Louis and Zelie Martin. Public Domain image. / null

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

At a time when the world offers “many counter-examples” of what a healthy marriage should look like, Pope Leo XIV has urged couples to look to Saints Louis and Zélie Martin — the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux — as a model of a joyful and holy marriage.

In an Oct. 18 message marking the 10th anniversary of the Martins’ canonization, Pope Leo said their lives show “marriage as a path to holiness” and provide an example that the world today urgently needs of how to help one’s children discover God’s “boundless love and tenderness and strive to make them love Him in return as He deserves.”

“Among the vocations to which men and women are called by God, marriage is one of the noblest and most elevated,” the pope wrote.

Yet, he added, “in these troubled and disoriented times, when so many counter-examples of unions, often fleeting, individualistic and selfish, with bitter and disappointing fruits, are presented to young people, the family as the Creator intended it could seem outdated and boring.”

The pope described the Martins as a couple who found “profound happiness” in giving life, transmitting the faith, and “seeing their daughters grow and flourish under the gaze of the Lord.”

Their example, he said, reveals the “ineffable happiness and profound joy that God grants, both here on earth and for eternity, to those who embark on this path of fidelity and fruitfulness.”

“Dear couples, I invite you to persevere courageously on the path, sometimes difficult and laborious, but luminous, that you have undertaken,” Pope Leo wrote.

“Above all, put Jesus at the center of your families, your activities and your choices,” he said.

The message was addressed to Bishop Bruno Feillets of Séez, France, whose diocese includes the Martins’ first family home in the town of Alençon, where celebrations are taking place for the anniversary.

Louis and Marie-Azélie (Zélie) Martin were married in 1858 at Notre Dame Basilica in Alençon. Before marrying, both had sought religious life — Louis with the Augustinians and Zélie with the Sisters of Charity — but each discerned that God was calling them to marriage.

Zélie prayed for children who would consecrate their lives to God, and the couple was blessed with nine. Four died in infancy, and the remaining five became religious sisters, including Thérèse, who would later become one of the Church’s most beloved saints and a Doctor of the Church.

Thérèse said that God had given her “a mother and a father more worthy of heaven than of earth.”

Zélie died of breast cancer in 1877 at age 45. After Zelie’s death, Louis moved the family to Lisieux, where four of his daughters went on to become Carmelite nuns.

The Martins were canonized together by Pope Francis on Oct. 18, 2015, becoming the first married couple in Church history to be declared saints together — a testament, Pope Leo said, to the enduring truth that marriage, lived faithfully, “leads to the glory of heaven.”

A DACA protest sign is waved outside of the White House. / null

CNA Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released an update this week on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program highlighting the threat a looming court order may pose to the legal privileges of some immigrants in Texas.

Immigrants covered by DACA who move to or from Texas could quickly face the loss of their work authorization under the new court order, according to the bishops' Department of Migration and Refugee Services.

Launched in 2012 through executive action by then-President Barack Obama, DACA offers work authorization and temporary protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors. 

The first Trump administration tried to end the program but was blocked from doing so in 2020 by the U.S. Supreme Court. While President Donald Trump has indicated a willingness to work with Democrats on the status of DACA beneficiaries, the program continues to be subject to litigation, with the latest developments centering on the Texas v. United States case.

In that case, Texas sued the federal government claiming that DACA was illegally created without statutory authority, as it was formed through executive action rather than legislation passed by Congress.

In January, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld the U.S. district court’s declaration that DACA is unlawful, but narrowed the scope to Texas, separating deportation protections from work authorization. This means, in theory, that DACA's core shield against removal could remain available nationwide for current recipients and new applicants, while work permits might be preserved for most — except in Texas. 

Impending implementation 

The USCCB's Oct. 14 advisory comes as the district court prepares to implement the ruling upheld by the appeals court. On Sept. 29 the U.S. Department of Justice issued guidance concerning how the order should be implemented. 

Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told CNA that the key takeaway from the USCCB’s update is a “warning” to DACA recipients “who live in Texas.”

"[A]nyone who has DACA or is eligible to receive it would need to consider the implications of moving to or from Texas," the USCCB update states, pointing out that relocation could trigger revocation of employment authorization with just 15 days' notice. 

For Texas's approximately 90,000 DACA recipients — the second-largest population after California's 145,000 — the implications could be stark, according to the bishops. 

Under the order, if it is implemented according to the U.S. government’s proposals, DACA recipients who live in Texas could receive "forbearance from removal" (deferred deportation) but lose "lawful presence" status, disqualifying them from work permits and benefits like in-state tuition or driver's licenses. 

To be eligible for DACA, applicants must have arrived before age 16, resided continuously since June 15, 2007, and been under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012. There are approximately 530,000 DACA participants nationwide according to KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation. The KFF estimates that up to 1.1 million individuals meet DACA eligibility criteria.

Father Custodio Ballester, a Spanish priest, was acquitted of hate crimes, along with another priest and a journalist. / Credit: Courtesy of HazteOir.org

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Two priests and a journalist who were tried for criticizing radical Islam have been acquitted by the Provincial Court of Malaga in Spain. 

The priests, Custodio Ballester and Jesús Calvo, along with the director of a digital media outlet, Armando Robles, were accused of committing hate crimes on a talk show in 2017.

The public prosecutor's office had requested a four-year prison sentence for Robles, along with a 10-year ban from teaching and a €3,000 ($3,500) fine. In the case of the priests, the prosecutor sought a three-year sentence.

According to Europa Press, the ruling, after verifying that the defendants had not retracted their words and writings, which were treated as proven facts, focused its analysis on whether the spoken and written words were crimes. 

Specifically, the court determined whether the men’s statements criticizing radical Islam qualified as hate crimes under the law or were merely protected instances of freedom of expression.

The court determined that the elements of a hate crime were not present, "no matter how despicable and perverse the message" or how "clearly offensive" or "unfortunate" the statements.

"Not only is there speech protected by freedom of expression, but we could even accept that there is intolerant speech that also exists within the scope of freedom of expression, even though it may be offensive, not only to the group or person to whom it is directed, but even to the person listening to it," the ruling stated.

Regarding Ballester's statement, the court determined that "no matter how despicable and perverse the message or its author may be, if it is not accompanied by a clear and manifest promotion of hatred toward one of the groups protected by [the existence of] such a crime,” it is not criminal.

In the case of Calvo, the court noted that his statements "could well be classified, at least in large part, as delirious," in the sense of "a verifiable reality resulting from the delirious ideas and psychological ailments suffered by the accused."

In 2017, the Association of Muslims Against Islamophobia filed a complaint with the Special Service for Hate Crimes and Discrimination of the Barcelona prosecutor's office. The petition requested an investigation into comments made by the three men during a television talk show.

Since the program in question was located in Málaga, the case was transferred to that province. There, prosecutor María Teresa Verdugo not only evaluated the comments made during the discussion, but also considered an article published in 2016 by Ballester. The text, titled “The Impossible Dialogue with Islam,” was written in response to a pastoral letter from then-Archbishop of Barcelona, ​​Cardinal Juan José Omella, titled “The Necessary Dialogue with Islam.”

The trial, initially scheduled for September 2024, had to be postponed because Ballester's lawyer had another trial that took priority. The hearing was ultimately rescheduled for Oct 1 of this year.

In a statement shortly before the trial to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Ballester said he felt at peace: "As Jesus Christ says, they will take us to the synagogue and the courts, and there the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom that our adversaries cannot counteract."

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV will canonize seven new saints on Sunday including an Italian lawyer who renounced Satanism and became “an apostle of the Rosary,” a martyred Armenian archbishop, and a Venezuelan considered the “doctor of the poor.” Banners of the new saints are on display on St. Peter's Basilica for all to see in St. Peter's Square. / Credit: Courtney Mares / CNA

Vatican City, Oct 18, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV will canonize seven new saints on Sunday including an Italian lawyer who renounced Satanism and became “an apostle of the rosary,” a martyred Armenian archbishop, and a Venezuelan considered the “doctor of the poor.”

The canonizations, previously approved by the late Pope Francis, will be presided over by Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 19 at the Vatican. The group includes three women and four men, with two martyrs, three laypeople, and two founders of religious orders. Among them are Papua New Guinea’s first saint and the first two saints from Venezuela. 

Let’s get to know these soon-to-be saints:

Bartolo Longo (1841–1926)

Bartolo Longo underwent one of the most dramatic conversions in recent Church history. He grew up in a Catholic household, but after studying law at a university in Naples, Italy, he went from being a practicing Catholic to taking part in anti-papal demonstrations to becoming an atheist, then a Satanist, and eventually being “ordained” to the Satanist priesthood.

Through the prayers of his family and the influence of devout friends, particularly Professor Vincenzo Pepe and Dominican priest Father Alberto Radente, Longo experienced a profound conversion, renouncing his past and returning wholeheartedly to the Catholic Church.

Following his conversion, Longo dedicated his life to promoting the rosary and the message of mercy and hope through the Virgin Mary. He settled in the poverty-stricken town of Pompeii  where he began restoring a dilapidated church and tirelessly worked to build a Marian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. With support from benefactors and the local community, he transformed Pompeii into a thriving center of Catholic devotion. His efforts culminated in the construction of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, which continues to be a major pilgrimage site to this day.

In addition to his religious work, Longo was a tireless advocate for social justice. He founded schools, orphanages, and charitable institutions, especially for the children of prisoners, believing in the power of education and mercy to transform lives. 

For the last 20 years of his life, Longo had constant health issues. He died on Oct. 5, 1926, and in 1980 was beatified by Pope John Paul II, who called him the “Apostle of the Rosary.”

Ignatius Choukrallah Maloyan (Ottoman Empire, 1869–1915)

Ignatius Maloyan was an Armenian Catholic archbishop of Mardin in the Ottoman Empire who was executed during the Armenian genocide for refusing to convert to Islam and renounce his Christian faith.

At the age of 14, Maloyan was sent to the convent of Bzommar-Lebanon. In 1896, he was ordained a priest in the Church of Bzommar convent and took the name Ignatius in honor of the beloved martyr of Antioch. 

From 1892 to 1910, Maloyan was a parish priest in Alexandria and Cairo, where his good reputation was widespread. On Oct. 22, 1911, he was named archbishop of Mardin. 

Soon after, the first World War broke out and Armenians in Turkey began to endure great suffering. On June 3, 1915, Turkish soldiers dragged Maloyan in chains to court with 27 other Armenian Catholic figures. During the trial, Mamdooh Bek, the chief of the police, asked Maloyan to convert to Islam. The archbishop answered that he would never betray Christ and his Church and was prepared to endure all types of punishments for his fidelity. He was imprisoned and frequently beaten. 

On June 10, the Turkish soldiers gathered 447 Armenians and took them to a deserted area. During the ordeal, the archbishop encouraged those gathered to remain firm in their faith and prayed with them that they would accept martyrdom with courage. 

After a two-hour walk, naked and chained, the prisoners were killed by the soldiers in front of Maloyan. Bek once again asked the archbishop to convert to Islam. He refused and was shot and killed by Bek on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Before he was killed, Maloyan said: “I consider the shedding of my blood for my faith to be the sweetest desire of my heart, because I know perfectly well that if I am tortured for the love of him who died for me, I will be among those who will have joy and bliss, and I will have obtained to see my Lord and my God up there.”

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 7, 2001.

Peter To Rot (Papua New Guinea, 1912–1945)

Peter To Rot, a lay catechist in Papua New Guinea, was martyred during the Japanese occupation in World War II. When the Catholic priest in his village was taken to a Japanese labor camp, the priest left To Rot in charge of catechizing the village and told him before he was taken: “Help them, so that they don’t forget about God.”

Despite Japanese oppression, To Rot worked in secret to keep the faith. He was a great defender of Christian marriage, working to defy Japanese law, which allowed men to take a second wife. 

Toward the end of the war, the rules against religious freedom became even stricter, with any kind of prayer being forbidden. To Rot was arrested and sent to a manual labor camp in 1944 for his continual disobedience. In 1945 he was killed by lethal injection and is considered a martyr for the Catholic faith. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Jan. 17, 1995. He will be Papua New Guinea’s first saint.

José Gregorio Hernández (Venezuela, 1864–1919)

José Gregorio Hernández, a Venezuelan physician, scientist, and layman, is revered as the “doctor of the poor.” 

Born on Oct. 26, 1864, in Isnotú in the Venezuelan state of Trujillo, he lost his mother at the age of 8. 

He studied medicine in Caracas and received government funding to continue his studies in Paris in 1889 for two years. After returning to Venezuela, he became a professor at the Central University of Caracas, where he started each lesson with the sign of the cross.

Hernández attended daily Mass, brought medicine and care to the poor, and made a profession as a Third Order Franciscan. In 1908 he gave up his profession and entered a cloistered Carthusian monastery in Farneta, Italy. However, nine months later he fell ill and his superior ordered him to return to Venezuela to recover. 

After some time, Hernández concluded that it was God’s will for him to remain a layman. He decided then to promote sanctification as an exemplary Catholic by being a doctor and giving glory to God by serving the sick. He devoted himself to academic research and deepened his dedication to serving the poor.

One day, as the doctor went to pick up medicine for an elderly poor woman, he was hit by a car. He died in the hospital on June 29, 1919. He was beatified by Pope Francis on April 30, 2021.

Maria Troncatti (Italy/Ecuador, 1883–1969)

Maria Troncatti, an Italian Salesian sister, spent nearly five decades as a missionary in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest among the Indigenous Shuar people. 

Growing up in Italy, Troncatti showed an interest in religious life from a young age. She made her first profession as part of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, in 1908.

During World War I, Sister Maria trained in health care and worked as a Red Cross nurse in a military hospital. In 1925 she began her mission serving the Shuar Indians in the Amazon forest in the southeastern part of Ecuador. For 44 years, she was known as “Madrecita,” or “little mother,” by everyone in the village. Not only did she serve as a surgeon, dentist, nurse, orthopedist, and anesthesiologist, she was also a faithful catechist sharing the Gospel with all those she served. 

Sister Maria died at the age of 86 on Aug. 25, 1969, in a plane crash. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

María del Carmen Rendiles Martínez (Venezuela, 1903–1977)

Carmen Elena Rendiles Martínez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, without her left arm and was given a prosthetic arm that she used for her entire life. 

In 1918, Martínez began to feel a call to religious life, but having a disability was considered a reason for rejection from some religious congregations at that time. Eventually, she joined the Servants of the Eucharist in 1927 and took the name María Carmen. She once said: “I want to be holy. I want to say like St. Paul: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” 

When her religious community sought autonomy from its French motherhouse in 1965, she went on to found the Servants of Jesus in Caracas to continue its mission of Eucharistic devotion. She served as the superior general of the congregation from 1969 when she was appointed until her death in 1977 from influenza. 

She was beatified by Pope Francis in 2018 and will become Venezuela’s first female saint. 

Vincenza Maria Poloni (Italy, 1802–1855)

Vincenza Maria Poloni, an Italian religious sister, founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona to care for the poor, sick, and elderly. 

Born the youngest of 12 siblings, she discerned her vocation under the guidance of Blessed Charles Steeb as she devoted her time to working with the poor, the elderly, and chronically ill.

In 1836, during the cholera epidemic of 1836, she worked tirelessly in the emergency wards, putting her own health at risk. In 1840 she devoted herself full time to the care of the sick and elderly and began to live a similar lifestyle to that of a religious sister — fervent prayer, strict schedules, and total service of charity toward others. 

On Sept. 10, 1848, Poloni founded the Sisters of Mercy of Verona and took the name Vincenza Maria. Her motto, “Serving Christ in the Poor,” became the foundation of her congregation, which can be found today on three continents. She died on Nov. 11, 1855, from a tumor that had spread throughout her body. She was beatified in 2008.

The painting St. Luke the Evangelist in the church Iglesia El Buen Pastor by Miguel Vaguer (1959). / Credit: Renata Sedmakova/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Oct. 18, Catholics and other Christians around the world celebrate the feast of St. Luke, the physician and companion of St. Paul whose Gospel preserved the most extensive biography of Jesus Christ.

St. Luke, who is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles, wrote a greater volume of the New Testament than any other single author in the earliest history of the Church. Ancient traditions also acknowledge Luke as the founder of Christian iconography, making him a patron of artists as well as doctors and other medical caregivers.

Luke came from the large metropolitan city of Antioch, a part of modern-day Turkey. In his lifetime, the city emerged as an important center of early Christianity. During the future saint’s early years, Antioch’s port had already become a cultural center, renowned for arts and sciences. Historians do not know whether Luke came to Christianity from Judaism or paganism, although there are strong suggestions that Luke was a Gentile convert.

Educated as a physician in the Greek-speaking city, Luke was among the most cultured and cosmopolitan members of the early Church. Scholars of archeology and ancient literature have ranked him among the top historians of his time period, besides noting the outstanding Greek prose style and technical accuracy of his accounts of Christ’s life and the apostles’ missionary journeys.

Other students of biblical history deduce from Luke’s writings that he was the only evangelist to incorporate the personal testimony of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose role in Christ’s life emerges most clearly in his Gospel. Tradition credits him with painting several icons of Christ’s mother, and one of the sacred portraits ascribed to him — known by the title “Salvation of the Roman People” — survives to this day in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Some traditions hold that Luke became a direct disciple of Jesus before the Ascension, while others hold that he became a believer only afterward. After St. Paul’s conversion, Luke accompanied him as his personal physician — and, in effect, as a kind of biographer, since the journeys of Paul on which Luke accompanied him occupy a large portion of the Acts of the Apostles. Luke probably wrote this text, the final narrative portion of the New Testament, in the city of Rome, where the account ends.

Luke was also among the only companions of Paul who did not abandon him during his final imprisonment and death in Rome. After the martyrdom of St. Paul in the year 67, Luke is said to have preached elsewhere throughout the Mediterranean and possibly died as a martyr. However, tradition is unclear on this point.

Fittingly, the evangelist whose travels and erudition could have filled volumes, wrote just enough to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

This story was first published on Oct. 17, 2010, and has been updated.

Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. speaks at the University of Notre Dame Forum event on ‘Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life’ on Oct. 17, 2025. / Credit: Courtesy of Michael Caterina / University of Notre Dame

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 18:29 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., expressed concerns about increasing political polarization in the United States and urged Americans to remember “that which binds us together as a people.”

McElroy made the comments at the University of Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 17. He spoke with University President Rev. Robert Dowd in a conversation titled “Healing Our National Dialogue and Political Life.” The event was part of the university’s 2025-26 Forum on the theme “Cultivating Hope.” McElroy holds doctorates in sacred theology and political science.

“The conflict between the two parties has done, I think, terrible damage to us,” McElroy said, and noted that a “notion of warfare, of tribalism has seeped into us” when discussing political disagreements.

A person’s political beliefs, the cardinal explained, “has become shorthand now for worldview in the views of many, many people,” which he warned “is a very damaging development in our society” because it moves Americans away from focusing on a “shared purpose and meaning” when crafting political solutions. 

The United States, McElroy said, is not bound by blood or ethnicity, but rather “bound together by the aspirations of our founders.”

‘What binds us’

“What binds us is the aspirations of freedom, human dignity, care for all, the rights of all, the empowerment of all, democratic rights,” he said. “...We’re proud to be Americans because of what our country aspires to be and to do.”

McElroy said “much of this needs to take place at the parish level” to facilitate dialogue among those who disagree with each other, and argued that the founders “believed on a very deep level [that the country] could only succeed if religion flourished.”

“They believed that only religion could genuinely bring from the human heart a sense of the willingness to look past self-interest or group interest to a wider sense of what the common good is,” McElroy said.

“So for that reason, they thought religion was essential, not as a direct force in politics, certainly, or governance, but rather in contributing in the human heart and in the understanding of the issues that come forth,” he added.

Although McElroy said the Church does not have a specific political role, he said it does have “a moral role within the political and public order," which “needs to be rooted in the moral understanding.” If a political question has a moral component, the cardinal said “the Church contributes to the public debate.”

“It speaks not in terms of the politics — or it should not speak in terms of the politics — but rather solely the moral questions involved,” McElroy said.

McElroy was appointed in January of this year by Pope Francis to serve as the archbishop of the nation’s capital and assumed the position on March 11. He succeeded Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who retired.

In his installation Mass, McElroy emphasized the importance of respecting the human dignity of all people, particularly the unborn, migrants, and the poor.

A protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement features a sign that reads "Chicago Stands With Immigrant Families." The Department of Homeland Security denies ICE targeted a Chicago parish on Oct. 12, 2025. / Credit: Antwon McMullen / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 16:24 pm (CNA).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pushing back against reports of immigration enforcement officers being present outside a Chicago parish during a Spanish Mass Oct. 12. 

Videos circulated on social media of the parish priest at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Chicago warning his congregation to leave the 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass with caution. 

The priest may be heard in the video saying in Spanish, “[ICE] is in the parking lot… they are looking for people here, as well as in the north part.” The priest continued: “There is a group in front of the church that could take you away: those with babies can leave with them—you will be accompanied to your houses because I think it will be dangerous for you to drive your cars from the parking lot if you don’t have documents." 

A local Chicago NBC affiliate reported that “several neighbors showed up and formed a human chain outside the church to guide parishioners home.” 

“This protection is for all who need accompaniment,” the priest added. 

In a statement shared with CNA on Friday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: “Border Patrol did not ‘target’ this church nor were enforcement actions taken at the church.” When asked to elaborate on whether there were ICE agents present at or around the church, DHS declined to comment further. 

President Donald Trump expanded use of deportations without a court hearing this year and ramped up federal law enforcement efforts to identify and arrest immigrants lacking legal status. The administration set a goal of 1 million deportations this year.

Recently Pope Leo XIV received letters from U.S. migrants fearing deportation. The pope encouraged U.S. bishops to firmly address the treatment of immigrants under the Trump administration’s policies.

In July, Bishop Alberto Rojas of the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, granted a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for those fearing deportation.

In comments at the Union League Club on Oct. 13, Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Chicago archdiocese spoke on “the moral and ethical issues related to the mass deportation of undocumented persons happening in our country.” 

“What is in question, however, is the obligation we all have as human beings, and as a society comprised of human beings, to respect and protect the dignity of others,” Cupich said. “Keeping the nation safe and respecting human dignity are not mutually exclusive. In fact, one cannot exist without the other. It is up to citizens and communities such as  the church to raise their voices to ensure the safety of a nation does not come at the expense of violations of human dignity.”

Spokespersons for St. Jerome Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Chicago did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, NY. / Drew Proto via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

CNA Staff, Oct 17, 2025 / 15:09 pm (CNA).

A New York man has received an $8 million settlement from the Diocese of Albany over claims that he was abused for years by a priest when he was a child. 

The Albany-based law firm LaFave, Wein, Frament & Karic said in an Oct. 16 press release that the Albany diocese agreed to pay the seven-figure sum to Michael Harmon ahead of a planned Oct. 20 jury trial. 

The law firm said Harmon had been abused repeatedly for years, starting when he was 11 years old, by Father Edward Charles Pratt. During that period, Pratt served as vice chancellor of the Albany diocese. 

Pratt is listed on the diocese’s list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. He was removed from ministry in 2002, the diocese says. 

The law firm said the diocese had “received reports about Father Pratt’s sexual abuse of children before Michael was ever abused.” The priest allegedly lived in the diocesan chancery in the same residence as then-Bishop Howard Hubbard. 

In 2021, Hubbard, who died in 2023, admitted to mishandling clergy abuse allegations based on the advice of psychiatric professionals. He was also accused of committing sexual abuse himself, and shortly before his death announced that he had entered into a civil marriage with a woman.

In the Oct. 16 release, attorney Cynthia LaFave said the “substantial” settlement from the Albany diocese nevertheless “does not erase the trauma that Michael Harmon endured.” 

“Michael will live with this for all of his life,” she said. “But Michael does know that this settlement brings out to the public this horrible abuse and the people who allowed it.”

Harmon had filed his case under the New York Child Victims Act. That law, passed in 2019, suspended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and gave abuse victims a window to file claims for decades-old crimes. 

Harmon’s lawyers said he had originally tried to settle his claim in March 2025 but that the diocese’s insurance companies “refused to respond to his offer.”

The Albany diocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Oct. 17. 

The Diocese of Albany filed for bankruptcy in 2023, arguing like many dioceses in the U.S. that financial reorganization would help provide some compensation for hundreds of sex abuse victims who filed lawsuits against it. 

In July hundreds of clergy abuse victims agreed to a massive $246 million settlement from the Diocese of Rochester, New York after years of wrangling in U.S. bankruptcy court.

In August, meanwhile, a federal bankruptcy court accepted the Diocese of Syracuse, New York’s $176 million abuse settlement plan.

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 14:38 pm (CNA).

On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump announced new efforts to expand access to IVF, which includes a deal with EMD Serono, a subsidiary of the Germany-based pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA, to slash the cost of some fertility drugs, as well as issuing guidance to employers to offer fertility benefits directly to employees similar to vision or dental coverage, though not mandating any employers to participate.

While the Catholic Church encourages certain fertility treatments for couples struggling to conceive children, the use of IVF is contrary to Catholic teaching. Here’s why:

What is IVF? 

IVF is a medical procedure that fuses sperm and egg typically in a laboratory environment in order to conceive a child outside of the sexual act. The live embryo is then later implanted into a uterus to continue developing until birth. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, IVF is typically used as a “treatment for infertility” that “also can be used to prevent passing on genetic problems to a child.” 

Is the Catholic Church against IVF? 

Yes. While the Church encourages certain fertility treatments for couples struggling to conceive, the Church makes distinctions among these treatments and teaches that the use of IVF is not morally acceptable.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2377) states that IVF is “morally unacceptable” because it separates the marriage act from procreation and establishes “the domination of technology” over human life. 

According to Joseph Meaney, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the 1987 Vatican document Donum Vitae established the moral framework for Catholics with regard to IVF.

Donum Vitae said that “the gift of human life must be actualized in marriage through the specific and exclusive acts of husband and wife, in accordance with the laws inscribed in their persons and in their union.” 

This teaching, Meaney told CNA, laid out a “fundamental distinction” between treatments meant to assist the marital act in conceiving a child versus treatments that replace the marital act. 

Donum Vitae compares IVF to abortion, saying that “through these procedures, with apparently contrary purposes, life and death are subjected to the decision of man, who thus sets himself up as the giver of life and death by decree.”

Meaney explained that in IVF “there’s an objectification of the child because essentially they’re producing children almost on an industrial scale.” 

“It’s treating the human person not as a gift but rather as an object to be created and that can be subjected to quality control and discarded.” 

How does IVF separate sex from procreation? 

An IVF pregnancy is achieved through the removal of some of a woman’s eggs, collected by inducing what is called “superovulation,” where a drug is administered so the woman releases multiple eggs in one cycle. The eggs are combined with a man’s sperm retrieved through masturbation. 

Ultimately, IVF involves the use of artificial means to achieve pregnancy outside of the marriage act. The Church holds that this disassociation is contrary to the dignity of parents and children. 

Donum Vitae says that because conception through IVF is “brought about outside the bodies of the couple through actions of third parties,” such fertilization “entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person.” 

“Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the human person,” Donum Vitae teaches. 

Are children harmed through IVF? 

During the IVF process, multiple human embryos are made and then evaluated in a “grading” process that determines their cellular “quality.” There are multiple grading methods that IVF providers use to examine embryos with an eye for which may be the most suitable for implantation into the uterus.

Almost half of the human embryos created through IVF are “discarded” during the process, according to the Center for Genetics and Society. This has led to millions of human embryos being discarded, something that in the Church’s eyes amounts to the killing of millions of innocent lives.

Additionally, the use of IVF has resulted in a surplus of an estimated 1 million human embryos being kept frozen in laboratories across the country where they are often stored indefinitely or destroyed in embryonic scientific research. 

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on February 2024 that frozen human embryos are human children under state statute. The 8-1 ruling said that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation” and “regardless of their location.” This ruling was not part of a federal case and only affected the law within Alabama..

Isn't 'more children' good? 

The Church supports a married couple’s desire for children, and calls chilren a gift from God and "the supreme gift of marriage" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No.1652). The problem arises when that desire leads couples to seek children by any means.  

John Di Camillo, an ethicist at The National Catholic Bioethics Center, explained to CNA that “we cannot do evil that good may come.”

“The Church teaches that children have a right to be conceived, gestated, born, and raised within marriage,” he said. “Each human person is in the image and likeness of God, made by God — a body-soul unity of infinite value to be welcomed, loved, and cherished rather than forcibly produced.”

What alternatives to IVF are there for Catholics? 

The Catechism teaches that “research aimed at reducing human sterility is to be encouraged” (No. 2375).

According to Donum Vitae, fertility treatments meant to replace the marriage act are morally wrong while those meant to assist it in conceiving life may be permitted. 

Methods such as natural procreative technology (NaPro Technology), which focus on treating the underlying bodily or hormonal issues causing infertility rather than attempting to skirt around them, are considered morally licit by the Church.

According to Veritas Fertility & Surgery, NaPro Technology treatments often involve medications to improve ovulation and hormone levels for a woman as well as “improve sperm count or quality” for men. NaPro Technology can also involve surgical interventions aimed at restoring the natural procreative functions of the body.

The Church also encourages couples to use natural family planning (NFP), which tracks the fertile and infertile cycles of a woman’s body to either achieve or postpone pregnancy. There are multiple NFP tracking methods such as the Creighton Model Fertility Care System and Billings Ovulation Method that are considered licit by the Church.

“The Church supports married couples struggling with the cross of infertility by encouraging medical interventions to heal the couple, restoring their health and fertility so they are more likely to receive the gift of a child through sexual intercourse,” Di Camillo explained.  

This article was first published on Feb. 28, 2025 and has been updated.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaks at the USCCB fall plenary assembly Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: USCCB video

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 17, 2025 / 14:08 pm (CNA).

Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio expressed concern about the U.S. Army canceling certain chapel contracts, which he warned “disproportionately harms Catholics.” 

In a pastoral letter also sent to all members of Congress, Broglio wrote that many in the Army who attend Mass and participate in faith formation may have noticed “contract services and contractor offices were dark and music was absent during Mass” beginning on Oct. 5, 2025.

He said this was not a result of the ongoing 16-day government shutdown, but was instead caused by the U.S. Army Installation Management Command’s decision to cancel all chapel contracts for Coordinators of Religious Education (CRE), Catholic Pastoral Life Coordinators (CPLC), and musician contracts in the Army. 

Broglio wrote that these contracts for musicians, administrators, and religious educators “served the faith communities at military chapels” and have been essential to assist Catholic priest chaplains in their duties. 

The archdiocese, he wrote, “has been especially dependent upon the professional skills and theological training of CREs, who under the guidance of the priest, oversee the daily needs of religious education, coordinate catechist certification training for the thousands of men and women who volunteer as catechists, and ensure that proper materials are prepared and procured.”

“In canceling these contracts, the Army over-burdens Catholic chaplains, harms chapel communities, and impedes the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of religion especially for Catholics,” Broglio wrote.

“The cancellation of chapel contracts may appear to be a neutral elimination of chapel support which itself affects the free exercise of religion for all soldiers,” he said. “However, this action disproportionately harms Catholics, first, because Catholic chaplains are already so low density and in such high demand, and second because the Catholic faith requires continuing religious education and sacramental preparation that can only be accomplished through competent support.”

Broglio cited a RAND report saying, “There are approximately six Protestant chaplains for every 1,000 Protestant soldiers, and approximately one Catholic chaplain for every 1,000 Catholic soldiers.” 

A U.S. Army spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.