St. Mary's Church

Lea aquí la homilía del Papa León XIV en la Misa con motivo del Jubileo de la Vida Consagrada.

En la Misa con motivo del Jubileo de la Vida Consagrada, el Papa León XIV invitó a los consagrados a ser “verdaderamente pobres, mansos, hambrientos de santidad, misericordiosos, puros de corazón”.

Lea aquí la primera exhortación apostólica del Papa León XIV, publicada este 9 de octubre bajo el título Dilexi te, sobre el amor hacia los pobres.

En la exhortación apostólica Dilexi te (Te he amado), León XIV denuncia la “ceguera y crueldad” de quienes afirman que los pobres son responsables de su propia situación

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2025 / 07:10 am (CNA).

When Emily Wilson-Hussem began sharing “matchmaking” posts on Instagram, inviting Catholic singles to share their names and locations to connect with others, she wasn’t expecting that her lighthearted experiment would lead to 12 marriages, 20 engagements, hundreds of dating couples, and even a baby.

The Catholic speaker and digital content creator realized that young Catholics are in search of holy marriages but need help finding one another. This led her and her husband, Daniël Hussem, to create a new Catholic dating app — SacredSpark.

The new matchmaking app blends technology and tradition to foster meaningful online connections with the goal of creating lasting offline relationships.

“Over these years I have seen the difficulty singles [have] to connect with one another, especially of the same age, and a lot of the young single Catholics I met were having a really hard time, and so I felt like a nudge from the Lord,” Wilson-Hussem told CNA.

After seeing the immense response from young people on her matchmaking posts, yet realizing the downfalls of trying to help connect people on Instagram, the Hussems decided to create an app that was intentional and focused on the fact that each user was made in the image and likeness of God.

One of the main features of SacredSpark is its commitment to more meaningful connections between people. To foster that, all profile pictures are blurred. Photos become unblurred once both individuals match with one another. So instead of simply swiping through images of a person, users can record audio messages introducing themselves and other users can listen and determine if they believe there could be a connection.

Hussem explained that this feature was created “because we want to start meaningful connections beyond just the appearance.”

The couple also pointed out that unlike other dating apps that allow users to place filters on things like physical traits, including eye color, hair color, or even height, SacredSpark does not allow for any filters to be placed on physical qualities.

“For us, we want it to be extremely intentional about the person as a whole, not just their physical appearance,” Hussem shared. “If you’re looking at the general scope of a sacramental marriage, are those things — someone’s color of their eyes or the color of their hair or their height — I think those are more superficial things that people can get sidetracked by versus just these intentional things.”

“Our focus is on the image and likeness of God in each person you will connect with on the app. That’s a huge part of the core of what we’re doing,” Wilson-Hussem added.

The app also includes a matchmaking feature, which allows the user to invite a friend or family member to act as a matchmaker on their behalf on the app. Wilson-Hussem explained that this feature was added into the app because of the great success matchmakers had on her Instagram posts. 

“A huge part of the success was a girl saying, ‘I have a brother, Jeff. He’s 31 and he lives in Wisconsin. If there are any great gals out there, I would love to connect you,’” she shared. “I would say at least half of the marriages have been from one person who put one person out there and was linking two other people and we thought, ‘Wow. A, that’s amazing because a lot of people know single Catholics, they have fun with it, but B, our singles need support. They need to feel like people are in their corner.’”

She added: “You can hire a matchmaker for thousands of dollars — a person who has to get to know you, a person who has to look at who you are on paper. The people who have known you your whole life know you best. They know what you’re looking for. So, why don’t we find a way to activate those people and support our singles?”

SacredSpark will be launched and open to the public in mid-October, but interested singles can already sign up to join the waitlist. 

The Hussems said they hope the new app will “relight the hope of Catholic dating.”

“The overall mission is actually to help build up the Church one relationship at a time,” Daniël Hussem said.

“I think a big part of the cultural breakdown is the breakdown of the family, and we want SacredSpark to really be a place, down the road, where we can connect people who will build up the Church because they’ve entered into a sacramental marriage and will build up the family,” Wilson-Hussem added. “The restoration of the family is going to be a huge part of the next many years and we think SacredSpark, hopefully, will play a part in that.”

En la exhortación apostólica Dilexi te, el Papa recuerda la foto de Alan Kurdi, el niño sirio de tres años ahogado en el Mediterráneo el 2 de septiembre de 2015, y lamenta que más allá de la “emoción momentánea” que provocó en aquel momento

En su primer documento pontificio, León XIV pide a los católicos no “olvidar a los pobres” porque son maestros del Evangelio

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 17:13 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV became “visibly emotional” upon receiving messages on Oct. 8 from immigrants fearing deportation in the United States, a member of a U.S. delegation said.

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino, and Dylan Corbett of Hope Border Institute gave the pope a collection of handwritten letters from migrant families expressing fear and faith. They showed the pope a video with immigrants’ voices saying mass deportations in the United States are breaking family bonds and stripping children of safety.

“We live in a state of constant anxiety, never knowing if tomorrow will bring separation,” an immigrant says in the video.

Corbett posted on X that Leo told the delegation, which included immigrants: “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.” 

One letter writer expressed fear of leaving the house, even to see a doctor, and asked for prayers for President Donald Trump that his heart may be filled with love, compassion, and empathy. The Trump administration is undertaking a massive expansion of enforcement, detention, and border control efforts.

‘You could see tears in his eyes’

Corbett, founding executive director of Hope Border Institute, described the 25-minute encounter with Pope Leo to CNA.

“Bishop Seitz spoke about the Church in the United States’ commitment to walking alongside immigrants and refugees in our country,” Corbett recalled, noting Seitz’s remarks had been unscripted. “And the Holy Father quickly said he wanted the Church in the United States to be more united and forceful on this issue, and that what’s happening right now is an injustice.” 

“We were then able to share from our perspective some of what we’re seeing across the United States right now in terms of the campaign of mass deportations,” he continued, adding: “The Holy Father grew visibly emotional about that.”

The group presented Leo with “over 100 letters from immigrants across the country who are at risk of deportation or who are in mixed families.” The delegation also presented the Holy Father with a video featuring “voices drawn from those letters that tell the story of the anxieties and fears, and also the hopes, right now of the immigrant community.” 

At this point, Corbett said Leo “became emotional and you could see tears in his eyes.” 

“He was very supportive and encouraging,” Corbett said, noting several representatives from the immigrant community were also present for the meeting and offered their testimonies. 

Fernie Ceniceros, a spokesperson for the El Paso Diocese, told CNA: “The Diocese of El Paso is thrilled to know that the Holy Father was able to meet with Bishop Mark Seitz and our Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino and a small delegation of local immigration advocates that included clergy from with the diocese.”

“We are blessed to know that the Holy Father expressed his support of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border along with migrants all over the world,” he added. 

Ceniceros shared several images of the letters given to Leo, including one in English and one in Spanish. 

One of the letters sent by an El Paso priest on loan from the Srikakulam Diocese in Andhra Pradesh, India, described “feeling a sort of insecurity … due to the immigration situation” and noted that many are “scared to move comfortably even with legal documentation.” 

The letter further appealed to the Holy Father for papal support in being “a voice for the voiceless” while also “uphold[ing]  the right of nations to regulate borders and the right of people to seek a better life.”

Another letter from an anonymous immigrant lacking legal status in California told Leo: “These days we are living with a lot of fear, confusion, and sadness.” The letter appealed to the Holy Father to “continue petitioning our God and to continue listening to the voice of the needy immigrant community, raising his voice alongside our brothers and sisters from separated families.” 

“Thank you for listening to us,” it concluded. 

Messages from migrants

One letter said:

“Dear Pope Leo, there are two members of my family without documents. I feel afraid to go out to work and that I could be separated from my family. I think that there should be demand for the immigration agents not to be allowed to get close to parishes, and the raids should stop, because they only create pain and fear. I think the pope should be openly against the raids, and the unjust treatment that’s affecting the community. Speaking clearly and concisely about the situation that we are in and condemning the way in which so-called Christians in power are acting.”

Another letter said:

“We are a mixed family. I am very sad, with a lot of pain and fear. I have not gone out for two weeks and when I do go out, I’m afraid, even when I have to go to the doctor. I think that the Church could help us in getting immigration lawyers to support us and all of those who have been detained. The Church could also give protection to families that remain here. Pope Leo, you know the whole situation that the world is living in, that there is a lot of pain and that we don’t have peace. We ask for your prayers and that you would speak to those who you should speak to. I also ask for prayers for Donald Trump for his heart to be filled with love, compassion, and empathy.”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 8, 2025 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Police said the man arrested outside of a Washington, D.C., cathedral Oct. 5 had hundreds of explosives and papers suggesting he planned to target Catholics and Supreme Court justices. 

Louis Geri was arrested outside of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle before the annual “Red Mass” that welcomes Supreme Court justices and lawmakers. Police reported Geri had potential explosives on his person and in his tent set up near the church’s entrance.

When police approached him in the tent, he told police: “You might want to stay back and call the federales, I have explosives/bombs,” court documents show.

Police officers and the bomb squad conducted a further search and said they found Geri had paperwork that “revealed his significant animosity towards the Catholic Church, members of the Jewish faith, members of SCOTUS, and ICE/ICE facilities.” The search also “revealed a large cache of handmade destructive devices recovered from [his] tent,” police said. 

Geri also threatened to throw an explosive into the street and said he had “a hundred plus of them,” police said.

Papers found in Geri’s tent were titled: “Written Negotiations for the Avoidance of Destruction of Property via Detonation of Explosives,” police said. The suspect confirmed to police they were his papers. 

A business manager for St. Matthew’s provided police with paperwork showing the Metropolitan Police Department barred him from the location and that Geri had earlier been at the cathedral Sept. 26 when he had set up his tent on the steps and refused to leave.

Police said Geri told them: “Several of your people are gonna die from one of these,” referring to the explosives. 

Geri was charged with unlawful entry; manufacture, transfer, use, possession, or transportation of molotov cocktails or other explosives for unlawful purposes; threats to kidnap or injure a person; assault on police officer; possession of destructive device; manufacture or possession of weapon of mass destruction (hate crime); and resisting arrest. He is being held in jail without bond.

CNA Staff, Oct 8, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

A Native American group working to stop the destruction of a centuries-old religious ritual site has lost a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the transfer and obliteration of the Arizona parcel.

The Supreme Court in an unsigned order on Oct. 6 said Apache Stronghold’s petition for a rehearing had been denied. The court did not give a reason for the denial.

Justice Neil Gorsuch would have granted the request, the order noted. Justice Samuel Alito, meanwhile, “took no part in the consideration or decision” of the order. 

The denial likely deals a death blow to the Apache group’s attempts to halt the destruction of Oak Flat, which has been viewed as a sacred site by Apaches and other Native American groups for hundreds of years and has been used extensively for religious rituals. 

The federal government is selling the land to the multinational Resolution Copper company, which plans to destroy the site as part of a copper mining operation. 

The coalition had brought the lawsuit to the Supreme Court earlier this year under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, arguing that the sale of the site would violate the decades-old federal statute restricting the government’s ability to encroach on religious liberty. 

The high court in May refused to hear the case. Gorsuch dissented from that decision as well, arguing that the court “should at least have troubled itself to hear [the] case” before “allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site.”

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the May ruling as well, though he did not add his dissent to the Oct. 6 denial of the appeal. 

In a statement, Apache Stronghold said that while the decision was "deeply disappointing, the fight to protect Oak Flat is far from over."

The group vowed to "continue pressing our cases in the lower courts."

"Oak Flat deserves the same respect and protection this country has long given to other places of worship," the group said.

The coalition has garnered support from major Catholic backers in its religious liberty bid. Last year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops joined an amicus brief arguing that lower court decisions allowing the sale of Oak Flat represent “a grave misunderstanding” of religious freedom law. 

The Knights of Columbus similarly filed a brief in support of the Apaches, arguing that the decision to allow the property to be mined applies an “atextual constraint” to the federal religious freedom law with “no grounding in the statute itself.”

Though Apache Stronghold appears to have exhausted its legal options, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said on Aug. 18 that the Oak Flat site would not be transferred to Resolution Copper amid emergency petitions from the San Carlos Apache Tribe as well as the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition. That dispute is still playing out at federal court.