Texas immigrant legal aid ministry faces closure after federal payments withheld
A Catholic ministry in El Paso, Texas, that has provided legal help to hundreds of thousands of immigrants over four decades says it is on the brink of shutting down because the Trump administration has withheld more than $765,000 in reimbursements.
Estrella del Paso, formerly known as Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, has seen its cash reserves depleted since payments stopped arriving in December 2025, according to executive director Melissa Lopez.
Lopez told EWTN News Estrella del Paso offers a broad range of services, providing every type of legal immigration representation, including aiding asylum seekers, those in immigration detention seeking to be released on bond, and people applying for residency and naturalization.
The organization serves more than 40,000 people annually and is one of the largest providers of legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children in the country.
The group is currently providing legal help to around 300 minors, though the number fluctuates frequently, Lopez said.
She warned that “a significant number of people will be impacted if the program ceases to exist,” leaving tens of thousands of immigrants without representation in complex immigration proceedings.
“Navigating the immigration system right now is incredibly difficult,” she continued. “Even when someone is represented, outcomes are not always ideal.”
Many of those currently being helped would face deportation and even worse consequences, Lopez said.
“The outcome of many cases without some form of legal assistance is very dire,” she said. “We are talking about life and death consequences for some individuals we currently provide services to, if we were to cease to exist.”
The ministry was founded in 1986 and began specializing in cases involving unaccompanied children in 2007. It operates as one of the primary nonprofit immigration legal aid providers in the El Paso region.
A preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in the Northern District of California in April 2025 had blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to cut funding for legal services for unaccompanied minors. However, advocates say the government has continued to withhold payments in violation of that order.
Estrella del Paso and 10 other legal aid providers have asked Martínez-Olguín to hold the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in contempt of court. A hearing on the request is scheduled for July 16.
A 2008 federal law aimed at protecting victims of human trafficking requires the government to ensure, “to the greatest extent practicable,” that unaccompanied children in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security have access to legal counsel in immigration proceedings. Without the access the law provides, minors would be responsible for navigating the immigration court system by themselves.
However, the Trump administration has argued that funding for these services is discretionary rather than mandatory.
The situation is particularly urgent because unaccompanied minors are reportedly being detained and deported at roughly three times the rate seen during the first Trump administration, according to a recent analysis by ProPublica.
Lopez emphasized the broader issues impacting not only minors but also “all of the vulnerable people who come to us seeking legal representation.”
“It is an issue of family unity, keeping families together, and ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect,” she said.
Estrella del Paso has launched an emergency fundraising campaign to try to bridge the funding gap caused by the withheld reimbursements.
Lopez said she hopes to raise about $500,000 through private donations as well as through grants and requests to philanthropic organizations.
“We don’t want people to feel they have to make a huge donation,” she said. “Even a small donation makes an impact.”
The Administration for Children and Families at HHS told EWTN News it does not comment on matters subject to ongoing litigation.
Cardinal archbishop of Rabat temporarily steps aside from ministry due to abuse investigation
Spanish Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, announced Tuesday that he will temporarily withdraw from all public and pastoral activities while a preliminary investigation — opened by the Church following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward adult women — is underway.
López Romero asserted his innocence in a brief statement carried by the EFE news agency. “I have not committed any assault, violence, or sexual harassment,” he said.
The prelate himself announced the decision in a message to his archdiocesan community at the end of the pastoral year. In the text, López Romero explains that the Church has initiated a preliminary investigation into the allegations and that the case is currently in the hands of the competent authorities of the Holy See.
“I am accused of inappropriate behavior toward adult women,” the cardinal archbishop noted in the statement, in which he also affirms that he is fully cooperating with the ongoing ecclesiastical process.
While the investigation is underway, López Romero indicated he will not preside at public celebrations or participate in pastoral activities so as not to interfere with the inquiry.
“During this period of investigation, and so as not to hinder it, I am stepping back — refraining from presiding over any public celebration or participating in any pastoral activity, as you will undoubtedly understand,” he emphasized in the statement obtained by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
The prelate also acknowledged the impact the situation might have on the faithful and expressed his awareness of the difficulties and questions the case could raise within the local Catholic community. For this reason, he explained that he considered it important to inform the members of the archdiocese at this stage.
López Romero asked for prayers for all those affected by the situation, for the Church, and for himself, as the decisions to be adopted by ecclesiastical authorities upon the conclusion of the proceedings are awaited.
“While awaiting the decisions the Church will make, let us pray together for those suffering through this situation, let us pray for our Church, let us pray for one another, and please pray for me,” the statement indicated.
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.
Planned Parenthood regains federal funding after yearlong pause
Planned Parenthood has regained access to federal funding after a yearlong pause. As of July 5, Planned Parenthood clinics can bill Medicaid for reimbursement for contraception, STD screenings, and other non-abortion services.
The Trump administration defunded Planned Parenthood via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but the defunding was scheduled for one year rather than the permanent or 10-year defunding hoped for by activists.
Advocates for unborn children criticized the administration for failing to maintain the defunding of the abortion giant.
“As we celebrated the 250th anniversary of our nation founded on the right to life, funding resumed to the Big Abortion businesses that profit from stripping that right away from a record number of Americans and increasing our top cause of death year after year,” Kelsey Pritchard, communications director at SBA Pro-Life America, told EWTN News.
“It is the default expectation of the pro-life movement for Congress to renew the defunding of Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses, and the politically smart thing for Republicans who must energize the base to win in November,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard noted that her organization is investing “$160 million in 2026 and 2028 for Republican pro-life candidates.”
“[N]ow Republicans must do their part in doing everything they can to once again defund Big Abortion,” Pritchard said.
Dr. Christina Francis, president of the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs, said she “sees Congress' failure to keep our tax dollars from subsidizing the abortion mill of Planned Parenthood as a blow to the essential liberties of preborn children.”
“Adding insult to injury, their funding stream resumed on Americaʼs 250th birthday,” Francis told EWTN News. “Guided by our commitment to our profession and our patients, AAPLOG will continue to oppose the funding of Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry, and the medical institutions that have traded sound medical practice for abortion ideology that is antithetical to the true purpose of medicine — health and healing.”
Live Action President Lila Rose criticized the refunding in a statement shared with EWTN News.
“On America’s 250th birthday, Congress had the chance to honor the founding promise that every human being has a God-given right to life,” Rose said. “Instead, by failing to extend the defunding of Planned Parenthood, lawmakers have allowed taxpayer dollars to flow back to the largest abortion chain in the nation.”
“This is a moral failure and an urgent betrayal of preborn children, women, and American taxpayers,” Rose said.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, urged advocates for unborn children to continue fighting abortion.
“Planned Parenthood is once again eligible to receive taxpayer dollars after Congress failed to keep them out of our healthcare spending,” she said in a post on X. “That isnʼt the end of the story. Itʼs a reminder that the fight for life isnʼt won in a single vote. Itʼs won by refusing to quit. It’s time for us to get back to work.”
Planned Parenthood did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Nicaraguan priest: ‘We sustain the people’s faith from the catacombs of prudence’
From the heart of Nicaragua, a priest in that nation says the Church is sustaining the peopleʼs faith from “the catacombs of prudence” in the face of fierce persecution by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo.
The priest, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons and to avoid reprisals, spoke with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, on July 3 immediately following the second time the bishop emeritus of Estelí, Abelardo Mata, was detained.
According to a source consulted by ACI Prensa who is close to the Church in Nicaragua, the bishop “is reportedly not under house arrest, and his whereabouts are unknown,” as he has not returned to his residence.
The priest stated that “it’s true that from the outside it can look like apparent silence; this should not be confused with indifference or paralyzing fear. It is in reality a silence born of prudence and profound pastoral responsibility.”
After noting that the dictatorship “has relegated the faith to the private sphere” or “within the walls of the churches,” the priest pointed out that several bishops are in exile.
“The absence of bishops in such important dioceses as Estelí, Jinotega, Matagalpa, and Siuna is also a direct blow to our Church and our community. Although we place our full trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the lack of a visible [head] hinders administration, pastoral ministry, and ecclesial cohesion,” the priest noted.
For some time now, the dictatorship has banned the ordination of priests and deacons in these dioceses.
The priest emphasized: “We are carrying on then, but under the weight of fragmentation, and we also live in a state of constant uncertainty.”
‘Even the walls have ears’
The priest recounted that currently in Nicaragua “the proclamation of the Gospel and daily preaching take place under enormous pressure with the knowledge that any word or message can be misinterpreted or used to label us as opponents or destabilizers.”
“The surveillance is real; it’s constant. We say here that ‘even the walls have ears.’ And this has even taken its toll on internal communication, often sowing mistrust, something almost bound to happen in an environment where control is the norm,” he added.
Indeed, the police harass the priests, taking their photographs and demanding to be informed of every time they leave their parishes or go outside their parish boundaries. If any social issue is mentioned in their homilies, they risk imprisonment or exile.
The Church’s ‘silence’
The priest also explained to ACI Prensa that “we bishops and priests who remain in the country must act discreetly, with extreme discretion. This is not cowardice — no. It’s astuteness, I would say — like the cunning of the serpent and the simplicity of the dove that Jesus Christ speaks of in the Gospel.”
“Every step, every word, must be calculated so as not to cross that invisible line that would justify an accusation of insurrection, allowing us to continue accompanying the people entrusted to us. Ultimately, the Church in Nicaragua has not disappeared. No, it has not surrendered. It is resisting. We are resisting in silence,” he emphasized.
“We are sustaining the people’s faith from the catacombs of prudence, awaiting times of greater freedom.”
The priest said he also understands “the Vatican’s silence. In this regard, ecclesial communion does not depend solely on public statements. We know there are prayers and diplomatic gestures that do not draw attention; at this moment, the last thing the people of Nicaragua need is to create further divisions — rather, they need to keep hope alive within the Church.”
‘We don’t feel alone’
“When one member suffers, the whole body suffers with it. We don’t feel alone. Because of this we know that the Church suffers with us. The Church feels with us, and the entire universal Church sustains us, even though the forms and ways of that support must be discreet; that’s something that must be understood,” the Nicaraguan priest reflected.
“Those who apply pressure or claim we are doing nothing from within [the country] should also understand this. We are protecting that very pastoral work on the ground so that the people of God are not left abandoned,” he added.
The priest said he hopes “to be able to act freely one day and live out our faith in freedom, but for now, this is the reality we are living.”
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.
Training journalists to be peacemakers: EWTN Summer Academy concludes in Rome
Inspired by its mission, EWTN News held its fifth annual EWTN Summer Academy in Rome to train future generations of Catholic journalists.
From June 22 to July 1, the EWTN Vatican Bureau hosted 43 young journalists and media professionals from 26 countries, training them in journalism, video editing, and storytelling to support the Church’s mission of evangelization.
The program took place at the Centro Internazionale di Animazione Missionaria (CIAM) on the campus of the Pontifical Urban University, where participants enjoyed a scenic view of St. Peter’s Basilica and Square from above.
Training journalists to be peacemakers
Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly highlighted the importance of the media for the Church and the world. In several of his public speeches to journalists, he challenged them to work for peace in a world marked by polarization, war, and fake news.
“In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Mt 5:9). This is a beatitude that challenges all of us, but it is particularly relevant to you [journalists],” Leo said in a speech to journalists after the 2025 conclave.
Anthony Johnson, a co-founder and program director of the EWTN Summer Academy, emphasized the importance of training young journalists at the academy to respond to the pope’s call.
“We as journalists need to be peacemakers first, because the truth is what is ultimately going to set us free,” Johnson told EWTN News.
Johnson also explained the academy’s aims and its connection to the vision of Mother Angelica, who founded the EWTN Global Catholic Network in 1981.
“In the academy here, we’re bringing in people from all around the world — 43 people from 26 countries more or less — and we put them in small groups from all different continents, and we put them through these exercises with the goal of finishing a final project at the very end of the academy.”
“We expect people to be 100% bought into the mission [of proclaiming Jesus Christ]. Mother Angelica knew it. I think people today know it, and our audience can tell from a mile away,” Johnson said.
In service of the truth
The academy participants were taught by Vatican journalists, clergy, producers, and art historians about the fundamentals of Catholic journalism.
Several of those participants reflected on this experience as a service to truth. One of those was Jonél Roos from South Africa, a religious educator and a convert to Catholicism.
“I think [this program] is of the utmost importance because it gives people the tools necessary to grow in their faith and also in order to grow within their professions,” Roos told EWTN News. “The whole point of all of this is to convey truth to people and to allow people to be guided towards the truth.”
George Cuesta, a filmmaker based in Austin, Texas, added: “I think forming young Catholic creators in [the journalistic] realm is extremely important because thatʼs really the language that the faithful are using to communicate with each other, to consume media, whether entertainment or education.”
An experience in the Eternal City through the eyes of faith
Several participants reflected on the importance of learning about Catholic journalism in Rome.
Ana Belén Hurtado, a communications professional from Ecuador, described her time in Rome as faith-filled.
“Being here in the heart of the Church makes it a whole new level for us. Having the amazing view [of St. Peter’s Square] every day definitely makes you aware of the history and the whole legacy that we have received through the gift of faith,” Hurtado said.
Lemmy Ogbonnaya Ijioma, a Nigerian photographer, videographer, and tutor at the academy, also highlighted Rome’s importance to one’s formation in Catholic journalism.
“I would say Rome renews my faith and allows me to experience the Catholic faith up close and personal — things I would ordinarily experience from a distance,” Ijioma told EWTN News.
Kevin Mario, a communications professional from India, added: “Returning to India, I carried with me not only new skills but also a renewed love for the Church. Walking through the basilicas of Rome and contemplating the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael, and countless other artists reminded me that beauty has always been one of the Churchʼs greatest evangelists.”
Why a WWII massacre dispute is testing Poland’s support for Ukraine
A deepening diplomatic rift between Poland and Ukraine over the memory of World War II-era massacres has drawn a rare joint intervention from senior Catholic leaders of both nations — and threatens to complicate Kyiv’s path toward the European Union.
In a joint appeal issued June 29, three Polish prelates — Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, and Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz — together with two Ukrainian Church leaders, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Cardinal Mykola Bychok, urged both governments to pursue reconciliation, as EWTN News reported.
The bishops said they “are saddened to observe the growing tensions and resurgent hostility between Poles and Ukrainians.”
Echoing Pope Leo XIV, they called for a “disarmament of language,” arguing that words, symbols, and public gestures can either deepen divisions or foster peace.
The tensions revolve around wounded national sentiments over the contested memory of the Volhynia massacres during World War II.
Cause of diplomatic tensions
Poland and Ukraine have long-standing social and diplomatic tensions over their conflicting national narratives of World War II.
The current dispute began on May 26, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named a military unit after the “heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).”
The UPA was a nationalist partisan formation that waged guerrilla warfare in the mid-1940s against Nazi Germany, Soviet-backed forces, and the underground Polish resistance movement.
Ukrainians view the UPA as a symbol of resistance to foreign occupation in the fight for national independence.
In Poland, however, it is associated with the Volhynia massacres, in which the UPA led the targeted slaughter and ethnic cleansing of around 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians, mostly women and children, from 1943 to 1945.
The campaign was driven largely by a nationalist effort to secure territory for a future Ukrainian state by removing the minority Polish population from lands that had belonged to prewar Poland but were claimed by Ukrainian nationalists. In the chaos of World War II, the UPA sought to ensure that Poland could not reassert control over the region after the war on the basis of the Polish minority living there.
Poland has officially recognized the Volhynia massacres as a genocide, a label Ukraine has rejected.
Diplomatic aftermath
In response to Zelenskyy’s decision to name a unit after the UPA, Polish President Karol Nawrocki on June 19 stripped the Ukrainian president of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor, which had been awarded to him in 2023.
An opinion poll published on the day Nawrocki announced his decision showed that 51% of Poles supported rescinding Zelenskyy’s honor, while only 36% were opposed. Among Nawrocki’s support base, 80% favored withdrawing the order.
In response and in solidarity with Zelenskyy, on June 21 three former Ukrainian presidents, along with various other government officials and diplomats, returned the state awards they had been given by Poland.
This was followed by Polish government officials on June 22 returning awards they had received from Ukraine.
Adding further fuel to the dispute were statements made in February, when Oleksandr Alfyorov, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (UINR), described the Volhynia tragedy as “one of Poland’s state myths.”
Poland’s own Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) replied by declaring that “the Volhynia genocide is a documented fact” while criticizing the Ukrainian state for building elements of its identity on “the cult of individuals and organizations responsible for these crimes.”
The path toward reconciliation
The Polish and Ukrainian prelates also invoked the memory of St. John Paul II, most notably his words marking the 60th anniversary of the Volhynia massacres in 2003, in which he called for “Ukrainians and Poles not to remain enslaved by their sad memories of the past.”
The Polish pontiff also noted that Christians are called to acknowledge the errors of the past while needing the strength to “ask forgiveness for their own shortcomings” and to “forgive one another for the wrongs they have suffered.”
In that spirit, the prelates urged Poles and Ukrainians to “humbly ask for forgiveness and to courageously forgive” while extending “a hand of reconciliation” despite wounds that remain raw.
They also warned against pursuing narrow national interests, saying true reconciliation requires both nations to seek the common good rather than impose their own vision of history on the other.
Future implications
A day before the Church’s joint appeal for peace, Zelenskyy declared that “no one will dictate” to Ukraine which heroes the country honors as he announced plans for a national pantheon celebrating notable Ukrainians.
This was widely read in Poland as a hardening of Kyiv’s position, prompting warnings from politicians across the spectrum that the issue could spill over into Ukraine’s European Union ambitions.
That matters because Ukraine’s path into the European Union ultimately requires the consent of every member state, including Poland.
In the long term, Warsaw is likely to seek a clearer acknowledgment from Ukraine’s highest political levels of the scale and character of the Volhynia massacres and of the role played by the UPA.
With Zelenskyy unwilling even to remove the UPA name from a military unit and Nawrocki escalating the issue in turn, any workable compromise now appears more difficult to reach.
U.S. ambassador describes July 4 dinner with Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV still has a Peruvian credit card, wakes in the middle of the night and checks soccer results, follows the Chicago White Sox, and uses a cellphone.
He is also, according to Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, a pope keenly aware of his role as pastor of the universal Church, careful not to give the impression of being merely an American pope and frustrated that his actions are sometimes interpreted as anti-Trump or anti-U.S. gestures.
Burch offered that personal portrait of the Holy Father in a conversation with a small group of Italian journalists about the historic July 4 dinner he hosted for Leo at Villa Richardson, the U.S. ambassador’s residence.
The pope came in person to the residence, prayed with Burch’s family, and shared a meal that included American charcuterie, watermelon salad, Chicago-style hot dogs, apple pie, and gelato. According to Burch, Leo approved of the menu. The evening was informal rather than bilateral: The pope arrived without secretaries, accompanied only by two Vatican gendarmes.
Burch said he had wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States by inviting the first U.S.-born pope in history to dinner. The invitation was sent about two months ago, and confirmation came about one month ago, the ambassador said.
The dinner took place on the same day Leo made a brief visit to Lampedusa, a trip that some had interpreted as a symbolic gesture aimed against the Trump administration. Burch said the pope rejected that interpretation in their conversation.
The ambassador said the idea was to create an occasion to celebrate July 4. He noted that when Vice President JD Vance visited the pope for the Mass inaugurating his pontificate, Vance also invited Leo to visit the United States. While awaiting such a visit, Burch said, the embassy wanted to create a moment of celebration, and the pope’s acceptance of the invitation was received with gratitude and joy.
Burch stressed that the dinner at his residence should not be understood as an effort to resolve major political questions. Rather, he said, it was an extraordinary sign of the pope’s affinity with and warm closeness to the United States.
The pope arrived at about 7:30 p.m., according to the ambassador. He posed for a photo with Burch’s family, gave them his blessing, and joined them for an aperitif. Burch said he and Leo, both from Chicago, spoke about the city and the many friends they have in common.
After dinner, Burch also had time to speak privately with the pope in the garden. The ambassador said they discussed a wide range of subjects. Before leaving the embassy at about 10 p.m., the pope sang the patriotic song “God Bless America” and signed several baseballs, marking each one with the date.
Burch said Leo was relaxed and that the two laughed about many things. He added that people in the Church and in the world sometimes hold only an image of the pope and forget that the pope is also a man like everyone else.
The pope told Burch he had recently spent a sleepless night and ended up watching the Argentina-Cape Verde match. He also spoke about the White Sox and about his vocation, including why he chose to become a missionary priest.
Burch said Leo told him that he loves the United States, where he was born, and has great affection for the country, but he also wants to be careful not to appear too favorable or too close to the United States. The ambassador said the pope made the same point when Burch presented his credentials.
The Church in the United States is vibrant and growing, Burch said, but it is not the only place where the Church is present, and Leo is aware of the need not to appear too American.
Burch said there is also some hesitation regarding a possible papal trip to the United States. That hesitation, he said, is not because of hostility toward the president but because of the need to choose the right moment and to situate such a visit after a number of trips that demonstrate the pope’s apostolic commitment.
The ambassador said Leo also spoke about his frustration with the way every papal gesture can be attacked or interpreted through the lens of the United States. Burch said the pope’s July 4 visit to Lampedusa was not intended as an attack on the United States.
According to Burch, the pope’s role is to be pastor of the world and to point to the global challenges of migration, which is not only a U.S. issue. Through the Lampedusa visit, Burch said, Leo appealed to humanity and asked leaders to focus on migrants during a difficult moment.
The ambassador said relations between the Holy See and the United States are marked by a strong desire for cooperation. He added that his conversation with the pope did not delve deeply into areas of disagreement.
Burch noted that the Holy See supports nuclear nonproliferation, is attentive to the situation in Cuba, wants peace between Russia and Ukraine, and has opposed the exploitation of the Venezuelan people. On migration, he said, there is generally a broad sense of the need for processes through which nations can manage migration in a safe, orderly, and legal way.
The pope respects that balance, Burch said, because he understands that when tension arises, resolving that tension is the responsibility of nations.
According to the ambassador, the main differences concern how to reach shared goals: how to build peace in the Middle East, how to fight narco-trafficking in Central America, and how to protect people facing the challenges of mass migration. Burch characterized these as prudential differences.
Burch acknowledged that Leo and President Donald Trump have not yet spoken. He said Trump has not spoken with many leaders and that, when a conversation is necessary, he expects they will speak. He added that the pope does not simply pick up the phone to discuss politics with world leaders.
Migration remains one area of difference. Burch said the pope’s message in Lampedusa is not inconsistent with the U.S. view of migration. The United States, he said, has always set rules and removed people who did not respect them, while the Trump administration is responding to a situation in which millions of people have entered outside the legal framework.
Burch said the pope does not argue that rules should be set aside in order to welcome migrants. Rather, he said, Leo asks people to look toward an ideal in which they are as welcoming as possible. The pope, Burch said, speaks as universal pastor of the Church and not as someone proposing a specific political implementation.
For Burch, differences of opinion over migration are not a serious problem. He said it is normal for leaders to have disagreements and that there will always be differences over how to reconcile U.S. policy with Catholic social teaching. Such differences, he said, do not mean relations must be difficult.
On the contrary, Burch said, there is much work the Holy See and the United States continue to do together, including on Cuba and peace in the Middle East. Looking at the past year and a half, he pointed to what he described as peace between Israel and Hamas, the removal of narco-terrorists, talks between Israel and Lebanon, cooperation among Arab states, conditions for real cooperation, the removal of the nuclear threat in Iran, and the removal of financing for terrorists. He also said there is much the two sides can do together for persecuted Christians.
In short, Burch said, the issue is not whether the pope and the president can become friends but whether there is a chance to achieve results together.
Asked what he took away from the dinner and what struck him most, Burch said there is great respect for the pope, whether one is Catholic or not. But then, he said, one meets a gentleman who is a human person like everyone else, someone who enjoys himself.
Above all, Burch said, the pope is highly informed. Leo had deep knowledge of everything they discussed, the ambassador said. When Burch asked how he manages that, the pope mentioned X, formerly Twitter, and a daily briefing he receives. Burch said he told Leo that surely those were not his only sources of information. The ambassador described the pope as a serious reader, very bright, and very well informed.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Memorials across India mark 5 years since Jesuit Father Stan Swamy died in custody
Memorial programs were held across India on July 5 to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old tribal rights activist who died in custody at a Mumbai hospital in 2021 while awaiting trial on terrorism charges.
Memorials in Ranchi and Mumbai
Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi led supporters in garlanding Swamy’s bust at “Bagaicha,” meaning “garden,” the Jesuit social action center Swamy founded near Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.
After the floral tribute, Bagaicha director Jesuit Father P.M. Antony told EWTN News: “All of us proceeded to our program hall to discuss about the present socioeconomic and political situation in the country and the state of Jharkhand today.”
The commemoration featured a screening of “Carrying the Cross,” a roughly 100-minute documentary on Swamy’s life and work.
In Mumbai, where Swamy died, the anniversary was marked in the hall of St. Peter’s Church in Bandra, where his funeral was held in 2021. The Bombay Catholic Sabha, the lay wing of the archdiocese, organized the gathering with civil society groups, at which activists paid tribute to the priest, whom they praised as a fearless advocate for the oppressed tribal communities of Jharkhand.
“We are living in times when if you do anything to fulfill either the words or the spirit of the constitution you are likely to be the next martyr,” said senior advocate Mihir Desai, who led Swamy’s legal defense.
Desai repeatedly petitioned the Bombay High Court for the elderly Jesuit’s release on bail after he was brought to Mumbai following his October 2020 arrest at Bagaicha, in connection with the Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case, in which he was charged along with 15 others.
“If you speak with passion about equality, about nondiscrimination, about freedom of speech — all these are fundamental rights … If you speak about these things in the spirit in which they are incorporated in the constitution, you will be treated as an anti-national,” said Desai, who had worked with the Jesuit for three decades as a civil rights lawyer.
The Bhima Koregaon case
As the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, reported at the time of his arrest in October 2020, the priest, who championed the rights of oppressed tribal communities, was detained along with 15 other activists, academics, and lawyers on terrorism charges related to the “Bhima Koregaon conspiracy.”
The arrests, carried out on the grounds that the accused were allegedly linked to a banned Maoist organization, drew condemnation abroad, including a posthumous resolution honoring Swamy’s life and work in the U.S. Congress in July 2022.
Describing Swamy’s death as “institutional murder,” Desai said “why they wanted to arrest him was because they did not want any urban or rural voice … a dissenting voice of the marginalized to be heard” and alleged that documents had been planted on his computer by hackers, about which the priest had “no clue.”
In December 2022, Arsenal Consulting, a U.S.-based digital forensics firm engaged by Swamy’s lawyers, reported that “incriminating files” had been planted on his computer through a yearslong malware campaign — a finding his supporters said showed he had been framed. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has disputed the analysis, and the trial court declined to consider it.
“Father Stan is gone. But we want the court to declare him not guilty,” said Desai, who said he is preparing a fresh petition to that end after a judicial magistrate’s inquiry concluded that the priest had died of natural causes. “Compensation [must] be paid. Accountability has to be fixed and he has to be declared as innocent,” he said.
The NIA maintains its case, alleging that Swamy aided the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) through the civil society groups he worked with; the special NIA court repeatedly denied him bail, citing what it called “prima facie” evidence.
A judicial magistrate’s inquiry, mandatory in custodial deaths, ruled his death a “natural death” and found no wrongdoing, and in May 2025 the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission accepted those findings, concluding there was nothing “unnatural” in his death and no medical negligence.
In December 2025, the Bombay High Court disposed of a petition by Swamy’s family to clear his name but granted them liberty to file a fresh challenge to the magistrate’s report.
Speakers noted that all 15 surviving co-accused have since been granted bail, while Swamy did not live to see trial.
Teesta Setalvad, who heads Citizens for Justice and Peace, described Swamy as “a priest who jumped out beyond [clerical] culture and took up perverted cases [against the poor tribals] and worked for the release of prisoners, exposing fabricated cases.”
Activist Irfan Engineer read out a protest letter from Surendra Gadling — the last of the 16 accused still jailed, now over a separate case — who was staging a one-day hunger strike at Taloja Central Jail, where Swamy had also been held.
“Father Stan Swamy was a victim of institutional murder because he refused to surrender before those in power and chose to stand firmly for the rights of Adivasis [tribals], Dalits, and the marginalized and oppressed masses,” Gadling wrote. “He fearlessly raised his voice against injustice, repression, and attacks on democratic rights. This one-day hunger strike is to protest against the institutional repression that led to his death.”
Anand Teltumbde, a former professor at the Goa Institute of Management who was released on bail after 31 months in the case, told EWTN News: “July 5 has become a historic day for the country with 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy’s death in custody.”
Dolphy D’Souza, a Bombay Catholic Sabha spokesman, recalled: “During Father Stan Swamy’s funeral at peak COVID time, only 25 people were allowed inside the church here and many of us had to wait outside. Today we are all here to remember him.”
Across India, the anniversary drew commemorations in several cities, including New Delhi, along with a spontaneous wave of social media posts remembering the priest’s imprisonment and death in custody and pressing for his name to be cleared.
Lebanon’s Christians fear sovereignty will be traded in regional diplomacy
Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, who met with Pope Leo XIV last week, said the pope’s visit to Lebanon last December, held under the motto “Blessed are the peacemakers,” marked the beginning of a new phase of dialogue for peace. Rai expressed hope that the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would lead to a true, just, comprehensive, and lasting peace — but Christians there fear their country’s sovereignty may be at stake.
Rai warned in his Sunday homily that Lebanon “must not become the price of any international or regional understanding, nor an arena for settling scores, but rather a message of peace.” He expressed hope that the efforts involving the United States, Lebanon, and Israel would bear fruit and lead to an agreement that removes “the specter of war” from Lebanon.
His remarks come as Lebanon finds itself at the center of two parallel diplomatic tracks: a U.S.-Iran agreement and a direct trilateral framework involving Lebanon, Israel, and the United States. In both, Lebanon’s future is at stake and the country’s Christians remain a central part of the national conversation on peace and sovereignty.
For many Christians in Lebanon, the fear is that their country’s future could once again be treated as part of a broader regional bargain rather than as a sovereign national question.
This concern was reflected in a letter sent by Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, in which he urged Washington to separate the Lebanese issue from negotiations with Iran. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem described the agreement as “a great victory” and “a pivotal point for Lebanon.”
Speaking to EWTN News, Lebanese member of Parliament Pierre Bou Assi said that, as the Lebanese Forces leader stated in his letter to the U.S. vice president, their project remains the establishment of a real state in Lebanon. But he said such a state cannot fulfill its role as long as Hezbollah remains armed and continues to drag Lebanon into wars and suffering in service of Iran.
“We want to be freed from Hezbollah’s weapons in order to build a state that protects everyone, Christians and Muslims alike,” he said.
Bou Assi added that he does not believe the U.S.-Iran understanding will have a direct impact on Hezbollah’s behavior in Lebanon. According to U.S. sources, he said, the talks did not focus specifically on this point but rather on the Strait of Hormuz and a monitoring mechanism for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program. Many in Lebanon stress that including the Lebanese issue in these regional negotiations has allowed Iran to regain leverage over the Lebanese political sphere.
Moreover, President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that Syria could play a role in addressing the issue of Hezbollah has touched a deep nerve among many Lebanese Christians. For them, any talk of Syrian involvement in Lebanon triggers the memory of nearly three decades of Syrian military and political occupation, which only ended in 2005.
Bou Assi said that, as a Lebanese and Christian member of Parliament belonging to the largest Lebanese and Christian parliamentary bloc, and despite respect for the United States as a friendly country, “we cannot accept the return of the Syrian army to Lebanon.”
“The Lebanese suffered greatly under the occupation of the Assad regime, which lasted for 30 years between 1975 and 2005,” he said. “For this reason, as a sovereignist component that resisted that occupation, we cannot accept the repetition of this bitter and destructive experience.”
At the same time, Bou Assi pointed to repeated statements by the Syrian president that Syria has no intention of entering Lebanon again, out of respect for Lebanese sovereignty.
He said such positions are in line with the Lebanese Forces’ desire for the best possible relations with Syria, relations based on respect for the sovereignty, stability, and interests of both countries and peoples.
Toni Nissi, president of the Committee for the U.N. Security Council Resolutions on Lebanon and secretary-general of the National Council for the Cedar Revolution, echoed similar concerns in a conversation with EWTN News.
“For many Lebanese, and certainly for many Lebanese Christians, such remarks inevitably awaken painful memories,” Nissi said.
He explained that his generation remembers a period in which Lebanon’s sovereign institutions were overshadowed by external tutelage. For that reason, he said, any suggestion that Syria might once again assume a political or security role inside Lebanon naturally provokes concern.
Nissi also stressed that diplomacy becomes problematic when nations become objects of negotiation instead of subjects of their own history.
“For far too long, Lebanon has been treated as a battlefield where others settle their disputes and as a diplomatic mailbox through which regional powers exchange messages,” he added.
There are growing concerns in Lebanon, especially among Christians, that the U.S.-Iran memorandum and the wider diplomacy surrounding it could overshadow the Lebanon-Israel talks promoted by President Joseph Aoun as an effort to return decisions of war, peace, and sovereignty to state institutions.
For many Lebanese Christians, those talks carry a deeper meaning. They are not only a diplomatic opening with Israel but also a possible step toward restoring the authority of the Lebanese state after years in which Hezbollah’s weapons and Iran’s influence have shaped the country’s security choices.
Lebanese officials have described the move toward direct negotiations with Israel as a historic step through which the state could reclaim responsibility for Lebanon’s foreign and security policy. Yet the government now faces the delicate reality of seeing Iran negotiate with Washington over issues that directly affect Lebanon’s future, raising fears that Beirut could once again be treated as a secondary actor in decisions concerning its own sovereignty.
Nonetheless, last week’s signing of the Trilateral Framework Agreement between Lebanon, Israel, and the United States, announced by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marked a major milestone, offering a possible path toward placing Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and state authority back at the center of the diplomatic process.
Nissi explained that the framework “establishes a phased mechanism intended to strengthen security, extend the authority of the Lebanese state across its entire territory, and create a practical pathway for implementing long-standing international commitments while reducing the risk of renewed conflict.”
“It is neither a final peace treaty nor merely another ceasefire,” Nissi added. “It is a roadmap for restoring state authority through implementation.”
For Nissi, the framework also carries a deeper national significance. “Perhaps the greatest opportunity created by this framework is that Lebanon can finally stop being a battlefield for others,” he said. “For decades, Lebanon functioned less as an independent strategic actor than as an arena through which regional powers projected their rivalries.”
What these parallel diplomatic tracks will ultimately achieve for Lebanon remains uncertain. For now, the country’s sovereignty continues to be violated from both directions: by Hezbollah’s weapons and decision-making outside the authority of the state and by Israel’s continued occupation of Lebanese territory and military actions inside Lebanon.
Netanyahu claims unnamed Lebanese Christian villages sought annexation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said unidentified Lebanese Christian villages asked Israel to annex them.
“Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, and we do the same things with Christians everywhere,” Netanyahu said during an appearance on Fox News’ show “The Sunday Briefing” on July 5.
“It’s ridiculous that [Netanyahu] would say such a thing,” said Alberto Fernández, a former U.S. ambassador and contributor to EWTN News on Middle East topics. “It’s something that only makes sense within the context of him trying to look good to his own Israeli audience. Within the context of Lebanon, it’s ridiculous.”
Fernández noted Netanyahu’s claims have been repeatedly denied in the Arab and Lebanese press. Lebanese officials have rejected Netanyahu’s claims, including senior members of the Kataeb party, and Hanna al-Amil, the mayor of Rmeich, a Christian village in southern Lebanon, according to several Arab news outlets.
“We canʼt forget that itʼs Hezbollah that keeps plunging Lebanon into war with Israel,” he said. “And one thing that Christian villagers do not want is, they may not want to be part of Israel.”
They donʼt want to be at war with Israel either, Fernández said.
“They want peace. They want to be left alone. They want to be able to live their lives and their villages and farm their land and be left alone,” he said.