The enduring appeal of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, one of France’s most beloved saints
During the First World War, before being proclaimed a saint, devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux became particularly widespread in France. Soldiers carried medals and images of her, and many French Catholics saw her as a spiritual companion and intercessor.
The Carmelite nun, patron saint of missions, and the youngest doctor of the Church died at the age of 24 and was canonized in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. She was declared the second patron saint of France in 1944, during the Battle of Normandy, by Pope Pius XII.
The town of Lisieux, a 90-minute train ride from Paris, is where Thérèse spent her entire religious life. It is the second most visited pilgrimage destination in France, after Lourdes, with over 2 million pilgrims every year.
Last year, in Pope Leo XIV’s message on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the canonization of St. Thérèse’s parents, Louis and Zélie Martin, he called the faithful to “put Jesus at the centre of your families, your activities, and your choices. Help your children discover His boundless love and tenderness, and strive to make them love Him in return as He deserves: this is the great lesson that Louis and Zélie teach us today, and which the Church and the world so urgently need. How could Thérèse have loved Jesus and Mary so much — and then passed on such a beautiful doctrine to us — if she had not learned it from her saintly parents from an early age?”
Thérèse lost her mother when she was just 4 years old and endured periods of illness and intense emotional sensitivity as a child. At 14, however, she experienced a moment of spiritual transformation where she received a special grace from God.
In France, young children left their shoes by the hearth at Christmas, and parents would fill them with gifts. But her sister Celine didnʼt want Thérèse to grow up, so they continued to place gifts in “baby” Thérèseʼs shoes. As she and Celine climbed the stairs to take off their hats their fatherʼs voice rose from the parlor below. Standing over the shoes, he said: “Thank goodness thatʼs the last time we shall have this kind of thing!” Thérèse froze, and her sister looked at her helplessly, knowing that in a few minutes she would be in tears over what their father had said.
But the tantrum never came. A special grace came over Thérèse as Jesus had done what she could not do herself. She swallowed her tears, walked slowly down the stairs, and went over the gifts in the shoes, as if she had never heard a word her father said. In her autobiography, “Story of Soul,” she referred to that Christmas as her “conversion.”
From childish to childlike
In his book “The Way of Trust and Love,” French priest Jacques Philippe explores St. Thérèse of Lisieuxʼs “Little Way” to holiness. He recalls that “through seemingly insignificant events, God can heal us deeply. Sometimes we feel a call from the Lord to step outside ourselves, to take a step forward, to become more mature, more free. There are times in life when we dwell on our immaturity, our complaints, our laments, our dependencies, and then suddenly one day we are given grace, a gift from God, but one that also calls upon our freedom. There is a choice to be made; it is both healing and conversion: freedom must choose to perform an act of courage.”
He then later proposes: “Let us then ask God this question: What is the ‘yes’ you are asking of me today? What is the small act of courage and trust you are asking me to do today?”
For St. Thérèse, it was about overcoming her emotional sensitivity. For others, it might be learning to control their tongue, be more optimistic, or manage their temper.
A ‘Little Way’ for everyone
From the very beginning of her life, Thérèse desired to be a saint; still, when she entered the convent, she also thought how inaccessible and unrealizable it was when she compared herself to others.
And here, perhaps, is where we can learn one of her most powerful teachings: never lose courage.
She goes on: “Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new … It is your arms, Jesus, which are the lift to carry me to heaven, and so there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must stay little and become less and less.”
But by “little,” Thérèse does not suggest we think of ourselves as of small value; instead, she reminds us of an unchanging truth: We are children of God.
As St. John Paul II on his apostolic trip to France in June 1980 recalled: “There is something unique about it, a characteristic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In it, one finds both the confirmation and the renewal of the most fundamental and universal truth. What truth in the Gospel message is more fundamental and universal than this: God is our Father, and we are his children?”
And like children who trust, even if thrown into the air, in the safety of returning to their parents' arms, we must trust in the providence of our Father, with a deep knowledge of his unlimited and unconditional love for us: “In truth I tell you, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3).
A missionary without ever leaving home
Proclaimed the patron saint of missionaries for her support of the missions through constant prayer and sacrifice despite being a cloistered nun who never left her convent, she said: “My strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; they are invincible weapons, and touch hearts more surely than words can do, as I have learned by experience.”
To many, even in the convent, she seemed like an average, ordinary person. Her greatness showed in the constancy of her love for others in the simplest ways. Perhaps some of the missionary work we are called to do today doesn’t necessarily begin externally but within our hearts. As the saint herself wrote: “A word, a kindly smile, will often suffice to gladden a wounded and sorrowful heart.”
Thérèse also found strength in Scripture: “But above all it is the Gospels that occupy me during my prayers; in them I find everything that is necessary for my poor little soul. I constantly discover in them new lights, hidden and mysterious meanings.”
Her life was characterized by austerity, far from recognition and noise from the world. She died anonymously in 1897 at the young age of 24, and no more than 30 people attended her funeral.
This saint’s life and journal is a legacy for all who want to learn a simple and practical approach toward their relationship with God. Her advice is for everyone: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
Being a businessman is a vocation and a path to holiness, Catholic expert says
“Being a businessman (or woman) is a true vocation,” and work “well done” can be “a path of service and holiness,” said Luis Fernando Calvo, director of the Tomás Moro (Thomas More) Institute, on the occasion of the first event to be held by the Costa Rican Association of Christian Businessmen.
The association’s first event on Oct. 1 will feature a lecture titled “Business Organization in the Church’s Social Thought.” It will be delivered by Calvo, author of “John Paul II, Friend of Man: Capitalism in the Thought of a Saint.”
Speaking to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Calvo noted that “the Church’s social doctrine offers clear criteria for the Christian businessman to exercise his vocation with consistency, honesty, and a sense of responsibility toward their workers and the common good.”
In the business vocation, he noted, “God invites the businessman to assist in his creation, to improve it, and to make it more habitable for humanity.”
“Being a businessman transcends profit, though profit is necessary, because the businessman, through his expertise and effort, creates jobs, goods, and services that benefit those who acquire them, and contributes to building societies that are more worthy of the human person,” he said.
In this regard, he said his lecture aims to “help businessmen discover that their work, when well done, is also a path of service and holiness.”
“A business is not merely an instrument for generating profit but a community of people called to serve society,” Calvo emphasized.
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.
U.S. bishops post $43.6M gain despite refugee-program revenue plunge
Financial reports for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) revealed a $43.6 million increase in net assets from 2024 to 2025 despite a 60% decline in federal refugee program grants.
The bishops said their money grew mostly because long-term investments did well in 2025. Altogether, the investment pool made a 15.2% return, said Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the conference. The conference ended 2025 with an increase in net assets from $340.4 million to $383.9 million.
"The increase in net assets was due primarily to the performance of the long-term investment pool in 2025, which received $16.3 million in investment income (interest income and dividends) as well as an increase in unrealized gains of $27.2 million due to positive market performance,” Noguchi said.
The USCCB’s financial audits for 2024 and 2025 showed total operating expenses fell about $100 million because migrant program activity contracted. Funding for refugee programs fell from $180.46 million to $72.23 million.
The $43.6 million increase in net assets represents a nearly 13% increase, according to the audit, which reflects the USCCB’s financial position as of Dec. 31, 2025.
The USCCB said in its audit that it did not renew its refugee‑resettlement agreements after the federal suspension of grants “rendered the programs financially unsustainable leading to a reduction in conference staff whose positions were funded by those programs.”
According to the audit, the reduction of the refugee program and its staff contributed to a decrease in the conference’s overall operational expenses, which declined from $281.9 million in 2024 to $189.6 million in 2025.
Overall, the USCCB’s financial position has strengthened over the past four years, with its net assets growing from $268.4 million in 2022 to $304.9 million in 2023, according to its 2022-2023 audit, to $340.4 million in 2024, and $383.9 in 2025.
The year-to-year increase in net assets comes despite fluctuations in the conference’s investment portfolio. In 2022, the USCCB reported $75.4 million in unrealized investment losses. The portfolio returned to gains in the following years, with the conference reporting $35.4 million in unrealized investment gains in 2023, $11.6 million in 2024, and $27.2 million in 2025.
National collections declined slightly from $82.3 million in 2024 to $80.6 million in 2025, while national collections program expenses increased by $9.1 million, according to the report. However, national collections are “restricted by the donor for a specific purpose” and therefore do not play a role in offsetting the conference’s loss of refugee program funding.
Zambia archbishop released on bail after night in jail
LUSAKA, Zambia — Archbishop Alick Banda of the Archdiocese of Lusaka in Zambia has been released from Chimbokaila Correctional Facility after meeting the bail conditions set by the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court.
The archbishop spent a night in custody after he could not complete the bail process before close of business, despite the court granting him bail of 80,000 Zambian kwacha (about $4,094) on Sept. 28.
Banda was arrested by Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) over the alleged possession of property suspected to have been unlawfully obtained, contrary to Section 319 of the Penal Code.
The charge relates to a blue Toyota Hilux bearing registration number ALF 7734, which the DEC alleges Banda had in his possession between April 22, 2021, and Dec. 27, 2023.
According to the particulars of the case, the vehicle is alleged to have been unlawfully obtained from the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA).
The DEC said the vehicle forms part of a wider investigation involving approximately 22 ZRA motor vehicles allegedly disposed of improperly.
The archbishop appeared before Magistrate Mwandu Nakazwe, where he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court granted him 80,000 Zambian kwacha (about $4,094) bail on his own recognizance (meaning he does not need to pay up front), requiring three working sureties (guarantors — usually family members or responsible parties) who are each bound to pay the sum of 50,000 Zambian kwacha (about $2,560) if the accused takes off or skips court.
The court also ordered the archbishop to surrender his travel documents.
Following his release, Banda will remain subject to the court process as he awaits further proceedings in the case.
The allegations against him remain unproven, and the archbishopʼs “not guilty” plea means the matter will now proceed through the judicial process.
The archbishop’s arrest has generated varied reactions among members of the public, with calls for calm and for the legal process to be allowed to proceed without inflammatory statements.
Members of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed solidarity with Banda as he appeared before the DEC, calling for fairness, dignity, and due process.
In a statement issued Sept. 28, the Zambian bishops also called for spiritual solidarity with Banda as he faces the charges.
The bishops affirmed their deep respect for Banda’s pastoral ministry and his tireless dedication to serving the Church and the nation.
“In this moment, we recall the Church’s teaching that every person is entitled to fairness, dignity, and due process. We therefore call upon all concerned to ensure that these principles are upheld without prejudice or intimidation,” they said.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Massachusetts report reveals ‘nearly 1,000 children’ abused by hundreds of priests across 3 dioceses
Nearly 1,000 children were abused by hundreds of priests across three dioceses in Massachusetts for decades, a report by the state’s attorney general said.
The report, published on Sept. 30, found evidence that “more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children over the course of a century in the Dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester,” state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said.
Leaders of the three dioceses failed to respond to allegations of abuse over the years, the attorney general said; diocesan leadership often transferred accused priests to other parishes and “failed to consistently report allegations to law enforcement,” according to the report.
Among the contributing factors to the abuse epidemic, according to the report, was a “culture of reverence and indulgence” toward priests.
Around mid-century, priests “were viewed as holy, and their attention or attachment to a particular family was encouraged,” the report says. These social dynamics “allowed offending priests easy access to victims.”
The investigation was launched in 2019 and involved more than 300,000 pages of documentation as well as interviews with more than 100 people, including victims of child sex abuse.
The inquiry is similar to those that have been undertaken in other states, including in Michigan, where the state’s attorney general has periodically released reports on the seven dioceses there.
The Massachusetts report covers every diocese in the state except the Archdiocese of Boston. That archdiocese has been subject to lengthy scrutiny after having been among the earliest subjects of abuse inquiries starting in 2002.
The attorney general’s report said the three dioceses “often intentionally did not document child sexual abuse allegations or used coded and euphemistic language to conceal them.” The office said it “worked diligently to create as complete a record as possible” of abuse in the dioceses.
As with similar reports in other states, the Massachusetts investigation mostly concerned abuse that was decades old. The “majority of known abuse” occurred “before 2002,” prior to major public awareness of the clergy abuse scandal, the report said.
The report expressed hope that the investigation would “result in a stronger commitment to a safer environment within these dioceses.” It thanked the child abuse victims who came forward to contribute to the inquiry.
It was not immediately clear how many of the instances of abuse in the report had already been identified and/or reported by the three dioceses. A query to the state attorney general’s office was not immediately returned.
Dioceses apologize
Both the Worcester Diocese and the Fall River Diocese had issued responses to the report by the afternoon of Sept. 30 in which they apologized to victims of sexual abuse. A statement from the Diocese of Worcester said it would study the report to “identify any additional improvements” it could make to its child safety policies.
The diocese noted that the report found the “vast majority of cases” occurred decades ago and that it had significantly updated its screening procedures in the years since.
Fall River Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, SDV, meanwhile, said in a statement that he was “filled with sorrow” over the details of the report.
The diocese has developed a “culture of protection” to ensure children are not abused, including reporting abuse allegations to law enforcement and enhancing safety protocols, the bishop said.
Da Cunha said that during his time as bishop he has “learned much about the best practices for protecting children and vulnerable adults in our care.”
Bishop Barron in Rome: Despite tension, Catholicism is deeply aligned with American ideals
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, argued that Catholic theology is deeply compatible with the founding of the United States as it marks its 250th anniversary.
The evangelist and founder of Word on Fire Ministries delivered the keynote address at the “America at 250” event at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See in Rome on Sept. 30. The embassy sponsored the event, and U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch was present.
Catholicism and America: A shared but tense history
In his speech, Barron praised the relationship between the Catholic Church and the U.S. while acknowledging tense moments in their shared history.
“I speak to you today as both a proud American and a proud bishop of the Catholic Church,” Barron said. “I stand with those who see no essential or fundamental tension between these two identities. To be sure, Catholicism and America have had a somewhat rocky relationship over the past two and a half centuries, and their rapport has been variously interpreted.”
Burch, speaking to EWTN News on the sidelines, described this tension as indicative of a unique moment in U.S. history, particularly with the first U.S.-born pope, Leo XIV.
“You have this extraordinary confluence of circumstances where you have an American pope, and you have a president and an administration filled with many Catholics,” Burch said. “The American experiment itself has a lot of common ground with the Churchʼs teaching and social doctrine.”
Catholic praise for America’s commitment to human rights
Barron said the U.S. founders drew on a mix of sources and that their ideas shouldn’t be reduced to modern secular philosophy alone. St. John Paul II explained rights differently, he said.
“During his first trip to the U.S. as pope in 1979, John Paul praised our country for its commitments to human rights, defined in a theological rather than Hobbesian way,” Barron said. “Instead of grounding rights in individual desire, John Paul II grounds them in human dignity.”
Speaking to EWTN News on the sidelines, Barron also described his involvement with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which is tasked with defending religious freedom, as a Catholic bishop.
“Well, Iʼve just started on that commission. I spent a year with the national commission that President Trump established, but this one was established by Congress many years ago. We just had our first meetings by Zoom because I was here in Rome,” Barron explained.
“Itʼs a watchdog group to keep an eye on violations of religious liberty.”
Barron will ordain 18 deacons for the Pontifical North American College at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 1.
Brian Schumacher contributed to this report.
Vatican official says Vatican finances need more scrutiny despite progress
A Vatican official called for greater scrutiny of Vatican finances after roughly 15 years of reforms.
Monsignor Anthony Ekpo, assessor for general affairs of the Secretariat of State and president of the Financial Security Committee, spoke at a conference at Rome’s Luiss University on Sept. 29. According to Vatican News, the event marked 15 years since Pope Benedict XVI introduced anti-money-laundering legislation at the Vatican in late 2010.
Ekpo, in his remarks, stressed that ongoing financial reform at the Vatican is necessary to confront new technologies used in financial crime that may threaten it.
“The next 15 years will bring risks that would have been difficult to imagine in 2010: increasingly complex financial technologies, instantaneous cross-border transactions, activities involving virtual assets, artificial intelligence, and new forms of financial crime,” Ekpo said.
In 2010, Italian authorities seized 23 million euros from accounts linked to the Vatican bank during an anti-money-laundering investigation and later returned the funds. In response, Pope Benedict established the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF), a Vatican institution to prevent money laundering.
Ekpo highlighted the context in which Benedict implemented anti-money-laundering legislation and noted the progress made by Popes Francis and Leo XIV, who approved a new ASIF statute in June.
“Today, 15 years on, we can recognize significant progress,” Ekpo said.
“A culture of financial integrity has gradually developed through the patient work of legislators, regulatory and supervisory authorities, financial intelligence experts, law enforcement agencies, judges, and institutions.”
Documentary about St. Carlo Acutis premieres at the Vatican
Roughly a year after the canonization of Carlo Acutis — the first millennial saint — an authorized documentary about him is set to premiere worldwide.
“Carlo Acutis: The Young Saint” premiered at the Vatican Film Library on Sept. 29. The documentary, featuring never-before-seen footage of Acutis’ life and family, also marks the 20th anniversary of his death from leukemia in 2006.
From home videos to photos of his pilgrimages to sites such as Rome, Milan, and Fátima, the film, according to a press release, will convey the impact of Carlo’s message and his relatable holiness.
The documentary will be shown in Italian theaters from Oct. 15–21 before premiering in Europe and then in North America in February 2027.
‘Carlo still works miracles in a world no longer interested in God’
Among those present at the Vatican for the screening was Carlo’s mother, Antonia Salzano Acutis. Speaking to EWTN News on the sidelines after the screening, she reflected on the impact of Carlo’s 2025 canonization. Antonia described his legacy as proving that God exists in a world where he is often forgotten.
“In todayʼs world, it almost seems as if faith has become something obsolete: People are distant, technology is idolized to the extreme, as though people no longer care about God,” she told EWTN News. “Carlo, on the other hand, calls us back to eternal life and reminds us of the truth that God exists.”
She also spoke on the comfort of seeing the impact of her son’s intercession worldwide, particularly after his death 20 years ago.
“Carlo used to say, 'We will all climb Golgotha sooner or later, wonʼt we?’ But he also said that a good life isnʼt necessarily a long life; it is a life where one truly manages to put God first,” she recounted.
“Many parents unfortunately lose their children, because some go earlier and some go later. But seeing everything happening now is certainly a powerful witness to my own faith, because I can genuinely see how the Lord works through Carlo.”
Pope Leo XIV canonized Carlo Acutis together with Pier Giorgio Frassati on Sept. 7, 2025.
“I Am With You,” an EWTN special documentary about Carlo’s life, is available to watch online.
Vatican nuncio to German bishops: Pope and Eucharist prevent a ‘Christian-flavored NGO’
The popeʼs ambassador to Germany told the countryʼs bishops this week that the Churchʼs visible unity rests on two pillars: the papacy and the Eucharist.
Without them, he warned, the Church would become “a mere federation of individual communities, or even a Christian-flavored NGO [nongovernmental organization],” CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, reported.
Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, the apostolic nuncio, spoke at the opening of the German bishops' conference fall plenary assembly in Fulda, which runs through Oct. 1.
The bishops' conference published the full address.
“The Catholic Church rests on two great pillars of its visible unity — the Petrine ministry and the Eucharist,” van Megen told the German bishops on Sept. 28. “The pope safeguards the unity of faith and ecclesial communion, while the Eucharist sacramentally realizes and nourishes this unity.”
The Eucharist “is not merely a symbol of unity,” van Megen said, but “actually creates and strengthens the communion of the Church.” The popeʼs ministry, he added, “is not an end in itself.” Its task is “to protect and foster that communion which finds its highest expression in the celebration of the Eucharist.”
The Dutch prelate cautioned that the two do not guarantee unity “in a purely organizational or mechanical sense.” Still, he said Christ “has given his Church enduring means through which its unity can be preserved and continually renewed.”
Speaking “as a representative of the Holy See,” the nuncio called Rome “the visible center and the guarantor of the unity of the universal Church, to which the Church in Germany also belongs.” He noted that the Church in Africa differs from the Church in Europe and that “no local Church is more or less a Church than another.”
Van Megen said synodality “can never be the concern of individual groups alone, while others are left behind.” He closed by telling the bishops that “where we remain in communion with him, where we listen to one another, where we preserve unity with the universal Church and the successor of Peter — there the Holy Spirit can open up new paths.”
The gathering in Fulda, in the central German state of Hesse, is also taking up life-protection questions and discussing artificial intelligence.
At a Sept. 29 press conference, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen said the Church “clearly” rejects legalizing surrogacy, arguing that it makes the child “the object of a contract among adults,” CNA Deutsch reported.
Auxiliary Bishop Anton Losinger of Augsburg warned that gene editing and prenatal genetic testing raise questions about the dignity of people with disabilities.
A question of ‘power’
Five days earlier, in an interview with katholisch.de, a portal run on behalf of the German bishops' conference, van Megen said his “impression is that Germans often want too much, too quickly.” He called the word “power,” common in documents of the controversial Synodal Way, “almost dangerous,” and said he hoped to travel to Rome at the end of October.
The Vatican has been reviewing the bylaws of the Synodal Conference, a planned permanent body meant to implement the Synodal Way, since late March.
The Roman Curia and the German bishops have held talks on its statute since 2025.
Pope Leo XIV to contemplative nuns: In a world of speed, silence is precious
Pope Leo XIV encouraged contemplative nuns to uphold their commitment to silence amid a noisy world and aging religious communities.
“[Silence] is particularly important in a world characterized by speed, where everything must be immediately visible and every void must be filled in a hurry,” Leo said.
The pontiff made these remarks during a private audience with a delegation from the International Commission of Dominican Contemplative Nuns on Sept. 30.
In June, Leo declared Sister Maria Petra Giordano venerable. An Italian Dominican nun, Giordano was selected to help revise the constitutions of Dominican nuns after the Second Vatican Council.
‘Silence helps people hear God’s voice’
In his address, Leo encouraged the sisters to remain faithful to their charism of silent contemplation and become more attentive to themselves, the outside world, and God.
“In this regard, your constitutions call for diligent observance of a fundamental value of cloistered life: silence,” Leo said.
“Keeping silence is an act of the will that engages the whole person and helps to cultivate solid relationships, because they are animated by the Word of God,” he added.
He also praised the silent witness as a “precious” service to the Church.
An uncertain future for vocations
Like his audience to a delegation from the Federation of Capuchin Poor Clare Nuns of Italy on Sept. 21, the pope addressed their declining vocations.
“Your experience… also leads you to encounter situations of difficulty: aging communities, deaths outnumbering new vocations, a decline in working capacity with consequent financial problems,” Leo remarked.
The pope then encouraged the nuns to adapt to current needs by listening to the Spirit rather than merely trying to survive.
“I invite you not to ask yourselves so much how to maintain structures that are becoming empty. Rather, listen to what the Spirit is asking of the Dominican contemplative life today,” the pope said.