The Church of St. Luke

Two men attacked Mar Elias Church in Al-Duwaileh, in Damascus, Syria, killing 22 people and injuring 59 on June 22, 2025. / Credit: Mohammed Al-Rifai/ACI MENA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2025 / 15:18 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news from the past week that you might have missed:

Syrian Christians face ‘insecurity’ 1 year after political change

On the one-year anniversary of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s Christians find themselves outside the scope of systematic persecution but still living in profound fragility, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, ACI MENA, reported.

While freedom of worship remains protected and some positive signs have emerged — such as the end of mandatory military service, restoration of Christian properties, and limited political representation — the overall environment remains unstable.

Christians continue to face insecurity marked by killings, kidnappings, and vandalism along with several major incidents including attacks on churches in Sweida and the bombing of St. Elias Church in Damascus.

Economic hardship persists despite the easing of Western sanctions, driving ongoing emigration and rising fears of continued demographic decline.

VP of Haitian bishops’ conference calls for ‘new moral leadership’

Haitian Bishops’ Conference Vice President Bishop Pierre-André Dumas of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne is calling for “new moral leadership” in the country plagued by violence and instability. 

Haitians are afflicted by “wounds of poverty, gang violence, insecurity, and the fragility of institutions that should be rebuilt,” the bishop said in an interview with Vatican News.

Dumas is currently living in the U.S. while recovering from wounds he incurred during an explosion in Port-au-Prince in February 2024. 

Asian bishops gather in Hong Kong to discuss pastoral impact of AI

Asian bishops gathered in Hong Kong for the Bishops’ Meet 2025 to discuss the pastoral impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and its use within the Church. 

The Dec. 11–12 meeting kicked off with an opening Mass celebrated by Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, bishop of Hong Kong, who encouraged bishops and communications leaders to embrace AI, stating: “I think AI is not from the devil. AI comes from God, who helps us,” according to Vatican News. 

Chow urged participants in the conference, organized by the Office of Social Communications of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, to discern AI with hope and moral clarity. 

“Otherwise, how can we call ourselves Catholic media?” he said. “When we put our hope in the Lord, we must first honor him, not funding agents or ideologies. We need to discern God’s will for our mission in this shifting context.”

Philippines bishop speaks out against societal breakdown and human rights violations

Caritas Philippines President Bishop Gerardo Alminaza is sounding the alarm over increased societal breakdown and human rights violations in the Philippines.

“Human rights violations and shrinking civic space in the Philippines are converging into one moral emergency,” he said, according to a local report, noting that “defending life, dissent, environmental stewardship, and democratic participation is becoming increasingly dangerous.” 

He continued: “As [the] Church, we affirm that human rights and civic space are sacred: We cannot preach peace and justice while ignoring the silencing of communities, the killings of organizers, the disappearances of activists, or the harassment of journalists.”

New Catholic church to be built in growing Australian diocese

The Diocese of Parramatta in Western Sydney has announced that it will build a new Catholic church and precinct in the heart of the rapidly-growing city of Blacktown, where a $2 million development called the Blacktown Quarter is also taking place. 

In a Dec. 8 pastoral letter announcing the decision, Bishop Vincent Long, OFM Conv, revealed the diocese purchased land within the Blacktown Quarter, “with a view to creating a Catholic presence.” 

It will include a new church called Mary Queen of the Family Parish situated in the heart of the Blacktown shopping precinct that will consolidate two preexisting parishes. “Being in the center of civic life is a providential opportunity for evangelization, mission, and service,” Long said. 

Christian group in India joins protest against designation of major religions as tribal 

The United Christian Forum of Dima Hasao in India has joined a tribal students’ group in protesting against the provincial government in the northeast state of Assam for designating six dominant religions as having ethnic tribal status. 

Rev. D.C. Haia Darnei, president of the forum, said the decision would “certainly prove a setback for genuine tribal people, including those who are Christians,” according to a UCA News report. 

“We are with the tribal students’ organization and other tribal groups as their demand is genuine, and we want betterment of the real tribal people in the state,” he said. According to the report, Christians make up about 3.74% of the state’s 31 million people, while tribal groups make up roughly 20%.

Pauline Sisters in Nairobi launch children’s literary event to foster love of reading

Members of the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul (FSP/Pauline Sisters) in Africa are organizing their first-ever children’s literary event as they seek to nurture knowledge and foster a love for reading among children, ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, reported. 

In an interview with ACI Africa ahead of the event scheduled to take place on Dec. 13 at the Daughters of St. Paul premises in Westlands, Nairobi, the directress of Paulines Publications Africa, Sister Praxides Nafula, said: “We are including all children because we aim to nurture knowledge and a love for reading.” 

“We want the pages of the book to come alive, as if the book is talking to the children,” she said.

The event will cater to children from underprivileged communities throughout the Archdiocese of Nairobi, with some refugee children from Tanzania expected to attend.

null / Credit: Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 14:33 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Proposed U.S. law would require fathers to financially support pregnant moms

A Republican U.S. representative is sponsoring a bill that would require fathers to cover half of pregnancy-related costs for mothers carrying their children. 

Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, is sponsoring the Supporting Healthy Pregnancy Act, Fox News Digital reported. 

The bill would require the father of a child to pay for at least half of out-of-pocket medical expenses involved with pregnancy and delivery. This would become a legal requirement only after the mother puts in a request.

Hinson said she is working to “expand access to maternal care” and to “ensure women have resources throughout pregnancy and beyond.” 

Hinson has introduced other maternity-related bills including a bill requiring colleges to inform pregnant students of their rights and the resources available to them in their schools.

“I’m a mom on a mission to make life easier for my fellow moms and families,” Hinson said in a post on X. 

Lawmakers call on Congress to stop abortion funding for staff 

Two dozen U.S. legislators recently called on Congress to stop abortion funding for federal staffers. 

In a Dec. 5 letter addressed to Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, various Congress members and senators urged Kupor to stop using health insurance plans “that cover elective abortion.”

The letter argues that the insurance plans are a violation of the federal Smith Amendment, which prohibits funding for abortion in the U.S. Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

The lawmakers said the office is using an “accounting gimmick” to cover abortions in health care costs and that “only two health plans” offered to them do not cover abortion.

The letter requested “swift action” by Kupor and his office to ensure no health insurance plan offered to U.S. legislators is funded by taxpayer dollars.

Signees included Rep. Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and others.

South Dakota attorney general orders abortion pill company to stop alleged false advertising

The South Dakota attorney general is ordering an abortion pill company to cease “deceptive” advertising or else face the threat of a lawsuit.

Attorney General Marty Jackley sent a Dec. 10 cease and desist to abortion pill advocate Mayday Health after South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden ordered an investigation into the company.

In a Dec. 10 statement, Jackley said that Mayday Health was instructing women to not seek medical care after taking the abortion pills, while also implying that the pills were legal in South Dakota. Abortion pills are illegal in that state with limited exceptions.

“Your advertisement directs South Dakota consumers to resources that insinuate abortion-inducing pills are legal in South Dakota, while also urging women not to seek medical care after taking abortion pills and to keep their abortion a secret,” Jackley wrote in the letter.

If South Dakota files a lawsuit, Mayday Health could face felony criminal consequences or a fine of $5,000 per violation, according to the letter.

Official appearance of the exhibition in Vienna from Vienna Künstlerhaus website. / Credit: Vienna Künstlerhaus website

CNA Deutsch, Dec 12, 2025 / 10:11 am (CNA).

Protesters who rallied outside at the Vienna Künstlerhaus on Monday said an exhibit at the cultural center is an attack on the Catholic faith.

The skyline of Fort Worth, Texas. / Credit: 21 Aerials/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 09:41 am (CNA).

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the opening of a new order of Discalced Carmelite nuns after an older one in the diocese lost its canonical status last year. 

Olson announced the news of the opening in a letter on Dec. 2 in which he said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life gave permission for the new monastery.

The prelate described it as “a moment of extraordinary grace for our local Church.”

In an interview with CNA, Olson said there has been “a need in our diocese for prayers, for reparation of sin … and through adoration and contemplation and meditation, to pray for all of those intentions — that is the vocation of the new Carmel.”

Olson said that about six months ago he requested that a new order of nuns come to reside in the diocese from the Christ the King Association of Discalced Carmelite Monasteries in the U.S.A.

After making a formal request for permission from the Holy See in October, he received word in November that the Holy See approved the establishment of the new monastery. 

The nuns are coming from the Carmel in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. 

The bishop emphasized that the Carmel “is an autonomous body even though I have supervisory rights.”

He said the land was “donated generously by the faithful in the diocese” after he acted as an intermediary between the sisters and parishioners.

Asked when he believes the monastery, located in a rural part of northern Cooke County about 80 miles north of Dallas, will be completed, he replied: “That’s in God’s time.” 

He said the sisters will not have a website “because it’s a distraction from their religious life. Social media can have adverse effects on a religious vocation, as we have seen.” 

Olson told CNA he is “very grateful to the Holy See for this permission, but also to the religious sisters, the nuns who have given of themselves to Christ. It’s a very unique vocation.” 

The bishop is encouraging people to be generous with the sisters as they establish their new home in the Fort Worth Diocese: “They’re in full communion with the Church, are rightly ordered in their Carmelite vocation.”

A new page for the Carmelites after scandal

In 2023, a public scandal erupted after Olson began an investigation of an alleged relationship of a sexual nature between the former prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Arlington, Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, and a priest outside the diocese. 

Gerlach denied the allegation and accused Olson of overstepping his authority while seeking to obtain the nuns’ property located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Olson has denied both claims. 

The scandal played out in the press through actions taken by the Vatican, lawsuits in civil courts, and through public statements on both sides. 

Last December, the Vatican issued a decree of suppression of the Arlington Carmelite monastery.

Olson announced the suppression just over a year ago, on Dec. 2, 2024, emphasizing at the time that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”

He added that the Holy See “suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”

In August of that year, the nuns posted on their website that they had joined the Society of St. Pius X, a group that is in an “irregular” canonical situation within the Church.

‘May their vocation bring forth many graces’

In his most recent letter announcing the new monastery, Olson said it “will be a place where the beauty of contemplative life radiates outward into the world. Through prayer, silence, work, and sacrifice, the Discalced Carmelite nuns will accompany the faithful and intercede for the needs of our communities.” 

“I ask all the faithful of the diocese to join me in prayer for these nuns as they begin this new chapter in their vocation,” the bishop said. 

“May their vocation bring forth many graces including priestly and religious vocations, holy and happy marriages, and faithful discipleship,” he added.

Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan interviewed on "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo" on Dec. 11, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News "The World Over with Raymond Arroyo"/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

U.S. border czar Tom Homan said “the Catholic Church should support keeping the community safe” through a secure border and immigration enforcement. 

In an interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” on Thursday, Homan discussed President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy and immigration enforcement.   

“As President Trump promised on day one, we’re going to enforce immigration law,” Homan said. “That’s what he was voted into office to do, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to keep this promise to the American people.”

“We’re going to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats,” Homan said. “The majority of people we arrest … have a criminal history. But also, like I’ve said from day one, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”

Data on detainees’ criminal history is disputed. A Cato Institute report in November said 5% of people detained by ICE have violent convictions, and 73% had no convictions. Other analyses of deportation data also have shown a lower incidence of people arrested with prior criminal convictions.

“Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now,” Pope Leo XIV said Nov. 4.

Since President Trump began his second term, there have been about 600,000 deportations, Homan said. He added: The “results have been outstanding.”

Family separation

During the Biden administration, “just about a half a million children were smuggled into the country, separated from their families, put in the hands of criminal cartels,” Homan said. Homan said the administration has located tens of thousands of children during deportation operations.

During the first two years of Trump’s first administration, U.S. authorities separated over 5,000 children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, before ending the practice. In 2021, the Biden administration created a family reunification task force, and a federal judge ruled that border officials cannot use family separation as a deterrence tactic through 2031. 

Under the second Trump administration, enforcement actions have caused family separations through detentions.

Homan told Arroyo: “President Trump promised from day one that we’re going to find these children because the last administration, even though half a million came across, they lost track of 300,000. They couldn’t find them. They weren’t responding to inquiries and their check-ins.”

As of Dec. 5 there were 62,456 children “the Trump administration already found,” Homan reported.  

“Some of these children were safe and with family. They’re just hiding out because they don’t want to be deported. But many of these children, and one is too many, we found were either in forced labor or forced sexual slavery. Some of these children are in really, really bad conditions,” Homan said.

“About half that, 300,000, according to records, have already aged out, which means they’re over 18 already. But … we’re still going to try to locate them … We’re going to do everything we can till the last day of this administration to find these kids. Personally, I’ll do everything I can until I take my last breath on this Earth to find these kids,” Homan said.

Carrying out deportations as a Catholic

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) expressed concern “about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.” They wrote: “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict.” 

When asked how he reconciles bishops’ comments on immigration enforcement with his faith and duties, Homan said he is “willing to sit down with anybody in the Catholic Church and talk about it.”

When Catholic leaders “talk about why these laws shouldn’t be enforced … they need to understand, if we don’t enforce laws, what message does that send to the world?” Homan said. He says it sends the message: “Cross the border. It’s illegal, but don’t worry about it.”

People need to understand “a border wall saves lives,” Homan said. “I would ask the Catholic leadership, go talk to the hundreds of… moms and dads that have buried their children because their children were killed by someone that wasn’t supposed to be here.”

During Biden’s presidency, Homan said “a record number of Americans died from fentanyl because that border was wide open … Hundreds of thousands of Americans died from a drug that came across an open border.”

He said a “record number of people from terrorist-related countries” entered the country and said there was “historic increase in sex trafficking of women and children because enforcement was removed from the border.”

“Over 4,000 aliens died making that journey, because we sent a message that there’s no consequences here,” Homan said. 

Response to Catholic leadership

The USCCB through remarks and messages has called for humane treatment of migrants. In response, Homan said: “We treat everybody with dignity.” 

Bishops also stated their opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

Homan said: “When you come across the border illegally, not only is it a crime, but you’re cheating the system.”

“There are millions of people, millions that are standing in line, taking their test, doing the background investigation, paying their fees to be part of the greatest nation on Earth,” Homan said.

“The most humane thing you can do is enforce the law, secure the border, because it saves lives. The Catholic Church should support keeping the community safe again. But I’m saying this, if you’re in the country legally, it’s not OK. Illegal migration is not a victimless crime. I wish Catholic leadership would go with me. Take a border trip with me,” Homan said.

“Look at some of the investigations I do. Wear my shoes … You may not agree with me 100% in the end, but you will certainly understand the importance of border security,” Homan said.

The results demonstrate that just informing Catholic voters about the Church’s position on IVF and the immorality of the procedure is sufficient to cause an immediate 14-point shift against IVF in the public opinion of the Catholic faithful. / Credit: sejianni/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 12, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new poll reveals that a majority of Catholic voters in the United States support access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) when initially asked about the topic but that some are willing to immediately change their minds when informed about the Church’s teaching on why it is immoral.

The survey, released by EWTN News and RealClear Opinion Research on Dec. 11, polled 1,000 Catholic voters in the United States between Nov. 9 and Nov. 11.

The results demonstrate that just informing Catholic voters about the Church’s position on IVF and the immorality of the procedure is sufficient to cause an immediate 14-point shift against IVF in the public opinion of the Catholic faithful.

When first asked about IVF, 53.5% of Catholics said they supported access to the procedure and just 18.8% said they opposed it. The remaining 27.6% said they neither supported nor opposed access or did not know enough to offer an opinion.

The pollsters then informed the respondents that the Catholic Church opposes IVF because it separates the creation of life from the marital act between the husband and wife and results in the loss of unused embryos.

When asked a second time after receiving this information, support dropped by nine points, with 44.5% of respondents still saying they supported access. Opposition increased by more than five points, with 24.1% now saying they are against the procedure. The amount of people who said they neither supported nor opposed IVF or did not know enough to offer an opinion went up by nearly four points to 31.4%.

IVF is a fertility treatment in which doctors extract eggs from the woman and fertilize the eggs with sperm to create human embryos in a laboratory without a sexual act. Millions of fertilized human embryos that clinics do not implant are destroyed, which ends human lives.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, a neuroscientist and senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) told CNA that broad support of IVF within the American public is “connected to broader misunderstandings about human sexuality, common among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.”

“IVF is ‘babies without sex’ while contraception is ‘sex without babies,’ and Catholics have largely adopted prevailing societal attitudes in regards to both of these issues,” he said. “Even a basic catechesis on these foundational issues has been lacking for an entire generation of Catholics.”

Pacholczyk said some in the clergy avoid the subject to prevent offending others, but this has left many Catholics “in an ideological vacuum.” He said many form their opinions on subjects like IVF “from social media sites, the ‘Today Show,’ or People magazine” rather than the Church.

“Our task remains one of generously sharing and witnessing to the fullness of Christ’s teachings, which liberate the human heart and transform souls in joy,” he said.

Joseph Meaney, a past president and senior fellow at NCBC, told CNA the Church understands IVF as “intrinsically evil” and added: “It is a tragedy that Catholic teaching on this procedure is not well known.”

“IVF is a moral, medical, and financial disaster,” Meaney said.

“It always makes mothers suffer through painful hormone injections, kills more human embryos than are born, and is frequently ineffective, despite its great cost, for many of the couples who turn to IVF hoping to give birth to a child,” he added.

Meaney said “there is a major need for preaching and other forms of communication about IVF” and more information about ethical alternatives, such as restorative reproductive medicine, “to help couples suffering from infertility.”

Restorative reproductive medicine, such as natural procreative technology, seeks to address the underlying causes of infertility so that a husband and wife can conceive a child naturally. It could include dietary changes, medicine, or surgeries, depending on what the root cause of the couple’s infertility is.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV prayed for Mary's maternal intercession so that she would help nations avoid lies and hatred and instruct leaders to protect the dignity of all human life.

He also prayed that families find strength, young people find meaning and people of faith seek greater communion because "within the church, Mother, your children cannot be divided."

In his homily at Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 12, Pope Leo also asked Mary to support him in his ministry as the successor of St. Peter and "grant that, trusting in your protection, we may advance ever more united, with Jesus and among ourselves, toward the eternal dwelling place that He has prepared for us and where you await us."

While it was his first Mass marking the Marian feast day at the Vatican as pope, as Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, he had already served as the main celebrant at the altar during the Dec. 12 Mass in 2024 and 2023 when he was prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Pope Francis had presided over both of those Masses, but due to bouts of illness, he remained seated during the celebrations and gave the homily.

Pope Leo, who spent more than two decades as a missionary in Peru, gave the homily in Spanish and recalled how the Marian apparitions in 1531 in Tepeyac, Mexico, awakened "in the inhabitants of America the joy of knowing that they are loved by God." 

Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is deeply rooted in Latin America. According to tradition, Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous Mexican, and left her pregnant image imprinted on his cloak. It was said she assured him in his native language not to be afraid because, "Am I not here, who am your Mother?" offering protection, health and safety in the folds of her mantle.

"It is the voice that echoes the promise of divine fidelity, the presence that sustains when life becomes unbearable," especially "amidst unceasing conflicts, injustices and pains that seek relief," Pope Leo said.

Her motherhood "makes us discover ourselves as children," and "as children, we will turn to her to ask" what must be done, especially "how to grow in faith when our strength fails and shadows grow," the pope said. Referring to her son, Jesus, she will "tenderly reply: 'Do whatever he tells you.'"

Pope Leo then prayed for Mary's intercession, asking that she "teach nations that want to be your children not to divide the world into irreconcilable factions, not to allow hatred to mark their history or lies to write their memory."

"Show them that authority must be exercised as service and not as domination," he said. "Instruct their leaders in their duty to safeguard the dignity of every person during all stages of their life," and may these people create places "where every person can feel welcome."

He prayed that Mary would accompany young people so they could find strength in Christ "to choose what is good and the courage to remain firm in the faith, even when the world pushes them in another direction." 

"Show them that your Son walks beside them. May nothing afflict their hearts so that they may fearlessly welcome God's plans," he said, praying that she also help keep young people safe "from the threats of crime, addiction and the danger of a meaningless life."

"Seek out, Mother, those who have strayed from the holy church," he said. "May your gaze reach them where ours cannot, break down the walls that separate us, and bring them back home with the power of your love."

Pope Leo then implored Mary to touch the hearts of those "who sow discord toward your Son's desire that 'they may all be one' and restore them to the charity that makes communion possible, for within the church, Mother, your children cannot be divided."

"Strengthen families," he prayed. "Following your example, may parents educate their children with tenderness and firmness, so that every home may be a school of faith."

He prayed that those who teach be inspired to share the truth "with the gentleness, precision and clarity that comes from the Gospel," and he prayed that the clergy and consecrated men and women find support and encouragement to be faithful, prayerful and revitalized.

"Holy Virgin, may we, like you, keep the Gospel in our hearts," he said, and help Christians understand "we are not the owners of this message, but, like St. Juan Diego, we are its simple servants."

Pope Leo celebrates Guadalupe

A look at Pope Leo's Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico. / Credit: David Ramos/CNA

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 12, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

In the almost 500 years since Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, her image has become the subject of several popular myths and legends, especially in Mexico.

The plenary assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gets underway on Nov. 11, 2025, at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. First row, left to right: Father Michael J.K. Fuller, general secretary; Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president, and Archbishop William E. Lori, vice president. / Credit: Jack Haskins/EWTN News

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 16:03 pm (CNA).

U.S. Catholic bishops and prominent Catholic nonprofits are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to rescind a recent rule change they say will “disproportionately harm immigrants and their families.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), along with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) and Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), are calling for the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to rescind a policy change halting automatic extension of employment authorization documents for immigrants in the U.S.

The Dec. 1 statement comes after USCIS announced an interim final rule (IFR), titled “Removal of the Automatic Extension of Employment Authorization Documents,” on Oct. 30.

“Given our organizations’ ministries to immigrants and refugees around the country, we are deeply concerned that the changes in the IFR will disproportionately harm immigrants and their families,” read the statement, co-signed by CLINIC and CCUSA.

“The IFR will guarantee widespread employment-authorization gaps; destabilize fragile households; generate severe backlogs and administrative burdens for affiliates; impede the functioning of state agencies, such as Departments of Motor Vehicles; and impose substantial costs on U.S. employers and local economies,” the groups said. “Most importantly, the IFR will produce these harms without any demonstrated countervailing benefit.”

The U.S. bishops and Catholic nonprofits further described the IFR as “arbitrary and capricious,” stating that USCIS opted to depart from prior policy without explanation or with the establishment of good cause. “The IFR, as proposed, conflicts with fundamental humanitarian and economic principles embodied in U.S. immigration law,” the statement said.

According to the statement, the IFR “removes the only mechanism that has prevented widespread work-authorization lapses” amid ongoing adjudication delays at USCIS. Even with 180-day and 540-day automatic extensions used in the past, the statement said, “clients of CLINIC affiliates were at risk of suspension or termination because renewal adjudications had not kept pace,” leading to loss of wages and health care tied to employment.

The groups said the IFR increases demand for charitable services, including legal and social services such as those provided by Catholic Charities.

“Even temporary extensions were barely sufficient to stabilize families living on the economic margin,” the statement said. “By removing the only buffer against its own delays, the agency converts an administrative backlog into a nationwide work-authorization crisis that will destabilize workers, families, and employers across the country.”

The groups further emphasized the IFR increases the vulnerability of migrant workers, pointing out migrants facing an employment lapse “may find themselves in precarious situations where unscrupulous or predatory persons might exploit their desperate need to support themselves and their families.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

null / Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Wikipedia CC 2.0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

A majority of Catholic voters in the United States support the death penalty for convicted murderers in spite of the Catechism of the Catholic Church calling capital punishment “inadmissible,” according to a poll published by EWTN News and RealClear Opinion Research.

The survey of 1,000 Catholic voters between Nov. 9 and Nov. 11 found that 55% support the death penalty “for a person convicted of murder.” Only 20% said they oppose the death penalty in such situations, and another 25% are unsure.

Based on the poll, Catholics who attend Mass regularly are much more likely to say they oppose the death penalty than Catholics whose attendance is less frequent.

Among Catholics who attend Mass at least once per week, 52% say they support the death penalty for convicted murderers, 26% say they oppose it, and 22% are unsure. For Catholics who attend less than once per week, 57% say they support the death penalty, just 16% oppose it, and 27% are unsure.

Although many Catholics still support the death penalty, a 2024 analysis of the Association of Religion Data Archives’ General Social Survey shows a decline in Catholic support for the death penalty in recent decades, especially among those who attend weekly Mass.

The catechism, per the 2018 revision, states: “The Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,’ and she works with determination for its abolition worldwide.”

Prior to the Francis pontificate revising the language, the text stated that the Church “does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.”

Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, who serves on the advisory board for the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty, told CNA that many Catholics remain “pro-life for innocent life,” such as the lives taken through abortion, but when a person is guilty of a serious crime, “people readily say ‘yeah, they should die.’”

The revision to the catechism, she said, recognizes that taking life “is against human dignity” and “the Gospel of Jesus calls us to give that dignity — not just to innocent people — but even to the guilty.”

Prejean said when people are asked whether they support the death penalty for serious crimes, “most of the time, people say yes.” Yet, she said when polls give an alternative for life in prison, the support drops significantly. She noted that juries have been less likely to impose the death penalty recently because “most people really want to have a chance to give people life.”

With 1 in 4 Catholics saying that they are “unsure” whether they would support the death penalty in certain situations, Prejean said “that’s where the seed can grow.”

“There’s a part of their soul that hasn’t said ‘yes’ to this and they’re thinking about it,” she said.

Prejean, whose vocation was depicted in the 1995 movie “Dead Man Walking,” said she became active in opposition to the death penalty after communicating with a person who was on death row and attending his execution. Prior to that experience, she said she often did not think about the subject, but “we grow in moral issues by experiences of the faithful.”

“Once you have a personal connection with somebody, they’re not a category anymore,” she said. “They’re a person.”

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, told CNA that “defending the sacred dignity of life, while core to our beliefs, is not always easy.”

“But even when it’s hard to understand, our Church gives us good guidance and has definitively said that capital punishment has no place in our society,” said Murphy, whose organization works closely with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to oppose the death penalty.

“Given its firm commitment to human dignity and the sacred value of life, it is clear that the Catholic Church is not backing down from its pro-life position on the death penalty,” she added. “More formation and catechesis are needed to increase awareness and deepen understanding of the Church’s teaching on capital punishment so it can be applied in a meaningful way in the lives of Catholics.”

Murphy noted that St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and now Pope Leo XIV all hold a pro-life view on capital punishment. American Church leadership, including the newly elected USCCB president, Archbishop Paul Coakley, have called for the abolition of the death penalty. 

“Any disconnect between Church doctrine and polling is a reminder that more education and formation on the life issue of ending the death penalty remains worthy,” she said. “After all, human lives hang in the balance.”