Pope Leo XIV: Our world is more divided, but shared humanity unites us
Pope Leo XIV on May 30 emphasized to Catholic lay leaders that, in a world increasingly divided by war and polarization, shared humanity can help unify it.
During a private audience at the Vatican with the members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, Leo in his remarks referenced his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, explaining that current challenges prompt fundamental questions about life.
"Indeed, it is precisely when faced with adverse circumstances that the human person is called to reconsider the fundamental questions that have gently prodded the heart of countless generations to more serious reflection: 'Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?'" Leo said.
These questions, the pope said, clearly indicate humanityʼs common pursuit of truth.
“Such questions are a clear manifestation of humanity’s search for truth, and give rise to a desire for something more, a thirst for God and lasting meaning,” Leo said in his remarks.
“They also bear witness to the essential aspects of our humanity: the God-given gifts of reason and freedom by which we may come to know the truth and adhere to what is good.”
Also referencing his predecessor, St. John Paul II, who founded the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation in 1993 to promote Catholic social teaching, Leo explained that while the modern concept of freedom “is often understood as the capacity to do what one wants,” true freedom is lived “as a “gift of self and openness to others.”
He also referred to Saint Augustine in his address, using Augustineʼs concept of the two cities.
“The City of Man, built on pride and love of oneself, is marked by selfish individualism,” Leo said. “The City of God, built on love of God unto selflessness, and the cultivation of relationships, is what makes it truly possible to build a civilization of love.”
He also reminded those present not to despair at the current state of the world, but engage in “small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization”.
Catholic Charities Boston sees surging need at city-wide food pantries
Catholic Charities Boston has seen a surge in the numbers of families who need food pantry assistance, offering nearly 3 million pounds of food over the past year.
Over the past three months, Catholic Charities Boston has “seen over 2,000 new households register who have never come to our food pantries before,” said Jonathan Tetrault, the vice president of economic empowerment at Catholic Charities Boston.
Tetrault told “EWTN News Nightly” on May 29 that these families “are seeking help with food assistance because of the many pressures that are … colliding to put pressure on their family budgets.”
“So theyʼre reaching out to us for help,” he said.
The organization operates "four food pantries across the cities of Brockton, Dorchester, Lowell, and Lynn. This past year, weʼve served nearly 70,000 people through these four food pantries – almost 3 million pounds of food through these four locations,” Tetrault said.
“We offer fresh fruits and veggies, frozen lean proteins, shelf-stable dry goods,” he said.
“[W]hat weʼre hearing from [families] when theyʼre coming in to get these critical groceries is that itʼs ... a number of factors" that are causing the need, he said.
Following federal cuts to programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Catholic Charities is experiencing an “elevated need in our communities, and weʼre seeing fewer dollars to meet that need with,” he said.
“For some folks, the SNAP work requirements are going into effect. Most of our other clients are being impacted by the high cost of gas” and “utility prices soaring,” he said.
“This is all coming together to strain their family budgets over the past several months,” he said.
“It is becoming harder to stand in the gap, but that is our commitment [to] those families, those individuals who are coming to us for support. And so weʼre figuring out ways to do that,” he said.
The organization is adapting to meet the urgent needs and acquire the necessary food, he said.
“Most recently, we had to double the credit limit on our fuel cards" to ensure delivery trucks and vans could continue to get fueled up, he said.
Call for community involvement
As Catholic Charities Boston’s food pantries operate with small numbers of staff members, they rely on volunteers and are calling for community support.
“We recognize that it takes each one of us to meet the needs of our neighbors in our communities. So we would love for … our community to support us with their time, their talent, their treasure,” Tetrault said.
To help, Tetrault called on the community to “find out where your local food pantry is” and “show up to volunteer.”
“You can bring donations of dry goods there as well. And then supporting us financially ... is critical because oftentimes weʼre able to purchase food at a better scale, better price points, when we pull those funds together," he said.
The “food pantries operate with two staff each,” he said. “So we rely heavily on our volunteer support” which is “critical for us to be able to serve the hundreds and hundreds of families that we see each and every day throughout the week.”
Florida judge rules against Planned Parenthood in false advertisement case
Florida judge rules against Planned Parenthood in false advertisement case
A circuit court judge in Florida said the state can continue legal action against Planned Parenthood over the abortion giantʼs claims that the abortion pill is safer than Tylenol.
In a May 27 ruling, First Circuit Court Judge J. Scott Duncan of Santa Rosa County struck down Planned Parenthood’s attempt to dismiss a Florida lawsuit that accused the company of false advertising.
In November 2025, state Attorney General James Uthmeier sued Planned Parenthood for $350 million, alleging that the abortion provider spread information that was deceptive and misleading by claiming abortion drugs are safer than Tylenol, Viagra, and penicillin.
Planned Parenthood then asked for the suit to be dismissed, but the judge refused, allowing the legal action to continue.
Colorado governor signs bill requiring college health centers to provide abortion pills
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill requiring college student health centers to provide chemical abortion pills on-site.
The law includes exemptions, however. Colleges are exempt from providing abortion pills “if doing so would jeopardize an institutionʼs federal grant participation, require the institution to deviate from generally accepted billing practices, [or] modify the generally accepted standards of medical practice."
Colleges are also allowed to opt out of the mandate if the rule would “conflict with the institutionʼs sincerely held religious beliefs or practices.”
Babies lost to abortion at a record high in Scotland
Scotland saw a record high in the number of babies lost to abortion in 2025, with recent statistics showing that 18,783 babies died from abortion last year.
The count is the highest on record, according to statistics released May 26 by Public Health Scotland.
Scotland currently protects unborn children after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Report details Planned Parenthood transgender ideology and services
A recent report by the organization Biological Integrity, a project of the American College of Pediatricians, details Planned Parenthood’s transgender, or “sex-rejecting,” procedures.
The report notes that Planned Parenthood provides free chest binders for minors and distributes hormones to patients as young as 16 years old.
According to the report, Planned Parenthood provides birth control to halt periods of minor girls without parental consent as a “loophole.”
Planned Parenthood is a “primary distributor” of sexual education, spending more than $70 million on training participants in fiscal year 2025 and providing resources about transgenderism for children as young as three years old.
The report highlights malpractice lawsuits filed against Planned Parenthood by people who detransition after receiving hormones and surgery.
Priest evangelizing in the peripheries of Lima says he sees ‘miracles all the time’
Spanish missionary priest Father Julio Alonso Ampuero dedicates every weekend to evangelizing in the Diocese of Lurín in South Lima, Peru.
He gives retreats, hears confessions, and provides biblical formation and pastoral care to vulnerable individuals, a ministry through which he says he frequently witnesses “many miracles” in the form of conversions and renewed closeness to the faith.
“The truth is that it’s a blessing, because practically every weekend there are groups attending the retreat,” the priest said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, referring to Holy Family Retreat House in Lurín, the place from which he carries out a large part of his missionary work.
“One certainly sees the fruits," he said. "One sees the good it does for people." He told ACI Prensa that priests like him "are privileged” because people open their consciences to them, and consequently, "one sees miracles constantly.”
Ampuero explained that the most requested retreats are those focused on inner healing and those designed for couples, which are open to engaged couples and those living together, with the aim of drawing them closer to the sacrament of matrimony.
“We have also been emphasizing silent retreats, because we see that there is a need to turn inward, a need to put down roots, and a need to strengthen that relationship with the Lord,” he added.
A mission accessible to the poorest
Ampuero highlighted that one of the aims of the retreat house is to enable people of limited financial means to participate.
“If there are people who can’t pay, or who can only pay a portion, we welcome them just the same. Divine Providence has always looked after us, and we have never gone without,” he explained.
For the priest, the impact of these encounters with God is evident. “One need only look at the joy with which people leave at the end of a retreat; the difference in their faces between the day they arrive and the day they depart,” he remarked.
“People come back again. They say, ‘It has done me so much good that I want to do it again.’ So, that is certainly very motivating,” he added.
‘I’ve found great openness to the Gospel here’
Ampuero arrived in Peru in 2011, following years of pastoral service and academic formation in Spain and Italy.
A specialist in Sacred Scripture, he pursued studies in Rome and Jerusalem at the behest of his superiors. He served as a professor of “Introduction to Sacred Scripture and the Epistles of St. Paul” at the San Ildefonso Institute of Higher Theological Studies in Toledo, in addition to serving as a formator at the seminary for several years.
He subsequently channeled this experience toward evangelization and the formation of Godʼs people.
“I didn’t view myself as a biblical researcher, but rather as someone tasked with disseminating, with making known, all that richness,” he explained.
He currently has nearly 30 publications on biblical and spiritual formation to his name.
The presence of priests from Toledo in South Lima dates back several decades to when they first began working in Villa El Salvador, a district still marked by poverty.
Ampuero said that one of the experiences that has impacted him most since his arrival in Peru has been the peopleʼs receptiveness to the Catholic faith.
“In Spain, there has been very strong secularization over the last few decades. My experience upon arriving here is that, generally speaking, that was not the case. I have encountered a great openness to the Gospel, a great openness to the tenets of the faith,” he said.
He also said the people are close to their priests and place a high value on the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
“One can sometimes spend hours hearing confessions, and people seek out the priest; sometimes simply to unburden themselves, to share their problems, and to find a little consolation and hope,” he recounted.
Evangelizing among the most vulnerable
In addition to leading spiritual retreats, Ampuero ministers at the Sowing Hope shelter, which houses 150 men — including the elderly, individuals with mental illnesses, and people rescued from the streets, many of whom are former drug addicts.
“These individuals, who have often lost everything, can come to know the greatest thing of all: the love of God,” he said.
The priest particularly highlighted the transformative power of faith in people struggling with addiction. “We know that in cases of addiction, it’s faith in Christ, the encounter with Christ, that can most radically set you free,” he affirmed.
“That encounter with Christ is what liberates you and heals all wounds.”
‘Prayer is my daily strength’
The priest said that the key to sustaining such an intense apostolate lies in prayer.
“For me, prayer is my daily strength, and I would not give it up for anything. It’s what gives you oxygen; it’s what strengthens you; it’s what enables you to bear the burdens of your brothers and sisters as well,” he explained.
Finally, he shared a message to young people who may be experiencing stirrings to enter the religious or consecrated life.
“Don’t be afraid. When God calls us to something, he will always provide the means to carry it out,” he affirmed.
“God takes nothing away; rather, he gives everything,” he said, recalling a saying of the late Pope Benedict XVI.
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.
Remembering Alex: Benedictine College grieves a ‘faith-filled’ student
Outside the packed school chapel, Benedictine College students continued to gather, kneeling on the ground to pray for Alex Lynch.
On the night of May 8, the news had spread across the campus that Lynch, a Benedictine student suffering from cancer, had died.
A college senior, Lynch had just had his graduation ceremony. He didn’t walk the stage, however; instead, the college president went to him.
On May 7, Benedictine College President Stephen Minnis traveled from the school in Atchison, Kansas, to Lynch’s family home in Indianola, Iowa, along with 30 Benedictine students for Lynch’s personal baccalaureate Mass and graduation ceremony.
“Graduation is a powerful moment for these students,” Minnis told EWTN News. “They have worked so hard for it, including their whole primary and secondary education.”
“I want to make that moment special for every student,” he said. “It’s a moment that is powerful for me too — I pray a Hail Mary for every student by name when they come and when they graduate, but I have prayed especially for Alex.”
“It just took an extra step in his case, but I didn’t want to miss his big moment,” Minnis said.
Father Ryan Richardson, Benedictine Collegeʼs chaplain, told EWTN News he spoke “directly to Alex” in his homily, detailing how Lynch lived out the fruits of the Holy Spirit while at school.
“He radiated the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ,” Richardson said. “Alex often said that his desire was that others see Christ in him. He definitely accomplished that.”
Finnegan Ritchie, a close friend of Lynch’s, was among the 30 students who attended the ceremony.
“We were both worried that it was going to be unreasonably long,” Ritchie said in an interview with EWTN News. “Entertaining people is exhausting. But Alex was able to sit and stand at will; he had a lot of grit.”
“After the ceremony, he had a little graduation party and greeted his family and friends,” Ritchie said. “It was wonderful to see how everyone came together to bring food, drinks, and tables for the occasion. People were catching up with each other and treating it like any other grad party.”
Ritchie said goodbye to Lynch in the evening, “around 5:30 p.m.”
“It was very difficult to leave him,” Ritchie said.
On May 8, less than a day after his home graduation ceremony, Lynch died. It was late in the evening on a Friday night. Off-campus parties stopped. Students gathered in the chapel, again, this time to pray for a friend who had passed away.
“Students left parties and gathered spontaneously in our adoration chapel,” Minnis said. “It was filled until late that night. It was an overwhelming response.”
The following day, Benedictine held a Mass on campus in his memory.
Students traveled from all over the country for Lynch’s funeral at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Indianola, Iowa, on May 14, nearly filling the pews in the church.
“He made such an impact,” Minnis said. “The way he lived and the way he died will change these students for years.”
Yellow pins and applause
On Saturday, May 16, just over a week after Lynch died, Benedictine’s official graduation took place. The crowd was peppered with students wearing yellow pins, which they wore, Richardson said, “to remember Alex.”
While at Benedictine, Lynch was a resident adviser (RA) on campus. He played intramural sports, was active with FOCUS, and sang in the choir at Mass.
“The best way I can describe Alex is that he was faith-filled,” Richardson said. “Faith in Christ was the foundation of his life and his faith in Christ spilled over into all his relationships."
“[Lynch] had a friendship with the Holy Spirit that was alive and active,” the chaplain continued.
“He loved people sincerely and intensely,” he said. “Even in the midst of his illness he would often look me in the eye and intentionally ask how I was doing and how he could pray for me.”
“We have grieved as a community,” Richardson said.
“Since Alex’s passing, though, I think many of us have transitioned from sadness to peace,” he continued. “In his death Alex showed us what it means to truly live and what it means to live the faith to the end.”
Lynchʼs friend Jack Figge, a recent Benedictine graduate and a Catholic journalist, wrote a tribute to Lynch in Benedictineʼs school publication.
“I spent three days with Alex at the beginning of the week he passed away. It’s a series of days I will never forget because Alex lived out what it meant to be a suffering servant,” Figge told EWTN News.
“He never complained about the pain he was in; he was so generous with his time making sure that everybody who wanted to see him could,” Figge recalled. “Whenever you walked in, the first question he asked was ‘How are you?’”
“Even in the midst of being close to death, he remained joyful, laughing, and cracking jokes,” Figge continued. “On the day of his graduation, so many people wanted to say goodbye and he was clearly tired. But he sat and talked with everybody for hours, making sure he had a moment with everybody.”
In the last week of his life, Lynch visited his parish to pray a Holy Hour.
He died reciting his baptismal promises — promises made by Catholics at baptism and renewed at the Easter Vigil.
Benedictine students and faculty remembered Lynch at the schoolʼs graduation ceremony, where Lynch’s parents walked the stage in his place.
“It was truly fitting to have Alex’s family with us at graduation,” Richardson said. “The resounding applause they received was a tribute to the impact that Alex had on each of us and the legacy he has left at Benedictine College.”
Shaved heads and a walk down the aisle
When Lynch discovered he would lose his hair from chemotherapy, 30 of his friends at Benedictine shaved their heads, Ritchie recalled.
“We did it to be funny, but we also wanted to present ourselves as Alexʼs friends,” Ritchie said. “He and I, along with many others, had spiritual conversations often — we wanted to do college well. We wanted to know what our purpose in life was and how to go about getting it.”
“At the end of the day, we wanted to be virtuous; it was the way to a happier life on earth and an even more perfect one in the next life,” Ritchie said.
“Alex sought to see God in everyone he met in order to love them well. We rarely talked about his disease; I figured he wanted to let go of it while he was with people,” he said.
“He loved the quiet; he enjoyed eating breakfast at the door to St. Joseph Hall and seeing people he loved walk by,” Ritchie continued. “I was always struck by his take on things, since death was a real threat for him; it put my life in perspective. He taught me that I have a lot to be grateful for, and that it is best to take action now than wait until later.”
In one of their last conversations, Lynch told his friend he had learned from him as well. “Iʼm honored to have been taught by him,“ Ritchie said. ”Iʼm even more honored to have taught him something. I think we just wanted to seek God together.”
Earlier this year, Lynch walked down the aisle as a groomsman at the wedding of one of his best friends, Ben Shonka, who recently served as a pallbearer at Lynchʼs funeral.
“Alex was a goofy man; he loved his faith and loved to have fun,” Shonka, also a Benedictine graduate, told EWTN News. “He made every moment count whether he was with friends or whoever.”
“He was one of the groomsmen in my wedding because he was one of the best men in my life,” Shonka said. “He really showed me what masculinity could look like at our age.”
“He was so intentional in everything he did,” Shonka recalled. “He knew everyone’s name and would always greet them accordingly. He would always be down to talk whenever. He lived a life of prayer, often going to Mass and adoration.”
After Lynch’s death, Shonka’s wife observed that Lynch had walked down the aisle as a groomsman at their wedding and now her husband had carried Lynch “down the aisle as a pallbearer to his final resting place.”
The college president noted the impact Lynch had on both students and himself.
“I think the students saw him as a representative of the best of what they are and a model to aspire to,” Minnis said. “I see him that way, too.”
Outgoing religious freedom commissioner highlights ‘worsening’ global religious freedom crisis
As the 2025-2026 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) term came to a close, Commissioner Stephen Schneck detailed the declining religious freedom abroad and the severe violations against people of faith.
“The problems not only are very, very present, but worsening,” Schneck told EWTN News. “I think the situation for religious freedom in the world today is worse than it was when I came on the commission, and certainly worse than it was a decade ago.”
In its 2026 report, the commission recommended 18 countries to be labeled as "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) — "the label that we give to the governments in the world who are the worst abusers of religious freedom,” Schneck said.
The list includes 12 countries the U.S. Department of State designated as CPCs in December 2023, including Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
It also includes Nigeria, which President Donald Trump designated in 2025, and five additional recommendations: Afghanistan, India, Libya, Syria, and Vietnam.
India “is among the worst countries in the global community in regards to religious freedom from the analysis that has been done by the commission over the last decade or so,” Schneck said.
“Since 2020, maybe 2019, the commission has been calling on the United States government to designate India as a CPC."
The religious freedom status in India is “particularly tragic” because it “is a country that is famous for its democratic traditions and … where many religions have actually emerged historically,” he said.
“The principal driver” of the current problems “is a really powerful religious nationalism,” he said. “Particularly itʼs Hindu nationalism that is being promoted largely for political reasons by the political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of the current prime minister, Narendra Modi.”
“Since the separation from Great Britain and its independence after the Second World War, there have been a number of episodes of communal violence,” he said.
There is “mob violence against minority religious believers increasingly being allowed, and frankly sometimes being promoted, or at least given legal impunity, under the governmentʼs control by the BJP.”
“The State Department never really explains fully … why they decline to go along with our designation,“ Schneck said. It could be due to “geopolitical reasons of international politics and U.S. foreign policy.”
“India is a particularly important country, for a variety of reasons,” including being “an important country set against China in the geopolitical politics of our day, and itʼs an important country for trade purposes for the United States.”
“Unfortunately, now through several administrations ... we have not seen the United States governments actually support our commissionʼs recommended designation.”
The commission also continues to recommend China as a CPC, which the State Department has listened to. It has continued to list China since it was first categorized a CPC in 1999.
Despite its designation, Schneck noted that the commission is “very concerned about the situation in China.”
As Trump recently traveled to China and discussed political prisoners with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Schneck noted the commission has “called for Jimmy Laiʼs release and [has] made not only his case, but the case of millions of others within China.”
The situation “gets worse and worse” and “itʼs not just limited to individuals,” Schneck said. “Weʼre talking about whole populations here — the Uyghur Muslims, the Tibetan Buddhists, Christians.”
“Even our own Catholic Church is under the watchful eye of China … The repression of religion by China is a real deal and something that we should all be concerned about,” he said.
Catholics should be ‘on the front lines’ of defending religious freedom
May marked the end of seven commissioners' terms, including Schneckʼs. He said: “Iʼm very concerned about leaving this work at this particular moment … that I see religious freedom really under a great deal of stress around the world.”
Schneck was appointed to the commission in June 2022 by President Joe Biden. He was later reappointed to the commission and served as its chair for the 2024-2025 term.
Schneck joined the commission after having worked as a political philosopher, a professor, department chair, and dean at The Catholic University of America for more than 30 years. There, he founded and directed the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies.
Schneck served as a national co-chair of Catholics for Biden, part of Biden’s presidential campaign. The group worked to rally Catholics to vote for Biden, despite the then-nominee’s support for legislation and policies that did not align with Church teaching. Prior to that, Schneck was appointed by President Obama to the White House Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Prior to that, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the White House Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Schneck was also the executive director of Franciscan Action Network, a national organization promoting environmental, economic, and social justice for the Franciscan communities of the United States.
Following his multiple positions, Schneck said serving on USCIRF was the “capstone” of his career.
The work “is so meaningful,” he said. “But sometimes itʼs incredibly hard. You talk to people whose relatives have been killed. You talk to people … who have just come out of prison. You go to refugee camps and you see how refugees are living in absolutely dire situations.”
“So, emotionally it can be tremendously hard,” he said. “But at the same time…you really do feel that bearing witness to what has happened to these people is important work and makes a difference.”
“It was a privilege … to be a representative of my own faith on the commission,” Schneck said. “I do feel that my own faith really was strengthened as a result of my participation on the commission."
“The famous document from the end of Vatican II, Dignitatis Humanae, really laid down for our Church what religious freedom should be about, how we as Catholics should be on the front lines in trying to defend religious freedom around the world.”
“I feel like I was called in a way by that teaching of our Church to do this work. I mean, truly, even though itʼs only four years, it did feel like a vocation,” he said.
While Schneck is no longer a USCIRF commissioner, he said he plans to continue his advocacy work through other organizations.
Schneck serves on the governing board of Catholic Climate Covenant, a U.S. organization that advocates for care for creation and climate action. He also is on the board of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, an organization working to end the death penalty.
“Both of these two organizations … spun out of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” he said.
“Iʼm pleased to continue my work for the Church with both of these fine organizations, by working on behalf of care for creation ... and working on the Churchʼs pro-life mission in working against the death penalty here in the United States,” he said.
Washington Nationals official fired after video that implied discrimination against Catholic pitcher
The Washington Nationals have fired a spokesman after video surfaced in which he appeared to admit that the team discriminates against one of its outspoken Catholic pitchers.
EWTN News confirmed on May 29 that the Nationals had dismissed its former community relations director Sean Hudson amid media coverage and criticism from religious groups over the video.
Hudson was at the center of controversy earlier in the week when footage posted to X by “guerrilla journalist” James OʼKeefe apparently showed him 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 had spoken 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."
A source confirmed to EWTN News that Hudson had been dismissed following the video controversy. An email to Hudsonʼs Nationals address earlier in the day had been returned with the notification that the address was “no longer a system account,” while Hudsonʼs LinkedIn account had been taken down at some point prior to May 29.
Prior to a May 29 game against the San Diego Padres, team business president Jason Sinnarajah said in an interview on the Nationals broadcast channel that the team is “not anti-Catholic” and does “not hide players from social media.”
“We were horrified by the comments that were made on the video,“ he said. ”The comments don’t reflect us as an organization, our values and who we are. We took action right away, and that individual is no longer employed by the team.”
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.
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.
Pope to transform ‘pier of shame’ in Gran Canaria Island into hope for immigrants
The port of Arguineguín with its pier located on the southern end of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, where Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit on June 11, is at first glance just another port in a fishing town. But itʼs a seemingly nondescript place that in 2020 became the setting for one of the most dramatic episodes of Europe’s migration crisis.
A port transformed into a symbol
For four months, more than 2,600 people — six times the capacity of the pier, which spans a mere 656 ft. — remained crowded together there in inhumane conditions. There were as many people jammed together on the concrete as there were inhabitants in the town that hosted them.
“It was already a very turbulent time, on many levels. Locally, we were right in the middle of the [Covid 19] pandemic, and due to a lack of resources, the food bank had just closed,” recalled Father Adrián Sosa Nuez, who arrived in September 2020 at Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Agatha Parish. Located just a few feet from the port, the parish was where he began to witness the mass arrival of hundreds of “cayucos” — the narrow flat bottom boats that migrants use.
That year, 23,000 migrants and refugees arrived in the Canary Islands, mostly hailing from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. Fleeing poverty, war, and drought in search of hope, the desperate people of the worldʼs poorest continent cast off into the Atlantic for an extremely perilous voyage.
The island of Gran Canaria lies approximately 95 miles off the northwest coast of Morocco, a distance that in the unseaworthy, open-topped wooden vessels the migrants use, can stretch into voyages lasting up to a week.
The collapse nobody knew how to handle
Although the 2020 figure is lower than the historic record of 46,843 arrivals recorded in 2024, the surge six years ago caught institutions off guard. There were no adequate facilities to receive them, no beds, and no defined strategy to address a situation that, though foreseeable, spiraled into a humanitarian crisis.
“The impact came as a shock to us not only as a parish, but as the Canarian people. We were unaccustomed to witnessing scenes of this kind, and it caught all the authorities off guard. No one knew how to handle it,” Sosa told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
He is currently a judge on a diocesan tribunal, a professor of canon law, and the parochial vicar in the Siete Palmas neighborhood of Las Palmas, where the pope will celebrate Mass in Gran Canaria Stadium.
Trying to survive in overcrowded conditions
The migrants themselves improvised makeshift shelters using tarps and cardboard. The pier became a place where people slept, ate, and prayed. In real terms, each person had little more than one square yard of space.
Arguineguín thus came to symbolize a triple failure: that of the migrant reception system, that of respect for human rights, and, ultimately, that of human dignity. Added to this were restrictions imposed because of the pandemic.
“We were unable to be at the pier due to Covid protocols, so we could only provide help at a later stage,” explained the priest. Around twenty hotels on the island then opened their doors to accommodate the migrants. “That was when we began to put a human face to their suffering and to accompany them,” he said.
The response of the Church and society
Volunteers from the parish and from Caritas mobilized to offer Spanish classes. Some even welcomed migrants into their own homes. Sosa himself gave shelter to a young man in the rectory after the young man was left out of the reception system.
“Pope Francis had recently published Fratelli Tutti, and it was truly providential. It helped us greatly in raising awareness across all social strata that, as Christians, not everything is negotiable and that we had a duty to help these people,” he explained.
The crisis also fostered collaboration among various ecclesial organizations. Among others, Sosa received calls from Father Ángel, founder and president of the NGO Messengers of Peace, inquiring about their needs, as well as from the evangelical church Misión Moderna.
“Despite the difficulties, it was a time of great joy, a time of feeling in communion with the entire Church,” he recalled.
Along the edges of the pier in those days, family members also gathered in search of news regarding their loved ones. They arrived bearing photographs, asking survivors if they had seen them. “Many arrived traumatized. If someone fell ill during the crossing, in many cases they were thrown into the sea,” Sosa recounted.
In the words of the priest, it was “a major traumatic experience." Since 2020, more than 19,000 people have died attempting to reach the Canary Islands, victims of the cold, the currents, and a journey spanning hundreds of miles, depending on the point of departure.
In 2025 alone, of the more than 3,000 people who perished on maritime routes, 1,906 lost their lives on the Atlantic route to Europe as documented in the 2025 Monitoring the Right to Life report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking the Borders).
Pope coming to the ‘pier of shame’
Six years later, the pope will visit this site, now known as the “pier of shame.” Nearly 2,000 people will await him there, the very place where many first set foot in European territory under extreme conditions. Moreover, this visit fulfills a wish that his predecessor, Pope Francis, was unable to realize.
“Many of those who will be with the pope have experienced the grueling Atlantic route. A great many have left friends or acquaintances behind at the bottom of the sea,” explained Caya Suárez, a social worker, secretary general of Caritas in the Diocese of the Canary Islands, and coordinator of the event.
One of the most moving moments will be the casting of a floral wreath into the sea in memory of the victims, echoing the gesture performed by Pope Francis in the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. Alongside Pope Leo, a human chain will be formed by people who “wish to remember those they have seen die.”
The pope will listen to the testimonies of four migrants, who will recount not only the hardships of their journey and the stigmatization they endured, but also how Caritas and other ecclesial organizations have become a new family to them.
In Las Palmas province alone, Caritas has assisted more than 22,000 migrants of African and Latin American origin since 2020. Since 2024, the Caritas Española confederated network has launched 47 diocesan projects dedicated to welcoming and supporting undocumented individuals.
“Caritas steps in when people, regrettably, find themselves outside the system, when government assistance fails to reach them,” Suárez explained.
A cross made from cayuco wood
Another significant moment will be the blessing of an image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the patroness of sailors. A small altar dedicated to her image, which is deeply rooted in local fishing traditions, is kept on the pier. On numerous occasions, sailors have been the first to go out to rescue incoming vessels.
Alongside this altar will be a cross crafted from the wood of a migrant boat, a cross that has already become a symbol of the local Church. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the pope will bless both the cross and the image of the Virgin, which will remain on the pier.
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.
Nicaraguan advocate laments ‘silence’ about Catholic persecution
During a panel discussion on Friday, Nicaragua Freedom Coalition President Rosalia Gutierrez-Huete Miller said Catholic persecution in her home country is being met with “silence” despite continued government pressure.
Miller, whose citizenship was revoked by the Nicaraguan government in 2023, said that while Catholics in Nicaragua continue to face “the lack of freedom to worship” amid continued pressure from the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and “co-president” Rosario Murillo, other denominations have chosen to “work with the government to avoid that persecution.”
The May 29 panel discussion took place at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. The discussion comes after the release of GHREN’s March 2026 report detailing systematic repression and human rights violations against the Nicaraguan people.
“Everything has to be vetted by the government, especially what priests are going to preach on Sunday,” she said, noting the presence of spies for Maduro regime in churches, who she said, “are not taking notes only, but recording what the priest is saying in case that homily was changed or there is variation.”
“Those who are not with [the government] are quiet,” Miller said. “I have permission to mention that in my meeting with [Monsignor Silvio José Báez, auxiliary bishop of Managua], when I asked him, what is the status of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, he said ‘silence.’”
“I think that Rosario Murillo, she’s afraid of the power of the Nicaraguan faith,” Miller said. “It’s values that shape their beliefs and commitments. She, as we know, needs to control and repress communities of faith in order to prevent the social process, and protests, because that immediately gives them cause for concern.”
Miller lamented the cancellation of traditional Holy Week processions across her home country. “I remember back to my childhood what that meant for a child, what it meant for the whole population — it was a joyous occasion. And now, they cannot do that.”
“But guess what?” she said, “If you look at the videos, and I see them, they’re being held inside the churches. And that gives me so much encouragement, so much pride, because they cannot just wipe us out […] Faith is being practiced regardless.”
Other participants in the panel included Christopher Hernandez-Roy, acting director and senior fellow of the Americas Program, Jan-Michael Simon, chair of the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN), and Juan Holmann Chamorro, the manager and publisher of the Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa.
Report: How abortion drug sellers are violating federal rules designed to protect women
Most abortion drug sellers are flouting a federal rule that protects women from complications from chemical abortions, according to a recent report.
The May 26 report by Charlotte Lozier Institute, a think tank affiliated with Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, examined the telehealth abortion landscape and investigated whether abortion drug providers follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements.
Titled “An Overview of Online Abortion Drug Access in Post-Dobbs America,” it found numerous alleged violations, including a discovery that eight online abortion distributors violate state pro-life laws by shipping abortion drugs into those states.
The report also found that eight in 10 abortion drug sellers send abortion drugs after 10 weeks of pregnancy, flouting an FDA rule meant to protect women from potential harm.
Within the formal U.S. healthcare system, which involves licensed healthcare professionals, the report found that abortion drug sellers “do not provide the type of oversight typically associated with telemedicine or even telehealth services.”
In addition, abortion sellers outside the formal U.S. healthcare system — such as international online organizations, e-commerce pharmacies, and community networks — have minimal safeguards for women. These organizations ship abortion drugs “produced outside of the FDA’s approved supply chain.” The report maintains that this “could be characterized as the wild west, as almost zero safeguards exist for women.”
The report also found that 28 websites are still selling unapproved and misbranded abortion drugs to women even after the FDA sent abuse letters to them in 2019.
Mia Steupert, research associate at the institute and the reportʼs author, called the findings “egregious.”
“The abortion industry loves to claim ‘abortion is healthcare,’ but their actions and advocacy have shown they don’t want abortion to be treated with the same level of regulatory scrutiny as legitimate medical procedures,” Steupert said.
“No one should be able to obtain abortion drugs as easily as purchasing something off Amazon,” Steupert said, adding that the findings "should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers that a wild west of online abortion drug access only serves to end unborn life at all costs, even at the expense of women’s safety.”
Kristi Hamrick, a spokesperson for Students for Life of America, said the “anonymous distribution of what is sometimes classified as a controlled substance is out of control.”
“Our undercover work, ordering chemical abortion pills online without any verification at all — of whether a woman is pregnant, or late in pregnancy, or experiencing an ectopic pregnancy (which canʼt be ended with the pills) — is medically negligent,” she said.
“Just as horrific, the fact that abusers can get the drugs easily, makes it clear that pill pushers donʼt care what happens to the women exposed to the dangerous dies, as long as they get paid,” Hamrick continued. “Chemical abortion pills expose women to injury, infertility, and death. And thatʼs when they work as advertised.”
Andrea Trudden, a spokeswoman for Heartbeat International, a worldwide network of more than 4,000 pregnancy help organizations, said the report “confirms exactly what many of us warned would happen when abortion pills were deregulated.”
“The FDA needs to reinstate in-person dispensing now to protect women from unnecessary harm,” Trudden said.
“Ironically, the more the abortion industry markets abortion as ‘reproductive healthcare,’ the fewer actual healthcare professionals tend to be involved in the process,” Trudden continued. “Women are increasingly being pushed toward mail-order abortion drugs with little medical oversight, no in-person examination, no ultrasound, and in some cases apparent disregard even for FDA safety limits.”
Trudden also raised concerns about abortion drug poisonings, citing recent arrests for alleged secret druggings. There are numerous documented cases of pregnant women being drugged with abortion pills, ending the lives of children they wanted to keep.
“Concerns about coercion, abuse, and complications were repeatedly dismissed, yet Heartbeat International continues to document disturbing cases involving abortion drug poisonings and women being secretly drugged by boyfriends or family members attempting to end pregnancies without their knowledge or consent,” Trudden said.
Just this week, a Kentucky woman’s boyfriend was arrested for allegedly committing fetal homicide, causing the woman to lose her baby by replacing her medications with an abortifacient.
In another case this week, a Texas man was indicted on charges of an abortion and injury to a child after he allegedly administered a substance to a Texas woman without her knowing, causing the death of the unborn baby and “serious bodily injury” to the woman.
In addition, Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman, is involved in an ongoing lawsuit after she was allegedly coerced into taking mail-order abortion drugs by her boyfriend.
“Women deserve real healthcare and real protections, not an increasingly profit-driven system willing to sacrifice their health and safety for the sake of abortion,” Trudden said.