Church leaders continue to urge Catholics to aid immigrants as government defends deportations
Church leaders continue to draw attention to what they call the “indiscriminate” enforcement actions of U.S. federal immigration officials as they urged Catholics on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees to pray, help immigrants, and advocate for policy change.
Pope Leo XIV titled this year’s observance of World Day of Migrants and Refugees “Even Just One of These Children,” citing Matthew 18:5: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., said in a homily on Sunday, Sept. 27, that “for the last year and a half, the people of the United States have witnessed the suffering of the undocumented in our midst, purposely and strategically magnified by our government, and for the most part, we have simply passed on by.”
McElroy wrote that “Jesus weeps all across our nation for the children who have been arrested, detained, transported to far-off centers with terrible living conditions, and cut off from their families.”
The cardinal described the case of a 5-year-old boy in Minneapolis, Liam Ramos, who along with his father was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and was “imprisoned for a month until an outraged federal judge ordered him to be released.”
After being held for about 10 days, on Jan. 31, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio ordered their release, writing in his order that the case grew from “the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
Biery attached a photo and two Gospel verses to his order: Matthew 19:14 (“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them”) and John 11:35 (“Jesus wept”).
In March an immigration judge denied the family’s asylum claim and ordered them removed to Ecuador.
McElroy also decried the government’s ending of temporary protected status (TPS) for nearly 1 million people, saying refugees admitted under it “never broke any law.”
The cardinal said: "They are being deported because of a general desire to exclude immigrants from American society. They are being deported because the bigotry that has often tarnished American immigrant history is rampant once again in our nation.”
The Trump administration has stated it ended TPS because it says conditions in many countries have improved and the program “has been abused and exploited by illegal aliens” and has become a “de facto amnesty” program.
TPS is granted when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) determines that a country is temporarily unsafe to return to because of armed conflict, disaster, or other extraordinary conditions. Congress designed TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990 as a time-limited humanitarian designation intended to be temporary; it is not a path to citizenship.
TPS holders are lawfully present and authorized to work while the designation lasts. After termination of TPS, however, people who remain commit a civil immigration violation.
Yakima, Washington, bishop calls for ‘surgical deportation’
Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, also issued a message on Sunday, lamenting that “Yakima County seems to be disproportionately targeted” by immigration enforcement actions. He cited Freedom of Information Act data he had obtained, which he said showed that “fewer than a fourth” of the people ICE had detained between March and August had a criminal record.
Tyson called for “a public policy that allows for a surgical deportation of those with serious criminal records” rather than the “indiscriminate deportation” of immigrants who “have lived here for years” and are often “detained in front of courthouses while pursuing legal pathways to regularize their legal status.”
Andrew Arthur, a national-security and immigration expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, told EWTN News that “immigration laws — like every other law — are meaningless unless they are enforced.”
“Border security — which even the bishops support — is impossible without interior enforcement and deportations of those who entered illegally,” even if they have not committed other crimes, he said.
Referring to Tyson’s recommendation for “surgical deportations” for those with “serious criminal records,” Arthur, a former immigration judge, explained that the law does not require that “serious” crimes be committed before deportation takes place.
“A ‘serious crime’ is one that impacts or threatens any other person,” he said. Regardless “there is no reason to wait until a drunk driver kills someone before he is deported … There is no reason that the American people should be threatened by a criminal immigrant who should never have been here to begin with.”
McElroy also described ongoing immigration enforcement as a “wholesale war” on immigrants, which Arthur called a "reckless statement.”
“Using military terminology in this context denigrates federal officers who are tasked with a very difficult job,” Arthur said.
DHS affirms continued arrests of ‘anyone’ in country illegally
The Department of Homeland Security refuted a report circulating on Sept. 26 that said anonymous ICE officials claimed they were instructed to cease arresting illegal immigrants who had not committed crimes other than entering or remaining in the country illegally.
In a statement to EWTN News as well as in a social media post, DHS called the claim “false,” saying: “No one is off the table. We will continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path. Anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported.”
PHOTOS: Pope Leo XIV’s final day in France
Pope Leo XIV addressed European leaders at the Robert Schuman Conference Center in Metz on the final day of his Sept. 25–28 visit to France. The title of the event was “To the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity.”
From there he traveled to the Metz Cathedral — a towering Gothic structure dedicated to St. Stephen and nicknamed “the Good Lord’s lantern” for its large expanse of stained glass — where he celebrated Mass before 35,000 people both inside and outside the cathedral, according to the Vatican. He returned to Rome in the evening.
Here is a look at his day in photos:
Injured Polish priest urges ‘love,’ ‘forgiveness’ after deadly knife attack on convent
A Polish priest who was injured in a deadly mass stabbing attack on a convent in southeast Poland last week called for “love” and “forgiveness” as he delivered his Saturday evening homily while wearing a bandage around his head, which remained visibly bruised.
“No matter what happened, we must overcome the evil that happened here, in our abbey, with goodness, love, and forgiveness,” Father Adrian Mantykiewicz told the congregation during his Sept. 26 homily at the Benedictine Abbey in Jarosław, Poland, where the knife attack had occurred two days earlier.
“Therefore, I ask you to forgive, because it has affected all of you,” he said, according to a transcript published by the Polish Jesuit news website DEON.pl.
Police arrested a 31-year-old Ukrainian man for the attack, which killed one priest and sent four other people to the hospital. Father Stanislaw Zbojniewicz died at the hospital from his injuries, and Father Marek Pienkowski remains in serious condition in the hospital.
Mantykiewicz told people not to blame the Ukrainian people because only one single person is responsible for the attack. He noted the convent — which is in a small town near the border with Ukraine — has provided support for many people who fled the Russia-Ukraine war.
“From this place, I also want to ask you not to blame the nation from which the torturer belonged, because the evil was committed by a specific person, a specific person who has a name, a life, and is responsible for his actions,” he said. “Other people did not do this. This was one, unique person.”
Mantykiewicz said he speaks in his own name and in the names of Zbojniewicz and Pienkowski when he says “very emphatically that we forgive and we ask you to pray for us.”
“For prayers for Father Stanislaw [Zbojniewicz], for the peace of his soul, for the health of Father Marek [Pienkowski], who is still fighting for his life in the hospital, and for me, that I may return to my duties as soon as possible and continue to serve you here,” he said.
The priest also asked people to pray for the attacker, specifically for “the grace of conversion,” saying “he needs this prayer the most.” He asked “not to respond to evil with evil but with love, support, understanding, and care” and to respect all people in the abbey, in the community, and in the country, including respect for Ukrainian refugees.
Mantykiewicz said in his homily that “this sermon is difficult for me,” but he said first and foremost, “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I am a disciple of my Master, I am a disciple of my Lord, and Christ teaches me to love.”
“Love that allowed itself to be crucified,” he said. “Love that gave its life for its enemies. Such is my Lord and Master. And I am his servant.”
According to prosecutors, a man identified as Ihor M. faced charges for the attack. According to a statement, the investigation is ongoing, but he was charged with murder, attempted murder, and causing serious injury to victims.
The suspect is receiving medical care, and prosecutors requested a public defender for him. He was appointed a Ukrainian translator.
Pope Leo says he is not ‘in panic mode’ over AI dangers
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT — Pope Leo XIV said he takes seriously the warnings raised by tech experts about the dangers of AI — including risks to humanity — but he is not panicking over dire predictions.
“If someone were to ask me, am I in panic mode, no I’m not, I sleep at night. I do think the concerns raised by many experts in AI should be taken seriously,” the pope told reporters accompanying him on his flight to Rome from Metz, France, Sept. 28.
“I don’t think that is fake news, as some have said, to try and cause … financial or some other kind of benefit,” he added.
A former safety researcher at the AI company Anthropic warned earlier this month that he believes the technology’s rapid advancement could mean there’s a more than 10% chance that AI could “could kill all humans” within a decade.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei responded by calling on the AI industry to slow down the pace of advanced model development to address risks, and other industry leaders publicly supported his call.
That drew criticism of Amodei from President Donald Trump, who dismissed dire scenarios and said restrictions on AI development in the U.S. would benefit China. The two men dined together on Sunday in an apparent attempt to address their differences.
The pope’s encyclical on AI, Magnifica Humanitas, published just four months ago, included a broad call for regulation of the technology.
In recent months, concerns have grown over AI’s risks of creating advanced cyberattacks and autonomous agents that will get past human control and threaten humanity.
Pope Leo told journalists on Monday that the Vatican has organized its own commission on AI, both to coordinate its own use of the technology and to “continue to promote dialogue, study, investigation to find ways to make sure that AI doesn’t get to a point where it destroys humanity.”
“But we have to keep working. We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen,” he said.
Leo was returning to Rome after a four-day trip to France.
In response to another reporter’s question, the pope said it was vital for the Church to proclaim Catholic social doctrine even on controversial matters such as end-of-life issues and political extremism.
Asked if he had “crossed a line” in France, where there is a strict separation of church and state, by speaking against the recent legalization there of euthanasia and assisted suicide, he said: “I didn’t cross it,” because “we’re not entering into politics; we’re applying the Gospel to people’s lives.”
“The defense of life is something that, as you all know, the Church teaches, believes very deeply,” the pope said.
“Being in a place especially like Lourdes, where people are searching for something much deeper and understanding that their lives, even in the midst of sickness or disability or pain of different kinds, that their life has meaning, the Church, because of Jesus himself, wants to be close to those people and to affirm the values that that life itself I think holds for all of us,” the pope said.
Asked whether he thought clerical sexual abuse was “systemic” in the Church, Leo said he preferred “to express it in a different way.”
He said some organizations within the Church have, at times, “as a system, been abusive.”
“But I think itʼs important to make the distinction. Sexual abuse is first and foremost a human problem. … When it happens within the Church it actually has another whole dimension added to it, because peopleʼs lives of faith are deeply wounded and sometimes even destroyed,” the pontiff said.
“The Church, in certain ways, has been seen as being responsible, but in the same way, the Church, I think, is an important part of helping [victims] to find healing.”
Church officials urge ‘care for workers’ amid AI race
Leaders of artificial intelligence commissions at the Vatican and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) called on the technology industry not to pursue profit or victory in the AI race at the expense of workers.
In a Sept. 25 interview with Montse Alvarado on “EWTN News In Depth,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, who leads the Vatican’s Commission on AI, and San Jose Bishop Oscar Cantú, who heads the USCCB’s Task Force on Preserving Human Dignity formed in response Pope Leo XIV’s call for cooperation in Magnifica Humanitas, discussed how AI may reshape the workforce.
Two days before Czerny and Cantú spoke on “EWTN News In Depth,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made an urgent appeal to the U.N. Security Council for international standards to curb risks from rapid AI development.
Czerny said: “Catholic social teaching says that companies, that investors and management, owe care to the workers.”
“They are not to be used, exploited simply as part of the production process,” Czerny continued. “They are not just cogs in the machine, they are human beings who are living out their dignity in this very, very important field of work.”
He called leaders in the AI industry to care for its people and employees, and not to “pursue profit or win the AI race at the expense of human dignity.”
Amid fears that AI will result in the loss of jobs, Czerny said: “I think we are treating it as a zero-sum game in an unhelpful sense.”
“Maybe we should say, ‘No, the question isnʼt whether jobs will be lost, the question is how much is AI going to help us to create more meaningful and more human beneficial work among its achievements?’” he said. “This has to be one of its goals, not just us protesting against job loss.”
Touching on the labor issue as well, Cantú said he hopes the reports from labs that he has met with are true in that they don’t anticipate significant job loss.
“But I think we should be prepared, and we should go into this wide-eyed and continuing to put forward for the lab developers that at the center needs to be human dignity and the common good,” Cantú said.
New priests’ council in South Africa lauded for fostering collaboration with bishops
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The new Council of Priests (COP) of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference has been lauded for fostering collaboration between its members and bishops and promoting a synodal approach to addressing issues affecting the priesthood.
Speaking to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, in an interview at the council’s first strategic planning meeting held Sept. 9–11, COP vice chairperson Father Alex Beukes said the new structure responds to the need for closer collaboration between bishops and priests.
Beukes compared the COP structure with the former Southern African Council of Priests, saying: “The one reason for the change to COP is that we found that there was not much collaboration between bishops and priests.”
He said COP was established by the bishops as a collaborative and synodal body through which priests can share their experiences and concerns.
Beukes said the previous arrangement brought priests together for meetings but did not give them sufficient space to address issues affecting their ministry in the different dioceses.
“Itʼs COP which changed that, because itʼs a collaborative ministry, and itʼs also synodal in its inception, that priests and bishops work together in solving various issues that are fundamental to the priesthood in the different dioceses in southern Africa,” he said.
Held under the theme “Strengthening Priestly Communion, Stewardship, and Mission for a Sustainable Church,” the meeting focused on strengthening collaboration between bishops and priests, establishing priorities for the period 2026–2029, and addressing key challenges affecting priestly life and ministry.
The two-day meeting brought together representatives from dioceses and archdioceses across South Africa and Eswatini, representing diverse experiences of diocesan, religious, and missionary priesthood.
In the interview, Beukes said the broad representation at the first strategic planning meeting provided an opportunity for priests and bishops from across South Africa to share their experiences and discuss issues affecting the priesthood.
“The beauty of this first encounter is that every diocese and archdiocese in all of South Africa is represented,” he said, adding that many dioceses had embraced the idea of closer collaboration between bishops and priests.
He explained that the discussions were not limited to bishops, with priests also contributing their experiences and concerns.
“And we could then speak together synodally, if you can actually call it that, and we can have a conversation in the spirit about issues that really affect the whole priesthood in the southern African diocese,” he said.
Beukes said COP’s structure, which brings together chairpersons of priests’ councils from different dioceses, would also support the implementation of the synodal process at the diocesan level.
He said the structure gives the chairpersons access to bishops, vicars general, and other members involved in the council of priests, enabling them to communicate issues raised by priests and follow up on their implementation.
On the priorities discussed during the strategic planning meeting, Beukes said participants had addressed several issues that priests had previously identified as important.
“Weʼve gone through a lot of priorities; we call them strategic priorities. And the ones that we have touched on are also ones that the priests in the general meeting had also asked us to look at. And we did,” he said.
He added that the meeting also brought in people with expertise on the issues under discussion, with finances among the priorities examined.
“We started with the priority on finances and how finances have changed over a period of time, and how it also affects parishes and affects priests who work in parishes,” Beukes said.
He said the discussions were intended to provide practical insights that priests could take back to their parishes and dioceses.
“All the priorities, those who speak to us, are things that we can take back to a parish council, but also to the diocese itself,” he said.
For priests from the participating dioceses, the meeting also provided an opportunity to address practical challenges affecting priestly life and ministry.
Father Sandile Mswane of the Diocese of Manzini, Eswatini, said the discussions covered finances, revenues, the changing face of the Church, healthcare, and self-care, describing the meeting as “an eye-opener” that would provide insights to share with priests in his diocese.
Father Albert Post of the Diocese of The Hague identified financial pressures, retirement policies, and mental stress among the concerns requiring attention, while Father Lawrence Kamala of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, said the meeting had highlighted the need to strengthen the bond between bishops and priests as well as among priests themselves.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
More than 1,000 join March for Life in Vilnius, Lithuania
VILNIUS, Lithuania — More than 1,000 pro-life advocates gathered in Vilnius on Sept. 26 for the country’s second March for Life, braving cold winds, morning rain, and autumn fog to affirm the dignity and value of every human life.
Families, students, and older people joined a warmly spirited program of personal testimonies, hopeful speeches, and musical performances celebrating life.
The march took place amid continuing political debate in Lithuania over family policy and declining birth rates. Lawmakers also remain divided over reproductive legislation, including access to abortion and in vitro fertilization.
Organizers stressed that the event sought to move beyond abstract slogans and political declarations by focusing on the realities of family life. Speakers addressed motherhood, fatherhood, and the challenges posed by child loss, disability, illness, and old age.
Throughout the march, participants and speakers affirmed the equal dignity of every person — especially unborn children — regardless of health, age, or ethnicity.
Saulius Karosas, a father, illustrated that conviction by describing how welcoming children with special needs reshaped his family’s outlook. After their fourth child, Iva, was born with Down syndrome, the family adopted Motiejus, a boy with the same condition. Karosas said embracing the children transformed the family’s understanding of human worth and beauty and how they recognize the value of others.
Courage and perseverance
The event also drew pro-life advocates from across Europe and the Americas. Featured speakers included Agnese Irbe, OFS, founder of Latvia’s Peripatos Philosophers’ Association; Marcin Perłowski, director of the Polish pro-life foundation Centrum Życia i Rodziny; and Patricia Sandoval, an international pro-life speaker and co-host of EWTN’s “Informe Provida.”
Sandoval described the Vilnius march as deeply moving. “I was impressed by the zeal of the youth that attended the march,” she told EWTN News, noting that they were “on the front line.” She recalled the peaceful atmosphere, in which participants sang “hymns and songs of joy,” and praised the event as “very well organized.”
Sandoval, who shared her testimony of undergoing three abortions and later working for Planned Parenthood, said speaking in Vilnius held particular significance. “Vilnius is the city of mercy,” she said, describing the opportunity to share her story as “a very emotional and very exciting moment.”
Offering spiritual encouragement to participants, Sandoval urged advocates to remain strong regardless of political outcomes. “Remain steadfast, persevere, and be faithful to do his will,” she said.
From Christian witness to practical help
Speaking to EWTN News, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius said he hoped the event would help “a culture of life grow in Lithuania” — one in which every “human being is welcomed as a gift from the very beginning of life.”
For Grušas, that culture must be experienced concretely. “I would be especially glad to see a practical change,” he said, so that “a woman who feels anxious about her pregnancy knows where to turn, finds someone who will listen, and receives the support she needs.” He also said he hoped “families feel supported by their communities, employers, and public institutions.”
“We build a culture of life through many everyday decisions,” he said. In a city known as the “City of Mercy,” he added: “I hope mothers, children, and families will increasingly experience that mercy here.”
The archbishop also pointed to the responsibility of men. “A man’s steady presence can make an enormous difference,” he said, describing fatherhood as beginning before a child is born through “supporting the mother, listening to her, sharing her concerns, and preparing together to welcome the child.”
Grušas cited St. Joseph as a model of quiet responsibility. “He speaks no words in the Gospels, yet his care for Mary and Jesus is unmistakable.”
He described the march as “Christian witness with a civic dimension,” saying Catholics can participate in public life while seeking the common good. “We must keep in view both the dignity of the unborn child and the real needs of the mother,” he said, calling for public conversation “grounded in respect and followed by practical help.”
Builders of a culture of life
Archbishop Kęstutis Kėvalas of Kaunas told EWTN News at the march that building a culture of life requires men to embrace their roles as “fathers, leaders, and providers.” He urged them to take an active part in their children’s religious upbringing and formation.
That responsibility, he said, belongs to every Christian. Too often, people assume that “somebody else will do this” rather than recognize that “we are the people who need to take personal responsibility in creating the culture of life.”
For Kėvalas, this means fostering “prayer groups, family movements, and also the consciousness of the culture of life.” Christians, he added, are called to become “collaborators of God” in transmitting life and the Gospel of Life.
Asked what most threatens a culture of life, the archbishop pointed beyond individual social trends to “the faith problem.” The deeper question, he said, is whether people understand that “we are given the gift of life” and are called to give others “the possibility of life.”
He also warned against a materialistic mindset in which families “count the cost” of having children primarily in material terms. Greater trust in God, he said, can foster “a culture of trust and encouragement.”
Ultimately, he called Catholics to reject passivity. “We need to be not those who are just looking or observing life, but ones creating life and building the culture,” he said. He compared this vocation to that of the builders of medieval cathedrals, who laid foundations they would never see completed, trusting that their work would contribute to “a beautiful creation.”
Pope Leo: Let Europe’s wounds be ‘openings through which light shines’
METZ, France — The wounds of violence in Europe’s recent past are opportunities to shine light on evil and build a future of harmony, Pope Leo XIV said on Monday.
At the last event of his trip to France, the pope celebrated Mass in the Metz Cathedral, a towering Gothic structure dedicated to St. Stephen and nicknamed “the Good Lord’s lantern” for its large expanse of stained glass — at nearly 70,000 square feet, the most of any medieval religious structure.
“It seems that the builders sought to minimize the walls — which remain solid — so that light might flood in abundantly to the faithful,” the pope said.
“As we contemplate these stained-glass windows, we learn that Europe’s future does not lie in uniformity but in the harmony of differences, where the wounds of the past become openings through which light shines,” he said.
The Vatican said 35,000 Catholics from Metz and the neighboring areas participated in the Mass both inside the cathedral and in the surrounding streets, watching large screens. Participants described taking a day off of work or school for the occasion.
“It’s great to be able to come celebrate peace and meet all the Christians who’ve come for the occasion, and to feel that we’re all together, united for the same cause and the same values,” 20-year-old fine arts student Humbeline Deville said.
“The fact that he chose this city … and that he did us the honor of coming here is truly important to us,” said Hassina Boulariah as she walked toward the city center almost four hours before the start of Mass.
Inside the cathedral, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, sat in the front row.
Metz, a city in northeastern France, sits just 27 miles from the Schengen tripoint, where the borders of Luxembourg, France, and Germany meet.
The Franco-German area is rich in significance for European history: It was annexed by the German Empire at the turn of the 20th century and later by Nazi Germany during World War II. Metz was also home to Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union.
In the Church, it is also remembered as the historical birthplace of Gregorian chant — “Metssine Chant” (also called “Metz singing”) — which developed during the eighth-century Carolingian Renaissance.
In his homily at Mass, Pope Leo recalled the history of the territory, especially the “fratricidal conflicts” that tore it apart.
Those who are from this land, he said, “know full well that it is not true that those who seek revenge are stronger than those who forgive.”
Leo said “it takes strength and great integrity not to be overwhelmed by evil, especially when the wounds inflicted are deep. However, in the face of injustice, humanity’s only path to salvation is a love that cares for others and seeks to give trust regardless of the circumstances, even when confronted with the most difficult behavior to accept.”
“In a world marked by so much violence, manipulation, and arrogance at various levels, Jesus teaches us how to transform deserts into oases, to plant gardens, and to build homes. He shows us the path that leads through forgiveness, mercy, and magnanimity,” he said.
Yvette Bisiaux pushed her adult daughter Sandrine Coquelet to the Mass in a wheelchair: “We live here, so we said, ‘Let’s go!’” she said.
Bisiaux added that she was “really moved” by the pope’s speech to the sick in Lourdes on Sept. 27. “I had tears in my eyes. It was so, so beautiful, so true.”
In his homily, the pontiff cited St. Augustine’s “The City of God,” noting that the bishop of Hippo “defined the peace of the heavenly city as a harmonious communion in which people find joy in God and in one another through him.”
St. Augustine “also described peace among people as the fruit of a “tranquillitas ordinis,” whereby each person recognizes and respects the unique and sacred dignity and role of others,” Leo added.
“Here in Metz, it is worth recalling that these are precisely the values upon which the Europe we know has been built over the centuries, with its spiritual and moral heritage preceding its economic and political heritage,” he said.
The pontiff recalled that it has never been easy to be faithful to these principles, including for those who came before us.
“Nevertheless, through faithfulness and perseverance, our ancestors bequeathed them to us as treasures to be passed on in turn to future generations, and enriched by our experience, the value of our efforts and our stories,” he said.
Before Mass, people awaiting the pope waved French or regional flags. German flags also dotted the crowds, which included enthusiastic scouts in uniform, older people seated on portable stools, and young adults embracing.
Some tired teenagers napped on the stone path of the historic outdoor market next to the cathedral.
The teens’ mother, Marion Bertagnolio, said it was worth it to take a day off from her job as a physics professor to attend the Mass.
“We are Catholics, and itʼs too important to me to come here to pray with him, to see him,” said Bertagnolio, who came with her husband and four of her six children, ages 10 to 19.
She said she hoped Leo could bring a message of peace to France, especially with presidential elections early next year. She also mentioned divisions with the country’s Catholic community, particularly over the Traditional Latin Mass.
“I hope [the pope’s] message will change our hearts” to be more united, she said.
Venue selected for beatification of Georgia Martyrs
The beatification of the 16th-century Franciscan missionaries known as the “Georgia Martyrs” will be held at the convention center in Savannah, Georgia, on Oct. 31.
The Order of Friars Minor announced the venue in a Sept. 26 statement. About 12,000 people are expected to attend the event.
The beatification Mass is set for 11 a.m., and no ticket is necessary, organizers said. Registration is required by Oct. 15.
Bishop Stephen D. Parkes of Savannah said the beatification will be “a date of great significance for the faithful within the Diocese of Savannah and the Archdiocese of Atlanta.”
Cardinal Frank Leo, metropolitan archbishop of Toronto, will serve as papal legate and preside over the beatification liturgy on All Hallows Eve. The beatification will be livestreamed on EWTN.
A Mass of Thanksgiving is set for 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 1 at Savannah’s Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist.
Who are the Georgia Martyrs?
In September 1597, Father Pedro de Corpa, Father Blas Rodríguez, Father Miguel de Añon, Brother Antonio de Badajóz, and Father Francisco de Veráscola were killed for defending the sanctity of marriage. They died in the region called La Florida, which included present-day Georgia.
The U.S. bishops petitioned Pope Pius XII to beatify the missionaries in 1941, and the cause officially began in the Diocese of Savannah in 1981. In January 2025, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of a decree recognizing the five Franciscans as martyrs for Christ who were killed for their faith after ministering among the Guale people.
The late Father Dominic Monti, OFM, a historian and vice postulator for the cause, said in a statement: “These were not ‘missions’ like those that were established later in California, where native people were gathered together under friar supervision. The Guale were already living in towns; the friars were welcomed into these villages by local chiefs and lived among the people. This model of evangelization resembled more contemporary methods.”
The friars learned the Guale language and lived peacefully among the people without Spanish soldiers. Monti said archaeological evidence shows “a blending of native and Christian motifs, showing that the Christian faith was thoroughly accepted by the native people.”
In 1597, Juanillo, the young heir to a Guale chiefdom, wanted to take a second wife. Friar Pedro de Corpa opposed the second marriage. He also made his opposition to Juanillo’s succession as chief known.
Juanillo, together with a band of like-minded allies, resorted to violence and killed Pedro de Corpa, OFM, on Sept. 14, 1597. The group then proceeded to other local missions, killing four other friars in the area.
A local chief urged Father Miguel de Añon and Brother Antonio de Badajóz to flee, but the unarmed friars disregarded the warning. A sixth friar, Francisco de Avila, was kidnapped and tortured until he was liberated months later, according to the order.
Father Roger Lopez, OFM, is a provincial councilor for the Franciscan Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe, part of the Order of Friars Minor, which has worked with the Diocese of Savannah to promote the Georgia Martyrs’ cause for canonization since the mid-20th century.
Lopez said: “The beatification of our brothers, Pedro de Corpa and Companions, stands as a profound message to the Church in America — that the love of Christ Jesus is more powerful than hatred. In every age, the use of force and violence are the weapons used by leaders to silence the Gospel of truth and peace. Such was the result for our friars four centuries ago in the present state of Georgia.”
Lopez said the Georgia Martyrs “invite all people of America to lay aside weapons of death and division. Their blood calls us to recommit to Jesus Christ’s Gospel of peaceful dialogue, mutual respect, and forgiveness in our families, country, and world.”
This story was updated at 5:34 p.m. ET on Sept. 28, 2026, to reflect the extended registration deadline, which is now Oct. 15 instead of Sept. 30.
The grotto and the Gospel: Why the Church preserves Lourdes without adding to revelation
When Pope Leo XIV arrived as a pilgrim at the Grotto of Massabielle on Sept. 27, his presence highlighted a foundational question for Catholics: If divine revelation is complete in Jesus Christ, why does the Church recognize and promote a shrine born of private apparitions?
The answer rests on the Churchʼs crucial distinction between the closed deposit of public revelation and the subordinate, pastoral role of private revelations.
The unrepeatable fullness of public revelation
A fundamental Catholic doctrine is the conviction that Godʼs self-communication reached its complete fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
As the Second Vatican Councilʼs Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, teaches, after speaking through the prophets, “in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:1-2). Christ is “the mediator and fullness of all revelation,” completing salvation through his words, deeds, death, and resurrection.
Consequently, the council declares that “no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This boundary is firm.
In the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, the council reiterates that the faithful do not accept “a new public revelation as pertaining to the divine deposit of faith.”
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes, and as commentary surrounding the popeʼs visit has noted, the Church has not received a single new revealed truth since the death of the last apostle.
No vision or apparition in history adds a single word to what was handed down through the apostles (Nos. 65-67).
The nature and limits of private revelation
How, then, does the Church view the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes?
The Church categorizes events like Lourdes as “private revelation.”
According to the catechism, private revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church, "do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christʼs definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history” (CCC, No. 67).
Because private revelations do not form part of mandatory doctrine, no Catholic is obliged to believe in the apparitions of Lourdes.
Church approval does not elevate an apparition to the level of dogma. Rather, such revelations remain private, nonbinding, and matters of prudent belief.
Pastoral discernment: Testing the Spirit
To protect the faithful from credulity, the Church approaches claims of apparitions with strict vigilance.
Dei Verbum states that the Churchʼs teaching authority serves the word of God by “guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully” in accordance with its divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Similarly, in Lumen Gentium, the council notes that, regarding extraordinary gifts, “judgment as to their genuineness and proper use belongs to those who are appointed leaders in the Church,” whose task is “to test all things and hold fast to what is good” (No. 12).
This principle guided the Churchʼs evaluation of St. Bernadette Soubirous' reports of apparitions in 1858.
A four-year investigation examined Bernadetteʼs character, psychological state, doctrinal orthodoxy, and the spiritual fruits associated with the apparitions, including conversions and healings. In 1862, the local bishop concluded that the faithful were justified in believing the apparitions to be authentic.
Pointing back to the Gospel
Authentic apparitions never supplant Christ. Rather, they direct believers back to sacred Scripture and the sacraments.
In his homily at Lourdes, Pope Leo XIV observed: “This Sundayʼs readings touch on a central part of the message that the Virgin Mary entrusted to St. Bernadette: the call to conversion, both tender and urgent.”
Maryʼs statements to Bernadette, including “I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the next” and “Penance! Penance! Penance!” echo the central demands of the Gospel, the pope said.
This understanding of Maryʼs role aligns with Lumen Gentium, which teaches that the “maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power” (No. 60).
The council adds that “all the salvific influence of the Blessed Virgin on men originates, not from some inner necessity, but from the divine pleasure” (No. 60).
A signpost to eternal life
When Pope Leo XIV knelt at Massabielle as “a pilgrim among pilgrims,” he demonstrated the Churchʼs authentic approach to private revelation.
Popes do not go to Lourdes to seek new doctrine. Rather, they go to witness, as Pope Leo noted, how “the miracle of Lourdes is that it can awaken the joy of hope in the very midst of suffering and hardship.”
By affirming Lourdes without adding to revelation, the Church ensures that the grotto remains a signpost pointing souls back to the definitive word spoken in Jesus Christ.