Catholic News

The Vatican will receive representatives of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) following the traditionalist group's announcement that it plans to consecrate new bishops without permission from Rome — a move that could incur automatic excommunication of all bishops involved and deepen the group's rupture with the Catholic Church.

The Vatican meeting will take place Feb. 12 at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and will be led by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the dicastery. The SSPX delegation will be led by its superior general, Father Davide Pagliarani, 55.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said "the meeting will be an opportunity for an informal and personal dialogue, which may help identify effective instruments of dialogue that could lead to positive outcomes," according to the official outlet Vatican News.

At present, only a meeting with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is planned, and it is not known whether Pope Leo XIV will also receive the SSPX superior general.

In a Feb. 5 communiqué, the SSPX encouraged members and faithful to accompany the upcoming meeting with prayer.

French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the SSPX in 1970 in opposition to some teachings of the Second Vatican Council, including those on religious freedom and the Church's relations with other faiths. The society celebrates exclusively the traditional Latin Mass, using the liturgical books in force prior to the postconciliar reforms.

In 1988, Lefebvre ordained four bishops in defiance of an explicit order from St. John Paul II, resulting in the excommunication of all those involved. Lefebvre died in 1991 without having reconciled with Rome. Twenty-one years later, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunications of the surviving bishops.

Pope Francis later authorized SSPX priests to hear confessions and witness marriages in a further attempt to foster reconciliation with the group. The society remains in an irregular canonical situation.

The SSPX has announced that the planned consecrations will take place on July 1, the anniversary of the 1988 decree signed by John Paul II excommunicating Archbishop Lefebvre.

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 official break with major medical organizations in the U.S., the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) issued a position statement this week recommending that due to the "low certainty" of benefit, plastic surgeons should delay surgeries related to treating gender dysphoria in children — including breast and chest, genital, and facial surgeries — until a patient is at least 19 years old.

In its Feb. 3 statement, the ASPS, which represents more than 11,000 plastic surgeons, or 90% of those in the U.S. and Canada, said there is "insufficient evidence demonstrating a favorable risk-benefit ratio for the pathway of gender-related endocrine and surgical interventions in children and adolescents."

The group also cited low certainty of long-term benefits, the likelihood of potential harms, and the irreversible nature of surgeries in a developmentally vulnerable population.

The procedures, which supporters call "gender-affirming care," include surgeries to remove or reconstruct healthy genitals to make them resemble those of the opposite sex.

They also include chest procedures that remove the healthy breasts on girls or implant prosthetic breasts on boys and facial surgeries that attempt to feminize boys and masculinize girls.

According to the ASPS statement, the recommendation is based on a review of evidence including the 2024 Cass Review from the United Kingdom and a 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. report detailed the lack of evidence to support such procedures for minors along with the potential for irreversible harm. The report came out one year after the Cass Review arrived at similar conclusions, which led to the near-total restriction of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors in the United Kingdom. Surgeries for minors have been banned there for longer.

In July 2024, the ASPS first broke with the consensus of all major medical associations in the U.S. — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the American Psychological Association — when it cited the evidence as "low quality" for the benefits of so-called "gender-affirming care" for minors in a statement to City Journal.

"This position statement is not a retroactive judgment but a forward-looking response to evolving evidence," the Feb. 3 statement reads.

The ASPS emphasized that its position statement is not a clinical practice guideline, however, "given the current state of the evidence and variability in legal and regulatory environments."

Instead, the group encourages its members to use their "personal and professional judgment" as they "balance compassion with scientific rigor, developmental considerations, and concern for long-term welfare" of their patients.

Alfonso Oliva, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon and a board member at the Catholic Medical Association, told EWTN News that he welcomes the statement, but it does not go far enough.

"It goes a long way to try to protect adolescents from harm," he said, "but I would like to see it go through age 25, which is when the young adult brain is completely formed, so they'd have better decision-making ability."

"At least by 19 we're not going to transition children who would desist when cared for and loved and counseled appropriately," he continued.

Oliva said it is "almost impossible to pick out which adolescents will persist in their gender dysphoria into adulthood and which will desist" and that according to the evidence, "most adolescents who have gender dysphoria will over time, on their own, desist."

"It makes more sense to treat them through psychotherapy primarily, rather than irreversibly change their physical biology and possibly prevent them from a normal adulthood in terms of sexual function and reproduction," he said.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz, and other officials applauded ASPS for the new position in a news release published by the health department.

"We commend [ASPS] for standing up to the over-medicalization lobby and defending sound science," Kennedy said. "By taking this stand, they are helping protect future generations of American children from irreversible harm."

Oz said the move places ASPS "on the right side of history," adding: "When the medical ethics textbooks of the future are written, they'll look back on sex-rejecting procedures for minors the way we look back on lobotomies."

In a statement this week, meanwhile, the American Medical Association told media that the "evidence for gender-affirming surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement."

But the group said it "agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 to prevent hospitals from performing those procedures on children, calling it "surgical mutilation." The ban, which also prohibited "chemical mutilation" with cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers, threatened to block Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals that perform the procedures on minors.

Oliva said he thinks "part of the motivation for the position statement is to limit the legal liability of its members."

Referring to the $2 million awarded by a New York jury in a medical malpractice suit this week to Fox Varian, a young woman who detransitioned after having a double mastectomy at age 16, Oliva said it is "not a coincidence that the ASPS issued the statement this week as they recognize there are lots of other lawsuits coming down the line."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has repeatedly opposed doctors performing such procedures on children. Last year, in response to Trump's executive order on the procedures, USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth chairman Bishop Robert Barron welcomed the federal restrictions.

"So many young people who have been victims of this ideological crusade have profound regrets over its life-altering consequences, such as infertility and lifelong dependence on costly hormone therapies that have significant side effects," Barron said at the time.

"It is unacceptable that our children are encouraged to undergo destructive medical interventions instead of receiving access to authentic and bodily-unitive care," he said.

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Pope Leo XIV on Thursday voiced deep concern at a "lack of progress in protecting children from danger" as he met with the organizing committee of the initiative "From Crisis to Care: Catholic Action for Children."

Addressing participants gathered to advance proposals stemming from last year's International Summit on Children's Rights, convened by Pope Francis, Leo said: "It is indeed a tragedy that the children and youth of our world, the ones Jesus wanted to come to him, are so often deprived of care and access to the basic necessities of life."

He added that children "frequently have few opportunities for achieving their God-given potential" and warned that the situation "has not improved during the past year."

"One must question whether global commitments for sustainable development have been cast aside when we see in our global human family that so many children still live in extreme poverty, suffer abuse, and are forcibly displaced, not to mention that they lack proper education and are isolated or separated from their families," the pope said.

Leo recalled Pope Francis' teaching in Amoris Laetitia on the child's "right to receive love from a mother and a father; both are necessary for a child's integral and harmonious development" and urged continued defense of "the profound vision of life as a gift to be cherished and of the family as its responsible guardian."

He thanked participants for advocating for children, telling them: "First, you are speaking on behalf of those who have no voice. This is a truly noble task." Acknowledging discouragement that can come from "failed initiatives" or "seeming lack of interest," he encouraged them: "Let the good you know you are doing carry you forward."

The pope also emphasized the need to address children's "transversal needs," which "can easily go unnoticed when care is focused on just one area of need." He noted the committee members' varied charisms and specializations, while urging greater collaboration "so that children receive care that is well balanced, taking into consideration their physical, psychological, and spiritual welfare."

Leo said several Vatican bodies and religious superiors' unions are accompanying the effort, and he encouraged participants "to develop concrete steps and action plans to address the transversal needs of children."

In closing, he recalled Pope Francis' insistence on listening to children and cited a message presented to Francis at last year's summit: "Together with you, we want to cleanse the world of bad things, color it with friendship and respect, and help you build a beautiful future for everyone!"

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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A Filipino bishop said human trafficking is a significant problem in the country driven by poverty, illegal recruitment, online abuse, and growing dangers facing migrants, women, and children.

Bishop Socrates Mesiona of Puerto Princesa, chairman of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People within the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, issued a four-page pastoral message for the National Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking on Feb. 1 that served as a "call to the conscience of the entire nation."

He urged all parishes nationwide to intensify their anti-trafficking efforts, particularly by increasing awareness, educating the public, and providing support for the protection of vulnerable individuals.

False promises

Twelve of the country's 87 dioceses have established Diocesan Committees Against Human Trafficking (DCAHT) to ensure coordinated responses.

To provide a more efficient response to cases of human trafficking in every diocese, it is necessary for DCAHTs to have "coordinated prevention, protection, referral, and advocacy efforts," Mesiona stressed.

"False promises, deceptive recruitment, misleading online messages, and the exploitation of desperation and silence are how human trafficking is carried out," he said.

"We are obligated to pay attention to the cries of those who are impoverished, to safeguard those who are vulnerable, and to confront the mechanisms that enable exploitation to continue," the prelate said.

Mesiona stated that "human trafficking is not merely a social problem; it is a profound moral concern that calls for the conversion of hearts and the transformation of systems."

There are many different types of exploitation that occur in the Philippines, such as illegal recruitment, forced labor, sexual exploitation, and the growing issue of internet abuse, which includes abuse committed against women and children.

"The occurrences described here are not singular occurrences. They reflect more fundamental societal problems that call for a reaction that is both immediate and ongoing," he said.

According to him, "peace begins with dignity," and he went on to say that human trafficking not only destroys the lives of individuals but also destroys families, communities, and the moral conscience of society.

Additionally, Mesiona urged all parishes, institutions, and organizations to take part in prevention by establishing secure environments for the acquisition of knowledge, the maintenance of vigilance, and the protection of susceptible individuals.

The bishop asked parishes to collaborate with diocesan programs that are working to combat human trafficking and to place an emphasis on education, the utilization of social media, and activities that are geared toward youth training.

The prelate said: "We call on parishes to become spaces of vigilance, education, and protection." He also urged the incorporation of awareness into catechesis, youth activities, and the formation of families.

Prayer must be followed by action, according to Mesiona. "Awareness must move us toward responsibility, and faith must lead us to action."

While reiterating the Church's commitment to its mission, he highlighted the importance of strong government leadership in the fight against human trafficking, along with civil society groups and others. This leadership must include law enforcement, victim protection, and policies that are founded on human dignity.

"Our nation continues to be impacted by various forms of exploitation, such as the illegal recruitment of individuals, the use of forced labor, sexual exploitation, and the growing threat of online abuse, particularly involving children," he said.

In addition to causing harm to families and communities, human trafficking also undermines the moral fabric of the nation, Mesiona said.

The bishop emphasized that the Church is unable to undertake everything alone.

"The responsibility to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and hold perpetrators accountable rests primarily on the state," with laws and public policies playing a significant role in protecting citizens.

Encouraging dialogue, accountability, and coordinated action for the common good is a "shared national call" that extends an invitation to the government and the Church to work together to mark the National Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking.

Mesiona asked the government to tighten its implementation of anti-trafficking laws, improve cooperation between different government agencies, guarantee that recruitment processes are regulated, and protect victims while addressing the main causes of trafficking, which include poverty, inequality, and a lack of decent economic opportunities.

Sex tourism and slavery

The Philippines witnesses about 100,000 children being trafficked each year, even though prostitution is illegal.

According to a study by Fanstats, an online content creation database, "the underground sex market operates widely in Manila and other cities," with tourists openly offering sex services despite legal prohibitions.

The International Justice Mission conducted a study in 2022 that found that almost half a million Filipino children were trafficked to make child sexual exploitation material that was meant to make a quick profit on misery.

A study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 2022 found that 20% of kids aged 12 to 17 were at risk of being sexually abused and exploited online, and 23% of kids kept quiet about the awful things that happened to them.

In 2024, the Philippine government's Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking reported 890 trafficking victims, 545 of whom were sex trafficking victims.

The 2023 Global Slavery Index showed that about 860,000 people in the Philippines were trapped in modern slavery conditions that included sex trafficking.

The Philippines has also kept its Tier 1 status in the U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, which shows that the country is still working hard to stop trafficking even though it faces problems.

Sister Elizabeth V. Pedernal, national coordinator of Talitha Kum Philippines, a network against human trafficking, said different forms of human trafficking and exploitation cases are not being reported in many parts of the country.

Given the scenario, all need to be more vigilant and fight for the value of human dignity of all, especially women, children, and vulnerable people, said Pedernal, a member of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo-Scalabrinians.

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For more than 50 years, Father Luigi Paggi has lived and worked among some of Bangladesh's most marginalized people, building schools, teaching girls, and waging a quiet war against a practice that has claimed countless young lives: child marriage.

The 77-year-old Italian Xaverian missionary has made it his life's work to empower the Munda Indigenous community in coastal Bangladesh, teaching girls a simple but revolutionary principle: "Disobedience is life."

"Among the various superstitions the tribal Munda are affected by, a major one was the tendency to force their daughters into premature marriage," Paggi told EWTN News from his mission in Ishwaripur, Satkhira district, about 217 miles south of Dhaka near the Sundarbans mangrove forests.

"The tribals used to think that the sooner a girl is married off, the better it is for the girl and the family. Girls were married off between the ages of 8 and 12," he said.

Paggi, a member of the Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions, arrived in Bangladesh in 1975, three years after his priestly ordination. After serving as an assistant pastor in Satkhira from 1975 to 1980, he spent the next two decades working among the lower-caste Rishi Hindu community, helping them discover their dignity and rights.

"I helped them to discover and to study the Moses of the Dalits, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, and to become his disciples and start some kind of a peaceful protest in order to get their place in civil society," Paggi recalled.

In 2002, he turned his attention to the Munda people, a small Indigenous community living at the edge of the Sundarbans forest. What he discovered alarmed him: Unlike other communities, the Munda had significantly fewer women than men — a demographic imbalance caused by girls dying from complications of early motherhood.

Paggi declared what he calls a "kind of war" against child marriage. He traveled from village to village on motorcycle along narrow, brick-paved coastal roads, raising awareness among girls about the dangers of early marriage.

He built a hostel where he teaches about 20 to 30 boys and girls, and established pre-primary schools in Munda villages. But his most powerful tool has been his message of resistance.

"When we started this campaign against this culture of child marriage, we had a special teaching: 'Disobedience is life,'" Paggi said.

The strategy has worked. Several girls have been saved from child marriage and have gone on to receive education. Some are now teachers, others work in private institutions or nongovernmental development organizations.

One of them is Minati Munda, 30, an Indigenous woman who now works as a teacher at a Caritas Bangladesh Trust technical institution after completing her bachelor's degree in civil technology.

"Father Luigi gave me a second life," said Munda, who fled her family's plans to marry her off as a young girl and came to the hostel run by Paggi. "When I was young, my family wanted to get me married off, so I left home and came to the father in the hostel and studied there."

Munda, who follows traditional Indigenous religion, worked for years from the hostel with other girls to prevent child marriage in villages, saving many young lives. She eventually became the first Christian from that area to accept Christianity through baptism given by Paggi.

"Father Luigi has brought light to my life. Father Luigi has done the responsibility that my parents could not do for me. I am grateful to Father Luigi," Munda said.

A childhood in Italy

Born July 26, 1948, in Sorico, a small village in northwestern Italy near the Italy-Switzerland border, Luigi Paggi joined the diocesan seminary of Como after primary school, spending six years there before joining the Xaverian Missionaries and continuing his studies.

He was ordained a priest in 1972.

After coming to Bangladesh, Paggi initially did pastoral work. From 1980 to the early 2000s, he worked among the lower-caste Rishi community — cobblers and sweepers — educating them and making them aware of their rights. Some educated members of that community later converted to Christianity, forming what has become a subcenter of Khulna Diocese.

Paggi began working among the Munda people in 2002 and has been serving that community for more than two decades. He has traveled to various Munda villages on a motorcycle along narrow and brick-paved coastal roads, falling several times. Now he can no longer walk as he once did.

The priest admitted that not much has changed among the Munda, but more time is needed.

Despite spending more than half a century in Bangladesh, Paggi said he wants to return to his home country at the end of his life.

"My wish is to return to my country and die in my paternal house and be buried in my native village," he said.

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Representatives from the U.S. and African bishops' conferences convened in Washington, D.C., during a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill this week in a display of solidarity as religious freedom in Nigeria continues to come into sharper focus. 

Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of the Yola Diocese in northeast Nigeria concelebrated a Mass on Feb. 4 for solidarity between the bishops and faithful of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and Africa alongside Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, Illinois, who was the main celebrant.

"The Church in the United States and the Church in Africa are not two separate entities. They are two lungs of the same body, breathing the same spirit," Mamza said during his homily at the Mass, which took place at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. "When African bishops speak courageously about war, poverty, corruption, or threats to human dignity, their voices echo in American dioceses. When American bishops defend the sanctity of life, advocate for migrants, or confront the culture of individualism, their witness strengthens the Church in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Congo, and beyond." 

Mamza, who is the first vice president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) representing the English-speaking countries, told EWTN News English that he has been in Washington this week to mark the release of a joint Feb. 2 statement between SECAM and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offering guidance on how to strengthen solidarity among bishops and faithful of Africa and the U.S.

"The reason for this statement, in the first place, is not political, it is not economical," he said in the interview. "This statement is as people of the same faith, the same baptism, the same Church as Catholics."

"We know we have a lot of problems in Africa," he acknowledged, "and we need the support of the U.S. as a Church … It is a broad collaboration that we hope to have that will continue with the USCCB."

Zaidan also weighed in on the necessity of celebrating a Mass in solidarity with Africa, noting that while "the human side is important in the relationship" between the U.S. and Africa, "since we are a Church, God is God, and he deserves our best first."

The Mass, he said, "is a sign of unity" with the Church around the world, because in the Mass, "God brings us together."

"Asking for divine providence to the intercession of the Blessed Mary of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the United States, we wanted to place our faith, hope, and pledge our love also to the Mass as well," Zaidan added. "This is the reason [for] the solidarity Mass."

Reflecting on the day's reading from the Gospel of Mark, Mamza noted during his homily how Jesus "was amazed" at the "lack of faith" (Mk 6:6) from the people of Nazareth, his hometown. "Today, we proclaim this Gospel in a very particular context: a solidarity Mass uniting the bishops of Africa and the bishops of the United States of America," he said, describing the Gospel episode as "a mirror held up to the Church today."

Five bishops — including Zaidan, Mamza, Malloy, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, and Bishop Jerome Feudjio of the Virgin Islands — were present at the Mass, as well as nine priests.

Mamza warned that often "we can become accustomed to our own ways of worship, governance, theology, and pastoral practice that we fail to recognize the Spirit speaking through voices that sound different from our own."

The Catholic Churches in the U.S. and in Africa "come from different histories, cultures, and ecclesial experiences," he said, emphasizing Africa's vibrance and communal resilience in the face of poverty and persecution, and the U.S. Church's offerings in theological scholarship, institutional resources, and "long experience engaging pluralistic societies."

Yet, he said, "we are, in truth, co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord." Solidarity between the Church in the U.S. and Africa are not grounded in economics or politics, the bishop emphasized, but in faith.

"At the foot of the cross stood people from different places, different experiences, and different wounds — but under the cross, they became one. So too, under the cross, the bishops of the United States and Africa are called to stand together," he said, concluding: "Solidarity between the Catholic bishops of the United States and African bishops deepens faith, mission, justice, and unity within the Church. It strengthens both regions by promoting mutual respect, shared responsibility, and a common commitment to serving humanity in the light of the Gospel."

The Mass for solidarity came amid the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., and the subsequent annual Capitol Hill Advocacy Day, which included a congressional hearing on religious freedom around the world that focused heavily on Nigeria.

The Feb. 4 Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing chaired by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, included testimony from former Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, who described Nigeria as "the deadliest place to be a Christian." Brownback warned against the Nigerian government seeking help from countries like China, which he said has utilized "billions of dollars to suppress people of faith" and has freely shared its resources for oppression with other dictatorships.

Discussing U.S. policy on Nigeria under the Trump administration, Brownback emphasized the need for the reinstatement of foreign aid and called recent strikes on Nigeria "a mistake," saying the funds used to carry out the strike most likely exceeded the amount of aid that was previously distributed to interreligious aid organizations.

The former ambassador further stressed the need for country of particular concern (CPC) designations to come with more "bite," such as targeted sanctions, in order to be taken seriously by countries found guilty of religious freedom violations.

Smith expressed thanks to the Trump administration for redesignating Nigeria as a CPC but also stress that "we cannot take our eye off the ball."

"Christians in the Middle Belt are still being massacred," he said, noting "a culture of denial by Nigerian officials persists."

"More than ever before, vigorous U.S. leadership and diplomacy are needed to address religious freedom violations globally and end persecution of Christians and all other vulnerable religious groups," Smith said.

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Several Wisconsin residents have been named in a federal indictment related to an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving a Catholic Charities group.

The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, accuses Brandi Ellis, Jason Flanders, Ramon Hernandez, and Jezlia Barajas of participating in an effort to defraud Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee over the course of several years.

Ellis was already the subject of a May 2025 lawsuit from the archdiocese that accused her of deploying credit card fraud and fake invoices to steal millions of dollars. That lawsuit is still playing out in court.

In the federal indictment, filed on Feb. 3, a grand jury accuses Ellis and the three others of participating in a broad effort to defraud the organization.

Flanders allegedly fraudulently issued checks to himself, while the indictment claims that Ellis issued checks to Barajas and Hernandez "under the false pretenses that [they] performed work" for the charity when they had not.

The alleged scheme partly involved converting fraudulent checks into cash, according to the grand jury. Some of the checks were issued to businesses in order to "conceal and disguise" the fraud.

The money allegedly stolen from the charity was transferred between Wisconsin "and other states," the indictment alleges.

In addition to fraud charges, the indictment alleges a scheme to lie to law enforcement and federal investigators regarding the payments.

The indictment, signed by U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel, identifies hundreds of thousands of dollars it said will be forfeited in the event of convictions.

In addition to suing its ex-accountant, the Catholic charity last year also sued the Madison, Wisconsin-based financial services firm Baker Tilly over allegedly failing to identify the fraudulent activity as part of auditing services it provided to the Catholic organization.

The accounting group "failed to recognize clearly fraudulent purchasing activity," the suit alleges, and further relied on "internal documents generated by … Brandi Ellis" rather than independently verified third-party data, the suit claimed.

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Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on Christians to remove prejudices and "disarm" their hearts in order to strengthen bonds of unity in Christ and advance the cause of Christian communion.

The pope made the appeal while receiving priests and monks from the Oriental Orthodox Churches who are participating in a study visit to Rome organized by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Greeting representatives of the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Malankara, and Syriac Orthodox Churches in the Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo said the historic and cultural differences among the churches form "a wonderful mosaic of our shared Christian heritage."

At the same time, he emphasized the need for a concrete commitment to communion, saying: "We should continue to support each other, so that we may grow in our shared faith in Christ, who is the ultimate source of our peace."

The pope recalled that the Church recently celebrated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, whose theme was taken from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. Citing the apostle's words, he noted the biblical foundation of Christian unity: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling."

Reflecting on the missionary activity of St. Paul, Pope Leo said the apostle became aware of the particularities of each Christian community, including "their ethnicity, customs, as well as the challenges and concerns." At the same time, Paul recognized the risk that communities could become too inward-looking.

As a result, the pope said, St. Paul consistently reminded believers that they were part of "the one mystical body of Christ," encouraging them "to support one another and maintain the unity of faith and teachings that reflect the transcendent nature and oneness of God."

Pope Leo stressed that authentic ecumenical progress requires an inner conversion, invoking Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, a pioneer of the ecumenical movement. Quoting his prayer, the pope said: "I am disarmed of the need to be right, to justify myself by judging others," by waging "the hardest war, the war against myself."

"When we remove the prejudices we carry within ourselves and disarm our hearts, we grow in charity, work more closely together, and strengthen our bonds of unity in Christ," the pope said.

He added that in this way, Christian unity becomes "a leaven for peace on earth and reconciliation of all."

Pope Leo also noted that the study visit had been mutually enriching, saying it had been "a blessing to all those who have met you here, enabling them to learn more about your churches."

Renewing his gratitude for the visit, the pope assured the participants of his prayers and invoked the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary upon them and their communities.

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 president of the Right to Life group at the University of Notre Dame — who was adopted from China as a child — is speaking out against the appointment of an outspoken abortion advocate.

Anna Kelley, along with eight other club board members of Notre Dame Right to Life — a group with more than 700 members — in a Feb. 3 letter called on the university to rescind the appointment of Susan Ostermann.

Ostermann, currently an associate professor of global affairs at Notre Dame, was recently named director of the Keough School of Global Affairs' Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, which funds projects for justice in Asia. She has already faced criticism for her pro-abortion writing and previously served as a consultant for the Population Council, an agency centered on contraception, abortion access, and population control.

Citing Ostermann's published writings, the Right to Life board said in its letter that the professor has advocated for anti-life causes "in an inflammatory way."

"Within the context of 11 op-ed pieces, she has referred to laws respecting the sanctity of life as based in 'white supremacy' and 'racism,'" Kelley and the other students noted in the letter.

"Notre Dame cannot claim to maintain its Catholic identity while simultaneously promoting someone whose public advocacy is in such direct contradiction to the faith," the students said.

The students also criticized her affiliation with the Population Council, a group that supports contraception, abortion, and population control.

"Her work as a member of the Population Council, an organization that collaborated with the Chinese government to promote abortion, contraception, and the enforcement of the one-child policy, violates the dignity of human life," the students continued.

Kelley was born in China when the one-child policy was in effect. From 1980 to 2015, China restricted most families from having more than one child, sometimes by means of forced abortions, sterilizations, and high fines.

"As a Catholic adoptee from China, I take personal offense at this appointment," Kelley said. "I am so blessed to have escaped the fate that Professor Ostermann's work has inflicted on so many innocent Chinese lives."

"Because I have been given the gift of life, I am choosing to speak out with my own testimony to bring attention to the real-life consequences that her ideology promotes," Kelly continued.

Alejandra Ricardo, another Right to Life board member and a senior at the university, said the board is "concerned with this appointment because Professor Ostermann has publicly rejected the vital truth that every human being possesses inherent dignity and the right to life through her works."

"In her writings, she publicly advocates for policies that contradict the magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church as well as the institutional statement of our university," Ricardo told EWTN News. 

"Yet, though we signed our call to action as the executive board, our worry is grounded in our dedication to the mission of Our Lady's university," Ricardo continued. "As her students, we are committed to the pursuit of truth, and this pursuit is futile if we do not seek to promote and uphold the fundamental truth that human life is sacred at all stages, from conception to natural death."

Ostermann did not deny her abortion stance but told EWTN News that she holds "respect" for the university's mission.

"I am fully committed to maintaining an environment of academic freedom where a plurality of voices can flourish," Ostermann said in a statement shared with EWTN News. "I have long worked with scholars who hold diverse views on a multitude of issues, and I welcome the opportunity to continue doing so."

"While I hold my own convictions on complex social and legal issues, I want to be clear: My role is to support the diverse research of our scholars and students, not to advance a personal political agenda," she continued.

"This commitment to academic inquiry and mutual respect is deeply rooted in my appreciation for Notre Dame's identity as a global Catholic research university," Ostermann said. "I am inspired by the university's focus on integral human development, which calls us to promote the dignity and flourishing of every person. I respect Notre Dame's institutional position on the sanctity of life at every stage."

Father Bill Miscamble, a Holy Cross priest and Notre Dame professor emeritus of history, publicly opposed the appointment in a letter to the editor published Jan. 30 in The Observer.

In the letter, Miscamble questioned if Ostermann would be "prepared to retract her view that the pro-life movement is associated with white supremacy."

Concluding that she has not yet done so, Miscamble called her appointment "untenable."

"[T]he lack of judgment as well as the failure to uphold Notre Dame's Catholic mission demonstrated by those responsible for this disgraceful appointment must raise serious questions about their own suitability for the positions they presently occupy," Miscamble wrote.

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A new podcast titled "Catholics & Cappuccinos" is premiering on Feb. 5 on EWTN+, EWTN's brand-new streaming platform that brings high-quality Catholic content to audiences.

"Catholics & Cappuccinos" is hosted by Catholic actress and comedian Siobhan Fallon Hogan, known for her roles in "Forrest Gump," "Men in Black," and "Seinfeld." The podcast blends humor, celebrity interviews, and faith as Hogan explores how Catholicism has shaped the lives of her guests.

In the first episode, Hogan sits down with actor Jonathan Roumie, best known for his role portraying Jesus in "The Chosen." Other episodes will include conversations with Patricia Heaton, Kevin James, Federico Castelluccio, Sister of Life Mary Gabriel, Father Michael Duffy, and many more.

Hogan told EWTN News that after being asked by Peter Gagnon, president of EWTN Studios, if she'd be interested in doing a podcast, her husband gave her the idea to focus the podcast on interviewing other Catholics about their faith journeys.

"So, we have celebrities and religious and people that are Catholic come on and talk about their journeys as Catholics and how their faith has impacted their lives, their families, [and] their careers," Hogan told EWTN News in an interview.

Raised in a large Catholic, Irish-American family, Hogan has spoken openly about the role her faith plays in her personal and professional life and the joy it brings her, which is something she wanted to highlight in the podcast.

"I think there's so much joy in the Catholic Church and that's what I wanted to bring out," she said.

She added that her own faith was "impacted hugely" by sitting down to have these conversations.

"It's just really inspiring to see how people really make their faith the first priority … you learn from these people to step up your game," Hogan added.

The actress pointed out that having not only celebrities join her but also religious men and women as well provides the opportunity to "get brilliant theology, brilliant perspectives, from all types, and not only entertain, but like myself, I'm being educated by these people, and show the joy of Catholicism but also show that we all need to raise the bar."

Hogan hopes the listeners will feel "inspired and given hope and joy" after tuning in.

EWTN+ also recently launched "Seeking Beauty," a first-of-its-kind adventure documentary series hosted by David Henrie that explores culture, architecture, food, art, and music, and aims to point viewers to the beautiful — and ultimately to the divine.

"These new productions reflect a fresh, creative chapter for EWTN Studios," Gagnon said in a press release. "'Seeking Beauty' and 'Catholics & Cappuccinos' show how faith-based storytelling can be vibrant, entertaining, and deeply meaningful. We're excited to collaborate with talented artists who bring authenticity and heart to these projects."

EWTN+ is available for free on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Google TV. It can also be accessed through ewtn.com.

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