U.S. bishops to elect secretary, committee chairs at November meeting
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will elect the next secretary and leadership for six committees during its November meeting, which will determine who leads the bishops’ work on education, doctrine, pro-life activities, and other issues.
American bishops will meet for their fall plenary assembly from Nov. 16–19 in Baltimore, which will include the election of bishops to the positions. Each bishop will serve as bishop-elect for one year, before taking over the role at the end of the 2027 fall plenary assembly. They serve three-year terms.
The most senior office up for election is USCCB secretary, which also leads the Committee on Priorities and Planning. This bishop helps set conference-wide priorities for the bishops.
Two bishops were nominated for the role: Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, and Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of Columbus, Ohio. Rhoades holds the position because he was elected in 2025 to finish the term of Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, whose election to the USCCB presidency left a vacancy.
There are also two nominees for each of the committee chairs:
- The Committee on Catholic Education: Bishop James D. Conley, Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bishop Edmund J. Whalen, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of New York
- The Committee on Communications: Bishop Daniel J. Felton, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, and Bishop Louis Tylka, Diocese of Peoria, Illinois
- The Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church: Bishop Steven J. Maekawa, OP, Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Bishop Michael M. Pham, Diocese of San Diego
- The Committee on Doctrine: Bishop William M. Joensen, Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, and Bishop Steven J. Lopes, Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
- The Committee on National Collections: Bishop Mark A. Eckman, Diocese of Pittsburgh, and Bishop Gerald L. Vincke, Diocese of Salina, Kansas
- The Committee on Pro-Life Activities: Bishop John T. Folda, Diocese of Fargo, North Dakota, and Bishop Donald J. Hying, Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin
Archbishop of Dijon, France, asks for prayers for priest who died by suicide
Archbishop Antoine Hérouard of Dijon, France, asked for prayers for Father Bernard Card, who died by suicide in his Sainte Chantal Parish house on Sunday, Oct. 4.
In a letter sent to the faithful of his archdiocese, the prelate wrote of his “astonishment and deep sadness” and said that what happened was “totally unexpected and difficult to understand.”
“Let us entrust him to the merciful love of the Lord. Let us pray for his parishioners, shocked by this unexpected news; for Father Jean-Philippe Nollé, his vicar; and for his family and friends, left desolate by this sudden departure,” the archbishop said.
In his letter, the archbishop remembered Card — who had been “deeply affected” some time ago by his brother’s suicide — as “a pastor much appreciated by his parishioners and who moved with ease among his fellow priests, who trusted him.”
He added that he was “very involved in the life of the cathedral chapter, regularly participated in the canons' prayer in the archbishopʼs chapel, and enjoyed staying afterward for coffee with the staff. He always took part with interest in the meetings of the Diocesan Council for Economic Affairs.”
Looking ahead to Card’s approaching 75th birthday, Hérouard said the two had spoken about the possibility of continuing his mission a little past the usual retirement age. Some had noticed that he seemed “tired lately” and was bothered by insects in his house, but no one thought that was “anything dramatic,” the archbishop wrote.
On the archdioceseʼs Facebook page, Michèle Bauchet commented: “This is deeply sad news. [Father] Bernard was a very kind person. He had agreed to officiate at our son-in-lawʼs funeral Mass.”
She wrote that he was to celebrate her golden wedding anniversary Mass in 2027. “We are truly shocked. We pray for Jean-Philippe Nollé and all of Bernardʼs family,” she added.
The French government declared mental health a national priority for 2025 and 2026. A 2020 study by Mutuelle Saint-Martin and Action Sociale found that 9% of French priests showed a depressive syndrome, 40% had a low sense of personal fulfillment, 7% a high degree of exhaustion, and 2% suffered from severe burnout.
The archdiocese has organized several prayer vigils for the priest. The first is Thursday, Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m. in Chenôve (Chapel of Saint Teresa). Later that same day, another vigil will be held at 3 p.m. in the church of Corcelles-les-Monts.
Prayers will be held on Friday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. at Sainte-Chantal; and on Monday, Oct. 12, from 8:30 to 10 p.m. at the same location. The funeral will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 10 a.m., also at Sainte-Chantal.
Seek help
If you or someone you know is experiencing an emotional crisis or suicidal thoughts, remember that the Catholic Church offers spiritual guidance, prayer, and someone to talk to and encourages seeking professional help.
You can contact helplines, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988 in the U.S.) for your country, or go to your parish, where you will find pastoral support and resources.
The Catholic Church teaches that life is a gift from God. The Church accompanies those who suffer with compassion and without judgment, offering hope, prayer, and consolation to the affected families.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Exorcists discuss cases, emphasize essential role of sacred music and the Virgin Mary in exorcisms
About 120 exorcist priests met in Italy for a five-day conference on possession cases and on the place of sacred music and the Virgin Mary in exorcisms.
The 15th Italian National Conference of the International Association of Exorcists (IAE) took place Sept. 21–25 at the Fraterna Domus center in Sacrofano, Italy, near Rome. The meeting focused on the pastoral experience of attendees.
3 cases of demonic possession
Father Benigno Palilla, an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Palermo, Italy, described a young woman who was freed after two and a half years of demonic possession, according to IAE’s website. The association said her suffering is common among younger people and is often tied to ceasing reception of the sacraments, atheism, spiritist sessions, and occult practices. Her troubles had led to aggression toward others and self-hatred that reached suicidal thoughts, the association noted. Palilla said her liberation came on the liturgical memorial of St. Pio of Pietrelcina. He said that after she gave her life fully to God, she felt a deep interior peace and a renewed love of life.
Father Angelo Barra, an exorcist of the Diocese of Salerno, Italy, spoke of a young woman who was a victim of domestic violence. After a trip, she began to complain of severe pain that started during Mass. The association said that a priest’s simple reading of passages from Acts 16 revealed an extraordinary demonic action and set off an “interior earthquake.” Blessings, together with the spiritual support of two Catholic communities in Africa, led to her liberation. She later said she had been the victim of a ritual consecration by a sect in the place she had visited.
Father Michele Tenzon, a former exorcist of the Diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo, recalled a South American woman whose relatives had “offered her to the spirits.” He said in that case, and in an exorcist’s life generally, what matters is living an authentic Christian life, ongoing formation, and the intercession of the Virgin Mary in prayer.
Sacred music and the Virgin Mary
Father Giuseppe Grassi, an exorcist and director of the Office of Sacred Music of the Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni, Italy, said sacred music and song are closely tied to the heights of the angelic ministry and can be used fruitfully in exorcism, according to the association. The more sacred the music, he said, the more closely it is connected to the liturgical action, because it prefigures the liturgy of the heavenly Jerusalem — from the psalms to Gregorian chant and popular songs in honor of the Virgin.
Mariologist Father Salvatore Perrella, a Servite and former dean of the Pontifical Marianum in Rome, stressed the importance of the Virgin Mary’s place in exorcisms. He pointed to her constant rooting in the word of God, “since Mary is intimately involved in the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation.” Mary, he said, “lived and served with fidelity, intelligence, and sobriety the role of collaborator with the Trinity in the salvation and eschatological glorification of the ‘scattered children of God.’” She is “essential in the life of the Church, interceding and praying for good to triumph over evil,” according to the association.
10 years since Father Amorth’s death
Several exorcists remembered Father Gabriele Amorth, the well-known exorcist of the Diocese of Rome and founder of the association, who died on Sept. 16, 2016, and who is credited with tens of thousands of exorcisms.
Father Francesco Bamonte, vice president of the association, recalled Amorth’s early work with the Servant of God Father Candido Amantini, exorcist at the Scala Santa. Amorth, he said, “understood that for a novice exorcist, simply being appointed by the bishop and receiving the ritual was not enough. It was like being an inexperienced surgeon. Hence the need for the conferences, courses, and regular training sessions promoted by the association.”
Father Aldo Buonaiuto, an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, recalled Amorth’s warnings about choices that expose a person to extraordinary demonic action: dangerous occult situations, fascination with the supernatural, personal ambition, an interior predisposition, and the devaluing of affections.
Father Marcello Lanza of the Diocese of Acerra, Italy, highlighted “the mystical component in the life, vocation, and teachings of Father Amorth, understood as a process of conformity to Christ. This is of great importance in the practice of exorcism, because if the ministry is mystically united to the Liberator, who is Christ, the devil is defeated all the more.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
‘Nearly every Catholic health care institution’ in Illinois shielded from suicide law in court order
Catholic health institutions in Illinois will enjoy broad protection against the state’s assisted suicide law after a federal court expanded a block against the law to protect religious objectors from being forced to participate in it.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois earlier this year ruled in favor of multiple Catholic plaintiffs, including Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Chicago archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich, barring the state from requiring them to participate in the suicide regime there. Multiple groups of religious sisters have also been included in those protective orders.
The Thomas More Society, a legal group representing Paprocki and several others in their lawsuit, announced on Oct. 8 that “nearly every Catholic health care institution in Illinois” had been included in an expanded court order blocking the suicide law from being enforced.
Among the protected entities are the Catholic Medical Association, the Catholic Psychotherapy Association, and numerous Catholic healthcare affiliates in the Diocese of Springfield.
The order is temporary and will last only so long as the lawsuit against the state suicide law plays out, but Thomas More Society litigation head Peter Breen said in a news release that the law firm would “keep fighting until that protection is permanent.”
“Catholic and Christian health care providers, from hospitals and nursing homes to physicians, nurses, and therapists, strive to heal, not harm, and for generations, have cared for the sick and dying in keeping with their faith,” Breen said, arguing that the state has “no right or authority” to coerce them into helping patients kill themselves.
Narrow opt-out laws mean the Catholic care providers were not obligated to actively facilitate the specific act of suicide. But the state law still requires them to participate in the suicide regime in various other ways, including touting the alleged benefits of taking one’s own life.
Elsewhere in the U.S., Rockville Centre, New York, Bishop John Barres and a coalition of four communities of religious sisters won a victory in July when a U.S. district judge said the state would be barred from enforcing its new suicide law against the Catholic plaintiffs while their own federal suit played out.
Holy See calls for abolition of death penalty at UN
The Holy See’s permanent observer to the U.N. urged the international community to abolish the death penalty during a meeting at the 81st General Assembly.
Archbishop Christophe El-Kassis argued for an end to capital punishment during a meeting of the Third Committee on Oct. 7, saying the defense of human rights must be “consistent and universal, extending to every person, at every stage and in every circumstance.”
El-Kassis’ remarks come after Tennessee’s Sept. 30 botched execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike, who survived the administration of two syringes of lethal pentobarbital and is receiving medical treatment. A week later, Texas executed a man, marking the 30th execution carried out in the United States in 2026. Separately, President Donald Trump on Oct. 5 approved an execution by a military firing squad.
“The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” El-Kassis said, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “This God-given dignity is never forfeited, no matter the gravity of the crime. Advances in penal systems now allow states to protect society effectively without foreclosing the possibility of repentance and redemption.”
El-Kassis emphasized that “there is no recourse” if the death penalty is carried out against an innocent person.
“Conversely, the victims and their families are entitled to solidarity, support, and a justice that is prompt, impartial, and humane. However, the taking of another life cannot restore what has been lost,” he said. “The purpose of punishment is not vengeance, but rather to repair the social bond, protect the common good, and reintegrate the offender.”
He concluded by calling on states in the U.S. where the practice is legal to “consider establishing, without delay, a moratorium on executions as a step towards abolition,” commute existing sentences, ensure fair trials, and enhance rehabilitation efforts.
Drug trafficking
El-Kassis also spoke on the topic of drug trafficking addressing those gathered at the Third Committee meeting on “Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice” with a call to uphold the law for the protection of human dignity and rights of others.
“Renewed determination is required in the face of expanding drug markets and the links between drug trafficking, corruption, and criminal activity around the world,” he said during the Oct. 7 session. “Furthermore, organized criminal groups are exploiting technology and innovation to expand their reach and diversify their operations.”
Quoting Pope Leo XIV, El-Kassis highlighted that prevention against drug use and trafficking must be accompanied by education that begins within the family and continues in schools, “imparting accurate scientific knowledge of the ruinous effects of narcotics upon the brain, the body, personal conduct, and the common good of the community.”
“The Catholic Church will continue to contribute to the common good and the inalienable, God-given dignity of every human person,” he said.
Indigenous peoples
El-Kassis also spoke during a session of the Third Committee on the “Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
“Every human person is endowed with inherent dignity and equal rights. Indigenous peoples, with their unique histories, cultures, spiritualities, and ancestral bonds to the land, form an indispensable part of the human family,” he said. “Their rights must be respected, protected, and promoted as a matter of justice and of the common good.”
El-Kassis further emphasized that “Indigenous peoples are not objects of development policies, but subjects and protagonists of their own destinies.”
Martyrs or rebels?: Rome conference debates 100-year legacy of Cristero movement
A conference in Rome reflected on the legacy of Mexico’s Cristero movement, marking the 100th anniversary of the Catholic uprising against the country’s secular government.
The “Viva Cristo Rey! Centenary of the Cristero Epic” began Oct. 7 at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and continues through Oct. 9. The Cristero War began in 1926, and scholars examined its martyrs' legacy and church-state relations across Latin America.
Among those present were the Mexican ambassador to the Holy See, Alberto Medardo Barranco Chavarría; Rodrigo Guerra Lopez, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; and Italian Catholic politician and intellectual Rocco Buttiglione.
La Cristiada: A just war?
The Cristero War in Mexico lasted from 1926-1929, during which armed Catholics, known as the Cristeros, resisted the government’s fierce anticlerical laws. According to estimates from the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, more than 200,000 people were killed for defending the faith against persecution, producing martyrs such as St. José Sánchez del Río and Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro.
Amid these figures, debates have arisen about the movement’s legacy in light of the violence committed by members of the Cristeros in retaliation against anticlerical laws.
Buttiglione, who withdrew as Italyʼs nominee to the European Commission in 2004 after lawmakers objected to comments rooted in his Catholic beliefs about marriage, defended their actions as courageous despite their mistakes.
“We honor the courage of a people who fought and shed their blood for the freedom to live their faith,” Buttiglione said in his speech. “We are not afraid to acknowledge the mistakes and even the culpability of Catholics who lived through this immense tragedy. But they cannot condemn a people rebelling to defend the right to religious freedom.”
Conversely, Guerra described the Cristero movement to EWTN News as “complex” and cited Pope Leo XIV’s teaching on a “disarmed and disarming peace.”
“I believe that the Cristero movement was a complex movement,” Guerra told EWTN News. “It was neither entirely white nor entirely black. Those who lived Christianity and the faith, guided by Pope Leo XIV’s conviction for a disarmed and disarming peace, even if they did not use that language, are today recognized as martyrs and blesseds, and let’s hope many saints in the future.”
Church and state in Latin America
During the conference, scholars also examined the relationship between the Church and secular governments before and after the Cristero War.
In 1929, the war ended with the so-called “Agreements” between the Mexican bishops and President Emilio Portes Gil. The Cristeros laid down their arms after the agreements, but many, according to Franco-Mexican historian Jean Meyer, were still martyred afterward.
Barranco Chavarría told EWTN News that the characterization of the state’s stance against the Church is false.
“There is an interpretation that no longer corresponds to the current government of Mexico. It was always said that the government was trying to silence the Cristeros issue, that it was trying to minimize it. The truth is that no,” Barranco Chavarría told EWTN News.
Guerra added that their relationship was shaped by laicism, the doctrine of separation between church and state.
“Laicism has been very harmful in the history of Mexico,” Guerra told EWTN News. “We continue fighting against that disease, but we need to learn every day how the right to religious liberty is promoted joyfully.”
A potential visit from Pope Leo to Mexico?
The last pontiff to visit Mexico was Pope Francis in 2016.
Barranco Chavarría expressed hope for a future visit from Pope Leo XIV, also noting the visit of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in August, during which he said the pope is “very eager to come to Mexico.”
“The pope received an official invitation on the day of his inauguration,” Barranco Chavarría told EWTN News. “During a phone call with the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, the pope said he was strongly interested in visiting Mexico for the 500th anniversary of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s apparitions in 2031. We hope that next year, around October or November, this dream of the Mexicans can finally become a reality.”
Guerra added about his visit: “We hope that the pope will reinvigorate a new presence of Christian inspiration in public life, which we need so much in our Latin American countries, especially at times when extreme ideologies of the left or the right seem to tear the fabric of our societies.”
Pope Leo XIV urges pontifical university students to ‘guard your hearts’
Pope Leo XIV urged students and faculty at Rome’s pontifical universities to “guard your hearts” and warned against reducing intellectual activity to the collection of data during a Mass Thursday marking the opening of the academic year.
Celebrating the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope emphasized the mission of pontifical universities, the importance of critical thinking in the life of faith, and the need to connect academic study with the experiences of ordinary people, especially the poor.
Reflecting on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Leo said that intellectual inquiry is essential to both faith and mission.
The apostle’s words, he explained, are “an appeal to reason, memory, and critical thinking.”
“In every age, there is no shortage of false teachers who exploit the religious sentiments of many believers for their own interests, often pushing them to radicalize certain aspects of the teaching they have received at the expense of the whole — the whole, which is Christ and his Gospel,” the pope warned.
He encouraged students and professors to regard their academic work as a service to the Church and to the search for truth.
“Dear friends, consider study as a service to faith and truth: for your own good and for the good of so many brothers and sisters for whom the Lord gave his life,” he said.
Reason and the willingness to ask questions, guided by Scripture and Church tradition, are indispensable to Christian faith, Leo continued.
The Church, he said, has “both the desire and the responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the treasure of revelation and to develop, within diverse contexts, a prayerful understanding of it, scholarly reflection, cultural mediation, and practical application.”
The pope also addressed the relationship between human intelligence and technology, drawing a distinction between the accumulation of information and the deeper understanding that comes from personal experience.
“The mind must not simply compile data — as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can — but recall lived experiences, which contain depths of meaning that only the human soul can recognize, and connect more deeply with the goodness of these experiences,” he said.
Academic routines, ambition, and rivalries can distract people from the spiritual foundations of their work, leaving them exhausted, divided, and unhappy, Leo cautioned.
“We must therefore return to the heart. That is where it all began; the beginning to which we can always return,” he said.
“Dearest friends, guard your hearts. Whether you are students, researchers, or teachers, guard your hearts, so that every stage of life and every responsibility may be lived ‘with the Spirit.’”
The pope also emphasized the importance of friendships formed during university studies, particularly those grounded in a common search for truth in Christ.
He urged the academic community to remain connected to the wider Church and attentive to the concerns of ordinary believers.
“Remain rooted in the people of God, value its ’sensus fidei,’ and be open to its questions. And do not forget the poor, who are sometimes that persistent friend who comes knocking during the night,” he said.
The relationship between scholarship and everyday life, Leo explained, is fundamental to the Christian understanding of the Incarnation.
“Bring life into your studies and your studies into life, following the logic of the Incarnation, apart from which revelation falls silent,” he said.
“Indeed, the further we stray from the complete reality that the Son of God took on and lived with infinite love, the less we will have to say and the fewer opportunities we will have to understand.”
The pope reminded his listeners that many people lack the educational opportunities available to students at Rome’s pontifical universities.
“Let us open the door; let us not shut ourselves off,” he said.
Referring to his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Leo called for cooperation in building a society in which God can dwell with humanity in peace.
He noted that the fragmentation of knowledge and the impact of new technologies on the human mind present challenges requiring careful reflection.
Quoting the encyclical, he said that “a genuinely healthy attitude is needed, requiring rhythms that incorporate silence, in-depth study, reading, and judicious analysis, for without these elements inner freedom may be compromised.”
Theology, he added, has an important contribution to make in addressing those challenges and bringing different fields of knowledge into dialogue.
Rome’s ecclesiastical institutions have a particular responsibility in this regard because of their service to the universal Church and their role as meeting places for students and scholars from different cultures and traditions.
The pope concluded by encouraging students to take full advantage of the international character of the pontifical universities and to form lasting relationships across cultural and geographic boundaries.
“Look around you at university: The world is seated in your classrooms. Studying alongside you are people from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania,” he said.
“Do not limit yourselves to simply sitting next to one another: Get to know one another, talk to one another, listen to one another, share your experiences of the Church, pray together, share moments of leisure, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime.”
Leo ended his homily by entrusting the new academic year to the intercession of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, and invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV appoints Sister Mary Barron president of Pontifical Mission Societies
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Sister Mary Teresa Barron as adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, while also entrusting her with leadership of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the Irish religious sister will assume her new responsibilities on Jan. 4, 2027.
Barron, superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, will take on one of the most significant leadership positions in the Church’s missionary activity. As president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, she will coordinate and promote missionary cooperation among local Churches throughout the world, particularly in regions where the Church is growing and facing significant pastoral challenges.
In 2024, during a press conference following Synod on Synodality discussions, Barron, then president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), which represents approximately 600,000 religious sisters in 80 countries, addressed the question of women who experience “a call to priesthood.”
While discussion of women deacons is often framed in terms of whether women can be ordained in the Church today, Barron argued that the issue should also be approached from another perspective.
“I think we have to look at the question very much from … the Spirit. ‘Is the Spirit calling women?’ Because some women do sense a call to priesthood or diaconate,” she said on Oct. 7, 2024.
Barron also said that, “even if at the moment we may not be looking at ordained ministry” for women, discussion on the issue should continue.
The Irish religious sister further emphasized that opportunities for women to assume positions of governance in the Church continue to depend in large part on cultural factors. She said women are able to take on broader leadership roles in some societies, while doing so remains more difficult in others because of cultural realities.
“I think we have to look at broader than just can or can we not from a theological or a canonical point of view, but in terms of the spirit calling to ministry today and in terms … of the needs of mission today,” she said.
Barron concluded by calling for continued reflection on the issue: “Are those calls there and can we continue the discussion? I think thatʼs what we would be asking at this point in time. Can we continue the discussion in relation to that?”
ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, attempted to contact Barron for clarification regarding her views but did not receive a response by publication time.
Missionary work in Africa
Born in Donegal, Ireland, on Nov. 7, 1968, Barron has academic training in public administration and international development. She earned a masterʼs degree in health administration from Dublinʼs Institute of Public Administration and a masterʼs degree in international development from the Kimmage Development Studies Centre.
Since 2018, she has served as superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, a congregation dedicated to evangelization and missionary service, especially in several African countries.
Her leadership experience also includes prominent roles in international organizations connected to consecrated life and missionary activity. From 2022 to 2025, she served as president of the Service of Documentation and Study on Global Mission (SEDOS), and from 2023 to 2025 she led the UISG, the international organization representing superiors general of womenʼs religious congregations worldwide.
Growing presence of women in Vatican leadership
Barron becomes one of the highest-ranking women in the Roman Curia and the first woman to lead the pontifical missionary network operating in more than 120 countries.
Her appointment is part of a series of appointments by Pope Leo XIV that have strengthened the trend of placing women in senior Vatican leadership positions.
The popeʼs first major appointment of a woman came on May 22, 2025, when he named Sister Tiziana Merletti secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
The presence of women in leadership roles continued to expand on April 1, 2026, when Paola Fanelli was appointed director of human resources for the Holy See.
Another significant appointment came on June 2, 2026, when Leo XIV named María Montserrat Alvarado, currently president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, prefect of the Dicastery for Communication. The Mexican-American journalist and scholar is scheduled to become, on Nov. 1, the first woman to lead the department responsible for coordinating the Holy Seeʼs communications system, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, LʼOsservatore Romano, and Vatican digital platforms.
On June 30, the pope also appointed Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli, 51, as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Smerilli, a professor of political economy, had served as secretary of the dicastery since 2021 and was already the first woman to reach that level within the department.
Pope Leo XIV received representatives of the Association of Vatican Lay Workers and the Women in the Vatican Association on Monday. During the meeting, he said that “the presence of women” in the Vatican “is a valuable asset that must be increasingly recognized and appreciated.”
The pope added that women “bring not only a special sensitivity toward people and relationships but also the full range of human, professional, and intellectual talents inherent in the female experience and perspective.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Notre Dame religious liberty scholars urge Supreme Court to strike down Texas Ten Commandments law
Religious liberty scholars at the University of Notre Dame are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a Texas law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law in June 2025. The measure ordered that a “durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments” be hung in each Texas public elementary or secondary school classroom.
The law has been subject to legal challenges since its passage. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery blocked the law in August 2025, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld the law, finding that it does not violate the First Amendment.
In an amicus filing on Sept. 28, scholars with the Lindsay & Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic at the Notre Dame Law School urged the Supreme Court to take up the case, arguing that the high court can provide “urgently needed guidance” regarding the extent of the establishment clause in the First Amendment.
The Texas law “forces state-sponsored religious instruction on children” and “strikes at the heart of the Constitution’s protections” while going against Supreme Court precedent, the filing says.
The appeals court ruling “misstates the history underpinning the First Amendment, defies [Supreme Court] cases, and imperils religious freedom,” the brief argues.
The placement of the Ten Commandments per the state’s rule “guarantees” that students will be effectively coerced into religious instruction, it says.
The purpose of the law is to “teach government-approved religious truth,” the scholars say, in violation of the Constitution and U.S. precedent.
The Supreme Court has ruled on public displays of the Ten Commandments in multiple cases. In 2005 it held that a display at the Texas Capitol was constitutional, though in the same year it struck down Ten Commandments displays at multiple Kentucky courthouses.
In 2024, meanwhile, a federal judge blocked a Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed the ruling, finding that Supreme Court precedent left the constitutional question unresolved.
Pope Leo XIV says unity is necessary for evangelization
VATICAN CITY — “Being a Christian ... is a life in union with Christ,” and true evangelization stems directly from this spiritual bond, Pope Leo XIV said in a special message for the 100th anniversary of World Mission Day, Oct. 18.
"The more united we are in Christ, the better able we will be to carry out together the mission that he entrusts to us," the pope wrote. “This spirituality constitutes the daily expression of missionary discipleship."
Leo himself served for years in Peru as an Augustinian missionary priest and bishop, and has often called on Catholics “to proclaim the Gospel without fear, to be missionaries.”
Pope Pius XI established World Mission Day in 1926, following the publication of his landmark encyclical Rerum Ecclesiae, which promoted the idea that supporting missions was the responsibility of all Catholics.
The centennial observance will be marked by Masses all over the world, with the pontiff celebrating the canonization of seven blesseds on Oct. 19 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
In his message, the pope highlighted historical figures of faith, including Blessed Pauline Marie Jaricot, who established the Association of the Living Rosary 200 years ago to mobilize prayer and support for missionaries.
The pope urged the faithful to draw inspiration from the zeal of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Until death and beyond, she declared that she would continue her mission: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved.”
“If unity is the condition of mission, love is its essence,” the pope wrote. “Let us commit to contributing to the great mission of evangelization — which is a work of love.”