Catholic News

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 ruled that states can bar men from competing in women's sporting leagues, dealing a blow to LGBT activists who have advocated for allowing men who "identify" as women to join female teams.

The court ruled in a consolidated set of cases out of Idaho and West Virginia that federal Title IX rules permit schools to "provide separate women's and men's sports teams defined by biological sex," meaning schools can prohibit men from playing on women's teams even if those men believe they are women.

The court had taken up the issue in July 2025 when it agreed to hear the two cases, which arose after the two states moved to block males from playing on female sports teams.

Both cases arose from lawsuits brought by, or on behalf of, young men who identify as female and who sued against the states' respective bans on males competing in females' sports.

In the June 30 ruling, the court rejected arguments from the plaintiffs that Title IX requires schools to let males play in women's leagues. The court said "safety and competitive fairness" are "important interests" for equal protection concerns, and sex-separated teams are "substantially related" to furthering those interests.

Schools "may determine eligibility for women's and girls' sports based on biological sex," the court said.

The ruling was divided largely 6-3, though three of the court's four female justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — filed partial concurring opinions.

Sotomayor wrote that though she was sympathetic to concerns of fairness in women's sports, the ruling "inflicts a hardship" on athletes who identify as the opposite sex.

She argued that the U.S. Constitution requires a "fair and full opportunity" for the plaintiffs to litigate the dispute. However, she said the Supreme Court's decision treats the issue as a "winner-takes-all" situation and makes it too easy for sex-based rules to be upheld without enough careful review.

Jackson, meanwhile, argued that definitions of "sex" in Title IX rules includes the concept of "gender identity." A law banning male participation in female sports "might well run afoul" of those regulations, she said.

In September 2025, Lindsay Hecox — the plaintiff in the Idaho case — asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the challenge to that state's law. Idaho moved to oppose the dismissal; a U.S. district judge ultimately ruled against the request, claiming that Hecox was attempting to "avoid Supreme Court review."

The debate around transgender participation in opposite-sex sporting leagues has exploded in recent years, with LGBT advocates arguing that athletes should be permitted to compete on sports teams of the opposite sex and critics arguing that female athletes should not be forced to compete against males.

The International Olympic Committee in March announced a new policy under which men who believe themselves to be women will be forbidden from competing in the women's category.

In 2025, meanwhile, the NCAA announced a ban on men competing in its women's categories, though the league issued the decision only in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump threatening federal funding loss for schools and universities that fail to divide sporting leagues by biological sex.

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Pope Leo XIV has issued a letter to the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) asking them not to proceed with their planned July 1 consecrations without papal approval.

In a letter published June 30, the eve of the episcopal consecrations in Écône, Switzerland, the pope issued a final appeal to the SSPX superior general, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, not to commit this "schismatic act."

"In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!"

"I urge you to consider the spiritual good of the faithful carefully, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification," Leo wrote in his letter.

The pontiff also warned the SSPX of the serious consequences of their planned episcopal consecrations, calling it "a sin of extreme gravity."

"I pray for you, because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity," Leo wrote. "May the Lord enlighten your consciences and awaken your hearts.

The Vatican stated on May 13 that the consecrations would be a schismatic act, resulting in automatic excommunication for the consecrating bishops and those consecrated.

On June 16, Pope Leo warned the SSPX that their planned episcopal consecrations risked schism and said that he and the Holy See were preparing a final appeal to the society.

The SSPX exclusively celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass and has rejected certain teachings and reforms of the Second Vatican Council, particularly regarding religious freedom and the Church's approach to other faiths.

SSPX did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

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This Fourth of July marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. As the country approaches this historic date, one site in America's heartland is preparing to celebrate in a particularly Catholic way.

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin — the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States — is hosting an exhibit honoring holy men and women from the United States. The Catholic Saints of America Exhibit will run from July 1–9 and will feature the stories of 76 saints, blesseds, venerables, and servants of God with American ties.

There will also be daily Mass, several presentations, relics available for veneration, representatives from 35 different causes, and a special Mass celebrated on July 5 commemorating the anniversary of the death of Servant of God Adele Brice, the visionary of Our Lady of Champion.

The shrine is also encouraging not only visitors but also American Catholics everywhere to join in the Novena for Our Nation beginning on July 1.

Father Tony Stephens, the rector of the shrine, told EWTN News that the inspiration for the exhibit came in the fall of 2025 as the holy site was coming up with ideas about how to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S.

"Some of our staff had the idea — since we were anticipating the visionary here at the shrine, Adele, potentially being elevated to the the level of servant of God and the canonization process opening — we thought, well, it'd be neat to have some of these servants and maybe venerables and maybe some saints come together here at the shrine, but particularly those who had grown holy in America and were holy Americans," he said.

He added: "So it just grew from there. Then [we] realized, well, what if we did all the servants of God, and then all the venerable, and all the blesseds, and all the saints? So it's been a very extensive process. It started small and it's just one of those things you know the Holy Spirit was driving."

The priest added that the team drew inspiration from the "Eucharistic Miracles of  the World" exhibit designed by St. Carlo Acutis. Stephens explained that each holy person will have his or her own large foam board with that person's story, images, and important dates in their lives.

There will also be a 15-foot-long timeline of the 250 years of the U.S. highlighting important dates in both American history and the Catholic Church in the country.

"We want to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation," he said. "Faith and reason go together. We love our country and we love our faith. And they can certainly go together — one nation under God."

Some of the relics on site will include those of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann, Blessed Solanus Casey, and Blessed Stanley Rother, among others.

Stephens emphasized that the driving force behind creating the exhibit was that "we're proud to be Americans, but we're Catholics first, so these are some of our holy ones who lived faithfully as Catholic Americans."

Speaking about the novena, Stephens shared that he wrote it specifically for the event. He explained that it's not only about praying for the nation but also that people also "recognize our shortcomings, and we thank God for the many blessings that he's given us in 250 years."

The petitions include praying for families, for the vulnerable in society, for the protection of religious liberty in our country, for a spirit of generosity among all U.S. citizens, for elected leaders, for those who interpret and enforce laws, for those who educate others, for those in the armed services, and for those who died protecting the nation.

Stephens said his main hope for those who visit the exhibit is that they would leave believing "that holiness is attainable for me as a Catholic in 21st-century America."

He added: "These were holy Catholic Americans who lived in this country and … this is something that is attainable because they persevered in their faith. And that's something that all of us can do as well."

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The Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical institutions in the world, hosted its prestigious Vatican Observatory Lectures at its headquarters in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, last week. This year's series focused on quantum gravity.

The event brought together internationally renowned experts and a select group of doctoral students and young researchers who delved into one of the most complex and fascinating problems in modern physics: unifying quantum mechanics with general relativity.

The difficulty of this challenge lies in the very nature of the two theories. While quantum mechanics describes the behavior of elementary particles with enormous precision, Albert Einstein's general relativity explains gravity as the curvature of space-time on a large scale. However, the two frameworks prove incompatible when one attempts to apply them simultaneously.

In relativity, space and time are not an immutable scenario but rather dynamic entities that warp and evolve. Attempting to subject these quantities to the rules of quantum physics gives rise to profound mathematical inconsistencies.

One of the best known is the so-called "perturbative non-renormalizability." In simple terms, renormalizing involves controlling the infinite corrections that appear in quantum calculations in order to make physical predictions.

This method works in the other fundamental forces of nature but fails in the case of gravity, where these corrections multiply without limit, generating an infinite number of parameters that makes the theory unviable. Overcoming this obstacle constitutes one of the great objectives of current theoretical physics.

The conferences, held at the observatory's headquarters in Castel Gandolfo and coordinated by Jesuit Father Gabriele Gionti and Father Matteo Galaverni, explored the issues from various perspectives.

Professor Claus Kiefer of the University of Cologne in Germany presented the canonical (in a nonreligious sense) quantization approach to gravity, focusing on the so-called "problem of time."

If time itself is subject to quantum fluctuations, a fundamental question arises: How do we define the evolution of a physical system? Kiefer explored the implications of this issue for the study of black holes, including the nature of singularities where gravity reaches extreme levels.

Professor Roberto Percacci of the International Higher School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, presented a covariant approach in which gravitons — hypothetical particles that mediate gravity — are treated as spin-2 quantum fields.

A particular highlight was the asymptotic safety program — a proposal suggesting that gravity could be consistent within the quantum regime without recourse to additional exotic entities, thanks to the specific behavior of its constants at very high energies.

From a more conceptual perspective, Professor Sergio Cacciatori of the University of Insubria in Italy delved into the difficulties inherent in quantizing a universe where the very fabric of space-time is subject to uncertainty.

His remarks highlighted questions that border on the philosophical yet carry very concrete technical implications: What does it mean to measure time when it fluctuates? How is observation defined in a context where the observer is part of the system?

Finally, Professor Pierpaolo Mastrolia of the University of Padua in Italy contributed the scattering amplitude approach, a key tool for calculating particle interaction probabilities. His research reveals surprising parallels between the theories describing fundamental forces such as electromagnetism and nuclear interactions and certain formulations of quantum gravity, such as supergravity or string theory. These analogies open up promising avenues toward possibly unifying quantum mechanics with general relativity.

Beyond the technical aspects, these lessons have once again highlighted the uniqueness of the Vatican Observatory as a meeting place between traditions, disciplines, and generations. In an environment marked by centuries of history, young researchers not only receive high-level training but also participate in a setting of free and open dialogue where the great questions of human knowledge, such as the origin of the universe or the ultimate nature of space and time, can be addressed without prejudices.

Founded in the 16th century at the behest of Pope Gregory XIII, who ordered the construction of the Tower of the Winds at the Vatican and gathered astronomers and mathematicians to reform the calendar, the Vatican Observatory has maintained a constant quest to understand the universe throughout the centuries. It was Pope Leo XIII who, in the late 19th century, revitalized its research activities, establishing it as an international point of reference.

At a time when science is advancing in the study of the infinitely small and the immeasurably large, the Vatican has reaffirmed its commitment to research and critical thought. For, as quantum gravity demonstrates, the deepest questions remain open, and finding their answers is a task that can only be tackled as a community.

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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Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday named Italian economist Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, FMA, to succeed Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Cardinal Czerny will turn 80 on July 18, while the 51-year-old Salesian sister has been secretary, the No. 2 position at the dicastery, since August 2021. She was previously an undersecretary from March of the same year.

The pope has also appointed a pro-prefect to serve alongside Smerilli: the Italian Cardinal Fabio Baggio, CS, who has been the dicastery's undersecretary since 2022. The nomination of a bishop to serve as pro-prefect follows a precedent set with the nomination of the first woman prefect — Sr. Simona Brambilla, MC, of the religious life dicastery — in early 2025.

Smerilli is a professor of political economy and statistics at the Auxilium Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences and on the board of directors of the Laudato Si' Higher Education Center, which is led by Baggio.

In 2020, she was one of the principal organizers of the Economy of Francesco online event. She also served in the past as a councilor of the Vatican City State and a member of the short-lived Vatican fundraising commission.

With Smerilli's nomination, Leo continues his predecessor Pope Francis' innovation of appointing women to the highest roles at the Vatican, including the appointment of Montserrat Alvarado — currently the president and COO of EWTN News — as the first woman to lead the Dicastery for Communications earlier this month.

Baggio, 61, was both appointed an archbishop and made a cardinal by Pope Francis in late 2024, after working since early 2017 in the human development dicastery, first as undersecretary of the migrants and refugees section alongside Czerny, and then as undersecretary of the dicastery following the reform of the Roman Curia in 2022.

Prior to his roles at the Vatican, Baggio taught in Argentina, Brazil, the Philippines, and in Rome. He is also a composer of sacred and liturgical music.

Czerny, who reaches the mandatory retirement age for prefects next month, concludes a term in the leadership of the integral human development office that began with its creation nearly a decade ago.

A Canadian Jesuit born in what was then Brno, Czechoslovakia, Czerny served for years in the Jesuit General Curia in Rome starting in the early 1990s. He was also the personal assistant to Cardinal Peter Turkson from 2010-2016.

In 2017, he started as under-secretary of the migrants and refugees section of the newly-formed Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, with the pope himself as the department's official head. Czerny was made prefect in 2022.

Pope Francis made him a cardinal in October 2019.

Pope Leo also appointed on June 30 Father Jozef Barlaš as secretary of the human development dicastery.

The Slovakian priest has been undersecretary since November 2025. He has a doctorate in canon law and served as an official in the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 2020-2022.

Smerilli, Baggio, and Barlaš will start their new roles on Sept. 1.

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KHARTOUM, Sudan — Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a U.K.-based human rights organization, has called for concrete steps to diffuse tensions in Sudan after the murder of Father Youhanna Al-Amin, a priest who remained with his people amid growing violence in the Nuba Mountains.

In a report shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on June 25, CSW founder president Mervyn Thomas condemned the June 19 killing of the priest of St. Vincent's Kauda Parish in Sudan's Catholic Diocese of El Obeid after allegedly reporting the theft of medicines intended for the local population.

"We call on authorities in the area to take concrete steps to diffuse tensions and protect citizens, and once again urge the international community to increase efforts to bring an end to the devastating conflict in Sudan," Thomas said in the report.

Al-Amin was murdered alongside a parish watchman and another person in Sudan's Nuba Mountains, a region long plagued by conflict and instability.

According to a June 20 report by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) quoting local sources, Al-Amin was killed amid escalating tribal tensions and disputes among armed factions operating in the area.

The sources said the killing appears to have been an act of retaliation after Al-Amin reported the theft of medicines that the Church was safeguarding for the benefit of residents.

Kauda serves as the main center of the Nuba Mountains areas controlled by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).

In recent months, worsening insecurity and clashes involving armed and tribal groups forced some religious personnel to leave the region.

Al-Amin, however, chose to remain. According to those who knew him, he refused to abandon the community he served even as humanitarian conditions deteriorated.

In a region marked by poverty and limited access to essential services, his ministry extended beyond pastoral care. The Church also served as an important source of healthcare assistance and support for vulnerable families.

News of his death sent shockwaves through the Diocese of El Obeid, where the priest had ministered for nearly three decades.

In a condolence message shared with ACN, St. Peter's Babnusa Parish of the El Obeid Diocese recalled the priest's long years of service, noting that he ministered in the parish from 1997 until 2021.

The parish, located in Sudan's West Kordofan province, described a journey that began when Al-Amin arrived as a seminarian before serving as a deacon and eventually parish priest.

"He was a friend of the youth and the children, and he loved his work until the very end," the parish said in its tribute.

According to the CSW report, tensions broke out in Kauda approximately three months ago when SPLM-N, which is the ruling authority in the city, demarcated land between the Otoro and Shawaya tribes, prompting some members of the former to attack Shawaya villages.

The report says attacks have since extended to the Kawaleeb tribe, to which the commander of the SPLM-N, Izzat Koko, belongs, and CSW sources speculate that this may have been the motive for the killing of Al-Amin, since both the Otoro and Kawaleeb tribes are predominantly Christian.

The CSW report disclosed that there may also be an economic motive arising from shortages of food and medicine among Otoro fighters.

Churches have reportedly been widely used as shelters over the course of the conflict in Sudan, particularly in the Nuba Mountains, from where the majority of Sudanese Christians originate.

Attacks on places of worship and religious leaders have also been widely documented throughout the conflict, and both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces have used places of worship for military purposes.

"Attacks on places of worship should always be condemned but are particularly concerning in a region known for peaceful coexistence between religious and ethnic communities," Thomas said in the report.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

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Catholic bishops, clergy, and hundreds of faithful processed across the U.S.–Mexico border to celebrate the contribution of immigrants in America ahead of the 250th anniversary of the nation.

"We're here as shepherds and as pastors to walk with people, to listen to people, and to be well together with the people of God here at the border," Bishop James Misko of Tucson, Arizona, said at the event.

"We call ourselves Christians. To be called a Christian means to be like Christ — to be living a life as conformed to Christ as possible. And we know that justice is being in right relationship with God and one another," Misko said.

Organized by the dioceses of Tucson and Phoenix in partnership with the Kino Border Initiative, the Hope Border Institute, and the Center for Migration Studies, the June 26 event included a conversation on immigration with U.S. Catholic bishops, Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Nogales, Arizona, and a rosary procession across the international line.

The pastoral conversation on migration and human dignity "was a great conversation with five bishops about what the Church holds to be true when it comes to migration and human dignity," Misko said.

Misko and Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix were joined in conversation by Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas of Tucson.

"As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are reminded that we are made by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. They're given by God," Seitz said at the event.

"That is a fundamental reality that we in the Church always have in mind and that no policy, no executive order or Supreme Court decision can take away," Seitz said.

After the bishops celebrated Mass, the procession began at the Arizona parish and concluded at Parroquia De Pa Purísima Concepción — a Catholic church in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The group ended the event with a meal with migrants hosted by the Kino Border Initiative.

Mexican bishops José Luis Cerra Luna of Nogales and Enrique Sanchez Martinez of Mexicali also participated in the binational event.

U.S. bishops have 'almost complete unanimity' on immigration matter

"What is discouraging for me is that as a country, we have not yet been able to address the issue of immigration," Kicanas said. "The conference of bishops has been clamoring, crying out, for comprehensive immigration reform, and we have not yet been able to accomplish that."

"We have to address the immigration policy of our country — as [do] most countries around the world today. It's a serious concern. All of us want this situation to improve," Kicanas said.

"The bishops have been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform for a long, long time," and Border Mass 250 "was just one more example of that," Wester said.

The event followed other calls for reform including pastoral letters on immigration and a special message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops highlighting their opposition to "the indiscriminate mass deportation of people."

The bishops approved the message at their 2025 fall plenary assembly on Nov. 12, 2025, where the motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted.

"One of the key principles of Catholic social teaching is solidarity — that we're together," Wester said. "But this is an issue, I'd say, that enjoys almost complete unanimity in the bishops' conference."

The bishops are addressing the matter as communities across the country "are looking for a clear moral response to the human cost of mass detention and deportation," Dylan Corbett, executive director at Hope Border Institute, told EWTN News.

"In union with Pope Leo XIV, who will soon go to Lampedusa, the border Mass in Nogales was a way for the Catholic community to name the suffering, affirm the dignity of those affected by these policies, and commit to working for reform," said Corbett, who is also a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

"In this moment, moral clarity must be matched by ongoing action that recognizes the contributions of immigrants to our country and the urgent need to work for justice," he said.

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The Archdiocese of San Francisco will offer abuse victims nearly $400 million as part of a broad settlement of the substantial number of sex abuse lawsuits brought against it.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said on June 29 that the proposed $395 million settlement would "resolve all lawsuits related to child sexual abuse" brought against the archdiocese under California's expanded statute of limitations.

Cordileone said the archdiocese in the past has helped parishes, schools, and other archdiocesan entities absorb the cost of sex-abuse lawsuits, but he said the "current environment" of abuse lawsuits is "much more challenging."

Schools and parishes "will need to contribute funds" to the settlement both in order to ensure their own legal safeguards and to "share in the work of making amends for the harm of the past," he said.

The archdiocese announced it was filing for bankruptcy in August 2023 in response to more than 500 civil lawsuits filed against it.

The voluminous lawsuits were brought against the archdiocese under California's 2019 Assembly Bill 218, which significantly expanded the statute of limitations in the state regarding civil sex abuse lawsuits.

In a separate release, the archdiocese said it would seek to "preserve the vital ministries of Catholic education and parish life" even as it moves to pay out the major nine-figure settlement.

The archdiocese has "no current plans to close schools or parishes to reach the proposed settlement," it said.

The settlement has yet to be finalized in federal bankruptcy court. The archdiocese said that all litigation involving the lawsuits has been paused while the parties "work in good faith on the details of a consensual Chapter 11 plan of reorganization."

The settlement represents one of the larger abuse payout amounts in U.S. Catholic history, though a few others have been considerably larger. In October 2024 the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced an $880 million clergy abuse settlement, while the New York Archdiocese in May said it would pay out $800 million to abuse victims.

Cordileone on June 29 acknowledged that "no financial settlement can erase the painful legacy of these past actions."

But "we believe this proposal offers a path toward fair compensation for survivors who have carried the burden of this abuse for a lifetime," he said.

The archdiocese "remain[s] committed to fostering healing and reconciliation and to accompanying all who deserve our unwavering respect, attention, and prayers," he said.

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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit from parents who are challenging a Washington state law that prevents youth shelters from immediately notifying parents when minors who run away from home are seeking gender transitions.

Under the law, adopted in 2023, shelters that house runaway youth cannot immediately tell parents when a child is "seeking or receiving" gender transition medical services. It allows the state to refer the child for "behavioral health services" but does not change parental consent laws generally required for hormone therapy or surgeries.

The law directs shelters to notify the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families when housing a runaway child who is seeking gender transition services and "offer services designed to resolve the conflict" between the child and the parents before the parents will be notified and before the department works toward family reunification.

The legal challenge comes from parents whose children exhibit gender dysphoria. Lower courts ruled the parents did not have standing to sue because their children are not currently in a youth shelter, but the Supreme Court has agreed to review that decision.

In the lawsuit, five sets of parents express concern their child may run away and seek gender transition services. The parents argue the law violates their 14th Amendment right to direct the upbringing of their children. The Supreme Court has affirmed this right as protected under the amendment for more than a century.

"This statute allows shelters and homes to keep children at locations without their parents' knowledge and refer those children for health interventions without their parents' knowledge or approval," it states. "It does not require children to be returned on any particular timetable or under any particular conditions."

It also argues that the law restricts some of the parents' First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion, including at least one set of parents who are practicing Catholics.

The original lawsuit cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "Those plaintiffs … adhere to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church when it teaches, 'By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity'" (No. 2293).

The parents are joined in the lawsuit by two advocacy groups: International Partners for Ethical Care and Advocates Protecting Children.

A spokesman for International Partners for Ethical Care told EWTN News the organization is "heartened that the Supreme Court will finally hear a case that addresses the rights of all parents to protect their children from harmful medical interventions."

"We hope this case will not be cast as a religious liberties issue but as a safeguarding issue for parents and children of any or no faith," the spokesperson said. "Parents should not have to live in fear of the state taking custody of their children if they disagree with a deceptive ideology and dangerous treatments."

Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, told EWTN News the lower courts found that the families did not show how they were "likely to be injured by the law" and "we will be prepared to successfully defend it at the Supreme Court."

"This law was passed to give runaway youth and their families access to reunification and behavioral health services," he said. "The law makes clear that the Department of Children, Youth, and Families must make good faith attempts to contact families with a goal of reunification."

The law has received opposition from the Washington Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of the state's three dioceses. It criticized the bill when it was being considered in a 2023 newsletter, saying the social teachings of the Catholic Church affirm "the family is the most central social institution, and it must be supported and strengthened."

"[This bill] undermines families," the statement added. "In line with the bishops' legislative priorities to protect children and families and respect life, the [conference] opposes [the bill]."

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Local parishes and Catholic nonprofits have mobilized across Venezuela to support earthquake victims, working alongside the U.S. government as it continues to expand disaster assistance. 

Father Edgar Magallanes, SJ, national director of Jesuit Refugee Service Venezuela, told "EWTN News Nightly" on June 29 that the situation in Venezuela is "getting bad," as efforts are split between "rescue on one side and affected populations on the other side."

This comes as the State Department announced June 29 that U.S. funding for relief efforts in Venezuela has increased to more than $300 million. The State Department said: "All U.S. humanitarian funding has been directed to a range of trusted international and nongovernmental partners," including Catholic Relief Services.

Magallanes said ground zero in Venezuela is facing a "difficult situation" as "the number of deceased people generated a smell, a difficult smell, and all people are using masks like the time of COVID-19."

"People in some areas feel invisible to the government, to the aid efforts," he said. "But we're working on it."

Magallanes said JRS is operating under the emergency protocol established by the Conference of Provincials of Latin America, which includes activating an immediate response team, connecting with first responders, and coordinating aid distribution through centers run by the Society of Jesus in Caracas.

"So, we are caring for our affected collaborators, teachers, and their families, as well as participants of our programs, and we are helping with humanitarian aid," he said. "We are coordinating efforts as well to assess damages and needs with national and international NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and with the United Nations."

Victims displaced by the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that occurred in Venezuela on June 24 have also been taking shelter at Catholic churches and parish halls in the nation's capital as part of support initiatives coordinated by Archbishop Raúl Biord Castillo of Caracas, according to a local missionary, Brother Deiby Fuenmayor, MSC.

Fuenmayor told Agenzia Fides, the Pontifical Mission Societies information service, that "many people are sleeping outdoors, in parks, because their homes are uninhabitable" and that the Church is working to collect nonperishable food items, drinking water, and mattresses for redistribution.

"Even though we are in a working-class neighborhood, people are very generous," he said.

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