In Syria, icon restoration becomes quiet fight to preserve Christian memory
In the Syrian conscience, April is not limited to World Heritage Day celebrated on April 18. Rather, the month unfolds as a full season of cultural rebirth, stretching from the ancient roots of Akitu to the solemnity of Easter and the feast of St. George, as well as the memory of the massacres of 1915 and Syria’s Independence Day.
Within this time crowded with memory, the restoration of Syrian icons emerges as an act of safeguarding identity. It repairs the fractures of time and restores to sacred figures the radiance of a history that runs deep, declaring that protecting this heritage is not a cultural luxury but a struggle for survival carried out quietly by Syrian hands.
In this context, visual artist and restorer Lia Snayej shared with ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, the path that led her into this delicate field. She said that seeing icons burned, damaged by gunfire, or covered with layers of black residue while participating in an exhibition was a shocking experience. That moment pushed her to explore restoration more deeply, before she later specialized in the field academically through a master’s degree in Russia.
Snayej said restoration brings together history, chemistry, and art, adding that protecting an icon is, at its core, protecting history.
Regarding the restoration process, she emphasized that documentation is the most important step and accompanies every stage of the work. Every detail is recorded in a special file that remains with the icon, almost like its “personal identity card.”
She explained that the work begins with studying the history of the piece and its artistic background before preparing a precise restoration plan. Not every icon, she noted, needs restoration; some require only preservation and measures to stop further deterioration. Each icon has its own condition, making restoration similar to medical treatment, with each case requiring a different diagnosis.
Snayej said the main stages of restoration include stabilizing the paint layer using special materials such as “Japanese paper,” followed by cleaning and sterilization. She described this as a very delicate stage, since a mistake could lead to the loss of color. The process then continues with retouching and the addition of a new protective layer.
Assessing the current state of icons, Snayej said the greatest danger is the lack of attention they receive. Many historic icons, she said, are sold outside Syria for very low prices, while original icons are rarely found in homes, where printed reproductions are more common.
She also criticized the neglect of some churches when it comes to restoring their icons. She recalled an incident in Lebanon, where she found two historic icons stored in poor conditions inside a damp warehouse before she took on their restoration.
Snayej also warned against daily practices that damage icons, such as placing candles directly beneath them or cleaning them with materials not intended for that purpose.
Despite the challenges — including the difficulty of obtaining restoration materials and their high cost — Snayej said she remains committed to this path. Her passion, she explained, sometimes leads her to work free of charge in order to preserve a threatened work of art.
Last month, she participated in an exhibition organized by the Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus, where she displayed two historic icons she had restored. One was a Russian icon of St. Nicholas, while the other consisted of four parts depicting the Virgin Mary, with the crucified Jesus at the center.
Snayej said what surprised her most at the event was not the exhibition itself but the level of interest shown by visitors and the number of questions they asked about the history of icons and restoration techniques. For her, this reflected a striking and genuine desire among people to rediscover this heritage.
She concluded by saying that the icon has taught her to respect artistic work and serious research, and that it has transformed her specialization into a personal commitment that goes beyond the limits of a profession.
This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Race car driver’s gift fuels mobile ministry in Ohio diocese
A cargo van donated to the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, has taken on a new purpose by becoming a mobile outreach ministry delivering food, resources, and the Gospel message to communities in need.
Toward the end of 2025, the diocese received the vehicle from Cody Coughlin, a drag racing and stock car driver from Delaware, Ohio. The race car driver “reverted” to the Catholic faith and entered into full communion with the Church a few years back at St. Paul the Apostle in Westerville, Ohio, and was eager to give back to the community.
“I’m deeply humbled and moved to be able to donate a vehicle to help nourish those in need throughout the Catholic Diocese of Columbus,” Coughlin said in the Catholic Times. “It’s a small way to support a mission that truly changes lives, and I’m grateful to be part of something that helps bring food and hope to families who need it most.”
From there, the diocese worked to come up with a plan on how the van could be properly used.
Deacon Dave Bezuko, director for Catholic Charities in the area and a permanent deacon at Our Lady of Lourdes in Marysville, Ohio, told EWTN News in an interview that they wanted it to be “something that would be useful for the parishes because … we didnʼt want to step on the toes of any of our established diocesan charities and our goal here was twofold: No. 1 letʼs equip parishes with something that they could use to support existing ministries, and [No. 2] take ministry off campus.”
Bezuko shared that it was important that the van also be covered in Catholic imagery so that it “could be like a rolling billboard of Catholicism and a sign of the Churchʼs presence out in the community, a sign of Christ’s presence in the community, a sign of hope.”
The van now features an image of Jesus at the feeding of the 5,000, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the divine mercy image, a portrait of Mother Teresa, and the words from Matthew 25:40: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
The mobile outreach van was then blessed by Bishop Earl Fernandes on March 8 outside of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption in Lancaster, Ohio.
In its first couple months of service, the van has been used for a trip to support Mary’s Mission, which serves the needs of the homeless population, and transported approximately 6,000 food items collected by Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster and the Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption. The van was also used to transport furniture donated through a furniture ministry run by a deacon at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Logan, Ohio.
The diocese also hopes to use the van as an evangelization tool by taking it to the local Fourth of July parade, high school football games, visits to nursing homes, the annual county fair, and more.
“Thereʼs so many different opportunities to be an evangelization tool as well,” Bezuko said.
As for what he hopes the impact on the community will be, Bezuko said: “The hope on the impact of the community is No. 1, again, to share that Christ is present in our communities and not just where we have our churches and our schools and our properties.”
He added: “One of those things that happens at the end of Mass, the deacon says ‘Go forth, the Mass has ended.’ Weʼre sent out into the community to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world and to be his presence and to take that elsewhere. So, this is a literal opportunity to take Christ, to take our Church, to take that love, that compassion on the road and express it.”
The deacon said he hopes this mobile outreach ministry will continue to grow and that one day they will have a “whole fleet of these running around here before too long.”
Answering call to serve the poor: Papal Foundation announces more than $15 million in grants
The Papal Foundation this week announced a record-setting $15 million in grants for its annual distribution of humanitarian aid to support more than 144 projects across 75 countries.
Since its founding, the Papal Foundation has served the Catholic Church with collaboration of laity, clergy, and hierarchy. The United States-based organization is dedicated to fulfilling the requests of the Holy Father for the needs of the Church in developing countries.
The foundation has distributed more than $270 million in grants, scholarships, and humanitarian aid to more than 2,700 projects selected by Pope Leo XIV, Pope Francis, Pope Benedict XVI, and St. John Paul II.
During his recent papal trip to Africa April 13–23, Pope Leo prayed at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, and he visited the restored Church of Notre Dame dʼAfrique. Both sites were restored through the generosity of The Papal Foundation, with investments of $90,000 each from the foundation in 2008.
This year, The Papal Foundation’s board of trustees approved $15 million, including $12,502,765 in current grants and an additional $3 million to be distributed in 2026 to further new projects.
The grants will fund initiatives across the globe including the construction and renovation of Catholic schools, classrooms, monasteries, orphanages, and medical clinics in numerous countries including Tanzania, the Central African Republic, and the Philippines.
“This year’s grants are a powerful testament to what can be accomplished through faithful stewardship and shared mission,” said Ward Fitzgerald, president of The Papal Foundation board of trustees, in a press release announcing the grants.
“Each project represents hope, meeting urgent needs and strengthening the resolve of the Catholic Church community in developing nations,” he said.
In Tanzania, the grant will aid the creation of a dormitory to rescue girls from early marriage, trafficking, and sexual abuse, and boys from school dropout. In India, a safe school for marginalized tribal children will be built.
The grants will fund the creation of a library and technology center in the Central African Republic and professional IT training for vulnerable women in the Philippines. Also, in the Republic of Guinea, a well and water tower will be built for the community.
“Supporting these life-changing grants is the core of the mission of The Papal Foundation,” Fitzgerald said. “The impact we have on the poor and most vulnerable is the organization’s gift to the Church and the Catholic Church’s gift to its people around the world.”
Requests for the grants come in from developing nations after local bishops identify the most urgent needs. They are then advanced by apostolic nuncios to the foundation’s grants committee.
The requests are then reviewed through the assessor’s office at the Vatican, led by its current assessor for general affairs of the secretariat Monsignor Anthony Onyemuche Ekpo.
Members of the foundation’s grants committee met with Ekpo this week to review proposals and begin building a working relationship.
“It was encouraging to meet Monsignor Ekpo at the start of his tenure and to hear his focus on expanding impact while strengthening efficiency and accountability,” Fitzgerald told EWTN News.
“Those are principles we take seriously. Our goal is to be the most highly disciplined and transparent steward of funds, and the most effective means to get resources to the most in need.”
Fitzgerald noted Ekpo’s work in Nigeria and in Australia, which he said has proven to be strength allowing him to bring "a clear understanding of the realities facing developing countries, along with firsthand experience in more advanced economies.”
“That perspective allows us to evaluate requests more effectively and align our resources with the priorities identified by the Holy Father,” Fitzgerald said.
Growing engagement
The Holy Father met with members of the Papal Foundation in an audience at the Vatican on May 2, where he said he was “deeply grateful” for the work of the foundation “to assist the Successor of Peter in his mission to care for the needs of the universal Church.”
“Your generosity has allowed countless people to experience in a concrete fashion the goodness and kindness of God in their own communities,” the pope said.
He pointed out that the charity workers “will probably never meet everyone who has benefitted from your kindness, so in their name I express heartfelt appreciation.”
The 2026 grants are the result of an evaluation process led by the foundation’s grants committee, chaired by Dr. Tammy Tenaglia of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, with assistance from the foundation’s mission fund committee.
The work of The Papal Foundation has been accomplished with the help of the foundation’s Stewards of Saint Peter, which is made up of North American Catholic philanthropists committed to bringing the love of Christ to those most in need.
Since Pope Leo’s election, the community of Stewards of Saint Peter has welcomed 25 new families committed to supporting the Holy Father’s mission to serve the poor.
“The growth we’re seeing is incredibly encouraging, as it reflects a shared commitment to serve, to give, and to bring the Church’s mission to life in meaningful ways across the globe,” said David Savage, executive director of The Papal Foundation.
The foundation’s annual pilgrimage to Rome the week of April 27 brought together 56 of the Steward families. Led by The Papal Foundation’s chairman, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the trip included a visit to St. Peter’s Basilica and an audience with Pope Leo XIV on Saturday, May 2.
Israel arrests man suspected of assault against French nun in Jerusalem
Israeli authorities have arrested a man suspected in an attack on Tuesday against a French nun in Jerusalem.
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“Immediately following the incident, the Israel Police opened an investigation, and the suspect was arrested last night,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in an X post on Wednesday, condemning the attack that has circulated online and extending “sincere sympathies” to the nun who was attacked.
“He remains in custody, underscoring Israel’s firm policy against violence and its determination to bring offenders to justice swiftly,” the post said.
Bishops of England and Wales elect new president
Archbishop Richard Moth of Westminster in London will serve as the next president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
“It’s a real privilege to be in this position and I really pray that, with my brother bishops, I’ll be able to serve the Catholic Church in England and Wales,” Moth said in a press release Friday. “We look at the challenges in the world around us and that very often shapes our priorities. But it’s not just about being reactive, it’s about having a real consciousness that the Gospel message is an eternal message, the fact of God’s love for us all. That’s something that’s unchanging, and it’s about bringing that message into the world.”
Moth succeeds Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who has served as president since April 2009.
Polish TikToker surpasses Guinness World Record for charity livestreaming
A 23-year-old Polish TikTok influencer, Patryk “Łatwogang” Garkowski, has landed in the Guinness World Records for the longest charitable livestream, which he ended on Sunday, April 26, at 21:37, the time of Pope John Paul IIʼs death on April 2, 2005.
The nine-day livestream raised over 251 million zlotys (around $63 million) for a children’s cancer charity, according to a report Monday from EWTN News Poland, which noted the symbolic ending of the livestream and was “a moving testimony of unity, solidarity, and hope.”
Kuwait cathedral hosts interchurch prayer for peace
Holy Family Cathedral in Kuwait hosted an interchurch prayer gathering for peace in Kuwait and the wider Middle East, bringing together Church leaders, diplomats, Christian and Muslim worshippers, and members of several national communities, ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Wednesday.
Bishop Aldo Berardi, apostolic vicar of Northern Arabia, led the prayer in the presence of Archbishop Eugene Nugent, the apostolic nuncio. In his remarks, Berardi urged those present not merely to speak about peace but to become active peacemakers, choosing dialogue amid division and hope amid despair.
The gathering concluded with representatives of different churches lighting candles and offering prayers in several languages for the safety and peace of Kuwait, known locally as “Dira al-Khair.”
South Sudan bishop mourns 14 killed in plane crash, calls for aviation safety
Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio has expressed deep sorrow following a tragic April 27 plane crash along the Yei-Juba route in South Sudan, claiming the lives of all 14 people on board.
“We stand in prayer and solidarity with the bereaved families, the government of South Sudan, the aviation company, and the entire nation during this painful moment,” Kussala said according to a report from ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on Tuesday.
“To the families, may God console your hearts and grant eternal rest to the departed. To the nation, may this tragedy renew our commitment to protecting human life,” he said. “We strongly appeal for serious scrutiny, strict safety measures, and accountability to prevent such loss in the future, especially as air travel remains a vital means in our context.”
Egypt moves toward advancing historic Christian personal status law
Egypt is moving closer to approving what could become the first unified personal status law for Christians, after the Council of Ministers approved a draft bill and prepared to send it to Parliament, ACI MENA reported Tuesday.
The measure, decades in the making, reflects Article 3 of Egypt’s constitution, which recognizes the principles of Christian and Jewish religious laws as the main source for their personal status matters.
The draft personal status law for Christians is the result of consensus among six Egyptian churches and would address engagement, marriage, divorce or annulment, custody, visitation, inheritance, and family dispute settlement.
For the Catholic Church in Egypt, spokesman Bishop Hani Nassif Wasef Bakhoum Kiroulos said the Church helped shape the text while preserving its doctrinal autonomy, especially on marriage impediments, annulment, consent, and the form of celebration.
Nigerian archdiocese announces prayers of reparation after chapel vandalized
The Archdiocese of Owerri, Nigeria, has directed a week of prayer in reparation following the desecration of a chapel in the archdiocese by unknown assailants.
The archdiocese announced with “great sadness” in an April 30 statement the desecration of the adoration chapel of St. Mulumba Parish and renewed calls for stricter adherence to Eucharistic norms, ACI Africa reported Thursday.
The statement comes after an unknown assailant broke into the adoration chapel of the parish and stole the monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. Describing the act as a grave irreverence, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji directed that all parishioners of St. Mulumba Parish observe a week of prayer in reparation.
Hundreds of Catholic schools in England to join ‘academies’
The Archdiocese of Liverpool in England has announced that all of its Catholic schools will be asked to join three Catholic Multi Academy Trusts as part of its plan “A Family in Christ: Our Future Together,” which aims to “secure and enhance” education in the archdiocese.
“The proposal to build the academy framework is a means of protecting our schools for the future to ensure that we can continue to offer excellent Catholic education to the future generations,” Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool said in a statement Thursday.
The archdiocese has a network of nearly 230 schools, according to its website. Schools belonging to religious orders may decide whether to join academies.
“I believe we are better together, working together to serve the mission, having greater support for staff and keeping control of our educational system for the future generations of Catholic children and others,” Sherrington said.
Toronto Catholic conference to explore breakdown of the social covenant
The national organization in Canada Catholic Conscience is launching a new annual conference, “Building a Culture of Life and Dignity,” with its inaugural 2026 gathering set to tackle one of the deepest problems in contemporary society: the breakdown of our shared social covenant and the erosion of human dignity from conception to natural death.
The 2026 conference, “Restoring the Covenant: Catholic Social Teaching as Common Social Ground,” will take place on Saturday, May 30, at De La Salle Oaklands College in Toronto.
The gathering is rooted in Catholic social doctrine and inspired by Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, in which he says: “Since the end of society is to make people better, the chief good that society can possess is virtue,” said Matthew Marquardt, executive director of Catholic Conscience.
Open to Catholics and all people of goodwill, the aim is to offer Catholic social teaching as a roadmap for renewing public life, Marquardt said.
The conference is meant to be a place where young professionals, potential volunteers, and benefactors can begin to match their skills and resources to the Church’s most pressing projects.
The day will combine liturgy and prayer with plenary talks and themed breakout sessions, all framed by Catholic social teaching’s vision of human dignity and the common good.
Speakers include Bishop Mark Hagemoen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon; Peter Copeland of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute; Tucker Sigourney, a John and Daria Barry postdoctoral fellow at Harvard; Moira McQueen, a prominent lawyer and consultant in moral theology who until recently served as executive director of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute; and Kathleen Muggeridge of Young Professional Catholics of Toronto and the Office of Social Action of the Archdiocese of Montreal.
In an education session, Catholic Register publisher Peter Stockland will host a discussion examining the influence of news and media in shaping social values.
In a world marked by radical individualism, moral relativism, and what organizers describe as “a culture indifferent to the dignity of life,” the conference proposes Catholic social teaching as a unifying framework for rebuilding the bonds that make us a true covenant people.
For example, Catholic social teaching offers a Catholic lens for evaluating and interpreting governmental wellness indexes, such as the Quality of Life Framework recently adopted by the government of Canada.
“Our social covenant is broken and needs to be restored, said Marquardt, who is also president of Canadian Catholic News. “And the responsibility for doing that is on every one of us. We belong to one another and each have a role to play in society.”
The conference grew out of months of discussions about the fragile state of Catholic apostolates in Canada and the surprising appetite among young Catholics for serious engagement, he said.
“If you go to church in Toronto since the pandemic, attendance is up a lot,” Marquardt said. “The difference is a lot of young people who are very ardent. They say they want things to do.”
Organizers say the event is intended to:
- Advance civic conversation on restoring a shared social covenant grounded in common principles and values, as an alternative to the social currents pulling people away from God and one another.
- Bring together Canadian Catholic social and civic initiatives — along with other groups of goodwill — to increase awareness and promote cooperation among them.
- Promote volunteer, employment, and fundraising opportunities for these initiatives, helping them find the skills and support they need to survive and grow.
The vision goes beyond theory. In recent years, small Catholic organizations such as Catholic Insight, Catholic Conscience, and Canadian Catholic News have struggled with increasingly complex regulatory demands, especially those affecting interactions with agencies such as the Canada Revenue Agency, and the practical burden of running lean operations with minimal staff.
This story was first published by The B.C. Catholic and is reprinted here with permission.
22 miles of faith: Catholic family of 10 turns Walk to Mary pilgrimage into a tradition
Two adults, eight children, 22 miles, and one purpose — to grow closer to Jesus Christ through Mary, his mother. That about sums up what the Allex family from Barrington, Illinois, will be taking on during their 10th Walk to Mary on May 2 in Champion, Wisconsin.
The Walk to Mary is an annual pilgrimage held on the first Saturday of May. The first walk took place in 2013 and over the years thousands of Catholics from around the world have participated. The 22-mile pilgrimage starts at the National Shrine of St. Joseph and ends at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, which is the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States, in which the Blessed Mother appeared to Adele Brise in 1859.
For Kym Allex, a Catholic home schooling mother; her husband, Preston; and their eight children — ranging in age from 17 to 4 — the pilgrimage has become an annual tradition.
The “Allex tribe” — as they’re referred to by their community — first participated in the Walk to Mary when the eldest child was only 8 years old. At the time, there were seven children in the family and they all took part in the two-mile version of the pilgrimage for their first several walks.
The pilgrimage includes several “join in” points along the route that allow participants unable to walk the entire distance the ability to participate.
“For that childrenʼs walk — the little two-miler — it was so great to have seven kids just tromping around, excited to walk for Mary,” Allex told EWTN News in an interview.
She added: “It didnʼt seem like a very long walk to be able to have a 2-year-old in a backpack or my 5-year-old running as fast as he could because he wanted to catch up to Mary, which I donʼt think he ever did, but it was just a beautiful experience for our family for the first time and every year after.”
After their first couple of years participating in the two-mile version of the walk, the Allexes began to expand on the length they completed. This year, for the first time, they plan to walk the entire 22-mile route. And it wasn’t mom and dad who made this decision — it was the two eldest children.
“My 17-year-old daughter and my 16-year-old son came to my husband and [me] after last yearʼs 14-mile and they said, ‘Next year we have some big prayer intentions,’” she shared. “Theyʼre on the cusp of looking at colleges and figuring out where they want to go and where the Lord is calling them and so theyʼve stated, ‘Mom, Iʼm going to do the 22 miles if youʼre OK with it. Iʼd like for our whole family to join.’”
The Allexes then sat down as a family to discern what God was calling them to do and what goals they needed to reach in order for everyone to feel comfortable doing the entire pilgrimage. With this in mind, the entire family has been preparing physically and spiritually for this event.
“Even our little 4-year-old has been walking and biking in the neighborhood every day that she can to be able to get her sweet little legs ready for this beautiful opportunity,” Allex said.
She added that it is her oldest children who want to make sure that taking part in the Walk to Mary is always a part of the family’s culture.
“They take off of work, theyʼve told their sports coaches, ‘We wonʼt be able to go and do this race’ … because our family really wants to keep this part of our family tradition,” Allex said. “And itʼs great that itʼs my teenagers who are the ones that want to continue to pass this on. Thereʼs no fight because weʼve grown into this together.”
Allex admitted that she was hesitant when her children first brought up the idea of doing the full pilgrimage.
“I will tell you, this 22-miler makes me a little nervous and yet my kids are the ones who are like, ‘We can do this mom. Weʼve done 18 miles at Disney. So we can do 22 miles for Mary.’ Iʼm like, ‘That is such a beautiful thought, right? If I can do this for pleasure, I can surely do this for Mary, for my faith,’” she shared.
When reflecting on how her familyʼs faith has been impacted by taking part in the Walk to Mary, Allex shared that it has reminded them that “the Blessed Mother is such an incredible spiritual mom for all of us.”
She added: “Especially for me as a mom in this world today, I can get lost sometimes in the worry, the anxiety, the stress of life. And so to know that our Blessed Mother will wrap me like a swaddling blanket into her mantle and bring me to Jesus is so consoling.”
“The fact that my kids have seen that I go to the Blessed Mother when Iʼm struggling and ask for her help to get closer to her son, then they see the humanness of their own mom and theyʼre like, ‘Wow, mom might not have it all together, but she knows someone who does and sheʼs going to lean in on that.’”
The Catholic mother pointed out that the pilgrimage has also taught her children how to pray for others. She recalled an instance when one of her sons went up to a man during the walk and asked him if he had an intention he could lift in prayer for him. The man was from Brazil and was walking the pilgrimage asking for healing for his wife.
“My hope is that they feel inspired to be those missionary disciples … and that theyʼre cultivating hearts of missionary discipleship — walking with people, being inspired to go and pray with people,” she said.
Allex added that each member of the family has a prayer journal and the children have already been “collecting peopleʼs prayers and theyʼve already been wrapping them in our nightly rosary that we do every night.”
When the Blessed Mother appeared to Brise in the woods of Champion, Wisconsin, one of the messages she gave the young woman was to “gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”
This is something that has deeply impacted Allex’s faith and a message she carries daily in her vocation of motherhood.
“Iʼve memorized it [the message] because that right there, that is the role for us as parents,” Allex said. “I think every one of our homes can feel like a wild country, you walk in and … for me sometimes it feels that way. It feels like a wild country. But if I can continue to gather my kids and teach them what they should know — I might not be preparing them for Harvard. Iʼm going to prepare them for heaven.”
Summarizing her experiences taking part in the Walk to Mary and how it has impacted the entire family, Allex concluded that “this walk truly is this pilgrimage of graces.”
The life and legacy of St. Athanasius, champion of the Nicene Creed
The Catholic Church on May 2 honors St. Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century bishop known as “the father of orthodoxy” for his dedication to the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. Athanasius played a key role at the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 and defended the Nicene Creed throughout his life.
Last year marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which was convened during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in 325.
St. Athanasius was born to Christian parents living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 296. His parents took great care to have their son educated, and his talents came to the attention of a local priest who was later canonized — St. Alexander of Alexandria. The priest and future saint tutored Athanasius in theology and eventually appointed him as an assistant.
Around the age of 19, Athanasius spent a formative period in the Egyptian desert as a disciple of St. Anthony in his monastic community. Returning to Alexandria, he was ordained a deacon in 319 and resumed his assistance to Alexander, who had become a bishop. The Catholic Church, newly recognized by the Roman Empire, was already encountering a new series of dangers from within.
The most serious threat to the fourth-century Church came from a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus could not have existed eternally as God prior to his historical incarnation as a man. According to Arius, Jesus was the highest of created beings and could be considered “divine” only by analogy. Arians professed a belief in Jesus’ “divinity” but meant only that he was Godʼs greatest creature.
Opponents of Arianism brought forth numerous Scriptures that taught Christ’s eternal preexistence and his identity as God. Nonetheless, many Greek-speaking Christians found it intellectually easier to believe in Jesus as a created demigod than to accept the mystery of a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire.
Nicaea
In that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea to examine and judge Arius’ doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church’s perennial teaching on Christ’s full deity and established the Nicene Creed as an authoritative statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius’ life was a constant struggle to uphold the council’s teaching about Christ.
Near the end of St. Alexander’s life, he insisted that Athanasius succeed him as the bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius took on the position just as Emperor Constantine, despite having convoked the Council of Nicaea, decided to relax its condemnation of Arius and his supporters. Athanasius continually refused to admit Arius to Communion, however, despite the urgings of the emperor.
A number of Arians spent the next several decades attempting to manipulate bishops, emperors, and popes to move against Athanasius — particularly through the use of false accusations. Athanasius was accused of theft, murder, assault, and even of causing a famine by interfering with food shipments.
Arius became ill and died in 336, but his heresy continued to live. Under the rule of the three emperors that followed Constantine, and particularly under the rule of the strongly Arian Constantius, Athanasius was driven into exile at least five times for insisting on the Nicene Creed as the Church’s authoritative rule of faith.
Athanasius received the support of several popes and spent a portion of his exile in Rome. However, the Emperor Constantius did succeed in coercing one pope, Liberius, into condemning Athanasius by having him kidnapped, threatened with death, and sent away from Rome for two years. The pope eventually managed to return to Rome, where he again proclaimed Athanasius’ orthodoxy.
Constantius went so far as to send troops to attack his clergy and congregations. Neither these measures nor direct attempts to assassinate the bishop succeeded in silencing him. However, they frequently made it difficult for him to remain in his diocese. He enjoyed some respite after Constantius’ death in 361 but was later persecuted by Emperor Julian the Apostate, who sought to revive paganism.
In 369, Athanasius managed to convene an assembly of 90 bishops in Alexandria for the sake of warning the Church in Africa against the continuing threat of Arianism. He died in 373 and was vindicated by a more comprehensive rejection of Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 at Constantinople.
St. Gregory Nazianzen, who presided over part of that council, described St. Athanasius as “the true pillar of the Church” whose “life and conduct were the rule of bishops and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith.”
This story was last published on May 2, 2025, and has been updated.
Court halts mailing of mifepristone prescriptions nationwide
A New Orleans federal appeals court restricted access to mail-order prescriptions of the abortion‑inducing drug mifepristone.
The panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, will require in-person distribution of the mifipristone at clinics.
The ruling found that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation that allows prescriptions of the medication that blocks progesterone without meeting with a physician “undermines” the state of Louisiana. In Louisiana, the state considers unborn children to be human beings from the moment of conception and legal persons.
Medication abortions, which rely on mifepristone and misoprostol, accounted for 63% of U.S. abortions in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The number of actual abortions might be higher due to underreporting, according to the organization, which was affiliated with Planned Parenthood until 2007.
Activists, lawmakers, and state attorneys general have been calling on the FDA to do a safety review of the drug, citing severe risks to women’s health.
A recent study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) found that the removal of in-person visit requirements led to an increase in adverse effects for women having drug-induced abortions. This study is one among several pointing to a higher rate of serious problems.
Multiple other studies have shown high rates of hospitalizations for women taking the abortion pill. “Chemical abortion has a complication rate four times greater than surgical abortion,” according to one study. Another report found that medication abortion complications are often underreported or misclassified.
Pope Leo XIV responds to letter from victims of Minab girls’ school strike in Iran
Pope Leo XIV echoed his calls for dialogue and peace between the United States and Iran while expressing grief over the deaths of innocent children killed in a military attack that struck a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran.
The Holy Father offered these comments April 23 after he received a letter from parents of girls who died in the strike. More than 150 people were killed in the Feb. 28 strike, which the Defense Department says it is investigating.
“I have just seen a letter from families of children who were killed on the first day of the attack,” Leo said while speaking to journalists on a flight back to Rome after visiting four countries in Africa, according to the Vatican-run Vatican News.
“They speak about how they have lost their children, who died in that event,” he said. “The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people.”
Leo called the situation in Iran “complex” amid the ongoing ceasefire, stating that “one day Iran says yes and the United States says no, and vice versa.” The pope warned: “We do not know where things are heading.”
“This chaotic, critical situation for the global economy has been created, but there is also an entire population in Iran of innocent people suffering because of this war,” he said. “So, on regime change, yes or no: It is not even clear what regime currently exists after the first days of attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran.”
“Rather, I would encourage the continuation of dialogue for peace, that all sides make every effort to promote peace, remove the threat of war, and respect international law,” he said. “It is very important that innocent people are protected, as has not happened in several places.”
The letter from the parents of the victims was published in full by a reporter for Press TV, which is operated by the Iranian government. The letter is written in Farsi.
According to a partial English translation on Press TV, the parents said the pontiff’s consistent advocacy for peace “offered a healing touch to our broken hearts.”
“Today, instead of feeling the warmth of our children’s embrace, we are left to hold onto their charred bags and bloody journals,” the letter said, according to the translation.
“Our children will never return home to build a brighter future, but it is the prayer of us grieving parents that your message to ‘lay down the weapons’ be heard, at a time when the United States and the Israeli regime fuel the flames of these atrocities with their excessive demands,” it added.
When asked for comment, the Defense Department pointed EWTN News to comments made by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on April 24 when asked about the pope’s comment on Iran.
“We know what our mission is,” he said. “We know what authority we have. Weʼre very clear about that. We follow the orders of the president.”
“Weʼve got lawyers all over the place, looking at what weʼre doing and why weʼre doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution and under our laws to execute it,” he added. “So we feel very confident across the spectrum about what weʼre doing and why weʼre doing it, and the legal justification that weʼre following in order to do it.”
A Defense Department official told EWTN News that the strike on the school in Minab “is currently under investigation” and “more details will be provided [when] they become available.” The Pentagon has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
Former federal prosecutor: ‘I’d like to prosecute any nun who still wears the head habit’
Text messages released by the Senate Judiciary Committee show two former federal prosecutors discussing desires to prosecute nuns during investigations of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Joseph Cooney and Molly Gaston, career prosecutors at the Justice Department rather than political appointees, played a role in prosecuting President Donald Trump during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Both were fired shortly after Trump became president a second time and are legal partners at Gaston & Cooney PLLC. Cooney is running for Congress in Virginia.
While texting on government-issued devices, Gaston wrote about a photo published by The New York Times from Trump’s "Stop the Steal” rally, which preceded the Jan. 6 attack, saying: “I just noticed for the first time the nuns near the oathkeepers in one of the NYT photographs.”
Cooney said, “I know!” to which Gaston replied: “I would like to take a special assignment of finding and prosecuting them.”
Cooney, who worked in the Justice Departmentʼs Public Integrity Section, responded to her comments about prosecuting the women by saying “I’m with you” and adding: “Although Iʼd like to prosecute any nun who still wears the head habit.” Gaston, who was a lead prosecutor in the special counsel’s Jan. 6-related case involving allegations of efforts to overturn the 2020 election, replied to the message with “hahaha.”
The photo shows three women wearing traditional habits standing on the National Mall near the stage for the rally and does not show them trying to breach restricted areas or enter the U.S. Capitol. The women appear to be associated with a convent that is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church and does not have canonical standing with the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, where they are located.
Another photo of the women at the rally published by The Conversation also does not show anyone trying to enter restricted areas or the Capitol. EWTN News could not reach the women in the photos.
The text messages also show Gaston saying “people are insane” for wanting priests to deny Communion to Biden. The two also discussed the COVID-19-era restrictions on the Mass, with Gaston saying she has been “really bad about [tuning into] video Mass” and Cooney saying “video Mass is really hard.”
Nearly all Catholic sisters and nuns wore habits prior to the Second Vatican Council, although the practice since then often depends on the religious community to which the person belongs or can come down to personal choice.
The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles explain on their website that a habit is “economical, simple, modest, and above all a sign, a symbol, of God and his love for each of us.”
“Our habit calls out silently to people we meet or even pass by in the street, the store, even the beach,” the website states. “It says, ‘Look up; for greater things you were born.’ It says, ‘Hold on, this too shall pass, and God is with you always leading you in the way you are to go.’ It says, ‘I am a symbol, a reminder, of God’s presence in our world. You can’t actually see him, but in seeing me you are reminded of him.’”
The Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province state on their website that their habit is “a sign of our consecration to God and witness to poverty.”
“We are vested with a white tunic, a black belt with a rosary attached, a white scapular, a veil, and cappa,” it states. “Symbolically, black reminds us that we have been called from the death valley of sin toward a life of intensified grace in Christ (white). The visible habit furthermore reflects the simplicity of life, innocence, renunciation, penance, and mortification, a hidden life in Christ.”
‘I was appalled’
EWTN News received copies of the text exchange, first reported by the Daily Wire, from the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. EWTN News contacted Cooney’s campaign and the law firm where both are partners to request a comment and did not receive a response.
The messages were provided to Grassley’s office by the Justice Department in relation to a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into federal efforts to prosecute Trump during Biden’s presidency.
“Freedom of religion is a cherished First Amendment right enshrined in our Constitution by the Founding Fathers,” Grassley, chair of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement provided to EWTN News.
“I was appalled, but sadly not surprised, to discover evidence of Biden DOJ prosecutors threatening to use the power of the federal justice system to target people of faith,” he said. “Time and again, my oversight has shown the Biden Justice Department, including these prosecutors who went on to advance Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation, showed total disdain for equal justice.”
Nearly 1,600 people were prosecuted in Jan. 6 cases for a range of offenses connected to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including unlawful entry, assault, property destruction, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy, with President Trump later granting clemency to about 1,500 of them.
It does not appear the photographed women faced prosecution, although some Catholic sisters have fended off federal encroachment into their religious activities in recent years.
Most famously, the Little Sisters of the Poor won a U.S. Supreme Court case in 2020 following a nine-year-long battle against the mandate to cover contraception in their insurance plans, per rules in the Affordable Care Act. In spite of that victory, the sisters are still fighting federal contraception rules in court.
In New York, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, who provide care to terminally ill people, faced a warning from the state Department of Health for “refusing to assign a room to a resident other than in accordance with the resident’s gender identity.” They are also fighting the rules in court.
On April 30, Trump’s DOJ published a report on “anti-Christian bias” it alleges plagued the federal government under Biden’s presidency. It documents rules and regulations that damaged religious liberty related to abortion, contraception, and gender policies. It alleges weaponization of the government against Christians, including pro-life protesters.