Catholic News

A historic Catholic university in New York City has filed a federal lawsuit against state officials amid a dispute over collective bargaining with faculty unions.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court on June 1, alleges that the New York State Public Employment Relations Board is infringing on its "fundamental constitutional right" to religious liberty by presumptively exercising jurisdiction over the school's union bargaining policy.

In February the school announced that it would no longer recognize two unions on campus, the St. John's University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Faculty Association. Both had been formed in 1970.

A school spokesman said the decision would "allow [the school] the flexibility required to innovate while continuing to support our faculty and, most importantly, deliver on our promise to our students."

The unions subsequently filed a complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board, alleging that the school's decision, along with changes to faculty employment terms, violated the New York State Employment Relations Act.

In its June 1 filing, the school said the First Amendment and extensive court precedent prohibits the state board from what the university described as "excessive government entanglement with religion."

The lawsuit alleges that the union's request would require the school to share its decision-making authority with both union leaders and the state government, even on issues that are "essential to its mission."

Oversight from the state board would "[prevent] St. John's from exercising its First Amendment right to freely govern itself in accordance with its Catholic and Vincentian mission and faith," the suit says.

The state labor board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EWTN News regarding the federal lawsuit.

Earlier this year the school received criticism from some community members for its decision to withdraw from union bargaining.

Sophia Bell, the president of the St. John's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, called the decision "a disastrous mistake."

"[School president Father Brian Shanley] is violating New York state law and ignoring decades of St. John's institutional practice and centuries of Catholic social teaching around respect for labor and workers," Bell told EWTN News.

The school was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Queens, New York.

Full Article

"With nothing to do, nowhere to go, no schooling, no commerce," Gaza is "a very still quiet and dark place," said Michael La Civita, director of communications at the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).

CNEWA is working with numerous Church entities in Gaza, as it is in a "permanent state of waiting," La Civita told "EWTN News Nightly" on June 2.

Pope Pius XI founded CNEWA in 1926 to give pastoral and humanitarian support to northeast Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and India. CNEWA has a worldwide network of people committed to helping those most in need, regardless of where they are.

As the conflict in Gaza continues, there are "upwards of 2 million people, most of whom are displaced," and "their homes have been destroyed," La Civita said.

There is "severe malnutrition and concerns for the health and well-being of children, expecting mothers, [and] the elderly living in extremely trying circumstances," he said.

In Gaza, there is "no school, no shelter," and "very little … access to food," he said. "We're concerned about, of course, things like hepatitis A and other diseases that are associated with the lack of sanitation, water, clean water, potable water, as well as healthcare."

There have also been recent reports of child exploitation and child marriages in Gaza, but CNEWA is "not dealing so much with child marriages thus far because we have not been confronted with that with our partners," La Civita said.

It "is not a particular issue that we've yet had to confront," La Civita siad. But "the situation there economically is pretty horrific. I can imagine all sorts of nefarious things happening, such as that."

"We're dealing with situations as they see them, he said.

"Much of what we do is … psychosocial work for children and the elderly and vulnerable populations, their parents, their families," he said. CNEWA also offers "medical care for mothers and expecting mothers."

Pope's call for assistance

CNEWA continues to aid the population as Pope Leo XIV continues to renew his appeal for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

While speaking to journalists outside Castel Gandolfo on May 26, the Holy Father called on the international community to assist the people of Gaza, insisting that human rights must be respected "for everyone."

"I would also like to renew this not only as an invitation, but truly as an appeal," he said. The Holy Father urged "all authorities to assist and accompany the people of Gaza, and to help begin reconstruction."

Pope Leo noted that, "unfortunately, the people of Gaza are still not receiving humanitarian aid."

"The people are truly suffering," and they "continue to suffer greatly," Pope Leo said.

To answer the Church's call, CNEWA works "with the local Church communities," including "the Latin Church of the Holy Family and the Greek Orthodox Parish of St. Porphyrius, as well as Christian organizations like the International organization International Orthodox charities as well as Caritas," La Civita said.

How the faithful can help

In order to help, Catholics and other Christians can "first of all, pray," La Civita said. "Because prayer ... works miracles, and we need miracles."

"Second, we need a willingness for there to be peace. We need a willingness on all sides to want to establish some sense of stability for the people that live there," he said.

There is a need for "access [to] vehicles as promised," La Civita added. "What is needed to deliver aid is upwards of 600 trucks a day. We're lucky if we get 400 a week carrying supplies."

"So if you're only getting 400 trucks a week and what you need are more than 600 a day to feed a malnourished population, to provide them with medicines and water and food — you have a difficult, difficult situation."

"I can't imagine stability returning or any sense of normality returning until you have access to materials, access to healthcare, access to food and water."

Full Article

On June 2, the 377th anniversary of the first apparition of the Divine Child of the Eucharistic Miracle of Eten in Chiclayo province, northern Peru, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 renewed its invitation to focus on the Eucharist and to live it with greater faith and unity.

The miracle dates back to 1649 in the old town of Santa Magdalena de Ciudad Eten, when on the eve of the solemnity of Corpus Christi, "the Divine Child appeared on a consecrated host" during Mass. Months later, on July 22 of that same year, there was a new apparition of the Divine Child on the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene. It then disappeared, and in its place there were "three intertwined hearts symbolizing the Most Holy Trinity."

These events, recorded by ecclesiastical authorities of the time, have been preserved in historical documents that are currently housed in San Francisco Convent in Lima and in the National Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain.

'A gift from God for living in communion'

In observance of the occasion, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 noted that its mission is simple yet profound: to draw more people closer to a love for the Eucharist.

They also recalled the words of the then-bishop of Chiclayo, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, who was one of the driving forces behind the recognition of the miracle by the Vatican.

During a celebration in Eten, he stated: "This beautiful gift, that great gift which God, the source of all life and of all that is good... this gift that God has bestowed here, in this place, with you and for you, is given precisely to experience this joy of being united in the communion of the Church with the Child of the Miracle."

In 2019, Prevost presented Pope Francis with a document regarding the history of the Miracle of Eten, which compiled "20,000 testimonies of faith," and that same year he stated: "This miracle is approved on the basis of a continuous tradition in the city of Eten."

Faith lived in daily life

Beyond the commemorative events, the celebration was also marked by new stories of faith.

One of them is that of Gabriel Crosby Sánchez. His mother, Arabella, recounted with emotion how, from a very young age, she placed him under the protection of the Child of the Miracle and took him every Saturday to the so-called "Masses of Promise."

Over time, that practice bore fruit: Today, Gabriel serves as an acolyte at St. John Vianney Parish in the Magdalena del Mar district of metro Lima.

For his family and the community, his story is a simple but strong sign that the faith is passed on at home, in everyday life, and that when lived with perseverance it can transform lives.

A devotion that continues its journey

On this anniversary, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 expressed special gratitude for the warm welcome extended by the community of Magdalena del Mar, where the image of the Divine Child of the Miracle was recently received.

The group also renewed its invitation to the faithful to join the spiritual pilgrimage currently traveling through various regions of the country — including central Lima, Comas, Lurín, and Bellavista as a preparation for the expected visit of the Holy Father.

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.

Full Article

Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Pope Leo's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, calls for keeping the dignity of the human person, created in God's image, at the center of any discernment about emerging technologies.

Coakley spoke at a virtual panel June 2 held by Georgetown University's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life.

The dialogue explored what the encyclical is asking, how technological changes can enhance humanity's relationship with God, and also what aspects of human creation technologies can never replace.

The group also addressed the Church's important role in the matter and why it must use its voice to speak about the emerging technologies.

Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, moderated the conversation with numerous panelists including Irish Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education and a leading Vatican expert on AI.

The discussion also welcomed Meghan Sullivan, founding director of Notre Dame's Institute for Ethics and the Common Good; Emilce Cuda, Argentinian theologian and secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America at the Holy See; and Daniel Daly, founding executive director of the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health.

"When dealing with something new and complex" as the faithful read the encyclical, Coakley reminded them to focus on "the main thing."

Magnifica Humanitas is being "proposed and discussed as an encyclical on artificial intelligence," Coakley said. "But I think the main thing is the need to keep the human person, made of the image and likeness of God, at the center of our discernment about these new technologies."

"So it's, not really, fundamentally … about the technologies. I think it's really about anthropology — having an adequate anthropology to really address the challenges that are being proposed by these developing and emerging technologies," he said.

Why the Church's voice on AI matters

In the encyclical, Coakley said, "it's significant that prior to beginning his reflections on AI, the Holy Father first answers a foundational question, which is 'Why does the Church have the ability to speak at all?'"

"In doing so, he affirms that it is central to the Church's mission to walk alongside humanity … and be responsive to the contemporary challenges that men and women in every age, and certainly today, are facing," Coakley said.

Pope Leo "connects with what all of us, whether we are believers or unbelievers alike, at our very core understand and know instinctively to be true, and that is that the human person possesses an ontological and infinite dignity and therefore must be at the center of all of our deliberations" about AI, Coakley said.

"That's the center and heart of it," Coakley said.

"I think people are concerned about what's happening now and what they envision or fear might happen in the future," he said.

Pope Leo is "bringing in this essential lens to the conversation, which has the ability, I think, to activate … the consciences of all — all who create, all who regulate, all who use or all who are impacted by artificial intelligence," he said.

The Church's voice on the matter goes back to "Vatican II, where the Church realized we shared our destiny with other people," Tighe said.

"We journeyed together on this world. We can't be exempt from the struggles of our fellow brothers and sisters. We live together," he said.

Since AI is "going to impact so much what it is to be human, how we live our lives" and "impact the destiny of so many of our brothers and sisters and of ourselves, we cannot but take it seriously," Tighe said.

The Church also has a voice when it comes to how AI affects jobs, as "Pope Leo has been deeply inspired by the first encyclical to ever come out in the Catholic social tradition, Rerum Novarum," which addresses "What does it mean to think that our work is part of our human dignity?" Sullivan said.

"The Church has an incredible teaching on this," she said.

The Church says "work is an essential part of our dignity, because work is nothing more and nothing less than our ability and call to serve the common good. And so we do not want to live in a society where AI has replaced work in that sense," she said. 

The Church also must help guide the conversation as technologies impact health care.

"Jesus invites his followers to proclaim the kingdom by healing the sick. So Catholic healthcare has to be a sign that God loves all persons, especially those who are poor, sick, disabled, suffering, rejected," Daly said.

"So this culture of encounter and accompaniment needs to be animated by Christ and is sacrosanct in Catholic healthcare," Daly said.

Healthcare professionals "must remain the norm," he said. "AI can augment the care that humans provide but must not replace them."

Artificial intelligences "can't care for patients, they can't do the works of mercy. They can't express empathy, as Leo writes. They cannot witness the healing ministry of Jesus."

Daly did note that AI may have benefits in healthcare despite its inability to replace human beings' care.

AI "could allow marginalized communities to access expert-level care in areas like radiology," he said. "AI translation services may help patients who speak languages other than the dominant language in the area to communicate and have their concerns be listened to."

Full Article

At the Wednesday general audience at the Vatican on June 3, Pope Leo XIV called Catholics to be open to an "encounter with God by rediscovering the signs and symbols of the sacred liturgy."

"We need to let ourselves be educated by the rites of the liturgy, tending to the beauty of our celebrations with a delicate hand and without arbitrariness," Leo said to the faithful.

Liturgy as rite, sign, and symbol

Leo's remarks were part of his catechesis on the liturgy, focusing on the Second Vatican Council's document Sacrosanctum Concilium. In his remarks, the pope explained the council's teaching about participation in the liturgy through its signs and symbols.

"In the liturgy, we are invited to participate — body, mind, and heart — and enter into a dimension inhabited by the Holy Spirit. In order to enter into this dimension, the liturgy is woven with signs and symbols that have a performative and transformative dimension," Leo said.

He also called on Catholics to recall the meaning of the various gestures associated with the liturgy, such as the sign of peace and kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. He explained that these symbols and signs are not arbitrary gestures, but are important for helping Catholics experience "the presence of God through Jesus Christ."

"The rites of the Christian liturgy are not an outward covering of the sacramental mystery or a set of arbitrary ceremonies," Leo said. "Rather, they are the ecclesial mediation through which the divine gift reaches us. Through the sacred rite, we are thus formed in listening to the Word of God, in thanksgiving and adoration, in fraternal sharing, and in ecclesial communion."

Encouragement for Catholics to join Corpus Christi processions

In an appeal at the end of the general audience, Leo invited Catholics to bear public witness to the mystery of the Eucharist during the upcoming eucharistic processions for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.

"The processions with the Blessed Sacrament that take place in the streets of many towns are an expression of popular eucharistic piety; in this regard, I encourage you to keep alive this beautiful manifestation of public witness to the faith," Leo said.

He also gave a special greeting to priests serving in the Middle East amid continuing armed conflicts in the region.

Full Article

Amid steadily rising incidents of anti-Christian violence in India, Christian and secular groups came together in a "People's Tribunal," titled "Caravan of Love," that has urged the Indian government to end "impunity for non-state actors."

"A recurring concern throughout the proceedings was the alleged role of state institutions. Participants described instances in which police officers failed to protect victims, registered cases against those who had been attacked, delayed investigations, or pressured communities into so-called compromise agreements," the tribunal said in a statement released June 2.

More than 200 leaders and delegates of Christian networks and action groups, lawyers, researchers, and members of Hindu and Muslim groups took part in the June 1 tribunal in New Delhi.

The event also heard testimony from 20 survivors of anti-Christian violence, "documenting a disturbing escalation of violence and discrimination targeting Christians."

"The Tribunal [proceedings] examined attacks on places of worship, pastors and priests, social and economic boycotts, denial of burial rights, expulsions from villages, the role of Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) organizations, and the conduct of political leaders, police and judicial institutions," the statement said.

"The constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience, religion and equal citizenship are increasingly under threat," said John Dayal, a senior journalist and outspoken Catholic activist who organized and coordinated the tribunal.

"We want the state governments to obey Supreme Court directions in this regard to end the rampant impunity. Then only, the atrocities will go down," Dayal told EWTN News June 3.

A sharp rise since 2014

Sporadic anti-Christian violence turned endemic after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, with incidents of anti-Christian violence shooting up from 127 in 2014 to 834 by 2024.

In the run-up to the national tribunal, Dayal said, the investigative team visited troubled spots in Chhattisgarh state in central India in April and neighboring Odisha state in May, as these BJP-ruled states had reported a higher number of violent and oppressive incidents of late.

"There is systematic denial of burial rights — one of the gravest forms of humiliation inflicted upon Christian communities," said Father Ajay Singh, former director of the Odisha Forum for Social Action of the Catholic Church.

Briefing the tribunal on the situation in Odisha, Singh recounted cases in which "funeral processions were obstructed, burial in village graveyards was denied, and even the bodies of deceased Christians were allegedly removed and buried against the wishes of families."

"I was part of three fact-finding teams that visited troubled spots in Odisha this year. The situation has become so shocking that even [Christian] dead bodies are dug out" and subject to reconversion ceremonies, Singh told EWTN News.

'A systematic campaign of exclusion'

A.C. Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of the United Christian Forum, which monitors atrocities against the community, told the tribunal about the "growing normalization of hostility towards Christian prayer meetings and places of worship."

"Peaceful acts of worship are increasingly portrayed as threats to public order and national interest while there is no Christian representation in statutory minority institutions," Michael pointed out.

Despite rising violence against Christians, the quota for a Christian member on the autonomous National Commission for Minorities has not been filled for six years under the BJP government.

"Accusations of conversion have become a recurring pretext for violence," pointed out Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, who said that "recent violence has been justified through allegations of religious conversion."

Siju Thomas, director of Alliance Defending Freedom India, lamented the "social and economic boycotts, expulsions and ostracization of Christians, especially of newly converted families and members of independent congregations."

"Denial of access to community resources, social isolation, displacement and restrictions on burial rights have become instruments of coercion … [with] misuse of laws intended to protect Adivasi communities, to target Christian Adivasis and restrict their rights," he said.

Harsh Mander, one of the eminent social activists, concluded the tribunal, deploring that widespread anti-Christian violence "could not be understood as isolated acts of prejudice or spontaneous expressions of hostility."

"Rather, they revealed a systematic campaign of exclusion that threatened the constitutional promise of equal citizenship," said Mander, who quit the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to protest the 2002 carnage of Muslims in Gujarat state under Modi, who was then the state's chief minister.

The findings of the People's Tribunal, Dayal said, will be published in book form in two months. "What we have recorded are shocking and graphic, and these will run into around 300 pages," he said.

Full Article

A priest who formerly served in Louisiana and Texas has been handed nearly a century in prison after being convicted of several counts of sexual abuse.

Father Anthony Odiong received a 99-year sentence on June 2 for three counts of sexual assault after jurors in McLennan County, Texas, found him guilty on May 29, according to local news reports.

The priest reportedly served at Baylor University's St. Peter's Catholic Student Center in Waco, Texas, from 2007 to 2012 and later served in Luling, Louisiana, from 2015 to 2023. Prosecutors had said that Odiong used his position of authority as a priest to facilitate the sex crimes.

Odiong was arrested in July 2024 in Ave Maria, Florida. Authorities had been investigating an allegation of sexual assault committed by Odiong when they said they discovered child pornography in his possession. He was extradited to Texas after the arrest.

Upon arriving in Texas he was held on $2.5 million bond after authorities judged him a significant flight risk. Arrest warrants claimed that he had "access to immense amounts of money, contacts with money who follow him and provide heavily through financial means, and access to passports and multiple avenues to flee the country."

Prosecutors also pointed to DNA evidence indicating that Odiong had fathered a child during one of his sexual assaults. The state described him as "a calculated predator who exploited vulnerable parishioners for decades while hiding behind a collar."

In addition to the lengthy prison stretch, Odiong was also fined $10,000 for each charge as well.

Full Article

GOPALGANJ, Bangladesh — Twenty-five years after a bomb attack during Sunday Mass killed 10 Catholics and injured more than 50 at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Baniarchar, southern Bangladesh, the parish priest says his community has all but given up hope of seeing anyone brought to justice.

"We don't expect any more justice, because we, the minority, will not get justice in this country," Father David Gharami, parish priest of the church, told EWTN News. "We Catholics are a minority among the minorities. That's why no government pays attention to us."

On June 3, 2001, at least 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a bomb exploded during Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Baniarchar, in Gopalganj district. A quarter of a century later, police have yet to file a full charge sheet in the case.

Gharami said the parish has grown weary of seeking justice from the government. "For the past four to five years, no investigating officer has been looking into our case," he said. He believes the attack was carried out by a religious extremist group or for political or social motives.

"On this day, we offer a Mass for the souls of those who died and pay floral tributes at their graves," he said.

Nine of the 10 people killed in the bombing were between the ages of 20 and 25, and one was in his 40s, according to Premananda Halder, a local schoolteacher.

At the time of the attack, Sheikh Hasina's Awami League was in power; Gopalganj is Hasina's home district, and she visited the site after the bombing. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party won the parliamentary election held on Feb. 12 this year. Successive governments have come and gone, but no one has been brought to justice for the bombing.

Lalita Biswas, 46, a Catholic and mother of one, has sought justice for 25 years. Her husband, Satish Biswas, was among the 10 killed.

"I am tired of seeking justice, I don't want to seek justice anymore. If I get justice for my husband's murder, I will be happy," Biswas told EWTN News. "I will not get my husband back, or the son his father, but if we get justice, I will be able to see the punishment of those who killed him."

Twenty-five years later, Bangladeshi police have yet to complete their investigation. Some 38 suspected militants have been arrested over the years, but none has confessed, and the investigating officer has been changed at least 22 times in 25 years.

The current investigating officer could not be reached. A former investigating officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told EWTN News that police were still working on the case.

"The investigating officer has been changed repeatedly, and a lack of sufficient evidence is prolonging the inquiry. But I hope police will be able to submit a full report soon," he said.

Full Article

In November, the United Nations Human Rights Council will conduct its universal periodic review of Greece and Ireland, a process that holds every U.N. member state accountable for its human rights record roughly once every four and a half years.

Organizations working for the abolition of surrogacy are using this moment to challenge both countries' surrogacy frameworks. The practice was among 13 violations of human dignity condemned in the Vatican declaration Dignitas Infinita, issued in April 2024.

Among the groups raising concerns is Juristes pour l'Enfance, a French association of legal professionals dedicated to defending children's rights. The group has submitted two formal observations to the Human Rights Council, arguing that Ireland and Greece have repackaged what is fundamentally a commercial arrangement in the language of compassion and altruism, while children ultimately bear the consequences.

EWTN News spoke with Matthieu Le Tourneur, a French jurist with Juristes pour l'Enfance. He said the organization's central concern is that "a child must never be the object of a contract" since that commodifies them. He added that "surrogacy, whether commercial or presented as altruistic or regulated, involves treating a human being as goods. This is unacceptable."

'Children are not contracts,' advocates say

Of the European Union's 27 member states, 16 explicitly prohibit surrogacy and seven have no clear legal framework. Only four — Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, and Portugal — formally permit it.

Greece and Ireland are viewed as having the broadest legal openings for surrogacy, while both heavily describe their systems as "altruistic," meaning no direct payment is made to the surrogate mother for carrying and delivering the child.

Juristes pour l'Enfance disputes that characterization. Le Tourneur explained that under Ireland's Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, a surrogate may receive compensation for up to 12 months of lost income as well as reimbursement for a wide range of expenses. In Greece, fixed payments of 10,000 euros — rising to 15,000 euros for multiple pregnancies — are permitted as compensation for what the law calls "suffering" or "fatigue."

"Altruistic for whom?" Le Tourneur asked. "It is never altruistic for the child, who will carry for life the invisible mark of having been sold or given away, of having been the object of a contract. The term 'altruistic surrogacy' concerns only adults; it does not concern the child."

Advocates for abolition frequently cite the 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically Article 7, which guarantees a child's right to know and be raised by its parents. They argue that surrogacy deliberately severs the child's maternal bond at birth and constitutes a form of child sale under Article 35 and its Optional Protocol, even when the arrangement bears no overt price tag.

Trafficking, vulnerability, and the limits of regulation

The limits of surrogacy regulation became starkly visible in 2023, when Greek authorities uncovered an alleged criminal network operating out of the Mediterranean Fertility Institute in Crete. Investigators found evidence of trafficked migrant women, primarily from Eastern Europe, who had been recruited as surrogates. The case involved falsified documents, fraudulent embryo transfers, and what prosecutors described as industrial-scale handling of embryos.

"Legalizing a practice never eliminates trafficking outside the legal framework," Le Tourneur said. "In some cases, the existence of a legal market even strengthens illegal trafficking." He drew a parallel to debates around drug legalization, where legal supply has not always suppressed black markets.

He further noted that legalization can act as a pull factor for vulnerable women, since they know that for roughly 12 months they will receive financial support, care, and "sometimes accommodation."

These concerns have increasingly been echoed by U.N. experts. Le Tourneur pointed to the 2018 findings of former special rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a 2019 report by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and a 2025 report by Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem — all of which raised concerns about surrogacy as a form of exploitation affecting women and children.

A defining debate for Europe

This focus on surrogacy comes at a time when Europe is increasingly split on the topic. While surrogacy's proponents frame it as an act of generosity between willing adults, the majority of EU member states — including France, Germany, Spain, and Poland — continue to treat it as a form of exploitation incompatible with human dignity.

Italy has taken one of Europe's toughest stances, classifying surrogacy as a universal crime. Under a law that took effect in November 2024, Italian citizens can face prosecution for obtaining surrogacy services abroad, even in countries where the practice is legal. Convictions carry prison sentences of up to two years and fines ranging from 600,000 euros to 1 million euros.

Against that backdrop, Le Tourneur said Greece and Ireland matter not only for what is happening within their borders but also for the precedent they set. If the Human Rights Council issues recommendations against their surrogacy laws, it would send a powerful signal to other governments weighing similar legislation.

"We hope that, thanks to our alerts, the council will urge the countries concerned to amend their national legislation," Le Tourneur said. "Such recommendations may also deter other countries from adopting laws that the Human Rights Council would consider to be violations of human rights."

Full Article

Pope Leo XIV issued stark warnings against building "a new Tower of Babel" when developing artificial intelligence (AI) in his recently released encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, at a time when many people are growing concerned with the impact of the new technology and the rapid data center expansion that supports it.

His encyclical, the title of which means "magnificent humanity," pleads for AI development that safeguards Earth's natural resources, preserves the dignity of work, builds up human solidarity, and does not concentrate power in the hands of a few but rather ensures all people benefit from the innovation.

As American companies move fast to expand AI data centers — with over 4,000 operating and thousands more under construction — projects face local protests and critics cite environmental concerns, noise pollution, lack of long-term employment, and broader skepticism of AI's impact on society.

Although a March Gallup poll of 1,000 Americans found 71% oppose local AI data centers and only 27% support them, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum promoted data center expansion on Fox Business on May 26, citing productivity benefits across many sectors of the economy.

The protests, he claimed, are "foreign-directed propaganda" campaigns from nations competing with the United States. He dismissed Leo's guidance while laughing and said: "I didn't know that tech editorializing was part of the role of being pope."

Yet AI skepticism is quite prominent among the American public. A June 2025 Pew survey of 5,000 people found 50% are more concerned than excited about AI, 38% are equally excited and concerned, and just 10% are more excited than concerned. An NBC poll of 1,000 people in March found that 57% believe the risks of AI outweigh the benefits and 34% said the opposite.

David Cloutier, a Notre Dame theology professor and academic director of the Business Ethics and Society Program, told EWTN News: "I think the resistance to data centers is rooted in a larger suspicion of the technology itself."

"They are a really tempting symbolic target," he said, adding that data centers "symbolize a future that is all computer and machine and no people."

"I think people experience the arrival of this technology as something that they did not ask for and seems overwhelming to them," Cloutier added.

Dignity of work and power concentration

Data centers often receive significant state and local tax incentives. At least 28 states offer tax incentives specific to data centers: Each waives certain sales tax, 14 offer energy subsidies, and 11 provide property tax reductions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In a small number of states with significant data center growth — such as Texas and Virginia — data centers are receiving more than $1 billion annually in tax incentives. Apart from temporary construction jobs, smaller data centers often employ fewer than 150 permanent workers, while larger ones may employ a few hundred.

Father Philip Larrey, a philosophy professor at Boston College, told EWTN News "it doesn't make sense to me" to offer those incentives because "you don't need many people to actually run these things."

"What advantage is there for the local people to have a data center in their city?" he questioned. "Probably none."

Cloutier noted the difference between incentives given to data centers and to factories, saying "the factory can only work if workers come to the factory," but "data centers don't employ people like factories do."

"The question is a question about power and who controls these very important entities and whether they share the wealth that is generated by these entities," he said, pointing to Leo's concern about the centralization of power and dignity of work.

In the encyclical, Leo contrasted the Tower of Babel with the Book of Nehemiah, which details the construction of new walls for Jerusalem. The Holy Father said AI development should mirror the priorities outlined in that text: "Safeguarding humanity and the common good."

Cloutier encouraged local government officials to question "Who's truly being benefited by these developments?" and "Is this really benefiting my local community?" when considering projects.

"Listen to the community and ask questions of the company in ways that attempt to make the project more like Nehemiah building the wall," he said.

The backlash to data centers also fuels concerns about AI replacing people in the workforce, with Cloutier noting "they're enormous but empty of people."

As the technology improves, Larrey expressed concern about the long-term impact on the labor force, saying it will be hard to convince a company to hire a person if it can achieve "the same result from an AI that you get from a human being and they cost almost nothing." Yet, he urged employers to consider the human impact and encouraged employees to incorporate AI into their work if it can help prevent replacement.

"Just because you can replace a person with AI doesn't mean that you should," he said.

Judith McGill, marketing and content specialist for DataBank — a data center developer — and a practicing Catholic, told EWTN News that she believes critics' objections about employment are misleading, because although the centers themselves do not employ "a lot of people," the services benefit "all of the employees of our customers" who use AI.

She said governments would not offer incentives if investments were not "a net economic benefit to those communities." Despite incentives, she said: "We pay taxes and, in fact, contribute to schools and roads."

For example, McGill said DataBank aligns itself with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for multinational enterprises, which prioritizes issues like labor rights and the environment.

"Our focus is on those organizations which are building technical skills for students entering the workforce and for teachers," she said.

Environment and resources

In his encyclical, Leo warned of a "tendency to overlook the environmental impact" of AI and the "enormous amounts of energy and water" needed for data centers, which puts "heavy demands on natural resources" and influences carbon dioxide emissions.

A report from the Electric Power Research Institute found 4%-5% of national energy is consumed by data centers, but that will rise to somewhere between 9% and 17% by 2030, mostly because of AI. It could exceed 20% in seven states and be somewhere between 39% and 57% in Virginia. Many data centers use water to cool machines.

Cloutier said environmental concerns are "a very important point that is very easy to miss," adding that "the amount of computer work that has to go on in order for the AI company to answer [a] question is very, very large."

"The environmental impact is downstream from the way we use that technology," he said, noting that if AI progresses to be "completely embedded in our lives," it will exacerbate the concerns.

Larrey said water and energy are two concerns people have as data centers continue to be built: "They need huge data centers in order to run the servers that give us these large AI models that are only going to get larger and larger as time goes on."

Larrey said innovation can ease concerns and cited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's investments in small nuclear reactors that could increase opportunities to employ clean energy. He referenced Nobel-Prize winning AlphaFold as well, developed by DeepMind, which significantly reduced the time and energy needed for AI protein structure prediction.

"You need massive data centers in order to keep up with the competition," he said. "Now the companies have to come up with a way of making these more efficient and using less electricity. … It's becoming a real problem for the companies because people are protesting, actually in the street."

McGill, speaking for DataBank, said Leo's environmental concerns and broader concerns are "well taken" and even though data center developers are not religious organizations, it "doesn't absolve us from behaving responsibly."

She said DataBank is experimenting with hydrogenated vegetable oil for power. The company also designs the data centers with a closed-loop water cooling system, which means the water is continuously recycled through the system rather than consuming additional water.

McGill added that "data centers pay for their power." She acknowledged power consumption as a "legitimate concern" but criticized the narrative of the data center industry as "one big scary monster," making them "the scapegoat" for higher consumption and rate hikes. She noted that inflation and foreign policy in the Middle East have a major effect on energy costs.

"What we are doing toward responsible behavior, toward human beings, and toward the environment is absolutely in line with the pope's encyclical," she said.

Amid growing protests and guidelines coming down from the Vatican, McGill said a parishioner at the parish she attends asked her how a Catholic could work for a data center company, but she said this incorrectly "implied there was a disconnection."

"My conscience is clear," she said. "This is an industry that is not just avoiding doing bad things but actively seeking out ways to do the right thing."

Full Article