St. Mary's Church

El Cardenal Bechara Boutros Raï, patriarca de la Iglesia Maronita en el Líbano, lamentó que los cristianos de Medio Oriente se vean obligados a abandonar la región, víctimas de la violencia y de la guerra, porque favorecen decisivamente “la formación de un islam moderado”

Tres hermanos adolescentes de Irlanda han convertido su admiración por el Beato Carlo Acutis en un cortometraje de Lego sobre la vida del joven católico italiano, que falleció a los 15 años a causa de leucemia y que pronto será canonizado.

El Papa León XIV ha nombrado al joven sacerdote Jenrry Johel Velásquez Hernández de 47 años, como nuevo Obispo de la Diócesis de La Ceiba, en Honduras. Esta decisión representa el primer nombramiento episcopal del pontífice para la región centroamericana.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 12, 2025 / 14:47 pm (CNA).

The United States’ first Center for Sainthood Studies has opened at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.

The center announced that its goal is to “provide a roadmap for advancing candidates for canonization and increasing the chances of American candidates achieving sainthood” and aims to “make sainthood causes less intimidating and encourage more people to initiate causes,” according to the center’s website.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone specifically commissioned the center to foster “a deeper understanding of the processes involved in recognizing the holiness of individuals and their potential for sainthood.”

The resources offered by the center include expert consultation, a digitization service, networking opportunities, promotion of popular piety around a cause, assistance with grant writing, and a certification program that consists of a six-day course that guides participants through the sainthood application process and canonical procedures.

The center’s first certification course, to be held Feb. 16–21, 2026, at the Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park, will be taught by two postulators and canon law experts from Rome: Emanuele Spedicato and Waldery Hilgeman. The program is open to clergy, religious, and laity. 

Michael McDevitt, a spokesperson for the center, told CNA that while canon law provides a framework for the process leading up to sainthood, it lacks practical guidance for the laity. “Canon law has a clear set of rules to follow, but it’s not a how-to guide. It doesn’t take [people] step by step,” McDevitt said.

McDevitt himself has worked particularly closely with the cause for Servant of God Cora Evans, a former Mormon and American housewife.

“There’s so many stories out there that could be told, and if we can help people with that process, more stories will come to light,” McDevitt said. “We all know that only God can make us saints, but it does take people to move this forward.”

Los jesuitas en la República Checa han| ordenado una investigación a las Siervas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y al Centro Aletti de Olomouc, institución vinculada al Centro Aletti original de Roma, fundado por el ex jesuita Marko Rupnik.

Al conocerse la intervención del Gobierno Provincial de Tucumán (Argentina) sobre un municipio en el que se presumen nexos de sus funcionarios con el narcotráfico, la Arquidiócesis de Tucumán apoyó el accionar del Gobernador.

CNA Staff, Jun 12, 2025 / 13:43 pm (CNA).

Pro-life advocates are warning of the need to protect vulnerable patients, including the elderly and terminally ill, as New York prepares to legalize assisted suicide.

New York will become the 12th state in the country, along with the District of Columbia, to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients in order to allow them to kill themselves. The measure passed the state Legislature this week and is expected to be signed by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

New York’s law defines a “terminal illness or condition” as “an incurable and irreversible illness or condition that has been medically confirmed” and will “within reasonable medical judgment” result in death within six months.

Catholics, pro-life allies speak out against the bill

A chorus of pro-life advocates has spoken out against New York’s passage of the bill, calling on Hochul to veto it. 

The New York State Catholic Conference warned that the measure would bring about an “assisted suicide nightmare,” with the bishops urging the governor this week to recognize that the law “would be catastrophic for medically underserved communities, including communities of color, as well as for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations.”

Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said the bill’s passage “while not completely unexpected, is truly disappointing.” 

“We turn to the governor urging her to act boldly, consistent with her efforts to combat the suicide crisis in our state, and veto this bill,” the bishop said. 

The New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide, meanwhile, called the measure “a grave mistake for New York.”

“It brings our state dangerously close to a public policy that many in the medical, disability, and mental health communities consider deeply flawed and unjust,” the group said, adding that the law “contains no requirement that a person seeking a lethal prescription receive a mental health evaluation.”

Kathryn Jean Lopez, currently the chair of New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s pro-life commission, told CNA that those opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide in the state should be prepared for a tough road ahead, saying it is virtually certain that Hochul will sign the legislation. 

“She’s so enthusiastic about abortion, it would seemingly take a miracle to say no to her caucus on this,” said Lopez, who is also the religion editor at National Review. 

Lopez expressed doubt that the law, if signed, will generate much sustained pushback. “There’s not going to be a march on the street to reverse assisted suicide,” she lamented. 

She said that raising awareness of assisted suicide is nevertheless key, stressing the need for family and friends to defend the most vulnerable, such as the terminally ill and the elderly. 

“Being advocates, that’s the most important thing at this point,” she said. “Because this is the reality we’re living in.”

Increases in suicides, reported abuses worldwide

Critics of euthanasia and assisted suicide have pointed to countries that have already legalized the procedure and which have seen both huge increases in suicides and reported abuses. 

Eve Slater, a physician and former assistant secretary for health and human services under President George W. Bush, told CNA that in every case where euthanasia has been legalized, suicide numbers have soared.

She pointed out that suicide currently accounts for 5% of Canadian deaths, a number that rises to the double digits in some provinces. She also cited rapid rises of suicide in some European countries after the practice has been legalized.

The Canadian government in 2016 legalized “medical aid in dying.” Less than a decade later suicide accounts for roughly 1 in 20 deaths there. In some cases the suicide program has been expanded to include those who cannot consent to the procedure at the time, while hundreds of violations of the law are allegedly going unreported. 

In the Netherlands last year, meanwhile, the government permitted the assisted suicide of a physically healthy 29-year-old woman with mental health issues. Other countries, such as France and England, are also actively considering allowing euthanasia. 

In an op-ed last month in National Review, Slater wrote that huge increases in euthanasia are “enabled by wording that includes ambiguous eligibility criteria and then by gradual liberalization of interpretation.”

“[I]n each state where [euthanasia] has been legalized, amendments to widen eligibility either have been granted or are under discussion,” Slater wrote. “The amendments include provisions for tourism, the possibility of self-injection, a shortening of the reflection period, reduction of informed-consent safeguards, and the ability of certain nonphysicians to prescribe.”

Legal suicide ‘irrational’

Slater told CNA that New York’s willingness to embrace suicide conflicts directly with state laws requiring doctors to prevent suicide itself. 

“If a patient comes in to see me, and even hints of thoughts of suicide, I am obligated — we teach this, it’s standard practice — to recommend they see a psychiatrist immediately. And if they are hesitant, we have to call security,” she said. “Now what do I do?”

Lopez also pointed out the inconsistency in how, even as assisted suicide becomes more accepted, there are still official efforts to discourage suicide in general. 

“If you or I Google ‘assisted suicide’ because we’re looking for the latest news stories, we’ll get the number for a suicide hotline in response,” she said. “Someone’s still concerned you want to kill yourself and they want to talk you out of it.” 

“That’s good,” she pointed out, “but it’s also irrational,” given the increasing mainstream acceptance of euthanasia.

Slater said this is “different from normal pro-life politics.” 

New York residents “have to be aware of the gravity and the damage to human dignity that these laws do,” she said.

Speaking of doctors, Slater stressed that even if the doctors themselves are not explicitly pro-life, they in particular should know that the laws are “a total violation of our oath as physicians to take care of patients to the very end.”

“Doctors have to be aware that it’s effectively state-sanctioned suicide and that it sends the message that suicides under certain conditions are legitimate,” she said.

Instituciones católicas españolas, encabezadas por la Conferencia Episcopal Española, reclaman que se condonen las deudas de los países “que nunca podrán saldarlas”. 

CNA Staff, Jun 12, 2025 / 10:59 am (CNA).

Catholic families in Pennsylvania won a victory at federal court this week when a local school district agreed to allow students of parochial schools to participate in district sporting events and other activities.

The Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm based in Chicago, said in a press release that multiple Catholic families had won the “major victory” in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania after bringing the suit in July 2023.

The State College Area School District had originally said that parochial school students were not allowed to participate in district extracurricular activities, though it allowed home-schooled and charter school students to take part in those events.

The Catholic school families had sued the district arguing that the policy violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and equal protection.

In December 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann allowed the challenge to proceed, agreeing that the rule appeared to violate the defendants’ constitutional rights.

In a filing on June 10, the Catholic families and the school district agreed to a consent order stipulating that the Catholic students “are generally entitled to the same generally available benefits as those provided to home-schooled and charter school students” in the district.

The district said it agreed to “make available to parochial school students … the same extracurricular and co-curricular activities (including athletics) and educational programs offered to home-schooled students and charter school students.”

Thomas Breth, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, said in the press release that school districts in Pennsylvania “cannot discriminate against students and exclude them from activities simply because they choose to attend a religious-based school.”

“Religious discrimination has no place in our society, but especially in our public schools,” Breth said.

He argued that the order “strengthens the ability of parents to prioritize their family’s religious beliefs when making educational decisions without being forced to sacrifice educational and athletic opportunities that are offered to other students and paid for with their tax dollars.”

In an interview with CNA, the lawyer said that though the consent order does not apply statewide, it will likely help to ensure that other districts do not exclude parochial students from district activities.

“I fully expect that many, many school districts are going to fall in line and decide not to litigate the issue,” he said.

The district ended up paying $150,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs, Breth noted. He urged parents of Catholic school students to consider pressing their districts to allow their children access to extracurricular activities.

“I’ve already been in contact with parents in other school districts,” he added. “They’re in similar situations. We’re going to push hard in other districts if they don’t recognize they have a constitutional obligation to let parochial school students participate in the same manner as charter and home-schooled students.”

“Hopefully, it’s not going to take litigation. Hopefully, it will take letters,” he said. “Hopefully, the district will do what’s right for the kids, because ultimately that’s what this is about.”

El Papa León XIV expresó su “profunda tristeza” por el trágico accidente de avión en la ciudad india de Ahmedabad en el que murieron 242 personas.