U.S. bishops’ report shows slight rise in abuse claims as settlement amounts surge 69%
Abuse allegations rose slightly in 2025 but remained far below 2021 levels, while settlement amounts paid during 2025 increased by 69% over the previous year, according to the U.S. bishops’ annual report.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released the 2025 report with findings from an audit on sexual abuse allegations in the Church.
According to the report, in 2025 the Church conducted about 2.3 million background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers. There were about 2.3 million adults and 2.8 million children and youth trained how to identify the warning signs of abuse and report those signs.
The report "stands as evidence that the Church not only continues to prevent child sexual abuse and reconcile with past victims but also ensures that audits serve as effective tools for accountability and prevention,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the USCCB, said in the report.
“By the end of 2025, 100% of the 196 dioceses and eparchies had participated in at least one on-site audit, marking a historic milestone — the first time since the Charter’s inception that full participation has been achieved,” Coakley wrote.
The report, "Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," is the 23rd since the U.S. bishops adopted the charter in 2002 to address clergy sexual abuse of minors and establish nationwide safeguarding protocols.
Settlement amounts increase
An increase in the settlement amounts paid during 2025, which increased by 69%, accounted for the rise in costs related to allegations, the report said.
Dioceses and eparchies that responded to the survey and reported costs related to abuse allegations paid about $389.9 million between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, including payouts for allegations from previous years. Total costs for 2025 were 61% higher than $242.8 million recorded in 2024, the report said. Costs also included therapy, attorneys’ fees, and other allegation‑related expenses.
Report notes slight differences in numbers, demographics from 2024
The 2025 report covers July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. During that period, 1,070 allegations were reported by 973 victims of child sexual abuse involving alleged clergy offenders across 194 Catholic dioceses and eparchies.
The 2025 report showed 168 more allegations than in the previous audit year. In 2024, the report noted a drop of 406 allegations from the year before.
The allegations involve reports of abuse between an alleged victim and an alleged offender, whether the abuse occurred once or over a period of time. The abuse was alleged to have occurred primarily from the 1950s to the present.
Compared with fiscal 2024, slightly more victims who reported abuse are male. In 2025, 87% of abuse victims were male, compared with 84% in 2024.
The 2025 numbers differ from 2024 in regard to the victims’ ages when the abuse first began. There was a 7 percentage point increase in the number of victims who were 9 or younger and a 10 percentage point decrease in the victims who were between the ages of 10 and 14.
In 2025, 27% of victims reported abuse started when they were 9 or younger; 50% were between 10 and 14; 20% were between 15 to 17; and for 20% the age is unknown.
Allegations that were received as a result of lawsuits, compensation programs, and bankruptcies make up about 60% of the 2025 allegations.
Out of the 1,070 allegations, 231 allegations were made by self-disclosure while the rest were made by someone else on behalf of the victims and survivors.
The report found that 727 allegations were brought to the attention of the diocesan or eparchial representatives through an attorney, and 112 were made by spouses, relatives, or other representatives such as other dioceses or eparchies, religious orders, clergy members, or law enforcement officials.
The number of clerics accused of sexual abuse of a minor during the audit period totaled 837.
Accused clergy members were classified as priests, deacons, unknown, or other. “Unknown” refers to cases where the victim could not identify the accused, while “other” refers to clergy from another diocese whose ordination and incardination details were unavailable.
Accused priests of the audit period totaled 704. Of this total, 552 were diocesan priests, 120 belonged to a religious order, and 32 were incardinated elsewhere. There were 14 deacons accused, 12 of whom were diocesan deacons and two were religious order deacons.
The report was comprised of the independent audit by StoneBridge Business Partners, the progress report from the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, and the survey of allegations and costs from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
Moving forward, the report noted that the USCCB’s Board and Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People will meet every year to review and make recommendations on the matter.
As the bishops recognize “that parishes and schools are on the front lines of any diocese’s or eparchy’s Charter compliance efforts,” the bishops also “strongly recommend that dioceses/eparchies conduct regular audits of their parishes and schools.”
“I hope and pray that, through collective efforts, we remain vigilant and committed to the work needed to prevent the evil of child sexual abuse — not only in the Church but in society. May our ‘Promise to Protect and Pledge to Heal’ reach all God’s children,” Coakley wrote.
Pro-life groups warn that Mexican Supreme Court seeks to legalize abortion across the nation
Pro-life organizations in Mexico are warning that a draft ruling set to be debated by a full session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN, by its Spanish acronym) seeks to move toward the “total decriminalization” of abortion.
According to these groups, such a move would eliminate legal protections for the unborn in Mexico and open the door to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
On May 28, the SCJN is scheduled to debate the draft ruling regarding Constitutional Challenge 172/2024, authored by Supreme Court Justice-Rapporteur Irving Espinosa Betanzo.
The proposal posits that “removing abortion from penal codes is fundamental to precluding criminal proceedings and eradicating both social criminalization and that which occurs within healthcare services.”
The constitutional challenge, filed in 2024 by the federal executive branch and the National Human Rights Commission, seeks to invalidate articles of the Aguascalientes State Law for the Protection of Life, which establishes that “from the moment an individual is conceived, he/she falls under the protection of the present law.”
The challenge also seeks to invalidate articles of the penal code of the state of Aguascalientes, which reduce the time frame for abortion on demand from 12 to six weeks of gestation.
Citing the feminist nongovernmental organization Group for Information on Elective Reproduction (GIRE, by its Spanish acronym), which promotes the abortion agenda in Mexico, the draft ruling states that “the only way to eliminate criminalization is through total decriminalization, whereby abortion would be regulated solely within the realm of public health.”
GIRE is regarded by the U.S. abortion provider Planned Parenthood as one of its “allies and partners,” which “we are proud to stand with ... for sexual and reproductive health and rights,” it said.
According to the proposal presented by Espinosa, “achieving the full decriminalization of abortion in Mexico would be a historic milestone that marks a turning point in the fight for reproductive justice.”
In a May 27 interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Uriel Esqueda, leader of campaigns for the Actívate (Get Active) platform, noted that “what this Aguascalientes case seeks to do is completely strip away even the slightest protection for the human being in the womb,” thereby setting a “precedent” that would subsequently be replicated in other states to liberalize access to abortion.
“At the end of the day, by repealing the criminalization of abortion, you open the door to allowing abortion at any stage of pregnancy,” he pointed out.
The pro-life organization Red Familia (Family Network) warned that the constitutional challenge would “increasingly narrow the scope of legislative discretion available to the states."
"Although it does not formally establish a single time limit for abortion across Mexico," the group said, "it’s a push toward a uniform national model constructed upon judicial criteria rather than democratic deliberation [going through the legislative process]; in doing so, it risks a direct confrontation with governors and legislators.”
“We are deeply concerned that this draft ruling not only invalidates in a practically comprehensive manner the regulations democratically approved by the Aguascalientes Congress but also moves toward a logic of structural decriminalization of abortion in Mexico by maintaining that the very use of criminal law to protect life in gestation would be contrary to the democratic rule of law,” said Laura Hernández, director of public affairs for Red Familia, in a press release to ACI Prensa.
Rodrigo Iván Cortes, president of the National Front for the Family, stated in a video message that “the Supreme Court intends to commit a supreme injustice this week, as they plan to vote on a proposal to remove the crime of abortion [from the statutes of] Aguascalientes,” thereby permitting the practice throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy and doing so “with repercussions that could extend across the entire republic.”
“Mexico does not need more death; we have enough already with the hundreds of thousands of people murdered by organized crime, without the Supreme Court now seeking to legalize the death of the most innocent [human beings],” he stated.
‘Activist judges’
Esqueda charged that “today, in the [Supreme] Court, we do not have impartial judges; we have activists who answer to ideological agendas and minority interest groups.”
He further criticized the Supreme Court justices, stating that “today, they feel they’re legislators and that they’re above the states.”
Following judicial reform in 2024, justices of the SCJN are elected by popular vote. The current members took office on Sept. 1, 2025, and will serve terms ranging from eight to 11 years.
The leader of campaigns for Actívate lamented that, although the change in the court’s composition came with promises to “protect Mexicans,” the justices could this Thursday leave “the human being in the mother’s womb without any form of protection. So these Mexicans are second-class citizens? They don’t matter?”
Esqueda urged people to join the campaign launched by Actívate, which has gathered more than 2,400 signatures demanding that the justices not approve the draft ruling proposed by Espinosa, and encouraging Mexicans “not to remain indifferent.”
“Today, a group of justices feel they own the country, and we cannot allow that,” he stated.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
PHOTOS: National Eucharistic Pilgrimage processes through historic Savannah, Georgia
After beginning their trek on Sunday, May 24, in St. Augustine, Florida, pilgrims participating in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage spent four days in Georgia.
Founded in 1874 by Benedictine missionaries to serve Savannah’s African American Catholic community, Our Lady of Good Hope served as the starting point for the approximately one-mile Eucharistic procession through rain-soaked streets beneath Spanish moss and along Savannah marshlands before arriving at Villa Marie Center, established in 1967 as a Catholic summer camp for children in largely Protestant Savannah.
The procession on Tuesday included clergy, Knights of Columbus members, families, and pilgrims carrying the Blessed Sacrament beneath a canopy despite heavy rain that later cleared during the route.
The next day, May 27, pilgrims processed with the Eucharist through historic downtown Savannah from Forsyth Park to the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist. The procession passed notable Savannah landmarks including Forsyth Park and the Confederate Memorial before arriving at the cathedral for prayer and worship.
On May 28, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage makes it way to Charleston, South Carolina, where it will remain until departing for Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, May 31. After that it will continue to make its way up the northeast corridor of the United States.
Washington Nationals executive implies team discriminates against Catholic pitcher in secret video
A controversial video posted on social media this week appears to show a Washington Nationals executive claiming that the team discriminates against Catholic pitcher Trevor Williams due to his having been outspoken about his faith.
The video, posted to X by “guerrilla journalist” James OʼKeefe, apparently shows Sean Hudson, the director of community relations for the Nationals, claiming that the baseball team “[doesnʼt] use” Williams in certain team activities due to his having criticized an LGBT group that mocks Catholic religious imagery.
Williams spoke out in 2023 against the Los Angeles Dodgers' decision to honor the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” with a “Community Hero Award.” Members of the group of drag performers dress up in attire resembling Catholic nuns and engage in sexualized performances.
The group also uses imagery of Jesus and the Blessed Mother in its performances. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has referred to the displays as "blasphemy."
The recent OʼKeefe video, posted to X on May 26, features a man identified as Hudson describing Williams as a “super Catholic” and referencing his criticism of the drag group.
“Because of that, [the team doesnʼt] use him on social [media],” Hudson claims in the video.
In a statement to EWTN News on May 28, the team said it was “aware of comments made by an employee which were recorded without the employee’s knowledge and disseminated without his permission.”
“The statements are not only factually incorrect, but do not reflect the views, opinions, or actions of the Washington Nationals,” the team said.
“The Nationals are dedicated to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for our players, fans, and staff, and we vehemently deny any allegations to the contrary,” the statement added.
Hudsonʼs LinkedIn page, meanwhile, appeared to have been taken down as of May 28.
Allegations prompt filing from Catholic group
The video prompted a federal filing from the Catholic advocacy group CatholicVote, which announced on May 27 that it had sent a formal letter of complaint to Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justiceʼs civil rights division.
CatholicVote CEO Kelsey Reinhardt claimed the video showed a “direct admission that a Catholic player may have been excluded from official team promotion because he publicly defended his faith.”
“Catholics are not asking for special treatment. We are demanding equal treatment under the law,” she said. CatholicVote said it asked the Department of Justice to investigate the team for the alleged discrimination.
The organization said it also sent a letter to the Nationals demanding a detailed breakdown of the teamʼs policies regarding its treatment of religious players and how it plans to respond to the controversy.
Williams told “EWTN News in Depth” in 2023 that his criticism of the Dodgers “had to be said.”
“We cannot stand idly by while Our Lord gets mocked," he said at the time.
Several weeks after the controversy involving the drag group, Williams invited women from religious orders to a “Ladies Night” being held at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
“If we’re going to have a ‘Ladies Night’ at the stadium, what better opportunity to bring our religious sisters out to the game?” Williams said in an interview with the Arlington Catholic Herald.
Former Russian Orthodox ‘foreign minister’ freed after Czech drug probe
Czech police arrested Metropolitan Hilarion, a prominent clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church, on suspicion of drug possession during a vehicle stop on May 24. Officers acted “on anonymous information” about the alleged “transportation of narcotics and psychotropic substances.”
A few grams of an unidentified substance were found in the vehicle, though the discovery “does not answer the central question: how the items ended up in the vehicle,” Hilarion said, denying “any involvement in the illegal possession or transportation of prohibited substances.”
He was released May 26 after protests from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called the detention a “deliberate, orchestrated provocation” and summoned a Czech diplomat in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church likewise defended him, saying the incident “looks like a classic farce” since drug smuggling is often used by “unscrupulous police officers around the world.”
No charges have been brought, and Hilarion is free without restrictions while the investigation continues, according to a statement on his Telegram account. His team also called the arrest “a provocation,” claiming he had received anonymous death threats demanding he leave the country.
Who is Hilarion?
Metropolitan Hilarion, whose secular name is Grigory Alfeyev, headed the Moscow Patriarchateʼs Department for External Church Relations from 2009 to 2022, a role often described as the Russian Orthodox Churchʼs “foreign minister.” He was widely regarded as a close ally of Patriarch Kirill and a possible successor.
In June 2022, he was removed from the post and appointed to the Budapest diocese, a move widely interpreted as a demotion. During Pope Francis' apostolic trip to Budapest in April 2023, the two held a private meeting at the apostolic nunciature.
In July 2024, Hilarion was accused of sexual harassment by George Suzuki, a former personal attendant. Hilarion denied the allegations. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church subsequently declared “the inconsistency of the nature of his relations with his immediate environment and his life with the image of a monk and clergyman” and removed him from the Budapest diocese on Dec. 27, 2024. He has since been serving at the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary, a spa town in western Czech Republic.
Rising tensions over the Russian Orthodox Church in Czech Republic
Sergei Chapnin, a Russian church affairs scholar at Fordham University and former employee of the Moscow Patriarchate, offered two possible explanations for the incident. First, Hilarion may serve “as a high-level courier” who “moves sensitive documents and other items around Western Europe” since “Russian diplomats are closely monitored and constrained in their movements.” Second, Hilarion was operating “inside a very rough political and ecclesiastical game ... over assets and influence” involving local Orthodox communities.
The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul was recently registered under the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary to prevent Czech authorities from freezing Russian assets. Patriarch Kirill, the churchʼs head, is personally listed on the Czech national sanctions list for his support of Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine.
Concerns about the churchʼs role in Czech Republic have been escalating. The Czech security agencyʼs annual report said the Russian Orthodox Churchʼs local representatives are loyal to the Moscow leadership and their “support for the Russian official line is evident.”
A study titled “Security Risks of the Orthodox Church,” published by the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2025, called for systematic monitoring of the Russian Orthodox Church in the country. The authors recommended investigating “activities with regard to the danger of money laundering, purposeful export of funds and property, smuggling of goods and people, passing information to the enemy, for example the Russian side, [and] influencing the opinions of Czech society through social networks.”
The study also noted that the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Karlovy Vary allegedly hosted meetings involving Russian military intelligence (GRU) officials.
In a related case, a Prague court recently convicted former Orthodox abbess Taťána Hanhur for the unauthorized transfer of a monastery and property worth 73 million Czech crowns (approximately $3.2 million). The property had belonged to the autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.
Leo XIV: Don’t water down Christianity
Pope Leo XIV warned Thursday against the temptation to make Christianity more attractive by diluting its content or softening its demands, telling Vatican evangelization officials that the faith is transmitted above all through credible Christian witness.
“It is certainly not by watering down the content or softening the demands that Christianity can be made attractive but by bearing witness with humility and courage to ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ that has converted and sanctified so many people,” the pope said May 28.
The pope made the remarks during a meeting in the Consistory Hall with members of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for Fundamental Questions Regarding Evangelization in the World at the conclusion of its plenary assembly.
According to the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, the section is responsible for studying fundamental questions of evangelization and promoting an effective proclamation of the Gospel, identifying appropriate forms, tools, and language.
Leo said the crisis of faith, especially in the West, has contributed to “widespread religious indifference.”
“To many, faith no longer appears relevant to their lives,” he said. “The underlying danger, the gravity of which is not always perceived, is that the very essence of what is most human — namely, the search for meaning — may be lost. The great existential questions remain unanswered, whilst a technological culture that is supposed to meet every need is spreading.”
The pope said that even in such a context, “the encounter with Christ is able to restore full meaning and value to people’s lives,” adding that the Church’s missionary mandate remains urgent.
“No one can take her place in this mission, which is as urgent as it is necessary to ensure a reliable foundation for the future of humanity, so that it may be a future of peace, justice, freedom, and fraternity,” he said.
Leo also pointed to the continuing relevance of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which he said “continues to be a significant point of reference.”
He invited the dicastery to revisit the document in its work “to promote a mission that is ‘Christ-centered and kerygmatic … born of an encounter with Christ that is capable of transforming lives.’”
The pope said the Church should pay close attention to a growing demand for spirituality, especially among young people, something he said was “clearly evident during the Youth Jubilee.”
“The new generation is not closed to the Gospel; on the contrary, many, when they rediscover it, wish to know it better, because they sense that within it lies the secret to being truly happy,” he said.
At the same time, Leo said evangelization must confront changed conditions in the transmission of the faith from one generation to the next.
“In some parts of the world, this transmission has all but ceased, and this requires the ability to take on new challenges,” he said.
The result, he continued, is “a spiritual ‘poverty’ among the younger generations, a lack of motivation and of the means to develop, in full freedom, that commitment to the faith which gives meaning to life.”
The pope said the cultural climate of “media-saturated and consumerist societies” weakens the ability to pursue truth with patience, perseverance, and critical judgment.
“Every message risks being perceived as just one opinion among many,” he said.
In response, he stressed that transmitting the faith “necessarily involves encountering people and communities who express the joy of the Christian faith and the coherence of a Gospel-inspired way of life.”
Quoting Benedict XVI, Leo said: “What we need at this moment in history are men who, through an enlightened and lived faith, make God credible in this world.”
“We need people who keep their gaze fixed on God, learning true humanity from him,” the pope continued, quoting Benedict. “We need people whose intellect is enlightened by the light of God and whose hearts God opens, so that their intellect may speak to the intellect of others and their hearts may open the hearts of others. Only through men who are touched by God can God return to men.”
Leo also thanked the dicastery for its work during last year’s jubilee, which he said brought more than 33 million pilgrims to Rome.
“The world thirsts for hope more than ever,” he said. “It longs to live in peace and in the certainty that the commitment to building a city worthy of God’s children is not only possible but real, because it is imbued with a hope that offers true, not illusory, objectives.”
The pope said evangelization must remain “the fundamental motivation behind every action of the universal Church and of local communities.”
“The proclamation of the Gospel, which instils hope, is not a utopian proposal: It is a witness that draws people in because it reveals the call to love and truth,” he said.
Leo concluded by emphasizing the importance of catechesis, which he said “plays a decisive role in the life of the Church through its commitment to formation and the transmission of the faith.”
He called for special attention to catechumens, “who are requesting baptism in ever-increasing numbers,” and said Christian communities must accompany them beyond the celebration of the sacrament.
“Similar care must be accorded to the boys and girls who receive the sacrament of confirmation,” he said. “I encourage the many initiatives that accompany them as they continue on their journey of faith for their human and Christian growth.”
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.
5 killed, several abducted in fresh attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria
KADUNA, Nigeria — The Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna in Nigeria has condemned a fresh wave of terrorist attacks on Christian communities under the pastoral care of Sts. Peter and Paul Kurmin Parish located in Dangana District of Kaduna state, following deadly raids that left at least five people dead, several others injured, and many abducted.
In a letter published May 24 addressed to the secretary-general of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, the chancellor of the Nigerian metropolitan see detailed “incessant terrorist attacks” targeting parish outstations in Kagarko Local Government Area.
According to Father Christian Okewu Emmanuel, the latest attack occurred on May 21 in the outstation of Kurmin Bongo.
“The terrorist struck between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., during heavy rainfall. In spite of the efforts of the vigilante group, five persons were killed, while 10 others were abducted, out of which two were rescued through the efforts of the vigilante group,” the priest said in the letter dated May 22.
He explained that the attack on the Kurmin Bongo outstation was the latest in a series of assaults on Catholic communities in the area.
“Earlier, two other attacks had taken place in the outstations of Kasaru-B on March 2 and Sabon Gari on May 1. During the attack on Kasaru-B, one person was shot dead, another sustained several gunshot injuries, while eight others, including the Mai Wa’azi, were abducted. Although they later regained their freedom, two of them were killed in the terrorists’ den,” Emmanuel recounted.
The attack on Sabon Gari came barely two weeks after the release of the Kasaru-B victims.
According to the chancellor, “two persons sustained gunshot injuries, while 10 others were abducted,” with one of the abductees later killed while still being held captive.
He condemned what he described as “incessant attacks” on the affected communities and appealed to government authorities and security agencies to strengthen protection for vulnerable populations.
“The archdiocese condemns these incessant attacks in the strongest terms and calls on government and the security agencies to intensify efforts towards the protection of lives and properties of such besieged areas,” Emmanuel said.
He went on to note that repeated violence has deepened fear and instability among residents.
“Needless to say, these repeated attacks have displaced affected persons and thrown the communities into untold sorrows, fears, and uncertainty,” the chancellor added.
Nigeria has continued to experience widespread insecurity marked by kidnappings, armed attacks, and killings carried out by criminal gangs and insurgent groups.
Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency has remained a major security challenge in the West African nation. In several parts of the country, violence has also been linked to armed Fulani herdsmen, also referred to as the Fulani Militia.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Antoni Gaudí: A model of holiness and dialogue for Spain
On June 9, as part of his apostolic journey to Spain, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Barcelona. There, he will inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família and celebrate a Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of its first architect and designer, Antoni Gaudí.
Interest in Gaudí, whom Pope Francis proclaimed venerable in 2025, has grown recently alongside rumors of an imminent beatification.
Ahead of Leo’s visit to Barcelona, two experts commented on Gaudíʼs legacy, which is not widely recognized beyond his architecture.
Gaudí’s Sagrada Família: Representative of his vision?
One hundred forty-four years after construction began, Sagrada Família continues to spark debate. Gaudí saw only about 10% of the original project completed. This raises a key question for architecture, heritage conservation, and contemporary art history: To what extent does what is being built today remain faithful to the original project envisioned by “Godʼs Architect”?
“Our obligation is to continue with the construction of Sagrada Família, faithfully following Gaudíʼs project,” affirmed Jordi Faulí, the seventh architect of the church after Gaudí, in an interview with EWTN News.
While other buildings were completed after their creators' deaths, such as Le Corbusierʼs Saint-Pierre de Firminy church in France, Gaudí’s situation is unique: he knew he would not live to see the work finished. For this reason, he devoted enormous effort to leaving a comprehensive roadmap for the future.
Faulí, who has directed the works since 2012, asserted that Gaudí left a conceptual and technical legacy solid enough to guarantee the basilicaʼs continuity.
“Consider that Gaudí spent his last 12 or 14 years working exclusively on Sagrada Família, living poorly, thinking about the future, with hope and faith in the future,” Faulí recounted. To ensure his vision survived him, the architect left behind a comprehensive theological-symbolic plan, detailed drawings, and large-scale models — including a massive 16.4-foot-high projection of the main nave.
More than an architectural project, Sagrada Família is, in Faulíʼs words, a catechesis sculpted in stone.
“He wanted to move people, to inspire them by seeing the facades, entering the interior, and seeing these treelike structures that rise upward into the space for the Eucharistic celebration, and for all this beauty to reach everyoneʼs heart so they would think about their lives, think about the life of Christ and their own lives, and that this would lead them to feel loved, welcomed, and ready to love others,” he stated.
Gaudí: A model of dialogue amid deep divisions in Spain
Gaudí’s life and example of holiness have been highlighted in the run-up to Leo’s trip to Barcelona. Father Reniel Ramírez Herrera, who has served as postulator of Gaudí’s canonization cause since 2025, told EWTN News that although an imminent beatification for Gaudí is unlikely, it is impossible to understand him without faith.
“Surely the figure of Gaudí is incomprehensible without a vision of faith,” Ramírez said to EWTN News. “Gaudí himself, during his architectural studies, did not conceive of architecture or even art in a broad sense without a vision of faith. Therefore, the transcendental element — and undoubtedly the element of holiness — is fundamental. And it is certainly a surprise for anyone who discovers, through small details, that the life of Gaudí is incomprehensible without a vision of faith; his genius cannot be understood except through faith.”
Gaudíʼs example has earned him praise from Catholic leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI. During his 2010 apostolic journey to Spain, when he consecrated Sagrada Família, he described Gaudí as “a brilliant architect and devout Christian, whose faith burned brightly.”
Discussing the likely impact of the pope’s trip to Spain, Ramírez expressed hope that the visit would foster dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Spanish state, particularly given Spain’s history of anticlericalism.
Gaudí lived through the intense violence against Catholic clergy in 1909, during the so-called Tragic Week, while still overseeing the construction of Sagrada Família. Ramírez expressed hope that renewed interest in Gaudí’s life and the pope’s visit would help heal the deep divisions that persist between Spain and the Church.
“Certainly, the context is marked by deep divisions and elements of an ideological nature. And yet the popeʼs visit brings hope,” Ramírez said.
“Gaudí was convinced that Sagrada Família was a kind of courtyard of the gentiles (a place of dialogue between Christians and nonbelievers), in which even an unbeliever could not only raise their gaze but also open their heart toward the transcendent. This spirit of dialogue with which Gaudí lived his mission will certainly mark the popeʼs visit and will accompany the moments when the pope will encounter a society and culture in which Gaudí deeply rooted his faith.”
Salesian sisters go viral after attending San Antonio Spurs playoff game
Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco have drawn national attention as “diehard” San Antonio Spurs fans after a group of sisters attended a recent NBA playoff game.
The sisters went viral on social media following the Texas teamʼs May 24 home-court matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The superfans wore Spurs jerseys, cheered on the team, and prayed over Catholic Spurs player Luke Kornet before the game.
The prayer was seemingly answered as the Spurs scored their biggest victory in the 2026 NBA Western Conference finals so far.
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Salesian Sister Cherilly Galley said the response the order has received since the game has been “really beautiful.”
There has been a “response of people who are interested in Catholicism and people who would like to get involved, cheer on the Spurs, and also see how they can support our sisters here in San Antonio, which is really a huge blessing and a wonderful surprise from the Lord,” Galley said in an interview May 27 with “EWTN News Nightly.”
While many first noticed the group of sisters at the recent game, the fans have been attending Spurs games “for over 20 years,” said Sister Bernadette Mota, a Salesian sister who prayed with Kornet at the game.
“We have some sisters who were really diehard Spurs fans throughout the years, and theyʼre the ones who made that initial connection with the Spurs,” she said. “They would write to Coach [Gregg] Popovich, and he would actually write back.”
Popovich, president of the San Antonio Spurs and former coach, and his wife “came to visit the sisters a few times,” Mota said.
The sisters “would watch the games” and over the years the connection has “just kept up,” Mota said. “But a few years back, it had kind of died down a little bit, and then COVID happened, and we kind of lost that connection.”
“But just this past year, and more recently in these past weeks, it really has built up in a very strong way. And so weʼre back praying with the Spurs and being there to support the community and the San Antonio people who love the Spurs,” she said.
Itʼs “wonderful” to “have a lot of family and friends come together and watch the games,” Galley said.
The sisters host watch parties with “parents and students from our school at St. John Bosco here in San Antonio,” she said. It’s “a lot of fun and a wonderful way to share the joy of faith and family.”
Keep God ‘first’
Mota and Galley said their favorite Spurs players are Kornet and Victor Wembanyama — widely known as "Wemby.”
“Wemby by far is the best player,” but the sisters “really like Luke [Kornet] because of the way he lives his Catholic faith on and off the court,” Mota said.
While “sports and things like that are great,” players must remember that “God has to be first in your life,” Mota said.
“Keep him first. Play strong, play your best, and work as a team because a team thatʼs united is very hard to pull down. So play together and have faith in God,” Mota said.
“Trust one another as your team members — that is very valuable,” Galley added. Also, “have fun, enjoy it. Thatʼs always a wonderful thing: to have fun on the court.”
Vatican offers pastoral support to promote Magnifica Humanitas
The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has presented a pastoral aid or kit on Magnifica Humanitas with the aim of making the new encyclical by Pope Leo XIV more easily understood.
On May 27, the dicastery explained on social media how the pastoral kit is structured and provided a link to it. The material includes summaries of key themes, biblical texts and citations, questions for reflection, concrete cases, and prayers. Additionally, it features activities designed for children and young people.
In the introduction to the document, the Vatican notes that it seeks to “accompany individuals, groups, and communities in a simple yet profound reflection on the relationship between faith, human dignity, and technological innovation.”
“Digital technologies and artificial intelligence are changing the way we work, communicate, learn, build relationships, and even understand ourselves,” the text notes.
In the face of this new paradigm, the dicastery recognizes that many may feel “excited, fearful, curious, or confused.” Nevertheless, it advocates for navigating these changes “with discernment, hope, and responsibility.”
The material was designed for parish groups, catechesis, pastoral councils, as well as for one’s personal spiritual life.
The underlying theme of the encyclical consists of two biblical images that feature prominently in the accompanying resource: the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. According to the text, these two images represent opposing paths in today’s world.
“On the one hand, there is the risk of building a world dominated by power, individualism, and dehumanization; on the other, there is the possibility of building together a ‘city' founded on listening, fraternity, justice, and mutual care,” the introduction explains.
The document expresses the Holy See’s hope that this material will enable the faithful to “rediscover our ‘magnificent humanity,’ so that every innovation may be illuminated by the Gospel and oriented toward the common good.”
To download this pastoral aid from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, click here.
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.