President-elect De la Espriella of Colombia visits Catholic shrines to pray for the nation
Colombia president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella announced on June 26 that he has begun visiting various Catholic shrines to entrust the country “to God’s protection.”
On X, de la Espriella described his tour as “a journey of thanksgiving,” calling it “the pilgrimage of hope for the miracle homeland.”
He noted that during the first stage, he visited the shrine of El Morro, where he consecrated his life, his service, and the entire country “to the protection of the Most Holy Virgin Mary.”
De la Espriella said he traveled to La Guajira to visit the cathedral shrine of Our Lady of the Remedies, where he prayed for healthcare workers and the sick, as well as the minor basilica of the Lord of Miracles in Sucre, where he prayed “for Colombia’s security, for peace, for our security forces, and for the protection of every Colombian family.”
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“I concluded this first day at the shrine to St. Peter Claver in Cartagena, giving thanks to God and praying that we never lose sight of the most vulnerable, so that justice, solidarity, and dignity may reach every corner of the nation,” he wrote.
De la Espriella, who won the presidency representing the Defenders of the Homeland party, said he would continue “traveling this path with the conviction that, when a people places its destiny in God’s hands, it always finds hope.”
On the night of June 14, De la Espriella concluded his campaign for the June 20 runoff election in the city of Buga, where during the day he visited the Lord of Miracles shrine.
However, to avoid any political misinterpretation, the Redemptorist missionary community that administers the basilica clarified in a statement that the shrine did not endorse any candidate and that the visit was personal in nature, “motivated by his prayer and devotion, just like that of any other pilgrim or member of the faithful who comes to entrust themselves to the Lord of Miracles.”
De la Espriella, who has said that the death of a loved one from COVID-19 led him to embrace the Catholic faith, has also engaged with Christians of other denominations.
On April 15, he attended a gathering at the Tabernacle of Faith evangelical congregation in Bogotá, where the then-candidate signed the “Commitment to Life and Family” promoted by the United for Life platform.
De la Espriella will be inaugurated president of Colombia on Aug. 7 for the 2026–2030 term, succeeding Gustavo Petro, who will conclude his tenure as the countryʼs first leftist president.
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.
Catholic Church, U.S. government drive relief efforts in Venezuela
Local parishes and Catholic nonprofits have mobilized across Venezuela to support earthquake victims, working alongside the U.S. government as it continues to expand disaster assistance.
Father Edgar Magallanes, SJ, national director of Jesuit Refugee Service Venezuela, told “EWTN News Nightly” on June 29 that the situation in Venezuela is “getting bad,” as efforts are split between “rescue on one side and affected populations on the other side.”
This comes as the State Department announced June 29 that U.S. funding for relief efforts in Venezuela has increased to more than $300 million. The State Department said: “All U.S. humanitarian funding has been directed to a range of trusted international and nongovernmental partners,” including Catholic Relief Services.
Magallanes said ground zero in Venezuela is facing a “difficult situation” as “the number of deceased people generated a smell, a difficult smell, and all people are using masks like the time of COVID-19.”
“People in some areas feel invisible to the government, to the aid efforts,” he said. “But we’re working on it.”
Magallanes said JRS is operating under the emergency protocol established by the Conference of Provincials of Latin America, which includes activating an immediate response team, connecting with first responders, and coordinating aid distribution through centers run by the Society of Jesus in Caracas.
“So, we are caring for our affected collaborators, teachers, and their families, as well as participants of our programs, and we are helping with humanitarian aid,” he said. “We are coordinating efforts as well to assess damages and needs with national and international NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and with the United Nations.”
Victims displaced by the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that occurred in Venezuela on June 24 have also been taking shelter at Catholic churches and parish halls in the nation’s capital as part of support initiatives coordinated by Archbishop Raúl Biord Castillo of Caracas, according to a local missionary, Brother Deiby Fuenmayor, MSC.
Fuenmayor told Agenzia Fides, the Pontifical Mission Societies information service, that “many people are sleeping outdoors, in parks, because their homes are uninhabitable” and that the Church is working to collect nonperishable food items, drinking water, and mattresses for redistribution.
“Even though we are in a working-class neighborhood, people are very generous,” he said.
Supreme Court to review parents’ challenge to law regarding notification of gender transitions
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit from parents who are challenging a Washington state law that prevents youth shelters from immediately notifying parents when minors who run away from home are seeking gender transitions.
Under the law, adopted in 2023, shelters that house runaway youth cannot immediately tell parents when a child is “seeking or receiving” gender transition medical services. It allows the state to refer the child for “behavioral health services” but does not change parental consent laws generally required for hormone therapy or surgeries.
The law directs shelters to notify the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families when housing a runaway child who is seeking gender transition services and “offer services designed to resolve the conflict” between the child and the parents before the parents will be notified and before the department works toward family reunification.
The legal challenge comes from parents whose children exhibit gender dysphoria. Lower courts ruled the parents did not have standing to sue because their children are not currently in a youth shelter, but the Supreme Court has agreed to review that decision.
In the lawsuit, five sets of parents express concern their child may run away and seek gender transition services. The parents argue the law violates their 14th Amendment right to direct the upbringing of their children. The Supreme Court has affirmed this right as protected under the amendment for more than a century.
“This statute allows shelters and homes to keep children at locations without their parents’ knowledge and refer those children for health interventions without their parents’ knowledge or approval,” it states. “It does not require children to be returned on any particular timetable or under any particular conditions.”
It also argues that the law restricts some of the parents’ First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion, including at least one set of parents who are practicing Catholics.
The original lawsuit cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Those plaintiffs … adhere to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church when it teaches, ‘By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity’” (No. 2293).
The parents are joined in the lawsuit by two advocacy groups: International Partners for Ethical Care and Advocates Protecting Children.
A spokesman for International Partners for Ethical Care told EWTN News the organization is “heartened that the Supreme Court will finally hear a case that addresses the rights of all parents to protect their children from harmful medical interventions.”
“We hope this case will not be cast as a religious liberties issue but as a safeguarding issue for parents and children of any or no faith,” the spokesperson said. “Parents should not have to live in fear of the state taking custody of their children if they disagree with a deceptive ideology and dangerous treatments.”
Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, told EWTN News the lower courts found that the families did not show how they were “likely to be injured by the law” and “we will be prepared to successfully defend it at the Supreme Court.”
“This law was passed to give runaway youth and their families access to reunification and behavioral health services,” he said. “The law makes clear that the Department of Children, Youth, and Families must make good faith attempts to contact families with a goal of reunification.”
The law has received opposition from the Washington Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of the state’s three dioceses. It criticized the bill when it was being considered in a 2023 newsletter, saying the social teachings of the Catholic Church affirm “the family is the most central social institution, and it must be supported and strengthened.”
“[This bill] undermines families,” the statement added. “In line with the bishops’ legislative priorities to protect children and families and respect life, the [conference] opposes [the bill].”
San Francisco Archdiocese will pay $395 million to abuse victims, Archbishop Cordileone says
The Archdiocese of San Francisco will offer abuse victims nearly $400 million as part of a broad settlement of the substantial number of sex abuse lawsuits brought against it.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said on June 29 that the proposed $395 million settlement would “resolve all lawsuits related to child sexual abuse” brought against the archdiocese under California’s expanded statute of limitations.
Cordileone said the archdiocese in the past has helped parishes, schools, and other archdiocesan entities absorb the cost of sex-abuse lawsuits, but he said the “current environment” of abuse lawsuits is “much more challenging.”
Schools and parishes “will need to contribute funds” to the settlement both in order to ensure their own legal safeguards and to “share in the work of making amends for the harm of the past,” he said.
The archdiocese announced it was filing for bankruptcy in August 2023 in response to more than 500 civil lawsuits filed against it.
The voluminous lawsuits were brought against the archdiocese under California’s 2019 Assembly Bill 218, which significantly expanded the statute of limitations in the state regarding civil sex abuse lawsuits.
In a separate release, the archdiocese said it would seek to “preserve the vital ministries of Catholic education and parish life” even as it moves to pay out the major nine-figure settlement.
The archdiocese has “no current plans to close schools or parishes to reach the proposed settlement,” it said.
The settlement has yet to be finalized in federal bankruptcy court. The archdiocese said that all litigation involving the lawsuits has been paused while the parties “work in good faith on the details of a consensual Chapter 11 plan of reorganization.”
The settlement represents one of the larger abuse payout amounts in U.S. Catholic history, though a few others have been considerably larger. In October 2024 the Archdiocese of Los Angeles announced an $880 million clergy abuse settlement, while the New York Archdiocese in May said it would pay out $800 million to abuse victims.
Cordileone on June 29 acknowledged that “no financial settlement can erase the painful legacy of these past actions.”
But “we believe this proposal offers a path toward fair compensation for survivors who have carried the burden of this abuse for a lifetime,” he said.
The archdiocese “remain[s] committed to fostering healing and reconciliation and to accompanying all who deserve our unwavering respect, attention, and prayers,” he said.
Procession urges dignity and respect for migrants at border crossing
Catholic bishops, clergy, and hundreds of faithful processed across the U.S.–Mexico border to celebrate the contribution of immigrants in America ahead of the 250th anniversary of the nation.
“Weʼre here as shepherds and as pastors to walk with people, to listen to people, and to be well together with the people of God here at the border,” Bishop James Misko of Tucson, Arizona, said at the event.
“We call ourselves Christians. To be called a Christian means to be like Christ — to be living a life as conformed to Christ as possible. And we know that justice is being in right relationship with God and one another,” Misko said.
Organized by the dioceses of Tucson and Phoenix in partnership with the Kino Border Initiative, the Hope Border Institute, and the Center for Migration Studies, the June 26 event included a conversation on immigration with U.S. Catholic bishops, Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Nogales, Arizona, and a rosary procession across the international line.
The pastoral conversation on migration and human dignity “was a great conversation with five bishops about what the Church holds to be true when it comes to migration and human dignity,” Misko said.
Misko and Bishop John Dolan of Phoenix were joined in conversation by Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas; and Bishop Emeritus Gerald Kicanas of Tucson.
“As we mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are reminded that we are made by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. Theyʼre given by God,” Seitz said at the event.
“That is a fundamental reality that we in the Church always have in mind and that no policy, no executive order or Supreme Court decision can take away,” Seitz said.
After the bishops celebrated Mass, the procession began at the Arizona parish and concluded at Parroquia De Pa Purísima Concepción — a Catholic church in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The group ended the event with a meal with migrants hosted by the Kino Border Initiative.
Mexican bishops José Luis Cerra Luna of Nogales and Enrique Sanchez Martinez of Mexicali also participated in the binational event.
U.S. bishops have ‘almost complete unanimity’ on immigration matter
“What is discouraging for me is that as a country, we have not yet been able to address the issue of immigration,” Kicanas said. “The conference of bishops has been clamoring, crying out, for comprehensive immigration reform, and we have not yet been able to accomplish that.”
“We have to address the immigration policy of our country — as [do] most countries around the world today. Itʼs a serious concern. All of us want this situation to improve,” Kicanas said.
“The bishops have been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform for a long, long time,” and Border Mass 250 “was just one more example of that,” Wester said.
The event followed other calls for reform including pastoral letters on immigration and a special message from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops highlighting their opposition to “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”
The bishops approved the message at their 2025 fall plenary assembly on Nov. 12, 2025, where the motion passed with support from more than 95% of the American bishops who voted.
“One of the key principles of Catholic social teaching is solidarity — that weʼre together,” Wester said. “But this is an issue, Iʼd say, that enjoys almost complete unanimity in the bishops’ conference.”
The bishops are addressing the matter as communities across the country “are looking for a clear moral response to the human cost of mass detention and deportation,” Dylan Corbett, executive director at Hope Border Institute, told EWTN News.
“In union with Pope Leo XIV, who will soon go to Lampedusa, the border Mass in Nogales was a way for the Catholic community to name the suffering, affirm the dignity of those affected by these policies, and commit to working for reform,” said Corbett, who is also a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
“In this moment, moral clarity must be matched by ongoing action that recognizes the contributions of immigrants to our country and the urgent need to work for justice,” he said.
After Catholic priest’s murder, human rights group urges Sudan to address tensions
KHARTOUM, Sudan — Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a U.K.-based human rights organization, has called for concrete steps to diffuse tensions in Sudan after the murder of Father Youhanna Al-Amin, a priest who remained with his people amid growing violence in the Nuba Mountains.
In a report shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on June 25, CSW founder president Mervyn Thomas condemned the June 19 killing of the priest of St. Vincentʼs Kauda Parish in Sudanʼs Catholic Diocese of El Obeid after allegedly reporting the theft of medicines intended for the local population.
“We call on authorities in the area to take concrete steps to diffuse tensions and protect citizens, and once again urge the international community to increase efforts to bring an end to the devastating conflict in Sudan,” Thomas said in the report.
Al-Amin was murdered alongside a parish watchman and another person in Sudanʼs Nuba Mountains, a region long plagued by conflict and instability.
According to a June 20 report by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) quoting local sources, Al-Amin was killed amid escalating tribal tensions and disputes among armed factions operating in the area.
The sources said the killing appears to have been an act of retaliation after Al-Amin reported the theft of medicines that the Church was safeguarding for the benefit of residents.
Kauda serves as the main center of the Nuba Mountains areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).
In recent months, worsening insecurity and clashes involving armed and tribal groups forced some religious personnel to leave the region.
Al-Amin, however, chose to remain. According to those who knew him, he refused to abandon the community he served even as humanitarian conditions deteriorated.
In a region marked by poverty and limited access to essential services, his ministry extended beyond pastoral care. The Church also served as an important source of healthcare assistance and support for vulnerable families.
News of his death sent shockwaves through the Diocese of El Obeid, where the priest had ministered for nearly three decades.
In a condolence message shared with ACN, St. Peter’s Babnusa Parish of the El Obeid Diocese recalled the priest’s long years of service, noting that he ministered in the parish from 1997 until 2021.
The parish, located in Sudan’s West Kordofan province, described a journey that began when Al-Amin arrived as a seminarian before serving as a deacon and eventually parish priest.
“He was a friend of the youth and the children, and he loved his work until the very end,” the parish said in its tribute.
According to the CSW report, tensions broke out in Kauda approximately three months ago when SPLM-N, which is the ruling authority in the city, demarcated land between the Otoro and Shawaya tribes, prompting some members of the former to attack Shawaya villages.
The report says attacks have since extended to the Kawaleeb tribe, to which the commander of the SPLM-N, Izzat Koko, belongs, and CSW sources speculate that this may have been the motive for the killing of Al-Amin, since both the Otoro and Kawaleeb tribes are predominantly Christian.
The CSW report disclosed that there may also be an economic motive arising from shortages of food and medicine among Otoro fighters.
Churches have reportedly been widely used as shelters over the course of the conflict in Sudan, particularly in the Nuba Mountains, from where the majority of Sudanese Christians originate.
Attacks on places of worship and religious leaders have also been widely documented throughout the conflict, and both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces have used places of worship for military purposes.
“Attacks on places of worship should always be condemned but are particularly concerning in a region known for peaceful coexistence between religious and ethnic communities,” Thomas said in the report.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
‘A bit surreal’: American pilgrims join new archbishops in Rome for pallium Mass
During the Mass on June 29 at St. Peter’s Basilica for the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Leo XIV conferred the pallium on the 35 metropolitan archbishops who had been appointed the previous year.
Of these archbishops, four hail from the United States: Archbishops Ronald Hicks of New York, James Golka of Denver, James Checchio of New Orleans, and Mark Rivituso of Mobile, Alabama.
Hundreds of pilgrims were part of delegations accompanying the new archbishops. The pilgrims described the experience as historic, witnessing the first American pope, Leo XIV, bestow the pallium, and expressed their hope that their new shepherds would bring youthful energy to the faithful they now serve.
A ‘surreal’ experience full of emotion
After the pallium Mass, the new archbishops attended a reception at the Pontifical North American College (PNAC), which has trained American seminarians for the priesthood since 1859.
Golka, appointed to Denver in February, described receiving the pallium as a profoundly emotional experience.
“To hear him [Pope Leo] say, ‘Peace be with you’ in English. And then I greeted him back, ‘And with your spirit.’ And then I said, ‘I pray for you every day.’ And he said, ‘Thank you.’ And then I was crying on the way back to my chair,” Golka told EWTN News.
Scott Elmer, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Denver, added: “It’s definitely breathtaking to see so many bishops, priests, laity, and cardinals from all over the world gathering together. Hearing so many languages being spoken, yet all being one in our Catholic faith and worshipping the Lord as one in the holy Mass was really a treat.”
Hicks also described his experience at the Mass and its significance for his archdiocese, following Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s leadership from 2009 to 2025.
“I thought the experience was beautiful, powerful, holy, sacred, and even a bit surreal. Iʼm still pinching myself,” Hicks told EWTN News.
“Iʼve met him before, and when I introduced myself afterward, I just said, ‘Hi, Iʼm Ron Hicks from New York.’ He said, ‘Of course I know.’ [Pope Leo] wants us to be a Church on mission. He wants us to make sure that what Christ himself has asked us to do is done in the spirit of love and in the spirit of charity.”
Laura Moore Brown, an attorney and parishioner at Ascension Parish in Manhattan, added: “I think whatʼs really exciting is that there is such a new surge of youth, meaning people in their 20s and 30s coming back to Mass, getting involved. I think the youthfulness of Archbishop Hicks will be a draw, and his relatability to that age group will increase enthusiasm and participation in the Church.”
Receiving the pallium from an American pope
Pilgrims also reflected on the historic nature of the pallium Mass, presided over by Leo XIV, the first American pope.
Checchio, who served as rector of the PNAC from 2005 to 2016, organized receptions for new U.S. archbishops during his tenure. To be on the receiving end, he said, was surreal.
“I had been, as you know, rector here for 12 and a half years, so I have attended many pallium services and hosted many archbishops from across our country for receptions here afterward,” Checchio told EWTN News. “But coming to receive it myself was a bit surreal. Receiving it from Pope Leo — an American pope — was even more so.”
Checchio also commented on the difference in approach between Leo and his predecessor, Pope Francis, regarding the bestowal of the pallium. During the later part of Francis’ papacy, he did not place the pallium on the shoulders of the new archbishops, opting instead to bless the pallium and have the apostolic nuncios place it on them.
Checchio said he was grateful for the change.
“I am grateful for it. It’s a beautiful opportunity to make an oath of fidelity to him in his presence, as we shepherd our people in his name.”
Raechelle Munna, a parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in New Orleans, shared about the pilgrimage: “I knew that when I was invited to go on this pilgrimage, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I needed to be part of. We are still hoping for Pope Leo to visit us in New Orleans!”
Hopes for the future
A few of the pilgrims expressed their hopes for the new archbishops, none of whom have yet served a full year in their new dioceses.
Shannon Roh, the executive director of stewardship and development for the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, characterized the new archbishop, Rivituso, as a servant leader.
“I would say that, as a leader, he really comes across as a servant leader from the very beginning,” Roh told EWTN News. “He leads by example and gets right in there to help and be part of the solution. Whether it’s packing bags at a school or whatever, he wants to be part of it. He’s definitely a servant leader, kind, compassionate, with a big heart.”
Glynn Stephens Jr., minister for hospitality at the Cathedral of St. Louis in New Orleans, expressed hope that Checchio would successfully lead his new diocese through a challenging financial period.
“Weʼre looking forward to his leadership, his skills. He comes with open arms. We have a lot of healing to do throughout our country, and he is definitely the man who I think can bring it to the city of New Orleans.”
Filipino cardinal: Catholics should be agents of change, not ‘keyboard warriors’
Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila, Philippines, exhorted Catholics to go beyond social media criticism of society and be more active in bringing about change in real life.
“It is very easy to complain and criticize. It is very easy to be a keyboard warrior on social media. It is very easy to say that there are many things wrong in society, in the family, in the Church, or in the world,” the cardinal said during a homily at Quiapo Church on June 24, according to local reports. “But only a few are willing to initiate change.”
New papal nuncio welcomed in Syria
At a Mass in Damascus, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Youssef Absi welcomed Syria’s new papal nuncio Archbishop Luigi Roberto Cona, with the leader describing papal diplomats as "messengers of justice, reconciliation, human dignity, hope, and care for the vulnerable,” ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported June 22.
In his own remarks, Cona emphasized Pope Leo XIV’s call for peace rooted in justice, love, dialogue, diplomacy, and forgiveness, warning that the desire for justice must not turn into revenge.
The nuncio went on to say that the country’s wounds must be healed "through mercy, forgiveness, and a renewed spirit of unity” and stressed that Syrians themselves hold the future of their nation in their hands.
Cona called on them to "see one another not as enemies but as partners and brothers.” He said the Holy See is ready to contribute to every effort that helps bring about "the birth of a new Syria, built on truth, practical solutions, equal dignity, and shared citizenship."
Scottish diocese warns monks against consecrating their own bishop
The Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen in Scotland has spoken out against plans by the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer to consecrate their superior general, Father Michael Mary, FSsR, without Pope Leo XIV’s approval.
“This ordination would be celebrated without a papal mandate, by a group of bishops who deny that Our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV is actually the pope,” Aberdeen Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB, said in a June 18 statement.
“Since this consecration is due to take place within the geographical boundaries of the Diocese of Aberdeen, I am obliged to make clear to the faithful of the diocese that any such episcopal ordination would be unlawful and a grave act of disobedience, separating those taking part from communion with the Catholic Church,” he said.
“No member of the faithful should attend. This action is not ‘for the good of the Catholic Church’ as is falsely claimed.”
Iraqi Christians pray novena for beatification of martyred priests
The Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul concluded its novena for the beatification of Father Yousif Zakaria and Father Behnam Mikho, who were martyred in 1915, on June 28.
Bishop Benedictos Younan Hanno of Mosul invited the faithful on June 19 to join in praying the novena. The nine days of prayer began during a solemn ceremony in Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian town, in which the bishop transferred the priests’ remains from the Dominican Sisters’ convent to the Great Tahira Cathedral, ACI MENA reported.
Preaching at the service, Hanno urged the faithful to “take an active part in these prayers,” renewing their fidelity to the faith, their attachment to the Church, and their gratitude for the witness of the two priests, who served the archdiocese with sincerity and remained steadfast in their Christian faith until martyrdom.
Myanmar religious sister sentenced to 8 months in jail
A military tribunal in Myanmar has sentenced a religious sister to eight months in jail after being detained while obtaining medicines for poor patients.
Sister Benedetta Nya Moe, a member of the Institute of Sisters of Reparation, was sentenced under Section 505(a) of the country’s penal code, according to a UCA News report on Friday.
Nya Moe has been transferred to Loikaw Prison, a large prison facility in the capital of Karenni state that is notorious for malnutrition among its detainees.
“From what we have learned, she crossed paths with a military column and was arrested while transporting a displaced patient to a hospital in Loikaw,” a local religious sister told UCA News.
Nya Moe was detained June 10 after soldiers searched her phones and found records of donations and news about the ongoing conflict, according to the report.
Quebec abuse victims reach $31 million settlement with archdiocese
The Archdiocese of Quebec in Canada, two seminaries, and an insurance agency will jointly pay victims of clergy sexual abuse $31 million.
The archdiocese, along with the Seminary of Quebec, the Collège François-de-Laval, and the Mutual Insurance of Quebec Factories, reached the agreement with representatives of 150 victims on June 18, according to a Catholic Register report on Tuesday.
Once the agreement gains final approval from the Superior Court on July 30, the archdiocese and its cosigners will have 45 days to send the full amount to the firm that represents the victims. Those who receive compensation will receive an apology letter by Auxiliary Bishop Jean Tailleur, who signed the agreement on behalf of the archdiocese.
Irish lawmakers vote to remove 3-day wait for abortion
Politicians in Ireland have voted in favor of removing the three-day mandatory wait for an abortion.
The 86-70 vote in the Dáil (Irish Parliament) on the bill from the opposition party Sinn Féin was carried having received the support of the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) and Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister), who both voted in favor of the measure.
A similar bill in May proposed by the Social Democrats was defeated by 85 votes to 30, with 36 abstentions. These bills are a free vote as abortion is considered a conscience issue.
The bill is now expected to go before the health committee for further scrutiny.
Religious leaders in Italy sign pact to promote dialogue and coexistence
Representatives of Italyʼs major religions signed a pact in Rome last week aimed at consolidating an initiative known as “The Italian Path of Dialogue: Religions in the Public Sphere and for Social Cohesion.”
The document was signed June 25 by Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Bahaʼi, Orthodox, and evangelical leaders, including the Italian Bishops’ Conference, the Assembly of Rabbis of Italy, and various Islamic and Buddhist organizations.
Following the signing, representatives of the various faiths were received at the Quirinal Palace by the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to whom they presented a copy of the pact.
The document seeks to recognize religious freedom and share “the value and complexity of being believers and practitioners of different faiths in a postmodern, secularized, multicultural, and multireligious society, one wounded by conflicts and extremism, including those of a pseudo-religious nature,” the text states.
According to the Italian Bishops’ Conference, this agreement is the result of several years of meetings and collaborative work. Leaders from different religions have been meeting since 2023 to reflect on communion and peace.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, emphasized his desire to “reflect openly on shared values in order to build a civil community that, even amid diversity, recognizes the sense of a shared commitment to a more just, welcoming, and inclusive society.”
The pact proposes nine commitments and lines of action to strengthen harmonious coexistence. Notable among these are the promotion of the equality of all religions before the state through constructive dialogue, the fostering of a culture of peace based on justice and compassion, the defense of the common good, and mutual respect and collaboration among the various religious communities.
Furthermore, the document aims to address the rise of polarization, extremism, and the instrumentalization of religion to justify hatred and conflict, and to “offer a serious and proven contribution to a society overly exposed to polarization and extremism, which drive people to view the other person who is different due to their faith or culture as an enemy.”
For its promoters, the pact represents a joint response to social challenges and the complex current geopolitical context, championing interfaith dialogue as a tool to strengthen social cohesion, foster harmonious coexistence, and promote a culture of peace in the service of the common good.
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.
Catholic peace group to honor victims of nuclear weapons with lantern ceremonies
A Catholic group is honoring victims of nuclear weapons by helping to organize lantern floating ceremonies throughout the world.
Pax Christi International, a Catholic peace movement, is working with the Hiroshima Coventry Club (Touro Project) to organize the “Lanterns for Peace: from Hiroshima to the World” campaign around the world.
“Inspired by the lantern ceremonies held each year in Hiroshima, the campaign invites communities around the world to organize local commemorative events using traditional lanterns as symbols of remembrance, peace, hope, and nuclear disarmament,” the Lanterns for Peace June 15 announcement read.
The lantern ceremonies will mark the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9 in 1945.
“In an increasingly fragile world, where the nuclear threat has once again become a tangible reality, this commemoration is not only a moment of mourning, but a genuine call to conscience,” the statement continued.
The lanterns represent remembrance for lives lost, “hope for reconciliation and peace,” and “a collective commitment to abolish nuclear weapons,” according to the statement.
Lanterns for Peace is working with local groups to honor the anniversaries.
“Each participating city or community is encouraged to adapt the ceremony to its own local context while remaining united through shared symbols, messages, and commitments,” according to a booklet the group issued.
The booklet contains more details about the event along with instructions on how to build a lantern.
Each event includes a lantern floating ceremony, where safe and permitted, a moment of silence or prayer, and the reading of survivors’ testimonies.