Ireland sees modest revival in faith, especially among youth and young adults
An increase in spirituality and religious practice among young adults in Ireland aged 18 to 30 and confirmation that Ireland is in the “middle range” of religious countries in Europe are among the trends identified in a new report published by the Irish Catholic bishops titled “Turning the Tide.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, primate of all Ireland, told EWTN News: “There has been a lot of talk recently about the so-called quiet revival in religious practice in recent years. The [report] looks at some of the research studies that have been carried out north and south of the island of Ireland into religious practice, religious awareness and spirituality, and interest in religion, and asks a question by comparing this with European social studies: Is there actually any uptake [in] religious practice and awareness and interest in Ireland?”
Drawing on research from the European Social Survey, the Iona Institute’s two recent surveys conducted by Amárach Research, and a variety of relevant academic studies, the report seeks to provide an integrated, relevant, and current look at religious practice in Ireland.
“The report very interestingly points to some type of uptick, as they call it, particularly among young people around the ages of 16 to 30 and the fact that they are taking a new interest in religion and in spirituality.”
Encouraged by the positive trends emerging across different studies, Martin sounded a note of caution, highlighting the challenges that these findings pose for the Catholic Church in Ireland.
“I don’t think we should get ourselves too enthusiastic thinking this is a complete reversal of the very obvious decline and religious practice over the last 10 or 20 years,” he said. “However, it is saying something on the turning tide.”
The archbishop pointed to the implications for the Irish Church: “It’s asking us to reflect on this phenomenon in the light of research, and for instance what does this mean for us as Church, as parishes, as dioceses? How are we responding to this growing body of young people who want to know more more about God, about church, and about religion?”
The report, co-authored by Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, and Emily Nelson, a doctoral student of sociology at Queen’s University Belfast, examined the overall religious profile of the island of Ireland, including areas of convergence and divergence between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The authors drew together research studies on patterns in belief, practice, and religious identification between generations, with particular attention to differences within young adult cohorts. The work also provided insight on dimensions of religiosity, religious transmission, and attitudes toward Church teaching and institutions among both men and women.
Ireland remains among the more religious countries in Europe, on measures of religious affiliation, religious service attendance, and frequency of prayer. Among western European countries, it is one of few outliers with a relatively high level of overall religiosity. It also ranks toward the higher end of (especially western) European countries on measures of weekly Mass attendance and daily prayer.
While key measures of Irish religiosity have declined significantly since the European Social Survey began in 2002-2003, the most recent round in 2023-2024 shows a strong uptick in religious affiliation and religious practice.This effect is most strongly evident among those aged 16–29 years, across both Catholics and Protestants.
Northern Ireland is both the most religious region of the United Kingdom, by a large margin, and the most religious part of the island of Ireland, in terms of both affiliation and religious practice.
Although women in the Republic of Ireland are equally as likely as men to be religious, they continue to play an influential role in transmitting faith, even as they express higher levels of moral dissent and institutional dissatisfaction. The report revealed that 74% of Irish Catholic women were found to believe that the Church did not treat them with “a lot of respect.”
According to the report, 51% of Irish adults — and 27% of Irish young adults —pray at least once a week, and 31% say they attend Mass at least once a week, placing them fourth overall, alongside Italy (32%) but well behind Poland (49%) and Slovakia (46%).
There is a significant drop-off among young adults, whose reported religious practice is roughly half that of older adults. Irish 16- to 29-year-olds rank sixth overall compared with other countries, at 17%, though that is at least double the rates of the same age group in Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium, at 5%, and in Austria with less than 1%.
The Irish report also pointed to a 2023 Barna study that found in certain respects, Irish teens are more religious than their global peers. Just over 3 in 5 (62%) Irish teens identify as Christian with nearly a third identify as atheist, agnostic, or of no faith.
On average, 18- to 24-year-olds in the Republic of Ireland aren’t particularly positive about both Christianity and the Catholic Church in Ireland, but they are more positive than those in the 25–34 age range, and fewer have a negative attitude toward priests and nuns.
In 2023, EWTN News’ Colm Flynn traveled to Ireland with the question “Is Ireland still Catholic?” He explored the various reasons for the decline of the faith in Ireland and the challenges the Church faces there today. In the three years since, and after many emails and messages pointing to signs of a “quiet revival” of faith in Ireland, Flynn recently returned to the country to explore those signs of renewal. In his report, he refers to the “Turning the Tide” report:
Judge says religious ministers must have access to detainees at Minnesota ICE facility
Christian ministers including a Jesuit priest won a victory at federal court on March 20 when a U.S. district judge said the Department of Homeland Security must allow them formal pastoral access to detainees at a federal facility in Minneapolis.
Judge Jerry Blackwell said in his ruling that the government “may not impose an access protocol ... that bars clergy visits in all circumstances” at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on the outskirts of Minneapolis.
A group of Christian objectors, including Father Christopher Collins, SJ, had sued the government in late February, alleging that it was unlawfully “barring faith leaders from offering prayer, pastoral guidance, sacramental ministry, and spiritual comfort” to immigrants detained in the Whipple facility.
The government was unconstitutionally obstructing the plaintiffs' “sacred obligation to exercise their faith through ministry to community members in the greatest need of spiritual comfort,” the suit said.
In his ruling Blackwell said that his order allowing the ministers access to the facility would last “for the duration” of the lawsuit.
Erin Westbrook — an attorney with the law firm Saul Ewing which filed the suit on behalf of the ministers — said in a press release that the plaintiffs view their ministry work as “a core expression of their faith and a constitutionally protected exercise of religion.”
“It is vital that they be able to provide pastoral care at the Whipple building at a time when those detained are experiencing profound fear, uncertainty, and isolation,” she said.
Prior to the order the government had argued that heavy immigration enforcement in the area had already ended and that clergy had increasingly been allowed back into the building for ministry visits in recent weeks.
But Blackwellʼs order requires that officials develop a “written protocol” to ensure clergy access to the facility. The government must respond to requests for access “within a reasonable time,” the judge said, adding that such requests are subject to “reasonable” security measures.
The judge ordered the parties in the suit to file a joint status report by April 2 that includes proposed policies and disagreements from both sides.
106-year-old nun continues serving in the cloister and sharing the Gospel on YouTube
Sister Anna Maria of the Sacred Heart, an Italian nun, turned 106 on March 14 at her monastery near Milan, where she continues to serve her sick sisters and share reflections on the Gospel on YouTube.
Still lucid “in thought and word,” and with 36 years of life in cloister, the nun belongs to the Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, the Italian newspaper Il Giorno reported. Despite her advanced age, she continues to participate daily in Eucharistic adoration even during the night and assists in the monastery’s infirmary, caring for elderly or ailing nuns.
Her birthday celebration took place with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a gathering with family members, experienced through the grilles of the cloister where Sister Anna Maria remains dedicated to prayer.
“I do this like so many other things, out of love for Jesus who continually asks me to love my neighbor,” the religious, whose name before entering the convent was Anna Perfumo, said in a video shared by her community.
“The years are many, but ... with patience, God’s will shall be fulfilled. Pray for me, and I will always remember you on earth and in heaven,” she added.
According to Il Giorno, the nun’s life was marked by hardships from the very beginning. At 4 months old, she contracted bronchopneumonia — a condition that was practically fatal in 1920 — and at age 4 she came down with scurvy, a disease that was incurable at that time. “The doctor told my mother: ‘I won’t be coming back tomorrow, because the child will be dead.’ Yet I was miraculously healed,” she said.
Before entering the monastery, she worked for years as a governess and schoolteacher in addition to caring for elderly and infirm priests. Nevertheless, she always harbored in her heart the desire to consecrate herself to God in the contemplative life.
That longing was finally realized at the age of 70, following the death of her mother. After several attempts, she was admitted to the Adorers’ monastery in Genoa, from where she would be transferred years later to Seregno, where she currently lives.
In a video, Sister Anna Maria expressed her gratitude for the expressions of affection she had received and spoke about her late vocation: “It’s true; I had to wait quite a long time before fulfilling God’s will. But when it is God who desires something, it will always come to pass. That’s why one must have great confidence, great faith, great hope, and great patience.”
In her message, she also shared a reflection on the passage of time and on faithfulness: “My grandfather used to tell us that it’s faithfulness that keeps us young and that it’s necessary to keep our eyes and souls open to what is beautiful, good, and true; in this way, one will experience a serene old age. Love keeps the heart young.”
Finally, she extended a greeting for the Easter season: “Life is Christ — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. May the Lord grant you peace and joy... and also peace among peoples, for the sake of fraternity among nations.”
The Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament are a contemplative, cloistered order of women whose life is centered on the continuous adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Their mission is to intercede for the Church and the world from the silence of the monastery, offering their lives as a constant prayer.
The congregation was founded in 1807 in Rome by Blessed Maria Magdalena of the Incarnation (Caterina Sordini) with the charism of Eucharistic adoration.
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.
Israeli settlers step up aggressions against Christians in West Bank, Jerusalem bishop says
Christians in the West Bank continue to face an onslaught of aggressions by Israeli settlers, threatening their presence in the region, according to Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of Jerusalem.
“The aggressions against Christians in the West Bank are multiplying,” Shomali said in a March 20 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.”
The situation for Palestinian Christians had been “calm” in the Bethlehem area, he said. “But now, there is more expansion of the settlements and more aggressions from the side of the settlers.”
Shomali said settlers have prevented Palestinian Christians from accessing their land through various threats, physical aggression, and property damage, including burning their cars.
“This happened mainly in the Christian village of Taybeh, and we communicated this news to all the world, even to the American ambassador in Tel Aviv, who came to visit the place, and he promised to do something, but not many things were done,” Shomali said.
In Birzeit, a Palestinian Christian town about six miles north of Ramallah in the West Bank, Shomali said settlers have been coming “almost every day to threaten people in their own homes or in their work.”
“This has become a real threat to Christian families,” he said, “because they lost their livelihood and their source of income.” The Church must intervene and provide aid for them to survive, the bishop said.
Shomali said Israeli settlers have also recently occupied land belonging to a convent of sisters in a village near Bethlehem called Urtas. The sisters “have a hill where they plant and grow olives and other things,” he said. “Settlers came to occupy this hill and to make it theirs, where they think of building a new settlement.”
He also noted a settlement to be built on the Shepherds’ Field of his own village, Beit Sahour, which he said is a piece of land that belongs to Christian families there.
“I heard just today, that a piece of land, one acre, was also entered by settlers who put an Israeli flag to mean that this land now is Israeli, while there is a deed of ownership to a Christian family that I know from Beit Sahour,” he said. “So slowly, slowly, the land of Palestine that Israels call now Judea and Samaria, the biblical name, is becoming less and less Palestinian and more and more settlers’ land.”
New Colorado program trains deacons, priests to walk together ‘in darkness’
Chaplains are often the first responders in a crisis — when people are struggling with grief or trauma they often reach out to their priests and deacons. The nature of the work means clergy often face emotional stress. So who shepherds the shepherds?
The solution, for Deacon Ernie Martinez, starts with brother priests and deacons.
Martinez, director of deacons for the Archdiocese of Denver, has spent 40 years working with the Denver Police Department. Taking inspiration from its long-standing police support program, he helped launch the Clergy Outreach and Resilience (COR), which teaches clergy how to recognize signs of stress and burnout in one another.
“I have seen in both policing and ministry that without support, even the strongest men can find themselves battling darkness, including thoughts of hopelessness, or worse,” Martinez told EWTN News.
“Priests and deacons walk daily with people through death, trauma, addiction, broken families, and profound suffering,” Martinez said. “They absorb that pain. They carry it, often without peer support training or awareness, and too often, they carry it alone.”
The program launched in January with a four-day certification program led by clinical psychologist John Nicoletti. About 40 clergy members attended, mostly deacons.
“We are forming clergy who are trained to recognize distress, to step in early, to walk with a brother in crisis, and, when necessary, to help him get the care he needs: spiritually, emotionally, and clinically,” Martinez said. “It is about creating a culture where asking for help is not seen as weakness but as wisdom.”
The weight of service
“This program was born at the intersection of two worlds I have lived deeply — law enforcement and ordained ministry,” Martinez said.
“After 40 years with the Denver Police Department, I witnessed firsthand the weight men and women carry in silence,” Martinez said. “I saw what happens when that weight has nowhere to go.”
“In law enforcement, we learned that peer support, one trusted brother or sister walking with you in the darkness, can mean the difference between life and death,” Martinez continued.
“When I stepped more fully into my role serving the Church, I recognized that our clergy carry a similar, and in many ways even heavier, burden,” Martinez said.
Clergy “absorb that pain” that the people they walk with carry, according to Martinez.
“Scripture reminds us clearly: ‘Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal 6:2),” Martinez said. “The challenge is that many of our clergy have been doing the bearing, but without someone helping to carry their burden.”
“And the reality is this: When that weight builds over time, it can lead to deep isolation, burnout, and even moments of despair,” Martinez said.
“My hope for the Archdiocese of Denver and the Diocese of Colorado Springs is simple but urgent: that no priest or deacon ever feels alone in his suffering again,” he said.
‘True fraternity’
The Clergy Outreach and Resilience program “is about building what the Church has always called us to be: true fraternity,” Martinez said.
“As the Holy Father has emphasized, authentic bonds are essential to our humanity; without them, we risk isolation and interior collapse,” Martinez said.
Martinez co-founded the program with Father Brad Noonan as well as with the support of both Archbishop Emeritus Samuel Aquila and Archbishop-designate James Golka of Denver and others.
Noonan spent more than 26 years as a fire department chaplain and 14 years as a police chaplain. Currently the pastor at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, Noonan said he likes how the program “provides a one-on-one support program for priests and deacons.”
“I have seen one-on-one trained peer support help firefighters and law enforcement, including the International Association of Fire Fighters,” Noonan told EWTN News.
“When I first started in the fire service there were some elements to help firefighters deal with the emotional demands of the job,” he recalled.
Support didn’t always begin with formal meetings with a counselor. It often involved “dining-table talk after a bad call” or talking on the way back in the fire engine, Noonan explained.
“There are a lot of mental and emotional stressors that priests and deacons encounter everyday,” Noonan explained. “It is our hope that this program develops well and expands throughout the United States and across the world.”
“What makes this program unique is that it integrates proven peer-support practices from high-stress professions with a deeply Catholic vision of brotherhood rooted in Christ,” Martinez said.
“This is not just about mental health; it is about spiritual fatherhood and fraternity,” Martinez said. “It is about living the command of Christ: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (Jn 15:12).”
“When a shepherd is supported, he can stand firm,” Martinez said.
“As St. Paul writes: ‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair’ (2 Cor 4:8),” Martinez quoted. “That is the resilience we are building.”
“This is about carrying the weight, together,” Martinez said. “And ultimately, it is about hope.”
World Down Syndrome Day: What you may not know about the Special Olympics
For decades, Special Olympics has provided sports training and athletic competition to help children and adults with intellectual disabilities develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and foster a sense of community among individuals both with and without disabilities.
March 21 marks World Down Syndrome Day, a global awareness day to advocate for the legal rights of people with Down syndrome and promote greater inclusion for people with the genetic condition, which can cause intellectual disabilities, developmental delays, distinct physical characteristics, and increased risks of certain health problems.
The day helps to draw attention to the nearly half a million Americans with Down syndrome and the 3,000 to 5,000 children who are born with the chromosome disorder every year.
To promote community among people with Down syndrome and other challenges, Special Olympics works to create opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience joy.
Here are five facts you may not know about the global organization:
1. Special Olympics is active on every continent.
Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities with nearly 5 million Special Olympics athletes.
It has programs operating across the globe every day and holds the Special Olympics World Games every two years alternating between summer and winter. Anyone over the age of 8 with intellectual disabilities is eligible to compete.
Programs and training are present in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. As of 2024, it was active in 177 countries spanning each continent.
From weight lifting to speed skating, the programs and games offer a diverse range of athletics with more more than 30 Olympic-style sports available. Soccer, basketball, and bocce are some of the most popular.
In 2022 alone, there were 46,000 Special Olympics sports competitions, averaging to 126 per day. About 16,000 of the competitions were Unified, meaning people with and without intellectual disabilities competed on the same teams.
2. The organization operates in tens of thousands of schools.
Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program is active in nearly 11,000 schools in the U.S. It has trained youth leaders and educators to create more inclusive education systems by including students in all aspects of school life.
The program is aimed at promoting social inclusion through implemented activities in K–12 schools and across college campuses. Through the programming, young people with and without disabilities come together on sports teams, create student clubs, and foster youth leadership. As many as 19.5 million young people are taking part in the experiences.
3. The movement all started in a backyard.
The Special Olympics movement began in 1962 when its founder, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, hosted a summer camp in her backyard for kids with disabilities at her Maryland farm.
“Camp Shriver” was motivated by the unfair treatment of children with disabilities including Shriver’s sister, Rosemary Kennedy, who had an intellectual disability and loved sports.
Shriver reached out to schools and clinics in her area to find special-needs children who might be interested in her camp. She then recruited high school and college students to act as counselors, ending up with 34 children and 26 counselors.
The children swam, played soccer, shot baskets, and rode horses. Not only did the camp prove the kids could play sports, but it also helped the young counselors see the participants in another light — as children who merely wanted to have fun and compete, just like any other kid.
Shriver passed away in 2009, but her son Timothy Shriver has carried on her legacy and led Special Olympics for three decades. For his work as an outspoken advocate for people with disabilities, he received the University of Notre Dame’s 2026 Laetare Medal.
4. Multiple Special Olympics athletes have set world records.
Special Olympics is not only creating unity and confidence but also has built up record-breaking athletes.
Chris Nikic set a Guinness World Record by becoming the first person with Down syndrome to complete a full IRONMAN in November 2020. The Special Olympics Florida athlete has also competed in golf, track and field, swimming, basketball, and triathlons.
In 2024, Lloyd Martin, an athlete with Down syndrome, ran the TCS London Marathon in a little under seven hours at the age of 19. He set a new Guinness World Record for the youngest known person with Down syndrome to complete a marathon.
Other athletes including cyclists Tom Kelsall and Hannah Kemp have set Guinness World Records titles for their accomplishments completing in the Ford RideLondon-Essex100, a 100-mile race in the U.K.
5. The organization goes beyond sports.
While athletics is at the forefront of Special Olympics, it also provides other opportunities and care. The organization offers year-round health support and advocates for better access to social services and health care for people with disabilities.
Since 1997, Special Olympics athletes have had access to free health screenings through the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program, which works to close the gap in health care access between those with disabilities and the rest of the population.
Special Olympics Healthy Athletes has conducted more than 2 million screenings and has also trained 300,000 health care professionals.
Organization representatives also make an annual visit to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress to advocate for the needs of Americans with intellectual disabilities.
Bishop Barron slams Carrie Prejean for 'absurd' claims on removal from Religious Liberty Commission
Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron on March 20 criticized what he described as “absurd” claims from Carrie Prejean Boller that she was booted from the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty because of her Catholic beliefs.
Boller, an outspoken Catholic and a former Miss California USA contestant, was removed from the commission in February after repeatedly criticizing “Zionism” at a commission hearing on Feb. 9.
The hearing focused on combatting anti-semitism in the U.S., though Boller during the hearing regularly brought up the subject of Zionism, the movement supporting Jewish self‑determination in a homeland in Israel.
“I’m a Catholic, and Catholics do not embrace Zionism, just so you know," Boller said at one point. Elsewhere she asked witnesses if they were willing to "condemn what Israel has done in Gaza."
In announcing Bollerʼs removal, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — the chairman of the commission — argued that “no member of the commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue.”
“This is clearly, without question, what happened ... in our hearing on antisemitism in America," he said at the time.
‘Simply preposterous’ discrimination claims
Boller has spoken out publicly about the controversy in the weeks since her removal, alleging that she was booted from the commission because of her Catholic faith. In a March 20 post on X, she suggested that the religious liberty commission “does not truly care about religious liberty” and suggested that she was removed “for faithfully articulating the Church’s teaching.”
In that post she suggested that Bishop Barron — who himself serves on the commission — was not sufficiently defending the Catholic faith by refusing to speak up about the alleged discrimination.
“If my religious freedom is not protected, then no one’s is,” she wrote to Barron. “Please speak up. Please stand up for Catholics.”
In a blistering response, Barron bluntly dismissed Bollerʼs allegations as “absurd.”
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“Mrs. Prejean Boller was not dismissed for her religious convictions but rather for her behavior at a gathering of the Commission last month: browbeating witnesses, aggressively asserting her point of view, [and] hijacking the meeting for her own political purposes,” the bishop said.
Barron noted that he “fully subscribes” to the Catholic position on Zionism, which includes unequivocal opposition to antisemitism along with an acknowledgment that Israel has a right to exist but does not “stand beyond criticism.”
“If Mrs. Prejean Boller were dismissed for holding these beliefs, it is difficult to understand why I am still a member of the Commission,” Barron wrote.
“To paint herself as a victim of anti-Catholic prejudice or to claim that her religious liberty has been denied is simply preposterous,” he argued.
The commission met most recently on March 16 to discuss religious freedom in health care. Barron said during the hearing that Catholics are increasingly being pushed out of health care and social services.
“We’ve got to come forward in the public space, articulate what is the human good. I think we’ve become more reticent, and we’ve succumbed to the pressures from the secular ideology,” he said.
Alongside Barron, other prominent Catholics on the commission include Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ryan Anderson and Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
The commissionʼs advisory board also features San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades.
Church leaders in India slam government’s dismissal of religious freedom report
BANGALORE, India — Church leaders in India have expressed frustration and concern over the Indian government’s rejection of the 2026 report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) amid steadily increasing atrocities against minority Christians.
The 2026 USCIRF annual report about conditions related to religious freedom in 2025 urged the U.S. government to designate India as a “country of particular concern” for allegedly “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.”
The report also called for targeted sanctions on India’s external intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, translated “National Volunteer Corps”), known as the fountainhead of Hindu nationalism.
“We have taken note of the latest report… We categorically reject its motivated and biased characterization of India. For several years now, USCIRF has persisted in presenting a distorted and selective picture of India,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said March 16.
“Instead of persisting with selective criticism of India, USCIRF would do well to reflect on the disturbing incidents of vandalism and attacks on Hindu temples in the United States, selective targeting of India, and growing intolerance and intimidation of members of the Indian diaspora in the United States, which merit serious attention,” Jaiswal said.
Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, who is based in western Gujarat state, reacted to the government’s rejection of the USCIRF report, telling EWTN News on March 17: “The Indian government is in its normal denial mode. Politicians of the ruling regime and their caged parrot bureaucrats have mainstreamed the art of lying.”
He pointed out: “What USCIRF has stated and has been doing so all these years are incontrovertible facts. There is sufficient documented evidence to prove their charges.”
Despite the government denial, the ecumenical United Christian Forum (UCF), which has been documenting atrocities against Christians, has recorded a steady increase in the number of atrocities against Christians since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power in 2014, recording 834 in 2024 compared with fewer than 140 in 2014.
“It is not hidden that the splinter groups of RSS are involved in creating an atmosphere of hatred against religious minorities, especially Muslims and Christians,” A.C. Michael, a Catholic and UCF coordinator, told EWTN News.
Following widespread violence against Christians, the UCF wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in early 2026. “In 2024, the UCF recorded a total of 834 incidents of violence against Christians, revealing a disturbing trend in religious persecution. As of November 2025, a staggering 706 incidents targeting Christians …. have been recorded by the UCF,” the letter said.
As incidents of anti-Christmas violence started pouring in, Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), sent a video appeal on Christmas Eve to Modi and chief ministers across the country “to ensure strict enforcement of the law and provide proactive protection to Christian communities.”
“Today, it is with deep pain and concern that I speak over the disturbing rise in attacks on Christians in several parts of our country. During this holy Christmas season, we are pained to hear about it,” Thazhath said in his video message.
The Feb. 3–10 biennial assembly of over 200 bishops in India at Bangalore also reiterated this concern in its final statement: “As many innocent individuals are incarcerated based on unfounded allegations of forceful religious conversions, we strongly demand the repealing of legislations which are inconsistent with religious freedom and right to privacy.”
“All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion,” the CBCI asserted, quoting Article 25 of the constitution.
However, hundreds have been arrested, including nuns and priests, under the draconian anti-conversion laws.
On March 16, the Supreme Court of India quashed a conversion case against a youth for praying inside his house with his friend. The young man was imprisoned for days in 2023 in northern Uttar Pradesh state, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF India). Later, the man’s father was also charged with conversion, and the family petitioned various courts for three years, eventually ending up at the Supreme Court, where the case was dropped.
“The so-called Freedom of Religion Acts popularly known as ‘anti-conversion laws’ adopted in most of BJP-ruled states are being implemented under pressure from RSS in the name of forceful conversions. Till today there has not been a single conviction in any court of law in India,” Michael said.
According to Michael, the “call for a ban on the activities of RSS is nothing new” — India’s first home minister, Sardar Patel, as well as Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao all banned RSS “citing dangerous activities and acts of violence, including arson, robbery, and murder.”
Prakash, who has spoken up consistently for victims of the 2002 attack on Muslims following the torching of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, said: “On every global parameter, India has reached an abysmal low. The government is so rankled that it even tries to defend the likes of the RSS speaks volumes.”
“The least the government should do is in all humility and honesty to accept the truth and take corrective measures immediately,” he urged.
Catholic menswear brand expands as founders aim to shape modern masculinity
In a fashion culture saturated with passing trends and corporate logos, a new Catholic menswear brand is making clothes that will stand the test of time and inspire its wearers to something deeper — a daily practice of identity, discipline, and faith.
Founded on the idea that what you wear can reflect what you live for, Shepherd’s offers an alternative vision of masculinity shaped not by excess but by purpose.
Launched in 2023 by Chris Cottrell, Nathan Price, Austin Wright, and football star Harrison Butker, the brand specializes in made-to-measure garments including jackets, outerwear, shirts, pants, suits, and tuxedos. For customers who cannot come to their Kansas City and Dallas stores, they offer video-based fittings and ship try-on garments.
Experiencing great success at their headquarters in Kansas City, the luxury brand recently opened a new store in Dallas on Feb. 28. Shepherd’s offers its customers advanced fitting methods that involve over 100 adjustments for a precise fit and uses premier fabrics from Europe, primarily Italy and the United Kingdom.
EWTN News spoke with Cottrell about the new brand and how it aims to play a role in the lives of Catholic men.
EWTN News: What inspired you to create Shepherd’s?
Chris Cottrell: I think a couple of us on the team had interest, generally, in menswear, but I think what we saw was an opportunity to build a brand that was elevating and refined and kind of inherently Catholic without being overtly Catholic. It’s not like we have a crucifix on the inside of our jacket or saints on our socks, but the values kind of just speak through it.
I’m a convert and I actually met my first nun like four years ago at a conference. I had never met a nun before and she just had this glow about her. It comes from the amount of prayer, it comes from so much time in adoration, and she really was glowing. And you can look at her from across the room — I was lucky enough to have dinner with her — and it was just obvious that she was so close to the Lord.
That’s the kind of brand we wanted to create, where you didn’t have to say anything, it just felt different. And there’s no other brand that’s in the premium luxury space that has that. Everything else is so worldly, it doesn’t have the same values underneath it. And we wanted to create something special. And I think we’ve done that so far with Shepherd’s.
Can you speak a bit more about how the brand portrays Catholicism?
I often think of St. Paul’s letter … In one of his letters he says, old men do all these things, old women do all these things, young women do all these things, young men, self-control. That’s the only advice that he gives the young men: Be self-controlled. And for us, dressing well is a form of self-control. It’s a habit toward virtue.
Of course, it’s easier to wear a T-shirt and sweatpants or something, but we’re trying to help ourselves and our customers be both comfortable in the clothing but also own stuff that they’re proud of, that’s truly made for them, and is unique that they want to wear and it makes it easier to practice virtue by dressing well.
And then of course, you have the effect of wearing the clothes. Like the self-discipline of going to prayer regularly forms you in discipline, but then also you have the effect of prayer. So for us, we have the discipline of getting dressed well and then you have the effect of being well dressed. And every girl knows this too in a different way, but every guy knows the feeling of putting on [something] they feel really confident in and they just stand up a little straighter, right? They feel more like there’s a gravitas and they take their life a little more seriously and they kind of live up to an expectation to be their best version of themselves.
Why do you think a brand like Shepherd’s is needed right now in our culture?
I mean other than the Church, of course, the last great institution that is under attack right now is the family. It’s the concepts of men and women and it’s the concept of the family.
And Harrison [Butker] has been a great exemplar of putting family first and speaking out about Christ and speaking out about our values, but we wanted to build a brand that was pro-men — masculine and associated with masculine beauty and built for men. That’s one of the reasons we don’t do women’s tailoring.
The manufacturers we work with, the mills that we work with, most of our competitors would offer women’s wear as a way to grow your customer base and grow revenue, but we don’t simply because the values we’re trying to build, we view them as masculine values. And men are under attack everywhere. And so if you look especially for young men, like where are they getting advice? It’s kind of either like Andrew Tate or YouTube and that’s not great.
It’s not a great place for young men, for our next generation … to be formed as men. So we want to, obviously, do the clothing, but also build a brand around that and an ethos around that that is built to encourage men in the life that we view as good, which is a life centered on faith, family, friends, and work that matters.
What is your main goal or hope with Shepherd’s?
When we started the business, we as a founding team, the four of us committed to kind of have a double bottom line. One being we want to build a great business. I think this is part of doing good work — doing our work as unto the Lord — is that we build a business that’s successful, that’s sustainable, that’s profitable, that we have the money to offer benefits, we have good pay … So we want to build a successful business.
The other part is we want to influence the culture. We want someone to come as a young man, maybe a recent graduate, come to Shepherd’s and get a couple garments from us and bit by bit … being around our community that we’re really building, have that influence their life … Three to four degrees of change in your early 20s can lead to a very different life, can lead to a very different outcome.
The thing we want to see is people who have somehow in their life been affected positively by the brand or brought closer to their faith or been more successful in their career or carried themselves differently and had a better marriage for that. So really that’s the dream goal.
For me personally, I would love to in 10 years overhear somebody saying, “Oh, I went to this cool brand, Shepherd’s, and I read this great piece of content they had, and I bought a jacket and I just love their stuff. It really made me want to try harder and so I got this new job and then I met this girl.” That’s the kind of business that we want to build.
Israeli authorities blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza and West Bank, charity organization says
Aid to the Church in Need says Israeli authorities blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza and West Bank
Amid the regional conflict spreading across the Middle East, Israeli authorities have ceased emergency aid shipments from entering the Gaza Strip, according to Aid to the Church in Need.
Citing George Akroush, director of the Development Office of the Latin Patriarchate, the organization reported Monday that “the dire situation of communities in Gaza and the West Bank is being compounded by the state’s decision to block aid.”
Since March 7, Akroush said all humanitarian shipments have been blocked, including crucial medical supplies. “We are trying our best to help the only Christian hospital there, which is very close to the Catholic compound, but all the channels that the Latin Patriarchate used to communicate with the authorities were closed,” Akroush said.
England bishop appointed to lead 3 dioceses
Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds, England, will oversee three dioceses after Pope Leo XIV appointed him as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Middlesbrough and Hallam.
Stock, who is now responsible for the dioceses of Leeds, Hallam, and Middlesbrough, said he was “very humbled” by the new appointment. He gave thanks to God for “the ministry that Bishop Ralph Heskett has given so devotedly” for 12 years.
Syria granted new apostolic nuncio
The Vatican’s appointment of Archbishop Luigi Roberto Cona as apostolic nuncio to Syria comes at a delicate moment as the country navigates a new and uncertain phase, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Friday.
Cona is expected to remain in El Salvador for several more weeks or months before taking up his post in Damascus, with a farewell Mass scheduled for May 10 marking the close of his service there.
Born in Sicily in 1965, Cona brings more than two decades of diplomatic experience, having served in postings across Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East before his recent role in El Salvador. There, he became known for initiatives that combined humanitarian outreach with long-term development, including programs supporting marginalized youth, improving access to clean water, and promoting prisoner rehabilitation through the arts.
Restored crosses returned to rightful place atop Vietnam cathedral
Two crosses removed from the twin towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon, Vietnam, were reinstalled Thursday after being freshly gilded.
The long-anticipated installation occurred on the solemnity of St. Joseph on Thursday, according to a LiCAS News report. Archbishop Marek Zalewski, the resident papal representative in Vietnam, said the return of the crosses represented “a sign of faith placed in the heart of the city, directing people toward the mystery of the cross of Christ.”
According to the report, the crosses are about 12 feet high and weigh about 880 pounds.
Amazonian Church elects new president at synodality conference
The Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon chose a new leader, Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, OFM, of the Archdiocese of Manaus, Brazil, at its sixth General Assembly March 16–19, during which it also renewed its commitment to synodality.
Steiner told Vatican News on Friday that the election came in order “to give continuity to that dream of Pope Francis to go to the Churches of the Amazonia and to be an ecclesial Church.”
He said the conference reflected on its mission and the social, cultural, ecological, and ecclesial situation of the Amazon region.
Irish bishop says women diaconate issue ‘firmly closed’
Bishop Alan McGuckian of Down and Connor in Ireland has said he believes the door is “firmly closed” to a female diaconate in the Catholic Church but that his fellow Jesuit, Pope Francis, wanted to hear all voices on the subject.
The bishop told journalist Martin O’Brien in an interview at the St. Patrick Centre: “Francis had this vision, and it was a good one, and I admire him for it, that the followers of Christ have to be different. He called us into this process where everybody could speak and everybody would be listened to.”
When asked if women would see themselves as second-class citizens of the Catholic Church, McGuckian pointed to his memory of his own parents, saying: “My mother was not a second-class citizen in the Catholic Church. Never. And I never thought she was. And she never thought she was.”
Ethiopian bishops show solidarity after flooding in southern parts of country
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia conveyed its “deep sadness” following deadly floods in the Gamo Zone of southern Ethiopia that has killed 125 people.
The bishops mourned those killed in the natural disaster as well as the suffering of families who were forced to evacuate their homes, according to Vatican News. The bishops also called for “immediate humanitarian assistance to those affected,” the report said, noting that the Catholic Church in Ethiopia “has mobilized rapid support through the Apostolic Vicariate of Soddo.”
Patrick J. Passmore and Andy Drozdziak contributed to this report.