Vatican Bank’s profit jumps 55.5% over previous year
The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), also known as the “Vatican Bank,” closed 2025 with a net profit of 51 million euros, an increase of 55.5% over the 32.8 million euros recorded the previous year.
The institution, founded by Pope Pius XII in 1942 and staffed by just over 100 employees, thus consolidated a trend of sustained growth.
According to the annual accounts report published Monday, May 11, at the Vatican, the result was mainly due to improved operating performance amid favorable market conditions and active, disciplined portfolio management.
Net banking income rose to 66.3 million euros, compared with 51.5 million euros in 2024, while net interest income grew to 32.3 million euros. Net commission income remained stable at about 26 million euros.
The stronger results made it possible to approve a dividend of 24.3 million euros for the Holy Father, 76.1% more than the previous year, in keeping with the institute’s mission to support religious and charitable works.
Capital strength and asset growth
One of the most notable figures was the Tier 1 capital ratio, a key financial indicator that measures a bank’s financial strength and its ability to absorb losses while continuing to operate.
The report underscored the Vatican bank’s robust position, with a Tier 1 capital ratio of 71.9%, reflecting an extraordinary level of solvency.
The figure means the bank covers 71.9% of its risk-weighted assets — loans and investments — with the highest-quality core capital, such as ordinary shares, reserves, and retained earnings. This places the institution among the strongest in the world in terms of capitalization and liquidity.
According to the results for the past fiscal year, the total volume of client assets managed by the IOR — including deposits, current accounts, managed assets, and securities held in custody — rose to 5.9 billion euros at year-end, 200 million euros more than the previous year.
The institute’s net assets also grew to 815.3 million euros, an increase of 83.4 million euros, while comprehensive income reached 97.2 million euros, up 25% year over year.
Investments aligned with Catholic social teaching
The IOR emphasized that all of its financial activity is carried out in full coherence with the principles of Catholic social teaching. All of its portfolio management strategies recorded positive returns in 2025, within an investment approach that promotes only options compatible with the Catholic faith.
In this context, the institute strengthened its offerings by combining its own capabilities with the collaboration of more than 11 international asset managers. In February, together with Morningstar, it also launched two new equity indexes designed as benchmarks for Catholic investments worldwide.
Clean audit opinion and change in presidency
The IOR’s financial statements — for an institution whose accounts are limited to Catholic institutions, clergy, Vatican employees, and embassies and ambassadors accredited to the Holy See — received a “clean” opinion from Deloitte & Touche and were approved April 28 by the Board of Superintendence and the Commission of Cardinals.
The fiscal year also coincided with a change in the institute’s presidency: Jean-Baptiste de Franssu ended his mandate after the approval of the financial statements and was succeeded by François Pauly.
With 115 employees and about 12,000 clients in more than 110 countries — all linked to the Church — the IOR reaffirmed its role as a financial instrument at the service of the Church’s mission under a model that combines prudent growth, security, and client focus.
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.
Illustrator of new stamp of Pope Leo XIV reflects on limits of AI in sacred art
On May 8, the Vatican issued a commemorative stamp marking the first anniversary of the election of Pope Leo XIV.
The stamp, issued by the Vatican City Postal and Philatelic Service, features a portrait of the Holy Father set against an image of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, whose feast the Church celebrates on May 8. In the portrait, the Blessed Virgin looks down toward Pope Leo “as a sign of maternal protection,” Raúl Berzosa, the artist, explained.
In a statement to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Berzosa reflected on this work and also delved into the creative implications of artificial intelligence.
This new philatelic series marks another collaboration between Berzosa, who is from Málaga, Spain, and the Vatican, notable among which are his painting created for the commemorative stamp marking Pope Francis' 80th birthday in 2016 and the stamp dedicated to the golden jubilee of the pontiffʼs priestly ordination, produced in 2019.
Berzosa’s work includes the stamps for Easter released by the Vatican Philatelic Office in 2020, 2022, and 2024. In addition is the recent stamp dedicated to the composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, issued during the pontificate of Leo XIV.
The latest stamp will be priced at 1.35 euros ($1.59) and will have a limited print run of 45,000 copies. The stamps were printed by Bpost (Belgium) using four-color offset lithography.
AI ‘doesn’t live what it depicts’
“I believe that sacred art is not merely the final result we see; it‘s the product of reflection. The time and effort invested are what give it the artist’s personal imprint,” Berzosa noted when asked about the value and appropriateness of AI-generated Catholic imagery.
“I’ve seen AI-generated images that are very beautiful or striking, yet they convey the sensation of being images seen before. AI, of course, does not feel or experience what it depicts. The artist, by contrast, leaves something of himself in every work,” he pointed out.
The Spanish painter noted that we are witnessing “a flood” of AI-generated images and videos, some in fact created using the works of human artists. “I have seen my own paintings ‘come to life and move,’ and seeing them gave me a bittersweet feeling,” Berzosa shared.
“From what I’ve seen, AI typically generates whatever grabs the most attention: perfect faces, highly dramatic lighting, or visually stunning scenes, yet they all tend to look alike,” he commented.
The artist also noted that throughout centuries of Christian art history, “an infinite number of distinct artworks and styles” have emerged, something that today “stands in contrast to images created with AI.”
‘Human discernment remains fundamental’
Berzosa explained that religious images “are not merely decorative” but also serve as “a tool for evangelization.” This has been the historical function of images within Catholicism: to help the faithful draw closer to God and to the message of the Gospel.
“With AI, there is a risk of creating images that are overly artificial or hollow, where the sacred is transformed almost into fantastical imagery. I believe that, here and now, human discernment remains fundamental,” he noted.
“Technology can help, but human sensibility is needed to know which image is appropriate,” he added.
However, Berzosa clarified that AI can serve as a complementary tool for artists. “I don’t believe that technology is the enemy of art,” he said. “I think that artists have always used new tools,” he remarked.
“Often, viewing images — works of art as well as images created by AI — can be beneficial when seeking ideas; they can help in studying lighting or preparing compositions before beginning a work,” he noted.
The greatest obstacle, he continued, arises when technology completely supplants human skill and talent, the artist’s unique vision: “AI can create viable images, but ones that require subsequent interpretation by the artist. When used well, AI can be an important complement, a tool of its time,” he noted.
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.
U.S. bishops object to Trump administration tightening asylum and federal housing assistance rules
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is voicing opposition to proposed regulatory changes that would impose stricter immigration rules for housing and employment.
A housing rule proposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could cause families to lose federal housing assistance if some family members lack legal immigration status. Current rules allow families to receive assistance at a prorated rate, with money adjusted based on how many family members are in the country lawfully.
An employment rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would establish a one-year waiting period for asylum seekers to receive work authorization and create stricter eligibility requirements. It also would pause new applications.
Both rules proposed by the Trump administration underwent the required 60-day comment period.
Housing rule
The bishops warned the proposed housing changes could lead to family separation by driving away family members who are in the country unlawfully, fearing the family’s housing assistance would otherwise be lost.
“The proposed rule would require these families to make a heartbreaking choice — endure family separation so that eligible members could continue to qualify for critical subsidized housing programs or stay together and forfeit any housing assistance,” the USCCB public comment states.
“This is a choice no family should be forced to make,” it adds.
For families who do stay together, the bishops warn the rule risks them all losing affordable housing and could drive up homelessness. They also fear unintended consequences, with eligible families being kicked off if they do not have the necessary documents to prove their citizenship or legal status.
“Denying subsidies to eligible individuals because of their membership in a mixed-status family is morally wrong, concerning from a fiscal perspective, and is in conflict with the underlying law,” the statement adds.
“The rule would have grave consequences for families, vulnerable communities, and the organizations that serve them,” it continues. “It will lead to family separation and create unnecessary housing instability amongst eligible applicants and their families.”
The bishops were joined by other Catholic organizations in objecting to the housing rule: the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Health Association of the United States, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Employment rule
The bishops argued the proposed employment rule violates the law as written and raises both economic and moral consequences.
“Catholic social teaching affirms the inherent dignity of every human person and the right of individuals to support themselves and their families through work,” the bishops said.
“Policies that deny asylum seekers the ability to meet their basic needs while pursuing protection effectively force individuals into destitution, exploitation, or abandonment of lawful claims,” they said. “Such outcomes are incompatible with the Gospel’s call to welcome the stranger and with long-standing principles of solidarity and the preferential option for the poor.”
The bishops warned the change would negatively impact a vulnerable population that is fleeing hardship and has limited resources. They said asylum seekers are often not eligible for government assistance and must work to provide for themselves.
“The changes … would undermine the common good by disregarding the dignity of work as well as the right of noncitizens to provide for themselves and for their families in a dignified way, subjecting them to an increased risk of exploitation,” they said. “They would also limit asylum seekers’ ability to contribute their God-given gifts and talents for the benefit of the community as a whole.”
EWTN News explains: What does the Catholic Church teach about UFOs and alien life?
The U.S. government on May 8 began releasing files related to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) — previously referred to as unidentified flying objects (UFOs) — generating nationwide speculation regarding government evidence of extraterrestrial life and nonhuman intelligence. But what does the Catholic Church have to say about it?
There is “no dogma or formal teaching” promulgated by the Church on the question of extraterrestrial life, according to experts, but prominent Catholic scholars and philosophers have contributed to the discussion around the centuries-old question, one that remains unresolved amid intense public interest.
For decades “contactees” have claimed to have encountered alien life either in the form of purported alien spacecraft or direct contact with extraterrestrials themselves. But such sightings and experiences have never been “proven” or confirmed by scientific bodies or governments.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a topic that in more recent decades has been viewed as little more than an esoteric fad, the Church has never pronounced definitively on the topic of UAP and alien phenomena in general.
But Luke Togni, a professor of religious studies at Saint Maryʼs University in Nova Scotia, Canada, said the Churchʼs official silence on the matter is arguably a statement in and of itself.
“You might say that the Church hasn’t pronounced on it through a kind of silence around the topic,” he said. “But it has permitted speculation.”
There are some rare instances in Church history where leaders have briefly touched on the question, Togni said.
He pointed to the Medieval-era Pope Zacharyʼs condemnation of a theory that there could be human life on “another orb,” although Togni said the popeʼs remarks “probably had more to do with a race of humans not descending from Adam” than dispute over alien life in general.
He also noted the 15th-century Pope Pius IIʼs condemnation of a similar theory regarding other humans on “other worlds,” though the dispute again seemed to stem from whether or not the biblical Adam was to be considered the first human being.
Still, the overall debate, particularly in modern times, has never been deemed illicit by the Church, Togni said. “Into the Renaissance and more recent modernity there is a proliferation of speculation about alien life,” he said. “That’s never been condemned.”
The issue is increasingly drawing attention and commentary from Catholic philosophers and experts.
Catholic theologian Paul Thigpen, who passed away in February and who wrote the book "Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: Are We Alone in the Universe with God and the Angels?", told the National Catholic Register in 2022 that he was “convinced” after years of study that a belief in extraterrestrial intelligence was compatible with the Catholic faith.
“Some Christian theologians of the past have asserted that there can be no intelligent species other than humanity and the angels (fallen and unfallen),” he told the Register.
“But their reasoning was most often flawed by a reliance on certain philosophical or scientific assumptions of ancient pagan philosophers that have proven to be wrong — such as the notion that planet Earth is the center of the universe.”
In 2024 the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame released a documentary examining “the boundaries for Catholic belief” in relation to extraterrestrial theories. The documentary spoke to numerous Catholic academics and researchers, including St. Johnʼs University philosophy professor Marie George.
George in the documentary disputed the belief that God would create a “teeny tiny Ptolemaic universe” as envisioned by thinkers and astronomers of earlier centuries.
“If Godʼs going to create a universe, heʼs going to create a really splendid universe,” she said. “... Itʼs going to be marvelous. Itʼs going to mind-blowing.”
In a May 2025 episode of “The Lila Rose Show,” meanwhile, Father Robert Spitzer — currently president of the Magis Center, which “seeks to answer the conflict of science and faith” through both research and Catholic theology — said that if aliens do exist, and if they meet certain criteria such as self-consciousness, free will, and conscience, then such beings would “have a soul.”
“[If] they would have a soul just like us, then they would be made in the image and likeness of God,” he said while agreeing that such beings would not contradict Scripture.
Diana Pasulka, a writer and professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington — who also appeared in the McGrath Institute documentary — told EWTN News that the Church “has not declared UFOs to be real, false, or anything else.”
“Historically and even recently, prominent Catholics have issued opinions about extraterrestrials, but these are not to be understood as official doctrine or dogma,” she said.
The early Church theologians St. Athanasius and St. Basil were aware of debates regarding the “plurality of worlds” theory, she said, “but they didn’t venture to make any pronouncements about whether these worlds were populated with extraterrestrial life.”
In later centuries some prominent leaders began to speak more directly about the issue. Pasulka pointed to St. Albert the Great, a 13th-century Dominican friar who referred to the “wondrous and noble” question about “whether there is one world or many.”
Around the same time, Parisian Bishop Étienne Tempier affirmed that God could make many worlds if he chose (though the bishop himself believed that Earth was the lone created world).
And the 15th-century Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa challenged the belief that “so many of the stars and parts of the heavens are uninhabited,” arguing instead that “in every region there are inhabitants, differing in nature by rank and all owing their origin to God.”
Both Togni and Pasulka disputed the conspiracy theories that claim the Vatican is hiding evidence of alien life or alien spacecraft. In a recent Substack post, Pasulka wrote: “I have spent most of my career studying Catholic history, and I have worked in the observatory archive myself. I did not encounter a crashed UFO there, and I do not believe the Vatican is hiding one.”
Togni said that for years theorists have speculated on the so-called “Magenta crash,” an alleged incident involving a downed UFO in Italy in 1933 that, according to conspiracy theories, the Vatican helped cover up.
“It does get a little bit sensationalized,” he said with a laugh. There is little evidence that the Vatican is concealing secret alien files, he acknowledged, but “that doesn’t mean there isn’t some level of discussion that hasn’t been held there.”
James Madden, a philosophy professor at Benedictine College who has written at length on the UAP phenomenon, suggested that it should not be assumed by default that aerial phenomena come from extraterrestrial life.
“There are a number of other possible explanations that do not dismiss the reality of what people have claimed to have experienced,” he said, arguing that the issue needs to be “explored with our most sophisticated scientific, philosophical, and maybe even theological tools.”
Madden, a practicing Catholic, said he would “not be surprised at all” if there were “other intelligent species” in the universe, arguing that such a revelation would not seem “troubling for Catholic theology.”
He warned, however, that the traditional Catholic “receptivity to the supernatural” could “render Catholics uniquely vulnerable to be taken in by UFO lore,” even if the lore itself is groundless.
“When someone has long believed in things that most people take as ‘weird,’ there might be a tendency to see other ‘weird’ beliefs entering the cultural mainstream as a kind of confirmation,” he said. “That could leave Catholics liable to accepting certain claims without fully exploring all the possibilities or really criticizing the evidence.”
Togni himself said he believes it is “not an impossibility” that intelligent life exists elsewhere, though he said he may hold that belief “just because I was a sci-fi kid.”
He admitted that itʼs been difficult to get the Church engaged on the question in a “measured, open way.”
“The Church should say: ‘This is something that is being thought about,’” he said. Amid ongoing public interest, he added: “I think weʼll see more and more conversation arise on this.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. government said in a press release Monday that the Trump administration was “focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files.”
Book explores ‘darkness’ of yoga
A book by a certified yoga instructor explores the “darkness” behind the practice of yoga and the many "misconceptions” of the practice for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Linda Carl spoke about the dangers of yoga and her newest book, “Yoga Unveiled: My Spiritual Journey from Darkness to Light," at a May 11 discussion at the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C.
As a stay-at-home mom, Carl began to take yoga classes and eventually became a certified instructor. The practice led her into the chakras and Reiki, which “are New Age modalities” that claim to be energy healing techniques.
For nearly 20 years, much of Carl’s life revolved around yoga and other New Age philosophies. She taught yoga, practiced it, and promoted it, but after prayer and discernment, and an encounter with the devil, Carl said she left the practice entirely.
“I got swooped into the seduction, and it wasnʼt until I fully removed myself from yoga that I was able to even begin to understand what I was deeply involved in,” Carl said.
Yoga is “a fairly controversial issue, so I think when we armor ourselves, or when we arm ourselves with information, that helps us tell the truth,” Carl said. “Even priests and religious donʼt necessarily know or understand … yogaʼs dangers.”
In order to “arm” people, Carl drew from years of research, personal experience, Scripture, and the words of Hindu teachers themselves to write her book. The book explores how yoga’s postures, mantras, breathing practices, and techniques are not neutral but are acts of devotion to other gods.
The book draws “a side-by-side comparison ... of what yoga beliefs are and what Christian or Catholic beliefs are, and theyʼre very, very different,” Carl said.
What is yoga?
While many people practice and recommend yoga, Carl said many donʼt know exactly what it is or the meaning behind it. She posed the questions: “What is yoga?” and “Where did it come from?"
“Yoga is done in the language of Sanskrit,” she said. In Sanskrit, “yoga actually means to yoke or to unite. So what youʼre yoking to is not the Judeo-Christian God but the Hindu god Brahman. Brahman is their main god."
“Itʼs not the God revealed in the Bible. And Scripture cautions us not to be yoked to unbelievers. Christians, on the other hand, yoke to Christ,” she said.
“Yoga is actually a Hindu spirituality, which makes it an occult practice, and anything of the occult opens the door to Satan and evil spirits,” she said. “We learned in the very beginning of the Bible that in the garden, Satan was present but hidden. Itʼs really no different in yoga.”
“Yoga is not really what most people think,” Carl said. There are “four major Hindu scriptures, and … one of them, the Vedas, provides all liturgical sequences for their worship, and yoga is in there. So yoga is essentially a worship of their gods.”
“The moves that were created through this liturgical process were intended to honor and venerate Hindu gods and to adore them,” she said. “And we know that Hindu gods are not real. We know that demons hide behind Hindu gods. So yoga, through its practice, through doing it, youʼre opening a door to those demonic entities that hide behind,” Carl said.
Yoga is also “a gateway to the New Age,” including “crystals, numerology, astrology, channeling,” Carl said. “The New Age is an ideology that essentially replaces religion, which essentially replaces God.”
Yoga ‘misleading’ Christians
Carl warned that it is easy to enter into the darkness of yoga because terminology and actions can be “confusing or misleading.”
“When I would go to my teacher trainings, we learned everything in Sanskrit — the postures, the invocations,“ she said. Often in the trainings, ”nobody takes the time to tell you what the translation is or to tell you what it means.”
She gave the example of breaking in yoga, which is “an important component.”
“Itʼs called Ujjayi breath. Ujjayi means snake,” Carl said. “We were never told that. So the first type of yoga that I practiced was Kundalini. Kundalini is one of the most dangerous types of yoga. Kundalini is said to be an energy that resides at the base of your spine in the form of a serpent. We know who the serpent is, right?”
Carl further discussed a book she read on Kundalini that “talks about G-O-D,” which she believed to mean God. Carl said: "Well, itʼs generator, oppressor, and destroyer, and those are three main Hindu gods, and those are what they do. So itʼs not God as we know, itʼs a different god.”
“In yoga, they talk about the universe,” Carl said. “But thatʼs not God. People mistake the universe with God. God created the universe, but God is not the universe.”
In training they also “talk about the spirit,” Carl said. “Well, itʼs the snake spirit, not the Holy Spirit … So these kinds of things become confusing or misleading to people who are not well catechized.”
"Spirituality has to be tethered to something, and if itʼs not tethered to God, then itʼs tethered to something not of God, and thatʼs where the dangers come in,” Carl said. “So we have to be really careful when we think about that. As Catholics, we know and we believe that everything comes from God. God is the source of all, everything, all good, all challenges in our life.”
U.S. bishops release Archbishop Sample video, resources on consecrating nation to the Sacred Heart
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, described the U.S. bishops’ decision to consecrate America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as “a way to recognize the kingship of Christ.”
“In his encyclical instituting the solemnity of Christ the King, Pope Pius XI, drawing on the teaching of Pope Leo XIII, commended the pious custom of consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a way to recognize the kingship of Christ,” Sample said in the May 8 video message explaining the devotion.
“By celebrating this important national anniversary with this devotion, we have the opportunity to encourage all Catholics to honor Our Lord and to infuse the spirit of the Gospel into various communities and departments of life,” Sample said.
Sample’s message comes ahead of America’s 250th anniversary and after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted on Nov. 11, 2025, at the USCCB Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore to consecrate the U.S. to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The consecration will take place on June 11, according to the USCCB, which has released resources for local parishes across the U.S. to participate in the consecration in both English and Spanish.
“Devotion to the Sacred Heart has developed over the centuries following the experiences of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the apparitions she witnessed in the 17th century,” he said, highlighting several popes, including Pope Leo XIII, Pope Francis, and Pope Leo XIV, who have “lauded” the devotion.
“As we reflect with gratitude on the blessings God has bestowed on our country, our devotion to the Sacred Heart demands that we consider how we might foster truth, justice, and charity in American life. We are called to bring our faith into the actions we take and the lives we lead in our communities,” Sample said. “This anniversary and consecration gives us a special opportunity to promote the beautiful devotion to the Sacred Heart and to encourage the laity to offer their lives in service to God and their country.”
Pope warns main threat common to religion and science is denial of objective truth
Pope Leo XIV said the principal threat facing both religion and science today is the denial of the existence of objective truth. He made this statement on May 11 during an audience granted to members of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, which supports the work of the observatory located in Castel Gandolfo.
“Today, however, science and religion face a different, and perhaps more insidious, threat: those who deny the very existence of objective truth,” the pontiff said.
During his address, he recalled that his predecessor Pope Leo XIII refounded the Vatican Observatory in 1891 in a context where science was beginning to emerge as a rival source of truth to religion. Because of this, he said, the Church felt the “urgent need to counter the growing perception that faith and science were enemies.”
Exploitation of natural resources
“Too many in our world refuse to acknowledge what both science and the Church clearly teach: that we bear a solemn responsibility for the care of our planet and for the well-being of those who inhabit it, especially the most vulnerable, whose lives are threatened by the irresponsible exploitation of both people and the natural world,” Leo said.
He underscored that the Church’s commitment to “rigorous and honest science remains not only valuable but essential.”
The pope also highlighted the unique role of astronomy within this context. “It occupies a particular place in this mission,” he affirmed while emphasizing its capacity to evoke wonder and a sense of proportion in human beings: “It awakens in us both admiration and a healthy sense of proportion.”
“Contemplating the heavens invites us to view our fears and failures in the light of God’s immensity,” he noted.
However, he lamented, “this gift is today threatened” by light pollution.
“To paraphrase Pope Benedict [XVI], we have filled our skies with artificial light that blinds us to the lights God has placed in them — an eloquent image,” he suggested, “of sin itself,” citing a 2012 homily by the German pontiff.
Gratitude for scientific work
The pope expressed his gratitude to the scientists and benefactors associated with the foundation, whose work sustains the activities of the Vatican Observatory.
“Your generosity makes it possible for the Vatican Observatory to share the wonder of astronomy with students around the world and to offer workshops and summer courses to those working in Catholic schools and parishes," he said.
"Ultimately, it is your dedication that keeps the observatory’s telescopes and laboratories faithful to their original purpose: to be places where the glory of God’s creation is encountered with reverence, depth, and joy,” he added.
Finally, the pontiff exhorted them to “never lose sight of the theological vision that animates all of this."
“It’s not surprising that people of deep faith feel called to explore the origins and workings of the universe," he said. "The desire to better understand creation is but a reflection of that restless yearning for God that dwells in the heart of every human being."
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.
Supreme Court temporarily extends access to mail-order mifepristone
The Supreme Court has extended an order allowing nationwide access to a mail-order abortion drug.
Justice Samuel Alitoʼs order on May 11 extended access to the abortion pill mifepristone until at least 5 p.m. ET May 14 while the court considers next steps.
The drug will continue to be available at pharmacies or through mail, and it can be obtained without an in-person visit to a doctor.
The order follows the May 4 decision by the Supreme Court to temporarily block a lower court order requiring in‑person dispensing of mifepristone after two manufacturers asked the justices to intervene, prompting Alito to issue an administrative stay that restored mail‑order access until May 11.
The deadline prompted the extension as the court continues to weigh its decision, which could bring another extension, allow the restrictions to take effect, or prompt the justices to take up the case in full.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered a review of the abortion drug mifepristone in May 2025, which is ongoing. Activists, lawmakers, and state attorneys general have also been calling on the FDA to do a safety review of the drug, citing severe risks to women’s health.
Medication abortions, which rely on mifepristone and misoprostol, accounted for 63% of U.S. abortions in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The number of actual abortions might be higher due to underreporting, according to the organization, which was affiliated with Planned Parenthood until 2007.
“Chemical abortion has a complication rate four times greater than surgical abortion,” according to one study. Another report found that medication abortion complications are often underreported or misclassified.
A recent study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center also highlighted the dangers of lifting the requirement for an in-person visit with a doctor. It found that the removal of in-person visits led to an increase in adverse effects for women having drug-induced abortions.
Trump vows to discuss freedom of Jimmy Lai, Christian leaders detained in China
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise the release of Jimmy Lai and Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri with Chinese President Xi Jinping as families of Chinese political prisoners gathered outside the White House in the rain to advocate for their release.
Trump is set to travel to Beijing May 13–15 with a focus on trade, Taiwan, the Iran conflict, and emerging technology issues. Trump said the release of Lai, the jailed Catholic media tycoon and democracy advocate, also will be brought up.
"Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil for China,” Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office on May 11. “He tried to do the right thing, he wasn’t successful, went to jail, and people would like him out, and I’d like to see him get out too, so I’ll bring him up again. I have brought him up.”
Trump said asking the Chinese president to release Lai would be akin to Xi Jinping asking him to release indicted former FBI Director James Comey if he was imprisoned. Comey was indicted on April 28 by a federal grand jury in North Carolina for posting seashells on Instagram arranged to show “86 47,” which prosecutors claim is a threat to kill or harm the president.
“Itʼs like saying to me, ‘If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ This might be a hard one for me,” Trump said. “Because he’s a dirty cop. But Jimmy isn’t that way.”
Lai “caused a lot of bedlam” and “turmoil” for China, Trump said.
More than 100 U.S. lawmakers have urged Trump to prioritize Lai’s release on humanitarian grounds due to his failing health in prison. Lai was charged with violations of Hong Kong’s national security law and sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9.
“There’s another gentleman, a pastor, as you know, with a beautiful daughter and son-in-law that would like to see him get out,” Trump said, referencing Jin.
Trump has previously vowed to raise both Lai and Jin’s cases.
Families, advocates rally
Frances Hui, policy and advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, was the primary speaker at a rally May 11 near the White House co-hosted by the Luke Alliance, the International Campaign for Tibet, the Campaign for Uyghurs, and the Uyghur Human Rights Project. She described to EWTN News the stakes of Trump’s upcoming visit.
“In a matter of days, President Trump will get on a plane and go to China, and this will be the first time that he meets Xi Jinping after Jimmy Lai gets sentenced to 20 years in prison, and actually the first time in this presidency,” she said. “So, it’s an important trip.”
“There are so many hundreds and thousands of Christians in China being imprisoned for their faith,” she said, highlighting other religious minorities including Muslims and other “ethnic communities that are being imprisoned simply for holding their faith.”
“So, we are here to just call their names, say their names, and remind President Trump this is the time to turn his commitment into action,” she said.
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Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, also rallied outside the White House.
In her remarks, delivered in the pouring rain, Drexel thanked Trump for previously pledging to take up her father’s cause and reiterated calls for him to advocate for her father’s release alongside other political prisoners.
“My father, Pastor Ezra Jin, has been detained for more than 200 days today,” Drexel told EWTN News after the event. “We hope and pray that with this trip, upcoming summit, that my father will be able to rejoin his family members in the U.S. as soon as possible. We pray for a miracle.”
“We hope that the president will be able to bring back my father,” she said.
Gao Pu, son of detained Chinese pastor Gao Quanfu, and his wife, Pang Yu, also delivered remarks at the rally on his parents’ behalf. The Chinese government detained Pu’s father on May 17, 2025, and his mother less than a month later on June 7.
Pu said the Chinese government detained his parents “simply because they’re Christians.”
“My father’s church has been around for 40 years. It’s one of the most influential underground house churches across the country,” he said. “And my mom, just because she’s the pastor’s wife, she also got detained as well.”
Pu said his mother was initially charged with “using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law” but that in early January, his parents’ cases were both submitted separately to the Chinese courts as “fraud.”
“They’re treating donations and tithes and all that stuff as illegitimate because the church refuses to conform to their rules,” he said, noting that their cases have seen continuous delays. “Less than a month ago their case was delayed again, so we’re looking at mid- to late-July.”
Pu said the Chinese government has been “attacking” his parents’ lawyers. “So many lawyers had their licenses either revoked or suspended,” he said, noting his mother has had three separate lawyers.
“Given the overall situation that, you know, the political environment in China, it is actually very difficult to find lawyers who are actually still willing to take on cases like this because their own livelihood could also be at risk,” Pu said.
Pu said his father and Jin had both shared the same lawyer, Zhang Kai, whom he described as “a famous Christian lawyer who is known for defending cases like this.”
“His whole firm just got basically dissolved because he chose to defend my dad and also Pastor Ezra Jin.”
Members of Congress including Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon; Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan; and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, also sent statements to be read at the rally.
Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, announces parish closures and mergers
The Diocese of Providence announced at Masses over the weekend that several parishes will merge or close across Rhode Island, effective immediately.
“After consulting the Council of Priests, Most Rev. Bruce A. Lewandowski, CSsR, bishop of Providence, approved the requests of the pastors, trustees, and finance councils of several parishes in the Diocese of Providence,” read a statement from the diocese issued May 11.
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Warren will merge into St. Mary of the Bay Parish, but the St. Thomas building will remain open as a worship site.
“Declining Mass attendance, limited sacramental activity, and the dearth of parish activities indicated the broader mission for which these parishes were established demands a new configuration to better meet the needs of the Catholic faithful in Warren,” the statement read.
In East Providence, St. Brendan Parish and St. Martha Parish will merge into a combined “Sts. Brendan and Martha Parish,” though both current worship sites will remain part of the newly created parish.
In a statement to EWTN News, Michael Lavigne, Diocese of Providence secretary for evangelization and pastoral planning, said the merging of “SS. Brendan and Martha is a good news story in that they have been working together with a shared pastor for three years and collectively came to the conclusion they would be stronger together for mission if they merged.”
“St. Thomas was a struggling Portuguese parish that will now be anchored within a vibrant parish,” he said.
Additionally, St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church, which was established as a quasi-parish in 2008 by Bishop Thomas Tobin, has been “canonically suppressed” due to limited Mass attendance and sacramental activity following the retirement of its priest-administrator.
Lavigne said the diocese will “try to repurpose the property for mission.”
The diocese says sacramental records from St. Kateri’s will be “faithfully maintained” by St. Bernard Parish.
Lavigne said the diocese is “trying to answer: ‘What is God calling us to do in each area ... so that we are serving the Churchʼs mission more faithfully and effectively?’”
Citing "a shortage of available priests and deteriorating buildings and resources," he said "the mission remains the same: to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our brothers and sisters throughout Rhode Island.”
Michael Kieloch, director of communications and public relations for the Diocese of Providence, told EWTN News: “These changes to parish structures ... will result in stronger parishes built for mission and growth."
“It is not so much a factor of decline but rather populations have shifted and some apostolates come and go with time yet the Church’s mission remains strong,” Kieloch said.
"The Diocese of Providence recently saw a significant increase in people entering the Church at this year’s Easter Vigil, and we see across many parishes the growth in young people and young families. We will continue to evaluate how and where best to shift the Church’s resources to be where there is growth and need,” he added.