cases of abuse of minors and vulnerable persons within the Church." It is funded by the University of Notre Dame Law School in Indiana and Villanueva University in Madrid.

"This group of experts focuses its work on places where crises related to ecclesial abuse have not yet occurred or have not come to light," notes the TC website.

The report indicates that in cases of sexual abuse, the AIR "must place victims at the center of the analysis, since the way the institution protects their rights, addresses their needs, and fosters their reparation constitutes the primary criterion for evaluating the quality of the response provided."

The Transparency Commission is composed of 17 individuals coordinated by Father Jordi Pujol, a lawyer who holds a doctorate in moral theology and is also a professor of law and communication ethics at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

Its members include Father Thomas Berg, a professor and researcher at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame; Yago de la Cierva, a professor of preventive and crisis communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross; and Irma Patricia Espinosa, a psychiatrist, member of the National Council for the Protection of Minors of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, academic director and founding partner of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Training for the Protection of Minors (CEPROME) Latin America, and a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since 2022.

Also serving on the Transparency Commission are María Inés Franck, professor of canon law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and a member of the Pastoral Council for the Protection of Minors of the Argentine Bishops' Conference; Monsignor John Paul Kimes, professor of canon law at the University of Notre Dame Law School; and Father Daniel Portillo, dean of the psychology department at Lumen Gentium Catholic University in Mexico. He is the director and a founding member of CEPROME Latin America.

The Panama Report

The request for the report goes back to October 2025, when the archbishop of Panama requested an assessment of institutional response from the TC "on his own initiative, without a court order or a request from the Holy See."

The commission stated that it accepted the assignment subject to three conditions: full access to information, total independence in the investigation, and a commitment to publish the findings. The archdiocese did not intervene in the compilation of the report and only saw it days before its presentation.

The TC states that it operated with financial independence: Its members received no remuneration from the archdiocese, and costs were covered by Notre Dame Law School and the Villanueva University Foundation. The archdiocese only covered transportation and accommodation and provided workspace.

The commission reported that, during the period under review, the archdiocese received 37 complaints of which it analyzed 24, while the remaining 13 were excluded from the analysis "because they referred to events that occurred outside the archdiocese's territory or the time frame examined, or because they did not involve abuse against minors or vulnerable persons."

The report reveals that case management improved thanks to two initiatives by the archdiocese: the approval of guidelines in 2015 and the creation in 2024 of the Pastoral Care and Prevention Office and the Listening Office.

The report, currently available only in Spanish, identifies five areas requiring improvement: listening to and accompanying victims; recordkeeping; prevention; justice for victims; and reparation.

"Making reparation requires acknowledging the harm, accepting personal and institutional responsibility, and addressing the physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, and social needs of each victim," the commission emphasizes.

The pilot project

In a FAQ section about the report, the TC explains that this work is a pilot project because "it is the first time that a comprehensive methodology has been applied that can be replicated in other dioceses or ecclesial organizations."

"This first project has allowed us to test a methodology and a work system, based on professional listening, research in archives, conducting interviews with various audiences of interest, and media analysis and the sociocultural context of the country," it adds.

The Transparency Commission further specifies that the working methodology aims to "place victims at the center, protecting their rights, and guarantee due process for the accused," applying a clear standard of prudence to avoid "revictimizing a victim or blaming an innocent person."

The Transparency Commission also noted that "the Vatican has been kept informed of the work's progress at all times; both the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America are aware of the TC's work. Furthermore, some members of the commission work or have worked with both the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith."

The TC concludes by noting that anyone who has suffered abuse within the Church may, at any time, turn to the Archdiocese of Panama's Listening Office and file a report with the public prosecutor's office.

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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With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was "America's Apostle."

Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book "America's Apostle" on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop's beatification on Sept. 24.

"I think … the title is a perfect one — 'America's Apostle,' because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles," Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.

The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.

"[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet," Bunson said. "But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should."

Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called "The Catholic Hour" in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting "Life Is Worth Living." At its peak, Sheen's radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.

"Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal," Bunson said. "I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So it's perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called 'America's Apostle.'"

Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Bunson explained that Sheen "made a promise on the day of his ordination" that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, "Treasure in Clay," that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.

"He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to," Bunson said. "Because that's how seriously he took what he was saying."

"So as a communicator, it wasn't just communicating about himself," he said. "He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour."

"Fulton Sheen, pray for us," Bunson concluded.

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Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is set to become the first U.S.-born bishop to be beatified on Sept. 24 in St. Louis. Known for his innovative Catholic media ministry, Sheen spent several years after his ordination studying philosophy and theology in Europe — first in Leuven, Belgium, then in Paris and Rome.

His time in Rome would produce some of the most significant events in Sheen's life, including the completion of his doctorate, being consecrated a bishop, and attending the Second Vatican Council.

Here are some of Sheen's most important moments in the Eternal City:

Completing his doctorate at the Angelicum

Then-Father Sheen earned a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas — "the Angelicum," as it's known — in Rome after studying there from 1923-1924. That year, the Angelicum was located on the Via San Vitale before moving to its present location at the Church of Sts. Dominic and Sixtus in 1932.

In 1923, Pope Pius XI published his encyclical Studiorum Decem, praising the Angelicum's work in promoting the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose 600th canonization anniversary was also celebrated that year.

Meeting with Pope Pius XI

In 1935, Pius XI summoned Sheen to Rome for a private audience at the height of Sheen's fame from his NBC radio show "The Catholic Hour." The pope had made him a monsignor the previous year.

During their meeting, the pope, alarmed by the rise of Soviet communism, asked Sheen to study the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin and to use that study to warn Americans of the dangers of communism.

Sheen would respond to the pope's request by regularly explaining the dangers of communism throughout his public ministry.

Episcopal consecration

On May 28, 1951, Pope Pius XII appointed Sheen auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York, assisting its archbishop, Cardinal Francis Spellman. He received his episcopal consecration at the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul on June 11, 1951.

Sheen later became the bishop of Rochester, New York, in 1966 and the titular archbishop of Newport, Wales, in 1969.

National director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith

In 1950, the Vatican nominated Sheen as the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He would serve in this position for 16 years.

As national director, he was occasionally required to visit Rome, where he met privately with Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI, as well as other officials in the Roman Curia.

On May 21, 1961, John XXIII invited Sheen, as national director, to consecrate 14 new missionary bishops with him in St. Peter's Basilica.

Second Vatican Council

Sheen attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, which lasted from 1962–1965.

Father Joseph Ratzinger, a theological expert at the council who later became Pope Benedict XVI, met Sheen in 1965. In July 2012, as pope, he fondly recalled the days he spent working with Sheen and others in the Italian countryside, drafting the council's decree on the Church's missionary activity, Ad Gentes.

"There was Fulton Sheen who would fascinate us in the evenings with his talks," Benedict said, remembering some of those present during a week that was, for him, "spiritual enrichment, a great gift."

Shortly before that, Benedict recognized the heroic virtue of Sheen and declared him "venerable" in a decree on June 28, 2012.

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As the Church prepares for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on Sept. 24 in St. Louis, the bishop of Rockville Centre, New York, is reflecting on the significance of the moment in a new pastoral letter, calling Catholics to rediscover Sheen's witness to the missionary nature of the Church.

Bishop John O. Barres has a special connection to Sheen that goes back more than six decades: Sheen baptized Barres as an infant in 1960 at St. Augustine Church in Larchmont, New York — decades before Barres would become the bishop of the Long Island diocese.

In "The Beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and the Mission of the Catholic Church in the 21st Century," Barres looks back at Sheen's life, writings, pioneering use of radio and television, and reflects on how Sheen's legacy still impacts the Church today.

Beginning with his personal connection to Sheen, Barres shares that his baptism — which took place on Oct. 2, 1960 — came during the time his father, Oliver Barres, was working for Sheen as a writer for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, a Catholic organization dedicated to supporting the Church's missionary work around the world. Sheen served as the organization's national director from 1950 to 1966.

"When Archbishop Sheen baptized me at St. Augustine's Church, I can only imagine his riveting voice saying, 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,' as he poured water over my head in the presence of my parents, godparents, four older sisters and family friends," Barres writes in his pastoral letter.

He adds: "Providentially, Archbishop Sheen was not only baptizing me but, in a certain sense, sending me out as a future Successor of the Apostles and Diocesan Bishop on Catholic worldwide mission."

The missionary nature of the Catholic Church

Looking to Sheen's legacy, Barres says in his letter that every Catholic is called to mission and reflects on how Sheen embodied this call through his work, especially his use of technology.

Barres highlights a term Pope Leo XIV coined: "missionary conversion." The Holy Father has called Catholics to be missionaries that are constantly open to "missionary conversion" — bringing the Gospel into their families, parishes, workplaces, institutions, and the wider secular world.

With this idea in mind, Barres points to Sheen's ability to spread the Gospel through every medium available to him at the time.

"Whether speaking from a radio studio, standing before a television camera, teaching in a university classroom, or preaching from a pulpit, Archbishop Sheen's message remained the same: Jesus Christ," Barres says.

He adds that the beloved bishop had a "burning zeal for mission," which was the "heart of his ministry." These traits, he continues, "must be true of us."

"Each of us must respond generously to our baptismal call to holiness and mission and become vibrant instruments of missionary conversion in the daily life and mission of the Church. Mission fields abound. Starting within the home, they encompass the globe," Barres writes.

The bishop also suggests that Sheen would have embraced the emerging technologies of today, including artificial intelligence, but would insist these technologies not replace the human person.

Barres says: "Archbishop Sheen would have us turn with missionary boldness to this frontier and encourage us to use the emerging technologies of that world, including artificial intelligence, ethically and wherever they can serve the Church's global mission. Yet he would never allow the means to eclipse the person."

Therefore, Barres calls on Catholics to approach contemporary media with "confidence, creativity, seriousness, and charity," bringing the fullness of the Gospel into the spaces where people communicate and encounter ideas.

The beauty of the priesthood

The second major theme Barres in his pastoral letter draws from Sheen is the priesthood. He points to works such as "The Priest Is Not His Own," "Those Mysterious Priests," and "Treasure in Clay," in which Sheen reflected on the dignity, sacrifice, and struggles inherent in the priestly vocation.

One major point Barres reflects on is Sheen's willingness to acknowledge his own human weaknesses, saying it is meaningful for priests and seminarians to see that a man ultimately recognized for his holiness also understood the struggles that priests face.

"The struggle between acrimony and a priestly spirit of humility and magnanimity occurs in every priest's heart," Barres shares. "It is nice to know that a bishop and priest soon-to-be beatified struggled with what priests and bishops struggle with every day. It reminds us holiness is possible."

The second point he makes — which was a major aspect of Sheen's theology — is considering the Catholic priest as the victim on the cross, united to Jesus.

"Only a priest who understands how an existential embrace of the Cross in all its mystery is critical to the living out of the ontological change that occurred in his being at his priestly ordination can embrace and live his priestly identity and mission," Barres writes.

As Sheen's beatification approaches, Barres says he sees it as an opportunity for priests to "rediscover his compelling vision of the priest as victim: one who is united with Christ not only as Shepherd but also as the Lamb who offers himself for the life of the flock."

Additionally, Barres says he hopes Sheen's intercession will help bring about "a new and creative Pentecost in Catholic missionary communications," allowing Catholics to proclaim the faith with "renewed confidence, imagination, clarity, and love."

Barres' pastoral letter can be read in full here.

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Pope Leo XIV appealed on Wednesday to "everyone's sense of responsibility" to protect migrant and refugee minors, stressing that children and teenagers are the most vulnerable and often endure "unspeakable suffering."

"Children and teenagers are the most vulnerable," he said at the end of his weekly general audience, recalling that the World Day of Migrants and Refugees will be celebrated on Sunday, Sept. 27.

Following his catechesis in St. Peter's Square, the pontiff noted that many minors endure "unspeakable suffering: violence, torture, exploitation, traumatic conditions, and it is not uncommon for them to lose their lives along migration routes."

In light of this reality, he called for ensuring the protection and support of young migrants.

"I appeal to everyone's sense of responsibility: Let us all feel a sense of involvement in the lives of these young people, who must always be protected and supported," Leo XIV urged.

The Church celebrates the World Day of Migrants and Refugees each year to raise awareness about the situation of displaced persons and to promote initiatives of welcome, integration, and accompaniment, with particular attention to those in the most vulnerable circumstances.

In his message for this year's World Day of Migrants and Refugees, titled "Even Just One of These Children," Pope Leo XIV insisted that "public and private institutions are obliged to place the protection and dignity of every migrant child and adolescent at the center" of their efforts.

Progress is not opposed to Christian faith

In his catechesis, the pope challenged the "prejudice" that portrays scientific and technological progress as being opposed to the Christian faith and warned of the "tragedy of atheistic humanism" described by French Jesuit Cardinal Henri de Lubac.

"In post-Christian humanisms, the human being and God are mistakenly presented as rivals: In order to assert his knowledge, his freedom, and his progress, man would have to emancipate himself from God. Ultimately, however, by denying the relationship with God, one also loses the possibility of affirming the transcendent value of the human person," the pontiff said in St. Peter's Square.

According to Leo, this interpretation "has brought about a change in the way contemporary man views the world, compared with previous ages," opening the door to a "prejudice" that prevails especially in that part of Western culture that has lost its reference to Christian revelation.

As part of his reflections on the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, the Holy Father invited the faithful to ask: "What is the value of human activity in the world, and therefore of technical, social, and scientific progress?"

"Created in the image and likeness of God, the human being is the agent of progress. With freedom and intelligence, he increases his knowledge, thereby advancing society as a whole," he explained.

Pope Leo XIV also said: "Humanity — and with it work, progress, and the autonomy of created realities — is not absorbed or nullified by the encounter with God but rather taken up in its entirety, continuing to be, in Christ, free and active: Indeed, it is in him that it finds full truth and freedom."

Addressing the pilgrims gathered in the square, the pope said: "Christians, like everyone else, are involved in building the city of man, striving towards the end of all things and the encounter with God, and reminding those with whom they share the adventure of progress, science, and life of this ultimate purpose."

He added, however, that earthly progress must be clearly distinguished from the development of Christ's kingdom.

"Finally, let us recall that in order to become authentic human progress — that is, progress for the whole person and for all people — technical and scientific progress must be inspired and guided by charity. Only in this way can it always be placed in the service of human dignity and promote the living conditions of all, especially the most disadvantaged," the pope concluded.

This story was first published in two parts 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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Sri Lanka's High Court has sentenced 15 men to prison terms of 200 to 260 years for their roles in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The convictions are the first directly tied to the attacks on three churches and three hotels that killed 279 people.

A three-judge bench in Colombo delivered the verdict Sept. 22 after a nearly five-year trial involving 23,270 charges, LiCAS.news reported. Fourteen defendants were convicted on all counts, including murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and possession of firearms and explosives under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Nine were acquitted, while a 15th was convicted on some counts. The court also ordered the confiscation of the convicts' property.

According to the sentencing list published by Sri Lanka Mirror, one defendant received 260 years, four received 240 years, five received 220 years, and five received 200 years. Prosecutors identified Mohamed Naufar, an Islamist preacher, as the ringleader who supported the suicide bombers, and he received 220 years.

The dead included 45 foreign nationals, among them five U.S. citizens, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Father Jude Krishantha Fernando, director of mass communications for the Archdiocese of Colombo, welcomed the ruling but said those convicted "represented only one part of the case," Newswire reported. He also called for scrutiny of whether intelligence and security officials had enough information to prevent the attacks.

"Finally, we have justice," Fernando told Agence France-Presse. "It has taken a long time to get to this point."

Church presses for a full accounting

For years, the Church has pressed to identify those who ordered the attacks. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo called the 2020 release of several suspects "sad and unfortunate," and Pope Francis urged Sri Lankan authorities in 2022 to clarify "definitively who was responsible."

In February 2026, police arrested former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay, and the archdiocese asked that the investigation proceed "unhindered from any quarters." Sallay denies the allegations.

In July, former police chief Pujith Jayasundara and former defense secretary Hemasiri Fernando were sentenced to death for failing to act on intelligence warnings. In August, Ranjith said the Church "cannot support capital punishment because it violates human dignity," Radio Veritas Asia reported.

In 2025, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints added the 167 Catholics killed in the bombings to its list of "Witnesses of Faith."

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