Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France seeks donations as it prepares for Pope Leo’s visit
The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes is preparing to welcome Pope Leo XIV as part of his pastoral visit to France in September, a development that represents “an unprecedented logistical and spiritual challenge” for the site where the Immaculate Conception first appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
The shrine’s recent newsletters have highlighted the preparations and appealed for support to help carry out the necessary work to welcome the Holy Father and the thousands of pilgrims expected for the occasion.
For the Sunday, Sept. 27, Mass, organizers plan to install a platform capable of accommodating 400 people, an audio system suitable for the sanctuary’s meadow, 10 giant screens, and enhanced signage.
In addition, measures are being taken “to ensure the safety of pedestrian routes and facilitate the movement of sick, elderly, and disabled persons,” a priority that is already central to the shrine’s mission but one that organizers hope to improve further.
Most of these upgrades will remain at the shrine for the long-term benefit of pilgrims, so any donations are viewed as an investment in Lourdes’ future.
In total, organizers expect to install more than 6.2 miles of security barriers, mobilize approximately 600 volunteers, welcome nearly 3,000 priests, provide 1,000 temporary public restrooms, and implement an enhanced cleaning and waste-management system.
Registration opens for Mass and rosary procession
Beyond the technical challenges, shrine officials emphasize that the essential priority during the pope’s visit is to maintain the shrine’s normal activities, “accompanying the sick with the same tenderness” and ensuring that “the spiritual heart of Lourdes continues to beat uninterrupted alongside the day’s events.”
Organizers also announced that registration forms are now available for those wishing to attend, either individually or as part of a group. While registration is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended.
Two registration forms have been created: one for individuals, families, or groups of fewer than 10 people, and another for larger groups.
Upon registering, pilgrims will receive practical information by email, including transportation options, recommended travel routes, and instructions for access and seating arrangements in the Meadow or the Rosary Esplanade.
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.
Report warns of U.S. shift away from prioritizing international religious freedom
A report published by Dallas Baptist University’s Center for Global Religious Freedom detailed concerns that the United States and some other Western nations have shifted their diplomatic priorities away from international religious freedom advocacy.
The report, published July 27, alleged “a retreat of Western nations from human rights” like religious freedom, which has “contributed to widespread religious persecution affecting Christians and other faith communities worldwide.”
According to the authors, the U.S. and many European nations are prioritizing “hard interests,” which they called a shift “reverting to the historical norms of foreign affairs.” The report notes some specific changes seen in President Donald Trump’s second administration, which began in January 2025.
In what the authors called “the U.S. retreat,” they cited elements of the administration’s foreign policy. This included reductions to “funding and staffing” for agencies and nongovernmental organizations that support international religious freedom, the lack of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, and “weak congressional and executive prioritization.”
According to the report, this coincided with a foreign policy centered on “military force, economic power, and territorial security” and de-emphasizing “alliances, values, and soft-power tools.”
Specifically, they note Trump’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which included international religious freedom initiatives, and the suspension of the refugee resettlement program, to which victims of religious persecution previously had access.
It states that USAID’s functions and its staff have been reduced “to the minimum level required by statute” and the Department of State’s human rights initiatives were shifted to its regional bureaus, “which lacked relevant expertise and typically prioritized relationship-maintenance over rights concerns.” It states the International Religious Freedom Office was “demoted” and incorporated into the State Department’s broader human rights bureau and faced staffing cuts.
The report notes the administration has not disclosed how many international religious freedom programs were cut. However, it cited the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) 2026 annual report that concluded “a significant portion” had been terminated.
According to the Dallas Baptist University report, cuts included programs that “counter restrictive laws, support early warning systems for religious violence, promote interfaith dialogue, document violations, provide emergency assistance to religious freedom activists, and provide humanitarian aid to persecuted communities.”
“As the largest financial supporter of international religious freedom efforts, the U.S. government’s abrupt halt and subsequent cuts to its IRF-related assistance harmed the programs’ beneficiaries and implementers, and undercut the IRF advocacy community,” it adds.
The report notes European states followed the U.S. lead by cutting its own foreign assistance, which included initiatives that promote international religious freedom.
It also expresses concern that the position for U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom has remained vacant throughout Trump’s second term after his nominee did not secure a Senate confirmation. The State Department also has not released its annual International Religious Freedom report in 2025, it notes, which is required by law.
Alternatively, the report gives the Trump administration credit for designating Nigeria a country of particular concern (CPC) for religious freedom violations, which prompted its government to engage with the U.S. to address problems. It also cited a visa policy that bans individuals who have directed, authorized, supported, or participated in violations of religious freedom.
State Department disputes characterization
In a statement provided to EWTN News, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S., under Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is focused on international religious freedom and has “re-established the United States as a global leader” in defending the right domestically and abroad.
“Under this Administration, the Department of State has made unprecedented advances in accountability by revoking visas from violators of religious freedom and pushing action to defend people of faith around the world,” the spokesperson said. “From our global visa actions, to our public defense of Christians targeted for silent prayer in the United Kingdom, to our designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, we are once again standing up for people of faith in no uncertain terms.”
“The Department unapologetically affirms religious freedom as our nation’s first freedom,” the spokesperson added. “We are also committed to direct advocacy at all levels on behalf of prisoners of conscience.”
Alberto Fernández, an EWTN contributor and former diplomat, told EWTN News that he thinks the U.S. focus on international religious freedom is “far more nuanced” than the report suggests, arguing that religious freedom advocacy always took a back seat in U.S. diplomacy.
Fernández said religious freedom concerns have always been “an add-on” to U.S. diplomatic negotiations, as opposed to a top priority, saying it has always “struggled to get attention.” He said U.S. diplomats may “raise a religious freedom issue,” but “it will be one of a dozen issues that is raised with a specific country.”
He also disputed USAID’s focus on international religious freedom, saying when he was serving in government for more than two dozen years until 2015, the agency “had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do [anything about religious freedom],” adding: “It’s not something they wanted to do; it was something they had to be forced to do.”
Under Trump, he noted that the administration has prioritized religious freedom with the new government in Syria, has made religious freedom in Nigeria a priority, and has advocated on behalf of Orthodox Christians in Turkey, encouraging the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary, which the Turkish government shut down in 1971.
“It’s always going to be an issue that’s going to fight for attention at the table,” Fernández said, adding that “people need to keep pushing it … in their interactions with administrations.”
Spanish bishop calls for a vigil for peace, justice, and stability in Ceuta after immigration crisis
The apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta in Spain, Bishop Ramón Valdivia, called for a vigil for peace, justice, and stability in Ceuta, the Spanish city located in northern Africa and the site of a recent immigration crisis.
In a letter addressed to the priests, religious, and faithful of Ceuta, where the recent arrival of thousands of illegal migrants led to an overwhelming breach of the city’s maritime border, Valdivia invited the faithful to pray on the eve of the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, celebrated on Aug. 15, following a suggestion made by Pope Leo XIV.
“As a proposal for ecclesial action in response to this humanitarian and confidence crisis, I believe it is necessary to turn our gaze toward God,” Valdivia wrote, expressing his desire that this prayer take place “with the intention not only of seeking protection for the city of Ceuta but also so that we may become aware of the importance of maturing in the faith we have received and ask for the necessary light so that, united, we may experience these moments as a new cultural beginning and not simply as a crisis, which one hopes will prove temporary.”
“These events seem to me to reveal the depth of the cultural change that is taking place. For this reason, now more than ever, we need to lift our eyes and pray together the Our Father, saying: ‘Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!’” he insisted.
In the letter, Valdivia, who is also the auxiliary bishop of Seville, acknowledged that he needed time “to reflect on and understand the scope of what we have suffered and, at the same time, to try to understand, with the light available to me, the repercussions that go beyond what the media have been showing.”
The bishop pointed to “the humanitarian disaster generated by ambition and corruption” in which “young people without a future threw themselves into the unknown, driven only by political slogans or ill-intentioned promises” while adults “took advantage of the lack of government control to flee the criminal responsibilities of their own country, perhaps aided by a premeditated pardon arranged for this occasion.”
He also wrote of minors who, “abandoned by their families, become easy prey for predators” and, referring to the residents of Ceuta, “people who have felt their own space violated.”
‘Our Lady of Africa has been our stronghold’
In his reflection, Valdivia shared that what arose in his heart was “gratitude born of faith,” emphasizing that “from the very first moment, Our Lady of Africa has been the stronghold in which we can find refuge.”
“I have been able to perceive how the mother and patroness of Ceuta has once again, throughout history, become the lighthouse guiding us as we navigate stormy seas,” he added.
The auxiliary bishop of Seville also highlighted the way Catholics have faced the challenge of the arrival of a group nearly as large as Ceuta’s own population: “It is only right that we all send a message of gratitude to this small Christian community, so that they may receive strong encouragement from the rest of the diocese and continue to keep alive the witness of faith.”
“I want to believe that both the floral offering and the celebration and procession with the image of Our Lady of Africa were not merely a passing sigh but rather a catalyst for breaking the inertia generated by fear, the spark that awakens awareness of what faith contributes to the rebuilding of the city, the greatest challenge facing society and the Church in this time that the Lord has given us,” Valdivia said.
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.
Massachusetts becomes 11th state with no abortion limits as Gov. Healey signs bill
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed a bill allowing abortion at any point in pregnancy in the state of Massachusetts, making it the 11th state to impose no limits on abortion.
The legislation signed Aug. 10 removes all of the state’s restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. An elective late-term abortion may be done based upon “the professional judgment of the physician” performing it, under the law.
“It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year. Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey’s approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement.
The state Senate sent the legislation to Healey’s desk on July 31 for her signature.
Under the previous statute, state law allowed abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy if a physician says it is necessary to preserve the life, physical or mental health of the woman, because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis, or because the fetus wouldn’t likely survive outside the uterus.
“Today, mothers and fathers and families who experience these devastating diagnoses — and they are devastating, heartbreaking — now theyʼll be able to make their own choices,” Healey said at a press conference on Aug. 10.
Healey and supporters of the measure said the change in the law was needed because Massachusetts hospitals were increasingly refusing to provide abortions for women who already qualified for post‑24‑week abortions under existing law and that doctors needed clearer authority to reaffirm that medical judgment governs late‑term abortion decisions.
Healey, who is an outspoken supporter of abortion access, has served as the state’s governor since 2023.
Responding to the enacted legislation, Dannenfelser urged that the GOP “must abandon the ‘leave it to the states’ position — a stance that permits egregious late-term abortion laws like this one — and advance national protections for unborn children.”
SBA Pro-Life America highlighted that abortions done during the second and third trimesters are generally done by dismemberment of the baby or labor, noting that inducing labor may result in a live birth.
“Without a minimum national standard, the United States remains 1 of only 8 countries worldwide that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy,” Dannenfelser said.
According to a 2024 study from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, 46 of 50 countries in Europe limit abortion after 15 weeks –– a point by which the baby feels pain. The institute also found that over 60,000 abortions occur after 15 weeks each year.
“We must do all we can to turn the page on America’s ugly chapter of late-term abortion,” Dannenfelser said.
Earthquake in Colombia causes at least 20 deaths, partial collapse of neo-Gothic cathedral
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook several regions of western Colombia on Monday, Aug. 10, killing at least 20 people and causing severe damage to many buildings, including the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as the Manizales Cathedral, in the department of Caldas.
The earthquake occurred at 7:34 a.m. local time, and its epicenter was the municipality of San José del Palmar in the department of Chocó, located on the Pacific coast.
On its social media, the Archdiocese of Manizales shared a video showing cracks in the facade and the partial collapse of one of the side towers of the 390-foot-high neo-Gothic church, the tallest cathedral in Colombia and the tallest neo-Gothic church in the Americas.
Instagram post
The death toll remains unknown as local and national authorities continue to gather information in order to get a complete picture of the number of victims and the structural damage caused by the earthquake, considered the strongest in the last decade.
Colombia’s newly elected president, Abelardo De La Espriella, said on social media he has “personally taken charge of the emergency response in San José del Palmar” and has ordered the “establishment of a Unified Command Post to coordinate the response to the damage and assist those affected.”
“You are not alone,” wrote De La Espriella, who is Catholic. “The state is present and acting.”
The Archdiocese of Manizales called on the population to pray “for all the people and families who may have been affected, for those who today feel fear and uncertainty, and, especially, for those who need help.”
“May God protect Manizales and Colombia, strengthen our hearts, and grant us serenity, solidarity, and hope. Lord, we place Colombia in your hands,” the archdiocese said in its post.
The governor of Chocó, Nubia Córdoba, stated on her social media account that “in the capital, Quibdó, there are injuries and serious damage to buildings.”
In its first report, the Civil Aeronautics Authority of Colombia reported that the earthquake affected the facilities of “the airports of Pereira, Manizales, Quibdó, Armenia, Cartago, and Buenaventura.”
“For safety reasons, air operations at these terminals remain suspended until structural damage to the infrastructure is assessed,” the group stated.
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.
EWTN News explains: What does it mean that the pope is both head of state and head of the Church?
Unique among world leaders, the pope serves simultaneously as the universal spiritual head of the Catholic Church and as the head of the Holy See, a distinct sovereign entity under international law that serves as the central government of the Catholic Church.
So what do these multiple roles mean in the context of a pope’s day-to-day work as the visible leader of the world’s Catholics?
Andreas Widmer, a former Pontifical Swiss Guard who served St. John Paul II and who now teaches at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., told EWTN News that the papal states once formed a substantial territorial kingdom in central Italy with the pope as its temporal ruler.
Following Italian unification in the 19th century and the loss of most of those lands in 1870, the Church further developed the concept of the Holy See as an enduring international presence independent of extensive territory.
The 1929 Lateran Treaty formalized the creation of Vatican City State — a tiny sovereign territory of approximately 109 acres centered on Vatican Hill — providing the pope with just enough independence to exercise his universal ministry free from external coercion.
“From then on, the pope filled two distinct roles,” Widmer said. “He’s the spiritual head of the Catholic Church, and he’s the head of state of Vatican City — the only absolute sovereign in Europe.”
In principle, the Church could lose the territory of Vatican City and still retain its international juridical personality and diplomatic relations through the Holy See — much as a sovereign could continue to exist and maintain diplomatic relations even without a fixed territorial capital.
“The Church could give up the Vatican and still have the ambassadors, because it’s the Holy See,” Widmer noted. “Anywhere the pope is, there the Holy See is.” This arrangement ensures the “libertas Ecclesiae” — the freedom of the Church.
In addition, the pope’s status as a recognized foreign head of state confers immunities under international law that place him outside ordinary civil obligations of his country of origin, such as the obligation to vote or the payment of taxes.
The pope may still retain citizenship of his home country, in addition to the Vatican citizenship he automatically acquires upon his election as pope.
Andrea Gagliarducci, a Vatican expert and EWTN News contributor, said that this unique position also explains why attempts to treat the pope as a corporate executive in civil lawsuits ultimately fail: As both a sovereign head of state and the institutional embodiment of the Holy See, all relevant immunities apply to him.
The personal immunity of foreign heads of state is a customary principle of international law that guarantees full exemption from criminal, civil, and administrative jurisdiction in another state and covers both official and private acts.
The small territory of Vatican City, in the words of Pope Pius XI, provides “just enough body to keep the soul united,” allowing the successor of Peter the freedom necessary to shepherd the universal Church without being bound by any single nation’s interests.
In practice, the Holy Father focuses primarily on his pastoral and moral leadership. When he addresses questions of war, peace, or human dignity, he does so first and foremost as vicar of Christ.
As Andrea Tornielli of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication has pointed out, the pope in his leadership of the Church invites the world to higher principles of justice and fraternity, while the practical diplomatic machinery of the Holy See operates in service of that mission.
Pope Leo XIV: Stop vicious cycle of violence in Sudan and Ukraine
During his Sunday Angelus address on Aug. 9, Pope Leo XIV appealed for peace amid a serious humanitarian situation in Sudan, where a prolonged military siege has left more than 500,000 people without access to basic supplies.
“I continue to follow with concern the tragic situation in Sudan, especially in the city of el-Obeid,” Leo said in English after praying the Angelus. “In expressing my spiritual closeness to all the people of the nation, I renew my appeal to those in authority to guarantee humanitarian corridors for the civilian population.”
His remarks follow the worsening situation in Sudan, marked by drone warfare, sexual violence, and starvation, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), who control the city of el-Obeid.
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Continued appeals for peace between Ukraine and Russia
The pope also addressed the war between Ukraine and Russia, lamenting the escalation of violence as casualties continue to rise.
“These incidents are occurring one after another; indeed, they are multiplying, resulting in ever-increasing numbers of civilian victims, including children,” he said.
In light of the rise in attacks, Leo renewed his call for respect for international humanitarian law.
“In the face of so much anguish, I renew my heartfelt appeal for humanitarian law to be respected and for both sides to cease attacks on civilian targets,” Leo said.
“War only begets more war and causes immense suffering,” he said.
Jesus never abandons us
In his preaching during his Angelus address, Leo encouraged the faithful to welcome God humbly into their hearts through prayer and the sacraments.
The pope also discussed the Gospel, which recounts Jesus walking on the water toward his disciples. He explained that the disciples were transformed by Christ’s presence and that miracles like this can teach the faithful not to despair in difficult times.
“Whatever the circumstances,” Leo said, “Jesus does not abandon us, and if we humbly welcome him into the boat of our lives — through prayer, the sacraments, and listening to his word — in him, we will find peace, light, and strength for our journey.”
This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated, combined, and adapted by EWTN News English.
Nigerian bishop in Muslim-majority region says being ‘creative minority’ is key to diocese’s mission
KIGALI, Rwanda — The pioneer bishop of Nigeria’s Diocese of Katsina said the young diocese is building its future around the vision of becoming a “creative minority,” seeking to transform society through education, faith formation, interreligious dialogue, and witness rather than being discouraged by its small Catholic population.
Speaking to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, at the Aug. 3–8 SIGNIS World Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa said the diocese, erected in October 2023, has chosen to focus on its mission instead of dwelling on the challenges Christians in northwestern Nigeria are facing.
“Even though Katsina has a small population of Christians or Catholics, we want to be a creative minority,” Musa said, explaining that Catholics should resist defining themselves by their numerical weakness or the hardships they face.
“Sometimes we can be lamenting about the fact that we are very few. We can be lamenting about the fact that we are oppressed, persecuted, or discriminated against. We must not focus on all those negatives,” he said.
Instead, he urged Catholics to ask, “What can we do in this society? How can we, few as we are, change society positively?” adding that the concept of a creative minority is rooted in investing in people through education and formation so they can become agents of transformation.
Illustrating that vision, Musa, who serves as the president of the Commission for Social Communications of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), cited a Sudanese proverb on the role of parents.
“The role of parents is to give children two things: to give them roots and to give them wings. Roots to know where they are coming from, to know their faith, to know their values, and then wings to empower them to be role models within the society,” the bishop said.
Musa, who was consecrated a bishop in December 2023, said that laying a solid foundation has been the dioceseʼs immediate priority since its creation. He recalled that the diocese adopted a 10-year strategic plan during its first general assembly to guide its pastoral mission.
“Our main task is to set the foundation. Setting the foundation, what I consider paramount and probably the greatest need of the diocese, is concentrating on children and youth,” the bishop told ACI Africa.
Education, he added, remains central to that vision, particularly for children who cannot afford schooling.
“We have a responsibility to send more children to school, especially those who are not able to afford education. My biggest pastoral need now is to set up a secondary school for girls, where they can get a very good faith formation,” Musa said.
He also underscored the role of communication in presenting a fuller picture of life in Katsina, where public attention is often dominated by reports of insecurity.
“Our communication department has been in touch with ACI Africa. We send news from time to time. But something very interesting about the news we send is that the communication department is focusing on constructive news, if you may call it positive news, good news that is coming from that side,” he said.
While acknowledging the reality of banditry, killings, kidnappings, and displacement in Katsina state, Musa said these challenges should not eclipse the signs of hope emerging in the diocese.
“We acknowledge all these things are happening, and we are in a very difficult time in Katsina. But on the other side, we want to emphasize that in the midst of all this darkness, God is at work in Katsina Diocese,” he said, citing baptisms, confirmations, the Church’s educational initiatives, and other expressions of the diocese’s pastoral mission.
As part of its pastoral strategy, the diocese is also strengthening relationships across religious communities.
“We are making an effort to develop interreligious dialogue between Christians and Muslims and between Catholics and other Christians within the diocese,” the bishop said.
He also expressed optimism about the growth of priestly vocations in the young diocese.
While the Katsina Diocese continues to rely on support from neighboring dioceses because of a shortage of clergy, the number of seminarians has nearly doubled since its establishment.
“The good news is that while we inherited 21 seminarians, today we have close to 40 seminarians,” he said. “This is impressive, and that tells us that our Church has great potential. We are looking forward to a Church that is not only self-sufficient but also a Church that will be willing to give out priests to help others.”
Musa went on to encourage the people of God entrusted to his pastoral care to remain hopeful despite their limited numbers and resources.
“The message of hope that I have for my people in the Diocese of Katsina is that we are few in number. We have very few resources, but we must always remember that little is much when God is in it,” he told ACI Africa at the congress.
Held under the theme, “Digital Communication for Cultural Harmony and Environmental Well-Being,” the six-day SIGNIS World Congress concluded on Saturday. Organized every four years, it “provides a platform for participants to engage in substantive discussions, exchange ideas, and contemplate the future trajectory of media and communication,” according to a SIGNIS report.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Denver healing could move a nun jailed by communists toward sainthood
Blessed Zdenka Schelingová, a Slovak religious member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross (SCSC), may be one step closer to sainthood.
The postulator of her cause, Father Lucián Bogucki of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, handed the “positio super miro” to the archbishop of Bratislava, Stanislav Zvolenský, last month. The document, whose Latin title refers to a purported miracle, describes an alleged healing said to have occurred through her intercession in Denver.
“The very fact that the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints is dealing with the extraordinary healing through the intercession of Blessed Zdenka Schelingová is a gift from God and a great encouragement,” Zvolenský told EWTN News.
The date for the meeting of the commission of cardinals that will discuss the document and the reported miracle is not yet known but may come within a few months. The final decision on canonization rests with the pope.
The cause is an opportunity to enter “spiritual communion with those whom the Church presents to us as saints and blessed, so that we can also turn to them with a request for their intercession,” the archbishop said.
Zvolenský encouraged the faithful to “admire God’s goodness as he always gives us extraordinary signs of his love.”
A martyr under communism
Born Cecília Schelingová on Christmas Eve 110 years ago in the village of Krivá, in modern-day Slovakia, the future sister joined the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross and worked as a nurse and later in a hospital laboratory. She helped a Catholic priest escape from a hospital and attempted to do so again; the second time it was a trap, and she was arrested. She was tortured, accused of treason by the recently established communist regime, and imprisoned in various jails across then-Czechoslovakia.
Sister Zdenka was released in April 1955 and died on July 31, 1955, from the effects of torture and her ruined health. She was exonerated of all charges against her in 1970 and was beatified in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.
Respect and admiration for Sister Zdenka “is growing,” as “we have seen this now during various events on her liturgical feast,” which falls on July 30, said Sister Mária Terézia Dobrovičová, provincial superior of the Slovak province of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross. The congregation was founded 170 years ago in Switzerland, and soon afterward the sisters were invited to what is now Slovakia, she explained.
Bishop Tomáš Galis of the Diocese of Žilina celebrated Mass on the feast day, quoting Sister Zdenka: “Forgiveness is the greatest thing in life.” The Confederation of Political Prisoners of Slovakia also organized a conference on the religious sisters who lived in secret under the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
Pilgrims are visiting sites associated with her, including her native village of Krivá; Podunajské Biskupice, where her remains rest; and Trnava, the seat of the congregation in Slovakia.
Sister Mária Terézia said the sisters “receive various requests from people to pray for the intercession” of Sister Zdenka, “but we also have various testimonies about how prayers for her intercession have been heard.” This is encouraging, “and we are happy about it,” she stressed.
The official website dedicated to Sister Zdenka’s memory, zdenka.sk, shares several testimonies from people whose prayers were answered after they prayed to her. It does not, however, include the case contained in the “positio super miro.”
The Denver healing
A man in Denver was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and sent home. His wife knew someone who was a distant relative of Sister Zdenka and, together with her colleagues, reportedly began to pray for him.
The man had his tubes removed and was ready to die, yet his appetite returned and he regained his strength. He later suffered an embolism and died, according to one Slovak daily, which, however, did not cite a source. An autopsy confirmed that he had been cured of cancer, with no trace of the disease, and died three years after his recovery, though from a different diagnosis.
EWTN News contacted Bogucki for details about the case and the alleged healing. Instead, the priest — who is of Polish origin, lived in Slovakia for many years, and served as a confessor at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome — asked for prayers for the final phase before Sister Zdenka’s possible canonization.
Study shows society’s religious norms can affect children’s anxiety
Religious faith in society may do more than provide spiritual comfort and moral guidance; it could also help protect against anxiety disorders, according to a recent study published in Developmental Science.
The research published in March explored if there were links between what societies value — such as independence and community — and anxiety disorder rates among children and adolescents over three decades.
The study by Leonard Konstantin Kulisch, Ana Lorena Domínguez Rojas, Silvia Schneider, and Babett Voigt analyzed preexisting records and data during the years 1989 to 2022 from the World Value Survey, Global Burden of Disease study, Human Development Report, and Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.
The research found an emphasis on independence was linked to higher anxiety rates in “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) nations, while a greater emphasis on religious faith and interdependence correlated with less anxiety disorders globally.
It also found that the importance of religious faith in socialization, and its link to interdependence, was associated with fewer anxiety disorders across 70 of the countries examined.
The study did not compare religious versus nonreligious people or compare specific countries.
While the effect sizes were small, it did find that “in countries where emphasis on religious faith in childrearing declined, youth anxiety rose,” Brandon Vaidyanathan, professor of sociology at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News.
Country-based disparities
In WEIRD nations, the societies that have norms that are oriented toward independence were associated with more anxiety disorders, but the analyses found no significant association among the non-WEIRD countries.
In “developing societies [a] shift toward independence accompanies gains in growth and quality of life that may offset its psychological costs, but in already developed societies, it may only intensify competition and achievement-pressure,” Vaidyanathan explained.
“The difference between WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies on the independence finding is quite interesting, and the authors suggest that it is stage-dependent,” Vaidyanathan said.
“But religion is universal in providing goods that do not depend on development stage” including “belonging, order, meaning, purpose, routine.”
Family versus society predictors
The study reports that religious socialization may serve as “a protective factor” against anxiety issues in children and adolescents, which “is at the communal level much more than the individual level,” Vaidyanathan said.
So much so that the U.S. data suggested the societyʼs religious norms predicted childrenʼs anxiety better than the motherʼs own beliefs.
“The religiosity of the surrounding social environment was a stronger predictor of childrenʼs anxiety level than the familyʼs own faith, suggesting the protection comes from the society more than family,” Vaidyanathan said.
The global protective factor was not communal values in general but religious faith specifically, which Vaidyanathan called “textbook sociology” of religion.
“Since Durkheim, sociologists have shown that integration into [a] shared moral community buffers individuals from anomie” or “normlessness,” he said.
“Where the community has clear norms, attachments, obligations, limits … the individual doesnʼt have to shoulder the burden of ordering life themselves —which is where anxiety comes in.”
“Thatʼs why the protection is at the group level more than individual or family level, and that is what gets eroded in a secularized society,” he said.
Vaidyanathan also pointed to Peter Berger, a sociologist and Protestant theologian who coined the term “plausibility structures,” which are the social, cultural, and institutional environments that make certain values or religious beliefs seem believable and normal to a group of people.
Bergerʼs “famous concept of ‘plausibility structures’ helps us understand that a religious framework reduces anxiety, only while the surrounding society keeps it plausible — when the surrounding community keeps talking and living as if it were true.”
“When that fails, religion becomes one option among many and even a devout householdʼs commitment to their faith is not enough to shield a child in that society. So this is why community norms [or] religiosity matters much more than family belief,” Vaidyanathan said.