Pope receives Ferrari Luce steering wheel — Italian brand’s first fully electric car
Pope Leo XIV this week received as a gift the steering wheel of the Ferrari Luce, the Italian brand’s first fully electric car.
Leo also had the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat of the new vehicle, presented by Ferrari as “not only the ‘electric Ferrari,’ but an entirely new Ferrari.”
In a statement, the Italian brand said the meeting with the Holy Father took place at the papal residence of Castel Gandolfo on the morning of Tuesday, May 26, with a Ferrari delegation led by its chairman, John Elkann, and its CEO, Benedetto Vigna.
Elkann said it was “a great emotion and an immense honor to meet with His Holiness together with my Ferrari colleagues,” noting that it was “a moment of extraordinary human and symbolic value, which inspired everyone in our company to continue on its path with passion, responsibility, and confidence in the future.”
He added that the meeting with Leo was “an occasion that will remain forever etched in our memory and in the history of Ferrari.”
In promoting its new vehicle, the Italian brand highlights both its “mechanical performance” and its “energy efficiency.”
Explaining its corporate environmental vision, Ferrari says on its website that “we are using science-based solutions to reduce emissions, increase energy efficiency, foster the circular economy, and inspire suppliers to join our initiative.”
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.
Pope Leo XIV to visit the Republic of San Marino on Aug. 22
Pope Leo XIV will travel to the Republic of San Marino, an independent sovereign state within the Italian peninsula, on Aug. 22 as part of his trip to the Italian province of Rimini.
The Vatican announced the visit in a statement from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, noting that the trip is part of his pastoral agenda in Italy.
The visit follows an invitation extended some time ago by the then-captains regent Matteo Rossi and Lorenzo Bugli — whose terms ended in April of this year — who had invited the pontiff to visit the small European state.
The pope’s presence in San Marino — the world’s oldest constitutional republic, founded in A.D. 301 — will take place in the morning on Aug. 22. In the afternoon, the Holy Father will take part in various activities in the Diocese of Rimini and in the traditional Rimini Meeting, one of Italy’s most important cultural and religious events, promoted by the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation.
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.
Pope Leo will visit a polarized Spain in political turmoil but where all sides want to hear him
Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to Spain will take place against a political and social backdrop marked by intense polarization.
The divided political climate coincides with an unprecedented event in Spanish democracy: the indictment on charges of alleged corruption by a former prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, who held the office when Pope Benedict XVI visited the country 15 years ago.
Zapatero’s scheduled court appearance in connection with his alleged involvement in a scheme linked to the 2021 public bailout of the airline Plus Ultra, originally set for June 2, has been postponed by the judge to June 17–18.
The cardinal archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo, downplayed the impact the case will have on the popeʼs June 6–12 visit. “We are accustomed to operating amid many events in political life. That is simply part of life, and the headlines keep shifting,” he stated in an interview with EWTN News.
The stability of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchezʼs government is also being called into question by some of its coalition partners, such as the Basque Nationalist Party, which has labeled the decision not to call general elections before the end of the year “irresponsible.”
Polarization is not limited to the political sphere, however. According to the Atlas of Polarization by More in Common (2025), nearly 5 million Spaniards have broken off a personal relationship in the past year due to ideological differences, a figure equivalent to 14% of the population. Furthermore, three out of every five citizens say they avoid discussing politics to avoid creating conflict.
According to jurist Rafael Domingo Oslé, professor at the University of Navarra in Spain, this phenomenon reflects a grave deterioration of society at large. “Spain is experiencing a moment of profound social fragmentation, exacerbated by a political class incapable of lowering the tone,” he said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. In his view, the volume of personal breakups “is a symptom that we are losing the respect necessary to prevent a society from fragmenting.”
A shared language
In this context, the pope’s visit takes on a particular significance as the emergence of a voice capable of introducing a different language into the public debate.
“A papal visit does not, in and of itself, resolve a crisis of this nature. But it can accomplish something that politics, by its very logic, is no longer able to achieve: offering a common framework and a shared language,” Domingo explained.
The key, he added, lies in the pontiff’s unique position: “The pope arrives not as an arbiter of an ideological debate but as a shepherd reminding a weary society that every person, regardless of whom they vote for, possesses a dignity that precedes their opinions.”
This circumstance has prompted an unusual gesture in recent Spanish politics: a unanimous invitation to the pope extended by both the House and the Senate.
“In a country where parliamentary consensus is nearly impossible, all political forces have agreed to listen to the same voice. That, in itself, is already a healthy gesture,” Domingo emphasized.
Leo XIV will address a joint session of the Legislature on June 8, marking the first time a pontiff has spoken before both Spanish legislative chambers.
The motto of the trip, “Lift Up Your Eyes,” encapsulates the spirit of the visit, according to Domingo, who said he hopes Spaniards will "cease focusing solely on immediate conflict and look toward what truly matters.”
Concurrently, the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas has met with a remarkable reception in the Spanish political world.
In a message posted on X, Sánchez emphasized: “Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas challenges us all. AI is not neutral, and digital power could lead us to new atrocities if it is not directed toward the common good. The text is also a defense of peace, human dignity, and multilateralism. Spain is clear on this: In this moment of change, we cannot be resigned spectators. Everything that makes us human is at stake.”
Along the same lines, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told the press, following his audience with the pope on May 4: “There is a great convergence between the Vatican’s positions and Spain’s humanist foreign policy at this time.”
Despite these points of convergence, tensions between the Church and the political realm remain.
One of the most visible flashpoints is the re-signification of the Valley of the Fallen (Cuelgamuros), a monument to the victims from both sides of the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War comprising a basilica, a cemetery, and a guesthouse.
For 44 years, the mortal remains of dictator Francisco Franco lay buried there until their exhumation in 2019. Franco was the general who led the victorious right-wing Nationalist side against the leftist Republican side in the conflict.
The current government has led the drive to transform the site into a political memorial, while the Church has advocated for the preservation of the monumentʼs religious dimension.
Italian constitutional scholar Marco Olivetti warned during a press conference at LUMSA University in Rome that “historical memory has been used as a divisive element that shapes public perception of the Church.”
Added to this are legislative clashes such as the attempt to enshrine abortion rights in the Spanish Constitution or proposals to eliminate military chaplains, efforts in direct confrontation with Church doctrine.
However, criticism of the Church does not stem solely from the left. The bishops' defense of immigrants, including their support for the government’s plan to give legal status to undocumented immigrants, which would benefit nearly half a million people already residing in Spain, has also drawn reproaches from conservative quarters.
Santiago Abascal, the leader of the Vox party, which declares itself Catholic, lashed out at the secretary-general of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Francisco César García Magán: “This character never dares to criticize the mafioso government. Because the government provides him with his business through the invasion [the influx of illegal immigrants]. And that’s his priority: the business. And a profound contempt for the Spaniards who wish to defend their homeland.”
The risk of instrumentalizing the pope’s words
The papal visit is not without risks in a climate of high polarization, Domingo warns. “One party will highlight whatever suits its agenda while remaining silent on the rest; another will try to do the opposite. It’s inevitable.”
Nevertheless, he underscored the Holy See’s experience in “writing speeches that stand as a cohesive whole.”
“Taking the pope out of context is relatively easy; refuting him is much more difficult,” he said.
Cobo shared this concern regarding the pontiffʼs address before the joint session. “I believe this is a gesture that is also very characteristic of the Church, for it entails listening to the Christian tradition speaking about politics, but ‘Politics with a capital P’ [the noble art or statesmanship]. In a society where we are accustomed to talking about political parties, that moment is significant. The fear, indeed, is that we might attempt to make a discourse on ‘Politics with a capital P’ to fit into a partisan narrative, effectively pitting one against the other,” he noted in his interview with EWTN News.
Moreover, the context is exacerbated by the rise of identity-based discourses that conflate politics and faith.
Sociologist Rafael Ruiz Andrés, a professor at Complutense University in Madrid, warned in an interview with ACI Prensa that “there is a whole range of sectors, located primarily within the far-right spectrum, and specifically in Spain within the Vox party, that seek to portray the defense of Christian culture as a central tenet of their platforms.” However, he qualified this by noting that “it’s not necessarily a defense based on religion” but is rather linked to “identity-based culture, and in many instances, positioned in opposition to Islam.”
In his view, one of Pope Leo XIV’s concerns is precisely “that there be this sort of hijacking of Christianity by politics.” In line with this, reports published following a meeting of the executive committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference with the pope pointed to the Vatican’s unease regarding attempts to “instrumentalize the Church,” although the bishops subsequently clarified that the pontiff spoke in general terms about “the risks of subjecting faith to ideologies,” without referring to any specific group.
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.
Defending marriage ‘is not against anyone’s dignity,’ Polish bishops say
Polandʼs bishops have defended the constitutional meaning of marriage, saying that upholding it is not acting “against anyone or taking away anyoneʼs dignity,” as Polish cities begin registering same-sex couples following an EU court ruling.
“Respect for each person does not mean giving up the truth about marriage that the Church has been preaching from the beginning,” the Family Council of the Polish Bishops' Conference (KEP) said in a May 22 statement signed by its chairman, Archbishop Wiesław Śmigiel.
Warsaw and Wrocław have begun transcribing same-sex “marriage” certificates into Polandʼs civil registry after Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged to implement a November 2025 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union requiring member states to recognize such unions contracted elsewhere in the bloc.
In their reaction, the bishops recall that Article 18 of the Polish Constitution states that “marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood, and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.”
This is not a formality, the bishops say, warning that “expansive interpretations of law may lead to the weakening of the constitutional understanding of marriage.” They contend that “such fundamental issues should not be resolved through interpretations that raise serious social and constitutional concerns,” pointing instead to a deeply rooted reality in “the Polish legal system, cultural tradition, and the Christian understanding of marriage and family, which for centuries have co-shaped European understanding of humanity.”
The episcopate stressed that the debate on marriage “should be conducted with responsibility, calm, and genuine concern for the common good.”
Meanwhile, Slovak lawmaker Michal Šabo “married” his male partner in Hainburg, Austria, just across the Slovak border, where same-sex marriage is legal. He wants Slovakia to recognize the marriage, but the countryʼs constitution has defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman since 2014, and a September 2025 amendment recognized only two sexes, male and female.
Šabo knows Slovakia cannot register the union and would eventually sue the country over it, former minister Milan Krajniak warned. The progressives “do not want tolerance” but want others “to have to accept their idea of the world,” the former minister claimed.
In April, after elections in Hungary, the EUʼs top court ruled that the countryʼs 2021 law limiting the promotion of LGBT and gender-related issues to minors, passed under outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, breached the EUʼs founding values.
Pope Leo XIV meets with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson
Pope Leo met with the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, at the Vatican on May 28.
Johnson, who has served as mayor since 2023, met with the pontiff for the first time since his election. He also used the occasion to formally invite the pontiff to visit his native city, Chicago.
In a press briefing to journalists after the audience, Johnson explained that the two discussed the policies of the United States government under President Donald Trump, including immigration and the Iran conflict.
Johnson: Trumpʼs actions in Iran are tyrannical
The Democratic mayor sharply criticized Trump in remarks to journalists, calling him a “tyrant” as well as a “disgrace” for involving the U.S. in the Israel-Iran conflict. He also said he discussed his concerns about the administration with Pope Leo and described his recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, as a “call to action” to work to avoid wars.
“I think the popeʼs encyclical is a call to action for the entire planet,” Johnson told journalists at the briefing. “Illegal wars do not leave just a trail of tears and trauma, but it also harms and brutalize our humanity. The economic drive with which [Trump] is moving is selfish.”
Leo XIV has regularly criticized the U.S.-Israel war in Iran as unjust.
Johnson, reflecting on his discussions with the pope, stated that “his position around Trump was more about disagreement with his approach.”
“In the midst of a brutal, horrific, and ignorant tyrant that is currently occupying the White House, it is imperative that we really walk in the true essence of our faith. The impact of his failures on our global economy is quite severe. It is a disgrace to the sensibility of our humanity,” Johnson said.
The Chicago mayor also said the two spoke about the Trump administrationʼs immigration enforcement, specifically raids by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“We did discuss ICE. The pope wanted to know how ICE impacted our city and whether there were still examples of ICE raids happening in our city. I talked about how our rapid response team came together to support families. And then I talked about my executive orders, for which he was very gracious and encouraging, especially those I signed to protect the people of Chicago.”
Praise for Leoʼs apology for slavery
Leo XIV presented his first encyclical on May 25 at the Vatican, offering moral guidance amid widespread concern about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence.
In the text, Leo issued an apology for the Churchʼs role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Johnson praised the pope for his courage and explained that he had discussed the legacy of slavery with him.
“We talked about the conditions that the long legacy of slavery and disinvestment has had on Black Americans and Black people around the world,” Johnson said. “I engaged in a conversation with him around reparations and why it is important to work to repair the harm caused by the brutal legacy of slavery.”
Yusef Jackson, the son of renowned civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., was also part of the mayorʼs delegation that visited the pope. He praised Leo for his apology on behalf of the Church for slavery.
“The pope is a powerful man. The color of his title commands respect around the world. For him to use the color of that title, coming from Chicago, a very segregated and class-divided city, with the bona fides to be a freedom fighter, meant a lot to me. He is a pope that I agree with,” Jackson said.
An invitation to come to Chicago
Johnson also presented the pope with an official letter inviting him to visit Chicago and offer Mass at Grant Park. He wrote the letter after being advised by the Catholic archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich.
Speaking about the possibility of a future visit by Leo, he described his feelings and those of the city as hopeful.
“We are going to remain hopeful. We have an open invitation for the pope to come to the city of Chicago. Ultimately, it will be his decision whether his schedule allows him to come. Some of the greatest voices for justice come from the city of Chicago. And that beloved city, of course, birthed Pope Leo XIV.”
Along with the official invitation letter, the pontiff was presented with a ceremonial key to the city of Chicago.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the first name of Cardinal Blase Cupich. (Published May 29, 2026)
As Trump welcomes more Afrikaner refugees, Catholic bishops call for others to also be included
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has raised the cap for Afrikaner refugees but kept capacity restrictions on refugees from other countries, which sparked disapproval from Bishop Brendan J. Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria, Texas.
Cahill, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, welcomed the decision to admit 10,000 more Afrikaners as refugees but said in a statement that resettlement opportunities should be more broadly available.
Afrikaners are a white minority descendent of Dutch settlers. In February, the White House issued a statement that accused the South African government of racial discrimination against Afrikaners through land seizures permitted under the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024. The South African government denies racial discrimination.
On May 28, the administration updated the federal register to change the cap on Afrikaner refugees from 7,500 to 17,500, citing an “unforeseen emergency refugee situation.”
Cahill, in a May 28 statement, said the U.S. has a long-standing moral and historical commitment to offering refuge to people fleeing persecution but stressed that the U.S. refugee program should not be limited to “favoring one particular group.”
“For decades, the United States was known for offering this opportunity, not favoring one particular group but granting relief in accordance with our laws, our shared values, and the national interest,” he said. “Today, however, that is sadly not the case.”
He urged the government to restore broader refugee admissions and ensure that vulnerable people of all backgrounds have access to safety.
“We appreciate the administration’s acknowledgement that our country can continue to resettle refugees, and we renew our call for resettlement to be extended further to others in need, including those persecuted on the basis of their faith, the likes of whom have no access to refuge in our country at this time,” Cahill said.
Fulani militants cause most deaths in Nigeria religious violence, USCIRF says
Fulani militants caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria in the past year, according to the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
“Conflicting media narratives and reported government censorship have hindered accurate analysis of the identities and motivations of the alarming number of armed nonstate actors that violate religious freedom in Nigeria,” USCIRF said in a recent issue update examining how Fulani militant groups have contributed to “deteriorating religious freedom conditions” in Nigeria.
Though some cite economic and environmental factors or genocidal intent against non-Muslims as driving Fulani-led violence, USCIRF said, “in fact, multiple and overlapping factors, including religion in many cases, likely spur Fulani militants to attack communities or individuals.”
The Fulani are a Muslim-majority ethnic group that originates from northern Nigeria and represents around 6% of Nigeria’s total population of about 242.4 million people. Among the Fulani population, an estimated 30,000 operate as militant groups of 10 to 1,000 members across the country and are concentrated mostly in the northwest and Middle Belt region, according to USCIRF.
“Regardless of these complex motivating factors, the escalation of Fulani-led land invasions and other violent assaults has yielded the same outcomes: severely disrupting the lives, livelihoods, and ability to worship of many Christian and Muslim farmers while triggering their mass displacement and depriving them of their lands,” USCIRF said.
The commission cited instances of Fulani militants targeting both non-Fulani Muslim communities and Christian communities in the Middle Belt region, burning homes and churches, killing hundreds, and using sexual violence and kidnapping as tools of intimidation or extortion.
USCIRF estimated that Fulani attacks have resulted in the displacement of at least 1.3 million people in the Middle Belt region, leading them into “unsanitary and unsafe conditions in displacement camps.”
The response of federal and state authorities to Fulani attacks has been described as “unsatisfactory at best and complicit at worst,” USCIRF said, noting that victims have reported consistent failure of security forces to respond promptly to attacks on their communities and that “some Christian advocates have continued to suggest that security forces responding to or investigating attacks routinely show favoritism toward Muslim communities.”
USCIRF said Fulani militants “have continued to carry out large-scale incursions onto Christian farmers’ agricultural lands, violent raids on Christian and Muslim religious sites, and kidnappings of laity and leaders from both religions” despite the Trump administration’s designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) in October 2025 and ongoing bilateral security discussions.
“As a result, central Nigeria remains entrenched in an intense, daily, and seemingly perpetual crisis of insecurity — a crisis that is likely to persist until the federal and several state governments create broader underlying conditions that are more conducive to the safe practice of religious freedom,” the commission said.
U.S. bishops’ report shows slight rise in abuse claims as settlement amounts surge 69%
Abuse allegations rose slightly in 2025 but remained far below 2021 levels, while settlement amounts paid during 2025 increased by 69% over the previous year, according to the U.S. bishops’ annual report.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released the 2025 report with findings from an audit on sexual abuse allegations in the Church.
According to the report, in 2025 the Church conducted about 2.3 million background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers. There were about 2.3 million adults and 2.8 million children and youth trained how to identify the warning signs of abuse and report those signs.
The report "stands as evidence that the Church not only continues to prevent child sexual abuse and reconcile with past victims but also ensures that audits serve as effective tools for accountability and prevention,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the USCCB, said in the report.
“By the end of 2025, 100% of the 196 dioceses and eparchies had participated in at least one on-site audit, marking a historic milestone — the first time since the Charter’s inception that full participation has been achieved,” Coakley wrote.
The report, "Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," is the 23rd since the U.S. bishops adopted the charter in 2002 to address clergy sexual abuse of minors and establish nationwide safeguarding protocols.
Settlement amounts increase
An increase in the settlement amounts paid during 2025, which increased by 69%, accounted for the rise in costs related to allegations, the report said.
Dioceses and eparchies that responded to the survey and reported costs related to abuse allegations paid about $389.9 million between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, including payouts for allegations from previous years. Total costs for 2025 were 61% higher than $242.8 million recorded in 2024, the report said. Costs also included therapy, attorneys’ fees, and other allegation‑related expenses.
Report notes slight differences in numbers, demographics from 2024
The 2025 report covers July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. During that period, 1,070 allegations were reported by 973 victims of child sexual abuse involving alleged clergy offenders across 194 Catholic dioceses and eparchies.
The 2025 report showed 168 more allegations than in the previous audit year. In 2024, the report noted a drop of 406 allegations from the year before.
The allegations involve reports of abuse between an alleged victim and an alleged offender, whether the abuse occurred once or over a period of time. The abuse was alleged to have occurred primarily from the 1950s to the present.
Compared with fiscal 2024, slightly more victims who reported abuse are male. In 2025, 87% of abuse victims were male, compared with 84% in 2024.
The 2025 numbers differ from 2024 in regard to the victims’ ages when the abuse first began. There was a 7 percentage point increase in the number of victims who were 9 or younger and a 10 percentage point decrease in the victims who were between the ages of 10 and 14.
In 2025, 27% of victims reported abuse started when they were 9 or younger; 50% were between 10 and 14; 20% were between 15 to 17; and for 20% the age is unknown.
Allegations that were received as a result of lawsuits, compensation programs, and bankruptcies make up about 60% of the 2025 allegations.
Out of the 1,070 allegations, 231 allegations were made by self-disclosure while the rest were made by someone else on behalf of the victims and survivors.
The report found that 727 allegations were brought to the attention of the diocesan or eparchial representatives through an attorney, and 112 were made by spouses, relatives, or other representatives such as other dioceses or eparchies, religious orders, clergy members, or law enforcement officials.
The number of clerics accused of sexual abuse of a minor during the audit period totaled 837.
Accused clergy members were classified as priests, deacons, unknown, or other. “Unknown” refers to cases where the victim could not identify the accused, while “other” refers to clergy from another diocese whose ordination and incardination details were unavailable.
Accused priests of the audit period totaled 704. Of this total, 552 were diocesan priests, 120 belonged to a religious order, and 32 were incardinated elsewhere. There were 14 deacons accused, 12 of whom were diocesan deacons and two were religious order deacons.
The report was comprised of the independent audit by StoneBridge Business Partners, the progress report from the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, and the survey of allegations and costs from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
Moving forward, the report noted that the USCCB’s Board and Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People will meet every year to review and make recommendations on the matter.
As the bishops recognize “that parishes and schools are on the front lines of any diocese’s or eparchy’s Charter compliance efforts,” the bishops also “strongly recommend that dioceses/eparchies conduct regular audits of their parishes and schools.”
“I hope and pray that, through collective efforts, we remain vigilant and committed to the work needed to prevent the evil of child sexual abuse — not only in the Church but in society. May our ‘Promise to Protect and Pledge to Heal’ reach all God’s children,” Coakley wrote.
Pro-life groups warn that Mexican Supreme Court seeks to legalize abortion across the nation
Pro-life organizations in Mexico are warning that a draft ruling set to be debated by a full session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN, by its Spanish acronym) seeks to move toward the “total decriminalization” of abortion.
According to these groups, such a move would eliminate legal protections for the unborn in Mexico and open the door to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
On May 28, the SCJN is scheduled to debate the draft ruling regarding Constitutional Challenge 172/2024, authored by Supreme Court Justice-Rapporteur Irving Espinosa Betanzo.
The proposal posits that “removing abortion from penal codes is fundamental to precluding criminal proceedings and eradicating both social criminalization and that which occurs within healthcare services.”
The constitutional challenge, filed in 2024 by the federal executive branch and the National Human Rights Commission, seeks to invalidate articles of the Aguascalientes State Law for the Protection of Life, which establishes that “from the moment an individual is conceived, he/she falls under the protection of the present law.”
The challenge also seeks to invalidate articles of the penal code of the state of Aguascalientes, which reduce the time frame for abortion on demand from 12 to six weeks of gestation.
Citing the feminist nongovernmental organization Group for Information on Elective Reproduction (GIRE, by its Spanish acronym), which promotes the abortion agenda in Mexico, the draft ruling states that “the only way to eliminate criminalization is through total decriminalization, whereby abortion would be regulated solely within the realm of public health.”
GIRE is regarded by the U.S. abortion provider Planned Parenthood as one of its “allies and partners,” which “we are proud to stand with ... for sexual and reproductive health and rights,” it said.
According to the proposal presented by Espinosa, “achieving the full decriminalization of abortion in Mexico would be a historic milestone that marks a turning point in the fight for reproductive justice.”
In a May 27 interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Uriel Esqueda, leader of campaigns for the Actívate (Get Active) platform, noted that “what this Aguascalientes case seeks to do is completely strip away even the slightest protection for the human being in the womb,” thereby setting a “precedent” that would subsequently be replicated in other states to liberalize access to abortion.
“At the end of the day, by repealing the criminalization of abortion, you open the door to allowing abortion at any stage of pregnancy,” he pointed out.
The pro-life organization Red Familia (Family Network) warned that the constitutional challenge would “increasingly narrow the scope of legislative discretion available to the states."
"Although it does not formally establish a single time limit for abortion across Mexico," the group said, "it’s a push toward a uniform national model constructed upon judicial criteria rather than democratic deliberation [going through the legislative process]; in doing so, it risks a direct confrontation with governors and legislators.”
“We are deeply concerned that this draft ruling not only invalidates in a practically comprehensive manner the regulations democratically approved by the Aguascalientes Congress but also moves toward a logic of structural decriminalization of abortion in Mexico by maintaining that the very use of criminal law to protect life in gestation would be contrary to the democratic rule of law,” said Laura Hernández, director of public affairs for Red Familia, in a press release to ACI Prensa.
Rodrigo Iván Cortes, president of the National Front for the Family, stated in a video message that “the Supreme Court intends to commit a supreme injustice this week, as they plan to vote on a proposal to remove the crime of abortion [from the statutes of] Aguascalientes,” thereby permitting the practice throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy and doing so “with repercussions that could extend across the entire republic.”
“Mexico does not need more death; we have enough already with the hundreds of thousands of people murdered by organized crime, without the Supreme Court now seeking to legalize the death of the most innocent [human beings],” he stated.
‘Activist judges’
Esqueda charged that “today, in the [Supreme] Court, we do not have impartial judges; we have activists who answer to ideological agendas and minority interest groups.”
He further criticized the Supreme Court justices, stating that “today, they feel they’re legislators and that they’re above the states.”
Following judicial reform in 2024, justices of the SCJN are elected by popular vote. The current members took office on Sept. 1, 2025, and will serve terms ranging from eight to 11 years.
The leader of campaigns for Actívate lamented that, although the change in the court’s composition came with promises to “protect Mexicans,” the justices could this Thursday leave “the human being in the mother’s womb without any form of protection. So these Mexicans are second-class citizens? They don’t matter?”
Esqueda urged people to join the campaign launched by Actívate, which has gathered more than 2,400 signatures demanding that the justices not approve the draft ruling proposed by Espinosa, and encouraging Mexicans “not to remain indifferent.”
“Today, a group of justices feel they own the country, and we cannot allow that,” he stated.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
PHOTOS: National Eucharistic Pilgrimage processes through historic Savannah, Georgia
After beginning their trek on Sunday, May 24, in St. Augustine, Florida, pilgrims participating in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage spent four days in Georgia.
Founded in 1874 by Benedictine missionaries to serve Savannah’s African American Catholic community, Our Lady of Good Hope served as the starting point for the approximately one-mile Eucharistic procession through rain-soaked streets beneath Spanish moss and along Savannah marshlands before arriving at Villa Marie Center, established in 1967 as a Catholic summer camp for children in largely Protestant Savannah.
The procession on Tuesday included clergy, Knights of Columbus members, families, and pilgrims carrying the Blessed Sacrament beneath a canopy despite heavy rain that later cleared during the route.
The next day, May 27, pilgrims processed with the Eucharist through historic downtown Savannah from Forsyth Park to the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist. The procession passed notable Savannah landmarks including Forsyth Park and the Confederate Memorial before arriving at the cathedral for prayer and worship.
On May 28, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage makes it way to Charleston, South Carolina, where it will remain until departing for Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday, May 31. After that it will continue to make its way up the northeast corridor of the United States.